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Explain the paradox that is central to "My Son My Executioner" by Donald Hall.
Ps: Use quotes from the poem while explaining it.
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Post University Working Effectively with Resistance in Groups Discussion
DB Q1: Challenging Group MembersIdentify at least one difficult or challenging behavior that may happen in a group. What d ...
Post University Working Effectively with Resistance in Groups Discussion
DB Q1: Challenging Group MembersIdentify at least one difficult or challenging behavior that may happen in a group. What do you find most challenging about the behavior and how would you respond? How would you address the behavior with the group? Please identify a different behavior than your classmates. DB Q2: SilenceConsidering that silence can be therapeutic to the group how comfortable are you with silence? In thinking about the readings and videos from this unit, what nonverbal behaviors would indicate that other group members are uncomfortable with group silence?DB Q3: To Terminate a Difficult Group Member or not?You are leading a group for adults who have anger issues. The group is comprised of 12 males, ages 25-45. One group member in particular has been extremely difficult and confrontational towards other members. Two group members have spoken to you after the last group session to share that they will no longer continue to participate if the difficult group member is not terminated. How would you handle that situation? Would you consider terminating the difficult group member, why or why not?
Emergency Management Planning of Smith Hill Discussion
Using the concepts you have learned thus far, write a post that answers the following:1. Discuss the emergency management ...
Emergency Management Planning of Smith Hill Discussion
Using the concepts you have learned thus far, write a post that answers the following:1. Discuss the emergency management planning of Smith Hill at the end of Chapter 3 in your Fundamentals of Emergency Management text.2. What are the problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management organization?3. How can emergency planning be improved in this town? Forum RequirementsGrading: Forum posts are graded on timeliness, relevance, knowledge of the weekly readings, the quality of original ideas, the conversational exchanges with other students, and the attribution given to the authors or creators work. Refer to the Forum Rubric for additional details concerning grading criteria and the Forum Expectations for a more detailed explanation of what I expect out of the forums.All forums will be scored according to this Forum Rubric.Please click here for additional information on the Forum Expectations.Initial Post: Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words and should fully utilize the materials that have been provided to you in order to support your response.Initial post due by 11:55 pm ET on ThursdayTwo Required Replies: Please thoughtfully reply to at least two other students initial posts with a minimum of 100 words to each student, and be sure to challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts, and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this is also a part of your analysis process.Replies due by 11:55 pm ET on SundayAdvancing the Conversation: To receive full credit for this forum, you must also advance the conversation throughout the week by replying back to everyone, in your forum thread, that replied to your initial post. Attribution: Sources utilized to support answers are to be given the proper attribution. What is attribution? Simply put, attribution is identifying the author creator of a work. APA citing and referencing is not needed, but you must identify the author or creator. Example: The Building Code article by Smith discussed the need for added codes to ensure the safety of building occupants. Student#1 AlexThe biggest issue I see with the Smith Hill case study is how poorly they have set up there EOP in an event of an emergency disaster. Smith Hill is a small town, with a small budget, but having a more sound plan in case of an emergency can is always something every city or town should invest money into. They had a plan on what to do in case of an emergency but they had no clearly defined roles, no back up plans in case a hospital gets overwhelmed, and a mutual aid agreement with other local governments that they did not even know about. The suburb of Smith Hill should of implemented a local emergency management committee (LEMC) to be able to allocate and make a good EOP, so this small town will be more prepared and recover quicker from an emergency disaster. "The emergency planning process consist of five principle functions: planning activities, team climate development, situation analysis, resource acquisition, and strategic choice." (Lindell, Prater, Perry, & Nicholson, 2006, p. 68) It seems like Smith Hill suffered greatly on the team climate development and planning activities. Resource acquisition should also be a top priority for such a small town. Having mutual aid from other