Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Strategies for Motivating People in Non-profit Organization Term Paper

Strategies for Motivating People in Non-profit Organization - Term Paper Example For instance, the number of employees working within an organization partly determines how easy the organizational leaders can motivate them. Additionally, the type of organization also plays a role in how managers motivate employees. In for-profit organizations, employee motivation can be linked to the profits made in that employees are rewarded depending on the amount of profits they are able to raise. However, in a non-profit organization, this may not be the case because such organizations do not seek profits. Instead, non-profit organizations often perform philanthropic work based on volunteerism (Rexhaj, 2011). Therefore, employees within non-profit organizations may not be motivated through compensation/salaries.Moreover, the specific motivation strategies adopted by organizations could add to this complexity. There are multiple motivation theories that organizations may adopt. Each of these theories has its principles, advantages and disadvantages. Depending on they type of m otivation theory that an organization adoptsapplies, the complexity of implementing it varies. Despite these factors, this paper focuses on the role of growing diversity in the workplace and how this affects strategies for motivation in non-profit organizations. The paper argues that growing diversity in non-profit organizations calls for multidimensional approach to motivation. The paper is organized into three main sections. The first part, introduction, provides an overview of the topic and the thesis. The second part, the body, provides the main discussion of the paper. This is the longest part and will be divided into different sub-sections. Finally, the conclusion will provide a recap of the main points from the discussion, restate the thesis, and provide concluding remarks. Before delving into the main discussion about how growing diversity influences motivation strategies in non-profit organizations, it is worthy to understand what non-profit organizations are and what

Monday, October 28, 2019

How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama Essay Example for Free

How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama Essay We approached our initial research by deciding on the path we were taking for our piece and examining what would be the best to topics to research i. e. the Wall Street Crash, the credit crunch, primitive civilisations, survival techniques etc. and then distributing these sections to members of the group to individually research. Every member of the group did their own research on everyone of these subjects so we all knew and understood every topic and to get an overview of what we were taking, which would help with our portrayal of the themes within our material. We executed this by discussing what we had found in our research and comparing it with the other members of the group. We then picked the most relevant points from our discussions and integrated them into our material. We all researched different aspects of the stimulus during our brain storming sessions, drawing from what we knew about the image and then exploring it independently. Ideas were developed collectively, individuals would put forward their ideas for the piece (which were often the same as other members of the group) which were then discussed and collectively performed and then modified, depending on their relevance and cohesiveness with the rest of the piece. However input seemed to keep coming from the same people all the time, so we had to extend and force particular members of the group to share their individual thoughts about our ideas. The majority of the devising work was worked on as a collective, although some individuals could have been more involved with the process, but we all wanted to make sure that everyone agreed on the direction we were taking the piece and aspects of the scene. Our piece was a mixture between ensemble and individual based. For the wise man scene there was a section in which we all had to act out the story of the crash moving into images of everyday occurrences surrounding work, partying and resting. To make sure that we were all together for these transitions we practised them over and over again often having to compromise our actions to make them run smoothly into one another. Throughout we all decided that if we were ever stationary or had to focus on a particular spot we would all stare at the same horizontal bar above the audience in our theatre. For our scene in the company we all had to hold boards and walk in an oval always facing the audience, this took place behind the protagonist to give the illusion that he was running down a corridor. For this we to work we had to be organised and efficient, first of all we had to make sure that there were three boards at the front at all time meaning we all had to walk at the same pace, we also had to carry the boards at roughly the same height, this was quite difficult to achieve so we did as best we could by holding them at arms height. We didnt focus on the bar for this scene until we had become stationary; this was so we could focus on the movement of the circle and its relationship to the speed that the protagonist was walking at. To achieve this shared physical look we practised over and over again, extracting one of the members of the group to see if it looked good enough. Through trial and error we managed to obtain the same physical relationship between one another. Characters were, most of the time, created individually however when needed we helped people who were struggling with their character profile or decided that a character should be different to how they were being portrayed. Most of us put forward suggestions towards certain members character development anyway as a suggestion if we felt that they werent doing enough to explore and exploit their potential. This happened a lot in the War scene as we had to create contrasting and analogous characters within the separate groups and, as it was one of our best scenes, we wanted everyone to be heard and seen. I contributed a lot to the development of a movement piece, I took a piece of music called Clubbed to Death from the Matrix and listened to it, noted where the distinguishing sections were and began to create a piece of movement to go with it. This was when we were using one of our original plot lines so it wasnt used in the final performance but one or two of the ideas were used in certain areas of the play. It was originally showing the downfall of the company and the death of the protagonist, I wanted to use the boards a lot, making members of the chorus use them as shields, slamming them down and pushing them along the floor with two gargoyles on the tower of Babel (a piece of staging we were using at the time) the companys opponents are throwing spears then slowly through the piece the gargoyles break themselves away from the tower to kill their attackers. They achieve this by touching their attackers heads, this all happens in the middle section of the music which is quieter and more sinister. After the gargoyles make contact with the attackers heads I made them writhe as if they were being electrocuted, all the while the protagonist reaches the top of the tower and flings paper out into the audience, however a spear hits him and he dies as do the gargoyles as soon as the papers are thrown into air they begin to crumple and then collapse. I really enjoyed choreographing this piece of movement but, unfortunately by this point, we had already changed our plot, which rendered it useless. I also provided a lot of the sounds like the track during the rape scene (The Piano Duet from Corpse Bride) and in the final scene (My Dearest Friend by Devendra Banhart) All the, concepts and situations were created amongst the group. Our group is extremely diverse both in personalities and in ability, overall we have some very good actors and we all get on wonderfully and made a good team, however there are members of the group that are weaker than others, one in particular who barely gave any ideas or thoughts to the process. Their silence happened so often that we had to question her constantly about her views on everything just to know what her reaction was to the content we were producing or the direction we were heading in. This proved very tedious also because she took no initiative into developing her character and when given suggestions by the other members of the group she listened to them but didnt seem to put any of these ideas into practise. We coached her as much as we could and managed to get a decent performance out of her for the final performance. On a completely different note there was tension between two girls in our group but they moved passed these differences and worked with each other as best they could, the tension lessened over the weeks with a few hiccoughs but the managed to work together as a team planning props in the few weeks before the performance. Moment were the group worked well together Why it was important During the development of the War Scene after the group had been separated into two to create material, we worked together to find a ways to cut between the separate scenes to make a seamless and amusing scene. It strengthened our group dynamic, the girls being on one side bar one and the boys on the other, this allowed us to relax with each other and improvise things that we found amusing. Most of the members of the girls group were fans of Monty Python, French and Saunders and Black Adder, which we all seemed to agree, had the right kind of comedy that we wanted to integrate in our section. It helped us understand each others sense of humour and our acting dynamic. After this scene it was clear that we were on the same page regarding material that wed produced prior to this exercise. Sitting opposite the group of boys was good too as they are very funny people, it helped us to improve our scene, in comparison with theirs, but still carry on the path of humour wed been following. Rehearsing the Company scene where every member of the chorus has a board and we created a movement piece using them together. This was important for the group as it allowed us to work as a collective rather than individuals, we were all concerned about this piece and wanted to create a slick, focussed piece of physical theatre. Through rigorous rehearsal we managed to pin point exactly what was needed and achieved a focus that, with the music, made a punchy start to the beginning of the company scene. We had to bang our boards down at exactly the same time cueing the music, to do this we all agreed to focus on the person who was most visible to everyone, which happened to be me, and we managed to do this perfectly every time in the last few weeks of rehearsal right through the performance. Moment were the group didnt work well Why? What did we learn from this At the beginning of the Wise man scene the chorus plays freaks who follow the wise man, there wasnt enough group development on these characters during rehearsals. Everyone was concerned about the content of the scene, which provided some brilliant freaks, but we didnt think how it would perceived by an audience and as a whole, we left this to the last minute, which meant they couldve been even greater. That we need to face everything head on, leaving things to the last minute on one of the biggest scenes of play, especially the start of it, even though we did a lot of discussing in eagerness to push on we sometimes miss little things that could be rectified and turn a piece of action that hasnt been through into something clear and concise that stands by itself. A character that, if taken out of the scene, could stand by themselves and have a background giving more depth to the madness. At the beginning of the process when we seemed to keep brainstorming and discussing things rather than being spurred into action and, if we did create something that was bad suggestion in the first place, we didnt question we went along with it. We were more concerned about not getting into an argument that we didnt tell one another if we thought an idea wasnt good, instead we suggested more ideas. That sometimes you have to tell people if an idea wont work and dont get worried if someones annoyed at you, it is better to create a good piece of drama that can lead you in a great direction after having a falling out than coming up with a rubbish idea that doesnt hold together as a piece of theatre. We all did our bit to collaborate on design ideas this was so we could perform with the set, lighting and music that we all wanted so that we could perform in an ideal space that the group collectively designed. There was a big difference between group skills in rehearsal to performance, in rehearsal we were a lot more calm about everything and kept a very relaxed group dynamic but, only as it came to the dress and tech rehearsals did we start buckling down and making sure everyones focus was impeccable and that we were all doing this for each other, to stand as a collective rather than individuals as this was the only way our marks would be better.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

