Chula Vista Nature Center

The Chula Vista Nature Center Tamitha Y Sprenger SCI 256 March 29, 2012 Tim Boyajian Chula Vista Nature Center San Diego, to many it’s a land of dreams from coastal backyards to mountain views as well as many areas that imitate the dessert like climates of Arizona. However, it is not just a home for people, but also for many animals and plants as well. California has partnered with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California fish and game to help protect the diverse species of plants and animals that share the lush beauty of this land.One way they are striving to accomplish this task is through the Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP). One organization that assists in the restoration of the native plant and animals of Chula Vista is the Chula Vista Nature Center. The Chula Vista Nature Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing environmental education on coastal resource conservation, and building a respect for wildlife in the lives of the people. It rests on the 316-acre Sweetwater March National Wildlife Refuge, and provides an interactive learning experience by introducing the guest to the way the native creatures live in their natural habitats.Some of the interactive exhibits include the turtle lagoon, the shark and ray experience, and the native plant gardens. One can even see burrowing owl nests and the bald eagle. At the native plant and garden visitors will be provided with staff fully knowledgeable on composting gardens. These staff members will then give a demonstration that will teach visitors how they can help make home gardens healthy and safe by reducing the use of toxic fertilizers that destroy the native plants.Some of these native plants guests will be able to enjoy are the Shaw’s Agave, Sagebrush, Coast Barrel Cactus, The California Wild Rose, and many more. With these beautiful and fragrant flowers guests will also enjoy butterflies, hummingbirds and other native birds. The Chula Vista Nature Center ta kes guests on an underworld adventure though the Discovery Center. Here, one will learn about the Rainbow Trout, California Lobster, Red Diamond Rattlesnake, Moon Jelly and more.Guest will find them selves traveling though the bay, to the marshlands and then into upland areas as they stroll through the Discovery Center. Interactions with humans for these plants and animals are beneficial to their survival. Without the knowledge of s disasters that put them in danger of extinction many of these creatures will have already been gone, and humans will only learn of them from books. With the help of The Chula Vista Nature Center, these native creatures will have a chance to grow, and live as they were meant to live.Humans will experience the beauty of the land, and the natural resources that are provided for them by the land. Human life does not come solely from their attempts to grow their own plants, or breed their own animals. It comes from working together with the plants and animals that naturally live and grow in the environment. References County of San Diego (2009). MSCP Biology. Received March 26, 2012 from http://www. sdcounty. ca. gov The Chula Vista Nature Center (2010). The Chula Vista Nature Center. Received March 27, 2012 from http://www. chulavistanaturecenter. org

Neoliberalism, A Very Short Introduction

Unilateralism a Very Short Introduction, is an excellent and concise presentation of the history and development of inalienable ideas. During the sass and 1 sass, the revival of the liberal ideas was known as inalienable. They spread around the world In a variety of size, forms and colors depending who, where and how Implemented them.The Washington Consensus MIFF, World Bank supported inalienable Ideas In the name of globalization and free markets, but at the end only benefited the insatiable reed of big financial institutions and multinational corporations. An Important part of these paper was dedicated to identify where this revival of ideas started, how they expanded through the world and the result and consequences of these policies. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Manfred B. Stager, is Professor of Global Studies and Director of the Globalize Research Centre at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.His areas of expertise Include global studies, political and social theory, pe ace studies, and international politics. HIS most recent publications Includes The Rise of the Global Imaginary (POP, 2009) and Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (2nd deed, POP 2009). 1 Rave K. Roy, is a Lecturer of Global Studies and teaches International Development and Global Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. His research expertise is in economic policy and public policy.He Is the coeditor of Unilateralism: National and regional experiences with global Ideas (Rutledge, 2007) and author of Fiscal Policy from Reagan to Blair: The Left veers Right (Rutledge, 2004). 2 Manfred B. Stager and Rave K. Roy, Unilateralism a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, ENGLAND: oxford university press, 2010), 150. 2 Manfred B. Stager and Rave K. Roy, Unilateralism, 150. Unilateralism a Very Short Introduction, Book Review Manfred B. Stager and Rave K.Roy, the authors of Unilateralism a Very Short Introduction, made an excellent and concise presentation of the his tory and development of inalienable ideas. They wrote in simple and plain English and at the beginning of the book, they provided a very helpful list of abbreviations, charts, maps, and photographs. Even thought, the liberal ideas can be traced back to Adams Smith ND John Locke the latest revival of the liberal ideas occurred very recently. The first wave of liberal happened during the sass, a decade later there was a transformation of inalienable ideas.Even though, the two layers of inalienable ideas came at different times, the authors affirmed that they shared the same formula: â€Å"deregulation, liberalizing and prevarication,† were free markets and private initiative are the core ideological values. The main purpose of these paper was to investigate and bring to light where the inalienable ideas started, how the expanded wrought the world, and their consequences on the world economy. The revival of the inalienable ideas resurfaced on the United States and in Great Brita in during the sass.There were two waves of inalienable ideas, the two major exponents of the first wave of liberal economics were President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Stager et al, believed that â€Å"These political leaders not only articulated the core ideological claims of unilateralism but also sought to convert them into 3 Manfred B. Stager and Rave K. Roy, Unilateralism, 14. Public policies and programmed. 4 In addition, the second wave of liberal economic policies were propelled by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Both considered center left politicians, who favored the liberal ideas with a sense of social responsibility.Reagan and Thatcher, both opposed the Keynesian ideas of government interventionism. President Reggae's economic plan based on inalienable ideas was swoon as Ergonomics. While Reagan was committed to a â€Å"smaller, decentralized government†¦ ,† on the other side of the Atlantic, the Iron Lady set similar policies. On the se cond revival of liberal ideas, President Clinton and Premier Blair promoted half way approach to liberal ideas while they incorporated parts of a social progressive agenda associated with the left. 5 While Silicon's strategy was known as market globalize, Flair's policy was known as Third Way. According to Stager et al, during the his administration President Clinton, â€Å"†¦ Undertook some of the most comprehensive deregulatory reforms of the 20th century. For example, the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 removed the legal divisions between commercial and investment banking as well as those between insurance companies and brokerage houses, thus scrapping one of the angers of such profound deregulation of the finance sector would not become fully apparent until the global financial crisis of 2008-9. â€Å"7 On the other hand, Flair's Third Way highlighted â€Å"†¦ Lobar cooperation and conscientiousness through international institutions. † 8 In addit ion, Blair New Labor ideas were 4 Manfred B. Stager and Rave K. Roy, Unilateralism, 21 . 5 Ibid, 31-51. 6 Ibid, Preface. 7 Ibid, 61 . 8 Ibid, 51 . Supported by social progress of individual attainment, which translated on the successful development of the private sector. Additionally, Blair developed the idea that government responsibility to support the growth of the private sector could be mixed with the function of the government to provide social services.Out of the revival of these new liberal ideas resulted on the Frankincense manifestation of the Chicago Boys at the Chicago School of Economics, unilateralism. While most developed nations welcomed inalienable ideas, they were introduced into Eastern Europe and Russian under the recipe of Shock Therapy that almost bankrupted their economies. 10 On the other hand, most undeveloped countries were lackeyed by the MIFF and World Bank into accepting the inalienable principles as a pre-condition of granting much needed loans.Within u nilateralism we found ideas representing America's core values of liberty, freedom, and democracy, but those ideas were also adopted by criminal De Facto or Communist anti-democratic regimes such as Chile's Augusto Pinochle or China's former president Jinn Gemini. Which confirmed that the Washington Consensus, MIFF and World Bank represented the greed of powerful financial institutions and multinational corporations not the core values of America. As result of inalienable policies, there were successive financial Mexico was short of stop payment on its debt.Subcomponents Marco's, lead an armed revolt that brought to light Mexico greatest social inequalities. On 1998 the Asian financial crisis threatened to push the global economy into recession. As result of the crisis, the Asian countries stop 9 Ibid, 52. 10 Ibid, 53- 56. Importing oil from Russian which then turned into recession. The Russian economy recovered, but its democracy never did. Lead by Vladimir Putting eventually Russi a became an oligarchy. In South America Brazil faced a currency crisis, but its neighbor Argentina defaulted billions of dollars in public debt. 1 Africa countries also faced economic problems. Ghana suffered greatest social inequalities as result of the imposed MIFF inalienable recipes. On 2007, The United States, underwent the most serious economic financial crisis since the Great Depression. Yet, the country have not fully recovered. In conclusion, Stager et al, made a great presentation of the history, development and failure of liberal ideas into unilateralism. The book was reader friendly, any person with a minimum knowledge on international economy loud benefit from reading it.In the sass and the sass, the two waves of inalienable ideas shared the same formula of deregulation, liberalizing and prevarication. As result of those ideas, several financial crisis developed around the world and The United States was among the countries that was negatively affected. After two decade s of inalienable polices, the world and the US economy were in recession. Some of those recessions were severe enough to bring the world into the brink of economic collapse. While America's reputation was damaged and its leadership position questioned internationally; at home, President George W.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne Summary Bruno is a nine years old boy, who lives with his father, mother and his twelve years old sister Gretel in Berlin during the second world war. His father is commandant for the German army. One day, when Bruno came home from school, the family’s maid Maria is packing his belongings. They move to a new home, because of his fathers’ work. Their new home’s called Out-With. Immediately when the Family arrive at Out-With, Bruno gets homesick.He misses his friends, his grandparents and especially his old home at Berlin. From a bedroom window Gretel and Bruno see many people, all in the same grey-white striped pyjamas. Out-with and the people in the pyjamas are separated by a huge fence. When Bruno asks his father who this people are, his father says they aren't really people. When Bruno walks along the fence (exploring), he sees a boy sitting on the other site of the fence. The Jewish boy is called Schmuel and h e has exactly the same age as Bruno. They become friends and Bruno visits Schmuel every day.After one year at Out-With, Bruno’s mother wants to go back to Berlin because she thinks Out-With is an unsafe place for children to grow up. Bruno doesn’t want to go back to Berlin because of Schmuel. When he went for the last time to Schmuel, Schmuel tells him his father is gone. Bruno wants to help Schmuel to search and explore for his father. He changes into the striped pyjamas. Bruno and Schmuel go into the camp. When they are exploring, suddenly they went on a march. They marched to a long room and the frond was suddenly closed. Bruno doesn’t know it is a airtight room.Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that. Relationships Gretel – Bruno Bruno calls his sister Gretel ‘The Hopeless Case’. She always thinks Bruno’s stupid, because he’s ‘only’ nine. Gretel is twelve years old and she thinks she’s very smart, old and wise. Bruno is a little scared of Gretel. When Gretel becomes a little older, she gets more serious and stops teasing Bruno. Schmuel – Bruno Schmuel and Bruno are very good friends. In the end of the book, Bruno calls Schmuel his best friend. Bruno goes every afternoon to the fence to talk with Schmuel. They can’t play, because the fence separate them.Their friendship is also strange, because Schmuel hates all the soldiers who live with Bruno. Bruno doesn’t know what the soldiers (and his father) do to the Jewish people. Father – Bruno Bruno doesn’t really know what his fathers’ Job is. He only know his father wears the most beautiful uniform of all the soldiers. The year after Bruno went to the airtight room, his father goes back to the place where the clothes of Bruno were found. He discovers a gap in the fence and he knows immediately what happened to Bruno. On that moment, he regretted about everything what he have done. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne Summary Bruno is a nine years old boy, who lives with his father, mother and his twelve years old sister Gretel in Berlin during the second world war. His father is commandant for the German army. One day, when Bruno came home from school, the family’s maid Maria is packing his belongings. They move to a new home, because of his fathers’ work. Their new home’s called Out-With. Immediately when the Family arrive at Out-With, Bruno gets homesick.He misses his friends, his grandparents and especially his old home at Berlin. From a bedroom window Gretel and Bruno see many people, all in the same grey-white striped pyjamas. Out-with and the people in the pyjamas are separated by a huge fence. When Bruno asks his father who this people are, his father says they aren't really people. When Bruno walks along the fence (exploring), he sees a boy sitting on the other site of the fence. The Jewish boy is called Schmuel and h e has exactly the same age as Bruno. They become friends and Bruno visits Schmuel every day.After one year at Out-With, Bruno’s mother wants to go back to Berlin because she thinks Out-With is an unsafe place for children to grow up. Bruno doesn’t want to go back to Berlin because of Schmuel. When he went for the last time to Schmuel, Schmuel tells him his father is gone. Bruno wants to help Schmuel to search and explore for his father. He changes into the striped pyjamas. Bruno and Schmuel go into the camp. When they are exploring, suddenly they went on a march. They marched to a long room and the frond was suddenly closed. Bruno doesn’t know it is a airtight room.Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that. Relationships Gretel – Bruno Bruno calls his sister Gretel ‘The Hopeless Case’. She always thinks Bruno’s stupid, because he’s ‘only’ nine. Gretel is twelve years old and she thinks she’s very smart, old and wise. Bruno is a little scared of Gretel. When Gretel becomes a little older, she gets more serious and stops teasing Bruno. Schmuel – Bruno Schmuel and Bruno are very good friends. In the end of the book, Bruno calls Schmuel his best friend. Bruno goes every afternoon to the fence to talk with Schmuel. They can’t play, because the fence separate them.Their friendship is also strange, because Schmuel hates all the soldiers who live with Bruno. Bruno doesn’t know what the soldiers (and his father) do to the Jewish people. Father – Bruno Bruno doesn’t really know what his fathers’ Job is. He only know his father wears the most beautiful uniform of all the soldiers. The year after Bruno went to the airtight room, his father goes back to the place where the clothes of Bruno were found. He discovers a gap in the fence and he knows immediately what happened to Bruno. On that moment, he regretted about everything what he have done.

