The Effect of Employee Job Satisfaction

The Effect of Employee Job Satisfaction Study Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The author studied some of the definitions and the sources of job stress and he mentioned some of the stress related illness; he also examined the types and factors of organizational commitment. The research question of the paper is what is the effect of job stress on employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment? Keywords: job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment Introduction The main purpose of the paper is to examine the job stress and its effect on job satisfaction of the employees and organizational commitment and thus on the organization as a whole. Stress, which have a huge effect on job fulfillment that subsequently affect the job performance, is considered a natural division of each and every occupation. Lately, researchers suggest that when the work nature alters the employees welfare is affected. These days, Job stress considers a very important issue because of its unavoidable outcome in any organization as a result of the current life difficulties (Singh, 2009: 255). Also Ziauddin et al (2010: 618) stated that in our society stress is being inevitable; and in order to avoid it, recognition and acceptance can ease its consequences and effects. As job stress will affect organizational commitment, and this will directly lead to the execution of employees and will also affect the firms performance. Thats why organizations have to reduce the stress on its employees. Another important topic in organizational research is organizational commitment. It can be used in the understanding of employees behaviour in the workplace. Organizational commitment imitates the degree to which employees identify with an organization and are loyal to its goals. Meta-analysis studies revealed a strong positive relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Tett and Meyer, 1993). On the other hand, some studies found that 38 percent only of employees experience a long-term commitment to their workplace. However organizations with highly committed employees will have a higher productivity than an organization with a non committed employees (YUSOB, 1999) The three variables, job stress, job satisfaction and commitment to the organization are grapping the attention of the organizational behavior research, these organizational behaviors directly and strongly affect the general performance of any institution. (Chen, Silverthorne, Hung, 2005:243). One of the most raising problems is job stress that consequences in significant costs to workers and the work association around the globe, and it is the main reason for employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Khatibi, Asadi and Hamidi, 2009:272). Some limitations and gaps have been found. Most of the studies on job stress focused only on the effect of job stress on job satisfaction or organizational commitment or even on the organization performance. For example; Sullivan Bahgat (1992) investigate the relation between the organizational stress with job satisfaction and performance .Fairbrother and Warn (2003) applied a research to examine the strong relation between stress, dimensions of workplace and job satisfaction. Chen, Silverthorne Hung (2006) studied the effect of commitment and organizational communication on job stress and job performance. Khatibi, Asadi Hamidi (2009) examined the connection between job stress and organizational commitment in National Olympic and Paralympic Academy (NOPA) employees. But they didnt specify any sectors, like the labor productivity in Egypt or in any other countries. So the Research Question of the Research Gap is what is the effect of job stress on job satisfaction and organizationa l commitment on Egyptian labor? The research question of the paper is What is the effect of job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment? since job stress these days is inevitable effect in any corporation because of the current life difficulties, and it might affect employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which may lead to the termination of employees and this will have a ruthless impact on the organization performance which will affect the organization as a whole. The paper is consisted of four main segments. The first segment is an overview on job stress; its definition, sources and levels. The second segment is an overview on job satisfaction; definition, variables and importance. The third segment is an overview on organizational commitment; definition, types and factors affecting it. The last segment will examine the impact of job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Then finally the methodology will be discussed followed by the conclusion. Literature Review Overview on job stress The job stress is indirectly proportional with the organizational commitment and the job performance , whenever the employee is more committed to the organization , the job stress will decrease, thus the job performance will increase and vice versa. . (Chen, Silverthorne, Hung, 2005:243), a raising problem of handling stress at work is being faced by personals and their institutions however, they are vulnerable because they need to understand the nature of their job-related stress (Williams, Cooper, 1998:306). One risk that should grab the attention of managers and they should be responsive to negative factors such as job stress that have a negative effects on employees health and as a result it has a unconstructive effect on job satisfaction and job performance. (Hamidi and Eivazi, 2010:964). Definition of job stress According to Hamidi and Eivazi (2010: 964) work stress is defined as the condition where some features or a group of characteristics that disturb the employee on his/her physical, mental, or societal homeostasis. Furthermore, Williams, Cooper (1998: 307) acknowledged that job Stress, which can be measured by some various measures such as mental physical condition, nervousness, and job satisfaction, is a complicated, multivariate process. Also (Lee Shin: 2005, 100) agreed that job stress is the condition of sentimental fatigue and sarcasm that happens repeatedly between entities who do people work (Lee Shin: 2005, 100). Sources of job stress In the workplace there are many reasons for employees job stress; one of the main reasons is the work overload, employees stay at the organization for a lot of time working to handle their jobs on their deadlines. While executives pay no attention for the stress and moreover they inquire more work from employee to do (Shahu and Gole, 2008: 238) In our life there are many important parts; job life is one of those parts. It causes different types of stress. Competitive nature of the jobs leads employees to be more worried and spend more time in their work; this considered a reason for stress. Generally employees are more anxious about their results and outcomes in their work, this way influence their treatments with people and with their customers as well. As the paper showed before stress is concerned with environmental conditions which invented to present the demand that frightens to exceed the persons abilities. Stress leads a negative impact to the organization, so the employees and their boss should understand the causes or the sources of stress (Abdullah and ahsan 2009: 121-122). There are