Motivation Theory Essay

Introduction Nowadays, most companies’ goal is to maximise its profit. To do so, the component of the company must cooperate with each other. The senior (CEO and managers) must build a good relationship with the junior (employees) in order to know the thought of the employees. After understanding the thought and the needs of the workers, the next step is applying motivation theory to the employees in order to achieve the goal of the company. There are many motivation theories in managing human resources, but none is universally accepted. Each theory has its strength and weakness. It depends on the senior thought to decide which theory they will use to motivate their workers. This essay will discuss about the content theory of Herzberg Motivation-Hygiene Theory and the process theory of Adam’s Equity Theory. It also discusses how job design can affect employee’s motivation and the similarities and differences from both theories. Content theories Content theories explain the needs of individuals that required individual to fulfil them, factors that motivate people in workplace and what drive people behaviour. There are four pioneers in content theory of motivation: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Alderfer’s ERG Theory, McClelland’s Theory of Needs, and McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. The Motivation-Hygiene Theory Frederick Herzberg was an American psychologist and professor of management (Herzberg 1968). He was known for acquainting job enrichment and Motivation-Hygiene Theory into business management. This theory is a result from a research study made by Frederick Herzberg and his partners (Mausner & Snyderman) at the University of Pittsburgh in 1950s. Some studies do find similarities between Herzberg’s and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory which divides the need of an employee into two level, high-order needs (self-actualisation needs and esteem needs) and lower-order need (social needs, salary needs and physiological needs), but yet there is no strong evidence to support those similarities. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory was based on the result of the survey of 200 engineers and accountants in Pittsburgh that he made in 1950s. Each subject was asked to describe the time in their work is when they felt happy and unhappy and the description of events that give them positive and negative feeling. And as a result from the survey, Herzberg concluded that there are two-factor theory that affects an employee performance on workplace. Satisfier or motivator on the job What satisfies and motivates employees in workplace is called motivation factors. Each subject from the research study pointed a different factor that motivates them in workplace. As a conclusion from the survey, Herzberg concluded that there are 6 factors that motivate workers on their work. These factors related to job content; intrinsic factors that are related to workers’ work. Motivator factors leads to a higher effort, performance and satisfaction of an employee to their job. Motivation factors are required if managers want to maximise workers performance in workplace. According to Herzberg, workers will not perform maximum in their work if one of these factors are absent (Wood 2006). An absence of one of these factors can caused dissatisfaction on work. Similarly, if all the factors are present, it can cause job satisfaction (Ivancevich & Matteson 1999). These factors are similar to Maslow’s higher order need. Based on Herzberg’s survey, the 6 factors that motivate a worker in workplace are: * Achievement Employee performing well on their jobs in order to achieve something such as: promotion, bonus, reward, self-esteem. * Recognition Employees will be more motivated if they feel they have received the appropriate recognition from company. * Responsibility Employees will perform maximise if they realize that they have responsibility for their work and to the company. * Work itself Job satisfaction will be achieve if the employees itself feels comfortable and enjoy their work itself. * Advancement Employees are motivated because there is promotion on their job. * Personal growth Employees point out that the job itself gives them a new knowledge. Workers will get motivated when there is a reward for their work. An extra authority of the job from managers will motivated them as they realized that they have responsibility for their work. As they are more motivated for their work, their performance will improve and this will give them more skill which affect their personal growth. Dissatisfier of hygiene factor on the job Without hygiene factors, workers will become dissatisfied and they will not perform well on their job. Hygiene factors which include the environment of workplace do not higher the worker motivation, but they do have big influence on workers performance because without them, workers will not perform maximises. According to Herzberg’s theory, beside a strong motivation that motivates the employees to perform maximise on their work, a comfortable and supporting workplace also affect their performance. Lambert (2008) stated that dissatisfiers are not the main cause that caused employee leaving an organisation, but they are the main causes that caused employees unhappy on their work and absenteeism. The 8 factors that prevent dissatisfaction of workers in workplace which related to job context; the environment and extrinsic factors of the job according to Herzberg’s research: * Company policy and administration * Supervision * Relationship with supervisor * Work conditions * Salary * Relationship with co-workers * Status * Security Process theory Process theory provides the understanding of how thought processes of people mind influence an individual behaviour and how it motivates the individual. Two famous process theories of motivation that are known in business management are Adam’s equity theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory. Equity theory Equity theory is a thought where workers’ motivation is affected by the work outcomes that they receive from the company as the exchange rewards for their work. This theory