A Day with Nelson Mandela

After many days of anxious waiting, I finally managed to obtain permission to spend a day with one of the truly great men of all times. This person is none other than Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was born on the 18th of July, 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. He actively took up the struggle to achieve equality for Africans. The South African Regime of those days introduced Apartheid, which segregated the whites, Africans and the Asians. Mandela was sentenced to five years hard labor in 1962. Subsequently, he was sentenced to life imprisonment (Nelson Mandela, 2007). People the world over, were disgusted with the racist regime led by P.W. Botha and a number of trade and economic sanctions were imposed on this despicable regime. Botha received his just desserts and was paralyzed due to a cerebral stroke. F.W. de Klerk took over the reins of power and released Mandela from prison on the 11th of February, 1990 (Nelson Mandela, 2007). After the exchange of trivial pleasantries, I asked Mandela to expatiate on his achievements and beliefs. He gave me some nuggets of information, which I am setting out in the sequel. Nelson Mandela represents one of the greatest examples of the triumph of the human spirit. He was incarcerated for twenty – seven years, under extremely barbaric conditions by the racist South African Regime. He remained strong, he never lost hope, he was always brave and he never compromised his moral integrity. He was verily the lodestone for the suffering and oppressed humanity of the world. After this he described what he considered to be one of his greatest contribution, namely, the fact that he was successful in reconciling the blacks and the whites in South Africa, ending Apartheid and transforming South Africa into a country that was bereft of bloodshed. The South Africa that he wrought was peaceful and democratic. He also told me that he was a true lover of peace and the welfare of mankind. Moreover, he had never compromised the welfare of his people for his personal freedom and he had never relinquished his political beliefs. With this adamant attitude, Mandela attracted the world’s attention and became the symbol of the sufferings and struggles of black South Africans. He was appointed by the United Nations as an ambassador to deal with the civil war in Burundi and to negotiate with the militia groups (Nelson Mandela, 2007). The personality and behavior of Nelson Mandela made him a very popular leader. He was instrumental in inspiring people to greater heights of endeavor. He gained the admiration of the world’s populace and became a global leader. He was a staunch follower of Gandhi the Indian Messiah of peace, and had followed the precepts of Gandhi in campaigning against apartheid. An extremely interesting fact that he disclosed to me was that he had changed his ideology, which had initially accepted that violence was inevitable to end apartheid to an ideology that used non – violent methods (Nelson Mandela, 2007). Accordingly, his campaigns and struggle did not involve widespread bloodshed. During his period of incarceration widespread crime against blacks and coloreds were committed by the apartheid regime. Despite these incidents, Mandela never harbored thoughts of revenge.   He exhorted his people to forgive the whites and to reconcile their differences with them (Nelson Mandela, 2007). It was getting late and I had to bid farewell, although, unwillingly, and as a parting gift; Nelson Mandela told me that after assuming Presidency, he had instituted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in order to promote peace and reconciliation between the enraged and vengeful blacks and their white oppressors. Moreover, he had introduced several welfare measures such as better housing, education and economic reforms to improve the standard of living of black South Africans (Nelson Mandela, 2007). References Nelson Mandela. (2007, July 30). Retrieved September 26, 2007, from moreorless : heroes & killers of the 20th century: http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/mandela.html Nelson Mandela. (2007, July 30). Retrieved September 26, 2007, from moreorless : heroes & killers of the 20th century: http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/mandela.html   

Religious Dissent, Discord, Settlement and Religious Essay

This section of the paper introduces the topic and the thesis. In support of the formation of the thesis, the introduction discusses a brief history of the Tudor reign, and how prior monarchies have created religious divisions within the English society. The introduction enumerates the main concerns surrounding the topics of religious dissent, discord, settlement and religious atmosphere that took place before and during the reign of Elizabeth I. The introduction also establishes the argument as to whether Elizabeth I’s solution to the religious conflict, the creation of a united church, was an important and feasible move considering the politics surrounding her reign and the pressing influence of Rome on the religious affairs of many countries, particularly in Europe. Although this would eventually lead to the formation of the Church of England and the English Reformation, it is important to examine the historical impact of Elizabeth I’s decision in terms of implementing a defined and united English church. II. The Religious Atmosphere Prior to Elizabeth II Overview Elizabeth I’s impact on the religious life in England can be attributed to the problems which she inherited; this section discusses these factors, briefly touching on the religious atmosphere during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VII and Mary I. As religion played an important role in England at that time, especially with the influence of the Roman Catholics pertaining to England’s foreign relations with Rome and other parts of Europe, the religious atmosphere prior to Elizabeth I’s reign can be observed to represent deep divisions as some groups wanted to have a different interpretation and practice of the sacred Christian texts and rituals, whereas some wanted to follow the Roman Catholic way. Although this may seem like a small problem, religion’s role in the societies of those times was critical. At that time, the Church had a strong influence on the State, and this was something upheld by previous monarchs before Elizabeth I took the throne. Certain wars sprung out because of religious conflict, and it became a pressing problem especially as before Elizabeth I had to address the re-installation of Catholicism in England under Mary I’s period. II. a Religious Atmosphere Under Henry VIII II. b Religious Atmosphere Under Mary I III. Elizabethan Reign: Dissent, Discord and Religious Settlement and Atmosphere Overview This section provides a more detailed historical approach in Elizabeth I’s religious settlement. This takes from Elizabeth I’s decision to re-establish the Church of England and break ties with Rome. This section also touches on the different acts or laws implemented at that time which would serve as steps in the implementation of the Church of England and address religious divisions in the society. This section also provides a concise but substantive background on Elizabeth I’s installation as Queen in supplement to her religious settlement. This is an important aspect of the paper as Elizabeth I’s background provides the motivation and the decision of the queen, especially in terms of her religious settlement. IV. Elizabethan England: Religion and Renaissance This section touches on the English society during the Elizabethan era. This provides a background of the religious atmosphere in the country and how, during Elizabeth I’s reign, the English society started to change. This also gives a background on how and why Elizabeth I’s period has been considered as the Golden Age of English history in which this era became a point of significant accomplishments of literature and art, in addition to the prevalence of the Protestant Reformation mindset of the people. What is interesting is that although Elizabeth I would stabilise Protestantism in England, and she would be recognised for it, this did not prevent the emergence of the English Renaissance where the Elizabethan society would adopt a more open mind towards the arts and the sciences. V. Conclusion This paper concludes with an analysis of Elizabeth I’s religious settlement and how this would serve as an important seed to the formation of the English society especially in the religious and political context. This section also summarises the aspects of religious dissent and discord, especially as to whether Elizabeth I successfully addressed the deep religious divisions in the English society; this is an important point of discussion as her religious settlement was not just aimed to address religious conflict within the country but also as a means for her to install her legitimacy and rule an era of renaissance instead of religiosity.

If official corruption is such a problem for the legitimacy of the Essay

If official corruption is such a problem for the legitimacy of the People's Republic of China, then why have the Chinese Commu - Essay Example The main reasons why PRC has waged war against corruption is the fact that it undermines the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist party, it fuels societal unrest, and adds to the economic inequality in the country. If the communist party does not formulate policies that will contain the wide spread corruption in China, then it will be spelling doom for the economic future of the country and the political stability too. Analysis and Causes As pointed out earlier, the major forms of corruption in the PRC are embezzlement of funds, bribery, nepotism, statistical falsification, patronage, backdoor deals, and grafts.All these are common and rampant in power positions. This explains why the standard definition of corruption in China is the use of public authority and resources for personal and private interests. When any state functionary takes advantage of their office and appropriates, steals, or swindles public money, or takes it in to their possession by any other illegal means, then it is said that corruption has occurred. Moreover, when a state functionary extorts money or property from an individual for the benefit of another person or illegally accepts money from a person in order to secure benefits for that individual, or the state functionary misappropriates public funds for either personal use, illegal dealings, or for profit making purposes, then corruption has occurred. If any citizen gives money or property to a state functionary, or introduces a bribe to them for the purpose of securing certain benefits, then the two can be accused of being involved in corrupt dealings. All these occurrences are in accordance with articles 382 and 396 of the criminal law of the People’s Republic of China. Combating corruption has been a main agenda for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the last three decades with every transition of government. During this period, two major anti-corruption campaigns were launched; one in the late 1970’s, and the other in 1989 following the Tiananmen crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. This paper will mainly focus on the 1989 campaign and all other attempted reforms that followed as they fall under the 25 year period that is under study. The efforts of China to eradicate poverty are often frustrated by the enforcement constrains in the country. The CCP employed a strategy dubbed enforcement swapping. This strategy relied on intensive periodic campaigns which were targeted at the big fish. This strategy was credited to have successfully lowered the levels of corruption beyond the tipping point; a point which if surpassed, would have resulted in to a crisis of corruption and overwhelmed the parties enforcement resources (Manion, 2004. P.158). This strategy is said to have been employed out of necessity simply because the CCP lacked enforcement resources and the capacity to wipe out corruption. According to Wedeman, (2004,p.899), the campaign style of enforcement is aimed at controlling corrupt ion rather than eradicating it. This is irrespective of the manner in which it is used; randomized or recreational. This is the very first reason why attempts to eradicate corruption in China by CCP have failed. The communist’s party strategy to eradicate poverty was misguided simply because this strategy is formulated to specifically control corruption, not eradicate it. There is also the probability that the CCP knew exactly what the strategy was

