Context That Motivates Adult Learning

Context That Motivates Adult Learning There are four â€Å"distinct context† to motivate adult learners according to the research of Malcolm Knowles (Alexander, M. , Clugston, W, & Tice, E. (2009) these are; Practical, Personal, Experiential and Idealistic Context. Practical context describes one who is motivated by intentional or specific personal gain where you deliberately choose to learn a subject or activity knowing in advance of starting the learning process that it will benefit and /or be useful to you either immediately or in the future.Personal context motivation is when one has the desire to further their education in an effort to achieve personal goals. Experiential context is when one is motivated to expand or adjust the knowledge gained through past experiences and applying it to new challenges or experiences to form updated results. Idealistic context motivation is learning for the sole purpose of learning, discovering and staying up to date and â€Å"in the kno w. † Practical context is my type of motivation to learn.Before applying to Ashford I was certain that the hard work and dedication I put into earning my degree in Human Resources Management will open opportunities for professional advancement in my career goals. My current occupation is Human Resources Representative in a corporate setting with over 10 years of experience in the Human Resources field. I have enough experience the Human Resources field that I am confident I will succeed as a manager. However, I cannot be considered for a management position until I achieve a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management.

Need for Keeping Records Essay

It is an obligation by law to keep and maintain records within the educational environment. The educational facility/environment are liable to maintain various records as ultimately it serves one purpose and that is to be answerable and reasonable to keeping accurate records whilst providing important evidence to support the on-going achievement of student education and the legislation codes of the education setting. Within a learning context there are many reasons why we keep records, however below I have given three examples particular records. Identifying needs * If a learner is to embark onto a Learning and Teaching in Schools Level 2 course he or she would have to first complete an initial assessment before they begin the course. The first initial step would consist of completing an enrolment form with all the required data such as next of kin, medical information and previous or current courses the learner has undertaken. A personal statement of â€Å"why you want to teach within a school† would also need to be submitted with the enrolment application form as this would then determine the tutor during the selection process to ensure the learner has the necessary skills, knowledge and experience. The information carried out would then enable the tutor to have a brief over view of the student’s ability and assess further more in an interview. During the process of the interview the tutor will assess and conduct a functional skills test in literacy and numeracy, these tests are compulsory as they give an indication to the tutor of the level of support you may need through the duration of the course and it also gives the student a ‘refresher’ of these skills as they may not have used functional skills in a long time, it is also a requirement to obtain a Level 1 before proceeding onto the course. The diagnostic test results are then fed back to the student on a one to one basis and should any support be required the identifying of the learners needs would then be met. Planning Learning * Once the learner has started the course and all his or her individual needs have been assessed the tutor can then create an Individual Learning Plan (IPL) for the student and himself as this would be an agreed strategy plan for the student to document what he or she learnt from the tutors session and what support the learner may need to get from their tutor about the lesson they have just undertaken, in order to achieve the set criteria, this then allows the tutor to be prepared and organised- in how the lessons are managed and to identify where the learners are academically and helps the tutors to prepare for who may need extra support. IPL’s are valuable records for students as well as tutors as this is a form of evidence of what is being achieved, strengths, weaknesses, tracking the fulfilment criteria of the course and setting individual targets. Assessing Learning * When a submission of work is made by a student, a tracking record is then kept, this allows the tutor to then be informed the submission of an assignment, for example the usage of the teaching/student portal Edmodo allows the tutor to update what assignment needs to be in and then the student will follow suit and upload their assignment and wait for a return. The tracking of submission records ensures that everyone hands in the required work on time, assessed and returned with feedback.

