Impressionism and Expressionism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Impressionism and Expressionism - Essay Example The essay "Impressionism and Expressionism" examines impressionism and expressionism. Vincent van Gogh and Jozef Israels have pieces of art that portray such styles. While in Nuenen, Holland at his father’s lodge, Vincent composed â€Å"Potato Eaters.† This painting is the first of his works that reveals influences from the farmhand descriptions of Jozef Israels. In â€Å"Potato Eaters,† Vincent even reveals this influence and defines Israels as the "the Dutch Millet.† Vincent reveals his admiration for a painter of anglers and small-scale farmers who he referred to as â€Å"Dutch Millets.† Between Vincent’s â€Å"Potato Eaters† and Israels’ â€Å"Peasant Family at Table,† Vincent was clearly inspired to compose his own idea of a small-scale farmer’s dinner setting. In terms of composition styles, â€Å"Potato Eaters† reflects Israels’ subject and style of art. At the same time, â€Å"Potato Eatersâ⠂¬  has darker shades, animpasto paint textures, and more inspiration from Rembrandt’s tenebrism. Tenebrism is a style of portraiture used by Caravaggio and his successors wherein several objects are vibrant in terms of color while the rest of the painting has dense shadows. Tenebrism remains an impressionist style of painting. In â€Å"Potato Eaters,† the point of view is skewed. The askew nature of the painting shows Vincent’s naivetà © and originality at the same time. This is also a major similarity between â€Å"Potato Eaters† and Israels’ â€Å"Peasant Family at Table.†

Data Analysis for Research Essay Example for Free

Data Analysis for Research Essay Scenario 1: Customer Perceptions of the Toyota Brand WKB Toyota in Chichester want to investigate customer attitudes towards the Toyota brand, to see if the press coverage regarding mechanical failures during 2009-2010 have had any long-term impacts on customer loyalty and potential sales to new customers. In the first instance, WKB can offer access to their own marketing database. Scenario 2: Market Segmentation for Visit Chichester Visit Chichester is in the process of realigning its marketing strategy to key customer groups in order to more effectively promote the visitor economy in the Chichester District. As part of the process they wish to conduct research to investigate current attitudes towards the Visit Chichester website. They wish to seek views from across a range of profiles including families with children, couples, and the retired market. The results will be used to determine the structure and content of the new Visit Chichester website. Scenario 3: NatWest Banking Charter Following its widespread publicity campaign, which included TV adverts and street billboards, and as part of its commitment to customer service, NatWest wish to undertake research to establish the impact of its Customer Charter. More specifically, they want to ascertain whether it has lead to a discernible improvement in customers’ perception of the bank’s service quality. They also wish to undertake an internal audit to assess whether staff have noticed an impact of the Charter. Scenario 4: The Green Economy The West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership has commissioned the University of Chichester undertake research assessing the level of sustainable business practice by businesses across a range of sectors in West Sussex. Specifically the WSSBP would like to establish the extent to which businesses are adopting green measures in key areas such as operations management, purchasing, and energy management. They also want to establish business awareness of available support for going green, and general business attitudes to the green agenda. The results will help WSSBP help businesses prepare for the green economy being championed by the coalition Government. Scenario 5: HMV Music In the light of poor trading figures, and the imminent closure of 60 of its UK branches, HMV want to undertake research to ascertain the factors that are causing poor sales and determine which product lines should be continued and which ones should be discarded. They are also interested in how they can improve their online sales performance as part of a realignment of their retail strategy. Scenario 6: Tourism Industry Response to Recession and Recovery The Sussex Tourism Partnership have commissioned the University to undertake research into the impact of recession on the tourism industry in Sussex, and the strategic response adopted by tourism businesses, including accommodation providers and attractions. They wish to establish the degree to which different sectors have felt the impact of recession, either positively or negatively, and identify the key measures these businesses have taken to remain competitive in the current downturn. Scenario 7: Evaluation of Goodwood Motor Racing Events The Goodwood Road Racing Company (GRRC) has commissioned the University of Chichester to undertake research investigating visitor perceptions of the overall quality of the visitor experience at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival. They also want to assess visitors’ views about potential new events, products and services that could be developed at Goodwood that would increase revenue without significantly increase the negative impacts currently generated by the Festival of Speed and Revival events. Scenario 8: Green policies at Sainsbury PLC The aim of the research is to establish whether there are any economic benefits from adopting green business policies at Sainsbury supermarkets. The supermarket’s Operations Manager wants to identify ways in which the economic impacts of Sainsbury’s adoption of green business polices can be measured. In particular, she is interested in the identification of costs and benefits associated with implementing green business policies at Sainsbury, and to identify the economic incentives and disincentives which Sainsbury has from its stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and government to adopt green business policies.

Uplifting Black Souls: the African American Jeremiad :: Free Essays Online

Uplifting Black Souls: the African American Jeremiad Mission Statement A black jeremiad is a writing or a speech that constantly emphasizes the need for and methods to achieve social change. David Howard Pitney in his book The Afro-American Jeremiad, rightly suggests what the components of a jeremiad are: "1) citing the promise, 2) criticism of present declension or retrogression from the promise, 3) resolving prophecy that society will shortly complete it's mission and redeem the promise"(Howard-Pitney 8). The authors we have chosen have written prominent jeremiads, and we will show why they can be considered jeremiads; why they were important when they were written; and why they are still important today. History David Walker (act.1828-1829), Frederick Douglass (act. 1852-1880), Booker T. Washington (act. 1895-1915); and W.E.B. DuBois (act. 1895-1968) are some of the most important African-American jeremiads in our history. Black jeremiads stem from the Jeffersonian idea of "natural and divine law." This law emphasizes the right to freedom as well as liberty. The American jeremiad originated amongst 17th century Puritans who believed that their destiny was to form a utopian society in the Americas. By the 19th century, black jeremiads had adopted these Puritan ideals and used them to incite the need for the abolition of slavery and to serve as a warning of the punishment that would await those who continued with the sins of slavery. The writings and speeches of these jeremiads was used to uplift and unify their race and to promote blacks to take action in order to achieve equality but not self-separation from the rest of American society. This idea of unification without self-separation, illustrates the idea of black nationalism with established the rhetoric for jeremiads. On David Walker One of the most persuasive African American writers of antebellum America, was able to shake the American society with his pamphlet: Appeal to The Colored People of the United States. Walker, A free Negro born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1796, although enjoyed a little more "freedom" than the rest of his colored brethren in bondage took on the role of a Jeremiadic speaker and writer to his people. In Walker's Appeal, Walker followed a method used by a Free black man in 1788 using the pseudonym of "Othello" in a two-part essay responding to Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia , called Essay on Negro Slavery. Following "Othello's" Jeremiadic essay, Walker had a warning for white Christian America about the wrathful vengeance of God that would befall upon them because of the institution of slavery.

Education Dialog Essay

What does it mean to be an educated person? There is no simple, out-right, correct answer to this question. Everyone will have a slightly, if not very, different answer. â€Å"†¦ ‘What does it mean to be a liberally educated person?’—is misleading, deeply so, because it suggests that one can somehow take a group of courses, or accumulate a certain number of credits, or undergo an obligatory set of learning experiences, and emerge liberally educated at the end of the process. Nothing could be further from the truth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (William Cronon 5) To me an education is about grasping not specific facts, but concepts as a whole, to gain knowledge of things that can be applied to not just the status quo but things in the future as well. To be properly educated one must keep an open mind, be able to take all the sides of an argument into account and be able to see where they are coming from. To be educated,, is to be free of ignorance, to not let our own emotions and experiences corrupt our view, to be able to think for yourself and think critically at that, but also to comprehend what is being said to you, or what you are reading and understand that your learning will never end. No matter the amount of knowledge you have on a certain topic there will always be more to learn, either on that topic or other topics and an educated person knows that, so they are always striving to learn more. Critical thinking is a huge part of being considered educated. You don’t just listen to hear someone talk, and you don’t read to just see letters form words on a page, you do these things so you can derive meaning from the words written in a book and the words coming from a person’s mouth. How does one measure intelligence? How would you know where you stand compared to others? This is where things get a little tricky. From my own experience in the public education system we were given facts, dates, places and names to be memorized for tests. How much you could memorize directly translated to what grade you would get on a test. Students would cram right before an exam, and their minds would only retain that knowledge for a couple days at most. In my English class my teacher spent the whole year preparing us for one test at the end of the year, one test. We were actually given the test three times before the â€Å"final exam†. You were given the correct answers and all you had to do was memorize it, if you could memorize the answers you would get an A grade. I don’t get how standardized tests are used to measure intelligence since there isn’t a standardized person. I believe standardized tests should be made with essay topics to give students a chan ce to explain their thinking, their â€Å"why’s† I can understand why certain subjects become important when trying to shape a well rounded educated person, such as: math, history, writing and composition. History would be about the only subject in which there could be too much focus on dates and facts, to where they begin to dismiss the â€Å"Why did they do that?† because they’re focusing on the fact that they did do it. We are taught history so we can do our best to prevent repeating it, the facts won’t really help all too much in that, but the critical thinking will. We need to be aware of what’s going on around us, notice when things are beginning to stir. We all must be educated to advance in our world, to learn from our mistakes, to make new mistakes and set forth a course to the ideal of a perfect world or to achieve a perfect education.

Safe as houses?

