How employee wellbeing can become a core value

How employee wellbeing can become a core value Leadership is the ability to effectively use strategic competencies and influence to accomplish organizational goals. It is a partnership between mangers followers and external constituencies and one of the main differences between leaders and managers is power and authority. Leaders yield power which cannot be transferred however managers yield authority due to their position and can be delegated. When organizational requires a fast changing as a result of rapid fluctuation a Transformational leader is called for. Transformational leadership is defined as a relationship between a leader and follower(s) based on a set of leader behaviors perceived by subordinates as exhibiting idealized influence, motivational inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. In todays modern complex organizations, which are going through constant change, it required the roles of management and leadership be intertwined. An organisation that has an environment which promotes a state of contentment allowing employees to flourish and achieve their full potential for the benefit of themselves and the organisation can be considered as employers who puts high emphasis on their employee wellbeing. The concept of wellbeing includes concepts of psychological and physical health. Today increasingly companies are focused more about their employees wellbeing as organisations are seeing its benefits. Organisations such as IBM, established Well-Being Management System (WBMS), the companys holistic approach to managing the health and safety of employees wherever they work. This enables physical and psychological fitness of its employees. When employee wellbeing becomes a shared organisational value deeply rooted in the organisational culture it is evident from the following companies that productivity of the organisations increases as a result of high moral and satisfaction as well as organisations are able to retain their talents. Values influence attitudes and behaviour therefore for transformational leaders to create employee wellbeing as a shared value they need to create trust between leader and employees. This is possible when the leader practice high emotional and social intelligence and honour the psychological contract between the management and employees. Contents Executive Summary 1 Today increasingly companies are focused more about their employees wellbeing as organisations are seeing its benefits. Organisations such as IBM, established Well-Being Management System (WBMS), the companys holistic approach to managing the health and safety of employees wherever they work. This enables physical and psychological fitness of its employees. 2 Contents 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION 4 8.0 CONCLUSION 16 7.0 Appendix 17 1.0 INTRODUCTION This report presents discussions on how employee wellbeing can become a core value shared among the employees of an organization that can be deeply rooted in the organizational culture and the role of transformational leadership in facilitating this change. Transformational leaders are called for when traditional leadership fails to bring about a change aligning the organizational culture to the changes in the environment. As these form of leadership focus on employees in achieving their goal it suits well in an era of fast globalization. In the second part of the report concepts of leadership and their difference from management will be introduced .as well as an explanation of transformational leadership and what it is all about. Third part of the report explains the concept employee wellbeing and its benefits. Companies who are initiating employee wellbeing and the response will be highlighted. The main part of the report will discuss how transformational leadership help facilitate employee wellbeing in the organizational culture that would eventually improve performance. Concepts of how leaders create trusts among employees and towards themselves, how leaders practice emotional and social intelligence and the concepts of psychological contract will be discussed. Finally case evidence will be provided when employees wellbeing is taken care off their performance in terms of absenteeism etc will rise significantly. 1.2 Scope and limitation The scope of the report is limited to the examination of how employee wellbeing can become the cultural norm within the organization and how transformational leadership facilitates in embedding it to the organizational culture as a shared core value. Little robust research exists on the relationship between health and individual job performance. 2.0 leadership Leadership defined by Weiss (2001, p.194) states that it is the ability to effectively use strategic competencies and influence to accomplish organizational goals. It is a partnership between mangers followers and external constituencies and one of the main differences between leaders and managers is power and authority. Leaders yield power which cannot be transferred however managers yield authority due to their position and can be delegated. (Mullins 2002). Whetten et.al (1995, p. 17) states that traditional definition of management is outmoded and irrelevant today. Their argument is based on the similarity between leaders and managers in terms of how they function. And that a good manager functions as an effective leader .a similar view was held by Hodgetts (1990, p.3) and defines management as getting things done through people and leadership influence people towards particular goal. Weiss(2001) referencing Bass (1985,1990 )states that when organizational requires a fast changing as a result of rapid fluctuation a transformational leader is called for. Transformational leadership exhibits behaviors such as idealized influence, motivational inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. And can be defined as a relationship between a leader and a follower based on this behavior (Flood 2008) A number of studies have shown a strong positive relationship between this leadership style and desirable outcomes including organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and decreased employee turnover intentions (Flood 2008) As an example of the magnitude of leadership influence on the attitudes and behaviors of employees, a study of 25,000 workers across a variety of firms by Wilson Learning, a US based management training company; found that 69% of employees job satisfaction related to the leadership skills of their bosses (Davids 1995). A significant productivity lag was associated with a lack of or poor leadership. On the basis of this finding, Davids (1995) asserts that the days of the heroic leader who gets things done by people are numbered, to be replaced by the post-heroic leaders who get things done with people. Hence, mutual understanding, trust and strong communication skills have been growing in importance as factors in the leader follower relationship.(Flood, 2008) 3.0EMPLOYEE WELLBEING An organisation that has an environment which promotes a state of contentment allowing employees to flourish and achieve their full potential for the benefit of themselves and the organisation can be considered as employers who puts high emphasis on their employee wellbeing.(Tehrani et.al 2010) The concept of wellbeing includes concepts of psychological and physical health. According Arnold (2007) they can be distinguished between subjective and psychological wellbeing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Subjective wellbeing focuses on the affective (hedonic balance; balance between pleasant and unpleasant affect) and cognitive (life satisfaction) components of well-being (Arnold et.al 2007). Psychological well-being draws on various conceptualizations of mental health (Arnold et.al 2007).Tehrani et .al (2010) described wellbeing as a subjective experience that may involve practical measures such as introducing healthy food or a gym at work, or perhaps less tangible initiatives such as working to match the values and beliefs held by employees with those of their organization. It could be argued that a change in the way employees are engaged in discussions about how their work is organized could have more of an impact on an individuals well-being than the introduction of a corporate gym. Today increasingly companies are focused about their employees wellbeing as organisations are seeing its benefits .Organisations such as IBM, established Well-Being Management System (WBMS) the companys holistic approach to managing the health and safety of employees wherever they work. This enables physical and psychological fitness of its employees. This integrated approach to employee well being ranges from the more traditional aspects of occupational health and safety ,such as industrial hygiene, safety, medical issues and ergonomics-to innovative and proactive wellness initiatives, including a broad array of health promotion options and disease prevention benefits for employees.