Human resource Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human resource - Research Paper Example I aspire to grow professionally in my career, and have a position in the top management in a renowned firm. In order to achieve that and do justice with my responsibilities as a manager, I need to take a detailed course of Human Resource Development. This would acquaint me with the necessary skills and competencies required to motivate the workforce to take active participation in the education and training programs in the workplace, and gain maximum benefit from them. The purpose of studying the course of Human Resource Development at the Indiana State University is that it inculcates the necessary knowledge in the students to pursue careers in academia or industry. The Human Resource Development program offered at the Indiana State University is designed in such a way so as to ensure that I develop skills and competences in the design, formulation, implementation, promotion, and analysis of the system of hiring the employees and their further grooming through continued education and training in the workplace. One of the most fundamental factors that provides the Indiana State University with an edge over other universities when it comes to studying the Human Resource Development is that as a student, one can complete one’s degree along with other responsibilities as tough as a full-time employment. I am among the students who have to earn to pay the fee. In the present age, it is hard to find a job. So leaving a job can be very risky. In order to advance my academic career along with job, it is important that I maintain my current job, and taking the Master Program in Human Resource Development at the Indiana State University helps me achieve that. The Indiana State University provides the students with an opportunity to do an occupational internship where they can gain practical work experience. This appeals to me a lot as I can avail this opportunity without having to leave my

Not White Just Right Response Essay Example for Free

Not White Just Right Response Essay After reading â€Å"Not White, Just Right†, an article by Rachel Jones, I could not help but relate to her. In the article, Jones elaborates more on her popular essay, â€Å"What’s Wrong with Black English† while also mentioning others who share in her opinion. I, too, was ridiculed in school for talking too â€Å"white†. In public schools African American students are mocked and shunned by their â€Å"brothers and sisters† for speaking or even behaving in an intelligent manner, as if intelligence is unacceptable in our community. I have been the outcast for that single reason. However those who spoke like third graders in the tenth grade were praised and welcomed in the Black community. To that I have to admit that we have fallen from the times of Dr. King and Fredrick Douglas, when we knew as African Americans that we are just as intelligent as Caucasian men. This is not the future our leaders have fought so hard for. It is infuriating to witness young African Americans not only in public school but in college speaking as if they have no intelligence. I am only a freshman and I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard other freshmen and upperclassmen use grammatically incorrect phrases like, â€Å"what that is† and â€Å"I aint goin nowhere†. Speech like this amongst my African American peers only angered me in high school, now it depresses me. It is depressing to see so many educated African Americans speak as if they had dropped out of high school, just because it is â€Å"cool† and they do not want to talk â€Å"white†. A mentality like that will always keep us as African Americans at the bottom of society. How do we expect to be seen as equally intelligent as Caucasian people if we do not even speak as if we are educated on a higher level? Therefore, in conclusion, I would like to thank Rachel Jones for writing those two texts about young African American lingual. It is about time that someone made it public to the Black community that this speech is NOT conserving our culture; it is keeping us from reaching our goals and becoming successful.

College Writing :: Teaching Education Writing

College Writing College writing professors teach writing in a variety of ways around the United States and the world. The reason for this is that some professors are trying to teach their students a different aspect of writing an essay or a paper. Two views on this particular subject that I found interesting were Maxine Hairston’s essay "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing" and also Thomas Bray’s newspaper article "Memorial Day and Multiculturalism". These essays are two totally different views on how diversity and multiculturalism is to be applied in America or taught in the college writing classroom. In personal experience in classes in high school I was not faced with much diversity or multiculturalism. I attended a high school that was predominately white and I associated with mostly white people. I’m not going to say that I never talked to someone of another race or culture but these experiences were somewhat few and far between. Also in my high school it seemed that most of the different races segregated themselves from each other. I do feel that I might have benefited from talking to and interacting with people from different backgrounds than that of my own. But on the other hand to feel comfortable some people might have to be in an area predominately occupied by their race, and for one to comfortably be diverse they first must be comfortable with ones own race and culture. College professor of writing Maxtine Hairston states "We can create a culturally inclusive curriculum in our writing classes by focusing on the experiences of our students" (Hairston par. 2). This seems to be a class room that would be taught in a way were all people were involved as well as their views and ideas on a certain topic. A class room like this would involve many different types of reading samples from a wide variety of authors ranging from white to black to any race and from either men or women. A lot could be learned in a class like this where people can see how others live their life and how their culture would interact with their own. The main emphasis of this class would most likely be on diversity of everyone in the class. To work on making every student more aware of who is around them and how they could contribute to their own lives. However if someone did not agree with diversifying America and its classrooms then they may not benefit from this way of teaching due to disagreements with his professor or fellow students.

Change Proposal Essay

Kudler Fine Foods is an exclusive neighborhood food store with outstanding local and trade in prices. The company has locations found in La Jolla, Encinitas, the San Diego metropolitan area, and also Del Mar. These stores entail of about approximately 7,980 square feet of merchandising space in the best sophisticated shopping locations. Kudler’s’ assortment consist of the luxury cheeses, pastry goods, wines, meats, garden-fresh goods, condiments and seafood. By declaring the most important details of the establishment’s existence, the reader of this paper will become familiar with the reason for this style of organizational structure, lateral and vertical collaboration, the phases of the collaboration process, and the key stakeholders and the collaborative interactions among them in order to reach a victory. Primary reasons for the business existence Kathy Kudler had a vision and made it a reality. Her experience in marketing gave her a leg up in the industry and the ability to market her vision. With her mission statement in place she and her staff provide exceptional service to customers and the community. â€Å"Our selections, coupled with our experienced, helpful and knowledgeable staff, merge to offer each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing†. If its quality you seek, then quality is what she and her staff delivers. Special orders are also welcome. If not for her desire to make shopping the simplest and most pleasurable to customers Kudler’s would not belong have become a reality. In organization collaboration consist of employees working together to accomplish shared goals. We all should know of the saying â€Å"Two heads is better than one,† this statement is indeed true. As workers in the bakery progress into the Christmas season, we have seen some changes that need to be made. Collaboration with our staff has allowed us to open the door and make the necessary changes needed. Changes needing attention are as follows * Waste * Safety * Customer care As manager, staff and I have held meetings, brainstormed and visualized where as a team we would like to see the company and the department in the future. Changes need to be made as far as waste; we are wasting too much product. Safety, we have a great record we would like to maintain. Customer satisfaction is at an all-time high but we would like to see our customers referring us new business. Changing the way Kudler focuses on waste, safety, and customer care. Managing this change comes with some adjustment and re-alignment of a few processes. We want to continue operating at optimum levels or performance to bring our customers the highest quality of service along with our superior products in the bakery. Focusing on waste, we waste approximately 4 thousand dollars a quarter in day olds and charge offs. That equates to $1600.00 a month in lost revenue. Team members need to be properly trained in order accuracy. By doing so we have proposed a training lead to shadow each employee and engage them to ask questions and repeat orders back to customers. Also we propose to offer day olds at a discounted rate, and once items have reached near expiration dates we like to donate to the local food banks and churches for a quarterly write off. This proposal suggests we will bring down the number per quarter and see more profits, allowing us to provide higher wages to our team members. Safety is a major focus in our department; we are at a 0% for accidents and pride ourselves in taking all safety precautions. Management proposes to hold weekly training meetings relevant to the industry and department per OSHA guidelines. All staff members must attend mandatory meetings on a weekly basis. We will schedule these meetings so all members will not have to attend during their personal time. Customer satisfaction is at an all-time high as we mentioned earlier, however we would like to accelerate our service to a higher level. Beginning the New Year we planned to begin handing out CSSS; customer service satisfaction surveys. At the end of each week we will compile the data and suggestions to see where we are lacking in service. The four dimensions of change management are strategy and vision, resources, systems and organizational culture. First, the strategy and vision that I have for the implementation is to inform each team member of the bakery of the new processes, and the expectation. This process will be introduced in phases. The resources that will be needed for this change be clear knowledge and a handbook approved by OSHA and upper management. If employees need an adjustment period to learn new processes and procedures we will allow an open forum to ensure all staff members’ success. I would use the Project Management approach in managing this change by supervising both the implementation of the CSSS, and its results. Close monitoring in conjunction with the safety and waste programs set forth. Prior to incorporating this change, I will advise my team in the bakery to inform me and show me daily reports on waste and customer satisfaction vs. complaints. I will then work directly with the staff to implement all necessary changes within the department. From initial planning, to installation to daily monitoring and follow up, I will keep both my managers, and my supervisors informed of the progress and results of the change. Necessary corrections will be implemented as we grow and change as a team. My expected return on investment is not only going to be looked at by cash savings, but also savings in overages in labor, time spent by employees in which their focus is not on Kudler Fine Foods related business, and employee morale. The cash savings will be productivity based. The more time that my bakery employees spend on customer related business, the more productive they will be. By incorporating the CSSS, safety and new waste projects; this will ensure that each and every member of the bakery will be focused and attentive to bakery and customer satisfaction. As the other members of the bakery see their effort and drive are being met by their fellow employees, this will increase their desire to keep pushing towards our department and personal goals. Once each employee’s realizes that everyone is doing their part, it will add to their sense of team accomplishment. I am very confident that this change that I am suggesting will increase both monetary returns, but also increased individual and departmental morale. Kudler Fine Foods has an impeccable reputation for superior service and customer care. By implementing such processes we plan to uphold the company mission and values is our number one priority. Utilizing teamwork and engaging our employees to embrace change is our goal as a company and as managers. We want to see our staff and company succeed and thrive. By implementing such change we offer more growth and stability for our company to expand and our staff to grow within our family. Reference https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/about.asp Kudler Fine Foods. (2012). About Kudler. Retrieved from http://Kudlerfinefoods.info Functional Area Relationship, Jennifer Hoff UoP

