Service Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Service Management - Assignment Example Such procedures are directly related to employee satisfaction and lead to an increase in the same. High levels of employee satisfaction lead to employee loyalty, and this raises the productivity of individual employees. This is directly reflected on the service that is given to the customers. Customers benefit from a higher external service value and this increases their level of satisfaction. When clients are happy with the quality of services they receive from a company, there is a consequent increase in their loyalty to that company and the services it offers. According to research by Heskett et al (167), an increase in the loyalty of customers by 5% can increase the profit of the company by between 25% and 85%. Maintain the service-profit chain is, therefore, important for any company that expects to have an increase in its profits. These links should be strengthened so that everything within the company operates smoothly and without any disruptions. All this should be reinforced by the management of the particular organization to ensure that all workers contribute towards the same goal. Based on this, successful CEOs are not those who locked themselves in their offices and came up with management strategies. Managers of successful companies are those who spend time with employees and customers and in the process listen to their employees and customers for suggestions on improvements in their organizations’ modus

Great Expectations Essay Example for Free

Great Expectations Essay Even though Pip has become snobbish by the end of Book One, Dickens still manages to make the reader like him. Show how and why Pip has become something of a snob and what makes us retain our sympathy for him Tom Beach In Great Expectations Dickens depicts Pip as having an increasingly snobbish character throughout Book One. He shows Pip to have an exaggerated respect for his social position and his growing hatred for the common life that he lives. The reader sees that Pips snobbishness is due to his desire to become a gentleman and his aspiration to be liked by Estella, from whom he adopts some of his snobbish attitudes. Even though it is clear to the reader that Pip has become somewhat of a snob, Dickens encourages the reader to still like Pip. He puts across that Pip is an orphan and that these snobbish feelings we see are just outward feelings. We learn that he was not proud of the snobbish character that he had become from the way he looks back on his life as an adult. These events make the reader feel sympathy for Pip, leading the reader to retain their criticism of him. In Book One of Great Expectations we see Dickens show Pips progressively snobbish character in many ways. After Pips first visit to Satis house and after falling for Estella we see Pips ambition to become a gentleman. We see that Pip blames Joe for being common, and for Joe not bringing him up as Pip thinks he should: I wish Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too. We see Pips snobbish character developing as he blames Joe for being common; he is ashamed of the dear good fellow and disappointed in him for being so ignorant and common. Pip is patronising towards Joe for something Joe has no control over. Pip feels he is able to comment on Joes social status because he does not belong to [his] higher society and would be an embarrassment in front of Estella. This sudden change of attitude in Pip that wants to dismiss his family comes as a great shock to the reader. We see this to be a case of him being a snob. In Book One, one of the main points of Pips character that shows Pip to be something of a snob is his patronising attitude towards Mrs Joe. When Pip is going to see Miss Havisham with Joe and accompanied with Mrs Joe Pip feels embarrassed because they are trying to dress up to much: I am not quite clear whether these articles were carried penitentially or ostentatiously. Pip feels that his sister, Mrs Joe is very much overdressed, trying to look more ladylike that she really is. He is very patronising to her, as seen in the above quotation for simply being overdressed. Pip feels he is above her. Pip shows his growing snobbishness due to the fact that he is so willingly able to dismiss who he is and what he should become: I had believed in the forge as the glowing road to manhood and independence. Within a single year, all this was changed. Now, it was all coarse and common. We see Pip has lost faith in his normal life in the forge, dismissing the fact that that a life in the forge is what he is meant for. Pip will never like Joes trade and is sad when he is made apprentice to him: And what could I possibly do then, but say I was enjoying myself when I wasnt. Pip feels that the apprenticeship will tie him away from his ambition. He feels the forge is so coarse and common that it will prevent him from becoming a gentleman. Pip feels that he is too good for the community that he lives in; he wants to get away from it: It would be very disagreeable to be stared at by all the people here. We see Pip deciding not to go into town in his new suit. He again feels that he is above all the people in the village, that they would make such a business of it such a coarse and common business that [he] couldnt bear [himself]. This fact that he looks down on everybody in the village depicts him as a vain snob; he is not going to be a rustic man anymore. In the closing stages of Book One we see Pip being very snobbish and capricious towards Biddy, a girl who looks after the house and has fallen in love with Pip: Biddy I returned with some resentment, you are so exceedingly quick that its difficult to keep up with you.

Joy Luck Club :: essays papers

Joy Luck Club In The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, one examines the story of four Chinese families throughout the generations. By examining specific examples of sacrifice within each of the four families, sacrifice will be proved to be one of the main themes of the story. Ying-Ying St. Clair made quite a precious sacrifice while she was in China. The sacrifice was 14 years of her life. That which adds to this sacrifice is that the years make up the time from which she was age 18-32, which most people consider to be their prime years. These lost years of loneliness were what she unknowingly sacrificed for having killed her first unborn child. She punished herself by moving into a small and shabby house that was occupied by three families and was infested by mice and flies. She chose to live here despite the fact that she came from a wealthy family and could have returned to them whenever she wanted to. Of the place she chose to live, she said " It was not a comfort to be there, and that is what I wanted." (P.249). Thus, one can see that as a result of a selfish act, Ying-Ying ends up sacrificing a large piece of her life. Suyan Woo also sacrifices a piece of herself, yet it was out of love. After she had been fleeing the Japanese for three days on foot, she was no longer able to carry her two babies. She left them by the roadside in hopes that someone would find them. That which shows that she was abandoning herself rather than her babies is the fact that she left all of her valuables and a note with them(P. 282). Suyan obviously wasn't leaving them in order to increase hopes of her own survival. Thus, one can see that in the Woo family, the theme of sacrifice is quite apparent, not to mention dramatic. The Jong family too, makes many sacrifices. Lindo's mother promised her into marriage at a young age in order to give her a better life. Ever since then, her mother had referred to her as "Huang TaiTai's daughter". It is evident that giving her daughter to Huang TaiTai's was not a selfish act, like unloading a burden, but it was a loving sacrifice.

The Aliens Next Door :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The Aliens Next Door   Ã‚  Ã‚   Three of them are on the right side of my bed. I try to holler but I can't. I can't move. I'm scared, remembering the pain from the other times. They fly through the ceiling and out the roof, taking me with them. Next thing I'm in their craft, lying on a table, and I'm cold. I'm naked. They're putting something up into my vagina, and I'm scared they'll leave it there. They wear skintight black coveralls. They look like black grasshoppers. No hair, wide jaw. Black eyes, big, halfway between round and oval. Small openings for nostrils. No ears, just foot-long antennae. A thumb and three long pointy fingers. They're cold when they touch me. They talk to one another and I hear them in my mind. They have a damp, musty odor about them. They roll me over and put a burning hot needle along my spine. They aren't saying anything. I can't cry for help. Afterwards I'm floating out of a craft. There are beings with me surrounding me. I'm not scared. I'm back in bed, drif ting off to sleep. They're gone. (Gordon, 82).    Many of the world's inhabitants have reported experiences like those of Mary, a hospital administrator, who, at the age of forty-three, remembered her abduction by alien beings through hypnotic regression. (Gordon 82) Many people believe in alien beings from other planets. Many people also believe that aliens have visited Earth in UFOs. A UFO is an unidentified flying object. This usually ranges from an airplane to the much publicized alien aircrafts from outer space.    When people think of aliens they usually think of little green men from Mars, other little gray men, or giant monsters. The little gray men are described to be about four feet tall. There heads are large and oval. The beings' eyes are also shaped like ovals, but turned up at the ends like cat's eyes. The aliens have also been described as having long fingers that extend from the wrist. These wrists are attached to extremely long arms connected at narrow shoulder blades. These alien beings are also said to radiate a luminescent aura. The large monsters have been described as anything that can be imagined from the depths of one's soul.

