Effective People, Communication and Information Essay

Legoland is a group of Lego themed adventure parks that offer an assortment of Lego themed attraction, mainly targeted at young children and families. Legoland is based in many different places in the world. At the moment there are four main Legoland parks. Legoland Billund in Denmark, Legoland Deutschland in Germany, Legoland Windsor in England and Legoland California in America. They also employ for a number of jobs including, catering, admissions, rides and attractions, security, finance, nursing etc. These jobs are normally seasonal as Legoland is only open in the summer and some holidays. This job can be part time or full time during the working season. In this section of the assignment I will describe Legoland’s rigorous recruitment process. They start the process in December during which time they send out invitations to previous staff and to local advertising to attract attention. They send invites to previous staff as they may want to work again and the company can save money on training new staff. While advertising is going on, all applications are shortlisted to the few that employers think have more potential. In January and early February, the successful candidates are then called for interviews. In Mid-February and March staff training starts so new employees are taught how to use the equipment properly and get to know the safety rules. Training is done during this time of year so staff are fully trained before Legoland opens to families. From april to august the recruitment is ongoing with staff turnover. This is because when some staff start, they may not like the job and decide to leave so Legoland need to be prepared to replace those that leave. Legoland also try to attend as many careers fairs as possible where feasible. This depends on staff availability. When Legoland staff arrive at these fairs, they set-up recruitment stands and models. They also provide job descriptions, applications and employment advice that relates to qualifications and experience that specific departments look at. Legoland attracts potential employees in many different ways: * Website to attract national and international employees. * Local newspaper to attract local audiences. * Careers Fairs held in schools and colleges to attract younger members. * Job centres. * Word of mouth. This section of the assignment is mainly about how Legoland attract potential employees. In order to find the right people they have to support their brand image to find a quality employee. The selection techniques are very strict as managers have to be very professional in choosing the right employees. Their advertising is focused and emphasises their culture and personal qualities. Their relationships with local employment bodies and educational establishments are very close so as to give everyone a chance to work there. You can apply by undergoing a screening interview on the phone or in person. This is good as Legoland employers can see aswell as get to know possible future employees. You can also apply online for any available jobs. By doing this and having overseas agents and employment organisations Legoland have internationalism. Legoland try to ensure that staff turnover is kept as low as possible by doing many different things. They try to get as many past workers as possible to save money on training which keeps the turnover low as less money is spent and less people are expected to leave as they have previously worked there. Appraisals are held to keep track of employee’s targets and the way they are working. Departments can get certain goals and targets to help achieve certain things. Legoland staff are given rewards and awards to help keep up their good work so there is less chance of them leaving the job as they may enjoy it more and decide to stay on further. Legoland look closely at NVQ’s and cross-reference them with other assessment schemes

Social Networking Sites

PROJECT SYNOPSIS Project Title: Study on how social networking sites effect lives of people Project Guide: Group: Introduction The social networking sites are gaining a lot of popularity these days with almost all of the educated youth using one or the other such site. These have played a crucial role in bridging boundaries and crossing the seas and enabling them to communicate on a common platform. It has become a popular and a potential mean for them to stay friends with the existing ones and to grow up their social circle at least in terms of acquaintances. The question regarding the safety, privacy and the legal issues have been cropping up all this time. Through this research we try to find out the impact of these networking sites on the personal and professional lives of people using them. It is a very subjective question to answer and is very opinion based and the same is reflected in the research methodology adopted by us. The report is initiated with the definition of the objective followed with the research methodology used along with the research design, sample size, methods used for the purpose of conducting survey. It also incorporates the sampling frame and the data collection procedure. Subsequent to this is the Introduction to the networking sites along with a brief description of the most popular sites. Then the issues of concern which have come up along the way in all these years since these sites gained popularity are discussed. The various issues and concerns of the respondents are also incorporated there. The next part of the research has the literature surveys which are the articles we took up from the published reports. We then analyzed and interpreted the data at length. The last part deals with the suggestions and recommendations that the group has come up with after carefully analyzing and incorporating the opinion of all concerned. Objective of the study In this age of globalization, the world has become too small a place thanks to the electronic media and portals. Communication has become effective as never before thanks to the advent of internet. The social networking sites have also played a crucial role in bridging boundaries and crossing the seas and bringing all people at a common platform where they can meet like minded people or find old friends and communicate with them. It has become a potential mean to relation building and staying in touch with all known. Hence the objective that we wanted to achieve through our research is to: Find out the influence of social networking sites on the personal and professional life of the people- how it affects their relations, what are its uses for each individuals and how have they been influenced by these sites. Methodology The primary methods of data collection that is questionnaire technique was used to collect the data required. Respondents include both male and female. Convenience sampling method has been adopted under the non-probability sampling technique and about 100 samples have been collected for the study. Statistical Tools For Analysis The collected data has been analyzed using percentage analysis and diagrams. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 1) The study has been conducted over a period of 3 months & respondents have been restricted to 100. CHAPTER SCHEME Chapter I It gives a brief introduction about the study, objective, methodology & limitation of the study. Chapter II This chapter includes the literature review Chapter III It covers the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. Chapter IV It covers the various findings and suggestions of the study along with the conclusion. Social Networking Sites There's Something Missing We communicate with family and friends on Facebook, Myspace, and follow people on Twitter, email, texting, but we never stop to think that there is something that is just not there. Social Networking has become our main source of communication. What ever happened to picking up the phone or going over to your loved one's homes to ask them a question? Instead we send them a message via a social network and wait for a response. We have the ability to see what is going on in the lives of people we would never really talk to face-to-face.Why should it matter what they are doing and why, above all, are we so addicted to it? You may have 1000 friends on Facebook, but how many of those friends would be there for you if you really needed them? It is a lot to think about, especially since social networking rapidly evolved. So what is missing? The sound of the voice, facial expressions, hand gestures, are all things that we use to set the mood of the conversation. Why does any of this even matter? Why Does it Matter?Why does it even matter if you can't hear a persons voice, see the expressions on their face, or see any hand gestures that may be going on, when you are having a conversation with them? One word, confusion. When you conmmunicate through a social network you are not really connected ot dedicated to the conversation you are in. You can't give off any emotion to the other person. Misunderstandings and arguments can easily arise this way. For example, someone in the family passes away. You get a message on Myspace informing you. You send a message back and say I am so sad.You get a message back saying it doesn't seem like you are that sad, while you are posting pictures on your profile. Of course to get your message across you could have said, with a tear in my eye, I will never forget that family member, I loved them so much, now sobbing, but not everyone writes like that. Even if they did, the visual effect would give off a more comfor table feeling. You can't really let anyone know that you are truely there for them if you are not face-to-face. What if someone just needs a hug after a long sentimental conversation? You wouldn't be there to do that.Social networking can be good but we don't need to forget our values that we grew up with, and we don't need to forget to pass them on to our children. How can we Increase Face-to-Face Time? Social Networking can become an addiction. It can be a good source for information or sending mass messages or even keeping in contact, on a regular basis, with people who live far away. Social Networking does take away from interacting with others. Some people like that and it's why they do it. Some people don't like to be face-to-face with others, especially when it isn't the best of times to talk to someone.We should all try to increase our face-to-face time though. Put the phone or computer down and go out for lunch with friends and family and talk about your lives. Doing this k eeps your social life active and lets others know you care enough to give them more than a message. When something important happens speak to someone face-to-face. It will make you feel better faster and you will realize that it will help to see emotion on someone face once in a while. Don't completely cut your real social life out and remember to pass that n to your children and this world gets more technology based everyday.Remember what matters. Pick up a phone and call someone instead of texting them. What Do You Think? Any feedback? I would love to know if people agree or disagree with this. It is a big part of life and some people would agree and some are going to disagree. Feedback on a hub like this will show exactly what this is about. Try not to take any of this the wrong way and see how hard it actually is. Arguments are the worst way of communicating online or in text. You really don't know if the other person is upset or just stating an opinion. Don't let Social Network ing substitute for your real social life Social Networking Sites There's Something Missing We communicate with family and friends on Facebook, Myspace, and follow people on Twitter, email, texting, but we never stop to think that there is something that is just not there. Social Networking has become our main source of communication. What ever happened to picking up the phone or going over to your loved one's homes to ask them a question? Instead we send them a message via a social network and wait for a response. We have the ability to see what is going on in the lives of people we would never really talk to face-to-face.Why should it matter what they are doing and why, above all, are we so addicted to it? You may have 1000 friends on Facebook, but how many of those friends would be there for you if you really needed them? It is a lot to think about, especially since social networking rapidly evolved. So what is missing? The sound of the voice, facial expressions, hand gestures, are all things that we use to set the mood of the conversation. Why does any of this even matter? Why Does it Matter?Why does it even matter if you can't hear a persons voice, see the expressions on their face, or see any hand gestures that may be going on, when you are having a conversation with them? One word, confusion. When you conmmunicate through a social network you are not really connected ot dedicated to the conversation you are in. You can't give off any emotion to the other person. Misunderstandings and arguments can easily arise this way. For example, someone in the family passes away. You get a message on Myspace informing you. You send a message back and say I am so sad.You get a message back saying it doesn't seem like you are that sad, while you are posting pictures on your profile. Of course to get your message across you could have said, with a tear in my eye, I will never forget that family member, I loved them so much, now sobbing, but not everyone writes like that. Even if they did, the visual effect would give off a more comfor table feeling. You can't really let anyone know that you are truely there for them if you are not face-to-face. What if someone just needs a hug after a long sentimental conversation? You wouldn't be there to do that.Social networking can be good but we don't need to forget our values that we grew up with, and we don't need to forget to pass them on to our children. How can we Increase Face-to-Face Time? Social Networking can become an addiction. It can be a good source for information or sending mass messages or even keeping in contact, on a regular basis, with people who live far away. Social Networking does take away from interacting with others. Some people like that and it's why they do it. Some people don't like to be face-to-face with others, especially when it isn't the best of times to talk to someone.We should all try to increase our face-to-face time though. Put the phone or computer down and go out for lunch with friends and family and talk about your lives. Doing this k eeps your social life active and lets others know you care enough to give them more than a message. When something important happens speak to someone face-to-face. It will make you feel better faster and you will realize that it will help to see emotion on someone face once in a while. Don't completely cut your real social life out and remember to pass that n to your children and this world gets more technology based everyday.Remember what matters. Pick up a phone and call someone instead of texting them. What Do You Think? Any feedback? I would love to know if people agree or disagree with this. It is a big part of life and some people would agree and some are going to disagree. Feedback on a hub like this will show exactly what this is about. Try not to take any of this the wrong way and see how hard it actually is. Arguments are the worst way of communicating online or in text. You really don't know if the other person is upset or just stating an opinion. Don't let Social Network ing substitute for your real social life