The Assualt – Views About Past and Present

In his novel The Assault, Harry Mulisch illustrates a clear example at how human memory can aid us in pursuing a better future ahead of us. As Anton watched the motor boats on the first page of the novel he was amazed at how fast the motor boats moved and the wake they left behind. Each time he saw them zoom by he would try to follow their wake however its pattern became so distorted he could not follow it. Along side the motor boats were the gondolas where they were propelled by the captain pushing a stick back thus moving his boat forward. He then takes this approach on life and lives while constantly bringing up his past. Every time he attempted to look at what the future held in store for him he was sent back towards looking at the past. By looking back and searching for his past he was able to progress into the future without feeling the unbearable light of the future. Mulisch uses an extensive amount of light and dark metaphors, and structure in order to show us that if we desire to progress through a less painful life we should reflect upon our past before we look too far ahead into the future. Mulisch structured his novel in such a way that the reader can unmistakably understand the past form the present. In the very beginning of the book Anton and his family are going about their lives however there is not a single trace of light. Mulisch makes this point very clear for everyone is turning out there lights in case of a bombing run. In addition he writes that all was dark as the murder was committed and peter took the carbon lamp. These had all happened in the past and therefore Mulisch is stating the past is dark. As the reader reaches the end of the book and the final scene is of Anton walking away in the middle of the day, when the sun is the highest, we conclude that the present is light. This juxtaposition is further backed by the chapter structure Mulisch chose to use. Although many if not all books, rise in chapter number such as this one, Mulisch chose to use years and dates for chapters to very clearly indicating the movement from past to present. This structure and juxtaposition as well as the metaphor of light and dark as representing future and past allows the reader to follow Anton’s progression through out. As one scans the novel a noticeable pattern forms in that as the episodes (chapters) progress, so does Anton’s knowledge of his past. This is done through Mulisch structuring the novel so that Anton meets a new person and gains a new piece of his past as time goes on. His past first comes back to him when he travels back to Haarlem after living with his Aunt and Uncle in Amsterdam since the murder of Fake Ploeg was committed. Here he is greeted with multiple objects that remind him of his past and one of which is the herring bone pattern on the quay. Mulisch writes, â€Å"With sudden excitement he recognized the herringbone pattern of the brick pavement. He had never noticed it in the old days, but now he saw it realized it had always been there. (Mulisch page 62) The herringbone patter represents how much distortion Anton’s memory has about the night the murder was committed. It is this confusion that Anton is excited by and he then strives to find answers through out his life both consciously and unconsciously. In addition to the herringbone pattern on page 62 he also meets Mrs. Beumer and Mr. Beumer. Ant on does not like the presence of them when he first meets them but it is because of their connection to his past that leads him to another connection; The monument on the quay. From hear Anton feels like he has an unbearably empty hole inside of him. When something is empty, in an existentialistic view such as Mulisch, it must be filled and for Anton that something is knowledge of his past. The Episode concludes with Anton thinking of himself floating at the center of the earth. There he would â€Å"be able to reflect upon the state of things in eternity. † (Mulisch page 76) Mulisch Has Anton percolating this idea in order to show the reader that Anton is clearly going to reflect upon his past. Shortly after Anton’s acquaintance with Haarlem and the Beumers he walks into Fake Ploeg Jr. n Anton’s flat. Here they are both greeted with past and they have quite the talk about it. While this is going on Anton is attempting to light a stove filled with dark oil. As the conversation between Anton and Ploeg Jr. escalates the dark oil has yet to light up. At the most enraged part of the conversation Fake decided to throw a stone and after this, a cloud of dark soot from the stove and covered Anton’s flat. Ploeg Jr. was a connection to Anton’s past and the dark soot covering Anton’s flat is representative of a piece of his past he just acquired through Ploeg Jr. This was not an easy feat for Anton was trying to speed up the process while talking to Ploeg Jr. as represented by having to much oil on the stove and trying to light it. This is all occurring while Anton has a headache which plunge him into darkness because of the pain. This then indicates that the past does in fact aid Anton in the way that he lives less painfully. This motif of dimming light (future and pain) with darkness (past and relief) comes up another time while lying on the beach on page 126. Mulisch uses the metaphor of a book for the intended purpose of illustrating the light and dark motifs as Anton was blinded by the whiteness of the pages reflecting the sun onto him. Later in the same scene Anton falls asleep in the light of the beach and awakens to another of his splitting migraines. A few lines down however Mulisch writes that â€Å"in the soothing shade, it had almost disappeared. † Giving way to the motif mentioned earlier. Among the actions that take place in the beginning of the novel, Anton meets a woman whom he meets in a jail cell. It is only when Anton is taken out of the cell and sees blood that his curiosity raises even more. This along with the assault itself fades away into Anton’s memory like the wake of the motor boats. As he grows older he begins to think about this woman even more. This is particularly set on by a man named Cor Takes who talks to him about his girlfriend. With this new found information Anton keeps attempting to put a face on the woman in the cell for he thinks it is the woman Takes was talking about (Truus Coster). Anton keeps looking forward to who the woman in the cell was and during this time period, episode three to the final episode, he has constant migraines which plunge him into darkness in order to stop the pain. Mulisch structured this episode as this to show the reader that looking towards the future is dangerous and we should rely on our past before we make assumptions. Mulisch then has Anton stop thinking about Truus for he concurs that she must look like Saskia. Anton accepts this conclusion and his migraines start diminishing. This further extends the conceit of dark and light as ways of representing past and future, good nd bad. At the end of the final episode Anton has now spent 36 years searching for his past and finally he comes to a conclusion when he meets his old neighbor Karin Korteweg. Anton finally hears the whole story about his past and he is unusually at ease with this information. Mulisch used this to state that Anton had finally been vindicated of his past. The book ends in mid day, commonly known as when the sun is at its brightest point. Mulisch uses this structure and juxtaposition of the begging of the book to extend the light and darkness motifs in the novel. Although we can walk through our lives looking towards the future it is much harder than if we walk facing the past. When we look to the future we feel as if our past is always weighing us down such as the panoptic-con of the Nazis during WWII. When we do feel its weight we tend to have a harder time progressing through what each one of us consider our meaningful life. We should always reflect upon our past no matter how much we want to ignore it because by doing so we make better sense of our future and are ultimately brought into the light with no pain. After all â€Å"Everything comes to light. † (Mulisch page 128)

buy custom Journal Excerpt Activity essay

buy custom Journal Excerpt Activity essay Intention of the study The intention of the study was to find out whether the introduction of a journal excerpt activity improves undergraduate students performance in statistics. Is the study descriptive or inferential? Though the study has used descriptive analysis, it can be termed as inferential since the findings can be generalized to populations with similar characteristics. On the hypothesis is approved or disapproved, the study findings, conclusions and recommendations can be generalized to the other student populations. The descriptive analysis has also been used to present the study findings and analyze data. The data has been used to test the hypothesis that journal excerpt activity improves undergraduate students performance in statistics. The test was on whether the observation made can be termed as statistically significant (McEnery ET el 55). The study is correlation in nature and can therefore be qualified as inferential statistic. It is a comparison between students subjected to journal excerpt and those not subjected and conclusion made accordingly. Variables used in the study The variables used in the study were: Gender, date, class, race and performance. The variables formed the basis of data nalysis. The variables have been used to form the scales of analysis. The variables selected possess a reasonable correlation with the study. The variables form important factors in analysis (Vaus 188). Population being studied and common characteristics The study population depicts the group that the study had interest in. The study population consists of students. They are students in different grades whose age and race also vary. The students targeted were studying together while another group of students was used to make comparison. The method used in data collection is the documentary research Statistics methods were used to analyze the data: inferential or descriptive techniques. The method used to describe the data is the descriptive method. However, the study findings were inferential in that the findings can be generalized to explain experiences by similar student population. The method used in data collection can be termed as documentary research because analysis of the recorded students performance was used to draw conclusion. Summary of the study's conclusion The conclusion was drawn from the common factors analysis undertaken to see whether there was correlation that could b derived using various variables. The variables were analyzed on the basis of common factors. The factors were also classified in terms the dependent and independent factors, so as to identify which variable influenced others and the outcome. The outcome from variable formed the basis from which the factors in research were derived (Vaus 188). The study concluded that the performance by the students who utilized journal excerpt activity was better. The group utilizing journal excerpts outperformed others. The study also found that the results derived from using journal excerpts were impressive, though the method required minimum resources. The study, however cautions the generalization of the study finding which are termed as exploratory. Generalization may also be hampered by the fact that the study findings are derived from a population with unique social and econom ic characteristics. The study has also sited limitations, especially in comparison to the various study seasons Agreeing or disagreeing with conclusion I agree with the study findings because they were statistically arrived at. The findings were also derived from an all inclusive study population. The findings were also derived from study that could be correlated, that the conclusion is reliable in spite of the limitations noted. Buy custom Journal Excerpt Activity essay

Media Essay Coursework Feb 2015

Media Essay Coursework Feb 2015 Media Essay Coursework Feb 2015 â€Å"Why, in Hollywood films such as ‘The Help’, are African-American characters in subservient roles continuing to appeal to audiences?† For many years, black actors have taken on what could be called ‘secondary roles’ within Hollywood films. For example, in 1939 Hattie McDaniel played the part of Mammy, a black housemaid, in the epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind. A more recent example of African-American characters playing subservient roles is The Help. It tells the story of an aspiring author during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s who takes it upon herself to write a book detailing the African-American maids’ point of view on the white families they work for, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis. The Help was originally a book written by Kathryn Stockett but was made into a film, released in the USA on 12th August 20111 and on its opening weekend, generated a turnout of $26,044,5902. Produced by Dreamworks, with a budget of only $25,000,0003 The Help is said to â€Å"succeed wonderfully, a warm and sweet song of hope that pushes all the right buttons.†4 Another example of African-Americans taking on a subservient character is Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’. Released on 16th August 2013 in the USA this film is about a black man named Cecil Gaines that serves eight presidents during his time as a butler at the White House. It also focuses on the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events that affect his life, family and American society. It is similar to The Help in a variety of ways, such as the focus on African-Americans during the 1960s and their roles as servants to the ‘superior’ white people within society and also, the references made towards the Civil Rights Movement. However, each film deals with the issues in different ways. For example, in The Help, the Civil Rights Movement is presented as a very positive subject through the coming together of the characters Skeeter and Aibileen; a white journalist and a black housemaid. Whereas The Butler focuses more on Cecil and his discouragement towards the movement and the tragic effects it has on his family. Despite being on the receiving end of a number of favourable reviews and 2 nominations for a BAFTA award; The Butler is not as critically acclaimed as The Help. The Guardian called it â€Å"treacly and stilted† and stated that â€Å"it doesn’t quite work†.5 And so the question of why The Butler was not as successful as The Help is raised, regardless of the fact that the concepts of both films are extremely similar. One of the possible reasons for The Butler’s lack of success is the way in which Civil Rights are approached and presented. The Help focuses largely on the strength of black people, women in particular, and their persistence in ‘making a change’. And so as previously mentioned, Civil Rights are presented as a positive characteristic of 1960s society. However The Butler centres its attention on Cecil opposing the Civil Rights Movement, with the inclusion of graphic, violent scenes that some viewers may have found disturbing. In compa rison to the light hearted nature of The Help, The Butler covers the sinister aspect of the Civil Rights Movement which the audience may not want to see. This may have affected the way the audience perceived the film as a whole, and as a result, was not as prosperous as The Help. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian states that â€Å"On the home front, Cecil is portrayed as a tough, caring father to his two sons, but in the all-important work arena, he is a submissive son to a succession of hammy daddy figures, posturing away behind the Oval Office desk.†6 This lack of consistency of the main character may also be another reason as to why the film was a flop compared to The Help. One of the earliest stereotypes of African-Americans to emerge in television and film is that of the domestic worker/house servant. It is most typical for a black woman to be casted as a domestic, with characters such as Hattie McDaniel in Gone

