Character Analysis Of The Darkness In Emma By Jane Austen

Jane Austen begins the novel Emma by stating, â€Å"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her† (1) immediately giving readers the impression that Emma is a young woman whom the readers should respect and grow to love throughout the novel. As we continue reading, however, we learn that while Emma has a respectable reputation and a circle of people who love her and want the best for her, she is extremely flawed. In the article, The Darkness in Emma, Anita Soloway states, â€Å"for Emma, beauty, cleverness, and wealth prove to be mixed blessings at best, for†¦show more content†¦Emma is selfish, unable to see reality as it truly is, and is impulsive, yet, because of her respectable standing in the social class, people love her and want the best for her and think highly of her. While discussing Emma with Mr. Knightley, Mrs. Weston states, â€Å"With all dear Emma’s little faults, she is an excellent creature. Where shall we see a better daughter, or a kinder sister, or a truer friend? No, no; she has qualities which may be trusted; she will never lead any one really wrong; she will make no lasting blunder; where Emma errs once, she is in the right a hundred times† (25). While her opinion on Emma does recognize that she has faults and isn’t perfect, those flaws are basically overlooked. Mrs. Weston seems to believe that Emma is a blessing to everyone she encounters, and even when she creates an issue, it’s acceptable because it’s assumed she’ll do something great to compensate up for it. This definitely shows what Emma’s reputation is like, and how the people close to her view her. One of Emma’s main flaws is the fact that she is extremely impulsive with her actions, and she doesn’t stop to thi nk about what she’s doing until the damage is already done. This happens multiple times throughout the novel, especially when Emma tries to play matchmaker. This is partially due to the fact that she is unable to see reality clearly, which is what happens during her attempt at bringing Harriet and Mr. Elton together.Show MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pageslooking at alternative actions that can be taken, then considering the probable good consequences of each action and the probable bad consequences while weighing the positive and negative impact of each consequence. It’s a kind of cost-benefit analysis. Exercises 1. Columbus Day is an American holiday. Write a short essay that weighs the pros and cons and then comes to a decision about whether there should be more or less public celebration (by Americans and their institutions) on Columbus

Montessori VS Gibson Education and Perception Free Essays

Maria Montessori and Eleanor Gibson are two of the primary education theorists in the last 100 years.   Both are female, which was rare in their fields at the time, and both contributed to education and learning theories in ways that are still widely used today.   However, each has a different perspective on education, and a different and unique contribution to the field of educational research. We will write a custom essay sample on Montessori VS Gibson: Education and Perception or any similar topic only for you Order Now    Overall, there are many significant similarities and differences in the educational theories created and implemented by Montessori and Gibson. Montessori was born in Italy in 1870.   She attended medical school there despite protests about her gender, and was the first woman to ever become a doctor in Italy.   After medical school, Montessori went on to work with poor children.   She noticed that many of these children could not necessarily benefit from medical care, but could benefit from educational opportunities that they did not have.   After noticing this, Montessori went on to teach children and develop a system of education that is used throughout the world today. Her early success in teaching was met with surprise, as even she had been skeptical that her methods would work.   The progress that these economically poor children showed was amazing to her, and to others who came to see what they could do.   In fact, efforts were so successful that Montessori went on to open up other ‘poor houses’ around Italy, and later, in other countries.   Towards the end of her life, she traveled around, teaching the ‘Montessori method’ to other teachers in countries throughout the world (Cossentino). Gibson was born in America in 1910.   As a child, she was discouraged from attending school because of her gender, but persevered and attended anyway.   After secondary school, she attended Yale and eventually earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology.   Gibson then began to work with children and animals, doing experiments to see what babies knew from birth and what was learned. Her most famous experiment is the â€Å"visual cliff,† where a drop-off is set up and covered by glass.   Babies aged 6 to 14 months are placed at the edge and encouraged to crawl onto the clear glass.   However, all babies refused, suggesting that they could perceive depth from birth.   Gibson used the information she gathered from these experiments to investigate the way people learn and perceive their environment.   Gibson’s experiments are still being carried out by her students today (Gibson). Maria Montessori created a method for teaching children that today is used to educate children from birth through age 18, although it is mostly commonly used for ages three to six.   The general principle is to allow a child his freedom to work at his own pace, on the activities he chooses.   Several age-appropriate activities are possible, and the child chooses what he is interested in and investigates it thoroughly.   Children at work are never interrupted, and individual work takes precedence over group work.   Additionally, all groups are multi-age, with three ages in one group.   The most common age group is the three to six year old ages.   These groupings exist so the older children will teach the younger children, advancing both of their learning (www.montessori.edu). Gibson’s approach to education is different.   Her studies focused on perceptual development and innate knowledge in babies rather than education later in life, although her theories had implications for education later in life.   Gibson is known for starting the field of perceptual development in psychology, as little was known about it at the time.   Most doctors and psychologists assumed that to babies, the world was nothing more than a confusing buzz of sounds and sights, and that they could not make any sense of it or perceive it at all in the way of adults. These doctors assumed that babies learned to perceive as they aged and were taught about the world around them.   Gibson performed many experiments throughout her years as a researcher that disproved this view and brought about a brand-new view of perceptual development.   She wrote two books, one in 1967 on her research thus far, and one in 1991 that summed up what she had done in her lifetime (Gibson). The major difference between Montessori and Gibson is that Montessori was a doctor who specialized in teaching children based on their individual needs throughout their lives, while Gibson primarily focused on what children already knew when they were born and was not overly concerned with later life, as older children had already been studied more.   Gibson does, however, focus some on the processes of education throughout life, although primarily in what children know at birth and how this affects the way they learn later in life. They were similar, though, in their belief that children were different than others thought.   Children were not stupid, were not blank slates, and did not need help in learning everything.   Children were born with innate abilities to learn and to perceive.   Gibson and Montessori both furthered this idea through their work.   Both women also helped to show that children could work seriously, even from a young age; that their attention spans are long enough and their perceptions are good enough to learn on their own. Gibson did further experiments, mostly with infants, and often with animals, as certain types of experiments are not ethical in humans.   One significant finding was in how human children learned to read and recognize letters.   Gibson theorized that children would learn by seeking out the features that are different about the letters, or â€Å"contrastive features.†Ã‚   She came upon this theory based on experiments with animals that showed this was how they learned to recognize colors, patterns, and other objects.   It turned out that this was, indeed, how children learned, by recognizing different features in the letters to distinguish one from another (Spelke). Also, Gibson was trying to focus on the ‘mechanisms which operate in all learning (Gibson).’   Her goal was to discover, through her research on perception, how exactly humans learned, and how figuring this out could benefit them in some way.   This research was crucial later to show how much people really knew and were capable of learning at all ages. Montessori did not focus nearly as much on how children perceived, but on how they learned (which is, in general, what Montessori and Gibson have most in common).   Montessori emphasized that all children learned differently and needed an environment which nurtured this.   Children who are put in an environment and allowed to learn what they chose tended to choose to learn as much as possible.   Montessori also emphasizes creativity through learning to do a number of different things, and to learn them correctly.   For example, music lessons can be a part of Montessori if a child chooses; but the teachers encourage the students to learn to play an instrument correctly, not to use it for an unorthodox purposes, like using a violin as a hammer (www.montessori.edu). Additionally, Montessori focuses on work, rather than play in her education model.   Most preschools believe that children learn through random play, while Montessori emphasizes purposeful work even from the young ages in order to investigate and learn about the world (Cossentino 63). Both methods are based on the premise that children know more than they are given credit for.   Gibson was sure that children could understand and perceive far more than psychologists thought they could, and her experiments showed that this was true.   In fact, Gibson did experiments on animals that proved even further what the experiments with babies began to show.   Gibson took newborn kids (baby goats) and placed them on the visual cliff, and even at birth they would not go over it. She also placed kittens on the cliff once they were old enough to move and see, and they would not go over it.   Gibson reared some animals in complete darkness for awhile, and some would still not go over the cliff when they entered the light.   Kittens were an exception to this.   For a few days, they crawled across the whole surface and did not notice the cliff; after that, they, too, stopped going over the edge.   Gibson tried to place them on the cliff right away, so they would learn that crawling onto the glass was safe, but once kittens could see better, even though they knew the glass was safe from previous experience, they still would not go across it once they could see the cliff, suggesting that the perception of this drop is innate and not learned (Spelke). Innate ability is the key to Gibson and Montessori.   Both believed that children had innate ability to learn, to recognize, and to know.   Montessori built her schools on this premise.   In fact, many schools have children who are discovering and understanding subjects that adults think are far beyond their capabilities at a young age.   Elementary age students may teach themselves advanced mathematics or science concepts, ideas that are usually taught in high school.   The Montessori method encourages children to use their innate curiosity and ability to investigate to find out about their world and learn as much as they can about it (www.montessori.edu). Children are unusually intelligent and have strong capabilities.   They are not born with no knowledge, no skills, and no ability to learn.   Both Gibson and Montessori’s research showed that this is true.   Children are born knowing things, and born with a thirst to know more things.   Children learn by perceiving the world around them and continuing to try things out until they figure out how it works, and why. Montessori had an early idea about how children learned, and created a system to teach them in that natural way.   Today’s Montessori schools are all across the world, at every age group, public and private.   Montessori still means that children learn individually, even when they are in high school.   Students who study by the Montessori method tend to score above average on standardized tests (despite a complete lack of teaching to the test) and tend to get into good colleges and succeed well in life. This is because students are given the opportunity to work individually from a young age, which leads to self-motivation.   Self-motivation is the most crucial part of the theory; children will learn far more if they are doing it on their own, based on intrinsic motivation, rather than extrinsic motivation.   The Montessori method promotes this intrinsic motivation from the beginning (www.montessori.edu). Gibson’s work, which came later, explained in psychological detail what Montessori seemed to ‘innately know,’ just as her students innately knew about the world around them.   Gibson’s experiments shed light on the way children perceived their world and how much they actually knew and understood before anyone taught them. Today, many people are still a bit skeptical about the ideas put forth by these two women.   However, many of the major educational and psychological movements are based on the work that both women did in their individual fields.   Gibson’s experiments have given way to a plethora of research in cognitive and perceptual psychology, specifically aimed at trying to figure out how infants and animals really think and understand. The result of all of these years of experiments and programs it that children are better prepared to learn about their world in a way that makes sense to them.   Children are better focused, better behaved, and learn more, better, and more quickly when their natural abilities are recognized and respected.  Ã‚   Children in Montessori classrooms or those with teachers who believe in their ability to think, learn, and perceive without explicit teaching thrive better than those who have teachers who think they are merely blank slates, empty vessels waiting to be taught to look, listen, think, and perceive. The educational world has both Gibson and Montessori to thank for their new insights into teaching young children.   Both women made significant contributions to the field at a time when women were not welcomed into medical fields.   Both women had to fight for their right to an education, and both women were intelligent enough and savvy enough to get their degrees and conduct their programs despite opposition.   Without them, education would not be what it is today. Bibliography Cossentino, Jacqueline M. (2006).   â€Å"Big Work: Goodness, Vocation, and Engagement in the Montessori Method.†Ã‚   Curriculum Inquiry.   36, 1, 63 – 92. Gibson, Eleanor J. (1940). â€Å"A Systematic Application of the Concepts of Generalization and Differentiation to Verbal Learning.† Psychological Review.   47, 196 – 229. Gibson, Eleanor J. (1934). â€Å"Retention and the Interpolated Task.† American Journal of Psychology.   46, 603 – 610. â€Å"The International Montessori Index (2006).†Ã‚   Accessed December 18, 2006.   Website: www.montessori.edu.   Spelke, Elizabeth (2003).   â€Å"Gibson’s Work: An Extended Reply to Helmholtz.†Ã‚   Association for Psychological Science, 16, 4. How to cite Montessori VS Gibson: Education and Perception, Essay examples

