Asthma Management - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 801 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/07/31 Category Health Essay Level High school Topics: Asthma Essay Did you like this example? Asthma is the one of the leading chronic diseases in children. Nearly twenty-seven million people are affected by asthma, and seven million of them are pediatric patients. Many children who are diagnosed with asthma will be prescribed long acting beta agonists, short acting beta agonists, or inhaled corticosteroids. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Asthma Management" essay for you Create order Children and adults with asthma will be given a peak flow meter to be used every day before and after bronchodilator medications to determine the amount of air flow through their lungs. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of these treatments and how well children, or caretakers of children, manage their asthma. According to DePaola, Roberts, Blaiss, Frick, and McNeal (1997), it was found that mothers and children influence each others perception of the medications, and should both be targeted for intervention. One of the most important steps in the management of asthma is proper education to the children or caretaker. This education may include medications, peak flow meters, or proper use of inhalers. Literature Review As stated earlier, some asthma medications include long acting bronchodilators, short acting bronchodilators, or inhaled corticosteroids. Long acting bronchodilators should be used every day, and are used to control asthma. Some examples of long acting bronchodilators include Formoterol, Salmeterol, or Symbicort. Short acting bronchodilators should be used for quick relief or before exercise, and they are also commonly known as rescue medications. They act by quickly opening the airways during an attack, start working after inhalation, and last two to four hours. Some examples of rescue medications include Albuterol, Metaproterenol, and Levalbuterol. Inhaled corticosteroids work by reducing inflammation or reducing mucus production in asthma patients. Examples of steroids include Pulmicort, Qvar, Flovent, etc. Peak flow meters are very important in the care of asthma patients. A peak flow meter tells of the patients ability to blow air out of their lungs. It is crucial for proper instruction to be given to caregivers and patients on how to use the peak flow meter. As stated by Paymon, Riley, and Miller (2018), Such interventions allow caregivers to have improved perception of control of their childs asthma and increased confidence when caring for the child. Peak flow meters can also determine how well asthma is being treated or if their condition is worsening. When given a peak flow meter, the patient will be instructed to blow out a fast breath, as if blowing out candles on a birthday cake. This fast burst of air is known as the patients peak expiratory flow, or PEF. The patients normal PEF range will be determined and marked on the flow meter by a red, yellow, or green color marker. Based on these color markers, the child or caregiver will know if they should continue current therapy, ta ke a rescue medication, or seek emergency attention. When given the peak flow meter, the child should also be given a diary. The diarys purpose is to chart the PEFs every day and list how the patient is feeling in order for the medical team to determine if the proper management of the patients asthma is being achieved. The most common method used to treat asthmatic symptoms is a metered dose inhaler. It is very common that many children are not taught the correct way to use their inhaler, which leaves the child getting little to no benefit at all from their medications. To receive optimal dosage of the medication, the patient must shake or prime their MDI, take in a deep breath, and then hold their breath for at least ten seconds. Many children may have trouble actuating the inhaler and inhaling at the same time, so many are also given a spacer. A spacer holds the medication so that optimal dosage may be achieved. A child using an MDI without a spacer may not be achieving optimal particle deposition into the airways. Benidictis and Selvaggio (2003) state, It is traditionally accepted that particles larger than 5? µm are mostly deposited in the oropharynx and upper airway as a result of inertial impaction; particles ranging from in the 1â€Å"5? µm are efficiently deposited in the lower respira tory tract (respirable fraction); particles less than 1? µm are inspired and then expired without ever settling on the airway. Conclusion Parents, or caregivers, play a crucial role in the management of asthma in pediatrics. It is important to thoroughly instruct the parents and patients all that is needed to know about asthma medications, MDIs, and peak flow meters. They need to be assisted in a management plan and know when and where to go in case of an exacerbation of a pediatric patients condition. Many pediatric patients conditions may decline due to improper treatments. This will increase their amount of doctor visits or hospital stays, increasing stress on the patient or family, and lead to further worsening of the patients condition.

When Diving Into The Depths Of Buddhism And How A Non...

Before diving into the depths of Buddhism and how a non-theistic religion has strong morals as well as heightened sense of life. It is important to take a step back and see how Buddhism started out. Siddharhta Guatam was born into the rulers of a small kingdom near the present border of north India. Legend says that Siddhartha was born he was examined by several holy men who announced that he would be a great leader. He lived a life of luxury and at the age of sixteen met his wife Yasodhara and soon had a son Rahula. At that point he seemed to have everything h would ever need in life; however, he left his family and took it upon himself to find out about the origin of suffering and how to overcome it. He started out as a traveling monk who pushed his body to its near breaking point. Realizing that this was not the path to enlighten he was seeking he decided to try a different way. He began to meditate very deeply until one day his mind became clear and he understood the circle of li fe. From that point he started teaching to the men, women and the untouchables, which was unheard of at the time. Also at that point he received the title of the Buddha or awakened one. Buddha spent the next forty-five years of his life teaching the principals of Buddhism. Siddhartha s journey started out to figure out the origin of suffering and through enlightenment taught his followers a variety of lessons throughout the rest of his life. Buddha passed down several important lessons that

Kodak and Digital Revolution free essay sample

In 1976 Kodak controlled 90% of the film market and 85% of camera sales in the United States. By 1992 the share of film market decreased by 5%. In 1991 they launched the first professional digital camera. In 1998 they spent $1. 2 billion to two joint ventures with the Chinese government and by 1999 became number two in digital cameras in the United States with a 27% market share. In 2001it launched â€Å"Where it all clicks† theme to stimulate digital imaging and in 2002 launched the first mass-market product for digital film processing. By 2003 they controlled most photofinishing transaction in the United States with 15% unprofitable digital camera market. Digital imaging was a disruptive technology that was emerging in early 80’s and Kodak got blind sighted by its extreme focus on existing customers and their needs. They followed a customer focus strategy instead of taking digital imaging as a disruptive innovation. Their focus was to provide products that its existing clients want in a cost effective manner. We will write a custom essay sample on Kodak and Digital Revolution or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Kodak’s strategy for digital imaging has been way off and its first digital product, the â€Å"Photo CD† which was a failure. It couldn’t leverage upon world’s first electronic image sensor that they launched earlier that was widely used by computer industry worldwide. They used all strategies to the disposal but its timing was way off. They used Radical to incremental innovation an example is their digital photography compared to Sony’s Then their strategy shifted from convergence of digital and film based imaging to selling hardware such as digital cameras and printers by alliancing with computer and electronic industry. This strategy also failed as competition was too fierce by 1995 and profit margins shrunk. Then strategy was changed to picture business and network consumables with at least 50% market share. These strategies were based to the changing market needs and competition especially from Fuji films Kodak is a showcase for failing to innovate; they missed the digital revolution because they were focused on protecting its core business, traditional photographic film. The reality is different, though. Kodak was in fact one of the first companies to have worked on digital imaging it’s not that they were ignoring the digital revolution! Today, Kodak is still leading digital imaging, as the company holds many patents in this field that are used in products such as HP printers. The painful Kodak factory closures that one can see nowadays are nothing but the price to pay to transition from one era to the other, from the era when Kodak was a chemist to an era when it is a software company. For all its mistakes, Kodak is doing what few companies have been able to do. Lessons Learned No doubt, Kodak was victim of the innovators dilemma. The most immediate takeaway from the fall of Kodak is clear: Don’t be afraid to cannibalize your own business in the name of progress. But Kodak’s inability to make any of its products stand out over the last decade is demonstrative of an overall reluctance to innovate.

Strategy Air France

External environment and industry environment Air France and KLM before their merger were two company players whose corporate identity and culture were strong. This gave them an edge in comparison with the other airlines. In addition, their merger enhanced their industry image, attracting more clients because of the initial successful services offered by individual firms. In addition, rivalry is very low in the airline industry.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Strategy: Air France-KLM specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is because of the tight entry requirements postulated in the statute. Bargaining by customers is very low. The people who use these airlines are people of a high status (Wnittington 2001). This uniqueness decreases firm rivalry. With competitors like Star airline being successful after their merger, it was clear that cooperating firms could have the muscle to compete in this industry. Howev er, increase of fuel costs is a huge external problem as it is eating on the revenue generated. Critical success factors Transparency Management decisions and policies are industry driven. The management always deliberates on the market issues before coming up with a decision. Reliability The decisions made by the airline are client driving. The public trust the airline to provide quality customer service while it is in the course of business. Rational The rationality of decisions is based on the application of cost/benefit analysis. Policy makers weigh a designated decision on costs and benefits before their adoption. When the costs outweigh benefits, the decision is abandoned. Accountability and good ethical behavior The airline stands by the decision made and takes responsibility to that effect. The responsibility in this line entails the ability to own, report and explain happenings upon occurrence.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we c an help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Company analysis Air France-KLM came into existence after the merger of air France and KLM Royal Dutch airlines in September 2003. Increase in competition of Europe airlines and the harsh financial position of the KLM airline led to this merger. The merger led to the dilution of government stake; this ultimately led to transfer of the airline to a public-owned from a state-owned company. The autonomy has solely avoided the government intrusion in daily operations of the airline. The company has a well-designed decision mechanism that addresses day-to-day running operations. Air France-KLM consolidated their revenue through the merger. The company is able to optimize on management as it has a large network. Due to the acquired position of dominance in the industry and bargaining power during the merger, the purchase of new airlines is imminent. The Company also has a variety of services. Passenger, freight and mainten ance services are the three major areas of service. This has enhanced customer satisfaction and fostered confidence (Hough 2006). Air France- KLM has huge operating revenue that is attributable to this wide range of products. SWOT analysis Strengths The transfer of ownership from a state- to a public-owned airline has improved the firms operations and effectiveness Huge consolidated operation revenue is one of the strengths of this airline. This has helped the firm cover its expenses with ease. The diversification of its services gives the airline a competitive advantage over the other airlines. The services provided by Air France-KLM are, passenger, freight and maintenance services. Weaknesses Different cultures are a corporate weakness of this merger. This has led to inconsistency in the decision making process. The firm’s autonomy discourages state intervention in terms of funding to cover its operation costs that may be acute i.e. the ever-rising fuel costs Opportunit ies With the opening up of the world market and increase of tourism, the firm has an opportunity to grow its revenue base. Threats Rising operation costs. The acute prices of oil drives firms cost high, this decrease the airline profits in the end. The increased airline mergers in the European zone have hiked competition in both the European and global markets. List of References Hough, J. R. 2006, ‘Business segment performance redux: a multilevel approach’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 45-61. Wnittington, R. 2001, What is strategy – and does it matter? 2nd edn, Cengage Learning, London This assessment on Strategy: Air France-KLM was written and submitted by user Stephanie Harvey to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Sanchez Surname Meaning and Origin

