Hall of Fame (Essay/Response)

Earlier in the year I presented a speech that was about believing in yourself and pursuing your dreams. Shortly after I did that, a song called ‘The Hall Of Fame’ by a band called The Script, featuring a rapper from the pop group The Black Eyed Peas, Will. I. Am, was released on the 19th of August 2012, and has been in the Top 100 Billboard charts since then. The lyrics in this song really motivates me in so many ways, and just inspires me to reach higher, and strive harder everyday. The three phrases that were used repeatedly in these song lyrics were ‘You can’, ‘You Could’, and ‘Do it’.These constant sayings in the song are the words that motivate me the most. ‘You can’, because you can do anything. â€Å"You can be the greatest, You can be the best, You can be the king kong banging on your chest. †, are the first 3 lyrics that are sung, telling you that if you want to be somewhere great in your life, you can a chieve it. That ‘can’ is letting you know that it is possible, anything is possible, and that it is achievable. ‘You could’, because with your belief, you could achieve the greatest record, with your belief. You could go the distance, You could run the mile, You could walk straight through hell with a smile. † These are another 3 lyrics that are sung in the second verse of the song. This ‘could’ Is telling you the possibilities that are open for you to take a chance in, letting you know that the world records that you think can never be broken, could be broken, with your effort & faith. ‘Do it’, because you only live once, and may never get the chance again. â€Å"Do it for your people, Do it for your pride†¦ Do it for your country, Do it for your name. The ‘Do it’ is telling you to make your people proud, to prove your haters wrong, and to do it for yourself, your diginity. â€Å"Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself standing in the hall of fame. † In my personal opinion, it’s one thing if you have a dream and want to pursue it, but you have to dedicate yourself. Working hard at not what you want, but what you need. This lyric lets me know that if I believe in something, put my best efforts into it, and keep a smile on my face, with great possibility I can be standing in the hall of fame.When they say ‘Standing In the Hall Of Fame’, I don’t necessarily think it means being a celebrity or being famous, but being the best you can be, in a ‘hall’ as they like to call it, which to my imagination, is a hallway filled with records broken, and names to remember. The reason why I like this song so much is that I can easily relate it to my normal life. And I’m sure not only mine, but to plenty others too. It makes me feel better about myself in such a way that I know that anything is possible.Everyone has a goal, or a dream whether i t’s losing a few pounds for summer or breaking and Olympic record, everyone has one. Having a goal is the greatest way to get somewhere you want, because a goal paints a picture in your mind of what you want and need, and I can honestly say that when I picture myself being onstage, and daydream about working with my favourite producers, it gives me an motivational boost that tells me, ‘it’s possible. ’ But imagining things isn’t the only way I can keep motivated, listening to music keeps me motivated.And with this particular song being released, it is a mash of the two, which is why it’s so inspirational to me, and it’s also why I am writing a response to it at this moment. â€Å"Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions Be true seekers† This repetition is what caught my ears the most in this song. That persuasive ‘Be’ makes you just want to get up and do something. The vocals they use in the song while singing these enhance even more, it’s as if they are chanting for you to do it, it makes you feel like you’re in a stadium having people cheer you on to pursue your dream.It’s giving you that motivation and support which you might not be able to find at home or at school. One last thing I would like to elaborate on, is when the lyric reads, ‘Don’t wait for luck. ’ It’s pretty much a way of saying, don’t be lazy. Which is an excellent example of why teenagers today aren’t achieving much. It’s because they get lazy. I’ve met so many people around my age who have huge dreams and goals, but they never get anywhere because they are just waiting for something to happen. In order to get what you want, you need to fight.

Behavior problems in children and adolescents

Studies regarding substance abuse (alcohol included) yielded results that clearly associate self esteem closely to it. Those who are engaged in alcohol use in later or older age do so because they have learned the use of it in their early and moldable years (11 years old or 5th & 6th grade). Consequently, attempts have been made to deal with the area of self-esteem in hopes that when this psychological problem among teens is addressed properly, substance abuse might somehow be curbed.There are programs that cater to this need and they are actually placed side by side with the traditional curriculums of some schools. Experts and researchers believe that this quandary of alcohol abuse among teens may be helped by treating it in a stage where it is less obvious – that is, when the youngster is not yet manifesting or is obviously using alcohol, but on the brink of experimenting on it (Donnelly, 2007). The line of attack of this particular method is directed towards factors that ar e crucial to the make up of adolescents’ life experiences.Understanding the transitions that teenagers most likely will go through is the underlying principle that facilitated the study that eventually led to the formation of this program. Hence, the high hopes that the proponents of this program maintain. In this paper, the author tries to explore and explain the rubric of the particular synopsis mentioned above and to finally (in the process) convince its readers of its viability in decreasing the problem of alcoholism among teens and young adults in the coming years.It explains the rationale behind the effectiveness of the curriculum since the whole program is aimed at the core level of the perpetual potential problem of alcohol addiction. ~What you learned. The National Association for Self-Esteem (NASE), as the very name of the association clearly implies, believe that the self-esteem of the individual plays a major role why or why not that particular person is using/abu sing or not using/abusing alcohol. The observation is that teenagers with low self esteem have higher likelihood to experiment not only with alcohol but with other harmful psychoactive substances than those with high self-esteem.Furthermore, their studies yield evidences that point to the fact that individuals with positive self-esteem show not only little serious involvement with addictive substances but lesser tendency to risk trying the pleasures of these drugs. Convinced of this observation, self-esteem proponents constantly research and write articles that speak to the issue. They support a prevention program which has within it as crucial part â€Å"self-esteem enhancement. † Not any prevention program or traditional approach to the problem will achieve a longer-lasting effect.Overwhelming data available have proven that traditional school programs are not sufficient to address the issue; in order to be really effective in curbing alcoholism among teenagers, it is very important that as researches yield additional information, new strategies should be incorporated and employed as well. Important factors along with self-esteem that must be tackled include: personal efficacy, ability to decide wisely for oneself, and communication skills, etc. These areas must be developed since they influence and affect the behavior of an individual.It is believed that when these basic skills are taught and cultivated, rather than concentrating on the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs, the benefits will be much more than the reduction of the likelihood of teenagers and young adults to use and abuse drugs. Involvement with other behavioral correlates like unsafe sexual encounters, and teenage pregnancy, will also diminish. The timing of the implementation of this kind of preventive program in schools for it to really achieve its goal among teenagers is also emphasized. It has to be implemented early, or else, its efficacy will lessen.Dr. Joseph Donnelly (self-esteem proponent) said: â€Å"It is much easier to prevent adolescents from ever engaging in the use of substances than it is to deter that use once it has begun. † ~One question you have. Self-esteem is indeed all important aspect that influences other facets of an adolescent’s life. Question remains especially to one who had had enormous experiences in psychotherapy and in dealing with myriad problems and situations/scenarios besetting the youth experimenting with alcohol: cynics question the simplistic apprehension and approach.What about the role of modeling by parents hardly making breakthroughs in these adolescents who make alcohol their refuge but also as a way of life like their parents did? Reference: Donnelly, Joseph. Self-Esteem and it's Relationship to Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention in Adolescents. Dept. of Health Professions/PERLS National Association for Self-esteem. Accessed January 2008.

