Contributions Of Prominent Women s Islam - 1005 Words

Bushra Hameed 12B March 21, 2017 Contributions of Prominent Women in Islam The introduction of Islam into the early Arab culture elevated the status of women. Women became warriors, contributors to education, and political leaders. Throughout Islamic history until present day, Muslim women have proved their importance within society through varying means of bringing the community together. During the time of Muhammad (SAAWS), many women had contributed to Islam and its rapid spread. Nusaybah Bint k’ab Al Maziniyyah, also known as Umm Umarah, was a member or the Bannu Najar tribe residing in Madinah and had embraced Islam with strength. Nusaybah demonstrated her strong will as one of the two women who followed the†¦show more content†¦The masjid later â€Å"housed the university which became a major center of advanced learning in medieval times in the Mediterranean. Al-Qarawiyyin University is credited with producing many distinguished Muslim thinkers including Abdul-Abbas, the jurist Muhammad al-Fasi, and Leo Africanus, the famous author and traveler† (Saulat, 2014). Having founded the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in 859, approximately 1200 years have passed, and the university continues to provide education in various religious and physical sciences. Fatima al-Fihri left her legacy as she had â€Å"pioneered a model of higher learning† (Sa ulat, 2014). Women’s elevated status due to Islam allowed them to act as leaders when necessary, so women were allowed to lead in Yemeni monarchy. Queen Arwa was orphaned at an early age and was adopted by her aunt and uncle. Her aunt, Queen Asma, educated with the future Queen Arwa in poetry and Quran. Arwa married the crown prince whom had later passed away along with his parents causing Arwa to have to rule the people of Yemen. â€Å"Queen Arwa focused her attention on the welfare of her people, setting up several centers for education for cultural and religious studies.† (Ambreen, 2010). Queen Arwa was able to peacefully lead the Yemeni people with Islam in mind for fifty years. Her contributions enabled the people to continue to work towards their education. Continuing the ideaShow MoreRelatedContributions Of Prominent Women s Islam1326 Words   |  6 PagesContributions of Prominent Women in Islam Context The role of women in Islam has evolved over time. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as well as the era that shortly followed the Prophet’s death, women were given a great sense of power, freedom, and rights. However, because the Quran and hadith are open to many different interpretations, a male-dominated society began to slowly restrict the rights of women and slowly began to push their roles towards staying within the household andRead MoreContributions Of Prominent Women s Islam1079 Words   |  5 PagesMarch 21, 2017 Contributions of Prominent Women in Islam In today’s world, Islam is misrepresented in almost every way and aspect. A major topic which is discussed many times is the role of women and how Islam views and treats women. In Islam, women are put on pedestals and given the utmost respect they deserve and in fact are given rights women in pre-Islamic times were not granted. These rights helped form some of the greatest, most courageous prominent women of our times. Islam has some of theRead MoreContributions Of Prominent Muslim Women1049 Words   |  5 Pages 12 A 3/20/2017 Contributions of Prominent Muslim Women People when asked about Muslim women automatically picture an oppressed, mistreated, woman. One who doesn’t receive her rights and is not acknowledged in anyway. Which is all a misconception only conceived by non- muslims or people who might not have much knowledge in Islam. If they were to look deeper they would be astonished to see a womans worth in Islam and all the rights given towards women. And how women in Islamic history helpedRead MoreThe Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery And The Los Angeles National Cemetery1517 Words   |  7 PagesWest Los Angeles is home to two prominent cemeteries: the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery and the Los Angeles National Cemetery. The Westwood Cemetery was constructed in 1905, serving as the rest place for many famous individuals within the entertainment industry. Famous names such as Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, Roy Orbison, and Jack Lemmon are buried at this grave site. Nearly less than a mile away from this cemetery is the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Established in 1889Read MoreRacism In America1868 Words   |  8 Pagesspokesman for the Nation of Islam, who epitomized the â€Å"Black Power† philosophy, Malcolm had more radical views and was frustrated with the non-violent, integrated struggle that worried him that the Blacks would eventually lose. On the contrary, Angela Davis, a prolific poet, professor and activist, had an ultimate goal of having a larger consciousness in terms of women studies and creating a woman’s movement that is a strong and militant united movement for all women. During the twentieth centuryRead MoreInformation And Communications Technologies ( Icts )1508 Words   |  7 Pagesthe country for graduate women employment in terms of creating high quality jobs it can enforce the strength empowering the rural women in deed. As caregivers, communicators and providers women play a major role in the society. Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) help to co-ordinate some aspects of rural women’s life in developing states. As the women education rate job participation is growing gradually in Bangladesh, women’s participations contributions in decision-making male-dominatedRead MoreThe Role Of Women During The Middle East Essay2281 Words   |  10 PagesHave you ever wondered how people around the world live? If so, then at some point in time in your life you thought like a Cultural Anthropologist. But have you ever thought about how the way people in the Middle East live? Probably not right? 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Women of pastoral nomadic societies sill had relative good status. Further discuss the status of women at the end of the period. What else caused the status of women to decline. | * women remained subordinate * Christianity provided for a place for women to be equal | * women always remained subordinate * women of lower classes usually had more opputunities * religion did not greatly differentiate between sexes | * women deve loped more oppurtunityRead MoreNostalgia in the Poems by Kamaladas3364 Words   |  14 Pages2009 (aged  75) Pune, Maharashtra, India | Pen name | Madhavikkutty | Occupation | Poet, short story writer | Nationality | Indian | Genres | Poetry, Short story | Notable award(s) | Ezhuthachchan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan World Prize, Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award | Spouse(s) | Madhava Das | Kamala Suraiyya (b. Kamala Madhavikutty) (Malayalam à ´â€¢Ã  ´ ®Ã  ´ ²Ã  ´ ¾ à ´ ¸Ã  µ Ã  ´ °Ã  ´ ¯Ã  µ Ã  ´ ¯ / à ´ ®Ã  ´ ¾Ã  ´ §Ã  ´ µÃ  ´ ¿Ã  ´â€¢Ã  µ Ã  ´â€¢Ã  µ Ã  ´Å¸Ã  µ Ã  ´Å¸Ã  ´ ¿) (31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009) was a major Indian English poet and literateur and at the