towns or from the state/federal level is very important to return Smith Hill to normal operations, especially with a low budget.The fire department and police department are the best local government management agencies (LEMA) to help the city in a time of crisis. Day in and day out, they practice scene management whether its a domestic violence call dealing with a small amount of people, all the way up to a full blown house fire or an act of terrorism. They work hand in hand with each other to mitigate and help fix the situation. A clear plan should be laid out showing what their roles are in a city wide emergency. Also, knowing the capacity of hospitals, what resources are available in the hospital and to what other hospital nearby can accept patients as well. Agencies can get overwhelm quickly, so having mutual aid and understanding who and what goes where can help a city have a successful emergency management organization. AlexReferenceLindell, M. K., Prater, C. S., Perry, R. W., & Nicholson, W. C. (2006, July 15). Fundamentals of Emergency Management. Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/394180/training.fema.gov_20150724115942.URLStudent# 2 GuillermoHello Class, for this weeks forum we are going to evaluate the Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning.1. Discuss the emergency management planning of Smith Hill at the end of Chapter 3 in your Fundamentals of Emergency Management text.Its difficult to actually explain Smith Hill Emergency Management Plan since it was almost non existent. What they have in place is faulty and unreliable "plan" that will not help if as emergency arise. Beginning with a small budget and the elected officials that did not care about emergency management made the program a failure. The city did not care about the program either, missing meetings with other organizations that deal and help with emergency management. 2. What are the problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management organization?The whole Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning its faulty and needs to be updated. The root of the problem with this program its the lack of interested from the elected officials combined with the faulty plan in place. Nobody wanted to responsible for the Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning and the appointed people already had other things on their plate.Communication and accountability are the biggest problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management plan that they have in place.3. How can emergency planning be improved in this town? To improved in this area the whole program that its in place needs to get revamped all they way form the top. Start with the budget if its possible get the elected officials and the the city involved in the process and show them how important Emergency Management is. Attending to the meetings to gather information that helps the development of the Emergency Management and plan. Appoint specific officials that are going to take care of each one of their positions and that can perform to the level that its needed and or provided training for everyone that needs it. Engage with closed counties or jurisdictions to develop a master Emergency plan with open communication to help both counties. -Soto
3 pages
Social Impact
The Baby Boomers came into existence into the country at the period in which it was musically energizing. In 1962, the Bea ...
Social Impact
The Baby Boomers came into existence into the country at the period in which it was musically energizing. In 1962, the Beatles band which consisted of ...
EC200/EEC2613 Rasmussen Mod 3 Recording Your Observations Case Study
Let's practice making objective observations and creating meaningful experiences for a child. View the video.A Clear Purpo ...
EC200/EEC2613 Rasmussen Mod 3 Recording Your Observations Case Study
Let's practice making objective observations and creating meaningful experiences for a child. View the video.A Clear Purpose Suppo PersistenceAs you watch, practice recording your observations, Remember, objective observations record just the facts and are free from bias. Record information that could be seen or heard from anyone watching the same video, that is, "just the facts". (You do not need to submit your recorded data, just the information which follows).Based on your observations, answer the questions below in paragraph form. In this this section, you may combine both fact- based details as well as your interpretations. Be sure to address each of the following questions.What comments would you make about the child's overall development?Which developmental domain(s) is highlighted in this scenario?Which toys/items would you add to this activity to enhance the child's experience? Why did you make this choice/choices?There is no minimum or maximum length for this assignment. Be sure you clearly address each of the questions above in complete paragraphs.
PSY 838 Grand Canyon University Use of the Task Based Assessments Questions
Selection of criteria for assessment is an important issue for I/O. It is not a simple issue and it moves beyond simply ex ...