Movie Analysis Essay

There are many versions of Spiderman, but â€Å"Amazing Spider-man† is the best version ever. The graphic works, the music, and the plot are amazing like the movie title. The Amazing spider-man is not connected to the previous Spiderman movie. One online film critic stated that there is a silent war ongoing right now between two of the big comic book flicks hit theaters in July of 2012: Warner Bros. ’ The Dark knight Rises and Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man (Sandy Schaefer). In addition, I do believe that this movie really sound like a more genuinely contemporary portrayal of the eponymous webslinger than that offered in Raimi’s previous movie trilogy. Although some of the character I do not like the way they act and somehow they cannot give me a clear mind what they should able to act, I could still agree this version of the Spiderman is the best I have seen. The characters in the movie are very rich for the audience to watch. Every action movie are essential to have the element of love scene, fighting scene, the falling scene, and the return scene. The main character is obviously the Spider-man Peter Parker. Here is the aforementioned from Amazing Spider-Man: â€Å"Like most teenagers his age, Peter [played by Andrew Garfield] is trying to figure out who he is and how to be the person he is today. In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret that his father [Campbell Scott] held†¦ a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man. This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story. † (Schaefer). Peter Parker has struggled to find his purpose in life, ever since Peter’s parents disappeared 13 years old. Like other movies, he must face the ultimate challenge on the brink of unlocking the mystery. Thus, he is absolutely hero archetype that he defeats Dr. Connors and safe the whole New York City. The female character, Spider-man girlfriend, Gwen Stacy is knowledgeable and wise. For some moment, she is charismatic and rebellious when she deal with her family. Gwen is the chief intern at Oscorp, a position she takes very seriously. However, her mentor Dr. Connors is the competitor of Spiderman. Captain Stacy is an esteemed police officer who leads the investigation into Spiderman. Captain Stacy is highly alert to his family more than the city, especially his only daughter, Gwen. Apparently, the villain is Dr. Connors. It is not clear that he is the lizard when it comes to the end. He is a scientist that attempts to engineer a revolutionary regeneration serum to help regrow limbs and human tissue. He became so horrible at the end. The hero’s journey is always followed by the 17 stages of Joseph Cambell’s Monomyth. But for nowadays movies, they eliminate some of the stages in a simply form. Not surprisingly, Campbell’s idea is generally applied to many Hollywood screenwriting and literature as well. The Ordinary World- Peter Parker is a student at Midtown Science High School, and he lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. His parent is a mystery and left him with no explanation when he was young. As a result, Peter is frustrated and longs to find out more about his father and why he left. Peter is weird around his peers, but he still sticks up for the underdog. Call to Adventure- Peter found out a file and lead him to research his father’s lab partner who works at Oscorp Tower, Dr. Connors. He goes to him and look out for answers. Later, he is bitten by a spider that is being used to create biocable. He starts to have the abilities of spider. He has been introduced to the Special World that is opposite of what he knows. Refusal of the Call- Peter begins to test his power, and using them to beat the bully who picked on him, Flash Thompson. His emotion change and have argument with Uncle Ben. Because Uncle Ben feels his strange behavior, so he follows him and that make the tragedy of the thief shoots Uncle Ben. Meeting with the Mentor- Dr. Connors is a mentor to him when it comes to science. Another crucial mentor is Uncle Ben of course. Hence, he gives a big influence on Peter, and when he dies, Peter is pushed to his limits. Crossing the Threshold- Because of the death of Uncle Ben, Peter pushed himself into the Special World. Peter tries to hunt the thief who murdered Uncle Ben. Test, Allies, Enemies- When Peter fights crime, he confronts criminals and makes enemies. At school, he developed a friendship with Gwen. His tests are increasing in difficulty: Dr. Connors displayed a semblance of friendship toward him, but as his identity shifts into the Lizard, this will change. Captain Stacy, Gwen’s father, shows an antagonistic attitude toward Peter and his alter-ego. Approach- Spiderman tries to stop the creature on the bridge. The Lizard got a big fight at Midtown Science high School, and Peter tries to stop him with Gwen’s help. Ordeal- Spiderman was shot by a police bullet that stuns him electrically. It is a hard time to Spiderman to fight his way out, reveals his identity to Captain Stacy. Reward- Captain Stacy lets him go, showing his trust in Peter. Resurrection- The Lizard is strong and powerful. Captain Stacy and Peter Parker finally work together to restrict the activities and take the Lizard down. Return with the Elixir- Dr. Connors has been returned back to normal. He has saved Gwen, but Captain Stacy was killed. As he dies, he asks Peter to keep Gwen out of his life to protect her. It is not only a promise to Captain Stacy, but also in a carton of eggs. He is a different person, and even though he may not have all of the answers he wanted, he has learned to put others ahead of himself during the search. The Elixir Peter Parker has brought back from his journey is that of a new hero. He is no longer just Peter Parker, fatherless teenager. He is Spider-Man. (Milles). Peter Andrew Garfield who is the actor of Spiderman did a good job in the movie because it is a challenge to an actor to have a big different from being a normal person to an amazing ultimate hero. Andrew Garfield can express and show on his face that the inner features of Spiderman to the audience. Honestly, the only person I do not satisfy is Emma Stone, who is the actress of Gwen Stacy, and I reckon many of the commends on the internet board criticize that she has not done a great job on her part. For instance, there is a frightening scene that she is holding a knife hiding when Dr. Connors has become the Lizard and chasing her. I am sorry to say that, but I cannot feel any scary moment in the scene. For the love scene, I do not think she acts like a spouse of Peter Parker. Also, she did not have the interaction with her family show that she is rebellious. The plot is moving smooth and clear when I follow along to the hero’s journey. Refer to the hero’s journey, the plot is developed and excited. I would not find any boring scene in the entire movie. When I watched along with it, I would have many unexpected things happen, and really influence the audience to keep watching on it. Moreover, the music composer of the movie is James Horner. Indeed, he is a great composer of film music. James Horner also composes some great movies such as Titanic and Avatar. He is currently as famous as John Williams and the music they composed does make the audience impressed. His music moved the audience, and there is no doubt that film music is so significant because we are not only watching the screen, but listen to the music also. Amazing Spiderman is well-developed movie as following the classic hero’s journey. It does make the audience easy to follow and a feeling of unexpected. Also, the action scene is exciting to watch. Even though I know it is not real, but I really get into it. Furthermore, the music do influence the audience and no movie can neglect music because it is an crucial tools.

