The Party is Over Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Party is Over - Essay Example Oil industry boomed especially during 1860 and 1900 when scientific and technological discoveries took place. Another oil pioneer that is credited for his contribution to the oil expansion is French engineer J.J. Etienne Lenoirn who with his discovery of first world internal combustion engine which depended much to the gasoline. Though it took almost 40 years to have clear automobile and interdependency of oil and industries, Lenoirn certainly paved the way for oil production with his innovation of internal engine combustion. In 1990, kerosene sky-rocketed the oil production due to the domestic usage of lighting and cooking, which later on the supply was affected by the invention of electric bulbs. After World War I, city construction in Europe paved the way for automobiles which later on increased oil production. Though most of war automobiles used fuel which was largely supplied by US, which led to the systemization of oil production, refining and shipping. Oil importance was vividly seen during this time which contributed much to the US economic growth. The US became the world superpower nation due to the wealth accumulated during the year of 1950 to 1965 which doubled again from year 1965 to 1980. Though an oil price has been fluctuating, oil and its products have been valuable resource which contributed much to the automakers together with oil companies in America. Though a link between auto industries and oil companies grew fast which saw more cars releases, other economic aspects also had positive impact to the country which made America to depend heavily on oil production to date. Due to it's heavily dependence on oil, America oil production started to decline which has made US looking for oil out of America. Oil revolution has not only changed Americans life, but the world as whole. US strike a deal of 50/50 split with Saudi Arabia which made US which assured US of more oil while Britain strike deal with Iran which later on was nationalised during the nationalism in Iran. Taking a good look at the trend of economic development around the world, especially in the oil producing countries, it is evidenced that these countries experienced a certain amount of conflicts. Apart from the conflicts, US have now become largest oil user, which cannot even meet the domestic demand. "Importation of oil to US has been increasing since 1970 which US has to make up for its shortfall from domestic production." (Richard Heinberg, The Party is Over, 2nd Edition 2005). US being the well-explored country have not managed to meet it domestic demand for oil. Being an industrial country, the oil production has to be high as well, the notion that has forced US to look for alternative in filling the gap of the energy required. In his book, Richard Heinberg described some of alternative energy sources like solar energy and atomic energy that could at least help in meeting the demand. . However, efforts to improve efficiency are subject to diminishing returns, and so eventually a point will be reached where reduced energy availability will translate to reduced economic activity. According to Richard Heinberg, US is the world's largest energy consumer, the centre of global industrial empire and, and the holder of the most powerful store of weaponry in world history. This might play vital role in shaping the geopolitics of the new century.

The House of God by Samuel Shem Essay Example for Free

The House of God by Samuel Shem Essay The House of God, by Samuel Shem is a satirical novel that represents the lives of young interns interning at a hospital nicknamed â€Å"The House of God.† The came from the top of their medical school class to the bottom of the hospital staff to serve a year performing distasteful work, experiencing poor working conditions, and losing close contact with family and friends. But only the Fat Man, the all-knowing resident, could sustain them in their struggle to survive, to stay sane, and to be doctors. It is a four hundred and thirty-two page novel illustrated with numerous medical references and college level diction. The book fits well with the current AP English literature curriculum because it is known to be the Catch-22 of medical professions and offers the same themes and character conflicts found in other suggested readings. The House of God is a must read for all students enrolled in AP English. It expresses irony, humor, conflict, character development and many themes. The novel allows students to read a book similar to Catch-22 without having to deal with another war novel, like A Farewell to Arms. It captures interest through a chronological flashback, unlike Catch-22, where the order of events is unclear. It also offers students an insight of the cruelties and realities of the medical profession that parallel the military profession. In the end the reader learns the effects of oppression, fatigue, and the psychological development of each intern. These understanding will further enhance a students knowledge of theme and conflict. However, introducing the novel to the curriculum has some disadvantage. It is constructed with vulgar language through the last page. The language is especially explicit during the numerous sexual intercourses between the interns and nurses. Students should be mature enough to get past the crudeness but some teachers and students may not be open to the vivid voice and scenes. Also many of the characters are stock characters and confusion arises about whether or not they are important to the central plot. Lastly, some students will not be familiar with the medical references of diseases and symptoms stated throughout the novel. Nevertheless, this is only a minor disadvantage since some terms are  explained as doctors ridicule the interns knowledge. Despite the disadvantages, the novel fits well within the curriculum. It has offers a difficult reading level that challenges students reading, a strong use of literary techniques, and a psychological understanding of dynamic characters. It is the same length as Catch- 22 but it is easier to understand and expresses a clearer message on the realties and psychological tolls of a profession.