was also considered as one of the justice theories because it believes that workers will be more motivated if they have received a proper treatment as they have contributed to the company. Equity theory was developed in 1963 by John Stacey Adams; a workplace and behavioural psychologist. Workers tend to compare their efforts and performance with their co-workers. A comparison with others results to three conclusion: * Under-rewarded: input > outcomes * Over-rewarded: input < outcomes * Equitably rewarded: input = outcomes Negative inequity is a result from the unequal rewards that an employee received for the inputs that the employees have contributed to the company (Wood 2006). The following ways are you to recover negative felt inequity of an employee: – changing inputs – changing outcomes – changing attitudes of the workers itself Motivating with equity theory To motivate workers with equity theory, managers are required to design an appropriate reward for workers. There are 3 steps in motivating workers with equity theory: * Setting rewards for workers. * Workers make equity comparison. * Workers’ job satisfaction and performance are affected. (Wood 2006) How can job design affect employee’s motivation? Job design is a process which provides way to make a planning for specific job task to ensure that the job itself is well organized. It also removes the obstacle that might obstruct the work. A proper job design will lead job satisfaction, improve employee motivation, reduced employees turnover and absenteeism (Brannick & Levine 2002). There are four methods that are used to improve work efficiency and job satisfaction: * Job simplification * Job enlargement * Job rotation * Job enrichment Job enrichment Job enrichment was also introduced by Frederick Herzberg. Job enrichment is the practice of building motivating factors into job content (Wood 2006, p. 162). This strategy of job design is focusing on expanding and evaluating the employee’s tasks. This action is made to improve the work processes and environments to that the employees are satisfy and perform well on their work. Some workers might feel bored and unsatisfied with their work due to lack of a challenge, repetitive work procedures. Job enrichment makes work more challenging so that the workers are more motivated. Job enrichment is an on-going management process, so the result will affect the workers for a long time (Herzberg 2008). Because the effects are long lasting, managers should decide carefully before making decision to apply job enrichment to the workers. There are three steps techniques to apply job enrichment to workers: 1. Turn employees’ effort into performance. 2. Link employees’ performance directly to reward. 3. Make sure the employee wants the reward. Managers should apply job design to every worker in order to achieve job satisfaction and to avoid skills mismatch of employee and their job which will decrease the productivity level of the employee. Job design can be done by doing observation and interviews to employees to know what are their skills and needs (Hackman 1976). This will help managers to decide which job is appropriate for the workers. Job design makes workers work easier as their task has been planned and scheduled so that the obstacle that will face less obstacle during their work. Comparison Both Adam’s Equity Theory and Herzberg’s motivation factors believes that one of the factors that affects worker’s performance is the payoff that they received from the company as a payment for their contribution to the company. If they feel that they have received unequal payoff for their hard work, they will not perform well and this tend to make them decrease their work performance. The reward can be in form of bonus, promotion, and reward. There are two types of rewards that can boost workers’ performance: intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are rewards that are part of the job itself and it can increases personal satisfaction and self-esteem and is self-rewarded. Some example of intrinsic rewards is: feedback, responsibility, praise or rewards that are self-administered. Extrinsic rewards are rewards external from the job, i.e., bonus, promotion, awards, pays, days off. Frederick Herzberg founds out that intrinsic rewards are stronger than extrinsic rewards because rewards like money tend to be â€Å"zero out†. If a worker always get praise by their manager or co-workers which increase the personal satisfaction, this will keep motivated them to perform well and as the payoff is, they get more bonus from the company. To sum up, intrinsic rewards may lead to extrinsic rewards. Contrast Based on Herzberg’s research survey, most of the factors which can lead to workers dissatisfaction are related to work environment. The condition of workplace environment is very influential to worker performance because if the workers feel uncomfortable with the environment workplace, they will not perform well on their work (Locke 1976). As an example, a workplace without any fan or air conditioner will make workers cannot focus maximise as the temperature is hot. While Adam’s Equity Theory only claims that workers’ performance is affected by the outcome that they received from the company. Bibliography Brannick, M. T. and Levine, E. L., 2002. Job analysis. CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Hackman, J. R. 1976. Work design. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear. Herzberg, F. 1968. One more time: how do you motivate employees?. Harvard Business Review, vol. 46(1), pp. 53–62. Herzberg, F., 2008. One more time: how do you motivate employees?. Harvard Business Review, 65(5), pp.109-120. Ivancevich, J. M. and Matteson, M. T., 1999. Organizational behaviour and management. 5th ed. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co. Lambert, L., 2008. Exit stage right. HRMonthly, February Issue, pp. 28-31. Locke, 1976. Organizational behavior: affect in the workplace. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, p. 282. Wood, J. et al., 2006. Organisational behaviour core concepts and applications. Milton Qld: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Archibald MacLeish essays