Dollarization Essay Research Paper Richard W Stevenson free essay sample

Dollarization Essay, Research Paper Richard W. Stevenson s article Greenspan View on Wider Use of Dollar discusses a procedure he refers to as dollarization. Harmonizing to Mr. Stevenson, A figure of states have been sing abandoning their national currencies and following the American dollar the recognized international benchmark of stableness as a manner of cut downing involvement rates, rising prices, and exchange rate volatility. It is this procedure that he refers to as dollarization. Harmonizing to the article, several states already use the dollar as their official currency and many, such as Russia and the Philippines, have yet to do it official even though the dollar is widely circulated at that place. In fact So strong is foreign demand for dollars that approximately two-thirds of all American currency is in circulation outside the United States. The demand for dollars outside the US is apprehensible, particularly in the case of Russia. The business communities have small trust in their national currency due to the fact that infla tion is out of control, it is therefor more prudent to conduct business in a more stable currency, such as the American dollar. We will write a custom essay sample on Dollarization Essay Research Paper Richard W Stevenson or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Under the circumstances, it seems that official conversion to dollars is the next logical step, and economically speaking it is. However no government can operate based strictly on economic reasons, there is the issue of nationalism. Most people would be insulted to know that their country is adopting a new national currency. It must also be noted that the US is only willing to go through with this possibility if the countries are looking to adopt not only the dollar, but also the types of policies that are required to create stability. In other words, the US is on a political Crusade to convert other countries to its economical policies. That is where the comparison to the Euro (present throughout the entire article) fails. The Euro signifies an economical and political union of several able countries. Dollarization is yet another attempt of the US government to exert its influence on other countries affairs.

Nafta Essays (564 words) - Labour Economics, Employment Compensation

Nafta Nafta If NAFTA made this agreement, people would be able to move about Canada, the United States, and Mexico with ease. The unskilled workers in Mexico would migrate to "El Norte," looking for higher paying jobs. The supply of workers in Mexico will drastically decrease. Only the terminally ignorant, or those with families in Mexico, would stay in a poor country and earn low wages. On the other hand, the United States' supply of workers will increase drastically. Canada's supply of workers would not be changed dramatically, because it is so similar to the United States, only further away. The amount of workers moving from Canada to the United States and vice versa would not be severely affected, however, if the United States' supply of workers becomes too great then workers might migrate north to Canada to find jobs. High school economics teachers would be able to work in any of the three countries, as the same basic knowledge of economics is required. I think teachers in Mexico would choose to move to the United States or Canada, if they were proficient in the native language, because the wages would be much more gratifying. The supply of economics teachers in the US and Canada would increase, thereby slightly decreasing the wages. Mexico's supply of economics teachers would drop, so the wages for economics teachers would slightly increase. Equilibrium wages for economics teachers will remain about the same, and employment will be high. For carpenters, again, I think the wages in the north would be higher. Because carpentry does not involve extensive education and focuses on the talent and skill of carpenters, workers would be able to easily move to another country. If all of the carpenters in Mexico decide to "run for the border," the supply of carpenters in the US and Canada will drastically increase. Wages will increase for skilled carpenters in Mexico, and wages in the US and Canada will fall slightly. If too many Mexicans move to the north there will be high unemployment, because we will have a ton of skilled workers and not enough jobs to fulfill their needs. People will eventually want to return to Mexico, because with the supply of skilled workers being so low, the wages will be slightly higher. For ob/gyns, I would think the United States or Canada would be the destination of choice, simply because our health care is much more advanced. In any of the countries, however, the pay will be significant because of wage differentials. They will ultimately make up for all of the years of schooling by receiving high wages. For fast-food workers, the supply will increase in the US due to the unskilled workers from Mexico who try to get these jobs. Demand for workers in the fast-food industry will go down, because there are plenty of unskilled workers. Demand for the labor will decrease as well, because the supply of labor is so great. Newspaper reporters will most likely stay where they are. There is always going to be news to be reported, and the language barrier also plays a part. Most Mexican workers will want to move to the US or Canada because real wages are higher than those of Mexico. In the US and Canada, wages are higher because of better education, a more skilled workforce, larger stock of capital per worker, and the advantage of modern technology. Unskilled workers from Mexico might find themselves in the same position no matter which country they are in. They will be competing for low-paying minimum wage jobs, and there will be a plethora of unskilled workers.

