The Muslim Insurgency in Thailand Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Muslim Insurgency in Thailand - Essay Example Thailand - A Brief History: It is prudent to include a brief history of the country so as to analyze whether the present disturbances faced by the country has any its roots in its history. Thailand is credited to have been in existence from the late 1300's itself and till 1930, was known as the Siam. Even though, it is a constitutional monarchy, the country had its shares of coups and the last one had happened as late as September 2006. 95% of its population is Buddhist, with Muslims constituting a meagre 4.5% and other minority groups forming the rest. Its main source of income is through exports of electronics and machinery. Tourism too is a major revenue earner and Pattaya beach is a very popular tourist destination. It has a healthy per capita income of USD 3700 and an envious unemployment rate of only 1.5% of the labor force. "Thais date the founding of their nation to the 13th century." (Background Note: Thailand: Profile: History, 2008). The Ongoing insurgency in Thailand: Since 2001- the same year that Thaksin Shinawatra assumed the prime ministership of Thailand - the Southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat have been rocked by almost unprecedented violence. Although some accounts trace the cite January 4th, 2004 - the date of an attack on an army base in Narathiwat (which produced four deaths) and 20 school burnings - as the true start of the violence that has since continued unabated. In what amounts to the gravest political violence in Thailand's recent history, during 2004 and 2005 almost 2,000 separate assaults shook the three Southern promises and claimed more than 1,000 lives. Though Prime Minister Thaksin was celebrated by some for his "businesslike solutions" to various problems, following the January 2004 assaults, his government and forces responded to the violence with hard-line tactics that apparently including a number of covert, illicit actions on the parts of military and security person nel. Yet the imposition of martial law throughout the South and intense, heavy-handed policing tactics failed to staunch the deadly attacks. Indeed, the assaults appeared to become ever more sophisticated and more fatal. The roots of ongoing crisis date back more than 100 years to the prolonged fighting which led the annexation, in the early twentieth century, of the majority-Muslim Malay sultanate of Pattani into the Kingdom of Siam. Such analysts note that, for decades following the annexation, the Thai regime employed authoritarian policies intended to consolidate an expanded, Thai-dominated nation-state, moving aggressively to prevent Malay-Muslims from preserving their traditional cultural and ethnic identities. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, many Malay-Muslims resisted official policies that sought, in effect, to eradicate their traditions and clamored for separation from Thailand, but the Thai regime responded to that resistance with even fiercer and more repressive measures. Fr om the 1960s and into the late 1980s, "separatist" groups were active in the South, with levels of tension and violence reaching particularly high levels during the 1970s, when the so-called "separatist movement" reached a peak. During the 1980s, the Thai government under Prime Minister General Prem Tinsulanond initiated new policies towards

Exploring How State of Matter Affects the Rate of Diffusion Essay Example for Free

Exploring How State of Matter Affects the Rate of Diffusion Essay Introduction Diffusion is the random process by which particles distribute themselves within a container or medium. There are two factors that distinguish how substances move passively through membranes. The first factor is hydrophobic , a nonpolar molecule that can dissolve in a lipid bilayer and freely move through the membrane. However a hydrophillic molecule consisting of ions and polar molecules inhibit in their movement through the membrane making it a slower diffusion process. Selectively permeable, moreover, are charged atoms and molecules that are mostly blocked from traveling through the membrane due to the hydrophobic center. The purpose of this experiment was to test how the state of matter affects the rate of diffusion in a semi-solid vs. a liquid state. If the Potassium Permanganate crystals are placed in Petri dishes filled with water and 2% agar, then the crystals will diffuse at a faster rate in water than in the agar. The addition of the Potassium Permanganate crystals to the water and agar, there will be a result of more diffusion and more obvious color change in water compared to agar which will result in a slower less obvious diffusion. Materials The materials needed for this experiment are: One Petri dish with 2% agar and one Petri dish of water filled half way up to test the rate of diffusion. Also, two small crystals of potassium permanganate and one pair of forceps will be needed to place in the Petri dishes. One metric ruler will be need as well to measure the change of color in diameter and one 8 x 11 piece of white paper will also be used for safety precautions. Methods First, a member of the group will gather all the materials including the Petri dishes filled with tap water and 2% agar, forceps, ruler, 8X11 piece of white paper and the jar that contains the potassium permanganate crystals, and bring the materials back to the designated area. Then the experimenter will start to conduct the experiment. Then the experiment will consist of placing the empty Petri dish and the agar Petri dish on top of the white paper side by side. Second, Tap water will be added to a half way point in the empty Petri dish until it is approximately the same level as agar in the other Petri dish. Before continuing, wait for the water to stop moving to get an accurate measure of the diffusion. After that, have lab partner assist with placing potassium permanganate crystals into the agar Petri dish, while at the same time, the primary experimenter places the other two potassium permanganate crystals into the tap water. Be sure not to splash water in the aqueous dish. The moment that each crystal has been lowered is Time Zero. A purple color will be obvious immediately. Next have the experiment observe the diffusion rate for every 3 minutes for the next 15 minutes. For every 3 minutes, measure the diameter of the diffusion circle in millimeters (mm) and write down the measurement on the chart given. Be careful not to disturb the aqueous Petri dish. Discussion The results show that there a major difference in the rate of diffusion between 2% agar and tap water. Immediately, when the potassium permanganate crystals were dropped at 0, there was already an instant diffusion of 2 mm, compared to agar which was 1mm. Because water is a polar molecule, diffusion across membranes travel quicker compared to a nonpolar substance like agar that diffuse though the lipid part of a membrane. At the first 3 minute mark, it shows that the crystals have diffused relatively fast at 15 mm, compared to the diameter in agar which has slowly diffused to 5 mm. for the next 12 minutes, results have show that the diameter in water has increase about 8 10 mm every 3 minutes and agar has stayed the same throughout. Due to passive transport, the movement of molecules from the potassium permanganate have a higher concentration, and are then added to water which diffuses from that high concentration to a lower concentration. This was the expected result. Since water is polar, the crystals can easily diffuse through the gradient. Furthermore, with agar being a nonpolar molecule, it maintained a state of dynamic equilibrium because it diffused slower but was diffused evenly. However since other factors do play a role in the rate of diffusion, maybe temperature could have changed the rate of diffusion for the two Petri dishes. Also had the allotted time been different there may have also been a change in the results. There were no negative results or errors made during this experiment. Based on the results it can be concluded that dropping potassium permanganate crystals into water, diffuses across the gradient faster compared to 2% agar. This does support the initial hypothesis and the predictions were accurate.

Free Essays - Human Fears in Catch-22 :: Catch-22

Catch-22 Human Fears The satirical and sympathetic tones in Catch-22 create bizarre situations and tragedy that describe war without the false glory and honor. It exposes human fears and needs in a time of pressure. The diction of Catch-22 displaces the irrational ideas that the military upholds regarding death. The "clause of Catch-22" has no consideration for the "rational mind," or "concern for one's own safety." Catch-22 is a logical infallibility that makes one follow in endless circles of nonsense. Anyone sensible is lost in this swamp of incomprehensibility. Sane becomes arguable and life becomes a joke when regarded through a catch-22. There was a "grim secret...over the messy floor," like "garbage," it was the "inevitable end." Death was so often and close and real that it became like a secret between soldiers that if it wasn't told maybe it would never be true. When they were dead they were like garbage, they could be burned, dropped and buried. For everyone in the war, death could be at any time. It was coming but they didn't know when. Death was treated like it was impersonal, almost a joke; a horrible joke that no individual had control over. In Catch-22 the detail portrays the actions leading Yossarian to become an Atheist. "Shivering uncontrollably," he kept thinking "everyone is trying to kill me." Physical pain isn't uncommon in war. It can create fear and cause anger toward everything, no matter what the cause. The thought that so many people are coming with guns forward and that they all could potential end his life; this paranoia kept running through the mind of Yossarian. With something like "Catch-22" it must be a "mean and stupid God." Catch-22 keeps a soldier in the fight with the fear and anger and danger. When you seem hopelessly lost and in peril all the time, one will begin to question the meaning of it all. Why am I still here? Why me? These questions and situations without an answer created a loss in faith. The organization of the plot moves from confusion to argument and finally to refutation. In the beginning Yossarian tries to reason with the officers to let him stop flying missions.

‘Lady Lazarus’ by Sylvia Plath. Essay

The poem ‘Lady Lazarus’ gives us an insight into the troubled life of the poet Sylvia Plath. She lost her father at an early age. Supported solely by her mother she went through a very rough childhood. In fact, Sylvia Plath escaped a near fatal accident in her childhood and went on to attempt suicide twice in the following years of her life. In the poem, Plath lets her emotions flow and sheds light on her distress. In this poem, Sylvia Plath uses Holocaust imagery extensively. The Holocaust, as is widely known, refers to the inhuman torture and exploitation of the Jews by the Nazis. The first mention of the gruesome Holocaust comes in the form of a comparison between herself and a Nazi lampshade. Unbelievable as it may seem, the Nazis used the skins of the Jews to make lampshades. Plath feels that she has been used in a similar manner. Throughout her life Plath had been in and out of hospital. So much so that she felt like an object on display; a mere, inconsequential living thing on which the doctors happily carried out various experiments. The Nazis used to take away all valuable articles from the Jews, including expensive fabrics like linen. Plath refers to her skin as Jew linen, again indicating that she was used as an object. Plath suffered a nervous breakdown in her childhood. To cure her, doctors had no choice but to use shock treatment, subjecting her to unbearable pain in the process. In the poem, Plath uses the word ‘charge’ which has a pun on it, referring to the brutal pain inflicted on her by the doctors. In this instance, a parallel can be drawn to the inhuman torture experienced by the Jews. In the poem, Plath refers to herself as a ‘valuable’ and a ‘pure gold baby’, which is again an example of Holocaust imagery. It is widely believed that the Nazis were so cruel that they not only used the Jews to do physical work but also used their bodies to make objects like soap. Their golden teeth were plucked out and melted to make valuables such as wedding rings. Their corpses were then burnt to erase all trace of their existence. The mention of all this in the poem makes us believe that Sylvia Plath considered herself to be stifled, oppressed and exploited, just like the Jews. Finally, a striking similarity is noticed in the manner in which Plath chose to end her life and the methods used to exterminate the Jews. The Jews were killed in gas chambers where poisonous gases devoured their internal organs. Plath committed suicide by putting her head inside an oven, and died as a result of gas poisoning. In my opinion this was perhaps because she felt herself so alike the Jews that she preferred to end her life in the very same manner. Thus, we can safely conclude that Holocaust imagery forms a significant part of Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Lady Lazarus’. b) After critically analyzing the poem, the Holocaust imagery which has been used widely, seems fairly effective in conveying the poet’s message. It is clear from the poem that Sylvia Plath felt she has been driven to suicide by society as a whole. Evidently, she believed that life had been too unfair to her. This feeling stems from her childhood, when she lost her father. This horrific incident left a gaping void in her life. A major part of her moral support had been cruelly snatched from her. To add to this, Plath had a pitiable medical record. She made frequent visits to the hospital throughout her life. The excruciating shock treatment she received shook her completely. Once Plath got married, her personal life suffered even more. Her husband had been unfaithful to her, further aggravating her pitiable condition. Overall, Plath’s life was depressing to say the least. Plath was consumed by self-pity throughout her life. In this regard, the Holocaust imagery used by Plath is very effective and appropriate. It reminds us of history’s most vicious tale of cruelty. This justifies its use to depict Plath’s life. However, in other respects, the Holocaust imagery cannot effectively portray Plath’s life. An important reason being that the Jews always had the will to survive. They were members of an affluent community who were stripped off all their possessions by the Nazis. Plath on the other hand had attempted suicide twice. This is a glaring difference between Plath’s life and the Holocaust, making it quite ineffective in conveying her message. Another important difference is that the Holocaust was a planned genocide which involved the death of approximately six million people. Plath’s comparison seems quite irrelevant in this aspect, as she talks about the death of a single person (herself). Finally, one of the most important differences is that Plath considered death to be a performance. At the end of the poem, Plath says that she was about to rise like a phoenix, referring to her own death. To her, attaining death was like being resurrected, as she would be freed from her troubled life. Plath believed death to be a means of attaining victory over life. She clearly mentions that when she survived her second suicide attempt, it was a theatrical comeback. In comparison, the Holocaust was only about forcing people into giving up their lives. Thus, in my opinion, taking these factors and many more subtle differences onto consideration, the Holocaust imagery is fairly effective in conveying Plath’s message.

