Main Street Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Main Street Program - Essay Example enerally, it will be expected that the Main Street in question will satisfy and fall within the general notion and rationale behind the creation of the Main Street program. The National Main Street Centre (2014) noted that the Main Street concept is in place to revitalize and strengthen traditional commercial districts of communities through such approaches such as â€Å"existing economic development, historic preservation, city management, or urban and community planning programs.† Based on this description, it can be said on authority that the Historic Dupont Circle Main Street (HDCMS) is part of the Main Street program’s success stories. Walking through the Dupont Circle, one sees an old city circle that has been transformed into a modern tourist destination where visitors and residents are met with the best of historic landmarks, institutions, transportation system, and best of all, an array of commercially active business environment where several restaurants, hotels, bars and rest stops can be found. HDCMS is over a decade old as it was started in May 2003 through the use of the mayor’s grant. Over the years, there have been records of economic success and transformation, including a swift transition from a place that used to be the hub for illegal and illicit trade and activities. As a local resident, there are a number of factors that can be seen that make Dupont Circle of Washington DC and the HDCMS deserve commendation. In the first place, the community and its leaders can be said to have done well as the HDCMS has been carried out in a very well planned manner. This is because back in May 2003, leader s of the community, led by the major drafted a development plan for the area that spelt out very clear targets and goals that needed to be achieved. Because of this, development agenda has been pursued in a manner that falls according to plan. Consequently, the haphazard progression of events at the Dupont Circle has not happened. Again, the community

Impact of the Enron Scandal on Accounting Standards

Impact of the Enron Scandal on Accounting Standards Abstract Every firm and its managers are expected to maximize investor returns while complying with regulatory standards, avoiding principal-agent conflicts of interest, and enhancing the reputational capital of their firms. However, in practices, being ethically is not just about giving large sum of charitys money but recognizing and acting on potential ethical issues before they become legal problems are more important aspects to taking care of. Enron collapsed as the result of unethical management practices such as the equivocation of taxes and fraudulent accounting practices. The Enron scandal is the most significant corporate collapse in the United States since the failure of many savings and loan banks during the 1980s. This scandal demonstrates the need for a close look at the ethical quality of the culture of business generally and of business corporations in the United States. Organization need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate cultures as well as into their d efinition of success. Unethical and illegal business practices at Enron led to the creation of Serbanes Oxley Act of 2002. This report will discuss and find out illegal and unethical activities, impacts on stakeholders and lessons from the Enron case. The Enron Scandal and Ethical Issues Enron Corporation is an energy trading, natural gas, and electric utilities company located in Houston, Texas that had around 21,000 employees by mid-2001, before it went bankrupt. Its revenue in the year 2000 was more than $100 billion and named as Americas most innovative companies for six consecutive years by Fortune. Enron was a company that was able to profit by providing the delivery of gas to utility companies and businesses at the fair value market price. Enron was listed as the seventh largest company in the United States and had the domination in the trading of communications, power, and weather securities (Corporate Narc, nd). At first sight, Enron looks like an excellent corporate citizen, with all the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics tools in community (Sims Brinkmann, 2003). However, the scandal of Enron has been the largest corporate scandal in history, and has become emblematic of institutionalized and well-planned corporate fraud; the Enron scandal involves both illegal and unethical activities. According to Carroll and Buchholtz (2008), the CFO Jeffrey Skilling and the CEO Ken Lay played major roles in the Enron scandal. Both of them committed securities fraud and conspiracy to inflate profit. In disguise debts of Enron, Lay and Skilling used off-the-books partnerships, after that they lied to investors and employees about the companys disastrous financial situation while selling their own companys shares (Carroll Buchholtz, 2008, p. 256). Enrons top level management has violated several accounting laws, SPE laws, and bent the accounting rules to satisfy their own desires of profit in the short term but ignoring long term repercussions for investors, stockholders, employees and the business itself. The close relationships that were formed among top leading executives and the board of directors grew arrogant, thinking they were invincible and causing them to act in an unethical manner. Enron allowed Andrew Fastow, the Chief Financial Officer to control two SPEs (special pur pose entities) that were knowingly connected to Enron, and gave him an opportunity to abuse his power. Enron also parked some of its debt on the balance sheet of its SPVs and kept it hidden from analysts and investors. When the extent of its debt burden came to light, Enrons credit rating fell and lenders demanded immediate payment in the sum of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt (Sims Brinkmann, 2003). It means that Enrons decision makers saw the shuffling of debt rather as a timing issue and not as an ethical one. They maintained that the company was financially stable and that many of their emerging problems really were not too serious, even though they knew the truth and were making financial decisions to protect their personal gains. No discussion of the Enron scandal would be complete without a discussion of the involvement of Enrons accountants, the firm Arthur Andersen. Arthur Andersen was one of many causes of the Enron collapse when they were the conflict of interest between the two roles played for Enron, as auditor but also as consultant. Andrew Fastow, the Chief Financial Officer of Enron pushed many deals across where he had a vested interested on both sides of the deal. By creating and knowingly participating in these deals, he put his financial greed above the responsibility to his position for the company. According to Paul and Palepu (2003) in 2000, Arthur Andersen earned $25 million in audit fees and $27 million in consulting fees, this amount accounted for roughly 27% of the audit fees of public clients for Arthur Andersens Houston office. The auditors methods were questioned as either being completed solely to receive its annual fees or for their lack of expertise in properly reviewing Enrons reve nue recognition, special entities, derivatives, and other accounting practices. Due to these relationships that Enron had with Arthur Andersen, it was just too easy for both Enron and the accounting firm to work together in covering up financial losses and debt. Andersen was also responsible for some of Enrons internal bookkeeping, with some of Andersens employees eventually leaving to work for Enron. The result of the accounting scandal was that many of the losses that Enron encountered were not reported in its financial statements. In November, 2001, Enron revises financial statements for the previous five years to account for $586 million in losses (Corporate Narc, nd). After a series of scandals involving irregular accounting procedures bordering on fraud involving Enron and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, it stood at the verge of undergoing the largest bankruptcy in history by mid-November 2001. As Enron was considered a blue chip stock, this was an unprecedented and disastrous event in the financial world. Enrons plunge occurred after it was revealed that many of its profits and revenue were the result of deals with special purpose entities (Corporate Narc, nd). Enrons leaders also ignored, then denied serious problems with their business transactions and were more concerned about their personal financial rewards than those of the company. When the companys stock price began to drop as the problems were becoming public, the company was transitioning from one investment program to another. Impacts on Stakeholders Every business has a moral obligation to serve its stakeholders, whether they are business partners, customers, stockholders, or employees. Enrons bankruptcy has injured several parties including banks, stockholders, former employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and also the United States. Impacts on Employees The first thing, and most important thing the Enron scandal had an effect was the job situation. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) argued that when Enron went bankrupt and then the Arthur Andersen accounting firm went out of business in 2002, employees were displaced and significantly affected (p. 47). Enrons financial implosion has cost thousands of employees their jobs, left thousands of people still employed by the bankrupt trader and left 5,600 employees jobless and facing retirements with no nest eggs (Carroll Buchholtz, 2008, p. 256). Many employees had their entire pensions vested in Enron stock, Kenneth Lay advised employees keep their Enron stock when the firm was crashing, and he was selling his own. While the employees were unable to sell their stock, Lay and other executives were quickly selling off many of their shares. The lives and savings of thousands employees were destroyed. They also were deprived of the freedom to diversify their retirement portfolios; and they had to stand by helplessly while their retirement savings evaporated at the same time that top managers cashed in on their lucrative stock options. Impacts on Investors and Stockholders As the result of Enron scandal, individual and institutional investors lost millions of dollars because they were misinformed about the firms financial performance reality through questionable accounting practices, and all of the shareholders lost the money that they had invested in the corporation after it went bankrupt. Shareholders lost nearly $11 billion when Enrons stock price, which hit a high of US$90 per share in mid-2000, plummeted to less than $1 by the end of November 2001 (Answers.com, 2010). Investors those who were hurt can never be made totally whole once again after the terrible experiences of Enron. Impacts on the United States and Communities Political parties, such as the Bush administration, who accepted contributions from Enron, were finding themselves in positions where returning the funds to Enron or donating them to a charitable. Enron also affected the United States in several important ways. If anything positive can be said about the Enron scandal, it is that the scandal itself heightened awareness of the importance of integrity in Accounting and business in general, and led to the creation of new safeguards to make sure that something like this would not happen again, or at least not to the full extent of the Enron damage. Enron cynically and knowingly created the phony California electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001. Between 30 percent and 50 percent of Californias energy industry was shut down by Enron a great deal of the time, and up to 76 percent at one point, as the company drove the price of electricity higher by nine times (Corporate Narc, nd). Impacts on Other Stakeholders The Enron scandal also harmed other stakeholders. For example, Enron top managers pressured Arthur Andersen to certify maximum-risk; questionable accounting practices in part to retain their consulting business and, by acceding to this pressure, Arthur Andersen won huge contracts in the short run however ultimately lost their professional credibility and client base. Some investment banks such as Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and Merrill Lynch made over $200 million in fees from deals that helped Enron and other energy firms boost cash flow and hide debt, and, by failing to exercise their own adequate due diligence, they multiplied the harm done to other stakeholders. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase in particular appeared to have significant amounts to lose with Enrons fall. Punishment Thousands of aggrieved employees, investors, and other stakeholders were waiting to find out what punishment will be meted out to those who covered up Enrons true financial position so successfully for so long. Three individuals that participated in the various frauds that were committed by Enron included the former president and CEO of Enron, Jeffrey Skilling; former chief financial officer in charge of LJM, Andrew Fastow; founder, former chairman, and CEO, Kenneth Lay. At first, in 2002, Enrons former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, and three other current and former Enron executives exercise their Fifth Amendment right not to testify at a congressional hearing. He was charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. It is alleged that Fastow and others devised a scheme to defraud Enron and its shareholders (Cbsnews.com, 2006). Fastow, his wife Lea Fastow and nine other former executives faced 31 more charges and 98 counts of fraud an d they were also indicted on a host of fraud, insider trading, and other counts (Associated Press, 2006). Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. The plea called for a 10-year sentence and his aid in targeting former top Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Lea Fastow pleaded guilty to filing false tax forms. Finally, in March 2006, Fastow had already pleaded guilty and faced up to 10 years in prison on two counts of conspiracy. Lay and Skilling went on trial for their part in the Enron scandal in January 2006 in Houston. Skilling faced 31 counts ranging from fraud to lying to auditors for allegedly lying about Enrons financial state. Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly perpetuating the scheme. After six days of deliberations, on May 25, 2006 a verdict was reached in the Houston trial of former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Skilling was convicted of 19 of 28 counts of securities fraud and wire fraud and acquitted on the remaining nine, including charges of insider trading, making him the highest ranking former executive charged in the collapse of Enron. He was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison for his role in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history (Cbsnews.com, 2006). Lay was convicted of all six counts against him, including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud and he faced a total sentence of up to 45 years in prison. However, be fore sentencing was scheduled, Lay died on July 5, 2006 due to a heart attack (Answers.com, 2010). Lessons from the Enron Case In the new economic, the Enron scandal has been being the morality lesson. The case will teach executives and the American public the most important ethics lessons. The first lesson it that both individuals and organizations or firms should only earn money by providing goods or services that have real value in the new economic. Moreover, executives who are paid too much can think they are above the rules and can be tempted to cut ethical corners to retain their wealth and perquisites. Every firms need to demonstrate that they have eliminated all off-books accounts which distort the publics understanding of the financial health of the organization and they should to pledge that they will not suspend the companys code of conduct, or at least report to the public when they do. In order for companies to prevent an Enron-like scandal, there needs to be supervision over managers and executives as they exercise their own business judgments about what is in the best interest for an organizat ion. Kirk Hanson (2002), executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, explained that the Enron scandal demonstrates the need for significant reforms in accounting and corporate governance in the United States, as well as for a close look at the ethical quality of the culture of business generally and of business corporations in the United States. Due to the accounting frauds that occurred in the Enron scandal, several accounting firms should reorganize their employees towards remaining loyal to the ethical standards demanded by the SEC. In order for companies to prevent an Enron-like scandal, there needs to be supervision over managers and executives as they exercise their own business judgments about what is in the best interest for an organization. On the other hand, when accounting firms have been moving to sever in both auditing and consulting services for their consulting businesses, the SEC should probably adopt additional disclosure requirements. Government regulat ions and rules need to be updated for the new economy, not relaxed and eliminated. Conclusion Looking at the Enron scandal from the retrospective viewpoint of history, essentially most of the problems faced by Enron derive from the immoral and unethical actions taken on by the board of directors in their attempt to achieve personal profits. The Enron scandal changed the lives of everyone in America and perhaps just as importantly, it forced everyone to look at themselves and fully realize the consequences of reckless greed and the breakage of laws on a whim. Most of individuals and organizations had been receiving proper punishment and lessons for their relevance.

