Monday, September 30, 2019

To What Extent Was Grass Roots Activism a Significant Reason to Why the Civil Rights Movement Grew in the 1950s and 1960s

To what extent was grass roots activism a significant reason to why the Civil Rights Movement Grew in the 1950s and 1960s The civil rights movement grew for a number of reasons during the 1950’s and 1960s. Prior to this select time period America were fighting in the Cold War and many black soldiers battled in the name of ‘freedom’. This was ironic as these black soldiers were fighting for something that they didn’t even have back home. Often Black soldiers talked about the ‘Double V Campaign’; this was referring to victory in the war and victory for civil rights back home in the USA.Many historians believe that world war two planted seeds in the growth of the civil rights movement as it raised the question to black people, in the words of Mohamed Ali; â€Å"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? † A Philip Randolph played a key role in the early civil rights movement as he called for an executive order to stop job discrimination in the defence industry.President FDR eventually issued executive order 8802 stating an end to discrimaination the employment of workers in the defence industries and in government. This proved effective in the growth of civil rights movement as it was one of the first pieces of success blacks achieved and this increase momentum, hope and motivation for blacks in their bid for civil rights. Other factors that influenced effected the growth of the civil rights movement included the increase in media awareness which helped mobilise support from all quarters of the USA.The support they gained due to different methods of black leaders, the shift in president’s attitudes and the Supreme Court, and the momentum gained through small victories which inspired the likes of Rosa Parks. Grass roots activism managed to gain momentum and maintain belief amongst black Americans which proved vital in the growth of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The fact that prejudice and discrimination still existed meant that the fight had to continue and relative success resulted in continued motivation.A good example of this is the Montgomery bus boycott, when the Montgomery bus company finally decided to desegregate a year boycott began, Martin Luther King and black protesters didn’t settle at that, they tried to desegregate the rest of the still segregated bus companies in Alabama. In one sense a legal victory was gained here in the desegregation of the bus company however in another sense a moral victory was gained as it showed the economic power black Americans had if they united together.In addition, because Blacks wanted to continue to desegregate bus companies in other cities this shows Black Americans were trying to grow the CRM rather than just being contempt after one city was desegregated. Thus proving the CRM was growing due to grass roots activism and small successes maintaining belief amongst blacks. The growth of the CRM was also due to the variety of opinions, tactics and views of different black leaders and organisations. A wide range of beliefs were covered so most black Americans had a leader that suited their own beliefs.For example MLK and the SCLC supported non- violent protests, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Freedom Rides and The Sit-Ins. These methods appealed to many blacks and whites too who supported non-violent methods and the whole concept of MLK ideology. However blacks who did not support peaceful protests could support the Black Panther party instead lead by Heuy Newton and Bobby Searle. This organisation supported much more aggressive actions and believed in self-defence and retaliations against white mobs and policemen. Huey Newton’s main aim was: An immediate end to police brutality and the murder of black people.The Black panthers appealed to the new generation of blacks and those who had generally a more aggressive view on the situation. The fact that different parties existed meant that the CRM had more supporters as it has supporters from both violent and non-violent sides; this in the big picture benefited the cause for CRM and helped it grow. The change in president’s actions and beliefs also helped the growth of the CRM. Presidents such as Truman and Eisenhower began to take action overruling states inactions to ignore the federal government, thus effectively aiding blacks bid for civil rights.A good example showing how president’s attitudes were changing is the little rock nine cases in Arkansas, 1957. When nine black students were disallowed entry into the city high school by governor of Arkansas orders to send state soldiers to stand outside the premises to avoid entry, President Eisenhower felt he had to intervene. He ordered 1000 US soldi ers to protect the black children on their way to school from the mob of angry white parents opposing desegregation in schools.Eisenhower’s actions showed that he was prepared to make drastic action in order for integration amongst blacks and white children in schools. He used his authority to over- rule state laws and this showed that he was for the idea of blacks receiving equal education as whites, therefore adding to the growth of the CRM. Another contributing factor helping the CRM to grow was due to the changes in the Supreme Court that led to opportunities to challenge and change the key features of segregation.In 1896 the Supreme Court issued the ruling ‘separate but equal’ thus legally legitimising racism. However this rule was over turned in 1954 at the Brown vs. Topeka Board Of Education case, meaning that their attitudes had changed and that schools should become desegregated. The reversal of the 1896 ruling, ‘separate but equal’ in this case demonstrated the shift in opinion in the highest court and giving blacks a sense of hope and built momentum as it was their first victory for Civil Rights.One of the most important reasons, if not the most important reason for the growth of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s was the use of the media to raise awareness across the country for the ways blacks were being severely treated. Televisions, newspapers, newspaper photographers all became vital weapons in the Civil Rights Movement. After the brutal murder of Emmett Till in 1955 his mother decided to lay Emmett in an open coffin to allow the public and newspaper photographers to see the severity and brutality of the attacks carried out on Emmett.Over four days thousands of people saw Emmett’s body and thousands more were shocked by the images appearing in magazines and newspapers worldwide. Emmett’s case had a great effect on the civil rights movement; the north became aware of th e horror of discrimination and persecution existing in the south through the use of the media. This case drew massive attention to the cause, encouraging support from both black and white American’s. Therefore the media played a key role in the growth of the Civil Rights Movement as it raised awareness of the problems blacks faced in the 1950’s and 1960’s.In conclusion the growth of the CRM was due to many different contributing factors, however I believe the media played the, most significant role. This was due to the great awareness it caused for blacks as it helped northern Americans and international countries realise the brutality of treatment of blacks in the south. The media also managed to pressurise the government and presidents into making decisions as it brought worldwide attention to causes such as the little rock nine and the freedom rides that embarrassed them into action for the sake of ruining the prestige and reputation of themselves and of the country.The changing attitudes of the president and the supreme court also played a part in the growth of the movement as they gave blacks significant progress to work on and build on. Grass Roots activism also contributed as it built small success as a platform which gained belief and momentum in the movement. The variety of leaders also magnified support from all different types of black Americans which also contributed to the growth of the civil rights movement in 1950’s and 1960’s. By Gavin Rittoo

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Leaders We Need Now

The Leaders We Need Now From the Erickson’s Research article we came to learn about the three different generations of managers who tend to lead the corporate world. The baby boomers a generation who born from 1946 to 1964 have been in charge for past few decades. Boomers grew up in a world of competition where winning was very important. The next generation was the Xers, born from 1961 to 1981. Xers were more likely to reject the traditional definitions of success and wanted to make their own way.The generation Y which came after the Xers, born from 1980 to early 2000 was also the children of baby boomers. Here we noticed that Boomers wanted to hold the position and power thinking that the Xers did not have the ability to run the business. Boomers didn’t want to retire from there work and they worked late in their life. In present competitive world we need leader who will possess the ability to build network and make strong communication throughout the business.Leader should have high experience, business-relevant knowledge, vision, decisiveness, and commanding ability. Leader must create an identity of the organization to its customers. This identity will tie its customer to the organization. Future leaders will face a complex, rapidly changing environment and problems of different types. The leader needs to compete with these challenges and seek for success from different viewpoints. The generation Xers has this type of qualities or factors. They are the potential in charge of the business world.Generation X employees will bring a new change to the leadership of corporations, because they are dissatisfied with corporate life badly. Xers are the underappreciated workforces. They are the sandwich generation between two larger cohorts: Baby Boomers and the Generation Y. And they think that they will loose management jobs because Boomers and Gen Y share a natural relationship. But if we give them the chance to lead when their time arrives, their sk ill, knowledge and authority roles will serve the modern corporate world effectively. Md. Shafquat Husain.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Critical Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Critical Thinking - Essay Example It is a normal attitude that human beings have towards different kinds of people and hence the ways in which beggars or a young girl would be observed are different. While psychologically the author’s comments may seem to be right, logically they do not fit the idea since if an individual’s psychological mind-set allows him to pre-judge a person wrongly, it is nonetheless wrong. This fact has not been discussed in the passage. The author tries to focus on the point that a drunk beggar would be generally more dangerous than a sober teenager girl, in terms of any harm that they might do to others. Negative pre-judgment would actually help people to be careful in this regard. The author has remained consistent in his views but his arguments do not reveal his confidence on the issue, which is complicated in the sense that judging people without knowing much about them can be either right or wrong, and this factor cannot be analysed from before. The author has also mentioned that he cannot answer this point perfectly. Hence as the author says negative pre-judgments are not always wrong, is a statement that has no valid logic to support it. Brandon Bean has considered in his note a very important issue which is experienced by almost all individuals at some point or another. People have a general tendency to pre-judge others, before knowing much in details about the individual. But it is generally believed that al such pre-judgments are bad or negative. Bean has focused his thinking on the fact that this is not true in all cases, stating two main factors. Firstly, that all pre-judgments are not negative, and secondly that, it is not always wrong to have negative pre-judgments. While the author has tried to deliver an argument to focus that negative pre-judgment is not always wrong, rationally this cannot be supported considering that such negative pre-judgment can affect the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Pre-colombian history 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pre-colombian history 2 - Essay Example n removed to honor various Gods, humans might have their blood spilled in order to represent the need for rain, or even simply as a means of satisfying their dietary needs in the form of ritualistic cannibalism. Dancing and chanting, as well as a sacrificial priest, were common elements of the ritual sacrifice. In most instances, the ritual sacrifice was performed so as to induce awe-inspiring religious experiences (Marcus & Flannery, 2004). Pequots were Native Americans living in the Northeastern United States (rumored to be what is now Connecticut) during the middle ages (approx. 1500-1700). Not a great deal is known about the specific beliefs held by the Pequot nation, however they were virtually eliminated by early-American settlers (Pilgrims) and other various international colonists. The Pequots appear to have had a strong influence in the socio-political affairs of the Northeastern region during the time of the early settlers, however they were perceived to be a significant threat to the stability of the settlers’ beliefs and lifestyles, thus the majority of them were massacred in the Pequot War which raged from 1636-1638. It seems that the Pequot were made the scapegoat for several instances in which early-American settlers were killed by unknown circumstances, perhaps as a justification for their removal from the colonial settlements. This represents an instance of disease which is contagious to those who are not native residents of a foreign territory (Jackson, 2003). A series of plagues caused a significant drop in the number of Native Americans in the early colonial regions (East Coast Region) in the United States which was caused by the passing of disease from the settlers to the native populations. For instance, a Dutch settler would have certain immunities to diseases which existed in European nations, however upon the Dutch arrival to the Americas, the Native or Aboriginal population had no previous exposure to these diseases historically, thus