(IBM , 2010 ) Marks Spencer is known as an employer who values employees. Historically, well-being was delivered through a traditional benefits package, including flexible working and family-friendly policies. In addition, a good physical working environment was provided, including good catering facilities. Other ancillary benefits for some or all employees included hairdressing, chiropody, dentistry and holistic services. As the business moved through a change management program it was realized that more focus was needed on the health and well-being areas that were directly affected by the workplace. (Tehrani et.al 2010) Scota Chropractc Ltd is another company that focused on employee wellbeing . Established in 1986 and currently employs 17 employees working across two sites the growing public awareness of alternative and complementary therapies has been a major driver of business growth. The company works with the NHS and has recently branched out into sports therapy, rehabilitation and ergonomic-based heath and safety interventions. The organization has increasingly concentrated on employee well-being for its own staff during the past five years. (Tehrani et.al 2010) 3.1 Employee wellbeing and culture. Organisational Culture is defined as a set of shared values beliefs which interact with an organisations people ,structureand system to produce behavioural norms. in a strong organisational culture the organisation core values are both intensly held and widely shared. core values are the primary or dominant values that are accepted thoughout the organisation.the more members who accept the core values andthe greater their commitment to those values is , the stronger the culture gets.A strong organisation culture will have a great influence on the bevaiour of its members((Robbins 1998) when employee wellbeing becomes a shared organisational value deeply rooted in the organisational culture it is evident from the following companies that productivity of the organisations increases as a result of high moral and satisfaction as well as organisations are able to retain their talents. According to Tehrani et.al(2010) Marks Spencers three-month wellbeing trial programme demonstrated an 8% reduction in its employee sickness absence for musculoskeletal health issues. Store management teams reported improved morale of the departmental team and the general store, all of which are difficult to estimate in financial terms, further improvement in customer service and improved efficiencies. Nike company employees share a core value of enhancing peoples lives through sports and fitness.nike has created a strong sports oriented culture and promoted it through company practices such as paying employees extra for biking to work instead of driving .( Robbins 1998) Companies adopting such measures aimed at promoting health and well-being among their employees influence several aspects of their employees physical and psychological well-being in ways which result in improved productivity, commitment and attendance. This includes providing good quality jobs which allow employees more control, autonomy and involvement in the way their work is done (Coats et.al 2008) Recently an OEM manufacturer, FOXCONN of china supplies to companies like DELL, APPLE and Hewlett-Packard came under scrutiny for its below standard employee relations and maltreatment.Some estimates put the companys labour turnover in to 50000 a month and reports claim a drop in recruitment standards to just about anyone with an ID. (Engadget 2010) 4.0 Transformational leadership and culture Organisational Culture is defined as a set of shared values beliefs which interact with an organisations people ,structureand ststem to produce behavioural norms. Values influence attitudes and behaviour (Robbins 1998)therefore For transformational leaders to create employee wellbeing as a shared value they need to create trust between leader and employees. This is possible when the leader practice high emotional and social intelligence and honour the psychological contract between the management and employees. Leaders facilitate in creation of value for employee wellbeing and facilitate in embedding it in to the organisational culture. They achieve this by creating trust among employees towards the leader as well as between each other and develop emotional and social intelligence of employees and honouring the psychological contract. 4.1Trust trust is a characteristics of high performance teams where the relationship between members is based on integrity ,competence, consistency, loyalty and openness (Robbins 1998 ) According to Rosen (1996 ) trust is one of the major principles in leading people.it binds people together creating a strong resilient organisation. It cannot be achieved over night according to Kouzes et.al ( 1987) but takes years to learn however an instance to loose it. Idealised influence dimension of transformational leadership helps create such relationship of trust and confidence through its attribution charisma. They are thought to display certain attributes (eg.percieved power, focus on higher order ideals and values. When this happens the followers develop an emotional tie to their leader which ultimate results in the trust specified above.(Arnold 2007) Transformational leaders gain follower trust by maintaining their integrity and dedication, by being fair in their treatment of followers, and by demonstrating their faith in followers by empowering them. It has been suggested that one way that charismatic and transformational leaders can demonstrate their dedication and build follower trust is through self sacrificial behaviours.Leaders can self sacrifice by taking on a proportionately larger workload, by foregoing the trappings of power (e.g. Gandhis peasant lifestyle), or by postponing rewards, such as Chryslers Leelacocca and Apples Steve Jobs deciding to work for 1$ a yr ..(Bass et.al 2006) Transformational leaders build trust by practicing open communication between employees and leaders. mistrust comes from what people dont know as from what they do know (Robbins 1998 ).They are excellent team players ,and they lead by example, support the teams through words and actions and demonstrating loyalty as well as treating them with respect and considering their perception in terms of objectivity and fairness in decision making. They show consistency in basic values that guide their decision making and they maintain confidences and become someone who teams can rely on. 3.2Emotional intelligence Goleman (1995) describes emotional Intelligence as self-awareness, managing our emotions effectively, motivation, empathy, reading other peoples feelings accurately, social skills like team work, persuasion, leadership and managing relationships. Transformational leaders have high emotional intelligence. They properly manage emotions that drive trust, loyalty, and commitment. The leader enables People to recognize their own emotions as well as others ,differentiates those emotions to make choices for thinking and action.(Cooper et.al 1997).It is an intelligence that may be learned, developed and improved (Perkins 1994). Emotional intelligence is the ability of a person to use his awareness and sensitivity to detect, identify or understand the feelings underlying interpersonal communication and avoiding to respond on impulse and thoughtlessly, Instead to act from receptivity , authenticity ad candor.