Tuesday, August 25, 2020

civil war :: essays research papers

The main significant land fight was battled at Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. The men who were fighters in these armed forces were volunteers who decided to do battle. They needed to win a fast triumph yet rather found that there was a ton of walking and drill, living outside, illness, awful climate, and fatigue. Where did all the fighters who battled at Gettysburg originate from? For what reason did they decide to do battle? How were the armed forces unique? How were they so much indistinguishable? Exactly who were "Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb"?Welcome! You're presumably here in light of the fact that you are interested about our country's past and the Civil War. At Gettysburg National Military Park, it is the officer student of history's business to examine this dubious time in our country's history and give a clarification, or understanding, of these occasions to stop guests. Sound intriguing? All things considered, it is! Investigate these pages and check whether you have the stuff to be a lesser history specialist! What began the Civil War? The Civil War didn't start at Gettysburg. It started in 1861 when Southern states pronounced themselves free by severance and framed the Confederacy. The United States was part into equal parts and an awful Civil War was the outcome. What Caused the Civil War? The primary significant land fight was battled at Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. The men who were troopers in these militaries were volunteers who decided to do battle. They needed to win a speedy triumph yet rather found that there was a great deal of walking and drill, living outside, illness, terrible climate, and fatigue. Where did all the fighters who battled at Gettysburg originate from? For what reason did they decide to do battle? How were the armed forces unique? How were they so much indistinguishable? Exactly who were "Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb"? 1863 was the most basic year of the Civil War and for the expectations of the Confederacy. For a long time, the Union and Confederate armed forces in the east struggled with one another in Virginia and in Maryland. Confederate General Robert E. Lee prompted Confederate president Jefferson Davis that everything looked good to attack the North that mid year. In June, very nearly 78,000 Confederates advanced northward into Pennsylvania with the help of southern pioneers loaded up with high expectations that another triumph would guarantee freedom for the South. Their expectations were run at the Battle of Gettysburg, which occurred during the initial three days of July 1863.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Problems and Aspirations of Youth Essay Example for Free

Issues and Aspirations of Youth Essay Presentation: Giving hands a shot contemporary composition and afterward ruling over hearts of millions isn't that simple as has been demonstrated by one of the conspicuous authors of the day †Chetan Bhagat. Not very many creators have figured out how to contact such a wide crowd as Chetan Bhagat. There is inventiveness of substance in his works and when he composes individuals feel as though it is their story. He is a marvel that has influenced everyone, contacted everybody’s life. Indian Publishing will currently be isolated into pre and post Chetan Bhagat. He has made those sorts of milestones. Chetan Bhagat ventures his readers’ perspective in his compositions. As indicated by him,† A writer’s first occupation is to inspire an emotional response, and not to satisfy elitist circles,† He does it via thinking about his perusers and tuning in to them,† It can’t be only the language, as it is basically the basic language of the individuals. It is progressively about what is being said and conveyed that strikes a chord.† Chetan firmly accepts that the language ought to be informal a mainstream fiction must be a discourse with the individuals in the city. CHETAN BHAGAT:- A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chetan Bhagat (conceived on 22 April,1974) is a contemporary Indian writer who has composed four books in particular :- â€Å" Five Point Someone-What not to do at IIT†, â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, â€Å"The 3 Mistakes of My Life† and â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, individually. He experienced childhood in Delhi in a Punjabi family in an unsure home condition where his folks used to battle a great deal. His dad, a military official, was extremely exacting and he wasn’t permitted to sit in front of the TV or movies. Along these lines, Chetan and his sibling used to make up film stories and maybe that’s where this thoughtfulness of composing all jumped up. Bhagat went to Army Public School (1978-1991), Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. He contemplated Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi (1991-1995), and afterward learned at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad (1995-1997), where he was named â€Å"The Best Outgoing Student† He went gaga for his IIM Ahmadabad cohort Anusha and they in the long run got hitched. His tale â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, is an anecdotal rendition of his romantic tale. In the wake of moving on from IIT and IIM, he joined Peregrine, a budgetary assistance organization in Hong-Kong. It shut down in a half year however Chetan remained on in Hong-Kong for a long time, moving to Goldman Sachs. It was to demonstrate hatred for his manager that he began composing his first novel. Most likely it was an incredible second for Bhagat yet he was in a bank and disappointed. His supervisor was extremely terrible. So to render retribution on him. He began writing in office. CHETAN BHAGAT’S WRITING STYLE AND CHARACTERS The key to Chetan Bhagat’s achievement is he writes in normal English and it is consoling for youngsters to realize somebody comprehends what they are experiencing. As it were, Bhagat’s composing style will in general be basic with direct stories and clear narrating. His heroes will in general be named after symbols of Hindu god Vishnu, as Hari, Shyam, Govind or Krishna. Every one of his books have a number in the title (for example ‘five’ in the first, ‘one’ in the second, ‘three in the third and ‘two’ in the fourth book.) At the point when gotten some information about this, Bhagat answered that he is a broker and he can’t get numbers off of his mind. Bhagat, 35, is the first to concede that he is no Arundhati Roy, the Indian Booker Prize winning writer and says he realizes pundits feel his books are shallow. In any case, Bhagat, who appreciates a demigod like notoriety among his perusers, matured for the most part 13 to 30, said he has a definitive riposteâ€â€Å"My books sell.† Bhagat says that he composes for ‘ordinary youthful people’ who feel choked by their parents’ want for them to become specialists, legal counselors, or designers. As indicated by Bhagat-Indian adolescents live under tension cooker conditions to succeed. There is relentless rivalry to win puts in India’s world class colleges with adolescents constrained to score exceptionally from essential to secondary school. Access to top colleges frequently requires 90% in addition to midpoints and most kids have afterschool mentoring to achieve such stamps. A paragon of this way of thinking can be found in his novel â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, where the saint, who picks up the calls from confused Americans about their cooking apparatuses, remarks,† Every cousin of mine is turning into a specialist or engineer,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.You can say I am the odd one out of my family.† Bhagat accepts that India will in general have a scholastic and social upheaval to forestall youngsters essentially spewing what they realize without deduction. He needs to pass on this message across to the Indian youth-regardless of whether they don’t get stratospheric marks, they are as yet qualified for an upbeat life; and it’s not the apocalypse on the off chance that they fizzle. He for the most part discusses youngsters’ stresses, their tensions and each one of those things which engross them, by methods for his compositions. His composing subjects incorporate parental scholarly weight alongside pre-marriage sex, drinking and different points untouchable in socially moderate India. CHETAN BHAGAT’S NOVELS 1. FIVE POINT SOMEONE-WHAT NOT TO DO AT IIT! â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦.† was his first book which received a blustery, amusing tone to investigate the lives of test mistreated understudies who pack to get into the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and afterward defy the stifling environment of scholarly rivalry. It includes delicate medications, hitting the bottle hard, and an issue between an understudy and his professor’s girl. All things considered, the tale of â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  rotates around three studentsHari, Ryan and Alok who originate from three unique foundations. The book is about their years in IIT Delhi and how they adapt to the weight of studies, family and connections. The book was generally welcomed by people in general, particularly among the more youthful age, and presented to Bhagat an enormous after. It was adjusted into a play by the venue bunch ‘Madras Players’ and furthermore by ‘Evam’. This book was adjusted into a film called ‘3 Idiots’, however Bhagat has expressed that he was not associated with the scriptwriting in any case, and was engaged with a debate with the chief and the maker of the film over attributing his commitment to the content. Coordinated by Raj Kumar Hirani, and featuring Aamir Khan, R. Madhvan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, and Boman Irani in significant jobs, it was discharged on 25 December, 2009. About seven days after the arrival of the film, ‘3 Idiots’, Chetan Bhagat guaranteed for the credit for the story and this credit push turned into a national issue. On January 1, 2010, Star News channel got Chetan Bhagat, Aamir khan and Abhijat Joshi-the supposed content author, changed to one another at their separate places through Star News journalists. During this program, Chetan Bhagat guaranteed that before the arrival of the film ‘3 Idiots’, neither one of the hes had been indicated the see of the film nor given any cooperation in the content composition. Around then he was informed that the adjustment of ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to ‘3 Idiots’, was only a few percent or at the most only five percent and rest of the plot was unique, however when the film discharged and hit the Box Office as the greatest hit of the time, Chetan felt terrible, on the grounds that the story was not only five percent from his book rather it was seventy to eighty percent of his book. He saved mum for seven days yet when his fans and perusers continued asking him for what valid reason he didn’t make any move or show any response against the creators, by then of time Bhagat looked for the haven of the media and came into the lime-light with his credit guarantee. Then again Aamir khan in one of his meetings clarified that there was no similitude between the film and ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ and furthermore as Aamir had not perused Bhagat’s epic, Bhagat restricted him to experience ‘Five Point Someone’, saying that both the film and the novel were very unique in relation to one another in story just as plot. Also, presently after the arrival of the film, seeing it to be a success Chetan Bhagat is guaranteeing for credit? It is very off-base on his part since he needs to grab the credit of Abhijat Joshi-the genuine content essayist of ‘3 Idiots’, who took a shot at the story alongside Raj Kumar Hirani †the executive. Aamir additionally cross examined Chetan Bhagat saying that Raju Hirani had coordinated ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and its continuation ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’, so Chetan Bhagat would guarantee that these two films were likewise his manifestations! Aamir named C hetan Bhagat as exposure hungry essayist. Chetan Bhagat shielded himself by saying that the maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra had disclosed to him that there was not really any similitude between the film and the novel separated from the five percent of free motivation. He included that he depended upon Vidhu and said so to Aamir disallowing him experiencing ‘Five Point Someone’. It was simply after the arrival of ‘3 Idiots’ that Chetan Bhagat understood that he had been hoodwinked as Vidhu kept him in dull by lying and that was the reason he guaranteed for credit. He said that according to contract marked among him and Vidhu, he had been guaranteed full equity by showing his name among the primary star-cast, yet his name was given towards the end among assistants’ names in the moving cast. This truly squeezed him. At one event during the advancement of the film ‘3 Idiots’, collaborating with the media people

Sunday, August 9, 2020

MIT, You Make Me Wanna Wait!

