Promote Products & Service Essay

1/ Introduction: After the 3D movie blockbuster of American film called â€Å"Avatar† released worldwide in 2009, a lot of cinemas in the world also start the movie with this technology. In particular, a few years ago, to demand of customers as well as improving the quality of business, there are many investors have invested †3D coffee†. 3D Coffee is gradually developing into a movement entertainment healthy. It looks like a new air crept into the lifestyle of young people. 2/ Business idea: * Create a unique coffee shop, where customers can enjoy nice coffee cups and watch blockbuster movies together. * Establishing a high-speed system of wireless for customers can access free. * This would be an ideal location for family or couple want to relax and talking. 3/ Requirements to  succeed in your business: * Location: The first restaurant should be located in a busy residential area to attract a lot of customers in Sydney. After the first 3D restaurant succeeds, there is more 3D coffee shops will be opened. When brand of shop was known in a lot of cities, we should get franchised and starting this business in other big cities. * Pricing strategy: Give customer a price of product consistent with cost rate. Organizing regular promotions to customers and discount special days. * Quality strategy: maintaining and development the company production that has been consumed widely in the consumer market as well as improve the poor quality production. * Advertising and Promotion strategy:To attract client’s that 3D coffee shop would advertise through TV, radio, magazine, Face book and internet. The shop should have advertising strategies to clients through networking communities. Promotional activities for all products sometimes are showed such as discount activities, promotions and big events to compete with other shops as well as provide information about the restaurant to customers. * Customer service: Creating a professional staffs with higher responsibility. They should be friendly and patient with customers to make customers feeling comfortable and enjoy their visit. 4/ Entrepreneurship: * Design the shop: there are three floors. + The first floor: This floor for staff only, there are bar, toilet, etc. + The second floor: there is one large room with a capacity of 30 people, it can be used to organize offline, enjoy music Audiophile, Lossless lyrical, gentle, combined watch HD movie blockbuster. + The third floor: there are 10 rooms with 5 rooms for groups of friends, families can sit comfortably that have large screen (120 inch), large space,  polite, audio system modernization and 5 rooms for couples, friends with private space, romantic, seat systems extremely relaxing. All rooms are equipped with HD projector – 3D and it can serve 3D movies with high quality. * Customer: The majority of the customers is young people who looking for new things and want to try the different feelings. In addition, this shop also serves international customers who want to find where they can have both their own space to watch movie, enjoy coffee and talk together, so that this is an ideal location. 5/ Business Objectives: A/ The common purpose: Give to customers of all ages who need somewhere for entertainment, relaxation and enjoying favorite movies as well as where customers meet friends. Besides, this shop also serves customers who want to hold a birthday party for your friends, relatives, or want to date, say a marriage proposal, Events, etc. In general, this shop will help customer to reduce stress after a stressful working hours. B/ Shop business purpose: * Bring large profits for the investors. * Bring revenue to the country from tax * The economic benefits contribute to the annual budget: + Income tax + Personal income tax. * Create a professional image, reliable in the hearts of consumers. * To satisfy the entertainment needs of the people, improve the spiritual life, help people to get fun time after hours for learning and work stress, contributing for the cultural life community and re-production labor. 6/ SWOT Analysis: A/ Strength (S): * Ample space, designing layout unique and beautiful, new furniture. * Favorable location. * Reasonable price. * The management work capacity and determination. * Services to provide good quality, high-speed transmission. * The wifi internet service has high speed and easy to register multiple packages Promotions. * Using modern machinery and professional. B/ Weakness (W): * The first capital investment is lacking. * Don’t have patrons as well as reputable supplier for products in the starting days. * The new shop establishment makes it difficult to attract new customers. * Don’t have too much experience in business coffee 3D. C/ Opportunities (O): * Focus on potential clients: students, people with average incomes. * There is good material. * Opening more branch around the world or sell franchise for foreign companies. D/ Threats (T): * Other local shops could try to adopt business idea in a short time. * The large number of new shop that will be opened to competition. 7/ Financial, Legal, Marketing, Operational and Business viability: * Financial:In order to this business succeed and develop which the company have to invest about $500,000. When business achieved and attract customers that will have grown steadily 5% each year in investment. Beside, business should hire accountants to prepare tax return, overt business activities to take care of business tax affairs. * Legal:Business will hire lawyers to maintain activities and resolve with legal and procedure affairs. * Marketing:Pay advertising company to create original Ads, flyers. At the same time, advertise through TV, radio, magazine, Face book and internetas well as developing logo and slogans. * Operational: create a management reasonable system include supervisors, floor managers and leaders to manage staff shifts. All of them should be training and study a course about professional skills to service clients. * Business viability: maintain activities and making a profit and increased steadily per year. 8/ Conclusion: 3D COFFEE†Ã¢â‚¬  will provide a space, an suitable environment for many different demands of customers as well as creating healthy recreation and relax with some reasonable prices. When customers come to â€Å"Coffee 3D† that they will be integrated into the environment lively, friendly and everyone will be linked together easier. Furthermore, this shop will satisfy all the needs of the individual or collective by new services and so interesting. Through the analyse and present research information of project †3D COFFEE†. We think this project will bring high economic efficiency and accordant with the needs of people as well as the general trend development of social especially young people. 9/ References: * Principles of Marketing (26/09/2011) 5th edition, Person Australia.

Proposal Plan Essay

The purpose for the organization Riordan Manufacturing is to stay put in a dynamic, self-motivated and energetic business environment. Riordan Manufacturing is a successful business looking to progress overall presentation and place the company for potential expansion. In order for this to follow through, a total rewards program needs to be created. The incentives and compensation plan, must connect with the goals of the organization. A solid rewards program will build motivation in the work place. As the text states, † the notions that rewards are means to motivate employees assuming that the rewards are distributed fairly. Rewards seem to be part of many different perspectives in motivation.† (Shani & Chandler, 2009, p. 8) The most important part are the employees in this organization, and sadly the motivation is not up to par. Employees who lack motivation, insinuates that employees are not receiving proper rewards. Instead of management focusing on only one specific part of a department, they should rather work together towards a solid vision for the business. Presently, there is room for opportunity, to actually analyze the Human Resource Management system and see what are the problems which are leading employees to show lack of motivation. (Riordan Manufacturing, p.2) Through various research, employees and outside sources, especially Human Capital Consulting firms, believe that financial compensation is lower than market value. Employees are also not comprehending how pay intertwines with job performance. 2003 to 2004 surveys show that employees think that pay connects to seniority. (Chen & Hsieh, 2006, p.13) Adding to standard compensation, individual rewards are not well connected to performance. For example, departments like IT and R&D focus the sales force and rarely see no return. The lack of proper positioning for financial compensation and work performance is causing confusion and affecting the motivational problems. Riordan Manufacturing needs to acknowledge that employees views need to be considered. Hence why the distance in understanding between the employees and the business needs to be fixed. Alterations to financial compensation can be expensive. The consultant from Human Capital Consulting the reward and compensation system needs to be fully reformed. The total cost of the reward system alterations are about $175,000. Since the business has been dealing with sales declining an investment of that sort would put the organization at a high risk. (Gross, 1994, p.1). Even though it has to deal with that expense the organization has the chance to compete better in the market and lessen the risk of losing employees to other businesses due to financial compensation formats. This problem can be resolved if the management team at Riordan Manufacturing takes into consideration the cause of external competition. Key objectives to consider are to make certain that the pay is enough to attract and sustain employees. If employees do not see that their pay is competitive compared to what other organizations are giving for the same type of work, then that might cause for the employee to leave. Even though employee motivation and financial compensation are viewed as big problems for Riordan, the business ability to form attraction and support career enhancement has been weakening. The problems can be caused by the lack of Human Resource Management in the business strategic human capital management, with a failure by leadership to form a successful culture that aids the business objectives. As the business sets itself straight and alters its strategy, it will be vital to effectively train employees and make certain that they are set for the challenges that come their way. Sadly, motivation issues are harming the business and may affect the strategic changes. Examples of the weak culture and employee development are seen in the Research & Development and IT parts of the organization. Each section contributes to the success of the business but receives rarely any recognition, whether it is pay or just an overall recognition. Riordan Manufacturing has the chance to brace the culture and form a complete employee development system that supports the enterprises vision and goals for the future. To add to this the business has the ability to explore other areas aside from the financial compensation to augment employee motivation and job satisfaction. Executing a career development system will not be enough for long-term enhancements. Management at Riordan Manufacturing will need to center on building situations that practice career development. (Mason, 2000, pg. 22) Employees at Riordan Manufacturing have different interests. These interest can include financial compensation, career enhancement or development, strong and effective communication and of course support from the management team. Employees have the right to be rewarded fairly and be acknowledged for their efforts and hard work to the organization. To add to this, employees have the right to be included in the organizations culture instead of being part of teams that are divided up. This usually leads to a lack of direction. Employees crave cooperation, a challenging working environment and dedication. That’s why effective end state goals would be to make certain that employee motivation is being measured effectively. Also, form career development plans and spot out important achievements within the business. Not only employee motivation should be worked on, but also set up a comprehensive rewards system. The reward system will give employees the chance to take charge of their reward as well as form a spot to market benefits that pertain to Riordan Manufacturing employees. An internal web application should be created by HR. (Donavan, 2005, pg12) The system will center on benefits administration, cross-function team goal management, and incentive rewards tracking systems. Employees will have the option of reviewing their benefits and make alterations on their time. Also, managers will be able to appraise the improvement and donations made by cross-functional teams. Sales statistics will also be part of the reward system to keep track of sales performance. Riordan Manufacturing needs to restructure its employee compensation program. This means, that the organization needs to first acknowledge that employee motivation is low. From there, increase it, by rewarding employees for a job well done. Acknowledging them in front of their employees, and even bonuses will be nice. Flexible schedule is so important. Basically, re-evaluating everything to make certain that employees are feeling valued. References Chen, H.M., Hsieh, Y.H. (2006). Key Trends of the Total Reward System in the 21st Century. Retrieved January 5, 2013 from, http://cbr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/38/6/64 Donavan, D. (2005). Don’t bar bosses from extra perks. Employee Benefits; p9-9, 1/4p, 1c. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database. 18382022 Gross, S.E., Paul, B.N. (1994). Missing links?. Across the Board; Vol. 31 Issue 2. Retrieved January 15, 2013 from, EBSCOhost Database. 9411170727 Mason, J. (2000). Getting Paid For Giving Advice. Financial Planning; Vol. 30 Issue 6. Retrieved January 11, 2013 from EBSCOhost Database. 3182580 Riordan Manufacturing. Retrieved January 3, 2013, from http://riordan- manufacturing.ciiio.com/ Shani, A.B. R., Chandler, D., & Coget, J. (2009). Behavior In Organizations: An Experiential Approach (9th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Female Education and Economic Growth

