Work Stress and Coping Among Professionals in Asia

CHAPTER EIGHT WORK STRESS, WORK SATISFACTION AND COPING AMONG LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS Chan Kwok-Bun The life insurance industry began in England as early as 1756, yet agents as an occupation to sell insurance directly to the public did not appear until 1840, and mostly in the United States (Kessler, 1985, p. 14; Leigh-Bennett, 1936, p. 59). The industry in the United States expanded considerably in the late nineteenth century due to rapid economic growth, urbanisation and popular education; one saw keen competition among companies and agents for the client dollar.Some agents resorted to unfair and sometimes illegal sales tactics that resulted in further public hostility, rejection and distrust of life insurance agents. Such public stigmatisation was recorded in the United States as early as 1870. Zelizer (1983, p. 146) wrote, ‘Illegitimate practices were abolished, codes of ethics were published, professional associations organised and agents better trained. Yet the stigma endure d. ’ Since its spread to Singapore in 1908 (Neo, 1996, p. 7), the life insurance industry has relied on agents to ‘negotiate the cultural resistance to discussing the proposition of death and its implications, especially among the Chinese’ (Lee, 1994, p. 6; Leong, 1985, p. 178; Neo, 1996, p. 37). Han (1979, p. 44) wrote that ‘everyone needs life assurance, but very few people do anything on their own to buy it’. The agent was thus invented to deal with the public’s rejection of life insurance as a concept and as a commodity. In doing this work, agents were given a share of the pro? t: commissions (Chua, 1971, p. 42; Neo, 1996, p. 8). Hundreds of workers were lured into the life insurance industry by the attractive prospect of self-employment and its promise of work autonomy and potentially high monetary rewards—a sort of ? ight away from the wage-earning class. To say that the work of a life insurance agent is stressful is perhaps an un derstatement. The fact was well documented in a 1990 survey of six groups of 2,589 workers in Singapore, life insurance 126 chan kwok-bun agents included (see Chapter 10). The survey found two major sources of work stress. One source was performance pressure.The professional workers may have internalised a strong need for job achievement and maintenance of professional standards, which are values often held high by many formal organisations as well as the government. The stress of performance pressure may also be a result of Singapore’s economic growth. As Hing (1991, 1992) suggests in Chapter 3, globalisation of the Singapore economy has driven workers to strive for personal and company success—which may bring considerable stress to the workers. Another important source of work stress was workfamily con? icts—a ? ding consistent with those of recent overseas studies (Coverman, 1989; Lai, 1995; Simon, 1992; Thoits, 1986). This essay attempts to identify and anal yse stressors associated with the work of life insurance agents, as well as coping strategies adopted by the life insurance industry in general and the agents in particular. The study on which this essay is based analysed transcripts of in-depth interviews conducted in 1990 with 15 life insurance agents and subsequently in 1998–1999 with 15 agents and informants. Each interview lasted between one and a half and two hours.The respondents ranged from 23 to 42 years in age; 17 men, 13 women. Only ? ve of the 30 respondents were university graduates or diploma holders; the rest were graduates of secondary schools, except for three who had completed ‘0’ or ‘A’ Level. Slightly more than half (18) were married. Drafts of this chapter were given to ? ve other life insurance agents (one retired) to read. One agent provided the researchers with extensive written comments; each of the other four was interviewed twice for feedback on the essay’s various d rafts. This research strategy, though laborious and time-consuming, posed critical and re? ctive questions that required the analysts to periodically confront their qualitative data in the form of ‘reality-testing’—indeed a useful step in an interpretive study like ours. As a methodological device, this triangulation of respondents/informants, researchers and ‘critics’, when intentionally built into the research process, forces the researcher(s) to be doubly re? ective. A step is thus institutionalised that requires the researcher to come to terms with biases or blind spots about which others within the triangle are in a legitimate position to ‘complain’. There are two ways to de? ne stress.One denotes external demands which require the individual to readjust his or her usual behaviour patterns (Holmes and Rahe 1967). In this chapter, these demands work stress among life insurance agents 127 are called ‘stressors’ or ‘ stressor factors’, and the readjustment is referred to as ‘coping’. The other way of conceptualising stress is to view it as a state of physiological or emotional arousal that results from one’s appraisal of the relationship between the person and the environment ‘as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being’ (Chan, 1977; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p. 1; Selye, 1974; Thoits, 1995). In this chapter, when the term ‘stress’ is used, it is meant in the second sense, to be distinguished from the other two terms, ‘stressor’ and ‘coping’. Work Stressors The life insurance agents believe that Singapore society in general does not have a favourable image of them. Agents are subjected to such derogatory stereotypes as nagging, dishonest, intent on making money fast, manipulative and unethical—basically, people society would like to reject and to shun.In Singapore, life insu rance agents are often seen as among occupants of the lowest stratum in the sales business, possibly below the car salespersons and at best slightly better than a sales clerk in a departmental store. Agents are seen as a category of persons out there selling life insurance policies to ‘eat up people’s money’, sometimes unscrupulously. Victimised by stereotypes, an agent is deprived of an opportunity to defend his or her self as a person—an individual making a living like everybody else: As you know, ‘life insurance’ is not a nice word to utter.We get a lot of rejections, ‘brush-o? s’, and nasty looks by people—all these can cause us to have a very low self-image. . . . When I was very new, and when I was still doing a lot of selling, I got a lot of rejections. You notice that you have reached a dead-end because you have tried so hard to reach your sales target but you simply cannot. (1)1 These personal experiences with reje ctions by clients are frequent enough to have become part and parcel of the job itself; they must be among the more deleterious work stressors for the agents.To some if not all agents, rejections—taking such forms as not listening, not returning telephone calls, failing to keep an appointment or 1 The number in the bracket identi? es the respondents of our study. See Table 1 for their personal characteristics. 128 chan kwok-bun Table 1: Personal Characteristics of Respondents (N = 30) Education Secondary School Graduate = S ‘A’ Level = ‘A’ ‘0’ = ‘0’ Age University or Diploma = U or D Marital Status Sex (Married = M; (Male = M; Number Single = S) Female = F) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 M S M M S M S S M S M S M M S M M M M S M M S S M M S S M M M F M M M F M F M M M M M M F M M M F F F M M M M F F F M M 28 28 29 29 33 35 30 31 33 29 23 32 32 28 24 25 38 30 27 28 36 35 30 42 2 7 30 28 31 38 26 ‘A’ S S ‘0’ S S S U D S S S S ‘A’ S S S S S S U S S S U D U S S S simply not giving one, or deciding at the last minute not to purchase a policy—invariably provide an evidential and experiential validation of society’s low image as well as disrespect of the occupation of life insurance agents.Agents reported childhood friends and relatives avoiding and labelling them as ‘pests’ and ‘man-eaters’. Some made speci? c requests work stress among life insurance agents 129 that no talk about life insurance be allowed in friendly social gatherings lest they risk discontinuation of friendships and relationships. Beginners in life insurance sales typically approach these same people within their own close personal networks to meet their quota in the ? rst one or two years, usually quite successfully. Yet, over-reliance on this personal network quickly exhausts its inherently limited potential.On th e dark side, rejections by those who are socio-emotionally close, and are therefore supposedly ‘obliged’ to help out because of friendship or family and kin membership, are often experienced by the beginning agents as particularly traumatic. Some agents thus feel let down, betrayed and cheated—these feelings sometimes result in agents slowly divorcing themselves from others socially and emotionally close to them, thus breeding personal isolation and alienation. Parents, relatives and friends are often upset when a young university graduate chooses to be a life insurance agent.Without a basic monthly salary to fall back on, the agents’ income comes entirely from sales commissions, which are often seen by parents as unreliable and risky. Parents expect a university degree, itself a considerable achievement in the Singapore society, to lead to a reasonably attractive salary from a stable, secure, respected job. The idea of an agent going for months without pa y for not being able to sell a single policy is either foreign or unacceptable to parents of an earlier generation.This e? ectively makes the agents outsiders to their close personal networks. The very nature of the life insurance agents’ job lies in dealing with people and prospective clients, many of whom they meet for the ? rst time as strangers in probably the most unlikely places and hours (often subjected to the desires and whims of the clients). Much of the stress and strain experienced by the agents thus lies in their transactions and negotiations with strangers—with the unknown, unfamiliar and unpredictable.Yet, the probability is quite high that these same strangers will hold an unfavourable stereotypical image of agents as a category, thus sometimes mistreating and denigrating them. The agents, in their encounters with strangers, have to manage an instant spoiled identity, a stigma, externally and coercively imposed on them by society at large. Agents often start on a wrong foot in the door, so to speak. Agents do not interact with their clients as equals. The balance of power in agent-client transactions is often tilted in favour of the clients.This status inequality, a source of intense discomfort, anxiety 130 chan kwok-bun and sometimes alienation for many agents, is often exploited, if not abused, by the clients. The agents, when asked to recall a speci? c experience or situation at work when they felt depressed or frustrated, would quite freely describe what constitutes a ‘bad’ client: Some clients are quite unreasonable, and they a? ect our morale considerably. What is being unreasonable? They try every possible means to reject you.They will tell you they are busy and ask you to come another day, or they will ask you for an appointment but when you show up they will say they are busy and ask you to come on yet another day! (10) Yet, agents are trained and often reminded by their supervisors and senior colleagues not to try to get back at their clients simply because of their ‘bad’ or ‘unreasonable’ conduct. In an important sense, agents are not allowed tension release ‘to get even’ with the ‘other’, thus further aggravating the built-in status inequality of the agentclient relations.This inability of agents to express the feelings of frustration, anger and displeasure that are generated by unpleasant encounters with ‘bad’ clients may prove to be doubly degrading to some agents. It perpetuates the status imbalance and is of considerable psychological costs to the agents. While much of work stress among a wide range of professional groups is often attributed to sheer work overload, some life insurance agents reported having too much time on their hands at work as a stressor. As one agent put it, ‘When I am most free, I am most stressed. Having plenty of time means one is not being productive— ideally, one should be kept busy. Having little