Apple marketing stategy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Apple marketing stategy - Article Example This will make it affordable for the new customers to purchase the product before the product is hiked. This strategy will reduce threat of competition as the brand will have already have attained an advantage over other competitors. Diversification of the products in the market will also be used as a strategy to increase financial returns which will be used as a competition tool for the company. The finances will also be used as an entry barrier to potential competitors in the same sector (Hill & Jones, 2009). One of the competition strategies of the company is intensive advertising. This is through the media e.g. television, radio, newspapers and magazines. This will work in ensuring that customers have adequate knowledge concerning the existence of the product in the market. Efficient distribution is another strategy to be used by the company which will involve agents, sales persons and different branches that are established in different countries in the world. Another strategy that Apple Company will use to keep its competition level high is through constant communication with its customers through social networks and other communication channels such as blogs. This will help the company to have ideas of the customer’s behaviors concerning the product in the market. Constant innovation on the product is another important tool that will be used to extend the life of the products in the market. This will work towards reducing monotony of using the same product over a long period by the customer. It will also help in preventing the replacement of the products from the market by the competitors (Hill & Jones, 2009). Different products fit for different people (e.g. iPod for young generation, laptops for business people etc) based on demographics such as age; family location etc. in order to satisfy the market, the market will be divided depending on the demand of the product and the

The evidence of bad character

The evidence of bad character The evidence of bad character is an interesting area which have often been brought up by academician and judges like Professor Hoffman to its disputable and uncertainty of status, and so it have been describe as a law which is complex, unprincipled and riddled with anomalies by Professor Adrian Keane. The general rule was that the defendant may not be asked about his convictions or other bad character until he throws the shield himself i.e. he himself have adduce his own characteristic as evidence, in other words it means that evidence may not be given about his character as part of the prosecution case. The rationale of the rule has proved that the prejudice created by such evidence outweighed any probative value it might have. The basis of the rule can be trace from the dictum of Lord Herschell LC in Makin v Attorney-General for New South Wales: ‘It is undoubtedly not competent for the prosecution to adduce evidence tending to show that the accused has been guilty of criminal acts other than those covered by the indictment, for the purpose of leading to the conclusion that the accused is a person likely from his criminal conduct or character to have committed the offence for which he is being tried. On the other hand, the mere fact that the evidence adduced tends to show the commission of other crimes does not render it inadmissible if it be relevant to an issue before the jury. In other word, it means that the prosecution may not use the accuseds previous bad character to suggest to the jury that he acted in conformity therewith in relation to the offence charged. However, there was also exception following the above dictum he laid down: ‘†¦and it may be so relevant if it bears upon the question whether the acts alleged to constitute the crime charged in the indictment were designed or accidental, or to rebut a defence which would otherwise be open to the accused. In other word, Lord Herschell mean that the evidence which tends to show the commission of other crimes is wide enough to cover not just evidence of the defendants previous convictions, but also evidence of other offences which he is alleged to have committed but for which he has not been tried. Then he came out with two instances in which evidence of other offence may b relevant to guilt. Firstly, the defendant claims that the act of which complaint is made did take place but that it was an accident or so called ‘similar fact evidence and, secondly, where the defendant put forward some defence but his character shows that the defence is not open to him. Following the dictum, the case of Makin had illustrated that there was no direct evidence and an inference was drawn by the jury base on indirect evidence i.e. circumstantial evidence to reach a conclusion. Second, the admissibility of evidence of other offences depends entirely upon the issues in the case that the relevance of the evidence can only be judged by reference to the issues which arise for decision. The method had almost been an universal usage where the prosecution try to prove that on one or more occasions the accused has acted in a way similar to that alleged in the charge although it was not normally known as similar fact evidence. Moving on, the case of Thompson had shown the way the rule applies to evidence of the defendants character which does not disclose the commission of offences. In this case, the appellant was the man who had committed acts of gross indecency in a public lavatory. The issue was one of identity because the appellants defence was that it was pure coincidence that he turned up at the agreed time. It was held relevant to rebut by the context of evidence of defendants sexual behaviour towards young boys. Lord Sumner in this case said that there is a risk of prejudice by a jury after hearing the accused has committed other offences. Because of the risk, the prosecution is not normally allowed to call such evidence, but that it may do so where it is relevant to an issue in the case. Later in Harris v DPP, it develops the analysis of the part prejudice plays in similar fact evidence. Viscount Simon described there would be reasonable cause to adduce similar fact evidence and referred to the rule of practice requiting a judge to disallow reliance on admissible evidence if its probable effect would be out of proportion to its true evidential value. And this is the first time the House of Lord brought together the need for similar fact evidence to be probative on one or more of the issues in the case, and the need for the judge to consider the overall effect of the evidence on the jury. All this was later drawn together and fully explained in DPP v Boardman, which follow the dictum laid down in Makin. Lord Wilberforce comes out with: ‘†¦it is necessary to estimate (i) whether, the evidence as to other facts tends to support, i.e. to make more credible, the evidence given as to the fact in question, (ii) whether such evidence, if given, is likely to be prejudicial to the accused. Both these elements involve questions of degree. It falls to the judge†¦ to estimate the respective and relative weight of these two factors†¦ It simply means that the judge must weigh the probative force of similar fact evidence against its prejudicial effect and only allow it if it would not be unfair to the defendant to allow it to be given. Another case of Sim also applying the similar way to rebut the appellants defence, where the accuseds homosexual tendency is only admissible where it is of sufficient relevance. Lord Goddard CJ pointed out that, similar fact evidence is a form of character evidence admissible because it is relevant to guilt, it may b introduces as part of the prosecution case, and need not await the presentation of the defence or be limited to cross-examination of the accused.

Career as an Electronic Publishing Specialist Essay -- electronic books

Since the early 2000’s, there has been a strong drive toward electronic publishing, with digital versions of books, periodicals, bibliographic databases and other information in digital formats, out selling and outperforming their analog counterparts, based on research performed by Milena Milanova of Sofia University. The expiring business model publishers use, which is based on manufacturing processes, sales channel, and business practices, is rapidly changing due to the introduction of the digital revolution. This revolution has created new media technologies that make it easier to access previously printed material,now assessed electronically. The driving force behind this revolution, is the increase in use by consumers of medium used to access this information, such as e-readers, tablets, computers, cell phones, and cloud computing. With the increase use of electronic publications, there is an increased need for electronic publication specialists to create these publicat ions, this is a new and evolving career comes with new job responsibilities, qualifications and earning potential. Electronic publishing specialists work with a diverse group of professionals including printing specialists, analysts, graphic designers, web developers, multimedia specialists, computing support specialists, and photographers. However the electronic publishing specialists are ultimately responsible for working with this group to manage the conversion of content, perform quality assurance checks, code new copy, and manipulate the code required to create digital publications. Additionally, they are responsible for scheduling and tracking digital publications, following and maintaining workflow and process documentation, and archiving projects.... ...related to electronic publishing, this is just the one of the first created, however as the need grows so will the positions and departments.  Works Cited Cental Intelligence Agency. â€Å"Electronic Publishing Specialist† CIA.gov. CIA.gov 27 April. 2007. Web. 27 February 2014. MyMajors.com. â€Å"Electronic Publishing Specialist† Mymajors.com. Mymajors.com 5 May. 2011. Web. 8 March 2014. Bureau of Labor Statistics. â€Å"Desktop Publishers† Bls.gov. Bls.gov/ooh. 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 March 2014. Milena Milanova. â€Å"E-Publishing and its History and its Latest Developments† Lis.uw.edu. Lis.uw.edu.pl. 28 Jul. 2012. Web. 16 February 2014. Tallahassee Community College. â€Å"Desktop Publishers† Tcc.fl.edu. Tcc.fl.edu. 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 7 March 2014. CACI International. â€Å"Electronic Publishing Specialist - Developmental Job† C. Caci.jobs. Caci.jobs 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 14 March 2014.

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin

Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and diabolical people in the history of the world. Hitler once said of Stalin, † He is a beast, but he’s a beast on a grand scale who must command our unconditional respect. In his own way, he is a hell of a fellow! † (Stalin Breaker of Nations, p. xvi) What Hitler said of Stalin is only his opinion, and it is not a valid one at that. For you must consider the source, it takes a beast like Adolf Hitler to know a beast and Stalin was a horrible beast. He was also a murderer. Stalin abused his people when he starved them to death, and systematically murdered them. Stalin also abused his country by halting Russia’s progress and economic growth. Stalin was a breaker of nations. Stalin first enter the Russian political system in the early nineteen teens. With the help form Lenin, Stalin proposed an answer to the National Question, which was self determination. Stalin’s ruthlessness is first discovered by Lenin, when Stalin is sent to Georgia to convince the Georgia leader not to practice self determination. When the leader does not agree with what Stalin has to say, Stalin punches the man out and threaten to kill them all. Years after that incident Lenin end up dying and Stalin takes over as the leader of Russia. Because Trotsky was hated by many of the influential political figures in Russia, Stalin becomes the leader of Russia even after Lenin’s dying last wishes. 1929 was the first of many years in which Stalin stunted Russia’s growth. In that year the â€Å"Engineer Trials† were held. During these trials the Russian elite was brought forth by Stalin on the account of treason. Confessions by the elite which consisted of engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and clergy were extracted by many means including torture. After these trials were through thousands of the Russian elite were murdered, with their blood on Stalin’s hands. These trails had a horrific effect on the progress of Russia, there was now nobody left to lead Russian into the future, and the few elite’s that still remained in Russia lived in constant fear of their lives. Around 1932, Stalin had put his plan into action that was later called the Terror Famine. In the Terror Famine, Stalin started to order grain requisitions from the lower class in the Ukraine. Stalin used his army to retrieve the grain from the people, following the orders by Stalin, the army takes too much grain and causes a famine among the lower class. Stalin justified the taking of the grain by saying that it was just a way for the state to regulate the price of grain. By doing this Stalin ended up breaking the back of the Georgians and the Ukrainians. Knowingly, Stalin eliminated millions upon millions of Russian, between 30 and 50 million, in his attempt at an absolute totalitarian rule in Russia. By killing so many of the Russian’s who were the ones which the economy was supported on, Stalin has broken the nation of the Ukraine. From around 1936 through 1938 Stalin extracted his Great Terror. The Great Terror consisted of many events including the Purge Trials and the Katyn Massacre. During the purge trials, Stalin once again haltered Russian progress. The Purge Trials eliminated many military officers and engineers. The numbers are not exact, but between 250,000 to 500,000 Russians died because of Stalin’s orders. These trials caused mass paranoia of the elite’s, afraid to make a difference, for if they did then they would ultimately end up dead. Stalin not only haltered the growth of his own country, but he haltered the growth of neighboring counties, on being Poland. In Poland during the Great Terror, Stalin ordered the Katyn Massacre to occur. The top 15,000 officers in the Polish army were rounded up and killed in the forests of Belarus. This was a deep wound, the stunted the Polish progress, since now there were would be no more experienced leaders in Poland’s future, since Stalin killed most of their military elite. Once again Stalin had broken another nation. During all this time, Stalin was also methodically killing off all of his political opponents, or anyone who posed as to be the most remote of a threat to him. Unlike what Hitler thought of Stalin, the opposite is true. Stalin showed mercy to no one, he evil incarnate, killing innocent Russians and severely damaging any possible of future progress for Russia. Stalin had broken the Russian nation.