Sanchez Surname Meaning and Origin Sanchez is a patronymic surname meaning son of Sancto, derived from the popular medieval given name Sancho, meaning sanctified, from the Latin sanctus. Sanchez is the 8th most popular Hispanic surname and the 33rd most common surname in the United States. Surname Origin:  Spanish Alternate Surname Spellings:  SANCHES, SANZ, SAINZ, SAENZ, SAIZ, SAEZ, SANGUEZ, SANCHIZ   Famous People With the Surname SANCHEZ Sonia Sanchez - American poet and playwrightOscar Arias Snchez - former president of Costa Rica; Nobel Peace Prize winnerMark Sanchez - NFL football quarterbackRick Sanchez - Cuban American television anchor for CNNFrancisco del Rosario Snchez  - founding father of the Dominican Republic Where Do People With the SANCHEZ Surname Live? Surname distribution data at  Forebears  ranks Sanchez as the 92nd  most common surname in the world, found most prevalently in Mexico where over 1.5 million people share the surname. It is the 2nd most common surname in Ecuador, 4th in Peru, and 5th in Panama, Andorra, and the Dominican Republic. Sanchez also ranks 7th in Spain, Venezuela, and Costa Rica, 8th in Mexico and Colombia, 9th in Nicaragua, and 10th in Argentina.  Within Europe, Sanchez is actually found most frequently in the southern Pyrenees region of  France, according to  WorldNames PublicProfiler. In the United States, the name is most prevalent in the state of New Mexico. Genealogy Resources for the Surname SANCHEZ 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? 100 Most Common Spanish SurnamesHave you ever wondered about your Spanish last name and how it came to be? This article describes common Spanish naming patterns and explores the meaning and origins of 100 common Spanish surnames. How to Research Hispanic HeritageLearn how to get started researching  your Hispanic ancestors, including the basics of family tree research and country-specific organizations, genealogical records, and resources for Spain, Latin America, Mexico, Brazil, the Caribbean, and other Spanish speaking countries. Sanchez Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Sanchez family crest or coat of arms for the Sanchez surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.   Sanchez Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Sanchez surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Sanchez query. FamilySearch - SANCHEZ GenealogyAccess over 7.7 million free historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Sanchez surname and its variations on this free genealogy website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. SANCHEZ Surname Family Mailing ListsThis free mailing list for researchers of the Sanchez surname and its variations includes subscription details and searchable archives of past messages. DistantCousin.com - SANCHEZ Genealogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Sanchez. The Sanchez Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse family trees and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the last name Sanchez from the website of Genealogy Today. References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

When writing about love

When writing about love, there is usually a tendency to emphasize romantic love, and thus view love as primarily a feeling, directed exclusively towards the perfect person known as the "lover". But of course, as often pointed out, there are many different types of love. One of the most common ways of answering the question of the nature of love is to confess ignorance, by arguing either that no one can define love, or that everyone has their own definition, so that there is no single, all-encompassing definition. In one respect, there is no doubt that this is true: of all the experiences human beings have, love is certainly one of the most mysterious; and because each of us must rely primarily on our own experiences, there are indeed almost as many different ideas about love as there are different people who have given and received love. What, then, is this elusive thing called love that everyone so desperately needs? The obsession that most people have of finding the perfect companion is not love. It is better known as "infatuation", and there is a vast difference between infatuation and real love. William Faulkners A Rose for Emily is an excellent example of infatuation. Emily hides behind a psychological dysfunction of infatuation and unknowingly labels it love. Miss Emily, the main character of this story, lives for many years as a recluse, someone who has withdrawn from a community to live in seclusion. "No visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier."(Faulkner 73) Faulkner characterizes Miss Emily's attempt to remove herself from society through her actions. "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all."(74) The death of her father and the shattered relationship with her sweetheart co! Miss Emily may have wanted seclusion, but her heart longed for companionship. Her desire for love and com...

The geographical location where a child is raised can be influence Essay

The geographical location where a child is raised can be influence their development. critically evaluate the recent research regarding this claim - Essay Example The family, the school, and the neighbourhood are the main environment in which a child is nurtured. These three social constructs may give forth a suitable ground for a child to flourish or may pose challenges that threaten to compromise the normal development. Environmental factor such as diseases and surrounding physical features also influence the healthy development of the child (Espy, Molfese & DiLalla, 2001). A research conducted by Ferguson, Cassells, MacAllister & Evans (2013) illustrates how many children fail to reach their full human potential because of many factors including their geographic location. The factors influenced by the geographic location include toxics, noise, pollutants, housing, crowding, noise, neighborhood, and school quality, affecting both socio-emotion and cognitive development. Research confirms that the bigger population of world children reside in the in the developing world. As a result, most of the children seem exposed to poor physical environment leading to poor health among others. Additionally, they expound how physical locations exposed to toxins and pollutants tend to affect these children’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ). These may be regions with chemical drainages including mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, and air pollution from the vast industrial growth. Majority of the children live in these industrial areas meaning they face exposure to all types of polluted air that poses a danger to their health. These children in the poor urban locations suffer from water pollution, sanitation, and access to a clean environment. There is a lot of noise in these locations especially from the factory that affect their learning environment. In addition, poor housing affects their living conditions and consequently their health and education value. The research article draws a good picture of how poor environment may introduce the child to chaos, crowding, and

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Operations management - Essay Example distribution to clients or customers along with purchasing activities with other vendors (Chidambaram, Whitman, & Cheraghi, â€Å"A Supply Chain Transformation Methodology†). With this concern it can be said that Ben and Jerry’s is playing a significant role by rendering its customers quality service through providing right product at the right time (Ben & Jerry’s, â€Å"Company†). The paper will be focused on providing a brief discussion about supply chain management of Ben & Jerry’s, an American ice-cream manufacturing enterprise along with its transformation methodology of providing their products in the global context. The various scopes of supply chain management of Ben & Jerry’s in the global operations has also been highlighted within the discussion (Chidambaram, Whitman & Cheraghi, â€Å"A Supply Chain Transformation Methodology†). The organizations in the present day context are highly focused to deliver their offerings according to the desires of the customers due to the immense growth in the communication networks along with changing face of globalization. Therefore, the competition within the enterprises can be considered to be extended globally in the modern business environment (Chidambaram, Whitman, & Cheraghi, â€Å"A Supply Chain Transformation Methodology†). The supply chain management system of Ben & Jerry is one of the effective tools for the organization in its endeavor to expand to more than 30 countries of the world. With the concept of effective global supply chain management system, the strategy of Ben & Jerry’s consigns transformation methodology along with making use of appropriate management techniques that help the enterprise to lead among the various competitors around the globe (Ben & Jerry’s, â€Å"Company†). In order to address the transformation related challenges on a global basis, Ben & Jerry’s focuses on various transformation steps for efficient supply chain management around its different units of enterprise.

Chemical dependency Essay Example for Free

Chemical dependency Essay Group Structure: Type of group: This meeting was a â€Å"Narcotics Anonymous Open Sharing Meeting†. This component, where anyone attending had the opportunity to share. There was no direct feedback from the other participants during the â€Å"share†, thus only one person spoke at any given time during that portion of the meeting. Organizational affiliation: Narcotics Anonymous as a group has no affiliation outside of Narcotics Anonymous. As a group they have no opinion on outside issues,† including those of politics, science, or medicine, and do not endorse any outside organization or institution. The fellowship does not promote itself, but rather attracts new members through public information and outreach. Narcotics Anonymous groups and areas supply outside organizations with factual information regarding the Narcotics Anonymous program, and individual members may carry the Narcotics Anonymous message to hospitals and institutions, such as treatment centers and jails. Narcotics Anonymous as a group base their public relations policy on attraction rather than promotion. Physical environment: This meeting was held in the recreation room in the basement of a church. There was an oblong table at the head of the two rows of chairs placed in a 360 degree circle. Participants: There were roughly 40-50 participants ranging in age from mid teens to late 50’s. There were only 5 females in attendance. This group’s ethnicity was about 85% Caucasian, 10% African American and 5% Latino. Leadership structure: In different areas the work is divided differently, and the particular jobs are sometimes called different names. At this particular meeting the leadership structure was as follows, ranking from top to bottom in hierarchy. Chairperson, Co-Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and Group service representative (GSR). Process: What the group does for a person’s first visit? First time visitors and newcomers to this meeting were asked to introduce themselves by first name only. These individuals were welcomed by all the participants at the meeting. These individuals were given a hand shake, a hug and a white key tag (by a presenter) that said welcome on one side and on the other side had the Narcotics Anonymous logo. How members’ contribute to the group’s leadership? Members who attend the same meeting on a regular basis to establish a recovery network and reliable routine understand this to be their â€Å"Home Group†. These group members are able to participate in the group’s business, and play an important role in deciding how the structure, leadership and the group’s meetings will be conducted. Each member has a vote in this process and the majority vote rules. Activities that occurred during the meeting. There were no physical activities during this meeting but certain individuals read inserts from the â€Å"Basic Text Book† of Narcotics Anonymous pertaining to that week’s format and agenda. Address the following questions: How did the group begin? The group began by the Chairperson knocking on the table to gain every ones attention, then announcing them self, followed by stating the name of this group (Dead Man Walking) then reciting the Serenity Prayer. How was the purpose of the meeting communicated? The purpose of the meeting was indicated by preamble which was read by the Chairperson also by the reading of the secretary’s report, which was read by the C-Chairperson, this stated the purpose of the meeting and the rules in which the participants were required to oblige by. How was the meeting’s agenda established? The agenda varies in whatever way seems to best suit the personality of the group and the needs of the addicts in the community. This meeting’s agenda and format was established by the governing members (from the Home Group) and varies from week to week but was mostly based on the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous. Techniques used to encourage people to participate. It was announced to all those attending the meeting that participation was optional. What extent were these techniques effective. There was no pressure on anyone which made the atmosphere very comfortable. What are participants’ responsibilities for the meeting process? Anonymity of the group’s participants and process were the main responsibilities from all those attending and keeping the sharing time between 3-5 minutes and not interrupting the person who was talking. How were these responsibilities explained? These responsibilities were explained to the group in detail during the reading of the secretary’s report. How did the group demonstrate interest, acceptance, etc. in those attending? The participants showed interest by paying close attention to the individual who was sharing and when those who shared finished, everyone in the group (at one time) thanked that person for sharing their story. What emotions were observed? There were a couple of times when an individual who was telling their story began to cry. Other times there was some laughter from the group when certain individuals identified their own story with the one the person was sharing. How did the participants respond to expressions of these emotions? The participants expressions showed true concern and empathy for those who were sharing their experience, strength and hope. Were there any decisions made for future events or meetings? It was stated in the secretary’s report that all meeting events and decisions are discussed and made during the group’s monthly business meeting. The business meeting for this group is held on the second Saturday of the month. Describe any observation of any therapeutic factors. The therapeutic value of one addict helping another gave each participant the feeling of acceptance and familiarity. There were a lot of similarities between the structure of an Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meeting. A major difference I witness at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting from the Narcotics Anonymous meeting was, at the Narcotics Anonymous Meeting it was suggested that those who was sharing not to acknowledge or mention there drug use. At the Narcotics Anonymous meeting it was clearly stated that â€Å"Narcotics Anonymous does not distinguish a difference between substances, they are all inclusive, â€Å"Alcohol is a drug†. It was also stated at the Narcotics Anonymous meeting that anyone from the other fellowship (Alcoholics Anonymous) was accepted at this and all Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Francis I and Henry VIII :: Francis of Angouleme France England Essays

