Affirmative Action: the Sensitive and Controversial Essay

Affirmative action has been a sensitive and controversial topic in the workplace since its existence. People on both sides of this controversial topic have been at each other’s throats for years and it does not seem to be going away anytime soon. A plan created to ease the hiring process of a group of people has in fact created more division in this country more than any other topic. What is affirmative action after all? It is a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities. (Wordnetweb.com, 2010) In this paper, the writer will describe the elements of affirmative action as it applies to public and private sector employers and how it interacts with Title VII requirements of Employment Opportunity. The paper will also determine what employers are subject to affirmative action plans and why, what do the plans require employers to do and what happens if employers do not mee t the goals of the affirmative action plan. This country has been dealing with the issue of discrimination for a long time. Affirmative action was created in order to reduce discrimination in the workplace and in school. As it applies to the public sector, affirmative action prevents businesses with fifteen or more employees from discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin and physical capability in practices relating to hiring, compensating, promoting, training and firing employees. (uslegal.com, 2010) It also it allows the state and federal governments to favor women-owned and minority-owned businesses when awarding contracts, and to reject bids from businesses that do not make good faith efforts to include minority-owned businesses among their subcontractors. (uslegal.com, 2010) When it comes to federal contractors and subcontractors, affirmative action must be taken by covered employers to recruit and advance qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. (uslegal.com) this proves that affirmative action affect both private and public emplo yers. The difference between Title VII and affirmative action is simple. As defined by authors Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander and Laura P Hartman, â€Å"affirmative action is the intentional inclusion of women and minorities in the workplace based on finding of their previous exclusion.†(Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007); Whereas Title VII under the Civil Right Act of 1964 simply banned discrimination in employment. In other words, affirmative action requires employers both public and private to hire minorities and women in their establishments or face some consequences but under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it would be considered a crime to discriminate against a certain group based on race, color, religion and so on. â€Å"Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment but it does not impose affirmative duties on the employer. However, as a part of a remedies provided under Title VII, courts may order affirmative action. (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007) Based on the research conducted, it does not seem that affirmation action was part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Not every employer is subject to affirmative action. For example, a private company like Wal-Mart does not have to comply with affirmative action regulations. However this does not mean that they will not be fined for blatantly discriminating against any one person. Affirmative action plans only apply to pubic employers and contracts. According to Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander and Laura P Hartman, â€Å"employers who contract with the federal government to provide goods and services of $10,000 or more must agree must agree to comply with the executive order.† (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007). Affirmative action plan is defined as a government contractor’s plan containing placement goals for inclusion for women and minorities in the workplace and timetables for accomplishing the goals. (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007) In other words, the employer set some goals for hiring women and minorities and these goals must be met in a timely manner. In addition, the plan requires employer post in conspicuous places, available to employees and applicants, notices provided by the contracting officer setting forth the provisions of the nondiscrimination clause, include all the contractors’ solicitations or advertisements for employees a statement that all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007) The plan also requires employers to include a statement of these obligations in all subcontracts or purchase orders. (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007) Although the requirements under the affirmative action plan seems very strict, it is clear and the government does require full and detail explanation on how the plan is being implemented. As with everything else that the government is involved in, there are many consequences an employer can suffer if the plan is not followed properly. If an employer does not meet its target goals, in other words, is not in compliance with the action plan, there are several penalties which the federal government apply. According to Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, these penalties include publishing the names of nonconforming contractors or labor unions, recommending to the EEOC or the department of justice that proceedings be instituted under Title VII, cancelling, terminating, or suspending the contract or any portion thereof, for failure of the contractor or subcontractor to comply with the discrimination provisions of the contract. In addition, the government may debar the noncom plying contractor from entering into further contracts until the contractor has satisfied the secretary that it will abide by the provisions of the order. (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman, 2007 The question which remain debatable even in today’s society, is is affirmation action necessary? There is no real answer for this question because affirmative action has been such a divisive subjects that no one will really agree on it. There will always be those who are against it and think that it is reverse discrimination against white males and there will always be those who support it because they feel it has not done fully what it was meant to do. Either way, as controversial as it is, affirmative action will not go away any time soon until something else comes along. References Affirmative Action. 2010 Retrieved on June 27, 2010 from http://www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu Affirmative Action Law and Legal Definition. 2010 Retrieved on June 28, 2010 from http://www.uslegal.com Alexande-Bennett D. D. and Hartman P. L 2007 5th ed. The Mcgraw Hills company

Dramatic devices Essay

Compare and contrast the characters of Inspector Goole and Mr Birling in Act One. How does J.B Priestly use dramatic devices to help shape an audiences’ response to views presented in this play.  J.B Priestly’s play was set in 1912 but written in 1945. The President at the time was called Herbert Asquith. The Titanic was built and nicknamed, ‘The Unsinkable’. It crashed on its first commercial journey on an iceberg and sunk, more than a hundred were unfound. It was just before World War 1 broke out against Germany. In 1945, World war 2 had just ended. Thousands upon thousands had perished in the war and the country was grieving its vast loses, still pondering the horrific situation upon which they had been left in. The country was brought together in sadness and grieving.  Britain in 1912 was a nation divided by class. Poverty was no longer the fault of the poor but the fault of society Britain had created. While the poor suffered, the rich and middle class enjoyed a lifestyle which even people today would envy. Poverty ravished the country. This was made to a great extent worse by World war 1 and 2. Priestly, through this play was trying to show the appalling fault of society. The extremes and ignorance of the Capitalist views and that unless it stopped this kind of poverty and war would continue happening. He was trying to convey to the audience his Socialist views. By undertaking this, he could outline all the negative points of Capitalist ideas and at the same time highlight all the good points about the Socialist ideas, effectively demonstrating the potential of Socialist views and subconsciously allowing people to think twice about Capitalism. The Inspectors name, Goole, is a dramatic device used in order to express to the audience that there is a kind of mysterious nature about him. The Goole name relating to such as a ghost as it sounds a lot like ‘ghoul’. This is very ironic, as he seems to act this very well. Goole is also a seaport town, this can be linked with the referral to ‘fish’ for information. He is fishing for information from the Birling family. He is much like Eva Smith, just another face in the crowd, common. This links with the name ‘Smith’ it is a very common name. Eve was the very first women in the Bible and is represented in that way as being very innocent and is an innocent victim in this matter. She is representing society and all the oppressed victims. This associates with the continuous repetition of â€Å"A lot of these young women† by the Inspector which further hints to what or who Eva Smith represents. He also seems to be omniscient about the matter of Eva Smith. Almost intimidating at times. None of the Birling family is sure how much he already knows, but all the same he still drags the truth from them. The Inspector is not a big man and ‘need not be a big man as he creates at once the impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. He is in his fifties and dressed in a plain darkish suit of the period. Priestly introduces him as a superior person. A person who is going to make an impact even before he has spoken based purely on his appearance. Because of the Inspectors appearance it gives a que for everyone including the audience to take him seriously. His appearance alone demands respect. He comes across as being very professional, organised and thus good at his job. He is talked about by Sheila as if you cannot trick him. He will find out what he does not already know. The Inspector is the catalyst in the play. He speeds up all the confessions of the characters in the play by the belief of the other characters that he already knows everything and he tries to make them change in order to help society. On the other hand, Arthur Birling is a:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Heavy looking very portentous man in his middles fifties with fairly easy manners but rather provincial in his speech.†Ã‚  The spotlight is immediately taken off Mr Birling when the Inspector walks in and this discomforts him. The Inspector looks somewhat superior to Mr Birling. Mr Birling hates this as he demands social status because of how rich he is. He tries very hard to gain social superiority but lacks refinement. â€Å"Tell the cook for me† It is bad manners to comment on the food at your own house, Mrs Birling says to him â€Å"Arthur you must not say such things.† As you can see by this, Mrs Birling is Mr Birling’s social superior. This is ironic as he is trying to depict himself as a person of high social status but it has already been seen by his actions and what he says that he is not of high social status, he lacks the correct mannerisms. The effect of this is that he is made to look dim-witted and the audience would not look to him as being a superior man to the inspector but the same underneath. The inspector speaks like a judge or prophet. He continually makes comments about the actions of the characters in the play. The Inspector seems to care a lot about other people. He believes everyone should act as a community and all have responsibility for their actions against anyone. This is in deep contrast to the morals of Mr Birling. Mr Birling thinks that he has no responsibility over his employees. If he fires them then it is their responsibility what they do. He is very ‘right wing’ in his thinking and does not believe that everyone is equal.