Best Buy Company, Inc Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Best Buy Company, Inc Analysis - Case Study Example There are few factors which can effect the company i.e economic forces, social forces, cultural and environmental forces, Political, legal and governmental forces, technological forces, and competitive forces. There always been ups and downs in the economy. Either there is inflation or deflation. If the GNP is higher in the economy the income also increases and people can spend their incomes on different items. From last few years US is enjoying healthy economy. That factor is helping the retail industry as well. In future Best buy company profit may increase by as the trend shows. â€Å"Increasing GDP would be good for companies like Best Buy; however the smaller increases in GDP can have a negative effect on not only Best Buy’s sales, but Best Buy’s stock price if investors predict that GDP will fall in the future.†Ã‚  Best Buy Company is also socially committed and believes in literate people about technology. They are socially responsible. The company spent $ 13 million in teach Awards for the school to aware them from the new technologies about the classrooms. They also gave scholarships to the students all over the world. â€Å"Best Buy stores have awarded over $13 million in scholarships to nearly 11,000 students nationwide.†In this modern world, where every day new technologies are coming up and frequently they are becoming outdated. Under this scenario, the Best buy company has to keep itself up to date and must have to keep watch on the new technologies.... Social Forces: Best Buy Company is also socially committed and believes in literate people about technology. They are socially responsible. The company spent $13 million in teach Awards for the school to aware them from the new technologies about the classrooms. They also gave scholarships to the students all over the world. "Best Buy stores have awarded over $13 million in scholarships to nearly 11,000 students nationwide." (http://communication.bestbuy.com) Technological forces: In this modern world, where every day new technologies are coming up and frequently they are becoming outdated. Under this scenario, the Best buy company has to keep itself up to date and must have to keep watch on the new technologies. In this way the company can survive under intense competition. Legal and governmental Forces: Wisconsin State Attorney General's office took a serious civil action against Best Buy Company In 2005. They stated that the company is violating the consumer protection law by misleading the people about service plans, supplemental magazine subscriptions etc. Competitive forces: Where the company is enjoying healthy profits, there the company is also facing intense competition. The biggest competitors of Best Buy Company are Dell, Wal-Mart, Circuit City and all those retailers which are supplying those products on reasonable prices. The company should also bring some changes in their business to stay in the top line. Like, they should also offer their products online as other companies are doing. "To help overcome online competitors, Best Buy allows consumers to purchase their items online. Consumers then have an option of

Spain and its unemployment problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Spain and its unemployment problems - Essay Example Causes of high unemployment rates in Spain There have been high reported incidences of unemployment throughout the entire region of the European Union and Spain being among the countries highly affected by the issue. According to data collected by the economics ministry, the rate of unemployment varies among the countries in European Union. For example, it indicated that by then, the rate of unemployment in Luxembourg was 13%, while the rate of unemployment in Spain was 24%. Therefore, there must be different internal factors in Spain, which contributes to the increase of unemployment rates.These factors include; Spain faces high rates of unemployment due to Real Wage Unemployment. This is a dis-equilibrium unemployment, which happens when the required real wages for a given jobs are above the market clearing level. This type of unemployment in Spain results from trade unions and other wages boards. Secondly, Spain records high rates of unemployment because of demand deficient unempl oyment, which lowers the demand for both the goods and services produced within the country. Economic recession experienced in Spain contributes to this problem as they results into many companies closing up their businesses hence putting off workers. Thirdly, Spain has high rates of unemployment rates resulting from frictional unemployment. This type of unemployment occurs when people change jobs. It can also occur when fresh graduates from universities take a lot of time while in search of an appropriate job that has attractive wages hence being among the unemployed. Finally, incidences of unemployment are high in Spain due low quality and poorly designed... Unemployment refers to an economic indicator that measures the persons who are willing and capable of working but they cannot due to inadequate jobs. According to the report released by the Economy minister in Spain, the country is experiencing high rates of recession, which will result into an increase in the unemployment rates. The rate of unemployment in the country has highly increased to 25%; hence, negatively affecting its financial status. In Spain, the rate of unemployment is elevated amidst women than men. This is because in 2012, the total unemployed men accounts for 23.60% as women accounts for 24.60% (Dobre& Adriana 184). The rate of unemployment is very high among the youths, which shows the difficulties that young people encounter in search of jobs. Spain has also recorded an inflation rate of 1.9 %. Since 2002 up to 2012, the highest inflation rate was 5.3 % recorded in July 2008 while the lowest was 1.4% recorded in July 2009 (Osuna 43). Therefore, it is important for Spain’s government to introduce control bank monetary policy in order to maintain price stability so that the inflation rates can be below and close to 2% as increase in inflation rate increases the rate of unemployment in a given state (Osuna 43).As a means of solving the issue of unemployment in Spain, the government should ensure that it fosters economic growth because it highly generates more jobs. This means that the legislative authorities should study their economic process and introduce impetus to the economy including buying debts from agencies for them to hire.