A View of Strategic Hrm in a New Zealand Corporate

| Strategic HRM It’s More Than Just a Policy| A view of Strategic HRM in a New Zealand Corporate| | Glenn Duncan – 0705186| 11/8/2011| | *NB: Something, Something Else, Something Else 2, Outside, Thingy, Doublecheck and Hirethem are all pseudonyms. Executive Summary: In this paper I aim to highlight the importance of ensuring that all aspects of the Strategic HRM policy of an organisation are functioning. This will enable the organisation to gain the maximum benefit from its investment in HRM and the resulting motivated and engaged employees. Job satisfaction is related to goal efficacy, management support, performance appraisal review, rewards, organisatioanl facilitation and clarity of goals; (Lee C, 1991). To be effective in any Strategic HRM policy an organisation not only has to â€Å"Talk the Talk’ they have to ensure they â€Å"Walk the Walk† right down to the perceived lowest levels of the corporate ladder. The corporate I was employed at generally had a very good Strategic HRM system; unfortunately there were issues with its execution in some parts of the business. I will highlight three areas in my experience as a line manager where the division I was in was less than adequate at â€Å"Walking the Walk†, and the effect I felt this had on my team’s performance in the key areas of goal setting, performance management and personal development. Poor planning, ineffective goal setting, a dysfunctional reporting system and lack of cohesion in line management and HR and impersonal development are major roadblocks to the success in achieving the HRM goals of an organisation. My findings were that to ensure a HRM plan is effective an organisation has to ensure that it has sufficient suitably skilled and resourced HR experts and line managers, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and timely (SMART) goals, supported by a reporting system that is both robust and accurate. Just having a Strategic HRM policy in place doesn’t give you the strategic advantage an organisation needs to compete in today’s markets, ensuring that it is effective from the boardroom down to the lowest rung on the corporate ladder does. Introduction: Something * is a fully owned subsidiary of the Something Else* under Something Else 2*, the consumer brands arm of the corporate, based in Melbourne Australia. Something* is a strong market leader and operates in the competitive Thingy* market in New Zealand. The department within Something* this paper will focus on is the Field Sales Team in the Outside *department. The Other* department markets nothing products to any retail or foodservice outlet that is not a supermarket. Other* channel contributes 20% of the volume, but over 50% of the gross margin. Something Else* as a corporate organisation operates what would be considered a world leading Strategic Human Resource Management policies and practices. This is evidenced by the inclusion of a board sub- committee whom assist the Board in fulfilling its corporate governance responsibilities in relation to the recruitment, retention, remuneration policies and to promote a safe and healthy working environment. Something Else* overall corporate strategy is developed by the Executive Committee, an eight member team from various disciplines lead by the CEO. The executive committee includes the Group Director Human Resources whose role includes responsibility for Something else*16,800 (Full Time Equivalent) staff worldwide with a focus on recruitment, reward strategy, capability management, organisational development, health and safety, training and employee relations. Fonterra seeks feedback from its employees through regular engagement surveys and forming various committees to ensure employee considerations are taken into account on numerous different levels. Something Else* factory workers in generally under collective agreements. Something Else’s* salaried staff are on individual employment contracts, and are performance managed using an HR framework known as Doublecheck*. This framework drives performance, development, succession, talent management and recruitment processes. It incorporates Something Else’s* performance objectives and values and links through to remuneration. The outcomes of Doublecheck*are designed to create opportunities for Something Else’s* people to develop both as individuals and in their careers. Something Else* outsources some of its HR functions including recruitment of salaried staff to organisations such as Hirethem*. The performance management quarterly reviews are focused on Key Performance Indicators (goals) and a range of competencies based on the organisations values: * Co-operative Spirit * Do What’s Right * Challenge Boundaries * Make it happen Something *employs the same HR format as its parent company. The GM of Human Resources is a valued member of the Senior Leadership Team which takes input from Something Else* corporate and various departments to decide the both the financial and strategic goals of the company. The HR team consists of a General Manger, HR Manager, and two HR Advisors. Payroll and Recruitment search are outsourced. Something*uses Something Elses’s* Doublecheck framework to performance manage and develop its salaried employees. Figure 1 – Reporting Structure – something* Ltd – Outside – Field Sales TeamFigure 2 – Something* Ltd – Strategic HRM System Whilst the intentions of the Something* HRM system are robust, the execution of some key elements of the HRM process are dysfunctional and fail to add value to the process. I will focus on three important factors of the HRM process: * Goal setting (KPI’s – Key Performance Indicators) * Performance Management (KPI progress at quarterly reviews) * Employee Personal Development I will present my argument using the HRM Performance casual chain, Source: Adapted from Purcell, J & Hutchinson S (2007). ‘Frontline managers as agents in the HRM Performance casual chain: theory, analysis and evidence† Human Resource Management Journal 17(1), p. 7. Which I feel shows the consequences of failing to execute HRM strategy logically. Figure 3 – HRM Performance Casual Chain: Source: Adapted from Purcell, J & Hutchinson S (2007). ‘Frontline managers as agents in the HRM Performance casual chain: theory, analysis and evidence† Human Resource Management Journal 17(1), p. 7. Goal Setting: Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) At Something* Key Performance Indicators are set by senior managers using financial data and strategic initiatives from the annual business plan, passed down through the line managers for their respective department. These Key performance indicators will usually include core goals such sales volume / value, speed to market of new product launches, customer count. HR Practice Theory; Something* through the Doublecheck* framework was to set five to six SMART KPI’s and measure an employee’s participation in company activities against a set of competencies based on the Something Else* values. Progress against these were to be reviewed and feedback given / received at quarterly intervals. HR Practice Reality; Frequently the planning of the company was not complete in time for the start of the financial year, company goals were often to be achieved in a 10 month period rather than a 12 month period. This delay also had impact on other areas of planning which leads to a further delay in arrival of the tools the team required to achieve their goals. Goals were also derived from corporate strategy and had little relation to do with the Outside* market. Often in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies the majority of the strategic focus goes on sales through the high volume supermarket (Key Account) or the Foodservice channel, there often was a lack of in depth understanding of any other channel. Whilst a good deal of this was outside of the overall HRM control, it greatly affected the results the team could achieve against their KPI’s and hence morale and the reputation of senior management. Employee Perception; Employees feel a disconnect from the setting of goals and become increasingly frustrated when poor management decisions and failing to meet timeframes impacts on their ability to meet KPI’s. At reviews employees often questioned the leadership team’s knowledge of the â€Å"out of Home† market the team operated in. â€Å"Knowing you are being judged on your performance but having to either chase unrealistic goals or mark time and wait can be sole destroying† Something*employee. Employee Motivation / Organisation Performance; Employees do their best to strive for goals however a sense of confusion over priorities and clarity results in a lack of motivation, end result is very rarely do KPI’s get achieved, performance reviews are filled with reasons why targets were not met (covering the backside). Performance Management: The Doublecheck* framework for a quarterly review consisted of an employee self-assessment of performance against KPI’s and competencies; this was sent to the line manager prior to the planned appointment. The line manager would compare the employees perceived performance figures against company top line figures. During the meeting the performance against KPI’s and competencies of the employee would be discussed and encouragement given or plans put in place to improve performance. HR Practice Theory; It is the intention of the company to provide accurate data around the employee’s performance relative to the actual market performance. This would lead to a positive conversation about achieving KPI’s and how to ensure this continues or alternatively a conversation about how to lift the employee’s performance to make up any short falls and obtain the goals set for the year. HR Practice Reality; Due to internal database issues quite often only top line data could be used, drilling down into data resulted in more questions than answers. The combination of inaccurate data and lack of clarity in the KPI’s resulted in a great deal of time spent at performance reviews comparing and or justifying data between what the company believed to be accurate and what the employee believed to be accurate. This caused unnecessary angst between both parties. . Employee Perception; Employees felt there was a double standard in the outputs of the company; employees were expected to strive for excellence in their output, as measured in the competencies, whereas the company was permitted to produce less than satisfactory reporting. Employees considered this to go against Fonterra’s value of â€Å"Make it Happen† which focuses on a climate for success, exceptional results, stepping up, take accountability, plan thoroughly, perseverance and celebrate success. The team expressed that they felt let down by the company in the pursuit of their personal and company’s goals. Employee Motivation / Organisation Performance; For the majority performance reviews become conversations over missed opportunities, time delays and excuses. Quite often segments are cut and paste from previous reviews. The process fails to motivate even the high performers. Employee Personal Development: Central to Something Else* HRM strategy is a desire is to attract, retain and develop people of the highest caliber, by believing that learning is an integral part of each employee’s role, learning and development especially when done on the job, dealing with real issues and challenges. It is stated that identification and accelerated development of key talent is critical to Something Elses*success. HR Policy Theory; The Doublecheck*system has a segment where an employee discusses their career aspirations with the line manager with input from HR and agree a realistic career goal. Line managers then work with the employee and the HR team to map out a pathway of development allowing the employee to reach these goals over time. This pathway was to include training, coaching and mentoring. HR practice Reality; Something*under direction from Something Esle2* purchased a generic set of sales courses intended over time to develop a high performance sales team. Unfortunately this generic course was very â€Å"key Account â€Å"focused and again had little relation to the Outside* market. This action took out of play the HR department’s allocated budget intended for personal development towards career goals for each team member. Employee Perception; Members of the team generally felt that they were being disadvantaged by being sent of generic courses they felt did not improve their skill base, knowledge or chance of advancement in Fonterra as a whole. They felt they were being treated as a herd instead of individuals. Training was catering for the lowest common denominator and did not challenge the high performers. Employee Motivation / Organisation Performance; If employees, especially the high performers (who can be high maintenance due to their driven nature), perceive they are not being rewarded by development / progression they ask why should my performance be better than another employee if there is nothing in it for me. Overall result is a decline in motivation across the board. The Role of the Line Managers: Line Managers are tasked with the role of executing a great deal of the HRM policies for Something*, yet generally speaking, the amount of training given to line managers on the intricacies of HRM is minimal. Employees are greatly influenced by the HRM practices they experience of line managers, these can be both positive and negative, a good manager can make poor HR policies work whereas good HR practices can be negated by poor line manager people management or leadership skills. (Hutchinson, 2007) The relationship between employees and Line Management is important in in? encing the employees’ views of the support received or available from the organisation as a whole, both at the functional transactional level and in the corporate climate, this often determines the attitude towards organisational commitment and outlook towards the job. (Hutchinson, 2007) Conclusion: It is considered that SomethingElses* overall HR strategy is very robust and the corporate intention is to run a world class Strategic HRM system. At Something* I believe that the overall strategy is not achieving its goals. This was generally caused by a lack of cohesion between various departments which in turn lead to delays in the planning processes. The delays in the planning process ultimately affected the ability of all employees to meet their KPI’s causing stress and friction between competing employees. At times, it appeared that some senior managers were primarily focused on obtaining their own KPI’s, often to the detriment of the overall company goals. At Something* the HR personnel ratio to employees of approximately 100/1 (excluding the GM HR who was generally focused on strategy) caused issues. HR team members were not able to spend sufficient time with the line managers in discussions / planning around employees. When time was spent with the HR team it was generally pressured and not of great quality. There was also a lack of a cohesive approach by HR and line managers to the review and performance management process, each Line Manager generally went about the process the best way they knew how, hoping they were following the correct procedure and delivering the same message. It is argued that perhaps line managers should not be heavily involved in the HRM process as studies have shown in the undertaking of performance appraisals, management implementation was usually irregular within organisations and that the actual practice was also subject to significant variations of quality (McGovern P) and to further evidence to this argument were the findings: also to be taken into account is the short-term nature of managerial activity which leads to a tendency to put a greater priority on the achievement of the budget numbers, rather than the achievement of objectives through the team. McGovern P). My argument is who better than to review an employee’s performance than the Line Manager who on a daily basis has to work closely with the employee, a HR person jumping in from time to time unaware of the daily challenges would not gain the same insight as a Line Manager does. When discussing the issues around requiring accurate data for reporting on KPIâ€℠¢s and the angst this would cause with HR, a Line Manager would get the distinct impression that the HR advisor did not completely understand the numbers or jargon being used. (Brown, 2001) writes: Ann Boswall, vice-president of human resources and one of six members of top management team at Imperial Tobacco in Montreal, adds, â€Å"It is absolutely essential for HR to do a better job of learning about the business outside of their own department†. With regards to personal development, sending experienced sales teams on generic courses is a tick box exercise; according to the verbal feedback I received, if a post course survey was carried out the over whelming response would have been that no real learning experience has taken place. (T Short, 2010) writes: The failure to evaluate learning events and show positive business results was clearly linked to an undervaluing of training and development investment among senior managers. Recommendations: Ensure the corporate planning process has sufficient time allowed to achieve its goal of presenting a business plan that is able to be executed for the full twelve months of the financial year. This would take a great deal of pressure off the business as a whole. Setting SMART goals that give clarity of direction to the wider team and are specific to each departments channel not generic companywide goals. Even in a company with a goal-setting procedure that had been in use for over ten years, content-related problems with goals (such as lacking goal clarity or conflicting goals) were key predictors of goal commitment and job satisfaction. (Bipp, 2011) The HR department has to be resourced such to permit the Strategic HRM plan to be implemented from the top down. Not having the resources to penetrate and spend time where it counts most left the HR team performing mainly transactional duties such as recruitment and disciplinary activities. Green, 2002) writes: For over a decade, HR leaders have been striving to become business partners. They want to have a strategic impact on their organizations; however, many are struggling to make this transition. The primary reason for lack of progress in this endeavor is that HR analysts, the staff who carry out this mission, are still trained and reinforced in the traditional, transactional mindset. In order for the entire HR department to be consi dered strategic in nature, the HR analyst must learn critical consultative skills. p. 111) To counter this a 2004 Cranet survey indicated that people responsible for HRM activities have a growing proportion of members educated in business related studies, 43% in New Zealand from a business studies background. (E Rasmussen, 2010). Training of both the HR team to understand requirements of each department they deal with and equally training Line Managers in people management skills would help with alignment of HR Personnel and line managers in their duties within the HRM framework. This activity would go a long way to improving the overall performance of the HRM framework and the job satisfaction of employees within Something*. (Hutchinson, 2007) writes: It is often observed that there is a gap between what is formally required in HR policy and what is actually delivered by FLMs. The way FLMs undertake their HR duties of selecting, appraising, developing, communicating, involving, etc. , is inextricably linked to a wider set of what are increasingly called leadership behaviours, which aim to in? ence employee attitudes and behaviour and give direction. These two aspects of FLMs’ roles can be brought together in the term ‘people management. Implementing the above as a bare minimum would greatly improve the overall performance and moral of the Outside* sales team at Something*. Literature Sources: 1) http://www. SomethingElse*. com 2) http://www. something*. co. nz 3) http://scholar. google. co. nz. ezproxy. aut. ac. nz/ 4) http://search. proquest. c om. ezproxy. aut. ac. nz 5) http://web. ebscohost. om. ezproxy. aut. ac. nz References: Bipp, T. (2011). Goal-Setting in practice. Personell review, 40(3), 318. Brown, D. (2001). HR's role in business strategy: still a lot of work to be done. Canadian HR Reporter, 14 (9), 20. E Rasmussen, T. A. , N Hawort. (2010). Has the Strategic Role and Professional Status of Human Resource Management peaked in New Zealand. Journal of industrial relations, 52, 103 -118. Green, M. E. (2002). Internal human resources consulting: Why doesn't your staff get it? Public Personnel Management, 31(1), 111-119. Hutchinson, P. a. ( 2007). Front-line managers as agents in the HRM performance causal chain: . Human Resource Management Journa, 17(1), 3-20. Lee C, B. P. , Earley C, Lock E A. (1991). An Empirical Analysis of a Goal Setting Questionnaire. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 12( No. 6), pp. 467-482. McGovern P, H. -H. V. , Stiles P. Human resources management on the line? Human Resource Management Journal, 7(4). T Short, R. H. (2010). Challenges in aligning workplace learning with business goal. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 50(2), 381.