Full Disclosure Essay

Accounting is an information system that identifies, records, and communicates the economic events of an organization to interested users† (Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield, 2007). Information that is relevant and important to users should be disclosed; unfortunately, some information cannot be quantified through financial data. Certain data cannot be included in the organization’s financial statements. The full disclosure principle explains how companies handle situations that cannot be explained in numerical terms but should be disclosed to the investing public. This paper will explain what is the full disclosure principle in accounting and why has disclosure increased substantially in the last 10 years. This paper will also address why full disclosure is needed and what possible consequences may occur if companies do not follow these principles. What is Full Disclosure?†The full disclosure principle calls for financial reporting of any financial facts significant enough to influence the judgment of an informed reader† (Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield, 2007, p. 1282). For example, certain financial information does not directly influence specific journal accounts. However, these financial events may influence the future of the company’s or may influence how investors view the financial stability of the company. For example, a high-profile ongoing lawsuit may cause dramatic constraints on the company’s liabilities and assets if the company must pay high litigation fees and settlements. This type of information has a huge impact on how stable the company seems. Unfortunately, it will not be stated in the financial statements since the case has not been settled. According to the full disclosure principle, the company should disclose this type of information in the notes of the financial statements. This kind of information influences how investors rate the company’s financial stability and strategic future even though the company has not settled the case yet. Full disclosure also curbs fraudulent accounting acts that can be hidden or omitted from financial statements. Why Full Disclosure Increased Substantially in the Last 10 Years?The full disclosure principle has substantially increased within the last 10 years due to several reasons. One of the reasons is due to the wake of off-balance sheet financing made public by the Enron scandal (Kieso, Weygandt, and  Warfield, 2007). Fraudulent accounting acts made famous by the Enron scandal has prompted the industry to reinforce this principle. Consequently, the SEC called for an expanded disclosure in order to ensure that companies are disclosing all necessary information. By disclosing information that may affect users, companies comply with the increased reporting requirements recently made by the accounting profession. It also forces companies to disclose information that has the potential of having huge financial consequences to the business. Moreover, the complexity of the business environment, and the need for timely information has increased the need for full disclosure as well. As a result, the SEC enforced the full disclosure principle more fully to help monitor and control business organizations (Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield, 2007). Why is Full Disclosure Needed?The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the public have both called for the need to disclose accurate financial information that states all contractual obligations and liabilities must be reported. In other words, full disclosure is needed to ensure that organizations are disclosing all of the necessary information to help investors, creditors, and the public make better and wiser decisions regarding their companies. Full disclosure is also needed to ensure that companies do not commit fraudulent activities like the activities that were committed within the Enron organization. Full disclosure also helps investors determine if a company is as stable as the financial statements appear to be. Possible ConsequencesFailing to disclose items in financial statements can have several possible consequences. The Enron scandal shows how company executives can be held liable for fraudulent activity. Criminal and civil liabilities may occur if executives fail to disclose financial information that may mislead investors. Another consequence is losing public trust if an organization is caught not disclosing pertinent information. A company may lose high public opinion if shareholders are led to believe that the company was more profitable than what was actually occurring. Moreover, a company may not be able to recover from bad press, litigation costs, and government fines if caught not fully disclosing financial information. The Sarbanes  Oxley Act reinforces the consequences and punishments of not fully disclosing financial information. The main goal of this act focuses on deterring fraudulent acts and cutting down on poor reporting practices. CEOs and CFOs are held personally liable for the accuracy of financial statements; a forfeit of the CEO’s bonuses or company profits may be withheld if accounting restatements are made as well (Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield, 2007). Independent auditors must be employed to ensure that accurate information is disclosed as well. Conclusion The full disclosure principle ensures that relevant and useful financial information is reported accurately to the public. Fraudulent accounting activity has called for stricter interpretations of this principle since criminal, civil, and SEC violations may occur if full disclosure is not followed. The Sarbanes Oxley Act highlights the consequences of not fully disclosing information. These strict guidelines show how the government has responded to accounting activities that attempt to hide certain financial activities. Accounting managers must be aware of the heightened need for fully disclosing all types of financial events or information that may affect the investor’s view of the financial stability of a company. References Weygandt J., Kieso D., & Kimmel, P. (2007) Financial Accounting and Accounting Standards. Intermediate Accounting (12th edition). Kieso D., Weygandt J., & Warfield T. (2007). Full Disclosure. Intermediate Accounting (12th edition).

Avoid these 8 words and phrases in your cover letter if you want to impress

Avoid these 8 words and phrases in your cover letter if you want to impress You’ve created  a killer resume and now it’s time to write a cover letter and send off your whole package. Your main goal is to make sure it’s polished, professional, and a perfect summary of why you’re the best candidate for the job. The best cover letters stand out from the crowd, while not falling victim to any common annoyances that can irritate recruiters and compromise your chances before you even get started. Here’s a list of some of the common words and phrases that will turn off potential employers and stall out your job search. Make sure the impression you are making is the right one!1. â€Å"Always† and â€Å"Never†Speaking in absolutes isn’t a good idea. Situations can change, so it’s silly to box yourself into a corner if there’s a chance you might backpedal one day. First of all, never say never. You don’t want to come across as rigid.   Keep an open mind about your future, your ability to shift, and the future of your industry. Always is just as tricky- personalities change and you never know how you will react until you face a specific situation. With either extreme, you look like an amateur. Put things in grown-up terms that leave room for adaptability.2. â€Å"To Whom It May Concern†Your parents might still claim this is the best way to open a letter, but it is way outdated. Put in the extra effort to Google the company and figure out who is most likely to be reading your resume: either an HR manager, a department head, a recruiter, or your future boss. Address your letter that way. (The same goes for â€Å"Dear Sir† or â€Å"Madam.†)3. â€Å"Handled†This is a common verb to fall back on when you want to talk about your problem-solving skills or how you put out fires. But it isn’t very descriptive or strong. Also, â€Å"handling† customers or coworkers doesn’t really strike the correct tone. Try â€Å"diffused tens e customer relations situations† or â€Å"treated difficult customers with respect while†¦Ã¢â‚¬  instead. If you’re talking about situations, use specific language: examples like â€Å"led a team† or â€Å"created a system to† describe what you did.4. â€Å"Works well independently or as part of a team†This one has been said so often that it’s now off-limits. Find another way to convey both these points by showing how you do this, rather than telling in the same old tired language.5. â€Å"I/me†Obviously, you can’t get away with using these personal pronouns entirely. Just try to go through your letter at the end and make sure you aren’t abusing the privilege. Keep the â€Å"I†s to a minimum.6. â€Å"Looking for a great position†¦Ã¢â‚¬ First, no one is looking for a boring or bad position. Let’s be real. Come up with something better and more concrete (and, ideally, more tailored to the positio n you seek), and put that in your objective section or summary instead. Second, the point of the cover letter is to describe what  you can offer them, not what they can offer you.7. â€Å"I feel that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Be confident enough to assert facts. Delete â€Å"I feel that† and your sentence automatically becomes more assertive. If you aren’t dealing in facts, try â€Å"I believe† or â€Å"I am confident that† instead. You’ll come across as much more capable.8. â€Å"Really†Just don’t bother with these empty adjectives (â€Å"very† is another one). They have the opposite effect of what you’re going for, by making you seem like you’re overselling or covering for something. Let the details stand for themselves and find another way to spice up the text to make it sing.