different variables that have major effect on job stress. Those variables are role ambiguity, role conflict, work overload, and job-induced anxiety. Role conflict and role ambiguity are related to organizational and individual consequences. Role ambiguity is a degree that obvious data is lacking concerning three steps. The first step is the probabilities related to a role. The second step is the techniques used to accomplish role expectations and probabilities. The third step is the role performance outcomes. Role ambiguity may be caused by unstable expectations and probabilities. Role conflict happened when a person meets the immediate incidence of role requirements where personal performance prevents the others performance. Work overload shows too much work and responsibilities that exceed persons ability. Job-induced anxiety is the degree that individuals know how the indication and signs of worry about their work position and circumstances (Li and Shani 1991: 108-109). Job stress is a result of organizational portions, working for long hours, lack of organizational support and organizational change. Lack of support from supervisors and colleagues, and conflict with demands and pressures can lead to increasing job stress. There are other sources of job stress, insufficient staffing, and long working hours. Responsibility schedules which are in conflict with time for family, projectile field responsibility, deployments, threat of military disciplines, problem with supervisors and a wide diversity of other job related matters and problems. Work overload, work design, job qualifications, job performance and organizational structure are indicators of job stress. This study also added other sources of job stress which are work dimension factors which include lack of clearness of the work role, and disturbance of personal life and every day routines (Bokti and Abu Talib 2009: 301). There are three different influences that have great impact on creating stress. The first influence is personal influence; it confirmed that the feature of the marital relationship will arbitrate the effects of job insecurity (Wilson and Larson 1993: 74). Low wages or salaries, bad environment in work such as low social support and high workload, and high level of stress, those are factors that make employees leave their work and positions. While, getting recognition in the workplace was one of the reasons that make employees to continue in their jobs (Abualrub and Al-Zaru 2008: 228). Work overload related to the amount of stress practiced by people because of the awareness which they are can not deal with the quantity and the amount of required work allocated to them. People are expected to practice strain when they are expected to work hard and do more than the available time that allow them to do. Another source of job stress is lack of autonomy. This source is related to the insight of the control of decision making. This is because of the limitations of job or the workplace. The person is expected to experience stress when there is interdependence between the tasks of individual and the tasks of other people. There are other different sources of stress; broken or poor relationships with work colleagues will leas to high levels of stress. Unfair management will consider a potential source of stress. The jobs basic nature could be a source of stress. This study confirmed that lack of challenging and meaningful tasks, physical working circumstances is considered aspects of the job that may increase stress (Coetzee and Villiers 2010:30). Job stress is an adaptive reply happening in the workplace. Its reply is mediated by the characteristics of individuals and mediated by the psychological processes. In many occupational situations are now usually identified in educational situations. A lot of top stressors associated positively to the limitations of time. Time pressures, work overload and interpersonal relationships were major stressors among universitys staff. Conflict happens among teaching; scholarship and the responsibility of service were highly ranked as stressful condition. Job stress increases with greater public service expectations included faculty members rank, type of institution and gender (Thorsen 1996:474). Universitys teachers stress related to phenomena as poor physical comfort, mental ill-health and intention to leave. Teaching is considered as a demanding profession. There is bad impact of job stress between teachers on their well being and the behavior of work. Stress between universitys teachers leads to burnout. University teachers who practice and understand higher demands on their attention, energy, and time than others, whereas getting fewer prizes and recompenses, they become estranged from their work lives (Taris and Schreurs 2001: 284). Job stress should be at a suitable level, job stress has a negative effect on job performance of university teachers. Pressure of universitys teacher resulted from big competition, role conflict and the expectation of job which introduced in the system of education. This caused problems in professional behavior and job burnout (Cai-feng 2010: 130). He and Li (2000: 254) mentioned in their study that stress has sources, those sources are Social Environment, Family Condit, and workplace culture and atmosphere. Those sources lead to a response from individual, and then it causes job stress symptoms.Job efforts could be considered as stressor, it placed depend on the workplace and the deadlines of meetings. Job efforts have a direct relation with stress in the workplace, when it increases stress level increases also and vise versa. Job reward which is the real wages, categorized into three different mechanisms. The three mechanisms are personal financial need, personal social need, and finally personal esteem on and off the work environment. Job reward has a negative relationship with job stress (Rehman and Khan 2010:43). Levels of job stress The qualified difference between the requirement of the environment and the abilities of the individual is what stress means. Job stressor factor is divided into three main sectors. The first one is individual factor; second one is job factor or group factor and finally organizational factor. Job factors and specific job responsibilities structure the job, the ecological work factors and those factors that is associated to work plan comprise some variables, such as; job duties diversity, job difficulty, temperature, noise, and the level autonomy and control that workers have on their technique and speed on their job (Khatibi, Asadi and Hamidi, 2009:272). Individual level Some studies have been found that individuals stressors are the most important level than other levels. Several individual stressors are; the lack of social support, Individuals stressor factors have been studied more than other levels: role conflict, role ambiguity, volume overload of work, embarrassment changes, the quality of interpersonal relationships, lack of social support and personality type. Those stressor factors that are attributed to organizational factors are cultural and management practicing within the organization, non-participation in decision making, inappropriate and inadequate communication, totalitarian leadership style, organizational policies, insufficient opportunities for advancement, lack of job security which play a role in making stress. Job stress with any model