Les Miserables... with a twist!!! essays

Les Miserables... with a twist!!! essays Interesting, captivating, and just as witty as the original musical Les Misrables, an interesting musical directed by Whats Hername. Why is it with a twist? Although the storyline is exactly the same as the original Les Misrables, there are a couple of changes to this version... the most obvious being the length. Most of the songs are included, however they are shortened. The running time of the musical was approximately 40 minutes, versus the two hours of the original. There was an extremely large cast and I did find it entertaining that at some points the actors of the characters would change. Such as Cosette, for example. I noticed that the actress for her character changed quite a bit. Although some people would find this to be disorganized, I found it amusing that each actress could portray her so well. France, 1815. Jean Valjean, imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, breaks his parole. The musical charts his journey through life, during which he adopts a child and watches her fall in love with a student who goes to fight on the barricades. All the time, his past haunts him in the form of an obsessive policeman, Javert, who will do anything to bring Valjean to justice. Les Misrables is an epic story of love and redemption played out against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Although the version I watched was more on the humorous side and not as dramatic as the original, I found that it was a rather nice change to not have watched something so long and serious. The performances given by all the actors was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the show even though it was not original. I highly recommend watching it. I give it 4 stars out of a possible 5. I highly recommend this play ...

Free Essays on The Forward

Forward: From Immigrants to Americans â€Å"Bring us your hungry, your tired, your poor.† That was a call that many immigrants heard in the late 1800's and in the early 1900's. So they came, they came to America to find a better home, a new life and to start over. They heard that in America the streets were paved with Gold, and that it was a land of opportunity where you could become whatever you wanted to become. No one in America was poor, it was the greatest land in the whole world. Though the reality in America for immigrants was much different. Not everyone was rich, in fact, most were poor, and this was a new Land they needed somewhere to look for guidance. The Forward, which was founded in April 22, 1897 by Abraham Cahan, fought for social justice, helped generations of immigrant Jews enter American life, and was a way for Yiddish American voices to be heard. Social Injustice abounded everywhere in the Early 1900's and the Forward was there to help the American Worker. One of the biggest stories that only the Forward covered in the early 1900's was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. A very tragic story where 146 women and children were killed when a fire broke out the upper floors of the factory. The Workers could not escape because the doors were locked from the outside, so no workers would leave early. So therefore women and children were forced to either be burned alive or to jump to their death from the 8th floor. What a horrible way to die. These sort of stories were not covered by some of the main stream papers like the Sun, or the Globe, but were carried by the Forward. The Forward wanted to be a voice for the working people. It also covered things such as strike rallies and labor conditions in factories. These sort of things were major contributors to working conditions improving so that people today can mak e an honest living in safe working conditions. When the weary and poor first s... Free Essays on The Forward Free Essays on The Forward Forward: From Immigrants to Americans â€Å"Bring us your hungry, your tired, your poor.† That was a call that many immigrants heard in the late 1800's and in the early 1900's. So they came, they came to America to find a better home, a new life and to start over. They heard that in America the streets were paved with Gold, and that it was a land of opportunity where you could become whatever you wanted to become. No one in America was poor, it was the greatest land in the whole world. Though the reality in America for immigrants was much different. Not everyone was rich, in fact, most were poor, and this was a new Land they needed somewhere to look for guidance. The Forward, which was founded in April 22, 1897 by Abraham Cahan, fought for social justice, helped generations of immigrant Jews enter American life, and was a way for Yiddish American voices to be heard. Social Injustice abounded everywhere in the Early 1900's and the Forward was there to help the American Worker. One of the biggest stories that only the Forward covered in the early 1900's was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. A very tragic story where 146 women and children were killed when a fire broke out the upper floors of the factory. The Workers could not escape because the doors were locked from the outside, so no workers would leave early. So therefore women and children were forced to either be burned alive or to jump to their death from the 8th floor. What a horrible way to die. These sort of stories were not covered by some of the main stream papers like the Sun, or the Globe, but were carried by the Forward. The Forward wanted to be a voice for the working people. It also covered things such as strike rallies and labor conditions in factories. These sort of things were major contributors to working conditions improving so that people today can mak e an honest living in safe working conditions. When the weary and poor first s...

National Response Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

National Response Plan - Assignment Example as formed, 2005, Hurricane Katrina exposed a number of problems with the National Response Plan including two issues with the Catastrophic Incident Annex. The annex was purposely established to quicken government’s upbeat response to tragic incidents, and set protocols of pre-identifying and urgently deploying essential resources incase such an incident occurs. There are two issues that significantly contributed to the political decision to overlook the implementation of the entire National Response Plan, especially the Catastrophic Incident Annex. The first one was contravenes on the role of Catastrophic Incident Annex. For instance, there were questions on whether the annex had the capability of handling catastrophic incidences of higher magnitudes like hurricane strengthening. The second one was the power and authority assigned to the Catastrophic Incident Annex. The National Response Plan did not clearly draw to what extent the Catastrophic Incident Annex was to be involved in response acceleration. For example, it was not clear whether the Annex was in a position to authorize any legal activities in case of a catastrophic event. These arguments led the public to criticize the credibility of the Annex in responding to terrorist attacks (Jenkins, 2009). In conclusion, this paper gives a clear description of the issues that led to the National Response Plan not to be implemented regardless its comprehensiveness. In this case, the main focus is on the two issues that contributed to a decision not to execute the Catastrophic Incident Annex according to Hurricane