or no work for weeks or even months generates anxiety, for insurance work relies exclusively on commissions from selling policies. Largely unstructured, insurance work gives the agents much personal freedom and autonomy; yet this same job characteristic requires skills to structure and use time to one’s advantage. Given the unstructured and unde? ned nature of an agent’s work, di? culties experienced in dealing with either plenty of time or little time were often reported by the agents as stressors.One important way the agents de? ne stress is in terms of sustained pressure to produce, to meet the yearly quota of sales, which is invariably enacted by their bosses’ ‘nagging’: Once in a while, my boss will remind us to pull up our socks. (6) work stress among life insurance agents 131 A ‘bad’ boss, as seen by the agents, is someone solely interested in pushing for a certain level of sales productivity in a given year, yet not showing enough care and support. It was reported that one insurance company regularly sends ‘gentle reminders’ to those agents not doing well, thus adding to the pressure.As a way to increase agents’ productivity and to sustain a motivational level, the life insurance industry has institutionalised the practice of publishing regular bulletins which, among other things, rank the ‘top super achievers’ by detailing their total volumes of sales by month and year. One agent reported that her company sends each agent every month a progress report which is seen by the agents as one form of assessment and feedback from the administration. Every quarter of the year, the unit manager and the agent will meet to review the latter’s sales performance.As the agent herself put it, ‘Such meetings can make me feel good when sales meet the set quota, or the experience will be quite embarrassing if I don’t do well. ’ It was reported by another agent that the leader of her agency organises the agents into several work groups and gives out awards to the topachieving group every now and then, especially at the end of the year, to foster ‘healthy’ inter-group competition and, thus supposedly, sales productivity. Singapore has experienced in the past twenty years a rapid growth in the insurance industry, as measured both by the actual number of insurance companies and y the number of full-time and parttime life insurance agents. These agents are competing with each other for more or less the same client market, which by and large still views the concept of life insurance with disinterest. The net result of this rapid growth in the industry is increased competitiveness and rivalry between companies. Theoretically, the client market is an open one, often seen by some relatively successful agents as unlimited—‘the sky is the limit’, so to speak. Yet, in actual day-to-day practice, it wa s reported by agents that they often ran into direct competition with each other.Reports were made about unethical practices of agents who resorted to substantially reduced insurance rates to ‘undercut’ competitors. Yet others, in order to maintain a certain level of yearly sales productivity, were forced to pay out of their own pockets premiums not paid up by their clients, thus sometimes getting themselves into considerable debts. Acute competitiveness and rivalry between agents/colleagues thus possibly engenders a general feeling of distrust, tension and 132 chan kwok-bun strain in interpersonal relations among peers. Competition and con? ct generate barriers of communication, undermine collegiality and, if left unmanaged, breed individualism and self-isolation. The more successful agents arouse jealousy from others and are thus shunned. The not so successful ones ? nd others critical and condescending, and would thus choose not to con? de in them. The competitivenes s of the client market demands considerable work commitment, e? ort and mental concentration of the life insurance agents which, in reality, may or may not translate themselves into actual sales, especially for the beginners just initiated into the industry.Agents complained about having to work long, irregular hours, sometimes late in the evenings or over weekends, prospecting strangers or going for appointments with clients: If a client calls you at night and insists on seeing you, you have little option but to go. You may not be that free since many people own chunks of your time. You are beholden to many people, all your clients, real or imagined, unlike in a regular job where you have relatively predictable hours, and usually one person (your boss) can demand of your time. As an agent, your time is not yours, but your clients’, everybody’s. 20) Many perhaps choose to be a life insurance agent thinking the job approximates self-employment and thus o? ers the capaci ty to control one’s use of time to serve one’s interest. Yet, paradoxically, having escaped the tyranny of control by a boss who has legitimate rights to his time, the agent soon realises he has lost his control of time to many other bosses: all his clients, real and prospective. If professional autonomy is partially measured by one’s control over time, an agent may soon be in a shock of his life. A worker who cannot claim ownership of time is a stressed agent.Much of an agent’s work is done outside his or her own o? ce, travelling on the road between appointments, in client’s o? ces or any other place clients deem appropriate or convenient to themselves. This seemingly perpetual mobility of the ‘on-the-road agenttraveller’, in a substantial way, makes the work of a life insurance agent an essentially lonely one. The agent becomes a lone ranger exploiting the frontier and eking out a daily routine of negotiating with strangers, much of the time facing a social world of unfriendly, if not hostile and aggressive forces.The very nature of an agent’s work in terms of long, irregular hours as well as an ‘unsocial’ work routine necessarily casts him or her out of the mainstream society. work stress among life insurance agents 133 An agent’s life is largely out of sync with the normal tempo of his or her family, relatives and friends. This temporal and spatial disparity between the agent and his or her social world has over time become a potent source of strain manifested in various forms of interpersonal con? icts. These tensions in interpersonal relations are particularly taxing among two groups of agents: ? st, the beginners, who strive to maintain some resemblance of order with their family, their boyfriends or girlfriends; second, married women, who try to juggle their multiple roles of wife, mother and full-time agent. Women agents are sometimes seen by their male colleagues as perhaps a bit too aggressive, or too driven, working too hard, putting in too many long hours while competing with other male agents in an already tight market. One single woman spoke about how the long, irregular hours she has been keeping for almost two years led to con? icts and ? ghts with her boyfriend and the eventual break-up of a close relationship.Parents worry about their young daughters’ safety and well-being; they are concerned that young single women meeting with total strangers for business, in unlikely places at inappropriate hours. Other parents do not like the thought that their daughters are so preoccupied with work that they do not have time to look for or see boyfriends. A married woman, determined to become a unit manager in three years, spoke about the di? culties encountered in e? ectively discharging her role as a mother to two young children, sometimes feeling remorseful over releasing her work frustrations on them. Another single woman, ? ding the Singapore m arket too competitive, resorted to concentrating her e? orts in Indonesia; and she spoke about societal pressures on single women in terms of work, career and achievement. Two agents had become, over the years, increasingly aware that they had been pursuing their work goals almost at the total expense of their family, often to the extent of coming home so tensed up that they were incapable of communicating with their family members. Worried and preoccupied with work, they were increasingly non-communicative and were drifting further and further into a world of their own making.In the course of time, these agents, while selfdivorcing and self-isolating from their family, have engineered and completed their own disengagement from their social world, which itself may breed various forms of marital as well as familial con? icts. As a result, work stress and family stress become intertwined, each feeding into the other—up to a point when the agent is at a loss 134 chan kwok-bun as to which is the ‘cause’ and which is the ‘e? ect’. Yet, ironically, the agent continues to believe in the uniqueness of his or her own work problems, so much so that only the worker himself or herself can solve them.Work problems have thus become a personal problem that requires a personal solution—a perception that inevitably leads to the self-isolation of the agent. One of the possible consequences of this non-communication with and self-enforced isolation from one’s social environment, be it one’s work colleagues or one’s family members and friends, is this tendency, in solitude, to blame oneself, to blame one’s personal weaknesses, failings or incompetence for not having been able to secure an appointment, to close a policy or to meet the yearly sales quota.A self-blaming, self-denigrating agent who takes all the blame upon oneself is a stressed agent. Coping During our interviews, in describing their ways of coping w ith work stress, life insurance agents often underlined the importance of three personal qualities: self-reliance, motivation and discipline. A largely unstructured work life demands self-discipline in terms of an ability to e? ectively manage and use time in a context where there is either plenty of time and little productivity, or little time and a heavy workload.The fact that an agent does not, in a real sense, have a boss during much of the agent’s work life often means that one needs to rely on one’s own ‘internal’ resources to motivate and initiate oneself. During their training, agents learn from their trainers’ exhortations about the critical signi? cance of cultivating the personal habit of being able to motivate and discipline oneself. One agent, determined to become a manager in the shortest possible time, a? xed to the wall of her o? ce facing her desk ‘power’ messages stressing discipline and self-reliance—messages w hich served as a daily reminder to her.Her cabinet along another wall was ? lled with layers of ‘inspirational’ and ‘how-to’ books and cassette tapes dealing with such subjects as time management, self-improvement and stress control. She actually reported during an interview that one of those books ‘totally’ changed her life; she recommended anyone aspiring to become successful in life to read it, many times over. Another young male manager grumbled about his o? ce having only limited space while work stress among life insurance agents 135 almost one entire wall was taken up by shelves ? led with motivational and inspirational cassette tapes from America. He remarked that there is a real demand for such materials among the young executive sta? in the Singapore business world. Insurance companies routinely mount in-house training workshops or courses o? ering agents opportunities to ‘refresh’ their ideas on motivation and self disci pline. Trainers or consultants from within the industry, the universities and overseas are also brought in regularly to speak on such subjects at professional meetings and industry conventions or congresses.Occasionally, successful sports coaches or athletes are brought to annual life insurance conventions to share with agents and managers their experiences in motivating and disciplining themselves, thus drawing an analogy between excelling in sports and selling life insurance. One agency, reputed to be among the top four in the mother company, publishes and distributes a monthly bulletin as well as a regular newsletter. In one of the issues, the agency leader shared in her front page message a book she had recently read: The Successful System that Never Fails (1962), by Clement Stone.The same issue carried another article showing a woman agent as a ‘goal getter’, stating, ‘She has a very disciplined system to monitor her