Letter to President Pierce Essay

This article talks about the contrast between the white man and the red man not understanding one another. Indians as described in this are connected to the earth; people who are one with nature, while the white man is described as people who destroy the earth, or consumers of the earth. As one of the points Seattle has pointed out is how the two men see land. The red man views the land as sacred, of which has to be protected, while the white man see land as an object, a thing, which could be taken whenever they want it. Another comparison by Seattle is the red man being peaceful; in solitude while the white man loves chaos and destruction. Both men cannot understand the other. The red man wonders why the white man steals their horses, slaughters the buffalo that they use for food, and take the land away. Later in the article the red man, or the indian concludes that whether it may be a ‘red man’ or a ‘white man’, both are human beings, and both are connecte d to one another, and what happens to one human, happens to all. Native americans, also known as the ‘red man’ were the first people before the white men came into America, so the article tells the truth. White men intruded the red men by hunting buffalo; the Indians’ main food source so that they would move out or starve to death. White men also took the Indians’ lands, forcing them to live somewhere else, when the Indians are used to roaming the earth; the land, hunting game, free with no boundaries. The red men were forced to adapt to the life of the white man, and lived in the cities, where it is chaotic, loud and confined. In conclusion, the article tells that all men are equal, and what happens to one happens to another, which is also what other people believe. To name a few : â€Å"Do not do unto others what you want others to do unto you.† (Confucius) and also the bible states, â€Å"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.† (Romans 12:19 KJV) All men believe that there will be redemption to people who take advantage of other people for self-gain.

Information Systems and Operations Management

Please read the article: Zara: Fast fashion from savvy systems available for free at http://www. flatworldknowledge. com/pub/gallaugher/41128#pdf-7 This article makes up Chapter 1 of the free, open access book titled, Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology, by John Gallaugher. Please ensure that you read the entire Chapter 1 of the book consisting of 3 parts (Part 1 Introduction; Part 2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data; and Part 3 Moving Forward). Now answer the questions below: Question 1: The Zara case shows how information systems can impact every single management discipline.Which management disciplines were mentioned in this case and how does technology impact each? (50% of the total mark) The case study mentioned management disciplines including information gathering, processing, storing, distributing and use of information. Gather market information One of the successful factors in Zara is they know the market trends. Zara deploys the latest information technology tools to facilitate the information exchange and collect market data through both formal and informal channels – the PDA and POS systems.The Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) system Zara’s store managers were given personal digital assistants (PDAs) so they could gather customer input outside an office setting. The staff in Zara would regularly gather information from customers, such as the trend of fashion customers preferred and feedbacks of garment that they would like to see more in the shop. The range of information collected included colours, length and even small detail of the clothes were collected from customers through front line shop staff.Besides getting information directly from customers, they staff have another channel to gather customers’ preferences. The staff will investigate the unsold items that customers tried on but didn’t buy, to find out their preferences in cloth, color, or styles offered among the products in stock. T he Point-of-sale (POS) system Besides the informal channel to gather customers needs (through conversations), the head office will collect information through a formal channel, the store’s point-of-sale (POS) system.This system is a transaction process that captures customer purchase information, in order to show how garments rank by sales. Since the POS system is linked with the PDA system, in less than an hour, managers can send updates that combine the hard data captured at the cash register with insights on what customers would like to see. Information on customer needs and trend information collected daily are fed into a database at head office regularly. The PDAs support the connection between the retail stores and head office.Each store managers are assigned with market specialists, they will communicate regularly through PDAs to transmit all kinds of information to head office. [1] Zara store management and staff use PDAs and POS systems to gather and analyze customer preference data to plan future designs based on feedback, rather than prediction. Data driven product development The data collected from PDA as well as POS system formed a valuable marketing database and provided data allows the design teams to plan styles and issue re-buy orders based on feedback rather than hunches and guesswork.The goal is to improve the frequency and quality of decisions made by the design and planning teams. The designers from â€Å"The Cube† follow evidence of customer demand. When they deign new garments or decide which kind of fabric, cut and price points to be used or modify existing designs, they will base on information from PDAs and POS rather than create trends by pushing new lines via advertisements or catwalk fashion shows. Vertically integrated value chain Inditex is a vertically integrated group, it owns several layers in its value chain.The distribution center in La Coruna equipped with up-to-date equipment for fabric dyeing and processing , cutting and garment finishing. The vertically integrated ability allows the group to response faster against the latest fashion trend including provide the appropriate for new lines. Zara’s IT expenditures are low by fashion industry standards. The spectacular benefits reaped by Zara from the deployment of technology have resulted from targeting technology investment at the points in the value chain where it has the greatest impact, and not from the sheer magnitude of the investment.This is in stark contrast to Prada’s experience with in-store technology deployment. Inventory control Zara uses Toyota-designed logistics system and overnight parcel services to manipulate items stocked in the five-million-square-foot distribution center in La Coruna, or a similar facility in Zaragoza in the northeast of Spain. About two and a half million items were handled every week and none of them stayed in the warehouses more than 3 days. Before sending to each store, clothes are i roned in advance and packed on hangers, with security and price tags fixed beforehand.This system helps staff in Zara utilize their time efficiently with the inventory during busy periods. Just-in-time manufacturing (JIT) The JIT approach to manufacturing involves timing the delivery of resources so that they arrive just when needed. Inventory optimization models help the firm determine how many of which items in which sizes should be delivered to each specific store during twice-weekly shipments, ensuring that each store is stocked with just what it needs.Trucks serve destinations that can be reached overnight, while chartered cargo flights serve farther destinations within forty-eight hours. And the firm can coordinate outbound shipment of all Inditex brands with return legs loaded with raw materials and half-finished clothes items from locations out-side of Spain thanks to the revised shipping models through Air France–KLM Cargo and Emirates Air. Zara’s products are manufactured for a limited production run. This approach encourages customers to buy right away and at full price.The constant parade of new, limited-run items also encourages customers to visit often. Staff allocation Headquarter of Zara uses software to arrange staff’s roster. The manpower is allocated based on each store’s forecasted sales volume, with locations staffing up at peak times such as lunch or early evening. The firm claims these more flexible schedules have shaved staff work hours by 2 percent. This constant refinement of operations throughout the firm’s value chain has helped reverse a prior trend of costs rising faster than sales.Zara’s combination of vertical integration and technology-orchestrated supplier coordination, just-in-time manufacturing, and logistics allows it to go from design to shelf in days instead of months. [pic] Question 2: Do you think information systems are a strategic liability for Zara? Give reasons. (50% of the total mark) Porter’s five forces analysis To understand the business condition of fashion industry, we need to use Porter’s five forces model. It is shown how the market behaved at the very beginning of the company according to the Porter’s 5 forces analysis.Bargaining Power of Suppliers This is how much pressure suppliers can place on a business. If one supplier has a large enough impact to affect a company’s margins and volumes, then they hold substantial power. †¢ There are many suppliers for raw material †¢ There are many substitutes †¢ Presence of substitute inputs †¢ The nature of the products allow to storage them long time, unless the trends conditions. Bargaining Power of customers This is how much pressure customers can place on a business. †¢ Switching to another (competitive) product is simple The product is not extremely important to the buyer; they can do without it for a period of time. †¢ Customers are price s ensitive †¢ Buyer do not have switching costs †¢ Many availabilities of existing substitute products †¢ Buyer is price and style sensitive †¢ Low purchase volume per customer. †¢ Highly dynamic, customers preference changes frequently in short time Competitive rivalry within an industry This describes the intensity of competition between existing firms in an industry. Garment industry is highly competitive generally earn low returns.For many industries, this is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. Sometimes rivals compete aggressively and sometimes rivals compete in non-price dimensions such as innovation, marketing, etc. †¢ It is a mature industry with very little growth. Companies can only grow by stealing customers away from competitors. †¢ It has a lot competitors in the industry about the same size †¢ Little differentiation between competitors’ products and services. Key competitors include Gap,, Benetton, H, Forever 21 , etc.Pfeifer, (2008); Rohwedder and Johnson, (2008) H has increased the frequency of new items in stores, Forever 21 and Uniqlo get new looks within 6 weeks and Benetton, a firm that previously closed some 90 percent of US stores, now replenishes stores as fast as once a week †¢ The barriers to get out of the industry are low in distribution and high in manufacture †¢ Since the chances of clothes getting damaged before sold is very little, the storage costs would be low †¢ High manufacture costs because of high raw material cost and manpower cost Threat of new Entrants No distribution barriers to entrance because it only consists on low costs of renting a shop, no administrative restrictions, low initial capital to start †¢ Reduced reaction possibilities in front of new entrants †¢ In production, there are barriers for the existence of economies of scale. †¢ The start up capital needed is high †¢ Need time to build up relationship wi th supply chain and suppliers Threat of substitute products What is the likelihood that someone will switch to a competitive product or service? If the cost of switching is low, then this poses to be a serious threat. Buyer can easily found substitute †¢ Relative price performance of substitutes †¢ Buyer switching costs is low †¢ Perceived level of product differentiation †¢ Fad and fashion †¢ Technology change and product innovation The main issue is the similarity of substitutes. For example, if the price of coffee rises substantially, a coffee drinker is likely to switch over to a beverage like tea because the products are so similar. If substitutes are similar, then it can be viewed in the same light as a new entrant. Zara’s success factorsThe success factors/ competitive advantages include always producing the style that customers are looking for, short production time from design stage and limited quantities. Information system plays strategic l iability in the following: – Collecting Market Data & customer’s needs – Product development – JIT production Considering the information technology investment helping Zara to maintain it’s competitive advantages, it is strategic liability for the firm. ———————– [1] Zara's Secret for Fast Fashion, Kasra Ferdows, Michael A. Lewis and Jose A. D. Machuca (http://hbswk. hbs. edu/archive/4652. html)