Human Growth and development assignment 8 Essay

Human Growth and development assignment 8 - Essay Example Thus, social bonding is of paramount significance for infants to develop trust. The interaction of the infant’s temperament with the experiences in the immediate environment influences the personality development. Hence, the quality of interaction between the infants and caregivers plays a critical role in influencing personality development during infancy. Fundamentally, infants are self-centered, and their primary concern is to satisfy their physical desires. For instance, hunger is a primary concern for infants. The preschool children have patterns of psychosocial, social, and moral development. Notably, the preschool children tend to assert their control, as well as, power over the world by directing social interactions. For instance, the children take charge of their play. Similarly, the successful children in the preschool years feel they have the capacity to lead the others. In contrast, the unsuccessful children display a sense of self-doubt, guilt, and lack of initiatives. Socially, the preschool children will create friends and depart from the side-to-side play with their caregivers. The relationship between the preschool children and immediate people influences the social development (Mahmud, 2013). For example, the children will drift towards particular children and form strong relationships with them. At this stage, the children learn to cooperate with friends while playing and sharing things such as toys. Morally, the children will display empathy (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). The chil d transits from self-centeredness to embrace empathy. Hence, the child exhibits a sense of consideration. The preschoolers become aware of what is wrong and right. The infancy and preschool phases have similarities, as well as, differences. Notably, the parent-child relationship influences social development during infancy and preschool years. The

Punctuation Marks in the English Writing Research Paper

Punctuation Marks in the English Writing - Research Paper Example Introduction More and more users of English are joining this language community worldwide, as globalization increases. A common language to use in communication across the globe is necessary: electronic technology allows people to reach anyone, from anywhere in the world, so communication has to take place in a common language, if the advantages of instant access and wide connectivity are to be realized. The structure, syntax and construction of English have been, throughout its history, adaptable. From its earliest documentation, by writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer, to its latest uses in text-messaging and social website writing, this language has changed. These changes have often been visible in the words used, the structure of sentences, the positions of parts of speech in expressed sentences, and in the punctuation marks used in writing. Punctuation is defined in the Encyclopedia Britannica as â€Å"The use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aid s to the understanding and correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts.† Many say that punctuation is necessary to â€Å"clarify meaning† and that its misuse â€Å"appears to reflect wider social decline† (Hitchings, 2011, web page), and hence it needs to remain traditional. But clear and accurate meaning is important in any written communication, and changing a language for the sake of change is not wise. Still, there seems to be room for change in the punctuation of English. Thesis Statement This essay will focus on the question of why we use punctuation marks in English writing. To explore this question, the flowing ideas will form the structure of the discussion: The historical development of punctuation marks in language, with specific focus on English The current use of punctuation marks in English, and how this is changing The continued need for accurate use of punctuation, to ensure clear communication Background – Th e Historical Development of Punctuation in Written Language Earliest Forms In classical times, the Greeks and then the Romans used punctuation to indicate to speakers when and for how long they had to pause in their speech. These symbols were eventually named after the pauses they represented, so that a period came to show the longest pause, when a speaker had reached the end of a complete idea; the comma indicated a short pause, for breathing or effect; and a colon indicated that a clause, or a sub-idea, had ended (Nordquist, 2011, web page). Nordquist cites W.F. Bolton (A Living Language, 1988), who suggests that these punctuation marks came to assist speakers in planning the pace, emphasis and elocution of a speech. The Vulgate Bible, for example, allowed St. Jerome to begin to standardize the use of punctuation – he used the period to show when a passage should be read in one breath – from period to period – rather than to end an idea (Crandall, 2008, web pa ge). From the Fifth to the Twelfth Centuries, punctuation continued to determine the reading style of a passage, rather than any syntactical structure, even

Various Assignments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Various Assignments - Essay Example In this regard, the procedural fairness provided for in the Bill of Rights is arguably its most important value. Procedural fairness is important because it preserves unto the individual the right to freely participate in political and economic life (Nueborne, p. 83). Moreover, procedural fairness counter-balances the fact that the freedoms and rights contained in the Bill of Rights are not absolute. In other words, there are exceptions to the right to free expression in that the government may curtail freedom of expression in situations where the speaker utters words that can be construed as hate crime or incitement to riot. Thus procedural fairness permits the speaker the right to a fair trial and the right to confront his or her accusers and to defend his or her right to free speech. Procedural fairness recognizes that any government can overstep its power to the detriment of the governed (Nueborne, p. 83). With entitlements to the right to privacy, protection of private property, the right to a fair trial, the right to bail, and so on, the Bill of Rights plays a supervisory role in the constitutional order. ... Institutional enforcement mechanisms are captured by procedural fairness by allowing for judicial review of the exercise of powers by the federal government, state governments and their agents. Even at the state level, state and state agents’ conduct is scrutinized by state judges by reference to the rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. Thus, as Nueborne puts it, procedural fairness establishes a â€Å"nationwide network† that are â€Å"engaged in constant surveillance of the activities of the governing majority† so that the rights and freedoms articulated by the Bill of Rights â€Å"are respected in everyday life† (Nueborne, p. 84). Procedural fairness is all the more important since the rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights are not expressed in uncertain terms. Many of these rights and freedoms are â€Å"ambiguous† so that they can be open to interpretation (Nueborne, p. 84). Procedural fairness curtails the risk of i nconsistent interpretations of the rule of law in relation to the individual rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. In promoting procedural fairness judges interpret and apply the Bill of Rights by reference to a system of precedents and thus assures consistency and greater uniformity of rights and freedoms for all (Nueborne, p. 85). In the final analysis procedural fairness ensures that in addition to ensuring that the government treats all individuals equally, procedural fairness also ensures that the government exercise its powers fairly and consistently and that any departure from the fundamental freedoms and rights contained in the Bill of Rights is done so in a way that is only necessary

Existentialist view on human nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Existentialist view on human nature - Essay Example For thousands of years, people have debated whether God exists, and most conclude that it cannot be proven. Karl Barth asserts that God â€Å"rules unconditionally and irresistibly in all occurrences. Nature is God’s servant, the instrument of his purposes. God controls, orders, and determines, for ‘nothing can be done except the will of God†. Aquinas argued that â€Å"God is impassible, unaffected by the world. Since God knows all events in advance and controls every detail, divine knowledge is unchanging and in, God there is no element of responsiveness†. In this context, an analysis of opinions expressed by different philosophers is paramount in understanding the analogy of self and being, and it is postulated that the correct answer lies in the area of abstract philosophy and the metaphysical. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human exist ence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts. Danish religious philosopher Soren Aabye Kierkegaard is considered as the founder of existentialism and is remembered for his critique of the systematic rational philosophy of Hegel on the ground that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual system. Kierkegaard rejected collective thinking, and insisted on the importance of the individuals and resisted the features of Hegel's tendency to mediate all oppositions and to hold out the prospect of complete understanding of god. Hegel maintained that true understanding can only be attained if one has a comprehension of 'The Absolute', and for Hegel the whole of human history and intellect constitutes a progressive self-realization of this Absolute spirit that takes place through 'dialectic.' (Stevenson, 1987, p.54). He believed that to an extent the mind has not completed its journey toward the absolute, the individual experience alienation, and a strong sense of awareness is essential to accomplish this goal. Hegel's emphasis on self-awareness in establishing self-realization is strongly reflected in existential philosophy. Marx also adopted the concept of alienation into his thinking, but maintained that such self-estrangement is a product of economic and social factors, and not of a metaphysical relationship. Rene Descartes assumed a dichotomy between thinking substance and extended substance, the ghost in the machine, and faced the problem of how we can have valid knowledge of objects if the only basis for knowledge is intuitive individual self-consciousness. Martin Heidegger believed that the individual and the world are inseparable, and postulated that 'to be' involves existing, and existing involves constant and dynamic change. Although one has no choice regarding some of the circumstances he lives in, these factors determine the context in which one exercises one's freedom and defines his/her existence. The position of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, that the physical world did not transcend consciousness, or of objective or absolute idealism, that the world was an aspect of an absolute min d, has