Summary of People and Empires - 844 Words

Summary of People and Empires. This book is a Short History, of western empires which explain how European civilization and includes chronology of key events are influenced by the empires that was formed in it, like the Roman empire. It starts with Alexander and his Greek army and ends with the EU. Major events between these two events are empires like the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, the Catholic Church as an Empire, the Spanish Empire, British Empire, and the European Colonial influence into the 20th Century. The book begins with Alexander, an ancient Greece king. Alexander life became a tale of the elision of knowledge and understanding with power. In the middle ages, Alexander became a legendary figure whose desire to subjugate the entire world. He did not even came close but did manage to conquere the Persian Empire, Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactrian and Mesopotamia. However, Alexanders empire grew to fast. He could not manage both Europe and Asia. As a result, other empires took ov er, starting with the romans. By the late sixth century Rome had a republic government, but through a series of civil wars, the roman republic turned into the Roman Empire under a military control. Republics have been able to create empires, they have all, fallen prey to the ambitions of the strongest and most influencial among them. This is what became of the Greek city-states, and it is what finally became of roman when the empire had grown too big.Show MoreRelatedAnalysis of Jeffersons Theories1086 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to Thomas Jefferson, kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people. In his bold document, Summary View of the Rights of British America, Jefferson pompously but intelligently lays down his argument against British rule over the colonies. Jefferson takes it upon himself to offer advice to King George III, who he addresses personally in this treatise. The author didactically cites historical examples of the changing role of the monarchy through out British history. With regardsRead MoreBlack Stereotypes Of Modern Media1481 Words   |  6 Pagesand later, the subjugation of African American people. Stating that stereotypes are just a joke is an understatement of the consequential after – math racial images and stereotypes have on the African American population. Even stereotypes that are considered positive are often concealed with negative implications and reasons as to why they exist. Most people may think they only hold stereotypes in the back of their head, but studies show that people are more likely to fall back on them in makingRead MoreCompare And Contrast Aztec And Aztecs702 Words   |  3 PagesProfessor: Wilson Kaiser October 16, 2017 THE AZTEC AND INCA EMPIRES 1300-1550 THE AZTEC AND INCA EMPIRES 1300-1550 During that time as previous, pre-European civilizations in the Americas, the Aztec and Inca empires were separate and distinct civilizations. Both civilizations were without question very advanced and had their own complex but very well-organized society. Polytheism (who beliefs in multiple gods) dominated both empires. They worshiped idols extensively and interestingly, the SunRead MoreHow Did the Mongols Accomplish the Conquest of Such a Large Territory Within Such a Short Period of Time?899 Words   |  4 Pagesa powerful alliance that built the largest empire the world has ever seen. 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Custom and Traditions of Italy free essay sample

Custom and Tradition of Italy Greetings in Italy When we introduced to an Italian, we should say ‘good day’ (buongiorno) and shake hands (a single pump is enough). ‘Hello’ (ciao) is used among close friends and young people, but it is not considered polite when addressing strangers unless they use it first. Women may find that some men kiss their hand, although this is rare nowadays. When being introduced to someone in a formal situation, it is common to say ‘pleased to meet you’ (molto lieto). When saying goodbye, you should shake hands again. It is also customary to say ‘good day’ or ‘goodbye’ (arriverderci or, when addressing only one person, arrivederla) on leaving friends say ciao. Kissing in Italy Italian families and friends usually kiss when they meet, irrespective of their sex. If a lady expects you to kiss her, she offers her cheek and between members of the opposite sex, the kiss is deposited high up on the cheek, never on the mouth and is not usually really a kiss, more a delicate brushing of the cheeks accompanied by kiss noises. We will write a custom essay sample on Custom and Traditions of Italy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are usually 2 kisses, first on the right cheek, then on the left. It is also common in Italy for male relatives and close male friends to embrace each other. Lei and Tu When talking to a stranger, particularly older Italians, you should use the formal form of address (lei), do not use the familiar form (tu) or call someone by their Christian name until you are invited to do so. Generally the older or in a business context, senior person invites the other to use the familiar tu form of address and first names. The familiar form is used with children, animals and God, but almost never with your elders or work superiors. However, Italians are becoming less formal and younger people often use tu and first names with colleagues. It is customary to use lei in conversations with shopkeepers, servants, business associates and the local mayor. Invitations If you are invited to dinner by an Italian family, you should take along a small present of flowers, pastries or chocolates. Some people say you must never take wine, although this obviously depends on your hosts and how well you know them. If you do bring wine, it is unlikely to be served with the meal, as the wine will have already been chosen. Italians say ‘good appetite’ (buon appetito) before starting a meal. If you are offered a glass of wine, wait until your host has made a toast (salute! ) before drinking. If you drink too excess you are unlikely to be invited back. Dress code in Italy Italians dress well and seem to have an inborn sense of elegance and style. Presentation and impression are all-important to Italians and referred to as bella presenza or bella figura literally mean ‘beautiful presentation or figure’. Italians generally dress well and appropriately, tending to be more formal in their attire than most northern Europeans and North Americans. Italians consider bathing costumes, skimpy tops and flip-flops or sandals with no socks strictly for the beach or swimming pool, and not the street, restaurants or shops. They also choose the occasions when they wear jeans carefully, as these are not thought appropriate for a classy restaurant or church. Other Customs If you have a business appointment with an Italian, he will expect you to be on time, although he will invariably be 5 or 10 minutes late. If you are going to be more than 5 minutes late, it is wise to telephone and apologies. Italians usually exchange business cards (biglietti de da visita) on business and social occasions.