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Toshiba BSX8R Rewritable Printer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Toshiba BSX8R Rewritable Printer - Essay Example Technology: It is using special kind of paper such as thermal paper which is used in the earlier fax machines. These sheets are made by plastic and there is a heat sensitive pigment. When the heat is about 130-170 degree, the color will be turned into white and thus the image will be erased. The printer first introduced in Japan. And company scared about venturing it in other market. "We're going to approach customers to see if there's an interest in the technology,' said Keane, who also admitted that the technology's limitations mean it 'will never trickle down to a consumer product." (Toshiba Rewrites Printer Rules with Reusable Paper). The company estimated they will launch the product in Europe only after the middle of 2007. And it will be done only after the critical analysis of the market and full fledged back support. "One thing that may put European consumers off is the cost. According to Toshiba's commercial manager for printers and related products, Michael Keene, the company is still some way off setting its European and UK pricing." (Barker). Environment friendly: "Toshiba is touting reduced CO2 emissions created during the paper production process. Traditional paper manufacture and waste creates 6.5kg of CO2 emissions per 1,000 sheets, compared to 1kg for the same quantity of rewritable paper pages." (Toshiba Printer Erases and Reprints on a Single Sheet). Since there are several problems associated with the op... Company is able to find a niche market in the initial stage itself. They are focusing on the commercial entities rather than single customers. And their product specification is suitable for that. Weakness: High cost: Since there are several problems associated with the operation of the printer, the company considering the launching as test marketing. The company finds its customers who need of more copies but having a shorter life period. Thus the main target market is the commercial entities rather than single customer. Work instructions, picking list, shipping instructions, inventory slips and process checklists etc. are the main beneficiaries Poor Technology: It is using old technology of thermal printer technology which is using in 1970 and 1980s. The printer using approximately 300C and the critics believe that this will offset the environmental goal. Another criticism was the inconvenience for handling the paper. Even after the erasing the previous content, there is a shadow in the paper. And if the paper is in the day light for a longer period the image will be permanently fixed. Again it should be collected separately and if it uses for several times it should be washed with a separate washing machine in order to remove the dust and other wastes. And it cannot be folded, or toned. If any damage is in the paper, the image also will not be quality one. Since these several problems are associated with the printer, there is need for monitoring also. (Barker; Toshiba Printer Erases and Reprints on a Single Sheet). Opportunity: As a pioneer in the field Toshiba can skim the market before others enter the arena Threat: The

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Global War on Drugs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global War on Drugs - Essay Example Global War on Drugs The drug prohibition laws prohibit, except under special circumstances and licenses the production, possession and distribution of substances that are recognized as drugs. This limits the circulation of anything that is considered a drug. By doing so they ensure that the country remains the drug-free zone that it was intended to be. One such person who has been very vocal and active in this issue is Richard Davenport-Hines. He is a historian and biographer who has accomplished so much in his time. He has spoken vocally against the issue of drugs and their use. He has constantly criticized the United States government of not doing all that it should in relation to the drug issue. The United States government in response to the issue of drug use and trafficking has created several sustainable policies. These policies will enable the government to effectively and efficiently deal with the issue. The United States categorically emphasize that drug use is the administering of any drug on an individual contrary to their intended use. The campaign that was started to discourage drug use in the states was criticized by Richard in his book. He propagated that the states and the policies that they were employing were not necessarily the way forward. The government devised some ways for example arrest and sentencing to deal with the drug barons and users. They also created drug prohibition laws that were to deal with the drug trade. In the book: The Pursuit of Oblivion, A Global History of Narcotics there are some issues addressed against the United States policies. The arguments state that the government does not deal effectively with the issue of arrests. He goes ahead to explain that there is always a high percentage of illegal drugs on the streets. The percentage could be as high as 100%. During the arrests and interception stage only a small percentage of the drugs are intercepted. The book’s author notes that by going with such statistics the drug war will never be won. If only 20% of the drugs are intercepted, the remainder that is still out can still keep the drug business afloat. This will obviously ensure that their profits continue soaring despite the drug intercepts (Gerber 31). He sees the drug policy as a sho w of might and the power between the interested stakeholders. The United States government is using the drug issue as a step stone to flex its muscles on other nations and its own citizens. He ponders why despite all the arrests and sentencing both local and international, drugs are still getting a way to the streets. He wonders when the government will internalize the urgent need to arrest the never known barons instead of the hired hirelings who sell the drug in small doses on the street The state has long been accused of using its military might in all the wrong ways. He deems the policy as an excuse to employ over exaggerated operations by the military. They use so much of the tax payers’ money yet they have little to show on the undertaken drug operations that they conduct (Gerber 37). The government is also accused by both citizens and the author of the text of being very hypocritical in the drug war. The government is noticed to be employing double standards in the sen se that it allows the pharmaceutical companies to continue advertizing their drugs. He considers this kind of advertizing as an attraction to drugs. This tempts users to use them. He suggests that companies should have some regulations in relation to advertising. In the television drama The Wire, the actors have carefully acted their thoughts on the policy of drug use in the states. The series in one of their episodes showed that the investigators tasked with the responsibility of investigating drugs and their use as being very incapable. It

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

U01d2 Health Care Regulation Search Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U01d2 Health Care Regulation Search - Essay Example House of Representatives. Since 1926, the United States Code has been published every six years. In between editions, annual cumulative supplements are published in order to present the most current information’ (GPO Access - USC, 2010). The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) on the other hand is published by the Executive departments and the agencies of the Federal Government. It has been defined as, ‘The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year and is issued on a quarterly basis† (GPO Access, 2010). Similar to the United States Code, the Extensive Federal Regulation is also divided into 50 titles and these are updated once every calendar year and are issued once every quarter. The Federal Register has been defined as, ‘Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and not ices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents’ (The Federal Register (FR), 2010). These reports are structured and developed in chapters which have been titled and also been well divided and explained with a deep explanation of the regulations and the rules. These form a major part of the countries documentation and need to be reviewed and updated each time to ensure that the coding and rating are all kept up to date. The report also includes an Appendix C, which locates the list of agencies for the chapters and provides details of the agencies and all the information pertaining to them. The Federal Register is also an important document of

Monday, September 23, 2019

Development Of Performance Management Systems Case Study - 3

Development Of Performance Management Systems - Case Study Example Such definition and discussion are done below. The interest of students is in the fact that there has been a previous system. Students are therefore in an excellent position to make known the impact that the first system had on their education and their expectations for this new system Software developers are going to serve as the contractors for the software development. They will, therefore, feed beneficiaries and contract givers with information on the timeline, planning, implementation and running of the system A quality assurance team is needed to access the quality and reliability of the system to be designed. Without such as team, the schools cannot be assured that the end result will be any better than what existed before. The overall training goal is to get all employees to support the new system to be developed. This goal is broad and can only if a series of specific objectives are achieved. To this end, the following specific objectives are set for the training program 6. As noted by Stockley (2012), â€Å"A good performance management system has an employee development focus.† This means that it is the objective of the training to brainstorm employees on how their output of work can be developed through the system. A questionnaire that focuses on the impact of the training program to all stakeholders shall be developed. Through the questionnaire, the facilitator will be in a position to sample views of stakeholders on the program. Through responses to be sampled, it will be possible to tell whether or not the objectives were achieved. To make data analysis easy for discussion, both qualitative and quantitative data analysis procedures shall be used for the data collection plan. To this end, two major data collection instruments shall be designed. These are questionnaire and interview.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Graduation Day Speech Essay Example for Free