Creat a company profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Creat a company profile - Essay Example The management of the organization will try to source quality product resources from reliable and efficient suppliers to maintain the high quality of the mentioned high quality products. The management of the organization will try to provide free home delivery service for the placed orders by the customers who used to stay within the distance of 4 kilometers from the outlets. High product quality and efficient customer service are the major corporate objectives of Hangout Plaza. The organization will try to recruit skilled and efficient employees in order to enhance effective business performance and significant customer service management process. Hangout Plaza will try to maintain environmental sustainability by ensuring water recycling and zero solid waste. Value added services and high quality fast food products for the customers, employee engagement in strategic decision making process and environmental sustainability are the major business themes of Hangout Plaza in Dubai. (C) Hangout Plaza is a small family owned Local fast food organization in the United Arab Emirates headquartered in Dubai. It is true that the business environment in UAE is becoming highly potential as the several multinational and local organizations are trying to target the Dubai market due to several favorable external environmental factors. In addition to this, demand for high quality fast food items is significantly increasing among the people of Dubai. Hangout Plaza will try to meet the recent market demand and needs of target customers by ensuring effective quality of fast food products and high quality customer service. The organization is small family owned domestic firm. The organization will incorporate different operational management strategy. Despite the family owned structure, the top management of the organization will incorporate decentralized decision making process in which the thoughts, views and opinions of the employees that will be considered that can enhance str ategy development and decision making process. On the other hand, the organization will try to focus on effective employee motivation in order to enhance the business performance of the organization. The entrepreneur of the organization will try to adopt and implement horizontal organizational structure as the organization is a small family owned enterprise (Khanka, 2007). This horizontal organizational structure will help Hangout Plaza to enhance the communication process between the employees and top level management. It is quite important for the organization to focus on effective human resource management practices as the business environment in Dubai is becoming highly competitive due to presence of several multination leading fast food chains. (D) It is highly important for Hangout Plaza to develop an effective recruitment plan to sustain the proposed and developed size of the organization. The recruitment plan includes several elements that are provided below. (i) It is highl y important for Hangout Plaza to consider several important elements in developing a recruitment plan. Elements like employee turnover, new business development, effective workplace environment and culture, and external outcomes can be considered as the important to consider in developing recruitment plan. Employee turnover need to be considered as one of the important element in the decision making p

Outsourcing or Exporting America Essay Example for Free

Outsourcing or Exporting America Essay With the new economic slump, many people are trying to find ways to rebuild the economy and find the cause of the downward spiral that has recently plagued our country. In the quack of high unemployment, and many families losing their homes, many of the economists and researchers are looking to the outsourcing of jobs to other countries as the culprit for the dilemma. Is his belief true or false? The answer lies within each person’s individual belief, because politicians do not give all the information available about this new crises and the reason for it. In a year of presidential elections, one only needs to look at the previous election to see that this same topic was prevalent. In 2004, John Kerry accused George W. Bush of â€Å"exporting† jobs to other countries so big business could save money. In fact, N. Gregory Mankiw stated that the outsourcing of jobs was just another type of trade on an international level. Even at that time, many opponents realized that the government was trying to make excuses for high unemployment and the loss of jobs in this country. With the end of the election, the topic lost steam and lay in the background for years (Drezner, 1; Dobbs, 1). Now, in the smoke filled world of foreclosures, banks going under and financial giants losing their grasp of the world, the issue of outsourcing has again reared its head. Why? Because the majority of the public believe that the exporting of jobs is a major factor in the current slump. While manufacturing jobs have been lost to countries for lower wages, now the middle manager and white collar jobs are being shipped overseas to companies that charge much less then their American counterparts. This leaves the middle class American with few options and young Americans with unfulfilled dreams (Drezner, 1; Dobbs, 1). Both sides of the argument believe that they are in the right. Those that applaud the globalization and outsourcing to other countries, truly or blindly believe that it is the best option for this country. They even believe that it will help to create higher paying jobs for Americans, while the mundane and manufacturing jobs are done elsewhere for less money. They fool themselves with this notion. The truth of the matter is that American companies shut down factories and outsource middle management or call center activities; they are hurting the American worker and the American economy (Dobbs, 1). Look around and see the economy failing, banks losing, real estate stagnant. While the stock market roller coasters from downward spirals to euphoric rises, the economy is more imbalanced than ever. Multinational corporations will continue to layoff workers in the United States to give those jobs to people in other countries for less money. Is destroying our country worth a few dollars per employee? Most American would not agree. They would take up rank and fight, but until they have the correct information, and the government stops skewing the truth, the American people will suffer and the economy will fail.

Cause and Effect Essay Example for Free

Cause and Effect Essay As more everyday task, such as applying for jobs, banking, shopping, and obtaining general information move into cyberspace, those without computer access are finding themselves segregated from the rest of the digital world. It can be argued that because of the technological demand on today’s society, literacy in technology has become an essential skill for success in today’s society. The basics of computing skills must be supplemented with a set of both cognitive and technical skills, in order to lead to a more universal participation in a technological reliant society. Schools are not sufficiently training teachers; and teachers are not adjusting the curriculum to meet the growing needs of advancing technologies. There is no prevailing standard for what constitutes as fluency and government officials have taken a sluggish approach to equip citizens with the skills and information needed to access government services; especially since governments and businesses move more of their information services exclusively online. Governmental leadership is lagging in bringing society into the information age. Many of the schools throughout the United States are so substandard that a major overhaul is required to provide students with an adequate education. The current policy, which provides computers and Spousta 2 other related hardware but not the necessary training for students and teachers, furthers the inefficient use of resources. The government’s use of technology to provide, exclusive, online services causes a major issue among society as well. In some instances people don’t have computer access and are therefore denied from receiving certain needed services or information. Because a significant amount of the nation’s population are not online, and because the government puts most of its online information in English, and because the information is presented at a twelfth-grade level; millions of residents are further marginalized from the benefits because they either don’t speak English nor have a high education level. As technology further advances and we drift deeper into the information age, the demand for technological literacy among the members of society will continue to increase. Along the way there will be many issues that will eventually need to be addressed as technology advances and government and businesses move more information and services online. Consideration must also be given to those people who are less fortunate and technologically illiterate, or have limited to no computer access.