PSY 838 Grand Canyon University Use of the Task Based Assessments Questions
Selection of criteria for assessment is an important issue for I/O. It is not a simple issue and it moves beyond simply examining reliability and validity. Using criterion theory and development, defend good characteristics, acceptable criteria, and methods for choosing the appropriate test? (150 words with citation)Examine current assessments in applicant selection and employee evaluation. Using current research and a set of criteria, argue why one assessment in applicant selection and one assessment in employee evaluation would be the most appropriate?(150 words with citationAPA)
Liberty University STCO 372 Processes of Emotion Paper
Case Study Inexplicable EventsOn November 18, 1999, on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Aggie bonfire collapsed, ki ...
Liberty University STCO 372 Processes of Emotion Paper
Case Study Inexplicable EventsOn November 18, 1999, on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Aggie bonfire collapsed, killing twelve students and injuring many more. The collapse of the bonfire was a hugely emotional event for students at Texas A&M, for faculty and staff, and for members of the surrounding community. Investigations regarding the decades-old tradition followed, and no on-campus bonfire has been burned since.On September 11, 2001, planes piloted by terrorists were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Another plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field. Thousands were killed, and 9/11 will forever be a dividing day in history, marking the beginning of an era in which terms such as war on terror and homeland security became common parlance. The emotional toll of September 11 on our individual, national, and global psyches will last for untold years to come.On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the gulf coast of the United States. Hours later, many levees were breached in New Orleans, leading to the flooding of over 80% of the city. For days, New Orleans residents sought refuge in shelters, in the ill-prepared Superdome, and in neighboring and distant states. More than 1,800 people died, and many more lost homes or were displaced for many months. Criticisms of local and national authorities for their handling of the storm were widespread.On April 16, 2007, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. In shootings two hours apart, Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally ill English major at the school, shot thirty-two people before committing suicide. The campus community mourned the loss of both students and faculty, and the incident led to national discussions regarding issues ranging from gun control to campus security to the treatment of the mentally ill.These events—spread over less than a decade—took place in various locations of the U.S. geography. These events can be attributed to very different causes: terrorism, a natural disaster, a deranged student, a tragic accident. These events varied in terms of their long-term influence on our national and global consciousness—from a ripple in the aftermath of the bonfire collapse to the huge changes in both institutional systems and individual mind-sets brought on by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But these events—and others like them in the intervening years such as the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut—also share important characteristics. Although in retrospect they can be “explained” to a greater or lesser extent, at the time they occurred, the events were seen as somehow inexplicable. They were a breach to our beliefs about how things happened in a rational and predictable world. They shifted our organized ways of coping—sometimes for a few days or a few weeks and sometimes forever. Thus, individuals working with and around these events can shed important light on the role of emotion in organizational communication. Consider just a few of the possibilities.Emotion in the Midst of the InexplicableIn each of these events, “first responders” worked with the immediate onset of the disasters. Firefighters rushed to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rescue teams hovered in helicopters, plucking New Orleans residents off of rooftops. Campus police worked to secure the safety of students on the Virginia Tech campus. Emergency medical personnel worked in the early morning hours to pull injured students out of “the stack” in College Station, Texas. These first responders were, in one sense, just doing their jobs. These were highly trained men and women who understood the needs of individuals in disasters and understood the ways that the work needed to be accomplished. First responders understand the emotional aspects of their jobs and have special education to deal with stress. However, that does not mean they are immune to the emotional effects of working in the midst of a disaster. Indeed, recent research suggests that social workers who work with disaster victims have a heightened chance