Reflection Paper for Leadership Class

In today’s society the success of business and personal life of a person depends on the attitude and how he or she handles challenges of life and opportunities it may bring. One of the important things about working together rather it’s in a workplace, school setting, or family is to know what it takes to work successfully in a team. Excellent teamwork, collaboration, good communication, positive attitudes, and adaptable personalities assist in motivating people, greater self-confidence and increased self-esteem.All of these traits combined together provide an effective tool for the success in the work force, sports, extra curricular activities, and in a person’s personal life to name a few. I participated in the DISC Behavioral Assessment in order to further understand my personal strengths and weaknesses so I can meet the demands of my environments better. The report measured how I respond to problems and challenges, how I influence others to my point of view, my response to the pace of the environment I’m in, and how I respond to rules and procedures set by others.The report states that it measures and analyzes normal behavioral style, a person’s manner of doing things. The assessment only took about 10 minutes and had me rate sequences of four words with one word describing me the most and one word describing me the least. The assessment describes my natural behavior as being nonjudgmental, open, patient, and tolerant of differences. Being receptive and listening well, helps me to excel in gathering information. However, having my mind changed is sometimes difficult.The assessment also states that I can be spontaneous and casual in familiar circumstances. I win through hard work and persistence. I like to stay with one task until it is completed. Also being stated is that I am considered to be people-oriented. I don’t resist change as much as I resist being changed. I want to be a responsible person and will avoid b ehavior that is seen by others as irresponsible. I am persistent, stable, tough-minded, and objective.My adaptive behavior in my present work environment is seen as exhibiting an active and creative sense of humor, preferring people involvement over task focus, being flexible, and working without close supervision. It also lists I may need to contact people using a variety of modes and maintain an ever-changing, friendly, work environment. I honestly do believe this assessment is very accurate with my leadership style that I do have. I always want a plan of action and want that plan carried out. I find that making decisions are easier when I know that others respect what I am trying to do.I want a stable, family-oriented environment. I feel like I have been in all situations, high and low, good and bad, and I have true empathy for those experiencing difficulties in any aspect of their lives. The assessment stated that I like to know what is expected of me in a working relationship a nd have the duties and responsibilities of others who will be involved explained as well. This is so, so true. Communication to me is huge. If everyone is on the same page, any and all obstacles can be overcome. I enjoyed taking this assessment. It was quick and easy but listed and provided a lot of wonderful and helpful information.The way that it broke down the areas in which I was valuable to a team, organization, my do’s and don’ts of communicating, and then tips was superior to many other assessments that I have taken. This will encourage me to dig a little deeper and work on strengthening my weaknesses; which in turn will only cushion and build my strengths. This assessment also allows me to compliment myself on my leadership skills that I do possess. Reading wonderful things about my leadership style from this analysis is extremely encouraging and self-rewarding. Durek Neblett

Organizational Behavior Concepts: General Electric Essay

Introduction Every business has a set of key characteristics or values that make up an organizational culture which is unique to its business. Organizational behavior examines â€Å"the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness† (Robbins, 2005). The purpose of this research paper is to identify and evaluate General Electric’s (GE) organizational culture, organizational behavior, and customer service standards. We will also uncover how successful GE has been in implementing organizational behavior concepts in the following three categories: (1) motivation, (2) group behavior, (3) organizational culture. General Electric has their organizational values posted right on their website. By doing so, they have provided written expectations to their employees regarding ethical behavior and integrity in the work environment. These values reflect the energy, spirit, and solid foundation of the  company, articulating a common code of organizational behavior. Also, GE’s bold set of management strategies is aimed at increasing innovation and improving productivity to make the company more competitive. GE’s organizational culture is considered one of high ethical standard in the corporate world. According to The Age of Ethics (KPMG, 2007) â€Å"GE now has one of the best ethics compliance programs in existence_†_, says Larry Ponemon, national director of Business Ethics Services at KPMG†. General Electric Since Thomas Edison started General Electric in 1876, the company has steadily grown into a tremendously successful organization and one of the largest companies in the world. Several management and organizational strategies have been used through out the years in order to attain the current status of the firm. When looking at an organization’s cultural appeal, one must first decide what they are looking for; what appeals to me may or may not appeal to someone else. There are a few categories within GE’s organizational culture that appeals to me personally. These categories include but are not limited to: Leadership: It is important for a company to allow leaders to have the freedom and flexibility to contribute their knowledge and expertise in both their daily job and at company levels. â€Å"At the top, we don’t run GE like a big company. We run it like a big partnership, where every leader can make a contribution not just to their job, but to the entire Company† (Immelt, J., 2005). Work Environment: A company should provide a pleasant and vitalizing work environment that is easy to balance with my personal life. â€Å"GE is an invigorating place to work. Ours is a high-performance culture that emphasizes high-integrity business practices as well as work/life balance† (Our Culture, 2008). Training and Education Programs: Successful companies provide additional training and educational benefits that will enhance employee leadership  capabilities. â€Å"We invest nearly $1 billion a year in career development for our employees at every level of professional growth.† (Leadership Programs, 2008). Part of the culture and behavior of GE is the use of sigma six. â€Å"Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services† (Six Sigma, 2008). Sigma is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many â€Å"defects† you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to â€Å"zero defects† as possible. Six Sigma has changed the makeup of GE-it is now the way we work – in everything we do and in every product we design† (Six Sigma, 2008). Within GE, an employee can be certified in Six Sigma, either as a black belt or a master black belt. These titles hold prestige for the employees and add to employee motivation and employment satisfaction. When discussing the organizational culture within a company such as GE, we can break management concepts down into three categories. According to Argenti (2002), organizational behavior in organizations is usually broken down into three main areas: Individual level elements: managing individuals Group level elements: managing teams Elements of organizational structure: managing the organization Not only can the application of organizational behavior principles improve an organization’s effectiveness, organizational behavior provides a manager the information and knowledge needed to manage an effective workforce (Argenti, 2002). With the advent of organizational perspectives, the analysis of why people instill their presence in an organization is not only because of self-aimed goals of growth and enhancements, but also to locate themselves in a social place in accordance to the area of their perceived belonging  (Stroh, Northcraft and Neale, 2002). Motivation Motivation is central to understanding behavior in organizations and a key managerial factor. Two aspects of motivation are structuring tasks to satisfy worker and organizational needs and providing the proper direction for worker actions (Stroh, Northcraft and Neale, 2002). There are a number of factors when it comes to the difference in worker performance. One of these factors is related to different levels of ability among employees. Differences in ability arise from the simple fact that there are significant individual differences that affect work performance. The effort expended by the employees toward the realization of organizational goals greatly depends upon the status of behavioral motivations (Vasu, Stewart and Garson, 1998). GE has implemented theoretical frameworks in order to generate further explanations in behavioral motivation not only of the employees but the organization as well. GE uses a goal-setting theoretical framework_._ Basically, the theoretical concept implicates the application of goals as driving forces that provide the basic idea of what and when to achieve a certain target. Management by Objectives (MBO) is one example that exemplifies the application of objectives in order to achieve the final formulated outcome of the plan, goals (Robbins, 2005). Jack Welch, CEO from 1981 – 2001, set two clear and simple goals for GE and outlined several targets for reaching those formulated goals. The goals were to become the most competitive corporation in the world and to become the nation’s most valuable corporation. Jack Welch created an organization tension in 1981 aimed at motivating these changes by redefining GE’s goals and targets (Cushman, 2003). GE also uses a reinforcement theoretical framework. Reinforcement is used to enhance desirable behavior. The application of reinforcement theory is central to the design and administration of organizational reward systems. Well-designed rewards systems help motivate behavior, actions, and accomplishments, which advance the organization toward specific business  goals. Strategic rewards go beyond cash to include training and educational opportunities, stock opinions, and recognition awards. GE makes good use of the principle of employee participation wherein employees participate in the decisions that determine the methods to be used in the achievement of organizational objectives. GE provides promotions especially for those employees that obtain satisfactory performances as evaluated by the human resource department and approved by managerial committees (Cushman, 2003). Furthermore, incentives vary from salary increase to travel privileges where the main aim is to motivate the workforce. Group Behavior â€Å"A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives† (Robbins, 2005). Groups can be either formal or informal. According to Robbins (2005) these two groups are described as: Formal groups – Defined by the organization’s structure, with designated work assignments establishing tasks. In formal groups – Encompass the behaviors that one should engage in are stipulated by and directed toward organizational goals. From 1985 up to the present, General Electric started to place in service work teams in order to facilitate cooperative behavior and leadership as aimed by their high-involvement strategy (Miller, 2002). As far as team building, GE implements a Five-Stage Model for group development within the organization. According to Robbins (2005) the five stages include: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. In addition to these five stages GE has also implemented a pre-stage. According to Miller (2002) the breakdown for GE’s five stage model is as follows: Pre-stage 1: GE screens the capacity of every employee upon application and  all throughout performance in order to disseminate employees in the rightful function. Stage 1: Forming: Upon achieving the rightful components of the team through HR jurisdiction based on employee evaluation, formation of the tem is initiated. Stage 2: Storming: Work teams are in effect given new _property rights_ while being guaranteed a great deal of control over performance standards. Stage 3: Norming: Work teams are given strong guarantees of employment security to ensure that employees do not put themselves out of work by increasing production. Stage 4: Performing: Workers were generally guaranteed opportunities for training, restraining, and promotion. Stage 5: Adjourning: Fourth, compensation schemes have been changed in order to provide equity among work teams in the firm through profit-sharing plans or stock ownership plans. Organizational Culture Organizational culture is comprised of the mind-set, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization and its employees. Currently, there are seven primary characteristics of organizational culture as described by Robbins (2005): innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability. All indications are that GE successfully embodies five of the seven primary characteristics of organizational culture: Innovation and Risk Taking: GE employees focus on innovation as their basis for taking calculated risks for change in the areas of transforming health care, cleaner power generation, exploring nanotechnology, aviation technology, greenhouse gas reduction, and global research facilities  (Innovation, 2008). Attention to Detail: GE employees focus on attention to detail in such areas as customer service, quality and assembly of products, meeting performance targets, enhanced decision-making through training and education. People Orientation: GE considers their more than 300,000 employees to be their greatest asset, and they are â€Å"passionate about making life better with new ideas and technologies† (Our People, 2008). Team Orientation: A significant part of GE’s culture as a global company involves nurturing diverse and cross-cultural teams in such areas as public relations, automotives, global research, nanotechnologies, and marketing (Our Culture, 2008). Aggressiveness: Though GE provides the tools and environment necessary for employees to be aggressive and competitive, it is ultimately up to the employee themselves to demonstrate hard work. Organizational culture essentially provides a company with a concrete anchoring point, even if the meaning it carries is vague and only imperfectly transmitted. An organizational culture also involves the expression of emotion, and by this venting of emotions organizational culture can assist employees in dealing with stress. As GE continues to grow and evolve, the company’s organizational culture will be subject to periodic changes and updates. Conclusion From everything that I have found, it is apparent that GE’s organizational culture is both ethical and customer-responsive. All indications are that GE has obtained its current status through the successful applications of organizational behavior concepts; specifically through motivations guided by specific goals and reinforcement plans. GE has successfully implemented theoretical frameworks through goal-setting, reinforcement, involving  employees in the decision processes and offering incentives such as: salary increases, travel privileges, stock options, and bonus plans. GE has successfully implemented group behavior tactics using the Five-Stage Model, with the addition of the pre-stage described in _Managerial Dilemmas: the Political Economy of Hierarchy_, for group development within the organization. Finally, GE successfully embodies five of the seven primary characteristics of organizational culture. Under CEO Jack Welsh, and current CEO Jeff Immelt, GE was able to communicate their vision of Six Sigma and training and development programs at GE. They were also able to become successful because of a belief in the employees and their talent. One of the most important traits a leader can have besides communication skills is the ability to see the potential of an individual and make that individual not only see it too but also live up to that potential. Based on the above findings, my evaluation of GE’s organizational culture is that they do provide a strong framework for positive attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values that would be appealing to almost anyone looking for job satisfaction and advancement within an organization. Reference: Argenti, P. A. (2002). _The Fast Forward MBA Pocket Reference_. John Wiley and Sons. Cushman, D. P. (2003). Communication Best Practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto. SUNY Press. Immelt, J. (2005). _GE Imagination at work_. Retrieved May 17, 2008, from http://www.ge.com/company/leadership/index.html Innovation (2008). _GE Imagination at work_. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://www.ge.com/innovation/index.html KPMG, (2007). The age of ethics. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from KPMG Web site: http://www- old.itcilo.org/actrav/actrav-english/telearn/global/ilo/code/ageof.htm Leadership Programs (2008). _GE Imagination at work_. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://www.gecareers.com/GECAREERS/html/us/ourPeople/leadership.html Miller, G. J. (2002). Managerial Dilemmas: The Political Economy of Hierarchy. Cambridge University Press. Our Culture (2008). _GE Imagination at work_. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://www.ge.com/company/culture/index.html Our People (2008). _GE Imagination at work_. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://www.ge.com/company/culture/people.html Parhizgar, K. D. (2002). Multicultural Behavior and Global Business Environments. Haworth Press. Robbins, S. P. (2005). _Organizational behavior_ (11 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Six Sigma, 2008 Retrieved May 31, 2008, from GE Web site: http://www.ge.com/railservices/about/sixsigma.html Stroh, L. K., Northcraft, G. B., & Neale, M. (2002). _Organizational Behavior: A Management_ _Challenge_. New York, U.S: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Vasu, M., Stewart, D., & Garson, D. (1998). _Organizational Behavior and Public Management_. CRC Press.