Ethics in Data and Web Mining

Ethics in Data and Web Mining Liliam Faraon What is the importance of ethics in Data Mining? We live in a time when the pursuit of knowledge is indispensable. From the transformations we have witnessed in the past years, we can acknowledge that information assumes a growing importance and a requirement for any sector of human activity. Some authors say that 90% of all data in the world has been generated over the last two years, and more and more devices will be connected to the internet generating data that can be used by companies to predict patterns of consumption and increase specific sales. The article: 17 Internet of Things Facts Everyone Should Read published by Forbes in October, 2015, brings us an idea of some numbers and the potential market that is available to be exploit: Nowadays there are more objects connected to the internet than people; By the year of 2020 around 250.000 vehicles will be connected to the internet, (saving time spend in traffic, fuel, improving the performance and protecting the environment and generating data); The global wearable device market has grown 223% only in 2015 specially by the launching of Fitbit ® and Apple Watches; Internet of Things will add $10 to $15 trillion to global GDP by 2036; But looking at all the facts some questions are raised, such as: how the data we produce is managed and stored? How is it perceived? How businesses are taking advantage from all the that information? And finally, how do we protect our own data and make sure is not being used without consent? Thats where web mining poses a threat to ethical values, such as individuality and privacy. Improvements in IT and storage capacity has enabled companies to develop tools for data collection through many channels. There are a variety of ways individuals generate data, such as: ATM visits, bar-code readers, biometric devices, credit and debit card transactions, loyalty clubs, medical records, online shopping, rentals, scanners, subscriptions, website browsing and use of many Smart devices available. As a result, there is an exponential growth of the amount of data stored and available to be explored. This generation of data brought the need of new techniques and technologies that can analyse and convert all this information into useful knowledge and Data Mining becomes a very powerful resource. When all these data are merged and mined, they can infer a persons associations, credit information, health, income, political interests and tastes. Liu defines data mining as The process of discovering useful patterns or knowledge from data sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The patterns must be valid, potentially useful and understandable. (Liu, 2011, p. 6). Data mining based on algorithms are very automated and analytical tools and its use is rapidly increasing. By combining databases, information visualisation, machine learning, mathematical modelling, pattern recognition, statistics and more recently artificial intelligence, very large and complex datasets can be analysed and relationships, patterns, outliers and trends can be revealed. Figure 1: Data Mining         Ã‚   Raw data itself is not useful at all, but the information that can be extracted from the data is where the real value seats. We have endless amounts of data being produced and stored, it makes sense companies and governments have the desire to analyse all this data to uncover patterns potentially useful hidden in there. Data Mining process is basically categorised into two classes: Descriptive: describes the general properties of information stored in a database Predictive: draws inferences from the data in order to make predictions. Witten emphasises: Data Mining is about solving problems by analysing data already present in databases (Witten, 2013, p. 4). Decision makers desire the right answers for broad questions and obviously, the more data gathered the more questions raised. Which customers are likely to respond in a positive way to a marketing campaign? What products will have more success when launched? What is the best price range for a new product? How do the competitors tend to react? The response for those questions cannot be reached based on feelings or intuition, they can be answered by analysing customers behaviour and profile using data mining tools. By collecting and summarizing and making use of data mining companies and organisations can identify insights and obtain competitive advantage, recognize potential competitors, improve customer service relationship, target customer expectations and needs. It also has important uses in social business and science, most recently Government Agencies are using Data and Web mining applications to uncover criminal activities such as terrorist threats. There are many Data Mining tools are available in the market nowadays, each one with its particularities, the most common are KNIME, NLTK, Orange, RapidMiner (formerly known as YALE), R-Programming and WEKA . Ethics must be a condition of the world, like logic. Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951. Giant social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter hold billions of users data, keeping these data protect and as a secret is a big concern. When an individual creates an account on any of those social media channels a policy agreement is accepted, and it is basically data related. Data Mining analysts use people personal information collected by organisations all over the world through many different technologies and use them especially for prediction analysis, but practitioners must be very careful when analysing patterns, certain kinds of discrimination are not only unethical but also illegal, gender, religion, race and certain sensitive information is totally unacceptable, in the other hand, anonymizing data is very difficult, for example, over 85% of Americans can be identified from publicity available records using just three pieces of information: zip code, birth date and sex (Witten, 2013, p.33). When a person shops for a product online, the company has access to customers address, credit card, name, phone number and other information in their database. But how does the company encrypts the information and protects it from misuse or security breach is and ethical and legal issue. Some matters are also raised: Is it ethical and legal to use the users information for publicity purposes? How can users protect their right of privacy? Where does the right of a company meets the ethics when sharing its data with another company to comprehend and understand customers and increase profit by selling this information to third party companies is a very important matter and it must be carefully discussed. There is a thin line between of a persons privacy and companys right to use it. When a person provides personal information, he or she needs to know how and what it will be used and a few steps must be taken to guarantee confidentiality and integrity. The use of data particularly data about people for data mining has serious ethical implications and practitioners of data mining techniques must act responsibly by making themselves aware of the ethical issues that surround their particular application. (Witten, 2013, p. 33). There is a growing concern regarding to the use of private and sensitive information and the ethical issues of Data Mining must be analysed and understood both from the business and the personal point of view. From a personal point of view, by Data Mining execution respecting consent, privacy and regulations customers might appreciate the fact they are being target with more personalized offers based on circumstances and needs and in return they may be willing to provide more specific data about themselves. From a business point of view by respecting the privacy issues companies will save resources as they will be able to target very specific customers for certain products. It is obvious that as any other powerful technology there are negative consequences of Data Mining, some results can ineffective, misdirected or unregulated, but if used correctly it can be very resourceful. Some points are very important and organizations making use of data mining techniques should give a thought about them when the use of personal data is planned: Connectivity and data sharing All the users and people that give consent are connected through the internet and share data Security is essential Once all the information traffics through databases, companies worry about the security and privacy, that way all the data will be encrypted, the web services will be hosted in a server with a certificate installed and authentication user The importance of Privacy Policy Privacy Policy is a legal statement and regulates the privacy policy related to users personal data which is under companies responsibility Infrastructure The process will not function without an application to analyse, interpret, read and draw patterns from the data Account management: Gathering and leveraging Account Management has all the information gathered and leveraged, and elaborate can advertising campaigns. It plays an important role in the profitability of the company Information could be released without the consent of the person, it becomes an ethical dilemma, because sometimes the users are unaware of the information gathered and that is being used by companies. It is very important to highlight that the person has the right to know how it will be used and should be able to have the opportunity to consent or not the collection and use. And also when a person becomes part of a group profile and used as a decision making basis, the individuality is threatened, people cannot be judged only as group members, but also as an individual, able to make its own decisions. It is likely that in the next few years an inspection of ethical issues and legal implications will be further required, legislation of digital privacy will be developed and laws will enter force, confidentiality and privacy preservation should be the main points of concern. Unauthorised extraction of data will be considered a crime and companies must be ready for that. Data Mining algorithms are very important and powerful tools for analysis and predictions, they are expected to become more and more significant in the future, decision based on data will change the way companies base their processes, of course there are no 100% guarantee that they will succeed, but, are more likely to be successful than decisions based on feelings or gut. Once patterns are revealed profiles can be drown and stereotypes can be used for crime prevention, commercial proposes, marketing campaigns, policies development and many others. Meanwhile Data Mining ethical issues need to be raised and awareness increased, as the world continues to develop, more and more data is likely to be collected and the Data Mining processes will become more sophisticated. People will need to get a clearer idea of privacy and companies will have to become more transparent on its processes of collect, gather and use of data. Cook, Jack (2005). Ethics of data mining. Available at: http://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1443context=article Ethics in Computing. Available at: https://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/privacy/mining/study.php [Accessed: 02 March 2017]. Fule, Peter. Detecting Privacy and Ethical Sensitivity in Data Mining Results. Available at: http://crpit.com/confpapers/CRPITV26Fule.pdf Liu, Bing. (2011). Web Data Mining: Exploring Hyperlinks, Contents, and Usage Data, Springer MARR, Bernard.17 Internet Of Things Facts Everyone Should Read (2015). Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/10/27/17-mind-blowing-internet-of-things-facts-everyone-should-read/#5e463ad01a7a [Accessed: 01 March 2017]. Wahlstrom, Kirsten (2006). On the Ethical and Legal Implications of Data Mining. Available at: https://csem.flinders.edu.au/research/techreps/SIE06001.pdf Witten, Ian H (2013). Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, Morgan Kaufmann. Zhen, Ethical issues in Web Data Mining. Available at:http://blog.nus.edu.sg/group208/2012/11/25/ethical-issues-in-web-data-mining/ [Accessed: 01 March 2017].

Free College Admissions Essays: FBI Agent :: College Admissions Essays

FBI Agent In all respect I've always had a fascination with becoming an F.B.I. agent. As my interest grow during my educational progression, I'm learning how my personal attributes with help me in my given field. First of is the size of my physical build, which I believe will help me with any possible altercation I my encounter. My positive attitude toward life will also be helpful. I also have a good decision making skills, with out letting let and kind of prejudice entering my mind. The reason I am so positive about this is I've had such a variety of friends. I've had friends of different races, ethnic background, and religious beliefs. I've also have a vary strong emotional barrier due to all the tragedy I've gone though in my life. I've lost three of my closet friends in the last four years. Through all those years I was the person who was strong to help my entire friends threw our losses. When I get into the field all the knowledge I've acquired in my education will in all intent be usel ess. How do I know this you ask? Several people I know in several justice fields have told me that the real education comes in the field. Their have several movies such as "The Siege", Silence of the Lambs" witch have inspired me to follow in this possible life style. The T.V. show cops is the most instamental to me, due to the way they always explain how to dissolve every encounter, and what would happen to the perpetrator. These movies and T.V. shows give a positive outlook on my possible life in handling these issues. I would not leave out the possibility of becoming a scout leader. The reason I think I could handle this job is because I've always had an attraction to teaching children. I have been babysitting children for seven years, for my next-door neighbors and my aunt. Any other person besides their parents or me could always never control the three boys next door. Then there are my two cousins who were both girls. I always loved watching children; I just get along with the m so well. I believe I could make a difference in their lives. Free College Admissions Essays: FBI Agent :: College Admissions Essays FBI Agent In all respect I've always had a fascination with becoming an F.B.I. agent. As my interest grow during my educational progression, I'm learning how my personal attributes with help me in my given field. First of is the size of my physical build, which I believe will help me with any possible altercation I my encounter. My positive attitude toward life will also be helpful. I also have a good decision making skills, with out letting let and kind of prejudice entering my mind. The reason I am so positive about this is I've had such a variety of friends. I've had friends of different races, ethnic background, and religious beliefs. I've also have a vary strong emotional barrier due to all the tragedy I've gone though in my life. I've lost three of my closet friends in the last four years. Through all those years I was the person who was strong to help my entire friends threw our losses. When I get into the field all the knowledge I've acquired in my education will in all intent be usel ess. How do I know this you ask? Several people I know in several justice fields have told me that the real education comes in the field. Their have several movies such as "The Siege", Silence of the Lambs" witch have inspired me to follow in this possible life style. The T.V. show cops is the most instamental to me, due to the way they always explain how to dissolve every encounter, and what would happen to the perpetrator. These movies and T.V. shows give a positive outlook on my possible life in handling these issues. I would not leave out the possibility of becoming a scout leader. The reason I think I could handle this job is because I've always had an attraction to teaching children. I have been babysitting children for seven years, for my next-door neighbors and my aunt. Any other person besides their parents or me could always never control the three boys next door. Then there are my two cousins who were both girls. I always loved watching children; I just get along with the m so well. I believe I could make a difference in their lives.

