Perceptions, participation, and change

The Importance of Political Participation It is widely claimed that the United States of America presents itself as a supporter of the democratic principles on the world arena. Although the USA has a long history of the development of the institutions of democracy, the maintenance of their effectiveness requires careful attention to the social and demographic issues. The United States is often called as the ‘country of immigrants’.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Perceptions, Participation, and Change specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is not surprising as the US population is represented by numerous diasporas of different countries. The scholars argue that the active citizenry is one of the most important features of democracy (Dalton, 2000). The active citizenry supports functioning of democracy because it assumes popular interest, involvement in politics, and discussions, which contribute to the realization of the social goals. It is claimed that the legitimacy and the functioning of democracy are achieved only through public involvement in the process (Dalton, 2000). Rosenstone and Hansen (1993) indicate the direct relationship between the turnout decline and the changes in the elite behavior. The authors stress that the mobilization becomes a way of active participation in the American politics. They emphasize the role of choice in the expansion of the pool of political participants (Rosenstone Hansen, 1993). The politicians, parties, and interest groups play a crucial role in this process. A number of studies focus on the participation of the representatives of the foreign diasporas in the American politics. The attitude of the Muslim Americans to democracy and political process in the United States is touched upon in the works of Leonard, Choi, Gasim, Patterson, Aydin, Hammer, and other scholars. The urgency of the problem is obvious due to the cautious and twofold att itude of the Americans to the immigrants from the Islam countries. Such attitude complicates their integration into the American society: â€Å"The April 18, 2008 Chronicle Review †¦ featured on its front page a picture of a young Palestinian man wearing a black headband and holding up a Qur’an and a rifle. The picture was intended to attract attention to an article contained in the issue titled â€Å"How Just is Islam’s Just-War Tradition?† by Evan R. Goldstein† (Aydin Hammer, 2010, p. 1-2).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The article mentioned above is not unique as the problem is widely discussed in the media. The situation is sharpened by the last military conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and other Muslim countries: â€Å"Not all Muslim-Americans have diasporic ties to these countries, but each instance serves as an example of why some Mu slim-Americans experience frustration or apathy† (Fatima, 2013, p. 346). The rise in the anti-Muslim crimes makes the American Muslims become more assertive of their American identities (Leonard, 2003). They become more mobilized in order to fight for the preservation of their civil rights and liberties. The social connections play an important role in this context. It is argued that the networks should be viewed not only as the set of contacts among people but rather as the mutual obligations among them (Putnam, 2000). The scholars argued that the 2004 presidential campaign showed that the members of the Muslim communities took an active participation in the political process, especially, when they had to express their attitude to the salient issues and when they had the strong opinions on them (Choi et al., 2011). In this regard, â€Å"Muslim American political claims that are not aligned with existing foreign policy and that may speak the language of affective response are often disregarded as epistematically untrustworthy (that is, disloyal and suspect)† (Fatima, 2013, p. 346). Fatima (2013) claims that the Muslim Americans should actively participate in the development of the American foreign policy as well as inform the public about their participation with the purpose of striving for their loyalties and values. The majority of the studies have been focused on the explanation of cross-national differences in the political engagement with a particular emphasis on voting. It is not surprising that the voting takes an important place as it represents not only the vital element of the democratic political process but also the vast range of the turnout data (Dalton, 2000).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Perceptions, Participation, and Change specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It has been found that the complex set of institutional factors determines the national turnout rates. In particular, such factors as â€Å"voter registration systems, electoral procedures, and the degree of political competition in the society and the party system† play a crucial role in the voting process (Dalton 2000, p. 928). Dalton (2000) claims that the patterns in the participation in the political process change. He also stresses that the participation ratio in the political campaigns and voting decreases in many of the industrialized countries with the developed democracies. However, the frequency of engagement in other activities rises (Dalton, 2000). In addition, the political institutions respond to the changes and new tendencies in accordance with the political moods in the society. The scholars outline the individualization of the modern political process. This tendency reflects the fact that although the citizens become more interested in the political and social activities, they try to engage in these activities in order to obtain some personal gains. Moreover , the citizens tend to make their own political decision regardless of the views of the political and social organizations. In this respect, they try to avoid the structured and institutionalized methods of political participation and to use the methods of direct democracy including the membership in the community groups and social movements. The citizen action becomes a crucial factor in the American politics. Such kind of individualization of the political process leads to the heterogeneity of the public interests (Dalton, 2000). Religion Institutions and political mobilization Some scholars focus their attention on the role of religious institutions in the political mobilization. It has been found that the church embodying the religious tradition takes an important place in the political mobilization (Smidt, 1999). In addition, the attendance of the church may influence people’s attitude to the political process and make its visitors the active participants of the civic so ciety.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The findings of Jones-Correa and Leal (2001) confirm recent studies. In particular, they prove the important role of the associational membership for civic behavior. The authors claim that the associational membership and the political engagement are two closely connected concepts. In this respect, the membership in churches represents an important civic association engaging its members into the political and social processes (Jones-Correa Leal, 2001). The number of mosques and their participants are experiencing significant increase. Statistics shows that, on average, each mosque involves over 1,625 Muslims actively participating in the religious life (Bagby et al., 2001). Dodds (2002) claims that the mosque itself is more than an architectural construction because it represents an Islamic community with its functions and specific nature supporting the religious life. The majority of mosques are involved in the activities other than the religious support of the prayers. In particu lar, they visit a school or church to present Islam, work with the media, contact a political leader, and participate in an interfaith dialogue (Bagby et al., 2001). The mosques often provide the cash assistance. Interestingly, many of them participate in the counseling and help the imprisoned. They also assist the poor by providing the food and clothing. The statistics shows that more than half of the American mosques are affiliated with other Muslim organizations (Bagby et al., 2001). It should be stated that â€Å"Mosque participants are therefore situated in a unique and multifunctional locale that serves their inspirational, communal, and social needs† (Jamal, 2005, p. 537). The author distinguishes between peculiarities of different Muslim diasporas. For example, the mosques of the Arab Muslims are actively involved into the political activity. They use the opportunities, which the membership in the civic society provides to them. Furthermore, their activity is characte rized by the strong group consciousness: â€Å"For African and Arab Americans, the mosque serves as a collectivizing forum that highlights Muslim common struggles in mainstream American society† (Jamal, 2005, p. 537). In contrast, â€Å"though the mosques of the South Asian nations contribute to the participation of their members in the political process, they do not strive to increase the levels of political engagement as well as the levels of group consciousness† (Jamal, 2005, p. 537). Additional information needed In order to prove the first hypothesis stating that the majority of the American Muslims participate in the affairs of political parties and special interest groups because they believe in democracy and its values, additional information is needed. In particular, the materials reviewed do not provide a clear insight into the political views of the majority of the American Muslims. Besides, it is important to find out to which political parties the most of them adhere or to determine whether a clear stratification of the American Muslim community on the principle of the political preferences exists. It should be determined to which political ideology the most of the American Muslims adhere. Although it is stated that the American Muslims become more active participants of the political process in the United States, their attitude to the democracy is not clear. In this respect, it is vital to understand their interpretation of the term of the democratic society. Furthermore, it is interesting to compare the political views of the American Muslims from the different states. The information presented in the reviewed materials does not address the question of the gender discrimination in the Muslim communities. It is crucial to know whether it exists among the American Muslims. Besides, it will be logical to analyze the differences in the views of the American Muslims on democracy depending on their social and economic status, and educati on. The information presented in the reviewed materials also does not touch upon the opinions of the American Muslims on the most urgent problems of the American politics. It should be stated that the literature reviewed is relevant for the purpose of the research but additional information is necessary to test the stated hypothesis. References Aydin, C. , Hammer, J. (2010). Muslims and media: Perceptions, participation, and change. Contemporary Islam, 4(1), 1-9. Bagby, I., Perl, P., Froehle, B. (2001). The mosque in America a national portrait: A report from the mosque study project. Washington, DC: Council of American Islamic Relations Choi, J. ,Gasim, G. , Patterson, D. (2011). Identity, issues, and religious commitment and participation: Explaining turnout among mosque†attending muslim americans. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 11(3), 343-364. Dalton, R. (2000). Citizen attitudes and political behavior.Comparative Political Studies, 33(6/7), 912-940. Dodds, J. (200 2). The mosques of New York City. New York, NY: Power House Books. Fatima, S. (2013). Muslim†american scripts. Hypatia, 28(2), 341-359. Jamal, A. (2005). The political participation and engagement of muslim americans: Mosque involvement and group consciousness. American Politics Research, 33(4), 521-544. Jones-Correa, M., Leal, D. (2001). Political participation: Does religion matter? Political Research Quarterly, 4, 751-770. Leonard, K. (2003). Muslims in the United States: The state of research. New York, NY: Russell Sage. Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Touchstone. Rosenstone, S., Hansen, J. M. (1993). Mobilization, participation and democracy in America. New York, NY: Macmillan. Smidt, C. (1999). Religion and civic engagement: A comparative analysis. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 565, 176-192. This essay on Perceptions, Participation, and Change was written and submitted by user Ayla Brown to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Definition and Examples of Sentence Negation in English