Female Education and Economic Growth Case Study Of India Economic growth in India India is classified as a lower middle income country, and since 2011 is no longer regarded as a developing country (World Bank Database, 2012) due to recent high economic growth (Kohli, 2006). In 2010, the country had a real GDP growth of 8. 8 percent and a nominal GDP per capita of 1410. 3 dollars (World Bank Database, 2012). According to AT Kearney, an International consulting group (Rao & Varghese, 2009), India is ranked as one of the best countries to start a new business in.The foreign investment rate, might be a proof of that. The ministry of finance in India believes it will reach almost 40 percent of the GDP by 2013. Not only the foreign investments have increased but the domestic savings and investments has also gone up and were about 30 percent of the GDP in 2009 (Rao & Varghese, 2009). The ratio of poor people6 has decreased from 45. 3 percent to 29. 8 percent between year 2000 and 2010 (Worl d Bank Database, 2012). Even if poverty has decreased one third of the population is still thought to be poor (World Bank Database, 2012).Poverty negatively affects the opportunity for many to be able to enroll in school negatively. The state has a major role to mass educate the population and increase human capital (Duraisamy, 2001). One of the most important ways to do that is to reduce the fertility rate. It is one of the major components to long-term economic growth in India (Dreze & Murthi, 2001; Tilak, 2006; World Bank, 1997; Yadava & Chadney, 1994). A lower fertility rate means a higher GDP per capita (Weil, 2009), and more money to invest in the country and its inhabitants (World Bank, 1997). Education in India The 1. billion people (World Bank Database, 2012) of India's 28 states, together with its seven union territories, do not speak the same language, do not share the same culture and do not have the same religious beliefs. Educational system differs in the respective st ates due to the fact that it is partly regulated by the state and partly by the local government (Kajisa ; Palanichamy, 2009; World Bank, 1997; World Bank, 2004). In 1999 India spent 4. 5 percent of its total GDP on education, but spending on education has declined since then. In 2006, spending dropped to 3. 1 percent (World Bank Database, 2012).Article 45 in the Indian Constitution states: â€Å"†¦ for free and compulsory education for all children until they reach the age of 14† (in Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 2003). 7 As can be seen in article 45, ambitions have been high since 1960s. In year 2000 approximately 18. 5 million children were out of school. In 2007 the number was 4. 9 million. Primary completion rate also increased and in 2008 it was around 95 percent, for both males and females8 (World Bank, 2012). The quality of governmental schools has been questioned in India (Duraisamy, 2001). Even if the completion rate in primary schooling is high, literacy rate is not reflecting that.Between year 2000 and 2006 there has been little change in the literacy rates, which was just under 50 percent for females and approximately 75 percent for males (2006) (World Bank, 2012). Some argue that good quality schooling is only available for the rich and higher middle class in private schools, especially for boys (Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 2003). According to Easterly (Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 2003) elite education does not lead to economic growth. If ability is seen as innate, it means that the majority of the people who are not included in the elite will not be able to use their full potential.This is a great social loss, and might slow down India's future long-term economic growth (Esteve- Volart, 2004; Klasen, 2002; Rao ; Varghese, 2009). For example, in China, mass education has been the key to a fast growing economy (Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 2003). Chatterji (2008) claims that primary education has the highest correlation with economic growth in India, seconda ry education have some effect and tertiary education being insignificant to economic growth. The reason Chatterji (2008) came to that conclusion might be the debated â€Å"surplus of education† in the media.India supplied domestic labor market with 22 million graduates (2009) and faced high youth unemployment rates (Rao & Varghese, 2009). However, Tilak (2007) disagrees. According to him higher education has a significant effect on economic growth, but it is not as strong as the effects of primary and secondary education on economic growth in India. Female education in India As mentioned above approximately 18. 5 million were out of school in the year of 2000, almost 75 percent of these children were girls9. Out of 5 million children out of school in 2007, 3. 5 million were girls.The data indicates that ratio is still approximately the same. In year 2007 the expected years of education for women and men respectively was 10. 9 for males and 9. 8 for females. However, this was not reflected on the average years of schooling in 2010. The mean years of schooling for girls over the age of 15 were approximately 4. 5 years and about 7 years for boys (World Bank, 2012). 10 Figure 1: Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance (World Bank Database, 2012). As can be seen in figure 1, gross female school enrollment11 rate has increased for all levels in India between 1990 and 2010.The highest increase has been in primary education after the millenium and forward. The high percentage rate of female enrollment rate in primary schooling might be an indication that women in all ages are enrolling in school, independent from appropriate primary schooling age in the country. This might be due to an increase in informal schooling, which will be reviewed later in the paper. Secondary schooling is spiriling up as well, which might be due to an increase of the middle class in India. However, tertiary education does not have as high increa se in enrollment as primary and secondary schooling.This might as well be due to an increase of the middle class. Females staying at home is a sign of financial stability (Duraisamy, 2001), therefore the incentives to enroll in tertiary education might decrease. Figure 2: When figure 1, is compared to figure 2, which shows the trends for male schooling in India between 1990-2010, it is possible to see that the gap between male and female enrollment is closing. In the beginning of 1990 almost 110 percent of males were enrolled in primary schooling, whilst only 80 percent of females were enrolled in the same level.In 2010 the enrollment for males and females is almost the same. This might be because of subsidies for girls, but also that informal schooling which first of all targets females and the poor has showed results. The enrollment for male secondary schooling has slightly increased during the last two decades, while the female secondary enrollment significantly has increased. Th is might be due to the facts mentioned for primary schooling, as well as completion of primary schooling and therefore the ability to move on to the next level of schooling.The increase of the middle class might also be a reason for this. Tertiary schooling is moving in the same pace more or less both for males and females, slightly more males than females join higher education. Which might be an indicator that the most bright ones, or with the most money have the ability to join, independent of gender. It is also important to mention the states hard work since the 1960's to make its inhabitants see the positive sides with education, working hard for families to see the benefits of schooling for girls.A woman's socioeconomic background might affect the level of completion rate. If a family is poor, one rather invests in sons than daughters (Chaudhri & Jha, 2011; World Bank, 1997). Women from the middle class in the majority of cases finish at least primary education, irrespectively if they live in rural or urban area. Women from the upper class in the urban areas, usually have at least secondary education, and more often can chose if they want to become a part of the labor force or not. There are few or no social barriers prohibiting them from joining the labor market (World Bank, 1997).Duraisamy (2001) came to the conclusion that female education has a positive rate of return for all levels of education in India. World Bank (1997) came to the same conclusion, but only when participation in the labor market was not accounted. One reason for this might be that majority of women do not work after finishing school but become stay at home mothers. Therefore education for women might not give the same economic return on the investment compared to men who join the labor force and therefore contribute to increased income per capita.This finding might be questioned due to exclusions of positive externalities mentioned earlier in the paper. Before continuing on and rev iewing the impacts of female education on economic growth through a decline in fertility rate and increase in human capital, it is important to clarify the diversity in India. In the 1990s some states had almost universal education, such as the southern state of Kerala. In Kerala, both men and women can choose whether to join the labor force or not. In other parts of the country, such as states of Bihar and Rajasthan, overall female enrollment was about 50 percent.In Punjab on the other hand, an agricultural state in the north, overall female enrollment was almost 80 percent, but labor participation for women was extremely low (World Bank, 1997; World Bank, 2004). Female education's effect on fertility rate in India Dreze and Murthi (2001) argue that female education together with low mortality rate and low son- preference are the only significant factors reducing fertility rate in India. They add that modernization and urbanization, poverty reduction and male literacy have no signi ficant association with reduced fertility rate.On a national level, a drop in fertility rate reduces population growth and therefore increases income per capita. A lower mortality rate is indirectly affected by female education. According to the World Bank (1997; 2004) literate women have more knowledge about how to feed their children; they grasp the importance of hygiene and clean water, and know more about a child's basic health. This decreases child mortality, and therefore women does not have to plan for as many children (Dreze and Murthi, 2001; Yadava & Chadney, 1994). Figure 3:Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance (World Bank Database, 2012). Figure 4: Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance (World Bank Database, 2012). In figure three and four one can view that fertility rate and mortality rate have decreased significantly in the last 20 years. Majority of the scholars such as Klasen (2002) cla im that only secondary female education has a direct effect on reducing fertility rate while primary education has an indirect effect in reducing fertility rate through reducing mortality rate for children under the age of five.Comparing figures one, two and three one can comprehend that it might be true. Mortality rate has had a higher percentage decrease than fertility rate and primary female enrollment is higher than secondary. There is a strong son-preference in India. Parents might continue to have children until they get a son. A weaker son-preference could decrease the fertility rate by eight percent (Dreze and Murthi, 2001; Chaudhri & Jha, 2011; Esteve-Volart, 2004; Mutharayappa, Choe, Arnold & Roy, 1997; Yadava & Chadney, 1994).Some argue that modernization did not show to have any direct effect on fertility rate in India but might lower son-preference indirectly through female education. However, this might not only be true for female education solely, but for education in general as well (Dreze & Murthi, 2001; Yadava & Chadney, 1994). 13 In India, female secondary education has a stronger direct effect in reducing fertility rate, than primary education. An educated woman might not desire as many children as an uneducated one. They also have a higher probability to give birth to as many children as desired.Thus, the actual family size has a higher chance to be close to the desired. This indicates to an increased knowledge of contraception use and that educated women marry later than uneducated ones. The income and substitution effect both occur in India, as explained above (Dreze & Murthi, 2004). In 1994 in Gujarat, women with no education had 3. 6 children, mothers with primary education had 3. 3 children, and women who had completed secondary school had 2. 4 children. In Rajasthan the fertility rate in 1991 was 6, and in Kerala the fertility rate the same year was 2. 6.The rate of female enrollment in these states was very different, from almost un iversal in Kerala to less than 50 percent in Rajasthan (Mutharayappa, Choe, Arnold & Roy, 1997; World Bank 1997; 2004). 14 It is commonly believed that poverty has a significant positive effect on fertility rate. As mentioned earlier, Dreze and Murthi (2001) have not found any association between poverty and fertility rate in India. Studies have shown that parents do not view children as financial assets. Instead they are seen as a financial burden in short-term, with a possibility that sons will take care of them in old age.This perception in India seems to be independent of income. Female education's effect on human capital in India After China, India has the second largest labor force in the world, of approximately 500 million people (Rao ; Varghese, 2009; Sahoo ; Kumar Dash, 2009). This is a possible foundation for high productivity and therefore economic growth. However, if the population is unhealthy, illiterate and uneducated then the large population might not translate into a high human capital. In India, where majority of the mothers stay at home, they are the ones taking care of children's health needs (Esteve-Volart, 2004).There has been shown, not only in India, but in the whole world, that mothers who are literate have more nurtured and healthier children, than their illiterate counterpart (Tembon & Fort, 2008). Therefore female education has shown to be both directly (through women joining the labor force) and indirectly related to a higher human capital, hence higher economic growth. Good health and nutrition received in early age is an important condition for good health as an adult. For example, in India, vaccination against polio and malaria increases when a mother is educated to some extent (World Bank 1997).However the causality between female education and better health and attainment in school can be questioned. The poorest women have the least access to education in India, and therefore do not have access to financial assets as educated women might have. Healthy children facilitate mother's ability to go back to paid or un-paid work much faster than women who have unhealthy children (World Bank, 1997; 2004). This means that the opportunity cost of female education for girls decrease, if mothers and siblings are healthier. This might increase female enrollment, and decrease drop-out rate among girls.Therefore, an increase in knowledge of basic health due to female education increases human capital in more than one way (Esteve-Volart, 2004; Rao ; Varghese, 2009). In the majority of cases, fathers join the labor market while mothers stay at home, especially in rural areas. In India there is a positive relation between educated mothers and their children's achievements in school. Studies have shown that a mother's education increases not only the health and therefore concentration level of a child in school, but also the motivation and grades.Once again we can see that educated mothers have positive effects on their d aughters. Educated mothers, especially in urban areas, encourage their daughters more often to strive for a higher education, than uneducated ones (World Bank, 2004). Policies that promote female education in India The Indian government has been working hard since the late 1960s to be able to give universal education to its population (Duraisamy, 2001; Tilak, 2006). It is not the easiest task in India where the population grew from approximately 890 million in 1991 to over 1. billion in 2010. The hardest ones to reach are the Dalit15 girls. Indian government has tried to increase the demand for education for them through subventioning the direct costs of their education, for example text books and uniforms (Ferry, 2008;Munshi ; Rosenzweig, 2006). 16 A project that started in the 1980s in India was informal schooling. The purpose was and is mass education for those who had the least possibilities to enter formal schooling and provide basic knowledge in subjects that students can use in their everyday life.These schools reduce opportunity cost of female education through having schools closer to communities in rural areas and during the day when girls do not have to be involved in household work. There are many positive effects of informal schooling, which are similar to those of primary education. However, the national institute of educational planning and administration reported that the informal education had several weaknesses, especially in the poorest areas in the country like Bihar.It was said to be underfunded, curriculum was thought by unmotivated teachers and few children continued with formal education (World Bank, 1997). Studies made in urban Mumbai shows that some girls from former casteless groups, the Dalits, have been the biggest winners. These women used free education offered to them and became active members of the labor market and have taken themselves out of the poverty trap. In contrast to women from the middle class who might not have been able to do so because of the social norms (Ferry, 2008).In summation, the key factor for long-term economic growth in India is a decrease in fertility rate. The proof that female education affects economic growth through fertility rate reflects findings of Dreze and Murthi (2001) who argue that the only factors which decrease fertility rate in India are female education, low mortality rate and low son-preference. It is also proven that female education has both direct and indirect effect on human capital which creates effect on economic growth as well. Obstacles for female education in India are mainly related to social and cultural norms, as well as a high population.