Graduation Day Speech Essay April 1, 2007 our graduation day. Our final day in high school. The day weve been waiting for. The day wherein we are going to close another chapter of our lives, to finally cross the line, to reach the stars and sadly, to say goodbye. Four years. Four years of projects, assignments, examinations, bundles of research papers cramming so hard just to pass it on the deadly deadline clearances, and a whole lot more. But then, its still just the first phase, we still need to continue what we have started. And thats the college life. A lot will change, for sure. But the memories, the fun, the experiences It all cant be taken away just like that. High school life is still the best ever. Here, we can feel the hardships, sense of responsibility, the fun of life, the game of love, the puzzle of choices, the mending of heartaches, the signal to move on, the time that we are being pressured, the friends we can talk to, the teachers we once both loved and hated, the events we will never forget. Every start has an end. But hey, the question is: Is this really the end of it? I dont think so. I know that therell be more to come. Â  Think positive always. Set your choices and goals in life on the right track. Cite your target and aim to success! All of these, all of what we have now were made possible by our hard work, the sweat and blood of our parents and the guidance of God. May it be that what we have learned over the past years will mold us to be better people. People who dont just go along with this fast-paced world, but people who see the end of the road clearly. As what Mr. Gasapo said last Friday night, You must have a 20/20 vision. Fellow graduates, that paper your diploma is your key to that dimension. A dimension which will offer a lot of opportunities to choose from. And from these opportunities, will be your life. Live that life. Never waste it. Stand to what you believe in is right, as long as it is really the right one. Show the power of the youth. Dont put yourself down caused by the words of other people. Take it as a challenge in life and say, This will pass. Yes, this will pass. We have passed a lot of controversies. Our unique batch survived and will continue to survive the quest of life. From Qui Seperabit? to Con Brio, we held hands and fought the strong waves. And here we are, with our caps and togas on, ready to pursue what we really wanted. The class prophecy said it all. Who knows? During our alumni homecoming, it might all come true. Today, Ill take this opportunity to plug a website. It is where the farewell speeches of my fellow graduates are posted on. Please, if you have time, visit www.nmaconbrio.tk. With this simple site, may it bring back and reminisce thoughts of high school life to you. Con Brio 2007, we are indeed with vigor and brilliancy. Hold that name wherever you go and be proud! May I request the Con Brio 2007 to please sing with me the first stanza of our class song, Goodbye my Friend. (-) Yes, let us keep the knowledge we have learned. Let us live the dreams we have dreamed of. Let us show the world what we really have. Together, forever, we will stand. We will bid goodbye today, but never will we go away. We will look back to our alma mater for it is here, where it all began. Farewell! Farewell! Hope to see you again in the crossroads of life.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Reason for Pursuing Graduation degree in Heath care Administration Essay Example for Free

Reason for Pursuing Graduation degree in Heath care Administration Essay Each individual has his own reason for pursuing a graduate degree. Professionally, a graduate degree shows that the person has the motivation, ambition, and dedication to improve and thus strive to obtain a position in which s/he can apply and expand his/her knowledge base. The choice to seek additional education after investing four years in an undergraduate degree shows commitment to learning and recognition of self-worth. I chose to pursue a Master’s degree because; I believe that obtaining a graduate degree will definitely make me more marketable in the corporate world. But my main goal is to broaden my horizon beyond the technical world, unlock career aspirations otherwise blocked, and enhance problem-solving and decision-making skills which lead me to do some excellent research base work in future. I am writing this statement in support of my application to study towards the Master of Health Care Administration degree at Worcester State University (WSU). Here the question is why am I pursuing my graduate degree in HCA/Public Health while I did my graduation/ under graduation from Statistics? My answer is, I want to expand my career level in a broad way by opening some more windows and I believe, the public health will be a good choice for one of them. A Healthcare Administration Degree can be utilized in just about any healthcare related occupation, ranging from hospital CEO, to health insurance manager(who need experience of statistics), to public health official(need statistics), to management consultant, health care analysis(need statistics) and more. Getting this degree under my belt now will ensure that I have a plethora of career options later on. I think health care and statistics are just like cousins. In todays world we are faced with situations everyday where statistics can be applied. Statistics can be used to determine the potential outcome of thousands of things where the human mind alone wouldnt be able to. For example- Researchers employ scientific methods to gather data on human population  samples. The health care industry benefits from knowing consumer market characteristics such as age, sex, race, income and disabilities. These demographic statistics can predict the types of services that people are using and the level of care that is affordable to them. Health care administrators refer statistics on service utilization to apply for grant funding and to justify budget expenditures to their governing boards. Quantitative research guides health care decision makers with statisticsnumerical data collected from measurements or observation that describe the characteristics of specific population samples. Descriptive statistics summarize the utility, efficacy and costs of medical goods and services. Increasingly, health care organizations employ statistical analysis to measure their performance outcomes. Hospitals and other large provider service organizations implement data-driven, continuous quality improvement programs to maximize efficiency. Government health and human service agencies gauge the overall health and well-being of populations with statistical information. Moreover, Public Service Leaders work behind the scenes at hospitals and other healthcare facilities to make sure that patients have access to quality health services. They are trained to manage the financial aspects of hospital administration which include creating and managing budgets, conducting financial forecasting exercises to project future growth and expenditures and overseeing the day to day tracking of accounting data. Some of these healthcare business professionals are involved in public service but at a more strategic level as they work to guide policy making decisions for both government agencies and private healthcare service providers. Students pursuing graduate degrees in Healthcare Administration usually are interested in promoting quality healthcare to everyone not only from inside the hospital base as doctor but from the outside in different necessary way. A graduate level Health Administration degree programs are usually filled with courses pertaining to quantitative analysis, probability and statistics and hypotheses testing. So, I believe Students who have interests in learning how to correctly design research studies, applying statistical models using the latest healthcare software tools and interpreting data to contribute to improve healthcare services do well in graduate level health administration coursework.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Employee Retention Strategies in Insurance Sector