How do Pride and Prejudice Affect the Relationship between Darcy and El

How do Pride and Prejudice Affect the Relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth? Jane Austen was an English author who wrote Pride and Prejudice and many other novels. Her early writings began in 1787 and ended in 1793.Jane Austen was born on the 16th of December in 1775 at Steventon Rectory Hampshire. She lived from 1775 to 1817 and was born the seventh child in a family of eight and Jane was mostly attached to her sister Cassandra. Jane’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility began as a novel-in-letters called â€Å"Elinor and Marianne.† These letters may reflect the relationship between Jane and her sister Cassandra. It is well documented that Jane and Cassandra were extremely close as children. When they grew older the two kept in touch by writing each other letters on a daily basis. Cassandra destroyed many of letters of correspondence with Jane to protect her privacy following her death. In 1817 Jane’s recent run of good fortune came to an end. Her health grew worse as throughout the year from what we now know was Addison’s disease; she passed away on July 18 of that year. I think that Jane Austen was trying to tell the audience about human relationships and I also think that the purpose of this novel was to show the ups and downs of human relationships. The subject Human relationships is very interesting, this is because certain people relate to it in different ways. Some people may relate to it as cunning and bitterly whereas others may enjoy it and relate to it in different points of views. I also feel that Jane Austen was telling us how the lifestyles and the roles of society of the men and women in the early nineteenth century. After reading the novel and watching the film of pride and prejudice I n... ...Austen shows how several other marriages work. Some are happy, some not, and no two are alike. In a society in which marriage was so important to women- and to men- the qualities that make a marriage succeed are quite a serious matter. Jane Austen treats the subject with Comedy, but underneath the comic surface she is very serious. Notice, as you read what qualities she shows us as good and bad in a marriage. It seems that the success of a marriage in Austen's would- as perhaps in ours- depends on the characters of the married pair and the motives that brought them together in the first place. I agree with all this because it touches on themes of class, social behavior, and family relationships. It's a peek into a world that in some ways is nothing like ours, but it contains truths which seem to apply in any world. Also many people can relate to it in their own ways.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)

1. Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) is a corporate strategy’s focal point and it is present. SCA is facilitates the improvement and maintenance of an enterprise’s ability to of earning returns on its investment that is higher than the cost incurred in the investment. Since market competition is inevitable and keeps on increasing as businesses and technologies take a more modern avenue, an enterprise has to survive in this competition by employing a unique value-creating strategy.This survival is only achievable by the adoption of the sustainable facet of competitive advantage. Moreover, the market conditions undergo frequent transformations and as a result, development of existing and creation of new resources and capabilities by the enterprise ought to be instituted. The above constitutes the elements of sustainable competitive advantage (Thompson, Bernard, 2003). Business organizations aim at being distinct and able to reproduce in their activities. These alien ate them from their competitors in the eyes of the consumer.Since the competitors are not in a position to duplicate these values, the firm remains to be sustainably competitive. 2. Organizations ought to utilize software service providers for all their software needs because of various reasons that are very consequential to the organization in question. To begin with, these providers more often than not offer software that is genuine and free from bugs. This ensures that the outcomes realized from the use of the software are certainly correct.Guarantee is provided for the software. Besides, technical support is always available from the providers hence enables the employees of the organization make queries in areas that they find challenging through out. Updates for the software are also catered for by the providers and this lowers the maintenance cost. Software service providers beep up the security of the organization’s sensitive information since they are more secretive a nd they are obliged to compensate for any malfunctioning or failure of their product.Additionally, in choosing of the service provider, the firm ought to assess compatibility of the software with their systems, the ease to access the provider for updates or modifications and also the technological qualifications of the service providers (Thompson, Bernard, 2003). More important, the cost to be incurred in providing the service should be within the organization’s ability.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A Leadership Profile of American Project Managers Essay