Definition and Examples of Sentence Negation in English    In  English Grammar,  sentence negation  is a type of  negation  that affects the meaning of an entire  clause.  Also known as  sentential negation, clausal negation,  and  nexal negation. (In contrast, a negation that affects the meaning of just a single word or phrase is called  constituent negation- also known as  special negation  and  subclausal negation.) Sentence negation is commonly indicated in English by the  negative particle  not  (or its reduced form,  -nt). In  colloquial English, sentence negation may be indicated by phrases such as  like hell  and  no way. Examples and Observations Two Types of Sentence NegationIt is usual to distinguish between two types of non-affixal  sentence negation  in English: firstly, negation with  not  or  -nt; and secondly, negation with the negative words  never, neither, nobody, no, none, nor, nothing  and  nowhere. Tottie (1991), for example, terms the first type Not-negation and the second type No-negation. Quirk et al. (1985: 782) give a list of the negative words together with their corresponding non-assertive forms, pointing out that there are two negative equivalents for a positive sentence containing an assertive form: thus  Weve had some lunch   has the two negative forms  We havent had any lunch  and  Weve had no lunch  (Quirk et al. 1985: 782). In the same way, these authors tell us,  He sometimes visits us  has the two negative forms  He doesnt ever visit us  and  He never visits us.(Jenny Cheshire, English Negation From an Interactional Perspective.  Negation in the History of En glish, ed. by Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Gunnel Tottie, and Wim van der Wurff. Walter de Gruyter, 1998) I did  not  cry or yell or  lie down on the pine floorboards and kick my feet.(Sarah Tomlinson,  Good Girl: A Memoir. Gallery Books, 2015)Its  not  the case that  I cant hold my own; I can.(Morris Philipson,  Secret Understandings.  Simon Schuster, 1983)I dont  think anybody is  in a position to give answers to social problems, definite, final answers.(Satyajit Ray in  Satyajit Ray: Interviews, ed. by  Bert Cardullo. University Press of Mississippi, 2007) Arson  isnt  difficult  to prove, but it can be very difficult to prove who committed it.I see whats going to happen. You only want to go to her. You want to get your share, after all. Youll leave me without a pang.Mrs Magaw stared. But wont  you be going too? When Mrs Taker sends for you?(Henry James,  Ã¢â‚¬ Fordham Castle, 1909)  My parents didnt  want to move to Florida,  but they turned sixty and thats the law.(Jerry Seinfeld)Never in my life  did I  remember Mama staying in bed past sunrise.(Jennifer Niven,  Velva Jean Learns to Drive. Plume, 2009)At no time  did I  feel threatened or in danger of violence.  At no time  did I  feel inclined to regard any of my colleagues as lazy or inept- or feel they were insinuating similar judgments about me.(Garret Keizer, Getting Schooled.  Harpers Magazine, 2012)  Exclamative Sentence Negation- In adult  colloquial  English,  exclamative  sentence negation  can be defined as the combination of an  idiomatic  word or phrase, e.g.,  No way, like hell, the hell, yeah right, my eye, bullcookies, nonsense,  with a sentence..., e.g.,  Like hell Al and Hilary are married, Al and Hilary are married, my eye.(Kenneth F. Drozd, Metalinguistic Sentence Negation in Child English.  Perspectives on Negation and Polarity Items, ed. by Jack Hoeksema et al. John Benjamins, 2001)- Shelby Boyd sidled up to Al Heakland and said under his breath, Its time to pay up, Al.Like hell, I will,  Heakland whispered in a stern tone.Like hell, you wont, said Boyd in the same tone of voice.(Ralph Cotton,  Showdown at Hole-In-the -Wall. Penguin, 2009)- My throats all tight, and  theres  no way  Im going to  cry in front of Ellery and Peyton.(Gail Nall,  Breaking the Ice.  Simon and Schuster,  2015)