chrysler operating systems production management philosophies Essays

chrysler operating systems production management philosophies Essays chrysler operating systems production management philosophies Essay chrysler operating systems production management philosophies Essay In order to develop a scheme for incorporating the bing production direction doctrines of the Chrysler Operating System and the Mercedes-Benz Production Concept, there are a figure of facets that were taken into consideration. This sum-up of recommendations includes information on the analysis of the procedures, the tools utilised to carry on that analysis, suggestions on how to manage any identified conflicting goals/system elements, synergisms between procedures, the function of defined guidelines for the integrating of the productions systems, how declaration between the attacks was reached, definition of any farther classs of action, and the function of corporate civilization in the integrating procedure. Analysis of Production Management Philosophies Prior to explicating a scheme, both production direction doctrines have to be analysed in order to better understand what processes were the most effectual within each production system. Since concern procedure integrating involves the integrating of multiple processes into a individual set of activities, each procedure must be assessed in footings of its importance and ability to accomplish specific ends in order to keep an in agreement upon set of aims and understate the sum of alteration that each administration must undergo to make a incorporate production direction system. Specific appraisal tools can include duplicate and analysis mechanisms. The first tool of procedure matching is defined as the procedure of constellating and associating similar activities by utilizing assorted methods each with strengths and failings that can leverage the cognition stored in a procedure. In footings of Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler, this would affect fiting the system elements, design guidelines, and methods and tools to place the strengths and failings of each system. Once the matching has been completed in footings of what processes work good together from the systems, farther analysis is done to give how these procedures can be implemented into a new production system. As portion of the advanced analysis, the overall province of the car industry should besides be examined as portion of research affecting external forces, including economic, societal, political, and competitory factors by carry oning a Porter s Five Forces and SWOT analysis. A figure of these external alterations are of import to understand in footings of guaranting that the new scheme aligns both administrations every bit good as lucifers the demands of the external factors. For case, the new cognition environment has replaced fabricating whilst societal outlooks are altering in footings of valued-added merchandises that meet environmental criterions and conform to new economic outlooks. All of these factors have, so, undermined the domination of the mass production system that had been the common production direction system of the car industry. Such a additive system no longer works within an environment that expects customisation whilst working on a planetary graduated table. The analysis should besides affect benchmarking other industry leaders, such as the Toyota Production System ( TPS ) . The procedures utilised within successful rivals can besides be assessed in footings of successful execution into a new production system that will replace two separate procedure doctrines. For case, TPS has proved to be a successful production procedure in that it has helped to pull off equipment, stuffs, and labour in the most efficient mode while guaranting a healthy and safe work environment. Additionally, TPS has been founded to present other benefits, including greater merchandise assortment, fast response or flexibleness, stable production agendas, supply concatenation integrating and demand direction, that have yielded consistent quality studies above and beyond American and European car manufacturers. For case, the Chrysler Operating System had already incorporated many of the TPS capablenesss, including just-in-time bringing and buffer minimization, squad administration and duty for quality, mistake analysis and quality problem-solving. Other facets that should be measured for usage in the new production system is the manner that the Chrysler Operating System utilised a acquisition through making preparation classs so that workers were empowered to do process betterments inline to better the degree of quality whilst raising the flow of production. Further probe of all these capablenesss every bit good as each administration s civilizations are indispensable in making a proper appraisal about what constituents of the production procedure will work with the incorporate companies. Resolution of Conflicting Goals/System Elementss One of the most of import facets to the scheme involves guaranting that struggle between ends and system elements are minimised to ease the execution of the new system. However, there will ever be certain facets or ends that lead to conflict. In order for alteration to happen, execution must be desirable by all parties involved so that a consensus is reached in deciding any evident struggle. A cardinal issue between the two systems was the concern over quality due to the fact the Chrysler s production system relied to a great extent on outsourcing of many of its activities related to the design and physique stages. To counterbalance for this, Chrysler did benchmark Toyotas production system, which led to its Chrysler Operating System. Additionally, struggle developed at Mercedes-Benz when alterations were suggested, including a motion manner from the assembly-line procedures of mass production to the more specialized independent working squads as portion of modular production. Such drastic alterations to an administration do non portend good with employees or direction unless there is a precise definition of what it will accomplish. This was apparent in the deficiency of a written, company-specific Rastatt production system that would hold enabled the staff to derive a better apprehension of how to integrate the freshly suggested humancentered production rules of the Uddevalla production system. In contrast, The Chrysler Operating System ( COS ) was already in topographic point and the company had already experienced a extremist alteration in the merchandise development procedure. Additionally, struggle developed from a continued deficiency of defined guidelines in its productions system Prosys. Conflict came from the fact that there was non a consistent set of criterions but, alternatively, were a loose aggregation of production procedure descriptions intended to assist workers to understand eleven selected production subjects. This, once more, reinforces that a clearly defined scheme for developing, implementing, and pass oning a production procedure is indispensable for success in incorporating two distinguishable systems. In contrast, the Toyota Production System provides a comprehensive and elaborate description of what is involved in the production system, including criterions, aims, and functions and duties. However, another struggle appeared in footings of dissension about whether the TPS theoretical account was every bit good as many claimed. Some within the Mercedes-Benz administration believed that this production system, in existent fact, resulted in decrease of working rhythms, occupation content, and an addition in insistent work and physical and psychological strain. To decide these struggles, recommendations include recognizing how the clearly-defined system that Chrysler had in topographic point, which mirrored some of the most successful constructs of Toyota, could be integrated into the bing one at Mercedes-Benz that was excessively general. As one research worker noted, one recommendation is to make a elaborate integrating design, which identifies a ( limited ) figure of concern elements to be examined individually and place where there is overlap, struggle, or compatibility so that certain countries can be preserved whilst others are realigned. It would be this design t hat could besides relieve any struggle in footings of dissension on the benefits of implementing the best patterns of TPS. Each of these concerns would be addressed within the design to guarantee that at that place would non be any happening of strain, insistent work, or loss of occupation content. Synergies in Production Management Philosophies Synergies can be transferred throughout the administration, but there can be external factors that can suppress the acceptance of certain synergisms. For case, labour Torahs and production capacity can differ significantly between the US and Germany can bring forth certain transportations of procedures to other fabrication workss. In these instances, the synergisms that have been realised can be adapted to aline with specific authorities ordinances and still be able to make important betterments. Identifying these synergisms will assist the new production procedure in footings of quality, time-to-market, and the decrease of costs every bit good as supply a competitory advantage. In footings of synergisms between the two companies, there are a figure of countries to be considered, including merchandise development, time-to-market, planetary schemes, and logistics. In reexamining the best patterns of each production system, these could go the chief synergisms that the new production system could leverage to meld the best of all processes together for improved bringing clip, quality, work load, and costs. However, the appraisal of best patterns within each system can be time-consuming because there are an infinite figure of solutions that need to be evaluated and there are inquiries about the deepness of appraisal and scrutiny. From this, it can be concluded that there is merely a certain sum of in-depth rating that can be conducted prior to the integrating of the procedures. At this clip, merely synergisms and best patterns that can be implemented rapidly with the least sum of attempt and cost whilst bring forthing the most seeable consequences for the new a dministration have been planned. Possibly, other appraisals can be done at a ulterior day of the month to pull out farther synergisms and sweetening through best patterns. Like the Toyota Production System, all alterations did non happen at one time but were phased in every bit needed over a period of old ages, so DaimlerChrysler will besides hold to add best patterns as the new production system continues to germinate. Defined Guidelines, Resolution Approaches and Further Courses of Action Prior to the amalgamation, Mercedes-Benz did look to hold trouble with specifying the necessary guidelines that would assist convey consistence to all of its production processes throughout the company s installations. For case, single workss had implemented their ain plant-specific production systems instead than concentrating on any comprehensive standardized systems. For Mercedes-Benz, the administration will necessitate to farther evolve in its procedure production system with some experts oppugning the house s ability to travel beyond the prevailing German expert-led uninterrupted betterment theoretical account to the group-led Kaizen theoretical account developed by Toyota as a cardinal component in its widely adopted thin system. In order for Mercedes-Benz Production Concept and the Chrysler Operating System to incorporate for improved production throughout all fabrication locations, there needs to be more work accomplished around the accomplishment of independent workgroups as they are larning to deconcentrate determinations and decide cultural differences in work manner. This will necessitate attempts to make the administration through its civilization to farther embed these constructs into the day-to-day operations. Similarly, Mercedes-Benz might be able to benchmark many best patterns from the Chrysler Operating System in footings of puting clearly defined criterions that its new spouse had incorporated from TPS. This set of defined guidelines for operating processs include work instructions, standardised operation sheets, preventive care criterions and statistical procedure control ( SPC ) . In this manner, Mercedes-Benz can profit from a more organized system that specifically communicates to those working within the production procedure so that they more clearly understand their function and duties. Since the manner in which each production squad worked in footings of their policies were rather different, this country needed speedy declaration so that the company could take advantage of any bing synergisms that might be discovered. To make so, the new theoretical account would include a set of defined operating rules and best pattern methods that would replace the anterior work policies that were in struggle with each other. However, with so many rules and best patterns, there will necessitate to be a more defined methodological analysis for the administration to understand how these rules and best patterns work together as a cohesive production theoretical account instead than looking as a disconnected list of system constituents. Role of Corporate Culture in Successful Process System Integration Corporate civilization is a critical success factor within an administration, which is imperative to implementing and implanting any strategic alterations within an administration and it becomes particularly of import in a clip of integrating where employees need something significant to steer them through the procedure. A civilization based on cognition will ease the transportation of cognition throughout the administration, better enabling the success of a scheme that is tied to that cognition base. A corporate civilization, which portions cognition and accepts change, can guarantee that the production processes of the two administrations are tightly integrated. ODell and Grayson have recommended five indispensable actions that should be taken: The ability to capture acquisition. A procedure betterment orientation. The ability to work efficaciously in squads. A common methodological analysis for betterment and alteration. The engineering to back up cataloguing. It is the fulfillment of these actions that has enabled the full car industry to impel itself frontward in footings of accomplishing enhanced quality, dependability, and length of service. For illustration, it was this apprehension of civilization at Mercedes-Benz that did take to consensus amongst the administration to utilize invention, motive and accomplishments of staff more expeditiously. Reaching this understanding by holding a strong organizational civilization is one of the most effectual ways to plan and migrate to a new production procedure. There are other of import issues about corporate civilization that are critical to guaranting a successful integrating procedure. As one research worker noted, Geting directors have a inclination to see integrating as a procedure of making them the same as us. However, the right attack balances the demand to continue the value of what is acquired with the demand to make synergisms. The civilization is a critical portion of this procedure because it can supply the footing and encouragement for making the willingness and ability of many people across both administrations to interact and work together to maximize those synergisms that exist. Overall Recommendations In footings of the aforesaid actions, Mercedes-Benz has been able to carry through some whilst still necessitating to come on toward a common methodological analysis with Chrysler to accomplish a new high public presentation system. Mercedes-Benz should go on its attempts to diversify its squad to enable its move to a leaner production procedure because this allows the company to engage a squad that can convey assorted expertness, cognition, and capablenesss into the procedures for farther sweetening of the new system. Within the US administration, the company has been able to convey together German, American and US-Japanese directors to make a alone civilization and operations that incorporates German direction patterns and Nipponese production processes. It is hoped that trusting on the cognition based of this direction construction will assist decide the broad assortment of work manners between the works degree and centre degree administrations. Making work squads that include members from each administration will enable new procedure solutions to be developed that so can be agreed upon as the new criterion for the company. Overall recommendations include consistent and clear communicating on the specific guidelines and productions criterions that will border the new production system of the freshly integrated company. As portion of the integrating procedure, it would be recommended that DaimlerChrysler incorporate extended preparation processes that embed the new best pattern criterions within each installation, integrating cognition transportation on the assorted schemes, including just-in-time and entire quality processes. Rather than fall backing to the insular position that Mercedes-Benz had antecedently taken, it is recommended that the company expression outwards for the best patterns that will assist impel the company frontward as the planetary car industry continues to radically germinate. As in all industries viing today within the world-wide market place, it seems as though procedure betterments will be an on-going scheme within DaimlerChrysler in footings of giving higher degrees of quality and reduced costs. While a new standardized system can be developed that can be successfully integrated across DaimlerChrysler, there is still an apprehension that there may be times where it is still necessary to be flexible plenty to accommodate the production system to conform to certain human resource direction and labour relation criterions in assorted states where a peculiar group within a fabrication works may hold different outlooks. This can be benchmarked from the best patterns of the Toyota Production System that has proven that it can be adjusted into a intercrossed theoretical account in order to keep first-class labour-management dealingss, which is the key to the success of any production system. So, whilst standardization is good in footings of bettering the proficient side of the concern in footings of costs, engineering, quality, and bringing times, the softer side of the concern, including human dealingss, labour dealingss, and employee motive and productiveness can be better handled with flexibleness and hybridization of certain procedures. Combined, these attempts will supply DaimlerChrysler with a competitory and productive production system.