Descriptive Speech Essay

Well i choose to save one of the most important things to me as a tattoo. As you may now i have a huge passion for dancing and i love to have this passion in me forever. I have a tattoo of a music note that represents dancing because music is very essential to dance. I choose this topic because i like to share with you my own method of remembering moments forever and because this tattoo is very unique. Body: The tattoo i am talking about is my second tattoo, localized in my left foot very near to my ankle. It has the size of a quater, so it can be consider small. The tattoo is the musical note â€Å"sol† and has two loops: the superior one which is thinner than the second loop that is below. I choose the musical note â€Å"sol† because dance is the light that brightens my days just like the sun give us light everyday. Inside the lower loop, which is the thick one, it has a black small outlined heart.This heart has the size of a tictac and represents my love and passion to music and to dance. Below the second loop with the heart there is the continuation of the musical note which is a black small and round curve that forms a filled black circle. Now i will show you a picture of my actual tattoo. (Picture of the tattoo) Conclusion: Well like i said, my tattoo is the musical note sol, that has two loops one thin and the other one thick. Also it has a heart inside the thick loop and is all black. I did this tattoo represents my love and passion to dance. I would like to finish reading you this great quotes.

INTERNATIONAL LAW Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

INTERNATIONAL LAW - Coursework Example Money laundering is a phenomenon whereby individuals endeavour to reintroduce illicitly acquired money into the legitimate cash flow channels. This illegitimate money is usually sourced from predicating activities that are of criminal nature, such as the ones highlighted above. Corruption on its part encompasses a wide range of activities, particularly those that afford private benefit to an individual, arising from a misuse of public authority. Corruption can in itself be, and usually is, a predicating criminal activity for money laundering. Owing to the international characteristic of these two crimes, international efforts such as Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATFML) and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) have sprung to combat each of these criminal activities. In the subsequent section, the risk of corruption and money laundering will be assessed, alongside the effectiveness of international efforts. The preceding section will evaluate th e UK bribery Act of 2010, and assesses its impact on UK companies attempting to conduct their businesses abroad. Money laundering and corruption are two of the most formidable threats to economic development and progress both in developed and developing nations. They have consequently attracted much attention from international bodies and agencies such as the World Bank and Transparency International. Money laundering can be understood as a process through which the origins of illicitly acquired money are obscured. It normally involves the â€Å"washing† or â€Å"cleansing† of illegally acquired money through individuals or organisations, to portray the money as legitimately acquired (Gonzalez-Perez & Leonard, 2013). It is predicated by an offence that introduces money into the hands of offenders. Such offences may include criminal

Portfolio Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Portfolio - Coursework Example In addition to that media aids influence issues voters should care concerning the elections and the criteria that should be used to evaluate contenders2. And my opinion is that the political life starts to conform highly to the political image portrayed on TV. Through a process known as quasi-Darwinian, scandals, events of media, and other forms of political and entertainment s eventually takes control facing out other forms of information of politics and public debate, changing the sense of public disclosure. In this manner objectives of political transparency can be beaten by what come into view as the vital mechanisms: revealing the secrets, proliferating information and holding political officials responsible for their actions. 2. A lot has been written about the culture of secrecy of late. The article says that government is keeping some information from the members of the country as believed by most Americans. Potion of the members of congress is calling for the access to the secret documents, federal agencies last to withhold a huge amount of information claiming it is crucial for the national security, upholding secrecy entrenched in the cold war3. This new book is examining who in the government is keeping what information from the public, how they do it, and why a concern to the members of the public4. Causal scholars, attorneys and journalists survey the rules of federal intellect agencies and presidents particularly Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton to ensure that information are kept secret5. My opinion is that the Currency is protected by the spirit of house hold and generally the spirit of robbery specially, and the best locks and way of hiding that can be mustered. 3. Social media is playing more and more famous role in our culture. The article says Social media became a new battle ground for the nationwide both presidential and parliamentary elections6. A horde of politicians, who at first sight it seems adequate and

In Search of Excellence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

In Search of Excellence - Essay Example They claimed that excellent organizations had created methods that enabled them to strike a balance between the soft-s and hard-s factors achieved in a business. Maintaining and finding an applicable balance in these business factors was a vital issue in making an organization successful. According to Peters and Waterman (1982), then, the modest slippage of commercial America was to be observed as an imbalanced product in the American approaches to organization. They went on to argue that these imbalanced products had advanced in the organization approaches that had begun in America for the period of 1950s and 1960s. According to Peters and Waterman (1982), in the post second world war period, many managers in America were obsessed upon the hard-s business factors; structure, systems and strategy. In addition, the managers had not realized the significance of skill, style, superordinate goals, and staff which were the soft-s business factors needed in breathing life into systems, str uctures and strategies. Peters and Waterman (1982) recommend a more balanced management approach. The approaches considered balanced to business would hinge upon the energy, skills and imagination of managers. They are, therefore, charged with the duty of safeguarding the productive arrangements of the soft-s and hard-s business factors. ... They also stated that these companies would have a culture showing the eight aspects of excellence as shown in their research (Frost, Moore, Louis, Lundberg & Martin, 1985). Peters and Waterman listed the eight aspects of excellence. The first one was a bias for action. Exceptional companies engaged in planning activities that were traditional. However, the traditional activities did not bind the companies from other vital managerial approaches. They went on to argue that an excessive dependence on planning done traditionally and dependence upon the hard analysis of data, delayed decision making in many companies. It also discouraged risk taking. Exceptional companies avoided paralysis by analysis (Peters and Waterman, 1982). This was by evading using committees and refusing to agree that all decisions made have to be supported by hard analysis of data. Instead of using committees, these exceptional companies preserved a bias for action which explains the willingness in trying out in novative ideas and taking risks (Peters and Waterman, 1982). Peters and Waterman (1982) affirmed that the commitment in action was preserved by exceptional companies. This is because the exceptional companies form groups of people who like to experiment and innovate. This trend to action might be compared with approaches being adapted by other companies. These companies form committees that engage in briefs talks on experimentation (Peters and Waterman, 1982). The second aspect of excellence is a company’s in proximity to the customers. The exceptional companies have to improve their strategies, systems, structures and innovation in meeting and exceeding the customers’ expectation. Incase a product or a system did not satisfy the customer, exceptional

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

Synthesis paper - Essay Example Parent involvement in the learning process, though largely untapped is a viable resource for schools struggling to offer its students quality instructions while suffering the limitations of diminishing funds. In addition, parent involvement in a child’s learning increases student achievement and enhances a sense of involvement in the child’s education (Coleman and Hoffer, 1987). Parent involvement typically means different forms of participation in the education of a child. Some of these forms include attending school functions and responding to schooling obligations such as parent-teacher conferences. In addition, parents can become more involved in helping their children’s schooling through tutoring, modeling desired behavior and monitoring homework. Perhaps one of the most important schooling practices is parents’ work in the classroom. There are literally hundreds of journal articles, books and stand-alone reports on the subject of parent involvement in the classroom. These writings give expert opinions, offering sufficient information on the topic of parent involvement as a schooling practice. It is apparent that parent involvement in the class and individual student learning is positively linked to achievement. Interestingly, the more a parent is involved in a student’s learning process, the more beneficial the achievement effects are. This holds true for all the aforementioned types of parent involvement in the schooling process regardless of the age of the student. However, the most effectual modes of parent participation are those that involve parents working candidly with their children in learning activities at school. For instance, programs that involve a parent reading with the child, supporting the child’s class work and homework assignments, tutoring the child using materials and instructi ons provided by teachers show exemplarily impressive results in

Social Therapeutic Work Practices Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Therapeutic Work Practices - Article Example The therapist will have to extend his assessment to describe the client’s inherent reaction to environmental and social conditions that frequently spark violent responses. Therapists dealing with African American youths should transform some of the symbols and rites used in clandestine and corrupt ways into Microsystems that instill therapeutic change. Urban adolescents that engage in illegal behaviors value the symbols and ceremonies since they induce a sense of security and support (Toldson & Toldson, 1999, p. 77). The symbols and rites can thus be helpful in showing clients that they will still benefit when they change. It is also important to use the African-centered instructional material. The therapists should thus establish secret codes, phrases, symbols, and rites of passage that closely resemble those of West Africa. The incorporation of these elements will help the clients to appreciate greatly and understand group processes and improve the compatibility of the processes with African ethos. Dealing with Africa American clients requires prompting of initiative behaviors within the group. As such, therapists should interweave typical therapeutic factors (such as the installation of universality, hope, imparting information, and altruism) with esoteric group therapy. The process of attaining the factors within some cultural groups should involve cultural awareness. When working with clients from an individual culture, group therapy alone will not be enough. It is important to incorporate the traditional group therapy with conceptions and perspectives from that particular culture.

