Business Communication Trends Essay

Business communication plays a big role in our daily work activities as individuals we must manage our daily activities depending on the trends and needs of our current workplace. There are ten Business communication trends the one that I will be discussing is on Quality and customer needs. Business Communication Trends Business communication is very important in my daily work environment. It is so important because we use this to communicate efficiently with our Managers to our customers. I work for The City of Indio in water department. My duties vary from customer service to Engineering administrative assistant. Business communication does play a big role in my day-to-day duties, because we have to be able to have great communication skills orally, and also we must use other communication technology efficiently like emails, letters, memos and phone or teleconferencing. In order to be a good representative we must be able to communicate effectively with our customers. The reason I say this is because we are responsible in making sure that we listen to what the customers needs are and that we are able to satisfactory resolve any issue that the customer might have. Many times when customers have a valid complain we must inform our supervisor via E-mail, depending on the level of urgency regarding the customers complains. I generally prefer to communicate this way because it creates a paper trail and it also protects me. Through these emails we must be able to communicate to our supervisor, what the issue is and what are the solutions that we can offer the customer. Then my supervisors will respond with either an approval or rejection. Then we can communicate with the customer and inform them what the end result is of their complaint. I have found that communicating with my supervisors via e-mail helps keep track of records, and if that same issue were to ever come up again we would have an e-mail that would be proof that particular issue was addressed and brought to our supervisors attention. If the issue is not resolved to the customer satisfaction it would be because there wasn’t a follow-up with the customer and we did not communicate in a professional manner. Business Communication Trends Working in a utility division comes with many challenges. When creating utility statement, wording has be to address in a manner where we are targeting an audience that can read and understand exactly what is being said in a normal monthly water utility bill . For example, what amount is due and when is it due. Many of our customers misinterpret or don’t understand the wording on the utility bills. This causes confusion, and can even cause customers to have the utility services interrupted, because they misinterpret their bill and did not know how to read it correctly. We all have spent countless hours rewording our statements and every time there is that one customer that is looking for a loop in the system to get away out of paying a payment or late fees. Our role as representatives is to ensure that are customer satisfaction is meet, and if there is an error where it might misguide our customers, we want to make sure that we correct the problem before it becomes a problem.

Causes of Corruption Essay

Many officials are motivated to participate in corrupt behavior because of the inherently selfish desire to have an unfair advantage over their peers. Through bribery, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and other means, corruption can help dishonest people get ahead while the public pays the price. A corrupted politician may seek to sway a person’s opinions, actions, or decisions, reduce fees collected, speed up government grants, or change outcomes of legal processes. Through corruption, people seeking an unfair advantage may pay courts to vote in their favor or, as with police, customs units, and tax collectors, to disregard a penalty. Bribery may be paid to allow for otherwise unacceptable building and zoning permits, to sway school exam results or allow acceptance by an unqualified student into a school system. People in the private sector may pay off politicians so that they dismiss rules and regulations to protect employees in the workforce. Corruption motivated by an   unfair advantage may also occur in immigration, passport and visa offices in which unqualified individuals may be allowed an unfair advantage to obtain these important documents, at the expense of others. In order to obtain an unfair advantage, governments and government officials may apply any number of methods to abuse their power over the citizens. First, a politician may apply diplomatic, political, or financial pressure, for example trade embargoes. However such pressures may also work to effectively bully vulnerable citizens. Also, many countries are the recipients of development aid, which might cause politicians who seek an unfair advantage to earmark this funding towards their particular cause. The threat of reduced foreign aid, defense ties, arm deals, and gifts may help politicians to obtain an unfair advantage through corruption. Lack of Punitive Measures Thomas Hobbes, the great political philosopher, once said, â€Å"A man’s conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.† This idea that individuals cannot always rely on a working inner moral compass alone to guide them to virtue is at the heart of the next motivating factor for participating in corrupt behavior. When the legal agencies do not impose sanctions on parliamentarians and other government officials who have violated their public duties there is a lack of punitive measure for corrupt behavior. This is the case, for example when judges are in the pay of the ruling party or there are too few police officers to enforce the law. When there are not punitive measures to assure transparency, monitoring, and accountability through a working justice system, some people will participate in corrupt behavior simply because they can get away with it. Politicians and other individuals require a legal, monitoring system to assure that corruption will not occur in the planning and execution of public sector budgets. Social and internal control mechanisms are required for civil society and autonomous state auditing agencies. Without them or with only weak enforcement measures, people in power are more  likely to embezzle money from the national budget, sway votes or participate in other actions that will result in personal gain at the public’s expense. Lack of Transparency Transparency describes when there is free access by citizens to public information. When the rules, procedures, and objectives of the government are not available to the public, there is not budgetary and administrative oversight to balance the power of government officials, transparency is lacking and corruption can be bred. Without oversight and transparency of budget and rules, national resources may be plundered and power may be abused in favor of the corrupt official only. Further, when there are not public sector mechanisms that channel social preferences and specific complaints of the population to the agencies involved in those complaints, people of power will not serve their purpose of representing the populace, but have free reign to do as they please in the public sector. Lack of transparency creates opportunities for public officials to abuse their office for private gain. This closely relates to accountability, and weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption. Where there is a lack of transparency and accountability corruption will flourish. Once corrupt bureaucrats realize that they can take advantage of regulations, they will produce more regulations and run the risk of becoming less transparent. Poor Incentive Structures Bad incentives, such as clerks not earning a living wage or not having job security might also encourage corrupt behavior such as supplementing income with bribes. Some people who do not have an incentive to perform their official duties, but actually pay for their jobs with the understanding that they will make money through bribes. A lack of incentive also results when positions of power are granted as a result of favoritism and nepotism (See unit 1). Making people resist hard work. Incentives also come into the picture when salaries are so low that people cannot meet the basic living standards for food  and housing. As a result, people will often  take other jobs that cause absenteeism of  public officials, and often increase the  demand by government officials for bribes  and other paybacks in order to supply the  public  services. Problems with the law: Lawless and Over Regulated Governments Corruption can also be caused when there is excessive control and a sort of monopoly of power. In these circumstances, there again is not a level playing field, and decisions will always be made at the advantage of the group or person who dominates political control. As a result, ordinary citizen rights are lost and public resources are often plundered for the personal gain of the public officials. Poverty or scarcity of goods may also push people to live outside the law. Finally, corruption occurs when government officials resist government policies and programs. Introducing policies that allow for greater oversight would help to assure that power were balanced and no one person would be making all of the political decisions. When politicians resist this change they prevent political and cultural progress for their country, prohibit civic interests from being met, and allow the pattern of corruption to flourish. Dysfunctional Systems as a Cause for Corruption Instability in government may also catapult a nation and its leaders towards corruption. Among them, war, ethnic or religious conflict, economic hardship, and social inequalities may instigate corruption. Any circumstance that threatens a nation or its people either through identity or establishment may diminish the good governance practices of a nation. Even in less difficult times, the institutions and policies of government may undermine how well the government carries out its work. When institutions and policies are weak, individuals tend to take advantage of them. Therefore, poor governments are a product of sick institutions, or institutions that function poorly because of inadequate resources or bad  policies and procedures. As stated earlier, good governance refers to the provision of services that are responsive to citizen needs. When government services are not provided to citizens, either because they were deemed unnecessary, services providers demanded bribes or were lazy, or the services are provided in theory but are not readily available in practice without a bribe, people will aim to have their needs met illegally or unofficially. Likewise, when financial systems are outdated, they are more corruptible. System-Wide Allowances for Corrupt Behavior: Government may allow system wide corruption to spread by not institutionalizing and enforcing prevention mechanisms. For example: Overly complex procedures for obtaining public services allow government to covet the services to only the well-informed or well-connected elite, and not allowing the system to work for the poor. Lack of internal systems to assure relative transparency, monitoring and accountability in the design and execution of public policies. Lack of social control mechanisms aimed at preventing grand corruption schemes usually seen when the state’s policies are captured by vested interests. Lack of employee participation in and knowledge of the public institution’s decisionmaking criteria. Absence of results based management in public service delivery. An ineffective judicial sector (police, prosecutors, officers, and the judiciary.) Conclusion Problems in governance occur when a government is not only corrupt, but also when it is inefficient, unresponsive, or secretive. Essentially, when a government is ineffectual, it is considered to be corrupt. As this unit explained, corruption is fundamentally caused by low wages, poor incentive structures and inefficient systems. In addition, it is also caused by the desire for an unfair advantage, and the knowledge that one will not be caught or punished for corrupt behavior. Corruption is not just about ethics. It is also about how the government is set up and managed. Parliament and parliamentarians improve the way government works so that corrupt behavior is punishable and opportunities for corruption are limited through the laws. In order to fully rectify corruption in a society, it must first be thoroughly diagnosed. Unit three shows methods for diagnosing, measuring, and interpreting data on corruption. As the units thereafter will explain, this step will help to make focused and measurable changes and improvements to corruption when those mechanisms are enacted.