Hr Case Study

Table of Contents Executive summary2 Problem identification and analysis 3 Statement of major problems4 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 5 7. 1 Reducing reliance on sales force5 7. 2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems5 7. 3 Survey sales force on time allocated for different job aspects6 7. 4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours6 8. Recommendations7 9. Implementations 8 10. Concluding Remarks9 11. References10 12. Turnitin Originality report11-12 Executive summaryAnnette, the newly appointed HR manager feels that Terry, the company sales manager, despite loving his job and being passionate about the work he does, is a workaholic. She is afraid that Terry will not be able to keep up with this hectic schedule and that it would soon affect his health and work life balance. Even though his working habits shine a positive light on the company, it gives a certain peer pressure to his sales team to work equally long hours even when Terry does not insist that anyone work as long as him.Furthermore, Annett does not agree with what the CEO intends to do, to give Terry recognition and reward for his dedication and outstanding result, as it is a result of extreme work habits. However, the CEO feels that no one is forcing Terry to work long hours, and might think of it as legal as it is a voluntary effort. Problem identification and analysis Harvard Analytical Framework for Human Resource Management Stake holder Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect educes effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure Long term Individual well-being disrupted burn out internal departmental stress unnecessary pressure from Terry leads to team resignation societal effect reduces effectiveness of sales team from undue pressure HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to leg islation due to voluntary long hours Creates competent work force in short run due to extra hours HR outcomes Commitment to work long hours due to rewarding of extreme work attitude Non compliance to legislation due to voluntary long hoursCreates competent work force in short run due to extra hours Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Choices rewarding behavior job design Possible lack of technology in job Uses new sales as main cash flow generator Interests CEO HR manager TerryHRM policyHR outcomesLong-Term Sales Forcerewarding behavi Job desginCommitment Individual Compliancewell-being Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Situational Factors * Long work hours * Legislation * Business Strategy * dependant on sales and conditions * sales target * philosophy * Task Technology * societal values Human resourceCongruenc Source: Beer et al (1984) One of the principal problems that are shown in the case is the willingness to reward extreme work behavior in the organization. This positive reinforcement of Terry’s working behavior will be indirectly showing to others that to gain recognition in the company, you would have to adopt extreme working behaviors like Terry.Furthermore, there is legislation that defines the working hours of a full time employee. However, the main problem is that organization allows voluntary increased working hours as it is deemed beneficial for the company. A third problem is that the company is relying heavily on its sales force to generate profit. These could be due to high sales targets given by management which Terry can only achieve by increasing working hours excessively. Statement of major problems It can be derived that the company is relying heavily on its sales force, possibly on direct sales and new customers inste ad of recurring and retention of customers.This would be directly linked to the perceived need for Terry to increase working hours dramatically to fulfill his individual sales targets. Another Critical issue lies in the voluntary non-compliance of legislation. This, coupled with higher management of not only accepting extreme work habits, but with the intention of rewarding, would indirectly tell other employees that reward and recognition comes with extreme input of work hours. Furthermore, the sales force is obliged to work equally long hours like Terry, which would eventually result in this being custom and practice.This could be due to the setting of difficult individual performance measurements in terms of sales clinched per month. 7. Generation and evaluation of alternate solutions 7. 1 Reducing reliance on sales force. There is a heavy reliance on sales force to secure customers for the company. Instead of constantly sourcing new customers to meet individual targets, the sale s force could work on retaining existing customers by practicing relationship marketing as it is more cost effective to do so.Relationship marketing is most applicable when the customer has choices of their suppliers and switching is coming and there is a continued need for the service (Berry. 2002). A great example would be the research done by Moon-Koo (2004) on Korean mobile telecommunications services which showed that the industry believes that the crucial future marketing strategy was to try to retain existing customers by increasing customer loyalty and customer value.Payne and Adrian (1994) concluded that securing of new clients is merely the first step in the marketing process, the crux lies in retaining the customer, with organizations often confirming that existing customers are not only more profitable than new customers, but also easier to sell to. The company should come up with customer loyalty schemes to retain customers, which will help the sales force with achievin g sales targets 7. 2 Introduce team based targets and reward systems Another alternate solution would be to reduce individual target and rewards, and introduce team based sales target and reward system.Hackman & Walton (1986) suggested that successful group work will contribute to the growth and personal well-being of team members. By reducing individual target and reward systems, not removing, it would ensure the sales force meet the minimum amount. However, with the team based targets and rewards in place and scaled slightly higher than the sum of all individual targets, the sales force would be motivated to strive towards achieving team based goals. Research has shown teams with difficult goals perform optimally when incentives are offered (Knight, 2001).Performance is directly influenced by goals, but incentives did not. The offer of an incentive increased the commitment of most teams with difficult goals, proving to be highly beneficial (Knight, 2001). 7. 3 Survey sales force o n time allocated for different job aspects It would be best to survey the sales force to define which area of their job takes up the most time. Asking for the employee’s feedback to improve the work system has always proved invaluable, with research showing that 360-degree feedback boosting communications and performance of their managers and organizations (Bernardin & Beatty, 1987).The 360-degree approach shows that without feedback there can only be minimal change, and that various constituencies can provide diverse viewpoints and information (London, 1993). In the research done by Marshall (1999), there is a change in communication-related technology, especially in the 1990s where there was an improvement in communication between salespeople and customers due to the reduction in salespeople travel requirements. By asking the sales force for their opinions, new systems, process and new technologies can be developed to help save time and energies.If these new technologies ar e inserted into the right parts of the job, such as online video calling existing customers to confirm advertising orders instead of travelling to meet them, a large portion of time would be saved without compromising on the quality of customer service. 7. 4 Set maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours According to Fairwork Australia website, a full time employee work an average of 38 hours per week, also under the National Employment Standards, Maximum eekly hours of work is 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours. Terry is working 60 hours a week, 22 hours more than required. Even though it is voluntary, it is still a considerable health hazard to overwork consistently. Sparks et al. (1997) suggests that there is a small but significant positive trend that links increased hours of work to increased health symptoms. Buell & Breslow (1960) also found that employees who work in sedentary positions for extended hours suffer from health problems due to the lack of exercise.Having research proving that overworking consistently provides a multitude of health hazards, it can be determined that Terry is not taking reasonable care of his own health and safety which can be found under the work health and safety act Division 4 section 28- Duties of workers, while at work, a worker must: (a)   Take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety. A solution to prevent employees from voluntary overworking is to set a maximum amount of voluntary additional work hours.Regardless of whether employees are meeting their sales target within the normal working hours, they are allocated a maximum set of extra hours to either over perform or chase up to their sales targets. Recommendations In order to maintain the efficiency of the business while not impacting the overall performance of the sales department, it is recommended that a maximum amount of additional voluntary work hours be set in order to prevent working excessive extra hours as custom and p ractise.A 360 degree feedback should be carried out on the sales force to ascertain the most time consuming aspects of the job, and to develop solutions and put in place technology to save time to increase the efficiency of the sales force. Higher management would need to review the key performance indicators of the sales force, and reduce individual goals and set in place challenging team goals with additional incentives to motivate the sales force to achieve more in synergy.This would go hand in hand with the creation of customer loyalty schemes to retain existing customers, and training for the sales force would be needed to allow them to utilise the loyalty schemes to the company’s advantage. Implementations Reward Terry for dedication to firm| ASAP| Set in maximum additional voluntary work hours and explain to organization