The War on Gun Control Essay - 957 Words

Gun Control War We are no stranger to gun control debate and controversy here in the U.S. We hear of gun deaths, mass and school shootings on the news on a daily basis. Is it safe to say that the U.S. needs permanent gun control laws to protect its citizens or would it be in violation the constitution? The second amendment was written by our founding fathers back in 1791 in a day where it was common for any citizen to own a weapon. Many times we tend to misinterpret our rights as well as we do with gun control laws. As George Washington once said â€Å"A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined†. Have we shown ourselves to be disciplined enough to have the right to bear arms or have we not, which would explain the massive†¦show more content†¦This made it easier to control the distribution of guns in the U.S. For many U.S. citizens Gun Control laws and regulations is a violation to their inalienable rights. It has been fought in court various times and both sides make valid points. One of the most popular cases id The District Of Columbia vs. Heller in this case The District of Columbia Did not allow the use of handguns and would not allow anyone to carry a gun without a license. They brought in different people to testify and state their purposes, most of which were of self-defense This once again put under the same question of it being unconstitutional. If you think to yourself would you want a person walking around in the streets with a gun at all? Would a person walking around with a gun on the street with the proper license make a difference? It only takes one person to ask this question and raise others. This has been happening recently over the years here in the U.S. dealing with it court cases and debates over this topic. In the case of the Trayvon Martin Shooting a young man of the age of 17 was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman was a leader of his neighborhood watch and was licensed to carry a handgu n. George Zimmerman claimed to have been attacked and shot in self-defense. How was any of this to be believed when there was only one side to this story and theShow MoreRelatedThe War On Gun Control1296 Words   |  6 PagesEdwards English 3 08 May 2015 The War on Gun Control The debate over gun control is one of the most heated debates currently going on in the government, and in the general population of the United States. One side of the debate says that guns are a legal right protected by the Second Amendment, and help to keep citizens safe if they are ever attacked. The other side says that guns are an evil thing, that they are the cause of death and destruction, and theyRead MoreGun Control During The Civil War1407 Words   |  6 Pagesweapon is: something (such as a gun, knife, club, or bomb) that is used for fighting or attacking someone or for defending yourself when someone is attacking you. Weapons have been used for thousands of years, since the creation of man. However, its use was limited to only hunting and defending against large predatory animals. As time passed, man s knowledge of weaponry expanded beyond a simple club and transformed into guns. Prior to the 1850s, Americans owned guns though none were used to inflictRead MoreGun C ontrol And The American War I1111 Words   |  5 PagesGuns, they have been with America since the very beginning. There has been a rifle associated with every American conflict. The American long rifle gave us the cutting edge we needed to outgun the British. The Spencer Repeating Rifle helped the Union free the slaves. The Colt Single-Action Army tamed the â€Å"Wild West.† The M1-903 Springfield carried us through World War I, and the M1-Garand did it through World War II. The M-16 allowed us to keep our boys alive in Vietnam. Then, the AR-15 is whatRead MoreGuns : The Root Of All Violence?1678 Words   |  7 PagesGUNS: THE ROOT OF ALL VIOLENCE? The United States has fought many wars in its history and continues to fight at home. Although there has not been an actual war in our mainland since the American Civil War of 1861, our longest war has been within our communities and laws, an enduring war against guns and its violence. The noise of gunshots may sound different in a military warzone between nations, radical groups or in a civil war; however, a similar outcome subsists, the loss of lives caused by manRead MoreA Stop Action : Reduce Mass Violence1309 Words   |  6 PagesA Call to Action: Reduce mass violence While researching texts written about the gun control and how to reduce mass violence, I found a few authors who published books about the gun control in America. These authors often placed the gun control they were studying into an historical context by discussing the important events in murders cases of the past years. Gun control has recently created a massive uproar throughout the United States because of the recent, and sincerely unfortunateRead MoreGun Control Laws Should Be Legal Essay1345 Words   |  6 PagesGun control has been a hot topic in your society recreantly everyone has a different view on gun control. There are two sides to the argument people that are for gun control and people that are against gun control. The media talks about the two biggest factors the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment the right to bear arms. But the most important question is whether gun-control laws actually reduce gun crimes or murder rates in general. Most people believe that having a fewer numberRead MoreGun Control And The Ethics Of Gun Control1306 Words   |  6 Pageshomicide or mass shooting immediately leads to the discussion of a longley debated issue, which has divided Americans for many years: gun control. About thirty thousand Americans die each year as a result of firearms (Doeden 7). People begin to question whether it is morally right for civilians to own guns, and if so, what types of restrictions should be placed on guns. This year, the deadliest mass shooting in American history occurred, leaving fifty-eight innocent people dead and over five hundredRead More Comparison of Lao-tzu and Machiavelli Essay729 Words   |  3 PagesChing, and not as chaotic as Machiavelli illustrated in Prince. Perhaps Lao-tzu and Machivelli’s political system will not work for today’s world, but some of their philosophies are still exist in some of modern issues. One of those issues is gun control, which has become a dividing line in America. Lao-tzu advised in Tao-te Ching â€Å"weapon are the tools of violence; all decent man detest them. Weapon are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelledRead MoreGun Control: For or Against?1495 Words   |  6 Pages The debate over gun control in the U.S today is not merely as welcomed today as it was in the early 1700’s because of controversy, misunderstanding of the law, and the danger guns cause. In 1791 James Madison had written the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights makes up the first 10 amendments in the Constitution. Madison had to create this Bill of Rights in order to win over the state of New York in order to rewrite the Constitution himself. The right to keep and bear arms is the second amendmentRead MoreGun Control Persuasive Essay755 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.† says NRA vice president Wayne Lapierre on gun control. Most know that gun control is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. These policies, in fact, don’t solve most problems as intended, but can even cause more. Guns are not the problem; putting laws on guns doesn’t resolve the fact that killers will kill regardless. The right to

Information Privacy Free Essays

? MODULE 2: CASE Informational Privacy Without a doubt, we live in an environment where integrity, respect and good ethics play a fundamental role in the growth and success of many individuals and companies. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Patricia Dunn, former chairman of the Hewlett-Packard (HP) board of directors who was forced to resign her job. She was at the center of a major controversy regarding her effort to investigate who from the board was leaking confidential information to the press about HP’s interest in buying another technology company, their corporate strategy, business plans, even their deliberations over who they would hire as CEO. We will write a custom essay sample on Information Privacy or any similar topic only for you Order Now This was a major issue as, not only was sensitive discussions of the board made public in the media, the level of trust between each board member was greatly affected. In a 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl and Patricia Dunn (CBS broadcast), â€Å"the Hewlett-Packard board of directors was described as a leaky ship. Secret board deliberations were ending up in the press left and right, and it was decided that something had to be done†. That something one can argue was the most famous leak investigation since Watergate, and because of it, Patricia Dunn (who was chairman of the HP board of directors) was faced with criminal charges. The charges stem from the use of something called pretexting – where someone calls up the phone companies and impersonate someone else in order to obtain their records. This technique is more than a simple lie as it most often involves some prior research or set up and the use of pieces of known information (for example, impersonation, date of birth, social security number -SSN) to establish legitimacy in the mind of the target. Pretexting, in my opinion, is morally wrong because it is deceitful and it invades the privacy of someone else regardless of how useful the act is in solving an investigation. Needless to say, privacy is a fundamental human right that almost every individual seeks to preserve. For the Hewlett-Packard case, board members privacy was in fact invaded but some may argue that such invasion was for a cause. According to the deontological school of thought, the act may be considered the right thing to do even if it produces a bad consequence (as with the forced resignation of Patricia Dunn). For deontologists, the ends or consequences of the actions are not important in and of themselves neither are the intentions. Only the act itself is considered important. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, explain this theory of ethics more clearly. He argued that to act in the morally right way, people must act according to duty. That was the case with Patricia Dunn, she believed she had a duty to find out who was leaking sensitive details of discussions of the board to the press. In her 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, she stated that many directors expressed to her their strong opinion that something had to be done to determine the source of the leak and to bring them to an end. In fact, majority of the directors told her during her first few weeks as Chairman that, â€Å"next to leading the board’s CEO search, coming to grips with HP’s famously leaky board should be her top priority†. That was exaltly what Dunn did which was a major task in and of itself. Following on Kant’s argument, he claims, a person has a good will when he or she ‘acts out of respect for the moral law’. People ‘act out of respect for the moral law’ when they act in some way because they have a duty to do so. So, the only thing that is truly good in itself is a good will, and a good will is only good when the willer chooses to do something because it is that person’s duty. Thus, according to Kant, goodness depends on rightness. I think Patricia Dunn was simply doing her duty. Looking at the HP case in more detail, it is obvious that Patricia Dunn did not know the full agenda of the private investigators and what was involved in finding out who was the source of the leaks. Dunn says. â€Å"The idea that I supervised, orchestrated, approved all of the ways in which this investigation occurred is just a complete myth. It’s a falsehood. It’s a damaging lie. † She admit, however, seeking advice from Bob Wayman, HP’s then acting CEO , CFO and Director of Administration, on an affimative action to be taken on the problem of leaks in the company. He was well respected and trusted by many in the company so based on his integrity, she (Dunn) had every reason to rely on his recommendations as to how the security issues at the board level could best be handled given that all the control functions of the company were under his oversight. Mr Wayman referred her to an individual within his organisation who then referred her to Mr Delia (private investigator) who then took the extraordinary step of spying on the records of all the directors (including herself) as well as journalists. At some point during the investigation process in 2005, she (Dunn) became aware from Mr. Delia that phone records were accessed as a standard component of such investigations by HP. In an interview with NEWSWEEK, Dunn stated that she was aware HP was obtaining the phone records of suspected leakers as long ago as 2005. But she did not know about the pretexting until late June, when she saw an e-mail to Perkins from HP’s outside counsel, Larry Sonsini and later acknowledged that HP’s tactics were â€Å"appalling† and â€Å"embarrassing†. Essentially, the investigation went on and the leaker of the company’s sensitive discussions was identified. The public disclosure of the leaker at a board meeting did not ‘sit’ well with some members on the board as they thought it could have been dealth with differently without causing embarrasment for the leaker . This led to a lot of uphoar and Patricia Dunn was forced to resign. I think her forced resignation grew out of a personal dispute between her and Perkins ( who was also a well-known member of the board of directors and a close friend of the leaker) . To me, Patricia Dunn did what she had to do for the best interest of the company. Hence, she should not have been forced to resign. Reading a statement by Hewlett-Packard’s Board of Directors, â€Å"Pattie Dunn has been a valuable director of HP for many years. We acknowledge all of the good work that Pattie has accomplished on behalf of HP. She helped stabilized the business during the CEO transition. She led the search committee for our new chief executive officer, which led to our hiring of Mark Hurd and the outstanding performance of the business over the last eighteen months. She served our board with distinction as chairman for the last year and a half. The board felt it was important to find the sources of the leaks of HP confidential information, and she informed the board that she has taken steps to do so. We have never questioned her intentions, her integrity or her ethics.. we regret that we will lose her contributions to the board and appreciate that she has agree to our request†. It is evident that she had good character and was well repected. She accepted the resposibility to identify the sources of the leaks but she did not propose the specific methods of the investigation which means the premise on which she was forced to resign was not justified! How to cite Information Privacy, Papers