Abstracts 4 Articles Decision Making

which in tern routinizes administration. These tools cannot be used appropriately to manage of incalculable entities. The functional rationality approach is when activities precisely planned and estimated to reach some goal. This method is unlikely to be used by top managers because another important factors are involved such as ego or personal altitude. If there is no special procedure for a particular problem, manager should focus on how to turn a situation into the right way in accordance with expectations from their boss. Some managerial people cannot make their own judgments. Instead, they are looking up and looking around for someone else’s opinion and finally they rely on it because of personal fears or inexperience. Another example of it is the mid-level decision-making paralysis in many American companies when a manager is trying to avoid of making a decision. In the case of inevitable decision, he or she would engage as many colleagues as possible for self-protection. Many examples of recent administrative and economic problems within American companies have showed the tendency that managers are oriented to the short-term period when making decisions. This is due to the fact that MBA programs provide tools which are focuses mostly on a short-term attitude. The second reason would be that managers are under pressure for annual, quarterly, monthly and daily results and these factors push they out of thinking about the future, even though they realise that today’s minor difficulties could be tomorrow’s big crises. Managers are also aware of blame time and when things go wrong it is necessary to be protected from consequences. This is the reason why they gravitate towards this fear being punished rather than reflecting critically. Bureaucracy disrupts working processes into parts and the results of the work therefore disconnected with the decisions, which had been made. Manager’s productivity depends on the position within management circle or their supervisors. There is no codes or systems for tracking personal responsibilities to be established. To be successful manager means to move quickly within the levels of managerial hierarchy. It protects from going into problems too deeply at every level. Example I worked for four years as an instrument engineer in the Natural gas industry in Russia. I was involved into the decision making process associated with planning resources and finances for further projects and discussions about engineering-related difficulties. Firstly, when the question was complicated and involves financial resources, I checked the parameters of equipment many times and sent the results to my boss. When I received the confirmation from him, I printed it out and managed the necessary signatures on it. I did not want to be responsible for any inconvenience because my boss has to carry out this kind of responsibility. It was extremely important for me as a lower-level manager to have the document that proves that all things are done in time and approved by middle-level manager. In case of inconveniences such as the late commissioning phase of facilities I showed the documents that all the steps were completed by me on time. Reading 4. 2 Â  Reason, J. (1990) The general view on accident’s causes within complex technological systems includes theoretical framework which is not only provides the data on how dangerous factors could be combined themselves, but also where and how to predict these tendencies and take necessary measures beforehand. There are many elements of production, which are also involved into accident causation. Fallible high-level manager’s decisions are a major contributing factor to an increase in risk, followed by the lack of line management, which in turn causes dangerous preconditions and unsafe acts (intended and unintended). The latter are based on human’s psychological characteristics and conditions and are described as a combination of both potential hazards and errors, which could cause injury or damage. Likewise, a trajectory of an opportunity includes all these factors plus safeguards and productive events. Each of these has a window of opportunity in terms of an accident incidence. Therefore damage is highly possible when this trajectory is crossing all the windows at all the stages of production. The safe operation control consists of two features – feedback and response. The theory points out that the most successful approach to manage the safety is by taken into consideration the failure types rather than the failure tokens. According to Westrum (1988) there are three groups of auctions – denial, repair and reform. The successful organization is taken actions in responding to safely data from the reform (bottom level). The fundamental distribution error relates to a personal incompetence of employee while on the other hand the fundamental surprise error is the situation when personal observation differs to a reality. Thus, taken into consideration these terms and experience from the past major accidents such as Chernobyl, the nature of a malfunction has to be considered not only as pure technical but also as socio-technical. The people’s contribution to accidents is dominating the machine failure risk. Example I investigated many serious accidents related to the natural gas transportation process. For instance, one emergency stop of the 3. 2-megawatt gas turbine was caused by the malfunction of a frequency meter. After an analysis of reports I concluded that technical maintenance of this device was conducted improperly. A responsible worker forgot to finish one procedure related to the metrology accuracy of this piece of equipment. Another example is when other gas turbine was stopped by alarm during normal working cycle. The reason for that was unplanned and uncoordinated upgrade of its automatic control system (ACS). From my point of view, the modern technology is very reliable and ACS is highly faultness but social factors as well as poor decision making are of the major reasons for emergency situations. For instance, social factors in Russia are included a low salary and the lack of a proper education. Reading 6. Beach (1993) A descriptive Image theory focuses on people’s individual decisions rather than group ones, and it is directly opposite to prescriptive classical theory of making decisions. There are also three decision-related images (structures), which have to be possessed by a decision maker. The value image is based on personal principles, behavior and beliefs. These are the sou rce for generating goals. Thus, the ultimate criteria for this is when the decision maker consider the values to be relevant. Therefore potential goals and actions, if they are inconsistent with the relevant principles, will be refused. The second image, which is called the trajectory image, includes potential goals, which have to be set and the third one, the strategic image, focuses on actions and plans that have to be performed for achieving targets. The important parts of the third image are tactic and forecast, which would be a crucial factors for monitoring a realisation progress of a particular goal. Decision-making process consists of two types of decisions such as adoption and progress which include the implementation of the compatibility and profitability tests. The compatibility test is based on both types of decisions and compares candidates to three images, whereas in contrast the profitability test relates to the adoption decision only and uses the outcome after performing the compatibility test. For instance, the compatibility test selects few candidates, who successfully crossed through a selection criteria and the profitability test therefore chooses the best candidate from the previous sorting. Another important part of the Image theory is the process of framing decisions which is the action when the goal is identified and the plan is alled back if one exists. The data from the practical research suggests that it is unlikely that the decision maker tend to change the selection criteria without changes in principles, goals and plans. Example I was involved into the process of interviewing new workers within the Natural gas industry. I had to employ personnel with sufficient technical knowledge and skills because they have to work with in hazardous areas and on potentially dangerous equipment. As a team leader I was hoping to find highly qualified workers with extensive experience for an average amount of salary. After performing several meetings and consultations with potential staff within this salary category I concluded that no one was able to pass the criteria and possess theoretical knowledge and practical achievements from previous work experience. Because of that I decided to change the working images by changing the criteria. Therefore, I focused on workers who possess theoretical knowledge with engineering ideas in complex. Although they did not have extensive experience, they satisfied basic criteria and were able to perform tasks within their role (maintenance and repair). And after this correction of principles I recruited staff for my team successfully. Reading 7. 3Â  Janis (1971) Groupthink is a way of thinking when members behave with a high level of concurrence and tend to adopt a soft line of criticism on colleague’s ideas or even on every critical issue. This is why they make inhumane decisions easily with serious consequences such as the huge number of people’s deaths. The more cohesive the group, the more the risk that the decision will be proposed without the deep analysis of other choices. There are eight major symptoms of groupthink such as invulnerability, irrationality, ignorance of moral principles, stereotyped and unrealistic positions, group pressure against any critical views, member’s self-censorship, unanimity tendency within a group and the mind guard which is to protect the decision from any kind of the feedback. These indicators are typical for a bad decision making process which in tern may results the inhumane decision with serious consequences. Several steps could be adopted to prevent any group from group thinking. In this case criticism should be accepted not only by members but also by a leader. Wide range of alternatives should also be taken into account as possible options. In a case of vital decisions several groups with different leaders should be established to work on the same problem. Before the final decision is made each member should discuss considerations in its unit of organisation and then provide a final response to the group. An outside expert should be invited to all meetings. One decision-maker within the group should criticise a position of the majority. In the case of consensus the group should organise the final meeting for listening and discussing any doubts against the final decision. Although these actions have also drawbacks. For instance, when growing crisis requests an immediate solution there is no time for discussions and implementing many steps for decision making. Another example might be that the risk of the leakage of vital information would significantly increases when outside specialists are involved. All in all, it seems to be clear that top priority should be given in the prevention of any policymaking unit from the group thinking. Behavioral scientists should also be involved into these processes. Example During my work in Russia a groupthink was played a crucial role because of many factors. Firstly, my colleagues were really close to each other and the company’s social policy was developed for this purpose. Therefore, we spent some days playing games and sports altogether. This resulted in the number of small close-connected teams within the group. Another point is that my boss had a top role during all the process of discussion. Therefore, I had een many examples of bad decision-making. For instance, the only criticism from experienced and old colleagues was taken into account despite obvious things that were given by young professionals. Another factor is that the small teams did know how to play games within this environment and how to speculate. From my point of view, taking into consideration the long-term period, most of the final decisions were satisfactory but insufficient. It means that the p rojects were performed according to the rules and practices within timelines. But it can be clearly seen that due to the lack of criticism, for example, the total cost of the projects was increased. This way if the rules and steps of good decision practice were implemented, the cost and efficiency would significantly increase. Reading 8. 2Â  Callon (1987) The development of the technology has been explained by many social scientists using different available methods but they have not taken into account the point that the issue of the technology itself can also be represented as a sociological tool for an analysis. This also leads to the changes in understanding the dynamics of technology. There are two sociological views on the dynamic of consumption, which were developed by sociologists Touraine and Bourdieu. Touraine showed that French consumers’ behavior mostly dictated by large monopolies and industry, whereas in contrast Bourdieu pointed out that competition between social classes within French society taken the first place in terms of consumption of goods and services. Therefore these theories were shown by battle between engineers of two powerful French companies in the early 1970s: Electricite de France (EDF) and Renault. Despite the fact that both of them successfully proposed the concept of an electric car (VEL), the EDF’s theory failed because of unsolved technological difficulties related to the area of science and economy of the VEL, but the Renault did survive in the market because it focuses on not only the technological factors but also on rational views. This is the controversial result, because from the sociological point of view Renault’ specialists won this battle by a chance nor by implementing genius technological ideas. This experience of engineers-sociologists is possible to use as a new methodological tool for exploring large sections of society as well as researching within the value of role of social movements in the progress of consumption. There is also a helpful tool which is named the actor network. It is the case when company’s technological strategy supported by many sections of society. It describes the dynamics of society in completely different way without using sociological explanations. Firstly, in the case of implications of radical innovations within a technological sector engineers must mix technical and scientific analysis with sociology. Secondly, the actors network approach is efficient because it takes into account outside factors, which are related to common concepts of systems. Example I was responsible for implementing the concept of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for private cars and municipal buses instead of regular petrol. I was focused on the public transport such as buses because of the potential reduction of pollutions as well as the decrease of the total cost of fuel consumption. Moreover, it was easier to install the necessary equipment on buses because the government agreed to subsidise the cost of these modifications. Whereas in contrast I concluded that private car owners would not agree with this idea because the Siberian region in Russia is a large area and the number of CNG filing stations was limited to only 7. Thus, it was clear for me that using CNG fuel people could not travel between major cities which is crucial factor. This approach was based on social behavior of people and their habits. Therefore, the main target for our new policy was a municipal transport within major