The History Of Jean Watson caring Science

The History Of Jean Watson caring Science Summary Jean Watson born in 1940 earned a diploma from Lewis Gale Hospital School of Nursing in Roanoke, VA. Watson furthered her education and attended the University of Colorado for her BSN, MSN in psychiatric-mental health nursing and Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling. Watson has held numerous positions at the University of Colorado as both faculty and administrator. Watson served as faculty at the University of Colorado Health Science Center, dean of the School of Nursing, and fouding Dorector of the center for Human Caring. Watsons first publication was in 1979 and this was the introduction of the theory of Transpersonal Caring to the nursing profession. Watsons theory focuses on preserving the dignity and wholeness of humanity. Transpersonal Caring theory evolved from Watsons own personal values, beliefs, and perceptions regarding human life, health, and healing. (Walker, 1996, p. 144) Watson views nursing as a collective caring-healing role and its mission in society as attending to, and helpting to sustain, humanity and wholeness (Walker, 1996, p. 144). The thoery is meant to be a worldview or ethic by which nursing could know its traditions in health and healing. Watson views nursing as an human science academic discipline and as an clinical profession. The theory views nursing as a societal mission to caring and healing work with others during their most vulnerable moments of lifes journey (Walker, 1996, p. 145). The theory analyzes caring independently from curing. The discipline of caring and hea ling are derived from the arts and humanities. Watsons theory was based on Nightingales healing environment concept. The theory evolved from the belief that an individuals environment affects their healing. The theory began as a philosophy and was never meant to be a testable theory. Watsons goal for the theory is to move nursing from the belief that the human body is a machine to the belief that the interdependent and nondiscrete nature of a world and the spiritual nature of humans is of paramount importance (Watson, 1985, p. 1) Watson defines health as harmony, and illness as disharmony within the mind, body, and spirit. Eastern philosophy influenced Watsons theory on health and illness. In Watsons later works her influence was the Chaos Theory by Kellert and the quantum physics and mechanics by Pelletier (Walker, 1996, p. 191) Watsons goal is to serve as a bridge by which nursing will transition from a biomedical/natural-science model to a postmodern/human-science perspective. Watson believes language is the key to transitiong nursing from the biomedical/natural-science model to the postmodern/human -science model (Walker, 1996, p. 146) Watson (1999) believed nursing is a discipline devoted to caring, health, and healing. Watsons theory has continued to evolve in regards to her concepts. The main components of her origninal theory are: transpersonal caring relationship; ten carative factors; and caring occasion/caring moment. These components defined her orignial concept of transpersonal caring which was defined as a human-to-human connectedness occurring in a nurse-patient encounter wherein each is touched by the human center of the other (Watson, 1985). In Watsons updated theory new dimensions evolved and included the concept that the caring-healing modalities potentiate harmony, wholeness, and confort, and promote inner healing by releasing some of the disharmony and blocked energy that interfere with the natural healing processes (Walker, 1996, p. 151) The transpersonal caring relationship is a strong relationship between nurse and patient. The relationship is a unique relationship for the both the nurse and patient. A nurse enters into the life space or phenomenal field of another person and is able to detect the other persons condition of being (spirit, or soul level), feels this condition within self, and respons in such a way that the person being cared for has a release of feelings, thought , and tension (Walker, 1996, p. 152). Watson believes the necessary knowledge and sensitivity a nurse needs to build a transpersonal caring relationship with their patient can be gained through work with other cultures, study of the humanities, and exploration of ones own values, beliefs, and relationship with self (Walker, 1996, p. 153). Watson wanted the theory to apply to all nurses in any situation and make use of its carative factors in implements and delivering quality nursing care. Weaknesses The first limitation in Watsons theory is the lack of relevancy to todays nursing. Due to the acuity of illness and nurse patient ratios following Watsons theory doesnt seem practical. Watsons model continuously focuses on the spirit, and has a lack of emphasis on the physical entities of an individual. Watsons model would deem difficult to practice for nurses who focus care on the physical aspects and the treatment of illness. Watsons theory focuses on the human care process and not on the therapeutic nature of care (Rafael, 2000, p. 402) Individuals who believe the physical is separate from the spiritual may find this theory unpractical. Watson continuously focuses on the psychosial aspects and need of patients, and this is a secondary concern in the current state of nursing practice. Watsons theory also deems itself to be impractical because it calls for a level of care that is simply impossible in an environment where there is a high acuity of illness, short hospital stays due to lack of insurance, and an increased level of technology which limits the amount of time needed to spend with a patient. In the current business focused era and a bureaucratic health care system, Watsons model would prove to be extremely difficult for nurses to implement. The broad gap between the nurse caring process and the clinical reality, have some authors suggesting that this gap reduces clinical relevance. (Morse, Solberg, Neander, Bottorff, Johnson, 1990, p. 8) Nurses would find current hospital policies and practices would limit their flexibility to implement this theory. The health system follows a different set of values and beliefs and would stand as a barrier for nurses whom choose to follow these principles. Implementation of Watsons theory would require a change from the public and movement away from the idea of treatment and towards healing and caring. Watsons theory would require the restructuring of our entire health system, and rebuilding into a healing focused health care system. Strengths Watsons theory has been criticized by many, but is transformative and brings the caring aspect back to nursing. The theory guides the nurse to focus on the individual and requires the selective use of technology. The theory requires the use of technology only for the enhancement of healthcare practices, and not as the sole guiding factor in healthcare. Watson insists that the nurse focuses on the subjective experience of the patient, to facilitate restoring inner harmony and potential healing (Morse et al., 1990, p. 9) Watson calls the nurse to go beyond the duties of providing standard quality of care, but requires the nurse to provide soul satisfying care. Watson believes it is morally imperative and an obligation to care for the patient and their spiritual needs, regardless of the nurses experience or abilities. This notion also coincides with Leiningers Culture Care theory in requiring the nurse to provide non-judgmental and non-biased culturally competent care. Watsons theory allows the nurse to be flexible in their practice. The theory doesnt require the nurse to follow a set standard or tool. Transpersonal Caring theory focuses on the individual and not the disease or illness. The theory allows the nurse to utilize different interaction methods with different individuals. The theory grants the nurse the ability to adjust their approach and style of care based on the needs of each individual as separate entities and apart from their disease. The adjustment allows the nurse to have a transpersonal moment with their patient in which ones mind-bod- soul engages with anothers mind-body-soul in a lived moment. Here a spiritual union is felt with the other person (Rafael, 2000, p. 402) Watson brings the patient back to focus and eliminates the other common distractors such as technology and illness. By eliminating these distractors Watson is allowing the nurse to meet each patients physical and spiritual needs. Betty Neuman: The Neuman Systems Model Summary Betty Neuman born in 1924 in Ohio received her nursing diploma from Peoples Hospital in 1947 in Akron, Ohio. Neuman later received her B.S. in public health nursing in 1957 and her M.S. public-mental health in 1966 from UCLA. In 1985 she obtained her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pacific Western University. Neuman has worked as a bedside nurse, teach, author, lecturer, and consultant. Neuman was the first nurse licensed in California as a marriage and family counselor. The Neuman Systems Model was developed in 1970 in response to graduate students requests for a course that would provide an overview of the physiological, psychological, sociocultural, and developmental aspects of human beings (Fawcett, 2001, p. 211). The model was first published in 1972 and five editions have been published with the last edition in 2010. The model was established during the period of general systems theory and is a holistic model based upon interactions and relationships. Neumans System Model consists of two major components stress and the reaction to stress (Neuman, 1995, p. 22). The model has four major concepts in relation to nursing which are: human being/individual, environment, health, and nursing. The model is an open system and defines the individual as a human being, the community, or a family. The goal of the system is to maintain balance and stability. Neuman allows the individual to maintain balance by utilizing resources within and outside of the system, or eliminate internal or external factors that affect the individuals ability to maintain stability. Factors that disrupt an individuals ability to maintain stability are called stressors. Neuman views stressors as either negative or positive and deem them capable of having this same effect on the individual. The model requires the individual to utilize and exchange with its environment. The individual may adjust itself according to the environment or adjust the environment as long as the ultimate goal of stability is met. The physiological psychological, sociocultural, developmental and spiritual factors are considered the core of the model. If the individual has maintained stability then these factors functions harmoniously amongst each other in spite of environment and stressors. Neuman believes when these factors are working together harmoniously and optimal stability has been attained then the individual has also obtained a greater level of wellness. Neuman utilizes wellness and health interchangeably and identifies these factors as optimal system stability, or the optimal state of wellness at a given time (Neuman, 1990, p. 129). The levels of health vary and is based upon the individuals response to its environment and stressors. The model identifies illness and death as requiring more energy that what is available, and wellness as requiring less energy than what is available or generated (Neuman, 1990, p. 129) Neuman utilizes prevention at the levels of primary, secondary, and tertiary to maintain stability (Fawcett, 2001, p. 213). Primary prevention is health promotion and maintenance and is utilized when a risk is identified and before its onset. Secondary prevention occurs after the risks onset and is utilized to prevent further injury and disability. If secondary prevention is unable to maintain stability the individual will move towards tertiary prevention. Tertiary prevention is maintaining maximum stability even with a disability to promote health and return to primary prevention. Neuman defines nursing as helping the individuals system attain, maintain, or retain system stability (Fawcett, 2001, p. 211). Neuman identifies the job of the nurse to accurately assess the individual and identify the stressors to their system, and assist the individual in making adjustments that will promote optimal health and wellness. By identifying and assisting the nurse stands as the linkage between the individuals system, its environment, and health. The nurses interventions are aimed at helping the individual maintain a level of stability. The level of stability must be maintained under the conditions of the environment and possibly stressors if the factors are unable to be eliminated. The nurse must assist the individual in maintaining stability under these conditions and minimize the amount of energy consumed by the individual. The model identifies a three-step process for the nurse and consists of the nursing diagnosis, nursing goals, and nursing outcomes. The Nursing Dia gnosis consists of the assessment and diagnosis of each individual. The second step Nursing Goals consists of the identification and planning phase. The final step Nursing Outcomes is the implementation and evaluation phase. (Fawcett, 2001, pp. 212-213) Weaknesses The major weakness identified in Neumans model is the ambiguity of the terms used in the model. Clarification is needed regarding the terms interpersonal stressors, extrapersonal stressors, and reaction. Gigliotti (2003) noted that linking statements (relational propositions) between stressors and the environment should be clearer (Gigliotti, 2003, p. 203). The reader can assume that interpersonal stressors occur between two people and extrapersonal stresors occur between a group or society and the person, but this is not clearly defined in Neumans literature. Hoffman (1982) analyzed the NSM and explored its use for theory construction concluding that the concepts of the NSM were defined and proposed that concept interrelations be further investigated so that relational hypotheses could be formulated (Gigliotti, 2003, p. 203). The differentiation between interpersonal and extrapersonal is not clear. The pictorial diagram of Neuman Systems Model includes the term reaction, but in the original model the term reaction is not clearly defined or discussed. The second weakness identified in Neumans model is the inconsistence use of the concepts health, environment and nursing. Neumans literature identifies health, environment, and nursing as major concepts within the model, but these concepts do not appear in the models diagram. Neumans diagram is considered to be an important representation of her model, but major concepts are eliminated from the model. Gigliotti (2003) noted that the definitions of essential concepts that Neuman had then supplied were adequate but the definitions of health, environment, and nursing needed clarification (Gigliotti, 2003, p. 203). Major concepts stated and continuously used within Neumans literature should be identifiable and noted within the pictorial explanation of the model. Strengths A major strength in Neumans model is its ability to be widely used within nursing. Neuman reports that the model was designed for nursing but can be used by other health disciplines (Fawcett, 2001, p. 212). If all nurses and other disciplines utilize this model then a consistent approach to health care will be facilitated. If all disciplines utilize the same model, established by Neuman, perhaps redundancy and errors will be limited across health care disciplines. Redundancy would be eliminated and the patient would only have to explain their needs or story once to all health care disciplines, rather than, having to tell the same story many different times. The second strength in Neumans model is not only can it be used across other health care disciplines, but can be utilized within all areas of nursing. Neumans model is flexible in the sense that it can be used in the areas of research, administration, education, and clinical practice all within nursing. The third edition of Neumans model highlights the use of the model in all areas of nursing throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, England, Holland, Sweden and Wales (Fawcett, 2001, p. 211). The widespread use of this model illustrates its universal applicability. Neuman highlights this applicability as crucial during the current state, in which, the nursing profession has an increased need for unity within the discipline. Neuman believes the systematic Nursing Process format has been especially relevant as a guide for practice, despite all of the social and professional changes that nursing continues to experience (Fawcett, 2001, p. 212).

