Philosophy Meaning Essay

PHILOSOPHY greek meaning â€Å"love of wisdom†, encompassed the love of all wisdom, but only in recent centuries came to refer to a special branch of enquiry, separate from other sciences, such as â€Å"natural philosophy†. * is universally defined as â€Å"the study of the wisdom or knowledge about the general problems, facts, and situations connected with human existence, values, reasons, and general reality. † It seeks reasons, answers, and general explanations to life and its factors. Thus, if we talk about philosophy, we talk about a school of thoughts. â€Å"philosophers† which makes a profession of studying things in their separation from human life and practice. The main branches of Philosophy are Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics and Ethics. Western philosophy is referred to as the school of thought from Greek philosophy that influenced the greater part of Western civilization. * takes its roots from Rome and Christianity, specifically Judeo-Christianity. * Latin * Rational, Scientific, Logical schools. Western civilization is more individualistic, trying to find the meaning of life here and now with self at the center as it is already given and part of the divine. Eastern philosophy is based mainly in Asia, more specifically the Chinese philosophy. * Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Taoism. Chinese. Hinduism, Integral Yoga, Islam, Zen * Relationship with religion; Integration Search for absolute truth: * Systemic approach – all events in the universe are interconnected * Searching inside yourself – by becoming a part of the universe through meditation and right living. Eastern philosophy is drawn much more into groups or society or people’s actions and thoughts as one in order to find meaning in life as they try to get rid of the false â€Å"me† concept and find meaning in discovering the true â€Å"me† in relation to everything around them, or as part of a bigger scheme. Summary: * Western philosophy is mainly used in the Western parts of the world, such as in the European countries, while the Eastern philosophy is prevalent in Asian countries. * Both philosophies center on virtues. * West’s Individualism ( and the East’s Collectivism (A human being is an integral part of the universe and the society. People are fundamentally connected. Duty towards all others is a very important matter. Collectivism is stronger. ) * Eastern philosophy takes more of a spiritual approach while Western philosophy is more hands-on. The Ionian Philosophers * comes from Aristotle; first source to attempt systematic exposition of their doctrines. Thales * Prediction of the eclipse, and other astronomical activities. * Prediction of solstices * Mathematical discoveries (geometry ) * Cosmology * Natural phenomena – including the heavens – could be discussed as processes governed by natural laws. * Believed that the Earth was a large (? at) disk ? oating on an in? nite ocean of water, and that earthquakes resulted from disturbances in this ocean that shook and cracked the Earth. * concept of â€Å"unity underlying diversity† – some fundamental principles tying together all the multitude of things we see on Earth * water was the fundamental element from which all things were derived. Anaximander * Zoogony and anthropogony * thought the Universe formed out of an in? nite chaos he called the â€Å"boundless† due to a â€Å"separating out† of opposites (such as hot and cold, wet and dry). * ? rst recorded attempt to model the Universe. (the Earth was a cylinder and that the Sun, Moon and stars were all located on concentric cylinders, or hoops, rotating about the Earth. ) Anaximenes * one ruling material principle is air; imperceptible. * Air was the fundamental material of all things. * ? rst attempt to explain the diversity of the world with qualitative differences in terms of quantitative differences. Babylonians and Egyptians were excellent at mathematics. Greeks began to move away from their mythical view of the world and started to seek explanations of natural phenomena; later called science. * All questioned the origin of the Universe, what was here in the beginning, and what things are made from. They all believed that material substance (rather than some spiritual or supernatural substance; thus the name materialists) made up the Universe. In other words, matter is the only substance, and reality is identical with the actually occurring states of energy and matter. * ‘physicalism’. to distance oneself from what seems a historically important but no longer scientifically relevant thesis of materialism.

Biography of James Wilson

We are in this world for about 5000 years or more than it. During this period of time, the world has produced many intellectuals, philosophers, musicians, poets and many other professionals. The famous ones left this world, but they leave their accomplishments behind, through which we could produce, some more and brilliant intellectuals of the current age. Intellectualism depends on the inner talent of a person. No one in this world is absolute.Everybody has talent in it; however, some possibly find their inner talent and became famous, while some only keep finding their talent but when discouraged, they leave the struggle to be something in this world. The famous people of the past ages have many discoveries that led to their fame and popularity. This was the beginning of the discoveries of mankind. The ones who used their brain for intellectual and innovative purposes succeeded in turning their dreams into a reality, while some who did not even manage to keep constant check on the discoveries, failed to recover their talent and so their names were swollen by the pages of history.Their names have been lost in the black, white and grayish shades of history. History repeats itself in every form. The way may be different, the idea or the people may be different but history repeats itself in every kind. When a human is welcomed into this world, he has nothing in his hands except a wonderful brain. This brain leads him to victory and defeat. When he comes into the world, he is well known through his brain and talent. Man has always come empty-handed and he leaves too empty-handed. We always discover in this world, because before birth or after death there is nothing.Whatever, whenever we have to do, we do in this world and left our name behind. This is an introduction for the victories and intellectuals of our age. If these would not have used their brains, we would not be able to use or know the technologies. Without the struggle of intellectuals, we would be limi ted under restricted lines, which would always be a wall between our personality and talent. Every country or state has its own constitutional and political history every country in this world fought for independence and some are fighting still now.Every fighting country has brave people with it but it still wants someone to motivate or encourage its people so that it would be easy for them to face circumstances and to remain united. We have many examples of these motivators such as Fidel Castro, M. A Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, Hasan Nasrullah and many more freedom fighters that fought until their last breath and gave their people a free and own homeland to live on it. These freedom fighters include an old but a polished name of history, James Wilson, who fought for the independence of Pennsylvania through his talent skills and constitutional experience.The man who succeeded in making a revolution in the minds of American colonists, for Pennsylvania, was James Wilson. He was born in Sc otland on September the 14th, 1742. There is no idea of his primary education, but in Scotland he attended the Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh, but did not attain a degree. He did not complete his studies, but soon became a tutor in the College of Philadelphia, from where he received an honorary Masters degree. He was very keenly interested in Law, and in 1767 he was admitted to the bar.He started his Reading practice in 1768 and through his eagerness in this field; he soon became a successful lawyer. By that time he handled nearly half of the country court’s cases. In this period of years, one was the year when he married Rachel Bird. The professional work of James Wilson belonged to the law practices. In 1767 he was admitted to the Bar and was recognized as a member of the Pennsylvania provincial meeting. In 1774 he was appointed to the Committee of Correspondence as well as in 1775 he was elected to the Provincial Congress.In the same year (1775), he was a Commissioned Colonel of the Fourth Cumberland County Battalion, and was also elected to the Continental Congress. He remained there from 1775-77. After three years of this job he became the Director of Bank of North America in the year 1781. Again after three years he became the member of the constitutional convention in the year 1784. His last job was an Associate Justice to the US Supreme Court that lasted between 1789 and 1798. The year 1798 was the last of his life. He died in August 28, 1798 while visiting a close friend.James Wilson’s only reason behind this struggle was to see independent Pennsylvania. He wrote many article, papers and published many pamphlets. He distributed his ideas and theory through the papers in demonstrations or public meetings. He told his speeches to many people. He diverted his ideas and his vision as far as he could. He always opposed ideas or policies, which were against Pennsylvania. Once, he wanted to oppose the constituents for their votes. He was just waiting for a good opportunity, but when the opportunity came, he did not oppose them.Everybody was shocked over this attitude of him, but there was a strategy behind his this act. James Wilson was a mastermind in the constitutional history of Pennsylvania. He was a leader in his field. He fought for the independence of his state. His work was strongly committed to the causes of nationalism. He was a brave and daring leader of his time. He fought for the independence until his last breath. He is still remembered as a great political personality in the world and an independent leader of the world. Here is a speech of this famous struggler and a true freedom fighter.This speech was prepared regarding the problems faced by the people of Pennsylvania. James Wilson, when received the honor to speech in front of his people, he did not even hesitated and told them everything about the current Pennsylvania situation. In the speech he told his people â€Å"The honor which has been given to him, he is thankful to those people for this favor as through this speech he would succeed in giving his views about the new constitution that has been submitted to the kind consideration of the United States.He said that it is a pleasant chance to lay down all the information of the constitution in front of the seniorities of the government. Firstly, he pointed out that the leading discrimination between the State and the United States government should be destroyed because in this way the people choose minorities to take decisions. In this way, there is no proper way of ruling in the country or state. Everyone claims to be a ruler and in this sort of government the people are distributed among many groups, which belong to their own leaders saying that this is the leader. While in a proper governmental system there is a proper way of everything.There are high-ups who make the decisions that what should be done in the country and what should done to curb the probl ems of citizens – by removing this discrimination among the governments. He described that we could make a good government, and people would also believe the government claims if trust worthy people are made the rulers. In this way, the legislature and the judiciary will work more efficiently. It would be better and easier to make decisions. People will be given a chance to vote the one of their choice but if the system of discrimination continues in the governments then it would be impossible to make better governments.He told the people that in this system we would enjoy the privileges that we want. He told the people that there should be a proper way of everything. There should be no separate ruling governments or if it continues then the state would be ruined. He told them not to act towards individualism but to do things which should take all the classes of the country or state together so that if in the future the government is doing wrong, we would be able to fight aga inst it. But if there would be individualism then the people would be distributed in factors and t would be a confusing matter for all to solve the tangled issues.He said that the power of media should be within people. They should be given the rights to say anything they dislike about the government. People should be given rights to participate in media activities such as participating in social and political activities. He said that the freedom of expression should be allowed so that all point of views of people should be listened and lastly a wise decision should be taken. Another objection that he pointed out in the new constitution was the abolishment in civil cases by the jury. He said that the government should be honest in all cases.It should not create differences between the lower and higher economic classes. If this practice continues then the people would be rendered towards individualism and they would be more eager to take decisions by their own. According to this cons titution the courts should not follow the philosophy of equality. In this regard if the people would be moving to the courts to appeal for justice, then the government high ups would register cases upon them and they would be behind the bars just for the sake of justice and equality. He said that all the case files should be closed when the whole court case is finished.It should not be like that by taking bribes the files should be closed and the officials have no records of it. He pressurized people to move to the City courts, when their appeal of justice is not fulfilled they should move to High Courts and if their result is also unsatisfactory then they should move to the Supreme Court. He said that all files of the criminal cases should be preserved for better records. He argued on the constitution by saying that the constitution speaks that in the time of peace the army should stand peacefully and watch the situation of the state or country. He gave examples and proved his fact s.He told the people that the other countries, have their armies activated either it is wartime or in the peace as well. He said that if the army of our country or state is de activated then the other countries would know our intentions and through the slow motion of our country’s army in future we can also be governed by another country. Army of the country should be activated either it is war or peace. Their duty is to protect the borders and prevent any danger from the enemy countries. But if in the peace time they all go to their homes and take rest then who will take care of the borders?In this way the wrong intentions of the enemies will be planned strategically and we would be informed at the eleventh hour, when there would be no chances of saving the nation from the enemies. If the army would be de activated then who will take care of the borders. It should be made the prime duty of the army to report all the activities done on the borderline every hour to the Militar y Head Quarters so that any danger should be prevented before the eleventh hour. He said that the army should be made sole responsible of taking care of borders and they should be made eager to fight for the country.There should be no involvement of the army in social or political affairs of the country. Army should remain in its limits and it should not interfere in the people’s rights or in any of the governmental affairs. People should hold the grip of individualism if there would be any army interference in the public, social or political issues of the country. The next argument of Wilson was that the Senate should be made independent. This is no way that the smallest decision of the Senate should be first cleared by the President and then by the Senate body.If in case of an emergency there is no contact within the President then what will the Senate do? It will wait until there is any contact. He said that if a body has been created to take decisions then it should be ma de so independent to make decision of people within the state. He said that he would discourage the system of this new constitution. He also said that the President should be made aware of the decisions but it should not be like that every decision made by the Senate first needs an approval from the President and then it is forwarded to the people.In this way we would be making an excellent type of dependent and ill-fated government where the Senate and government high-ups are so dependent of each other that they could not even make emergency decision to solve the problems of the state. The next accuse he put on was that the State governments should be brought to a smaller extent. He said that there should be corporations to decide what should be done and what should not be. He argued that people should be made point of attraction and views.He said that the common view of people of wise should be rendered upon the state. There should be one corporation in every state, which will wor k accordingly, if there is problems in the state or if there is peace all around. He said that the corporations should tell people about their new policies so that more and more wiser decisions should be made. He said that these state corporations should take decisions common in public. However, he also argued that there should be elections for those corporations. The president should be chosen from the common people.There should be no daughter or son case of the high ups. The more wiser and honest citizen should be made the president and it depends on the public to vote for whom. Voting on terror basis should not be counted. At last, he said to his fellow citizens that may this constitution meet the needs of our public. In this speech there is no means of my own personal profit. But through this speech I would like to make you all aware of what would have been done with us if there would be no opinions on this new constitution.I think that this constitution would be hardly in favor of public because it serves all the dishonest actions of the high ups, which are not the way to our bright and glimmering future. Conclusion The conclusion of this article can only be this that James Wilson was a great constitutional and governmental fighter for his people. He supported his public until the last if his life. He always wanted a peaceful Pennsylvania. It was because of his struggle that the people of Pennsylvania were so aware of what was going on with them.It has been centuries for Wilson when he left the world but still he is recognized as one of the bravest leaders. References Alexander, Lucien Hugh. James Wilson, nation-builder (1742-1798). Boston: Boston Book Co. 1907. Carl Bridenbaugh. Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America, 1625-1742. New York. (1955) Mark David Hall, The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997. Biography of James Wilson http://www. ushistory. org/dec laration/signers/wilson. htm Accessed, 28 February 2007James Wilson http://www. ushistory. org/declaration/signers/wilson. htm Accessed, 28 February 2007 James Wilson 1742-1798 http://www. jimwilson. com/jw000USA. html Accessed, 28 February 2007 The Biography of James Wilson http://www. let. rug. nl/usa/B/jwilson/wilson. htm Accessed, 28 February 2007 The speech of James Wilson http://www. constitution. org/afp/jwilson0. htm Accessed, 28 February 2007 The Founders (signers of the DoI) – Forums http://www. pleasedrivethrough. com/forums/index. php? showtopic=1107 Accessed, 28 February 2007