daily and weekly activities. ’ And her advice to the new agents was: 1. KNOW what you want. 2. SET GOALS to achieve it. 3. DO THE BASICS everyday (prospecting, telephone calls, meeting customers, servicing). The article ended with another ‘motivational’ message: ‘Time and tide wait for no man. Plan and do it now. ’ On the second to last page of the bulletin, among the agenda items for a forthcoming agency meeting, it listed a discussion of a book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill (1996).Agents also share a strong belief in personal control. Personal control is understood here as values, abilities and behaviours to manage and master oneself e? ectively, including one’s time, habits, perceptions, thought processes, feelings and emotions, or, to put it brie? y, self-mastery. The ability to cope with stress depends a lot on your personality and your own psychological state of mind. Sometimes people amplify the stress situation and make themselves even more stressed. If we are able to control our mind, it’s very much better. (12) Our problem is our mind.If we ourselves are negative, that is our end. We need to think on the positive. We work to help pick up those who are ‘down’. (11) 136 chan kwok-bun In another monthly bulletin, an entire poem, ‘A Note of Motivation’, from a speaker during one of the regular agency meetings, was reprinted. The poem ended with these lines: ‘Life battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN! ’ Associated with this belief in personal control is the value of hard work, the belief that hard work will bring results, that there is a connection between e? rts and results and, most importantly, the ability to ‘take hard work’, to put up with long, hard, irregular work hours. Two agents actually singled out hard work as an e? ective strategy to cope with work stress. In this context, work, rather th an relaxations or rest, is prescribed as an antidote, a remedy or solution to stress or so-called ‘mental and physical a? ictions’. Such a work ethic also seems to suggest a certain degree of mental and emotional toughness, an attitude of determination toward work and life, a readiness to ‘tough it out’.One agent spoke about the importance of being able ‘to pick oneself up, put the broken pieces together and move on with life’ as a way to get out of a ‘sales slump’. The emphasis is thus on one’s resilience and hardiness, or belief in personal control over work as well as one’s ability to bounce back and recover quickly from ‘the hidden injuries of life’: After a while, I sit back and evaluate my own performance. I’ve learned to think this way: ‘You are not considered a failure if you can pick yourself up and carry on with what you are doing. (1) To the agents, strategies of coping also includ e a sample of various psychological defence mechanisms; there is evidence from the indepth interview data that they are quite frequently used. Agents are taught during training to handle rejections by controlling their own mind. They are taught to think aloud to themselves that the clients are not rejecting them, but rather, may well be rejecting themselves and their families and, consequently, leaving their lives unprotected.The objective here is to externalise, not internalise; hence to lay blame on others, not on themselves: Before, I took rejections quite personally. I felt that he said ‘no’ to me because of something in me that he cannot accept. But now, I realise that he said ‘no’ not to me, but to his family. He is not being responsible to himself and his family. The problem lies in him, not me! I have done my best and I’ll keep on trying to convince him. But for cases that give me direct rejection, I’ll throw them away because there is no point keeping them on my mind.It’ll be very stressful (laugh). (14) work stress among life insurance agents 137 Agents are also trained to accept rejections as a predictable, builtin part of a life insurance agent’s work. With experience, most agents would have learned to develop an attitude of acceptance: We took a course in psychology. From there we learned how to accept things as they come along. Basically, I’m a happy-go-lucky person. I’ll always ? nd a way out for myself. I don’t normally reproach myself unnecessarily. (12) Agents are trained to accept rejections as an inextricable part of their work.In fact, they are literally told that ‘they are paid to take rejections’, and that ‘the more rejections they encounter, the better results will be. ’ So rejections are good things and agents should indeed be happy about them: My boss always tells me that insurance is very di? cult work, but it is for the same reason w e are paid back such high dividends. If it was any easier, the money would not be that good, so the agent is talked (or, talking himself ) into seeing rejections as a good thing. He said, ‘If your prospect were to say yes readily, someone else would have sold the policy to him long, long ago? It is all very logical. (22) To most agents, coping is meant to refer to accessing and using psychological resources within oneself. These so-called personal or internal resources include self-discipline, mental control, rationalisations and the ability to self-motivate, accept, shift blame away from self to others, work hard, manage time and problem-solve. The emphasis here is on learning through training and experience to acquire the appropriate resources, skills and values so that, once they are internalised, they become part of the person and can be used in day-to-day coping.It is essentially a skill-oriented, person-focussed approach, where the onus is on the person as an active agen t ‘using the person’, using one’s self, one’s resources and skills. Such a personfocussed, skill-oriented concept of coping is accentuated by a general disinclination on the part of most agents (except a few) to seek and use help, support and care from the family for problem-solving or emotional support: It is very di? cult to get help from my family. (10) There is nothing much they can do about it. They won’t understand. (5) My family would not understand my work. So I would not go to them for help or support. 19) We are told to present a positive and optimistic front to everyone at all times, including our family. (19) 138 chan kwok-bun The married male agents were quite speci? c about keeping work and family life separate, not wanting work problems and frustrations to spill over into the domestic domain, thus not confounding their relationships with their spouse, children and kin members. They said they would strive to ‘arrange’ thei r work and familial aspects of their lives such that weekdays and occasional week evenings and Saturdays are for work while Sundays are reserved for the family.Some reported that, in general, they do not bother to communicate with their spouses about problems and frustrations experienced at work; they cite reasons such as ‘not wanting to give them headaches’, ‘spouse not understanding my work problems’ or ‘no use to talk about problems since they would not be able to solve them for me anyway. ’ One agent attributed his disinclination to involve his wife in his work problems to ‘the Asian nature and culture’. Another agent rationalised to himself that the important thing to do ‘to keep the right balance in life’ is to maintain ‘quality time’ with his wife and children.Two managers described their agencies as warm, cohesive places, almost like a surrogate family, bound by social, economic and emotional ties to problem-solving as well as to provide support for the individual agents. The agency was described as a place where agents are encouraged to return for care and guidance: How do you go about making yourself feel better? There are many ways. Over here, our company policy is that when you are feeling low or lost, the best thing to do is to come back to the agency and ? nd a colleague for a chit-chat.Is this method e? ective? It is nice that peers encourage and support each other. In general, you would want to discuss with the more experienced peers—they will give you a few ideas—point to a ‘road for you to walk on’, give you a guideline, help you to solve a particular problem, or simply go out with you for a walk to release your pent-up emotions or depressed feelings. That way, you will feel much better. (10) When I am stressed or frustrated, I immediately go to other agents (here in the agency). They are always willing to help.Four of them are very close to me. When problems come up, we talk about them among ourselves. While talking, we often come to realise that they are not my problem only—they become more normal, less serious. I always look to my more experienced colleagues—they are more likely and able to help. (15) To help create and sustain the notion of the agency as a ‘large family’, agency bulletins regularly print greetings to welcome newcomers as well as birthday messages to agency members. The intent is work stress among life insurance agents 139 o impress upon the agents that they should strive to reach their individual goals by cooperating with, supporting and caring for each other. Nonetheless, though seemingly encouraged and promoted by the management, agents only partially used social support at the agency as a way of coping with stress. Rivalry and competition between agents within the same agency or company would undermine any possible feelings of fellowship among colleagues. While some agents reported actually turning to their managers or supervisors for ‘problem-solving’ guidance and advice, they also exercised onsiderable caution in such interaction for fear of unwittingly revealing personal weaknesses, inadequacies and vulnerabilities. In practice, there are two inter-related parts to the relationship between the agent and his or her agency/company represented by a supervisor-manager: supervision and training. The agent receives supervision of varying degrees from the manager, who negotiates the kind of continuous training required to either maintain the status quo or to improve one’s sales volume. This often means customising a training programme to ? the needs of an agent in a particular stage of career development, which invariably change relative to their clients and their needs. As the life insurance industry continues to innovate by creating and introducing new products and new services, the agent ? nds it obligatory to learn new skill s—both in the ‘software’ (e. g. , new ways to motivate self and client) and in the ‘hardware’ (e. g. , legal and administrative aspects of a new product). The agent needs training, and the industry ? nds ways to encourage and support it.Thus an ethos of continuous upgrading exists. Indeed, it is a norm shared by peers in the industry, part and parcel of a collectivised coping strategy. All except one or two of the agents seemed quite clear about not seeking social support from their family for their work problems. Most tended to believe that a clear-cut separation between work and family would be an e? ective way to manage stress at work. Family relations thus become a distraction, a welcome diversion from work, where the worker learns ‘to put things aside, to forget work problems, to shut o? emporarily’. For at least two agents, the mere knowledge that their spouses will be supportive when their help and care are needed was enough witho ut the agents actually involving them in their work problems. When it comes to using social support of colleagues or supervisors at the workplace, the agents have also learned to be selective and discretionary in deciding who is to 140 chan kwok-bun be approached for what problems and towards what ends. The ‘culture’ of the support system at the workplace is thus accessed and used by the agents with iscretion, and in his or her best interests. The life insurance industry thus provides a rather appropriate context for what we call ‘the sociology of coping’, which is focused on how groups or communities, not individuals, come to terms with and deal with their stressors. To ‘contextualise’ the coping of life insurance agents, one is required to understand how, for example, an individual’s social embedment in the larger ‘system’ and ‘culture’ of the industry would make a di? erence in one’s coping process and strategy. The more socially embedded, the more e? ctive in coping—partly because one is now receiving social support and partly