The Black Race Feminism, Womanism And Africana Womanism

When discussion of the black race is brought up, usually viewpoints of the man is the vocal point. As history is told from a man’s perspective, woman are left out and often, come last. Black woman in particular have reached a point where in order to be seen and heard, they have to take control of their narrative. Becoming aware of their role in the world, how society treats them versus how they need to be treated is important for future generations of woman and men of the black race to change an atmosphere in America and the rest of the world, to their benefit. Feminism, black feminism, African feminism, womanism and Africana womanism, prove to hold conflicting yet engaging viewpoints within the academic world of black woman. As some terms are preferred over others, it is still great to have discussions concerning what black women think. On the outside, negative views of feminists would be that they are gay woman who hate men, however not all feminists hate men or are lesbians . In general, feminism is the belief and fight for woman’s rights in the political, economic and social field equal to men. Even men can support this. Its beginnings come from the Woman’s Suffrage Movement in 1848 in America, and has spread to other countries in the late 1800’s. America’s history as well as other places have had a patriarchal society that is tied to the modern world’s treatment towards women. Men have been held above woman, and having religions and social institutions that standShow MoreRelatedWomanism762 Words   |  4 PagesAfricana Womanism: An Historical, Global Prespective for Women of African Descent Africana Womanism: An Historical, Global Perspective for Women of African Descent is an essay based on Africana Womanism and how it compares to white feminism. The essay was written by Clenora Hudson-Weems, an African American writer and literary critic. She was born in Oxford, Mississippi and she was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. I will compare Africana Womanism and Feminism and discuss the definition of theRead MoreWhat s Africana Womanism From Other Ideologies Or Schools Of Thought?1798 Words   |  8 Pagesdistinguishes Africana Womanism from other ideologies or schools of thought? As aforementioned, there has been tension between the United States suffrage groups, many of which later transformed into feminist groups, and Black women. Nevertheless, many Black women choose to identify as a â€Å"Black Feminist† or â€Å"African Feminist† in an attempt to forge a pro-women and pro-Black space. Black Feminism sought to address the same intersectional issues (including misogynoir) facing Black women as Africana WomanismRead MoreFeminist Theory1248 Words   |  5 PagesFeminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or womens liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences

Is Guinea Worm Disease - 1073 Words

APPLY COURSE CONCEPTS INTO ANALYSIS OF EVENTS AND TRENDS In the film, Foul Water, Fiery Serpent, former president, Jimmy Carter shows his process of eradicating Guinea Worm disease. With the help of Director Gary Strieker, Carter educates viewers on how the disease forms, how it has spread throughout countries, and how it will soon be defeated. When Guinea worm first surfaced, there were 3.5 million cases in 20 countries worldwide. With the help of Jimmy Carter, his campaign members, and many more, they have managed to drop these cases down to 3,190 by the year 2009. With some statistical facts at the end of the documentary, Guinea worm is likely to be the next disease in the history of mankind to be eradicated from the earth, right after smallpox. It was also the first parasitic disease to be eradicated, and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of vaccines or medicines. With this campaign, reported cases went from 4,136 in 2007, to 242 cases by 2009 in Ghana alone. None of this would have been possible if it were not for the awareness in global health, and the mission to make the world a healthier, safer place to live. Though these facts give a positive outlook, with progress comes many setbacks. The informative view of Guinea Worm Disease from this documentary gives a good example of global health. With the concern of health worldwide, some of the most critical factors in global health are the following: the determinants of health, measurement of healthShow MoreRelatedGuinea Worm646 Words   |  3 PagesDracunculiasis the disease commonly known as Guinea Worm is caused by the parasitic worm Dracunculus Medinensis  . Guinea Worm disease only occurs in 10% of the world’s poorest populations who has no access to safe drinking water or health care (CDC) . This parasitic worm is the largest of parasites affecting the human’s tissues. The risk for Dracunculiasis varies by ones sex, age, profession, and ethnicity. These differences reflect from how people’s drinking water is obtained in these countriesRead MoreWhat is Dracunculiasis?661 Words   |  3 PagesWhat is Dracunculiasis ? Dracunculiasis is an infection by the guinea worm, which is a type of parasite, that benefits or feeds off another organism to survive. People may become infected when they drink water that contains water fleas infected with guinea worm larvae, at fist there are no symptoms one can look for but about one year later, the person will develop a painful, burning feeling as the female worm forms a blister in the skin, usually on the lower limb. Then the person infected will getRead MoreGuinea Worm Eradication Program ( Nigep )2183 Words   |  9 PagesGuinea worm has long been documented in Nigeria, yet despite the long term presence, there had been little effort to quantify the burden or to prevent the disease until the inception of the Nigerian Guinea Worm Eradication Program (NIGEP).6 NIGEP was developed with the goal of eliminating guinea worm cases in Nigeria. However, this program also aimed to better understand the full burden and distribution of the disease in Nigeria and to defi ne a framework to begin to initiate prevention measures forRead MoreA Brief Note On Guinea Worm Eradication ( Group 7 )1477 Words   |  6 PagesPostal 2: Guinea Worm Eradication (Group 7): The condition for the commissioning setting was a supposed guinea worm outbreak that has been reported in three Local Government Areas of Akoko town in Ondo State Nigeria by the State’s Ministry of Health among people aged 6-46 years. Their rationale was based on high density of cases in Ise, Auga-Okemole and Iboropa areas of Akoko local government areas, after WHO had declared Nigeria free of the infection. Based on continuous surveillance and disease notificationRead MoreDisease659 Words   |  3 PagesDracunculiasis (guinea worm disease): eradication without a drug or a vaccine, Gautam Biswas, Dieudonne P. Sankara, Junerlyn Agua-Agum and Alhousseine Maiga, June 2013. Introduction: Dracunculiasis is the first parasitic disease that has the potential to be eradicated without the need of drugs or vaccines. Since the parasite life cycle revolves around the host consuming the infected copepod in the water, the experimental designed was to focus on the introduction of water treatment educations intoRead MoreWho Is The Leader?1631 Words   |  7 Pagesdue to what was perceived by many as incompetency in his decision making and self induced alienation from potential followers. Carter however, exemplifies the personification of true humanity toward his fellow man in his efforts to eradicate the Guinea Worm and bring women’s rights as the new face for the civil rights movement. Three decades past his presidency, Mr. Carter shows the true mark of a great leader forging a great legacy. Mr. Carter was born on October 1, 1924 to religious parents JamesRead MoreMr. Carter : The President Of The United States1623 Words   |  7 Pagesdue to what was perceived by many as incompetency in his decision making and self induced alienation from potential followers. Carter however, exemplifies the personification of true humanity toward his fellow man in his efforts to eradicate the Guinea Worm and bring women’s rights as the new face for the civil rights movement. Three decades past his presidency, Mr. Carter shows the true mark of a great leader forging a great legacy. Mr. Carter was born on October 1, 1924 to religious parents JamesRead MoreMalnutrition and unclean water are major causes of death in developing countries. While people in600 Words   |  3 PagesUndernourished kids have a hard time developing and are less resistant to diseases (i). Insufficient nutrients contribute to rising child mortality (ii); mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies since they are undernourished themselves (ii). In some instances, girls are required to eat last after the males due to their culture. The consequences of malnutrition are many; the leading results are lower IQs, heart disease, and diabetes (ii). Victims are prone to malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS asRead MoreOnchocerciasis in Latin America4810 Words   |  20 Pages43 years old have lost his vision and aged so prematurely? The simple answer is Onchocerciasis or more commonly known as River Blindness. Desowitz (1981) discusses the history, causes, and possible treatments of River Blindness in his book â€Å"New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers. Tales of Parasites and People.† Desowitz mainly focuses on river blindness throughout Africa but discusses how this life-altering parasite was brought to Latin America and where it is prevalent. Desowitz (1981Read MoreThe World Health Organisation Essays626 Words   |  3 PagesOrganization leads the world alliance for health for all. A specialized agency of the United Nations with 191 Member Sates, WHO promotes technical cooperation for health among nations, carries out programmes to control and eradicate disease, and strives to improve the quality of human life. WHO has four main functions: * to give worldwide guidance in the field of health * to set global standards for health * to cooperate with governments in strengthening