Marlowe comprehends the fallacy of racism Essay

Marlowe comprehends the fallacy of racism - Essay Example It is evident that Marlow witnesses inhuman slavery exercised by the whites that comprehensively alters his ideologies and beliefs within the society. He states â€Å"A slight clinking behind me made me turn my head. Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on their neck and al; were connected together with a chain.† (Conrad 38) Consequently, he says that slaves are identical to animals. This implies that he dislikes Africans regardless of their worth that may be highlighted using diverse approaches. It is evident from the excerpt that slaves are comparable to animals as apparent in the words describing them. It is true that Africans suffer from dehumanization under the control of Europeans leading to de-motivation. The description of this inequality is apparent in striking facial expr essions. This implies that Europeans have conditioned the Africans to disregard the situation. An instance that shows cruelty among Africans is apparent when Marlow meets a neatly dressed accountant. However, his outlook contrasts with Africans surrounding him because they appear frail. Marlow tries to befriend the accountant by spending a significant proportion of time conversing with him on how Africans are inferior. One day while Marlow was conversing with the accountant, a helpless African moaned in pain, an act that agitated Marlow and the accountant. The accountant claims, â€Å"When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages to death† (Marlow 48). Surprisingly, Marlow agrees with the accountant’s remarks highlighting his negative attitude towards Africans. Moreover, Marlow and the accountant were unconscious of the horrific situation surrounding them. These persons exhibited immoral tendencies as apparent in their attitude towards Afric ans around them because they believed that such persons were interfering with their culture. This example reveals the indifference amongst whites with regard to the suffering of Africans. This indifference means that the European’s motivation to colonize Africa was not only to gain power and improving culture, but also making money at the expense of Africans. Apparently, the whites forgot their human morals and driven by greed, they treated Africans as animals (Conrad, 87). This novel strongly reveals the malice that Africans experienced under the control of whites. Readers begin comprehending the behavior of whites that appears insensitive especially in Marlow’s encounter with the doctor prior to his expedition in Africa. The doctor wanted to examine Marlow’s skull and inquire fundamental aspects regarding previous mental illness within the family. He seems insensitive regarding Africans and continues to tell Marlow that only an insane individual would desire t o visit Africa, highlighting the extent of disregard for the stature of Africans within the society. The main intention of measuring Marlow’s skull is to notice if there would be any notable difference upon return. It is apparent from such a proclamation that the doctor undermines Africans life when he tells Marlow that the Europeans

Basic Electrical Components Essay Example for Free

Basic Electrical Components Essay Electrical and What it is The work of an Automotive Service Technician also known as a Mechanic has changed from normal mechanical repair to a high knowledge and very technical job. Today, integrated electronic systems and complex computers run and maintain vehicles. They also measure their performance while on the road and can adjust to certain conditions. Technicians must have a good base of knowledge about how vehicles components work and interact, as well as the capability to work with electronic diagnostic equipment and computer based vehicles. The most important system of your vehicle would definitely be the electrical system; the electrical system maintains almost everything in you car; from climate control to just adjusting your seat. There are many components to an electrical circuit that many people don’t know of. There are tons of different switching devices, protection devices, moving devices and plain old ingenious devices that seem to not even be possible. The car industry has really turned to upgrading there vehicles with more electrical devices to make the driver more comfortable when operating this brilliant machine. The most updated electrical device on a vehicle that I can think of is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), which actually measures a wireless sensor that is installed in your tire to let you know if your tire pressures are off. The first thing that I would like to do is explain what electricity is in an automobile. Electricity is the worlds most widely used source if energy. Electricity is the flow of electrons through a conductor to eventually be used to supply a load of some sort. The electrons flow from positive to negative. In order to understand how an electric charge moves from one atom to another, you need to learn a little about atoms. Everything that surrounds us is made of atoms; every piece of grass, every plant, every animal. The human body is made up of a great amount of atoms. Air and water are made if atoms too. Atoms are the building block of the universe and without them there would be nothing. Atoms are so small that millions of them would fit on the head of a pin. Atoms are created by even smaller elements. The center of an atom is called the nucleus. The nucleus is made of particles called protons and neutrons. The protons and neutrons are extremely tiny, but electrons are much smaller. Electrons also rotate around the nucleus in there orbit a good distance from the nucleus. The proton is the positive charge and the electrons have the negative charge. These protons and electrons are rotating around the neutron in there orbit. These electrons can be bumped and moved out of their orbits. Applying a force can make the electrons move from one atom to another. These moving electrons are electricity. There are a few types of measurements to electricity that you will have to know. The first measurement that almost everyone has heard of is voltage. Voltage is the amount of pressure applied to push the electrons in the circuit. The second measurement is amperes also known as amps. Amps are the amount of current flowing through the circuit. For example; think of a regular neighborhood street. It is just a small street that is normally a low speed for vehicles, if we were to measure the speed in witch the cars are going we would get a small ampere reading maybe even milliamps. Now if we were to look at a sky view of a fast speed highway with more lanes you can see the amount of cars passing through is faster. That would be a high amount of amps. The last measurement of electricity that we use on cars today is resistance. Resistance is a property that slows the electrons. It is measured in Ohms the thing that resists a circuit is the load like a light bulb. The light bulb slows the electrons in the filament witch then creates heat, once heat is created then the gas inside the bulb glows. There is a part that is used inside cars called a resistor in a electrical circuit and what it does is slows the current flow in the circuit to make whatever load you have move slower. For example a variable resistor is used for the dash lights, you can control how much current is flowing through that circuit to dim the lights. So how does a battery work? A battery doesn’t make electrons; it holds them like a storage tank. A battery is made of two different metals that are opposite of each other and a chemical solution (Battery acid) that lets electrons flow through it. Electrons inside the battery are stationary at the negative terminal until a circuit is completed on the outside of the terminals. Once the circuit is completed the electrons pass from the negative plate to the positive plate and out the positive terminal. Once the electrons are at the positive terminal they pass through the circuit, used up by the load (for example a light bulb) and completed at the negative terminal which then goes to the negative plate. Once the circuit is opened the electrons are stationary at the plates until the circuit starts again. A battery is measured by amps; how fast current can flow through it and how much load it can take

