To begin with, an Ilongga named Gina, who was a third-year high school student at the time, said that she was shocked when she found out that she was pregnant. Immediately, she had to drop out of high school to find for a source of income to provide for her family, like washing clothes. Gina is not the only one facing these challenges as teenage pregnancy, extensive and pervasive in nature, has been a major concern in the Philippines, for there is an increase in the number of Filipinas dealing with pregnancy at an early age every day (Paunan, 2019).
After some time, as concerns were raised by the Commission on Population about teenage and unplanned pregnancies, it has been specified that the number of Filipinas who have given birth in the country every day is 500, in approximation, as more adolescents involve themselves in premarital sex, forcing girls to leave school, jeopardizing their economic prospects and excluding them from other opportunities, just like what happened to Gina. Wealth quintile, region, and education are the three major factors which influence individuals to become involved in early pregnancy and motherhood, which is why early childbearing is unacceptably higher among the poor and the least educated (Recide, 2014). Then, in support of this claim, according to Natividad (2013), who conducted a wider study about the trend of increasing proportions of teenage mothers who are financially-stable, who have better education and are living in urban areas, as a means to observe the issue in all socioeconomic classes, concluded that interventions designed to help mitigate or reverse the trend should be tailored to the circumstances leading to early pregnancy that may be specific to these subgroups, for they may be very sensitive to a particular proposed solution.
With this in mind, age-appropriate sexuality education must be carried out in the pre-adolescent years before teenagers leave school, considering the least educated Filipinas, specifically those with elementary or lower educational attainment, experience teenage pregnancy the most, as the study found out. Eventually, this group will require specific services and family planning programs. As soon as these concerns become the current thought of the majority, the Department of Education (DepEd) has been doing its utmost efforts not to overlook the importance of integrating sexuality education lessons in public elementary and high schools with an aim to restrain the occurrences of teenage pregnancy, as well as population growth and sexual diseases.
The mentioned department has been simultaneously working on the enhancement of policy guidelines regarding the implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) integrated with subjects and extra-curricular activities as a means of preventing teenage pregnancies in the country. All in all, executing sexual education means empowering adolescent girls with information on sexual and reproductive health appropriate to their age and development, and protecting more young Filipinos through education. Finally, it is a call for action to invest in opportunities for adolescent girls.
Reference
- Paunan, J. C. R. (2019, December 15). The risks of teenage pregnancy. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://pia.gov.ph/features/articles/1026925
- Recide, R. (2014, August 28). One in Ten Young Filipino Women Age 15 to 19 Is Already A Mother or Pregnant With First Child (Final Results from the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey). Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://psa.gov.ph/tags/teenage-pregnancy
- Natividad, J. (2013, April 23). View of Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines: Trends, Correlates and Data Sources: Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://asean-endocrinejournal.org/index.php/JAFES/article/view/49/477
- Montemayor, T. (2019, April 4). Integrating sex education in schools to empower learners. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1066447
- Villamor, M. (2018, March 23). In the Philippines, information key to halting teenage pregnancy. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://www.unfpa.org/news/philippines-information-key-halting-teenage-pregnancy
Impact Of Email In Communication
Performance at work has been one of the major focus in research. Companies are always looking for a way to improve an employee’s contribution to the company’s performance. The environment at work is usually complex and competitive. Daft and Lengel’s (1986) study shows the importance of information to the organization’s performance and the key role played by email. It also reveals how email acts as an information repository and communication medium to connect with other people. Many academics have studied the variables related to emails such as the information flow and the information content but studies the impact of the unstructured medium on humans at work is minimal. Like a cliché, the impact of email has two sides. Past studies show a relationship between email and work effectiveness (positive impact) while numerous studies have successfully related email with stress, anxiety, and disorder (negative impact). Another interesting avenue is the impact due to the lack of email. This contradictory results on the consequences of email usage at work have resulted in a plethora of research.
