What is the best advice you have ever received?

Everything happens for a reason and this I can prove by looking back at previous experiences which made vital contributions to my personality. My name is (insert name of student here) and I am aiming for a good position in your credible university as a student majoring in Industrial Engineering. My personal and academic experiences made me realize the importance of taking up another level of this field since I can seek for broader opportunities in the future. I came from China and graduated there with a degree in Electrical Engineering and upon graduation, I still long for more knowledge relating to this field. I was too confused at that time of changing my career path since I am also fascinated in studying Industrial Engineering. I seek for a friend's advice and his name is (try to insert a friend's name here) and I was able to get the best advice that made a lot of difference in my life. My friend told me that I should go out of the country and try studying in the United States where they give the best quality of education. My friend gave me a life changing advice since he convinced me to step out of my homeland so I can make my dreams come true of taking up a different field of Engineering. I felt really blessed and relieved since I got the necessary support from my family who agreed to my decision of furthering my education abroad. I started to follow the advice given by my friend by having the necessary courage and never be intimidated by the fact that I will be in a foreign land. I utilized most of his words of wisdom by trying to seek for more details regarding the said country and seek for a credible institution that will help me fulfill my career. I am now in the point of my life were bravery and confidence is at its best. I will never loose hope and I will maintain my optimistic attitude especially when it comes to my future career. Taking the stand and going to the United States is indeed a worthy advice given by my friend. I am looking forward to spending my educational days at (insert name of university here) and learning more about Industrial Engineering. I believe that this University is capable of producing excellent Industrial Engineers in the future. I anticipate my future with success. Impossible is nothing for a person who shows dedication and passion for success. I will never be this confident if not by the help of my friend. He brings out the best in me by means of his encouraging words. I will follow what he told me because I know that it will make a difference in my career path. At the same time, choosing to study at (insert name of university here), will make all my dreams come true since I will be taking up a major in a university that recruits only the best and finest students. In addition there are wide array of academic resources on this university along with professors who are experts in the field of Industrial Engineering. Now is the right time for me to make all my dreams into reality. I am an optimistic person and considers problems as important factors that will make me a person stronger that before and well prepared for tomorrow. I will not let my friend down and I will follow what he told me when it comes to taking up the field of Engineering that I love most.

Is Marxism Still Relevant Today?

The Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) had brought about significant changes in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and technology and subsequently established an era of unprecedented economic growth in capitalist economies. It was within this era that Karl Marx had observed the deprivation and inequality experienced by men of the proletariat, the working class, who had laboured excessively for hours under inhumane conditions to earn a minimum wage while the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, reaped the benefits.For Marx it was this fundamental inequality within the social and economic hierarchy that had enabled capitalist societies to function. While Marx’s theories, in many instances have been falsified and predictions invalid, his ideas about class struggle and conflict being a motivator for change is still relevant in contemporary society. The disparity of wealth between occupations in Australia demonstrates that class stratification is still inherent within society and the recent Qantas airline dispute is a relevant example of this.Marx’s theory of class struggle originates with his belief that â€Å"the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles† (Marx & Engel, 1848). Marx had established that conflict between classes was the key driving force of history and the main determinant of social change. For Marx, conflict originates with the deterioration of a ‘false consciousness’ and the subsequent acquisition of a unified ‘class consciousness’.Marx argued that that proletariat was under the influence of a ‘false consciousness’ brought about with the acceptance of the dominant ideology that freedom and equality could be interpreted as an equal exchange of labour for wages (van Krieken et al. , 2010). Marx however, perceived this as an exploitive relationship because in capitalism, the labourer only receives what is deemed sufficient to meet his basic needs for himself and his family, as opposed to the real value of his labour power.Marx had identified that the difference between the labourer’s wage and the value of the goods in which he produces is taken as profit, of which only the capitalist is the beneficiary (Habibis & Walter, 2009). Marx had theorised that, as a result of this exploitive relationship, alienation would occur. Marx argued that commodification of goods and services produced in conjunction with the lack of control over the end result would mean that workers would no longer recognise a connection with their labour, and hence become alienated from their labour.Only with the recognition of class exploitation and alienation would a class consciousness develop. Marx referred to class consciousness as a ‘class for itself’, denoting a collective self-awareness of the interests shared by members of a social group (van Krieken et al. , 2010). Marx predicted that class consciousness would create a conflict of interest between classes and revolution would eventuate. The bourgeoisie would be overthrown, capitalism would collapse and a classless state would emerge as its successor (van Krieken et al. , 2010). In post-modern times however, it is widely accepted that the opposite occurred.Critics insist that Marxism’s credibility was eradicated with the fall of the communist states within the ‘Eastern Bloc’. While others such as China, although still governed by a communist party, have adopted numerous capitalist policies (van Krieken et al. , 2010). Marxism has also been criticised for its over-concentration on economic relationships and its tendency to overlook other forms of non-economic conflicts (Griffith, 2005). Feminists, for example, argue that the conflicts between male and female relations are not necessarily related to economics, but patriarchal.Furthermore, Marx like other social theorists at the time had ignored the role and contribution of women. Marx had described the proletariat of industrial societies where manual labour was involved; he did not however, take into consideration a woman’s domestic or reproductive labour. Federici (2004) asserts that Marx failed to recognise the importance of reproductive labour because he had adopted the capitalist criteria for what constitutes labour and believed that a wage in exchange for labour would be the paradigm that shapes humanity. Considering that as of 2010, 45. % of the Australian labour force comprised of women it would seem that Marx’s socialist perspective is less so equal or relevant in contemporary society. Marxism is often cited as being irrelevant within contemporary society due to the fact that Marx had critiqued an almost incomparable society. McDonald & Brownlee (2001) argue that contemporary society exists in a post-modern era where westernised societies enjoy the benefits of higher living standards, where the rights of employees are elicited within the Austra lian Constitution and the rights of humans are dictated within Geneva conventions.An era where employees are entitled to government pensions, allowances, superannuation, and employees accrue sick and annual leave (McDonald & Brownlee, 2001). Furthermore employees are able to seek union representation and are legally entitled to industrial action. McDonald and Brownlee (2001) assert that Fair Work Australia, established as an institution responsible for fixating minimum wage and resolving work related disputes, perpetuates the notion that Australia is in transition to become an egalitarian society with minimal class disparity.Critics have also argued that Marxism within western society is no longer relevant due to the increased levels of social mobility. Social mobility refers to movement in an individual’s or group’s social position over time and is often assessed on their change in income over time (Borgatta & Montogomery, 2000). The traditional stratification of clas ses had a tendency to overlook the middle class and analyse the two extremes of rich and poor, bourgeoisie and proletariat (van Krieken et al. 2010). In the context of Marxism, the middle class was ignored due to their perceived limited role within the political revolution that would depose of capitalism. In contemporary society however, the traditional labouring occupations have decreased, leading to a shortage of skilled labourers and tradesman. As a result these occupations often earn a higher income, blurring the line between working class and middle class (Braverman, 1974).In August 2011 the most common occupations were distinctly white collar with the workforce comprising of 22% professionals, 15% Clerical and administrative workers and 14% Technicians and trades workers (Australian Bureau Statistics, 2011). The evident emergence of the white collar-middle class within contemporary society significantly undermines Marx’s theory of class stratification who had predicted an absorption into the working class and the emergence of a classless state. Despite this however, research has suggested that social mobility has not necessarily increased.Graetz and McAllister (1994) identified that while the shift between manual and non-manual occupations has increased since the 1970’s, most of this has been the result of structural changes in light of technological innovations and advancements in modern society, as opposed to mobility in social classes. Moreover, Leigh (2007) argues that the youth of Australia are equally likely to reproduce, or not reproduce, the class of their parents and that social mobility in the context of Australian youth, has not necessarily increased.Argy (2005) reinforces this argument and states that while Australia can be referred to as economically liberated country, there has not necessarily been an increase in equal opportunity and the distribution of wealth within Australia is an evident example of this. The National Centr e for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) was commissioned to conduct a study in relation to the distribution of wealth in Australia. NATSEM analyst Simon Kelly (2002) reported that the richest fifth of households in Australia each have, on average, forty times more wealth than the poorest fifth of the population.The NATSEM data reiterates that wealth within Australia is still concentrated in the hands of the wealthy minority who have ascertained the benefits of the economic growth in recent years by disproportionately increasing their personal wealth (Stillwell & Primrose, 2011). The disparity of wealth between occupations was a key indicator of the inequality between classes. NATSEM data identified that personal wealth is the highest for managers and administrators (men $250,000, women $183,300) and professionals (men $173,800, women $99,700).In contrast to these figures, the lowest personal wealth is held by the production and transport workers ($55,400), labourers (men 39,700 , women $29,300) and trade persons (men 60,000, women 35,000) (Stillwell & Primrose, 2011). From a sociological perspective class inequality is often represented by comparing class personal wealth and income. From a Marxism perspective however, a person’s social class isn’t defined by personal wealth but rather the level of control that a person wields over the means of production.According to Ben Hillier (2012) it is measured in terms of social wealth derived from the â€Å"control of the productive or financial apparatus of society†. This can be interpreted as the bourgeoisie having ownership of the assets that enable modern society to function such as the telecommunications infrastructure, electrical companies, newspaper enterprises, transport facilities and mines etc. The transactional influence of these assets inevitably provides its owner with the power to influence governments of capitalist societies and effects how society functions.The recent Qantas air ways dispute demonstrated how this power is exercised. One recent example of class conflict inherent within Australian society was the Qantas airways dispute. On 29th October 2011, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce issued a press release announcing the immediate grounding and cancellation of all Australian domestic and international flights and the lock-out of all employees without pay. Leading up to the unprecedented grounding, Qantas had been involved in contract negotiations with unions representing employees of the company.The unions were seeking a 3-5% wage increase and better job security for casual staff. (Mulcahy, 2011). Around the same time Qantas had announced its decision to slash 1000 jobs and restructure its fleet to move to Asia under a new airline Jetstar Japan. The traditional international routes within the North Atlantic were operating at a loss with a half year profit of $241 million a year ago, dropping by 83%, to $42 million (Ryan, 2012). Despite the evident decline in prof it the airlines had awarded Alan Joyce with a 71% lift in his total remuneration package to $5. 1 million, after he received $2. million worth of shares (Mulcahy, 2011). After two days the debacle finally ended with the intervention of the Federal government submitting an application to Fair Work Australia (FWA), terminating the industrial dispute and ordering Qantas to resume operations. The verdict stated that those involved had 21 days to finalise a settlement to the dispute and neither party could engage in further action for three years after a settlement had been made. If an agreement could not be reached the Fair Work industrial courts would arbitrate the details of the contracts (Mulcahy, 2011).The economic impact was expected to be profound, Qantas which represents approximately 65% of the aviation industry, contributes $6 billion to the Australian economy and employs 50,000 employees (Squires, 2011). Although Qantas reports that the dispute cost them $120 million, its shar e prices increased by 6% to $1. 61 (Frith, 2011). The controversy attracted much political and economic commentary speculating on who won the dispute and what this would mean for those involved. Alan Joyce explicitly stated that the FWA ruling was a favourable decision for Qantas as â€Å"nobody any more can take industrial action† (Taylor, 2011).This thereby would allow Qantas to restructure its fleet in Asia, ascertaining cheaper wages by outsourcing and offshoring labour, without any internal opposition. The unions established to represent the working class of businesses and corporations would be made obsolete for three years allowing any injustices within the workplace to remain unresolved. From a Marxist perspective this would mean that the bourgeoisie of the company, the CEO and high profile managers, who already have exceeding high salaries, would profit from the new means of production and the proletariat would be further disadvantaged with pay cuts and the isk of red undancy. Karl Marx’s critique of industrial societies developed out of the belief that conflict between stratified classes such as the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, would be the drive needed to perpetuate social change. Marx believed that with the acquisition of a class consciousness the proletariat would revolt against the exploitative capitalist institution, eradicating all class structures and establishing a socialist state. Admittedly, Marx’s critique failed to recognise essential components of society such as the middle class and female representation which has significantly undermined Marx’s theory of class struggle.Furthermore Marx’s predictions have been falsified in light of modern developments which have led to many critics casting doubt on its relevance within contemporary society. The higher living standards, government allowances and union representation enjoyed by citizens within Australia all perpetuate notions of equality and repudiate the potential collapse of capitalism. Despite this however, there are still many instances of class inequality inherent in Australian society.The disparity of wealth between occupations in Australia demonstrates that the minority with extreme wealth have control over the means of production, and have used the power derived from it to influence society’s development. The recent Qantas dispute is a testament of how this power is exercised and demonstrates how the wealthy minority are able to accumulate excess wealth at the expense of the labouring class. Thus attesting to the inherent class inequality that Marx had recognised, and acknowledging its existence within contemporary Australian society. ?

