What Does The Cambrian Explosion Tell Us About Evolution

The rapid diversification of most major living phyla in the fossil record known as ‘The Cambrian Explosion’ presents a challenge – even to those with limited understanding of evolution. With the acknowledgement of this ‘explosion’ comes the issue of how it occurred. The problem arises because this sudden burst of change is inconsistent with the typical thought of evolution resulting from gradual change over time – otherwise known as uniformitarian theory (Erwin, 2011). This inconsistency begs the question: What does the Cambrian explosion tell us about evolution? Are we simply missing information, and the process is indeed gradual – or did something unusual and fairly rapid happen in Cambrian? Knowledge of relationships between animals may allow us to deduce the answer: the two main branches of the animal tree are protostomes and deuterostomes, while the trunk of the tree includes sponges and cnidarians. The first appearance of these protostome and deuterostome groups is arguably in the Cambrian period – while arguments have been made for an earlier bilaterian, for instance the 555 million year old Kimberella, they are not persuasive – for reasons discussed later in this essay. We can assert that whatever was shared by two or more groups was likely to have been present in their last common ancestor. In this case, all members have bilateral organization in their life stages. Thus, the theory of the common ancestor of bilaterians – Urbilateria – arose (De Robertis Sasai,Show MoreRelatedThe Between Greek And Egyptian Civilizations1596 Words   |  7 Pagesseem as though an eternity has passed between now and 1945 for the centenarian, but even th e oldest amongst us would see the time between the foundation of the greek and egyptian civilizations as having a length much less than the 2500 years that separate the two. Two varieties of ancient hominids may seem to be virtually contemporaries, when they are in actuality over a million years of evolution removed from one another. Humans have many methods to describe large numbers mathematically. Ever sinceRead MoreThe Origin Of Life : Intelligent Design Vs. Materialistic Naturalism2359 Words   |  10 Pageshow did life begin? Is the universe the result of chaotic chance or intelligent design? How did life on earth come to be? These are some of the many questions scientist work hard to solve, but what does their research tell them? Let’s start with the well-recognized theory of evolution. Evolution, a theory made famous by Charles Darwin; is the process in which an organism changes over time via adaptation, mutation and gene isolation. According to an article by evolutionary biologist RichardRead MoreA Look at Prominent Worldviews1349 Words   |  6 Pages James W. Sire claimed that world view is â€Å"†¦a set of presuppositions†¦ which we hold†¦ about the makeup of our world.† As of me, my definition does not deviate much. World view is the way, either supported or unsupported, how I see what I see. It’s like glasses where I see everything through the filter of glasses. Supposedly, world view can affect one very much. The fact that Muslims goes to Mecca or Christians going to church every week or the mere choice between chocolate bar and ice cream are allRead MoreThe Big Bang Theory Of God s Word3237 Words   |  13 PagesAs we all grow up we tend to believe what we want to believe in. If God gave us a brain to think, would going ag ainst the Bible be wrong? We have all heard the complicated question, did God make the earth in six days or did evolution play a major part in the making of earth. Many people in the older days would be judge or even killed to even think this, but as science with factual evidence develope, we are start to fit all the missing pieces together. Although is factual evidence enough to flashRead MoreA Short History of Nearly Everything6112 Words   |  25 Pages2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Background Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledgeRead MoreA Short History of Nearly Everything6112 Words   |  25 Pagesin the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Background Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledgeRead MoreCreationism Vs. Evolution Essay2859 Words   |  12 PagesThe theory of evolution, as set forth by Charles Darwin in 1859, stated that all plant and animal life evolved over long periods of time from simple to more complicated forms through mutation and adaptation. He also taught that only the fittest of each species would survive. He further postulated that the first living cell evolved in a warm warm little pond and that it took billions of years for the present diversity of living things to evolve. At the time, it was thought that the few missingRead More Biblical Creationism versus Scientific Origin Essay example8399 Words   |  34 Pagesorigins. There are two reasons for this: firstly, there are those with a literal or semi-literal interpretation of the Bible (or other relevant holy book) who remain convinced that the world was created in the recent past looking more or less as it does today. Obviously, this issue must be resolved before the existence or nature of the deity can even begin to be discussed! Secondly, even those with the more common, nonliteral interpretation of the creation story often use arguments that arent valid

Jay Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1142 Words

Jay Gatsby stands out amongst the most fascinating and important guys in fictional writing, despite the fact that he is not has dynamic and changing has the other characters in the novel. Infact, Jay Gatsby has changed very little since he was young. born has James Gatz to poor farmers in North Dakota, he chose at a very young age that he wanted more out of life than his home town could offer. He leaves home to discover riches. While relaxing on the shore one day, he sees a yacht docked off the coast. He gets in a small boat and goes out to warn the owner of the yacht about a storm that is coming. That’s where he meets Dan Cody, a to a great degree affluent and fiercely extreme man. He likes the young James Gatz and offers him a job. By†¦show more content†¦He lives a wild, lavish life and drives his showy cars with hopes of drawing in Daisy s. She has turned into his purpose behind living. Gatsby never lets go of his fantasy and frequently connects with the green l ight at the end of Daisy s dock. When the story starts, Nick Carraway has moved in next to him. Gatsby gets to know the young guy and after that discovers that he is a distant cousin of Daisy Buchanan. He convinces Nick to have both Daisy and him over at his house for tea. Them gathering at Nick s home makes a issue. Gatsby says she frequently goes to his home, and she kisses him on the mouth when her significant other leaves the room. Daisy is basically playing with Gatsby s heart, utilizing him as an alleviation from her fatigue and as a striking back against her remorseless, unfaithful husband. Gatsby, be that as it may, has put her on such a platform, to the point that he can t even see any of Daisy s issues. He likewise gullibly trusts that he will bait Daisy far from Tom and delete her past existence with her better half. At the point when Tom understands that his wife has an association with Gatsby, he stands up to the adversary. He calls Gatsby a Mr. No one from Nowhere and blames him for not going to Oxford and profiting illicitly. Daisy apathetically goes to his guide, empowering Gatsby into a stupid encounter. He reveals to Tom that Daisy has constantly adored him and never cherished Tom; he even tells Daisy to repeat the words to Tom,Show MoreRelatedF. Scott Fitzgerald s Jay Gatsby 1872 Words   |  8 PagesFollowing the destruction caused by World War I, it became obvious that the United States needed to rebuild itself. Jay Gatsby, even though fictionalized character, represented many of the hardships of the time, he â€Å"was promoted to be a major, and every Allied government gave me a decoration† (Fitzgerald 71), but yet when he came back from the war he had a very hard time finding a job or work.This lead to many long-held pre-war values and customs being rejected by a new rising youth culture, whichRead MoreAnalysis Of Jay Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1752 Words   |  8 Pages One in twenty-five people suffer from borderline personality disorder, a condition where a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relations and self-image form at the beginning of early adulthood and continue on. Jay Gatsby pathologically has an excessive and erotic interest in himself and his physical attributes and appearance, which makes him classify as a narcissist. Narcissism and borderline personality disorder can combine together to make a unique set of symptoms, such as a needRead MoreAn Autobiographical Portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald as Jay Gatsby2000 Words   |  8 PagesFrances Scott Key Fitzgerald, born September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, is seen today as one of the true great American novelists. Although he lived a life filled with alcoholism, despair, and lost-love, he managed to create the ultimate love story and seemed to pinpoint the  ¡Ã‚ §Ame rican Dream ¡Ã‚ ¨ in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby. In the novel, Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the  ¡Ã‚ §self-made man, ¡Ã‚ ¨ in which he dictates his entire life to climbing the social ladder in order to gain wealth, toRead MoreCharacter Analysis of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald999 Words   |  4 PagesGreat Gatsby is an extraordinary novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who tells the story about the wealthy man of Long Island named, Jay Gatsby, a middle aged man with a mysterious past, who lives at a gothic mansion and hosts many parties with many strangers who were not entirely invited. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many characters are discussed uniquely to an extent from the festive, yet status hungry Roaring Twenties. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald introducesRead MoreCharacter Analysis of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1186 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"You can’t repeat the pa st?... Why of course you can.† (110 This enduring quote from the famous novel The Great Gatsby by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald stirs the mind and imagination in wonder of the very character who had uttered these words. Infamous Gatsby is the mysterious man behind the lavish and enthralling parties; a man who made his money and his image in that of a king. But, who is this mysterious man? How did he receive the great fortune of developing all of which he had possessedRead MoreJay Gatsbys Materialism in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald834 Words   |  3 PagesJohn D. Rockefeller once said, â€Å"I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.† Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the importance of rampant materialism, excessive need for luxury and unprecedented levels of prosperity in the roaring twenties is shown through the life of Jay Gatsby. When one is asked of the 1920s, the first things that come to mi nd are flapper girls, jazz, the birth of mass culture, and prohibition. This was an age of dramatic social andRead MoreAnalysis Of Jay Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2026 Words   |  9 PagesJay Gatsby (1:2) wealthy, middle westerner, the man the book is about Nick’s great Uncle (1:3) he came to the U.S in year 51, he started a hardware business and now Nick’s father runs the business Young Man (1:3) a co-worker, this young man and Nick found a house together in West Egg Dodge and Finnish woman (1:4) made Nicks bed and cooked breakfast for him, â€Å"muttered Finnish wisdom to herself over the electric stove† Pg 4. Ch1. Daisy Buchanan (1:5) beautiful, Nick’s cousin, married to Tom Tom BuchananRead MoreJay Gatsby ´s Outlook on Life in F. Scott Fitzgerald ´s The Great Gatsby663 Words   |  3 Pageswrote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, would most likely agree with the general philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau on human psychology. In a nutshell, the view of Rousseau was simply that man is naturally pure and free, only to be corrupted by society and the outside world. In connecting Fitzgerald’s use of appropriate color symbolism to the two parts of Rousseau’s view, we can see how he (Fitzgerald) is describing the nature of man in general terms through the story of Jay GatsbyRead MoreThe Film Adaptation Of Jay Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1359 Words   |  6 PagesThe 2013 film adaptation of Jay Gatsby, a man who rose from poverty as a child to being a millionaire with all the makings, enormous house, servants, hundreds of friends. He exemplifies the self-made man theory; he is successful both socially and financially. He bas ically created a completely new person for himself from his past life. But with all the wealth and status Gatsby accumulated, on the surface, it made him appear to be living the American Dream but it essentially leads to his demise. NumerousRead MoreIs Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald ´s The Great Gatsby, a Good Man? 757 Words   |  4 PagesTo decide whether Jay Gatsby is a good man or not, one must define what a ‘good man’ really is. Although it is an extremely vague and layered term, a ‘good man’ best fits the description of a man whose intentions are never meant to harm anyone. In addition, readers must remember that the Gatsby in the novel is Nick Carraway’s version, and that is a very biased version. Yet, based off of the events depicted in The Great Gatsby, I believe that Jay Gatsby is a good man. Gatsby is not formally introduced