cities. Abstracts 4 Articles Decision Making which in tern routinizes administration. These tools cannot be used appropriately to manage of incalculable entities. The functional rationality approach is when activities precisely planned and estimated to reach some goal. This method is unlikely to be used by top managers because another important factors are involved such as ego or personal altitude. If there is no special procedure for a particular problem, manager should focus on how to turn a situation into the right way in accordance with expectations from their boss. Some managerial people cannot make their own judgments. Instead, they are looking up and looking around for someone else’s opinion and finally they rely on it because of personal fears or inexperience. Another example of it is the mid-level decision-making paralysis in many American companies when a manager is trying to avoid of making a decision. In the case of inevitable decision, he or she would engage as many colleagues as possible for self-protection. Many examples of recent administrative and economic problems within American companies have showed the tendency that managers are oriented to the short-term period when making decisions. This is due to the fact that MBA programs provide tools which are focuses mostly on a short-term attitude. The second reason would be that managers are under pressure for annual, quarterly, monthly and daily results and these factors push they out of thinking about the future, even though they realise that today’s minor difficulties could be tomorrow’s big crises. Managers are also aware of blame time and when things go wrong it is necessary to be protected from consequences. This is the reason why they gravitate towards this fear being punished rather than reflecting critically. Bureaucracy disrupts working processes into parts and the results of the work therefore disconnected with the decisions, which had been made. Manager’s productivity depends on the position within management circle or their supervisors. There is no codes or systems for tracking personal responsibilities to be established. To be successful manager means to move quickly within the levels of managerial hierarchy. It protects from going into problems too deeply at every level. Example I worked for four years as an instrument engineer in the Natural gas industry in Russia. I was involved into the decision making process associated with planning resources and finances for further projects and discussions about engineering-related difficulties. Firstly, when the question was complicated and involves financial resources, I checked the parameters of equipment many times and sent the results to my boss. When I received the confirmation from him, I printed it out and managed the necessary signatures on it. I did not want to be responsible for any inconvenience because my boss has to carry out this kind of responsibility. It was extremely important for me as a lower-level manager to have the document that proves that all things are done in time and approved by middle-level manager. In case of inconveniences such as the late commissioning phase of facilities I showed the documents that all the steps were completed by me on time. Reading 4. 2 Â  Reason, J. (1990) The general view on accident’s causes within complex technological systems includes theoretical framework which is not only provides the data on how dangerous factors could be combined themselves, but also where and how to predict these tendencies and take necessary measures beforehand. There are many elements of production, which are also involved into accident causation. Fallible high-level manager’s decisions are a major contributing factor to an increase in risk, followed by the lack of line management, which in turn causes dangerous preconditions and unsafe acts (intended and unintended). The latter are based on human’s psychological characteristics and conditions and are described as a combination of both potential hazards and errors, which could cause injury or damage. Likewise, a trajectory of an opportunity includes all these factors plus safeguards and productive events. Each of these has a window of opportunity in terms of an accident incidence. Therefore damage is highly possible when this trajectory is crossing all the windows at all the stages of production. The safe operation control consists of two features – feedback and response. The theory points out that the most successful approach to manage the safety is by taken into consideration the failure types rather than the failure tokens. According to Westrum (1988) there are three groups of auctions – denial, repair and reform. The successful organization is taken actions in responding to safely data from the reform (bottom level). The fundamental distribution error relates to a personal incompetence of employee while on the other hand the fundamental surprise error is the situation when personal observation differs to a reality. Thus, taken into consideration these terms and experience from the past major accidents such as Chernobyl, the nature of a malfunction has to be considered not only as pure technical but also as socio-technical. The people’s contribution to accidents is dominating the machine failure risk. Example I investigated many serious accidents related to the natural gas transportation process. For instance, one emergency stop of the 3. 2-megawatt gas turbine was caused by the malfunction of a frequency meter. After an analysis of reports I concluded that technical maintenance of this device was conducted improperly. A responsible worker forgot to finish one procedure related to the metrology accuracy of this piece of equipment. Another example is when other gas turbine was stopped by alarm during normal working cycle. The reason for that was unplanned and uncoordinated upgrade of its automatic control system (ACS). From my point of view, the modern technology is very reliable and ACS is highly faultness but social factors as well as poor decision making are of the major reasons for emergency situations. For instance, social factors in Russia are included a low salary and the lack of a proper education. Reading 6. Beach (1993) A descriptive Image theory focuses on people’s individual decisions rather than group ones, and it is directly opposite to prescriptive classical theory of making decisions. There are also three decision-related images (structures), which have to be possessed by a decision maker. The value image is based on personal principles, behavior and beliefs. These are the sou rce for generating goals. Thus, the ultimate criteria for this is when the decision maker consider the values to be relevant. Therefore potential goals and actions, if they are inconsistent with the relevant principles, will be refused. The second image, which is called the trajectory image, includes potential goals, which have to be set and the third one, the strategic image, focuses on actions and plans that have to be performed for achieving targets. The important parts of the third image are tactic and forecast, which would be a crucial factors for monitoring a realisation progress of a particular goal. Decision-making process consists of two types of decisions such as adoption and progress which include the implementation of the compatibility and profitability tests. The compatibility test is based on both types of decisions and compares candidates to three images, whereas in contrast the profitability test relates to the adoption decision only and uses the outcome after performing the compatibility test. For instance, the compatibility test selects few candidates, who successfully crossed through a selection criteria and the profitability test therefore chooses the best candidate from the previous sorting. Another important part of the Image theory is the process of framing decisions which is the action when the goal is identified and the plan is alled back if one exists. The data from the practical research suggests that it is unlikely that the decision maker tend to change the selection criteria without changes in principles, goals and plans. Example I was involved into the process of interviewing new workers within the Natural gas industry. I had to employ personnel with sufficient technical knowledge and skills because they have to work with in hazardous areas and on potentially dangerous equipment. As a team leader I was hoping to find highly qualified workers with extensive experience for an average amount of salary. After performing several meetings and consultations with potential staff within this salary category I concluded that no one was able to pass the criteria and possess theoretical knowledge and practical achievements from previous work experience. Because of that I decided to change the working images by changing the criteria. Therefore, I focused on workers who possess theoretical knowledge with engineering ideas in complex. Although they did not have extensive experience, they satisfied basic criteria and were able to perform tasks within their role (maintenance and repair). And after this correction of principles I recruited staff for my team successfully. Reading 7. 3Â  Janis (1971) Groupthink is a way of thinking when members behave with a high level of concurrence and tend to adopt a soft line of criticism on colleague’s ideas or even on every critical issue. This is why they make inhumane decisions easily with serious consequences such as the huge number of people’s deaths. The more cohesive the group, the more the risk that the decision will be proposed without the deep analysis of other choices. There are eight major symptoms of groupthink such as invulnerability, irrationality, ignorance of moral principles, stereotyped and unrealistic positions, group pressure against any critical views, member’s self-censorship, unanimity tendency within a group and the mind guard which is to protect the decision from any kind of the feedback. These indicators are typical for a bad decision making process which in tern may results the inhumane decision with serious consequences. Several steps could be adopted to prevent any group from group thinking. In this case criticism should be accepted not only by members but also by a leader. Wide range of alternatives should also be taken into account as possible options. In a case of vital decisions several groups with different leaders should be established to work on the same problem. Before the final decision is made each member should discuss considerations in its unit of organisation and then provide a final response to the group. An outside expert should be invited to all meetings. One decision-maker within the group should criticise a position of the majority. In the case of consensus the group should organise the final meeting for listening and discussing any doubts against the final decision. Although these actions have also drawbacks. For instance, when growing crisis requests an immediate solution there is no time for discussions and implementing many steps for decision making. Another example might be that the risk of the leakage of vital information would significantly increases when outside specialists are involved. All in all, it seems to be clear that top priority should be given in the prevention of any policymaking unit from the group thinking. Behavioral scientists should also be involved into these processes. Example During my work in Russia a groupthink was played a crucial role because of many factors. Firstly, my colleagues were really close to each other and the company’s social policy was developed for this purpose. Therefore, we spent some days playing games and sports altogether. This resulted in the number of small close-connected teams within the group. Another point is that my boss had a top role during all the process of discussion. Therefore, I had een many examples of bad decision-making. For instance, the only criticism from experienced and old colleagues was taken into account despite obvious things that were given by young professionals. Another factor is that the small teams did know how to play games within this environment and how to speculate. From my point of view, taking into consideration the long-term period, most of the final decisions were satisfactory but insufficient. It means that the p rojects were performed according to the rules and practices within timelines. But it can be clearly seen that due to the lack of criticism, for example, the total cost of the projects was increased. This way if the rules and steps of good decision practice were implemented, the cost and efficiency would significantly increase. Reading 8. 2Â  Callon (1987) The development of the technology has been explained by many social scientists using different available methods but they have not taken into account the point that the issue of the technology itself can also be represented as a sociological tool for an analysis. This also leads to the changes in understanding the dynamics of technology. There are two sociological views on the dynamic of consumption, which were developed by sociologists Touraine and Bourdieu. Touraine showed that French consumers’ behavior mostly dictated by large monopolies and industry, whereas in contrast Bourdieu pointed out that competition between social classes within French society taken the first place in terms of consumption of goods and services. Therefore these theories were shown by battle between engineers of two powerful French companies in the early 1970s: Electricite de France (EDF) and Renault. Despite the fact that both of them successfully proposed the concept of an electric car (VEL), the EDF’s theory failed because of unsolved technological difficulties related to the area of science and economy of the VEL, but the Renault did survive in the market because it focuses on not only the technological factors but also on rational views. This is the controversial result, because from the sociological point of view Renault’ specialists won this battle by a chance nor by implementing genius technological ideas. This experience of engineers-sociologists is possible to use as a new methodological tool for exploring large sections of society as well as researching within the value of role of social movements in the progress of consumption. There is also a helpful tool which is named the actor network. It is the case when company’s technological strategy supported by many sections of society. It describes the dynamics of society in completely different way without using sociological explanations. Firstly, in the case of implications of radical innovations within a technological sector engineers must mix technical and scientific analysis with sociology. Secondly, the actors network approach is efficient because it takes into account outside factors, which are related to common concepts of systems. Example I was responsible for implementing the concept of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for private cars and municipal buses instead of regular petrol. I was focused on the public transport such as buses because of the potential reduction of pollutions as well as the decrease of the total cost of fuel consumption. Moreover, it was easier to install the necessary equipment on buses because the government agreed to subsidise the cost of these modifications. Whereas in contrast I concluded that private car owners would not agree with this idea because the Siberian region in Russia is a large area and the number of CNG filing stations was limited to only 7. Thus, it was clear for me that using CNG fuel people could not travel between major cities which is crucial factor. This approach was based on social behavior of people and their habits. Therefore, the main target for our new policy was a municipal transport within major cities.