Technology and Innovation Committee †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Technology and Innovation Committee . Answer: Introduction Internet of things is expanding on a large scale or globally and basically a hot technology worldwide. The term IoT was first introduced by Kevin Ashton in 1999 and refers to uniquely identifying objects and their virtual representations in an internet-like structure. IoT can be defined as the wide area of network devices that are connected to the internet, include Smart Phones an, gadgets and tablets and almost in all the devices the sensors has been attached to all the useful technologies (National Informatics Center,2017). IoT are basically the machine to machine technology that is actually bringing a change to the society by bringing a new kind of super visibility without any human intervention. It usually introduce to make predictions or to prevent service outages and the real time analysis of a technology. It is the ability to transferring of a data over the network without any source of interaction between human or human to computer interaction. IoT involves three different stages: Identification and addressing the sensor device i.e., those sensors which will be going to collect the data. An application is used to collect and analyzing of data for the consolidation purpose. Transmission of data and decision making to the server. Naming of an Object- Internet identifies the specific server on which the content is stored for the work performance. Individual matter stored in the server cannot be accessed in the network because the current internet is the end points to the hosts. Privacy/Security /Authority- It is essential to keep the data stored for the privacy and security so that no harmful or malicious activities can affect to your personal data because the more loss in security or privacy, the more unwanted communication becoming rampant Presence (people, devices)- It have become a challenging issue for developing a mechanism which generally track or accepts to the request, stores the information and transfers the source of information with the interaction between people and devices. Geographical Location- For providing the services of the IoT applications, it is necessary to identify the location information for this physical location of objects must be known and awareness should be present for the location. Discovery/Research- Information should be available and stored for the discovery of objects to provide the suitable services for objects to automatically identify and characterizing of objects using the semantic ontology. Tracking Mobile services of mobile object- To support routing process and mobile protocols, the IoT networks have characterized in a proper format. Generally some objects move independently while other objects move in a group. Data Processing/ computing- In the IoT technology to support various applications information is available to move the objects, operating under the varied perceptions without any involvement of humans (Ren, 2015). Heterogeneous networking environment- In this each object has different information and processing capabilities. Every Object has conditions for the communicating of networks such as power energy usability and communication bandwidth requirement. It is heterogeneous in terms of coverage, date rate, etc. Global Connectivity- In this each object should provide the connectivity to end to end communications. It acquires a big number of IP addresses in order to have unique identification of each object. For global interoperability, IP is considered for connecting to the smart objects. Literature Review The Internet of things and its relevant technology can integrate with the various kinds of networks instruments and devices. IoT is playing an essential role when the technology entered globally from the traditional technology to the latest technology and has been gaining the attention of researches from academic, industry and government organizations in recent years. The future in IoT going to represent the real world objects into virtual objects (Lee and Lee, 2015.).It tries to uniformly perform actions in our world under a common source providing not only the controllable things but also keeping us informed the actual state of the things. Concepts of Internet of Things Data Volume Security and Reliability Networks and Communication Services and Applications Societal Impacts and Economic Values. There are various concepts or involved in IoT: The main concept of IoT is Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) - It is generally a network grouped in a large amount of sensor nodes where each and every individual node station is been implemented with a sensor involved for detection or to trace the physical phenomena such as the environmental issues. It has become the key and plays the important role in the IoT. The idea of IoT was developed in parallel to WSNs. Various types of nodes in IoT: Sensor Nodes- It can be defined as a sensor network that is capable of performing a tasks like processing of the node, collecting the important information and communication of the nodes connected to the network. Sink Nodes-In wireless sensor networks, the collection of data by the sensor nodes are moved further to a sink node. The place of a sink node is been kept on a higher priority which has a big impact on the energy consumption and lifetime. Gateway- It refers to a piece of networking hardware that has some importance in a communication networks. The main role played by it is to protect the nodes within the network. It basically serves as an entry and exit point of a network. In Communication Network the target is moving bits from one place to another for In the WSN the data moved from one location to another location is not the actual goal. Its main challenge is to provide the meaningful information or data and accessibility to the data and its actions ( Xu et al, 2014). It should have the best quality of service usually it comes from the multimedia and its applications. The nodes usually gets damaged and generally run out of the power, and generally it create kiosk when the two nodes create the kiosks or been interrupted. Generally the life of the nodes is very limited and for that the energy efficient operation can be necessity (Chen et al, 2014). The current scenario in the latest technology in IoT The OECD Ministerial conducted a meeting on the digital Economy i.e. "Tomorrow's Internet of Things". They have accepted a bigger challenge in the society that is to provide source of information and the opportunities provided and the challenges that are achieving a bigger task to the origination of latest technologies. The main concern by the ministry made on the various and the latest technologies to involve the society to interact with the latest technologies for the brighter future. The Initiatives was taken in various was: Digital Health Feedback System and Big Data Analytics Energy Plan on Smart meters and Smart Grids. Smart city projects in Denmark. Act of Processing in the IoT space by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Allocating Spectrum for V2V communication (Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation Committee on Digital Economy Policy, 2017). References Chen, S., Xu, H., Liu, D., Hu, B. and Wang, H., 2014. A vision of IoT: Applications, challenges, and opportunities with china perspective.IEEE Internet of Things journal,1(4), pp.349-359. Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation Committee on Digital Economy Policy, The Internet of Things: Seizing the Benefits and Addressing the Challenges, viewed 31 August 2017, from https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=DSTI/ICCP/CISP(2015)3/FINALdocLanguage=En Krco, S., Pokric, B. and Carrez, F., 2014, March. Designing IoT architecture (s): A European perspective. InInternet of Things (WF-IoT), 2014 IEEE World Forum on(pp. 79-84). IEEE. Lee, I. and Lee, K., 2015. The Internet of Things (IoT): Applications, investments, and challenges for enterprises.Business Horizons,58(4), pp.431-440. Madakam, S., Ramaswamy, R. and Tripathi, S., 2015. Internet of Things (IoT): A literature review.Journal of Computer and Communications,3(05), p.164. National Informatics Center, Internet of Things (IoT) Research Initiative, viewed 31 August 2017, from https://dst.gov.in/internet-things-iot-research-initiative Ren, L., 2015, Data Storage Security Summit: IoT Security: Problems, Challenges and Solutions,from:https://www.snia.org/sites/default/files/DSS-Summit-2015/presentations/Liwei-Ren_Iot_Security_Problems_Challenges_revision.pdf Xu, T., Wendt, J.B. and Potkonjak, M., 2014, November. Security of IoT systems: Design challenges and opportunities. InProceedings of the 2014 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design(pp. 417-423). IEEE Press.