Speech errors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Speech errors - Essay Example Phonetic errors include pronunciation mistakes in speech. Phonemes also refer to the sounds that people make during speech. Such errors are equally common and often affect the effectiveness of the communication process. While such are common errors, people are not always likely to make specific mistakes during speech. Among such are the verb tense agreements. Psycholinguists explain that the types of common errors portray unique features of the brain. The brain of a speaker at any given time coordinates a series of activities all of which ensures the manifestation of an error during the tie of speech. A speech process is an extensive process that requires the effective coordination of the facts a speaker presents besides the need to coordinate sentence structures in order to enhance the effectiveness of a speech. Balances and checks depending on the tasks of the speaker often characterize the mental state of a speaker. Public speaking among others for example always entails a series of activities all of which require the effective coordination of the body. Sentence construction and speech production are key features of a speech. Other additional activities include body movements and nonverbal communication among others. Such are basic features of speech that enhance the effectiveness of the communication process. The brain that acts as the central processing unit of the body systematically coordinates he activities of the body during a speech thus enhancing the speech depending on the stability and composure of the speaker.

Directions in the Word document Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Directions in the Word document - Essay Example hinese made them get a lot of rebellion from the white labor unions because they got a lot of publicity from the media, as well as claims that they were taking most of the money which would rather go the other races. There was the massacre of the Chinese due to a woman dispute between the Chinese and a white man in an effort to send the Chinese packing back to China (Gregory 56). Since the gold rush era, there has been population growth in California due to many immigrants from China and its states especially Vietnam. Many Chinese is in Orange County than other counties. There has been a 35.2% rise in number of Chinese entering California. Many critics say it is an invasion, because the population of China is overwhelming thus they have to settle the population elsewhere. The Chinese provides high skills in technological industry especially engineers and programmers. According to the media, California has taken a turn from an entry port to a final destination for Vietnamese who take refuge in America. The spillover of Chinese has been due to the Chinese War and the Tsunamis that are prone in China thus most come as refugees. Considering California, the market thus, taken over by the Chinese who come as immigrants and then due to their hard work and marketing strategies they take the market by storm. Surprisingly, the Chinese settlers have taken effort and ra n for offices without fear of racial discrimination; there sophistication has come with time (Starr 67). The California legislator’s insistence that they should apologize for the treatment that the Chinese immigrants got from the Gold Rush era, many have gotten the encouragement to settle in America. The support that they get from the government is due to their hard work and determination thus able to adapt in America. The Chinese have been able to adapt because though there are high taxes on their commodities, they oblige to pay thus are able to hold jobs and own property while paying their taxes without

The purpose of this assignment is to broaden awareness of the cardiac

The purpose of this is to broaden awareness of the cardiac client, and to evaluate the relevance of the article to nursing practice - Assignment Example The benefits of nursing support have been documented by various studies, and it has been found that such nurse led educational and support programs lead to improved understanding of the disease and a greater awareness of lifestyle changes that can lead to faster recovery, and reduce the risks of recurrence. In recent times health professionals have been focusing on ways of rehabilitating patients with cardiac ailments, in order to help them return to a normal life at the earliest. Studies have shown that this is possible when patients understand their condition; its causes and the lifestyle changes that will enable them regain their health and prevent such events in future. Kadda states that â€Å"The significant role of integrating education in a rehabilitation programme has been widely acknowledged by all health professionals†. (Kadda, 2012, pg 635) The article gives new insights into the mental stresses under which cardiac clients labor and health professionals could use these insights into the management of cardiac patients. Many health professionals are unaware of the psychological stress under which a patient labors, because they consider it a normal reaction to the stress of acute myocardial infarction. The fear in the patient’s mind and that of close family members is not taken into account; hence the problem persists despite medication. The dispelling of this fear and the reassurance that the patient can look forward to going back to a normal life; if certain precautions are taken and certain lifestyle changes are brought about, can go a long way in a faster recovery and prevention of recurrence. The article emphasizes the importance of educating patients and their families. Although this is essential, it has not received due recognition among the medical fraternity. This is due to a lack of trained personnel to impart this education, or lack of time on the part of health professionals or even patients; and

Do you think there are any important dimensions or elements of Assignment

Do you think there are any important dimensions or elements of democracy that are missing from Diamond and Morlinos list Do any of those listed seem unnecessary or redundant Explain your reasoning - Assignment Example In such arrangement, the greater percentage of the populace will have to get a pie of the national cake. More so, competition can only thrive when there is equality. Equality is the only component that calls for contestants on the same ballot. Therefore, competition as an element is misplaced or repetitive. However, this dimension has no difference at all when "participation" as dimension is factored in. Participation according to many pundits means involving decision-making, sharing the national cake and the appointment of key governmental jobs. If there is a new understanding of the word "Participation", then it could be different or function differently with equality (Diamond & Morlino, 23). It is only with the presence of equality that participation can thrive. A claim that participation and equality are two different pillars of democracy is myopic at its best and redundant at its worst. Secondly, the duo, have mentioned vertical accountability and horizontal accountability. They have gone ahead and mentioned responsiveness. The two are interrelated. It is only that responsiveness is a complex and takes into account many things including the vertical accountability. The political environment that enables responsiveness is similar to those that support responsiveness and are all enshrined in democracy (Diamond & Morlino, 26). The two, therefore, is the same. In addition, the mention of respect and rule of law as different is perfect. Rule of law is nonsense where respect is non-existent. Rule of law bring a fair playing ground for the entire nation, and it takes respect and humility of the mighty to be the same as the poor who are viewed on the lenses of being under the law (Diamond & Morlino, 26). Its only respect that will lead to rule of law and allowing no to be so mighty to be over the law or so small to be beneath the very

Consumer Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer Behaviour - Assignment Example This paper will be focused on the marketing practices of the Lloyd’s TSB bank in its endeavours to retain its customers. Lloyd’s TSB is a retail bank that is based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyd’s bank and the TSB group. Lloyd’s bank was originally founded in Birmingham in 1765 while the TSB group, a rival bank, was formed in 1810. The marketing mix of Lloyd’s TSB has seen it realise admirable profits through the years. The marketing mix elements, also known as the 4p’s, are price, place, product and promotion. In simple terms, a product includes all features as well as goods and related services that a business offers to its clients. The product is the most crucial component in the marketing mix. This is because products are the market expression of the manufacturer’s productive capabilities. Products determine a producer’s capacity to link with customers. A product policy or strategy is of enormous significance to a corporation; product decisions dictate the scope and direction of industry activity (Singh, 2011). Additionally, market indicators such as profits, sales, image and market share are also dependent on products. The products of companies also influence other components of the marketing mix. Therefore, without proper product policy, a corporation cannot pursue further elements of the marketing mix. With the rapid advancement of technology, a banking company has no choice but to advance as well in order to satisfy the desires of its clients and remain competitive. The Lloyd’s TSB group boasts a diverse array of services and products that cater for a large clientele. The banking options available to its customers include the phone bank as well as internet banking. Customers can also text financial information from a mobile phone and make use of cash point