Information Management Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Information Management Strategy - Case Study Example Hicks (1986) states that as the world moves from the days of disparate societies to the days of integration and awareness, the need for having reliable, authentic, and verifiable means of information increases. This results from the fact that managers need processed information for taking better decisions on a routine basis, and this processed information is the output of various processes that are conducted on the initially presented and collected raw data. This raw data constitutes the information collected from various sources within the organization or from external sources, and thus the sources of information gain ultimate importance, no matter which organization it is. Subsequently, the importance of not just information but the information sources as well cannot be denied. The information sources may include, but are not restricted to, employees, stakeholders, shareholders, newspapers, industry analysis, independent news sources, media, competitor publications, etc. Data manag ement is a critical subject of concern today for management, because the reliance on availability of accurate, verifiable and timely data cannot be denied by any means. The organization under consideration in this assignment is my own organization i.e. where I work. The major operation in my organization is based on customer communication, where our source of revenue is the printing of statements, cheques, mailing, customer response, and we are also indulged in develop IT solutions for various customers that we have. The aim of our organization is to provide this wide variety of services to our wide clientele. 1.3 Information Needs of the Organization - what information is needed The focus of this assignment is mainly towards the human resource department that is facing loads of troubles as far as data gathering through various sources is concerned. Seemingly, it looks like human resource department would not require loads of data or the data resource would be fairly restricted, but neither is the case. This section details the need for data in the human resource department, while the next section sheds light on the various data resources. It is noticeable here that the term data and information would be used interchangeably, though in reality, data is the raw form of information, and information is processed data. Human resources are defined as the truest source for attaining competitive edge for an organization. Therefore, there has been tons of weightage given to subjects like management and organizational behavior, similar to the weigh given to finance and marketing, if not more or less. A major part of keeping the human resource satisfied and contented is giving them appropriate compensation, with the right and justifiable deductions. For this fact to stand true, i.e. the right compensation with proper deductions, there is need for information pertinent to attendance, ins and outs, movement of employees, late comings, proper utilization of time, presence in the right area, avoiding irrelevant movements across the firm's building, and so on. All this information needs to be gathered at the end that generates pay-slips and payments i.e. the payroll department. 1.4 Information Resources After having described the need of information for

Wintz Lawn Service, Inc Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Wintz Lawn Service, Inc - Term Paper Example depr. (100) Retained earnings 2,500 200 Total stockholders’ equity 2,900 Total assets $3,200 Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $3,200 3) Yes, Kathy Wintz’ summer work was mostly successful. She was able to make lots of sales and her expenses were only a little over half her revenue, which means that she made quite a substantial net profit. Wintz’ biggest expense was salaries, but even then this was only one-third of the net income. Other expenses, such as rent, supplies, and repair expenses, only cost a small portion of the total expenses. For the Retained Earnings Statement, Wintz was able to make back more than double her initial investment. For a business that was only open for four months, this is very impressive. Wintz also paid out some dividends to shareholders, but there was still enough retained earnings left at the end of August that Wintz could return to college feeling satisfied with her summer’s work. For the balance sheets, th e assets column looks very healthy. Added to this is the fact that there are very few liabilities, which means that the business does not have any worries.