MIT, You Make Me Wanna Wait! (Come to the 3rd floor of the Student Center at 12 noon on Friday of CPW. There will be several of us, including a MIT professor, talking about why this can be a really good idea.) So you got into one of the best, most stimulating and resource-rich universities in the world. Welcome â€" MIT’s an amazing place (no matter what you’re here to study), and I bet you’re really eager to come â€" not just for Campus Preview Weekend, but to start your academic and life voyage as a freshman this fall semester. You’re probably already planning your summer, the changes from home to college what to bring, how you’ll spend those last days with friends and family, perhaps visiting your favorite childhood haunts in a last bid to say goodbye. But what if you held off on all that? Sounds crazy, right? â€" because you want to get away from your parents as soon as possible, start your own life, and not be told when to go to bed and what not to eat well, whatever the reason, college is a way to leave home that’s accepted by both your friends and your folks (no matter how conservative), and you’re all ready to GO. It feels like the right thing to do, because after high school, don’t all good students go to college? And besides, what else would you do to prepare for that promising future you’ve always dreamed of (and, no doubt, the one everyone *expects* you to have)? Let me ask you something else: if you had an entire year to do anything you want, with unlimited time, no expectations, no SATs or class ranks or gossip or student club presidencies to get in the way what would you do? Let’s just pretend that after you graduate, instead of just returning to school in the fall, you finally get to work on that dream project, tinker in that lab, or spend a year overseas (all expenses paid) teaching something you know and learning everything you never knew all at the very same time. And you’d wake up every day knowing that MIT’s just down the road. Maybe you just want to spend time working to have some cash during your college years. Or maybe you just want to decompress after the rigorous academic program that got you into MIT in the first place. The sky is the limit, and odds are, you’ll never have the chance to be so free ever again in your life. So what’s the rush? It’s not like you wouldn’t be going to MIT. You’d just be hanging out for a few more months to get a better handle on what you’re really coming here for. This might sound just a bit surprising, but I’m willing to bet that in that year off, you’ll learn more than you ever would as a college freshman. No, perhaps you wouldn’t be sitting in a classroom, but you’d be doing a ton of that other kind of learning â€" the learning that helps you figure out where you’re going, who you are as a person, and what you were put on this earth to do. It’s a fact that a lot of people here change their majors â€" heck, maybe several times â€" because they just aren’t sure what they want to do. Taking time away from school can help you be better prepared for these kinds of decisions â€" you’ll likely arrive on campus a more confident and prepared individual, with some time away from HS to really think about what you want out of life. Are you really sure that you want to be a doctor, or an engineer, or whatever it is that you’ve got your heart set on right now? Do parents, family or friends suggest that you be one thing, yet you’d real ly prefer to be something else? (Why not take some time to sort it out, spending time in hospitals, labs, or perhaps as an intern at a nearby firm?) No, taking a breather after high school isn’t necessarily for everyone. If you qualify for full financial aid (your family’s tuition contribution is zero) at MIT, it may well cost you less to come straight away and get a head start on your degree. (For the vast majority, that’s not the case, and your year off would likely be far less of a financial undertaking than a year of college.) In my case, I took two years off and arrived on campus with a lot of perspective, but had to spend time getting back into the student mindset so I could put in the kind of effort it takes to succeed in classes here. Things are great now that I’ve had some time to adjust â€" I’m very glad I took the time I did, and I don’t have any regrets. I’m a far more directed, focused person than I would have been, and I’ve got a better idea of what I want from MIT than (dare I say) a whole lot of my classmates. I came from a rural area where education wasn’t especially valued, and I never gave a p assing thought to university admissions as a high school student. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I really began to investigate anything about college! MIT endorses the taking of gap years because of the unique opportunity to gain purpose and personal enrichment like you’ll never be able to during a full-time academic term. Sure, college is an amazing place to be, and lots of exciting things happen here, but there’s far more to life and the world than your university campus. It has always been helpful for me to keep that in mind, especially when things get rough, because I just bounce back and march on. And I feel like I’m getting a lot more out of this place because of it! Come talk to me and fellow students, as well as a MIT professor, during CPW â€" we’ll be having a Gap Year Panel on Friday at 12 noon in the Student Center, 3rd floor, Private Dining Rooms 1 2. Parents are warmly welcomed and encouraged to come too!

Saturday, May 23, 2020

A Brief Biography of Fidel Castro - 1316 Words

His full name is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz and he was born on August 13, 1926 in a Birà  n, Cuba. Castro’s parents are Angel Castro(father) and Lina Ruz(mother). His father was a wealth landowner while his mother was a cook and maid to Angel. Castro was the third of six children in his family. His parents sent Fidel to a Jesuit boarding school where he was disciplined and showed the true potential of his intellect. While in boarding school, he also showed a much bigger interest in sports rather than academics. He even won an award for best all around athlete. Castro later went on to attend the University of Havana in 1945 where he began his studies in law. While attending the university, he was involved in many protest movements and rebellions. As a lawyer, Castro would take actually take cases of people who were not able to pay him so at often times he was short on money. Fidel began to notice the issues of Cuba such as poverty, injustice, and corruption. A passion grew wit hin him that wanted to fix these issues of Cuba so Castro joined a political group that had the same views and goals as him. This new political party he joined was called the Cuban People’s Party. Fidel later became a candidate for Congress for his political party in 1952. This is when he led a group of armed citizens to attack the Moncada Army Barracks as stated on the previous page. After Castro became Cuba’s new leader on January 9, 1959, he passed several laws based on his strong view of moralityShow MoreRelatedLee Harvey Oswald’s Motives for killing President John F. Kennedy646 Words   |  3 Pageshis mental health led the way in making him the most famous assassin of the twentieth century. Lee Harvey Oswald had a rough childhood. He grew up without a father figure in his life so he was lacking direction from the most important source (Biography: Lee Harvey Oswald ). His father died two months before Oswald was born, leaving his mother with three small children. As a result, â€Å"his mother would frequently neglect and leave Lee with various babysitters† (Diamond). These babysitters reportedlyRead MoreThe Politics of Marco Rubio Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pages2006-2008 terms, Rubio was elected Speaker of the Florida State House in November 2006. Marco Rubio is a part of the Republican Party and is a Capitalist. Body: Marco Rubio was born on May 28, 1971 in Miami, Florida after his parents fled Cuba when Fidel Castro took over. At the age of eight, his family moved to Las Vegas where his father worked as a bartender for Sam’s Town, and his mom worked as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace. Six months later, in 1985, they moved back to Miami where his fatherRead MoreBiography of Barbara Walters1711 Words   |  7 Pagesand Bill Clinton paramour Monica Lewinsky made broadcasting history as the highest-rated news program ever broadcast on a single network. Her other notable interviews range from controversial figures like Jack Kevorkian to political leaders like Fidel Castro. Currently, Walters holds the notable distinction of having interviewed every U.S. President since Richard Nixon. She is also acclaimed for her ability to elicit candid interviews from a bevy of celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Sophia Loren,Read MoreThe Most Controversial American Presidents9333 Words   |  38 Page semergency hospitalization at Yale-New Haven Hospital from January until March. In June 1934 he was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and diagnosed with colitis. When Kennedy graduated from Choate in June 1935 his superlative in The Brief, the school yearbook (of which he had been business manager), was Most likely to Succeed. In September 1935, he sailed on the SS Normandie on his first trip abroad with his parents and his sister Kathleen to London with the intent of studying forRead MoreBible Versus the Toran12356 Words   |  50 Pagesand excludes any reference to an Old Testament. The Old Testament consists of a collection of writings believed to have been composed at various times from the twelfth to the 2nd century BC. The books were written in classical Hebrew, except for brief portions (Ezra 4:8 nd 7:12-26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:47:28) which are in the Aramaic language, a sister language which became the lingua franca of the Semitic world. Much of the material, including many genealogies, poems and narratives, is thought

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Success Of Teachers And No Child Left Behind - 2314 Words

The aim of educators is to provide opportunities for students to attain three primary goals that facilitate participation, contributions, and success not only in schools, but in the community as well. Those three goals are academic skill expertise, social skill expertise, and lifestyle skill expertise. While easier said than done, these goals are hindered by many social and behavioral problems. The most popular desire from teachers is related to behavior and classroom management (Elam, Rose, Gallup, 1999). The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emphasize the use of scientifically based research to improve outcomes for students. From this emphasis, response-to-intervention has evolved. In the early 1990s, many schools started enforcing a zero-tolerance discipline system to try and control misbehaving students, which eventually led to more out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Regardless of opinion, no current evidence in shown that sus pension and expulsion provide positive changes in student behavior (Skiba, 2000). Also, studies show racial, socioeconomical, and gender prejudices when dealing with school discipline and students with disabilities are more likely to be suspended than their peers (Krezmien, Leone, Achilles, 2006). Higher suspension and expulsion rates are also intermingled with lower academic performance (Skiba, 2008) and an increase with juvenile law enforcement. The means by which educatorsShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Impact of No Child Left Behind1000 Words   |  4 PagesThe No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was a piece of legislation proposed by the administration of George W. Bush. The legislation required states to develop educational plans to address issues of assessments, standards, and accountability. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states would have to administer tests yearly in reading, math, and science. No Child Left Behind holds school districts accountable for student achiev ement or lack of achievement. No Child Left Behind legislation is basedRead MoreEssay on The No Child Left Behind Act1440 Words   |  6 PagesInitiated in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 intended to prevent the academic failures of educational institutions and individual students, as well as bridge achievement gaps between students. This act supports the basic standards of education reform across America; desiring to improve the learning outcomes of America’s youth. No Child Left Behind has left many to criticize the outcomes of the Act itself. Questions have risen concerning the effectiveness of NCLB, as well as theRead MoreEssay Universal Teaching for Conditional Education954 Words   |  4 Pagesacknowledgement accountability for this has left a bitter taste in concerned parent’s mouths. The people who are being neglected the most by the educational reforms are the students; No Child Left Behind, educational romanticism, and teachers unions al l play an equal roll in this blatant disregard for the wellbeing and future success of the students. No Child Left Behind is seen as a huge detriment to education process and neglects the students. Diane Ravitch sums up No Child Left Behind’s effect on educationRead MoreThe Ramifications of Government Reform on Education Essay1354 Words   |  6 Pageseducation in America. However, government acts like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Common Core curriculums have been put into effect in order to reverse America’s position. They are best understood as tools to bridge the achievement gap regardless of what a child may look like, sound like, or what part of the nation they come from. These programs are designed to help all children excel in school no matter what. Even though the No Child Left Behind Act significantly increased the average performanceRead MoreNo Child Left Behind Act Essay642 Words   |  3 PagesNo Child Left Behind Act Making the NCLB Act effective is quite a chore for the federal and state legislation. The positive influences for the act are quite controversial. Accountability standards are set and measured on a yearly basis by each individual state. The educator’s qualifications and standards are also state and federally mandated. Reading, math and writing are the key academic subjects that are measured. The goal is to close the gap among race, socioeconomic groups, and disabledRead MoreNo Child Left Behind1538 Words   |  7 PagesWe all have heard the key to success is education. However, in the United States, that key to success is far fetched. America as a whole needs many improvements. While America will never be a perfect society as I dream, America needs to take a step forward to improving the country for all. A better education system will be a step toward improving the United States. The education system in America continues to fail our children and falls behind compared to other countries. Children today are tomorrow’sRead MoreThe Debate Over the No Child Left Behind Act Essay1014 Words   |  5 PagesThe current debates surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are both positive and negative. Many politicians and people that previously supported the Act are now standing against it. In the beginning many supported the new Act because everyone was aware that a change needed to happen in the education system and the proposal of No Child Left Behind seemed like the answer we were looking for. As the No Child Left Behind requirements began to be felt in the school systems across AmericaRead MoreEssay On No Child Left Behind1333 Words   |  6 Pagessaid Steve Eklund, a retired California teacher. â€Å"Four words drove me into retirement—No Child Left Behind. I could no longer tend to the needs and wants of my students. All I was supposed to do was to get them ready to take tests.† Intro (with thesis): The surviving NCLB mindset of standardized tests being an accurate measure of a students achievement is a problem because it affects our student’s education and increases performance pressure on teachers. What people fail to realise is that studentsRead MoreLegal Roles And Responsibilities Of Teachers1035 Words   |  5 Pagesand Responsibilities of Teachers Teacher’s legal roles and responsibilities in the United States is a very important to know, especially for new teachers. Along the way of teacher’s career, and as a public figure, they have the same rights as anybody. The Bill of Rights assurances each citizen the rights to bear arms, free speech, and religion, the Constitution helps teachers to understand their rights. A teacher s responsibility is vital to guaranteeing that every child obtains the best educationRead MoreFederal And State Laws Play Essay1202 Words   |  5 Pagesshow their interest in their child (Amatea, 2013). California Department of Education advocates with policies and laws to support parent involvement to support student’s academic success. Federal and state laws play a role in linking families and schools together to build and strengthen social, emotional, and academic growth of children (Amatea, 2013). Parent Involvement Parents should always be an essential and ongoing part of school curriculum; just because their child starts school it does not