Total Quality Management Case Study (Welz Business Machines) Essay

Total Quality Management Case Study (Welz Business Machines) - Essay Example Welz Business Machines collected data for a 2 week period in order to know why some customers have to wait. Through this process data was collected on all the four reasons given above for customers having to wait. According to the information collected by the characters mentioned in the case the primary reason of the problem being faced by the company is short-staffed operators. The next two causes being receiving party not being present and operator not being able to understand the problem of the customer. Customer being dominant in the conversation and some other causes has also been mentioned in the case. The analysis is shown below with the help of a Pareto analysis and cause and effect diagram. Pareto analysis is a technique which can be used to prioritize the different types or sources of a problem. It can be used to identify the reasons for majority of the problem being caused. It uses the Pareto principal – 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the causes. (Pyzdek, 2003).The Pareto analysis of the case is shown below – We can see from the above analysis that 90% of the problems are being caused by three reasons – operator short staff(51%) ,Receiving party not present(22%) and lack of operator understanding(18%).These are the areas to focus on. It is also known as the fishbone diagram or the Ishikawa diagram, named after the Japanese quality expert who made it famous. (Dale, 2007) It is basically a graphical representation of an outline that presents a chain of cause and effects. (Ishikawa & Loftus), 1990). With the analysis of the case given, various causes have been analysed because of which problems occur leading to the inability to answer customer calls effectively. These have been shown above in the form of a fish bone diagram. As we can see from the Pareto analysis done above; shortage of staff is the root cause of the problem and accounts for 51% of the causes. Increasing the

Economic Urban Renewal Essay Example for Free

Economic Urban Renewal Essay During Urban renewal, what is in the best interest of the city is sometimes not in the best interest of many people in the City. And what is in the interest of the People is often not in the best interest of the City. Cities, or their disparate parts at varying rates, are always in one natural state of evolution or another: decline or renewal. Community organizations and individuals who have no expertise or experience in modern urban design and renewal have no place influencing the renewal agenda from an official capacity any more than a lawyer should be telling a doctor how to do neurosurgery on a sick patient. Urban Renewal and Design is a challenging and daunting endeavor even for the experts. Modern Renewal does not appease or allow a sense of entitlement by amateurs to meddle in the process from appointed political positions. Community groups with a sophisticated culture of urban economics and design should be invited into the process. A good example of this type of community group is the Design Advocacy Group in Philadelphia. Urban renewal is not a social welfare program. Social programs are already abundantly in existence for the needy in every City. Urban Renewal programs are special events. Urban Renewal programs co-opted by social activists will fail. Social programs masquerading as Renewal will eventually be exposed for what they are, with negative ramifications to follow, possibly inhibiting consideration of another renewal try any time in the foreseeable future. The same goes for political and institutional pork barrel projects masquerading as Renewal or Economic Recovery projects. Usually, the make up of the renewal board itself is a strong predictor of its direction, whether its makeup is weighted in favor of social community activists, politicians or known political cronies, representatives of major city institutions by proxy, or outside experts with no current or previous political or business ties to the region, no local constituency to appease, and with no continuing participation after achieving benchmarks. Even a so-called balanced board, that is, one that gives a seat to a representative of each of the citys major constituent groups, such as the major ethnic, political, business, religious, housing, social categories etc. may be cause for suspicion. These type of boards are mainly constituted to see that each gets its share of the pie, proclaiming unity while each pursues their own vision, going in separate directions while protecting their turf. A balanced board tends to neutralize, diminish and dilute the effectiveness of good plans in the compromising process of wheeling and dealing between groups. A balanced board that provides seats of influence to entitled non-experts is bound to fail. Body Urban renewal programs are historically almost orgiastic opportunities of cronyism and pork barrel corruption. Citizens, the Law and the Press must apply the highest scrutiny. Urban renewal is not a social experiment but a pro-business, free market enabler that attracts new businesses and residents, facilitated by physical redesign. Incentives intended to attract business into a renewal zone that contain local hiring requirements will find limited appeal, since the overwhelming majority of businesses want to be free to hire People based on their qualifications rather than their address. Urbanists recognize that individual economic and residential decisions are based on self-interest, and that successful renewal depends on the cumulative effect of thousands of individual decisions. Cities where community activists have a reputation for strong-arming new businesses will have a difficult time of renewal. The existing state of the City asks at any given moment, Why would anyone choose to live or operate a business here when they have the option to choose another locale? The City may ask the question, but only outside stakeholders can answer it. Urbanists need to identify outside stakeholders and get an accurate picture of what it will take for them to move into the City. Renewal planners must constantly adjust their plans to appease stakeholders outside the City as information suggests. Urban renewal is the removing of blight and creating high density, safe attractive walkable new neighborhoods and shopping districts through policy and design. It is for the immediate benefit of middle and upper class business owners and individuals who will settle and create a sufficient tax base to provide services in the future for all residents. These are shoppers, business owners and residents who do not yet have any presence in the City. In other words, present City residents and businesses must bite the bullet and make sacrifices for current outsiders to accrue future benefits. Every move in this direction speeds up the renewal process. The immediate target constituency for urban renewal programs lay outside the City, not in it. Todays residents will receive future benefits through others that cannot come to fruition any other way. Territorial attitudes and a sense of entitlement that attempt to keep outsiders at bay and keep benefits in will generate no benefits and further isolate Inner City poor from mainstream opportunities. Urban renewal efforts influenced by social service and affordable housing providers will come to resemble a social service program and be a complete turn-off to the regions middle and upper class. Renewal leaders who as politicians had a history of applying short term patches to long term problems, or who have a prior or newly established business relationship with large institutional beneficiaries of renewal funds, will find it hard to build trust with skeptical stakeholders, especially prominent business People with honed analytical skills. The history, business and political ties of Renewal leaders will play a large role as to informing stakeholders’ decisions. Without attracting a viable upper class from the region urban renewal is dead. Often used specious arguments by community activists such as we stayed and stood by the City during its hard times, now we deserve something†¦ is a thinly disguised parasitic, something for nothing attitude. People do not hesitate to move to a better neighborhood when they can. Renewal leaders who succumb to this victimology do the City and its good people a disservice while repelling desirable potential inhabitants. While large historical forces have shaped the American ghetto, this is the context in which some must deal with their problems, not an excuse for failure or benefits beyond the social sector. Life can be hard and harder for some, but Urban Renewal funds are not to be used as welfare funds or for public housing. That is what the local housing and welfare boards, with their separate and historical funding sources are for. Church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued (McAteer, 1975). No matter how many People attend church or work hard in some cites, it is a lack of architectural cohesion, wasted space in the form of parking lots and vacant lots, vandalism and other property crimes, burglary and thefts, the preponderance of illegal drug markets, violence, blight, rampant anti-social behaviors, tacky shoddy retail shops, gangs, unruly teenagers, school violence, illegitimacy and lack of a skilled and employable populace that creates the profile of a worst case inner City needing attention. These problems in turn lead to a lack of economic and social capital. Churches are valuable institutions in their historical role as spiritual guides, facilitators of personal transformation and, in urban areas, the delivery of social services. Serious Urbanists must ferret out the challenges of a city, divide them between the predictable and fixable (design) and the theoretical (social) and work on them separately, considering the two processes operate on wholly different timelines and practices. Social challenges, whose solutions are purely theoretical with no predictable outcome based on past history, are on a timeline of 20 years ( one generation) to infinity, ( or never, since poverty and its associated pathologies have been in existence on this planet since the beginning of mankind, despite the best intentions of policy makers throughout history. Urbanists should work on what is known and doable within the allotted time, and not engage in risky experimentation that may ruin a window of opportunity, leaving the larger social problems, those beyond which soundly designed built environments can positively