Multinational Corp-Evol & Cur Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Multinational Corp-Evol & Cur Issue - Essay Example After learning the course, I got a snapshot of important economies in the global industry. The important economies include the United States, Japan, the Euro Area, and Emerging Markets (Jonge, 32).   From the course, I learned that the current activity indicator is 1.8% down from 2.75%. In addition, the recent economic weakness of the United States owes to the adverse weather. In Japan, the weak GDP in the fourth quarter was revised down to 2.2% from 2.4% and 0.5% from 0.7%. The Euro Area continued its weakness in bank credit and broad money growth. Consequently, Emerging Markets is focused on tightening financial conditions. After watching the â€Å"Terms and Conditions† movie, I realized that no one bothers reading terms and conditions that are connected to the websites they visit. After watching the movie of what lies between the agreements, one might easily hurl your computer. Therefore, the movie investigates what the corporation and governments do with people’s personal information. Therefore, from the course, I learned the dangers that hide within the contracts that people agree and never bother to read, and what people give up when they click â€Å"I accept†. Consequently, from the course, I learned that there are various messages and smaller points that show us the way organizations use their employee’s entitlement as their advantage to lure them into doing what the employers want. It should be remembered that future stock options, bonus promises, health care plans, and pension provisions are paper assets and the promises behind them can easily be broken and the papers can be regarded as worthless and the expense of employers (Jonge,28). It is purely blackmailing. Subsequently, from the course, I learned the 48 laws of power; Specifically, I learned law 22 to law 28. According to the laws, I learned that companies have to transform the weakness into power by using the surrender tactic. The motive behind surrendering is sav ing the hide in the future when one reasserts oneself. When one is temporarily weakened, the tactic is the best for raising the company up again. From the course, I learned how to concentrate on the forces of a company.

Earned Value Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Earned Value Management - Essay Example The most vital component of EVMS is recognizing the real time investment occurring within the project compared to planned value and actual cost. This will illustrate whether the project is exceeding costs and whether it is behind schedule. It is important to recognize that PV is also considered the Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled, which is imperative for determining earned value. Projects have technical performance aspects (progress) that is related to budget and should be assessed in comparison to actual costs incurred. Planned budget of $180,000 with an actual cost of $200,000 would, without EVMS, be $20,000 over budget. However, EVMS might illustrate that the technical progress started earlier than expected, thus the project is now ahead of schedule and might be more apt to meet PV budget. This is why EVMS is linked directly to cost and performance. My view is that EVMS is a more practical assessment of a project since it takes more into consideration than just costs. It recognizes expert progress based against time schedules, to make a more accurate assessment of project value or potential losses. It is a viable tool for assessing projects because it takes time and talent into consideration (Goodpasture, 2004) along with recognition of costs, something needed for strategic project management in order to gain a broader picture of whether the project is meeting its intended budget and progress

Discussion Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

Discussion Topic - Essay Example Her idea was to produce a sponge pillow used to clean the children. The probability that the products will have high demands is not certain and therefore financial implications are put at stake. The money that will be involved in international business might also attract financial risks in the company. (Blackman, 2014) The company should have a risk retention insurance programe.This is because the company will be dealing with products that catches fire easily. The international business is also full of risks and therefore the organization should always retain a reserve fund to offset some financial claims that may arise. This self insurance is important for the business growth. (Paul, 2012) Pansy Ellen products Inc should have various kinds of insurance coverage since it is involved in a risky business. It should have a general liability insurance to provide a cover for the damages, employees and the products. This is important because all this are susceptible to the risks. The company should also have property insurance to cover for the bulding, office equipment and inventory against fire vandalism, fire and theft. (Mark, 2013) Mark. (2013). 13 Types of Insurance a Small Business Owner Should Have - Forbes. Retrieved 2015, from

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Criticisms of the Nineteenth Century Gender Essay