Social Research Problem and Method Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Problem and Method - Research Paper Example And the problem gets further complicated when it is seen that health care prices are rising rapidly, making them unaffordable to most of the masses. Such psychology of the masses can only be uncovered through sociological research. Statistics tell that around 50 million US nationals do not have a health insurance in place, which is around 15% of the whole population. The percentages of people not willing to go for health insurance are growing with time. Moreover, the number of children among those not covered by health insurance is also high, around 18%. This is becoming a grave issue and needs to be researched on, since such a significant portion of the population is unsheltered by no health insurance. The working family of today is that which is earning sufficient enough to survive in today’s age of ever increasing prices. In such an environment, they decide to cut down on costs for health, because it is a double-digit increase in health insurance, in buying medicines, in visiting doctors. If inflation is there, the health care costs are outrunning it by 5 more times, which is a hefty loop. Employers are making this further difficult by removing the shelter of the corporation from employees, who are already working hard for their pays. (Soroka, 1994) It is seen that nowadays, employers are increasingly transferring the cost of health care and health insurance on the already-burdened shoulders of their employees. This increases the amount of deductions from the employees salary, leaving them with less disposable income, and making them negatively inclined towards a health insurance plan. Employers are now making deductions from pay when money is needed for treatment. The research conducted under the division of sociological research can be divided into two types, quantitative methods and qualitative methods. We will be focusing on the quantitative methods, and will be conducting surveys through questionnaires to gauge the

Valuing an IPO for aSstart-up Biotech Company Essay

Valuing an IPO for aSstart-up Biotech Company - Essay Example The company sees itself having unique intellectual property which will give it significant advantages in the area of greenhouse gas mitigation. This is seen as the largest market within their portfolio and with an equal degree of difficulty to establish when compared to other technologies such as cyanide recovery or caustic recycling. Hence it will have the greatest influence on pricing shares for an IPO. â€Å"To be the leading suppliers of propriety technologies to our customers from all over the world specially Australia with focus on providing technologies which can assist firms in creating a better environment for our future generations† We aim to become one of the leading players in offering propriety technology to most of the customers from Australia. Our focus therefore will be on providing technology which can assist our customers in creating a better environment for our future generations to come. Markets for such technologies are relatively large and can offer potential business prospects owing to the extent of their size and operations. For example, there are seven major oil refineries that are currently operating in Australia with almost 85% of the oil requirements are fulfilled through domestic production of oil and petroleum products.1 We therefore see a large market which can be potentially exploited in order to gain access to the market which is really more attractive for this type of business. Since consumers are becoming more and more savvy and are demanding firms to be more socially responsible. With more focus on implementing legislative frameworks which require firms to employ technologies which can help reduce the impact of pollution on the environment, we believe that the firms will be interested in acquiring such technologies which can assist them not only to meet the regulatory requirements but also fulfill the expectations

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Abortion - Essay Example For most women, giving birth changes their lives. Women who are working or schooling can find abortion appropriate. Relationships problem and a desire to avoid single motherhood can also make abortion necessary (Finer et. al. Web). Sometimes conditions exist, both physical and mental that endanger the life of a pregnant woman, an abortion can be performed to save the life (WebMD Web). Additionally, abortion can help a raped woman to cope with the trauma that ensues. In a case of teenage pregnancy abortion affords the girl a chance to continue living her life normally. On the other hand, there are various reasons to support an argument against abortion. Life is precious even for the unborn children, but abortion steals the joy to live. If an abortion the procedure is not safely conducted, the woman risks developing health complications that could lead to death. The guilt associated with terminating pregnancy in some cases, causes women to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (Operation Rescue Web). Practise of abortion help sidestep the real issues that women experience. Raped women should be concerned with rape rather than opting for an abortion. To conclude, abortion is an issue that requires a cautious

Occupational Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Occupational Behaviour - Assignment Example utor to why Netflix continues to outperform competition and achieve substantially-high ratings from consumers who appear satisfied with its customer service practices. Based on careful analysis of the firm, its high pay structures and autonomous working environments are missing metrics to determine whether these policies are the genuine catalyst for organisational success and performance. Some research findings have discovered that pay systems are not always effective for achieving long-run job performance and that there are risks to providing too much autonomy. Based on all research and investigation into theory of organisational behaviour and even human psychology, as well as business theory, it is recommended to implement a 360 degree feedback appraisal system at Netflix and engage in the management-by-objectives ideology. These practices will give the firm a new ability to accurately measure true job performance and determine whether there is substantial return on investment for having such liberal HR policies. In order to maintain its reputation as a world class provider of superior customer service, Netflix seeks to hire only the most talented and motivated employees. HR-related perks include generous pay packages, seemingly unlimited vacation opportunities, a reduction of work rules and policies and considerable job role autonomy in order to attract and retain these high performers. This would, theoretically, provide considerable socio-psychological benefits that make employees more committed and motivated to achieve organisational goals. However, there is a potential plethora of problems with providing employees with perks such as the aforementioned to achieve job role performance. First, the case study did not indicate that Netflix has established a metrics system that would measure performance appropriately; a method of ensuring return on investment for these HR activities. Whilst Netflix believes that this will create a culture of commitment for the