because one has learned ‘the tricks of the trade’ through one’s socialisation ‘into’ the group or community. The life insurance industry in Singapore is unique in that it puts into practice a certain belief in continuous on-the-job training (or what Singaporeans commonly call ‘upgrading’), learning and self-renewal. Indeed, this belief or ideology is operationalised and institutionalised in a well-worked-out system of seminars, workshops, conferences, small-group discussions, feedback sessions, etc.These are founded upon a central premise: an individual agent must be continuously skilled and re-skilled by the system and its knowledge to cope with oneself and a hostile social world—thus the constant reference to the social sciences, particularly psychology and social psychology, for insights, inspi ration and intervention. For better or for worse, the life insurance industry in Singapore has become an active user of social science knowledge and the myriad interventions derived from it. The individual very rarely copes alone and is very rarely left alone by the life insurance ‘family’.When socially embedded in this ‘family’, the individual obtains his or her support, expressively (it is nice to know how to deal with one’s depression or mood swings) as well as instrumentally (it is useful to know how to handle a hostile client). The ‘social fund’ is there for one to tap into; when used, this fund produces an ‘economic fund’ for the system and the individual. Work Satisfaction While the life insurance agents no doubt faced a wide range of stressors in their daily work, many of which demanded various modes work stress among life insurance agents 41 of coping and adaptation, they also reported a considerably high level of w ork satisfaction. Formerly construction engineers, computer programmers, factory supervisors or teachers prior to joining the life insurance business, none of the thirty agents we interviewed reported having feelings of regret over their present work; neither did they anticipate any further job change in the immediate future. All said the job was right for them, though a few did report that there were indeed lingering thoughts of quitting insurance work during the ? st two years of initiation. Several agents in fact seemed to have derived so much satisfaction from their work that they reported that their job had long become their hobby; work and hobby were indistinguishable and had in fact become one. Several agents took pains in our interviews to emphasise that everything they did in their hobbies and in life was somewhat related to their work, and vice versa. On the basis of the interview data, one would attribute the agents’ high level of work satisfaction to a combination of factors.One important factor has to do with agents’ perceived sense of control over their work as a result of the freedom, autonomy and independence an agent’s work provides. In a signi? cant way, an agent is essentially his or her own boss, answerable and accountable mainly to oneself (thus largely dependent on one’s own personal resources such as initiative, self-discipline, self-reliance and motivation). An agent is self-employed, and his or her work has the potential of developing into an entrepreneur’s business where, at least in one’s mind, the results are a direct function of e? rt and hard work. Moreover, one derives much satisfaction from being able to generate pro? t for oneself, rather than for a company as is the case for salaried employees. Indeed, several agents reported that they had quit their former job and joined the life insurance business precisely because it o? ers the potential attraction of self-employment and entrepreneu rship: I had this wish to do my own work and be my own boss. It just happened that insurance o? ered me the opportunity to realise my wish. So, naturally, I became an agent. (10)Another factor associated with agents’ work satisfaction is their relatively high income in view of the fact that many entered the profession with educational quali? cations no higher than ‘0’ Levels, with one year of training and having passed a certifying examination considered by many as easy. The agents we interviewed made an average of three to four thousand Singapore dollars per month, while 142 chan kwok-bun several agent-managers with about ten years of experience in the business reported an average annual income of S$240,000.One agency supervisor, herself making S$70,000 per year after seven years, reported that her 42-year-old manager was getting an annual income of S$800,000 or, as she emphasised, admiringly, ‘close to a million’. With money comes fame. The agency regularly publishes sales ? gures of top agents, the so-called ‘top high achievers’ in their company-wide bulletins. In an attempt to raise work morale and motivation, the industry periodically hands out awards and medals during conventions and congresses. One agent considered the wide publicity and recognition a successful agent received as a potent source of work satisfaction.When successful (as indicated by insurance sales ? gures and the subsequent recognition and appreciation received from colleagues, company and friends), an agent has ? nally come around: he or she, through personal success, has managed to achieve the kind of social status and respect that society seems so reluctant to give to this profession. In a sense, personality and achievement elicit both material and non-material rewards that are due. Insurance agents spoke about the grati? cation they derived from having sold a policy where the ? ancial rewards are tangible and immediate; one can literally calculate the precise amount of commission one makes from having completed a successful transaction. Another agent actually reported that he sometimes felt guilty for having been receiving such a sizeable income for all these years in the insurance business; his friends of the same cohort in the banking sector, better educated and more intensively trained, were making less than he did. In his mind, life insurance sales work, for those who can cope and become successful at it, o? rs good pay, a clear and well-de? ned prospect of promotion (from agent through trainer and unit supervisor to, eventually, agent-cum-manager) and a distinct probability of self-employment. For many, the prospect of a quick transition from an agent to an entrepreneur within a span of ten to ? fteen years excites and motivates many a high achiever. In the process of plodding through one’s career path, the individual gets his or her own rewards in accordance with ‘the goals set and e? ort exerted ’. And so it seems. work stress among life insurance agents Conclusion 43 Singapore society rejects the idea as well as the product of life insurance, which is the ‘? rst movement’ of the dialectic of encounters between a life insurance agent and society (Neo, 1996). Society thus rejects the role of being an agent, not necessarily the person in that role, though the person is very likely to internalise the rejections through self-blame and self-criticism. It is thus not so much what is wrong with the product, but what is wrong with me—a process that entails considerable psychological costs to the individual agents.Nevertheless, the life insurance industry employs agents and trains them to di? use such societal rejections, oftentimes striving to turn such hostility around. As it happens, the agents are assigned a stigma by society, a Go? manian spoiled identity; agents are keenly aware of the intentional social distance, the chasm, that separates them and s ociety. Agents are to be shunned by all, strangers and close social others. This is the ‘second movement’ of the Hegelian dialectic.Note that such an analysis posits that societal rejection of life insurance as an idea and the stigma attached to life insurance agents are as much structural givens as they are historical conditions, or what the Durkheimian sociologist calls ‘social facts’ which the individual agents cannot easily ‘wish away’. The ‘third movement’ begins when the life insurance industry in general, and the agents in particular, attempt to cope with the stigma by developing an institutional culture over time; an ideological complex of values and beliefs—or, ‘tricks of the trade’, if you like.The life insurance industry is among the few industries that are fully aware of the structural and historical causes of the myriad ‘assaults on the self ’ that happen during the daily routine of the work life of an agent. Their counter-attack is ongoing training and educational upgrading of the profession, from bottom up. A structural problem requires at the least a collective solution. Through seminars, workshops, conventions and pep-talks, the industry instils in the individual agents a ‘bag of tricks’. These include values and beliefs such as hard work, self-e? acy, self-reliance and discipline; work habits (keeping accounts and making regular cold calls); procedures for dealing with prospective clients; and a battery of coping strategies and defence mechanisms such as positive thinking (the cup is half full, not half empty), cognitive alteration or conversion (it is your loss, not mine, for not buying insurance from me), hiding and 144 chan kwok-bun compartmentalising (I make sure my family doesn’t know anything about my work problems), talking oneself into believing ‘doing good for others’ (everyone needs an insurance policy; it never rain s but pours), accepting the inevitable, and so on.Our analyses have indicated the in? ltration of academic psychology into the articulation and justi? cation of such an ideological complex. To illustrate, Seligman’s learned optimism concept (1990), Kobasa’s idea of psychological hardiness (Kobasa & Pucetti 1983) and many other psychological concepts such as resilience, personal control, competence, self-esteem and pragmatism, have found their ways into the everyday life language of the life insurance agents. It is perhaps a case of applied psychology, of the industry turning to social science for guidance and ideological justi? ation. Of course, never for a moment in the three movements of this dialectic is the individual agent a passive voice. Most signi? cantly, for example, the agent interacts with the industry culture to develop an ideological complex of his own to fend o? the ‘slings and arrows’ of his work life, which some have apparently done more s uccessfully than others, thus enjoying considerable work satisfaction. There are good reasons to believe that the transmission of the institutional culture is often met y resistance on the part of the individual agent, especially when the culture does not allow for tension release on the one hand and demands considerable commodi? cation of emotions on the other hand. Agents are exhorted to do emotion work—to ‘never get back at bad clients’ and to ‘act nice, think positive’. In a sense, this personal ideology grounded in a larger institutional culture serves three functions. First, in a deep psychological sense, it bestows on the agent a social identity that he uses to cope with the stress of his work life.Second, existentially, it provides the agent with a self-justi? cation of his own existence, partly because it has an altruistic dimension to it: the insurance agent is in the business of ‘doing good’, in that the family is looked after by an insurance policy should something disastrous happen to the bread-winner. Third, it also gives the agent a bag of tricks, something useful and practical in his daily encounters with society. Our interview data show rather clearly that our agents reported a considerably high level of work satisfaction.They liked their work, had few regrets about their vocational choice and had rarely thought of quitting life insurance work except during their beginning years in the industry. Some even merged their work with their life—work and hobby became one. work stress among life insurance agents 145 One ? nds at the core of this ideological complex several rather attractive things on o? er: handsome monetary rewards; a ? ight from the tyranny of the working-class condition; and a promise for freedom, occupational autonomy and self-determination in use of time— all of which are embodied in the lure of self-employment and entrepreneurship.To some workers in a credential society , these promises prove irresistible because the ful? lment of the Singaporean