Biography of Atlanta Mass Murderer Mark Orrin Barton

Biography of Atlanta Mass Murderer Mark Orrin Barton Known as being one the largest mass murderers in Atlantas history, day-trader Mark Barton, 44, went on a killing spree on July 29, 1999, at two Atlanta-based trading firms: All-Tech Investment Group and Momentum Securities. Upset over seven weeks of big losses in day trading, which had brought him to financial ruin, Bartons killing spree resulted in 12 people killed and 13 injured at the two companies. After a daylong manhunt and surrounded by police, Barton committed suicide by shooting himself at an Acworth, Georgia, gas station when his capture became imminent. The Killing Spree At around 2:30 p.m. on July 29, 1999, Barton entered Momentum Securities. He was a familiar face around there and just like any other day, he began chatting with the other day traders about the stock market. Dow Jones was showing a dramatic drop of about 200 points adding to a week of disappointing numbers. Smiling, Barton turned to the group and said, Its a bad trading day, and its about to get worse. He then took out two handguns, a 9mm Glock and a .45 caliber Colt, and began firing. He fatally shot four people and injured several others. He then went across the street to All-Tec and began shooting, leaving five dead. According to reports, Barton had lost an estimated $105,000 in about seven weeks. More Murders After the shooting, investigators went to Bartons home and discovered the bodies of his second wife, Leigh Ann Vandiver Barton, and Bartons two children, Matthew David Barton, 12, and Mychelle Elizabeth Barton, 10. According to one of the four letters left by Barton, Leigh Ann was murdered the night of July 27, and the children were murdered on July 28, the night before the shooting spree at the trading firms. In one of the letters, he wrote that he did not want his children to suffer without having a mother or father and that his son was already showing signs of the fears that he had suffered with throughout his life. Barton also wrote that he killed Leigh Ann because she was partly to blame for his demise. He then went on to describe the method he used to kill his family. There was little pain. All of them were dead in less than five minutes. I hit them with the hammer in their sleep and then put them face-down in the bathtub to make sure they did not wake up in pain, to make sure they were dead. The body of his wife was found under a blanket in a closet and the childrens bodies were found in their bed. Prime Suspect in Another Murder As the investigation into Barton continued, it was revealed that he had been the prime suspect in the 1993 murders of his first wife and her mother. Debra Spivey Barton, 36, and her mother, Eloise, 59, both of Lithia Springs, Georgia, went camping on Labor Day weekend. Their bodies were found inside their camper van. They had been bludgeoned to death with a sharp object. There was no sign of forced entry and although some jewelry was missing, other valuables and money had been left behind, leading investigators to put Barton on top of the list of suspects. A Lifetime of Trouble Mark Barton seemed to make bad decisions most of his life. In high school, he showed great academic potential in math and science, but started using drugs and ended up in hospitals and rehabilitation centers after overdosing several times. Despite his drug background, he got into Clemson University and, in his first year, he was arrested and charged with burglary. He was placed on probation, but that did not deter his drug use and he ended up leaving Clemson after suffering a breakdown. Barton then managed to get into the University of South Carolina, where he earned a degree in chemistry in 1979. His life seemed to level out some after college, although his drug use continued. He married Debra Spivey and in 1998 their first child, Matthew, was born. Bartons next brush with the law happened in Arkansas, where the family had relocated to due to his employment. There he began to show signs of severe paranoia and often accused Debra of infidelity. As time went on, he became increasingly controlling over Debras activities and exhibited strange behavior at work. In 1990 he was fired. Furious by the firing, Barton retaliated by breaking into the company and downloading sensitive files and secret chemical formulas. He was arrested and charged with felony burglary but got out of it after agreeing to a settlement with the company. The family moved back to Georgia where Barton got a new job in sales at a chemical company. His relationship with Debra continued to deteriorate and he began having an affair with Leigh Ann (later to become his second wife), who he had met through his work. In 1991, Mychelle was born. Despite the birth of a new child, Barton continued seeing Leigh Ann. The affair was no secret to Debra, who, for unknown reasons, decided not to confront Barton. Eighteen months later, Debra and her mother were found dead. Murder Investigation From the start, Barton was the prime suspect in the murders of his wife and mother-in-law. The police learned of his affair with Leigh Ann and that he had taken out a $600,000 life insurance policy on Debra. However, Leigh Ann told the police that Barton was with her over Labor Day weekend, which left investigators without evidence and a lot of speculation. Unable to charge Barton with the murders, the case was left unsolved, but the investigation was never closed. Due to the murders being unsolved, the insurance company refused to pay Barton, but later lost a lawsuit Barton filed and he ended up getting the $600,000. New Beginnings, Old Habits It was not long after the murders that Leigh Ann and Barton moved in together and in 1995 the couple married. However, just like what happened with Debra, Barton soon began showing signs of paranoia and distrust towards Leigh Ann. He also began losing money as a day-trader, big money. The financial pressures and Bartons paranoia took a toll on the marriage and Leigh Ann, along with the two children, left and moved into an apartment. Later the two reconciled and Barton rejoined the family. Within months of the reconciliation, Leigh Ann and the children would be dead. Warning Signs From interviews with those who knew Barton, there were no obvious signs that he was going to flip out, murder his family, and go on a shooting spree. However, he had earned the nickname Rocket at work because of his explosive behavior while day trading. This type of behavior was not all that unusual among this group of traders. It is a fast, high-risk game, where gains and losses can happen quickly. Barton did not talk much about his personal life with his fellow day traders, but many of them were aware of his financial loses. All-Tech had stopped allowing him to trade until he put money in his account to cover his losses. Unable to come up with the money, he turned to other day-traders for loans. But still, none of them had any idea that Barton was harboring resentment and about to explode. Witnesses later told police that Barton seemed to purposely seek out and shoot some of the people who had loaned him money. In one of the four letters he left in his home, he wrote about hating this life and having no hope and being terrified each time he woke up. He said that he did not expect to live much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction. He also denied killing his first wife and her mother, although he admitted that there were similarities between how they were killed and how he killed his current wife and children. He ended the letter with, You should kill me if you can. As it turned out, he took care of that himself, but not before ending the lives of many others.

Connor Surname Meaning and Origin

Connor Surname Meaning and Origin Connelly is a patronymic surname, the shortened form O’Connor, which in turn is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Ó Conchobhair or Ó Conchà ºir, meaning descendant of Conchobhar. The name Conchobhar is thought to mean lover of hounds, from the Gaelic con, meaning hound or wolf, and cobhair, aid, or desiring. The Connor name is also thought to denote strength and leadership, from conn, meaning wisdom, strength, counsel, plus cobhair. The OConnors descend from several distinct royal Irish families and clans; they are from Clare, Derry, Galway, Kerry, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and the province of Ulster. CONNOR is one of 50 common Irish surnames of modern Ireland. Surname Origin: Irish Alternate Surname Spellings: CONNER, CONOR, OCONNOR, OCONOR, COUROY, CON, CONE, CONNE, KONNOR Famous People with the Surname CONNOR: Sandra Day OConnor - former U.S. Supreme Court justiceRoger Connor - American baseball Hall of FamerFlannery OConnor - American writerSinà ©ad OConnor - Irish singer-songwriter Genealogy Resources for the Surname CONNOR and OCONNOR British Surname Profiler - Distribution of the Connor Surname: Trace the geography and history of the Connor surname through this free online database based on a University College London (UCL) project investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic.Connor Family Genealogy Forum: Search this popular genealogy forum for the Connor surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Connor surname query.FamilySearch - CONNOR Genealogy: Find historical records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Connor surname and its variations.CONNOR Surname Family Mailing Lists: RootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Connor surname.Cousin Connect - CONNOR Genealogy Queries: Read or post genealogy queries for the surname Connor, and sign up for free notification when new Connor queries are added.DistantCousin.com - CONNOR Genealogy Family History:  Free databases and genealogy links f or the last name Connor.

Cross Cultural Management. Importance of Value Essay

Cross Cultural Management. Importance of Value - Essay Example Cross cultural management refers to a mechanism formulated to train people regarding the variations of practices, preferences, and culture in global business. With the lapse of time, diversity in practices, cultures, and preferences of consumers increase substantially, thereby increasing the need to bridge the communication gap by implementing cross cultural management. In management, cultural differences refer to varying taste, preferences, culture, likes and dislikes, ways of communications, norms, values, and beliefs of every culture. The objective of this paper is to examine the cultural variations in the light of scholarly articles as mentioned in two renowned models. An extensive study of Hofstede and Schwarts model will be done followed by a criticism of Hofstede model. These two models can be viewed in terms of how the business managers react to cross cultural management. The business managers face various sorts of cultural issues while performing their tasks e.g. workforce d iversity, language barriers, religious issues etc. Under these circumstances, it is highly effective for the business managers to understand these two cross cultural models and incorporate their effects in their organizational context. Importance of Value Hofstede and Schwartz have studies cross cultural values and their findings are in the subsequent parts of this section in order to gain acquaintance with importance of value and varying values in different culture. Hofstede Model Hofstede (1993) stated that when management theorists embark to other parts of the world, outside their own country, they encounter strange customers, beings, theories, organizing and disorganizing, immoral or old-fashioned ways of doing things. Some of them work but some of them fail to work. After gaining this experience, the traveler comes to home country and can use this experience advantageously. The purpose of the study of Hofstede (1993) was that all great ideas relating to management, politics, or science, have come from different parts of the world and have been enhanced by foreign influences. Hofstede (1993) examined the context of management from different parts of the world. Hofsetde (1993) reviewed the managerial culture of countries like Japan, France, China, Holland, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Hofstede (1993) stated that management is what is common among all countries but its context and meaning differ to a smaller or a larger extent from country to country. Hofstede (1993) further stated that it requires considerable cultural insight to understand the philosophies, processes, and problems. Further arguing, Hofstede (1993) stated that if management is such a broad word and it means so many varying things, then it cannot be expected that management theories of one country will be applicable to abroad as well. Management is related to government, politics, and school. It is present in beliefs and religion about science. Manag ement theories are interdisciplinary but as soon as national boundaries are crossed, it becomes more interdisciplinary. By stating so, Hofstede (1993) divided cultural difference into five dimensions. i. Power distance; inequality among people that is considered as normal among people ii. Individualism vs. collectivism; degree to which people of a country tend to act as individuals instead of a members of a group iii. Masculinity vs. femininity; where tough values like performance, assertiveness, success prevail over gentle values such warm relation, care, quality of life. iv. Uncertainty avoidance; people preferring planned situation over unstructured ones. v. Long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation; long-term refers to values

Pricing Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pricing Strategy - Case Study Example Pricing must show a positive correlation with other elements of the mix so as to achieve the objectives of a firm. In addition, pricing is complex as it must imitate the demand and supply relationship of the product. Firms need to charge a fair price, since charging too high for the product or too low might lead to reduction in sales for the organization thus reducing the profitability of the organization. Therefore, there is a need for the hotel to consider the profit factors in determining the price of the product. In this case, the profit factors includes; the objectives of the company, variable and fixed cost associated with the product, the targeted market and willingness and ability to pay, the competition environment prevailing in the industry and planned positioning strategies (Smith and Smith 271). In the consideration, of the above classification, the place or rather the location of the hotel is vital for pricing. Avira hotel is strategically situated, where in the neighbor hood there various tourist attraction site thus offering the possibility a wider a market. Also, the hotel operates from an area which is close to the airport, bank and various garden as well as other recreational areas. This implies that the many of the customers are individuals who have a higher willingness ability to pay; therefore, the price must reflect this consideration (Smith and Smith 282). The strategic positioning in an area where there demand of the hotels implies the price charged by the hotel must reflect the supply constrain, since there are only five-star hotels in the area, while the number of the customer is higher. This implies that demand is considerably high since it is only in the month may that the hotels products experienced an average of about 50% occupancy this justifies the move by the hotel review it price so as to reflect this relationship (Smith and Smith 289). Another pricing strategy showcased in this case is the level of competition in the hotel indu stry in the region. There are only five-star hotels serving a wide, thus, the completion between the hotels is not intense as demand is in excess of supply. This implies that, for a hotel to be more competitive than the other hotel so that it can control the large proportion market, therefore, they must consider the pricing strategy so as to maximize on large production thus benefiting from the economies of scale. In respect to competition, the customers consider the utility they derive and compare this to the price that they pay for the product. It is evident that the price that Avari hotel is slightly higher than that of its key competitor Pearl. Usually consumers will pay higher for a commodity if they think that the commodity is superior as compared to the others. In this case, when Avira lowered its price in the month of November lower than its competitors Pearl; that is pearl charges $1065 and Avira $1000. Pearl occupancy level rises to 80% as compared to 70% Avira. This has t he implication that consumers equate the price they pay to the utility or satisfaction they derive from consuming these products. Avira also utilizes premium pricing, where it charges higher prices for its products to show the how its product is exclusive as compared to the product offered by other firms and especially competition. This case can be delineated by the ever higher price charged by Avira as compared to Pearl. In addition to this, the