How Steinbeck Presents the Character of Curley’s Wife in of Mice and Men? Essay

In the John Steinbeckà ¢s novel à ¢of Mice and Menà ¢ he introduces us to the character of Curleyà ¢s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel as no one relates to her. Steinbeck relates her to how women were powerless during 1930à ¢s and makes her seem desperately lonely and isolated from the others on the ranch. She has sexual power which she uses to get to the men on the ranch and she just needs someone to talk to. She dislikes her husband and had a desire to become a movie star. She is not seem as an individual and has no name. This shows how a woman belonged to their husband. This essay is going to examine in detail how Curleyà ¢s wife has been presented in this novel. Steinbeck presents her as a negative married woman. She has been presented first through the dialogue of ranch-hand Candy when he describes her to George. His opinion is very sexist towards Curleyà ¢s wife as he says à ¢Curley married†¦a tartà ¢. This shows Steinbeck presents her in a very crude manner. The word à ¢tartà ¢ shows the immediate impression and effect Curleyà ¢s wife has on the other men on the ranch. Steinbeck used this effect because he wants to show the reader the first impression the man have about Curleyà ¢s wife. This affects the reader to pre-judge Curleyà ¢s wife even before she entered. She has been portrayed as dangerous. When Curleyà ¢s wife first appears both George and Lennie notices à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway is cut offà ¢. This suggests that Curleyà ¢s wife is like darkness. She is also dangerous and brings only trouble to ranch hands because when she appears their à ¢sunshineà ¢ is cut off. Light represents hope in this novel. The fact that light/sunshine has been cut off links back to the idea that Curleyà ¢s wife will stand between their dream and future and may take away their happiness and dream just like darkness. Steinbeck presents her as being very flirty and in need for attention. She is described as à ¢she has full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes and heavily made up. Her hair was hung in little rolled clusters, like sausagesà ¢. This part about her hair could be taken as an insult and she has failed to make herself attractive.

Aboriginal Contributions to Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aboriginal Contributions to Canada - Essay Example rature and warfare.This paper on Aboriginal contributions to Canada discusses the various contributions made by them in the field of transportation. Some of the key contributions of the Aboriginals to Canada in the field of transportation include – birch bark canoes, the Kayak, snowshoes, toboggans, moccasins, and the muklucks. Aboriginal contribution in the field of transportation:The Canadian landscape and climate is diverse and uneven in nature. Most of the regions experienced severe snowfall thus restricting the access to food. Also the agriculturists lived along the river banks, and the only feasible mode of transportation was the river.The wheeled vehicles were largely absent due to lack of animals such as camels or horses,to draw the carriages,the waterways were the only convenient routes of travel for the aboriginals,who used canoes to transport their properties from one place to the other, as well as for trade purposesThe birch bark canoes are considered as one of the greatest contributions from the aboriginal people to Canada. Figure 1: A birch bark canoe Source: http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/builder.htm The canoes which were made from barks of the birch trees were found in abundance along the banks of the Great Lakes watershed (Johansen, Pritzker, 2007). The barks of this tree were known for being extremely lightweight and smooth and were waterproof and resilient (Sandved et al., 1993). The Algonquians tribes used different modes of transportation depending on the seasons. The birch bark canoes were mostly used during the summer (Rogers, Smith, 1994) while in winter, when the waterways freezed, majority of the travel had to be done via land. Since most of the land during winter was covered in snow, the aboriginals had to invent an alternative means of transport, which resulted in the invention of the snow shoes and toboggans (Jenness, 1932). The aboriginals used various types of snowshoes depending on the condition of snow as well as the quant ity of weight being carried while travelling from one place to another. For instance, the Mistassini tribe used beavertail snowshoes, which were primarily used by the men, while travelling through the bush and when the snow was deep. The women on the other hand used the swallowtail snowshoes, which was used during early winter. Apart from these, there were various other styles of snowshoes used by the aboriginals such as the pointed snowshoes, the bear paw and the narrow snowshoes (Sturtevant, 1981). Figure 2: Various types of snowshoes used by the aboriginals Source: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Ground/english/exhibition/mfn/snowshoes.html Moccasins are another recent contribution to mainstream culture. The Moccasin is a type of footwear native to the Aboriginals. The word derived from the Algonquian tribe, and is used to refer to a type of footwear made out of soft leather and sewn together in a 'slipper-like' form. Traditionally this type of footwear was made from deer or moose hide, and decorated with exotic beadwork or quillwork or other similar aboriginal designs. They are one of the most crucial forms of transportation, and could be used in any season. The fur used ensures enough protection to the feet, and retains warmth during winter (Beavon et al., 2005). Thus not only did the aboriginal tribes taught