The Role of Vision at Mentor Graphics free essay sample

How would you describe the way vision was used at Mentor Graphics? The intentions were good but the process included the creation, which was good then as time passed it became vague and even more confusing and ultimately the vision came back to what the original vision was. Did it strengthen or weaken the company? How? Why? During times it did help to strengthen (Beat Daisy) and at other times it actually weakened the company with its six boxes vision. Ultimately it may have helped strengthen the organization with its new short, medium and long term goals and its related visions. Of the reasons covered in this chapter relating to why visions may fail, which ones are applicable to Mentor Graphics? I think that the leader of the organization had good intentions to create his idea of a perfect vision but somehow lost direction and forgot the foundation that a vision needs to be. We will write a custom essay sample on The Role of Vision at Mentor Graphics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The organization should also have transitioned to the Sun Platform sooner than they did. Discuss issues of vision content, context, and process in how vision was introduced and changed at the company. What emerges from this? The original vision went from selling things that people would buy. Which was concise and to the point. Then it changed to assist the importance to beat a rival competitor, then to the Six Box view due to the decline of the organization. From here the organization went to 10X Imperative then to Changing the Way the World Designs Things Together (Palmer, 2009). Finally after all these vision changes Mentor finally came back to a vision that was similar to its original which was to create goals that were short, medium and long term goals which related to building things that people will buy. The leadership team got off track in relation to the vision of the company leading to the overall stumbling of the organization. Based on what happened in this company, what are the implications in terms of the three debates about vision drives change or emerges during change, (whether vision helps or hinders change, and whether vision is an attribute of heroic leaders or heroic organizations)? The first vision may have been questionable in terms of its vagueness and the second vision helped to organization compete and drive change to meet this need. The third vision indicated that the vision may be on the right track but it prevented true change in the organization and the last one seemed to circle back to the original vision with some added elaboration but in my option still needed to be refined to declare a specific overall goal that the organization should be striving for. Of the six change images outlined in table 9. 1, which images of vision can be applied to this case study? What lessons emerge from this? Of the six change images outlined in table 9. 1 I would say that the director is the only one that fits to this case.

Problems at Perrier free essay sample

Identify the key elements of the resistance to change described in this situation. The key elements of the resistance to change described in the Perrier case are: Lack of communication and the companies inability to inform the employees of what changes affected production at Perrier, the company made excessive changes, the company introduces a series of changes and the people felt the changes were unnecessary, and they were unsure if they would still have the required skills to continue to work for the company. Perrier has made quite a fair amount of changes in a short period of time and they will need to be aware that some people may not agree to the change and might not work to their full potential. Most of Perriers employees did not think the changes were necessary for the organization to grow. There were some employees who thought Perriers conducted unnecessary changes to impact their normal workload. We will write a custom essay sample on Problems at Perrier or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The latter change was considered as the lack of conviction that change is needed. There was also the Perceived Negative Effect on Interest -this resistance to change will be affected by peoples perceptions of the likely effect of the change on their amp;quot;interests, a term that can cover a wide range of factors including their authority, status, rewards(including salary), opportunity to apply expertise, membership of friendship networks, autonomy, and security. The employees at Perrier were concerned with the implication of the change for themselves and how it may affect their own interests, rather than considering effects for the success of the business. 2. Construct a change management strategy for dealing with this situation. In so doing, identify what approach (es) to managing resistance you recommend and provide a clear justification for your choice. An article by Kotter and Schlesinger provides the classic description on managing the resistance to change(Palmer, 2009). They proposed six methods for managing change resistance for change: education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and cooptation and explicit and implicit coercion. The four of which that could be considered in this case are: education and ommunication, participation and involvement, negotiation and agreement, and explicit and implicit coercion. A) Education and Communication. There seems to be a lack of information or inaccurate information. Instead of discussing directly with the employees that the sales were down, the managers used a form of manipulation by placing the competitions bo ttled water in the factory cafeteria. Instead of motivating the employees to increase their production they made the situation worse. This could have been avoided if they would have communicated with their employees. One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about the change effort beforehand. Communication and education prior to change helps employees see the logic in the change effort. This reduces unfounded and erroneous rumors concerning the effects of change in the organization. B) Participation and Involvement. This strategy is used when resistance is a reaction to a sense of exclusion from the process. It is most effective when the people who initiates change do not have all the information they need to create a change and when others have considerable power to resist. Perrier should have used their employees to identify the problems at the plant and then listen to their solutions for change. This way the employees would not have felt alienated; it encourages open communication. Another problem consist of the disagreement between the Union and Nestle and their need to work together to solve the problem. When employees are involved in the change effort they are more likely to accept change rather than resist it. This approach is likely to lower resistance and those who merely agree to change. C )Negotiation and Agreement. This strategy is where someone or some group may lose out in a change and where that individual or group has considerable power to resist. When Perriers management put bottles of Badoit Rouge in the factory cafeteria in June, the union knew they were sending them a message. This had been done to emphasize the point to Perrier employees that they were involved in a head-to-head battle for that niche in the market. The union felt that it was a provocation. Using the Negotiation and Agreement strategy would be effective in dealing with the Union. This can be done by allowing change resistors to refuse the approved elements of change that are threatening, or change resistors can be offered incentives to leave the company(for example, early retirement). This approach is appropriate where those resisting change are in a position of power, like the CGT(the union). D) Explicit and Implicit Coercion. This is a last resort strategy used when the change recipients have little capacity to effectively resist; where survival of the organization is at risk if change does not occur quickly and where speed is essential and to be used only as last resort. Managers can, without reserve, force employees into accepting change by making clear that resisting changing can lead to losing jobs, firing, transferring or not promoting employees. Working together with CGT, Nestles can negotiate a projected percentage of increased production or they (Nestles)can continue with their plan to cut 15% of Perriers workforce.