and work life balance| Immediately after rewarding Terry| 360 degree feedback of sales department| Depending on how big the sales department is. Estim ated 6 months. Review KPIs and restructure to team settings| 1 year| Creation of customer loyalty schemes| In conjunction with restructuring to team goals| Terry would need to rewarded for his stellar performance for the company, where the recognition need to be structured politically correct as to prevent others from thinking Terry is being rewarded due to him putting in excessive hours. A follow up to that would be to implement maximum additional voluntary work hours after a clear work life balance talk to the company.This would put in place that to over achieve is good, but the organization does not support extreme work behaviors. The next step would be to hire an external agent to conduct a 360 feedback on the sales department to seek to reduce time hoarding elements of the job. It is essential to review new technologies and how they would assist the department in carrying out their jobs. Proper training would have to be provided to ensure the sales forces are kept up to date wi th the new technologies.After the aspects of the job have been redefined, higher management should review the KPI of the sales department and restructure more into collectivism with individual hybrid elements to motivate the sales force to work in teams to achieve even harder goals that is ever achievable by their own. This would go in conjunction with the sales force developing customer loyalty schemes as the sales force would know what attracts their clients the most and would thus be the best equipped to develop the loyalty schemes. Concluding remarksIt is of paramount importance to not undermine the value of Terry’s work; however measures must be put in place to curb extreme work habits. The core structure of the a salesperson job aspect would need to be reviewed, so as to determine areas which can be revised with the addition of new technology to help save the time and energies of the work force. This, coupled with the restructuring the performance indicators to embrace a more collective approach by placing difficult team goals which when achieved, give higher incentives. This would motivate employees to work together in teams.Lastly, the organization needs to realize that retaining existing customers is more profitable than attracting new customers, and the company will benefit from requesting the sales force to create a customer loyalty scheme, and to incorporate it into a core component of the sale’s department duties. References 1. Bemardin, J. H. , & Beatty, R. W. (1987). Can subordinate appraisals enhance managerial productivity? Sloan Management Review, 28(4), 63-73. 2. Bud, P. & Breslow, L. (1960). Mortality from coronary heart disease in California men who work long hours. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 11, 61 5-626. 3. Hackman, J. R. amp; Walton, R. E. (1986) Leading groups in organizations. In: Designing Effective Work Groups, Goodman, P. (ed. ), pp. 72 ±119. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco 4. Kim, Moon-Koo  (03/2004). â⠂¬Å"The effects of customer satisfaction and switching barrier on customer loyalty in Korean mobile telecommunication services†. Telecommunications policy  (0308-5961),  28  (2),  Ã‚  145. DOI:  10. 1016/j. telpol. 2003. 12. 003 5. Leonard L. Berry (2002): Relationship Marketing of Services. Perspectives from 1983 and 2000, Journal of Relationship Marketing, 1:1, 59-77 6. London, Manuel  (1993). â€Å"360-degree feedback as a competitive advantage†.Human resource management  (0090-4848),  32  (2-3),  Ã‚  353. DOI:  10. 1002/hrm. 3930320211 7. Marshall, Greg  W  (01/1999). â€Å"The Current State of Sales Force Activities†. Industrial marketing management  (0019-8501),  28  (1),  Ã‚  87. DOI:  10. 1016/S0019-8501(98)00025-X 8. Knight, D. (04/2001). â€Å"THE RELATIONSHIP OF TEAM GOALS, INCENTIVES, AND EFFICACY TO STRATEGIC RISK, TACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION, AND PERFORMANCE. â€Å". Academy of Management journal  (0001-4273),   44  (2),  Ã‚  326. DOI:  10. 2307/3069459 9. Sparks, K. , Cooper, C. , Fried, Y. and Shirom, A. (1997), The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review.Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 70:  391–408. doi:  10. 1111/j. 2044-8325. 1997. tb00656. x 10. Payne, Adrian  (1994). â€Å"Relationship Marketing – Making the Customer Count†. Managing service quality  (0960-4529),  4  (6),  Ã‚  29. Turnitin Originality Report OHS case study  by Yuxuan Huang From Individual Work health and Safety Case (BUS320 – BUS320 Advanced Human Resource Perspectives (s1, 2013)) * Processed on 12-Mar-2013 5:19 PM WST * ID: 311507218 * Word Count: 2170 Similarity Index 16% Similarity by Source Internet  Sources: 12% Publications: 9% Student  Papers: 12% sources: 1 2% match (Internet from 17-Apr-2012) ttp://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 2044-8325. 1997. tb00656. x/abstract 2 1% match (publications) Stacie Furst . â€Å"Virtual team effectiveness: a proposed research agenda†, Information Systems Journal, 10/1999 3 1% match (Internet from 21-Jan-2013) http://www. monarorfs. org. au/new-machi? limitstart=15 4 1% match (publications) Kate Sparks. â€Å"The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review†, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 12/1997 5 1% match (student papers from 30-Apr-2012) Submitted to University of Sydney on 2012-04-30 6 1% match (student papers from 08-Sep-2011)Submitted to Macquarie University on 2011-09-08 7 1% match (Internet from 06-Jul-2010) http://jom. sagepub. com/cgi/content/refs/36/1/5 8 1% match (Internet from 06-May-2009) http://members. chello. nl/~e. vanoverveld/images/Thesis. PDF 9 1% match (publications) Warech, M. A.. â€Å"Self-monitoring and 360-degree ratings†, The Leadership Quarterly, 199824 10 1% match (Internet from 10-Mar-2013) http://ro. uow. edu. au/cgi/viewcontent. cgi? article=1301&context=comm papers&sei- 11 1% match (student papers from 12-May-2010) Submitted to University of Western Sydney on 2010-05-12 12 1% match (publications) Marshall, G.W.. â€Å"The Current State of Sales Force Activities†, Industrial Marketing Management, 199901 13 1% match (student papers from 25-Oct-2009) Submitted to Curtin University of Technology on 2009-10-25 14 1% match (Internet from 02-Apr-2010) http://www. wairc. wa. gov. au/Agreements/Agrmnt2005/PBF016. doc 15 1% match (publications) Karjaluoto, Heikki, Chanaka Jayawardhena, Matti LeppA ¤niemi, and Minna PihlstrA ¶m. â€Å"How value and trust influence loyalty in wireless telecommunications industry†, Telecommunications Policy, 2012. 16 1% match (student papers from 11-Sep-2009) Submitted to Univerza v Ljubljani on 2009-09-11 7 < 1% match (Internet from 16-Apr-2009) http://dissertations. port. ac. uk/357/01/BelliardC. pdf 18 < 1% match (Internet from 20-Feb-2009) http://www. busmgt. ulster. ac. uk/modules/bmg775m2/fig . doc 19 < 1% match (Internet from 18-Jan-2013) http://www. aom. pace. edu/amj/April2001/knight. pdf 20 < 1% match (Internet from 29-Apr-2012) http://www. vawo. nl/documents/OccupationalstressAustraliauniversities. pdf 21 < 1% match (publications) Lee, Hyung Seok. â€Å"Major Moderators Influencing the Relationships of Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty†, Asian Social Science, 2013.

Communities of Practice: Learning, Meanings, and Identity Essay

Introduction                     A community simply refers to a group of people living together in unity and harmony and coordinating with each other to perform various task and responsibilities which benefit everyone involved. It can also be referred to as a form of social unit which is made of people who share common values, attitudes, interest and even have common goals that they would like to achieve together (Wenger, 72). Self and others simply refers to a situation whereby one strives for their own development while at the same time encouraging others to achieve their own development. It calls for working together not just for ones won benefit but also for the benefit of others. This relates to the principle of a community whereby everyone looks after each other and values the interest of others in addition to their own. The various kinds of communities which exist include, the communities made of people with the same interest or share the same passion, a community of people who try to bring change through their actions, a community of people who are brought together as a result of the geographical location and boundaries they share. Furthermore, there are communities of people who share similar practice or share the same kind of profession, and last but not least there are communities which are brought together as result of the similar external situations or events which affect all of the people involved (Wenger, 72). All these communities can be classified as centralized, de-centralized or even distributed communities. An individual ensures that the common objectives and goals of the whole community are achieved by providing their contribution and playing their role in the community. In addition, an individual shows respect, cooperation and participates actively. The community on the other hand, ensures that an individual achieves personal development, safety, and general well-being in addition to satisfaction. As an individual, I belong to the student body of my school which represents my interests and looks after my welfare as a student. My duties include my active participation in ensuring that I follow the school rules, make annual contributions to the student body and participate in elections when selecting new student leaders. The technological advancements have transformed the understanding of community to that of people who are found on the same social network and can interact without minding each others’ development or interests. Technology has brought virtual communities which only exist through internet connections although they still may share common interests (Chayko, 4). The current understanding of community relates to the interactions on social networks and the physical touch no longer exists. References Chayko, Mary. Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness. Albany: SUNY Press, 2008. Print. p.4 Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meanings, and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print. p.72 Source document

Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Rights - Essay Example re the human rights and the government should guarantee that regulations are enacted appropriately so that other individuals also admire human rights. Human rights were first identified globally by Universal Declaration on Human Rights in the year 1948. Subsequently, it was readily accepted by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In the year 1998, the Human Rights Act was approved, making the human rights and liberty directly enforceable in the UK (Liberty 80, n.d.). ECHR, which was adopted in the year 1950, came into practice three years later. It is a unique replication of values of society and fairness. It provides list of guaranteed rights such as right to life, right to be free from torture, right to freedom and security, right to fair trial, right to respect for private and family life, right to marry, right to effective remedy and right to enjoy other convention rights without discrimination among others [1] (The Law School, 2012). There are several accomplishments of ECHR that can be accounted since it was established, following which, it continues to encourage human rights and democracy across the European region. It has developed jurisprudence in human rights and has made significant influence to the sustained harmony and constancy in Europe. ECHR signifies that the right of individual petition is guaranteed where people are offered with adequate security assurance from the authority and by the influence of state. Over the years, the number of ‘High Contracting Parties’ (HCPs) has also expanded and the access to safety delivered by the provisions of ECHR has become available to almost 800 million European people [1] (The Law School, 2012). Whereas, this expansion of ECHR has been greeted in several nations, the number of legal cases was also observed at considerable rapidity. As the number of new member states in European Union increased, the continuous expansion trend of ECHR brought about many difficulties, particularly when assuring

Risk Management and Investment II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Risk Management and Investment II - Essay Example is will involve identifying the stock specific risk as well as explaining the asset allocation procedure that will be used in allocating a new asset to the portfolio. This part will comprise of the analysis of the past performance of the portfolio of investment portfolio. The portfolio comprises of stocks and bonds from 10 companies. The investment portfolio includes the I shares FTSE Bric 50 Fund, whose ticker is BRIC, the BP Plc whose ticker is BP., the TUI Travel whose ticker is TT, the Barclays PLC whose ticker is BARC, the Lloyds Banking Group PLC whose ticker is LLOY, the ETFS Gold whose ticker is BULP, I Shares MSCI Brazil USD ETF whose ticker is IBZL, the I Shares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 whose ticker is FXC. The bonds include the BT 5.75% 2028 Bond and Standard Chartered 7.75% 2018 Bond. This is described as an exchange traded fund whose main aim is tracking the performance of FTSE BRIC 50 closely. The performance from the stock investment is measured through the use of the net asset value of the given stock. The currency that will be used in this analysis is the United States dollar (USD). The details included an outline that the investment was established on January 1st 2011. In other words, this is the assumed inception date. The net asset value of the stock before the deduction of the charges that the fund managers are given the mandate to deduct from the funds on the 1st of January 2011 was 34.014801 dollars. This is quoted as the total return net asset value. The total net asset at that point in time of BRIC was 1,320,347,000 dollars (Blackrock Advisors (UK) Limited, 2013). The total number of shares that were issued at that time amounted to 41,200,000 shares while the benchmark level was 1414.2400. One year later, on January 2nd 2012, the total return net asset value amounted to 27.213216 dollars. The total net assets in that year amounted to 898,770,000 dollars. The total shares that were issued by then were 35,900,000 shares and the benchmark was

Computerized Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computerized Accounting - Essay Example The purpose of special journals is to record transactions received in form of electronic forms such as payroll, sales, expenses, cash received, and cash payments. The special journals are comprised of separate accounts, which are aimed at recording relevant information and posts pertaining to that account only. The system calculates the sum of each account in special journals and posts it in the general ledger tab of the software for a given period of time. Subsequently, the system takes data from these general ledger entries and creates the financial statements such as balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. Similarly, the payroll journals are comprised of all the relevant information and data pertaining to the salaries, wages and compensation paid to employees. It may also contain the information related to taxes, which are required to be paid to government. These transactions are entered periodically in the system. The sales journal of a special journal is designed to record all the sales transactions. There can be more than one or numerous journals in special journal for sales transactions as it is dependent on the number of goods and services sold by the business. The accounts receivables are entered in the journal named as cash receipt in the special journal, which represents the money not received from the customers. The cash disbursement journal is used to record the cash utilized by the company for purchase of inputs (wisegeek, n.d.). The merchandizing operations are comprised of buying and selling of goods to consumers. Furthermore, it also requires to make certain expenses to obtain inputs and resources for making these goods and spend on the marketing and distribution of these services and goods.   On the other hand service operations are more related to over see the daily routine activities of a business that is aimed at delivering quality products and services to consumer therefore, it involves having a broader perspective then merchandizing operations, where as, the merchandizing operation deals with selling the final product to the customers, buying necessary inventories in this regard, and collecting cash from customers.

Paper work Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper work - Assignment Example for men going to work, economists agree that it also affects their overall productivity and concentration that magnifies itself in the total economic output. Grooming is becoming popular with men in the modern society and thus affecting other people’s perception about them. Studies confirm that more men care about their looks than their jobs. This conflicting scenario is wrought with myriad challenges worth highlighting. For instance, from a macroeconomic context, it affects performance because men neglect their duties at the expense of personal grooming. Research indicates that 44 per cent of men prefer to reduce weight. It, therefore, suggests that men are consumed by the celebrity culture that immerses them into a delusional and fantasy world that consequently affects their productivity and performance. In a macroeconomic context, behavior change is pertinent in influencing how markets develop and prosper (Rosin 123). However, markets are made of employees meant to achieve its goals and objectives. Notably, men form the largest number of this workforce. Their obsession with looks suggests that markets lose in terms of sustainin g the economy leading to infiltration and eventual domination by rivals. Another repercussion arising from men’s obsession with looks instead of their job is decision-making. Macroeconomics relies on decision-making to influence the economy from a national, global, and regional context. This means men should remain focused on their roles and responsibilities to avoid destroying the economy. Personal grooming is also time-consuming and this interferes with productivity through reduced output within the organization. Consequently, it affects savings and national income because people rarely meet their individual targets as stipulated by organization (Dwivedi 149). Likewise, fixation with looks results to lose of morale and that is dangerous in harnessing investment and deflecting inflation. Similarly, such fixation explains the decline

Planning and Controlling Direct Labor Costs Term Paper

Planning and Controlling Direct Labor Costs - Term Paper Example As a result of which the total revenue and total sale of the organization might get increased that may amplify its market share and brand value to a significant extent among others. Apart from this, if the organization became successful in reducing its actual cost, then it might present its product or services at a quite competitive cost as compared to its rival players. However, due to which, a huge range of customers might get attracted towards the brand and the product line that may amplify its demand and profit margin in the market among many other rival players (Hansen, Mowen and Passalacque 29). Thus, it might be stated that in order to enhance the range of profits of the organization by a consistent range, planning is the most essential facet. In order to enhance the sustainability and position in long run, the organization might plan for long term strategies. It might prove effective in increasing the overall costs and revenues thereby reducing the total costs. The importance of the study is to analyze the importance of planning for an organization in this age, in order to amplify its total revenue and reduce the total cost. This might act as the first stage of budgeting that may prove effective for the organization to forecast its future expected sales, earning, expenses etc. Along with this the process of planning and staffing also includes the future forecast of the changes of the business and economic environment that may offer significant impact over the operations and functions of the organization. Along with planning and staffing, forecasting is another important step of budgeting, that helps to determine, the degree to which the long term strategies are useful or feasible for the organization in long run. However, this process of forecasting is a mixture of two important functions such as planning for long period of time entirely based on real goals or objectives of the organization as well as short term planning’s.

Sowftware design problem Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sowftware design problem - Research Paper Example The power of computers in such an activity leads to the establishment of numerous software companies, which are engaged in developing a variety of applications. As a safety related system is under development, a safety argument is under preparation that shows why confidence needs to be put in the system’s ability to meet safety requirements. This leads to the question why those requirements demand safe operation. The moment the system and its arguments are acknowledged, the system is set into operation. Faults may still exist in the system or in its maintenance or operational procedures if the safety argument is not complete. If triggered, the faults can lead to a failure. In such a case, an analysis needs to be conducted to distinguish the nature of the failure. It might be random or even systemic, i.e. due to a design fault, which was introduced when the system was being developed or serviced. Failures that arise from systemic faults must be comprehensively analyzed to avoid recurrences (Baah 3). Large projects, for example, Agropoli’s system of public transportation involves qualified personnel in the software development process. Software companies face several issues in the process of software development. These include: possible negligence of the software developer and another involves possible negligence, but adds another party who happens to be the malicious hacker. Other problems include change of rules during development, preservation of existing software, flexibility due to lack of standards as well as behavior of discrete systems. The complexity involved in the process of software development leads to software bugs. Late completion, low quality, lack of reliability and software not satisfying the stated demand are the symptoms of software bugs. In a scenario, for example, the Agropoli’s system of public transportation where the system under development is discovered to have some difficulties during

Property Law Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Property Law Master - Essay Example 1 2) A tangible thing (things' in possession) i.e. books, chairs etc. It also means an intangible thing (things in action). They have no physical existence i.e. patents, debts, copyrights, trademarks, shares. A very crucial information missing is on the type of "property" that Madam Eve Wong was to sell to Mr. Adam Lee. It is very important to make such as distinction because it has an impact on the remedies available in case of default. The English Law divides property into real and personal property. Although some other legal systems had divided property into movable and immovable. The distinction between real and personal property is of historical origin and is based on the different kinds of remedies available to a dispossessed person and the court action necessary to enforce it. Mr. Adam Lee should know what legal action he may have in case Madam Eve Wong dispossessed him of the property. If dispossessed of his land, Mr. Adam will have the right to get back the very thing he had i.e. land. He would have a right in Rem (a right in the thing). It is only the thing dispossessed that would compensate him. Therefore it would not be enough that Madam Eve Wong compensates him only with damages. This right in Rem grew out of a relationship between a person and a thing. The court action is called a real action. He is granted specific performance. If dispossessed of anything else (including... The legal relationship, cannot be defined unless other person is ascertained i.e. owing a car, a chair, watch is related to a seller. The person dispossessed could only obtain monetary compensation from the person who dispossessed him i.e. damages. The court action is called personal action and the property recovered, personal property or personality. 2 Because of the distinction in the available remedies, it has to be established of which class of property that Madam Eve Wong has sold to Mr. Adam Lee belongs. Real Property Real property consists of land, including buildings on land and trees and crops that grow on it and the rights over land. It also includes water on land. There is a rule that: - "cujus - est solum, ejus est usque and coclum et ad internos". It means "whose is the soil; his is also that which is up to the sky and down to the depths of the earth". This maxim states that: - Land ownership refers to the soil, what is above and what is below. The question of whether the fountain was included in the contract of sale of the property can be well answered using this maxim. The fountain is not somewhere else in separate land. It is on the land that is being sold. 3 The agreement fails short of explaining the specific property that the seller intended to pass to the buyer. The term "property" here is ambiguous since it is not descriptive but general. The use that Mr. Adam intends to put the property would also be of essence in determining whether the agreement included the fountain. From the case, it has been stated that the fountain was freely standing in the garden. The information missing here is the height at which the fountain is standing. It is important because the buyer of land has a

Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority Research Paper

Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority - Research Paper Example Dunlap felt that the system of scoring was extremely skewed and in favor of white candidates. This discussion investigates the legal issues in the episode and the decision to credit the claim of desperate treatment and neglect the disparate impact claim. Similarly, the discussion will suggest different ways in which Tennessee Valley authority can improve their process of interview. Discussion Legal issues They include David Dunlap, who believes that the process of interviewing in the TVA is discriminating and violates the Title seven of the 1964 Civil Right Act. David feels that he suffered prejudice under both disparate treatment and impact by the interview, which was increasingly subjective. Dunlap believes that the selection criteria favored white people. The committee evaluated all the applicants during the interview, but Dunlap felt that the evaluation process lacked merit and had limited rhyme. For instance, he scored low marks on a safety question than his colleague who has ha d more than two accidents in a span of 11 years, and for Dunlap, he had no accident, (Markusen, 2003). The system of evaluation itself can lead to various legal issues, for instance, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s subjective hiring and evaluation process allowed racial discrimination against Black applicants such as Dunlap. The Court of Appeal verified the claim of disparate treatment, reversed the claim of disparate adverse and verified the award of the district court of damages and fees to David. Why the disparate impact claim failed The theory of disparate claim demands the plaintiff to show that a seemingly impartial employment practice influences one team increasingly harshly than the other and that the practice of employment is unjustified by business requirements. Under the doctrine, discriminatory testimony intent is not necessary. Even though, the district court construed that Tennessee Valley Authority process of interviewing was influenced to exclude black applic ants, the Appeals Court objected, citing inadequate statistical evidence that a protected team was negatively affected, therefore, creating a prima Facie argument. Dunlap could not support his case by just challenging the employed process in his interview; therefore, his case failed. Success of disparate treatment argument The doctrine of disparate treatment demands a plaintiff to show that the employer has favored some people against others based on their race, origin or cultural background. It also requires the plaintiff create a prima Facie condition of racial bias, the employer to demonstrate a number of legitimate nonbiased reasons for his actions and the plaintiff to show some evidence that the articulated accusation was pre-textual. In this theory, a discriminatory proof is crucial. Nevertheless, in different circumstances it may be concluded from the sole disparities in treatment. Discriminatory motive proof may be gathered from the employers’ false explanation for th e actions. To refute a prima Facie argument, a defendant should show a legal nonbiased reason for rejection of plaintiff. In Dunlap’s case, Tennessee Valley Authority demonstrated the selection medium employed during the interview of Dunlap, and indicated that Dunlap’s interview score did not put his last marks into the best ten. The challenge then turned back to Dunlap to show that the process of selection was pretext for biasness. The district court

Written response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Written response - Essay Example The author relates this to the natural instinct of caring that man and women develop in terms of provision of basic needs. According to Noddings females have a high instinct of caring especially in the way they take care of their children (Noddings N. , 1989). In addition to this, men also develop some sense of caring by the fact that they are the breadwinners in their families. Noddings is keen to assure us that caring involves two parties. The party that gives the care and the party that receives the care. According to Noddings caring will only be relevant if the party given the care accepts the care and provides a positive feedback. On the contrary I believe that someone can show care and be neglected. This does not mean that the care provided is unethical. However, I cannot rule out the fact that some people show caring that are unethical due to the type of relationship established. For this reason I chose to agree with Noddings that ethical moments falls on how we respond to the intuition on what is right and what is wrong. This means that our interpretation of what is right and wrong determines whether the care we give or receive is ethical. The author further clarifies that there is a difference between caring for and caring about. She suggests that caring about is more general than caring for and therefore needs more attention. Moreover, the author argues that caring about plays the major role of establishing our sense of justice. The author affirms this by saying this, â€Å"Those who care about others in the justice sense must keep in mind that the objective is to ensure that caring actually occurs. Caring-about is empty if it does not culminate in caring relations† (Noddings, 1984). Noddings believe that our sense of morality creates the difference in which we pay attention to human beings and animals. The close proximity that one enjoys with his friend and animal determines how we care about each other. Noddings believe that

Business Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Law - Assignment Example Peter accepted the price of $ 190 and Mary took the bicycle away. The case scenario deals with the conditions surrounding the formation of valid business contracts. A contract is defined as an agreement between two parties that creates legal obligation to the two parties to perform or abstain from performing a certain obligation or action (Farnsworth, 1991). A contract must entail an offer by one party and acceptance of the offer by the other party. The advertisement placed in the local newspaper by Peter is not an offer but an invitation to treat. Peter is inviting interested persons to make an offer for the purchase of the bicycle. Accordingly, advertisements are classified as invitations to treat since the seller can refuse to sell the item at price if it is mistakenly marked (Blum, 2007). The advertisement is displayed to a larger number of people with an undefined way of selecting whom to sell the bicycle. For instance, the advertisement does not clarify whether to sell the bicy cle to the first person to accept the labeled price. It this case, the advertisement is geared at generating interests and prolonging negotiations towards the formation of the contract (Stone, 2005). After the invitation to treat, Jonathan makes an offer to through a telephone to purchase the racing bicycle at a price of $ 160. However, rules of contract stipulate that the subject matter of contract must be present at the time of making the offer. According to the Uniform Commercial code,

Coursework #3 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Coursework #3 - Case Study Example With that stated, the expected return on this portfolio is halfway between the expected returns on the two individual securities; however, the standard deviation is less than halfway between the standard deviations on the two securities. Therefore, unless the investor was very risk averse, meaning he would look at this case, where he might choose to invest only in security A. However, if he were not risk averse he would invest in the portfolio rather than invest in the two securities separately (Gitman, 2009). Standard deviation is defined as the common statistical indicator of an assets risk; it measures the dispersion around the expected value. This is another way that a firms risk and expected return directly affect its share price. Risk and return are the two key determinants of a firms value. It is generally a financial managers responsibility to assess carefully the risk and return of all major decisions. Managers use this to ensure that the expected returns justify the level of risk that someone will introduce (Gitman, 2009. The definition of (CAPM) or capital asset pricing model is the basic theory that links risk and return for all assets. We describe this relationship between the required return, r. The no diversifiable risk of the firm as it is measured by the beta coefficient b. This is important in finance because the model CAPM links non-diversifiable risk and return with all assets. Generally, there are five sections. The first deals with the beta coefficient, which is a measure of the non-diversifiable risk. The second section presents an equation of the model itself. The third section graphically describes the relationship between risk and return. The fourth section discusses the effects of changes in inflationary expectations and risk aversion on the relationship between risk and return and the fifth section offers some comments of the CAPM. The CAPM model in general relies on historical data. The betas

Manufacturing Operations Management (Logistics And Supply Chain Dissertation

Manufacturing Operations Management (Logistics And Supply Chain Management) - Dissertation Example Promanager analysis As pointed out in the article, Promanager faces a lot of problems. First, the company delivery system’s performance is poor and traditional. It fails to achieve customers’ delivery dates which frustrate the customers. As argued out by the Quinn (1986: PP 1-5), failure to deliver on time loses a substantial confidence and trust in product offered in the market. In this company, the product exhibits high levels of commonality and are similar in both aesthetic and performance attributes. It is argued that this firm’s the product look similar from outside and are confusing instead of exhibiting realistic and meaningful simple operating procedures. The products lack creativity and innovativeness has enabled their products to be inefficient and ineffective. This has led to dwindling of sales volume and subsequent squeeze of the market share. As the suggested in the article, the market has been flooded by the products of the Asian competitor implying that customers have shifted their loyalty from the firm’s products to the competitors’ making the company lose their customers, reputation and may lose jobs in the long run if the rate continues. There is a possibility from the report that the products are of poor technology. This has fuelled and oiled the competitors’ impetus in gaining the market share in the oil and gas industry. Second, there is a problem in the actual production process. Companies which have been in the market leader employ the customer-driven focus in their production processes. This corporation uses the batch production system based on the mass production with emphasis being given to marketing and other advertising strategies. There is a possibility of heavy operating costs that are incurred by the firm as a result of heavy and massive marketing and advertising campaigns. This is also expensive and unprofitable. As a result, it has led to fear of making bold investment by its executives in ventures such as product and market development. The company lacks a strategic approach in their course of management as evidenced. There is no evidence that the company undertakes strategic planning, no evidence of industry analysis having being carried out, there is distinct strategy that differentiates this firm from others in the same business. It can also be noted the company is on the bream line of perishing for lack of simple and operable policies, procedures and vision. The entrepreneurial culture in this company is null and void because there is no creativity and innovativeness in its operations, product outputs and service rendered to their customers. The firm also lacks a systematic and structured manufacturing and planning schedules. This is evidenced in the lack of accuracy and forecasts. This has led to mismatch between demand and supply of their product thereby resulting in failure to reach optimal results. This firm lacks strategic manufacturing plans, sound polic ies and actions plans that set in motion the policies to effect and assist the company leapfrog in sales, growth and profitability. In terms of human resource, there lacks motivation on part of employees especially the sales force. This is detrimental as it has led