An Analysis of Googles Internal Management

We are going to do the research on their internal management, and then define their key factors of success; moreover applying Google’s management to different industry. Keywords: Google, internal management, welfare system, work environment, different industry. List of figures Figure   Introduction In a company, the internal management is the most important factor. In addition, if a company has a good internal management, employees will not only enhance their effectiveness but also keep those employees with good performance to stay in the company and reduce errors. Consequently, my topic is to investigate how the internal management encourages employees to be creative and effective. I am going to do the research on Google, which is a well-known search engine. Google’s internal management is also well known to the whole world for its work environment, welfare system and company culture. I have chosen this topic for my research report, on the one hand, I want to be a successful leader and I am going to study business management for my master degree. On the other hand, my father and his friends are all successful businessmen, who always teach me some practical and professional knowledge about management and share their personal experiences to me. Furthermore, they once suggested me studying business management, which may be useful in the future, for the reason that if you want to organize a company profitably and prosperously, you must master in good management skills. As a result, I am Interested in business management. I strongly believe that a good management method could affect the whole enterprise. Every year, Fortune Magazine sorts out a list, named â€Å"Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for†. In preparing the list, the magazine relies on two criteria: the culture and the policies of each company as well as the opinions of the company’s own employees. Google has topped the Fortune’s list for many times. It can be proven that Google’s internal management has done very well. Thus, the following research objectives were set: 1. To analyse Google’s internal management (SWOT). 2. To estimate how well Google’s internal management could be applied to different industries. 2. Literature Review 2. Work environment A good work environment could influence employees very much. For example, to reduce stress, Google’s employees can play volleyball, football, video games, table tennis or even roller hockey on the campus, which makes employees feel like they are still at the college campus rather than being in the office. (Kuntze, R. and Matu lich, E. 2010). Another remarkable example is that respecting the employees who are from different cultures. Google currently has 14 offices in different states and more than 40 countries worldwide; it must have many workers from different nationalities. In different offices have various local customs of decoration and interior decoration (Google). 2. 2 Welfare system Google provides its employees with a wide range of benefits to make sure that the employees are satisfied and loyal to the company. These benefits include: free food, onsite childcare, healthcare services, transportation services, laundry and dry cleaning services, sport facilities, pets allowed, 20% creative time program, environmentalism, numerous holiday and leave days, and other services (Kuntze, R. and Matulich, E. 2010). The other companies have never executed these benefits mentioned above. In addition, their welfare system has few innovative rules, â€Å"The company has a policy of unlimited sick leave, and only expects employees to work 70% of the time. It factors in opportunities for staff to think of ways to work better, and allows impromptu sport during the work day. † (Logan, 2008:3). 2. 3 Company culture Although Google is a Large-scale company, their leader tries to maintain their atmosphere feels like a small company without hierarchy, employees can say whatever they want to say, they can bring up all of their ideas or thinking to their manager whenever they want. Google). Furthermore, Google attempts to keep the good employees in the company and have a good relationship between leaders and employees. Every Friday afternoon the founders gather all employees into an open area for a TGIF meeting. (Raphael: 2003). 3. Methodology A SWOT analysis is a well known management tool, one of which could very quickly to find strengths and weaknesses. It could apply to all kinds of research. That is the reason why SWOT is one of the most common used management tools recently. Strengths |Weaknesses | | | | |Opportunities |Threats | | | | Figure 1: SWOT analysis table. In this research does not need to calculate the data. SWOT analysis is one of suitable management tools in this research, it is also easy and clear to use and understand. Therefore, I will use SWOT to analyse Google’s internal management, after that I will apply Google’s management method to manufacture industry, and do the SWOT analysis again, interpreting the analysis according to my own working experiences. First of all, the data will be collected from Google website and my work experience, moreover, some of the research which had published from experts. The collected data will be consisting of work environment, employee’s welfare system, company culture, relationship between leader and team members. After that, using SWOT analysis to analyse all the aspects mentioned above. Followed by an investigation to see whether Google’s internal management can be applied to different industry or not. 4. Analysis and results |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Good work environment. |High costs. | |Good welfare system. |Low pay. | |Keep structures flat. |Lost in the crowd. | |Opportunities |Threats | |Create new policy for welfare system. More and more competitors use the same method. | |Encourage employee to work at home. | | Figure 2: SWOT analysis of Google’s internal management. Strengths Google’s internal management has many strengths, one of strengths is that all of its offices have good work environments; they design different interior decorations according to different culture, and build up many recreational facilities, for the sack of reducing stress as well as increasing creativity and efficiency. The second strength is good welfare system, Google formulates some benefits not only to keep the good employees and encourage them to do their best but also devote to the company. Hamel reports that The Founders’ Awards, an annual multimillion dollar payout to teams who’ve made outsize contributions to Google’s growth, is one key retention mechanism The goal: to ensure that internal entrepreneurs have no incentive to take their best ideas somewhere else. (2006: A16). The third strength is to keep structures flat, in a large company usually has hierarchy that would waste lots of time on paper works and have difficulty in retaining a good relationship between high level managers and low level employees, however Google try to keep the office’s atmosphere like a small company. In Google, employees could raise their queries or propose their ideas to the managers or founders directly. It is unlike usual management which needs lots of paper works. Weaknesses Certainly, not everything could be perfect; Google also has some problems about its management. The first problem is cost; Google spends about 50% of revenue on their welfare system. (Kafka, 2009). Although founders thinks that could increase productivity and efficiency of the organization, the budget of welfare system spending still too much. The second problem is low salary, Google sets up many employees’ benefits and bonus system are better than other competitors; however, their pay is lower than the others. Most of Google’s employees have fixed salaries that are significantly lower than the industry average, even when those base salaries are supplemented by stock options. (About. com 2009). The last example is lost in the crowds, the problem is some of employees want to issue their ideas but there are too many ideas in Google. Consequently, employees feel depressed when they can not issue their ideas. Hardy (2007) reports that with more than 20,000 people working for Google, some people feel their ideas are lost in crowds. It is a highly competitive environment with everybody trying to make the next â€Å"in† thing. Opportunities Google could create new policy or develop their welfare system, trying to find the new thing could let workers pay more attention to their works and elevate employee’s creativity. In addition, encourage employee to work at home. Even though offices are decorated like home or any places make employee feels relaxed, it is still a office not home, as s result, enable the workers to work at home could be one of the new solution to increase efficiency also reduce the costs. Threats After Google created the new vision of internal management, there are more and more enterprises copying Google’s management method, not only the same industry but also others industries and applied to their companies. Accordingly, Google’s competitors could provide the same or better condition o attract Google’s good employees to their company. |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Good work environment. |Working environment atmosphere too relax. | |Good welfare system. |Poor management. | |Opportunities |Threats | |Good relationship between managers and employees. |Worker’s education level. | Figure 3: SWOT analysis of Google’s internal management is applied on di fferent industry (Manufacture). Strengths All of the employees who are from different industries, they all need to work at a good environment. In manufacture industry, employees work at dangerous environment, they need a place to release their stress. Like Google’s office, there are many places or equipments to help their workers reduce their stress. The next point is welfare system, most of the manufacture companies use original management, they do not have a good welfare system. As a result, if manufacture companies use Google’s management method might urge worker’s morale. Employees would feel satisfied staying in the company for a long time, it is good for those manufacture companies, because in this industry, company prefer employee who has long experience. In manufacturing, experienced worker’s efficiency is more than apprentice. Weaknesses Many employees find the work environment far too much fun and perhaps even an ‘overload’ of happiness. Most workers are able to find their focus and sanctuary at work but for some, a more professional and structured work environment is necessary. Arrington, 2009). In manufacture industry, workers should be very engrossed when they are working. If employees feel too relaxed when they were working, an accident might happen. The other point is hierarchy structure, most of employees who work for manufacture industry, and the education level is less than employees who work for information industry. Thus, in manufacture industry should use hierarchy structure to contain every step, because it would be easier to find the problem if error happens during the process. Moreover, the last point is industry’s character is different, the duty of the manufacture industry is to produce goods, company must have done their work in time, however information industries mainly focus on creating new things, time is not a big issue as for them. Opportunities As we known, manufacture industry usually use original management. This management has a big gap between leader and worker, because they are very difficult to meet each other. Using Google’s method might ameliorate the relationship between leader and worker. Thanks to the low hierarchy, workers and managers can interact intimately, in this way; relationship between them will definitely become closer. Threats The Google’s management style is free; it gives their worker to organize their time management by themselves. Although Google’s employees have a lot of free time, they still do their job very well. The main problem is education level. In the information industry, most of employee’s education levels are higher than people who are working for the manufacture industry. The meaning is high level education employees are more positive, their time management organization are better than those employees with low level education. 