needs the signs to recognize. (Khatibi, Asadi and Hamidi, 2009:272). There are three different influences that have great impact on creating stress. The first influence is personal influence; it confirmed that the feature of the marital relationship will arbitrate the effects of job insecurity (Wilson and Larson 1993: 74). Low wages or salaries, bad environment in work such as low social support and high workload, and high level of stress, those are factors that make employees leave their work and positions. While, getting recognition in the workplace was one of the reasons that make employees to continue in their jobs (Abualrub and Al-Zaru 2008: 228). Group level Organizational level The person environment fit model concerns with two main variables. The two variables are the individual characteristics of the worker and the organizational qualities of the work environment. In this Model, job stress is supposed to arise from an oddity between the environment and the person. This model showed the inconsistency in fit is a stressor. Unresolved issues will lead to psychological and physiological strain and strain is any psychological or physiological variation from what is usual for the person. Bad person environment fit could create a high risk to the employees (Blix and Lee 1991: 290). Stress-related illnesses A considerable relationship between level of peoples stress and repulsive reaction has been found in some therapeutic researches, such as; mental distress, sleep disorders and heart disease which may lead to the increase in the rate of absenteeism and that affect the employees job performance and as a result the organization in general will be affected. (Hamidi and Eivazi, 2010:964). Overview on Job satisfaction Baker College (2004:31-32) stated that the affective reaction to the job satisfaction is reflected by the constructive emotional condition, that defines the term job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is accompanied with two effects either absenteeism or turnover. Job satisfaction is considered a perfect predictor of employee absenteeism or turnover. Definition of job satisfaction Job satisfaction defined by Lambert (2004, p.210) as the amount of which the workers like their job. While Lambert, Barton, and Hogan (1999, p.97) defined job satisfaction as the gratification of peoples need that linked to their work. Camp (1994) and Lambert (2004) mentioned that employees job satisfaction can be measured by the satisfaction from pay, promotion, work, supervision, and coworkers. On the other hand Glisson Durick (1988) mentioned that job satisfaction is attached to another five additional measurements which are; task significance, skill variety, task identity, independence, and feedback. Sources of job satisfaction Some paraphernalia may cause the employees satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The major factors that encourage and satisfy them are wages, chances, raises, bonuses, working hours, environment, communication and relationship with their peers and supervisors. In addition to the availability of resources needed to achieve their jobs and tasks, one more thing is the involvement in the decision making process (Adeyemo, 2007: 325). Researches agreed that culture, race, education, age, residence and relatives can affect employees job satisfaction. For example; the groups of workers who didnt complete their education or even didnt graduate from a high school are more likely to be very satisfied from those who graduate, also the younger employees or workers are least likely to be fulfilled than the older ones. African Americans workers are more likely to be satisfied than Hispanic workers. Also there are some other sources that may affect job satisfaction negatively or positively like for example; the employees that dont show their emotions are more likely to be very fulfilled with each and every increase in the emotional control. On the other hand, employees that come across violence from customers or the members of the family are less likely to be much fulfilled with each and every increase of the abuse occurrences (Delp et al, 2010:929). Monetary limitations that boundary the contact with health care can significantly reduce job fulfillment. There are three main reasons that illuminate the impact of meeting of the physicians. Firstly, the insufficient health aids that dont protect all workers or all costs. Secondly, there is no sick leave that requires workers to sacrifice their salaries when they miss their work for health arrangements. Finally, there are no support respite care workers which will force them to choose between disregard their own health requirements or leaving consumers and caring for themselves (Delp et al, 2010:933-934). Importance of job satisfaction Job satisfaction is a must in any organization, since employees with low level of job satisfaction create a lot of unwanted and adverse behaviors within the organization; like for example wasting the organization working hours doing some personal duties, emotional and actual retirements from their jobs, and other changes that change the work environment (Camp, 1994) in (Getahun, Sims Hummer: 1). Some other negative results is related with low level of job satisfaction such as the early withdrawals, absenteeism and attendance problems, and the absence of involvement in job tasks. Overview on organizational commitment Many researchers concentrated on the association between employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment. They showed that job role encounter and uncertainty have no effect on the organizational commitment in law, but they revealed the presence of the positive relationship between organizational commitment and leader provision, group cohesiveness and promotion chances (Jaramillo, Nixon Sams, 2005). Definition of organizational commitment Organization commitment and job commitment have been studied (Koslowsky, 1990: 167-168). Organization commitment can be simply defined as the level at which the employee attracted to the organization while job commitment is the level at which the employee attracted to the job (Bashaw; Grant 1994: 43). Job commitment describes how people feel towards their duties and tasks. One can be committed to the organization without being committed to his job and vice versa (Freund; Zahavy, 2007: 322). Workers can be more satisfied with their jobs and loyal to their organization by raising their empowerment as a result they will improve their performance as well as the organizations performance (Gallie et al, 2009: 2). Types of organizational commitment There are three types of organizational commitment; affective, continuous, and normative. In the words of Allen and Meyer (1990: 3) employees with strong affective commitment remain because they want to, those with strong continuance commitment because they need to, and those with strong normative commitment because they feel they ought to do so. Affective commitment According to (Solinger, Olffen Roe, 2008: 72) affective commitment was defined as the sentimental link between the employee and the organization, in which the employee is attached to the company; it also comprises employees involvement in the organization as well as their identification with it. Affective commitment represents satisfied and pleased feelings of employees towards their jobs. Indeed affective commitment can be described as the willingness