Comparison of different leadership strategies

Comparison of different leadership strategies Anita Roddick is the creator of Body Shop whose controversial leadership style was contrasted with Jack Welch the acknowledged leader in corporate management. The comparison shows that whilst some traits such as passion for success are common to both leaders there is significant difference in other areas such as the leadership style applied. In some instances though the final outcome is the same, the two leaders were motivated by different ideals. Whilst Anita brings her personal ideas of environmental activism into her business, Jack Welch approves the green approach where it makes sense from a profit making angle. However, taking into account the challenges faced and the leaving behind of a legacy, this study concludes that the Jack Welch approach demonstrates a stronger leadership model that is also replicable rather than the activist approach of Anita. INTRODUCTION The following is a comparison of the leadership strategies of two leaders; both successful in their own way, though with markedly different leadership approaches. Both are business leaders and are compared and contrasted by reviewing traits, values, behavior and leadership styles. Anita Roddick Born in 1942, Anita Roddick was the founder of Body Shop cosmetics. Her first shop was opened when she was 34 with the sole object of survival for the family. However, in to the highly competitive world of cosmetics where promises are easily made and difficult if not impossible to be validated in marched Anita with her own definition of what beauty meant and more importantly with a mission to set the record straight. Controversy which soon followed her became an opportunity for publicity for the business as well as a platform to air he views. Some claim that Anita is a model for a responsible leadership style whilst others remain more skeptical (Franklin Researchs Insight 1994). In he autobiography, Anita proclaimed that it is immoral to trade on fear. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It is immoral to deceive a customer by making miracle claims for a product. It is immoral to use a photograph of a glowing sixteen-year-old to sell a cream aimed at preventing wrinkles in a forty-year old. (Roddick, 199 1 Pg. 15) Anita sums up her leadership strategy in her own direct, no-nonsense style Being good is good business. (Hospitality Leadership, 2009) In 2006, Body Shop was the subject of a take over by the cosmetic giant LOreal and Anita passed away in 2007. Jack Welch Dr. John Francis Jack Welch was born in 1935. With a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Jack Welch became the General Manager of General Electric (GE) when he was 33. Ambitious from a young age, Jack Welch started with the ambition of making $ 30,000 by the time he was 30 years of age. Unlike Body Shop which was established by Anita Roddick, GE had a successful, long standing heritage. Established in 1892, the history of GE can be traced back to the famous inventor Thomas Edison. As Jeff Immelt, the present CEO who replaced Jack Welch, reminded Fortune magazine in 2004, Theres going to be someone after me, just as there was someone before me (Time Mastery 2005 Pg. 29). Jack Welch took the rains of an already successful organization in 1981 but took it from triumph to triumph as the CEO till 2001. He is still a well sought after speaker as well as consultant. Unlike Anitas green approach, Jack Welch is not convinced with global warming (The Washington Post 3 July, 2008) though one year later he sees going green as presenting an enormous opportunity, whether one believes in global warming or not (Welch, 12 May, 2009). Jack Welchs leadership approach was that Effective Leadership involves the acceptance and management of paradox. For example we must function collectively as one company and individually as many businesses at the same time. (Crainer, 1999, p.49). Leadership Traits A trait is a character that can be observed over and over in ones personality. Leadership traits can identify a good leader and assist in emulating them. Such traits include, integrity, competency, forward looking approach, fair mindedness, broad mindedness, courage and ability to take risks, intelligence, imagination, inspiring personality and directness of approach. Integrity has been defined as the quality of a persons character. (SEP, 2008) Thus integrity may also be seen as the ability to walk the talk. Anitas leadership style has been portrayed as a model for responsible leadership acting with great honesty and integrity, especially in the cosmetic industry and she was in the forefront of environmental activism. This of course may also have made good business sense as acknowledged by Jack Welch too in the 2009 interview. Jack Welch considers integrity to be such a fundamental requirement that he refuses to even list it amongst a list of virtues. If you dont have integrity you should not be allowed on the field at all. (Welch 2007 Pg. 14) Of course both Anita and Jack Welch display clear forward looking planning. Anita created a company that went where no other cosmetic company of that magnitude had gone before. Jack Welchs problems were even more complicated requiring him to acknowledge the illustrious history of GE and then to steer in a direction more suited to the future. In doing so Anita and Jack Welch demonstrated immense courage and conviction taking