Gay, Defined

Liz Schmidt Kate Brady English 101 October 9, 2012 Formal definition: Gay (adj. ) merry: happy and carefree; brightly ornamental or colorful; homosexual. (n. ) A homosexual. (â€Å"gay†) Synonymous definition: Gay (syn. ) merry, lighthearted, joyful, cheerful, sprightly, jolly, happy, joyous, gleeful, jovial, colorful, bright. (â€Å"gay†) Negative definition: Gay (adj. ) unhappy, lacking color, heavyhearted Because of the literal definition of the word, people that are homosexual are often seen as â€Å"colorful† and â€Å"cheerful†. Etymological Definition: Gay (n) usually male, homosexual.In middle English, it meant â€Å"excellent person† â€Å"noble lady† â€Å"gallant knight† or â€Å"something gay or bright†; â€Å"ornament or badge† (â€Å"gay†)2 Stipulative definition: Gay (adj. ) being homosexual Illustrative definition: Two men walking down the street holding hands. Thesis statement: The meaning of the w ord gay has changed vastly over time, which today, can be offensive. Liz Schmidt Kate Brady English 101 October 9, 2012 The definition of the word â€Å"gay† has evolved greatly over time. What you consider â€Å"gay† today is definitely not what was considered â€Å"gay† 200 years ago, or even 50 years ago. 00 years ago, the word was used as a term of promiscuity. It was also used as a slang term to call someone a â€Å"young hobo. † (â€Å"gay†) Today, we use the word mostly as â€Å"homosexual† or referring to someone who is attracted to the same sex. At the same time, the younger age group of America is using the word â€Å"gay† as a way to express dislike toward something. A common way would be saying â€Å"that’s gay† when a friend tells them their team lost the game. This misuse of the word can often lead to offending the homosexual community. The meaning of the word †gay† has changed vastly over time, which today, can be offensive.How did the meaning of the word â€Å"gay† once turn from being â€Å"merry and happy† to â€Å"homosexual†? It all started around the 1630’s, when people often used it as both â€Å"splendid and showily dressed† and calling a brothel a gay house. It is believed that the word was used this way up until about the early 1900’s. The slang meaning (homosexual) began to appear in psychological writing in the late 1940’s. At first, the word was used solely among homosexuals themselves, by mostly male prostitutes referring to each other, but also female prostitutes. â€Å"gay-rights movement†) It seems to me that nobody ever really used the term as its true meaning â€Å"merry and happy†. However, there are songs in old musicals where they use it that way, so I guess that meaning wasn’t completely extinct. Although the â€Å"merry and happy† meaning of gay wasn’t really used a whole lot in the past, we do see the â€Å"bright and colorful† meaning in many Christmas songs. One well-known example is in â€Å"Deck the Halls†. The lyrics are â€Å"Don we now our gay apparel†; this most likely implies that they were dressed in bright colors.Without doubt, the word â€Å"gay† has a boundless history and has been used so many different ways in the past. A teenager walks into their favorite store, and immediately spots something they love. They see that the price is much more than they have currently, and furiously groans, â€Å"Fifty dollars? That’s gay! † When someone says â€Å"that’s gay† about something that they find just plain stupid, why don’t they just say â€Å"that’s stupid†? The improper use of this word may offend the homosexual community because it is a lot like calling them stupid. From my observation, this whole â€Å"that’s gay† thing started recently, wit hin the last few years.Mostly young people started saying it about nearly everything that they found idiotic. It’s not even homophobic people using the word this way, it’s anybody. It’s a bad habit that most people probably picked up from hearing others say it. However if you say it wrongly you may be seen as homophobic. How can there be a double meaning of both â€Å"homosexual† and â€Å"stupid† for the word â€Å"gay†? Imagine if instead of â€Å"gay† people said â€Å"that’s straight† about an object they didn’t like. Wouldn’t it be wrong, to basically call someone’s sexuality bad or stupid?It sounds silly, but the inappropriate usage of the word â€Å"gay† is implying that you think there is something wrong with being gay. It’s obvious that someone who is gay is going to be offended if they hear someone using the word the wrong way. They could take it as insulting, or they could ju st be a little annoyed. Either way, it’s not right. I once worked with a girl who was homosexual. Sometimes I would easily forget that she was in the room and catch myself saying â€Å"that’s gay† about something totally random. I never really noticed that it could be offensive until a co-worker said something to me.She asked me, â€Å"Don’t you know Emily’s gay? † When I said yes, she then told me that I should stop saying â€Å"that’s gay† in front of her. At this point, I felt really bad about it and definitely wanted to stop saying it completely. Saying â€Å"that’s gay† is such a bad habit of many young people. I guess Emily understood that it was just a bad habit for me, but not everyone will be that understanding. Furthermore, the word â€Å"gay† should be used solely for meaning â€Å"homosexual†. The other day, I was conversing with a friend about some news in the media. She had told me that Brad Pitt makes 250 million dollars in just one sitting.I laughed, and replied, â€Å"that’s gay. † After I said that I realized I should definitely stop saying that because it doesn’t even make any sense if you think about it. The meaning of the word â€Å"gay† shouldn’t be â€Å"stupid†, although it is for many people. The definition has changed greatly throughout the years, which may cause some people to take offense by it. Works Cited â€Å"gay-rights movement. † The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 8 Oct 2012. â€Å"gay. † Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus. 1997. Print. â€Å"gay. † Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, 2012. Web. 8 Oct 2012.

Work and energy Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Work and energy - Lab Report Example em corresponds to the net force that is the gravity, friction, and resistance through acting on the particle possessing kinetic energy either gained or lost by the prevailing particle. In a mechanical system, energy is neither generated nor devastated but is can be shifted from potential energy to the kinetic energy or from kinetic to potential. For an isolated system, there is the application of the Work-Energy Theorem states that any alteration in the total energy of a system occurs because of work. In case the system works on the outside the universe, then the W is positive, and the corresponding energy required executing work emanate from the system. Moreover, in case work done is done from the outside the system then W becomes negative and the energy of the system escalates. In case no work is done, the total energy of the underlying system does not alter. Taking a mass on the inclined plane and attached to the spring. The system gives two potential energies emanating from gravity and spring (Chen,pp.124-189). Concisely, the gravitational potential equivalent to the corresponding work demanded to the place the object at that height represented as PEg=mgh. Taking the height h, distance x and the angle ÃŽ ¸, gravitational potential becomes PEg= mgxsinÃŽ ¸ The underlying computer was booted in the bid to make the first set of the measurements. Motion Sensor’s phone plugs were connected to the Digital Channels 1 and 2. Yellow-branded (pulse) was filled into Digital Channel 1. Moreover, plug (echo) was also connected to the Digital Channel 2. The track was placed on the horizontal surface, and the lab jack was placed at one terminal track to the raise that ends. The end stop for the track ought to be placed at the higher end of the track so that the underlying magnets face away from the prevailing the track. The angle indicator was used to measure the incline angle of the track and recorded in the table. Motion Sensor was mounted at the low end of the track, and

Net External Wealth and Real Exchange Rate Essay

Net External Wealth and Real Exchange Rate - Essay Example If the value of currency of a nation appreciates, then the value of its indebtedness in terms of foreign assets falls. This helps to improve the nations NFA situations and vice versa (Williamson, 2008). The nominal exchange rate (e) explains the amount of home currency (units) that can be purchased with a given unit of a foreign currency. Thus a rise in e refers to the depreciation or devaluation of the currency of a nation. On the other hand, the fall in e refers to the appreciation or evaluation of the currency of a nation. Real exchange rate is defined as the simple ratio of the price level (Pd) of the domestic currency and the price value of the foreign currency (Pf ). The real exchange rate of a nation (Q) = Pd/e*Pf , It refers to the amount of goods and services of a domestic country that can be purchased by a unit of money of a foreign nation (CNB, 2013). When analysts assess the changes in the exchange rates in the international trade, they rely more on the real exchange rate than nominal exchange rate. A real appreciation refers to a rise in the real exchange rate while a nominal appreciation refers to a decrease in the nominal exchange rate (Feenstra and Taylor, 2008). Relationship between Net Foreign Asset and Real Exchange Rate The relationship existing between the net foreign assets of a country and the real exchange rate has been a debatable issue of concern since 1920. If a steady state open economy model is considered, then the following relations can be established: tb = -r*b (1) (States that a steady trade deficit can exist in a nation = net investment income on net foreign asset position). rer = -Otb + ?X (2) (States that if the other factors in the economy (X) are... This paper stresses that the net external wealth of a nation relates to the balance of payment conditions of the country. The net foreign asset of a nation is the difference of the value of the asset owned by the nation from the rest of the world and the value of the asset of the country owned by the foreign countries in the world. The changes in the exchange rates of a nation largely influence the values of its foreign assets and liabilities. If the value of currency of a nation appreciates, then the value of its indebtedness in terms of foreign assets falls. This helps to improve the nations NFA situations and vice versa. When analysts assess the changes in the exchange rates in the international trade, they rely more on the real exchange rate than nominal exchange rate. A real appreciation refers to a rise in the real exchange rate while a nominal appreciation refers to a decrease in the nominal exchange rate. This report makes a conclusion that the traditional belief that the real exchange rate and NFA is inversely related is no longer feasible in the modern era, after the occurrence of globalization. A country in its economy can now always afford to encourage foreign direct investment and augment the level of its NFA. This is due to the fact that though the extent real exchange rate or currency value of the country would fall in the short run, the positive returns from the investments in the long run would substantially help the nation improve its real exchange rate. Therefore post-globalization, real exchange rate is assumed to have a positive relationship with NFA

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

Personal Essays - Essay Example A community draws strength from its environment. I am passionate about the environment, and its contribution to the betterment of my community. I have served as a volunteer with the Central Oregon Trail Alliance, the Friends of the Deschutes River, and the Smith Rock Parks, getting down to the basics: cleaning, picking up and digging! With Girls On The Run, I have passed on my love for running, as the path to empowerment and self-confidence, to other girls. Living in harmony with nature, and testing the limits of one’s physical and mental endurance, is my way to an inclusive, caring community. My love for traveling, which has taken me to twenty-two countries, has made me appreciate diverse cultures and the underlying goodness of people all over the world. I have studied Spanish for five years, and have spent a summer in beautiful Mexico: it was a learning experience beyond compare. I threw myself into everything, from salsa to mole sauce. My seventy-year-old hostess, who lived, shopped and cooked independently, was also a devout Catholic and doting mother, and a revelation to me! I have come to acknowledge that there is no one, cast-iron, way to do the right thing. My travels in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt, brought home to me the sad fact that the gender bias, which is so alien to us Americans, is very much a part of the life of women in many parts of the world. As a woman of no religious affiliation, with uncovered head and independent attitude, I was dismayed and even intimidated, by the hostility I sometimes encountered.