Assessment of Students in Schools

Assessment of Students in Schools Introduction Assessment of students is a vital exercise aimed at evaluating their knowledge, talents, thoughts, or beliefs (Harlen, 2007). It involves testing a part of the content taught in class to ascertain the students’ learning progress. Assessment should put into consideration students’ class work and outside class work. For younger kids, the teacher should focus on language development.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Assessment of Students in Schools specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This will enhance the kids’ confidence when expressing their ideas whenever asked. As in organizations, checks on the performance of students’ progress should be undertaken regularly. Notably, organizations have a high probability of investing in futility because they lack opportunity for correction. However, in schools there are more chances of correcting mistakes. Similarly, teachers and parents shoul d have a basis of nurturing and correcting the students. This is only possible through assessment of students at certain intervals during their learning progress. Equally, parents or teachers can use tests as they teach as a means of offering quick solutions to challenges experienced by students while learning. All trainers should work together with their students with the aim of achieving some goals. To evaluate if the goals are met, trainers use various assessment methods depending on the profession. This is exactly true when it comes to assessment in schools. Assessment should focus on the student learning progress. It should be employed from the kindergarten to the highest levels of learning institutions such as the university. The most essential fact about assessment is that it has to be specific. This implies that each test should try to evaluate if a student is able to demonstrate the understanding of certain concepts taught in class. Contrary to what most examiners believe, assessment should never be used as a means of ranking students. I this case the key aims of assessment will be lost. Ranking is not bad, but to some extent it might create a negative impression and demoralize the students who are not ranked at top in class. They feel that they are foolish, which is not the case. In general, assessment should be used for evaluation of results and thus creating and formulation of strategies for improving the students’ learning and performance. Importance of assessment in school Assessment forms an important part of learning that determines whether the objectives of education have been attained or not (Salvia, 2001). For important decision making concerning the student’s performance, assessment is inevitable. It is very crucial since it determines what course or career can the student partake depending on class performance.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is not possible without an exam assessment. It engages instructors with a number of questions, which include whether they are teaching the students what they are supposed to be taught or not, and whether their teaching approach is suitable for students. Students should be subjected to assessment beyond class work, because the world is changing and they are supposed to adapt to dynamics they encounter in their everyday lives. Assessment is important for parents, students, and teachers. Teachers should be able to identify the students’ level of knowledge and their special needs. They should be able to identify skills, design lesson plans, and come up with the goals of learning. Similarly, instructors should be able to create new learning arrangements and select appropriate learning materials to meet individual student’s needs. Teachers have to inform parents about the student’s progress in class. This is only possible with the assess ment of the students through either exam or group assessment. The assessment will make teachers improve learning mechanisms to meet the needs and abilities of all students. It provides teachers with a way of informing the public about the student’s progress in school. Whenever parents are informed about the results of their children, they have to contribute to decision making concerning the student’s education needs (Harlen, 2007). Parents are able to select and pay for the relevant curriculum for their students. They can hire personal tutors or pay tuition to promote the learning of the student. Students should be able to evaluate their performance and learning in school with the use of assessment results. It forms the basis of self-motivation as through it students are able to put extra efforts in order improve their exam performance. Without results, a student might be tempted to assume that he or she has mastered everything taught in class. Methods of assessment Va rious mechanisms can be used to assess the students in school. These include both group assessment and various examinations issued during the learning session. The exam could be done on a weekly, monthly, or terminal basis. Through this, a student is required to submit a written paper or oral presentation. Assignments are normally given with a fixed date of submission.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Assessment of Students in Schools specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The teacher determines the amount of time required depending on the complexity of the assignment. It can take a day, a week, or even a month and this ensures that the student does not only rely on class work. It promotes research work and instills the self-driven virtue to the student. In addition, short time exam gives a quick feedback to the teacher about the student performance. Exam methods of assessment Before looking at the various methods of exam assessment, it is important to understand the major role that the assessment plays in the learning of the student. Carrying out an assessment at regular intervals allows the teachers to know how their students are progressing over time with respect to their previous assessments (Harlen, 2007). Actually, testing of students helps in their learning and creates motivation to learn more and improve their performance in the future examination. It also guides the teacher on ways of passing on the knowledge to the students. There are three purposes of assessment and these include assessment for learning, assessment to learning, and assessment of learning. All these help the teacher in planning of his lessons and means of getting feedback from students. Moreover, these three factors of learning join the efforts of parents, student, and teachers in the process of learning. There are several repercussions realized when parents do not monitor closely the performance of their kids. Education ex perts assert that parents who fail to monitor their children’s learning progress are like farmers who sow seeds during planting season and wait to reap during the harvesting season yet they did nothing about it. The success of the student is easily achieved when there is harmony among the parents, teachers, and the students. Methods of assessment can be categorized into three steps: baseline, formative and summative (Stefanakis, 2010). The baseline is considered as the basic and marks the beginning of learning. The summative one carries the bigger weight than the formative in the overall performance of the student. It carries more marks and it is usually done at the end of the teaching period in the term paper. The aim is to check for the overall understanding of the unit or topic by the student. As the formative assessment is a continuous process during the learning session in the classroom, the instructor should use the general feedback and observations while teaching. It c an provide an immediate solution to the teacher because the area that troubles the student is easily identified and the teacher takes appropriate action.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Teachers should never ignore the formative or wait for the summative at the end of the learning term. Even if the teacher discovers weakness of the student, it might be less useful since there will be no room for improvement. Actually, it is more of a reactive measure rather than proactive summative assessment. Various mechanisms can be used to realize the formative assessment. These include surveys, which involve collecting of students’ opinions, attitudes, and behaviors during class (Nitko, 2001). They help the instructor to interact with the student more closely, creating a supportive learning environment for the student. The teacher is able to clear any existing misconception from the students due to prior knowledge. It can also involve reflections of the student. Here, the student is required to take some time and reflect on what was taught. It necessitates the student to ask several questions regarding what was taught, for instance, questions about the hottest topic, ne w concepts, or questions left unanswered. It also involves the teacher asking questions during a teaching session. This makes the teacher to point out the areas the students have not understood. By doing so, the teacher is able to focus and put more effort on some topics as compared to others. The teacher can also decide to issue homework or assignments to students. This gives students an opportunity to build confidence on the knowledge acquired during class work (Stefanakis, 2010). Most importantly, the teacher could include the objectives and expectations of each lesson and this can be in form of questions. These questions create awareness and curiosity of students about the topic. For the above methods of assessment, various formats have been adopted. First is the baseline assessment, which aims at examining individual’s experience as well as the prior knowledge. There are pencil and paper easement method, which is a written test. It can be a short essay or multiple choice questions. It checks for the student’s understanding of certain concepts. The third is the embedded assessment. It deals with testing the students in contextual learning and it is done in the formative stage. The fourth involves oral reports that aim at capturing the student’s communication and scientific skills. They are carried out in the formative stage. Interviews evaluate the group and individual performance during the formative stage. There is also a performance task, which requires the student to work on an action related to the problem while explaining a scientific idea. Usually, it is assessed both in the summative and formative stages. All these formats ensure the objective of the assessment is achieved (Harlen, 2007). The above exam method promotes learning and acquiring of knowledge among the students. Group methods of assessment Assessment is a flexible activity as what is done to an individual during assessment can also be done in a group and still achie ve the objectives of the assessment. Group work aims to ensure that students work together. The method is not as smooth as that of an individual’s assessment since awarding of grades is a bit tricky and not straightforward. The instructors will not know which student has contributed a lot in the group work, unless the same grade is given to group members to create fairness in the process of assessment (Paquette, 2010). It is advisable to consider both the process and finished product when assessing group work. By just looking at the final work of the group, no one can tell who did what and did not. Individual contributions are implicit in the final project. The teacher should employ some other measures to be able to distribute grades fairly. The solutions of assessing group include consideration of the process and the final work. The instructor should assess the process involved in the development of the final work. The aspect of the project includes punctuality, cooperation and contribution of the individual student to the group work (Stefanakis, 2010). The participation of each student and teamwork should be assessed. Fair grading requires looking at the achievement of the objectives of the project. In addition, the instructors can let the students assess and evaluate themselves through group participation. This enhances group teamwork and yields a fair distribution of grades. This is realized because the members of the group know how to research and present written analysis of their work. Self-assessment aims at realizing respect, promptness, and listening to minority views within the group. Another effective way of ensuring that group work becomes successful is by holding group members accountable. This actually curbs the issue of joy riding among the group members. Individuals are allocated with a certain portion of the entire job. This involves asking members to demonstrate what they have learned and how they have contributed into the group. In ad dition, the products and processes are assessed. Another interesting scenario is realized when the instructor gives students the opportunity to evaluate the work of other team members. The gauging of individuals involves the investigating of various aspects of the projects. These include communication skills, efforts, cooperation, and participation of individual members. It is facilitated by the use of forms, which are completed by the students. Group work aims at improving both accountability of individuals and vital information due to dynamics experienced in the group. To some extent, an instructor can involve the external feedbacks. These feedbacks are finally incorporated into the final score of the student’s group grade. There are various mechanisms for assessing and grading the group. First, there is shared grading. Through this, the submitted work of the group is assessed and same grade to all members is awarded without considering the individual’s contribution. Secondly, there is averaging of the group grade. Through this, each member is required to submit the portion allocated. After assessing the individual’s work, an average of all the members is evaluated and this grade is awarded to group members. This average group grade promotes members to focus on group and individual work. There is also individual grading, where the student’s allocated work is assessed and grades given to individuals. This enhances efforts during working with all the members. In fact, this method is the fairest way of grading group work. There is also an individual report grading in which each member is required to write individual report. After submitting, assessment is done and a grade is given to the student. Finally, there is an individual examination grading where questions are examined based on the project. This encourages students to participate fully during the project. It is hard to answer the questions if you have not participated in the g roup work. How assessment prepares students for higher education/ workforce/ student character It is a fact that in any institution exam is an inevitable criterion of assessing students. Whichever the system adopted by the governments of various countries worldwide, exam is an important event as teachers are able to allow those students who perform well to progress in their learning (Stefanakis, 2010). Those who have not met the minimum grading will require extra tuition before they are promoted. This will involve the initiatives of parents to hire tutors for the student. Exam assessment prepares the student for higher levels of learning, because the higher institutions of learning have exam assessment too. Therefore, it is important for the students to get used to exam as well as research, which will boost the student understanding during lectures in the university or in college. Similarly, at the end of a university degree course the students are required to carry out a project ei ther as individual or group work. The knowledge and experience of teamwork gained during the lower study levels will play a great role in successful completion of tasks in the university. Another important factor of assessment is that it helps a student to develop his or her character from childhood to adulthood. For the first time a student joins the school the test should be initiated. From small things the student is asked by the teacher or by other colleagues, he or she learns how to associate with other students especially during the group work tasks. The student learns and embraces teamwork, cooperation, and accountability. These virtues are a foundation for character. In addition, the student acquires communication skills especially during the presentation of project work or during class sessions. These small facts about life accumulate and contribute to life outside the school. The student is able to work in any environment. The exam credentials are vital requirements in the job market. All firms base their employment qualification on exams. More often, employers choose best workers based on their exam papers. This approach has been vital since employers might not have time to assess ability to demonstrate their skills (Stefanakis, 2010). Therefore, the underlying basis is both exam and group assessment. Group assessment helps to build teamwork, which is a vital virtue in the workplace. Most projects in an organization are done in groups. Hence, teamwork aspects are very crucial during implementation. The student utilizes the knowledge and experience of group work during school. The working environment is not so much different from socialization in school. In any organization, the success of a company is determined by the teamwork and unity of the workers. These vital virtues are learnt and developed in school and are enhanced by assessment. References Harlen, W. (2007). Assessment of learning. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications. Nitko, A. J. (2001). E ducational assessment of students (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River,N.J.: Merrill. Paquette, K. R. (2010). Striving for the perfect classroom instructional and assessment strategies to meet the needs of todays diverse learners. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Salvia, J. (2001). Assessment (8th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Stefanakis, E. H. (2010). Differentiated assessment how to assess the learning potential of every student. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Apollo 13