Mary Jane :: essays research papers

Mary Jane A good book is one that you cannot quit thinking about. For days after you finish it, you will catch yourself daydreaming about it. That is what The Bluest Eye did to me. I can’t say that I liked the novel, because I didn’t. It left me with an empty, horrified feeling in the pit of my stomach; a realization of how harsh the world can be. I believe that this was Toni Morrison’s goal for this book. She didn’t want me to feel all warm and cozy when I finished. She didn’t want me to ‘like’ The Bluest Eye; she wanted me to learn from it. I learned about a child’s understanding, how people can react differently to a harsh environment, the importance of white symbols in a black girls life, and what could possess adults to do horrible things to helpless children. In short, I learned about the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Claudia narrated most of the book, though the story is mainly about Pecola. Claudia and her sister, Fridea, are, in all visible ways, exactly like Pecola. They are poor, black girls in a world where only white is beautiful and good. The difference is that Claudia and Fridea could ignore society and still love themselves, but Pecola felt that she was worthless because of her black features. The world around Claudia, Fridea, and Pecola is filled with symbols of whiteness. The first thing that is brought to our attention is the elementary school readers, where the main characters are Dick and Jane. Dick and Jane are perfect white children and they live in a perfect, white, cheery, loving, world. Morrison concentrates on this at the beginning of every chapter to bring focus on the life that Pecola wants to live. This establishes the theme of white domination over the culture. Pecola worshipped Shirley Temple. While she was at the Macteer’s she couldn’t get enough white milk, which she drank out of a Shirley Temple cup. She also loved Mary Jane candies because â€Å"Each pale yellow wrapper had a picture on it. A picture of little Mary Jane, for whom the candy is named. Smiling white face. Blond hair in gentle disarray, blue eyes looking at her out of a world of clean comfort. The eyes are petulant, mischievous. To Pecola they are simply pretty. She eats the candy, and its sweetness is good. To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane.

People and Civilizations of the Americas

People and Civilizations of the Americas An ancient civilization called Mesoamerican of the Maya developed a written language which enabled scribes to record the important actions of rulers and military events. One of the scribes was called the Mayan Scribe. The Mayan Scribe used a complex writing system to record religious concepts and memorializes the actions of their kings. Lady WacChanil-Ahau, the Maya princess, mounted a litter decorated with rich textiles and animal skins. The Mayans had a urban center called Dos Pilas. Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau’s destination was the Maya city of Naranjo, where she married a powerful nobleman. Her marriage was eliminated when the regions major military power Caracol, had defeated Naranjo. K’ ak Tiliw Chan Chaak, the son of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau, ascended the throne of Naranjo as a five-year-old in 693 C. E . Chaak was a prodigious builder, leaving behind an expanded and beautified capital as part of his legacy. He erected numerous carved stone monuments called stelae celebrated her life. The defeat of the city-states of Tikal and Naranjo by Caracol undermined long-standing commercial and political relations in much of southern Mesoamerica and led to more than a centaury of conflict. Caracol was challenged by the dynasty created at Dos Pilas by the heirs of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau. The two shared culture and religion, the great Maya cities stayed divided by the dynastic ambitions of their rulers and by the competition for resources. The people of the Americas were in constant competition for resources as the story of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau’s marriage and her role in the development of the Maya dynasty suggested them. Member’s elites organized their societies to meet these challenges, even as their ambition for greater power predictably ignited new conflicts. No single set of political institutions or technologies worked in every environment, and enormous cultural diversity existed in the ancient Americas. Mesoamerica, which is Mexico and northern Central America and the Andean region extraordinarily productive and diversified agriculture. Cities were built that rivaled the capital of the Chinese and Roman Empire in size and beauty. The rest of the hemisphere, indigenous peoples adapted combinations of hunting and agriculture to maintain a wide variety of settlement patters, political forms, and cultural traditions. All cultures and civilizations of America experienced cycles of expansion and contraction as they struggled with the challenges of environmental changes, population growth, social conflicts and war.

All the Truth About Quality Custom Essays Who Really Orders Model Papers Anyway

All the Truth About Quality Custom Essays Who Really Orders Model Papers Anyway All the Truth About Quality Custom Essays: Who Really Orders Model Papers Anyway? Why do university students feel compelled to order model papers? Aren’t these â€Å"shortcuts† just for their sluggish and less academic peers? No, not really. The need to balance the course load and life makes everyone consider all variants they have. They Use Model Essays as Exemplary Papers Imagine you are a foreign student living in the United States for the first time. You are an excellent cook in your home country, and the craft comes easily to you. You begin to make friends at the university and one invites you over for a Thanksgiving dinner. This is a tradition and meal you know about, but your friend requests that you bring the dressing and cranberry sauce. You thought dressing was something you did in the morning after a shower and you have heard of strawberries, blueberries, and even blackberries, but cranberries, you have never seen in any store. So, what do you do? You jump online of course; Google has never let you down before. You are looking for a model to get an idea of what your friend expects when she/he says â€Å"dressing and cranberry sauce†. The same thing applies when using model papers. Before you begin any project you must know what it is you are creating, and what the end product should look like. This is why reviewing a model essay will be so helpful. It is your point of reference in the sea of the university confusion. They Save Time on Research, Proofreading and Editing Let’s be honest, unless you are in school to learn to be a world class researcher, do you really benefit you from endless research that must be conducted for hours? The same goes for proofreading and editing. If you have made it this far in your academic life, you have a good grasp of how to proofread and edit.   However, since you are not making research or editing your career, why spend so many precious hours on it? You have many other assignments, obligations and a life to get on with. Why not leave the research to someone else to handle? Delegation and time management are good skills to learn as well, right? They Enjoy Their Life You worked hard to get into college and you are working hard now to maintain your grades. These facts are to be commended. At the same time, you are only young once and you should also enjoy this time as well, as you will not get a make-up exam for these years if you miss them. We do not recommend being reckless, just that you should set aside time to enjoy life and balance out the work that your university course load brings. Enjoying your life will actually leave you refreshed, rested and more capable of tackling harder projects. Using a custom model essay service can free up few valuable hours so you can enjoy your life. So, as you can see, there are many reasons all types of students use writing services, and most of the reasons are legitimate and understandable, and smart.

BUSINESS STUDIES Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers

BUSINESS STUDIES Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers BUSINESS STUDIES GLOSSARY YEARS 10 AND 11 NAME ..................................... | | |A | | | | | | |Above the line |Methods of promotion that allow a firm to reach | | |a wide audience easily. These include methods | | |such as advertising on television and in | | |newspapers and magazines. | | | | |ACAS (Advisory, |An independent body established under the | |Conciliation and |Employment Protection Act whose aim is to help | |Arbitration |employers and employees resolve trade disputes | |Service) |and improve industrial relations. | | | | |Accounting ratios|A way of analysing the performance of a company | | |by comparing key items from its balance sheet | | |and the profit and loss account. These are used| | |to show performance in four areas: | | |profitability, liquidity, productivity and | | |investment. | | | | |Advertising |Advertising is designed to create an awareness | | |of a product. It is the process of informing a | | |customer about a product or service (informative| | |advertising) and persuading that customer to buy| | |it (persuasive advertising). | | | | |Advertising |A voluntary body set up by the UK advertising | |Standards |industry to consider complaints made by | |Authority (ASA) |customers about advertisements. It expects an | | |advert to be legal, decent, honest and true. | | | | |Annual bonus |A fixed amount in addition to a basic wage or | | |salary, which employees receive once a year, | | |often at Christmas. This bonus payment | | |motivates employees and encourages loyalty to | | |the business. | | | | |Annual General |The statutory meeting of directors and | |Meeting (AGM) |shareholders held once a year. The shareholders| | |are asked to vote on various proposals that the | | |board of directors is making about the company, | | |but can also ask the directors questions about | | |the business. Shareholders may also elect | | |members of the board of directors. | | | | |Annual report. |A report issued by a limited company, which | | |contains written and financial statements about | | |the progress of the company in the previous | | |financial year. This is to ensure that the | | |shareholders receive some information on an | | |annual basis. | | | | |Apprenticeship |A system of on the job training for craft skills| | |or a profession where young people are given | | |training by working alongside a skilled worker. | | | | |Assets |What a company owns represented in the balance | | |sheet. Fixed assets are long-term assets, which| | |are for use in the business and not for resale. | | |Current assets are used in the course of the | | |business and will be converted into cash within | | |the next twelve months. | | | | |Assisted areas |Specific geographical areas of the UK, which are| | |eligible to receive financial assistance. The | | |government has identified these areas by above | | |average unemployment rates caused by the decline| | |in traditional industries such as ship building,| | |coal mining and steel production. | | | | |Authority |The capacity to give commands which others | | |accept as legitimate in an organisation. | | | | |Autocratic |A style of leadership where the power for making| |leadership |decisions is in the hands of one person or a | | |small group of people. This is the opposite of | | |democratic leadership. | | | | |Average cost |Also called unit cost. The total costs of | | |producing a product divided by the number of | | |units produced. Over a short period of time it | | |is expected that as output increases, average | | |costs will fall to start with and then rise | | |again as the factory moves towards full | | |capacity. See economies/diseconomies of scale | | | |B | | | | | | |Balance of |A record of the overall results of a country's | |payments |trading activity with the rest of the world. It| | |includes imports and exports of goods and | | |services and capital flows into and out of the | | |country. | | | | |Balance sheet |One of the final accounts. It shows the assets | | |and liabilities of the business at a particular | | |date. It is often called a 'snap shot' of the | | |financial state of the business. | | | | |Bank of England |The central bank of the UK. It controls the | | |money supply, interest rates and inflation. | | | | |Bankruptcy |The condition of being unable to meet the