Blog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Blog - Essay Example The red face logos have a lot than meets the eye. This is because, for years, there have been advocacy for the red color stereotyping. The logo connects in many ways to Native American caricatures the under fire. The red colored C and red face for instance for many years hints using the derogatory word â€Å"redskin† as its Indians baseball team’s mascot. The connection is more of an embodiment of ferocity, savagery and aggression of this group. These intriguing logos illuminate the origins of tidy Native Americans stereotypes. Likewise useful in understanding the root of derogatory Native America caricatures like â€Å"redskin.† Through critically analyzing the logos, the history of Native Americans stereotyping is evident. Over the years, the images have been used to echo the insignificant cultural consequences, the real import that is not actually apparent. These are clear indication of the dispute and the recent need to come with alternative

Leading Strategic Change and Business Strategy Case Study

Leading Strategic Change and Business Strategy - Case Study Example (2003) suggest, strategic change can move beyond merely the formulation of strategy by a consideration of the whole process from planning through to implementation. Change management does involve "managing" and thus control, but also the realization that change is often an organic process that develops in unexpected manners. Baloqun's most important idea, one that moves beyond traditional change management, is that it should move beyond the "formulaic" and "linear" process that has previously dominated the models. Context-specific analysis is an interesting variation on the normal modeling process, as it seeks to enable the manager to see that which is specific to her company rather than that which fits into the models. The change kaleidoscope involves dissecting the possible ramifications of change, while always keeping in mind the overall strategy that is in place. The manager must develop what Baloqun refers to as "change judgment": that is, the ability to understand the critical features of a specific change context. The important element here is to recognize what is and what is not possible within change implementation. A manager involved in change management first needs to be aware of what exactly is happening at the given moment within the business, and then needs to be able to extrapolate possible outcomes based upon that awareness. The first premise of planning is having as much knowledge as possible. The type of planning which is now occurring has changed radically from that envisioned in the traditional business model. As John Byrne puts it, "gone are the abstraction, sterility, and top-down arrogance of the old model." (Byrne, 1) Now managers in the most successful corporations are part of a system in which "today's gurus of strategy urge companies to democratize the process", and they do this "by handing strategic planning over to teams of line and staff managers from different disciplines." (Byrne, 1) Often young, junior managers who are noted for their creative thinking are teamed with near-retirement, senior managers who essentially have nothing to lose and so can tell it like it is. So from the most junior to the most senior manager there is a role, both for planning within their own specific area of the business, but also for constant consideration of how that may effect longer-term and more far-reaching plans. This is the democratic and enrolling type of leadership that is increasingly seen as the most successful in the modern business environment in which change is constant. Planning is perhaps the central role of all managers, because all the other functions flow from it and must always consider their relationship to it. A business without a plan has no future, and so all the other functions will be redundant. Organization within a business is essential to planning: in one sense it is one of the tools that may be used to realize a plan. Organization is divided into two basic areas: control/co-ordination of tasks, and the management of information flow within the company. Management of tasks and deciding what information needs to be collated and to whom it should go is essential for business growth, particularly for the vital task of leadership development. Organization involves investing in "human capital, the most important asset inside of organizations today." (Carter, xi) Managers, especially at the highest level, must organize the tasks of their

The Subject of Sexuality in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Bram Stokers Essay

The Subject of Sexuality in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Bram Stokers Dracula - Essay Example The relationship of Hyde to Jekyll portrays remarkably the relationship between pleasure and power. If Jekyll embodies power, Hyde embodies the pleasure disallowed and still created by the powerful elite. Hyde is inhibited, concealed, and still he emerges from the longing or urges of the decent and highly regarded Jekyll. By summoning Hyde from the inexplicable core of his own longing, Jekyll builds a link to his depravity, or, a sexuality that is repressed and brutal, that forces depravity upon several actions that he methodically detaches from himself (Stevenson 2006). Hating his own self for his hidden lusts, Jekyll falls back on science to discover the path towards power and pleasure, suppression and excesses. The twofold identity divided between decency and lust distinguishes power as the capacity to be completely both. Hyde represents sexuality as debasement and depravity. Jekyll gives life to Hyde by ingesting the correct concoction of substances. Hyde, therefore, is a medical result, or, a by-product of chemical trial. Jekyll is the character that ‘wrapped the sexual body in its embrace’ (Halberstam 1995, 69). Jekyll, through chemical experimentation, generates a vicious entity and afterwards he struggles to suppress it and control it. This representation of sexuality in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde depicts several Victorian values. Audiences immediately associated the two characters of Dr. Jekyll to the ‘double standard’ social order of that period; double standard, because it was a period of contrasting principles—usually regarding sexuality above all. ... Hyde depicts several Victorian values. Audiences immediately associated the two characters of Dr. Jekyll to the ‘double standard’ social order of that period; double standard, because it was a period of contrasting principles—usually regarding sexuality above all. The common attitude towards it was extremely strict and suppressive, but at the same time obscene materials and harlotry flourished (Halberstam 1995, 69-70). Thus, when the author narrated about Hyde’s wicked acts, without in fact bringing them up, audiences associated that immediately to sexuality. By changing the focus on this form of sexuality, a frequently talked about theme of the author’s original narrative becomes ensnared into contemporary analyses: a large number of intellectuals today infer a hidden allusion to homosexuality in his fiction. Clues are scattered all over the narrative. First of all, there is virtually an absence of female characters in the novel. In addition, the du al self that Dr. Jekyll had to create can be understood as the widespread core immorality homosexuals at the time had to confront. Homosexual relationships at the time the story was written were established as illegal and an evil doing (Hogle 2002). Jekyll’s blend of reproductive features reflects the medical portrayals of ‘homosexuals’ who are making their presence more felt than ever before (Cooper 2010, 75): This perverse sexuality appears spontaneously, without external cause, with the development of sexual life, as an individual manifestation of an abnormal form of the vita sexualis, and then has the force of a congenital phenomenon; or it develops upon a sexuality the beginning of which was normal, as a result of very definite injurious influences, and thus appears as an acquired anomaly. Upon what

John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry Research Paper

John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry - Research Paper Example Following his execution after the raid on Harpers Ferry, Brown was hailed as a martyr among the opponents of slavery. Moreover, his actions were deemed as one of the causal factors of the American Civil War. John Brown disgust for slavery stemmed back during his childhood. Evidently, he was conceived in Torrington, Connecticut on 9th May 1800 (West Virginia Archives and History). Furthermore, he was brought up with strict religious values in which his father taught him that slavery was against God’s will and sinful. Moreover, after Brown’s family relocated to Ohio, he witnessed the brutality meted against slaves by their masters and became a strong opponent of slavery. To this end, Brown passion of eliminating slavery grew to the point of advocating for violence as an end to slavery. Brown believed that the roots of slavery had grown so deep in society and only violence offered the best solution to its end. Interestingly enough, John Brown gained support from other oppo nents of slavery who had grown frustrated of the peaceful method. His first violent exploits against slavery were established on Kansas which became known as bleeding Kansas. In 1856 of May, Brown is reported to have led his sons in an attack against proponent of slavery at Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas. Consequently, Brown set his objectives his anti slavery war higher by contemplating to start a slavery uprising in the South. To this end, Brown commenced his plans of a raid and capture of a federal armoury at Harpers Ferry in Virginia. To accomplish this, he moved into a farm in nearby Potomac River, Maryland (Lieutenant Green & Major Russell). He was with his sons and loyal followers where they were trained in military tactics. Brown’s option to attack Harpers Ferry was founded on two notions. Foremost, he believed that he would be able to gain access to weapons that would be used in violent revolts against the southern slavery proponents. Second, he aimed to distribute the weapons among the enslaved negroes and eventually succeed in ending slavery. To this end, Brown conducted a night raid on Harpers Ferry on Sunday, October 16. His group was composed of 5 Negroes and 16 whites. Evidently, Brown’s initial raid was successful as they began by slashing off telegraph wires. This was a tactical moved aimed at cutting off communication between the town and the outside world. Moreover, Brown and his men seized the rifle manufacturing plant, arsenal and local armoury. They further proceeded to hold up 60 hostages from the town. A key hostage in the raid was George Washington’s great grand nephew, Colonel Lewis Washington. However, the efforts to isolate the town by cutting of communication were not successful. The apparent blunder was caused by the detention and release of a B&O train passing through the town. Upon the train’s arrival in Baltimore, the federal troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, were notified and sent over to Harpers F erry. Meanwhile, the local militia had barricaded the town and blocked any possible escape routes for the raiders. Consequently, John Brown marshalled his small contingent and hostages to tiny engine house next to the armoury. Upon the arrival of the federal forces, they raided the fire engine, overpowered Brown and killed most of his men. To this end, 15 insurgents and 5 citizens were killed, 3 insurgents were wounded while 5 insurgent

Islamic Finance & Critical Success Factors Essay Example for Free

Islamic Finance Critical Success Factors Essay I Would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who contributed their time and effort and provided their insight in enabling the compilation of this report, it is with much regret that all of their names cannot be mentioned individually here, however special mention needs to be made of certain individuals, without whose input this report would have not been possible. Mr Baratha Devanarayana course coordinator and project supervisor of the Advanced Diploma in Business Management programme at the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) for the support and advice given in content structuring and format design of the report. Would also like to mention Mrs Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and Mrs Shamshed Akhtar, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan whose knowledge and valuable insight on the Islamic finance industry as leading professionals in the field have provided the basis on which the compilation of this report has been made possible. Executive Summary Islamic finance is a financial system based on Shariah law or Islamic law which mandates the prohibition of charging or payment of interest encourages risk and profit sharing between all parties to a contract and emphasizes the need of ethical investment which contributes to the greater good of society as a whole. Islamic finance is now one of the fastest growing financial segments in the international financial system today with an estimated annual growth rate of 15 to 20%. Industry assets worldwide are currently estimated to be between $1. 3 trillion and its industry assets and overseas portfolios are estimated to reach 4 trillion in the medium term. Diverse financial products and services, progress in developing regulatory frameworks and enhanced international linkages are driving industry growth. The critical success factors for Islamic finance to foster the growth of the industry, the application of these critical success factors and there potential applicability in the Sri Lankan context will be analysed, a comparison between Islamic finance and the conventional system on some basic indicators for competitiveness, social development and development finance will be made and the Sri Lankan and regional potential of Islamic finance will be analysed as the research undertaking of this study. The progress that has been made on certain aspects of the Islamic financial system both locally and globally, the importance of Sri Lanka fostering the growth of the Islamic finance industry are some of the issues discussed in this study. As a prelude to the research part of this study the recent developments of Islamic finance both globally and locally and the historical development of Islamic finance will be looked at to facilitate an understanding on how the system has evolved from a single institution a few decades ago to a global industry with a global presence spreading from the Middle East to Asia and the West.