Pacific Northwest Settling Establishments Essay Example for Free

Pacific Northwest Settling Establishments Essay Contact at trading posts had originally introduced the Native Americans to Christianity. The British Protestants and French-Canadian trappers who were mostly of Catholic faith did this. The trappers were impressed by Native religion and didnt see any problem between Christianity and Native religion. Fur companies usually encouraged their men to get Native American wives and marry into the tribes to make trade relationships stronger. The Whitman established their mission with the Cayuse at Waiilatpu near Walla Walla. Spalding was assigned to convert the Nez Perce people and founded a mission at Lapwai, Idaho. This was one of the most successful missions. In 1838, two Catholic priests, Fathers Blanchet and Modesta Demers arrived at Fort Walla Walla to imagine the possibilities of beginning a Catholic mission in the area. According to historians the Roman Catholic missionaries were much more successful with the Native Americans. The Native Americans were convinced of the Missionaries tactics and customs from a few different ways. One of the ways that was used was that they didnt promote immigration into the area. Their customs in church were interesting to the Native Americans and helped to encourage practicing their beliefs as well as the fact that mission sites were extensive. To help convert they didnt emphasize changing the Native Americans culture, but instead promoted theirs to make the Natives want to change. Instead of requiring Native Americans to live on or close to the Missions, they traveled alongside with them. In some ways the Missionaries used reverse physiology to convince the Native Americans that their practices were better. The significance of having the missionaries approach and try to chance the Native Americans was very significant. If it werent significant, the Native Americans that were opposing Christianity wouldnt have acted so forcefully, and so many conflicts would not have arose. To all Native Americans, the significance was of great impact whether thought to be positive or negative. It was also of great significance to the coarse of history. If the Missionary Era never occurred, things might be a lot different as far as religion goes for the 21st century.