LinkedIn Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

LinkedIn - Assignment Example If the business grew to appeal such technology giants, then it implies that it is performing well in its investment portfolio and the brand position. Additionally, the company trade in the New York Stock Exchange market that makes it benchmarks it performance with competitors and attracts investors for future expansion. The company stock index shows positive progress making it among the competitive companies to watch. Nevertheless, the company is networking professionals across the world, which is creating a pool of talents and promoting the exchange of information concerning all business aspects. In summary, the company is on the positive trend of improvement in both investment and membership across the globe (Normie, 2013). As LinkedIn CEO, some of the strategic decisions make to facilitate company’s future expansion include taking advantage of the social media platform to increase membership and revenue from the membership subscription. The company would also increase its market campaign and improve its brand image to ensure that its stock price index remains high, hence attracting the investors and more technology company to become part of it. Additionally, the company would increase professional connection to increase the number of people and organizations identifying with it. In addition, the company would ensure it attracts some of the best employees, especially in the marketing and investment section, to ensure that it continues expanding. For example, having very influential regional sales managers would provide the company presence felt in countries globally. If the company hires the best investment analyst team, then it would be able to make strategic investment decisions, which would increase the business earnings and competitiveness. In conclusion, the strategic plan for the enterprise would primarily focus on revenue growth, membership expansion, brand

Leadership and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Leadership and Management - Essay Example â€Å"The quality of leadership, more than any one single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization† (Arizona State University, 2009). It is important to analyze and understand the different traits of leadership and management for a firm to operate with success. The trait approach of leadership helps to analyze the qualities of the business personnel’s. It the recent era business affairs change often, so the managers must keep clear perceptions and visions for the future actions to be implemented in an organization. A good leader in a business firm must have five important traits in him; these are self confidence, intelligence, integrity, determination and sociability. The other theory for leadership is the style theory. The different leadership styles are ‘authority compliance style’, ‘country club management style’, ‘impoverished management style’, ‘team management style’ and middle-of -the-road-ma nagement’ (Bush, 2010). An organization can also be operated with variable types of management methods. These types are autocratic, democratic, participative and Laissez Fair in features. The management style of Malin Global is autocratic in nature. Hugo Freinnes the CEO of the company undertakes the primary decisions of the firm by himself. Hogo had set up the satellite operation in 2010, this operation helped to facilitate its tasks in New York. However in order to successfully run the business Hugo decided to move to New York for two years. Marina Guedeline was appointed by Hugo to head the operations in the London office. He did not take the opinion of the other employees for this task. Thus, Malin Global had an autocratic form of management style. However, Marina desired to run operations by both participative and democratic pattern. She appointed various workers in the company like Li Piung Ho, Agneta Solvig etc to accomplish the jobs in the London office of Malin Globa l. At the same time, in order to conclude on business decisions, Marina took the help of other employees. Both the leaders of Malin Global, Hugo and Marina pursued efficient leadership skills. They processed the correct intelligence to analyze the changing environmental factors that could affect the business of Malin Global. They had the self confidence and determination to make changes in the business operations of Malin Global. Both of them operated the company with integrity and had the ability to instil the same values to the others. However, the sociability trait was doubted in the organization because certain workers claimed that the company is a male dominated organization and some officials were not ready to work under female heads. The success of a business firm depends on its management skills. A business firm should follow democratic principles than autocracy in it. The employees should be allowed to innovate and participate in different projects in an organization but th e officials and seniors of the association must be respect and obey. Discrimination in terms of caste, creed, religion or sex must be strictly prohibited in an organization. Motivation in Business Motivation is a physiological characteristic feature that helps an entity to execute its tasks and achieve the desired goals. The primary driving force of an organization is motivation of the employees. If the employees of an organization are not well coordinated and motivated to work then it would be almost difficult to accomplish any

Workable methodology Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Workable methodology - Research Proposal Example After data collection, editing, coding of similar themes, classification and tabulation of the data will be essential for efficient analysis. Descriptive and inferential analysis will be employed to measure and determine the relationship that exists among the variables. The researcher will also observe on research ethics by ensuring that the anonymity of respondents will be observed (Gregory, 2003). Cross-sectional survey design is concerned with relationships that exist, options that are held, and the processes to be taken. In this regard, the current phenomena will be well articulated upon by this design. Arguably, the current situation of the trend of women offenders is alarming and needs to be looked at with caution. For example, the study will try to focus on variables that contribute to women offenders. Equally, the design will also hypothesis on the possibility of reducing recidivism for women offenders by adopting prelease and reentry programs. The cross section of respondents will be selected to represent women offenders and service providers from several correction centers under the Alabama Department of Corrections. The study will use random sampling method in a bid to select correction centers under the Alabama Department of Corrections and purposive sampling will be used to select appropriate respondents from both the current women offenders and former incarcerated women. In collecting data, the study will utilize questionnaires in obtaining information from officers in the correction centers. This is crucial in that it will help to obtain wide range of information from the correction staff, and within the shortest time (Bryman & Bell, 2003). On the side of obtaining information from current and former women offenders, the study will use interview guide to obtain information about their experiences during their time in prison. Validity and reliability of the

Gay Rights Towards Gay Marriage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Gay Rights Towards Gay Marriage - Research Paper Example However, whether same sex individuals be allowed to marry is still controversial. This paper argues that gay marriage should be legalized because same-sex parents can prove to be better parents; it reinforces their rights as humans; and, it stabilizes the society through child adoption. Gay marriages should be legalized since same sex couples can prove to be better parents than opposite sex couples. Biblarz and Stacey (3) argue that the gender of parents â€Å"has minor significance for childrens psychological adjustment and social success.† Family instability may take its toll on normal psychological development of children of both straight and same-sex couples, and so, it is not true that only gay parents prove to be bad parents by any means. They may prove to be better parents, states Kurdek (880) in his research. He argues that two men or women can raise kids better in terms of sexual growth, than a man or a woman in a traditional home setting. Kids of gay couples do not have to see one of their parents involved in extra-marital affairs. They do not have to see their moms and dads fighting with each other every day. Kids pay little attention to what the relationship between their parents is, or whether or not their relationship relates to societal norms or not. All they want is love, of parents towards them and also towards each other. So, the relationship between parents has nothing to do with children becoming homo or hetero-sexual. Thus, gay marriages should be legalized without getting concerned about the parenting capabilities of the couples involved. â€Å"Same-sex marriages will offer voluntary support to the institution by allowing freedom in selecting one’s partner†, states Bolte (1). She has focused upon the reinforcement of human rights regarding selection partner through utilitarian arguments.

Data Mining (mining for gold) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Mining (mining for gold) - Assignment Example This way, the data is understood or is used for any future marketing campaigns. This type of technique is usually used by many analysts. Issues relating to security of the information obtained by companies about individual customers. This information is prone to crimes such as hacking creating major security concern for both customers and companies. Many customer do not give out their information easily because of privacy complains. This way it is not possible to accurately draw relationship or trend in any particular data as the data may be considered incomplete. Airline companies use data mining techniques to improve their servicing towards customers. The data that is mined to find hidden patterns is about frequent fliers. The issues selected for mining in the frequent flier program are firstly to identify customer characteristics, their most frequent flying zone, class and period of the year in which they usually fly. Secondly, to discover pattern between the sectors based on the activities of the customers. The data mining technique is applied to customer data in three ways: category type, booking type and sector type. Category type revealed that discretionary and invitees were having lower than average use usage whereas members flew more. Booking type disclosed that about 88% of the customers booked their tickets via agents. Data mining can be used by many different industries. One of the types of industry is the super market industry. Data mining can help them identify customer buying patterns i.e. to place products in such a way that can lead to an increase in the buying behavior of the customer e.g. Wal-Mart’s case of nappies and beer. The other industry that can use data mining is the automobile industry. Customer preferences can be found and all future automobile can be based on aspects usually preferred by customers (e.g. low CO2 emission cars and increased promotion of hybrid cars to control