of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (Adams, 2007).Emotion in the Aftermath of the InexplicableIn the days and weeks following these events, a variety of workers had to cope with a huge number of organizational problems. In my experience as a professor at Texas A&M University following the bonfire collapse, I found that instructors and staff members were asked to deal with an incredible range of student emotions, and we weren’t trained for it. As I wrote afterward, “As professional academics, we were prepared to impart knowledge, to conduct research, to serve on committees, to provide career counseling, and so on…. We weren’t prepared to deal with the emotional turmoil that ensued when 12 young people were wrenched from a community in the prime of their lives” (Miller, 2002, p. 589). And there are a myriad of other job tasks that must be accomplished in the aftermath of a disaster. In New Orleans, thousands of people needed to be housed and fed, paperwork needed to be processed to provide money for immediate needs and long-term relief, funds needed to be solicited from donors around the country, and planning needed to be started to consider ways in which the next hurricane could be coped with in a better way. Many of these tasks are bureaucratic and, on the surface, highly rational. However, in the aftermath of the inexplicable, even these rational tasks can be overridden by emotion.Emotion in the New NormalAnd finally, we move past the disaster and beyond the inexplicable. Or do we? Can our personal and organizational lives ever return to the rationality of the times before the inexplicable? Do we just recreate new sets of logic to encompass that which we do not want to accept? Or was any of it ever all that logical to begin with? In the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we have—in many ways—returned to a new normal. But this is a new normal in which media reports regarding war and terrorism are commonplace. It is a new normal when we know that we need to take off our shoes in airport security lines. It is a new normal when a widespread power outage causes rampant speculation about what group might be attacking us. It is a new normal when the possibility of surveillance from our government—and the organizations we work for—is much more conceivable than it was a decade ago. In all these ways in which the inexplicable has somehow been made explicable, we find the tight weaving of emotion and rationality in our lives and in our work.Case Analysis QuestionsIn what ways do the special cases of organizational life discussed in this case bring processes of rationality and emotion into sharp relief? Is emotion more “present” in these cases? Are different kinds of emotion brought to the forefront? How does the everyday nature of most of our work lives blind us to processes of emotion?How are the specific processes of emotion discussed in this chapter—emotional labor, emotional work, and compassion, stress, and burnout—illustrated in these examples of the inexplicable? Are particular processes of emotion in the workplace especially apparent in the midst of the inexplicable, in the aftermath of the inexplicable, or in living in the new normal?How could organizations and employees in those organizations be better prepared to cope with the emotion of these inexplicable events? And could those lessons be translated into practices that lead to more healthy and happy organizational life during the more mundane days, as well?
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Post University Working Effectively with Resistance in Groups Discussion
DB Q1: Challenging Group MembersIdentify at least one difficult or challenging behavior that may happen in a group. What d ...
Post University Working Effectively with Resistance in Groups Discussion
DB Q1: Challenging Group MembersIdentify at least one difficult or challenging behavior that may happen in a group. What do you find most challenging about the behavior and how would you respond? How would you address the behavior with the group? Please identify a different behavior than your classmates. DB Q2: SilenceConsidering that silence can be therapeutic to the group how comfortable are you with silence? In thinking about the readings and videos from this unit, what nonverbal behaviors would indicate that other group members are uncomfortable with group silence?DB Q3: To Terminate a Difficult Group Member or not?You are leading a group for adults who have anger issues. The group is comprised of 12 males, ages 25-45. One group member in particular has been extremely difficult and confrontational towards other members. Two group members have spoken to you after the last group session to share that they will no longer continue to participate if the difficult group member is not terminated. How would you handle that situation? Would you consider terminating the difficult group member, why or why not?
Emergency Management Planning of Smith Hill Discussion
Using the concepts you have learned thus far, write a post that answers the following:1. Discuss the emergency management ...