Francis I and Henry VIII On April 27th, 1989, at Sangatte on the northern coast of France, a ceremony was held to mark the commencement of the main work on the Channel Tunnel. At the tunnel entrance stood two giant pasteboard figures. One was of Henry VIII of England and the other was of Francis I of France. Their symbolic presence at the beginning of an ambitious project designed to link England and France was especially appropriate. Henry VIII is often called a |Renaissance prince' and is popularly remembered for his ebullience and the extraordinariness of his reign. What is often not so well appreciated, is the extent to which his style of monarchy and the events of his reign were influenced by his relationship with that other |Renaissance prince', Francis I. Rarely, since their time, have France and England been so drawn together by some higher ideal or imperative. Now it is the single market and European unity. Then, it was magnificent, competitive, kingship. Francis of Angouleme was born at Cognac in western France on September 12th, 1494. The Angouleme family was a cadet branch of the royal house of Valois. Francis' father, Charles, died on January 1st, 1496, and in 1498, the boy became heir presumptive to the reigning monarch. Louis XII. From the age of fourteen Francis lived at court and was soon known in Italy and England as the rising star of France. Louis XII died leaving no surviving son and Francis succeeded him as king on January 1st, 1515. Francis's accession was greeted favourably by the French nobility. He was young, healthy, full of confidence and he immediately rejuvenated the French court. His mother, Louise of Savoy, who was a great patron of artists and intellectuals, had ensured that her son had been well educated, at least by contemporary noble standards. Francis was inspired by dreams of royal greatness and chivalric glory. This was reflected in the iconography of the early part of his reign. A recent French study has identified more than a dozen different topoi of kingship which were produced under Louise of Savoy's patronage and which were taken up by the king himself. Among the most important were; Francis as the crusading roi chevalier, as the descendant of Charlemagne, and especially, as Julius Caesar's true successor. Royal propaganda promoted two ideals or hopes for Francis's reign. These were just and effective government at home and, abroad, the revival of a French imperial heritage. Francis I and Henry VIII :: Francis of Angouleme France England Essays Francis I and Henry VIII On April 27th, 1989, at Sangatte on the northern coast of France, a ceremony was held to mark the commencement of the main work on the Channel Tunnel. At the tunnel entrance stood two giant pasteboard figures. One was of Henry VIII of England and the other was of Francis I of France. Their symbolic presence at the beginning of an ambitious project designed to link England and France was especially appropriate. Henry VIII is often called a |Renaissance prince' and is popularly remembered for his ebullience and the extraordinariness of his reign. What is often not so well appreciated, is the extent to which his style of monarchy and the events of his reign were influenced by his relationship with that other |Renaissance prince', Francis I. Rarely, since their time, have France and England been so drawn together by some higher ideal or imperative. Now it is the single market and European unity. Then, it was magnificent, competitive, kingship. Francis of Angouleme was born at Cognac in western France on September 12th, 1494. The Angouleme family was a cadet branch of the royal house of Valois. Francis' father, Charles, died on January 1st, 1496, and in 1498, the boy became heir presumptive to the reigning monarch. Louis XII. From the age of fourteen Francis lived at court and was soon known in Italy and England as the rising star of France. Louis XII died leaving no surviving son and Francis succeeded him as king on January 1st, 1515. Francis's accession was greeted favourably by the French nobility. He was young, healthy, full of confidence and he immediately rejuvenated the French court. His mother, Louise of Savoy, who was a great patron of artists and intellectuals, had ensured that her son had been well educated, at least by contemporary noble standards. Francis was inspired by dreams of royal greatness and chivalric glory. This was reflected in the iconography of the early part of his reign. A recent French study has identified more than a dozen different topoi of kingship which were produced under Louise of Savoy's patronage and which were taken up by the king himself. Among the most important were; Francis as the crusading roi chevalier, as the descendant of Charlemagne, and especially, as Julius Caesar's true successor. Royal propaganda promoted two ideals or hopes for Francis's reign. These were just and effective government at home and, abroad, the revival of a French imperial heritage.

Rethinking Project Management Essay

The systemic models show behaviour arising from the complex interactions of the various parts of the project; they demonstrate how behaviour arises that would not be predicted from an analysis of the individual parts of the project and thus show how the traditional decomposition models in some circumstances can be inadequate. The project behaviour shown in this body of work is complex and non-intuitive. It shows causal feed-back, leading to nonlinear behaviour, and produces e? ects which can sometimes manifest themselves after signi? cant time-delays; and the behaviour of such systems is di? cult for the human brain to predict and understand intuitively. Furthermore, the models di? er from the bodies of knowledge in their empha- is on ‘‘soft’’ factors; the factors within the feedback loops are not only hard ‘‘concrete’’ factors: ‘‘soft’’ variables are often important links in the chains of causality and are thus critical in determining the project behaviour; such variables might include morale, schedule pressure, client changing his mind and so on; in addition, there is a recognition that the models need to incorporate not only ‘‘real’’ data but management perceptions of data. ‘‘Systemic’’ models have been used to explain failures occurring in projects which might have been well-managed by traditional project-management methods. The failures analysed by these methods are in complex projects subject to uncertainty. Conventional techniques are designed for projects with large numbers of elements, but the assumed structures are subject to very limited types of interdependence, and conventional methods are even more unsuited to projects under high uncertainty. It is when uncertainty a? ects a traditionally-managed project that is structurally complex that the systemic e? ects discussed above start to occur. But the systemic models demonstrated an important aspect: it is management actions to accelerate perturbed projects which particularly exacerbate the feedback; when the project is heavily time-constrained, so the project manager feels forced to take acceleration actions, and this produces the problems from feedback. Thus we have identi? ed the three compounding factors which come together in complex structures of positive feedback to cause extreme over-runs when projects are managed conventionally: structural complexity, uncertainty and a tight time-constraint. Recognition of the problems inherent in conventional prescriptive procedures has led to the development of contrasting project management methodologies. While being within a strategic framework, these methodologies are usually identi? ed by words such as ‘‘lean’’ or ‘‘agile’’, and are particularly prevalent in the software industry [55] (perhaps due to the particular goal-uncertainties of such projects). These methods contradict the underlying emphases of conventional approaches: the project emerges rather than being entirely pre-planned; the management style is much more co-operative, recognising that the Plan prepared pre-project is fallible and incomplete, and there is acceptance that the plan cannot be fully prepared because of the in? uence of the external environment. The systemic modelling work analysed the reasons for project over-runs for many seriously over-run project, giving explanations in terms of positive feedback, often exacerbated by management actions, and importantly including both ‘‘hard’’ and ‘‘soft’’ factors in the causal analysis; the analysis shows that conventional methods can be inappropriate and potentially disadvantageous for projects that are structurally complex, uncertain, and heavily time-limited. Projects which exhibit these three characteristics would appear to lend themselves less to conventional methods and newer methods might be more appropriate, such as ‘‘agile’’/’’lean’’ methods often called ‘‘agile’’ or ‘‘lean’’. However, the thesis of Williams [54] is not that we should simply ignore conventional project 684 S. Cicmil et al. / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 675–686 management methods and move to these opposing techniques. Rather, with the understanding gained from this analysis of the systemic modelling work, we need to move our discourse to take account of the e? ects encompassed in this work; then we need to categorise projects according to the dimensions which give projects a propensity for the type of systemic e? ects, so that an appropriate management style can be speci? d, in particular an appropriate balance between conventiona l methods as espoused in the bodies of knowledge and these contrasting methods. This work suggests that once a project is subject to disruptions and delays dynamics then the traditional project management tools are probably inappropriate for managing the project. The use of traditional tools is likely to unintentionally exacerbate the undesirable consequences and lead to greater overruns than need be the case. Even the nature of the agenda at project progress meetings needs to have a di? erent focus and emphasis. Awareness of the potential consequences of mitigation becomes important as possible traditionally ‘obvious’ actions are proposed. 7. Conclusions, implications and the way forward Our aim in this paper has been to discuss critically the nature of knowledge that could be created about the actuality of projects and how it contributes to our understanding of project environments, to improvements in practice, and to educational and developmental e? orts. We attempted to shed some light on the assumptions behind theoretical and methodological approaches to researching the actuality of projects and project management that, in our view, can be helpful in broadening the boundaries of the project management body of thought and contributing to more satisfactory processes and outcomes of contemporary projects. Researching the actuality of projects, as presented in this article, draws on: – a combination of practical philosophical considerations and concrete empirical analyses towards understanding human action, and for that matter, managerial action in the concrete situation and – requires a theoretical shift from more common normative rational approaches to individual and project performance towards a more developmental one which focuses on practical action, lived experience, quality of social interaction and communicative relating, operations of power in context, identity, and the relationship between agency and structure in project environments. The research presented in this paper as exemplars of actuality research provide some compelling and interesting insights into the actuality of managing projects addressing on-going gaps in our knowledge of how to e? ectively manage complex undertakings. Cicmil and Marshall develop an empirically grounded understanding of project complexity that incorporates processes of communicative and power relating among project actors dealing with ambiguity and equivocality related to project performance criteria (success/failure) over time that is in constant ? ux. Cicmil and Hodgson’s work casts light on the traditional foundations of project management practitioner development and demonstrates the need for developing both instrumental and value rationality as the basis for project management practice. The research by Thomas and Buckle questions the underlying assumptions embedded in traditional project management discourse and explores the impact of these embedded assumptions on the practice and practical discourse of practitioners. The Strathclyde research team’s work on understanding complex project failures contributes signi? cantly to our understanding of the complex interactions between the actuality of projects and the unintentional consequences of applying traditional ‘‘best practice’’ control oriented project management to complete projects under extreme time pressures. All of these research studies make signi? cant contributions to an understanding of the actuality of projects and provide insights into how project management practitioner development needs to change to address these project realities. Methodological issues (epistemology, ontology, and representation) are also of dominant concern in these studies. The argument is that theory and empirical research must proceed simultaneously on micro and macro levels of analysis and within both objective and subjective methodological traditions, focusing on action which is habituated, practical, tacit, dispositional, and at the same time structured. From this perspective, it is important not only to explore or explain what is but also to examine why it is as it is and what activities are encouraged or discouraged by this focus, and how it comes to be. The recommended methodological approaches are capable of addressing a much wider range of mportant project issues such as: the social responsibility of management, ethical conduct, bounded rationality, anxiety, emotions, the operation of dominant discourses, power/knowledge relationship, culture, and identity. Despite this, we do not promote ‘actuality research’ as a comp eting or privileged stream of thought to the more mainstream ones. We argue for it as an alternative lens through which new insights into projects and project management practice can be generated. One of the key assertions is that the understanding which drives much of project management literature does not satisfactorily explain the richness of what actually occurs in project environments. http://www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/trr/Is7-cont.htm