Learn Some Conjugations for the Italian Verb Telefonare

Learn Some Conjugations for the Italian Verb Telefonare When learning Italian, students naturally tend to look for grammatical patterns. Studying Italian verbs in a programmatic fashion is a wise idea because its an efficient use of time, and Italian verbs are classified in a variety of ways. When studying Italian verbs, though, avoid the temptation to make absolute comparisons to English. Although there are many similarities between the two languages, there are also many fundamental differences. Lets take a look at the verb  telefonare (to telephone). Regular  first-conjugation Italian verbTransitive verb (takes a  direct object) or intransitive verb (does not take a  direct object) conjugated with the  auxiliary verb  avere Indicative/Indicativo Presente io telefono tu telefoni lui, lei, Lei telefona noi telefoniamo voi telefonate loro, Loro telefonano Imperfetto io telefonavo tu telefonavi lui, lei, Lei telefonava noi telefonavamo voi telefonavate loro, Loro telefonavano Passato Remoto io telefonai tu telefonasti lui, lei, Lei telefon noi telefonammo voi telefonaste loro, Loro telefonarono Futuro Semplice io telefoner tu telefonerai lui, lei, Lei telefoner noi telefoneremo voi telefonerete loro, Loro telefoneranno Passato Prossimo io ho telefonato tu hai telefonato lui, lei, Lei ha telefonato noi abbiamo telefonato voi avete telefonato loro, Loro hanno telefonato Trapassato Prossimo io avevo telefonato tu avevi telefonato lui, lei, Lei aveva telefonato noi avevamo telefonato voi avevate telefonato loro, Loro avevano telefonato Trapassato Remoto io ebbi telefonato tu avesti telefonato lui, lei, Lei ebbe telefonato noi avemmo telefonato voi aveste telefonato loro, Loro ebbero telefonato Future Anteriore io avr telefonato tu avrai telefonato lui, lei, Lei avr telefonato noi avremo telefonato voi avrete telefonato loro, Loro avranno telefonato Subjunctive/Congiuntivo Presente io telefoni tu telefoni lui, lei, Lei telefoni noi telefoniamo voi telefoniate loro, Loro telefonino Imperfetto io telefonassi tu telefonassi lui, lei, Lei telefonasse noi telefonassimo voi telefonaste loro, Loro telefonassero Passato io abbia telefonato tu abbia telefonato lui, lei, Lei abbia telefonato noi abbiamo telefonato voi abbiate telefonato loro, Loro abbiano telefonato Trapassato io avessi telefonato tu avessi telefonato lui, lei, Lei avesse telefonato noi avessimo telefonato voi aveste telefonato loro, Loro avessero telefonato Conditional/Condizionale Presente io telefonerei tu telefoneresti lui, lei, Lei telefonerebbe noi telefoneremmo voi telefonereste loro, Loro telefonerebbero Passato io avrei telefonato tu avresti telefonato lui, lei, Lei avrebbe telefonato noi avremmo telefonato voi avreste telefonato loro, Loro avrebbero telefonato Imperative/Imperativo Presente - telefona, telefoni, telefoniamo, telefonate, telefonino Infinitive/Infinito Presente  - telefonare Passato - avere telefonato Participle/Participio Presente - telefonante Passato  - telefonato Gerund/Gerundio Presente  - telefonando Passato - avendo telefonato

The Jacksonian Character Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Jacksonian Character - Essay Example strengths and weaknesses, offer my own opinions about the article and endeavor to show how the article relates to the materials discussed in Class 1301. Pessen says foreign visitors to America such as Tocqueville, Charles Dickens, Harriet Martineau, Frances Trollope and others viewed Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States (1829-37), as a child of the frontier, democrat, egalitarian, entrepreneurial, speculative profit seeker, conservative, conformist, violent, materialist and chaste republican. They thought these traits and values epitomized American society. While some of these visitors had such nice things to say about Americans as handsome, gentle, pleasant, trusting, and self-less (p. 30), most of them had a rather negative perception of Americans. To them, Americans were dull, cold and cruel (p. 11); violent, selfish, and thin-skinned (p. 12); and clever but shallow (p. 15). Americans were dirty, unrefined, drunkard and speculative (pp. 18-22); egalitarian, moral from outside but prudish (p. 23-24); and anti-tradition, apathetic to intellectual accomplishments, and disinterested in principles (pp. 27-31). Pe ssen agrees with the visitors that a Jacksonian American, â€Å"possibly† a materialist, entertained bigotry supplemented by cruelty and cupidity, vanity and boastfulness; he was blissfully unaware of any complex situation, disinterested in principles (p. 31). However, Pessen does not agree that a Jacksonin American was a child of the frontier, an inner-directed conformist, and a chaste republican looking longingly to the past (p. 30). Pessen’s article has three remarkable strengths. First, by presenting a whole array of views of contemporary European visitors, Pessen helps us understand American society from their perspective and experiences. Secondly, he also offers his own views so the readers have a different viewpoint to draw informed and objective conclusions. Thirdly, the article written in journalistic style makes an

Starbucks Master Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Starbucks Master - Case Study Example 2002). Since inception, Starbucks has also been able to institute a new philosophy of paying higher prices for high quality coffee. The company believes that the high prices it pays for coffee will enable Starbucks to be "a potential force for positive reform in every part of the coffee supply chain." Orin Smith, Former President and CEO, Starbucks Corporation This report would aim to analyse the Starbucks Case Study from the point of view of two modules, namely Business Strategy and Organisational Identity. Both of these modules will be discussed separately and then they will be integrated to give a complete picture and analysis of the Starbucks case. This report will also discuss Starbucks' competitive advantage, its corporate social responsibility, and global growth. A further study of Starbucks value chain, and the company's supply chain and management will be analysed to show the organisation's strengths and its strategy. In the second module of organisational identity, the Starbucks core identity will be identified and analysed, along with the society and the individuals involved with the organisation, and the targeted market. Furthermore, this paper will analyse Starbucks impressions management and its adaptive stability/instability, so as to discern the true picture behind the profitable organisation. COMPANY OVERVIEW Starbucks was founded in 1971 by Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegel. The trio opened up a store in Seattle and named it Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice, in honour of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The company's logo is a mermaid with two tails, with the store's name around it. The company began to be profitable every year, and by the early 1980s, there were four Starbucks stores in the Seattle area alone. However, the roles of the founders of the company went through some major changes, and Jerry Baldwin took over the daily management of the company, while Gordon Bowker remained involved as owner, though he devoted most of his time to other business ventures, and Zev Siegel left the company.As stated on the company's website, the Starbucks' vision is to "establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world." (www.starbucks.com). Starbucks corporation offers products like pastries, specialty coffees, cold blende d beverages, coffee beans, tea and coffee related products. Starbucks first opened a location in Seattle, in 1971, and three decades later, the company had more than 3,300 locations, and is still on the increase. MissionStarbucks' mission is to "establish Starbucks as the premier provider of the finest coffee in the world, while maintaining uncompromising principles as the company continues to grow." (www.starbucks.com) this mission statement, and the positive effects that the company has brought to bear in its operating communities has ensured continued customer loyalty for the company. In 1982, Howard Schultz was recruited into the company.

What, in todays conditions, appear to be the greatest limitations of Essay - 1

What, in todays conditions, appear to be the greatest limitations of the classical organisational theories - Essay Example This marked the start of a series of inputs from various management gurus presenting their viewpoints for improving the organizational and management practices (Juralewicz, pp. 14-25). Students who study management science and organizational behavior, discuss these theories and developments comprehensively, to not only show a sign of respect and value for their work with limited resources but also to widen one’s own perspective of looking at various management issues. However, it is also important to note that those theories do not have their relevant applications in today’s world with altogether different circumstances. This paper aims at looking at the same, the limitations of classical organizational theories, and the reasons for the same. The world of organizational behavior and management agrees on the fact that it was the idea of Henry Towne to establish organizational management as a separate field of inquiry. We can divide the classical theories of organizational management into three major categories of scientific, bureaucratic and administrative (Juralewicz, pp. 14-25). Amongst the experts who viewed organizations from a scientific point of view, the most well known of them are Frederick Winslow Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and Henry Gantt. Amongst them, Taylor remains as the â€Å"father of scientific management† (Robbins, Judge & Campbell, pp. 52-59). He was amongst the first ones to notice the practice of â€Å"soldiering† amongst the workers, which refers to the deliberate working of the workers under their full capacity. Despite the fact that the workers had some strong reasons in their mind for doing it so but it decreased the overall productivity and output of the organization, which was the biggest concern of Taylor at that time. He came up with his idea of scientific management based of our important principles. Firstly, scientific study of each task important to come up with the most efficient