5. Conclusion I used SWOT analysis to define the unique aspects of Google’s management and assumed that it is applied to different industries; I learned two important points from this research as well. The first one is that I understood why Google can win â€Å"The best company for work† many times. Actuality, Google’s salary is lower than industry average but it An Analysis of Googles Internal Management We are going to do the research on their internal management, and then define their key factors of success; moreover applying Google’s management to different industry. Keywords: Google, internal management, welfare system, work environment, different industry. List of figures Figure   Introduction In a company, the internal management is the most important factor. In addition, if a company has a good internal management, employees will not only enhance their effectiveness but also keep those employees with good performance to stay in the company and reduce errors. Consequently, my topic is to investigate how the internal management encourages employees to be creative and effective. I am going to do the research on Google, which is a well-known search engine. Google’s internal management is also well known to the whole world for its work environment, welfare system and company culture. I have chosen this topic for my research report, on the one hand, I want to be a successful leader and I am going to study business management for my master degree. On the other hand, my father and his friends are all successful businessmen, who always teach me some practical and professional knowledge about management and share their personal experiences to me. Furthermore, they once suggested me studying business management, which may be useful in the future, for the reason that if you want to organize a company profitably and prosperously, you must master in good management skills. As a result, I am Interested in business management. I strongly believe that a good management method could affect the whole enterprise. Every year, Fortune Magazine sorts out a list, named â€Å"Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for†. In preparing the list, the magazine relies on two criteria: the culture and the policies of each company as well as the opinions of the company’s own employees. Google has topped the Fortune’s list for many times. It can be proven that Google’s internal management has done very well. Thus, the following research objectives were set: 1. To analyse Google’s internal management (SWOT). 2. To estimate how well Google’s internal management could be applied to different industries. 2. Literature Review 2. Work environment A good work environment could influence employees very much. For example, to reduce stress, Google’s employees can play volleyball, football, video games, table tennis or even roller hockey on the campus, which makes employees feel like they are still at the college campus rather than being in the office. (Kuntze, R. and Matu lich, E. 2010). Another remarkable example is that respecting the employees who are from different cultures. Google currently has 14 offices in different states and more than 40 countries worldwide; it must have many workers from different nationalities. In different offices have various local customs of decoration and interior decoration (Google). 2. 2 Welfare system Google provides its employees with a wide range of benefits to make sure that the employees are satisfied and loyal to the company. These benefits include: free food, onsite childcare, healthcare services, transportation services, laundry and dry cleaning services, sport facilities, pets allowed, 20% creative time program, environmentalism, numerous holiday and leave days, and other services (Kuntze, R. and Matulich, E. 2010). The other companies have never executed these benefits mentioned above. In addition, their welfare system has few innovative rules, â€Å"The company has a policy of unlimited sick leave, and only expects employees to work 70% of the time. It factors in opportunities for staff to think of ways to work better, and allows impromptu sport during the work day. † (Logan, 2008:3). 2. 3 Company culture Although Google is a Large-scale company, their leader tries to maintain their atmosphere feels like a small company without hierarchy, employees can say whatever they want to say, they can bring up all of their ideas or thinking to their manager whenever they want. Google). Furthermore, Google attempts to keep the good employees in the company and have a good relationship between leaders and employees. Every Friday afternoon the founders gather all employees into an open area for a TGIF meeting. (Raphael: 2003). 3. Methodology A SWOT analysis is a well known management tool, one of which could very quickly to find strengths and weaknesses. It could apply to all kinds of research. That is the reason why SWOT is one of the most common used management tools recently. Strengths |Weaknesses | | | | |Opportunities |Threats | | | | Figure 1: SWOT analysis table. In this research does not need to calculate the data. SWOT analysis is one of suitable management tools in this research, it is also easy and clear to use and understand. Therefore, I will use SWOT to analyse Google’s internal management, after that I will apply Google’s management method to manufacture industry, and do the SWOT analysis again, interpreting the analysis according to my own working experiences. First of all, the data will be collected from Google website and my work experience, moreover, some of the research which had published from experts. The collected data will be consisting of work environment, employee’s welfare system, company culture, relationship between leader and team members. After that, using SWOT analysis to analyse all the aspects mentioned above. Followed by an investigation to see whether Google’s internal management can be applied to different industry or not. 4. Analysis and results |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Good work environment. |High costs. | |Good welfare system. |Low pay. | |Keep structures flat. |Lost in the crowd. | |Opportunities |Threats | |Create new policy for welfare system. More and more competitors use the same method. | |Encourage employee to work at home. | | Figure 2: SWOT analysis of Google’s internal management. Strengths Google’s internal management has many strengths, one of strengths is that all of its offices have good work environments; they design different interior decorations according to different culture, and build up many recreational facilities, for the sack of reducing stress as well as increasing creativity and efficiency. The second strength is good welfare system, Google formulates some benefits not only to keep the good employees and encourage them to do their best but also devote to the company. Hamel reports that The Founders’ Awards, an annual multimillion dollar payout to teams who’ve made outsize contributions to Google’s growth, is one key retention mechanism The goal: to ensure that internal entrepreneurs have no incentive to take their best ideas somewhere else. (2006: A16). The third strength is to keep structures flat, in a large company usually has hierarchy that would waste lots of time on paper works and have difficulty in retaining a good relationship between high level managers and low level employees, however Google try to keep the office’s atmosphere like a small company. In Google, employees could raise their queries or propose their ideas to the managers or founders directly. It is unlike usual management which needs lots of paper works. Weaknesses Certainly, not everything could be perfect; Google also has some problems about its management. The first problem is cost; Google spends about 50% of revenue on their welfare system. (Kafka, 2009). Although founders thinks that could increase productivity and efficiency of the organization, the budget of welfare system spending still too much. The second problem is low salary, Google sets up many employees’ benefits and bonus system are better than other competitors; however, their pay is lower than the others. Most of Google’s employees have fixed salaries that are significantly lower than the industry average, even when those base salaries are supplemented by stock options. (About. com 2009). The last example is lost in the crowds, the problem is some of employees want to issue their ideas but there are too many ideas in Google. Consequently, employees feel depressed when they can not issue their ideas. Hardy (2007) reports that with more than 20,000 people working for Google, some people feel their ideas are lost in crowds. It is a highly competitive environment with everybody trying to make the next â€Å"in† thing. Opportunities Google could create new policy or develop their welfare system, trying to find the new thing could let workers pay more attention to their works and elevate employee’s creativity. In addition, encourage employee to work at home. Even though offices are decorated like home or any places make employee feels relaxed, it is still a office not home, as s result, enable the workers to work at home could be one of the new solution to increase efficiency also reduce the costs. Threats After Google created the new vision of internal management, there are more and more enterprises copying Google’s management method, not only the same industry but also others industries and applied to their companies. Accordingly, Google’s competitors could provide the same or better condition o attract Google’s good employees to their company. |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Good work environment. |Working environment atmosphere too relax. | |Good welfare system. |Poor management. | |Opportunities |Threats | |Good relationship between managers and employees. |Worker’s education level. | Figure 3: SWOT analysis of Google’s internal management is applied on di fferent industry (Manufacture). Strengths All of the employees who are from different industries, they all need to work at a good environment. In manufacture industry, employees work at dangerous environment, they need a place to release their stress. Like Google’s office, there are many places or equipments to help their workers reduce their stress. The next point is welfare system, most of the manufacture companies use original management, they do not have a good welfare system. As a result, if manufacture companies use Google’s management method might urge worker’s morale. Employees would feel satisfied staying in the company for a long time, it is good for those manufacture companies, because in this industry, company prefer employee who has long experience. In manufacturing, experienced worker’s efficiency is more than apprentice. Weaknesses Many employees find the work environment far too much fun and perhaps even an ‘overload’ of happiness. Most workers are able to find their focus and sanctuary at work but for some, a more professional and structured work environment is necessary. Arrington, 2009). In manufacture industry, workers should be very engrossed when they are working. If employees feel too relaxed when they were working, an accident might happen. The other point is hierarchy structure, most of employees who work for manufacture industry, and the education level is less than employees who work for information industry. Thus, in manufacture industry should use hierarchy structure to contain every step, because it would be easier to find the problem if error happens during the process. Moreover, the last point is industry’s character is different, the duty of the manufacture industry is to produce goods, company must have done their work in time, however information industries mainly focus on creating new things, time is not a big issue as for them. Opportunities As we known, manufacture industry usually use original management. This management has a big gap between leader and worker, because they are very difficult to meet each other. Using Google’s method might ameliorate the relationship between leader and worker. Thanks to the low hierarchy, workers and managers can interact intimately, in this way; relationship between them will definitely become closer. Threats The Google’s management style is free; it gives their worker to organize their time management by themselves. Although Google’s employees have a lot of free time, they still do their job very well. The main problem is education level. In the information industry, most of employee’s education levels are higher than people who are working for the manufacture industry. The meaning is high level education employees are more positive, their time management organization are better than those employees with low level education. 5. Conclusion I used SWOT analysis to define the unique aspects of Google’s management and assumed that it is applied to different industries; I learned two important points from this research as well. The first one is that I understood why Google can win â€Å"The best company for work† many times. Actuality, Google’s salary is lower than industry average but it