Can We Talk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Can We Talk - Research Paper Example Failure to have self disclosure, the two parties will develop some internal anger and without proper channel to vent it out, for instance proper communication skills, it may worsen the problem. I remember back in the day, I and my wife never used to open up to each other and it really cost our relationship dearly. This failure to open up in many cases is necessitated by poor communication between spouses. Self-disclosure is very important and in fact directly related to contentment and satisfaction in relationships (Can We Talk? Role Of Communication In Marriage, 2011). Gender differences have to be put in consideration despite the fact that research has actually found very big difference between genders in as afar as communication is concerned .Similarities also exist. Personally I can relate to so many similarities for instance, both men and women like being talked to nicely without being shouted at. Despite the fact that social research is normally based on generalization and some people do not fit in some of those generalizations. Personally I do not fit in most of the generalizations may be because of my split

Institutional Racism Impact on Education, Employment, and Health Essay

Institutional Racism Impact on Education, Employment, and Health - Essay Example As Ibrahim states "in spite of the attempts to equalize educational opportunity for all groups, research on immigrant children's successful intergration into the education system shows that there is a high drop-out rate among these students."(Ibrahim, insert page number here) For this reason the Second National Institute-Conference hold in Miami, Florida in 1974, took a penetrating look at Institutional Racism and the Impact on Health Care Delivery through in-depth focus on institutional racism. Some Black nurses interacted together in examining and exploring its impact on the health status of the Black consumer followed by planning and developing strategies for affirmative action approaches designed to make a meaningful impact toward change. As for in the sector of employment it has been seen time and again that there is a system working as an open secret that discriminate colored or immigrants with job opportunity and salary. This discrimination is based on not only color or political distinction but also is depended upon other factors like class, creed, cast, religion, sex and even ideology. Everything that has been stated above is a part of an ideology that the racist believe to be of ultimate truth.

Vision Quest Essay Example for Free

Vision Quest Essay SUMMARY Its my first time to walk alone, in first 30 minutes in doing my vision quest there is a little harder it my part mostly in my mind, because while I am walking my childhood experience flashback in my mind, seriously I don’t want to remind again my childhood day, because that part of my life are one of the worst part that I ever had, I cant experience the happy and complete family during that time, because of that in this part of my quest mix feeling happen to me ,boredom and a little anxious maybe because of the negative thoughts creating in my mind ,and when I stop at playground I’m just like a child want to play but I control my self, maybe because I’m to old to that in I’m only one person in that place, and I’m just thinking that if any person see me and play at the playground I’m very aware what they are feedback to me. In this quest I’m also feel the day dreaming while walking I saw a various car and I imagine that in the future I have my own car in this part my mind change into positive because car motivate me to pursue my self to finish and studying hard, but during I’m walking the fliers that two guy gave to me change my attention because that fliers are about job hiring and I’m thinking that I want to have a car I says if I apply possible this is the opportunity the me to buy a car but my favorite quotation insert into my mind its about ‘ Opportunity my knock once only, But temptation leans on the doorbell ‘ and my attention back to my study I ask to my self if I finish my study not only car but also a good job waiting to me, and I think in my quotation the opportunity is my scholarship now and the temptation during that time are the fliers that impose to me to apply a work. It also flashback into my mind the words that says my classmate about the 5 students failed in Educ. 7 subject. I feel the hopeless because I’m thinking maybe one the 5 are me, I feel nervous and a little anxious I says if that happen I don’t know what I doing to my self ,the word suicide insert to my mind but later on it change into positive I says I’m not belong to the 5 students I experience a paranoid feeling because of lot of people walk in road and I’m thinking those people look at me and there think something to me and noise of many vehicles’ distract to me to think positive because of this I stop and relaxed my mind to divert my thinking into positive and probably it very helpful to me because my thoughts slowly divert into positive, At the last of my vision quest I think this are the very learning part and it gives me a clearly meaning of my life, first before I end up at overpass at Ligaya road Marcos highway the thoughts insert in my mind the paranoid part of my experience while I’m walking, I says I don’t care other people what thoughts creating in there mind, what I doing now I’m happy and who they are in my self. And when I stop at center of overpass it about 5; 30 PM the climate are to hot because of pollution created a lot vehicle in road and I look up into the sky and I says God how long I experience a risk and difficulty in my life, and a few seconds I turn my head in the other side of the over pass and I saw the ‘pulubi’ and I feel mixed emotion anger and ‘awa’, and I realize that I’m so blessed because I’m not like a ‘pulubi’ they much ‘kawawa’ than to me and in my case I much a lot of opportunity than to her. In ag ain I say to god .thank for what I have now, I learn to this quest a acceptance and learn by the experience, other person blame experience put their into worst situation, but they not realize that experience are best to have a good foundation of our life, other person they not accept what they have now like me .in my quest it give me a clear thoughts or insight that anything happen are helpful to us, it put us in good not to worst ,learning by experience give us a positive direction it remind us that anything that we do always thing if it for better not to worst. Accept what we are now and what we have also clarify into me because sometimes I ask question into my self the word Why, What and How in my vision quest it clearly that those word are no place in my life, I realize that all things happen to me are so blessed. THE SIGN I attempt only one time to use sign in order to answer the creating question into my mind in that was the part that I feel hopeless, anxious, because of the humors ask by my classmate about the result of the grading in one of my subject ,its to very realistic things that if I’m not studying hard I failed. In that part I says if I see a checked sign it means I’m not belong to the five students, and I’m not expected I see the truck of Brand Nike and I slowly smile and creating a questioned how very significant the sign in my situation. But I realize and say I’m not included in five students because I know in my self that I pass and submit all the requirements in that subject, that’s why my negative feelings slowly calm and I continuing doing my vision. In our Biblical theology before they use sign in order to know what god want to us to people in part of Moises before they will do an act they ask a sign to god. In my experience about my quest sign are only help me to calm my negative thoughts, but the truth is all things happen are totally done sign cant change the result, I learn that always aware what is consequences’ in what we are doing in my case that if I study hard of course in return it will give me a good benefits as well. THEORITICAL EXPLANATION Individual experience create a tremendous effect of the attitude, personality and behavior of an individual it very important that in life of individual they experience a complete positively life situation. If one person experience during their childhood, incomplete attachment to their family it will result a negative thoughts and insight , if that person attain the right age what they are experience during childhood it triggers and it cause of Anxiety, hopeless in life and sometimes being paranoid. Anxiety develop during they childhood when they feel fear and no one of their family help the child to reduce fear it develop anxiety to the child. Although fear is leads to increase in affiliative behavior, anxiety is more likely to lead to a reduced need for affiliation. Feel hopeless these negative thoughts develop when individual childhood experience the discomfort of their family, it very important to the child part the comport that the child family give, once the affection of the parents cant feel the child later on it develop hopeless because the child cant complete achieve the love by their parents. Paranoid develop during childhood when their parents always the child here a folk story a horror story it develop to the mind of the child not healthy environment that may cause paranoid later on it triggers and they think a not normal to their environment. In order to be a healthy the mind of the child it very important if we are aware how the help them to have a good mind set, childhood are important for development also as individual be concern of what they adapt not only to the environment but the most important is to their own family, character and personality are mold inside the house or the family if the child leaving in not healthy the result also is the unhealthy personality or attitude and behaviors. The existential tradition seeks a balance between recognizing the limits and tragic dimensions of human existence on one hand and the possibilities and opportunities of human life on the other hand. It grew out of a desire to help people engage the dilemmas of contemporary life, such as isolation, alien-ation, and meaninglessness. The current focus of the existential approach is on the individual’s experience of being in the world alone and facing the anxiety of this isolation. The existential view of human nature is captured, in part, by the notion that the significance of our existence is never fixed once and for all; rather, we continually re-create ourselves through our projects. Humans are in a constant state of transition, emerging, evolving, and becoming. Being a person implies that we are discovering and making sense of our existence. We continually question ourselves, others, and the world. Although the specific questions we raise vary in accordance with our developmental stage in life, the fundamental themes do not vary. We pose the same questions philosophers have pondered throughout Western history: â€Å"Who am I?† â€Å"What can I know?† â€Å"What ought I to do?† â€Å"What can I hope for?† â€Å"Where am I going?† The basic dimensions of the human condition, according to the existential approach, include (1) The capacity for self-awareness; (2) Freedom and responsibility; (3) Creating one’s identity and establishing meaningful relationships with others; (4) The search for meaning, purpose, values, and goals; (5) Anxiety as a condition of living; and (6) Awareness of death and nonbeing. I develop these propositions in the following sections by summarizing themes that emerge in the writings of existential philosophers and psychotherapists, and I also discuss the implications for counseling practice of each of these propositions.