Emergency Management Planning of Smith Hill Discussion
Using the concepts you have learned thus far, write a post that answers the following:1. Discuss the emergency management planning of Smith Hill at the end of Chapter 3 in your Fundamentals of Emergency Management text.2. What are the problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management organization?3. How can emergency planning be improved in this town? Forum RequirementsGrading: Forum posts are graded on timeliness, relevance, knowledge of the weekly readings, the quality of original ideas, the conversational exchanges with other students, and the attribution given to the authors or creators work. Refer to the Forum Rubric for additional details concerning grading criteria and the Forum Expectations for a more detailed explanation of what I expect out of the forums.All forums will be scored according to this Forum Rubric.Please click here for additional information on the Forum Expectations.Initial Post: Your initial post must be a minimum of 300 words and should fully utilize the materials that have been provided to you in order to support your response.Initial post due by 11:55 pm ET on ThursdayTwo Required Replies: Please thoughtfully reply to at least two other students initial posts with a minimum of 100 words to each student, and be sure to challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts, and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this is also a part of your analysis process.Replies due by 11:55 pm ET on SundayAdvancing the Conversation: To receive full credit for this forum, you must also advance the conversation throughout the week by replying back to everyone, in your forum thread, that replied to your initial post. Attribution: Sources utilized to support answers are to be given the proper attribution. What is attribution? Simply put, attribution is identifying the author creator of a work. APA citing and referencing is not needed, but you must identify the author or creator. Example: The Building Code article by Smith discussed the need for added codes to ensure the safety of building occupants. Student#1 AlexThe biggest issue I see with the Smith Hill case study is how poorly they have set up there EOP in an event of an emergency disaster. Smith Hill is a small town, with a small budget, but having a more sound plan in case of an emergency can is always something every city or town should invest money into. They had a plan on what to do in case of an emergency but they had no clearly defined roles, no back up plans in case a hospital gets overwhelmed, and a mutual aid agreement with other local governments that they did not even know about. The suburb of Smith Hill should of implemented a local emergency management committee (LEMC) to be able to allocate and make a good EOP, so this small town will be more prepared and recover quicker from an emergency disaster. "The emergency planning process consist of five principle functions: planning activities, team climate development, situation analysis, resource acquisition, and strategic choice." (Lindell, Prater, Perry, & Nicholson, 2006, p. 68) It seems like Smith Hill suffered greatly on the team climate development and planning activities. Resource acquisition should also be a top priority for such a small town. Having mutual aid from other towns or from the state/federal level is very important to return Smith Hill to normal operations, especially with a low budget.The fire department and police department are the best local government management agencies (LEMA) to help the city in a time of crisis. Day in and day out, they practice scene management whether its a domestic violence call dealing with a small amount of people, all the way up to a full blown house fire or an act of terrorism. They work hand in hand with each other to mitigate and help fix the situation. A clear plan should be laid out showing what their roles are in a city wide emergency. Also, knowing the capacity of hospitals, what resources are available in the hospital and to what other hospital nearby can accept patients as well. Agencies can get overwhelm quickly, so having mutual aid and understanding who and what goes where can help a city have a successful emergency management organization. AlexReferenceLindell, M. K., Prater, C. S., Perry, R. W., & Nicholson, W. C. (2006, July 15). Fundamentals of Emergency Management. Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/394180/training.fema.gov_20150724115942.URLStudent# 2 GuillermoHello Class, for this weeks forum we are going to evaluate the Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning.1. Discuss the emergency management planning of Smith Hill at the end of Chapter 3 in your Fundamentals of Emergency Management text.Its difficult to actually explain Smith Hill Emergency Management Plan since it was almost non existent. What they have in place is faulty and unreliable "plan" that will not help if as emergency arise. Beginning with a small budget and the elected officials that did not care about emergency management made the program a failure. The city did not care about the program either, missing meetings with other organizations that deal and help with emergency management. 2. What are the problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management organization?The whole Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning its faulty and needs to be updated. The root of the problem with this program its the lack of interested from the elected officials combined with the faulty plan in place. Nobody wanted to responsible for the Smith Hill Emergency Management Planning and the appointed people already had other things on their plate.Communication and accountability are the biggest problems with the Smith Hill Emergency Management plan that they have in place.3. How can emergency planning be improved in this town? To improved in this area the whole program that its in place needs to get revamped all they way form the top. Start with the budget if its possible get the elected officials and the the city involved in the process and show them how important Emergency Management is. Attending to the meetings to gather information that helps the development of the Emergency Management and plan. Appoint specific officials that are going to take care of each one of their positions and that can perform to the level that its needed and or provided training for everyone that needs it. Engage with closed counties or jurisdictions to develop a master Emergency plan with open communication to help both counties. -Soto
3 pages
Social Impact
The Baby Boomers came into existence into the country at the period in which it was musically energizing. In 1962, the Bea ...