Archibald MacLeish essays Twentieth century nonfiction was mostly written about the changes America was going through. Archibald MacLeish, a well-known poet,laywright, and public official, wrote about the social and political issues of the time. He argued that the personality of the poet should be independent from the integrity of the poem's existence. His public service work and concern for the social problems through his writing, make him a true all-American. Archibald MacLeish was born in 1892 in glencoe, Illinois. He served in World War I before studying law and earning a degree at Harvard. He was determined to concentrate on his writing so he joined the colony of famous writers in Paris. He wrote verses that reflected the many artistic and social concerns of the day. He wrote the volumes The Happy Marriage, The Pot of Earth, Streets on the Moon, and The Hamlet of a MacLeish during that time also. When he returned to his Massachusetts farm in 1928 he became editor of Fortune. He still continued to write poems and dramatic verse. His sense of socila concern was combined with his art. MacLeish's best poems are morally sensitive explorations of the human perdicament. Influences for his poetry were myth and literary tradition. Other influences were Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. He also used biblical stories. A verse play J.B. was based on the book of Job. He won a Pulitzer prize for that play. MacLeish was successful in his lifetime winning a total of three Pulitzer prizes. the other were for Conquistador, about the spanish conquest, and Collected Poems. In the essay "the Unimagined America", from A Continuing Journey, Archibald MacLeish writes about the power of imagination and how it built America today. He calls upon Americans to be more imaginative and have faith in the future. His purpoes for writing the essay was to make readers aware of the fact that America took alot of creativity to be what it is today. ...