Absent Character in Susan Glaspell

Susan Clasped Is at her best when she uses the medium of the theatre In order to discuss the politics of gender, the position of women bound by the social and gender conventions in a male dominant society, freedom of speech, woman's identity and the life in woman's rights. The device of one absent character serves more than well to this purpose in one of Scalpel's plays, Trifles. The absent heroine controls the action and raises several important issues along the way.It forces us, the readers, to be engaged more actively and to consider all the clues that the absent heroine had left for us. In this case, the absence of the mall protagonist helps Clasped deal with the personal space of her female characters. This Is where Scalpel's skills as a dramatist come to surface. In her other play, The Inheritors, Clasped uses the same device to raw attention to other issues of equal importance. She focuses on what it means to be an American, how people differently perceive historical events an d for what reasons.In both of these plays, her device of the absent character fully engages the reader and at the same time successfully communicates Scalpel's ideas. Susan Scalpel's Trifles tackles gender roles and the separate spheres in which men and women operate, and exposes oppression and maltreatment of women in the early 20th century America. It also explores sympathy and sisterhood in the light of a complex moral dilemma on approaching the truth. The action of the play revolves around solving the murder.What is interesting about the play, however, is that the key characters, Mr.. And Mrs.. Wright never appear on the stage, which is â€Å"a trademark of Scalpel's plays. † Although Mrs.. Wright is not physically present in the play, her existence is felt and touched upon and will prove to have an important role for the development of the action in the play. Traces of the unfinished work of Mrs.. Wright and all the other details present at the crime scene will help two other women of the play to get an insight into Mrs..Wright's state of mind, which will turn out to be of racial importance for discovering the motive and thus solving the murder. It is by her absence in the play that the women notice all the â€Å"trifles† and that the men â€Å"at the end of the play (†¦ ) know no more than at the beginning. † How is it that we come to know so much about Mrs.. Wright although she is virtually not present in the play? First of all, her personal items help us reflect on her life as well as on the circumstances that led her to kill her husband.Interpreting all the clues that Minnie Foster left around the house, the women come to the conclusion that her marriage prided her of happiness, liveliness and Joy, and transformed her into a completely different woman. We also come to a conclusion that Minnie was not alone, that there were many women who were dealing with the same problems, alone. Moreover, the two women in the play realize t hat they, too, share Mince's destiny. Consequently, the women are faced with a moral dilemma in having to make a decision whether to reveal what they had found out and send Mrs..Wright to prison for the crime she did commit. This is where the idea of the sisterhood comes to life. Among other indications, it is Mince's bird and the cage that help us realize that she was leading a life in captivity. The importance of the bird involves several issues. First of all, it is a clue to solving the murder, because the strangled bird provided a motive for it. Mrs.. Hale concludes that it was Mr.. Wright who strangled the bird because he was irritated by its song.The bird and Minnie stand for beauty and life and the cage stands for Mince's married life, and we do not need Minnie on stage in order to realize that. Her very absence helps the two women to take notice of the bird, perceive its importance to Mrs.. Wright and identify themselves with her. Besides the bird and the cage, Mrs.. Peters and Mrs.. Hale find few other things such as an unfinished quilt which represented her nervous state of mind, and find out that Minnie was a victim of domestic isolation. In this way, the author creates a bond between her female characters.The absence of Minnie serves several other purposes. It portrays the way in which men from the play approach the investigation and the very way they perceive women. Starting from her husband, neither of the men seems to understand Minnie. The three men performing the role of the investigators fail to see the complexity of the situation and the importance of insight into Mince's psychological condition which proves to be important for solving the details of her house since the men don't share her context. The absence of the character of Minnie therefore, demonstrates the injustice and the suffering in separate spheres, and the unjust treatment of women. Moreover, Clasped uses this device in order to show the ability of Mrs.. Peters and Mrs.. Hale t o find out the true story of Minnie Wright's life by obviously displaying Mince's everyday object and ere personal space, in this case, the kitchen. Ben-Xvi touches upon one other important issue which is highlighted by Mince's absent character.Although absent from the stage, the character of Minnie Wright functions not Just as a link that holds the action of the entire play together, but also as a link to the lives of the other two female characters. Linda Ben-Xvi points out: â€Å"Clasped depicts inarticulate power of women to understand the shared experiences of other women unstructured by language, but nevertheless communicated through mutually shared pain. † One of the central themes of the play, the â€Å"shared experience†, enables women to develop and nourish mutual trust and understanding and defines how they struggle together against conventions.It is the voice of Minnie that is echoed through the house and the play that enables women to realize this importan t notion. By introducing the dramatic technique of keeping the protagonist off the stage, Clasped invites the audience on a quest to truth through dialogue and actions of the characters that remain on stage. Moreover, she starts her play after a death, wishing for her audience to experience a new kind of a Journey. Her playInheritors, on the other hand, is one of Scalpel's most original responses to the American identity crisis and the concern by the isolationist and xenophobic policy of President Wilson â€Å"whose anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist laws, the Espionage and Sedition Acts, were devised to protect war-time morale by curbing any political dissent†. In this three-act play set in the American Midwest, Clasped uses the device of the absent character but this time applied to the Native American population in order to express these ideas.Similar to Trifles, absent Native Americans function on overall levels and serve several important purposes. With the two-layered te mporal structure of the play, Clasped explores the construction of an American ethos. By keeping the Native Americans off the stage, Clasped tackles misconceptions that do not only concern women: Native Americans were also victims of injustice and degradation. This attitude is best expressed in Smith's prejudiced misconceptions: â€Å"l guess you believe the saying that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. Smith expresses the attitude of many other white Americans who were ignorant regarding heir own past and who in their oversimplified vision of the war saw the Indians as bad and the white settlers and soldiers as good. Smith is also ignorant because he believes that the American government paid a good compensation to the Indians for their land: GRANDMOTHER: But poor old Blackjack-?what he didn't know was how many white man there was. After the war-?when he was beaten but not conquered in his heart-?they took him east-?Washington, Philadelphia, New York-?and when he saw the whit e man's cities-?it was a different Indian came back.He Just let his heart break without turning a hand. SMITH: But we paid them for their lands. (she looks at him) Paid them something. GRANDMOTHER: Something. For fifteen million acres of and thirty-four dollars and fifty cents, we promised to deliver annually goods to the value of one thousand dollars. Not a fancy price-?even for them days. The portrayal of Black Hawk by Grandma Morton does not concur with the picture Smith had in his mind about the Indians. He does not know that Black Hawk was a prisoner of war displayed throughout the USA in order to entertain the population.In this aspect Clasped is rather daring because, under the government legislation, she loud have been accused of anti-nationalism allegedly displayed in her play. Native Americans never appear on stage, they are alive through the words of the white settlers who knew them, in this case, Grandmother Morton and later her son Sills. Nellie Hernandez-Real believes that the fact that no Native American characters appear on stage corresponds to â€Å"Scalpel's remark that they have been removed from the American landscape. Inline Jove further suggests that the Whites conquered the West and erased the Indians from the American scene and that by adopting the treated of the absent character, the playwright literalism the metaphor: Through Grandmother Moron's affectionate evocation of the Indian Chief and the references to the injustices Indians endured, Clasped presents her spectators another version of their national past and also infers that, in spite of their actual removal and erasure from the American landscape, Native Americans as well as women can regain some visibility through oral tradition.Grandmother's version stems from life, real experience, and not from books or official governmental documents written to arouse the loyalty of the country's inhabitants. †¦ ) By reviving the past, Clasped aims to keep social memory alive in order to preserve the ties that cement the community, the Nation. By restoring the primacy of autobiographical memories over history, Clasped also shows that the past should not be reduced to a series of sterile stereotypes.The complex nature of the past is to be passed on from one generation to the next, cherished as the gift of knowledge which, contrary to the ignorance that breeds intolerance, favors cohabitation, that is living together as a Nation. Through the role of the absent character of Native Americans, Clasped subtly questions the guiding principles underlying the foundation of the United States of America: that all men are created equal, and that they have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.Clasped infers that the respect of these principles is essential if people want to live together as a Nation and that the cultural differences of each member of the community should be taken into account. Moreover, Clasped subtly draws a comparative line between the whi tes and the Indians in a time when Darning's theories were used to Justify the inferiority of the Indians. She does this wrought Grandmother Morton who observes that she noticed â€Å"something of the same nature in white folk†, regarding the attitude towards land, which allows Clasped to infer that the Native Americans and the Whites are similar in nature.Although Native Americans are not present on stage, the white people who knew them help us understand their situation better and also enable Clasped to draw some of the talk with her husband about how the Indians and the white men could live together and that sharing the same land is indeed possible. We can conclude that Scalpel's theatrical device of the absent character functions n several levels in Trifles. First of all, the absence of Minnie helps Mrs.. Peters and Mrs.. Hales feel empathy towards her to such an extent that they are willing to hide the evidence from their husbands.On the other hand, they recognize in Min nie their own position in the social system of the time. The absent Minnie found a way out of her oppression by killing her husband and shortly regained her independence. At the same time, she brought to light the dilemmas of women who live in a situation similar to hers. Furthermore, according to Linda Ben-Xvi, Trifles becomes an important vehicle that brings real-life events closer to drama. In her opinion, Clasped even contributed to the shaping of public opinion about a woman being tried.Inheritors, on the other hand, functions similarly but has a different agenda: Theatre is the art that can give flesh to the past. As a collective experience, theatre seems to be one of the most adequate forms of art to rekindle collective memory since it makes the past alive in the present of the audience who are invited to transcend the world of fiction and consider to what extent the issues raised on stage can be related to their social reality. Like the philosopher, the playwright calls upon ere readers and spectators to draw lessons from the past and act in accordance in the present in the name of Justice.

Essay about Sigler Week 3 Assignment

Essay about Sigler Week 3 Assignment Essay about Sigler Week 3 Assignment ASSIGNMENT 3 KENNETH JOSEPH SIGLER ACC 380 ACCOUNTING FOR NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ERINA MASTER MAY 17, 2015 problem 7-13 The City of Sweetwater maintains an Employees Retirement Fund, a single-employer defined benefit plan that provides annuity and disability benefits. The fund is financed by actuarially determined contributions from the citys General Fund and by contributions from employees. Administration of the retirement fund is handled by General Fund employees, and the retirement fund does not bear any administrative expenses. The Statement of Fiduciary Net Position for the Employees Retirement Fund as of July 1, 2014, is shown here: CITY OF SWEETWATER Employees Retirement Fund Statement of Fiduciary Net Position As of July 1, 2014 Assets Cash $120,000.00 Accrued Interest Receivable $65,000.00 Investments, at Fair Value Bonds $4,500,000.00 Common Stocks $1,300,000.00 Total Assets $5,985,000.00 Liabilities Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses $350,000 Fiduciary Net Position Restricted for Pensions $5,635,000.00 During the year ended June 30, 2015, the following transactions occurred: 1. The interest receivable on investments was collected in cash. 2. Member contributions in the amount of $250,000 were received in cash. The city’s General Fund also contributed $750,000 in cash. 3. Annuity benefits of $700,000 and disability benefits of $150,000 were recorded as liabilities. 4. Accounts payable and accrued expenses in the amount of $990,000 were paid in cash. 5. Interest income of $240,000 and dividends in the amount of $40,000 were received in cash. In addition, bond interest income of $60,000 was accrued at year-end. 6. Funds of $133,000 were made in cash to terminated, nonvested participants. 7. Common stocks, carried at fair value of $500,000, were sold for $480,000. That $480,000, plus an additional $300,000, was invested in stocks. 8. At year-end, it was determined that the fair value of stocks held by the pension plan had decreased by $40,000; the fair value of bonds had increased by $35,000. 9. Nominal accounts for the year were closed. a. Record the transactions on the books of the Employees Retirement Fund. Debit Credit Cash $65,000.00 Accrued Interest Receivable $65,000.00 Retirement Fund $100,000.00 Employee Contributions $250,000.00 General Fund Contribution $750,000.00 Employee Benefit Liability $850,000.00 Disability Insurance $150,000.00 Retirement $700,000.00 Accounts Payable $990,000.00 Accrued Expense $990,000.00 Accrued Expense $990,000.00 Cash $990,000.00 Cash $280,000.00 Interest Income $240,000.00 Dividend Receivable $40,000.00 Accrued Interest $60,000.00 Bond Interest $60,000.00 Terminated Persons Payable $133,000.00 Cash $133,000.00 Common Stocks (Fair Value) $500,000.00 Common Stocks (Sold) $480,000.00 Common Stock (loss) $20,000.00 Common Stock (Bought) $780,000.00 Cash $300,000.00 Transfer from Common Stock Sold $480,000.00 Pension Plan Stocks (Fair Value at Purchase) $780,000.00 Pension Plan Bonds (Fair Value at last account) $4,500,000.00 Pension Plan Bond (new Fair Value) $4,535,000.00 Pension Plan Stock (New Fair Value) $740,000.00 Loss In Fair Value of common Stock $40,000.00 Gain In Fair Value on Bonds $35,000.00

victomolgy essays

victomolgy essays For as long as I can remember I have always been fascinated with the procedures of law. I would watch Judge Wapner everyday after school. When I graduated high school I was not sure what I wanted to do. It was not until I read about the school shootings out west, and I was shocked and horrified to learn the ages of the kids who brought the guns to school. It seemed to me that there were an increasing number of young kids committing violent crimes. I was so curious and wanted to know what was causing this problem. That is when I decided to go into the field of Criminal Justice. I have written many papers and gave several speeches regarding juveniles and violent crimes. I feel as if we are missing the big picture, our laws that are supposed to protect our children are actually hurting them more. I have criticized several politicians such as Bill Mc Collum on the way they speak about these kids and I think our entire juvenile justice system needs a makeover. One that benefits the children, not lawmakers. This assignment has given me the opportunity to speak to a former juvenile prosecutor, in which I was able to see things from the other side. I asked 5 questions that I thought would best explain the other side of my views on juveniles and crimes. 1. What is your opinion regarding juveniles who commit crimes? She said the kids that she saw really deserved their punishment. That if anything the judges were too lenient. That she saw about 80% of these young offenders again and again. That they never learned their lesson the first or second time. I was surprised to hear the judges were too lenient. I have always heard the opposite. 2. Do you believe in the death penalty for juveniles? She does believe in the death penalty for children 16 and 17. I am totally against that. I feel like a person that age still has a chance to become a productive citizen. So we really disagreed on this question. But I respect h...