Family in Dead Poet’s Society’s Neil Perry

Neal Perry is one of the major characters in the Peter Weir 1989 film Dead Poet’s Society which starred Robin Williams as Professor John Keating who inspired the lives of his students at Welton Academy. Actor Robert Sean Leonard portrays Neal Perry and plays as a pressured student who is passionate about theatre. In this film, family plays a large role in the development of the plot and the characters in the film most especially Neil Perry’s family who later can be assumed as the reason for Neil’s suicide. His parents are presented in the film as the typical aristocrats who hold themselves responsible for their child’s future career. Mr. Perry is a father who dictates what he and his wife think is the best for Neil without considering his interests. Clearly, this puts Neil in a very frustrating situation as he struggles to pursue his dreams and please his parents. Her mother who at some point can be regarded as softer than his father, she also contributes to the pressure being put upon Neil. They want him to become a doctor someday which reveals that they want him to be in a profession where there is a stable income. Being an actor clearly does not appeal to them as the profession does not always provide stability. Also, it can be assumed that Neil’s parents are also dictated by the society around. They are also victims of conformity who want to establish their reputation in the higher class of their society. John Keating, the English professor of Neil Perry has definitely influenced his way of thinking. Mr. Keating inspired him to â€Å"Seize the day† and pursue his dreams despite the dictates of his family or society. Neil responds to this by pursuing a role in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He does so without the consent of his parents. However, the move just worsens his situation as he is instructed to leave Welton to enter a military school. Apparently, Neil believes he had had enough of his parents’ dictates in his life that he finally resorts to suicide. In Neil’s situation, it is quite hard to determine whether it is Mr. Keating’s teachings that led him to taking his life. What Mr. Keating intends to teach is non-conformity—for students to practice freedom and pursue their dreams for their own fulfillment. For this matter, it can be assumed that Neil would not have taken suicide if he had not met Mr. Keating. It is Mr. Keating who taught him to pursue his dreams no matter what and his act of taking the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream led his parents to have him quit school for military. Before Mr. Keating, Neil has always been the obedient child who always followed his parent’s orders. Without Mr. Keating, he would not have auditioned for the character role for it would be disobedience to his parents. Without Mr. Keating, he would probably be still stuck in the medicine field too weak to stand up for his own and defend himself to his parents. He would not have known freedom and would still have conformed to the rules of his family and society. His passion in acting would not have been ignited by Mr. Keating’s teachings. Clearly, Mr. Keating has influenced his way of thinking that led him to become more frustrated in life. However, suicide is not acceptabl e as the only way out. With Mr. Keating’s teachings of non-conformity, Neil could have pursued his dreams by himself and detach himself from his tyrannical parents. He could have made a living of his own by accepting acting roles. In addition, he could have asked Mr. Keating for help. Mr. Keating could have talked to his parents and convinced them that their son is not a machine that they could run by themselves. He needs to have a life of his won. There are a lot of other ways to solve his predicament without him taking his life. Clearly, his parents have become too much of a burden for him emotionally that a boy of his intelligence was unable to think straight in such a hard time. In this film, the purpose of one’s family is given emphasis as the major supporter of one’s life. Neil Perry has lost all the support that he needs when his parents forced him into things that he does not want to do. His family is unable to understand his passion which creates a discrepancy in his way of living that he resorts to suicide. One’s family is as important as the air that we breathe. Living without their support can clearly make life miserable in ways that it makes life feel unworthy.

Deutsche Bank And Bankers Trust Merger Essays

Deutsche Bank And Bankers Trust Merger Essays Deutsche Bank And Bankers Trust Merger Paper Deutsche Bank And Bankers Trust Merger Paper Germany scores 40 what means that German society is rather restraint in comparison with more free American society which scores 68 In uncertainty avoidance, the Germans score 65 while the Americans score 46, meaning that Germans try more to avoid risk and anxiety, while Americans neither seek nor avoid ambiguous situations. Despite the differences there is also something in common, for example: In spite of the fact that there is an obvious difference between two ultras in the individualism scale (G 67, U 91), both of them are actually considered to be individualistic and focus on personal independence, individual rights, personal time, freedom and challenge. The power distance scale (G 35, IS 40) shows that both cultures are not very comfortable with control and structured hierarchical levels and prefer participative communication. And we also can see that masculinity is also a common feature. For The Germans and the Americans performance is highly valued. People rather live in order to work and draw a lot of self-esteem from their tasks. So now well proceed to analyzing how this dimensions influenced the merger itself. Individualism Beechnute Its an interesting fact that before having been acquired the Bankers Trust had not been integrated properly with the oldest US investment bank Alex Brown. That integration acquisition process was problematic in terms of merging the staff from both organizations with different and contrasting management styles. One reason for this was the failure on the part of the Bankers Trust to appreciate the culture of their new acquisition. So the employees of the Alex Brown felt that they lost their identity. Therefore, an important strategic target for the Deutsche Bank was to gain the Alex Brown employees confidence and trust. As a consequence, the company in the USA was then named the Deutsche- Alex Brown Investment Bank. As a consequence Of this important decision Alex Browns identity was kept and also the brand was reinforced in the market and among clients. Y Bank employees felt that the Deutsche Bank had rescued them from Bankers Trust and they had actually kept their identity. (catboat) As weve already said for both cultures the respect of individual and his rights is very important. So, during the due diligence period, the Deutsche Bank executive group decided to undertake a cultural assessment exercise which was designed to find out not only the acquired companys assets, but the feelings and thoughts of the people involved in it. This exercise uncovered the fears, misapplications and the concerns of the employees. As the result employees of the acquired company could see that their opinion actually mattered which can also indicate a low rate of power distance, speaking of which we can also mention the fact that Deutsche Bank appointed John Ross as the head of the integration process. Ross had been Treasurer of Deutsche Bank but also had been Chief Executive for the Asia-Pacific region. Importantly for the integration of Bankers Trust, Ross was an American and had previously had a 21 -year career with the Bank of New York so he was able to understand Bankers Trust as well as anyone. Therefore we can see that the managers of the Deutsche Bank actually cared about what the representatives of the acquired bank thought and that is one Of the things that actually influenced the success of the merger. Masculinity The integration teams tasks also included ensuring the key managers would to leave the new organization following the signing of the deal. An incident occurred that presented a real threat to this happening. In the words of one of the top managers: Just right after the closing deal, one of G Bank competitors tried to poach a whole industry team, the entire industry 1 00 people. And over a week-end the integration team made a very radical and quick decision which resulted in G Bank keeping 75% of that team The Retention Programmer Retention for A Bank employees. A quite sizeable program, CSS$ 500 million was set aside to encourage A Banks key employees o stay in the organization.