Hey kids, I'm Gavin and I want to talk to you today about safety around the house. How many of you here have younger brothers or sisters? [Response] Over half of you, that's quite a lot. I'll bet they get quite annoying sometimes, don't they? I wouldn't know because I am the younger brother. Even though they do get quite annoying sometimes, I'm sure that deep down inside, you really do love your younger brothers and sisters, and that you would never want anything bad happening to them. This is why it is important to keep them save and out of trouble. How many of you here don't have a helper? [Response] Well, that's a large number of you. I bet every time your parents are out, you have to look after your baby brother or sister right? It's pretty hard sometimes isn't it? Well here are a few suggestions which might make it easier for you. Firstly, never let your brother or sister near the kitchen on their own. Stay away from the kitchen unless you are getting snacks to eat and drinks. The kitchen is a dangerous, unsafe and bad place to play. Your brother or sister could easily burn, scald or hurt themselves with hot or boiling water, clothes irons or hot oven doors. There are some yucky chemicals kept in the kitchen which aren't very healthy for you if you drink or inhale it. Don't forget there's also a chance your baby sibling could slip and fall over. The kitchen is out of bounds. If your younger sibling needs to go to the toilet or take a bath, make sure that you go and help them. It is very important, and it will make you look more grown-up too, doing important things around the house. When they are taking a bath, make sure the water is not too hot or they could get hurt ands scalded. Also, be sure to hold them up because it is very easy for them to drown, so don't play around during bath-time. Finally, never ever let your baby brother or sister go peeking down the toilet incase they fall in. It would be unsafe, unhygienic and very yucky. Moving away from the toilet issues, the next thing you have to be careful of are the doors. Slamming doors in your brother or sister's face is a big no-no. Their fingers could get caught and it would be extremely painful. If any of you have a staircase in the house, you will probably know how dangerous they are, especially for kids under two. The best thing to avoid accidents to keep them away from the stairs and remove any toys or objects blocking the stairs. If not, you or your little brother or sister could turn into Humpty Dumpty and break into many pieces Talking about taking big falls, it is also a good idea to close any low windows your sibling could climb out of, or remove anything they could climb on to in order to get to the opening. Did you know that the biggest cause of accidents in homes are from playing with matches? If you have ever tried it and thought it cool, take some advice from the big kids, it's not cool. You could easily kill yourself and your little baby brother or sister, so remember, keep tem away from those matches and remember the words of Smokey Bear; â€Å"Only YOU can stop [house hold] fires!† Don't forget to keep them away from the medicine cabinet, and remind them often that it ISN'T candy. Finally, if you are playing outside the house, keep those little kids away from the garage or tool shed, which have a lot of dangerous tools and chemicals. (P.T.O.) Now you can go and tell your friends how cool you are and your parents how grown up you are because you know how to look after your baby brother or sister, and yourself.

The Comic Scenes of Dr Faustus essays

The Comic Scenes of Dr Faustus essays When I first began reading Dr. Faustus I did not even realize that there were comic scenes. Only after being told and after watching the movie did I realize that there were comic scenes. Many critics say that Christopher Marlowe did not even write these scenes, but instead say that they were written later by other playwrights. After realizing that there was in fact comedy in the play, I began to ponder why it was in the play. My first thought was that they were there to lighten the mood of such a dark and serious play. Any good playwright knows that you can't hold an audience's attention with hours of serious, deep and emotional content without also having something to lighten the mood. With this point of view I realized that it was very possible that Mr. Marlowe did not in fact write the comic sections of this play (I really wanted to believe that he wrote them), maybe a later playwright found that the play was too serious. The fact that I wanted Marlowe to be the author of the whole play (I don't like it when someone comes along a changes a piece of art, or that people say that someone changed it because it is just too good to be true) made me dig deeper to try and find something that sounded more sensible to me. I would have to say that it was eight lines in scene five that were spoken by Mephastophilis in response to a question from Faustus. These Lines were (pg.442 lines 110-125): Mephastophilis. Now Faustus, ask what thou wilt. Faustus. First will I question thee about hell: Tell me, where is the place that men call hell? Mephastophilis. Under the heavens. Mephastophilis. Within the bowels of these elements, Where we are tortured and remain forever. Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place; for where we are is hell, And where hell is, there we must ever be. And to conclude, when all the world dissolves, ...

JVA Corporation Simulation

JVA Corporation Simulation In analyzing the current position of JVA Corporation and its future performance projections, the best strategy to employ so as to save and preserve the overall net profitability of the company is reviewing the corporation’s performance and revenue after every six months. Under this strategy, the corporation will either increase or reduce the employee pay and review their performance after six months (Noe et al 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on JVA Corporation Simulation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The corporation’s employees will get a pay increase twice a year depending on individual performance, if the strategy is adopted, unlike the current strategy where employees with satisfactory performance are compensated once in a year. Employees who do not perform will have their compensation package subsequently reduced twice within a year. This will encourage the employees to work hard and improve their performance since; none of them will wish to have their individual pay reduced (Noe et al 2010). The strategy should be in place for a period not exceeding a year given the expected improvement in the performance of the JVA Corporation. It is expected that after this duration, each employee will have improved their performance and thus leading to an upward compensation during the package review. After attaining the required performance standards, it will be wise for the corporation to switch back to annual pay review (Noe et al 2010). The half- year pay and performance review strategy will be applied to both employees within and outside the United States. This is because a very small fraction of the international employees are the managers, who are entitled to a full time salary. Out of the 185,000 corporation employees, 3,500 are management staff employees. This shows that they take a very small percentage of the wage bill to achieve the overall objectives of JVA Corporation. However, the review should be based on the location of the employee since the product market trends differ from one geographic region to another. Proper implementation of the strategy will benefit the corporation in several ways as the corporation will be in a position to evaluate its performance half way through the year. Therefore, it will be able to adopt new performance approaches or continue with the existing ones. The corporation, will also save the cost incurred in compensating employees whose performance are unevenly distributed within a year; those that perform highly either in the first half of the year or the second (Noe et al 2010). The result will be a motivated and improved performance by employees throughout the whole year since each employee will target a double upward pay review. As mentioned earlier, the corporation should swiftly switch over to annual review once the required set standards are attained. In this regard, JVA will be in a position to save a lot from downward pay review on underperforming employees during the initial implementation of the strategy (Noe et al 2010).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On switching over to the annual review, again substantial savings will be made since the compensation packages; earlier paid twice in a year will be available once a year but with same or better performance standards. The strategy is bound to have subsequent effects on the community if adopted. The double pay review will encourage more people to seek employment in the corporation, especially the temporary staff. The motivation given to the employees will automatically lead to better and improved product quality. The community members also stand a chance of getting more job opportunities should the strategy lead to expansion of the corporation, as a result, a need for more labor force. In conclusion, the strategy will be the best remedy for the upward revival of JVA Corporation’s overall profits (Noe et al 2010). Noe, Raymond, John Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart and Patr Wright. Fundamentals of  Human Resource Management. New Jersey: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print

Japanese Verbs Conjugations

Japanese Verbs Conjugations Japanese verbs are roughly divided into three groups according to their dictionary form (basic form). The basic form of Group 1 verbs end with ~ u. The basic form of Group 2 verbs end with either ~iru or ~ eru. Group 3 verbs are irregular verbs. There are only two irregular verbs, kuru (to come) and suru (to do). Click here to learn more about Japanese verbs and hear their pronunciation (Audio Phrasaebook – verbs). Here are some common verbs from each group. The links lead to various conjugations of each verb. Group 1 aruku æ ­ ©Ã£   - to walk asobu é Å Ã£  ¶ - to play au ä ¼Å¡Ã£ â€  - to meet hairu å… ¥Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to enter hajimaru Ã¥ §â€¹Ã£  ¾Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to begin iku è ¡Å'㠁  - to go kaeru Ã¥ ¸ °Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to return kakaru 㠁‹ã â€¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to takekaku æ› ¸Ã£   - to writekau è ² ·Ã£ â€  - to buy kiku è Å¾Ã£   - to listen matsu Ã¥ ¾â€¦Ã£  ¤ - to wait motsu æÅ' Ã£  ¤ - to havenarau ç ¿â€™Ã£ â€  - to learnnomu é £ ²Ã£â€šâ‚¬ - to drinkokuru é€ Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to sendomou æ€ Ã£ â€  - to thinkoyogu æ ³ ³Ã£   - to swimshiru çŸ ¥Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to know suwaru Ã¥ º §Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to sit tatsu ç «â€¹Ã£  ¤ - to stand tomaru æ ­ ¢Ã£  ¾Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to stop tsuku ç â‚¬Ã£   - to arrive uru Ã¥ £ ²Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to sellutau æ ­Å'㠁† - to singwakaru 分㠁‹ã‚‹ - to understandwarau ç ¬â€˜Ã£ â€  - to laugh yomu è ª ­Ã£â€šâ‚¬ - to read Group 2 kangaeru è€Æ'㠁ˆã‚‹ - to thinkmiru è ¦â€¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to see; to lookneru Ã¥ ¯ Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to sleeposhieru 教㠁ˆã‚‹ - to teachtaberu é £Å¸Ã£  ¹Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to eat Group 3 kuru æ  ¥Ã£â€šâ€¹ - to come suru 㠁™ã‚‹ - to do

Financial Accounting principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Accounting principles - Essay Example In actual practice, if a business is to be run at profit, it has to sell goods at such a price as will enable it to meet out not only expenses on account of cost of goods sold but also other numerous expenses like rent, salary, cartage, freight, commission , electricity, etc. Thus for making a profit, sales must be kept sufficiently high to meet all the other expenses. To emphasize the necessity of accounting, it can be said that accounting must provide the following information and we should ensure that we completely understand and analyze them: Accounting is defined as the 'the art of recording, classifying and summarizing in terms of money transactions and events of a financial character and interpreting the results thereof .' The American Accounting Association Committee defined accounting as - The process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgment and decision by the user of the information. The Accounting Principles Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) stated "the function of accounting is to provide quantitative information, primarily financial in nature about the economic entities that is intended to be useful in making economic decision." Business Managers and outside interested parties make use of accounting information for decision making that affect the business. The primary purpose of accounting is to provide information about financial transaction, i.e., transaction involving money of a business enterprise. When a person starts a business or even to maintain the accounts of his daily expenditure he must make use of financial accounts. The two primary objective of any business are To earn profit. To have sufficient funds to pay their debts as and when they are required to be paid. This information makes a firm or an individual person take the right business related decision which helps to take the business further. Thus, accounting information, if properly and systematically recorded and reported, can direct a business enterprise to run on successful and efficient lines. Before we move on to understand more about Financial accounting we must clearly understand the advantages-disadvantages and limitations of accounting. Advantages Maintenance of

Macro Economics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Macro Economics - Coursework Example Demand curves are curves that show a relationship between the price of a product and the quantity demanded. It is shown when the values of price are plotted against the values of quantity demand. It shows what consumers are willing to buy at various prices. The demand curve has a negative slope (-5) which indicates that an increase in there is an inverse relationship between price and the quantity demanded. The demand curve therefore shows a negative relationship between the variables, which means that an increase in price causes a decrease in demanded quantity and a decrease in price causes an increase in quantity demanded. The two therefore have an inverse relationship. Increase in the income of consumers will lead to increase in demand for widgets. This is because widgets are normal goods and change in income results to a positive change to demand of normal goods. There will therefore be a shift in demand curve for widgets to the right as a result of the increased demand. The shift in the demand curve will cause to an increase in the quantity of widgets demanded at each level of price. The shift to the right will cause an increase in demand and therefore the demand value in the equation will increase with increase in income. A supply curve is a curve that shows a relationship between price and quantity supplied by the sellers. The supply curve slopes from the left to the right. This shows the direct relationship between quantity supplied and price. The slope of the supply curve has a positive value (+3.3). This indicates that there is a positive relationship between price and the quantity supplied. Price and supply are therefore directly related. Change in price of the input used to produce will result to a decrease in supply of the widgets. This will result to a shift in the supply curve upwards indicating a decrease in supply. Less quantity of the widgets will therefore be supplied at the same price levels to enable the suppliers