Issues - politics Essay Example for Free

Issues politics Essay Boeing is one of the worlds best known manufactures of aircrafts and so is Northrop Grumman who are the manufacturers of the airbus (Online News Hour, 2008). These are two top brands who are obviously competing in other areas of business and therefore any decision that involve them is bound to raise considerable heat. It should b noted that both are American companies though Northrop Grumman is partly owned by a French company. The nature of the contract which involves the security of America as a nation is a matter of national concern as it involves the development of structures that could ensure the growth of security systems. Boeing and Grumman being business structures, such a big contract will obviously attract the interest of stakeholders from both sides. There are a number of key issues that have been brought out by the airforce contracts which include: Military contracts are a matter of public concern since it is in place to protect the public, the resources used in the military contracts are derived from taxpayers and therefore the failure of such projects will be a waste of taxpayers money (Meyer, 2007). When McCain questioned the cost effectiveness in leasing planes that would otherwise have no values when their lease period was over his motive as the senator of Alabama was to ensure that the taxpayers money is channeled to useful projects. Furthermore, it is quite clear that the politicians have the ability to shoot down potentially useful deals due to what Northrop Grumman executives refer to as expensive lobbying. Politics is not always objective for there are situations where the stakes involved are shielded from the public and though the politics and viewpoints will be developed to suit the public, the real reasons are often personal (Meyer, 2007). The inclusion of politics in such cases therefore has both advantages and disadvantages and should be weighed carefully. Military procurement just like any other public procurement scheme is prone to corruption, this was the case in the original contract that was brought to an end by Rumsfeld in 2006. Moreover, the big money involved in military procurement processes act as a natural catalysts for corruption, therefore there is need to come up with a robust self regulated systems that will ensure that such unethical practices are not in anyway included in the procurement process, the congress thus comes into the picture (Meyer, 2007). However, the political system is not known for its objectivity. In the cases, some of the reasons brought out against Northrop Grumman are flimsy and lack in objectivity. The fact that there will be lobbying is a clear sign that there will be loss in objectivity thus the decision will tend to favor groups that are be able to garner enough political support in the congress. Furthermore, the political system is one of the most corrupt system there is and the rationale in placing such a system to guard against corruption is questionable. i.Security Military procurement is a security critical matter (Meyer, 2007). The military is in place to ensure that the US is protected against its external enemies (Meyer, 2007). The seriousness with which the equipment tendering process is treated and the keen eye that the media watches the unfolding of such events relay the importance placed on the military by the American people. The US is traditionally a fighting nation and the effectiveness of its military and equipments is one of the factors that has cemented its place as a world power. Military activities require high levels of secrecy (Meyer, 2007). There is need to come up with effective equipments that can be used in varied situations. It should be noted that the arguments brought forward by the executives from both sides are centered around the superiority of their products or the weaknesses of their opposite. The need for accuracy and well developed products that have the required reputation are some of the considerations that led to the two big companies making it to the final stage. The two companies are multinationals that have developed their brands all over the globe. It is noteworthy that when the US defense secretary cancels Boeings leases other nations still seek their products and are continues seeking the products that have been labeled cost ineffective due to the reputation associated with their brand name. The importance of the security system is seen in the number of avenues and legislative systems that have been put in place to ensure that the process is done in a just manner (Krishnan, 2008). When the airforce declares that Northrop Grumman had won the bid for the airforce tankers, Boeing seeks redress through a different avenue: Public accountability office. The office looks at their complaints and decides to freeze the process. It should be noted that it was the same office that had early in the decades frozen a billion dollar Boeing contract due to corruption charges. Even though there are systems put in place to ensure proper procedures in procurement of services and services, they can be outdone easily (Krishnan, 2008). The corruption allegations made in the initial Boeing contracts are a clear case where the protocols were overridden and it only came to realization a couple of months after the contracts had been signed. Furthermore, the fact that is was later found out that a different design could meet the specifications made by the airforce with reduced costs clearly show that even though the guidelines are put in place they are rarely followed thus the need for a system or authority that will follow up on the recommendations and processes to ensure that they conform to the laid out guidelines. Some politicians have argued that the French affiliation of the airbus manufacturer is in itself a security risk and therefore a purely American company should be contracted. However, such a contracting systems will obviously lock out other capable companies and therefore bring about questions on the integrity of the bidding process. America has prided itself as being a liberalized nation, putting up measures that will lock out other qualified members on the basis of the compositions of its investors is contrary to the spirit of liberalization. Furthermore, being involved with a company that has partnered with a success story in Europe shields the tanker project from American economic downtimes though it effectively ensures that the project is affected by the happening in Europe. It is unrealistic to lobby for Boeing on the basis of confidentiality; a company that has already shown traces of corruption cannot be trusted and neither can a company that is yet to prove its worth in the military sector. Therefore, system should be put in place to ensure that the projects are monitored and compared to some given standards if either is to be awarded the contract. ii. Stability The US is the father of capitalism and is therefore a country that is characterized by intense competition between industry players who will always be on the look for additional finances that will ensure their development into the future (Verkuil, 2007). On the day it was reported that Northrop Grumman had won the military contracts its share prices rose by over 20 cents and Boeings shares fell by a couple of cents (CBS News, 2008). Note, the development in the contract procurement were being watched by investors who will then make their decisions on which company to invest in. Even though the large money involved in the transactions may be enough to lure investors into channeling their resources to a particular company, the reputation involved in being a company contracted with one of the worlds best airforce to develop its aircraft tankers is enough to cause significant changes in the companys share index. Being a capitalistic economy where entities gain at the expense of others, Boeing is bound to feel the pinch. The situation is made worse by the consideration that Boeing has a well developed reputation and therefore failure to win a contract from a partner that it has associated with for a long time may be taken by the investors and its consumers in the wrong light. It may imply that the partner does not trust its capacity to develop superiors products or has doubts on its potential to remain productive. To bring the idea of reputation into perspective, many are of the notion that the corruptions charges brought against Boeing may have affected its chances of successfully bidding for the contract (Verkuil, 2007). This holds considerable weight in that the military is not all about facilities but also reputation. The American people and its enemies will always keep a keen eye on the military and any transactions conducted with a partner who is proved to be corrupt will dent on its integrity thus its reputation. Conclusion Awarding a contract to a company to deliver services that are of public interest is a complex process and will always involve the media and many other systems that have been put in place to ensure the safety of the public. Individual good and interest will always be central in the arguments brought forward by most people, this is more pronounced if the contract will significantly affect many people. It is therefore upon the government and the social systems to ensure that the systems put in place to ensure effectiveness of the bidding process are functioning properly and are robust enough to deal with the dynamism associated with such processes. If need be, changes must be instituted to ensure that the system are functioning. The products delivered must measure up to some predetermined standards to ensure quality and accountability. These measures and other quality management measures if well integrated into the bidding and implementation of contracts that are of public interest will ensure that the public benefits in the best possible way. Word Count: 3271 ,Reference List CBS News (2008). Boeing Spurned On Huge Air Force Contract. Retrieved 13 October 2008 from http://www. cbsnews. com/stories/2008/02/29/business/main3894669. shtml? source=RSSattr=Business_3894669 Krishnan, A. (2008). War as Business: Technological Change and Military Service Contracting. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Meyer, J. (2007). Working in a War Zone: Military Contractors. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Online News Hour (2008). Boeing, Northrop Grumman Clash Over Tanker Contract. Retrieved 13 October 2008 from http://www. pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june08/tanker_05-06. html. United States Government Accountability Office (2008). Statement Regarding the Bid Protest Decision Resolving the Aerial Refueling Tanker Protest by The Boeing Company. Retrieved 13 October 2008 from http://www. governmentexecutive. com/pdfs/061808cd1. pdf Verkuil, R. (2007). Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and what We Can Do about it. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Full Range Of Leadership Model Management Essay