Both sides of the argument were well supported and we agreed to disagree with the following conclusions: one side took the stance that the mission was not successful because they did not make it to the moon; the other side took the stance that the mission was successful because the astronauts’ lives were saved and that the mission evolved into bringing the astronauts home safely. The second issue the green team debated was whether or not ethics played a role in the decisions made by the Apollo 13 team, ground and space. Again we had a split jury. One side felt that ethics and integrity were clearly shown in Apollo 13 when they decided to abandon the mission to the moon when the spacecraft failed for the safety of the astronauts. Both leaders, Lovell and Kranz, demonstrated strong leadership and integrity by collaborating closely with their teams to facilitate clear communication to help escape the danger. This ideology should be emphasized in business corporations. If the collective goal could be identified at the beginning of each problem, it is not difficult to facilitate a collective effort to achieve a common goal. The essence of this film is to teach entities integrity and teamwork. The other side felt that while they could see how the mission was conducted with integrity, but they still having a difficult time seeing how any of it came down to ethics. They did not see any ethical dilemmas played out in the film or the real story of Apollo 13. The mission was aborted, in order to save the astronauts’ own lives, but that is not an ethical decision. We felt that the two most relevant issues were leadership and teamwork. These are the important learning lessons from the film, Apollo 13. Leadership, with complement to teamwork, salvaged the space crew from complete failure. If we had to pick just one relevant issue however, leadership would definitely win out. Your thoughts, insights, and/or conclusions about the Apollo 13 leadership and team lessons. Even though the Apollo 13 team failed the ultimate mission to the moon, we believe leadership and teamwork throughout the film is what made the mission successful. Our team believes teamwork and leadership is what steered the crew through the storm of great danger to reach the haven of safety to Earth. This film depicted characteristics of courage, perseverance, resilience and synergy that embody the idea of leadership and teamwork. The moral of the story can exemplify the challenges leaders face in modern day business. If corporate leaders can take values from the movie and instill strong leadership and teamwork principles into their business, this promotes sustainable success that will overcome any challenges. From the film, Gene Kranz and Jim Lovell collaborated through complex issues and stayed vigilant to their common goal in preparing for the astronaut’s safety return. We have found the J. Singh’s (2008) article entitled, â€Å"Imposters Masquerading as Leaders: Can the Contagion be Contained? † supports Apollo13’s leadership idea through the elements of energy, expertise, and integrity. A true leader according to Singh (2008) â€Å" his energy level at work, or drive, and passion to excel; or what in sporting parlance is referred to as the ‘killer instinct. ’ It performs the role of a starter or dynamo in an engine. It triggers the machine to life† (p. 738). Lovell’s team and Kranz’s team worked together to work out solutions to power the Command Module enable to restart Odyssey to get them back to Earth. The film captured the intensity of the challenge when Kranz said â€Å"failure is not an option† (Grazer, 1995). At the height of the stress, Kranz and Lovell were kicked into the ‘killer instinct’ to do everything in their power to find a solution to bring Lovell’s team home. The second element of leadership according to Singh is expertise. Singh argued â€Å"raw energy can be wasteful, even destructive, if not harnessed well. Therefore, one must be skilled at handling it and channeling it for constructive purposes. Singh latter added expertise is fostered by the â€Å"advanced know-how. † It is acquired through one’s specialized education and training in the related discipline and through â€Å"personal earning distilled from day-to – day experiences† (p. 739). Lovell and his team received extensive training to prepare for their mission prior to launching. Kranz and his team are competent in directing the astronauts for the mi ssion. The teams shared and exchanged each other’s knowledge and expertise to execute the plan to persevere through the danger from death. The third element of leadership profile is integrity (Singh, 2008). Singh argued integrity may be an old fashioned virtue. However, â€Å"no company can claim excellence unless its management is based on a set of non-negotiable values (p. 739). Integrity is a broad term, some of the attributes to this word pertains to the film are honest/transparency, ethics or integrity, communication consistency, honoring commitments, mutual respect, extend credit and appreciation for job well done, accountability for mistakes and stay grounded to his/her beliefs and values (Singh, 2008). The idea of integrity and ethics were shown throughout the film. Lovell and his team were transparent to the problem throughout the challenge to avoid any miscommunications. Lovell and Kranz’s team maintained mutual respect and open communication on issues and challenges they were having in the mission. When Mattingly and Aaron found the way to restart Odyssey by transmitting the power from Aquarius to get Lovell’s team back to safely, their works were acknowledged and recognized by the leaders in the mission of saving Lovell’s team. Not only did the film demonstrated strong leadership skills in maintaining vigilance in prioritizing space crew’s safety, teamwork complements the final success of getting the crew back home safely. Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith’s research (2005), â€Å"The Discipline of Teams† argued true teamwork is prescribed through teams sharing leadership roles, holding people accountable, specific team purpose each team delivers, collective work products, encourage open-ended discussions in problem setting situation, measuring performance by assessing collective work products, discussion and make decision that work for everyone (p. 64). These characteristics were apparent in Kranz’s team when they sit together to brainstorm solutions to bring the astronauts back to Earth. Each member in Kranz’s teams was assigned different tasks and was encouraged to come up with new solutions to help solve this problem. Your experiences with the team process. Challenges? Benefits? Changes from beginning of week to end of week? Team project usually is more of a challenge than ease due to the requirement of equal commitments from every member of the team. Teamwork from online program is more difficult as teams re made of members that are from different geographic locations. The challenge was even greater for us because our team has the largest time zone difference than the other teams in our class. Brittan is working Afghanistan and Shawnae and I (Yi) live on the opposite side of the country from Shawnae. We were limited in being able to â€Å"meet† and discuss the project as frequently as we would want due to other obligations, such all of us work full time. However, we were able to manage this stress by actively communicating with each other about our situation and limitation. We were able to utilize team forums and chat room to facilitate our communication for this case project. Despite the fact that we were separated by different time zones and working full time, our team were able to communicate last Sunday and properly communicate the work we have to do. Each of the members took on a portion of the assignment and work on it on our own time. Even though we have never met physically, we were confident in our each other’s ability to meet the requirement of getting our portion of the work done on time for our discussion.