effectuate to social theorists. Urban design and physical development is a proven methodology of urban change within a specified period. Desirable outside stakeholders are, almost by definition not in need of church social services. Therefore, churches should be considered in the social and theoretical People side of the renewal equation. Urbanists must be careful to avoid The Seattle Process, that is, the civic inclination to seek so much public input and consider so many sides of an argument that nothing actually gets done. A good Urbanist begins an operation with the same singular confidence of a surgeon opening a patient’s chest. Like a good doctor, a good Urbanist persuades a patient as to what is necessary for health, does not let the patient write his own prescriptions, and gains the patients trust and cooperation for the patients own good. Church organizations often become a default local government in dysfunctional cities, securing government and philanthropic contracts and fees to provide social services. Rather than being content with the compensation and intrinsic rewards for doing good works, when renewal funds become available, churches often subsume renewal efforts into their mission, demanding a cut of the economic pie, a seat at the political table, and influence to engineer social outcomes through shaky experimental theories. Too often opportunistic ministers, both storefront and traditional, subordinate their historical role to become real estate developers in the profitable non-profit housing industry. Successful at supplanting market oriented Licensed Planners in master-planning neighborhoods, whole areas are taken off the market and are assigned for low-income housing development and rehabilitation to benefit owners and tenants who cannot afford or dont maintain their properties. This does not correct the underlying problem, the inability of poor residents to maintain their properties, and resets to the beginning the deterioration cycle, which leads inevitably to another tax payer bailout. Churches also attempt to insert themselves as the moral arbiters of what the City should be, conflicting with equally legitimate visions of other stakeholders. Urbanist should not mediate the competing visions of others, but should know what the course of action is and concentrate on their own vision. Urbanist must take command of the situation. Only church organizations that understand the economics and design necessary to attract outsiders into the City should be part of the renewal team. No more than one, if any, church seat on the board should be allowed, which represents the aggregate voice of the City religious institutions, and only those institutions that understand outside stakeholder interests. This is a concept familiar to all People of faith and can contribute to renewal success. The board presence and influence of City churches without any renewal expertise beyond low-income housing services should be as limited as their experience. Urban renewal is difficult enough without allowing fake experts on board. A healthy adversarial relationship between social activists and Urbanists should be acknowledged. The basis for this differentiation is the recognition that the City also consists of buildings, streets, infrastructure, related public services and utilities such as street and sewer service, architecture, physical neighborhood design cohesion and allure, special districts, location and transportation assets, zoning laws, tax assessment considerations, finance, business attraction strategies, public relations, marketing activities and more that are far and away outside the purview and expertise of social scientists subsidized housing activists and theorists. The best organizational chart would group these varied disciplines into appropriate categories receiving specialized representation into People (Social) and City (Renewal). Let the chips fall where they may. Ubiquitous poverty is repellent to members of the Middle and Upper Class. To find themselves surrounded by poverty and blight is their worst nightmare. Urbanists must avoid including any plans or designs that provide or support poverty programs. This should be left to the social activists. Urbanists should not over-reach and attempt to do more than they are qualified for or have the resources to do, especially when duplicating existing organizations servicing that need. Urbanists should refrain from incorporating fuzzy social goals or any other programs that rely on rosy predictions that are hard to objectively justify. Whenever possible, Urbanists should present appropriately analogous models to support their position. Unlike Social Theory, which has applied uncountable programs, ideas and billions of dollars to distressed urban cores, the great majority of which have failed, it has been proven that graphic urban design codes serve as predictable guides for change. Intrusive blight and poverty, and its associated social pathologies are the overwhelming reason Isolated City renewal efforts fail. Isolated City in this context can be defined as a City that has no existing viable and attractive residential, commercial or arts areas to build out from. Isolated Cities are the least likely to have a successful renewal and must pull out all the stops in areas of design and incentives to attract outside stakeholders (Lees, 1985). Regional poor move to areas that have a culture of the poor, where they feel less stigmatized and self-conscious, and can find and bond comfortably with others in familiar situations. The abundance of support services for the poor further encourages settlement. Above all, poor people gravitate to areas where they can afford to live, bringing with them all the psychological and social pathologies of such a tough and sad existence. Concentrations of poverty also are, to a great degree, the end result of old racist traditions, expressed in public policies and business practices decades earlier. Zoning laws, and the open discriminatory practice of suburban real estate agents refusing to sell to minorities, post WWII through the 1970s, established the present ethnic and socio-economic configuration of urban areas and suburbs. This law contains loopholes for developers and communities with an anti low income housing bias. In light of history and current practices, a solid argument can be made for compensation to certain classes and groups who have inherited the terrible ramifications of this process. However, Renewal Funds and plans are an inappropriate source. No Urban Renewal effort has ever received enough funding to do as much as is needed, and cannot take on the added burden of compensating for societys misdeeds. Failed urban renewal cycles are more the rule than the exception, and the heavy and counter-productive hand of poverty services has played a major part in their failures. In some cities however, with every cycle they have become more expert in inserting themselves into the mix. With such limited vision partners unschooled in economics as gate-keepers, it is no wonder that the full complexity, serendipity and dynamics of market forces, investors, individual visions, entrepreneurial endeavors and regional participation rarely gets a shot at involvement before the renewal steam runs out. Social activists truly committed to helping the urban poor should consider helping them relocate out of distressed cities and into settings more conducive to pursuing life, liberty and happiness. Where life is risky, and crime reduces liberty, pursuit of happiness is severely hampered. It is time to form a moral argument free of bile and acrimony and take it to the outlying regions that owe their lifestyles to regional social problem repositories in urban areas. If troubled cities are to make a comeback, the outward migration of urban poor must begin, coinciding with an inflow of self-reliant urban pioneers. Nothing less than a 1960s style movement in scope and argument will do. Considering the historic resistance to minorities and the poor in the suburbs, the argument should be taken to suburban churches first. Presented with a compelling and irrefutable moral argument, these churches must accept it or reveal a moral, ethical and religious hypocrisy. Here, urban community development activists and church organizations have an important role. In a best case scenario, the suburban churches will spearhead the drive for the end of segregation and integration into their neighborhoods (Davis, 2000). Urbanites in communities with strong values should not fear their values will be overpowered by the pathologies of poverty, but instead will be a powerful influence for good to all who are exposed to them. Any City with a publicly assisted populace of more than 20% must create programs to promote an outflow to the suburbs to have any chance of renewal. Cities can begin by freezing growth of the poverty service industry. Inner City residents who move to stable communities can immediately enjoy the benefits of mainstream American life and its opportunities for building social capital, instead of waiting and taking the risk that renewal benefits, years off into the future, may not materialize at all. Minorities can be assured that modern day discrimination is relatively weak, and is based more on behavior than race. No City can accomplish operational self-sufficiency with a subsidized population exceeding 20%. Courts and legislative bodies recognize the deleterious and burdensome effects of a low income housing market above 20%, by capping obligations at this point. The questionable history of subsidized housings premier programs and experienced practitioners should be enough to scare off Urbanists from getting caught up in it. HUD program known as Section 108 which allows block-grant communities to raise money for loans by floating HUD-backed notes, has a staggering 59 percent default rate. Although government programs are expected to make riskier bets than private banks (whose loan-default rates are typically in the low single digits), the stratospheric failure rate of HUD loans amounts to a squandering of millions of taxpayer dollars, since taxpayers are on the hook for these loan guarantees. It is a rare suburb that has a subsidized housing population approaching anywhere near 20%. The higher a Citys low income housing stock, the less the area appeals to potential newcomers who do not depend on public assistance. Helping as many poor to move out of the City and into better neighborhoods is an important social mission that should endure through all times. It is a mission separate from Urban renewal and should not be commingled.