A Critique of Lost Names, a Book by Richard E. Kim

A Critique of Lost Names, a Book by Richard E. Kim Love Conquers Hate In the book Lost [1] Names by Richard E. Kim, the Koreans ingenuity from experience bolsters Edward Siedensticker’s opinion that Lost Names is not a poem of hate, but a poem of love. The Koreans in Lost Names do not fight the Japanese’s hatred with hatred back to the Japanese. The Korean people understood that fighting the Japanese’s violence and hatred would result in death and damage for both sides, and keep adding to their suffering. When the Koreans realize the consequences of fighting with hate, they wisely choose to fight the Japanese with love. A wise man would know not to fight violence with violence. Back when Koreans and Japanese had a rough relationship; the Japanese kept the Korean people hostage, increased famine for the Koreans, and forbid the from practicing their culture. Temporarily, the Koreans people wanted to take revenge on the Japanese for causing great suffering for the people. The Koreans realized that in the long run, making the Japanese suffer would be useless and a waste of time. The narrator and his father came to the conclusion that making peace with the Japanese and forgetting all their past mishaps would be beneficial for the Korean and the Japanese people. The following passage supports my reasoning: â€Å"Please help us! Please help us!†, he is saying. [] â€Å"Get up†, the narrator says to the man and his wife, â€Å"My father would have saved you† (159). The narrator may not have been willing to let the man and his wife in if he just thought about it for a few seconds. He t ook his time to really think about what the right thing to do was. Being nicer to the Japanese may not benefit the narrator and his people now, but as times change the narrator and his father know that peace would be the best for their people. As the narrator knows how it would feel to be treated unfairly from the Japanese, like when the narrator had his culture taken away from him and being beaten constantly from the Japanese; all because the Koreans are seen as inferior through the Japanese’s eyes. The narrator’s occurrences make him realize why his father is kind to the Japanese when the Japanese are cruel to the Koreans. The narrator’s realization implies that he is learning to fight with love not hate in the passage. Secondarily, the Koreans changed their views of the Japanese because they knew how it felt to be treated immorally. The following quote from Lost Names supports my assertion, â€Å"A youngman with a shotgun is running into the house from the west gate shouting, A man from the police is coming sir! My father says, Bring him in. [] We will turn them over to you, provided the issue of your receipt, we accept your terms, says the narrator’s father† (188). The passage rehashes the idea that the Korean people are learning from the wise ways of the narrator’s father. The narrator’s father does not go up to the shameful Japanese and beat them up for all the things they have done to the Korean people, instead he politely asks for a receipt and makes a compromise. The Koreans want to ruin the Japanese, but they learn that making peace would be the better option from the narrator’s father. His father sets a good example to the Koreans and the Japanese with h is respectful actions. The narrator learns from the father how to fight hate with love, and they teach the other Koreans. The Koreans shrewdness makes Lost Names a poem of love. As the evidence displays above, the poem of love is dominant over the poem of hate in Lost Names. Although there are examples of violence and hatred from the Japanese, the Koreans wisely don’t act for revenge, which diminishes the idea that Lost Names could be a poem of hatred alludes to that Lost Names is a poem of love. The end of Lost Names foreshadows that the Japanese and the Koreans have made peace with each other.The theme from the Lost Names teaches a good lesson; fight hate with love, and make peace.

World after 25 years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

World after 25 years - Essay Example There is quite a lot of representation of people in the population that gets the liposuction done who are not actually obese, or even overweight! In fact, â€Å"The best candidates for liposuction are normal-weight people with firm, elastic skin who have pockets of excess fat in certain areas† (Ramos). All they want the surgery done for is to remove the fat from specific areas of body like thighs or breast etc to enhance their looks. Likewise, gynecomastia is a condition in which men develop lumps in their chest which are totally benign and can be lived with, yet many men with gynecomsatia get the lumps removed through surgery. â€Å"Male gynecomastia surgery was performed on over 16500 men in 2001, up 48 percent from 1997† (â€Å"Male Gynecomastia†). This essentially tells that a vast majority of people getting surgeries are unnecessarily conscious about their looks and have no medical reasons to get the surgery done. Another growing concern in the whole world i n the contemporary age, that is quite different from the one discussed above, is the depleting natural resources. Natural resources are depleting readily, and scientists estimate abolishment of oil reserves 25 years from now in many areas which are the key producers of oil today.