An Introduction To Rational Choice Theory Philosophy Essay

An Introduction To Rational Choice Theory Philosophy Essay Public administrative agencies have very distinctive styles of decision making often depending upon the type of leadership or organizational structure. The literature suggests the decision making process in the public administrative sphere involves more complexity, dynamism, intervention, and interruption than those in their private counterparts (Rainey, p. 160). Public administrators are primarily held accountable by the people they serve in their communities; therefore, utilizing the most logical, efficient style of decision making is sought out by public agencies. Decision-making issues are closely related to power issues, because power determines who gets to decide (Rainey, p.160). Bureaucracies have commonly used the Rational Choice Theory in their decision making processes. For the purposes of this assignment, the Rational Choice Theory has been chosen for examination. Through examining the four components of the Rational-Choice Theory Model, theorists have concluded that this style of decision making is not rational. This model has proved to be problematic because it is not realistic, too time consuming, too costly, and too strict. Theorists such as Herbert Simon opposed this style of decision making claiming that it leads to bounded rationality which ultimately leads to satisficing. Bounded Rationality and Satisfying are two public administrative terms that will be explained later on. Conducting an analysis of Rational-Choice Theory, one mainly encounters criticisms of the model in literature. In this article Stephan clarifies rationality by providing an explanation of the embedded assumptions in Rational-Choice Theory. The embedded assumptions of rationality are the central theme of this article. Quackenbushs central argument is that much of the criticism of rational choice theory is based on a basic misunderstanding of the assumption of instrumental rationality-which is, after all, the rationality of rational choice theory (Quackenbush, p. 2). In this article, the author has discusses the role of assumption in theory as well as the assumption of rationality in rational choice theory. The author utilizes empirical research from several theorists to explain how the debate and the criticisms have evolved with Rational-Choice Theory. Quackenbush strengthens his argument with a discussion regarding three applications of rational choice theory in international relations and demonstrates ways that rational choice theorists themselves have potentially added to confusion about the assumption of rationality (Quackenbush, p.2). Quackenbush presents research from political science theorists such as Donald Green and Ian Shapiro, and Walt Friedman regarding rational choice theory but makes it abundantly clear that this model has been debated in other areas of social sciences. Green and Shapiros research of rational choice was conducted in the realm of American politics. Green and Shapiro concluded their research with evidence illustrating the rational choice model had not advanced the empirical study of politics as it had initially promised. Walt conducted a review of several formal rational choice works in an attempt to demonstrate that they have yielded trivial results, have not been empirically tested, and that empirical tests, when used, have been constructed poorly (Quackenbush, p. 2). Quackenbush attempted to clarify the role of assumptions in rational choice theory. The empirical works of Green and Shapiro assisted Walt in proving that rational choice is not simply one theory but an approach to theory. An assessment of Quackenbushs article, generally stated, may be the fact that rational choice theory theorizes that individuals use rationality to make choices and that individual theories are more of a concern than the rational choice model itself. In exploratory rational choices record, Green and Shapiro paying attention entirely upon the extent to which theorists present empirical evidence about the outside of an event: that is evidence. Evidence, on this view, consists in a fit between the presumptions of rational choice theory and observed institutional or behavioral outcomes in any particular case. In what follows we will refer to empirical evidence of this sort as mortal external. However, we argue that rational choice is also conciliation by its failure to provide kind of empirical evidence, namely internal or interpretive evidence about the beliefs of the agents whose actions comprise the phenomena to be explained. Our distinction between external and internal evidence maps on to the well-known distinction between a behavioral and ultimately positivist conception of political science and a hermeneutic or interpretive one. Internals explanations do not claim access to private psychological states; they are internal only in the sense of being internal to the world of meanings inhabited by the actor. Monk-Hampsher and Hindmoors research does, however, assume the devils advocate role towards the end of the article demonstrating how the rational choice theory is valuable in circumstances in which interpretive evidence cannot be relied. Scholarly Themes The idea of this article is based on the concept that the rational choice theory misses the interpretive evidence and the research to find out the reality that the empirical research does play any role in the credibility of the rational choice theory. Green and Shapiro demonstrate that the largely achievements of rational choice theory are in fact profoundly suspect and that fundamental rethinking is needed if rational choice theorists are to supply to the indulgent of politics. Green and Shapiro show that empirical tests of rational choice theories are disfigured by a series of mechanical defects. These defects flow from the characteristic rational choice impulse to defend universal theories of politics. An individual assessment of Hindmoors book review may lead to the belief that Hindmoor seems to disagree with Green and Shapiros thoughts that rational choice theory has been heavily criticized because it is misunderstood. Hindmoor explains that Green and Shapiro theorize that the problem lies with rational choice theorists and rational choice models, not with actual rational choice theory. Hindmoor may find Green and Shapiros research to be contradictory but acknowledges the importance of their work which it has been powerfully stated in the literature generating significant controversy. The theme of this book is based on the factors of reliability, validity and empirical evidence of the Rational Choice Theory. In this article the major concerns are the study of the collective action, the behavior and attitude of political parties politicians and phenomenon of voting cycles and the Prisoners problems. It has also been evaluated in this article that if rational choice theories are to contribute to the understanding of the politics then deep suspect and the fundamental rethinking is required. This article is a scholarly work dedicated to examining the primary features of rational choice theory with respect to Lakatos research program and Laudans research tradition. The analysis in this article expose that the thin rationality assumption, the axiomatic method and the diminution to the micro level are the only features shared by all rational choice models. On these grounds, it is argued that rational choice theory cannot be exemplified as a research program. This is due to the fact that the thin rationality proposition cannot be understood as a hard core in Lakatos terms. It is argued that Laudans conception of a research tradition better differentiate rational choice theory. Rational choice theory or rational actor theory (RCT) is a common draw near in different fields of social logical research. Broadly speaking, RCT can be differentiating as the maturity of models based on the hypothesis of rational actors. In