Medical Translation: Functionalist Approaches

Medical Translation: Functionalist Approaches Medical Translation: functionalist approaches Translation is used in every day life and is used in multiple fields of work. Translation is defined in the Collins Dictionary as a piece of writing or speech that has been translated into another action and as the act of translating something. The two definitions point to the two different ways translation is explained, the first as being the product produced by the translator and the second as the actual process of translation. The dictionary of Translation Studies additionally introduces sub types of translation such as literary translation, technical translation, subtitling and machine translation. . .interpreting (Hatim, Munday: 2004). The sub type I shall be discussing is medical translation. At every milestone, translation was the key to scientific progress as it unlocked for each successive inventor and discoverer the minds of predecessors who expressed their innovative thoughts in another language (Fischbach: Wright1993). Translation has been used since Hippocrates and Galen in Greek and was translated primarily into Latin and Arabic, Arabic especially in the Middle Ages. This spread knowledge to the Western world producing translations into Castilian and English. [1] Whilst medical translation shares many features with other sub types in that it involves adapting to cultural differences, using technological tools and communicating through linguistic barriers, this sub type has many specialties of its own. When translating a medical text, one must be careful to communicate the specific knowledge correctly. Factual complexity and accuracy becomes a main priority for the translator. Medical terminology, communicative situations (among specialists, in the mass media, in education, to patients, in campaigns and internationally), medical genres and medical ethics also influence the way in which translation is produced. I shall be focusing on functional approaches to translation, introducing Vermeers Skopostheorie, Reiss theory of text types and functional equivalence and lexical equivalence, applying them to the aspects of specific audiences, Latin based terms, medical English standardisations and medical texts. Functionalism is the broad term used for the many theories that approach translation using functionalist methods. It focuses on the importance of the function or functions of the target text rather than the linguistic equivalence to the source text. Texts are produced with a specific purpose or function in mind. The starting point for any translation is therefore not the linguistic surface structure of the ST, but the purpose of the TT (Nord: 1997). It also includes the notion of translation as communication. Translation is defined as a purposeful, transcultural activity whose linguistic form depends on the function or the purpose of the target text. Action, communication and cultural theories are included under the title of functionalism. Skopostheorie, translational action theory and Reiss and Vermeers general theory of translation will be discussed in further detail. The main theory within functionalist approaches is Skopostheorie, (Skopos meaning purpose in Greek) by Hans J. Vermeer. Vermeer believes that linguistics alone is not enough for translation as he believes not all problems can be solved solely through language abilities but that the prime principal determining any translation process is the purpose (Skopos) of the overall translational action (Vermeer: Nord1997). He understands translation as a human action and that all actions are intentional and purposeful behaviours. Any form of translational action, including therefore translation itself, may be conceived as an action, as the name implies. Any action has an aim, a purpose. [. . . ] The word Skopos, then, is a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation (Vermeer1989). He also adds that these behaviours take place in situations which happen in cultures which consequently leads to the Skopostheorie being culture specific as Holz-Manttari explains in further detail. From this thought, Vermeer derives a general Skopos rule, which states: translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your text/translation to function in a situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function. This rule is designed to solve dilemmas such as free vs. faithful translation or dynamic vs. formal equivalence. Another general rule mentioned which will be discussed again later is the coherence rule which concerns the target text must be coherent to allow the intended users to understand it in their situational circumstances. Another important factor of Skopostheorie is that of the addressee which is the receiver or the audience. The translation must be directed towards them, which is why purpose and the coherence rule are so important. *** Holz-Mantarris translational action theory goes further than the Vermeer in that she completely disregards the word translation, referring to it instead as message transmitters. She describes translation as a complex action designed to achieve a particular purpose. The purpose of this theory is to create the ability to send messages across culture and language barriers by experts (translators). She also highlights the actional aspects of the translation process such as the translator, initiator, message receiver and the situational conditions in which the action (of translation) takes place. She calls this intercultural cooperation. The audience, as mentioned before, is one of the most important factors in Skopostheorie. Medic al translation requires the translator to be faithful to the client as well as the source text*** In the medical field, there are two main types of audiences: the lay audience and the expert audience. Often, when translating medical technical terms, which is very common and can cause problems, terms can be changed or borrowed in order to make sense in the target culture. Because Latin was once the lingua franca of medicine and Greek was the original language of medical text, there still exists today a great amount of Latin and Greek based words and the use of Latin and Greek suffixes and prefixes. This topic has proved difficult for translators as it challenges the Skopostheorie in that linguistic equivalence is not necessary. We see here that this is not always the case. The use of Latin words is extremely common in English; words such as pneumonia and appendicitis are very common amongst both types of audiences. When translating into romance languages and even into Germanic languages, the word tends to be equivalent to that of the English with minor spelling changes: English Spanish  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   German Pneumonia Neumonia Pneumonie Appendicitis Apendicitis Appendizitis However, in some countries such as Germany and Denmark, Latin continues to act as the lingua franca in medicine and therefore is not understood by the lay audience. They are replaced by more popularized terms in order to reach out to a larger audience: German Danish Expert:   appendizitis expert: Appendicitis Non- expert: Blinddarmentzundung non-expert: blindtarmsbetoendelse Expert: Pneumonie expert: pneumoni Non- expert: Lungenentzundung non- expert: lungebetoendelse [1] Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, was known for his medical knowledge which Galen and Perganum expanded 400 years after. The numerous articles of Hippocrates and Galen gave way to the need of medical translation. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, otherwise known as Cicero, was the first to translate the Greek works and terms into Latin in the first century AD. With the rise of Islam in the seventh century, and the establishment of medical schools in the major cities such as Baghdad and Damascus created the need for translation of Greek medical works into Arabic. By the Middle Ages, translation from Arabic to Latin saw the spreading of information to the Western world and Christian Europe and with the colonisation of the New World and the discovering of new drugs, translations into Castilian and English were produced in the sixteenth century (Fischbach: Wright1993). In the Renaissance, Latin was the Lingua Franca creating translations between Latin and vernacular languages and b etween vernacular languages themselves (Montalt and Davies, 2007). Bill T Jones | Choreography Analysis Bill T Jones | Choreography Analysis Bill T. Jones is a startling choreographer with an exhilarating presence and charisma. His compilation of Solos includes Tea for Two, Ionization, and Chaconne. All different from each other are depictions of Jones emotions and body movements to their extremes. Giving a brief explanation to each, Tea for Two is a depiction of emotions like desire and love, while Ionization has an extreme involvement of strong music, movement, and expressions which depict violence, and finally, Chaconne is a flickering performance that displays the involvement of artistic techniques and music insinuating a certain story, or feeling. This paper is an outlook of Jones work, especially in these performances, and how each performance is an artistic representation of a certain theme. The classical song Tea for Two is what Bill T. Jones performance is based upon. It is a solo which he presents twice; once on the stairs, and next in a studio. On the other hand, as a spectator I have realized that differences in the setting may lead to a vast distinction between two performances. Firstly, Tea for Two: On the Stairs. The performance is a depiction of love, freewill, and desire. I have felt that Jones performs with his full fervor on the streets out to celebrate. Also, the lyrics sung by Blossom Dearie speak for themselves as the dancer is blissful and content about the house created for him and his lover away from the busy life of the city. As a spectator, I have felt that it is a romantic ballad dance where Jones is conveying to his audience that he is happy regarding being alone with his loved one with no one to bother them enabling them to have tea for two and enjoying it without any interruption. Also, I have realized that Jones free style of dancing reflects his freedom and peacefulness. The daylight tends to capture the essence of love and happiness, while his facial expressions are of a happy man content with his living and life. In this dance sequence, the space is fully utilized with no sets, or props to disturb the concept of freedom he is trying to convey to the audience. A very natural and clean performance, which shows what little happiness in life, along with a loved one, can do to a human being. Furthermore, moving on to Tea for Two: In the Studio. Although Jones had performed the piece twice on the same music, the difference in the setting gave the dance another feeling. I felt that Jones is not performing with the same essence, or power. Also, I believe that his performance in the studio constrained him; impeded him from moving freely, unlike his performance on the stairs where you could feel the positive energy shimmering from every movement and line Jones had made. Moreover, Do you think Ill make a soldier, every round goes higher and higher, do you want to have your freedom? are the words of Bill T. Jones which he added after his performance to the piece in the studio. To me, this altered the mood after watching the performance as Jones left the audience in deep thoughts; also, as a spectator, I did not fully understand the intention of such a quote; however, it could be that Jones is doubtful while referring to himself as a soldier, and questionable regarding acquiring his freedom as he pictures it with his loved one. Moving on to another spectacular piece by Bill T. Jones entitled Ionization. Ionization is a piece choreographed to a classic music composition by Edgar Varese, and this dance piece is an excellent synchronization of different instruments with the moves of the body. Also, as a spectator, the dance is an ionization of the human body to different beats in life and is also built on the premise of how a body moves to the most sensitive distinctions of various kinds of percussive sounds. Different instruments such as the bass and the drums are a pleasure to hear when synchronized to the soft and soothing sounds of the piano and the saxophone. Also, as a spectator, I was awakened with the African like beats, as well as, beats similar to the roaring of a lion and sirens allowing Jones to shift within the space using stronger movements according to the beat of the instruments. Furthermore, I consider this solo performance by Jones very much attention grabbing as the way he communicated with his audience through his facial expressions was outstanding; also, the way he switched swiftly from one expression to another, yet having full control to make such switches apparent was expertly done. Moreover, violence could be seen gradually in the performance from the beginning to the end from his sharp stomp like movements to his facial expressions with accordance to the music played. However, although Jones performance fully caught my attention, the music he chose for such a sequence was somehow dominating making me focus in certain parts with the music played rather than Jones while performing. Additionally, Chaconne is framed around spoken text and the music of Bachs D-Minor Partita for Solo Violin. This solo performance accompanied by Bachs D Minor Partita could be about Jones personal memories accompanied by the appearance of written text on screen about a close friend of him, or it could be dedicated to his mother. Moreover, I believe that the text is directly related to the sad and painful moves of Jones in the dance sequence. Also, the text helped me as a spectator understand the mood of the performer and comprehend the purpose of the dance sequence as it felt that Jones was somehow impersonating the person in agony, or remembering how she felt during her instant of pain, especially during the part while he was on the floor with his hand forming a heart like shape and the text appearing. Furthermore, the music, which is entirely a mix of violins, added to the softness of the performance. Although there is a huge difference between Jones four performances, I have liked Chaconne the most as I have felt that it reflects certain hidden emotions within him which he is able to only reflect through dance and hidden speech. Last but not least, it is difficult to compare between two profound choreographers such as Bill T. Jones and Merce Cunningham; however, I have admired Jones style most as to me he managed to portray original contemporary dancing and choreography. Although Merce Cunningham is a pioneer in contemporary dancing, and I am not a guru in such a field to fully express my opinion; however, that is what I have realized after watching several pieces by both choreographers. Bill T. Jones is an exquisite performer and choreographer who is able to grab hold of his audiences attention from the moment he starts dancing. Also, his ability to establish choreography with clear messages sent is an attribute which I find significant. Bill T. Jones is truly proficient in his field of expertise, and really has the ability to keep his audience engaged wherever and whenever he performs.