of the employee to stay in the organization because he wants to as said by Allen and Meyer (1990: 3). Also (Turner Chelladurai, 2005:195) agreed that affective commitment imitates an emotional affection to the organization as an objective not to the action of staying or leaving the organization. Consequently, affective commitment greatest prognosticator is the emotional agreeable involvement of work. Continuance commitment Continuous commitment was defined by (Solinger, Olffen Roe, 2008: 72) as the supplementary cost paid by the employee after leaving the company, this resembles with the utilitarian outcomes that consists of penalties and rewards that are supposed to follow from engaging in the behaviour (Eagly Chaiken, 1993: 209). Continuous commitment is the attitude toward a behaviour not headed for the organization. It reveals the deliberation of outcomes of action whether to remain or leave in the organization. In other words as Meyer Allen (1990) that employee with a strong continuous commitment remain in the organization because he needs to. Normative commitment Normative commitment is the state of the employee where he feels responsible to stay in the organization (Solinger, Olffen Roe, 2008: 72). Normative outcomes concern to approval or disapproval that significant others are expected to express after performing the behaviour as well as the self-administered rewards (pride) and punishments (guilt) that follow from internalized moral rules (Solinger, Olffen Roe, 2008: 72) In fact employees that are characterized by normative commitment feel that they should stay in the organization and that they have to carry on their work. Normative commitment is a value where similarity between employees and organizational values might take place. (Turner Chelladurai, 2005:195) Factors affect organizational commitment Chen, Silverthorne Hung (2005) mentioned that not only the job stress that affects the level of organizational commitment but also organizational communication has a substantial and affirmative relationship with organizational commitment. They also found that organizational intervention and personal predisposition can influence organizational commitment. Organizational intervention Personal predisposition Importance of organizational commitment One of the key factors that affect productivity is organizational commitment that increases the performance that leads to a higher productivity as well as the employees are loyal and committed to their jobs in addition to job satisfaction. Therefore organizational commitment leads to the job satisfaction and motivation which affect productivity (Eaton, 2003: 148). (Gallie et al 2009) also believed that workers who are highly committed to their organizations can increase their results because they will be more likely to work hard, they may also decrease their absence as for example in Google organization people are less likely to be absent because they are highly committed to their jobs and organizations and they may not leave their jobs. In contrast employees who have no other choices rather than staying in the organization may have a negative effect on productivity as he is not committed to his organization or to his job in addition he may affect his other employees resulting in fewer outcomes (Eaton, 2003: 148). The impact of job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment Many researchers found that in one hand, job stress is indirectly proportional with job satisfaction. On the other hand, they found that between organizational commitment and job satisfaction positive relationship. As a result, it is rational to have a negative relationship between job stress and organizational commitment (Khatibi, Asadi and Hamidi, 2009:273). Low organizational commitment Many researchers concluded in their researches that there is a significant relationship between job stress and the whole organizational commitment. Extra investigation displays that there is also a relationship between the affective and continuous commitment with job stress but they didnt find any clear link between job stress and normative commitment (Ziauddin et al, 2010: 617). While Somers on the other hand stated that there is a relationship between affective and normative commitment with job stress, but no clear link between continuous commitment and job stress. Also Khatibi, Asadi Hamidi (2009: 272) agreed with Somers that there is a negative significant relationship between job stress and organizational commitment, affective commitment and normative commitment, but there was not a significant relationship between job stress and continuance commitment. Lee et al stated that there is an adverse relation between job stress and organizational commitment, while wells et al (2009) on the other hand revealed in his study that there is a positive relationship between job stress and organizational commitment and an adverse relationship between job stress and job commitment. Yaghoubi et al disagreed with all these relations and declared that there is no significant relationship between organizational commitment and job stress, he then added that it is important for any organization to have healthy and committed employees as well as sport organizations as ther are not exceptions. Job dissatisfaction and termination of employee In the short run, job stress will reduce job satisfaction that results in decreasing the rate of absences of the employees. Absenteeism is the reaction of the employees towards the feeling of being dissatisfied. While in the long run, being dissatisfied will have a huge result in increasing the rate of turnover. On the other hand, some employees may not leave the company as they buildup financial interest which will be so difficult for them to quit the job and these financial interests may include wages, encouragements and it might be the only return to the employees family (Baker College, 2004:36). So whenever the employees are satisfied and committed to the organization they will have a lower tendency to leave it (Ziauddin, 2010:618). Stress affect organizational outcome Some researchers discovered that the previous and the significance of the lower job stress leads to a higher job satisfaction and higher organizational commitment, since it will give them the feeling that the job met expectations (Moncrief et al, 1996) they also added that employees will have a lower tendency to leave the organization when they are highly satisfied and committed to the organization. (Elangovan, 2001) indicates that there are durable fundamental relations between job stress and satisfaction (where the higher the job stress the lower the job satisfaction), and between job satisfaction and organizational commitment (the lower the job satisfaction the lower the organizational commitment). He also stated that there is a mutual association between organizational commitment and turnover goals (lower organizational commitment leads to a great intention to quit). Stress is linked with some negative effects in the workplace some of them are the lack of interest for work, organization, and colleagues. It also includes absence of creativity, loss of duties, reduced effectiveness, increased inflexibility of thinking, and decreased the ability of performing (Fairbrother and Warn, 2003: 9). Job stress is related with significant occupational consequences of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and