risks that were perhaps make or break decisions. Of course in taking their respective companies to places where they had not been before, both leaders showed clear well developed imaginativeness and superior intelligence. Anitas primary motivational factor apart from her charismatic personality was to make the Body Shop employees feel that they were a part of a large family. (Roddick, 1991 Pg. 7) Jack Welch on the other hand used different approaches to motivate employees including money, recognition and training. (Welch, 2007 Pg. 106) Dark side traits Dark-side personality traits are those which are counter productive to a leaders success and may lead to their failure. Whilst everyone has some dark side traits, they may be visible only when the leader is under stress. In the case of Anita Roddick, whilst she was at the front in requiring better corporate governance and ethical corporate response, when Body Shop was put under pressure by criticism that it was not following its talk instead of relying on a transparent approach it appears to have used combative response and the threat to use legal action to silence its critics. (Franklin Researchs Insight 1994) Anita in her autobiography however states that As for Jack Welch, his approach to corporate restructuring has been criticized by persons such as O,boyle. Down sizing, lay offs and closure of plants was a key part of this strategy which focused mostly on keeping the shareholders happy (Jakubowicz, 1999). GE which had 440,000 employees world wide when Jack Welch started as CEO in 1981 was by 1997 operating with only 260,000 employees but making much greater profits. (Crainer 1999) This closing of plants and large scale dismissal of employees left many small towns which relied on GE plants for jobs in great difficulty. His pressure on the managers to keep a regular flow of profits may have led to them taking shortcuts to profit making. Requirements for success Anita though not initially a technical person, continued to be in touch with the technical aspects of her business. She was always travelling around, meeting indigenous people and finding new product ideas. John Davies (2007) who was a consultant to Body Shop at one time talks of how Anita walked into a meeting announcing that she had invented a new lip balm. Therefore, Anita seemed to have actually enjoyed being involved in the technical and development aspects of the business too. Jack Welch was an engineer but came to be recognized as a manager and a CEO rather than an inventor. Milestones For Anita the first milestone in her business was to feed her kids whilst her husband was on an extended tour in South America. Perhaps a turning point in the Body Shop image was when Anita partnered with Greenpeace in protecting whales by marketing products made with jojoba oil as a substitute for whale spermaceti. This was a pioneering venture where business partnered with a charity. (Alcraft, 1998) Though Jack Welch encouraged financial goals to be celebrated, he had little use for milestones as such since, once achieved, they represented the past whilst he preferred to focus on the future. (Hartman, 2003) Leadership Values and Ethics If we make an effort to understand our values, it makes it easier to keep our priorities in the right order and our actions in line with our beliefs (Anzary, 2009). The most important qualities and values of a good leader are vision, empathy, consistency, integrity. Anita as well as Jack Welch both had a clear vision as well as displayed passion in their approach. Anitas vision included a larger global vision which went beyond the corporate goals (Roddick, 2000) whilst Jack Welch focused on improving the shareholders value at any cost. Jack Welch on vision states that good business leaders create a vision. They articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. (Crainer 1999 Pg. 77) Anitas manner of expressing empathy with her staff included that of making them feel that they were part of a large family. Although Jack Welch too recognized the need to invest in people and put this into practice by spending time with them, devising methods to motivate people etc., (Crainer 1999 Pg. 23) it is clear that his approach was to come own heavy on people and he had no regrets about dismissing employees when required. However, his understanding of the followers reality is demonstrated by his approach to budgeting for example where he recognized the reason for the divide between the upper management and field staff and suggests strategies for remedying same. (Welch Welch 2005 Pg. 189). From the point of corporate integrity Anitas propaganda spoke of this as a key factor pushing the idea that the customer needs to be told the truth about what can and cannot be achieved with the products. She was also opposed to animal testing and promoted the green approach and a more socially responsible approach with concepts such as Trade not Aid for the developing world. GE under Jack Welch on the other hand appears to have used an approach that focused on maximizing profits. In this regard, is appears that GE had even pleaded guilty to charges on criminal fraud relating to matters linked to defense. (New York Times 23 July, 1992). Leadership Grid Model is taken from stewart associates website [Online], Available: http://www.stewart-associates.co.uk/leadership-models.aspx The Leadership Grid shows the emphasis a leader places on people as opposed to production. Anitas