Intrinsic Reward of Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intrinsic Reward of Teaching - Essay Example Performance-based teacher rewards fall into two categories: group-based and individual based. The criteria for determining performance are student performance and teacher skills or knowledge. The rewards are monetary. They aim towards motivating teachers and thus increasing student performance. However, non-supporters of these schemes argue that intrinsic rewards such as improved student performance motivate teachers hence these rewards are unnecessary. Disadvantages of the program come out as poor implementation, expensive, political difficulties and reduced cooperation among teachers. However, in conclusion, the writer leans towards siding with the implementation of these reward programs and especially advocating for group-based rewards systems instead of individual-based performance rewards. It is agreeable that performance-based reward programs display considerable advantages to the education system. The target of any education systems is ensuring optimum performance among students. Teachers contribute greatly to this performance and therefore a system of motivating teachers is in place. The salary scale rewards teachers based on experience and degrees with little consideration of their performance. By rewarding performance, good teachers get recognition as non-performing teachers face the challenge of improving their efforts. This is positive competition all aimed at improving student performance. Performance reward systems also promote good school administration. School principals and the board have no choice but to deeply evaluate their teachers based on performance. This way, they pay attention to the quality of the teachers and learn about the mistakes made. This aims towards ensuring better student performance.

Explore Canadian cultural developments and further examine those which Essay

Explore Canadian cultural developments and further examine those which would impact the investment plans of a German-based luxury car manufacturer - Essay Example However, the country’s recent economic prosperity and the ability to be at par with the competitive world are some affirmations of this conservatism. According to Bill Currie, Deloitte’s chair, the Canadians feel they are good and do not need to take risks that are not comfortable with them. In a report produced by Deloitte Company, uncertainty and risk were noted as the greatest obstacles to the Canadian business owners. In addition, other Canadian business leaders claim that the high cost of labour is the primary cause that is restraining their capabilities to invest in research and development (OVSEY, 2012). According to OVSEY (2012), Prof Peridis disagrees with their claims noting that the Germans despite their high labour costs can still sell their products. They produce knowledge-intensive products and adds that a culture of modesty cannot be changed overnight. Thus, for Canada to become a serious contributor to the business globe, it needs time to change that conservative culture. Audi is among the top luxury car producing company in Germany. The Audi manufacturers are known for their numerous innovations in the automotive industry. For this reason, Audi can be termed as a risk taker in the global business world due to their willingness to venture their business worldwide. Furthermore, plans to invest globally in the Chinese and American markets are underway by the Audi automobile company. These plans were triggered by the developments in both countries and the need to sell their products worldwide to develop economically (BOUDETTE, 2014). Despite the facts that Canadian companies are conservative and do not love innovation, the Canadian country can be a good market for the Audi to sell their cars. As well, this is because the locally based companies are very reluctant in innovating anything new. As a result, Canadians may be willing to break the monotony in their countries and try to import

Is humanitarian assistance with displaced populations and refugees Essay

Is humanitarian assistance with displaced populations and refugees useful, neutral, or harmful - Essay Example There are several organizations that have been established to look into the issuance of humanitarian assistance to affected individuals of the humanitarian disasters (Slim, 1997). There have been variations in contemporary international relations in 21st century caused by advent of globalization process and termination of the cold war. Struggle for power among states and relationships involving organizations and individuals, have been subjected to numerous alterations resulting in a totally changed international scenario. All these variations have been regarded as a threat to state sovereignty. Domestic and international organizations have come to realize that human rights deprivations are issues that cannot be solely left in the hands of domestic jurisdiction alone (Grossrieder, 2003). In fact, there is more displaced populations and refugees in the 21st century that has led to the formation humanitarian assistance of various kinds. Looking at the happenings and calamities facing the world and various human societies in the 21st century, there has been much work that has been done by Humanitarian Assistance organizations especially in saving and bringing back the joy of life to the displaced populations and refugees in general. Consequently, these organizations (HA) are considered to be useful and not neutral or harmful not only because of the work they undertake as far as Humanitarian Assistance is concerned, but also because of their willingness risk their lives for the sake of displaced persons and refugees in general. The usefulness of HA could be attributed to the need that led to their formation. For instance, the aftermath of the cold war prompted the establishment of the right to humanitarian assistance in different years. First and foremost, the resolution 43-131 that would regulate delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of natural disaster and any other related cause was approved by the UN general assembly in December 8, 1998. A similar resolution