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Jackson’s Knowledge Argument Free Essays

Dualism is the theory that our world is not entirely physical but is made up of mind and matter, therefore uggesting the mind is not the brain (brain is matter, the mind is a separate entity). Cartesian Dualism states: Each mind is an immaterial substance capable of independent existence. The characteristic property of this substance is thought. We will write a custom essay sample on Jackson’s Knowledge Argument or any similar topic only for you Order Now The physical world is a material substance, capable of independent existence. The characteristic property of this substance is extension (taking up space). (Lecture 1, DCT). Monism, in contrast to dualism states that the mind and brain are unified, and that there is no division between the two. Those who support monism believe that there is only one reality. Physicalism is a kind of monism as it is the belief that different approaches to the mind-body problem, let us look at the knowledge argument by Frank Jackson, who theorises that physicalism is false. Jackson describes two thought experiments to support his anti-physicalism theory. The first centres around Mary, a brilliant scientist who is confined to a black and white room, who learns everything through black and white, including a black and white television. Mary is an expert in the neurophysiology of vision learns all the physical information about what happens to the brain when we see colour. Jackson (1982, p. 30) states: â€Å"She discovers, for example, Just which wave-length combinations from the sky stimulate the retina, and exactly how this produces via the central nervous system the contraction of vocal chords and expulsion of air from the lungs that results in the uttering of the sentence â€Å"The sky is blue†. When Mary leaves the room, and sees the colour red for the first time, Jackson raises the question of whether Mary will learn anything or not. Jackson claims that yes indeed Mary does, because she is having a new visual experience that she has not had before, despite having all the physical information prior to this. Jackson (1982, p. 130) goes on â€Å"But then it is inescapable that her previous knowledge was incomplete. But she had all the physical information. Ergo there is more to have than that, and Physicalism is false†. Jackson believes that qualia has been left out of this story. qualia relates to our own subjective experiences. When I see a colour, smell a perfume, I am subjected toa conscious experience that is only relevant to me, no one else can experience these sensations the way I do. The following thought experiment in Jackson’s paper explains this further. Fred, presented with a bunch of ripe tomatoes, separates them n to two groups. Fred has better colour vision than anyone else, but manages to separate the tomatoes into two groups, redl and red2. Whilst we may categorise all the tomatoes as simply red, Fred sees clearly two different types of red, in the way we would distinguish yellow from green. Suppose we know all about Fred’s physiology and discover is a super ability to separate colours on the red spectrum, it does not actually tell us what it is like to see colour from Fred’s perspective, or his colour experience. No amount of physical information about Fred can tell us what it is like o see colours in the same way as Fred does. Furthermore, if we were to implant Fred’s brain into another beings body, it still would not tell us anything about Fred’s conscious experience of seeing red at this present moment in time. Thomas Nagel’s paper What is it like to be a bat? reinforces the theory that physicalism leaves something out. If we look at physicalism objectively, for example, look at the facts about Marys physiology that enable to her to see, we can know what happens to the optic nerve and retina when Mary sees colour, or light, but her experience of seeing he colour red is a subjective one. This experience is told from the first person point of view, therefore Nagel suggests that we cannot be objective about other people’s experiences. Nagel (1974, p. 426) describes how we can we observe the physicality of bats: â€Å"Now we know that most bats (the microchiroptera, to be precise) perceive the external world primarily by sonar, or echolocation, detecting the reflections, from objects within range, of their own rapid, subtly modulated, high frequency shrieks†. There is nothing about a bat’s senses that are like ours, and while we can imagine hat it may be like to be another human being, we cannot imagine what it is like to our imagination. As we do not have experience of being a bat our imagination is therefore limited. It is within my capabilities to mimic a bat’s behaviour, eat insects, hang upside down, imagine myself flying, but I cannot share the same experiences as a bat as only a bat knows what it is like to have these experiences. One of the main physicalist responses to Jackson’s knowledge argument is to agree that Mary does learn something new when she leaves the black and white room. Physicalists say hat Mary has gained a new ability rather than a new fact. Remember that Mary possessed all physical information before she left the room. Another physicalist view is that Mary is experiencing a mental state that is a result of the physical impact on her brain when she sees colour. The mental state that happens to Mary is seen as a brain state and therefore deemed to be physical. She already has the knowledge how to see colour but not necessarily knowledge that. Knowledge that is knowing that Paris is the capital of France, whilst knowledge how is knowing how to play the piano. Mary knows how to recognise colour. There is also the matter of causal closure which relates to every physical event having a physical cause. For example, if you bang your toe, is a physical event, which activates the mental state of pain, and to make the decision to hold on to your toe is also a mental state, however it results in your holding your toe, which is a physical event. This physicalist argument is a strong one, but no matter which way we look at the mind-body problem no one can have your conscious experiences. There can be countless thought experiments but each subject will see or feel things differently. Philip Goff (2013) states: â€Å"Physicalism is a grand and ambitious project, but there is a thorn in its side: consciousness. The qualities each of us encounters in our conscious experience – the feeling of pain, the sensations of biting into a lemon, what it’s like to see red – stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the physicalist’s all-encompassing vision of the universe. Consciousness seems to be the one bit of left-over magic that refuses to be physicalised. And it’s all the fault of the zombies†. Goff calls these zombies philosophical (or p-zombies) as they are not supposed to e the zombies that we see in films, it is a zombie that is used in philosophical thought experiments. If your zombie, was opened up, everything about its brain structure would be identical with yours. The thing that the zombie would lack is conscious experience. It might scream when it is stabbed with a knife, but it is because it is programmed to do so, its reactions will not coincide with feelings of pain of pleasure. Goff, talking about zombies summarises this point â€Å"However, your zombie twin has no inner experience: there is nothing that it’s like to be your zombie twin. It’s screaming and running away when stabbed isn’t accompanied by a feeling of pain. Its smiles are not accompanied by any feeling of pleasure†. Goff puts forward an excellent argument to those who identify brain states with conscious states. He talks about what happens in the brain when you are in pain. If a brain surgeon was to open you up to see what is going on in your head if you had been stabbed with a knife they would see c-fibres firing, but they would not see that you are in pain and the c-fibres are firing, they could see what is happening physically but your conscious xperience of pain would not be visible. Goff (2013) explains: â€Å"to say that the feeling of pain is identical with c-fibres firing in your brain, is to say that pain – the thing you sees when she looks in your head after youVe had the knife stuck in you – are one and the same thing. It is to say that we don’t have two things – pain and c-fibres firing – but one thing with two labels† Furthermore, if your zombie was opened up and a brain surgeon wanted to observe their brain activity after being stabbed by a knife, again they would observe the c-fibres firing, but there would be the absence of the onscious experience of pain. If you stab your zombie it will create a physical event, with a physical response but you cannot know what it is like to be your zombie, in the same way that your zombie cannot know what it is like to be you. Your zombie cannot be the same as you physically and consciously as you can only be one person. I do not believe that it is possible to completely resolve the mind-body problem. I am inclined to lean towards Jackson’s point of view that we cannot perceive the colour red from Marys point of view. Not only can we not perceive things visually, if Mary ad been colour blind but gained knowledge how to perceive colours through touch or other senses, it would still be true to say that her experience would be a subjective one. How to cite Jackson’s Knowledge Argument, Papers

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Consumer Packaged Goods Industry free essay sample