The Problems Encountered by DOH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Problems Encountered by DOH - Essay Example The researcher states that not too long ago, DOH was compelled to subcontract a batch of work to another firm so that it could make it to new delivery deadlines. DOH’s managing director had a lot of fears and reservations regarding this move. His primary fear was the quality of subcontracted work. He felt that the quality of the work would suffer and it would be of an inferior standard. However, this fear was removed when no defects were found in the subcontracted batch. On the other hand, DOH‘s main customer is not happy with the services being offered and the quality of batches that are being delivered to him. He insists that any further quality failures in future because of defective parts would lead to strict penalty charges like a cost of labor etc involved in removing the part from the vehicle. This is a grave concern for the management of DOH. They do not want these fears to rise and turn into a general impression in the industry. The quality concerns have to be t aken care off with immediate effect or else DOH might lose out on a lot of key contracts and accounts with various customers. Hard problems are problems which can be quantified i.e. they can be measured whereas soft problems are those problems which cannot be measured. They are qualitative in nature. The hard problems that the company can monitor are the number of defected parts being sent per month, the amount of loss being incurred, which site is producing more defected batches of work and what is the difference in quality if a bigger quality assurance team is in place. On the other hand some of the soft problems that DOH is facing include the coordination between different teams, quality control instructions have not been clearly communicated to the workers, strict check on quality throughout the process instead of just a last minute audit. There are a lot of middle managers which has wrecked a lot of havoc in the hierarchy of the workforce. Secondly, there is little or no regard for teamwork.

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Assignment - Essay Example The city has attracted an increasingly multi-cultural and highly skilled labor force. Due to the increase in population over the last few decades, the popularity of the need of property in Dubai has also increased. The need for property has further propelled the desire to have a luxurious life and due to the fondness of people of Dubai towards luxury, people are offered a wide rage of properties to choose from with unparalleled features implemented in each of them (Life in Dubai). Even though, the present situation of luxury housing is not topnotch, it is still feasible to start a new luxury housing business because of the dynamic nature of the economy and the demand for houses (Life in Dubai) allow customers to indulge in complete luxury. Thus, the basic idea of the business is to capture the market of domestic and foreign inhabitants who are interested in raising their standards of living and want to lead a luxurious life. Topic Sentence The business process that will be analyzed i n the present paper is the luxury housing. The luxury housing will be named â€Å"Serene Living†. The market of luxury housing will be identified along with determining its current competitors and defining its strategic competitive advantage as well as identifying steps involved in the value chain that will be the key to the success of business. The paper will further identify the problems involved in the successful implementation of and the ways to overcome those problems. The analysis will be based on the Porter’s Five Force Model. 2. Identification of Market for Luxury Housing Business in Dubai Due to the increase in population and the desire to lead luxurious lives, the need for luxury housing is increasing day by day. Although they are priced at a higher rate than other houses, either rental or purchased, they are becoming capable of attracting customer because it offers unparallel facilities and complete luxury (Luxury Homes in Dubai). For instance, Al Mahra is a n Arabic style Villa, which is basically a golf home and has been established on the theme of the desert. While, the Palm Jumeirah Signature Villa situated on the Palm Island in Dubai, spoils one with complete luxury. Similarly, studios and apartments that feature a mixture of architectural styles of different countries are being developed in Dubai and known as International City (Luxury Homes in Dubai). Target Market A number of foreigners reside in Dubai and because of the increase in their number in recent time in Dubai, the Government allowed property ownership rights  to the non-United Arab Emirates Nationals in 2002. With the elimination of this restriction, the city has seen a number of magnificent ventures, among which were luxury homes in Dubai (Luxury Homes in Dubai). Thus, the target market for the luxury housing is both the domestic and foreign inhabitants who are the kind of people who take pleasure in living in a place that has a green and serene atmosphere and where there is a strong feeling of togetherness, which indicates that they are pleased to meet new people but also respect other people's privacy. Identification of Competitors The competitors of Serene Living would be all the luxury housing providers in Dubai who provide their clients with houses that combines residential area, commercial, hotel, entertainment, shopping and recreation with open green spaces.  Serene Living will basically face competition from luxury housing facilities

Enron Corporation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enron Corporation - Assignment Example Its CEO Ken Lay was one of President George W. Bush’s personal friends. Both Ken Lay and CFO Jeff Skilling and later Andrew Fastow were regarded as leaders to emulate. Smart, suave and ambitious, they were regarded as the embodiment of corporate success. But a series of events quickly turned the tables on the fortunes of this billion dollar company and its management. In fact, even its auditors Arthur Andersen were considered culpable and not only removed as incompetent, but the fallout of the entire debacle caused them to close down their businesses all across the world. In hindsight and as a result of investigations, it was determined that there were a number of reasons behind the inglorious fall and demise of this once great enterprise. Notwithstanding the obvious reasons why the CEO, CFO and some other heads of business departments worked in unison to give a highly false and misleading picture to corporate America and the public at large, it seems that they surely thought they were the smartest guys in the room and could continue to hoodwink the masses with false notions of success. Was It a Question of Structure? The puzzling fact is that why did it take so long for the facts to unravel and the truth to reveal itself. With a corporation the size of Enron, and its business interests spread all over the world, it seems amazing that the real state of affairs was kept out of the eyes of employees, what to say of the general public. Did the reporting structure have something to do with it? Auditors combing through the records of the failed corporation have noticed that the scale of the accounting fraud was widespread and resonated throughout most of the corporation. This included false and creative reporting, misclassification of assets and liabilities and other such manipulations. In fact right from 1997 till its demise, Enron top executives were concerned with over-reporting profits and revenues and understating liabilities and expenses to present an i ncorrect picture of success to the world (Maclean & Elkind, 2003). So the whole edifice was crumbling and it was a case of rampant and collusive corruption and misreporting at almost all levels. The matrix reporting structure, where one reports to a direct supervisor as well as a regional head elsewhere is suggested as a good dual reporting mechanism to prevent irregularities. Was it a Question of Exceeding One’s Scope of Authority? Another reason that has been pointed out as the cause of the demise of Enron was that executives tended to exceed their limits or boundaries of authority. In fact, Ken Lay has claimed that he sometimes did not know exactly what Skilling and Fastow were doing in terms of coking up the books and presenting a false picture to investors and the general public. But the fact remains that authority and responsibility cannot be separated. Ken Lay as CEO must be held criminally liable for the doings of his CFOs as it was he who directed them to get the res ults that were shown on the books. So, even this argument does not hold weight. Executives are responsible for their own actions and directives, no matter what the chain of command. Was it a Question of Corporate Culture? Another excuse or reason pointed for the collapse of Enron was that it was due to the corporate culture of success that the executives had created over the years. Enron had earned a name for itself under Lay, and he wanted to remain

Performance appraisal policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance appraisal policies - Essay Example Walmart, Google and Apple are very reputed companies in the global market and hold a significant place in the list of Fortune 500 companies. Discussing about the performance appraisal of these companies this can be said that Walmart is using performance appraisal system for the purpose of evaluation. The management of this company has set four standards which are below standard, above standard, standard and outstanding performance. According to these levels they are evaluating the productiveness of their employee’s performance in the organizational activities. New joiners are received two times evaluation at the first fiscal year and other employees receive the same one time in a year. Management has decided that all employees should spend at least 6 months at their current position before getting any kind of promotion. The employees who are giving outstanding performance in the organization can receive monetary reward at any time in a financial year. Compensation and benefit are structured according to the performance evaluation of every employees and it can differ from person to person (Armstrong, 2006). Again in case of Apple Inc. this can be said that this company does not provide any kind of guarantee for lifelong employment opportunities without standard performance. So management of this company always focuses on this fact that employees should take responsibilities to achieve target growth to survive in this company. The company has set organization centric goals and target to recruit only qualified and skilled persons in the respective fields. The management of the company is doing performance appraisal of its employees on annual basis and high performers are getting exclusive rewards for their performances. The company is paying a variety of incentives to its employees such as long term care insurance, employee

Current international interest (anything really) Essay

Current international interest (anything really) - Essay Example Armed extortion is one of the ways of making a living in Somalia. Piracy today in Somalia is a highly profitable enterprise raking in millions of dollars through ransom. It is growing at an alarming rate. According to reports about 41 ships were attacked in 2007, more than 122 were attacked in 2008 and more than 100 in 2009. The situation is grim and has become a cause for worry with reports of connection between the pirates and Islamist extremists. Most of the pirates are from Puntland, situated in northeastern Somalia and their ages range from 20 to 35.According to The East African Seafarers Association there are about five pirate gangs consisting of about 1,000 armed men. The pirates are mainly local Somali fishermen who work for themselves and are known for their skill and knowledge of the sea. Some pirates are ex-militiamen who used to fight for the local warlords. What began as small acts of piracy on small and vulnerable ships has today reached alarming proportions. From 2008 Somali pirates have attacked ships much outside the Gulf of Aden. There has been an increase in the frequency and sophistication of the attacks. The size of vessels hijacked has also increased and today large cargo ships and international oil and chemical tankers have become the new targets for the Somali pirates. The economic success of the pirates has had negative effect on local residents. The presence of armed men makes the local residents feel insecure, and the lavish spending ways of the pirates has caused great fluctuations in the local exchange rate. There are also reports that some Islamist groups have used Somali Pirates to smuggle arms. US Navys Fifth Fleet and many other countries have deployed ships to patrol the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. Egypt along with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan and Sudan has formulated a joint strategy against piracy. But the size of the coast and the traffic of ships that goes past Somalia make it