The Abolition of Man as Wake Up Call Essay -- Abolition of Man Essays

The Abolition of Man as Wake Up Call    There are three very important ideas that C. S. Lewis explicates in his book, The Abolition of Man. The first essay focuses on moral subjectivism, the second on the Tao, and the third on the consequences of living in a morally relativist society. As a dramatic conclusion to these essays, Lewis asserts that if we do not carefully educate ourselves and accept the authority of the Tao we may become heartless men and women, incapable of governing a society of justice and values.    In the first essay, Lewis communicates his philosophy that education plays an important part in the development of ethical values. In addition to this statement, Lewis asserts that children's readers, guised as harmless texts, can convey hidden messages that have potential to harm a child's developing worldview. Much of the first essay is focused on a schoolbook Lewis called "The Green Book". Although Lewis chose a specific model for "The Green Book", it could easily be any one of a whole generation of schoolbooks. Unfortunately, instead of teaching grammar and good writing as these books profess to do, students learn moral relativism. Lewis, who supports the idea of a Tao, natural law, in the next chapter, believes that youth educated by moral relativism are actually being denied the education needed to appreciate the philosophical claim that certain objects and ideas should hold on them as human beings. Lewis believes that a good education should link their experiences to the prope r emotion. By reinforcing emotional reactions to beautiful objects, values could be ingrained in their minds. By having a system of belief in their consciousness, they were given a vaccination against savagery. Their hearts kne... ...ingrained in our minds that we should be able to choose good without having to stop and think about why we value our choice as good. Antigone is a perfect example of this; she boldly defied the law of the state put forth by Creon because she believed, without question, that her brother's dead body deserved to be buried. It is worth noting that in both of these works, and quite possibly in all of human experience, that natural law (or Tao) comes from a deep authority rather than a power of a state or of one person. In both Abolition of Man and "Antigone," the power of subjective law is always less powerful than the authority of the Tao. The abolition of man provides a clear warning to readers that we, as educated people and consumers of future "Green Books," should heed carefully.    Works Cited: Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man. New York: Macmillan, 1965.

Monopoly †economics Essay

?I consider the case of Qualcomm faces antitrust probe in china. Qualcomm Incorporated is an American global fabless semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services. In the article it states that Qualcomm is the world’s biggest makers of cellar phone chips so they wanted to merge companies with china due to the potential market growth china has compared to the United States. So the speculation of this deal is that the company in china and qualcomm plan to do a launch of TD-LTE by early 2014. This causing an issue simply because it seems as though they broke the antitrust violations; in the article it does not say what violation it is but my thought from reading it would be the Celler-Kefauver Act which states that the Clayton Act, Section 7, which prohibits a firm from merging with a competing firm (and thereby lessening competition) by acquiring its stock. The issue seems to the rise of a company in which other companies would suffer from the merge taking down competitions and so forth. From the article we can tell that with any company trying to succeed in the business world especially a company that makes cellphone chips comes into a merger with china then the production and economic profits is unimaginable. China is one of the world’s leading productions in products worldwide now combing that with the cell phone chip makers, no other company would dare go against them or even try to keep with the company. The Marginal Revenue or Marginal Cost will skyrocket in competition. If the merger occurs it would call a Deadweight Loss to Society meaning that the costs to society created by market inefficiency and loss occur when supply and demand are not in equilibrium. Did not formally state why the company was being investigated but some say it is because of an attempt to gain leverage in royalty negotiations with Qualcomm ahead of the expected rollout of new 4G wireless infrastructure in 2014. The probe coincides with a recent surge of investigations into large foreign corporations that are currently operating in China, with speculation by market analysts that the move has been instigated to advantage domestic firms as markets shift toward a new generation of wireless technology. Some Pecuniary associated with the antitrust behavior is: Preparing major move to 4G wireless technology, merging of Qualcomm and china mobile, Asian smartphone makers has also emerged to help meet demand for low end handsets, pushing for local technology suppliers to increase revenue. Some. Nonpecuniary associated with the antitrust behavior is: Chip making for low cost phones Monopolies and oligopolies are not always bad for society. â€Å"A monopoly, as many people know, is a market condition in which only one vendor (usually a large corporation) is in play. There may be other somewhat similar businesses, but a monopoly exists when only one business or individual can provide a product or service. In an oligopoly, the product or service may be available from more than one vendor or merchant, but only a few big players dominate the market and make competition very difficult for new entries in the field. Examples of monopolies are difficult to produce, as federal antitrust regulations prohibit monopolistic market conditions in the United States. Regardless of legal issues, though, monopolies do exist, primarily in the utilities market. Electricity, for example, is generally available from only one â€Å"electric company† in any given market. Water and cable television are equally exclusive. During the 1990s, Microsoft commanded such a large portion of the computer operating system environment, and demonstrated such a propensity to absorb upstart competitors, that it was believed to be a monopoly as well. Examples of oligopolies are considerably more plentiful. The automotive industry, for example, has many competitors but is dominated by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota. Breakfast cereal is also such an excellent example of oligopoly that it is often used in teaching the concept to Junior Achievement students; while the market is open to many competitors, almost all breakfast cereal — in the United States, at least — is manufactured by General Mills, Post or Kellogg. † An example of industry (where monopoly is warranted and is beneficial for the society) is electricity distribution industry. It is a natural monopoly industry because it involves large fixed costs and there are economies of scale over the entire significant range of output. In such industry, there is huge cost advantage if only one firm is operating but if there is more than one firm, cost will rise and consumers will have bear burden of this increased cost in the form of increased price. So allowing monopoly in such industry may actually benefit the society. Reference Mukherjee, S. , Alawadhi, N. , (2013, November 25) Reuters, Retrieved from http://www. reuters. com/article/2013/11/25/us-qualcomm-china-idUSBRE9AO0E.