Simpsons Vs Wells :: essays research papers fc

The advent of new technology has been a source of trepidation throughout history. Just as with any change, fear is often the pervasive response to new technology and developments, especially amongst those who do not fully comprehend the changes. It seems, however, that people ignorant of the true meaning and extent of technology are the most likely to place unwarranted faith in its abilities. Technology becomes an authority—one that is difficult to question or rebel against. After advances become accepted, complacency sets in, reducing the general public's vigilance against dangers to society in any form. This lack of vigilance, due to an unwarranted faith in authority, is depicted and questioned in H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Published in 1898, the message of Wells's work remains relevant, even in the present day. Criticisms of an unwarranted faith in authority manifest themselves in modern culture in multiple media. The Simpsons, a half-hour animated television program, represents such a manifestation. The episode entitled 'Bart's Comet,'; first aired on February 5, 1995, criticizes a blind allegiance to authority in any form by humorously detailing Springfield's response to an approaching comet, which threatens to destroy everyone in the town. The episode parallels Wells's chronicle of the Martian invasion in its depiction of authority. Unwarranted faith finds an unfortunate place in government, religion, and science in both accounts of impending disaster. In themselves, these three fundamental elements of society do not receive criticism. The misguided trust people someti mes place in these institutions, relying on them as unquestioned and unquestionable authorities, receives the brunt of the censure in both works. The townspeople themselves receive their fair share of reproach as well. In both works, the people criticized include not only the general middle- to upper-class communities, but also those responsible for the criticizing. In The War of Worlds, the government plays a silent role that finds its reflection in the attitudes of the townspeople upon the first arrival of the Martian cylinder. Here, the ignorance of the public manifests itself in the cavalier attitudes of the people toward the potential threat. In the opening lines of the novel, the public's demeanor becomes evident: 'With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter'; (Wells 3). During the height of the British government's domination of the world, through the spread of its colonies and economic power, Wells's description of the people's security in their empire over matter, over reality itself, seems most fitting.

Normative and Descriptive Approaches

Decision making can be very difficult when both choices are very appealing. We are faced with many decisions daily and have to make sure we choose the right one. Ethics play a major role in decision making. It allows moral philosophy to play its part. It gives you the freedom to choose right from wrong. In this paper you will be introduced to normal and descriptive ethics. You will be given a definition, a contrast, how the approaches may impact the criminal justice professional, how the approaches are similar and vary, and which approach you feel is best and why. Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when we think about the question â€Å"how ought one act, morally speaking? † Normative ethics can be divided into the sub-disciplines of moral theory and applied ethics. In recent years the boundaries between these sub-disciplines have increasingly been dissolving as moral theorists become more interested in appl ied problems and applied ethics is becoming more profoundly philosophically informed. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts. † (Wikipedia. org) This approach is similar to how religious people view their God. They say that God gives the individual the choice to choose what’s right and wrong. Christians also believe that Adam and Eve utilized the power of what’s right and wrong. They were given the descriptive approach by God and they chose otherwise. For any act, there are three things that might be thought to be morally interesting: first, there is the agent, the person performing the act; second, there is the act itself; third, there are the consequences of the act. There are three types of normative ethical theory–virtue, deontological, and consequentiality, each emphasizing one of these elements. †(moralphilosophy. info) â€Å"Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics, is the study of people's beliefs about morality. Descriptive ethics is a form of empirical research into the attitudes of individuals or groups of people. Those working on descriptive ethics aim to uncover people's beliefs about such things as values, which actions are right and wrong, and which characteristics of moral agents are virtuous. Research into descriptive ethics may also investigate people's ethical ideals or what actions societies condemn or punish in law or politics. Because descriptive ethics involves empirical investigation, it is a field that is usually investigated by those working in the fields of evolutionary biology, psychology, sociology or anthropology. Information that comes from descriptive ethics is, however, also used in philosophical arguments. Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics, as the latter is an empirical investigation of people’s moral beliefs. To put it another way, descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining what proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong, while normative ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold such a belief. Hence, normative ethics is sometimes said to be prescriptive, rather than descriptive. However, on certain versions of the meta-ethical view called moral realism, moral facts are both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time. † (Wikipedia. org) â€Å"Descriptive ethics deal with what the population actually believes to be right and wrong, and holds up as ideals or condemns or punishes in law or politics, as contrasted to normative ethics which deals with what the population should believe to be right and wrong, and such concepts as sin and evil. Society is usually balancing the two in some way, and sociology and social psychology are often concerned with the balance, and more clinical assessments and instruments to determine ethical attitudes. † (knowledgerush. com) A criminal justice professional has morals they must abide by to make the right decision. They must know what’s right and wrong, and know how to distinguish the two. Normative ethics impacts criminal justice professionals by allow them to show the criminal to see that what they have done is wrong. It also allows the criminal justice professional to coach the criminal on the consequences of their actions and ways to prevent another offense. Descriptive ethics impacts criminal justice professionals by allowing them to do the norm against the population. They are trying to establish criminal justice when the population may see that all criminals should be punished. I feel that the normative approach to ethics is the best approach. This approach allows one to make his own decision and not follow what everyone is saying. Everyone should be able to make his or her own decision whether it is right or wrong. If you make the right decision, then you reap good things, and if you make the wrong decisions, you reap bad things. The approaches are similar because they stress the value of what’s right and wrong. It shows that a decision have to be made whether it’s right or wrong. They vary because one allows the individual to make the decision of right and wrong, and the other allows the population to dictate what’s right or wrong not giving the individual to make the ethical decision. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative_ethics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_ethics

How Do Movies Or Television Influence People’s Behavior Essay

Great changes have taken place in human society along development of technology, and movies or television are a big part of this. Such entertaining methods affect on people’s behavior in many ways. I believe that television and especially movies are one of the major and outstanding achievements of humankind. Every movie makes an impression on people. How big this impression is depends on a person, his characteristic features, his weak or strong sides. Movies and television also can make people more violent. The more we see violent acts on television, the less sensitive we become to them.Eventually violence doesn’t seem wrong. We may even commit violent acts ourselves. This is especially true because we don’t always realize that violence has consequences. Actors can be killed and come back for another movie. Sometimes we confuse that with reality. We forget that killing someone is permanent. Of course, watching movies and television can also be good for us. It can give us a broader window on the world. For example, seeing movies can expose us to people of different races and cultures. We can then overcome some prejudices more easily. Recently there have been more handicapped people in films, and this also helps reduce prejudice. The best influence on our behavior is that movies and television reduce stress. Watching films, we can escape our own problems for a little while. Also, sometime movies show positive ways to resolve problems we all face. While TV and movies shouldn’t be a way to hide from life, sometimes they can help us cope. First of all, movies and television influence people’s thinking and action, especially the youth who are vulnerable. For instance, violence and sexual scenes result in young people cruel behavior. According to media, there have been serial murders which committed in school in China, and some scientists believed that the serious actions may involve in so many violence scenes in the media. Secondly, people who spend too much time to watch movies or television  can get addicted and tend to have sedentary lifestyle. They seldom do exercise and get fatter. Obviously, this is not good for their health and relationship between family members. Some housewives, for example, spend so much time watching tv that some of them forget to prepare meals for their family or neglect their children. This behavior may affect negatively on the family relationship. In contrast, movies and television play significant role in entertaining people. Therefore, people’s behavior can change positively after they feel relax. In addition, some kinds of movies or TV programs contain moral value which help people distinguish between wrong and right. Furthermore some TV channels such as Discovery and Animal Planet can raise people’s awareness of environmental protection. Movies can lead us to high aims. They can have stories of people who made great sacrifices for their noble ideas. Thus movies teach us how important struggle is for success.In this connection movies on great people like Abrahan Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Kamal Ataturk and the Quaid-e-Azam deserve special praise. Informative or educative movies are generally scientific,historical,political and cultural . Scientific films brings home to us new inventions and discoveries. They inform us about new adventures of man.These can be in our own language or in foreign languages. Historical and political movies inform us about the great empires like the Chinese and roman. Cultural movies let us know about religions, arts, literatures and traditions of different societies. Movies can have a negative influence in a number of ways. There are movies about criminals. They present their crimes in attractive ways. Movies with accidents and stories having negative effect upon character should be avoided. The invention for television and movies influenced people’s behavior so much, wether that behavior is good or bad, they make them have new habits, new clothes and new information. For example when the young people watch movies like Super Man and Spider Man they try to do what they have seen in the movie, they will jump from high places which might harm them, ,or the people who watch the famous stars in the tv like Tom Cruez, or Madonna, trying to imitate their hairstyle and wear same clothes like them, those have absulotely obvious impact.  In brief, movies and television obviously affect on people’s behavior. However if people can limit amount of time they spend to watch and choose proper films and channels, people will have benefits and can prevent the disadvantages.