Gendered Language Images and Context Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gendered Language Images and Context - Assignment Example Author comes across a point which I find very interesting: Isn’t there the same determination on transgender people? Even among transgender individuals there’s a need to be defined rather you are a woman with a male gender, or a man with a female? Meanwhile, the main modern concern on a gender is â€Å"to free us from the bounds of enforced arbitrary behavioral norms predicted on gender† and a new category â€Å"transgender† won’t solve the problem (Green 11). Reframing Fortado, â€Å"Have you ever asked yourself what a â€Å"transgender† looks like?† (Fortado 32). Green fairly points, that gender is an absolutely private matter and too wide thing to describe within any categories (Green 14). Butler cites many postmodern authors, who used to doubt everything, and naturally, to question a whole idea of gender. There’s simply no reference for original gender, accept a social opinion on a male/ female performance (Butler 26). It makes gender rather image, created â€Å"around, on and within† the body than a real thing. In this way, gender is referred to artistic sphere, because art performances images. The origin of gender stereotypes may be found in some great books or other types of artworks and influence social expectations on males/ females. Then, may be the way to disprove gender stereotypes is also the artistic way? The site is about the one project which unites different European artists interested in question of gender and different sexuality. The goal is â€Å"to open up a civil reflection on gender and sexual orientation differences† (Performing Gender). When saying, â€Å"I am creating a boy’s world, but from the emotional center of a woman† Schorr firstly denies some strict boundaries between males and females fields of interest. Herself, Schorr is interested in boy’s world, - the world of brotherhood, - despite creating the image of that world viewed by a woman. Schorr investigates about

Diabetes level 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Diabetes level 6 - Essay Example When a person has the type 2 diabetes, the best therapy that is usually offered is the provision of oral therapy that consist of injection of insulin in order to make the blood attain the targeted glycemic levels. In addition, a person suffering from diabetes usually suffers from macrovascular and microvascular diseases. The most prominent microvascular disease amongst this group is the diabetic neuropathy that in most cases leads to the amputation of the lower limbs. It is also worth noting that a patient suffering from type 2 diabetes usually increases his chances of morbidity and therefore it is recommended that the person stops the smoking habit. This paper has four sections that includes a review of how to diagnose and manage a patient suffering from type 2 diabetes, the microvascular disease in type 2 diabetic patients, pharmacological management of such a patient and the effect of smoking and how to stop it. Thereafter a conclusion is made on the whole paper. Type 2 diabetes occurs when there is insufficient production of hormone insulin leading to high levels of glucose in the body. Therefore, the people with type 2 diabetes often require regular monitoring and reviewing of their treatment through changes in lifestyles, self-care measures and the use of the diabetes medicines. In the diabetes review, the first line of thought would be to find out the efficacy of the metformin as the first-line pharmacotherapy in the patient with the type 2 diabetes. Metformin is the first line oral antihyperglycemic drug that should always be used in patients with type 2 diabetes when it is difficult to attain glycemic control through changes in the lifestyle of the patient (McIntosh et al. 2011, p. 36). Therefore, the first question that the nurse must find out from the type 2 diabetes patient is the type of lifestyle that she lives and how often she smokes and evaluates whether this

Policing Partnership in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Policing Partnership in UK - Essay Example 13 5. Legislations that Underpin Inter-Agency and Multi-Agency Partnership Organizations 15 6. Issues and Conflicts of Policing Partnerships: How the Police Officers Apply and Limit Authority 18 7. Conclusion 20 References 21 1. Introduction The prevention of crime and the detection and punishment of offenders, the protection of life and property and the preservation of public tranquillity are the direct responsibilities of ordinary citizens ... It is destructive both of the police and public social health to attempt to pass over to the police the obligations and duties associated with the prevention of crime and the preservation of public tranquillity. These are the obligations and duties of the public, aided by the police and not the police occasionally aided by some public spirited officer. - J Avery, Police: Force or Service, Butterworth, Sydney, 1981, p. 3. With the increased level of concentration on human security and peace keeping heightened by the call of the United Nations towards the countries that are enjoined with their movement towards global peace, the role of the national police authorities around the world also equally evolves. The changes on their responsibilities and the additional challenges on their duties have been established to make the residents of the community around the world feel safer and much convinced that they are indeed living in a well protected area.1 However, with the heightened threat to peace and security, keeping up the hopes of the people that they are indeed supported and protected by the police authorities is not that easy to establish and exactly complete as part of the policing responsibilities that the authorities in the said field need to keep. The continuing pressure on the police... Policing partnerships began to attract the attention of the law enforcers around the world during the early 1980’s. It could be observed that at the onset of the application of this particular approach to community protection and safety, the realization of the role of the police administration to protect the communities they are appointed to oversee has been re-established as a collaborative picture of different agencies working together as one unit that protects the welfare of the majority. As the level of crime and aggression among the diversified population of human society increased in rate as the 19th towards the 20th century came in, the level of concentration on preventing and catching law offenders has become a huge concern of attention for every government. UK, holding at least 45% of its population rendered to the immigrants, is considered a well diversified community that calls for serious concern for social security. With diversity present in a particular community , the more conflicting events could be expected, the more crime offences could be recorded[1]. This is the particular fact that leads to the pursuance of Policing Partnership collaboration ideas in UK. It has been well established that theoretical basis of the matter has been applied as guidelines towards the making of laws that are designed towards creating a more susceptible partnership between police agents and other staff workers from other departments of the government as well as other organizations present in the society. Â  Policing partnerships take three different forms that include the statutory, non-statutory and the community organizations. In this regard, the DH which is considered in this study stands as a primary example of policing partner in the statutory form, meaning it is an agency provisioned by the government.[1] R. Hunt, Strategic Management in Policing, in Etter and Palmer, op. cit.; A Normandeau and B Leighton, A Vision of the Future of Policing in UK, Soli citor General London, 1990.