Working with and Leading People

Cool Sounds is an established music retailer throughout the UK and it has around 280 stores and 15000 employees, both full time as well as part-time. The products sold by Cool Sounds range from CDs and DVDs to software for computer consoles. The organization has a tall structure and most of the decisions are made from the Head Offices although leading people is usually the specific remit to store management team. Cool Sounds has planned to open a new flagship store in Coventry and hire 80 more employees. I being the general manager of the store have prepared this paper to address some of the issues related to recruitment, selection and retention, leadership, performance appraisal, etc. (Anthony, Kacmar & Perrwe 2005). RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND RETENTION What does Cool Sounds look for in its employees? Cool Sounds looks for a strong academic record when assessing the application of employees. Past experience shows that academic skills are seldom sufficient to be a successful professional within a company as challenging, dynamic and diverse as Cool sounds. Therefore, Cool Sounds has identified four skills and qualities as being essential to performing to the high standards that they expect from their employees. Capacity, achievement, relationships and technicality are these skills identified by Cool Sounds. Capacity is the diagnostic ability to put problems in an extensive but in a relevant view. Achievement is the ability to get things done. Relationships refer to the ability to work efficiently with others in a team and technicality is the ability to understand and approach technical issues coupled with an enthusiasm for technical challenge. The HR management refers to these qualities throughout their assessment and selection process, looking for candidates who can show them to a greater degree than their contemporaries. (Benefiel 2008). Applications and resumes Cool Sounds offers an amazing range of recruitment in many different fields and also requires people from diverse backgrounds. Every year Cool Sounds examine its business requirements and accordingly they conduct external recruiting and for this, they should advertise in the leading newspapers and shortlist the candidates suitable by interviewing them after which they must select candidates on the basis of their degree, although work experience really counts but they should also recruit candidates on the basis of their answers and intelligence. All applications should be assessed and candidates based on the above mentioned qualities and both internal and external selections should be done. Cool Sounds should recruit employees both internally and externally. (Butteriss 1998). The Interview Process Once the recruiters have reviewed the candidates’ application forms and CVs/Resumes, they must conduct telephonic or face-to-face interview and many other interview techniques and questions must be asked to determine the personality of the candidate. Cool Sounds must conduct competency based interviews in order to evaluate the competence in a candidate. (Barker 2008). Situational interviews are conducted by asking questions like e. g. ‘A person in your team is disrupting information, how would you handle the situation? ’ Behavioral interviews should also be conducted in which Cool Sounds should inquire about the candidates’ achievements and any challenges they have faced e. g. ‘Please tell us about a time when you were under great pressure? How did you cope? What was the outcome? The content of the responses to the questions asked should then assessed by Cool sounds. Offer and Onboarding Once the candidates have been successfully selected to work in the organization, they should be called in for a management trainee program. (Clawson & Corner 2004). Offer To give their candidates the best value they can get, Cool Sounds should make sure that it provides the job that the person wants, for instance, if the employee is more flexible about their preferred job and location, the more likely should Cool Sounds should be able to give what the employee want. After finding a suitable vacancy, the employee should be invited to a ‘Get to Know You’ session so that the employee meets the business managers they’ll be working with, as well as some of their team, and find out more about the position. This would also give the employees as well as the company itself to double check whether the candidate is suitable or not and if a suitable match is lacking at this point, Cool Sounds must continue to explore for more candidates. Gravett 2003). Onboarding This is when the employees’ career begins with Cool Sounds and the onboarding programs should be carried out so that employees can get to know the organization better. Moreover, the company should always be ready to guide its employees in the best possible way, so that the employees can have a feel of what their job role is in the organization, what they are supposed to do, and find out how Cool Sounds operates itself. Retention Rewards and Benefits Rewards and benefits are major set of HRM activities and so Cool Sound should provide their employees rewards and benefits and the most common rewards they can give to the employees are worker’s compensation, social security and unemployment insurance. Reward System Reward system serves as a strategic purpose of attracting, motivating and retaining people, therefore Cool Sounds should provide bonus to their employees in order improve the performances of the employees. By taking a look to the performance of the employee or his sincerity with the organization, the employees should be given rewards to keep them motivated. (John 2001). Pay Structure Pay structure is the difference of pays of employees within the organization and it is vital to give the same pays to the employees having same designation so that no sort of conflict arises between them; however the pay must only be different for employees on the basis of their performance. Individual Pay Decisions To promote the employees, individual pay decisions should be made as well and Cool Sounds must ensure that employee’s individual contribution is recognized and rewarded through performance-related pay and bonuses, moreover, facilities must be provided to their hardworking employees and they should also work on the enhancement of the technical knowledge of the employees. Other factors of retention Health and medical benefits should be provided to the employees, every employee should be fairly treated and job security should be provided to them. (Kay 2000). Legal and ethical issues When staff is to be recurited, some legal and ethical issues need to be considered. Code of ethics These include age and gender, race and religion discrimination and sexual harassment and it is mandatory for the HR Department of Cool Sounds to make sure a fair treatment of employees. Employees know that they are safe and they can approach someone in case they are unfairly treated by anyone. Legal issues The HR Department should act as a negotiator and works to establish cooperation between the legal entities, regulatory agencies, supervisors and employees to properly address and determine the issue prevailing. BUILDING WINNING TEAMS. The culture followed by an organization highlights its personality. Culture basically comprises of the assumptions, the values and norms