The development of painting through history Essay

The development of painting through history - Essay Example Rococo Art succeeded Baroque Art in Europe during 1715 to 1774. The style was dominant in France and had significant associations with King Louis XV. It was a reaction to the massiveness and grandeur of Baroque. The style was more light, elegant, decorative, and elaborate than the earlier Baroque style. Jean-Honore’ Fragonard developed Blind Man’s Buff. It is an artistic piece of work, which has sharp, vivid images of clouds, a fountain of water, trees, people, and buildings. Neoclassicism emerged during the mid-18th to early 19th century. It is an unemotional and severe form of art, which harkens back to the grandeur of ancient Rome and Greece. The elegant and balanced works of Neoclassicism revived the harmony of ancient Roman and Greek art. It is a rigid form of art and reacted to the emotionally charged Baroque and the over-bred Rococo styles. The American and French Revolutions desired to revive an interest in classical thought. The revolutions thus encouraged the rise of Neoclassical art of painting. Robert Smirke was one of the most prominent Neoclassicists of that time. One of his pieces of art, the Odysseus and Circe, displays a king that is unemotional to the women’s cries and pleas. In his fury, he grabs a woman and seems to be commanding using a sword. Realism style of painting emerged in the mid-19th century, and it depicts subjects in a straightforward manner. It involves objective representation of subject matters. It tends to avoid idealizing the subjects and does not follow rules.

Silverstone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Silverstone - Essay Example be required in the circuit in the near future, or some variable that the company may need to keep under consideration while taking strategic decisions. In order to evaluate the business environment, tools such as PESTEL and SWOT have been used. SWOT analyses internal environment as well as the external environment of the entity, whereas PESTEL is thorough external environmental analysis. Silverstone enjoys amazing brand equity and can easily attract sponsorships from people whenever an event is taking place there. Their biggest strength, the brand equity should be capitalized for further expansion plans and channelizing it towards catering to weaknesses. The biggest weakness is the fact that they are not allowed to increase their ticket price (Wadham, 2010); while pivoting through brand equity and the services Silverstone has been providing, they can increase the price marginally to reap greater profits. Also, such a successful organization needs to develop an organizational structure to increase responsibility and accountability. There is no presence of an organizational structure that may hamper its pace towards success (Silverst one, 2010). The biggest opportunity that Silverstone is already working on is to provide the extended accommodation to people who want to have an extended stay at the track. This along with their extended marketing plans to reach out to women should help them gain a competitive advantage in their favour. In today’s market, it is very important to gain advantage and increase market share; Silverstone is on the right track to get a better market share. Silverstone should focus on marketing the brand name and not serve as a host, as it will diminish brand recognition of the customers (Silverstone, 2010). Further analyzing the external environment through PESTEL, one realizes that one of the biggest issues that Silverstone faces is political. Silverstone may feel political pressure in the future to vacate the land as it does not bring in

Rights of self petitioning applicants Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Rights of self petitioning applicants - Thesis Example ...............................23 5.4.3 Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act....................................................................24 5.4.4 Illegal Reformation & Immigration Responsibility Act...........24 5.4.5 Women Immigrants Safe Harbor Act.......................................24-25 5.5 Battered Women Immigrants Not Covered by VAWA........................25-29 CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.........................................30-31 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Legal status of foreign-born population, 2002 ABSTRACT Violence against women has been a problem plaguing society since time immemorial. In the American society, this issue came to the fore in the advent of the civil movements in the 1980s when women had the opportunity to gather together and confer with each other. Thus, were born legislations protecting women from violence, including violence which occurs within the confines of their own homes. The most remarkable of these laws was the 1994 Violent Against Women Act (VAWA hereafter) which was subsequently reauthorized first in 2000 and then in 2005. This law was remarkable not only for the financial assistance it gave to women victims but also the circumvention of prior laws which require women immigrants married to US nationals or permanent residents to wait for a period of two years before jointly applying with their spouses for permanent residence. Statistics show that violence against women is more prevalent in the case of women immigrants than in US born women. The US is multiracial country - a melting pot of various ethnic origins and people coming from various cultures. There are, to date, about 34 million people, more or less, in the country who are foreign-born and many of...This law was remarkable not only for the financial assistance it gave to women victims but also the circumvention of prior laws which require women immigrants married to US nationals or permanent residents to wait for a period of two years before jointly applying with their spouses for permanent residence. Statistics show that violence against women is more prevalent in the case of women immigrants than in US born women. The US is multiracial country - a melting pot of various ethnic origins and people coming from various cultures. There are, to date, about 34 million people, more or less, in the country who are foreign-born and many of these are women immigrants who suffer at the hands of people who exploit and abuse them because of their immigration status and their social isolation brought about by their foreign surroundings, language deficiency, economic dependency, cultural ethnicity. Many of them are undocumented immigrants who came into the country without proper documentation. Since the VAWA provisions on battered immigrant women are specific only to a particular type of women immigrants, the implication is that many of these battered women are left out in the cold with no hope of aid from the government. Violence against women is a societal ill long been present but has only been recently acknowledged.

Isaac Newton on essence of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Isaac Newton on essence of God - Essay Example First was the admission that there are no causes of natural things that are true or sufficient in explaining their appearance (Newton, 54). The second rule is that due to lack of truth and sufficiency in the explanation of appearance of things, same natural effects must be assigned to the same cause. Here, he gave the example of how man and beast respire as well the difference of light from culinary fire and that from the sun. Third example was that of qualities belonging to bodies that humans can have access to during experiments and therefore such qualities can be esteemed as the universal qualities for all bodies. From this rule he deduced that all bodies are impermeable and are movable, endowed with some powers that help them in resisting motion (Newton, 54). In addition, all bodies gravitate towards the earth with a proportion of their quantity of matter. Examples of such are the way the sea gravitate towards the moon or the motion of planets towards each other. According to Newton, God is the overall creator of the universe. He states that â€Å"this most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.

Human Atrocities Essay Example for Free

Human Atrocities Essay In the age of terrorism and nuclear wars, one of the greatest challenges that the human community is facing right now is to curb human rights violations that is occurring in almost all parts of the world. Even the citizens of the most democratic of nations are not spared from a certain degree of human rights violations or atrocities. This is a fact that all citizens of the world must face and bravely address. But the bigger question is this: who is responsible to curb human atrocities? More specifically, what can the international and local community do to intervene in such atrocities? To answer these questions, I believe we must first arrive at a definition of human rights violations or atrocities. According to Wikipedia, human rights refers to the universal rights of all human beings regardless of race, color, nationality, religion gender and culture. From the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is basically based on inherent human dignity. Concurrently, human atrocities are violations of rights inherent to an individual. Normally, it is a term used when a government violates national or international law related to the protection of human rights. (Wikipedia, 2007) I am of the opinion that the international community has an inherent responsibility to stand up against any form of human rights abuse. International courts such as the International Criminal Court and international organizations such as the United Nations must be vigilant in protecting the rights of each human being. They must be the first to safeguard the interest of each person against any crime that may be done against them by either the military in their respective government or their government per se. For instance, the International Criminal Court is designed to bring into effect those peremptory norms of international law which safeguard such fundamental values as human dignity, the respect for life and limb of innocent persons, and the protection of ethnic, religious or racial groups. (Cassesse, 2007) In addition, the International Criminal Court must bring to justice any state which violates the dignity of its citizens. Doing so will uphold the most important international values, including the respect for human rights. Moreover, taking these steps will uphold and vindicate community rights. International non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch is an indication of what the international community can do in order to help curb the rise of human atrocities in any country. They have the resources to let the international community know of any wrongdoings being done in certain areas of the world. They can mobilize other local organizations to stand up against these atrocities by mobilizing public opinion. For instance, Amnesty International has worked and is further exerting its efforts for the protection of those detained because of their non-violent opinions and is seeking that Articles 18 and 19 of the UDHR be recognized globally. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch opposes basic human rights violations like death penalty and sex discrimination. It is an advocate of freedom relating to fundamental human rights like freedom of religion and the press. Another significant player in the bid to curb human atrocities is the local community. One cannot overemphasize on the power of the locals to intervene in such problems. Setting up international organizations will not solve the problems that are festering a country. Healing must come from within. The local community must always be on the look-out for any atrocities being done and must bravely report this to the authorities. As noted in the website of the Crimes of War Project, each international institution will need the support and cooperation of other institutions and, most significantly, of States themselves and local communities for that matter. For example, local community can be a source of vital information related to the patterns and mechanisms of the problems in the community that can help solve an international crisis. (Cassesse, 2007) I also believe that the power of media can be best utilized in addressing the realities of human rights violations. Since the media can effectively capture the attention of many people, the local and international media should make it their responsibility to report any news of wrongdoings or injustice. (Cassesse, 2007) This will also help in making each community –whether local or international—to be more vigilant in such cases. It must be understood that the measures to be taken by the international community will have no significant bearing without the support of the local community. No amount of intervention will be effective if the local community will not render its support. As noted by Antonio Cassesse in an article entitled â€Å"A Big Step Forward for International Justice†, the best response to atrocities lies in a prudent and well thought-out combination of various approaches both local and international. (Cassesse, 2007) He writes, â€Å"international criminal law is a branch of law that, more than any other, is about human folly, human wickedness, and human aggressiveness. It deals with the darkest side of our nature. It also deals with the way societies organize themselves to stem violence and viciousness as much as possible. Clearly, given the magnitude of the task, no single response may suffice. Instead, a broad array of responses, each tailored to specific circumstances, is needed effectively to fight international criminality. † (Cassesse, 2007) Hence, intervention of human atrocities is both a local and international responsibility –one that must be taken seriously and diligently by all societies in the world. Cited Works Cassesse, Antonio. crimesofwar. org. â€Å"A Big Step Forward for International Justice. † 7 March 2007. http://www. crimesofwar. org/icc_magazine/icc-cassese. html Wikipedia. â€Å"Human Rights. † 7 March 2007. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Human_rights#Violations_of_human_rights