Adam Walshs Killer Named After 27 Years

Adam Walsh's Killer Named After 27 Years The killer of a 6-year-old boy, whose death launched nationwide advocacy efforts for missing children and many other crime victims, was finally named 27 years later. Police say Adam Walsh was killed by Ottis Elwood Toole, who once confessed to the crime, but then later recanted. Toole, who confessed to dozens of murders, died in prison in 1996. Adam is the son of John Walsh, who turned the personal tragedy in his life to a tireless effort to help missing children and victims of crime. He co-founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and started the still popular television show Americas Most Wanted in 1988. Murder of Adam Walsh Adam Walsh was abducted from a mall in Hollywood on July 27, 1981. His severed head was found two weeks later in Vero Beach, 120 miles north of the mall. His body was never found. According to Adams mother, Reve Walsh, on the day that Adam disappeared, they were together at a Sears department store in Hollywood, Florida. She said that while he played the Atari video game with several other boys at a kiosk, she went to look at lamps a few aisles over.   After a short time, she returned to where she had left Adam, but he and the other boys were gone. A manager told Reve that the boys had argued over whose turn it was to play the game. A security guard broke up the fight and asked them if their parents were at the store. When he was told no, he told all the boys, including Adam, to leave the store. Fourteen days later, fishermen found Adams head in a canal in Vero Beach, Florida. The childs body was never found. According to the autopsy, the cause of death was asphyxiation. The Investigation A the beginning of the investigation, Adams father John Walsh was a prime suspect. However, Walsh was soon cleared. Years later investigators pointed the finger at Ottis Toole who was at the Sears store on the same day that Adam was abducted. Toole had been told to leave the store. He was later seen outside of the front entrance of the store. Police believe that Toole convinced Adam to get into his car with the promise of toys and candy. He then drove away from the store and when Adam began to get upset he punched him in the face. Toole drove to a deserted road where he raped Adam for two hours, strangled him to death with the seatbelt of the car, then cut off Adams head using a machete. Death-Bed Confession Toole was a convicted serial killer, but he also confessed to many murders that he had nothing to do with, according to investigators. In October 1983, Toole confessed to the murder of Adam, telling police he grabbed the boy at the mall and drove about an hour north before decapitating him.   Toole later recanted his confession, but a niece of his told John Walsh that on Sept. 15, 1996, from his death bed Toole admitted to the kidnapping and murder of Adam. For years we have asked the question, who could take a 6-year-old boy and decapitate him. We had to know. Not knowing has been a torture, but that journey is over, a tearful John Walsh said at a news conference today. For us it ends here. Walsh has long believed that Ottis Toole was the killer of his son, but evidence gathered by police at the time- carpet from Tooles car and the car itself- was lost by the time DNA technology was developed that could have linked the carpet stains to Adam Walsh. Over the years, there have been several suspects in the Adam Walsh case. At one time, there was speculation that serial killer  Jeffrey Dahmer may have been involved  in Adams disappearance. But the other suspects were eliminated by investigators over the years. Missing Childrens Act When John and Reve Walsh turned to the FBI for help, they discovered the agency would not become involved in such cases unless proof could be provided that an actual kidnapping had taken place. As a result, Walsh and others lobbied Congress to pass the Missing Childrens Act of 1982 which allowed police to become involved in missing children cases more quickly and created a national database of information about missing children.

Vertical Integration Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vertical Integration Strategy - Essay Example In adapting its strategies to market conditions, Smithfield has taken a cost leadership strategy, combined it with a differentiation strategy (lean pork) where it has a proprietary advantage, and made an efficient value chain as the case study demonstrates (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2008, p. C-429). As a leader in the concept of bringing efficiency to vertical integration, the company has combined farming, feeding, processing, and distribution into an award-winning, highly profitable operation. The next logical step for the company is to expand its operations to bring more capacity and higher profitability. The problem is that community in which it seeks to build does not want any more pig farms for a host of reasons; not the least of which is the natural but noxious result of raising livestock. In terms of the ethical and socially responsible business practices, the company has some specific issues. One of these is that in some ways, management seems to be out of touch with th e real issues. One of the environmental efforts touted by the organization is its contribution to wetlands recovery, as well as recycling cardboard. These are worthy things to do, certainly, but the company position on these issues is not relevant to the more pressing issues it is facing. As one author notes, to â€Å"address ethics problems, managers first have to recognize that conflicts of interest exist† (Vickers, 2005, p. 26). With all due respect to the organization, touting its recycling efforts and energy conservation efforts is insufficient. Under a strict utilitarian analysis, the company has no real moral duty and fairs relatively well with the argument that its actions benefit more people (international food supplier, working to reduce fat in the American diet) than those few North Carolina residents who are hurt by the negative side effects of foul odor or some pollution in the water. If a deontological

Recommendation memo for business trend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Recommendation memo for business trend - Essay Example Starbucks' clients have less money in their pockets than they used to. They may have lost their jobs or cut back on consuming luxury coffee like Starbucks. Furthermore, as the housing bust has unwound, whole neighbourhoods have changed. They will want to reconsider the placement of cafes. These are just several of a number of recommendations included below to help Starbucks weather this storm and once again get back on top of the coffee world. Starbucks is a very strong brand with a loyal following. They are well positioned to storm back to the top of the charts. Over the years, Starbucks has proved itself to be a very successful company. It is has expanded substantially and is a recognized brand. But the financial crisis and economic downturn had a severe impact on its revenue (see figure 1, appendix). Now is the time to consider a number of steps which can help Starbucks restore itself to its former glory. It is not a matter of simply returning Starbucks to the position it held bef ore the crisis. Many things have changed in the marketplace since then. Success may well mean something different now. Starbucks must look around at a changing marketplace and seize new opportunities. In some cases it may have to shift its focus in order to maximize returns. What follows are five recommendations to ensure the Starbucks does not become a relic. The recommendations aim to help Starbucks focus on its customers and its future. Lower cost and rebrand The era of conspicuous consumption is over. The economic crisis made sure of that. It resulted in serious damage to national economies worldwide and the cuts that will have to result to bring down the deficit have not yet been made. Things are going to get worse before they get better. This is a problem because the price of Starbucks coffee is too high. Competition with MacDonalds may be negatively impacting Starbucks sales (Ordonez). The truth is that the climate has changed and cost is a big factor for many people these da ys. We need to see a small reduction in the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. That alone will be worth media attention and will be a kind of signal to consumers that Starbucks takes this issue very seriously. A lot of the coffee is overpriced and this overpricing is not sustainable with new competition in the market. Reducing the price even ten or fifteen per cent will show consumers that Starbucks is willing to change and adapt to new economic realities. This can be part of a rebranding that will make Starbucks more appealing to a larger audience. The communications element of branding is key to attracting more customers (Capon, 296). Currently, Starbucks is seen as a hipster place where the elites go to sip an expensive latte. There is no reason to lose this cache, but it makes sense in this economic climate to try to create a larger tent in which many different types of people can come and enjoy themselves. Starbucks needs to think long and hard about who it wants to attract in 2012 and beyond. The larger the customer base the more stable the company. It is important to remember that rebranding can be a risky proposition (Muzellec, et al, 802). Approach it with caution. Expansion into new markets Starbucks is seen primarily as an American company, with most of its cafes in North America and Western Europe. These generate a lot of

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) AS A DESIGN TOOL Essay

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) AS A DESIGN TOOL - Essay Example of the â€Å"command and control† approach which is based on a state-centred perception and environmental protection is thus of a top-down management scheme (Watson, 2003). For example, government regulatory bodies establish a set of environmental standards which polluting industries must conform to; failure to comply with the said standards result to prosecution. While it is indeed necessary, such regulations are drawn back by several limitation, typical of which are the oftentimes insufficient resources – both human and financial – of the implementing bodies resulting to the reported inefficiency of the said practice. As well as that, state-centred visions do not foresee the complexity of issues on the ground and the top-down management scheme usually fails to address the environmental concerns of the public. Environmental impact assessment was seen to be the answer to the limitations of the â€Å"command and control† approach of traditional regulations. According to the Environmental Impact Assessment: a Guide to Procedures provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government (2006), EIA â€Å"describes a procedure that must be followed for certain types of project before they can be given development consent. The procedure is a means of drawing together, in a systematic way, an assessment of a projects likely significant environmental effects†. Given this definition, EIAs are envisaged to give weight to environmental considerations during the decision-making process along with economic and social factors. The objectives of EIA are divided into short term and long term categories (Abaza et al, 2007). In the short term, the goal of EIA is to identify potentially significant environmental impacts of development projects in order to provide sufficient information to facilitate decision-making process. In the long term, the ultimate goal of EIA is to ensure that ecological functions are maintained for the benefit of present and future local

DS proposal Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

DS proposal - Dissertation Example However, some situations have led to lack of the information getting to the target due to lack on internet connection in different places on the earth which are difficult to contain. The proposal targets to be an alternative to the flawy systems of data transmission that have caused delays, loss and less efficiency of the data getting to the target at the right time. In some cases, people have failed to access the digital data that is sent through a VOIP system and therefore, the data they sent remain irrelevant because it does not get the immediate attention from the target receiver. This creates a necessity to come up with system that will ease the transmission of data across the system and ensure that the target receive can get it quickly and be in a position to respond to it to rescue the life of patients. The purpose of the proposal is to develop a system that will help people to transmit data from one point to another and ensure that it will be accessed by the target population at the earliest opportunity by developing a signal system that will help people to receive the information immediately it is sent. To accomplish the requirement of this, the proposal will develop a model that will demonstrate the workability of a signal that will inform the receiver of the data they expect to get immediately they receive. The model will include an system of electronic device that will transmit an electromagnetic waves to the devices they use or mobile devices connected to configured to receive the signal. Project Outline: Assessment of the technology of used in communication I will carry out out a careful analysis of the existing systems in the medical care communication and point out the various areas that have weaknesses which cause them to be inefficient in communication. Seeking the approval to carry out the project from relevant authorities At this level I will visit the ministry of health and elaborate the different challenges they get to communicate and pres ent the project proposal about how the inefficiencies can be reduced and therefore, I will seek their approval to develop a system of communicating effectively. Seeking for funds To accomplish the goals for the project, financial resources will be required to procure the different materials that are required in the implementation and to cater for transport and to pay for some labour at different stages of the implementation. I will look for a sponsor to fund the things that I will require to be able to easily achieve the project. Assembling At this stage, I will assemble different pieces of the system to come up with software, install it in the model devices and configure the devices to ensure transmission of the information is attained. Presentation and demonstration After assembling, I will seek a chance to demonstrate the workability of the system to my supervisor and have his feedback about the system and I will note his recommendations. Improvement of the system After presentat ion to the different groups, I will note their recommendation on the ways to increase effectiveness of the system and

International trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International trade - Essay Example It will then look and how tariffs, quotas and subsidies affect real income in small countries. Lastly, it will look at arguments against free trade and their validity from a national perspective. The Ricardian Model of International Trade The Ricardian model of international trade is one of the earliest models of international trade. This model of trade emphasizes comparative advantage that comes about due to technological differences which act as a critical factor behind trading activities. Unlike the other theories of international trade that argue that trade only benefits certain countries and is unfavorable to others, this model contradicts this notion arguing that trade is beneficial for all countries that take part in the international trade (Feenstra, 2003). Its built on six basic assumptions: (1) Two countries are involved in the trade; (2) there are only two goods produced; (3) labor is the sole factor of production (Goodwin, Nelson, Harris, Roach, & Devine, 2009); (4) there is perfect competition across all markets such that goods are priced at cost in the nations producing them; (5) an assumption that labor is homogeneous within domestic boundaries, however, its productivity is different across the nations; and (6) the goods produced are viewed as homogeneous across the countries (Stern, 2011). According to this model of trade, gains from the trade become possible because of the comparative advantage. The basic idea is that if a country has to benefit from the trade, it is the country’s opportunity cost that matters and not its actual costs. The opportunity cost of a given product (a) is how much of some other product, (b); one country has to give up in order to produce one unit of the other product (a) (Carbaugh, 2010). Based on this explanation therefore, each country will stand to benefit only if it produces a particular good for which it has the lowest opportunity cost. A country’s opportunity cost is what will create gain in the fr ee trade. The gains from the trade are made possible due to comparative advantage that one country has over the other. Comparative advantage comes in if the opportunity cost of producing that good in terms of others goods is less compared to the other country. Thus if the opportunity cost of country A is lower than the opportunity cost of country B, then country A has a comparative advantage over country B. Therefore both countries benefit from the free trade if each country exports the goods with which it has a comparative advantage over the other. The Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) Model of Trade Heckscher and Ohlin in there theory explain that the basis for international trade is due to factor endowments. This theory is an advancement of the Ricardian model of international trade that advocated for the comparative advantage as the basis for international trade. The Ricardian model failed to explain how the comparative cost advantage exists (Goodwin, Nelson, Harris, Roach, & Devine, 2009). This theory on the other hand proposes that this difference in comparative costs is due to: (1) differences in endowment of the factors of production; (2) the fact that production is dependent on the factors of production which are used with different degrees of intensity in the two countries. Therefore, this theory advances that the differences in factor intensities in the production functions of goods and the actual differences in relative factor endowments of the countries which explain international differences in the

Gender diferences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gender diferences - Essay Example Kimmel explains that gender inequality and differences are the core of Muslim society determining its main norms and traditions, relations between women and men, husbands and wives. The case Punishment Worse than the Crime shows that gender relations are a part of cultural traditions. â€Å"One of the key determinants of women's status has been the division of labor around child care. Women's role in reproduction has historically limited their social and economic participation† (Kimmel 53). The case shows that gender differences are socially determined. Those values, customs and behavioral norms that account for the sexual differentiation in adult personal identity and behavior are transmitted from generation to generation. In Muslim countries, gender identity is being constructed at every developmental stage of the life cycle, from infancy right through to late adulthood, as the developmental antecedents and behavioral consequences interact with the personality. For Pakistan women punishment is worse than the crime because women obtain a low social role in society and cannot accuse men in wrong behavior. In many Muslim countries, a woman is â€Å"a thing† owned by a man (a father or a husband) who has no rights and freedoms (Connell 43). The case shows that culture and social practices passes on to children, who once they have put on the lenses. This process holds true as a general but not an absolute pattern. Not everyone is so preprogrammed. There are in every society and culture mismatches whose bodies are of one sex and their psyches of the other. They develop their own gender identity by looking at rather than through the lenses. Far from being unnatural, such phenomena are part of the diversity of nature interacting with culture, very much, she says, like the diversity of food preferences: the natural desire for food does not in itself determine what is acceptable food in one culture as against the next, or what one person will prefer as against another within the same culture. "Rape may be a strategy to ensure continued male domination or a vehicle by which men can hope to conceal maternal dependence, according to ethnographers, but it is surely not an alternative dating strategy" (Kimmel 55). The picture pre sented here is of a community in which traditional cultural norms and ideal practices form the basis on which patriarchy is reproduced. Two factors, education and unemployment, are countervailing factors, both of them having had and continuing to have a profound effect on the most central institution in East life, marriage, and the relations between men and women. Education and other Western influences, bringing about significant changes in the way East fulfill their roles as fathers. The most important part of the story would be a rape itself and its perception by men. It is possible to assume that men do not feel guilty or do not perceive the act of rape as a crime. Cross cultural perspective can be applied to all situations described in this case. The psychological theory suggests that labor division influences perception of women and their social roles. In this division, a woman's role is ideally that of housewife and a man's that of provider working outside the confines

International trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International trade - Essay Example It will then look and how tariffs, quotas and subsidies affect real income in small countries. Lastly, it will look at arguments against free trade and their validity from a national perspective. The Ricardian Model of International Trade The Ricardian model of international trade is one of the earliest models of international trade. This model of trade emphasizes comparative advantage that comes about due to technological differences which act as a critical factor behind trading activities. Unlike the other theories of international trade that argue that trade only benefits certain countries and is unfavorable to others, this model contradicts this notion arguing that trade is beneficial for all countries that take part in the international trade (Feenstra, 2003). Its built on six basic assumptions: (1) Two countries are involved in the trade; (2) there are only two goods produced; (3) labor is the sole factor of production (Goodwin, Nelson, Harris, Roach, & Devine, 2009); (4) there is perfect competition across all markets such that goods are priced at cost in the nations producing them; (5) an assumption that labor is homogeneous within domestic boundaries, however, its productivity is different across the nations; and (6) the goods produced are viewed as homogeneous across the countries (Stern, 2011). According to this model of trade, gains from the trade become possible because of the comparative advantage. The basic idea is that if a country has to benefit from the trade, it is the country’s opportunity cost that matters and not its actual costs. The opportunity cost of a given product (a) is how much of some other product, (b); one country has to give up in order to produce one unit of the other product (a) (Carbaugh, 2010). Based on this explanation therefore, each country will stand to benefit only if it produces a particular good for which it has the lowest opportunity cost. A country’s opportunity cost is what will create gain in the fr ee trade. The gains from the trade are made possible due to comparative advantage that one country has over the other. Comparative advantage comes in if the opportunity cost of producing that good in terms of others goods is less compared to the other country. Thus if the opportunity cost of country A is lower than the opportunity cost of country B, then country A has a comparative advantage over country B. Therefore both countries benefit from the free trade if each country exports the goods with which it has a comparative advantage over the other. The Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) Model of Trade Heckscher and Ohlin in there theory explain that the basis for international trade is due to factor endowments. This theory is an advancement of the Ricardian model of international trade that advocated for the comparative advantage as the basis for international trade. The Ricardian model failed to explain how the comparative cost advantage exists (Goodwin, Nelson, Harris, Roach, & Devine, 2009). This theory on the other hand proposes that this difference in comparative costs is due to: (1) differences in endowment of the factors of production; (2) the fact that production is dependent on the factors of production which are used with different degrees of intensity in the two countries. Therefore, this theory advances that the differences in factor intensities in the production functions of goods and the actual differences in relative factor endowments of the countries which explain international differences in the

Cheating death stealing life the eddie guerrero story Essay - 1

Cheating death stealing life the eddie guerrero story - Essay Example This Match was in Eddie’s movie although he was not one of the wrestlers in such entertaining match. The documentary, the Eddie Guerrero Story, being touching and inspiring has several funny moments and jokes that his relatives share with us. Anyone who wants to know what a Mexican Wrestler was like and the different styles he brought to the world, must view such documentary. Eddie’s match with Love Machine against Octagon and El Hijo Santo showed how he wrestled as a rookie and how much he has changed. His 2 out of 3 falls match against Dean Malenko could have been the purest wrestling match. It was their last ECW match. Rookie wrestlers who want a few tips must view this great technical battle. A good match in WCW against Chris Jericho showed some intense submission holds and lots of mat wrestling. It was a good match because Eddie and Jericho were great wrestlers. The WCW cruiserweight Championship between Eddie and Rey Mysterio was a fantastic show where both men showed off their skills. Eddie almost ripped the mask off Rey Mysterio because it was a battle of his mask ag ainst Eddie’s belt. It was a great, unforgettable match. Battles against prominent wrestlers made him more famous and an idol wrestler to look upon. He has the capability of being the villain but at the same time martyr and people pleaser. He can easily get the audience sympathy and the mass tends to be in favor of him even though he cheated a lot and do cheap shots. A good ladder match for the Intercontinental championship between Eddie and RVD used two ladders and a chair for some very hard hitting moves, when Eddie power bombed RVD off the ladder, a chair hit his face when RVD gave him a kick. Both of them then fell off the ladder which made it a great and scary match. There was this one Triple threat Match that won by the Guerreros and this is where the motto