Wonderware relies on their services and expertise to take it into new opportunities and markets. From the 625 VAR/OEMs, approximately 2. 5% use Wonderware software to create solutions for food-products machinery in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Out of almost exactly 3,000 SI companies currently active in the Wonderware Solution Provider Program, more than 46% devote some portion of their practice to serving customers in the CPG industry. 63 % of Wonderware Certified SIs and 82% of Wonderware’s ArchestrA Certified SIs are involved in the CPG industry. But just what do we mean when we talk about the CPG industry? The free reference section at Hoover’s online (www. hoovers. com/free/ind/dir. xhtml) includes a useful directory of industries and the following general definition: Consumer Products Manufacturers Companies that design, manufacture and/or market apparel, cleaning products, hand and power tools, home furniture, housewares, linens, and consumer electronics and appliances. However, things may not really be that simple. It’s actually more meaningful to describe the CPG industry as a set of consumer behaviors rather than trying to draw boundaries around a specific list of product names or brands. And the key behavior that best describes the CPG market is that of replenishment on some regular or frequent basis. The items are in fact consumed, in some sense or another, fairly rapidly. This means that they do have a shelf life – whether it’s the perishable nature of a snack food item or the fleeting glamour of a cell phone with features like text or pictures or videos. And of course that can mean that the value of an entire warehouse inventory, for a whole generation of product can go to zero in a hurry! Those behaviors tend to result in a steady flow of small recurring expenses (for a tube of toothpaste, a pack of beverages or even the latest personal electronic gadget) rather than large infrequent ones like the acquisition of a major capital asset for manufacturing. The problem for our manufacturing customers is that those small replenishable items still require the major manufacturing assets to produce them. The ability to rapidly reconfigure and re-task those expensive production machines and factories when customer whims change – in other words, agile manufacturing – can make the difference between profitability and receivership. The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Industry and Solution Providers Page 3 2. Industry Comparisons The financial research tools at www. etrade. com (account membership required) offer some useful comparisons between the consumer goods industry and other major industry sectors. It’s not necessarily the fastest-growing business ector – compared to general technology, financial or energy companies – but certainly respectable when it comes to overall sector profit margins. The non-cyclical sub-category of the CPG industry, in fact, ranks well above the Transportation, Basic Materials, and Capital Goods and Services industries. The consumer cyclical category includes apparel, recreational products, personal electronics, automobiles and replacement parts such as tires. The non-cyclical category includes beverages, tobacco, personal products, office supplies and food items. The Industry Browser information tools at the Yahoo! Finance Industry Center (biz. yahoo. com/p/3conameu. html) may surprise you in terms of the relative sizes and profitability of some segments in the Consumer Goods categories. For instance, the top five segments by market capitalization are as follows: The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Industry and Solution Providers Page 4 Segment Auto manufacturers Food – major diversified Cigarettes Beverages – soft drinks Cleaning products Market Capitalization ($B) 296 281 269 266 205 The largest segments are not necessarily the most profitable, however. The top five segments by overall profit margin are: Segment Cigarettes Cleaning products Beverages – brewers Beverages – soft drinks Confectioners Net Profit Margin (%) 17 13 12 11 10 Somewhat surprisingly, the largest segment by market capitalization – Auto Manufacturers – is one of the least profitable at just 1. 8%. The sizable and highly visible – but keenly competitive – Electronic Equipment category is squeezed down to just 2. 5% overall net margin. 3. What CPG Companies Need from Solution Providers For our Consumer Packaged Goods customers to succeed, they must deal with a number of internal and external pressures and demands. Those internal drivers include: Protecting or increasing profits Reducing costs related to: o Supply-chain management – Net asset turns on raw materials and finished goods inventories, efficient sourcing decisions and reducing scrap or return rates o Manufacturing – Improving operational efficiency and employee productivity o Information technology – Cost containment and outsourcing, standardization and consolidation of server assets, increasing reusability, and an application infrastructure that protects and maximizes key databases and information assets Mergers, acquisitions, breakups and spin-offs The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Industry and Solution Providers Page 5 o o Integration (or disconnection! ) of supply-chain linkages Operational complexity and startup costs – dealing with dissimilar bestpractice philosophies, variations in processes, applications and technology, and training to improve and align vital human resources. External forces and demands that our CPG customers face include: Meeting changing customer needs and requirements Preserving brand integrity – through product quality and safety as well as regulatory requirements Speed to market with more (and often complicated) new products. Now, with all those pressures facing our Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturing customers, what can we – a world-class community of solution providers and a world-class software supplier – provide to help them face such challenges? First of all, we can provide a platform for growth – an eco-vision – that can grow and evolve as the fickle customer marketplace changes and the companies adapt. We can offer an architecture built around re-usable components – not just software objects, but encapsulated best practices and intellectual capital. That means lower project-to-project costs and a common service architecture from production to process. We can deliver an architecture for incremental investment, avoiding the â€Å"big bang† approach that held back the promise of advanced manufacturing execution systems (MES) for so long, for example.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

British Imperialism In Africa Essays - International Relations

British Imperialism in Africa British Imperialism in Africa The motives of Britain's imperialist activities in Africa from 1869 to 1912 were strategic and defensive. While other motives did exist, such as to colonize, to search for new markets and materials, to attain revenge and world prestige, to convert natives to Christianity, and to spread the English style of orderly government, the main motives evident in many events of the period showed attempts to safeguard the country and protect former land holdings. As its free trade and influential relationship with Africa was threatened, Britain began to turn trade agreements into stronger and more formal protectorates and even colonies. Britain acted to protect the route east and its connection with the Indian Empire. Rather than to expand the British Empire, Britain fought battles over territory to prevent French or German control in Africa. Britain's imperialist involvement in the scramble for Africa occurred in response to the actions of the French and even German. Britain had a history of African trade agreements and, compared to its European counterparts, the highest degree of control in Africa. France and Britain began an earnest race for the Niger in 1883, agreeing then to divide the territory--Lagos to Britain and Timbuktu for France. This did not neutralize the competition, however. Britain had to act in Nigeria (1885) and Nyasaland (1891) to protect existing spheres of commercial and missionary activities. France's strategy to declare its "right of occupation" and then seek negotiation further urged Britain's aggressive maintenance of territory. The British annexed Bechuanaland (1885) partly to guard against the Germans; partly to prevent its absorption by the Transvaal, which would have increased the power of the Boers. (Faber 57-58) Later, in 1888, the French threatened the Britain dominated Nile Valley, hinting they might divert the water of the Nile to render the area useless. In East Africa the British had strategic motives to protect the Suez Canal and the route to the east. As the scramble exploded in the 1880s, Britain was suddenly challenged for her right to trade and conduct financial and military business. "The prime object was defensive [in the eighties], as it had been under Disraeli: the prevention of serious inroads on British power; the anticipation of other powers, when strategically necessary, in the 'Scramble for Africa'; the protection of the route to India and the East. The safety of the Suez Canal had already become a cardinal point of British policy." (Faber 57) The first showdown over the route to the east between Britain and France occurred in Egypt. French pride over a new Egyptian canal, built in 1869, was soaring. It was abruptly grounded in 1875, however, by a surreptitious British purchase of the majority share in the Suez Canal. A dubious balance of power was achieved through duel Anglo-French control of Egypt. Britain was able to prevail over France during the Egyptian Crisis, as the French government did not allow French involvement in smothering the rebellion. This afforded the British a chance to re-establish their role in world military dominance. These conflicts were clearly not for the purpose of monetary gain on Britain's part. The Economist observed in 1892 that East Africa was 'probably an unprofitable possession'; it was primarily for strategic reasons that the government held on to it. By 1893, France was still not reconciled to Britain's role in the Nile Valley. They tried to follow through on earlier threats to divert the headwaters of the Nile to devastate the valley. An expedition headed by Jean-Baptiste Marchand finally departed in 1896 and marched from the west coast to Fashoda, a city on the upper Nile. Britain responded to rumors of this expedition by ordering that an army lead by Herbert Horatio Kitchener conquest the Sudan in order to protect the Nile from the French. Kitchener crushed the politically separatist Sudanese, winning the famous Battle of Omdurman in 1898. He took Khartoum and moved on to Fashoda by September, where Marchand had been camped out since April. Britain and France teetered on the brink of war, which was finally averted by careful handling by both Marchand and Kitchener. Britain's action in South Africa helped to protect their connection to the Indian Empire. They officially annexed South Africa in 1877, recognizing this might lead to a reduction of British responsibilities South Africa. It was also important that they maintain their control to keep other powers from getting a foothold. The Boer War ended in 1902, while the Transvaal was given self-rule by Britain 1906. Britain was not an instigator in the scramble for Africa, but rather a reactionary nation who responded to the actions of