Organisational Leadership and Performance Essay

Organisational Leadership and Performance - Essay Example Leadership is essential for any organisation to become successful. In today’s knowledge based global economic environment, the topic of leadership has become more important and debated. Leadership has emerged as a subject almost inseparable from the basic concepts of organisational behaviour at the various levels of an establishment. Characteristics of a Leader What does a leader need to have? In other words, what does an individual need to emerge as a leader? Robbins et al (1998: 395) think that the following traits are important for an individual to become a leader: †¢ â€Å"long term vision; †¢ people and team-building skills; †¢ decisiveness; and †¢ self-confidence† In today’s dynamic world, the factor of long term vision has become more important since resources are limited and demands are increasing. Soft skills are important for people management and essential team building. Decisiveness and self-confidence helps the leader to decide his/her course of action. These leadership traits are necessary at the management level of a given organisation so that it can remain dynamic to stay competitive and survive. Leadership Development Leadership development must begin at the level of staff development and the related realm of education management is utterly concerned with the behaviour and training of the human resources of the organisation.... and team-building skills; decisiveness; and self-confidence† In today’s dynamic world, the factor of long term vision has become more important since resources are limited and demands are increasing. Soft skills are important for people management and essential team building. Decisiveness and self-confidence helps the leader to decide his/her course of action. These leadership traits are necessary at the management level of a given organisation so that it can remain dynamic to stay competitive and survive (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995). Leadership Development Leadership development must begin at the level of staff development and the related realm of education management is utterly concerned with the behaviour and training of the human resources of the organisation (Bhindi, 1996). Thus education management becomes an integral part of the operations. Prospective staff members should be educated in the direction of becoming leaders at their levels. Definitely, the policy of leadership development, if implemented in a right way, can make a big difference to the organisation. Both the intra-organisational and inter-organisational behaviouristic patterns can be maintained, tuned and improved if leadership development programmes are initiated within the organisation (Boaden, 2006). According to Robbins et al (1998), leadership development has the phases of conceptual understanding, skill building and coaching. A feedback process and a development centre are also required. Conceptual understanding of leadership should be imparted to as many staff members as possible, especially those who belong from the young generation so that they can correlate their personal growth plan to the leadership practices that are productive, sensible and sustainable. (Robbins et al, 1998)

Risk and its Importance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk and its Importance - Coursework Example Essentially a company is indulging into risk management if it is actively analyzing and attempting to quantify the possible losses in a business decision or an investment and then is taking appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of those losses occurring. It is fairly important to manage risk in an investment appraisal process as it helps the organization in protecting itself from all kinds of risks; it helps the organization’s customers from large non-market related losses such as a firm failure or fraud. A strong risk management process does not only help the organization, but it also provides security to the overall industry. Importance of risk management can also be gauged by some recent crisis that has happened due to loopholes present in risk management strategies of a few companies. The financial meltdown of 2008 is a key example. b) Measuring risk and incorporating risk in an investment opportunity Risk management is now an essential part in all the businesses as more and more businessmen are facing the repercussions of a poorly managed business decision in terms of risk. With the financial crisis slowly recovering, it is harder for people to now ignore the importance of risk. Predominantly, risk is considered to be a negative term. It is the probability of a result deviating from its forecast, usually towards the negative side. Therefore, it is predominantly considered negative. However, in investment and financial terms, risk is always associated with return. The more risk a person or an entity is willing to take, the more the return is expected. Understanding risk today is perhaps one of the most important things in financial education and financial market. Its importance cannot be stressed more. A deviation from expected outcome can both be negative as well as positive. Therefore, the idea of ‘no pain, no gain’ works in harmony with this situation. If one is willing to undertake a certain amount of losses to ensure that t hey are the winner in the end in terms of returns, they are effectively managing their risk. Measuring risk in absolute terms is done through standard deviation. It is the basic tool for understanding the deviation of an outcome from a central tendency. A lot of other techniques are used; tools are incorporated in order to measure risk of an investment opportunity. There are a number of models through which firms decide upon the nature of risk that an investment opportunity might have. VaR is another tool; value at risk defines how bad things can go and its probability giving a certain level of confidence for a given amount of time. This helps to identify the potential losses that an investing entity might have if they take a certain decision, taking time and confidence of calculations into account. Incorporating risk in an investment opportunity is through taking into account the impact of risk on the outcome of the investment. Critical questions should be answered as the start of the investment appraisal such as the time, the expected return on investment or if the money invested could be used better in another investment opportunity. Beta is another measure through which risk associated with two different investment opportunities is measured. It is specific for a specific kind of project (Jackson, 2008).

Global Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Governance - Essay Example As the paper declares the interests and benefits of common people are mainly focused in global governance. From the ancient times, the empires of various regions played vital role in the movement of global governance. U.S has given huge efforts in establishing human rights. The empire of America organized and implemented the concept of sovereignty. Earlier, the empire used to have huge power in their hand and in most of the cases they misused that power by oppressing people. The movements of global governance tried to end that oppression. The conqueror or empire was considered as government. But in the present times, people play significant roles in selecting the government. This process is considered as an important result of global governance. This discussion stresses that the concept of globalization was developed in 19th century and it became highly popular in different nations during 1980s. Effective policies and regulations were developed for benefiting common people. At the time of empire rule, countries used to focus only on their growth and developments which in many instances hampered other countries. The strong and powerful nations like U.K, U.S etc used to control several other countries. During the empire rule, people of many countries suffered from strong oppression. They did not have the right to go against the words of the empire. Gradually with the development of the government, the condition of common people started improving.

Risk and its Importance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk and its Importance - Coursework Example Essentially a company is indulging into risk management if it is actively analyzing and attempting to quantify the possible losses in a business decision or an investment and then is taking appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of those losses occurring. It is fairly important to manage risk in an investment appraisal process as it helps the organization in protecting itself from all kinds of risks; it helps the organization’s customers from large non-market related losses such as a firm failure or fraud. A strong risk management process does not only help the organization, but it also provides security to the overall industry. Importance of risk management can also be gauged by some recent crisis that has happened due to loopholes present in risk management strategies of a few companies. The financial meltdown of 2008 is a key example. b) Measuring risk and incorporating risk in an investment opportunity Risk management is now an essential part in all the businesses as more and more businessmen are facing the repercussions of a poorly managed business decision in terms of risk. With the financial crisis slowly recovering, it is harder for people to now ignore the importance of risk. Predominantly, risk is considered to be a negative term. It is the probability of a result deviating from its forecast, usually towards the negative side. Therefore, it is predominantly considered negative. However, in investment and financial terms, risk is always associated with return. The more risk a person or an entity is willing to take, the more the return is expected. Understanding risk today is perhaps one of the most important things in financial education and financial market. Its importance cannot be stressed more. A deviation from expected outcome can both be negative as well as positive. Therefore, the idea of ‘no pain, no gain’ works in harmony with this situation. If one is willing to undertake a certain amount of losses to ensure that t hey are the winner in the end in terms of returns, they are effectively managing their risk. Measuring risk in absolute terms is done through standard deviation. It is the basic tool for understanding the deviation of an outcome from a central tendency. A lot of other techniques are used; tools are incorporated in order to measure risk of an investment opportunity. There are a number of models through which firms decide upon the nature of risk that an investment opportunity might have. VaR is another tool; value at risk defines how bad things can go and its probability giving a certain level of confidence for a given amount of time. This helps to identify the potential losses that an investing entity might have if they take a certain decision, taking time and confidence of calculations into account. Incorporating risk in an investment opportunity is through taking into account the impact of risk on the outcome of the investment. Critical questions should be answered as the start of the investment appraisal such as the time, the expected return on investment or if the money invested could be used better in another investment opportunity. Beta is another measure through which risk associated with two different investment opportunities is measured. It is specific for a specific kind of project (Jackson, 2008).

The Collaborative Network of the Boeing Company Research Paper

The Collaborative Network of the Boeing Company - Research Paper Example Several production and engineering innovations were introduced by the Boeing Company. For example, one of the innovations was the construction of the 787 families of aeroplanes from a plastic resin of carbon fibre in place of aluminium that was traditionally used for the making of aeroplanes till then. This provided the Boeing Company with a way to increase the fuel efficiency of the 787 aeroplanes. The 787 aeroplanes have a communications system based on satellite installed in them to provide the passengers with access to the Internet, help improve the monitoring maintenance with the wireless networks, and make electronic flight bags accessible to the crew that consists of reference data and charts. The windows of the 787 aeroplanes are larger in size as compared to other aircraft made till then. The larger size provides the passengers with additional comfort by increasing humidity and air pressure. â€Å"With the 787, Boeing was dreaming big dreams. They wanted to create a next-ge neration plane – a plan that was everything a 21st-century airline could possibly want. And they wanted to slash the cost of production, as well as the cost of operation. It was a daunting challenge. But Infosys was up to the task, co-developing innovative solutions in Information Technology (IT)† (Infosys, 2006). The customers have responded to the Dreamliner enthusiastically. This can be estimated from the fact that in spite of certain cancellations, the Boeing Company received the orders from 55 customers for 850 aeroplanes in April 2009 (boeing.com, 2009).