Turkey Joining the European Union Essay Example for Free

Turkey Joining the European Union Essay In December 1999 Turkey became an official candidate for joining the EU, along with a number of other developing countries, mainly of Eastern Europe. After fundamental studies of current situation in Turkey and its future outlooks, followed by a series of negotiations between the representatives of Turkey and the EU, it became clear that it would take not less than a decade for Turkey to make necessary reformations and meet the Copenhagen criteria. There are different opinions on the issue of possible effects of Turkey joining the EU. The country has many proponents in its desire to create a common future with the EU. But some political, economic and cultural problems can create difficulties for Turkey on its way to the EU and can come out with unpredictable effects on social wellbeing of European nations. This work is an attempt to show that Turkey joining the EU can result in a number of negative and undesirable consequences, both for Turkey and for the European community. The population of Turkey exceeds 70 million people of diverse ethnic origins, and its major territories are located in Asian continent. Geostrategic location of Turkey is important, because the country controls navigation along the Bosporus and four seas nearby. Turkey has a long and dynamic history. The roots of Turkish nation go back to a number of early Asian civilizations united into the powerful Ottoman Empire. Modern history of Turkey started in the 1920s, when a military leader, Mustafa Ataturk, won the Independence war and founded the Republic setting the country on the way of democratic development and westernization. Current Turkish economy is a mix of heavy industry and traditional agriculture. Economic indexes show that the economy is quite poor (GDP is only $358.2 billion), but at the same time it is steadily developing (GDP growth rate is 5.2%) (CIA).   Principal industries are textile, food processing, construction, mining and electronics. Also, Turkey is one of the main importers of commodities from Germany, Russia, Italy, China, etc. Turkey has very advanced and up-to-date communication and transportation infrastructure, but the greatest asset of the country is its people, as well as their highly-respectable moral values. It is possible to name several major drawbacks which seriously influence the position of the EU countries toward granting Turkey the EU membership. Paul Kubicek writes in his study of the problem of Turkey’s accession to the EU: â€Å"Turkeys supposed shortcomings are well-known: it is too big, too poor, too agricultural, too authoritarian, and, perhaps above all, too Muslim† (Kubicek, p.33). A specialist from Stockholm University Harry Flam considers political reasons to be the most important obstacle (Flam, p. 171). According to the Copenhagen criteria, the EU membership requires: â€Å" stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities† (Flam, p. 175). For some last years political situation in the country has been changing since the Justice and Development Party came to the power. Its leader and current Prime-Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proclaimed joining the EU to be one of his main political goals and directed the efforts on implementing necessary political reformations to meet the Copenhagen criteria. Turkish Constitution sets the military as the exclusive guarantor of internal security and empowers it to take over the situation in cases of political instability or a social crisis. Certainly, such crucial role of the military does not correspond to the idea of democracy, because army should be controlled by government. Nevertheless, Turkish authorities do not accept this position, being supported by public opinion. Another substantial political problem is minority and human rights. There is a large Kurdish minority with population of about 13 million people (around 20% of the country’s total population), which is concentrated in southeastern regions. Turkish government takes Kurdish nationalism as a serious threat to the existing integrity of the country. That is why Turkish laws prohibit official use of Kurdish language and other expressions of their cultural identity. For decades there were severe restrictions as to such issues as religious education, rights for communal property and others. Finally, one of the greatest obstacles on the way to the EU is refusal of Turkish government to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, a current member of the EU. Claiming for receiving the whole territory of the island, for some decades Turkey has been ignoring the Greek side of Cyprus. Therefore, as Turkey refuses to recognize a member of the EU, the negotiations with the European community can not be held. In addition, Turkey will have a dangerous impact on foreign policy of the EU bringing the borders of the Union closer to volatile Middle East. This may affect external political affairs of the EU. Economic factors are, probably, the most depressing. Turkish economy is making progress, but still remains very poor and the situation will not improve in the nearest future. Currently Turkey reached only 1.9% of EU25 GDP, and with average annual growth of 5%, it would be only 2.9% of GDP in 2015. Moreover, country’s GDP per capita is only 27% of the EU average (CIA). It is obvious that country with large population and poor economy will affect general economic situation of the EU. Turkey will need a lot of investments, budget transfers, special privileged tariffs, and other resources to stimulate country’s economy. A serious problem of Turkish economy, which is a point of concern of the EU specialists, is agriculture. Its contribution to GDP exceeds 14% and, at the same time, the majority of labor force (over 33%) employed in agriculture. But agriculture in Turkey needs considerable governmental support, which results in heavy taxation burden on national taxpayers. Turkey does not have a lot of arable lands, that’s why cultivation and farming are very expensive. Flam underlines possible problem for the European community, saying that â€Å"†¦the size of the Turkish agricultural sector threatens to be costly for EU taxpayers if Turkish farmers are to have the same terms as the farmers of the CCEC-8†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Flam, p. 186). Other disadvantages of Turkish economy include considerable regional inequality and necessity to restructure labor market. Overwhelming majority of Turkish industries is concentrated on the West and the North of the country, while Eastern parts rely more on agriculture and remain considerably underdeveloped. Turkish labor market needs to be reformatted in order to use its potential and improve low unemployment rates, especially among youth and women. Religious issue is, probably, the most controversial among the others. With its 98% Muslim population, Turkey will be the only non-Christian community in the EU. Undoubtedly, such a huge Muslim population will contribute to the development and acceptance of multiculturalism in the Union, but in a secular society this issue is rather complex. Turkey itself has a long history of serious difficulties and conflicts between religious leaders and the state. In addition, many specialists fear that Islamic conservatism and numerous traditional restrictions will cause serious pressure on personal freedoms. Many associate Muslim countries with terrorism and cruelty, but it can not be said about Turkey. The analysts argue that despite possible difficulties based on religious factor, prevalence of Islam in Turkey must not be a reason for Europe to turn its back to Turkey. Kirsten Hughes writes: â€Å"At a time, when the ‘war on terror’ is creating global tension †¦, Turkey’s relations to the EU take on a broad geopolitical significance.   A rejection of Turkey by the Union would be taken as a strong negative signal by many† (Hughes, p. 26). Many specialists suppose, that not only religious, but other cultural differences will bring to negative outcomes of Turkey’s assertion. They think that cultural problems may cause difficulties for Turkish population when integrating into the European community. Some years ago, the chairman of the European Convention on the Future of Europe, Giscard d’Estaing, said that he was against Turkish membership because Turkey had â€Å"a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life† and â€Å"its capital is not in Europe, 95 percent of its population is outside Europe, it is not a European country. (Flam, p.176)† Crowded Turkish Diaspora in Germany, which counts more than 2.5 million people, is the brightest example of this idea. Many Turks go to Germany in order to find better career opportunities and better-quality life. Turkish people get adapted to European life-style rather fast and, usually, express no desire to be back to their poor homelands, but very frequently serious cultural disconnections take place. Turkish immigrants reject European moral norms and customs and often their children have to stand for the consequences. That is why potential migration of Turkish people to the EU is considered as a serious threat to cultural unity of Europe. Europeans remember that after accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU, thousands of people from these poor countries hurried up to move to Germany, France, Italy and other developed lands to find some work and earn some money. Recent researches demonstrated that if Turkey were accepted to the EU, about 44% of Turkish population would look for better job somewhere in Europe (Kubicek, p. 38). Demographic issues can also be taken both in favor and against Turkey. It has a good population growth rate (1,06%), and more than 25% of the population are children below 14 (CIA). Thus, Turkish nation is very young, and this is quite attractive for aging European community. But, on the other hand, in case of accession, Turkey will become the most crowded country in the EU. Therefore, it will take a large number of seats in the European Parliament and become a powerful player. That is undesirable for European parliamentarians, who are aware of inflexibility and intolerance of Turkish diplomats on many crucial issues. There are many other key matters, which remain in concern of the EU experts. They include the problems of meeting the requirements as to environmental standards, or the implementation of many democratic reforms, the problems of corruption, which is especially prevalent and deep-rooted in the highest levels of public sectors. Finally, a very important problem is limitation of the freedom of expression and censorship in Turkish media. Nevertheless, it must be mentioned that currently there is a great number of positive and progressive reforms are initiated in the country. In particular, educational opportunities are becoming more equal, that’s why teenagers and youth from different remote areas on the East are getting more socially mobile. Democratization, together with the increase in communication, is among the key factors, which brought to a rise in awareness. Therefore, according to the Copenhagen criteria, a sequence of political and social changes must be made by Turkish government in order to see the door to the EU opened. But still there is no guarantee for Turkey on its accession. Besides, with its decision regarding Turkey, the EU relies not only on the opinion of its members, but also on the idea of other major political powers, like the U.S. â€Å"In Washingtons eyes, Turkey has transformed from a Cold War bulwark against Soviet aggression into a critical bridge linking the industrialized Christian West to the pre-industrial Muslim East.† (Robbins, p.17). Some specialists can see possible benefits of Turkey joining the EU, especially for dynamic and developing European community. Paul Kubicek summarizes his research on the problem â€Å"Turkey the EU† with the following statement: â€Å"Turkish membership is at least another decade away and its accession is far from assured, but the very prospect of Turkish membership presents the EU with many challenges and opportunities† (Kubicek, p.32). Nevertheless, there are more problems and uncertainties which can create serious difficulties for Turkey and the EU both on internal and external stages. This thought is greatly summarized by Gerard Baker, who resumes that: â€Å"Fear of the economic consequences of admitting millions of relatively low-paid workers into the European labor market, together with rising concern over the dilution of European identity by an alien Middle Eastern culture makes the idea of Turkish membership highly unpopular† (Baker, p.26). Works Cited:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Baker, Gerard. Let’s Not Talk Turkey: Guess Who Won’t Be Joining the European Union Anytime Soon. The Weekly Standard. Vol. 010, Issue 46 29 Aug. 2005: 26-30 ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Flam, Harry. Turkey and the EU: Politics and Economic Accession. CESInfo Economic Studies. Vol. 50,   Jan. 2005: 171-210 ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hughes, K. Turkey and the European Union: Just Another Enlargement? Friends of Europe. The European Commission. June 2007. 3 Dec. 2007. http://www.friendsofeurope.org/pdfs/TurkeyandtheEuropeanUnion-WorkingPaperFoE.pdf. ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kubicek, Paul. Turkish Accession to the European Union: Challenges and Opportunities. World Affairs. Vol. 3 Fall 2005: 32-41 ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Robbins, Gerald. Germans Are Talking Turkey; The European Union Is In No Rush to Expand Into Anatolia. The Weekly Standard. Vol. 010, Issue 44 2 Aug. 2006: 16-17  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Turkey. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook. 15 Mar. 2007. 3 Dec. 2007. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html.