Although the needs and demands of clients have always been the highest priority for any project manager, increasing global competition, ever heightening client expectations, and the magnitude of the projects impact on a firm’s bottom line has begun to place greater emphasis on the skills necessary to successfully lead today’s project teams. Historically, strong technical skills and knowledge of the industry would have been the key selection criteria. It was, in many cases, simply assumed that men and women who possessed these qualities would lead the project to a successful completion. Today’s complex project environments require even greater skills at leadership than ever before. â€Å"Cookie-cutter† formula-based management was probably never correct, but in today’s environment it will inevitably lead to disaster. Performance expectations for quality, cost effectiveness, timely delivery, and a host of other client measures are ratcheted-up a notch each year. In the highly competitive arena in which most projects operate, be they external or internal, the requirement to produce results that exceed client expectations has become the norm. As one respondent shared, â€Å"I have not worked on a project in the past five years that was not viewed by the client as being ‘fast track;† The stakes are high, and getting higher. The days when cost overruns and delayed completion were common are history. So are the projects where technical personnel were once allowed to â€Å"experiment† until they got it right. With the managerial practices of outsourcing, downsizing, total quality management and continuous improvement becoming even more prevalent in our organizational environment, it can be expected that project managers are experiencing increased performance pressures. Internal project managers are possibly just as vulnerable to not having their contracts renewed as external consultants and contractors. Recent Literature Jeffrey Pinto and Om Kharbanda shed light on this problem in two journal articles published in Business Horizons, â€Å"Lessons for an accidental profession† (1995) and â€Å"How to fail in project management† (1996). These authors emphasize the increased need for projectmanagers. Increasingly technically complex products and processes, vastly shortened time-to-market windows, and the need for cross-functional expertise make project management an important and powerful tool in the hands of organizations that understand its use† (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1995). In their follow-up article, â€Å"How to fail in project management,† the authors write a stinging criticism of the practices that combine to produce project failures (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1996). Karen Ayas (1996) takes a broader brash to the whole issue through what she describes as a â€Å"project network structure. The design of the system should â€Å"stress the synergies between organizational strategy, structure, culture and systems to allow organizations to build and expand learning capacity. † The application of â€Å"process management view† to project management was reported recently in Harvard Business Review. The study of leading companies such as AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and Raychem over an eight-year time span led the author to report that, â€Å"managers can benefit by applying a process management approach to their product development process. Companies can create an aggregate plan that allows them to assign practices to theirprojects with an estimate of needed resources †¦ managers can eliminate congestion and long hours by evening out workloads† (Alder, Mandelbaum, Nguyen, & Schwerer, 1996). (See also Jungen & Wowalczyk, 1995. ) Bob Lewis (Info World, 1996) sets forth the five keys that he believes differentiate successful projects from the others: scope control; regular, concrete, reasonable results; weekly status meetings; team buy-in to the plan; and walking around. Project management is considered a vital tool for the implementation of business process reengineering. â€Å"Project management allows organizations to break things down into simple processes and assign these activities and modules to individuals. This approach helps organizations identify existing built-in dependencies among processes †¦ A multidimensional forum for enterprisewide visibility is essential and will lead to significant productivity and cost savings. †¦ Project management is the organizational ‘glue’ that binds together dispersed, high accountable teams throughout the organization. Teams will seek and demand a framework to ensure their success under the new rules of rapidly changing intensely competitive markets. Project management provides the framework, encourages dispersed leadership and provides visibility of effort to stakeholders throughout the organization† (King 1996). Clearly, project managers are being viewed as pivotal leaders in the introduction and implementation of both operational and behavioral managerial changes. Are project managers viewing their roles and responsibilities in the same light as the authors of leading journal articles? What do practicing project managers believe are the critical characteristics necessary to be effective? On the other hand, what factors contribute to producing ineffective project managers? On the operational side, what do they see as the primary causes of projects that fail to meet budgetary and time constraints? What do they see as the most effective project management â€Å"tools,† and the extent to which these â€Å"tools† contribute to the success of a project? Finally, how powerful is â€Å"the leadership factor† in the success of a project and what are the specific characteristics and behaviors of leaders that will have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade? The authors found no research that specifically addressed these questions nor reported results obtained directly from project managers. Research Instrument Design The research instrument was compressed of both open-ended and forced-answer questions. In addition, the respondents were asked their agreement or valuation of several statements through the application of a traditional five-point Likert scale ranging from a high of 5 to low of 1. The completed instrument was then pretested by 12 project managers and executives in a number of firms. All suggestions were incorporated into the final research instrument. The research instrument was then mailed to a selected sample of 100 senior-level project managers who, it was assumed, would possess a wealth of experience regarding the issues being studied. The authors received 76 usable responses to the research instrument from the mailing of 100. The extremely high response rate was due in part to an aggressive premailing and postmailing telephone campaign. The respondents were all relatively senior project managers with a minimum of 10 years experience in projectmanagement. All of the project managers surveyed were employed in large architectural and engineering consulting companies. Research Results and Discussion What Are the Characteristics of Effective Project Managers? The following results (presented in Table 1) were obtained from an open-ended question that asked respondents to list, in rank order, the characteristic that they believed was essential for effectiveness. Possibly the most interesting aspect of the project manager’s responses to this question was the fact that technical competence was the third highest rated characteristic. Eight of the nine characteristics were managerial in nature, reflecting a basic understanding that effectiveness is directly related to the ability of theproject manager to lead and manage more than simply possess exceptional technical skills. This finding is consistent with the academic literature, but is more powerful when drawn from open-end responses of experienced practicing project managers. What Factors Contribute to Ineffectiveness Among Project Managers? In order to examine the question of effectiveness in a different light, the project managerswere then asked, via open-ended questions, the specific nature of personal flaws of project managers that directly contribute to ineffectiveness, as well as the organizational factors that produced the same results. The intent of these questions was to identify how both personal flaws and organizational factors contributed to producing an ineffective project manager. To a large degree the personal flaws are a reverse image of the characteristics of ffective project managers from Table 1. There seems to be a good deal of internal consistency among the respondents (see Table 2). The organizational factors that contribute to becoming an ineffectiveproject manager are equally relevant, but not surprising. Lack of upper-management commitment and support is a well-documented source of project problems. Theproject management literature has addressed each of the organizational barriers to effectiveness and it is again reinforcing to discover that the responses document that practicing project managers’ perceptions fully support the literature. The past few decades have not seen the elimination of these classic sources of organizational ineffectiveness, although their negative impact on project performance has been known for some time. Resistance to change and a reactive approach to environmental turbulence are signs of a firm struggling with adjusting to new competitive conditions. Traditional reward systems are generally not well suited toproject management. Traditional reward systems tend to have very little direct linkage between the performance criteria of a project and compensation. With competition being very intense in some sectors, some projects are priced and sold at dangerously thin multipliers with little opportunity to show a significantly positive return. When the realistic expectations for the project are not considered in the compensation plan, it can be expected that dissatisfaction with the compensation or reward systems are bound to be voiced. Project managers know that under difficult competitive conditions, jobs are taken to keep the staff utilized and the expected profit margin is possibly at breakeven. It is often just as difficult to manage a project with no expected profit than one with above average profit expectations. In addition, reward systems seldom reflect the nature and varying degrees of difficulty of the task and often focus solely on the final profit numbers. Failure to develop a reward system that reflects the specific nature of the project can create potential long-term conflicts. Consider how new market entry is normally achieved: the firm â€Å"buys† a project. The firm intentionally bids a project below what established competitors minimum bid to get the work and, hopefully, enter a new market successfully. Logic would suggest that a firm would want one of its best project managers to lead such a project to ensure success. But if the projectaffords no opportunity to earn a performance bonus based on project profitability who would volunteer to â€Å"take on† a known loser? In too many cases, organizational insensitivity to the negative realties created by poor organizational practices and policies are not understood or simply ignored. The result of these negative practices and policies is the eventual erosion of a potentially high-quality professional staff. The lack of upper management support and commitment results in a complete breakdown of trust and respect. One of the sure killers of motivation is when project managers become conditioned to being abandoned by their management at the first sign of client conflict. As one project manager described the situation: â€Å"it’s like discovering that your management is sitting on the client side of the table at every meeting, and that you are left alone to defend every decision. † It doesn’t take too many such experiences beforeproject managers modify their style of management to protect themselves. Under these conditions one is not likely to find that the project team is performing to the maximum potential. What Are the Primary Reasons That Projects Experience Budgetary and Timely Completion Problems? Table 3 reports the respondents’ reasons for why projects run into budgetary and timing problems. The most frequent responses reflect both organizational and managerial problems. As an example, â€Å"failure to utilize the toolsavailable to manage a project to completion in a timely fashion and within budget† was the most frequent response. Poor leadership on the part of the projectmanager† was the second most frequently reported cause of problems. â€Å"Lack of effective interorganizational communication† and a â€Å"lack of timely decisions and corrective action† were also reported. The only external factor mentioned by the respondents was â€Å"the client’s failure to respond in a timely fashion. † Almost everyproject manager has dealt with clients who seemed unable or unwilling to make timely decisions yet retained their expectations that the project would be completed on time and within budget. It seems that managing the client is an art that only experience can teach. This need to learn the diplomacy of client management becomes increasingly important as a client-oriented strategy is recognized as essential to survival. What Are the Project Management â€Å"Tools† Most Often Used and How Effective Are They? Managing the project requires the skillful application of projectmanagement tools that are designed to assist the project team complete the project on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of the client. Table 4 reports the responses from experienced project managers regarding the extent to which they use eight recognized project management tools and the extent to which the tools contribute to the success of a project. As you would expect, the two highest rated tools (actually tying for first) were the project schedule and theproject budget. Irrespective of project size or complexity, these project tools were rated highest in use and first and second in terms of contribution to the success of the project. Of the eight project management tools that the respondents were asked to evaluate, none were reported to be of no value. Some of the more detailed tools were used less often and consequently may have been perceived as less valuable to project success. Despite the discussion in the projectmanagement literature regarding the need to increase the degree of accuracy in the determination of the percentage of project completion, the â€Å"earned value reporting tool, was rated the least used and correspondingly reported to have made the least contribution to the success of a project. The top five projectmanagement tools most often reported as used (project schedule, project budget, project cost system, project execution plan, and client communication log) were also rated as making the greatest contribution to the success of the project. Clearb; more effective project managers exercise managerial discipline in the consistent application of what they have found to be the most valuable project management tools for achieving success. What Are the â€Å"Other† Factors That Contribute to the Success of a Project? In addition to the direct managerial actions that project managers can take through the implementation of project management tools, project managers focus on their managerial and leadership skills as controlling sources of influence that contribute to the successful completion of projects. Table 5 reports the source of influence on successful completion of a project as reported by the project managers surveyed. As expected, â€Å"the decision made by the client† was the strongest influence, with â€Å"responding to the changing client request† second. The third source of influence on the successful completion of a project is the â€Å"desire to excel,† reflecting the strong positive personal motivation of project managers to make every project they lead a success. â€Å"The decision made by the project team† and â€Å"the pressures from inside the project† were the next highest rated sources of influence reflecting the need for the project manager to focus on the leadership of the project team. Equally interesting are the lowest rated sources of influence on the success of aproject. Respondents give little or no credence to â€Å"luck† or â€Å"external politics† as barriers to success. How Critical Is the â€Å"Leadership Factor† to Project Success? Given the many factors that can directly or indirectly influence the success of a project, do projectmanagers believe that there is one overriding factor that contributes to whether a project will be a success or a failure? In fact, the answer is yes. When asked to weigh the percentage of success or failure of a project that can be contributed directly to the pressure of either positive or negative leadership the responses were powerfully revealing (see Table 6). Positive leadership contributes almost 76% to the success of a project. Consider what this response means. Variation in projectsuccess can be contributed to the leadership displayed on the project by 76%. Equally meaningful is the second statistic: negative or poor leadership contributes 67% to the failure of projects. Clearly, firms that fail to train and reinforce the need for project managers to practice positive leadership seem to run an unacceptable risk. In a recent interview with five vice presidents of major engineering consulting firms, a question was posed regarding the number of projects in the past five years that failed due to a lack of technical competence on the part of the project manager or the project team. In what was estimated by them to be more than 1,000 projects, both large and small, the executives could recount only 10 failures due to lack of technical competence. Yet, when you ask most company executives what the most critical criteria for promotion to project manager is, technical competence generally leads the list of responses. Possibly what is absent is the recognition that technical competence must be supported by persons who are capable of managing a project and providing positive leadership to the team. All the evidence of recent research supports the idea that successful projects are led by individuals who possess a blend of technical and management knowledge, but beyond both, leadership skills. Sensitivity to the client’s needs, the composition of the project team, the strategic importance of the project to the firm, and the technical requirements of the project reflect themselves in a continuous stream of communication and personal interactions that serve to reveal the true nature of theproject manager. Project managers were asked to rate 50 characteristics or behaviors that they believed, based on their experience, would have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade. Tables 7 and 8 highlight the highest and lowest rated characteristics and behaviors and reveal some very interesting findings. The highest rated characteristics and behaviors build a profile of an individual that most of us would wish to work for. The profile reveals a leader who recognizes that it is absolutely essential to build aproject team, reinforce positive behavior, communicate, demonstrate trust and respect, develop team members and empower them to perform and set goals while remaining flexible to respond to the inevitable changes. Important by their absence from the â€Å"golden dozen† are characteristics and behaviors such as technical expertise, individualistic, effective organizational politician, or detail oriented. The profession has moved beyond the mind-set that the best-qualified individual to promote to the project manager’s position is the best technical person or some flashy politically savvy character with the â€Å"right contacts. † Table 8 reports the characteristics and behaviors that practicing and experienced project managers rated as the 12 least important characteristics for the achievement of organizational effectiveness. Some of these responses were a surprise to the researchers while others were not. Project managers rated â€Å"strategic thinker† very low. This may be explained by the fact that many project managers are totally operations-oriented and become involved only when the job is sold. In terms of preparation for promotion into the firm’s executive ranks this shortcoming could be costly. Yet, this lack of recognition of the need for the practice of strategic thinking may explain the managerial practices of some firms who employ project managers.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Frontiero v. Richardson - 1973 Supreme Court Case

