Accounting Information System and Special Journals

The principle of internal control violation is separation of duties. The person that records the incoming cash receipts should not be the same person that is posting the customer payments to their accounts. My recommendation to the business would be that they have one person recording the Incoming cash receipts, and they should assign another employee to take over posting the customer payments to the right accounts.This will ensure that payments will get posted to the right accounts, and reduce errors. 2. The principle of Internal control violation Is establishment of responsibility. Jeff is the custodian of the petty cash fund, and he should be the only one responsible for that petty cash fund. My recommendation for the company would be for another petty cash fund to be established for Jose when he Is needed to fill In as custodian. This will ensure that If something should happen with that petty cash fund, Jeff will not be held responsible for Joke's mistakes.Therefore, If Jose mak es a mistake as custodian of his own petty cash fund, he will be the one held responsible. 3. The principle of internal control violation is applying technological not a good for a company to store everything in the same place. My recommendation would be for the company to have all the records backed up at night as usual, and request Nadine to take the tape home with her every night. That way is something disastrous happened overnight she is able to recover all accounts with the backup tape she has taken home. The principle of internal control violation is performing regular and independent reviews. A regular and independent review should always be done whether an employee is or not meeting all Job requirements to satisfactory. My recommendation is for the manager's to immediately start regular and independent reviews. This will ensure that all employees will continue to do their Job effective and efficiently at all times. 5. The principle of internal control violation is to insure assets and bond key employees.

Part 1- Racial identity and culture Essay

Introduction The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of characteristics and beliefs about common ancestry. 1 The most widely used human racial categories are based on visible traits (especially skin color, facial features and hair texture), and self-identification. Conceptions of race, as well as specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time, and are often controversial for scientific as well as social and political reasons. The controversy ultimately revolves around whether or not races are natural kinds or socially constructed, and the degree to which observed differences in ability and achievement, categorised on the basis of race, are a product of inherited (i. e. genetic) traits or environmental, social and cultural factors. Some argue that although â€Å"race† is a valid taxonomic concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans. Mainstream scientists have argued that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, have many exceptions, have many gradations, and that the numbers of races delineated vary according to the culture making the racial distinctions; they thus reject the notion that any definition of race pertaining to humans can have taxonomic rigour and validity. Today most scientists study human genotypic and phenotypic variation using more rigorous concepts such as â€Å"population† and â€Å"clinical gradation. † Many anthropologists contend that while the features on which racial categorizations are made may be based on genetic factors, the idea of race itself, and actual divisions of persons into groups based on selected hereditary features, are social constructs, whereas a new opinion among geneticists is that it should be a valid mean of classification, although in a modified form based on DNA analysis. 2 Racial and Ethnic identity and Development Racial and ethnic identity are critical parts of the overall framework of individual and collective identity. For some especially visible and legally defined minority populations in the United States, racial and ethnic identity are manifested in very conscious ways. This manifestation is triggered most often by two conflicting social and cultural influences. First, deep conscious immersion into cultural traditions and values through religious, familial, neighborhood, and educational communities instills a positive sense of ethnic identity and confidence. Second, and in contrast, individuals often must filter ethnic identity through negative treatment and media messages received from others because of their race and ethnicity. These messages make it clear that people with minority status have a different ethnic make-up and one that is less than desirable within main-stream society. Others, especially white Americans, manifest ethnic and racial identity in mostly unconscious ways through their behaviors, values, beliefs, and assumptions. For them, ethnicity is usually invisible and unconscious because societal norms have been constructed around their racial, ethnic, and cultural frameworks, values, and priorities and then referred to as â€Å"standard American culture† rather than as â€Å"ethnic identity. † This uncon-scious ethnic identity manifests itself in daily behaviors, attitudes, and ways of doing things. Unlike many minority cultures, there is little conscious instilling of specific ethnic identity through white communities, nor is differential ethnic treatment often identified in the media of white cultures. As we discuss throughout this chapter, everyone benefits from the development of a conscious ethnic identity and benefits as well when multicultural frame-works are used in their learning environments. Definitions of Racial and Ethnic Identity. The constructs of race and ethnicity in the United States are complex and difficult to define and frame. Researchers are not consistent in their meaning, which makes these concepts particularly challenging to grasp. To add to the confusion, racial and ethnic identity â€Å"transcends traditional categories and has become a major topic in psychology, literature, theology, philosophy, and many other disciplines†. The concept of racial identity, in particular, has been misunderstood and contested. Some meanings are derived from its biological dimension and others from its social dimension . As a biological category, race is derived from an individual’s â€Å"physical features, gene pools and character qualities†. Using these features as distinguishing characteristics, Europeans grouped people hierarchically by physical ability and moral quality, with Caucasians as the pinnacle, followed by Asians and Native Americans, and Africans last on the racial ladder. However, looking beyond these characteristics, there are more similarities than differences between racial groups and more differences than similarities within these groups. Today, literary and theoretical manifestations of racial identity are discussed not in biological terms (which may imply a racist perspective) but as a social construction, which â€Å"refers to a sense of group or collective identity based on one’s perception that he or she shares a common heritage with a particular racial group†. Racial identity seems most often, however, to be a frame in which individuals categorize others, often based on skin color. The use of skin color is one of many labeling tools that allow individuals and groups to distance themselves from those they consider different from themselves. Racial identity is a surface-level manifestation based on what we look like yet has deep implications in how we are treated. Ethnic identity is often considered a social construct as well. It is viewed as an individual’s identification with â€Å"a segment of a larger society whose members are thought, by themselves or others, to have a common origin and share segments of a common culture and who, in addition, participate in shared activities in which the common origin and culture are significant ingredients†. Ethnic identity seems most often to be a frame in which individuals identify consciously or unconsciously with those with whom they feel a common bond because of similar traditions, behaviors, values, and beliefs. These points of connection allow individuals to make sense of the world around them and to find pride in who they are. If, however, positive ethnic group messages and support are not apparent or available to counteract negative public messages, a particular individual is likely to feel shame or disconnection toward their own ethnic identity. Ethnic identity development consists of an individual’s movement toward a highly conscious identification with their own cultural values, behaviors, beliefs, and traditions. Ethnic and racial identity models provide a theoretical structure for understanding individuals’ negotiation of their own and other cultures.

Six Sigma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Six Sigma - Essay Example This is done by distinguishing and correcting faults that occur in the organizational processes and products. In other words, six sigma is a management concept formulated by Motorola in 1986 which aims are defining high goals, data collection and carrying out the analysis of results to a fine degree so as to cut down the defects that appear in tangible products and services. Therefore, we can say that six sigma is focused on improving the quality of business processes and end products (Peter S Pande, Robert P. Neuman, Roland E. Cavanagh, 2000). The core aim of six sigma is to give businesses an error free performance. The philosophy of six sigma is that if an organization is able to measure the number of faults in its business processes, then it can systematically eradicate them and achieve close to perfection operations. The Greek alphabet Sigma is used to represent a deviation or variation from a defined standard. Organizations use sigma as a scale to measure their performance. The value of sigma is indirectly proportional to the number of defects. This means that smaller value of sigma will show less deviation from the norm that is less faults. For instance, two sigma covers ninety five percent of the bell curve whereas six sigma reaches to a point where there is absolutely no chance of defect. Simply put, six sigma is basically a standard for quality which aims at producing no more than 3.4 defects per million units or procedures. The goal however, is difficult to attain yet a number of manufacturing companies such as General Electric, Martin Dow, Johnson & Johnson, Nokia and many others have realized heavy savings with the application of six sigma. Service sector such as healthcare and financial institutions have also started benefitting from six sigma (Praveen Gupta, 2004). History: Whenever the origin of six sigma is talked about, the first name that strikes our mind is: Motorola. It is usually believed that the concept of six sigma was introduced by the employees of Motorola. A deep look into the history will show that the development of the concept began when Carl Frederick Gauss introduced major statistical element of bell curve called normal curve. In 1920’s Walter Shewhart analyzed the normal curve thoroughly and came up with his proposal that any business process or product may require rectification when the variation from mean is three sigma. After the second world war, Japan’s economy was poorly slashed down. However, with optimal utilization of natural resources and leadership, Japan became world leader in terms of quality. Noticing this sudden progress, U.S companies realized how important the role of quality in gaining profits and customer satisfaction is. The automobile industry of U.S was suffering to a great extent because Japanese had grabbed major share of its imports. In 1986, the engineers at Motorola implemented the concept of six sigma in their manufacturing processes. Bill Smith and team members d ecided to replace the measurement of defects in thousands by millions in order to make more sense out of the concept. Guidelines for addressing problems with six sigma were established and it was also suggested that projects in which six sigma is applied should always give positive outcomes. Therefore, six sigma is officially associated with Motorola. Observing Motorola’s increased efficiency, Allied Signal began implementing six sigma in its operations.