Employee Retention Strategies in Insurance Sector Increasing pressures on the corporates to cut the costs, resulting in frequent layoffs and downsizing, diminishing employee loyalty, absence of job security and increasing competition in the hunt for talent etc. are just a few reasons why the process of attracting and retaining talent has become an onerous task more than ever before. As the highly talented workforce in organizations, across various levels, enhances skills and job-hop from one company to another, managers seem to be feeling the heat in countering abnormally high attrition rates. One of the key responsibilities of a manager or supervisor is to get the work done through the employees. Moreover, when we say work, it is not just the basic minimum work to get by, but also those tasks that are accomplished when the employees are highly motivated to succeed, excel in their work, and continue to be committed to the organization. Managers and supervisors indeed find it extremely difficult in keeping their star performers satis fied and not wanting to shift their jobs. Employee retention is important in almost all the cases. It is senseless to allow good people to leave your organization because when they leave, they take away with them the intellectual property, relationships, investments (in both time and money), an occasional employee, or two, and a chunk of the organizations future. Employee Retention Strategies helps organizations provide effective employee communication to improve commitment and enhance workforce support for key corporate initiatives. The insurance sector in India is rising rapidly to bring in growth and employment opportunities. Insurance companies are basically human intensive, and human resources act as an undoubted differentiator. Quality manpower and its retention would act as a Litmus test. Turnover of sales force has been high because of low entry and exit barriers. The paper addresses issues of recruitment, retention, and turnover of sales force in insurance companies. An attempt is made to integrate them to Maslows Need Hierarchy. A survey was conducted among 350 employees who worked in or had left insurance companies to analyze factors that inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uenced their decisions and job satisfaction. The data were treated with factor analysis. Factors such as Safety Security, Social Esteem, and Personal Work Style emerged as the inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uencers to join insurance companies. Primary Needs and Social Self Esteem Needs were the factors associated with job satisfaction; Stress, Career Advancement, and Work Environment emerged as factors for leaving the companies. INTRODUCTION Intense competition and globalization of businesses has put mounting pressure on organizations to deliver more and better than before. Organizations need to develop and deploy human resources that can articulate the vision of the organization and make teams with the synergy to perform at much higher levels. Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets i.e. the people working there, who individually and collectively, contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. The terms human resource management and human resources (HR) have largely replaced the term personnel management as a description of the processes involved in managing people in the organizations. Human resource management is a business practice as well as an academic theory that addresses the practical and theoretical techniques of managing the workforce of an organization. The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and the most important among them is to decide what are the staffing needs of the organization and the ways to fill these needs i.e. whether to hire employees or use independent contractors to hire employees to fill these needs, to recruit and train the best employees, to ensure that they are high performers, to deal with performance issues, and to ensure the organizations personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Managing the organizations approach to employee records, employee compensation and benefits, and personnel policies are also the included activities. The small businesses whether for-profit or nonprofit ones usually have to carry out these activities themselves because they cannot yet afford part- or full-time help. However, it must be ensured by them that the employees are aware of the personnel policies, which confirm to current regulations. The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous changes over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the Personnel Department, mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the HR Department as playing a major role in staffing, training, and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner Human resource builds and drives the knowledge assets of an organization, the value of which has been established to be many times more than the tangibles. In the present scenario, it is becoming important for organizations to focus on finding, developing, and retaining talented employees. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the phenomenon of high employee turnover in the insurance industry and factors that lead to job satisfaction of employees. Researchers have also made an attempt to integrate Maslows Needs Hierarchy to the underlying inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uencers for the sales force of insurance companies to join or leave the organization. The findings may be helpful for the companies to improve retention levels. OBJECTIVES: Employee turnover is a larger problem currently faced by insurance companies, as a major part of their revenue is lost. Analyzing the causes of employee turnover is imperative for insurance companies. An exploratory survey is designed, keeping in mind following objectives: To identify the factors which influence the decision to join the Insurance Industry. To analyze the factors which play a major role in job satisfaction. To identify the factors which influence the high attrition rate. To study and formulate the strategies for employee retention. EMPLOYEE RETENTION OVERVIEW: By looking in a dictionary, we are given that the word retention has synonyms like preservation, maintenance, withholding, and custody. Not just the meaning, the concept has different perceptions for the employees and organizations. Effective employee retention is a systematic effort by employers to create and foster an environment that encourages current employees to remain employed by having policies and practices in place that address their diverse needs. A strong retention strategy becomes a powerful recruitment tool. Retention of key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of any organization. It is a known fact that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, increased product sales, satisfied colleagues, and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply embedded organizational knowledge and learning. Why are we concerned about employee retention now, when we also are talking about a reduced state workforce? The reality of hiring freezes and possibly even layoffs during economic slowdowns means it is critical to focus on retaining and enabling our remaining people to reach peak performance. Lean organizations depend heavily on the performance and quality of current employees. Current employees have specialized, institutional knowledge. Employee retention matters as organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; insecure employees and a costly candidate search are involved. Hence, the failure to retain an important employee is a costly affair for an organization. The importance of retaining the best talent in the organization is usually realized by intelligent employers INDIAN INSURANCE SECTOR AT A GLANCE The insurance sector in India is one of the booming sectors of the economy and is growing at the rate of 15-20% per annum. Together with banking services, it contributes to about 7% of the countrys GDP. The sector has completed a full circle in India from being an open competitive market to nationalization, and back to a liberalized market again. The government of India liberalized the insurance sector in March 2000, lifting all entry restrictions for private players and allowing foreign players to enter the market with some limits on direct foreign ownership. Under the current guidelines, there is a 26% equity cap for foreign partners in an insurance company. There is a proposal to increase this limit to 49%. With several reforms and policy regulations, the Indian Insurance Sector has witnessed tremendous growth in the recent past. According to a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), a growth of over 200% is likely to be seen in Indian insur ance business by 2009-10, in which private insurance business would grow at 140% in view of aggressive marketing techniques. Insurance companies in India are growing vertically and horizontally bringing growth and new employment opportunities. Even after having so many private players in the insurance sector, still the largest company is the government owned, Life Insurance Corporation of India. Insurance sector is an intensively people-oriented business and human resources will be the undoubted differentiator. The quality of work force attracted and retained by insurers and how their abilities and ambitions are harnessed would be the litmus test for the industry. Traditionally, a large number of insurance agents, who work on a commission basis, manage the insurance business. The turnover of insurance agents has usually been high in this business. The insurance sector faces high rates of employee turnover. The highest employee turnover is at the financial advisors (agent) level, where the entry barriers are low but targets and work pressures are very high. The insurance companies in India are: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd HDFC Standard life Insurance Co. Ltd ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd. ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Ltd. Life Insurance Corporation of India Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd Met Life India Insurance Company Ltd. Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited Reliance Life Insurance Company Limited. Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Pvt. Ltd. Shriram Life Insurance Co, Ltd. Sahara India Life Insurance Bharti AXA Life Insurance Future Generali Life Insurance IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Religare Life Insurance DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Agriculture Insurance Company of India Apollo DKV Insurance Cholamandalam MS General Insurance HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company ICICI Lombard General Insurance IFFCO Tokio General Insurance National Insurance Company Ltd New India Assurance Oriental Insurance Company Reliance General Insurance Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Shriram General Insurance Company Limited Tata AIG General Insurance United India Insurance Universal Sompo General Insurance Co. Ltd VIEWS OF RECRUITERS IN INDIAN INSURANCE COMPANIES The attrition rate is about 35% in the first year of recruitment. This goes down to about 18% by the fourth year. Most of those who drop out are non-performers, as told by the Executive Director of the Kotak Mahindra Mutual Life Insurance Company; he attributes it to the high expectations on the part of the agents. Most people think that they can make a lot of money in a short span of time. It is a high-pressure job. Sustenance requires constant networking and acquiring new relationships that requires a lot of discipline. MD Kotak Life Insurance opines that it is a sunrise industry, many people just want to join the race, but cannot retain the enthusiasm till the end of a year. The attrition rate in the industry is pitched between 14% and 38% at this rate; it will soon rival the 50 per cent churn rate of the ITs-BPO sector. Country Manager, Tata AIG, argues that the industry today is more at an attraction stage; insurers are also attracting a lot of talent from banking, Fast Moving C onsumer Goods, BPO-IT industries. Head (hr and Admin, HDFC Standard Life Insurance) stated that attrition rates are at 14% in the industry. Companies have to go beyond building a brand to offer the agents careers and let them grow with the market. While retaining employees may be a problem, attracting fresh talent is still relatively easy. The slowdown in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Consumer Durables sector and people trained by direct marketing companies like Amway and Orflamme, too find a way into selling insurance. Head (hr ICICI Prudential Life Insurance) opines that companies cannot hold on to people, especially among frontline sales force, and this will rise as the market matures, since people are actually experiencing large amount of money coming in. Managing director and CEO (Prudential Life Insurance), the hr challenge is being addressed by offering employees learning and growth opportunities. The company offers opportunities for cross-functional learning, skills and talent development, thereby expanding ones job profile. Further, employees also develop a sense of belongingness with the company. Recruiters explain that high employee turnover rates significantly increase the investments that are made in the employees. The problem of losing funds in employee acquisition is prominent. Companies invest significant amounts of money and time in training in the initial phase; but these investments do not always get converted into actual profits. In the case of the insurance industry, each agent level recruitment costs a company nearly Rs.5000, other associated costs of training and administrative service are also involved. Each agent works in a non-productive or partly productive mode in the organization for nearly the first 2-3 months. An employee leaving the organization within the first 6 months is a bad investment for the company. While most insurers were not willing to share the number of staff members they lost to competitors and other sectors i n recent times, industry sources indicate that newer companies like Reliance, Bharti Axa, IDBI Fortis, Pantaloons-Generali and others have been active in fresh recruitment of officials from established companies like ICICI Prudential Life, Birla Sun Life, HDFC Standard Life. LITERATURE REVIEW Researchers have done a literature review on the issues related to the reasons for and consequences of the employee loss and how the management may deal with turnover in various industries, in order to have a fair understanding of the strategies that can be adopted by the Insurance companies. William J Rothwell (May 2008) in his article, Motivating for Retention refers to motivation as a topic of perennial interest. As organizational leaders begin a war for talent, they need to consider new ways to motivate people to stay. Since much research indicates that people often make decisions to leave because of their supervisors treatment with them, it only makes sense to consider ways of improving managers treatment of workers and this article focuses on that particular issue. While many theories of motivation have been proposed, many managers today are looking for ways to retain their most talented people. One way to do that is to focus attention on how a manager treats the workers. This article also offers