Liberal and Realists view on NAFTA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Liberal and Realists view on NAFTA - Essay Example The following paper compares and contrasts liberal and realist views on NAFTA. Liberals argue that free trade is advantageous only when the margin is not at risk of economic manipulation by the central player in the agreement, which is the United States in NAFTA’s case (Chan 7). This argument comes from advocates who believe in the protection of individual freedoms and civil rights, including uncompromising interests like natural surroundings. In contrast, realist advocates emphasize the core significance of power and economic interests. These emphases revolve around the principles of intergovernmentalism, least-common denominator negotiating, and stern limits on future handovers of independence (Chan 12). This realist view suits the most recent events in North America in the course of its regional presence despite originating from the EU. Liberals are against government involvement in top economic projects or activities through projectionist regulations like duties, grants, and quotas (Chan 9). Realists’ logic on government involvement is that a country’s welfare is the main concern over international objectives (Chan 16). Liberals’ focus is on general economic development as proven by rises in GDP. This basis means liberals expected NAFTA to generate a rise in exports of products and services, raise employment rates, raise overseas investments, and trigger general economic growth. In comparison, realists believe a nation should accumulate wealth and power through self-adequacy. As a result, realists were directly against a free trade convention such as NAFTA during its formation in the early 1990s since it endangered the local manufacturing industry through competition and forms trade shortfalls. Liberalism relates to the Dependency theory, which contends that central and marginal economic affairs are concerns for a specific type of fundamental economist (Chan 11).

Decision Making Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Decision Making - Term Paper Example Although different concepts on the theoretical framework for decision making have emerged, the standard decision-making model used in organizations focus on the rational model involving â€Å"a cognitive process where each step follows in a logical order from the one before†¦ (and) it is based on thinking through and weighing up the alternatives to come up with the best potential result† (decision-making-confidence.com 1). On the other hand, authors Ticha, Hron and Fiedler wrote an article entitled â€Å"Managerial decision making – importance of intuition in the rational process† published in the Agricultural Economics Journal which aimed to determine the role of intuition in the decision making process (Ticha, Hron and Fiedler). In this regard, the purpose of the paper is to choose a real life problem that have either been noted or where one has been a part of and analyze it using one of the theories or ideas discussed in the text or in class. The discours e would analyze the decision making process by linking it to theories and concepts discussed to derive a deeper understanding of both the problem and potential solutions through increased knowledge of administrative behavior in organizations. Organizational Problem One has learned from a friend previously employed in a health care organization of a decision making process that involved both the rational model and intuition. By intuition, Ticha, et al. ... involves the manifested difficulties of nurses managers to comply with their responsibilities that involve not only patient care but complying with documentation and reportorial obligations. According to nurse managers, the need to do some administrative and clerical tasks divide their focus on patient care, causing lower productivity and performance. Other symptoms of confounding problems are exemplified through back-logs in complying with monthly reports on status of medical equipment and supplies under their jurisdiction, performance evaluations of nurses, and scheduling vacation leaves and trainings for nurses. Alternative Courses of Action and Analysis of Options Using the rational model of decision making, since the problem has already been identified, the alternative courses of action were enumerated by department managers for presentation to the Vice President of Nursing and to be forwarded to the President and CEO for approval. The different options presented were as follows : (1) Status quo or do nothing, by forcing the nurse managers to comply with both adminstrative obligations and patient care. The advantage of this option is that there would not be any displacement or changes that could possible be met by resistance and difficulties in implementation. The disadvantage of this alternative is contined backlog in reports that could be significantly detrimental in the long run since the accuracy in information for performance of personnel, inventories of equipment and supplies and scheduling of vacation leaves are lacking, there are strong possibilities for insufficient supplies, demotivated staff and delayed promotions. In addition, patient care, which is of utmost importance would likely suffer as well. (2) Review the responsibilities of the nurse managers

-Issues with Chinesse Made goods (toys, food) Research Paper

-Issues with Chinesse Made goods (toys, food) - Research Paper Example orted recall of Stuffed Fun balls, during June 2006 to March 2007, from dollar and other discount stores; as these baby toys contained dangerous level of lead in the paint used by the Chinese maker. Similarly many ‘children’s turquoise rings’ were recalled by the Central Distributing Company of Maryland, during May 2007, as the same contained dangerous levels of lead.(Jefferson, 2007) The wheat gluten that was imported into America from China has been found responsible for the contamination of food products that killed huge number of pets and dogs, during 2007. However, media reports inform that the person responsible for allowing the export of such food product was arrested and executed by the Chinese government. The Chinese company exporting contaminated wheat gluten for human and animal consumption has been banned by the US government. Fortunately no large scale human tragedy was reported, due to such contamination.(Vujsa, 2007) In view of the ever increasing rejection of Chinese goods, due to above and other reasons, many Chinese business houses have incorporated corporate social responsibility and global law-abidance in their business models. The same include guarantee of high quality products and services by the business enterprises, among other issues.(Zhihai, 2007) Zhihai Zheng, â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†, International Management Review, Vol. 3 No. 1 2007, accessed on 8th March 2011 at:

Decision Making Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Decision Making - Term Paper Example Although different concepts on the theoretical framework for decision making have emerged, the standard decision-making model used in organizations focus on the rational model involving â€Å"a cognitive process where each step follows in a logical order from the one before†¦ (and) it is based on thinking through and weighing up the alternatives to come up with the best potential result† (decision-making-confidence.com 1). On the other hand, authors Ticha, Hron and Fiedler wrote an article entitled â€Å"Managerial decision making – importance of intuition in the rational process† published in the Agricultural Economics Journal which aimed to determine the role of intuition in the decision making process (Ticha, Hron and Fiedler). In this regard, the purpose of the paper is to choose a real life problem that have either been noted or where one has been a part of and analyze it using one of the theories or ideas discussed in the text or in class. The discours e would analyze the decision making process by linking it to theories and concepts discussed to derive a deeper understanding of both the problem and potential solutions through increased knowledge of administrative behavior in organizations. Organizational Problem One has learned from a friend previously employed in a health care organization of a decision making process that involved both the rational model and intuition. By intuition, Ticha, et al. ... involves the manifested difficulties of nurses managers to comply with their responsibilities that involve not only patient care but complying with documentation and reportorial obligations. According to nurse managers, the need to do some administrative and clerical tasks divide their focus on patient care, causing lower productivity and performance. Other symptoms of confounding problems are exemplified through back-logs in complying with monthly reports on status of medical equipment and supplies under their jurisdiction, performance evaluations of nurses, and scheduling vacation leaves and trainings for nurses. Alternative Courses of Action and Analysis of Options Using the rational model of decision making, since the problem has already been identified, the alternative courses of action were enumerated by department managers for presentation to the Vice President of Nursing and to be forwarded to the President and CEO for approval. The different options presented were as follows : (1) Status quo or do nothing, by forcing the nurse managers to comply with both adminstrative obligations and patient care. The advantage of this option is that there would not be any displacement or changes that could possible be met by resistance and difficulties in implementation. The disadvantage of this alternative is contined backlog in reports that could be significantly detrimental in the long run since the accuracy in information for performance of personnel, inventories of equipment and supplies and scheduling of vacation leaves are lacking, there are strong possibilities for insufficient supplies, demotivated staff and delayed promotions. In addition, patient care, which is of utmost importance would likely suffer as well. (2) Review the responsibilities of the nurse managers

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Strategic Management - Essay Example Some of the local brands are also considered by the company that includes Aguila, Castle, Snow, Victoria Bitter, Miller Lite, and Tyskie. The company has been successful in creating its position in both the emerging as well as developed markets across the globe (Overview, 2012). The present study has been considered to make an environmental analysis of SABMiller. Environmental analysis involves identification of the environmental factors that can affect a company, and hence their nature and impact on the level of success of the company. Depending on such factors, if identified, a company would be able to consider measures accordingly such that any negative impact may be prevented. SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, application of Porter’s Five Forces are some of ways through which environmental analysis of a business can be done (Business Environment Analysis, n.d.) and these will be applied in the present study to have an understanding on SABMiller company. Position of SABMiller : SABMiller is older than the state of South Africa itself and has faced several challenges in determining the position that it currently holds. There were several business restrictions that SAB had to fight by ruling over the production of beer along with acquisitioning competitor companies and enhancing the facilities of production and distribution. The large brewing companies accounted for 17 percent of the market in the early period of the 1990s. However, by the year 2009, these companies have started accounting for around 45 percent of the market that reflects on the increasing competition. SABMiller has thus since 2010 considered strategizing more focusing in the impacts of the environmental factors (Johnson, 2010, pp.643-644). SABMiller’s operations in the present day may be represented through the following chart: Figure 1: Summary Scope of SABMiller Operation Today (Moulaeifar, 2009, p.2). SWOT Analysis: SABMiller: SWOT analysis is a technique that enables an underst anding on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a business organization thereby allowing the business to consider measures accordingly for the benefits and success of the company. However, this technique makes the strategic planning of the business highly formal (Jacob, 2009, p.9). From the case study and other readings, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company could be learnt. The strengths of the company are reflected through its operations that are spread across the globe, and taking advantages of locations like India, China, Vietnam, and African markets. The worldwide knowledge of the company is good in terms of entering new markets creating its presence. The market dominance of the company being the second largest brewer too adds to its strengths. In terms of value addition, cost leadership, economies of scale and efficient distribution, the company has a competitive advantage over other brewers. Also the company has a strong presenc e in the US (Johnson, 2010; Moulaeifar, 2009, p.5). The company’s weaknesses include lack of assets in Western Europe that limits the company’s operations in the region. Moreover SABMiller does not have any assets in the markets where there could be major growth for the company. Thirdly, the income level of individuals largely determines the level of