Human Rights in Serial The Handmaids Tale

University of North Carolina at Greensboro Admissions

University of North Carolina at Greensboro Admissions The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) is a largely accessible public university. The school had an acceptance rate of 74  percent. Admitted students tend to have grades in the B range or better, and SAT/ACT scores that are average or higher. The application has an optional essay (an essay is required for university scholarship applicants). Note that some majors and professional schools at UNCG have additional application requirements.  Calculate your chances of getting in  with this free tool from Cappex. UNCG Description UNCGs home of Greensboro is a city of about a quarter million people that stands midway between Atlanta and Washington D.C. The 210-acre picturesque campus features a variety of architectural styles. Explore the campus with the University of North Carolina Greensboro photo tour. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has a  student/faculty ratio  of 17 to 1 and an average class size of 27. For its strengths in the liberal arts and sciences, UNCG was awarded a chapter of the prestigious  Phi Beta Kappa  honor society. On the social front, UNCG has roughly 180 student organizations. In athletics, the UNCG Spartans compete in the NCAA Division I  Southern Conference. Admissions Data (2016) Percent of Applicants Admitted: 74  percentGPA, SAT and ACT Graph for UNCG AdmissionsTest Scores 25th / 75th PercentileSAT Critical Reading: 480 / 570SAT Math: 470 / 560SAT Writing: - / -What these SAT numbers meanSouthern Conference SAT score comparisonSAT scores for NC campusesACT Composite: 21  / 25ACT English: 20  / 25ACT Math: 19 / 25ACT Writing: - / -What these ACT numbers meanSouthern Conference ACT score comparisonACT scores for NC campuses Enrollment (2016) Total Enrollment: 19,647  (16,281 undergraduates)Gender Breakdown: 34 percent male / 66 percent female87  percent full-time Costs (2016-17) Tuition and Fees: $6,971  (in-state); $21,833 (out-of-state)Books: $956 (why so much?)Room and Board: $9,934Other Expenses: $2,224Total Cost: $20,085 (in-state); $34,947 (out-of-state) UNCG Financial Aid (2015-16) Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 84  percentPercentage of New Students Receiving Types of AidGrants: 67 percentLoans: 67 percentAverage Amount of AidGrants: $8,460Loans: $5,827 Academic Programs Most Popular Majors:  Biology, Business Administration, Elementary Education, English, Exercise Science, Human Development and Family Studies, Nursing, Psychology, Social Work, Speech and Rhetorical StudiesWhat major is right for you?  Sign up to take the free My Careers and Majors Quiz at Cappex. Graduation, Retention and Transfer Rates First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 76  percentTransfer Out Rate: 22 percent4-Year Graduation Rate: 30 percent6-Year Graduation Rate: 54  percent Intercollegiate Athletic Programs Mens Sports: Tennis, Soccer, Golf, Basketball, Baseball, Track and FieldWomens Sports:  Basketball, Golf, Softball, Volleyball, Track and Field, Tennis If You Like UNCG, You May Also Like These Schools: UNC Chapel Hill:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUNC Charlotte:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUNC Wilmington:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphEast Carolina University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWestern Carolina University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphHigh Point University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphNorth Carolina State University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWake Forest University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphNorth Carolina AT:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphAppalachian State University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT Graph Data Source: National Center for Educational Statistics

MANAGING DIVERSITY( analysis of a newspaper article ) Essay

MANAGING DIVERSITY( analysis of a newspaper article ) - Essay Example re words shared by the Richard, an Establishment Services Manager at BA: â€Å"Working and traveling with BA as a disabled traveler (paraplegic in a wheelchair) I get to see at first hand the service offered to additional needs customer and staff, good and bad. In most instances the service levels are of high standard but if things have not been right on the day, feedback had been acted upon. I would urge all disabled travelers to tell us about their travel experience in order that we can offer the highest level of service† (British Airways’ diversity strategy, online). The company also espouses a strong culture of respect, for which it has deployed an employee questionnaire. Through responses to the survey, it has crafted the following objectives towards building a culture of equality: Still towards this thrust, BA has joined Stonewall champions scheme last year (2005). It is a venue that advocates diversity within work settings. The emphasis placed on the management of harassment and bullying is captured by BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington, as follows: â€Å"Dignity and respect for other people are basic values we must all adopt.   We should all be aware of the impact of our behaviour on others and be tolerant of people who have different values, religions and beliefs to our own.   This applies to our peers, colleagues and customers.†   On age, the company has already proposed flexible retirement and is watching out for the new government regulations on the matter (British Airways’ diversity strategy, online). Thus, the article on BA which presents that it discriminates against a religious practice – the wearing of a cross of a Catholic – seems contradictory to all of these publicity regarding diversity. This shall surely have an impact on their image as a fair employer and they must thoroughly ensure that they exercise fair practice and do not ostracize employees on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, or religion. At first glance, the