the withdrawal behaviour of the employees (Sullivan Bhagat, 1992). Organizational commitment and job satisfaction regularly report an adverse relationship with the intent to leave and turnover (Hollenbeck and Williams, 1986). According to Fairbrother and Warn (2003: 9) they stated that organizational commitment and job satisfaction have repeatedly negative relationship to intent to quit and leave the organization, since high level of job stress most of the time connected to the low level of commitment and satisfaction. The major predictive effect of dissatisfaction is job stress and it will have a great tendency to leave the organization (Landsbergis, 1988; Terry et al., 1993) Methodology In order to test the mentioned hypotheses, a quantitative method should be applied which includes questionnaires and interviews. Since we are aiming to examine the effect of job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, a questionnaire will be a valid tool to draw statistical conclusions. The questionnaire will be distributed in two private manufactories one for clothing while the other one for paper and cardboards. Thus a structured face-to-face questionnaire is needed where the interviewer presents the items orally in order to clarify the main purpose of the study and the meaning of the questions, because most of labors are illiterate. The sample of the study will consist of two hundred Egyptian employees working in private manufactories in Egypt, specifically in Cairo for convenience. We chose private manufactories due to the easy access to them in order to distribute the questionnaire, because it will be much more difficult to distribute the questionnaire in public organizations or

Tuckman Group

Storming Stage: Every individual in the group will come up with different ideas to solve the problems of the reject; Also members will share their experiences and bring in what they have learnt from different projects form the past which will be great benefit to this one (what worked and what didn't work). At this stage every idea is valuable to make the project perfect -All ideas or contributions must be noted and treated as important. Morning Stage: At this stage, they work out strengths and weaknesses Of all the members to know who can do what based on individuals background, experience and area of expertise.The task is now assigned to everyone from the processes listed in the forming stage. They also prepare a timely schedule for the completion of the tasks as well as meeting dates in which each stage of task is fed back to the group ( as they are all from different countries, their meeting could be done using ‘Conference call' or online). They will have to prepare their sc hedule in line with the tight deadline they have been given. Performing Stage: This is the stage in which the project is actually completed, tested and executed. The improvement process is completed and updated unto the company's database.Samaritan oversees the whole process as a team leader. Paul will be in charge of the budget – looking at how much the company is willing to spend on this project; the actual cost of resources needed; cost of contracting out if necessary; and how well they can manage the fund available to complete the project. Michael has a good knowledge of stakeholders, so he is going to be looking at the needs of clients; the benefit and suitability of the improvement process to the company's operation. Michael along with Alice will be working together looking at the cost benefit analysis of the project.They will be considering and weighing the benefits of he project to its cost to the company in long term. Susan and Alice will be given the responsibility of writing the programmed, of needs to improve the process using programming languages, which will be incorporated into the existing process software and updated. Everyone is now aware of what is expected of him or her and from here they move onto the fourth stage which is; Adoring Stage: after the new process is implemented, then the team's objective is completed and thereby dissolved, this is referred to as the adoring stage.The basis for which the group was plopped has been actualities. When there is need for any other improvement then another group/team will be established which may comprise of the same or different set of people. Mourning Stage: This won't really apply to this team as their task has been completed and the team has been automatically dissolved. The mourning stage is when a group loses its member(s) and there happens to be no replacement. It may only apply to this team if doing he period they are working on the project, a member resigns is being sacked from the c ompany and not been replaced by any other person.

Chinese Cinderella Essay

Last term our class studied Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. It is Adeline’s story, about her tough and horrible childhood as a neglected and unloved daughter of a rich and arrogant man, and a cruel, and abusive Stepmother. Right from the moment her mother died, Adeline was labelled as ‘bad luck’. Her family was very superstitious and believed she caused her mothers death so was therefore despised, no one wanted her around at all. Unfortunately for Adeline she didn’t really have any parents, her father loathed her as she had supposedly killed his beloved wife, and now she no longer had a mother so she was taken care of by her Aunt Baba who lived with the family at the time. Aunt Baba was the only real family Adeline had when she was young, but was grateful that she had an Aunt has wonderful as hers. A great moment I found in this book that showed the connection between Aunt Baba and Adeline and the close relationship that they have, was the time when Adeline came home from kindergarten one afternoon with a medal and a certificate, her Aunt was so proud of her and Adeline just seemed so excited and happy because for once she felt like someone cared for her. Her aunt opened her safe keep box that she kept secretly away and put the certificate away with the rest of her treasures. I think its wonderful how her Aunt cares for her niece like that when she doesn’t even have to, and it proves how much of a kind-hearted person Aunt Baba really is. Through out reading this book, I’ve noticed how Adeline changes, in the beginning she is a curious, smart and loving little girl, but towards the end of the story she gets a little more depressed and lonely. She is annoyed at the way her parents treat her but she puts up with it because she knows the consequences if she was to speak out. Adeline enjoyed being at school more than she enjoyed being at home, she felt like she belonged there and she loved it more than anything else. She was treated fairly and equally, everyone accepted her the way they accepted everyone else, she didn’t feel like an outcast or alone anymore. She was a very lively yet shy little girl and was loved by everyone she met except for her family of course. But then Adeline was then moved to live in Shanghai after her Nai-Nai passed away. When they arrived in Shanghai, Adeline was beginning to feel displaced again because she was forced to live on a different floor of the house than everyone else because Niang was now in charge again. This was when her life started to get worse and worse. Niang was handling Adeline’s life far more dreadful than anyone else’s. She made sure that Adeline and her siblings were