Descartes First Meditation paper and Moore's Certainty paper Essay - 2

Descartes First Meditation paper and Moore's Certainty paper - Essay Example Therefore, this is a research paper with detailed information regarding different issues at hand. Studies show that, equity financing is a method or means used to generate share capital resources from external investors (Coyle 2002, p. 46). A general assumption is usually made when sourcing for equity finance, where long term and medium profits is the key target after the whole process of equity financing is completed. The major circumstance that surrounds any new business, which leads it to source share capital in this way, is because Alpha Personal Care Systems is not in a good position to pay loan interests at its start. This is because the share capital needed for core activities that will make the company overcome existing market challenges and come up with unique products at affordable (Peter 2006, p.43). There are various sources of share capital, which include venture capitalists and business angels. Take a critical look at the two serious sources, studies reveal that there advantages and disadvantages of adopting the use of one the sources as equity finance generator (Doug 2009, p. 86). To begin with, Peter and Julie`s new company will enjoy the advantages of using business angel as share capital or equity finance resource (Pinson 2008, p.30). Naturally, business angels fancy channeling their funds on high-risk entrepreneurial firms. Secondly, because Peter and Julie prefer getting small amounts of money for equity capital, it fall well within the business angel`s interest as the business angels consider funding small amounts that fall within the preferred equity finance gap to enable new venture launch. This is a big advantage as there will be minimal foreign impact on Alpha Personal Care Systems in terms of investments and decision making in the future. Every good source of finance has its disadvantages, in the case of Peter and Julie`s selection of business angels has a few disadvantages (Jefferson 2001, p.48). To

The Interagency Process (National Security) Essay

The Interagency Process (National Security) - Essay Example ctice, this compartmentalization is partially mitigated by overlapping membership on various interagency groups and by the oversight of the Office of Management and Budget. However, there is still no inter-agency process for developing policy options on these issues that integrates all of the relevant facets and is supported by appropriate quantitative analysis. Any such process should have, at least, a cabinet-level committee that focuses on governmental issues but covers both the domestic and foreign policy aspects of those issues; several sub cabinet-level working groups that are chaired by a senior policy official and supported by a staff located in the White House; access to all of the resources necessary to conduct and comment on quantitative analysis of policy options; and ail avenue for exchanging ideas with industry, the local community, and other outside constituencies on a continuing basis (Friedman, pg 7). Before discussing these elements in greater detail, however, it is useful to look at the emerging international issues, examine existing interagency mechanisms for addressing these issues, and explore the boundary constraints imposed on any interagency mechanism by the United States system of government, political culture, and personnel selection process. In this paper I aim to describe the inter agency process, provide an overview of the legal framework that created the process and discuss the major players. I will explain with examples the major flaws in the present system and also the key strengths. The Interagency process also known as the IAP was officially recognized in 1947. The current process for expressing national planned policy is untied for explanation by the supervisory division, which has led to fruitless proceedings in the interagency process specially I terms of national security, idleness, and at times contradictory policy.   As the state organizes for the upcoming, it is crucial that the IAP be superior codified and dignified to

Academic Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Academic Skills - Essay Example The aim of education, then, is the full intellectual, moral and spiritual development of the student. Students should acquire discipline and self-mastery, possess mental skills and have a firm character and goodwill. These dispositions are to serve the proper ends of humankind. Clearly students need practical skills to navigate in the everyday world, but the main orientation is toward the ideal, perfect, transcendent realm which truly defines human existence. Planning is one of the academic skills which helps to organize the education and personal schedule. Planning bridges the gap from "where we are" to "where we want to go." It makes it possible for things to occur which would not otherwise happen. In an overall sense, planning is a function that is intellectually demanding and the most basic of all education functions. Planning should logically precede the execution of the educational goals and strategies of organizing, directing, and controlling. It is a function of management wh ich is unique in that it provides direction for all group effort. The purpose of planning is to provide a student with a framework in which decisions can be made which will have an impact on the learning process. A conscious effort to systematize the effort and to manage its evolution is preferable to an unmanaged and haphazard evolution. The basic planning problem is how to allocate the limited resources. The major benefits to be expected from planning include an improved sense of direction for the learning and a student himself, better performance, increased understanding of the learning and its purpose, earlier awareness of problems, and more effective decisions. Assessment allows a student to choose between alternative and find the most reliable and objective information. Assessment, analysis and synthesis are closely connected with planning seen as a process for setting future direction, a means to reduce risk, and a vehicle for training managers. It is also a process for making strategic decisions, a way to develop consensus among top managers, and a means to develop a written long-range plan. Strategic planning can be defined as a method of guiding studnets so that their decisions and actions affect the future of the education process in a consistent and rational manner, and in a way desired by top management. Planning, assessment and restricting helps me to study the course and effective use my time resources and skills. Planning/thinking entails tactica) planning--the planning of those actions to be taken to put strategies into effect. This type of planning answers the question of how to get the job done. It often consists of specific objectives accompanied by short narrative action plans. Assessment may have two diametrically opposed definitions. One is that it is the overall encompassing effort for total planning of a learning process, meaning that planning is merely a portion or "tool" of learning. Planning and restructuring are a part of the day-to-day implementation of an strategic plan. I suppose that I have a good planning and restructuring skills, but need some practice in assessment and analysis. These skills are s core of the effective management of change within the course. It is the implementation of strategies developed to determine a new direction for the personal development through transition, so it may fulfill its responsibilities in a rapidly changing environment. I suppose that planning is not visionary or futuristic thinking, but an example of process versus substance. Planning is the process that creates a balance between what is desired and what is possible. Assessment enables students to distinguish truly important decisions from less important ones

The Impact of Leadership Styles on The Organisation Performance Abu Research Paper

The Impact of Leadership Styles on The Organisation Performance Abu Dhabi Municipality as a case study - Research Paper Example Leadership has been evident for as long as individuals have communicated and interacted; it is present in every culture regardless of social, economic, and political compositions. Leadership development in the public sector is not a new or distinct subject yet there has been a large gap between the actual leadership styles of public leaders on one hand and the needs and interests of the public on the other (Trottier, Wart, and Wang 2008). For instance, there have been considerable complaints regarding the commitment of public leaders toward the essential aspects of public service as well as the citizen’s interests. Consequently, this has resulted to a common response among the community with regards to the need for a certain type of leadership. Leadership plays a critical role in good public governance and should be effectively integrated into the government’s culture (Jaussi and Dionne 2004). ... Research Questions The current study then aims to answer the following primary questions: 1. What are the leadership styles demonstrated by leaders in the Abu Dhabi municipality? 2. What is the impact of such leadership styles on organisational performance among the Abu Dhabi municipality leaders? 3. What are the ways with which effective leadership can be demonstrated by leaders in the Abu Dhabi municipality? Research Objectives In relation to such questions, the study aims to address the following objectives: 1. To ascertain the leadership styles and characteristics among leaders in the Abu Dhabi municipality; 2. To examine the variables of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) such as transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership, and identify which of these types is/are most evident in Abu Dhabi leaders; 3. To identify the outcomes of leadership based on extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction among such businesses; and 4. To provide recommendati ons with regards to the suitability of leadership styles to the public’s interest in Abu Dhabi. Significance of the Study Effective leadership is a fundamental requirement for the public sector, such as those who perform government duties. A number of researchers have asserted that management, innovation, and initiative are not enough to handle unpredictable change that rapidly occurs. Furthermore, organisational procedures and policies do not produce favorable effects unless leaders are developed as they should hold the values and goals which empower workforce members and enable them to achieve success (Harms and Crede 2010). Leadership can bring about significant changes in the organisational life. Positive outcomes can be

US policy towards Latin America after the cold war Essay

US policy towards Latin America after the cold war - Essay Example In 1947 the Truman Doctrine forever changed America's foreign policy from an isolationist one to a more active policy of involvement with other countries in order to curb what they perceived as a Communist threat to the world and hence their own democratic stability.The United States fear of communist dominance has a direct bearing on the policy they adopted towards Latin American countries. The Truman policy was directly responsible for establishing the Cold War, and then the focus of the policy was the prevention of the rise of Communism. This has especial relevance in the context of its policy towards Latin America. During the Cold War years, the United States adopted a very aggressive interference in Latin American affairs in its attempt to weed out communism. In the Post Cold War years though, the policy while still against the influence of Communism, has softened considerably and has shifted focus to stabilizing countries democratically and economically - a result of understand ing that the spread of Communism arises from poverty and exploitation.The thrust of American policy concerning Latin America can broadly be divided into four areas: democratic stabilization, free trade and the economic opportunities it offers, the immigration problem and the war on drugs.Democratic stabilization is a key focus in America's policy. Originating from the desire to stop the spread of Communism, the U.S.A has, since the Cold war, focused on helping to stabilize democracies, which they feel are better alternatives and which do not threaten the U.S.' own security. A notable example is their support of the Mesa government in Bolivia and Enrique Bolanos' presidency in Nicaragua (Roger Noriega). However, despite the fact that their support for democracy is well intentioned, the failure of the Mesa administration in Bolivia (culminating in his resignation in 2005) highlights the fact that while democracy is a good thing, the U.S. needs to focus also on the effectiveness of the governments they choose to support, and the government's ability to handle the political and economic situation of the country. The U.S. has always publicly stated their support for democratic protestors in Cuba as well, and promised support in the event of a democratic revolution. This sort of heavy handed "Big Brothering" has also caused much resentment as the people of that country feel that the U.S is really disguising its dictatorship in the form of aid. Venezuela's Chavez has vehemently refused to accept any of U.S aid with the inevitable strings attached to it. Stemming from their support of democracy also came the realization that democracies, no matter how well intentioned, could not effectively stabilize a country unless it was economically stable as well. The majority of Latin American countries are impoverished and this is a vital cause of political instability and also revolution. Thus the second focus of policy on increasing Free trade. Free trade would open up economic opportunities and make available goods and services to economically challenged regions without the stifling taxes and tariffs imposed. LatinAmerica has been important to the U.S. in this regard as it is a major importer of American goods and services. Many raw materials are also sourced from the Latin countries. (http://www.wesfryer.com/uslapolicy.html). However protectionism has been a problem with many Latin countries, as well as with America. The grumbles on outsourcing by U.S. politicians have severely affected free trade agreements with Latin countries, and in t he case of Mexico stalled the NAFTA act for a while. However the passing of NAFTA, finally meant the lowering of tariffs on many aspects -vehicles, textiles, computers etc. Investment restrictions also eased. By advocating free trade the economic restrictions lessen and the opportunities for growth open up. There is scope for employment and a better standard of life. The U.S. focus on this aspect has therefore also helped them to address another