Home Schooling: Advantages and Disadvantages

Home Schooling: Advantages and Disadvantages Introduction Home schooling refers to the concept of giving the kids a formal education without sending them to schools and teaching them within the comfort of the home. It involves making a few adjustments and the teacher in home schooling, whether it is a parent or external help must be aware of all the advancements in the field of education to ensure that the children who are being home schooled get proper education to place them well in the society. Another consideration would be the adaptability of the children to the societal norms particularly when they are confined to the comfort of the home and peer interaction may be hindered. The various pros and cons are discussed in this report. Pros of home schooling While the concept of home schooling is relatively new as compared to the traditional context, there are many studies which prove that homes schooled children score higher in their SATs than their counterparts from public schools. In fact, the Ivy-league colleges have started opening up their doors to these home-schooled children as they realise their value. Home schooling provides children with a flexible schedule to learn and can be tailor-made to fit the learning pace of the child. Home schooling for children with special needs is beneficial as the child can learn in a comfortable and known environment and thus the focus shifts from the anxiety of social interaction to the process of learning in the younger stage of life when the child can absorb the most knowledge. However, home schooling is not just for kids with special needs. Other children can also benefit from it. Home schooling allows better control over the child’s time, thus freeing them up for cultivating other hobbies like music, dance, writing and sports. It allows the child to break free of the compulsion of assignments and allows for more experiential learning. The child can have access to the learning material through all areas of the home and thus experience freedom in gaining theoretical and practical knowledge. Many schools do not make children ready for the real world, they just follow a set textbook. However, with home schooling and with the technology bringing us vast amount of information on demand at the click of a button further facilitates this process. This freely available information and the vast array of online courses designed specially for the child allows to bring down the cost of education while simultaneously increasing the quality of education. Home schooling also affords for bringing in knowledge about religion, family history and the likes to the children which may not be offered as courses in many schools. Home schooling also caters to the parents’ wish to be able to supervise the child’s learning process more closely, understand the strengths and weaknesses of the child, and develop the child in their own specific way. Home schooling retains the natural curiosity of the child to the process of learning and gets rid of the compulsions laid down by schools.The child has freedom to choose what he likes and thus home schooling keeps the kids engaged. The control over the child’s schedule also allows the family to take travel trips together at most times of the year to complement the child’s learning about separate cultures and thus raises more tolerant and well-informed individuals. The main benefit about home schooling is the the one to one student teacher ratio ensures that the child has attention trained towards him all the time. This situation is not possible in public schools and the needs of the child often go ignored. Home schooling also protects the children from bullies, teenage peer pressure, unhealthy competition. It is also beneficial in the case of teenage girls who are prone to worry about fitting in with the rest of the people and following trends and fashion. This takes away their attention from the main element of learning. Home schooling also benefits the families which have to keep relocating very often due to work or otherwise. The kids may face problems with moving around very often and home schooling gives them a buffer against this. This brings in more stability to the learning process of the children. Home schooling also saves time for the children. With focused learning, the children can accomplish more in the same time while the school curriculum tends to go at a slower pace to accommodate all the children in the classroom. Also, not having to adhere to rigid timings of waking up and rushing to school is a positive. The children feel more at ease while not having to be burdened with unnecessary written work and can focus on developing their other interests. It is no surprise to know that children learn the most from the people they are surrounded with. A child may talk to his classmate in school and learn to be around people but they may pick up values which are not desirable to their parents, religion or culture. To prevent such a conflict the kids can be homeschooled. Social interaction for kids arranged through hobby classes will ensure their fast academic absorption and also satiate the need for social interaction. The kids who are homeschooled also generally interact with c hildren from a much wider age group, thus instilling maturity and new thought processes, whereas the schoolgoing kids usually interact with people from their same age group. This leads to a holistic development of children. Cons of home schooling: While home schooling has a many merits it also entails certain downsides. To start with, the home schooling model of learning means that the kids are home with their parents most of the times. This may cause the parent child relations to get strained as they are together most of the time. Also, parents may not find adequate time for teaching the child all that should be taught and the process of learning may develop gaps. The child then grows up with certain beliefs which may not be true or may be partially correct. Such a world view is damaging to the child’s psyche in the future. In many cases, when the parents are too rigid about the material they should use or the course they should follow, they may miss out on incorporating the recent trends in the field and hence limit the knowledge that the child gains from home schooling. Absence of a formal curriculum may also lead to unorganized learning. These formal curricula at schools are developed by professionals who are train ed in the field and understand the child needs and psychology on a wider scale. Ignorant parents will deprive their children of the benefit they may receive when trained with such material. Another matter of concern with home schooling may be that the child’s education may not receive the legal and societal acceptance it deserves. People tend to look at homeschooled children as lacking social skills and the kids may not get a recognition for their education while applying to college for further formal education. It may become difficult for the child to find acceptance in these cases, hurting their chances of succeeding. The homeschooled kids may also not benefit from healthy competition which inspires them to break their limits and achieve success to their maximum potential. Also, learning in schools gives them collective knowledge. The children learn from their peers and it shapes their ideas and personality. Home schooling entails being around the same set of people though the major part of their day and hence the skill of thinking from different perspectives may get minimised and opinions may become biased as the children tend to carry forward the beliefs of t heir parents and tutors. This can lead to a narrow mindset. Home schooling may also mean that children can miss out on sports events with their peers. Although they may still be a part of sporting activities, they miss out on a competitive sporting events where they get to forge strong bonds with their peers. These kids may also miss out on handling high pressure situations, surprise quizzes and other such events which leads to their emotional development. Not learning to properly interact in a group can result in behavioural and social issues. They might face problems following the laid down norms as they have been exposed to an environment wherein they are free to act as they want. They may have issues with sharing, may demand personal attention from people, and may become distant. Children may even dread participating in social events and would rather stay in the comfort of their home. Parental overinvestment in the child can cause them to fret over the child’s actions, decisions and behaviours and this type of helicopter parenting may lead to the the children not becoming fully independent. The parents have to be very cautious that their kids stay free to choose for themselves in this environment. Children going to schools share common experiences with their peers. School gives a chance for field trips, proms, shared projects which teach the child to trust others and understand their emotions. These common experiences become a way for children to form lifelong friendships. While it may be possible to share experiences with a sibling, knowing and interacting with people from the other cultures always benefits by broadening a child’s mindset. Experience from someone who was home schooled: Two cousins of mine were home schooled, not just through school but also through college. The involvement of parents was also very high along with a tutor employed to formally teach them the curriculum. When they grew up, they were imparted working knowledge by their father who is a businessman. This gave them practical knowledge in the field and also exposed them to interacting with business partners. The kids were also taken to participate in various treks and went camping with other kids their age. The home schooling provided them with undivided attention and excellent theoretical knowledge which was then supplemented with occupational skills in their free time. The legal issues of their education not being recognised were overcome with correspondence examinations and online courses. These certifications further gave them a chance for organized learning and got them the recognition for their knowledge. The absence of peer learning was never felt to be too huge as they interacted w ith the neighbourhood children. Today, they are both very well placed in the society and doing very well in their chosen areas. Home schooling also gave them freedom to pursue unconventional subjects and not be rigid about subjects they wanted to learn. This has broadened their horizons and the vast amount of knowledge they gained about diverse topics is colouring their decisions today, which turn out to be as sound as anyone who has had a formal education through the traditional channels. Conclusion: While home schooling has both pros and cons for children, it should be deliberated upon by parents whether they have the appropriate means and methods to give their children a comprehensive education at home or if the children need to go to school where they can be taught by a trained faculty. All the options available must be weighed in before jumping into any decision. Even if the children go to school, it is necessary for parents to take adequate interest in their learning and development to ensure that they are on the right path and are learning the right things in the right way. Refs: Lisa Rivero Mitchell Stevens http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/parenting/29861.html

Essay on The Holy Bible - Suffering and The Book of Job -- Holy Bible

Suffering and The Book of Job      Ã‚   Life is difficult. "Suffering...is not an exception to the human condition, it is the human condition" (Gomes 405). The question of why life can be unjustly cruel is asked today and has been asked since the beginning of time.    And where is God in the midst of hardship? Is He non-existent, as the pagan statement, "It's Chance alone that moves and rules our lives" implies (Neiman 442). Or is God only partially in control of situations, as Harold Kushner concludes, writing, "there are some things God does not control" (462). Is all suffering a direct result of our own actions, as David Neiman offers ("He who is suffering and believes in a God of justice, must also blame himself for his state of being"" (438). Moses Maimonides prefers to view the question by focusing not on the external life that surrounds us, but on the internal condition of the heart. He argues that good and evil have their own reward and punishments within the spiritual realm and outward appearances are inconsequential (Behrens and Rosen 434).    For those who believe in a God who is living and active and who believe in the sanctity of the scriptures, the question of God's justice in the Bible does seem a contradiction at times. As Neiman observed, The Book of Proverbs presents a formula for life, promising blessings to the man who lives a moral life (436). But is The Book of Proverbs a collection of promises or is it the wise man's observations of probabilities? One can see the unpleasant consequences of poor choices, as well as the good fortunes of those who have lived a "clean" life, but sometimes this moral law breaks down. As Neiman states, "experience has led men to realize that ... ...t out of self-interest'" (460). Love is not self-seeking. Love is illustrated by a mother who cares for her newborn baby and expects nothing in return. She continues to love and nurture, until the child is an adult, in anticipation of the beautiful person the child will be. God wants us to anticipate the day when we will be made perfect, and trust His ways, like a child trusting its mother. Works Cited Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J. Rosen, eds. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. NewYork: Longman, 2000. -Gomes, Peter. "The Bible and Suffering." 400-405. - Kushner, Harold S. "When Bad Things Happen to Good   People."   452-462. - MacLeisch, Archibald. "God Has Need of Man."  Ã‚   474-480.   - Neiman, David. "An Introduction to Job 435-444. The Bible. Revised Standard Version. 2nd ed. Dallas: Melton, 1971.

Internet - Cybersex and the Online Gender Gap :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Cybersex and the Online Gender Gap    Introduction of a New Concept Sex. This is one of the most commonly discussed topics face-to-face and online that stirs up controversy. The introduction of the Internet and its mass appeal and use has only kindled the flame of the ever-burning fire of the controversy of sex related material and the ever-present gender battle between men and women. Victor J. Vitanza’s Cyberreader contains a section entitled â€Å"Sexual Politics† that explores the issues of computers and sex, and the gender gap in the cyber world between men, women, and computers. After viewing these materials, I would like to discuss the behavior patterns of men and women when it comes to talking and learning about computers, the stereotypes with computers, and sex in the virtual/cyber world. Men and women are capable of learning the same subject matter, but apparently neither gender wants to admit or state the obvious. The genders separate themselves in the computer/cyber world like they do in the real world. The predetermined stereotypes and prejudices that began with the invention of the computer and Internet are still the standards we hold today; men dominate the computer/cyber world. Another log on the fire of the gender battle is sex and the Internet. The behaviors displayed by men and women both bring the two genders together and split them apart. Gender shouldn’t matter online because it can be hidden in the sense that screen names don’t always hold a gender related characteristic. The Gender Gap Computers and everything that relates to them has always been perceived as â€Å"a man’s job† or a male dominated field. This so called gender gap got its roots from this misconception, and the following essays give some insightful information to help clear up these misunderstandings in the computer/cyber/virtual world. According to Barbara Kantrowitz the gender gap begins at an early age when children begin learning about computers. â€Å"Girls get subtle messages--from society if not their parents--that they should keep their hands clean and play with their dolls. Too often, they’re discouraged from taking science and math†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kantrowitz, 177) Kantrowitz goes on to discuss how around the fifth grade these subtle little messages kick in with girls because computers are â€Å"not quite feminine topics†, so girls don’t dive into the computer world like boys do.