Strategies for Performance Improvement

Strategies for Performance Improvement In a simple way performance means doing something successfully mainly by using the available resources. Performance can be elusive concept. It deals with the outcomes, results, and accomplishments achieved by a person, group or Organisation. (William J. Rothwel, Carolyn K.Hohne Stephen B. King: 2007). In many cases people do define performance based on financial aspects of the business. Focusing only on financial matters does not tell us what should we do and how to do in order to be successful. Performance is the definition and progressive achievement of tangible, specific, measurable, worthwhile and personally meaningful goals. (Darryl D. Enos 2007). We get a clear point in this definition that organisation should have well defined, specific and measurable goals. This serves as the first requisite in assessing the organisations performance. Having vague and general goals without proper measurement, pose a problem in evaluating corporate performance and proposing techniques for imp roving the performance. Michael Milgate 2004 said that, by monitoring performance for each measure and taking appropriate remedial action, improve revenues, business growth, reduced expenses and compliance with sector regulations have resulted. 2.1 PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT There is a clear relationship between performance improvement and change management (discussed in Section 2.5 of this chapter). Many studies concluded that most organisations either fail or achieve very limited success in their efforts to improve performance. Success or failure in performance improvement efforts begins with the reasons why organisational decision makers decide to get involved in the first place. Darryl D.Enos 2007). Personally, I feel that there should be a motivation factor to stir up the process of improving performance. In addition to this Darryl Enos 2007 added that commitment and involvement of leadership is the most critical element for the performance efforts to be successful. Rephrasing Enos unless a leader is motivated by authentic interest and be committed in the process then efforts of performance improvement have little chance to work. Every organisation has problems. A good start is to admit the problem and find what is to be accomplished to solve the problem. Sometimes performance improvement starts with a targeted program for dealing with a problem that is limiting achievement of a worthwhile goal.'(Darryl Enos 2007). As a suggestion, before approaching any technique to boost performance or implementing the efforts, management should identify areas which need improvements. The problem of poor performance or constant/stagnant performance may be caused by the top management itself.( Refer Enrons Scandal 2001).Thus, the areas for performance improvement must be clearly identified and evaluated to avoid investing efforts in areas which are not critical to performance improvement. In trying to adopt efforts and strategies to achieve corporate performance, Organisations face challenges and end up failing. In one of their research Kaplan and Norton found that 9 out of 10 companies fail to implement their strategies. (Bob Paladino 2007). Paladino explains four barriers that contribute to Organisations failure to achieve expected results from their efforts and strategies put in process. There barriers are: Vision barrier (where research shows that only 5 % of companys employees fully understand their companys strategy); Management barrier (where 85 % of executive teams spend far less time discussing strategies and strategic issues than traditional operating results); Resource barrier (where most companies do not link their budgets to strategy): and the fourth barrier being People barrier (where research shows that only 25 % of managers have incentives linked to strategy). 2.2 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PMS1) Performance management system (PMS1) is not an end by itself, but its improvement enables an Organisation to perform better. Improving its efficiency ensures the data generated will tell where the Organisation is, how it is performing and where it is going. Effective management depends on the effective measurement of performance and results (Gobal. K. Kanji, 2002). Mohan Nair (2004) argued that Corporations sometimes measure too much of something and too little of others. Contributing to this it is even possible that Organisations unknowingly does not measure some of the business aspects. Moreover many organisations fail to link what they measure with corporate strategy. Nair added that many of these measurements are un-integrated and serve the wrong goals. Many corporations lack an overarching model for monitoring, measuring and managing the business. Balanced Scorecard offers a broad and overarching skin to the structural architecture of the business. (Nair 2004) Gobal K. Kanji (2002) explains the role of PMS1 and how an organisation may achieve business excellence by identifying areas to improve and how it can use its limited resources to reflect the improvement of the system. The design and implementation of a new PMS1 may in one way or another bring questions and tensions to employees. Kanji (2002) stated that, It is important to build a measurement system where measures are used as a management and motivational tool. I personally back this idea as will help in gaining management and employees support during designing and implementing the new system. In this regard, the PMS1 should be clear to employees explaining how each will contribute to the overall strategy. The efficient PMS1 also serves as the communication and rewarding tool. Furthermore, Kanji (2002) explains the past and present performance measurements and their implication on todays business era. Traditionally, performance measurement focuses on financial measures .. that do not match entirely with competencies skills companies require to face todays business environment. In insisting that financial measures of performance are under criticism in todays world, Paul Niven (2003) said that they lack predictive power, reinforce functional silos, may sacrifices long term thinking and are not relevant to many levels of the Organisation.. Kanji then supports the significant contribution by Kaplan Norton (1992) to overcome the shortcomings of traditional PMS1 that employs only financial measures. 2.3 THE BALANCED SCORECARD (BSC) Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (2005) invented BSC in 1992 due to the fact that traditional accounting measures like Return on Investment and Earning per Share give misleading picture while in todays business environment continuous improvement and innovation is very important. The authors realised that many managers do not depend on single set of measures in isolation of the other. This implied the need of balanced presentation of both financial and non financial measure. Kaplan Norton complemented financial measures by operational measures calling it Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Kaplan and Norton define BSC as, a set of measures that gives top management a fast but comprehensive view of the business. The BSC includes financial measures that tell the results of actions already taken. And it complements the financial measures on customer satisfaction, internal processes, and Organisation innovation and improvement. These (including financial measures) are the four perspectives of BSC as mentioned by the authors. They suggested that for each of the perspective, managers should translate their visions and missions to strategic goals and objectives and these goals should be translated into specific measures. The word Balance in the Balanced Scorecard represents the balance between financial and non financial performance indicators; internal and external elements stakeholders of the Organisation; and lag lead indicators (Paul Niven 2003). Michael Milgate (2004) defines scorecard as a balanced management system in which shared vision and strategy are reference points for the management process; achieving this balance enables synergy and a practical fit with other frameworks. BSC serves as a powerful tool as it focuses on achieving breakthrough performance considering all measures without isolating non financial performance measures (Kanji 2002).Since its creation in 1992 by Drs. Norton Kaplan of Harvard Business School the Balanced Scorecard has been implemented by different business units in the Public as well as in the Private sectors-worldwide.( Michael E. Nagel- Vice President, BSC Collaborative) Henri .JF (2006) applied the BSC framework in his survey on how top management in a manufacturing company could use PMS to improve the strategic management and Organisational performance. Given its depth as a strategic management system, the BSC principle will continue to be widely adopted and further refined in user Organisation as experiences in its implementation emerge ( Michael A.Milgate 2004). This shows how widely BSC is used to improve the PMS if the Organisation chooses to adopt and implement it. Henri .JF (2006) poses a question that top managers should ask themselves; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"How can we improve our system? .However, the author suggested that the improvement of the PMS is a continuous process that involves changing measures to reflect the new ideas and insights brought to the Organisation through creativity and other development activities. BSC can be successfully implemented in any organisation where the management is committed and devote time to formulate strategy and ready to accept changes. BSC has been implemented many organisations including services business , military units, schools, government institutions and also for profit organisations ( Wikipedia). An important point to note here is that an organisation should design its own BSC as management is knowledgeable of its responsibilities organisations operations rather than adapting another Organisations BSC. David P. Tarantino (2003) complements the work of Kaplan and Norton. He defined BSC, as a performance management tool that is used to provide an integrate perspective of an organisation.He also pointed out the four perspectives of the BSc as, external (how customers views the Organisation; Internal (Look at where the organisation must succeed and improve); Growth learning (examine how organisation grows and learns) and Financial (study financial performance of the organisation).These perspectives depend and influence one another. Tarantino (2003) said, To concentrate on only one, such as financial performance fails to recognise the contribution and balance of the other three perspectives. Of interest from the author is the explanation on how to develop the BSC. The first step he suggested is for the organisation to decide which goals are to be measured that should be included in the four perspectives. Then the organisation should figure out the measures for each of the four BSC pers pectives and determine the weight of each for ultimate evaluation of overall performance. Harvard Management-Update (2000), No need to wait for a companywide initiative-the key principles of this strategic-management system can be put to work in your unit right away.The author of the article tries to convince management to apply BSC reporting system. He is of the views that even if companies take years and spend millions to implement the scorecard across their operations the effects can be dramatic when the system takes root. He said that managers today dont have to wait for a scorecard- inspired corporate transformation before learning- and implementing some of the methods centred ideas. He explained the four lessons from BSC that can be applied right away in virtually any business unit or department. Watch a variety of metrics Connect your metrics to strategy Develop a strategic budget Get everyone involved in tracking metrics The author still insists that BSC is a method that helps managers to develop a well -rounded strategy and then get everyone in the company involved in implementing it. Mohan Nair 2004, arguing in favour of BSC, the changes in the character of business assets has exaggerated the challenges faced by business. In the past company assets would be reflected in the balance Sheet but now 85% of the assets are intangibles.Having the same arguments as previous authors about the inefficiencies of the financial measures, Nair also added that those financial measures are applied only to tangibles, when the intangibles are what fuels the future. According to an online source, www.balancescorecard.org/BSCresources the benefits of BSC are: improve organisation alignment, improve communication, more emphasis on strategy and organisational results, linked strategy and operations, and integrated strategic planning and management. 2.3.1 BSC development Kaplan and Norton explained four steps which many organisations have used to develop their balanced scorecard. The process includes: Define the measurement architecture To a beginner, it is recommended to start with a business unit applying the metrics as designed in the BSC rather than to the corporate level. Specify strategic objectives This step includes deriving strategic objectives for each of the four perspective from corporate goals. Choose strategic measures The third step is to choose related measures for the strategic goals to evaluate the performance so as to achieve the strategic objectives. Develop the implementation plan After selecting measures for each of the perspective, remains implementation process.Target values are assigned to the measures. A link is then established from various metrics from the top to bottom of the BSC. The established scorecard is then incorporated in the organisations management system.. The online source www.balancescorecard.org/BSCresources also recommended nine steps to success develop and deploy BSC framework- In a sequential order these are; Organisation assessment, strategy development, strategic objectives, strategic mapping, performance measures and targets, strategic initiatives, automation, cascading the BSC throughout the organisation and last evaluation. Overall the BSC involves the following steps: Clarify the vision Communicate to middle manager and develop business unit scorecards Eliminate Non-strategic investments and launch corporate change programs Review business unit scorecard Refine the vision Communicate the BSC to the entire company and establish individual performance objectives Update long-range plan and budget Conduct monthly and quarterly reviews Conduct annual strategy review Link everyones performance to the BSC 2.3.2 BSC criticisms The use of the balanced scorecard system may not result to what managers expect. Some professionals spoke some problems that make the BSC under criticisms. It has been noted by professionals that the BSC concept does not guide how the approach can be deployed within an organisation. It is just been viewed as an approach that attracts managers to install and implement without a real sense on how it works, and what should be expected. (Stephen Smith 2006).From his article à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"problem with a balanced scorecard, Smith pointed out some of the key issues that can cause BSC initiatives to fail. These are: Poorly defined metrics These should be relevant ,clear and easily understood Lack of efficient data collection and reporting Smith is concerned with the investments made in collecting metrics data, whether consuming too much time and energy. He then suggests the importance of prioritising key performance indicators to get most relevant information. Lack of formal review structure This is necessary to accommodate any change in metric value. Reviewing is a cross functional activity. No press improvement methodology