Sony Case Study Essay

Sony Case Study Essay Sony Case Study Essay Sony Corporation – Restructuring Continues, Problems Remain Sony in crisis again: 1. Obstacles: don’t question its business. 2. Reorganize the programs (financial performance and competitiveness of the company) 3. The attempts failed because of the silo culture. 4. Reducing business categories and products models. 5. Another reorganize of the program in 2009 (reduction in the employee and manufacturing sites)ïÆ'   make all Sony parts to work together and move to innovation. 6. Did not give attention to the market research. The restructuring efforts: 1. Another re-structuring in 1994 & 1996 2. Sony organized into 10 company structure ïÆ'   no improvement in the financial performance. 3. SWOT: another restructuring was in 1999 when Sony tried to exploit the opportunities offered by the Internet ïÆ'   PlayStation (p5) 4. New change in the top management of Sony. 5. The CEO suggest that Sony transform into a Broadband Network Solution company by launching a wide range of broadband products and services ïÆ'   did not get the expected results. 6. Analysts were of the opinion that the erosion in Sony’s profits was due to the expenses the company had incurred on implementing its many restructuring plans. 7. New idea of restructuring plan called â€Å" Transformation 60† - 3 years plan- aimed to optimizing manufacturing infrastructure and reducing fixed costs by combining the operating divisions and shifting component sourcing to low cost markets like china. Reduce cost by: Downsizing and consolidating the manufacturing, distribution and customer service facilities Streamlining procurement. 7000 employees were laid off in Japan and 13,000 at other locations in world. Several corporate and administrative functions which were overlapping were integrated. 8. This restructuring plan was not successful mainly because of the significant drop in sales in some products. 9. In 2005, Stringer became the CEO. He identified five main challenges for Sony: p6 1) Getting rid of its silo culture, 2) Attaining profitability across businesses 3) Making products in line with industry standard technologies. 4) Improving the competencies in software and service 5) Divesting the company of its non-strategic assets. At the same year, Sony started to adopted the new organizational structure by reorganized the company into five business group: the electronics business, the games business group, the entertainment business group, the personal solutions business group, the personal solutions business group and the Sony financial holding group). The results of this new structure: Sony expected to achieve coordination across different areas including planning, technology, procurement, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Eliminate product and design redundancies. along with this new strategy, Sony also announced an internal slogan called â€Å"Sony United†. This focused on promoting teamwork and cooperation and bringing together key resources. The outcome: 1. One of Stringer’s first tasks was to revive Sony’s television business (flat panel televisions). 2. In 2006, nine factories were closed down and over 5700 jobs were eliminated. 3. To focus on the growth markets, Sony discontinued the manufacture of around 600 of the total 3000 products it manufactured. 4. Although the electronics business remained a problem, the sales of flat panel TV improved and so did the sales of PCs and camcorders. 5. Analysts were of the view that Stringer’s efforts had succeeded in putting the company back on the right track. 6. in 2007, Sony announced that to strengthen its product development capability and improve profitability in the electronics segment, some more changes had to be made in its organizational structure. The company established the B2B Solutions Business Group ïÆ'   aim to enhance its B2B business growth. 7. As a result of the joint venture with Samsung for making panels was one of the reasons for Sony doing well in the television market (B2B strategy). 8. In 2007, Stringer announced that

Informal Reading Assessment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Informal Reading Assessment - Case Study Example Moreover, the class teacher did not brief him about the assessment. After I explained in details the purpose of our meeting, john was extremely inquisitive to know why I was assessing him. In fact, he asked me if their class teacher was not qualified enough to conduct the assessment. I explained to him that all the other students were to undergo the same test. As I was about to start the test, I realized that John was busy trying to find out what was in my laptop. I asked him what his favorite class program was, and he told me about a cartoon TV program that he always watches at home in the evening. I listen to him so that he would feel appreciated. John answered short answer questions extremely well. However, I kept quiet and looked at the laptop when I asked him to explain some questions. This was expected because at his age, a child does not like challenging things or questions. John did not have many problems on the word list. In fact, all the questions on the word list for grade three were not an issue to him. He was able to handle them with a lot of ease. His frustration manifested on instructional and partly independent level, where he could miss the pronunciation of words whose syllables are almost similar. The greatest problem is where he could say the words that are particularly common in the text books whenever he sees a similar word. For example, it was†¦. For any sentence that start with It. This also resulted to confusion of words whose last syllables changes. For instance, he said enabled instead of enabling. Another problem was reading long words. He had a habit of skipping such word because they were hard to pronounce. In addition, he would interchange the pronunciation of some words. For instance, t instead of d. this is attributed to the influence of child’s first language. Goal The teacher needs to give more concentration on john’s points of weaknesses. The best way to improve on such areas is giving more assignments on the same

Consumer Behavior according to Demographics Assignment - 6

Consumer Behavior according to Demographics - Assignment Example The respondents are further subdivided into four categories with respect to their age. There are respondents with age ranging from 15 to 25 years old and this group is 27% of the total sample size. Another group of respondents consists of samples with age ranging from 26 to 35 years old. This group is 73% of the total sample size. Another classification of respondents is according to their gender. The percentage of male respondents is 47% and the remaining percentage which is 53% goes to female respondents. This is shown in Table 2 below. Respondents are also classified according to their lifestyle. As shown in Table 3 below, the percentage of respondents who are active and dedicated is 46% and about 7% for respondents who identified themselves as romantic. There are no respondents who are longing for security, relaxed and uninvolved and others. The 13% of respondents find themselves aggressive. Another 7% of the respondents identified themselves single-minded and the remaining 27% find themselves active but lack of time. This can be further justified statistically if the probability value (P-value) is greater than 0.05. This means that there is no significant difference observed between the means of the two compared population responses. Thus, Ho is accepted. On the other hand, in the event that the P-value is less than 0.05, then this result suggests a significant difference observed between the means of the two compared population responses. Thus, Ho is rejected. The first item is asking the respondents whether friends influence them to watch a film. The responses of the respondents can be affected by how socially active they are in making and hanging out with friends.  

Literature Review on Leadership Theories, Leadership styles and Research Paper

Literature Review on Leadership Theories, Leadership styles and Visioning - Research Paper Example This generosity and unconventional style has been adapted by many ICT companies. Facebook has the same casual office lay-out and also provides employees with free food. Viximo has a â€Å"come and go as you please† policy and actually encourages their employees to establish their own business. The question now is whether this leadership styles are really borne of the technology or a modification of the classic ones. Servant Leadership As early as 1977, Robert Greenleaf already came up with Servant leadership theory. He argues that great leaders are the ones that serve his constituents. Yet, earlier thinkers like Socrates and Xenophon (Adair, 1989) believed that leaders should lead by serving and even earlier than that is St. Paul who publicly declared that his strategy in ruling other people and making them follow him is by serving them. This is the same strategy used by Jesus Christ. Though many may question his persona as God, no one can question the greatness of his leaders hip style (Cross, 1998). ... These things allow the employees to grow and learn and do their jobs (Dess and Picken, 2000). The test of whether or not servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977) is effective lies in the productivity of the people within the organization. Servant leaders prove the system is working when people are more independent and able surpass the quality of work expected of them. It can be argued that an organization with a servant leader actually serves a purpose, not the person. Some examples of servant leaders are Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. They all rule their nation but put their cause front and center instead of relying on their persona. This allows the people to hinge their faith on a dream instead of a person. It strengthens their faith in a vision instead of a person (Zohar & Marshall, 2001). Action-Centred Leaders Adair (1973) also developed the Action-Centered Leadership theory. This leader clearly demarcates three levels of leadership: the team, the job, and the person. These thre e elements require separate strategies but also overlap as each cannot be operated in a vacuum, one must be operated in consideration with the other two. This theory argues that there is no leadership style that may be considered the best kind and that several styles may actually be used in a single organization by one person. The key is in determining what kind works best for a certain situation. If servant leadership puts the members’ need in front and center, ACL believes that the task is the most important element in leading an organization (Adair, 1989). Leaderless Theory This is, perhaps, the newest of the new theories that are emerging and also the one that is directly influenced by ICT. Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom

MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 Case Essay

MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 Case - Essay Example The evacuation of such huge population would have been a task nearest to impossible, but it was the availability of aircrafts in the U.S military base which escorted the locals safely. The Clark Air Force Base offered its services to the response team of Volcano Disaster Assistance Program; the team was fully engaged towards the monitoring of the volcano. The team was able to install certain instrumentation for the purpose of seismic monitoring; the intent of this exercise was to determine the occurrence of earthquakes and conduct the mapping of the volcanic deposits. The monitoring equipments assisted the team to realise that "large eruption was imminent". Soon after this confirmation, the evacuation scheme was pursued. It was the monitoring equipments which assisted the geologists in determination of the actual threat. From the incident of Mount Pinatubo eruption, it has been confirmed that the importance of monitoring equipments is immense, and the timely application of these moni toring equipments can assist in the estimation of challenge, and its extent (Goodwin, 2002). The technological advancement is the key to safe and secure future (Murphy, 1989). The presence of the American military base offered U.S. Geological Department to conduct its activities without further diplomatic intervention, and the timely intervention with application of the latest gadgets secured the future of hundreds of thousands. The American military was able to mobilize its hardware to secure locations, and damage worth millions of dollars was prevented. From geological aspect, any geological catastrophic is never spontaneous. The geological upset occurs when certain activities between the layers of the Earth take momentum; these activities are steady, and accelerate when porosity on the earth layer exists. The installation of the monitoring equipments - which in actual determines the nature and momentum of activities occurring inside the earth layer, assists the government and non-governmental organizations to develop evacuation plan to prevent major loss to humanity (Blair, 2001). At international forum of USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, it was confirmed that economically it is not possible to install the monitoring system near all the volcanoes. The focus was towards the development of portable monitoring instruments that "could be quickly deployed to a reawakening volcano"; through installation of such system the critical parameters including "earthquakes, ground deformation, mudflows, and volcanic gas emissions" can be traced and recorded (Blair, 2001). The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program - VDAP was established to offer assistance to all the countries where volcanic eruption was a challenge, under this program the mobile team of VDAP will offer services for monitoring, will assist in the determination of actual challenge, and will "provide timely information and analysis to emergency managers and public officials". This institution is also committed towards training, and conduct exercises and workshops for evacuation team squad etc. Perry has identified three important activities which shall be practiced and executed internationally to avert humanitarian crisis due to volcanic eruptions. The identification areas for improvement include, 1. public education 2. access controls 3. evacuation systems (Perry, 2005) These three measures are important under social management technique to avoid

American dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

American dream - Essay Example Most people who were rendered jobless during recession had education levels of high schools and below. In fact, Georgetown University’s Center on Education (GUCE) had recently claimed that the employment trends for people with no college education were literally flat at the start of the recovery phase. This means that individuals who become jobless during the Great Recession were not in a position to get new jobs. The nature of job loss in the United States during recession was so uneven that it worsened the income inequality trends. In addition, it expanded the gap between wealthy class and the rest of the American population. In a recent statement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), they claimed that the income inequality structure in the United States was a threat to their long term socio-economic strength and development (David, 2012). OCED further argued that the education system in the country was not effective in assisting children to re alize their full potential. This was so because the government’s expenditure directed to less fortunate students was quite minimal. The question people are asking is whether American dream is alive or dead? Based on this brief overview, this paper will focus on defending the position on whether dream to achieve a better success from old to near generation is realizable. Based on this view, a thoughtful and critical evaluation will be done on the impacts of socio-economic trends that the country has experienced in the pasts, particularly, on the economic well being of individuals and families in the United States (David, 2012). 1.2 Is American Dream to improve individuals and families economic well being still alive? In answering the above question, the study will examine range of data that address issues of wage, quality of life and community well-being. However, data that were released from various economic sources showed that things are not at all well meaning that serious challenges are affecting realization of improved living standards from one generation to the next (Lawrence, Jared and Heidi, 2009). 1.3 Thesis Statement With regards to the brief overview, thesis statement for this paper is: â€Å"The American Dream of each generation doing better than the previous generation is DEAD. The faults of capitalism, over consumption, adverse economic trends and government policies have contributed to the demise of the dream. The social contract between generations has been broken.† 1.3.1 Supporting the thesis Most data shows that the last decade was practically a lost decade. This is because there was widening of the gap of inequalities in wage and income among American households. Similarly, data shows over 25 year period of wage stagnation and slow growth rate in income that was experienced prior to the lost decade. In fact, the increasing inequalities on wealth, income and wage supported growth among the top class generations (Lawrence, Jared a nd Heidi, 2009). Research showed that these trends were partly fueled by policy response initiated by the federal government that was either wrong, absent or inadequate to address the real problem. 2.0 Defining Well Being No consensus has being reached on how â€Å"well being† concept can be defined. However, National Account of Well being (2009) defined it as â€Å"a dynamic process that gives people sense of how their lives are going, through the

Health Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health - Article Example Further complications associated with diabetes include kidney disease, blindness, and the threat of amputations. This health concern currently affects about 16 million people in the United States with an estimated five million of those unaware of their condition. African Americans face heightened risks of contracting diabetes. Although about 33 percent of people with the illness are unaware of their condition, nearly three million or almost 12 percent of the African American population over 20 years of age suffer with symptoms of diabetes.   Because of this, African Americans have been identified as being at greater risk than those of Anglo descent to suffer macro-vascular problems such as strokes and heart disease. â€Å"African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Latino whites. Twenty-five percent of African Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes† (American Diabetes Association, 2006). The immune system, the environment and genetics are factors that influence Type One diabetes but the risk factors are more clearly defined for Type Two diabetes. These include obesity, physical inactivity, elderly people, family history of diabetes, a past history of gestational diabetes and those with a weakened tolerance for glucose. Ethnicity is another risk factor. â⠂¬Å"African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for Type Two diabetes† (American Diabetes Association, 2006). Despite the biological impediments that cannot be altered, African Americans can take measures to combat this genetic predisposition. Those African American diabetics who are overweight when they begin the nutritional program may require more initial calories until their weight drops to a more normal level. The reasoning is that too rapid of a weight

MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 Case Essay

MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 Case - Essay Example The evacuation of such huge population would have been a task nearest to impossible, but it was the availability of aircrafts in the U.S military base which escorted the locals safely. The Clark Air Force Base offered its services to the response team of Volcano Disaster Assistance Program; the team was fully engaged towards the monitoring of the volcano. The team was able to install certain instrumentation for the purpose of seismic monitoring; the intent of this exercise was to determine the occurrence of earthquakes and conduct the mapping of the volcanic deposits. The monitoring equipments assisted the team to realise that "large eruption was imminent". Soon after this confirmation, the evacuation scheme was pursued. It was the monitoring equipments which assisted the geologists in determination of the actual threat. From the incident of Mount Pinatubo eruption, it has been confirmed that the importance of monitoring equipments is immense, and the timely application of these moni toring equipments can assist in the estimation of challenge, and its extent (Goodwin, 2002). The technological advancement is the key to safe and secure future (Murphy, 1989). The presence of the American military base offered U.S. Geological Department to conduct its activities without further diplomatic intervention, and the timely intervention with application of the latest gadgets secured the future of hundreds of thousands. The American military was able to mobilize its hardware to secure locations, and damage worth millions of dollars was prevented. From geological aspect, any geological catastrophic is never spontaneous. The geological upset occurs when certain activities between the layers of the Earth take momentum; these activities are steady, and accelerate when porosity on the earth layer exists. The installation of the monitoring equipments - which in actual determines the nature and momentum of activities occurring inside the earth layer, assists the government and non-governmental organizations to develop evacuation plan to prevent major loss to humanity (Blair, 2001). At international forum of USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, it was confirmed that economically it is not possible to install the monitoring system near all the volcanoes. The focus was towards the development of portable monitoring instruments that "could be quickly deployed to a reawakening volcano"; through installation of such system the critical parameters including "earthquakes, ground deformation, mudflows, and volcanic gas emissions" can be traced and recorded (Blair, 2001). The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program - VDAP was established to offer assistance to all the countries where volcanic eruption was a challenge, under this program the mobile team of VDAP will offer services for monitoring, will assist in the determination of actual challenge, and will "provide timely information and analysis to emergency managers and public officials". This institution is also committed towards training, and conduct exercises and workshops for evacuation team squad etc. Perry has identified three important activities which shall be practiced and executed internationally to avert humanitarian crisis due to volcanic eruptions. The identification areas for improvement include, 1. public education 2. access controls 3. evacuation systems (Perry, 2005) These three measures are important under social management technique to avoid

Health Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health - Article Example Further complications associated with diabetes include kidney disease, blindness, and the threat of amputations. This health concern currently affects about 16 million people in the United States with an estimated five million of those unaware of their condition. African Americans face heightened risks of contracting diabetes. Although about 33 percent of people with the illness are unaware of their condition, nearly three million or almost 12 percent of the African American population over 20 years of age suffer with symptoms of diabetes.   Because of this, African Americans have been identified as being at greater risk than those of Anglo descent to suffer macro-vascular problems such as strokes and heart disease. â€Å"African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Latino whites. Twenty-five percent of African Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes† (American Diabetes Association, 2006). The immune system, the environment and genetics are factors that influence Type One diabetes but the risk factors are more clearly defined for Type Two diabetes. These include obesity, physical inactivity, elderly people, family history of diabetes, a past history of gestational diabetes and those with a weakened tolerance for glucose. Ethnicity is another risk factor. â⠂¬Å"African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for Type Two diabetes† (American Diabetes Association, 2006). Despite the biological impediments that cannot be altered, African Americans can take measures to combat this genetic predisposition. Those African American diabetics who are overweight when they begin the nutritional program may require more initial calories until their weight drops to a more normal level. The reasoning is that too rapid of a weight