Social Impact
The Baby Boomers came into existence into the country at the period in which it was musically energizing. In 1962, the Beatles band which consisted of ...
EC200/EEC2613 Rasmussen Mod 3 Recording Your Observations Case Study
Let's practice making objective observations and creating meaningful experiences for a child. View the video.A Clear Purpo ...
EC200/EEC2613 Rasmussen Mod 3 Recording Your Observations Case Study
Let's practice making objective observations and creating meaningful experiences for a child. View the video.A Clear Purpose Suppo PersistenceAs you watch, practice recording your observations, Remember, objective observations record just the facts and are free from bias. Record information that could be seen or heard from anyone watching the same video, that is, "just the facts". (You do not need to submit your recorded data, just the information which follows).Based on your observations, answer the questions below in paragraph form. In this this section, you may combine both fact- based details as well as your interpretations. Be sure to address each of the following questions.What comments would you make about the child's overall development?Which developmental domain(s) is highlighted in this scenario?Which toys/items would you add to this activity to enhance the child's experience? Why did you make this choice/choices?There is no minimum or maximum length for this assignment. Be sure you clearly address each of the questions above in complete paragraphs.
PSY 838 Grand Canyon University Use of the Task Based Assessments Questions
Selection of criteria for assessment is an important issue for I/O. It is not a simple issue and it moves beyond simply ex ...
PSY 838 Grand Canyon University Use of the Task Based Assessments Questions
Selection of criteria for assessment is an important issue for I/O. It is not a simple issue and it moves beyond simply examining reliability and validity. Using criterion theory and development, defend good characteristics, acceptable criteria, and methods for choosing the appropriate test? (150 words with citation)Examine current assessments in applicant selection and employee evaluation. Using current research and a set of criteria, argue why one assessment in applicant selection and one assessment in employee evaluation would be the most appropriate?(150 words with citationAPA)
Liberty University STCO 372 Processes of Emotion Paper
Case Study Inexplicable EventsOn November 18, 1999, on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Aggie bonfire collapsed, ki ...
Liberty University STCO 372 Processes of Emotion Paper
Case Study Inexplicable EventsOn November 18, 1999, on the campus of Texas A&M University, the Aggie bonfire collapsed, killing twelve students and injuring many more. The collapse of the bonfire was a hugely emotional event for students at Texas A&M, for faculty and staff, and for members of the surrounding community. Investigations regarding the decades-old tradition followed, and no on-campus bonfire has been burned since.On September 11, 2001, planes piloted by terrorists were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Another plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field. Thousands were killed, and 9/11 will forever be a dividing day in history, marking the beginning of an era in which terms such as war on terror and homeland security became common parlance. The emotional toll of September 11 on our individual, national, and global psyches will last for untold years to come.On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the gulf coast of the United States. Hours later, many levees were breached in New Orleans, leading to the flooding of over 80% of the city. For days, New Orleans residents sought refuge in shelters, in the ill-prepared Superdome, and in neighboring and distant states. More than 1,800 people died, and many more lost homes or were displaced for many months. Criticisms of local and national authorities for their handling of the storm were widespread.On April 16, 2007, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. In shootings two hours apart, Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally ill English major at the school, shot thirty-two people before committing suicide. The campus community mourned the loss of both students and faculty, and the incident led to national discussions regarding issues ranging from gun control to campus security to the treatment of the mentally ill.These events—spread over less than a decade—took place in various locations of the U.S. geography. These events can be attributed to very different causes: terrorism, a natural disaster, a deranged student, a tragic accident. These events varied in terms of their long-term influence on our national and global consciousness—from a ripple in the aftermath of the bonfire collapse to the huge changes in both institutional systems and individual mind-sets brought on by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But these events—and others like them in the intervening years such as the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut—also share important