approach appears to be more towards Middle-of-the-Road; balancing the two concerns. In this she may be seen as being closer to the ideal of Team Management. Jack Welchs approach has been criticized for being Authority-Compliance Management oriented. He is known to have fired low producing managers and to pressurize the employees to achieve. This approach did bring him greater profits at a human cost. Conclusion In this study we looked at two leaders with interesting and successful leadership styles. They are both leaders in the corporate sector and have adopted radical approaches to leadership. Anita Roddick is a strong entrepreneur who started her own business brought it to a very important position in the cosmetic industry but finally sold it to LOreal. Therefore, all though she created an ethically conscious brand which not only brought commercial success but also succeeded in associating itself with eco friendly concepts, her final transferring of the business to LOreal means that she did not leave behind a vehicle by which her vision could be carried though. Thus it remains to be seen whether her vision has died with her. On the other hand Jack Welchs approach is one that can be captured within modern management thinking and provides better tools for replication. Also from a leadership point of view, although Jack Welchs approach has been criticized as profit at any cost and the heavy emphasis on the Authority-Compliance-Management style, his task was perhaps more difficult than that of Anita Roddick. The very fact that he became the CEO of a company that was almost 100 years old and had a huge infrastructure meant that he would have had to face greater challenges to bring about change. Therefore, although it may be more difficult to love Jack Welch as a person when compare to Anita as a leader and also he may be further from the ideal of Team-Management style leadership, looking at the challenges that have been over come Jack Welch comes though as a stronger leader. Anita on the other hand may demonstrate greater entrepreneurial skills.

Foundations of Group Behavior Essay

Groups can be as small as two people or as big as the number may reach even in hundreds of thousands. They are formed for different reasons and serve different benefits to their members and also to their organizations. However, there may be some drawbacks too as it will be seen in this paper. Formal and Informal Groups Groups can be divided into two types: Formal groups and Informal groups. Formal groups are those groups which have been recognized and created by the organization. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) They have a longer lifespan and have a more formal structure. They also have specific jobs that are to be handled and the efforts of the group are directed in such a way that they will lead to the accomplishment of the organization’s objectives. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) These groups are formed after extensive planning regarding their volume and constitution of the group. Waiters in a restaurant can be thought of as a formal group. On the other hand, informal groups are groups that are not made formally by the organization and do not have a specific structure that is recognized by the organization. (Robbins 2004, p.164) These can be formed by social interaction between workers in an organization and can be diverse in their nature in any sense. For example, four employees who met in the canteen can develop a sort of relationship with each other although they may not be required to interact with each other to accomplish any organizational objectives. This group has formed without any formal structure that can be identified in the organizational structure and is an example of an informal group. Command, Task, Interest, and Friendship Groups Groups can also be categorized into command groups, task groups, interest groups, or friendship groups. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) Command groups are created formally and they are recognized in the organizational hierarchical structure. These groups comprise of members who are answerable to one manager. Although task groups are also made by the organization and interact to achieve organizational objectives, their members are not always answerable to their immediate managers. Workers who originally report to different managers can be combined by an organization to accomplish a certain task and during this task, these individual members can skip the original organizational hierarchy if required. For example, an organization can ask employees from the software development team to interact with members of the human resources team to decide about vacancies in the organization. Both command groups and task groups are types of formal groups as both of these groups are formed formally to achieve organizational objectives. On the other hand, an interest group is a type of an informal group that can be formed to achieve some particular goal that has a common interest for all of the group members. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) For example, a few workers can join hands to ask for a salary increase. Similarly, friendship groups can also be categorized as a type of informal groups as they are formed by members who share some common characteristics that led them to develop friendship with each other. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) Moreover, friendship groups can also interact outside the dimensions of the workplace. Both interest groups and friendship groups are types of informal groups as they are not made formally by the organization, are not recognized by the organizational structure, and do not necessarily meet to accomplish organizational objectives. The aim of informal groups is more inclined towards fulfilling social requirements of the individuals in the group. (Robbins 2004, p. 164) However, the relationship between members of informal groups has significant impacts on their work performance and their actions. A group in the past was usually associated with some social activity where a number of people from the society would join each other for a specific reason. These social alliances, widely known as informal groups, fulfill the social needs of the members. In interest groups, society members from different fields join each other for vested interests while friendship groups are characterized by the common characteristic(s) of the members. The member of these groups may meet in health clubs, cafe, and public parks and so on. Since these groups lack a formal structure and rules and guidelines, the chances of conflicts are high but once the members get along, the group may be able to fight for their interest even in the worst situations. External and Internal Factors affecting Groups When we hear the word group, we infer it to a collection of people in an organization that work together to achieve a desired specific goal. These are the groups in which the members are confined to work within the boundaries of organizationally set guidelines and rules to achieve a goal or number of goals. They may face the problems of time limitations, resource(s) restriction, or the group may not be empowered with authority to make decisions on its own, or the organizational culture may not be aligned to that of the group. Similarly, the organization’s selection and rewarding policies may affect the performance of the groups as groups are composed of personnel that are hired and rewarded by the organization. These limitations are not under the group’s control and can be called as the external factors affecting the group’s performance. Internal factors affecting the group’s performance may be those factors that form the structure of the group. The reason is that these factors affect the behavior of the members. Group leaders that serve as a mentor, facilitator, conflict manager, and so on may bring about the desired changes in the member’s behavior and thus may increase the group’s performance. Tuckman’s Five-Stage Model It was in 1965 that Bruce Tuckman revealed his four-stage model comprising of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing. Afterwards, he added a fifth stage, Adjourning, too to his original four-stage model. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) (Clark 2005, n. p. ) Forming Forming is the first stage where individuals in a group get acquainted with each other. In the beginning, the group members are careful not to show any behavior that may be considered as unacceptable for a group behavior. For example, at this stage, a group member may refrain from pointing out mistakes of another member as he might be afraid that it can give rise to some conflict. During this stage, members interact with each other to exchange basic concepts and primary matters. It can be difficult to figure out all of the problems at this stage as individuals within the group can get distracted by the different situations in which they try to adjust themselves. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) Therefore, only minimal progress is attained as far as the accomplishment of organizational objectives is concerned, but this is normal at this stage. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) This phase ends when individuals within the group begin to perceive themselves as constituents of the team. (Robbins 2004, p. 165) Storming During the next stage, storming, group members gradually realize that they have achieved little so far. Each and every member has his own perceptions of how things should be done and a suitable knowledge sharing environment is not formed yet. This can be considered the most troublesome phase as members start to recognize that the jobs to be done are not as easy as they seemed previously. Interactions with other team members are often limited to arguments about what should the group do as a whole. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) Conflicts may arise as team members do not want to have their individual freedom limited. (Robbins 2004, p. 165) At this stage, members do not trust others and do what seems appropriate with respect to their own experience. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) A lot of energy is wasted in these issues and not much is attained during this stage. However, members start to develop a mutual understanding amongst themselves. This stage ends when an obvious and established hierarchy of command forms inside the team. (Robbins 2004, p. 165) Norming The next stage is Norming where the group begins to share information with each other. Good associations build up amongst employees and the team shows cohesiveness. (Robbins 2004, p. 165) Members resolve their conflicts and collaborate with each other. During this phase, members also start to criticize others in a productive way so that the criticism benefits instead of creating conflicts. For example, a senior member can explain the correct way of doing a job to his juniors while supporting arguments from researches published in peer-reviewed journals. At the same time, the senior member can brief the juniors about the consequences of doing things wrong and the benefits of doing things in the right way. Junior members are also more likely to listen as they start realizing the importance of achieving organizational objectives while working in groups. As conflicts are avoided and minimized, most of the energy and time is spent on accomplishing organizational objectives. This phase ends when team members develop an attitude that matches the members’ mutual perception of acceptable group behavior. Performing The fourth stage Performing begins with members having developed good relationships with each others. Now, team members can identify problems, solve them, and implements the alterations successfully. Finally, group members have learned about the strong points and weak points of their fellow members. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) The group begins to perform very well and is now a successful and cohesive group. This is the final phase for enduring work groups although temporary work groups have another phase. Adjourning The last stage, which is for temporary work groups like task groups, is known as Adjourning. (Clark 2005, n. p. ) The work is wrapped up in this final stage. Some team members are happy due to the accomplishment of the task. Others may be sad to leave their fellows with whom they had developed cordial relationships. Some relationships may even continue even though the team may be dissolved. Roles The roles that are played by team members also affects their behavior as different teams are formed for different reasons and thus demands different behaviors in different situations. Several characteristics may always be associated with a role and these make the role identity. Similarly one’s perception of how to behave in a certain situation and other’s expectations of a certain behavior in a situation may also mould one’s behavior. This phenomenon of Role Expectation is visible in the real life where employees and employers form expectations for each others. (Robbins 2004, p. 169) Failure of exposing an expected behavior by any party may cause damage by bringing about an undesired behavioral change that might not be acceptable by the other party. Managing divergent role expectations arising from different employees and employers can result in a role conflict where meeting the role expectations of one group member may hinder with meeting the role expectations of other members, and this situation results in frustration for the group members. (Robbins 2004, p. 169) Norms and Status The norms that a group possesses explain its members how to behave in a different situations and thus should be possessed by all the members to avoid conflicts. For example the performance norms tell members how to work, how much efforts to put, how to increase productivity and so on. The appearance norms include things like appropriate dress code whereas social arrangement norms fulfill the social needs within the work groups by creating social interaction among members. (Robbins 2004, p. 169) Then there are allocation of resources norms that demands members to avoid wastage of time and resources and tells about salary and job. Working in groups also comes with problems called deviant workplace behavior where other members disturb others by a number of ways like harassment, verbal abuse, spreading rumors, stealing their goods and so on. Such behaviors may even make a member not only to leave a group but to leave the job. We see many women who leave their jobs as their boss or colleagues sexually harass them. These behaviors are found to be prevailing in people that have been members of groups whose norms support such behavior. Managers should plan and work to avoid such behaviors so that group members do not have to leave their group/job or reduce their efforts. Status as it affects ones norms also affects ones behavior. But this deviation should not be so much that other group members feel that they are treated unequally as it may affect their productivity and thus may decline the group performance. This decline in productivity is not just because of member’s sense of equity but also depends on the cultures to which they belong which consequently affect how they value status. Size, Composition, and Cohesiveness As far as the size of the group is concerned, it may not be the right predictor of a group’s success or failure as difference in size depends on the goal to be achieved. While small groups are good for short time projects, bigger groups are required when diverse objectives are to be achieved. Moreover, the composition of groups affects their performance directly. Evidence shows that heterogeneous groups outperform homogeneous groups but in return they take more time as members need to adjust and understand each other. (Robbins 2004, p. 174) Same is the case with groups composed of diverse national or cultured members. But as the gap between members having common attribute(s) increases, the group productivity decreases. Cohesiveness is also an important feature of groups. It is the tendency to which members are attracted to each other and thus stimulated to work together. It affects the group performance and thus its