Environmentalism in US Politics

Environmentalism in US Politics Environmentalist Gets Down to Earth Over the past few years, environmentalists had yet to find accountable successes in their campaigns, as people seemingly refused to listen to their plans and ideas. For example, environmentalists constantly alert customers about the contents of common goods, yet despite of the excessive and uncontrolled amount of fat and calories that are unhealthy, there is tendency for the customers to ignore the messages. Or the fact that their campaigns to restrict carbon emissions have failed miserably in 2010, regardless of the obvious warning signs of global warming. Challenged with difficulties, environmentalist’s groups are revolutionizing themselves to the new circumstances. Executives have been changed frequently over the past 15 months. Instead of focusing on global problems that do not seem to attract attentions, or that are too difficult to solve at the moment, environmentalists are sharpening their focus into a more transitional and local anxieties. On top of that, they will als o attempt to draw attention to the relationship between lobbyists and elections. Their most noticeable success, which was the discontinuation of Keystone XL pipeline, is being propelled forward again this year by its defenders in the Congress. Things don’t stop there. With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico early in 2010, in addition to the defeat to limit carbon emissions globally, the only objective left to save them from collapsing is to carry on with suspending the scheduled pipeline. In order for their organizations to remain practical, they need young leaders that could effectively communicate with younger generations. One example is Mr. McKibben, founder of 350.org, who successfully conveyed the group’s message to the rest of the populations through the means of mass communications, noticeably the internet, and mass protests. Mr. McKibben commented that young leaders often dismisses losses and are more eager to fight even though lucks aren’t in their fav ors. Michael Brune is one of the leaders that are most praised by Mr.McKibben. Michael Brune became the executive director of Sierra’s Club at the age of 38. He does not concentrate on global warming on a international scale, however, cleverly on a much more local scale. For example, he would point out how local coal plant is contributing to asthma attacks in children, which would raise concerns from local parents, and in effect, supporters for his campaigns. Hydraulic fracturing is also one problem that the local has to face. Strictly speaking, natural gas is one of the cleanest source of energy (or as environmentalists call it, â€Å"greenest†). However, it is not natural gas that is causing problems, but the way it is being collected by companies. Primitive regulations around hydraulic fracturing is producing unsuitable ways to collect gas from underground, which is poisoning the underground water supplies. Politically speaking, environmentalists are predominantly Democrats. However, recent voting expenditures on both parties are quite extraordinary and excessive. Hence, this creates distrusts within the people as succeeded candidates are not obliged to complete their promises. Therefore, seeing how both political parties are sailing towards profits instead common good, people are often divided. Consequently, the goal of environmentalists is to unite people to strive for a more prosperous future for humanity. Drilling Critics Face a Divide Over the Goal of Their Fight Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a controversial matter at the present. It is to extract natural gas by drilling and infusing fluid underground at high pressure. Easier said than done. As mentioned before, natural gas is one of the â€Å"greenest† source of energy available. It is the unregulated ways of extracting the mentioned source that is creating concerns with local and national organizations. Even though there are solutions to the problems, people are undecided as to completely ban the method or enforce on stricter regulations. Of course, there are always two sides to the stories. Needless to say, there are jobs that are involved with fracking, and by banning it, there will be unpredicted consequences. Regulations are similar to laws, which are often different from state to state. It will be very difficult to one simple solution to fix it all. Such that fracking is economically potent, it is emerging as an industry, and a profitable one at that. Landowners are eager to participate to benefit from the process. But the more people come to understand about fracking and how it is practiced, it is difficult to state whether the whole process can be safely handled. Wes Gillingham, program director for Catskill Mountainkeeper, predicted it, â€Å"a disaster for New York State.† The issue is a rather complicated one, such that, the State Department of Environmental Conservation has received 20,800 comments from citizens, which forthrightly exceeds any issues that have ever surfaced. The problem here is the fact that complete banning of the practice is not possible, as any profitable businesses will continue to exist, however, to what extent the government should regulate is questionable. Even though the oppositions see the practice as unethical and endangering to neighborhood, its supporters regard fracking as a cleaner source of energy, which would be on par with renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power. Environmentalistâ€℠¢s groups themselves are divided, as some regard it as safe and secure while others completely disagree. A possible solution has arisen is to suspend fracking until further studies are completed. The obvious fact is  people do not wish fracking to continue at its state, which is profitably harmful. Chapter 5 Year 2000, Democratic candidate Al Gore received more than 550,000 more votes, but Electoral College decided who win the presidency by a majority. The voting was so that the Florida Electoral College could have given the majority to either George Bush or Al Gore as the next President. It is obvious that when Florida State received too much attention, there will be briberies and cheatings involved. The cheatings could not possibly come from the two candidates themselves, but there were corporations interested in one specific candidate winning. That was the reason why Gore sued Floridas State from having counted the votes manually, and possibly cheated along the way. Gore demanded for a recount, however, Bush prevented from happening. In the end, George Bush won the presidency, yet, it was not clear whether he won by having majority in 537 total votes in Florida or merely on vote on the Supreme Court. Year 2004, Bush easily dominated his opponent. He received 3,500,000 more votes nationwide, and also won a majority of the popular vote in the Electoral College. Bushs victory did not reflect only on his personal achievement, but also on the Republicans new domination. Along with Republicans winning presidency by having both majority in the popular vote and Electoral College, they have dominated the Democratic Party, by having more majorities in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. It is surprising that the United States has one of the lowest rates in turnout in comparison to other industrialized democracies. The rates of turnout reflects upon citizens will of participation and citizens view of the political parties. The United States is a two-party system, whereas other democratic countries have multiparty. The reason is that Democratic and Republican parties have dominated the political systems for a lengthy period of time, and the introduction of any political parties is deemed unnecessary, hence uncovered by any mass media communication, thus, unnoticed by the public. This is noticeably one effect of the media upon the political system. The low rate of turnout indicates the skepticism of the citizens upon the political parties, where they dont trust any of the parties. Some will have to choose the lesser evil of the two, while others decide not to participate. In addition, the turnout was severely suppressed in the South, as voters were required to pay a hi gh fee to vote, took a literacy test as well as a good character test. That was why seventy five percentages of the blacks and poor were eliminated from voting. Political scientist Walter Burnham states that working class citizens dont vote as much the the upper class in society. This can explain by the fact that the working class cannot often sacrifice their time to vote, as voting time is synced with working hours. In addition, their votes dont always matter as candidates can win by having majority in the Electoral College. The upper class citizens vote more often than lower class citizens and they have more chance to influence the outcome through donations to political campaigns. Interestingly enough, the authors of the Constitution never believed in political parties. They condemned political parties as a danger to liberty, and hoped for the government to constantly check and balance the parties. Because of our two party system, there will be diverse and conflicting interests wi thin the same group. For example, in the past, there were people from the Democratic Party that supported the integration and those opposed it. The political parties often ignored the conflicts or any concerns from the citizens, since they will have no choice but to vote for one of the party. The political parties will only response to issues that are beneficial to the elites, since they are the biggest supporters and donors. In a way, the two system party fail to reflect upon the needs of the majority and satisfies a small portion of society. The truth remains that candidates need a lot of money for their political campaigns and ads. For example, in 2004, 91% of the Senate and 96 % of the House of Representatives won their seats because they spent more than their opponents. Candidates dont often have the money readily available, however, these money can come from donations from corporations and firms. These companies often regard these expenditures as investment for their political influence. The truth is, they are. Representative Michael Oxley put it as, it would be difficult to ask people to contribute, and not let us know their opinion. It is hard to conversate with politicians, but with a little bit of money, they might hear us better. It is of course illegal to directly give cash to politicians for political decision, however, contributions are elusive and indirect, thus, making them legal. The benefits of donations can include the motivation for legislator to support a bill and recommendation of amendments to a bill . Seeing how corrosive and elusive these contributions are, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) was introduced in 1974 to control contributions and spending. All receipts and disbursement are required to be made public. But on the other hand, the Political Action Committees was also formed to combat with the FECA. There are basically two kinds of contributions, soft and hard money. Hard money has to be reported, yet, soft money, which is meant for educational and building party purposes, is unregulated and unlimited. In fact, 3/4 of the soft money come from business executives. The solution from the FECA was to increase the amount of hard money contributions per person, from $1000 to $2000. Even though money does not guarantee victory, it means one has not spent enough money to achieve what they desired. Political participation in the U.S is namely open, one can know for certain that it is not free.

Was The Atomic Bomb Used To Stop Soviet Expansion? :: American America History

Was The Atomic Bomb Used To Stop Soviet Expansion? There has been a long- standing debate on why the atomic bomb was used to defeat Japan. The threat of Russian advancement in Europe and in Asia was enough to worry the top officials in the United States and British governments. Wherever Russia would go, they would conquer that area for themselves. The imminent invasion of mainland Japan and the allied casualties that came with it were also a factor in the decision to drop the bomb. If the allied forces had invaded mainland Japan, many lives on both sides would have been lost, probably more than there lost in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. The tactics that the allies had used up to this point cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. This was when the Japanese only had maybe two or three thousand men on an island; whereas on the mainland millions of people would fight until their death to protect their country. Can you imagine if the Americans invaded mainland Japan, where they had not only soldiers to fight against but also the citizens of Japan? Massive destruction, immense loss of life, and the prolonging of the war until late 1946, would result to invading on foot instead of using the bomb. Revenge also played a role in the decision to bomb Japan. The Japanese were not following the Geneva Convention in regards to treatment of prisoners of war. This document says that prisoners are not to be put through torture of physical or psychological nature. The Japanese refused to comply that and would decapitate American prisoners, or shove bamboo shoots under their fingernails. The American government also wanted revenge for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The Russia territorial expansion definitely played a factor in the dropping of the bomb. The Soviet Union had already taken Poland and many other countries during the war. The Soviets were helping the Chinese with the war against Japan and would later get the railroads in China and Manchuria when Japan completely surrendered. The Americans did not want Russia to get involved in the war against Japan.