Publius and state of emergency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Publius and state of emergency - Essay Example For instance, when dealing with terrorists it is hard to draw a boundary between human rights violation the political stability of a nation. When a government declares a state of emergency due to an event, it has to move swiftly and effectively in averting it and containing its consequences with all possible means since such events are always detrimental to a large population of a country. Having understood state of emergency, it is safe to discuss theories that relates to the same, and the paper will explore Publius’s and Schmitt’s theories and determine which one among them is more vindicated by the case of Rasul versus Bush. Publius coined a theory indicating that interest is the motive that derives the decisions and federalist’s behavior. Pablius describes the term interest, basically as the self desire to gain causing individuals to strive ceaselessly for possessions that guarantee their preservation and comfort (Eugene 32). Those who are appointed to leader ship positions in the federal government should be people who understand the federalist’s interests and committed to defending them. This means that the federal constitution is designed in a manner that takes into consideration the federalist interests. Those entrusted with the interpretation and implementation of constitution are expected to defend the interests of the federal government. Pablius argues that emphasis should not be placed on the character of the rulers but rather the arrangement of their passions and interests (Eugene 45). He observes that the constitution is meant to regulate and to protect the political interests of the nation. It follows that the judges in the federal government should ensure that their rulings do not jeopardize the political and national interests of United States. State of emergency involves very serious matters, that a government concerns itself with, since they affect an enormous number of citizens either directly or indirectly. One of such events is terrorism and the federal judges must take into account the political, economic and social interests of America when handling cases related to terrorism. Carl Schmitt is another scholar who postulated a theory on the state of emergency. He argues that state of emergency entails the total suspension of the legal order in order to stabilize a country from detrimental occurrences like civil wars (Giorgio). The suspension of the law is geared towards enhancing the welfare of human beings. There comes a time where the people’s lives are more precious that the law and legal procedures. It is not appropriate to follow the law when the process can jeopardize people’s lives. However, state of emergency should not be equated to a state of 1. See the political science reviewer by Eugene Miller for more Insight on Pablius theory on state of emergency lawlessness or anarchy since this is extreme, and in this arrangement, no one follows the law or takes responsibilit y for criminal acts exacerbated by the fact that there is no stable authority with robust will power to enact legislations. Schmitt’s theory of the state of emergency is presented in the doctrine of sovereignty; the sovereign has the power to declare a state of emergency but is also obligated to ensure legal order prevails in a state (Giorgio). The sovereign authority is one that has been given the

George Gordon Byron Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

George Gordon Byron - Research Paper Example Poem 1- She Walks in Beauty 6 A. Personal Analysis 6 A.1. How the Poem Fits into the Era 6 A.2. Literary Analysis 7 V. Poem 2 – The Destruction of Senacherib 8 A. Personal Analysis 8 A.1. How the Poem Fits into the Era 8 A.2. Literary Analysis 8 VI. Poem 3 - Darkness 9 A. Personal Analysis 9 A.1. How the Poem Fits into the Era 9 A.2. Literary Analysis 9 VII. Conclusion 10 Works Cited 11 I. Introduction A. Thesis Statement What seems to stand out from the poetry and from the life of the man, is that of Byron like his poems depicting a kind of beauty that is detached from ordinary reality, and yet so much more beautiful for being so, detached yet somehow real and palpable, and utterly heroic. This seems to represent in one way what Romanticism is all about (Byron; Brooklyn College English Department; Academy of American Poets; Poetry Foundation). B. Brief Overview B.1. Literary Era The literary era to which Byron and his poetry belongs is the era of Romanticism (Brooklyn College English Department). B.2. Biography The poet was born into royalty, and was able to inherit a title, so that by age of 10, he became Baron of Rochdale. His father died at a young age, and he was full of resentment for his mother. He died at the age of 36 (Academy of American Poets) B.3. ... that we inherit the convenient set of terminal dates for the Romantic period, beginning in 1798, the year of the first edition of  Lyrical Ballads  by Wordsworth and Coleridge and of the composition of  Hymns to the Night  by Novalis, and ending in 1832, the year which marked the deaths of both Sir Walter Scott and Goethe. (Brooklyn College English Department) B. Defining the Era, Characteristics of the Poetry There is an emphasis on the individual, the individual as a hero, where the personality is supreme, elevated. Imagination has a central place in Romanticism too, which also likewise was put up in a pedestal as being the best part of the human mind and consciousness. Symbols and symbolism, as they pertain to nature, for instance, were also highly valued. Feelings were given emphasis, especially as with regards to the expression of feelings in poetry (Brooklyn College English Department) C. Era in the Context of British History 1798 marked the year of the Irish Rebelliion , marked by a period of intense conflict between Britain and its neighbor, culminating in union (Bartlett). This period was also marked by the turn of the century struggle between Napoleon on the one hand and Britain on the other, all the way to 1802 (History World). C.4. Era in the Context of World/Global History and Events Elsewhere in the world Napoleon was brought down also during this period, at Waterloo in 1815, and the slaves were finally emancipated in New York around 1827, when slavery was outlawed in that state (Taylor) C.5 How Byron Fits Into This Era Byron was a leading voice of the Romantic era. He is credited with having a large influence on the movement and on the Romantic poets and artists in general, especially with his poem â€Å"Don Juan†. The term â€Å"Byronic hero† is also

Causes and Cures of College dropouts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Causes and Cures of College dropouts - Essay Example They make umpteen numbers of visits to campuses, spend long hours preparing for standardized tests, and prepare well-knit admission essays that leave no chance for rejection. After all these efforts, it these students leave the colleges they have long been trying to reach, one can easily identify that the reason lies not in the attitude or interest of the students, but in some other factors that result in the loss of interest. In my opinion, there are various factors which are economic, cultural, and social in nature. The economic factors Many scholars have acknowledged the fact that lack of funds or financial burden still remains as the first and foremost reason behind college dropout. The main reason behind this issue is the lack of long term vision in students. They prepare their funds well in advance, but only sufficient for the first semester or the first year. Such students soon face financial crisis and start looking for part-time jobs or grants. Most of them get frustrated so on and eventually decide to give up their studies. However, though not ultimate, there are various solutions that students can try before reaching the decision to quit. First of all, they can try to get a job in the college, for example, a position in library or canteen. This will enable them to give adequate attention to their studies. In addition, by improving their communication with other students and professors, they can come to know about the financial resources other such students depend on. Along with this, they might be able to find out possibilities of grants and scholarships. However, if someone believes that financial crisis is the only economic problem, it is too early to reach such a conclusion. There is certainly a category of students who believe that money making is, in no way, connected to education. According to the proponents of this class of thought, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, was a Harvard dropout. The list is long; the cofounder of Oracle, Larry Ell ison, and the inventor of frozen French Fry, John Simplot, to mention but few. In addition, it is pointed out that professional education has nothing to do with professions like journalism, software engineering, and stock trading. So, it cannot be termed irrational if someone claims that ‘on-the-job’ experience at that age is much better than the highly expensive ‘university experience’. Social and psychological factors For many students, the transition from school to college is a difficult task. It involves forgetting the old friends and making new contacts, staying away from family and friends, and being totally responsible for ones own time, money, and performance. In fact, studies have shown that some students find the college life totally different from what they expected. They may not get the kind of close attention they used to enjoy at school. In addition, as the study at college is totally different from that at school, there may be a decline in th e scores they get. In addition, for those who move from a rural setting to a city, getting familiar with the lifestyle of city and college is a tough task. While some students take these challenges positively, some may not be able to cope up with the situation, and decide to stop. For those who are not used to staying away from family, homesickness and isolation are two important factors that make them take the wrong decision. However, not all are so homesick that they cannot adjust coming to an urban setting.

MKTG 466 = FINAL EXAM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

MKTG 466 = FINAL EXAM - Assignment Example An independent variable is an assumed causal variable whereas, a dependent variable is an assumed effect variable. The primary or key term in these definitions is the assumed as researchers are always in doubt whether a particular variable has caused another variable to change. In a research, it is assumed that it does but cannot be stated with certainty. For example, in a research if lack of sleep predicts increase usage of coffee, then lack of sleep is independent whereas, increased coffee consumption is dependent variable. Construct on the other hand is intangible, abstract and unobservable perception which is directly gauged with a set of related variables. For example customer satisfaction, service quality and brand appeal are some of the constructs. Some of the constructs which depict the respondents’ personality or uniqueness can also be measured. For example creativity, helpfulness, effects of various deals offered by various brands and so on. Relationships in a causal study depict the connection between two or more variables. Relationships between variables may be positive or negative. Positive relationships means than the variable are in direct proportion with each other and increase or decrease simultaneously. For example the more educated a person, the more likely he is to adopt technological advancements. On the other hand, negative relationship refers to a state where variables are inversely proportional to each other. Senior citizens are less likely to adopt to technological advancements. In order to efficiently convey the relationships and variables, researchers go through a process known as conceptualization. This process involves three primary steps; identification of variables, hypothesis statement and relationships and drawing a conceptual model. A conceptual model is primarily a diagram which a researcher uses to depict the relationships between variables and the hypothesis constructed during

CASE 1 HRM 402 - TD - Determining Training and Development Essay

CASE 1 HRM 402 - TD - Determining Training and Development - Essay Example hould be taught to achieve optimal performance.† The job or task will be analyzed which includes the requirements for performing the task by specifying the main duties or level of the skills needed. When conducting the task analysis, the following should be evaluated: performance of task, frequency of task performed, importance of each task, knowledge needed to perform the task, difficulty of the task and trainings available for each task. It is very important to organize the task in sequence or by importance. The employee should be observed while performing the task and the observation should be documented properly. The performance of the employee should be evaluated based on the job description such as taking note if the employee missed important part of the task or deviated from what are listed on the job description. It is important to check if there are differences between the top and bottom performers. This would lead to the question of what are the suitable trainings needed to improve productivity and overall performance of the

Literary Canon Definition Essay Example for Free

Literary Canon Definition Essay A literary canon is a classification of literature. It is compromised of literary works that share similar or related characteristics and are considered to be the most important of a specific time frame or place. The process in which a work is canonized is completely subjective. And just as the judgments and opinions of people change over time, so do literary canons. The status a work receives when it is entered into a literary canon is based on its relevance to the time period. Therefore a social change such as the feminist movement can determine what works are added and removed from a literary canon  Both the works of Gail Godwin’s â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† and Karen Van Der Zee’s â€Å" A Secret Sorrow† were composed during the rise of feminism. However, the perspective of woman each work has varies greatly. â€Å" A Secret Sorrow† reflects the stereotypical view of woman that the feminist movement so strongly opposed. The view that woman are child bearing objects and should complete the role of the traditional housewife is irrelevant to the social changes happening during time period. In stark contrast, â€Å" A Sorrowful Woman† is written about a woman who is weary and unsatisfied with her role as a mother and child. She even goes as far as to detach herself from her family and isolate herself into one room. This perspective ties closely with way many women felt during the time period when feminism was rising. Thus its social and historical relevance to the time period makes â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† a much better fit to be entered into the literary canon.

Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behaviour

Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behaviour In the early history consumer behaviour has led to theories, research methods and background knowledge of the consumer economy and self-service concepts. Consumer behaviour in the 1950s is based on the concept of marketing through various alternative approaches. Widespread adoption of the marketing concept was the impetus for the study of consumer behaviour (Consumer Behaviour, Leon G. Schiff man, Leslie lazar Kanuk and Havard Hansen). To identify the unmet needs of consumers, companies have participated in extensive market research. So, they discovered that consumers are very complex, subject to various psychological and social needs. Thus, the concept of marketing has emphasized the importance of consumer research and laid the groundwork for the implementation of the principles of consumer behaviour in marketing strategy. It is interesting to note that even before the evaluation of the marketing concept, an intuitive understanding of consumer behaviour has been the key to the growt h of businesses. INTRODUCTION Now-a-days the organisations in any industry are concentrating on the gratification of the consumer needs and desires to run their business operations and eventually develop their business. Organisations are introducing number of activities to make the end user satisfied outside their business operations. (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). Consumer Behaviour is the process individuals or groups go through to select, purchase, use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires. -By Solomon, Marketing Real People, Real decisions, Page-148 Sprott (1958) believes that the group of people around the consumer has become important factor to consider in the consumer buying decision in any industry. He also made known clearly that the group is number of people who act together, that may be a family, may be friends, and may be neighbours. The group that affects the buying behaviour of the consumer is also called Reference group. 2. FACTORS AFFECTS TO CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The aim of marketing is to satisfy their customer needs and wants (Kotler, 2003; 182). The field of consumer behaviour is to identify that how a customer buys, uses any product and services and dispose it. Schiff man (2002) states that it is never simple to identify and understand consumer needs. However, the behaviour of consumer depends on some factors. There are number of factors in the study of consumer behaviour which plays important role in buying of any new product or services from the selling firm such as customer income, culture, technology, various types of personal factors. 1. Cultural factors: In the field of consumer behaviour, the cultural affects most to the consumer behaviour and within different types of societies. Managers of any firms must have to consider about psychological and behavioural effects (Cleveland and change, 2008). However, the subculture, social class are the also important factors of consumer behaviour. The firms can capture the picture of consumers needs and to identify their wants by indentifying the cultural of their societies. In addition, the cultural is the norms, rituals and traditional among the society (Solomon, 1999; 16). Rosenthal (1992) who identify that within culturally heterogeneous societies like the United States, and the countries of Western Europe, the psychological and behavioural consequences of ethnic group membership are of considerable importance. It is one type of lens through which people can view product and services. The consumer choices cannot be identified without taking culture context in which they are made. On the oth er side, there are some social activities and cultural activities which are considered to obtain the consumer behaviour (Foxall, 1993). Generally, the culture can be divided into the three parts namely cultural, sub-cultural and social class. The role of sub-cultural is to identify the nationalities, religions and geographic regional. In addition, it is quite important to understand about sub-cultural because it helps to the firms to provide the best services and product in the market size (Schiff man Kanuk, 2007). In addition, the all human societies exhibit social stratification and some time, it takes the form of a caste system. However the social class not only includes the income of person but it shows the level of education and occupation (Kotler, 2004; 185).The social class is not same in dressing style or speech patterns but it is different. So in the current situation, it is important to identify the dimensions of cultural before they are going to sell product and services (Solomon, 2007). In addition, the following is the theoretical model of the culture which identifies that how the cultural is affect to the consumer behaviour. Above diagram which presents that the consumer behaviour which is based on culture, values and social norms factors. and in addition, it shows that not only national culture is influence to the behaviour but also there are some religion, value, ethnic level which important when any customer is going to buy any product and services, However, Karanhanna and Evaristo (2005) who argued that the levels of the different cultural is based on the nature of consumer behaviour, thus behaviour which is include strong value and sub cultural. 2. Social factors: Human beings are social animals and our desire is to fit it and or to identify by individuals or groups which are the primary motivation for buying product and services in the services industry. After the cultural factors in the study of consumer behaviour, the Social factors also affect the consumer behaviour. From the early year, Peterson (1987) found that socialization which is determined the way of patterns of behaviour or the process by which the person can adopt social roles. Where the family is more powerful social factors, it affects the consumer behaviour rather than social norms. Furthermore, the social factors include self concept and personality. This social factors is affects by reference groups and family and social roles and statuses (Kotler, 2003; 184). A reference groups of person which include different types of groups like friendships groups, work and shopping groups that impact on consumer behaviour. 3. Personal Factors: The consumer behaviour also depends on the personal characteristics. The way of the consumer behaviour is determined by buyers age and stage in the life cycle, personal occupation, economic circumstances and lifestyle of person and also behaviour is affects by personality and self concept (Kotler, 2003). In addition, in the lifetime, people are not buying the same product and services, their need of product and services are changed by time to time. For the example, in the early year, the person used pager for the communication but nowadays, they are different, they prefer to buy mobile for the purpose of communication. Solomon (1999) argued that in the traditional societies, the lifestyle which is affecting a pattern of selecting product and services and also reflecting a person choice of how he/she spends time and money. In addition, today consumer is buying product and services over others because they are connected with other person lifestyles. However, the research found that the lifestyle of the person is changing by time to time. Nowadays, advertising is become most affecting factor to the consumer behaviour, because advertising is become essential to get information about new product and it result in better products for the public. Furthermore, the personality, product quality, self concept and self power, the way of product display methods are the major factors which impact on consumer behaviour in the services industry (Schiff man and Kanuk, 2007). 4. Psychological factors: Psychological factors play important role to determine the consumer behaviour. These factors are affected by four major factors like motivation, perception, and learning. This psychological factor decides the personality and lifestyle. The demonstration influence is also dependent upon psychology of an individual. Nowadays, learning is the major factors in the study of consumer behaviour because when people act, at that time, they learn something (Kotler, 2003). Furthermore, Learning can change the consumer behaviour from experience. Most of behaviour is learning from the current environment. Personality, lifestyles and attitudes are the major characteristics of consumers which provide understanding about consumer behaviour into the services industry (Schiff man, 2007). Consumers have a wide range of attitudes towards the product, services, advertisements, and internet and towards retail store. Whenever, any customers ask him/her self about product and services, at that time, we are being asked to express our attitudes. If any marketer wants to understand about attitudes of consumer, they need to understand about consumer beliefs towards product or services brand (Kotler, 2003). These beliefs and preference is attributing to define consumers attitudes towards a brand. In the study of consumer attitudes, the lifestyle is the most important concepts to understanding consumer behaviour (Simon, 1999). Most of researchers agree that there are three components like affect, behaviour and cognition. These all components are connected to each other. Where the affect which refers t o the attitudes object and in Behaviour, customer involves intentions to do something towards their attitudes object. The cognition refers the belief on attitudes object. This model of attitudes is called ABC model (Simon, 1999; p.207). To define the market, it is important for marketer to know about what customer is like or dislikes. However, from the early years, the researcher was estimated that family decision is one of important factors that affect on consumer purchase decision (Simon, 1999). In addition, Bonnet who identify that attitudes towards food product or high risk involving product is comes from family .However, the peer group, personality are the also major affecting factor which applicable to change customer buying behaviour. 3. CONSUMER BUYING DECISION MODEL From the early year, the research suggest that following is the way where customers go through five stages for their decision making process to buy product and services. This model is implies that customer pass this all stages in every single purchase process but some time, customer is not going to pass, they often skip or reverse some of the following stages. Need Recognition Information Search Evaluation of Alternatives Product Decision Post-Purchase Decision Table 3.2 (Stages in consumer decision making model) (Source: Marketing: Real People, Real Decisions by Solomon p.150 and Kotler, 2003, p.204). 1. Need Recognition: The process of the consumer buying decision process starts with problem recognition. This steps occurs when customers sees a significant difference between her/him current state or desired state (Bruner, 1987,) .At this phase, the consumer is faced with problem which may be large and small or complex (Solomon, 1999).The problem of the consumer at this steps depends on the nature of her/him needs, it also depends on environment where customers is living. This need which can be drive by either an internal (hunger) or external (passing through burger king stimulates hunger) stimuli. Some of demographic factors like Age, sex, income, education and marital status which are also inferred influence which affects need recognition. In addition, the Psychological factors like motivation are also basic of all consumers (Solomon and Michael, 2007). Moreover, Kotler (2006,) who argues that the perception factors reflect helps how the customers see her/him self as well as their surroundings. This perception is not only important for need recognition phase but also affect to other relevant phase. 2. Information search: In the consumer decision making process, once the problem has been recognized, they need to search some relevant information to solve it. In this phase, where the customer uses different types of way to gather information to fulfil their needs discussed above. Generally, the customer is going to search information by internal or external method. Internal sources applicable, when customer has a some memory about product or some have degree of knowledge. (solomon,1999;274-275).In contrast, where there is need more information about their needs, at this situation ,Generally , customer is prefer to use internal sources like to use advertising, friends, family, point-of-sale displays, radio, magazines. Nowadays, Internet is become necessary tools to adopt information. In addition, the use of an internet has rapidly grown from its early years (Comegys and Hannula, Vaisanen, 2006,). Moreever, in the services industry, customers prefers internet to choose product from information. 3. Evaluation of alternatives: After facing information about their needs, The third phase is evaluation of alternatives where generally, customer is focus to set up rules for choice of product and services, In addition, this phase is evaluate the way of choice of product and services like how does the customer process competitive brand information and make final judgments towards product ( Kotler, 2003; p.205-206). Kotler also identify the several concepts which contribute to understanding into this phase, where first of all, customer is mostly trying to get satisfaction towards needs. Second, the customer is looking certain benefit for their problem. Third, customer is sees product with different types of brands with their attributes, here attributes of customer is vary by product. However, the customer is try to find the alternatives for their product by set of brand beliefs where the each brands stands on each attributes. 4. Product decision: After evaluation stages, once the relevant category is established from the above phase , the choice must be made among them (putsis and srinivasan,1994 ).Here is the process which needs more attention on desired choice .The choice can be influence by internal factors like experience on product and services . First is an attitude of the others, where the attitudes of friend, family, social community which affect to the change the decision on desired choice. secondly, there might be some unexpected situational factors like price of choice product is suddenly gone up (Dubois, 2000).Furthermore, Dubois (2000) submits that when the customer is going to make purchase decision, at this time, still there is need to make some sub purchase decision like way of payment method, time of purchasing where the payment method and price is more major factors affects into mobile services industry. However, some times, the purchase decision phase fails because of perceived risk (Taylor, 1974,).Lack of confidence, the amount of attribute uncertainty are the major influence factors in the purchase decision stage. 5. Post Purchase Behaviour: After the Purchase decision, the post purchase phase occurs. Generally, if any sales representatives want customer come back again towards store, they should be able to understand the behaviour of customers. The post purchase phase is a complex process where satisfaction of customer is utilization. One of Researchers Henard, (1988) submits that the customer satisfaction evaluations can be influenced by consumer expectations and perceptions. Moreover, The Atmospherics is also plays important role in this phase (Hoffman and Turley, 2002). This phase can be divided into two way: post purchase satisfaction and post purchase actions (Kotler, 2006; 198-199) where generally research suggest that if the customers come back to the store, it means they are dissatisfied but Oliver (1999; 33-44,) argued that it does not mean that when customer come back because of being satisfied, they might be other reason when they come back. In addition to satisfaction in this phase include brand preference and repurchase intentions and how it is affect. Here brand is one of major factors in the services industry which is affect on satisfaction about product and services. 4. CONCLUSION Consumer buying process is an understanding of the appropriate fundamentals that impact upon individual buying decision making and the general process through which individual behave and make the decision is an imperative first stage in the development of any marketing communication plan (Fill, 2002), upon the basis of that understanding, marketer device the plan and try to implement well with the sales figure. But, despite all their efforts to pre-sell consumers through advertising, marketers increasingly are recognizing the significant degree to which many purchases are influenced by the store environment. It has been estimated that about two out of every three supermarket purchases are decided in the aisles. The proportion of unplanned purchases is even higher for some product categories (Solomon, 2002).The essay mainly deals with the theoretical approach to the consumer buying behaviour and provided the background about consumer buying behaviour in terms of organisation. However, in the first part of this essay is presented that it is important to understand consumer buying behaviour for firms that why consumers make the purchases that they have done and what type of factors affect to the buying behaviour. This essay also investigated the types of factors affect more to the consumer buying behaviour which is main objectives of the conducting research. Moreover, the essay also contains the theory about consumer buying decision model.