of an organization, the financial position of the organization and about its members and their behaviors. Whenever a new member is added to an organization, they don’t take much time to study and learn about the type of culture being followed by an organization. However, every organization has its different culture and although new employees may take time to adjust but they soon get to know about it and work accordingly and the culture of an organization makes an organization different from others. The culture an organization adopts should be such that it should be accepted by all the employees and it basically helps to understand the human system in an organization and there are basically two types of challenges a culture has to overcome. Once an employee joins an organization, he has to get accustomed to its culture effectively and only those who can adopt it well can survive. After the employees adopt the culture, it leads to a collective learning process creating shared assumption and beliefs. Team learning This refers to the learning that develops the ability in a team to create the results expected and desired by the other members. It further builds personal mastery and shared vision. Team learning leads to good results and growth becomes more rapid. Team learning is dependent on the type of members a team consists of and the way they think and take the other members. (Kline & SaCool Soundsders 1997). Problematic areas One of the major problems being faced by the HR department is because of the diversified workforce at an organization. Many people feel uncomfortable to working with people of a different age, sex, or culture. Despite the fact that employing people from different groups is good but it can lead to a clot of conflicts. The management has to manage a diversified workforce effectively or it can effect employee satisfaction and productivity negatively and the employees who recognize themselves as valued members of their organization are more diligent, concerned, and innovative and this tends them to work harder. Another problem can be the economic unrest prevailing. People from diversified groups would be having different definition of ambition. The outcome of ambition is mostly unpredictable, some ambitions begun in selflessness end in rancor; others begun in selfishness end in large-heartedness. It can at times be uncontrollable as well and some people may not be able handle ambition serving it as a grief to others. It also leads to jealousy. Other than that, people might opt any way to achieve their goals and these might be unlawful as well. Team Charter †¢ Policy formulation – It is essential for the employees to obey the set of rules and policies set by Cool Sounds as this is essential so that proper regulation can be maintained at the work place. (Christensen & Irwin 1976) Knowledge Management – It relates to the programs such as the objectives of the organizations, creating ways to improve the performance of the employees, developing a competitive advantage and creating innovation. (Evans 2003). †¢ Ethics – this is the most important area of philosophy is about right conduct and good lif e and is considerably broader than the common idea of analyzing right and wrong. †¢ Customer Satisfaction – Serving the customers well. Team roles identified by Belbin These roles are identified on the basis of the behaviour of the people when they work in teams and these have a great impact on their performance as well. The roles that Beblin identified are mentioned below. Action Oriented Role †¢ Implementer – the role of the implementer is to translate the ideas and the decisions of the team into actions that can be managed. †¢ Shaper – his role is rather goal directed and more challenging as he has to overcome obstacles and work under great pressure. †¢ Completer/Finisher – the basic task of the completer is to meet deadlines. People Skills Oriented Role †¢ Co-ordinator – facilitates interaction as well as decision making. †¢ Teamworker – it is vital for the teammaker to listen attentively to his team members, to be collaborative and to cooperate with them. Resource Investigator – developing contacts, have excellent communications skills and exploring new ideas are the basic roles played by a resource investigator. Cerebral/Intellectual Role †¢ Planter – his basic goal is to solve problems. †¢ Monitor/Evaluator â⠂¬â€œ having good judgemental and thinking skills are essential for an evaluator. †¢ Specialist – constant learning and building knowledge. The ideas that are proposed by the team members should be implemented in the store if they are feasible. For instance, in the case of Cool Sounds, both the shaper as well as the completer is important so that the store can do its best. To make the store operate in a better way, it would be good to discuss ideas with the team members so that new things can be implemented and this would give a competitive edge to the store. Moreover, it is also vital for the planter to solve problems and negotiate with the team members in order to keep things going in an orderly manner and to avoid conflicts. LEADERSHIP Leadership is basically the process of social influence in which one particular person is able to help and support the others in order to accomplish a common task. It is also about creating something that could help out the people achieve something that is extraordinary. There are a lot of leadership theories proposed by many theorists. Leadership style is the manner or approach of providing direction; implementing plans and motivating people and according to Kurt Lewin, the 19th Century German psychologist suggested three different styles of leadership. All three styles of leadership can be used by Cool Sounds depending on the type of the employees they have hired. (Kouzes & Posner 2008) Styles of Leadership 1. Authoritarian /autocratic – Such leaders have full authority to take decisions and are preferred by such employees who need close supervision in order to complete the tasks assigned to them. Northhouse 2006). 2. Participative or democratic – Such leadership involves including the employees in decision making, however the final decision is taken by the leader. 3. Delegate of Free reign – The leader permits the employees to make decisions for them. However, in any event leaders are the ones who are actually responsible for all their decisions. This style is usually used where employees are few and have greater awareness. (Lee 1991). Skills in leaders The leaders are the ones who should encourage their juniors to suggest ideas that could lead to creativity and innovation. The employees should be rewarded, supported and proper amalgamation should be provided for the processes. Fund learning should be encouraged. This can be done by prioritizing it into budgets and work plans and to make it accessible to the employees or it would be of no use. Trust and respect should be placed on all the levels of the organization. Free communication and personalization should be allowed. Constant training or at least monthly or yearly training programs should be held for all the staff to keep on learning new things. The return on investment should be taken care of. The employees should know how much they are contributing to the company. These are some more factors that could help UN to retain their current employees. (Leat 2001). In order to