Frontiero v. Richardson - 1973 Supreme Court Case edited with additions by  Jone Johnson Lewis In the 1973 case Frontiero v. Richardson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sex discrimination in benefits for military spouses violated the Constitution, and allowed the spouses of military women to receive the same benefits as did the spouses of men in the military. Fast Facts: Frontiero v. Richardson Case Argued: Jan. 17, 1973Decision Issued: May 14, 1973Petitioner: Sharron Frontiero, a lieutenant in the United States Air ForceRespondent: Elliot Richardson, Secretary of DefenseKey Question: Did a federal law, requiring different qualification criteria for male and female military spousal dependency, discriminate against woman and thereby violate the Fifth Amendments Due Process Clause?Majority Decision: Justices Brennan, Douglas, White, Marshall, Stewart, Powell, Burger, BlackmunDissenting: Justice RehnquistRuling: The Court ruled that the statute required dissimilar treatment for men and women who are similarly situated, violating the Fifth Amendments Due Process Clause and its implied equal protection requirements. Military Husbands Frontiero v. Richardson found unconstitutional a federal law that required different criteria for male spouses of military members to receive benefits, as opposed to female spouses. Sharon Frontiero was a U.S. Air Force lieutenant who tried to get dependent benefits for her husband. Her request was denied. The law said that male spouses of women in the military could only get benefits if the man relied on his wife for more than half of his financial support. However, female spouses of men in the military automatically were entitled to dependent benefits. A male serviceman did not have to show that his wife relied on him for any of her support. Sex Discrimination or Convenience? The dependent benefits would have included an increased living quarters allowance as well as medical and dental benefits. Sharon Frontiero did not show that her husband relied on her for more than one half of his support, so her application for dependent benefits was denied. She contended that this distinction between male and female requirements discriminated against servicewomen and violated the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. The Frontiero v. Richardson decision noted that U.S. statute books were laden with gross, stereotyped distinctions between the sexes. See Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 685 (1977). The Alabama district court whose decision Sharon Frontiero appealed had commented on the administrative convenience of the law. With a vast majority of service members being male at the time, surely it would be an extreme administrative burden to require each man to demonstrate that his wife relied upon him for more than half of her support. In Frontiero v. Richardson, the Supreme Court pointed out that not only was it unfair to burden women and not men with this extra proof, but men who could not offer similar proof about their wives would still receive benefits under the current law. Legal Scrutiny The Court concluded: By according differential treatment to male and female members of the uniformed services for the sole purpose of achieving administrative convenience, the challenged statutes violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment insofar as they require a female member to prove the dependency of her husband. Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 690 (1973). Justice William Brennan authored the decision, noting that women in the U.S. faced pervasive discrimination in education, the job market and politics. He concluded that classifications based on sex should be subjected to strict judicial scrutiny, just like classifications based on race or national origin. Without strict scrutiny, a law would only have to meet a rational basis test instead of a compelling state interest test. In other words, strict scrutiny would require a state to show why there is a compelling state interest for the discrimination or sex classification, instead of the much easier to meet test of some rational basis for the law. However, in Frontiero v. Richardson only a plurality of justices agreed about strict scrutiny for gender classifications. Although a majority of the justices agreed that the military benefits law was a violation of the Constitution, the level of scrutiny for gender classifications and questions of sex discrimination remained undecided in this case. Frontiero v. Richardson was argued before the Supreme Court in January 1973 and decided in May 1973. Another significant Supreme Court case the same year was the Roe v. Wade decision regarding state abortion laws.

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to Balance Chemical Equations 3 Simple Steps

How to Balance Chemical Equations 3 Simple Steps SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips A chemical equation tells you what happens during a chemical reaction. A balanced chemical equation has the correct number of reactants and products to satisfy the Law of Conservation of Mass. In this article, we’ll talk about what a chemical equation is, how to balance chemical equations, and give you some examples to aid in your balancing chemical equations practice. What Is a Chemical Equation? Simply put, a chemical equation tells you what’s happening in a chemical reaction. Here’s what a chemical equation looks like: Fe + O2 → Fe2O3 On the left side of the equation are the reactants. These are the materials that you start with in a chemical reaction. On the right side of the equation are the products. The products are the substances that are made as a result of a chemical reaction. In order for a chemical reaction to be correct, it needs to satisfy something called the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that mass can’t be created or destroyed during a chemical reaction. That means that each side of the chemical equation needs to have the same amount of mass, because the amount of mass can’t be changed. If your chemical equation has different masses on the left and right side of the equation, you’ll need to balance your chemical equation. How to Balance Chemical Equations Balancing chemical equations means that you write the chemical equation correctly so that there is the same amount of mass on each side of the arrow. In this section, we’re going to explain how to balance a chemical equation by using a real life example, the chemical equation that occurs when iron rusts: Fe + O2 → Fe2O3 #1: Identify the Products and Reactants The first step in balancing a chemical equation is to identify your reactants and your products. Remember, your reactants are on the left side of your equation. The products are on the right side. For this equation, our reactants are Fe andO2. Our products areFe2 andO3. #2: Write the Number of Atoms Next, you need to determine how many atoms of each element are present on each side of the equation. You can do this by looking at the subscripts or the coefficients. If there is no subscript or coefficient present, then you just have one atom of something. Fe + O2→ Fe2O3 On the reactant side, we have one atom of iron and two atoms of oxygen. On the product side, we have two atoms of iron and three atoms of oxygen. When you write out the number of products, you can see that the equation isn’t balanced, because there are different amounts of each atom on the reactant side and the product side. That means we need to add coefficients to make this equation balanced. #3: Add Coefficients Earlier, I mentioned that there are two ways to tell how many atoms of a particular element exist in a chemical equation: by looking at the subscripts and looking at the coefficients. When you balance a chemical equation, you change coefficients. You never change subscripts. A coefficient is a whole number multiplier. To balance a chemical equation, you add these whole number multipliers (coefficients) to make sure that there are the same number of atoms on each side of the arrow. Here’s something important to remember about coefficients: they apply to every part of a product. For instance, take the chemical equation for water: H2O. If you added a coefficient to make it 2H2O, then the coefficient multiples across all of the elements present. So, 2H2O means that you have four atoms of hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. You don’t just multiply against the first element present. So, in our chemical equation (Fe + O2→ Fe2O3), any coefficient you add to the product has to be reflected with the reactants. Let’s look at how to balance this chemical equation. On the product side, we have two atoms of iron and three atoms of oxygen. Let’s tackle iron first. When first looking at this chemical equation you might think that something like this works: 2Fe + O2→ Fe2O3 While that balances out the iron atoms (leaving two on each side), oxygen is still unbalanced. That means we need to keep looking. Taking iron first, we know that we’ll be working with a multiple of two, since there are two atoms of iron present on the product side. Knowing that using two as a coefficient won’t work, let’s try the next multiple of two: four. 4Fe + O2→ 2Fe2O3 That creates balance for iron by having four atoms on each side of the equation. Oxygen isn’t quite balanced yet, but on the product side we have six atoms of oxygen. Six is a multiple of two, so we can work with that on the reactant side, where two atoms of oxygen are present. That means that we can write our balanced chemical equation this way: 4Fe + 3O2→ 3Fe2O3 3 Great Sources of Balancing Chemical Equations Practice There are many places you can do balancing chemical equations practice online. Here are a few places with practice problems you can use: Khan Academy: 7 practice problems ScienceGeek: 15 practice problems TemplateLab: 49 free balancing chemical equations worksheet downloads Balancing Chemical Equations: Key Takeaways Balancing chemical equations seems complicated, but it’s really not that hard! Your main goal when balancing chemical equations is to make sure that there are the same amount of reactants and products on each side of the chemical equation arrow. What’s Next? Writing a research paper for school but not sure what to write about? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you. Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa). Are you studying clouds in your science class?Get help identifying the different types of clouds with our expert guide.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Put Parenthetical Phrases in Their Place