Social Support and Health and Well Being Essay Example for Free

Social Support and Health and Well Being Essay Social Support is a multidimensional construct which is not unilaterally beneficial i.e. maladaptive vicarious learning; Dependence; Provision of bad advice. It is generally thought that the more social support a person receives the more beneficial upon their health and well-being. Access to appropriate resources may protect the individual from the deleterious effects of stress Martin (1989). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) state all else being equal, morale, health and functional capabilities will be better if support is perceived to be adequate. Levels of social support a person receives have been associated with mental and physical health and well-being. In stressful times, social support helps people reduce psychological distress (e.g., anxiety or depression). Social support has been found to promote psychological adjustment in conditions with chronic high stress like HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, stroke, and coronary artery disease. People with low social support report more sub-clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety than do people with high social support. In addition, people with low social support have higher rates of major mental disorder than those with high support. These include post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and eating disorders. Social support has numerous ties to physical health, including mortality. People with low social support are at a much higher risk of death from a variety of diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease). Numerous studies have shown that people with higher social support have an increased likelihood for survival. Individuals with lower levels of social support have: more cardiovascular disease, more inflammation and less effective immune system functioning, more complications during pregnancy, and more functional disability and pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, among many other findings. Conversely, higher rates of social support have been associated with numerous positive outcomes, including faster recovery from coronary artery surgery less susceptibility to herpes attacks, a lowered likelihood to show age-related cognitive decline, and better diabetes control. People with higher social  support are also less likely to develop colds and are able to recover faster if they are ill from a cold. There are two main hypotheses that address the link between social support and health: the buffering hypothesis and the main effects hypothesis. The main difference between these two hypotheses is that the direct effects hypothesis predicts that social support is beneficial all the time, while the buffering hypothesis predicts that social support is mostly beneficial during stressful times. Evidence has been found for both hypotheses. In the buffering hypothesis, social support protects (or buffers) people from the bad effects of stressful life events (e.g., death of a spouse, job loss). Evidence for stress buffering is found when the correlation between stressful events and poor health is weaker for people with high social support than for people with low social support. The weak correlation between stress and health for people with high social support is often interpreted to mean that social support has protected people from stress. Stress buffering is more likely to be observed for perceived support than for social integration or received support. In the main effects hypothesis, people with high social support are in better health than people with low social support, regardless of stress. In addition to showing buffering effects, perceived support also shows consistent direct effects for mental health outcomes. Both perceived support and social integration show main effects for physical health outcomes. However, received (enacted) support rarely shows main effects. Several theories have been proposed to explain social support’s link to health. Stress and coping social support theory; dominates social support research and is designed to explain the buffering hypothesis described above. According to this theory, social support protects people from the bad health effects of stressful events (i.e., stress buffering) by influencing how people think about and cope with the events. According to stress and coping theory, events are stressful insofar as people have negative thoughts about the event (appraisal) and cope ineffectively. Coping consists of  deliberate, conscious actions such as problem solving or relaxation. As applied to social support, stress and coping theory suggests that social support promotes adaptive appraisal and coping. Evidence for stress and coping social support theory is found in studies that observe stress buffering effects for perceived social support. One problem with this theory is that, as described previously, stress buffering is not seen for social integration, and that received support is typically not linked to better health outcomes. Relational regulation theory (RRT) is another theory, which is designed to explain main effects (the main effects hypothesis) between perceived support and mental health. As mentioned previously, perceived support has been found to have both buffering and direct effects on mental health. RRT was proposed in order to explain perceived support’s main effects on mental health which cannot be explained by the stress and coping theory. RRT hypothesizes that the link between perceived support and mental health comes from people regulating their emotions through ordinary conversations and shared activities rather than through conversations on how to cope with stress. This regulation is relational in that the support providers, conversation topics and activities that help regulate emotion are primarily a matter of personal taste. This is supported by previous work showing that the largest part of perceived support is relational in nature. Life-span theory is another theory to explain the links of social support and health, which emphasizes the differences between perceived and received support. According to this theory, social support develops throughout the life span, but especially in childhood attachment with parents. Social support develops along with adaptive personality traits such as low hostility, low neuroticism, high optimism, as well as social and coping skills. Together, support and other aspects of personality influence health largely by promoting health practices (e.g., exercise and weight management) and by preventing health-related stressors (e.g., job loss, divorce). Evidence for life-span theory includes that a portion of perceived support is trait-like, and that perceived support is linked to adaptive personality characteristics and attachment experiences. Many studies have tried to identify biopsychosocial pathways for the link between social support and health. Social support has been found to positively impact the immune, neuroendocrine, and cardiovascular systems. In terms of the immune system, Social support is generally associated with better immune function. For example, being more socially integrated is correlated with lower levels of inflammation (as measured by C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation), and people with more social support have a lower susceptibility to the common cold. In terms of the neuroendocrine system, Social support has been linked to lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels in response to stress. Neuroimaging work has found that social support decreases activation of regions in the brain associated with social distress, and that this diminished activity was also related to lowered cortisol levels. Finally, The Cardiovascular system and Social support have been linked as social support has been found to lower cardiovascular reactivity to stressors. It has been found to lower blood pressure and heart rates, which are known to benefit the cardiovascular system.

How Could Volkswagen Use Motivation Theories Commerce Essay

How Could Volkswagen Use Motivation Theories Commerce Essay This study was initiated as a result of identifying factors affecting motivation in Volkswagen after the franchise by Nissan Motors. It identified those factors perceived by Volkswagen employees as most important for their motivation to work. A survey containing five questions related to their perception of the factors that motivate them to work. This study will analyze on how to either sustain or enhance the current level of motivation in Volkswagen. Ethics, essentially consist of a set of moral guidelines towards conductance of an appropriate behavior. Such behavior conforms to professional standards of conduct. The corporate code of ethics consists of a set or moral principles and values that govern the behavior of the organization with respect to what are right. A single code of ethics will result in the preservation of consistency and harmony within an organization. A code of ethics will be devised while conducting this study. The code of ethics will compromise of anonymity of respondents. The name, age, and profession of the respondent will not be asked. The respondents opinion about Volkswagen will be respected and will in any case be used against them. Secondly, utilization of research findings will be used as code of ethics. This means that the result of this research will be used to analyze the impact of the takeover on employee motivation and to find a solution to the problem. Justification of the chosen methodology in terms of research question The research design for this study employs a survey method. This is a method whereby the researcher gathers information about a certain phenomenon and the factors influencing it. When conducting a survey, a researcher samples respondents who answer the same questions. Research using primary and secondary research relating to the proposal Primary research is defined as original data gathering from people within target market. They are called fist hand data as they are being collected for the first time for its own needs. Secondary research is the use and analysis of data that already exist. These data were originally collected by another organization, often for a different purpose, and are often referred to as second hand data. For the purpose of this study both primary and secondary data will be collected. Given that previously no study was carried out on the factors affecting motivation in Volkswagen, there was a need to collect primary data. Hence in this case questionnaires will be distributed to the employees of Volkswagen to collect data. The formulation of the research objectives is largely materialized by the availability of secondary data such as leaflets, conditions of service of Volkswagen and among others. Secondary sources of information such as management and psychology journals will be used. Research project The action plan was approved and was qualified as being a good one by the supervisor. Questionnaires were hand delivered and emailed to participants. Questionnaires were filled out by participants and collected by the author. Some participants preferred to use email to return the questionnaires. The objective of this research project is to analyze the impact of the takeover on employee motivation in Volkswagen, and analyze how to either sustain or enhance their level of motivation by using motivation theories. So now we are going to go through some motivation theories such as Maslow hierarchy of needs, Herzberg and the two factor theory, Elton Mayo and so on so as we able to make a conclusion on employees in Volkswagen. Definition of Motivation It is easy to understand why machines, buildings, brand names and financial assets are resources of a business. What is less easily understood or realized is that perhaps the most significant resource of any business is the people it employs. As the world adopts technology at a faster rate with more sophisticated applications and as products tend towards greater similarity there is a growing awareness that a business differentiate itself and its brands by creating a quality, focused and well motivated workforce. For instance, a business organization bequeathed by modern capital, equipment, and highly qualified managers may not necessarily witness success when the labor force is less motivated. Managers should thus be concerned with the what and how workers are motivated. Hence this research project will be dealing with the use of motivation theories so as to sustain employee motivation in Volkswagen. Maslow (1908-1970) and the hierarchy of human needs Abraham Maslows research was not based solely on people in the work environment and his findings have significance for students of psychology and sociology too. He was concerned with trying to identify and classify the main needs that humans have. He also said: our needs determine our actions- we will always try to satisfy them and we will be motivated to do so. If work can be organized so that we can satisfy some or all of our needs at work then we will become more productive and satisfied. Maslow summarized the human need as follow: Physical needs: income from employment- high enough to meet essential needs. Safety needs: offering a contract of employment with some job security. A structured organization that gives clear lines of authority to reduce uncertainty. Ensuring health and safety conditions are met. Social needs: working in teams or groups and ensuring good communication to make workers feel involved. Esteem needs: offer recognition for work done well. Status, advancement and responsibility will gain the respect of others. Self actualization: offer challenging work that stretched the individual- this will give a sense of achievement. The first need is physiological needs. Once this need is fully satisfied, then the employees would be motivated by safety needs. Volkswagen staff will be motivated by safety need only after having satisfied the precedent need. With the takeover by Nissan motors, employees of Volkswagen are looking for job safety, as they fear they may lose their jobs, so the managers should see to it that the employees have job security. After having satisfied the safety needs, then the employees will be motivated by social needs, those needs are acceptance and communication. Managers should communicate with their staff often to give them a sense of belonging to the organization and show them that the situation will be the same after the takeover. Then there is the need which is associated with status and esteem. Here people are motivated to work because they are seeking recognition and self respect. They want other to respect and acknowledge their capabilities. Such needs exist at the top of the pyr amid to show that this is the ultimate aim of an employee. Herzberg the two factor theory Despite basing his research on just 200 professionally qualified workers, Herzbergs conclusions and famous two factor theory have had the greatest impact on motivational practices. His research was based around questionnaires and interviews with employees with the intention of discovering those factors that led to them having very good feeling about their jobs and those factors that led to them having very negative feeling about their jobs. His conclusions were that, job satisfaction resulted from five main factors: achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. He called these factors the motivators. Motivators conversely are much more important for motivating workers. Their presence is a must in order to generate positive satisfaction, for example a good management style encouraging consultation and participation can really ignite the will to work. Elton mayo (1880-1949) and the human relations theories Elton mayo is best known for his Hawthorne Effect conclusion. These were based on a series of experiments he and his team conducted over a five year period at the Hawthorne factory of Western Electric Co in Chicago. His work was initially based on the assumption that working conditions, lightings, heating, rest periods and so on, and had a significant effect on workers productivity. The conclusion on Elton Mayos work: changes in the working conditions financial rewards have little or no effect in productivity. When management consult with workers and take an interest in their work then motivation improved. Groups can establish their own targets or norms and these can be greatly influences by the informal leaders of the group. Factors affecting motivation Researchers found different factors of motivation in their research. For some people, pay is not ranked as being the most important factor of motivation while for others it is. According to the hierarchy of needs, pay is an important reward as it provides employees with the means to purchase items which satisfy their physiological needs and esteem needs. Good communication and the role played by the supervisor Communication refers to the passing of information from one person to another, id there is effective communication between the manager of Volkswagen and the staff, then the latter will be motivated. Furthermore, the supervisor should provide feedback regarding performance to be able to set realistic goals and to give them a sense of belonging to the organization. Some workers are frustrated by the lack of supervision and employee involvement in decision making. Different styles of leadership should be adapted to different types or workers, depending upon their level on motivation. Workers of Volkswagen hear that with the takeover of Nissan motors the span of control may become wider thus increasing the time taken to communicate. Fringe benefits Some employees are motivated by benefit for instance medical subsidies, vacations, home loan etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as these may ensure financial well being. It is believed by Gerhart and Milkovich (1992) that by linking benefits to seniority, workers will be reluctant to change jobs. However with the takeover, the staff of Volkswagen fears that their benefits obtained previously may changed. Training Training is another factor that can impact on motivation, according to some employees. They believe that with the takeover, they should be better trained so as to meet the challenges. People with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and compatible values will not be frustrated in their work. Equity The workers are motivated by several factors. The managers of Volkswagen should motivate their workers by taking these factors into consideration, as they are feeling apprehensive with the takeover of Nissan motors. Findings The data collection method which has been considered the most appropriate in the research is the written questionnaires as it proceeds in an orderly and specific manner. The factors affecting motivation as well as the level of frustration of the staff with regards to the takeover by Nissan motors, has been discussed. All these findings will be represented below in a bar chart which shows the level of frustration of the employees with regards to their pay level, good communication, the benefits they are receiving, the level of training and the level of equity by the takeover of Nissan motors. Justifications: The number of workers who are frustrated that their level of pay may change is 20. The number of workers who fear that the span of control and the time taken to communicate with their supervisors may increase is 12. The number of workers who fear that their benefits may be affected is 5. The number of workers, who demand training as they want to be better equipped to meet the challenges, is 10. The number of workers who fear that inequity may occur is 3. The total number of workers interviewed is 50. Evaluation on the methodology used and analysis of findings: A bar chart was used to illustrate all the information so that information can be understood clearly. The table below shows the different values in terms of percentages. Factors Frequency Valid % Pay 20 40 Communication 12 24 Benefits 5 10 Training 10 20 Equity 3 6 40%, out of which 15 % are female, are frustrated with regards to their level of pay. 24%, out of which 13% are female, feel that the span of control and the time taken to communicate with their supervisors may increase. 10%, out of which 7.5% are female, fear that the benefits they are receiving may change. 20%, out of which 14% are female, feel that they must get more training so as to better face new challenges. 6%, out of which 2 % are female, feel that inequity may occur with the re-branding process Impact on the performance on the organization A lack of motivation amongst the workforce may lead to a fall in productivity and efficiency: workers are more frustrated and are less willing to give the best of themselves. Hence productivity as well as efficiency may fall, thereby preventing the organisation which is Volkswagen to attain its pre-determined objectives. Motivation induces workers to work harder and also to compete among themselves. However, with a lack of adequate motivation, there will be no competition. As a consequence, Volkswagen may become less competitive both internally and externally. Motivation also promotes more comprehensiveness. Motivated workforces has a favorable attitude and are willing to adapt to changes. However, if workers are less motivated, they will be less willing to accept changes, thus making Volkswagen more inflexible. Recommendations The bright picture is that the majority of people still believe that the future is bright enough and many challenges would be overcome with appropriate training and development. Volkswagen could come up with various incentive packages to motivate its staff and face the fierce competition intelligently and wisely.