Developments in Public Personnel Field Free Essays

string(143) " the perspective of an organization becomes broader and the way in which the organization reaches out to people belonging to different groups\." This paper deals with the trends, issues and challenges that are being faced by the public personnel. These trends and issues may be categorized under (1) Management practices; (2) technology; and (3) Economic and Politics. Governments all over the world should learn this time what to do with their public personnel so that they can become more efficient and more effective in the face of all the mentioned challenges. We will write a custom essay sample on Developments in Public Personnel Field or any similar topic only for you Order Now . Introduction Public or Civil Service is a big part of the lives of the citizens of a nation whether they want it or not. There are a number of government agencies that require the services of public servants and professionals. These professionals are free from the political affiliations of people who serve in the bureaucracy. There are developments in the society, in the technology and other areas of management that have an impact in the lives of public personnel. This essay explores these new trends, strategies, approaches by looking at different areas that affect the lives and performance of public personnel. These new trends, issues and emerging practices will be divided into three major categories: management practices, technology and economic situation. The first category deals mainly with the emerging issues in management such as diversity, the rights and benefits of public personnel and how the government is reacting to these trends. Secondly, the technological advancements that impact the work of public personnel will be looked at, carefully noting how these are revolutionizing the way that public personnel do their work. Lastly, the economic developments in the United States and the world will also be noted together with their impact on the lives of workers in the Civil service sector. The government as an employer should take note of these developments and keep up with the times. Oftentimes, however, bureaucracy tends to react too slowly to the changes going on in the world. If this is the case, the public personnel will be disadvantaged. Nonetheless, this paper will also put forward several recommendations as to how the plight of public personnel could be improved by the government through the effective and efficient use of resources in their respective organizations. Management Practices Workforce Diversity One of the most important developments in public personnel in the twenty-first century is the increasing recognition of diversity in the operations of public offices and agencies. Such diversity stems from the multicultural fabric of the American society. There are African Americans, Asians, Europeans and Latino in the United States. It is impossible to exclude these people from becoming public personnel if they possess the skills and the educational requirements of serving in the Civil Service. Through the victories won by the Civil Rights movement in the United States in the past forty years or so, the US has come a long way in granting equal rights and opportunities to people of various skin colors. The immigration to the US has also continued in the past few years that the demographic has changed. Through the process of globalization, more and more people from various nations are coming to the United States. Managing a diverse workforce is therefore becoming an imperative for most corporations and multinational companies in the US. This should also be the case with public personnel (Farazmand, 2007). There are a number of benefits that workforce diversity could offer to public offices and agencies. For one, perspectives and viewpoints in the office concerning pressing issues and concerns will be diverse, thus, providing the decision maker with the ability to look at different angles before making important decisions. Without diversity, people will, more or less, look at something from virtually same lenses and perspectives. With diversity, however, there are new perspectives that could enable a broader look at issues plaguing the civil service and the rest of the society. One factor that influences the occurrence of diversity in both private and public organizations is the prevalence of migration and mobility of labor. People from diverse backgrounds often find themselves mingling with people from other nationalities (Mavin Girling, 2000). Diversity, however, is more than just a collection of nationalities within the organization. Rather, there are several sources of diversity that can serve as a point of conflict within the organization—public or private. Managing diversity, therefore, is an art that most public agencies and organizations should be dealt with effectively. These sources of diversity include gender, race, ethnicity, linguistic barriers, sexual preferences and religion. As stipulated in the Constitution and the laws of the United States, these kinds of differences should in no way affect the employment of persons or prevent them from enjoying the privileges accorded to any person within the civil service of the country. The problem, however, is that, in a setting such as the public agencies and organizations, there are persons who may have strong feelings, prejudices and biases against any of these sources of diversity and they may condescend to those who are not like them. As such, they might not be able to get along with certain kinds of people in the civil service. Multiculturalism and the prevalence of diversity should be met with effective public personnel management strategies. The management should not be reactive and act as if they are always pacifying people, trouble-shooting problems and ironing out conflicts. Rather, diversity should be managed well by allowing practices and the organizational culture to become attuned to diversity. After all, the labor force has become heterogeneous and there seems to be no way to stop that at this stage (Sippola, 2005). Proactive management of diversity entails understanding the cultural and other differences among different peoples who belong to the organization. This also helps the management become more attuned to the composition of the public personnel workforce and make the necessary recommendations in terms of managing these personnel. Diversity is one thing that could help the organization thrive in the highly competitive world of the twenty-first century. Through diversity, the perspective of an organization becomes broader and the way in which the organization reaches out to people belonging to different groups. You read "Developments in Public Personnel Field" in category "Papers" There is an increasing sense of job insecurity in the United States, work hours cannot be completely controlled and the leadership style of managers may sometimes be unsuitable to that of the expectations of the organization. The well-being of the organization should not be compromised (Sparks, Faragher, Cooper, 2001). The Need for Entrepreneurial Leadership Another problem plaguing the bureaucracy and the civil service in general is too much reliance on tried and tested formula without exploring new possible ways of dealing with different problems and challenges that the government agencies are facing. Too often, leaders in the government fail to look beyond the proverbial horizon of their respective agencies. As such, what happens is that they rely on previous records, previously successful formula rather than on carefully crafted strategies that address the present situation of their organizations. This is where entrepreneurial leadership comes in. One of the keywords closely associated with entrepreneurship is innovation. This is the continuous pursuit for improvement and looking for new areas to improve the operations of the organization. If this were present in most public agencies, then the personnel can be empowered as they become more effective and efficient in fulfilling their tasks. Unnecessary delays and red tape in the public offices tend to affect the level of innovativeness of public agencies in information technology and other areas of operation (Moon Bretschneiber, 2002). Entrepreneurship is also closely associated with risk. If managers are willing to engage in risk in the name of innovation, then the organization will become bolder in pursuing entrepreneurship and innovation. When this happens, the followers will emulate the example of the bosses, and they, themselves, will engage in efforts and action that could lead to a more efficient and effective public service organization. Technology   Internet, Web 2.0 and Business Applications The twenty-first century is marked by break-neck speed of technological breakthroughs and innovation. The world is still reeling from the impact of near instantaneous communication. The possibilities seem to be endless. When one company offers a product, three weeks later, a rival presents another product that is better and usually smaller than the one previously being offered. These technologies are changing the landscape of public personnel management, including the way in which business and office work are being done. These emerging technologies are outlined in the next discussion. The Internet. The world is very much connected now, thanks to the wonder that is the Internet. With the number of websites all over the world today, the Internet has become a storehouse of articles and knowledge. Through these websites and other features of the Internet, readers and other users are able to check out the most recent breakthroughs in various fields of study in the world. More than that, with a simple click on the mouse, research can be undertaken. This means that workers can do more now that they are connected to the rest of the world (Sullivan Lewis, 2002). Technology allowing workers to log on to the company intranet even while in a long distance from the office is now available. This is called remote access and makes use of the network of the Internet while putting forward a security means to protect the company from breach and security compromise (Sullivan Lewis, 2002). Email is another important factor of the internet that has come to the fore of business operations in the past few years. Without email, the world will continue to rely on snail mail, which is a much slower and inefficient means of communication. With email, the sender can directly type in the message on the computer screen, hit the send button and then wait for a few seconds before the receiver opens the email. Another great thing about emails is that they can be used as vehicle of sending over large files over long distances (Sullivan Lewis, 2011). Voice over internet Protocol. Another interesting feature of the Internet that has recently come to the attention of the world is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This significantly lowered the cost of voice communications over the Internet. This feature has been integrated into various instant messaging protocols such as Skype, Windows Messenger, AIM and Yahoo Messenger among others. It is also possible now to hold live video and audio streaming. This has implications in holding video conferences over vast areas of land and territory. Hence, live video and audio streaming can help public agencies lower the cost of communication as they meet online. The security of information passed over the Internet is another important concern that must be addressed. Hence, the developments in Internet security and anti-virus technologies help users protect the users and the data that they are feeding and manipulating in the Internet. Information is a very important asset, particularly for public agencies that are serving the broader public. Thanks to the efforts of developers and anti-virus companies, most hackers are kept at bay and prevented from wreaking havoc in the systems of public agencies (Jackson van der Wielen, 1998). The Internet, together with sound IT infrastructure is already installed in most public agencies. This enables the agencies to dispense social services more quickly and more efficiently. Without technology, such social services will be inaccessible to several sectors in the society (Jones Dages, 2003). Given the many distractions at work, however, more and more managers realize the importance of introducing regulations and control mechanisms concerning the websites that may be accessed by the public personnel at work. While they are at work, if the IT system is open, then they can listen to music while at the same time enjoy the resources for their own personal use. The reality of digital distraction and information overload among workers is also looming over the twenty-first century public personnel. As such, there should be a means of ensuring that only information pertinent to the job of the public personnel are accessed by the workers during the work session. Otherwise, they will be subject to information overload. Information technology at work is a double-edged sword. It can get a lot of things done but if improperly used, it may also be harmful to the productivity and overall performance of an individual worker (Jackson van der Wielen, 1998). The twenty-first century has been hailed as the coming of the knowledge economy where the workers are not only dealing with products and services but rather, they are dealing with information, data and knowledge. As such, technology is a prerequisite for the effective functioning of the public personnel in various areas of government and operations of such agencies. Teleworking and Telecommuting in the Public Sector The advances and breakthroughs in the technology mentioned above paved the way for the emergence of teleworking and telecommuting among the professionals in the United States. There emerged a new brand of professionals who do not have to report to the office of the agency as long as they are doing the job they have agreed to. Although telecommuting is not a new phenomenon, it has been around since the late 1980s. The only difference now is that the technology has made it so much convenient for teleworkers to thrive in the present system (DiMartino and Wirth, 1990). As long as a teleworker has access to computer and good internet connection, he may deliver the work he agreed to. There are also a number of telecommuters from other countries who do the work for the public and private sectors in the United States. Another related process being utilized nowadays is outsourcing. Workers and companies outside of the United States establish partnerships with companies in the US so they can handle the operations of some areas of business. With the increasing popularity of outsourcing and telecommuting, the organization should arrive at a sound plan how to manage these kinds of worker. Of primary concern is the growth of teleworkers as professionals in their field and how they get the services that they deserve (Cooper, Kurland, 2002). Teleworking has a number of impacts on the public personnel. It might be opted by employees who are taking care of a family member at home needing special attention, by a mother who wants to spend more time with her kids or by any other professional who simply wants this kind of arrangement. Teleworking is being used in the private sector but it can also be implemented in the public sector. Teleworking may be considered as a really radical departure from the usual mode of working as public personnel. Teleworkers enjoy an immense level of flexibility in terms of fulfilling their role and still pursuing other interests that they want to pursue. Teleworking, however, may be considered as a security breach in an organization that holds sensitive information in its data bank. In addition to this, teleworking introduces a level of uncertainty and difficulty in managing people. This is why, management should look into an acceptable means of accommodating both the usual full-time staff and those who have opted for teleworking. As the public sector start dealing with teleworking, it should carefully look into the pros and cons of the arrangement. Through this, they can maximize the presence of the teleworker in the organization while at the same time, making sure that its pitfalls are removed or at least minimized. Individual worker is really at the center of the teleworking arrangements. As long as there is an internet connection and computer, the teleworker can deliver his work. If possible, the organization should also undertake psychological tests to ascertain whether a certain employee is ready for the rigors and loneliness of the being a teleworker. Economy and Politics Globalization Because of the rapid advances in communication and transportation technologies and the inter-relationships between and among the countries of the world, the nations are being brought closer together in a process known as globalization (Tomlinson, 1999). The changes being brought about by globalization are far-reaching and broad because it targets the politics, economics, culture and other areas of life (Castles, 2001). Globalization can no longer be ignored because it has impinged on important processes that go on in the society. It is also not just a national issue but a worldwide one. If this process continues, then the world can become a borderless society in which labor and other resources can move freely without a lot of hassle. In the management of public personnel, globalization has also become a real issue that must be dealt with by the bureaucracy. Globalization is also attacking the established authority of the state over a certain territory, such as a nation-state. The role of the state and the government, therefore, is changing under the relentless impact of globalization. The focus of globalization is efficiency, decentralization and the trimming down of the bureaucracy. In terms of public personnel, this means letting go of a lot of employees and retaining only those who process the core processes and who are able to continue the operations of the agencies that will be affected. With globalization, this means that there will be greater decentralization and deregulation of power and autonomy (Bevir, Rhodes Weller, 2003). The government, however, cannot simply do that without major repercussions. There has to be a careful study as to the kind of jobs and personnel that will be retained and which positions will be let go. If possible, will there be roles that can be combined? This way, the government will be able to save money while at the same time ensuring that the processes being looked after by the public personnel will be continued. Conclusion The twenty-first century world is very dynamic. Technologies are changing very rapidly, the relationships between and among the countries of the world are becoming stronger. Economies are trading more freely and governments are still in charge of running their own respective territories. This is being done with the help of public personnel who are in the bureaucracy and who are continuously serving the needs of the government and of the people they are serving. There are three main areas of concern that impact the changes in public personnel. These are in the areas of Management Practices, Technology, and Economics. Of particular interest is the increasing popularity and significance of workplace diversity and the manner in which public organizations should deal with it so that it can maximize its impact and its efficiency. In addition to this, the advances in technology is paving the way for alternative modes of working such as teleworking and telecommuting. Lastly, globalization also has an important impact on the way that public personnel are being treated and how the public sector can generate savings from the process. Reference Bevir, B, Rhodes, RAW, Weller, P. (2003). Traditions of governance: interpreting the changing role of the public sector. Public Administration, 81 (1), 1-17. Castles, FG. (2001). On political company of recent pubic sector development. Journal of European Social Political Policy, 11 (3), 195-211. Cooper, CD Kurland, NB (2002). Telecommuting, professional isolation, and employee development in public and private organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23 (4), 511-532. Daniels, K., Lamond, DA, Stranden, P. (2000). Managing Telework. New York: CENGAGE Learning. Farazmand, A (2007). Strategic Public Personnel Administration. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Jackson, P. and Van der Wielen, J. (1998). Teleworking. Routledge, London. Jones, JW Dages, KD (2003). Technology Trends in Staffing and Assessment: A Practice Note. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 11 (2-3), 247-252. Mavin, S. Girling, G. (2000). What is Managing Diversity and Why Does It Matter? Human Resource Development International, 3 (4), 419-433. Moon, MJ Breschneiber, S (2002). Does the Perception of Red Tape Constrain IT Innovativeness in Organizations? Unexpected Results from a Simultaneous Equation Model and Implications. Journal of Publication Research and Theory, 12 (2), 273-292. Sippola, A. (2005). HRM of a Diverse Workforce: Challenges of Emerging Cultural Diversity. Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Academy of Management (NFF) Conference, Aarhus, Denmark, 18-20 August 2005. Sparks, K., Faragher, B Cooper, CL (2001). Well-being and occupational health in the 21st century workplace. Journal of Occupational and Organizational. Sullivan, C Lewis, S. (2002). Home-based Telework, Gender, and the Synchronization of Work and Family: Perspectives of Teleworkers and their Co-residents. Gender, Work and Organization, 8 (2), 123-145. Tomlinson, J. (1999) Globalization and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. How to cite Developments in Public Personnel Field, Papers