The Monastery Essay Example for Free

The Monastery Essay I am a currently trained in Military Free-Fall, so it would be safe to say that I have knowledge by observation and participation. I have enjoyed watching skydiving competitions on television and in the military. As a kid I can remember wanting to do that when I grew up. When I joined the Special Forces in 1989 I knew my chances were greatly increasing for me to participate in skydiving operations, but it wasnt until 1995 when that final moment would arrive. I enjoy the excitement of participation in a skydiving operation that consists in small numbers of personnel to a mass group. There are several stages a beginner will go though until their first jump without an instructor. First let me tell you about the training that I went though in my quest to fulfill my childhood dreams. Since I had been trained in basic airborne operations (static line jumps) this made an easier to transition into skydiving operations for the instructors. The initial training begins with what we call tabletop drills. An instructor places everyone on a tabletop and talks you though the basic movements techniques that you will perform in the air. This is where you learn basic turns, flips, formations, rolls and other various drills. The next step you learn is how to pack and inspect your parachute in less than five minutes. The vertical wind tunnel is the second phase of training you go though in order to practice you tabletop drills before you actually perform a real jump. Once you have demonstrated your skill to an instructor that you can perform the entire basic task only then will you be allowed to move onto the last phase of training. The last phase of training is jumping out of an aircraft up to 12,500 feet above sea level. Your first jump an instructor hangs on to you while you exit the aircraft to ensure you stabilize yourself in the air. One you have done this he lets go and instructs you to perform the basic task you learned earlier, while grading you on your performance. Wow what a rush of adrenalin you get on your first jump at that height. Now its up to you to complete the rest of the training that you learned earlier during the course. Time management is a very hard concept for me to get a grasp on. This is one subject that everyone has knowledge of by both participation and observation. I have attended lecture from top-level executives on this subject down to basic level training by correspondence with limited success. My daily experiences with time management are quite different from that of a person who has a routine job. With my job changes are made at the last minute. For example, I could be in the process of gathering research for a project to deploying the next day (unannounced) to a remote country to train foreign troops in unconventional warfare all due to shortage of personnel on operational teams. Our job (Special Forced Intelligence Sergeants) has been referred to as the jack-of-all-trades, master of nothing. This stems from out extensive knowledge of all military type operations and training, but not given the time to focus on one specific skill. At times this can be very frustrating job with the constant change that effect a daily scheduled, but rewarding in other aspects due to the various activities that you may encounter along the way. The President of the United States is a subject that I have only knowledge by observation. I have learned a great deal just by watching the man and the office. I learned a small portion about politics in school because it was not a particular interest to me at the time. Now it has a great impact on my job and my future it has become more interesting to me. I listen to each candidate when they run for office to determine which one is the best suited for the job. I have learned a lot about the candidates just by watching them interact with the media during their debates. In the past the Presidency has been a very respectable and well sought out title to hold as a politician. In todays society the Presidency has lost some prestige due to men that held that position and allowed their selves to fall to corruptions and scandals.

Indian watch industry

Indian watch industry Indian Watch industry is estimated to be around 1600 crores and Titan is riding on top of it with a market share of over 50%.This is a super brand that has changed the way we look at ( or wear) watches. A marketing success story, Titan is a brand that will be of interest to most of the marketers. Titan , a brand from TATA was launched in 1987. During that time Indian watch market was dominated by HMT . At that time watches were seldom stylish and was catering to the basic need of knowing the time. Titan changed all that. With its stylish watches and smart advertising ,Titan took the market by storm. Titan infact changed the way watches was manufactured and marketed in India.HMT , a public sector company seldom bothered to respond. Titan initially pioneered the concept of Gifting watches. The ads captured the essence of gifting and along with the trendy music, easily caught the imagination of the market.Customers who were fed up with ugly time machines welcomed the brand and Titan had a dream run for many years. Titan faced lot of problems later when the competition began to eat up the lower end of the market. Besides that, there was another problem. The brand was lacking innovation. To be more precise, the customers were bored by Titan.There was nothing new. Gifting proposition was no longer working . During this period, Titan made a big mistake. It wanted to play the volume game. For that Titan launched another brand Sonata. Sonata was a huge success because it was a cheap product but at the cost of the mother brand Titan. Titan was perceived to be a premium brand but with Sonata ( at that time Sonata from Titan) endorsed by Titan took away the premium image from the mother brand. It was a big costly mistake. Titan realised this mistake and took away the Titan brand from Sonata. Now Sonata is endorsed by Tata not Titan. Titan realising that the market wanted something to be excited about watches began an extensive marketing campaign. Titan carefully segmented the market and developed different subbrands for each segment. Sub brands like Edge, Steel, Dash, Nebula , Classique, Royale, Fast Track , Raga, and the recently launched Wallstreet . By having various products / models and subbrands, Titan was able to create freshness about the brand. Titan also moved away from gifting . Titan was positioning itself as a fashion accessory rather than a time keeping device.Titan also found its persona in Aamir. Aamir provided the much needed edge to the brand. Titan was careful in keeping the brand above the celebrity.The ads were fresh and neatly executed. Titan also was pushing another strategy . Watches was perceived as a one time buy and consumers seldom owned multiple watches. So Titan pushed the concept of Matching Watches to Clothes in the recent commercials. Since men are becoming more serious customers of fashion accessories, this is strategy that is worth trying out. For Titan, even if the concept fails, It has created the much needed freshness in the brand.Titan also made its presence in the ladies watch segment. It have a sub brand Raga targeting the upwardly Mobilee ladies in the premium segment. Titan also relaunched the FastTrack brand of watched aiming the target segment of 18-30 yrs old. Earlier Fasttrack was targeted at 20-25 year olds and positioned along the line Cool watches from Titan. Then the company found out that the youth in the age group of 11-20 years account for 42% of watch buying in India. Based on this insight the company relaunched the brand lowering the target segment to 18-30 year olds with the baseline How many you have?. Again the strategy aimed at promoting the multiple watch owning concept. Fasttrack also launched a range of fashion accessories like Sunglasses trying to be a lifestyle brand. Indian watch market is clearly segmented and lot of serious players are fighting out in these segments . The lower volume segment has HMT, Sonata , Maxima fighting it out. The mid segment has Titan, Timex etc and the premium segment has Titan ,Citizen etc. The super premium segment is also hotting up with lot of international brands setting shops in India. Titan has carefully created a market for itself through careful segmentation and branding strategies.It is a brand that showed the world that Indians are good in Branding.

Insight Meditation :: essays research papers

Buddhist meditation practices often emphasize mainly concentration, particularly on a certain person, place or thing. They teach the mind to focus on one point or object, which achieves strength of concentration. The results are peaceful states, and in some very rare cases are said to create supernormal powers. That is no wonder why many people steer in that direction, in hopes of achieving "superpowers". Insight meditation is quite different however, and although some degree of concentration is needed, the meditator focuses more on mindfulness of the situation. Insight is defined in the dictionary as "the capacity to discern the true nature of a situation". The basis of insight meditation is the four foundations of mindfulness. They include contemplation of the body, contemplation of feelings, contemplation of the mind-state and contemplation of mind-objects. To achieve mindfulness one must try to be aware of these foundations as they exist in their bodies. For example to be mindful of the body, it is necessary to be aware of breathing in, breathing out, posture, bodily movements inwardly and outwardly etc. One must be conscious of mind-objects such as desire, and understand hoe feelings like that come about and how they are eliminated. To understand mindfulness as simply as possible, one can look at the difference between an unmindful person and the opposite. Everyday we see people who are unmindful of their actions, unmindful of their movements. Someone on the street who steps into a large puddle is unmindful of walking, such as someone who slips and falls. The state of mind of this person is unclear and possibly confused. We can compare this to ourselves in everyday life. Almost everybody has moments of calmness and moments of panic in their lives. When we are calm and composed, our minds are bright and clear, and our actions involve more thought. If we were to take a long walk on a desolate beach, with not a single soul around, we would have a higher degree of mindfulness than say, a walk to the subway station. A walk along the beach is much more peaceful, thus easier for us to achieve that mindfulness. On the other hand most of us have experienced a time in our lives when we have been panic-stricken, for whatever reason. In those cases, are mind is cluttered, we cannot think clearly and make rational decisions. In a way we are separate from our mind