Overcrowding in our prisons systems is becoming a burden on a Essay

Overcrowding in our prisons systems is becoming a burden on a taxpaying society. Should more people sentenced to the death penalty be put to death and should no - Essay Example 1)†. Additionally, the taxpayers may have to cough up more than $28,000 to keep each new individual who comes to jail for a year. This system certainly does not deserve more money from the people since to keep society safe from criminal elements; we the people are paying the cost for medical, educational as well as the living expenses of prisoners whereas a much simpler solution could be presented to the government. The simpler solution is execution. For criminals who have committed violent crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, armed assault and a host of other crimes, the easiest method to cure crime would be to hand them the death penalty and be done with it. Such crimes are already considered punishable by death by some countries which we do not consider as ‘developed’ as America but it must be noted that valued legal thinkers such as Bedau (1998) consider the death penalty for rapists to be quite valid. Bedau (1998) says that the death penalty to be a possible punishment for rape since it, â€Å"may measurably serve the legitimate ends of punishment (Bedau, 1998, Pg. 213)†. It seems that calling a prison a correctional facility is a misnomer because the aims of the prison system are not being met. As reported by Beard (2005), nearly 95 percent of all current prisoners will one day return to prison and more than fifty percent will utterly fail to readjust to the normal social order. The reasons given for this situation are the wrongful filling of prisons with individuals who may be mentally ill and could be given better services elsewhere. When we try to control their behavior with prisons, we fail and other solutions such as medical treatment and the death penalty itself become more realistic approaches to handling our prison population problem. Of course there are those who think that the death penalty

Observing Global Warming & the Harm of It Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Observing Global Warming & the Harm of It - Essay Example Like many are already aware of, carbon dioxide plays a major role in its own right as it comes to the warming of the Earth and the resulting weakness of the global inhabitants that comes as a result of that warming. Another culprit is the continued robbing of the forests through the means of deforestation. Those trees are meant to act in a way that turns the CO2 into breathable oxygen for human consumption. Most importantly, the industrial nature of the modern world has served as a means of killing the natural world that is forced to co-exist with it. The technological desires of mankind have forced the Earth into a tailspin that, if not caught, will continue to force it into a continued destructive phase that will ultimately tear it apart at the core. With the increase in human population and other expansion, it has increased the need for a building that has taken small cities and built them into metropolises of great grander. These Cities feed the advancement of man, without any kind of thought to the environmental damage which is inflicted upon the Earth. As many knows, greed itself sells. Humanistic nature overwhelms, as well as strangles, in most cases, the needs of those things around them, especially in the precious environment that is drowning as each day goes by. The desire of people for their own self-serving interests takes hold and crushes anything in its surrounding path that may interrupt that. As the analysis shows within the presentation, human nature is at the root of the current state of the environment. Humans need shelter to survive and as such trees need to be cut down for the construction of those dwellings. Only those trees are what create the breathing oxygen. Charcoal aids in cooking food, and so much  mo re.  

Marketing Communication Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing Communication Tools - Essay Example Marketers and researchers in the field of marketing communication has observed that marketing communication has stayed in the core functional area of businesses and proved to be as vital asset for the organization as its financial resources are (Khosla, 2010). Schultz et al. (2004) identified the importance of marketing communication and the need to diversify use of marketing communication tools and stated that: â€Å"An approach concerns the integration of a wide range of activities and functions that influence and impact upon dynamic information flows between an organization and its stakeholders.   Because in reality consumers integrate all messages received from an organization. Thus, even if the organization has transmitted uncoordinated messages to the same consumer, that consumer will aggregate and integrate those messages according to some pattern. Unfortunately, in some cases, the criteria chosen by the consumer to make such integration can harm the organization and associ ated brand value. Hence the company must be able to manage the process according to its own interests and strategic purposes† (Schultz et al., 2004). Considering the importance of marketing communication tools and the diversified use of these tools, highlighted by Schultz, it can be asserted that the modern business environment might bring a number of challenges to the business. Due to the increased competition in the market place and the requirement of extensive marketing research to promote brands and services, organizations are compelled to adopt an alternative approach which focuses on using multiple sources of marketing and promotion and ensures healthy... The report stresses that marketers and researchers evaluate the benefits a business might achieve by selecting a communication medium. For this purpose, extensive market research is required which helps the market researchers to determine consumers’ preferences and their accessibility to different communication mediums. Once the medium is decided, the researcher then move on to weigh the benefits that an organization perceive it would achieve by selecting the said medium. This reportmakes a conclusion that the criteria to select an efficient marketing communication tool is to carry out a need analysis. The outcome of the need analysis would communicate to the marketers of a business about the expectations and perceptions of the consumers in the market place. Moreover, the organization can also select marketing communication tools on the basis of its targeting strategy. Suppose, if an organization is targeting youth for its energy drink offerings, it would select social network medium to interact with the target market and influence their behavior. While basing their decisions on the target markets and its dynamics for selecting marketing communication tools, organizations must asses its ability to be creative in the marketing campaign and be distinctive in creating compelling marketing pitch. The author of the paper talks that As the business environment and marketing challenges are new with every passing day, it becomes essential for organizations to integrate marketing communication in the core organization functions. Businesses would ensure that that each and every activity of the organization is carried out in a manner, that it markets the organizational values, norms, culture, products and services to the target audience.

Did The Peace Movement Really Help End The Vietnam War Essay

Did The Peace Movement Really Help End The Vietnam War - Essay Example Johnson is among the most unpopular United States president of all times. Diplomacy in a democratic country is believed to be a key driver for peace initiatives and unity. Following such notion, it would be rightful to assert that indeed, the Peace Movement truly helped end the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is also known in history books as the Vietnam Conflict or the Second Indochina War that started in the later part of the 1950s. It was a war fought between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which is North Vietnam and the Republic of Vietnam, which is South Vietnam1. Truly, Vietnam War was nothing more but an internal conflict between power strugglers in a nation, which just won its independence from its colonizers ( in its case France). Other nations got involved when North Vietnam had the support of socialist country of Soviet Union and the communist China. The involvement of communist and socialist nations in the war prompted the involvement of the pro-democratic Western nations. Thus, the United States got involved in the war that should have been fought in the local front. President Dwight D Eisenhower was then the US president when the country decided to show off its power against the non-democratic forces. Vietnam War was seen by analysts and historians as a perfect venue where the United States could show to the world how democracy could rule the world and how it could easily defeat the hard and authoritative ways of the socialists and the communists1. The US' involvement in the Vietnam War was also the main focus of the government of the popular and assassinated president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Initially, Mr Kennedy's intention was only to provide Vietnamese troops assistance through trainings. He also wanted to battle out the threat of communism and socialism to countries especially in the east. Mr. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. But the involvement of the United States to the Vietnam War went on until the entire duration of President Lyndon B. Johnson's term, which ran from 1963 to 1969. It was during this period that numerous protests and activist movements were staged throughout the country. The citizens of the United States then created a model that would eventually become the framework of other anti-war and peaceful protests not just in the country but also in the whole world2. The so-called Peace Movement in the United States was a clear and loud opposition to the government's firm stand to support South Vietnam on its fight to win and rule over the whole Vietnam. The Peace Movement was a series of protest rallies, demonstrations and mass assemblies that, for the first time in world history, involved Americans from all walks of life. The anti-war movement actually consisted of college students, middle-class citizens, labor unions and government institutions. The Peace Movement gained its prominence in 1965, then peaked and became mostly hyped and controversial in 1968. Encompassing political, racial, and cultural spheres, the anti-war Peace Movement exposed a deep schism within the American society during that time1. It was noted, moreover, that the Peace Movement also made way for several opposing groups to take a consensus for once