Experiment in Proxemics Essay Example for Free

Experiment in Proxemics Essay Proxemics as a terminology is a form of non-verbal communication. It deals with the structuring of the distance/space that exists between individuals while communicating with each other. Edward hall argued that the distance between people while communicating goes a long way to determine interpretation of messages and the meaning of messages being sent. On the other hand, kinesics is a concept under proxemics that deals with the use of body movements and gestures in non-verbal communication. In this experiment, I made a study of the difference between the use of kinesics and proxemics among different genders. In my first research, i choose a nearby basket ball court as a specimen. The group comprises of fifteen males. I noticed that in this group, kinesics was typified. The players communicated more through body movements and although there were occasional physical contacts most of the communication was via gestures. In addition to this, i choose the cheerleading group as a specimen of study representing the female group. Unlike what i noticed at the basketball court, there was more physical contact and more body movements. The use of space here was minimal as compared to what i noticed of the group that was predominantly male. Finally, i chose the choir in my church as my object of study because both genders are fully represented. Here, i noticed that there was more space and less use of body movements. Apart from this, there were fewer physical contacts. From the result of my study, i conclude that there are gender differences in proxemics. This might be due to the physiological makeup of both genders. Apart from this, i believe there could be an explanation from the cultural perspective, in that the male specie is often seen as the reserved and tougher specie while the feminine specie is seen as more flexible and accommodating. Reference: Mulvaney, B. (1994) Gender Differences in Communication: An Intercultural Experience http://www. cpsr. org/cpsr/gender/mulvaney. txt

UK Housing Services | Case Study

UK Housing Services | Case Study Housing and Health The Housing Act 2004 introduced licensing for housing in multiple occupation, as in this example. The Act sets out the standards of management which must be met in order for licensing to be achieved, and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is a new tool which is used to assess the potential hazards present in any property. Licensing is mandatory for the type of occupation in question since it is occupied by more than five people forming more than two households. In the current state of the property it is possible that the council could refuse the property a license, which would of course be detrimental to the services which it currently supplies in the area (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2007). It is therefore important that inter-agency working is utilized to identify all potential risk areas and address them in a way which minimizes the harm to the current residents. Inter-agency working The following agencies should be involved in the working group to deal with the issues in this property: Local council environmental health department This organization would be able to consult with the hostel management in order to identify and correct any potential health problems in the property to ensure that they meet current standards Local fire service department The local fire service should be able to advise the management how they need to develop the property in order to meet current fire regulations Social Services The social services department of the local council should be able to work with the hostel management to solve any problems which would adversely affect the tenants. They should form part of the working group to ensure that the rights of the current tenants are preserved with regard to any changes agreed. The Housing Department These are an important member of the working group, since they make referrals to the service, and would also be able to advise on the various issues relating to building regulations and Housing Act which need to be addressed. Council, local or district Since the hostel is not a privately owned residence, but is funded partially through the council, they would be an important member of a working group since they would be able to advise as to funds available to meet the required changes. Factors to be addressed Although there were a large number of issues addressed with the property the five which are considered most important are addressed below. Lack of adequate fire safety This is currently the most pressing problem, since there are large numbers of lives at risk in the event of fire, and current safety measures are considered to be completely inadequate. There is currently a lack of escape apparent in the case of fire, which means that the outer doors are currently the only means of escape in the event of fire. The downstairs door next to the kitchen is currently obstructed, which is in contravention of The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, which states that all means of escape from fire must be kept clear of obstruction. The rear exit door was found to be locked for security reasons; while the security of the property is important this is also in contravention of the given regulations. Disrepair of ventilation in kitchen While the report states the kitchen was found to be generally satisfactory, there are safety issues which are of importance. These are particularly important since they again affect the safety of a large number of people, and possibly ranks equally important to the issues with fire safety. It has been identified that the kitchen in the property uses a gas cooker. There is no statement made as to whether this complies with current gas testing regulations. The disrepair of the windows in the kitchen, and the nailing shut of some windows mean that there is no natural ventilation available. This means that in the event of any type of leak the gas would be unable to dissipate and would cause great risk of gas poisoning and possibly explosion. There are also issues relating to the crumbling of the chimney breast, since the manager is also required to ensure that any flues (the chimney) are kept in good repair; this is particularly important if any gas fire is installed. Presence of dampness The HHSRS would consider the various types of damp in the property to be causing unsuitable living conditions. The presence of damp contributes to several disorders and illnesses, particularly in children, and has an effect on psychological well-being caused by the effect of living in damp conditions. This has been ranked of slightly less importance than the fire and gas issues as there is no immediate risk to the life of the people living in the property. Space issues There are currently major issues with space in the property; the Housing Act 2004 states that no habitable room should be occupied by more than two people, regardless of size, discounting those under 1 year old. It also states that two individuals aged ten or over of opposite sexes should not be sharing the same room under any circumstances, unless they are co-habitees. There is high risk of psychological harm in the current situation and some potential for physical harm; however the likelihood and extent of this harm ranks below the other issues above. Provision of amenities Since there are 24 people currently living at the property, there should be at least five bathrooms and five WCs. The previous issue highlighted that there were already too many people living in the building, however even if the numbers are reduced the Housing Act 2004 still requires that there be at least one bathroom and one WC for every five people residing in the property. While this is an important issue it ranks lower than the other issues as there is a lower risk to the well being of the occupants caused by the issue. Action Plan Lack of adequate fire safety All furniture and fittings should be assessed as to meet the requirements of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. Any that do not meet the requirements need to be assessed as to whether they are necessary, and replaced if this is the case; otherwise they just need to be removed from the property. The local fire department should be able to advise as to the requirements which the furniture and fittings must meet. Although this does not directly correlate to the issue of the fire escape, it is still an important factor in reducing the risk from fire. The fire department should also be consulted as to the best means of installing a fire escape route in the property. This consultation should occur in consultation with the councils and other funding bodies in order to reach an affordable compromise for the property. This is one of the most important action points and should take precedence in proceedings. Disrepair of ventilation in the kitchen The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 state that all gas equipment must be maintained in good order and inspected annually by a CORGI registered engineer. The current status of the equipment needs to be checked and a schedule drawn up for planned inspections of the current equipment. With regard to the windows there are two main options available to the hostel. The first is to simply repair the windows which are in place. This would involve extensive refitting of the wood to ensure that they are fully functioning. If security is considered an option, metal fittings could be installed on the outside of the windows. This would likely be the cheaper option initially, however the option of double glazing installation should also be considered. This would ensure that the windows would last longer than wooden framed windows, especially if there are problems with damp. It would also help with safety issues, and would make the property more energy efficient; there may also b e grants available in the area which could aid in the costs. This would likely be the best option to choose when considering the long term costs and benefits. Once the issues of damp are resolved in the property, an inspection should be organized by a building professional to advise on the best course of action with regard to the chimney breast. Presence of damp The local Environmental Health department should be invited to study the property to ascertain the extent of the problem and the best course of action. There is likely to be little choice as to a course of action since the damp appears to have reached a point at which major action is needed to correct the problem. If there are options presented which revolve around controlling the problem without extensive building work, these may be acceptable since there are other causative factors which are already being addressed. One such causative factor is the current problem with ventilation, which has been addressed above. Once this ventilation is in place it will likely help to prevent further formation of damp. There may be options presented which would need large scale building work. This may not be in the interests of the hostel both in terms of money and disruption to the people living in the house, who have nowhere else to go while the building work takes place. Space Issues There are a number of solutions to this problem. The first is to simply take fewer families, although in the current state of the accommodation this may mean that if the families taken had several children, it may only be able to accommodate one family at a time. There may be an option for the hostel to create an extension, creating extra rooms and amenities. This may be extremely costly, however it is an option if there are deemed to be funds available from the current funders. The best available option in the short term would be to look at converting the available spaces into rooms and bathrooms. There are spaces available such as the office and the cellar, and this may be less costly than building an extension. There is also a possibility that some of the present rooms may be able to be split into half, giving two smaller rooms. This will still leave limited space, and so social services will need to work with the hostel to move the present families into independent accommodation as quickly as possible. An extension could be considered as a long term plan for the future, after projects to raise the required funding. It is not an offence for more people to be living in the property than it is suitable for, as long as the management can prove that they are in the process of resolving the issue. This means that the current occupants could continue to live in the property, but that the numbers of new occupants would need to be limited as they leave, until the suitable number is reached. Social services should work in conjunction with the hostel in order to assure that the situation is resolved as quickly as possible, in the interests of all parties. Provision of amenities This issue could be resolved along with the space issue as described above, through either conversion of existing space or purpose built extension. References Department for Communities and Local Government (2007) Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation in England. Available [online] at http:// http://193.36.20.125/EnvironmentalServices/housingconditions/hmo_licensing_intro.asp. [Accessed 17th May 2007]. The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (United Kingdom). The Housing Act 2004 (England). The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, No. 372 (England).

Gregors Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis Es

Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis In his story The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka gives us the story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect-like creature. Gregor, however, remains strangely indifferent to his plight, in a manner that seems inhuman to most readers. This is not due to a lack of omniscience on the narrator's part that causes the indifference to go unmentioned, and neither is it due to inobservance on the part of Gregor to the point of not noticing that he has been changed into an insect. Rather, Gregor does not pay much attention to his new form as an insect because his life as a human lacked many ordinary human characteristics. In other words, Gregor was mentally not human even before his change in physical form. Just after his metamorphosis, Gregor makes an important observation on his job as a traveling salesman: "Oh God," he thought, "what a grueling job I've picked! Day in, day out - on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!" (4) Most "normal" people would claim that meaningful relationships constitute the core of the human experience. But Gregor's concerns seem much more mundane. He begins with complaining about the quotidian problems of his job and only in the end reaches that which is really important - and then he immediately goes on to continue thinking about his job. He is obsessed with work, "a tool of the boss, without brains... ...c. But we could also interpret this sentence in the opposite light, to assert that Gregor is an animal by dint of his ability to feel. This is supported by Gregor's ruminations on his plan to send Grete to the Conservatory: "...and it was his secret plan that she who, unlike him, loved music and could play the violin movingly..." (27, italics added). Thus, Gregor as a human being could not derive pleasure from music, indicating that he lived in a deprived, insect-like emotional state. As we have seen, Gregor's mental life was extremely limited even before his physical metamorphosis. Perhaps Kafka intended this story as a means of pointing out that many people in an increasingly capitalist society, like Gregor, become more and more obsessed with money and thus live a mechanical life, like an insect. Thus, they sequester themselves from the pleasures of the soul. Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Es Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis In his story The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka gives us the story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect-like creature. Gregor, however, remains strangely indifferent to his plight, in a manner that seems inhuman to most readers. This is not due to a lack of omniscience on the narrator's part that causes the indifference to go unmentioned, and neither is it due to inobservance on the part of Gregor to the point of not noticing that he has been changed into an insect. Rather, Gregor does not pay much attention to his new form as an insect because his life as a human lacked many ordinary human characteristics. In other words, Gregor was mentally not human even before his change in physical form. Just after his metamorphosis, Gregor makes an important observation on his job as a traveling salesman: "Oh God," he thought, "what a grueling job I've picked! Day in, day out - on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!" (4) Most "normal" people would claim that meaningful relationships constitute the core of the human experience. But Gregor's concerns seem much more mundane. He begins with complaining about the quotidian problems of his job and only in the end reaches that which is really important - and then he immediately goes on to continue thinking about his job. He is obsessed with work, "a tool of the boss, without brains... ...c. But we could also interpret this sentence in the opposite light, to assert that Gregor is an animal by dint of his ability to feel. This is supported by Gregor's ruminations on his plan to send Grete to the Conservatory: "...and it was his secret plan that she who, unlike him, loved music and could play the violin movingly..." (27, italics added). Thus, Gregor as a human being could not derive pleasure from music, indicating that he lived in a deprived, insect-like emotional state. As we have seen, Gregor's mental life was extremely limited even before his physical metamorphosis. Perhaps Kafka intended this story as a means of pointing out that many people in an increasingly capitalist society, like Gregor, become more and more obsessed with money and thus live a mechanical life, like an insect. Thus, they sequester themselves from the pleasures of the soul.