Investment report for Apple company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Investment report for Apple company - Case Study Example Apple Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs in 1984. The innovative new computer brand that Apple released in 1984 was the Macintouch. Today Macintouch computers are consider top quality and best performing computers in the world. â€Å"The Company designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications† (Investorapple, 2013) The CEO of the company is Timothy Cook. Apple has 80,300 employees. Its stocks are traded in the NASDAQ under the symbol AAPL and are currently priced at $531.17 (Nasdaq, 2014). The company has always pride itself in being innovative. In 2007 Apple revolutionized the cellular industry with the invention of the first smartphone in the world, the iPhone. In 2013 one billion smartphones were sold worldwide (Plunkettresearchonline, 2014). The organization supp orts the environment through the Apple recycling program. The organization also powers all its data centers using renewable energy (Apple, 2014). A horizontal analysis is an analytic tool that shows the changes in the accounts of the common size financial statements from year to year. The differences are shown in terms of dollar amounts and percentage. Apple’s horizontal analysis for fiscal years 2013 and 2012 is illustrated below. The total liabilities of Apple in 2013 increased by 44.24%, while its current liabilities rose by 13.27%. An increase in liability is an undesirable outcome. In 2013 Apple’s total revenues were $170.91 billion. The firm experienced a sales growth of 9.20%. Apple had a net income of $37.04 billion. The net income of the organization decreased by 11.25% mainly due to the fact that its cost of goods sold went up by 21.36% and its selling, general, and administrative expenses rose by 7.87%. The

Dealing with Greenwashing in Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dealing with Greenwashing in Hotels - Essay Example With the current gradual shift of the market towards eco-sustainability, companies are finding it hard to operate in the conventional way, with customers putting more pressure to such hotels to comply with environmental sustainability requirements. The eco-tourism sector has many certifications based on eco –sustainability with hotels being awarded ratings and certifications depending on the level in which they comply with environmental standards. Consequently, there are a large number of hotels, pretending to offer eco-friendly services on the surface, with no tangible or practical results in the market today, as customers portray more preference to environmental sustainable services. This is known as greenwashing. This paper discusses the use of strict control and monitoring, and tough penalties as effective ways to discourage greenwashing in hotels. Gallicano (2011) describes ‘Greenwashing’ as the act of deliberately misleading consumers on the environmental pr actices adhered to by an establishment regarding their services and products. This term evolved from the public awareness where the public discovered there were major inconsistencies between companies’ actual behavior and claims regarding eco- -friendly practices, in order to hoodwink and attract more customers using high accreditation from environmental bodies such as LEED. Many companies have used such green-labels as marketing tools with nothing tangible to show with regard to environmental sustainability. Several hotels have developed signs that explain to guests that reusing towels will make savings that would be channeled to charity or environmental organizations (Gallicano, 2011). While such a move is a worthy cause and is supported by many guests, some companies do not end up meeting their bargain as customers are not privy to the internal working policies of such a hotel. Moreover, there are currently vague standards in the hotel industry that create loopholes for gr eenwashing to take place. A research by Dara O’Rourke an environment professor at the University of California noted that 33% of all food products released to the market in 2008 claiming to be natural made false claims. These foods made their way to hotels still claiming to be natural with guests being duped on the real nature of the foods (Erica & Aaron, 2010). 98% of the above foods were found to have a false claim, while 22% of the food products had green claims that could not be established, implying such claims were made to dupe the customers who may not be aware regarding green standards, with hotels serving such food to customers with the belief they are eco-friendly. To avoid greenwashing hotels have the responsibility of making a follow up of all their suppliers to ensure they adhere to green standards. The issue of greenwashing has sensitized customers to a large scale with more and more customers being vigil to the services offered in many tourism hotels across the globe, and particularly those claiming to have attained high levels of green certification. In July 2007, one of the highly influential blogs, TripplePundit.com that has received a large number of similar claims, had elaborate discussions indicating that Going Green has become serious deception in the hotel industry (Jessica, 2008). The blog analyzed some of the leading hotels that included Marriot Hotels, Fairmont Hotels and Starwood’s, all of which claimed to have been granted a LEED certification. From this blog, customers indicated thatch the best extent in which the companies could be claimed to have gone green is through the contribution of 1% of their revenue to local environmental groups. According to customers, most of the

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

Bass Fishing 101 :: essays research papers fc

Tight Lines The fog drifts lazily above the murky swamp water as I slowly ease my boat toward an ancient, moss covered cypress tree. A bullfrog croaks its early morning greeting and somewhere off in the distance an unknown creature screeches as the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. The old tree was the site of a recent battle between a monstrous black bass and me. A battle in which the big bass taught me a valuable lesson in humility. I have a lot more respect for her and her kind. She never gave up the fight at any time during our encounter. Her fierce determination eventually paid off and she swam away in victory. So now, I visit that spot now and then, not really wanting to catch her, but perhaps just to say hello. Bass fishing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of my family and me out at a local pond. We learned about fishing, nature, and a lot about each other at that old water hole. I think fondly of my childhood and I am grateful that I was able to experience those things. With that in mind, it comes as a surprise when I’m asked for my opinion on a certain technique or even something as simple, or complex, as tying a knot. I’ve always assumed everybody knew how to fish. Dautreuil 2 Before we go out and tackle that feisty old bass that lives under the cypress tree, here are a few basics that we should keep in mind. Bass fishing can be a very relaxing sport as well as a great way to learn about our environment. What is a bass? A bass is a member of the perch family; just on the larger side. There are striped bass, sand bass, hybrids and smallmouth, but the fish we are going after is my favorite. The largemouth bass, or black bass. This is the most pursued freshwater fish in the southern United States. The black bass can be broken down into several different strains. Here in Louisiana, we are most likely to encounter the spotted bass, Florida bass and Kentucky bass. The latter two have been introduced into our waters to enhance fish population and size. The black bass has a very large mouth. A grapefruit would easily fit into the mouth of a five-pound fish.