Are gender differences socially shaped Free Essays

a) The term androgyny is the meaning for a person who uses both male and female characteristics. b) Content analysis is the analysing of different communications and the sort of message they’re giving out. An example of this is a study of British TV adverts conducted by Manstead and McCulloch in 1981. We will write a custom essay sample on Are gender differences socially shaped? or any similar topic only for you Order Now They found evidence that stereo-typing of the male and female role was significant and that because of this, the adverts are likely to play an active part in shaping cultural attitudes towards women. c) One study in which the experimental method was used was by Money Erhardt (1972). They were interested in seeing whether a boy who’s identity had been changed would develop as a biological male or, because of his new identity, a male. They could compare this with his identical twin brother. The method was that due to an accident during surgery, this child of 7 months suffered injuries to his genitals so badly that the doctors advised to the parents that he should be castrated and given plastic surgery to create a female appearance. During adolescence, the hormone oestrogen was given to the child (known as Joan) to encourage breast development. Money monitored the behaviour of Joan until early adolescence. The results were that Joan did in fact develop as a normal female. She assumed a traditional female identity and was far more feminine than her identical twin brother. The conclusion to this experiment is that if it was presented in the nature vs. nurture debate, nurture would win in this case. Even though Joan was a biological male, the results showed that Joan developed a female gender identity. d) The use of cross-cultural research to investigate gender differences is essentially to point the differences in cultures by environmental factors, shaping the development of gender identity. Mead (1935) conducted a study of three societies to see whether there were differences in gender roles looking at the nature vs. nurture idea. She went to New Guinea for six months to study ‘The Arapesh’ who lived in the mountains, ‘The Mundugamor’ who lived by the riverside and ‘The Tchambuli’ who lived on the lakeside. She wasn’t campring the differences between the three groups, but the differences of their culture compared to traditional Western culture. Her results showed that The Arapesh showed that there were similarities between themselves and Western society, although they were more interested in the community than reaching their own individual targets. The Mundugamor showed traits that were described as masculine. Both males and females were ‘fierce’ and ‘cannibalistic’. The Tchambuli had very obvious gender roles, although they were the reverse of the West; men were more artistic and women held more status and economic power. Her conclusion to this was that culture is the major socialising and conditioning agent, particularly in the early years. There’s no relationship between biological sex and gender role. Although this has been a hugely studied work, there is some criticisms that should be brought up. She was very young when she produced this study, so she was with little life experience and her judgement may have been influenced and slightly ‘over-the-top’ in places. She was known to have believed strongly in the idea that the environment is a major factor in shaping gender roles. Mead only spent six months in these places, so didn’t get the full yearly cycle. Errington and Gewertz (1989) recognised all of these problems and went to do the same study that Mead had done over 50 years before them. They went to the Tchambuli and recognised that women didn’t diominate men, nor did men dominate women. They believed that Mead being a women and experiencing what she may have thought ‘unfair’ at the time in 1930’s Western culture, may have changed her idea of what she was observing. Despite the flaws, this was still a great study that used cross-cultural research to investigate gender differences. In conclusion, I think that cross-cultural studies into gender differences has certainly provided a lot of evidence over the years to show that gender differences are a socially shaped. Traditions and values certainly shape cultural ideas, but maybe due to the nature of evolution, what might appear to be social to us, may now be biological within our bodies, so it would be harder for us to change our ways that we live. How to cite Are gender differences socially shaped?, Papers

Blues and Music free essay sample

Good day everyone, my name Is Oleo Jean and I will be your facilitator In todays discussion concerning the Influence of Music in our culture an values today. To begin lets start off with an overview of our discussion points for today which will include: (1) Music and radio the ways they have shaped American Culture and its value. (2) How music and a particular genre has personally affected me and those close to me. (3) How music has shaped cultural and social behavior within America.Music has been around for the ages but the question arises how has It had an impact on how it has been able to shape American cultures and values. We have been able to see through the years how it has aided in the shaping of identities, providing comfort when there was no other means from childhood to adulthood. It has been during this time that we have been able to see how it has affected relationships between parents and their children, schools and government all because of persons not approving of perhaps lyrics, sounds or even what those two areas may have caused young people to do In regards to dancing. Other music and dances that would fall in line with the Tango would be the Charleston and jitterbug. Both were inspired from jazz music however, it was recognized then as music and dancing that inspired unrestrained dances.Again these dances and music now are ever so accepted within the American culture. Jazz was only a segment of it as later, other genre came into light such as rock-n-roll. A combination of blues music, and traditional pop (both vocal and instrumental) combined to bring us a new sound entitled Rock and Roll. The combination of the two was considered to be the first Integration music as it was the means by which we could merge the sounds of what was recognized as rhythm and blues (the black sound) merged with country, folk and pop.Rock-n-roll has been accredited as the only new style of music hat has developed from a diverse set of influences with such a grand impact on numerous cultures. You may be asking how this could be with all the various genres that are available to the listening ear. Well the answer would be Marketing 101. Yes the industry came to understand that these new music genres rather it be Rock-n-roll or something closer to today like rap, the focus group for marketing are the youths within the household.

Managing cultures and influencing people

Culture can be defined as the socially transmitted behavior patterns, norms, beliefs and values of a given community (Vance and Yongsun 2010, p.43). Culture influences how individuals interact with one another in society. It shapes the behavior and thinking of people and can be transmitted or even lost. Different aspects of culture can be adopted or rejected by society depending on their impact on society as a whole.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Managing cultures and influencing people specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More People tend to be comfortable interacting with individuals with similar cultural backgrounds where there is interaction predictability. This is mainly because they share similar characteristics and traits such as language and traditions. Similarity in culture produces feelings of inclusion while feelings of exclusion are experienced by people who do not share the same culture. Individuals who fi nd themselves in situations where their culture is not similar will stand out and interaction uncertainty will occur. This article will discuss ways of managing culture and ways of influencing people (Deardorff 2009, p. 56). Culture is not confined to national or societal areas but can also be found in organizations. Each organization has its own unique culture in terms of management, rules and even code of conduct. Culture varies and can be influenced by different factors. Globalization has meant that organizations increasingly interact with markets that are culturally different from their countries of origin. This has introduced a new dimension in leadership whereby leaders are tasked with finding innovative ways to manage different markets with different needs influenced mainly by culture. Culture is not static and is constantly changing; sometimes at fast pace and other times it may take a long time. One way culture can be viewed is either tight or loose. Tight culture describes culture where society largely agrees on what is acceptable while in loose culture society is more liberal and tolerant of different views (Vance 2010, p. 49). Organizations have to view culture as an important factor to consider when making decisions. Globalization has caused inter-cultural convergence which in turn means organizations have to understand the culture of the markets they are involved in if they intend to remain profitable. Different cultures demand different management styles.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More An example is countries in the East like Japan putting a high value on their employees and seeking to develop their potential while countries in the West such the USA view employees merely as workers, there to deliver on their contractual obligations. The difference in the cultural attitudes of the two regions means that different approaches to managemen t are required. Organizations working in different countries will also encounter a difference in the way business agreements and contracts are arrived at. It is necessary for organizations to familiarize themselves with regional cultures so as to avoid mistakes that may affect their businesses negatively (Vance 2010, p. 49). Culture in organizations has been the focus of different studies by various experts. Different kinds of organizational cultures have been found to exist in different organizations. There are three theories that have been created to describe organization culture. They are theories X, J and Z. These theories were proposed in 1978 by Ouchi and Jaeger. Theory X describes the primarily bureaucratic culture that was found mainly in organizations in the West. Bureaucratic culture focuses on productivity and tends to ignore developing communication between management and workers. In theory J which was mainly found in organizations in Asia the organizations management al low a worker to have a participatory role in decision making and there is greater communication between upper management and employees. The culture in the organizations encourages employees to develop skills for the benefit of the organization. Theory Z combines the best aspects of X and J (Fitzgerald 2002.p. 51). Geert Hofstede through research came up with four dimensions that can be used to evaluate the kind of culture found in an organization. Power distance describes the relationship between superiors and subordinates, the acceptable inequality in terms of power between the two groups. The second dimension was uncertainty avoidance which describes the degree of risk that is acceptable. Individualism and collectivism describe the social structure in the organization, whether it is loose or tight. Lastly masculinity and femininity describe the part gender plays in the cultural dynamics of the organization.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Managing cultures and influencing people specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These elements were then used to create different models that describe the organizational culture found in organizations around the world. Market model are organizations with small power distance and weal uncertainty avoidance, they are decentralized and informal. Family models are centralized and informal with large power distances and weak uncertainty avoidance. Machine models are decentralized with small power distances and strong uncertainty avoidance while pyramid models are both informal and decentralized. They have large power distances and high uncertainty avoidance (Fitzgerald 2002, p.51). Events management is an industry that deals with people of different cultural background on a day to day basis. In this industry organizing and managing people is key for success to be achieved. Events management is a business that requires a strong leader to navigate and drive the bus iness down a successful road. There are very many challenges that arise when managing events and being prepared for any and all eventualities is very important. Events by their nature bring together people with different cultural backgrounds. These businesses require a work force that is highly dynamic and culturally sensitive in order to remain competitive. Events management businesses should be highly organized to deliver on client expectations. Events usually involve various other groups such as security, promoters and caterers; this means that leaders should be able to manage their own groups as well as other teams involved. Events management leaders must be able to delegate duties to various subordinates as the business involves different groups all working to achieve a common goal. The leaders must be tolerant of others but remain in a position of authority to be able to hold successful events (Bowdin 2010, p. 279). In managing organizations, leaders need to factor in differen t cultural influences. Leaders need to understand the cultures of the people they need to influence and proceed to use both formal and informal skills to achieve their goals. To be effective managers, leaders need to understand different cultures and be sensitive to the differences.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Leaders need to have an open-minded approach to be able to embrace the uniqueness of different cultures. Leaders must also be aware of different cultures and seek to understand them which in turn lead to professional development. Being sensitive to culture and cultural differences leads to organizational effectiveness and during interaction with new cultural markets business can navigate easily by avoiding making cultural mistakes that may offend the new markets. In events management there is great interaction with different cultures both in terms of employees and in business. Leaders who are sensitive to culture can communicate with employees and clients effectively leading to successful events (Moran et al 2010, p. 25). Another way to effectively manage cultures is through cross-cultural learning. This may involve educating the employees on cultural practices of the clients they are to interacting with. Cross-cultural learning can be done through training and education. The traini ng of employees promotes cross cultural communication. When employees communicate with clients effectively there is bound to be an increase in business and profits. People tend to respond to the familiar and through cross-cultural learning employees can promote the building of relationships with clients. In the events management industry understanding the culture of clients is important in staging successful events. Cross-cultural learning promotes effective communication which is important to avoid offending any cultural aspects of clients (Moran et al 2010, p. 25). For a business to succeed, it needs to embrace global transformation. As businesses move into new markets they bring on work forces that have different cultures and consumers with different cultures. To be successful in these markets the organizations need to globally transform by going global. This means the businesses need to learn the new markets prevailing cultures and transform into companies and organizations that are acceptable in the new markets. Events management industries are not an exception. Events attract different people with different cultural backgrounds. Holding an event that caters to the cultural needs of the clients is part of the job description for events management companies. The companies must be aware of any cultural aspects that are unique and ensure that the event is in line with the cultural needs (Moran et al 2010, p. 25). The type of leadership plays a central role in managing cultures and influencing people in an organization. Leaders must be well informed on the type of culture that an organization has adopted. The leaders must then take advantage of existing organization cultures and keeping the strong points while doing away with the weak aspects of the organizational cultures. Leaders should then proceed to teach organizational culture through socializing. In this way employees can pass on the knowledge to fellow employees. Socializing may involve the introducti on of new culture into the organization. There are various methods that can be used to pass on culture in an organization. It may involve the use of symbols which is one of the most effective ways of communicating culture. Introduction of new culture might be met with resistance and leaders must be ready to tackle such a situation. A positive, patient and understanding approach is best suited for such an eventuality (Griffin and Moorhead 2011, p. 515). In my work as an events manager, I have found that theory Z works the best. Theory Z describes an organization that is decentralized, formal and practices collectivism. As an events manger I have come to appreciate the advantages that come with having a strong team. I have used theory Z which has meant encouraging my juniors to give in ideas on how to better service delivery to the clients. I have seen the benefit of using tools such as in house training and team building activities to improve the skill level of employees. I have an o pen door policy where anyone of the staff can approach me with ideas or problems. I have developed a culture of accountability in the work place where employees are encouraged to make independent decisions when they can which they are accountable for. This has created a feeling of ownership in the staff and by encouraging employees to be creative and innovative the company has attracted more clients in areas it was not traditionally catering to. I still maintain overall authority but delegating duties has meant that I have more time to concentrate primarily on managerial duties instead of losing time on putting out small fires. Having a culture that allows greater freedom for ideas to flow is the best for any organization. In events management it is best to always be prepared and having a staff that is capable and empowered to handle different situations has been invaluable. Adopting a culture that rewards the effort of staff has also helped to improve the business. Adopting an orga nizational culture that acknowledges the value of employees and allows me to assert my authority has contributed to my professional development as an events manger. Leadership is vital in the management of culture in an organization. The type of leader reflects in the overall culture of an organization. Culture is dynamic and leaders should be prepared to change organizational culture when necessary. Leaders greatly influence the people they interact with, whether they are clients or employees. Leaders should strive to influence employees and even clients in constructive ways that have positive results on the bottom line of an organization. In the events management industry culture plays an important role. Successful events take into consideration the cultural background of the attendants and ensure that cultural biases and norms are respected. In an event the food and entertainment should cater to the cultural demands of the guests. The workforce in events management companies shou ld be trained on handling people with different cultural backgrounds and not discriminate on any cultural aspects of the guests. A leader in an events management company should be always alert and aware of various cultural aspects of different people and work to ensure the events are catered with the highest level of professionalism. Events usually involve other institutions such as the police force leaders must ensure the various groups involved all work in harmony (Moran et al 2010, p. 25). In conclusion leaders are responsible for the culture and the cultural trends in an organization. The leaders should establish a culture that allows harmony is achieved in all aspects of the organization as far as culture is concerned. The culture in the organization should be all inclusive and not seek to discriminate anyone. Leaders are tasked to lead by example and adopt flexible approaches when cultural matters arise. The leaders should seek to learn about the cultures of different potentia l and existing clients. The leaders should establish a culture that allows all employees to interact with one another which allows information to flow easily in the organization. With the change in global trends the organization should adopt new technology. The use of social networking site is an example of new global culture that companies can use to their advantage. Leaders should have the vision and insight to lead organizations and companies into new markets even if they are culturally different. Reference List Bowdin, G., 2010. Events Management. Burlington: Routledge. Deardorff, D. K., 2009. The Sage handbook of intercultural competence.Carlifornia: SAGE. Fitzgerald, S. P., 2002. Organizational Models. Oxford: John Wiley Sons. Griffin, W. R. and Moorhead G., 2011. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Moran, R. T. et al, 2010. Global Leadership Strategies for Cross Cultural Business Success. London: Routledge Vance, C. M. and Yong sun P., 2010. Managing a global workforce: challenges and opportunities in international human resource management .New York: Sharpe This report on Managing cultures and influencing people was written and submitted by user Mayson Vargas to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Internet Will Isolate Us †Psychology Short Essay