Reading English 6 Essay Essay

A. Compare the three main types of plate boundaries. How do they work? How are they similar and different? There are three different plate boundaries. There is convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries. They all do different motions. Convergent boundaries are boundaries where the two plates are coming at each other or converging. Divergent boundaries are boundaries where two plates are moving away from each other or diverging. Transform boundaries are boundaries where two plates are shearing past each other or one plate moves to the left and the other moves to the right. Convergent Boundary A convergent boundary consists of two tectonic plates or fragments of the lithosphere that come together. If an oceanic plate was involved subduction would occur. Subduction is when two plates converge and one goes under the other. Usually if there are two oceanic plates coming together the older/denser plate would get subducted. If there was a continental plate with an oceanic plate the oceanic plate would subduct, because it is denser, but it is a whole different story if they are both continental plates. Since they are both continental there is no subduction mainly, but there is a collision. They become crumpled and faulted which make the biggest mountain ranges, like the Himalayan Mountain Range. B. What real world boundary have you chosen? Where is it located (countries involved, general area of the world, etc. )? My team chose the Cascadia Fault. The plates involved are the Juan de Fuca plate and the North American plate. The countries involved are United States and Canada. It is in northern California, Oregon, and Washington. For Canada it is just the southern part of it. It is in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth. C. Describe in detail how the plates of your real world example are moving. Pay particular attention to details such as crust types of the plates involved, processes that are ongoing, etc. D. What kind of stress is occurring at your real world boundary? How does the stress affect the rock? E. Describe the area around your real world plate boundary. What are some unique landforms (continental and/or oceanic) created by your real world boundary? F. What type of fault is associated with your real world plate boundary? Explain how the footwall and the hanging wall move. G. Identify at least two other areas of the world where you could you find a boundary like the one you researched.

Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters The WritePass Journal

Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters Background and Introduction: Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters Background and Introduction:Discussion:Conclusion:  ReferencesRelated Background and Introduction: Information Technology (IT) has been an important force transforming human life on planet earth. It has changed the foundations of business, social, economic, financial, technological dimensions of human life. It has fostered the pace of life as well as changed the lifestyle and speed of human life. Now with the advent of internet, the speed of life has become an important determinant of keeping pace in different dimensions of life. The very meaning of markets and boundaries defining the markets and business domains have undergone a complete change because of the internet and fostering technological change that it brought in its wake. While corporate business world has taken full advantage of the internet, it has still I the early phases of realizing full support and potential of the internet. IT speculators suggested huge benefits from the internet which meant relocation and complete physical freedom from the customers, competitors and physical boundaries of the market which earlier defined the very limits of any industry. By early twentieth century, the markets were tended to be defined at local level, at city level and at the national levels. There was little mention of the international or global markets. This was because of limited progress achieved in the means of communications and transportations. Most markets were considered as physical definitions or definitions in terms of physical presence of the buyers and sellers. Each place where buyers and sellers could be physically present were defined as local markets. Where ever the buyers and sellers could gather together from a national scale were the national markets. The limited advancements in the means of transport and communications were a natural barrier on the market definition. Discussion: As the industrialization process grew and the means of transport and communications also grew with them. The beginning of the railways system and the telegraphs and telephone brought about some relaxations in the definition of the markets and the markets definitions also included the areas from far off here there were customers of any product or service where transport means such as railways and communication means such as telephone and telegraphs had access. Therefore the means of transport and communications have served as a key factor defining the geographical boundaries of markets. The definitions of the market boundaries has moved hand in hand with the advancements of the transportation and communications. The second half of the twentieth century has brought a technological revolution especially in the IT sector. The computer is the most fascinating invention of the twentieth century. It has transformed the speed and accuracy levels of the information processing. It has also promised and delivered transparency and merit. In the last fifty or sixty years the world has witnessed the rise of internet which has impacted the communications in an un-precedent manner. The rise of the internet has defined and redefined the basics of communications in every nook and corner of the world. The business markets and each industry and segment is deeply affected by the growth and usefulness of internet. Amongst the key benefits envisaged by the IT experts, the Internet was thought to redefine the markets as well. In several sectors such as services banking and retailing and IT, it was thought that the internet would introduce branchless services virtually eliminating the physical presence of the branches in every area of the country. But despite the wide spread use of the internet in every office and production factories and manufacturing area, it is noted that companies still prefer to be located near their competitors and outsourcers. Why? This is the primary question that we need to answer in this essay. In the conventional approach to networking, most industries in retailing services and banking followed an level headed approach with their competitors. In every area, Mcdonalds and KFC and Burger King have their outlets almost next to each other or as near as possible. Banks also tend to have their branches next to each other in every area regardless of the volume of business they can get. They go for prominence and presence as much as for their market share ion every area. The reasons are simple and straight forward. Despite the use of internet, physical presence through an outlet is thought as important as the market share and sales through that area. Secondly the most important characteristics are discussed as follows: In the banking sector concept of branchless banking was envisaged with the rise of internet. Despite after wide spread use and years of practice and websites each bank has launched and online services uploaded on their websites, the online services used by the clients, customers and banks is hindered by some plain truths. The mal practices, internet frauds, site hacking and other practices that put the online security of information under question mark, has caused clients, customers and banks to shy away from using the online services with full confidence. The use of the online services is limited and transactional volumes of the online services are still limited because of the limited trust and confidence earned by the online services because of security of online information. Most companies and clients and individual customers deem online data to be vulnerable and prone to theft. This causes the use of online services to be used in limited volume and thus limiting the concept of br anchless banking. Secondly, the traditional and conventional banking practices call for a physical presence of the ban k outlets in each area so that the customers may see and visit the bank they trust and deal with. This is owing to the fact that customers pledge their trust more with a bank physically present than with the one which has a presence only on the web. The so called ‘human element’ is still more important than the technologically advanced services such as online banking.   A modern customer does not have the luxury of time and his time is money. He wants to invest his time as much cautiously as money. He knows that if he mismanages his time, he will loose money, therefore time is money. The ebanking is an answer to many of his needs on this perspective. He can perform many of his jobs and day to day banking activities which ate into his precious time, He can deal with all financial activities by means of ebanking. A modern customer is an ebanker. He prefers not to visit a bank branch as long as he can meet his banking need via one of the available ebanking means and ways. Therefore, ebanking is considered as an answer to many of the problems of the customer of modern day baking market. â€Å"Challenges remain even in Latin America. In locations not served by banks most users open an account primarily to access welfare payments, or because their employer deposits their salary directly into their account. Apart from withdrawals, the most frequent use of the accounts is for making utility bill payments.† http://economictimes.indiatimes.com â€Å"The power of cellular phones has been tremendous in the country, and the branchless banking program would target cell phone users with little or no access to banks, he said.†(www.thejakartapost-banking-start-bali.html) Telebanking is also considered as part of the internet banking. In the telebanking services by dialing the given Telebanking number from anywhere, the customer can access their accounts and by following the user-friendly menu, entire banking set up can be conducted through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system which is purpose built and designed to serve the customer. There are sufficient numbers of hunting lines available with this system and the customer calls never fail or go un attended. The system is built around in several local languages and acts to the usage ability of the customer. The modern day organization is highly interactive and dependent on the ebanking services. The accounts department is functional on ebanking system and it can check its daily cash balance and issue checks and make payments and transfer the funds through ebanking and tele-banking services alone. It saves on the time and effort of the organisation. Branchless Banking has potential as stated by Time s of India â€Å"Branchless banking has a huge potential to reach the unbanked and underserved segment of the population, he said and added that the branchless banking certainly will help people to take better advantage of the banking facilities at affordable cost† (http://timesofpakistan.pk) The cultural factors that tie and define business values for a specific locality also define the brand equity and market share in specific pockets of a market forcing companies to locate themselves in each area close to their competitors and outsourcers. This forces most banks and retailing companies like Mc donalds, KFC, Burgar King to stretch out and make their branches available in the local vicinity of their competitors. If a competitor in retailing will have an outlet in one area, he may well get the touch and feel of the local buyers more intimate touch and feel of the local buyers. He can respond to their needs more sharply and meaningfully than if he is not there. Same goes for the banking sector as well. Each branch manager has to perform as part of his duties a heavy job of personal banking and personal relation building with his clients in each pocket of the market to make its customers feel at home with their bank. â€Å"  Branchless banking is very useful and helpful in both urban and rural areas† states (http://telecomnewspk.com) With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of competing companies is maintained because of the customers increasing demand for ‘Customization‘ in the products and services areas.   This forces most companies to locate themselves close to their competitors so that they may learn about the local taste and preferences. Each retailing outlets tries to serve the customers in a customized fashion in terms of local taste and preferences. Same is true for the banking sector as well. Most banks open their branches close to their competitors because they want to make sure that they meet the needs of their customers in a superior fashion to their competitors. With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is maintained because of the production economies and tax holidays offered by certain states. The competitors tend to have their industrial units in the same areas because they want to keep pace with the tax holidays that are earned by their competitors. It affects their cost of production and thus the cost of sales of their products and service. Therefore, the competing companies tend to locate themselves close to their competitors and outsourcers as it may be caused by the tax benefits and tax holidays earned by the companies in certain industries. This leads to the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units despite the widespread used of the internet and IT services. With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is maintained because of the fact that many companies tend to maintain their outreach to the market and access-to-market at the same level as their competitors’. This factor is important in the case of many products and services such as foam and bedding industry which is a heavy produce to carry and it needs to be located near the market and thus in order to maintain a competitive edge with the competitors on ‘outreach’ to the market, the companies tend to locate their industrial units close to their competitors. This is also why with the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is still maintained. The cost of transportation as part of production cost is an important determinant of the choice of location for companies for their industrial units. Companies tend to locate their industrial units near their competitors because they want their transportation cost to be the same as of their competitors.   This is also a reason why despite the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is still maintained. Companies tend to locate themselves close their competitors because of the fact that they want to maintain their edge with their competitors in terms of getting the market feedback. They want to maintain an equal closeness and proximity to their clients or customer base or target market with their competitors and ear the title of caring and respect for the customer in the eyes of the customers. Therefore even with the rise of IT and internet services, the tendencies of concentration of industrial units is still maintained.   Industrial clusters develop â€Å"Industrial clusters develop in places where a business can develop links with other firms (and universities, government bodies and so on) to boost its performance† (cogentsi.com) Lastly, companies tend to locate themselves close their competitors because they want to conduct market intelligence and collect information about their competitors activities and utilize that information in their business plans. This leads to industrial clusters and concentration of industrial clusters within geographical areas, despite the increasing use of information technology and internet services. In so doing companies maintain their edge with their competitors in terms of market intelligence. They want to maintain a close eye on their competitors and thus even with the rise of IT and internet services, the tendencies of concentration of industrial units is still maintained. Conclusion: From the foregoing discussion, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that despite the rise of internet and wider spread use of information technology, companies tend to concentrate their locations within close geographical locations. The use of internet and information technology has certainly increased the efficiency and functional performance of the companies at a mass level, the potential benefits accruing from branch-less services and reducing the geographical concentration are still far from reality.   Most of the companies tend to be located near their competitors and the outsourcers because of the cost advantages and strategic reasons that hold, sway and largely dictate the strategic decisions of companies such as locating industrial units.   References http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/branchless-banking-in-india/articleshow/3386737.cms thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/01/branchless-banking-start-bali.html http://timesofpakistan.pk/business/2011-01-21/branchless-banking-is-future-of-financial-sector-shahid-kardar/22094/ cogentsi.com/industrial-clusters.htm http://telecomnewspk.com/2011/03/formal-branchless-banking-in-pakistan/ http://mobile-financial.com/node/14211/Marketing-Branchless-Banking