Nature -Nurture Essay

Nature and nurture has to do with how a person becomes who they are through their personality and traits. Nature is what a person is born with, their traits and personality is due to their genetics. Nurture is being born with a blank slate and traits and personality a person gets comes from the experiences they go through throughout their life. They are opposite from one another. I believe that it is flawed to ask how much of a particular behavior is due to genetics and how much is due to experience. When a person says that they are acting a certain way due to their genetics is wrong, people learn most of their behaviors through what they have experienced throughout their lives unless it is something that can be passed down, like an illness or something mental wise. An example would be seeing something going wrong as a child and every time it did the child’s parent or parents would get angry instead of thinking rationally, growing up the child would most likely do the same because that is what they know and have learned to do. It is appropriate to separate the contributions of genetics and experience when measuring the development of differences among individuals because genetics is something a person cannot control while an experience is something you can have control over. Every person is different, no two people are alike. Each person is raised different, has seen, felt and heard different things, people learn from what they have seen and dealt with while growing up and can change and control their reaction to it. When it comes to genetics each person has a different family background, they cannot control it, and it is stuck to them and keeps getting passed down through generations.

Censorship on Huckleberry Finn, Argument and Counterargument Essay

Time and time again art has been criticized for being too vulgar and expressive, Mark Twain was one of these individuals who participated in art, he was raised in the generation where slavery was common and racial slurs were frequently used. So to criticized and censor his work for writing what he grew up knowing would be like punishing Huck Finn for stealing things from others when he was told it was borrowing all his life by his pa â€Å"Pap always said it warn’t no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back some time; but the widow said it warn’t anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it† (Chp. 12 Pg, 49). I strongly disagree with the fact that people want to ‘update and improve’ the classic â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† because it uses a term that is found offensive frequently in todays generation. My problem with this posse that wants to change the wording of the book is that, their bigge st concern to why they want to change the word â€Å"nigger† to â€Å"slave† is that they’re doing for the children, trying to make it more comfortable for them to read and protecting the youth from frowned upon terms. If this is their concern then why are they singling out books and classics from decades ago, why not focus on the books being published now with the terms â€Å"whore† â€Å"slut† or â€Å"trailer trash† in it? To me those are equally offensive terms. John Foley once said that he thinks â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† Harper Lee’s classic about racial inequality in the Deep South, and John Steinbeck’s â€Å"Of Mice and Men†(Source A) should be removed from the curriculum for similar reasons† all because they show the reader the time gap between the setting of the writing and the present of today even though in the beginning of all books they tell you what time frame the story is held in â€Å"SC ENE: The Mississippi Valley; TIME: Forty to Fifty Years Ago† (Page 0). Now I can see why some might want these books (Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill a Mockingbird) removed from curriculum, yes I do believe that Twain used the term â€Å"nigger† a few times to many, â€Å"the N-word appears 219 times in Huck Finn† (Source C). Children or even young adults should not be exposed to the vulgar terms and racial slurs that were used in the past. Isn’t the whole point of evolution is to change over time? What good comes from exposing our youth to the past that we all know America is not fond of? Don’t we want our youth to know that these terms are not acceptable in today’s society or the future? When these books make it sound like it was just a little friendly nickname. This is why I feel like students and parents should be given the choice as to whether they want them to read books such as these. We do it for movies at the beginning of every school year, why not do it with books also?

High school hazing Essay

Hazing by way of definition refers to use of harassment, humiliation or abuse as away of initiating an individual into a particular gang or group. Hazing can involve either physical process which usually are violent in nature or can involve mental processes which usually are degrading in nature. The person undergoing hazing is expected to endure the ritualistic tests that he is subjected to and this is seen as a way of promoting group loyalty and bondage as it involves shared suffering with other members of the group or participants. Hazing may occur in a number of contexts including the armed forces, workplace, high schools, sororities and fraternities (Davis, 1998). Rookies let hazing to take place due to a number of reasons. They may want to be associated and belong to the in-group and hence letting themselves to be subjected to hazing. This is due to the fact that the in-group has its own beliefs, identity, norms and values. Cognitive dissonance as explained by Leon Festinger may lead to hazing. (Monarch, 1998) Despite the fact that hazing has been prevalent mover the years, it has been difficult for researchers to study it in terms of its causative underlying mechanisms because of its secretive nature. This has contributed to poor understanding of hazing. Although the many cases of hazing are never reported, various incidents have occurred where by victims have suffered severe injuries and even death. An example is an incident that occurred in Clarkson University on 10th February 1997 where a 1st year student along with his colleagues was forced to drink a large quantity of alcohol from a bucket. The poor 17 year old student was found the following day dead after allegedly choking on his own vomit (Swe et, 1999). This is just one of the many hazing stories of which the majority is not as severe. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate hazing in United States of America High Schools. The study was carried out by Alfred University, USA in April 2000. Methodology Out of approximately 15 million high school students in United States, a population sample of 20, 000 was selected which included both seniors and juniors. A survey instrument was prepared and mailed to the selected 20,000 students using their home addresses. On follow up it was discovered that only 5.46% did not reach their destination hence it was assumed that approximately 18,600 of the survey instruments were delivered. However the responses that were received totaled 1,541 which reflected an 8.28 % rate of response. The cover letter of the survey instrument consisted of enough information about the survey to solicit informed consent from the respondent and also deadline of the return of the instrument. The survey instrument consisted of the background of the respondents including their school grade, sex, resident state, type of school, and any membership in a group, race and location. The instrument also consisted of the respondents experience with hazing and its definition wher eby they were asked to state whether for each type of a group they joined because of hazing, didn’t join because they were afraid to haze, or were forced to leave the group because of hazing. Students were asked during what age they were introduced to hazing, if ever, if they reported it, and what they felt were the most appropriate ways of preventing it. The survey finally asked the students what activities they were expected to do in order to join a group or a team in high school. Initiation behavior that was used was grouped into 4 categories and was from the previous year’s study of athletes of NCAA. The grouping included community building, endangering, abuse of substance and humiliation. Open ended questions regarding the student’s suggestions about suggestions of other preventive strategies, motive for participation, experiences and consequences, afterward feelings and activities that were required of them were asked. (High School hazing, 2008) Statistica l analysis Statistical tables were used to analyze each respondent group of students. Across-tab involving gender and area of residence was employed to come up with sample weights. The six groups of females and males by region were separately weighted by frequency of sample and divided by the population to come up with estimations of prevalence and lead to production of percentages expected for whole population based to the current limited knowledge. Cross-tabular analysis employing chi-square statistics were conducted to study significant differences among groups. Activities were used to cross demographic groups in order to identify hot spots and at risk groups. Results The study found out that the students were of the view that hazing is condoned by adults. They felt that hazing was acceptable socially and they would significantly engage in the activity especially if they knew of a hazed adult. The students usually do not think hazing is a big problem. Half of the students that were involved in abuse of substance and other illegal acts as a way of being accepted into a group believed their activities as hazing. However, 98% of the students believed that dangerous hazing was not good while 86% believed that hazing that is humiliating was not good. The study also found out that student saw hazing as a way of having fun and as exciting. It was also found out that hazing begins at a young age and can progress throughout life. (Eisenber, 1986)

Students Should be Paid for Good Grades Research Paper

Students Should be Paid for Good Grades - Research Paper Example We tell him going to school and getting good grades is his job. If he does his job well, he gets paid just like a job in the real world.† Just think about it, if you were told that going to the office is your â€Å"job† as an adult and yet you derive nothing from participating in the said activity, would you be motivated to go to work? Would you be motivated to work harder in order to achieve a promotion if you knew that it did not come with a salary increase? Exactly. So why should paying a child for doing well in school be any different? Most specially since financial problems will be keeping these kids out of school later on in their lives. We should give them every opportunity to complete their education and if that means offering financial incentives while they are in high school, the so be it (Fitzpatrick, 2009). Weston (2009) quotes lawyer Jon Gallo, who is a non believer in the reward system as having said, " "Some psychologists believe that paying for grades is a bad idea because it substitutes an external reward -- money -- for an internal sense of satisfaction and therefore interferes with developing a work ethic." Remember that the educational system is meant to be a training ground for our country's future leaders. Therefore, giving them an incentive to stay in school and discover their true interests, since they will be amply rewarded for it early on in life, will result in truly motivating them to enter college and compete for jobs in the real world. Thereby giving them a thirst for more accomplishments in their future careers. It may also motivate students to enter the fields of study that are most in-demand in our country due to lack of participants. According to Guttenplan (2011), the money for grades program is actually helping the country of Qatar to do just that, remove their reliance on migrant workers for the professional jobs in the medical, engineering, and law fields. In the U.S. where we have a shortage in the Math and Sc ience areas, incentive programs such as these on the high school level may just be what the doctor ordered in order to fill in that hole. Tommie Sue Anthony president of the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science (Toppo, 2008) explains that under their own Exxon-Mobile funded rewards for grades incentive program â€Å"We still have students who are not sure of the value, who are not willing to take the courses... Probably the incentives will make a difference with those students." This is a belief that is supported by by National Math and Science Initiative. Their representative, Gregg Fleischer explains (Toppo 2008) â€Å"It's an incentive to get them to basically make the right decision and choose a more rigorous class... This teaches them that if they work at something very hard and have a lot of support, they can do something they didn't think they could do.† Guernesy (2009) argues that psychologists believe that paying students to do well in school may result in various problems such as cheating. However, she also says that economists believe the program to be a â€Å"valuable incentive, especially for struggling students† (Guernsey, 2009). Our country's current financial situation means that parents are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. This in turn, forces the students from these families to take on part time or full time jobs