(Ryback 1998). Emotional intelligence is about influence without manipulation or abuse of authority. It is about perceiving, learning, relating, innovating, prioritizing and acting in ways that take into account and legitimize emotions, rather than relying on logic or intellect or technical analysis alone (Ryback, 1998). Transformational Leaders are highly self aware facilitating them to read ones emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions. Their social awareness enables them to sense, understand and react to others emotions while comprehending social networks. As a result of these qualities and the ability of transformational leaders to manage self inspire employees influence them and develop these qualities among them by managing conflict. This successfully results in resolved issues of workplace bullying and increase in employee satisfaction leading to higher performance. Goleman, (2010 )have shown that high levels of emotional intelligence can create climates in which information sharing, trust, healthy risk taking and learning flourish. as well as how workplace competencies based on emotional intelligence can exert greater impact on performance than do intellect or technical skills. 4.3Psychological contract When an employer distributes a performance bonus every year since it inception, employees within that particular company will expect to receive it in the coming years as well, because of the fact that every year the company distributes it. The point here is that Humans beings are very adaptable to situations .the more leaders practice employee wellbeing initiatives within the organisation the likely it will become an expectation in the psychological contract between employers and employees. Psychological contract defined by Robbins (1998) states that it is an unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from the employee and vice versa. It sets out mutual expectations. Everyone performs different roles both at work place and society. And each role demands attitudes and behaviours consistent to that particular role. Therefore both the organisation and the employee have certain expectations of that role which could mean acceptable working conditions, clear communication and a fair days work etc for employees and for organisations demonstration of a good attitude following instructions and showing loyalty to the organisation.(Robbins 1998) However when these expectations are not met trust between the employees and employers is lost, resulting in negative effects on employee performance and satisfaction. Globalisation and work force diversity further complicates the situation. Although Members of different groups share common within their group common values, attitudes and perceptions much diversity exists within each of these categories. (Bateman et.al 2009).similarly in multi racial societies such as the United States for example values shared among Asian Americans differ from values shared among Asians living in Asia. Since values influence the attitudes and behaviours of employees attaining a common shared value among the multi ethnic groups and multinational groups within an organisation is a challenge to the transformational leaders. As each of these groups will have different expectations from employers. 4.4 Social intelligence However the transformational leaders ability to connect with individuals at a personal level enables them to build a relationship of trust and influence their behaviour and attitude to share a common value which is emotional and psychological wellbeing of employees. Many leaders are appointed because of their drive, ambition and business expertise but often they are unable to work with or get along their director colleagues, colleagues and direct reports, or with others on whom their own success depends. Building on his work on emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman coined the phase Social Intelligence, in which he enlarges his focus to encompass our capacity to connect with one another.We are wired to connect Neuroscience has discovered that our brains very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person. (Goleman 2010) Therefore in order to identify the attitudes , values and perceptions of people the leader needs to have social intelligence skills to connect to the individuals or initiate emotions in order to gain trust which ultimately leads to acceptance of ideologies and behaviours the leader intends to communicate which in turn becomes the norm of the organisation. 5.0 Employee wellbeing, Culture and performance Harter etal (2002 ) believes that worker quality of life and performance originates with the behavioural, cognitive , and health benefits of positive feelings and positive perceptions.according to him proponents of the well being perspective argue that the presence of positive emotional states and positive appraisals of the worker and his or her relationships within the people seek out interesting , meaningful, and challenging tasks.when demands match or slightly exceed resources, individuals experience positive emotional states (e.g. pleasure ,joy, energy) and they perceive themselves as growing , engaged, and productive .From the wellbeing perspective, a healthy workforce means the presence of positive feelings in the worker that should result in happier and more productive workers. a survey carried out by Aon Consulting on UK workers found out that more than 35 million sick days a year are taken for personal reasons rather than for a genuine illness and one in three UK workers (33 per cent ) say that the last time they took a day off from work as sick leave were addressing personal issues including looking after a family member, letting repairmen into their home, grieving a dead relative or pet, or feeling down after breaking up with a partner and they did not have anything wrong with them . 52 per cent of British say they would not feel forced to take a day as sick leave if they could just be honest and have access to flexible working hours or social days, said Peter Abelskamp, director of health and benefits EMEA, at Aon Consulting. Of course, employers should also not ignore the fact that 16 per cent of people say that more interesting work would keep them in the office (PM Online, 2010) In 2003 the Royal Mail sickness absence levels were 7 per cent (an average of 16 days per employee per year) As a result their Customer service standards were affected and incurred a daily cost of  £1m.the company had been experiencing issues of long-term absence for many years which was commonly due to musculoskeletal health. Therefore Royal Mail introduced a range of integrated measures to counter the problem such as as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Health screening à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Health clinics at 90 sites à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Fast access to occupational health services à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Access to physiotherapy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Employee assistance programme (EAP) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Incentive scheme à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Rehabilitation centres focusing on improving back, neck and shoulder injuries à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Phased and partial return to work (RTW) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Case management four years later, it was reported that sickness absence levels had fallen to 4 per cent (10 days per employee) and saved Royal Mail almost  £230m. Up to 3,600 more staff were available to work each day as a result of these measures (Scribed,2010) 8.0 CONCLUSION In this fast changing global environment organisations are increasing needing leaders who concentrates on building relationships with their employees in order to increase productivity and meet the global demands. Emphasis on employee wellbeing has become a trend in todays companies which is seeing its benefits. However in order to produce a full impact leaders need to create wellbeing as a shared core value deep rooted in the culture of the organisation. This can be achieved only when the leader creates trust among employees as well as between him. This is only possible if the leader has high emotional and social intelligence and promotes it within employees and finally honouring the psychological contract between them. Therefore transformational leadership can bring about a change in organisational culture by creating values which will in turn influence the attitude and behaviour of the employees in this case employee wellbeing as a core value in the organisational culture.