Pareting Skills Essay

1)What is positive parenting? Positive parenting is when you encourage good behavior, good communication, and help your children maintain high self-esteem. 2)What is discipline? How does it differ from punishment? Discipline is to teach your child from their mistake and it’s different from punishment because punishment is when your child doesn’t abide by the rules nor does something they were told not to do. 3)What is active listening? Why is it used by parents? Active listening is when the child learns from being given feedback about what they do. Parents use active listening so their child learns from what they did and what they can do to What is guidance? Provide an example of a parent providing guidance to a child? Guidance is guiding your child in the right direction. An example of a parent providing guidance to a child is if your child is yelling in the library instead of yelling back at him telling him to shut up, tell him to talk lower. 4)Where can families and parents find support and resources? Families and parents find support and resources by going to classes for caring for infants, churches, schools, doctors’ offices, and community centers. Do you think positive parenting techniques work? Why or why not? Yes I think positive parenting techniques work because I feel that children respond positively when parents are not negative. 1.Choose one of the three scenarios presented at the beginning of the module. Describe how you would handle the situation. †¢You come home from work and find that your middle school-aged daughter hasn’t finished her homework, even though she was supposed to have the homework done so that you could have a family movie night Since she didn’t do her homework before I got home; while everyone is watching the movie for movie night she will be doing her homework and will not be able to join the family until she is finished 1)Why are consequences an important part of positive parenting? Consequences are an important part of positive parenting because if your child doesn’t have any consequences for their actions they will keep doing the things they do.