Society - Ethics - and Technology

Question: Discuss ways in which technology challenges authority and aids in the redistribution of the power held by a few to a greater number of individuals. Answer: The main outcome of technology is to enhance the capacity of the individuals to perform their work efficiently (Winston Edelbach, 2012). It can be best described in context of stirring of the European society in which an enormous number of changes have been made in terms of science and technology. These technologies have a long-term impact since it has enhanced the standard of living of the societies and if such changes had not been occurred then the societies would have been lagging far behind in terms of development (Meagher, 2013). References Meagher, R. F. (2013).An international redistribution of wealth and power: a study of the charter of economic rights and duties of states(No. 21). Elsevier. Winston, M., Edelbach, R. (2012). Society, Ethics, and Technology (Updated Fourth Edition).Boston: Wadsworth.

Euro Essays (911 words) - Currency, Economy Of The European Union

Euro The Most Interesting Event The progress of the Euro was the most interesting event occurring throughout this period. Never before has a currency united so many powerful economic nations. It is very interesting to see the progress it has made and changes it has influenced. In 1991 it was decided that the Euro would be introduced. It officially became the currency of eleven European nations: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, shortly thereafter. Although the actually hard currency will not be introduced until January 1, 2002, it is possible to trade and complete transactions using this currency. This introduction allowed for a single money supply throughout most of Europe, caused increased transparency of prices and stocks throughout the nations adopting it and encouraged long-term investments between firms in different countries by eliminating exchange rate risk. Despite these benefits, the launch of the Euro has not gone as successfully as planned. Since its introduction the Euro has lost almost one third of its value compared to the dollar. This devaluation has the potential to create a large negative effect on European markets. To take control of the situation government intervention was deemed necessary. In early September, the European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the sixth time in less than a year, in hopes of initiating a rise in the value of the Euro. Despite these efforts the value of the Euro continued to falter. Then in late September central banks from many powerful economic nations collaborated in a major invention effort. The banks spent billions buying Euros to increase their demand while simultaneously selling dollars and yen. This effort seemed to have work as the Euro finally stabilized. This invention was an important step because a weak Euro would cause investors to lose confidence in the new currency. In addition it created a risk of increased inflation because of the increased expense of imports. However, the Euro is still not out of danger because many analysts feel that the reason that it is performing so poorly is because of the decreased amounts of investments in Europe as other markets, the United States in particular, continued to flourish. This is a long-term problem that the central banks will be unable to fix. Then in November as there were signs of slowing economic growth in the US the value of the Euro started to increase. By late November many businesses were acquiring a preference for the Euro because of the benefits it provided. According to one article, The Euro has revolutionized corporate strategy and transformed approaches to doing business in Europe. It makes life much easier for European people, businesses and investors as it creates a single European market. As you can see in just a short period the impact and effect of the Euro drastically changed. It will be interesting to see what will happen in January 2002 when the actual hard currency is put into circulation. No one knows exactly what impact this will have but it will be exciting to see just how this will stir up the European economy as well as economies throughout the world. The Most Interesting Event The progress of the Euro was the most interesting event occurring throughout this period. Never before has a currency united so many powerful economic nations. It is very interesting to see the progress it has made and changes it has influenced. In 1991 it was decided that the Euro would be introduced. It officially became the currency of eleven European nations: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, shortly thereafter. Although the actually hard currency will not be introduced until January 1, 2002, it is possible to trade and complete transactions using this currency. This introduction allowed for a single money supply throughout most of Europe, caused increased transparency of prices and stocks throughout the nations adopting it and encouraged long-term investments between firms in different countries by eliminating exchange rate risk. Despite these benefits, the launch of the Euro has not gone as successfully as planned. Since its introduction the Euro has lost almost one third of its value compared to the dollar. This devaluation has the potential to create a large negative effect on

Athens And Sparta Essays

Athens And Sparta Essays Athens And Sparta Essay Athens And Sparta Essay While here are many differences that distinguish Athens and Sparta, both share a few resemblances. To start with, Athens and Sparta shared the same religion of Polytheism. Despite Athens having Athena as their main God who was adulated more profoundly than the other Gods. As well as with Sparta, they believed more heavily in Heraclites because Sparta believed he was their founder. Both worshiped all the Greek Gods, some were just more important for Athens and Sparta. In addition to religion, both Athens and Sparta shared the comparison of allowing slavery. Though Athens was a democracy, half of their population were slaves. It is projected that the vast majority of Athenians owned at least one slave. Sprats populace of slaves was more than 10 times the populace of Sprats citizens. The reason for Sprats ridiculous number of slaves is based that the slaves (or helots as Spartan called them) were essential to Sprats food production because the slaves handled it all. Regardless of Athens and Sparta sharing many similarities they also share many differences in their lifestyles since both developed parallel from one another. To start with, Athens prioritize education more than Sparta. Schooling was taken very seriously in Athens as men were taught in philosophy, math, science and more. Poetry, music and drama was also greatly appreciated in their instruction. A good education was the key to Athens success in Greek culture. In contrast to Ethanes value for education, Sparta didnt take education as seriously. When boys turned 7, they were shipped off to a military school until they were 20 to train for the army. The season that Sparta didnt have as big of an education standard as Athens was because they prioritize their military a lot more, which made their army stronger than Athens. Also both Athens and Sparta differ in women rights. For example, in Athens women are valued only for bearing children. Although women were not considered citizens in Athens, they were higher socially ranked than slaves but below men. Women were not allowed to own property which included lands, slaves, jewelry and clothing and were not premised to do sports. They also had to be accompanied by a slave because they were not permitted to leave home alone. Unlike in Athens, where women had no rights, in Sparta women did have a few. Women were allowed to play sport: and move around Sparta freely. For example, though women werent trainee in the traditional Sparta sports such as heavy weight lifting and disk throwing Women were trained in gymnastics to maintain their strength. The reason being, Spartan hoped that if their women were strong they could pass that trait down to their future child.