Black And White Essay -- essays research papers

Black and White   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following the Civil War, just prior to the turn of the century, many American novelist were writing more freely of the previous slave culture. Two of these writers being Mark Twain and Charles Chesnutt. Mark Twain was a popular â€Å"white† author by this time. Charles Chesnutt, the son of free blacks, decided to pursue a dream of becoming an author in order to remove the spirit of racism. By studying these authors in particular, the views of a white raised in the slave holding south are juxtaposed with the views of free black. Both Twain and Chesnutt satirize whites in different ways through their literature. Twain also displays some unfavorable preconceptions of blacks. This can be attributed to his own upbringing in the slave holding south.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main character of the Chesnutt stories is an old Negro man, previously a slave, who engages his new white employers in many tales about life on the plantation. Uncle Julius relays these stories with much detail. Though, at the conclusion of each, the reader is left wondering whether the tale was true or if Uncle Julius had conceived of it merely to satisfy his own desires. Chesnutt has added to the end of each story an ulterior motive of Uncle Julius that seems to be met by the telling of his tales. By doing this, Chesnutt discretely satirizes whites in general.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the first story, The Goophered Grapevine, Uncle Julius tells of a conjure woman putting a â€Å"goopher† on the grapevines, causing all blacks that eat the grapes to die within one year. This story is relayed upon the first meeting of the northern white couple (John and Annie) and the native South Carolinian. After telling his tale of Henry and the others that suffered from this spell, Uncle Julius concludes that these northerners should not buy this vineyard, adding conveniently that he is not afraid to eat the grapes because he know the â€Å" ole vimes fum de noo ones.† John decides to buy the farm in spite of Uncle Julius's warnings, but he does offer him employment as a coachman. It seems as if Uncle Julius had been trying to guarantee his usefulness on the plantation even after its sale. Was white man tricked into believing Julius' knowledge would be useful in the renewing of the vineyards? Chesnutt lets the reader wonder, but regardless of his tale being ... ... of blacks, especially her own black heritage. When scolding her son Tom for refusing to challenge the twins, Roxy blames his cowardice on â€Å"de nigger† in him. After noting all of the predominant white members of his pedigree, she concludes that â€Å"de nigger† is his soul. Twain seems to have some assumptions of his own that blacks have no pride in their own heritage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Twain and Chesnutt both satirize whites, but in different ways. Twain, being a white, satirizes the slave holding south, rather than whites in general. Chesnutt, on the other hand, uses a couple from the north in a story set in the free south. Chesnutt also is more descrete in his satire, while Twain pokes fun directly. Twain also displays some of his own prejudices, being a white trying to explain the black culture. On the contrary, Chesnutt honestly portrays blacks from an inside perspective. Roxy was ashamed of the black blood in her, while Uncle Julius seemed to be a proud old man, happy to tell of his black friends and past. From the analysis these literary selections we can gain a greater understanding of racial views but, one may say that everything is not as simple as black and white