Sampling and Data Collection Plan Essay Example for Free

Sampling and Data Collection Plan Essay Team D has chosen to look into whether or not should Pear Inc. should start putting their resources into either Laptops or tablet electronic devices. Putting resources into a venture that may or not pan out could be detrimental to that same company. As an example; Kodak and their choice not to expand into digital, something they created, and stay the course with their polyurethane film (Mui, 2012).In the end the choice the public made was to go to digital and have the image saved for ever instead of the inevitable fading of pictures and the breakdown of the film making Kodak play catchup. Population, Size, and Target When considering of finding the population we have chosen social media for all sexes, ages, financial, and country demographics. The reasoning behind the choice is Pear’s product utilizes this source of media in particular. In addition social media is heavily used by the same people who frequent these sites. The sampling would reflect on Pear’s target audiences assisting in the choice of which direction to go with Pear’s resources. It determining size team D would like to obtain a min of 10% of the population of random sampling. Due to the time limit restraint of the weeks leading up to week 4 team D would like to see a 300 individual response to the choices of our chosen sampling element. Sample Element Team D had talked about data mining, survey source, and observation. Data mining would need to look at the sales of both the Pear Book and the Pear Pad in a given business cycle of the most current year (Stat Soft, 2014). This is due the fact technology is growing so fast looking at data, even one year ago, may provide incorrect data in which put Pear on a different direction then it should be taken. Also data mining would only answer the direction the company is being taken too by the market and not determining  or understanding the cause of the direction. Data mining is also a form of observation. Pear could send out certain employees to different electronic store, web sites, chat rooms, or to any form of commerce to look at the all sales both Pear’s and its competitors, however still wouldn’t answer the question of where to place Pear’s resources. Pear must determine to logically and have firsthand knowledge of what people are thinking about before they go and purchase. What are their choices and needs to be filled when using their chosen electronic device. Personal lives continue to change. Meaning people might be going to college, High School, into video gaming, or just in need a device as a medium of entertainment. Pear has chosen to perform a targeted survey in which 9 questions would be asked. The survey would ask if they were to look for electronic devices today what they would be looking for. Additional questions would be asked: Age Income Laptop or tablet Gender Usage (business, pleasure, or both) Video gaming How much time on device (laptop or tablet) Prices of either Laptop or tablet Is brand type important Storage capacity Using the survey is putting the trust in the individual to answer the questions truthfully and accurately. However the moment the individual steps into the business or orders their device their mind may be changed at the point of sale. If there is a change this is the degree of variance and would be used in the confidence makeup of the sampling. We hope to have a 95% acucuracy. If we only have 300 answered surveys and we wanted to look at the age of those surveyed we would take the age range and find the mean. As an example let call the mean 26.7, then we would find out the standard deviation of those surveyed and receive 2.5. Then we would look to find the 95% interval of 1.96. I would calculate the formula of 1.96(2.5/sq root of 300) and receive the answer of .28 (rounded to the nearest tenth). Then I would take the mean of 26.7and add or subtract .51, (26.7+/-.51) the results are 26.42,26.98. In conclusion Team D would conduct a survey on an established social media site on the internet. Total the number of responses hoping to have at least 300 or more. The reliable information would need to be trusted because the questions are granular and generic enough to not have personal information. So protection would only be how many persons answered the question and nothing personable. Storage of the data would be password protected. References Mui, C. (2012). How Kodak Failed. Retrieved on October 9, 2014 from http://www.fo rbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/ SHMA (2012). 4 Types of Consumer Buying Behavior. Retrieved on October 9, 2014 from http://managementation.com/4-types-of-consumer-buying-behavior/ Stat Soft (2014). What is Data Mining (Predictive, Analytics, Big Data). Retrieved on October 9, 2014 from http://www.statsoft.com/Textbook/Data-Mining-Techniques