Same sex marriage shoul not be allowed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Same sex marriage shoul not be allowed - Essay Example ive demographic change, it is quite twisted and bizarre to claim that it is the role of married couples to procreate just to keep the stability of the western civilization. Plus, its much exaggerated. The main area in the article that is quite vague is that which speaks about the role of married heterosexual couples in driving and maintaining the western stability by procreating and having more children. The author refers to it as a role for them to carry out and fulfill, and this perception seems quite distorted and untrue. Moreover, it is stated that an acceptance of homosexuality will bring about the decline of western civilization, as the denouncement of it enabled the creation and continuance of this civilization. Although having a wrong perception of the situation, the source does seem credible. It does not only present facts meant to convince and persuade readers to agree with it, but also presents some opposite opinions and fact, such as the one about the MCCs acceptance of gay marriages. The main fallacy presented by the author once again has to do with the role of the heterosexual and married couples in maintaining the stability of the western civilization by their procreating and delivering more children. The author claims that that is what has kept the western civilization throughout the centuries, and this is clearly false and exaggerated. One argument the author makes is that men and women are uniquely biologically compatible, and explains his claim by saying that the human body can identify the intrusion of any unknown or alien matter into it and destroys it. However, the mans semen contains something that enables it not to be destroyed by the womans body, hence bringing forth the possibility of creating a baby. The conclusion of the author in the article is that marriage is a tool which leads to having children, and since the bond of "two become one" exists biologically and historically only between men and women, marriage of homosexual couples

Problems of identity in the modern middle east Essay

Problems of identity in the modern middle east - Essay Example lt, the existence of such evidences is considered a rarity and must be evaluated for its authenticity, credibility, and basis for furthering assimilation knowledge. Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawis An Imam in Paris is one such document which is considered to be a comprehensive record of European society observed and narrated by an Arab. It is a descriptive narrative of the Middle Eastern scholars view of the West which has been used by many for the basis of constructing modern Egyptian collective memory. In the following report the researcher shall investigate how effective has al-Tahtawis An Imam in Paris been in endorsing collective memory of Egyptians, and its endorsement of Egyptian modern identity. The report shall explore how al-Tahtawis knowledge has helped Egyptians in streamlining and coming to terms with the Western culture through education, intellectual leadership and collective memory. During the early 19th century Muhammad Ali, an Egyptian ruler was motivated by the knowledge of its influential neighbor Europe and its impact on the world. Muhammad Ali devised a program for sending students to France or Italy to bring back Western knowledge to the Egyptian community. Muhammad Alis mission was to assimilate the knowledge fields, language, logic and arithmetic of the West to the East (particularly Egypt) to better comprehend European society. He was of the view that adaptation to European civilization would benefit the 19th century Muslims in becoming more intelligent in worldly history, and streamline their own perspective of the same. Among those who went on the mission to Paris, Rifaa Rafi al-Tahtawi was perhaps the most knowledgeable, who benefitted from the program, which was evident from his book or record of the French state (al-Tahtawi 32). From his description of the French state, al-Tahtawi learned much from the studies, discussion and knowledge gained from reading of the various fields. Al-Tahtawi describes the French as a modern state, with

Issue or crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Issue or crisis - Essay Example In fact, analysts such as Essen (2008) consider it a complete failure of the economic system to check and control the investments made by banks that are supposed to be under government regulations. The finance sector is one of the heaviest regulated sectors of the economy yet the present situation has come to a point where investors and finance gurus are calling it the â€Å"worst financial crisis since the Great Depression (Essen, 2008, Pg. 1)†. Of course the full impact of the crisis may only be understood years after the crisis is over but for the moment it is obvious that the basic cause of the crisis was the high risk action of many different banks who loaned out huge amounts of cash to borrowers without the proper risk scrutiny required. In particular, subprime mortgage lending which was done by American banks in recent times made them focus on short term profits, quarterly sales figures and short sighted goals rather than stable business practices that could have given them real returns (Essen, 2008). To fully understand the current crisis, the background must be examined and that shows a story of greed and what is called by Clendenning (2008) as the casino mentality of American banks. During a time of economic health, housing sellers and mortgage brokers suggested and recommended to buyers that they get into mortgages which required little or no cash towards a down payment. Further, these mortgages and loans were given out without a proper examination of the credit risks associated with the loans. Instead of reducing the risks undertaken by banks, these measures only served to expose them more. The crisis might have been minimized had the banks stopped there but the same debts were sold, traded and bartered as high risk investments to several international investors with the expectations of high returns. However, the high returns did not come and the banks

Impact of nitrogen and phosphorous inputs on water quality Essay Example for Free