Islams Early Interactions with Judaism and Christianity

Chantel Hunt MNE 347 Palestinian Studies Bashir Bashir ISLAMS EARLY INTERACTIONS WITH JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY Because of its harsh desert environment, the Arabian Peninsula was left relatively unmolested by the several competing empires that swept through the Fertile Crescent just north of it in the early centuries before Islam. At the beginning of the 7th Century, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires were embroiled in a 26-year war for supremacy, which had a lasting cultural impact on the Arabs of the Peninsula eventually leading to the emergence and subsequent explosion of Islam into the monotheistic sphere.The interaction Islam had with existing religions led to a unique monotheism better suited to the Arabs, yet still maintained traditional elements with Judaism and Christianity, even enabling it to fall under the Abrahamic title. Monotheism was initially introduced through trade. According to Jonathon Berkey, â€Å"†¦the exchange of people and ideas between Arabs of the int erior and predominantly Aramaic-speaking inhabitants of Syria was, and had been for centuries, a routine element of life. That exchange touched on religious matters†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (64). Elements of these religions competed and intermingled with existing Arab paganism and traditions, creating a unique take on â€Å"the one God† that was much better suited to the Arabs than the politically-charged imperial baggage of the former traditions. Islam holds many similarities with the religions it sprung from besides its monotheism and devotion to the idea of a â€Å"true God,† yet even these similarities come with a unique Arabian flavor. These include a prophet-messenger, a holy book of scripture, and an ancestral link to the Abrahamic line.The idea of a special kind of person able to transcend mortal boundaries to commune with deity and transmit knowledge or specific messages to mankind has been an integral part of the Judeo-Christian experience. There are many prophets throu ghout Torah and Old Testament including Noah, Samuel, and Isaiah. The New Testament continues this tradition with the addition of new messengers from God (though not by the term prophets) such as John the Baptist, Jesus Christ the declared Son of God, and his disciples, the apostles.Islam adds one more prophet to the scene—Muhammad. Muslims view Muhammad as the greatest and last messenger of God. Muhammad's message was similar to the previously accepted prophets: to turn aside from false devotions and to worship the only true God in the right way. Like other Biblical prophets, Muhammad’s message was initially unpopular towards the masses, necessitating his flight to what became Medina (Esposito History of Islam 8).Despite initial troubles, however, Muhammad gained a considerable following and was able to later turn the tide against his former oppressors, and subdue them in a way no prophet of the earlier traditions was able to do: as a political conqueror (Esposito, Hi story of Islam 8-11). Unifying several Arabian tribes created the beginning of an empire that would bring the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires to their knees and open up the spread of Islam to the whole world. Also significant to each Abrahamic denomination was the creation of a holy book.Each consists of compilations of sacred texts, considered to be the words of God or of his prophets, though the original texts from which our modern ones are comprised of are non-existent today. It is generally assumed by many scholars that each text has likely been through apocryphal revisions and retellings before getting to us in their current state, but many adherents to Jewish and Christian faiths still view their books as the pure transmitted words of God.The holy book of Islam, the Qur’an, is also a compilation of revelations regarded as divine, though unlike the other sacred texts, it is only credited to one â€Å"receiver. † According to Muslim tradition, the Qur’an was preserved in both oral and written formats by Muhammad and his secretaries exactly as he had been given them from Allah, and were compiled in precise order of revelation and in their entirety (Esposito, Islam: the Straight Path 137). Yet like its contemporaries, it was not completed in written form while the receiver writer of the revelations lived. The Qur’an was compiled during the reign of Muhammad’s third successor, Uthman, leaving a window (admittedly a much smaller one than of the Jewish and Christian texts) where possible changes or mistakes in oral or written transmission may have occurred. In addition to a prophet and a holy book, Islam created a third link with the previous traditions giving it a higher sense of legitimacy and authority.Islam claims a direct ancestral link to Abraham—the great prophet to whom God promised nations of posterity, the land of Canaan and religious stewardship. Judaic and Christian traditions trace their spiritual ancestry t o Abraham through Isaac, Abraham’s son born to his legitimate wife, Sara. Islam instead, connects their heritage to Abraham through his first son Ishmael, born to Sara’s Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. Each separate tradition maintains that their particular son of Abraham was the favored son and heir to both the temporal and divine.There are many other similarities Islam has with its older brother religions, but it is by no means a copy or mere synthesis of them either. While drawn to many aspects of the new religions that had sifted to them from the north, the Arabs had a substantially different religious, political, and economic environment than origins of Judaism and Christianity, making many doctrines and practices of the religions completely foreign and ill-suited to Arab sensibilities.Islam has many similar components with the other two religions making its association with the other religions under Abraham a commonly accepted one. However, the unique political and spi ritual environment of Arabia created unique elements in Islam not to be found anywhere else, and is possibly responsible for its exponential rate it acquired followers. Works Cited Berkey, Jonathan Porter. The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 00-1800. New York: Cambridge UP, 2003. Esposito, John L. Islam: the Straight Path. New York: Oxford UP, 1998 Esposito, John L. The Oxford History of Islam. New York: Oxford UP, 1999 *As I could not find the original books to get exact page numbers, I used the page numbers given in our packet of materials instead for those ideas that came from them. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Qur’an 47:19. See also Exodus 20:3 in the Bible

Human Resource Management and Siemens Essay

1. How does Siemens seek to provide good career opportunities for employees? The entire article is about Siemens and how they manage its employees. The Culture of the company is high performance which is to encourage people to achieve high results. When you are in a company whose culture is to do the best, you definitely have a chance to improve your career. The Environment of Siemens Is rare whose workforce consists of professional people who believe in teamwork and hard work does not prevent having fun together and party. Dr. Klaus Kleinfield said he â€Å"was able to build large circle of advisors and friends within the company† (qtd in success stories). Most of us would love to work in this kind of company. Siemens also provide you the chance to enter global high technology company because it operates jointly in many countries. There is also flexibility and diversification in the company. More than 500,000 employees work in industries of healthcare, transportation, telecommunication, power generation and electronics (success stories). Their organiz ation structure is not flat; they have broad range of positions like human resource specialists, administrators, researchers, etc (creating†¦). There is good chance of making a career in company like Siemens. They also have some programs inside the company itself that renders employees the opportunities. Siemens have Human Resource Development Program which function is to identify and meet the needs of their workforce. The strategy helps worker to excel at work which is beneficial for the company and its employees. The most important part of program is that Siemens is â€Å"encouraging employees to improve their career and other aspects of life† (qtd in creating).Besides human resource development program, they also have Talent Management Philosophy. It makes sure that each employee is given support to achieve the maximum potential (creating). 2. Describe one of the systems that Siemens has created which provides development opportunities for employees at work. Talent Management- managing People Talent Management is not the only system in Siemens which provide opportunities, they also have Human Resource Development Program and many others which not appear in the study. I am going to describe Talent Management. The system makes sure that each employee is given a support to achieve their maximum potential and works together to achieve the organization’s objective. There are no reasons to prevent the progress of your career, if you work in a company like Siemens. The strategy is for all the employees, not just the high position workers. According to Siemens Everyone has talent and can make the best use (creating). Human Resource is also taken into consideration for Talent Management System. Matching the talent with appropriate task gives them the competitive advantage. You can see how important the strategy is for the company. Talent management provides job enrichment and enlargement. In the first one workers are inspire for additional charge to make the work appealing and in enlargement, extension is given to responsibility range with knowledge and skills. The system is very helpful for managers in a way that it enables them to engage and motivate the employees to accomplish the organization’s goals. Before jumping to Talent Management directly, it is important to take into account Performance Management. According to Siemens, Talent management depends on Performance Management. Siemens has also created a standard process of conducting the performance and development of their workforce (creating).Performance Management is what happens between company’s plans and individual target of the employees. The process creates communication and trust by setting goals, monitoring performance and discussion between managers and subordinates. Honesty is very critical in the entire system. 2. How important is the appraisal system in helping to create shared understandings about the objectives of the organization and personal objectives of individual employees? The appraisal system is extremely important for any company in helping to create shared understandings about organizations objectives. Appraisal is giving reward to an individual or a team for their performance. The reward could be any form like words, promotion, bonus, etc. There are several different appraisal techniques like: self-review, immediate supervisor, peer group, team, and overall assignment, upward and 360 degree (kork). You can’t classify any single techniques the best. It depends on the situation, identifying which type of appraisal system will work better than the other. After all, providing appraisal is more important than the kind of system we choose. From my point of view appraisal is very important in any organization, does not matter if the company is small or large. As a university student will be happy if the professor gives me a reward like â€Å"good job†, it will keep me motivated to do my best the next time. We could say the same thing about the employees working at Siemens. Before appraisal system, knowledge sharing is necessary. Knowledge sharing is â€Å"capturing, organizing, reusing and transferring experience based knowledge that reside within the organization making it available to others†(qtd in kork†¦). Giving appraisal is critical for better communication and management in the organization. For a company like Siemens appraisal system is very essential because their system is all about targets and performance of the employees. Through appraisal employees know their results of the performance. It is very important in fast changing world â€Å"effective appraisal systems act as a primary vehicle for the measurement change† (qtd in kork†¦). 3. How effective do you think the Siemens approach to people management will be in creating great results? Right now Siemens is doing a great job for managing people. Siemens culture is high performance which will keep their employees motivated. Than they have Human Resource development program and Talent Management Philosophy which I mentioned earlier. They says that â€Å"excellent people need to be managed in a excellent way†(qtd in creating†¦). The key point for their management is that they take benefits from employees and also provide them back in different ways. Many companies do not take into consideration the other advantages provided by the company. Giving salary is not all that matters. When Siemens assign a task to the employees they pass the responsibility with trust which leads to engagement, commitment and high performance. By doing what Siemens is doing at the present, they will be success effectively managing the people. If they keep doing the same thing with little changes require with the time, they will have no problem managing workforce.5. How you would apply what you have learned from the case study. Siemens case study is very important for me, in fact I will keep this for future. There are some very important details of management and Human Resources. I will make sure that my subordinates get something more than salary from the company. Every single thing in the article is very essential for manager. I would like to go in a company who offer similar benefits like Siemens and whose culture is high performance. Companies like Siemens offer you the opportunity to make growth in your career. I will like to have programs like Human Resource Development and Talent management in my company which could provide some exceptional talents I could not have figure out. This kind of articles just open up your mind and make you think about what was unknown before. Communication and integration is very essential wherever we work. It will take forward your company or family. Siemens operates in different countries; all this is done because they communicate well from long distance.