Re-Election Rates for Members of Congress

Re-Election Rates for Members of Congress The re-election rate for members of Congress is exceptionally high considering how unpopular the institution is in the eyes of the public. If youre looking for steady work, you might consider running for office yourself; job security is especially strong for members of the House of Representatives even though a significant portion of the electorate supports terms limits.   How often do members of Congress actually lose an election? Not very. Almost Certain to Keep Their Jobs Incumbent members of the House seeking re-election are all but assured re-election. The re-election rate among all 435 members of the House has been as high as 98 percent in modern history, and its rarely dipped below  90 percent.   The late Washington Post political columnist David Broder referred to this phenomenon as incumbent lock and blamed gerrymandered congressional districts for eliminating any notion of competition in general elections.   But there are other reasons the re-election rate for members of Congress is so high. With wide name recognition, and usually an insurmountable advantage in campaign cash, House incumbents typically have little trouble holding onto their seats, explains the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington. In addition, there are other built-in protections for congressional incumbents: the ability to regularly mail flattering newsletters to constituents at taxpayer expense under the guise of constituent outreach and to earmark money for pet projects in their districts. Members of Congress who raise money for their colleagues are also rewarded with large amounts of campaign money for their own campaigns, making even more difficult to unseat incumbents. So how difficult is it?  Ã‚   List of Re-Election Rates For House Members By Year Heres a look at the re-election rates for members of the House of Representatives going back to the 1900 congressional election. On only four occasions did more than 20 percent of incumbents seeking re-election actually lose their races. The most recent such election was in 1948, when Democratic presidential nominee Harry S. Truman campaigned against a do-nothing Congress. The wave election resulted in a massive turnover in Congress, one that rewarded Democrats with 75 more seats in the House. Prior to that, the only  election that resulted in a substantial ouster of incumbents was in 1938, amid a recession and soaring unemployment. Republicans picked up 81 seats in Democratic President Franklin Roosevelts  midterm election. Take note that some of the lowest re-election rates occur in the midterm elections. The political party whose president occupies the White House often sustains large losses in the House. In 2010, for example, the re-election rate for members of the House dipped to 85 percent; it was two years after Democrat Barack Obama was elected president. His party lost a whopping 52 seats in the House in 2010.   Re-election Rates for House Members Election Year Percentage of Incumbents Re-elected 2018 91% 2016 97% 2014 95% 2012 90% 2010 85% 2008 94% 2006 94% 2004 98% 2002 96% 2000 98% 1998 98% 1996 94% 1994 90% 1992 88% 1990 96% 1988 98% 1986 98% 1984 95% 1982 91% 1980 91% 1978 94% 1976 96% 1974 88% 1972 94% 1970 95% 1968 97% 1966 88% 1964 87% 1962 92% 1960 93% 1958 90% 1956 95% 1954 93% 1952 91% 1950 91% 1948 79% 1946 82% 1944 88% 1942 83% 1940 89% 1938 79% 1936 88% 1934 84% 1932 69% 1930 86% 1928 90% 1926 93% 1924 89% 1922 79% 1920 82% 1918 85% 1916 88% 1914 80% 1912 82% 1910 79% 1908 88% 1906 87% 1904 87% 1902 87% 1900 88% Resources and Further Reading â€Å"Reelection Rates Over the Years.† OpenSecrets.org, The Center for Responsive Politics. Huckabee, David C. â€Å"Reelection Rates of House Incumbents: 1790-1994.† Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, 1995.

Pit Stop Case Report Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pit Stop Report - Case Study Example Though the company was expecting to generate cash flows from the restructuring of the company, it had to incur $52 million cost due to the termination of the operating leases or due to the closure of the pit shops. The report is an attempt to analyze that the closure of the operations should be classified as discontinued operation, and to establish which procedure should be undertaken by the company in that situation. Closure of the Pit Store Auto World had two different segments: the Auto Boyz centre and the pit stop centers. The company submits their financial statements as per the US GAAP method. They followed the requirements as mentioned in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards. As per the FASB statement number 131, the company discloses its financial reporting about different statements (FASB, â€Å"Summary of Statement no. 131†). It has been found in the financial statements of the company that the company’s net sales and operating earnings ar e mentioned segment-wise. As per the FASB standard 146, the company also meets the criteria and it has to reveal the costs associated with the retirement or disposal of assets (FASB, â€Å"NEWS RELEASE 07/30/02†). ... flows after disposal and the cash flows can be classified as direct cash flows, then the operations cannot be referred to as discontinued operations. When the company is generating cash flows after disposal and the generated cash flows can be classified as indirect cash flows, then the operation can be called as discontinued operations. In the case of Auto World, the company is not generating cash flows which can be classified as direct cash flows, so the operation can be classified as discontinued cash flows (Jarnagin 36-37). Due to the closing of the pit stop shops, the company management estimated that the restructuring and other charges would be $52 million. The charges were due to the termination of the operating leases and also included some other costs. The accountants of the company should not include this cost as the cost in the segment of the pit stop centre because the cost is from the discontinued operation. So the accountants should include and disclose this cost in the income statement of the company for the next quarter. Recommendation The decision of the management is right as they want all of their services to be available under one roof, which will be more profitable for them and attractive to customers. To avoid the pre tax of $52 million, the company management should use the pit stop stores as stores including both the pit stop stores and the Auto Boyz centers. They should continue operating until the contract with the lessor is terminated, and then they can relocate their branch or extend the contract with the lessor. In this process they don’t have to incur the cost due to the termination of the operating lease, but they have to incur little cost due to the stoppage of operation and the relocation of stores. Conclusion Auto World has taken the

Qatar Olympic Committee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Qatar Olympic Committee - Essay Example QOC provides opportunities for members of the community to participate in sport and sport-related activities within and outside Qatar. QOC was funded on 14 March 1979. In 1980, QOC joined the International Olympic Committee, and in 1981, joined the Olympic Council of Asia. In 1982, QOC joined the Arab Sports Games Federation. Since its inception, QOC has been led by five presidents, the current being H.H. Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Al-Thani since December 2000 (Olympic.qa, 2014). The General Assembly is the supreme governing body of the QOC. The company has its headquarters in West Bay Doha, Qatar. Currently, QOC is organizing the hosting of the World Boxing Championships in 2015, Handball World Cup for men in 2015, Real World Cycling Championships in 2016, Qatar World Cycling Championships in 2016 and the FIFA World Cup in 2022 (Olympic.qa, 2014). QOC has sixteen departments, which include: Secretary General, legal affairs office, secretary general’s office, assistant secretary general, finance, Sports Affairs, Operation & Maintenance, Engineering Projects, Procurement & Stores, Planning & Development, Human Resources, and Public relations & Marketing among others (Olympic.qa, 2014). Currently, QOC employs close to five thousand employees, and it is considered one of the largest government agencies in Qatar and the entire region. QOC’s vision is â€Å"to become a leading nation in bringing the world together through sustainable sport development† (Olympic.qa, 2014). The company’s mission is to place sport and physical recreation activity all over Qatar so as to enhance the harmonious development of men and women in the true Olympic spirit (Olympic.qa, 2014). In order to accomplish the mission and vision statements, QOC has developed a list of objectives and activities. First, it aims to spread the principles of Olympics throughout the country based on the framework of sport activities. Secondly, QOC helps in the training of sport administrators through