Happy Stakeholders in Special Education

Happy Stakeholders in Special Education Stakeholders in special education are the people who have something at stake. First, there are the parents and the child, who have much more than success on standardized tests at stake. Parents are concerned about their children gaining the skills they need to reach independence. Students are the ones in school. Their stake includes both the things they are currently aware of, like Am I happy? and things which will only be evident when they reach maturity: Will I have the skills to go to college or find a job? The Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL 42-142) established rights for children with handicaps. Because of the failure of public institutions to provide adequate services for children with handicaps, they gained new rights to these services. Now educational institutions, states, communities, and general education teachers have stakes in the successful delivery of services to children with disabilities. We as special educators find ourselves in the middle. Students First, of course, are the students. Keeping them happy in the present moment may make our lives easy, but denies them the challenges they need to do their best and acquire the skills they need to live independently. For a special educator the Rigor that we need to create is to align our instruction as much as possible to the standards: in most states today they are the Common Core State Standards. By following standards, we guarantee that we are laying down a foundation for future success in the curriculum, even though we may only be approximating the general education curriculum. Parents Next, of course, are parents. Parents have delegated the responsibility to act in the best interest of their children, though in some cases legal guardians or agencies may act on the childs behalf. If they believe that the Individual Education Plan (IEP) does not meet their childs needs, they have legal remedies, from asking for a due process hearing to taking the school district to court. Special educators who make the mistake of ignoring or discounting parents may be in for a rude awakening. Some parents are difficult (see Difficult Parents,) but even they usually are concerned about their childrens success. On the very, very rare occasion you will get a parent who suffers from Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, but mostly parents seeking to get the right kind of help for their children dont know how to go about it, or they have been treated so dismissively that they will never trust a special educator. Keeping communication open with parents is the best way to have them as allies when you and their child face a really big behavioral challenge together. General Educators When the Education for All Handicapped Children was written, it established a couple of legal standards against which all programs are measured: FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education) and LRE (Least Restrictive Environment.) The law was based on the outcome of the PARC Vs. Pennsylvania lawsuit, which, when settled in the interest of the plaintiffs by the U.S. Supreme Court, established them as rights on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Initially, children were included in the General Education program under a concept called mainstreaming which basically placed children with disabilities in general education classes and they had to sink or swim. When that proved to be unsuccessful, the inclusion model was developed. In it, a general educator will either work with the special educator in a co-teaching model, or the special educator will come into the classroom a couple times a week and provide the differentiation the students with disabilities need. When done well, it benefits both special education and general education students. When done badly it makes all stakeholders unhappy. Working with general educators in inclusive settings is generally very challenging and requires developing relationships of trust and collaboration. (see General Educators.) Administrators Generally, there are two levels of supervision. The first is the special education facilitator, coordinator, or whatever you district calls the person in this chair. Usually, they are just teachers on special assignment, and they have no real authority of the special educator. That doesnt mean they cant make your life miserable, especially if the principal is dependent on that person to see that documents are completed properly and the program is in compliance. The second level is the supervising principal. Sometimes this responsibility is delegated, but in most cases, the assistant principal defers on important matters to the principal. Either the special education coordinator or the supervising principal should serve as the LEA (Legal Education Authority) at students IEP meetings. Your principals responsibility is broader than just being sure that IEPs are written and programs are compliant. With the NCLB emphasis on testing and progress, special education students may first be viewed as a demographic rather than individuals with challenges. Your challenge is to help your students while at the same time convincing your administrator that you are making a contribution to the success of the whole school. Your Community Often we miss the fact that our final stakeholder is the community in which we live. The success of children impacts our whole community. Often the cost of educating students, especially in smaller communities like those in New England, a few children with significant disabilities can create huge expense which can challenge fragile budgets. Private residential programs can be extraordinarily expensive, and when a district so fails a child that he or she ends up in a program that can cost a quarter million dollars a year, it has a serious negative impact on a community. On the other hand, when you as an educator succeed in helping a student become independent, develop communication or in any way become more independent, you are potentially saving your community millions of dollars.

First Amendment Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

First Amendment Case - Essay Example It was earlier decided and the lower court ruled that the campaign is illegal. The Supreme Court confirmed this decision after hearing the appeal of the case. The reason of the high court is simple: the materials are considered pornographic and therefore, it must be regulated. There is another case which was decided on the same day. This is Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton. The court upheld an injunction against the showing of adult films in Paris Adult Theatre, saying that pornographic exhibition is not legal and not permissible despite the involvement of consenting adults both in the production and showing of said materials. Both the rulings cited the offensive impact of pornographic materials and decided that the interest of the community is more important over unclear claim to First Amendment protection. The question now is whether the courts are correct in its decisions. Is it right to assume that the sexually explicit materials are what the decision called as â€Å"patently offensive† and could harm the community? Is it correct to make them illegal? The issue is quite controversial and it divides the opinion of the public. There is a significant portion of America that approves. But there are also people that raise questions about the rulings because they think it will lead to repression and censorship. First, let us go to the concept cited in the decisions, which is â€Å"patently offensive†. Both of the rulings cited this and it became a huge part in the court judgments. It was argued that patently offensive materials must be made illegal to protect the community and the interest of the citizens. Both the court decisions recognized one important fact however. At present, there are no standards or laws that present the criteria that could determine if a material is offensive and illegal. What the court did was just determine it on its own. One should remember that there is no law that covers this issue in America. There is, therefore, no legal

Why is the term recruitment often used incorrectly What is the correct Assignment - 1