GDP a good measure of social Well-being Essays

GDP a good measure of social Well-being Essays GDP a good measure of social Well-being Essay GDP a good measure of social Well-being Essay In order to examine economic growth or analyze the wealth of a country, it is necessary to have a way to measure the size of an economy such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economists usually measure the size of an economy by the amount of stuff it produces. This makes sense in a lot of ways, mainly because an economys output in a given period of time is equal to the economys income, and the economys level of income is one of the main determinants of its standard of living and societal welfare. GDP is the most closely watched economic statistic because is it thought to e the best single measure of a social well-being. The definition of GDP is composed of four parts. Firstly, we have to take into consideration the market value of the products. Froyen (2009) states that in order to gain the market value of the product we have to times the number of products produced the market by the prices they are traded at. For example, each unit of product A is 5$ and product B is 2$ so the market value of 20 product A and 40 product B is 5$x20+2$x40=180$ Secondly, GDP is calculated using the values of the final goods and services and therefore does not take intermediate goods into ccount. A final good or service is the product brought by the user at its end stage whereas an intermediate good could have gone into the production of a final good. For instance, bread is a final product that it brought by the consumer but flour could have been brought by the producers of the bread in order to make the bread. Another factors that makes up GDP is that the product has to be made within the confidences of country which is basically summed up by the D in GDP. For example, if a Viet Nam retailer manufacturers his products in Viet Nam then it becomes part of VN GDP but if it is produced and sourced from China then it does not. Finally, GDP as measured in a given time period as mentioned earlier which is usually annually or quarterly. GDP can be measured in two ways the expenditure approach which is the total spent on goods and services or the income approach which is the money earned by producing goods and services. This is called the circular flow model of expenditure and income. : Source: N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Macroeconomics _ Chapter 10_ Page 197 Another point worth mentioning is social well-being, a state of affairs where the basic eeds of the populace are met. This is a society where income levels are high enough to cover basic wants, where there is no poverty, where unemployment is insignificant, where there is easy access to social, medical, and educational services, and where everyone is treated with dignity and consideration. Many attempts have been made to quantify social well-being. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is commonly defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year. The fact that it is measured regularly and quite onsistently in practically all countries of the world allows a direct comparison of the standard of living in individual countries. The frequent measuring also makes it possible to quickly recognize changing trends. So that GDP can tell us how the country is doing in general, especially when GDPs are compared between countries. A higher GDP will probably infer that the country is doing better than a country with a lower GDP. It can use to determine whether an economy is growing faster or slower than in the previously measured period and to compare it with other economies in the world. For example, a higher GDP will probably infer that the country is doing better than a country with a lower GDP. As we have seen, GDP measures both the economys total income and the economys total expenditure on goods and services. Because the production of goods and services indicates that people are working, earning money, and making a living, an increasing GDP shows an increased economic activity, meaning more funds for social programs, and more income that people have to increase their own standard of living. It means that the higher the GDP, the better the economy and, therefore, the better the quality of life. Nevertheless, the catch is that the high GDP may be from the extremely large profits of a few rich firms, while everyone else is living pretty badly. Therefore, its still better to use GDP per capita as a form of comparison. GDP per capita is when they divide the total GDP by the number of people in that country. A rise in GDP per capita will also translate into a rise of productivity. The reason for that is the more you produce, the more you sell. It gives you an idea of what the people are engaged in. GDP per capita can be used as an indicator of standard of living as well. One can conclude that having a higher GDP per capita will be interpreted as having a higher standard of living. GDP per person seems a natural measure of the social well-being of the average individual. However, as a measure of the standard of living in a country, GDP has its limitations and shortcomings. Because of the imperfect of GDP, the first Human Development Report introduced a new way of measuring development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income into a composite human development index, the Human Development Index. The breakthrough for the HDI as the creation of a single statistic which was to serve as a frame of reference for both social and economic development. But throughout its time in use, the HDI has been criticized for a number of reasons. Although the HDI is a constant measure but it never can take out a whole picture of human development. Some of the questions to be posed to the HDI index is: this is the measurement of the standard of living of standards or measure the level of living? Or it measures the quality of life? There are only three dimensional edges are measured in the HDI: health, academic and living tandard. In addition to this, it has a profound distinction of HDI between countries and regions in the world. For example, some countries have the same HDI but theirs income level are quite difference. GDP is not, though, a perfect measure of social well-being. Some things that contribute toa good life are left out of GDP. But its still a good measure. Although it doesnt say much about the individuals well-being, education, health, , it does help economists understand how the country is doing. If a country has a thriving GDP then they are sure to be wealthy and with wealth comes etter tech medicine and opportunities to the citizens of the nation. While GDP may not indicate the quality of life of any one person, it is quite obvious that countries with a higher GDP than others have much better quality of life across the board. GDP growth can indicate a strengthening economy, more Jobs, and as a result, more income for individuals. If each person is making a significant amount of money in relation to where they live and cost of living then in theory they should lead a better standard of living. They would not have the financial burden which causes so much tress in todays world. For instance, G. Gregory Mankiw examined international datal: Country Real GDP per person (2007) Life Expectancy Adult Literacy (% of population) Internet Usage (% of population) United States $45. 592 79 years 63% Germany 34. 401 45 Japan 33. 632 67 Russia 14. 690 15 Mexico 14. 104 76 93 18 Brazil 9. 567 72 19 China 5. 383 73 9 Indonesia 3. 843 71 92 7 India 2. 753 3 Pakistan 2. 496 54 Nigeria 1. 969 4 Bangladesh 1 . 241 0. 3 Source: Human Development Report 2009, United Nations. Date on real GDP, life expectancy, and literacy are for 2007. Dara on internet use is for 2005.

Coach Haskins Think Alike Essays - Don Haskins, Glory Road, Haskins

Coach Haskin's Think Alike Essays - Don Haskins, Glory Road, Haskins Daniel Kang Ms. Menard Honors English 8 20 April 2014 Coach Haskin's Think Alike Everyone expresses a unique and different personality. But some people's personalities prove very parallel. In the movie "Glory Road", a basketball coach named Don Haskins shows his personality in the way he leads and orders his African American basketball players. He views the world like Martin Luther King Jr. who emphasized non-violence, non-cooperation, and getting attention in a major way. Don Haskins, a great coach of a basketball team, shows that he contemplates like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the aspect of making a point and getting attention. "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism" (King 298). Don Haskins' main focus, not to bring about integration, but, as it turns out, he saw speed and skill from Negro boys that the major basketball leagues didn't want because of their skin color. He used them on his own team, sending them to the Finals. "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored" (King 236). Before Don Haskins recruited Negro basketball players for his team, they never appeared on any other basketball tea m. The black's skills at their game astounded many people. The Miners worked hard to "Send em a message" (Glory Road). Many basketball teams recruited a black player for their team after that amazing win by the Miners. "So the purpose of the direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation" (King 236). The Miners, led by their coach, Don Haskins, fight for their freedom and win. This great movie about the Miner's fight for integrating of US basketball, supports Martin Luther's way of discerning things. This event fits into a time period when all black people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to fight for their freedom and rights. Some people argue that Don Haskins views things more like Malcolm X in thinking. They believe that he lets violence take control of his black players. Or some say Don Haskins behaves more like Maya Angelou in viewing things; just accept everything with no reaction. "Shame made me want to hide my face. Mrs. Flowers deserved better than to be called Sister" (Angelou 355). Even though, ashamed of her mother, Margaret performs no action. Don Haskins wants his black players to "Shut them up. Win" (Glory Road). "But I think the black man in this country, above and beyond people all over the world, will be more justified when he stands up and starts to protect himself, no matter how many necks he has to break and heads he has to crack" (Malcolm X 344). Don Haskins promotes no violence in his players. Even when Nevil Shed, one of the black basketball players gets beat up at a restaurant in the south, Coach Haskins tells them to get into the car instead of going after the guys who beat up She d. "But I don't think that we should run around trying to love somebody who doesn't love us" (Malcolm X 352). This excerpt from Malcolm's article proves similar to Don Haskin's view but Don proves that he wants his players to hold in the hate until the time showed itself where they could show the Americans that they excel at basketball. They let all their hate out in the NCAA Championship against Kentucky. Don Haskins also remarks, "Right now it's not about talent, it's about heart. It's about who can go out there and play the hardest. Who can go out there and play the smartest." (Glory Road). He wants them to prove to the crowd that they play as decent as the white teams. These examples fortify my opinion that Don Haskins proves nothing like Malcolm X or Maya Angelou, no matter what other people think. Don Haskin and Martin Luther King Jr.'s