Free Essays - Catcher in the Rye Still Relevant Today :: Catcher Rye Essays

The Catcher in the Rye - Still Relevant to Today's Youth To begin, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is unique. The novel is written from the perspective of a teenager who lives in New York in the 1950's. From the context in the beginning and the end of the book, "I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy" (page 1), "I could probably tell you what I did after I went home, and how I got sick and all, and what school I'm supposed to go to next fall, after I get out of here, but I don't feel like it" (page 213), we can infer that Holden Caulfield, the aforementioned teenager, is in a mental hospital. However, he tells the story through flashback of a three-day period sometime before Christmas the year before. This is unusual because most novels cover much more time than three days. This is one reason why this novel is so unique. Although the novel is spread over only three days, we learn so much about the p rotagonist, and many other characters, because all Holden's thoughts and feelings, especially about other characters, during these three days is portrayed, nothing is left out. My favorite part of the book is probably Holden's interaction with and description of Ackley in Chapter 3. This is probably my favorite part of the book because I can relate to the protagonist in that I have to put up with my neighbor who fits the description of Ackley perfectly. Ackley is a rather nosy fellow who comes over through a window and without permission. He plays with all of Holden's possessions, and then puts them back in different locations. He cuts his nails all over Holden's room, stands in his reading light to talk to him, and he never brushes his teeth. I also enjoy not only this part, but also other descriptions of other characters, because the author has a totally unique way of describing people. "He was exactly the kind of a guy that wouldn't get out of your light when you asked him to" (page 21), "He was one of those guys that think they're being a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with you" (page 87). Free Essays - Catcher in the Rye Still Relevant Today :: Catcher Rye Essays The Catcher in the Rye - Still Relevant to Today's Youth To begin, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is unique. The novel is written from the perspective of a teenager who lives in New York in the 1950's. From the context in the beginning and the end of the book, "I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy" (page 1), "I could probably tell you what I did after I went home, and how I got sick and all, and what school I'm supposed to go to next fall, after I get out of here, but I don't feel like it" (page 213), we can infer that Holden Caulfield, the aforementioned teenager, is in a mental hospital. However, he tells the story through flashback of a three-day period sometime before Christmas the year before. This is unusual because most novels cover much more time than three days. This is one reason why this novel is so unique. Although the novel is spread over only three days, we learn so much about the p rotagonist, and many other characters, because all Holden's thoughts and feelings, especially about other characters, during these three days is portrayed, nothing is left out. My favorite part of the book is probably Holden's interaction with and description of Ackley in Chapter 3. This is probably my favorite part of the book because I can relate to the protagonist in that I have to put up with my neighbor who fits the description of Ackley perfectly. Ackley is a rather nosy fellow who comes over through a window and without permission. He plays with all of Holden's possessions, and then puts them back in different locations. He cuts his nails all over Holden's room, stands in his reading light to talk to him, and he never brushes his teeth. I also enjoy not only this part, but also other descriptions of other characters, because the author has a totally unique way of describing people. "He was exactly the kind of a guy that wouldn't get out of your light when you asked him to" (page 21), "He was one of those guys that think they're being a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with you" (page 87).