Explain the future of Global Aviation which includes regulation, Essay

Explain the future of Global Aviation which includes regulation, economics and organizational entities involved - Essay Example The root of crises at the level of air carriers and aviation industry is fragmentation, one of the major weaknesses of airport management is a monopoly in the provision of services and ground service and refueling. Another problem, the complexity of current state of civil aviation and prospects of its development is the lack of transparent and economically viable national system of rates for airport fees and tariffs. The rates for airport fees and tariffs do not match the quality of services provided. In conjunction with practiced monopoly suppliers of kerosene in airports are extremely negative impact on the regularity and profitability of the airlines, often resulting in delays and the cancellation of flights, and sometimes for an end to the flights of individual carriers from any airport. International experience shows that the competition in the global airline industry, aviation industry and organization / management of air traffic can not develop completely independently and requires strong and coordinated support to the state. This calls for an early launch a comprehensive program of reform and greater coordination of the management industry in the new national project. Governments should adopt and consistently enforce the set-up that includes economic incentives and administrative practices aimed at consolidating the industry. This should set clear and transparent criteria under which these airlines should be enlarged. There should be the market of specialization airlines (as they enlarge) - domestic / international, local / long-haul, cargo / passenger transport. Such specialization should meet the needs of the population and the economy and meet the profile of the carriers(Baldwin, 1999). It is necessary to realize the strategy of building a national network of airports, combining ticks carrying

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Strategic management - Essay Example ng is becoming a fundamental because the industry regulator wants to know techniques that a business uses to prevent violation and abuses from happening. In view of this, the GRC acts as a coach in the planning process. In addition, the concept helps industry regulators to know about the measures a business takes when it identifies violations and abuse of employees and policies. According to DiPietro (2013), technology could assist make a business’s governance, threat, and compliance plans more defendable when placed under regulatory analysis. In view of this, GRC must be aligned with the risks that a business is likely to encounter, so that it can help the business stop the risks from happening or help the business mitigate the risks. The GRC acts as a strategy that influences management decision in the industrial and the transnational environment of a business because it helps business prevent risks involved in foreign business ventures, such as bribery and compliance with local policies. A business engaging in foreign investments, such as construction would benefit from GRC, as it would help the business impede the regulatory risk of costly investigations on issues involving in bribery and policy violation. The GRC concept has become a fundamental aspect of improving business performance in the modern business environment (Bloomberg L.P,

Bbc story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bbc story - Essay Example However, due to the advancement in technology, there are many options for people to select from the sources of news. Besides TV, radio, and newspapers, there is now internet which provides the latest news at any given time of the day free of cost. This increasing trend has forced the companies to focus just as much on their online presence. The newspaper industry is losing audience to the internet as people are no longer willing to pay for news that they can easily access online for free. Thus, in order to survive, the news companies are not spending big amount to maintain audience both online and offline. A different strategy was adopted by all three of the news companies to compete with each other. BBC was quick in coming up with an online strategy given its vast audience. The company soon announced its decision to go â€Å"digital† under the leadership of Entwistle. The introduction of iPlayer proved to be quite successful both, for the network as well as the VOD market (Andrews, 2012). The main strategy of the company was to focus on vision, audio and music, and digital future media division (Andrews, 2012). The global audience for BBC online is estimated to be 30 million (Horrocks, 2012). Guardian, on the other hand, completely embraced the online media and decided to become â€Å"a digital-first organization† in 2011 (The Guardian, 2011). The company announced that it will be posting complete material online and increase its investment in maintaining audience online as it is the future’s demand. The company is now focusing on reaching out to more people through internet and mobile phones and make efforts to improve its digital services since the entire newspaper industry has been suffering due to this major shift in use preferences (The Guardian, 2011). The guardian is presently the fifth most visited news site in the world with over 30 million online

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Globalisation

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Globalisation Job design purpose and objective is for quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, cost, health and safety. Job design is also mean by application of working principles and techniques humanization of work. This is the way of conducting their working style and working techniques. The aim of job design is to make sure and improved the job satisfaction of the company. Improved quality of product is an objective of design. New Balance Corporation is a company that stress on quality. New Balance is an athletic shoes company that mainly focus on performance rather than the outlook and style. The aim of job design is also to raise the productivity levels, challenge and responsibility of oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s work. Example is the New Balance shoes come in a wide range of widths and sizes. The quality can be achieve because New Balance Company have their philosophy which is listen, learn and refine. Another method that New Balance Company uses is well-trained workers. The well train workers are train to perform different jobs and tasks. New Balance Company is creative by adapting to new technologies to shoemaking. The company also constantly give training to their employee in teamwork and technical skills so they can work by sharing and helping each other on the task to make sure everything done on time. Dependability is a job design method that New Balance Company stresses on. New Balance Corporation is a company that design and manufacture their product in the United States. Example of dependability is buyer or consumer will look into where the product is manufacture because consumer depend and trust product that are import from countries such as United States, Germany, Japan and others. Reduce employee problem is also one of the main purpose of job design. Job design is an aimed to reduce or overcoming job dissatisfaction and employee bad behaviour arising. Dissatisfaction and employee bad behaviour arising will cause the employee to make mistake. Once the employee make mistake then accident will happen and that will cause health and safety. 1.1.5 Flexibility Running shoes of new balance company is made United States. This is the culture where it produces close to the customers and also allows quick turnarounds on new design and order fulfilment. This is the flexibility of the company to fulfil the desire of customer to purchase the product. 1.1.6 Cost One of the method that New Balance Corporation is they refuse to hire superstars to endorse its product and this will also help to cut a lot of cost. Borrowing technology from apparel manufacturers is also one of the company methods. This will help the company to save money and also following the modern trend. 1.2 Globalisation Globalisation is claimed that globalization increases the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing world. There are advantages of globalisation and also disadvantages on going global. 1.2.1 Advantages of globalisation Staying in one country is not a good method to remain competitive, so the New Balance Corporation chooses to launch a strategy to distribute all over the globe. To gain more profit is a company aims. Profit can be gain by expand their products to all over the globe. Expand the products to worldwide will be a global marketing advantage. From the global business, New Balance Company can be advertised on the internet and customers can easily view and purchase wherever and whenever they want. Advertising in the internet is a good advantage for the global business. Increased sales are for sure under the advertising in the internet. Under the global marketing, higher profits can be earn and achieve. New knowledge and experience is also an advantage under the internet global marketing. Another advantages going global is jobs been created. Once the company invested in another country, the job opportunity created. Once there are jobs for people, the economy will run smoothly. Wealth can be ob tained under the global marketing and productivity can growth wider. Wealth can be obtained means that human is going to gain money and an easier lifestyle. When going global, business will not only depend on the existing market but it will also have wide scale market. This means that new markets and producing dynamic sales can be obtain easily. The brand can consistency maintains their brand image. When the consistency in brand image is achieved, the brand will became famous and popular. This will also bring to higher sales and profit. Besides that, good ideas will be gain under going global. Good ideas can be gain from any individual in the globe and that can lead to a better design. This will help to identify what consumer needs and wants for their product. Going global will also establish good relationship between countries. After establish good relationship between countries, free trade between countries also increases. Furthermore, the flexibility of corporations to operate ac ross borders increases. This will ensure the company to run their business smoothly and without difficulties. 1.2.2 Disadvantages of globalisation Global marketing also have its disadvantages which is the difference of consumer response can be unpredictable. Some of the product might be selling fast and out of stock. Differences of consumer likes will cause the product to pile up and cannot be sold. Product that cannot be sold might go for a very cheap price and that might cause losses to the company. The disadvantage on internet marketing is when their product is promoted in the internet; they will have to compete with different type of brand and product development. Besides that, the disadvantages also include differences in consumer patterns such as needs and wants that is influence by their regional. Differences in legal concerns may also create conflict to the home market. Language barrier is a disadvantage on going global because different countries have their own languages and they might not understand English. There are also additional costs to set a website on the internet. Besides that, advertising and maintaining the website will also cost another sum of money. Another disadvantage on going global is the company will faces a lot of challenges and competitive environment. The company will face challenges from other brand that offer cheaper and quality product. Cultural problems are also a disadvantage for the globalization. This will endanger the age old cultures which have been followed religiously all over the world. There are many countries which would never agree when it comes to culture or religion. The influence of local cultures and tradition will slowly start to wear down when the migration become easy. Globalization will also increase the spread of diseases. Disease can be spread because of the increase in flow people. This will cause human to vulnerable to health issues. Conclusion is there is advantages and disadvantages of going global. http://www.newbalance.com/company/ http://www.newbalance.com/usa/#/factories http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-of-globalization.html http://www.buzzle.com/articles/disadvantages-of-globalization.html

The Theme of Black Leadership in Invisible Man Essay -- Ralph Ellison,

     Ã‚   Ralph Ellison's interest in effective black leadership is directly reflected in Invisible Man. The characterization of Bledsoe in the beginning of the story is that of a ruthlessly self-serving black leader (McSweeny). In chapter five, a "mythic model" for black leadership is outlined in the eulogy of the founder of the college, which is given by Homer A. Barbee (McSweeny). While Invisible Man is residing in the apartment of Mary Rambo, she drills into his head the importance of leadership and responsibility. In chapter thirteen the anger of the crowd watching the eviction begins to rise, and as one onlooker observes that "All they need is a leader" (Ellison 274). These events lead to Invisible Man's first act of leadership when he delivers a spontaneous speech to the crowd. Invisible Man comes to realize that the fundamental problem confronting a potential black leader is the lack of an infrastructure (McSweeny). He states, "...we had no money, no intelligence apparatus, either in government, business or in labor unions; and no communications with our own people excep...