Hypotaxis in English Sentence Structure

Hypotaxis in English Sentence Structure Hypotaxis also called subordinating style, is a grammatical and rhetorical  term used to describe an arrangement of phrases or clauses in a dependent or subordinate relationship that is, phrases or clauses ordered one under another. In hypotactic constructions, subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns serve to connect the dependent elements to the  main clause. Hypotaxis comes from the Greek word for subjection. In The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics,  John Burt points out that hypotaxis can also extend beyond the sentence boundary, in which case the term refers to a style in which the logical relationships among sentences are explicitly rendered.In Cohesion in English,  M.A.K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan identify three primary types of hypotactic relation: Condition (expressed by clauses of condition, concession, cause, purpose, etc.); addition (expressed by the non-defining relative clause); and report.They also note that hypotactic and paratactic structures may combine freely in a single clause complex. Examples and Observations on Hypotaxis One December morning near the end of the year when snow was falling moist and heavy for miles all around so that the earth and the sky were indivisible, Mrs. Bridge emerged from her home and spread her umbrella. Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge (1959)Let the reader be introduced to Joan Didion, upon whose character and doings much will depend on whatever interest these pages may have, as she sits at her writing-table in her own room in her own house on Welbeck Street. Joan Didion, Democracy  (1984)When I was around nine or ten I wrote a play which was directed by a young, white schoolteacher, a woman, who then took an interest in me, and gave me books to read, and, in order to corroborate my theatrical bent, decided to take me to see what she somewhat tactlessly referred to as real plays. James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (1955)Samuel Johnsons Hypotactic StyleAmong  the innumerable practices by which  interest or envy have taught those who live upon literary fame to disturb each other at their airy banquets, one of the most common is the charge of plagiarism. When the excellence of a new composition can no longer be contested, and malice is compelled to give way to the unanimity of applause, there is yet this one expedient to be tried, by which the author may be degraded, though his work be reverenced; and the excellence which we cannot obscure, may be set at such a distance as not to overpower our fainter lustre. This accusation is dangerous, because, even when it is false, it may be sometimes urged with probability.   Samuel Johnson, The Rambler  (July 1751) Virginia Woolfs Hypotactic StyleConsidering how common illness is, how tremendous the spiritual change that it brings, how astonishing when the lights of health go down, the undiscovered countries that are then disclosed, what wastes and deserts of the soul a slight attack of influenza brings to view, what precipices and lawns sprinkled with bright flowers a little rise of temperature reveals, what ancient and obdurate oaks are uprooted in us by the act of sickness, how we go down into the pit of death and feel the waters of annihilation close above our heads and wake thinking to find ourselves in the presence of the angels and the harpers when we have a tooth out and come to the surface in the dentist’s arm-chair and confuse his Rinse the mouth rinse the mouth with the greeting of the Deity stooping from the floor of Heaven to welcome us when we think of this, as we are so frequently forced to think of it, it becomes strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love and battle and jealousy among the prime themes of literature. Virginia Woolf, On Being Ill, New Criterion (January 1926) Oliver Wendell Holmes Use of HypotaxisIf you have advanced in line and have seen ahead of you the spot you must pass where the rifle bullets are striking; if you have ridden at night at a walk toward the blue line of fire at the dead angle of Spottsylvania, where for twenty-four hours the soldiers were fighting on the two sides of an earthwork, and in the morning the dead and dying lay piled in a row six deep, and as you rode you heard the bullets splashing in the mud and earth about you; if you have been in the picket-line at night in a black and unknown wood, have heard the splat of the bullets upon the trees, and as you moved have felt your foot slip upon a dead mans body; if you have had a blind fierce gallop against the enemy, with your blood up and a pace that left no time for fear if, in short, as some, I hope many, who hear me, have known, you have known the vicissitudes of terror and triumph in war; you know that there is such a thing as the faith I spoke of. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Soldiers Faith (May 1895)Holmes, a thrice-wounded officer of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers, knew whereof he spoke, certainly. The passage [above] is drawn up like lines of battle, if clauses (the protasis) that one has to pass one-by-one before reaching the then clause (the apodosis). The syntax is, in the literal sense of the Greek, a line of battle. The sentence ... seems to map a series of Civil War skirmish lines. This is hypotactic arrangement for certain. Richard A. Lanham, Analyzing Prose (2003) Parataxis and HypotaxisTheres nothing wrong with parataxis. Its good, simple, plain, clean-living, hard-working, up-bright-and-early English. Wham. Bam. Thank you, maam.[George] Orwell liked it. [Ernest] Hemingway liked it. Almost no English writer between 1650 and 1850 liked it.The alternative, should you, or any writer of English, choose to employ it (and who is to stop you?) is, by use of subordinate clause upon subordinate clause,  which itself may be subordinated to those clauses that have gone before or after, to construct a sentence of such labyrinthine grammatical complexity that, like Theseus before you when he searched the dark Minoan mazes for that monstrous monster, half bull and half man, or rather half woman for it had been conceived from, or in, Pasiphae, herself within a Daedalian contraption of perverted invention, you must unravel a ball of grammatical yarn lest you wander forever, amazed in the maze, searching through dark eternity for a full stop.Thats hypotaxis , and it used to be everywhere. Its hard to say who started it, but the best candidate was a chap called Sir Thomas Browne. Mark Forsyth, The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase (2013)Classical and 18th-century hypotaxis suggests the virtues of balance and order; biblical and 20th-century parataxis (Hemingway, Salinger, McCarthy) suggest a democratic leveling and an inversion of natural power relations (the voice of the expatriate, the disillusioned, the outlaw). Hypotaxis is the structure of sober refinement and discrimination; parataxis the structure of intoxication and divinely inspired utterance. Timothy Michael, British Romanticism and the Critique of Political Reason  Ã‚  (2016) Characteristics of Hypotactic ProseHypotactic style allows syntax and structure to supply useful information. Instead of [a] simple juxtaposition of elements by way of simple and compound sentences, hypotactic structures rely more on complex sentences to establish relationships among elements. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1969) observed, The hypotactic construction is the argumentative construction par excellence. Hypotaxis creates frameworks [and] constitutes the adoption of a position. James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric: Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies  (2001)The subordinating style orders its components in relationships of causality (one event or state is caused by another), temporality (events and states are prior or subsequent to one another), and precedence (events and states are arranged in hierarchies of importance). It was the books I read in high school rather than those I was assigned in college that influenced the choices I find myself making today two actions, one of which is prior to the other and has more significant effects that continue into the present. Stanley Fish, How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One  (2011)

Thinking in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thinking in the Workplace - Essay Example being in school bring him his own set of challenges- stress, so much work to do, running out of time, procrastination and not enough rest leading to tiredness. If he is confronted with the same set of challenges everyday, the effects could interfere with his normal functions as an individual and even be detrimental to his physical and mental health. Hence, it is important for him to take action and start to make use of an appropriate time management program that he can stick to. There have been countless time management tips for people who apparently cannot follow a regular plan to better manage their schedule and have time to finish workload and still have rest. The following is a simple five-step plan, especially devised for students like Chris. 1) Make a â€Å"To do† list. Before planning out a particular schedule, determine and list down the things that you want to achieve and when they need to be done. This could be on a daily or a weekly basis and should be detailed. 2) Prioritize. After listing your goals or tasks, arrange them according to the urgency or importance. Tips-for-Boomers suggests these specific categories a) Urgent b) Important but not urgent c) Neither important nor urgent. 3) Schedule. After having prioritized the tasks, it is now time to decide when to do the job individually. It is advisable that he set or reserve a specific time frame for doing the necessary tasks, and another time frame for his leisure and recreation. 4) Reinforce and Maintain. Some time management plans do not work because they are not maintained or are hard to sustain. To help Chris in making his time management plan last, he should develop ways to reinforce his actions. One suggested way is the use of the reward system. After a few observations it is found out that Chris prefers to look at maps over verbal directions to a place. He also likes to look at pictures or paintings, and movies and is more likely to retain information presented visually. It is therefore

Bahai Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bahai Religion - Essay Example Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ is second to Christianity in its geographical distribution (Ibid.), however, unlike Christianity, Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ does not view itself as an independent religion or a static belief system. In order to understanding the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ Faith it is important to understand the principle of â€Å"progressive revelation,† which is a common principal throughout Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s beliefs, ethics, and practices. It is the idea that the spiritual development of human civilization is constantly advancing and that the central beliefs of any given religion were based on Messages brought by a prophet (Adam, Buddah, Jesus, Mohammed, etc.) that were appropriate to the spiritual needs of the people in that place and time (Kourosh 445). This paper will provide an overview of the general tenets of the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ belief system, its ethics, and its ritual practices. Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ beliefs revolve around the teachings of Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢u’llà ¡h. His teachings exist in the form of written manuscripts, known as the Sacred Texts to Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­s. The three central teachings of the Faith include the Oneness of God, Oneness of Religion, and Oneness of Mankind (Kourosh 445). These teachings each exhibit the principle of â€Å"progressive revelation,† mentioned above. Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢u’llà ¡h taught that despite the diversity of religions and ways of calling God around the world, that there is only one Supreme Being in the world, worshipped by all who worship one God (Kourosh 445). They view God as an elevated being who can never be fully grasped by humans, because he is elevated above creation (Ibid.). Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s devote themselves to a never-ending quest for spiritual discovery and growth (BIC). They believe that humans have an immortal soul that is born at conception and that physical death does not indicate the end of individual life, because the soul continues in the spiritual world (Kourosh 446). The Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ Faith views physical life as a sort of training ground to prepare the soul for