Paintings of Picasso during the Modernism Essay

Paintings of Picasso during the Modernism - Essay Example The essay "Paintings of Picasso during the Modernism " will help to understand the role of Pablo Picasso's art in the modernism. Art paintings that emphasizes material content and the social perception is perceivable as incomplete compared to art paintings in which the content is down played, and formal elements emphasized. The principles of modernism period are clearly visible in the works of Pablo Picasso, who perhaps can be considered as the most illustrious modern painter; conversely, the difference that exists between content and form is not one-sided or simplistic. Considerably, Pablo Picasso's paintings were not absolutely abstract; in most instances the paintings contained references, though unclear, to the material art world. Furthermore, while Pablo's paintings were characteristically concerned with the Cubism and universality, it helped shape and model abstract art. Social elements that were of interest then were incorporated in most of his works. Incorporation of social e lements in his works further complicated Picasso’s stature as a modernist artist. Consequently, though Picasso's art paintings encompass modernistic elements they are considerable as more complex in a modernistic sense because of all the elements incorporated in them. In the early 1900s, Picasso instigated his first unique style, which is referred to as the Picasso’s blue period. He restricted the color scheme he employed to blue, Picasso illustrated withered and solitude body forms whose figures and appearance signified the inferiority.

The collapse of the European economies after World War 1 Essay Example for Free

The collapse of the European economies after World War 1 Essay During the course of this essay I will discuss how America was advantaged by the collapse of the European economies after World War 1. How the policies of the Republican Government helped to surge the American economy. I will discuss how this economic boom did not benefit everyone in America and how the motor car industry helped stimulate Americas growing economy, and how luxury goods became more available in America, and I will continue with how hire purchase and credit was highly available during this time of prosperity. I will outline who did and who did not benefit from this booming economy, also how reversals in U.S. policy occurred during 1919-1922. Then I will continue to explain the McCumber traffic act which issued a tariff on foreign goods entering America to encourage Americas to purchase American goods and thus helping the economy to grow further; leading to an increase in customer spending. I will tell you how Woodrow Wilson introduced the League of Nations, and how the USA isolated itself from the international community so as to avoid conflict. I will look at how Americas vast amounts of natural resources were a contributing factor to the growth of the economy. Before the war, Germany had the largest chemical industry in the world but after the war it was significantly damaged and America took the place of the Germans in this industry, which greatly improved Americas economy. They also took over European trade. Europe was on its knees after the war so they borrowed money from the U.S. This provided the U.S. with a good regular source of revenue. The American economy was running away with itself. This was due to the explosion of the car industry. Henry Ford was a car manufacturer. He came up with the idea of the first production line. This meant that different jobs were allocated to different people and in different stages, meaning production was more effective. The car industry used up to 80% of Americas steel 75% of the glass in the U.S. and 65% of leather and rubber. By the end of the 1920s, the motor car industry was the biggest industry in America. It also employed hundreds of thousands of workers directly. It kept many people in other industries employed. Petrol was needed to run the car which brought about a new branch of businesses, which branched off from the car industries; petrol stations, the road building industry, motels, roadside diners, billboards and mechanic services were just some of these new businesses. Road construction was the biggest single employer in the 1920s. Owning a car was no longer a privilege reserved for the rich. The production line had mad making cars cheaper, so more people could afford them. There was one car to every five people in the USA, compared with one to 43 in Britain and one to 700 in Russia. The car made it possible for more people to buy houses further from the cities. This boosted the house building industry as the American economy grew, more people spent money on luxury goods, this lead to such goods becoming more available in America and more companies making them. Telephones, radios, vacuum cleaners and washing machines were mass produced on a vast scale making them cheaper. New electrical companies such as Hoover became household names; they used the latest most efficient techniques proposed by the industrial efficiency movement. At the same time, the larger industries used sophisticated sales and marketing techniques to get people to purchase their products. Mass nationwide advisements were used for the first time in the U.S. during the war to get Americans to support the war. Many of the people had learned their skills during the war and had now set up agencies to sell cars, cigarettes, clothing and other products. Poster advertisements, radio advertisements and travelling salesmen encouraged America to spend. Even if they did not have money people could now borrow it easily or they could take advantage of the new buy now pay later hire purchase schemes. By this time, the car industry was flourishing; the most famous car produced was the model T. More than 15 million where produced between 1908 and 1925. In 1927 they were produced at a rate of one every ten seconds. In 1929, 4.8 million cars were made. The boom in the American economy was helped by the republican policies from 1920 to 1932. All the U.S. presidents were republicans and republicans also dominated congress. Republicans believed that government should interfere as little as possible in the everyday lives of the people. This attitude is called `laissez-faire`. They believed the job of the president was to leave the business to the businessmen. The republicans believed in import tariffs which made it expensive to import foreign goods. For example, in 1922, Haring introduced the Fordney-McCumber tariff which made imported food expensive in the USA. These tariffs protected businesses against foreign competition and allowed American companies to grow even more rapidly. The USA also began closing its borders to foreign immigrants. Taxation was kept as low as possible this brought some benefits to ordinary working people. But it brought even more to the rich. The republicans thinking was, the more money people had, the more they would spend in America and the wealthy would re-invest in America. They also allowed the development of trusts. These were huge super-corporations which dominated industry. Woodrow Wilson and the democrats had fought against trusts, because they believed it was unhealthy for men such as Garnegie (steel) and Rockefeller (oil) to have almost complete control of one vital sector of industry. The republicans allowed the trusts to do what they wanted, believing that the captains of industry knew better than politicians did. However, this time of prosperity in America was not felt by the whole population. Farming was at a low point. The total U.S. farming income dropped from $22 billion in 1919 to just $13 billion in 1928. There where a number of factors that contributed to these problems. After the war, Europe imported less food from the U.S. This was partly because, Europe was poor and partly due to the tariffs which stopped Europe from exporting to the U.S. farmers were also struggling against competition from the efficient Canadian wheat producers. The population of the U.S. was falling which meant there where fewer mouths to feed. At the route of all these difficulties was overproduction. This resulted in wheat being produced which simply nobody wanted. In the 1920s the U.S. farmer was each year producing enough to feed his family and 14 others. Prices dropt dramatically as desperation kicked in and farmers tried to sell their produce. Most farm prices fell by 50 per cent. Hundreds of rural banks collapsed in the 1900s and there were five times as many farms going out of business as there had been in the 1900s and 1910s. Not all farmers were affected by these problems. Wealthy Americans wanted fresh vegetables throughout the year. For most farmers, the 1920s were a time of great difficulty .and this was a major concern. About half of all Americans lived in rural areas; the difficulty affected more than 60 million Americans. Lots of Americans lost their jobs, these where largely unskilled workers, mainly immigrants.