The Internet Will Isolate Us – Psychology Short Essay Free Online Research Papers The Internet Will Isolate Us Psychology Short Essay With the development of computer, Internet is widely used in the world. Everyday thousands of people surf the Internet scanning the latest news, chatting with others, playing online games and so on. But I think it will isolate us in one way. There is always a generation gap, but nowadays many children spend lots of time playing and chatting online which results in the reduction of the communication between their parents and them, so that the gap widen day by day. Not only the children but some adults will be affected in the same way. As days go by, they will be used to chatting online and feel an aversion to the outside forms of socializing. They just feel intolerable once communicating face to face. At the same time, does chatting online mean bringing us closer? Certainly not. Can’t you see cheats are discovered one after another some of which even lead to the cheated ones’ suicide. Friends are friends when, and only when, you have seen the whites of their eyes. In a word, the Internet will isolate us completely one day if we don’t pay enough attention to it. Research Papers on The Internet Will Isolate Us - Psychology Short EssayEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Spring and AutumnPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andWhere Wild and West MeetHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayComparison: Letter from Birmingham and Crito

David Tudor and Gordon Mumma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

David Tudor and Gordon Mumma - Essay Example The works of David Tudor was very significant and noted for their utilization of electronic circuits in creating different sounds. His â€Å"quirky† use of electronics has made a great impact on many of the modern day composers. In conversation with David Behrman, Ron Kuivilla stated that â€Å"†¦.the instability of the electronics, the absence of presets and the viewpoint configuration defies the identity of the composition, combine to make it very difficult to distinguish performance from composition.’ (Behrman 14) The circuitry that he made use of for all his compositions was not only original but so very complicated, that it made it very difficult to understand the working of the piece. Only now, so many years after his passing, are colleagues and fans trying to understand the complicated circuitry used by David Tudor. Most of this was due to the fact that Tudor didn’t label any physical parts, and sketched his circuits out on paper. (Adams) It was this pragmatic approach towards music that helped David Tudor earn a prestigious place in the history of experimental music.

Discuss the implications of your interpretation for social justice Essay

Discuss the implications of your interpretation for social justice - Essay Example This is a chart which tells the viewer that there is not much change in very poor demographics, and that poverty seems to be a cycle that keeps households in low incomes at levels of low opportunity to change incomes. Thinking of how this chart relates to social justice, one can think about various theoretical and practical measures that can develop to solve the problem of income disparity and of the poor remaining poor, domestically. There are many tactics to use, ranging from class-struggle theory to the more practical application of income variability advocacy and systemic delivery of access to equal education from private and public entities. Advocacy on the issue of equity within a universal and equalized educational system not based on property tax rates, could be developed to fight for social justice on a targeted and specific level by expanding the definition of the problem to focus on the people who are living in impoverished situations. Social justice advocacy could examine development based on accessibility, the cycle of poverty, and attention to the local level in examining the problems on a policy level as well It is important to approach the problem of poverty’s perpetuation directly rather indirectly, but effectively, by assaying investment trends and asking unanswered questions, following an estimation of where the money goes in terms of the populations who seem to need it most. Others describe the cycle of poverty more directly, not just in offhanded terms buried within a chart that is basically about making money, but as a direct study of impoverished areas that relies extensively on previous studies and seeks to establish demographic patterns. Although these two perspectives are basically talking about the same thing in terms of distance, the approach used by different methods of presentation is varied. Overall, however, those in low income areas have traditionally experienced difficulties in

Political Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Islam - Essay Example As a consequence, the only recourse left to a woman was to be a wife or a whore1. Whether this is an overstatement largely remains to the interpretation of an individual differently. Nevertheless, there is one thing for sure that many arguments propounded by men will be filled by biases and stereotyping. Paradoxically, the society we live in has come to agree with some of these fallacies conceived about women. Ironically, most people normally find solution in religion but Islam as a dominant religion offers so little protection for the woman. Qasim wonders why the same men would go such a long way to demean women. He observes that although men tend to discriminate against women based on their ignorance2, their mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are not included in the same category. Qasim goes on to ponder whether a man’s happiness can be complete without women. Qasim also notes that out of their ego, men deprive themselves of the greatest delight in the world3 Scholars se em to have noticed that the most affected person is a woman who confesses Islam as faith. It should be noted that Islam has only been used here as an example but not as to attack its dogma. Mahfouz notes in the book Palace Walk, the plight of women especially under brutal and irresponsible husband. According to Mahfouz, husbands have failed to play their roles as husbands and consequently left women at the temptation of developing bad habit to supplement the missing part of their married life. Mahfouz notes on the very first page how women would do anything just to keep their men happy. The first victim of abuse Mahfouz presents is Amina. Amina has no alarm clock to wake her up at midnight to wait for her husbands return. She has a duty to welcome back her husband who allegedly goes for evening entertainment every evening4. It is past midnight and as a good wife, Amina struggles to keep awake so that after she has served her husband food she can go to bed. On personal qualities, Mah fouz presents Amina as a beautiful and obedient woman. She was married at the age of fourteen, implying that her education came abruptly to an end. Nonetheless, one cannot fail to notice that Amina was a bright woman. Her effort to try and correct her husband had not been taken kindly. The first time Amina had objected to her husbands night outs, his response had been to seize him by the ears and yell at her that he was the master. He had said, â€Å"I am a man. I am the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any criticism of my behavior. All I will ask of you is to obey me. Don’t force me to discipline you.†5 Since then, Amina had opted to leave that issue unaddressed. However, for how long was she going to assume that all is well when her husband induced that through fear and a show of power? In fact, Amina became convinced that true manliness, tyranny, and staying out until midnight were common characteristics of single entity. Like most women whose rights were annexed by their men, Amina was already between the devil and the deep sea. Mahfouz has portrayed Jalila the vocalist as irresistible. She easily goes with different men at different times, a perfect picture of beauty who was herself a victim of tyranny of manliness. It is ironical that even Sultana attends the performances, which were in many cases characterized by immorality. For Jalila, it was business as usual as long as the fire was burning. It is