Research Methodology and Methods Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Methodology and Methods - Dissertation Example Different tools of research and data sources in relevance with qualitative methodology are discussed in the chapter. Sample size, selection of sample, and target population are also explained in this research methodology along with the limitations of the methodology used in this study. Research philosophies/methodologies: The research is mainly based on the determining the effects of applying the Efficient Customer Response (ECR) in different convenient stores on customer value. As previous researches have indicated that the consumer value is based on the interest of the consumer therefore, it is argued that Positivist Research is not completely applicable and implemented in this research and limitation on this type of research cannot be ignored or avoided. Therefore, the use of Interpretative Research is given consideration, which is helpful to analyze the customer value with help of surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. The dimension of customer perception shifted from independe nt store to major multiples has the ability to make use of ECR method resulted from this change. Qualitative data is more appropriate to explore in this topic therefore, Interpretative Research is suitable to conduct this research. ... Different people have different experiences because they have experienced different parts of reality in their life. The analysis of interview data is a rational method in understanding the difference between the experiences of people (Fade 2004). In this research, different managers are working for different convenient stores and they have experienced different behaviors and attitudes of customers coming in their stores. Through analyzing and combining their views on customer value and effective implementation of ECR, a new paradigm is achieved through this research work. The researcher has used qualitative approach to make sure that all the goals and objectives are met to reach a conclusive result. The reason to use qualitative approach is that manipulation of data is made easy in this approach and information utilized in such a way that researcher comes to the desire result. This approach presents the result of study in subjective manner and help to make hypothesis so that it becom es easy for researcher to evaluate the reliability and validity of the problems and questions of research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 1997). By looking at the nature of the study, qualitative approach is appropriate of this research as it focuses on extending and evaluating the findings and theories of studies conducted in past and presents new dimension of subject under research. The study provide in depth understanding on the concept of efficient consumer response and customer value of different convenience stores. Kurnia, Swatman and Schauder (1998) conducted a comprehensive research on Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) in which they have

The Drinking Age Should Stay at 21 Essay Example for Free

The Drinking Age Should Stay at 21 Essay I. Introduction: Starting in 1970 21 states reduced the minimum drinking age to 18. Another 8 reduced it to 19 or 20. However, these states noticed increases in alcohol-related fatalities among teenagers and young adults. As a result, of the 29 states that had lowered their drinking age, 24 raised the age again between 1976 and 1984. By 1984, only three states allowed 18-year-olds to drink all types of alcoholic liquor. The enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 prompted states to raise their legal age for purchase or public possession of alcohol to 21 or risk losing millions in federal highway funds. The states who raised it were given highway funding by the government becuase the governement felt that teen drinking was directly connected to car accidents among teens. Opposite Postion: Con II. A. The longer we can delay alcohol use, the better the chance that a person will never have a problem with alcohol dependency later in life. 1. A survey of 43,093 adults showed that those who begin to drink alochol before the age of 14 become more dependent later in life. 2. This is compared to the 9 percent of those who wait until they are 21. III. A. Young Drinking Stops the Brain from growing and learning properly. 1. The brain stops developing at 21 so drinking earlier can cause serious damage 2. In one experiement it showed that even one high dose of alcohol temporarily prevented the creation of new cells IV. A. Exessive underage drinking at parities can lead to rapes, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancies. 1. 60 percent of female college students who contract sexually transmittied diseases say they were under the influence at the time of the intercourse with the infected person 2. 20 percent of sexually active college students say they fail to use contraceptives when they are drunk. Supporting position: Pro V. A. If lowered to 18, younger teens will be able to get alcohol more easily. 1. A 2009 University of Michigan study reported that 80 percent of tenth-grade students believe alcohol is either fairly easy or very easy to obtain . 2. Teens with 18 year old friends can easily obtain the alcohol from them and possibly get into cars with these people VI. A. When teens drink alcohol, they are more likely to binge drink than people above the age of 21. 1. A 2007 by the substance abuse and mental health services administration found that 19 percent of 16 and 17 yea olds binge drink on alcohol each month. 2. 35 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 20 binge each month. VII. A. When Teens are not taught to drink in moderation they end up binge drink when they drink alcohol. 1. Many colleges aim to educate students about alochol consumption. 2. Alcohol Edu was installed in 450 colleges to instruct incoming freshman about the dangers of bingeing. VIII. A. Binge Drinking can lead to many car crash fatalities. 1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that binge drinking accounted for more than half of the 80,00 annual deaths associated with ecessive drinking 2. In 2011, 85 percent of all alcohol imapired driving arrests or accidents involved people who also reported binge drinking IX. Argument in support of position: The Institute for Creative Research ( ICR ) found hat 84 percent of teenagers suport keeping or raising the current drinking age. They are supportive of legislation that will reduce the risks for them.

Analyzing Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Analyzing Aristotle Essay The soul and the body are different forms. While the body is visible and mortal, the soul is invisible and immortal. He suggests that although the body dies and decays, the soul continues to exist. I do believe there is life after death, everyone must eventually die, and it cannot be avoided. However, even though death is a fact of life, it is a topic that many people prefer not to talk about. This avoidance of discussion is usually due to the denial of one’s own death and the denial is usually due to fear. The fear is, for many people, a fear of the unknown. In my opinion i believe that when humans die, the body and the brain dies, but the mind still exists and it creates our afterlife according to our own beliefs and expectations. If a person believes there in nothing after death then there will not be a dream, it will be as if the person is asleep forever without dreaming. 2) Yes, I agree that the universe is purposeful. The purpose of the creation, every though you have is creating your tomorrow. The universe has mysterious ways of revolving what we do day by day. For example Karma: The sum of a persons actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in life. Aristotle said: â€Å"Yet there is God, though not perhaps the simple and human god conceived by the forgivable anthropomorphism of the adolescent mind. Aristotle represents God as self-conscious spirit. A rather mysterious spirit; for Aristotle Gods never does anything; he has no desires, no will, no purpose; he is activity so pure that he never acts. He is absolutely perfect; therefore cannot desire anything; therefore He does nothing. His only occupation is to contemplate the essence of things; and since He himself is the essence of all things, the form of all forms, his sole employment is the contemplation of himself.

Assessment of Mangroves Species Vulnerable to Human Threats

Assessment of Mangroves Species Vulnerable to Human Threats RESEARCH PROPOSAL TITLE: ASSESSMENT OF MANGROVES SPECIES VULNERABLE TO HUMAN THREATS AT MBEGANI AND MLIGOTIN VILLAGE. JOSEPH JACOB 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION   Ã‚   Mangroves are woody plants that grow at the interface between land and sea. occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 25 ° N and 25 ° S. they are salt tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to life in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope with salt water immersion and wave action. They are adapted to the low oxygen conditions of waterlogged mud. The word mangrove is usually considered a compound of the Portuguese word mangue and the English word grove. The term mangrove often refers to both the plants and the forest community. To avoid confusion, Macnae (1968) proposed that mangal should refer to the forest community while mangroves should refer to the individual plant species. Mangrove forests are sometimes called tidal forests, coastal woodlands, or oceanic rain forests. Mangrove swamps are found in tropical and subtropical tidal areas. Areas where mangal occurs incl ude estuaries and marine shorelines. High tide brings in salt water, and when the tide leave, solar evaporation of the seawater in the soil leads to further increases in salinity. The return of tide can flush out these soils, bringing them back to salinity levels comparable to that of seawater. At low tide, organisms are also exposed to increases in temperature and desiccation, and are then cooled and flooded by the tide. Thus, for a plant to survive in this environment, it must tolerate broad ranges of salinity, temperature, and moisture, as well as a number of other key environmental factors thus only a select few species make up the mangrove tree community. About 110 species are considered mangroves, in the sense of being a tree that grows in such a saline swamp. Mangrove ecosystems are estimated to cover 150 000 km2 world-wide (Diop 1992, 1993). Mangroves can be found in over 118 countries and territories in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world the largest percentage of mangroves is found between the 5 ° N and 5 ° S latitudes. Approximately 75% of worlds mangroves are found in just 15 countries. Asia has the largest amount (42%) of the worlds mangroves, followed by Africa (21%), North/Central America (15%), Oceania (12%) and South America (11%). Africa has about 35 000 km2 of mangrove ecosystem (Diop 1992, 1993), Nigeria has largest mangrove area about 1mln ha. East Africa consist of mangroves swamps along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in southern Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and southern Somalia. Delta of Zambezi in Mozambique and Rufiji River in Tanzania are large area of mangroves which can extend as far as 50 km inland, as well as smaller areas along the coast. The mangroves of Bagamoyo District form a more-or-less continuous band along the 100-km coastline from Saadani tonear Kitame salt works, and then from Ruvu Riverto Mpiji River. They cover an area of 5635 ha (Semesi, 1991).The main mangrove stands are found along Wami River, 862 ha, Utondwe creek, 834 ha, Ruvu River, 2123 ha, and south of Bagamoyo to Mpiji River, 809ha. By 1989, clear-cut areas and salt panscovered 1639 ha (Semesi, 1991) and water in the creeks covered 812ha. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Increase in population leads to distraction of mangroves swamps which in turn has great impact to marine environment since mangroves help in break oceanic waves also provide nursery area and habitat to some marine organism. Understanding which species of mangroves are vulnerable to human threats and why is more important and helpful in establishment of conservation plant of particular species. 1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVES Increase awareness among the people about important of mangroves species and how various human activities can distract mangroves ecosystem. 1.4 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To identify the most threatened mangroves species found in mbegani and mlingotini village To assess various human activities that threats mangroves species 1.5 HYPOTHESIS 1.5.1 Null hypothesis. There is no mangroves species vulnerable to human threats at mbegani and mlingotini village. 1.5.2 Alternative hypothesis. There are mangroves species vulnerable to human threats at mbegani and mlingotini village. 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Findings in this study would enhance awareness among the local community about mangroves species and their important to the local community. Also the findings of this study would create awareness among people about various activities performed by local community which threats mangroves species. This study will encourage natural resource management by local community and enhance formulation of village policy about environment conservation. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW According to Spalding 1997 mangroves forest disappear everyday all over the world. It was approximated 18.1 million km2 of mangroves forest cover worldwide but according to FAO recent study show that mangroves forest is decline to 15 million km2. Developing countries consist 90% of mangroves forest growing worldwide and most of them critically endangered and nearly extinction in 26 countries. According to duke 2007 the experts of world mangroves provide their view   that the survival of mangroves in long term is at great risk due to fragmentation of habitat and that the survive offered by the mangroves may likely to be totally lost within 100 years. Many mangroves areas are under pressure of human especially those grow along humid sheltered tropical coastline. A side from man-made pressure the mangroves also degraded due environmental stress. Estimate show that global loss annually is one million ha and some region in dangers of complete collapse (kathiresan and Bingham 2001). Most people cause destruction of mangroves either by knowingly or not knowingly the value of mangroves. Livehood, biodiversity loss and fishery resource are reduced to mangroves loss, also decline in population of marine mammals like manatees and dugongs contributed much by loss of mangroves (k. kathiresan 2001). Rates at which mangroves loss is much higher compared to that of tropical forest and coral reef. 7million hectares of mangroves loss worldwide which is equivalent to two years loss of all forest system globally (k. kathiresan and Bingham 2001). Study show that man-made activities contribute much to the destruction of mangroves species which pose significant threats examples of those activities are; Urbanization; inhabitation of human to many areas cause coast mangroves to be cleared. Areas which experience this are Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Mumbai, Lagos, and free town. Agriculture; mangroves destroyed because of agriculture activities example regions of largest delta in the world between India and Bangladesh. According to kathiresan 2001 the mangrove areas are deforested and reclaimed with rainwater to drain the salt content of the soil and these areas are protected from seawater intrusion by constructing embankments. Once the salt is leached to sufficient level, the land is cultivated either with paddy or coconut. Aquaculture practices; in several countries aquaculture contribute in large scale destruction of mangroves. In 1968 and 1983, 237000 ha of mangroves were loss for pond construction in Philippines which is half of national mangroves (Fernandez1978). According to kathiresan One major issue associated with the farms located in mangrove habitats is acidification of pond waters that kills aquatic organisms. Cutting for timber, fuel and charcoal; due to its higher calorific value twing of mangroves are used for firewood. Rich in phenol enable mangroves wood to highly resist deterioration as is widely used as timber and their suitable for chipboard and quality paper industry. Oil pollution; Oil or gas exploration, petroleum production, and accidents by large oil tankers cause significant damage to mangrove ecosystems. To cite an example, NigeriaÊ ¹s richest oil wells are situated close to inshore where rich mangroves once existed. Similarly oil tanker accidents in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean areas resulted in oil spillage that severely damages the coastal systems. As a result, the entire mangrove ecosystem got affected, causing defoliation of trees, mortality of all sessile and benthic organisms and contamination of many water fowls. Once the mangrove forest is affected by oil pollution, it will take a long time of at least 10 years for recovery of the forest. 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 STUDY AREA This work will be conducted in pwani region in Bagamoyo district at mbegani and mlingotini villages.Bagamoyo is one of the 6 districts of the Pwani Region. It is bordered to the North by the Tanga Region, to the West by the Morogoro Region, to the East by the Indian Ocean and to the South by the Kibaha District. According to the 2012 Tanzania National Census, the population of the Bagamoyo District was 311,740. Mbegani and mlingotini villages found in zinga ward which its geographical coordinates are 6 ° 31 0 South, 38 ° 59 0 East. 3.2 STUDY MATERIAL Material which will be used in this study are: Note book and pencil which will be used to take record. Rain boots which will be used to protect legs from protruding mangroves root. Gloves which will be used for hands protection. 3.3 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES During this work data will be collected by simple prepared questionnaires and through observation. 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS Gathered information from this study will be analyzed by Microsoft excel.