Overview of the No Child Left Behind Act

Overview of the No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB) was initially legislated for 5 years, and has been since temporarily extended, but not officially reauthorized. Senate Democrats were divided were divided on reauthorization, while most Senate Republicans heartily despise NCLB. In May 2008, Senate reauthorization was put on the back-burner while legislators pondered hundreds of reform ideas. In early 2010 and again on March 14, 2011, President Obama said he will seek to reauthorize NCLB, but modified to be similar to his $4.35 billion Race to the Top initiative, which requires five major education reforms for K-12 public education, and pushes states to compete for education funding, rather than automatically receiving it based on a formula. At Race to the Top, Obamas 2010 Education Grant Initiative, read a summary of Obamas controversial five reforms which are a model for his planned reform of NCLB. NCLB is a federal law that mandates a number of programs aimed at improving U.S. education in elementary, middle and high schools by increasing accountability standards. The approach is based on outcome-based theories education that high expectations goal-setting will result in greater educational achievement for most students. Supporters of NCLB Supporters of NCLB agree with the mandate for accountability to educational standards, and believe emphasis on test results will improve the quality of public education for all students. Proponents also believe that NCLB initiatives will further democratize U.S. education, by setting standards and providing resources to schools, regardless of wealth, ethnicity, disabilities or language spoken. Opponents of NCLB Opponents of NCLB, which includes all major teachers unions, allege that the act hasnt been effective in improving education in public education, especially high schools, as evidenced by mixed results in standardized tests since NCLBs 2002 inception. Opponents also claim that standardized testing, which is the heart of NCLB accountability, is deeply flawed and biased for many reasons, and that stricter teacher qualifications have exacerbated the nationwide teacher shortage, not provided a stronger teaching force. Some critics believe that the federal government has no constitutional authority in the education arena, and that federal involvement erodes state and local control over education of their children. Current Status In January 2007, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings published Building on Results: A Blue print for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act, in which the Bush Administration: Asserts that the Act is challenging our students to succeed and our schools to improve.Claims that 90% of teachers have met NCLBs highly qualified teacher requirements... At-risk students are getting help earlier... children with disabilities are receiving more classroom time and attention... Spellings report admitted problems that NCLB has identified and not cured, including:Between 1999 and 2004, reading scores for 17-year-olds fell 3 points, and math scores fell 1 point.U.S. 15-year-olds ranked 24th out of 29 developed nations in math literacy and problem-solving, in 2003.1 million students annually drop out of high school before graduation. Changes Proposed by Bush Administration To strengthen the No Child Left Behind Act, the Bush Administration proposes: * A stronger effort must be made to close the achievement gap through the high school standards and accountability. TRANSLATED: More testing, and tougher tests. * Middle and high schools must offer more rigorous coursework that better prepares students for postsecondary education or the workforce. TRANSLATED: Tougher and more basics-focused courses in middle and high school. Also, clearer differentiation between college bound and non- college bound students. * States much be given the flexibilities and new tools to restructure chronically underperforming schools, and families must be given more options. TRANSLATED: The most controversial new proposal would enable students at failing schools to receive a voucher to transfer to a private school. Thus, the Bush Administration is proposing that public school funds would be used to pay private and religious schools. Until now, students at perennially failing schools had the options to either transfer to another public school or receive extended tutoring at the schools expense. Background The 670-page No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was passed with strong bipartisan backing by the House of Representatives on December 13, 2001 by a vote of 381-41, and by the Senate on December 18, 2001 by a vote of 87-10. President George W. Bush signed it into law on January 8, 2002. The primary sponsors of NCLB were President George W. Bush and Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, a decades-long advocate for raising the quality of public education for all American children. NCLB was partially based on education reform strategies instituted by President Bush during his tenure as Texas governor. Those Texas education reforms were reputed to result in improved standardized test scores. Subsequent inquiry revealed test-rigging by some educators and administrators. Margaret Spellings, Former Secretary of Education One of the principal authors of NCLB was Margaret Spellings, who was nominated to Secretary of Education in late 2004. Spellings, who holds a B.A. in political science from University of Houston, was the political director for Bushs first gubernatorial campaign in 1994, and later served as a senior advisor to Texas Gov. Bush during his term as 1995 to 2000. Before her association with George W. Bush, Spellings worked on an education reform commission under Texas Governor William P. Clements and as associate executive director for the Texas Association of School Boards. Prior to her nomination to be Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings worked for the Bush Administration as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. Margaret Spellings has never worked in a school system, and has no formal training in education. She is married to Robert Spellings, former Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the Texas House, now a prominent attorney in Austin, Texas and Washington D.C., who has actively lobbied for the adoption of school vouchers. Pros The primary positives of the  No Child Left Behind Act  include: Accountability standards are set and measured annually by each state to foster educational growth and achievement. All results are also annually reported to parents.Standards are set for teacher qualifications.NCLB links state academic content with student educational outcomes, and requires school improvement be implemented using scientific-based research methods in the classroom, parent programs, and teacher development courses.NCLB emphasizes reading, writing and math.NCLB measures educational status and growth by ethnicity, and helps to close the achievement gap between white and minority students.NCLB requires schools to focus on providing quality education to students who are often underserved, including children with disabilities, from low-income families, non-English speakers, as well as African-Americans and Latinos.Parents are provided annually with a detailed report of student achievement, and explanations are provided of achievement levels. Cons Major drawbacks of the  No Child Left Behind Actinclude: Federal Underfunding The Bush Administration has significantly underfunded NCLB at the state level, and yet, has required states to comply with all provisions of NCLB or risk losing  federal funds. Said Sen. Ted Kennedy, a sponsor of NCLB and Senate Education Committee Chair, The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not. As a result, most states have been forced to make budget cuts in non-tested school subjects such as science,  foreign languages,  social studies  and arts programs, and for books, field trips and school supplies. Teaching to the Test Teachers and parents charge that NCLB encourages, and rewards, teaching children to score well on the test, rather than teaching with a primary goal of learning. As a result, teachers are pressured to teach a narrow set of test-taking skills and a test-limited range of knowledge. NCLB ignores many vital subjects, including science, history and foreign languages. Problems with NCLB Standardized Tests Since states set their own standards and write their own standardized NCLB tests, states can compensate for inadequate student performance by setting very low standards and making tests unusually easy. Many contend that testing requirements for disabled and limited-English proficient students are unfair and unworkable. Critics allege that standardized tests contain cultural biases, and that educational quality cant necessarily be evaluated by  objective testing. Teacher Qualification Standards NCLB sets very high teacher qualifications by requiring new  teachers  to possess one (or often more) college degrees in specific subjects and to pass a battery of proficiency tests. Existing teachers must also pass proficiency tests. These new requirements have caused major problems in obtaining qualified teachers in subjects (special education, science, math) and areas (rural, inner cities) where schools districts already have teacher shortages. Teachers especially object to the Bush 2007 proposal to allow districts to circumvent teacher contracts to transfer teachers to failing and poorly-performing schools. Failure to Address Reasons for Lack of Achievement At its core, NCLB faults schools and curriculum for student failure, but critics claim that other factors are also to blame, including: class size, old and damaged school buildings, hunger and homelessness, and lack of health care. Where It Stands Theres little doubt that the  No Child Left Behind Act  will be reauthorized by Congress in 2007. The open question is: How will Congress change the Act? White House Kicks-Off Reauthorization Discussions A meeting was held on January 8, 2007 at the White House to mark the 5th anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, and to kick-off Bush Administration discussons with Congress regarding reauthorization of the act. Attendees at the meeting with President Bush and Education Secreatary Margaret Spellings were Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Chair of the Senate Education Committee; Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), ranking Republican on that committee; Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Chair of the House Education Committee; and Rep. Howard McKeon (R-CA), ranking Republican on that committee. According to Sen. Enzi,  There was agreement we should proceed, and an agreement in principal on what needs to be done. Religious, Civil Liberties Groups Propose NCLB Changes More than 100 religious denominations and  civil rights, education and disability advocacy groups have signed on to the  Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB, calling for changes to NCLB, and stating that: We endorse the use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children, including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities, and of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful, participating members of our democracy... ... we believe the following significant, constructive corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and effective. Among these concerns are: * over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning; * over-identifying schools in need of improvement; using  sanctions  that do not help improve schools; * inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test results; * and inadequate funding. Overall, the laws emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement.

The Sustainability of Seafood Farms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Sustainability of Seafood Farms - Essay Example Moreover, it serves as a measure against which societies and institutions are evaluated, as well as a goal toward which communities and societies should aim. In respect to governance, sustainability implies interrogating existing ways of societal institutions in an attempt to determine to what extent they hearten vicious behaviors. In addition to this, sustainability results to a conscious endeavor to convert the status quo and encourage the advancement of increasingly maintainable models of activity (Dunphy, 2000). Sustainability is an essential factor in today’s global economy. This is because it results to an economically sustainable development. There are several advantages that economically yield as a result of sustainability. For instance, it recounts to the harvest of a self-renewing and specific natural resource, such as fish. Such a yield can be maintained for an indefinite period since it can be supported by the capacities of the fundamental normal system. A sustaina ble society can, therefore, be defined as the one which has adapted to comfortably live within the boundaries that have been established by nature’s limits (Dunphy, 2000). It can be upheld as an ongoing and collective entity since the behaviors and practices that heavily burden the environment have been abolished or reformed. A sustainable development indicates a process of advancements in the social nature of the society, which can accommodate the changing needs of the society, while at the same time integrating social, economic, and environmental contemplations in making any decisions. For any project to be sustainable, it should encompass some features. These features include social, economic, and environmental features. These have better being referred to as the Triple Bottom Line approach (Weber and Savits, 2006). The Triple Bottom Line also known as TBL or 3BL has, in fishing, has captured and expanded criteria and values for measuring the success of any organization ec onomically, environmentally, and socially. The goal of sustainability and the triple bottom line are usually described by People, Planet, and Profit. Economic and social factors have greatly been boosted by fish farming. Social factors have been boosted in that the society has significantly benefited from fish farming (Weber and Savits, 2006). Economic factors have, on the other hand been boosted in that maximum benefits have been reaped from the project. It is, therefore, arguable that sustainability has significantly influenced the Triple Bottom Line of fish farming. Production is the initial step in the process of trade. It can be defined as the conversion of raw materials into varieties that can be useful for human consumption (Marien, 1990). Production of fish can also be known as fish farming. It is the chief form of aquatic culture. It involves commercial rising of fish into enclosures or tanks for food. The current increase in demand for fish has, in turn, led to increased f ish farming. Distribution is a term used to refer to the process of conveying already produced goods to the consumers in the market. There are different methods of distribution existing in the market. This depends on the technological means and levels of progress within the region. An example of a way in which goods are distributed is by Efficient Consumer Response scheme. Fish distribution, therefore, refers to the process by which the

Psychological Approaches to Tackling Hate Crime Research Paper

Psychological Approaches to Tackling Hate Crime - Research Paper Example Such crimes are rooted in the prejudices of the people of every community, against the other communities. If the prejudice is uprooted, hate crimes will definitely be eliminated. Such a step can only be taken through psychological interventions at the personal and community level. Therefore, this paper evaluates hate crimes from the psychological perspective and recommends interventions that may prove helpful in eliminating the menace of hate crimes. Keywords: hate crime, race, sexual orientation, religion, community, psychology, contact theory, scapegoat theory, in-group, out-group Psychological Approaches to Tackling Hate Crime What Psychological Approaches, if any, are Effective at Tackling Hate Crime? Introduction: The motive behind most crimes is either materialistic gain, as in the case of thefts and robberies or pleasure, as in the case of sex offences. However, hate crimes seem to be perpetrated out of no such motives. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers, UK , hate crime is defined as â€Å"any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation or disability† (Home office).   In order to tackle hate crimes, many argue that the current laws and regulations should be amended and the penalties and punishments should be multiplied. On a personal level, I am of the opinion that mere alteration of laws and an increase in penalties would only be a â€Å"plaster and band-aid† solution to the problem at hand.  