Mans Indominability in The Grapes of Wrath :: Free Essay Writer

Man's Indominability in The Grapes of Wrath A study of the characters in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, reveals man’s indomitability and endurance. Steinbeck potently suggests that there is a distinct time in life where the choice must be made to either sacrifice one’s spirit, or to stay true to one’s self. In spite of their lack of food and without having a direct promise of a stable job, the Joad family perceptibly allow their spirit to lead them to obtain their individual goals. Evidently, the theme of spiritual survival ultimately determines whether one will succeed or fail. The Joad family maintain faith within themselves during the times when most become discouraged and defeated. Nowhere other than in The Book of Job, in The Old Testament, is spiritual survival better articulated. Both the Joad family and Job endure pain and suffering in its worst form. However, both conquer their hardships with undying strength and hope: â€Å"Then said his wife unto him, ‘Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die’. But he said unto her, ‘Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What! Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’†. In The Book of Job, as well as in The Grapes of Wrath, spirit and dignity guide the characters toward survival. Any individual may succeed in times of joy; however, to triumph over the most oppressing of life’s moments is the true measure of one’s spirit and faith. Although each survive in their own distinguishable manner, both Grandpa and Grandma Joad withstand against the tests of one’s faith. Grandpa Joad illustrates significant strength and optimism in his decision to stay on his land. After an oppressive drought storm demolishes their farming lands, many Oklahoman families are driven off their homes and toward the promised land of California; however, Grandpa Joad will not be subdued by the difficulties that aim to defeat him. The resemblance between a man and his farming land is made quite evident throughout the novel as it signifies one’s pride and dignity. In a sense, the remnant of the characters sacrifice their pride and home, in exchange for survival. Grandpa Joad is a patent exception, as he unremittingly decides to stay behind in Oklahoma. Grandpa Joad’s land symbolizes his pride. He will not relinquish his dignity regardless as to what is conniving against him: â€Å"If a man owns a little property, that property is him it’s a part of him, and it’s like him† (Steinbeck 50).

Shakespeares Sonnet 116 :: William Shakespeare

LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS By: William Shakespeare Let me not to the marriage of true minds (Sonnet 116) by William Shakespeare is about love in its most ideal form. It is praising the glories of lovers who have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust and understanding. "Let me not" the poem begins in the imperative mood. Its action is semantic and aims to delineate the allowable parameters of love and its goal appears to be air-tightness. The love I have in mind could be like a seamark or navigational guide to sailors, it is a north star. Like that star, it exceeds all narrow comprehension. Its height alone is sufficient to guide us. The poem's ideal is unwavering faith, and it purports to perform its own ideal. Odd then, isn't it, how much of the argument proceeds by means of negation: "let me not," "love is not," "O no," and so forth. Perhaps the poet is less confident than he appears to be. The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and strong. ?Which alter when it alteration finds." The following lines proclaim that true love is indeed an "ever fixed mark" which will survive any crisis. In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree, but this does not mean we fully understand it. Love's actual worth cannot be known it remains a mystery. The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), reaffirm the perfect nature of love that is unshakeable throughout time and remains so "even to the edge of doom", or death. In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant, unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth, and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes. In the sonnet, the chief pause in sense is after the twelfth line. Seventy-five per cent of the words are monosyllables. Only three contain more syllables than two, none belong in any degree to the vocabulary of 'poetic' diction. There is nothing to remark about the rhyming except the happy blending of open and closed vowels, and nothing to say about the harmony except to point out how the fluttering accents in the quatrains give place in the couplet to the emphatic march of the almost unrelieved iambic feet.

Argumentative essay: Gay marriage Essay

The American dream, one of freedom and equality, is held highly in the hearts of every citizen in the United States. With the â€Å"American† dream in mind, most will say they support equal rights for homosexuals. But if you ask these members of society if they are for gay marriage then the support of gay equality comes to a stop and majority of Americans vote for the Constitutional Amendment, which bans gay marriage. Americans do believe in providing equal rights to the gay community, which include no toleration of discrimination in jobs, rights protecting gays from indecent actions, rights allowing same access to housing, rights allowing advancement in government, and so on and so forth. However, the concept of gay marriage is still not considered an â€Å"equal right† to American people. A huge misconception is the idea that gays have a choice to whom they can feel attracted to. Just as heterosexuals cannot† choose† who they are drawn to, neither can homo sexuals. Opposition movements promote that homosexuality is preventable. They believe living as a homosexual is not as easy as it is portrayed in media. How can a member of the straight community say that homosexuality can be changed, or even if homosexuals can be happy or not. What about the research that has been proven that homosexuality is genetic? No one would ever choose a life that is faced with prejudice and discrimination. Even if its ethnicity, religious beliefs or homosexuality. The same assumption of choice leads to the accusation that homosexuality is all about sex, which is called sexual perversion. Again, the truth is that homosexuality is multi-faceted. Homosexuality is more about the love and affection than it is sex. Sex, in a committed relationship is about expressing love. This is true whether it may be in a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Being gay defines who that person is and makes up his or her identity. Very few straights can comprehend this. Instead, heterosexuals use their beliefs support for what â€Å"normal† should mean. The most repeated cases’ opposing gay marriages is the idea that it is immoral, but the â€Å"immoral† label is only based on religious perceptions. The First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.† Religion is not, supposed to be the basis for our country’s laws according to the first amendment. Nevertheless, most of the individuals against gay marriage try to stress their religious beliefs onto others and make those beliefs into laws. Not everyone is religiously  inclined to the same morals and beliefs. The gay community is simply fighting to be free from religion in determining the laws of the country. The opposition believes marriage should be between man and a woman; otherwise, the marriage would be untraditional. The anti-gay community also believes same-sex marriages would threaten the basis of marriage. I strongly disagree with this argument because no evidence can support this allegation. How does giving a person the right to marry threaten marriage? Why is the right to get married only given to the heterosexual society? Courts recently say there is no reason why gays should not be allowed to marry realizing the American principles of human rights. The reasoning behind such laws and beliefs seems more like direct prejudice rather than an overwhelming reason worthy of denying people their civil rights. All in all, much of what the straight community believes to be true about gays is based only on stereotypes. There are those who assume gays are promiscuous and are unable to form long lasting relationships. I believe these stereotypes are extremely inaccurate. Even though unstable and sex-based relationships exist in both the gay and the straight communities, they are usually among the younger generation and only represent a small percentage. Gay marriage is defined as a legal union between members of the same sex. Ten percent of Americans, the size of the gay community, are denied the right to marry. The individuals representing this group want what every heterosexual has, the right to legally marry their life partner. As a country we need to move away from false reasoning, whether it may be based on ignorance or prejudice. Every person needs to be allowed the civil right to wed his or her life partner. Our society must live up to the quota of the American dream. The Pledge of Allegiance states â€Å"liberty and justice for all† and so should every citizen in our country.

The Bluesky Software Consulting Firm

People clearly are an organization’s most critical resource. Their knowledge and skills along with their commitment, creativity, and effort are the basis for competitive advantage. It is people that have creative ideas for new products or for process improvements that devise marketing strategy or take technologies to the next level. As consultant for Blue Sky, it is my obligation to develop recommendations based on issues addressed in the case, to ensure Willis can develop an effective management team in accordance with company’s requirements. Blue Sky is a fifteen year old software-consulting firm, however, has some obstacle to overcome. As the consultant, I will respond to four outlined questions pertaining to the case study. This analysis will provide areas of improvement for Blue Sky Software and the necessary management techniques to make for their organization to run functional and efficient. Question 1, in the case asked to address the differences in leadership style and approach today and in the recent past at Blue Sky. In the past, the leadership styles were lead by an autocratic leader. Autocratic leadership can be said to be synonymous to dictatorship where only one person has the authority over the followers or workers. Their decision has to be taken as the golden rule and should never be questioned. They plan out everything and order their subordinates to work according to their rules. Max Blue seemed to think meeting was not necessary and thought planning was a waste of time and no one questioned his authority. This type of leadership style unfortunately made employees at Blue Sky passive as they couldn’t make decision on their own. There seemed to be several types of leadership styles circulating throughout the company depending on the different department you were in. The organization structure was broken down by the CEO, VP of the division, director of marketing, CFO, and the regional directors being in the upper management levels. The regional directors were all younger and had been with Blue Sky relatively a short period of time. They seemed to be more aggressive, whereas, they wanted to expand clientele and product lines. The older manager mainly the vice presidents who had been with the organization for awhile, had a more passive approach because of the autocratic leadership style from Max Blue. Willis, the new CEO is more of a collaborative leader. When establishing collaborative relationships it is not always natural or easy, particularly because people have different lifestyles, backgrounds, and experiences. A collaborative leader takes a much different approach essentially suggesting that the most effective way to guide an organization, process, or project is through inclusion and consensus. Also, the â€Å"benevolent dictator† approach is highly efficient eliminating the wavering of many competing voices in the decision-making process. Even though, collaboration is the way people naturally want to work, because it builds teams through mentoring and coaching, building trust and mutual respect and beak down walls between people, teams, departments and division to accomplish goals. It was clear the others looked to Willis to solve the problem, so this left Willis not being able to come to a consensus as he had hoped. In question 2, of the case study there was a focus toward the organization looking at motivation being a critical element. Be sure to discuss and evaluate the approaches to motivation at Blue Sky now and the past. In the past, the approaches to motivation were to provide employees with big dividends. Many studies show that interesting work and sense of accomplishment are some of the greatest motivators for an employee. These rewards lead to the type of motivation known as â€Å"intrinsic,† which can be defined as causing â€Å"†¦ people to engage in an activity for its own sake† (www. reference. com). Studies show that intrinsic motivation is important for high job satisfaction, which can affect an organization's performance. Many different techniques exist to intrinsically motivate employees(Walker, 2008). Some include: job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. As noted earlier, job satisfaction among employees is important for a company to attain, thus, the use of techniques that boost intrinsic motivation is key. However, the employees were happy because they were paid well. The flip side to that is those older employees are closes to retirement, and have no intrinsic motivation. They are not motivated in sharing to new ways in doing things for the organization, such as saving money and hiring new clientele as suggested by Hubres in her memo. Therefore, it has been suggested by Willis that James and Counts work together to develop a retirement package for senior employees in the division without any immediate replacement for retirees. This would be a start in saving money for the division. In question 3 of the case study, it relates to strategic plan and decision-making process. The question ask, if there has been a strategic planning and decision-making change at Blue Sky? If so, is this a positive change? Yes, there has been a strategic plan and decision-making process at Blue Sky and positive change. The strategy plan comes from an outside consultant that has been asked to help Willis to develop an organization plan. A strategy plan must be for an organization and not an analysis of the current plan. In the past, there was no strategic plan in place based on Susy Hubres, one of the newest members of the Executive team. In her memo, she is proposing a three-day retreat for Blue Sky executives, and her main agenda for the meeting is developing a ten-year strategic plan.