Benefits and Strategies of Learning Through Play

Benefits and Strategies of Learning Through Play Play is essential in child’s early years. In my model of play, every area is interrelated in regards to play. Play can happen at any point of time and at any place. From a child’s perspective, play is enjoyable and imaginative. Educators play an important role in planning play activities in the curriculum and to sustain their thinking. Background of the family reflects how children play at home and with their peers. In my model of play, a cultural-historical theory drives my play practices. According to Vygotsky, â€Å"Children will give new meaning to objects in their play in order to progress imaginary play† and to understand reality by learning how people work through role-playing (Fleer, 2013). He also continued that professionals in early childhood will contribute in children’s play through interactions in sustained shared thinking and through play connections with children (Fleer, 2013). Thus; my model of play revolves around these important aspects for a child – culture, play, educator, curriculum, family and educator. Each aspect will be further explaining in the following: Play Cultural –historical view of play can be reflected in my model of play. In this model, children engaged in both structured and unstructured play. In unstructured play, children will develop a state of mind, helping them to deal with feelings or challenges in their life and at the same time, providing opportunities for them to explore different ways in doing things (Bruce, 2011). From a child’s perspective, they use very minimal effort to move between play and real world (Edmiston, 2008). When they play, they create imaginary situations. These imaginary situations are based on their real-world experiences and children give new senses to their movements and objects (Fleer, 2013). I observed how these two girls, Ann (three years old) and May (six years old) playing at the kitchen corner. They are creating imaginary situations. In their play, they take on roles. They pretend to be mother and baby. As they are in their imaginary situations, children began to move away from r eality. They became more detailed in taking their roles. In my observations, Ann began to sound like a baby and will seek attention from her â€Å"mother†. Both children learn about everyday concepts as they observe how their mother takes care of baby. From there, they also picked up scientific concepts about movement like walking, carrying baby dolls and cuddling. Culture The family background of the child sets conditions for play. Usually, children imitate the role of the people they have most contact with. For example, if children will imitate the role of the teacher when they are at home; or in school, they will take on the role of their mother as they had been observing how she manages the kitchen daily. As children develop their play, they adopt the role and create their make-believe stories. In my observations on my play model, Ann and May adopt the roles of mother and baby and they moved on to puppetry play and bake cookies. When children are in play, children move in and out of imaginary situations (Fleer, 2013). They use special languages to communicate to draw a line between real worlds and play experiences. Children also use their language based on their family background. As May and Ann are Malays, they have included their mother tongue in their play conversations. They used, â€Å"ka kak† which means sister in their conversation. T his also explains that culture reflects on how children interact in their play experiences. It frames on how children play occurs based on their everyday experiences. In Vygotsky’s theory, he noted that a child’s daily life experiences sets and frames on how play may occur and children will not play freely (Fleer, 2010). Curriculum In my school, we believe that children learn through play. In our planning, we engage children in purposeful play and as well as free play. Thus, we do not provide worksheets for children to work on. For example, children (aged 3 years old) will be hunting for items associated with letter ‘f’, explore what they can do their feet and traced the letter by walking on the letter. As children are still developing their fine motor skills, teachers should not be stressing if the child is able to write. Instead, teachers can work on their gross motor skills and they learn through kinetic movements. From children’s perspective, they view it as play as they get to walk, jump and most importantly, it is enjoyable and fun. In my school, children also participated in projects. We lead provocation through their play activities. During the interactions, teachers and children are involved sustained shared thinking. Sustained shared thinking is an effective interaction where two or more parties and â€Å"working together† to understand concepts, cracking a problem and extending conversations and activities (Siraj-Blatchford, 2007). In our play incidents during our project, we sustain children’s thinking by asking open-ended questions. Our curriculum is also tied closely to Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergarten framework. In a Kindergarten Learning Forum opening speech by Ms Indranee Rajah, she mentioned that MOE strongly believes that the critical principle of learning in the early years is engaging in learning through purposeful play (MOE, 2012). They believe that children will learn through purposeful play as they are feeling competent about their ability to learn and develop their physical, cognitive, emotional and social skills. In my centre, we believe that children are competent and engage children in both purposeful play and as well as free play. Therefore, my model of play ties in closely with my school’s curriculum which we encourage children to learn through play and as well as referring to MOE’s kindergarten framework to support children in purposeful play activities. Educators As educators, we play critical role in sustaining children in play. We need look into our pedagogical role in engaging children in play. As children change the meaning of objects we have to look into the depth of play experiences to ensure that these play experiences benefit the children. When a purposeful play activity happens, Educators have to thoughtfully plan the activities with appropriate resources and materials for children to explore. Teachers have to constantly reflect on their teaching practices to see whether their planned activities are inviting children’s interest to be engaged and learning (Lim, 2010). Thus, teachers should provide a variety of play activities in child’s learning and a balance of play and work activities. These balance of play and work activities should include unstructured play to structured play such as from child-initiated play to teacher directed play. Educators should also take note of the sensitivity interaction between child and adult in play and playful experiences activities. Some play does not have to be guide by adults but educators should note that they have to be around even though it is free play for children. Even though the school has a strong curriculum, teachers have to be culturally sensitive to understand each and every child who enters to the classroom. Thus, as educators, we should not be stereotyping the children through similar characteristics of the children. Instead, we should take time to listen to the children when they are at play and interactions before we really make any conclusions on the child’s need and making it into his or her individual goals. This also explains that educators are also assessing for play. In Fleer’s (2010) explanation, assessment for play is how educators assess formative assessment and summaries the assessment at the end of a project or event. While observing the children, we also assess the children through play. This helps educators to do their observations and analyse when children are engaged entirely in play activities (Fleer, 2013). Teachers play a critical how in documenting down these play moments. Documentations can be recorded down in photographs, children’s voices or drawing which children is comfortable with and they can be displayed in the classroom. From all these play moments, children can find out what do they want to find out, and apply their knowledge gained from their inquiry. Fahey (as cited in Fleer, 2013) reasons in inquiry learning, that it is important to provide children the chance to ask questions, clarifying points and to be engaged in the topics which they are interested. This is also useful and going in depth of the child’s play so that learning can be furthered in play (Fleer, 2013). Teachers and children can also review their play activities in a form of KWL chart. This helps children to revisit the play activities and find out what they have learnt and how they can apply their knowledge gain in other situations. Environment Another aspect to discuss is the environment conditions and affordances in play. I believe that environment has an impact in play practices. Whether it is at school, community or at home, it provides different opportunities for the child to learn in daily life. At school, based on child’s interest, educators can then work on setting up the relevant resources in the classroom. Hedges (as cited in Lim, 2010) even inspire teachers to work together with children and sharing responsibility in order to have a child-initiated curriculum where teachers and children can co-construct appropriate and meaningful knowledge. In my school setting we believe that the environment is the third teacher. From a child’s perspective, the visual influences interaction and developing thinking and learning (Strong-Wilson Ellis, 2007). As our school is inspired by Reggio Emilia, it advocates that teachers to take note to the numerous ways to use the space to invite interactions (Strong-Wilson Ellis, 2007). To encourage children to participate in their culture community and to engage in meaningful play activities, teachers who are influenced by Reggio Emilia have capitalize on the environment’s potential as a developmental niche where children acquire knowledge skills and understandings (New, 2007). Thus, at my school setting, the classroom has wide windows to allow natural light to shine through the class. The resources used in the classroom are closest to the natural materials such as twigs, leaves, branches. This can form part of children’s play as they use these materials to create new meanings and interact with their peers and teachers. The environment also reflects school’s basis in John Dewey’s educational philosophy and Vygotsky’s social constructivist learning theory (Tar r, 2001). Both theorists â€Å"believe that children can best create meaning and make sense of their world through living in complex, rich environments which support complex, varied, sustained, and changing relationships between people, the world of experience, ideas and the many ways of expressing ideas† (Tarr, 2001, p.7). The outdoor environment also supports in children’s play. In my school, children are encouraged to engage in outdoor play activities. As my school setting are able to afford big spaces for children, we have the space for water play and sand play. This provides children to be exposed to a variety of play activities be it in classroom or outdoors. Family With reference to cultural-historical theory, play is learned in families (Fleer, 2013). Families can engage children in play and they can learn to pick up valued skills. For an example, parents will do house chores and from a child’s perspective, it is a play and fun activity in helping their parents. In this case, play has developed into an activity which children have contributed to the family. I feel that families should not neglect children’s play at home or when they are with them. Involving families in children’s play can motivate the child in learning and exploring new things, and fostering relationship between them. In conclusion, play is leading activity (Fleer, 2013) in a child’s life. By viewing at how each and every aspect contributes to play, as an educator, I have to constantly reflect on my teaching practices on how I can engage children in play. As technology has been moving rapidly, children are more engaged in technology such as iPad, children may forgo about playing physically with peer interactions. Thus, families and educators should be reminded that there should also be a balance between play activities for the child to be engaged and learn. Reference List Bruce, T. (2011). Learning through play: for babies, toddlers and young children (2nd ed.). London: Hodder Education. Edmiston, B. (2008). Chapter 1. Ethics in play. In B. Edmiston. Forming ethical identities in early childhood play, pp. 1 – 24. New York: Routledge. Fleer, M. (2010). Chapter 2. Parallel conceptual worlds. In Early learning and development: cultural-historical concepts in play, pp.20 -32. New York: Cambridge University Press. Fleer, M. (2013). Play in the Early Years. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Lim, S. M-Y. (2010). Reconsidering the play-work dichotomy in pedagogy. In M. Ebbeck M. Waniganayake (eds.). : Learning in diverse contexts, pp.141 -156. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Ministry of Education. (2012). Kindergarten learning forum. Retrieved June 19, 2014, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2012/11/20/opening-address-by-ms-indranee-rajah-at-kindergarten-learning-forum-2012.php New, R. S. (2007). Reggio Emilia as cultural activity theory in practice. Theory into Practice, 46(1), 5-13. Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2007). Creativity, communication and collaboration: The identification of pedagogic progression in sustained shared thinking. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 1(2), 3-23. Strong-Wilson, T., Ellis, J. (2007). Children and place: Reggio Emilias environment as third teacher. Theory into practice, 46(1), 40-47. Tarr, P. (2001). Aesthetic Codes in Early Childhood Classrooms: What Art Educators Can Learn from Reggio Emilia. Name: Loo Si Hui Student ID: 25687514 Page 1

The True Heroes in Hemingways The Sun Also Rises Essay -- Hemingway

The True Heroes in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises   Ã‚   The imagery of bulls and steers pervades Hemmingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises. Bullfighting is a major plot concern and is very important to the characters. The narrator physically resembles a steer due to the nature of his injury. Mike identifies Cohn as a steer in conversation because of his inability to control Brett sexually. Brett falls for a bullfighter, who is a symbol of virility and passion. However, there is a deeper level to the bull-steer dichotomy than their respective sexual traits. The imagery associated with bulls and steers is more illustrative than their possession or lack of testicles. In their roles and in the images associated with them, bulls are glorious, exciting and dangerous. Steers are humble, impotent and safe. Hemmingway's treatment of these associations favors an ethic of weakness prevailing over strength. Despite the seeming advantages to being a bull and the explicit statements in their favor, steers are the true heroes in Hemmingway's novel .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The imagery associated with bulls and steers is confusing, since it is clearly supportive of bulls over steers. Bulls are associated with passion. Those who identify with bulls through their enthusiasm for bullfighting are called "aficionado" from the Spanish word for passion (131). Those who lack aficion are valueless while a true aficionado is a "buen hombre" (132). The bulls are "beautiful," muscular, aggressive and "dangerous" (139, 141). Because of their physical prowess and their sexual potency, bulls are capable of ascending to the heights of glory. They arouse passions in the crowds who gather to watch them run and fight. In sharp contrast, the steers are weak and emasculate. ... ...dencies. Without the bulls, the steers would stagnate. Without the steers, the bulls would self-destruct. The novel is a story about passion and how it must be pacified by the pedantic voice of normalcy. The way of the steer rescues the way of the bull from its conclusion in self-annihilation. In turn, the aficion of the bulls gives meaning and purpose to the life of the steer.    Works Cited and Consulted: Bloom, Harold. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc., 1993. Kerouac, Jack. On The Road. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976. Svoboda, Frederic J. Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises: The Crafting of a Style. Kansas: The University Press of Kansas, 1983. Young, Philip. "Ernest Hemingway." Encyclopedia International. v. 8, p.388-389. 1982 ed.