Shi Huang Di

He built new palaces to keep them content. Each of the new palaces were an exact copy of the ones they had to leave behind. He also divided the conquered land into 36 commentaries (areas), and commanded 3 officials to run each commandeer. They received orders from the emperor, and might be sacked if they did not obey. He also ordered citizens to give up all weapons to prevent rebellion. He then melted down these weapons and crafted them into giant statues to â€Å"scare away twelve giants†, which were set up outside his palace.In addition to all these changes, he also ordered the walls around towns and cities to be knocked down. Before Shih Hung Did unified China, each f the states used different kinds of measurements, language etc. So, to make things simpler, he set common standards. Everybody now had to use Gin weights and measures. They also had to use round one-ounce gold coins and half-ounce copper coins with holes in the middle, which were standard Gin money. However, th ese changes paled in comparison to the changes made to the written language.The prime minister at the time, Lie Is, was given the role to standardize all the characters of the language, as Chinese is written with characters that represent pictures and ideas, instead of the alphabet. Once he job was completed, the language was modernized and simplified into 3000 characters. He also set rules for handwriting so everybody that needed to write, such as scholars and government officials could communicate easily with each other. During the period of warring states, there weren't many roads.Even those roads were hard to go across since heavier carts created uneven ground on the soft earth. Many carts were damaged and got stuck in the roads. Shih Hung Did created a law so that all wheels and carts must be the same distance apart. He also built 5 major roads, which he named â€Å"speedways†. These speedways connected the capital with the northern, eastern and southern parts of the emp ire. During his 1 1 years of reign, Shih Hung Did built 6800 km of road. Meanwhile, in the eastern empire, the Romans only built 5984 km of road.When Shih Hung Did became the emperor of China (in 221 BC), all the rules of Gin became the rules of the entire empire. According to Gin law, everybody was responsible for each other's good behavior. And so, Shih Hung Did organized everybody into groups Of 10, and if anybody committed a crime in that family, they had to report it to the authorities, or they would get punished along with the wrongdoer. Not only that, but their father, mother, families, wife/husband and their family would also receive the same punishment.Therefore, lots of people would be punished just because one person committed a crime. Many Mongolia's, named Signing, lived to the north of the empire. They often attacked parts of the empire, so Shih Hung Did ordered many slaves to build the Great Wall. Although this original structure has not been kept in condition until t oday, a renovated version now stands in Beijing. This version follows much of the same route as Shih Hung Id's. Shih Hung Id's Great Wall was made of tightly sacked earth, which was reinforced by bamboo matting. Behind the wall stood watch towers-?3 every kilometer.An artist's impression of Shih Hung Did. None of the paintings of him at the time have survived, so this painting is based on written descriptions. Hero or Villain? Gave himself the new title of Shih Hung Did-?supreme ruler of China. He only ruled for dictator. L, Georgian Lounge will discuss both sides of the Story. Villain On the other hand, many people believe that Shih Hung Did was cruel and merciless. For one, he forced many citizens to become slaves to work on his major projects such as the Great Wall. Thousands died from hunger, exposure or ill-treatment.If they tried to rebel against him, or not follow his orders, he would kill captives publicly without a second thought. Shih Hung Did also increased taxes to pay f or materials that were used in his many projects (for example, his grave, or the Great Wall). These taxes were 20 times of their previous taxes. If the taxes were not paid, the family would all have to endure slave labor. He also took half of all the food that farmers grew as tax. This resulted in extreme poverty and hunger. As a result, many citizens turned to cannibalism, and millions died. Shih Hung Did also set many draconian laws.If these strict laws were not followed, depending on the severity of the crime, wrongdoers were set harsh punishments such as hard labor, mutilation of a person's body, being boiled alive, cut into two at the waist, torn apart by 4 horses, strangled or beheaded. In 213 BC, at a banquet hosted by Shih Hung Did, a scholar openly criticized Shih Hung Did. Shih Hung Did immediately ordered that all scholars could not criticize anything in the present or praise anything in the past. He also ordered all the scholars to hand their books to government official s. These were burned in a huge bonfire.However, some scholars still continued their ways. These scholars were found by the emperor and were executed. 460 scholars were presumably buried alive. According to an extract from SIAM Quinn's â€Å"Records of the Historian†, Shih Hung Did discouraged jobs such as scholars, thinkers and philosophers, because many of these people were against the king, and they could easily influence others to go against the king. In conclusion, Shih Hung Did could be considered a hero because he was the first man to have ever united China. However, his road to success can be perceived as a cruel and violent one, which is why some people think he is a villain.

Communication in the Workplace Essays

Communication in the Workplace Essays Communication in the Workplace Essay Communication in the Workplace Essay Module Code: PM 025 Class/Group: Group A Module Title: Contemporary Organisational Behaviour Assignment Title: Final Essay Assignment Title: Communication in the workplace Tutor Name: Frenie Antony Student ID Number: 2059591 Date of Submission: 21st Match 2013 Communication in the workplace The definition of communication is ‘a process in which information and its meaning (common understanding) is conveyed by a sender to receiver (s)’ (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:612, and Jones and George, 2011, cited in Antony and Macvicar, 2011:146). In Rollinson and Broadfield’s theory ‘meaning’ was more important than ‘information’, as long as both sender and receiver can understand the meaning of information, even the feedback is not necessarily in the communication ptocess. In addition, ‘The exchange of ideas and information is the lifeblood of any organization. ’ (Hodge and Johnson, 1970: 93). In the other words, communication for an organization is the same as the blood flow for human being. (Conrad and Poole, 2012:5). Furthermore, according to Hodge and Johnson (1970) and O’Reilly and Pondy (1979), Dekay (2012) communication shaped the organization by interaction the organization and its environment, as the result, communication maybe the only connection between the organization and outside world. Besides, The majority aim of communication was enhance the connection between different roles in the company and smooth the working processes (Smith and Davidson, 1991, cited in Smith 1991:22). Therefore, Williams’s and Smith and Davidson’s ideas might argue that the purpose of communication in the workplace was improving the work efficiency and finally increasing the profit. This essay will argue that barrier to communication in the organization may not only influence the further market expansion of company, but also push the company to the edge of bankrupt, as its can distortion the meaning of information during the communication process. Furthermore, this essay will mainly divided into two parts, first, indicate the communication processes in the organization and verify some barriers (power difference barrier, cultural diversity barrier, individual perception barrier and so on) during the communication processes, second, inspect three case study of different companies (Bernard Matthew farms, The Luxor Company, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and ChevronTexaco) which had conquered the communication barriers. Normally, there were three directions of communication in the workplace: ‘vertically’ (superior and subordinate), ‘laterally’ (horizontal), and ‘diagonally’ (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:627). Furthermore, the communication processes unsurely consisted of two parts, the sender and receiver (Williams 1991, cited Smith, 1991:120 and Hodge and Johnson, 1970:150, Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:612). On one hand, sender wanted to transfer an idea, the idea needed to be ‘Encoded’, which means translated the message into general language. Then choosing a ‘Channel’, for instance, by e-mail, by telephone, put an advertisement and so on. After that, receiver received the massage from sender and they should try to ‘Decoded’ the message, which means the receiver should try to understand what sender’s meaning, at last gave respond (feedback) to the sender (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:617 and Buelens et al, 2011, cited in Antony and MacVicar, 2011:109). On the other hand, the barriers, which called ‘Noise’, existed during these six processes, and might lead to organization ‘communication collapses’, even worse, the bankrupt of company (Hodge and Johnson, 1970: 151). The barriers of communication often separated into two parts: ‘external barriers to the communication’ and ‘internal barriers to the communication’ (Williams 1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117, and Coulson-Thomas and Coulson-Thomas, 1997:267). To be more specific, first, external barrier often indicated as: neglect the extra message, ignore the importance of the information that processes it all followed by first-come-first-served rule, and slack to the responsibility (Williams 1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117). Second, there were five performance of internal barrier: first, could not find a need of communication, second, careless in understanding the information or tend to not correspond at all. Third, ‘Encoded’ problem, the sender introduce in professional way that make message unclear or the sender executed it in a wrong ‘channel’, the message could not receive by target customer. Fourth, the message might tamper during the transfer. Fifth, the personality might influence people’s understanding and acceptance of the message (ibid). The lack of communication might trigger a death for a company. For example, Bernard Matthews farms (the largest turkey supplier in the UK) started to lose reputation since 2005, because of the incident of unhealthy turkey for students in improve-school-meal program, then reached at the peak because of outbreak of bird flu and exposure of imported turkey from abroad, which against the idea of company. What was worse, Matthews never responded and defended themselves to the media in time (The Times 100, 2012). With reference to Williams’s (1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117) theory, the farm met one of the external communication barriers that the manager notice the problem they faced, however, took no respond of it. Before Matthews took any actions the company already lost 35% of selling in the UK, and it was standing on the edge of bankrupt (The Times 100, 2012). As mentioned above, the purpose of communication is to make organization work better and increasing the profit. With reference of Rollinson’s theory (2002: 617), during the improved communication processes, Bernard Matthews acted in three ways to simulate the internal stakeholders: formal written (weekly newsletters), electronic communication (company’s intranet site), and face to face communication. While Bernard also try to change external stakeholders’ attitude by: internet (four websites with different target customer) and social media (advertisement). These series of action offered high information richness which easily understood and accepted by both internal and external stakeholders, in addition, it rescued the Bernard Matthews farms from bankrupt to 9% annual increasing rate. To sum up, an effective communication, both internal and external, could help overcome the barriers and change the loss position. The communication could not only help company changing the loss position, but also make great effort for company’s further development. The Luxor Company (manufactures domestic and office furniture), which headquarters had 750 employees approximately and located in outskirts of Paris , for instance, increased dramatically in a short time that the CEO of company, Charles Binochet, realised everything seemed to be not working as smoothly as before. Furthermore, Charles believed that the rapid development would become a serious barrier when the next wave of market expansion coming (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). According to Williams (1991, sited in Smith, 1991:117), the barriers of the Luxor Company was external communication barriers, which means both the employers and the employees could not take care of the extra information, ignore the importance of the different information, and slack to the responsibility to the company. By hiring a consultant the Luxor Company solved problem of the lack of connection between production and marketing and no financial control system problem (Roillinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). However, the chaos of relations in the organization still existed. After some discussion, the Luxor tried to keep all of its in touch with company and its actions by provide the formal information which contained the high information richness (displayed four company’s situation chart which including ‘Number of employees’, ‘Output’, ‘investment in new plant and machinery’, and ‘New product lines added’) (ibid). Although the feedback of this action might come slowly and seldom, according to Roillinson and Broadfield (2002:612) as long as the receiver understood the information, feedback was less important in the communication. The charts, which might help employees to understand the company’s operation and their contribution to the company, leaded to hard working performance of employees (Roillinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). As a result, it improved communication with company and employees that not only improved the employees’ motivation but also might offer a significant assistant in company’s next expansion. Many multinational corporations had the same communication barriers as the Luxor Company, during the processes of taking collaborative advantage (Hansen and Nohria, 2004: 22). Nowadays, increasing international competition lead the company, for instance, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and ChevronTexaco (multinational corporations) were losing their dominant position than before. To recover the position and to increase the profit, they were willing to seek a new source, where collaboration might work, to increase the competitive advantage (ibid). Hansen and Nohria (2004:23) claimed that collaboration had several benefits: decreased the cost, better decision making, increased the revenue, be more creative, and enhanced the connection with its subsidiaries. During the processes of taking collaborative advantage, there was a significant barrier called: ‘Inability to work together and transfer knowledge’, which Hansen and Nohria considered it as a communication barrier (ibid). The employees from different subsidiaries which belonged to different countries, suffering the language barrier (language different) and intercultural barrier (message changed because of local culture) (ibid). According to Williams (1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117), the MNCs often had external communication barriers, which indicated as personality (culture different) influence the understanding and acceptance of the message and the message had been distorted (translate language) during the transfer. After a survey from supervisors, the companies decided to operate two actions to encourage the communication: First, setting an international standard of technologies words to conquer the communication. Second, setting an employee-exchange-program that employee could understand the culture different and improve the work efficiency. With reference to Rollinson and Broadfield (2002:617) theory, the first solution settled the encode and decode barriers, while second solution was choosing the ‘channel’, which was exchanged the employees to other subsidiaries, to increase the understanding and to solve the distortion barriers. To conclude, this essay has identified the communication in the workplace which included the communication barriers in the organization and purpose of communication, follow with three case studies about communication barriers, which including first, Bernard Matthews farms developed internal and external stakeholder by communication to rescue the loss position, second, the Luxor Company’s communicational-bias-further-development, third, communication helped multinational corporations to develop collaborative. As a result, communication in the workplace is critical important. However, the limitation of this essay still existed, the communication barriers identified not enough in this essay and the case study of this essay might be fewer representatives of the communication barriers. Words: 1616 Reference Antony, F. and MacVicar, A. (2011). Contemporary Organisation Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill. Argyris, Chris (1994). Good Communication That Block Leaning. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1994, 77-85. Conrad, C. C. and Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic Organizational Communication: In a Global Economy. U. K. : John Wiley and Sons. Coulson-Thomas, C. (1997). The Future of the Organization: Achieving Excellence through Business Transformation. London: Kogan Page. Dekay, S. H. (2012). Interpersonal communication in the workplace: A Largely Unexplored Region. Business Communication Quarterly, 75 (4), 449-452. Hansen, M. T. and Nohria, N. (2004), How to Build Collaborative Advantage. MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall, 46, 1, 22-30, 2004. Hodge, B. J. and Johnson, H. J. (1970). Management and Organizational Behavior: A Multidimensional Approach. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons. O’Reilly, C. A. and Pondy, L. R. (1979). Organizational Communication. Columbus HO: Grid Rollinson, D. with Broadfield, A. (2002). Organisational Behaviour and Analysis: An Integrated Approach. London: Pearson Education. Smith, M. (1991). Analysing Organization Behavior. London: Macmillan Education. The Times 100 Business Case Studies. (2012). Communication with stakeholders: A Bernard Matthews case study. Retrieved October 28th, 2012 from: http://businesscasestudies. co. uk/bernard-matthews /communicating-with-stakeholders/