Hope Wireless HR Proposal Essay

In support of launching a total reorganization of Hope Wireless, the third leading wireless company in the United States, the Human Resource Department will review and enhance several processes to include but not limited to staffing, performance appraisal, training and development, total rewards, and organizational behavior and processes. The goal is to transition Hope Wireless from good to great; from not only being an American company but a global company. The goal of this strategic organization proposal is to attract and retain the most qualified employees, improved company performance, customer satisfaction, prevent churn and increase revenue. Employees are Hope Wireless number one resource and a long term investment in employees is a long-term investment for the organization. Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan Hope Wireless offers a broad range of wireless and wire line communications services encouraging mobile freedom to consumers, business and government users. By the end of the first quarter 2013, Hope Wireless had served more than 55 million customers with an employee base of approximately 60, 000 people. This is over 15 million more customer than one year ago. Hope Wireless is widely recognized for offering the most innovative technology and cutting edge devices and the most sophisticated network of all mobile carriers. Hope Wireless’s business objective is to position the organization to be the leading wireless company in the telecommunications industry. Hope Wireless is striving to offer world-class customer service, proactively identifying and meeting the wireless needs of customers and to offer benefits unlike any other organization. â€Å"Organizations in which people work affect their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the workplace and away from it. Likewise, people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions affect the  organizations in which they work† (Brief & Weiss, 2002). Over the past five years, Hope Wireless has progressively earned numerous customer service awards but most importantly the American Customer Satisfaction Index award. The American Customer Satisfaction Index group rated Hope Wireless No. 1 amongst all national carriers in most improved customer service particularly over the last four years. â€Å"Customer satisfaction is an important goal for providers of both services and products, and customer surveys are a commonly used instrument for evaluating that satisfaction† (Ammar, Moore & Wright, 2008). Approximately five years ago, Hope Wireless was failing customer service surveys miserably and the customer satisfaction rate was fluctuating between anywhere from 65% to Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan 72%. The telecommunications industry customer satisfaction goal is 85% or better. It was obvious across sites, states and countries that employees were not satisfied with their work environment and conditions. A supervisor task force proposed ideas to incite change across the organization. â€Å"Operation Smile† became a nationwide Hope Wireless initiative in addition to the â€Å"Go Fish† campaign. Operation Smile all employees to smile whether it was towards another employee or customer. Everyone in the organization was presented 20 SMILE cards of which agreements were electronically signed that each employee would award any employee they â€Å"caught† smiling. The quality analyst were charge to give a SMILE cards to employees they heard SMILING through the phone. The Operation Smile initiative alone increased the overall customer satisfaction rate by 9%, sometimes higher. Any employee who accumulated increments of 10 or more cards could earn exciting gifts. This was a six-month initiative that cumulated with a grand-prize drawing that varied depending upon the site and locality. The next morale boosting initiative which would have a direct positive impact on organization effectiveness was implementing the â€Å"GO Fish† campaign. Seattle’s Pike Fish market was the source of this idea as they are a living example of the principles supported by this initiative†¦.†being present† and â€Å"making someone’s day†. If an employee was present for the  customer or peer, they were awarded a fish by their supervisor or manager. The receiving employee would solicit a fish for their peer from a supervisor or manager. The quality analyst would award the fish if they witness an employee â€Å"being present† and â€Å"making someone’s day† towards their customer. Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan Each team was also given a stuffed fish to throw to the person who received a fish. Whenever the random bell tolled, the person holding the fish would receive an immediate reward, most often a gift card. Just as the SMILE initiative, any employee who accumulated increments of 10 or more fish could earn very exciting prizes. This was also a six month morale boosting plan. Customer satisfaction results have continually progressed and have been maintaining ratings of 85% or better on a monthly basis. Hope Wireless began and continues to see a decrease in churn, decrease in employee turnover, increase in employee relations and retention and a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction. The aforementioned action plans greatly influenced employee morale and encourage positive customer behavior while increasing the effectiveness of the organization. â€Å"The loss of employees is a disruptive event. Organizations often pursue innovative ways to reduce employee turnover, often with limited success† (Murphy & Taylor, 2006). In addition to random initiatives, Hope Wireless offers on-going employee relation and retention resources such as the manager, site director open door policy, human resource specialist, employee assistance hotline, anonymous corporate security hotline and email address and a on-line suggestion box is set up in each site. Hope Wireless needs to supports diversity management by â€Å"ensuring that factors are in place to provide for and encourage the continued development of a diverse workforce by melding these actual and perceived differences among workers to achieve maximum productivity† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). Hope Wireless needs to offer various employee resource groups in support of sexual preference, gender, race, veteran status, etc. The employee Part I – Hope Wireless HR Proposal Plan resource groups will be voluntary, open to all employees with them not being limited to having access to only one group. The Employee Resource Groups (ERG) will offer many benefits to employees such as unique development and networking opportunities, acquisition of practical skills and mentoring programs. In addition, ERG offers connections with people and information not generally accessible. The aforementioned connections to aid employees in positively impacting the organization by become part of the solution. Association with ERG provides allows employees exposure to company leaders, to serve and volunteer in the community as a representative of the organization and most importantly exposure to and learning about different cultures. Hope Wireless has utilized both internal staffing processes and temporary staffing agencies. Research has suggested employees that were hired on a permanent basis out-performed temporary worker. The permanent workers demonstrated ownership and allegiance to the company coupled with documented higher customer satisfaction ratings. The recommendation is to maintain the internal hiring practice. Hope Wireless is successfully trending in the right direction. The aforementioned initiatives, processes and resources, customer service ratings and referenced awards have aided and proven that Hope Wireless is now offering world-class customer service. In addition, the number of net-adds in one year’s time, demonstrates Hope Wireless’s ability to meet and exceed the mobile needs of customer base. Hope Wireless continues to strive for on-going growth and success. REFERENCES Ammar, S., Moore, D., & Wright, R. (2008). Analyzing customer satisfaction surveys using a fuzzy rule-based decision support system: Enhancing customer relationship management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 15(2), 91-105. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2008.2 Brief, Arthur P., & Weiss Howard M., â€Å"Organizational Behavior: Affect in the Workplace†, (2002), pp. 279-307. Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (200*) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Taylor, Lloyd J., I., II, Murphy, B., & Price, W. (2006). Goldratt’s thinking process applied to employee retention. Business Process Management Journal, 12(5), 646-670. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150610691055 Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Hope Wireless offers a broad range of wireless and wire line communications services encouraging mobile freedom to consumers, business, and government users. Performance appraisal methods are essential in support of â€Å"Human Resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, career planning and development, compensation programs, internal employee relations and assessment of employee potential† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). The appropriate performance appraisal method for Hope Wireless, considering the type of organization and the number of employees is the rating scales method. â€Å"The rating scales method is a performance appraisal method that rates employees according to defined factors† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). â€Å"Performance management systems are effective when they are based on goals that are jointly set and are driven by an organization’s business strategy† (â€Å"What Makes Performance Appraisals Effective?† 2012). Performance appraisal imperatives for Hope Wireless will include: Do It Now (resolve); Delegate & Empower (engage appropriate resource/make a decision); Be Accountable (ownership); Focus on Customers (attentive); Teamwork & Camaraderie (work and win as a team); Compete like Winners (always strive for the top); Develop Yourself & Others (stay abreast of the business policies/procedures; peer-to-peer coaching); Acting with Integrity (adhere to code of conduct) and Have Fun (enjoy what you do). The advantage of the rating scales method is that the process is controlled and uniform. With the large number of individuals employed by Hope Wireless, the rating scales method allow for easy comparison and contrast. ‘The rating scales method allows each employee to be subjected to the same appraisal process and rating criteria, with the same range of responses. Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Rating scale methods are easy to use and understand. The concept of the rating scale makes obvious sense; both appraisers and evaluated employees have an intuitive appreciation for the simple and efficient logic of the bipolar scale. The result is widespread acceptance and popularity for this approach† (â€Å"Appraisal Methods†, n.d.). â€Å"Organizational culture change is dynamic and depends on leadership and  management. The concepts of organizational change focusing on process, culture change and leadership, and organizational culture change and the learning organization are central to organizational transformation and will be addressed next† (ConceiÃÆ' §ÃƒÆ' £o & Altman, 2011). â€Å"Training and development is the heart of a continuous effort designed to improve employee competency and organizational performance† (Mondy & Mondy, 2008). The training and development program projected for Hope Wireless will be inclusive of intense focus on the position of the front line employee. The front-line employee is the customer-interfacing employee which directly impacts the organization’s bottom line revenue. While training for the management team and other integral positions is very important, it is the customer interaction of which the organization thrives and allows the other positions to be vital and necessary. Taking into consideration the organization’s mission, goals and corporate plan, the training and development will be created to support the company’s culture. It is also important for Hope Wireless’s training and development plan to support the various job description tasks to include both internal and external customers. The final attribute in the training and development process is each employee’s personal training needs. This can be assessed by compiling knowledge, skills and abilities checklist and having each supervisor/manager administer the survey. Establishing training goals specific to each Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal Position will ensure effective training in support of expected execution. Goals should include purpose and objectives. Hope Wireless offers 60% instructor led training and development while 40% of the training is via on-line classes for all level of employees. The management staff will also receive enhanced development via team builders, instructor led leadership courses and off-site leadership classes. Career pathing at Hope Wireless will be facilitated through Hope University (HU). Hope University’s goal is to improve business performance innovative tools and resource to ensure on-going learning and development in support organizational success and employee career enhancement. â€Å"As a leader in learning and development, HU creates support tools that effectively  facilitate performer tasks while on the job (such as desktop decision-making tools) and knowledge-management solutions which allow organizations to capture and share their collective knowledge (like discussion forums, blogs, pod casts and case studies). These less traditional solutions are in addition to its more than 3,000 skills and knowledge development offerings and over 2.5 million hours of training delivered annually†(â€Å"Sprint†, n.d.) At Hope Wireless each employee is ultimately responsible for their career plan, with their manager’s and leader’s support. With expertise in performance support, development, and delivery, the HR staff has the knowledge and hands-on experience to help each employee reach their full potential through innovative and engaging solutions. On-line job development courses and interactive training classes are optional and available to any employee to be scheduled at Part II – Hope Wireless Performance Appraisal their leisure. The HR staff will provide assistance in identifying the appropriate classes in support reaching one’s career goals. Effective succession planning is the reward of training and development and career pathing. Both training and development and career pathing should be developed and executed with succession planning in the blueprint. Hope Wireless succession plan would include promoting from within as the potential candidate will be prepared to transition into the open position fully armed with the organization’s mission, goals and expectations. It will be important to focus on those individual who demonstrate the ethics, value and integrity of which the Hope Wireless culture represents. Potential leaders will be identified, partnered with existing leadership and provided the resources to enhance strong skillsets and enhance areas of opportunity. Company career goals will be identified along with the potential candidate identifying their personal career goals. Hope Wireless will extend every effort to fill key positions from within to enhance employee morale, avoid negative business impact and ensure continual career advancement. Part II – REFERENCES Appraisal Methods. Retrieved from http://www.performance-appraisal.com/ratings.htm ConceiÃÆ' §ÃƒÆ' £o, S., C.O., & Altman, B. A. (2011). Training and development process and organizational culture change. Organization Development Journal, 29(1), 33-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/862094636?accountid=35812 http://linked2leadership.com/2013/04/01/10-steps-to-create-a-killer-succession-plan/ Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (2008) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Sprint. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sprint.com What Makes Performance Appraisals Effective? (2012, October). Sage Journals, 44(4), 191-200. Retrieved from http://cbr.sagepub.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/content/44/4/191 Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan â€Å"Compensation is the total of all rewards provided employees in return for their services† (Mondy and Mondy, 2008). In support of meeting and exceeding Hope Wireless’ business objectives, a comprehensive compensation and incentive plan will be outlined as follows for the front line customer-interfacing employees. Hourly rate for customer service (CS) agents is $12.00 per hour based on the average industry hourly pay of $10 per hour. Overtime will be paid at one and one half hours for every hour worked over 40 hours. This does not include vacation hours, specifically worked hours. Bonus compensation will be paid when the criteria has been met as outlined in the bonus plan for each group. Paid time off (PTO) will accrue at the follow rate: tenure of one to three years will accrue two weeks of PTO; tenure of four to six years will accrue three weeks of PTO and tenure of six plus years will accrue five weeks of PTO. Each employee will only be able to carry-over 40 hours of PTO at the end of each calendar year. Every year each employee will accrue two eight hour floating holidays for personal use, which are not transferrable. CS agents will begin with a balance of 140 HAP (Hope Attendance Points) to be used for unscheduled absences. A five to eight hour unscheduled absence will result in deduction of 10 HAP. An unscheduled absence of four or less hours will result in a deduction of five HAP. Business impact days that are designated by Workforce, will have a double point deduction. Those days will be  identified at least two weeks prior to applicable timeframe. The aforementioned benefits and compensation are in support of employee satisfaction, retention and securing employees commitment to the organization. The CS agents will be Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan provided a comprehensive outline of the PTO/HAP policies to include unacceptable HAP balances, the consequences of exhausting all balances including PTO and HAP, etc. The CS agents will also have the option of enrolling in medical insurance of which Hope Wireless will remit 70% of the premium. The CS agents will also have the option of dental and optical insurance where Hope Wireless will remit 70% of the premium. Employees will also have the option to participate in pre-tax flex-spending accounts. A self- initiated pre-tax monetary amount will be deducted from each paycheck and placed in a fund for medical/co-pay expenses for the employee and covered relations enrolled in the medical insurance program. This is a great savings and perks for the employees. Hope Wireless offers all employees an exciting 401K plan of which Hope Wireless matches dollar for dollar up to five dollars per pay period. Stock options are also available in addition to the 401K plan, both of which will be outline on the company’s intranet benefit site. Enrollment in 401K and stock options are available year-round. Tuition reimbursement is available for courses applicable to customer service/leadership/management and will be paid up to 90% for two courses annually after outlined criteria is met and approved by his/her manager. Criteria can be found on Hope Wireless’ intranet benefit site. Base pay increases are performance based and will be determined yearly once the employee has been rated by Supervisor via the annual performance review. The pay increases will be based on current rate per hour, performance rating and active corrective actions and performance action plans. Pay increases will be com mensurate with current industry standards at the time of the rating. Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan The Human Resource team has rendered extensive research of surrounding call centers, conducted surveys of sister sites and concluded the outlined  compensation plan is inclusive of the most desired benefits of the most tenured employees who consistently exceed performance goals. The targeted employees also have consistently exceeded customer expectations per customer surveys. HR’s partnership with middle management is also a key element to successful operations and employee retention. HR will also outline a process of which middle management can execute separate and apart from the aforementioned proposal. â€Å"Practical strategies for supervisors include clearly identifying role responsibilities, implementing flexible scheduling, supporting role integration, applying job sharing principles, and remembering to reward and recognize employees†(Winterstein, Mazerolle & Pitney, 2011). Hope Wireless’ mission is to exceed the expectations of every customer who is in contact with the site. In order to enjoy such a reputation, every employee has to be engaged, empowered, committed, satisfied in their role and have allegiance to the organization and their team leads. Meeting performance expectations will allow each employee their hourly base pay. Surpassing performance expectations invites the opportunity to earn a bonus. WOWING every customer, owning the business, caring about your co-worker, volunteering in the community on behalf of the organization, etc. earns rewards and recognition. Recognizing employees for a job well done is more important than many leaders realize. Employees often times provide feedback via company surveys that their manager only meet with them to share/discuss poor performance. Being â€Å"caught in the act† of outstanding performance/behavior is a pay-off for the organization that is immeasurable. Great behavior Part III – Hope Wireless Compensation Plan breeds great behavior. Receipt of recognition in front of an employee’s peers not only enhances one self-esteem but often times deem an employee a subject matter expert. A go to person. â€Å"Since managers prefer to keep their good performers and employees that they like, it is important to understand their treatment of those individuals in promoting their desired continued personal development† (Adams, 2005). Hope Wireless will not only engage in  on the spot â€Å"Caught in the Act† positive feedback cards issued by an employee’s manager, the use of â€Å"Caught in the Act† certificates, posters and emails will also be initiated. Certificates will be presented in team meetings; posters will be posted in the team work area and emails will be sent to recognized employee with the entire team copied. Hope Wireless Trinkets will also be available to the management team in addition to the creation of the Hope Wireless Fun committee. The Hope Wireless Fun committee will be charged with engaging a mix of employees to create and execute fun activities for the site to reward and motivate employees such as team prizes for the best performers, best customer service surveys, etc. Hope Wireless is committed to working and winning as a team and to have the best team of employees in the wireless industry. REFERENCES Adams, S. M. (2005). Positive Affect and Feedback-Giving Behavior. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(1), 24-42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (2008) Human Resource Management (10th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Winterstein, A. P., Mazerolle, S. M., & Pitney, W. A. (2011). Workplace environment: Strategies to promote and enhance the quality of life of an athletic trainer. Athletic Training & Sports Health Care, 3(2), 59-62. doi:http://dx.doi.org Part IV – The Cultural Change The senior leaders of Hope Wireless prides themselves on being one of the top three wireless leaders. Hope Wireless has won sundry service awards and achieve many honors for most improved customer service. In addition, Hope Wireless offers innovative and competitive wireless devices of which the other wireless providers have been unable to match. While many of Hope Wireless’s policies and procedures will be addressed and enhanced as a result of this proposal, the last enhancement proposal is in support of the internal culture of the organization. The previous site director allowed employees to dress down daily. Dressing down allows denim, flip-flops, shorts, hats, etc. Employees who are dressed down are more relaxed and come across as such when speaking to customers lending to an unprofessional  environment and poor customer service interactions. A recent event involving an employee who had placed their sweatshirt hood on and laid their head on the desk while waiting on a call is the final motivation for the proposed change. While sleep, several customers came onto the sleeping employee’s line and dropped when no one responded. This resulted in an impact in customer service and service level. The news of the termination of the employee was wide-spread amongst the agent’s peers. This was the first step towards awareness that the organization will take immediate reaction to negative impact caused by an employee. â€Å"When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current organizational culture needs to transform to support the organization’s success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy† (Heathfield, n.d.). Part IV – The Cultural Change The first cultural change proposal is to initiate a change to the current dress code policy from daily dress down to dress down Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays ONLY, unless otherwise specified. Currently, employees are only required to wear professional business attire when corporate visitors are expected on-site. The proposed normal day to day dress requirement will be business casual. Business casual dress guidelines will require men to wear collared shirts, khaki or dress pants and no tennis shoes or sandals. Business casual dress guidelines will require women to wear non- provocative, non-tight-fitting clothing void of denim and stretch material. Denim will not be allowed for either women or men. Women or men will not be permitted to wear shorts on business casual days. Women’s skirts and dresses must be knee length and the women’s shoe requirement will require dress shoes, no tennis shoes or flip flops. â€Å"Top-down attempts to change organization culture have a number of unintended consequences, amongst which is an emotional fall-out that becomes manifested in higher rates of absenteeism† (Carr, 2002). Human Resource has elected to release management of the task of owning and communicating this change. Employee focus groups will be formed to access to proactive strategize the most effective communication and reaction to opposition toavoid   negative impact to business. Agent dissatisfaction often translate to poor performance and reliability in call centers. Severe opposition is expected in response to this proposed change. The tentative initial communication to employees will be socialized to employees in team meetings by members of the employee focus group. Often times, peer buy-in lends to continued peer buy-in to change in an organization. In support of the opposition, Human Resources will also partner Part IV – The Cultural Change With the Communication team to begin sending out catchy, funny emails and launch internal television advertisements of the dress code change to occur in 30 days. The â€Å"why† documents will be drafted to include the goal of delivering superior, professional customer service. Anonymous pictures will be included of relaxed desk posture of agents who are dressed down versus those who are dressed business casual. Relaxed posture translate to relaxed conversations. Human Resources will also be prepared to hold optional brown bag meetings to share â€Å"relaxed† remote quality observations where unprofessional customer service was rendered versus calls observed on a professional dress day. Human Resources will set the expectation that the Management team will be held accountable to execute this change and maintain application and consistency of the policy change. All policy amendments are supported by 30 day adaptation grace period after which the following reaction will be instituted. Management will render a documented verbal warning for the 1st dress code violation. The 2nd dress code violation will result in the employee being sent home to change with an impact to pay for the time missed and documented warning. The 3rd dress violation will result in a 1st written warning and will continue to progress to termination. Human Resources will be open for feedback will be open to negotiate with employees holistically to encourage receptiveness to the dress code change. â€Å"Timing can be crucial. Conflict tends to develop through stages, from awareness that differences exist to a hardening of attitudes and, possibly,  open hostility† (â€Å"Abc of Conflict and Disaster: Approaches to Conflict Resolution,† 2005). The employee focus group will be the first reaction to conflict of which employees will be encouraged to provide open and honest feedback to and amongst their peers. Part IV – The Cultural Change This will provide an immediate forum for employees to react versus allowing dissatisfaction and conflict fester and result in unnecessary and avoidable conflict.  The aforementioned changes outlined in this proposal outline a cultural change that lends to effective start-up, encourage growth, prevent decline, encourage renewal and upward mobility and prevent death of the organization. CONCLUSION The Human Resource planning and partnership outlined in the aforementioned proposal will institute efficient, effective, consistent, and revenue impacting operations. The Human Resource team for Hope Wireless has prepared the blueprint to propel the organization to becoming the #1 wireless leader in the industry. REFERENCES Abc Of Conflict And Disaster: Approaches To Conflict Resolution. (2005, August). BMJ: British Medical Journal , 331(7512), 344-346. Retrieved from http://av4kc7fg4g.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com Carr, A. (2002). Organisational culture: Organisational change? Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15(4), 425. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197601624?accountid=458 Heathfield, S. (n.d.). How to Change Your Culture: Organizational CultChange. About.com Guide, (), Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture change.htm