MPH502 - Introduction to Public Health Module 3 - Case Essay

MPH502 - Introduction to Public Health Module 3 - Case - Essay Example The constitutional design reveals a plain objective in government to protect community health and safety. Government has great responsibilities towards public health sector; health is not only indispensible to finance but also to individuals. Public health is a collective action not only government can save the community’s health. On this point, I completely agree with the author, as if individuals work alone, they cannot save the minimum level of health. Government support is always needed for this great cause. According to the author, it is quiet difficult to separate government responsibility and individual’s effort. Public health also takes in account the individuals that stake a claim to health protection. A strong relationship exists between individual’s health and the health of community at large. I completely agree with author that public health efforts need collective actions for better results because it’s nearly impossible to improve health sector without governments help. Public health law states the advantages and burdens by government on individuals and private health sectors on legally protected interest. Government acts for health sector, it may de-motivate individuals to invest in health sector. The law address that how government act on the growth of health sector both individuals and a large population. Author point is valid up to some extent as both public and private sector has own responsibilities. Government has primary responsibility to promote both mental and physical health and prevent injury and disability. Government responsibility is to inform, educate individuals and invest heavy amount on health. Public health law focuses on governmental responsibilities to the community and individuals health. Government can do much for public health as it owns thousands of resources and power. Government is authorized

Health Policy Value Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Policy Value - Essay Example Quality is more important to patients than any other factor in regard to health care. Spirituality demands that the society should be able to take care of the underprivileged. Members of the society should not be left to die in the emergency room based on the fact that they cannot afford insurance costs (Porter & Teisberg, 2006). I personally believe that life is precious and costly beyond price. For this reason, I think that in spite of the cost constraints that exist in the healthcare setting, people should be served and lives saved at all possible costs. A good health care system is one that engages the community’s resources wisely and ensures that the coming generations will find the same resources for their good and development. American citizens do not get quality health care for their money. The health care system in America cannot be compared to those found in other countries. Health care leaders and institutions should be careful in the way they handle health care resources to ensure that clients do not continue paying high costs for medical care. Insurance has been the main issue concerning money in health care. Every individual in the society should not be forced to have health care insurance. Uninsured clients should not be left to suffer during emergency because they did not purchase health care insurance. It would be unethical not to take care of a bleeding patient in the ER since they do not possess health care insurance. Health care should be affordable to all citizens in America (Porter & Teisberg, 2006) Quality in health care should never be associated with cost reduction. Quality should be the determining factor in health care. Physician performance improvement in health care should be based on the significance of services they present to clients. There should be measures put in place to measure quality and improvement of quality. However, quality in health care remains to be

Gun Control Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gun Control Report - Essay Example Mostly, those involved in gun violence may not be gun owners, but might be individuals that have illegal access to guns. Generally, gun ownership tends to be strict upon civilians as many at times individuals with the intention of committing crimes acquire guns with relative ease through illegal means. Therefore, it is import that the government sensitizes the public on matters related to gun ownership before the actual implementation of gun control policies at the legislative stage of governance. Further, this report will give the various statics surrounding the reported numbers of gun related crimes within the urban setups as compared to those in rural areas. Ideally, the number of gun related violence in urban states where there are strict regulations on gun acquisition are higher than the rates in rural areas where gun acquisition is easy (Joe, 2012). Subsequently, the report will be in tandem with the practical approaches applicable in the minimization of gun related crimes at t he lowest level of governance to ensure that civilians also play a role in developing safer living environments. The report would also to address the impact of the castle doctrine laws in some states as possible contributors to gun violence. This is in line wit the Institute of Legislative Action under the National Rifle Association as per the provision of the Second amendment in the US Constitution (Davies, 2013). Your sincerely, May 20th 2013 Table of Contents Table of Contents 4 Executive Summary 5 Introduction 5 Problem statement 7 Method 7 Findings 8 Analysis 10 Conclusion 10 References 12 Joe, W., B. (2012). The reality of the Gun Control Debate. Retrieved from http://wjoeb.hubpages.com/hub/The-reality-of-the-Gun-Control-Debate 12 Webster, D. W. et al. (2012). The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America. John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research Press. Retrieved on 20th May 2013 from http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy- and-research/publications/WhitePaper102512_CGPR.pdf 12 Appendix 13 Executive Summary Presently, at least thirty thousand people that are part of the American population die because of gun inflicted wounds in which the greatest proportion of this number is young people. Ideally, this aspect has made gun violence be the greatest contributor to the premature demise of the young population of America. On the other hand, the statistics on the number of reported non-fatal gun related crimes amount to close to three hundred and forty seven thousand cases with a minimal number of this people seeking treatment at hospital departments. In essence, the rate of homicide in America is seven times higher than that of other developed economies making it a worrying trend for a good performing economy (Sowell, 2012). Fundamentally, the lack of proper gun laws is the prime reason as to why there is a higher prevalence of gun ownership and higher cases of gun related violent crimes. Further, gun viole nce also impacts the economy as the US population loses a significant number of the work force to violent deaths while the rest incurs expenses in seeking treatment for the injuries caused by gun violence. The traumatic effect caused by gun violence tends to have an impact on the increase of poverty levels as it tends to influence psychological imbalance for those affected by this tragic event. According to statistics, the average direct or

Alfred Wegener ideas about Continental drift Research Paper

Alfred Wegener ideas about Continental drift - Research Paper Example Wegner’s ideas on plate motion were later on developed by different researchers. One of them is Kiyoo Wadati, who suggested that plate motion has resulted in often earthquakes in Japan, and those earthquakes are connected to the continental drift. He compared data from different earthquakes and identified a specific earthquake zone in the oceanic trench (Garrison, p. 70). Hugo Benioff pointed out that Kiyoo Wadati’s findings were related to the â€Å"subduction of the seafloor†("The Giants of Science"). Harry Hess was able to move beyond Wegener’s ideas and develop them in a different direction. He discovered how the seafloor spreading operates and what role magma plays in it by filling in the deep oceanic trenches ("Harry Hammond Hess: Spreading the Seafloor") Ronald Dietz arrived at the same conclusion, however the Hess owns the idea that continents move together with an attached oceanic basin on the same crust (Garrison, p.70). Tuzo Wilson analy zed Hawaiian Islands and their relation to tectonic plates. He concluded that these island were created as a result of plate’s movement northwest over the â€Å"hotspots† ("J. Tuzo Wilson: Discovering Transforms and Hotspots").

Gun Control Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gun Control Report - Essay Example Mostly, those involved in gun violence may not be gun owners, but might be individuals that have illegal access to guns. Generally, gun ownership tends to be strict upon civilians as many at times individuals with the intention of committing crimes acquire guns with relative ease through illegal means. Therefore, it is import that the government sensitizes the public on matters related to gun ownership before the actual implementation of gun control policies at the legislative stage of governance. Further, this report will give the various statics surrounding the reported numbers of gun related crimes within the urban setups as compared to those in rural areas. Ideally, the number of gun related violence in urban states where there are strict regulations on gun acquisition are higher than the rates in rural areas where gun acquisition is easy (Joe, 2012). Subsequently, the report will be in tandem with the practical approaches applicable in the minimization of gun related crimes at t he lowest level of governance to ensure that civilians also play a role in developing safer living environments. The report would also to address the impact of the castle doctrine laws in some states as possible contributors to gun violence. This is in line wit the Institute of Legislative Action under the National Rifle Association as per the provision of the Second amendment in the US Constitution (Davies, 2013). Your sincerely, May 20th 2013 Table of Contents Table of Contents 4 Executive Summary 5 Introduction 5 Problem statement 7 Method 7 Findings 8 Analysis 10 Conclusion 10 References 12 Joe, W., B. (2012). The reality of the Gun Control Debate. Retrieved from http://wjoeb.hubpages.com/hub/The-reality-of-the-Gun-Control-Debate 12 Webster, D. W. et al. (2012). The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America. John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research Press. Retrieved on 20th May 2013 from http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy- and-research/publications/WhitePaper102512_CGPR.pdf 12 Appendix 13 Executive Summary Presently, at least thirty thousand people that are part of the American population die because of gun inflicted wounds in which the greatest proportion of this number is young people. Ideally, this aspect has made gun violence be the greatest contributor to the premature demise of the young population of America. On the other hand, the statistics on the number of reported non-fatal gun related crimes amount to close to three hundred and forty seven thousand cases with a minimal number of this people seeking treatment at hospital departments. In essence, the rate of homicide in America is seven times higher than that of other developed economies making it a worrying trend for a good performing economy (Sowell, 2012). Fundamentally, the lack of proper gun laws is the prime reason as to why there is a higher prevalence of gun ownership and higher cases of gun related violent crimes. Further, gun viole nce also impacts the economy as the US population loses a significant number of the work force to violent deaths while the rest incurs expenses in seeking treatment for the injuries caused by gun violence. The traumatic effect caused by gun violence tends to have an impact on the increase of poverty levels as it tends to influence psychological imbalance for those affected by this tragic event. According to statistics, the average direct or