Critically explore the extent to which 'sustainable development' is a Essay

Critically explore the extent to which 'sustainable development' is a meaningful course of action or a case of 'business a - Essay Example This paper will critically explore the extent to which sustainable development is a meaningful course of action. It will begin by analyzing the term sustainable development, provide some background around the concept, and make progression towards finding gaps and flaws in the development of the term, its implementation, and theoretical framework. The term sustainable development appears to be so widely used that almost anything or anyone can jump on this bandwagon and use this term. Sustainable development is a term that is used by individuals, governments, and the different industries in the business sector. The idea of sustainable development is not new and has been around for much of humankind’s history (Redcliff, 1987). The application of this concept can be evidenced way back three centuries ago, in the work of Malthus during the 1700s, which has centered around population growth and on the demand that it causes on resources and natural environment. The use of the term in the modern era has become so wide that, in fact, an ordinary Google search returns over fifty million results. Allen and Hoekstra (1992) have gone as far as saying that most people are of the opinion that the term is advantageous. However, Fortune and Hughes (1997) view this concept as a meaningless notion, which centers to a western ethnocentric view with essence deficiency and is simply a paternalistic ideology. There are other schools of thought that describe the term as a paradigm (Daly and Townsend, 1992). However, in this sense it is though useful as it forms the basis of a methodology or theory that forms a conceptual framework for further development. According to Hopwood et al. (2005), there is a valuable potential shift in understanding humanity’s relationship with the environment. Sustainable development is a testament of humanity’s growing awareness of environmental, social, and economic problems that can affect the future of all humankind. The growing awa reness has been particularly prominent during the last one hundred years by growth oriented demand in economic terms, and the consequences that such an approach has on the environment and resource depletion (Dresner, 2002). The concerns became more prominent, following the publication of The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972), highlighting that with the current trends in population growth and development, the earth’s carrying capacity would be exceeded within 100 years from the time of the report. In spite of the many given descriptions of sustainable development, the term has remained a variable concept that has been subject to a variety of interpretations and definitions. The publication of the Word Conservation Strategy (IUCN) in the 1980's was one of the reports known to have provided the first definition of sustainable development. The publication caught the interest of many people including critics who have considered the definition as limited. According to them, t he given definition only pertains to a limited focus of ecological resource conservation, instead of involving the environment in conjunction with socio-economic issues. However, another prominent report seven years later by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) that is entitled "Our Common Future," appears to have addressed this and specifically made a direct relationship between environmental, social, and economic dimensions. According to Lafferty and Meadowcroft (2000), the report is

Mill's Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mill's Ethics - Essay Example She knew, however, just then that it was all wrong for Nick is a married man with two children and Mary is his wife of five years at that point in time. Now, since Chloe is a common link who happens to have witnessed scenarios on both sides and believes to have firsthand knowledge of the moral conflict, she eventually finds herself in a dilemma of choosing which between the two parties ought to be dealt with first. By the established norm, of course, she must opt to stop Jane from proceeding to fall into an adulterous relationship with Nick for the sake of Mary’s family, being the man’s original legal attachment. Nevertheless, in doing so, she would have caused Jane severe pain out of an emotional struggle which she is known to be weak in coping especially when she seems to have put forth in reasoning that her current state of affair was obtained with huge sacrifices that her happiness, as the chief consequence thereof, may not or should not be taken away from her at al l cost. Apparently, Chloe figures the validity of Jane’s argument upon pondering on some relevant aspects of John Stuart Mill’s ethics on utilitarianism, yet reserves an equivalent degree of doubt and philosophical analysis in favor of Mary. By the simple defining principle of utilitarianism in which the consequence is set to determine the moral value of an action or deed, Stuart Mill emerges to draw on a favored unique perspective where such theory ought to be acknowledged in the light of understanding that â€Å"actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Mill, Ch. 2).† Equivalently, this is to mean that as long as an act or behavior causes one or many to be happy, then it is to be judged as morally right. One way of gaining discernment of this proposition is by asking ‘is happiness then a measure of justice?’ To what extent should happiness shape the view of morality a s good and scrupulous if there are people like Jane whose case is quite special? What if one’s doings of something make the individual happy yet the ones beyond his or her circle are rather annoyed or hurt as in the probable effect which Jane and Nick’s immoral quest would bear upon Mary? Surely Jane deserves to be happy and possesses the right to act accordingly but how can actions by which happiness is experienced be evaluated as truly ethically conforming if someone else out there as Mary is otherwise bound to be unhappy? Or must a specific area be defined within which only a certain set of actions with all the corresponding outcomes can be permitted to undergo moral justifications? At this stage, Chloe could be found to comprehend Jane on account of Mill’s claim that what promotes happiness at least for Jane’s part should be right but it would similarly suspend her judgment for Mary’s welfare since Jane’s consent of the illegal matter ad vances not in any way the happiness or interest of Mary. While their situation may be felt to require a greater level of moral concern, Mill’s philosophy appears to consist of a pattern or direction where the kind of ‘happiness’ being referred to equates to ‘pleasure’, and this pleasure comes in different forms, quality, and quantity. In this regard, the political economist seems to have chiefly adhered to ‘pleasure’

Pride and Prejudice Movie Review Essay Example for Free

Pride and Prejudice Movie Review Essay 1) In 1859, Charles Darwin described a model of how living things change over time. He described this model and the evidence that supported it in a book called On The Origin of Species. Which scientific term is used to describe a testable model that seeks to explain natural phenomena? A) data B) hypothesis C) observation D) theory 2) When an experiment is repeated and the new results are different from the original results, what could you assume to be true? A) The results from both experiments are worthless. B) The first experiments results are worthless and should be discarded. C) The experimental design is flawed and the experiment should be discarded. D) Neither test results are 100% reliable and additional experimentation is needed. 3) All of the following EXCEPT the resistance of _________ demonstrate artificially selected resistance. A) beef cattle, to shipping fever, B) many agricultural wheat varieties, to drought and fungus, C) Anatarctic fish to freezing, due to antifreeze proteins in their blood, D) many common grasshopper species to pesticides, such as diazinon, sevin, and others, 4) Which fact about fossils is MOST important to scientists who study evolution? A) Fossils are often found in sedimentary rock. B) Footprints, body structures, and even animal droppings can become fossilized. C) The age of a fossil can be determined by examining the rock strata in which the fossil is found. D) The formation of a fossil depends on the geologic and chemical conditions present when an organism dies. 5) According to the fossil record, five ________________took place, which lowered the variety of species found on Earth today. A) mass clonings B) microevolutions C) mass extinctions D) mass revolutions 6) When an experiment is repeated and the new results are different from the original results, what could you assume to be true? A) The first set of results MUST be incorrect and thrown out. B) The second set of results MUST be inaccurate and thrown out. C) The experimental design must be flawed and should be scrapped. D) The original experiment MAY be inaccurate and further experimentation is needed. 7) If an experiments results are accurate, when the experiment is repeated by another scientist, the results A) should be similar to those obtained originally. B) will be identical every time the experiment is repeated. C) should be completely different for a different scientist.