some thoughts on what behaviors to examine for improvement and has provided two instruments that may be helpful in doing that. Dongho Kim (2006) in his article Employee Motivation: Just Ask Your Employees says that the imperative need of discovering, comprehending and implementing employee motivation has been a principal concern for organizations, managers and even first line supervisors, as employee motivation has been and will be the deciding factor in work performance as well as the success or failure of an organization. The purpose of this paper is to re-emphasize and analyze the necessary components of employee motivation so that the contemporary managers, especially those who are inexperienced, can enhance their knowledge and understanding of employee motivation. If a company knows as to why its employees come to work on time, stay with the company for their full working lives, and are productive, then the company may be able to ensure that all of their employees behave that way. The priorities of employee motivational factors change over time, and there is more than one reason why these changes occur. The reasons may be the economic conditions, change of the working environment or industries, labor market conditions, industry competitions, change in the workers attitude etc. An organization must realize that the employee motivation and its process are there to motivate its employees, and hence, the employee input must be valued and included throughout this process. In todays knowledge-based economy, the most challenging task before a HR Manager is to motivate and retain employees. Though various attempts have been made in this direction, there has not been much of success and no one knows as to what exactly is the route to employees heart. Sanjeev Sharma (22 July 2006), in his article, A Right Way to Motivate an Employee is to Win his Heart, focuses on the reasons why motivation is ignored even though it is of greater significance motivation is intangible, drives all human actions, can be observed but not measured and is lost in a twilight zone; he compares motivation to that of a pop-up fly ball which can fall into cracks, if not handled or played effectively. Further, he explains the need for motivation and profile 10 areas that powerfully impact motivation which include economic rewards, promotion and transfers, opportunity to grow, challenging and stimulating work, autonomy, leadership, informal psychic rewards, goals and fun. Helping the management team optimize employees emotions will enable the organization to make significant impact on the primary sources of competitive advantage in todays market place. Beach, Brereton, and Cliff (2003) in their article Workforce turnover in FIFO mining operations in Australia: An exploratory study. examined that the term turnover refers to employee movements that create vacancies within an organizational unit. These vacancies may be the result of resignations, transfers, retirements, dismissals, or the completion of fixed term contracts. Jyothi and Venkatesh (2006), in their book Human Resource Management, have told that the application of skill or competence leads to performance and performance is the criterion for evaluating effectiveness. Therefore, a pay-for-competence program enhances productivity and product quality, reduces absenteeism, turnover, and accident rates. Campbell and Baldwin(1993), in their article Recruitment difficulties and skill shortages: an analysis of labor market information in Yorkshire and Humberside, suggest that in many industrialized countries there is a concern that skills shortages and mismatches are appearing in the labor market and that policy makers are aware that recruitment difficulties and skill shortages may reduce the competitiveness of small and large firms. Islam and Rasad (2006) in their article, Employee performance evaluation by the AHP: A case study, studies that employee performance appraisal has been practiced by numerous organizations since centuries. Though performance appraisal system has been debated by many, however, overall, it is viewed that performance appraisal is an inseparable part of organizational life. Wu (2005), in his article A DEA approach to understanding the performance of Taiwans steel industries 1970-1996, mentions performance management as a complex problem and it involves various kinds of judgments about which performance measure to use. Evaluation scores depend upon these criteria heavily. Hale (1998) in his article Strategic rewards: Compensation and benefits management. stated that employers cited recruitment costs of 50% to 60% of an employees first years salary and up to 100% for certain specialized, high-skill positions. Bowen and Shuster (1986) in their article American professors: A national resource imperiled. stated that while all constituting elements of an organization are important for its success, it is its enhanced ability to attract and retain the best quality talent that separates it from the others. Abbasid and Holman (2000) in their article Turnover: The real bottom-line. Public Personnel Management sought to determine the impact of employee turnover on an organization and found that excessive employee turnover often engenders far-reaching consequences and at the extreme may jeopardize efforts to attain the organizational objectives. Elangovan (2001) in his article Casual ordering of stress, satisfaction and commitment, and intention to quit: A structural equation analysis. has argued that there is a reciprocal link between organizational commitment and turnover intention, i.e. lower commitment increases turnover intention, which lowers commitment further. Abdul Rahman, Raza Naqvi, and Ismail Ramay (2008) in their article Measuring turnover intention: A study of it professionals in Pakistan. revealed that job satisfaction and organizational commitment had a negative effect on turnover intentions, whereas perceived alternative job opportunities had a significant positive correlation with turnover intentions and is the major factor associated with turnover intention among it Professionals in Pakistan. Van Dick et al. (2004) in their article Should I stay or should I go? Explaining turnover intentions with organizational identification and job satisfaction. have also identified job satisfaction as a predictor of turnover intention; however, they argue that it is a mediating variable between organizational identification and turnover intention. According to their study, organizational identification feeds into job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts turnover intention. Gomez-Mejia, Balkin and Cardy (2003) in their article Managing Human Resources have analyzed that socialization is the process of orienting new employees to the organization or the unit in which they will be working. Socialization can make the difference between a new workers feeling like an outsider and feeling like the member of the team. Zheng and Lamond (2009) in their article Forthcoming Organizational determinants of employee turnover for multinational companies in Asia. found out that training, size, length of operation and the nature of the industry are significantly related to turnover. Determining what constitutes high turnover is a complex issue, because there is no simple linear relationship between turnover rates and the social and/or economic performance of companies. Issues ranging from poor job fit, lack of recognition or support from senior management, uncertainty about the organizations future and poor management communication are some of the reasons why people start looking for other opportunities. Reasons that can be attributed to high employee turnover in the insurance sector are: Being an insurance agent in India is seen as a societal stigma as there is uncertainty of job and income attached to it. People join insurance companies as a part time job or a gap filler occupation and not as a long-term career. Very few competent people want to become agents owing to low social status attached to it. It is a high-pressure job. It is expected from an agent to understand the customers needs and sell the products accordingly. This process involves a high level of persuasion and a sustained effort for a long period. A lot of people succumb to such pressures. The expectation achievement gap adds to the turnover. Many people are lured to the profession with a high earning potential. However, to earn a decent income, agents require a lot of patience, perseverance, and persuasion in the field. During early phase, the earnings of the agents are low despite hard work. This expectation achievement gap leads many of them to break down in the initial period of joining the profession. Scarce skilled or experienced human resource in insurance market leads to wide scale poaching and head hunting amongst the competitors. The industry has yet to witness mature hr processes, like work force planning, training, motivation, and retention. The lack of preplanned recruitment leads the firms to indulge in poaching human resources working in other insurance firms. With insurers having a high percentage of the workforce from multiple sectors (non-domain), the chances of losing employees to other fields, like Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies or other financial outfits, are high. Employee Turnover is perhaps paid the least attention among various employees issues. It is shrugged off as inevitable. Few companies take a proactive approach towards reducing employee turnover. It always includes substantial costs of replacing the key employee who fall into the category of high performers. Replacing includes the costs of recruitment advertisement, referral bonuses, selection testing, training costs, etc. Moreover, turnover results in loss of time and efforts, low productivity, loss of morale, loss of knowledge and so on. DEALING WITH EMPLOYEE TURNOVER Organizations that keep the front line staff motivated and equip them with the right tools are most likely to enjoy long-term superior performance (Rogers and Peccoud 2005). The challenge of creating a dynamic, enthusiastic, motivated front line environment is an opportunity in disguise for organizations. Organizations need employees who are committed, à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡exible, and ready to participate in decision-making. Retaining such employees in the organizations is becoming imperative in todays competitive environment. Behavioral research studies show that all human activities including jobs are directed towards satisfying certain needs. Patterns of individual behavior and motivation differ, because individuals seek to fulfill different sets of needs in different ways as adopted from their environmental and social backgrounds. Maslow (1943) propounded the Hierarchy of Needs theory originally applied as a general theory of psychological motivation. However, the usefulness of its the oretical model was adopted by organizational theorist McGregor in 1960, who applied Maslows theory in the work place. Later on, the Hierarchy of Needs theory has been adopted and incorporated into applications in many areas in business (Shoura and Singh 1998). In the management field, it is an effective approach towards understanding motivation. Motivation is connected to several levels of the needs hierarchy of human beings. Appreciation, love, respect and fulfilling work are several motivators other than monetary benefits that an individual looks for. An attempt is made in the paper to align Maslows Hierarchy of needs to the findings of the survey to offer a better understanding of employee turnover. Maslow suggests that each individual aspires for a higher-level unfulfilled need once they have gratified the lower order need. An individuals level of aspirations rise when needs on lower levels are satisfied. The lower four layers of the pyramid are called deficiency needs or D-needs, physiological, safety and security, love and belongingness and esteem. With the exception of the lowest layer of physiological needs, if these deficiency needs are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tensed. Various levels of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs are analyzed  in the perspective of insurance agents: PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: These include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, including the need for water, air, food, and sleep. These needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy. All other needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met. In the perspective of insurance agents, these needs are addressed by the compensation plan. Insurance companies primarily work on incentive-based compensation plans, which lead to income uncertainties. An employee looks forward to a sufficient compensation structure, which would take care of all of his/her basic physiological needs. A robust, safe, and easy to understand compensation plan may retain employees who are striving to materialize their physiological needs. It is necessary for the companies to update the compensation plan with time, so that it fulfills the physiological needs of the individual and his/her family at different stages of their lives. SAFETY NEEDS: Such needs are important for survival, but they are not as demanding as the physiological needs. Desire for steady employment, health insurance, safe neighborhoods, and shelter from the environment could be a few. There are two aspects of the security, which would concern a person in the insurance business. One is the personal physical security while on field; and the psychological fear of job security with high targets is the second. SOCIAL NEEDS: Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belongingness. This need of an individual gets highly affected in insurance companies predominantly. Individuals do not gain a high status in society, which is attributed to the social stigma of being an insurance agent, and big target pressure causes separation from ones family, friends, and relatives. Employees have been found complaining about not being able to spend ample time with their family and friends. The insurance companies may compensate for this by creating a fun-filled work environment and developing a conducive work environment. Teambuilding initiatives can be taken by mangers to inculcate the sense of belongingness. NEEDS FOR ESTEEM: A normal human desires to be accepted and valued by others. People engage themselves to gaining recognition, attaining a sense of contribution, feeling accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. Those working as employees in an insurance company are viewed as people of comparatively less ability. The attitude is developed due to mass recruitment undertaken by insurance firms, where not much focus is placed on selecting suitable candidates. This diminution in esteem leads to leaving the industry on getting a better opportunity. Many companies are focusing on creating a positive image of the industry by using the media, though much is yet to be done. Measures like change in job title and nature of the job could be positive steps in this direction. As the industry matures, the positioning needs a change from being a mere moneymaker option to an industry that provides learni ng and high growth opportunities. NEED FOR SELF-ACTUALIZATION: Maslow describes self-actualization as a persons need to be and do what he/she was born to do. These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. A person