punished terribly if they dare did something wrong. Adeline was getting quite upset about the way her parents were behaving towards her, but she handled it in her own way, just staying calm and quiet but raging inside, accepting that this was the way it was going to be. Adeline became happier when she joined sacred heart (sheng Xin) school in first grade. She made friends with a sporty and athletic girl named Wu chun mei and also became elected class president. Unlucky for Adeline, Niang didn’t like this at all because Adeline had actually achieved something on her own and Niang was realising how loved and appreciated she really was. Adeline was not permitted to have friends over or go to friends houses under her stepmothers instructions. She was only allowed to eat whatever was put in front of her at dinner times and was not allowed snacks in-between meals. She could not enter certain parts of the house without permission and she was forbidden to talk to fourth brother and little sister. An easier way of putting that, is that Niang did not approve of Adeline having fun of any kind. But this made Adeline stronger and more independent, as she learnt to do things on her own that other children normally would do with their parents. I don’t think she liked being left out and treated differently when she’s at home but she learned to cope with it and in a way she sort of had her own little world around her where she would dream of things that she would never be able to do in real life that way she could still keep herself hopeful and entertained. She has a very vivid imagination and is smart and brave. She was always top of the class and received a ton of awards for best academic student. Her classmates looked up to her but she never seemed to understand why. She thought of herself as a poor, dirty unloved child because that was the influence she was getting from her family, but her friends and her Aunt and grandfather believed that she would go places one day. When she was younger, her goal was to get her Parents and her family to love her and appreciate her but after she had won so many awards and certificates then she realised what potential she had and started to focus on her studies a bit more. Her grandfather enlightened her on the all of the amazing possibilities and opportunities in the world and how she could also have them someday if she worked hard enough. She changed a lot when Ye-Ye passed away, she grew more and more intelligent and hardworking as she was determined to make her grandfather proud. She had a lot of encouragement and a lot of discouragement through the years but she chose to listen to the people that were cheering her on, like her grandfather and her Aunt Baba and Wu chun-mei, because she, just like anyone else, would obviously decide to follow the rewarding and successful path in life. Adeline decides that since her childhood has been a mess and a disaster she doesn’t want it to carry on this way so she is doing good things in her life and makes a change. She wins the play writing competition and dedicates her play to Ye-Ye and gets the opportunity of a lifetime to attend school in England with her brother. I could only Imagine how excited and overwhelmed she must’ve been when she heard that her father was so proud of her. She reached both of her goals in life which made her very pleased with herself and her outstanding achievements. One thing I learnt from Adeline Yen Mah is that no matter how hard it is, and no matter how tough life might seem, as long as you try your best it all pays off in the end. Chapter 15: Boarding School in Tianjin Without explaining where she was going, Niang and her father drove her to St. Joseph’s School, where she previously attended kindergarten. She was there again, but this time as a boarder. Sadly, when her father had to fill out papers for the flight to Tianjin, he couldn’t remember her name or her birth date. Neither her father or Niang said good-bye. The next morning she woke up in the bright room and met Nancy Chen, who was in the bed next to her. Nancy’s mother asked what was wrong with Adeline’s parents leaving a child alone in a dangerous situation—the Communists would soon be invading. That explained to Adeline why the large school only had a couple of hundred students. After a few months, Adeline remained the only student at St Josephs. All the students had fled with their families to escape the communists. Adeline hoped that she would wake up one morning and her parents were there to collect her to take her home, but then she didn’t know if that would be worse. The way her family just left her there all by herself is appaulling and it’s a very memorable moment in the book for me because I think that if I was in Adeline’s situation, I would be extremely terrified. No one there to play with or talk to, that would drive me crazy. The anxiety of worrying when the communists were going to come along and take you away. Sitting there alone everyday curious to know if anyone actually cared about you anymore, if you were even remembered? When her father forgot her name, that was probably the worst thing a parent could’ve done, whilst on his way to dropping her off at boarding school forever. I felt terrible for Adeline, she has never had her parents there to support her and her father doesn’t even know her name or birthday. A life without loving Parents is possibly the worse life you could have. You need your mum to read you bed time stories and tuck you into bed at night and you need your dad to teach you how to ride a bike and be proud of you. She still has parents but if they are willing to leave you at a boarding school all by yourself when there are soldiers coming, then I don’t think they make good parents at all. The worst part about this chapter is when she is playing with a basketball in the playground by herself, and a teacher runs into the playground and calls to Adeline â€Å" Adeline your Aunt is here to take you back to Hong Kong with her on her ship†. She was standing there with her heart racing 1000 beats per second thinking is it true? Could she really be here? The one person Adeline cares about, has come to rescue her, this is like a dream come true for her. She sprints across the playground as fast her tiny feet could carry her, and stops to find a stranger. She would‘ve been so confused, isn’t this meant to be my Aunt? She is thinking. The disappointment would’ve been unbearable. Gone from being so excited to the biggest let down ever in a second. Even I was getting excited for her, I thought wow this could be her chance to escape and start fresh, with her lovely Aunt the one that has always been her best friend. I instantly imagined her and her Aunt Baba on a beautiful ship sailing across the sea far away from everyone else. But then everything changed, when I read on to see that it was Niangs Sister and then I got a whole different picture in my head, of poor Adeline living the rest of her life away in a dark and dingy dungeon taking orders from the dreadful Niang again. It started to feel like she actually was Cinderella. I thought that was one of the most dreadful parts of this whole story. It felt like it was the part where Adeline was forgotten and abandoned. If that was to ever happen to me one day, I would be grateful that I read Chinese Cinderella because I would do exactly what Adeline did, hope, pray and try my hardest to reach success.