Leadership Effectiveness And Personal Managerial Qualities

Leadership Effectiveness And Personal Managerial Qualities Leadership is about knowing the pros and cons of change, and comprehending the interplay of oneself and others. Leadership is the perception of ones connectedness both personal and business wise, thus leadership is about being self aware and choice-decision making. Thus, it is a process where a person influences a team to accomplish there objectives, and direct those objectives to be more coherent for the organisation, this is viewed by (Northouse, 2007). Hence, a leader is one who has a clear vision, communicate passionately, and direct their actions and those of the team toward the goal, by driving to completion. 1.1 Background Who is the author? The author born October 1978 belongs to a Christian home; newly married and is at the early stage of parenthood with bringing up a young family, has earned an Upper Second Class Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Anglia Ruskin University who is currently pursuing Masters in Business Administration with emphasis in Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The author holds the position of an Office Manager who performs a wide array of diverse duties, thus, working alongside the president to meet the companys staffing and organisational needs. Furthermore, the author is responsible for designing and implementing various policies, supervisory responsibilities, recruiting and training, which facilitate efficient and smooth functioning, with focus on supervising works of administrative staff. After eleven year service in the marine industry as Office Manager at Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, the author now partly owned and is a Director of a Sign Company. In addition, the author also landed a new job as Office Manager at another marine company, which operates tugs and water tankers. However, the author currently has no outside activities due to studies, a new family, working part time with spouse business, plus having a full time job. Therefore, the author has a tight schedule, with a vision to complete studies and become successful in being a confident leader and expressing creativity to find unique solutions for the family business with a joyous presence, continued dedication and people skills. The author strongly expressed values that everyone deserves to be fairly treated and education is the key to success. These few leadership traits, qualities and skills of the author are known to be soft skills that will assist the authors ability to resolve conflicts and build consensus, to motivate and inspire employees. Thus, office is like family, they get cranky and having a positive and genuine attitude will assist tremendously. 2.0 Reflection on Leadership Effectiveness Effective Leadership begins with the fundamental ability to believe in oneself, which incorporates maturity, conviction and expertise that translate into a purpose and direction, thus, having a dream and vision that will better the company or society. Effective leadership is composed of a number of different competencies, thus effectiveness of leader is limited, where leaders are person who know how to inspire and relate to subordinates. This all depends on how appropriate the leadership style is to the situation in that it is operated, which comes from matching style and follower task relevant maturity, or task readiness. Based on the Myers Briggs test, the author type indicator reflected ENTJ (Extroversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Judging). ENTJ are generally gets straight forward, decisive, and leadership natural, they also see illogical very quickly and notes inefficient procedures, also generally develops and implement comprehensive systems in solving any company or business problems. Along those same lines, enjoys setting future planning and being goal oriented, usually well up to date, well read, enjoys on expanding knowledge as required and passing it to others by giving forceful present ideas. Thus, true effective leaders possess specific leadership qualities, skills and styles beyond industry knowledge and technical skills. 2.1 Qualities of Leadership Leadership behaviour reflects the traits and personal characteristics that will facilitate success in leadership role. ENTJs are imaginative, conceptual learners who learn best in a challenging and interactive environment. The combination of intuition and logic leads them to enjoy dealing with concepts and strategic thinking, and excellent language skills. These qualities of the author are drawn from work and personal life balances that are reflected as follows:- Strengths of Personal and Work Life Communication and Relationship The author an ENTJ is an enthusiastic communicator who loves to interact with tremendous amount of self-confidence, has excellent verbal communication skills and value honesty. The author has always been the centre of attention that is being an extravert with intellectual freedom to think and speak, who has a disposition of always being frank and getting straight to the point with strong regards for positive structure that is able to synthesize and adapt to new ideas. Even though the author had been tested to be extraverted, the author has Introverted Intuitive functions which complement Extraverted Thinking, such as, being talented in creating great benefits through the ability to recognise the expected potential of others, and showing others the way to get past difficulties within the given situation. Career and Work In the position of an Office Manager ENTJ shows exactly that the author is assertive, loyal, and knowledgeable and manages people, along with marshalling resources. The author is career-focused in long-term perspective with visualisation of both businesses with high performance and standards. The author is generally an energetic people person who likes to be in charge and make things happen, along with others participating, especially in team projects rather than work alone. The author tends to move up the ladder very quickly when joining any company or generally in life. With this current company the author has been there for two months and a major travelling abroad is ahead. On entering the organisation, the author has been leapfrogging people who have been there longer, thus, the cumulative experiences have prepared the author for it. The author has always been level headed, shows improvement and value the position given. Throughout the authors career, as most ENJT can identify, vision is priority and risk does not scare the author. The payoff has been consistent on an executive level, and once going towards the goal, the author makes sure it is attainable, and believing all production must be done to the best with logic and rationale. 2.1.2 Weaknesses of Personal and Work Life Some major flaws of the author:- Gets frustrated by lack of closure of people not meeting deadlines, thus, bearing in mind the given work produced should also show professionalism, which is one of the main priorities in and ENTJ. The manner in which conversation is carried out, such as, being harsh and blunt in criticism when errors occur. Tends not to listen to other peoples sentences or have them finish their sentences, especially if what was said do not make sense to them, thus, not giving the chance for the person to justify their point. Limited patience with a temper over relatively small matters that escalates into bigger things with inefficiency and can be very judgmental and argumentative. Low regard for people who are intimidated by them that is intensified by arrogance, thus, making hasty decisions, without understanding the issues and possible solutions to the problems. Therefore, the author must enforce balance due to the qualities possess above, in order to accomplish whatever goals are set. Below, speaks on the leadership skills which need improving by the author. 2.2 Leadership Skills Leadership skills are based on leadership behaviour, thus, skills alone do not make a leader style and behaviour do. Leadership is interesting because it is about talent and the natural ability that is mostly about oneself and maintaining that personal authenticity, by being true; not just slavishly following others ideas. Good leaders always rely on their ability to read situations and improve tasks, and acknowledge their shortcomings, which may work for them. However, a good leader would want to improve their skills of communication, decision-making and problem solving and not shy away from new opportunities to lead. The author skills are most effective when matching styles to the needs of the people that are trying to influence. Thus, the challenge is that leading people is the opposite of trying to control them. It is not just what happens when you are there; it is what happens when you are not there. The author believes that leadership is not something you do to people; it is something you do with them. Listed below are two simple ways suggested for the author to improve leadership skills for future growth? The author must prioritise time for proper organising and planning, thus, by consulting with experts for feedback Political skills can be developed by the author in order to reduce the gossip and rumours, that is, look for further critical information that others cannot get Thus the continued characteristics of developing good leadership skills for the author will take time, as if perfecting an idea for a project, because without investment of time, the author will not be able to become the great leader envisioned, thus these few skills that contribute to the authors behaviour will be able to accurately and successfully adapt to changing environment with limited challenges. Below speaks on the style of leadership the author is engaged in. 2.3 Leadership Styles Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. Effective leadership style takes time and energy but provides benefits, which helps to enhance team spirit and effectiveness among members that identifies preferred management styles. The style describes the personal way of leading; it becomes effective when matched with the skill sets and motivation of the follower. However, there is no right style of leadership, because it varies with the personality and situational needs. Thus, the author likes a mixture of working with others and working alone, in the form of management and leadership positions which can energise others to carry out the vision via the objectives and tries to motivate the team to work towards those goals. Leaders within the organisation have been found to account for some of the organisation overall performance, thus, the authors style has been identified as an important area of interest. Additionally, the author likes teamwork and interactions that convince and influence enthusiasm with an invaluable source of vitality and drive according to the style needs of Participative or Democratic Leadership. 2.3.1 Participative or Democratic Leadership Participative leadership or democratic style encourages employees to be part of the decision making, which takes everyone words as a considerable opinion before carrying out the final decision. This style of leader is coach, the one who has the final say, but still gathers information from staff members before making such decision. Ultimately, the author works in an environment that is still very autocratic, but given the changes that the organisation has hired the author for, participative leadership is what they are looking at. However, the author is not equipped to all situations that arise, thus, team handling is an assets and the author must use the required skills of facilitating discussion and ideas that is generated by the group. Furthermore, the author likes being in charge and to know what is going one at all times, thus, enjoys marshalling facts and planning future directions. Additionally, if the author foresees the project cannot be handled, someone will be brought in to carry out the project, and this person must have clear understanding towards the goal, because the author demands high quality and standards. The author a natural leader encourages team members to participate through listening and communicating, however, the leader maintains the final decision making. The style of leadership reflects the following characteristics of the author:- Organise staff to complete tasks in the most effective way, by delegating those tasks and overseeing the completion of the project to achieve results Motivates staff to meet the goals and objectives, given the overall picture, and vision to follow with new ideas, evaluation of possibilities and rational decisions Create positive work environment, and seek the interest of each employee with fairness given the responsibilities, which allows them the to challenge themselves Allowing subordinates to feel free in thinking creatively for problem-solving, thus, reducing office politics, so the use of ideas will importantly gain credit and reduce the tension generated amount staff Thus, the business cannot afford to make mistakes, using this type of leadership is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength where the author gains respect from the employees. Also, the author do not have all the information required to achieve the goal that is why knowledgeable staff is hired to allow better decision via teamwork, so that, effective and accurate decisions are made. 3.0 Theoretical Concepts ORegan and Ghobadian (2004) define performance measurements as consisting of quantitative indicators used by management to judge how well the organisation is doing. Leadership depends on whether emphasis is on behaviour or the result of that behaviour according to (Jex, 2002) thus leaders also make attributions about their followers behaviour. Similarly, Kelley (1967) describes leader attribution as a way leader interprets follower behaviours and attributes cause to that behaviour, where leaders can assess follower behaviour by specific task or across tasks and whether it is unique to an individual. Leaders intention is to diagnose problem performance, to understand the reasons for success, or anticipate the consequences as stated by (Mitchell et al. 1981). However, there is a distinction between leadership and management, where a manager carries out administrative duties and exerts control subordinates behaviour, thus obtain reluctant compliance. In contrast, a leader carries out administrative functions along with inspiring and motivating members to strive for excellence, by obtaining commitment, reviewed by (Jex, 