Thursday, September 19, 2019

My Philosophy of Education Essay -- Philosophy on Education Statement

Philosophy On Education: My Beliefs Students are the key to our future. In order for them to make sound decisions in life they must be able to understand the consequences for the choices they make. My goal as a teacher will be to make sure they receive the knowledge to make those decisions. I want to be a teacher so that I can mold students to be intelligent, productive citizens in our society. I want to be a role model, someone children can look up to and emulate. I believe I am worthy and capable of being a teacher because I am intelligent, compassionate, and of high moral character. I believe I can encourage students to become the best person they can be. To achieve these goals, there are factors I need to consider, such as: what type of learning environment I will provide for the students, what teaching methods will I incorporate, and whom will my students be. The students’ learning environment is an important factor to their success. I want to encourage both group and solitary learning. The desks will be arranged in groups of two and will promote a buddy system in the classroom. My buddy system is designed to give students the opportunity to interact with others outside their usual clique. I believe this system will encourage students to become acquainted with new people and new ideas. I also want a classroom with windows. That way, the students could have plants to tend. I believe the plants would promote responsibility and serve as a year round science project. Bulletin boards would not reflect the students’ grade level, but instead they would represent something a bit more advanced. Hopefully, these bulletin boards will stimulate questions, peak curiosity, and get students prepared for advanced subj... ...ds cannot get the one on one care he/she deserves in a large classroom. I would be willing to include students with severe disabilities for some of the activities. However, someone trained in the field of special education will be better equipped and more qualified to teach those students than myself. To sum it up, my philosophy about education is centered on the students. The classroom will reflect an open, collective, yet challenging environment. I will employ any teaching technique necessary to motivate, encourage and assist my students in achieving their academic best. I want all my students to have an equal opportunity to succeed; therefore, I will strive for fairness in testing, grading and classroom accommodations. Above all, it is my ultimate goal to provide the students with the capability and the knowledge that they will need to succeed in life.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Schizophrenia and Involuntary Treatment in the Case of Malka Magnesia E

1 Introduction Malka Magnesia, a second year political science student with an A average, suddenly re-pairs to the attic of her parents’ home and refuses to go to school or to work. She explains that she has been ordered by her â€Å"superiors† in another galaxy simply to sit and repent. Her distraught family pleads with her to seek medical assistance but she refuses on the grounds that her â€Å"superiors† consider her â€Å"unworthy†. The family psychiatrist advises that exposure to some of the modern drugs has been known to reduce such schizophrenic symptoms within a period of weeks. To what extent, if at all, should the law permit the involuntary hospitalization and drug treatment of Malka Magnesia? To what extent, if at all, would it make any difference if she suddenly went into the streets and started giving to total strangers, large sums of money from her inheritance, because, again, it was ordered by her â€Å"superiors†? And, to what ex-tent would it make any difference if, for the same reasons, she began to fast? To whatever extent you would permit some form of coercion, spell out the criteria and safeguards, which should apply. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: In the next section, the three different stages of Malka Magnesia’s illness are examined regarding the question whether she should be involuntarily hospitalized and medicated. In the last section of this paper, the main find-ings are summarized. 2 Three different â€Å"stages† of Malka Magnesia’s illness 2.1 Malka secludes to the attic The first stage of Malka’s illness, in which she secludes herself in the attic and refuses to go to neither school or work, at first glance seems rather harmless: It is mentioned that she is a political science student with an A... ...lized indefinitely (cf. Gray/O’Reilly 2009). This would be indeed akin to being incarcerated for the rest of her life, something usually reserved for serious criminal offenders. Only her treatment would probably improve her condition insofar that she will be able to be released. All in all, this alternative seems worse than involuntary medication. Works Cited Department of Justice (2010): Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_I. (Last retrieved: December 7th, 2010). Gray, J. /O'Reilly, R. (2009): Supreme court of Canada's "Beautiful Mind" case. In: International journal of law and psychiatry, Vol. 32, Issue 5, pp. 315-322. Gupta, M. (2001): Treatment refusal in the involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric population: Canadian policy and practice. In: Medicine and Law, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 245-265.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Leibniz: Theory of Monads