Friday, March 6, 2020

Writing Prompts 60 Ideas You Can Use Today - Freewrite Store

Writing Prompts 60 Ideas You Can Use Today - Freewrite Store When I was in elementary school, I had a teacher who would have us freewrite to writing prompts he would write on the whiteboard. Every Monday morning,  we  would spend the first 10 minutes of class writing about dragons, time travel, or our weekends. I had stopped using writing prompts after that 4th grade English class.   This changed once I began writing thousands of words per day. Some days, I just didn’t know what to write about. Other days, I already had a topic in hand, but I couldn’t find the words.  Writing prompts have been a great tool to help me defeat writer’s block and swiftly put pen to paper. Related:Writer’s block: 13 Strategies That Work A writing prompt is a topic around which you start writing ideas. You’re free to stick to the subject or let your mind wander. Writing prompts have a few benefits:   1. Put pen to paper. Instead of thinking about what to write about, writing prompts give you a topic to start writing about immediately. 2. Practice makes perfect. Writing prompts help you build your writing â€Å"muscles†. This habit will help make it easier for you to start writing and will teach you to write longer. 3. Increase your creativity. Writing prompts can make you see the world in a new light, or a way you’ve never imagined. Maybe you want to buckle down and finish that novel. Or perhaps you needed to complete that blog post yesterday.  Ã‚  Regardless of your circumstance, prompts can be your ticket out of uncreative purgatory and back to the writing promised land.       Sometimes, it can be hard to think of what to write, so we put together a list of over60 writing promptsto give you some fresh ideas. 60 Writing Prompts To Spark Your Imagination 1. Your favorite childhood vacation. 2. The last words of your novel are, â€Å"As night became day, he started to understand the truth.† Now, go write the rest. 3. Turn one of the last texts you sent into a story. 4. Add an original scene to the last movie you watched. 5. Two friends have a disagreement. 6. Write about your favorite teacher. 7. Outside the window, you see something you can’t believe. 8. Write about the first time you held someone's hand. 9. Write about the last thing/person that made you smile. 10. Write about a time you were lost. 11. Write about your first job. 12. Write a letter to your 14-year old self. 13. Write about why you write. 14. Five years from now, I will be. 15. Write about your dream vacation. 16. Do you like to be alone or with company? 17. You have $300 and a Prius, describe the 2,800 mile road trip from NYC to LA. 18. Write about your biggest goal. 19. Write about your biggest fear. 20. A conversation you and a stranger have on a plane. 21. A time you or someone you love was scammed. 22. Turn the last song you listened to into a story. 23. Describe the life of your favorite singer. 24. Write about a piece of furniture in the room you’re in. 25. If I knew then what I know now. 26. If you could travel back in time, where would you go? 27. You have a billion dollars in your bank account. How did you make it? 28. You’ve discovered a new planet. Describe what you see. 29. If you could do anything for work, what would you do? 30. You live on an abandoned island, describe your morning routine. 31. You’re in a foreign country and don’t speak the native language. 32. Describe how you think your grandparents met. 33. Write about a time you failed. 34. You wake up today with the superpower of your choosing. 35. You’re a dog, describe your interaction with a human. 36. Write about someone you admire. 37. Go to Twitter or Facebook and write about the first post you see. 38. Write about a time you were uncomfortable. 39. She tried to forget him, but never could. 40. Just as your flight takes off, you discover a shocking note under your seat. 41. None of your friends remember you, describe yourself to them. 42. An island rose from the sea. 43. Out of the ashes, arose a hero. 44. The whales grew feet. 45. I open the last book on earth. 46. You knock louder and louder on the door, but nobody answers. 47. The door you had locked, is wide open. 48. Just as you fall asleep, the phone rings. 49. She had the perfect party planned, only to have it ruined by her ex. 50. She said her final words and left, there’s no turning back now. 51. A blind man falls in love, describe his feelings. 52. You have the power to stop time, what do you do? 53. The sun rose for the final time. 54. You discover that your partner is a robot. 55. You have 10 days to live. 56. How will cars look in 50 years? 57. This needs to be cleaned, the police will be here any minute. 58. For years, he carefully planned out this day. 59. The birds didn’t go south for the winter. 60. It’s June 13th, the snow won’t stop falling. Okay, so now you’ve found two months worth of writing prompts.  If you’re looking for more prompts, every Friday, we send thousands of writers just like you a writing prompt via email or text message. We call it Writing Time Fridays. WTF is a 30 minute block of time each Friday that the Astrohaus team spends freewriting. It started as an internal initiative, but now anyone can join us from around the world. It's free and there are no rules other than to write for 30 minutes. We'll send you a prompt but feel free to write about whatever you want. There are no requirements to share your writing and how you write is completely up to you. Clickhere to sign up for WTF and receive a writing prompt at noon every Friday. Would you like to share a writing prompt you’ve used in the past? Comment below, and we’ll add it to the list!    Carlton Clark loves to write about business, baseball, and popular culture. A writer, marketer, and entrepreneur. At the age of 14, he founded the media company  ballplayerplus.com. Currently, Carlton helps businesses share their stories through social media and blogging. When he’s not writing or creating content, Carlton coaches youth baseball at his local high school and plays guitar. You can find him online on Instagram @itscarltonclark, and on Twitter @carlton_mukasa

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Energy Wedges Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Energy Wedges - Lab Report Example Our energy wedge is mainly concerned with efficient utilization of energy and use of renewable sources as the major active ways of reducing carbon emission by the year 2055. Faced with only two solutions of either maintaining the current emission of carbon in the next 50 years or reducing the production of carbon in the atmosphere by the similar amount of time, we opted to build our wedge on the basis practical reduction of carbon in the atmosphere by half for the next 50 years. This option was opted for the various reasons of changing environmental conditions and the sudden changes in technology that demand use of carbon energy (Levy, 2010). The world is required to reduce atmospheric carbon from current 8 billion tons per year by half hence ensuring only 200 billion tons by the year 2055. This is only possible by increasing sufficient use of transport. This is mainly by adopting efficient fuel engines in terms of motor vehicles. Another way is by reducing the distance travelled while at the same time ensuring efficiency in construction and building hence reducing electricity use. This is possible by utilizing solar energy and using materials that conserve energy during winter. Use of renewable sources of energy is our next energy wedge which aims at using sources in the environment that do not produce carbon in the atmosphere. Use of solar energy is just one of the means. Using wind-generated electricity is already in use in many countries in the world. In addition to this forest, conservation and soil storage are also means thorough which carbon emission can be reduced. Lakes, rivers, forests, and soils absorb atmospheric carbon from the atmosphere (UNEP, 2007). The group believes that if the above energy wedge proposal is implemented then the world is likely to achieve its objectives. According to the work sheet above, taxpayers failed to recognize the importance

Monday, February 3, 2020

Engineering management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Engineering management - Coursework Example All quality control and quality assurance affairs including ISO certification and auditing fall under the responsibility of Director Quality Assurance. The entire network of demand and supplies is handled by the logistics while accounts and related administration tasks fall under purview of the director administration. Crouch (2003) defined mission as organization’s statement of purpose and vision as organization’s statement of future position. The mission of the company is â€Å"Produce highly reliable aviation parts for its customers†. The company’s vision is â€Å"Be a leader in design, development and production of aviation parts†. The core values of the company include: According to Balthazard and Cooke (2004), organizational cultures have positive or negative effect on the efficiency of organization and employees. Handy (1976) identified four types of organizational cultures as: Power Culture. The type of culture largely depends on power and is determined by a key role figure (Struwig & Smith 2002). Here one or more individuals affect the working practices, management style and beliefs in the organization. Pretorius (2004) is of the view that many organizations exhibit power culture. Role Culture. The role culture is based on the job descriptions, rules, standard procedures and is bureaucratic in style. Pretorius (2004) describes such organization’s working characterized by rules, procedures and job descriptions. According to Bredenkamp (2002), managers would depend on procedures, existing systems and defined roles of communication for making decisions and conflict resolution. Task Culture. In this type of culture, organization is project orientated (Struwig & Smith, 2002). Pretorius (2004) refer such culture as a project management team where emphasis is on accomplishment of assign tasks and getting results. Person Culture. In this type of culture, an individual acts as the