Knowledge Management Strategy

Knowledge Management Strategy Free Online Research Papers Abstract: Companies’ management, organization and corporate strategy have changed considerably in recent years. These changes have manifested the transition from the industrial society to an era indicated by the concepts such as knowledge society. Hence, knowledge has become a critical resource of the economy. In order to transform an organization into a learning organization and ensure an effective knowledge management (KM) strategy, a knowledge audit should be conducted, which will provide a current state of knowledge capability of the organization and a direction of where and how to improve that capability in order to be competitive in this fast changing knowledge era. This paper assesses the adoption of the knowledge management concepts, using a systematic knowledge audit approach. A study on the Malaysian company Tekmark will contribute in conceptualizing the importance of KM audit. Meanwhile, serious consideration on the KM drivers, enablers and blockages is needed for an effective KM strategy. This paper extended the recommendation on the KM strategy in the organizations. 1. Introduction Many organizations are recognizing that to sustain in complex and dynamic environment, they should be efficient in managing knowledge. As far as knowledge society is concern, organizations nowadays engage in knowledge management in order to leverage knowledge both internally and externally to their stakeholders (Rubenstein-Montano et al., 2001). These stakeholders are not only the employees but also include the shareholders and customers. Organisational theorists such as Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) also highlighted the necessity to view knowledge as embedded in, and constructed from and through social relationships and interactions in a community or network of people. As a result of these exposure and perceived value-creating processes, there has been a popular development of the notion of knowledge management as a key to competitive advantage. Knowledge Management (KM) can be defined as the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination and leveraging of knowledge to achieve organizational objectives (Lee Yang, 2000). It includes the strategies and processes for identifying, capturing, sharing, and leveraging the knowledge required to sustain and compete effectively in the business environment (Gautschi, 1999). However, a majority of managers are facing several challenges in understanding the practical characteristic of knowledge management (Davenport et al., 1998). Christensen (2000) pointed out that KM might be considered a rational instrument implemented into the company and which has been institutionalized as a rational myth. Leveraging on organizational knowledge and learning to create new knowledge have become the critical strategic issue for organizations that capitalize on innovation. However, many KM programs failed because the organizations are lack of understanding of their knowledge needs (Guptara, 2000). A KM audit will provides sound investigation into an organization’s core information and knowledge needs and uses in an organization (Dalkir, 2005). The audit should also include an examination of organization’s strategy, leadership, collaborative, learning culture and technology infrastructure in its various knowledge processes. Hence, a knowledge audit should be conducted, which will provide a current state of knowledge capability of the organization and a direction of where and how to improve that capability in order to be competitive in this fast changing knowledge era. The aims of this paper are to assess the adoption of the knowledge management concepts, using a systematic knowledge audit approach. Firstly, a study on the Malaysian company Tekmark Sendirian (Sdn.) Berhad (Bhd.) will contribute in conceptualizing the importance of KM audit. The objectives are to study and develop a deeper understanding of organization existing knowledge communities and content. Second section explained the rational of the research process used. Subsequently, serious consideration on the KM drivers, enablers and blockages is needed for an effective KM strategy. This paper extended the recommendation on the KM strategy in the organizations and proposed the knowledge metric for effective KM. 2. Company Background Tekmark Sdn. Bhd. was formed as a trading company in Malaysia on the 22nd February 1994. Tekmark specializes in the test and measurement business. It provides measurement solution to the telecommunications, broadcast and semiconductor industries nationwide. Tekmark also provides comprehensive services such as pre-sale consultancy, full commissioning, testing, training and after-sales support. With the head office located in Kuala Lumpur, Tekmark has operations in Penang, Johor and Sarawak Internationally, Tekmark has been expanding to: Australia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. TekMark vision is to be a reputable global company in measurement business and its mission carries the tagline of â€Å"total customer satisfaction†. Tekmark are dedicated to increase and enhance its competitiveness by delivering excellent quality products and excellent services. Meanwhile, Tekmark is to strive for continuous improvement and differentiating itself with continuous value innovation in ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. The test and measurement business segment provides standard test and customized solutions that were used in the design, development, manufacture, installation, deployment and operation of electronic equipment, systems and communications networks and services. These solutions included test and measurement instruments and systems, automated test equipment; communications network monitoring, management and optimization tools, software design tools and associated services. Tekmark existing major clients are Panasonic, Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM), TM, and Astro. Few of the main suppliers are Tektronix and PCTEL, Inc., both from United States of America (USA), and Topward from Taiwan. As a global player, Tekmark’s business environment has also been transformed by contemporary shifts in the global economy. With the intensifying of competition and market becoming more uncertain and complex, Tekmark has attempted to evolve their business structure through the use of KM. 3. Research Process The research utilized an exploratory methodology, which is well suited to assess Tekmark current state of KM activities. Exploratory research is characterized by flexibility and versatility, with respect to the methods, because formal research protocols and procedures are not employed (Malhotra, 1999). Casual interviews were conducted with Group Managing Director, Mr. Ralph Khor, and staffs from different regional offices. Interviews with Mr. Ralph Khor are extremely important in order to understand the commitment of KM at top management level. Staffs and researcher have undergone a series of analytic and feedback loops prior to the interviews. Despite of internal staffs, the research also utilized the interviews with industry experts (Winett, 1995). This includes interview with individual knowledgeable about the KM practices in Malaysia. Chief Information Officer of Senstech Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., En. Shamsul Azmal was invited for the interview . The purpose of interviewing expert is to assist in assessing key KM activities. Therefore, expert information is obtained by unstructured personal interview, without administering a formal questionnaire. 4. Findings The KM audit of Tekmark was conducted basing on the Wiig KM Cycle (Wiig, 1998). Factors concerning the use of knowledge, such as the blockages, enablers and drivers for KM initiatives were analyzed . 4.1 Tekmark KM Initiatives Drivers Tekmark considers knowledge, especially KM, to be a core capability for achieving competitive. Tekmark have spent more than 0.5 million Ringgit Malaysia (RM) on Information Technology (IT) to facilitate the KM system. Knowledge and intelligence that is drawn from the experiences of particular client projects, is one of the most crucial forms of knowledge for the company. Whereas previously this kind of knowledge may simply have been collected and added to a relatively static database, Tekmark now concentrates on more highly skilled and operationally experienced KM professionals interpreting, assessing and classifying this kind of knowledge. During the early days, KM had been sponsored and managed by service lines or geographic regions that resulted in a somewhat segregated approach (Smith, 1998). This meant that project teams might be contacted by a number of different KM groups from different regions, often seeking similar or related information. After a number of years of growth, the company soon realized that it had a large but relatively unwieldy set of databases and the next phase involved a long process of editing, refining and reclassifying the knowledge onto the knowledge exchange, such as the Tekmark E-Portal. The E-Portal is the heart of Tekmark KM program, covering more than 5,000 individual databases that are subdivided into various topics. The objective of the E-Portal was to help managers reduce planning time, minimize risk, and improve the quality of the client deliverable products. Harnessing and adding value to knowledge is one of the key areas where Tekmark’s KM initiative has attempted to develop new capabilities. According to the managers surveyed from Tekmark, the key to understanding the contemporary role of knowledge in businesses is to understand that it is relevant information that can be used to quickly act upon, in contrast to the more traditional methods of handling business information as a guarded secret that is stored and protected by regional system administrators. This also implies that the key KM is the rapid accessibility and timely availability of knowledge. The current KM model relies on everybody within the company, especially key project management individuals and corporate support manager, being prepared to make time to discuss their findings, experiences and insights and commit to contributing to knowledge databases. In order for this to work successfully, Tekmark needed to create a ‘knowledge sharing culture’ within the organization. In order to achieve a more developed utilization of knowledge, Tekmark continues to spend over RM 250,000 on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) while employing experience professionals who increasingly come from a consulting and industry background. Tekmark has been able to use fewer staff in these roles partly because technological improvements have meant that there is less need for manual intervention. Nevertheless, it was conceded that staffing this analytical KM function with experienced and relatively senior staff represented a major resource commitment by the company to KM. 4.2 Tekmark KM Blockages Despite Tekmark’s significant efforts and vast resources, the company was unable to effectively harness and transfer knowledge across its global business units. From the KM audit, it can be concur that the heart of the organization’s problem had little to do with the technology being used or the professionals involved, but rather can be traced to a few very critical elements that appeared to have been overlooked in the company’s global KM strategy. The company’s â€Å"one global firm† vision did not adequately address the cultural and motivational complexities associated with KM in a global context and failed to create the ‘knowledge sharing culture’ that would gave insured global participation required for this initiative to be completely successful. The exploratory research identified that the major shortcomings in Tekmark’s global KM practices can be broken down into three areas: Lack of appreciation for regional knowledge; Inadequate support for challenges at the local office; Insufficient allowances for local control. The most critical shortcoming in Tekmark’s managing of intellectual capital and knowledge is that the regional subsidiaries were never successfully integrated into the KM application, thus not becoming a part of the larger whole. One of the managers in Malaysia expressed this view when he wrote â€Å"knowledge management is a symbol of being one global firm†¦If Tekmark is one global firm, it would be represented in how we share knowledge across offices and regions†¦Otherwise, we are not a global company†. Tekmark had failed to effectively transcend global boundaries and created a unilateral flow of information from Australia and Singapore into Malaysia and Thailand. Malaysian managers frequently used the E-Portal but were hesitant to post submission and those that did never receive any feedback that their knowledge information was being utilized. Organizational culture plays a critical role in creating a learning atmosphere, which eventually proves to be highly instrumental in creating and disseminating knowledge (Senge, 1990). Tekmark’s global culture appeared to