How Has the Introduction of the Computers And IT to Markets Changed Research Paper

How Has the Introduction of the Computers And IT to Markets Changed the Way Stocks And Bonds Trade - Research Paper Example Computer technology and internet has changed the dynamics of global financial markets and this will be explained in great detail. Information technology has increased the dissemination of information and this has contributed to the growth of financial sector all over the world. Information technology has also made financial markets of the world integrated. The study will help identify possible effects of development of information technology and computer on the financial markets, specifically on bond trading and stock trading. Research Question Information technology has brought many changes in our daily life. The financial markets all over the world are now in the reach of normal investors which was previously not possible. But this is just one effect of information technology and computers on financial markets. In order to better understand how computers and internet have revolutionized stock and bond trading the more aftereffects of information technology should be identified. Res earch question we would want to answer through this study is given below: Question: How has the introduction of the computers and IT to markets changed the way stocks and bonds trade? Literature Review Financial markets started to grow rapidly in the 1980s when financial liberalization became the norm. Countries like United States started to liberate their financial sectors and deregulation started in the financial markets. Private firms and investment houses were given freedom to come up with newer products and offer investment option to normal investors. Financial liberalization focused on deregulation of financial markets where central bank’s role was just to control inflation. This was the time of significant growth in the financial markets and investment firms... The author stresses that the results of the study have identified changes that information technology and internet has brought to trading of stocks and bonds. Information technology has increased volumes and volatility, has increased global integration, has made markets more efficient, and has increased complexity of financial products. These changes are not disputed at all and most of the literature available on the internet supports our findings. Information technology has also made markets more efficient since the dissemination of the information has improved. Now a press conference in USA can be seen live in any part of the world and investors can make decisions accordingly. Internet and computers have therefore made sure that news or event is represented in the prices of stocks. Internet has made it impossible to hide information from investors. This report makes a conclusion that Internet trading is a growing market and investment firms should try to capitalize them. Also youth is getting attracted towards online trading therefore this should also be kept in mind before launching newer products. More accurate data can be collected by conducting a survey based quantitative study. Impressions of youth and internet traders can be taken regarding stock and bond trading. This can more accurately predict specific changes that have come in trading patterns after advent of internet and computers. Longitudinal studies can also help explore more specific trading activity related questions. The research we have conducted has a major limitation. We have not collected any primary data and previous literature has been used to answers research question.

Taking the Wild Out Of the Wild Animal Essay Example for Free

Taking the Wild Out Of the Wild Animal Essay Grabbing the audiences’ attention Going to the zoo seems completely normal and extremely fascinating for most families, but what happens behind the scenes is where going to the zoo doesn’t seem all that realistic. Thesis There are many reasons why it is not right for wild animals to be caged up and taken away from their homes and put into a zoo for public display. MP1 The animals inside of zoos are not in their â€Å"natural habitat†. Detail 1 Wild animals are meant to be free and roam across their homelands. Detail 2 These animals are not catching their own food, they are being fed like pets. This interrupts their skills to hunt their meals and learn how to survive out on their own. Detail 3 Wild animals are meant to live on their own, not to be on a zookeepers schedule to be fed and played with. MP2 Wild animals should not have any human contact. Detail 1 Out in the wild, there are no humans to help catch any predator’s food, not to mention giving it to them on a dinner plate. Detail 2 Wild animals are built and raised to hunt and kill, not be served like a human being. Detail 3 Human interactions are slim to none for most animals out in the wild. Detail 4 Wild animals don’t need assistance giving birth to their young nor do they need help raising and teaching them the necessities for everyday living out in the wild. MP3 When locked up, these animals become depressed and suffer from anxiety. Detail 1 Some signs of depression and anxiety are: pacing back and forth, isolating themselves in corners, abnormal behavior, and swaying from side to side. Detail 2 â€Å"Captive animals are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, and as a result, they become bored and lonely and many even suffer from a condition called â€Å"zoochosis.† If you’ve ever witnessed a captive animal rock and sway back and forth, you’ve seen the disease firsthand. This condition is so rampant in zoos that some zoos give animals a mood-altering drug, such as  Prozac, because the public has started to catch on.† (Carr.) Detail 3 Wild animals are not supposed to be locked up and fed medication to cure their diseases of depression or anxiety. MP4 Some people say that the zoo provides great information on wild animals and their â€Å"natural habitat† when clearly they are sending the wrong message across to people by keeping them locked up and barricaded in little prison cells. Detail 1 Showing people these animals the way they are is wrong and cruel. Detail 2 It gives people the wrong impression on how these wild animals live their life. Detail 3 There are better resources that people could use instead of going to the zoo and experience something that is not true of nature. For instance, documentaries, books, or even schooling for people that want to make it as a career, are better than taking these animals away from their homes and locking them up in small spaces. These options don’t involve taking the animal out of the wild. Detail 4 â€Å"One reason why some zoos have not done a better job in educating people is that many of them make no real effort at education. In the case of others the problem is an apathetic and unappreciative public.† (Jamieson.) MP5 Animals inside of zoos are not getting the amount of exercise, as they would out in the wild. Detail 1 â€Å"Elephants typically walk up to 30 miles in just one day.† (Carr.) Detail 2 Giving this some thought, when elephants are put into zoos, they only get so much room to roam, which doesn’t allow them to get their adequate exercise. Detail 3 In most cases, a lot of these animals are becoming under coordinated by huge percentages which makes them not fit for being released. This also shortens the lifespan of many animals. Thesis There are several explanations of why zoos are not okay for wild animals. Conclusion No true understanding is being accomplished by anyone who visits a zoo. These animals are not in their natural habitat, and if they were, they would most defiantly be considered â€Å"wild animals.† Some aren’t use to having any human interactions at all. Many animals suffer from diseases caused by being inside of a zoo. There are always other ways to learn about these immaculate creatures besides keeping them locked up with no â€Å"wild† to experience. These animals need freedom of time and space to learn how to survive adequately, or at least be able to walk as far as they would like to walk. Amber Wharton WRI 95.01 Professor Goodman March 11, 2014 Argumentative Essay Zoos: Taking The WILD Out of Animals Going to the zoo seems completely normal and extremely fascinating for most families, but what happens behind the scenes is where going to the zoo doesn’t seem all that realistic. The animals inside of zoos are not in their â€Å"natural habitat†. Wild animals usually are not use to having any human contact, at least out in the wild they don’t. When locked up, these animals become diseased and suffer from depressed and anxiety. Some people say that the zoo provides great information on wild animals and their â€Å"natural habitat† and use â€Å"going to the zoo† as a resource for learning more information on these amazing animals. Animals inside of zoos are not getting the right amount of exercise, as they would be getting out in the wild. There are many reasons why it is not right for wild animals to be caged up and taken away from their homes and put into a zoo for public display. Wild animals are meant to have their freedom and roam across their homelands without limitations or boundaries. These animals inside of zoos are not in their â€Å"natural habitat†. They have limited amount of space that they can walk around in and are most likely not anything like their natural habitat. These animals are not even catching their own food; they are being fed like pets. This interrupts their skills to hunt their meals and learn how to survive out on their own. These animals have insufficient knowledge of actually being a wild animal. They probably think it’s normal for them to be locked up because they were born inside of a zoo. Better yet, the food that they do eat is more likely not what they would eat out in the wild or it’s already dead. Wild animals are meant to live life and kill their food on their own, not to be on a zookeepers schedule to be fed and played with. Wild animals usually are not use to having any human contact. Out in the wild, there are no humans to help catch any kind of animals’ food, not to mention giving it to them on a dinner plate would be completely out of the ordinary out in the wild. Wild animals are built and raised to hunt and  kill, not to be served like a human being. Human interactions are slim to none for most animals out in the wild. Wild animals don’t even need assistance giving birth to their young nor do they need help raising and teaching them the necessities for everyday living out in the wild, not that they need that knowledge inside of a zoo. When locked up, these animals become depressed and suffer from anxiety. Some signs of depression and anxiety are: pacing back and forth, isolating themselves in corners, abnormal behavior, and swaying from side to side. â€Å"Captive animals are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, and as a result, they become bored and lonely and many even suffer from a condition called â€Å"zoochosis.† If you’ve ever witnessed a captive animal rock and sway back and forth, you’ve seen the disease firsthand. This condition is so rampant in zoos that some zoos give animals a mood-altering drug, such as Prozac, because the public has started to catch on.† (Carr.) Wild animals are not supposed to be locked up and fed medication to cure their disease of depression or anxiety that was caused by being inside of a zoo. Some people say that zoos provide a great deal of information on wild animals and their â€Å"natural habitats† when clearly they are sending the wrong message across to people by keeping them locked up and barricaded in little prison cells. Showing people these animals the way that they are presenting them to the public is wrong and cruel, not to mention it is not at all accurate to how they would be out in the wild. It gives people the wrong impression on how these wild animals live their life. There are better resources that people could use instead of going to the zoo and experience something that is not true of nature. For instance, documentaries, books, or even schooling for people that want to make it as a career, are better than taking these animals away from their homes and locking them up in small spaces. These options don’t involve taking the animal out of the wild. â€Å"One reason why some zoos have not done a better job in educating people is that many of them make no real effort at education. In the case of others the problem is an apathetic and unappreciative public.† (Jamieson.) Animals inside of zoos are not getting the amount of exercise, as they would out in the wild. â€Å"Elephants typically walk up to 30 miles in just one day.† (Carr.) Giving this some thought, when elephants are put into zoos, they only get so much room to roam, which doesn’t allow them to get their adequate exercise. This  also shortens the lifespan of many animals. In most cases, a lot of these animals are becoming under coordinated by huge percentages that make them not fit for be ing released. â€Å"Zoos breed animals in an effort to keep drawing in paying visitors—yet often, there’s nowhere to put the offspring as they grow. Breeding programs serve no true conservation purpose because giraffes and other animals born in zoos are rarely, if ever, returned to their natural habitats.† (PETA) In my opinion, I think all zoos should be closed permanently for the sake of the animals’ freedom. Animals are not supposed to be paired up and stuck together by what a human thinks is okay for their environment. They are supposed to roam their land and eat the food that they catch. Even learning instincts are a huge factor of being a wild animal. These wild animals are not supposed to be taken care of by humans like an infant human baby would be. No true understanding is being accomplished by anyone who visits a zoo. These animals are not in their natural habitat, and if they were, they would most defiantly be considered â€Å"wild animals.† Some aren’t use to having any human interactions at all. Many animals suffer from diseases caused by being inside of a zoo. There are always other ways to learn about these immaculate creatures besides keeping them locked up with no â€Å"wild† to experience. These animals need freedom of time and space to learn how to survive adequately, or at least be able to walk as far as they would like to walk. There are several explanations of why zoos are not okay for wild animals. Works Cited Carr, Michelle. â€Å"The Reality of Zoos.† People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.. PETA. Web. 11 March, 2014. Jamieson, Dale. Against Zoos. In Defense of Animals, New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985, (108-117) 11 March, 2014. Print. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA. 10 Feb, 2014. Web. 11 March, 2014.