Integrative Conclusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Integrative Conclusion - Essay Example Throughout this process I have been consistently surprised at how much my work has taught me, and how much my present and my past tie into each other. Prior to this portfolio I had never considered why I chose the path I did for my career. At the time, it felt like I was bouncing from one situation to another, and perhaps at first I was. Certainly, my very first job was more about finding a way to earn money than it was any conscious decision. However, looking back through the eyes of experience, I am beginning to understand where the passions that drive my interests have come from. I have grown considerably from the time that I first started working to the present day, as I have worked my way through the store to my current role as the head of the Security and Loss Department. At first, my involvement in the store was relatively little. I worked on checkouts, and while I saw security doing their job, I had no involvement in them and little interest. I moved from this role because of an increasing interest in becoming more involved in the store. This eventually led me to the security department, where I felt both more comfortable. I think that as I started to work in security I was fulfilling some of my deepest passions, ones that I hadn’t fully been aware of. As I have become more involved in security, I have continued to grow, and my role has moved from being an employee under someone else’s instruction to being management myself. In my introduction essay for this portfolio, I examined my own past and how it has shaped my life. I considered the way that my life had developed, what my passions are and where I thought they came from. I chose loss prevention as a theme because it seemed the most logical. After all, loss prevention is the central focus of my job. However, it was not until I started to examine my past that I understood why I enjoyed my work so much, and where that interest and passion had sprang from. Two factors that strongly influe nced me in my younger years were my uncles’ role in law enforcement and my father, a firefighter who risked his own life to save others. These influences strongly convinced me of the value of the law, of what was right and just. I believe that these morals have resulted in me finding great satisfaction from helping others, and from working to preserve the law. I think now that it was this passion and interest that has meant I have immensely enjoyed my role in the Security and Loss department, and also driven me to become part of it in the first place. For example, I had always held a great deal of respect for my uncles and their work, and wanted to eventually become involved in something of a similar nature. This was part of the reason for wanting to do a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, but I didn’t feel that I was ready to give up my job in order to earn the degree. Hence, I am balancing the two by working on the course online, while holding my job at Be st Buy. It was also the reason that I took on an internship at the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. I hope that completing my degree will bring me a few steps closer to ultimately becoming involved in Law Enforcement, although for now I am content where I am. In my first

Currency Exchange Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Currency Exchange - Essay Example Around 1967 the GBP was devalued by 14 per cent, a major economic policy decision. Since then, the Sterling, on average has either depreciated or appreciated by 14 per cent every two years. The figure below shows how the exchange rate between the Sterling and the United States dollar has performed over a 5 year period. Around the mid 2008 shows a sharp drop in the exchange rate from around 2.0 to a low of 1.4. The significant change in the movement is attributed to the financial recession of the 2008. Sterling/US dollar exchange rate over the last one year For the past one year, the Sterling has been weak against the USD making the USD an expensive and valuable asset. This means that the clients needing to buys the currency are paying more and more. The reason for this slide may be due to the steps forward by Europe and the US. For instance the situation in Italy may be the key factor for the change in exchange rates which could go on for the next couple of weeks. Also, with a furthe r round of Quantitative Easing expected in the UK, the Sterling has been losing ground against the USD. Rates have dropped and whilst many expect this trend to continue should QE be confirmed, this in my view is being priced by the investors. Notably, the pound is not only losing ground against the USD but against other major currencies and the recent drop against the Euro and the Australian Dollar are no coincidence. It is floating around 1.50 against the USD and at an all-time low against the AUD. The following figures give the performance of the Sterling against the USD for a the last 12 months, narrowing down to 6 months and 3 months respectively. Key factors affecting the Sterling Being the sixth largest economy in the world and the third largest economy in Europe, the United Kingdom has a lot to boast about. For instance, the United Kingdom is able to produce over 60 per cent of its food with less than 2 per cent of the labour force. The United Kingdom also has numerous resour ces at its disposal, for instance oil, natural gas and coal. However the country was hit hard the financial crisis with growths rates going down to 0.3 per cent in Quarter 1 of 2010 and 0.4 per cent growth in Quarter 4 of 2009. The UK has a capitalist economy that is highly productive with a strong financial services industry. On a global basis the British Sterling Pound is undervalue. For instance, the purchase price parity shows that the Sterling should fall in value over time, but high investment flow potential means the opposite is what will happen, that is the Sterling will increase in value. According the United Kingdom’s Value Investor Survey, which reflects short term investment, the economic environment is very favourable for long term economic growth because of high scores on the government transparency, economic diversity and economic freedom. An undervalued currency, a favourable business environment and a moderate investment flow potential leads to a positive out look for the United Kingdom investments. Factors that have positively affected the British Sterling Pound are lower rates of unemployment and the foreign students. The UK, the US and Australia are the leading centres in attracting foreign students to study in their countries. These students obviously provide many social and monetary benefits that propel the economic activities of the host countries. Some factors that have negatively affected th

Definition of Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Definition of Love - Essay Example To define love one can read Shakespeare, another would rather kiss for the first time†¦ Actually, love can be considered at different levels: from lingual expression to physiological, emotional and psychological contexts (Tibbetts 1979, p. 280). When people say "I love you", what do they really mean? In accordance with the definition from the dictionary: love is  "a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties" (cited by Fisher 1998, p. 136).  We would rather focus not only the essence of love but on different types of it. First of all, love can be correlated with the different meanings  of this concept. "There’s romantic love; love between two people, which  is considered to be both intimate and sexual" (Fisher 1998, p. 138). Love is everywhere for me. I love my family, my friends, people and animals in our world. I love reading; I love God and many other things. Actually, I feel that all these forms of love are different and I can clearly feel this difference. Moreover, I feel that love to my beloved person, my mother or my best friend are different types of this feeling. To my mind, the closest synonym to any form of love is "comfort", "coziness", "pleasure"†¦too many other synonyms can be also selected, but I would like to prefer one of these forms of synonyms (Wood 1995, p. 80). People in their relationship trying to find the golden mean. Very often there is a chance to put someone's happiness about your own feelings. It is one of the highest prices paid for happiness. Love to another person can be the greatest treasure in the world, but you have to pay a high price for it. One should love another person above his/her flaws. Not only positive features but also negative features should be loved by a person in case they experience real love.   

Analytical reviews Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Analytical reviews - Assignment Example There is a clear agenda to highlight the exploitation of the working classes, called the proletariat, by the ruling classes, called the bourgeoisie. This manifesto is, as its title suggests, a book of political theory but it is also much more than that. The opening line indicates a wider concern with human history on a global scale: â€Å"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.†2 What follows is a theory which covers all societies from the classical Roman times of patricians and slaves, through medieval serfs and lords in a feudal system to Victorian industrialization and the huge enterprise network of colonialism, spanning many countries from Europe to India and America. The wide scope of the work and its emphasis on human culture places it firmly in the genre of global history, and it displays remarkable insights into economic and political processes which are far ahead of its time. Many of the ideas contained in the treatise, such as economic determinism, have inspired whole generations of politicians, and the authors are credited with molding the foundations for revolution and the creation of Soviet Russian and many other major modern states. The idea that the working classes in any society are bound to rise up and forcibly seize power was naturally seen as a threat by many European commentators, and it provoked both ardent followers and severe critics. Events in the twentieth century, and now very dramatically in the twenty-first century, have shown that this kind of generic analysis makes perfect sense in describing many specific historical situations. People do tend to rise up against repressive regimes and this manifesto gives them rational arguments and encouragement to do just that. As a complete analysis of human society, however, the manifesto fails to measure up. The world has adopted a largely capitalist methodology, and the predicted rise of the working class has not been universally observed. In fac t there are many examples of how the Marxist working class utopias have turned into a different kind of oppression, where people were trapped in stultifying centrally planned universal poverty. The Communist Manifesto is nevertheless a classic of world literature, homing in on vital issues like labor and its value, forms of government for an industrial age, and the economic inter-connectedness of the modern world, and it is extremely useful as a counterpoint to the currently dominant ideas of capitalism. Part Two: World-Systems Theory: Capitalism, Development, and Under-Development. The important theoretical study entitled World Systems Analysis: An Introduction by Immanuel Wallerstein is a description of the way that our understanding of many disciplines loosely gathered under the title â€Å"social sciences† has changed. Epistemology is a key concern, because any artificial divisions between fields of knowledge can distort the way that we perceive and therefore understand r eality. Wallerstein describes how, until the second world war, scholars operated in separate subject areas like history, geography, politics, economics, sociology, etc. but that by the 1970s the boundaries between these areas had become less fixed. The late twentieth century was marked by

