Essay on "Cultural Adaptation Following Hurricane Sandy"

Essay 4 pages (1072 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Cultural Adaptation of Work Methods and Relaxation of Rigidity

It is reported in Time Business and Money that a lesson learned from Hurricane Sandy is one that was needed in today's work environment. Bacevice (2012) states "Resilience was on display in New York City this past week. Subways and commuter trains ground to halt, leaving people with few transportation options throughout the region. Many employees made it to work anyway. A maintenance employee at the New School, where I lecture part-time, amazingly walked from his home in Queens to the West Village campus to help get facilities back online for students." Bacevice states that individuals who are "categorized as 'knowledge workers,' very rarely have a need to be "physically present at any specific workplace." (2012) Bacevice goes on to state as follows:

"Considering how compromised the transit systems and urban infrastructure have been in the metropolitan area recently, I have to wonder whether we could have avoided some of the mess if organizations and employers had adopted flexible work practices that give employees more control around how, where, and when they do their work. If widespread flexible work structures were in place, fewer employees would have felt the need to get to work. By leaving the region's roads, buses, and trains mostly to the workers who truly needed them, it's arguable that the recovery efforts in our community would have been simplified. It's also arguable that people would have been able to get more work done, considering all the time they wouldn't have spent commuting." (Bacevice, 2012)

Bacevice holds that for individuals in careers that disruption and failure result

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in critical results, "flexible work practices are another way to build resilience in organizations. The slack given to employees enables them to adapt to disruptions and adverse conditions. Over the course of the past week, I was able to continue with business as usual because I had my laptop, VPN connection, multiple mobile phones, and the flexibility to focus on results rather than "face time" or the need to travel back and forth to any specific workplace. These tools enable me to work from anywhere." (2012)

Summary and Conclusion

It is certain that cultural adaptation arises out of need hence the old saying that "necessity is the mother of invention…." (author unknown). It is certain that humankind has the potential to rise to just about any occasion and to cope through adaptations to the normal or traditional methods and processes and this was true in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy as well. Cultural adaptation is a framework that assist in the understanding of how human beings cope in times of crisis and disaster and illustrates a cultural evolution capacity to not only survive but to flourish in the face of disaster and defeat.

Bibliography

Bacevice, P. (2012) Hurricane Sandy Shows It's Time to Embrace Workplace Flexibility. Work/Life Balance. Time Business & Money. Online available at: http://business.time.com/2012/11/08/hurricane-sandy-shows-its-time-to-embrace-workplace-flexibility/

Boyd, R. And Richerson, PJ (2002) Culture, Adaptation and Innateness. Retrieved from: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/boyd/Innateness%20ver%204.1.pdf

Rebuilding Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy: Necessity, Adaptability, and Opportunity (2012) Water Research & News. Retrieved from: http://waterresearch.blogspot.com/2012/11/rebuilding-jersey-shore-necessity-and.html

Torrence, R. (2002) Natural Disasters, and Climate Change. Psychology Press. 2002. READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Cultural Adaptation Following Hurricane Sandy" Assignment:

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Assignment 2 Superstorm ***** : Consequences from the Perspective of Cultural Psychology

Cultural psychology has taught us that humans are not very well adapted to their environment but that culture is an adaptation in itself that makes up for this lack. In times when we lose power and basic supplies become scarce, this becomes particularly evident. We learned that culture is a type of information: “Culture is any kind of idea, belief, technology, habit, or practice that is acquired through learning from others.” We have also learned that cultures are groups of individuals: “Cultures are people who are existing within some kind of shared context.” (Heine, 2011, p. 3). With that in mind, think about all the ways in which Superstorm ***** showed us that culture is an adaptation. Think of all the aspects of culture that people lost during and after the storm. Search for evidence in images, reports, videos, interviews, statistics, reports, etc.

Areas to cover (address all four areas but the questions are examples; you don’t have to answer all of them): n Cognition: What did people think in this situation? What impact did the event have on their thinking about what happened? Did they think differently after than before the storm? Did they look for someone else who is responsible or did they take responsibility (e.g. if they did not evacuate)? Focus on cognitive effects of the loss/crisis (behavior comes later). n Emotion: What happens to us when all cultural achievements are gone? What happens to our identities? How do people feel if they are disconnected? How do they react once the cultural adaptations that we all take for granted are gone? Do people suffer? Do they enjoy being without constant information overload? n Coping Behavior: How do people deal with this situation? Do they adapt? How do they adapt? Are there differences in how some people adapt faster than others? Are there differences between cultures (i.e. cultural groups)? n Long-term consequences: What do people say about the future? Do they plan to change their behaviors in the future as evidence of adaptation to a new situation? Is there evidence of resilience? Is there evidence for any long-term consequences of groups of individuals (e.g. look what the mayor or the governor said about potential changes in the future)? What the result should look like Result of this assignment will be posted on Blackboard (you will submit it by posting it). It should be a type of presentation (video clip if you have the means, PowerPoint presentation, or poster with pictures). You have to present your message. What would you like a person to learn from your presentation who is interested in the effect of such a crisis and disaster on culture and on humans? A maximum of 5-7 minutes is what it should take someone to look through your presentation! Grading: The artistic value will not be graded (although certainly enjoyed!). What will be graded is whether your presentation can stand the test of critical thinking and scientific analysis (are there alternative interpretations? are the positions biased or balanced? is there sufficient evidence for your claims or is it just wild speculation? If you find evidence for one side, look for evidence for the other side).

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