Discrimination in sport Essay

The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport is a collaborative effort involving seven leading national organizations and is designed to create an educated public that respects all athletes and sports-affiliated personnel regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expressions. The Project has four main goals: EDUCATION Educate athletes, their parents, guardians, coaches, administrators and the public, plus other key influencers about the origins and effects of homophobia in sport and the relationship of homophobia to sexism and gender oppression. RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION Cultivate and develop diversified resources to ensure the effectiveness, durability and strength of the Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport. ADVOCACY Advocate for fair policy guidelines on teams, at events and within the workplace for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) sport professionals, athletes and fans in sport. RECOGNITION To publicly recognize the athletic achievements and professional successes of openly LGBT sports participants, thereby providing healthy role models. Active Sports Partnerships achieve Racial Equality Standard Three Active Sports Partnerships (ASPs) have become the first ASPs to achieve the Preliminary Level of the Sporting Equals Achieving Racial Equality: A Standard for Sport. The three Active Sports Partnerships Bucks and Milton Keynes, Humber and West Yorkshire were assessed by a separate panel chaired by Chris Hudson of Sheffield Hallam University reporting to the Sporting Equals Assessment Panel. The ASPs joined five governing bodies Amateur Athletics Association, Amateur Swimming Association, British Canoe Union, Rugby Football Union for Women and UK Athletics who were also awarded Preliminary Level by a panel consisting of representatives from Sport England and Sporting Equals, as well as representatives from other national governing bodies of sport. The sports and sports organisations already awarded the Preliminary Level are basketball, cricket, hockey, gymnastics, Institute of Sport and Recreation Management, lawn tennis, rugby league, rugby union and sportscoach UK and Sportsmatch. Chris Hudson, a Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and the Chair of the Active Sports Assessment Panel, said: We hope that this recognition of the commitment and success of the first three Partnerships will be a catalyst to encourage others to achieve the Standard. Trevor Brooking, the Chair of Sport England said: I would like to congratulate these Active Sports Partnerships on signing up to the Standard and would like to see all the Partnerships follow their lead. Sport England expects all sports to put policies, procedures and plans in place to tackle racism and promote racial equality. What Is Discrimination? Discrimination has various forms and it happens very day. Discrimination involves making choices about how we treat other people. Those choices can be made using real and relevant information or they can be based on prejudice, stereotypes and bias. Some is unlawful (for example, sexual harassment and racial discrimination)and some is not (for example, a coach who shows favouritism towards their child over other players). All discrimination is undesirable if it leads to unfair treatment of players, members and other participants in recreation and sport. What is Fair Discrimination? A good example in sport relates to team selection. If you are a coach/selector, and you have more players than you can fit in your team, you must discriminate between the available players. You must choose who will be in the starting team and what positions they will play, to arrive at the best possible team. In junior and sub junior sport you have the additional responsibility to ensure fair participation. Those choices should be based upon relevant criteria such as ability, attitude, effort, and attendance at practice. These are all fair and legitimate criteria to apply to team selection. What is Unlawful Discrimination? In sport, this is not easy to define. The Equal Opportunity Act makes discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, age, disability, pregnancy, sexuality and marital status unlawful. The laws also say that two behaviours, sexual harassment and victimisation are also unlawful. However, things like age, gender and disability can have very significant effects on sporting ability. These differences are most evident at the elite sport level. For example compare the power of the best male tennis players with the power of the best female tennis players. To take into account these differences, and to make sure there is fair competition, the law allows for teams to be organised into groups such as age groups, or single sex groups.

Pass/Fail System Essay

The Use of Pass/Fail System The only thing that will give you as much heartache in school as love are grades (Colaba, n.d.). Throughout a student’s life in school, one is taught from society that the most important aspect in studies is to get good grades. Because of this, students’ motivation, learning, and even his or her personal progress are marginalized by the ‘ultimate goal’, which are the numbers use to evaluate one’s performance. We could observe this even at a very early stage at school, first graders for example. In the first grade, multiplication table is already taught and should be memorized and usually stars stamped at the back of the hands of the pupils are given as a reward for perfectly declaiming it. Of course, children would probably try to memorize the entire chart for the sake of getting stars. So what is now the motivation of the pupils? Instead of learning as their incentives, it would be the external reward. It is because it would create a competition between the students on who would get many stars. It goes the same with the numeric grading system. It is how high the number, the grade and the praise one would aspire instead. Students and society is so used to the grading system that it looks as if inexorable. As a result of it, students could not already perform without grades. Basically, it is the result of having the numeric grading system according to a professor from UPVTC. So why not use the Pass/Fail system rather than numeric? With that, students could avoid the anxiety those five little words always bring. Moreover, this Pass/Fail system would give students allowance for freedom within a pressurized environment and the reason why it is installed during 90’s on the first place. And having classes without any demands of distinguished grades would give a student a normal life in school. Better is one could escape the stress from aiming high grades. However, it still demands hard work to be able to pass. Still it needs involvement as student- participation, showing to the class, or merely do what regular students does. Perhaps at first there would be a more often attack of laziness because of freedom but in this case of situation, one could truly see that  studies need focus and seriousness to really be able to pass as well as to learn. Furthermore, students will be able to loosen their grasp to what grades have caused them. Like control their life at school and what is worse, let their ego shrink at times. When in fact you could learn to appreciate your courses and eventually learn them by heart not just because you need a shining grade. And through the pass/fail system, a student could indeed determine if the course truly interests him/her and if he/she would be willing to study and perform well even without grades. It is because nowadays, students are undeniably just doing school works because of the pressure of grades. Without grades, one could truly see the difference in viewing why people go to school. Another is that through the grading system we are using, we learned to be reinforced by other aspects- praises of teachers, grades, or any external reward which is a mistake. We let grade motivate us rather than us motivating our own self. Is it not better that we reinforce our own selves rather than something doing it? It is because in situations like this, we get to neglect new learning opportunities especially knowing that there will be no grades involve. Most of the time or all the times, we turn our back on and merely disregard voluntary readings and others that are ask voluntarily because it is not reinforced in the past. Knowledge for its own sake is not seen as a valid and valuable goal (Colaba, n.d). Wherein knowledge should be treated as the real reward and primarily be the reason why people go to school, an internal reward better than externals. Internal reward which is to be able to acquire what you have learned would be the true essence of studying. Perhaps others would say that it is better to have specific marks in transcripts so that higher grades would mean a white-collar job rather than merely seeing pass and fail. Well in reality, high grades do not really go with being a good and an effective employee. Numeric or letters in grading system is not equivalent to guts and skills. In fact, there were underdogs during their school years but became successful more than those best in  class. It is just a proof that a success of a person does not depend on his/her transcript. Maybe just knowing if you have simply passed or failed in college or high school before is already enough for an assessment to be accepted in a job. For some, they would say that the numeric/letter grading system would make the parents proud if ever their child would get good grades. But what if their child cannot? With the pass/fail, one could escape expected range of letters and numbers by their parents. For sure parents would still be proud seeing the pa ss mark in their child’s record. In addition are those that would say that how could they stabilize their efforts if there would be no certain grade to be aimed? The solution would be one should learn to organize and manage the time for studies. Do this sagaciously and learn to accept whatever would be the result of your efforts (Colaba, n.d.). And most of all love your craft. Probably the rest would say that it would be absolutely unfair to those who are best in class. At a certain point, yes it would be unethical to the best student in class because they would not get any appreciation anymore. But the question is how important it is to be acknowledged as the finest student? In a way, it would be used as reinforcement for one to maintain a good performance but again, this is just a part of an external reward. Knowing your certain rank would not mean recognizing your worth as a human being. And taking the idea that you are a better person because you could outshine others during examinations makes you a foolish person as supposed by Dr. Colaba, a professor in UPVTC. Moreover rank would not assure satisfaction, happiness, as well as oneâ€℠¢s success. Thus, pass/fail system is better than any numeric/letter grading system. A student could simply know whether he/she passed or not and there is no pressure. However this does not mean to discourage students about the present grading system or dispirit them to aim good grades. Maybe not until it would lead to anxiety and driving one’s ego. Anxiety does not help students to learn and in fact it is a destructive motivation. And letting something drive your ego instead of you taking control of it has never been good as well. The pass or fail system would definitely change one’s view in school.