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Criticisms of the Nineteenth Century Gender Order - Essay Example We live in a world where each day there arise new issues on gender. The most striking part is the role of women in the society as opposed to that of their male counterparts. In the 19th century, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women activists realized that being denied influential rights such as the right to vote while men were allowed to was oppressing women. It was argued that since women were attached to men through husbands and fathers, men could vote for them. Men were also the main decision makers and women were only to submit to what had been decided. One wonders how women’s needs could be catered for if they could not be allowed to vote. There are issues which are unique to women and need only women to address them and focus is placed on Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who feared nothing to voice out the plight of women at a time when the cultural values in America restricted women from trying to challenge or be above men. The woman was simply to give birth and take c are of the children and the husband. This paper presents some of the criticisms that were made by Elizabeth Stanton such as issues to do with birth control, divorce and voting rights and shows how she fought to correct them. It analyses this issues in the current America to show that though some gender issues have been given attention and solved, others continue to emerge hence the need for continual review of the issues affecting women. The fight to gain women rights started and still goes on!!! Colin L. Powell once said that women rights are human rights hence failing to address issues affecting women implies failing to address the issues affecting the entire humanity.... As a result many of the challenges facing them were not addressed in the governments in place. Women were expected to respect the will of the men and therefore their choices. She felt that men only exercised tyrannical leadership towards women and never cared about their needs. The fact that women did not vote, according to her, was an implication that they were mute. That their plights could not be heard nor addressed. At one point she was furious to the point that she asked why the ignorant black men and immigrant men were allowed to vote while educated white women who were natives of America could not be allowed to vote. She felt the need to sensitize other women to fight for their rights to vote for these could be the only way in which their needs were to be addressed. They had to come together and with one voice demand for the rights that they had been denied for years. They had to be involved in political maters for this could enable them to be free from the frequent exploitati ons and dependence on men. This suggestion was obviously going to be met with a lot of resistance since it touched on some of the cultural values of the American society, which had been held by the American people for a long time. This is why Elizabeth Stanton and her female friend Susan B. Anthony did not see this dream they held come true up to their deaths. It took a long time for the American people, more especially men, to agree to the adoption of the ideas advocated by Stanton and other American feminists of the time. Stanton was also opposed to the idea the idea that men should have better and advanced education than women. This, she had experienced when her father

Information Systems and Software Applications Essay

Information Systems and Software Applications - Essay Example Marketing Information System (MkIS) implements softwares for the marketing department. It deals with activities related to compilation and investigation of marketing research information. It involves consumer response surveys, analysis of supply and deliverance of the product and an overview of profit. This information helps in marketing related decision-making (Marketing Decision Support System software, MDSS) like what improvements can be done in the product, should the cost be reduced or increased, should it be marketed through other types of media, and etcetera. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software applications, which deal with the relationship between consumer and organization, â€Å"are used to increase the return on marketing efforts† (Harmon, 2003) through analyzing the history of customer-organization interaction. CRM systems give an analysis of consumer behavior toward the product through market monitoring and research. MkIS also facilitates sales labors a nd customer service and helps in the development of effective marketing strategy. Human Resources Information System (HRIS) implements human resources software applications that deal with â€Å"data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the Human Resources, payroll, management, and accounting functions within a business† (Heathfield, 2010). HRIS records, manages, analyzes and creates reports relating to all kind of employee information such as enrollment, salaries, vacancies, attendance, vacations, bonuses and other personal information. HRIS integrates with the organization’s payroll and accounting departments for salary calculation. It also deals with applicants, their interviews and selection. (Ajayi & Omirin, 2007, p. 110) where this system is specifically called Decision Support System (DSS). MIS generates reports such as monthly and yearly financial statements,

A Tour to History Colorado Center Research Paper

A Tour to History Colorado Center - Research Paper Example From this study it is clear that  Ancient Puebbloan people domesticated turkey for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was it was rich source of protein that could replaces the decreasing number of deers who also proved very difficult to hunt and they were also over hunted hence their reduction in population. Archeologists have found remains of turkey in pens together with their gizzards stones, eggshell in large number and these have been collected and brought into o the center.   Within the center you would come across heals damages of turkey preserved in the center and this also support mass hunting of turkey by ancient Puebloan people.  This discussion stresses that  various artifacts such as needles, neck less which shows how creative the first Puebloan of Mesa Verde area in Colorado was in designing their tools from hallow bones which they used in making blankets from turkey feathers. Dust Bowl. This shows how man has learnt how to survive in very challenging enviro nment. The tour to the center also reflected how economical and less demanding it was to keep turkey because they consume approximately half a pound of maize grains daily and some small insects which could be found in the natural environment. This encounter therefore would be very useful to entrepreneurs who don’t have huge capital but are interesting in engaging in farming activities.  Certain cultural orientations may be grounded on straight traditions.

Professional Development Plan Essay Example for Free

Professional Development Plan Essay When forming teams in a professional work environment it is important to understand the personalities of your teammates to determine strengths and weaknesses. When a leader is able to define the strengths and weaknesses of the team members it is easier to delegate tasks, encourage brain storming sessions and be successful as a team. Team C is composed of five members all with great leadership skills and a desire to learn and complete excellent work together. The first week of class we completed a DISC assessment that identified our individual personality traits. According to Disc Profile (n.d.), The initial DISC model comes from Dr. William Marston, a professor at Columbia University in the 1920s, who was curious about the behavior of normal people. He did not create an instrument from his theory, but others did† (Disc Overview). As a potential leader of this team, I was able to examine my own leadership styles and apply that to our assignment which is to create a professional development plan to identify the characteristics of the members to lead them to success. My DISC assessment concluded that I was a Cautious personality type. I see this in my personality. I often think or overthink what I do and tasks that I complete at work and in the school environment. I rarely rush into an assignment or partially complete an assignment. I often am very detail-oriented in projects and assignments. My leadership mentality is mainly to lead by example. I rarely will task another person without knowing exactly what is involved in completing the job. This is probably due to a desire to have control over a situation and know exactly what is involved and how long it will take to complete. Plus I am a person that prefers to build trust by having examples of competent behavior to reference. Three members of my team have the â€Å"Steadiness† personality. Betty, Shawn, and Harlan are more steady and security-oriented, meaning they prefer to know precisely what they are doing as far as job related and school related tasks are concerned. When leading them in the team I would make sure they  understand the assignments of projects we work on as a team and I may be able to help them understand the projects better by fully explaining what we would hope the result would be. This might help team members to have more confidence in the projects. Brian has an interactive personality and it shows as he is able to learn about an assignment and take charge in explaining and delegating tasks for it. Brain is very confident in his assessments of situations and tasks. He has a very good way of being so excited about an assignment that it influences others in a positive manner. If I were to lead this team, I would have to have an understanding of the strengths of Brian’s ability to motivate the team and my ability to help the others understand the project so we may be successful in completion. Betty, Harlan, and Shawn are the key players in this as they will strive to do an incredible job in maintaining a strong will to succeed and complete the tasks. As a general rule, the steady personality listens well, creates very strong relationship bonds and work very well with others (Uniquely You, n.d.). They are able to be objective about situations that other people might not handle well. They can handle stress well and are reliable and really care about others feelings and will often take action that will help others feel good. References Disc Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/ Uniquely You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.uniquelyyou.com/disc.php