Full Range Of Leadership Model Management Essay As indicated in chapter one, this research attempts to fill a void in the discussion of how managers leadership styles influence employees to stimulate their creative performance in public organizations, particularly in developing countries where environmental variables or national contexts have a strong impact on leadership styles. Since the study aims to determine the degree to which Omani civil service managers practise the Full Range of Leadership styles to enhance employees creative performance, three interrelated issues need to be addressed to meet these aims: 1) historical evolution of theories of leadership emphasized in the Full Range of Leadership model; 2) historical development of creativity theories focusing on an individual creativity model; and 3) the interrelationships between the issues 1 and 2. In this way, the three fields of the literature above together constitute a framework which will inform the analysis of this study. Therefore, the chapter is structured into these main areas of interest. In the first part, the chapter examines the leadership concept and its historical evolution theories. It concentrates on the Full Range of Leadership model and its components as a new leadership approach. In part two the chapter reveals the evolution of the creativity concept. It highlights individual cr eativity theories and discusses employees creative performance. In the third part, the chapter demonstrates the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and employees creative performance. Finally, the chapter illustrates the studys analytical framework. 2.2 Part One: The Historical Evolution of Leadership 2.2.1 Overview of the Leadership Concept The leadership phenomenon is recognized as being the most extensively researched social process known to behavioural science, because it is believed that leadership plays a crucial role in organizations through a direct influence on individuals and groups within those organizations (Yukl, 2008). Leadership is a difficult concept to define. Taylor (1994) argued that the literature has shown no one definition, list of descriptors, or theoretical model that provides a complete picture of either the theory or practice of leadership. Further, Yukl (2008) suggested that despite the fact that many definitions have been offered, no one particular definition captures the essence of leadership. Bass (1999) claimed that the definition of leadership should depend on the purposes to be served by the definition. According to Burns (1978), leadership is identified as the ability to inspire followers to attempt to accomplish goals that represent the values, motivations, wants, needs, aspirations, and expectations of both leaders and followers. Additionally, Schein (1992) referred to leadership as the ability to operate outside of the existing culture to start an evolutionary change processes. Other scholars such as Bass and Bass (2008) attempted to describe leadership in broader terms. They mentioned that the definition of leadership involves a number of assumptions and understandings from both empirical and conceptual sources. Leadership: (a) exists within social relationships and serves social ends; (b) involves purpose and direction; (c) is an influence process; (d) is a function; and (e) is contextual and contingent. Therefore, leadership involves those who work with others to provide direction and who exert influence on persons and things in order to achieve the organizations goals. Leadership is also defined in terms of a process of social influence, whereby a leader influences members of a group towards a goal (Bryman, 1992). In his definition Bryman tends to emphasize three main elements of leadership: influence, group, and goal. Northouse (2012) extended Brymans leadership elements and identifies four main components central to the definition of leadership: (a) leadership is a process; (b) leadership involves influence; (c) leadership occurs in groups; and (d) leadership involves common goals. Therefore, referring to leadership as a process it is not a trait or characteristics that reside in the leader. It means that a leader affects, and is affected by followers. It emphasizes that leadership is an interactive event occurring between the leaders and their followers. Therefore, leadership is concerned with how the leader affects followers, and thus involves influence. Obviously, those definitions want to illustrate that without influences, leadership does not exist. Besides, Northouse (2012) pointed out that leadership is a phenomenon that occurs in groups. Groups are the context in which leadership takes place. Thus, leadership is basically about one individual who influences a group of others to accomplish common goals. Therefore, both leaders and followers are involved together in the leadership process. That is why it is common to say that leaders need followers, and followers need leaders. In fact, it is a transactional event that occurs between the leader and the followers. Although leaders and followers are closely linked, it is the leader who often initiates the relationship, creates the communication linkages, and carries the burden for maintaining the relationship (Bryman, 1992). Briefly, after a careful revision of the enormous variety of conceptualisations of leadership available in the literature, the crucial elements of leadership are best represented in Northouses definition (2012:6), where leadership is defined as a process whereby an individual motivates a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. This definition raises the following question: What are the leadership characteristics that enable an individual to influence others to unite for a common purpose? This question can best be answered by gaining a better understanding of the historical evolution of leadership and the theoretical paradigms in which leadership has been studied. With this in mind, the next sections will discuss the development of leadership theories, from the traditional leadership theories of the mid-1800s and leading to the more modern paradigm of transformational/transactional leadership theory. 2.2.2 Historical Evolution of Leadership Theories Since the early 1800s researchers have attempted to develop different research approaches to analyse the construct of leadership and its relationship with motivating others to greater productivity. The next section focuses on five of the main organizational leadership theories that have been developed over time. These theories are the great-man theory, the trait theory, the behavioural approach, the situational approach, and the integrative approach. 2.2.2.1 Great-Man Theory In the early nineteenth century, great-man theory was popular and focused on great leaders who helped to change and shape world events. Those great leaders or heroes were highly influential individuals due to their personal charisma, intelligence, or wisdom, and they utilized this power in a way that had a decisive historical impact. The theory assumes that leaders are born and not made. Thus, the capacity of the leader is inherent and there is not much you can do about it. The great-man theory believes that those great leaders possessed specific traits or characteristics that enabled them to stand out from others, to attract the necessary followers, to set direction, and to be strong leaders in their time. These theories evolved and were the natural forerunners to trait theory (Bass and Bass, 2008, and Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991). 2.2.2.2 The Trait Approach The trait approach focuses upon personal qualities of leadership. This approach is based on the assumption that leaders can be identified by specific traits or characteristics. Basically, there are three broad types of trait which have been addressed by the literature: first, physical elements, such as height, weight, appearance, and age; second, ability characteristics, such as intelligence, scholarship and knowledge, knowing how to get things done, and fluency of speech; and third, other personality features, such as self-confidence, inter-personal sensitivity, and emotional control (Yukl, 2008). Hundreds of trait studies were carried out during the 1930s and 1940s, but according to Stogdill (1974) the massive research effort failed to find any traits that would guarantee leadership success. Smith and Peterson (1988) suggest that the failure of the trait approach has been attributed to the following reasons: first, providing only a list of traits and skills found to be productive did not help in understanding leadership; second, the trait approach failed to tell what these leaders actually do in performing their day-to-day leadership tasks; and third, the method of measurement used by researchers for this approach did not include psychological scaling. Obviously, over the years, it has been documented that leader traits contribute significantly to the prediction of leader effectiveness, leader emergence, and leader advancement. However, there is still a lack of agreement among researchers regarding leader traits and attributes (Zaccaro et al., 2004). Realizing the unreliability of trait theory, researchers began to focus on the observable leadership behaviours, an area which came to be known as behavioural leadership theory. 2.2.2.3 The Behavioural Approach The behavioural approach started in the 1950s as researchers became discouraged with the trait approach and started to pay closer attention to what leaders actually do. Yukl (2008) provides details of two major research studies that were conducted by researchers from Ohio State University and the University of Michigan using two lines of research methods developed to study leader behaviour. The method used by Ohio State University utilized observations to investigate how leaders spend their time completing the activities, responsibilities, and functions of the job. Researchers, therefore, collected data from direct observation, diaries, job description questionnaires, and interviews. The other method of research used by the University of Michigan focused on perceptions of effective leadership behaviour. In conformity with Horn-Turpin (2009) and Yukl (2008), from a series of studies which have been conducted at Ohio State University, it was concluded that the major dimensions of leaders behaviour involved two factors: consideration and initiation. Consideration refers to the extent to which the leader shows consideration to followers. This means the leader listens to the members, shows concern for their welfare, is friendly and approachable, expresses appreciation for good work, treats subordinates as equals, increases subordinates work and maintains their self-esteem, reduces inter-personal conflict, and puts subordinates suggestions into operation. On the other hand, initiation refers to task-related behaviour, such as initiating activity in the group, organizing it, coordinating tasks, and defining the problem for the group and outlining the way the work is to be done. The initiation of structure includes such leadership behaviour as planning activities, facilitating goal achievem ents, providing feedback for the group, maintaining standards and meeting deadlines, deciding in detail what should be done, and how establishing clear channels of communication, organizing work tightly, structuring the work context, providing a clear-cut definition of role responsibility. Based on Yukl (1989), the University of Michigan study identified two specific leadership behaviours that corresponded to the two behaviours identified in the Ohio State University study: (1) production oriented; and (2) employee oriented. Production-oriented behaviours, which corresponded to the initiation behaviour in the Ohio State study, involved completion of tasks, while employee-oriented behaviours corresponded to the consideration-based behaviour in the Ohio State study. Leaders who demonstrated the employee-oriented behaviour also exhibited human-relation-oriented skills and relationships with their employees. Actually, these studies supported the notion that effective leaders had to be cognizant of both task and relationship orientation. Additionally, these studies suggested that some organizations may need leaders who are more focused on tasks, while others require a leadership perspective with strong human-relations skills. Despite the significant findings from both studies, Bryman (1992) mentioned four problems that had been identified with the behavioural approach. The first was inconsistent findings that is, the magnitude and direction of the correlations between consideration and initiating styles and various outcome measures were highly variable. Also, some correlations failed to reach statistical significance. Secondly, an absence of situational analysis. Behavioural approach studies failed to include in their research situational variables that are, including variables which moderate the relationship between leader behaviour and various outcomes. Thirdly, there was a measurement problem: for example, the consideration measure seemed to be affected by leniency effect. Ratings of leaders were found to be contaminated by subordinates implicit theory. Finally, there was a problem of causality that is, does the style of leader influence various outcomes, or does the leader adjust his/her style in re sponse to group performance? Thus, some research went further to suggest that different situations may require different leadership styles and approaches. This concept led to a major shift to contingency theory. 2.2.2.4 The Contingency Approach The fourth leadership approach is Fiedlers (1967) contingency theory or the contingency approach. The theory was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and was viewed as a complement to the Michigan and Ohio State studies. It focuses upon the impact of the situation in determining the leaders style. According to Fiedler (1967) as cited by Yukl (2008), leadership performance depends on both the organization and the leader. He suggested that situational variables have a moderate effect on the relationship between leadership style and effectiveness. Fiedler mentioned that leadership performance depends as much on the organization as it does on the leaders own attributes. Evidently, the contingency approach emphasizes the importance of contextual factors that might influence the leadership process. The characteristics of followers, the nature of the work that the leaders unit performs, the organization type, and the external environment are all major situational variables. The theory suggests that the effectiveness of leader behaviour is dependent upon the situation. Indeed, the contingency approach is sometimes referred to as the situational theory (Yukl, 2008). Northouse (2012) argued that the contingency approach is like the behavioural approach and has many problems similar to those identified in the behavioural approach, such as inconsistent findings, causality problems, and measurement problems. Further, the theory has also been criticized as being an ambiguous approach. Thus, the integrative approach appeared as an attempt to integrate all these theories in one. 2.2.2.5 The Integrative Approach The integrative approach involves studying more than one type of leadership variable. Indeed, few theories or studies include traits, behaviour, influence processes, situation variables, and outcomes all in the same design (Northouse, 2012). In fact, as leaders engage in the constantly changing environment and demands of others, Yukl (2008) argued that this approach may offer a meaningful analysis of the practical day-to-day situations that leaders might encounter. He emphasized that leaders influence a number of situations. Leaders impact the effectiveness of a group or organization by influencing the: (a) interpretation of external events by members; (b) choice of objectives and strategies to pursue; (c) motivation of members to achieve the objectives; (d) mutual trust and cooperation of members; (e) organization and coordination of work activities; (f) allocation of resources to activities and objectives; (g) development of member skills and confidence; (h) learning and sharing of new knowledge by members; (i) enlistment of support and cooperation from outsiders; (j) design of formal structure, programme, and systems; and (k) shared beliefs and values of members. All of these situations are important and require that a leader effectively recognizes the situation and employs the appropriate leadership strategies. Over time, the academic focus has moved from leadership traits to leadership behaviours and then to using different leadership styles in various situations; however, it was obvious that because of the limitations found in those leadership theories, a new leadership approach needed to emerge. Problems such as inconsistent findings, measurement problems, and the problem of causality led to general doubt about leadership theory and stimulated fresh thinking, which led to a new approach (Bennett, 2009). 