Describe the architecture and building of El Escorial Research Paper

Describe the architecture and building of El Escorial - Research Paper Example On its south were five cloisters which included the royal palace and other offices. The northern part comprised of the living quarters of the monks. The complex design was of two architects, Toledo and Herrera who was credited with the completion of the building after revising the plans laid by Toledo (Herrera et al. 1990). The interior is composed of massive walls that were relieved by Doric pilasters without the concession to the decorative richness. This produced a serious monument beyond any Italian Renaissance ever imagined. On the exterior part, the monastery’s gigantic scale and the plain gray granite walls appears very unfriendly. This design was established by Herrera and named it the Herrera style and was to prevail in Spain for a period of fifty years. The granite complex also memorializes the first military victory and the defeat of the French on 10th august 1557. This particular day was also the San Lorenzo’s day and thus the name San Lorenzo de El Escorial. On the other hand, the rectilinear complex which has several internal courtyards is exhibited on the grill where San Lorenzo was murdered. The building’s floor plan takes a kind of a gridiron. This design had a traditional belief that was based on the honor of St. Lawrence who was murdered by being roasted on a grill. The origin of this layout is somehow controversial. The El Escorial is not by any chance made unique by the grill like shape. Several buildings have been found to take the same shape with numerous interior courtyards. This shape had fully emerged after Herrera had eliminated it from the original conception of the six interior towers. The Temple of Solomon design was the basis of the El Escorial. This was extensively modified for the purpose of accommodating the additional functions intended by Philip II. The building therefore, was intended to serve many purposes which also contributed to its design. It was

The Arab Spring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Arab Spring - Essay Example The anti-government protests and demonstrations were made not only by Arabs but also Africans. The word â€Å"spring† is an allusion or reference to water being a welcome development in the mostly arid geography of the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region. Other similar protests, uprisings, and rebellions were termed as â€Å"The Velvet Revolution† and the â€Å"People Power Revolution† (depending on the degree of peacefulness or violence) in other countries. Arab Spring started innocently enough in Tunisia when a street fruit vendor immolated (burned alive) himself to protest the lack of jobs for poor people like him. This vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi was reportedly a college graduate who could not find any decent job for himself to feed his family. Soon other protesters took up his cause and led to the downfall of long-time Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The events in Tunisia were soon copied by people in other countries like in Egypt (ousted two presidents), in Libya (where Gaddafi was eventually killed in the civil war with foreign military intervention), in Yemen (where its president handed over power to a national unity coalition), and still on-going in some places like in Syria (a full-scale civil war), street protests in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Sudan, in demonstrations against the governments in Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates), or constitutional reforms implemented in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, e tc. to stop protests. Historians, academicians, political scientists, and media practitioners are offering their own opinions and theories on why the Arab Spring had taken place in the MENA region at a particular time in this region's history. There is a real danger of civil uprisings turning into a full-scale civil war with the result of the country becoming a failed state like that in Somalia where there is no central governing authority and the country becomes a lawless place. Another risk is the Arab Spring could also be hijacked by other extremist or Islamist groups that will integrate themselves in the uprising and then later on grabbing the leadership of the movements when they think it is already right to do so and move it away from the original objectives of trying to obtain liberal democracy. The Arab world is known for its historical democratic deficit because of so many long-standing institutional control structures that hinder the introduction of meaningful changes in a nation (Chaney et al., 2012:363). The influential social, political, and religious structures had been in place for many centuries already since the Arab armies conquered these countries and to also introduce Islam wherever they went at that time in history. Many of these historical events are still exerting influential and enduring effects so that introducing change is very difficult.   

History of Mexican music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of Mexican music - Essay Example Ranchera is considered to be an outgrowth of a son. That has been â€Å"A type of song that was literally sung on a Mexican ranch, ranchera originated in the mid-19th century, just before the Mexican revolution†. Love, patriotism and nature are remained to be the most popular themes for this type of songs. Mariachi is considered to be highly popular style of music in Mexico. It consists of â€Å"at least two violins, two trumpets, a Spanish guitar, and two other types of guitars - the vihuela and guitarron†. Norteà ±o is considered to be a more modern variant of folk music in Mexico. The matter is that â€Å"in the late 19th century European migrants brought the accordion, waltz and polka, from their homeland to Northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest†. Local bands have adopted these instruments and establish a new genre of music.As for the popular Mexican music, there are also a huge number of variations with interesting implications and influence of modern glob al culture. It is possible to distinguish Latin alternative, Mexican Ska, Rock and Pop music as the basic directions of modern music.Latin alternative is considered to be a â€Å"music created by young players who have been raised not only on their parents' music but also on rock, hip-hop and electronica†. The wave of Mexican Ska has started in the 1960s when young bands and big orchestras intend to recorded ska tunes and covers of Jamaican hits. The most popular groups are Dilemma, The Chasm, Xiuhtecuhtli, Disgorge, Brujeria, Transmetal, Hacavitz, Sargatanas, Mictlayotl and others.

The Arab Spring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Arab Spring - Essay Example The anti-government protests and demonstrations were made not only by Arabs but also Africans. The word â€Å"spring† is an allusion or reference to water being a welcome development in the mostly arid geography of the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region. Other similar protests, uprisings, and rebellions were termed as â€Å"The Velvet Revolution† and the â€Å"People Power Revolution† (depending on the degree of peacefulness or violence) in other countries. Arab Spring started innocently enough in Tunisia when a street fruit vendor immolated (burned alive) himself to protest the lack of jobs for poor people like him. This vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi was reportedly a college graduate who could not find any decent job for himself to feed his family. Soon other protesters took up his cause and led to the downfall of long-time Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The events in Tunisia were soon copied by people in other countries like in Egypt (ousted two presidents), in Libya (where Gaddafi was eventually killed in the civil war with foreign military intervention), in Yemen (where its president handed over power to a national unity coalition), and still on-going in some places like in Syria (a full-scale civil war), street protests in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Sudan, in demonstrations against the governments in Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates), or constitutional reforms implemented in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, e tc. to stop protests. Historians, academicians, political scientists, and media practitioners are offering their own opinions and theories on why the Arab Spring had taken place in the MENA region at a particular time in this region's history. There is a real danger of civil uprisings turning into a full-scale civil war with the result of the country becoming a failed state like that in Somalia where there is no central governing authority and the country becomes a lawless place. Another risk is the Arab Spring could also be hijacked by other extremist or Islamist groups that will integrate themselves in the uprising and then later on grabbing the leadership of the movements when they think it is already right to do so and move it away from the original objectives of trying to obtain liberal democracy. The Arab world is known for its historical democratic deficit because of so many long-standing institutional control structures that hinder the introduction of meaningful changes in a nation (Chaney et al., 2012:363). The influential social, political, and religious structures had been in place for many centuries already since the Arab armies conquered these countries and to also introduce Islam wherever they went at that time in history. Many of these historical events are still exerting influential and enduring effects so that introducing change is very difficult.   

Music Appreciation (concert report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Music Appreciation (concert report) - Essay Example 3. The composers of the pieces include; Philip Sawyers, Edward Elgar, and Felix Mendelssohn respectively. Philip Sawyer composed this concert in the year 2008. He derives the idea from a poem by A. E. Housman. It acts as a constant life force during the British history which motivates Sawyers’ venture into the field of a musical work. The piece has three movements, which comprise of, the first, second, and third symphony which enable the orchestras to announce the main ideas. The design and art of performing the piece is excellent as it elaborates the meaning intended. The piece is a symphony since it is a musical composition consists of three movements. It attains a sense of unity since several small units lead to development of a theme in the work. The different small units also lead to the development of a sense of a variety since they communicate many ideas. Repetition of small units develops the main theme in the piece. Different tones meant to bring about the same theme manifests contrast in the piece. The texture is homophonic since the movements are in the same rhythm as melody. The notes were musically satisfying due to the harmonized performance of both movements and the rhythm of the piece. The composer harmonizes the melody by developing the music by smaller units. The harmony of the note is Consonant and minor since the breath is least obstructed producing a pleasing effect. The pitch modulates frequently during the performance. Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses, Flutes, Oboe, English horn, Trumpet, Trombone, and piano is the instruments that the orchestra use to make sound in the piece. The featuring of different instruments in a different section made the presentation dramatic. The combination of both male and female enhance the quality of the voice delivered. This makes the presentation immensely involving and I like it. The composer of this concert is Edward Elgar.

Martins Luther King Jr. Strugle for Racial Segregation and Civil Rights Essay Example for Free