Put Parenthetical Phrases in Their Place Put Parenthetical Phrases in Their Place Put Parenthetical Phrases in Their Place By Mark Nichol Sentences can be simple. Or, by inserting a phrase within a sentence, as I’m doing here, they can become complex. Doing so by adding what’s called a parenthetical phrase, or a parenthetical, makes sentences richer and more informative; no one wants to read sentence after sentence at the level of complexity of â€Å"See Dick run.† But writers must take care that when they surgically incise a sentence to insert a parenthetical, they suture the sentence at the right spot. Think of one comma as a hook holding the sentence open, and a second comma hooking it closed. (Dashes and parenthetical marks can be used, too, but this post focuses on the simplest and most common strategy.) Consider this sentence: â€Å"As this process occurs, astronomers say the spectacle may even become a meteor storm.† It may seem fine at first, but notice that it appears to imply that the astronomers talk about the spectacle as the process occurs. That’s obviously not what it means. â€Å"Astronomers say† is what’s called an attribution identifying the source of a comment and it’s often conveniently thrown into the middle of a sentence to provide this clarity. But if you insert such a parenthetical, you have to hitch the sentence open with one comma and close it back up with another: â€Å"As this process occurs, astronomers say, the spectacle may even become a meteor storm.† Take a look at this sentence: â€Å"By 2030, demographers estimate twice as many people will live in urban areas as in rural regions.† Will the doubling occur that year, or will the demographers present their estimation at that time? It’s unclear, unless you signal that the reference to the demographers’ action is a parenthetical phrase, inserted into the root sentence to provide some context. â€Å"By 2030, demographers estimate, twice as many people will live in urban areas as in rural regions† accomplishes that goal. Here’s another sentence ripe for misunderstanding: â€Å"Demonstrators rode models of the Segway Human Transporter, a scooter invented by Dean Kamen at a park Monday morning.† This sentence implies that the inventor conjured the idea at the park on Monday morning, and voila! – the vehicles were being demonstrated days later. Wrong. â€Å"Demonstrators rode models of the Segway Human Transporter, a scooter invented by Dean Kamen, at a park Monday morning.† (The phrase â€Å"a scooter invented by Dean Kamen† is a parenthetical dropped into the sentence â€Å"Demonstrators rode models of the Segway Human Transporter at a park Monday morning† to provide context.) In the case of parentheticals, commas (or parentheses or dashes) work in pairs but they have to cue up to the right location to do their job. When in doubt, test punctuation of parentheticals by temporarily removing the inserted phrase to determine whether the root sentence makes sense. If not, then the punctuation is misplaced. For example, something is wrong in â€Å"They meet, and with collection permit in hand, head for the trails to gather seeds.† Omit the parenthetical, and the root sentence reads, â€Å"They meet head for the trails to gather seeds.† And must remain in the root sentence, so the first comma must follow, not precede, and. Remember: For parentheticals, punctuation pals in pairs and in the proper place. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Mostly Small But Expressive InterjectionsThat vs. WhichWhat is an Anagram?

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Reflection paper - Essay Example Utilitarianism also points out the idea that the good thing to do is to maximize individual ability for making the whole world a better place. Therefore, impartiality proves to be appropriate in order to maximize pleasures. Utilitarianism also eliminates the idea of moral dilemma for as long as majority is happy on a certain action, then it is absolutely the right thing to do. A â€Å"Pokerface† could mean a person who is not honest about his real emotion or feeling and hiding it may be the best option so that nobody could know about it. Pokerface was coined from an actual poker card play, by which each opponent would not want to show a real expression of their face to others so that any hint about what cards they are holding may not be detected. This paragraph depicts the idea about deception which would be made possible if the girl would be able to successfully hide her real intention of deceiving the man. Achieving it seems would what make the girl happy. Wearing pokerface based on the song would maximize the girl’s pleasure. Based on utilitarianism, from the point of view of the girl, there would be no any moral dilemma, for as long as her move maximizes her happiness. However, from the perspective of the man who has been deceived, that might not ensure maximizing his happiness. For this reason, for as long as there is no majority who got the maximum pleasure, then utilitarianism would fail to tell us what is good or bad, but what is right would always mean subjective at this point. Applying this in the general context, we know for sure that the majority always has the authority over the minority if there would be maximum happiness generated by the former. However, provided that the minority has something more important point compared to the majority, up to what extent then does the latter hold over the former? Does following the majority would still ensure

People, Organisations and Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

People, Organisations and Management - Assignment Example From this paper it is clear that management is the process of coordinating different function in business or organization to achieve a well-defined objective. Throughout the process of management, professional managers require ethical behavior for successful process of executing their duties. It is imperative for managers to examine their standards to ensure that they are well-founded to shape and help the company to make moral decisions. Good or great management process is an essential aspect of an organization or a business. In fact, management and leadership go hand in hand, although they are different. As per my experience, I believe that management involves working with others with the aim of achieving a common goal while leadership involves leading and influencing others to do their best. Both leadership and management play an essential role in organizations.   Ã‚  As the discussion stresses  a team is more than a group of people working together for a common goal. It must be a group of individuals that work as a single unit, working towards a mutual hallucination of achievement. Working as a team matters because it is difficult to achieve some goals individually.  A team remains necessary because each member’s work complements and supports the others’. Effective approaches to leadership and management in any sector calls for astute commitment, passion, and ideological driven mind. To achieve all the essential leadership and managerial qualities, successful techniques remain vital.

Friday, October 18, 2019

American Civil War Description Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

American Civil War Description - Term Paper Example "Defeat and emancipation destroyed the slave society of the Old South, and gave birth to a different southern society." (Roark, et al; Page 370). "All Americans experienced the crucible of war; but the war affected no group more than the four million African Americans who saw its beginning as slaves and emerged as free people" (Roark, et al; page 370). "Abraham Lincoln faced the worst crisis in the history of the nation: the threat of disunion. He revealed his strategy on March 4, 1861, in his inaugural address, firm yet conciliatory. First, he vowed to avoid any action that would push the Upper South out of the Union; second, he reassured the Lower South that the Republicans would not abolish slavery. (Roark, et al; Page 370)Always, Lincoln denied the right of secession and upheld Union. "His counterpart, Jefferson Davis, however, fully intended to establish the Confederate States of America as an independent republic." (Roark, et al; Page 370). "To achieve permanence, Davis had to sustain the secession fever that had carried the Lower South out of the Union" and add new stars to the Confederate flag." (Roark, et al; page 371). However, both wanted to achieve their objectives peacefully; but, as Lincoln later observed, "both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish." (Roark, et al; page 371). Masterfully, Lincoln thus shifted the fateful decision of war or peace to Davis." (Roark, et al; page 371). "On April 9, 1861, Davis and his Cabinet met to consider the situation in Charleston harbor. Territorial integrity of the Confederacy demanded the end of the federal presence, Davis argued, but his secretary of State Robert Toombs of Georgia pleaded against military action. Davis rejected Toombs' prophecy and sent word to Confederate troops in Charleston to take the fort. Bombardment reduced the fort to rubble.

My Idea of Country Developement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

My Idea of Country Developement - Essay Example Handleman (10) explains that there is a close interrelationship between the social, political, economic indicators and economic dweveloepmnt. Developed countries have more democratic governments with higher literacy rates and higher life expectancy. On the contrary, Isbista (3) argues that under developed countries or the third world countries have their population insecure, poorly clothed, sick, and vulnerable to an early death in addition of having a low life expectancy. Largely, these are the indicators that differentiate developments. The quality of life in general is the best measure of development and as Handleman (24) further explains, observation of human rights is among the strong indicators that explain differences in levels of development among countries. There might be some slight variations in this taking the example of China. Though the country is considered as a highly developing country, some issues such as observance of human rights remain questionable. However, chin a’s development picked exponentially with separation of the state and society to a more free market, where market driven economy was more favorable. This was meant to increase the GDP for the country, which is instrumental in development. To reduce poverty in third world countries people go to more economic viable towns in search of employment to benefit economically (Isbista, 2). This leads to increased social crisis, where provision of amenities becomes hard to achieve. Isbista (31) further notes that the developed countries have over the time helped in establishing institutions of democracies in third world countries through provision of stimulants to social amenities or advocating for better governance. The process of rural- urban migration intensifies social amenities crisis in urban areas and this increase more poverty and crime. On the contrary mid level cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are more dynamic as since they represent the epitome of economic hub in China. W ith consistency in production activities, wealth is created in these towns, and wealth creation triggers more industrial and domestic platforms to develop in these hubs. Increased growth in domestic and industrial facilities increase wage levels of the population, and increased wage levels mean that people have to invest the extra income obtained. Isbista (24) explains that this increases the social amenities in these areas. Democracy is not therefore measured in governance only but in social amenities provision. Development brings about improved in social indicators with the government social policy helping in determining the share of the social policy. Development can be measured in the amount of resources being targeted at the social care sector compared to the per capital income (Handleman, 6). The per capita income in China was among the lowest in the world. 30 years later, China in 2008 became the third largest economy globally. The per capita income is important in defining t he ability of an economy to transform social indicators through employment, higher incomes, literacy, health care

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Unanimous Jury Verdicts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unanimous Jury Verdicts - Essay Example In common law jurisdictions, criminal verdicts must be unanimous in order to acquit or convict according to the North Western University journal (1972). The jury must arrive at an undivided opinion. Originally, the Supreme Court held unanimity as an essential feature of trial by the jury, however, in recent years, there is growing discretion in the states. In Apodaca v Oregon (1972),and Johnson v Louisiana (1972),convictions were reached on a less than unanimous vote, ten to two and nine to three respectively. In Ballew v Georgia (1978), Justice Powell reiterates that the fourteenth amendment did not impose the same requirements for juries on states that the sixth amendment did on the federal government. A recent article examining the effect of eliminating this unanimity rule concludes that, there may only be a small range of evidence in which its effects consistently appear, that is, when the prosecution/plaintiff’s case is not particularly weak or strong (North Western University, 1972). This discussion therefore makes a strong argument on the circumstances where the jury’s verdict must be unanimous in the united states and in common law traditions. On the same vein concludes that, not all state verdicts have to be unanimous, with the two cases manifesting the jury.