2.2.3 The New Leadership Approach: The Full Range of Leadership Model Leadership theories had focused primarily on making operations more efficient, through looking for ways to increase production and improve operations. Bass (1985) emphasized that in leadership theories, employee motivation was considered not the key; but only the vehicle. Vrooms expectancy theory (1982) demonstrates that motivation influences job performance and employees are motivated by receiving rewards and avoiding punishment. Thus, employees tied their level of effort to their expected outcome. They were transaction driven. In conformity with Bass (1985), transactional leaders understood the needs of their employees and how to meet those needs in exchange for the appropriate level of effort. However, researchers saw situations where individuals were led by visionary and charismatic leaders who helped their organizations achieve more than was believed possible (Bass, 1985; House, 1977; and Bryman, 1992). Hence, those findings helped lay the foundation for transformational and tra nsactional leadership theory, which later extended to the Full Range of Leadership theory. The theory of transformational and transactional leadership began to develop in the 1970s and 1980s. Downton (1973) introduced the term transformational leadership, followed by Burns (1978), who focused on transformational and transactional leadership in the political field. In fact, they opened a new chapter in leadership research. From that time the transformational leadership approach become one of the most popular approaches to leadership that has successfully attracted researchers since the early 1980s. According to Lowe and Gardner (2000), research in transformational leadership was found to cover one third of the all leadership research, and it occupies a central place in leadership studies. As cited by Pearce et al., (2003), the literature confirms that Downton (1973) is the first researcher to make a distinction between transactional and transformational leadership, whereas the idea gained more attention in James McGregor Burns published work (1978) on political leaders. Burns distinguished between ordinary (transactional) leaders, who exchanged tangible rewards for employees work and loyalty, and extraordinary (transformational) leaders, who engaged with employees, focused on higher-order intrinsic needs, and raised consciousness about the significance of specific outcomes and new ways in which those outcomes might be achieved (Barnett et al., 2001; Pearce et al., 2003; Gellis, 2001; Rafferty and Griffin, 2004; and Judge and Piccolo, 2004). Actually, Burns defined transformational and transactional leadership styles as opposites, whereas Bernard Bass added to these concepts but also believed that managers could demonstrate both depending on the situation (Bass, 1985). Furthermore, Bass et al. (1987) and Waldman et al. (1990) noted that transformational leadership was an extension of transactional leadership. Later, Bass introduced the augmentation model, where he argued that transformational leadership augments transactional leadership in predicting levels of individuals performances (Bass and Riggio, 2006). It is obvious, then, that much of the research on transformational leadership today goes back to the original works of Burns and Bass. Indeed, many researchers state that the most elaborate exposition of transformational leadership theory, which was later extended to the Full Range of Leadership theory, belongs to Bernard Bass (for example, Bryman, 1992; Simic, 1998; Zhang, 2011; and Si and Wei, 2012). Bernard Bass applied the work of James McGregor Burns (1978) on transformational and transactional leadership to organizational management. Bass (1999) defined the transactional leader as a leader who: (1) recognizes what his or her employees want to get from their work and tries to see that employees get what they desire if their performance warrants it; (2) exchanges rewards and promises of rewards for appropriate levels of effort; and (3) responds to the self-interests of employees as long as they are getting the job done. On the other hand, Bass and Bass (2008) claimed that transformational leaders motivate subordinates to do more than is expected. They characterized transformational leaders as those who: (1) raise the level of awareness of employees about the importance of achieving valued outcomes, a vision, and the required strategy; (2) get employees to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the group and organization; and (3) expand employees portfolio of needs by raising their awareness to improve themselves and what they are attempting to accomplish. Horn-Turpin (2009) outlines three important differences between the work of Burns (1978) and Bass (1999) on transformational and transactional leadership. Firstly, Burns (1978) suggested that the two styles of leadership are at opposite ends of the same leadership continuum: that is, the leader cannot be transactional and transformational at the same time, but could be either one of them, while Bass (1999) proposed that both transactional and transformational leadership can be displayed by the same leader. For example, Bass (1999) recognized that the same leader may use both types of the process at different times in different situations. Bass (1999) sees transformational leadership as a higher-order second leadership which is needed in addition to transactional leadership. Secondly, Burns (1978) suggested that actions are transformational if society benefits from them. Bass (1999) sees transformational leadership as not necessarily inherently beneficial; for example, Hitler was negatively transformational. Bass (1999) focuses on the individual personality while Burns (1978) placed emphasis on the leader-follower relationship. Thirdly, Bass (1999) outlined the components of the two types of leadership, specifying their content more than Burns (1978). Based on practical researches, Bass (1985) found evidence for five leadership factors: individualized consideration, charismatic leadership, intellectual stimulation, contingent rewards, and management-by-exception. Transformational leadership consisted of the first three: charismatic leadership, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Transactional leadership consisted of the last two factors: contingent rewards and management-by-exception. After additional investigation between approximately 1985 and 1995 the theory was expanded to denote three types of leadership behaviour transformational, transactional, and non-transactional laissez-faire leadership or passive leadership and it is referred to in the Full Range of Leadership model (Antonakis, 2003, and Bennett, 2009). Moreover, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of multiple studies which provided a review of hundreds of studies completed over the past twenty years indicate that indicate there has been fairly consistent support for the key factors of transformational leadership: charisma/idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (for example, Lowe et al., 1996; DeGroot et al., 2000; Dumdum et al., 2002; and Judge and Piccolo, 2004). Investigation into the Full Range of Leadership theory expanded the components into nine factors: five transformational factors, three transactional factors, and one non-tran sactional leadership factor (for example: Avolio et al., 1999; Avolio and Bass, 2004; Barbuto, 2005; Rowold and Heinitz, 2007). Another modification to the model occurred with regard to its components. Antonakis et al. (2003) suggested using idealized influence instead of charisma and suggested that idealized influence should be separated into two parts: attributes and behaviour. Further, Avolio and Bass (2004) noted that management-by-exception should be divided into two parts: active and passive. Later, studies suggested using the term passive/avoidant instead of laissez-faire as the third leadership type in the Full Range of Leadership theory because it was more descriptive. Also, it was proposed that management-by-exception (active) was a better fit with transactional leadership, and management-by-exception (passive) was a better fit with laissez-faire as two subscales under the third type of leadership, now identified as passive/avoidant (Avolio and Bass, 2004; Avolio et al., 1999; Geyer and Steyrer, 1998; Bennett, 2009 and Den Hartog et al., 2011; and). The Full Range of Leadership model is displayed in Figure 2.1. As illustrated in Figure 2.1, the Full Range of Leadership model components are organized around two axes: level of activity and degree of effectiveness. The activity axis is concerned with how active or passive the leader is in his or her way of being towards employees and towards the aims of the organization. Essentially this axis has to do with the leaders level of engagement and involvement in the leadership process. The effectiveness axis relates to the effect the specific leadership style has on employee, group, and organizational outcomes in this study the outcome being investigated is employees creative performance. Figure 2.1: The Model of the Full Range of Leadership. Source: Adopted from Bass and Riggio (2006). ACTIVE EFFECTIVE INEFFECTIVE 5 Is CR MBE-A MBE-P LF PASSIVE 2.2.3.1 Transformational Leadership The Full Range of Leadership theory demonstrates that transformational leadership is a process whereby a leader utilizes a number of leadership behaviours or practices to influence the commitment and effort of employees toward the accomplishment of organizational objectives. Those practices, indeed, enhance the values and aspirations of both leader and employees (Bass and Riggio, 2006). Unlike other traditional leadership styles, transformational leadership attempts to give adequate support to organizational members so that they become highly engaged and inspired by goals that are motivational, because those goals are associated with values in which those members strongly believe or are persuaded to strongly believe. Thus, a transformational leader undertakes a matching process where he or she identifies which internal states of organizational members are critical to their performance and specifies a set of leaders practices most likely to have a positive influence on those internal states (Leithwood and Sun, 2012). Bennis and Nanus (1985) went beyond that by conceptualizing transformational leadership as a process that changes the organization by focusing on action, and by converting followers into leaders and leaders into agents of change. This notion is also supported by Sergiovanni (1990) and Avolio (1999), who argued that transformational leadership might be defined as the process whereby leaders develop followers into leaders. Followers become leaders when they are committed to a cause and are self-managing. For the purpose of this study, transformational leadership is defined in conformity with Bass and Riggio (2006), as a process through which a leader influences the organizational members toward the achievement of organizational goals by utilizing his social charisma and actions to encourage people in organization, articulate an inspiring vision for the future, create an environment for creativity, and pay close attention to individuals needs and wants. 2.2.3.2 Components of Transformational Leadership According to Bass and Avolio (1985), transformational leaders motivate others to do more than they originally intended and often even more than they thought possible. They behave in ways to achieve superior results by employing one or more of the four core components of transformational leadership, which are: (1) idealized influence (attributed and behaviours); (2) inspirational motivation; (3) intellectual stimulation; and (4) individual consideration. To some extent Bass and Riggio (2006) stated that those components have evolved, as refinements have been made in both the conceptualization and the measurement of transformational leadership. For example, Bass and Riggio (2006) argued that there are two aspects to idealized influence: the leaders behaviours, and the elements that are attributed to the leader by employees and other associates. These two aspects, measured by separate sub-factors of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), represent the interactional nature of id ealized influence: it is embodied both in the leaders behaviour and in attributions that are made concerning the leader by employees. Conceptually, transformational leaders are charismatic and employees seek to identify with the leader and emulate them. Transformational leaders inspire employees with challenge and persuasion, and provide both meaning and understanding. They intellectually stimulate and expand the employees use of their own abilities. Finally, transformational leaders are individually considerate, and provide the employees with support, mentoring, and coaching. Each of these components can be measured with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), which will be discussed in the Methodology Chapter. Together, the five main dimensions of transformational leadership are interdependent; they must co-exist; and they are believed to represent the most effective leadership attitudes and behaviours (Gellis, 2001; Moolenaar et al., 2010; Hall et al., 2008; Pieterse, et al., 2010 and Leithwood and Sun 2012). Descriptions of the components of transformational leadership are presented in the following subsections. 2.2.3.2.1 Idealized Influence Attributed (IIA) Idealized influence attributed is defined as the socialized charisma of the leader: whether the leader is perceived as being confident and powerful, and whether the leader is viewed as focusing on higher-order ideals and ethics. Leaders who exhibit idealized influence attributed are providing a role model that employees seek to emulate (Bono and Judge, 2004; Simic, 1998; Stone, et al., 2003 and Ho et al., 2009). On the other side, employees view their leaders as having extraordinary capabilities, persistence, and determination, and they feel admiration, loyalty, and respect for the leaders (Bass, 1985). Idealized influence leaders or charismatic leaders are highly motivated to influence their employees. Their employees trust their judgments and have faith in them. Such leaders can transform the established order, and instil pride, faith, and respect. They have a gift for seeing what is really important and a sense of a vision which is effectively articulated (Avolio and Bass, 1988). Further, it has been noted that individuals who are under charismatic leadership are hig