Martins Luther King Jr. Strugle for Racial Segregation and Civil Rights Essay Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most important figures within the fields of politics and non-violent activism of the 20th century. King was born on 15th of January 1929 in the city of Atlanta within the boundaries of the state of Georgia. Originally Martin Luther King Jr. as named after his father as Michael King, although his father who was also named after Michael King after visiting the Nazi Germany in order to attend the Fifth Baptist World Alliance Congress in Berlin he found himself been inspired by a German reformer called Martin Luther, so he decided to change both his name and his son’s name into Martin Luther King and Martin Luther King Jr. respectively. King was the middle child of the family having a younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams King and an older sister Willie Christine King. As a reference to his education he attended Booker T. Washington High school, also it is stated that he was a precocious student as he skipped two grades the ninth and the twelfth and entered Morehouse College at the early age of fifteen. He graduated College in 1948 and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester which he graduated with a B. Div. degree in 1951. Meanwhile in 1953 he married Correta Scott and eventually became a father of four children Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King. Thereupon he became a pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery in 1954; he began his doctoral degree course in Systematic Theology at Boston University and graduated receiving his Ph. D. degree in 1955 with a dissertation on A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman. Although an academic observation which was held in 1991 concluded that parts of his dissertation were plagiarized but the committee decided that his degree shouldn’t be revoked. As a remark Martin Luther King Jr. was strongly influenced by religion (as it was natural, as been a Christian Minister since 1947) more specifically he was influenced by Jesus Christ and the Christian Gospels from which he frequently used quotes in his public speeches, he was also inspired from Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent activist action. In April of 1959 he made a desired for him as it was stated trip to India with the assistance of the American Friends Service Committee, it has to be mentioned that the trip affected King in a profound way and helped him deepen his knowledge and understanding in non-violent resistance and his commitment to the America’s struggle for civil rights, as he stated the last day of his trip to India in a local radio, King said: â€Å"Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. The â€Å"Fight† Against Segregation It all started back in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Claudette Colvin an African- American girl which in fact was under aged unmarried pregnant girl refused to give up her seat to a white man. At that point King was a member of the Birmingham African-American community and also a member of the committee which looked into the case but it was decided that they should wait for a better case to pursue. Their patience yielded. On December 1, 1955 an other African-American girl called Rosa Sparks also refused to give up her seat, back on that date the buses rows were â€Å"separated†, white people should seat on the front rows and the African-American people should seat on the back rows of the busses seats, as natural at some point the two â€Å"different† categories of passengers would meet. At that point the bus’s seats were all occupied and according to Jim Crow laws the following African-American passengers that would board on the bus were required to stand. It was exactly what they were waiting for, and soon after Rosa was arrested the Montgomery Bus Boycott broke out, it lasted 385 days. The whole Boycott issue turned out as a huge victory, although during the campaign a bombing attack was made against King’s house and he was also arrested. As a result the United States District Court in Browder v. Gayle case ended the racial segregation in all Montgomery public busses. After the Montgomery Bus Boycott King’s contribution to the result transformed him into a national figure and he was also off the record declared the best-known spokesman of the civil-rights movement. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Soon after the Montgomery lowdown King, Ralph Abernathy, and other civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The group was created in order to saddle the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform, King led the SCLC until his death. In 1962 SCLC joins Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the Albany Movement which was stated to be the first major non-violent campaign of SCLC. The Albany movement was a desegregation movement which was formed by local activist organizations, the SNCC and the National Association for the Advanced of Colored People (NAACP). The movement’s leader was William G. Anderson. During the period of King’s involvement with the Albany movement he was arrested twice, once in a mass arrest on 15th December of 1961 and in July of 1962. Although it has to be mentioned that King had been criticized by SNCC, they’ve even given him a snide nickname â€Å"De Lawd†, because as they claimed he maintained a safe distance from challenges that had to deal with Jim Crow laws. Birmingham Campaign Soon after the incidents in Albany the Birmingham campaign came to light. Birmingham campaign was a movement organized by SCLC and led by Martin Luther King Jr. and others. In the spring of 1963 the operation of the Birmingham campaign was at its peak, including widely publicized controversies between black young people and white civic authorities and eventually led the municipal government to change the citys discrimination laws. A fact that can’t remain unnoticed as during the early 60s Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the United States. Ultimately Birmingham movement was defined as a model of direct action protest, as it effectively shut down the city through a boycott and a series of sit-ins and marches, and drew the world’s attention to racial segregation in the South. Also it is stated that it paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Great March on Washington After the Birmingham campaign the SCLC called for massive protests in Washington DC to push for new civil rights legislation that would outlaw segregation nation-wide which turned to be an unparalleled success. The Great march on Washington claimed the title of one of the largest political rallies for human rights in the United State’s history, as the estimated number of participants varies from 200,000 to 300,000 and still remained non-violent, the 80% of the participants were estimated to be black and the rest were white and other non-black minorities. Also the city was swarmed by more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered aircrafts and uncountable personal vehicles. But the march was stigmatized by the King’s famous â€Å"I have a dream† speech. King began his speech with the emancipation of the slaves, issued by Abraham Lincoln and concludes that even though blacks were freed from slavery they still aren’t free. Then he raised the matter of the unkept promise of America to the Civil Rights Union for the continued pursuit of justice as racial segregation still existed. Finally he promotes black people to keep on fighting for their rights in non-violent ways as he believed that violence would lead to a cycle of fighting, unnecessary death and cruelty. The Poor People’s Campaign and the opposition to the Vietnam War In 1965 Martin Luther King Jr. egan to express his doubts about the Vietnam War in public. On 4th April 1967 he delivered a speech at the New York City Riverside Church titled â€Å"Beyond Vietnam: A time to break silence. † In which he expressed his objection to the role of the United States in the Vietnam War, mentioning that United States was in Vietnam â€Å"to occupy it as an American colony† and called the US government â€Å"the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. † He also connected the Vietnam War with economic injustice based on the fact that the US government was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs. He summed up this aspect by saying:† A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Almost a year later in 1968 King organized the â€Å"Poor Peoples Campaign† in order to raise the matter of economic injustice; King crossed the whole country in order to assemble a multiracial army of poor people in order to march on Washington DC and engage in a non-violent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created an economic bill of rights for poor Americans. The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D. C. , demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. The reconnaissance King was awarded at least fifty honorary degrees from colleges and universities. On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the U. S. In 1965, he was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Committee for his exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty. In his acceptance remarks, King said, Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free. In 1957, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. Two years later, he won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for his book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the Margaret Sanger Award for his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity. Also in 1966, King was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was posthumously awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam in 1971. In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was posthumously awarded to King by President Jimmy Carter, who stated: Martin Luther King, Jr. , was the conscience of his generation. He gazed upon the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. From the pain and exhaustion of his fight to fulfill the promises of our founding fathers for our humblest citizens, he wrung his eloquent statement of his dream for America. He made our nation stronger because he made it better. His dream sustains us yet. More than 730 cities in the United States have streets named after King. King County, Washington rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is named in honor of King. King is remembered as a martyr by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (feast day April 4) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (feast day January 15).

literature :: essays research papers

Literature Based Instruction This article is part of a series drawn from work in the Handbook of Reading Research: Volume III (Kamil, Mosenthal, Pearson, & Barr, 2000). My reasoning for choosing this article is simple; I like to read to children and to tell them stories. I think we can make reading much more interesting if we get away from the Basal Readers and introduce children to all forms of literary works. *Literature-Based Instruction: A Rationale Definitions of literature-based instruction emphasize the use of high-quality literary works as the core instructional materials used to support literacy development A guiding principle of the literature-based perspective is that literacy acquisition occurs in a book-rich context where there is an abundance of purposeful communication and meaning is socially constructed. Literary works in such contexts include a wide range of materials: picture books, big books, predictable books, folk tales, fables, myths, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, contemporary realistic fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction informational books, and biographies. *Reading to young children has always been the most common practice for implementing literature-based instruction in preschool and primary classrooms. Anecdotes and observations drawn from case studies of children who have been read to frequently have described behaviors associated with early literacy development These cases demonstrate that young children who have been read to frequently know how to handle books and can identify the front of a book, the print to be read, and the appropriate direction for reading the print. How many times do we see older students with books that have not been taken care? How many times do we see young people sitting in a quiet spot just reading a book for enjoyment? If you could go back and check, you would probably find out that they were not read to as young children. Reading stories is not a magical activity for literacy development; it is the quality of the interaction that occurs during reading that results in positive effects, rather than just the storybook reading itself. The article states â€Å"that storybook reading sessions in classrooms are often not of sufficient quality to engage students fully and to maximize literacy growth. Reading stories as an act in itself does not necessarily promote literacy; attitudes and interaction enhance the potential of the read-aloud event for promoting literacy development.

My Town :: essays papers

My Town To give you a better view of "My Town," I will perch him atop the highest point of the some-kind-of-wonderful city of Hillside: The Giza pyramid-shaped pile of garbage majestically sitting in the town dump. The movie theater is to the west; a neon-pink fluorescent sign frames this week's shows: Th' Bach, Scram 3, and y' of Th' Bholdr. Teenage employees relinquish all responsibility for the missing "E"s. A makeshift lemonade stand is set up a block away. Sometimes, its determined entrepreneurs, the set of five-year-old twins, Brooke and Blake Simone like to mix their drink of choice with "extra flavoring," such as leaves, rocks, and the occasionally, yet classic family of ants. Needless to say, the single dime in their yellow Teletubbie cash box has not multiplied since their first day of business. The strip mall to the north has been replaced by Car Max, the automobile superstore. Unfortunately, the abundance of cars has not, in fact, improved anyone's driving skills, or lack of them. Further west is Proviso West High School; the peeling, forest-green painted fence that protects the school grounds failed to prevent kleptomaniacs from stealing seven car stereos from the parking lot last December. The football field behind the school patiently waits with its freshly mowed green splendor for the team of big, burly boys (and one girl) to actually win a game. At 5:30 AM, a shivering Student Council vice-president with the intent to do extra work trudges the perimeter of the edifice, praying for an open door to a building that doesn't like to be occupied outside of the normal school hours. Psychologically, two opposing beliefs surface for why I dream of dancing sugarplums and college diplomas rather than a pin on my Dairy Queen hat that reads "Employee of the Month." A child is either influenced by his surroundings and peers or repelled into the opposite direction. As a magnet gone a rye, I am thankful that Hillside has not influenced me to blend in with the crowd; neither the cemetery across the street from school nor the various monument and flower shops entice me to- pardon my morbidity- just drop dead. The strategically located bowling alley down the block does not tempt me to ditch school. Certainly, the smell of the garbage dump has turned me off to the wide-eyed world of garbage disposal and handicapped my nose, thus threatening me into giving a hoot.

Changes/ Continuites from 1492-1750

The Renaissance in Western Europe marked the end of the middle Ages and the start of Europe’s rise as a global power. States in Western Europe became more centralized, and monarchs exercised more control over their subjects. Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America and triumphant return signaled the beginning of a new era of exploration. Likewise, Prince Henry the Navigator’s expeditions along the West African coast led to increased trade with Africa. Long isolated from the rest of the world, the Native Americans’ lives were drastically changed by the presence of European explorers, and later, colonists.Some aspects of life, such as domination by the elite in Europe, trade in Africa, and Native American ways of life in the Americas, have remained the same through the period. New contacts among Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas, however, led to interaction that has only increased with time. New contacts and increased trade led to the rise of a middle class in Western Europe. Traditionally, and throughout the feudal period, nobles had controlled government and wealth. As trade with Africa and the Americas increased, however, a new merchant class rose.As the new class became wealthier, they began to agitate for political power, eventually leading to conflicts such as the 1789 French Revolution. In the Americas, social transformations were huge. Deadly diseases brought by the Europeans decimated local populations, who had no resistance to smallpox, measles, etc. In one notorious case, during Spaniard Hernan Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs, the Spanish intentionally gave the Aztecs disease-ridden blankets. Such tactics also led to the downfall of the Incas, who were conquered by Francisco Pizzaro.From residing in mighty cities and presiding over huge empires, the Native American people were reduced to serving as servants or slaves of the new conquerors. A similar trend occurred in North America. Unlike the Aztecs or Incas, N orth American natives were decentralized, and loosely organized by tribes. Columbus’s initial subjugation of the Haitians, forcing them to mine gold, set a precedent for future domination. Africa was particularly affected by the slave trade. Large amounts of labor were needed on the Spanish and Portuguese sugarcane plantations, and Native American populations were often nable or unwilling to work as slaves. Especially after Bartolome de las Casas’s campaign against the subjugation of Native Americans, the Europeans needed another source of labor. Thus, the Atlantic slave trade began, ultimately resulting in the forced movement of 12 million slaves from Africa. The slave trade had both positive and negative effects on African society. While slavery was cruel and exploitative, the money some empires such as Benin acquired from working with the Europeans allowed them to build stronger empires.Despite massive change, some aspects of life stayed the same. In Western Europe, the gap between the poor and the rich remained; even though a middle class had developed, the power was still concentrated in the hands of a few. Every Western European country was a monarchy, and there was almost no popular representation. Even in Britain, by 1750 only about 2% of the population could vote, due to property ownership requirements and other standards. The period from 1492 to 1750 was still one of control.In the Americas, many tribes were still able to maintain their traditional way of life. Many tribes displaced by British settlers in North America moved west, and since the French had yet to settle the huge Louisiana Territory, they were free to continue with traditional methods. Africa was still, for the most part, free. Not until the 1880’s would the majority of Africa become colonized. Though less powerful than the Western Europeans, African nations remained independent and gained wealth through trade.In conclusion, the interaction between Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas has resulted in both change and continuity. One irreversible trend, however, was the growing interconnectedness of the global community. Columbus united the New World with the Old, creating a bridge that has never since been broken. Recent developments such as globalization and information technology have metaphorically shrunk the world. Interaction between 1492 and 1750 set a precedent for future actions.