Inspire to educate Essay Example for Free

Inspire to educate Essay Education is an avenue that enables the production of individuals who knows the proper way to live, learn and work together for the foundation of a strong community. Each and every child deserves the chance to be educated. Such learning must be the kind that involves challenges and stimulates them to achieve their maximum potential. On the Importance of Education The importance of education is quite clear. Education is the knowledge of putting one’s potentials to maximum use. One can safely say that a human being is not in the proper sense till he is educated. This importance of education is basically for two reasons. The first is that the training of a human mind is not complete without education. Education makes man a right thinker. It tells man how to think and how to make decisions. The second reason for the importance of education is that only through the attainment of education, man is enabled to receive information from the external world; to acquaint himself with past history and receive all necessary information regarding the present. Without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards the outside world (Khan, 2007). Education has an immense impact on the human society. One can safely assume that a person is not in the proper sense till he is educated. It trains the human mind to think the right decisions. In other words, man becomes rational when he is educated. It is through education that knowledge and information is received and spread throughout the world. An educated person cannot read and write and hence he is closed to all the knowledge and wisdom he can gain through books and other mediums. In other words, he is shut off from the outside world. In contrast, an educated man lives in a room with all its windows open towards the outside world. The quality of human resource of a nation is easily judged by the number of literate people living in it. This is to say that education is a must if a nation aspires to achieve growth and development and more importantly sustain it. This may well explain the fact that rich and developed nations of the world have very high literacy rate and productive human resource. In fact these nations have started imparting selective training and education programs so as to meet the new technical and business demands of the 21st century. Keeping the importance of education in mind, the US Department of Education aims to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. It also establishes policies regarding federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds. It also continuously strives to focus national attention on key educational issues and providing equal access to education. The importance of education cannot be neglected by any nation. And in today’s world, the role of education has become even more vital. It is an absolute necessity for economic and social development of any nation (Goel, 2007). Inspiring Children to Learn At one of their forums organized by the Walden University entitled â€Å"M. S. In Education: Teaching in Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms,† the speakers addressed the issue on how to be able to inspire the children to learn, especially the ones who due to their culture are not supported by their family to succeed in their education. This is what they have to say: Set and environment where they choose to become inspired, where the students choose to make the decision. Many families who are from ethnic minorities are not people who have traditionally been successful in school. You need to initiate the phone call to the parents on a consistent basis and let them know how important they are to their childrens education. Do it in ways that are consistent and that show people you care. This is an idea that transcends culture. A mothers love for a child transcends culture. If you can get through to the mother, thats what transcends. You can really be proud of knowing that you have changed a life. I have never met a parent who wasnt interested in his or her child doing well in school. Dont think you can motivate people. You set an environment where people elect to be motivated and ultimately empowered. Its a choice that people make and that sets them up for success. Dont give up on anyone. Understand peoples prior knowledge of schools, where they came from. Give them a message of hope and inclusion. Dont give up and dont try to motivate. Set this environment, and youll meet with unexpected success (Walden 2006). The need for such environment has never been so great. As educators, we need to trace the path that realizes the many needs of our children. We’ve come to the realization that we cannot do it alone. We need the role of the parents as part of the team. This involvement nonetheless affirms the role of the parents as primary stakeholders in their children’s future, particularly in education. A team whose aim is to be able to provide for our children a great investment that they made be able to reach their true promise. This teamwork is headed to achieve an increased engagement in the advocacy of parents on behalf of their children’s opportunities in learning. We are after molding fully developed citizens who will do good things to their community in return. Academic achievements are only a bonus and not an end in itself. The realization of the importance of education forbids us to deny our children the ability to achieve their fullest promises. Through this light, we cannot deny our society the benefits of our children’s untapped talents. References Alrisala Organization. (2007). The Importance of Education.Retrieved December 8, 2007 from www. alrisala. org/Articles/mailing_list/importance_of_education. html. SearchWarp. com. (2007, July 6). The Importance of Education. Retrieved December 8, 2007 from http://searchwarp. com/swa230219. html. Results for America. (2007). Learn More About Education. Retrieved December 7, 2007 from http://www. resultsforamerica. org/education/learn. php. Walden University. (2006, June 6). M. S. in Education: Teaching in Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from www. waldenu. edu/c/Files/DocsSOE/Q-a_Ed_DiverseClassrooms. doc.