Spss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spss - Essay Example The coefficient of correlation r is 0.004877, which shows a weak positive correlation between the total revenue and C.E.O’s annual salary. If total revenue increases the annual salary of the C.E.O’s also increases slightly. The U.S. Senate passed S. 1023, the "Travel Promotion Act of 2009" (TPA) in September, 2009. TPA calls for the establishment of the Corporation for Travel Promotion as an independent nonprofit corporation to promote leisure, business and scholarly visits to the U.S. In October, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Travel Promotion Act (H.R. 1035), sending this bill back to the Senate for one last vote. The U.S. Senate finally passed this Bill (78 to 10) on February 25, 2010 and President Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 into law on March 4, 2010. This Act calls for the creation of the Corporation for Travel Promotion (now Brand USA) which will allocate financial resources to promote the U.S. as an international destination. The promotion is funded through a matching program featuring up to $100 million in private sector contributions and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who do not pay $131 for a visa to enter the United States. The fee will be collected once every two years in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization. No money is provided by U.S. taxpayers.  It is estimated that international promotion will generate 1.6 million addition international visitors to the U.S. and create $1.6 billion in visitor spending annually. Japan is targeted as one of the major countries for aggressive promotion by the Tourism Industries Office in the Department of Commerce and Brand USA (the newly created public and private partnership responsible for marketing USA implemented by the Travel Promotion Act). As a tourism market analyst specialized in Japan inbound travel to the U.S., you

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Unanimous Jury Verdicts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unanimous Jury Verdicts - Essay Example In common law jurisdictions, criminal verdicts must be unanimous in order to acquit or convict according to the North Western University journal (1972). The jury must arrive at an undivided opinion. Originally, the Supreme Court held unanimity as an essential feature of trial by the jury, however, in recent years, there is growing discretion in the states. In Apodaca v Oregon (1972),and Johnson v Louisiana (1972),convictions were reached on a less than unanimous vote, ten to two and nine to three respectively. In Ballew v Georgia (1978), Justice Powell reiterates that the fourteenth amendment did not impose the same requirements for juries on states that the sixth amendment did on the federal government. A recent article examining the effect of eliminating this unanimity rule concludes that, there may only be a small range of evidence in which its effects consistently appear, that is, when the prosecution/plaintiff’s case is not particularly weak or strong (North Western University, 1972). This discussion therefore makes a strong argument on the circumstances where the jury’s verdict must be unanimous in the united states and in common law traditions. On the same vein concludes that, not all state verdicts have to be unanimous, with the two cases manifesting the jury.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Networking assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Networking - Assignment Example Mary’s and also he is the creator of Lindsay Marketing links. He has also spent almost the first 15 years of his profession in various sales and marketing organization roles through many leading business establishments. Because of the challenging nature of the marketplace management, he likes to attempt something innovative. Networking is the one of the most important aspects that he perceives to be relevant to today’s marketing environment. I understand that the combined efforts of all the areas in the company will help him to attain the organizational aims in an effective way. Networking between Lindsey (marketing), Keith (accounting) and Holly (hospitality) will help to enhance the quality of personal and career development. I also understand that career development is one of the most important things that every person associated with the company must develop. This way, the work one does during study hours help to improve personal and career life. Face to face intera ction, that is interview method and telephonic interview with various people in the company will help me to obtain the immediate feedback. Lindsey, Keith and Holly are different people they handle different department so that personality of these people also different. In order to overcome all the risk associated with the company marketing manager must choose the most appropriate method and also listen other people’s ideas and views this will helps to increase the value of the company. Lindsey has held various positional in the cultural area which have give attention on delivering viewers and media treatment for visual art ,dance, theatre, finally the various festival procedures. Key marketing and various Public Relation abilities consist of: Developing exact, modified marketing movements in the region of a new goods or event. Creating the most excellent and most proper brand name and identity for businesses and/or goods. Receiving the most from actions, partnerships and the media in the course of superior Public Relations. Realizing innovative design resolutions for campaigns and proceedings, helping to attain the most excellent in print, publicity and digital and straight marketing. Interview with Lindsay help me to identify that working with team is much easier in the world of business than the university. Working in group helps to collect and identify the various new ideas from other persons in the group. And most important thing is that due to the emergence of globalization technology has developed a lot, this development of technology made the marketing task more quick and fast. Career development is the one of the thing that must be maintained in order to cope up with the innovative technology. Networking is very important in today’s business world as networking opens the door to knowledge. In the business world there are several issues like communication problems, cross cultural issues, relationship problems to which networking have a sol ution. â€Å"A good networker thinks in terms of systems – they assess the value of a contact in relation to their entire network. A bad networker assesses only the value to themselves† (Marx, 2001, p. 72). Telephonic or face to face interviews are a form of understanding the person’s interest, his aspirations, and his viewpoints on a subject topic. The

Monday, October 14, 2019

Glucose Improves Listening Span Essay Example for Free

Glucose Improves Listening Span Essay This study was conducted to see the consequences for listening comprehension by examining the effects of a glucose drink on performance. The researchers predicted a hypothesis. The hypothesis being that listening span will be sensitive to glucose consumption. Students who fasted overnight would improve after drinking a glucose drink, where the placebo drink would not improve performance after fasting. The hypothesis was supported. There was an alternate/ research hypothesis used in this study. The independent variable was the glucose and the placebo that was being used in the study. It also shows that there was a difference between the two groups being tested. The numbers show that the glucose level was higher when real sugar drinks were being used. The data was collected by physical measures. They took a convenience sampling of eighty A- level students from two colleges. Within the sample there were 44 males and 36 females. The participants were asked to report to a specific room at 9 a. m. No more than 10 were in each room within a particular college. They were randomly assigned either the glucose or placebo group (they were unaware of any distinction). They were administered a version of the Listening Span Test. The students listened to a series of sentences. Then on a response sheet, they would record whether the preposition in each sentence was true or false. Then the students were required to write down, in forward serial order the last word in each sentence. After completion there was a twenty minute interval. Students were given orange juice to drink. One group got real orange juice; the other was given a placebo drink to emulate orange juice. They were then given a different version of the Listening Span Test. Researchers took ten samples of blood; five from placebo and five from glucose group. There wasn’t a difference in the taste of the beverages that was given to the students, even though one drink had 50 grams of glucose and the placebo contained the 2 grams of sweetex in place of the glucose. There was a clinically trained staff member that handled all of the sampling as well as the disposal of the materials that was being used to conduct the study. The students that took part of this study gave three blood samples before the drinks were consumed, and three more samples of blood was required 20 minutes after the Listening Span Test was given for the second time. They used the experimental method to analyze the data, using the glucose drink and placebo drink as an independent variable compared to the test scores as the dependent variable. The researcher controlled as much as possible to determine the cause and effect relationship exists between the variables being studied. The research design was quantitative due to the data analysis and cannot take place until all data had been collected. The researcher starts with a hypothesis for testing, observes and collected the data, analyzes the data, and drew conclusions. There was a statistical significance found when comparing listening span test score of 2. 4 before the drink to 3. 1 after the drink. In examining the data collected, the corollary effects shown were the scores showed improvement in the glucose group after receiving the drink compared to no performance difference before the drink was consumed. Controlling blood sugar is very important because sugar is used as a fuel, but cannot be stored; it is broken down and released into the blood stream. Every person’s glucose levels are different; this test was done on healthy students that had never been diagnosed with having any problems with high glucose/sugar levels. If it had been done on some people that had been diagnosed with diabetes and some that are in good health, the results would have been much higher. There was a factor that could affect the internal validity of the study. The pancreas could affect blood glucose levels; because when blood sugar drops it releases glycogen from the liver. So after the fasting the body its self would release glycogen into the bloodstream. Therefore they could not present a clear relationship between blood sugar level and cognitive capacity. What we did learn was the brain uses glucose as its fuel. The glucose levels of the students that did participate in the study stayed the same, and the listening span did improve after the consumption of the glucose drink. There was no difference or change in the listening span of the students that had beverages containing saccharine. Fasting also played a role in this study; it helped improve the listening span after the students received drinks that contained real sugar (glucose). The purpose of using the Listening Span Test was to measure the capacity of verbal memory. Sentences were read to the students the longest was six sentences long. This was done to determine how much the students could comprehend in a short period of time. In conclusion the research showed a modest increase in listening span performance after a glucose drink was taken. It was preferable for students to eat a nutritious breakfast but if not the students could consume a convenient form of glucose to elevate blood sugar levels that suggests a relationship between glucose drink and improvement level of performance. This conclusion falls into explanatory use. It meets guidelines such as having a dependent and independent variable, a control group and experimental group. This study showed a clear cause and effect relationship due to the increase in listening span after drinking the glucose. All students were given guidelines to follow before the test was administered and was randomly selected from their local colleges. While the study had merit, the potential threat to the internal validity needs to be addressed. How much did the pancreas contribute to raising the glucose levels in the body?