Free Essay - The Token Black Guy :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

The Token Black Guy    In school social circles, I always find myself "The Token Black Guy." I thought of this term for my role after viewing an episode of Scrubs on TV.  Ã‚   I started thinking about the small number of black students at my school. It is something I have always turned a blind eye to.    I've never really been bothered about being the only black friend most of my friends have. But at times, it leads me to some stressful conclusions. I realize that I, in a way, represent the entire black community to them, as they get to know me, and see my strengths and weaknesses. It is one of the things that keeps me motivated. Perhaps I want people to see only the best in us, or perhaps it is something deeper.    I have never had problems with people because they were white. There have been, however, those who've had problems with me because I'm black. Sometimes, it's very subtle: because I am black, I must listen to rap music, play basketball or use a lot of slang. In truth, my parents make fun of me for using a lot of big words, I'm terrible at sports, and usually listen to classical music.    Other times, however, it is more overt. People come up to me using slang and gestures typical of urban African-American youth, and expect me to reciprocate. It's gone so far as for white kids to think they can use the "n" word around me. This does more than make me angry, it makes me question my identity.    Modern culture, especially that perpetuated on MTV, has given many suburban white kids the idea that they are oppressed by some business-like aristocracy. That may be true in a way, but in another, it is puzzling that the reaction has been for many middle-class Caucasian youth to adopt black culture as their own. And as far as media perception of black people, I really don't fit that mold. I am very in touch with my culture, heritage and race. And I take a great deal of pride in it. But because I don't fit the stereotype that even white kids are now trying to emulate, it sometimes puts me at odds with my own perception of my race.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. :: essays research papers fc

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have a dream, he had a vested interest in acquiring equality in the black community. His nonviolent approach to obtain equality for African Americans had an immense effect on society as a whole. King believed that in order to make a change you have to start where you are, use what you know, and do what you can to make a difference.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I support King’s approach to gain equality. King demonstrated to America that though nonviolence might not be the approach we always want to take, because it will sometimes destroy our egos. Through his faith in god it helped him to motivate us so that we could be the better race. It took more than whips, hoses, sticks, and segregation to keep Black America down. The government kicked them off the high horse to the ground, and as a Black Nation we jumped back on the saddle and rode on to victory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. King started with the Civil Rights Movement, and from there he kept on going. This movement started with a phone call about Rosa Parks being arrested for not surrendering her seat to a white bus rider. King and other leaders felt that a protest of some kind was needed. A meeting in the community was called, they agreed that the only way to fight back would be to boycott the bus company. The people in the locale agreed to participate and that started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As they continued to withhold patronage the white community fought back with terrorism and harassment. The community complained and King told them, “We must learn to meet hate with love.'; Although King’s views were continuously challenged by blacks who had lost faith in nonviolence, his belief in the power of nonviolence protest remained strong. The boycott lasted for 381 days. It eventually took the United States Supreme Court to end the boycott. On November 13,1956 the court declared that Alabama’s state and local laws requiring segregation on buses were illegal. King believed that the boycott proved that “There is a new Negro in the south with a sense of dignity and destiny. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. :: essays research papers fc Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have a dream, he had a vested interest in acquiring equality in the black community. His nonviolent approach to obtain equality for African Americans had an immense effect on society as a whole. King believed that in order to make a change you have to start where you are, use what you know, and do what you can to make a difference.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I support King’s approach to gain equality. King demonstrated to America that though nonviolence might not be the approach we always want to take, because it will sometimes destroy our egos. Through his faith in god it helped him to motivate us so that we could be the better race. It took more than whips, hoses, sticks, and segregation to keep Black America down. The government kicked them off the high horse to the ground, and as a Black Nation we jumped back on the saddle and rode on to victory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. King started with the Civil Rights Movement, and from there he kept on going. This movement started with a phone call about Rosa Parks being arrested for not surrendering her seat to a white bus rider. King and other leaders felt that a protest of some kind was needed. A meeting in the community was called, they agreed that the only way to fight back would be to boycott the bus company. The people in the locale agreed to participate and that started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As they continued to withhold patronage the white community fought back with terrorism and harassment. The community complained and King told them, “We must learn to meet hate with love.'; Although King’s views were continuously challenged by blacks who had lost faith in nonviolence, his belief in the power of nonviolence protest remained strong. The boycott lasted for 381 days. It eventually took the United States Supreme Court to end the boycott. On November 13,1956 the court declared that Alabama’s state and local laws requiring segregation on buses were illegal. King believed that the boycott proved that “There is a new Negro in the south with a sense of dignity and destiny.

Silence in Chaim Potoks The Chosen Essay examples -- Potok Chosen Ess

Silence in The Chosen  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the book The Chosen the four main characters have different views on how children should be raised. Danny Saunders was said to be raised in silence. Danny was raised in silence in that communication was cut off between Danny and his father, except when they were studying Talmud. The reason Danny’s father did not speak to his son is because Rabbi Saunders wanted to have Danny think things through himself. Reb Saunders also wanted Danny to grow up in the same manner he himself was raised. Rabbi Saunders tries his hardest to have his son’s soul be ready for taking over the task of leading the Jewish people. The reason that a person must have a strong soul is so that they can handle the burden that Danny’s followers will heap onto him. Rabbi Saunders believes that only speaking to his son in Talmud discussions will enhance his sons soul. That is why Reb Saunders raises his child in silence. It is understandable to raise a son in the way Reb Saunders did, because Danny was destined for such great things. All Reb Saunders wants is that hi...