Reflective essay on social work

Reflective essay on social work Examine your own personal and professional development in relation to the values of social work. Introduction Social workers are usually motivated either by personal experience, something that has happened in their lives, or by a desire to see that people receive the kind of help that they need in times of crisis. I think that looking at these issues and trying to analyse what motivates you and what helps you to develop professionally are critical issues in social work training. This kind of examination spills over into a person’s professional practice because it helps the social worker to take more care when it comes to assessing a person’s need. This course has helped me to examine my own personal values as they relate to values issues during the course and also how this works out in my professional practice. In some respects values and ethics are interchangeable in this paper, in others values represent the more personal aspect and ethics the wider context. This need to think about my values and the values of social work, is making me into what Schon (1991) calls a reflectiv e practitioner. Shon’s work demonstrates how important it is for social workers to be reflective, to think about what they are doing and to refine their later actions. This reflection is extremely important when it comes to values and how values impact on the way you look at the world and relate to other people. This paper will look at my personal and professional development in relation to the values of social work. There will be an assessment of social values as they are found in the literature that I have looked at during the course. Finally I will evaluate the areas where I would like to develop both personally and professionally in relation to social work values. Personal and Professional Development and Values Issues I think that this course has helped me to assess what my personal values are, not just that they are inherited, but how they have become my own. I believe that this process is invaluable to my personal and professional development and to my understanding of issues to do with values. During my time on the course I have learned to think more deeply about what I do and to examine my own personal values and see how far they might be comparable to the values issues I have been studying. I have also learned that I constantly need to think about what I am doing and how far this agrees or conflicts with my basic values and the values of social work. Shon (1991) has argued that: Professionals claim to contribute to social well-being, put their clients’ needs ahead of their own, and hold themselves accountable to standards of competence and morality. But both popular and scholarly critics accuse the professions of serving themselves at the expense of their clients, ignoring their obligation to public service, and failing to police themselves effectively (Schon, 1991:11-12). The way in which social workers ‘police’ themselves is to think critically about what they are doing, why they are doing it, and what moral implications this may have. Certainly social work ethics does not lead me to believe that the social work profession should serve itself, rather the needs of the client should be most important. There should also be an early establishing of clear relationship boundaries as to great a personal involvement with a client is contrary to what the BASW has to say about social work ethics and values. One of things that I have learned during the course is that in higher education attention always has to be paid to the question of knowledge and what it is that makes knowledge. Since the Enlightenment it has been said that knowledge is drawn from observable facts (as in science) and this has meant that knowledge based on experience is not so highly thought of. The objective, scientific view of knowledge has increasingly been challenged as a narrow view that maintains there is a specific response to situations that a practitioner can employ and thus solve a problem. The Enlightenment view is one which tends to forget that people (both social workers and their clients) are individuals and so there is not one size that fits all, rather each situation has to be responded to in a way that best suits the situation and the people involved. Schon (1991) maintains that this knowledge is acquired through process or doing. It is a key part of reflective practice which recognises the importance of non-rational knowledge. Arguably this type of knowledge is invaluable to social workers because they deal with people and have to think about their relationship with others on a daily basis. Social workers are often faced with a conflict of values, on the one hand there is a particular client and situation and on the other there is an increasing need to satisfy bureaucracy by processing a case as quickly as possible. In a situation like this it is very easy to be governed by rules and procedures and particular theoretical approaches that may have little basis in reality. I am finding that good social work practice puts the needs of the client first and the rules and procedures second, particularly where they might contradict the values of social work. Social work, it would seem to me is based on a common sense of justice and on the basic worth of all human beings. Once this value is acknowledged and it is accepted that all human beings are valuable then the response has to be the one that best suits the situation and the people involved. I have been brought up to have respect for myself and other people and to tell the truth. I have found that if I try to understand my work from this basis which in the literature, is a human rights perspective, then not only am I being true to the values of social work, but I am being true to my own values. Cemlyn and Briskman (2003) argue that social workers who base their practice on concepts of human rights and social justice need to be more aware of how the inequalities that they see in society might affect their practice. Sometimes society and its rules are not always just, society does not always operate in the best interests of the individual person, furthermore, the fact that social care is now based on how well it operates in the market, means that the legal framework within which a social worker has to act may also (however much it is unintended) work against individual rights. In these cases, Cemlyn and Briskman (2003) believe that the social worker has a duty to be prepar ed to go outside of the immediate context and be ready to operate at a personal level from an ethical sense and decision making process that is informed by the valuing of the human person and the concept of human rights. In a contemporary context the notion of human rights is all encompassing, however much the present Government might try to restrict it in many cases. In social work, it is arguably the case that the values of human rights and social justice are different from Enlightenment ideas of human rights and justice.. They are more inclusive in that the concept refers to all people and in this sense they are more true. Such values, it has to be said, should not be at the mercy of a system which is more concerned with rules that are governed by budgetary concerns. Ring (2001) explains this process when he says that: The last two decades have seen an increasing emphasis on the performance of health and social services. This is attributable partly to central governments concern to ensure value for money and contain expenditure, but variations in the range, quality, and costs of care, and failures to protect vulnerable individuals have also been significant concerns (Ring, 2001:1).. Giving way to this means that those who actually need the social services, for instance the poor, or children at risk, or those with physical and mental disabilities, end up the losers and are pushed even further to the margins of society. Reading and Values Practical reflection Ruch (2002) contends makes a practitioner more open to new and different ways of coping with clients and their situations. Social workers also have to be aware of the more rational and theoretical approaches that underpin their work. I have learned from my reading about social values and social work that these things do not operate in isolation but are drawn together when I reflect critically on what I have read and what I am doing. I hope that the critical reflection which is a result of the above two processes means that I will work for the good of whatever client I may be dealing with and that I will be able to hold to the view that oppression is wrong. My reading on social values has taught me that as a social worker my practice should work against oppression. From an ethically informed perspective critical reflection should be a necessary part of social work training and practice because there is always a need to stop and think when you are dealing with peop le. In the same way, an emancipatory and anti-oppressive attitude is a critical component of ethical social work. When a practitioner is driven by target orientated structures then he/she does not have the time to think about what they are doing and to learn from the process. They can then, without meaning it, be drawn into unethical practice, or practice that works against the needs of the client. In this way they can end up violating their professional code of ethics if they are not careful. Social work practice that is based on heavily prescribed rules and actions is not equipped to deal with the complex nature of modern western society. In this way such practice is actually contrary to social work ethics as it neglects the fact that you are dealing with each client and situation on its on merits. Reflective practice, on the other hand, acknowledges the uniqueness of each human being and each situation that arguably makes it much more compatible with social work ethics. Who a person is, their life history their culture, their race, and their gender all affect how they act and judge in a given situation. When I reflect on my work it is a way of noticing where and if I am biased about something and how this affects and influences my perception of a given person or situation. Holding to my personal values and to the values of social work means that I have to get to know myself well. Self-knowledge is, or should be a necessary component in a social worker’s continuing development. Papell (1996) contends that: Social work learners must perceive the human situation which they confront in their practice and recognise that their perceptions are filtered through their own thinking and knowing processes, through their emotions and feeling processes and through the way they themselves integrate and regulate their own doing and behaving. Knowing the self is more than knowing how one feels. It is knowing how one thinks and acts (Papell, 1996:19). How far then, is a social worker being guided by even general ethical principles and his/her own social values, let alone a specific code of practice. Ethics are moral principles on which our behaviour is based and in that sense they are interchangeable with values such as telling the truth and valuing people. Ethical codes on the other hand, while they may be based on moral principles, are not as generalisable in that they refer to particular professions and the way in which professional behaviour is governed. Butler (2000) maintains that such ethical codes cannot be said to be neutral or value free because they have arisen in a particular context for a particular purpose and as such are influenced by the ideologies held in that context. The ethical code or code of practice as it is outlined by the British Association of Social Workers defines social work and the values inherent within the profession in the following way: The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (BASW,2001). [1] The Association maintains that ethical practice must be centred on the needs of service users Social workers of necessity intervene in people’s lives and have an influence on situations, ethical decision making is therefore a vital component of social work practice (Osmo and Landau, 2001). The Association is there to give advice to social workers on what constitutes ethical decision making in different contexts. Decision making has to be grounded in the values of ethics of social work. Some of the issues that social workers have to deal with and that involve them in ethical decision making centre around balancing the rights of one individual against others, around public welfare and issues of institutional and structural oppression. This can make life difficult because the social worker has then to identify when institutions and structures are being oppressive and how the values of social work may be used to combat this. Banks (2003) has argued that codes of practice and ethics are often idealistic that is to say that they are too far removed from the situation. Human rights for example might mean ensuring that someone has the right information to access the help they need, it is not always about large scale abuse. Codes of ethics can also encourage a false sense of security as they may be seen as providing a blueprint for how a social worker should act when it is impossible to legislate for every situation. Social workers need to be able to critically reflect on their own practice in order to act in an ethical manner in any given situation. Ethical codes are something that imposed from outside. This means that they do not have anything to say about a practitioner as a person and whether, and in what ways their personal values agree with or differ from the values of social work. It is here that reflection on practice is crucial. Without reflection on previous actions and how these might relate to the code of ethics the social worker could be at a considerable disadvantage in decision making and could either leave a child open to danger or infringe the rights of a possibly innocent client. Social work intervention if it is based on real social values cannot be allowed to be target driven if it is to be truly ethical and based upon notions of social justice. In some respects organisational and managerial ethos does not always fit well with the ideals of social workers and their practice and some councils are not so inclined to recognise the rights of service users. This can leave social workers with a dilemma, do they operate within a human rights framework or don’t they? Moral engagement with clients takes place at a personal level and Husband (1995) maintains that social workers should not feel themselves limited by codes that does not operate within a framework that is informed by human rights and social justice. Ife (2001) argues that within the context of social work practice a framework, and working perspective of human rights: †¦reinforces and validates the traditional understandings and practices of social work while in other cases it challenges some of the assumptions of the social work profession (Ife, 2001:1). Social Work Values and Continuing Personal and Professional Development While continuing professional development can tend to be outcome orientated in that the practitioner is attempting to reach a certain level of professionalism. This does not mean to say that reflective practice should be entirely forgotten and become totally process orientated. Rather, Postle et al. (2002) argue for a more inclusive approach of development where both outcomes and process are of equal value in the practitioner’s continuing development. This inclusive approach is achieved by reflecting on personal values and how far these can be said to be the same as social work values. I think my values are consistent with the values that underpin social work. I think that perhaps my understanding of how these values govern my behaviour and dictate how I deal with clients needs developing further. I also think that I need to pay more attention to what being reflective in my work really means and how this can be achieved. Conclusion Clearly social work values and social work practice have to be understood as two sides of the same coin. A social worker, I believe, cannot operate effectively without recognising how closely connected social values and the business of social work are. How we interpret those values, particularly if they appear to conflict with what is regarded as correct practice, needs careful thought and reflection. Our values may seem to remain constant but they do operate differently in response to different contexts and this is an area which I think needs further development. Adherence to a specific code of ethics and to social work values tends to imply that myself, and others learning to be social workers already possess a certain moral character and will thus act in accordance with specific values that take into account concern for the welfare of others whilst also having a concern for the self. I would hope that eventually this will truly be the case. Until such time, my values of truth and the worth of a person are very much in line with what I have understood about values in the course and what is contained in the literature. I hope that my engagement with social values during the course will lead me to develop into a more efficient, reflective, and ethically informed practitioner. 3000 words Bibliography Banks, S. 2003 From oaths to rulebooks: a critical examination of codes of ethics for the social professions European journal of Social Work Volume 6 No. 2 July 2003 p. 133-144 Barr, J and Steele, T. 2003 â€Å"Revaluing the Enlightenment: Reason and Imagination† Teaching in Higher Education 8 (4) October, 2003 pp.505-515 British Association of Social Workers (2002) The Code of Ethics for Social Work.http://www.basw.co.uk/. Butler, I 2000. A Code of Ethics for Social Work and Social Work Research http://www.elsc.org.uk/socialcareresource/tswr/seminar6/butler.htm Cremlyn, S and Briskman L. 2003 â€Å"Asylum, Children’s Rights and Social Work† Child and Family Social Work 8 (3) pp. 163-178 Gardner, F. 2001 â€Å"Social Work Students and Self-awareness: How does it happen† Reflective Practice 2 (1) 2001 pp.27-40 Husband, C. (1995) The morally active practitioner and the ethics of anti-racist social work. In: Ethical Issues in Social Work (eds R. Hugman D. Smith), pp. 84–103. Routledge, London Ife, J. (2001) Human Rights Social Work: Towards Rights-Based Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Papell, C. (1996) Reflection on issues in social work education in: N. Gould I. Taylor (Eds) Reflective Learning for Social Work (Aldershot, Arena). Postle, K. Edwards , C. Moon, R. Rumsey, H. Thomas, T. 2002 â€Å"Continuing professional development after qualificationpartnerships, pitfalls and potential† Social Work Education Volume 21. No. 2 1st April 2002 Ring, C. 2001 â€Å"Quality assurance in mental-health care: A case study from social work† Health and Social Care in the Community 9(6) 2001 pp. 383-390 Ruch, G 2002 â€Å"From triangle to spiral: Reflective practice in social work education, practice and research† Social Work Education Volume 21 no. 2 2002 Ruch, G. 2000 â€Å"Self and social work: Towards an integrated model of learning† Journal of Social Work Practice Volume 14, no. 2 November 1st 2000 1 [1] http://www.basw.co.uk/articles.php?articleId=2page=2