Change Management Processes in Business

Change Management Processes in Business Task 1 | Creative and Innovative Change Management Tasks  (Jump to) a) Identify and describe management processes in the organization that have led to successful innovation. b) Explain how management in your selected organization would lead staff to accept and implement innovation c) Evaluate the influence of the organizations vision and mission on supporting innovation. d) Use appropriate tools and techniques to identify at least two potential creative and innovative ideas e) Assess at least three risks and three benefits of the ideas identified above f) Describe at least two appropriate change models to support the implementation of the creative and innovative ideas identified above in the organization Task 2 | Influencing change  (Jump to) a) Identified and describe the characteristics of the main groups of stakeholders. Produce a rationale to persuade stakeholders of the benefits of a creative and innovative idea b) Create a plan to communicate a creative and innovative management idea to the stakeholders identified above, persuade them of its benefits for the organization, and generate stakeholder feedback. c) Show how you would use feedback from stakeholders to identify key goals and priorities for the innovation. Task 3 | Overcoming barriers  (Jump to) a) Identify at least four possible barriers to the implementation of change in an organization b) Plan a strategy to overcome these identified barriers. c) Explain how the strategy plan will help overcome resistance. d) Create a PowerPoint presentation to communicate the strategy plan to at least five groups of stakeholders CREATIVE INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT Task 1: Innovation management processes Identify and describe management processes in the organization that have led to successful innovation. The good organizations become best by adopting innovation. It is more than an invention as it also includes an attitude that encourage new concepts and risk attach with that new concepts. Excessive investments are not needed if a company has awareness about innovation and can use it to create products with unique features. So they create a friendly behaviour for new concepts, ideas, risk, change and even failure (Fortune, March 3, 1997). Managerial innovations are those adjustments in the process of management that gives ideas of products and services and than help in their production and delivery to the customers. It is not essential that effectiveness and efficiencies of product or services get effects from innovations by management (http://tumipc.info). Product versus Process Innovations: Innovations in processes and products are very significant classifications of technical innovations. Product innovations either generate entirely new products with distinct features or may help in increasing the performance and physical features of old products and services. Process innovations are changes in the way products or services are manufactured, created, or distributed. Whereas managerial innovations generally affect the broader context of development, process innovations directly affect manufacturing (http://tumipc.info), the implementation of robotics. Thus product innovations are particularly important during these beginning phases. Later, as an innovation enters the phases of growth, maturity, and decline, Vodafones ability to develop process innovations, such as fine-tuning manufacturing, increasing product quality, and improving product distribution, becomes important to maintaining economic return (http://tumipc.info). Explain how management in your selected organization would lead staff to accept and implement innovation The Human Energy of Innovation Innovation is difficult. Its hard not to be constrained by organisational history, politics and budgets. Its even harder to think of innovation as a human energy and not a process (www.10again.co.uk). Lead the Way to Successful Innovation in Vodafone The collaboration necessary, general cultural differences that can influence the process and the importance that organizational culture has on creating an environment that supports innovation, after these presentation keynotes, I often get a few people who approach me with their stories about innovation in their organizations. They tell me how great the information was and wished they could apply it into their own organizations, but they know that it would never be supported (www.bia.ca). It seems that while individuals are given the necessary time in their jobs to generate ideas, they are not given the time that is really required to explore them through a proper process for innovation. This therefore makes it difficult, if not impossible, for true innovation to happen. Now I realize that those who asked me the question may not necessarily be in positions to change their organizations cultures but maybe they could start to create change within their own spheres of influence, such as a department, plant, location, store, etc. Sometimes Vodafone need to think on a smaller scale and then demonstrate to the organization the value of what they are doing, demonstrated success will help greatly to sell the idea. Implementing innovative cultures and processes into organizations they have found that executives often ask themselves, Why are not they better at innovation? There are lots of examples out there and lots of advice. But in reality innovation challenges differ from one organization to another. Just as each innovation is unique, so is Vodafones culture. The process of innovation that works in one place will not necessarily work in another. They must consider the culture (www.bia.ca). Vodafone India further demonstrates their commitment to innovation when they build innovation into performance management. They measure managements performance on the basis of their ability to create new value-added products, services and ideas. As well, they assess the extent to which managers undertake this jointly with staff, rather than independent of their staff, because this demonstrates a clearer understanding of the use of an innovation process versus simply the result of management directive. Vodafone managers can demonstrate this in their regular department meetings by focussing on the exploration of new ideas. They can train employees in the innovation process. They can allow time for employees to explore their ideas. They apply an aggressive effort to build new opportunities based on the development of new services and products (www.bia.ca). Evaluate the influence of the organizations vision and mission on supporting innovation. In todays fast moving economic situation, mostly category breaking business environments meet their mission, vision and objectives. Only such companies meet their estimate growth, gain profit, out run their competitors and show excellence in execution. They achieve by the culture of innovation. In every industry, the leading companies are the innovators. However the cadre of innovators keeps changing (www.scribd.com). Companies may seize upon a good idea that gives them an advantage for a while, but sooner or later, they cede this advantage to a competitor who has found an even better idea. As Nicholas Stein (2000) correctly mentioned, Innovation is at the heart of sustaining Vodafones competitive advantage. This holds very true as long as they wants to stay on top of their competitors and win the innovation game. Innovation is very important criterion for success in the future, (Horibe, Frances Dale Emy, 2001) an important study done on the rate of return of 17 successful innovations shows a mean return of 56% in comparison with an average Return on Investment (ROl) of 16%. It is clear that organizations need to innovate to survive and achieve good profit figures. What to innovate? Now we understood the importance of the role that innovation plays in Vodafone. The next important question now arise is where and which things to apply innovative ideas in Vodafone India. Suggestion and recommendation for where to apply innovations are as follows (www.scribd.com): Innovation can be applied to products, services, design, invention, development, process, and systems. To make a product or service compete with the new economy. This is essentially to educate organizations to move out of their traditional old habits1 to the new innovation culture. To avoid high risks: Avoiding high risks involving money, staying ahead of competition and high pay off opportunities are the essence of the innovation To gain long term market focus, as a result the Vodafone can save money. Use appropriate tools and techniques to identify at least two potential creative and innovative ideas Creative and Innovative Culture, Change Management: Three Easy Tests Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation and innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. From this simple definition, it is clear that certain cultural characteristics ought to be prevalent if creativity and innovation are to be maximised. And maximisation of these ought to be a priority for senior leaders, as those organisations that take them seriously, tend to be leaders in their field, tend to maintain their leadership position longer and are quicker to bounce back when competitors leap frog (http://ezinearticles.com). There are many blocks that prevent expression of problems and hinder idea generation. Some solutions include (http://ezinearticles.com): An environment of psychological safety and freedom accepting an individual as unconditioned worth; recognising that the individual is capable of producing but that their value is not based on producing; understanding empathetically; understanding the individual from their point of feeling and view (Vernon, 1970). Tolerance of failure Accepting that many ideas will fail before one worthwhile one will surface and reach commercialisation; recognising that there are benefits to failure, such as competency expansion Blade Runner was initially a commercial failure yet Ridley Scott went on to make some very successful movies. Though senior leaders pay lip service to the above, the reality is often much different. Below are some easy and simple tests to gauge how well Vodafone is performing in practice. Employee interviews. Are interviewees expected to conform to the prevalent norm of not contradicting the interviewer? If they do so, are they less likely to be selected? Interviewees who throw up many ideas and challenge existing methodologies at this stage are more likely to be expressive when they find problems in Vodafone and more likely to bring them to the attention of decision makers. They are also more likely to persuade others to do the same. Thought leaders are good drivers of change and prevent complacency though as a result it is not unusual to find that they cause friction with senior leaders who for some reason or other may be resistant to change. Remember, todays thought leaders can easily become tomorrows established bureaucracy (http://ezinearticles.com). Are senior leaders confident enough to leave themselves open to evaluation from all others in Vodafone? Status deference has many negatives including (http://ezinearticles.com): Higher status individuals tend to dominate the session and reduce the participation of others, People allow higher status individuals to do all the idea generation People place higher value on ideas produced by higher status individuals and People have a greater tendency to allow higher status individuals to get away with bad ideas. Assess at least three risks and three benefits of the ideas identified above There are a number of reasons why creative ideas fail to become innovations. Sometimes it is because the idea, which seems brilliant in concept, is flawed in application. More often, the problem is that organisations invest in creative ideation initiatives (often called innovation initiatives), such as brainstorming events, idea management, ideas campaigns and the like, but fail to invest in implementing the most creative ideas that come from those initiatives. Indeed, they have probably experienced this typical scenario: Vodafone invests in generating ideas via brainstorming events that involve a lot of highly paid managers and researchers. A number of promising creative ideas are generated. Sometimes business plans are developed. Sometimes prototypes are built, sometimes not, but, at some point between the identification of a promising idea and beginning to implement that idea, the idea is killed (www.jpb.com). There are many reasons why creative ideas are killed however almost all of them have to do with risk. Implementing a new idea is perceived as risky and people in the Vodafone do not wish to undertake that risk. So, the idea is killed. Needless-to-say, investing in a creative idea generation initiative in order to generate creative ideas they will never implement is an expensive method of accomplishing absolutely nothing (www.jpb.com). Unwillingness to implement creative ideas is not only a weakness with companies, individuals have the same problem. Imagine a young person applying for a job with Levi Strauss Co and having the idea to write her CV on a pair of Levis jeans and sending it to her perspective employer. Such a creative approach to applying for a job would almost certainly stand out and grab the attention of the hiring person. It could very well result in an interview particularly if the Vodafone values creativity as Levi Strauss does. Or it could result in the CV imprinted jeans being promptly rubbished as ridiculous. In my experience, most people who had such a creative idea would be unwilling to risk carrying it out (www.jpb.com). Such a waste of creative time, energy and money does no one any good and makes the world a more boring place than it could be. The Idea Before Vodafone implement their idea, they need to describe it in detail. Separately, they should describe what makes the idea special, that is: what is the unique selling point (USP)? Once Vodafone have done this, ask their self how they might push the USP even further in order to make their idea even more special. Benefits and Risks The next step is to do a simple risk versus benefits analysis. That may sound complex, but might simply be a matter of drawing up a table with a column labelled benefits and one called risks. Then simply lists the benefits and risks in their appropriate columns. If the risks are greater than the benefits, they need to rethink their idea and focus on greater benefits (www.jpb.com). Describe at least two appropriate change models to support the implementation of the creative and innovative ideas identified above in the organization Integrated Innovation Process Management Vodafone as an innovative organization, however, should not have a single innovation process cycle in operation. Rather it should have many of them! Large cycles are suitable for enterprise-wide innovation. Meanwhile, business units can run somewhat smaller innovation process cycles in order to manage their own ideas (although it should be noted, collaborative groups need not be limited to employees of that business unit). Teams, departments and any other group can also run their own innovation process cycles (www.jpb.com). However, these innovation process cycles should not be in isolation. Rather they should inspire and feed other cycles elsewhere in the organisation. For instance, the implementation of a new product idea should inspire innovation cycles in the marketing, sales and customer service divisions as well as at the enterprise level (www.jpb.com). Managers should watch their colleagues innovation process cycles and ruthlessly copy ideas as inspirations for their own cycles. Task 2: Influencing change Identify and describe the characteristics of the main groups of stakeholders. Produce a rationale to persuade stakeholders of the benefits of a creative and innovative idea Thomas Edison had all the characteristics of a risk taker innovator. He was a divergent thinker, making observations about the natural world. He was not afraid of failure. The lessons learned in one of his failures led to success in another project. In addition to the light bulb, his 1,093 patents included familiar ones such as the microphone batteries (The Creativity Handbook, 1994). Creative leadership must facilitate positive relationships in organizations to produce profitable growth through innovation. They now know that creativity is not a personality trait that is available for geniuses. Everyone has unique knowledge and experiences that can be tapped, given the proper environment. This environment must be freed flowing and non-judging to take people through the mental block they learned in early childhood. These blocks are associated with the risk of being wrong (www.aiu.edu). The motivation for innovating comes largely from the joy of doing something that has never been done before. It is like going on an expedition and risking everything to be the first person to climb a mountain or sail around the world. It taps the same drive that exists within a composer or an artist who wishes to create something forever. Create a plan to communicate a creative and innovative management idea to the stakeholders identified above, persuade them of its benefits for the organization, and generate stakeholder feedback. Open Innovation or expanding the pool of brains thinking about their business problems outside of Vodafone is a concept that has gained significant and recent traction. The concept is very sound (http://blog.thinkforachange.com): Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology. The boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more permeable; innovations can easily transfer inward and outward. The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (e.g. patents) from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firms business should be taken outside the company (e.g., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs) It used to be that innovation was something that happened deep in the bowels of corporate RD departments. Secretive folks lurked there and lived by the code of NIH or Not Invented Here. A motto that held that if RD didnt think of it, then it didnt exist or wouldnt work or should be ignored. Except a funny thing happenedthe ideas started drying up. Game changing ideas became few and far between. More of the same survived and less of the unexpected was developed. Then one day, some very smart innovation management consultants showed these organizations that there is no such thing as an all or nothing approach to innovation. Open innovation is but one branch of a well-rounded and comprehensive innovation management program. And for open innovation to truly work, they need to have their internal house in order first as it relates to idea and innovation management. Vodafone must have a solid and well managed internal innovation capability before seeking ideas from the outside world (http://blog.thinkforachange.com). That means: Having a strong executive sponsor engaged in the innovation strategy of the organization Having a proven set of processes, tools, techniques and training for moving ideas into prototypes and, eventually, products Having enough resources (human, financial, time, space and capability) to adequately support the idea and innovation management system Vodafone are putting into place Treating innovation and idea management, not as some singular event, but as a true business discipline and strategy for growth Developing a list of problems and/or opportunities that the organization wants to invest money and effort into finding solutions Developing a strategy for seeking ideas from inside and outside of the organization Developing a clear and communicated set of selection and filtering criteria for idea submission and consideration to ensure the idea pool is manageable Determining the utilization of the closed innovation system for the research, development, prototyping, portfolio management and launch planning that Vodafone dont want their competitors finding out about Developing a workable system for protecting the intellectual property rights of all parties in the process Show how you would use feedback from stakeholders to identify key goals and priorities for the innovation. Focusing on Customers Executives acknowledged that business has had to learn these lessons many times, and the need to create a culture where innovation can thrive is not new. A big part of the leaders role is to distract the organization away from itself and its own inner workings and dynamics, and shift the focus to customers, creating the openings where innovative ideas become possible (www.poststone.com). Allow enough time The rapid pace of business tends to create an overload of initiatives and a rush to complete projects as quickly as possible, and creates a significant barrier to sustainable progress. Business moves too fast; you need tenacity to innovate One approach recommended is for leaders to lengthen the time for goal achievement, and encourage staff to spend the necessary time thinking deeply about a problem, gathering data, and moving forward in a thoughtful way (www.poststone.com): People tend to give up when they cant get results quickly. You need to give longer goals, give people time, and ask them to do it slowly and thoughtfully. Generating good ideas is not always the issue: prioritization and resourcing of a few key initiatives is often more important in making significant progress. Task 3: Over coming barriers Identify at least four possible barriers to the implementation of change in an organization De-bunking the Myths of Innovation The executive panel saw little merit in much of the conventional wisdom about innovation, and de-bunked the myths for Vodafone India: The new product myth There is a strong tendency to focus on product innovations, however executives generally see this type of innovation as highly visible, but not necessarily critical to business success (Levitt, et. al. 2005). The breakthrough idea myth While creating the environment where Vodafone staff will speak and tell them their ideas received considerable emphasis, the idea itself is rarely sufficient. Canada was noted as the home of many good ideas that have not had enough sustained effort, persistence and resources to achieve results (Soto, Hernando de, 2000). The creative chaos myth Many business processes support innovation better when they are consistent and measurable. With a consistent and known process, ideas for change can be implemented in a way that employees can understand and execute successfully. The new process can then be integrated into routine and evaluated (Collins, Jim, 2001). Without a consistent baseline to build on, its difficult to see if a new idea would work, and just as difficult to implement successfully. The creative individual myth The power of creative individuals with insight is rarely enough to move the organization, regardless of the level of seniority. High-potential young managers cannot sally forth as ambassadors for a new order and meet with success. The whole organization needs to be mobilized, through accountability at all levels (www.poststone.com). Plan a strategy to overcome these identified barriers. Most approaches to strategic planning put an emphasis in answering the question What should the organization do? The answer to this question is very important for Vodafone. However it does not ensure that the organization is enabled to create value and to make the right strategic decisions. Strategy execution and monitoring of success have been identified as characteristic problem areas in organizational practice (Avila, et. al., 1995). Putting the proposals into practice, the Vodafone can address a more comprehensive set of issues related to fundament, execution and funding (Deloitte, 2005): Fundament:  Why should the organization choose this way? What are the underlying assumptions, the tradeoffs, and the risks? How should the organization respond if one of these assumptions turns out to be flawed or changes? Execution:  How does the organization do it? What are steps for implementation? Who is accountable for this process? How does the organization keep track of execution and success? Commitment:  How can the organization achieve commitment among the management team and all employees? How can the organization inform employees? Funding:  What will the outcome of the strategic planning cost in total? How will the organization fund the planning results? What is the expected return and will it meet the internal hurdle rates for return? Taking into account the broad perspective for strategic planning and considering execution, monitoring and funding issues, the organization and its managers can gain a clear view of where they are going and why. They will also know how to monitor the progress and can assess the payoff. Monitoring of both market data and operational data against planning assumptions as well as sustaining organizational flexibility represents another field of strategic planning improvements (www.themanager.org). Due to consideration of capital allocation and funding issues it is also clear, which other critical corporate processes will be influenced from the strategic planning outcome. Summarizing and bundling this outcome in so called strategic campaigns or strategic initiatives helps the organization to focus and improves intra-organizational communication (Dye et. al., 2007). Explain how the strategy plan will help overcome resistance. Hitchhiking creates ideas that combine the best ideas of everyone on the team. It can also help during implementation if all members see a piece of their idea in the final solution (www.aiu.edu). Creating an environment that is tolerant of mistakes is difficult. It must be made clear that mistakes are acceptable if they are based on solid thinking, enhance learning of what will not work, and are caught early before damage is severe. There must be support for the people who were on the team of the project that failed. The Kirton Adapter: Innovator (KAI) inventory measures preferred styles for problem- solving. The adaptor prefers to be creative within the present system. The innovator wants to create new definitions of the problem and new systems. Thus, both types are creative, but their styles are different. Adapters include bank managers, accountants, production managers, and programmers. Innovators include persons in marketing, finance, and fashion buyers (www.aiu.edu).