How to Use In, An or Auf Properly

How to Use In, An or Auf Properly Although German is a straightforward language once you learn the rules, you cant always directly translate every word from English. In fact, the more you study some words, the more confusing they may become. Three German prepositions, in particular, can be tricky for beginners: in, an and auf.   What Is a Preposition? A preposition is a word that is typically paired with a noun (or pronoun, like he or she) that helps you understand that words relationship to another part of the sentence. For example, prepositions can refer to the nouns position in space or time. Like put your feet  under  the table, or go shopping  after  class. But many English prepositions have different meanings. Under can be below, but it can also mean less than. Some prepositions are colloquial or you just have to memorize them, like get down with.   The same goes for German. You can memorize the meanings of the prepositions, but not all will be a direct translation of the English counterpart.   These are all two-way prepositions, meaning the noun/pronoun that follows this  preposition  will be conjugated in the accusative (if it is used to express motion/action, like I walk into the store) or dative (if it is used to express a location or position, like I stand in the street). In English, the preposition does not change the noun/pronoun it precedes.   In Means: in, into, to Examples: Ich stehe in der Straße. (I stand in the street.) Die Frau ist in der Universitt. (The woman is in the university, as in she is physically inside the university building. If you want to say you are enrolled in the university, you say, an der  Universitt, as in at the university. See below.)   An Means: at, to, up next to   Examples: Ich sitze an dem Tisch. (I am sitting at the table.) Die Frau ist  an der  Tankstelle. (The woman is at the gas station, as in she is literally standing up next to the vertical gas pump. It can be helpful to think about a side-by-side, vertical encounter to remember when to use an as in up next to.)   Auf Means: on, on top of Examples: Die Backerei ist auf der Hauptstraße. (The bakery is on the main street.) Die Frau ist  auf  der Bank. (The woman is on the bench, as in she is literally sitting on top of the horizontal bench. A horizontal encounter is often key for auf.)   Other Considerations Some verbs come standard with a preposition. Think about hang out or hang up in English; the preposition is an important component of the verb that actually changes the meaning of it.

PMI analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

PMI analysis - Essay Example Another negative thing I learnt is that life is filled with things that try to reduce our success. E.g. economic recession, business competition and sickness. Trust and cooperation are the most important things that leaders use to make their employees feel sale. Unfortunately, these are feelings, and not everyone has them. Simon gives a story of captain Williams, who ran through bullets in an ambush to save lives. It is not often that we meet people who are willing to endanger their lives to save others. It is interesting also to note that great leaders are always willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. As much as they are concerned about making profit they are equally concerned about the people under their leadership. Great leaders can also make people safe, and this improves overall productivity within the organization. Trust and cooperation are very important aspects that every employee should possess. However, trust and cooperation are not instructions but rather feelings. It will take the actions of a great leader to make people under his leadership feel safe and in turn wins their trust and

The software process models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The software process models - Essay Example The requirements are based on system functionalities and roles and so would not undergo any change with time. b) The requirement capturing process for the user interface is an on-going process as a few of the requirements are subjected to change with availability of measures such as skill level of users, type of interface access methodologies, compliance with technological advancements, etc. The model is generally used in small, simple throwaway projects with output as short lived demos, proof-of-concept or prototypes. No separate planning, risk assessment, designing, building, testing phases are required. The administrative system in AILS requires thorough gathering of requirements, understanding the working of existing processes and workflows and data accessing details for integration with the interface which the model fails to provide. For the user interface however, the model can be used the requirement of gaining user satisfaction. Interface can be made and tested; missing or ambiguous portions can be identified and fixed in the next build till a workable interface is achieved. In the AILS administrative system, the requirements necessitate the need of completely capturing of fixed requirements and functionalities to produce a complete product as deliverable. Therefore, the model seems to be appropriate for the task. Spiral model employs risk management approach, an essential requirement in the large mission-critical projects, where reusable, high quality versions of software are delivered before the requirements change again. For the user interface, applying the model would produce a workable solution but with an overhead of unnecessary risk analysis. User interface is not a critical task and therefore does not require extensive risk analysis. For the user interface, the model can be applied owing to the varying scope and requirements. An initial role based interface, accessing data may be developed and tested.

Credit scoring model Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Credit scoring model - Coursework Example As a way of solving classification issues and also decreases Type I errors, typical of many credit scoring models, this piece attempts to describe or rather come up with an appropriate credit scoring model via two stages. Classification stage involves development and construction of an ANN-based credit scoring model, which basically classifies applicants into two categories, which are, those who have acceptable credit (good) and those who have unacceptable credit (bad). In the second stage, which will also be referred to as the re-assigning stage, attempt is made to lower Type I error through reassignment of the unaccepted applicants with good credit to a conditionally accepted category making use of a CBR-based classification approach. In a bid to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model proposed in this paper, an analysis is run on a German dataset with assistance of SAS Enterprise Miner. The results will be expected to not only prove that the model is a more effective credit sco ring model but that it will also enhance the business revenues through its ability to lower both Type I and Type II error system scoring errors. Introduction Data mining is a process that involves search and analysis of data so as to find implicit, although substantially vital information. It covers selection, exploration and modeling of large data volumes with the aim of uncovering previously unrecognized patterns, and in the end generate understandable information, from huge databases. It generally employs an extensive range of computational techniques which include approaches such as statistical analysis, decision trees analysis, neural networks review, rule induction and refinement approach, as well as graphic visualization. Of the various mentioned methods, the classification aspect has an important role in decision making within businesses mainly as a result of the extensive applications when it comes to financial forecasting, detection of fraud, development of a marketing str ategy, credit scoring, to mention just but a few. The aim of developing credit scoring models is to assist financial institutions to detect good credit applicants who are more likely to honor their debt obligation. Often such systems are based on multiple variables including the applicant’s age, their credit limit, income levels, as well as marital status, among others. Conventionally, there are many distinct credit scoring models which have been developed by financial as well as researchers in a bid to unravel the mysteries behind classification problem. Such include linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, multivariate adaptive regression splines, classification, as well as regression tree, case based reasoning, and of course the artificial neural networks. Normally, linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, and artificial neural networks are utilized in construction of credit scoring models. LDA is amongst the earliest forms of credit scoring model and e njoy widespread usage across the globe. Nonetheless, its use has often been subjected to criticism based on its assumption of existence of a linear relationship between the input variables and the output variables. Sadly, this is an assumption that seldom holds, and is rather sensitive to deviations arising from assumption of multivariate normality (West, 2000). Like LDA, LR is also a rather common alternative employed in performance of credit scoring assessments. In essence, the LR model has stood out as the best