Critical Analysis Of Two Japanese Designers

Critical Analysis Of Two Japanese Designers In the 1960s, Japanese designers came out from an economic and industrial boom. This was the beginning of the first Asian invasion of the fashion world and by the early 1980s, Rew Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamotos names were wildly popular. Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto were the first few Japanese designers that found admiration for Japanese art and idea of modernism through the channels of developing technology, visual imagery and three dimensional figures. They first made a real impression on the fashion world in 1982 with the creation of the Japanese aesthetic. Their entry into the international fashion scene was not only puzzled but was fascinated by many in the fashion industry. This paper will discuss the significance of the designs by Rei Kawakubo and Yojhi Yamamoto on the international fashion catwalks in the nineties with relation to the specific methods of construction and materials they used in their collections. While Kawakubo and Yamamoto have a distinctive point of view on fabric deconstruction, however the two designers share a commonality for creative artistic design collaborations in developing their collections, marketing and image. Evident in Kawakunos designs was the exaggerated and hyperbolic manufactured aesthetics. She collaborated with architecture, Takao Kawasaki, which bought about the designers first Comme des Garcons boutiques (da Cruz, 2004). Kawakubo had a longing to make garments that was an ever changing result of its social cultural environment, showing both the Neo-realism and Futurism in her runway collections and marketing (da Cruz, 2004). Yamamoto on the other hand, was loyal to the Japanese cloth traditions and was famous for his kimono-inspired trench coats and shirts. He had a desire for the pure geometric forms of pure clothing and found ways in integrating modern sportswear constructions into his designs. This technique brings a postmodern street chic feel to his designs and also has the important role of protection and durability. The evolution of fibre technology with the tonal and textual eclecticism gave way to show designers how important their uses of raw materials were in their designs. With the continual movement in fabric and structure of clothing, it directed the concept of drapery in Yamamotos designs and the shrouding, texturing and layering techniques in Kawakunos designs. Seeking to redefine the universal concept of beauty in fashion, Yamamoto demonstrates through the preference for asymmetrical shapes, oversized clothes and models of all ages, challenging the norms of perfection, and body. Most evident was in his refusal to use the traditional forms of feminine glamour and sex appeal through make up, heels, skin baring and fitted clothes. Yamamotos design creations revolutionised the Western fashion for women with its structured figure hugging clothing that sexualised the female body. He also designed garments that wrapped the female body with fabric, ignoring the usual accentuation points and moving the attention to the back. The fashion silhouette and the body/clothing relationship changed from this point onwards. Yamamoto created designs based on breaking down mens clothing to form graceful and stylish womens garments, by playing his garment, he exhibited challenging ideas of how women faced both masculine and feminine sides of being a woman. Many were fascinated in his work of challenging the ambiguity of gender whether this was through the women models in his menswear shows or his refusal to follow the traditional Western definitions of womens wear and menswear. Kawakubo studied fine arts and literature and being untrained as a fashion designer, she communicated her ideas to her patternmakers. She employed the romantic subtleties of historic fashion but yet champions cold synthetic fibres in her finishing designs. The piece that most resembles this tendency was the lace sweaters from the Comme des Garcons fall/ winter 1982-1983 collection. It featured black wool knits distressed with gaping holes to invoke the composition of lace (da Cruz, 2004). She created designs intentionally to create a look that seemed incomplete and had been worn, in order to create something different and extraordinary by resisting to common sense and provide stimulating challenges to the idea of perfection (Kawamura, 2004). The initial reactions of the public look upon with distaste, however over time they grew to admire and astonished with her designs and the look she wanted to create (Baudot, 1999). Kawakubo (in Ayre 1989:11) states that Perfect symmetry is uglyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I always want to destroy symmetry, this was postmodernism applied as its best to fashion. Kawakubo did not apply the traditional clothes- making or fashion design institutions to her work and worked against what was seen as how traditional designers should design. She was one of the first to show designers that the going against the normal processes can also be accepted. Yamamoto often experimented with innovations in technical textiles and new synthetic sand also implemented unconventional natural materials in his designs. According to Yamamoto, I start with the fabric, the actual material, the feel of it. I then move onto the form. Possibly what counts most for me is the feel. And then, when I start working with the material, I think my way into the form it ought to assume. (Vinken) He blurred the boundaries between prà ªt a porter and haute couture fashion (Duncan, 2007). When Yamamoto first started designing clothes, he knew there were two ways. Firstly by working with formal classical shapes, and secondly being casual. Thats what I decided on but I wanted a new kind of casual sportswear that could have the same status as formal clothing (Menkes, 2003). In his 1991 fall/winter collection, a vest and skirt outfit was made entirely of hinged wood slats. This established his dedication to communicating the raw visual distinctions as a designer he w as (da Cruz, 2004). Yamamoto was characterised as hang an anti fashion approach by creating often sculpted asymmetrical, often oversized shapes that are layered and usually black. He was influenced by traditional indigenous Japanese clothing and by historical Western uniforms and industrial work wear. In other words clothes that is functional. His original look was based on his desire to give the kimono a new shape and energy (Duncan, 2007). Paris had a strict couture tradition and bourgeois heritage and was shaken by the vision of Kawakubos work- it was regarded as minimal and nihilistic. In contrast with the opulent gowns, tailored suits and gentle colours of designers like Dior, Kawakubos collection consisted of trousers with sweater cuffs around the ankles, tunics that transformed into shawls, oversized overcoats and shapeless knitwear constructed with holes. She regarded the conventions of fashion as a necessary evil. Kawakubo had an obscure approach to clothing construction echoing the concept of a visual artist more than a fashion designer. She often attempted to translate art styles into clothing- minimalism, abstraction, postmodernism and deconstruction. Kawakubo was praised and criticized for pushing the fashion boundaries forward. Also famous for simple, functional elegance but yet sexy, Yamamotos early garments relied solely on the irregular details like uneven hems and collars, hems with zips, cut outs, pockets or flaps. The label inside stated: There is nothing as boring as a neat and tidy look (Mitchell, 2005). Creating designs that would disagree from the traditional Japanese design philosophy that values the asymmetry and irregularities of nature. Yamamoto believes perfection is ugly, and symmetry not sufficiently human and desires for the scars, failure, disorder, distortion in people to come out and be shown (Duncan, 2007). In the late eighties, his designs evolved into a more structured and fitted silhouette outstanding for their cut, craftsmanship and material originality. From the nineties onwards, his collection displayed a more Westernised fashion aesthetic and showed his ongoing romantic references to historical French couture styles from the Belle Epoque bustle to classic fifties Dior (Duncan, 2 007). During the time where French couturiers ruled the fashion world, black was not considered a colour for day wear; Yamamoto and Kawakubo challenged this norm. Yamamotos designs were consistently monochromatic with emphasis on black. The occasional off white, red, purple, brown and dark blue would make an appearance through his collections but black were usually his preference for his creations. He favoured black because he described black as modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy- but mysterious. It means that many things go together, yet it takes different aspects in many fabrics. You need to have a silhouette. Black can swallow light or make things look sharp. But above all black says this: I dont bother you- dont bother me.'(Duncan, 2007) Like Yamamoto, Kawakubo was also famous for the love of black. She was famous for designing in many shades of black rather than black alone. Her autumn 1988 collection was burst with colour, declaring Red is Black (Quinn, 2002). She has continued to move away from black fabric and stated that its popularity among other designers has diminished its power. Black is no longer strong and has become harder to use, Kawakubo said in an interview with Susannah Frankel (Quinn, 2002). Designers in the 1980s, sought engagement with everyday life, and found inspiration in people the real world. Likewise, Yamamoto also sought a distinct relationship with women who wore his clothes. By looking at the pre-modern consumer, he envisions people dressing for their role in society. Parallels are seen in his desire to make costumes for working women, and how his clothing looked like they have been lived in, as though it had a passion for the past and the hatred for what was new. Both designers broke clothing rules, against the custom 1980s haute couture opulence, traditional ideas of beauty and gender. Yamamotos talent allowed him to construct shapes and forms that naturally adjust with a womans contours and movement. His garments showed Yamamotos commitment to creating fresh and new silhouettes through his sculptural cross-examination of shape and material. This mean his clothes were easy and comfortable to wear. Yamamoto believed the essence of a woman is in her joints (Yamamoto). He tested his boundaries of designs by using his techniques of cutting and cut outs which puts him in par with modern couturiers like Pierre Cardin. His creations were rarely cut close to the figure and this was as fundamental component of Yamamotos designs. Yamamotos design philosophy was there should always be some interaction between the body, the wearer and the essential spirit of the designer. His focus was always on the shape of a feminine body when designing and believed, by looking at the clothes someone is wearing, you are able to get an idea of the personality of a person (Duncan, 2007). Kawakubos talent is working with both deconstructed and reconstructed the vernacular of Western tailoring. In contrast with Yamamotos passions for producing functional clothing, Kawakubo deconstructs clothing by disregarding its function. One of the most famous was a dress that had no openings, making it possible to put on. But Kawakubo insisted it could be worn and was offended when told it could only be used as an apron. She focused on using jacket lapels to design halter neck jackets and scarves. Her mens suits consisted of cropped trousers with double- breasted sports jackets with shawl collars and bleached classic checked fabrics. She challenged the concept of fashion having to be beautiful by slashing and shredding her silhouettes while other designers were cutting and draping theirs. Her habit continued onto adding more than two sleeves to a shirt and turning shapes upside down or inside out, baffled the fashion world but turned her into a pioneer of her stream. Many of her cl othes are also designed to be worn in a variety of unconventional ways. This pushes the boundaries between occasion- specific wear and everyday wear to end (Quinn, 2002). Yamamotos gift was combining traditional Japanese garments, with the use of both the kimono and the obi combined with Modern Western Fashion everyday wear clothing. By creating classical garments which were both sensual and appealing. In his spring /summer 1993 collection, he experimented with new fabrics using the Thai and African fabrics. His designs always stressed the importance of raw materials, enabling him to learn and discover different tones and textures in his work. While he often engaged in working with new fabrics, Yamamoto also used natural fabrics like linen and Herringbone woollen fabrics. While he often said oriental fabric was boring and dull, In Yamamoto 1995 Spring/ Summer Collection he was able to counter this by creating a kimono from exotic flowing gowns inspired by the Japanese art of dying fabric. Through the commonly shared ideas and presence of Yamamoto and Kawakubo on the international catwalks, at first appeared to shake the foundations of the established fashion capitals but in reality have reinforced the supremacy of fashion. Participating in the international fashion catwalks earned them the social, economic and symbolic capital that enabled them to differentiate themselves among other Japanese designers. Kawakubo and Yamamoto have continually put forth their ideas which, in turn significantly contributed and boosted the rise of Japans fashion industry by communicating its visual and artistic designs to the fashion world. Despite their provocative collections, they have revolutionised the industry and paved a way for Japans influence on fashion, easing the path for younger Japanese designers and to a larger extent to the acceptance to Asian designers, in a world previously closed off to them. In respective to the collections, both designers have linked their differing i deas from Western fashion, with the use of Japans rich visual heritage as a foundation for aesthetic, social and political collection of cultures around the world. Kawakubo and Yamamoto runway designs strive towards theatricality, luxury visual and organic movement (da Cruz, 2004). Black is now a palette for day and night wear and both designers have become the leaders of the avant-garde. Today, the dark silhouettes in distressed fabrics common in both designers are worn by women all over the world. Over the past 30 years, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto have proven to the international fashion world with their revolutionary work, proving that Asian designers could be inspiration to others. Cotton dress, Rei Kawakubo Comme des Garà §ons, Autumn/ Winter 1984. Kyoto Costume Institute collection. Photo by Takashi Hatekeyama, courtesy KCI. Felt dress, Yohji Yamamoto, Autumn/Winter 1996. Kyoto Costume Institute collection. Photo by Takashi Hatekeyama, courtesy KCI