Critical Analysis of The Homecoming Essay -- European Literature Harol

Harold Pinter's play, The Homecoming, represents a series of urban characters involved in the family relationships whose prime interest is in wining dominance over another, and the depiction of gender roles which radically severed from traditional family in urban life. This essay will explore the family relationships between the characters against traditional family and how it relates to modernity. I will exam the text in the following aspects: I will identify the way that in urban life, characters struggle for dominance over another, in attempt to assert identity in order to secure love and identity. I will then illustrate the situation of gender roles, in which possess freedom from constraints of tradition notion of being at home. Finally, I will explore the penetration of homecoming and how it against traditional family, as a way to announce itself as modern. Throughout the analysis, I argue that pinter formulate the notion that the struggling for power, constantly revolves around the city, which demonstrates the disruption of traditional family structure and relationships, in order to comment on modernity. The homecoming is located in the north London and introduced in 1965. The boom site is considered as an image of the post war Britain, which was reeling from the economical and psychological cost after the World War II. The war has encouraged the disintegration of the class system and mutual distrust between the genders. the increasing social acceptability of contraception help to modify tradition of gender roles. In the play of The Homecoming, "all of Pinter's characters struggle for power over others, and beneath the surface that struggle is again an attempt to assert identity in order to gain attention, admiration,... ...the main site of modern commodification of both nurturing and sexual services. The dysfunctional family relationships are presented through the manipulation of sexual attraction, as well as the exertion of dominance between characters in the urban London city after the World War II. Reference: M. Billington, The life and work of Harold Pinter, London: Faber and Faber, 1996. p.168 E. Diamond "Pinter's comic play, Lewisburg: Associated University Presses, c1985. J. Donald imagining the modern city (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999) P. Penelope, The Pinter ethic: the erotic aesthetic. New York: Garland, 1994. p.131 Gale Stephen H. Harold Pinter: critical approaches. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. London: Associated University Presses, 1986. p.113 Volker S. Harold Pinter: towards a poetics of his plays New York: P. Lang, c1989.

Implementing a plan for workforce diversity is in any organizations not easy Essay

The fact that you are dealing with people of diverse backgrounds makes the implementation difficult. â€Å"Diversity in the work force represents an effort towards ensuring a high performing inclusive workforce† (http://www. ornl. gov). When trying to promote diversity in a population based public health has its problems to. â€Å"Population-based practice focuses on the entire range of factors that determine health rather than just personal health risks or disease†. (http://www. health. tate. mn. us). Things taken into consideration are social status, education, employment, and personal health. If I was in charge of developing a plan for implementing a population based health institution, I would first look at the population itself. I would collect data on the health of the population; analyze that data taking into consideration the risk factor. I would then try to identify the cause of the health issues of the people and find out what their needs are. I would consult with others with knowledge of this nature, such as the stakeholders. Then I would derive the best solution for serving the people. Doing this would present some problems. Working with a diverse population would be a problem if not handled properly. If the workers aren’t educated in dealing with people of diverse backgrounds then they will be unable to meet their needs. â€Å"One of the great challenges facing organizations is getting all employees, from the CEO to the hourly workers, to realize that to become the best, they have to embrace diversity† (http://www. nwlink. com). Therefore, I would mandate that all employees take a course in diversity.