manage conflicts, the leaders should use conflict management i. e. an amalgamation of different processes that aids in eliminating the sources of conflict and these processes includes negotiation, mediation and diplomacy and dispute resolution or alternative dispute resolution are other terms for conflict resolution. Motivational techniques Empowerment It facilitates the process of making choices and translating these choices into decisions by enhancing the choice making abilities of involved individuals and groups. As a result of this empowerment, individual and collective assets are created which are crucial to the efficiency of organizational and institutional development which controls the utilization of these assets. (Schein 1993) Equity theory This is all about how satisfied an employee is regarding the distribution of resources. The theory was proposed by John Stacy Adams in 1962 and he said that employees seek to maintain equity between the inputs and the outcomes. Everyone expects to be fairly treated and this keeps them motivated to stay in an organization. This theory is basically based on the ratio of inputs (contribution made by employees) to the outcomes (behaviors and contribution of the employees). This theory would be useful for Cool Sounds because it describes the relationship between the level of motivation that an employee has and the way he receives equitable or inequitable treatment. This relationship is basically between the employee and the employer. With this, the issue to comparison arises as what the employees do is that they compare their input and outcome with that of the others. The inputs mainly are the time the employee gives to accomplish a task, his expertise experience and skills, etc. however, the outcomes are the monetary compensation such as the benefits the employees receive and likewise. Therefore, it can affect the morale, efficiency, productivity, and turnover of the employees at the organization. Furthermore, there are certain assumptions of this theory when it is being applied to a business. For instance, if an employee expects a fair return for her contribution and by comparing her input and outcomes or is not being fairly treated. This comparison is called social comparison and this discourages the employees badly and if the management does not work on it and the result of this would be that the employees will start distorting their inputs as well as the outputs. Therefore, the organization must ensure that they take care of all this in future. Expectancy theory This is basically about choice and the way in which people make choices. It is a motivation theory and was proposed by Victor Vroom. In this theory, the level of motivation of the employees is expected to rise when they put more efforts to do the tasks they are assigned to do and this makes them do better work and this leads to organizational rewards that are valued by the employees. Two things that the expectancy theory emphasizes is the self-interest of the rewards that the employees want and how the employees behave with reference to it. According to this theory, the behaviour of the employees is a result from conscious choices among alternatives. The sole purpose of this theory is to maximize pleasure and reduce the pain involved in completing a task. This theory is based on three concepts that results in motivation. 1. Valence – this is what an employee prefers for a particular outcome and the employee must be motivated to prefer to attain an outcome than the idea of not attaining it. 2. Instrumentality – the extent to which a first level outcome leads to the second level. . Expectancy – Probability that an action will lead to the first level outcome. Therefore, Cool Sounds must use proper reward systems making sure that the performance of the employees is measured properly. WORK AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS As the store would be divided into various sections that must function effectively, some work activities need to be analyzed. For this, it is important for the leaders to plan out things for each department efficiently and motivate the employees of the respective department to perform well. The development needs of an employee can be identified by doing performance appraisal and it would also help to identify the effectiveness of the activities. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is done for the purpose of promotions. It is the assessments of an employee’s performance. It serves for administrative and developmental purposes. Administrative purpose provides information for making salary, promotion, lay-off decisions and documentation. Developmental purpose can be used to diagnose training needs and career planning. Cool Sounds appraises its employees because feedback and coaching based on appraisal information provide the basis for improving day-to-day performance. (Perlmutter, Bailey & Netting 2000). Results Appraisal Cool Sounds should appraise its employees’ performance. Results appraisals tend to be more objective and can focus on production data such as sales volumes or profits. Management by Objectives A process in which objective set by subordinate and supervisor must be reached within a given time period. This is another name given to â€Å"Results appraisal. † Aim of MBO. Cool Sounds must use MBO to achieve a set of goals that is clear, specific and reachable, and when managers want to empower employees to adapt their behavior as they deem necessary in order to achieve desired results. The standard of performance at Cool Sounds should be based on job analysis after which performance standards should be notified to its employees. (Morgan 1997). Managers and Supervisors Cool Sounds should also use its managers and supervisors as a source of appraisal information because they are often in a best position to observe an employees performance. Internal and External Customers Cool Sounds should use its internal and external customers as sources of performance appraisal information and it is a good idea for employees to evaluate their own performance. 360-Degree Appraisal Cool Sounds should also use multiple sources of appraisal to gain a comprehensive perspective of one’s performance because each source of performance appraisal information has some limitations, and different people may see different aspects of performance. 60-degree appraisal is beneficial and would be accepted by employee if not linked with increments. (Frappaolo 2006). Performance Appraisal Interview Employees want to know how they are doing, but typically they are comfortable about getting feedback. Cool Sounds should conduct performance appraisal interviews thoughtfully and must summarize the employees’ specific performance, and then supports the employees who are not performing well and appreciates those whose performances are good. Conclusion. Therefore, it is essential for Cool Sounds to take care of the employees they select and recruit because the employees serve as an asset of an organization and so it is a must for them to retain them as well. Moreover, they must also manage the teams well and good leadership skills are essential to make the employees work well. Conducting performance appraisal is also necessary as it can help Cool Sounds find out the level of performance of the employees and how they can further improve their performance. (Lewis 2003).