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Essay --

Imagine: boy meets girl, they fall in love, they marry, they die out of passion for each other. Now imagine this happening over the course of three days. Does the love they shared appear as true as before? Romeo and Juliet is known as one of the most romantic story ever written, though the Prince could not have said it any better, â€Å"For never was a story of more woe / than this of Juliet and her Romeo† (5.3.320-321). It's almost ironic how Shakespeare's play is often thought of as a story of true love, and not as a tale of two immature youth who believe they hold more than simply infatuation. Shakespeare shows that the love shared by Romeo and Juliet is nothing more than naà ¯ve attraction. For instance, (cut here?) Romeo is depressed about being â€Å"out of love† meaning the attraction he feels is not mutual, but he instantly forgets about his lovesickness, and the one he was in love with, when he locks eyes with another girl. This means that he never actually h ad true love to begin with as he first thought. There are characters in this story of immature love who recognize the inconsistency of Romeo's love and that Romeo’s feelings are nothing more than sexual attraction. (NOTE: FIX THESIS!) When Romeo is first introduced, he is depressed about being â€Å"out of love† because Rosaline, the girl he is supposedly in love with, does not return his affections. In Benvolio's attempts to persuade Romeo to forget her and find other women at the Capulet's party, Romeo angrily yells, â€Å"One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun / Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun† (1.2.98-100). He says that no one could possibly match the beauty of Rosaline. Romeo believes he knows love, but really, he wants love. He is in love with the idea of being... ...m a true love. Even Juliet was ignorant enough to say â€Å"That ‘banishà ¨d,’ that one word ‘banishà ¨d’ / Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts† (3.2.124-125) after Romeo had killed Tybalt and was banished for it. She is stating that banishment is worse than the murder of ten thousand Tybalts. Though, who is to say what true love is and how long it takes to develop? Romeo and Juliet could in fact be in love, but it cannot be denied that they are going about it in an immature way. Romeo believed he had found eternal love with Rosaline, but one look at Juliet and he forget about his lovesickness and then decided Juliet was his true love. This inconsistency was seen by other characters such as Mercutio and Friar Laurence, who say that Romeo’s feelings were merely infatuation and not love as he had said they were, showing that Juliet is a replacement Rosaline. (NOTE: FIX CONCLUSION!)

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Steroid Use in Sports :: Papers Steroids Drugs Essays

Steroid Use in Sports Steroid use has become very common in the world of athletics. Steroids are no longer just used by body builders. Steroids are now becoming widely used in all sports such as baseball, football, track and field, and ice hockey. Steroids have become easy for just about anyone to get their hands on them. This has become a serious problem that needs to be taken care of immediately. A steroid is a laboratory-made version of the human hormone testosterone, which is primarily found in males. Steroids are taken by athletes to enhance the growth of muscles. There are however, certain kinds of steroids that do enhance the growth of bones. The use of steroids creates many risks that are often looked over when compared to the benefits. Some of these risks include damaging important body organs such as the liver and kidneys; some of the other risks include shrinkage of testicles in men and they may create bad breakouts of acne. There are also other side effects which result in thicker skin and courser facial hair (Mihoces, 2000) (Conaway, 1998). The problem of steroid use exists everywhere including all ages from young middle school students to forty-year-old men. A Penn State professor states in the USA Today web site that approximately 175,000 teenage girls and 375,000 teenage boys have used steroids at one time or another (Michoces, 2000). This is a serious problem when teenage boys and girls are using steroids. Unless using one specific steroid, all of these teenagers are going to stunt their growth because the most common steroids used completely halt the growth of bones and increase the growth of muscles. Many people take steroids for many different reasons but most of the athletes that take steroids take them for one reason and that is to become better at what they do. Some of the reasons that athletes take steroids are because the competition is so high. In the sport of Major League Baseball for instance, only around seven hundred players participate in a single season. There are approximately 7,100 players that play professional baseball all together, including the minor leagues. The average career in the major leagues only lasts 2.7 years. This is a rather short career and considering the amount of money to be made, every player would like to play as long as he possibly can.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Police Corruption Essay Essay

Police Corruption can be defined as a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers break their social contract and abuse their power for personal or department gain. There are three forms of police corruption. These forms are Nonfeasance, which involves failure to perform legal duty, another form is Misfeasance, which is failure to perform legal duty in a proper manner, and the third form is Malfeasance, which is commission of an illegal act. The three explanations of corruption are the â€Å"rotten apples†, â€Å"departmental†, and the other focuses on factors external to the department. An example of these would be an officer might feel unappreciated for their good work and actions and it might make them corruptible. An example of departmental explanation would be if officers feel uncommitted and unsupported, their outlooks and values are reinforced by others in the group which may lead to lack of commitment in their job, thereby leading to corruption. Some police officers may abuse their power because they see themselves as not enforcers of the law, but them as the law itself. The â€Å"blue wall of silence† is a term used in the United States to denote the unwritten rule that exists among officers, where they should not report on a colleague’s misconduct, errors, or crimes. This may impact an officer’s loyalty to their profession because they are not doing their job if they are letting another officer get away with crimes, and if they did report it then they would be breaking their loyalty to fellow cops. It’s important for officers to have a good ethical foundation before they enter into this job because it would help prevent them from doing wrong and abusing their power. In the â€Å"Stopped for Being a Mutt† video, I realized how bad some officers can act sometimes. The teen was stopped and questioned multiple times for looking suspicious, when really they were just racist. They were trying to provoke the teenager to justify an arrest. I feel the form of police corruption they were doing was misfeasance. Stopping someone because of their race, when they weren’t committing any crimes is humiliating to that person and is wrong of any cop to abuse their power in this way. The â€Å"Blue wall of silence† comes up in this type of situation because some other cops  witness it and knows that this goes on when officers have low numbers of stops, and they don’t want to tell because they don’t want to seem disloyal to their fellow police officers. In the â€Å"Los Angeles Police Department† video, they talked about the Rampart and Crash scandal. When I watched this video I was in disbelief that, that many officers were implicated in some form of misconduct. I understand that they wanted to get gangs and crimes off the street but this was no way of going about it. They would shoot or beat people when they were unprovoked. They would steal narcotics and plant false evidence, and frame suspects and cover up all that these officers were doing because it was getting rid of the gangs and â€Å"hoodlums†. I can’t understand how these officers didn’t think what they were doing was wrong and immoral. This form of corruption in this particular situation was malfeasance. What they were doing was illegal, and they are here to protect and obey the law. In the â€Å"Behind the Blue Wall† video. I was extremely shocked to see the police brutality that occurred in these cases. I don’t understand how an officer could deliberately torment a victim because of their race and think they can get away with what they’re doing and that it isn’t wrong. Malfeasance is the form of corruption that comes up in these cases because what they are doing is illegal. The unlawful beatings and shootings of these victims, when they are not provoking the officers; is completely wrong and these cases need to stop. The Blue wall of silence also comes up in these cases because there were officers who knew about what happened and what the other officers were doing and instead of reporting it, they attempted to cover it up. Co-workers should treat those who inform authorities of illegal activity in the police agency the same as how they treated them before they reported corruption. In the virtue ethics perspective, the habit of right desire, he was making the right choice by reporting corruption because he knew that what was going on in the agency wasn’t right and needed to be stopped. Frank Serpico’s response to this case was â€Å"It’s always worth it to be at peace with yourself.† I think this does imply reasoning of ethical thought. I  think Serpico meant that, as long as you feel good with what you are doing, and you are doing what you think is right, then that is all the matters. I agree with this because no matter what happens in the end, it is all worth it if you are at peace and happy with what you did. There are conflicts presented in terms of loyalty and duty. Loyalty is a good to have, but it is not a virtue. If loyalty is treated as a virtue, it can be misguided. It will lead to protection of illegal conduct and can turn into corruption. Officers may want to be loyal to fellow officers and not report what is really going on, however they also want to do their duty, and want to report because it is their duty to not participate in the corruption. The blue wall of silence impacts conflicting loyalty because it is an unwritten rule amongst officers to not report a fellow officer’s mistakes, misconducts, or crimes. This affects them if they want to be loyal to those officers and be loyal to their civic duty as well. If I was an officer in this situation, I would definitely report these crimes. I don’t believe in the blue wall of silence. I think that if an officer is doing something illegal then it needs to be reported and dealt with. Just because they are officers doesn’t mean they should be able to get away with things that they are arresting other citizens for doing.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Chocolate Research Paper