Appraise the Pros and Cons of Cosmpolitanism

10024634 Appraise the Pros and Cons of Cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the term to illustrate a theoretical belief of how some think the world should be, where interstate boundaries are abolished and citizens become part of a global body. It is derived from the ancient Greek, kosmopolites, usually translated as ‘citizen of the world’. Cosmopolitanism takes different stand-points throughout the fields of sociology, politics and philosophy.Gerand Delanty splits the concept into four main categories: â€Å"internationalism, globalisation, transnationalism and post-nationalism†(Delanty 2000: 52) and four sub-categories â€Å"legal, political, cultural and civic† cosmopolitanism. This essay shall analyse and evaluate arguments for and against the notion of cosmopolitanism according to Immanuel Kant’s perception and Hegel’s analysis of the subject matter.Since Kant’s perception is pre-dominantly a form of internationalism and legality, and he is known as the modern forefather of the contemporary conceptualisation, I shall primarily focus on the arguments for and against legal cosmopolitanism. Immanuel Kant developed his notion of cosmopolitanism as a result to the ever increasing Hobbesian ‘state of nature’ in the international realm, between the individualistic actors, nation states and the ever growing interstate communication; especially post the peace of Westphalia where state sovereignty became formalised.Hegel believed that this individuality amongst states in their hobbesian ‘pursuit of felicity’ would only lead to war. â€Å"when the particular wills of states can come to no agreement, the controversy can be settled only by war. † (Hegel 2001: 264) This in mind, I shall reference the views and opinions of contemporary theorists on Kant’s conceptualisation of cosmopolitanism. One of the main positives of cosmopolitanism according to modern theorists is accountability, Ka nt’s predominantly Legal cosmopolitanism was the ideology where state conflict could be resolved into ‘ perpetual peace’ through international laws.Contemporary legal cosmopolitanism as an example, arguably is demonstrated in the Nuremburg trials in 1945. It was the first time that states and state leaders could be held accountable under international legislation and judicial trial. Karl Jaspers states that the trial was a â€Å" new attempt in behalf of order in the world†(Jaspers 1947: 51) and Robert Fine elaborates on Jaspers argument that â€Å"Nuremburg marked the awn of a new cosmopolitan order un which individuals, as well as states, could be held accountable to international law even when acting within the legality of their own state. † (Fine 2003:610) Kant’s philosophy towards the birth of modern cosmopolitanism was pre-dominantly legal, as he desired republican universal legality across the international realm, in order to achieve à ¢â‚¬Ëœperpetual peace’. â€Å"No Independent States, large or small shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase or donation†( Kant 1795).Thomas Pogge, a contemporary cosmopolitan theorist depicts that in cosmopolitanism’s universality â€Å" the status of the ultimate unit of concern attaches to every living human being equally- not merely to some subset, such as men, aristocrats, Aryans, Whites or Muslims† (Pogge 1992:48),according to this some may argue that one fault in Kant’s idealistic Cosmopolitanism is that there were no equal rights for women and that the law under cosmopolitanism only applied to men.This indicates that the trial with the Nazi crimes against humanity would be amicably subsumable to Kant’s theory because it is bringing the injustices of the German state during the Nazi period of power to justice. Kant wished to retain the exercise of power to law†(Delanty 200:55) Having a â €˜universality’ of international laws to present crimes or excess power conclusively is a positive aspect supporting the theory of cosmopolitanism.Some aspects of cosmopolitanism are embedded within our society today by the overrule of international law, especially since the increase of globalisation and the extensive expansion of interstate communication. However arguably some see cosmopolitanism as a means of promoting western political values over common enemies for example during the cold war with the USA’s involvement into communist Vietnam. Vietnam was seen as a case study where the US intervened in order to promote liberal democracy.This was a result of the US’s foreign policy, you could argue that there has been considerable criticism towards the USA’s foreign policy as it has created an abundant amount of unnecessary conflicts, for example the Iraq and Iran conflicts. Robert Fine states that â€Å"a destructive criticism of the idea of cosmop olitan right has been put forward by legal and political theorists who argue that cosmopolitanism is essentially a banner under which powerful nations conduct wars against their enemies and portray them as enemies of humanity itself. (Fine 2003:611) Essentially this depicts a detrimental aspect to the ideal of cosmopolitanism. â€Å"a number of states may make themselves into a family, the union, because it is an individuality, must create an opposition, and so beget an enemy. † (Hegel 2001: 259) This illustrates Hegel’s awareness of Kant’s idea, though he is illustrating here that Groups or unions will be created from states to, on a larger level create one individual to face their enemies.Though Carver and Martin illustrate that Kant was a â€Å"critique of imperialism and colonialism† which you could argue is a primitive form of spreading political values and beliefs, he was a promoter of republicanism and at the centre of his philosophy he believed th at â€Å" all political constitutions should ultimately be republican† (Carver 2006: 39-41). Delanty also contributes to this issue by stating the problem with Kant’s cosmopolitanism is in â€Å"transferring the republican constitution onto the international order†.Even Hegel thought that Kant’s theory was inaccurate to modern times. Though many thought Hegel wished to criticize and oppose Kant’s understanding of cosmopolitanism, evidence suggests that he supported it but thought that it just needed reformulation in accordance to different epoch. â€Å"It is argued that Hegel’s critique was neither regressive nor nationalistic, but rather that he advanced the theory of cosmopolitan right beyond the Kantian framework of formal natural law. (Fine 2003: 610) â€Å"Hence, Kant proposed an alliance of princes, which should settle the controversies of states, and the Holy Alliance was probably intended to be an institution of this kind. But the state is individual, and in individuality negation is essentially implied†(Hegel 2001: 259) Robert Fine refers to Karl Schmitt’s biography on the Nuremburg trials, where he states that â€Å"the only distinction between crimes against humanity and crimes for humanity is that the former were committed by Germans and the latter by Americans. (Fine 2003: 611). Fundamentally this denotes that there is a considerable amount of evidence to illustrate the faults with cosmopolitanism on a hole. On the other hand Kant had anticipated for this abuse of power within his concept and as Robert Fine states he desired to create â€Å"a federation of nations based on mutual co-operation and voluntary consent among a plurality of independent states. † This deems that the individual nation state remains with some sovereignty but the overall power lies within the federation of states.Although Kant’s republican prejudice may promote western ‘imperialism’ because by stating that all political systems should work within the ideology of republicanism, it shall overwhelmingly create conflict with other foreign systems of politics and contrasts with what Robert Fine illustrates as the basis behind cosmopolitanism. â€Å"standing armies would be abolished, no national debt would be incurred in connection with military costs, no state would forcibly interfere in the internal affairs of another, no acts of war would be allowed which would ‘make mutual con? ence impossible during a future time of peace’, foreigners would be afforded a right of ‘universal hospitality’, and the indigenous inhabitants of newly conquered colonies would no longer be ‘counted as nothing†(Fine 2003: 613) Essentially it is difficult to appraise the pros and cons of cosmopolitanism especially when referring to its earliest contemporary form. Each pro or con has its own co-relating positive and negative.However overall evidence suggests that if I were indeed to analyse the above pros and cons it would seem that there are more significant arguments in favour of cosmopolitanism as accountability is key in the modern world we live in. Therefore cosmopolitanism is a better alternative to a liberal democracy that creates conflict. Bibliography * Delanty, G (2000). Cosmopolitan citizenship : beyond the nation state. In : May, Citizenship in a global age. Philadelphia: Open University * Jaspers, K. (2001). The German Questions.In : Koterski J The Question of German Guilt. Fordham: Fordham University Press. 41-55. * Fine, R. (2003). Kant’s Theory of Cosmopolitanism and Hegel’s Critique. Philosophy & Social Criticism. 29 (6), 609-630 * Kant, I (1991). Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University * Pogge, T. (1992). Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty. Chicago Journals. * Hegel, G (2001). Philosophy of Right. Kitchener: Batoache Books Limited. * Carver et. Al. (2006). Palgrave advance in continental politic al thought. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. 32-59