To Speak or Not To Speak Essay -- essays papers

To Speak or Not To Speak Imagine, you have just given birth to your first child. Emotions of happiness, love, and excitement surround you and your partner as you adore the newborn baby lying in your arms. You are so relieved that the labor went smoothly and to know that your baby was born completely normal, or so the doctors say. However, a couple years later, you are having premonitions that your child is not developing normally. He is not responding to your voice, nor does he react to loud noises, crashing and banging sounds, sirens, etc. In addition, it is clearly apparent that he is not developing language. After meeting with the pediatrician, you are faced with the harsh reality that your son is deaf. Now what are you going to do? Parents of deaf children have many options to work with the child’s deafness; the two most common approaches being the oral approach and the manual approach (ASL). Choosing which approach is a highly controversial issue. Utilizing the oral method of communication (oralism) is an efficient way to help bridge the communication gap between the deaf and hearing worlds. When they first learn that their child is deaf, parents, especially those who are hearing, go through a typical mourning process. This process includes shock, denial, grief, confusion, devastation, and recognition of the problem. Progressing through each of these reactions and acknowledging them is important before the parents can accept the situation and take action to be come involved in early intervention work with their child (Ling, 6). Daniel Ling states that the most powerful intervention is that the parents learn to effectively interact with their child who has special needs. The parents are with the child all day and all n... ...t the process is long. They should expect miracles, but not right away. It takes time. Total dedication from teachers, parents, and most importantly, the child, is crucial for maximizing the child’s ability to communicate with the hearing world. Again, the method of communication to choose is the most important and difficult decision the parents of a deaf child will have to make. These parents need to follow what they believe in their hearts, what they believe is right, and disregard what others may think or feel is right. This child is their own, so they need to do what is best for them. Parents of deaf children must remember that there will always be opposing views pertaining to the oral vs. manual method debate and that people will not always agree with them or support them 100%, but they need to stand firm on one decision and believe in that decision, regardless. To Speak or Not To Speak Essay -- essays papers To Speak or Not To Speak Imagine, you have just given birth to your first child. Emotions of happiness, love, and excitement surround you and your partner as you adore the newborn baby lying in your arms. You are so relieved that the labor went smoothly and to know that your baby was born completely normal, or so the doctors say. However, a couple years later, you are having premonitions that your child is not developing normally. He is not responding to your voice, nor does he react to loud noises, crashing and banging sounds, sirens, etc. In addition, it is clearly apparent that he is not developing language. After meeting with the pediatrician, you are faced with the harsh reality that your son is deaf. Now what are you going to do? Parents of deaf children have many options to work with the child’s deafness; the two most common approaches being the oral approach and the manual approach (ASL). Choosing which approach is a highly controversial issue. Utilizing the oral method of communication (oralism) is an efficient way to help bridge the communication gap between the deaf and hearing worlds. When they first learn that their child is deaf, parents, especially those who are hearing, go through a typical mourning process. This process includes shock, denial, grief, confusion, devastation, and recognition of the problem. Progressing through each of these reactions and acknowledging them is important before the parents can accept the situation and take action to be come involved in early intervention work with their child (Ling, 6). Daniel Ling states that the most powerful intervention is that the parents learn to effectively interact with their child who has special needs. The parents are with the child all day and all n... ...t the process is long. They should expect miracles, but not right away. It takes time. Total dedication from teachers, parents, and most importantly, the child, is crucial for maximizing the child’s ability to communicate with the hearing world. Again, the method of communication to choose is the most important and difficult decision the parents of a deaf child will have to make. These parents need to follow what they believe in their hearts, what they believe is right, and disregard what others may think or feel is right. This child is their own, so they need to do what is best for them. Parents of deaf children must remember that there will always be opposing views pertaining to the oral vs. manual method debate and that people will not always agree with them or support them 100%, but they need to stand firm on one decision and believe in that decision, regardless.

Leadership: Lord Of The Flies Essays -- essays research papers fc

Comparison of Leaders Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to touch on the many aspects of our civilization through the various characters he creates. Leadership plays a very important role in the novel as it does in real life because the characters need to feel some sense of security in order for them to survive. The two main leaders in the story, through their similar and different leadership characteristics and objectives fight back and forth to gain the discipline of the other boys on the island and generally the power to make the decisions that they feel should be made. Both leaders, Jack and Ralph, experience leading the group in their own style, which is similar in their desire for control yet different pertaining to their leadership qualities and their objectives while on the island.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ralph was amongst the first few characters mentioned in the story and he quickly takes to the role of gathering the surviving boys by calling out to all that are in the area. He believes in leading with a democratic style, which gives people freedom of opinion, as well as equality to all group members. This is seen as Ralph uses Piggy’s idea for the conch to gathers the boys together in order to Dean 2 express ones ideas or opinions (Golding 12). However, Ralph is not the only boy on the island who is looking to lead the boys, and he finds that out when Jack marches his band members in a militant style to the platform where Ralph is deciding what needs to be done for their survival (Golding 15-16). Jack quickly became a cruel and dominating person who tries to impose fear onto the boys in order to gain his own control. This is evident when he begins opposing Ralph’s ideas about building a fire and picking fruit, to make himself look bigger and somewhat tough (Golding 22). However, a vote is thought up by one of the boys and Ralph’s democratic and orderly style of leadership is elected and he becomes the leader of the group (Golding 19). Ralph begins by organizing the boys to branch off in-groups and work for their benefit, such as keeping the fire going, building huts and scanning the island for anything worthwhile (Golding 38). He believes that if everyone contribute s by taking on one of the roles for survival, the entire group will benefit and hopefully be saved. Again, Jack opposes to the ideas of Ralph. He h... ...ectives by hunting down Ralph, and nearly catch him, until they come across the Navy ship which is there to rescue them (Golding 223-225). Both Ralph and Jack have objectives, which are completely opposite to each other’s which cause for much of the conflict throughout the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the story, Ralph and Jack are two of the characters who probably have the least in common mainly because they are trying to outdo each other by making the others ideas and beliefs seem obscure. They are similar in their desire for control over the group, however they are completely opposite pertaining to their leadership qualities and their objectives. Author William Golding creates these characters as opposites so he could have a general conflict, which is based on man against man to contribute to his other conflicts of man against environment and man against himself. Personal reflections of this author conclude that the bizarre setting and plot are difficult to comprehend upon the first reading yet further readings would create a more enjoyable story to understand. Dean 7 Works Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Boston, Mass: Faber and Faber Limited, 1958

Essay --

Christopher (2011) argues that the term called reverse logistics is used to depict the step of taking products back, generally at the end-of-life, but also for repair and recall. Reverse logistics can be defined as a chain of process to recover or sell the value of a product. That is if a company think supply chain stream in reverse, the one can make a decision the best way to deal with the bounced product. Especially, reverse logistics has received keen attention in the supply chain literature, since it mirrors the capacity of a company within supply chain to affirmatively effect the relationship that customers (Horvath et al., 2005). In addition, reverse logistics triggers main cost result for both the enterprise and its supply chain (Daugherty et al., 2005). As mentioned above, reverse logistics has been an essential structural component to make strategy in whole supply chain (Daugherty et al., 2001). Among a variety of industrial fields, automotive industry is the sector that has one of the complicated supply chains as car enterprises have vertical business relation with their suppliers to control thousands of parts for making a car. It means that the car parts companies should have their own supply chain to maintain relationship with their collaborating companies, and logistics also have to be operated to meet service demands of customers in supply chain. This dissertation presents a study of the effect according to reverse logistics strengthen in automotive parts supply chain. There are drivers promoting importance of reverse logistics. Regarding to this, Literature could be grouped as three parts: unavoidable returns, environmental and economic aspects. First of all, There are a few reasons for unavoidable returns of mate... ... and people. They can also consider reverse logistics as a method to keep and manage their brand reputations, to market their products as well as to obtain competitive benefits (Marien, 1998). It is critical for the major companies which lead the market to improve environmentally sustainable business since environmentally unkind products and materials would be detrimental to firms’ reputations and then could trigger a significant damage. The literature review shows that there are attempts to identify the factors driving reverse logistics strengthen. As a result, it is construed that there are three main reasons and they will signpost to find the objective of this dissertation. Based on these views, this dissertation will discuss and analysis the effect according to increase of importance of reverse logistics, focusing on supply chain in an automotive parts industry.