Gods Intervention in the world Essay Example for Free

Gods Intervention in the world Essay Explain what is meant by the bible describing God as a miracle worker? Miracles have been reported all over the world for thousands of years. In most scenarios miracles are related to God, and the activity of God within the world suggesting Gods imminence. The world miracle originates from the word miraculum meaning a thing of wonder. It is an interruption to the processes of nature that cannot be explained by natural laws and therefore a transgression. An interruption such as this normally bears some deeper and usually religious significance. The bible recites many ideas of miracles by either God or though Jesus. Within the old testament the story of Joshua and the Israelites. This story explains how he took his army to defend a place called Gibeon and that God was on the side of Joshua and helps them defeat the enemies of Gibeon. God does this by the interruption of natural laws such as pro longing the days, and throwing down a storm of hail. Other texts within the bible suggest miracles performed by God. For example during the story of Moses where he parts the reed sea in order for the Israelites to escape from the Egyptians. Another way miracles are shown within the bible is through Jesus. This is shown in such miracles as the feeding of 5000 and healing of the paralysed man Jesus was told to even bring people back to life. The bible uses these miracles to show Gods immanence within the world and his the relationship between God and humanity. miracles make it difficult to believe in a reliable god The idea of miracles is that they defy the laws of nature. That God Is transcendent but shows his power and goodness by interacting within the world as a miracle worker. For many who have experienced miracles they see it as an experience with God, for an example the theopany between God and Moses. However many issues are raised by the idea of God interfering in the lives of others. Firstly, some people see miracles as being morally unfair. They would say that if God was all good why would he interfere in the lives of some and not others. Why would a good God chose to help certain people and leave others to suffer. For example God helped the Jews many times within the bible whether it be in the story of Moses, Joshua or the feeding of 5000. However let them suffer through persecution so badly during the holocaust of world war two. Not only this but through the stories of Joshua and Moses God is choosing to help some people, in this case the Israelites but not the Egyptians or the enemies of Gibeon if God is the creator of everything in order to be morally correct God should be fair and just. Furthermore in some accounts of miracles from the bible God chooses to help a single person, how would God chose who to help and who to stay in suffering if God was just and fair. A miracle itself therefore contradicts Gods omnibenevolence. Miracles also make God uncertain. According to religious believers God is the creator of everything creation ex nihilo and yet for a miracle to exist God must work against his own creation to create a miracle. This questions Gods immanence as it goes against the idea that God is omniscient and never changing. By producing miracles the original laws created by God are uncertain and changeable. Why would a God that is all God and powerful need to work against his own creation there should be no need for miracles. God looked as his work and saw it was good. How could God be the creator of the earth and want to change how it works?Maurice wiles would agree with this arguing that God couldnt intervene on an individual level without undermining his whole creation. And that a good who could reject some suffering whilst choosing to help others it not worthy of worship. Although many follow this argument there are those who would say there does not need to be a choice between natural law and miracles, that they can co exist within the same world. That science can only develop by accepting new ideas of which miracles could be one. Also that miracles can have the same sorts of evidence as that of science, accounts by people, memories or physical traces left behind. David Hume is another philosopher who rejects that a reliable God cannot be a God of miracles. He suggests that miracles have nothing to do with God and that those talk of experiencing miraculous events are barbarous ignorant and gullible By this he means that the idea of God creating miracle is simply an excuse for those who cannot understand the true and natural reason for the occurrence. On the other hand there are those who would argue with the ideas of Hume and others sharing that opinion. They would say that although it is questionable as to whether miracles exist and are caused by God there is and equal lack of evidence to deny the occurrence of miracles. Equally that for a religious person it is not to question how God interacts within the world, just to have faith and accept that God is omnipotent, omni benevolent etc and that God must perform these miracles for a reason that is beyond the understanding of humans but is for a good cause.