The Need to Introduce Flexible Benefit Plans for Employees

The employees of today†s workforce are divers. With such a workforce at hand, an employer must have a flexible benefit plan to match the composition of its employees. Flexible benefit plans are a written plan under which employees of a company are allowed to choose two or more benefits consisting of cash and qualified benefits (Everett & Miller, 1994). Some benefits offered under a flexible benefit plan are health care, dental, reimbursement accounts, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment coverage, long-term disability, vacation, retirement savings, spouse accidental death and dismemberment coverage, and dependent care (Kleiner & Sparks, 1994). A young couple can be assured that their jobs not only meet the daily needs of their growing family, but that their children are covered for very little cost in their own employer-provided hospitalization and health care insurance. A worker employed by the same organization, approaching retirement, can choose benefits that will maximize his/her retirement income as much as possible. With his/her own children grown-up, he/she needs to attend only to his/her own needs. Also known as â€Å"cafeteria plans,† the organization offering a choice of applicable benefits to their employees ensures that the benefits for which they pay are the most useful for each of their employees. Costs are rising in almost every area of benefit provision and administration. The organization is able to secure more favorable rates for those benefits used, if the organization is not required to provide the same service to each employee (Webster, 1996). Employee benefit plans have had a long history, and can be traced back to 1794, when the first profit-sharing plan was created by Albert Gallatin in his glassworks in Pennsylvania (Kleiner & Sparks, 1994). Another notable benefit plan includes those made by the American Express Company in 1875 with the first private pension plan, and the first group annuity contract issued in 1921 by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (Kleiner & Sparks, 1994). These early benefit plans were only the beginning of the benefit packages. As it turns out, the Social Security Act of 1935 gave employees across the country a legal framework that supported the development of many forms of employee benefits. Very few employers provide full family health care coverage at no cost to the employee in today†s world, but everyone can save when they provide that coverage only to those who need it. Even though the employee almost always shares the cost now, the employer still provides the major portion of the cost of health care insurance. In today†s increasingly competitive business climate, everyone is forced to operate as efficiently as possible. The advantage to the organization and employees of having a flexible benefit plan is clear. Businesses are not required to pay for services its employees will never seek. For instance, pediatric care was provided across the board in one organization, a significant numbers of the company†s leadership were well past the point of needing that type of coverage for their family (Webster, 1996). Flexible benefit plans can be a very important tool for recruiting new employees and retaining current employees. Also, the costs of administering such plans may be offset to a large extent by the payroll tax savings generated when employees convert previously taxable compensation and income into a nontaxable fringe benefit tax (Everett & Miller, 1994). Flexible benefit plans also provide the employee with the advantage of being able to ensure that benefits chosen are those that best meets their needs. The primary advantage of flexible benefit plans is that the employer and employee receive certain tax advantages. This depends on the types of programs the employee chooses. In some cases, the employee may choose cash rather than any benefits at all, but that option is dependent on company policy. For instance, many companies offer pay in lieu of off the job vacation time, but other companies insist that employees take their accrued vacation time. Another advantage of flexible benefit plans is the ability of the organization to shift some of the cost of benefits to the employees who use them, while simultaneously offering tax advantages in other areas such as 401K plans. Any benefit that is not paid in cash, but is treated as such, is taxable to the employee, but the employee tax liability decreases the employer†s. Any benefit that does not satisfy the nondiscrimination clause of the Internal Revenue code is taxable (Webster, 1996). Other benefits are nontaxable either to the employee or to the employer. To be nontaxable, the benefit must be a qualified benefit under Section 125. Such qualified benefits include accident or health plans, disability benefits, accidental death and dismemberment benefits, the first $50,000 of group term life insurance, a group dependent care assistance plan, and a group legal services plan (Webster, 1996). A disadvantage of flexible benefit plans is that employees are often overwhelmed by the numerous choices a plan may have to offer. In many cases, companies are contracting accountants, financial planners, investment counselors and other consultants to help employees wade through the vast array of options (Jurek, 1995). Such consultant use increases the employers† costs of providing the flexible benefits plans, but employers believe the guidance is needed. As for the IRS, it only requires organizations make flexible benefit plans available to all employees, not explain the intricacies of all options. Employers† that provide flexible benefit plans show the desire to in increase employees† loyalty to the company. In an increasingly tight labor market and faced with the necessity of operating as efficiently as possible, in order to remain competitive, employers view the flexible benefit plan as a tool to enhance employee morale. Flexible benefit plans are also used to improve employer-employee relationships, reduce overall costs of providing benefits, and reduce the incidence of employee turnover (Leonard, 1994). Replacing an employee can cost more than the annual salary of that employee, so it is to the employer†s advantage to retain as stable a workforce as possible (Leonard, 1994). From both the employer and the employee point of view, flexible benefit plans make sound financial sense (Kleiner & Sparks, 1994). These plans provide a way for employers to control and budget benefit cost. At the same time, it is also a way for employees to enhance their benefits while paying expenses with pre-taxed dollars.

Collect and Plant an Acorn to Grow an Oak Tree

Collect and Plant an Acorn to Grow an Oak Tree Beginning as early as late August and continuing through December, various species of oak acorns are maturing and ripening for collection. Ripening dates vary from year to year and from state to state by as much as three to four weeks, making it difficult to use actual dates to determine maturity. The best time to collect acorns, either off the tree or from the ground, is when they begin falling- just that simple. Prime picking is late September through the first week in November, depending on oak tree species and location within the United States. This tree seed called an acorn is perfect when plump and the cap removes easily. Collecting and Storing Acorns The height of the acorn crop above the ground and the forest understory below can make it very difficult for the casual collector to gather large numbers of acorns in a forest setting. Lawns or paved areas help in collecting acorns if trees are found and prepared before site conditions degrade the nut. Locate open-grown trees that are heavily loaded with acorns and are in or adjacent to parking lots such as at churches or schools. Trees selected in this way also make identifying the acorns species easier. Always identify the tree and place tags or mark the bags so you will know what species you have collected. To store acorns for future planting, put them in a polyethylene plastic bag- a wall thickness of four to ten millimeters is best- with damp peat mix or sawdust. These bags are ideal for storing acorns since they are permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen but impermeable to moisture. Close the bag loosely and store in the refrigerator at 40 degrees (white oaks can still sprout at between 36 and 39 degrees). Check acorns throughout the winter and keep just barely damp. Red oak acorns need about 1000 hours of cold or about 42 days. Planting these acorns in late April of the following season gives you the best success but can be planted later. Preparing for Planting The two most critical components of caring for acorns that are to be planted are: not allowing the acorns to dry out over an extended period of timenot allowing the acorns to heat up. Acorns will lose their ability to germinate very quickly if allowed to dry out. Keep acorns in the shade as you collect them, and put them in your refrigerator as soon as possible if not planting immediately. Dont freeze acorns. Immediate planting should be limited to the white oak species group including white, bur, chestnut and swamp oak. Red oak species group acorns must be planted in the second season- meaning the following spring. Special Instructions White Oak  acorns mature in one season- the season of collection. White oak acorns do not exhibit seed dormancy and will start to germinate very soon after maturing and falling to the ground. You can plant these acorns immediately or refrigerate for later planting. Red Oak  acorns mature in two seasons. The red oak group has to have some seed dormancy and generally does not germinate until the following spring and with some stratification (a cooling period). If stored properly and kept damp, these red oak acorns can be held in cold storage for planting in late April through early summer. Germinating and Potting After determining the proper time to plant, you should select the best-looking acorns (plump and rot-free) and place those in some  loose potting soil in one-gallon pots or deeper containers. The taproot will grow quickly to the bottom of containers and root width is not as important. Containers should have holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. Place acorns on their sides at a depth of one-half to the width size of the acorn. Keep the soil moist but aerated. Keep the pots from freezing. Transplanting Dont allow an oak seedling’s tap root to grow out of the container bottom and into the soil below. This will break the taproot. If possible, seedlings should be transplanted as soon as the first leaves open and become firm but before extensive root development occurs.​ The planting hole should be twice as wide and deep as the pot and root ball. Carefully remove the root ball. Gently set the root ball in the hole with the root crown at the level of the soil surface. Fill the hole with soil, firmly tamp and soak.

Plagiarism in Higher Learning Essay Example

Plagiarism in Higher Learning Essay Example Plagiarism in Higher Learning Essay Plagiarism in Higher Learning Essay Plagiarism in Higher Learning The types of free essays available online often begin with misattributed or irrelevant quotes, such as the words of wisdom offered by astronaut Lt. Rick Astley, who warned that, We, as intelligent, sentient beasts, must devour our young before they can rise up and take control, because inside we both know whats been going on. We know the game and were gonna play it and if you ask me how Im feeling, dont tell me youre too blind to see. It is very easy to catch students who resort to sing free papers from the internet because those essays are often of low quality and are easily searchable through search engines like Google and by using more sophisticated software like Turnitin. With outcomes like wasted time, money, and ruined opportunities for education, the consequences of academic dishonesty far outweigh the few meager benefits. Consider this example: If you spent a lot of effort on writing an essay, would you make it available online for free? Of course you wouldnt. And would you c heck essays for plagiarism if you find such? Sure, you would. You would want some sort of compensation for your intelligence and hard work. So why would you expect a free paper to be worth using? In the end, the amount of time you spend finding a relevant free paper online is probably less than you would use in actually doing the work yourself. Additionally, you wont learn anything by cheating and using an essay from the internet, so youre wasting your own time and money (when considering tuition). So what happens when someone lies and says that an essay is their work, but is actually from some shitty website? Well, teachers and faculty members who read ssays for a living are easily able to discern whether the student in their class produced the writing. These teachers then use their available resources, such as simple search engines and the above mentioned software to determine with absolute certainty that the student has obtained a pre-written paper from an outside source. Penalties for plagiarism vary from school to school, but punishments usually include failing the class (not Just the assignment), revocation of any funding (such as scholarships or stipends), and expulsion. So a student who chooses to cheat instead of doing the work themselves not only wastes their own time and money, they will likely also end up living back at their moms house and working at McDonalds. It is almost certain that the average plagiarist will become addicted to huffing glue and will never enjoy sexual intercourse again. Please remember that Wikipedia is basically a heap of digital garbage that will rarely teach you anything accurate. Using Wikipedia for research is the equivalent of licking a bicycle seat and claiming to have lost ones virginity. Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, and offenders are subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion. In summation, students should make at least a minimal effort and their work will far outshine any of the free essays available online. These sites appear to be run by frustrated, illiterate pedophiles and only offer the student a quick route to getting kicked out of school and blowing the chances they had at being successful, intelligent, and happy.