Oil Drilling and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Essay

Oil Drilling and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Essay Example al Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Updated Assessment, states that the coastal plain region harboring the 1.5 million-acre 1002 Area is "the largest unexplored, potential productive onshore basin in the United States." The oil industry has long argued in favor of the drilling for oil in the ANWR, but the idea was unpopular for decades among many members of the public and the U.S. government and no drilling was permitted. (Botkin and Keller, 2003) Analysis of Benefits and Costs As with all industrial developments especially in oil projects, issues actually revolve on just two opposing forces: environmental and social impacts. We are aware that ecological importance has become a major issue that must be included in our ventures due to the fact that we can not tolerate pollution anymore. However, most job generating and welfare increasing measures are only possible with the introduction of business that may have environmental repercussions. This dilemma is further highlighted by the ANWR issue. In this section, we take a look at the arguments in favor and not in favor of drilling in the ANWR. Arguments in Favor of Drilling a) The United States need s the oil and it will help us to be more independent on imported oil In the introduction, it was mentioned that oil prices rose dramatically in the United States due to problems in supply and legislation. However, this was actually just the fourth oil shock since 1973. The first one occurred when the Arab oil embargo of 1973-1974 occurred. Arab oil producing countries cut back productions and imposed an oil embargo on shipments forcing Americans to wait in lines to receive limited amounts of gasoline. Prices of oil more than doubled. The second occurred in 1978 with the overthrow of the Shah of Iran which... After having known both sides of a coin, we are now in a position to state our recommendation. In many industrial issues, a point where both sides supposedly found equal footing has been made. Suffice it to say, the developments pushed thru. In this study, however, we cannot find such point because in the developments where they were able to find one, immediate and long term environmental degradation became prominent. For sure, developments will bring about wealth and increased economic activity and we certainly do not want our country to be dictated by other countries. However, hard science and numerous experiences have proven that the development can negatively affect the wilderness as what had happened to Prudhoe Bay. Once development starts, there will be no stopping companies and those who benefits from it from finding a way to skip all those legal limitations. The development is actually a black hole problem where development results to further developments which results to fur ther expansion and so on and so forth. Congress voted not to drill in 2002. I agree with them. It is not that I do not want Alaskans to prosper. It is because there are technologies available already which are cleaner and greener. Alternative energy sources such as solar, geothermal and wind power are proving themselves to be business friendly and sufficient for customer demand.

Leadership Theories and Organisational Direction

Leadership Theories and Organisational Direction Management leadership style matters a lot in deciding fate of an organisation. These styles are reflected in both long term and short term strategies of the company. Considering the importance of management and leadership style lot of theorist came up with their philosophies. Some of them consider charismatic personality of leader the key to success while other considers team work the best solution. This report is being produced for the directors of NEWG to explain various management and leadership concepts. It shows how these theories can affect working of an organization and can play a decisive role in the achievement of organisational objectives. If applied in relevance to the needs of organization can lead to ultimate success. Leadership Theories and Organizational Direction Every organisation is setup with some objectives in mind. It can be profit earning, charity, law enforcing or voluntary, whatever the objective it reflects in the policies of an organisation. Leadership sets the direction for an organisation and management ensures to implement policies that lead organisations to achieve set goals. Keeping in mind aims of organisation different management theories can be adapted to support core objectives that set the style of management in an organization. Transformational Leadership Theory Initially developed by James McGregor Burns in the decade of 1970, the theory gained a lot of popularity among business world. This theory has four constituents i.e. charismatic personality, encouragement through motivation, intelligent inspiration and personalized attention. Being charismatic means leader has qualities that attract people around him. It can be leaders personality, sex appeal, style of communication, vibrant, robust and authoritative presence. Take an example of Martin Luther King, an activist and strong American leader who stood for the African American civil right cause. Such leadership with their excellent communication skills persuade people for change. They bring the idea that existing system is not helping them reduce their problems and they need to adopt new strategies. They motivate people to think differently, create new ways of doing things that is where the word transformational comes from. Such leaders show a lot of care for people; focus on their needs and touch their concerns. This way they try to win hearts of their followers, because change is a difficult thing to grasp. People feel relaxed in their old environments and it is utmost difficult to change someones habits. This needs a lot of effort and commitment without which it would be impossible to bring about change. Having good personality, vision, inspiration through motivation and personal attention to audience are excellent traits for a good leader. This helps wining sympathies of people who will then work whole heartedly to achieve objectives. This strategy is especially very effective when an existing system is not working very well and there is need to change. But for this system to work, leadership should have very good knowledge and understanding of the environment in which organisation is operating. This is era of information and if the leadership is not aware of all that is happening in the surrounding it cannot persuade people. Second thing that needs consideration is that leader should understand different situations and proceed accordingly because actions which are suitable for one environment need not be the best fit in some other surroundings. Thirdly facts alone will not help changing minds of the people but the leadership should have very good communication skills to convey thei r idea. Last but not least taking people into consideration is another important factor because nothing can be achieved without contribution of followers. To achieve sympathies of people, one needs to show concern and sympathy with them, coordinate with them on personal terms. Change is a painful thing and majority of people resist change. In order for a venture to be successful the most important requirement is that people are ready to adopt change which is only possible if they understand that the person in-charge of change i.e. leadership has a heart to feel their concerns. Otherwise merciless change will face strong resistance and will not achieve its ultimate goal. This is excellent, cost effective theory of management that can be applied at Milky Bits and workings on the principles of transformational theory company can achieve faith, loyalty and hearts of workers that would enormously improve the efficiency in Milky Bits. Transactional Leadership Theory As described by Bernard M. Bass in 1981, transactional leadership is based on performance reward. Tasks are assigned to the employees and if they are successful they are rewarded else punished, i.e. transaction, exchange as a result of performance. Rather than relying on the concept of motivation as described in transformational theory it brings about the idea of incentive and penalty. It develops kind of relationship between leader and follower that is doing as directed. If an employee performs his / her task meeting the deadline, within budget and as per directives of its manager, employee will get benefits. If the employee somehow misses to achieve what was required, he would be punished. This is an extreme type of relationship and shows reactive approach of management. This theory is focused on authority of manager who sets the rewards / punishments for short term goals. In order to work it effectively the manager should clearly identify tasks that are in line with the overall objectives of organisation and provide sufficient resources to member of staff while assigning tasks. Manager should have enough authority and control to reward or punish subordinates and he should continually monitor the actions of subordinates. According to the theory, employees have single objective for job i.e. to get incentive that is mainly in the form of financial benefits but it could be something else like recognition or promotion etc. Enticements are the most powerful driver for workers to concentrate on their tasks; hence carefully designed target incentive system can improve workers output in Milky Bits. Although it is a short term solution, because if used permanently it can develop a culture where no one will work without clear incentives, but it can bring good results if managers succeed to clearly identify tasks that lead to ultimate objectives. Assign these tasks to the relevant employee, provide them with all sufficient resources and give them proper training. It can produce excellent results for Milky Bits, which is growing organisation, in very short period of time. Charismatic Theory German sociologist Max Weber in 1920 introduced Charismatic Theory that revolves around personality that has traits to attract followers. These could be natural God gifted attributes that sets them apart from general public like their family / religious background, their sex appeal, their vision and dynamism of their personality. Besides that some qualities can be learnt like good analytical and communication skills. Without having authority or powers gathers people around him, as a matter of fact charismatic leader uses the power of people. Such leaders have the ability to understand mood of people and design their acts accordingly. People blindly faith and follow their leader which is great achievement for any leader. Later on Conger and Kanungo in 1998 described Charismatic Leader is one having attributes of vision and communication, compassion to the environment, care to the needs of people, risk-taker and doing un-usual things. Hence charismatic leader should have the ability to foresee the future i.e. vision. He should be able to effectively communicate with people because if he has some ideas but cannot convince the general public it would be waste. He should understand the environment in which he is working because different situations need different form of action. Charismatic leader should understand feelings and needs of the people for this he should involve with the people, understand and realise their problems and understand their requirements. Without strong understanding of peoples issues it is difficult to motivate them. Leader is torch bearer of change, in this respect this theory is closely linked with transformational theory, but change is a difficult phenomenon. First of all peop le normally have strong resistance for change and secondly you can anticipate to some extent but nobody is cent per cent sure about the outcome of change. Things can go wrong at point, for this very reason a leader should be bold risk taker. Leader is a person who takes unexpected decisions at critical times because difficult situations need tough decisions. Ordinary people dont expect such decisions to be taken; hence Conger and Kanungo added risk taker and un-usual decision maker as the traits of charismatic theory of leadership. This theory could prove to be very effective in certain kind of situations. When there is need of some strong decision and there is no time to negotiate with people. If such decisions come from a person whom everyone trusts, gives respect and has blind faith in him it would be easy to implement such decisions. It is a cost effective solution as people following their leaders merely on the basis of their followership. This means you dont need to give them incentives to do something rather they are doing most of the things voluntarily. But this needs a very strong personality having all the traits to win hearts of people. This can prove to be successful, effective and cost efficient method of management at Milky Bits. Contingency Theory Earliest contingency theory presented by Fiedler suggests that that there is no ideal way of organizing things. Different type of actions needs to be taken in different situations. This theory is different from other theories based on characteristics of leaders or reward system and focuses on the situational aspects. It describes that management decision are affected by various factors like working environment, kind of task at hand and position of the manager at that very time. When taking some decision it is wise to understand the surrounding and visualise the impact of certain actions that could affect the entire process. It is also important to consider nature of task, like if something is very important and time bound it would need different strategy than one needed to perform routine tasks. Also important to consider is the power position of manager because in organisations there are lot of ups and downs. If manger is not in authoritative position or feels he would face bitter criticism he should avoid taking hard decisions. Verbal meaning of the word contingency is something that is cause by some other incident but in this theory it suggests line of action taken by management keeping in view environment created by people working in a certain situation. Although it is exceptional theory to deal with certain awkward situations it heavily relies on streamlining actions with the group environment. Its success largely depends on exposure and willingness of group member to put their efforts for the achievement of organisational objectives. It is very useful idea to tailor acts according to situations in order to get maximum benefits of situation rather than sticking with strict and static policies. Managers at Milky Bits should be trained to respond different situations accordingly. This will help improve companys performance and take corrective decisions at the time of need. This will help avoiding conflicts between management and employees and further to avoid any untoward situation creating chaos in the working environment. Situational Theory This theory presented by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey suggests that managers should use different styles depending upon situations. Manager should have strong ability to analyse different situations. They should understand capability of their subordinates and keeping in view the existing circumstances, managers behaviour could be different with the same person at different times. According to Blanchard and Hersey leadership style is characterized by extent of support and direction given by manager to subordinates. At stage 1 manager defines the roles and responsibilities of employees, assigns tasks to them and then closely supervises or monitors them. In this scenario choices are made by manger hence most of the communication is one-way. Employees are committed to do their tasks diligently but they need direction and support from their seniors. At 2nd stage manager still defines roles and responsibilities but with consultation of sub-ordinates. Communication is somehow two-way. Employees are competent in their area of expertise but lack commitment so supervision is needed. Manager takes their consultation which increases their confidence and sense of being involved makes them more committed. At level 3 leaders focus less on tasks and more on relations, they discuss situations with their sub-ordinates and leave them with their strategy to do the tasks. This technique works with employees who are competent enough to do the tasks independently but due to lack of confidence need support of their superiors. Level 4 is a stage where sub-ordinate has both competence and commitment, so manager although has authority and control on decisions delegates these to the sub-ordinates. Sub-ordinate himself takes decisions and has total control of project / task. It is up to him to involve manager or not. Effective managers use these level as and when required at particular stages. There is no set pattern but only innovative capability of manager decides which path to take in a particular scenario. Such a policy could be helpful for Milky Bits as it will help managers understand capabilities of their staff and assign tasks to them accordingly. It will also benefit the organisation in staff development by following different levels giving them appropriate guidance and support building confidence on them that will help them work independently on upcoming tasks. Vroom and Yettons Normative Model Vroom and Yetton suggested Narrative Model as There are number of alternatives to deal with any situation. Leader should have the ability to select the best option in any situation. It also proposes that while selecting the best possible course of action willingness of employees should also be given weight. This theory assumes that acceptance of decision increases its effectiveness and commitment. Also willingness of employees adds to the acceptance of decisions taken by managers. Vroom and Yetton also identified decision procedures as follows. Firstly manager uses his own exposure to take decision; this strategy is useful if acceptability among employees is not very important, manager has enough knowledge and exposure about the subject area, secondly manager seeks information from his sub-ordinates and then takes decision; this is useful when manager does not have enough information and needs enough first hand information, thirdly manager shares problem with sub-ordinates individually, seeks their opinion to reach some decision; this is useful when some of the employees have expert knowledge of the subject domain that will help manager reaching a good decision; fourthly discusses the issues with sub-ordinates in groups to come at conclusion; when all the employees have same level of knowledge and manager intends to benefit from their knowledge and tries to bring harmony in his team members and fifthly puts these issues before sub-ordinates as a group and bases his decision on the consensus of employees; this strategy targe ts on the acceptance of employees more than the quality of decision taken. One wrong decision taken at critical stage can be decisive for an organization. Management at Milky Bits should be given appropriate training to deal with such situations that will help the organization to come out beneficent at the time of crisis. Tri-Dimensional Leadership Theory (Yukl) Yukls tri-dimensional theory suggests that there is no set course of action which will be successful in all the circumstances. It is management and leadership who decide what action to take at a particular time. It heavily relies on effectiveness and efficiency, human resource relations and innovation adaptation. If managements focus is effectiveness and efficiency, its strategy will be task-oriented. To improved efficiency first step is that everyone should know his roles and responsibilities, what is expected of him / her. This clear cut job assignment will help an employee concentrate on his job and facilitate managers to evaluate employees performance. This will improve sense of responsibility and employees will be more focused on their job roles which will improve their effectiveness and efficiency. In case of human resource relations, strategy will be relations-oriented. Management will try to build good relations with employees in order to come closer with them, understand their views and negotiate with them. This helps management obtain 1st hand knowledge of employees problems and come up with solutions that will win the hearts of employees. This involvement of employees and their participation in decision making will help them do their tasks with more motivation and achieve organisational goals and objectives. Innovative and adaptation style is required when an organization is in need of change. Management will sort out new ways of doing things. Change is the only constant thing in nature, internal external factors both influence an organisation to change its strategies to survive and thrive in business. This needs strong thinking and analysis followed by careful decision making. This theory suggests that leaders should be able to analyse the situations and they should be flexible enough to meld their strategies accordingly. Leaders should have strong analytical and diagnostic qualities to determine strategy most relevant to situation. New Leadership Strategy Reviewing all research and findings of previous theorists and being student of Strategic Management Leadership if I am asked to develop my own strategy, I would suggest following 3 points. Leadership should have strong knowledge of subject area and exceptional relationship with their followers. Motivate followers combining organisational objectives with the goals of individuals. Give them respect reward. Management should always have plan B to work around un-acceptable situations and they should involve sub-ordinates to prepare these contingency plans. Leadership should lead by example, their words will worth more if they themselves follow what they ask their followers to do. No strategy will work if followers are un-satisfied. Respect and financial gains are instinct for every human being. It should be made sure that employees benefit from prosperity of organisation. Business world is ever-changing, stagnant policies and leadership will suffer in this dynamic environment so leadership should be innovative enough to counter these challenges. If possible leadership should involve followers in policy changes.