Paul C?©zanne and His Influence on Cubism

Cubism can be, and has been, defined as the world's first style of abstract art. From it's lack of landscapes and foreshortening to the multitude of geometric forms, Cubist art can be quiet hard to analyze. An abundance of geometric shapes and monochromatic colors can blur the object â€Å"in focus†, and it's lack of three- dimensionality Just exacerbates the analysis process. But art wasn't always like this.Artists from the same and surrounding regions a few years prior were not creating art as abstract as the Cubists. In fact, the preceding artwork was neither abstract nor ambiguous in the slightest, so why the change? Cubist art deviated almost completely from the prior art forms, and at the forefront of this new form of art was a new way of thinking sparked by scientific findings by Albert Einstein and a Neo-limitations artist by the name of Paul CZane. CZane was born in Xix-en-Provence, France in 1839 into a wealthy family, which helped him succeed in the vicious world of art.Like most artists of his time, CZane attended college to study art, but was simultaneously enrolled at the University of Xix o study law under the command of his father. Following his dual enrollment, he enrolled in the Cadmime Issue to study paintings of artists. In the years to come, CZane experienced self-doubt, going between working at his father's banking firm and submerging himself into the critical world of art returning to Xix and going away to Paris respectively – before finally moving to Pontoons to study with Pissarro, a well- known artist. It was then that CZane realized that he was not to be accepted by the rest. 1874: the first exhibition of La Sociot Anomie Coopretire des Artistes, Painters, Sculptures, et Gravers – a group of rejected artists who soon after deemed themselves the Impressionists. CZane entered but was rejected from all of the other exhibitions except for the third. He was part of a new wave of artists who called themselves the Neo-el ementariness. L The first Neo-limitations artists were George Serrate and Paul Signal. Developed in the late 19th Century after the disbandment of Impressionist group La Sociot, Impressionists deviated from the unfinished style of the Impressionists and focused on the science of color.Their predecessors had a Ochs on color but more to convey reality through the eyes of the artist himself, objectively. Many put emphasis on the fleeting moment of time – some artists, such as Monet, used hasty dashed strokes of color on their canvas to depict such advances of time – while others focused on the perspectives of an object during different times of day – different lighting. Yet, they all had more to do with the depiction of a state of mind during an event; thus, each artist had their own personal style. The Neo- Impressionists, however, took a more scientific approach to art.They had a main Ochs on color much like the Impressionists, but, much like the Impressionists, had their own unique style. Georges Serrate was the closest of the Multimillionaires to Monet stylistically, nevertheless he differed greatly. Serrate coined his style of painting pointillism, meticulous plotting of paint in the form of monochromatic dots of equal size. 2 Scientific experiment and theory was used in Neo-limitations art, using optical principles of light and color to convey an ultimate reality. Scientifically, color occurs in the Networks Television. â€Å"Paul CZane. † Bio. Com. Http://www. Biography. Com/people/ (accessed).Philip E. Bishop and Margaret J. Man's. â€Å"The Industrial Age. † In Adventures in the Human Spirit it. 7th De. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Missiles region† of the electromagnetic spectrum, that is roughly from Mann to Mann in wavelength. Different shades of color were achieved by adding dots of pure color but of different wavelengths. The retina of the human eye is designed to average the wavelengths into one color, thus deciphe ring as a result, the divisions between objects as well: form was created through dots of color as opposed to lines. 3 Paul CZane took this technique of object simplification a little bit further.CZane never aligned well with the other Impressionist painters, so much so that he removed himself from the Impressionists in 1877 (after the third Sociot exhibition) and worked in isolation. It wasn't until almost twenty years later that CZane would publicly present his works of art. His differences with the Impressionist artists classified him as a Neo-limitations, but his style was much more radical than that of the other Neo-limitations artists. The depiction of modern life became popular during this time period and Neo-elementariness and Impressionists alike were creating work to convey such modernity.CZane, on the other hand, wanted to emphasize the difference between a painting and reality. L Techniques from the renaissance have been made commonplace thereafter. Foreshortening, the a rt of making an object smaller or larger to convey distance, for instance, was a major technique used by artists to create the illusion of distance, or the third dimension [z- axis], on a two-dimensional piece of canvas. Paul CZane felt that the use of illusionist took away from the media on which the artists paint.He abandoned the idea of perspective drawing and emphasized the flat, two-dimensional nature 0 accessed). 3 The Editors of UnicycleГdid Britannica. â€Å"Neo-lonesomeness (painting). † Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Http://www. Britannica. Com/Upchucked/topic/408661 [Neo-lonesomeness (accessed). Of canvas. Instead, subtle use of aerial perspective – usage of warm and cool colors of nature to convey the advancement and recession of objects in a painting – was common in Ccane's work; to CZane, the composition of color was the most important aspect of art. But despite this belief in color, he studied something else on which the Cubists in the years to come would base all art: the study of the armament structures of natural forms, namely the cylinder, sphere, and cone. Many times over and over, and perhaps one too many, CZane painted Mont Conservatoire after retreating home from the grueling Parisian art scene at the time. The small land mass Just outside of his small hometown of Xix, France painted between 1902 and 1904 is depicted as â€Å"[a] solid arrangement of masses and planes. What CZane had done was simplified objects, Mont Saints-Victor and the village/ town at its base, down to planes or shapes, otherwise known as reductionism. 2 He was very much into reductionism, and though he said that the composition of color as the most important, it seems as if reductionism was Just as important to him. Countless paintings by CZane during the first years of the twentieth displayed his style of reducing object to their â€Å"natural form. † La Sociot disbanded years after plethora of exhibitions due to ever-growing diffe rences in artistic outlook and, thus, style.After incessant urging by Pissarro, Monet, and Renoir – former members of La Sociot – CZane emerged from his nearly two full decades of self-quarantine and displayed many of his works. His work became increasingly popular among the public. The annual Salon des Mindpendants exhibition in Paris exhibited his work in 1899, 1901, and 1902, but the great man of Xix had an 0 2 Philip E. Bishop and Margaret J. Man's. â€Å"The Industrial Age. † In Adventures in the Human Spirit it. 7th De. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 4 â€Å"PAUL CГ?ZANE – THE CHATEAU AT MГ?DAN. † Paul CZane. Http www. Retaliatory. O m/art_appreciation/landscapes/Paul_Cezanne. HTML (accessed). Entire room dedicated to his work and his work alone in the exhibition of Salon autonomy in 1904. After Ccane's death on 22 October, 1906 due to illness, a large retrospective exhibition was held at the Salon autonomy in 1907. It was at this retrospecti ve exhibition where the young Pablo Picasso, co-founder of the next era of modern art, became enthralled by Ccane's work. It was the very shape that was most popular among works by CZane, the square, that became the derivation of the word describing the new modern art: Cubism†.At the start of the 20th Century, artists were dealing with a dilemma: how to properly depict a world changing at the speed of light. Formerly, artists were dealing with how to depict modern life Just as the Cubists were, but the change in depiction from that of Impressionists to Neo- Impressionists is going from life as people saw it (casual events) to the depiction of more personal moments with a radical change in color to convey emotion and mood. 5 However, the change from Neo-limitations art to Cubist art was much less conservative.In 1905, Albert Einstein and few other colleagues founded the theory of relativity in which Einstein stated that the laws of physics are the same everywhere and the speed of light is a constant. With this, Einstein concluded that no observer's experience of time is the same. 2 Man of this era was experiencing time more whimsically: technology is booming, the car industry is starting to take off, and more intercultural interactions were taking place. With each culture having their own idiosyncratic perspectives and thus the distortion of the truth. 6 So artists of this 0 5 Billionaire, Gallinule, and Peter Read. â€Å"Georges Braque's. In The Cubist Painters. Berkeley, Cilia. :university of California Press, 2004. 6 â€Å"Cubism: A New Vision. † www. Mad. Due. Http://www. Mad. Due/Wolfs/Academic/ Arteries/ art_philosophy/Humanities/Cubism/cubism forefronthtHTMLaccessed). tiTimeelt that they needed to depict life in their art as it was seen during their time: yshystericsskeptical, uncertain, confusing, analytical, relative, subjective. Everything is relative and subjective and so were the creations of the artists themselves. A couple of years l ater two young artists by the name Pablo Picasso and Georges BrBraque'sncountered this problem head-on.They felt that they had to depict life as such, but how were they to do that? Well, in 1907 at the Salon d'autonomyit was because of Czacane'sketch titled â€Å"The Bathers† that young Picasso became infatuated by his work. The treatment of the nude form in The Bathers influenced the nude form in PiPicassoeLesseDemolishes'Davidsonreatly. He flattened the form much like CzaZaneid and deconstructed the forms into a few planes, geometric shapes, and angles. Picasso in LeLesseDemolishesuch like CzaZanen The Bathers gave up tired traditions of modeling and foreshortening and embraced the flat surface of the canvas before him.BrBraque'spon seeing LeLesseDemolishesell into a state of shock. He disliked the techniques (or lack of techniques in BrBraque'seyes at the time) used by Picasso, but after many months looking back on the work, BrBraque'smbraced PiPicassotyle and created a wo rk of art similar to that of Picasso he titled â€Å"The Nude†. The two worked so closely together that it is said that their art was sometimes indistinguishable much like the art itself. This was the start of a beautiful partnership between him and Georges BrBraque'snd the start of Cubism. What people see Cubism as is the era of analytical cubism – analytical in that the art was supposed to be seen through â€Å"intellect†, not by the eye. The work by BrBraque'she called The HuHumanistst. 7t7thdDeBoston: Pearson, 2014. Portuguese, is essentially what Cubist art looked like for most of the period. It is a 46 1/4†³ x 32 1/4†³, oil-based painting on canvas painted in 1911. In a simple glimpse of the work, one can identify multiple natural-brown geometric shapes and planes overlapping one another. The outlining of the planes and shapes are painted in seemingly quick brushstrokes, thus, making it sketch-like in appearance.The planes make it seem that if to uched, the painting would cut due to its Jagged and rigid look, and, today, it can be viewed in the KuCountersunkn Basel. 2 This work of art is not easily discernible, even for scholars. Here BrBraque'sery vaguely and subtly aligns the lines outlining multiple overlapping planes to create an underlying triangle to guide he viewers â€Å"intellect† down the triangle to its base. It is at the peak of the triangle where BrBraque'sas places a seemingly triangular beam (perhaps a beam of light since the seem is lightly colored brown) shining down from the top right of the canvas on the peak of the main triangle.And at the beam's origin lies the letters â€Å"BAL† and the number â€Å"10,40†. â€Å"BAL† is shortened Portuguese for â€Å"dance† and 10,40 through historical analysis was evidently a drink tab. 2 And between the numbers and letters is the outlining of the basic geometric forms of a wine glass which, altogether, signifies that the setting is most probably in a bar. That same triangular beam also takes the â€Å"intellect† back to the underlying main triangle using subtle linear perspective to what seems to be a face shown in profile, the leftward most face, and directly in front of the face, the rightward most face.If one were to take this â€Å"intellect† down to the base of the main underlying triangle, one can see that there are many most overlapping planes and the colors have gone from light brown, up top, to dark brown on the bottom. A diagonal line from the leftward side of the triangle Juts down the canvas toward the bottom right to encompass (more like enentanglementif that ere a word) a circle with crossing horizontal lines which looks 2 Human SpSpiritt. 7t7thdDeBoston: Pearson, 2014. o Oe a guitar played by a person to which the face above belongs – few horizontal lines coming from the right side of the canvas toward the â€Å"guitar† gives the â€Å"intellect† a sign that th ose lines may be the performer's arms which are strumming the strings of the guitar. To emulate the fleeting affects of time, BrBraque'slaces multiple circles and horizontal lines around the aforementioned circle and lines. What can now be identified as a possible bar-room performer, is shown in multiple exposure – this is hat he/she is shown playing (giving the location of the guitar) from a plethora of angles/viewpoints.Artists of this time were well-versed in the sciences and mathematics. The belief that an artist should be knowledgeable of science and math dates back to the Renaissance. With knowledge of EiEinsteinheory of relativity and other findings, BrBraque'sortrayed this bar-room singer with a guitar in his of her most basic form in fleeting time through the usage of gegeometriclanes for form and the overlapping and repetitive patterns of planes and shapes to portray movement through time lelettingver so quickly in one glimpse.One glimpse of this work and you see an entire performance pass by before you could even discern what had taken place on that very piece of canvas. This is exactly what BrBraque'santed in fact. Through EiEinsteinnd his cocolleague'sindings, BrBraque'sonveyed his theory of relativity and space time through this work of art. 6 The value behind the object seems to be one of concern, concern for the time in which BrBraque'snd all of humanity in America and Europe due to the ever-changing and ever-increasing pace of life. Where is all of this going to take humanity?Where are all of us while this research and discovery is taking place? To BrBraque'snd other Cubists, we are right in the middle of it. Einstein defined space-time as a mesh in which the entirety of the universe in contained, not fluid in intervals of space-time, but warped and fluxed so that the change in time is variable – not 2 probable however, because Einstein is said to have said that God would never play dice with the creation of matter. 2 Time is so variable that BrBraque'sn one work of art, in one piece of space-time has portrayed this theory to hold true in that even a bar- oomomerformer is never stationary.His or her location is capricious and our perspective of the bar-room is Just as capricious as her location Just as life and our perspective of life is ever-changing with unprecedented speed due to the advancement of technology and scientific discovery. But where is CzaZanen all of this? Czacane'segacy remains in the work of the Cubists. His soul lies in the deconstruction of the form of the bar-room performer and his/her guitar. If one compares Czacane'saintings of Mont SaSaintsiVictorhe went from nearly painting he mountain exactly as he saw it to the mountain's basic underlying form: geometric shapes and planes.Czacane'snfluence can also be pinpointed in the multiple perspectives of the performer that BrBraque'sives us. CzaZaneiked to abstract art and so did the Cubists evidently. Also Czacane'seviation from perspective drawing, for which he is famously known, caught the interest of Cubists. He felt that a painting is not reality – it should not imitate reality but rather create reality we see/know it; therefore, a painting should not suggest depth or a third dimension. The surface of annovass two dimensional and so is art work that is to be put on any given piece of canvas, around which CzaZaneased his art work.He flattened space and emphasized decomposition and deconstruction of objects to twdimensionaleometric. BrBraque'snd Cubists took this and created what defined modern life as being perceived through multiple facets, confusing, fleeting, and analytical.