Seven Major Changes in the Workplace

Running head: SEVEN MAJOR CHANGES IN THE WORKPLACE Seven Major Changes in the Workplace Seven Major Changes in the Workplace With the ever-growing population and technological changes many employers are going to have to adapt. Robert Barner highlights seven major changes that will affect the places where we work, both for the employer and employee (Kreitner, 2004, p. 76). The seven major changes are (1) The virtual organization (2) The just-in-time workforce (3) The ascendancy of knowledge workers (4) Computerized coaching and electronic monitoring (5) The growth of worker diversity (6) The aging workforce and (7) The birth of the dynamic workforce (Kreitner, p. 76). I will discuss how these seven changes major changes will affect the managers at my company, Blake Inc. The Virtual Organization We are living in a time where technology is in the forefront. Things are constantly changing and companies must be able to keep up with it. Right now in my company my managers are scrambling to keep up with the constantly changing technological world. Managers are now being set up with access to their computers from home. So if they are unable to come in to work or need to leave early they can still communicate with us. They can do everything from home that they can do at the office. They are also working on a plan, in case of an emergency or the office building is no longer usable that we can set up shop somewhere else within 48 hours. My manager is also setting up a web site that will be accessible by all employees to get update information concerning the company, such as business decisions, software help and 24 hour technical support. The Just-In-Time Workforce At Blake we are aligned with Temp Agencies that are able to supply us with workers at a moments notice. My managers know that must be able to meet high demands. They also set up incentives for employees wishing to put in extra work. They understand that is better to have people who know the business to do the work rather than a temp who really has no interest or knowledge in the company. The Ascendancy of Knowledge Workers Now more than ever it is important that companies hire very knowledgeable people. My managers are now trying to hire more people with a technical or analytical background to help with reports and other information needed by employees. Employees must know what they want and what they need so that they can effectively communicate this to the technical staff. Also, the managers at Blake must be able to step up and jump in when needed. This means they must know their job and all aspects of the company. The managers must know the responsibilities of each of their employees and make sure that their employees are knowledgeable as well. We have recently been asked to create a manual entailing our job responsibilities so that if something happens someone else will have knowledge of what we do. Computerized Coaching and Electronic Monitoring Being an internet-based company all employees has access to a wealth of information through the intranet. From the intranet you can look up other employees, find customer information such as contracts and orders placed, to information on employee benefits. At Blake employees just found out that their internet access was truly being monitored. Upon finding this out Managers took away internet access from all employees in which it is not a job necessity. This did not go well with employees as they felt as though their privacy was being invaded. As a supervisor I had to make sure that my employees had access to the websites they needed but nothing more. Employees feel that they are not trusted and treated like babies. Managers at Blake must be careful not to alienate employees in order to try and gain more efficiency. The Growth of Worker Diversity Blake employs a very diversified group of people. In fact some employees can barely speak English well. At times it gets kind of hard to understand them. My Managers must work hard not to alienate any one group of people. Every employee must be given the same chance to excel. They also must be proactive in learning about each group’s backgrounds and or culture as to not offend anyone. Managers at Blake are becoming more understanding o different beliefs and cultures and do not punish people for partaking (taking a day off) in these beliefs. The Aging Workforce Managers at Blake encourage continuing education. In fact anyone who wishes to go to school can do so for free, it is mentioned on our website how they will provide up to $50,000 for each employee towards their education. Education is encouraged whether you are young or old. Managers really respect the older employees because the hold so much knowledge and experience, so they must be careful not to quickly replace them with a younger face. It is important to have a good mix, as not all young college grads are a good fit as not all older people are. The Birth of the Dynamic Workforce Blake managers must work to be more encouraging. They will have to be able to motivate employees and encourage cross training. Employees must be able to help out in other departments when needed. Slow times in one department may mean a chaotic time in another. Being able to meet the demands in the high productivity department and use workers from the slow department can decrease cost. Managers must be able to think ahead in order to keep up with competition and stay ahead of the game. Blake is a pretty good company to work for but has been behind the times for a while. My managers are proactively trying to keep up with industry standards. This has caused a lot of revamping and the recruiting of more knowledgeable employees. Blake Managers understand that if they want to stay in business they must come to terms with the changes in the 21st century. Reference Kreitner, R. (2004). Management (9th ed. ). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

American Literature Essay

When the English preacher and writer Sidney Smith asked in 1820, â€Å"In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? † little did he suspect that less than two hundred years later the answer in literate quarters would be â€Å"just about everyone. † Indeed, just a few years after Smith posed his inflammatory question, the American writer Samuel Knapp would begin to assemble one of the first histories of American literature as part of a lecture series that he was giving. The course materials offered by American Passages continue in the tradition begun by Knapp in 1829. One goal of this Study Guide is to help you learn to be a literary historian: that is, to introduce you to American literature as it has evolved over time and to stimulate you to make connections between and among texts. Like a literary historian, when you make these connections you are telling a story: the story of how American literature came into being. This Overview outlines four paths (there are many others) by which you can narrate the story of American literature: one based on literary movements and historical change, one based on the American Passages Overview Questions, one based on Contexts, and one based on multiculturalism. TELLING THE STORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE Literary Movements and Historical Change American Passages is organized around sixteen literary movements or