Individual report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Individual report - Essay Example ram should find ways to make it possible for individuals using all kinds of phones to be able to access Instagram since it is restricted to individuals with Smart phones only. Pattarada (2013) defined Instagram as an online video and photo sharing service that makes it possible for users to enjoy the pleasure of taking videos and pictures and then sharing them on the various social network services such as Twitter, Flickr, Whatssap, Tumblr, and Facebook. The cloud based video and photo-sharing services for Instagram are delivered via mobile and desktop devices, and the whole process relies on technology. Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom founded Instagram and on October 2010, their services were launched. This paper is going to analyze how Instagram is using information systems to support its business strategy and how the company is using technology to build a sustainable competitive advantage. This model was named after Michael Porter and it provides five forces competitive forces that determine how the organizations can use them to shape their industries and provides guidelines on how to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the business (Cohan, 2012). These forces affect the ability of an organization to provide service to their customers and to make profits. The five competitive forces include: Instagram has competition from existing companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Whatssap among others. These competitors make it difficult for Instagram to develop successfully since they all offer almost the same services. Instagram therefore have to devise powerful competitive strategies to be the best in the market and sustain competitive advantages through innovation (Pattarada, 2013). The growth rate for industries related to Instagram is high and different new products are introduced in the market at a high level. The existence of other applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Whatssap that can share photos and videos increase the probability of customers

Write an essay in which you agree or disagree with the author's

Write an in which you agree or disagree with the author's position. Use your own ideas and experiences - Essay Example e facts in the article, it is absolutely necessary to put a muzzle on credit card companies that give away free gifts to lure young students into â€Å"plastic bondage†. Credit card marketing in colleges needs restrictions The first reason I agree with the writer’s idea that students don’t need extra credit is that the data shows that there are only 21% people (students) that pay their credit payment each month and only 11% pay even less than the minimum payment. The rest of the student lot (including 11%) rolls over their debt to next month and that’s what puts a big smile on credit card companies. That is exactly what they want to see, credit being rolled over swelling up into more credit. It is no surprise that financial analysts call accumulating debt or credit the eighth wonder of the world. The debt just keeps building up and the credit card holder becomes a financial slave to the credit card company. The second aspect of the article that makes me agree with the writer is the probe that why credit card companies that set up their tables and their ‘poison lemon stands’ in colleges always give away gifts for signing up for a credit card not a debit card. It is obvious that they will get their spending on the gifts back with interests later on. It is hard to imagine that all people holding credit cards would be paying their minimum credit payments regularly, it is simply impossible, that is why credit card companies are ready with their big open mouths waiting for this to happen and they could feed off of the credit chunks. Compare the credit card to debit card, there is no difference in spending principle, the only difference comes when it’s time to pay off. For a debit card, one has to have that amount of money in the bank account thus he can’t in any case spend more than he can afford. On the other hand, it is the credit card that begs the credit card holder to spend more than he can afford. This is where banks cash in tons of money. Once the

Culture Clashes in Multi-Cultures Essay Example for Free

Culture Clashes in Multi-Cultures Essay In 21st century the most visible fact about society is that they comprise too many types of culture in it together. This is due to the cultural and physical wars which have existed for million years between big communities and also every single little one included in them. This multi-cultural structures societies are usually the return of the colonialism. Big and strong communities having the little and weak ones as colonies enforce them to live with each other who have different types of cultures and traditions. On the other hand multi-cultured societies also are consisting of different types of people who chose to live in the same area because of being suitable for life, having many chances for jobs and prosperious consumption and manifacturing. Sometimes this groups of people adapt to the situation but sometimes they create contrariness and clashes. Kofi Annan, who is the Former Secretary-General of the United Nations uttered that in closly interconnected peoples the inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity form the principals of them. His point of view explains that if people strive to understand each other, listen each other and dont refuse before hearing their beliefs, traditions and protocols, respect others thoughts and accept that everyone can have different characteristics and beliefs make closly interconnected groups more comfortable and peaceful. If people dont obey and accept this respectance then it is definite that clashes will occur in the society. Because human nature is prone to be conqueror in all of the conflicts and struggles. Because we love to win, be justified and prepondarent. When everyone thinks that they are right then a clash occurs because people tend to close their ears to hear all of the other different point of views and thoughts. Because of misunderstandings and disagreement between the cu ltures a terrific drama is observed. The political scientist Samuel Huntington thinks that peoples cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post Cold-war world. This shows even the science took culture clashes as a notion and this highlights the severity of it, and what it can bring. In my opinion these clashes are caused by the narrow-minded people. In the past, way before the french and industrial revolution it is so hard to see people who think logically and open-minded. After the efficient developments people changed and improved art, philosophy, psychology and science. Unfortunately these improvements couldnt and still cant affect some group of people especially the uneducated population. Because of this group having limited point of view they reject the diversity of people and cultures. And results can be both national and universal. After the struggles between the groups in the same society rebellion can be occur and convulse the governments discipline. And also because of the idea that wants everyone same as themselves creates the ambition of enforcing others to be like them sometimes by wars and sometimes by financial strength. In my opinion the best way to resolve culture clashes is to educate public more and instruct them to be open-minded and respected toward new ideas, beliefs.

Peculiar Institutions Reconfiguring Notions of Political Participation Through the Narratives of Hannah Crafts and Harriet Jacobs :: Essays on Politics

Peculiar Institutions Reconfiguring Notions of Political Participation Through the Narratives of Hannah Crafts and Harriet Jacobs In her narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs says, â€Å"If the secret memoirs of many members of Congress should be published, curious details would be unfolded† (142). Jacobs here, and throughout her narrative, reveals herself as a political outsider in all possible senses. She does not, herself, know what stories are told in the so-called â€Å"secret memoirs† of white, male, empowered politicians. She can only surmise what frightful and disturbing events and attitudes they must describe. In sharp contrast, Hannah Crafts, author of The Bondwoman’s Narrative, is and presents herself as the most intimate kind of political insider. She is for all intents and purposes – throughout her own story – writing the diary, the secret memoir, of her master, Mr. John Hill Wheeler. A focus on this point of intersection between the two women’s texts takes on a new and uncanny significance when one considers that the actual diary kept by the historical Congressman John Wheeler has been a major tool used in the authentication of the Crafts narrative. This important political figure kept a written record of virtually every day of his adult life. Records reveal, among other things, that at age twenty-one Wheeler became the youngest member ever elected to the North Carolina House of Commons. By his early forties, he would become a permanent presence on Capitol Hill, serving as close counselor and friend to Presidents Pierce, Jackson, Van Buren, Buchanan, and Johnson. He would also later serve as the American Minister to Nicaragua, then a Central American stronghold, where he would try to single-handedly claim the land and institute slavery, inadvertently ruining his political career in the process. That Hannah Crafts lives in and reproduces for the readers’ eyes the most intricate details of those secret political records and relationships ultimately has an enormous impact upon the connections she perceiv es herself as having to other slave women, to white Northern women, and to men of either race. Crafts’ recognition and narration of her unique personal position also subtly but profoundly alters the opportunities for political participation that she conceives as possible. The Bondwoman’s Narrative, written by Hannah Crafts, self-described as â€Å"a fugitive slave, recently escaped from North Carolina,† was uncovered in 2001 and published in 2002 under the auspices of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Payroll Accounting Cycle Essay

The Payroll Accounting Cycle or Payroll Cycle is basically a process for recording time and attendance and converting that data into payroll calculations and payroll disbursements (Robertson, 2003). This cycle covers all activities related to payroll from hiring and firing to pay distribution. The payroll cycle has four basic stages; recruitment, which covers the identification of vacant positions, advertising for the vacancies, and selection of a candidate for hire, time and attendance, which is a record of all the work hours of the employees, salary distribution, which involves the depositing of paychecks into the employees account, and unfunded liability, which determines the unfunded annual leave and separation pay (Payroll Cycle, 2005). The most important internal control process in the Payroll Accounting Cycle is the division of duties (Bierstaker, 1997). Under this control process, the main tasks should be handled by different people.  This means that processes such as the hiring and firing of personnel and the management of labor relations, the supervision approval of work time, the preparation and timekeeping of payroll, the payroll check preparation and related payroll reports as well as the payroll distribution and actual custody of checks and its subsequent distribution to employees, should all be handled by five separate auditors to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the Payroll Cycle (Robertson, 2003). Another specific internal control in the Payroll Cycle is by implementing authorization requirements. This basically acts as a checks and balance feature in the Payroll Accounting Cycle (Bierstaker, 1997). In this control process, the pay base data, which is the data on which pay is based including factors such as hours, piece rate volume, and incentives, and personnel hiring and firing decisions, should all be initially approved by a supervisor or an independent department (Robertson, 2003). Providing that all these controls are implemented properly, there should be no relative weaknesses in the Payroll Cycle. There are probabilities however that the internal control systems will fail to detect material misstatements. The methods that can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the Payroll Accounting Cycle of a business involve careful auditing, risk assessment and control risk assessment (Bierstaker, 1997). In conducting control risk assessments it should always be remembered that if the control risk is assessed very low, substantive audit procedures can be limited in cost-saving ways. If it is assessed very high, substantive procedures will need to be designed to lower the risk of failing to detect material misstatement in the account balances (Robertson, 2003). There is no perfect Payroll Accounting Cycle and control measures should always be implemented and audited periodically.