U choose a topic Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

U choose a topic - Case Study Example This water industry operated under strict regulations from both governmental and nongovernmental organizations concerned with quality assurance. One such organization includes the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), and the America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These bodies are usually concerned with facilitating adoption of safety and quality related standards to consumer markets. Within any economic environment, bottled water industry plays a significant role in enhancing management and rational utilization of ground water (Gleick 54). In addition, this industry provides numerous opportunities for commercial ventures involving different stakeholders like suppliers and logistical manufactures. In the recent past, statistics indicates steadily increasing sales in bottled water within the global consumer market. In 2009 alone, sales of bottled water were approximately $78 billion within that fiscal year alone. In 2010, sales increased by 4.3% to hit a revenu e target of $81 billion. This specific increase within that short period indicates availability of business opportunities within the industry (Eshleman 71). In this regard, certain success factors facilitate achievement of production, distribution and sales objectives by involved companies. One such factor is conformance to production standards required by the industry. Bottled water industry is under governance by federal and state authorities in matters relating to product quality. In order for any organization to gain considerable recognition within any given marketing environment, they will first develop reliable standards of production allowed by relevant authorities. Within the American market, success only comes after an organization gains quality approval from the Food and Drug Association. Apart from such a local quality assurance authorities, other producers choose to advance towards attainment of standards required by international bodies like IBWA (Vasconcellos 84). In t his context, success is directly related to level of conformance to existing standards of product quality in the market. Another integral success factor in bottled water industry involves marketing strategies employed by a given company. In this case, an example of strategy that directly influence marketing trends include distribution and sales patterns used by a marketing agency to reach target consumers (Eshleman 88). Consumer trends suggest that individuals are more likely to purchase a convenience related product whenever their proximity to that product increases. In actual consumer markets, bottled water occupies same shelves as those of other soft drinks in convenience stores. In addition, bottled water can also be sold along with other soft drinks in restaurants, hotels and snack shops. This means that the ability of an organization to avail their product to these premises increases their chances of sales success. From a more practical illustration, Coca Cola utilized its sof t drink distribution channels to deliver its bottled water brands to the market. Fortunately, Coca Cola had a fully developed and efficient distribution channel for their soft drink market. The company was under no commercial obligation to develop a new distribution channel for their new products (Eshleman 92). In this regard, the company in subject supplied mineral water filled bottles to store shelves selling their popular soft drinks. Changes in the industry Since its inception on a commercial scale level,

MUSIC HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MUSIC HISTORY - Essay Example , freedom in intonation and inflection and a combination of style depending on the artist and the audience and the historical orientations, regarding social class and music preference. Medieval Music is the first style known to music historians and was found in the early 12th Century as secular music. Most music notes originated from Church music, giving it religious basis. They had rigid rules regarding rhythm and melody. The style is majorly a simple vocal and little instrumentation exists. Hildegard von Bingen is one of the musicians known from the medieval period; despite no record history, existing that may give details regarding the nature of the compositions of the medieval music. Renaissance is another style of music that took over after the medieval music. It originated from 1400 to 1600. The style had its origin in the sacred and secular vocals of the early musicians of the medieval days. The music had more freedom regarding harmony and rhythm. The composers were good choral writers, few instruments existed, and their vocals played a big role over the words. The instrument is played most of the time, words are few, and this makes it sound boring to the listener. The late stage had more harmony with strong sensation for each. The choral compositions enjoyed variety such as acapella anthems with many variations and dance movements. These made the music richer and more entertaining. Thomas Tallis and Josquin de Prez are musicians of this genre who enthralled the audiences although the music was still undergoing development. Baroque style of Music came after the Renaissance style and was common from 1600 to 1750, and is where the modern orchestra was born, along with operas, choruses, and recitals. Baroque music is heavily recitative in style especially opera and basso continuo. The soft string instruments were replaced by a violin, viola and cello. This was advancement in the music instruments. The instruments played a great role in the song as words are

Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Assignment - Research Paper Example One of the most notable empires that used communication technologies effectively to handle information was the Assyrian Empire. In the first millennium BC, the Assyrian Empire expanded to an unprecedented size; the empire stretched from River Nile in Egypt to the Iranian mountains, thereby nearly enveloping the modern Middle East. The empire’s ruling elite managed to control the empire despite its massive size primarily because they used efficient communication technologies that facilitated effective handling of administrative messages and records. Constant innovations in administrative technology facilitated the development of communication systems, which facilitated economic growth. One of Assyrians’ most prominent exports was technologies of social management and control, which entailed the technologies such as coercion, information management and control of the empire’s physical assets. Assyrians typically found effective ways of managing storage, movement an d management of goods, armies, people, information and capital. In order to sustain the empire’s massive population, Assyrian administrators developed an administrative structure consisting of four intertwining components that enabled effective communication throughout the empire. These components were the temple administration, the palace, the city or town administration and the provincial administration (Black, 2001). While all components had their individual hierarchies, as well as power bases, the ultimate power typically trickled down from the king. The four structures served to create a balance in power, allowing information and decrees to flow from the king to the common folk. These structures allowed Assyrians to construct a streamlined economic and administrative system that saved on administrative costs, while also controlling a vast majority of the empire’s internal production means. Administrators at the lowest structure (the town/city administration) were primarily tasked with collection of taxes and management of tax records, labor conscriptions, as well as military call-ups. As a result of the effective hierarchical system of communication, the king continually settled deportees from other regions of the empire and parceled out such land as favors in exchange for loyalty. This developed an extremely stratified society with minimally sized aristocratic elite, thereby keeping public expenditure at a minimal. Assyrian military innovation also enabled the empire to maintain a well-organized system of material and food distribution and storage for soldiers and the entire population. Communication problems were resolved through an effective chain of posts, which facilitated speedy communication between distant and capital province. They perfected the communication technology by using horses for military purposes and typical communication aims. One of the reasons why the Roman Empire was quite strong was because of its capacity to communi cate with the masses. Communication held the society together through beliefs in similar laws and myths, which demonstrated a common bond passed down from one generation to another (Black, 2001). Emperors in the Roman Empire used inexpensive means to communicate with the masses, for instance, emperors communicated by displaying gestures,

Module 8 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module 8 - Research Paper Example fuel consumption, this behaviour is different from what is observed in other countries, like the United States, where cost saving and practicality surpass brand names. This information is essential in determining the brand of cars the will make the greatest sales in china. This attraction to brand names goes hand in hand with how the consumer’s view the manufacturers’ image. Another factor in the determination of the brand is the opinion of the user’s friends. This plays a significant role in the choice of car that they will make. The use of the internet is also growing rapidly among the population, with this comes the growth of e-commerce. Monitoring the users’ preferences on products could also provide good information in determining the marketing strategy to improve on sales (Hague & Peter, 2002). The selection of field workers would comprise of a group of a certain age group and preferably from different cultures (Martin and Tamara, 2005). The training of field workers would involve, giving them guidelines to what questions to ask the consumers, the use of questionnaires to gather data and analysis of this data. The training would also show the fieldworkers how to use the analysed data to generate and compile reports about the research. The supervision would involve the use of guidelines is followed strictly, and the fieldworkers use questionnaires effectively. In the analysis, of the overall customer satisfaction, the frequency distribution indicated that the bigger percentage was satisfied with their dell computers; this came with 95.4 of the percentage interviewed. In the following question, of referring dell to a friend, 81.7% of the interviewees agreed that they would recommend it to a friend or relative. The next question was asking the interviewees the probability of making a dell purchase if they were buying a computer. The frequency was distributed towards the positive with a large percentage of 96.2 saying that they would make the choice

Impact of Democratic Principles and Policies Application on War Essay

Impact of Democratic Principles and Policies Application on War Incidence - Essay Example This essay provides a comprehensive analysis in order to establish the specific impact of democracy, as well as economic integration and international institutions, on the prevention of wars. It also aims to establish, how the application of these democratic concepts affects the actual occurrence of war and of any other violent encounters within and among states. Human history has been riddled with various incidents of violence and wars. Wars have had causes, including poverty, social stratification, ethnic differences, as well as political differences. Wars have been seen within states, but mostly, it has involved one or more countries. Liberals argue that various instruments – democracy, economic integration, and international institutions – make wars less likely. They argue that where people have more freedom, they are less likely to take arms against the government or other countries; where they are more economically coordinated with each other, they are also less likely to declare wars against each other; and where international institutions are in place, the incidence of wars can be reduced or even eliminated. Others are however not convinced of these possible preventive measures for wars. Democratic pacifism seems to be the main basis of the contention that democracy makes wars less likely. Its ideas are based on the following premises: democracies rarely if ever go to war against each other; democracies tend to be more peaceful than dictatorships; democracies tend to have less internal violence.