Soap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Soap - Essay Example A particular symptom of GERD is heartburn. Other indications involve regurgitation, epigastric pain, hoarseness, wheezing, and coughing. *taken from Chandrasoma & DeMeester, 2006 Pathophysiology of HTN As indicated by pathophysiology of hypertension (HTN) research, high blood pressure could be categorized as either essential or secondary. The former, essential hypertension is a pressure increase because of unidentified clinical causes. While, secondary hypertension is a pressure increase because of some other primary health illnesses such as kidney problems, tumors, diabetes, etc. Chronic hypertension can lead to stroke, heart failure, heart diseases, heart attack, and other illnesses. *taken from Izzo, Sica & Black, 2007 Pathophysiology of DM The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus is connected to insulin, which is a hormone produced by the pancreas’s beta cells. This hormone is in charge of sustaining glucose amount in the blood. It enables the cells to utilize glucose as t he primary source of energy. Yet, in a person suffering from diabetes, because of anomalous insulin metabolism, the body tissues and cells do not utilize glucose from the blood, leading to an increased glucose level in the blood or also called ‘hyperglycemia’. ... If a person has a low BMD, s/he has osteopenia. Developing osteopenia implies there is a higher risk that, over time, a person could have BMD that is quite lower than normal, referred to as ‘osteoporosis’. *taken from McIlwain, Cruse, Bruce, & McIlwain, 2004 Application of Advanced Nursing Practice Framework Three distinct methods of abdominal pain assessment may be determined from the evaluation, which are (1) the appearance of the patient (dependence on observation), (2) the gestures and statements of the patient (dependence on the expressions of the patient), and (3) the normal condition (dependence on typology). In evaluating the postoperative pain of the patient, the nurse should depend on one of these three methods to get attain the level and quality of the abdominal pain of the patient during assessment. When the nurse depends on ‘the appearance of the patient’ or observation, s/he will make use of information gathered concerning objective facts such as posture or movements, skin color, vital signs to get to abdominal pain assessment. In contrast, when the nurse depends on ‘the gestures and statements of the patient’ or expressions, the nurse will have to regard the patient’s statement and gesture as the appropriate information for the type and level of abdominal pain the patient is experiencing. The nurse depending on ‘the normal condition’ or typology should pay attention to the conditions and characteristics of diagnostic or special tests, the time since examination, or the characteristics of the patient like sex, age, etc. in identifying the kind of pain felt by the patient. *taken from Whyte, 1997 Application of Family Stress Theory Family stress theory offers a

Explain and discuss how Globalisation has affected the growth of Essay

Explain and discuss how Globalisation has affected the growth of international business - Essay Example In any case, it has been proved that globalisation can highly affect the growth of international business but the process used for the achievement of this target is not standardized. The involvement of globalisation in the growth of international business has been highlighted in the literature and the empirical research; however, academic researchers have employed in order to justify the power of globalisation on international business. In accordance with Dunning (1999), globalisation offers to businesses the chance to expand their activities in the global market, either physically or through the Internet. Reference is made, for example, to the case of the communications industry where globalisation has given ‘enormous opportunities for expansion and high profits for the industry’s major firms’ (Dunning 141). Another example used in the study of Dunning for showing the relationship between globalisation and international business is that of the financial services firm Merrill Lynch, a firm ‘operating in about 31 countries’ (Dunning 141). In accordance with the view of Dunning, as presented above, globalisation can support the development of businesses internationally; however, such benefit is expected to be available only to large firms, which have the resources necessary for enjoying the benefits of globalisation. Small and medium sizes firms would face many difficulties in entering the global market; moreover, the firms of this size could not compete international firms. In other words, globalisation could support the growth of businesses internationally, but such prospects would involve mostly in firms of large size – as also explained in the study of Dunning (1999) above. A different perspective of globalisation is highlighted in the study of Worthington & Britton (2009); in accordance with the above study, the international market is not related only to international businesses; it is suggested that ‘businesses of all sizes should be aware of their international context’ (Worthington & Britton 45). Moreover, it is made clear that one of the key benefits that globalisation can offer to businesses internationally is the provision of an extended market for their products/ services. In other words, for the above researcher, the concept of globalisation reflects the existence of a market, which is geographically expanded as possible – covering the markets of all countries worldwide. In the study of Wall and Minocha (2009) emphasis is given on the use of globalisation for achieving benefits in a wide area of activities/ areas, including trade, politics and sociology. Regarding specifically trade, globalization is expected to have specific benefits: improvement of the quality and the level of trade developed among states and organizations internationally (Wall & Minocha 2009); moreover, globalisation could help toward the ‘increase of the international capital flows’ ( Wall and Minocha 2009, p. 14). Also, globalization could help towards the increase of ‘capital flows worldwide’ It is expected that businesses, which operate globally, would be also strongly benefited from globalisation. However, an important implication of the view of Wall & Minocha (2009) on globalisation would be the following one: not all firms of large size are able to compete their rivals; the lack of effective management would not allow firms of small/ medium size to get access to the international

Catawba County, NC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Catawba County, NC - Essay Example With regards to law and governance, Catawba County is a member of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments. The 2010 census noted that there were 154,356 people living within the county. Similarly, the 2000 census noted that 146,515 people inhabited the county; representing around a 5.1% increase in total population over a ten year period (Basso 29). As opposed to the earlier representations of the economy which have been noted, the current economy of Catawba county relies heavily upon industrial manufacturing. This has partly been born out of the fact that the transportation hub of rail and highway as it developed helped the region to become highly competitive with skilled labor and ease of access to markets along the eastern seaboard as well as the rest of the United States. As a function of a high number of skilled labor jobs, the economy of the region has fared relatively well in comparison to other less industrialized regions within the United States during the economic downtown which has been experienced (Employment and Earnings 216). One of the main bragging points that the county has is with regards to the high number of famous individuals that hail from Catawba. These include a grand total of 12 NASCAR drivers (on of these of course being Dale Jarett, a pair of actors (James Best and Matthew Settle), a litany of singers/songwriters (inclusive of a member of the Grateful Dead and Tori Amos), a beauty queen, and a host of well renowned sportsmen in almost every discipline. This wide variety of talent that the county itself has produced over the past few years helps to flavor its culture and underscore the fact that even though it could be understood as a solid core of manufacturing, mass transit, and industry, it nonetheless has a solid base of culture that it has developed and continues to export

Environmental Pressures Essay Example for Free

Environmental Pressures Essay All companies have moments of growth and decline. As companies age, change in the form of growth is brought about (Palmer, 2009, p.65). Companies look for the increases in revenue and ways to create more revenue. When money is being made growth happens, new jobs are created, expansions begin and technology is heightened. Last week Time Warner Cable announced that there will be a new CEO, as the current CEO, Glenn Britt will be retiring. The new CEO, Rob Marcus talked about the growth pressures concerning Time Warner Cable. Mr. Marcus emphasized the growth potential of selling data services to businesses, which is the fastest-growing sector of the cable industry. He also said Time Warner Cable is working to improve pricing and packaging and is hoping to retain customers by improving products like outdoor Wi-Fi. Identity Pressures Identity Pressures basically deals with the way a company brands themselves. Time Warner Cable brands themselves as a reputable and customer based oriented company. Time Warner Cable is dedicated to making their brand number one in the fields of cable, high speed data and telephony services. A commitment is given to customers to provide them with the best products and services they have to offer. Dish, satellite and ATT U-Verse attempt to compete, but when it comes to quality service, products and the commitment given to the consumers there is no better way to for the company’s identity to be missed. New Broom Pressures Time Warner Cable’s adds new members to the team that attempt to make changes bit it is not necessarily for the better. In the HR Department this past year a new VP was hired and due Environmental PressuresPage 3 to some of her background being shared before she arrived, people began looking for other jobs, all the supervisors that were in place when I was promoted a year and a half ago, have left the company in order not to work under her. There are many people that are not ready for change. Under the new VP, a lot of changes have taken place when the department all for the better of the department. Everything is a work in progress however, the  necessary changes that were needed have been implemented and work has become a great deal easier. Market Decline Pressures Time Warner and AOL were once partnered to together, it appeared that AOL was in a trend of continuous growth, however AOL began to suffer a decline in 2002 due to the pricing of broadband services being charged at $50.00 per month and consumers not wanting to pay that much for broadband services. A need for strategic changes by AOL, including partnering with cable companies and other options that move it away from overreliance on dial-up services, (Palmer, 2009). AOL eventually began providing free services there are still some customers that pay for AOL services plus the benefits they receive for using the technical department of AOL if needed. Hyper-competition Pressures Within my company, hyper-competition forced them to move quickly and audaciously to test their policies and theories. Time Warner Cable decided to change the way they did business when they branched out on their own from Time Warner Cable, Inc. Hyper-competitive can have dynamic and unpredictable environments which requires flexibility, innovation and a creative organization, which can easily adapt quickly to the changing rules of competition. Therefore, Time Warner Cable needed to change and management was pertinent to that change. What was Environmental PressuresPage 4 Challenging to management was how they would combine the need for long-term sustainability with continuous flexibility in terms of how the organization technology would change if at all. Time Warner Cable needed to develop a high degree of dynamic capabilities, which was the center of meeting the tensions of the capability and structural challenge. The organizational aspects and capabilities goes hand in hand as enabler and at the same time facilitate a successful emergent change process in hypercompetitive industries. Flexibility Flexibility can be a reason for changes in the competitive environment in an appropriate and timely way. Flexibility comes from managerial capabilities  (management challenge) and the responsiveness of the organization (organization design challenge).Flexibility requires a constructive discord between change and preservation. Strategic flexibility is an increasingly sought-after competitive element in today’s fast-paced and changing world. (Englehardt, 2002) Reputation and Credibility Pressures Time Warner Cable has pride in their reputation. A company’s reputation can be damaged at the drop of a dime. All it takes is an unsatisfied customer to speak negatively about a company or bring up a potential law suit against a company. Time Warner Cable has a team legal team staffed in house at Corporate however, all attempts are made on the lower levels to diffuse the situation before it gets that far. It a company’s reputation is ruined, there is serious backlash from it, the company loses customers, hence revenue, potential job loss can occur and worst of all the company doors can close. Reputation can be in formation of customer loyalty (Nguyen, 2001). Credibility is major, if consumer cannot count on a company to do what it is Environmental PressuresPage 5 they say they are going to do, consumers will go else and not mind paying a higher rate to get what they want. Customers want to know that the companies / organizations are trustworthy and they can count on them to be there and provide them with the services and products they want. Environmental and Organizational Pressures that exist Time Warner Cable has and does face environmental pressures on a daily basis. There is constant pressure to change strategies. Time Warner Cable is continuing to engage in new markets, corrections of internal issues are made. Basically everything is controllable it may take a little while but things are normally resolved in a 24-48 time period at the latest a 5 day period. One thing that Time Warner Cable has learned as a company is that with organizational change, there may or may not be an innovational change. Financial Perspective From a financial perspective concerning environmental and organizational pressures, things could go either way, we try to predict the way things will work out from a financial view point but the economy plays a major role. Consumers are becoming very careful with their spending. If thing begin to look bleak the finances go down. When the market is going well and profits are in the upswing then finance is great. Environmental and Organizational Pressures Impact The environmental and organizational pressures have impacted me personally as it affected my bonus this past year. I have received bonuses a great deal higher than what I received this year. I was slightly disappointed but still happy to receive a bonus all the same. Part of the bonus is based upon 80% what the company does and 20% is based upon performance. My performance was great, the company did well be not as well as in previous years. Environmental Pressures Page 6 Assessing how the organization has reacted to the organizational and environmental pressures Time Warner Cable’s reaction to organizational and environmental pressures are to regroup, see what we can change and do it better and how can we as an organization best serve our customers. By going back to the drawing board, great emphasis is placed on training, management strategizes on how to best retain current customer and how to gain new customers and customers and providing customers with the latest and greatest products, services and technology available. Time Warner is focusing on customer satisfaction. Reducing Environmental and Organizational Pressures One way Time Warner Cable can reduce their risk is by nurturing their responses when it becomes a little chaotic the pressure may appear to be small but it is all in the way the company decides to handle things. Reduction can be made concerning with organizational pressures by paying close attention to growth pressures. The potential growth of a company can helpful but it is necessary to hire smart. Strategies One strategy I would propose is for Time Warner Cable would be to listen to their customers and their employees. By listening to their customers better  offers and campaigns can be built in order to give them customers what they are asking for. Listening to the employees will help to bring about better services for their employees health and welfare. Environmental PressuresPage 7 Reference Charles S. Englehardt, Peter R. Simmons, (2002) Organizational flexibility for a changing world, Leadership Organization Development Journal, Vol. 23 Iss: 3, pp.113 121 Nha Nguyen, Gaston LeBlanc, (2001) Image and reputation of higher education institutions in students’ retention decisions, International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 6, pp.303 – 311 Palmer, I., Dunford, R., Akin, G. (2009). Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Social Media Approach As A Marketing Tool Media Essay