Decisions Essay Example for Free

Decisions Essay Decisions in 2006 regarding discrimination in the workplace centered largely on a theme of time and evidence. The court regularly held that the evidence of discrimination must be clear and that the legal action must be filed in a timely manner. The idea that a person can have been the victim of discrimination for years and have taken no action was dismissed as untimely. A case alleging racial discrimination was held to have insufficient proof of intent and in another case the court held that a union suing an employer for prejudicial hiring practices also did not submit sufficient proof. Finally, the court held that when an employer takes discriminatory action it does not have to be within the confines of the workplace to be discriminatory. First, in a case against Good Year Tire and Rubber Company, the plaintiff claimed that in her 18 years with Good Year, she had routinely been paid a smaller wage than her male counterparts. A local jury awarded her damages based on a series of wage-related decisions going back 19 years. However, the 11th Circuit Court held that the plaintiff’s lawsuit was untimely in that her complaint was not based on actions taken in the last 180 days according to the summation of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Rubber, 421 F. 3d 1169 (11th Cir 08/23/2005) (Runkel, 2007. The court did not rule on the merit of the case, but held that the statute restricts the time frame in which the alleged discrimination was to have occurred (Runkel, 2007). The plaintiff has appealed the decision to the U.  S. Supreme Court and in May, 2007, Justice Samuel Alito writing for the court, affirmed the lower court’s ruling â€Å"Ledbetter v. Good Year†, 2007). Next, in case versus Tyson Foods the court held that use of the term â€Å"boy† is not enough proof of racial animus to sustain a ruling alleging discrimination, but reverse a portion of the lower court’s ruling which had claimed that a racial descriptor was required to accompany the word to prove animus. In Ash v. Tyson Foods, 126 S. Ct. 195 (02/21/2006), the court wrote, â€Å"Although it is true the disputed word will not always be evidence of racial animus, it does not follow that the term, standing alone, is always benign. The speakers meaning may depend on various factors including context, inflection, tone of voice, local custom, and historical usage. Insofar as the Court of Appeals held that modifiers or qualifications are necessary in all instances to render the disputed term probative of bias, the courts decision is erroneous. (Runkel, 2007). That means the court needs more information that just a word to determine discrimination. The court ruling says that to prove discrimination, the plaintiff must show more than just a misjudgment by the hiring authority of perceived qualifications. It must show that ‘disparities of qualifications must be or such weight and significance† that a reasonable person could not have made the hiring decision which was made (â€Å"Ash v. Tyson, 2006). This decision dovetails with the court’s decision in IBEW v.  Mississippi Power Light, 442 F. 3d 313 (5th Cir 03/02/2006). The union had argues that the employer’s standard for employment was discriminatory in that the cut-off point on the standardized tests was inherently discriminatory. The court did not dispute the merit of the claim, but ruled that the burden of proof lies with the plaintiff and that the union had failed to prove that there was another way that the employer could adequately determine employment eligibility. (Runkel, 2007) Finally, the court held that when an employer is accused of retaliatory action, it does not have to be limited to the confines of the work environment. In Burlington Northern v. White, 126 S. Ct. 2405 (06/22/2006), the court upheld the defendant’s claim that her employer had retaliated against her by moving her from one position to another and by initially trying to suspend her without pay, requiring that she file a grievance through the union to receive reinstatement and her back pay. The court held, â€Å"We conclude that the anti-retaliation provision does not confine the actions and harms it forbids to those that are related to employment or occur at the workplace. We also conclude that the provision covers those (and only those) employer actions that would have been materially adverse to a reasonable employee or job applicant. In the present context that means that the employers actions must be harmful to the point that they could well dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. (Runkel, 2007). The court further held that retaliatory practices do not have to include financial loss to be actionable. (Runkel, 2007) The overwhelming effect of these court ruling on future graduates is a trend within employment law toward the defense of the employer. These cases tend to indicate that the court has placed the entire burden of proof on the employee when it comes to discrimination cases and expects that the employee can make a clear case for their claim, rather than relying on vague innuendoes, such as in the Tyson case. For employees, this can be a difficult precedence in that other employees are unlikely to back a person’s claim regarding workplace discrimination especially when they would then have such stringent requirements in proving their own retaliation case. This is also likely to have a chilling effect on employees who feel they are being mistreated because of the burden of proof. The reality is that for any African-American man, the mere use of the word boy is inflammatory, especially in the south. Though the word was not accompanied by any racial descriptor, the court held that intonation and other context can be used to determine the word’s intent. For an African-American in the South, that is the context and proving what his supervisor was thinking places too great a burden on the plaintiff. The Tyson case in particular makes it difficult for a person who is the victim of subtle racism to prove it and the Ledbetter cases reiterates that the person must deal with any perceived discrimination within 6 months of its occurrence, compounding the difficulty in proving a case.

Effective Teaching Essay -- Teaching Education Philosophy

Effective Teaching Many individuals believe that being a teacher is an easy task. Our society believes that any person can become a teacher. But experience has shown that not everyone is capable of being a teacher. There are many personality traits that are required to be an effective teacher. The role that a teacher provides for the students is very important to the advancement of general knowledge and higher learning. An effective teacher has the power to shape and mold the lives of young children. They have knowledge of their subject; are very organized and clear with their students; and they show great warmth and enthusiasm. An effective teacher knows the subject and content they plan to teach. A teacher who knows more about their subject can make clearer presentations and recognize the student’s difficulty more readily. (Woolfolk, 2004) They are better prepared to answer the student’s questions without having to be vague with their answers. The less vague the teacher is the more the students learn. It is important for the teacher to know the students background as well. Knowing the child’s home life benefits the teacher by knowing how to punish or reward in order to keep the student from being punished even more at home. Effective teachers know how each student learns and what each student likes and dislikes. This enables the teacher to use the Premack principle. There are several strategies of teaching material to students, including cooperative learning, direct teaching, and mastery learning. The teacher determines which way the students learn best and ap plies the specific strategy. Knowing how to transform content knowledge into examples, explanations, illustrations... ...world. Without teachers individuals would not have the opportunity to get the required education they need for a career. I plan to be an effective teacher by being knowledgeable, organized, and enthusiastic. Sources Cited Dodd, Anne Wescott and Jean L. Konzal. (2002). "How Communities Build Stronger Schools: Stories, Strategies, and Promising Practices for Educating Every Child." (MN, RM 371.19 D661H 2002) Minor, Lynn C. et. al (2002). "RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER EFFICACY AND BELIEFS ABOUT EDUCATION AMONG PRESERVICE TEACHERS" Valdosta State University Available: http://www.msstate.edu/org/msera/arc2002.htm Woolfolk, Anita. (2004). Educational psychology (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Yost, D.S., & Mosca, F.J. (2002). Beyond behavior strategies: Using reflection to successfully manage youth in crisis. The Clearing House, 75(5), 264-267.

Impact of Technology on Our Society Essay

When we speak of the impact of technology on society, we always talk about the positive effects of technology and about how technology has made life easy. We talk about the Internet as an information resource and a communication platform and conveniently ignore the fact that an overexposure to it leads to Internet addiction. We often discuss how technology has made life easy but easily forget that it has made us overly dependent on it. Have you thought of the impact of technology from this point of view? I am sure, most of you haven’t. Let us look at this aspect of technology here. Think of the days when there were no computers and no modern means of transport. Human life was highly restricted due to the unavailability of technological applications. Daily life involved a lot of physical activity. Life of the common man was not as luxurious as that of modern times, but he was more active. Exercise was integrated into routine physical activities. It was contrary to the sedentary lifestyle of today, which leaves no time for exercise and fills days with inactivity and laze. Today we don’t want to, and thanks to technology, don’t even need to, walk, move around or exert physically to get things done. We have the world is at our fingertips. We think of technology as a boon to society. I am afraid; it’s not completely a boon. The Internet has bred many unethical practices like hacking, spamming and phishing. Internet crime is on the rise. The Internet, being an open platform lacks regulation. There is no regulation on the content displayed on websites. Internet gambling has become an addiction for many. Overexposure to the Internet has taken its toll. In this virtual world, you can be who you are not, you can be virtually living even after you die. Isn’t this weird? Children are spending all their time playing online and less or almost no time playing on the ground. Youngsters are spending most of their time social networking, missing on the joys of real social life. Think of the days when there were no online messengers, no emails and no cell phones. Indeed cellular technology made it possible for us to communicate over wireless media. Web communication facilities have worked wonders in speeding long-distance communication. On the other hand, they have deprived mankind of the warmth of personal contact. Emails replaced handwritten letters and communication lost its personal touch. With the means of communication so easily accessible, that magic in waiting to reach someone and the excitement that followed have vanished. Moreover, we have become excessively dependent on technology. Is so much of dependency good? Is it right to rely on machines to such an extent? Is it right to depend on computers rather than relying on human intellect? Computer technology and robotics are trying to substitute for human intellect. With the fast advancing technology, we have started harnessing artificial intelligence in many fields. Where is the digital divide going to take us? How is our ‘tomorrow’ going to be? ‘Machines replacing human beings’ does not portray a rosy picture, does it? It can lead to serious issues like unemployment and crime. An excessive use of machines in every field can result in an under-utilization of human brains. Over time, we may even lose our intellectual abilities. You know of the declining mathematical abilities in children due to use of calculators since school, don’t you? The impact of technology on society is deep. It is both positive and negative. Technology has largely influenced every aspect of living. It has made life easy, but so easy that it may lose its charm one day. One can cherish an accomplishment only if it comes after effort. But everything has become so easily available due to technology that it has lost its value. There is a certain kind of enjoyment in achieving things after striving for them. But with everything a few clicks away, there is no striving, there’s only striking. With the developments in technology, we may be able to enjoy all the pricey luxuries in life but at the cost of losing its priceless joys.