Medicinal Herbs and Pharmaceutical Drugs :: Health, Medication

A herb-drug interaction is defined as any pharmacological modification caused by a herbal substance(s) to another exogenous-chemical (e.g. a prescription medication) in the diagnostic, therapeutic or other action of a drug in or on the body (Brazier and Levine, 2003). This relates to drug-drug interactions, herb-herb interaction or drug-food interaction. A herb can potentially mimic, magnify or reduce the effects of co-administered drugs and the consequences of these interactions can be beneficial, undesirable or harmful effects (Fugh and Ernst, 2001). It should be pointed out that both the putative active ingredient(s) and other constituents present in that herbal mixture have the potential to interact with various classes of drugs (Miller, 1998). Many medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical drugs are therapeutically active at one dose and toxic at another. Interaction between herbs and drugs may increase or decrease the pharmacological or toxicological effects of either component. Synergistic and therapeutic effects may complicate the dosing of long-term medication. e.g. herbs traditionally used to decrease glucose concentrations in diabetes could therapeutically precipitate hypoglycemia if taken in combination with conventional drugs (Fugh, 2000). Plausible cases of herb-drug interactions include: bleeding when warfarin is combined with ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), garlic (Allium sativum), danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) and decreased bioavailability of digoxin, theophylline, and cyclosporine when they are combined with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) etc.,(Shu-feng et al., 2007). Health–care practitioners should caution patients against mixing herbs and pharmaceutical drugs (Fugh, 2000). Cardiovascular diseases particularly myocardial toxicity is one of the leading causes of mortality. Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are many, like hypertension, atherosclerosis, drugs like doxorubicin & catecholamines like isoproterenol, isoprenaline etc (Gupta et al., 2004). Doxorubicin/Adriamycin (Dox) is a powerful, well established and highly efficacious drug in the fight against many kinds of cancers like solid tumors, leukemia’s, soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, small cell carcinoma of the lung and esophageal carcinomas. But its clinical usefulness is still restricted due to its specific toxicities to cardiac tissues (Zhon et al., 2001). Congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and electrocardiographic changes were demonstrated after cumulative Dox administration (Lenaz and Page, 1976). The possible mechanisms proposed for myocardial toxic effects of Dox include free radical induced myocardial injury, lipid peroxidation (Myers et al.

Peeling Back the Label Essay -- Sociology

Have you ever heard yourself mentioned by someone else as â€Å"mature or immature?† This status is so easy to place on people that they often don’t even realize that they are slapping a label on someone. Have you ever pondered why this person is acting immature? Often people see someone do something obnoxious or stupid and their first thought is â€Å"that person is so immature.† However, what about the effects that leads up to them behaving in this manner? Within my paper I plan to broaden your viewpoint and ideology and show you that immaturity and maturity aren’t just labels, but are the results of many leading affects in a person’s life. The first idea we want to look at would be, â€Å"what does maturity or immaturity really mean and what all does it involve? Maturity and immaturity are only two parts, and the most commonly heard, however there is a third aspect; pseudomaturity. According to the International Journal Of Behavioral Development, pseudomaturity is an attained social maturity without the psychological maturity. Drug abuse can be categorized in the pseudomature area because people who become addicted to drugs do it to look cool, or fit in, not because it is a better way to understand themselves or because is it healthy for them. Maturity is often used to define someone, or their actions, instead of themselves. A teen graciously takes over watching her little siblings without being asked and her Mom instantly praises her with, â€Å"sweetheart, you are becoming so mature these days.† This type of labeling is becoming so common in our culture, because parents throw the word out and the teen comes to connect the word mature with their actions. Maturity in actual reality is not whether you perform a task correctly or what you did, but... ...o, David, Seung Hee Yoo, and Johnny Fontaine. "Hypocrisy Or Maturity? Culture And Context Differentiation." European Journal Of Personality 23.3 (2009): 251-264. PsycINFO. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. NIV Bible Rutger C. M. E. Engels, et al. "Parent-Child Relationships, Partner Relationships, And Emotional Adjustment: A Birth-To-Maturity Prospective Study." Developmental Psychology 43.2 (2007): 429-437. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. S. Alexandra Burt, et al. "Genetic And Environmental Influences On Personality Trait Stability And Growth During The Transition To Adulthood: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 100.3 (2011): 545-556. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Wim H. J. Meeus, et al. "Maturation Of Personality In Adolescence." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 96.4 (2009): 898-912. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.

death of a salesman :: essays research papers

BANG! Your father is dead. Within a few seconds, although he attempted many times, your father dies. He gave up. All the fights, all the disrespect, and all the struggles are behind you. However, all the hope, all the passion, and all the love is still there. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the main conflict is between Willy Lowman and his son Biff. Most of their struggles are based on disrespect; however, much of the tension throughout the play is also caused by the act of giving up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Disrespectfulness is the cause of personal tension in this play. There are many occurrences where a character is being disrespectful, which triggers emotional and physical conflicts. Throughout the movie, Willy is extremely disrespectful to his wife Linda. He loses his patience every time she talks during a conversation that he is having. When he talks to Biff at the table about his new job opportunities, Linda adds some remarks like, â€Å"I’ll make breakfast,† (1853) and Willy loses his control. He turns to her quickly and tells her to shut up. Sometimes he even puts his finger angrily to her face, screaming at her to shut her mouth, even though she is just adding relative comments. Linda does not lose respect for Willy for his actions as much as Biff does. Biff cares about his mother dearly and does not like to see her being yelled at. He grinds his teeth when he sees his father yell at his mother, because he knows that if he argues, there will be that much more tension between him and his father. However, Biff cannot take it much longer because he is losing respect for his father. He knows his father should never get physical with his mother, and he finally takes action before it gets violent. He grabs Willy by the arm and screams at him not to yell at her. Willy gets angry at first, but then goes to bed guilt-ridden. Loss of respect can ruin a relationship. Biff left town for many reasons, but one important one had to do with Willy cheating on his wife. During a flashback in the play, Willy is in a room with a woman when Biff knocks on the door. The woman was actually in the washroom as Biff came in, but came out before Biff left. Biff saw the woman and knew that his father was not being loyal to his mother.

Ess (Exam Scheduling System)