WOMEN STUDIES ECO-FOOTPRINT PROJECT Topic – Cocoa Beans Production Process Chocolate is a key ingredient in many foods such as milk shakes, candy bars, cookies and cereals. It is ranked as one of the most favourite flavours in North America and Europe. Despite its popularity most people do not know the unique origin of this popular treat. Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting cocoa, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding.These cocoa beans will then be imported or exported to other countries and be transformed into different types of chocolate products. Cocoa beans grow in countries like Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Malaysia, but the highest cocoa producing country is Cote d'Ivoire. The production process of cocoa beans include: first, cocoa is harvested manually. The seed pods of cocoa are collecte d and the beans are selected and placed in piles. These cocoa beans are then ready to be shipped to the manufacturer for production.Cocoa grows in pods that sprout off the trunks and branches of cocoa trees. The pods have the shape and almost the size of football. The pods start out green and turn orange when they are ripe. When the pods are ripe they are harvested gently with machetes. Machines can damage the trees or the clusters of flowers and pods that grow on the trunk, so workers have to harvest the pods by hand, using short, hooked blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit. The cocoa seeds then undergo a process of fermentation by placing them in large, shallow, heated trays or by covering them with large banana leaves.If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers mostly women come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented. This process may take up to five or eight days. After fermentation, t he cocoa seeds are dried before they can be scooped into sacks and shipped to chocolate manufacturers. Farmers simply spread the fermented seeds on trays and leave them in the sun to dry. The drying process usually takes about a week and results in seeds becoming reduced to about half of their original weight.During the production process, labor is not equally divided between men and women who work in the planation; this brings us to the issue of gender division. The gender divide that exists on the cocoa plantation is that most farm work is conducted by men, although most certainly there are tasks where women are very active, such as scooping the beans from the already opened husks, turning the beans during the fermentation and drying process, and sewing the jute sacs needed for the packaging of the dried beans. Women in the farms normally tend to the needs of the family.When female labor is hired during the harvesting time the wages given to them are not the same as those for men. Perhaps another reason why men are preferred is because of their assumed higher productivity rate compared to that of women. Due to different practices followed in individual regions, even within countries, the participation of women and their assigned tasks vary enormously. For instance, because of the popular method of sun drying cocoa beans in Ecuador, it is necessary to â€Å"clean† the beans. This job is mostly undertaken by women.This is not the case in Ghana or Brazil where sun drying is accomplished while protecting the beans from foreign matters and waste. It is interesting to note however that there is no specific pattern for the assignment of tasks to women, except during the harvest when the scooping of the beans from the opened pods is primarily performed by women in most cocoa producing countries. Given the great differences in the systems of production in producing countries it is difficult to find a common percentage that reflects the average participation of the female work force.It is worth mentioning that unlike the coffee agricultural sector, there are no associations or specific groups that house ‘women only’ involved in the cocoa sector at any level, although all associations and cooperatives are open to all who qualify. Due to fluctuation of cocoa prices in the world market, farmers have no long-term security, and in some situations, they do not have enough funds to support their farming business.Cocoa farmers are always faced with financial hardship; they are not able to provide for their families as they would want nor have enough funds to start up their own farming business because they only receive a fraction of the proceeds from the selling of the beans on the world market and there are many people in the trading chain. Cocoa farmers around the world face many challenges. It is estimated that about one-third of global cocoa crops are destroyed by pests and diseases every year. Many cocoa farmers have limited acc ess to the latest agricultural technologies or methods of cultivation and few of them ave business backgrounds to help them effectively market their products and manage their operations. Many of the farming communities live in poverty and are infected with diseases. Industry groups, governments and consumers worldwide have raised concerns about the use of pesticides and child labor on West African cocoa farms. An interview conducted by Christophe Koffi showed that one major problem that women in cocoa production encounter is the lack the of financial capability or backing due to the fact that most of these women find themselves in a male dominated occupation.It is very difficult for them to secure financial aid or loans to manage their farms. For instance, â€Å"Women cannot inherit or even create a cocoa plantation under our patriarch-dominated tradition,† said Vanie, criticising what she called a â€Å"backwards and misogynist† practice† (Koffi, 2008) because w e still live in a patriarchal dominated society where women do not have the right to own lands and properties. This paper further talks about the sustanability in the production process of cocoa.We will be looking at Lindt& Sprungli’s which is a family company and a major producer of chocolate and other cocoa products with a headquaters in Kilchberg, Switzerland. Lindt & Sprungli is one of the few chocolate makers that have complete control over every step of the production chain starting with the precise selection of the finest cocoa varieties from the best growing areas in the world right on through the careful and expert processing until ending with the elegant packaging.Lindt gets its cocoa beans mostly from Ghana and Central and South America. Lindt has been very conservative in the amount of energy its invests in the chocolate production process. Each existing and future facility and investment undergoes very detailed analysis to determine how much energy can be saved. Through better insulation and energy recovery, Lindt & Sprungli was able to cut down on energy consumption by more than 13% per ton produced between 2004 and 2010.The company intends to continue reducing the energy consumption rate per ton produced by an average over the coming years. According to the Lindt publication, The company’s efforts: since 1999, Lindt & Sprungli’s Swiss subsidiary, Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprungli (Schweiz) AG, has been an active member of the Lake Zurich Energy Model Group†¦The Swiss government and independent engineers have audited the progress and as a result, the Swiss subsidiary has been granted the official certificate. Kilchberg, 2012) Since 2007, Lindt & Sprungli under water conservation has been participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)†¦Since then, the measurements of water emissions and energy consumption have been largely based on the concept of the ‘Methodology Fossil Fuels’ set out in the CDP P rotocol†¦Waste water, Lindt & Sprungli continuously monitors and analyses the use of water and the output of wastewater in the production process and intends to further reduce the use of fresh water in this process, which, in turn will impact the output of wastewater (Kilchberg, 2012) The major people that benefit from cocoa production are mostly the big corporations. The corporations exploit cocoa farmers in the sense that they do not pay them the true worth of their labour. Women who work on the farms are underpaid and marginalized. There is also the issue of child labor where children of school going age are forced to work on the farms instead of going to school thereby denying them the right to education. The big corporations are not forth coming in releasing information as to how and where they get their cocoa beans from.Most of these African countries where these big corporations get their raw materials from do not have access to good roads, health care facilities, school s, electricity, and there is poverty in most of the communities. These big corporations buy the cocoa beans at a very cheap rate and then import them to the western society and the refined product is processed into different kinds of chocolates (e. g. chocolate drink, chocolate bars of different shapes and sizes and chocolate candies etc. ) which are sold consumers at exorbitant prices considering the price at which the cocoa beans are bought from the cocoa farmers. This explains how capitalism and big corporation exploit cheap labour. Almost everyone enjoys a bit of chocolate every now and again. But if you take a closer look at how cocoa is produced, it may well leave a bitter taste in your mouth.The conditions under which the cocoa farmers in many producer countries live and work are worrying: Despite the fact that cocoa is usually their main source of income, the families struggle to make a living from it. Child labour is not uncommon. As consumers we can work with NGOs to find means of helping the farmers to adapt to new systems of cocoa farming that result higher yields, under socially more acceptable and environmentally friendly conditions, to meet market demands and hence ensure a stable flow income. As a major part of the global cocoa industry which has remained inactive and invisible for so long, consumers of chocolate can demonstrate that they want slavery in the cocoa sector stamped out, and your pressure can highlight their lack of commitment and make them more accountable.Finally all cocoa products, including chocolate, run the risk of being tainted by child labour and slavery. To achieve a satisfactory standard of ethical production in chocolate consumers must help to ensure that companies commit to credible and sufficient actions against such things as use of child labour and the exploitation of cocoa farmers and not make false and unsustainable promises to consumers of being â€Å"slavery- free†. The consumers can liaise with government bodies and NGOs to negotiate fair prices for the purchase of cocoa products and this will in turn help the farmers to gain access to basic social amenities of life. Reference Page Archer, D. (2012).ADM’s commitment to sustainable cocoa. Milwaukee: Copyright 2012 Archer Daniels Midland Company . Clarkson, T. (1998). Anti-slavery. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from www. antislavery. org: http://www. antislavery. org/english/privacy_policy. aspx Kilchberg. (2012, April 22). The environment in the Production Process. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from www. Lindt. com: http://www. lindt. com/swf/eng/company/social-responsibility/lindts-sustainable-cocoa-supply-chain/ Koffi, C. (2008, November 7). Ivory Coast women defy taboos. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from iol News: http://www. iol. co. za/news/africa/ivory-coast-women-defy-taboos-1. 423405