Stem Cells The Superhero Cells - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2090 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Biology Essay Level High school Tags: Stem Cell Essay Did you like this example? Wouldnt it be great if we are able to manipulate cells for our own welfare? Stem cells can help victims who are diabetic, paralyzed, and even burn victims. Stem cells are helpful for victims who have had third degree burns. It can help make insulin for people that are diabetic, and assist patients that are paralyzed to be granted the probability of moving their arms or even walking. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Stem Cells: The Superhero Cells" essay for you Create order This is why, for my paper, I would like to talk about stem cells. Stem cells are mainly based in bone marrow and other sections of the body. These cells are tremendously good at dividing and becoming a particular cell, be it hair, skin, or muscle cells. Stems cells are the foundation of our existence. They are one of the first few cells that are produced in the blastocyst. These cells help create an embryo from inside to outside starting from the heart, liver, lungs, and other major organs in our body. This is why stem cells were first known as embryonic stem cells, because that is where they were first seen. As long as stem cells can conform into any cell, we can create and manipulate them to the benefit of patients everywhere. Ultimately, this is why stem cells are monumental for the future of healthcare around the globe. Stem cells, are cells that are skilled in modifying themselves into organs around them. They do this by separating and creating daughter cells which in turn produces more daughter cells. They are the lone cells in the body with this ability. Stem cells are the Adams and Eves of the bodies cells. However, unlike Adam and Eve, the stem cells are still evident in our bodies. The rate might be slightly smaller compared to when a human was only an embryo. Stem cells are first seen in the establishment of embryos. In this embryonic stage, stem cells are called pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells have the same function as adult stem cells. The only difference among the two is that the pluripotent stem cell is able to evolve into any cell to create a human baby and an adult stem cell has a narrow scope. Adult stem cells are finite, but can be exploited to make other cells, such as tissue for skin or B-cells that manufacture insulin for diabetic patients. Thanks to the improvement in science, we are now able to utilize stem cells and actualize perfect settings in which a stem cell can reproduce into unique cells. A family is fast asleep in their home, when all of a sudden, a fire starts right next to their house. The father is the first one to notice and he was able to save his wife and their children, but ended up with very severe burns. An estimated 486,000 burn injuries require medical treatment each year, and nearly 40,000 lead to hospitalization, according to the American Burn Association. (Scutti, S. 2016, December 07). Burns are categorized in 3 degrees. First-degree burns only affects the first layer of skin (epidermis), Second-degree burns affect the first and second layer of the skin (epidermis and dermis), and Third-degree burns affect all of the layers of the skin (epidermis, dermis and hypodermis). Medicine has come a long way for burn victims. Thomas Bold, CEO and co-creator of the SkinGun has used stem cells to help burn victims. How did he do it? We dont do anything with the cells. We just isolate them from the surrounding tissue, put them in a syringe within a water-based so lution, and we spray them. said Thomas Bold. ( as cited in Scutti, S. 2016, December 07). These skin cells are sprayed onto the burned skin of the patient.They can be expected to recuperate in less then a month. The reason why this is plausible is because stem cells are excellent at separating and duplicating. You might ask if stems cell are really good at multiplying why dont we just let the skin grow back on its own? This would be because since the skin has been burned so severely the stem cells in that portion of the body are destroyed and cant naturally come back to life. What would form is scar tissue which is not ideal, because it acts as super glue and has no purpose other than keeping two portions together. All of the veins, pigmentation of skin, and tractability of limbs would be lost in the formation of scar tissue. A good example would be if you were to break a TV in half. If you super glue the two broken halves of the TV, the TV wont start working again. That is because all of the wires that were together were never fixed in a way that would allow passage from one side of the TV to the other. Scar tissue is the same as super glue with respect to skin. This is why this newly found technology is so astonishing, because it removes all of these factors and even gets rid of the alternative of skin grafting, the transplanting of skin from one patient to the other. Patients that have gone through skin grafting surgery have to deal with the conflict in pigmentation of their new skin and the probability of infection/rejection from the body. Pills will need to be taken to prevent this process. Imagine finding out that a child is diagnosed with diabetes. Now imagine if that child was yours. That is what happened with scientist Doug Melton. He was on a mission to find a cure for why his two children are diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is categorized in two parts; type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is when the persons body does not produce the right amount of insulin. Type 2 diabetes is when the persons body is not able to correctly convert glucose to sugar. What is mostly known of patients that have diabetes is that B-cells that produces insulin cannot be made by the pancreas. Since insulin acts as a buffer, this can result in an unsafe fluctuation with the bodies temperature. Scientist have found a way to fix this problem by having these patients inject insulin into their bodies ever few hours. Injecting insulin has been the treatment for nearly 100 years and the only real advances have been the way its provided, via a pen or a pump, says Melton. ( as cited in Devlin, H. 2017, December 05). Injecting insulin also has its downsides as well, since patients who have diabetes have to