Essay --

Jackson 1 GOOD COMMUNICATION IN THE BUSINESS WORLD In today’s competitive business world, effective communication is more important than ever. Everything done in the workplace involves communication. Effective relationships with staff, clients, vendors and superiors are critical. It also has an impact on a company’s overall profitability and longevity. In a workplace environment, where many people of different backgrounds and personalities interact on a daily basis, the ability to effectively communicate becomes critical to the success of the department and the company. George Bernard Shaw said, â€Å"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.† To effectively communicate, you must â€Å"speak the language† of many others. That could be as extreme as learning a foreign language, but is usually making sure that what has been said is positively received and processed by the listener. The speaker must use proper grammar, enunciation, and vocabulary, and then evaluate the effectiveness by the listener’s reaction. In the business world, it is unlikely that o...

“Budget Cuts” The leading problem facing our educational System Adriana Cruz

Budget cut has been the leading problem facing our educational system today. I think that students should be given top priority to learn, excel and benefit from school and not depriving them of their right to learn. Budget cuts in education will mean lesser funding for students in classrooms, the classroom will have a bigger student population and the school maintenance will have lesser spending. Budget cut in education in California will not benefit the students of California, and this will include my three school age children, who will suffer the consequences of such cuts. Each student is allocated a certain amount of money for one school year which includes reference materials like books and library materials. I started noticing how my kids had to share supplies such as books and little things as color pencils. Teachers were sharing supplies between them as well such as projectors, computers and television. I think that’s when I started to understand the big impact that the budget was having on schools. With a lesser budget, there will be limited resources for each student. We decided to move to South County, where according to the media, schools were given more funds than in the Northern part. We had to raise our expenses such as rent and food in order to give our children a better education. Unfortunately things are starting to look the same. I am mystified there is not more outrage about this issue. No money for counselors, paper or textbooks? No lunchtime aides, which means inadequate supervision? How can this even be legal? I hear all the people say the system is broken, and we need to fix it, but not on the backs of our children. Research shows that class size makes a huge difference in the quality of education for students for several reasons. Forcing educators to teach large classes increases the possibility of disruptions and decreases the ability of an educator to help struggling students. The current trend of using cooperative learning groups becomes hard to manage in large classes. I have a dyslexic child who really needs to be part of learning groups and a lot of support to succeed in school. . Unfortunately, these programs, which help keep educators abreast of new teaching methods and techniques, suffer from limited funds. As a result, students suffer too. It makes me really sad knowing that funding issues prevent districts from hiring more educators and many are providing less professional development opportunities. I have also noticed that school infrastructure showed to suffer the most in areas like restrooms, graffiti-covered walls, internal heating and cooling, classrooms and desks. I have to personally pay for sports uniforms more than other school items. With all these budget cuts I am sure that cleanliness, repairs of roofs and chairs, paints and classroom supplies will be most likely affected. They don’t seem to realize that a clean and safe surrounding will be very much conducive to learning because a student who is in this kind of environment will be able to concentrate more. There is a noticeable discrepancy between what us as parents and students think schools should cut versus what school officials have on their to-ax lists. The top three items we think schools should cut are school newspaper or broadcast outlets, summer school and field trips, in that order. The last items on students' â€Å"should-cut† lists, starting from the bottom, are teachers, administrators, guidance counselors and sports. All items that schools have shown to most commonly choose to cut first. As a mother of three, the education of my children is one of my highest priorities. Like every parent, I want the best for my kids. I want them in good classrooms with good teachers where they will flourish, and by the time they graduate high school, will be prepared for the challenges the future will bring them. I feel that student’s ability to reach their academic potential should not be determined by the school they attend, all schools should provide the same quality of education, regardless of the neighborhood or financial status of the parents. I think that education is the basis for future growth, protection, and development of any nation. I do not understand why school districts should take hits of cuts when we have legislators giving themselves raises. Every student, no matter their background, deserves a fully prepared and qualified teacher, a quality education with proper resources, and the right infrastructure.