â€Å"units. † A literary movement centers around a group of authors that share certain stylistic and thematic concerns. Each unit includes ten authors that are represented either in The Norton Anthology of American Literature or in the Online Archive. Two to four of these authors are discussed in the video, which calls attention to important historical and cultural influences on these authors, defines a genre that they share, and proposes some key thematic parallels. Tracking literary movements can help you see how American literature has changed and evolved over time. In general, people think about literary movements as reacting against earlier modes of writing and earlier movements. For T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 3 example, just as modernism (Units 10–13) is often seen as a response to realism and the Gilded Age (Unit 9), so Romanticism is seen as a response to the Enlightenment (Unit 4). Most of the units focus on one era (see the chart below), but they will often include relevant authors from other eras to help draw out the connections and differences. (Note: The movements in parentheses are not limited to authors/works from the era in question, but they do cover some material from it. ) Century Fifteenth– Seventeenth Eighteenth Era Renaissance American Passages Literary Movements. (1: Native Voices) 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise (3: Utopian Promise) 4: Spirit of Nationalism (7: Slavery and Freedom) 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom (1: Native Voices) 6: Gothic Undercurrents 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism (1: Native Voices) 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 12: Migrant Struggle 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Enlightenment Nineteenth Romanticist Nineteenth Realist Twentieth Modernist Twentieth Postmodernist Each unit contains a timeline of historical events along with the dates of key literary texts by the movement’s authors. These timelines are designed to help you make connections between and among the movements, eras, and authors covered in each unit. 4 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Overview Questions The Overview Questions at the start of each unit are tailored from the five American Passages Overview Questions that follow. They are meant to help you focus your viewing and reading and participate in discussion afterward. 1. What is an American? How does literature create conceptions of the American experience and American identity? This two-part question should trigger discussion about issues such as, Who belongs to America? When and how does one become an American? How has the search for identity among American writers changed over time? It can also encourage discussion about the ways in which immigration, colonization, conquest, youth, race, class, and gender affect national identity. 2. What is American literature? What are the distinctive voices and styles in American literature? How do social and political issues influence the American canon? This multi-part question should instigate discussion about the aesthetics and reception of American literature. What is a masterpiece? When is something considered literature, and how is this category culturally and historically dependent? How has the canon of American literature changed and why? How have American writers used language to create art and meaning? What does literature do? This question can also raise the issue of American exceptionalism: Is American literature different from the literature of other nations? 3. How do place and time shape the authors’ works and our understanding of them? This question addresses America as a location and the many ways in which place impacts American literature’s form and content. It can provoke discussion about how regionalism, geography, immigration, the frontier, and borders impact American literature, as well as the role of the vernacular in indicating place. 4. What characteristics of a literary work have made it influential over time? This question can be used to spark discussion about the evolving impact of various pieces of American literature and about how American writers used language both to create art and respond to and call for change. What is the individual’s responsibility to uphold the community’s traditions, and when are individuals compelled to resist them? What is the relationship between the individual and the community? 5. How are American myths created, challenged, and re-imagined through this literature? This question returns to â€Å"What is an American? † But it poses the question at a cultural rather than individual level. What are the myths that make up American culture? What is the American Dream? What are American myths, dreams, and nightmares? How have these changed over time? T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 5 Contexts Another way that connections can be made across and between authors is through the five Contexts in each unit: three longer Core Contexts and two shorter Extended Contexts. The goal of the Contexts is both to help you read American literature in its cultural background and to teach you close-reading skills. Each Context consists of a brief narrative about an event, trend, or idea that had particular resonance for the writers in the unit as well as Americans of their era; questions that connect the Context to the authors in the unit; and a list of related texts and images in the Online Archive. Examples of Contexts include discussions of the concept of the Apocalypse (3: â€Å"Utopian Visions†), the sublime (4: â€Å"Spirit of Nationalism†), and baseball (14: â€Å"Becoming Visible†). The Contexts can be used in conjunction with an author or as stand-alone activities. The Slide Show Tool on the Web site is ideal for doing assignments that draw connections between archive items from a Context and a text you have read. And you can create your own contexts and activities using the Slide Show Tool: these materials can then be e-mailed, viewed online, projected, or printed out on overhead transparencies. Multiculturalism In the past twenty years, the field of American literature has undergone a radical transformation. Just as the mainstream public has begun to understand America as more diverse, so, too, have scholars moved to integrate more texts by women and ethnic minorities into the standard canon of literature taught and studied. These changes can be both exhilarating and disconcerting, as the breadth of American literature appears to be almost limitless. Each of the videos and units has been carefully balanced to pair canonical and noncanonical voices. You may find it helpful, however, to trace the development of American literature according to the rise of different ethnic and minority literatures. The following chart is designed to highlight which literatures are represented in the videos and the units. As the chart indicates, we have set different multicultural literatures in dialogue with one another. Literature African American literature Video Representation 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation Study Guide Representation 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 6 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Native American literature 1: Native Voices 5: Masculine Heroes 14: Becoming Visible 