Building Quadcopter Software from Scratch – Theory

Microelectronic (either some Ordains compatible board, Teensy, or any us that will suit your needs) TX system (more on the cheap side, you could use Turning xx or Turning car with a achiever that supports PUMP output) – more on that later Step 2. Sensors Its time for you to learn what accelerometer and gyroscope actually do. (yes really) accelerometer – measures g-force, its great to determinate pitch and roll angles, however accelerometers are acceptable to vibrations and shock Graph displaying accelerometer angle (shaking in hand) gyroscope – gyroscope measures acceleration rate (which is perfect for quadruplets), gyroscopes aren't affected by vibrations however gyroscopes tend to drift over time (more on this later) Graph displaying gyroscope angle drifting over timeFrom the block diagram on top, you could probably have guessed that getting reliable data from those 2 sensors won't be so easy, but worry not. Step 3. : Kinematics Part where all the sensor  "magic† happen, I will only cover complementary filter here (as it is the one that I am using and its the most simple one to implement in code / also rather simple to explain). Right now we have raw gyroscope data and raw accelerometer data on our hand, but neither one of these sensor outputs give us â€Å"accurate enough† estimate to be used in our stabilization algorithm.What we will do, is combine cell and gyro outputs via complementary filter. Output from our kinematics will feature a strongly suppressed noise from accelerometer and also gyro step 4. : First PIED First PIED controller, from the diagram on top you can see that our first PIED controller will take output from our pilot as â€Å"setting† and kinematics (containing current estimation of yaw, pitch and roll angles) as input. Output from our first PIED controller will contain = angle desired by pilot +- current kinematics angle, this acts like an â€Å"accelerate† for second PIED.In this case â€Å"accelerate† meaner, that value from our first PIED controller will determinate how â€Å"fast† do we want to correct for the current stabilization error. Step 5. : second PIED Second PIED controller takes the â€Å"accelerate† from first PIED as â€Å"setting† and current gyroscope output (gyro Rate) as input. Resulting output from second PIED controller is the decimal value representing force that has to be applied to each of the axis to correct for the stabilization error. In our case this force is generated by spinning propellers, which size we can control by adjusting speed of the rotating props.

Love Development Essays

Love Development Essays Love Development Essay Love Development Essay Zick Rubin (1973) developed a more modern scale to measure romantic love versus friendship. Rubin claimed that romantic love was made up of three elements: attachment, caring, and intimacy. Caring means view the other persons needs and happiness as much as your own. Attachment is a person’s need to receive care, approval and physical contact with another person Intimacy is sharing of desires, thoughts and feelings with another person. Many people may confuse about the reason why do human being require love development. In fact, love is vital for us. Love can give us a beautiful and special moment. Such special moments brings happiness to our life. Without love, our life would lack these happy moments so that our life would be incomplete. Life with love can become a wonderful journey so we can have a lot of important memories. Love gives us strength and power to face difficulties and weakness. It helps us survive the bad moments and handle our negative emotion. We need love in our life for support and to give love and support to the person we love. Love is important because it brings people to together. Love can form the tight relationship. Human are social creatures. We need different interrelationship to live. We can share the obstacles of life and the happiness in life that comes our way with our lover. We need love in our life for support and to give love and support the person we love. Love provides a future with happiness. People face lots of problem and need support. Love promises a support for a lifetime. People can survive because of love. According to J. A. DeVitos six stage theory of relationship development, the six major stages are identifiable: contact, involvement, intimacy, deterioration, repair and dissolution. According to DeVito, Joseph A. (2006) Human communication: the basic course(10th ed.), relationship development includes the initial contact stage as well as increasing involvement and intimacy. Contact- When one person first meet with

SCM Virtual Gallery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

SCM Virtual Gallery - Essay Example When someone types keywords into the search engines, the search engines find the keywords in the SEO marketing articles that has been filled with keywords. However, many time search engines’ will pull up an article based on the meta-description. A meta-description is a small description usually about 150 characters to describe what the article is all about. Many website owners will make the meta-description contain many of the keywords pertaining to the article. The articles usually pertain to the website, and what the web site has to offer. A meta-description many times is used as a lead-in, to get someone to click on the website address. Whenever a needed description is filled with keywords, the search engines will locate the article based on the keywords in the meta-description. When a company wants to promote its website a company can make a small meta-description as an advertisement. Many meta-descriptions will tell those looking on the search engines what is on the websi te, or in the article promoting the website. So, a meta-description will be, a brief opening, and a description of what the article, our website contains. When a company uses a social network to promote its business, a company is relying on the users of the social network. Many companies will create a page for something like Facebook, and Facebook will promote the company’s web page by asking users to like, or unlike the website. Using a website to promote a company’s website is one of the most recent ways to market a website. Nearly all of the social networking sites have more than 100 million users, and a company is receiving exposure through this page that the company created on the social networking site through those 100,000,000+ users. There are not many companies who operate in the world today without having a page on the social network site. Pages on social networking sites are becoming the norm for advertising today. With a banner exchange the company creates a banner with its logo, and some important information on the banner. The banner is used to advertise the company by other website. Some banners are used to promote website that has similarities to the website that the banner is being used on. Whenever someone in charge of marketing wants a person to click on a banner ad the person expects that once someone clicks on the banner ad and goes to the website that the banner ad will turn the person into a sale. Converting every user into a sale is the most important, and main goal of all marketing today. Marketing campaigns are the only way that a company can advertise. If no one knows about the company, then no one will purchase products and services from the company.

Community development in social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Community development in social work - Essay Example These processes include the organization or establishment of services, e.g. for social welfare, health protection, education, improvement of agriculture, development of small scale industries† (cited in UNESCO Working Paper for ACC Working Group on Community Development, 1956, 1). The word social work is made up two words, ‘social’ and ‘work’, and has different meanings when observed from the social perspective of different regions in the world. Thus, social work in India would be different from the social work being carried out in Iraq or Afghanistan, which would again differ in America, or UK, or Australia. Social work concept changes from country to country, varying according to the social and cultural environment, and political culture in the country, where one is conducting the social work. Broadly, social work, which is based on the principles of justice for all and human rights, aims to bring about social changes, develop good human relationship s, and to empower people for their own well being and liberation. Community Development, however, does not stop at just being a part of social work. There are many more implications to the word, and it is extremely broad in its scope. While CD does imply social work, today in the modern era of globalization, it also broadly implies the activities of the various political leaders, various civic activists, and the actions of other responsible and aware citizens, who all get involved in the various works done for the betterment of lives in local communities. So it is much more than just social service. CD means empowering the citizens as individuals, or in groups, so that they can learn the skills (often required to create political power to bring about social consciousness on some common agenda) which can be implemented to bring about positive changes. Thus, one may redefine CD as â€Å"Community development is a set of values embodied in an occupation.   It

Hinduism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Hinduism - Essay Example Such is the her greatness that the kings and all other men seek help from her as she is the one praised by all the gods; Goddess Lakshmi holds a dominant position in the hierarchy of Hindu gods. She is called many things such as; the sacred fire, the golden one, the one garlanded in silver and gold, are some of her attributes. Her arrival means good news for the people and her procession brings good luck and happiness for them. When the goddess approaches the poet it brings them comfort. Her sacred fire looks fierce but it glistens like smooth cool water. She herself is very content and also bestows contentment on her people. She is also the protector of people; the poor seek refuge in her presence. Her arrival is glorified in the original Sanskrit poems so much so that it appears that the concept of happiness and comfort is her creation. The poem tells that worldly pleasures like gold, cattle, horses and even loyal friends become the destiny of her followers when she arrives. It is as if when the goddess gives attention to the one invoking her she bestows contentment, love, satisfaction and worldly p leasures onto that person; Be it the common people or the king, everyone bows before the goddess Lakshmi and seeks her help. The poem praises her beauty and calls her the ‘sun brilliant’. The poem says that through her austerity the bilva tree springs up and gives fruits that has the power to dispel Alaksmi (the goddess of misfortune). Later the poem also asks the goddess to bestow fame and give wish fulfilling jewel. The fame and fortune is also in her powers to bestow upon the common people. Goddess Lakshmi does not only provide worldly pleasures and wealth. She also gives the peace of mind, the pleasure and the truthfulness in speech. When goddess Lakshmis daughter, Kardama, dwells in a person it will make Lakshmi dwell in his home. The Lotus garlanded Shri is also her title.