Martin Luther King speech Essay

I think Martin Luther King’s speech make the strongest argument when Martin Luther King once said, â€Å"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.† This saying rang towards the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the eager, listening ears of people who wanted reform. August 28, 1963, marked the day when Martin Luther King Jr. had changed more than just Washington. More than America. He had envisioned a life where everyone would be considered equal, and everyone would prosper. He had begun to change the world. This historic event took place 48 years ago, and many alterations in society have occurred since then. If Martin Luther King Jr. had never been born, however, racism and segregation would still exist and even burgeon. Martin Luther King Jr. was the exemplar for civil rights, the paragon of justice. Without him, life would be malevolent for me, an Indian from the hot, arid land where the Ganges runs free and nature is all-abundant. There would be no variety in America. The majority would constantly rule over the minority and tensions would erupt. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the minority a voice of reason and hope. When King spoke, he reached people’s hearts and minds at the same time. He dug down deep into issues of racial discrimination and presented alternatives of love and equality. Racists struck down his ideas, but others were moved and worked to better society as he wished. King was a loving man, one that wished people would listen and follow him but he did not force them. If Martin Luther King had never been born we would have never been able to, as a nation, act as a role model to help these countries on their quest to become industrialized nations. America would become full of arrogance, and we would not participate in national affairs with an open mind. The Declaration of Independence, a document which we hold in our hearts so fervently, summarizes Martin Luther’s King’s purpose in life: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.† Today, all men are indeed created equal, but would that have been recognized without this man who went against the norms of society and rose in the ranks

Communications in Society Essay

MGMT 351 Exam 1 Directions: Respond to five of the following questions. Responding to more than five will not earn extra credit. If you decide not to follow this direction, the five lowest scoring answers will constitute the grade for this test. There are some important considerations for successful completion of the text: 1. Accurate information is important, and it must directly address the question. 2. Use all terms appropriately. 3. Several questions have more than one part. Complete and accurate answers will earn maximum credit. Make sure that all of the requested information is provided. 4. Each complete and accurate answer is worth 20% of the grade for this exam. 5. Assignments are automatically sent through Turnitin to check for appropriate use of material (e.g. paraphrasing, citations). Make sure that your work follows all the guidelines for academic honesty. 6. Use the numbers as here listed. Do not renumber. 7. Watch the deadline. Late exams will not receive credit. 8. Answers must reflect college level writing skills, i.e. clear sentence construction and correct spelling, grammar and use of punctuation. Deductions from the test score will be made for failure to meet this standard. 9. If anything is unclear, ask rather than assume it doesn’t make a difference. To complete this exam, follow these steps: 1. Download this exam and save it as a MSWord document. 2. Read through all the questions and choose those you will attempt to answer. 3. Provide complete and accurate answers to those five questions. 4. Save. 5. Post your saved response to the exam under the Assignment by the deadline for this assignment. Questions: 1. Effective organizational communication is truly an interactive process. The people taking part in the communication exchange must listen carefully and respond accurately to the other interactants. There are ten elements that contribute to interactive communication (see Figure 1.2 on page 5 of your text). Using an example from your own experience, identify how these ten elements impacted the communication process, making sure to accurately label all ten. 2. Organizational philosophy has significant influence on management practice and communication in an organization. Briefly distinguish between classical, humanistic and systems theories. Now describe possible impact of each of these perspectives on the writing of job descriptions. Be specific. 3. Strategic communication relies on effective tactics in four areas. Name them and define them. Now consider this situation and apply what you know about these four areas to this situation: Next week, Clark will be giving a very important budget proposal presentation. This could be a boost to his career, or a bust. If he hopes to have his proposal accepted, he needs to be strategic in the plan and delivery for this presentation. How should he use the four areas of strategic communication to accomplish his goals? 4. What is communication anxiety, what role does it play in communication, and what are the causes? Choose five of these causes and offer suggestions for effectively managing anxiety resulting from each of these causes. 5. What is organizational culture and how does it determine standards for communication, both internally and externally? Next, as an advisor to someone considering joining an organization, direct your advisee to some avenues to explore to discover what is the culture of an organization in order to determine if this is the right organization for your advisee to join. Lastly, how important is cultural match? 6. The American culture is certainly not uniform. There are considerable differences in how members view the world (e.g. values, beliefs, opinions, etc.). Not using national origin/heritage (e.g. Italian-American), choose three subcultures present in the American workforce and explain how the values and beliefs of each subcultures impact how those employees behave at work. 7. Communication competence is based on interactive listening. Questioning techniques improve listening by making the speaker more efficient, and they facilitate goal accomplishment. Imagine that you are a manager who has been approached by a subordinate who manages others, i.e. you are the manager’s manager. One of the manager’s subordinates, who up until recently has been a good performer, has been making significant mistakes lately. Using all of the five types of questions, help the manager design his/her own set of questions to get to the issues behind this dwindling performance. Make sure to accurately label each type of question used. Lastly, explain how this strategy is likely to help the manager correctly identify the performance issues involved. 8. Name and define each of the three D’s. Then list two consequences and two strategies for overcoming each of these problems. 9. Put yourself in a work environment. List all, naming at least five, of the nonverbal messages you notice, making sure to accurately label each. Now summarize the impact of this combination of nonverbal messages on the people working there. Is it a positive impact? Lastly, if you could change any of these messages by instituting a new personnel policy, what would you do and what would the policy look like? 10. Does gender make a difference in how employees communicate in the workplace? Using specific examples, support your conclusion. Now think of a time when communication was effective during communication involving coworkers of the opposite sex. Lastly, describe a time when communication between members of both sexes was not effective. What could have been done differently? Be specific. 11. Leaders step up when needed. Will you recognize when you should rise to a leadership position? First, write down the names of leaders (at least 3) that you admire or seek to emulate. Explain what you find admirable in their leadership styles. Now, choose at least one, of these leaders and note a situation in which he or she acted as a leader. Be prepared to discuss what elements of the situation combined with elements of the leader’s ability to lead resulted in an effective combination. Do you have any of the same leadership characteristics in common with their chosen leader or any of the other leaders? How will you recognize the right combination of situation and style for you to be a leader? 12. Managing change is something good leaders expect and have developed the skills necessary to be successful. Imagine yourself as a leader of the following organization: You are the CEO of a playing card company that has existed since 1889. Your company began producing its first electronic playing cards game in 1970 and has been highly successful. Now in the electronic age, it is important to acknowledge the lack of hand-held playing cards and embrace the video game era. You want to eliminate all hand-held playing cards from the company plan but the employees who have been around for a while wish to keep the cards around. How can you manage this change and the anxiety that it produces in your employees? General answers are not enough to earn points on this question. Identify specific steps you will take to achieve desired outcomes.

Death of a Salesman Essay AP English III

Death of a Salesman Essay Wily Loan is a symbolic icon of the failing America. He is representing a typical chaser of the American dream in the sass's. He experiences a tragedy in his life where he was trying to find his place in his own life with his sons leaving, growing old, and an escalating sense of stubbornness. Wily was Just one of many Americans that experienced a great tragedy during this time which was a reason that led up to the great depression in 1929. This makes a symbolic icon of the failing America during this time.Wily Loan had a life most people admired while his sons were still in high school. He had a Job and was very happy at that time. His son Biff was the high school quarterback and was very good at his position. This made Wily extremely proud and hoped he would see his son go off to play football at the college level. He was very content with his life at this point and this symbolizes the booming American economy before the Great Depression. Wily soon got too caught up in the idea of the American Dream, to be hard working and honest among other things.He soon began to get greedy in the idea of the American Dream along with other things that went wrong. His pride soon escalated and prevailed in the worst way. Biff reveals to Wily that he has failed his senior math class and will not have enough credits to graduate high school. This incident highlights and really reveals Willis stubbornness for he Just thinks Biff could just go to summer school and get the credits he needed to graduate. It was not that simple as Wily soon learned. Biff then tells his father he is going to go to an interview or an important high paying Job and Wily is very excited for him to get the Job.Biff ends up not going to the interview because he felt he was not able to get the Job. As he tries to tell his father what happened, Willis stubbornness again shows as he would not even let Biff explain what had happened. Wily keeps talking and interrupting his son saying t hings as if he got the Job. This causes very high tension between the two and leads to a huge argument at the end of the play that indirectly leads to Wily killing himself. Another incident that escalates to the tragedy that occurs in the play is when Biff catches Wily cheating on his wife.Biff is heartbroken, in shock, and angry all at once and leaves the scene leaving Wily questioning what has become of him and started to realize his life was not what it used to be, but his stubbornness still prevailed. At the end of the play the whole family meets together at their house. A significant argument breaks out mostly between Biff and Wily about how stubborn and blind he really is. Wily ends up telling Biff to get out of his house and Biff says he never wants to come back. The argument was the deciding factor hat led up to Wily getting in his car and killing himself.In the end, Willis stubbornness and pride led to things such as the arguments between him and Biff, him getting fired and refusing to take another Job out of pride, and lack of realization that he was slowly setting the stage for his own demise. Wily was Just another lower middle class American stuck in the idea of the American Dream. Along with many other Americans during the time, he symbolized the failing America of the Great Depression of the sass's and even the digressing American economy of today.