Leadership The 9 Biggest Mistakes a Leader Can Make

Leadership The 9 Biggest Mistakes a Leader Can Make As part of an ActionCOACH work day last month, we viewed an enlightening video  on leadership mistakes put together by Harvard Business Publishing. Nine business leaders were asked what they considered the biggest mistake a leader can make. Their answers are very revealing. The video was created in August 2010, and when I think back to the news about business and government leaders over the past seven years, I can line up those successes and failures to one or more of the insights below. I can also see where I personally am succeeding and where I can use some improvement. Most of these leadership mistakes can be classified under the category of either hubris/arrogance or lack of integrity. I have summarized them for you here (Stylistic note: I chose to use the words and phraseology of each leader rather than be completely consistent with the structure of each answer. I hope you’ll forgive me this one time!) Which of these leadership errors speaks most to you? Bill George, Harvard Business School The biggest mistake you can make as a leader is to put your own self-interest in front of the interest of the organization you run. If you’re looking out for your own money, power, fame, and glory, that’s wrong. Leaders have a deep responsibility to all constituencies they represent – customers, employees, shareholders, etc. – to carry that responsibility out. Leadership is not about your own fame and glory. It’s a responsibility. Evan Wittenburg, Head of Global Leadership Development, Google, Inc. Betraying trust. If you break that one, nothing else will matter. Ellen Langer, Professor, Harvard University Being certain. When we confuse the stability of our mindset with the stability of the underlying phenomenon, we act as if we know. When you think you know, you don’t pay any attention any longer. Uncertainty should be the rule. Exploit the power in uncertainty. Andrew Pettigrew, Professor, Said Business School, University of Oxford Not living up to their values. Leaders who espouse values but don’t deliver them are very often found out, and rapidly turned over. Gianpiero Petriglieri, Affiliate Professor of Organizational Behavior, INSEAD Don’t be so overly enamored with your own vision that you lose capacity for self-doubt. Passion and purpose (positive traits) can sometimes turn into obsession. You become vulnerable if you lose the capacity to see consequences, to look at potential downfalls, other ways things can be, or voices you might be disenfranchising. Carl Sloane, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School Personal arrogance/hubris. Confusing the size or success of the enterprise with the individual’s persona. That creates greater social distance and power distance, which is demotivating for most organizations and people, and which increases the chance of making big mistakes. Jonathan Doochin, Leadership Institute at Harvard College Acting too fast. Executing before thinking through the issue. In corporate America and often government, you’re often drinking through a fire hose of issues, with little time to step back, evaluate, and reenter with vision. The best thing a leader can do is take a step back with their management team, seek advice, think it through, then move back to execution. This solves issues in the short term and is also good for long-term strategy. Scott Snook, Professor, Harvard Business School As humans, we’ll accept almost any leadership style as long as it’s consistent. We will sniff out two things: 1) when it’s all about the leader. It has to be about something larger than yourself. 2) not being authentic, consistent, predictable, or in integrity. Our greatest fear is when we have to ask, â€Å"Which one (personality) is coming in today?† Like Jekyll and Hyde. As long as there’s consistency, and it’s about something greater than the leader, we’ll respect that leader. Daisy Wademan Dowling, Executive Director, Leadership Development at Morgan Stanley Not being self-reflective. Not reviewing your own behavior, how to develop yourself, and how your behavior affects other people. You must be willing to hold a mirror to yourself and look at what effect your leadership is having on others. The worst leaders bulldoze forward, make mistakes and don’t look back, not learning as they go or being self-aware about how they’re affecting the people around them. While there are many more blunders a leader can make, it seems all of them fall under one of the leadership mistakes identified above. For instance, making a company all about making money, and losing sight of the underlying values is a mistake. I believe it falls under #1, #6, and probably #9 as well. The tendency toward focusing on money over all else is a sign of getting caught up in a game that ultimately is not satisfying to win. Mistakes are bound to be made. Working too hard to please others is also a mistake; it falls under #4 and #8. If you’re not following your inner compass, you won’t be consistent or trustworthy in sticking to your own values. The potential mistakes I want to focus on are consistency and following the values I espouse. Sometimes I am afraid I am being that Jekyll Hyde personality. I write so much about leadership to remind myself how to stay in integrity with my own vision of how I want to lead. I don’t always succeed, but I always do #9 – self-reflection! I’d love to hear your stories of your own leadership wins and failures, or how you see the leaders around you have succeeded or made mistakes in the areas above. Please share!

Learn About Spanish Interrogative Pronouns

Learn About Spanish Interrogative Pronouns Quà © and cul  are two words that can be confusing to people learning Spanish, because they can be translated as the same word into English, namely, what.  It is sometimes said that  quà ©Ã‚  is closer to what in meaning, and  cul  is closer to which. But that rule isnt always true. When to Use Accent Marks The two words, when they have  accents, are used as interrogative  pronouns  in questions to mean what or which.  Quà ©Ã‚  is the same in the singular and plural forms; the plural of  cul  is  cules. Accented  forms of these words appear only in exclamations and in questions, which includes an  indirect  question. The accented  quà ©Ã‚  is found most often at the beginning of a sentence, although  it sometimes follows de  and other prepositions, especially in indirect questions.  For example,  Ã‚ ¿De quà © color es la  camisa?  meaning, What color is the shirt?   Without accents, normally que  and  cual are not being used as a question. Most often, they are connecting words or, technically speaking, relative pronouns, translated to mean which or that. They can stand for either feminine or masculine objects as well as ideas or concepts. An example of this usage is a popular phrase,  Creo que sà ­, meaning, I think that is so. Use Cases of Quà © and Cul When Asking Questions There are a number of ways to ask questions using the words  quà ©Ã‚  and  cul.  A speaker can ask for a definition, like What is this?, which uses quà ©.  Or, you can ask for a choice selection from a group, What looks better, this red blouse or this black one?, which uses  cul. Quà ©Used for Definitions A number of examples may help explain usage of quà © asking for a definition:  Ã‚ ¿Quà © es una ciudad?,  meaning, What is a city? Or,  Ã‚ ¿Quà © hace un presidente?, meaning,  What does a president do? Or,  Ã‚ ¿Quà © significa talanquera?, asking, What does talanquera mean? Quà ©Used Before Nouns Quà © is usually the interrogative pronoun that is used right before nouns. For example,  Ã‚ ¿Quà © casa prefieres?,  meaning, Which house do you prefer? Or,  ¿Quà © libro leà ­ste?,  asking, Which book did you read? CulUsed Before Forms of Ser Cul  is used before  es  and other forms of the verb  ser, meaning to be, when not seeking a definition. For example,  Ã‚ ¿Cul es tu nà ºmero de telà ©fono?,  meaning, What is your phone number? Or,  Ã‚ ¿Cul es tu problema?,  meaning, What is your problem? Or,  ¿Cules son las ciudades ms grandes?,  asking, What are the biggest cities? Cul Used toMake a Choice Cul  is used to suggest or ask for a selection or choice from a group. For example,  Ã‚ ¿Cul miras?,  meaning,  Which one are you looking at? But,  ¿Quà © miras?,  would be used to ask when you want to know, What are you looking at? An example of the plural form of the interrogative pronoun used in making a choice would be,  Ã‚ ¿Cules quieres?, meaning,  Which ones do you want? But,  ¿Quà © quieres?,  would be the proper way to ask, What do you want? Quà © as an Idiom An  idiom  is an  expression, word or phrase that has a figurative meaning traditionally understood by native speakers. For example,  Ã‚ ¡Quà © lstima! meaning, What a shame! Or,  Ã‚ ¡Quà © susto!  meaning, What a fright!   Some of the most common idiomatic expressions that are used daily in native Spanish speech  are  ¿Y quà ©? or  ¿Y a mà ­ quà ©?,  both meaning, So what? Or,  Ã‚ ¿Para quà ©? or  ¿Por quà ©?,  meaning,  Why?