Critical Evaluation of Current Integrated Marketing Communications Essay - 1

Critical Evaluation of Current Integrated Marketing Communications Practice - Essay Example nufacturing units almost in every countries of the world and there is a positive response from the customers about the vehicles of ford in those countries. The company has been able to establish successfully in the automobile markets of USA and UK because of the good response of their vehicles in those markets. The company manufactures vehicles that can be afforded by both middle class people as well as the higher sections of the society. At present Ford motors is the second largest manufacturer of vehicles in the United States (Energy UK, 2014). The company adopts the strategy of mass production in order to attain a greater portion of the market share in the automobile sector. Conversely, the effective strategies that are being implemented by Ford motors are the key to success for the company. Among the strategies, the integrated marketing communication strategy is incorporated by the company, which serves as the most beneficial to communicate with the target customers and thereby c ompete among other large automobile manufacturers of the world. Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) serves as most effective for Ford motor company as it is an integrated approach taking into consideration various aspects of the marketing communication including sales promotion, advertisement, maintaining public relations and direct marketing. The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for the company is that it integrates all the above stated approaches without considering them as being isolated from each other (Percy, 2008). However, the IMC practices have become one of the major tools for the company that has further helped in strengthening the overall strategy for the company and thereby supported in establishing a significant position in UK and US markets. The integrated marketing practices are being implemented by majority of the large automobile manufacturers because of the positive response attained from the implementation of the strategy. Large number of renowned and