Media and Entertainment Essay Example for Free

Media and Entertainment Essay The importance and popularity of media is ever growing. Media has become indispensible in everyday life, be it personal life or business, trade or work. Conventional media like cinema, television, radio and print are modifying themselves to play their roles effectively in the current market. Technological innovations and discovery of new media like cable television, Direct To Home (DTH), Mobile Technology, Internet Podcasting and FM Radio Channels have created immense competition in the entertainment and media field. Video games and portable audio – video devices have intensified the competition. Entry of foreign TV broadcasts, 24*7 broadcasting and the exponential growth of new media call for impressive content creation for catering to every segment of the population. The escalating economic growth in India with a remarkable percentage of youth in the population who have high earning capacity and more disposable incomes and the upwardly mobile middleclass make the entertainment and media sector more promising and demanding. Profile of the current youth with lesser attention span and the easy availability of affordable entertainment have created the challenges of attracting and retaining audience and clients. Multiplex cultures, variety of entertainment choices available, profitability and potential of space-selling in media houses, embedded advertising, marriage of animation and visual technologies are all signs of the advanced state of development in media and entertainment. New Technologies and the high costs involved in production and distribution of media content have justified corporate entry into cinema production and ntertainment production. This has given â€Å"Industry Status† to this field. This paper recognises the status of entertainment and media as a powerful service sector and highlights the need for adopting unique content creation and marketing strategies for enriching and enhancing the experience of the audience and clients. Moreover, the paper identifies the potential of these services that could be exploited for the benefit of the customers as well as to promise high returns for the Investors and Media and Entertainment houses. Content Creation and Entertainment Quotient in the current Media Scenario Introduction: â€Å"And in my opinion, entertainment in its broadest sense has become a necessity rather than a luxury in the life†¦ † -Walt Disney The very purpose of human life boils down to fulfilling the humane needs which include both physical and psychological needs. Media and Entertainment is the field that caters to the psychological or cognitive needs of the media customers. The importance and popularity of media is ever growing. Media has become indispensible in everyday life, be it personal life or business, trade or work. The Media and Entertainment industry consists of the creation, aggregation and distribution of content, products and services, news and information, advertising and entertainment through various channels and platforms. Conventional media like cinema, television, radio and print are modifying themselves to play their roles effectively in the current market. Technological innovations and discovery of new media like cable television, Direct To Home (DTH), Mobile Technology, Internet Podcasting and FM Radio Channels have created immense competition in the entertainment and media field. Video games and portable audio – video devices have intensified the competition. Entry of foreign TV broadcasts, 24*7 broadcasting and the exponential growth of new media calls for impressive content creation for catering to every segment of the population. The Indian Entertainment and Media (EM) industry has outperformed the Indian economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. However, the future of this industry depends largely on the growth of Indian Economy. The Indian Economy is growing at a fast rate, with increased personal income of people who are spending more on their entertainment and leisure activities. Media and Entertainment Customers: Media and entertainment customers have no inhibitions to switch over their sources of entertainment and information, if they feel that their current entertainment provider does not stand up to the mark. Winning customer confidence and support becomes all the more crucial for this industry which could create deeper impressions and have greater impact on the inerasable minds of the customers. Radio, Television, Internet, Print, Movie, Music, Novels and News Media should live up to the fantasy, expectations and requirements of the viewing, listening and reading masses, who seek these media to fulfil their individualistic needs, based on their specific lifestyles, backgrounds and mood swings. The escalating economic growth in India along with a remarkable percentage of youth in the population who have high earning capacity and more disposable incomes and the upwardly mobile middleclass make the entertainment and media industry more promising and the demand for entertainment is going to steadily see an upward trend. Profile of the current youth with lesser attention span and the easy availability of affordable entertainment have created the challenges of attracting and retaining audiences and clients. Success totally depends on how original, quick and entertaining the content offered by these media is comparatively less. In media and entertainment, only the content that provides the highest degree of gratification can win over the media customers. Media Content and Entertainment Quotient: In media production and publishing, content refers to information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user or audience. Content may be delivered via any medium such as the internet, television, audio CDs, cinema, newspapers and magazines as well as live events such as conferences, stage performances and interactive audio video platforms. â€Å"Content† is the word used to identify and quantify various formats and genres of information as manageable value-adding components of media. Entertainment Quotient is the degree of gratification the customers receive or experience through the content provided by Media. Better the quality of content provided, higher will be the degree of gratification experienced. Hence, media content and entertainment quotient are directly related to each other. Media Production and delivery technology potentially enhances the value of content by formatting, filtering and combining original sources of content for new audience with new contexts. Media must understand its responsibility to spread optimism and hope in all aspects of life, especially during times of natural disasters like floods, tsunami, earth-quakes or man-made disasters like terrorist attacks, economic meltdowns, political crisis or any such critical situation apart from its vital role in offering information, education and entertainment. It is very essential for media to realize that its content on such events are just not a focus on the problems, but on the possible ways for prohibition, prevention and rescue. The fact that media can and should make such shift is reflective of its evolution globally. Content provided by media should be of value, relevance and provide entertainment to the ultimate customers. Contemporary Role of Media and Entertainment: Media is changing from being an informer to being a companion. Right from children to elders, people of all ages and classes have something to look for in all the media. All have started looking at media, be it the television, radio, newspaper or the internet as a source of not only entertainment, but also as a source of knowledge and exposure. Media have got themselves into the roles of friend, philosopher and guide and recently as an activist. This being the status, there is a vital need for the highest quality of the content that are provided by these media to be at par with the expectations of all segments of audience and provide high entertainment quotient to them. In many areas, media content is already playing a very active role in providing prescriptions to consumers. From being just a provider of news, the media today is a source of knowledge and offers forums of interaction where consumers can seek advice on health, beauty, home care, decor, travel etc. All these play a major role for their life style changes, and hence we have a majority of the people following a commonly seen style and changed culture. The viewer becomes the consumer who modifies his or her life to go with the characters portrayed by them. Audio-visual medium do have a salutary impact on the knowledge, attitude and acceptance of the viewers. Media do influence people as much as home, neighbourhood, peers in school / college / office etc. The Media and Entertainment industry is moving from the well known status of Mass Media to Mass-personal Media. Future of Indian Media and Entertainment Industry: The FM radio sector was opened up for foreign investment with 20 percent FDI being allowed. As a result the radio sector is expanding rapidly with forecasted growth rates of 32 percent per annum. In the print media segment, 100 percent FDI is now allowed for non-news publications and 26 percent FDI is allowed for news publications. Internet advertising is expected to go up from one percent to three percent of the total Media and Entertainment revenues by 2014. Music and Gaming are expected to grow at 32 percent in the next five years. With multiplex culture, watching film has become a status symbol. Television is witnessing a steady in growth and is likely to go further in future. Indian Television market is likely to grow at an average annual rate of 16% to reach 46,922 crore rupees by 2012. The historical data and the current trend in media industry imply a definite surge of demand and healthier competition in the days to come. Exciting new developments in the technologies used in this industry are taking place. Animation, Multiplexes, new distribution channels and the use of Internet are redefining the entertainment industry. All these factors will favour further growth of this industry in India. India is poised to enter the period of immense growth in this industry. Strategies for Success in Media and Entertainment Industry: The Mantra for attracting and retaining audience for all media is â€Å"provide quality content and increase the entertainment quotient†. Updated, contemporary, relevant, creative and informative content can take the media a long way. This is the basis for establishing, surviving, growing and conquering in the dynamic media industry. Competition is high and tough. The sources available for entertainment and information are many and easily accessible. This being the status, â€Å"survival of the fittest, fastest and the most creative† is the lifeline of media content at present. The challenge for communicators and marketers is to create and identify opportunities that can make the content all the more impressive. Today more and more battles are not as much for market share as for a share of the consumers’ wallet. Media consumers are very vulnerable and prone to be poached by more innovative and consistent content providers. Media products, being intangible can have only cognitive and psychological impact on their consumer. Hence, it becomes more important to provide high quality content which is much better than the competitors’ and thus ensure high entertainment quotient, which is the ultimate aim of any entertainment content. This in turn will aid in attracting, maintaining and enhancing the audience for the particular media. Further, this will ensure the growth potential of the media. Media are not averse to content tie-ups to create media multiplier effect by increasing the touch points. Media observers agree that cross-media tie-ups have become a compulsion, rather than a choice. Thus, convergence of media has become indispensible and is the most plausible route for reaching out to more audience or end-users. Mobile telephones, 3G wireless services, DTH (Direct To Home television), HDTV (High-Definition Television) and the Web, all require content to be converted to multiple formats in order to be offered to a multitude of consumers from various national, cultural, economic and social backgrounds. Media companies agree that tie-ups are not a cost-saving mechanism, rather, it is more about expanding the visibility and pooling the strengths of the two mediums. The content synergy assures prospective audience. There has also been a change in the mindset of publications, be it in print or internet or television. They have realized the importance of providing news and information to the audience, without worrying about the source. Earlier, media houses would stress exclusive reportage. Now, they are willing to give due credit to the source publication as well as the journalist. This is a welcome transition, since it is an optimistic way to reach out to the dedicated and loyal audience who seek out entertainment and information only from certain specific media which they prefer. Stereotyped, mundane and pessimistic content are likely to reduce the entertainment quotient apart from having negative impact on the audience. Ultimately, customers carry along only experiences and memories and satisfaction along with them when they make use of any media for entertainment or information. Only carefully crafted content can enhance these experiences, satisfaction levels and entertainment quotient of media consumers. Conventional cinema and television media had been providing slow paced, socially relevant content to target audience comprising of all economic strata. The amounts of money and marketing involved were small and the industry had been more of monopolistic. The scenario now is entirely different with resurgence of widescreen, stereo, surround sound and digital cinema becoming better and affordable by all. Currently, big production budgets and expensive equipments are being used as the recipe for creating quality entertainment, capable of reaching millions of audience. Especially in India, the entry of Hollywood films has created intense competitions and also has enhanced and diversified the expectations of the local viewers. Dubbing and releasing of Hollywood and other foreign movies in vernacular languages has intensified the entertainment quotient sought by the consumers. The degree of challenges in newer technology adoption, costs and risks involved are higher as far as cinema and television are concerned. Television content production venture is top venture in the media world.