Analysis of Human Resource Responsibilities

Analysis of Human Resource Responsibilities INTRODUCTION The title of the project is ‘Analysis of HR practices followed by ONGC with reference to TRAINING, PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL and SAP-HR MODULE . The internship encompasses understanding the unique HR practices employed by the organisation in PSU to enrich and sustain the culture of integrity, belongingness, teamwork, accountability and innovation, and enhance employee competencies continuously. The purpose of this project to be given is to understand the practical working and effectiveness of the core HR responsibilities with special concentration on: Training Performance Appraisal SAP-HR Module The scope of this study is to comprehend and adopt the practical working environment of an organisation. Here, a link has to be formed between the academic study and the actual in-world implementations of the knowledge. Its important to realize the effect of proper training on employees, transparency in the appraisal process and up to date technological support in the HR stream. For the above study, data is collected from various primary as well as secondary sources. Basic and general information is gathered from the library which comprises of various HR journals and magazines (names are mentioned in references). Interviews are taken of the employees and questionnaires are prepared and surveys are done. Various inputs are provided by the Company Guide during formal and informal meetings. Overview of TRAINING Training employees do have a significant role in modern business era. As an HR manager, the responsibility is to utilize the HR resources optimally and develop the skills of the employees so that they can contribute to the growth of the organization as well as to their personal growth. It leads to improved organization culture. Therefore, its important to understand: What different kinds of trainings / workshops are conducted by the organization? What are the criteria of nominations? How nominations are done? How many training sessions have to be conducted in a year? (Training Calendar) What the employees think about the training sessions? Training objective tell the trainee that what is expected out of him at the end of the training program. Training objectives are of great significance from a number of stakeholder perspectives, Trainer Trainee Designer Evaluator Trainer -The training objective is also beneficial to trainer because it helps the trainer to measure the progress of trainees and make the required adjustments. Also, trainer comes in a position to establish a relationship between objectives and particular segments of training. Trainee -The training objective is beneficial to the trainee because it helps in reducing the anxiety of the trainee up to some extent. Not knowing anything or going to a place which is unknown creates anxiety that can negatively affect learning. Therefore, it is important to keep the participants aware of the happenings, rather than keeping it surprise. Secondly, it helps in increase in concentration, which is the crucial factor to make the training successful. The objectives create an image of thetraining program in trainees mind that actually helps in gaining attention.Thirdly, if the goal is set to be challenging and motivating, then the likelihood of achieving those goals is much higher than the situation in which no goal is set. Therefore,training objectiveshelps in increasing the probability that the participants will be successful in training. Designer -The training objective is beneficial to the training designer because if the designer is aware what is to be achieved in the end then hell buy the training package according to that only. The training designer would then look for the training methods, training equipments, and training content accordingly to achieve those objectives. Furthermore, planning always helps in dealing effectively in an unexpected situation. Consider an example; the objective of one training program is to deal effectively with customers to increase the sales. Since the objective is known, the designer will designthat will include ways to improve the interpersonal skills, such as verbal and non verbal language, dealing in unexpected situation i.e. when there is a defect in a product or when a customer is angry.Therefore, without any guidance, the training may not be designed appropriately. Evaluator -It becomes easy for thetraining evaluatorto measure the progress of the trainees because the objectives define the expected performance of trainees. Training objective is an important to tool to judge the performance of participants. Systematic model training consists of five phases. The training should achieve the purpose of helping employee to perform their work to required standards. The steps are as follows: Analyze and identify the trainingneeds i.e. to analyze the department, job, employees requirement, who needs training, what do they need to learn, estimating training cost, etc The next step is to develop a performance measure on the basis of which actual performance would be evaluated. Design and provide training to meet identified needs. This step requires developing objectives of training, identifying the learning steps, sequencing and structuring the contents. Develop, this phase requires listing the activities in thetraining programthat will assist the participants to learn, selecting delivery method, examining the training material, validating information to be imparted to make sure it accomplishes all the goals objectives. Implementing is the hardest part of the system because one wrong step can lead to the failure of whole training program. Evaluating each phase so as to make sure it has achieved its aim in terms of subsequent work performance. Making necessary amendments to any of the previous stage in order to remedy or improve failure practices. Overview of PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL A very important function of the human resources department for any organization, are conducted to gauge the net worth of all its employees. Appraisal methods benefit the organization immensely. The aim of appraisals is to improve the present performance of the employees and draw on the future potential. The HR department undertakes this processes usually annually in which they procure, analyze and document facts about the performances of the employees of the organization. This provides employees and managers with opportunities to discuss areas in which employees excel and those in which employees need improvement. Performance appraisal in ONGC is conducted annually also known as E-PAR. All organizations practice performance appraisal in one form or another to achieve certain objectives. These objectives may vary from organization to organization or even within the same organization from time to time. It has been found that there are two primary objectives behind the use of this meth odology. One is to use it as an evaluation system and second, to use it as a feedback system. The aim of the evaluation system is to identify the performance gap. This means that it helps determine the gap between the actual performance of the employee and that required or desired by the organization. The aim of the feedback system is to inform the employee about the quality of his work or performance. This is an interactive process by which the employee can also speak about his problems to his superior. An effective performance appraisal system should emphasis individual objectives, organizational objectives and also mutual objectives. From the viewpoint of individual objective the performance appraisal should talk about What task the individual is expected to do? How well the individual has done the task? How can his performance be further improved? His reward for doing well. From the organizational view point a performance appraisal should generate manpower information, improve efficiency and effectiveness serve as a mechanism of control and provide a rational compensation structure. In short the appraisal system establishes and upholds the principle of accountability in the absence of which organization failure is the only possible outcome. Overview of SAP-HR Module SYSTEMS, APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS IN DATA PROCESSING- SAP. It is an enterprise resources planning Software Company based in Germany.It integrates all the functional units of an organization into a unified one.It deals with various activities done in the human resource department of an organization, such as, Personnel administration, personnel development, training and event management, payroll etc. SAP- HR Module distinguishes between task, job, position, and person. It provides access to all HR data and transactions in one location. Advanced SAP HR features are time management, payroll, travel management, training and development. Advantages of implementing SAP HR Module : Saves time and money, and improves information for decision making and Planning. Greater automation ensures greater accuracy. Improved reporting capability. Improved employee history data. Better budgeting, compensation adjustment. MAIN TEXT The information extracted from the primary and secondary sources of data pertaining to training, appraisal, and SAP HR module are as below: TRAINING ONGC accords top- most priority in the development of Human Resource through quality training, qualification up gradation programs and accreditation programs. ONGC also has the expertise to conduct customized training programs for its partners. In ONGC, there are following training institutes which are engaged in meeting, training and development needs of the vast human resource of the organization by designing and organizing training programs focused on organizational needs. ONGC has five training institutes of its own all across the country, viz. ONGC Academy, Dehradun Institute of Petroleum Safety Health and Environment Management, Goa School of Maintenance Practices, Vadodara Institute of Drilling Technology, Dehradun Institute of Oil and Gas Production Technology, Mumbai The training Institutes of ONGC are committed to : Impart best in class training programs across the entire industry. Continuously evolve training programs based on feedback from the participants. Provide training solutions to the corporation and partners, both from Indian and foreign, covering entire spectrum of operations. Providing best in class infrastructural facilities for the training programs. Focusing training programs on the emerging business opportunities of the corporation. ONGC measures its training in MANDAYS i.e. 01 man * 3days of training = 3 MANDAYS 10 men * 3 days of training = 30 MANDAYS Minimum target of 1400 MANDAYS are set per year. Training provided by ONGC is broadly divided into Three categories: Safety Technical Interpersonal skills During the internship study of various trainings programs are done in order to understand the objectives and deliverables. 1. SMP (Senior Management Programme) Program overview objectives: Since ONGC is extending its operations to various parts of the world, it is imperative that ONGC executives are exposed to International perspective and develop a mindset of global managers. Keeping this in view a comprehensive program has been specially designed for E-5 level Executives of ONGC. The program aims at: Understanding global perspective and developing a mindset of managing at international level. Build Customer Centric Work Culture Inculcating a mindset of Transformational leadership Evolving a culture of innovation and creativity ONGC Academy is in collaboration with MDI , Gurgaon for SMP 2. AMP (Advanced Management Programme) Program overview objectives: Designed for senior executives of ONGC to achieve the following objectives: Develop awareness and appreciation of the emerging business environment and its implications for the future of ONGC Help the participants to recognize the requisite mindset to make ONGC, a world-class organization Develop insights into the organizational processes that drive excellence Expose the participants to the best in business practices. ONGC Academy is in collaboration with IIM, lucknow . ONGC also provides Overseas Learning Sessions which includes visit to EP Industries and Executives meet in European / Western countries for exposure to best in Business Class Practices. E6and above level executives are eligible for AMP. For choosing the candidates for training / workshop sessions, nominations are done. Circulars are rotated to the Head of each department and they recommend the names of those employees which they think are appropriate to undergo the training. The institute plans and conducts training programs professional areas which involve holistic approach of management in effective accomplishment of various integrated tasks. 3. Executive Excellence through SMET, HOLSYM and Yoga Techniques Program objectives and Overview: The multi- dimensional etiological factors for stress need a multidimensional solution at physical, mental, emotional and intellectual levels. Yoga provides this holistic solution. Self Management of Excessive Tensions is the basic concept for designing this program for executives. The program aims at: Help participants understand the nature and sources of stress in individuals and in organisations, and enable them to understand the relationship of Stress to Managerial Effectiveness. Familiarise the participants with the techniques dealing with individual stress and Organisational stress and give them an opportunity to practice some techniques of Stress Management. Its a 5- days program conducted in Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana , Bengaluru. 4. Global Managers Program objectives and Overview: Todays business environment has created many challenges where managers need to think globally as the world is transforming into a ‘Global Village. The program is designed: To provide professionals with a proactive approach to deal with cultural diversity in todays multi- cultural environment. To understand the domestic Business ethics, values and practices and as well as best global practices. To prepare the participants for the challenges ahead in the highly competitive global environment. ONGC is in collaboration with IIM, Bengaluru for this 5- days progam. 5. Self Development Program for Women Employees Program objectives and Overview: The effectiveness of women employees depends upon the ability to manage multiple roles. The program has been especially designed to focus on the demands of these multiple roles and skills set required for effective performance. The program caters to up needs of women professions facing the challenges of work family balance. The objectives of the program are: To develop basic values of life to make them effective at home and work place. To be able to identify individual goals and align those with organization goals. To increase personal motivation to do the best possible in the most effective way. To appraise the participants on various issues involved in personal growth and effectiveness. To increase personal motivation to do best possible in the most effective way. To make participants aware of their strength and areas of potential development 6. Train- The- Trainer Course Program objectives and Overview: The program focuses on the Adult Learning Process, is built around the â€Å"Three Wheels of Mastery† Expertise, Planning and Presenting, Engaging and Facilitating, which are essential for Internal Faculty members/ Black Belts for motivating others to apply Six Sigma on the job and for enhancing and accelerating their learning process. ONGC provides many discipline specific programs for is employees. Some Exploration Programs: Petroleum Risk and Decision Analysis Latest trends and Development in Estimation of Oil and Gas Reserves Workshop on Basin Evaluation and Modelling Techniques in Deep Water Depositional Systems Some Production Programs: Developments in Stimulation techniques and Candidate Well selection Advances in Water Control Technology Advances in Natural Gas Engineering Reservoir Engineering for Production Operations Some Engineering Programs: Welding and Inspection CAD for Mechanical and Process Logistics Management Flow Measurement and Instrumental Practice PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance appraisal report is an index of an employees work performance over a given period of time. It is crucial for his or her career growth as it indicates the strengths, weaknesses, training needs, nature of job being performed and problems faced in work situation. The objectives of the performance appraisal system at ONGC are: To set norms and targets of work performance, as well as, to monitor the work progress of employees. To facilitate placement of employees in accordance with their suitability for different types of assignments. To provide an objective basis for determination of merit, efficiency and suitability for the purpose of promotion. To identify areas requiring exposure for training and development. The performance appraisal system seeks to evaluate: The work performance of an employee on the present job in relation to the expected levels of performance, both qualitative and quantitative. The extent of development achieved by the employee during the period under review. Evaluation of behavioural attributes, attitudes and abilities. Evaluation of potentials for assuming higher responsibility. Appraisal is done in three stages. First, KPIs/ KRAs are to be declared in March(beginning of appraisal year) then midterm evaluation is done which is compulsory in October and finally in March evaluation on performance of the employees is done. Employees get certain percentage of PAT based on their grades or marks of the appraisal. Earlier Appraisal was done on paper. Forms were distributed to the employees wherein they used to fill in the KPIs and then submit it. This system reported delay in recording appraisal reports. Low priority is accorded to recording appraisal reports as there was no visible accountability for delays. Inadequate time and attention was given to the process and last minute rush efforts were experienced. But now ONGC follows e-PAR which has distinct advantages: Streamlining of PAR process Uniform application of Company Policy Reduced Cycle- time and adherence to time schedules Enhanced data security and confidentiality Authenticity and audit trail of transactions Availability of on-line information System driven control and monitoring mechanism Performance based rewards and incentives for future The appraisal process constitute of one appraise and appraiser. Appraisee is the employee who fills the PAR form and submits it. Appraiser decides the KRAs/ KPIs with the employee then mid- term review is done. This is the duty of Reporting Officer. Then it is forwarded to the Reviewing Officer, who reviews it and then forward for co- review (in special cases) otherwise directly to the Moderating Officer. He sends it to Accepting Officer who accepts and forwards it to central PAR Section in Dehradun. (Refer Annexure 2) Circular of Roll out of e- PAR It suggested KPIs is issued first wherein dates are declared for joint setting of KPIs by Appraisee Appraiser. Commitment is made by the HRD group that a suggested list of KPIs applicable to different functional areas would be made available accordingly. HRD constituted a multidisciplinary committee comprising HR planners, corporate HRG and corporate PAR. This committee held detailed deliberations and consulted senior executives of different functional areas across the organization and come out with an exhaustive list of suggested KPIs. All Assessors and assesses may use the table during the process of setting KPIs. PAR DISCLOSURE, APPEAL AND COUNSELLING (A).Disclosure of PAR: The following information on PAR assessment would be shared with the employee on completion of PAR Final grades and marks given by the accepting Officer. Adverse comments (if any) Specific advice to be communicated for improvement (if any) Communication: The communication should be within 15 days of completion of PAR and in the form of system generated message in case of e-PAR. (B). Appeal and Review : Appeal may be preferred by aggrieved employees against assessed PARs as well as having adverse remarks/entry. Aggrieved employee may appeal once per assessment year directly to the Appellate Authority, through local PAR officer, instead of submitting through proper channel. The local PAR officer shall keep record and forward the same to concerned Appellate Authority, with intimation to Corporate PAR office. Appellate Authority (AA) : The designated Appellate Authority based on the reporting hierarchy have been defined in Annexure 3 and 4. While the hierarchy in the route has been defined in the table, Appellate authority must be minimum one rank higher than the Accepting Authority in any case. Each Appellate Authority shall constitute Appeal Review Committee (ARC) under him/ her comprising of representative of functional areas, with 3 members in each committee. In case Appellate Authority is at the level of GM or L- II, the members should not be below the level of E6 and for all other Appellate Authorities, members should not be below the level of E7. The meeting of the ARC shall be convened by each Appellate Authority once in a year preferably in the month of September/October, as the closing month of PAR process is generally August. The ARC may seek PAR record from respective location PAR Officer/ Corporate Officer, as the case may be. The Committee may also obtain views/recommendations of the concerned authorities involve in the assessment of the PAR, for which appeal is preferred, if needed. Based on the recommend ation of the respective ARC, the Appellate Authority shall finally decide on appeal. In case of Appellate Authority comprises of two directors, they may jointly decide on the appeal. If Appellate Authority considers and find reasonable grounds for revision of PAR grade on appeal made by aggrieved employee, such revision shall only be one step higher or lower to that of original grades for all categories. Any revision beyond one level or below will be decided by one level higher than the appellate authority, highest appellate authority being EC. For this proper justification /recommendation have to be given by the Appellate Authority. The decision of the Appellate Authority shall be conveyed to the Corporate PAR office / location PAR office, as the case may be, who in turn shall communicate to the employee in the Performa at Annexure5.The decision of the Appellate Authority shall be binding forever. No further appeal shall be entertained for the same assessment year. Each Appellate A uthority shall forward a status report on the disposal of Appeal to the Corporate PAR office for onward submission to the Director (HR). (C). Counselling: It has been decided in the 353rd EC Meeting to provide counselling to the employees with B, C, D grades and those cases having recommendations for counselling in the PAR. Scope of Counselling Group: The Counselling may be continued as an integral part of PAR process for widening employees development opportunities. The Counselling Group shall not review the final grading of the appraisee, assigned to him/ her by Accepting/ Moderation Authority. The Counsellors during the interviews of the employee shall ascertain the reasons, system constraints and the behavioural dimensions of the employees and efforts shall be made to develop self awareness for correcting personality traits. The Counselling Group shall send a report on each case to the office of Chief HRD. The Counselling Groups are to be assisted by the Corporate PAR officer at the counselling locations. The formation of Counselling Committees is depicted in Annexure 6. SAP- HR MODULE Scope of SAP- HR Module: 1) Personnel Administration Module (Including Establishment and Loans) Personnel Administration Module takes care of employee master data. Various PA processes have been built in this module. This module includes the loans and advances processes also. 2)Time Management Module Time Management Module takes care of Employees Leaves etc related processes. The Time Management component offers support in performing all human resources processes involving the planning, recording, and valuation of employees work performed and absence times. 3) Payroll Payroll module takes care of personnel claims, month end payroll run and pay slip generation. Form 16, Form 24 and all statutory statements related to personal income tax is also taken care by the payroll module. The System calculates the gross and net pay, which comprises the individual payments and deductions that are calculated during a payroll period, and are received by an employee. These payments and deductions are included in the calculation of the remuneration using different wage types. 4) Organisation Management Module: This module defines Organisational Hierarchy, positions, Head of sections etc and also deals with assigning employees to various departments / sections etc through proper positions. 5) SAMPARC:(ESS MODULE) SAMPARC stands for (System for Automated Management of Personnel Activities, Reimbursements and Claims) the employee self service portal of ONGC. Using ESS reports an employee can view his career details, leave details, training booking details etc using an ESS User Id. He can also write a mail to his personnel administrator if he detects any error in data recorded in the system. Getting started with SAP: On your PC, find the SAP Logon pad icon. The icon style varies deepening on the SAP version installed in your PC. To open Logon Window: Double click on the Toolbar â€Å"SAP Logon† on above Screen. Following Logon window shall open on your screen: This window lists all available servers to which you can Login with your user ID. Double click on the desired server name or click on the line and then click on ‘Log On. After a brief delay, following window shall open on your screen : To open the SAP Easy Access window : Enter your client number (It will always show 500 by default). Enter your SAP User ID. Enter your SAP User Password. Please remember that the Password is case sensitive. Press Enter on your Keyboard. SAP Easy AccessWindow Elements The SAP Easy Access user menu is the user-specific point of entry into the SAP System. A typical user menu (here, in the R/3 System) is shown below : The user menu contains those items such as transactions ,workflows, reports etc. you need to perform your daily tasks. If your system administrator has defined a user menu, it appears when you log on to the system. Various elements of the SAP Easy Access Window are shown above. Navigating in the SAP Screen You can expand and collapse menus in the workplace menu by choosing the dropdown arrows to the left of the menu items, as in the example below : To open an application in the workplace menu : Type the transaction code in the command box / field and then press Enter, or Navigate to the transaction node in the tree and Double-click its node in the tree, or Click on node and then press Enter Company Code: The company code is an organizational unit within financial accounting (FI). Personnel Area This field defines the location of the employee, e.g., ABAD (Ahmedabad), BRDA (Baroda), etc. Personnel Sub-area This field defines the duty assigned to the employee, e.g., OFDT (Office Duty), FLDT (Field Duty), OSDT (Offshore Duty), etc. Employee Group This field defines the employment status of the employee, e.g., Active, Retiree, Deputation-in etc. Employee Subgroup This field defines the Grade of the employee, e.g., E1, E2, E3, etc. Personnel Number This field defines the CPF Number of the employee. Pay roll Area: A payroll accounting area (often abbreviated to payroll area) is an organizational unit containing all of the employees for whom the payroll runs at the same time. The payroll accounting runs for payroll accounting areas. Each payroll accounting area determines the specific dates for which the payroll runs, the earliest payroll period for which retroactive accounting is possible, retroactive accounting recognition, and the periods for which the payroll runs. Organization Unit This field defines the Department / Section within the Organizational structure in which the employee is working, e.g., ICE, IRS, Drilling, etc. Position This field defines the post, which the employee is occupying within the organizational structure, e.g., Manager PA, Location Manager AMD Cementing, etc. Infotype: In SAP information is stored in info types. An Infotype can have further subtypes. Click here to view the list of Infotype being used in ONGC. Sr No. Transaction Codes Transaction Description 1 SBWP Mail Inbox 2 PA20 Display HR Master Data 3 PA30 Maintain HR Master Data 4 PA40 Personnel Actions 5 ZPT60 HR TIME : Time Evaluation 6 PP01 Maintain Object