CHAPTER IV Presentation of Data, Software Product Analysis and Implementation The Existing System Dean 0 Manual Process Administrator Day of ExamSchedule Time Term Rooms Teachers Subjects Sections Figure 4. 1 Process of the Manual Scheduling The figure shows the existing system of AMA Computer College Lipa. The administrator will gather the data needed for the manual process of Scheduling. After gathering the data the administrator will manually do the schedule. The Proposed System 0 Computerized Scheduling Dean Administrator File MaintenanceSchedule Schedule Management Figure 4. Process of the Proposed System The figure shows the content of the proposed system. Once the user entered to the system, the system is ready to accommodate the File Maintenance, Schedule Management, Schedule Browser and Reports. Prospective User The Administrator will act as the primary user of the proposed system. The primary user has access to all the features of the system which includes file maintenance, schedule managing, schedule browsing and generating reports. The primary user can add, edit, update and delete different transactions of all the features mentioned above.The user also allows to print all the reports that was produced by the system. Components of the Proposed System In Software Product Analysis in Chapter III, the proponents discussed the different possible software that can be used in making the proposed study. Among all those software, the proponents decided to chose the SQL server 2008 for database, and Visual Basic . Net 2005 as the programming language. The proponents prefer to use the SQL Server 2008 over other databases it provides much faster Full-Text Search capability and much faster processing once SQL Server 2008 features are used.In addition, SQL Server 2008 provides for more efficient storage of data and indexes including filtered indexes, wide tables, sparse columns, and page level compression. In terms of programming language use, the proponents used Visual Basic. Net 2005 because the Visual Basic. Net is one of the most popular languages used in the software development industry. VB. Net provides managed code execution that runs under the Common Language Runtime (CLR), resulting in robust, stable and secure applications. VB. NET is free threading against theVB single-threaded apartment feature. All features of the . NET framework are readily available in VB. NET. VB. NET is totally object oriented. This is a major addition that VB6 and other earlier releases didn't have. Security has become more robust in VB. NET. System Design DFD (Data Flow Diagram) is used by the proponents to show the graphical representation of the flow of data through the system. This is also used in visualizing of data processing. The context is the summary of DFD of the existing and proposed Data Flow Diagram (DFD).This is the commonly used system modeling tools, particularly for the operational system in where the functions are paramount important and more complex than the data that system manipulates. The context is the summary of the Data Flow Diagram (DFD) of proposed system. The DFD (Data Flow Diagram) is shown in figure 4. 1 Data Flow Diagram of the Proposed System Level 0 1. 0 Course Year Section Rooms Subject Teacher 3. 0 Generate Reports 2. 0 Process Schedule for Term Dean Administrator Processed Schedule Schedule Figure 4. 3 Level 0 of Data Flow Diagram Figure 4. 3 shows the overview process as a whole.It starts from the Admin, the user, with corresponding data that goes to different menus provided by the system. These are basically the primary inputs to be processed by the system which creates reports. This diagram is mainly the representation of the software developed. Level 1 of Process 1: File Maintenance 1. 1 Add Course Dean | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. 2 Add Year | | | | | | | | | | | 1. 3 Add Rooms | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. 4 Add Subjects | | | | | | | 1. 5 Add Teachers 1. 6 Add Section Figure 4. 4 Level 1 of Da ta Flow Diagram The diagram Level 1 shows the procedure of accessing the file maintenance.The diagram shows how to add, edit, update and delete a data. It provides space for the user to input new data to the database. Level 2 Process 2: Schedule Management | | | | | | 2. 1| | | | 2. 2| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DEAN| | School Year| | | | Filled up| | | | | | Saved| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fill up| Schedule| | Update| | | D6 Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Year| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | schedule| | | | schedule| | | | | | | | Section| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Subject List| form| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Room| | | | | | | Updated| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Day| | | | | | | Schedule| | | | | Time| Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. 3| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Schedule| | | | Print Report| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | STUDENTS| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Figure 4. 5 Level 2 of Data Flow Diagram The diagram Level 2 shows the procedure of accessing the Schedule Management. The user will fill up the schedule form. After making the schedule, the user can also print the report. Level 3 Process 3: Generate Reports| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D7| Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saved Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section Schedule| | | | | | | 3. 2| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3. 1| | | | | | | | | | | | DEAN| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Generate Schedule| | | | | Generate Room| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Section Reports| | | | | | Schedule Reports| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Room Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Schedule| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Students Figure 4. 6 Level 3 of Data Flow Diagram The diagram Level 5 shows the corresponding procedures that the system provides under the report button. It shows the section schedule and room schedule reports. System Evaluation Report The respondents of this study responded so well throughout the survey process. The proponents got a good approval of improving the existing system into the proposed one project. Part I. 1. Suitability The system’s appearance is suitable for its use Table 4. 1 SuitabilitySuitability| Number| of| | Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| | respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | | the suitability of the| | | | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 200| | | 200/229 x 100 = 87%| 87% of 360Â ° = 320Â °| 3| – Agree| 29| | | 29/229 x 100 = 13%| 13% of 360Â ° = 40Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Suitability| | | | | | | | | 13%| | | | | | | | | | | Strongly Agree| | | | | | | | | | Agree| | | | | | | | | | 87%| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Figure 4. 1 Pie Chart for System SuitabilityFigure 4. 1 shows that 87% or 200 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system is suitable and 13% or 29 of the respondents agreed in the suitability of the system. 2. Interoperability The system’s ICONs are all working Table 4. 2 Interoperability Interoperability| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the interoperability of the| | | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 199| | 199/229 x 100 = 87%| 87% of 360Â ° = 313Â °| 3| – Agree| 30| | 30/229 x 100 = 13%| 13% of 360Â ° = 47Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | | – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Interoperability 13% Strongly Agre e Agree 87% Figure 4. 2 Pie Chart for System Interoperability Figure 4. 2 shows that 87% or 199 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system is working and 13% or 30 of the respondents agreed in the interoperability of the system. 3. Compliance The system supports the performance they need. Table 4. 3 Compliance Compliance| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the compliance of the| | | | | | | | system| | | | –Strongly Agree| 198| | 198/229 x 100 = 86%| 86% of 360Â ° = 310Â °| 3| – Agree| 31| | 31/229 x 100 = 14%| 14% of 360Â ° = 50Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Compliance 14% Strongly Agree Agree 86% Figure 4. 3 Pie Chart for System Compliance Figure 4. 3 shows that 86% or 198 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system supports the system they need and 14% or 31 of the respondents agreed in the compliance of t he system. Part II 2. System’s Usability The system is easy to use and navigate Table 4. 4 UnderstandabilityUnderstandability| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the understandability of| | | | | | | | the system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 229| | 229/229 x 100 = 100%| 100% of 360Â ° = 360Â °| 3| – Agree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Understandability Strongly Agree 100% Figure 4. 4 Pie Chart for System Understandability Figure 4. 4 shows that 100% or 229 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system is easy to understand. . Learnability The system is easy to use and navigate Table 4. 5 Learnability Learnability| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the learnability of the| | | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 198| | 1 98/229 x 100 = 86%| 86% of 360Â ° = 310Â °| 3| – Agree| 31| | 31/229 x 100 = 14%| 14% of 360Â ° = 50Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Learnability 14% Strongly Agree Agree 86% Figure 4. 5 Pie Chart for System Learnability Figure 4. shows that 86% or 198 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system is easy to use and navigate and 14% or 31 of the respondents agreed in the navigation of the system. Part III – System’s Reliability 1. Accuracy The system gives an accurate output. Table 4. 6 Accuracy Accuracy| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the accuracy of the| | | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 200| | 200/229 x 100 = 87%| 87% of 360Â ° = 313Â °| 3| – Agree| 29| | 29/229 x 100 = 13%| 13% of 360Â ° = 47Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | | – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree | | | | | | | Accuracy 13% Strongly Agree Agree 87% Figure 4. 6 Pie Chart for System Accuracy Figure 4. 6 shows that 87% or 200 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system gives accurate output and 13% or 29 of the respondents agreed in the accuracy of the system. 2. Recovery The system has ability to recover form failure. Table 4. 7 Recovery Recovery| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the recovery of the| | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 198| | 198/229 x 100 = 86%| 86% of 360Â ° = 310Â °| 3| – Agree| 31| | 31/229 x 100 = 14%| 14% of 360Â ° = 50Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Recovery 14% Strongly Agree Agree 86% Figure 4. 7 Pie Chart for System Accuracy Figure 4. 7 shows that 86% or 198 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system has ability to recover form failure and 14% or 31 of the respondents agreed in the recovery of the system. Part IV – System’s Efficiency 1. Resource BehaviorThe system provides an optimum utilization of the resources. Table 4. 8 Resource Behavior Resource| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| Behavior| Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the resource behavior of| | | | | | | | the system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 195| | 195/229 x 100 = 85%| 85% of 360Â ° = 306Â °| 3| – Agree| 34| | 34/229 x 100 = 15%| 15% of 360Â ° = 54Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | 1| – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Resource Behavior 15% Strongly Agree Agree 85% Figure 4. 8 Pie Chart for System Resource Behavior Figure 4. shows that 85% or 195 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system provides an optimum utilization of the resources and 15% or 34 of the respondents agreed in the resource behavior of the system. 2. Time Behavior The system responses on time or as needed. Table 4 . 9 Time Behavior Time Behavior| Number| of| Percentage of| Angle| size| for Pie| | | Respondents| respondents evaluating| Chart| | | | | | | the time behavior of the| | | | | | | | system| | | | 4–Strongly Agree| 201| | 201/229 x 100 = 88%| 88% of 360Â ° = 317Â °| 3| – Agree| 28| | 28/229 x 100 = 12%| 12% of 360Â ° = 43Â °| 2| – Disagree| 0| | 0| 0| | | | – Strongly| 0| | 0| 0| | | Disagree| | | | | | | Time Behavior 12% Strongly Agree Agree 88% Figure 4. 9 Pie Chart for System Time Behavior Figure 4. 9 shows that 88% or 201 of the respondents strongly agreed that the system responses on time or as needed and 12% or 29 of the respondents agreed in the time behavior of the system. System Evaluation for AMACC – Lipa Campus Students 1. System’s Functionality Table 4. 10 System’s Functionality Criteria| Strongly| Agree| Disagree| Strongly| Weighted| Rank| | Agree| | | Disagree| Mean| | Suitability| 200| 29| 0| 0| 3. 7| 1| Interoperab ility| 199| 30| 0| 0| 3. 87| 1| Compliance| 198| 31| 0| 0| 3. 87| 2| 2. System’s Usability Table 4. 11 System’s Usability Criteria| Strongly| Agree| Disagree| Strongly| Weighted| Rank| | Agree| | | Disagree| Mean| | Understandability| 229| 0| 0| 0| 4| 1| Learnability| 198| 31| 0| 0| 3. 86| 2| 3. System’s Reliability Table 4. 12 System’s Reliability Criteria| Strongly| Agree| Disagree| Strongly| Weighted| Rank| | Agree| | | Disagree| Mean| | Accuracy| 200| 29| 0| 0| 3. 87| 1| Recovery| 198| 31| 0| 0| 3. 86| 2| 4. System’s Efficiency Table 4. 12System’s Efficiency Criteria| Strongly| Agree| Disagree| Strongly| Weighted| Rank| | Agree| | | Disagree| Mean| | Resource Behavior| 195| 34| 0| 0| 3. 85| 2| Time Behavior| 201| 28| 0| 0| 3. 88| 1| Over-all System Evaluation of AMACC – Lipa Campus Students Table 4. 13 Over-all System Evaluation of AMACC – Lipa Campus Students Criteria| Strongly| Agree| Disagree| Strongly| Weighted| Rank| | Agree| | | Disagree| Mean| | Functionality| 199| 28| 0| 0| 3. 88| 1| Usability| 142| 31| 0| 0| 3. 82| 2| Reliability| 199| 30| 0| 0| 3. 87| 1| Efficiency| 198| 31| 0| 0| 3. 6| 3| Table 4. 26 Verbal Interpretation of Evaluation Result Option| Scale| Verbal Interpretation| 4| 3. 50 – 4. 00| Strongly Agree| 3| 2. 55 – 3. 54| Agree| 2| 1. 55 – 2. 54| Disagree| 1| 1. 00 – 1. 54| Strongly Disagree| | Table 4. 27| | Interpretation of Over-all Evaluation of AMACC – Lipa Campus Student| | | | | Criteria| Weighted Mean| Verbal| Rank| | | Interpretation| | Functionality| 3. 88| Strongly Agree| 1| Usability| 3. 82| Strongly Agree| 2| Reliability| 3. 87| Strongly Agree| 1| Efficiency| 3. 86| Strongly Agree| 3| Average| | Strongly Agree| |