represent an assumption that all good management knowledge is generated only in certain countries, thus effectively alienating the company’s Malaysian counterparts. The Malaysian offices and subsequently Malaysian personnel operating in the region felt isolated due to a limited interaction with the company’s headquarter in Kuala Lumpur. The company did not monitor employee’s perceptions of equity and make sure that the employees believed that fairness was being delivered by the management on a global level. While the exact means employees may have intentionally used to restore equity may be difficult to determine, assuredly almost all are harmful to organization. Tekmark failed to establish effective cross global communication and faced cultural challenges at various local offices that were not adequately addressed. For example, in Singapore submissions to the E-Portal were frowned upon by employees as some sort of self-promotion and went against their concept of a team effort. While in Thailand many engineers felt knowledge sharing did not serve to benefit them personally and wondered why Australians contributed so openly. â€Å"Perhaps engineers in the Australia are more interested in contributing†¦others are in general not so interested in doing something that does not have a direct benefit for themselves†. Another blockage that hindered effective cross global communication was the language barrier because all submissions by the engineers into the E-Portal had to be translated into English, the official language of the company. Although most Asian engineers could converse in English, they were not proficient at translating lengthy documents nor did they have sufficient time during or between projects to submit the standardized forms. When the company urged an Asian colleague to submit a KM report on a project, a common response was, â€Å"Sorry, but my English is not very good†. The lack of available translational resources, to include sufficient time, made available to the Asian subsidiaries greatly hampered their contribution into the E-Portal. Tekmark’s focus on using technology to provide opportunities for person-to-person knowledge transfer relies heavily on open dialogue between all employees. Despite corporate-wide communication that required post-project contribution of all projects, there was some ambiguity among East Malaysia and Thailand employees and staff member over which projects required mandatory KM contribution. Without clear guidance within various regional offices, cooperate KM purpose was never made clear, allowing for a breakdown in responsibilities and regional disagreements in how the organization would function in regards to use and input of the company’s KM program. 5. Recommendation on KM Strategy Tacit and explicit knowledge is a vital item in any company (Kidwell, Karen, Linde Johnson 2000), and more in the companies like Tekmark; they should not rely just in the capacity and ability of their people to spread knowledge within the organization. Tekmark should focus primarily on both the codification and personalization of KM strategies (Hansen et al., 1999). Tekmark needs to implement strategies, processes and systems to keep that knowledge in the organization, ready to be distributed to all the members of the company. The SECI process given by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) depicts four modes of knowledge conversion with the underlying understanding that Tekmark could creates knowledge through the interactions between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge . 5.1 Processes The increasingly competitive environment and the imperative of many of the company’s clients and employees to be able to adapt and capitalize on ideas and innovations quickly, has made efficient and effective KM central to Tekmark continuing success as a knowledge organization. However, in the pursuit to create a â€Å"one global firm,† Tekmark must recognize the need to decentralize control as the KM program expands globally and by allowing for a natural development of workplace diversity. This would allow local managers leeway to address regional differences, such as motivational behavior and language, and build programs that provide incentives based on the cultural differences, thus adequately meeting the varying employee’s needs. 5.2 People The performance appraisal criteria for management should include ‘developing others’ and ‘knowledge contribution’ as key measures. These criteria’s can also used when assessing promotion candidates. For example, a Manager seeking promotion would have to demonstrate his or her own knowledge sharing behaviors as well as illustrating how he or she had encouraged or enabled others to develop knowledge sharing skills. Under these circumstances then, managers have a vested interest in contributing to knowledge sharing. Evidently this ensures significant support for the KM processes, knowledge sharing and associated training and development activities. Operational knowledge transfer between subsidiaries in international and intra-firm network is crucial (Ferdows, 1999). Tekmark should embark on the contingency relationship between the rate of change of operational knowledge, the extent to which it is codifiable, and the roles of facilities within Tekmark intra-firm network. 5.3 Culture In order for KM to successfully work, Tekmark has to develop a knowledge sharing culture within their organization. Davenport et al. (1998) hypothesized that one of the most important factors influencing KM were culture. The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization (Senge, 1990). One of the ways in which the company can build and reinforce this culture is to create a capability development plan. Capability development would include identifying the skills required in KM, what training is needed, how the knowledge base and expertise of staff should be built, how to provide feedback to employee’s that submit, and which subject matter experts can be brought in to advise on methods and tools to meet these goals. According to one Tekmark Australian engineer: â€Å"It is human nature to want to share what we know with those around us, howev er, it is important that the knowledge be applied with context and understanding†. 5.4 Technology The need to share information must be expanded throughout the company with full global participation in knowledge based vision. One way of encouraging participation would be through the advent of a positive feedback mechanism to track how submitted knowledge is being used by members within the organization, thus allowing submitters to observe how their knowledge input is being utilized. Staffs can embark on the existing E-Portal as the centralized KM system. By citing and promoting work from all regions with the organization, Tekmark will help influence a wider participation from engineers throughout the company. â€Å"If organizations are to be viewed from a holistic perspective, all their parts have to be considered as part of a system, rather than separate entities and factions† (Smith, 1998). In order to successfully implement these KM strategy, Tekmark should embark on a holistic framework such as the KM gap (Lin et al., 2005) to fully illustrate the management gaps that might occur during the implementation of KM activities. The KM gap would analyze the corporate knowledge needs, evaluate the implementation activities of KM and identify any inhibitors to success. 6. KM Metric Tekmark should embark on a clear action for where and how knowledge will be employed to generate business value. What is needed is a KM strategy and execution review that will reenergize the knowledge sharing process and use the right balanced scorecard metric. A balanced scorecard is generally used to clarify and update the business strategy, link the objectives of the organization to the annual budgets, allow organizational change, and increase the understanding of the company vision and mission statements across the organization. It is a methodology that translates the objectives of the organizations into measures, goals and initiatives in four different perspectives, namely financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). A balanced scorecard can be used to translate an organizations mission and vision statements into a broad set of objectives and performance measures that can be quantified and appraised, and measures whether management is achieving desired results. The model can contribute to the dynamic alignment issue. The scorecard can also aid the effective deployment of KM strategy and aligned performance measures through teams at lower levels developing scorecards consistent with the strategic scorecard. Thus, consistency of deployment, identified by Neely et al. (1994) as a key issue in alignment, can be preserved. 7. Conclusion As companies continue to transition from managing data to managing knowledge, it is important to keep abreast of the level of implementation. This study sought to discover what level of knowledge growth a selection of typical Tekmark managers believe their organization has and can attain. Many managers were very positive in their responses about the status and probably future of improving organizational knowledge processes that in turn will impact company performance. If the results of this study are a true indicator of understanding about the importance of knowledge management today, then there is hope that companies will continue to leverage their true assets. Knowledge is indeed power, and companies are now leveraging the power of what they know. It is no longer just the physical assets, financial accounts, and other traditional assets that organizations depend on. The knowledge in the minds of employees, knowledge system, and organizational culture are the most valuable assets. F uture studies should track the level of knowledge growth over time, to better measure the true level of KM awareness and usage. Therefore, this study is hopefully only a first step in an ongoing evaluation of the stages of knowledge growth in organizations today. 8. REFERENCES Christensen, K.S., Bang, H.K., (2003). â€Å"Knowledge management in a project-oriented organization: three perspectives†. Journal of Knowledge Management, 7 (3), pp. 116-128. Coleman, D. (1999), ‘‘Groupware: collaboration and knowledge sharing’’, in Liebowitz, J. (Ed.), Knowledge Management Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Dalkir, K. (2005), â€Å"Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice†. United States of America, Elsevier Butterwirth-Heinemann Davenport, T.H., De Long, D.W. and Beers, M.C. (1998), ‘‘Successful knowledge management projects’’, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 43-57. Davenport, T.H. and Prusak. L. (1998), â€Å"Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know†, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Ferdows, K. (1999), ‘‘Generating and sharing knowledge in global operations networks’’, Keynote address to VI EurOMA Conference, Venice, June. Guptara, P. (2000), â€Å"Why Knowledge Management Fails: How to Avoid the Common Pitfalls†, Knowledge Management Review, Issue 9, July/August; p. 26-29 Hansen, M.T., Nohria, N. and Tierney, T. (1999) â€Å"What’s your strategy for managing knowledge?† Harvard Business Review, Vol. 77, No. 2, pp.106–116. Lee, C. C. and Yang, J., (2000). â€Å"Knowledge Value Chain†. The Journal of Management Development, 19 (9), pp. 783-794. Malhotra, N.K, (1999), â€Å"Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation†, 2nd Ed., Prentice-Hall International, London Neely, A., Mills, J., Platts, K., Gregory, M., Richards, H. (1994), Realising strategy through measurement, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 14 No.3, pp.140-52. Kaplan, R.S and Norton, D.P (1996) â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action (Hardcover†). United States of America, President and Fellows of Harvard College Kidwell, J, J, Karen, M, Linde, V Johnson, S, L 2000, Applying Corporate Knowledge Management Practices in Higher education, Educause Quarterly, no. 4. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995) â€Å"The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation†. Oxford University Press, New York. Senge, P.M. (1990). â€Å"The Fifth Discipline – The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation†. (pp. 83, 91-95). Random House Business Books, London. Smith, P.A.C. (1998), â€Å"Systemic Knowledge management: Managing Organisational Assets for Competitive Advantage†. Journal of Knowledge Management Practice 4, pp. 13-19. Wiig, K. (1998), The role of knowledge-based systems in knowledge management, Workshop on Knowledge Management and AI, Washington, DC. Tekmark Sdn. Bhd. (2006). Annual Report. Tekmark Sdn. Bhd. (2006). Tekmark: Business Plan 2007. Research Papers on Knowledge Management StrategyThe Project Managment Office SystemMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductOpen Architechture a white paperAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaStandardized TestingRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in Capital