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 9: Social Realism 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity 9: Social Realism 11: Modernist Portraits 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Latino literature 2: Exploring Borderlands 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Asian American literature 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Jewish American 9: Social Realism literature 11: Modernist Portraits 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Women’s literature 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Gay and lesbian literature 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 7 Literature cont’d Working-class literature Video Representation 2: Exploring Borderlands 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 9: Social Realism 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Study Guide Representation 2: Exploring Borderlands 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity LITERATURE IN ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT When you study American literature in its cultural context, you enter a multidisciplined and multi-voiced conversation where scholars and critics in different fields examine the same topic but ask very different questions about it. For example, how might a literary critic’s understanding of nineteenthcentury American culture compare to that of a historian of the same era? How can an art historian’s understanding of popular visual metaphors enrich our readings of literature? The materials presented in this section of the Study Guide aim to help you enter that conversation. Below are some suggestions on how to begin. Deep in the heart of the Vatican Museum is an exquisite marble statue from first- or second-century Rome. Over seven feet high, the statue depicts a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid in which Laocoon and his sons are punished for warning the Trojans about the Trojan horse. Their bodies are entwined with large, devouring serpents, and Laocoon’s face is turned upward in a dizzying portrait of anguish, his muscles rippling and bending beneath the snake’s strong coils. The emotion in the statue captured the heart and eye of critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who used the work as the starting point for his seminal essay on the relationship between literature and art, â€Å"Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry. † For Lessing, one of the most common errors that students of culture can make is to assume that all aspects of culture develop in tandem with one another. As Lessing points out, each art has its own strengths. For example, literature works well with notions of time and story, and thus is more flexible than visual art in terms of imaginative freedom, whereas painting is a visual medium that can reach greater beauty, although it is static. For Lessing, the mixing of these two modes (temporal and spatial) carries great risk along with rewards. As you study literature in conjunction with any of the fine arts, you may find it helpful to ask whether you agree with Lessing that literature is primarily a temporal art. Consider too the particular 8 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? strengths of the media discussed below. What do they offer that may not be available to writers? What modes do they use that complement our understanding of the literary arts? Fine Arts Albrecht Durer created some of the most disturbing drawings known to humans: they are rife with images of death, the end of the world, and dark creatures that inhabit hell. Images such as The Last Judgement (below) can be found in the Online Archive. In Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), a devout Christian knight is taunted by the Devil and Death, who gleefully shakes a quickly depleting hourglass, mocking the soldier with the passing of time. Perhaps the tension and anxiety in Durer’s print resonated with the American poet Randall Jarrell in his struggle with mental illness. In â€Å"The Knight, Death, and the Devil,† Jarrell opens with a description of the scene: Cowhorn-crowned, shockheaded, cornshucked-bearded, Death is a scarecrow—his death’s-head a teetotum . . . Jarrell’s description is filled with adjectives in much the same way that the print is crowded with detail. The poem is an instance of what critics call ekphrasis: the verbal description of a work of visual art, usually of a painting, photograph, or sculpture but sometimes of an urn, tapestry, or quilt. Ekphrasis attempts to bridge the gap between the verbal and the visual arts. Artists and writers have always influenced one another: sometimes directly as in the case of Durer’s drawing and Jarrell’s poem, and other times indirectly. The Study Guide will help you navigate through these webs of influence. For example, Unit 5 will introduce you to the Hudson River [7995] Albrecht Durer, The Last School, the great American landscape painters Judgement (1510), courtesy of the of the nineteenth century. In the Context focusprint collection of Connecticut ing on these artists, you will learn of the interCollege, New London. connectedness of their visual motifs. In Unit 11, William Carlos Williams, whose poems â€Å"The Dance† and â€Å"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus† were inspired by two paintings by Breughel, will draw your attention to the use of ekphrasis. Williams’s work is a significant example of how multiple traditions in art can influence a writer: in addition to his interest in European art, Williams imitated Chinese landscapes and poetic forms. When you encounter works of fine art, such as paintings, photographs, or sculpture, in the Online Archive or the Study Guide, you may find two tools used by art historians helpful: formal analysis and iconography. Formal L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 9 [3694] Thomas Cole, The Falls of Kaaterskill (1826), courtesy of the Warner Collection of the Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. analysis, like close readings of poems, seeks to describe the nature of the object without reference to the context in which it was created. A formal analysis addresses such questions as Where does the central interest in the work lie? How is the work composed and with what materials? How is lighting or shading used? What does the scene depict? What allusions (mythological, religious, artistic) are found in the work? Once you have described the work of art using formal analysis, you may want to extend your reading by calling attention to the cultural climate in which the work was produced. This is called an iconographic reading. Here the Context sections of the Study Guide will be useful. You may notice, for example, a number of nineteenth-century paintings of ships in the Online Archive. One of the Contexts for Unit 6 argues that these ships can be read as symbols for nineteenth-century America, where it was common to refer to the nation as a â€Å"ship of state. † The glowing light or wrecked hulls in the paintings reflect the artists’ alternating optimism and pessimism about where the young country was headed. Below are two possible readings of Thomas Cole’s painting The Falls of Kaaterskill that employ the tools of formal analysis and iconography. W R I T E R A : F O R M A L A N A L Y S I S In this painting by Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole, the falls that give the painting its name grab our attention. The shock of the white falls against the concentrated brightness of the rocks ensures that the waterfall will be the focus of the work. Even amidst this brightness, however, there is darkness and mystery in the painting, where the falls emerge out of a dark quarry and crash down onto broken tree limbs and staggered rocks. The descent is neither peaceful nor pastoral, unlike the presentation of nature in Cole’s other works, such as the Oxbow. The enormity of the falls compared to the lone human figure that perches above them also adds to the sense of power the falls embody. Barely recognizable as human because it is so minute, the figure still pushes forward as if to embrace the cascade of the water in a painting that explores the tension between the individual and the power of nature. W R I T E R B : I C O N O G R A P H Y I agree with Writer A that this painting is all about the power of nature, but I would argue that it is about a particular kind of power: one that nineteenthcentury thinkers called the â€Å"sublime. † Cole’s portrait of the falls is particularly indebted to the aesthetic ideas formulated by Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century. Burke was interested in categorizing aesthetic responses, and he distinguished the â€Å"sublime† from the â€Å"beautiful. † While the beautiful is calm and harmonious, the sublime is majestic, wild, and even savage. While viewers are soothed by the beautiful, they are overwhelmed, awestruck, and sometimes terrified by the sublime. Often associated with huge, overpowering natural 10 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? phenomena like mountains, waterfalls, or thunderstorms, the â€Å"delightful terror† inspired by sublime visions was supposed to both remind viewers of their own insignificance in the face of nature and divinity and inspire them with a sense of transcendence. Here the miniature figure is the object of our gaze even as he is obliterated by the grandeur of the water. During the nineteenth century, tourists often visited locales such as the Kaaterskill Falls in order to experience the â€Å"delightful terror† that they brought. This experience is also echoed in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay â€Å"Nature,† in which he writes of his desire to become a â€Å"transparent eyeball† that will be able to absorb the oversoul that surrounds him. The power that nature holds here is that of the divine: nature is one way we can experience higher realms. How do these readings differ? Which do you find more compelling and why? What uses can you see for formal analysis or iconographic readings? When might you choose one of these strategies over the other? History  As historian Ray Kierstead has pointed out, history is not just â€Å"one damn thing after another†: rather, history is a way of telling stories about time or, some might say, making an argument about time. The Greek historian Herodotus is often called the father of history in the western world, as he was one of the first historians to notice patterns in world events. Herodotus saw that the course of empires followed a cyclical pattern of rise and fall: as one empire reaches its peak and self-destructs out of hubris (excessive pride), a new empire or new nations will be born to take its place. Thomas Cole’s five-part series The Course of Empire (1833) mirrors this Herodotean notion of time as his scene moves from savage, to pastoral, to consummation, to devastation, to desolation. This vision of time has been tremendously influential in literature: whenever you read a work written in the pastoral mode (literature that looks back with nostalgia to an era of rural life, lost simplicity, and a time when nature and culture were one), ask yourself whether there is an implicit optimism or pessimism about what follows this lost rural ideal. For example, in Herman Melville’s South Sea novel Typee, we find the narrator in a Tahitian village. He seeks to determine if he has entered a pastoral or savage setting: is he surrounded by savages, or is he plunged in a pastoral bliss? Implicit in both is a suggestion that there are earlier forms of civilization than the United States that the narrator has left behind. Any structural analysis of a work of literature (an analysis that pays attention to how a work is ordered) would do well to consider what notions of history are embedded within. In addition to the structural significance of history, a dialogue between history and literature is crucial because much of the early literature of the United States can also be categorized as historical documents. It is helpful, therefore, to understand the genres of history. Like literature, history is comprised of different genres, or modes. Historian Elizabeth Boone defines the main traditional genres of history as res gestae, geographical, and annals. Res gestae, or â€Å"deeds done,† organizes history through a list of accomplishments. This was a popu- L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 11 lar form of history for the ancient Greeks and Romans; for example, the autobiography of Julius Caesar chronicles his deeds, narrated in the third person. When Hernan Cortes and other explorers wrote accounts of their travels (often in the form of letters to the emperor), Caesar’s autobiography served as their model. Geographical histories use travel through space to shape the narrative: Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative is an example of a geographical history in that it follows her through a sequence of twenty geographic â€Å"removes† into Indian country and back. Annals, by contrast, use time as the organizing principle. Information is catalogued by year or month. Diaries and journals are a good example of this genre. These three genres can also be found in the histories of the Aztecs and Mayans of Mesoamerica and in those of the native communities of the United States and Canada. For example, the migration legend, a popular indigenous form of history, is a geographical history, whereas trickster tales often tell the early history of the world through a series of deeds. Memoirists also mix genres; for example, the first section of William Bradford’s Of Plimouth Plantation is a geographical history, whereas the second half is annals. Today the most common historical genres are intellectual history (the history of ideas), political history (the story of leaders), and diplomatic history (the history of foreign relations). To these categories we might add the newer categories of â€Å"social history† (a history of everyday life) and â€Å"gender history† (which focuses on the construction of gender roles). Finally, history is a crucial tool for understanding literature because literature is written in—and arguably often reflects—a specific historical context. Readers of literary works can deepen their understanding by drawing on the tools of history, that is, the records people leave behind: political (or literary) documents, town records, census data, newspaper stories, captivity narratives, letters, journals, diaries, and the like. Even such objects as tools, graveyards, or trading goods can tell us important information about the nature of everyday life for a community, how it worshipped or what it thought of the relationship between life and death. 