How To Write For Big Sites To Build A 6-Figure Business With Aaron Orendorff

How To Write For Big Sites To Build A 6-Figure Business With Aaron Orendorff What’s the best way to market and grow a business? Do you often lock yourself in a conference room to avoid distractions and answer that question? Does one idea keep coming to mind? Guest writing for influential publications. Aaron Orendorff does it. He is the founder and CEO of iconiContent, as well as the editor-in-chief of Shopify Plus. Guest blogging was a foundational ingredient to scaling his personal brand. Aaron’s used guest writing to build clients for his own business and help land a job at Shopify. He shares the importance of writing for such publications, where to start, how to find ideas for articles to be accepted, and how to pitch articles. Aaron spent 2  ½ years guest posting, guest blogging, and writing articles for publications that he respected and wanted to be like Aaron began building relationships and cold pitching to editors anywhere and everywhere to get ahold of email addresses He understands that social proof is one of the most powerful levers to convince somebody to enter your funnel or start talking to you online Cold Pitching Process: Reverse engineering of popular topics; speaking language/terminology of audience; using Buzzsumo to find popular social media What are the headline formulas? What’s the word count? How did they use images? How are they interlinking? Did they like a lot of data? Aaron sent publishers a complete article tailored to their publication; he identified topics related to popular posts on their site and discovered competitive holes What gets responses from editors? Behind-the-scenes work, show instead of tell, and sending publishers a brief email with the attached article as a Word doc Go to About or Contact Website pages for the publications or use tools to find email addresses of the editors Rejections: Write an entire article for a specific publication, send it to the editors; wait to get rejected Risk-to-Reward Ratio: Once rejected, tweak it and send to a different publication; work your way down a publication list; risk goes way down After first â€Å"yes,† doors open and it’s far easier to write for publications a second, a third, a fourth time; promote articles after published to maximize opportunities Guest writing has helped by getting attention from editors/other writers and building relationships with them through customized, valuable articles To start guest writing: 1) Write complete articles tailored for specific publications; don’t send pitches; 2) Find what’s popular at their and competitors’ sites Links: iconiContent Shopify Plus Buzzsumo Google Trends Email Permutator ContactOut Write and send a review to receive a care package For a recent sampling of Aaron’s work at Shopify Plus, take a look at his  Multi-Channel Marketing: Definition,  Data, and a Strategy to Sell  Anywhere  or what he calls â€Å"the crowning achievement of my editorial life so far.† If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Aaron Orendorff: â€Å"I’m a content dude. I really enjoy writing and telling stories, and I can see product into that sort of content marketing approach.† â€Å"It was the foundational ingredient to scaling my personal brand. Getting people to give me money to do the thing that I wanted to do anyway, which is write online.† â€Å"I simply began building relationships, but honestly, cold pitching a crack ton of editors anywhere and everywhere I could get ahold of email addresses.† â€Å"(I) understand social proof is one of the most powerful levers to convince somebody to enter your funnel or to start talking to you online.†

The Collector essays

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Mystery story - Assignment Example They were fat and lazy and were always given waste fish by the fisherman when they came through. There were always at least five of the birds hanging around, usually more like 20 or 30. After telling his mom about the missing pole, she immediately went to work. From her perspective, it was property stolen from the store and something that would cost her an extra $150 to replace. After making sure of the last time Brian had seen his pole, as he helped Thomas unload Wide Load of his early morning catch of bait shrimp, she began listing off who might be the possible suspects. Thomas obviously wouldn’t have taken it as he was already down for his morning nap in the hammock underneath the shop. â€Å"Let’s see, the shop hasn’t been that busy today,† she said. â€Å"Old Peterson came in with a group who needed some bait. We had those teenagers from up north come in a while ago wanting to fish from the dock, but they were mad about the dock fee, so they left. Oh, yeah, and crazy Joe was here when I got here, I had to run him off again. I wish someone would take him in. One of them must have taken your pole.† At that point, Brian felt it was hopeless. How were they ever going to find a group of rowdy northern teenagers, a homeless man and a boat full of tourists floating somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico? But his mom was never one to give up. Old Eddy’s was a bait shop when it’s owner had been alive, but he’d died more than 10 years ago and no one had bothered opening up again. The pilings for the old docks were still there, and some of the docks were even still in place, but the building had blown down during the last hurricane season and all the locals knew the spot was dangerously unstable. Tourists, though, usually thought they’d found a way of outsmarting the paid docks around town. Even before they’d stopped the truck, Brian and his mom