Many organisation lack basic and standard toolkits and approaches for tracking problems. It therefore consumes a lot of time an efforts to address a problem that is caused by the performance gap. Too much internal focus Smith ranks this as one of the major criticism of BSC. He suggests that Organisation should always start with an external focus through analysing organisations markets, shareholders, competitors, employees and other stakeholders. However Smith assured that all is well with the introduction and the concept of balanced scorecard. This means that the BSC approach is a useful tool and can bring desired results if management knows how to structure it and take the above points in considerations to avoid its initiatives from failing. It has also been learnt that BSC is being criticised by academic society on its practical nature, applicability and functionality. (Wikipedia).They also noted that some of the criticisms focus on technical flaws in the method and design of the original BSC proposed by Kaplan Norton. Supporting the main problem as seen by Smith 2006 other academicians have focused on the lack of citation support. Another criticism is that the BSC does not provide a bottom line score or a unified view with clear recommendations; it is simply a list of metrics. (Wikipedia). Regardless of these criticisms the studies done so far indicated that BSC is a useful tool in strategic performance management in an Organisation. An online source www.netmba.com added to the BSC pitfalls that during implementation managers should avoid the use of generic measures, which are being adopted by successful firms. Management should not take BSC as a guarantee of success in companys operations. It should think clearly the companys strategy and implement the scorecard for improving performance in operational level that derives improved financial performance. Kaplan and Norton said, Even an excellent set of BSC measures does not guarantee a winning strategy. The BSC can only translate a company strategy into specific measurable objectives. They also advised that by combining the four perspectives, the BSC helps managers understand implicitly many interrelationships. The four perspectives relate to each other and the effect on either of the perspective will impact the other. A well designed BSC should describe your strategy through objectives and measures you have chosen. These measures should link together in a chain of cause and effect relationships (Paul Niven 2003). Thus, it is suggested that all have equal importance and neither should be taken in isolation of others. 2.4 COMPARISON BSC AND OTHER PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES When we talk of performance improvement in an organisation apart from BSC, Six sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM) come under discussion. Both tools when applied properly work to achieve what management really expects. These tools are contrasted with BSC in the subsequent sections. 2.4.1 Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Vs Six Sigma It has been learnt that BSC and Six Sigma work independently from each other. BSC translates corporate strategy into actions that help to achieve the strategy. Six Sigma aims to solve the problem of poor performance by closely looking at the root cause of performance problem. In this case Six Sigma tries to minimise the errors and reduce other causes of defects in business processes. However, these frameworks are complementary and if used together they offer huge potential value. (Michael E. Nagel). BSC and Six Sigma when used together can deliver great and unexpected business performance (Alastair Horn 2006) . Nagel justifies his idea by clarifying that BSC and Six Sigma are complementary because the former provides the strategic context for targeted improvement initiatives and the latter is a business improvement approach that solve a myriad of performance issues. To make the difference more clearly, Nagel stated that, unlike Six Sigma, BSC is not a solution for closing specific st rategic performance shortfalls. He then concluded that BSC describes the strategy for creating value and aligns resources to ensure the strategy is successfully executed. Six Sigma executes the strategy by using data and process improvement tools. It has been learnt that both BSC and Six Sigma strive for good performance through fixing up the performance gaps. In a clear manner a corporation may choose to implement any of the frameworks but the use of both the approaches would result to high performance according to the way each of them works. Rephrasing Horn, Six Sigma focuses on the best processes that organisation may adopt to improve its performance of products and processes on a continuous basis. while BSC focuses on performance management that translates strategy into executions. In explaining how both BSC and Six Sigma can work together, Henry Killackey (2008) speaks his idea that it is a very common practice to label organisation performance matrix in the BSC with red ( poor performance), yellow ( mixed results),and green ( excellent). If the organisation implements Six Sigma approach then the red ratings alert Six Sigma practitioners the areas which need immediate attention so that they can figure out ways of reversing the poor situation. In simple words, we may say that BSC serves as a communication tool for Six Sigma professionals. It has been learnt that BSC prompts weak and bad performing areas for Six Sigma professionals to act upon. As previously explained, the ultimate aim of both BSC and Six Sigma is to improve the performance of the organisation. In this regard the organisation can simultaneously implement both the approaches. They both rely on accurate data from customers and external stakeholders. Moreover the output indicators in Six Sigma may be used as measures in the BSC framework where by both the BSC and Six Sigma professionals will concentrate on the same goals. (Henry Killackey 2008) However Paul Grizzell (2004) in his article admitted that many authors see Six Sigma as the most effective performance management control system ever. But he cautioned readers that it is important to first consider the assumptions that were used to generate the opinions. Grizzell put forward his opinion that all performance management tools (in his case, Six Sigma, lean, BSC, Baldrige) when used as an integrated approach to maximise performance will lead to breakthrough and not just incremental improvement. 2.4.2 Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Vs. Total Quality Management (TQM) It is argued that the best approach for an organisation between BSC and TQM depends on the organisation itself. When developing a business strategy an organisation must consider multiple factors including leadership, customers ,business processes, financial goals and the structure, culture and the size of the corporation.( Schwartz Jay 2005). Jay continues that TQM and BSC share a common theme of improving communication in an organisation. He also added another shared goal of the BSC and TQM as the reduction of costs and improvement of services of an organisation. Moreover both TQM and BSC need management support to ensure that all employees support the new initiatives. However BSC and TQM differ in other aspects. The difference between TQM and BSC is in the number of people involved in the process; TQM requires full participation, compared with limited involvement for the BSC'(Schwartz Jay 2005).With my little knowledge on the BSC, I think it also requires full participation. This is very important to prevent any possible resistance. Another difference named it major difference by Schwartz is that BSC places more emphasis on finance i.e. using traditional financial objects; TQM while not diminishing the importance of financial solvency, it focuses more on the systems of the organisation, the concept of empowering people and employees involvement. I also raise my concern to Schwartzs views on where the focus is in BSC .i.e. finance!!.Looking at the four perspectives of the BSC ( financial, customer, internal process and learning growth) it is clear that BSC involves both financial and non financial aspects. BSC was established to compliment the fin ancial measures, so it does not put much emphasis on financial matters only but includes also non financial measures. The BNET business dictionary defines BSC as a system that measures and manages an organisations progress towards strategic objectives. Introduced by Kaplan Norton (1992) ,the BSC incorporates not only financial indicators but also other perspectives . To conclude this Schwartz (2005) suggests that before managers decide whether TQM or BSC which fits the organisation they must ask themselves the following questions: What is the organisation structure?, What is the corporate structure? What is the size of the organisation?. He then recommends that for a large and bureaucratic organisation BSC fits best and TQM fits best with small service related organisation. However Schwartz didnt make it clear how to define a large organisation either in terms of capital, employees ,etc. I would rather say that whether using BSC or TQM the most important aspect to consider is whether the organisation is real committed and has a leader to initiate the change including involving all the employees. I would personally recommends the use of BSC as its structure is clear and helps the organisation to put the strategy into measurable goals. 2.5 MANAGEMENT CHANGE Management change involves the process of reducing the chances for resistance done by top management personnel and executives. In many organisations the tendency of management to resist changes, especially in adopting a new system keeps on growing day by day. Thus for the organisation to manage the changes there should be a systematic process, planned properly and which involves the shareholders and other key stakeholders. In this respect a change may be defined as any addition to an existing or modification to an old system or any deletion of an aspect of an old system. Some of the reasons for making changes could be solving problems, growth motives/purposes, improving performance, accommodating technology change, etc. In any organisation for a change to be successful, management should commit itself to make the change operational within a reasonable time. In many organisations this has not been the case as it has been relative difficult to implement changes especially adding a new thing to an existing system. It may be said that the systematic approach to implement changes reduces the negative impact of changes and the possible failure. The researcher will evaluate the performance of the Local Authorities Pensions Fund ( LAPF) using the metrics as structured in the proposed Balances Scorecard (Table 1) which is relevant to the Funds operations. Some metrics may be in use while others may not. In this case LAPF may wish to fully adopt the performance metrics as shown in the proposed BSC. Thus all issues relating to change management should be considered before trying to implement BSC approach to measure and improve the overall performance. This is the essence of analysing how change process may be done, possible challenges and change failure together with suggesting how to maximise chances for successful change process. Improving the performance is a continuous process, that necessitates new measures and approaches to be adopted. This also justifies why changes cannot be avoided by an organisation if it wants to occupy large market share, beat competition and improve the overall performance.( Henry J.F, 2006). Change management means to plan, initiate, realise, control and finally stabilise change process on both corporate and personnel level. In some situation change brings problems for instance disturbing system , staff programs and other development programs that are in progress. ( Oliver Recklies 2001).The author shows much concerns on those management and staff who have negative thoughts and perception on what is change and why change.. Management always fears to be questionable for failure while employees have fears of losing their jobs. Majority of employees tend to put forward resistance to change without considering that change facilitates improvements (Oliver Recklies 2001). The effects of change may be unclear to employees and thus fear something bad may happen that affects their tasks, responsibilities and worse enough even their lives. Management should consider possible aspects that may have negative impact on the change initiative so as to achieve the desired results. The su ccess of change projects depends on the Organisations ability to make all their employees participate in the change process in one way or the other. ( Oliver Recklies 2001). Lawler (1986), viewed from Rob Paton James Mc Calman (2008),said that overall change is not impossible but it is often difficult. The difficult is that most organisations view the concept of change as a highly programmed process which takes as its starting point the problem that needs to be rectified, breaks it down to constituent parts, analyses possible alternatives, select the preferred solution and applies this relentlessly- problem recognition, diagnosis and resolution Recklies (2001) made a significant contribution on how to minimise the negative effects of change to arrive at successful change process. He therefore divided the change process into seven stages it is relative better for management to understand in which stage they should expect what kind of problems. The stages are : shock and surprise, denial and refusal, rational understanding, emotional acceptance, exercising and learning, realisation and last being integration.( diagrammatically presented in figure 2.1) Shock surprise- This involves confrontation with unexpected situations Denial refusal-No need for change, i.e. Change is not necessary Rational understanding- people realised the need for change but unwilling to change own pattern of behaviour Emotional acceptance This is the most important stage characterised by slow pace. Management should succeed in creating willingness for change for the organisation to exploit its real potentials that lie in different aspects. Exercising learning This is the learning stage that will be influenced by peoples willingness. It is a trial for a new system and process. The stage is characterised by failure and success. This leads to the increased perceiveness of people own competence. Realisation This stage highly depends on stage 5 above, as people get more information through learning and allows mind to receive new challenges and experiences, The stage is characterised by flexibility and thus perceived competency increased. Integration At this stage people have acquired new skills and patterns of thinking The introduced change becomes familiar and a routing process. Figure 2.1 .Change process ( adapted from Oliver Recklies 2001) The seven stages simplify the implementation of the new process or change. Those who are responsible to accommodate the changes into the business should understand these stages so as to apply them systematically. John P. Kotter (1996) in his book Leading change explained clearly the most common mistakes done by organisations when adopting change and also he came up with their solutions. As Recklies 2001 (above) Kotter 1996 also explained eight stages for change process. Lets now examine the change mistakes done by management ( by Kotter ) and later we will explain the change stages and contrast them with Recklies change stages. Allowing too much complacency This is one of the biggest mistake as ranked by Kotter. The over confidence attitude of an executive wishing to process change may cause change failure. Having been successful in the past drives the executive to proceed with change plan without establishing and understanding the urgency of