Melting pot vs salad bowl Essay

Have you ever heard that America is a melting pot or a salad bowl? The metaphor for the melting pot is unfortunate and misleading for America. A more accurate metaphor would be a salad bowl, for the salad bowl can be very different from the melting pot because of all its ingredients can make it distinguished from the melting pot. Even today Americans are calling America a salad bowl instead of a melting pot. Whereas it once was a melting pot but soon changed. There have been many questions and many answers for the melting pot and the salad bowl form America and its different citizens. These metaphors can’t be better than the others; they both serve the same purpose just in a different ways. In my opinion today American is not a melting pot; America was once called a melting pot but now is a salad bowl. First of all America is a salad bowl because people today are able to practice their own culture. On the other hand the melting pot doesn’t allow this because all the cultures blend in to from one culture. The salad bowl allows people to retain their original cultures and traditions whereas the melting pot doesn’t. Despite these benefits, some people believe that America is a melting pot instead of the salad bowl. The melting pot states that we should surrender our culture and ethic identities. Whereas the salad bowl lets you be free to choose what you want to practice. The way I see it is that the salad bowl doesn’t make us blend in or surrender our cultures. The salad bowl has many different features that the melting does not have.

Agricultural Contributions of George Washington Carver in US

George Washington Carver was born a slave in Diamond Grove, Missouri. As a small child Carver was rescued from a band of Confederate kidnappers. From early on Carver was determined to get himself an education. Carver began his schooling in Newton Country, and while attending school he also worked very hard as a farm hand. While working and studying Carver lived in a one-room schoolhouse, and as time went on he excelled as sought out for higher education. Because of his race Carver was denied on attending Highland University. In 1887 Carver got excepted to Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. Carver made many outstanding contributions to the agricultural world and also on America it†s self. Carver changed the face of Agriculture in the south with his crop rotation methods. Carver discovered through research and trail and error ways to help soil stay fertile. Through this discovery the nutrients would stay in the ground, and crops could be planted on the same soil year after year. Carver discovered that planting peanut one year then the next planting cotton would keep the soil fertial for the following year. The peanuts contained nitrate-producing legumes, and the cotton took all the nutrients from the soil, so the soil was fresh each planting season. The farmer took his peanuts and used them as a source of food for their livestock. Carver did not over look the peanuts as just food for animals, and found over 325 ways to use the peanuts for other reasons than food. He used peanuts to make peanut butter, cooking oil, printer ink, and many more useful applications for the peanut. Carver being the introvator that he was also found many ways for the pecan and sweet potato to help the soil. Carver developed many synthetic products that could be used by all people and not too hard to make. Carver developed adhesives, bleach, cheese, instant coffee, syntheic rubber, and Worcestershire souce just to name a few. Carver†s crop rotation method did change American agirculture forever. What Carver found out through study helped America today become the world†s top producing nation of agricultural goods. Carver also did not just change agriculture for America, but also changed the way that people looked at the African American. Carver received many awards and prizes during his lifetime, but he always gave the credit to the lord.

Grocery Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Grocery Market - Assignment Example IGD predicts that development of the UK grocery retail market will continue to be restricted by a combination of slow population growth, price competition and growth in the foodservice sector as an alternative channel. (Source from website http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/news/ng.asp n=61268-ASDA-reorganises-as) ASDA is a household name in the UK. It has a range of products from groceries to clothing to jewellery. Bought over by Wal-Mart Stores in 1999, ASDA is the UK's second-largest food retailer. It operates about 280 large stores (including 19 ASDA Supercenters and 10 standalone George clothing stores) and its focus is primarily on groceries and apparel. It also sells books and videos, household items and has a photo centre. It also offers ethnic take away meals. Its consolidation with Wal-Mart, has initiated a price war in the UK ASDA mirroring Wal-Mart's aggressive "price-rollback" program and converting stores to Wal-Mart's supercenter format under the ASDA-Wal-Mart banner. (Source from website http://www.hoovers.com/ASDA/--ID__90031--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml) It 'became part of the Wal-Mart family' - on 26 July 1999 for $10.8 billion". Since then, ASDA claims that it has gained one million new customers. It is converting some stores to Wal-Mart's super centre format under the ASDA-Wal-Mart banner. ... This price is on a daily basis and is not a sale or promotional price and customers come to ASDA knowing that they always have the lowest prices. ASDA states its purpose as "To make goods and services more affordable for everyone" It emphasizes that it wants to offer everyday low prices without compromising on quality and is on the lookout for new products and services that it can sell and in effect end up offering better value to the customer. (Source from website http://www.wherewomenwanttowork.com/evidence/evidence2.aspid=1220&qid=1&eid=890) Competitive Advantage Michael Porters Generic Strategies for competitive advantage states that, "For an organisation to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage, they should follow either one of three generic strategies" (Porter, 1980) Cost Leadership: In this strategy, the organisation tries to be the lowest cost provider in the business. This is achieved by keeping costs low right from production to the sourcing to labour costs. Huge volumes that compensate for the low margins and low cost achieve this. Differentiation: In this strategy, organizations try to differentiate their products. By allowing the customer to perceive a differentiated value to the product, the organization is able to command a better price leveraging this perception. For this strategy to work, their product needs to stand out from similar products. However substitute or copied products pose the danger of upsetting the value of the product. Patents also expire and then the competitive edge is lost. Niche Strategies: In this strategy, the organization caters to one particular segment and becomes well known for providing

Factors of Optimizing Performance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Factors of Optimizing Performance - Assignment Example This essay explores the benefits of time management that include: an individual or group becomes more productive; feels less stressed, individuals are able to do the things they want, ability to relate more positively with others, individuals and groups get more things done. In order to be a good time manager, an individual needs to have strategies or understand methods that will help him or her manage time effectively. Different scholars have come up with various principles and methods of effective time management. There are ten methods of effective time management and these include the following: know what you want to achieve, focus on activities that add value, get a life, plan it out, stay focused, work expand to fill allotted time, do similar tasks together, say ‘no’, work in your prime time and lastly prioritize. Cole identified these ten principles and said that they act as the basis for an effective time management strategy. In knowing what you want to achieve it is imperative for an individual to set goals so as to be able to work towards the attainment of the set goals. It is important that you set the major goals first because these give your personal and work life a structure and purpose. After setting the major goals it is important to set the minor goals and these are important because they lead to the attainment of the set major goals. For example, for the author's case had begun as an operator of Grade two at ANZ and aspiring to be the operation state manager, my small goals are to be proficient in one job, gain experience, go for further learning before applying for the Job. All these will contribute to my attainment of the position as a state manager.

Forensic computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Forensic computing - Essay Example A user can use criteria such as size, filename, creation and modified dates in locating files. The search results returned by OS forensics are made available in different views which include the timeline view, thumbnail view and file listing (Beijnum, 2009, p. 23). This helps the user determine the pattern of activity on the computer and know where significant file change occurred. Besides locating the files, this tool can go further to search within contents of each file for a full analysis. OS forensics has a powerful pre-indexed search capability that offers full text search to hundreds of file formats. Below is a list of what results OS forensics can offer: Highlighting Wildcard searches Relevance ranked search results Exclusion searches Date sorting or date range searching Exact phrase matching "Google-like" context results File listing view of search results The file formats that can be indexed by OS forensics include: RTF, WPD, SWF, DJVU, DOC, PDF, PPT, XLS, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF F, XLSX, MHT, ZIP, MP3, DWF, DOCX, PPTX and more. In addition, it has a feature that helps analyze files so as to determine their file type if they lack file extension. The advanced hashing algorithm in OS forensics can help create a unique fingerprint that is used to identify a file. OS forensics can help the investigator to organize the evidence discovered into a cryptographically secure single file. The expert can add more results and evidence to the case file for future reference and analysis and be confident that the case file cannot be tampered with. Case management helps the user to organize and aggregate case items and results from OS forensics. An advantage of this software is that it can be installed and run from a USB flash drive thus helps you in keeping your investigation tools and reports with you when you are mobile (Cansolvo & Scholtz, 2004, p. 85). A user should avoid installing any software on the target machine so as to avoid the risk of unintentionally overwritin g or deleting valuable forensic data left by the suspect. With OS forensics, the computer expert can export case files as customizable and accessible reports that show all the evidence gathered. This feature helps to deliver a summary of readable forensic findings to law enforcement agents or clients at any time during the investigation. OS forensics can be used to retrieve e-mail messages directly from their archives without the need to install email client programs such as thunderbird or Outlook (Dimitrova, Bellotti, Lozanova & Roumenin, 2011). It reads directly into the archive and displays everything from message headers, HTML, Rich Text Format and regular Text. Supported file formats are: Mbox for thunderbird, UNIX mail, Eudora and more. Pst for outlook. Msg for outlook. Dbx for outlook express. Eml for outlook express. All the attachments associated with the specified email can be extracted too. Email searching functionality embedded in OS forensics can be used to quickly sear ch across all the content in the email’s archive effectively. OS forensics Email Viewer The forensic value of carrying out the processes described above may vary depending on various factors such as who needs the information and for what purpose is the information in question needed (Lin & Stead, 2009, p. 67). This valuable