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Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah Terrorist Organizations - Research Paper Example The consequences of terror campaigns are about all the time catastrophic. Individuals or groups, which commend these crimes, are known as terrorists. Terrorists are present all over the globe. There are a small number of terrorists who operate unaccompanied, but generally they are fraction of one or many global terrorist organizations. Terrorism has been approximately since the commencement of time. It has caused realms to go up and to fall, and allowed certain people to obtain immensely destructive power. Terrorism by nature is difficult to define, roughly it could be said that â€Å"Terrorism as a word in its usual usage has a connotation of evil, indiscriminate violence or brutality.† (Lutz, 2008, p.7). Some groups those are not in any ways committing brutal acts but voicing out randomly for the commoners or for freedom of nation are also labeled as terrorist groups. This is really condemnable, because â€Å"People and organizations are degraded when labeled as terrorists, and political or religious movements can lose followers and funding as a result of the label† (Griset & Mahan, 2003, p. xiii). Terrorism involves ferocious and gruesome actions such as bombing, assassination of important people, mass killing or massacres, taking hostages by hijacking etc. Terrorism is directed towards the military sections, rather for religious or political entities. Several terrorist groups have shaken the world with their violent and horrible attacks and threatened the entire mankind repeatedly in all the parts of the world. Some infamous terrorist groups are working by encompassing global networking system, like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Chechens, Hizbool Mujahideen, Taliban etc. They have succeeded to terrorize the entire world. Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are extremely active terrorist groups that have created their unique history of terror throughout the globe. Al Qaeda is the most prominent and matured global terrorist organization in the global history of

Philosophy of Truth Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Truth Essay There are many theories on the meaning of truth, and with those theories come beliefs and questions as to why one is more adequate than the others. The theory that I will discuss as the most adequate is the correspondence theory. Honestly, I dont possess the capabilities to fully determine the most sufficient theory of truth. I do, however, have empirical evidence and solid reasoning to support the correspondence theory. There are many valid arguments and questions of this theory that I am not qualified to completely refute. For the sake of this essay I am only able to continue this age old discussion, not to conclude with an exact theory of truth to follow. First I will introduce the basic ideas of the correspondence theory and then I will show why I support these ideas. Then I will present what some other philosophers have said in regards to the correspondence theory and how I interpret these statements. To end, I will discuss the basic arguments against the correspondence theory, and show reasons as to why these arguments are applicable to any theory. The concept of the correspondence theory says that a statement is true only if the facts given match up with reality. (Solomon p. 268) This can be a very simple approach to determining the truth. The basic idea is that if, based on my understanding of reality, the statement given matches that reality then the statement is true. If the statement does not correspond to reality then it is false. A statement is a sentence that can be determined to be true or false but not both at the same time. So ultimately I use past experiences and beliefs to determine my concept of reality. Then, based on my idea of reality, I determine if a statement is either true or false. To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, or of what is not that it is not, is true (Solomon p 268) This was Aristotles belief in Metaphysics and seems to be a very clear-cut statement on how to determine truth. Either a statement is true or false. The law of contradiction says that a statement and its denial cannot both be true. (Solomon p. 266) This reinforces the belief that a statement cannot be true and false at the same time. As Aristotle also said in Metaphysics It is impossible for the same man to suppose at the same time that the same thing is and is not. (Solomon p 266) This however, as some still argue, does not solve the problem that what may true to one, may be false to another. If reality is based on my experiences, then having different experiences can cause different perceptions of reality. The argument of whom or what would determine the final truth is well beyond my qualifications. This can cause a contradiction of truth. This contradiction, based on an individuals idea of reality, is another concept that I am able to only understand and take a position. I do not have the final answers to these arguments but I do have a perspective. An individuals concept of reality is unique to that individual. Based on ones experiences comes that persons concept of reality. Just because someones experiences cause them to believe one truth, doesnt mean they are wrong if I believe another truth. This idea of reality is what causes philosophers to discuss different theories of truth and their credibilitys on many different levels. These extreme cases and abstract ideas is where the correspondence theory draws in the critics. I feel that some of these arguments, though valid, are applicable to any theory. The first argument of this theory roots from the name itself. This argument of the correspondence theory states that there is no such thing as a statement or belief that by itself is capable of corresponding to anything. (Solomon p268) This means that mainly because our words have different meanings in different languages there is not one single statement that can correspond to anything. I feel that this is a weak argument in that it would mean that nothing can be true. There are many different languages and there is no single word I know of that is universal. This argument could be applied to any theory of truth. If what I say is not true to everyone, then it is false. That seems to be the basis of this argument and because of this belief nothing could be true. To me that is an outrageous and un-realistic argument. The next point critics of the correspondence theory make is that there in some cases may be physical implications with verifying correspondence. One example of this for me may be my diabetes. If I say my blood sugar is low the only way to verify if that is true is through the use of my glucose meter. Without the correct equipment there is no way to tell if that statement is true. (At least until Im in a coma! ). To me this still seems to have a simple solution; the truth isnt known until it can be verified. I truly do not know if my blood sugar is low until I have tested it. This may cause me to have to rely on another persons statement but then I can only form an opinion. If I cannot verify the truth physically then I do not know if it is true. This brings up the next argument. The final point I will talk about is that of abstract ideas. Some people will argue that the correspondence theory does not work for abstract ideas, such as love and feelings. These are difficult to verify since they are mostly feelings. There is no concrete source to match them up with. To find the truth in these areas is very difficult with any theory of truth. The best answer I have to counter this objection is that the truth to these abstract ideas is unique to every individual and is really more of an opinion. If someone says I am hungry that is really more of an opinion than a statement. Therefore these claims cannot be either true or false, they are a feeling and that is not for me to judge as truth or not. This leads me to conclude that the correspondence theory is the most adequate theory for determining truth. As long as a belief or statement corresponds with my perception of reality then it is the truth. Though there are valid arguments against this theory I feel that they are a stretch and can be argued against any theory of truth. Bibliography Solomon, Robert, Introducing Philosophy, 8th edition, (Oxford University Press, NY 2005) pp266-279.