2002). So, effective leadership demonstrates by influencing and guiding the activities of a team toward achieving its goals, defined by (Judge et at., 2004). In addition, according to Jex (2002), goals direct attention, focus efforts and maintain task persistence, helps individuals avoid getting sidetracked, thereby, guiding a leader to enhance processes and facilitates development of collective efficacy which has an influence, revealed by (Chen and Bliese, 2002). Leadership therefore, is most relevant aspects of an organisation context and is challenging by different situations, thus, emphasis of future leadership and interpersonal skills that ensure sound management practices and high leadership standards by the author are discuss as follows:- Qualities of Leadership Leadership Skills Leadership Style 3.1 Qualities of Leadership According to Roach and Behling (1984), leadership is the process of influencing an organised group toward accomplishing its goals, therefore, these influential qualities most people associate with leadership are assertiveness, loyal, risk taker, self-sufficient, ambitious, patience, trustworthy, and knowledgeable. Thus, employee trust in leaders is influenced by the level of perceived fairness reflected in the company practices of distributing rewards and benefits. Dirks and Ferrin (2002) stated that leadership has three types of justice; procedural which is an indicator of the leaders tendency to be fair when making decision about rewards; distributive is the fairness of outcomes a follower receives as a result of those procedures; and interactional involves the degree of respect with which the leader treats the follower as they carry out organisational policies and procedures. Thus, Dirks and Ferrin (2002) also, found that trust in leadership is related to attitudinal, behavioural and performance outcomes. Therefore, trust a key concept is where leaders often have the power to impact followers and their ability to achieve goals, reflects that followers will attempt to draw inferences about their leaders characteristics such as integrity, dependability, fairness and ability, because these inferences have consequences for work behaviour and attitudes, viewed by (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002). Building subordinates trust in leadership starts with the managers ability to lead and administer the department functions, stated by (Knabe, 1999), thus, mutual trust needs to be in place. According to Bass (1985), one of the most important conditions that a leader must instill in his subordinates prior to problem solving trusted by his employees is the ability to lead for effective results. So, in order words, for the business to grow qualities of a leader is not only to fulfil goals, but, basic skills in management and leadership will also have to be the foundation in developing a more advance practice, thus, problem-solving, decision-making, planning and delegating, communication and managing oneself are effective leadership skills discussed below. 3.2 Leadership Skills The characteristics of a leader come through our day to day interactions with those around us. If the author stop to think about some the leaders that have been, or even infuriated, the qualities of good leadership skills will become apparent. Leadership skills is not just about showing your superiority, according to researchers (DeHann and Havighurst 1957), it is the use of attributes such as initiative, persistence ambition and dominance to describe leadership abilities, as well as, sensitive to others needs, affectionate and agreeable, that is used to enhance the skills towards leadership and the ability to improve such tasks. Tannenbaum (1983) reported that a correlation exists between the exhibition of leadership skills and general intelligence for advance leadership skills, such as, written and verbal communication, group dynamic, problem-solving, planning and personal skills. Effectiveness of these skills must be able to perform the ability to analyse strengths and weakness, identify and provide training effectively, show success in developing and enhancing skills, and scheduling and controlling work, such as, capabilities in identifying and setting performance goals along with posing all supervisory skills necessary. Thus, real leaders, read their team, analyse the compound between their team members, the tension between the tasks and processes, and how the team builds its competencies. According to Mehra et al. (2006) organisations must seek efficient ways to enable performance, longstanding approach that is, by shaping collective norms, helping teams cope with their environment that provides valuable insights into relationship between leadership and team performance (Guzzo and Dickson, 1996). Furthermore, Herr (1998) identifies a few competencies that should be incorporated into an executive performance appraisal including; coordination, awareness, personnel management, planning, financial management, coaching skills, evaluation skills, accomplishment assessment skills, technical competence, interpersonal skills, communication skills and leadership skills, thus in providing behavioural outcome and performance, that will lead to leadership style. 3.3 Leadership Styles Today management needs to command and direct, but also identify needs, communicate, empower, inspire trust and forge a common vision for a better future, defined by (Athanasaw, 2003). In similar, leaders need to enforce recognition of employees and value human being whose ideas are seriously considered, viewed by (Athanasaw, 2003) to support leadership role. Thus, leadership is the process of influencing followers so they cooperate, such leaders are members of groups who influence the context of the organisation they lead, according to (van Knippenberg and van Knippenberg, 2005). There are many types of leadership, but because of society today, participative or democratic leadership is more recognised, thus, Hersey-Blanchard (1998) theory is based on the amount of direction and socio-emotional support a leader must provide given the situation and the level of maturity of the followers. So, the most suitable leadership style would be the development level of the subordinate actions, such as, directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. Similarly, Tannenbaum and Schmidts (1958), leadership continuum reflects that leadership behaviour varies along a continuum and that as one moves away from the autocratic extreme the amount of subordinate participation and involvement in decision taking increase. They also suggested that the kind of leadership represented by the democratic extreme of the continuum will be rarely encountered in formal organisations. The four main types of leadership are, autocratic, persuasive, consultative and democratic. In similar, participative leadership defined by Lewin (1939) and others stated that there are three types, autocratic that is very dedicative, which has led to revolution, laisse-faire which lacks enthusiasm and democratic the effective style. Furthermore, Likert (1967) theorised four styles namely, exploitive authoritative where there the leader uses fear-based to enforce conformance, benevolent authoritative is rewards use to motivate performance, consultative is the seeking of consultation and participative invites participation across all level. Thus, leadership cannot perform without leaders and followers, therefore, leadership results in followers behaviour that is purposeful and goal-directed in some sort of organised setting, although most studies reflect the nature of leadership in a workplace. So, without having a leadership style, business cannot conform to achieve its objectives and goals, thus leaders must a style is able to adapt to the laws of the company and its future expected outcome. Thus, the values and qualities of the author must be able to adapt to the global challenges in an effort to develop proper growth for the business. 4.0 Recommendations With recommendation to continued success, the author should enforce combination of leadership savvy, good judgement based on knowledge and information, and reasonable ability to steer a business in the right direction, which is considerably important. Thus, to become an excellent leader the author must use wisdom (head), feelings and emotions (heart), strength and power (hands) and good communication (tongue) to help others because without leadership within any given situation, there would be chaos and no formability as to where the organisation is headed. In addition, the author must commit in enhancing personal leadership qualities and managerial skills that is needed to initiate and sustain profitable growth for the company. Thus, strong leadership it is essential to the success of any company and therefore it is recognisable that the author should develop qualities of courageousness and patience to strive and become powerful. The author must also, choose competent subordinates, continue to demonstrate high moral standards, and exude charisma, while keeping the control of protocol and process, which will be used to enhance leadership. However, the author should never abuse power and should stay focus and stick up for one another, the author must readily adapt to leadership style to suit the situations, such as, being faced with a crisis, the author ought to take action and use imagination to solve problems and make recommendable suggestions, by simply scanning the business environment. ENTJs should be reminded that not every one is perfect and mistakes are there for everyone, so having quality patience is of foremost and respecting other peoples feelings is appreciated. Even though their personality of sentiments are not powerful, ENTJ must still be mindful the feelings and value judgement ought to sensitive to that individual, because, if submerge emotion and inappropriate problems are found serious problems can occur. Therefore, because ENJT are very informed and extremely creative, the best able to continue to keep head strong and hear others for what they need to say. Always be level-headed and growth will come its way, so that when making judgement and hurting someone, always keep focus that not everyone are leaderships, there must be people to lead, which make you a leader. Another recommendation is to prioritise your time as this will assist in planning and developing in case of an accident or incident occurs, thus, true leaders demonstrate strengths and recognise their weakness. If sound criticism is to take place, be sure that the individual has a strong back and that the criticism is approached in a professional manner and not arrogant as mentioned previously. So in all, leadership skills ought to improve, by making observation from other leaders using a variety of settings, going beyond their prior experience and adjusting or adapting to current business situation is of essences and must be able to develop continued skills. A good leader has a lifetime of study and should acquire indefinable qualities that involve developing and improving leadership skills along with enhancing the managerial skill at the business. Reference Northouse, G. 2007. Leadership Theory and Practices. 3rd Ed. London: Sage Publication,Inc. ORegan, N., and Ghobadian, A. 2004. Leadership and Strategy: Making it happen. Journal of General Management. 29 (3), pp. 76-92. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Kelley, H.H. 1967. Attribution Theory in Sovial Psychology. Cited in D. Levine (Ed.) Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. NE: University of Nebraska Press. Mitchell, T.T. et al., 1981. An Attributional Model of Leadership and the Poor Performing Subordinate: Deveolpment and Validation. Cited in B.M. Staw and L.L. Cummings (Eds). Research in Organisational Behaviour. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Judge, T.A., et al. 2004. Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analytic Test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology. 89 (5). Pp.755-765. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Chen, G., and Bliese, P.D. 2002. The Role of Different Levels of Leadership in Predicting Self and Collective Efficacy: Evidence for Discontinuing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87 (3), pp. 549-556. Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628 Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628. Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628 Knabe, W. 1999. Leadership Issues concerning the Los Angeles City Fire Department. [Online]. Available at: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/pdf/efo30918.pdf [Accessed 25 April 2010]. Bass, B. 1985. Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press. DeHaan, R., and Havighurst, R. 1957. Educating Gifted Children. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Tannenbaum, R. And Schmidt, W. 1958. How to Choose a Leadership Pattern . Harvard Business Review. 36 (2). Pp. 95-101 Mehra, A. et al. 2006. Distributed Leadership in Terms: The Network of Leadership Perceptions and Team Performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 17 (3). Pp.232-245. Guzzo, R. A., and Dickson, M.W. 1996. Terms in Organisation: Recent Research on Performance and Effectiveness. Annual Review of Psychology, 47 (1). 307-338. Herr, J.A. 1998. Developing Leaders and Managers through the use of 360-Degree Performance Appraisals. National Fire Academy. Athanasaw, D.L. 2003. Leadership Styles as perceived by Career Senior Service Executives. International Journal of Public Administration, 26 (10-11). Pp.1207-1236. Athanasaw, D.L. 2003. Leadership Styles as perceived by Career Senior Service Executives. International Journal of Public Administration, 26 (10-11). Pp.1207-1236. Van Knippenberg, B. and van Knippenberg, D. 2005. Leader Self-sacrifice and Leadership Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Leader Prototypically. Journal of Applied Psycology. 90 (1). Pp.25-37. Hersey, P. and K.H. Blanchard. 1977. Management of Organisational Behaviour. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall. Tannenbaum, R. And Schmidt, W. 1958. How to Choose a Leadership Pattern . Harvard Business Review. 36 (2). Pp. 95-101 Lewin, K. 1946. Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2 pp 34-46. Likert 1967 Fieldler, 1967. A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill Handy, co. 1192. The Language of Leadership in Frontiers of Leadership (Ed. Syrett and Hogg). Oxford: Blackwell Blanchard, K., 1998. Gung Ho! New York: Morrow. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes3.asp