Postal Rule Essays

Postal Rule Essays Postal Rule Essay Postal Rule Essay Wajid, a plumber, has a mobile phone contract with Telecom until 31st October. He has also had dealings with phone companies Webphone and Savaphone, with a view to getting a cheaper phone contract elsewhere. The current date is 7th October. Wajid has a problem in the area of agreement concerning the three contracts he has sought advice on. Agreement is the meeting of minds or actions of the parties to agree on a contract, within which are two sections, offer and acceptance. Both offer and acceptance are essential for the formation of a valid and binding contract, so each issue Wajid has needs to be viewed in these terms to discuss whether he is bound to any contracts or not. Individually each contract, or potential contract, will be discussed to decide whether Wajid has a binding contract with any of the three companies which he has dealt with. Telecom Wajid currently has a phone contract with Telecom, which is due to expire on 31st October. He received a letter from them on 1st October, explaining to him that his contract will automatically be renewed unless they hear from him before the end of his current contract. With reference to acceptance. For a contract to be valid there must be an offer and an acceptance. A valid acceptance must agree to all particulars in the offer, otherwise it becomes a counter-offer. All terms and conditions must be met in order for an acceptance to be valid. See Neale v Merritt (1930), where an offer stipulated full payment on acceptance. The defendant purported to accept the offer and enclose part payment, and a promise to pay the rest in instalments. This was deemed in court to not be a true acceptance, and the contract declared void. Offers, unless stated otherwise, can be communicated either in writing, orally or by conduct. Wajid would extend his contract with Telecom on 1st November by conduct, as he would not have informed them that he no longer wishes to have a contract with them, however, given the current date is still only 7th October, he has not entered into this new contract yet. Wajid does not have a binding contract with Telecom apart from that which he is coming to the end of. Unless the 31st October passes and he has not communicated to them his wish to end his contract, then he will not have a binding contract with them, only the contract which he already has, which is coming to its end. Savaphone On 2nd October Wajid telephoned Savaphone, and was quoted a price cheaper than that of Telecom. He said on the phone that hed sign up and the salesperson sent out the forms for him to sign, which Wajid received on the 4th, signed and promptly posted back on his way to work. With reference to offer. An offer is made where a person (offeror) unequivocally expresses to another (offeree) his willingness to make a binding agreement on the terms specified by him if they are accepted by the offeree. An offer may be made to a specific person, a group of people or the world at large. An offer to a specific person cannot be accepted by anyone except that person. In relation to invitation to treat. Invitation to treat is not an offer, and its acceptance does not constitute the formation of a contract. There are many cases where invitations a misconstrued as offers. For example a shop displaying goods for sale with a price tag attached, they are not obliged to sell at that price, and it is only an invitation to buy the products, not an offer, see Fisher v Bell (1966) and Partridge v Crittendon (1968). Wajid received an invitation to treat on the phone from Savaphone, so does not constitute a binding contract. However, when he receives the formal offer letter in the post, signs it and posts it back, he has accepted an offer from Savaphone. With reference to Postal Rule. The postal rule is that, where acceptance by post has been requested or where it is an appropriate and reasonable means of communication between the parties, then acceptance is complete immediately the letter has been posted, see Adams v Lindsell (1818) and Household fire insurance co v Grant (1879). The application of the postal rule requires that the letter of acceptance has been posted, addressed and stamped properly; see Re London and Northern Bank (1900) and Getreideimport GmbH v Contimar (1953). The postal rule does not apply where the means of communication are instantaneous (oral, telephone, telex, fax, e-mail) where the express or implied terms of the offer exclude the postal rule. See Holwell Securities v Hughes, CA, 1974 where it is unreasonable to use the post or where the application of the rule would produce a manifest absurdity, see Holwell Securities v Hughes, CA, 1974. Wajid has a binding contract with Savaphone, because the postal rule states that as soon as a letter of acceptance has been posted, then acceptance is complete and a contract is binding. With regard to Wajid leaving a telephone message stating he no longer wants a contract with them, after contacting Webphone, the postal rule states that where the rule applies, an offeree who has posted his acceptance is not allowed to revoke it by some quicker means of communication, in this case by phone, see Dunmore v Alexander (1830). Wajid does have a binding contract with Savaphone, as of 4th October, due to the effect of the postal rule, and that he was not allowed to revoke the rule and acceptance by leaving an answer phone message with Savaphone. Webphone The Webphone case is based on whether an offer has been made and accepted. By clicking on the internet prompts, Wajid had not entered into a contract with Webphone. The website gave an invitation to treat, which Wajid accepted, which would lead to the formal offer letter being sent to him, similar to what happened with Savaphone. However, by the 6th October Wajid had not received the forms from Webphone, and the company had realised that they had made an error on the website, that they had been offering a wrong price (too low). After Wajid contacted them via e-mail, they replied inviting him to take advantage of the correct price for a contract. Wajid had not accepted an offer at a lower price, as Webphone had realised their error before sending out the official offer documents, so he has no binding contract with Webphone at all, at the correct or lower price. Wajid could have claimed a case of Negligence through common mistake from Webphone, but, using Smith v Eric S Bush (1990), the case gave rise to giving the defendants suitable time to detect the error and rectify it, which Webphone did in this case. Only if Webphone had sent out the documents with the lower price and then retracted the lower price, would they be liable for negligent charges against them. Wajid has no binding contract with Webphone. When looking for a remedy to this problem, an overview of Wajids situation is required. He has a contract with Telecom which expires on 31st October but will automatically renew on 1st November unless he contacts them to cancel. He has a binding contract with Savaphone because he has signed and posted his acceptance of their offer, and on 7th October has received confirmation of his new mobile phone contract with them. Wajid has no binding contract with Webphone, as they rectified their error and sent no official documents for him to sign. It seems that Wajid now has no choice but to stick with the Savaphone contract to which he is now bound to, which is cheaper than that of Telecom. He would be advised to cancel his Telecom contract before his time runs out, and stick with the Savaphone deal. He need have no more dealings with Webphone because he has no binding contract with them. Wajid will be left with one mobile phone contract, which is cheaper than that which he originally had, so is better off now than before. He need not pursue any court proceedings for his mobile phone contracts, as he would not have a case against any of them. Advice to Wajid would therefore be to stick with his now binding Savaphone contract. Bibliography Law for Accountancy students 7th edition; Richard Card Jennifer James; Butterworths publishers 2002

Planning Proposal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Planning Proposal - Research Paper Example UMUC University is the learning facility for non-traditional students (including militants, federal government members and working adults). As the facility is the employer for about 2 thousand people in USA, the loss of revenue caused by decline in enrolments has a negative impact on the employees who face lay-offs and already enrolled students who receive the services provided by the staff of the campus. Taking this into account, I would like to draw your attention to this problem and offer to work on the solution as soon as possible as the students currently studying it the facility feel its negative effect on themselves having problems with receiving needed services. To my thinking, the possible solution is that the campus administration should address the government with the request to create some alternative source of funding so that there is no need to lay the staff off. Probably, it would be possible to establish some additional paid courses that would attract more students. Moreover, it is crucial to enhance and widen UMUC marketing campaign to attract more students and increase the number of

Employment - To examine how race continues to play a role in the Essay

Employment - To examine how race continues to play a role in the hiring and employment of black males - Essay Example Employment of less educated black males today range only up to 52 percent compared to 62 percent two decades ago, contrary to the employment rate of comparable white and Hispanic males that has been steady over the past 20 years, and employment among young black women has increased significantly. Part of the market population and the anxiety about crime crowded the perspective of some possible employers; furthermore, increased enforcement of child support orders may play a vital role in the declining manufacturing employment of these young men. Industrial metro areas and major metros like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco offered lower rates of employment directly in contrast to those in rural areas. However, southern metro areas offer this group better employment prospects. Racism is very evident through black American men’s income. Hard labor begets years of discrimination and prejudice through education and employment. Â  Economists can further prove this fact; apparently, wages for white soar high while black workers compensate a little serving the similar function in the society as employees with about the same educational backgrounds. There should be no disparity in emolument only for a reason of complexion; however, there exist a vast difference. A Labor Department study concludes that African American men who do not possess a high school diploma received less than 20 percent of their total wage compare to whites of the same position and in similar job categories. Â   Black high school graduates’ wages was 24 percent short than the wages paid to white graduates; those blacks who attained a bachelor’s degree are paid 21 percent less of the salaries paid to white college graduates doing the same job. Â  The same ‘rule’ applies in professions, black attorneys earn $790 for every $1000 paid to white lawyers and African Americans with master’s degrees get only 77 cents for every dollar paid to whites, that is 23 percent less – their reason

In What Ways Has California's 2011 Redistricting Process and the Open Essay

In What Ways Has California's 2011 Redistricting Process and the Open Primary Election Changed the State's Political System - Essay Example Moreover, the decision to hold primary elections will further intensify the situation as the position of the influential incumbents dominant in the Congress for years is at stake. Also, in the aftermath of the redistricting process some of the incumbents will be forced to retire however in other case, incumbents will be running against each other for elections, thus the open primaries would be significant in this context. In this case, it is being expected that the extreme Republicans or even Democrats will be replaced by new and neutral candidates by virtue of the open primaries, thus about a quarter of the seats owned by California in the Congress will be replaced by new candidates who wouldn’t have experienced the process before. To elaborate on the effects of the redistricting process, it is crucial to highlight the significance of redistricting to analyze the issues and implications of the process in California. The process of redistricting relates to the congressional al location of seats to the population of U.S. There are basically 435 seats whereby all seats have been uniformly distributed amongst the entire population of the U.S. However, the population census and the demographics keep changing with time, and thus they have to be re-analyzed with time to come up with fair allocation of congressional seats to the entire population, thus, after every 10 years the government goes through the process of redistricting based on the changes in population demographics of the U.S. California is one of the most populous state of U.S with 53 representatives assigned to this state alone. Historically, when redistricting took place it had no effect at all, and there was just a change in one of the seats which was swapped between the seats as a result of the primaries. Gerrymandering is one of the ways how the incumbents influence the redistricting process to avail the best chances to secure their positions, by changing the inclinations of the maps in such a way that the maximum number of voters` base is covered in the areas representing their districts. This results in the distorted figure of the maps that are produced after the gerrymandering process. The redistricting process held in 2011 was indeed a unique one as an effort was made to appoint neutral members for the purpose. In case of California as well, 14 members were appointed all of whom weren’t seasoned politicians or incumbents, rather amateurs which suggests that the chances of political point scoring or distortion of results was near to impossible. For this reason, many of the congressmen seemed unhappy with the decision. "When you go from a system that allows incumbents to draw districts that favor themselves to one that disallows considering incumbents at all, you're bound to have some incumbents paired together and some open districts," suggests Tom Bonier who`s the adviser for Democrats redistricting process. This implies that if the issue of incumbency is not t aken into account, chances are that multiple incumbents will end up running for the seat in the same district. Some of the general trends which emerged or are expected to emerge in the future can conveniently be traced after an analysis is conducted over