A Reflective Paper On The Importance On Teamwork Nursing Essay

A Reflective Paper On The Importance On Teamwork Nursing Essay What is a team work? Team work can be defined as when actions of individuals are brought together for the purpose of a common goal. Each person in a team puts his efforts to achieve the objectives of large group. Teams make efforts to achieve the success but not necessarily the success is achieved every time. Within a team every member plays a role to achieve the team’s objectives. These roles add new and important dimensions to interactions of team members. Bruce Tuckman’s team development theory provides a way to tackle the tasks of making a team through the completion of the project. On the part of the team every member played an important role to achieve the success at the end of semester. â€Å"Our planning (or worrying about) what’s happening next gives us little opportunity or inclination to examine what has just passed† (Wallace, 2005). Writing from the angle of teacher student and team member relationships, it was appropriate to look then above q uote. I believe that many students in a team hesitate to step further for their next action during the proceeding of project. I need to be reflective in my action for the future performance in a team. â€Å"Groups of employees who have at least some collective tasks and where the team members are authorised to regulate mutually the execution of these collective tasks† (Delarue, 2003). â€Å"Group work is defined by a common task requiring interdependent work and successive or integrative action† (Hacker, 1998). Belbin (1981) developed a model on team roles which was extended in Belbin’s (1993) publication. On the basis of the Belbin’s model the team performance can be observed when a winning or losing task is set for the team. Each member with assigned role balances the team role in a group and strong representation of all roles is predicted with high performance. I have experienced the same the role of every member in my team. Belbin makes a difference b etween two terms team role and functional role. It is necessary for a team to keep the optimum balance both in functional roles and team roles. On the other hands the Tuckman’s theory describes the four stages of small group development as forming, storming, norming and performing. However a fifth stage of adjourning was added which involves the completion of tasks, termination of roles and dissolution of groups. Belbin’s theory is helpful to identify the different types of the teams; the characteristics define the work of the four categories. This model explains that during the team developments conflicts and interpersonal issues are found there and team development is dependent on the quality communication and relationship maturity with better performance. In traditional setting this model is useful for many practitioners and team leaders. According to this model all members work at the same place and are engaged in predefined work. This model works at the micro leve l of teams when new tasks are introduced and people involved have worked together not for long time.

Kupreskic et al., Trial Chamber, Judgment, 14 January 2000, Case no Research Paper - 1

Kupreskic et al., Trial Chamber, Judgment, 14 January 2000, Case no. IT-95-16-T - Research Paper Example g the horrors and advances in international jurisprudence.2 Adding to the international regime for humanitarian international laws, the International Criminal Court (ICC) incorporated the draft Elements of Crimes which sets out the definition of humanitarian laws such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as provided for in the ICC Statute.3 The resulting body of international case law demonstrates that the international judiciary have developed a penchant for judicial creativity which sits somewhere between state practice and opinio juris and ultimately forms the foundations of international customary law.4 In Prosecutor v Kuprekic et al (Case No. IT-95-16 T) the ICTY determined that in determining the appropriate line of customary international law, reference must be had to domestic codes as well as case law.5 Essentially, the ICTY has used as demonstrated in Kuprekic et al national judgments for interpreting and applying treaties as well as customary international law and principles of international law.6 Taking the concept of state practice a step further, the ICTY in Kuprekic et al identified what is referred to as the concept of jus cogens in customary international law.7 Jus cogens takes the position that it is not necessary to conduct a protracted search of national laws for evidence that states are conducting themselves â€Å"out of a sense of obligation†.8 In other words certain human rights and concepts of humanity are taken for granted in customary international law. For instance the ICTY in the Prosecutor v Furundfija IT-95-17/I-T (December 10, 1998) ruled that the prohibitions and intolerance of torture are rules of jus cogens as well as the judgments contained in the International Court of Justice and the principles of the Martens Clause are concepts that lead jurisprudence or opinion juris.9 The Martens Clause therefore takes on a significant role in the development of international customary law in that it guides judicial