Perspective on social sciences Essay

Social science and social theory were to liberate the thoughts and thus aid social groups in deposing domination and repression. This formation of critical social science and social theory stands stridently at odds with the moderate positivist professionalism of mainstream sociology in the sense that it envisions human liberation as the highest rationale of intellectual commotion. Habermas has taken pains to argue that this decisive outset of social science and social theory is not opposed to what he calls the project of modernity, which commenced with the Enlightenment. Certainly, he contends that critical social theory, conceived as communication theory and ethics, accomplishes the project of modernity by further rationalizing social life in ways estimated but not completed by Weber. Though Habermas needlessly divides instrumental and communicative rationalities, much as Kant did, thus limiting the field of human liberation to communicative projects but leaving technology and its dominion of nature untouched, he masterfully reconceptualizes Marxism in ways that provide it empirical and political purchase in the present. Far from deserting modernism and modernity, Habermas argues that Marx was a modernist and that the project of modernity can simply be fulfilled in a Marxist way, although in terms that deviate drastically from the Marxist and Marxist-Leninist frameworks of the early twentieth century. Habermas supports the Enlightenment’s program of common liberation and rationality through (a reconceptualized) Marx. This assurance to the Enlightenment and modernity must absolve critical social theorists such as Habermas of the inductions that they are Luddites, antimodernists, anarchists. Far from inadequate academic life, including social science and social theory, to be abridged to didactic political education, Habermas wants to open academic life to genuine debate and diversity, which he theorizes in terms of his communicative ethics. though the characterization of left academics as bigoted supporters of â€Å"political correctness† is largely hype promulgated by eighties neoconservatives, many critical social theorists are especially hard on purveyors of multicultural identity politics, particularly those who derive from postmodernism. Professionalized liberal positivists, including numerous U. S. sociologists, conflate all theoretical heterodoxies, particularly where they argue that one should defend the disciplinary project of sociology against the wild men and women who would â€Å"politicize† sociology and social science at a time when reputable sociologists are fighting a rearguard action against budget slashing university administrators. These professional positivists marginalize all thought and research that do not kowtow to the strictures of supposedly value-free quantitative empiricism. This obliterates nuances: Habermas (1987a) takes postmodernism to task; Fraser (1989) urges Habermas and Foucault to be more overtly feminist. It also fails to distinguish that critical social theories hold rigorous analysis, objectivity, professionalism, even disciplinarily. Critical social theorists vary from professionalized positivist sociologists most sharply in arguing that the aim of knowledge is illumination and hence liberation, not the development of personal professional credentials or the progression of one’s discipline. Critical social theorists snub Comte’s model of the hard sciences as a symbol for their own work as they believe that positivism eradicated historicity and hence the possibility of large-scale structural change. Critical social theorists are unashamed to be seen as political, particularly when they agree with Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment that the charade of freedom from values is the most invincible value position of all, taking up the present as a plenitude of social being and contradicting utopia. It is sarcastic that positivist sociologists in the United States who attempt to establish their discipline in the university by stressing its resemblance to the hard sciences, including both positivist quantitative process and grant-worthiness, also argue that sociology should eloquent what are called policy implications, particularly now that a Democrat is president. Applied sociology proposes state policies in realms such as health care, aging, social welfare, work and family, and crime. Positivist sociologists assert that sociology pays its own way by underlining its real-world applications suggested in the narrow technical analyses propagating in the journals. numerous positivist journal articles formulaically conclude with short excursuses on â€Å"policy† in this sense. This segue into policy investigation both legitimizes sociology in the state apparatus (e. g. , public research universities) and helps sociology evade a more fundamental politics the notion of policy implying moderate amelioration of social problems and not methodical change. As well, the discussion of policy enhances the grant-worthiness of sociological research, which has turn into a trademark of academic professional legitimacy. Thus, the shift from the sociological to the social on the part of significant social theorists who support interdisciplinary is intimidating to disciplinary positivists because it augurs the politicization of social theory and social science at a time while some believe sociology should put definitive distance between itself and its sixties engagements. The tired stand-up line of sociology’s critics that sociology alliterates with socialism, social work, and the sixties symbolizes this preoccupation with the legitimating of sociological disciplinarity and explains why interdisciplinary approaches to the social are so threatening. The interpretive disciplines and sociology are moving in contradictory directions: Interpretive scholars and cultural critics acclaim the politicization of the canon, whereas positivist sociologists want to subjugate politics. Leading U. S. literary programs such as Duke’s are awash in these new theoretical movements that hassle the obsolescence of canonical approaches to the study of literature and culture. In these venues, politics is not a afflict to be eliminated but an opening to new ways of seeing, writing, and teaching. Suddenly, with the invasion of these new European and feminist influences, traditional approaches to â€Å"representation† (depicting the world) in both art and criticism could no longer be trusted. Postmodern fictional and cultural theory blossomed in a post representational era, specifically the opposite of what was happening in positivist sociology, which clings more obstinately than ever to representation -achieved through quantitative method as the supposed deliverance of an embattled discipline. Not all versions of postmodernism are eligible as either social or critical theory. However, as Fredric Jameson (1991) has argued in Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, postmodern theory has the potential for new forms of neo-Marxist social and cultural investigation pertinent to late capitalism. Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, and Derrida make means for critical theories of the social, especially where they make possible the critical analysis of cultural discourses and practices that intimately resemble and deepen the Frankfurt School’s analysis of the culture industry. And postmodern theory has made it nearly unattainable for people in interpretive and cultural disciplines to approach texts as if the â€Å"meanings† of those texts could be revealed to presuppositionless, really positivist readings. Postmodernists drive home the point that reading is itself a form of writing, of argument, in the sense that it fills in gaps and contradictions in texts through strong literary practices of imagination and interrogation. Few today can approach the act of reading or writing concerning reading in the same secure way that they could read texts before postmodernism, before representation was quizzed as a severely theoretical and political project in its own right. A momentous number of sociologists and anthropologists (Richardson [1988, 1990a, 1990b, 1991a, 1991b], Denzin [1986, 1989, 1990, 1991c], Aronowitz [1990], Behar and Gordon [1995]) draw from postmodernism in reformulating both social science research and theory in light of postmodernism’s influential challenge to positivist theories of representation, writing, and reading. However, it is clear that most American sociologists and others in neighboring social science disciplines not only distrust but deplore the postmodern turn for its alleged antagonism to science and hence objectivity, rigor, disciplinary legitimacy, quantitative method, and grant-worthiness. The new scholarship in humanities departments enlightens critical social science in that it reads cultural discourses and practices as ideological and commoditized and helps formulate more general hypothetical understandings of society. For example, the work of Jameson, the author of numerous vital books on cultural and social theory from Marxism and Form (1971) to Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991), clearly puts in to the project of critical social theory. Jameson is in dialogue with critical theorists and postmodern theorists. He develops a postmodern Marxism that learns from but does not give in to the detotalizing implications of postmodern theory. Although many of Jameson’s references are from culture and literature whereas Habermas’s, for example, are from social theory and communication theory Jameson in effect â€Å"does† postmodern critical theory in his readings of works of literature, architecture, music, painting, and philosophy, presenting not simply close textual analysis but expanding his readings into oversimplifications quite similar to those of postmodern social theorists (e. . , Aronowitz, Luke) in social science disciplines. Cultural studies is intrinsically a pandisciplinary project in the sense that culture, as the Birmingham theorists conceptualized it, is not simply found in everyday life as well as in museums and concert halls but also disquiets a wide range of disciplines in the human sciences or human studies, broadly conceived. Almost no social science or humanities discipline falls outside of the potential purview of cultural studies, which could be seen as a theoretical perspective, a discipline, a corpus of writing, and even an investigative methodology. Like the Unit for Criticism at the University of Illinois, in which Cary Nelson, Lawrence Grossberg, and Norman Denzin had part-time faculty appointments, the CCCS at the University of Birmingham has brought together scholars from a variety of disciplines. Like interdisciplinary projects such as cognitive science, cultural studies is a perceptible interdisciplinary project collecting scholars who believe they cannot practice their interests in cultural studies within their home disciplines or who want to claim an individuality somewhat diverse from their disciplinary identities. By and large, scholars in humanities departments have been better able to do and teach cultural studies within their home disciplines, particularly where their home disciplines have embraced the new postcanonical, postcolonial, feminist scholarship. Social scientists have had a greater tendency to identify their interest in cultural studies outside of their disciplines proper, many of which have been indisposed to abandon their relatively narrow concepts of culture in favor of a more inclusive one or do not acknowledge the need to practice the study of culture outside of a discipline for which the study of culture has always been central, such as sociology and anthropology. This distinction between the ways that humanists and social scientists build up their identities, affiliations, and academic practices as cultural studies scholars is also replicated in their respective attitudes toward the matter of politicization. Although most scholars around the campus who do cultural studies are leftist and feminist, social scientists lean to position cultural studies as an empirical and theoretical contribution without close ties to politics, therefore legitimizing their work within fundamentally empiricist and objectivist disciplines. Humanists lean to embrace their close ties to politics, as the Birmingham scholars did, even arguing that curricular politics, including the politics of the norm and the resist to define and implement multiculturalism, is an important place for social change today. Cultural studies increasingly splits into politicized and apolitical camps, through the former group deriving from Marxist cultural theory and joining the influences of the Birmingham School, feminism, and Baudrillard. The latter group includes scholars who do not view cultural studies as a political project but somewhat as an occasion for deepening their own disciplines or working across disciplines. Much work on popular culture, such as that of the Bowling Green group mentioned, comes from this second group. Humanists are more probable than social scientists to belong to the first group. This is satirical in that left-wing and feminist cultural studies grew out of Marxist social and cultural theory and only later were modified by humanists such as Jameson to their own projects. In this sense, critical social theorists involved in culture tend to cluster in humanities programs, or if they work in social science departments, they are typically isolated among their colleagues. It is much more common to find gathers of culturally oriented critical social theorists outside the social sciences, for instance, in English and comparative literature departments and programs. Though these comparative literature students and faculty are more obviously and blatantly politicized than most of my erstwhile colleagues and students, they approach society through the text. This peculiarity is far from absolute. Nevertheless, much of the best critical social science and social theory is being done in humanities disciplines. Sociology, for instance, sought greater institutional authenticity by attempting to imitate and integrate the methods of the natural sciences. Disciplines such as English, comparative literature, women’s studies, and media studies were concerned with culture as well as politics and thus were usual gathering points for faculty and students interested in the politics of culture. PART 2 Modern-day slavery breaches the basic right of all persons to life, freedom and the security of the person, and to be liberated from slavery in all its types. It weakens the rights of a child to grow in the protecting environment of a family and to be liberated from sexual maltreatment and abuse. Migration is some what Modern-day slavery that has become a main concern of government officials, political leaders, policymakers, and scholars, and many books and journal articles have been published on a diversity of topics related to migration comprising cultural change (Sowell, 1996), health (Loue, 1998), law (Weiner, 1995), mental health (Marsella, Bornemann, Ekblad, & Orley, 1994), population movements and demographics, politics, urbanization, and the survival of human society. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is conceivably the most noticeable international organization concerned with migration. However, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Council of Churches, Refugees and Migration Services also have high visibility as policy, service, and research agencies. Other private agencies that have high visibility include Amnesty International, International Rescue Committee, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and the U. S. Committee on Refugees.