Econ question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Econ question - Essay Example As the author correctly notes, the situation should not be oversimplified and he suggests that rejecting inherited wealth would lead to an equal society. On the other hand, the power of hereditary wealth cannot be used in the demonstration of particular thresholds of disparity typical of the developed nations in the twentieth century. At a particular point in the twentieth century, hard work was the guaranteed way of achieving a good living, then the considerable changes associated with the interwar era made things different. The changes have little involvement with the increase in the productivity of workers as compared to the effect that was felt by the very rich in the interwar era. The societies that were exceptionally imbalanced had been developed based on extreme concentrations of wealth, which made it possible for a small class of individuals to survive on capital income alone. The working rich did not simply overtake the rest of the population during the interwar period. The author dedicates most chapter seven in his book to a comprehensive walk through the data that explains the elements that influenced changes in distribution of income throughout the last century. The distribution of income for the French was extremely compressed by the interwar era, but disparity started to increase swiftly in the after the war because of the quick recovery and increased focus on reconstruction than on distributional concerns. This tendency in the direction of increased disparity stopped by the political changes that took place on the late sixties, but disparity started increasing again in the early nineties. In the division of his analysis, Piketty tries to develop a clear distinction between the contemporary definition of labour and inheritance, and the dissimilarity between income form labour and income from wealth. He

The Effects of Cyberschools on Public Education Essay

The Effects of Cyberschools on Public Education - Essay Example When the Western Pennsylvania cyberschool opened in the 2000-01 school year, 525 grade 12 students were enrolled in it. In the 2001-2002 school year, 996 students were enrolled (KPMG Consulting, 2001). Indeed, demographic figures are a testament to the success of the Western Pennsylvania cyberschool for, not only are enrolment figures steadily n the increase but, an increasing number of students and parents are opting for cyberschool as a preferred alternative to public schooling, with the result being that that while 48% of the enrolled students are former home schoolers, 52% are former public school students from twelve south west region counties. Added to that, 27 of the enrolled students are classified as gifted' and 117 are special education needs students (KPMG Consulting, 2001). The implication here is that, within Western Pennsylvania at least, cyberschooling is emerging as a viable, valid and vital alternative to public schooling. Within the parameters of the outlined problem, the research shall attempt the determination of the impact of cyberschools on public education, with the focus being on Western Pennsylvania. 3 Definition of Key Terms The focus of this action research is well-defined and limited to the relationship between public schooling and cyberschooling, on the one hand, and the emergence of cyberschools as an alternative to both home and public schooling. The focus, as stated, allows for the identification of three key terms, those being cyberschools, public education and home schooling. Each of these terms shall now be defined in order to contextualize their usage in the... The focus of this action research is well-defined and limited to the relationship between public schooling and cyberschooling, on the one hand, and the emergence of cyberschools as an alternative to both home and public schooling. The research and data analysis carried out allows for the statement of a set of conclusions. The first of these is that the public school system is under tremendous strain, both because of increasing student populations and decreasing qualified teacher populations. The consequence of the aforementioned is the decreasing capacity for effective education and an ever dwindling ability to ensure the safety and security of students on school grounds and property. The stated has led many parents to turn to Homeschooling and, eventually, to cyberschools. As pertains to cyberschools, the research data allows for the conclusion that it is an effective, viable, vital and feasible alternative to both public education and Homeschooling. This paper makes a conclusion that given that no data was found on the actual effect that cyberschools have had on the public school system, it is difficult to present definitive conclusions regarding this relationship. Nevertheless, one may assume that cyberschools will be integrated into the public school system in due course, thereby relieving state and federal governments of a substantial percentage of the cost involved in the maintenance and running of public schools and allowing access to education for those who, for a variety of reasons, had no previous access. In other words, cyberschools will not function as a threat to public schools but as a support system.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ Essay Example for Free

The resurrection of Jesus Christ Essay The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central aspect of more than two billion Christians in this world and billions more who have since put their faith in Jesus these last two thousand years. The Christian religion is unique in the fact that its founder proclaimed that he is the son of God and that if one simply believes in him, they shall obtain eternal life. There is no other religion similar to that. Salvation cannot be found on this earth or in the completion of daily tasks and rituals but is a gift, given to God through Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is so important that the entire faith relies upon this event. If Jesus was, as other religions attest: only a prophet, then Jesus is therefore made a liar and the greatest con artist in the history of the world. However, if he is who he was he is, then Jesus is the only way in which one receives eternal life. It can therefore be seen how important the resurrection is to Christians and they are reminded of such sacrifices as well as the importance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, this Easter Sunday. In the Old Testament, the Scriptures profess of a savior who will come to save man from his sins. Amazing detail can be seen in these Old Testament passages concerning where this savior would come from, how he would be received by the public and authorities and how he would die and then be raised from the dead. When Jesus was preaching that he was the Messiah, this was seen as severe offense of blasphemy towards the Jewish authority, as they were still waiting for their savior to come. According to the Bible, and specifically the New Testament, Jesus Christ came to this world to save man from his sin. With the plague of thousands of sins committed by any individual with an average lifespan, he therefore cannot enter God’s kingdom of heaven, which is holy, with a body and works that are unholy. It then comes upon Jesus Christ to be the savior of God’s people by sending on this earth, his only son which died on a cross, was buried and then was resurrected on the 3rd day. In the Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, in which the life and times of Jesus are given, the resurrection is described in all of these accounts. One such can be found in the book of Matthew 27:52-53. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Bible, 2000 p. 689) The resurrection is repeated in all four of the Gospels, due to its utter necessity of understanding if one wishes to consider himself a Christian and deserving, only through the death of Jesus Christ, eternal life in heaven. According to the Bible, after Jesus was resurrected, he began to preach to his followers before he ascended into heaven. Eleven of his twelve disciples considered the resurrection so very important, ten of them chose death, imposed upon them by different state authorities which feared this new religion and its appeal, then deny what they had seen for themselves. This is a testimony to the power and importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to Christians. The book of Acts, or Acts of the Apostles, goes into detail, the actions of the apostles as they adhere to the Great Commission, the order given by Jesus before he was crucified, that it is the main purpose of Christians to spread the teachings and promises of salvation, as seen only by Jesus Christ. To Christians, the Great Commission is still in effect today and is what propels missionaries to travel all over the world, teaching and preaching the news of Jesus Christ and his promises of eternal salvation. In all of these teachings, the resurrection is included, or rather seen as the most important aspect of the Christian faith and plan for salvation. â€Å"If Jesus was not resurrected from the dead, then he is only a man and the Christian faith is based upon a myth.† (Johnson, 1998 p. 45) This then makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ to be of the utmost importance. For those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection takes on a special meaning. This sacrifice of Jesus, the one who is seen by Christians as the perfect and blameless son of God in order to save fallible sinners from the torment of hell, is an important and emotional sacrifice. It is this sacrifice that motivates Christians, not only in their faith but also in the continuation of their church attendance and private and public devotions. The Christian martyrs in the immediate centuries following the resurrection of Jesus, gladly went to be fed to the lions or killed in some other way in order to try and duplicate, although not copy, the sacrifice that Jesus made for those who believe in him. Even contemporary Christians are moved by the sacrifice of Jesus in this manner.   The 2004 film The Passion of the Christ compelled a lot of reaction. One of the reactions by the audience was humility and even tears as they saw what might have happened to Jesus in order that he may save their souls from heaven. If the resurrection of Jesus never was attached to these sacrifices of being beaten and crucified, then he would not be the one who had come to fulfill prophecy and therefore, would have been seen as a heretic and there would have been made, no special attention to Jesus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The resurrection of Jesus remains central to the faith of Christians. Without the resurrection, the prophecies of the Old Testament remain unfulfilled and Jesus was nothing more than the greatest deceiver in the history of the world who received a fitting punishment. However, if the resurrection did occur and the promises of Jesus are then attached to his claim that he is the son of God and all that he said is true, then belief in the deity of Jesus and his resurrection, still remains the only way in which an individual receives eternal life in heaven. As it is written in the famous Bible verse John 3:16: â€Å"For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.† (Bible, 2000 p. 825) Jesus Christ still remains the most important figure in human history. Had the resurrection never occurred, it seems doubtful that his importance would have rem ained the same. WORKS CITED The Holy Bible. (2000) London: Oxford Press. Johnson, P (1998) The Importance of the Resurrection. New York: Century Press. Gibson, Mel The Passion of the Christ. Icon Productions