constantly be checking their insulin levels and the needs of our bodies are constantly changing. If a patient forgets to check their levels, the drastic changes of temperature can distort enzymes and can lead to blindness or amputation of an extremity. Melton didnt want to have this burden for his children or anyone for that matter, so he went to work. Melton was looking for a more natural way for diabetic patients to receive insulin/ B-cells. The thought process was as follows; if B-cells creates insulin, then why not create B-cells and inject them into the pancreas. Easier said than done. Melton worked for 15 years to get to the point where his lab could transform embryonic stem cells into pancreatic beta cells at large enough volumes to treat patients. (Devlin, H. 2017, December 05). These B-cells would later be put into a capsule that would be inserted under the skin. T his procedure has never been done on humans, it has only been tested on rats. Hence, why Melton does not know how long the inserted capsule of B-cells will last in a persons body. Nevertheless, this new advancement has taken away the burden of constantly checking insulin levels and the risk of losing a limb. You are driving a car on a stormy day. Your car swerves out of control and hits a pole at full force. You wake up in a hospital with the realization that you cannot move, youre paralyzed. Kristopher Boesen was in this same predicament. When someone is paralyzed this entails that the axons that act like a cord are missing myelin sheath, that act as bridges, are broken. Without these myelin sheath the axons can not correctly send sensory or motor actions to the arms or legs. This creates atrophy in the muscles because they are not being used. There are two cases of paralysis. Paraplegic, which is loss of motion of two extremities, are people who are still able to move their arms. This affects people that have been injured from the lumbar vertebrae. Quadriplegic, which is loss of motion of four extremities, are people who do not have the ability to move any extremity. This affects people that are injured from the cervical vertebrae. Kristopher was paralyzed from the neck down, he was qu adriplegic. However, there was hope; Kristopher was eligible for a clinical trial using stem cells. Nevertheless, Boesen would be the first to ever go through this process of having stem cells injected into his neck, no one really knew what would be the outcome. Boesen was told what could go wrong. Since this is the first time this procedure was ever conducted no one knew the right amount of dosage. This came with the possibility of the injected stem cells to turn cancerous or the likeliness of losing the little movement he had, which was moving the left arm up and down. With Kristopher open to any chance of ever walking again, he agreed. Boesen had to go through several tests to make sure he would be ready to go for the surgery. After a month had passed since Boesens surgery to stabilize his spine when he was first admitted in the hospital and his neck had shrunken. He was ready for surgery, well his injection. Charles Liu, MD, PhD, director of the USC Neurorestoration Center, inje cted an experimental dose of 10 million AST-OPC1 cells directly into Kris cervical spinal cord. (Aldrich, M. 2016, September 07). In as little as two weeks, signs of increased movement was evident. Kris was able to move both of his arms. said Dr. Liu. In Kris case, two spinal cord levels means the difference between using your hands to brush your teeth, operate a computer or do other things you wouldnt otherwise be able to do, so having this level of functional independence cannot be overstated. (Aldrich, M. 2016, September 07). After three months, Kris was able to do more advanced movements like using a phone, writing his name, and even hugging family and friends. Thanks to Liu, Kris is able to live an independent life. Going from being quadriplegic to paraplegic is a huge step in the right direction, considering neurons were thought to be damaged after the myelin sheath was destroyed. This new discovery would help pave the way to help move forward with the study of stem cells and nerves. In conclusion, Stem cells are the superhero we all need in our lives. Stem cells help open the possibility of never having to do a skin graft for victims who have suffered from severe burns; or from ever needing to inject insulin into a diabetic patient. Stem cells can even assist quadriplegic patients turn into paraplegic patients. However, stem cells also has a possibility of turning cancerous and making the problem much worse. This is understandable since cancerous cells are really good are multiplying very quickly as do stem cells. With everything in life we need to outweigh the good and bad. We need to decide if its worth the risks like what Kristopher Boesen had to choose. Thanks to Boesens bravery, the concept of axons to be restored with myelin sheath is a humongous achievement in the study of nerves and neurons. Which is why stem cells are monumental for healthcare all around the globe. References: Aldrich, M. (2016, September 07). Paralyzed man regains use of arms and hands after experimental stem cell therapy at Keck Hospital of USC. Retrieved from https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/paralyzed-man-regains-use-of-arms-and-hands-after-experimental-stem-cell-therapy-at-keck-hospital-of-usc/ Dance, A. (2017, January 15). Stem cell therapy gives paralyzed man second chance at independence. Retrieved from https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/stem-cell-therapy-gives-paralyzed-man-second-chance-at-independence/ Devlin, H. (2017, December 05). Grow your own: The race to create body parts in the lab. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/05/create-body-parts-replacement-skin-regenerative-medicine Scutti, S. (2016, December 07). Experimental SkinGun heals burns using stem cells. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/health/skingun-burn-care-technologies/index.html Stem cells from adults function just as well as those from embryos. (2018, August 09). Retrieved from https://blog.frontiersin.org/2018/05/14/cardiovascular-medicine-stem-cells-embryonic-adult-personalized-medicine/ Stem cells: Frequently asked questions about stem cell research. (2018, October 24). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/bone-marrow-transplant/in-depth/stem-cells/art-20048117