Appraisal On Different Aspects Of Project Management Construction Essay

Appraisal On Different Aspects Of Project Management Construction Essay It is the purpose of this report to provide a critical appraisal on the development, scope, benefits and influence of project management with particular reference to how custom and practice in different countries can influence the role and responsibilities of the project manager. The Project Manager In Brief A project manager is appointed by a client who has a project that requires to be implemented. It is the project managers duty to solely represent the client and ensure that all decisions and actions are in the clients best interests. The project manager should ideally be involved at the earliest possible time and his role is to communicate, lead, organise and delegate from inception of the project to completion of the project. The project manager must communicate primarily with the client, and subsequently lead and organise everyone who has an input on the project based on the clients needs. The project managers duties dont stop there, organisation includes project timeframe and a programme of work detailing how the work is carried out. The project manager must delegate any activities or responsibilities to appropriate personnel such as notifying a plumber that a heating pipe requires relocating. It is not the clients responsibility to tell the contractors what to do, it is the proje ct managers role under the clients instructions. Why Do Clients Need A Project Manager? Project managers are employed by clients to save them money, time and hassle. Many clients are unaware and unsure of construction procedures, building design, construction costs, building contracts and particularly, managing a project. The project manager at the inception stage of the project, i.e stage A of the RIBA plan of work, can partake in discussions with the client to obtain the clients ideas, objectives and needs of the project. This will include primarily, a budget, a timescale, a brief outline of their design requirements such as metres squared of office space or number of seats in a football stadium. As the client may have had ideas regarding this project for a period of time now, it will be likely they have a particular design scheme in mind, and the feasibility of this scheme can be discussed with the project manager to ensure that client has a realistic design within their desired budget. Many projects are designed by an architect and are taken through to site operations, i.e part J / K of the RIBA plan of work without any input from an experienced site contractor / project manager. This can lead to feasibility / cost issues on site as unfortunately not every architect has the concept of how buildings are constructed in detail. However the appointment of a project manager can eliminate these types of problems prior to site operations as his opinion on the architects proposals can be sought at the planning stage, i.e part C / D of the RIBA plan work. The RIBA Plan of Work Below is a list of the various stages of the RIBA plan of work with a small description of the project managers role at each stage: A Appraisal Determine feasibility of clients requirements. Design/Cost/Quality. B Strategic Briefing Receive strategic brief from client. C Outline Proposals Develop brief, prepare outline proposal approximate cost. D Detailed Proposals Develop proposal, provide information on cost estimate, consult local authorities, gain approval from client, submit planning application. E Final Proposals Develop proposal to full working drawings, obtain further cost estimate, obtain approval from client on construction methods, specification cost. Apply for building warrant Advise on a programme. F Production Information Organise the preparation of a detailed cost such as a bill of quantities quantifying all the required work to enable a contractor to insert rates. G Tender Documentation Send out tender documents to main contractor(s). H Tender Action Once received the tenders back from contractors, study compare prices and discuss with client. Select clients preferred contractor based on advice given to client. J Mobilisation Provide any additional information to CDM coordinator and contractor prior to construction works. K Site Operation Site visits, provide further information to contractor as required, review design information received from specialists or contractor. Prepare as built drawings for health and safety file. Advise on maintenance of building. Communicate and organise with all project contributors. L Completion Inspect building for defects, provide information for final payment to be made to contractor. M Feedback Study suitability of the buildings design for required use. The project team can be large in number and each member of the team has different roles to play and time to perform that role. Based on the above stages A to M of the RIBA plan of work the following project team members are involved at the following stages: Architect A to M Designs, produces drawings, instructs contractor. Quantity surveyor A to M Provides cost information at outset and detailed bill of quantities at stage G. Measures construction work carried out at stage K to calculate payment to contractor. Project manager A to M Leads, communicates and organises rest of project team. Engineers (Structural / M+E / Civil) D to J Provides detailed structural drawings / details. Advises on services and ground conditions etc. Builder / Contractor D to M Constructs and completes project. Duties, Responsibilities, Tasks Skills of The Project Manager The project manager is involved at all five stages of a project: Defining Definition of client objectives and project strategies. Planning Preparation of specifications, schedules and budgets. Implementing Monitoring of site performance of contractors and any specialists etc and taking necessary corrective actions. Completing Delivering project output and finalising project input. Evaluation Gaining experience from the project, learning from mistakes / problems to try and improve future performance / organisation. A project manager provides a service to the client to take the clients project idea through to completion. It is the number one priority of a project manager to look after the clients best interests from inception of the project to completion. It is his duty to discuss any necessary changes to the project with the client and advise on the possible solutions, the associated costs and the implications of the changes should there be any. Having fulfilled this duty it is then up to the client to make the decision and inform the project manager how they wish to proceed. It is his duty to discuss the feasibility of the clients design ideas to ensure construction costs can match the clients set budget. The project manager collects information from the client to make sure their needs are met throughout the whole project. The scope of the project managers works is as follows: Establishing clients objectives, priorities, preferences, budget and ideas. Liaise with the client and discuss a feasible design to take to the clients architect. A design which works and can meet the clients budget. Design of project organisation structure, i.e plan construction activities and responsibilities etc. Identify how the client is integrated into the project. Advise on the appointment of contributors to the project, i.e consultants, professionals, contractors etc. Look for those with experience of similar work, with a good reputation, who are available, who can integrate with others and who produce quality work. A large factor in selection can also be their location. Advise client on the Architects proposals and make recommendations based on what the clients objectives and preferences are. Prepare a project programme, i.e who does what, when and for how long. This is a plan of all the construction processes of the project from start to completion. Establish appropriate information and communication system between client and contributing parties. (Contributing parties refers to people / organisations employed by the client such as the architect, engineer or main contractor.) Generally specialists or sub contractors are employed by the main contractor however this does not mean that communication with them is not key. Monitor design and feasibility. Is the design progressing as per the clients requirements? Is the cost in line with the budget? Play a role in major and crucial decisions regarding construction, budgeting, timekeeping and organisation. Advise on building maintenance and everyday running. Commission the project on completion. In addition to the scope of works above, the project managers general duties, responsibilities and knowledge include: Feasibility studies. Attainment of land. Planning permission. Outline design. Resource planning. Investment planning. Detailed design. Disposal planning. Contracts. Risk analysis. Many skills are necessary for a project manager to be successful and these are detailed below: Leadership The project manager requires leadership skills to take charge and be confident in his decision making for delegating to the project contributors. Organisation Organisation is critical to a project and a project manager will therefore require excellent skills in this field to ensure all members of the project team know what they are doing and when they are doing it. Integration This is essential as all the other skills can be deemed useless if the project manager cannot integrate with the project team. Delegation Not everything can be relied upon the project manager and it would be impossible for him to do everything therefore he must pass on work, tasks and responsibilities to others. Communication Communication is vital in any construction project and is necessary for any project to be successful. Conflict resolution Making judgement in a dispute between parties is extremely important as in most construction projects there will be some sort of conflict and it is the duty of the project manager to attempt and resolve these issues in the first instance. Motivation Construction projects can be repetitive and lengthy and it is key that the project contributors are well motivated to carry out their work and to meet their deadlines. Construction And Project Management Abroad All of the above refers to custom and practice in project management within the United Kingdom which differs greatly in other regions of the world such as The United States of America Japan. Both The USA and Japan have different procedures and sequences in their construction procedures and therefore this can influence the roles and responsibilities of the project manager. Construction In Japan In Japan it is very common for a client to seek a design from a building contractor, as opposed to the UK where an architect would be appointed in the first instance and a contractor at a later date. This method has both positive and negative points that are worth mentioning. As we know here in the UK, from taking an integrated approach to the supply chain as described in BRE Digest 450, partnership can be a very efficient method of project procurement as the contractor has a say in the practicality of design etc at the beginning. This in theory is no different in Japan except the process is carried out by the majority, rather than the minority here in the UK. As the design is contractor designed, it is very practical using standardised components or modular construction which gives the contractor an extremely buildable project. Generally due to the practicality and standardisation of this method, many of the buildings appear to be very similar lacking attractive intricate details an d finesse. Although in the opinion of many the designs are unexciting, this design and build method sets parameters of the clients need, quality, budget and timescale. This therefore enables the chosen contractor to design a building with the intention to ensuring that it can be built to the clients desired quality, on time and on budget. Design and build is widely used in the UK but with the lack of standardisation and a simplistic approach to design, cost and time over runs are always inevitable. Japan generally is a quality driven nation and the construction industry within Japan is no different. The contractor market is controlled by the big six, six major construction firms which share long term relationships with their clients, suppliers, specialist contractors, general contractors and sub contractors. The Japanese construction industry is extremely efficient and the construction industry operates with stealth, precision and control of a ninja. Constructing Excellence reported after two trips to Japan having visited five of the big six construction firms that Japan gets a score of 100% for productivity, compared with 50% for the UK. Japan is renowned for its excellent health and safety records and their attitudes to health and safety is pragmatic , it is not a requirement to wear steel toe capped boots when working on a construction site in Japan due the excellent organisation of the project. On the typical Japanese building site theres hardly any debris, so there is little chance of dropping anything on your feet. This seems insane but the figures speak for themselves as 92% of projects in Japan achieve a zero-accident rate, compared with 62% of UK schemes. The differences between UK and Japan are enormous and this can be reinforced further by their training, morning briefing and pre-exercise warm up. It is a requirement for staff to train for a full year before operating on site and there is a briefing at the beginning of each day where the project manager discusses the days tasks and goals. Project Management In Japan Having researched the topic of construction in Japan, it is plain to see that the roles and responsibilities of the project manager will differ greatly when compared to those in the UK. In the UK project managers have to deal with a number of individuals in the project team, there may be issues of conflict between the contractor and the architect along with confusion and anger towards cost and timescale of any changes, which can make the project managers job difficult, as it is his responsibility to ensure that work is done on time, on budget and as per the clients requirements. In Japan things are a little different, the designers and the constructors are all part of the same organisation so conflict is unlikely and so is change. The contractor has priced, designed and scheduled the job based purely on the clients needs. The clients need is unlikely to change but should it change the contractor may file for extension to time, additional costs etc which makes this option very unlikel y. All in all this makes the project managers life a lot easier and with less time spent on conflict resolution it gives him more time to concentrate on leading, organising, integrating, delegating, communicating and motivating. The project managers role is further improved due to having less young incompetent or inexperienced site workers. Less time is spent repeating himself, as the site workers of Japan have had one years training before starting work on site, therefore are much more competent than the young site workers of the UK who walk on site with little training and experience. Levels of offsite construction and prefabrication is very high and in general due to less erection on site, the project manager should have less complications to deal with and can focus on erecting the prefabricated panels once delivered to site. It is also worth noting that if there are any problems with the prefabricated units if the suppliers fault, for example wrong dimensions, there is no stress of having to re-erect a panel onsite and wait days for it, instead all that is required is to phone the supplier and they have the stress of rushing out a replacement. Construction Project Management In The United States of America In the USA, the construction process differs dramatically from both the UK and Japan and subsequently the role of the project manager differs too. The client or developer is generally producing high rise buildings, not for occupation but as a financial investment. It is their role produce these large scale buildings at lightning speeds with as low a cost as possible. As a lot of clients are developers with excellent knowledge of the industry, they take the leading role. The architects main role in the project is purely to come up with an outline proposal to meet the clients requirements of appearance, layout and budget. It is not the role of the architect to produce working drawings or detailed design, this is the role of the project engineer. The engineer takes the design and develops it with regard to construction services. In the USA specialist contractors are used to design their own components and install them themselves which ensures there is no conflict which might have been encountered with the main contractor installing an unfamiliar product. Similarly to Japan, a lot of prefabrication is used with the design of a building, for example standardised computer generated components which can be easily be duplicated and altered if necessary rather than drawing everything from scratch. Due to this standardised system full construction drawings can be produced very quickly and there is more certainty of project costing and timescale. Coordination of the project initially is the responsibility of the client. The design stages are organised by the engineer and sometimes the architect. The project manager or construction manager as they are referred to in the USA is responsible for organising the specialist contractors work. It is the developers responsibility to monitor the feasibility of the project, especially the architects design and the cost estimates. It is up to the client to ensure that they are aware of any planning authorities as they are responsible for ensuring the legalities of the project. Architects it would seem have a small role to play in the US construction process however it is their role to provide advice on estimated rental value of the property, cost of the build and taxation. It is also the architects role to assess the success of the project based on the above. This reduces the responsibilities of the project manager at the early stages as in the UK it is generally the role of the project manager to provide advice on rental value, rough cost, taxation etc. Similarly to the UK, the construction manager as known in the USA is employed to provide advice and coordinate the construction phase. There are two methods of management used from here. The Project manager could be paid a fee for his services and also be paid for employing the specialist contractors whom he has to pay, this method is known as management contracting. The other option is that the client employs the specialists and pays them direct and the construction manager gets paid for managing the project, this is called construction management. In theory it makes no difference to the workload of the construction manager as either way it is his responsibility to ensure that the specialists know what they are required to do. Although an onerous task, it is not any more complex than a large project in the UK. This is due to the fact that the specialist contractors are in theory more than just contractors, they are designers installing their own specialist products and in turn are r esponsible for their own work under supervision of the construction manager. Although in the UK the project manager is responsible for the key decisions in the project, in the USA the construction manager delegates these decisions where appropriate to the specialist contractors. The USA is highly driven on completing projects on time and specialists will not hesitate to bring in hired work if necessary which provides an additional requirement for the construction manager to be flexible and coordinate the project contributors. In the USA there is little pre-construction input from a project management point of view and the main role and responsibility is to make sure everyone is one hundred percent sure of what they are to be doing and when it is to be completed. It would appear that the USA get the best out of their specialists with the fierce competition and by the way in which they approach a project and are managed. Conclusion Having researched project management generally, it is evident in my opinion that there is a great benefit in having a project manager on board in a construction project. However having also researched in more detail the ins and outs of project management in the USA Japan, and comparing it to practice in the UK, it is evident that the differing construction processes in each country dramatically affect the role and responsibilities of the project manager. The benefits of a project manager are endless and in my opinion, the whole scope of the project managers work is all a benefit to both the client and the contractor even though he is solely representing the client. The project manager is the middle man between the client and the rest of the project contributors. It is a benefit to the client as complex decisions are required when managing a construction site and knowing the lingo is extremely important. Unfortunately it would seem that in the UK the clients are not overly experience d with construction therefore its vital that they employ someone who can translate the terms into English and explain the pros and cons, for example, pros and cons of different options available. This role may be possible to be fulfilled by an architect however the main difference between an architect and a project manager is the project manager spends most of his time on construction sites and has greater experience in project programming, cost implications and construction techniques. The project manager is a benefit to the contractor as with his expertise, solutions to construction issues can be discussed and his advice may be beneficial for speed, cost or even just general ideas. Ultimately it is evident that custom and practice in different countries does affect the role and responsibilities of the project manager. It is crucial for a inexperienced client to have a professional such as a project manager from the beginning of the project if the client wants the project to be finished to his desired quality, on time and on budget.