life :: essays research papers

In the Bible, a book meant to be the word of God, condemns such things as murder, adultery and theft. I find it hard to believe that an all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely-good being that â€Å"created† this world and everything in it would allow any of these things to occur. He would not only condemn them in an ancient book, but abolish them altogether along with any other things evil. If God is supposed to be the â€Å"heavenly father† wouldn't he want and impose onto his children his goodness and weed out all evil? Aquinas also shows this non-existence through Objective 2 where he writes how it is expecting too much for something that can be accounted for be a few principles has been produced by many. There are other principles that can account for everything we see in our world supposing God did not exist. All things can be reduced to one principle, that of nature and therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence. Once more I agree with his rationale of this subject, for it is logical to believe in a simple, visible, measurable concept such as the principle of nature, instead of something so complex it is near in-conceivable, and not able to be seen or measured. Nature could have accounted for the gradual development of mankind and scientific theories have given us explanations for the existence of nature and proof of this gradual development. Our planet's creation has been explained as a result of â€Å"The Big Bang† and man's development from a single-cellular organism to the multi-cellular, intelligent man of today by evolution. I agree with both of Thomas Aquinas' Objectives and it is mainly because of these two arguments that I, myself do not believe in the existence of

Quan

Life without language: all the ideas, thoughts, and emotions present, but unable to be expressed. This is how I picture my grandfather when he first Immigrated to America with my grandmother and their nine children. Lost, he wanders around, hoping to bump into someone who can understand him. He raises his own children to know Vietnamese and hopes his future grandchildren would also be connected to the language of their ancestors. But when I form my lips into unnatural shapes to speak these words, they come out pathetically.I cannot speak Vietnamese. As a child, the conversations between me and my grandfather consisted of feeble attempts at speaking each others language. Only a couple of familiar words could momentarily break the wall that divided us. Whenever I visited his house, I exchanged a shaky â€Å"Choc Eng† for his heavily accented â€Å"He-Ill,† and ran off before the shame from my inability to understand could affect me. At the time, I was unaware of the synch ronized rhythm that beats in the hearts of me, my father, and my grandfather.My grandfather loves playing the violin. Although he is not classically rained and can hardly keep a beat, he loves It and I can sense It every time he plays. When my family came to America, my father struggled to adjust as any teenage immigrant would. Vietnamese was confined to his family's home and English was difficult to learn, so instead, he picked up the guitar and taught himself how to play â€Å"Yesterday' by the Beetles. Forty years later, he claims he still cannot get it down perfectly.On the piano in our living room, he sings in broken English†¦ â€Å"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away†¦ † Like my grandfather, music Is a part of my father's design. By the unchangeable threads of heredity, I was also fated to have a connection to music. Just Like them. And it was music that could break the language barrier between me and my grandfather. A single sheet of music sat in f ront of me. It was a beautiful piece, no doubt, but we, the All-State Senior Band, were playing it without any emotion.After a couple of unsuccessful run-troughs of this piece entitled â€Å"Hometown,† our guest conductor Samuel Hazy told us to look at measure thirty-three, reflect on a personal memory that reminded us of that part, and write about It right there on our sheet USIA. Soon after instructing us to do the same In the other parts of the piece, everyone's sheet music was filled with our lives in the form of tiny scribbles between the lines of melodies. When we played the piece again, we were finally able to â€Å"sing our life stories,† as Mr..Hazy would call it. Every musical phrase became a vessel for retelling our most precious memories: stories of first loves and recollections of childhood memories. No one had to say a single word. There In the music, I finally spoke to my grandparents. As I played measure thirty-three, I pictured them slating here on tha t boat in the middle of the ocean, holding onto a faint glimmer of hope for a new life in America, looking for their own new â€Å"hometown. I said â€Å"thank you† for their courage to come to the strange and unknown America and â€Å"sorry for being unable to speak Vietnamese. After the concert that night, I received a bigger hug than usual from them and I knew that they had heard and understood me. Being a part of a family and culture Is more than Just knowing the language. Emotions are enough to Vietnamese, the language of our origin, English, the language of our new home, and music to connect everything together.

Examples of Computer Pheripherals Essay

A computer peripheral is defined as an auxiliary device, such as a printer, modem, or storage system, that works in conjunction with a computer.† Computer peripherals allow computers to accomplish several tasks at once, such as downloading software updates while simultaneously printing a document. Thousands of computer peripherals have been produced over the years; however, each computer peripheral’s primary function falls into one of several categories. Input Peripherals Computer systems are capable of handling thousands of calculations per second. However, in order for a computer to have something to process, the computer must receive instructions from an input device. Some examples of input peripheral devices are keyboards, computer mice, touchscreens, and bar-code readers. Output Peripherals Once a computer has processed information, the information must be sent to an output device. Some examples of output devices are computer monitors, printers, plotters, and computer speakers. Communication Peripherals Computers are capable of communicating with each other, and with other devices (such as PDAs and cell phones). In order to communicate with these devices, a computer must have a compatible communication peripheral to transmit and receive data. Some examples of communication peripherals are computer modems, network adapters, infrared adapter ports, and wireless (radio frequency) adapters. Data Storage Peripherals A computer requires space to store files, programs, and other data. Besides the internal hard disk drive, storage peripherals also provide places for the computer to store data to and access data from. Some examples of data storage peripherals are external CD-ROM drives, flash memory drives, tape drives, and network-attached storage (NAS) drives