Impact of nitrogen and phosphorous inputs on water quality Essay Both Nitrogen and Phosphorous are necessary in agriculture for a farmer to achieve optimum yields in most crops, they have to use fertilizer which often contains either nitrogen or phosphorous. Despite their importance, these elements in excess can affect the environment adversely. Eutrophication is enhanced when nitrogen and phosphorous are in excess in surface waters and where nitrogen is in excess in ground water. (www. soil. ncsu. edu/) Nitrogen makes up about 78 percent of the gases in the atmosphere. A major constituent of proteins it is abundant in most living things. Nitrogen gas (N2), nitrate (NO3), nitrite (NO2) and ammonia NH3 are the common forms in which in organic nitrogen exists. Organic nitrogen exists in proteins. (http://kywater. org/). Compounds that contain nitrogen are found in water bodies such as reservoirs, streams and rivers. There are various routes by which nitrogen enters water bodies. These include wastewater (municipal and industrial), animal wastes such as bird wastes and wastes of fish, septic tanks and runoff from fields and lawns that have been fertilized. In certain parts of the United States, especially the northeast, some forms of nitrogen are deposited through acid rain (Baird, 1990). Nitrites are then converted to nitrates by bacteria, a process that uses up oxygen. (http://kywater. org). Surface and subsurface drainage are some of the ways through which nitrogen from fertilizers enter streams. When there is heavy rainfall following surface application of nitrogen fertilizers, most of the nitrogen is lost and even more is lost if the area is sloppy. When the fertilizer is mixed with soil the runoff is decreased. However, the loss of nitrogen becomes substantial when heavy rainfall causes soil erosion and movement of debris. The highly soluble nature of nitrogen makes it be absorbed easily into the soil when it rains heavily. Findings from research studies show that leaching does contribute to the presence of nitrates in groundwater. This however does not cause much contamination since the concentrations of nitrogen do not reach high enough levels. The crop uses up to 50 percent of the applied nitrogen leaving about 30 percent to 50 percent available for leaching. This, from a study done on North Carolina soils leads to leaching to a level of only two feet where there was 3 inches of percolated water (Baird, 1990). Eutrophication is a slow process whereby streams and lakes are enriched with natural nutrients. This process leads to the accelerated ‘aging’ of lakes and reservoirs. Eutrophication generally means excess growth of algae. The growth and decomposition of algae causes depletion of oxygen available in water. Nitrogen has a fertilizing effect in algae and other plankton which are food to other organisms in water such as fish and invertebrates. Overproduction and decomposition of these plankton uses up oxygen, meaning that other oxygen-dependent animals have inadequate oxygen which leads to their death. (http://kywater. org/). In addition to using up oxygen excessively, the overgrowth of algae and other plankton can lead to clogging up of water systems such that water flow is inhibited. This is especially common at points of water intakes. A lot of sea plants also block light from reaching the deeper waters (http://ga. water. usgs. gov/). This has the effect of compromising respiration for aquatic invertebrates and fish, making the death of animals and plant inevitable. High concentrations of nitrites produce a condition called brown blood disease which is fatal to fish. (http://kywater. org/). Eventually diversity of animal and plant life is lost. The death of fish results in offensive odours, and affects the water such that it cannot be used for recreative purposes like swimming, boating and fishing. Mueller and Helsel conducted a study of 12,000 ground water samples and approximately 22,000 samples of surface water at over 300 sites. The samples were collected within NAWQA study units. They report that the concentrations of nutrients in water have a close relationship to how land is used upstream or in the area that overlies a ground water aquifer. According to the analysis there were higher concentrations of nitrates in groundwater than surface water bodies. The regions with the highest concentration were the Northeast, the Great Plains and areas along the West Coast (Mueller and Helsel, 1996). Agricultural areas have a higher likelihood of having water with increased concentrations of nitrates. Research shows that public-supply wells and domestic supply wells outside areas where land is used for agriculture generally have lower concentrations of nitrates compared to wells in agricultural areas. On the other hand, urban areas have higher concentrations of Ammonia and phosphorous in surface water (Mueller and Helsel, 196). For water to be considered safe for domestic water supply, nitrates or nitrite level should be below 10mg/L. (United States Public Health Service). Nitrites undergo a direct reaction with haemoglobin in humans and warm-blooded animals leading to the formation of methemoglobin. This compound leads to decreased ability of red cells to transport oxygen. The most affected by this inability are infants less than three months because the babies develop methemoglobinaemia (blue baby disease. (http://kywater. org/ww/ramp/rmnox. htm). Due to this reason, when nitrates levels exceed 1. 0mg/L, the water should not be used to feed babies. In older people high nitrate levels cause disturbances in the digestion system. (http://kywater. org/). Phosphorous is a naturally occurring element that can be found in rocks and mineral deposits. Phosphate ions are soluble in water and are released when rock undergoes the weathering process. Phosphates have three forms of existence, metaphosphate, orthophosphate and organic phosphate. Orthophosphate is mainly produced by natural processed but there are man-made sources that produce orthophosphate. These include untreated sewage and partially treated sewage, use of certain fertilizers and runoff from sites where the main land use is agriculture. Metaphosphate or polyphosphate are used in treatment of detergents and boiler waters. When in water metaphosphate changes to orthophosphate and it can be used up by plants in this form. Organic phosphate occurs tied to organic material like plant tissue or waste solids. When decomposition occurs organic phosphate is converted to orthophosphate (www. water-research. net/phosphate. htm). Phosphorous is necessary for animal and plant growth and acts as a growth limiting nutrient in lake ecosystems. Well-oxygenated waters have low amounts of phosphates. Phosphate undergoes a complex process of uptake and mineralization to be retained in the soil, unlike the nitrogen cycle which is simpler. Soluble phosphate is incorporated by plants and animals in their biological systems to form compounds like ATP, DNA and RNA. ATP is necessary for energy production via the Kreb’s cycle while DNA and RNA have genetic importance. Phosphorous is therefore necessary for photosynthesis to occur (www. water-research. net/) Phosphates enhance growth of aquatic plants which are the food source for other organisms. Increased production of plankton result in an initial increase in population of fish and the entire biological system of the water body. This however has an adverse effect because as the phosphate levels build-up the process by which the water ecosystem is aging is speeded up leading to an imbalance of nutrients where production begins to exceed consumption. Phosphates like nitrates also cause eutrophication resulting in more plants than can be consumed by the system. The result is anoxic waters, presence of algal blooms that are toxic and a reduction in biodiversity as well as destruction of food supply and habitat. (www. water-research. net) Eutrophication is an issue that compromises water quality and has received much attention since 1980 when there was extensive occurrence of blue-green algae in fresh water systems. These blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) sometimes produce toxins that cause harm to human beings and farm animals. Poor conditions resulting from eutrophication have been noted in eastern North Carolina in the Chowan, Neuse and Pamlico River systems (Baird, 1990). Water that has very high levels of phosphates causes digestive problems to people. The negative effect of high levels of phosphate then is more indirect to humans but has a bigger impact because by altering the environment and destroying habitats the destruction caused is much harder to reverse. A compound like nitrates dissolves in water and moves in water in surface streams and ground water. Most forms of phosphorous, however, are transported together with soil that has undergone erosion especially when runoff is high flowing precipitation and irrigation. This is because instead of dissolving they attach themselves to soil particles. As such phosphorous is more likely to contaminate surface water rather than ground water (USGS, Circular1225, 2007). Findings from a USGS report indicate that phosphorous has a greater effect in causing eutrophication with 0.1mg/L of phosphorous being sufficient to cause excessive growth of aquatic plants (USGS, Circular 1225, 2007). In urban areas, the most significant point sources are urban streams which have discharged from wastewater treatment plants. A report of the US Geological service indicates that the streams in the semiarid western and south-western cities coupled with those in urban areas on the East had high levels of phosphorous (USGS, Circular1225). Recent research shows that phosphorous can travel with ground-water flows. The study was conducted in Cape Cod, Massachusetts where there has been contamination of the groundwater with phosphorous, an unlikely thing since most scientists generally believe that phosphorous is not transferable via groundwater (McCob et al, 2003; Stollenwerk, 1996). The main factors influencing vulnerability to contamination are the type of soils and slope of land. These two factors determine how fast and how much runoff there will be. Areas with steep slopes, poorly drained clay soils and little vegetation have higher likelihood of contamination of their surface waters. In urban centres, pavements and drains made of tile cause acceleration of flow of streams. Ground water on the other hand has a high chance of contamination if the soils drain well and the subsurface material is highly permeable. Some practices of crop-management designed to decrease sediment flow may increase infiltration leading to greater contamination of groundwater (USGS, Circular, 1225). To reduce the impact of phosphorous and nitrogen in water quality, strategies need to be employed that reduce the use of chemicals and alter transportation of the hydrologic system (USGS). In planning these strategies consideration of watersheds, patterns of land use and the differences in vulnerability to contamination in various areas should be foremost to ensure that whatever interventions are put in place are effective. References Baird J (1990) Nitrogen management and water quality retrieved from www. soil. ncsu. edu/publications/soilfacts/AG-439-02 Harvard, Olson and Cooke, 1999, Impact of soil phosphorous loading on Water Quality in Alberta, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. McCob T D, Leblanc DR, Watter DA, Hess KN Kent DB and Smith RL 2003, Phosphorous in a Ground-water contaminant Plume Discharging to Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1999: US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4306, 70p Mueller D K and Helser D R, Nutrients in the Nation’s water-Too much of a Good Thing? National Water-Quality Assessment Program USGS, retrieved from http://water. usgs. gov/nawqa/CIRC-1136. html National findings and their implications for water policies and strategies, USGS, Circular 1225, retrieved from http://pubs.usgs. gov/circ/circ1225/html/nawqafind. htm/. Nitrogen and water quality retrieved from http://kywater. org/ww/ramp/rmnox-htm Stollenwerk K-G 1996, Simulation of phosphate transport in sewage-contaminated groundwater, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Applied Geochemistry, V. 11. no 1-2 pp 317-324 The effects of urbanization and agriculture on water quality: Nitrogen retrieved from http://ga. water. usgs. gov/edu/urbannitrogen. html Total phosphorous and Phosphate impact in surface waters Wilkes University, Environmental. Engineering and Earth Science retrieved from www.water. research. net/phosphate. htm Water-quality patterns in agricultural areas, USGS, Circular 1225 retrieved from http://pubs. usgs. gov/circ/circ1225/html/wq-agri. htm/ Water-quality patterns in urban areas, United States Geological Society, retrieved from http://pubs. usgs. gov/circ/circ1225/html/wq-urban. htm/ Water-quality patterns in areas with mixed hand use and a range of hydrologic and environmental settings, USGS, Circular 1225 retrieved from http://pubs. usgs. gov/circ/circ1225/html/wq-hydro. htm/.

Reconstruction of African Americans Dbq Essay Example for Free

Reconstruction of African Americans Dbq Essay African Americans were given the opportunity to vote. There opinion began to matter. As Alfred H. Ward expresses in his art black men waiting in a line, it means much more than a single file. Displaying the men dressed in different outfits and uniforms waiting to put in their opinion, their vote (Document A). Negroes were now being viewed as another person and another opinion needed. It was even expressed that one shall not be denied a vote for their race (Document C). This is yet again another prime example of the African Americans new progress in a political aspect. Though it may seem a simple and smooth change it wasn’t a golden path through the transformation, some still could not accept the fact that black deserve to have the right to vote. Dramatic words and publication were existent during the late 19-century, even a cartoon was published of an African American man dying, and reason of death being he used his right to vote (document F). Soon the African Americans had their heads soaring high, some people were finally giving them some social respect. Along with the 14th amendment supporting their new freedom things seemed to be changing. Simply re stated â€Å" no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States† just with the first statement, African Americans are entitled to even more rights (Document B). Again, the civil rights act of 1875, this enacted that all persons of the U. S. shall be entitled to full enjoyment of accommodations, advantages, and privileges of inns, public water and entertainment. Also stating that this is applicable to every citizen of every race (Document D). Though yet again things were not always so positive and equal. â€Å"Jim crow laws of the deep south† created many restrictions and much un fair treatment. To the extent of marriages between white and blacks were prohibited in Florida (Document H). In Georgia one could not burry an African American where whites were buried (Document H). Also, in Mississippi, discussion of or defending for social equality would immediately be guilty of a misdemeanor (Document H). Some cases so harsh that blacks who would assert their rights would face unemployment, eviction, and sometimes physical harm. From evidence shown the African Americans had dramatic reconstruction stages in both political views along with social views. They received some respect and rights of being created equal. They also received their right to vote. Though, it didn’t all become easy and perfect they had much progress of reconstruction. Many changes were made. As many lives were transformed.