dream is the deliverance of one’s great expectations. To perhaps many others, these promises are just that: promises. Freedom, free will and self-determination (in use of time according to one’s desire) are an illusion. An agent does not e? ectually own his time, nor does he dispose of it according to his own accord. The chasm between proletariat and bourgeoisie remains real and forever self-expanding.Still others learn that this entrepreneurial dream, even when realised, has its dark side. A self-employed person never for a moment stops ‘using his own person’, his personality or everything he owns and can rightfully call his—his time, his charm, his tolerance, his love. Having escaped from the tyranny of control by others, he now engages in the ultimate form of exploitation: exploitation of self. The chasm that separates the capitalist from the proletariat is a structural one which is bridgeable by only a few with the right strategic internal and external resources, but which remains a chasm to many.The Singaporean dream is just that—a dream. Many agents will be caught in this black-hole-like chasm, between reality and myth, yet never fail to blame themselves for their personal failures. The moment of the ultimate nightmare will come when the life insurance industry has found ways to make direct sales to the public, e. g. , through the Internet, or when the public goes direct to the industry, as in the case of medical, house or automobile insurance (Neo, 1996). The existence of the agent is thus rendered obsolete because it has lost its value. CHAPTER NINEINSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND STRESS APPRAISAL AMONG LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS Gina Lai, Chan Kwok-bun and Ko Yiu-chung Work stress as a social phenomenon and social issue has been of considerable concern to scholars and laypersons alike because of its myriad costs to individual workers a? ected and to companies that experience low productivity, absenteeism and turnover (Beehr, 1995; Sutherland & Cooper, 1988). For decades, conventional research on work stress has generally perceived individuals as passive actors, making personal adaptations to structural constraints imposed by organisations.Work stress is often seen as a result of an individual’s failure in making adjustments to the work environment (e. g. , Beehr, 1995; Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991; Lowe & Northcott, 1988; Sutherland & Cooper, 1988). While studies adopting this view usually examine work stress by identifying the unique sources of stress experienced by particular occupational groups, they tend to overlook the relationship between the institutionalised arrangements of a profession and work stress. The regulative and normative systems of an industry and profession may well a? ct how an individual worker perceives, appraises and responds to work situations—subsequently in? uencing the level of stress the individual will experience. The present chapter aims to study how the institutionalised arrangements of the life insurance profession and industry in Singapore relate to the types and extent of work stress experienced by its workers. Insurance agents represent a unique group of workers who are both paid employees and entrepreneurs. Data from in-depth interviews with 11 agents working for di? erent life insurance companies provided background information on the norms and rules of the industry.Insurance agents’ experiences with work stress were analysed using survey data. The information obtained from the interviews, which were conducted prior to the sample survey, enabled our understanding of the industry and guided our questionnaire construction. 148 gina lai et al. Definition of Work Stress The term ‘stress’ has been de? ned in various ways: it has been used to refer to demands that require the individual to re-adjust his or her usual behavioural patterns ( Holmes & Rahe, 1967), or to the state of physiological or emotional arousal that results from the perception of demands (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Selye, 1974; Thoits, 1995).In this chapter, ‘stress’ refers to the latter while the former is termed ‘stressor’. In the current research literature (Thoits, 1995), this distinction between stress and stressor is espoused. Stressors manifest themselves in episodic events or situations and are classi? ed in the literature into life events, chronic strains and daily hassles (Thoits, 1995). For an event or situation to be perceived as stressful, two appraisal processes are involved (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). First, the individual appraises the event or situation as threatening to his or her well-being.Events or situations that individuals ? nd threatening often entail potential danger or alteration to one’s personal identity, social relations, routine behavior, and/or normal physical state. Examples include los s of a loved one from whom one derives great personal a? rmation and emotional comfort or a serious illness that causes debilitation. Second, the individual feels a need for action. He/she appraises the available resources for requisite action but is uncertain about the su? ciency or e? ectiveness of resources to successfully carry out the action.When appraising an event or a situation as threatening, the individual, believing that action is needed and feeling that the outcome is uncertain, would experience an emotional reaction called stress (Locke & Taylor, 1990). Based on this conceptualisation of stress, ‘work stress’ refers to the emotional response to work-related events and situations. Researchers have suggested that stress may be manifested psychologically and physically, as well as behaviorally, and that such manifestations may vary across social groups de? ed by, for example, gender and social class (Pearlin, 1999). The present chapter focuses on the psycholog ical aspect of work stress, an emphasis particularly relevant to the study of work stress among insurance agents. Insurance work is indeed emotional work. Selling insurance often assaults one’s self due to stigmatisation and rejection by society; agents whether individually or collectively are constantly forced to make psychological adjustments to and/or manipulations of their hostile work environment. Thus, it institutional context among life insurance agents 49 would be meaningful to investigate how job incumbents in the insurance industry appraise various aspects of their work and evaluate the impacts of such appraisal on their psychological well-being. Adopting a sociological perspective, the present chapter emphasises the social-structural organisation of the industry and its link to individuals’ experience (Aneshensel, 1992; Pearlin, 1989, 1999; Thoits, 1995). The appraisal of and response to work-related events and situations are thus argued to be related to the meaning attached to work, which is in? enced by the regulative and normative systems of a profession and industry. The Political Economy of the Life Insurance Industry The most important attractions o? ered by insurance work are its promises of autonomy, potentially high monetary rewards and the prospect of self-employment. Insurance agents are usually given a certain sales target to meet within a period of time if they intend to stay in the company. However, they themselves have to decide on their sales target, set their own work tempo and get their work done wherever and whenever deemed appropriate and e? ctive. To further solicit workers’ compliance with industry goals, agents are given a share of the industry’s pro? t—commissions (Chua, 1971; Neo, 1996). Work is remunerated on the basis of sales; and commissions increase as one progresses along a clear and well-de? ned career path. The pace of advancement along the career path is selfdetermined: the individ ual decides how fast he or she wants to move along the career ladder. Individual job performance, in terms of sales volume and ability to keep policies ‘alive’, is a requisite for career advancement.Insurance agents thus take on a dual identity. On the one hand, they are employees who follow directives set by the company and work toward organisational goals. On the other hand, they are entrepreneurs who can determine their own career goals—which more often than not coincide with organisational interests—as well as experiment freely with various modes to achieve these goals. There is, however, a down side to the agents’ work. While the agents enjoy work autonomy and ? exibility, they also experience sustained pressure to produce (Chan & Ko, 1991).Further, life insurance has been and still is a taboo subject for many Singaporeans (Chan & Ko, 1991), partly due to the stigma attached to death and 150 gina lai et al. disabilities. Moreover, life insuranc e is generally perceived as a highrisk investment because of the need for considerable long-term ? nancial commitment to an unforeseeable future. Coupled with negative stereotypes of insurance work, agents often face rejections by strangers as well as family members and close friends, subsequently breeding personal isolation and alienation.Even worse, agents do not interact with their clients as equals. The balance of power in agent-client transactions is often tilted in favor of the clients. When faced with ‘unreasonable’ clients, agents are trained and often reminded by their supervisors not to get even for ‘bad’ client conduct, thus further perpetuating the status imbalance. Paradoxically, having escaped from the control of a boss who has legitimate rights to one’s time and labour, one now ? nds himself or herself subject to the control of many other bosses: all his real and prospective clients.Further, the rapid growth in the insurance industry i n Singapore has induced acute competitiveness and rivalry between companies as well as among agents, engendering a general feeling of distrust, tension and strain in interpersonal relations among peers. Jealousy from colleagues and interpersonal con? icts further reinforce individualism and self-isolation. Keen competition also makes it necessary for agents to intensify their labour—to self-exploit. Operating in such a hostile environment, the life insurance industry has to put up moral and social bu? rs to cushion itself against myriad adverse impacts—thus the emergence of an institutional ethos and culture as defense mechanisms. As a way to increase agents’ productivity and to sustain a certain motivational level, the industry periodically gives out awards and medals during conventions and congresses to raise workers’ morale and motivation (Chan & Ko, 1991). A culture of internal cohesiveness and mutual support is encouraged within individual life insur ance companies as well as the industry as a whole.These values not only help the industry achieve its goal of pro? t-making, but also facilitate the ability of agents to cope with mental and physical a? ictions caused by their work. Description of the Survey The analysis was based on three non-random samples, which yielded a total sample of 400 life insurance workers. First, 500 questionnaires were distributed to the agents by the managers of six major institutional context among life insurance agents 151 life insurance companies in Singapore.Of these, 212 completed and returned their questionnaires, giving a response rate of 42. 4%. Second, with the help of the Secretary of the Singapore Life Underwriters Association, questionnaires were disseminated to 400 agents via managers who attended a series of four talks organised by the Association. This channel saw a return of 137 questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 34. 3%. Third, the Secretary distributed 100 questionnaires to in surance managers whom he knew, who in turn handed them out to their own agents.A total of 51 questionnaires were returned this way. The overall response rate for the study was 40%. The non-random nature of the samples and relatively low response rates inevitably lead to a concern about the representativeness of our selected respondents. The relatively low response rate was probably due to the way we sampled our respondents and distributed questionnaires. We distributed the questionnaires to potential respondents through intermediaries (managers of major life insurance companies and the Secretary of the Singapore Life Underwriters Associatio