(find Article about training and summarize) Essay

(find Article about training and summarize) - Essay Example Regardless of the sport-required metabolic demands, many coaches have continually stuck to the strategy. Most sporting activities do not require continuous sub-maximal movements. However, these sports require periods of high-intensity effort comprising of maximal bursts of speed and durations of minimal activity. Aerobic interval training concentrates on the provision of more sport-detailed training intensity. It ensures that an athlete enjoys greater training stimuli that can be utilized in the muscles, and applied in specific sporting activities. Aerobic interval training can also apply advanced methods for gaining endurance, particularly for some athletes seeking to achieve continuity in aerobic fitness levels (Ballantyne, 2006). In such cases, intensity of training is higher those of common aerobic training sessions. In fact, during the first attempts, exercise stimulus may be damaging to the muscles, and can lead to muscle soreness as the training sessions continues in later days. It is, therefore, essential that athletes should be advised to develop endurance and muscle strength prior to the inception of full blown training sessions. To be able to achieve that, it is highly suggested that athletes participate in special, short term programs of aerobic exercises before the start of intense exercises. During the first two weeks of intense training, program should be conservative in nature (Ballantyne, 2006). This implies that, the training volume should be between 3 and 5 intervals so as to accustom the athletes’ joints and muscles to the intensity. Additionally, a specific and thorough warm up warm-up should be performed on top of pre and post-training flexibility routines. It is paramount to provide complete and adequate rest intervals between the training sessions. Such periods are necessary so as to enable sufficient recovery, and enhance high power output during the next training

Animal rights the Strength and Weakness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Animal rights the Strength and Weakness - Essay Example While some argue that humans should be distinguished from the rest of the other animals and that they are in a separate moral category, some are against this ideology. The ones that believe that animals have no moral status will support any treatment to the animals including practices that cause discomfort, pain, suffering and death. Some people treat the animals according to the way they feel is fit for them and their beliefs an action which elicited the need to develop a forum where animal rights could be guarded and this secure them from the jaws of the malicious owners. Contrary to them, many philosophers believe that though there are differences in all manners of ways between the animals and the humans, there lacks a philosophical defense for denying the animals a moral consideration. The two sides have debated on the justification of these moral rights for ages (Mack, 2012). The philosophers who came forward to develop this argument supported their argument by purporting that since animals have a distinct life just like the humans they also should be considered as living things with their rights no matter how developed they may be closer or further from the humans. The explanation of various philosophers in regard to the subject will be discussed in the following chapters. It is important to note that the explanation may not give a conclusive decision as what is offered is a mere explanation and leave the reader to decide independently. The Kantian approach towards animals, which is said to have marked progress from Descartes theory that stated that animals were mere automata, acknowledges animal pain. The theory however, still states that animals were not self-conscious and were there merely as a means to an end. Kant claimed that man’s duties towards the animals were but indirect duties towards humanity. This means that though man should strive to treat the animals well, it was not because he owed them any

(find Article about training and summarize) Essay

(find Article about training and summarize) - Essay Example Regardless of the sport-required metabolic demands, many coaches have continually stuck to the strategy. Most sporting activities do not require continuous sub-maximal movements. However, these sports require periods of high-intensity effort comprising of maximal bursts of speed and durations of minimal activity. Aerobic interval training concentrates on the provision of more sport-detailed training intensity. It ensures that an athlete enjoys greater training stimuli that can be utilized in the muscles, and applied in specific sporting activities. Aerobic interval training can also apply advanced methods for gaining endurance, particularly for some athletes seeking to achieve continuity in aerobic fitness levels (Ballantyne, 2006). In such cases, intensity of training is higher those of common aerobic training sessions. In fact, during the first attempts, exercise stimulus may be damaging to the muscles, and can lead to muscle soreness as the training sessions continues in later days. It is, therefore, essential that athletes should be advised to develop endurance and muscle strength prior to the inception of full blown training sessions. To be able to achieve that, it is highly suggested that athletes participate in special, short term programs of aerobic exercises before the start of intense exercises. During the first two weeks of intense training, program should be conservative in nature (Ballantyne, 2006). This implies that, the training volume should be between 3 and 5 intervals so as to accustom the athletes’ joints and muscles to the intensity. Additionally, a specific and thorough warm up warm-up should be performed on top of pre and post-training flexibility routines. It is paramount to provide complete and adequate rest intervals between the training sessions. Such periods are necessary so as to enable sufficient recovery, and enhance high power output during the next training

Research Paper on Ethical Dilemma Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Ethical Dilemma - Research Paper Example , people with work experience, or exposure gained through a Master’s in Business Administration degree frequently find themselves better equipped for the exam (Sterret, 1906). This is because accountancy is the language of business, and pertains to this area of professionalism only. Accountants, once qualified, become part of associations of accountants in their country. For example, in the USA they become part of the American Institute of CPAs. In the UK, they join a different institute, namely the Institute of Chartered Accountants UK. Similarly, different institutes in different countries acknowledge the professional services provided by their accountants (Garber, 2008). Accountants report facing very challenging and rewarding careers, but at the same time, face numerous ethical dilemmas due to the sensitive nature of their work. The reason why an accountant’s work is sensitive is that they are responsible for handling the finances of other people, as well as corresponding to the higher authorities in the government. This level of responsibility binds them to follow a certain code of ethics in their line of work, as professionals. The aforementioned associations, to which these accountants belong, provide this code of ethics. In England and Wales, for instance, accountants follow the code of ethics implemented by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW). This code is similar in all countries, and entails five main traits to be present in every accountant’s work. First is integrity, which requires total honesty and straightforwardness from the accountant while engaging in any business relationship. This helps maintain the reliability, of both the accountant and the firm that he or she represents. Next is objectivity, which requires that any professional actions taken by the accountant be uninfluenced from any biases or conflicts of interest. The accountant needs to remain impartial while making decisions, and unhindered by the

Enlightenment philosopher Essay Example for Free

Enlightenment philosopher Essay John Locke (1632-1704) was an Enlightenment philosopher. Some authors define him as â€Å"the philosopher of freedom† and â€Å"the father of English empiricism and liberalism†. His ideas and concepts about social structure, social consent and human natural rights determined development of political philosophy and republican democracy. John Locke was an Oxford scholar. His teachers were famous British scientists including chemist Robert Boyle who probably taught him about atomism. John Locke was medical researcher and physician, philosopher and pedagogue, economist and ideologue for a revolutionary movement. His career was associated with name of the First Earl of Shaftesbury who was a Lord-Chancellor of England. When Locke emigrated to the continental Europe he studied Cartesian philosophy in France and become acquainted with William of Orange who later became English King. Locke came back to England only in 1689 and took up many official posts but devote much more time to his scientific studies. Contemporaries knew Locke as an economic writer and opposition political activist. Locke was an ideologue of constitutional monarchy and division of powers. He was an opponent of theories of divine origin of the royal power. He was a friend of Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle and an early member of the Royal Society. The principles of Locke’s philosophy were the ideological basement for Great French and American Revolution. John Locke together with Francis Bacons was a founder of empiricism theory. He assumed that human mind at the birth is like â€Å"blanc paper† and only experiences through trials and errors form ideas and knowledge. This theory was described in Lockes â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† and had impact on the development of behaviorism. Lock started to write his main work â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† in 1671, but published it only in 1690. Why he wrote it? Essay present the fundamental principles of his philosophy, it’s the culmination of his reflection on the origins of human knowledge. Essay contains of four books: â€Å"Of innate notions†, â€Å"Of ideas†, â€Å"Of words† and â€Å"Of knowledge and probability†. This philosophic treatise is written in archaic style but it still easy to read because of the use of dialogue form and clear argumentation. Locke devoted much of the Essay to an extended argument that human ideas and understanding are ultimately derived from experience. Before scientists suggested that some ideas could be innate. Actually, Locke proposed new theory of knowledge. Essay is an answer to the question: â€Å"Where do we get ideas which are the content of our knowledge? † The first chapter of the first book is named as â€Å"No innate speculative Principles†. It consists of twenty eights paragraphs. The name of chapter reflects its content. The chapter is opened with discussion â€Å"how men, barely by the use of their natural facilities, may attain to all the knowledge they have without the help of any innate impressions†. Locke wrote about the importance of speculative and practical principles and gave examples of them to show that â€Å"universal content proves nothing innate†. He used humor to show that nothing on the mind is naturally imprinted when speak about children understanding. To show impossibility of innate concepts and sensations he used dialectic that helped reader to understand that only experience could generate ideas. Just some examples of his logic. In the paragraphs 6-12 he explained that if all people have innate ideas but later they will come to know things upon the use of own reason then innateness is loosing its sense. He wrote about peculiarities of child’s mind: â€Å"after they come to the use of reason, those general abstract ideas are not framed in the mind, about which those general maxims are, which are mistaken for innate principles, but are indeed discoveries made, and verities introduced, and brought into the mind by the same way, and discovered by the same steps, as several other propositions, which nobody has ever so extravagant as to suppose innate † In 15th section of the chapter author outlines his theory of knowledge origin. He showed the sketch of new theory and how it could be applied to the particular and general ideas, to the memory, names, abstraction and language. He noted that universal concepts came from self-evidence, not innateness (Ch. 1, 18) and that less general ideas (he called them â€Å"propositions†) are known â€Å"before. universal maxims. He insists that theory of innate ideas is fruitless because innateness cannot be applied to mathematics and other complicated fields of human knowledge. In 24-27th sections he wrote that ideas cannot be innate because they are not â€Å"universally assented to†. In the last paragraph of the chapter Locke wrote: â€Å"Upon the whole matter, I cannot see any ground to think †¦ speculative Maxims innate: since they are not universally assented to; and the assent they so generally find is no other than what several propositions, not allowed to be innate, equally partake in with them: and since the assent that is given them is produced another way, and comes not from natural inscription, as I doubt not but to make appear in the following Discourse. And if these first principles of knowledge and science are found not to be innate, no other speculative maxims can (I suppose), with better right pretend to be so. † Locke is a propagator of ideas that abstract speculative principle cannot be innate. He attacked the theory that human mind is born knowing certain things. It was revolutionary for the late XVII century and John Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding have had great impact on the history of philosophy and society. His studies of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity and his polemics with adherents of stagnant views on the nature of knowledge stimulated development not only of epistemology but all fields of science. Lockes ideas played at least some part in the formation of revolutionary thought in France and American colonies. Of course, not only â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding† influenced on social history of those and many other countries but this trait liberated mind of other researchers. References 1. Essay Concerning Human Understanding http://oregonstate. edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke1/Book1a. html#Chapter%20I 2. Johne Lock Wikipedia on-line http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/John_Locke 3. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/locke