Social Media Approach As A Marketing Tool Media Essay Social media isnt a new Internet Hip that just popped up, but it has been around for years in the shape of forums and newsgroups. So what has changed? The introduction of various new tools and the tremendous increase of the internet user base in the last decade along with easier internet access gave the big push. To best define social media, we need to break it down. Social is relating to human society; the interaction of the individual and the group. Media is a medium of cultivation, conveyance, or expression (Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary). So, social media is a media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one-to-many aka traditional media) into social media dialogues (many-to-many). Primarily, social media depends on interactions between people -as discussions and integration of words -using tech nology as a conduit. Social media has been touted as presenting a fresh direction for marketing by allowing companies to talk with consumers, as opposed to talking at them (Wikipedia). It lives on the contributions and feedback of everyone. It eliminates the gap between the writers and the readers and forms a conversation-like content. As mentioned earlier, social media comes in the forms of various online tools or services. These can be categorized into numerous groups each with its own characteristics and usages. To elaborate, blogs, for example, aka web logs are an online journal for the writers to share their experiences, opinions, and thoughts while providing the readers the option add their feedback and comments to the topic. Social networks are online service websites consists of personal or commercial profiles of their users, their social relationships, and offer a variety of other activities (Wikipedia). Micro-blogging is a networking service that allows mobile users of cell phones and other Internet connected devices to stay attentive of activities within a group by receiving frequently published updates, typically of 140 characters or less. Text messages are uploaded to a micro-blogging server, and then distributed to group members (R. Kayne). Social bookmarking is a service that provides its users with the ability to store, organize, share, search, and rate bookmarks for web pages. There is also a specialized form of social bookmarking sites known as social news where users vote on articles and news. These are some of the social media variations available and are the most influential ones for businesses, There are others but are not mentioned as they are either hold no significant use toward the purpose of this document or reside outside its scope. 2. The gain of adopting Social Media Marketing Social media provides companies with the capability to closely reach a large number of consumers providing similar experience to direct marketing with much lower costs. It gives you the opportunity to take advantage of the power of word of mouth (WOM) or in this case electronic one. According to a study done by Steffes and Burgee from Towson University, the information the students gained from eWOM is more in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uential in their decision than speaking with friends in person (2008). Also, according to Alexa, A web traffic monitoring company, out of the top 10 most visited websites in the world, four are social ones and the rest are general search engines. Looking at Malaysias top 10, the number increases to five with the first spot occupied by Facebook -a social networking website (Alexa.com). Social networks like Facebook has over 350 million active users of which 70% are international ones with an average time spend of 55 minutes per day (facebook.com); MySpace -another socia l network -has over 100 million active users (myspace.com); Technorati has more than 133 million indexed blogs (January 2009) and 77% of active internet users are reading blogs (Adam Singer, 2009). Being able to influence even a small portion of a consumer base of this magnitude will produce noticeable results despite the difficulty of relating social activities to a percentage of revenue. Bear in mind that Social Media Marketing (SMM) is not to be used to sell, at least not directly. However, SMM is used to generate awareness and exposure to the business, reduce overall marketing expenses, increase traffic or subscribers to own website, create new business partnership, rise up in search ranking, improved PR, and an ending with more loyal customers (Michael Stelzner, 2009). If approached with intent to sell, internet users are now are savvy, they will be able to smell you coming and will shun you immediately. 3. The Way to Successful Social Media Utilization The use of social media as a marketing tool -if done right can yield into huge benefits. To fully utilize the social media, the organization should include it in their marketing planning as it needs a careful preparation to know the medium best suited for the companys activities. Unfortunately, lots of people look at social media as a free marketing tool, leading into little planning which in return yields no benefits and in some cases even negative ones. While it might not take much -if any- financial wise, social media marketing do consume a lot of time. On the other hand, the financial requirement makes it the best choice for start up companies and individuals. The first step in the plan is to see if social media is suitable for you as it is not for everybody. Businesses with products targeted at elderly or retired people, wont generate much benefits from using it. Also, companies with tight government regulation supervision shouldnt pick social media as a marketing tool. After e nsuring that you belong with the majority, whose social media engagement suits their activities, you have to decide on your objectives; the desired results from engaging into social media. This in return will help in choosing the best suited tools (Anita Campbell, 2009). This paper will cover in some details a part of these tools and their uses later. Within the social sphere, organizations cant push their messages or products to the consumer; rather they have to lure the consumer toward them. To be able to achieve that, the message should attain certain attributes to be considered attractive enough to lure them. First of all, the message should sound familiar to the target audience. People like to communicate with each other. Try reaching them, listening to their ideas and thoughts, and then formulate your message. Adding a budget to the mix in the form of incentives can encourage much better feedback as well as help spread the word associated with the incentives. The third element that can be thrown to the mix is fame. Providing the audience with a chance of fame, be it as small as it gets, it can really stimulate the audiences interest. The forth element is the fun, entertaining one, which is shared with most of the online activities. Adding the fun entertaining factor can excite the audience to spread the word. Lastly, the mes sage should contain the mobility factor; the ability to move from one person to the next (Richard Clark, 2009). Having at least one the first four elements along with the last one will encourage a beneficial response from the community. An organization should continue to listen to the community as long as it is in business. Since anyone can say anything, a company should always keep an eye on the sphere. Listen to what the communities say about it. This help in controlling bad press and empowering good ones. Of course, monitoring the blogosphere may seem impossible, fortunately, there are some tools that keeps the company notified whenever a new entry with its name appear in the wild. 4. The Way to a Catastrophic Social Media Utilization As beneficial as SMM can be, a misuse or unplanned approach can result in a total waste of resources. Lacking a staff member who can handle a frequent delivery of quality content can degrade the social effort. Also, the absence of a strong message that can create a community around it will result in a partial loss for the impact on people. Social media is global, so, cautious should be practiced at all times to avoid any offending messages. Not only that, a corporation should realize that social media is an open platform and there is no such thing as off-the-record and for that not only should they monitor their own channels but also their employees. There have been many incidents where companies had to fire their employees for inappropriate messages posted in their own personal spaces. One famous incident when Delta Airlines had to fire Ellen Simonetti a flight attendant over inappropriate pictures posted in her blog in the companys uniform (Ellen Simonetti, 2005). To avoid such inc idents, the organization should provide clear guidelines to what is appropriate and what is not when it comes to their social messages. 5. Blogs We have mentioned earlier different social media tools that can be utilized to the benefit of the organization. Now, we will discuss these in further details while providing real examples for the usages of these tools by other organizations or individuals. Starting with blogs, which as mentioned earlier is a website with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material usually maintained by one person with few exceptions where they are maintained by a group of people depending on the function or goal of the blog. Blogs also give the readers the ability to leave their comments in an interactive format. This feedback mechanism of the blogs is one of the main reasons why blogs are one of the most important social mediums. From an SMM point of view, the feedback is the opinion of their consumers, their needs, or their dissatisfactions which make them a gold mine of information for the company. A lot of companies had already adopted blogs and integrated them to the ir daily operations starting with CEOs like Jonathan Schwartz (President CEO, Sun Microsystems) and George F. Colony (Chairman CEO, Forrester Research) and a long list others. So what does these CEO talk about? Most would think that talking about their companys milestones, new products or services, or future plan would be the obvious choice. But going back to the reason should most companies based their activities on social media is to raise awareness. Not many people will want to read about the companys achievements or its products, thats the purpose of the main website of the company. These CEOs blogs actually contains interesting and useful materials. If we take a quick look at George Colonys blog, we will find his personal thoughts, expectations, review, etc. but all with a unified theme, the CEO perspective. One of his entries were regarding the imminent dominance of Apples iPhone among CEOs over the Blackberry ones and listing iPhone features that the blackberry lacks. Norma lly, you wouldnt expect to see a mobile review in a research company CEO blog though he still managed to keep it relevant to the overall blog theme, but that what makes it interesting. Thats what makes people coming back to you. Because each blog will compete with millions of other blogs and to stand tall among the crowd, you have to distinguish yours. If you are a small business owner, your blog could be relevant to your industry. But regardless of the blogs theme, without valuable content, the blog will be a definite waste of time. Passing the CEO blogs and going further into the companies hierarchy, we can also find many of the management team, adding their own touch to the blogosphere like Tom Berquist (CFO, Ingres) and Michael Tiemann (CTO, Red Hat). Going further all the way to developers, analysts, etc., you will find plenty of other blog writers. Some companies have also what can be called an official blog. These official blogs are similar to an announcement board, where org anizations announce new products, technologies, or ideas of future plans, though in most of these cases, these companies already have interested loyal audience who are eager to listen to them. A good example is Nokia Conversations. This blog might seem to be a portal to announce new mobile phones, software, or services. But it is more than that, as the name suggests, Nokia tries to engage their readers as much as possible. They hold social activities sometimes, for example, a photo context for one of their camera phones. This blogs provides lot of valuable knowledge to Nokia. Based on the feedback from this website, Nokia fix problems, annoyances, or add missing features to their products from the comments and suggestions of their audience. This creates loyalty to their brand. It is a win-win situation for both; the customers get the product and the company gets the sales. Of course, when it comes to small businesses and entrepreneurs, the case is usually different as their first an d main objective is to raise awareness as oppose, for example, to Nokia Conversations where the main goal is the good publicity, the customers feedback and the loyalty. For those individuals, creating a blog, or creating a page in a social network -as discussed later -is not enough. For people to come to you, you have to get to them first; participation on other blogs -in the same industry -will inform the audience of your existence, your personality, and you interests. You cant tell people to come to you, but you can go to them, raise their interest and let them follow you back. One of the best utilizations for the power of blogs is demonstrated by Adobe Inc. They have create a comprehensive network that allows for personal interaction between people with common interests-those interests, of course, are related to Adobe and their broad range of software products. The result is an officially sponsored message board and blog site dedicated to informing the public about Adobe, answering questions about products and product applications, and whats more is allowing public input on the developmental process of future Adobe software titles. They have compiled all of these features together in a feed aggregator called MXNA (Adobe XML News Aggregator). According to Adobe, this tool is designed to monitor over 2400 Adobe related blogs and news sources all in one place. As a result, users can search through all of these sources for articles, tutorials, code samples, downloads, sample applications, information or help they need and if they have a question that doesnt ha ve an answer, they can post it to get their answers from Adobes staff. Thus creating communities that are completely and wholly devoted to being the definitive destination of any and all who seek answers about all things Adobe (Greg Brian Martin, 2007). From Adobes perspective, they have given customers the satisfaction that the company is committed to helping them get the most out of their purchase and making sure that the customer is satisfied with the product. Second, the originated communities also exist so that those users who have discovered solutions to problems they feel are common or troublesome (or both) may share these ideas with fellow participants of the communities (Greg Brian Martin, 2007). By giving the public the opportunity to not only ask when they need help but also, to answer and help other members of the community, Adobe has exponentially cut down on their customer support costs. Usually the return on investment in social media cannot be quantified, but in Adob es case we can somewhat relate to the result of their investments. Their costs of service and support went down by $6 million in the same period between 2006 and 2002 when the communities where introduced. 