Brida by Paulo Coelho Evaluation

1. ABSENTATION: As an introduction of the lead character, Brida came to the mountain in search for the Magus. There, she asked him to be his teacher. He then approved of it and made her sit down at the top of the mountain and leave her there to test whether she can overcome her fears. 2. INTERDICTION: Upon her search for the Magus, she traveled for over 90 miles, when she came to the village and asked the people, they warned her that the Magus had already tried to seduce one of the village girls. 3. VIOLATION of INTERDICTION: Though having been warned by the village people, Brida still continued on her journey to find Magus.She is eager to learn magic. 4. RECONNAISSANCE: She went in search for the Magus. 5. DELIVERY: Brida found out that he is a Teacher of the Tradition of the Sun, and that there are two traditions, the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the Moon. When one masters a tradition, he/she shall teach the other tradition. And in order to learn, one must be completel y honest. 6. TRICKERY: It is Brida’s mind playing tricks on her, it is her mind that makes her imagine things, hindering her from going into the bridge and seeing the invisible world. Her mind is preventing her from completing the Magus’ first lesson. 7.COMPLICITY: Since Brida had courses in schools, she is having a hard time trying to let go. She limits herself to what she knew from school, that’s why she had a hard time doing her tasks. 8. VILLAINY or LACK: Brida is the protagonist and at the same time, antagonist of this story. When she went to Wicca, a Teacher of the Tradition of the Moon, what she learned in school about tarot cards was given confusion. Wicca’s ways was far different from what she was taught. When Wicca told her to spend an hour of her choosing to lay down the tarot cards and just let them show her what she needs to know at the moment, she was at irst, excited. But when she noticed that it was only her imagination working and not mag ic. She doesn’t know now which to trust, Wicca’s words or the lessons in school. She was torn. 9. MEDIATION: Brida, now going against all her normal habits, decides to smoke cigarette before breakfast. She has given up with her tarot card reading. She felt crying after each time she does the reading. She felt vulnerable and alone and had a sense that a great opportunity is slipping through her fingers. She thinks she had failed. 10. BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Brida phoned Wicca, telling her that she can’t come to her next appointment.She doesn’t know that Wicca already know that. Wicca used the phone call to make Brida spread the Tarot cards. The Tarot cards revealed themselves to Brida. 11. DEPARTURE: Brida came to Wicca, to go into the bridge and see the invisible world. 12. FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Wicca made her close her eyes, imagine things, made her enter a library in which she found a book. She then found out that in her past life, she was a so ldier’s wife, Loni. And those voices have been with her since she was born. 13. HERO'S REACTION: Brida then forced herself to work, to avoid thinking, to avoid her thoughts about the Magus and Wicca, of her past life.She wanted to escape. 14. RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: After her time travel into her past life, she now accepts that she may be or can be a witch, like what Wicca told her. She had accepted that the power is within her all along; she only had to let it out, to embrace it. Like what her past lives had done. 15. GUIDANCE: Brida’s boyfriend, Lerons, even if he really can’t believe what Brida was saying is possible; he still thinks it is true. He even compared Brida’s story with the composition of an atom, telling her that even scientists have encountered situations like such. 16.STRUGGLE: Brida was fighting her true calling, to be a witch. She has a fear of committing herself. Though her travel to her past life showed her who she really was and knew that it comes to her naturally, it also brought upon her the fear of committing herself to such beliefs. 17. BRANDING: Brida, is now wearing, though it was invisible, one of the Four Rings of Revelation, the Witch. 18. VICTORY: Brida now is able to walk into the bridge. She has resolved the tricks her mind played on her. She have been writing down all that Wicca taught her in the book of shadows. She also had found her Soulmate, the Magus. 19.LIQUIDATION: Magus showed her the way into the Two Traditions, the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the Moon. He showed Brida how grateful he is that he found Brida and that Brida had recognized him as her Soulmate. They traveled through space and time. Brida saw meadows full of flowers, animals she had inly read in books, mysterious castles and cities that seemed to float on clouds of light. 20. RETURN: Brida didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved, but they have to part. They just confessed their love for eac h other. It was hard to leave your soulmate once you’d found them. Brida went back to Dublin.

Essay on Australias Population

Essay on Australias Population Essay on Australias Population The population of Australia has increased largely since the turn of 20th the century and it is not controlled or monitored. Without a population plan advised by the prime minister where will Australia’s growing population stand in 2050? Australia’s population currently stands at 22.8 million people with the birth rate at one birth every one minute and forty-seven seconds and the death rate at one death every three minutes and thirty-six seconds. The government should consider keeping the population constant or to let it rise under control with a population plan. To determine how the population should look by 2050 we can explore three demographical issues: * Population Growth rates This is how fast or slow population is decreasing/increasing over time. Factors included are natural increase (Number of births less the number of deaths) and net overseas migration (Migrants entering the country less than those leaving). * Changing Population Structure The changing trends of demographic structure such as the ageing population * The Spatial Distribution Where residents are located. Two main factors that contribute greatly to population growth are: Natural Increase and Net Overseas Migration. Australia’s population grew by 1.4% during the year ended 30th June 2011. The growth rate has been declining since 2008 when the peak was 2.2%. Natural increase and net overseas migration contributed 47% and 53% respectively to total population growth for the year ended 30 June 2011. Since 1970 the government has supported multiculturalism in Australia and has put together 5 types of programs that allow migrants to enter Australia: * Skilled migration (GSM) * Business People * Family Members * Humanitarian Entrants or Refugees * Employer Sponsored Over the past 20 years migration and natural increase have both contributed equally to population growth, but in 2006 when Kevin Rudd was elected as prime minister the migration levels climbed to 66%, Mr Rudd supports a bigger Australia and the overseas migration levels have continued to rise since his resignation, this is a factor as to why the population has increased so rapidly in such a short space of time. Another contributing factor to the growth of Australia’s population is the baby bonus and paid parental leave, this encourages increase and although it has been falling with the fertility rate at 1.8% and the replacement rate at 2.1%, it has started to climb again. With such low fertility rates, this creates a higher ageing population. Australia’s Population Structure has faced one of its most significant challenges recently, an ageing population; over the past 20 years our median age has increased from 31.8 years to 36.9 years, according the ABS. By 2056 our median age will sit between 41.9 years and 45.2 years. This is until the government introduced the baby bonus, with the benefits of paid parental leave and $5000 to cover the costs of welcoming a new baby into the world; the government has encouraged people to have more children. There are two reasons for our ageing population: low fertility rates and increased life expectancy. An ageing population can slow down economic growth. As the population of traditional working age falls, the rate of labour force participation is also projected to fall. The labour participation rate is expected to fall to less than 61% by 2050, in comparison to 65% today and within the next few years, immigration will be the only net labour force growth in Australia. Another problem is the government’s plan for people to work past the traditional retirement age, a new policy was introduced ‘compulsory superannuation ’, this entitles every working Australian to invest in an industry super fund to reduce the reliance on the pension. Australia’s average population density is 2.7 people per square kilometre, however the population is not evenly distributed throughout the nation; 68% of Australians live in one of

Ideas for Thanksgiving Math Word Problems

Ideas for Thanksgiving Math Word Problems Thanksgiving math word problems are an easy way to infuse the November spirit of gratitude into every part of the school day. Customize these general turkey-themed concepts for whatever grade level you teach. Addition/Subtraction Mrs. Jones baked 5 pumpkin pies on Monday, 6 pumpkin pies on Tuesday, and 8 pumpkin pies on Wednesday. How many pumpkin pies did she bake altogether?Jasmine made 14 cups of butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving dinner. The family ate 9 cups of the soup at dinner. How many cups of soup were left over?Mr. Wilson went to the store to buy the food for Thanksgiving dinner. He spent $17.43 on vegetables, $32.16 on turkey and stuffing, and $12.19 on beverages. How much did Mr. Wilson spend altogether?Grandma brought two dozen cookies to Thanksgiving dinner. All but 3 were eaten that night. How many cookies were eaten?The Pilgrims sat down to the very first Thanksgiving dinner. There were 73 Pilgrims and 56 Native Americans at the table. How many people were at the table altogether? Multiplication/Division Each apple pie serves 9 people. There are 5 pies on the table. How many people will this feed?There are 32 ears of corn for 16 people. How many ears of corn can each person eat?The grocery store is selling turkeys for $7 each. They have sold 13 so far in the month of November. How much money has the store made so far in turkey sales?The pumpkin patch has 47 rows of pumpkins and 93 pumpkins in each row. How many pumpkins are there in all? Advanced/Other Lois bought three turkeys for three different prices. The prices were $18.92, $21.75, and $16.31. What is the average cost of the turkeys? Round to the nearest cent.Mike ate 1.4 pounds of food at Thanksgiving dinner. John ate 1.6 pounds. Write an inequality to compare the amount of food each boy ate. Use the less than or greater than sign.