In What Ways May Different Groups Of English Speakers Differ In Their Conversation Style? Essay

Question 2 In what ways may different groups of English speakers differ in their conversation style? For word restriction purposes the focus for this essay will be primarily on material from chapter one of the Open University course book 2 (CB 2) and The Open University audio cassette 3 band 3(AU3B3). It would be most interesting to look at all the different examples of different groups; unfortunately doing this would mean exceeding the word limit. Therefore the focus will be restricted to only three or four different groups. First of all it is a good idea to examine the semantics behind the phrase of â€Å"conversation style† before looking at the different groups of English speakers. â€Å"Conversation is without doubt the foundation stone of the social world – human beings learn to talk in it, find a mate with it, are socialized through it, rise in social hierarchy as a result of it, and, it is suggested, may even develop mental illness because of it.† (Beattie, 1983, p.2) 1 This is a very captivating statement and helps to sum up the incredible power that the actual word â€Å"conversation† has in the social world Due to lack of more precise materialistic evidence, it is possibly more interesting to look at â€Å"conversation style† and then briefly discuss the different styles that exist amongst social groups giving specific examples rather than focusing on one specific area only (such as gender). That would make it easier to find out if there are any resemblances amongst the different social groups and their conversation styles. The term â€Å"conversation† can be interpreted in a multiplicity of different ways. The varieties range from a formal speech (that has been pre-scripted and is just simply read out) to a casual conversation between friends. As a result of this wide range of speech types, there are great many different conversation styles present. Conversation is not necessarily simply informal talk between speakers; it can also be used in more loser terms for example to give sense of the diversity of ways in which English is used in modern society in everyday talk. Everyday talk refers to anything from political speech making to language at work. The idea of conversation is also about how people are using language to express and pursue relationships. What does â€Å"conversation style† actually mean? A â€Å"conversation† is a means of â€Å"communicating† with others. The â€Å"style† here refers to the combination of features that relate to meaning and management of conversation such as rhythm, pronunciation or intonation. The style of an individual is said to be related to his/her social background, his/her class, his/her age and/or his/her gender. There are a great variety of styles within even one particular social group. It can be said that generally each individual has his/her specific â€Å"style† of talking.2 In modern society there are a great many different groups of English speakers and they vary widely in the way that they communicate with each other or with different groups. There are many interesting investigations taking place. It would now be appealing to have a look at what sorts of investigations have been made and how these groups of English speakers differ in their conversation style There is an interesting example of how people with different socio-cultural backgrounds can differ in conversation style in CB 2. (The example being referred to is on page 17.) It is based on a study by Deborah Tannen (year unknown). A group of what primarily appear to be all Americans, however one selection comes from California, and the second from New York and there is one woman from England meet for dinner. Deborah Tannen’s first discovery was how dominant the New Yorkers were in conversation throughout their meal. They were so dominant that even the Californians picked up on how dominant they were. One of these Californian men remarked upon how the New Yorkers conversations tended to overlap a great deal more than in California that in California at least people pause between conversations. The Californians also thought that the New Yorkers tended to ask a great deal of personal questions, their response to this was just that it was â€Å"their† way of being polite. As for the English woman, the Americans found her hard to understand as her intonations were very monotonous. Deborah Tannen’s findings are parallel to other studies that have been carried out amongst other cultural groups or gender groups, as shown in the following paragraphs. Another interesting issue brought up in chapter one of CB 2 is that of gender differences. Most men appear to be under the impression that it is women who dominate in conversations. They always have the tendency of saying that women talk too much. However, recent research has found that in fact when women are amongst a mixed group of male and female members will talk less than the men. The women are also found to be less competitive and more cooperative in conversations. Women are also said to use more tag questions, intensifiers and hedges. According to research, women are the dominant compliment givers. They also tend to use rhetoric more often than men such as â€Å"What a nice dress!† It is could also be due to the way that woman are brought up, having a less dominant position in society or perhaps due to the way that men and women are in different subcultures even as children. In the latter, this could lead to misunderstandings between the sexes because of the way men and women interpret different speech behaviours. There is one particular ethnic group that fluctuates in conversation style which is the Aboriginal English group found in minority groups across Australia. Aboriginal English has been found to differ from Standard Australian English. Diane Keats researched on Aboriginal English groups in Australia and discovered that particularly in the more rural areas of Australia there were several distinctive features that were different from Standard Australian English. She found that they differed from the Standard in pronunciation, vocabulary and even actual interaction between people was different. There were even difficulties that arose when the Aboriginal groups mixed with the Standard groups. It is particularly when they communicate cross-culturally that problems and misunderstandings may occur. For example, in Aboriginal society it is natural to have frequent silences in a conversation. It is a particular sign of politeness allowing for the other person to opt their opinion. Sometimes the answer or the conversation itself even, will last over a time period of several days. There are several reasons why they are unlike the Standard Australian groups, amongst others it is due to their different ways of living. â€Å"The Aboriginal people experience much personal privacy, unlike the mainstream Australian society, through their indirect style of verbal interaction.† (CB 2, chapter one, p.28) An example of their indirect style is the use of direct questions to elicit orientation such as asking â€Å"You been to shop?† The speaker appears to demonstrate known or presumed information for conformation or rejection. They tend not to make direct requests; they rather use indirect forms if they have a specific request such as â€Å"Can you give me a lift to town?† They will ask â€Å"You going to town?† They are also very discrete about their own opinions. If they discover that they have conflicting opinions they will minimize their own opinions. There are some more typical features in the transcription of the conversation between two Aboriginal English women on AU03B2. (See Appendix A) The first thing noticeable in the transcript is the frequency in which the deletion of the letter â€Å"h† occurs. Already in the Lorina’s first line the letter has been deleted. And the way both women say â€Å"yea† instead of â€Å"yeah†. There is also a tendency for utterances to latch on to another with pausing takes place repeatedly such as when they are talking about a big frog. Their sentences are regularly incomplete und unstructured such as in the very first sentence â€Å"‘Igh school was all right, I reckon, in Bourke† this is not a grammatically correct sentence structure and an incomplete sentence at the time when Lorina says â€Å"In Weel. Yea†. This is the sort of expression a person uses when thinking and speaking simultaneously. A final aspect, other then the ones listed in the Study Guide is their use of verb tenses. For instance, when Karen says â€Å"Sit down there, never used to move.† she started a sentence in the present tense â€Å"sit† and finished in the past tense â€Å"used to†. This is interesting as this can also occur amongst Standard English speakers when talking fast. After reading the transcript, the comprehension of what the two women said, becomes easier. If the tape is listened to on its own it can be quite hard at times to understand as the pronunciations do not sound like the Standard English, whereas the transcript, with the exception of a few slightly more Aboriginal features, mirrors the Standard English much more strongly. Diane Eades research showed that there are still problems in communication style between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal social groups in Australia that are worked on to this day. It is also interesting to briefly look at the extract on p.15 of CB 2 about the conversation between a policeman and a black man in the 1960s. This today is often considered to be a form of racism. It is intriguing to see how â€Å"bad† language was used back in the 1960s even by law enforcers. The policeman has used the typical racist term of â€Å"boy† as term of address for the black man, if the man had been white he would not have referred to him as â€Å"boy†. People, white people, â€Å"labelled† black people as trouble makers. So you were immediately categorized a criminal just if you had darker skin. It is extremely shocking that a police man would have even used name-calling to address the black man, before even knowing anything about him. If you are black then you must be evil, that has been an ideal for many people until fairly recently. However this exists to a certain extent even today, in that due to the fact that in Europe there are many black drug dealers from Northern Africa so that as soon as someone who is black shows up in a well-known drug dealing area, they are frequently then instantly questioned by the police. The way different groups of English speakers vary in their â€Å"conversation styles† is a fascinating and fairly broad topic to examine. It appears that there is no actual â€Å"Universal Standard English†. There is a world-wide (not just refined to the United States of America) multicultural mosaic/ melting pot3 of cultural groups even within a single language society which is to a certain degree trying hard to mould into a salad bowl4. An ideal solution would be a mixture of a melting pot and a salad bowl where people are still able to maintain their own cultural habits and can still communicate with other social group easily. A final point to make is that it is also important to realise how essential language is when engaging in social activities and relationships. Hence, to notice how language and society are interlinked. Language and indeed communication is used to share knowledge and experience between speakers. Communication is also about binding people together in order to allow them to negotiate joint understandings of the world. Communication has different functions in different contexts. This could be due to age difference and respect from the pupil’s part. Without language society could not exist to the same extent by which it does today. Remark: * CB 2 refers to Maybin, J. and Mercer, N.(2002) , Using English from conversation to canon, The Open University and Routledge Appendix A: * Transcription of conversation between two Aboriginal English women in Australia taken from Study Guide 2, Open University Bibliography: > Maybin, J. and Mercer, N.(2002) , Using English from conversation to canon, The Open University and Routledge > U210 Audio Cassette 3, Band 3, The Open University > Study Guide 2,U210, The Open University 1 Introduction section 1.1. p 5 in CB 2 2 Section 1.4 p 16 in Chapter 1 of CB 2 3 lots of different cultural groups living together (perhaps an ideal way of living) 4 loss of individual identity to become a uniform cultural group (cultural assimilation)

Send a Welcome Basket!