Information systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information systems - Essay Example (Joseph, 2008) define an information system as â€Å"the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data† (p416). Even though there are many definitions as to what an Information system is, the definitions all agree on the fact that it is all about how humans relate with technology Figure 1: components of an IS 1. Hardware Hardware refers to all the machinery that will be used by the firm in the information system. The most important hardware in the information system is the computer. The computer has its own important hardware parts like the storage, the control unit, the processors and many others. Some people refer to the hardware part of the information system as the central processing unit because this is actually where all the data processing for the system is done. The hardware of the computer must have five important parts for it to function optimally (O'Brien, 2003) Inp ut This is the means by which the computer accepts data that is fed into it via the input devices. The most commonly used input device is the keyboard where the user types instructions that the computer processes. Other input devices include microphones for sound input, scanners for digital input and mice. Process Once the computer has accepted input, it must have a means by which it will process data. Every computer usually has a part that is used for the process of the data that it receives from the input devices Control There are many processes that the computer usually performs and it is important to have a means of controlling the different operations for optimum results. The Arithmetic and Logic Unit is used to control the different arithmetic and logical operations that the computer is working on. Storage Computers must have a means of retaining the data that is input into the system. This is usually done on the main hard drive of the computer or any auxiliary storage devices like memory sticks, external hard drives, DVDs and many others. Output After data has been input into the computer and all the processing of the data has been completed, the computer must then have a way of generating feedback for the benefit of the user. This is achieved through the output devices. There are two types of output devices. There are those that give soft output like the monitors and the speakers and there are those that give hard output like the printers and the plotters. 2. Software This term refers to any computer application and all the manuals that come with these applications. To put it simply, software is a set of computer or machine readable instructions that tell the computer exactly how to manipulate the data that is fed to it by the user. The software is very important in the information system since it is the one that has instructions on how to manipulate the data thereby giving the necessary output which management can use for decision making. Software usu ally comes stored on DVDs and other auxiliary storage devices like flash disks but it has to be installed onto the computer system for it to be used. Most of the software is usually for sale although there are some that are given under the General Public User license agreement. The computer system will be totally useless without the relevant software (O'Brien, 2003) 3. Data This

Philosophy and theory of architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Philosophy and theory of architecture - Essay Example Common features however, are considerations such as aesthetics, proportion, and surroundings. Present changes revolve mainly around the need to cope with environmental concerns but the despising of modernism runs deeper. It is generally seen as lacking in character. Prince Charles champions the call for returning to more traditional styles of architecture. A case study of Regent’s Park Mosque in London showed the building is a blend of both Islamic and modernist architectural elements. It reflects the thinking at the time of its construction. Nonetheless, it is evident of the diversity of ideas and practices present today. Architecture, its underlying philosophies and a look at Regent’s Park Mosque This paper examines some theoretical underpinnings of architecture from a philosophical perspective. It shows how theories of design presuppose specific concepts and theories. A brief overview is made of some historical and contemporary architecture and a discussion follows o f present day changes in thinking on architecture. Attention is given to the views of Prince Charles on architecture as they represent those that are dissatisfied with modernism and who hearken back to earlier architectural thinking. The global environmental changes are also contributing to the changed approach. A case study is then made of a particular building in the UK in order to illustrate such ideas, namely the Regent’s Park Mosque in central London. Architecture is intricately related with philosophy. Architecture is after all an imposed organisation of a social space, and that space has to be designed with considerable thought. A certain intended expression is exuded, which holds associations and meanings for the people who see and use the building. Many important religious buildings for example, are designed to be imposing or soothing and evoke an appreciation and respect for the almighty being. They are designed to be experienced at a deeper level so they have stron g philosophical foundations. These and other planned buildings are typically large or otherwise of some importance. They affect the lives of people in some significant way or other. Beauty is one of the important features of the outcome of architectural planning and what we come to expect from a specially designed building. According to de Botton (2008), ideas of a meaningful life are what we consider to be beautiful in architecture. People love beautiful buildings because they represent the kind of ideas about the world we live in and ourselves that they can relate with. The theme of his book deals with the search to find the kind of dwellings in which people could stand the greatest chance of happiness. In doing so, he traces the development of various styles of architecture that have attempted to satisfy human needs and desires. However, the explanation for what makes for happiness is more psychological than philosophical. People do not only associate beauty in buildings with the ir feelings but also their thoughts, and their conception of what is ideal. Kantian philosophers link aesthetics with using logic for aesthetic judgment. They â€Å"suppose that free beauty is simply beauty, but the beauty of works in particular arts is judged beautiful in the light of some antecedent notion of artistic perfection† (Mitias, 1994: 3). That is to say, a specially planned building as opposed to an ordinary building is usually judged based on some understanding of its nature