6. Social Networks The second tool of interest in this paper and one of the fastest growing is the online social networks. These networks function like an online community for internet users. It is different from site to another, but usually members share a similar interest e.g. Flixster -for Movies enthusiasts -or similar hobbies like Spoccer -for Soccer players. Yet, there is the general type where most of the crowd resides. Ahead of the crowd is Facebook follow by MySpace in terms of the number of active members. It differs from one site to another, but once you sign up to one of the services, all of them will suggest that you create your profile. Though the available fields to fill differs depending on the interest, they all ask for the same basic information whether you are an individual or an organization. Honesty is an important factor when filling the profile, as getting caught lying in a social network is more devastating than off one. After preparing your profile, you should try to look for p eople with the same interest to start connecting. Depending on the type of industry, you might want to look into different sites. The most common website among professional is LinkedIn, though, when you are targeting the general public Facebook is the best choice as it has the largest base of members. But if you are working in music industry, for example, MySpace is usually a better choice. Though, Willa Plank would argue that for small businesses, it is better to start in smaller more related communities as it is easy to disappear among huge crowds (2009). Social Media Marketing has been adopted by many of the large corporations like Dell, Hershey, and Kraft but one of the most outstanding is a community for moms called Vocalpoint by Proctor Gamble. The program recruited thousands of women who were picked because of their large social network. They were recruited to talk about PG products to their friends (Robert Berkman, 2008). But SMM is not exclusive to businesses, but it can also help hobbyists and individuals. For example, if you are in a garage band, as mention earlier, MySpace is known for its music services and it would be the best place for the band to start promoting itself. One of the best examples is OmniSoul (aka. The Crash Motive), a Newark, Delaware band. The five member of the group met at University of Delaware and they first hit when they won Battle of the Band competition there. Then the band began touring around their local area growing their fan base and the local radio started playing their songs. Eventually, the y developed their own website and their MySpace pages. Their individual pages were like any normal page with basic information. The band page, on the other hand, includes a profile picture of the entire band, an audio player with four of the bands original full-length songs in rotation, a list of upcoming tour dates, a list of friends, and a comment area where friends can leave messages to the band (Greg Martin, 2007). Derek Fuhrmann, the lead singer of the group had the following to say about MySpace, MySpace is an amazing tool for bands today to not only promote their music, but more importantly to keep in touch with their fan base. Making fans an intricate part of a bands world through daily interaction is really a brilliant concept. (Greg Martin, 2007). The band is hoping to get the nationwide exposure they need from the MySpace page. They hope that the social networking feature of MySpace will help their exposure, by adding as many friends as possible. The more friends the band has, the more people will come into contact with them. The exposure is not for the band name only, but also for their music. We mentioned earlier they had four full-length tracks in their space, any of their friends, can take these songs and post them on their personal Space, where it will be played whenever someone visited their website. On top of gaining the exposure, they also hope to strengthen its relationship with preexisting fans. They kept feeding them information of the bands day to day activities, news postings, the occasional MySpace promotional contest, and by posting on friends comment spaces, the band seems to be committed to reinforcing the ties it has already created. Their efforts paid off and on December 27th, 2009 they performed their last show on their first nationwide tour at Deer Park in Newark, DE. The success stories resulted from social networks are beyond numbering, however, for the sake of diversification, two more quick examples will be mentioned. Social networks were there to help corporation and small businesses, but they also exist to help individuals, too. Kristen Luke is a principal at Wealth Management Marketing, a small financial marketing advisory firm in San Diego. Her story with social networks started out with LinkedIn. There, she was found by Dow Jones News Wire reporter. The reporter formed some interest in Kristen, so she called her and quoted her in a couple of stories in Wall Street Journal. This turned into increased traffic on her website (Stephen Arnold, 2009). The second story is a bit different than the norm as Bradi Nathan and Terry Starr started by conducting a survey on Facebook before launching their business. The survey was targeted at working moms and moms who wanted to go back to the workforce. The idea behind the survey was to find out what mom s would want from a mom social network. The results of the survey are the bases of their blossomed business (David Spark, 2009). 7. Micro-Blogging Micro-blogging is one of the most recent tools to appear; yet, it is growing at an alarming rate. As mentioned earlier, it is a service that allowed its users to publish short messages of around 140 characters or less. Its limitation of 140 characters is overwhelmed by its tight integration with mobile phones. Most micro-blogging services provide the ability to add a new entries using SMS and also receiving others entries by SMS in addition to the regular browser from any pc or even cell phones. This ease of access is what helped burst its success. Though, the 140 doesnt seems like much to say, yet, the last couple of years have shown, as will be shown later, its devastating power. Throughout this paper, Twitter -the most successful micro-blogging service -will be used interchangeably with micro-blogging. Micro-blogging shares the some common grounds with the other social media; if you want to be followed, you have to be interesting to people. Whole Foods Market realized that fact and since their first day on twitter, they abide by that rule. Within a week of highlighting some fun things that were going on at specific stores, people started noticing them on twitter. From there the market kept getting more publicity and within a year, they had over a million followers (Cody Nolden, 2009). While Whole Foods twitters were related to their stores, the CEO of Zappos.com took a slightly different approach. He personally drives the corporate account and always has something interesting to say most of which are not related to work. But most of them had one thing in common, humor. Now, Zappos has over 1.6 million followers (Cody Nolden, 2009). Dell has a more direct approach toward its twitter. It uses the medium to send exclusive offers to their followers. By June 2009, they made over $3,000, 000 in twitter related sales (Antone Gonsalves, 2009) Interest will get you followers, but to keep them, the personal element should be added to the mix. JetBlue Airlines and Southwest Airlines have two things in common; operating in the same industry and they both twitter. Both companies offer similar messages in their twitters; however, JetBlue has 600,000 followers more than Southwest. By taking a closer look at both channels, you will notice that over half of JetBlues messages are in fact replies to other people where in Southwests the percentage goes way down. People tend to feel wormer toward a personal response (Cody Nolden, 2009). The best methodology to approach the micro-blogging differs by the industry, the goals, and the targeted audiences and limited by creativity. A group of tourist information enthusiasts at Coos Bay, Oregon, led by Katherine Hoppe, looked at twitter differently. Instead of taking a direct approach, they looked at twitter as an opportunity platform. The group kept looking around twitter hunting their towns name; looking for an opportunity to promote it. One day, Lee Hopkins along with his friend were planning a road trip from Seattle to San Francisco. They twittered their friends to suggest a place to stay, and one of them suggested Coos Bay. Katherine caught the message and contacted Lee and she was successful in persuading them to stop by the city. They stayed for a couple of days, enjoyed it, blogged their trip, and added what became a popular series of videos for the trip. Unfortunately, not all companies apprehend the concept of social media and micro-blogging. JCPenney has taken a strange twisted approach to reach people on twitter. They stalk anyone who mentions the word shopping in an entry. They ambush the writer with a message similar to check out JCPenney online at www.jcp.com à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ No wonder they dont have too many followers. Micro-blogging has been useful to many, useless to some, and it has been disaster to others. Twitter has a hidden ugly face too and it showed it to Horizon Realty Group a Chicago real estate company. The story began with one of the company tenants Amanda Bonnen. Amanda twittered to her 20 followers that the company didnt care about the mold in her apartment. Because of the comment, the company filed a law suit against her, asking for $50,000 in damages to their reputations. They argued that there was no mold in her apartment. The next day, the law suit became one of the hottest topics in the whole twitter network which mean, the comment of irritation to 20 twitterers became a hot topic to thousands and thousands of people. Social media users do not read all the facts carefully before flaming. Whether Horizon Realty was right or wrong, no one in the social network would see the $50,000 as reasonable, either. The ugly face of micro-blogging doesnt just scare, it usefulness goes beyond that sometimes for a whole city like the city of Phoenix, AZ. One night at the city, a group of friends found out that their car had been towed as a part of a towing scam thats been going on for over a year and a half. The group behind the scam didnt know that this group was one of the most active twitterers in Phoenix. As a result, within 24 hours, there has been an investigation, and the word has reached the mayor and city council. Within 48 hours, the local media got involved covering the story. Within 72 hours, the scam has been shutdown (Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon, et al. 2009). So, what does the mean to businesses? Even though it makes twitter looks scary, it should only makes companies to jump in with both feet and eyes. Jumping in with both feet can help the company building a close relationship with the consumers. But thats not all; they should also keep an eye on what people say about them. Being there in the first place before disasters can help form a better response and ease spreading it around. 8. Social Bookmarking Social bookmarking started as a service to keep your bookmarks with you wherever you go. Then it was morphed into a full fledged social community to share sites of interest, articles, images, or videos. Other people can rate, tag, and comment on these bookmarks which might seem like a social filtration for these bookmarks. The usage for these services is a straight forward one and the easier it is you make it for visitors of your website to bookmark it, the faster it will spread giving the interest factor existence. NBC11 in California realized the benefit of social bookmarking so they started by adding the option to share their news on Digg with a click of a button. Soon after, they realized also that the news with pictures are the most submitted ones. Since the inclusion of Digg into NBC 11 website, the site traffic has spiked (Figure 1) (Adam Singer, 2008). Fig. 1 Traffic History for NBC11 before and after integrating Digg 9. Video Sharing As the name implies, the websites helps their member to upload and share videos with the community. So many people became famous overnight because of these websites. The top most viewed video on YouTube -the most popular video sharing website -for 2009 was for a 48 years old Scottish lady signing in British Got Talent TV show. Now that lady signed a contract with Sony Music and released her first album which is on number 1 spot in the top 200 Billboard list (Stan Schroeder, 2009). The business sector wasnt left behind; some companies were able to utilize the power of these websites too. One company to make a successful use of the video sharing is Blendtec. They introduced a serious of interesting, funny, and low cost advertisements which immediately gone viral over the network. Because of the series, the ads resulted in increasing the sales of the company five times (Samir Balwani, 2009). 10. Conclusion When traditional media giants like CNN or MSNBC jumps into the social media wagon, you realize that it is not something to be taken lightly. Social media is here to stay; it is not a passing event. For businesses, it is only a matter of what is the best way to take advantage of it and there is no special formula to answer that. It is not a one size fits all thing. But it is safe to say that the different tools of the social media can work well together and making use of more than one tool can produce better results. For example, simple things like linking your twitter or blog to your social network account, so that you can share your feed immediately in your social network. Another usage would be to twitter your blog entries. In the Coos Bay incident, mentioned earlier, the group created a Flickr -a social site for sharing images -album to hold images from around their town and encouraged the people in town to post their pictures. Social media marketing should be planned carefully, e ven though the financial costs might be nominal to none, but the time consumption factor isnt to be overlooked.