Learning and development strategy

Learning and development strategy Part A Learning and Development Strategy Learning and development is basically directed towards the alignment of training needs and career development of an employee. The basic purpose of the learning and development strategy is that you advance an employee skills and knowledge in such a way that will help in getting his job done and eventually to leads to overall organization performance. Combining both learning and development strategies, you actually create a link between them. That is you actually motivate employee to learn those skills which will help them in performing their job. Essential elements of learning and development strategy are: How a learner will learn the information? Which form of information input will a learner prefer? How a learner will draw meaning from the received information? What will be the preferred learning style of the learner? Differences in formal and informal learning techniques Informal learning Formal learning In informal learning there is no formal instructor involved in it. In formal learning you are directly directed by the instructor to learn a particular thing. In formal learning has no predefined objects and end results. Before the start of the formal learning, you have some objectives that clearly define the reason and result of the learning. Informal learning does not take place within a structured environment. Rather it is more of spontaneous nature. Informal learning usually happens with the frequency of experiences Formal learning takes place within a special arrangement within an organization. In informal learning you dont get any recognition or certificate for learning that knowledge or skill It results in achievement of special degree or certificate that actually certified that the recipient of this has learned a particular skill or knowledge. Informal learning may not be intentionally learned. It may happen unintentionally In formal learning, learner consciously and intentionally learns a specific skill. It usually happens through hit and trial process; through socialization when you interact with people you tend to learn different things from them unconsciously. Examples of formal learning are discussions, role playing, lecturers, simulations etc. Honey and Mumford learning style The learning ability of each individual varies from another individual. Learning styles determine the preferences of individuals in terms of how they focus on different types of information, particular ways of perceiving that information and how each individual understands that information (Sandra Penger and Metka TekavÄ iÄ , 2009). Honey and Mumford come up with different four learning style to examine differences in learning approaches. The four learning styles are: Activists Reflectors Theorists Pragmatists Activists Activist learners have short them orientation. Activist wants new experiences in their lives. Activists are more flexible and welcoming. They are more of adventurous nature and want to try anything new. They are ready to take decisions without thinking that what would be the results of that decision. They dont like to prepare before they take any action. Because of their short term orientation, they get bore easily and quickly and always look for new things as soon as pleasure from one activity decreases. They are risk taker who want to accept challenges but without thinking the possible consequences of those challenges. Reflectors Reflectors are considered as good and active listeners. When learner gain experience as an activist, then there is a stage to process those experience. They seek information from people both primary that with their own efforts and secondary that is from others. That is why reflectors do not engage or participate or provide information rather they are seekers and listeners of information. They dont quickly jump to conclusion. Rather they want to have deep understanding and insight of the information and like to think over and again. There fore reflectors are slow decision maker. They resist from taking decisions immediately before pondering into the collected information. Their purpose is to collect and analyze information as possible before coming to conclusion. That is these learners focus on gathering and thorough processing of information instead of drawing conclusions from it. Theorists Theorists are those learners who are more attracted towards theories, logics and principles. They tend to transform the learned information, being an activist and reflectors, into theories and come up with logical reasoning. Their way of analyzing any information or solving problem is that they go step by step and draw relationships or logics to grasp the big picture. That is why they are said to be vertical thinkers (Frank Coffield, David Moseley, Elaine Hall and Kathryn Ecclestone, 2004). They are more of perfectionist who wants discipline in their lives. That is why they go systematically, logically and rationally. Theorists are more of objective nature. Therefore they do not believe in subjectivity, gut feelings or intuition. They want logics and reasons to grasp the information. Pragmatists As theorist look for theories and logics to understand the information, pragmatists are one step forward. They want the practical implication of theories to grasp the information. As the name implies, pragmatist learners are more of practical and realistic in nature. They cannot assimilate any model theory or principal until and unless it has practical verification. Like activist they look for challenging wok and new ideas but it should be of practical nature. These types of learners want to try out the information they have learned once they get out of the learning institution. Activities that form part of the learning and development Case study Case study is one of the activities that form part of learning and development strategy. In this method learners are provided with situation that could be hypothetical or real. That situation or story includes the background, some supporting information and issue faced by a company or any organization around which the case study revolves. Learner has to solve the case study by providing possible solutions to the problem. Learner must be told that case study may not have one concrete solution. Rather its the property of the case study that a problem in case can be solved by many and different ways. Therefore each learner can have different solution for the case study. The focus on using case study as a learning tool is that how the learner approaches towards the solution, how much he understands the problem and what are the tools and techniques he has used to solve the problem. Harvard case studies are widely used in colleges and universities to improve problem solving and decision making skills of learners. On the job training (OJT) On the job training is especially applicable for small business. Its more appropriate when learner has to learn new technology. OJT can be done formally or informally. In formal OJT, there is a formal trainer, learners observes the teacher that what and how he is doing. Then after the demonstration, instructor will discuss the process of using orally. Then the learner will himself practice the learned skills and will get feedback and instruction at the same time. This process will repeat until the learner become master to it. Whereas in informal on the job training, there is no formal trainer, those who knows the technology can teach the learner whenever he requires. There is no formal practice of the learned skills or proper feedback of the performance of the learner. Mens Wearhouse is practicing formal on the job training in which they have trained trainers and they are responsible for the development of their trainees. Part B Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory Maslow hierarchy of needs theory was proposed in 1943 by Abraham Maslow in a paper A theory of human Motivation (William G. Huitt,2004). Maslow points out five levels of need that are the sources of motivation for every individual. This level of needs is presented in a specific sequence. If one level of need is satisfied, then individual will move towards another level of need. An individual will not move forward to another level of need until and unless the existing level will be satisfied. And this process will continue until a person reaches to most upper level. Different people will be motivated by different level of need at the same time. The five levels of needs are Psychological needs Safety needs Social needs Esteem needs Self actualization needs Psychological needs This is the primary level need of Maslow hierarchy of needs. It includes basic necessities of an individual that are food, shelter, water and other physical requirements. This level of need is the basic requirements of every individual and it must be met to move upward in need pyramid. Safety needs Safety needs includes protection, security both physical and emotional. Safety needs include financial security, health care, justice, personal security etc. If the physiological needs of an individual is satisfied then he will move for safety needs. For an employee safety need would be job security, justice in distribution of rewards by the company. Social needs Social needs include need for friends, relationships and belongingness. Every individual needs love and love by others. Esteem needs Esteem needs includes need for self respect, achievement, recognition, status, reputation. All individuals have tendency to engage themselves in such activities that results in recognition and value to enhance their reputation and gain a status among the group. Self actualization needs Self actualization needs includes need for growth and to satisfy the drive of becoming what one has capacity to become. This is the most upper level of need hierarchy. Any individual will reach to this stage, when the lower levels of needs will be satisfied. If pervious level of needs will be satisfied, then an individual will realize its inner potential and will try to become what he can be. Critical analysis of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory The crux of Maslow hierarchy of needs theory is that each level in hierarchy must be satisfied before you go to the next level. In business world, managers adopted this theory to motivate their employees. Motivating employees is a big challenge for managers in any organization. Managers not only motivate their employees to get their job done but they motivate their employees to perform their job in such a way that leads to both employee and organizational productivity. So Maslow theory gives basis to how to motivate employees. Managers have to determine that which need level is more important to an employee. Sometimes managers only focus on physiological and safety needs to motivate employees in terms of salary and job security. But manager must keep in mind that if you want outstanding performance from the employees, then you have go upward and focus on upper level of needs like esteem and self actualization need. Merely monetary incentives are not sufficient to motivate employees but recognition in public, raising status, promotions, career advancement also encourage employees and wok as a token of apprecia tion for the employees. It also gives signal to the employees that company value the contribution of employees. Criticism on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory Maslow hierarchy of needs theory is based on intuition and has no scientific reasoning behind it to support the argument. Maslow hierarchy of needs is not applicable in all culture. For instance, some culture gives importance to esteem needs than social needs. Some culture emphasizes social needs then over self actualization. According to Nevis (1983), Chinas primary need is belonging need and there is no esteem needs in need pyramid. Moreover self actualization need for China in not realizing ones own potential, but being collectivist country, the meaning of self actualization for them is to serve the members of the society. Implication of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory Apart from criticism, Maslow hierarchy of needs theory has an implication on HR practices. Through this theory, managers can design the framework to determine how to motivate employees for better performance. For instance you can arrange lunch breaks, define rest hours and enough salary and wages so that employee can have their basic necessities of life to fulfill their physiological needs. In safety needs, managers must provided safe and sound working conditions in which workers can work easily and there is low level of hazards. Managers must design pension plans, retirement plans and gratuity to help employees after their retirement age. In social needs, managers must design groups or teams to which employees can associate them. In esteem needs, managers must recognize the contributions of their employees not only by giving them monetary rewards. But employees must be rewarded on basis of total reward management concept which includes intangible rewards as well like recognition program, certificates, gifts etc In self actualization need, managers can give career advancement opportunity to employees by giving them more challenging work, sponsoring them for higher education etc