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation Story Essay

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation Story Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is, among other things, a creation story. For creation stories are not simply myths about the historical origins of the universe and humankind but metaphors for individual maturation. Individual perception is, to a large extent, what constitutes the world. Hence, the individual is the source and embodiment of the world; Janie is, the narrator tells us, â€Å"the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop† (72). And Janie’s awakening, or maturation, represents not only a personal transformation, but the creation of a universe. As a child seeking meaning, Janie does not look forward to merely â€Å"growing up† but waits â€Å"for the world to be made† (11). Obviously the narrator does not mean the material world, but that particular world which comes into being with the mature individual. And as a creation story, Their Eyes, like the creation stories which precede it, deals with â€Å"the reconciliation of mind to the conditions of life†Ã¢â‚¬â€to the inherent violence of living. Now, one of the main problems of mythology is reconciling the mind to this brutal precondition of all life, which lives by the killing and eating of lives. You don’t kid yourself by eating only vegetables, either, for they, too, are alive. So the essence of life is this eating of itself! Life lives on lives, and the reconciliation of the human mind and sensibilities to that fundamental fact is one of the functions of some of those very brutal rites in which the ritual consists chiefly of killing—in imitation, as it were, of that first, primordial crime, out of which arose this temporal world, in which we all participate. The reconciliation of mind to the conditions of... ...n outside pine tree while Joy takes a turn, prancing about in the form of Tea Cake. Like Joy, Sorrow—and the violence which brings it about—has a place in the world and in Janie’s life. And in the novel’s closing lines, Janie â€Å"[pulls] in her horizon like a great fish-net. [Pulls] it from around the waist of the world and [drapes] it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see† (184). Sorrow, of course, is included in Janie’s horizon, and the image of pulling in her horizon reverses the previous image of Sorrow flying out. Janie not only accepts the sorrow and violence of life, but welcomes it. And, in doing so, Janie’s horizon embraces the waist of the world, and her creation becomes the creation of a world. Reference Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Henry Louis Gates. New York: Harper, 1990.

Mending Wall by Robert Frost Essay -- Mending Wall Robert Frost Poem E

â€Å"Mending Wall† by Robert Frost   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Mending Wall† by Robert Frost is a poem in which the characteristics of vocabulary, rhythm and other aspects of poetic technique combine in a fashion that articulates, in detail, the experience and the opposing convictions that the poem describes and discusses. The ordinariness of the rural activity is presented in specific description, and as so often is found in Frost’s poems, the unprepossessing undertaking has much larger implications. Yet his consideration of these does not disturb the qualities of accessible language and technique, which give the poem its unique flavor and persuasiveness. The poem works on two levels of realism and metaphor, with a balance as poised as the act of mending the all itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (themes) Perhaps one of the reasons that Frost remains one the best known and best loved American poets is that his themes are universal and attractive. They offer the reader affirmative resolutions for the conflicts dramatized in his life and his poetry. Readers, whether young or old, waging their own struggles against the constant threat of chaos in their life, find comfort and encouragement in many of Frost’s lines which are so cherished that they have become familiar quotations: â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors†, â€Å"Miles to go before I sleep.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (theme) â€Å"Mending Wall† is about boundaries. Frost, in a personal evaluation of this poem stated, â€Å"Nationality is something I couldn’t live without. I played exactly fair in it. Twice I say ‘Good fences’, twice I say ‘Something there is—‘. While giving a reading of his poetry in Santa Fe, Frost called the â€Å"Mending Wall† ‘too New Englandish’ and that mending wall is an occupation he used to follow. The neighbor in the poem is not a Yankee as represented, but is actually A French-Canadian who was very particular every spring about setting up the wall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (theme/subject) Frost often stated that he felt ‘spoken to’ by nature. He called these incidents ‘nature favors’ and these favors served as inceptors of his poems. Many people refer to him as a nature poet, however there is always a person, a character in his nature poetry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (subject/setting) Frost always claimed he wasn’t a nature poet and that there is almost always a person in the poem and that the poem is about the person, not about nature, which is usually beautifully described. Nature se... ...ngs). Something refers to a big, unknown unspeakable force – God? (expand on this). Or it could refer to the fact that in New England the frost heaves the ground in the winter, much as ice cubes swell up. Anything made of stone or brick suffers because of the upward pressure. Also: In actuality, stone walls were never built between properties. As farmers would plow their fields the stone were unearthed and carried to the property line and dumped. I’m sure Frost was aware of these facts but didn’t really care about how the physical wall came about, for he uses this wall only in the metaphoric sense to describe the way we wall ourselves in, while not knowing what we might be walling out. In Mending Wall Frost has recognized the existence of a force that sends a powerful emotion, a groundswell under the barriers that human beings create around themselves in an attempt to break these barriers down.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mending Wall has a man who both builds and repairs the wall, as well as works to topple the wall. He makes boundaries while at the same time trying to break them. That’s part of what makes this poem universally acceptable and enjoyable. Frost has described all of mankind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Psychopathy Influences and Factors Essay

Psychopathy has been around for hundreds of years and with a variety of names. In the early 1800s it was considered â€Å"moral insanity† and was based on the antisocial and nonconformity of individuals in society, but not necessarily criminal (Vitacco, Neuman & Jackson, 2005). Today, the same description holds true to some extent. Merriam-Webster (2008) defines psychopathy as â€Å"a mental disorder† showing symptoms of insensitive and antisocial behavior. In the early view this disorder was viewed as just a deficit of character, where today, psychopathy is viewed as a treatable disorder that has ties to violent and non-violent behaviors (Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007). By the early 1940s, a set standard of 16 criteria was used to diagnose this moral insanity or psychopathy. This diagnosis tool was focused on the behavior and personality traits and actions of the person, but had not been viewed as a factor in studying criminal behavior (Vitacco, Neuman & Jackson, 2005). This early 20th Century research in the field of psychopathy, it has blossomed and grown in to a psychological field of science all its own. In the 1980s the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) which listed the criterion from the initial research as well as new criterion for a total of 20 characteristics. The PCL was used on prisoners and criminally hospitalized people to show a correlation between psychopathy tendencies, and crime and violence. Eventually the PCL was modified a bit more to include the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), Psychopathy: Revised (PCL:R), and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV). All of these checklists have one thing in common; each can be used as a prediction tool in the relation of psychopathy traits and criminal activity (Reid, & Gacono, 2000; Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006; Vitacco, Neumann, & Jackson, 2005; Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007; Wormith, Olver, Stevenson, & Girard, 2007). In just about every study there are four factors that are considered basic traits of the psychopathy personality. These four factors are found as predictors in each of the PCLs used in today’s psychopathy research. The traits include interpersonal detachment, affective disorders, non-conforming behavioral traits, and general antisocial actions (Reid, & Gacono, 2000; Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006; Vitacco, Neumann, & Jackson, 2005; Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007; Wormith, Olver, Stevenson, & Girard, 2007). While most of the recent research has been used mainly on the male populations in prisons, juvenile institutions and psychiatric hospitals, the researchers who long believed the standard set did not fit with the female personality have begun to change the mindset. Many demographic factors including gender and race are being used to determine correlations and causes of the psychopathy personality. Psychopathy and Female Gender In more recent years, there has been an insurgent amount of research based on the psychopathy tendencies and predictability of female youth and adult offenders. The initial studies using any of the PCLs and including women as participants did not show a significant correlation between the psychopathic female and criminal behavior. However, more and more studies are showing correlations between and the prediction of criminal behavior in adult and adolescent female individuals with psychopathy personalities. One study of mixed adolescents began with the assumption of female participants having underlying factors that are not accounted for in the normal questions of the CPL:YV. This assumption was based on the ideal of the differences in the development of female and male adolescents. This study discovered some interesting information. While it was unable to predict non-violent activities in male or female participants, the female participants had extreme values in the prediction of violent behavior. This was one of the first studies including females that proved it would be used reliable for prediction of female violence (Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006). In fact, the mean association with female prediction was 21. 8 with a standard deviation of 5. 8, while male counterparts had a mean association with prediction of 22. 1 and a standard deviation of 6. 9.  This shows a correlation in the reliability of the predicting feature of this checklist in relation to female participants (Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006). There have also been studies on adult females with psychopathy traits that have found a decrease in intelligence with an increase in anxiety and psychopathic tendencies. This study allowed researchers to show the validity and reliability of the PCL:SV or PCL:R as a predicting too l in violent behavior and recidivism possibilities in both female inpatients and outpatients who participated in the study. Finally the task is not more just trying to understand the why and what of the male psychopath but the female psychopathy is gaining more ground and more research is being conducted now and in the future (Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007) Psychopathy and Race Within many of the same studies that are looking at female psychopaths, researchers are also declaring that race may be a factor in the onset of psychopathy tendencies. Most studies unfortunately, are coming up short with little significance in any correlation between race and psychopathic traits. In fact, the majority of the studies are showing a much higher significance in the correlation between gender and psychopathy than race and psychopathy (Reid, & Gacono, 2000; Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006; Vitacco, Neumann, & Jackson, 2005; Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007; Wormith, Olver, Stevenson, & Girard, 2007). This does not mean that the researchers will stop working toward finding the cause especially if it is a demographic in nature. Today’s researchers are working long and hard to gain a better understanding of what is the true cause of psychopathy and if there are any signs that we can focus on when the child is still young. Psychopathy Treatments At this time, there is not known, end all, treatment for psychopathy. The reason for this is due to the number of factors that can attribute to the psychopathy traits. Just being antisocial is not psychopath and just being insensitive is not psychopath. The fact of the matter is that most psychopaths enter treatment just to quit almost immediately. The fact that the disorder is not associated with any practical or tangible pain or symptoms make this disorder easily ignored by the patient and the community. Without tangible repercussions, the treatment is meaningless and the individual returns to the actions of the past (Reid & Gacono, 2005). Another problem is that no psychiatric medications seem to work to change the inherent traits of the psychopath. Without the use of normal types of therapy and medication treatment of this disorder is extremely hard. The only treatment that seems to work with psychopaths is the extreme treatments with rigorous and unchangeable schedules such as â€Å"wilderness programs† and such that take the individual out of normal life and into a boot camp like setting with structure and guidance. However, this rigorous lifestyle is usually abandoned as soon and the program is over (Reid & Gacono, 2005). Recidivism of Psychopathy Personalities  Recidivism is basically the chance of a person returning to a way of life that is unacceptable, be the actions criminal, or just not acceptable to the community. In either case, a person who has been diagnosed with a psychopathy disorder is more likely to return to previous actions. In fact, the CPL:R is an incredibly accurate predictor of recidivism in persons with psychopathy tendencies. Studies have shown that a higher value in psychopathy and higher value in anxiety correlates with a lower intelligence value and a better chance of acting out in a violent way. If the violent action had been used previously, then the chance of recidivism was even more likely (Reid, & Gacono, 2000; Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006; Vitacco, Neumann, & Jackson, 2005; Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007; Wormith, Olver, Stevenson, & Girard, 2007). Another study showed that many women with psychopathy tendencies also have what is called â€Å"selective attention abnormalities† that cause the women to exhibit violent and criminal actions. The action is not emotionally motivated but is an inherent deficit in the personality of the person (Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007). Conclusion In reality, more studies have to be conducted on psychopathy in mixed populations as well as single demographic variables. The field may have been around for over 200 years, but it is only now that science is catching up and finally giving some results that researches can use and help to treat this disorder (Reid, & Gacono, 2000; Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Schmidt, McKinnon, Chattha, & Brownlee, 2006; Vitacco, Neumann, & Jackson, 2005; Vitale, Brinkley, Hiatt, & Newman, 2007; Wormith, Olver, Stevenson, & Girard, 2007). Psychopathy is not psychotic. There is a difference, but the violent tendencies are just below the surface, and the reason the traits are provoked is still widely unknown. The more research and the clearer the view of this disorder, the more help we can offer to those who are diagnosed in the future.

Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone Essay

The Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUF/SL) invaded Sierra Leone from Liberia in March 1991. Initially they claimed to be a political movement supporting ‘liberation’ and ‘democracy. Instead the RUF, in reality, was an insecurely combined organization of mainly rebellious young people that inflicted mortal disaster throughout the country of Sierra Leone. The political revolution message failed to attract popular support, the RUF board on a barbarian ten-year civil war that had devastating consequences for civilians, in particular children. General Information about Child Soldiers The numbers of child soldiers are continually variable given the growth of diverse armed conflicts. The number of children under the age of 18 who have been forced or induced to take up arms as child soldiers is commonly thought to be around of 300,000. Non-governmental military organizations tend to recruit soldiers under the age of 15.Governmental armed forces, on the other hand, are more likely to recruit soldiers under the age of 18. From what is known the age of 7 is the youngest a child soldier can be. Over 50 countries currently take on children under the age of 18 into their militia. [pic] Figure 1. The African situation since Africa has without any doubt the largest number of child soldiers[1] What is a Child Soldier? UNICEF, The United Nations Children Fund, defines child soldiers as â€Å"any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity[2]. According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers: â€Å"Child soldiers perform a range of tasks including participation in combat, laying mines and explosives; scouting, spying, acting as decoys, couriers or guards; training, drill or other preparations; logistics and support functions, portering, cooking and domestic labour; and sexual slavery or other recruitment for sexual purposes.†[3] Girls are also called child soldiers and this is the case for many reasons. Girls usually fulfil numerous roles. While they are commonly recruited and used for sexual purposes, they are almost always also caught up in other military responsibilities. These include fighting, laying explosives, portering, and performing domestic tasks. How many child soldiers are there? It is difficult to give a worldwide number of child soldiers at any one time. There are various reasons as to why exact figures cannot be calculated. An example is that military commanders frequently mask children or do not allow access to observers. Armed groups regularly operate in dangerous, unapproachable zones to which observers do not have access and many children carry out support roles and are therefore not visible in military operations. How do children become soldiers? A special report on the impact of armed conflict on children which was created in 1996 explained how children become soldiers. In the report it is stated ‘Hunger and poverty may drive parents to offer children for service or attract children to volunteer as a way to guarantee regular meals, clothing or medical attention. Some children become soldiers to protect themselves or their families in the face of violence and chaos around them, while others, particularly adolescents, are lured by ideology. Children also identify with social causes, religious expression, self-determination, national liberation or the pursuit of political freedom, as in South Africa or the occupied territories.† [4] Another reason emphasizes the efficient value of children, especially for tedious tasks. An important explanation to keep in mind could be that child soldiers may be valuable for signalling purposes. A rebel leader may hope to show significance, commitment or terror through abduction of a child[5]. Finally, some people insist that young children are more malleable, adaptable, and obedient, as well as more easily persuaded and deceived. Therefore they are said to be easier to manage and retain[6]. If children are as productive as adults, we should find a disproportionate number in armed groups. The following two case studies give examples of what a girl and a boy have gone through during Sierra Leone’s devastating civil war. By describing their tasks, the reasons as to why these violate Human Rights can be clearly seen. Case Study: Fatmata Fatmata was one of only two survivors from her village in Sierra Leone. She was barely six years old when she was captured by the cruel rebel groups. She was taken to a rebel stronghold and forced to work under harsh conditions as a servant. In Fatmata’s own words: â€Å"We had to work all day while they would curse my mother and abuse me†. When she got older, Fatmata was forced to become the second wife of one of her rebel captors, therefore meaning she was raped and gave birth to the child of a rebel.[7] Case Study: Ishmael Beah In ‘A Long Way Gone’: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a successfully enthralling story of his life as a child soldier. At the age of twelve, he fled from rebel attacks and wandered a land caused to be unrecognizable by brutality. By thirteen, he had been captured by the government army, and Beah, even though he was a gentle young boy at heart, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was taken away from fighting by UNICEF. Beah, like many other child soldiers, had gone through devastating psychological traumas and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation centre, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity and was finally able to heal.[8] Human Rights According to the Truth and Reconciliations commissions report the use of local as well as international human rights mechanisms in responding to the shocking criminal acts that took place in Sierra Leone during the previous decade is important to the development of international human rights law[9]. Sierra Leone became a member of the United Nations in 1961 and is a signatory to most of the important human rights committees including the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The Government of Sierra Leone has also ratified the optional protocol. Children Rights Act has been enacted in Sierra Leone quite recently in 2007. The Government of Sierra Leone signed and ratified the Protocol on 8 September 2000 and 15 May 2002. Convention to the Rights of a Child The Convention to the Rights of a Child (CRC) is built on diverse legal systems as well as cultural traditions. The Convention is a universally agreed set of fixed standards and obligations. These human rights set the least amount of pre-emptive declaration and freedoms that should be valued by governments. In Article 38, the Convention on the Rights of the Child insist that governments to take all possible measures to guarantee that children under 15 have no direct involvement in warfare. The Convention also sets 15 years as the minimum age at which a person can be willingly recruited into or willingly signs up in the armed forces.[10] Optional Protocol The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the contribution of children in armed conflict symbolizes a progressive leap in the international law in order to defend children from the damaging effects of recruitment and use in warfare. The Protocol requires States who authorize it to obtain all practicable measures to make sure those members who are part of their armed forces and are under the age of 18 do not have a direct involvement in the fighting’s. States must also raise the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces from 15 years but does not require a minimum age of 18. The Protocol reminds States that children under 18 years are entitled to distinctive protection and so any voluntary recruitment under the age of 18 must include adequate protection. Compulsory recruitment below the age of 18 is fully banned and States parties must also take legal measures to forbid self-governing armed groups from recruiting and using children under the age of 18 in conflicts.[11] ARTICLE 1 of the Optional Protocol: ‘States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.’ This shows that the Protocol raised the age that children are allowed to be a member of an illegal or legal armed force from 15 years to 18 years. UNICEF and ‘The International Rescue Committee’ and how they have helped In Sierra Leone, UNICEF was the lead agency for child protection, which worked with its colleagues to reduce arms, and to release and reconnect process for child soldiers from 1998 to 2002.They construct protective and healthy educational environments where former child soldiers obtain the opportunity to learn how to live without weapons, gain new skills which enables them to be prepared for their future and to learn how to become prolific citizens in their society. Most importantly they are given a second chance to learn how to be children again. Demobilized children were moved to temporary care centres supported by UNICEF where they were given health care and also psychosocial counselling. They also participated in educational and recreational activities while family tracing reunification was going on. A vast majority of former child soldiers have been reunited with their families. Access to education and family and community support programmes have been the key to their success to help the former child soldiers[12]. With headquarters in Freetown and three field offices in Kono, Kenema and Kailhaun districts, the International Rescue Committee provides programs that focus on child protection, education, and health, specifically for former child soldiers after the civil war ended in 2000. The IRC works to increase local participation in project activities, build local capacity, promote and protect human rights, partner with local communities and organizations, and address relief and development needs in a holistic fashion. The Revolutionary United Front rebels released 600 child soldiers. The International Rescue Committee provided education, skills training, and psychosocial care to 100 of them[13]. Conclusion To conclude, there have been many programmes that have been created to reduce and assist former child soldiers. Off course it is not possible to help every single child soldier and there are many reasons for this. Some of the reasons are that there are still a number of these soldiers that may still be involved and their whereabouts are not known. During the civil war, many of the parents of these children were killed, so it is difficult to reunite them with their families, and if they are lucky another family member may still be alive in order to look after them. Organisations, like UNICEF, provide homes for former child soldiers who are unlucky to not have anybody. By education and counselling, children learn to forgive themselves for violent crimes they were forced to commit and help themselves to progress in the future. REFERENCES †¢ Beah, I (2007). ‘A Long Way Gone’: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Harper Perennial. p5-218. †¢ Beber, B and Blattman, C. (2010). The Industrial Organization of Rebellion: The Logic of Forced Labor and Child Soldiering*. Available: http://chrisblattman.com/documents/research/2010.IOofRebellion.pdf. Last accessed 6th December 2010. †¢ Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers. (2007). Questions and Answers. Available: http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/questions-and-answers. Last accessed 1st December 2010. †¢ Michael Odeh and Colin Sullivan. Children in Armed Conflict. Available: http://www.yapi.org/rpchildsoldierrehab.pdf. Last accessed 8th December 2010. †¢ Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (1990). Convention on the Rights of the Child . Available: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm. Last accessed 8th December 2010. †¢ Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2000). Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Available: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc-conflict.htm. Last accessed 8th December 2010. †¢ Report of the Sierra Leone Truth & Reconciliation Commission. (2004). Children and the Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone. Vol. 3B, p231-340. †¢ Spagnoli, F. (2008). Human Rights Quote (49): Child Soldiers. Available: http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-war-conflict/statistics-on-child-soldiers/. Last accessed 8th December 2010. †¢ UNICEF. CHILD SOLDIERS. Available: http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/soldiers/soldiers.pdf. Last accessed 1st December 2010. †¢ UNICEF. FACTSHEET: CHILD SOLDIERS. Available: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/childsoldiers.pdf. Last accessed 8th †¢ UNICEF. (29 April 2008). What is a child soldier?. Available: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_childsoldiers.html. Last accessed 4th December 2010. †¢ UN Works. Fatmata’s Story. Available: http://www.un.org/works/goingon/soldiers/fatmata_story.html. Last accessed 8th December 2010. ———————– [1] Spagnoli, F. (2008). Human Rights Quote (49): Child Soldiers. Available: http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-war-conflict/statistics-on-child-soldiers/. Last accessed 8th December 2010. [2] UNICEF. (29 April 2008). What is a child soldier?. Available: .† http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_childsoldiers.html. Last accessed 4th December 2010. [3] Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers. (2007). Questions and Answers. Available: http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/questions-and-answers. Last accessed 1st December 2010. [4] UNICEF. CHILD SOLDIERS. Available: http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/soldiers/soldiers.pdf. Last accessed 1st December 2010. [5] Beber, B and Blattman, C. (2010). The Industrial Organization of Rebellion: The Logic of Forced Labor and Child Soldiering*. Available: http://chrisblattman.com/documents/research/2010.IOofRebellion.pdf. Last accessed 6th December 2010. [6] Beber, B and Blattman, C. (2010). The Industrial Organization of Rebellion: The Logic of Forced Labor and Child Soldiering*. Available: http://chrisblattman.com/documents/research/2010.IOofRebellion.pdf. Last accessed 6th December 2010. [7] UN Works. Fatmata†™s Story. Available: http://www.un.org/works/goingon/soldiers/fatmata_story.html. Last accessed 8th December 2010. [8] Beah, I (2007). ‘A Long Way Gone’: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Harper Perennial. p5-218. [9] Report of the Sierra Leone Truth & Reconciliation Commission. (2004). Children and the Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone. Vol. 3B, p231-340. [10] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (1990). Convention on the Rights of the Child . Available: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm. Last accessed 8th December 2010. [11] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2000). Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Available: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc-conflict.htm. Last accessed 8th December 2010. [12] UNICEF. FACTSHEET: CHILD SOLDIERS. Available: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/childsoldiers.pdf. Last accessed 8th [13] Michael Odeh and Colin Sullivan. Children in Armed Conflict. Available: http://www.yapi.org/rpchildsoldierrehab.pdf. Last accessed 8th December 2010.