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry

Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry Introduction Ethics can be defined as the study of what institutes of right or wrong behavior in terms of ones principle and integrity expected to be by society. It is the branch of philosophy that focuses on morality and the way in which moral principles are derived or the way in which a given set of moral principles applies to ones conduct in daily life. Different people face different ethical questions in their day to day life and as well as in their business life. Ethics usually assumes people are rational and make free choices correctly. We can also give or take that it has got certain rules to follow in our collaborations and our actions that affect others. There can be ethical questions that have influence in our daily life or in business life like fairness, justness, rightness or wrongness. Both ethics in finance and investing are part of business and business ethics focuses on what constitutes right or wrong behavior in the business world and on how moral and ethical principles are applied by business persons to situations that arise in their daily activities in the workplace and their handling of client asset. Ethics that are faced in personal life is much more different and complex in business life. Social Influences on Ethics When evaluating professional decisions and behavior in the finance and investment industry, high standards of ethics and blatant violations of ethical conventions are difficult to explain solely in terms of individual traits and personality. Situational factors may lead to considerable differences in the ethical standards of behavior of a single individual in different social situations-a fact that has been revealed time and again by media reports. Thus, a true understanding of the psychology of ethics in the world of finance and investment requires awareness of how people interact and influence each other ethically. 1 1. See: Thomas Oberlechner Webster University Vienna The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry Research Foundation of CFA Institute from http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2470/rf.v2007.n2.4697 Ethics in Finance When anyone thinks about financial market they think about money, that also trillions of dollar. With that amount of money in greed, which can be defines as excessive desire to posses wealth, mixed with competition can be powerful combination to introduce unethical behavior. This is not solely concerned with the individuals but also with financial markets and financial institutions. Financial ethics is more to do with maintaining trust between the financial industry and client. If we analyze how financial system works, it is easy to see that it is easy for financial fraud and deceit. As almost all the people in United States have a 401K which is invested in financial market through different financial companies. All the people investing their money come from different walk of life and have limited knowledge in financial market. The only way public can believe in an investing firm to invest in their lifetime saving is by trust. This trust is built over the years by these firms by foll owing correct ethical procedure (by the firm and its staffs). Ethics in the Investment Profession Ethical practices by the investment professional benefit all market participants and stakeholders and lead to increased investor confidence in global capital markets. Ethical practices instill a public trust in the fairness of markets, allowing them to function efficiently. In short, we can say that good ethics is a fundamental requirement to the investment profession. The Code of Ethics for Finance and Investment Act with integrity, competence, diligence, respect and in an ethical manner with the public, clients, prospective clients, employers, employees, colleagues in the investment profession, and other participants in the global capital markets. Place the integrity of the investment profession and the interests of clients above their own personal interests. Use reasonable care and exercise independent professional judgment when conducting investment analysis, making investment recommendations, taking investment actions, and engaging in other professional activities. Practice and encourage others to practice in a professional and ethical manner that will reflect credit on themselves and the profession. Promote the integrity of, and uphold the rules governing, capital markets. Maintain and improve their professional competence and strive to maintain and improve the competence of other investment professionals.   See: Ethical and Professional Standards and Quantitative Methods. Level I 2008. Pearson Custom Publishing The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry Financial and investment professionals are mainly susceptible to ethical misconduct. But what makes some obviously violate ethical standards and even violate the law while others behave highly ethically? Besides in all the courses taught in the entire business program we are taught that the objective of rationale individual is to maximize wealth. The psychology of ethics tries to find out why and when does a person behave (un) ethical way, their motivation, influence and social dynamic behind a certain active. It also tries to analyze individual cognitive and emotional dynamics. This analysis will help figure out the most effective may an ethical code can be written and implemented. Approaches to Ethics When people talk and write about ethics in the finance and investment industry, they approach the topic in variety of ways and address different realms of ethics. Usually, their dealing with ethics takes one of three main directions: (1) what investment professionals should do, (2) what they actually do, or (3) how finance and investment professionals can be helped to get from what they actually do to what they should do. Normative Ethics What should finance and investment professionals do? As the name implies, normative ethics aims at establishing norms and guidelines for professionals regarding how they should behave. This approach to ethics is inherent in, for example, the ethical theories of moral philosophy, theology, and definitions of professional norms, standards, and acceptable behavior for a professional field. Thus, a normative approach to ethics in finance and investments defines what is ethical in this profession. It tells practitioners how investment professionals should act to be ethical, which behavior should be considered ethical, and which behavior should not. Descriptive Ethics What do investment professionals actually do? Descriptive ethics aims at describing not how people should behave but how they actually do behave. And descriptive ethics attempts to explain and predict the unethical behavior of people in real-life situations (OFallon and Butterfield 2005). Psychological research conducted in controlled laboratory studies and real world settings of professional decision makers offers a systematic and comprehensive basis for descriptive ethics in finance and investing. Only this psychological and descriptive approach allows us to understand when and why people and organizations in the investment industry engage in ethical behavior and when and why they do not. Prescriptive Ethics How can finance and investment professionals be helped to get from what they actually do to what they should do? Based on descriptive insights about the factors influencing actual ethical decision making, the Prescriptive approach to ethics aims at helping people and organizations toward ethical decision making by giving advice about how to create environments that foster ethical decisions and how to improve the ethical component of decisions. The two main questions addressed by prescriptive ethics are the following: How can we create organizations that foster ethical behavior? How can we train professionals to readily perceive the ethical dimensions of their own behavior and to act ethically? Thus, prescriptive ethics suggests tools that assist people in making the prescribed decisions. 4 4 See: Thomas Oberlechner Webster University Vienna The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry Research Foundation of CFA Institute from http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2470/rf.v2007.n2.4697 Ethics and Investment in Global Perspective As the financial market now is more open globally, investment flows from one country to another more efficiently. With this comes an ethical risk for a financial firm. E.g. A financial firm in US investing in Singapore, but the ethical standard in both this countries financial market are different. Now which ethics standard should the firm or its employee follow? Can a firms employee ignore financial ethics code in US when he travels to Singapore? In this situation a firm should always follow the ethics code which is stricter. If US ethics code is stricter than the one in Singapore, it should still follow the US code of ethics. For individuals, the ethics code will apply globally i.e. if a person travels to jurisdiction outside of United States he is still bound by code of ethics and SEC laws. He is still not supposed to disclose all the protected financial information to any individual or firm. When analyzing investment opportunities in emerging market a financial firm much always check the ethical code of the country he is investing in. Even if the probability of profit is high but there has been high number of cases of ethical violation then the investment might not be a good idea. A good example of this is the amount of investment that went in China during Chinas IPO boom, a lot of companies from that boom is no where to be seen and the financial report present were falsified. Ethical Issues in Finance Industry Ethical issues in the financial services industry affect everyone, because even if you dont work in the field, youre a consumer of the services.  The public seems to have the perception that the financial services sector is more unethical than other areas of business. In the real business scenario there are many positions where we act without considering the ethical implication. Sometime what we think is ethical (because of the way we are brought up in society) might not be an ethical one in the world of finance or business. For example, one can have close friend with whom he share everything in life. Like normal individuals they talk about their work along with other stuff. But for the person who works in financial market there are certain discloser standard he has to follow. Let us say their discussion is related to financial market. So is it ethical for this person who is working with a financial firm to tell his friend all about the things he has information on, that is covered under discloser standard, or is it ethical for him to tell his best friend that he cant talk about this information and then risk his friend feeling that he does not trust him?. Because lets face it if I know something and I dont tell you that means you dont trust me, t hat is the idea implanted in our brain from our childhood. This is an example of social ethics dilemma that intertwines with financial (professional) ethics. Therefore the boundary between ethical and unethical is quite skinny. So, how can do companies ensure that the company and staff follow ethical behavior? Most large firms have implemented their own code of ethics-a set of general professional guidelines to inspire employees to behave ethically and responsibly as an individual or as a group representing the company.  But as in our examples these codes are stringent dos and donts that will cause more harm than good as the employee might be hesitant to even do the right ethical thing. As there is a thin line between ethical and unethical behavior this might give the employees a false notion that anything if it is not specifically prohibited would be acceptable. In addition to the company specific codes of ethics, companies and professionals are also bound by ethical codes of conducts of numerous professional organizations and institutions. Companies should train employees to these organizational code of ethics would be more effective as employee would think that its a global financial society standard. As global financial market is more combined with millions of transactions daily, the chances of business and professions using to more unethical conduct in todays age compared to previous decades. However, in this internet age, business condition and the resulting troubles are more complex. For example, companies and CEOs (for a public company) have to put their shareholders interest first before any other. The shareholder interest is to get maximum profit; CEOs are paid million of dollar in benefit and salary to achieve the goal of maximum profitability. They are under tremendous pressure to keep the company profitable every quarter and also outperform its competition. This might lead to a situation where the companies higher level staff might think they have found a loophole in the system and perform unethical adjustments of financial numbers. Recent example we can find is the collapse of ENRON because of fraud and FANNIE MAE accounting irregularities in start of this decade. It can also be pointed out that that ethical behavior is governed more by the individual rather than the environment. If we can establish a norm on the financial industry that its not only immoral to do unethical activity but its also immoral to not to notify of other peoples unethical activity, then there will be more violations reported. There have few instances where whistleblowers have reproted unethical behavior or violations of the companys code of ethics and brought big corporations down to their knees. But these kind of whistle blowing is rare. Research shows that this rarity is because whistleblowers are scared of getting fired from their jobs, especially if the violators are of higher post. In ones mind question arises is it ethical to whistleblower a violation and risk getting fired or is it ethical to keep quite and not risk putting food on family table? Companies should try to resolve this kind of dilemma , by implementing anonymous whistleblower program and by rewarding a them anonymously. A company code of ethics is useful only when the companys actions are consistent with it. Only then can it be followed consistently within the company. Conclusion Our society is interworking of people built in the pillar of trust. This trust is based on molarity and ethical behavior. For financial market not only Ethics is the pillar, it is also a ladder for success. Lose that trust and the firm or individual is going downhill. So financial firms should not only keep code of ethics in paper but also promote self-regulation. For financial market Ethical integrity is paramount and clients always come first.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

How Government Decisions Are Made? Essay

Government raises money and spends it; it organizes itself to govern and recruits the people to implement its decisions. But how are decisions made? This section will lead you to information on the legislative process, budgetary process, and Cabinet decision-making process, all of which are described in other sections of this program. It will also provide some insights on federal-provincial decision making and citizen engagement. There is no single decision-making process in government. Decisions can be made in a variety of ways at a variety of levels. For simplicity, the following graphic outlines the process at a very general level. The process involves a number of elements including public consultation, interdepartmental discussion, Cabinet and Parliament. Very often things start in the public domain. Citizens seek a new service or program or are dissatisfied with the existing one. The media can play a role in bringing it to the attention of government, or an MP might be advised of an issue by a constituent. There may be a change in the economy or an international event might require a response. (e.g. Famine in Ethiopia, need for a fixed link to PEI, high unemployment figures, highway safety). The next steps mostly occur inside a department or if the issue is â€Å"horizontal†, within a cluster of departments. More and more often, issues are arising that are considered horizontal. This is precipitating a move within the public service toward greater collaboration between departments, pooling of resources, and establishment of coordinating committees. Examples of horizontal issues are water quality (involving departments such as Environment, Industry, Agriculture, Intergovernmental Affairs, Fisheries & Oceans, Health, DFAIT, and others) or international trade (involving 23 departments and all the provinces). Once the responsible departments are identified, the problem will be defined and analyzed. Further analysis of the issue leads to the engagement of several new players such as other departments who have interest in the outcome, provincial players, and citizen groups. Inside the lead department, many players (communications division, regional offices, operations staff,  etc.) are involved in policy development. A proposed solution, including suggested program recommendations, is prepared and forwarded up the line to the appropriate decision level â€Å"† i.e.: to seek a decision from the Director General, Assistant Deputy Minister, Deputy Minister or Minister. Few decisions require Cabinet discussion.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Business Decision Making