The Future Of The American Dream Sociology Essay

The Future Of The American Dream Sociology Essay As Franklin Roosevelt understood, Americans will postpone immediate gratification and endure hard sacrificesif they mustso long as they are convinced the future can be better than the past. But we face a far more difficult problem at our moment in history. What do you promise people who have been told they can have anything they want, who are repeatedly congratulated for living in the best of all possible circumstances? How do you tell them the good times, as we have known them, are not coming back? Americans need a new vision that helps them deal with reality, a promising story of the future that helps them let go of the past. Here is the grand vision I suggest Americans can pursue: the right of all citizens to larger lives. Not to get richer than the next guy or necessarily to accumulate more and more stuff but the right to live life more fully and engage more expansively the elemental possibilities of human existence. That is the essence of what so many now seem to yearn for in their lives. Peopleeven successful and affluent peopleare frustrated because the intangible dimensions of life have been held back or displaced in large and small ways, pushed aside by the economic systems relentless demands to maximize yields of profit and wealth. Our common moral verities have been trashed in the name of greater returns. The softer aspects of mortal experience are diminished because life itself is not tabulated in the economic systems accounting. The political order mistakenly accepts these life-limiting trade-offs as normal, as necessary to achieve good times. At earlier periods of our history, the sacrifices demanded by the engine of American capitalism were widely tolerated because the nation was young and underdeveloped. The engine promised to generate higher levels of abundance, and it did. But what is the justification now, when the nation is already quite rich and the engine keeps demanding larger chunks of our lives? What families, even those who are prosperous, typically lose in the exchange are the small grace notes of everyday life, like the ritual of having a daily dinner with everyone present. The more substantial thing we sacrifice is time to experience the joys and mysteries of nurturing the children, the small pleasures of idle curiosity, of learning to craft things by ones own hand, and the satisfactions of friendships and social cooperation. These are made to seem trivial alongside wealth accumulation, but many people know they have given up something more important and mourn the loss. Some decide they will make up for it later in life, after they are financially stable. Still others dream of dropping out of the system. If we could somehow add up all the private pain and loss caused by the pursuit of unbounded material prosperity, the result might look like a major political grievance of our time. More important than all the other losses is that people are also denied another great intangiblethe dignity of self-directed lives. At work, at home and in the public sphere, most people lack the right to exercise much of a voice in the decisions governing their daily lives. Most people (not all) are subject to a system of command and control over their destinies. They know the risks of ignoring the orders from above. Not surprisingly, many citizens are resigned to this condition and accept subservience as the way things are, and their lives are smaller as a result. Many find it hard to imagine that these confinements could be lessened, even substantially removed, if economic organizations were informed by democratic principles. Whats needed in American life is a redefinition of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Given the nations great wealth, the ancient threats of scarcity and deprivation have been eliminated. Yet people remain yoked to economic demands despite wanting something more from lifefreedom to explore the mysteries and bring forth all that is within them. Collectively, Americans need to take a deep breath and reconsider what it means to be rich. Greider, William. The Future of the American Dream. The Nation [The Nation] 6 May 2009, May 25, 2009 edition ed.: n. pag. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. greider>. What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession? Pollsters for The New York Times and CBS News set out last month to try to answer that question. And the results seemed somewhat contradictory. Although the nation has plunged into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, 72 percent of Americans in this nationwide survey said they believed it is possible to start out poor in the United States, work hard and become rich a classic definition of the American dream. And yet only 44 percent said they had actually achieved the American dream, although 31 percent said they expect to attain it within their lifetime. Only 20 percent have given up on ever reaching it. Those 44 percent might not sound like much, but it is an increase over the 32 percent who said they had achieved the American dream four years ago, when the economy was in much better shape. Compared with four years ago, fewer people now say they are better off than their parents were at their age or that their children will be better off than they are. So even though their economic outlook is worse, more people are saying they have either achieved the dream or expect to do so. What gives? We asked Barry Glassner, who is a professor of sociology at the University of Southern California and studies contemporary culture and beliefs. You want to hold on to your dream even more when times are hard, he said. And if you want to hold on to it, then you better define it differently. In other words, people are shifting their definition of the American dream. And the poll conducted on April 1 to 5 with 998 adults, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points- indicated just that. The Times and CBS News asked this same open-ended question four years ago and again last month: What does the phrase The American dream mean to you? Four years ago, 19 percent of those surveyed supplied answers that related to financial security and a steady job, and 20 percent gave answers that related to freedom and opportunity. Now, fewer people are pegging their dream to material success and more are pegging it to abstract values. Those citing financial security dropped to 11 percent, and those citing freedom and opportunity expanded to 27 percent. Heres some respondents answers that were put in the category of freedom and opportunity: Freedom to live our own life. Created equal. Someone could start from nothing. That everybody has a fair chance to succeed. To become whatever I want to be. To be healthy and have nice family and friends. More like Huck Finn; escape to the unknown; follow your dreams. Those who responded in material terms were hardly lavish. Heres a sampling: Basically, have a roof over your head and put food on the table. Working at a secure job, being able to have a home and live as happily as you can not spending too much money. Just financial stability. Owning own home, having civil liberties. Mr. Glassner said, For the vast majority of Americans at every point in history, the prospect of achieving the American dream has been slim but the promise has been huge. At its core, this notion that anyone can be president or anyone can be a billionaire is absurd, he said. A lot of Americans work hard, but they dont become president and they dont become billionaires. Still, he said, Americans have always believed in possibilities. And they have consistently said over time that they can start poor in this country and become rich, regardless of the economy or their circumstances. The 72 percent who feel that way today is down from the 81 percent who felt that way in 2007, but 72 percent is still a very high percentage, especially given the downward economy. It would be hard to find another country where its as high, Mr. Glassner said. The percentage of people who say the American dream does not exist or is only an illusion has remained low 3 percent today and 2 percent four years ago. As one such person put it to our pollsters last month: A bunch of hooey. By the way, the phrase the American dream is generally agreed to have been coined first in 1931, in the midst of the Depression. In his book, The Epic of America, the historian James Truslow Adams wrote, It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable. Seelye, Katharine Q. What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession. The New York Times [e.g. New York Times] 7 May 2009: n. pag. New York Times. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. . The American Dream Goes On By Mortimer B. Zuckerman Posted June 13, 2008 Is the American middle class an endangered species? The majority of Americans have long shared one state of mind: that they are in some central way members of the middle class and hold a passport to the good life. Click here to find out more! Its true that theres been a contraction of the number of middle-tier households earning between $45,000 and $90,000. And its true they are having a tough time. Six in 10 testify to incomes falling behind the cost of living; six in 10 find it hard to pay for gasoline; and five in 10 say they cant afford healthcare. More than a quarter say they have trouble even affording food. To maintain their lifestyle-including those fancy cable TV packages, broadband Internet connections, and travel-theyve sent more family members to work, taken on more debt, and borrowed through home equity loans, though the housing slump has undermined that asset. At the other end of the income spectrum, the well heeled keep doing better. The number of millionaires has shot up, and the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. families have pushed their share of total national income to levels-21 percent-unseen since the Gilded Age. Yet growing inequality has had little traction thus far as a political issue. Why is this? Partly because some have moved up, as economist Stephen Rose points out. There are 12 percent more households earning in excess of $100,000 than 20 or so years ago. And those making less than $30,000 have not increased. So virtually the entire decline of the middle-class group has come from people moving up the income ladder, not down. Higher standards. Those in the middle, and below, are also living better. As William Robert Fogel, the Nobel Prize-winning economic historian, put it, In every measure that we have bearing on the standard of livingthe gains of the lower classes have been far greater than those experienced by the population as a whole. Among the inequalities that have narrowed: The quality of goods at the more moderate price levels has improved faster than at higher price tags; rich and poor are less apart in life expectancy, height, and leisure. Its the attitude of Americans that explains the low combustibility (at the moment!) of income inequality. Most Americans tend to believe that people bear primary responsibility for supporting themselves and that market forces are immune to public policy. Theres a reflection here of the optimism and confidence characteristic of American life. In one study by Roland Benabou, more than half