Making the Decision Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Making the Decision - Research Paper Example Therefore, this approach can be leveraged to enhance the managerial staff. In most organizations, the managers make difficult decisions regarding the finance department. Therefore, the analytical approach is quite efficient in solving the financial predicaments. Research asserts that managers who employ the analytical technique always arrive at the best alternatives and solutions (Nowduri, 2010). Research asserts that team projects are common in the contemporary business world. There are several decision-making strategies that can be employed in team-decision making. Team leaders should ensure maximum participation during the decision-making procedure. Voting can also be employed especially when there are several conflicting opinions amongst the members of the team. Furthermore, the team leader can also use other anonymous contributions in order to ensure that the decisions made are from experts. The leader of the team can also establish group priorities, which help the team in selecting the best options from various alternatives. These decision-making strategies are quite useful in the decision-making procedure (Lunenburg, 2010). Geogr, E. (2012). Managing communities and managing knowledge: Strategic decision making and store network investment within retail multinationals. Journal of Economic Geography, 12(2), 539-565. doi:10.1093/jeg/lbr038 Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). Group decision making: The potential for groupthink. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, 13(1), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C.%20Group%20Decision%20Making%20IJMBA%20V13%20N1%202010.pdf Nowduri, S. (2010). Management information systems and business decision making: Review, analysis, and recommendations. Journal of Management and Marketing Research. Retrieved

Linguistic relativity theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Linguistic relativity theory - Essay Example The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: is it still applicable in the face of current linguistic theory What does it mean in present thinking; is it outmoded, or due for a revival Thinking-for-speaking and the Slobin idea. Do babies think before they speak, or does speaking encourage thinking The Hopi universe and the physics universe. Conception, speech and ways of describing things. The Dress of Thought, and seeing things though language.The essential components of the linguistic relativism theory are that different languages provide their users with different views of the world. Pablo Neruda, the great Spanish-language poet, pointed out that his poems did not translate well into other European languages, such as English and French, with a common Latin root. Much is lost in translation, and it seems to be much more than the simple meaning of each word. Other advances in linguistic relativism, such as the Thinking-for-Speaking theory, also imply that language is a necessary component in worldvi ews and social features. If human beings:Then how can each society relate to each other, and is common understanding even possible in a world where different communities view the same entity in different ways By looking at the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, followed by Slobin and other's theories of Thinking-for-Speaking, before going on to examine one nation's view of the universe which has returned to favor through the scientific community, and then by considering whether there is any way of conceptualizing entities except through language, this essay hopes to answer the question of whether People who speak different languages perceive and think about The world quite differently (Chandler) The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is understood to describe the relationship between the language of the speaker, and the way in which that speaker understands the world, and reacts to it. While neither Sapir nor Whorf ever claimed that their ideas were a hypothesis, this is how this theory of linguistic relativism is generally known today. This may be a mixed blessing, however, as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis can be divided into two different theories, one 'hard SW' the other 'Mild SW'. Chandler sees the former hypothesis as that being used by Marshall McLuhan in his diatribes against the media: The technological determinism of his stance can be seen as An application of Extreme Whorfianism (Chandler) A milder reading of the SW hypothesis instead places emphasis upon the potential for society and language to be intermixed. Language is less of a cage in which the social being sits, and more of a two-way street, with language influencing society to the same extent that society influences language. Even this, however, still emphasizes the idea that society plus language equals a fixed worldview. Sapir even analyzed the different ways in which a person's speech is affected by their social surroundings (In Speech as a Personality Trait 1927). Generally, the more moderate version of the SW Hypothesis has become accepted in one form or another by most modern linguists. The most popular translation of the hypothesis is provided by the Thinking for Speaking theory coined by Slobin, which seem to suggest that speakers have to think about their language before they are able to convert that into speech. This also means that the speaker must have learned how to think in

Dance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dance - Assignment Example ally correct in its representation; sometimes a dance may lack veracity and end up either misrepresenting or marginalizing cultural assumptions construed within or without its motions. This paper will focus on representation vs. misrepresentation of cultural identities through the two videos analyzed. For them to be effective, they must be searched for authenticity which can be identified through the fact that they portray realistic and historically valid view points and they are successful in delivering their message and creating the impression they were intended to. While conceding that a dance in many cases serves to center the focus on a specific culture or cultural outlook on stage, it can also be conversely used to marginalize. The world of contemporary and even ex post facto performances has been characterized by stereotypes most concerning racial identities and perceptions. In many cases, this has resulted in either marginalizing or misrepresenting cultural outlooks and in th is paper, the extent to which the two dances cited either represent or misrepresent cultural issues or fail to do so will be examined. The west side captures the gang conflict that characterizes America in the 50’s with white Caucasian gangs fighting with their Puerto Rican counterparts supposedly for dominance in the streets. The dance was initially brought to the stage by writers and producers whose intent was to recreate a modern day Romeo and Juliet story. Their key focus was the prejudices that faced ethical, racial and religious groups in the United States during this period. While in the case of Romeo and Juliet, it was the Montagues vs. the Capulets, on the other hand, in the West side story, it was the two leading gangs in New York, Sharks vs. Jets. These were representative of the middle class New York population vs. the influx of Puerto Rican and Mexican families that were taking a hold in what was traditionally â€Å"white turf†(Cohen). Throughout the story, racial and

How would Contemporary Leaders Maintain Quality Standards of Their Organizations?