The methodology for this report will focus upon both primary and secondary research methods which will be used to obtain the opinions of the asked passer. Needled et-al (2003) states that primary research mainly consists of data collected by an organization, or individual, for their own purposes and are generally collated first hand from ‘the horses mouth'. Needled (2003) offers the opinion that the main methods of collating primary research are through conducting face to face Interviews, telephone interview, questionnaires and through direct observations.Primary data can be either qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative research data tend to be more explanatory whereas quantitative is generally more descriptive. The main part of the research for this project will consist of one primary method, survey. The survey questioned passers within Princess to determine what they think about the Princess. This method has been chosen as it is easy method to collate considerable data and it is a relatively cheap method of collating the data.To ensure response rates were high, the passers were asked face to face. I have chosen to opt against a paper based System as Needled et-al (2003) offers the argument that response rates to costal systems are often as low as 30% and I feel this method may introduce bias to the overall conclusion. There the alternative option of personally distributing and collecting the surveys for which Sweeten (2002) claims can increase the response rate to almost 70%.However given the short timescales for the project I only intend to sample the views of 20 people. Questionnaires are quite popular when collecting data, but are difficult to design and often need many drafts before having a final questionnaire. These drafts are called pilot questionnaires. Again because of the given short time call I was only able design one pilot. It emerged that the questionnaire was too long. The final questionnaire was then amended by the KISS theory'- keep i t short and simple.Random sampling was used as non random sampling is impracticable and often very costly in terms of time. After collecting the primary data, the data was then exported into Microsoft Excel to provide a more professional presentation for this document in providing professional graphs and findings. Secondary research All methods of data collection supply quantitative data (numbers, statistics) or qualitative data (usually words or text).Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else for a different purpose as the investigator. Main methods that is used to for the collection Of secondary data: Data supplied by a marketing organization Annual company reports Government statistics / surveys Academic surveys Company data (payroll details, minutes of meetings, accounts of sales of goods or services) Whilst theory is a crucial factor in academic learning and organizational success leading academics offer different views on it effectiveness.Saunders et-al (2003) explains that secondary research, especially academic journals, re the most important source for any research because they are evaluated by academic peers prior to publication therefore generally of good quality. Gharry (1995) offers the opinion that secondary research is has there are major advantages of secondary research mainly through savings in time, money and resources as academic literature from various sources is widely available and easily obtainable.However Needled et-al (2003) warns that the information may not always be of good quality, may not represent the whole picture and the research could be out of date. These opinions were considered whilst conducting the literature review. After having contacted the Princess press department the result was that due to the fact that the Princess is a new development, secondary data was not available. Rest Its The layout of the questionnaire was divided in three parts – introductory questions, main questions and final questions.Topic: What do you think of the Princess development? Number of questioned people: 20 Introductory questions The introductory questions are of assistance to find out general information about the questioned person. 1. Gender 2. Age group 3. Employment status 4. Marital status Main questions Main questions are in place in order to gather information about the topic of the question naira. 5. Purpose of the visit 6. Preferred time to visit 7. Does it meet expectations? 8. What were the expectations? 9. Affect on Setter's other high street retailers and restaurants 10.Overall affect of the Princess Shopping Centre to Exeter Final questions The final questions help to calm down and relax from the main part. It can also seen as fun part. 11. Favorite new shop 12. Favorite new restaurant/cafe The Upper Crust Memo To: Quality Control Manager From: Tugboat Vic Sicken c: Date: January 31, 2015 Re: Result of samples 65 loaves of bread with a weight range of 780-830 g Average w eight (mean) of loaves 804. 74 g The middle loaf (median) weighs 804. 9 g The most common (mode) loaf weight is 804. 9 g The Standard deviation of each loaf is 9. G The weight of the lower quartile is (IQ) is 798. 48 g Q = Median = 804. 9 g The weight of the upper quartile is (Q) is 811. 1 g The intrauterine range is 12. 62 g Box + Whisker plot Due to wastage we lost 805 loaves Task 5 Correlation The correlation is one of the most common and most useful statistics. A correlation is a single number that describes the degree of relationship between two variables. If points in scatter diagram cluster close to the line then there is a strong correlation in place and if points are more widely scattered the correlation is weak.Positive correlation If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with an increase in the other then this is known as a positive correlation. An example would be height and weight. Taller people tend to be heavier. Negative correlation If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with a decrease in the other then this is known as a negative correlation. An example would be height above sea level and temperature. As you climb the mountain (increase n height) it gets colder (decrease in temperature).No correlation A zero correlation occurs when there is no relationship between variables. The picture below shows a guide to the strength of correlation Strengths of correlations 1 . Correlation enables the researcher to examine naturally occurring variables that perhaps unethical or impractical to test experimentally. For instance, it would be unethical to carry out an experiment on whether smoking causes lung cancer. 2. Correlation enables the researcher to clearly and easily see if there is a relationship between variables. This Can then be displayed in a replica form.Limitations of correlations 1 . Correlation is not and cannot be taken to imply causation. Even if there is a very strong relationship between two variables we cann ot assume that one causes the other. For example suppose we found a positive correlation between watching violence on T. V. And violent behavior in teenage years. It could be that the cause of both these is a third (irrelevant) variable – say for example, growing up in a violent home – and that both the watching of T. V. And the violent behavior are the outcome of this. . Correlation does not allow us to go beyond the data that is given. For example suppose it was found that there was a relationship between time spent on homework (112 hour to 3 hours) and number of G. C. S. E. Passes (1 to 6). It would not be correct to conclude from this that spending 6 hours on homework would be likely to generate 12 G. C. S. E. Passes 5 A + B. Rest It: The older the car gets (increase) the less is it worth (decrease). The scatter diagram above shows that the correlation is stronger after the first two years.There is no straight line relationship. The points on the graph with couple of exceptions form a curve which suggests it is not a linear relationship. The explanation of partial in the correlation result means that it is not 100% correlated because of other factors that influenced it. Coefficient of determination: 65. 61 % of the behavior of y is determined by x + 34. 39 % by other factors. The aim of regression analysis is to find out the values of parameters for a function that cause the function to best fit a set of data observations that it's provided.In linear regression, the function is a linear (straight-line) equation. The equation and the table above show that the value of the car decreases by a constant amount each year after its purchase. The following linear function loud predict its value Value = price + departed*age Value, the dependent variable, is the value of the car, age is the age of the car. The regression analysis will determine the best values of the two parameters, price, the estimated value when age is O (I. E. , when the car was new ), departed, the depreciation that takes place each year.The value of departed will be negative because the car loses value as age increases. However as we can see in the table after 12 years the equation gives a negative value. This would be not possible in reality. A car cannot be worth E-340. 06. The problem with the equitation is that it is not realistic. The equation is only correct in terms Of figures. E. The equation does not include the factors that can influence the price of a used car. It only considers the age of the car. However there can be several other factors that can influence the price of a used car.Mileage Color- In other words, some colors, like â€Å"ROI Yellow Pearl†, appeal only to a small segment of the population and brings down the car's worth in many eyes Fuel type Engine size Transmission Number of doors Private or trade seller – Trade seller are always more expensive as trader adds profit on the actual value of the car. Previous owner †“ For example if a elderly person was the previous owner it is very likely that the car was only used for short distances (shopping, doctor consultations) On the other hand if the car was used at a driving school then it is very likely that the car was not treated well from the learners. F. Business decision makers need to find out very often the casual relationship between two variables. For instance, the relationship between interest rates and consumer expenditure. Furthermore a financial analyst may use regression and correlation to help understand the relationship of a financial ratio to a set of other variables in business. Correlations can be helpful in business. Once a correlation is identified, organizations can determine if the correlation indicates causation. With this information, the company can develop methods to influence the correlation to the organization's benefit.Task AAA. Total float The longest the start of an activity can be delayed from its earliest start tim e (EST) without delaying the project. Free float The longest an activity can be delayed from its EST without delaying the EST of any immediately following activities. By looking at the table, those tasks without a total float' (I . E. Zero) are considered ‘critical' and coincidentally are mound on the critical path. It is therefore important that these tasks are not delayed in order to complete the project on time as planned.Recognizing and integrating float is very important. For example, those tasks that do carry float may have resources (labor, capital, equipment, etc) that could be used elsewhere to complete other tasks quicker. Also, for those tasks that do carry float, any delays can be accepted. As the resource diagram below shows, 6 assistants are required for the job. Furthermore the whole procedure will take 25 days. After rescheduling the activities only 4 assistants are required. Apart from this the whole procedure will take 21 days. 70.Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a planning and project management tool. It can help make sure a project is completed as quickly as possible, and resources used as efficiently as possible. The business is able to give the customer exact information such as finish date, required assistants. Furthermore, most projects come across with delays or something unexpected, so managers need to use tool such as CPA to monitor the project and take quick action to resolve any problems. This enables the business to avoid any delays and the consequential customer complaints. Business Decision Making Leadership in today's organizations is a tough business. Organizational leaders face a number of significant challenges as their jobs, and the world around them, become increasingly complex (Zaccaro & Klimoski, 2001). Trends such as organizational â€Å"delayering, † rapid technological advances, the proliferation of teambased organizations, and increased employee empowerment require that leaders adapt their techniques and styles of leadership to meet these new challenges.In the face of all these changes, researchers and management education specialists are working to find methods to develop more effective leaders. Old techniques of development are criticized and questioned, and new techniques are created—often before they are adequately tested and thoroughly understood. New techniques can become instant â€Å"fads. † In recent years, there has been an explosion of interest in leadership.The bulk of research efforts has gone into trying to understand leadershipâ €”how it operates— and into identifying the characteristics of effective leaders. Although interpersonal relationships have always held importance within the organizational literature (Blau, 1964), a focus on relational perspectives is recently experiencing renewed interest in organizational behavior and leadership research (Day, 2000). According to Hunt and Dodge (2001), relational perspectives are at the forefront of emerging leadership thrusts.A relational focus is one that â€Å"moves beyond unidirectional or even reciprocal leader–follower relationships to one that recognizes leadership wherever it occurs, is not restricted to a single or even small set of formal or informal leaders, and in its strongest form, functions as a dynamic system embedding leadership, environmental, and organizational aspects† (Hunt & Dodge, 2001, p. 448). An area of research that speaks directly to leadership development, as defined by Day (2000), is Leader–Member Exch ange (LMX) theory.Researchers working with this leadership model have been investigating the value of developing effective work relationships between managers and subordinates for the past 30. During this time, LMX has shown the value of high-quality relationships and the problems associated with lower quality relationships. The purpose of this work is to discuss LMX theory, research, and practice on leadership development. The paper begins by briefly reviewing the value of relationships from a social capital perspective and then defines leadership relative to relationships.Leadership is engaging in behaviors that create change, and creating change requires influence. To be leaders, therefore, individuals need to have and effectively use influence. Influence is the power to affect others: the ability to produce outcomes due to some personal characteristic that gets others to follow. By definition, influence is inherently interpersonal. Influence takes place within the context of int erpersonal relationships. According to relational leadership theories, influence comes from relationships.Relational perspectives in leadership view leadership as generated through mutual influence that results from the development of trust, respect, and obligation among dyad members. LMX theory describes this influence as being created through stages of relationship building. Individuals begin at a â€Å"stranger† stage, get to know one another through testing processes, and as a result of the testing process, either progress to an advanced stage of leadership development (e. g., partnership) or remain at lower levels of relationship development (e. g. , acquaintance or stranger). Those who attain more advanced stages of relationship building—and thus develop more effective relationships with interdependent others (e. g. , managers and other higher-ups, subordinates, peers, clients, external constituents)—are able to more effectively perform their roles. More e ffective, or high-quality, leader– member exchanges are described as leadership rather than as supervisory relationships.High-quality relationships are considered mature partnerships based on respect, trust, and mutual obligation for one another (Graen& Uhl-Bien, 1995). These relationships go beyond the formal contract and generate personal power (i. e. , influence given by the other), rather than position power or authority. They are also characterized by willing followership, meaning employees are driven by intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic motivation. As a result, dyad partners (i. e., individuals engaged in an exchange) act because they want to, not because they have to. Research on LMX shows