Authoritarian Methods of Control in Brave New World & V for Vendetta Essay

People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people. The right to rule. What gives someone such a power you ask? Well there is a variety of different factors and qualities one must have such as strength and leadership but there is a single item that all need and that is control. Without the obedience and submission of the people governments will fail. The film â€Å"V for Vendetta† and the novel â€Å"Brave New World† both comment on the issue of misuse of technology and the control of the people. V for Vendetta is the 2006 film adaptation by the Wachowski’s of the comic book of the same name created by Alan Moore. It is set in a futuristic dystopian world in which Britain is ruled by a totalitarian-fascist party, and follows the events triggered by a masked shadowy revolutionary known only as the letter V. Brave New World is Aldous Huxley’s controversial masterpiece, published in 1932 and is about a futuristic-dys topian world where the government has outlawed free-speech and individuality and uses psychological conditioning to control the people. Now let me refocus on the theme at hand: control. The Norsefire party in V for Vendetta rises to power by offering the solution after a string of biological attacks on various establishments: a school, water plant and an underground train station. The fear inspired by these attacks was what made people give them the power to rule. The Wachowski’s have compared and likened the Norsefire party to the Nazi’s the world’s most famous fascist regime. The symbol of the Norsefire uses the same colours and a similar symbol to that of the traditional swastika. The Norsefire also had a similar rise to power as the Hitler regime. First Chancellor Sattler was seen as the saviour before revealing his true colours as a villain â€Å"fear became the tool of this government†. The Norsefire also engaged in genocide of homosexuals, Muslims, and ethnics. Rather than concentration camps those captured were placed in detention centres with the aim of testing biochemical and vir uses. The Norsefire government represents what V is rebelling against and that is oppression and the abuse of power. Similarly in Brave New World, the World State is built upon from the devastation of the Nine Year War, fear and confusion were the aid of both these governments and let them create and enforce their ideals. Both governments have destroyed and banned any material that goes against party policy. Brave New World has taken this to the extreme with all literature and arts having been destroyed since the  beginning of the World State. The tool of control used by the World State is science, children are born from laboratories and are conditioned, and their lives are predetermined to create a unified machine. The motto of the World State accurately reflects this ideology â€Å"Community, Identity, Stability†; it calls for each class to identify within their ranking and to support the community with the aim of achieving stability. Characters like John and Valorie rebel and detest the notion of conformity. John wishes to experience the world as it truly was meant to be â€Å"But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.† He hates the protected and sheltered state of the people of the world state and their dependency on soma. â€Å"Valorie is proud of being a lesbian and was captured because of it throughout her time at the detention centre she continues to fight whilst trying to stay true to herself and her identity. She leaves a note which becomes a source of inspiration for both V and Evey as she says â€Å"it was my integrity that was important†¦we must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us†. By using the number of his room at the Larkhill detention centre V becomes a living symbol of Norsefire’s genocide and a motive for his vendetta beyond V’s rebellious goals, he also wishes to remind the people of Valerie’s message a bout their identity, their integrity and that they have the freedom to be themselves, no matter what anyone tells them they can or can’t be.

Analysis of the Poem “Variations on the Word Love” Essay

The writer of the poem Margaret Atwood was born in November 18, 1939 in  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is not only a poet, but also a novelist, a literary critic,  an essayist and an environmental activist. And she is an excellent writer, a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias award for Literature. Her genres of writing include historical fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction, and dystopian fiction. The theme of the poem â€Å"Variations on the Word Love† by Margaret Atwood  is that there is a wide range of types of love that are expressed differently. The poem mainly composes of two parts. Firstly, she explores the word â€Å"love† and how widely it is nowadays used. And secondly, Atood related her own personal experience about love. In the first stanza, Atwood described the commercial side of love, making â€Å"love† seem insignificant. An example would be one of her line: â€Å"for those red heart-shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing like real hearts.† This line shows that how commonly that the symbol of love is used in commercial ways, thus depreciating the value of love. Later in the poem, Atood also described the patriotic feeling that soldiers in the battle fights upon in the line â€Å"they shout it. Love! Love! Sing the soldiers, raising their glittering knives in salute. This shows that there are other types of love exist beside the romantic ones. As well in the last stanza, Atood explored her relationship with her husband within the topic of the deep connection they shared with each other. Through the poem, Atwood had revealed several forms of love, and how love can take on different meanings. She portrayed the theme effectively through her outstanding writing. Many poetic devices were used in the poem include enjambment, repetition, and imagery. Enjambment is used throughout the whole poem. For example, in the last line, Atwood used line breaks abruptly and meaningfully to emphasize  the phrase â€Å"hold on or let go†. This invites the readers to focus on the struggles of love. Also, the poetic device, repetition is also used in the poem. The word â€Å"love† is repeated several times in line 11, 19, and 34. In line 23 and 24, â€Å"too† is also repeated. And in line 34, repetition is used through the word â€Å"again†. Some examples of imagery are used in this poem as well. Such as in line 19 and 20 of the poem, Atwood describes soldiers’ love for their country through a very vivid image â€Å"Love! Love! Sing the soldiers, raising their glittering knives in salute.† Another example would be in line 31 to 36 of the poem, the complicated feeling of love was described by Atwood as â€Å"Itâ€⠄¢s a single vowel in this metallic silence, a mouth that says O again and again in wonder and pain, a breath, a finger-grip on a cliffside.†