Buddy’s Snack Food Company Essay

The case discusses the scenario of Buddy’s Snack Food Company. It is a family owned company that has produced and marketed potato chips since 1951. Buddy’s business quickly turned in to a multi million dollar franchise, competing with the likes of Frito Lay, but is losing its market share. Buddy’s son, Buddy Jr. , now runs the company and recently, his son Mark has joined the company. After joining as a salesperson, he was quickly promoted to sales manager with a fresh MBA in marketing. Mark has been making some substantial changes in the sales division and employees have been reacting to it. This paper will discuss the major issues and objectives of the company, as well as alternatives and solutions. Major issues of the company The primary issue of the company, at first seems to be the loss of market share. That is a common concern for all members of the organization. Mark, Buddy Jr. ’s , was hired in hopes that he could come up with new marketing strategies that could turn the company around and regain its market share. That gave rise to another issue, which was employee dissatisfaction and de-moralization. Mark’s new policies and, to some, even his quick promotion made the employees upset and lose faith in the company. As a result, employees are now less enthusiastic about their work or are overworked and can not perform efficiently. Such a situation can further worsen Buddy’s Snack Food Company’s market share due to inefficient employees. Also, the new policies had been implemented very quickly, following Mark’s quick promotion and the lack of communication and familiarization to the firm’s employees created a gap between the manager and the subordinates. Another issue that seems to be evident is the absence of any employee benefit programs. Employees don’t seem to be appreciated or rewarded for their good performance and are dealt with seriously, if the performance rating is low. Apart from this, there seems to be no concern about the employees’ living situation; single mothers are being required to attend extra sessions, when they have other responsibilities. This can affect their performance greatly in a negative way. Also, some of the employees seem to be unfit for the job and are not taking it seriously, while others are working hard. The two types need to be distinguished because if both of them are held accountable for similar reasons, the better employee is de-moralized. The company needs to change the way it manages its staff to ensure a better future. Finally, some of the employees are upset about Mark being ‘handed’ the position of the sales manager just because he’s the son of the owner. Many employees had been working hard towards getting that position and are now discouraged by the new change. Strategic goals and objectives Buddy’s company operates under the conventional strategies and objectives. It is a regular snack food business with a family-like working environment. Mark, after he acquired the position of sales manager, introduced some new policies. One of them was that if a certain sales employee receives a below average performance rating for any quarter, they would have to attend a mandatory session. The coaching session would be more or less a training/refreshment session where the employee’s issues are discussed and improvements are recommended. Unfortunately, this new move has not been very popular among the workforce. The issue is that some employees actually are underachievers and inefficient, while others are good employees, with an exceptional past record, but could not perform up to the standard because of the business situation and the declining market share. When the two types of employees are treated equally, the employee who works hard is de-moralized. Alternative strategies If Buddy’s Snack Food Company wants to achieve their goals, they would have to adopt a new strategy. The current approach is proving to be unpopular among the employees and would only result in an inefficient, de-moralized and overworked staff, and such a group of people are not fit to work as a team and achieve goals. Some of the alternative strategies would be: †¢ Better employee care package for staff members with families and children, with suitable work shifts. Employee appreciation: bonuses, incentives, employee-of-the-month program etc. †¢ Customer feedback on the sales representatives. †¢ A revised form of employee performance rating based on the current economic and business situation. †¢ Training and refreshment programs for all employees on a monthly or quarterly basis to ensure there is good communication, all problems are addressed and issues are discussed. Also, the employees’ performance would be measured in a better way through such meetings. †¢ More opportunities and promotions of employees showing consistent and excellent performance. Recommended Strategies and Hopeful Outcomes  Of all the alternative strategies discussed Buddy’s needs to adopt some or all of them to move towards their goal. A better employee care package is necessary as good employees like Lynda Lewis could benefit greatly from them. As a single mother of three sons, she has a lot of responsibility at home. An employee care package with flexible working shifts would allow her to spend more time with her family and perform even better than she already does. Also, the company can hold events like a mini funfair or a sporting event that would enable employees’ family and children to participate in the business and contribute. This would not only be a good marketing move by creating a better image of the company and advertise their name, but also an incentive for employees to feel happy and at-home when they work. Apart from this, employees need to be appreciated for their good work. With just an Employee of the Month program with a reward bonus, employees would be more enthusiastic about their work and perform better. Such incentives not only boost staff morale, but also the overall business because employees would work more and earn more in order to get the reward. Customer feedback would help the management know which employees are good team players and which are not. This would help in filtering out the ones that actually need the coaching sessions. Also, the management needs to consider the current economic situation that the company is going through before rating the employees’ performance. Such an evaluation would be fair. Training sessions for all employees every quarter or meetings would promote communication. All issues and problems would be addressed and the subordinates would have a chance to openly talk to the managers. Such communication allows the employees to be more comfortable working and feel that their opinion matters as well. Other than that, issues that the management might not even know about come into consideration and solutions are discussed as well. Working as a team motivates employees to perform better. Lastly, give promotion opportunities to hardworking employees rather than members of the owner’s family fresh out of college who might not know the company as well as the salesperson with more experience, working hard to keep it all together.