that more effectively developed relationships have significant and positive associations with performance, organizational commitment, employee citizenship behavior (i. e. , extra-role behavior), job satisfaction, delegation and participation in decision making, and enhanced career de velopment opportunities. These relationships are negatively related to turnover, job problems, and role conflict and ambiguity.The benefits of high-quality relationships come from relational resources they create. Such resources include durable obligations (e. g. , arising from feelings of gratitude, respect, and friendship), network contacts and connections (including privileged access to information and opportunities, social status, and reputation of influential others), and the ability to have open information exchanges with those around them (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Relationships that do not develop so well are considered lower quality.These relationships are not as beneficial for the individuals involved or for the organization as a whole. Lower quality relationships are described as contractually defined, formal exchanges based on limited trust and in-role interactions (Uhl-Bien et al. , 2000). These types of relationships generate management rather than leadership. They ar e characterized by lack of mutual respect, formal downward communications, little mutual understanding, limited support and commitment for one another, and no mutual obligation (i. e. , a â€Å"stranger† relationship).Findings have shown that lower quality relationships are negatively related to satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors, and commitment, and are positively related to turnover. Thus, based on relational leadership theory, effective relationships may generate mutual influence and understanding that allow leaders to more effectively perform their roles. In contrast to hierarchical and leader-dominated perspectives on relational differentiation, the goal and responsibility of leadership should be to work to develop effective relationships more broadly with interdependent others, rather than with only a group of â€Å"trusted assistants†.Drawing from the foundations established by Day (2000), leadership development needs to be considered (a) beyond hierarchical notions of manager–subordinate relationships, (b) as the responsibility of both members of the dyad (rather than leader-controlled), and (c) with allowance for more variability in what is considered a high-quality, or effective, relationship.A high-quality exchange is characterized by positive leadership processes that are indicative of a social exchange, such as increased subordinate job latitude and influence in decision making, more open and honest subordinate communication with the supervisor, and greater trust and loyalty among dyad members (Cogliser & Schriesheim, 2000). Low-quality LMX relationships are more economic or transactional in nature, and dyadic behaviors rarely progress beyond what is specified in the employment contract.With regard to leadership development, those subordinates interested in leadership development receive it as part of the relationship contract. Those that are not interested in becoming leaders do not receive leadership developm ent as part of their psychological contract and receive a different allocation of on-the-job training. Effective organizations have units that are tied together, through â€Å"linking-pin† positions, where members in these organizations become more aware of problems at lower levels in the system and coordinate activities efficiently through accurate flows of information, influence, and resources among the units involved.The persons occupying these linking-pin positions are integrated members in two or more groups and play the role of both supervisor and subordinate. Graen and his colleagues explored the effectiveness of the LMX relationship between incumbents of linking-pin positions and their supervisors and the behavior, attitudes, and treatment of lower level members (Graen, Cashman, Ginsburgh, & Schiemann, 1977). They found that the quality of LMX of the linking-pin incumbent was related to the quality of working life of the followers who reported to the linking pin.When subordinates develop high-quality exchanges with their bosses, they receive greater influence, latitude, support, and attention from their bosses, and they experience a more desirable situation overall. These researchers continued by pointing out that the quality of members in a higher dyad (hierarchically) contributed to the quality of life of members in hierarchically lower dyads. The LMX model clearly has utility for its application to leadership development.Empirical studies have supported the relationship of high-quality exchanges with positive organizational outcomes, and the broader leadership literature supports the cascading or waterfall effect of the supervisor's leadership behavior impacting the subordinates. There is a clear need for methods that more effectively socialize junior managers for executive positions. Dyad-level coaching may be one of the most effective means for transmitting organizational culture, thereby promoting the organization's core values.Dyad manage ment development has not been utilized to the full extent possible to leverage the potential of the pool of executive talent. The LMX literature says that LMX differentiation, in which leaders have higher quality relationships with some subordinates and lower quality relationships with others, occurs because leaders do not have time (or the need) to generate highquality relationships with everyone. Therefore, they develop a group of trusted assistants to help them perform the work of the unit.These trusted assistants would supposedly be the best or most reliable employees in the unit. Twenty years after the inception of the theory, Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) argued that the creation of â€Å"in-groups† and â€Å"out-groups† within work units is not beneficial, and that instead leaders should strive to develop high-quality relationships with all subordinates. They do this by â€Å"making the offer† of high-quality relationships to all and then through testing proc esses, different quality relationships result (Uhl-Bien et al., 2000). This perspective allows for the fact that all relationships may not (and likely will not) reach high quality, but at least the dyad members both take part in how the relationship develops (rather than the leader determining who will be the trusted assistants) and have the opportunity to create a high-quality relationship. This perspective also recognizes that a focus on differentiation rather than on high-quality relationships offered to all creates tremendous opportunity for lost potential in organizations.When individuals are not fully committed (or are dissatisfied), they will withdraw discretionary behaviors that benefit others or the organization (e. g. , helping, altruism, civic behaviors). These discretionary behaviors are beneficial to the organization, and as a result, much attention has been given in the literature to determining when and how individuals engage in these behaviors. Instead of LMX differe ntiation, therefore, goal should be for individuals to strive to have influence with one another (and with higher-ups).With the support of a relationship, individuals are freer to open up and provide one another with more accurate and complete information (Avolio, 1999) so they can provide the â€Å"real† information (the â€Å"real† story). This goes both ways: with a good relationship comes reduced filtering (holding back) of information, both up and down the hierarchy. It allows individuals to share with one another the hard truth. Too many leaders do not have good information, and too many hold back in being truthful with their subordinates.If to extend this beyond managers to leaders more broadly, then organizational members need to be comfortable with providing information to one another, and this comes with having effective work relationships. Remembering that effective leaders are defined as those who use influence to create change, individuals' abilities to be effective leaders are directly related to their ability to have influence in the organization. Since effective work relationships can extend individuals' influence networks, those who have more effective relationships with others will likely have more opportunity to gain and use influence.Therefore, leadership effectiveness is likely enhanced by the ability to build effective work relationships with a broader range of interdependent others. In a study of communications within Leader-Member Exchanges, Schiemann ( 1977) found that those members with relatively higher quality LMXs communicated more frequently with their managers about administrative and technical matters than did members with relatively lower quality LMXs. These results were cross-validated on a holdout sample of managers.Apparently, there is much more communication in higher quality LMXs than in the lower quality LMXs. Thus, effective communications are an important aspect of the development of high-quality LMXs. Fla uto’s (1999) study is in response to the global question, â€Å"How are communication and leadership linked? † This study drew subjects from a variety of organizations in Ohio, eastern Indiana, northern Kentucky, and western West Virginia. Twenty to fifty subjects were drawn from each of nine organizations.Organizations participating in the study were two financial service organizations, a retail sales organization, a military unit, a subsurface coal mining organization, a suburban police department, a rural bank branch, a local post office, and a food service organization. Transactional and transformational leadership were measured using subscales of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). A six-item, three-factor subscale was created for the transformational leadership dimension and a four-item, two-factor subscale was created for the transactional leadership dimension.Subjects responded to each of the behavioral anchored items by selecting one of five respon ses that applied to their leader. The leader-member exchange dimension was measured by a subscale consisting of the six items of the LMX-6 scale. The LMX-6 scale contains items that measure the three factors of leader-member exchange. Responses are on a five-point Likert-type scale. The relationship is the highest among all of the variables in the study. This finding supports the conclusions of Day (2000) that communication attributes can distinguish between levels of leader-member exchange quality.The finding also fits into the theoretical framework of the leader-member approach to leadership that requires successful communication exchange in order to form the â€Å"in-group† relationship that characterizes high quality leader-member exchange. The communicative competence of the leader, and its affect on communication effectiveness as evidenced by member perception of leader-member agreement, appears to be a necessary precondition for a high quality leader-member exchange re lationship. At the lower levels of communication competence, high quality leader-member relationships do not exist.The leader displays charisma by communicating enthusiasm and providing a model, shows individual consideration by direct interaction and providing tailored assistance, and stimulates intellect by communicating ideas. Day (2000) defines transformational leaders as leaders who use rhetorical skills to establish a common vision. Not surprisingly, members report a high relationship between transformational leadership and communication competence. In the least squares hierarchical multiple regression analyses, transformational leadership is the best single predictor of communication competence.Transformational leadership is of high quality when the leader exhibits high communication competency. Dyads with high communication competence and low transformational leadership and dyads with low communication competence and high transformational leadership do not exist. Leadership, however it is theoretically or operationally defined, is a social process and involves a relationship between individuals. This social process and this relationship are enacted through communication. These sessions were conducted with all participants in the treatment group.Before and after results, in terms of performance, were compared for this group and for other groups from the department, which were not exposed to the LMX treatment. Productivity increases measured in terms of the quantity of cases handled showed a significant advantage in favor of the group that was trained in LMX. Furthermore, this gain was primarily a function of effects that occurred in a high–growth need group of subjects. This latter index was included in the study because a job enrichment treatment based on job characteristics theory was introduced, along with the LMX treatment.Any job enrichment effects per se, however, were negated by certain policy changes that were introduced by the organizati on unknown to the experimenters; thus job characteristics theory was not, in fact, tested. A subsequent publication, based on data from the same context, was aimed at determining whether low or high initial LMX subjects were most responsive to the treatment effects. The results clearly indicated that the low LMX subjects responded most positively to the treatment in terms of both the quality of their leader–member exchanges and the quantity of their productivity.Another report on this project substantiates the moderator effects of growth need strength, but makes no mention of the finding that low– quality leader–member exchange translates into greater productivity with the appropriate training. This latter result is most consistent with theory in that it means that dyadic partnership building applied across the board should result in both low– and high–quality dyads initially moving with training to high–quality relationships. However, if gr owth need strength is a moderator of the training effect, one would anticipate that it would also moderate the initial dyadic choices as well.In such an event low–quality dyads would not contain many high– managed strength people and thus would offer little potential for upward movement. This seeming contradiction is neither explained nor even confronted. Growth need strength is not a component of the theory as stated in comprehensive forms. Research on LMXs illustrates the importance of leader-follower relationships. The point here is simply that 30 years of research on LMXs has conclusively demonstrated the effect of exchange quality on a number of important organizational outcomes.Specifically, in a meta-analysis of this area of leadership research, Gerstner and Day (1997) found that the quality of the LMX was significantly related to job performance, satisfaction with supervision, overall satisfaction, commitment, role conflict (negative relation), role clarity, me mber competence, and turnover intentions (negative relation). After reviewing the extensive LMX literature, Gerstner and Day's conclusion was â€Å"we view the relationship with one's supervisor as a lense through which the entire work experience is viewed† (p. 840).However, although LMX offers evidence to support the value of relational approaches to leadership, many questions still remain about key issues related to leadership development. In particular, a question that needs to be addressed in LMX research is: what leads to development of higher and lower quality work relationships (e. g. , antecedents to LMX)? Although past research has investigated antecedents to LMX, a clear picture of what these are and how they operate still has not emerged. References Avolio, B. J. (1999). Full leadership development: Building the vital forces in organizations.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley. Cogliser, C. C. , & Schriesheim , C. A. (2000). ‘Explori ngworkun itcontex tand leader-membe rexchange: A multi-level perspective. ’ Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21 (5). Day, D. V. (2000). ‘Leadership development: A review in context. ’ Leadership Quarterly, 11. Flauto, Frank J. (1999). ‘Walking the Talk: The Relationship between Leadership and Communication Competence’. Journal of Leadership Studies. Graen, G. B. , & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995).‘Relationship–based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multidomain perspective. ’ The Leadership Quarterly, 6. Hunt, J. G. , & Dodge, G. E. (2001). ‘Leadership d? eja vu all over again. ’ Leadership Quarterly, 11 (4). Nahapiet, J. , & Ghoshal, S. (1998). ‘Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. ’ Academy of Management Review, 23 (2). Zaccaro, S. J. , & Klimoski, R. J. (2001). The nature of organizational leadership: Understanding the performance imperatives confronting today's leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.