An Analysis of Shakespeares The Tempest Essay -- Tempest Essays

An Analysis of Shakespeare's The Tempest There are many ways of interpreting Shakespeare's The Tempest. A Post-Colonialist critic, such as Stephen Greenblatt, will look at the influence of historical and political implications of colonialism on the text. Along these lines, a Reader Response critic, such as Paul Yachnin, will look specifically at Shakespeare's audience and their concerns at the time in which the play was written. Very different from these approaches, a Psychological critic, such as Bernard Paris, will completely ignore what was in the author's and audience's minds, and look at the psyche of the main character in the play. Regardless of which critical approach is used to analyze the play, all interpretations should be considered objectively for they all provide a great deal of insight for studying the text. However, I believe that it is imperative to keep in mind that the story offered in The Tempest is told from the point of view of the main character, Prospero. This has a definite impact on the interpreta tions and their validity. According to Stephen Greenblatt the preoccupation with political power was not unfamiliar to Shakespeare and his audience. In his essay, "The Best Way to Kill Our Literary Inheritance Is to Turn It Into a Decorous Celebration of the New World Order," Greenblatt argues that recognizing the presence of issues such as colonialism and slavery in The Tempest will deepen the pleasure of the ordinary reader. He explains that it is very difficult to look at The Tempest without thinking about imperialism. The play, which is set on a mysterious island inhabited by natives and taken over by a European prince, is filled with allusions to the process of colonization. For example, one can f... ...rtin's, 2000. 119-20. Paris, Bernard. "The Tempest." Contexts for Criticism. 4th Ed. Donald Keesey. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003. 235-43. Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 10-88. Vaughan, Alden T. "Shakespeare's Indian: The Americanization of Caliban." Shakespeare Quarterly 39.2 (Summer 1988): 137-153. Willis Deborah. "Shakespeare's Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism." The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 256-68. Yachnin, Paul. "Shakespeare and the Idea of Obedience: Gonzalo in The Tempest." Contexts for Criticism. 4th Ed. Donald Keesey. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003. 34-46.

Mernissi Essay -- English Literature Essays

Mernissi Mernissi makes the claim that "Any man who believes that a Muslim woman who fights for her dignity and right to citizenship excludes herself necessarily from the umma...is a man who misunderstands his own religious heritage, his own cultural identity" (Mernissi viii). She goes about supporting this claim by delving into the very detailed documentation of Islam history. She attributes misogyny in the past and present Muslim culture to the male elite. She gives many examples of how Muhammad and Islam have only supported equality of the sexes and also how the male elite used false hadiths and very narrow interpretations of the Koran and true hadiths for their purpose. She begins by describing how the male elite started running things right from the onset of Muhammad's death. When a successor to Muhammad was picked, it did not involve the people of the community at all or any women. It was done by a small group of followers which were very close to the prophet, a sort of elite group. This sort of leadership in Islam continued in the same manner as only the elite were involved. This helped preserve what they thought was essential and according to the interests of the participants the essentials varied. The fabrication of false hadiths by the male elite was probably the first and most popular way for them to protect their interests. The people governing knew how important it was to "seek legitimacy in and through the sacred text" (Mernissi 43). Mernissi talks about al-Bukhari, who methodically and systematically collected and verified true Hadiths. He was exiled from his native town because he refused to bring the knowledge of the Hadith to the governor of the town and have it corrupted. He knew that the invitation from the governor was made only for him to probably fabricate some Hadith which would benefit the politicians. Many did not follow al-Bukhari's example but allowed themselves to be bought for a price and fabricated Hadiths for the politicians. Even Companions of the Prophet fabricated Hadiths in order to promote their own personal views. In the case of the Hadith which states, "Those who entrust their affairs to a woman will never know prosperity", Mernissi argues that this Hadith was never uttered by the Prophet and probably made up for personal reasons of Abu Bakra, who claimed to have heard the Hadith spoken by the... ... as instructing them not to give any wealth to women, the foolish. This is quite obvious narrow interpretation of the text, which meant not to give your to any foolish person no matter the sex. Mernissi goes on to give other texts which are harder to reject the sexist attitude in them, but goes on to give the example of Muhammad and his life as the ideal Islam or Muslim way of life. She wraps up the book by saying that the Muslim man could not accept the change in the present time back in Muhammad's time and has not been able since then to let go of the past. She also started the book by describing how the Muslim nation has always fled to the past to escape change in the present and future. I agree with Mernissi when she says, "The image of `his women' will change when he feels the pressing need to root his future in a liberating memory" (Mernissi 195). Until Muslim men let go of their past, things will never change, unfortunately, for the women in that society. Mernissi got her point across really well in this book in a way which is simple for anybody to understand and I would like to know how the male elite handled and responded to this book when it came out.

Ernest Hemingway Essay

Ernest Hemingway is a writer known for his characterizations of men and women. His men tend to be very macho and involved in using women for their own personal gain. His women tend to be somewhat naive and overwhelmed with the idea of being with men. As with many of Hemingway’s female characters, Liz in â€Å"Up in Michigan† has mistakenly taken infatuation for love. Liz is actually somewhat obsessed with Jim right from the beginning. Hemingway writes, â€Å"She liked it about how his teeth were when he smiled,†¦that his hair was black on his arms and how white they were above the tanned line when he washed up in the washbasin outside the house. Liking that made her feel funny. † Clearly, sentences like this demonstrate the girlish nature of Liz. She notices all the little things that women notice in infatuation with men. There is no mention of his character, of what kind of man he is, only of his physical characteristics. She feels â€Å"funny† inside thinking about his white skin where it disappears into his clothes. This is the equivalent of the pounding heartbeat of infatuation. In fact, â€Å"All the time Liz was thinking about Jim Gilmore. He didn’t seem to notice her much† (Hemingway 82). Clearly, the feelings are one-sided here. It is impossible for Liz to love him if he takes no notice of her. Real love is about reciprocity. As the story goes on, Jim goes away on a hunting trip. â€Å"She couldn’t sleep well from thinking about him but she discovered it was fun to think about him too† (Hemingway 82). She is thinking about him in the ways of a girl, fascinated with every move he makes. She knows nothing of substance about him. Clearly, he is not thinking of her at all. She even goes so far as to think that â€Å"everything would be all right when he came home† (Hemingway 83). Again, she is pinning her entire identity on this one man who doesn’t even give her the time of day. She has no understanding of real love and is actually setting herself up for someone like Jim to use her by being so needy. She has fallen into the female trap of believing in that fairy tale, romantic love that doesn’t exist in reality. She believes he will notice her and realize they were meant to be together. When Jim returns from hunting, he sits and drinks with the boys. Liz tells the reader that â€Å"She didn’t want to go to bed yet because she knew Jim would be coming out and she wanted to see him as he went out so she could take the way he looked up to bed with her† (Hemingway 84). Again, as a little girl, she wants to take his image to bed and fantasize about it. She needs one last glimpse of him to make her feel complete. Jim does come out and immediately makes advances toward her in his drunken state. She is scared but feels as though he is finally noticing her. She doesn’t want to ruin her chance. As he seduces her, there are phrases like, â€Å"it was cold but Liz was hot all over from being with Jim. † She tells him no but doesn’t really mean it, and he basically takes advantage of her. Afterwards, she is â€Å"cold and miserable† and tells the reader that â€Å"everything felt gone† (Hemingway 85). The story ends with her covering Jim and kissing his cheek as well as trying to talk to him, but realizing on the dock that â€Å"a cold mist is coming† (Hemingway 85). On the dock, with the â€Å"cold mist coming† (Hemingway 85), Liz has realized that like the barges that disappear earlier in the story, her idea of infatuation is gone. She understands that Jim was simply fulfilling his own physical need and that he has no feelings for her. She understands a basic truth that many men see love and sex completely differently than women do. She has, in effect, grown up. The cold mist coming is the way her life will change now that the illusion of romantic, fairy tale love is gone. Jim has not noticed her, and she has paid an extremely high price for misunderstanding his intentions. She will either learn to value herself more and not be â€Å"available† for every man she likes or she will attach herself to another man like Jim who will take advantage of her and treat her badly, but this time she will be realistic in the fact that that is what he will do. She will not wait for the happy ending anymore. Her illusions about infatuation (love) have been shattered, and in a world such as this, she may never learn what real love, mutual trust and respect, is.