Sproull and Kiesler (1991) are probably the first ones to question the impact of information management through email on employees’ wellbeing. The undesirable effects are due to two reasons – Technology and Organization. Technology as such doesn’t create any effect on the user but the result of any technological action can be turned positive or negative depending on how the organization uses it. Multiple studies have associated an email with the creation of negative outcomes such as ‘‘politicing” and “petty tyranny’ (Ashforth, 1994). Romm, Pliskin, and Rifkin (1996) uncovered a series of dysfunctional attributes of Email including “dis-inhibition and de-individuation effects”. The study also sends out a warning to the policymakers to be aware of the social prowess of email as the relationship with the employee and top management is brought closer.
Mano and Mesch (2010) research studied the cost and benefits of electronic communication in the workplace. They found a positive correlation between work performance, stress, and distress, indicating positive and negative impacts of email. One of the key findings in the study was the hierarchical status of email; managers send and receive more emails than the staffs which explain the difference in the negative effect of individuals; managers and non-managers, supporting the claims of the earlier research (Burgess, Jackson and Edwards, 2005). Another significant finding of the research is the positive relationship between email and work performance, indicating the importance of email to complete a task. Lastly, the study proves that email gives way to undesirable side effects; stress and distress. This finding is further supported by a recent study which established the relationship between email and burnouts, absenteeism, poor quality of sleep along with stress and anxiety (Barber and Santuzzi, 2015).
Barley, Meyerson, and Grodal (2011) research explain why email became the symbol of stress over any other communication device based on sociometric distinctions between them. The research proved the correlation between stress and email irrespective of the time spent by the people. Managers and Staffs are frequently involved in meetings and teleconferences predisposing them stress, anxiety, and disorder. The backlogs of emails increase the anxiety of losing control. They fear they might miss out of important information for which they could be held accountable. The research also shares the ways through which additional work is created leading to the common term “email overload”. This phenomenon was studied in-depth through quantitative and qualitative analysis by Bellotti et al. (2005). The overload also causes spillover from work to non-work hours. The study also shows that people are overwhelmed when the task involves the participation of others. Another interesting research to understand the relationship self-esteem and email overload was conducted by Hair et al. (2007). One of the key findings of the research is the positive relationship between the low self-esteem and locus of control due to email overload. Further explaining the research has shown low self-esteem and worry to be symptoms of email overload. The overload is depending on the individual’s perception to cope with his/her email effectively (Dabbish and Kraut, 2006).
It’s often reported that people carry their work to home to cover their backlogs. This act has a serious negative effect on recovery creating a work-life balance conflict (Barber & Santuzzi, 2015; Diaz et al., 2012). In addition, emotional exhaustion is clearly visible in cases when the quality of email is poor and if the employee is obliged to reply immediately (Brown et al., 2014). This finding is further supported by a recent study which suggested the poor quality and constant monitoring of the email inducted stress (Bordi et al., 2018). Taylor, Fieldman and Altman (2008) created a framework to understand the negative effects of email. The study concluded that email acts as both stress conduit and as a potential stressor. Derks and Bakker (2010) study highlight the soured work relationship created due to too many email or lack of email.
In more recent times, Stich et al. (2019 devised a new theory to understand under what condition the Individual’s extent of email is treated as a stressor. Two conditions namely “email fit” (Extent of the individual is equal to the desired extent of email use) and “email misfit” (Extent of the individual is greater than or less than the desired extent of email use) was created to test the hypothesis. The study also tested the extent of email load using work stressor which is related to burnouts and depression (Bond & Bunce, 2003; Faragher, Cass, & Cooper, 2005; Sutherland & Cooper, 2000). The study shows that higher the degree of email misfit, higher the individual’s perception of the workplace stressors.
Unstructured characteristics of email have led to the rise of an ugly phenomenon called cyberbullying. While the term is common and related to the internet, cyberbullying over email has been a common occurrence. A flame email or abuse over email has been studied long to be empirically proven to have an adverse impact on the individual. The harassment creates social and emotional illness including stress and anxiety (Welch, 1997). In some cases, social isolation and depression created by abusive email push people to commit suicide. The negative effect seen in conventional bullying is clearly evident in cyberbullying as well (Baruch, 2005). It has been reported that there are even gender issues in cyberbullying. The study reveals that females are soft targets (Elçi and Seçkin, 2016). Further explaining the state of the victims – leading a stressful life.