Putting the ‘person’ in personnel Shalini Shukla 18 Oct 2012 With a history of more than 80 years in Singapore, OCBC is a bank centred on people. The Bank has come a long way from its first days of helping rice merchants continue to trade times of war. This is evident in its sterling performance in recent years. In May this year, Bloomberg Markets magazine announced OCBC as the world’s strongest bank. Also, one in two businesses currently operating in Singapore has an account with the Bank. The success of the bank is built on the back of sound business policies and active talent management and development.For instance, within the first three days of a company being incorporated, OCBC will contact them about opening a corporate account with the bank. â€Å"The Bank practises the same proactivity when it comes to managing and developing its people,† says Eric Ong, Head of Emerging Business, Global Enterprise Banking, OCBC Bank. Career framework OCBC takes tra ining and development seriously as human capital is the Bank’s key differentiator. Investment in this area helps to build the capabilities of employees to deliver superior performance. Learning is part of the Bank’s ongoing business strategy and helps to create a win-win situation for us and our staff,† says Ong. â€Å"By aligning employees’ learning objectives with business goals, we help employees succeed in building a career and not just a job with OCBC. † OCBC encourages its employees to take charge of their own careers through the Bank’s ‘Career Best’ programme, launched in 2002. This programme involves helping employees evaluate their strengths and career orientation, and finding the best fit between their talents and OCBC’s needs.The Bank also introduced the ‘OCBC Learning-3’ programme in 2007. A structured three-year development programme for employees, OCBC Learning-3 clearly delineates learning roadm aps for individual employees during their first three years of service with the Bank. â€Å"Underscoring our commitment to training, we have created the OCBC Learning Academy and also dedicated an entire floor at the OCBC Centre, called The Learning Space @ OCBC, for the sole purpose of learning and development,† says Ong.In addition to the typical classroom training, the Bank has also tapped on learning technologies like eLearning and virtual classrooms. Through the use of Web 2. 0 and video conferencing technology the training programmes are now able to reach out to employees in different geographies. Employees are given the first opportunity to learn of and apply for job-openings within the OCBC group through the Internal Job-Application Programme, in which after 18 to 24 months, an employee has the open to move into another role. We want to encourage employees to continually acquire new experiences, knowledge, skills and competencies, and allow individuals to fulfil their career aspirations at different stages of their careers,† Ong explains. This is especially so for Gen Y staff who constantly seek change and want progression – something to look forward to. They need to feel challenged and recognised for the work they do. If they are ‘stuck in a rut’, performance dips. â€Å"In banking, employees need foundation,† says Ong. â€Å"I was once a bank teller. I then moved on to typing bank drafts and the like. Leaders walk the talk too. â€Å"In my business review, one part is financial numbers and business initiatives, while a large part (50%-60%) is based on the human resources,† says Ong. Hi-po attention A mentor to even people who’ve left the business, Ong believes in developing his people’s potential to the fullest. â€Å"I meet with business heads and see if there are vacancies in which we can slot the high potential candidate in,† he says. â€Å"This makes sure these people are given opportunities within the bank before they start looking elsewhere for them. It’s a proactive measure of staff retention. Senior management constantly works to push high-potential talent out of their current roles or comfort zones. This exists at all levels, be it ground sales people to middle and senior management level staff. â€Å"We don’t want staff to be ‘too comfortable’ in their roles. They are not stretching their potential,† says Ong. â€Å"We assign them to other departments for three to six months. My sales folks, for instance, might be posted to risk management or operations. † While there is risk of losing talent to another department due to this job rotation, the advantages outweigh those risks. After coming back from their short job rotation stint, they come back with fresh insights and they can come up with new business ideas leading to increased productivity and business success,† says Ong. Ong cited an example of an em ployee who moved to the operations unit two years ago. When he came back to the Emerging Business department, he gave a new idea which was piloted and resulted in business growth of five times. Hi-potential staff are also given opportunities to travel and explore new markets. Young staff are accompanied by their senior leaders on these trips. ————————————————- There has to be a little risk-taking, be it with the business or with our people,† says Ong. â€Å"Being senior in management, we can give that gentle push, allowing our staff to soar. † ————————————————- You are required to : 1. Find out the strengths of OCBC Bank. Marks:- 2. 5 2. ——————————————â €”—- What do you learn from this case? Marks:-2. 5 ————————————————- Mail me back to abdullah. [email  protected] com By 4:00pm of 17. 04. 13 Write â€Å"Case study – HRM† on the subject line of your mail. All the best

A Comparison of Freedom: The Works of Frederick Douglass and David Walker Essay

One of the hottest and most discussed topics in American History is the issue of freedom. This is because of the fact that the young American nation, especially in the early and middle 19th century, witnessed different notions of freedom that is believed by her citizens; and most contrasting in this case is the notion of freedom by the industrial north (who favored the abolition of slavery), and the notion of freedom by the agricultural southern states (who favored slavery). It is well known that the United States is called the â€Å"home of the free and the land of the brave;† however, it is also well known that the institution of slavery and the racism against African Americans played a dominant part in the southern states of the country, dominated by cotton plantations (also known as the â€Å"deep south†). This paper would then discuss the notions of freedom according to two African Americans, one whom is slave: Frederick Douglass and David Walker. Frederick Douglass is one of the most famous former slaves in American History; he soon escaped from his masters, helped in the strengthening of the â€Å"underground railroad† (a secret route that helped slaves escape to freedom†), and joined the abolitionist movement. His personal accounts, as well as his notions of freedom, can be seen in his work My Bondage and My Freedom. Meanwhile, David Walker is also an abolitionist; but he was free unlike Douglass (his father was a slave, but his mother was free). Despite being a free man, he also witnessed the cruelties of slavery in his childhood, and advocated the abolishment of slavery, detailed in his work Walker’s Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Colored Citizens of the world, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America (also known as David Walker’s appeal). This essay would try to make an analytic comparison of their ideas on freedom based on these two works. 2. Frederick Douglass on Freedom One of the most compelling accounts of freedom as narrated by Frederick Douglass can be seen in Chapter XIX of his book My Bondage and My Freedom, entitled The Runaway Plot (Douglass 271-303). In this chapter, Douglass was actually reflecting upon his thoughts on New Year’s Eve, especially upon his thoughts on gaining freedom and liberty (Douglass 272). In his thoughts, Douglass actually stated one of the most important precepts of the freedom of every individual, in which each man has the right to be free ever since being born, and regardless of color (Douglass 272). According to Douglass, â€Å"I was not through the first month of this, my second year with the kind and gentlemanly Mr. Freeland, before I was earnestly considering and advising plans for gaining that freedom, which, when I was but a mere child, I had ascertained to be the natural and inborn right of every member of the human family. The desire for this freedom had been benumbed, while I was under the brutalizing dominion of Covey; and it had been postponed, and rendered inoperative, by my truly pleasant Sunday school engagements†¦It had, however, never entirely subsided. I hated slavery, always, and the desire for freedom only needed a favorable breeze, to fan it into a blaze, at any moment. † (Douglass 273). In this case, it can clearly be seen that Douglass strongly believed that every man is created equal, wherein every man also has the right to freedom, in the sole reason that he is human; this debunks the very notion of the racial basis of inequality and slavery. Douglass adds to this point by saying that â€Å"My faculties and powers of body and soul are not my own, but are the property of a fellow mortal, in no sense superior to me, except that he has the physical power to compel me to be owned and controlled by him. By the combined physical force of the community, I am his slave — a slave for life† (Douglass 272). This is where Douglass wants to be free, for he believes that the master owing him is not, in any sense, superior to him, but is dictated by circumstances and by institutions to be slaved. In addition, the notion of freedom according to Douglass, even though it is a natural right, must be fought for whenever it is taken away, this is the freedom that comes with action (Douglass 274). According to Douglass, â€Å"The intense desires, now felt, to be free, quickened by my present favorable circumstances, brought me to the determination to act, as well as to think and speak†¦This vow only bound me to make my escape individually; but the year spent with Mr. Freeland had attached me, as with â€Å"hooks of steel,† to my brother slaves†¦ and I felt it my duty to give them an opportunity to share in my virtuous determination by frankly disclosing to them my plans and purposes† (Douglass 274). In this case, freedom is not only to be fought for individually, but also for fellow men, for â€Å"brothers† whose freedom is actually taken away. Therefore, the idea of freedom by Douglass does not only end in recognizing your own personal right to freedom, but also for fighting for the freedom of other oppressed peoples. After he escaped into freedom from slavery, he put into action his words by joining the abolitionist movement, claiming victory when Abraham Lincoln officially abolished slavery at the end of the civil war. 3. David Walker on Freedom David Walker, famous for his David Walker’s Appeal, also expressed his notion of freedom in a very expressive way, earning the contempt of both white plantation owners and white supremacists. According to Walker, â€Å"All I ask is, for a candid and careful perusal of this the third and last edition of my Appeal, where the world may see that we, the Blacks or Coloured People, are treated more cruel by the white Christians of America, than devils themselves ever treated a set of men, women and children on this earth† (Walker 4). What lead Walker to express this kind of emotion to the institution of slavery? This is because of the fact that Walker believed the institution of slavery, as well as the cruelty to slaves (who were overwhelmingly colored peoples) violated the very foundation of the American republic, being the â€Å"land of liberty† (Walker 6). In this case, Walker also believed that it is the very â€Å"evil† institutions of slavery that has violated the right of freedom of men, stating that the system of slavery in itself is cruel and inhuman, and that it is even the source of all miseries and cruelties to all nations (Walker 6). Therefore, Walker argues that slavery must not be practiced at all, given that freedom is a right and it must not be violated. In addition, Walker also states that â€Å"All persons who are acquainted with history, and particularly the Bible, who are not blinded by the God of this world, and are not actuated solely by avarice–who are able to lay aside prejudice long enough to view candidly and impartially, things as they were, are, and probably will be– who are willing to admit that God made man to serve Him alone, and that man should have no other Lord or Lords but Himself–that God Almighty is the sole proprietor or master of the whole human family† (Walker 7). In this argument, Walker seeks a biblical explanation, wherein God created all men equal, and only God is superior to man; therefore, it also follows that it is only God who has the right to become master of man, to become the proprietor of man, to which slavery is a direct violation of it. 4. Conclusion One common aspect of the notion of freedom for both Frederick Douglass and David Walker is the fact that they both believe that freedom is a natural right of man, wherein racial or class origin does not count. Douglass emphasized its natural basis, while Walker seeks a biblical explanation to it. Also, Douglass emphasized the aspect of action, fighting for freedom not only of the self but for others, while Walker emphasized the wretchedness of man in slavery (Walker 32). Works Cited: Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855. Print. Walker, David. Walker’s Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America. Boston: The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2009. eBook. Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Frederick Douglass on Freedom 3. David Walker on Freedom 4. Conclusion