Moldovas Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)

Moldovas Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) The World Trade Organization (WTO), successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) founded in 1947, today represents a common institutional frame- work for the development of trade relations among its members, based on the principles harmonized at the international level through a number of multilateral agreements. At present the WTO includes 140 countries, with another 32 countries having an observer status. Moldova, Armenia, China and Vanuatu are at the final stage of accession. Today only a few countries with planned economies in their past and some developing countries have remained outside the WTO. Integration, of the developing countries and of the countries with their economies in transition, into the international trade system offers a good opportunity to take full advantage from the participation to enter the globalization process. Countries with their economies in transition view the WTO, whose rules of international trade are being established and monitored , as a structure that offers an important opportunity for integration into the world economy and of the improvement of their national legal framework in the economic and commercial field. The WTO basic functions are as follows: to facilitate the application, administration and successful functioning of the WTO laws and regulatory framework; to promote the achievement of objectives of each WTO agreement that concerns specific trade issues; Proceeding from these functions, the WTO can be viewed as an international structure, which for its member states represents the following: a forum for negotiations of issues concerning trade relations and matters incorporated into international multilateral treaties; a forum for future international negotiations, representation of each members interests; a legal and institutional framework for the application of the results of talks between states; a framework ensuring the application of rules and procedures for settling disputes between states; a framework providing for the use of the mechanisms of scrutinizing and ensuring transparency of commercial policies. 3.1. Advantages of the World Trading System The world trading system is not perfect, particularly taking into account the attempts of the Member States to have after their accession, the current rules revised. However, since the establishment of the WTO in 1995, countries involved in this system maintain that a state outside the system should be aware of the advantages the WTO offers to its members and of the reasons in favor of the WTO membership. In most cases, the decision of countries to apply for the WTO membership was influenced mainly by political factors, as their economic and commercial interests were not one of the major factors in initiating the accession process. On the other hand, candidate countries were conscious of certain disadvantages of staying away from the WTO bilateral and multilateral agreements are not sufficiently comprehensive, the image of a non-member state among foreign investors is not favorable enough etc. In this order of ideas we suggest looking into the advantages of accession to the WTO. As it was mentioned above, the WTO rules were produced on the basis of the world trading system, specifically a set of rules established by the consensus of all 140 Member States of the World Trade Organization. These rules are said to make life easier for everybody, since the decisions within the WTO are taken by consensus, likewise all multilateral agreements have been negotiated and then ratified by the parliaments of each Member State. The WTO agreements are compulsory for every country, developed or less developed, big or small. Without a multilateral forum, such as the WTO, the more developed countries would have had more freedom to impose unilaterally their will on their smaller partners. Free trade reduces living expenses. A great deal of research has been done on the conflict between protectionism and free trade. Protectionism is expensive: it always raises prices. The WTO system pursues the goal of removing trade barriers by following the rules of the game set by mutual agreement and is based on the principle of non-discrimination. This brings lower production costs, lower prices for goods and services, and as a result, life becomes less expensive. The world trading system offers a much wider range of various products. Import provides for a better choice of goods and services of different quality. Even the quality of local goods can be improved in conditions of competition generated by import. Imported goods are not used only as a finished product, but also as materials, components and equipment for the production of local goods. This allows manufacturers to broaden the range of products, services and technologies applied, which ultimately contributes to the increase of exports. Trade increases incomes. Analysis and estimates of the impact of the Uruguay Round (in other words, of the establishment of the WTO) or of the creation of the European Union (EU) common market, proved that these processes brought about considerable additional revenues, which greatly stimulated economic development. Trade incurs challenges and certain risks — local manufacturers have to offer products of the same quality as the imported ones, yet not all producers succeed in this. However, the fact that there are additional revenues means that there are resources for the governments allowing for redistribution of the available benefits. This can help business operators become more competitive in the traditional fields or in the newly developed and promising ones. Trade stimulates economic growth, which implies, among other things, creation of new jobs. It is true, however, that some jobs are lost as a result of the expanding commercial activities. The same applies to the technological progress: the implementation of new technologies creates new jobs, while at the same time, cuts down jobs requiring an un- skilled labor force. In both cases, a coherent policy facilitates settlement of the employment problems, thus ensuring a better final result, particularly in conditions of a free trade, and also provides for the use of advanced technologies. It is known that trade, which ensures a more efficient and adequate use of production resources, generates division of labor among countries. An additional advantage offered by the WTO system is an increase of efficiency with less expenses. This becomes possible due to the important principles laid on the basis of the system. These principles are as follows: non-discrimination, transparency of rules and regulations, commitments to remove trade barriers and increase the access on other markets, fostering trade through making customs procedures easier and uniform, and others. à ¯Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¿ In the WTO framework governments are in a better position to defend themselves from being lobbied by some smaller groups. Thus, governments can carry on a commercial policy that satisfies the interests of all parties involved in the economy. At first sight, the application of certain restrictions on imports seems to be an efficient method of supporting the economic sector. In fact, it imbalances the economy and affects other sectors. At the same time, it is well known that making exceptions leads indirectly to tax evasion and corruption. In some cases, even the protected sectors are affected. When the policy of support given by the State is incoherent and is not rendered until the final consolidation of the capacities of enterprises, the latter at a certain point can go bankrupt or be swallowed by big corporations. Due to the fact that the WTO framework covers a wide range of sectors, if there is a case in which a pressure group resorts to lobbyism in order to be protected, the government can put up resistance to such pressures, motivating it by the fact that an agreement suitable for all sectors of the economy has to be reached. In practice governments often invoke such a reason. The system encourages good government. Governments often use the WTO framework as a practical external restriction for the elaboration of economic policies, by giving the following reason, we cant act differently because its against the WTO regulations. According to the WTO rules, once a commitment has been undertaken, it would be difficult to change this decision. For business this means a greater certainty and clarity in conditions of trade. For governments this means more discipline and correctness. Also, the world trading system contributes to peace consolidation. It seems a bit exaggerated, and yet, the system contributes to strengthening peace in the world, since, to some extent, peace is a result of the application of the two basic principles of the WTO, particularly, ensuring continuous trade and offering a fair and constructive way to settle trade disputes. An eloquent example is the trade war of 1930, when the involved countries competed in raising trade barriers in order to protect local manufacturers. This fact deepened the Great Crisis and played a certain role in the outbreak of World War II. A key-element of the WTO system is the fact that disputes are solved in a constructive way. Naturally, the development of trade may generate trade disputes which can lead to serious conflicts. Therefore, a great deal of tense international trade situations can be settled by the organizations specializing in tackling trade disputes, such as the WTO. A growing number of disputes brought before this organization reflects closer economic ties throughout the world, a growing number of the WTO members and an increasing confidence in the capacity of this system to settle disputes [2]. To summarize the advantages of the WTO membership, we can name some of them: a) the implementation of the WTO agreements, in general, offer wider trade opportunities to the Member States; b) multilateral regulations with a higher degree of restrictions ensure a safer and a more stable trade environment and provide more certainty in trade relations; c) only Member States can take advantage of the rights laid down in the WTO agreements; d) the WTO agreements have substantially improved transparency of commercial policies and of the practices of trade partners, a fact that strengthens safety and stabilizes trade relations; e) only the WTO members have an access to the mechanism of settling disputes with a view to defending their rights and commercial interests; f) membership status offers an opportunity to take part in multilateral negotiations, thus, ensuring the promotion of each members commercial and economic interests. 3.2. The Republic of Moldovas Accession to the WTO Accession, accomplished in the appropriate conditions, is a rather difficult and complicated process that may be delayed and that requires a high level of competence and coordination of government institutions, as well as a political consensus to efficiently promote national interests. The accession process involves thorough bilateral and multilateral negotiations with all WTO members concerned in the policy carried on by the candidate, which can procrastinate the process of accesion. Countries in the process of accession are bound to examine and adhere to all multilateral agreements, and, optionally, to the two plurilateral agreements, adhesion to which de jure is not compulsory. In fact, the contracting parties to these agreements expect that the candidate becomes a party of these agreements in the accession process to the WTO. This condition turns automatically into a commitment, also observed in the context of discussions and positions of the WTO member states during multilateral trade negotiations. Accession of the Republic of Moldova to the WTO was determined by the advantages offered using the legal framework of international trade and by the reasons in favor of WTO membership. Back in 1993 the Government of the Republic of Moldova applied to join GAIT. The request, which following the creation of the WTO in January 1995, had been reiterated by Moldova. The purpose of accession to the WTO was to urge the process of integration into the world economy, which provides for building a democratic society, an economy based on market economy principles. The accession was motivated also by specific disadvantages of a non-member status in the WTO, in conditions when bilateral trade agreements were not sufficiently developed. It was also motivated by an adverse image, especially among foreign investors, generated by the out of the system status. Accession negotiations coincided with the structural and systematic reforms program and with the elaboration of the countrys economic policy, including the commercial one. However, an underdeveloped administrative system and a lack of human and financial resources directly affected technical capacities providing for this complex process of accession to be conducted shortly and efficiently. Besides, in addition to the fact that it was necessary to adopt a concept to promote a commercial policy which would comply with the WTO multilateral obligations, Moldova, as any applicant country, was required to accept concessions with regard to the access to the goods market and to the consolidation of customs tariffs, as well as with regard to the commitments in the field of internal support in agriculture, and the special commitments concerning trade in services. It should be mentioned that in the course of Moldovas accession the attitude of the main trade partners towards the applicant countries became harsher compared to the period of accession to GATT. The standards of adhesion have been raised considerably. Some WTO members took a firm position requiring the applicant countries to accept a higher level of obligations compared to the one accepted by the initial members, having already included the eventual results of the next future multilateral negotiations. In practice, thi s means that the Republic of Moldova had to accept the level of tariffs consolidation and certain commitments in the services area comparable to the level of the developed countries. At the same time, the Republic of Moldova did not have the opportunity to benefit from certain provisions stipulated by the WTO agreements, which provide a special and preferential regime offered to the developing countries. The status of a developing country was not given to any applicant country with their economy in transition during the period in wich they entered into the accession negotiations with the WTO. This situation made negotiations a lot harder for Moldova  than for other candidates included in the UN list of developing countries. Despite these difficulties, as compared with the other CIS states, Moldova launched a very active process, being outrun only by Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. Initially, in conformity with the accession procedure, a memorandum on the foreign trade regime was presented. Later, a Working Group for the accession of the Republic of Moldova was created comprising 24 WTO members (the European Union having one vote), followed by rounds of questions and answers. Numerous bilateral and multilateral negotiations have been conducted on the access to the goods and services market, on offering subsidies in agriculture and on aligning national legislation on the WTO regulations The most intense negotiations were conducted with Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic. India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, USA, Turkey and the EU The longest in duration and the most consistent were the negotiations with the EU, the United States, Australia, Canada, India, and Bulgaria A special part in the accession process was both the adjustment of the current legislation to the regulations adopted by the Uruguay Round, and the elaboration of new laws in the areas that have a direct or indirect impact on foreign trade. The negotiation process lasted long due to a negative influence of a number of factors, some of which have already been mentioned. Another important factor was the absence of an adequate institutional framework and of mechanisms of elaboration of policies necessary for the operation of a market economy at the beginning of the negotiation process, which was supposed to ensure rapid development of the latter, ft is also known that frequent changes in the upper level of administration affect and considerably tarry, the accession process. These reasons have slowed down the elaboration and adoption of an adequate national legislation, a fact noticed by the Working Group members on the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the WTO. Protraction of the Republic of Moldovas accession has partially offered some facilities to the WTO members that only the WTO framework can offer. Since the presentation of the memorandum on the foreign trade regime and, later, of the replies to the questions of the working group members for working out the Report of the Working Group and of the Protocol of Accession, Moldova had to submit a great deal of information from different fields related to commercial policies, which required significant expenses. The more this process was delayed, the more information was requested, which sometimes indirectly allowed the member states to speculate on some of the plans or strategies of the applicant countries. For example, in the process of the accession of the Republic of Moldova, information in the following areas was required: practices and prices regulations, the taxation system, subsidies in agriculture, foreign investments, the environment, customs tariffs, including preferential tariff s, payments for customs procedures, exemption from customs duties, license on import, export regulations, trading enterprises owned by the state, standardization of imported goods, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards, foreign exchange operations, and the protection system of intellectual property rights, etc. It should be mentioned that the presentation of this information was compulsory or unavoidable, since the purpose pursued was to advance the accession process. On the other hand, all these have led to facilitation of the aims of the major WTO actors, who use different levers in the accession process in order to have the applicant countries undertake anticipated commitments within the WTO, thus ensuring their alignment on the subjects discussed during multilateral negotiations. As a non-member country we have already missed many opportunities to negotiated on various bilateral agreements with the states of Central and Eastern Europe the WTO members. Foreign business operators are discouraged by the lack of a clear set of rules, which would allow them to set up their business on the basis of internationally recognized principles. The relations of cooperation in the economic and commercial fields with the countries of the European Union or of the Central Europe Free Trade Area (CEFTA) have been blocked or not given pertinent importance. Treatment of the economic system of the Republic of Moldova as one that is not based on market principles