Online Communities :: essays research papers

I. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  York university in Canada once created a web site called York University Student Center Online. This web site concern about the student activities on campus and outside. First lunched in 2001, the aim of York’s website is entertainment and media publication. It has a good reputation among other Canadian universities’ websites. The web site archives many of the student activities since its launch till today. Some of the website activities are holding online orientations for new students, weekly newsletter about student clubs and organizations, collecting donations, web register for events and concerts, online discussion with professors. The article York University Student Center Online says that lots of York’s students has got active in the university from behind their computers screens only. These students where in some day in the past the typical character of the passive students. The articles also claims that many crimes came about from behi nd the website. Students misused the other students properties and tried to steal their work and ideas that they have published on the website (yorku.ca). These disadvantages appears to the surface always with the existence of a new web technology. York’s website is an example of what so called an online community for college students. This new form of a web site can also be applied at AUS. Although an online community for AUS students may have some disadvantages, it is beneficial for four main reasons. II. Online communities background Community is an odd and rich term in the world of Internet public life. Like many key conception of the social sciences, it has specific and rigid meaning for scholars, and broader connotation when it is used in the information technology language. According to Christian Crumlish, an online community or virtual community â€Å"is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet† (Crumlish, p. 142). By this definition of the online community, the Internet is the term behind the internationally connected computers that link the people all around the world into online discussions by using the great CMC (Computer-Mediated Communications) technology. This general definition fulfills all the possible activities that can be done in an online community. Howard Rheingold in his book The Virtual Community claims that the important thing to keep in mind is that the worldwide interconnected telecommunication network that we use to make telep hone calls in sharjah and Dubai can also be used to connect computers together at a distance, and you don't have to be an engineer to do it (rheingold.

Foster Care Essay -- Social Issues, Adoption and Safe Family Acta

There are too many children in foster care. Despite federal legislation (viz., the Adoption and Safe Family Act [ASFA], among other legislative directives) designed to reduce the number of children in care, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010) indicates that of the 285,000 children exiting care in 2008, only 52 percent were reunified with their parents or primary caretakers. Although ASFA also has statutory guidelines designed to reduce the amount of time required for the courts to decide permanent placement for children that have been removed from their parents, children exiting foster care in 2008 spent an average of 21.8 months in state custody (U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services). These outcomes create several questions for researchers, two of which are pertinent to the current study: 1) What factors influence whether children are reunified with their families; and 2) What factors influence the timeliness with which reunification occurs? Prior research has attempted to answer these questions by focusing on demographic information such as age, race, education of parents and children (e.g., Courtney, 1994; Wulczyn, 2004), and income (e.g., Courtnety, 2004; Eamon, 2002); family composition such as single parent homes and number of adults in home (e.g., Davis, Landsverk, Newton, & Ganger, 1996; Harris & Courtney, 2003). One caveat to these examinations is that many of them look at factors like e.g., race, family composition, poverty; they did not focus on the processes and/or structures of the juvenile dependency court system itself. The present study attempts to overcome this caveat by examining a process factor—involvement of the parents and their respective legal representatives at early decision-m... ...fathers were not involved (Malm et al., 2008). Children whose non-resident fathers were highly involved also spent less time in foster care (21.4 months) than children whose non-resident fathers were not involved (25.3 months) (Malm et al.). Despite previous research examining father involvement in services and case plan development, a paucity of research remains concerning the influence of father involvement in legal proceedings on dependency outcomes. Although some analysts (such as Edwards, 2009) suggest that including the father in dependency proceedings may lead to favorable outcomes for the child, including relative placement as opposed to foster care and possibly avoiding out-of-home placement altogether, these suggestions have not been empirically tested. This study examines association between father’s involvement in legal proceedings and reunification.

Contemporary Issues in The Merchant of Venice Essay -- Merchant of Ven

Contemporary Issues in The Merchant of Venice       Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is still relevant today because it deals with issues which still affect us. Throughout the play a distinction is made between how things appear and how they are in reality.   The issue of appearance versus reality is demonstrated in varied ways, mainly by the use of real-life situations.   The first representation of this is Shylock's generosity with his money and eagerness to make friends with Antonio when he says, "I say, to buy his favour, I extend this friendship," when all he wants is to take a pound of Antonio's flesh and end his life, "If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him."   Shylock pretends to want to be friends with Antonio, but only wants revenge against the Jew-hater.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The choosing of the three caskets is used as the main explanation of appearance versus reality.   The suitor of Portia must choose either a gold, silver or lead casket, where the right choice will allow the suitor to marry her.   The Prince of Morocco, on choosing the beautiful gold casket with the inscription, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire," sees the message, "All that glisters is not gold," and is thus turned away by Portia.   The Prince of Arragon, on choosing the silver casket with, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves," receives a fool's head, and is told that that is what he deserves.   Bassanio however, on correctly choosing the lead casket with the inscription, "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath," says, "The world is still (constantly) deceived with ornament."   ... ...actions with one another throughout the play. Appearance versus reality is explored when Shylock pretends to be Antonio's friend, with the choosing of the caskets, and when Portia and Nerissa go to court in disguise to help out Antonio and Bassanio.   Racial discrimination is shown in depth with the confrontations of Antonio and Shylock.   Overall 'The Merchant Of Venice' explores both appearance versus reality and racial prejudice, which are two issues that still hold importance in present-day society.    Works Cited and Consulted    Barnet Sylvan.   "Introduction." The Merchant of Venice Ed. Sylvan Barnet.   New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jersey : Prentice-Hall Inc., 1970.   1-10.    Granville-Barker, Harley.   "The Merchant of Venice.   " Shakespeare Ed. Leonard F. Dean.   Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1947.   37-71.   

Occupational Health and Safety in New Zealand

Hand in your reading list/bibliography to class in Week 5 (Gag 19) Hand in Full Assignment Week 5 (Thursday 21 at pm in assignments box) Value: 40% of final mark Format: Essay style format, typed or word processed, well presented with high standard of grammar & punctuation. Please attach BOTH coversheet and marking schedule to the front of your essay.Length: 2,000 words maximum + bibliography (you are allowed a maximum of under or over this figure – this will be strictly adhered to) N.B. the word count for each assignment must be entered on the cover sheet Topic: ‘Although well-defined differences exist among the fields of advertising, marketing, and public relations, there is an Increasing realization that an organization's goals and objectives can be best accomplished through an Integrated approach, not Just through marketing but through all communication functions. (Wilcox et al. 201 3) This integrated approach is often called Integrated Marketing Communications (MIMI C). Describe why this integrated approach is gaining momentum, highlighting the various communication functions, and those areas in which an overlap or integration can realize significantly better results both tactically and strategically for both brands and organizations.