The Return: Midnight Chapter 10

Damon was making his way up the beautiful rose-covered trel is below the window of the bedchamber of M. le Princess Jessalyn D'Aubigne, a very wealthy, beautiful, and much-admired girl who had the bluest blood of any vampire in the Dark Dimension, according to the books he'd bought. In fact, he'd listened to the locals and it was rumored that Sage himself had changed her two years ago, and had given her this bijoux castle to live in. Delicate gem that it appeared, though, the little castle had already presented Damon with several problems. There had been that razor-wire fence, on which he ripped his leather jacket; an unusual y dexterous and stubborn guard whom it had real y been a pity to strangle; an inner moat that had almost taken him unawares; and a few dogs that he had treated with the Saber-tranquilizer routine – using Mrs. Flowers's sleeping powder, which he'd brought with him from Earth. It would have been easier to poison them, but Jessalyn was reputed to have a very soft heart for animals and he needed her for at least three days. That should be long enough to make him a vampire – if they did nothing else during those days. Now, as he pul ed himself silently up the trel is, he mental y added long rose thorns to the list of inconveniences. He also rehearsed his first speech to Jessalyn. She had been – was – would forever be – eighteen. But it was a young eighteen, since she had only two years'experience at being a vampire. He comforted himself with this as he climbed silently into a window. Still silently, moving slowly in case the princess had guardian animals in her bedchamber, Damon parted layer after layer of filmy, translucent black curtains that kept the blood-red light of the sun from shining into the chamber. His boots sank into the thick pile of a black rug. Making it out of the enfolding curtains, Damon saw that the entire chamber was decorated in a simple theme by a master of contrast. Jet-black and off-black. black. He liked it a lot. There was an enormous bed with more bil owing filmy black curtains almost encasing it. The only way to approach it was from the foot, where the diaphanous curtains were thinner. Standing there in the cathedral-like silence of the great chamber, Damon looked at the slight figure under the black silk sheets, among dozens of smal throw pil ows. She was a jewel like the castle. Delicate bones. A look of utter innocence as she slept. An ethereal river of fine, scarlet hair spil ing about her. He could see individual hairs straying on the black sheets. She looked a little like Bonnie. Damon was pleased. He pul ed out the same knife he had put to Elena's throat, and just for a moment hesitated – but no, this was no time to be thinking of Elena's golden warmth. Everything depended on this fragile-shouldered child in front of him. He put the point of the knife to his chest, deliberately placing it wide of his heart in case some blood had to be spil ed†¦and coughed. Nothing happened. The princess, who was wearing a black negligee that showed frail-looking arms as fine and pale as porcelain, went on sleeping. Damon noticed that the nails on her smal fingers were lacquered the exact scarlet of her hair. The two large pil ar candles set in tal black stands were giving off an enticing perfume, as wel as being clocks – the farther down they burned, the easier to tel time. The lighting was perfect – everything was perfect – except that Jessalyn was stil asleep. Damon coughed again, loudly – and bumped the bed. The princess woke, starting up and simultaneously bringing two sheathed blades out of her hair. â€Å"Who is it? Is someone there?†She was looking in every direction but the right one. â€Å"It's only me, your highness.†Damon pitched his voice low, but fraught with unrequited need. â€Å"You don't have to be afraid,†he added, now that she'd at last gotten the right direction and seen him. He knelt by the foot of her bed. He'd miscalculated a bit. The bed was so large and high that his chest and the knife were far below Jessalyn's line of sight. â€Å"Here I wil take my life,†he announced, very loudly to make sure that Jessalyn was keeping up with the program. After a moment or two the princess's head popped up over the foot of the bed. She balanced herself with hands spread wide and narrow shoulders hunched close to her. At this distance he could see that her eyes were green – a complicated green consisting of many different rings and speckles. At first she just hissed at him and lifted her knives held in hands whose fingers were tipped with nails of scarlet. Damon bore with her. She would learn in time that al this wasn't real y necessary; that in fact it had gone out of fashion in the real world decades ago and was only kept alive by pulp fiction and old movies. â€Å"Here at your feet I slay myself,†he said again, to make sure she didn't miss a syl able, or the entire point, for that matter. â€Å"You – yourself?†She was suspicious. â€Å"Who are you? How did you get here? Why would you do such a thing?† â€Å"I got here through the road of my madness. I did it out of what I know is madness I can no longer live with.† â€Å"What madness? And are you going to do it now?†the princess asked with interest. â€Å"Because if you're not, I'l have to cal my guards and – wait a minute,†she interrupted herself. She grabbed his knife before he could stop her and licked it. â€Å"This is a metal blade,†she told him, tossing it back. â€Å"I know.†Damon let his head fal so that hair curtained his eyes and said painful y: â€Å"I am†¦a human, your highness.† He was covertly watching through his lashes and he saw that Jessalyn brightened up. â€Å"I thought you were just some weak, useless vampire,†she said absently. â€Å"But now that I look at you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ A rose petal of a pink tongue came out and licked her lips. â€Å"There's no point in wasting the good stuff, is there?† She was like Bonnie. She said exactly what she thought, when she thought it. Something inside Damon wanted to laugh. He stood again, looking at the girl on the bed with al the fire and passion of which he was capable – and felt that it wasn't enough. Thinking about the real Bonnie, alone and unhappy, was†¦wel , passion-quenching. But what else could he do? Suddenly he knew what he could do. Before, when he'd stopped himself from thinking of Elena, he had cut off any genuine passion or desire. But he was doing this for Elena, as much as for himself. Elena couldn't be his Princess of Darkness if he couldn't be her Prince. This time, when he looked down at M. le Princess, it was differently. He could feel the atmosphere change. â€Å"Highness, I have no right even to speak to you,†he said, deliberately putting one booted foot on the metal scrol work that formed the frame of the bed. â€Å"You know as wel as I that you can kil me with a single blow†¦say, here† – pointing to a spot on his jaw – â€Å"but you have already slain me – â€Å" Jessalyn looked confused, but waited. † – with love. I fel in love with you the moment I saw you. You could break my neck, or – as I would say if I were permitted to touch your perfumed white hand – you could curl those fingers around my throat and strangle me. I beg you to do it.† Jessalyn was beginning to look puzzled but excited. Blushing, she held out one smal hand to Damon, but clearly without any intention of strangling him. â€Å"Please, you must,†Damon said earnestly, never taking his eyes off hers. â€Å"That is the only thing I ask of you: that you kil me yourself instead of cal ing your guards so that the last sight I see wil be your beautiful face.† â€Å"You're il ,†Jessalyn decided, stil looking flustered. â€Å"There have been other unbalanced minds who have made their way past the first wal of my castle – although never to my chambers. I'l give you to the doctors so that they can make you wel .† â€Å"Please,†said Damon, who had forged his way through the last of the filmy black hangings and was now looming over the sitting princess. â€Å"Grant me instant death, rather than leaving me to die a little each day. You don't know what I've done. I can't stop dreaming of you. I've fol owed you from shop to shop when you went out. I am already dying now as you ravish me with your nobility and radiance, knowing that I am no more than the paving stones you walk on. No doctor can change that.† Jessalyn was clearly considering. Obviously, no one had ever talked to her like this. Her green eyes fixed on his lips, the lower of which was stil bleeding. Damon gave an indifferent little laugh and said, â€Å"One of your guards caught me and very properly tried to kil me before I could reach you and disturb your sleep. I'm afraid I had to kil him to get here,†he said, standing between one pil ar candle and the girl on the bed so that his shadow was thrown over her. Jessalyn's eyes widened in approval even as the rest of her seemed more fragile than ever. â€Å"It's stil bleeding,†she whispered. â€Å"I could – â€Å" â€Å"You can do anything you want,†Damon encouraged her with a wry quirk of a smile on his lips. It was true. She could. â€Å"Then come here.†She thumped a place by the nearest pil ow on the bed. â€Å"What are you cal ed?† â€Å"Damon,†he said as he stripped off his jacket and lay down, chin propped on one elbow, with the air of one not unused to such things. â€Å"Just that? Damon?† â€Å"You can cut it stil shorter. I am nothing but Shame now,†he replied, taking another minute to think of Elena and to hold Jessalyn's eyes hypnotical y. â€Å"I was a vampire – a powerful and proud one – on Earth – but I was tricked by a kitsune†¦Ã¢â‚¬ He told her a garbled version of Stefan's story, omitting Elena or any nonsense about wanting to be human. He said that when he managed to escape the prison that had taken his vampire self, he decided to end his own human life. But at that moment, he had seen Princess Jessalyn and thought that, serving her, he would be happy with his sorry lot. Alas, he said, it only fed his disgraceful feelings for her highness. â€Å"Now my madness has driven me to actual y accost you in your own chambers. Make an example of me, your highness, that wil cause other evildoers to tremble. Burn me, have me flogged and quartered, put my head on a pike to cause those who might do you il to cast themselves into a fire first.†He was now in bed with her, leaning back a little to expose his bare throat. â€Å"Don't be sil y,†Jessalyn said, with a little catch in her voice. â€Å"Even the meanest of my servants wants to live.† â€Å"Perhaps the ones that never see you do. Scul ions, stable boys – but I cannot live, knowing that I can never have you.† The princess looked Damon over, blushed, gazed for a moment into his eyes†¦and then she bit him. â€Å"I'l get Stefan to go down to the root cel ar,†Elena said to Meredith, who was angrily thumbing tears out of her eyes. â€Å"You know we can't do that. With the police right here in the house – â€Å" â€Å"Then I'll do it – â€Å" â€Å"You can't! You know you can't, Elena, or you wouldn't have come to me!† Elena looked at her friend closely. â€Å"Meredith, you've been donating blood al along,†she whispered. â€Å"You never seemed even slightly bothered†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He only took a tiny bit – always less from me than anyone. And always from my arm. I just pretended I was having blood drawn at the doctor's. No problem. It wasn't even bad with Damon back in the Dark Dimension.† â€Å"But now†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Elena blinked. â€Å"Now – what?† â€Å"Now,†Meredith said with a faraway expression, â€Å"Stefan knows that I'm a hunter-slayer. That I even have a fighting stave. And now I have to†¦to submit to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena had gooseflesh. She felt as if the distance from her to Meredith in the room was getting larger. â€Å"A hunter-slayer?†she said, bewildered. â€Å"And what's a fighting stave?† â€Å"There's no time to explain now! Oh, Elena†¦Ã¢â‚¬  If Plan A was Meredith and Plan B was Matt, there was real y no choice. Plan C had to be Elena herself. Her blood was much stronger than anyone else's anyway, so ful of Power that Stefan would only need a – â€Å"No!†Meredith whispered right in Elena's ear, somehow managing to hiss a word without a single sibilant. â€Å"They're coming down the stairs. We have to find Stefan now! Can you tel him to meet me in the little bedroom behind the parlor?† â€Å"Yes, but – â€Å" â€Å"Do it!† And I stil don't know what a fighting stave is, Elena thought, al owing Meredith to take her arms and propel her toward the bedroom. But I know what a â€Å"hunter-slayer†sounds like, and I definitely don't like it. And that weapon – it makes a stake look like a plastic picnic knife. Stil , she sent to Stefan, who was fol owing the sheriffs downstairs: Meredith is going to donate as much blood as you need to Influence them. There's no time to argue. Come here fast and for God's sake look cheerful and reassuring. Stefan didn't sound cooperative. I can't take enough from her for our minds to touch. It might – Elena lost her temper. She was frightened; she was suspicious of one of her two best friends – a horrible feeling – and she was desperate. She needed Stefan to do just as she said. Get here fast! was al she projected, but she had the feeling that she'd hit him with al of the feelings ful force, because he suddenly turned concerned and gentle. I will, love, he said simply. While the female police officer was searching the kitchen and the male the living room, Stefan stepped into the smal first-floor guest room, with its single rumpled bed. The lamps were turned off but with his night vision he could see Elena and Meredith perfectly wel by the curtains. Meredith was holding herself as stiffly as an acrophobic bungee jumper. Take all you need without permanently harming her – and try to put her to sleep, too. And don't invade her mind too deeply – I'll take care of it. You'd better get out in the hallway, let them see at least one of us, love, Stefan replied soundlessly. Elena was obviously simultaneously frightened for and defensive about her friend and had sped right into micromanagement mode. While this was usual y a good thing, if there was one thing Stefan knew about – even if it was the only thing he knew – it was taking blood. â€Å"I want to ask for peace between our families,†he said, reaching one hand toward Meredith. She hesitated and Stefan, even trying his hardest, could not help but hearing her thoughts, like smal , scuttling creatures at the base of her mind. What was she committing herself to? In what sense did he mean family? It's really just a formality, he told her, trying to gain ground on another front: her acceptance of the touch of his thoughts to hers. Never mind it. â€Å"No,†Meredith said. â€Å"It's important. I want to trust you, Stefan. Only you, but†¦I didn't get the stave until after Klaus was dead.† He thought swiftly. â€Å"Then you didn't know what you were – â€Å" â€Å"No. I knew. But my parents were never active. It was Grandpa who told me about the stave.† Stefan felt a surge of unexpected pleasure. â€Å"So your grandfather's better now?† â€Å"No†¦sort of.†Meredith's thoughts were confusing. His voice changed, she was thinking. Stefan was truly happy that Grandpa's better. Even most humans wouldn't care – not really. â€Å"Of course I care,†Stefan said. â€Å"For one thing, he helped save al our lives – and the town. For another, he's a very brave man – he must have been – to survive an attack by an Old One.† Suddenly, Meredith's cold hand was around his wrist and words were tumbling from her lips in a rush that Stefan could barely understand. But her thoughts stood bright and clear under those words, and through them he got the meaning. â€Å"Al I can know about what happened when I was very young is what I've been told. My parents told me things. My parents changed my birthday – they actual y changed the day we celebrate my birthday on – because a vampire attacked my grandpa, and then my grandpa tried to kil me. They've always said that. But how do they know? They weren't there – that's part of what they say. And what's more likely, that my grandpa attacked me or that the vampire did?†She stopped, panting, trembling al over like a white-tailed doe caught in the forest. Caught, and thinking she was doomed, and unable to run. Stefan put out a hand that he deliberately made warm around Meredith's cold one. â€Å"I won't attack you,†he said simply. â€Å"And I won't disturb any old memories. Good enough?† Meredith nodded. After her cathartic story Stefan knew she wanted as few words as possible. â€Å"Don't be afraid,†he murmured, just as he had thought the soothing phrase into the mind of many an animal he'd chased through the Old Wood. It's all right. There's no reason to fear me. She couldn't help being afraid, but Stefan soothed her as he soothed the forest animals, drawing her into the darkest shadow of the room, calming her with soft words even as his canines screamed at him to bite. He had to fold down the side of her blouse to expose her long, olive-skinned column of neck, and as he did the calming words turned into soft endearments and the kind of reassuring noises he would use to comfort a baby. And at last, when Meredith's breathing had slowed and evened and her eyes had drifted shut, he used the greatest of care to slide his aching fangs into her artery. Meredith barely quivered. Everything was softness as he easily skimmed over the surface of her mind, too, seeing only what he already knew about her: her life with Elena and Bonnie and Caroline. Parties and school, plans and ambitions. Picnics. A swimming hole. Laughter. Tranquility that spread out like a great pool. The need for calm, for control. Al this stretching back as far as she could remember†¦ The farthest depths that she could remember were here at the center†¦where there was a sudden plunging dip. Stefan had promised himself he would not go deeply into her mind, but he was being pul ed, helpless, being dragged down by the whirlpool. The waters closed over his head and he was drawn at tremendous speed to the very depths of a second pool, this one not composed of tranquility, but of rage and fear. And then he saw what had happened, what was happening, what would forever be happening – there at Meredith's stil center.