Managerial Skills Essay

In order for managers to be effective, they must have a clear understanding of whether different skills are important in their managerial role. In addition, managers must have a mutual understanding of the skills and responsibilities necessary for other managers across similar and different organizational levels and functions ([10] Kraut et al. , 1989). If these skills and responsibilities are not clearly understood, managers will neither be able to coordinate work effectively, communicate expectations, deliver feedback, nor be prepared for job transitions or other training and career development activities ([10] Kraut et al. , 1989). In short, understanding whether certain managerial skills are important to a manager’s job is essential. A number of researchers have investigated the roles, tasks, or activities of managers (e.g. [18] Mintzberg, 1973; [13] Luthans, 1988; [10] Kraut et al. , 1989). However, these studies are over a decade old, some more than two or three decades, and have not specifically examined skills. The world of work has changed since these studies, most notably due to organizational downsizing, technology, and the globalization of the workplace. Skills important to managers in the late 1980s and early 1990s may not be as important today. As times change, researchers should update important findings to determine if those findings are still applicable ([4] Cronbach, 1975), especially when considering that the skills and roles of managers need to be clearly defined and understood to effectively teach, select, develop, and promote these individuals in the workplace. Based on results of a study of more than 14,000 managers over two distinct time periods, this paper will highlight whether the importance of certain managerial skills changed over a 15-year time period, and determine which skills are needed at different organizational levels and across organizational functions from the opinions of managers themselves. Our main research question is, to what extent has the importance of certain managerial skills changed, or remained constant, over time, and whether certain skills are important based on organizational level and function. Studies of managers [18] Mintzberg (1973) provided one of the most influential works on managerial roles. Prior to his research, the roles of managers were understood to be embedded in a rigid functional approach of planning jobs, organizing staff, and leading personnel ([20] Pearson and Chatterjee, 2003). However, Mintzberg observed that managers worked at a much faster pace during which they were required to address a range of issues. The job of the manager required an ability to handle more complex roles than those described by classical management theory. Using a descriptive diary method to observe managers at work, Mintzberg identified ten roles of managerial work, which were divided into three categories: interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decisional roles. Expanding on [18] Mintzberg’s (1973) work, [10] Kraut et al. (1989) investigated the differences between managerial levels in the perception of role importance. They identified seven major factors of management tasks including: managing individual performance; instructing subordinates; planning and allocating resources; coordinating interdependent groups; managing group performance; monitoring the business environment; and representing one’s staff. Their findings also revealed distinct differences in role importance based on the level of the manager. For instance, first-level managers reported that managing individual performance and instructing subordinates were the most important set of activities in their job. However, as managers moved up the management hierarchy to the level of middle manager, the importance of these activities dropped and more focus was placed on tasks related to linking groups. The act of linking groups included planning and resource allocation, managing group performance, and coordinating interdependent groups. Executive managers took an even broader view of their job as evidenced by their high importance ratings related to monitoring the environment including business, economic, and social trends. The only commonality among the different managerial levels was the importance they placed on representing their staff; over 50 per cent of managers at each level rated representing staff of â€Å"utmost† or â€Å"considerable importance.† [13] Luthans’ (1988) research also examined differences between top and middle managers. However the focus was more on the distinction between the activities of an effective manager versus a successful manager. Effective managers were identified by a high level of performance in the unit they are responsible for, whereas successful managers were recognized by their rapid promotions within an organization. The activities that characterize effective managers included spending time on communication and human resource management, which can lead to long-term results. In contrast, successful managers spent more time on networking and aimed for short-term results. In addition to differences between levels, [10] Kraut et al. (1989) also compared managerial activities across the different organizational functions of marketing, manufacturing, and administration. For example, a greater percentage of marketing managers rated monitoring the outside environment more important when compared to other managers. Alternately, fewer marketing managers rated instructing subordinates as important when compared to managers in manufacturing and administration. Managers from all three organizational functions indicated that activities involving coordinating interdependent groups were important. The present study will attempt to expand on similar research such as those previously mentioned. First, this research examines managerial skills, which are much different than managerial roles, activities, or tasks. While past research has determined what roles or activities are important for managers and what tasks managers tend to spend much of their time on, this research attempts to determine what skills are important for managerial jobs. Second, this research will use opinions from practicing managers totaling more than 14,000 from two distinct time periods (1988-1992, and 2004-2006) to capture what skills have been important in the past, and determine whether those skills have changed in importance over time. In addition, this research will examine whether managerial skills are important across different organizational levels and organizational functions in the context of today’s work environment. The changing world of work The aforementioned research regarding the importance of managerial tasks, roles, and activities was conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. There is reason to believe that skills once deemed important for managers may have adjusted in relative importance since much has changed in the world of work since these studies. One can assume that the changes in the world of work may coincide with possible changes in the importance of different managerial skills. Organizations have become flatter and less hierarchical with fewer levels and more responsibilities ([2] Allen et al. , 2001; [16] McKinley et al. , 2000; [17] Miller, 1990). Also, organizational downsizing is commonplace due to the increasing need to reduce costs, to eliminate unnecessary levels of management, and to streamline operations ([5] DeMeuse et al. , 2004). As organizations become less hierarchical, there is reason to believe that the skills managers thought were important in the past may have changed in scope. Organizations also exist in a different environmental context than 15 years ago. Due to improved technology such as e-mail and the internet, changes have occurred in the way managers and co-workers interact. We have seen the emergence of the Internet as a major form of communication and e-commerce as a new source of business. Flexible work patterns and the ability to work in geographically dispersed teams is now a common reality in the workplace ([27] Wallace, 2004). These changes have cultivated the need for better communication, coordination, improved performance, team monitoring, and more interdependence and trust ([22], [21] Salas et al. , 2004, 2005; [28] Zaccaro et al. , 2004). Teams and organizations are increasingly becoming more global or virtual in nature. As a result, an awareness of different cultures and attention to multiculturalism and globalization is vital for the success of many managers. As organizations become more fast-paced and global, there is also speculation that the importance of different skills managers need may have shifted in scope. [7] Kanter (1989) argued that these rapid changes, spurred by technology and competitive pressures, have made traditional forms of organizing work obsolete. Managers may believe certain skills are important in order to be a partner with and empower employees to address business problems on their own and to work in cross-functional teams, which could be different than the skills believed to be important 15 years ago. Managers must fully understand their roles and responsibilities and become adept at a variety of skills to perform their job effectively ([1] Ahearn et al. , 2004; [6] Halbesleben et al. , 2003; [25] Stockdale and Crosby, 2004; [27] Wallace, 2004; [28] Zaccaro et al. , 2004). As previously mentioned, understanding the skills of managers is essential to coordinate work effectively, communicate expectations, deliver feedback, and for training and career development ([10] Kraut et al. , 1989). It is unknown whether the changes over the past 15 years that have occurred in an organizational and global context have also coincided with possible changes in importance of managerial skills over time. A recent case study reexamined [18] Mintzberg’s (1973) work 30 years after the original research by studying the pattern of behavior among four executives in Sweden ([26] Tengblad, 2006). The findings revealed that modern executives are more oriented towards working with subordinates in group-settings and focus more time on giving information rather than performing administrative duties. However, Tengblad noted significant similarities with Mintzberg’s original study, indicating that claims of the emergence of radically different managerial work may be exaggerated. However, due to the small sample size and lack of empirical data in that study, it is important that further work specifically examine the modern skills of managers with a wide range of managers and ample sample size. In other words, are the skills thought to be important to managers 15 years ago still important to managers in today’s work context? The present research will attempt to answer this question and provide relevant present-day information for managers and those who work with, train and develop them, by re-examining the importance of managerial skills across two distinct time periods and across both organizational level and function in the context of today’s work environment. Method Participants This research used data from two waves of managers engaged in a leadership development program from a leadership development provider in order to compare differences in managerial skills over time. The first wave consisted of 7,389 managers from the USA involved in a leadership development process between 1988 and 1992. The second wave consisted of 7,410 managers from the USA who were involved in a leadership development process between 2004 and 2006. Because of data housing and management issues, demographic data could not be given for the first wave of participants. However, aggregate biographical data from the leadership development provider from the time period of 1988 to 1992 revealed that leadership development participants in general were similar in terms of age, gender, race, education, and job status to those of 2004 to 2006. Demographic data in aggregate could be given for the 7,410 participants of the second wave. The average age of the managers in the second wave was 41.73 years old, 59 per cent were male, 86 per cent were white, 69 per cent worked in the private sector and 77 per cent had a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Managers came from over 60 organizational types (e.g. aerospace and defense, finance, communications, government, education) and over 1,300 companies. In addition, 999 managers (13.5 per cent) were first-level managers (forepersons, crew chiefs, section supervisors), 3,136 (42.3 per cent) were middle-level managers (office managers, professional staff, mid-level administrators), 2,197 (29.6 per cent) were upper-middle managers (department executives, plant managers, senior professional staff), and 1,078 (14.6 per cent) were top or executive level managers (chief executives or operating officers, presidents, vice presidents, directors). Measure Managerial skills . Data determining the importance of managerial skills was collected from SKILLSCOPE ®[1] a 360-degree instrument that assesses job related strengths and weaknesses. The instrument has 98 items that are organized into 15 skill clusters. These clusters represent 15 skills and roles managers need in order to be effective in their job which are part of Mintzberg’s three categories (interpersonal, informational, and decisional) and two other categories (personal resources and effective use of self). The conceptual basis for SKILLSCOPE ® is research which focused on managerial skills, roles and tasks (e.g. [3] Beggs and Doolittle, 1988; [8] Kaplan, 1987; [9] Kotter, 1982; [14] McCall and Kaplan, 1984; [15] McCall et al. , 1979; [18], [19] Mintzberg, 1973, 1990; [23] Sayles, 1979; [24] Stewart, 1976). As part of their leadership development process, managers chose which five of the 15 skill clusters were the most important for their current job. Table I [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] describes each skill cluster. Results A frequency count of the data revealed the skills that are most important for managers in their current job. Result show that both â€Å"Communicating information, ideas† (60.1 per cent of the managers in 1988-1992 and 63 per cent of the managers in 2004-2006) and â€Å"Taking actions, making decisions, following through† (59.7 per cent of the managers in 1988-1992 and 62.9 per cent of the managers in 2004-2006) were the most important skills across all managers. On the other hand, â€Å"Self-management, self-insight, self-development† and â€Å"Openness to influence; flexibility† were the least important for managers in 1988 through 1992 (8.6 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively as one of the most important skills needed) and managers in 2004 through 2006 (10.9 per cent and 7.2 per cent selected respectively as one of the most important skills needed). Table II [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows a comparison between managers from 1988-1992 and managers from 2004-2006. Many of the skills were similar in importance for both waves of managers. However, there were three skill clusters with differences of more than 10 percentage points that should be noted. First, 39.9 per cent of 2004-2006 managers rated â€Å"Relationships† as one of five important skill clusters which was an increase from 29.4 per cent of managers in 1988-1992. Second, 33 per cent of 2004-2006 managers rated â€Å"Administrative/organizational ability† as one of five important skill clusters, a decrease from the 45 per cent of managers was from 1988-1992. Finally, 31.7 per cent of managers from 2004-2006 rated â€Å"Time management† as one of five important skill clusters which was an increase from the 19.7 per cent of managers in 1988-1992. The next set of analyses focused only on the 2004-2006 managers. Examining the results as a whole may mask important findings based on managerial levels. Consequently, we analyzed the importance of managerial skills across the four managerial levels for the present study, similar to [10] Kraut et al. (1989). Figure 1 [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] displays the importance rankings for each skill sorted by managerial level. â€Å"Communicating information, ideas† and â€Å"Taking action, making decisions, following through† were the two most important skills for all managerial levels with the exception of first-level managers. While â€Å"Taking action, making decisions, following through† ranked as the most important for first-level managers, â€Å"Knowledge of job, business† ranked as second-most important, followed by â€Å"Communicating information, ideas†. On the other hand, â€Å"Openness to influence, flexibility† was the least important to managers at each level, again with the exception of first-level managers who believed â€Å"Risk-taking, innovation† was the least important, followed by â€Å"Openness to influence, flexibility†. In general, the importance rankings were similar across managerial levels, though there are some notable exceptions. First, â€Å"Getting information, making sense of it; problem identification† was less important for top/executive-level managers (48 per cent) than for other managerial levels (each over 55 per cent). Second, as managerial level increased, so