Writing Business Letters 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Writing Business Letters 1 - Essay Example In this case, two wrongs would not make a right. It is better for the medical team involved to pursue ways and means of saving the life of the stronger twin than allow the death of both the conjoined twins. The religious position held by the parents of the twins would surmount to double tragedy since it would result to the death of both the twins. It is also in order for the medical fraternity to preserve the right of children by trying to save the life of at least one of the twins. This will be in line with their professional ethics. The religious stance in most of such cases advocates for life rather than death. Therefore, the judges’ decision however moral and legal is also religiously sound. This is because their decision they made echoed the religious principle of saving life. In cases of life and death, preserving life would be more moral and pragmatic. Therefore, the court’s decision in this matter to disregard the parent’s religious opinions is

Enlightenment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Enlightenment - Essay Example Enlightenment helps both the individual and the society. For example, suppose a terrorist got enlightenment during a particular period of time and as a result of that he decides to stay away from terrorist activities. In this case, apart from the person, the society will also be benefitted. Take the cases of abortion or divorce. In both the cases, the individual and the society will be benefitted if a person decides to stay away from such activities. Even though, we are living in the most civilized world at present, I cannot say that we are living in an enlightened age. The clashes between cultures, religions, countries and communities are increasing day by day. An enlightened world will never engage in such activities. An enlightened world will give equal opportunities to all. It will never measure human rights based on religious beliefs. It should be noted that thousands of people are being killed every day in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the name of war on terror or clashes between communities. An enlightened civilization will never engage in such activities in the name of religion or belief. It should be noted that Lord Buddha after his enlightenment asked his disciples, not to kill any creature in this world. In other words he has asked the public to stay away from killing humans, animals, birds, insects etc. Life is the most precious thing in this world and it should be preserved at any cost. An enlightened world will never think of destroying any life forms.

Contemporary Globalization Essay Example for Free

Contemporary Globalization Essay Are you a forerunner of the so called Contemporary Globalization or in your view point do you adhere to Global Diversity? This short paper is to review globalization developments and their impacts or consequences whether is it a threat to human dignity in terms of providing a safer work place and leisure to man and will it promotes democracy and justice for all (Johnston, Mont 2000)? Globalization began in the 70’s and reaches all the corners of the world through the creation of IMF, the World Bank and, WTO. Globalization was also brought about by the advance communication technology and collapse of communism (Johnston, Mont 2000). According to the Canadian Union Council (CUC), â€Å"globalization does not account of the right of conscience, and democracy is only hearsay. Trade fundamentalist works with corporate lawyers to develop trade rules which expressly exclude consideration of the environment and human rights in favor of return on investments, consideration on the rights of others are only taken into consideration only in extraordinary circumstances†. For this reason, the Council created seven principles of the UUs covenants to counter act or to balance the wave of globalization which is detrimental to the Unitarian way of thinking in which it firmly believes that uniqueness of every person must be reverently acknowledge preserving his culture. It is in diversity that a genuine human society is born. Globalization spread the culture of homogenous market and consumerism; it limits human choices because human values are dictated by market values. Manfred Steger further stated globalism in his book A New Market Ideology as â€Å"globalony†. Consequences or impacts of Globalization: Neoliberals or the globalist supported their claims on the following ideology: Globalization is market integration, inevitable and irreversible, none is in-charge and it would benefit everyone, and will further spread democracy. These are strategies in order to promote private interests of dominant few to be supported by the general public. These claims were carefully examined by Steger as he insisted that we need to critically understand what are globalism, ideology, and globalization which are a process of globalism. He also pointed out that it is not only enough to examine its economic outcome but its ideas and values (Walker 2003). It is a hard truth to accept that the human will are dictated by market trends which mean that human values are being replaced by market value or the limiting of our choices which is contrary to the free act of man. Corporations have extended on a global scale, 51 among top companies are run by the wealthiest 100 multinationals (Carmichael 2002). Steger asserted that it is undemocratic because the influence of the supranational bodies will decrease the ability of national governments to regulate multinational corporations. Wiwa in his audience with law students declare that The governance are no longer for the benefit of the citizens, as it should be, but for corporate profit. Decisions reflect only what corporations want (Carmichael 2002)†. Anything that gets in their way must be removed at all costs, no wonder there could be a time that man will be replaced by robots. For man to survive, diversity is needed but regimes like the WTO has modeled globalization which resulted into a homogenous culture of consumerism. It sees that diversity is an impediment to the free trade. One example is the over-produced food that flooded the developing countries; it forces small farmers to abandon their farms to work for Nike and other corporations. Mexican farmer’s earnings have declined by 40%. Poverty radically increases while the stocks of multinationals increases. Ken Wiwa a physician and an author of the book â€Å"Dance the guns to Silenceâ€Å"was hanged in November 1995 for his crusade against globalization and today it is his brother Owen who continues by addressing a political science class at the University of Toronto about the consequence of globalization saying You have that paradox whereby an increase in transnational corporations in the south will increase the poverty and conflict and wars in that country and Ten years from now you may be working in these corporations and governments so it is up to you to make an influence â€Å"(Carmichael 2002). Shell Corporation and the Ogoni people faced the dilemma between the clearing of its oil spills and the MOSOP Movement of the Ogoni People for Survival in the 1990s. Oil extraction in their country is to the detriment of its inhabitants. Sickness related to air and water pollution like asthma and other diseases outnumbered the hospital built in 1993. Though the company has left the premises they have not really removed their pipelines nor cleaned up and paid compensation to their workers. The company remained quiet and the military was no longer engaged but arrest started Wiwa stated (Carmichael 2002). Based on the above consequences, Steger’s touches the tenets of his argument that it is the human will and choices that must create market models and not the goods or the reverse wherein market limits suppressed human choices. His argument was based on the historical facts that man lords over the earth and that no society have emerged without knowing how to take care of its own. Society degrades or falls when only a privileged few are protected, when dominance is instilled prejudices and other sisters of greed appears. The value of human work diminishes and man begins to serve only his appetite and whims. Indeed, we must account for the gifts we received such as the talents endowed to us. There is a need of strengthening our world communities to use collective power to develop alternatives to Globalization and Corporate Rule. We must examine and challenge ourselves what is behind each ideology and must patronize products and services that are truly for the benefit of mankind. We must put our best efforts that wealth is distributed equitably and for the common good. We must learn to scrutinize the use of worldly goods and sharpen our values to preserve the world and the future of the next generation. References Mel Johnston, Alastair Mont, Philip Symons Calgary, Alberta 2000, the CUC Policy on Globalization, [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 01 February 2008 from, http://www. cuc. ca/social_responsibility/globalization. htm Teresa Walker 2003, Globalism: The New Market Ideology by Manfred Steger, [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 01 February 2008 from, http://www. logosjournal. com/walker. htm Stefanie Carmichael (2002). Owens Wiwa tackles consequences of globalization [Electronic Version]. The Manitoban. Retrieved 02, February 2008 from, http://www. themanitoban. com/2001-2002/0403/news_8. shtml