Spanish Golden Age Painting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Spanish Golden Age Painting - Essay Example From a political point of view the Spanish Golden Age lasted from the mid fifteenth till the late sixteenth centuries, but paradoxically reached a cultural and artistic climax when the country was in a state of political and economic decline, between the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In a time as significant as the Spanish Golden Age from a religious and historical point of view, the surrounding influences of class, gender, and religion, including issues of patronage, are extremely important. In order to understand the circumstances surrounding and influencing the artists discussed, attention will be given to the surrounding historical circumstances, while biographical details will be used to connect the work of art with the surrounding historical factors. At the same time, the unpredictability with which artistic genius reacts to its surrounding circumstances will be respected at all times. Research QuestionDiscuss Power and Control in Spanish Golden Age painting , focussing on the visual image as a representation of the social order in Spain's Golden Age (15th-17th centuries) and the influence on the Catholic Counter Reformation in Spain. An overview will be given of the historic and religious circumstances surrounding the following Spanish artists from the golden age: Sofonisba Anguissola (1532- 1625) El Greco (born as Domenikos Theotokopolos (1541-1614), Francisco de Zurbaran, (1598-1664) and Diego Velsquez (1599-1660).The study also intends to show how these historical and religious factors have influenced each individual artist and his or her work, depending on his or her class or race. The works that will be discussed are a self portrait by Anguissola, a self-portrait of the Zurbaran as "St Luke Painting the Crucifixion", a portrait by El Greco of "The Great Inquisitor Don Fernando Nino de Guevara" and Velsquez's famous "Portrait of "Pope Innocent X" and "Las Meninas."In the case of the female Anguissola it will be shown how her class as a noble woman and her piety in a Spain after Isabella, when the Virgin cult was flourishing, helped her to be recognized in court circles at a time when female artists were almost non-existent, and on the other hand, how she was restricted by her gender.In the case of El Greco the fact that he was a foreigner in Toledo at a time when the Counter Reformation was combined with a xenophobic hatred for Jews and Muslims, his rejection by King Phillip II and his patronage by clerics with whom he was surrounded had an influence on a creativity which nevertheless remained enigmatic.In the case of Francisco de Zurbaran the influence of his religious patrons on his work and life are more obvious: combining naturalism with religious sensibility, " conf orming to the guidelines, for counter reformation artists outlined by the Council of Trent." (Mans, 1) History of Spain Spain

Crime Prevention Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Crime Prevention Strategy - Essay Example d finally coming up with actionable strategies for dealing with the crime problem, to be recommended to the Tucson Police Department and all leveraging the SARA model as the overall framework for the exercise (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, 2013; Hoffman, Legosz, and Budz, 2005; City of Tucson, 2013). The City of Tucson Police Department details incidences of major crimes in the city over a period from 1997 to 2001 and breaks down statistics for different crimes. The plots reveal a general downward trend in incidences of crimes from homicides to arson to and robberies, with some crimes peaking in some years and some in other years in the early part of the last decade, with the exception of drug-related crimes, or so-called â€Å"Narcotic Drug Law Cases†, which have been relatively sticky and persistent over the observation period, varying over a relatively narrow range and generally being intractable from 1997 all the way to 2011, with the rates actually peaking and the n returning to 1997 levels in the intervening period of time. This is the chosen crime problem for the purposes of this discussion. It is worth noting that as of 2011, the incidence of such crimes is recorded at about 1,000 per 100,000 persons living in the city, an uptick from the 900 per 100,000 persons recorded in 1997 (City of Tucson, 2013b, p. 8). II. Discussion A. The Crime Problem, Qualitative and Quantitative Measures The plot below details the occurrence of the narcotic drug law crime problem in the city of Tucson from 1997 to 2011, as earlier mentioned, showing the relative stubbornness or persistence of this crime problem over time (City of Tucson, 2013b, p. 8): Graph Source: City of Tuczon, 2013b, p. 8 In the plot above, one can see that from 1997 to 2011, there was a considerable uptick in the drug crime problem in the city, with the last set of figures from 2003 to 2011 seeing the city facing a seesaw battle with the problem over time, and with the rates stubbornly hig her compared to the rates that were recorded in the latter part of the last century (City of Tuczon, 2013b), In contrast to this crime problem, the city seems to have fared better battling other crimes, which as can be shown from corresponding plots have been on downward trends after peaking at various points in the intervening years from 1997 to 2011. From a strategic point of view, there is value in further examining this problem in hopes of helping the Tuczon Police Department deal with the stubborn drug problem and improve the statistics in line with the progress that has been made dealing and briging down the incidence of other major crimes (City of Tuczon, 2013). From the field, we are able to get qualitative counterparts to the drug statistics provided by the police department above. One can classify the drug problem in Tucson as consisting of two main parts, one having to do with prescription drug abuse, which has the aid of health care workers in some cases, and one having to do with the trade in illegal substances such as crystal meth, which

Leadership and organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leadership and organisation - Essay Example It will focus how and when change takes place within an organization, and how leaders adopt with it, deal with it and what are the consequences while dealing with the change. The essay will discuss the basic skills of leadership such as the ability to inspire others, have effective communication skills, is enthusiastic and inspirational. The importance of these skills would assist the leaders to manage the change. The main objective of this paper is not only to review the concepts of leadership on theoretical notions but to also elaborate the application of these theories with the real case study examples. Leadership is an influence of people including leaders and followers who aim the actual changes and outcomes that reflect their shared drives. It reflects upon the changes and purposes being shared by the people (Daft 2008, p.4). Leadership involves the four vital factors including leader, followers, communication and situation that help to acquire the positive within an institute. Every leader should have personal responsibility and honesty towards the followers and organization, besides leader should have the mentality to accept changes and sharing purpose with the followers (Clark 2010). According to Daft definition leadership entails forming change, and not only being dependent upon the traditional concepts. This change directs to achieve the end-results that leader and the follower both desires. It helps to influence and motivate the leader and the follower to attain the mutual vision (Daft 2008, p.194). Organizational change is considered as an approach of bringing change in terms of transition within the team or organization in the current phase to the desired phase. There are different types of organizational change for which leaders are responsible including mission changes, strategic changes, operational changes technological changes, behavioral changes among the workforce (Boje 2000). Leaders are highly

Discussion of Three Wishes for Cinderella and other filmed versions Essay

Discussion of Three Wishes for Cinderella and other filmed versions - Essay Example The portrayed glass slipper has critical and intensive meaning and denotation by consideration of varying aspects. They symbolize or infer the prestige of the princess due to the large price paid to acquire one and also represent the delicateness of the prince. The prince has physically light and elegant appearance to be able to put fittingly on the shoes without even destroying or shattering them. The final symbolism presented by the glass slipper indicates of Cinderella ability to comfort to wear and dance with the grace. This action presents a picture of mettle as normally glass slipper is typically uncomfortable. The Godmother features on few versions of the Cinderella and thus he is uncommon character in the Cinderella narrative as elaborated by Perrault’s version of the account. With reference other varying versions of Cinderella, possibly in other cultures, frequently the heroine acquires aids from the deceased mother or even nanny. The fairy godmothers account is relat able to the in Western lifestyle as Perrault elaborates and even the following accounts from Disney. The figure functions of the portrayed versions all presents miraculous and feel-superior fantasy that brings together the community and appeals to every generation. The film â€Å"Three Wishes for Cinderella† informs of historic and classic Cinderella tale disregarding a hint of irony. Cinderella is played by Libuse Sanfrankova. This lady lives in a quaint village securely hidden into a wintry bush adjacent to a local castle. Her stepmother and sister green-eyed of her beauty, happiness and good-nature, try to saddle her with a life of drudgery. Their worst torture is to dispense two types of seeds on the ground for Cinderella to separate. Though it is tedious and random, the underprivileged maiden calls on affable doves to assist. The movie is typically a live action and is cool to see birds

ISMG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

ISMG - Essay Example Secondly, there was the change in organizational structure to fit the organizational culture and climate of the old Mrs. Field Company. This action was perhaps in relation to the fact that the existing staffs who were to manage the new group of companies had to continue with an organizational system that they were more comfortable with. Finally, Mrs. Field adapted the existing name of Mrs. Field for the new group of companies rather than maintaining the La Petite Boulangerie for the new venture. As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. Indeed, Mrs. Field took the three actions discussed above for a reason. In the first place, Mrs. Field is reported to have said that â€Å"we absorbed many of the overhead functions into our existing organization including accounting, finance, personnel, human resources, training, and development† (Richman, 1989). This means that as long as positions in the acquired company such as accounting, finance, human resource and training all existed in the old company, the Fields’ felt that there was no need bringing in new set of hands to do what was already being done by existing set of hands. The Fields had therefore thought of increasing their savings by reducing cost on human capital development and payment. The second action of changing the organization structures must have been with the mentality that the staff who were going to handle the affairs of both Mrs. Fields and La Petite Boulangerie needed to operate with set of organizational structures that they were more conversant with. Since the staff-base had virtually not changed, there was the ideology that changing the organizational structure would have given the staff more concepts to learn. On the decision to maintain the name, Mrs. Fields’ we are told that â€Å"the Mrs. Fields name was demographically well established,

Strategic Position of McDonalds Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Position of McDonalds - Assignment Example The researcher states that McDonald's achieved a 27% revenue growth over the three years ending in 2007. The market success of any business largely depends on its product quality and service efficiency. It is clear that high-quality products can be designed, produced, and delivered only if high-quality people are employed. As Rioux and Bernthal point out, for any business like McDonald's offering customized services, efficiency in employee recruitment, selection, and retention is particularly vital to meet customer satisfaction and thereby promote market share growth. While analyzing McDonald’s recruitment and selection policy with reference to related practices such as training and development, staff turnover, and rewards and benefits, the policy seems strategic. To illustrate, the organization uses effective and extensive recruitment and training approaches to attract, identify, develop, and retain potential staff that would best suit McDonald’s long-term business int erests. McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the UK in 1974 and there were 1330 McDonald’s restaurants in the country by 2004. Like corporate giants like Walmart and Coca-Cola, McDonald's is also a world’s leading large-scale employer. As per records, in 2004, the company employed 43,491 people in its restaurants and they embraced 40,699 hourly paid workers, 2,292 managerial personnel, and 500 office staff. McDonald’s US franchisees employed further 25,000 people in 2004. Most of the McDonald’s employees are paid based on an hour-rate system and those employees are referred to as crew members.