MEL and Analogues: Structures and Properties

MEL and Analogues: Structures and Properties CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Melamine MEL is an organic compound which had been closely associated with milk adulterant scandal between the year 2007 and 2008. Having a chemical formula of C3H6N6, makes it a nitrogen rich compound, thus giving the false impression of real protein content (Y.-N. Wu, Zhao, Li, 2009). Manufacturing companies who bought raw milk for further production usually carry out protein tests by monitoring the nitrogen levels. MEL can be hydrolysed to ammelide, ammeline and CYA, the derivatives are many produce for the synthesis of formaldehyde resin in the manufacturing of plastics, kitchenware or laminates (Y. Wu Zhang, 2013). CYA commonly used as a bleaching component in swimming pools. MEL and CYA are soluble in water, however when the two combined they will form a MEL and CYA complex which is an insoluble crystal through cross linking hydrogen bonding network (Mukherjee Ren, 2010). 2.1.1 Structures and properties of MEL and analogues The triazine derivative, MEL has three reactive amine groups (-NH2) and one aromatic s-triazine ring or 1,3,5-triazine ring. Replacing the amine groups (-NH2) with hydroxyl group (-OH) through hydrolysis or metabolism by microorganism will form analogues as ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009). Figure 2.1 Structure of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009) Physical properties of MEL and its analogues are shown in Table 2.1. MEL has an appearance in form of white powder with a melting point of 354oC. This shows that MEL is thermally stable and explains that it is often used as fire retardant. Furthermore, MEL is sparingly soluble in either acidic pH or polar organic solvent such as acetone or ethanol, due to like-dissolve-like interaction of polar compound MEL. On the contrary, MEL would be insoluble in non-polar solvents such as benzene or hexane (EFSA, 2010). Ammeline on the other hand is a white powder that decomposes prior to melting. It possesses weak acidic properties and is soluble in both mineral acid and alkaline solutions. Ammelide is also a form of white powder that is almost insoluble in water. It decomposes at temperatures range of 170oC to form carbon dioxide and ammonia. The crystal complex of MEL and CYA is very stable at only hydrolyses at either very low or high pH. Basically the complex crystal compound are insoluble at pH below 5.0, which is mostly occurred in the urinary tract (Tolleson, Diachenko, Heller, 2008). Table 2.1 Physical properties of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009) 2.2 MEL and analogues toxicity The toxic effects of MEL ingestion are closely linked with high dosage and low dosage of MEL would not be as toxic that will cause any adverse effect to human health. However, having said that, non toxic does not necessarily mean that it is safe for consumption. On December 2008, the US FDA recommends a TDI for MEL was 0.63 mg kg-1 body weight per day for food and other food ingredients excluding infant milk formula (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). This meant 100 kg person can be subjected to a tolerable amount of 60 mg MEL. Infant formula are given a closer monitoring because it is a primary source of nutrient and calorie for infants, plus kidney functions in infant are still premature. Therefore the FDA has set a limit of 1  µg mL-1 for MEL in infant formula (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). Different countries apply different limit of the TDI, for instance EFSA recommended a TDI of 0.5 mg kg-1 of body weight per day. Whereas Health Canada revealed the risk assessment of MEL-contaminated milk and milk based product to be 0.35 mg kg-1 body weight per day (WHO, 2008). Over Southeast Asia, the Malaysian Ministry of Health has set the maximum levels of MEL in baby and adult food product to be 1.0 mg kg-1, 2.5 mg kg-1 respectively (Y. Wu Zhang, 2013). This incident cause the FDA, European community and other countries to introduce a standard limit for MEL in infant formula and in other milk products to be at 1 ppm and 2.5 ppm, respectively. WHO established the TDI for MEL at 0.2 mg kg-1 (Sun et al., 2010). 2.2.1 Toxicity in animals and humans The data available on the dangers and chronic human exposure to MEL are limited, therefore the information on MEL toxin are extrapolated from animal data. MEL and CYA are considered as low toxin due to their large median LD50. For MEL in rats, the LD50 ranges from 3.1 g kg ­-1 to 6.4 g kg-1 and from 3.2 g kg-1 up to 7.0 g kg-1 in mice. Whilst for CYA, the estimated LD50 are 7.7 g kg-1 in rats and 3.4 g kg-1 in mice (Skinner et al., 2010). The study on the toxicity of MEL and CYA focuses on the urinary system for both humans and animals. The experimental studies on the effects of MEL on kidney in humans are unavailable. Nonetheless, consistent observation was made during the experiment with animals on the effects of MEL is bladder stones. The same result was reported with a following exposure to CYA, and that is formation of some bladder stones. Inflammatory reaction was observed in the rats and mice urinary bladder after dietary exposure to MEL. This indicates as one of the main effects of the toxic of MEL (Bingham et al., 2001). In general death cause by MEL are relatively low in human but there is a high rate of stones formation. In the height of the MEL food scandal, there are many deaths of pets animals in USA, Canada and South Africa due to kidney failure. Later the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) found that the number of deaths due to MEL and CYA contaminated pet feed was in the range of 2000 to 7000 (Puschner and Reimschuessel, 2011). In 2008 there were high detection of MEL in infant formula and other milk product and surely enough this resulted in severe health effects amongst infant and young children. As much as 294,000 were diagnosed with urinary tract stones and at least 50,000 were hospitalised. Six children were confirmed dead cause of kidney failures (Dorne et al., 2013). After this incident strict rules and regulation was implemented, and lots of method was developed in order to get a rapid and sensitive detection of MEL. 2.3 Analysis of MEL It is important to have rapid, widely available, cost effective methods for detecting MEL in various samples. Few of the advance analytical methods for detection of MEL are High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Liquid Chromatography with Mass spectroscopy (LC-MS), LC with tandem (LC-MS2) and Gas Chromatography with MS (GC-MS). Sample preparation required prior to instrumental analysis, this is because the sample in question are high in protein and carbohydrates content which would hinder MEL detection. Therefore effective extraction methods is necessary, by removing other constituents in the matrix would mean lower limit of detection (LODs) can be achieved. Due to the polarity MEL compound it is best to extract it using SPE with a polar cartridge. The most common SPE tubes used for the separation of MEL is Supelco Discovery DSC-SCX 500 mg/6 ml (Sigma-Aldrich, n.d.). Before the SPE methods are applied it is best to precipitate out the protein by adding acetonitrile which acts as a protein precipitant and then centrifuge (Mosch, Kiranoglu, Fromme, Và ¶lkel, 2010). 2.3.1 Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) GC-MS is often used to detect MEL and its analogs for quantification and confirmation. It was reported that it is a sensitive, reliable instrumental analytical method for the simultaneous detection and quantification of MEL in animal feed. However, it requires a tedious sample preparation which renders the methodology impractical for analysing large samples (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). 2.3.2 High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) HPLC is known as common method for quantitative determination of MEL. It can carry out simultaneous detection of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA with LOD of 5 ppm. By current standards, this method of analysis does not show great sensitivity in detection of MEL. This is because UV of MEL exhibits absorption bands below 250 nm which meant that HPLC method will not be able to confirm the target analyte (Sun et al., 2010). Quantification error can occur if insufficient attention is given to chromatographic conditions or if sample preparation is not optimised. To increase sensitivity investigators used DAD system of detection, this gives improvement in term of better LOD of 0.1 ppm using HPLC-DAD (Sun et al., 2010). It is difficult to retain MEL on a reverse phase column due to it high polarity, so to compensate for this problem hydrophilic interaction chromatography technique is used (Han et al., 2011). Figure 2.3.2 Retention time of melamine standards using HILIC-UV (Zheng, Yu, Li, Dai, 2012) 2.3.3 Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (LC-MS) and tandem Mass spectroscopy (LC-MS2) MS techniques are widely used for the determination of contaminants of MEL, because it shows molecular specificity and high sensitivity of detection. This means a MEL AND CYA having fairly low LOD 30 ppb and LOQ 40 ppb in serum sample. Mostly the method based on LC-MS2 with HILIC and ESI is positive ion mode. Positive ion mode is chosen because of the presence of nitrogen in the compound. The past researcher used two selected reaction monitoring (SRM) transitions of m/z 127 till 85 and 127 till 68 were monitored, figure 2.3.3. By applying these ion transitions for SRM allows quantitative and qualitative analysis of MEL residues at an LOD of 3.2 ppb (Sun et al., 2010). Figure 2.3.3 The positive ion electrospray full scan mass spectrum (bottom) and product ion spectra (top) of melamine, acquired by infusion of 0.5 g mL -1 standard solution (Sancho, Ibà ¡Ãƒ ±ez, Grimalt, Pozo, Hernà ¡ndez, 2005). 2.4 Optimization of buffer pH MEL is a weak alkaline compound that can hydrolyze in strong acid or alkali solutions. MEL extraction can be carried out in neutral, acidic and alkali conditions, but acidic pH lower than 3 and neutral extraction conditions are most common for food. Neutral extraction can be carried out using acetonitrile-water or methanol-water. Factors of affecting retention of melamine were explored, including buffer concentration, pH, and percentage of organic solvent in the mobile phase. The optimal UV detection wavelength was selected. Satisfactory retention of melamine, good peak shape, and high sensitivity were obtained under the chosen conditions. Tables 2.4 Effects of pH on melamine retention time

Its Time for Voluntary Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

America Needs Voluntary Euthanasia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are at least two forms of suicide. One is 'emotional suicide', or irrational self-murder in all of it complexities and sadness. Let me emphasis at once that my view of this tragic form of self-destruction is the same as that of the suicide intervention movement and the rest of society, which is to prevent it wherever possible. I do not support any form of suicide for mental health or emotional reasons.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But I do say that there is a second form of suicide -- justifiable suicide, that is, rational and planned self-deliverance from a painful and hopeless disease which will shortly end in death. I don't think the word 'suicide' sits well in this context but we are stuck with it. Many have tried to popularize the term 'self-deliverance' but it is an uphill battle because the news media is in love with the words 'assisted suicide'. Also, we have to face the fact that the law calls all forms of self-destruction 'suicide.'      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Let me point out here for those who might not know it that suicide is no longer a crime anywhere in the English-speaking world. (It used to be, and was punishable by giving all the dead person's money and goods to the government.) Attempted suicide is no longer a crime, although under health laws a person can in most states be forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital for three days for evaluation.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But giving assistance in suicide remains a crime, except in the Netherlands in recent times under certain conditions, and it has never been a crime in Switzerland, Germany, Norway and Uruguay. The rest of the world punishes assistance in suicide for both the mentally ill and the terminally ill, although the state of Oregon recently (Nov. l994) passed by ballot Measure 16 a limited physician-assisted suicide law. At present (Feb. l995) this is held up in the law courts.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even if a hopelessly ill person is requesting assistance in dying for the most compassionate reasons, and the helper is acting from the most noble of motives, it remains a crime in the Anglo-American world. Punishments range from fines to fourteen years in prison. It is this catch- all prohibition which I and others wish to change.