Profile Essay

Mike Koran L. Lykken 1021 Composition 03/09/13 Mike Koran (left) and Doug King (right) â€Å"I’m Doug. And I’m a survivor. † â€Å"I love to have fun! It is in my blood. † Doug speaks this way as if to show signs of life enjoyment behind scarred mental anguish. This is a man who was diagnosed dead in the back of an ambulance and fell into a coma. Doug is not lying when he says he likes to have fun because he is a man suffering from a severe brain injury due to his passion for fun and the thrill of excitement. He was young and doing want any young boy likes to do with a four-wheeler and that his go fast.Laura Stone, writer for dontjudgeme. com, writes; â€Å"Speaking of those toys†¦ While speeding on his quad (ATV) sans helmet, he smacked into a partially hidden tree stump and flew up in the air an estimated 80 to 120 feet, coming straight down on his head. As he lay there convulsing, the ambulance made its way through the bracken to him. He died in t he back of it as they raced back to the hospital, but was able to be brought back to life. He fell into a coma and stayed there for twelve days. † Doug is still looking forward these days and has a recent change in his life.Doug King is a part of Brevard County down here in FL. He lives in Melbourne which is the city next to Palm Bay and his area holds most of the shopping. It is similar to popular Minnesota twin cities shopping spots Maplewood mall/ Rosedale mall combined with a Robert or lake street. Doug believes in honesty, hard work, and perseverance because he is such an interesting character that when you first meet him, you see that he is so outgoing, that it doesn’t even make sense to ask any questions. He has a tremendous background full of life but he also suffered a lot of tragedy.He now is a `†hoarder†, for many reasons, but one in particular is due to a brain injury he suffered which resulted in permanent disability. We will go further into thi s tragedy and its detail because this man had died, for 12 days to be exact, and that lead him to hoarding. He does this as an action of hoarding to establish a memory bank full of material or trash that symbolizes a certain memory. This has worked as a tool for Doug and he tends to need the items to remind him of certain things in the past.Doug reminded me of Forrest Gump by the way he was continuously bringing up life stories and they were similar to the way the movie had such a personal and dramatic story line about one man’s life. Doug is open about his father committing suicide, about his death experience, his hole in his neck from; ripping a feeding tube out after he awoke from his coma. When you first get to know Doug this could all be said with in the first 10 minutes of meeting him because of his outburst of outgoing personality.He explains his tragic four wheel incident by saying â€Å"I can’t remember anything from before my coma but I read stories and I wa s shown pictures. I was in a coma for 12 days after dying in the back of an ambulance. I was brought back to life, stayed in the coma, woke up and freaked out. † He told the story with such poise that you knew he had told this story plenty of times. He explained how his brain damage crippled everything in his life. I started to get the feeling that Doug enjoyed sharing his story so much that he must have had accolades that he talks about. I was just on hoarders the T. V. show! † he answers to me. I am in disbelief! I ignorantly (but necessarily) search Google for him as we are talking. It turns out that Doug King was on an episode of Hoarders. â€Å"Doug is one of those rare people whom soap operas love to put in their stories: his traumatic brain injury was so great; all memories before that tragic day were wiped clean. This was when his hoarding began. † Laura Stone wrote in this article on a critique magazine company running under the domain of heydontjudgeme. com. There you are thinking to yourself why doesn’t this seem odd? It’s my life and I am comfortable with it but even the show had me staying in a nice hotel for the time they were shooting the episode because they didn’t want me to feel any urges to try and get more stuff while they were gone. I need things to keep my brain working right and when I don’t have them I go and get them wherever I can. † Doug says. â€Å"I like to make people laugh when I do something I call common comedy which I define as the old fashioned jokes that we all heard as a kid.I’ll ask a question like (Have you ever got caught jacking off in the closet? ) and the person or people will say no and that’s when I tell them (Good hiding spot aint it!? )†Doug laughs and says that this is what he calls â€Å"common comedy. † Doug is as innocent they come because he is like a child in an adult body and he tries his best every day to keep positive. Doug d oes not have many accomplishments in life but he proceeds to fight his condition and it’s a blessing that the show helped him out.Doug feels the need to keep this mindset going in his life but friends and family are scared that he will not be able to keep it up over time without the proper help. They are concerned for him and they know he is a special person with unfortunate events. Doug is taking it one day at a time. â€Å"I am trying to get into fire fighter class since I did the show. They firefighters of Brevard County inspired me during filming because they showed up and showed they cared. They were interested in seeing the show and its process and they knew I had lived here a long time.They were concerned on how I was living because I didn’t have electricity or water and I was open to many dangers among me. I found ways to live like this and they were shocked because I have the disability. I told them I am a HHH hoarder. I am an honest honorable hoarder. I hono r the smallest piece of item I have even if it is trash. I don’t have much and what I do have I keep. † Doug may not be the best citizen that this country offers but he is just as important as anyone else. His profile can inspire people to either help someone they know or just others in need of this condition that haunts so many people.The world and the people in it can help individuals like this simply by caring enough to help. Doug was fortunate to find a solution to his problems and not everyone will be able to be on hoarders. After the show Doug found that he had new opportunities. His house looks great compared to the way he had it and it is something he enjoys now. He has found new ways to turn his hoarding habits into healthy environment tasks such as cleaning. He has been working on finding new tools to fight against helps him feel connected to memory.These are as simple as organizing, collecting, and formatting his personal belongings in order for his OCD over memory retention. I met Doug after the show and he is a fixture around the area. â€Å"With the power fully restored, he’s now living in his house and working with an organizer to keep his house clean. His sister Amy takes him to his regular therapy sessions, and they’re growing closer again. Doug is the kind of guy who just deserves a break, and I hope these good things coming his way keep on coming. What a sweetheart of a guy.To learn more about traumatic brain injury and the resources available (medical and legal), go to www. braininjury. com† Laura also wraps up her piece with this statement. Dougs Office: http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/pictures/season-6-17213370/#Doug-office-before http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/photos/season-6/doug-living-room-before. JPG http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/photos/season-6/Doug-living-room-after. JPG CITING: www. AETV. com/hoarders LAURA STONE @ http://heydontjudgeme. com/2012/09/18/hoarders-6-2-doug-ruth/ Profile Essay Mike Koran L. Lykken 1021 Composition 03/09/13 Mike Koran (left) and Doug King (right) â€Å"I’m Doug. And I’m a survivor. † â€Å"I love to have fun! It is in my blood. † Doug speaks this way as if to show signs of life enjoyment behind scarred mental anguish. This is a man who was diagnosed dead in the back of an ambulance and fell into a coma. Doug is not lying when he says he likes to have fun because he is a man suffering from a severe brain injury due to his passion for fun and the thrill of excitement. He was young and doing want any young boy likes to do with a four-wheeler and that his go fast.Laura Stone, writer for dontjudgeme. com, writes; â€Å"Speaking of those toys†¦ While speeding on his quad (ATV) sans helmet, he smacked into a partially hidden tree stump and flew up in the air an estimated 80 to 120 feet, coming straight down on his head. As he lay there convulsing, the ambulance made its way through the bracken to him. He died in t he back of it as they raced back to the hospital, but was able to be brought back to life. He fell into a coma and stayed there for twelve days. † Doug is still looking forward these days and has a recent change in his life.Doug King is a part of Brevard County down here in FL. He lives in Melbourne which is the city next to Palm Bay and his area holds most of the shopping. It is similar to popular Minnesota twin cities shopping spots Maplewood mall/ Rosedale mall combined with a Robert or lake street. Doug believes in honesty, hard work, and perseverance because he is such an interesting character that when you first meet him, you see that he is so outgoing, that it doesn’t even make sense to ask any questions. He has a tremendous background full of life but he also suffered a lot of tragedy.He now is a `†hoarder†, for many reasons, but one in particular is due to a brain injury he suffered which resulted in permanent disability. We will go further into thi s tragedy and its detail because this man had died, for 12 days to be exact, and that lead him to hoarding. He does this as an action of hoarding to establish a memory bank full of material or trash that symbolizes a certain memory. This has worked as a tool for Doug and he tends to need the items to remind him of certain things in the past.Doug reminded me of Forrest Gump by the way he was continuously bringing up life stories and they were similar to the way the movie had such a personal and dramatic story line about one man’s life. Doug is open about his father committing suicide, about his death experience, his hole in his neck from; ripping a feeding tube out after he awoke from his coma. When you first get to know Doug this could all be said with in the first 10 minutes of meeting him because of his outburst of outgoing personality.He explains his tragic four wheel incident by saying â€Å"I can’t remember anything from before my coma but I read stories and I wa s shown pictures. I was in a coma for 12 days after dying in the back of an ambulance. I was brought back to life, stayed in the coma, woke up and freaked out. † He told the story with such poise that you knew he had told this story plenty of times. He explained how his brain damage crippled everything in his life. I started to get the feeling that Doug enjoyed sharing his story so much that he must have had accolades that he talks about. I was just on hoarders the T. V. show! † he answers to me. I am in disbelief! I ignorantly (but necessarily) search Google for him as we are talking. It turns out that Doug King was on an episode of Hoarders. â€Å"Doug is one of those rare people whom soap operas love to put in their stories: his traumatic brain injury was so great; all memories before that tragic day were wiped clean. This was when his hoarding began. † Laura Stone wrote in this article on a critique magazine company running under the domain of heydontjudgeme. com. There you are thinking to yourself why doesn’t this seem odd? It’s my life and I am comfortable with it but even the show had me staying in a nice hotel for the time they were shooting the episode because they didn’t want me to feel any urges to try and get more stuff while they were gone. I need things to keep my brain working right and when I don’t have them I go and get them wherever I can. † Doug says. â€Å"I like to make people laugh when I do something I call common comedy which I define as the old fashioned jokes that we all heard as a kid.I’ll ask a question like (Have you ever got caught jacking off in the closet? ) and the person or people will say no and that’s when I tell them (Good hiding spot aint it!? )†Doug laughs and says that this is what he calls â€Å"common comedy. † Doug is as innocent they come because he is like a child in an adult body and he tries his best every day to keep positive. Doug d oes not have many accomplishments in life but he proceeds to fight his condition and it’s a blessing that the show helped him out.Doug feels the need to keep this mindset going in his life but friends and family are scared that he will not be able to keep it up over time without the proper help. They are concerned for him and they know he is a special person with unfortunate events. Doug is taking it one day at a time. â€Å"I am trying to get into fire fighter class since I did the show. They firefighters of Brevard County inspired me during filming because they showed up and showed they cared. They were interested in seeing the show and its process and they knew I had lived here a long time.They were concerned on how I was living because I didn’t have electricity or water and I was open to many dangers among me. I found ways to live like this and they were shocked because I have the disability. I told them I am a HHH hoarder. I am an honest honorable hoarder. I hono r the smallest piece of item I have even if it is trash. I don’t have much and what I do have I keep. † Doug may not be the best citizen that this country offers but he is just as important as anyone else. His profile can inspire people to either help someone they know or just others in need of this condition that haunts so many people.The world and the people in it can help individuals like this simply by caring enough to help. Doug was fortunate to find a solution to his problems and not everyone will be able to be on hoarders. After the show Doug found that he had new opportunities. His house looks great compared to the way he had it and it is something he enjoys now. He has found new ways to turn his hoarding habits into healthy environment tasks such as cleaning. He has been working on finding new tools to fight against helps him feel connected to memory.These are as simple as organizing, collecting, and formatting his personal belongings in order for his OCD over memory retention. I met Doug after the show and he is a fixture around the area. â€Å"With the power fully restored, he’s now living in his house and working with an organizer to keep his house clean. His sister Amy takes him to his regular therapy sessions, and they’re growing closer again. Doug is the kind of guy who just deserves a break, and I hope these good things coming his way keep on coming. What a sweetheart of a guy.To learn more about traumatic brain injury and the resources available (medical and legal), go to www. braininjury. com† Laura also wraps up her piece with this statement. Dougs Office: http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/pictures/season-6-17213370/#Doug-office-before http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/photos/season-6/doug-living-room-before. JPG http://www. aetv. com/hoarders/photos/season-6/Doug-living-room-after. JPG CITING: www. AETV. com/hoarders LAURA STONE @ http://heydontjudgeme. com/2012/09/18/hoarders-6-2-doug-ruth/