Literature Review on Compensation and Benefits

Literature Review on Compensation and Benefits CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Overview This chapter serves as the introduction part of this research, which addresses the core value of the research. Here, the overview of the relationship between the compensation and benefits and the job satisfaction among the university staff will be discussed in the well-manner. Background of Study Forty years ago, University of Malaya is the only one university in Malaysia. In today fast moving world, education is become very crucial for the young generation. Nowadays, there was many new public or private universities occur in the market. There were twenty public universities and eighteen private universities in Malaysia. There are become more and more competitors in the higher education industry and students have more choices when they want to enter to the university. The current trends for students choosing the universities are not depended on the outlook but they will choose the universities which have good academics performance and quality. Therefore, to attract more students and compete with others universities, each university must increase their competitive advantages. Thanks to the internet and the accompanying high speed of communications, nowadays technological and services differentiation is no longer a key to competitive advantage in higher education industry. So, what the main reasons to make some university more successful than others? What is the key competitive advantage in today globalize world? The answer is employees. In a university, university staff is played an important role to run the day to day operation of the organization. University with talented and motivated staffs will offer outstanding service to their students. This will increase the university performance and likely to pull the university ahead the competitors, even if the services offered are similar to those offered by their competitor. According to Tang, Roberto, Toto Tang (2004) from United States and Spain, job satisfaction is an affective reaction to a job that results from the incumbents comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired or expected. Job satisfaction of the employees is just as important as customer satisfaction in terms of the organizational performance. Therefore, employers must make sure all their employees are satisfied with their job. But, how to make sure the staffs are motivated? How to ensure the staff are satisfied with their job? Here, the compensation and benefits is the key to those questions. Nowadays, compensation and benefits are one of the fastest changing fields in Human Resources, as many company are continue to investigate various ways of rewarding employees for increase their job satisfaction and their performance. Here, compensation refers to all forms of financial return and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship, which includes topics in regard to wages or salary programs; for example, salary ranges for job descriptions, merit based programs, bonus based programs, commission based programs, long term or short terms incentives programs, and etc. Besides, employees benefit includes the allowances, income protection, life insurances, life balance, vacation, and etc. Benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution to the organization, that is, for doing their job. Why the compensation and benefits is so important for all the employees? The answer is compensation is the main sources of employees financial security. As we know, everyone is works in expectation of some rewards; employees may see compensation as a return in an exchange between employer and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company and as a reward for a job well done. Besides, compensation is a motivator for employees. Now, people look for a job that not only suit their interested and talent, people also look for the salary and the other benefits which the company will be offer, for example, life insurance, incentive, allowances, SOSCO, EPF and etc. Besides, in the economic downturn, based wages is become very important sources to employees for living. Therefore, if the employers give higher salary to their staff, this will be motivates them to perform well and they will more satisfy with their job. By doing so, the employees will know that the company is appreciate their contribution and their efforts are noted by management. Problem Statement As mention earlier, there are many new public or private universities occur in market. To compete with other competitor, each university must increase their competitive advantage. The key competitive advantage is employees. Therefore, the issues of the employee job satisfaction become very important for the employer. There are many factors which can influence job satisfaction among university staff, for example, job security, compensation and benefits, opportunities to use skills and feeling safe in the work environment. But, this research just will investigate the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff. For a university, there are many staffs to cover and the employer does not really understand what their staffs need. It is impossible for taking all employees compensation and benefits throughout the firm into consideration to set up the reward system. This is because different department staffs have different needs. For example, for lecturer the flexible working hours and higher bonus will be more favoured by them. But, for the marketing department the flexible working hours and more incentives and allowances will be favoured by them. Compensation and benefits is a primary motivator for employees. Nowadays, people look for a job not only suit their creativity and talents, but compensate them- both in term of salary and other benefits-accordingly. (Enotes.com, 2008) Therefore, when the problems occur to the compensation and benefits of the staffs are going to have impact on employees job satisfaction. When the staffs receives the salary less than he or she expected, he or she will feel that he or she is not appreciated by the university and what he or she did is meaningless. So, the staff will feel job dissatisfaction and less motivated by the university. According to the Society for Human Resources Management report, job dissatisfaction can contribute to multiple organizational problems and has been associated with increased levels of turnover and absenteeism, which ultimately cost the organization in terms of low performance and decreased productivity. (SHRM, 2009) Thus, employer must ensure that the compensation and benefits system is fair and equitable to all the staffs and understanding the system. By doing so, employer can create a real job satisfaction and motivate their employees. Besides, research has shown that both getting less than you want and getting more than you want leads to large discrepancies between desires and outcome and eventually leads to low job satisfaction thus to low quality if working performance. (Rice, Bennett, McFarlin, 1989) Hence, desires play an important role in assessing if increasing income impacts an individuals job satisfaction and work performance. Moreover, if the desires of the individual are already met, then an increase in income will not increase satisfaction as well as working performance. (Solberg, Diener, Wirtz, Lucas, Oishi, 2002) In other words, increasing compensation and benefits may not always lead to employees job satisfaction. Besides, employers must design an appropriate compensation and benefits system to their staff. This is because inappropriate compensation and benefits will have negative effect to employee job satisfaction. For example, assume that university staffs have received one thousand and fifty ringgit (RM) each month, no allowances and overtime claim and his or her still need to work 8 hours per day. Will you believe this staff will satisfy with his or her jobs? The answer is absolutely no. Therefore, an appropriate compensation and benefits system is very significant to an organization. As a conclusion, in today fast moving world, the issue of the compensation and benefits are getting more and more important. This is because it is have much influence on an employees life, for example, health, personality, mentality and thus lead to employees job satisfaction. Therefore, employers must ensure themselves understand the way of how compensation and benefits influence the employees job satisfaction. Objectives of the Study The objectives of this study are as following: To explore the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among University staff To examines the awareness of the importance of compensation and benefits To investigate the importance of job satisfaction among university staff in Malaysia To identify about the opinion of the university staff about compensation and benefits on job satisfaction Scope of Study The scope of this study is all about the relationship between the compensation and benefits with the job satisfaction among university staff. This study will conduct a survey to support the finding. The respondents of the survey are the administrative staff among the university. The reason of choosing these respondents is because administrative staffs represent an important component in the university. They are played an important role to run the day to day operation of the organization. By choosing administrative staffs as survey object, this research can be strengthened by the survey results. Significance of Study The information gain from this research will be able to provide valuable insight on the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff. The aim of the research is to investigate and understand the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction. This research is conducted in a local public and private university is needed to gather the university staff basic information of salary, basic need of compensation and benefits, ideas of improving the total reward system of the university. From the result of the research, we can have a clear picture and concept of the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among the university staff. Besides, we also can identify clearly the variable of the job satisfaction among the university staff. In addition, the significance of the study is to provide an opportunity to the university staff to express their opinions and thus the grievances on the compensation and benefits they receive. By doing so, this can help the employer to get a better understand on what their employees need. This research also enhances the understanding of both the employer and the university staff on managing and designing the compensation and benefits of staff. Therefore, the communication gap between the employer and the staff can be removed indirectly. From the information obtained, the employer can able to design an appropriate compensation and benefits system for their employees. As a result, the employer can increase the employees job satisfaction more effectively and efficiently by using appropriate compensation and benefits. Compensation and benefits are obviously crucial to either the employer or the university staff. Appropriate compensation and benefits will address fairness, openness and clarity. This can help employees to increase their job satisfaction, encourage and motivate them to devote themselves to the university thus improve the performance of the whole university. Organization of the Study In this Final Year Project 1 will be constructed into five different chapters. The following is the detail of each chapter. Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter will provide the core value and a clear image of the study and also a briefing of the whole study. This chapter will includes background of study, problem statement, objectives of the study, scope of study, and the significance of the study. Chapter 2: Literature Review The second chapter is related to the literature review. In this chapter, all the main point will be summary and related information of the articles and journals will be used which related with the research. Chapter 3: Research Methodology This chapter for the research is the method of investigation on the influence of compensation and benefits towards job satisfaction among university staff, which include theoretical framework, research design, sampling and data collection and so on. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Overview As discussed and highlighted in the previous chapter, this research examines the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among university staff. In order to gain a better understanding about this issue, an examination of literature on related study were carried out. This chapter will consist of six sections. First, key terms definitions of the job satisfaction, compensation and benefits are provided on the following sections. For thoroughly capturing the significances of compensation and benefits, the selection related literature is explained in detail. And, the relationship between compensation and benefits and job satisfaction among university staff is being discussed and explored in the following sections by using some nations and different industry for examples. Last, the comprehensive review of all the related studies will be provided. The Definition of Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction has been explored in a variety of ways, and is defined differently by various researchers. It is also a heavily researched area of inquiry. Locke (1976) estimated that, as of 1976, about 3350 articles or dissertations had been written on the topic. Cranny (1992) indicated that more than 5000 studies of job satisfaction have been published. Job satisfaction defines as a workers sense of achievement and success, is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal wellbeing (Answer, 2008). Job satisfaction is a measure of the degree to which the employee is satisfied and happy with the job. Prince and Patche (1972) defined job satisfaction as the degree to which the members of a social system have positive and affective orientation towards membership in the system. Smith (1969) perceived job satisfaction as the extent to which an employee expresses a positive orientation towards a job. Oshagbemi (2003) stated that job satisfaction is an affective reaction to a job that results from the comparison or actual outcomes with those that are desired. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable and emotional state resulting from the perception of ones job as fulfilling or allowing the fulfilment of ones important job values, provided these values are compatible with ones needs (Locke, 1976). Katzell (1964) argues that if there is consensus about job satisfaction, it is the verbal expression of an incumbents evaluation of his or her job. On this basis, it is an affective or hedonic tone, for which the stimuli are events or conditions experienced in connection with jobs or occupations. Job satisfaction refers to an employees overall affective evaluation of the job situation. There is increasing interest in the job satisfaction of frontline employees, given their prominent role in developing relationships (Schneider, Benjamin Bowen, 1993). Besides, according to Stephen and Mary (2004) a person with a high level of job satisfaction has a positive attitude towards the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with the job has a negative attitude. When people speak of employee attitude, they usually are referring to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a very crucial issue in higher education industry; even less evidence is available related to job satisfaction in higher education for non-western nations. However, there has been a growing interest in job satisfaction in higher education over past several years mainly due to the realization that higher educational institutes are labour intensive and their budgets are predominantly devoted to personnel and their effectiveness is largely dependent on their employees (Kusku,2003), both academic and administrative. The Importance of Job Satisfaction in an Organization Job satisfaction is a very important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations. The topic of job satisfaction is also important because of its implications for job related behaviours such as productivity, absenteeism or turnover (Oshagbemi, 2000). Besides, it is also can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a predictor of work behaviours such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Further, job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behaviours (Answer, 2008). Extensive study has shown that job satisfaction has a direct impact on the performance of employees in different levels of profession. It is related to employee motivation and performance (Ostroff, 1992). For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is motivated and committed to high quality performance. On the other hand, to the worker, job satisfaction brings a pleasurable emotional state that often leads to a positive work attitude. A satisfied worker is more likely to be creative, flexible, innovative, and loyal (Answer, 2008). Therefore, the issue of job satisfaction among employees must be explored and discussed in the well-manner. The Definition of Compensation Compensation has been defined in a variety of ways. In English, compensation is defines as something that counterbalances, offsets, or makes up for something elses. However, if we look at the origin if the word in different languages, we can get a sense of the richness of the meaning, which combines entitlement, return, and reward (Atul, Matt George, 2002; Mark, 2002; Mansour, Peter, Mary, Robert, 2006). In Japanese, compensation is defines as kyuyo, which is made up of two separate character (kyu and yo), both meaning giving something. Besides, in China, the traditional characters for the word compensation are based on the symbols for logs and water; compensation provides the necessities in life (Milkovich Newman, 2008). According to Deluca (1993) and Rajkumar (1996), compensation is defines as pay, reward, remuneration, or salary and wage management. These terms are often used interchangeably in organization. In an organization perspective, compensation is often defines as an important human resource management function where it emphasizes planning, organizing, and controlling various types of pay systems. For example, direct and indirect payments, monetary and non-monetary rewards and cash and non-cash payments, those compensation is used for rewarding employees who perform in their work or service (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2004). In this research, compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services employees receive as part of employment relationship. It can be seen as a measure of justice. Normally, it is the major source of employees financial security (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Zhou, Qian, Henan and Lei (2009) stated that compensation provides competitive base salary levels necessary to attract and retain talent and compensates for day-to-day responsibilities performed at fully acceptable level and above. Chen and Brian (2004) propose that the types of compensation typically contain the following components base salary, overtime pay (OT), bonuses, commissions, the dollar value of restricted stock awards and gains from exercising stock options, profit sharing, and so on. The following is the definition for the two components of compensation. Base-Salary Base- salary is the annual and monthly salary rates of an employee which are established under current personnel policy for each position. Besides, base- salary is to represent the employees straight-time pay for a standard 40- hour workweek (Anonymous, 2007). According to wikipedia.com (2009), base- salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. In other view of running a business, base- salary can also be viewed as the cost of acquiring human resources for running operations, and is then termed personnel expense or salary expense. Besides, Henderson (2006) and Young (1999) are stated that base-salary is a base pay that is given to employees on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis based on job structure. Overtime Pay (OT) Overtime pay (OT) is always included in cash compensation. It is the pay to time worked in excess of an agreed upon time for normal working hours by an individual employee (Answers.com, 2008). In addition, Overtime Pay (OT) is defines as the payment of premium time and one-half rates in form of monetary compensation or time off is required for hours worked in excess of 40 in one a week, with exception of those considered exempt. The overtime pay rate usually is 1.5 times of base wage per hour (Anonymous, 2007). Bonus Bonus is refers as a cash payment provided to employees based on their performance. For example, monetary incentives for achieving job targets (Bloom Milkovich, 1998; Gupta Shaw, 1998; Lowery, Beadles, Petty, Amsler Thompson, 2002). Steven and Loring (1996) stated that bonus is a single, one-off, lump-sum payment which can be in the form of cash or other creative monetary scheme, such as stock options. Bonus is defines as all payments to employees which is not paid regularly at each pay period, for example bonuses paid at fixed periods. Besides, bonus payments are generally linked to individual or collective performance. Bonus can be distributed randomly as the company can afford to pay a bonus, or the amount of the bonus pay can be specified by contract (Anonymous, no date). The Definition of Benefits Benefits refer to the part of the total compensation package provided to the employee in whole or in part by payments from the employer and its did not include the pay for time spent on work (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Besides, benefits are group membership rewards that provide security for employees and their family member. Benefits are a non-compensation paid to employees. Some benefits are mandated by law, for example social security, unemployment compensation and worker compensation. Employees benefits include pension, health insurance, fringe benefits, welfare and etc (Lee, Hsu Lien, 2006). Benefits are a crucial part of an employees total compensation package. Benefits packages are became popular after World War II, when wage controls made it more difficult to give competitive salaries (Enotes.com, 2008). Besides, benefits can be treated as the payment or entitlement, such as one make under an insurance policy or employment agreement, or public assistance program or more genera lly, something of value or usefulness. Benefits may also be seen as a reflection of justice in society (Herman, 2005). According to Carter (2008), benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution to the organization, which is for doing their work. Zhou, Qian, Henan and Lei (2009) argued that benefits are provides flexible and market competitive health benefits to support employment brand and support attraction and retention. Employees benefit includes disability income protection, retirement benefits, work-life balance (for example, sick leave, vacation, jury duty and etc), allowances (for example, dental, insurance, medical, transportation, housing, mobile phone and etc), and so on. The following is the definition for the two components of benefits. Allowances Bergmann and Scarpello (2002) and Milkivich and Newman (2008) stated that allowances is often related to additional financial rewards legally provided to employees based on the employment contract or organization related service, for example, entertainment allowance or allowance fixed for particular jobs or service schemes. Allowances is also defines as a amount paid to employees as part of their salary package, or defray their out of pocket expenses incurred on behalf of the firm (Business Dictionary.com, 2009). Work-life Balance Work-life balance is refers to the effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and the other activities that are important to people. Besides, work-life balance can defines as having enough time for work and enough time to have a life thus the work life balance. The concept of work-life balance is includes the priority that work takes over family, working long hours and work intensification (Dr. Mervyl, 2007). According to Milkovich Newman (2008), work-life balance is a programs that help employees better integrate their work and life responsibilities include time away from work (vacation, jury duty), access to services to meet specific needs (drug counseling, financial planning, referrals for child and elder care), and flexible work arrangements (telecommuting, non-paid time off). Besides, Melissa (2007) also stated that work-life balance is about creating and maintaining supportive and healthy work environments, which will enable employees to have balance between work and personal responsibilities and thus strengthen employee loyalty and productivity. The Importance of Compensation and Benefits in an Organization In today fast moving world, developments have made it more important than ever for companies to make sure they have a strategic, holistic and integrated approach to compensation. To compete in a tough arena, organizations now more than ever need the support of an informed, involved and motivated their employees (Chen Hsieh, 2006). Here, compensation and benefits is a primary motivator and rewards for employees. As noted by Lawler (1995), compensation can be an effective motivator only if it is important to people and it is seen to be tied to their performance in ways that are perceived to be credible and direct. Without rewards, a company is planting seeds for high turnover, low productivity and long-term failure. According to Herman (2005), compensation help to focus on the position and duties performed. And, it attempts to influence employees current and future working performance. Besides, compensation servers different objectives, the main ones being to attract, retain and motivate high-potential employees. Meanwhile, the fulfilments of those goals are subject to constraints such as the maintenance of equity, cost control and legal requirements (For example, wage and salary legislation) (Steven Loring, 1996). To employee, compensation may be seen as a return in exchange between the firms they work for and themselves, as an entitlement for being an employee of the company, or as a reward for job well done. It is given to employees in exchange for work performed (Milkovich Newman, 2008). Steven and Loring (1996) observe that for employees, compensation is an important issue since pay is perceived to be an indication to their personal and market value to the organization. Based on about.com (2009), for employers, compensation is one of the crucial communication tools, to send a message about your organizations expectations and goal achievement rewards. Besides, Yale and Donald (2002) stated that compensation rewards performance relative to others and progressive improvement in year-to-year results and providing regular measures of success or progress. It also balances rewards with risk and providing capital accumulation opportunity. Therefore, compensation has very crucial to not only the employees but also the employers. Carter (2002) proposed that benefits are increasingly expensive for businesses to provide to employees, so the range and options of benefits are changing rapidly to include, such as flexible benefits plan. For employers, they use benefits to attract and retain good and talented workers. For employees, they rely on benefits (for example, medical subsidies, vacations, and retirement) to secure their financial well-being. By linking benefits (for example, pension and holidays) to seniority, workers will be reluctant to change jobs (Gerhart Milkovich, 1992). Lee, Hsu and Lien (2006) stated that benefits are designed to safeguard employees and their family against problems due to sickness, sickness, accidents or retirements. Here, let use some examples of components of benefits to bring out its effect of employees. Work life balance with regard such as temporal flexibility, leave benefits, and interpersonal relationships has the potential to reduce or increase stress on workers with life responsibilities. The provision of work life balance strategies can provide a positive and direct effect on an employees decision to remain with an employer (Macran, Joshi Dex, 1996). Based on Milkovich Newman (2008), income protection helps protect employees from the financial risks inherent in daily life. It serves as a backup to employees salaries in the event that an employee is sick, disabled, or no longer able to work. Besides, workers allowances are absolutely needed for employees. It helps to reduce the financial burden of employees and also can treated as extra sum of salaries indeed (Herman, 2005). Therefore, a benefit has great significance to the whole organizations. The Relationship between Compensation and Benefits towards Job Satisfaction In todays globalizes world, organizations are facing changes generated by increased competition, mergers and acquisitions, shifting markets and changing employee demographics (Chen Hsieh, 2006). Therefore, it is crucial for organization to strategies their competitive and benefits plans in order to attract appropriate talent, maximize return on human capital and increase employees job satisfaction. A key component for a successful organizational intervention is the meaningfulness of the intervention to the employee. One intervention that may be meaningful to many employees is the amount of their compensation and benefits increase (Mayuri Mark, 2005). Compensation and benefits is a powerful communicator of organizational goals and priorities and companies that expect to be successful must make employees become partners in their success (Shuster Zingheim, 1993). Pam (2007) observes that employee compensation can be a sensitive subject, and people get very passionate when trying to determine the most appropriate compensation plan for any business. Nowadays, many human resources related concerns need to be addressed, but equally important understands the financial aspects of employee compensation and benefits. Thus, compensation and benefits play an important role in an organization. According to the survey report conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (2009), they found that compensation and benefits would affect em