Cruel and Unusual? Exploring JLWOP Sentencing Essay -- Criminal Justic

The JLWOP sentence (or juvenile life without parole) has been the topic of controversy lately. Many have battered the issue back and forth, based on the morality level of American society. Should juveniles be sentenced to life without parole? In some cases people are viewing children in our society as less than competent, despite the majority of countries around the world that view adulthood as beginning shortly after puberty. It is impossible to deny the emotional and physiological differences between adolescents and adults. However, I think that despite these natural changes we go through as humans, occasionally there are deformities that can be the cause of some to deviate from this natural pattern of progression. I believe in some cases, once a juvenile has crossed the line of murder and victimization, there is very little anyone can do to prevent it from happening again. Because of this, I support JLWOP sentencing when the psychological stability of the juvenile is compromised. The JLWOP sentence is a sentencing guideline that is being debated by the Supreme Court following the ruling against children receiving the death sentence in 2003. The Supreme Court ruled that death sentences for minors were deemed â€Å"cruel and unusual punishment† and violated the Eighth Amendment of the constitution. The Supreme Court is now looking to the JLWOP with a moral parameter based on that 2003 ruling, attempting to decide whether or not JLWOP is considered unconstitutional by means of being cruel and unusual. In order to determine cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court would have to find that JLWOP was excessive and disproportional to the crime of a juvenile. In rare cases, it is the only option for some young people today, despite... ...ders committed by juveniles that do not warrant this sentencing. Rather, the juvenile court system should view each case individually, despite the charge and make the best decision for the offender, the victims and the community. If the JLWOP continues to be mandated, society in general should demand stringent guidelines to ensure we are not punishing the adults of tomorrow, but rather to keep society safe from those individuals that pose a lifelong threat. Works Cited Lockup: Hollman. Dir. Hillary Heath for MSNBC. Perf. Kenny Loggins. 2006. M.D., Dr. Glen Gabbard. Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders Third Edition. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2001. Sukhoi, Yevgney. Killing for Kicks, Youth Confess to 21 Murders. Moscow: Russia Today, 2008. Totenberg, Nina. "Supreme Court Ends Death Penalty for Juviniles." National Public Radio. 2005.

Internationalizing higher education-a case study of Grantchester University Essay

Internationalization in the area of higher education has become one of the most talked about issues in recent times. In fact, in the form of internationalization of higher education one of the most important global changes of current period has been manifested. The event of internationalization of higher education is conceptualized in different ways by different people. For example, some see internationalization in the field of higher education as a normal extension of universities’ traditional commitment to learning and as a process of knowledge exchange. However, for some people internationalization is nothing but an innovative response by the universities to the opportunities in external market (Windham, 1996; Trilokekar, 2007). Whatever be the way of conceptualizing the process of internationalization of higher education, it has been accepted as an important issue in the field of higher education. One crucial issue regarding internationalization of higher education is that there is lack of theoretical studies that could provide guidelines for those universities which are thinking about going international. Actually, theoretical studies are lagging far behind the practical implementation of the process under consideration. Thus it is found that in most of the cases internationalization has a tendency to take place in an unplanned and incremental way (Welch and Denman, 1997; Wit, 2002) and hence it posses various problems and challenges to the management of the institution which is undertaking the process of internationalization. Here a case study will be conducted to identify one key challenge that a University management can face while they implement the technique of internationalization in the field of higher education and provide recommendation to solve the issue using theoretical knowledge and empirical evidences. For the purpose of this study Grantchester University of UK will be taken under consideration as the university has taken an important step to go international. It has made effort to internationalize its educational system. It has undertaken a program for providing higher education to the students residing in far flung places by sending its faculty to those places. This paper will analyse the case study of Grantchester University in order to find a single key challenge the management of the university is facing and to find a way out. First, a rigorous analysis of the case study will be provided, then a key challenge will be identified on the basis of the analysis and finally a strategy will be recommended and justified on the basis of existing management and organizational theories and empirical evidences. Analysis of the case study: Grantchester University is a relatively new university in the North of England. It is a quite large institution which was created through the merger of three colleges having root going back to 1880 – a teacher training college, a technical college and an art school. In 1983, a Business School was formed under the flagship of the then Grantchester Polytechnic. This business school under Grantchester University will be examined. This business school eventually has grown to build the largest faculty in the present university with having 4,000 full time students with 500 being registered on postgraduate programmes. As a part of the process of internationalization, in the last few years the senior management of the business school has negotiated a number of collaborative agreements with overseas universities, primarily in an effort to take advantage of the opportunities presented in an increasingly globalised higher education sector. As in case of most of the British universities, in Grantchester University also the proportion of overseas students studying has been increasing gradually, particularly in the business school. In this segment around 10 percent of undergraduate students and around 40 percent of postgraduate, 75 percent of which are full time post graduate students, are coming from outside of the European Union. However, the senior management has identified a number of factors which are making further expansion of ‘international’ teaching in the university campus sproblematic. These factors include the size of the current university campus and cost of land in the city, the perceived carrying capacity of the city of Grantchester, the increasingly problematic economic environment, increasing competition from universities in countries providing the ‘traditional’ source of overseas students to the UK, for example in China, India etc. , and the changing immigration regulations. Thus the management has started to concentrate on another alternative program for becoming internationalized in the field of higher education. The business school is now paying more attention on sending its academic staffs overseas to teach there in collaboration with local staffs. Actually delivering educational program overseas has become a new trend in the field of higher education and the university vice chancellor is quite aware of the trend and hence she has decided to deliver some of university’s more popular educational programmes overseas, either in new campuses overseas or in some sort of partnership with local universities. The Business School was first chosen to follow this path of internationalization because of its size and the perceived strength of its programmes to pilot the strategy. The management of the business school has designed courses that are generally delivered to full time as well as part time students overseas. All overseas teaching is conducted in partnership with local colleges which are based in the country of delivery. Under the current teaching module developed by the management a faculty member of the University is generally employed for overseas teaching on a two year attachment in each country of operation. Every study module is delivered to the students through the partnership of a module teacher sent by the University and a local teacher. The module teacher of Grantchester has to visit the partner college and give a series of lectures to students and attend seminars over a single week. During this single week visit he also conduct meeting with partner teachers in order to devise strategy of staff development. Then it is the responsibility of the partner teacher to conduct tutorials and seminars supporting and building on the block sessions. Although assessment materials are prepared by the module tutor, student work is marked by the partner tutor, with only 10 percent sample of student work being moderated by the module leader. In order to have efficient course delivery the management has to arrange overseas trips for the faculties and teaching schedule in such a way that courses are delivered in timely manner. The management provides allowance for business class travel to the faculties. The faculty members who are scheduled to go overseas are required to book tickets at least three months in advance through the Associate Dean responsible. Staff wishing to have alternative arrangements approved on an exceptional basis must seek approval from the associate Dean responsible. Both FT and PT delivery modes consist of 6 nights maximum accommodation overseas and 6 nights disturbance allowance at the approved rate (currently ? 50. 00 per day). The current model is however not free from problems. A number of problems are associated with this current module of overseas teaching. Faculties of Grantchester who have already visited other countries for the purpose of delivering study module have expressed their grievances over certain issues. Last minute scheduling of overseas trips for the faculties have been a major problem for the management. The current system of organizing trips to overseas seems to be ad hoc in nature which is creating problem not only to the higher authority but also to the faculties who are assigned the trips on short period notice. During the case study it has been found that the management was dealing with the problem of arranging academic staffs for some particular session as the management did not able to find out academic staffs who could participate in that session even when only one and half months remained in the hand of management where the program necessitates booking of flights three months before the delivery schedule. The management was looking for some one who was under profiled as the business school was not in a position to pay for overtime. Although the management some how managed to get required staffs for sending overseas for that particular session, this kind of ad hoc nature of scheduling trips create huge problems for faculties as they have to go other countries for delivering course module on short period notice. Another problem associated with the issue of scheduling trips is that management is quite idle in informing faculties about any changes in the scheduled trips on an emergency basis. For example, in 2008-09 for the February session Peter Smith was supposed to leave to deliver course module to the students of Star College on 8th February, but due to some problem the lectures that were scheduled to be given on WC February 9th got cancelled and the lectures were rearranged on WC February 16th. The management, however, did not bother to let Peter know about this change as soon as the decision was taken by the management. He was informed two weeks later giving him only little time to change his flight booking. Last minute scheduling of overseas tours also provides the faculties with little time for preparing themselves for teaching overseas students. They get little time to get acquainted with the course module and get confused about what to deliver to the overseas students. One the faculty members who has already gone through this problem has described his experience. He suffered the problem of this kind of ad hoc nature of planning in his very first trip to overseas. This faculty member was asked to go to Far Off to deliver the induction programme for the first cohort of students on a very short period notice. He received the email only two weeks before he needed to fly out. He was provided with the paperwork, i. e. the course material only before he left for the trip so that he could read it on the plane, and hence he hadn’t had the chance to prepare or fully understand what was being proposed in the documentation. He wasn’t aware of the course structure or even the module content. It seemed crazy, but the authority wanted him to run a week of course induction for the new students and had drafted him the course material at the last minute. As he did not get enough time to prepare himself for delivering course material, the quality of teaching according to him was not up to the mark. The management is also suffering with problem of delivering allowances to their faculty members on time for their trips to overseas. The university is liable to pay allowances for traveling and accommodation to the faculty members. But the case study has revealed that some faculty members were not provided with the stipulated allowances even after a long time of since completing their visits. For example, according to a faculty member although the travel arrangements and the hotel accommodations were satisfactory, it was three months since she returned and still had not received her expenses and disturbance allowance. Not only that, she also did not have any clear idea regarding how to chase these up. It is the responsibility of the university management to offer a clear idea regarding all aspects of these overseas tours and providing allowances no time. She did not bother very much about the issue of reimbursement and expressed her satisfaction over the trip and expressed her wish to go for another one as it was only her first trip. But if she faces this kind of reimbursement problem everytime she goes overseas for fulfilling the goal of internationalization of the university, she might not be ready to continue this or this could negatively affect the quality of teaching as she will not be sure about whether she will be paid off for delivering lectures. For any international teaching organization, success depends on the quality of teaching. In recent times many organizations many educational institutions are going for internationalization with an aim to cash in on new market opportunities and least bother about providing high quality education. Looking at these kind of intentions of most of the international educational organizations, a number of countries are making some regulations for overseas universities running programs in those countries. Granchester University is also confronting this problem in some of the countries where it has been running its overseas programmes. For example, Ethnocentrica, one of the countries that Grantchester has been teaching in, has recently introduced tighter regulation of overseas universities running programmes there. This is, at least in part, because of concern that such teaching is perceived as primarily a means of cashing in on the growth in education globally. A number of universities operate in Ethnocentrica and the government is worried by the growing number of complaints about poor quality teaching and assessment. One of the key regulations stipulates that overseas universities must provide full Professors for all teaching of university courses delivered in Ethnocentrica in order to enhance teaching quality. But the problem with Grantchester is that it employs only few full professors as they are more interested in research work and the university is basically a teaching university which does not pay much attention on research works. A key challenge to the University management: Through the rigorous analysis of the case study presented above, one thing has come out that all the problems discussed above would result in deterioration in the quality of teaching which is essential for an international organization like Granchester University. It is one of the vital responsibilities of the management to ensure that the faculty members offer quality teaching to overseas students. All the problems revealed through the case study ultimately boils down to a vital problem relating to the quality of teaching. Thus it is the issue of providing high quality teaching to overseas students that is posing challenge to the management of the University. The university authority requires to manage its human resources, i. e. the academic staffs in such a way that quality teaching can be provided. This issue of providing high quality teaching is extremely important and relevant fro conducting the process of internationalization efficiently.