of Americans think they will be above the median income in the future (e ven though that is mathematically impossible). Americans, quite simply, believe that plenty of opportunities exist to get ahead, and, indeed, 82 percent of those born into poverty are much better off than their parents and more than a third of them have made it into the middle class or higher. Education is another great American success story. There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of adults completing high school and college. Nearly 90 percent of all adults get high school diplomas today compared with 33 percent in 1947; college graduates have soared from 5.4 percent in 1947 to almost 30 percent today. More than two thirds of Americans concur with the statement that people are rewarded for intelligence and skill-the largest percentage across 27 countries taking part in an international survey of social attitudes. This reflects the widespread belief in the ability to get ahead and helps explain why Americans are more accepting of economic inequality than peoples in other countries and why Americans are less likely to believe their government should take responsibility for reducing income disparity. For all that, reaction is gathering force in at least two areas. One is an increasing distrust of free trade. There is a widespread conviction that globalization-seen by economists as a boon-holds down earnings for millions of Americans who compete with workers overseas. Free trade has become a political albatross. Secondly, the level of wealth in the stratosphere of incomes has gotten so extreme that it is provoking a considerable majority to support the notion that wealth should be more evenly distributed through higher taxes. Zuckerman, Mortimer B. The American Dream Goes On. www.usnews.com. US News and World Report, 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. the-american-dream-goes-on.html>. Is the American Dream Still Possible? By David Wallechinsky published: 04/23/2006 To be middle class in America once meant living well and having financial security. But today that comfortable and contented lifestyle is harder to achieve and maintain. PARADE commissioned Mark Clements Research Inc. to survey Americans nationwide about their finances and outlook for the future. Contributing Editor David Wallechinsky-author of recent articles on where your tax dollars go and on pork-barrel spending-interprets the results. The traditional American Dream is based on the belief that hardworking citizens can better their lives, pay their monthly bills without worry, give their children a start to an even better life and still save enough to live comfortably after they retire. But many average Americans are struggling-squeezed by rising costs, declining wages, credit-card debt and diminished benefits, with little left over to save for retirement. (See statistics below.) Does the dream survive? Do most Americans still believe they can forge better lives for themselves? PARADE surveyed more than 2,200 Americans, of whom fully 84% described themselves as belonging to the middle class, regardless of where they live (living costs are higher in some regions) or the size of their household. For this report, we focused on U.S. households earning between $30,000 and $99,000 a year. Most of those surveyed describe themselves as married and having a family. More than 64% say they are employed full-time or part-time. Most say they are in reasonably good health and have a satisfying religious or spiritual life. They own a home and at least two cars, and they are able to take vacations. By international standards, they live a life of prosperity. Yet behind this prosperity is a growing unease. Half of the employed respondents say that theyve experienced either increased health-care costs or a cut in health benefits over the last three years, and 39% have had cuts in their overtime, raises or bonuses. Almost two-thirds say they live from paycheck to paycheck, and 47% say that no matter how hard they work, they cannot get ahead. More than a third worry about job loss. Richard Oden of Conyers, Ga.-married, with five children-worked in the beer industry for 23 years. Last year, he developed pneumonia and required major surgery. When he was unable to return to work by a given date, he says, his company terminated him at age 54-even though he had a perfect attendance record and no performance problems. To help support his family, Oden had to dip into his 401(k) fund, paying a penalty for premature withdrawal. This was very stressful, he says. Everything had gone up-except wages. Oden has since started his own business, a leadership and personal development consulting firm. His wife, Josett, works as a representative in the health-care field. I do believe I will recover financially, Oden says, and that I will realize a decent retirement. But the traditional American Dream? For most Americans, its still a dream-a pipe dream. Having drawn on his own retirement fund, Oden knows that saving can be a big problem. In the survey, nearly 83% say that there is not much left to save after theyve paid their bills. Statistics from the Commerce Department bear this out: The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years. Self-reliance and sacrifice. Most of those interviewed display qualities common to American success stories: determination, flexibility, pragmatism, willingness to work hard and especially self-reliance. Almost three-quarters of the middle-class respondents surveyed say they take responsibility for their own financial destiny and believe that they will succeed or fail based on their own efforts. Still, many are downsizing their dreams. Shelly Comer, 43, of Dos Palos, Calif., is a divorced mother of three who also takes care of a friend of her oldest child, Michelle. She is going into debt so that Michelle can go to college. Shelly has worked her whole life-as a receptionist, janitor, preschool teacher and activities director at a hospital. Recently, she became a registered nurse and now works the night shift in obstetrics at another hospital. Her annual income is $70,377. Michelle, 19, is a freshman at the University of California at Merced. She says she is concerned about the financial burden her education is placing on her family: In order to meet our expected family contribution, my mother had to borrow the entire amount of her share. For her part, Michelle earned six small scholarships, two of which are renewable for next year, and took out a federal loan. She also works 16 hours a week in the financial-aid office at the university. Shelly has a retirement plan through the hospital. But I have nothing saved for me, she says. Im putting it all into the kids, so that they can succeed in school. Our parents did everything for us, and I hope to do the same for my kids. I dont count on anyone else to help us get to where we want to go. Its all up to me and my family. And I trust in God to help us. Who is responsible? One of the most intriguing results of the Parade survey is that 89% of the middle class believes that businesses have a social responsibility to their employees and to the community. Yet 81% believe that, in fact, American businesses make decisions based on what is best for their shareholders and investors, not whats best for their employees. Randy Omark, 55, and Cherie Morris, 58, of Stroudsburg, Pa., husband and wife, are former flight attendants for TWA. Cherie took a buyout in the late 1990s-before American Airlines bought TWA in 2001. After the acquisition, Randy was put on furlough (as were about 4,000 other former TWA flight attendants) and never rehired. After 26 years with the two airlines, his pension was frozen and then taken over by the government. Now he gets $324 a month in payments. Today, despite having a college education, Randy works for $9 an hour finding community jobs for mentally challenged adults. Cherie works for a greeting-card company for $7.25 an hour. It used to be that if you stayed with your job, you would be rewarded, says Cherie. Now there is no guarantee. As for retirement, Randy says, Eventually, we will just downsize everything, sell our house and move into a smaller one. Is the dream changing? Simone Luevano, 46, and Miguel Gutierrez, 44, run a garage-door installation and repair business in Albuquerque, N.M. While the business grossed $453,000 last year, they took home just $50,000 net to live on. They have a daughter-Marilyn, age 7-who is deaf in one ear and goes to a private school that costs $3600 a year. Simone says that financial stress is part of their lives: It comes from the maybe, could be, should be nature of our business. When the economy is down, people dont buy a new garage-door system. The cost of gas at the pump is a major factor, she adds: When the price of gasoline goes down, business goes up. Have they prepared for retirement? Simone laughs, then replies, The words retirement and vacation are not in our vocabulary. You know that old Tennessee Ernie Ford song: I owe my soul to the company store? We dont think about retirement. Theyll have to take me out of here with my high-top tennies on. The American Dream is a bygone thing, she adds. Its not the way life is anymore. I used to believe I was responsible for my own destiny. But its not that simple. Now its faith and fortitude. The Stressed Middle Class National statistics show the increasing pressures on middle-income Americans: The real median household income declined 3% from 2000 to 2004. The percentage of households earning $25,000 to $99,999 (roughly middle-income range) shrank 1.5% from 2000 to 2004. Last year, real average weekly earnings actually fell 0.4%. The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years. Credit-card debt is at an all-time high, averaging $9,312 per household. The average cost per year of a public college (in state) is $12,127, a 25% increase since 2001. A private university costs $29,026. Heres What Americans Say Our survey of middle-income Americans about their financial outlooks showed both skepticism and hope. More than 52% of middle-class Americans think that theyre better off than their parents were, but 56% think things will be worse for their own children or for future generations. Nearly 57% say they believe that the middle class in America is decreasing. 51% of employed members of the middle class have experienced either increased health-care costs or a cut in health benefits, and 39% have experienced cuts in overtime, raises or bonuses. 66% say they tend to live from paycheck to paycheck. 47% say that no matter how hard they work, they cannot get ahead. Nearly 83% say that there is not much money left to save after they have paid their bills. 89% of the respondents believe that businesses have a social responsibility to their employees and to the community, but 81% believe that American businesses make decisions based on what is best for their shareholders and investors-not what is best for their employees. 74% of the middle class say they take responsibility for their own financial success or failure. 80% say they believe it is still possible to achieve the American Dream. Wallechinsky, David. Is the American Dream Still Possible? Parade [Parade] 23 Apr. 2006, Final ed.: n. pag. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. edition_04-23-2006/Middle_Class_feature>.