Media and Society Essay -- Papers

Media and Society Does society influence media or does media influence society? In a modern world, dependent on continuous communication this is a very important question. If the world were not dependent on communication over large distances, schooling on a mass basis would not be possible or necessary. Most knowledge in traditional cultures was local knowledge, (Geertz 1983) traditions that were passed on through a local community, a very slow and long drawn out process. Today we live in the "Whole World" in a way that would have been inconceivable to anyone who lived before the 19th century. [IMAGE] "We are now aware of news and situations thousands of miles away, all due to e-communications making such awareness almost instantaneous in the 21st Century. Rapid transfers and e-communications have greatly intensified global diffusion of information." (Anthony Giddens Sociology 1995) [IMAGE] Society today loves stories produced by mass media; sudden death, scandal, and happy endings enter our ...

Emily Dickinson, TS Eliot, Robert Frost Essay -- Informative, Authors

The three authors that I chose were Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), TS Eliot (1888-1965), and Robert Frost (1874-1963). I chose them because first they all were born in the eighteen century and most of their writings dealt with death and dying. I do not believe the elements that Emily Dickinson would be a good source for me to incorporate into my writing because with her writings I found them very hard to understand, possibly because of the timeline or the fact that she wrote in such a secretive code with words. If we have some familiarity with these means, or formal elements of poetry, our understanding and enjoyment of the poem will be greatly increased (Charters page 762). There were very few of her poems that I could understand or even enjoy reading, I felt a sense of bleakness, despair, loneliness in most of the poems that she wrote. In her poem â€Å"She died—this was the way she died. There was the use of eye rhyme (Charters page 764) when she used the word spied and ended the poem by saying â€Å"upon the mortal side†. Also in her poem I’m nobody! Who are you? Sounds as if she also had a low self esteem by stating that she was a nobody. Today, in the 20th century if a person wrote words as such they would probably be diagnosed with depression with suicidal ideology, mostly because of the poems â€Å"I felt a funeral in my brain, and There’s been a death in the opposite house† all very bleak and gloomy. The best poem of Emily Dickinson to me would be the one â€Å"I never saw a moor† because I like the rhythm of the poem and can completely agree with the direction that the poet is taking the readers and once again I can see eye rhyme (Charters Page 764) with the words Heaven and given within the poem. I actually really enjoye... ...ll become old and to remember our youth, don’t take it for granted. Also, his poem â€Å"To Earthward† was a mixture of lyric poetry (Charters page 811), ode (Charters page 815) and alliteration (Charters page 762). The examples of this mixture would be the use of the words: musk, dusk, honeysuckle, knuckle, salt, fault, love, clove, hand, sand, enough and rough. His writings were not as dreadful and bleak as Emily Dickinson’s poems. The poem â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† was easy to read with a constant rhythm, and there was no question what he was talking about. I believe if I was to choose any of the above writers and incorporate their unique form of writing into my own would be Robert Frost because of his direct approach, the tone that he used, and the rhythmic way he put his words together to make it work for the poem and the audience.