did the importance of â€Å"Influencing, leadership, and power†, (from 21 per cent of first-level managers to 45 per cent of top/executive level managers), and of â€Å"Risk-taking, innovation† (from 7 per cent of first-level managers to 22 per cent of top/executive level managers). Last, as managerial level increased, the importance of two managerial skills decreased, namely â€Å"Knowledge of job, business† (from 63 per cent of first-level managers to 45 per cent of top/executive-level managers) and â€Å"Time management† (from 42 per cent of first-level managers to 19 per cent of top/executive-level managers). In addition, viewing the results from all managers in aggregate may also conceal important findings based specifically on job function, as managers in different functions may have different managerial challenges ([10] Kraut et al. , 1989). In order to account for this, the present study mirrored the data analysis of the [10] Kraut et al. (1989) study in that the levels of management were equally weighted in each function so that no one managerial level would have statistical influence over the other managerial levels, and managers from marketing (n =282), manufacturing (n =253), and administration (n =489) would be selected. Due to the functional diversity of the sample of the second wave, managers from engineering (n =413), human resources/training (n =345), operations (n =916) and sales (n =518) were also examined. Figure 2 [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] provides the rankings for the skills of managers across job function. It is interesting to note that the pattern of skill importance is similar across functions. For instance, â€Å"Communicating information, ideas† was most important for marketing, human resource, and sales managers, while â€Å"Taking action, making decisions, following through† was the most important managerial skill for manufacturing, administration, engineering, and operations. In fact, across the seven managerial functions studied, these two managerial skills were among the top three in importance for each managerial function. On the other hand, â€Å"Openness to influence; flexibility† was the least important to managers across all functions except for managers in human resources, who believed â€Å"Energy, drive, and ambition† was the least important. Some managerial skills were rated similarly in importance across managerial functions. For instance, between 22 per cent and 27 per cent of managers across different functions believed â€Å"Coping with pressure, adversity; integrity† was important. Also, between 8 per cent and 13 per cent of managers thought â€Å"Self-management, self-insight, self-development† was an important skill to have. There was variability among the importance of some skills across managerial function. For example, â€Å"Administrative/organizational ability† was important for less than 25 per cent of managers in marketing, manufacturing, and sales, but was important for 58 per cent of managers in administration. â€Å"Getting information, making sense of it; problem identification† was less important for sales managers (39 per cent) than it was for engineering managers (65 per cent). Regarding â€Å"Managing conflict; negotiation† it is interesting to note that most managers rated it the same in importance (between 27 per cent and 31 per cent) except managers from marketing, where only 17 per cent of managers thought it was important. Managers in manufacturing (25 per cent) and engineering (26 per cent) ranked â€Å"Relationships† less important than human resources (51 per cent) and sales (52 per cent) managers. â€Å"Selecting, developing, accepting people† was important to some managers in manufacturing and sales (both 35 per cent), but was not as important to marketing managers (12 per cent). Discussion In total, 30 years after [18] Mintzberg’s (1973) original study, [26] Tengblad (2006) found that while some things have changed, managerial work has remained the same, despite changes in the world of work. In a similar fashion, the present research attempted to determine whether the importance of skills managers need in their job have shifted over a 15-year time period. Though many have commented on how the world of work has changed over the past 15 years (e.g. [2] Allen et al. , 2001; [5] DeMeuse et al. , 2004; [7] Kanter, 1989; [16] McKinley et al. , 2000; [17] Miller, 1990; [22], [21] Salas et al. , 2004, 2005; [27] Wallace, 2004; [28] Zaccaro et al. , 2004), the data of the present research suggests that despite the changes in the work environment, the importance of certain managerial skills is somewhat similar. For instance, what was believed to be important in 1988-1992 (i.e. â€Å"Communicating information, ideas† and â€Å"Taking action, making decisions, following through†) is still considered important for managers today. In addition, skills that were not thought of as important in 1988-1992 (i.e. â€Å"Self-management, self-insight, self-development† and â€Å"Openness to influence; flexibility†) are still not thought of as important for managers in today’s work context. Despite these apparent similarities, there are some noteworthy differences between what managers thought was important 15 years ago and what managers think is important today. First, â€Å"Relationships† seem to be more important now than for managers 15 years ago. [26] Tengblad (2006) hinted at this with the finding that executives are concentrating more today (than 30 years ago) on working with others in a group setting. The increased importance of this skill cluster coincided with the changes in the organizational context that managers today must face. The use of communication technology, such as e-mail, and the existence of geographically dispersed teams require managers to be more deliberate in the effort they devote towards forming and maintaining relationships. The nonverbal cues that aid in face-to-face communication cannot be relied on in virtual relationships. By acknowledging and facing the challenges presented by these new forms of communication, managers can successfully execute their job requirements. In addition, the flattening of organizational hierarchies has forced a higher level of coordination and collaboration between peers. As more and more people work in an environment structured around the work team, the more likely a focus on building relationships will be encouraged. For instance, more time is devoted to interdependence and trust in a team setting ([22], [21] Salas et al. , 2004, 2005; [28] Zaccaro et al. , 2004), where ultimately, building relationships is necessary. [26] Tengblad (2006) found that executives are indeed focusing less time on administrative duties, and [7] Kanter (1989) also revealed that organizing work was becoming obsolete with changes in the environment. In a similar fashion, the present study found that â€Å"Administrative/organizational ability† seems to be less important today than it was 15 years ago. One of the reasons could correspond with the recent trend of the flattening of organizations. Organizations have become more streamlined, and responsibility has become more spread out in the organization. In effect, managers do not have a hierarchical structure to manage. The administrative tasks that were needed in more hierarchical structures 15 years ago are not needed as much in the present work context. The advent of technology has also facilitated many organizational processes that were once paper-based. More and more companies have converted to computer-based processes (i.e. online recruiting and staffing) that have minimized the necessity to focus one’s skill on administrative or organizational duties. â€Å"Time management† appears more important now than it was 15 years ago. The reasons why could coincide with changes in the work context. Technology now enables people from around the world to work in real-time, to contact people instantly, and work more quickly. E-mail has replaced mail and fax. The use of cell phones and electronic devices such as â€Å"blackberries† has also increased. At the same time, employees are focusing on creating balance between their professional lives and their personal lives, attempting to get work out of the way faster. Employees and their managers therefore must focus on time management now more than ever. The differences in importance rankings of managerial skills we observed between managers at different organizational levels confirm previous findings in the literature. [10] Kraut et al. (1989) found that some managerial roles are considered important at each level, but the degree of importance may be contingent on a particular level. In the present study, â€Å"Influencing, leadership, and power† and â€Å"Risk-taking and innovation† showed an increase in importance ranking as managerial level increased. Both of these skills are indicative of senior levels of leadership. As a manager takes on more responsibility, it is critical to the manager’s success that the manager’s focus shifts to meet the new demands of the job. Also important to note, some managerial skills differ in importance depending on managerial function and relevance. For instance, â€Å"Administrative/organizational ability† is more important to managers in administration than it is for any of the other functions because administrative ability is inherent in the administrative function. â€Å"Getting information, making sense of it; problem identification† is more important for engineering managers than it is for any of the other functions because working with information and problem identification is particularly relevant for engineers. â€Å"Communicating information and ideas† and â€Å"Risk-taking, innovation† are more important for managers in marketing than any of the other functions because those with a marketing background must be able to communicate and be innovative. Finally, â€Å"Relationships† is more important for managers in sales and HR than any of the other functions because sales and HR functions are dependent on forming and building good relationships. In effect, some skills are important to different managerial functions because of relevance of the specific organizational function. Practical applications Determining what is important for managers at each level and each function is crucial to coordinating work effectively, communicating expectations, and facilitating training and career development activities ([10] Kraut et al. , 1989). Relying on past (or outdated) information about the importance of certain managerial skills, roles, tasks, or activities could hinder effective work coordination, communication, and effective training and career development. Hence, â€Å"updating† this type of information may help managers in their work and development, even if it is to simply validate or reinforce previous findings. Imagine the challenges managers face if relevant information about the importance of certain skills in their jobs were not correct or outdated. If information from previous research from the 1970s or 1980s is still used for coordinating work activities and it has not been updated, managers may be concentrating on different or unnecessary skills that are no longer relevant. This could greatly impede their work, their advancement, and ultimately, their success. Moreover, managers may not be taught the appropriate skills for the present-day work environment that is needed to succeed if training and development relies on outdated information. For instance, [11] Lipshitz and Nevo (1992) detailed research of the competencies of effective and ineffective managers whose activities and practices aided the design of training and development programs. Knowing which managerial skills are important for different managerial levels and functions would definitely bring knowledge to improve training and development programs. Because of their rated importance, the data suggests that managerial training and development in today’s world of work may need to keep focus on communication and decision-making, decrease focus on administration and organization ability, and increase focus on enhancing relationships and the concept of time management. In addition, these findings may help those in selection and in succession planning; knowing that certain skills are important at different levels and functions can help determine what type of manager is needed at each level or each function. For instance, time management may be a skill set that is necessary particularly for first-level managers and not top-level executives, and hence, first level managers should have that appropriate skill for the job. Administrative/organizational ability may be important for managers in the administration function, and those in succession planning or selection for managers in that particular function should keep in mind that information, along with relevant information from any job analysis or competency model. Limitations and future directions There are some limitations to this study. First, asking managers to choose five of 15 skill clusters that are important to their current job does not provide the level of detail that could be obtained by evaluating the importance of each cluster using other methodologies. In the present study, a skill cluster is either among a manager’s top five most important or it is not. Therefore, the data does not permit an assessment of how much more important the top five skill clusters were than the ten skill clusters not selected. In addition, the data did not allow us to assess any relative ranking among the top five skills. As a result, it would be useful to assess the importance of clusters, competencies, roles, skills, or abilities using a Likert-type scale in the future. In this manner, researchers could examine to what extent each cluster is important to managers. Also, examining what managers believe are the most important skills for their job may not yield the same findings as asking what their direct reports or supervisors consider important. Future research should investigate what direct reports and supervisors of managers think are important skills for managers to acquire a more global perspective of managerial competencies, similar to those acquired through competency modeling (e.g. [12] Lucia and Lepsinger, 1999). Also, asking similar questions to managers outside the United States would bring more information about the importance of managerial skills across cultures. Combining the quantitative approach of evaluating to what extent a variety of skills are important for managers along with more qualitative methodologies of on-the-job observation and interviewing to assess competencies should create a more comprehensive picture of â€Å"today’s manager†. Finally, any future research should capture the demographic data for the sample across successive waves. Without knowing more about the sample composition for the first wave of data, it is not possible to ascertain whether changes over time are due to differences in organizational structure or function, differences in individual jobs represented by the sample, or differences in workforce composition. Therefore, explanations of changes cited in our findings may be due to structure changes and changes in technology or they may be due to changes in workforce demographics (i.e. aging baby-boomers). The best this research can conclude is that shifts in the importance of certain managerial skills have coincided with changes in the context of the world of work. However, with the present research data set, having a large sample of more than 7,000 managers with similar aggregate demographic data for each time period may tend to lead to more generalizable results than would a sample of a lesser number of participants. The world of work has changed over the past 15 years. Results of this study revealed that managers today feel the need to concentrate more on building relationships and time management skills and focus less on administrative and organizational ability. However, many of the skills managers thought were important to their job in the late 1980s and early 1990s are somewhat similar in importance from the opinions of managers in the first decade of the 2000s, particularly skills concerning communication and decision making. To answer the original research question, much like [26] Tengblad (2006) found, despite noticeable changes in the world of work, while some managerial skills shifted in importance, some managerial skills remain as important today as 15 years ago. The importance of these managerial skills not only coincided with the changes in the work environment, but also are context dependent based on managerial level and function. For instance, though time management has increased in importance over the years, managers at lower levels (i.e. first-level managers) seem to believe time management is more important to their job than those at higher levels (i.e. top- or executive-level managers). In essence, one should take note not only of how the importance of certain skills change over time, but also, that certain skills believed to be important for managers at one particular level or function may be more or less important for managers at other levels or other functions. 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