Metaphors Of The Mind :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The brain (and, by implication, the Mind) has been compared to the latest technological innovation in every generation. The computer metaphor is now in vogue. Computer hardware metaphors were replaced by software metaphors and, lately, by (neuronal) network metaphors. Such attempts to understand by comparison are common in every field of human knowledge. Architects and mathematicians have lately come up with the structural concept of "tensegrity" to explain the phenomenon of life. The tendency of humans to see patterns and structures everywhere (even where there are none) is well documented and probably has its survival value added. Another trend is to discount these metaphors as erroneous, irrelevant, or deceptively misleading. Yet, these metaphors are generated by the same Mind that is to be described by them. The entities or processes to which the brain is compared are also "brain-children", the results of "brain-storming", conceived by "minds". What is a computer, a software application, a communications network if not a (material) representation of cerebral events? In other words, a necessary and sufficient connection must exist between ANYTHING created by humans and the minds of humans. Even a gas pump must have a "mind-correlate". It is also conceivable that representations of the "non-human" parts of the Universe exist in our minds, whether a-priori (not deriving from experience) or a-posteriori (dependent upon experience). This "correlation", "emulation", "simulation", "representation" (in short : close connection) between the "excretions", "output", "spin-offs", "products" of the human mind and the human mind itself - is a key to understanding it. This claim is an instance of a much broader category of claims: that we can learn about the artist by his art, about a creator by his creation, and generally: about the origin by any of its derivatives, inheritors, successors, products and similes. This general contention is especially strong when the origin and the product share the same nature. If the origin is human (father) and the product is human (child) - there is an enormous amount of data to be safely and certainly derived from the product and these data will surely apply to the origin. The closer the origin and the product - the more we can learn about the origin. The computer is a "thinking machine" (however limited, simulated, recursive and mechanical). Similarly, the brain is a "thinking machine" (admittedly much more agile, versatile, non-linear, maybe even qualitatively different).

Farewell to Manzanar Essay -- essays papers

Farewell to Manzanar Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled â€Å"internment camps.† In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her family’s experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities. The smaller children that were confined with their families seemed to be generally unaware of the hardships they were facing. Many enjoyed individuality and separation from their parents since they didn’t have to keep as close of an eye on the children. In the book, Jeanne notices that it was almost impossible to continue sitting her entire family at dinnertime, and this unfortunate change occurred in many other families as well. For the first year of their confinement, before there was a semi-structured school system, children did just about everything they could think of to pass the time. As anyone would expect... Farewell to Manzanar Essay -- essays papers Farewell to Manzanar Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled â€Å"internment camps.† In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her family’s experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities. The smaller children that were confined with their families seemed to be generally unaware of the hardships they were facing. Many enjoyed individuality and separation from their parents since they didn’t have to keep as close of an eye on the children. In the book, Jeanne notices that it was almost impossible to continue sitting her entire family at dinnertime, and this unfortunate change occurred in many other families as well. For the first year of their confinement, before there was a semi-structured school system, children did just about everything they could think of to pass the time. As anyone would expect...