FDE 1000 part a Essay

I am currently working in a small privately run day nursery on a housing estate and have been there now for nearly six years. Within my setting I have two job roles both of which I am very clear as to what my roles and responsibilities are. Common core (2010,2ek) First of which is Deputy officer in charge which has been my role now for nearly two years and holds many responsibilities and challenges on a daily basis, my main responsibilities relate to assisting my manger in the day to day running of the setting and working very closely with all the staff, assisting in interviews working with current and new parents and also working very closely with other agencies involved in the nursery including speech therapist, child physiologists, ofsted and the local authority. My other job role is lead practitioner in the preschool room looking after children aged between two years to four years old. Here my role consists of working closely with my senior nursery practitioner in planning and observing the children in the preschool, helping to prepare them for their transition into primary school. CC (2010,4bs) implementing the daily routine, making sure health and safety towards the children and staff is maintained at all times and mentoring the other staff who work in the preschool room including nursery assistants and trainees. I have many strengths within my job roles but also many weaknesses which I work every day towards improving through observing what others do, listening to what others say and also through teaching myself new things. Completing my training needs analysis made me more aware of strengths and weakness I was unaware of which I had which has brought to light different things in which I need to work on improving to help maintain my knowledge and to help improve my practice. I have worked closely with my work-based mentor and the settings manager to put an action plan into place to improve my practice to the best it can be over the next twelve months, this action plan is based on what areas I have found I need to improve on using my training needs analysis. By completing my Training needs analysis and recently returning to working within a room in my setting which has only been for two months now, I have realised according to the early years teachers standards I do not have such a secure knowledge of early childhood development and I do need to work on how this leads to the children learning successfully when they get to school Early years teachers standards(2013, S3:1) I am not as fully aware of all the new EYFS changes as I thought I was which if I do not change this will effect the learning and development of the children within my care. I have found that when I am now completing the children’s learning journals I need a lot of support from the other staff members in my room to make sure I am observing each child correctly and that I am linking each observation to the correct area of the eyfs and not giving a false indication of where the children may be up to developmentally, before all the changes took place I was always very confident in this area. I do realise I know enough on the new eyfs to be able to plan and track the next steps of development for the children as I am aware of how to observe and find I am very confident in this particular area, but I also know that If I took part in some more research related to the this through reading books provided by my work setting and researching the many options available to me online that I will be able to give the children a better chance of being ready and prepared for their transition to primary school. I am also willing to search for possible training opportunities on the new EYFS through the national day nurseries association as we have took part in training through them in the past. I have put this on my action plan to complete by February of next year as I feel there is a lot of research that can be done to help me in this area and feel that I have given myself enough time to do this research. Also through reflection I have realised I need to update my safeguarding training. In my setting we have a lead safeguarding officer who is the nursery manager, recently my manger has had some prolonged time off and therefore it has become my duty to step into this role as lead safeguarding officer. I am aware of safeguarding and have some knowledge in this area although through looking at my training needs analysis and stepping up into this role it has made me realise I lack confidence in this area and need support. I am able to recognise when a child is at risk but need to build a lot of confidence around acting upon this through my own judgement rather than consistently needed advice and support EYTS (2013, S7:3) although I do understand when it comes to safeguarding issues advice and support from others is essential providing it is within reason and kept confidential. During my time at my setting I have dealt with some safeguarding instances as a support for my manager and parents. I am aware that my safeguarding training certificate Is now out of date and it is f great importance that I take part in a new training course to refresh my knowledge so I am able to act upon legal requirements regarding safeguarding and am more aware and confident in promoting the welfare of the children in my care EYTS (2013, S7:1). Also as I am now deputy officer in charge and lead practitioner within my setting I am aware that I will need to take part in a higher level safeguarding course as I have only took part in level one, I am now looking into doing my safeguarding level two for room leaders and management. By taking part in this training I will be more confident in employing practices which will help to promote the children’s health and safety within my setting EYTS (2013,S7:2). I have put this on my action plan to complete by April of next year which I feel gives me time to find the correct course suited to my needs and the needs of the children that I look after. When it comes to observing the children and writing the observations next steps I am quite confident in doing this where I start to lack the confidence is using these next steps to support the planning for each individual Childs needs, I always state a next step in my observation but don’t always add this to my planning to show progression and development in particular areas for the children EYTS (2013,S4:1). I am currently planning to take part in a staff-planning meeting CC(2010,1cs) this meeting will be regarding our settings planning to air my concerns about my knowledge and confidence and hope this will help by hearing other staff member’s views and advise as well as any concerns that they may have. I a hoping by doing this it will bring to light changes I need to make and possibly the whole setting need to make to be more able to plan balanced activities for the children based on the age and developmental stage and help myself be more confident in recognising other circumstances that may effect the children learning and development EYTS (2013,S4:2). I have added this as part of my action plan and hope to have this completed by December as I feel it is an important part of the day to day running of the setting to be able to have full understanding of the planning we do as if we do not understand it properly it can effect the children’s learning in the future and effect their transition into primary school. My job role as deputy officer in charge comes with a lot of responsibility I have never undergone any management training and have taught myself how to be efficient as deputy manager along the way over the past twenty two months. In many situations as part of my job role I am very confident and do believe I am a good positive leader, I listen to and take in everything that is said to me by other staff members and am very understanding towards all situations CC(2010,1as). I have took part in interviews, meetings with other professionals and staff meetings during my time as deputy but I have not taken lead role in any of these situations and believe I lack confidence in this area EYTS (2013, S8:3) I am aiming to take lead in my first staff meeting and have targeted this for January of next year so that I have sufficient amount of points to discuss during this meeting. I am hoping by doing this it will help to build my confidence as a deputy officer I charge in group situations where the focus is solely on myself EYTS (2013,S8:5). I am more confident in my job role as lead practitioner in preschool as I have more experience within this area although through recent reflection I have noticed I need to be more assertive to other staff around me and to delegate more tasks to the staff in my room to help them to develop their abilities in all areas, I need to be more aware that as lead practitioner other staff member will be looking up to me and what I do in my role as support for themselves EYTS(2013,S8:4) therefore if I teach my knowledge and understanding towards everything work related to the other staff members they will hopefully see me as a good role model for themselves as they work towards furthering their own careers in childcare CC(2010,4as) I will look at holding room meetings in the near future to help to build on this confidence I have in myself and my team will have in me we can use these meetings as a learning experience for all team members to work more efficiently together and help myself within my lead practitioner role. I will plan to place this alongside leading the whole settings staff meeting. I n my setting or any setting previous to this one I have not completed a personal development profile before, I have recently started to gather information to start creating my personal development profile since starting my course. I have set myself a target to have this completed as much as it can be up to now to help me with my development EYTS (2013,S8:6) By starting this file I have realised more of my strengths, weaknesses and achievements during my career so far. Over the next few months I am going to work with my work based mentor and nursery manager to organise my personal development profile efficiently and through the duration of this course and my future job roles and prospects I am going to work hard towards contributing to and improving my file to help benefit myself in anything I do in the future. The target I have set myself for having my file started is October as I feel it is an important part of the progress I have made so far in my career. I have realised since completing my training needs analysis that I have strengths and weakness in many areas of my job roles. I have not previously reflected upon my practices as a nursery nurse lead practitioner or deputy officer in charge and have realised how important self reflection is to help with gaining a more efficient knowledge of my own work and how I need to improve, in my main job role as deputy officer in charge not only is it important for myself to gain higher knowledge and keep up to date with changes that take place but it is also important to all other staff members as they look to me as their leader and my achievements and knowledge can have an effect on others and what they do in the future of their own careers. Self reflection has made me realise how much work I actually need to under go to make myself become the best I can possibly be for myself and for my whole team now and in the furute. EYTS (2013,S8:6,S8:7) Bibliography Children’s workforce development council (2010) common core of skills and knowledge for the children’s workforce National college for teaching and le adership (2013) teachers standards (early years)