Data Envelopment Analysis and related literature Essay

As already stated, a rich history of literature and research which is demonstrating the importance of processes in analyzing the performance of an organization exists (Chase, 1981; Chase et al. , 1983; Levitt, 1972; Roth et al. , 1995). Especially, Roth et al. (1995; here and in the following) showed that the key drivers are process capability and execution in an empirical way. It was described in their study that an inappropriate design of certain processes and also the poor execution of a process can lead to process inefficiency, and that both process capabilities and people as major factors affect business performance. When estimating the performance of processes usually a number of different outputs have to be taken into consideration. Data Envelopment Analysis, the estimation method described in this chapter and used as a basis for measuring the efficiency of business processes, deals with these multiple outputs by the use of frontier estimation. In this process, it is specifically determined which relative performance amongst multiple inputs and outputs are present. This in turn is achieved by calculating ratios of weighted outputs to weighted inputs, and the determination of the relative efficiency (which is seen as the distance from a peer object to the best practice frontier) compared with the efficiency of other so-called Decision Making Units (Charnes et al. , 1978). Decision Making Units can be defined as firms or public-sector agencies, but also as single processes or process instances (Sengupta, 1995). Data Envelopment Analysis is therefore used in different areas of daily life, for example in education programs of schools, or the production and retail business (Metters et al. , 2003). The Data Envelopment Analysis method was introduced into the operations research literature by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes in 1978 (see Charnes et al. , 1978). They presented it as a new nonparametric (meaning it is entirely based on the observed input-output data and not based on the assumption of a normal (Gaussian) distribution underlying the measured parameters) and multi-factor productivity analysis model (Sengupta, 1995). The Data Envelopment Analysis model as it was originally formulated by Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes, later referred to as the â€Å"CCR model†, has the important and critical characteristic of the reduction of the multi-output, multi-input situation for each Decision Making Unit to that of a single â€Å"actual† output and a single â€Å"actual† input. In fact, the respective measurement of efficiency for a Decision Making Unit is identified by the original Data Envelopment Analysis model by developing the ration of weighted outputs to inputs to 3 he maximum under the assumption that alike ratios for every Decision Making Unit are not larger than one (here and in the following Frei et al. , 1999). This in turn results in a number of efficiency scores less than or equal to one, as well as a reference set of Decision Making Units identified as efficient. The method has also come to be known as the â€Å"input-output oriented model†, because by holding outputs constant and at the same time evaluating to what degree the inputs would have to be changed in order for a Decision Making Unit to be considered an efficient one, the overall efficiency score is determined. The also existing â€Å"output-oriented method† is very alike to the input-oriented method. Using this approach, the ratio of weighted inputs in relation to the outputs is minimized in order to be able to evaluate the actual amount that each Decision Making Unit’s outputs have the chance to be improved whilst holding the inputs on a constant level. In summary, in both cases, a Decision Making Unit identified as efficient has no potential for improvement, whereas as Decision Making Units seen as inefficient have efficiency scores that reflect the actual potential for improvement which is based on the achievement of other Decision Making Units. A proportional (linear) program must be carried out for each of the Decision Making Units to be able to define the relative efficiency scores. Because of the use of a linear function, the implied presumption is that the efficient frontier is piecewise linear. As a fact, the original model of Data Envelopment Analysis comes up with a ranking of the different Decision Making Units in the system in a scale of relative efficiency from the lowest to the highest, where the highest is considered to be one hundred percent efficient (Sengupta, 1995).

Peter Kolchin, American Slavery

For the past quarter century Edmund S. Morgan has been one of the most prolific and respected authors of early American history. This is an excellent, in depth survey of Virginia?s colonial experience, with an emphasis on how the seemingly contradictory institutions of slavery and equalitarian republicanism developed simultaneously. Indeed, Morgan argues that Virginians? definition of freedom, and their very ability to establish a republican political system, rested upon the creation of African slavery. Morgan shows that institutionalized slavery did not necessarily have to become part of British colonization; the earliest Englishmen to dream of a colonial empire hoped for the establishment of a utopian community in which natives could benefit from enlightened English governance that recognized the inherent rights of all men. Early English explorers even helped to organize revolts against the Spanish by their slaves in Latin America, and while they were motivated by their own interests in doing so, they clearly were willing to treat their slave co-conspirators as equals. However, the utopian phase of colonization died with the failed settlement at Roanoke in the 1580s. The founders of Jamestown quickly learned racism towards the Indians, whom Morgan speculates they goaded into warfare out of frustration at their own inability to support themselves. The settlement eventually became prosperous as the colonists learned to produce tobacco for market, but it was hardly the ideal society envisioned by the founders. Labor shortages were endemic, as to make a profit planters needed to control a large number of indentured servants. Unfortunately (for the planters), laborers needed only to serve for a limited period before setting up business for themselves, and thus creating competition for the planters. To check this competition, planters made it difficult for freedmen to buy lands of their own (land was plentiful, but acreage with access to shipping had been almost totally monopolized by the large planters), which resulted in freedmen foregoing planting, and becoming lazy, shiftless, and at times rebellious. Moreover, planters treated their indentured servants so poorly that as news of their condition drifted back to England, fewer of the mother country?s poor were willing to indenture themselves, especially as the burdens of overpopulation were being reduced at home.

Child abandoment Essay

Many babies are abandoned by parents who avoid their responsibilities. It could be have really serious problems, but it is irresponsible behavior. In addition, some parents abandon the babies outside. It is cruel behavior. We should not ignore this problem. There are three solutions: controlling illegal abandonment, allowing abortion legally, and educating people to use contraception. Controlling illegal abandonment is a good way to prevent babies from being abandoned. The police should catch and punish the parents who abandon their babies. Because it is the same as murder. So it has to be strictly controlled. However, it’s hard to find and catch the parents because they abandon babies secretly. Therefore, the government should set cameras that track everything everywhere, and warn people that if they abandon their babies, they will be punished intensely. Allowing abortion legally can prevent babies from being abandoned. There are some countries in which abortion is illegal. So the women who want abortion decide to do dangerous illegal abortion or abandon the babies. So the government should allow abortion. Nevertheless, some people will disagree if the government allows abortion. In this case, the government should persuade women to make their own decisions about their bodies. Education people to use contraception is the best way to prevent babies from being abandoned. Many people don’t know how important contraception is. So the government should educate people to do contraception to prevent unwanted babies. However, some people ignore or don’t believe this kind of education. Thus, the government should educate people since they are children. In conclusion, we can try some solutions to prevent babies from being abandoned even though it is not easy. The government should set cameras that track everything, and warn people to control illegal abandonment. And the government should allow abortion legally and persuade people who disagree of abortion. Also, the government should educate people since they are children to learn how important contraception is.

Scientific Research

Scientific Research Scientific Research is method based on collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data within a framework. It is Information based on empirical, based on observation or measurement of relevant information or free from bias or emotions and objectivity. All aspects of the investigation are described in sufficient detail, so that the study can be repeated by anyone. Scientific research focuses on solving problems and pursues a step by step logical, organized, and rigorous method to identify the problems, gather data analyze them and draw valid conclusion. Scientific method is techniques or procedures used to analyze empirical evidence in an attempt to confirm of disprove prior concepts† Empirical means something is verifiable by observation, experimentation, or experience. Characteristics of Scientific Research 1. Purposive ness 2. Rigor 3. Testability 4. Replicability 5. Precision and Confidence 6. Objectivity 7. Generalizability 8. Parsimony Purposive ness resea rch start with a definite aim and purpose. Example: The focus is on increasing the commitment of employees to the organization, as this will beneficial in many ways. Less absentees, increased performance level. Rigorous research involves a good theoretical base and a carefully thought out methodology. For example: The manager of a company ask 10-12 employees to indicate what would their level of commitment. If he solely reaches on conclusion how employee commitment can be increased. Its unscientific method. Testability: Formulation of hypothesis and its testability. To test logically developed hypothesis to see whether or not the data support the hypotheses developed after the careful study of the problem situation. For Example: Taking the previous example, the manager or researcher develop certain hypothesis on how employment commitment can be enhanced, then these can be tested by applying certain statistical tests to the data collected for the purpose. Replicability: Repetition of results. If similar finding emerge on the basis of data collected by other organizations employing the same method. To put t differently, the results of test hypotheses should be supported again and yet the same type of research is repeated in similar circumstances. Precision and Confidence Precision: It refers to the closeness of the findings to â€Å"reality† based on a sample. It reflects the degree of accuracy of the results on the basis of the sample, to what really exists in the universe. Confidence: Probability that our estimations are correct. Confidently claim that 95% of the time our results would be true. Objectivity: The conclusion drawn through the interpretation of the results of data analysis should be objective; it should be based on the facts of the findings derived from the actual data and not on our own subjective or emotional values. Generalizability: It refers to the scope of applicability of the research findings in one organizational setting to others. Parsimony: Simplicity in explaining phenomena or problems that occur, and in generating solutions for the problems, it is always proffered to complex research frameworks that considered an unmanageable number of factors. The Hypothetico- Deductive Method 1. Observation 2. Preliminary information gathering 3. Theory formulation 4. Hypothesizing 5. Scientific data collection 6. Data analysis 7. Deduction