Olson and Lucas (1982) are probably the first researchers who defined the positive relationship between email and work performance. The study highlights the control both the sender and the receiver as over the mail eliminating any inefficiency in communication thus increasing the relationship between the sender and receiver. The theory that email supports an interpersonal relationship between co-workers was further supported by the research conducted by Hovick, Meyers and Timmerman (2003). The study reveals that participants use email for work as well as personal social tasks and confirming the positive impact of email in enhancing communication and connectedness in the workplace.
Furthermore, Chesley (2010) proves that the frequency of email usage is positively linked to work effectiveness and faster pace of life. This study was based on the technology (email) and context at which it was used. Reinke and Chamorro-Premuzic (2014) research explain how email overload leads to not just stress and distress but also work effectiveness. This finding is a complete contrast to many past studies. Similarly, past studies have proven a correlation between email overload and stress but Mahony and Barley (1999) research show that email increases work effectiveness at the cost of overload- the volume of mail is positively related to access to more information.
Studies about the result of email have shown both positive and negative side, does lack of email cause both positive and negative impact as well? One study demonstrated that participants showed increased uncertainty (Brown, Duck and Jimmieson, 2014) due to lack of email while another research noted the poor social support among the participants (Mikal et al., 2013).
How To Be An Effective Leader
What is a leader? If you google this question the internet will tell you that a leader is the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. I think it’s safe to say that if that were all that was required of someone to be a leader then anyone could be a leader. That being said, maybe I should ask a different question; what is a good leader is? Everyone has a generalized idea of what they think a leader is, whether that be the standard definition of the term leader or their own personal conception of it. I know I always have. In my eyes a good leader is someone who goes the extra mile when they don’t have to for their soldiers.
They are compassionate, intelligent, and fierce. One of my favorite quotes is “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death”-Sun Tzu. As my military career has progressed I have learned that you take something from every “leader” you have an encounter with, whether it be something you want to do as a leader yourself or something you never want to do. The Army tries to help us out by giving us a guideline on how to be an effective leader. This paper will discuss the 3 leader attributes Listed below are 3, of what society has considered to be some of the greatest leaders and how they have adequately displayed the 3 leader attributes: character, presence, and intellect.
Character is the ability to exercise discipline while displaying compassion as a leader to all subordinates despite the level of management they require (ADP 6-22, 2012). Empathy, which is a subcategory to the character attribute, is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Colin Powell once said, “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” For those of you who do not know who Colin Powell is allow me to enlighten you.
Colin Powell served as the United States Secretary of the State from 2001-2005. Powell retired from the United States Army as a four star general. In his early military career he served two tours in Vietnam between the years of 1963-1969. During this time he received a total of 11 military decorations to include: the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, Soldiers Medal, and the Legion of Merit. Powell attended National War College in 1975. In 1976 Powell was promoted to Brigadier General, where he then commanded the 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division. In 1989 Powell was appointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Empathy, discipline, warrior ethos, service ethos, and the army values are all the traits that go into the character attribute of being a leader. Colin Powell has demonstrated all of these traits at a superior level and put into perspective what it means to be a leader.
Presence is having the confidence and resilience to complete the task at hand in the most professional manner possible (ADP 6-22). Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. General George S. Patton best emphasized the importance of resilience when he said, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom”. Patton is considered to be one of the most successful combat generals in history. General Patton is a highly decorated individual some of his awards are to include: Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, and the Legion of Merit.
Intellect is the ability as a leader to operate in sound judgment with innovative decision making ability while operating with interpersonal tact. (ADP 6-22) Interpersonal Tact is the confidentiality of soldier Issues, respect toward soldiers, possess, character. Interpersonal Tact combines these skills, along with recognizing diversity and displaying self-control, balance and stability in situations. (ADP 6-22) John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the United States, said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”. Mental agility, judgment, innovation, interpersonal tact, and expertise are all subcategories of the intellect leadership attribute. John Quincy served as U.S. Ambassador to several nations. Some of which include: the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain.
Adams was one of the leading American negotiators when the Treaty of Ghent was signed that ended the war of 1812. He is also considered to be one of the greatest U.S. Secretaries of State. Adams went on to write the Monroe Doctrine which was implemented in 1823. John Quincy Adams is probably best known however, for his role as the 6th president of the United States of America. Interpersonal Tact was undisputedly shown through Adams accomplishments and actions.