productivity for the performance related norms are high, cohesive groups will perform highly. (Robbins 2004, p. 175) Cohesiveness can be increased by providing a broader span of time so that members spend more time; the size of the group should be reduced as smaller groups make interaction easy. Group Decision Making: Groupthink Irving (1972, 1982) came up with the revolutionizing concept of groupthink that is related with the group decision making strategies. (qtd. In Universiteit Twente 2004, n. p.) This theory proposes that a group may develop itself in such a way that preserving the integrity of the group may become important than accepting and implementing real facts and optimal solutions. This situation usually takes place when a team is extremely cohesive in its nature, and is led by an authoritative leader where criticism and conflicting opinions are not welcomed. (Universiteit Twente 2004, n. p. ) There are a few drawbacks of having this approach of group decision making. Firstly, the team will restrict itself to only a handful of alternatives. The solution that is proposed initially and is accepted by the majority is not subject to criticism and arguments that may identify some complicated problems. Moreover, opinions from professionals are not valued very much. Lastly, the team becomes so overconfident of its practices and opinions that contingency plans are not made. (Universiteit Twente 2004, n. p. ) Therefore, groupthink can hinder the overall performance of the team significantly. (Robbins 2004, p. 179) Group Decision-making Techniques Brainstorming In brainstorming, the team leader may mention the problem in a clear-cut way to all members. Afterwards, each member comes up with his own ideas to solve the problem. It is essential during this stage that members do not criticize each other. All the solutions proposed by members are noted down so that they can be thoroughly discussed in future. (Robbins 2004, p. 181) One obvious advantage of this approach is that one opinion from a member gives rise to a number of opinions and members also come up with out-of-the-box ideas as criticism does not prevail. However, according to one research, members may still hold some ideas faring criticism from others although it is clearly mentioned and understood that no one will criticize. (Sample 1984, n. p. ) Nominal Group Technique In the Nominal Group Technique, employees join together as a team to solve the problem, but instead of sharing their opinions with each others, they just do brainstorming on an individual basis and note down their own ideas and solutions to the problem. Afterwards, members discuss their ideas one by one with others and each idea is discussed, clarified, and assessed. Then, on an individual basis again, members rank the ideas and solutions without consulting others. The solutions that are ranked higher by the majority are taken as the final group decision. (Robbins 2004, p. 181) One problem with this approach is opinions of members do not converge and the whole process may seem too mechanical. (Sample 1984, n. p. ) Conclusion When people work in groups, their analytical abilities enhances and they think of one thing in different aspects and since members in group are diverse, many new ways of doing a task can be sought. At the same time, those ways can be analyzed and assessed from different perspectives. Another reason for a group may be efficiency as a group can work faster. The chances of errors also reduce in groups as members look at minute details which might be ignored if the task was to be done by a single person. Time is another reason for working in groups. Time is saved when people work in groups. Also decision made by a group is usually better than that made by a single person as a group considers different aspects and follow the technique of brainstorming. Data gathering becomes easy in groups as diverse people collect the diverse data which makes the work easy. Groups are now vital to an organization’s success. They not only save time and other resources but also result in a better decision, but while forming a group, care should be taken as conflict may take place among member which eventually may decline the group performance and productivity and thus not only may waste money but also time and energy that might have been used effectively. Bibliography Clark, D. (2005, September 29) Matrix Teams [Internet]. Available from: [Accessed 15 Sep 2007] Janis, I. L. (1972) Victims of Groupthink. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Janis, I. L. (1982) Groupthink, 2nd Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Robbins, Stephen P. , (2004) Chapter Eight: Foundations of Group Behavior, Organizational Behavior, 11th Edition [Internet]. Prentice Hall. Available from: [Accessed 15 Sep 2007] Sample, J. A. (1984) Nominal Group Technique: An Alternative to Brainstorming. Journal of Extension, 22(2) [Internet]. Available from: [Accessed 15 Sep 2007] Universiteit Twente (09/06/2004) Groupthink [Internet]. Available from: [Accessed 15 Sep 2007]

Orange Juice with the most Vitamin C