Introduction Whether ultimately correct or not, Leibniz rejects both Cartesianism and atomism. What ought not be missed is that throughout his objections Leibniz's focus never strays far from the mereological issues of wholes, parts, their unity, etc. Indeed, the very nature of his arguments against the mechanist project clearly demonstrate Leibniz's underlying concern for the problem of the continuum, which seems never very far from his mind. (Thompson) In rejecting Cartesianism, Leibniz's concern is with its inability to make sense of the whole, except at the expense of the reality of the parts. In rejecting atomism, his concern is with its inability to make sense of the parts, except at the expense of the unity of the whole. Neither can provide illumination sufficient to escape from the second labyrinth, and the entire mechanist project therefore finds itself impaled effectively on both horns of a dilemma. Since the problem of the continuum has so much relevance to the unity of substance, Leibniz considers mechanist philosophy inadequate. (Brown) Remaining entirely in character, it should not be surprising that Leibniz's own metaphysics is most fundamentally an attempt to reconcile the mechanistic philosophy to that of Aristotle. He attempts to take the best of each of these two systems and synthesize a new theory that manages to escape their individual defects. (Thompson)   Monads are the unit of substance which supposedly bridge the gap between the old and the new, and plug the holes in mechanist theories. Thus, it is with this in mind that his argument for the existence of monads must be examined, for it is the very heart of Leibniz's theory of substance. At the core of Leibniz's metaphysics one finds monads, which are dimensionless and â€Å"windowless† centers of force, the true substances that comprise the created universe. Infinite hierarchies of monads populate the continuum of all created things, each one mirroring the rest of the universe from its own unique point of view, expressing every other monad with a greater or lesser degree of clarity. Monads are the â€Å"metaphysical points†, so to speak, which are the indivisible, unified, and simple substances that are the foundation of the created world. (Mercer) Distinguishing Features of Leibniz's Ontology There are two particularly significant distinguishing features of Leibniz's ontology as a whole. In brief, Leibniz's ontology remains as true to his desire to be the great reconciler as it does to his expectations for substance, epistemology, and the problem of the continuum. This ought not be forgotten amidst the details that follow. Monads are a Synthesis of Old and New It is not surprising, in light of Leibniz's reconciliatory nature, that monads bear hallmarks of both Aristotelian and mechanistic philosophy. In terms of the former, they do the work of substantial forms, possessing an entelechy which guarantees that they unfold through time as they ought. In terms of the latter, they do the work of atoms, explaining how features in the phenomenal world (i.e., the macro-level world) come about as a result of changes of state in the real world of monads (i.e., the micro-level world). The monad is, by its very definition, designed to leverage the strengths of the two opposing theories, while simultaneously inheriting none of their defects. (Mercer) From this it is clear that Leibniz's theory of substance is determined by his expectations, and by the perceived failures of mechanism. In assembling it, Leibniz borrows liberally from what he considers the best features of the old and the new. Regarding those aspects in which Leibniz finds either of them inadequate, he crafts his own philosophy so that it avoids said inadequacies, essentially by definition. Qualitative, not Quantitative What is arguably most interesting and quite unique about this synthesis of systems is the shift in focus. To elucidate, Leibniz sees the mechanist philosophy as a fundamentally quantitative and extensive endeavor. The Cartesian defines the very essence of body as extension, which is quantitative in its extensive nature. Similarly, the atomist cannot help but construct the macro-level world by aggregation, through the grouping of many extended entities in the micro-level world, which is also quantitative by nature. Both variants of mechanism therefore sustain a quantitative and extensive view of the relationships between wholes and parts, explaining or reducing qualitative features of the macro-level world in light of or to quantitative features of the micro-level world. (Mercer) Given the problems he finds with quantitative theories, Leibniz concludes that that the correct theory must instead be uniquely qualitative and intensive, rather than quantitative and extensive, and this unique notion is given flesh along very Aristotelian lines. Latta (1965) provides the following apt description: Accordingly, the essence of Leibniz's argument is that a quantitative conception of the relation of whole and parts affords an inadequate theory of substance. The common element in the contrary positions of the Cartesians and the Atomists is the explicit or implicit reduction of qualitative to quantitative differences. And it appears to Leibniz that the solution of the dilemma is to be found in the opposite hypothesis, namely, that the essence of substance is non-quantitative, and that the relation of whole and parts must be conceived as intensive rather than extensive. Thus a ‘simple substance' has no parts, i.e. no quantitative elements, and yet it must comprehend a manifold in unity; that is to say, it must be real, it must be something, it must be qualitative, specifically determined. (p. 27). The suggested intensive view of the relations between parts and wholes is noteworthy for its novelty if nothing else. What Leibniz seems to have in mind is that the parts of a whole somehow â€Å"participate† in that whole, and similarly that the whole somehow â€Å"participates† in all of its parts. The nature of this participation isn't entirely clear, but it is certain that the conception Leibniz holds is not the traditional understanding of the part-whole relation. There is something deeper at work here, some understanding that is intended to allow both the parts and the whole to remain distinct and unified, the parts in themselves and the whole through its special relationship to the parts. (Thompson) What Leibniz seeks is some sense in which the whole somehow mirrors or expresses all of its parts, containing within itself the explanation for why the parts are precisely as they are. And similarly, the parts must somehow mirror or express the larger whole as well, containing within themselves their explanations, while also mirroring the explanation of the whole, albeit with a lesser degree of clarity. The important degree of mutual inter-participation is what is key to the more organic or holistic relationship Leibniz intends. (Swoyer) Despite the present vagueness, however, this much remains clear: Leibniz believes that the part-whole relation in genuine unities must be something far more special than other philosophical systems have taken it to be. Leibniz's use of monads is therefore intended not only to reconcile Aristotle with the mechanists, but also to lay the groundwork necessary to make such a special relationship logically possible and plausible. (Thompson) The Argument From â€Å"The Monadology† In the first few sentences of â€Å"The Monadology†, Leibniz gives one formulation of his argument for the existence of monads, a formulation which might be described most charitably as terse. Though this is not the only argument Leibniz gives for monads, it is probably the most well known. As early as 1671, for example, Leibniz argues for monads qua indivisible unextended things, though in a much different fashion involving the proper beginnings of extended entities. (1969, p. 139-140) Because his earlier argument is even more terse than the later argument it shall not be discussed any further. It is worth mentioning only because its similarities mark it as a clear precursor for Leibniz's later thinking on the subject. Further, Leibniz claims elsewhere that the existence of monads may be inferred from his doctrine of the pre-established harmony, though his reasons for this remain obscure. (1985, p.80) Returning to the better known argument of â€Å"The Monadology†, while it would be unreasonable to fault Leibniz for his brevity in making the argument, it is nevertheless the case that much remains to be said before the argument can be accepted, rejected, or even understood adequately. Because the monad is at the very heart of Leibniz's metaphysics, one might reasonably expect a more complete formulation of his argument to be possible, just as one might expect Leibniz's critics to focus their attacks upon that argument if monads qua simple substances are to be rejected. For the purposes of this essay, it is necessary to understand this argument and the issues underlying it in order to make clear precisely how Leibniz takes the monad to be united and simple. The following is Leibniz's argument for the existence of monads as given in â€Å"The Monadology†: The Monad, of which we shall here speak, is nothing but a simple substance, which enters into compounds. By ‘simple' is meant ‘without parts.' 2.  Ã‚   And there must be simple substances, since there are compounds; for a compound is nothing but a collection or aggregatum of simple things. (1989, p.213) Common Sense Observations Relevant Observations For Leibniz, the observations relevant to a theory of substance are those of entities in the world. As established already, Leibniz simply looks at the world and takes inventory of what he sees. Among the entities perceived he finds what might be called â€Å"macro entities† of a relatively mundane variety such as tables, chairs, rocks, streams, etc., as well as perhaps not so mundane macro entities such as plants, animals and persons. With the aid of the microscope, one may similarly perceive â€Å"micro entities† both mundane (e.g., crystals) and not so mundane (e.g., unicellular organisms). Further, with the aid of a telescope, one may perceive entities at the large end of the macro scale, if not, in fact, objects of an altogether different order of size. (Mercer) There are two primary points of interest as regards this body of observations. The first is that each entity, because it has extension, is divisible into parts. The second is that despite this divisibility into parts, the entities in question are more or less unities in some sense; i.e., each entity is numerically one, and it is what it is rather than something else. To put these two points a bit differently, this body of observations indicates that for all such objects there seems to be a unified whole, just as there seems also to be discernable parts, which are similarly real and unified. A third less interesting but important point is that in each case one seems to find entities at every scale. No matter how high one turns up the telescope or the microscope, one never reaches the end of things. Wherever one looks, one finds worlds within worlds. Existing Theories This body of observations requires explanation. More to the point, Leibniz takes this body of observations to require an explanation in terms of some sort of substance. In virtue of what is it the case that some particular entity is a whole? In virtue of what is it the case that the parts of that entity are themselves both unified and real? Further, what relations are sustained between the wholes and their parts? And finally, what conclusions may be drawn more generally once answers to these questions have been established? These are the sorts of questions Leibniz has in mind when considering existing theories. A successful theory must address them adequately without falling into either internal conceptual contradiction or external contradiction. That is, the theory must cohere with the present body of observations, just as its predictions (if any may be made) must also cohere with both present and future observations. (Thompson) In terms of evaluating mechanist theories, there are only two that Leibniz takes as plausible candidates, Cartesianism and atomism. As established already, Leibniz considers both of these views to be inadequate for explaining the body of observations under consideration. Having already examined Leibniz's reasons for rejecting these systems in some detail we may move directly to the next step, which involves synthesizing a new theory that avoids the inadequacies of mechanism while embracing its strengths. A Novel Theory of Substance If both ends of the spectrum of mechanist philosophy are unacceptable, then why not head for the middle? Leibniz is convinced of unities in the world because of a wealth of observations, and he believes both the Cartesians and the atomists to be unable to explain such unities with their theories. (Thompson, p. 24-6) What is needed according to Leibniz is a theory whose fundamental unit of substance is both real and indivisible. It must be real for the obvious reason that it simply will not do to explain what does exist by appeal to what does not, and it must be indivisible in such a fashion that it may explain the genuine unity of the observed entities in the world. Further, it must provide a qualitative and intensive, rather than quantitative and extensive, construal of the part-whole relation, as previously discussed. Leibniz concludes, therefore, that what is needed is a new, basic unit of substance:  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦physical points are indivisible only in appearance; mathematical points are exact, but they are merely modalities. Only metaphysical points or points of substance (constituted by forms or souls) are exact and real, and without them there would be nothing real, since without true unities there would be no multitude. (1989, 142) This conclusion, which lays the foundation for the development of the remainder of Leibniz's metaphysics, owes its support to the two factors given earlier as motivations. Most central to it is the fundamental assumption that monadic unity is necessary â€Å"at bottom† for the production of all compound things. In light of this, it is possible to summarize the more complete formulation of Leibniz's argument for monads as follows: P1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Common sense observations show that real, unified entities exist. P2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is real may be explained only by appeal to something real. P3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is unified may be explained only by appeal to something indivisible. C  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Therefore, the explanation for such entities in the world must involve real and indivisible substances, namely, monads. This bears little relation, prima facie, to the less detailed argument given in the first two sections of â€Å"The Monadology†, but it is nevertheless reducible to that argument. P1 amounts to nothing more than the initial premise that compounds exist. P2 and P3 do not appear at all in â€Å"The Monadology†, but it is tolerably clear from the preceding discussion that these principles are indeed assumed by Leibniz. Finally, the conclusion is just a restatement of the conclusion that monads exist. Again, to restate the argument more succinctly: compounds exist, therefore simples exist. The remainder of Leibniz's metaphysical deductions in â€Å"The Monadology† follow from this more complete formulation at least as well as they follow the abbreviated version. Because monads must be both real and indivisible, Leibniz may argue that they can have neither extension nor form and must therefore be immaterial. Because they cannot be divided, Leibniz may still maintain that they cannot go out of existence in any natural way, by the dissolution of parts. Similarly, they cannot come into existence in any natural way, by the aggregation of parts, and so forth. Thus, this more complete formulation of the argument acts as a â€Å"drop in replacement† for its far more concise sibling. Conclusion To summarize, Leibniz's argument for monads is an enthymeme, an argument with an implied premise. Examining the logical derivation suggests a line of thought that Leibniz's other writings explicitly affirm, namely, that there is no reality without unity. With this additional premise in hand, the argument for monads is rendered formally valid. What's more, this additional premise provides a starting point for untangling the issues previously suggested as problems for monadic simplicity. The close tie between reality and unity prompts one to consider what Leibniz means by ‘simple' in a different light. It seems that what he intends in his argument for monads is not merely that they have no parts, but rather that they also include a kind of indivisibility, an inability to be divided in any way that destroys them. If there is no reality without unity, then things that are fatally separable and thus not unified are not intrinsically real. The relation between reality and unity helps suggest the fatal inseparability criterion for simplicity. Further, it also seems that mereological simplicity and fatal inseparability are but negative entailments of a more positive construal of simplicity, namely, ontological simplicity. A thing is ontologically simple if it stands alone, or described negatively if it is self sufficient in the sense that it bears no internal relations of ontological dependence to any other thing. Such an understanding of simplicity resolves the problems raised previously for the mereological construal, helps to make sense of Leibniz's argument for monads, and coheres nicely with the various other texts in which Leibniz uses the term. References Brown, Stuart. The Young Leibniz and His Philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer AcademicPublishers, 1999. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1969) Philosophical Papers and Letters, 2d ed. Translated and edited by Leroy E. Loemker. Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company, Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1985) Theodicy. Translated by E. M. Huggard, edited by Austin Farrer. Open Court Publishing Company. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1965) The Monadology and other Philosophical Writings. Translated and edited by Robert Latta. London: Oxford University Press. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. (1989) Philosophical Essays. Translated and edited by Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Mercer, Christia. Leibniz's Metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Swoyer, Chris. (1995) Leibnizian Expression. Journal of the History of Philosophy 33 (1), 65-99. Thompson, Garrett. On Leibniz. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2001.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Christine Taylor Succeed