How would Contemporary Leaders Maintain Quality Standards of Their Organizations? How would contemporary leaders maintain quality standards of their organizations? Qualitative methods play an important part in developing, maintaining and improving survey quality by assessing vital issues that field pre-tests and pilot surveys alone cannot address. They are better able to identify the problems experienced by respondents in answering questions because they place a more systematic and in-depth spotlight on each question and its administration, as well as routing and instructions. Quality is built into every process in the company. It applies on proactive requirements and resource management, feature a complete testing process life cycle, and provide thorough and detailed documentation. Quality Improvement is basically, the actions taken throughout the organization to increase the effectiveness of activities and processes to provide added benefits to both the organization and its customers. There is a significant relationship between productivity and quality. As a result, they expect for business as a profession, as well as about the substance of ethical dilemmas they confront in running their organization properly and ethically. To maintain quality standards of the organizations there are several keys that needs to have: (1) Benchmarking is the use of standard measurements in a service or industry for comparison to other organizations in order to gain perspective on organizational performance. (2) Continuous Improvement, in regard to organizational quality and performance, focuses on improving customer satisfaction through continuous and incremental improvements to processes, including by removing unnecessary activities and variations. (3) Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is an approach that helps identify and prioritize potential equipment and process failures. (4) ISO9000 is an internationally recognized standard of quality, and includes guidelines to accomplish the ISO9000 quality standard. Organizations can be optionally audited to earn ISO9000 certification. (5) Total Quality Improvement (TQM) is a set of management practices throughout the organization, geared to ensure the organization consistently m eets or exceeds customer requirements. TQM places strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement. Finally, (6) Six sigma is a quality management initiative that takes a very data-driven, methodological approach to eliminating defects with the aim to reach six standard deviations from the desired target of quality. While this is a necessary reaction in such challenging times, maintaining quality standards are essential in ensuring sustainability and future growth. Adopting internal quality is an important means to achieving competitive advantage and cost efficiencies as the entire company structure reflects commitment and value for the customers. Every single person in the organization takes part in maintaining quality standards. This allows for continuous improvement as a fundamental practice in what is rapidly becoming a stricter market in every sense of the word. Customer satisfaction is essential for any business. Working to recognised quality management standards can help you to meet customer expectations. Quality management standards provide a framework for a business to manage its processes and activities. They can help a business improve its efficiency by providing a best practice model for it to follow. To meet a quality management system standard you need to set up a system to improve the key processes you use to provide your products and services allowing you to deliver consistently on your promises. Most of the contemporary leaders understand that three factors ensure the global market competitiveness of an organization, for example: a quality product, quality customer service, and quality delivery. Leaders must champion the processes of quality throughout the organization, benchmarking successful organizations, incorporating innovations in quality, and setting standards and measurements in every department. Leaders have several tools to ensure quality. They dont have to be Master Black Belts in Six Sigma or understand all the intricacies of lean manufacturing or supply chain management to see how each improves quality. They are sold on the merits of having a quality. They know that cutting waste translates to saving time and money for the organization. It is the leaders responsibility to drive, steer, and fund the quality initiative throughout the organization. For only when top leaders fully endorse a quality initiative does it have a chance of becoming fully implemented and t he harvest days of savings can occur. Contemporary leaders collaborate and provide their organizations succession plans that ensure the growth of the organization over time. They feel that they lead at the request of the company, customers, board of directors, and stockholders. If each of these entities trust in the leader remains unchallenged, the leader should lead until he or she chooses to step down. However, whereas even the best of leaders turn the company over to a new set of watchful eyes eventually, the leader who is irreparably jeopardizing the sacred trust of employees, customers, and the public at large should step aside and let a better leader take the helm. The history of quality management, from mere inspection to Total Quality Management, and its modern branded interpretations such as Six Sigma, has led to the development of essential processes, ideas, theories and tools that are central to organisational development, change management, and the performance improvements that are generally desired for individuals, teams and organisations. The roots of Total Quality Management can be traced to early 1920s production quality control ideas, and notably the concepts developed in Japan beginning in the late 1940s and 1950s, pioneered there by Americans Feigenbum, Juran and Deming More about Quality Management and TQM history. Quality Management resulted mainly from the work of the quality gurus and their theories: the American gurus featured in the 1950s Japan: Joseph Juran, W Edwards Deming, and Armand Feigenbum; the Japanese quality gurus who developed and extended the early American quality ideas and models: Kaoru Ishikawa, Genichi Taguchi, and Shigeo Shingo; and the 1970-80s American Western gurus, notably Philip Crosby and Tom Peters, who further extended the Quality Management concepts after the Japanese successes More about the Quality Management gurus and their theories, including the development and/or use of the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle, Pareto analysis, cause and effect diagrams, stratification, check-sheets, histograms, scatter-charts, process control charts, system design, parameter design, tolerance design (Taguchi methodology), Quality Improvement Teams (QIT), Just In Time (JIT), Management By Walking About (MBWA), McKinsey 7-S Framework, etc. Quality improvement is basically, the actions taken throughout the organization to increase the effectiveness of activities and processes to provide added benefits to both the organization and its customers. In simple terms, quality improvement is anything which causes a beneficial change in quality performance. All beneficial change results in improvement whether gradual or radical so we really need a word which means gradual change or incremental change. The transition between where quality improvement stops and quality control begins is where the level has been set and the mechanisms are in place to keep quality on or above the set level. Thus it is very essential to raise the standard of quality. Improving quality by raising standards can be accomplished by various steps which includes organize the resources to implement the plan, carry out research, analysis and design to define a possible solution. Hence this improvement process will require controls to keep improvement project s on course towards their objectives. The controls applied should be designed in the manner described previously. There is a significant relationship between productivity and quality. The former is a measure of the firm output as compared to the input while the latter spells out the compatibility of the firm product with the consumer demands. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a zero-error approach towards improving the quality of processes and systems in an organization. TQM calls for the principle of continuous improvement with regard to all the areas of the organization. This approach calls for continuously examining quality of organizational systems rather than making it a one-time activity. TQM is an approach towards managing the productivity-quality equation in an efficient manner. In a dynamically changing business environment, organizations need to re-structure and align itself to the change. This adaptation to the change is imperative for the organization to sustain itself in the ever-changing market. Reengineering is an approach, which involves radical re-structuring in the systems, processes or philosophy of the organization in the face of an environmental change. This approach calls for continuously examining quality of organizational systems rather than making it a one-time activity. The paper touches upon the basic principles of reengineering and TQM. The quality aspect encompasses every area of a business organization. Institutionalization of best practices and a commitment to continuous improvement with regard to all areas of the organization is pre-requisite for enhancing organizational quality. Total Quality Management is an approach towards maintaining quality of processes and systems in the organization. The paper examines the quality scenario in organizations and explores the role of IT in the same. Many of the companys employees have considerable experience in their own specialist fields and, because of this, Keighley Laboratories is sometimes required to carry out failure investigations and possibly act as a expert witness if a court case results. For quite some time, picking up The Wall Street Journal meant reading stories rife with indictments of CFOs, CEOs, and accountants. Though many leaders practice good principles, clearly it is time to inspect closely what it means to lead with ethics. The world is full of strong leaders; however, leadership is a neutral term. It can be good or bad. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao Tse Tung were regarded as good political leaders at some point in time by a certain element of the population. History has proven, however, that each was guilty of an immoral use of the tremendous power his leadership afforded him. What will history tell us about our current leaders of industry? Are they leading their companies in an ethical way? Perhaps the best barometer of achievement in this regard is the sustainable success of an organization over the long haul. For when you whittle commerce down to the point of its raison dà ªtre, you find its ethical basis. Is it not the mission and ethical imperative of every publicly held establishment to absorb the cost of doing business, produce a quality product for its customers, provide sustenance for its members, and turn a profit that can be reinvested to make the company stronger for lean times? One company has been doing this well for more than 120 years. General Electrics recent declining stock values may trouble investors, but it still was recognized as one of Fortunes 2002 Global Most Admired Companies and received the highest marks for its quality of management. Compare it to the relatively young MCI WorldCom, a company struggling in a quagmire of ethical issues, and the sustaining success of GE is clearly manifested. To get started, we will discuss the following five components of ethical leadership: communication, quality, collaboration, succession planning, and tenure. Ethical leaders set the standard of truth for every employee they lead. The moment people take leadership positions, they have an opportunity to place the highest premium on truthfulness. Recent cases of fiscal malfeasance at Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen illustrate the need for every form of communication leaders put forth to be an accurate representation. Yet, leading by example cannot be the only process by which this standard is relayed. It must become a company slogan, from the accounting office to the shop floor, that Truth is Job 1. Truthful information is quality information to the CEO, board of directors, and investors. Jim Collins, a noted researcher on leadership, advises leaders to conduct autopsies, without blame, and cites companies such as Philip Morris whose executives talked openly about the 7-UP disaster. Even when statistical evidence does not reflect well on a division or the financial status of the entire company, a plan of action to thwart disaster may be implemented and several lessons learned through open communication to ensure the sustainability of the organization. Ethical Quality An ethical leader understands that three factors ensure the global market competitiveness of an organization: a quality product, quality customer service, and quality delivery. Leaders must champion the processes of quality throughout the organization, benchmarking successful organizations, incorporating innovations in quality, and setting standards and measurements in every department. Leaders have several tools to ensure quality. They dont have to be Master Black Belts in Six Sigma or understand all the intricacies of lean manufacturing or supply chain management to see how each improves quality. They are sold on the merits of having a quality. They know that cutting waste translates to saving time and money for the organization. It is the leaders responsibility to drive, steer, and fund the quality initiative throughout the organization. For only when top leaders fully endorse a quality initiative does it have a chance of becoming fully implemented and the harvest days of savings can occur. Bob Galvin, Chairman of Motorola, implemented Six Sigma throughout the company in the early 1980s. Just two years after launching Six Sigma, Motorola was honored with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Even the federal government is investigating the merits of this management tool. Several local government agencies are already using Six Sigma, and the federal government may employ Six Sigma in its war on terrorism. With a failure rate of 3.4 per million products/actions or 99.99966% accuracy, agencies would be better informed and lives could be saved if only one of every 294,000 vital pieces of information †¦ [was] †¦ erroneously discarded. Ethical Collaboration Ethical leaders need many advisors. They pick the most astute within their organizations and hire some from other companies, but they surround themselves with answers. Wise leaders collaborate to incorporate best practices, solve problems, and address the issues facing their organizations. Regrettably, the natural tendency of leaders is to draw in a close, and more often than not, closed circle of advisors. Unfortunately, the smaller the group, the less the prospect of collectively providing the leader advice on the full range of issues facing the organization. But the leader who collaborates ethically makes better decisions for the organization. How is that possible? Leaders who use ethical collaboration keep their circle of advisors more open and fluid. The objective of the ethical leader is to reduce the risks taken by the organization by assigning trustworthy experts/advisors to every situation-from RD decisions to customer-driven needs. Advisors findings determine decisions of t he leader who becomes better equipped to make judgments based on two critical elements: more feasible solutions and viable processes needed to exact the solutions. Many states suffer the woes of underfunded education. Recently, South Carolina imposed a 15% budget cut, with more cuts promised in the future. The President of Clemson University, Jim Barker, pulled in campus-wide experts in their fields to provide solutions. Robert McCormick, an internationally known economist, among others, was assigned the task of creating a fiscal roadmap to ensure Clemson would sustain itself through time. While his advisors provided him with sound solutions, Barker remained focused on the overall mission of the university and its drive to become a top-20 public university. Ethical collaboration serves another important role, however. As Barker maintains an open and fluid circle of advisors while assigning the right people to the variety of issues facing the institution, he serves to broaden his and others awareness of promising internal successors. Ethical Succession Planning If principled leaders possess a need for control, they satisfy that need by establishing strong organizational standards and operational procedures for quality and communication. Yet for the long-term success of the organization, ethical leaders must set aside issues of turf and let other leaders surface within the company, giving potential successors opportunities to exercise and build their leadership skills. Once identified, these few should be personally mentored by the leader, given opportunities for 360 ° communications, and trained for the roles they may one day assume. In his book, Good to Great:Why Some Companies Make the Leap †¦ and Others Dont, Jim Collins identifies Chrysler with many organizations that achieve greatness only to have it slip away through time. While examining the long list of organizations in his study, Collins notes that under Lee Iacocca Chrysler followed a pattern †¦ found in every unsustained comparison: a spectacular rise under a tyrannical disciplinarian, followed by an equally spectacular decline when the disciplinarian stepped away, leaving behind no enduring culture of discipline †¦ Arguably Chrysler faltered without Iacocca at the helm because he had failed to practice ethical collaboration to the point that a succession plan was devised. Ethical Tenure How long should a leader lead? Whereas the most important leader in the American government leads for 4 to 8 years, industry has no governing standard to length of tenure. Should leadership in industry, like its counterpart in government, have a shelf life? The answer lies on the conduct of the leader. Leadership expert Peter Block contends that We search, so often in vain, to find leaders we can have faith in. Further, he notes that leadership is more often rated on the trustworthiness of the individual than on his or her particular talents, and that the mission of the ethical leader is to serve the institution and not themselves. Jim Collins identifies this category of executives as Level 5 Leaders: leaders who are able to channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. Ethical leaders collaborate and provide their organizations succession plans that ensure the growth of the organization over time. They feel that they lead at the request of the company, customers, board of directors, and stockholders. If each of these entities trust in the leader remains unchallenged, the leader should lead until he or she chooses to step down. However, whereas even the best of leaders turn the company over to a new set of watchful eyes eventually, the leader who is irreparably jeopardizing the sacred trust of employees, customers, and the public at large should step aside and let a better leader take the helm. People are a fundamental component within any successfully developing organisation. Take away the people and the organisation is nothing. Take away the peoples motivation, commitment and ability to work together in well-organised teams, and again, the organisation is nothing. Conclusion Managing the ethical climate of an organization is not easy given the myriad influences, both internal and external, on the firm. Corporate ethics programs will not completely eliminate unethical conduct, nor will they resolve all of the perplexing conflicts of ethical values that arise in various social and economic arenas today. Nevertheless a Managers efforts to strengthen the ethical climate in their organizations will have real benefits for employees, for the performance of the firms, and for society at large. By legitimizing the discussion of ethical considerations in business, by standing up for ethical values despite short-term costs, by giving serious consideration to problems of conflicting values, managers and executives can contribute to strengthening their organizations and to building public trust in business. Much has been written about leadership. Regrettably, less time and thought has been afforded the concept of ethical leadership. Perhaps it is the very lack of discussion about what it means to lead with ethics that has created the current business environment of SEC investigations into improprieties, dot-com greed, and the general publics lack of faith in the stock market. Though we would have preferred that the government did not have to force the issue of business propriety through threats and legislation, apparently for some leaders fear and not moral certitude is their personal motivator. As a result, they expect for business as a profession, as well as about the substance of ethical dilemmas they confront in running their organization properly and ethically. Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organizations objectives. Considering the needs of all interested parties including customers, owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole. Establishing a clear vision of the organizations future. Setting challenging goals and targets. Creating and sustaining shared values, fairness and ethical role models at all levels of the organization. Establishing trust and eliminating fear. Providing people with the required resources, training and freedom to act with responsibility and accountability. Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing peoples contributions. Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organizations effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives. Structuring a system to achieve the organizations objectives in the most effective and efficient way. Understanding the interdependencies between the processes of the system. Structured approaches that harmonize and integrate processes. Providing a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities necessary for achieving common objectives and thereby reducing cross-functional barriers. Understanding organizational capabilities and establishing resource constraints prior to action. Targeting and defining how specific activities within a system should operate. Continually improving the system through measurement and evaluation.