12 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Material Culture [6332] Archibald Gunn and Richard Felton Outcault, New York Journal’s Colored Comic Supplement (1896), courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-25531]. When you look at an object, it may call up associations from the past. For example, for the first-time viewer the clown figure in the image above may seem innocuous, yet at the end of the nineteenth century his popularity was so intense that it started a newspaper war fierce enough to spawn a whole new term for sensationalist, irresponsible journalism—â€Å"yellow journalism. † Objects such as this comic supplement constitute â€Å"material culture,† the objects of everyday life. In Material Culture Studies in America, Thomas Schlereth provides the following useful definition of material culture: Material culture can be considered to be the totality of artifacts in a culture, the vast universe of objects used by humankind to cope with the physical world, to facilitate social intercourse, to delight our fancy, and to create symbols of meaning. . . . Leland Ferguson argues that material culture includes all â€Å"the things that people leave behind . . . all of the things people make from the physical world—farm tools, ceramics, houses, furniture, toys, buttons, roads, cities. † (2) When we study material culture in conjunction with literature, we wed two notions of â€Å"culture† and explore how they relate. As critic John Storey notes, the first notion of culture is what is often called â€Å"high culture†Ã¢â‚¬â€the â€Å"general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic factors†; and the second is â€Å"lived culture†Ã¢â‚¬â€the â€Å"particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group† (2). In a sense, material culture (as the objects of a lived culture) allows us to see how the prevailing intellectual ideas were played out in the daily lives of people in a particular era. Thus, as Schlereth explains, through studying material culture we can learn about the â€Å"belief systems—the values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions—of a particular community or society, usually across time† (3). In reading objects as embedded with meaning, we follow Schlereth’s premise that â€Å"objects made or L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 13 modified by humans, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, reflect the belief patterns of individuals who made, commissioned, purchased, or used them, and, by extension, the belief patterns of the larger society of which they are a part† (3). The study of material culture, then, can help us better understand the cultures that produced and consumed the literature we read today. Thomas Schlereth suggests a number of useful models for studying material culture; his â€Å"Art History Paradigm† is particularly noteworthy in that it will help you approach works of â€Å"high art,† such as paintings and sculptures, as well. The â€Å"Art History Paradigm† argues that the interpretive objective of examining the artifact is to â€Å"depict the historical development and intrinsic merit† of it. If you are interested in writing an â€Å"Art History Paradigm† reading of material culture, you might look at an object and ask yourself the following questions, taken from Sylvan Barnet’s Short Guide to Writing about Art. These questions apply to any art object: First, we need to know information about the artifact so we can place it in a historical context. You might ask yourself: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What is my first response to the work? When and where was the work made? Where would the work originally have been seen? What purpose did the work serve? In what condition has the work survived? (Barnet 21–22) In addition, if the artifact is a drawing, painting, or advertisement, you might want to ask yourself questions such as these: 1. What is the subject matter? What (if anything) is happening? 2. If the picture is a portrait, how do the furnishings and the background and the angle of the head or the posture of the head and body (as well as the facial expression) contribute to our sense of the subject’s character? 3. If the picture is a still life, does it suggest opulence or want? 4. In a landscape, what is the relation between human beings and nature? Are the figures at ease in nature, or are they dwarfed by it? Are they one with the horizon, or (because the viewpoint is low) do they stand out against the horizon and perhaps seem in touch with the heavens, or at least with open air? If there are woods, are these woods threatening, or are they an inviting place of refuge? If there is a clearing, is the clearing a vulnerable place or is it a place of refuge from ominous woods? Do the natural objects in the landscape somehow reflect the emotions of the figures? (Barnet 22–23; for more questions, see pp. 23–24) Material culture is a rich and varied resource that ranges from kitchen utensils, to advertisements, to farming tools, to clothing. Unpacking the significance of objects that appear in the stories and poems you read may help you better understand characters and their motives. 14 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Architecture. Most of the time we read the hidden meanings of buildings without even thinking twice. Consider the buildings below: Above: [9089] Anonymous, Capitol Building at Washington, D. C. (1906), courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-121528]. Right: [6889] Anonymous, Facade of the Sam Wah’s Chinese Laundry (c. 1890 –1900), courtesy of the Denver Public Library. Even if we had never seen either of these buildings before, it would not take us long to determine which was a government building and which was a smalltown retail establishment. Our having seen thousands of buildings enables us to understand the purpose of a building from architectural clues. When first seeing a work of architecture, it is helpful to unpack cultural assumptions. You might ask: 1. What is the purpose of this building? Is it public or private? What activities take place within it? 2. What features of the building reflect this purpose? Which of these features are necessary and which are merely conventional? 3. What buildings or building styles does this building allude to? What values are inherent in that allusion? 4. What parts of this building are principally decorative rather than functional? What does the ornament or lack of it say about the status of the owners or the people who work there? 5. What buildings surround this building? How do they affect the way the building is entered? 6. What types of people live or work in this building? How do they interact within the space? What do these findings say about the relative social status of the occupants? How does the building design restrict or encourage that status? 7. How are people supposed to enter and move through the building? What clues does the building give as to how this movement should take place? L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 15 These questions imply two basic assumptions about architecture: (1) architecture reflects and helps establish social status and social relations; and (2) architecture

The Movie Girl, Interrupted Essay - 939 Words

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