Why is the term recruitment often used incorrectly What is the correct term and expand on the whole process for filling a job vacancy - Assignment Example This is not true as there is a clear distinction between them. So, instead of using the term recruitment alone it would be more appropriate to use the terms recruitment and selection together. Recruitment is the first stage, selection comes after that. These are two interrelated terms. While hiring the best personnel for an organization, the process of job analysis has to be done very carefully. This is important as this process determines the kind of activities that would be included in the job profile and helps to select the people having the qualities that would satisfy the job requirements. The first stage in this process is attracting the candidates for the job (Armstrong, 2006, p. 414). Attracting basically means to identify, evaluate and reach out to the available talent pool. Here a brief idea about the job is given stating the duties and requirements for the job (Armstrong, 2006, p. 418). The advertisement should also include the essential personal characteristics in the form of drive, determination and belief (Armstrong, 2006, p. 418). The advertisement should end with information on how to apply for the job post. Candidates should be specified about the various means like telephone or e mails that can be used for applying for the job. These advertisements for a job vacancy can be published in leading newspaper classifieds, television, internet etc (Armstrong, 2006, p. 418). After the publication of the application, there would be a number of applications for the job. Here the process of sifting or sieving the application forms starts to choose the best applications for the job. This is done by listing the applications on a control sheet using parameters like the name, the date of submission of the application letter etc. After this, proper letters are dispatched to the candidate asking them to submit proper documents like a resume which

Comparison and Contrast (Point by Point) exactly four points Essay

Comparison and Contrast (Point by Point) exactly four points - Essay Example This paper will discuss how men and women shop for essentials, how they treat shopping as relaxation or socialization and what they consider important when buying things. Women have been dubbed as extravagant because of their role in the household. As the gender which was predominantly thought of as housekeepers and child caregivers, women went to the grocery store more often than men. They would think about everybody’s needs and they buy everything that the whole household needs (Brennan). This spares the men from going to the market or the mall. When men need to buy their own essentials, they would seldom think about the other members of the family so that they are often focused on one department when they go shopping, making them stay for a shorter period of time compared to women. On the contrary, women often shop their own needs including the needs of other loved ones so that they would need to go to the ladies’ department, children’s wears, men’s clothes as well as the groceries in just one shopping spree. This means that norms demanded women to shop more than men, buying almost everybody’s needs while men wou ld sometimes go shopping but not for everybody. Meanwhile, feminism and modernization brought changes not only in family arrangements but how men act as consumers as well. According to Todd Hale, senior vice president of the Nielsen Company, â€Å"men (are) facing higher unemployment than women (therefore) they are taking a more active role in household duties†. Nevertheless, statistics show that the spending of males in 2004 has not changed much in 2010 although there is a slight increase in the number of male consumers in dollar, supercenter, grocery and other products. This strengthens the point made earlier that the role of women as housekeepers makes shopping a part of their daily business and therefore they