Vitamin C which is also known as ascorbic acid or ascorbate is a water-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient to the humans and other animals. It does not have any smell and usually, it is a white solid whose chemical formula is given as C6H8O6. The oxidation process that leads to the formation of dehydroascorbic acid is readily reversible. The deficiency of the vitamin in humans is known to cause scurvy; this is where the term was derived from implying its role in prevention of the disorder (Hilary & Hickey, 2004). Citrus fruits and the juices they give contain a varying concentration of vitamin C. Fruits with a high vitamin C concentration include oranges, peaches, grapes, bananas, strawberries and lemons. There are also other kinds of foods that contain adequate amount of vitamin C. These include: potatoes, beans, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, and tomatoes (http://www. exrx. net/Nutrition/Antioxidants/VitaminC. html). Vitamin C in dietary supplements is found in a variety of forms, more specifically on the basis of its efficiency and its degree of availability to the tissues after it has been administered. According to recent researches, the biological activity of natural and synthetic ascorbic acid is the same; the two forms of vitamin C are identical in chemical structure. Vitamin C in the human body is used in the production of collagen which makes the connective tissue. It also increases the ability of the body to absorb iron, a major constituent of blood, thus helping in red blood cell formation. As a result, the immune system is given strength to fight against infections. Recent studies indicate that Vitamin C has the potential of preventing cancer (Higdon, 2006). Vitamin C in Oranges Humans do not have the enzyme that can be used in the conversion of Glucose to ascorbic acid. Therefore, their bodies are not able to synthesize Vitamin C. For this reason, it is advisable that a healthy diet be composed of a great amount of Vitamin C (http://www. exrx. net/Nutrition/Antioxidants/VitaminC. html). Reports indicate that oranges have a high content of Vitamin C; besides, oranges are commonly consumed in a majority of the households. There are a variety of orange types for instance, navel, Persian, blood, and Valencia oranges. The acidity level of the fruits ranges from 2. 5 to 3, and this is largely affected by the age, type and size of the fruit; however they are not as sour as lemons (Articlebase, 2007). Two types of juices can be made from oranges namely: hand squeezed and orange concentrate. The hand squeezed orange juice is made by draining the fruit pulp using a â€Å"juicer or a squeezer†. The concentrate on the other hand, is made from fresh fruits and orange juice that has been filtered and is usually in frozen state. There has been a heated debate on what kind of orange juice has the highest content of vitamin C. Similarly, various experiments and researches have been carried out to evaluate the vitamin C content in orange concentrate and fresh orange juice. In two experiments carried out by Terpstra, (April 2005), freshly squeezed juice had a high concentration of vitamin C, compared to the orange concentrates. The orange flavored drinks did not have any vitamin C in them. Similar experiments also have yielded results indicating that the hand-squeezed orange juice contains the highest amount of vitamin C. Exceptions occurred in orange juice concentrates that contained a high concentration of vitamin C (http://www. odec. ca/projects/2004/fink4k0/public_html/pages/exp2. html). Factors that inhibit the concentration of Vitamin C The destruction of vitamin C in most cases takes place during the preparation of food, partly due to the reason that Vitamin C is very sensitive to heat, light and air (Larsen, 2009). During chopping, cooking and boiling, the orange is out in the open hence gets contaminated. But very low temperature preserve vitamin C in oranges, e. g. when kept in a freezer. Availability of oxygen to the oranges lowers the content of Vitamin C in them. As a matter of fact, oranges have a high content of vitamin C if picked while they are less ripe, for instance the Navel oranges mature early. Contributing factors to this include the nitrogen level of the soil and the temperatures in the surrounding: cooler temperatures and soils with low nitrogen concentration preserve vitamin C by inhibiting the rate of ripening. That is why in regions with high temperature, yield fruits of low vitamin C concentration. However, a good amount of potassium is required for production of high vitamin C (Lopez et al. , 2007). Oxygen is the major destroying agent in orange juice since it causes breakdown of ascorbic acid. But also, fructose which is a sugar constituent in oranges can degrade vitamin C. In another perspective, availability of higher levels of citric and malic acid in oranges makes vitamin C resistant to degradation. To preserve the vitamin C concentration, cold temperature and obstruction to oxygen should be observed (Shi, 2006). The nature of the container in which the juice is stored also can alter the amount of vitamin C in oranges. Enamel containers have been found to lose more vitamin C compared to tin cans, because of the left over oxygen and vitamin C reacting with the container. Glasses are also unsuitable for storage due to their inability to preserve vitamin C. Hence the preference of storing oranges in carton boxes, which are opaque, thus light is prevented form reaching the fruits. Frozen juices are equally stored in cardboard cans sealed with a foil to conserve vitamin C from oxygen degradation (Lozano, 2006). The parameters employed in production of different kinds of orange juice affect the concentration of vitamin C. There is usually a very high concentration