The Piercer

S w 908M57 The Piercer Colleen Sharen and Nicole Nolan wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University o f Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email  protected] uwo. ca. Copyright  © 2008, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2008-08-22 â€Å"Don’t forget, your business idea pitch is due in two weeks, † said Professor Sharen at the end of class. Jessica Pierce turned to look at her project team mate, Ashley Mound.Jessica and Ashley were fourth-year management and organizational studies students at Brescia University College, taking an introduction to entrepreneurship course. Ashley and Jessica had developed an idea for the assignment: a personal safety alarm that both shrieked and flashed lights when the person carrying it set off the alarm function. Given the concern that many people had over personal safety, it seemed like a great business idea. In order to present their idea, they needed to show that there was a market for this product and that they had a way to sell it to consumers.The problem was that they did not really know how or where to start to get the information that they needed. They had a lot of work to do to be ready to present their project in the next two weeks. THE ASSIGNMENT The business pitch assignment was challenging. Sharen had asked students to deve lop an interesting business idea and present it to a panel of potential investors. These investors included a successful serial entrepreneur, a business consultant who practised in the area of small- and medium-size enterprises, an owner of a marketing and advertising services business and a business professor.The students were asked to present an innovative idea, show why it would be successful in the market place, demonstrate potential markets, show the business model and sell themselves to the investors as entrepreneurs. The investors were instructed to view their investments as seed money to enable the students to further develop business plans and prototypes of their ideas. The students weren’t required to complete a financial analysis for this assignment. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 2 9B08M057The investors were asked to assess project ideas on the basis of the feasibility of the idea and whether they believed that t he entrepreneurs would be able to deliver. They could consider the appeal of the idea itself, the logistics and operations required to run the business, the effectiveness of the business plan, the longterm viability of the business or the size of the market. The assignment would be graded 50 per cent based on how much money the teams received from the investors and 50 per cent on the quality of their presentation by the professor. THE IDEA The Piercer was a small device that hung on a chain worn around the neck.When activated, The Piercer emitted a piercing sound that traveled for approximately 500 meters, as well as a bright flashing light. To deactivate The Piercer, the wearer had to push two buttons simultaneously. This was to prevent an attacker from being able to deactivate the device. The piercing noise and the bright flashing light were designed to scare away attackers and attract those who might assist the person being attacked. In the situation of imminent attack, a person would not have to rely on their voice or bring a whistle to their mouth to signal for help.Ashley and Jessica had researched costs and thought that by manufacturing in China, they could make The Piercer for $2 and sell it for $7. 50 wholesale, with a retail price of $14. 95. The idea made sense to Ashley and Jessica. It fit with recent social and demographic trends as aging baby boomers began to need assistance with injuries and falls, and with increased general concerns about health, safety and violence. WHAT NEXT? Jessica and Ashley thought that they had a good idea. Now they had to prove it. What were the target markets for this product? How big were they?Which ones should they choose? How should they sell to them? What proportion of the target market should they expect to capture? Where should they look for information to help them make these decisions? A SIMPLE GUIDE TO INFORMATION RESOURCES AND EVALUATION Ashley and Jessica must do secondary research to be able to evaluate and implement their idea. They will need to consider 1) how to evaluate resources, 2) how to develop effective search strategies and 3) how to identify proprietary resources that support the case for this business. 1. How to Evaluate ResourcesInformation is available everywhere, and for this reason, Jessica and Ashley need to be able to discriminate between good and poor quality information. Appropriate information usage for an academic project includes evaluating and assessing resources for reliability and credibility. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 3 9B08M057 Goals ? ? ? ? ? Ashley and Jessica should be able to locate and differentiate free versus proprietary web resources. They should be able to identify a quality website. They should be able to evaluate books and other print resources for quality and reliability.They should understand the difference between scholarly and non-scholarly articles and resources. They should be able to cite information properly. Free Versus Proprietary Web Resources Many students think that the World Wide Web has the answers for everything. While the web can have valuable information, students pay (through their tuition) to have access to quality proprietary information resources. Ashley and Jessica could examine some free web sites to help them. For example, associations, company information and government information can be very helpful, as long as the user knows how to determine the quality of a website.Quality Web Sites Anyone anywhere can make a website. Just because it is on the web, does not mean it is good quality or reliable. When Ashley and Jessica are evaluating websites, they need to consider: Who is providing the information? ? Is it a government institution, a university or a company? ? Does the url make sense (e. g. .org, . edu, . on. ca)? ? Does the owner of the website have anything to gain by providing the information? ? Does the owner of the website have good c redentials? ? Has anyone updated the website recently? Note that Wikipedia is not necessarily a reliable resource.Anyone anywhere can modify these pages. While it might be a place to find some resources or links, students should not cite Wikipedia as a reliable resource in an academic paper. The University of Alberta put together a good web evaluation checklist: http://www. library. ualberta. ca/instruction/science/evalweb. pdf For a more comprehensive list on evaluating web resources, see the bibliography on the topic: http://www. lib. vt. edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalbiblio. html Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 4 9B08M057Evaluating Other Resources Ashley and Jessica need to be critical of all the resources they use, not just websites. Ideally, they should be able to discriminate between proprietary and non-proprietary websites, scholarly and non-scholarly resources and evaluate the quality of any book used. Things for Ashley and Jessica to consider include: ? Who published the book or made the information available? ? How old is the information? ? Has the information been updated recently? ? Is the information peer reviewed? Does this matter? ? Did the library buy and recommend the resource? Is the author credible? Scholarly Versus Non-Scholarly Resources An academic library will provide access to both scholarly and non-scholarly resources. Scholarly work generally refers to published work that has been through a peer review process. Especially in the field of business, there are many practitioner resources. Therefore, Jessica and Ashley need to be aware of the type of information they are gathering. For example, industry trends, say from Standard and Poors NetAdvantage, is not a scholarly resource, yet the information within them could be valuable.Alternatively, ProQuest ABI Inform Global provides access to scholarly articles. Ashley and Jessica may also consider the relative value of evidence or fact ver sus opinion. Students should not read things and trust that what they are reading is accurate. Students should think about the rigor with which the argument is made and the evidence presented. ? Is there evidence to back up a claim? ? Has the evidence been collected in a reliable way? ? Is the author stating an opinion without backing up his or her ideas? Citing Work It is important that Ashley and Jessica cited their work properly, to avoid accidental plagiarism.Some of the more confusing things to cite include Statistics Canada data or online information. Statistics Canada has a website that describes systematically how to cite its tables, publications or other datasets: http://www. statcan. ca/english/freepub/12-591-XIE/12-591-XIE2006001. htm In addition, most academic libraries will have information about citation procedures, or will have copies of publication manuals available for borrowing. Any librarian can be asked about citation procedures. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia . [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 5 9B08M057 2. How to Develop Search StrategiesGoals ? ? ? ? Ashley and Jessica should know the difference between searching in different search fields, such as the abstract field and title field They should be able to use this technology to search the unique fields They should be able to use the â€Å"AND,† â€Å"OR,† or â€Å"NOT† features of a search engine to help narrow their search. They should understand what truncation and proximity search strategies are, and how that influences a search. Most search engines that index information have similar features. If Ashley and Jessica understand the concepts in searching, they can apply them to any search engine.Take Advantage of Search Fields For example, records in an index have many different fields such as keywords, title, author, publication title, document title, abstract, full document, date, author, etc. It is often possible to specify what part of the recor d to search in, which helps to be more specific with the search. Searching an entire text document may retrieve less meaningful records than a search of just abstracts. Use Boolean Search Strategies Using â€Å"AND† and â€Å"OR† can be helpful in expanding or narrowing a search. AND narrows a search and OR expands it. Using the term â€Å"NOT† can also be helpful, but should be limited.For example, searching for beer companies will retrieve companies on diamonds (DeBeers). Excluding the term â€Å"diamond† from a search on beer companies could be helpful in narrowing one’s search. Truncation and Proximity Many search engines allow for truncation and proximity searching. In ProQuest, an asterisk symbol will truncate. For example, if one types â€Å"leader*† into a search box, records with leader, leaders and leadership will be retrieved. This helps capture all variations of a word. Proximity searching refers to how close two words are togeth er in a document.Presumably, if two words are close together in a document, they are more likely to have something to do with each other. In ProQuest, a â€Å"w/1† or â€Å"w/2† (â€Å"w/3,† etc. ) facilitates proximity searching. For example, if Ashley or Jessica typed â€Å"organizational w/3 learning† in the search box, they will retrieve documents where the word â€Å"organizational† is within three words of â€Å"learning. † Find Creative Ways In There are many different ways to find information. Knowing a company name or a competitor’s name is convenient. Taking advantage of key words (or subject terms) also is a good way to search.Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 6 9B08M057 It is also a good idea to brainstorm for synonyms prior to beginning a search. Being d eliberate about a search strategy and deciding on what concepts to combine can really help make the search go easier. Sea rching is iterative as well. One is advised to read some articles to learn the jargon of the topic, then go back and do the search again using the subject jargon. Most librarians will help on developing a search strategy! 3. How to Identify Proprietary Resources GoalsAshley and Jessica should be able to identify library resources and understand what type of information they can find in various types of resources. The following databases are some of the library databases that Ashley and Jessica could consider. They could also go to the library (or call or e-mail) and ask for assistance. Library staff will know what resources the library has, if there are any other resources that may be of use and how to access and use the resources. Finding Background Scholarly Articles ProQuest ABI Inform Global is a database that indexes business and management journal articles.Most of the articles are available in full text, and both scholarly and non-scholarly articles are available. The search b ox in ProQuest has a drop-down menu on the right that allows users to search in specific fields. For example, users can search the title, abstract, author, company or publication fields. Scopus is a database that indexes articles on the social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences and health sciences. For the purposes of a business or entrepreneurship project, searching only the social sciences category would be appropriate. This resource indexed scholarly articles.Google Scholar is a free resource that indexes scholarly information from the World Wide Web. There is an advanced search engine feature to help specify a search. Many academic institutions integrate access to full text articles with Google Scholar. This means that any article the student has access to via the library, is also available to them via Google Scholar. Because Google Scholar is integrated with library resources, the student will likely need to either be on campus, or logged into the off-campus proxy serve r to take advantage of these services.If they are off campus or not logged into the proxy server the student can still search Google Scholar, but access to full text resources may be limited. Finding News and Magazine Articles Factiva is a database that indexes newspapers and magazines. While this resource does not index scholarly articles, it is a broad resource that captures current global news and events. LexisNexis has a comprehensive database that indexes newspapers and magazines. significant Canadian content indexed there. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 There is alsoPage 7 9B08M057 Finding Industry Trends Several databases including Standard & Poors NetAdvantage, Mintel and Marketline provide reports on industry trends. These databases provide regularly updated reports on broad industries. Each database tends to report on different industries, so students would have to do some trial and error research to find relevant reports. Stu dents may find their topic is too narrow for these reports. The Financial Post Investor Suite is a database that provides industry information from a Canadian perspective. Finding Company InformationCompany information may be important for a project such as The Piercer, especially for researching competitors. MarketLine provides company information, including financial information, company descriptions and a list of competitors. Similarly, Hoovers provides comprehensive company descriptions. Not all companies are in both resources, therefore checking both resources is recommended for company research. Marketing and Advertising The World Advertising Research Center (WARC) is a resource that provides access to information about marketing and advertising, as well as to case studies of winning ad campaigns.Such a resource could be helpful in this context to see if other, similar products have been marketed, and if so, how they have been marketed. There is scholarly and non-scholarly inf ormation in this resource. Technology Information Both eMarketer and Forrester have information about technology trends. There may be information about the Internet, emerging technologies or electronic marketing. Statistics and Demographics Statistics Canada provides access to demographic data. Many secondary educational institutions participate in the Data Liberation Initiative.This means that information a member of the public would have to pay for, can be retrieved for free by a student. Students, through the academic library website, can use data for research. For more information about accessing statistics, students can talk to their subject librarian. Some resources that Statistics Canada has that might be useful to find demographics include the Market Research Handbook, Canadian Business Patterns, CANSIM data, Census data, and Canadian Social Trends, among others. There are other resources available via www. statcan. ca such as Community Profiles.Data are available down to gr oupings of the population of about 2,000 to 7,000 people, meaning students can find demographic data for each 2,000- to 7,000-person neighbourhood across the country. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013 Page 8 9B08M057 Global Information Although global research may not be as important for a product such as The Piercer, other entrepreneurial projects may require researching the global market. Economic Intelligence Unit, Global Market Information Database and Business Monitor Online are three resources that provide global market and industry information.Other Helpful Resources Students are encouraged to use the World Wide Web to help them find good information. For example, city homepages often have information about setting up a business. Association websites also can have helpful information. Also, banks have entrepreneurial information on their websites. In addition, many books in the library explain how to develop small business plans or provide information on entrepreneurship. Purchased by Gaia Cuccarini (gaia. [email  protected] it) on March 21, 2013