How did Christine Taylor succeed in evolving the local dog-washing service she developed as a teenager into an international franchise business? Christine Taylor grew up as a child in a physical environment that allowed her to succeed. She worked in a bait and tackle business that was owned by her parents in which the only thing acceptable was hard work. This environment allowed her to study hard in school and create a drive within her to succeed. Through her studies and research, you decided that she wanted her business model to be a franchise with Aussie Pooch Mobile.Christine felt that this will be the best way to grow and expand her business. She also knew that there is a market for her mobile dog wash business but it required bringing on the right people (franchisees), with a good business model that was low in fees and the processes & training offered by APM. She also believed that focused in a niche business and a great promotional strategy will allow Aussie Pooch Mobile to at tract customers as well as new franchisees. Her use of designing the trailers to be a moving billboard will give her great word of mouth advertising.The process and design of her business will enable franchisees to deliver both quality & efficient dog washing service. In planning for future expansion, what strategy should Christine Taylor adopt for APM and why? Australia is a large territory that will have pockets in which the population is very dense. Christine Taylor’s Aussie Pooch Mobile concept will only succeed in geographical areas that are highly populated and modernized. In order for her franchisees to have utilities hook up for water & electricity, she realizes that she must expand to suburban type landscapes.Being in a populated area, this will allow word of mouth advertising that will foster new and repeat customers. Having the potential to make money will attract and recruit new franchisees to buy into APM’s concept. In looking at the charts provided, there is a lot of opportunity for APM to grow and expand successfully. However, they will need to move quickly because there are 19 other companies that offer comparable services that may seize the opportunity of growth first. Christine should first target the two larger populated areas than Queensland which will be New South Wales & Victoria.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Internal Control

What is internal control and why is it important The American Institute of Accountants first defined the term internal control in 1949, followed by further clarifications in 1958 and 1972. In 1977 publicly held companies came under legislation to adequately implement controls to protect their financial information. A report by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations in 1992 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are more recent documents defining internal controls. ( Bishop, 1991,p. 117-123; Colbert and Bowen, 1996, 26-35)This essay will describe and explain the internal control and discuss why is it important.There are five points about the importance of internal control, which respectively are Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Control Activities, Communication and Information and Monitoring. There are two definitions about internal control . Frist, internal control the integration of the activities, plans, attitudes, policies, and efforts of the employees of a department working together to provide reasonable assurance that the department will achieve its mission. More simply, internal control is what a department does to see that the things they want to happen will happen and the evidences they don’t want to happen would not happen. Manea Birza,2012,p. 75)Second, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)(2005) has claimed that internal control is process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel ,designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in the following thing: effectiveness and efficiency of operations and reliability of financial reporting. One of important reason of why is it significant that is control environment.The control environment, sometimes referred to as â€Å"tone at the top†, is the foundation for all other components of internal control. The control environment is influenced by management’s philosophy, opera ting style, integrity, ethical values, and commitment to competence. If this foundation is strong, if the control environment is positive, the overall system of internal control will be more effective, because the control environment component is the foundation upon which all other components of internal control are based, and it sets the tone of an organization.A small business can have unique advantages in establishing a strong control environment. Employees in many smaller businesses interact more closely with top management and are directly influenced by management actions. Through day-to-day practices and actions, management can effectively reinforce the company’s fundamental values and directives. The close working relationship also enables senior management to quickly recognize when employee’s actions need modification. (Ratcliffe, 2005,p209 and Chunk landes,2009,p56) Two of important reason of why internal control is important that is risk assessment.Risk asses sment is the identification, analysis, and management of risks relevant to the achievement of the department’s goals and objectives. Risks include internal and external events or events that may occur and adversely affect oppositions. Once risks are identified, management should consider their impact or significance, the probability of their occurrence, and how to manage them. ( Spencer Pickett and Pickett , 2010)Risk assessment, as it relates to the objective of reliable financial reporting, involve identification and analysis of the risks of material misstatement .Establishment of financial reporting objectives articulated by a assessment process. Risk assessment in small businesses can be relatively efficient , often because in-depth knowledge of the company’s operations enables the owner and management to have first-hand information of where risk exist. In carrying out their normal responsibilities, including obtaining information gained from employees, customers, supplier, and others, these managers identify risks inherent in business processes. ( Ratcliffe, 2005)In this way ,the risk assessment is quiet significant for company or enterprise.Three of important reason of why internal control is important that is control activities. Internal control activities are tools – policies, procedures, techniques, and mechanisms – that help ensure management’s directives are carried out. Control activities help identify, prevent or reduce the risks that can impede accomplishment of the department's objectives. Control activities occur throughout the department, at all levels and in all functions; they include activities such as approvals, authorizations, verifications, reconciliations, documentation, separation of duties, and safeguarding of assets. Root,1998) Many smaller companies use certain compensating controls to achieve the objectives, when resource constraints compromise the ability to segregate duties. They help ensure tha t necessary actions are taken to address risks to a achievement of the entity’s objectives. Control activities occur throughout the organization at all levels and in all functions. (Ratcliffe, 2005 and Chuck Landes, 2009)Control activities are one of most important in internal control.Four of important reason of why internal control is important that is Communication and Information. Information systems identify, capture, and distribute information supporting the achievement of financial reporting objectives. Information systems is small businesses are likely to less formal than in large ones, but their role is just as significant. (Chuck Landes, 2009) For a department to run and control its operations, it must have relevant, valid, reliable, and timely communications relating to internal and external events.Managers must be able to secure reliable information to make informed business decisions, understand their risks, and communicate policies and other important information to those who need it. (Rezaee, 2002)so, it is also integrant for internal control. Finally, monitoring is most significant for internal control’s reason why is it important. The department’s internal control system needs to be monitored to assess whether controls are effective and operating as intended.Monitoring occurs through routine managerial activities such as supervision, reconciliations, checklists, comparisons, performance evaluations, and status reports; monitoring may also occur through separate internal evaluations example internal audits/reviews or from use of external sources example comparison to peer groups or industry standards, surveys. Deficiencies found during monitoring need to be reported to those responsible for the function, with serious deficiencies being reported to top management. (Rezaee, 2002, p. 07) Committee Of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission have suggested that senior executives have long sought ways to better control the enterprises they run. Internal controls are put in place to keep the company on course toward profitability objects and achievement of its task, and to least loss. (Spencer Pickett, 2005) It reveals the important of monitoring. In conclusion, there are many beneficial point to prove internal control is important because Pickett (2010) consider that the overall purpose of internal control is to help a department achieve its mission and reach certain goals and objectives.An effective internal control system helps a department to promote orderly, economical, efficient and effective operations and produce quality products and services consistent with the department’s mission and safeguard resources against loss due to waste, abuse, mismanagement, errors and fraud and promote adherence to statutes, regulations, bulletins and procedures and develop and maintain reliable financial and management data, and accurately report that data in a timely manner.Therefore, in many countries, internal control is very popular in different company or different government; however, it is not available in all of situations, because whether an organization achieves operational and strategic objectives may depend on factors outside the company, such as competition or technological innovation. These factors are outside the scope of internal control; therefore, effective internal control provides only timely information or feedback on progress towards the achievement of operational and strategic objectives, but cannot guarantee their achievement. ( Rezaee,2002)