The African National Congress and the Fight Against South African Apart

The word â€Å"apartheid† means â€Å"separateness† in Afrikaans Language. Human Rights, according to â€Å"Article 1, UN Declaration of Rights† states that â€Å" All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in spirit of brotherhood†. The native Africans were being segregated from the whites and were treated as second class citizens. The black residents felt that the apartheid policies violated their rights. Human rights of South African natives were violated when a racial segregation system, called Apartheid, based upon skin color was established by the South African government. Although there were various international responses, the actions of such groups as the African National Congress displayed defiance and bravery in the midst of severe situations. Racial segregation and white domination had become main aspects of South African policy way before apartheid began. Although apartheid in South Africa technically formed in 1948, Africa’s history of racial oppression began as early as the mid-17th century. Unofficial apartheid began the moment when the Dutch East India Company set up a station on the Cape. South Africa is a country blessed with a plentiful abundance of natural resources. These natural resources being fertile farmlands and rare mineral resources. The climate resembles the San Francisco Bay Area more than any other location in the world. This is one of various reasons why the Dutch wanted to colonize it. South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the 17th century. Dutch colonists, also known as Boers or Afrikaners, were controlled by the English resulting in the Dutch forming the new colonies of Orange Free State and Tran... ...ctions of such groups as the African National Congress displayed defiance and bravery in the midst of extremely tough situations. South African native’s rights were being violated because they were being treated poorly and harshly. If anyone tried to protest, even protest with peaceful means, they were either shot at or arrested. The ANC was developed to fight the battle against apartheid. Eventually, this fortunately led to the end of apartheid in 1994. The humanity of all people are diminished when any group is withhold of rights that our granted to others. Works Cited http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html http://www.history.com/topics/apartheid http://www.sahistory.org.za/liberation-struggle-south-africa/apartheid-and-limits-non-violent-resistance-1948-1960 http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/discrim/race_b_at_print.asp

Adam Smiths Lectures on Jurisprudence Essay -- Economics Lectures Jur

Adam Smith's Lectures on Jurisprudence Adam Smith, in his Lectures of Jurisprudence, makes an argument for the necessity of marriage through biological mechanisms. While superficially similar, his arguments seem to differ greatly from the modern notion of how labor is distributed within the household. Instead of examining the comparative advantages in production between the husband and the wife, Smith seems to focus on the importance of lineage and, more specifically, inheritance. The foundation of Smith’s argument for the necessity of marriage is rooted in children. He begins with examples contrary to the human experience. He finds that in mammals, since â€Å"the support of the young is no burthen to the female† any further relation is seen as unnecessary (Smith 438). Birds, however, â€Å"some such thing as marriage seems to take place† (438). He quickly counters with: â€Å"but whenever the young can shift for themselves all further inclination ceases† (438). The essential piece of this argument here is the demands made on the parent by the child. According to his argument, th...

Poem Comparison: ‘Island Man’, ‘Two Scavengers…’ Essay

Compare ‘Island Man’ with one other poem, to show how the poets use people to explain the conflict that can exist between and within different cultures. People are at the centre all communities. They embody the values, customers and ideas that particular culture possesses. By examining how people behave and think, it is possible to gain a greater understanding of how their cultural roots affect them. ‘Island Man’ describes how an immigrant in London reacts to his environment as he dreams of his Caribbean home. In contrast, the people in ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ all live in San Francisco, but lead totally different lives there. ‘Island Man’ uses structure to show the conflicting and confused waking thoughts of the man. There is no punctuation, the line lengths vary and some phrases are totally misplaced, as is the individual: â€Å"he always comes back groggily groggily†. Like ‘Island Man’, ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ also has no punctuation. It represents an instant in time, like the flash of a camera. The conflicting images seem to be laid one on top of the other, line by line, emphasising the contrasts between the two lifestyles. The language in ‘Island Man’ shows the inner turmoil that the character is going through. The reader gets a series of contrasting images. For example, â€Å"the sound of the blue surf† of the Caribbean conflicts with, the â€Å"grey metallic soar† of London. The â€Å"pillow waves† show the troubled sleep he has had which has caused the ruffles, but also tells of the dreams he has had of his â€Å"emerald island†. The word â€Å"wombing† suggests the sense of security his homeland offers him, in contrast to the faceless â€Å"dull North Circular roar† of London. Contrast is also used in ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, but here it is the contrast of the different types of people: the woman is â€Å"casually coifed†, the older man is â€Å"grungy†. Although the young men’s hair and glasses are similar, their appearances are mostly very different; the â€Å"hip three-piece linen suit† conflicts with the â€Å"red plastic blazers†. The use of vocabulary is effective in both poems. Some words, such as â€Å"soar†, â€Å"roar† and â€Å"surge† have double meanings: they are positive when they relate to his island, but have negative meanings in London. In ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, descriptive words are used to highlight the differences between the people. For example, â€Å"scavengers† are unworthy compared to â€Å"an elegant couple†. The poet uses this contrast to make a direct criticism of society and how it creates this division between rich and poor people. Phrases like â€Å"small gulf† emphasise how these people may only be a few metres apart on the street, but, in terms of their lifestyles, they will never meet. Both poets show how the people feel in their different situations and give us their own view. ‘Island Man’ obviously has fond memories of the Caribbean but resents his dull lifestyle in London. We can feel his depression as he â€Å"heaves himself† to â€Å"Another London day†. Grace Nichols has sympathy for this man as he feels the conflict of these two cultures. The feelings revealed in ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ are very one-sided, as we have the envy of the poor, â€Å"as if they were watching some odorless TV ad / in which everything is always possible,† contrasting with the uncaring attitudes of the rich, who don’t even seem to notice the truck or its passengers. The poet’s attitude here is one of despair at this unequal society. ‘Island Man’ has made me more aware how it might feel to be trapped in a foreign country, while ‘Two Scavengers†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ starkly highlights the divisions in American society. The poems have made me hope that in the future, society will be more equal and that governments who promise equal opportunities for all will deliver on what they say.

Pronoun

Read in your textbook or in any other available resource on the topic of Verb BE. 3. Write a personal ad describing yourself, activities you do, hobbies, where you work, where do you live, etc. Focus on two or three questions available in Appendix A to write your ad. 4. Bring the ad to class. Prep-04-26-04 Carmen L. Lambda, De-D. 7 program O'Hara 5. Carry out some research on someone famous. Think of a person you would like to interview and do some research on the Internet on that person. It could be an athlete, and actress or actor, or the president. Make sure you have enough information on this person. Activities 1. Ice breaker activity will be carried out.In order to do this, have students read their ads. Ask students to listen to the ads and have them jot down any similarity or striking fact they would like to hear more about. After everyone reads their ad, have students get up and go about the room and ask each other about specific details they thought were interesting. Let them converse among themselves. . After that, have students talk about something they found out or thought interesting about the people they talked to. Facilitator can participate in this activity. 3. Facilitator provides an overview of the course. Particular emphasis should be placed on objectives, evaluation criteria, student participation, and group work.If any changes are made to the grading evaluation criteria, these should be given in writing to the student and the office program during the first workshop. 4. Discuss evaluation criteria. 5. Select Student Representative. 6. Tell students they are going to review the alphabet and most of all review alphabetical order. Tell them you are going to give each student a card. Each card has the name of a different animal, or thing. Ask students to look at their card, but tell no one what they have. By acting (walking, acting, or making sounds) like the animal or thing they should go around the room and try to place themselves in correct a lphabetical order.Facilitator should create his/ her own list of things and animals, but these are some examples: a. Kangaroo b. Ostrich c. Tiger d. Bear 8 e. Clock f. Snake g. Bird h. Train 7. Provide students with about 10 minutes to try to sort themselves alphabetically. Once students are sorted, have them read out their card. Did they get it right? Be sure to review any alphabetizing questions they may have. 8. Present students with a review of the VERB BE in present tense. Am am from Mexico City (l am) What's your name? (What is) My name is Maria Where are you from? 9. Have students pair up. Ask students to interview each other, making sure each student gets the name, phone number and address of the person he/ she is interviewing. 10.Have students introduce the person by providing the details requested (phone number, name, and address). Have them use the phrases: This is (name). His/Her address is His/Her phone number . 11. As students say the information help them and guide th em to say the addresses and phone numbers correctly concentrating on the numbers and on using the verb be correctly. 12. Have students again pair up. Facilitator should try pairing them up with someone different each time. Ask them to decide on a famous person they would like to interview. This famous person could be an athlete, actor, actress, or president. Use the research you carried out prior to the workshop. 13. Write up an interview for that famous person.Have One of the students portray the famous person and have the other person be the interviewer. Practice your interview and present the role play to the class. Be sure to use verb be correctly. 9 14. Have students complete the assignment presented in Appendix B. Students should hand in during the next workshop (Workshop 2). (HINT: Make copies of the assignment and hand in once you complete it. 15. Offer a preview of Workshop 2 and discuss upcoming homework. In order for students to complete the homework, ask them to work in groups. Make sure the composition of the group has been decided before they leave the classroom. Ask them to provide you with a list with the group members. Groups should not have more than four students.