Reflection Journal Essay

This is the first time I have had the opportunity to study this subject. Being a science student, I have a very basic understanding on the different aspects of Organisational behaviour. I am interested in learning the different theories, concepts and practises that are a part of this course and relating the same with experiences I have had in the past at my previous workplace. This course would also benefit me at my future workplace by honing my job-related and inter-personal skills.Management is an art of getting things done through and with the people in formally organized groups. The five major functions of management are planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Planning refers to the process of setting goals and how best to achieve them, organising refers to evenly distributing resources so that the plans can be carried out successfully, Staffing pertains to recruitment, selection, development and compensation of subordinates aiming to place right people in the right job, directing refers to the process in which the managers instruct, guide and oversee the performance of the workers to achieve predetermined goals and controlling refers to the process of regulating organisational activities so that actual performance conforms to expected organisational standards and goals. Organisational behaviour can be assessed at three major levels – At the individual level, of analysis, At the group level and At the organization level. Even though the basic skills required for a manager are networking skills, traditional management skills, HRM skills and communication skills, the focused skillset is different for different management levels.There are five basic trends in managing contemporary organisations. Globalization refers to the company’s desire to be a part of the global market. Changing workforce implies increased diversity among the working population, primarily more women being part of it. Employment relationship refers to the flexibility and ease of work schedule and culture. Information technology refers to the increased ease with which employees interact and how organisations are configured. Values and ethics refer to important long-lasting beliefs and moral principles for the benefit of the company. Based on these trends, there are many challenges and opportunities for organisational behaviour.An organisation’s Intellectual capital is of three types – human capital, structural capital and relationship capital.The process of knowledge management can be broadly classified into acquisition (learning and experimenting), sharing (communicating) and use (application). In my last workplace, My organisation overcame many challenges related to various aspects of organisational behaviour. Emphasizing on the final result, they allowed the employees to have a flexible work schedule and/or to work from home. This made it very convenient for the employee. We also used trends in Information Technology and scheduled a Video call between a particular project team and our most potential clients once a month. This improved communication and strengthened our relationship with the client.My previous company had its major clientele in the US but it made a lot of attempts to go global. They were trying to pursue projects in the Middle East, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and India and succeeded establishing a clientele in the Middle East. This was an advantage for the employees as it gave us opportunities to experience the work culture in different markets.| 11/12/2012| Unit 2:Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values| There are various factors that influenced my behaviour at my workplace. I can particularly relate to the MARS model in this instance. Positive and negative (that I would look at from a positive angle) motivation from others throughout the tenure of my work has help me become more passionate about my career. Early on in my career, I had not defined my set of goals properly. As a result, the amount of time and effort invested into achieving those unstable goals was wasted. It is very important to have a sound understanding of our work tasks from every angle. During the last few months of my work, I was simultaneously allocated to three projects. I was not able to concentrate on any project properly as my roles and tasks were not clearly defined. Now, after having a clear, sound understanding of the MARS model, I have realized the importance of clearly defining my goals to get self-motivated and my tasks to increase productivity. With respect to my personality, I am responsible for things that happen to me. I am a little low on self-esteem but realizing that future failures will decrease it all the more, I will take considerable steps to improve the same. I am more of a Type-B person by nature and will take that as an advantage in my life as I love setting aside time for leisure and moving at a normal pace. With respect to the CANOE personality model, I am a combination of the Agreeableness and the Extraversion type. With every company trying to become a part of the global market, it is good for everyone to be able to adapt to all cultures. In my previous workplace, I was deployed in the US on a short-term assignment. It would have been great if someone had emphasized the importance of globalization so that I would have mentally prepared myself to adapt to the culture there instead of going there and taking time to get adjusted. Cross cultural issues are predominant in every workplace though a lot of companies are striving hard to get rid of the same. My company has recently acquired a clientele in the Middle East. A few of my colleagues who were deployed on projects there were not aware of the work culture and practises there. They took a while to get used to the culture there. It would have helped them a lot had they had been given a nugget on the importance of being open-minded and flexible.| 17/12/2012| Unit 3: Perception| Perception is an apprehension or intuition that a person has about somebody or something. The world plays a major role in influencing perception. Perceptions in most cases are superficial and far from reality. Perceptions are generally a result of trends, emotions and trying to fill in missing information. Stereotyping is also a kind of perception that and it refers to assigning traits to people based on their social category. It is possible to minimize the trait of stereotyping but is difficult to prevent it. Stereotyping causes unnecessary discrimination and generalization. Perceptions can be more accurate by being wary of perceptual biases, improving self-awareness and increasing meaningful interactions. The self-fulfilling prophecy cycle refers to the way an employee reacts to his leader’s expectations and the way the leader reacts back to the employee’s performance. Leaders should maintain realistic positive expectations towards their employees. A person is an achiever if he does a particular task differently, better than others and maintains his performance consistently. The Johari window improves self-awareness and understanding between colleagues. It asks an individual to be more expressive and also be open to feedback from others so that people are aware of the individual’s level of perception.A global mindset refers to a person’s ability to perceive, interact and get along with people from other cultures. We can cultivate a global mindset by getting to know about other cultures, cross-cultural trainings and understanding oneself and comparing the mindset of people from different cultures. Emotional intelligence refers to a person using his emotions intelligently while dealing with other people. It can be used to motivate oneself and work well with others. Consequences refer to results of a particular behaviour. If the consequence is positive, a reinforcement strategy is applied and if the same is negative a punishment strategy is applied. Perceptions demotivate leaders and the people working with them. In my previous workplace, I had a perception that freshers did not have sufficient technical knowledge to play a major role in challenging projects. But many freshers working with me excelled their tasks well within their deadlines. Therefore, perception is not reality but what we see of reality.Emotional intelligence is an important leadership quality. The project manager at my previous workplace never motivated any of her subordinates and we always had a very negative view of her managerial skills. Now, since I have a fair idea about how to motivate my peers and subordinates using Emotional Intelligence and setting realistic goals, I will learn from my ex-project manager’s mistakes and do the right thing when I become a future leader. | 18/12/2012| Unit 4:Motivation| Motivation refers to the processes that arouse and sustain a person’s desire to attain a particular goal. The main reasons for a person being motivated in a workplace are money, opportunity, belonging, involvement and satisfaction. There are many theories related to what motivates a person. Taking an example of the Maslow’s theory, it applies when one wants to be motivated to succeed in his job and further, but the same does not apply when one wants to be motivated to play a role in Social Responsibility. The other theories are ERG theory where the main reasons for motivation are existence, belonging and growth and McClelland’s theory where the main reasons for motivation are the need for affiliation, power and achievement and Herzberg’s theory where the reasons for motivation are the factors involved in performing a job that lead to satisfaction. All the above content motivation theories confirm that rewards are what play an important role in motivating a person. There are process theories that emphasize on why and how a person gets motivated in the workplace. These theories emphasize on factors that managers have more influence over. If managers get their employees to love their jobs by clearly defining their roles and setting their goals to give them a strong support system and encouraging them, that will be the best form of motivation. Goal setting plays a major role in motivating an employee. A manager and employee should work together and set the employee’s goals. A goal that is moderate to challenging will generally result in a higher employee performance. An employee will also perform better in his job if he is trusted by his manager, given the right level of independence, allocated well-defined tasks and exposed to increased client interaction. The other aspects that motivate an employee are providing them with options like telecommuting, flexible timing and job sharing. Remuneration and rewards do motivate people to a great extent. But that form of motivation does come with a few disadvantages as well.My first team lead at my previous workplace was very stringent with respect to us putting in long hours of work. That demotivated the entire team and decreased our work productivity in the long run. Had he not insisted on long work hours, the team would have achieved its required targets much faster. Opportunity is a key motivation factor as well. One year into my job, my manager promoted me and gave me the opportunity to interact directly with my client. Interacting with the client directly for the first time, I took it up as a challenge and was determined to perform well. The client was very happy with me and gave me a very positive feedback at the end of the project. Unnecessary pressure from the senior management is not a motivating factor. When my project was going through very tight deadlines, the senior management would never be satisfied with our work. Lack of satisfaction and appreciation from our leads made us very disinterested in our work. Had they understood the amount of pressure we were going through and motivated us the right way, We could have gotten through that rough phase a lot more easily. | 7/1/2013| Unit 5:Team Dynamics| Team work is one of the most important aspects of corporate culture. A team is a group of people who are together to achieve a common goal. Teams motivate employees, increase the ease of information sharing and increase work productivity. The major disadvantage of a team is social loafing. In order to minimize social loafing, smaller teams should be formed and individual performance needs to be measured. It is a good idea to plaster the walls of a team space with key issues. This will give instant access to information to quickly resolve issues. Teams are better at complex, structured issues that require a lot of co-ordination. Good team members must be able co-operate, resolve conflict, co-ordinate, comfort and communicate. There are four stages of team development – forming, storming, norming and performing. The better performing team is always a cohesive one. Virtual teams are teams that operate across time, space and organisational boundaries. These teams are more necessary because of factors like globalisation. Brainstorming is a practise that is followed amongst the world’s most creative firms.Team work has always played an important role in my work life. I am a very strong team player. I was working with this client called Toyota and we were a sixteen member team. Though we completed our project successfully at the end, there were many cases of dismal individual performance. People took advantage of the fact that they were part of a team. Had I known then that smaller teams were more productive, I could have suggested to my manager to split us into sub-teams and designate individual tasks at that level. I have been part of a brain storming session many times. Those sessions would have been much more valuable and productive had we defined a set of rules that needed to be followed while brainstorming.| 8/1/2013| Unit 6:Power and Politics| Power is the ability of a person, team or organization to influence others. Power can be legitimate or otherwise. An example of legitimate power would be Obama. An example of misuse of power would be historic Adolf Hitler. The other types of power are reward, coercive, expert and referent power. Reward power is when someone has the power to control rewards and remove negative sanctions. Coercive power is power that can be used to punish. Expert power is power resulting from possessing valuable knowledge or skills. Referent power is power that arises out of respect. Non-substitutability refers to power that comes out of being unique in an environment or industry. Centrality refers to the interdependence between the power holders and others. Centrality is a phenomenon that will strengthen the spirit of a team to a large extent. Influence refers to any behaviour that alters someone else’s behaviour. A person can influence or get influenced positively or negatively. The person can resist, comply or commit to influence. Politics exists at every level of the organisation. Politics increases as management hierarchy increases. It exists at the upper management level the most. People trigger politics to make things easier for themselves. It disturbs the peace and cohesion in a team. Politics cannot be abolished but depending on the individuals in the organisation, it can definitely be minimized and controlled. As with any other organisation, abusive power and politics existed at my previous workplace as well. It existed at a more intense level as we were a very small organisation. We were terribly understaffed when compared to the amount of projects that needed to be completed. Managers used their power and over worked the employees to get work done. Had they been taught to use their authority and power properly they would could have used their power in the right way and implemented long term solutions to the understaffing problems. Politics probably brought individual gain to the person responsible for it but brought about a very negative atmosphere in the team. | 14/1/2013| Unit 7:Leadership| Leadership refers to the process of guiding someone in a work environment to achieve organisational objectives. Followership refers to the process of following a leader. A leader need s to have the drive to lead, integrity, motivation, self-confidence, emotional intelligence, intelligence and a sound knowledge of the business. A leader’s style can be rigid (autocratic), understanding (democratic) or unsuccessful (Laissez-Faire). A leader can be production-oriented or employee-oriented. Though the former will ultimately get the work done, the latter will get the work done bearing in mind the needs and concerns of the employee. For a manager to be successful, It is very important for him to have leadership qualities. He will be able to inspire and drive the team towards reaching its necessary targets. There was gender discrimination with respect to leadership. But now, female leaders have been rated more favourably than male leaders. There have been very few leaders in my previous workplace who have had the right leadership traits. Most of the others were very bossy and managerial by nature. They did not have the right Emotional Intelligence to understand their employees, nor did they have any integrity and did not have the leadership drive in them. It would have been easier for us to complete our tasks without them interfering and troubling us.| 15/1/2013| Unit 8:Change| Change is the only thing that does not change. Change in an organisation is inevitable and is intended for the betterment of the organisation. In the conventional perspective, change had three stages – recognizing the need for change and fighting those resisting it, making the change and finally confirming the change. But this model does not promote continuous change. Lewin’s force field analysis model classifies two forces with respect to change – there are restraining forces that oppose change and driving forces that encourage change. People resist change due to fear of the unknown, saving face, breaking routines and loss in current perks. We can minimize the resistance to change by communicating the change well in advance, implementing the change over a stretched period of time and involving everyone necessary to be a part of the change. Change can also be made through social networking. Change agents refer to anyone who can facilitate the change correctly. Typically, change agents are consultants from outside the company who diagnose the change, introduce it, stabilize it and finally collect feedback. Change in an organisation will take its employees some time getting used to. Initially, my company had an attendance register that we used to sign every time we got into the office. Then, the management implemented a policy asking us to swipe our access cards insisting on us clocking a minimum of eight hours in our office. A lot of people suffered salary cuts because of forgetting to swipe in or swipe out. This change was sudden and took us quite a while to get used to. | 16/1/2013| Unit 9:Organisational Culture| Organisational culture is the backbone of every organisation. It is the company’s DNA, invisible but the most important part of the organisation. It is important for an employee to be comfortable and adapt to the company’s culture. A strong organizational culture involves innovation, stability, respect for people, outcome orientation, attention to detail, team orientation and positive aggression. Culture can be defined at the organisational, local, regional and national level. The basic artefacts of organisational culture comprise of rituals, ceremonies, language and physical structures/symbols. A company with a strong culture has better performance. When one company acquires another company or merges with another company, the cultures of both the companies are usually combined into one corporate culture. An organisation’s culture becomes stronger by attracting applicants, selecting applicants to become company employees and the employees finally quitting the company. Socializing refers to learning and adjusting to strategic and cultural dynamics of an organisation. An employee goes through three general stages of socialization first being an outsider, then a newcomer and finally an insider (employee) of the organisation. | | Overview Summary| This course has stressed on the significance of various concepts that are a vital part of organisational behaviour. I have realised the significance of motivation, managerial leadership, minimizing workplace politics, team building and cohesion, knowledge management, change management, efficient use of authority, perception evading, emotional intelligence, modern organisational trends and overcoming of cross cultural issues amongst others. In my previous workplace, I was deployed on an onsite assignment in the US to work at Twentieth Century Fox. There, I was allocated to work for two projects at the same time, all of which involved getting work done from my inexperienced subordinates in India. I can relate to a lot of OB concepts that could have helped me manage my all aspects of my work better. The work culture in the US differed a lot from that in India. It took me some time to adjust to the differences. At Fox, My challenge was to interact with people from all cultures at a global level. Also, my senior management had not defined my roles in both the projects properly. Since I had freshers working with me from India, I perceived them to not be capable of working in such critical projects and hence did not motivate them. That did not spread any team spirit among our project members. If I had been enlightened with the importance of workplace motivation, it would have been easier for us to complete the project tasks. I have also understood the pertinence of positive leadership. I lacked the leadership qualities to drive the project in a positive manner even though I had a sound understanding of the business. In the future, I will motivate my subordinates and address all their concerns so that they contribute better to the project. My company did not have a knowledge management process in place. When I was leaving the company, since there was nobody else competent enough to replace me, we lost one project to a competitor. This loss could have been avoided if there had been an efficient knowledge management and succession planning strategy in place. In future, as a leader, I am very sure all the concepts learnt as part of this course will help me overcome a lot of organisational level obstacles at my workplaces and make my road to success a lot easier.