Meditation In Zen Buddhism Philosophy Essay

Meditation In Zen Buddhism Philosophy Essay Meditation is the foundation of Zen Buddhism. Zen literally means to meditate. Meditation, in Zen, is the path and the goal. The goal is to meditate. Like all religions, Zen Buddhism has split into sections. Zen has two schools of thought, the gradual and the sudden approach to enlightenment. In the gradual school, there is only one way to practice Zen meditation, which is seated meditation, called zazen. Zazen can be performed in several different ways, but the positions have no spiritual significance. The positions are mainly to create comfort, stability, and ability to breathe through the diaphragm properly. The sudden school believes enlightenment could potentially occur instantly. They use koans, mondos, and turning phrases to help the practitioner gain more insight, and hopefully be enlightened. Koans, mondos, and turning phrases are irrational dialogues or statements that practitioners contemplate upon. The main topics to point out when discussing meditation in Zen Buddhism ar e the goals of their meditation, the gradual school of thought, and the sudden school of thought. In Zen, the path of meditation is the goal. It is similar to riding your bicycle just to ride your bicycle. Through mediation, Zen Buddhists do not attempt to do anything, but to be in the moment. The Vietnamese Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, says, We practice so that each moment of our life becomes real life. There is no goal in Zen, but to focus on ones being, moment by moment. While practicing meditation, one may also find other benefits, like better health and a more relaxed state of my mind. Unlike many sects of Buddhism, as well as many other religions, Zen Buddhists do not have scriptures to which they should study, but they may do so if they choose. Zen Buddhists focus primarily on one simple act, which is meditation. They believe that achievement of the Buddhahood comes from silence. Zen has two popular sections, gradual and sudden. They both are means to enlightenment, but have two different points of view. In the gradual school of Zen, there is only one technique of meditation, which is called zazen. Zazen literally means sitting meditation. Zazens motto is: To be a Buddha is to sit like a Buddha. That is, while sitting, sit completely. Be aware of the stillness of everything while enjoying not having to do anything but be in the moment. Although there are no doctrines or disciplines in Zen, there are many instructions for meditation postures. In Zen culture, there was less of a difference between body, breath, and mind than in the west. Zen practitioners believe if one aligns their spine correctly, fold their legs properly, sit properly, and keep still; they can achieve stillness of the mind. Much of the stillness of the mind in Zen is believed to be achieved through the correct posture of the body. Many of the Zen postures come from ancient Indian yogic positions developed to increase alignment and awareness. Although they come from yogic postures, they have no divine meaning them; they are only intended to increase comfort, stability, and the ability to breathe well. In Zen, it is believed that awakening must penetrate every cell of the body, so they must engage the body as well as the mind when meditating. Zazen is typically done in one way with several variations. The most effective way of seated meditation is done is with ones legs crossed and spine aligned straight up and curved, giving a pyramid shape to ones posture. It is usually done on the floor, with a soft mat and pillow to sit on to raise the body a little so that ones knees can touch the ground. With ones knees touching the ground, it creates three points of contact with the ground to give the practitioner a sturdy base. The easiest form of zazen is the Burmese position. In the Burmese position, one has their legs crossed, and their feet flat on the floor. In this position it is very easy to keep ones back straight because putting ones feet on the floor forces the practitioner to keep his back curved, which is an essential part of zazen. Two other positions are the half lotus and the full lotus. Both positions are very similar, but the half lotus requires less flexibility, and is easier for most people. To perform the half lotus, one foot placed over the opposite thigh, and the other foot is placed under the opposite leg. The full lotus position is when both legs are put on both thighs. This position is more recommended because it gives the practitioner much more balance. There are also two other zazen positions which are commonly used. The first position is the sieza position. The sieza position is kneeling, with your buttocks on both feet. You can sit on either a pillow, or your bare legs. You can also use a sieza bench to kneel on. The second position is the chair position. The bench keeps ones back straight, and takes the weight off of ones feet. The other position is to simply sit on a chair with ones feet on the floor, arching the back. It is important to keep ones back straight while meditating so that one can breathe with the diaphragm properly. A good sitting posture as well as good hand position allows the body to give uninhibited deep breaths. While doing Zen meditation, one should use the Dhyani mudra hand position. The Dhyani mudra is a way to position ones hands so that they can take deep breaths from their diaphragm. To do so, the practitioner will place both hands on top of one another, with their palms facing up. Their knuckles should be on top of one another as well, with their thumbs touching gently together. Breathing through the diaphragm creates deep, slow breaths, which is quite useful when practicing zazen. Breathing is not only useful while meditating, but it is useful in all aspects of our health. Andrew Weil M.D., an author and physician said, Improper breathing is a common cause of ill health. If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly. Theres no single more powerful or simpler daily practice to further your health and well-being than breath-work. ~ Andrew Weil, M.D. The sudden school of Zen, which believes in sudden enlightenment, has koans as a focal point of meditation. In The Complete Idiots Guide to Buddhism, Gary Gach says that koans are seemingly illogical riddles, like Two hands come together in a clap. What is the sound of one hand? A koan is not a riddle. It doesnt call for a solution (its not a math puzzle with an equation waiting in an answer book); rather, it is a personal breakthrough with a flash of enlightenment. In other words, it is a statement or conversation that cannot be understood by rational thinking; it can only be understood by intuition. Zen Buddhists believe that scriptures will lead scholars to misinterpretations of the original meanings, which is why Zen masters made Koans. Koans go beyond words. They attempt to go beyond the boundaries of intellect and language, and find awakening or enlightenment. Zen master Hakuin, author of the koan, What is the sound of one hand? has said, Whats true meditation? Its to make it all coughing, swallowing, gestures, motion, stillness, words, action, good and evil, success and shame, win and lose, right and wrong into one single koan. Although Zen Buddhists are not against words, they try to limit the amount of description to leave the interpreting to the practitioner who is attempting to gain insight. The primary beginning of using koans in Zen Buddhism originated from Hui Neng, a poor man who gathered and sold firewood for a living. He achieved enlightenment suddenly while he overheard a man reciting the Diamond Sutra, a scripture on emptiness and wisdom which requires great insight to understand. When he overheard the man say, Awaken your mind without fixing it anywhere, he was enlightened on the spot. Koans are meant to be contemplated until they are realized. While one meditates is the optimal time to think about them, but they can also be taken home to contemplate. According to The Complete Idiots Guide to Buddhism, there are about 400 indexed koans and about 1700 in all. There are so many koans because they deal with particular parts of the Way of enlightenment. Many of the koans, such as Hakuins koan, What is the sound of one hand? are designed to take the practitioner past the normal self into Buddha mind. There are also koan related Zen dialogues called mondos. Mondos are question-and-answer banter between people. They are similar to koans because they have the same non-sense questions and statements. An example of a mondo is in the Milindapanha, which reads, King Milinda said to learned monk Nagasena, Im going to ask you a question. Can you answer it? Nagasena replied, Please, ask your question. The King: Ive already asked. Nagasena: Ive already answered. The King: What did you answer? Nagasena: What did you ask? The King: I asked nothing. Nagasena: I answered nothing Also similar to koans and mondos, the sudden school of Zen also used turning phrases to help promote enlightenment and understanding. Examples of a turning phrases are, Not one, not two, Chop wood: carry water, and Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. These are all mottos that are used to help the practitioner gain more insight, and hopefully find sudden enlightenment. Being the foundation of Zen Buddhism, meditation is the main aspect of the religion. Zen essentially is meditation. In Zen, the path is the goal. It is like riding your bicycle simply to ride your bicycle. Zen Buddhism has split into two schools of thought, the gradual and the sudden approach to enlightenment. In the gradual school, there is only one way to practice Zen meditation, which is seated meditation, called zazen. Zazen can be performed in several different ways, but the positions have no significance other than comfort and stability. Breathing is an important part of meditation as well. The sudden school believes enlightenment could potentially occur instantly. They use koans, mondos, and turning phrases to help the practitioner gain more insight, and hopefully be enlightened. Koans, mondos, and turning phrases are irrational dialogues or statements that practitioners contemplate upon. The main topics to point out when discussing meditation in Zen Buddhism are the goals of their meditation, the gradual school of thought, and the sudden school of thought. Gach, Gary. The Complete Idiots Guide to Buddhism. 3rd. New York City, New York: Alpha Books, 2009. 183-200. Print. Saint-Hilaire, J.Barthelemy. The Buddha and His Religion. 1st edition. London: New York E.P. Dutton and Company, 1914. 267-87. Print. Zazen. DharmaRain.org. Dharma Rain Zen Center, 2003. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Zazen Posture. DharmaRain.org. Dharma Rain Zen Center, 2003. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Zazen breathing techniques. DharmaRain.org. Dharma Rain Zen Center, 2003. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Zen Meditation Instructions. mro.org. Mountains and Rivers Order, 2010. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Phelan, Josho Pat. Zazen Posture. intrex.net. Josho Pat Phelan, 1997. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . About Zen Meditation. Zazen.rutgers.edu. N.P., 04/21/2010. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Phillips, Fred. A Primer on Zazen. omcl.ogi.edu. Fred Phillips, 1998. Web. 20 Sep 2010. . Breathing and Medicine. oxygengenesis.org. Oxygen Genesis Institute, 2003. Web. 20 Sep 2010. .