John Donne and Reformation

John Donne was born in Bread Street, London in 1572 to a prosperous Roman Catholic family – a precarious thing at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was rife in England. His father, John Donne, was a well-to-do ironmonger and citizen of London. Donne's father died suddenly in 1576, and left the three children to be raised by their mother, Elizabeth, who was the daughter of epigrammatist and playwright John Heywood and a relative of Sir Thomas More. [Family tree. ] Donne's first teachers were Jesuits. At the age of 11, Donne and his younger brother Henry were entered at Hart Hall, University of Oxford, where Donne studied for three years. He spent the next three years at the University of Cambridge, but took no degree at either university because he would not take the Oath of Supremacy required at graduation. He was admitted to study law as a member of Thavies Inn (1591) and Lincoln's Inn (1592), and it seemed natural that Donne should embark upon a legal or diplomatic career. In 1593, Donne's brother Henry died of a fever in prison after being arrested for giving sanctuary to a proscribed Catholic priest. This made Donne begin to question his faith. His first book of poems, Satires, written during this period of residence in London, is considered one of Donne's most important literary efforts. Although not immediately published, the volume had a fairly wide readership through private circulation of the manuscript. Same was the case with his love poems, Songs and Sonnets, assumed to be written at about the same time as the Satires. Having inherited a considerable fortune, young â€Å"Jack Donne† spent his money on womanizing, on books, at the theatre, and on travels. He had also befriended Christopher Brooke, a poet and his roommate at Lincoln's Inn, and Ben Jonson who was part of Brooke's circle. In 1596, Donne joined the naval expedition that Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, led against Cadiz, Spain. In 1597, Donne joined an expedition to the Azores, where he wrote â€Å"The Calm†. Upon his return to England in 1598, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, afterward Lord Ellesmere. Donne was beginning a promising career. In 1601, Donne became MP for Brackley, and sat in Queen Elizabeth's last Parliament. But in the same year, he secretly married Lady Egerton's niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More, daughter of Sir George More, Lieutenant of the Tower, and effectively committed career suicide. Donne wrote to the livid father, saying: â€Å"Sir, I acknowledge my fault to be so great as I dare scarce offer any other prayer to you in mine own behalf than this, to believe that I neither had dishonest end nor means. But for her whom I tender much more than my fortunes or life (else I would, I might neither joy in this life nor enjoy the next) I humbly beg of you that she may not, to her danger, feel the terror of your sudden anger. 1 Sir George had Donne thrown in Fleet Prison for some weeks, along with his cohorts Samuel and Christopher Brooke who had aided the couple's clandestine affair. Donne was dismissed from his post, and for the next decade had to struggle near poverty to support his growing family. Donne later summed up the experience: â€Å"John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone. † Anne's cousin offered the couple refuge in Pyrford, Surrey, and the couple was helped by friends like Lady Magdalen Herbert, George Herbert's mother, and Lucy, Countess of Bedford, women who also played a prominent role in Donne's literary life. Though Donne still had friends left, these were bitter years for a man who knew himself to be the intellectual superior of most, knew he could have risen to the highest posts, and yet found no preferment. It was not until 1609 that a reconciliation was effected between Donne and his father-in-law, and Sir George More was finally induced to pay his daughter's dowry. In the intervening years, Donne practised law, but they were lean years for the Donnes. Donne was employed by the religious pamphleteer Thomas Morton, later Bishop of Durham. It is possible that Donne co-wrote or ghost-wrote some of Morton's pamphlets (1604-1607). To this period, before reconciliation with his inlaws, belong Donne's Divine Poems (1607) and Biathanatos (pub. 1644), a radical piece for its time, in which Donne argues that suicide is not a sin in itself. As Donne approached forty, he published two anti-Catholic polemics Pseudo-Martyr (1610) and Ignatius his Conclave (1611). They were final public testimony of Donne's renunciation of the Catholic faith. Pseudo-Martyr, which held that English Catholics could pledge an oath of allegiance to James I, King of England, without compromising their religious loyalty to the Pope, won Donne the favor of the King. In return for patronage from Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, he wrote A Funerall Elegie (1610), on the death of Sir Robert's 15-year-old daughter Elizabeth. At this time, the Donnes took residence on Drury Lane. The two Anniversaries— An Anatomy of the World (1611) and Of the Progress of the Soul (1612) continued the patronage. Sir Robert encouraged the publication of the poems: The First Anniversary was published with the original elegy in 1611, and both were reissued with The Second Anniversary in 1612. Donne had refused to take Anglican orders in 1607, but King James persisted, finally announcing that Donne would receive no post or preferment from the King, unless in the church. In 1615, Donne reluctantly entered the ministry and was appointed a Royal Chaplain later that year. In 1616, he was appointed Reader in Divinity at Lincoln's Inn (Cambridge had conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on him two years earlier). Donne's style, full of elaborate metaphors and religious symbolism, his flair for drama, his wide learning and his quick wit soon established him as one of the greatest preachers of the era. Just as Donne's fortunes seemed to be improving, Anne Donne died, on 15 August, 1617, aged thirty-three, after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn. Seven of their children survived their mother's death. Struck by grief, Donne wrote the seventeenth Holy Sonnet, â€Å"Since she whom I lov'd hath paid her last debt. According to Donne's friend and biographer, Izaak Walton, Donne was thereafter ‘crucified to the world'. Donne continued to write poetry, notably his Holy Sonnets (1618), but the time for love songs was over. In 1618, Donne went as chaplain with Viscount Doncaster in his embassy to the German princes. His Hymn to Christ at the Author's Last Going into Germany, written before the journey, is laden with apprehension of death. Donne returned to London in 1620, and was ap pointed Dean of Saint Paul's in 1621, a post he held until his death. Donne excelled at his post, and was at last financially secure. In 1623, Donne's eldest daughter, Constance, married the actor Edward Alleyn, then 58. Donne's private meditations, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, written while he was convalescing from a serious illness, were published in 1624. The most famous of these is undoubtedly Meditation 17, which includes the immortal lines â€Å"No man is an island† and â€Å"never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. † In 1624, Donne was made vicar of St Dunstan's-in-the-West. On March 27, 1625, James I died, and Donne preached his first sermon for Charles I. But for his ailing health, (he had mouth sores and had experienced significant weight loss) Donne almost certainly would have become a bishop in 1630. Obsessed with the idea of death, Donne posed in a shroud – the painting was completed a few weeks before his death, and later used to create an effigy. He also preached what was called his own funeral sermon, Death's Duel, just a few weeks before he died in London on March 31, 1631. The last thing Donne wrote just before his death was Hymne to God, my God, In my Sicknesse. Donne's monument, in his shroud, survived the Great Fire of London and can still be seen today at St. Paul's.