characteristics. Although in retrospect they can be “explained” to a greater or lesser extent, at the time they occurred, the events were seen as somehow inexplicable. They were a breach to our beliefs about how things happened in a rational and predictable world. They shifted our organized ways of coping—sometimes for a few days or a few weeks and sometimes forever. Thus, individuals working with and around these events can shed important light on the role of emotion in organizational communication. Consider just a few of the possibilities.Emotion in the Midst of the InexplicableIn each of these events, “first responders” worked with the immediate onset of the disasters. Firefighters rushed to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rescue teams hovered in helicopters, plucking New Orleans residents off of rooftops. Campus police worked to secure the safety of students on the Virginia Tech campus. Emergency medical personnel worked in the early morning hours to pull injured students out of “the stack” in College Station, Texas. These first responders were, in one sense, just doing their jobs. These were highly trained men and women who understood the needs of individuals in disasters and understood the ways that the work needed to be accomplished. First responders understand the emotional aspects of their jobs and have special education to deal with stress. However, that does not mean they are immune to the emotional effects of working in the midst of a disaster. Indeed, recent research suggests that social workers who work with disaster victims have a heightened chance of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (Adams, 2007).Emotion in the Aftermath of the InexplicableIn the days and weeks following these events, a variety of workers had to cope with a huge number of organizational problems. In my experience as a professor at Texas A&M University following the bonfire collapse, I found that instructors and staff members were asked to deal with an incredible range of student emotions, and we weren’t trained for it. As I wrote afterward, “As professional academics, we were prepared to impart knowledge, to conduct research, to serve on committees, to provide career counseling, and so on…. We weren’t prepared to deal with the emotional turmoil that ensued when 12 young people were wrenched from a community in the prime of their lives” (Miller, 2002, p. 589). And there are a myriad of other job tasks that must be accomplished in the aftermath of a disaster. In New Orleans, thousands of people needed to be housed and fed, paperwork needed to be processed to provide money for immediate needs and long-term relief, funds needed to be solicited from donors around the country, and planning needed to be started to consider ways in which the next hurricane could be coped with in a better way. Many of these tasks are bureaucratic and, on the surface, highly rational. However, in the aftermath of the inexplicable, even these rational tasks can be overridden by emotion.Emotion in the New NormalAnd finally, we move past the disaster and beyond the inexplicable. Or do we? Can our personal and organizational lives ever return to the rationality of the times before the inexplicable? Do we just recreate new sets of logic to encompass that which we do not want to accept? Or was any of it ever all that logical to begin with? In the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we have—in many ways—returned to a new normal. But this is a new normal in which media reports regarding war and terrorism are commonplace. It is a new normal when we know that we need to take off our shoes in airport security lines. It is a new normal when a widespread power outage causes rampant speculation about what group might be attacking us. It is a new normal when the possibility of surveillance from our government—and the organizations we work for—is much more conceivable than it was a decade ago. In all these ways in which the inexplicable has somehow been made explicable, we find the tight weaving of emotion and rationality in our lives and in our work.Case Analysis QuestionsIn what ways do the special cases of organizational life discussed in this case bring processes of rationality and emotion into sharp relief? Is emotion more “present” in these cases? Are different kinds of emotion brought to the forefront? How does the everyday nature of most of our work lives blind us to processes of emotion?How are the specific processes of emotion discussed in this chapter—emotional labor, emotional work, and compassion, stress, and burnout—illustrated in these examples of the inexplicable? Are particular processes of emotion in the workplace especially apparent in the midst of the inexplicable, in the aftermath of the inexplicable, or in living in the new normal?How could organizations and employees in those organizations be better prepared to cope with the emotion of these inexplicable events? And could those lessons be translated into practices that lead to more healthy and happy organizational life during the more mundane days, as well?
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