Marketing and Starbucks Essay

1.0 Introduction: The Starbucks Corporation was founded by three entrepreneurs at the place called Seattle in 1971. Initially they were selling of whole bean coffee in one Seattle store and by the year 1982 the business had grown tremendously and has opened five stores selling the coffee beans, a roasting facility, and a wholesale business for local restaurants. When the Starbucks started its business it was only a small retail coffee shop as like the other coffee shops. The main vision of the Starbucks owners was to educate customers about the fine coffees and feel the smell of the Dark roasted coffee, selling just the coffee was not their aim as the coffee was sold in the USA since 1960’s (Starbucks case study). Howard Schultz was recruited as the manager of retail and marketing and it was Howard who brought new ideas to the owners, but he was turned down. Schultz in turn opened his own coffee bar was named Il Giornale in 1986 based on Italian coffee cafes, selling brewed Starbucks coffee. By 1987, Schultz had expanded to three coffee bars and bought Starbucks from the original owners for $4 million and changed the name of his coffee bars from Il Giornale to Starbucks. His intention for the company was to grow slowly with a very solid foundation. For the first two years, Starbucks losses doubled as overhead and operating expenses increased with Starbucks expansion. Schultz stood his ground and did not sacrifice long term integrity and values for short-term profit. By 1991, Starbucks sales increased by 84% and the company were out of debt. Starbucks grew to 20 stores by 1988. By 1996 it grew to 870 stores with plans to open 2000 stores by the year 2000. 2.0 Marketing stategyof Starbuks: Marketing strategy is carrying out segmentation, targeting and positioning. Doing the detailed understanding of the marketplace into strategic decisions and the targeting of appropriate customer groups. This targeting should emphasise on any differential advantages and adopt a suitable positioning within the target segments (Dibb and Simkin, 1996). Starbucks has adopted a Differentiation strategy it is a strategy which seeks to provide product or service that offer benefits and should be different from competitors that are widely valued by customers. The aim this strategy is to achieve advantage by offering better products or services at same or higher price. When Starbucks was launched there were many coffee bars in the United States at that time but Starbucks wanted to stand unique from the others. Marketing has powerful potential to contribute to the highly important aspects of the organisational competitiveness, namely innovation (Kerin, 1992) and competitive analysis (Varadarajan, 1992) and Schulz wanted to innovate and recreate the experience of the Italian coffee bar culture. Starbucks mainly focused on the strategy of new products, a stronger connection with the customers as the Third place and expanding store locations in the United States and abroad. Starbucks has followed the simple STP process (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning). 2.1 Segmentation: Market Segmentation is a process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behaviour that might require separate products or marketing programs is called Market Segmentation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). Initially Starbucks was based as a Socio-Economic segmentation base in consumer Markets as it has concentrated on social class particularly the business class people those who are working at the office and wanted to have a cup of coffee with a good atmosphere and facilities. Starbucks also had segmented his market by geographic and demographically by selecting the store location where they can find the educated and coffee lovers (Dibb and Simkin, 1996). 2.2Targeting: After a company has defined market segments, it can enter one or many segments of a given market and should make decision about how many and which customer groups to target (Dibb and Simkin, 1996). Target Marketing is a process of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). The concept of target marketing is a logical implication of the basic philosophy of marketing (Lancaster and Massingham, 1993). A company should target segments in which it can profitably generate the greatest customer value and sustain it overtime. Starbucks wanted to develop a reputable relationship with the customers, Most of companies enter in a new market y serving a single segment, and if this proves successful than they add more segments, initially Starbucks did the same thing targeted the parents with the young children and it was hit concept and it has added more segments by including Teenagers and developed its product range also (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). 2.3 Positioning: Once the company has decided which market segments to enter it should decide what positions it wants to occupy in those segments. Market Positioning is arranging for a product to occupy clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target customers. A products position is the place that the product occupies relative to competitors in consumers minds. Here in this case the Starbucks has developed a unique market position for their products because if a product is to be exactly same like the others on the market than consumers would have no reason to buy it. Starbucks has positioned themselves in the market as a highly reputed brand (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). In this case Starbucks has planned his positioning in such a way that it distinguish their products from competing brands and give them the greatest strategic advantage in their target markets. Starbucks has a descriptively simple statement to inspire and nurture the human spirit-â€Å"one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time†. Starbucks positioning strategy was customer base so that it can give the best service more than what the customers expect. Starbucks has gained a competitive advantage over customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction as Starbucks had developed its positioning strategy based on the customer and provided the utmost facility in terms of layout, furniture to the music, and in terms of employee satisfaction Starbucks make employee as a partners and gave them a personal security with a freedom to participate in the every decision of the business and make it successful (Porter & Miller, 1985, Porter, 1998). 3.0 Developing Marketing Mix: One of the major concepts in the modern marketing is once the company has decided its overall marketing strategy than it should plan the details of the marketing mix. â€Å"Marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools (product, price, place, and promotion) that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market† (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). Starbucks has a made good decisions on marketing mix tools 3.1 Product: â€Å"Product means the goods and services combination the company offers to the target market†. Starbucks has used Brand name, Quality, Variety and Services as their Product tool which can be concluded by this statement, Starbucks with a good Brand name provides best Quality and with the Variety of Products, it has adopted Quality improvement strategy (Kotler and Keller, 2009). Initially Starbucks started with the coffee than it has included non-fat milk, cold blended beverages. Later on stated seasonal offerings such as strawberry and cream Frappuccino, gingerbread latte with some food items like cookies and pastries. Before launching the products Starbucks was getting the approval of the customers. 3.2 Price: â€Å"Price is the amount of money customers have to pay to obtain the product†. Though the Price of the Starbucks was higher than the other coffee shops, the customers were ready to pay the amount because Starbucks has developed a luxurious image with all the facilities inside the store. Starbucks as a good Brand have offered more benefits and facilities and the best quality of products to justify their higher prices (Kotler et al, 2006). 3.3 Distribution and Service: Starbucks has a good distribution channels initially it was selling coffee beans and doing wholesale business for local restaurants. In terms of service and location Starbucks opened the stores in a such a way that it can reach to targeted customers and it has also gave more stress on giving the best customer service by spending a lot of money by training its employees (Starbucks case study). 3.4 Promotion: Starbucks initially did not use the advertising tool for promotion but it was the Public relations and the Personal selling tool that helped the Starbucks to achieve its target