Womens Identities in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Behind a Mas

Women's Identities in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Behind a Mask by Louisa May Alcott Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple has a rich array of female characters to examine when answering the above question. I feel that Louisa May Alcott’s short story, â€Å"Behind A Mask† offers an equally rich array of female characters to consider. Through the course of this essay I will show how Walker and Alcott used different narrative techniques and made different use of language and dialogue to create their characters; and how they each respectively created very powerful pieces of work, identifying with their characters and the problems and obstacles faced by them in their everyday lives. The Color Purple is written in the epistolary style where the main character writes letters to God. These letters are like a diary where Celie tells her story. This diary technique contains Celie’s innermost thoughts and allows the reader to know the true Celie because she is able to completely open up in her writing. Walker writers the whole story thought Celie’s (female) perspective, which is particularly useful when we are given Celie’s impression main female characters in the novel, Sophia and Shug. We get a different view of Nettie because she writes her own letters to Celie. Certain key events in Celie’s life made her the character she is, for example: her continual rape by her stepfather; the subsequent pregnancies and the loss of her children; the death of her mother; and the loss of her sister, Nettie. However, through the course of the novel, Celie finds that she has managed to form close relations with the female characters of the novel, she finds love and friendship and is finally reunited with her sister and children who were taken from her. The Color Purple opens, with Celie writing to God, describing herself as â€Å"a good girl† (the fact that she addresses her letters to God emphasises this) and how her stepfather’s advances to her mother were rejected, resulting in Celie’s rape. Before chapter one even begins we here a pre-echo of Celie’s stepfather, â€Å"You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.† So Celie learns to keep quiet to survive and this is a habit that is hard for her to break. Celie is a passive character. She is hardworking and domesticated and this is what allows her to be married off so young. Celie’s father and husba... ...r true feelings but whilst Celie feels sadness and a desire for love, Jean Muir feels bitter and a need for revenge. The most marked difference between Celie and Jean Muir is how they use their sexuality (Shug is much more aware of how to use her sexuality effectively than Celie is). Jean Muir uses her sexuality to manipulate the three main male characters of the story, particularly Sir John Coventry who is totally taken in by her act. She wants a title and uses her femininity, flattering the elderly gentleman. Sir John is amazed at such a lovely young woman being interested in him, for although Jean Muir is not described as pretty, her mysterious air provokes interest. Behind a Mask is a short story compared to The Color Purple and this results in the pace being faster. The two stories have nothing in common but their main female characters do share some characteristics, particularly in the way they have learned to hide behind the faà §ade of how acceptable women in society should be. B I B L I O G R A P H Y  · Approaching Literature: Literature and Gender (1996) Goodman L (ed), The Open University  · The Color Purple B (1992) Walker Alice, The Women’s Press