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory Essay -- Business and

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory In this essay I will discuss the various different theories on motivation such as scientific management e.g. Taylor as well the humans relation approach such as Maslow and Herzberg and how they relate to organisations improving their overall effiencentcy. Another aspect that I will discuss in the following essay will also be how communication can affect the productivity of a company, I will also relate this to motivational theory. The final aspect of my essay that I will include is discussing how different leadership styles can affect the overall productivity of a given company. One motivation theory that some companies used to use was the scientific approach, this was put forward by Taylor. It was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Taylor developed his theory while he was working his way up from labourer to works manager in an US steel mill. His theory states that man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain. He also stated that people respond as individuals not groups and he believed people could be treated in a standardised fashion like machines. The basic principle that is underlying this approach is if you study what happens when you the change different variables in a situation, this will tell you how best to organise the work force. This theory as mentioned before relies on the fact that human beings will act rationally and respond to the available incentives. The whole of Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that he believes human are solely motivated by money. I believe that this motivational theory is flawed to a certain degree because people do not just work for money they also work to socialise and many other factors like earning respect from fellow employees. Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that your pay should be linked to your output. This prospect does not appeal to all people as we are different in many ways, it may also lead to employees cutting corners to make it appear they have done more than they have. This is counter productive to increasing productivity because then the product is just of sub standard quality and most of the time quality is more important than quantity in business. Taylors theory was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s this shows that his theory is out of date and ... ...utcome will be the positive one you want. I think that if this theory was used in conjunction with the previous two theories it could benefit some companies very well if they applied if correctly. It would lead to an increase in productivity even though this may only be in the short term, but with regular training courses and interactions with the people at the top of the company this increased level of productivity could be kept at the increased level with benefit to employer and employee. There are three main types of leadership one is an autocratic leader. This type of leader will take important decisions without consulting colleague’s who are lower down the hierarchy. This may in general decrease the productivity of employees lower than the leader and this in turn will lower the productivity on the company overall. The main reason for this is the fact that the employees lower down the hierarchy will not feel valued because there input is not required in decision making even though they will undoubtedly have valid points to put forward. This will lead to decreased productivity because they feel less valued because they are not at the level in the hierarchy.

Klipspringer

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel, The Great Gatsby, the short-lived character of Ewing Klipspringer plays a large role in representing a major theme of the novel: the hollowness of the upper class. Though Klipspringer only briefly appears during the story, his character is an important symbol for the way wealth and the upper class is perceived in the novel. While he may seem like an unimportant character due to his blunt appearance in the novel, he plays a significant part in representing the greedy nd materialistic mentality of the upper class.We are introduced to Klipspringer in chapter five of The Great Gatsby, being described as a â€Å"slightly worn young man, with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blonde hair. † Klipspringer is a frequent guest at the Gatsby mansion, playing the piano for Mr. Gatsby and staying at the mansion as he pleases. The way he is described in the novel assumes he has a somewhat innocent demeanor, where he is â€Å"decently clothed† and seems awkward and embarrassed when Gatsby asks him to lay the piano; however, he proves to have the opposite disposition.He is otherwise recognized as a freeloader, as he uses Gatsby for his enormous wealth; and he has no sympathy or gratitude for Gatsby, proven by his absence at Gatsbys funeral. In several ways, Klipspringer's greed and selfishness reflects the entire society of the upper class. They take advantage of Gatsbys prosperity and parties; yet they have no feelings towards him. Like the rest of Gatsbys hundreds of guests, Klipspringer fails to attend Gatsbys funeral at the end of the novel.Klipspringer furthermore goes to call Nick during Gatsbys funeral to retrieve a pair of his tennis shoes, rather than calling to send any condolences. Klipspringer's lack of compassion and sympathy speaks for Gatsbys relationship with all of his many guests – although he serves them generously, they lack any gratitude or empathy towards him. Though Klipspringer only appears in th e novel a short time, his brief appearance plays an important role in showcasing a vital theme in the novel: the hollowness of the upper class. At the end of chapter five, Gatsby requests Klipspringer to play him a song on the piano.Klipspringer plays the song, â€Å"Ain't We Got Fun†, singing along, â€Å"One things sure and nothings surer, the rich get richer and the poor get – children. In the meantime, in between time. † In several ways, Klipspringer's song choice suggests the shallow, unhappy lifestyle of the upper class. While they live lavish lifestyles and attend ornate parties, none of these provide any personal value. This proves especially true for Gatsby himself, as he spends large amounts of money on is extravagant parties, yet none of them bring him any true happiness.Klipspringer's freeloading at Gatsbys mansion also shows how wealthy Gatsby truly is, being able to have a personal piano player stay at his mansion. It reflects his â€Å"new money' lifestyle of carelessly spending money, and represents the ostentatious ways of the â€Å"newly rich† residents of West Egg. The upscale residents of West Egg are not brought up by wealthy families, and have not been prosperous for most of their lives; thus, the residents of West Egg are typically more humble, but lack the ophistication of those in East Egg.While Klipspringer was short-lived in the story, he serves as a symbol for the novel's greater theme: the hollowness ot the upper class. Though ne is only one man, he reflects the whole acquisitive society of the upper class; spending money carelessly, and taking advantage of Gatsbys wealth and gaudy parties. Although he only made a brief appearance, he plays a large role in characterizing the egotistic and selfish ways of the upper class in The Great Gatsby.

Definition of family Essay

The definition of a family according to the U. S. Census Bureau is that a family consists of a householder and any other person living in the same household. However, the people living in the family should be related to the householder either by birth, marriage, or by adoption. The people in a family who are related to the householder are termed as his family members. However, in some houses there might also be people living in a family who might be unrelated to the householder, therefore they are not to be included in the householder’s family while the census is being carried out and thus, the number of family households is equal to the number of families, but the family households may include more members than do families. Therefore, the crux of this would be that all the households do not contain families as they might be unrelated as well. Functions of a family Basically the two functions of a family are: †¢ Economic functions †¢ Political functions Other than these two major categories, a family has a number of functions after doing which a family can be really termed as a family in a true sense and these are mentioned below. One of the most important functions is reproduction of babies and once a child is born, it is the duty of the householder to look after the children, take care of them, monitor that day to day activities, supervise them on certain things, interact with them and provide them with all the necessities and love it would require to make them good grown ups. As it is not just necessary to give birth to the baby, however they should also be taken care of so that they survive to become adult members of the society. Two persons basically tie the knot of marriage in order to legitimize their sexual relationship and this ensures the offspring is healthy. The household head is supposed to provide economics support to the family as well as to fulfill the love, emotional, security needs of the family. In the end, I would also add that the family is looked upon in the society with respect and they have a certain position in the society than those individuals just living together without marriage. (Schwartz & Scott, 2007). As mentioned above, a family consists of the household member who is basically responsible for his family members. However, to define my family I would say that my family does not fulfill the definition of the family mentioned above. This is because the fathers are usually the ones who are said to be the household heads and they are responsible of taking care of the family members. I am only the child in my family and my parents were divorced when I was four years old. I am living with my Mom right now and the rest of my family is living in China. Most of the family functions that I mentioned above are not actually applicable to my family. This is because my parents had an unhappy marriage and this thing gave me a lot of bad experiences. The first function of the family is to ensure that the baby grows as an adult of a society. In my case, however I did become an adult but it was just my mother who took care of me and looked after all my needs. A father is always necessary to make a family more strong as the responsibilities of a father are different than ones of a mother but in my case, my mother was my mother as well as my father. She was the one who was responsible for each and every activity of mine. It is believed that a family is economically supported mostly by the fathers, however as my mother had a divorce with my father, she was the one who had to support my needs all by herself. And I think that my family did not manage things well. The divorce of my parents at the time when I was just four was a shock for me as for a family to survive well; both the mother as well as the father has to be there so that they might fulfill their own set of responsibilities and ensure that the family is living happily. However, this was not the case for my family as the divorce between my parents made things worse for me. Although my mother did all she could do for me but still the presence of the father is essential for a family to prosper well. Thus, according to me, my family did not address the functions of a family well as it was an unhappy and irresponsible family. The fundamental purpose of each family is to fulfill the requirements and the functions of a family. It is vital for each family to fulfill their responsibilities as this not just affects the family alone but the society and the environment as well and it also affects the people around you. No one likes to be friends with the families who are not well settled in a way that the parents might have conflicts amongst each other or they might not want to live with each other and this would create lots of problems for their children. Therefore, for a country to prosper well it is essential that the families living there are happy and contended. The functions of the family highlight the responsibilities the household head has with reference to their family. Therefore, its informative nature helps to think about families in terms of the functions it fulfills. Reference Schwartz, M. A. & Scott, B. M. (2007). Marriages and families: Diversity and change. 5th Edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Political Ideologies