Riordan Manufacturing Legal Review

Riordan Manufacturing Legal Review Cody Morse BSA310 10/29/12 Morris Polston Riordan Manufacturing Legal Review Upon reviewing Riordan Manufacturing’s legal section I found the page to be devoid of any information regarding to current business system. However, the page does detail the relationship between Riordan Manufacturing and their legal partners, Litteral & Finkel, who have been legal representatives of Riordan Manufacturing since the company’s founding.Litteral & Finkel are global but lack an office in China to directly assist Riordan Manufacturing on its legal matters regarding their future expansion into Shanghai. The Legal page contributes information regarding the board of directors and the basic governing policies regarding it. Litteral and Finkel have stated that they can send attornies from their closest offices to help aide Riordan Manufacturing should the need arise.Although this is helpful and most useful it would be great to see a virtual meeting syste m incorporated into the communication between both parties (Apollo Group, Inc. , 2012). It is would recommend that both Riordan Manufacturing and Litteral & Finkel, invest in the implementation of a virtual meeting software such as Citrix Go-to-meeting. This would allow for face to face video communication regarding legal matters and would also facilitate realtime document sharing between the parties.An issue with security has also been found during the review. A memorandum was marked confidential however it was protected by any incription. We can see no security measures to protect information internally or externally. It is our recommendation that firewalls be added to all locations to protect from outside interference. It would also be wise to start using a program like Bitlocker on all hard drives. Works Cited Apollo Group, Inc. (2012). Legal. Retrieved 10 20, 2012, from Riordan Manufacturing:

Alzheimer’s Disease Research Paper Essay

â€Å"Five million people in America have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and one in three seniors will die because of this disease of another form of dementia† ( Lawrence Robinson). Alzheimer’s is a disease that gradually worsens with time, and is incurable. This horrible disease is also hereditary and can cause a family much pain. I’ve experienced Alzheimer’s first hand. My grandfather was diagnosed in April of 2007 and passed away April of 2012. It was a long a winding journey and I remember all the stages of his illness really well. The first sign of Alzheimer’s is memory loss, especially forgetting recently learned information. I remember like it was yesterday. The first time my grandpa did something strange that raised a red flag. Me and my brother were staying with our grandparents one weekend I was 11 and my brother 15. One night me maw told us guys (me, my brother and granddad) to get some food she had ordered from a place called Abe’s that we were oh so familiar with. We got in the truck and headed down the road, carrying on conversation we didn’t even realize that we had passed our destination. The truck stopped at Poppies, puzzled I asked what we are doing here. My grandpa looked back at me and explained that we were picking up dinner. I laughed and said we are supposed to go to Abe’s. He gave me a real dumbfounded look and said lets go inside. He proceeded to go to the counter and asked for our order that me maw had placed we begged him to get in the car we looked so stupid. Finally my brother got my grandmother on the phone and handed it to him. She chewed him out, like a dog with his tail between his legs he walked out we followed suite. At that time in my life I had not the slightest clue of any mental illness such Alzheimer’s but I’m pretty sure my brother did. He stared out the window, not saying a word the whole way back as me and grandpa laughed and giggled about the incident. Throughout my research I have found that â€Å"Alzheimer’s is hereditary and in some studies say it skips a generation†( Mayo Clinic staff). In my case could be me that inherits this disease. Knowing what I know now I’ll have check-ups annually, not because I’m scared of dying but for the quality of life I may live. â€Å"Alzheimer’s attacks four of the 23 chromosomes in a human’s body. It is similar to Down syndrome just happening in a later age†( Jon Glass). In the play we are talking about, in my opinion Willy has this disease and can be important because one of his sons could inherit it. I find it strange that no one in Willy’s family is concerned or wants to take him to a doctor to find out what’s going on. Alzheimer’s disease is a very cruel illness and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. I’ve seen the things that monster of a thing can do to the sick, and the loved ones caring for the victim. I’ve learned the best thing to do is to get help, be patient and love the ill unconditionally.

The importance of speaking and writing proper English in your field on Essay

The importance of speaking and writing proper English in your field on study - Essay Example The field of study of network administration requires expertise in reading and writing English as a network administrator needs to deal with wide ranges of people, and in this globalized arena, an administrator had to speak with people from diverse areas and countries. English is the most common language. And hence English is very important in this field. Without proper communication a network administrator can not deliver his/her job appropriately. (Hunt, 2002). A network is a system where a chain of computers are linked with each other so as to transfer data electronically. Not only computers and communication devices, a network with the help of advanced architecture, helps to connect varied type of equipments in order to communicate information in the most convenient way. OSI whose full form is ISO Open Systems Interconnection and SNA whose full form is IBM’s Systems Network Architecture, are the popular architectures known. (Shelly and Rosenblatt, 2009; Steve, 2001 ). Ther e are two network types, one is LAN which is called Local Area Networks and another is Wide Area Networks. LAN basically connect two or more computers, printers and file servers within a limited area such as in office area, or in a college or school by means of cable and wires , which enable the computer system to have an access on a common set of files. Users with the help of LAN operating system can communicate with each other and share printers and storage equipments and can also access the centrally located processors. LAN can act as transfer points if two similar architectures are linked by bridges. Data can get converts across systems if LAN with different architectures are linked through gateways.(Shelly and Rosenblatt, 2009; Steve, 2001 ). Wide Area Networks help to link small networks and computers to large networks over a wide geographical area which includes different continent also. The network is connected through fibres, satellites or else a device commonly used called modem. Internet is such a Wide Area Network which connect users world wide through a collection of networks and gateways. (Shelly and Rosenblatt, 2009; Steve, 2001 ). The roles and responsibilities of a network administrator vary from one organization to the other but the common activity is assignment of network address, routine protocols, and routine table configuration. All these require in depth knowledge. The main objective of a network administrator is to maintain a proper computer hardware and network infrastructure within an IT organization. The main duty of a network administrator is to install new softwares in order to upgrade and update the networks timely, installing a standardized operating system and application in order to maintain the disk images for new computer installs, purchasing new hardware in order to meet the standard requirements, keeping a track of the license expiry dates so as to update the softwares in regular intervals. One of the most important respons ibility of a network administrator is to maintain standards for server installation and application. Besides all these, keeping a proper eye on the performance of the network system, keeping a track of security breaches, preventing poor data management practices are some of the roles of a network administrator. Most organizations put some of the responsibilities