Strategic Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Human Resource Management - Essay Example Strategy has over the time replaced the use of planning to illustrate a well laid down pattern of making decisions and taking actions by the upper management in an organisation towards a specific goal. Therefore, SHRM is critical in determining the success of any business entity and in steering the entire material and human resource in the organisation towards the common goal. Strategic management is mainly determined by three factors in an organisation, which are the resources, environment and the management that has to control and allocate resources towards the success of an organisation. An organisation has to operate in an uncertain environment with external factors such as economic and socio-cultural factors affecting decisions and operations in the company. Consequently, strategic management requires that the HR manager defines measures to facilitate organisational performance through strategies address the prevailing socio-cultural and economic forces. Economic and social-cult ural factors have an active role in determining the effectiveness of a human resource strategy in an organisation. For instance, while politicians are responsible for making tax decisions and other decisions that lead to policy formulation in a country, such policies affects economic factors in the business environment. Moreover, exchange rates, income growth, unemployment, industrial classification and customer confidence in an organisation are all factors that are closely rated to political dynamics, which affects economic factors in an organisation (Thompson, 2002). In addition, these factors have an effect on social aspects, while social factors do impact on them as well. Social factors are responsible for determining the dynamics in a society and include demographics and the overall population dynamics, which comprise of factors such as education level, income distribution, age distribution, mobility, customer behavior and entrepreneurial dynamics (Thompson, 2002). Pollution, g ender roles, fashion, harmful factors, lifestyle, among others are examples of socio-cultural factors that affect operations in an organisation (Pearce & Robinson, 2005). Moreover, the human resource manager has to put in place strategies to address the health services of the workers their social security in pensions, and has to consider work force mobility and work culture dynamics. These social-cultural factors translate to increased costs to the organisation, and the HR has to come up with strategies to ensure perform while at the same time cutting down costs. There are varying changes in the business operating environment that are caused by increasing forces of globalization, changes in demographics of the company’s workforce, intellectual capital and other changes that force an organisation to have a different approach in mangling human resources(Wright, 1998). A highly performing human resource approach that fails in establishing strategic integration lacks the competit ive advantage for survival, and would gradually lose its ground in the current market (Kazmi & Ahmed, 2001). In order to have operational excellence, research has shown that human resource managers have to align with the business strategic goals. Considering that a business is affected by external environmental factors such as economic and social-cultural factors, an effective HR manager has to pu

Urban Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Urban Health - Essay Example o establish the causes of child obesity and the best ways the local authorities in the region and the many health practitioners can best deal with the rising cases of child obesity. As stated in the brief introduction, obesity is a lifestyle complication a feature that validates the investigation of the social structure of the society and the roles the planning of the city and the coordination of the activities of the state authorities can help mitigate such as the report below reveals. The borough has various public and private health facilities that strive to improve the health status of the borough. The NHS Lambeth works effectively with the various partners including both the private sectors and many other non-governmental organizations with the view of improving the living standards in the region and curb the rising lifestyle complications including child obesity (Spence, 1975). The NHS for example prioritizes healthy lifestyle practices in a bid to help change the social structure in the region. The government in conjunction with the local authorities has improved the quality of health services providers by the various service providers in the region through the provision of incentives and the sensitization of the importance healthy living. The research revealed that the government of England carries out various activities in the borough with the view of curbing the lower life expectancy in the region since most deaths result from lifestyle related complicati ons. Child obesity is medical condition in which children gain excess body weight. The disease has various causes including genetics and poor lifestyle, which is the main cause. Health practitioners have developed the term obesogenic environment to refer to a combination of factors that create a conducive environment for the prevalence of obesity in both children and adults. Most children with obese parents are likely to become obese. Researchers indicate that such may not arise from the genes but from

Enron Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Enron - Essay Example It was only after the scandal that the government decided to do something about the prevention of possible future crimes that might be committed. Ethical considerations for the case and verdict required that no further information on the criminal case was leaked out into the public. As for justice on the crimes that were committed, the defendants had to pay for their crimes and were sent to jail. As much as they claimed that they were innocent, the jury had found them guilty with no biases made. The victims, although suffered terrible losses in terms of finances in the market, nothing more could be asked as the criminals who were the cause of the crime were sent to jail—it was better than having the criminals set loose. For the rest of the people in society who were not involved in the incident, justice was served as the government had took action to close the company so as to prevent more probable problems that might come from them. As a result of the scandal, the UK and the USA were the first countries to make the necessary changes so as to prevent anything like the scandal to happen again. Accountability and legal changes were made and this lead to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oaxely Act which required that CEO and CFO of any company to certify annual reports that will be passed to the government. The inability to do the required action of the law meant the probability of facing charges on the part of the CEO and CFO (â€Å"What is the Sarbanes-Oxely Act?