Physics of Lightning Essay -- physics lightning thunder weather

In ancient times, lightning was seen as a tool of the gods. In Viking legend, it was Thor’s hammer striking an anvil in the sky that was responsible for lightning. For the Greeks, it was Zeus who threw lightning down to the earth. North American Indian tribes thought that lightning was produced by a mystical bird with flashing feathers whose flapping caused thunder. Even now, hundreds of years after the first scientific work with lightning, people remain in awe of its power. In the 18th century, the first systematic scientific study of lightning was carried out by Benjamin Franklin. Before Franklin’s experiments, electrical science had grown to the point of separating positive and negative charges, and had developed primitive capacitors. The sparks produced in laboratories were noted as similar to lightning, but it was Franklin who designed an experiment to prove that lightning was electrical. Benjamin Franklin believed that clouds must be electrically charged, which would mean that lightning must also be electrical. For his first experiment, he stood on an electrical stand with an iron rod in one hand to achieve an electrical discharge between the other hand and the ground. If Franklin’s belief that the clouds were electrically charged was correct, then sparks should leap between the iron rod and a grounded wire held by and insulating wax candle. This test method was published in London and performed in both England and France. Thomas Francois D’Alibard of France was the first to successfully perform this experiment in May of 1752, when sparks were seen jumping from the iron rod during a thunderstorm. Before Benjamin Franklin achieved results from his first experiment, he devised a better way of testing his hyp... ...wave). Lightning is often seen long before its thunder is heard. This is because sound travels at about 343 m/s though air, much more slowly than 3.00x108 m/s, the speed of light. While a lightning strike takes less than a second to complete, the sound of its thunder often lasts much longer. There are many reasons for this. The shape of the lightning bolt is a major factor, as all parts are not an equal distance from the listener. Sound produced by closer portions of the bolt will be the first of the thunder a listener hears, and sound produced by portions of the bolt that are farther away will be heard later. Another factor is that objects on the ground interfere with the sound, and echoes from hills and other objects can perpetuate thunder. Often lightning occurs in groups, so the sounds from multiple bolts sometimes overlap to cause longer lasting thunder.