Three Symbols in the Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

Three Symbols in the Great Gatsby Essay â€Å"The Great Gatsby† to criticise America from straying from the â€Å"American Dream†. Typically the American society tries to follow the American Dream, which is a dream of a society that allows everyone, no matter what economic class they were born into, to be able to accomplish whatever they want with hard work. With this principle no matter their social class Americans should be able to accomplish anything. Fitzgerald thought that the American society wasn’t following the American dream; he successfully used symbols to criticize different aspects of American society, showing the weakness of each deviation from the American Dream. Many symbols were used, but the three most significant symbols were: the â€Å"green light†, the godliness of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg and the sadness of the â€Å"Valley of Ashes†. Each symbol played a key role in Fitzgerald’s criticism. How did these symbols play a key role in Fitzgerald’s criticism of the American society that doesn’t follow the American Dream? The first of the three symbols, the green light, was a powerful tool in which Fitzgerald used to criticise the loss of the American Dream from the American society. The green light was important because it represented the endless â€Å"hope† of which the American Dream promises. The hope for a desire should never be lost if the American Dream is followed correctly; Fitzgerald showed that this isn’t always true in the American society by showing that Gatsby’s hope fades away when he realizes because of class distinction he will never be able to marry Daisy. Fitzgerald emphasizes this though Nick Caraway, his narrator, who observes: -â€Å"Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. † (The Great Gatsby, pg. 125) Fitzgerald used Nick to show as Gatsby begins to realize that Daisy will never leave Tom and go with him, that the green light slowly begins to fade and symbolically so does his hope, his hope was what kept him going and now it was gone he had nothing to live for. When Gatsby’s hope dies does his will to live dies also. Gatsby realizes that because he wasn’t born in the upper class he wouldn’t be able to accomplish his dream. A green light means go, but in this case Gatsby has had to stop, thus stoping his hope and his American Dream. Fitzgerald is then able to symbolise how the American Dream has â€Å"stoped† in the American society. How did this play a key role in the criticism of the American society? It allowed the reader to see that even though some Americans work their hardest for something they were still not able to accomplish their dream because of the class they were born into, this completely goes against the American dream thus allowing Fitzgerald to criticise the American society on this aspect of the American society. The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg symbolizing God’s eyes watching over the people played a key role in the criticism of the American society because the reader was able to view the actions of various characters as being contrary to what God would agree with. Fitzgerald could then use the reader’s dislikes of the behaviour of the characters to inturn dislike the society. The readers disliking the society allowed Fitzgerald to criticise the American society more effectively. In order for a successful criticism the reader needs to agree with the criticism. If a reader sides with the group that is being criticised they probably won’t agree with the criticism, but with Fitzgerald using the eyes of Dr. T. J Eckleburg he was able to make the reader dislike the society, and in turn the reader wouldn’t want to side with them. The symbolism of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg was made clearer to the reader when Michales looked to the billboard in the following quote: -â€Å"Standing behind him, Michales saw with a shock that he was looking into the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg. †( The Great Gatsby, pg. 152 ) Michales realizing the symbolism of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg allowed the reader to realize this symbolism too. The reader than could decide that some actions of some characters were immoral. Fitzgerald went on to write that the sign was faded. This symbolized that god was leaving the hearts of the people allowing the reader to find more fault in the American society. Why were the eyes of Dr. T. J Eckleburg one of the most important symbols in the criticism of the American dream? For Fitzgerald to show that the society was doing things against God’s will, depicts that what they are doing is very immoral. A religious reader will probably want to side with what God judges so they would also think that some characters in the American society were immoral. The reader would then be more against the American society allowing Fitzgerald to better criticise it because the reader won’t be trying to defend it if they were against it. The American Dream allows all Americans the same opportunities for self improvement. The Valley of Ashes was a key force in the criticism of the American Dream because it was used in two literary devices of setting and symbolism. Fitzgerald by establishing the setting in the Valley of Ashes allowed the reader to better relate to the working class because they could see a very detailed picture of the daily life of the working class. The Valley of Ashes depicts the working class as not getting the same opportunities as the upper class for self improve. The working class will probably stay in the working class forever and so will their children. Fitzgerald tells this with the use of his narrator Nick Caraway’s description of the Valley of Ashes -â€Å"But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Great Gatsby pg. 26) The bleak dust that â€Å"endlessly covers† the land symbolizes how the working class lives are static, non-changing. Fitzgerald by showing the poor conditions of the working class makes the reader feel pity for the working class, causing the reader to be against that aspect of American society that puts the lower class into poverty. The idea of someone not being able to accomplish something just because of the circumstances of which they were born shows the corruption of the American society. How was the Valley of Ashes one of the most important symbols for Fitzgerald to use in the criticism of the American society that follows the American dream? The Valley of Ashes showing the poor qualities of the working class makes readers realize that some Americans aren’t able to accomplish their dreams because of circumstances from when they were born goes against the principles of the American Dream. Fitzgerald was better able to criticize the American dream with the use of three symbols. His symbols allowed the reader to, better relate to his writing, use prior knowledge to help in the understanding of his criticism, have a visual picture of the working class, and realize the flaws of some characters in a religious sense. The green light played one of the most important roles because without out it the reader wouldn’t have realized that people in the American society that do try to follow the American dream and work their hardest sometimes aren’t able to accomplish their dream thus showing that America isn’t following the American Dream. The seconded of the most important symbols was the Valley of Ashes, without the valley of ashes the reader wouldn’t have realized that sometime a person isn’t able to accomplish something because of the status of which they were born. The last most important symbol used was the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg with this symbol Fitzgerald was able to move the reader against the actions of the American society because he showed that god was against the actions, if the reader was against the actions than Fitzgerald could criticise the actions of the American society more effectively because the reader would agree more with what he was saying. Without the above three symbols playing their key role in the criticism of the American society, Fitzgerald’s criticism of the American society not following the American dream wouldn’t have been as greatly done.