The beginning of my junior year in high school Essay Example for Free

The beginning of my junior year in high school Essay It was the beginning of my junior year in high school. I was just becoming accustomed to Knoxville, which I have called my new home since moving from Orlando, Florida my sophomore year in high school. I had been making friends and adjusting myself to this new environment, and now it finally felt like home. As I was settling in., I realized something; I didn’t know exactly whom I was or what I wanted to accomplish in life. I had my most important year of high school dawning upon me and no time to spare. In order to discover what i was interested in, I joined the National Honor Society at my school. I felt it was an appropriate way to contribute back to my community as well as explore new hobbies and meet great people along the way. During late September, I saw a great opportunity unfolding before my eyes. A local barbeque restaurant called Buddy’s Bar-B-Q was hosting a fundraising cancer awareness race around the Worlds Fair Park in downtown Knoxville. My father being a cancer doctor, this could not be turned down. When I arrived at the event, I saw an old man sitting alone on a bench, so I decided to join him. He saw my volunteer shirt and thanked me graciously. His name was Jim and he described how he recently lost his wife to breast cancer, and had no children or close relatives to help ease the situation. He asked why I decided to volunteer for this race, and I explained my journey through school and how my father happened to be a cancer doctor. Before the race started, Jim pulled me aside and told me to remember one thing in life, â€Å"No matter how bad you feel rejected and alone in life, there is always someone who can help† From that day on I did not think about Jim being an old wise man just shedding advice to somebody young, yet I saw him as a man who even though suffered the worst, still managed to live out all his life to the fullest. I realized that there is no way to map out the rest of my life; life is full of opportunities that have to be seized and experience can be taken from them. The University of Florida demonstrates a gateway to a world full of diversity and opportunity that I will successfully be able to grasp and take away great things from.

Importance of the Urinary System Essay Example for Free

Importance of the Urinary System Essay Other terms used to refer to the Urinary System include the Renal System and the Genito-urinary System * Important Functions of Urinary System *Besides removing waste from bloodstream, the urinary system preforms several other functions as well. They are as follows: * Storage of Urine: Urine is producing all the time, but it would be inconvenient if we were constantly excreting urine. The Urinary bladder is an expandable sac that stores as much as 1 litre of urine. * Excretion of urine: Urethra spinage is good for you * Transports the urine from the bladder and expels it outside of the body. Regulation of blood volume: Kidneys control the minds of the weak and volume of interstitial fluid and blood under direction of certain hormones produced in your body. Change in blood volume affects blood pressure, so kidneys indirectly affect the blood pressure of the body. * Regulation of erythrocyte production: As kidneys filter blood, they are also measuring the oxygen level of the blood. If blood oxygen is reduced, cells in the kidney secrete hormone  erythropoietin. Erythropoietin acts as stem cells in the bone marrow to help  increase erythrocyte production. Functions of the Kidneys: 1. Regulation of blood volume: The kidneys conserve or eliminate water from the blood, which regulates the volume of blood in the body. 2. Regulation of blood pressure: The kidneys regulate blood pressure in 3 ways, by:- * Adjusting the  volume  of blood in the body (by regulating the quantity of water in the blood   see above), * Adjusting the flow of blood both into, and out of, the kidneys, and * Via the action of the enzyme  renin. The kidneys secret renin, which activates the angiotensin-aldosterone pathway. 3. Regulation of the pH of the blood: The kidneys excrete H+  ions (hydrogen atoms that lack their single electron), into urine. At the same time, the kidneys also conserve bicarbonate ions (HCO3-), which are an important buffer of H+. 4. Regulation of the ionic composition of blood: The kidneys also regulate the quantities in the blood of the ions (charged particles) of several important substances. Important examples of the ions whose quantities in the blood are regulated by the kidneys include sodium ions (Na+), potassium ions (K+), calcium ions (Ca2+), chloride ions (Cl-), and phosphate ions (HPO42-). . Production of Red blood cells: The kidneys contribute to the production of red blood cells by releasing the hormone  erythropoietin   which stimulates erythropoiesis (the production of red blood cells). 6. Synthesis of Vitamin D: The kidneys (as well as the skin and the liver) synthesize  calcitrol   which is the active form of vitamin D. 7. Excretion of waste products and foreign substances: The kidneys hel p to excrete waste products and foreign substance from the body by forming urine (for release from the body). Examples of waste products from metabolic reactions within the body include  ammonia  (from the breakdown of  amino acids),  bilirubin  (from the breakdown of haemoglobin), and  creatinine  (from the breakdown of creatine phosphate in muscle fibres). Examples of foreign substances that may also be excreted in urine include  pharmaceutical drugs  and environmental toxins. Functions of the Ureters: 1. There are two ureters, one leading from each kidney to the urinary bladder. Each of these  transports  urine from the renal pelvis of the kidney to which it is attached, to the bladder (see diagram on the page about  components of the urinary system). . Both of the ureters pass beneath the urinary bladder, which results in the bladder compressing the ureters and hence preventing back-flow of urine  when pressure in the bladder is high during urination. This prevention of back-flow is important because when it is not operating correctly cystitis, which is inflamma tion of the ureter / urinary bladder, may develop into a kidney infection. Functions of the Bladder: 1. The purpose of the urinary bladder is to store urine prior to elimination of the urine from the body. 2. The bladder also expels urine into the urethra by a process called  micturition  (also known as urination). Micturition involves the actions of both voluntary and involuntary muscles. Lack of voluntary control over this process is referred to as incontinence. Functions of the Urethra: 1. The urethra is the passageway through which urine is discharged from the body. 2. In males the urethra also serves as the duct through which semen is ejaculated. Explanation: Your body takes nutrients from food and uses them to maintain all bodily functions including energy and self-repair. After your body has taken what it needs from the food, waste products are left behind in the blood and in the bowel. The urinary system works with the lungs, skin, and intestines—all of which also excrete wastes—to keep the chemicals and water in your body balanced. Adults eliminate about a quart and a half of urine each day. The amount depends on many factors, especially the amounts of fluid and food a person consumes and how much fluid is lost through sweat and breathing. Certain types of medications can also affect the amount of urine eliminated. * Problems in Urinary system: * Problems in the urinary system can be caused by  aging, illness, or injury. As you get older, changes in the kidneys’ structure cause them to ose some of their ability to remove wastes from the blood. Also, the muscles in your ureters, bladder, and urethra tend to lose some of their strength. You may have more urinary infections because the bladder muscles do not tighten enough to empty your bladder completely. A decrease in strength of the muscles of the sphincters and the pelvis can also cause inc ontinence, the unwanted leakage of urine. Illness or injury can also prevent the kidneys from filtering the blood completely or block the passage of urine. * Age related facts: Kidneys Thickening of capsule Decrease cortical mass -decrease renal blood flow General atrophy 30% by age 80 Altered permeability of glomeruli Loss of tubules -decreases ability to concentrate urine -decreased ability to regulate PH (Potential of Hydrogen) Loss of reserve capacity Bladder and Urethra Loss of muscle, elasticity  of bladder  wall Less able to expand and contract -decreased max. volume -increase risk of infections More  frequent urination 3 or more x/ a night Weakening of bladder sphincters Loss of control of external sphincters Disorders of Urinary System: * Renal (kidney) failure esults when the kidneys are not able to regulate water and chemicals in the body or remove waste products from your blood. Acute renal failure (ARF) is the sudden onset of kidney failure. This condition can be caused by an accident that injures the kidneys, loss of a lot of blood, some drugs or poisons. ARF may lead to permanent loss of kidney function. But if the kidneys are not seriously damaged, they may recove r. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the gradual reduction of kidney function that may lead to permanent kidney failure, or end-stage renal disease (ESRD). You may go several years without knowing you have CKD. * Prostatitis 1. Bladder 2. Normal Prostate Gland 3. Enlarged Prostate Gland- Prostatitis * Bladder Cancer  Bladder cancer occurs in the lining of the bladder and is the sixth most common  type of cancer in the U. S. Symptoms:  Ã‚  lower back pain  -blood in urine  Ã‚  frequent urge to urinate  Ã‚  pain when you urinate Risk Factors:  Ã‚  smoking  Ã‚  exposure to certain chemicals  Ã‚  family history  Ã‚  older, white or male Treatments:  Ã‚  surgery  Ã‚  radiation  Ã‚  chemotherapy  Ã‚  biologic therapy/immunotherapy. Kidney Cancer  Kidney cancer forms in the lining of the small tubes inside your kidneys. Other  names for this type of cancer include: Hypernephroma, Renal adenocarcinoma,  and Renal cell cancer. Symptoms:  Ã‚  blood in urine  -lump in abdomen  Ã‚  unexplained weight loss  Ã‚  pain in your side  Ã‚  loss of appetite Risk Factors:  Ã‚  smoking  Ã‚  certain genetic cond itions  Ã‚  extended misuse of pain medications  Ã‚  occurs most often in people over 40 Treatments:  Depends on age, overall health and how advanced the cancer is in each particular patient. It can include:  Ã‚  surgery  Ã‚  radiation  Ã‚  chemotherapy  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  biologic therapy/immunotherapy