of Vitamin C in frozen concentrated orange juice and reconstituted frozen concentrated orange juice which is attributed to the blending of early-season fruit with late season fruit. Consequently, canned orange juice, as a result of intense heating in the course of canning, has a reduced amount of vitamin C (Tang, 2002). Exposure of the fruit bearing tree to sunlight augments the level of Vitamin C; therefore, fruits that appear to the outer part of the tree and towards the direction of the sun have higher amounts of vitamin C, whereas in regions where there is limited sunlight, there is low concentration of vitamin C in the oranges. Additionally, different kinds of fruits have dissimilar times of maturity. Oranges that mature within a short period of time have a higher concentration of vitamin C as compared to those that take longer to mature (Townsend, 2006). Conclusion According to the available research, hand-squeezed orange juice contains a high amount of Vitamin C. Orange juice concentrates have a higher concentration of Vitamin C because they are made out of oranges that are early maturing and those that take longer to mature. The other kinds of drinks that are orange flavored do not contain any vitamin C in them, but contain preservatives that could be harmful tot the human health. Orange juice that is canned contains a low concentration of vitamin C which is as a result of high heat exposure during processing. It is thus recommended that hand-squeezed orange juice is the best for consumption because it is pure fresh and has a high concentration of vitamin C. References: Articlebase, The Truth About Vitamin C in Orange Juice (2007), retrieved on March, 23rd 2009, from: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/the-truth-about-vitamin-c-in-orange-juice-161458.html Finkler-kemeny, K. (n.d) Experiment: Concentrate or Hand- squeezed? Retrieved on March, 23rd 2009, from: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/fink4k0/public_html/pages/exp2.html Higdon, J. (2006): Vitamin C, Micronutrient information centre, Linus Pauling Institute Hilary, H & Hickey, S. (2004): Ascorbate, ISBN 1411607244, 9781411607248, Lulu.com Larsen, J. (2009) Ask the Dietitian SM. Retrieved on March 23rd, 2009, from: http://www.dietitian.com/vitaminc.html. Là ³pez, A., Ros-Chumillasa, M., Belissarioa,Y & Iguaza, A.   (2007): Quality and shelf life of orange juice aseptically packaged in PET bottles, Journal of Food Engineering, Vol 79, issue 1, 2007, pp 234-242 Lozano, J.E. (2006): Fruit Manufacturing: Scientific Basis, Engineering Properties, and Deteriorative Reactions of Technological Importance, ISBN 0387306145, 9780387306148, Springer Shi, J. (2006): Functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals: processing technologies ISBN 0849324416, 9780849324413, CRC Press Tang, J. (2002): Advances in bioprocessing engineering, ISBN 9810246978, 9789810246976, World Scientific Terpstra, C. (April 2005): Vitamin C in Orange Juice, Retrieved on March 23rd, 2009, from:   http://www.oaml.com/PDF/040152.pdf) Townsend, C. (2006): Vitamin C and Citrus Juices, Retrieved on March 23rd, 2009 from: http://www.ultimatecitrus.com/vitaminc.html. Vitamin C (2009): Retrieved on March 23rd, 2009, from: http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Antioxidants/VitaminC.html)

Test Evaluation DASS - 885 Words

Test Evaluation: DASS The Depression anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21) is a 21-item quantitative measure of distress that has 3 scales- anxiety, stress and depression, each of which has 7-items (Henry Crawford, 2005). The DASS-21 is a shorter version of the full 42-item questionnaire (DASS) both of which are typically used to discriminate between the three related states of depression, anxiety and stress (Antony, Bieling, Cox, Enns, Swinson, 1998). Distinguishing between these states has proven difficult, particularly between anxiety and depression (Clark Watson, 1991a) . Many of the major scales predominantly measure the common factor of negative affectivity (Watson Clark, 1984). While the full version DASS is used in both clinical and research settings, the DASS-21 is typically used for research purposes (Lovibond, 2013). As such this paper will evaluate the empirical evidence for the validity and reliability of the DASS-21 for research purposes. Evidence for Validity The DASS-21 shares many similarities with the tripartite model of depression (Brown, Chorpita, Korotitsch, Barlow, 1997), which posits that the explanation of an affective domain requires the evaluation of both common and distinct elements (Clark Watson, 1991b). The tripartite model argues that factors of anxiety and depression can be categorised as having general distress (negative affect) as well as distinct symptoms, namely hyper-arousal, in the case of anxiety and anhedonia, in the case ofShow MoreRelatedA Comprehensive Psychological Assessment At Bradfield Hospital Mental Health2229 Words   |  9 PagesColdwell’s referral, a semi-structured clinical interview (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV-TR, Axis I) will be employed which will include a Mental Status Examination, followed by the administration of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42) and Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) to assess the possibility of depression and anxiety (particularly social anxiety disorder). 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