D. Sokolova 28/09/2011 On the topic of â€Å"Political Ideology† (Heywood 2003, p. 5) states: † ‘Ideology’ is consider a particular type of political thought, distinct from, say, political science or political philosophy. † Ideology is a set of views and ideas that provides the theoretical basis to organize and rule community life, establish values, habits and perspectives. It demands the certain methods to be used for solving different social problems. As (MacKenzie, et al. 1994, p. 1) have noted, ideology † provides both an account of existing social and political relations and blueprint of how these relation ought to be organized. Beyond this general definition, however, the concept of ideology is notoriously difficult to get to grips with. It is loaded with a wide range of possible meanings, many of which are contradictory. † † The word ideology was coined during the French Revolution by Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836) , and was first used in public in 1796. For de Tracy, ideologue referred to a new ‘science of ideas', literally an idea-ology. † (Heywood 2003, p. 6) De Tracy tried to find moral, ethic and political phenomena of basic consciousness and offer a logical explanation under one concept. For Marx and Engels ‘ideology' (MacKenzie, et al. 994, p. 5) † is the role of changing historical conditions that is fundamental to the formation of ideas. † Rather, French philosopher Louis Pierre Althusser (MacKenzie, et al. 1994, p. 16) † insists upon the strict separation of ideology and science. Arguing against the traditional relationship between ideology an d truth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He affirms that † ideology is the ‘cement' that binds human societies together. † An Australian political theorist Minogue have noticed, that ideologies (MacKenzie,et al. 1994, p. 4) † create the false expectation in people's minds that a perfect world is ultimately attainable. From this point of view,† ideologies are seen as abstract system of thought, sets on ideas that are destined to simplify and distort social reality because they claim to explain what is, frankly, incomprehensible. † The foremost modern exponent of this view was the British political philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901-90)† , who has issued guideline, that † Ideology is thus equated with dogmatism : fixed on doctrinaire beliefs, that are divorced from the complexities of the real world. † (Heywood 2003, p. 10) † The birth of political ideologies can be traced back to the processes thought which the modern world came into existenc e. The process of modernization had social, political and cultural dimension. Socially, it was linked to the emergence of increasingly market-orientated and capitalist economies, dominated by new social classes, the middle class and the working class. Politically, it involved the replacement of monarchical absolutism by the advance of constitutional and, in due course, democratic government. Culturally, it took the form of spread of Enlightenment ideas and views, which challenged traditional beliefs in religion, politics and learning in general, based upon a commitment to the principles of reason and progress. The ‘core' political ideologies, the ones out of which later ideologies emerged or developed in opposition to – liberalism, conservatism and socialism – reflected contrasting responses to the process of modernization. † (Heywood 2003,p. 21- 22) Main features distinguished them from each other are the following: Liberals, particularly during the Cold War period, have viewed ideology as an officially sanctioned belief system that claims a monopoly of truth, often through a spurious claim to be scientific. Ideology is therefore inherently repressive, even totalitarian. Conservatives have traditionally regarded ideology as manifestation of the arrogance of rationalism. Ideologies are elaborate system of thought that are dangerous or unreliable because, being abstracted from reality, they establish principles and goals that lead to repression or are simply unachievable. Socialists, following Marx, have seen ideology as a body of ideas that conceal the contradictions of class society, thereby promoting false consciousness and political passivity amongst subordinate classes†¦ Later Marxist adopted neutral concept of ideology, regarding it as the distinctive ideas of any social class, including the working class. Fascist are often dismissive of ideology as an over-systematic, dry and intellectualized form of political understanding that is based on mere reason rather than passion and the will. The Nazis preferred to portray their own ideas as a Weltanschaung or ‘world view', not as systematic philosophy. Ecologists have tended to regard al conventional political doctrines as part of super-ideology of industrialism. Ideology is thus tainted by its association with arrogant humanism and growth-orientated economics-liberalism and socialism being its most obvious examples. Religious fundamentalists have treated key religious texts as ideology, on the grounds that, by expressing the revealed world of God, they provide a programme for comprehensive social reconstruction. (Heywood 2003, p. 15) It is recognizable, that the theory of ideology still has many different features. This view has been supported in the (Eccleshall 1984, p. 23) saying that â€Å"Ideology is the realm in which people clarify and justify their actions as they pursue divergent interests. † However, â€Å".. there is no settle or agreed definition of the term, only a collection of rival definitions. As David McLellan (1995) put it, ‘Ideology is the most elusive concept in the whole of social science'. † (Heywood 2003, p. 5) Bibliography 1. Heywood Andrew. Political ideologies: An introduction. 3rd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 2. Eccleshall Robert, Geoghegan Vincent, Jay Richard, Kenny Michael, MacKenzie Iain and Wilford Rick. Political Ideologies: An introduction. 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 1994. 3. Eccleshall Robert, Geoghegan Vincent, Jay Richard and Rick Wilford. Political Ideologies: An Introduction Great Britain: Essex, 1984.

Sahara Desert

General facts: Largest Desert in the world 10 percent of the African continent, 5000 years ago had a significantly larger mammal population, due to it getting dryer and over hunting in the last 100 years, the mammals are near extinction in the sahara. Intro: Definition of desert: â€Å"a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all† Deserts cover about one fifth of our planet, and are caused by extremely low rainfall over an area. Arid deserts generally occur at low latitudes, and can be found in North-America, South-America, Africa, and Southern Asia. In deserts such as the Atacama, there has never been any rainfall recorded since record keeping has come into existence. While â€Å"coastal deserts† are mildy warm and get some rainfall and â€Å"cold† deserts are cold. Climate: Temp: The average temperature for this desert is 86 degrees Fahrenheit with the hottest ever recorded being 122 degrees. With freezing temperatures in the winter the climate of the Sahara is one the of the strangest on the planet. Temperature swings of 37.5 to 99.5 have been recorded. Rainfall: the average rainfall for the Sahara is just 2.5 cm and in the eastern parts it only gets .5 cm of rain a year. Seasonal Variations: There are not much variations in seasons in this desert. It is mostly hot with very little rain. The only exception is winter. During winter the temperature can drop below freezing and it is more likely to rain during these times. Human Interaction:  The current state of the biome is as usual with one exception: the water supply. The only human presence is around areas of permanent water supplies, such as oasis’ and water that is underground but close to the surface. Humans that live in these areas use the little water that is available for them selves and take that small amount away from the creatures that live there.

Attributes of the employees

Attributes of the employees Attributes of the employees Employees are the most critical part of an organization as they provide their skills for an organization’s operations and they are the one who can drag the organizational performance because of these reasons the employers wants to hire the people having the best attributes. In the following I have selected out the attributes of the employees valued by the employer through from different websites and different books also address the same attributes. 1. Communications Skills By far, the one skill mentioned most often by employers is the ability to listen, write, and speak effectively. Successful communication is critical in business. It saves time, minimizes mistakes & reduces conflicts. 2. Analytical, Research Skills Deals with ability to assess a situation, seek multiple perspectives, gather more information if necessary, and identify key issues that need to be addressed. 3. Computer, Technical Literacy Almost all jobs now require some basic under standing of computer hardware and software, especially word processing, spreadsheets, printers, telephone and email. 4. Flexibility, Adaptability, Managing Multiple Priorities Deals with ability to manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments. 5. Interpersonal Abilities The ability to relate to co-workers, inspire others to participate, and mitigate conflict with co-workers is essential given the amount of time spent at work each day. 6. Leadership, Management Skills While there is some debate about whether leadership is something people are born with, these skills deal with ability to take charge and manage co-workers. 7. Multicultural Sensitivity, Awareness There is possibly no bigger issue in the workplace than diversity, and job-seekers must demonstrate a sensitivity and awareness to other people and cultures. 8. Planning, Organizing Deals with ability to design, plan, organize, and implement projects and tasks within an allotted timeframe. Also involves goal-setting. 9. Problem-Solving, Reasoning, Creativity Involves the ability to find solutions to problems using creativity, reasoning, and past experiences along with the available information and resources. 10. Teamwork Because so many jobs involve working in one or more work-groups, employee must have the ability to work with others in a professional manner while attempting to achieve a common goal. 11. Personal Values Employers Seek in Employees Of equal importance to skills are the values, personality traits, and personal characteristics that employers seek. 12. Honesty, Integrity, Morality Employers probably respect personal integrity more than any other value, especially in light of the many recent corporate scandals. 13. Dedication, Hard-Working, Work Ethic, Tenacity Employers seek job-seekers who love what they do and will keep at it until they solve the problem and get the job done. 14. Dependability, Reliability, Responsib ility There’s no question that all employers desire employees who will arrive to work every day – on time – and ready to work, and who will take responsibility for their actions. 15. Loyalty Employers want employees who will have a strong devotion to the company — even at times when the company is not necessarily loyal to its employees. 16. Positive Attitude, Motivation, Energy, Passion The job-seekers who get hired and the employees who get promoted are the ones with drive and passion — and who demonstrate this enthusiasm through their words and actions.

Student Debt and Its Implications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Student Debt and Its Implications - Essay Example Many students engaged in borrowing as well as in huge sums of money. During graduation, the average debt in 2008 rose by six percent in the following year heating $24,000. In the year 2008, there was the highest number of defaulters in federal loan repayment in over a decade. This was when the nation’s economy slid into recession. Partly driven by the slow economy, federal loan defaulters are increasing. If a student fails to make payments for 270 days, it becomes a matter of increasing significance to both community colleges as well as the students. Loan default brings about severe consequences to the borrowers as well as colleges. When one misses some payments he/she could be demanded to play through calls and letters. However, defaulting can destroy a student’s future. Federal agents will demand that a defaulter pays the loan in full. In addition, the case may be assigned to some collection agency. A defaulter’s wages, as well as benefits, could be garnished till the balance (that may not be easy to discharge in bankruptcy) gets resolved. This may apply even to old age social security benefits being garnished (Clark, 499). Loan defaults for borrowers could wreck their credit, create the inability to buy a home or car, finding employment or even renting a home. Colleges, where only a few students get to borrow, have special protections, however, colleges could result to being not eligible to federal loans as well as grants where most of the colleges’ former borrowers default within a given period of 3 years’ time for entering payment (Bryce, Matthew and Debbie, 1). With federal loans as well as the grand plus loans, it is at a time when this loan is twenty-one to thirty days late that the loan can go to delinquency but the national credit bureaus may be informed when a loan is 60 days late. However, the program of federal loans provides a number of plans to that held defaulters. But one has to negotiate with their lender in the case for private loans which involve agreement terms of the loan as well as options for payment.  Ã‚