Valeria Zurlini essays

Valeria Zurlini essays BAM Cinematek recently chose to feature the films of Italian Director Valerio Zurlini. Zurlini isnt mentioned in many of the putative histories of Italian cinema, yet he is one of the most noteworthy Italian directors of all time. Zurlinis canon of films were most recently screened at The National Gallery of Art, in February of 2001, and have also been screened throughout Canada, and at The Pacific Cinematheque, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, and Walter Reade Theater within the last two years. Valerio Zurlini was born in Bologna in 1926 to an affluent family. Prior to directing films, Zurlini studied both law and art history. Zurlini said that studying art helped him to develop an intuitive approach to the composition of images, and that going to the movies on a regular basis instilled in him an understanding of cinematic rhythm, presumably reinforced and deepened by his long-standing collaboration with composer Mario Nascimbene (Moller). Zurlini believed that art alone could provide insight into human nature, inspiration, truth and the possibility of redemption, since art endures long after its creator is gone. In relation to Italian film history, Zurlinis films fall in between Rossellini, de Sica, and Zavattinis Neorealism and Bertolucci and Belloccios Young Cinema. Neorealism came in the wake of the Liberation and post WWII democracy. Young Cinema, connected to the student revolt, would occur some twenty years after Neorealsim. As the Neorealists were filming their vision of how the world should be, (Moller) Zurlini was fighting with the Italian Liberation Corps from the fall of Mussolini in 1943 until the Liberation in 1945. Unfortunately for Zurlini, his films would fall in between these political events, and therefore be somewhat ignored outside of Europe. Zurlinis body of work consists of twelve short films and eight feature length films. four of his feature length films, and on...

Implementing Strategy and Managing Change Essay

Implementing Strategy and Managing Change - Essay Example This department cannot be different. Besides, the FRS is better equipped than most other agencies to handle such emergencies, and the public expects nothing less from the FRS, and the pay piper has always dictated the tune. Reasons for Introducing Change Change is inevitable in all human endeavors, these generally has been attributed to several factors such as Globalization, which is the integration of all societies, cultures and regions to become interconnected through a network of communication systems. Financial pressures to meet both incidental and expected obligations, may also force the introduction of needed changes. New demands for products, services etc also are reasons for introduction of changes. The reasons for changes are as numerous as the sands on the sea shore. But for the FRS, the main reason is the expectations of the public. The public expects FRS department to be on the forefront of emergency intervention services. Although section 4 of the FRS Act of 2004 only em powers intervention in fire related incidents and motor accidents, but other emergency situations such building collapse, water accidents, flooding, plane crashes, terrorist attacks and other related incidents that no specialize government agency is responsible for is left to the FRS to handle, and as a matter of principle, the FRS cannot shy way from these tasks, especially when we have the men and equipment to confidently deal with such emergencies. Best practices in Change Management We live in an ever changing environment, products that are in vogue today, quickly become outmoded, system of handling situations that works yesterday, may not work when used tomorrow. All these necessitate the search for best practice in change management. While each organization probably has its best approach to manage change, there are some models that can be regarded as the best approach in change management. The ADKAR model which is an acronym for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinfo rcement has consistently proved to work in several organizations where it has been used to introduce change. There full meanings are: Awareness: the need to change; Desire: to participate and support change; Ability: to implement the change on a day to day basis; and Reinforcement: to keep the change in place. ADKAR model approaches Change from two dimensions: the business dimension (vertical) and the people dimension (horizontal). It ensures that each individual makes the needed transition. McKinsey 7 – S model This is a holistic approach to change which collectively determines how the company will operate. There are 7 different factors that are a part of the model: shared values, structure, systems, style, strategy, staff, and skills. All these work together to form the model. Lewin’s Change Management Model This model known as Unfreeze – Change – Refreeze, refers to the 3 stage process of change Lewin described using the changing shape of ice blocks. K otter’s Eight Step Model In summary, this model says that you need to create a sense of urgency, recruit powerful leaders, build a vision and effectively communicate it, remove obstacles, create quick wins, and build on your momentum. If religiously followed will implement change

Shia Political Islam and Its Sunni Counterpart Essay

Shia Political Islam and Its Sunni Counterpart - Essay Example On the one hand, throughout the history writers of Shia and Sunni revealed different approaches to reading Quran and understanding what exactly a good society is. Even though both sects agree on three fundamental Islamic principles (monotheism, Day of Judgement, and parenthood), they use these prerequisites differently in explaining ordinary events that appeared after Mohammed’s life (Ameli and Malaei 32). As Ja’fari explains the term ‘Shi’a’, the essence of it refers to â€Å"followers, party, group, associates, partisans, or in rather looser sense, ‘supporters’† (6). In this situation, the word ‘mawla’ the Shia understand as leader and patron. Hence, the Shia believe that Imam Ali is a successor of Muhammed they should worship as an authority (Ameli and Malaei 23). On the contrary, the definition of ‘Sunna’ refers to nobility and high moral qualities (Ja’fari 9). For them, ‘mawla’ is a friend, or the nearest kin (Ja’fari 23). Thus, they think Muslims had selected the leader after Muhammed, Abu-Bakr, among themselves, which underlines his equal status with other Muslims. This preposition leads to higher level of tolerance and acknowledgement. For example, Sunni commentators of religious texts tend to include the wives of Prophet while referring to his relatives. In fact, this different attention to the details signalizes of different degree of patriarchy within families.In this situation, such generally unequal understanding of the balance of power should lead to contradiction between two branches.