The Vision Mission Values Management Essay

The Vision Mission Values Management Essay From the very beginning Sam Walton used the strategy still used by the corporation he founded; a wide variety of low priced goods, more availability by later store hours, buying goods in large quantities from the lowest priced wholesaler and passing on the savings to his customers. With low prices came large sales volume and that allowed him to purchase even cheaper goods from his suppliers. Sam Walton had great distribution methods as well. He built his stores near distribution centers so that items could be delivered quickly, usually within 24 hours. Sam Walton was more than Everyday Low Prices and distribution that catapulted the company to the top. Show More Show Less Walmarts mission today is still, save money, live better this sums up their primary goal, and gives a clue as to who the target market could be. Walmarts intention is to provide the lowest prices. Their customer base is the low income, and lower middle class that seek low prices. Walmart is found in almost every city in the United States, and more specifically in rural and suburban areas. Walmart uses alot of research to locate areas to open new stores, and even more to know what to stock them with. Its difficult to discuss, Vision, Mission and Values without understanding with clarity what the 3 stand for. Vision: The difference that the business wants to make. What will make it better than the rest of the other companies. Mission: How do we plan on carrying this work out; this is the way we plan to do things. Values: This is the nitty gritty; the walk to the talk. The Wal-Mart Vision statement states that The vision of the Global Ethics Office is to support ownership of Wal-Marts ethical culture to all stakeholders globally. Since the first store opened 50 years ago, the store has worked toward making a difference in people lives. The Founder of the company, Sam Walton believed that the service his customers received was very important. Sam Walton shared his vision with his employees and made them accountable for the way his first stores were operated; and later his other stores as well. Mr. Walton assigned greeters at the store entrances, and had them learn customers names. He lowered prices, and was committed to his customers even when his competitors thought that was a sure way to fail. Walmarts Mission is to improve the life of the community they serve through opportunities in employment, volunteer opportunities of its employees, cash or grants, its mission is to improve and help the people of the communities they are in. Globally, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $958 million in cash and in-kind contributions during fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2012.( Walmart Foundation). Three basic Values guide Wal-Mart employees: Respect for the Individual, is about valuing workplace diversity, everyone is a valued employee, and co-worker. Customers are greeted, and treated with respect. Sam Walton believed in creating an environment that is open and inclusive of all personnel and customers; and treating all people respectfully. In 2012 WalMart operates stores in 27 countries and under 69 different names. Service to Customers. Customer service comes before and after a sale; that includes prices that are affordable, and lower than competitors, and finally, Strive for Excellence; excellence doesnt mean being perfect. Striving for Excellence does mean doing the best job in all that you do, and to do it over and over again, as many times as it takes to get it right. Organization Business: Products and Services Traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Walmart is a corporation. The official name of the company is Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.) Wal-Mart sells everything! Walmart Supercenters are warehouse size buildings, with sizes varying from 98,000 to 261,000 square feet, with an average of about 197,000 square feet (Walmart Annual Report, 2012) These stores stock everything: its a full-service supermarket with a meat dept., bakery, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, produce, seafood and pharmacy; electronics, automotive, houseware, cosmetics, toys, garden centers, one hour photo processing lab; additionally some have fuel pumps in the parking lot. Some Walmarts are equipped with automotive service departments, garden centers, optical center, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, local bank branches, and fast food outlets, in the El Paso stores it is Mc Donalds (Longo, 2007) Products, Services and Initiatives requiring HR support. When Sam Walton opened the door in 1962 to the first Walmart, it was operated under a 3 basic belief code: respect for the individual, service to the customer and striving for excellence. Things havent changed much, the Walmart corporation still uses these vvalues; and continues to improve on them; always looking to improve the service to their customers and each other on a daily basis (http://careers.walmart.com/company-beliefs-and-values/). Walmarts open door policy, and open communication is what is credited with the success that Walmart has experienced when dealing with its 2.2 million associates and customer needs (http://careers.walmart.com/hr-benefits ) Walmart employees know they can openly discuss concerns with the management team. Wal-Mart Stores, with 2.2 million employees, tops the first published list of the worlds 500 largest corporate employers (http://www.myglobalcareer.com/). The Human Resource department at Walmart uses the strategy of fitting the employee to the best suitable job to fit the associates cognitive ability, and interests. (Chuck Russell, 2003). Its very important that they hire the best suited person for the job as mistakes can cost large sums of money! According to Dr. Pierre Mornell, if you make a mistake in hiring, and recognize and fix the mistake within six months, the cost of replacing that employee is two and one-half times the persons annual salary. ( Mornell, 2003). Training and development doesnt stop when the associate is hired, it isnt a one time thing, it continues on during the career of the associate, its meant to improve and empower the employee during his service at Walmart. Employees are told the history about the making of Walmart, and shows the roles and responsibilities of the employee, and those of support staff. After the initial orientation every department has its own training to strengthen the individual strengths, and chart career paths. All these initiatives are aimed at making employees stay within the organization more favorable. This empowers the employees and gives them the incentive to remain within the company. (Sullivan and Zaino, 2005). Walmart offers many training and development opportunities.It isnt unusual for a company to train an employee upon hiring, and nevr retrain, or continue to train an employee; but that isnt the case at Walmart. Walmart considers training as part of their regular work environment, this company invests a lot of time in maintaing a ongoing training program for employees. The purpose of the continuous training is to assist associates in maintaining, and or obtaining the needed skills to prepare for climbing the corporate ladder. Walmart likes to hire from within the company, as they like people already educated in their corporate culture. Leaders Out in Front is what Walmart calls the program that places the associate in charge of their own portfolio. This program also places the training in the first line of contact with the associates, the Assistant managers, Market manager, Store managers, and Co-managers, it is believed in the Walmart culture that associates having training with the first line of contact they are continuously training, and strengthening their skills. In 2007, Walmart started a program called Stores of Learning. In this program they use virtual classrooms to show chosen employees about the most effective methods of service delivery. Training and development isnt a only new employee training, its an ongoing event at Walmart. Its a very important part of an associates life (Career Development, 2010). Walmart uses skill assessments to determine, and improve their employee labor, and knowledge of their job skills. The company has instituted a program known as the Associate Investment model where supervisors evaluate employee competencies. This methods of employee assessment is particularly accurate owing to the fact that it allows the assessment of the evaluation process. This means that in case evaluation was done poorly, the company can detect it and makes their employees more prepared for future eventualities. (King, 2006) The company vigorously trains the employees, this helps Walmart to know that the employee is well trained in his job function and knows all the components of his job. Part one of the process is called on boarding. Since the employee must know his job, and all job functions, this can also be called the information phase. The next step is called the fundamental track phase. During this phase the employee is expected to know and understand the responsibilities associated within the scope of his job. Walmart hopes that this information helps the employee to better understand the function of his job and well as build a foundation from which to grow. The third phase of the program is called advanced track phase. In this area employees are taught how to plan their careers. For Walmart this is the portion of the training that guarantees that employees are aware, and knowledgeable in all the steps needed to prepare them for them to get to become promotable, and, or transferable to different positions within the company. Associates are urged to assess their own skills, and opportunities within Walmart,and to guage if they are tracking with the needed job criteria. The above program instructs employees on resume writing, interviewing skills, career planning, and being pro-active in seeking job opportunities within the company. Sam Walton liked to promote people within the Walmart family before seeking outside candidate, and today the same idea still functions within the Walmart culture, promote from within! The training, available through the Human Resource Department is meant to have a readily available pool of talent from the employees. Walmarts executives believe that while other retailers outsource a large part of their production process, Walmart wants to keep talent from within their company to fill vacancies as they arise. The fact that the company has leadership programs for their managers, supervisors, and line staff is proof that they are commited to assisting the employee develop, grow, and remain productive within the Walmart family. The companys Vice presidents feel that the people who have paid their dues, done the job, and prepared should be the ones getting the promotions within the company (Marquez, 2005). It is estimated that the human resource department at Walmart spends a large amount of time in the training, and maintaining, as well as preparing employees to embrace the best opportunity that comes their way. Since Walmart is worldwide they also believe that they are successful because of the consistent manner in which the associates are trained worldwide. Walmarts Human Resource Department has been working on preparing employees to work worldwide, in any environment by preparing them with the correct language, customs, and corporate requirements need to be a success in that area. Because Walmart wants to keep its competitive edge always sharp they also spend thousands of dollars in training their Human Resource Department in the latest hiring, and training practices in any country where they operate. The Walmart corporation does not consider training for any employee to be just an internal issue. They educate themselves in what other companies are doing to make them successful.(Walmart, 2008) Organization Markets Save Money. Live Better. This is the core of what Walmarts Marketing department uses to communicate to its customers every day. The yellow, happy smiling face is what Walmart uses to tell people about its lower prices. Marketing communication is a very important function of marketing. The product and services offered at Walmart would mean nothing if it werent communicating it through various media: collateral, advertisements, internet, packaging, printed media, displays, and logos to name a few. The ultimate goal of marketing communications is to make sure that the shopping population thinks of Walmart as the best place to shop, the place where they will save money, and have a better life because of it. ( more here)..> Organizational Core Competancies A core competency simply stated is what a company does best. For Wal-Mart that means lowering its operating costs, selling at a low price and still making a profit. Wal-Mart is a company that has taken what it does best, which is to deliver products at the lowest possible price, and incorporates it into their vision Low prices. Live better, and made it its competitive edge. Walmarts culture of hiring hardworking, and diligent, customer service oriented employees has paid off for the company. The founder, Sam Walton called his employees associates, and treated them like partners; thus making them feel like they were valued and wanted. Walton belied in his associates input, and valued what they had to say about improvements, and how to make the store better: additionally, he wanted his customers to know that no matter where his store was the customer would always receive the lowest prices and top notch customer service. . Low Cost Operations. Wal-Mart focus has always been on small rural towns. In 1962, the first store was in Rogers, Arkansas, and even then it cut prices so low, and drew customers away from its competitors; the trend to do the same has continued throughout the last 50 years; and in fact this is their mission statement in practice. As the US economy goes into slumps people look for lower, better prices, and Walmart has always been there to rescue the bargain shopper. Â   Distribution. Walmart has a total of 42 regional distribution centers, and 1 transportation office in every one. Each distribution center is over one million square feet. The distribution centers handle a total of about 6,500 tractors with 55,000 trailers. These vehicles moved more than 5.5 billion cases of merchandise last year. There are also specific distribution centers for Sams clubs as well for groceries, jewelry, pharmaceuticals. The Walmart online also have their own distribution centers. They are all located within a 250 mile radius of the stores they service, and most are open 24/7. The trucks deliver their loads, and most return within the same day, to start the process again the next day.( http://careers.walmart.com/distribution-and-transportation-opportunities) Strategic Planning for Organization and H.R. involvement. Charles Holley, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. executive vice president and CFO stated at the shareholders meeting in November, 2011. Our business model is built on our promise that Walmart customers can count on us to deliver low prices every day across a broad assortment, Holley explained. This in turn leads to customer loyalty and higher sales. These growth and leverage initiatives will contribute to our strong earnings growth. (Edgell Communications, 2011) In May, 2011, Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke told its share holders that the next step for Walmart was to expand globally and market to the next generation customer. He also outlined a five-point program at the shareholders annual meeting that would help sell more products online and abroad, but keep cost down. Hoping to tap into those that carry smart phones and spend time on social media , his 5 point priority plan includes: Growth by adding customers, opening new stores and acquiring other retailers. Keeping costs low and passing the savings to customers. Building a global Internet business. Developing talent, including a greater focus on women and minorities. Expanding the company sustainability effort Organizational Development and Change Initiatives Organizational Assesment Processes Human Capital Assesment Processes Training, Development and education Management and Leadership Supervisory Team Building Sales and Marketing Customer Service Safety, Quality and Technical Career Management and Development Programs Succession Planning Performance Management Restructuring of the Organization Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment Personnel Services Payroll HRIS/ HRIM Compensation and Benefits and Pay for Performance Evidence Legal Services : How Provided Other Services by Function: Financial Budgets and Contro;, Bonus systems, etc.