this article, the nature of RCT is evaluated in more detail. Green and Shapiro suggest that they believe RCT should become a more coherent research program with a hard core if Lakatos terms are used. An assessment of Herne and Setelas article reveals their motivation for conducting this research lies within the context of the actual role of rational choice theory in the political arena. Herne and Setela disagree with Green and Shapiros strategies and convey that the development of rational actor theory would only be hindered if it were based upon a particular definition of rationality. Scholarly Themes The article theme is based on Post hoc theory development and domain restrictions.post hoc theory development is not necessarily harmful, if conceptual clarity and testability are preserved. But on contrary, post hoc theory development can lead to innovative model building. Beside this the domain restriction is also not a goof strategy because it kills the innovative theory building by restricting the domain of application. Librarians at the Bounds of Rationality: How Bounded Rationality Can Help Us Help Others, by Samantha Schmehl Hines Hines, S. S. (2009). Librarians at the Bounds of Rationality: How Bounded Rationality Can Help Us Help Others.  Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian,  28(3), 80-86. doi:10.1080/01639260903088927 Social Science theorist, Hebert Simon, claimed that Rational Choice Decision Making resulted in bounded rationality, a theory that explains how the rationality of decision making is limited based on the amount of information one may have. Simons theory is the topic in Samantha Schmehl Hiness article, Librarians at the Bounds of Rationality: How Bounded Rationality Can Help Us Help Others. Central Argument In this article, Hiness is clearly an advocate of bounded rationality describing it as a helpful concept used to identify and predict behavior with decision making. Hiness central argument focuses on how and why bounded rationality is beneficial in predicting human behavior. Summary of Work Hines uses the criticisms of Rational Choice Theory to build her argument that bounded rationality is a better mode of decision making. Bounded rationality is a perception used in the social sciences to help classify and predict how individuals make decisions. An offshoot of rational choice theory, bounded prudence accounts for the fact that completely rational decisions are not feasible in practice and states that individuals use heuristics, or rules based on past experiences and information, to make decisions. Bounded rationality can explain how our users create heuristic shortcuts to simplify the decision-making practice and deal with the multitude of choices and information available. This concept article will describe bounded rationality, apply bounded rationality to aspects of library service, and discuss the possible use of the concept as an assessment tool for our services. Hines uses librarians and their daily operations in an attempt to prove that Simons theory is helpful in two different realms of study: Social Sciences and Human Behavior. Hines explains that daily practices such as collection development and reference review are implicated in the decision making processes of our daily lives. Collection development and reviews of reference books, articles, journals etc are two elements of bounded rationality that draw attention to the resources individuals have at their clearance for making rational decisions. Hines argues that becoming aware of this progression will benefit the decision making process. Scholarly Themes The theme of this article is based on the idea that the individuals rationality is limited because of the available information, cognitive limitation of their minds and the limited time for decision making. So they use the techniques based on their experiences in past. Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations, by Herbert A. Simon Simon, H. A. (1979). Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations.  The American Economic Review,  69(4), 493-513. Retrieved April 8, 2010 Herbert Simon, a theorist who has analyzed Rational Choice Theory in multiple areas of study, seeks to examine the theory from an economical perspective in the article, Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations. Central Argument The central theme of this article is focused on the concern of the important colonial territory known as decision theory. Simon discusses the normative and descriptive aspects and its applications to business organizations linking his theories back to the core of the political economy. Summary of Work Simon states economics has focused on one aspect of mans decision making and that one focus had traditionally been his reason. Furthermore, Simon explains mans reason had typically been studied while making decisions in times of scarcity. Simon steps out of the traditional realm in his research viewing decision theory as not being limited to the domains of political science, psychology, and sociology. He explains that the classical model of rational choice calls for all the knowledge of alternatives that are open to choice. Simon explains, in compliance with most of his research on Rational Choice theory, the possession of complete knowledge is not rational or feasible. Simon uses the works of theorists such as Henry Schultz to provide examples in explaining the more refined aspects of studies conducted within the physical sciences. From a government policy making perspective, Simon reveals the eloquence of the body of descriptive theory (i.e. descriptive statistics) and how quantitative research has been beneficial to normative economics. Although Simon is clearly an advocate of his many of his colleagues equilibrium theories, he offers an explanation that some of the more refined parts of this study may not be completely beneficial in the real world. Simon says in his article that when we find the discrepancies between theory and data, we try to patch rather then to rebuild from the foundations. He argues that we have large quantity of descriptive data from field as well as laboratory. A number of theories have been formed to account for this data. But these theories are not coherent. In one way or other, these incorporate the notions of the bounded rationality. Bounded rationality means the need to search for decisions alternatives, the replacement of optimization by targets and satisficing goals and the mechanism of learning and adaptation. Scholarly Themes The theme of this article is one with something can not be defeated with nothing. You cannot neat a measure or a candidate by pointing his/her defects or inefficiencies. An alternative must has to be offered. Do Sunk Costs Matter, by R. Preston Mcafee and Hugo M. Mialon, and Sue H. Mialon Mcafee, R. P., Mialon, H. M., Mialon, S. H. (2007). Do Sunk Costs Matter?  Economic Inquiry,  48(2), 323-336. Retrieved April 8, 2010 Central Argument Authors R. Preston Mcafee, Hugo M. Mialon, and Sue H. Mialon present research examining how people make decisions specifically in the realm of sunk costs in the article Do Sunk Costs Matter; therefore, their research focuses on economics. Summary of Work In the summary to of this article the authors identify sunk costs as costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. That sunk costs are not related to rational decision-making is often accessible as one of the basic principles of economics. When people are influenced by sunk costs in their decision-making, they are said to be commend the sunk cost fallacy. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we argue that, in a broad range of situations, it is rational for people to condition behavior on sunk costs, because of informational content, reputational concerns, or financial and time constriction. Once all the elements of the decision-making environment are taken into account, reacting to sunk costs can often be unstated as rational behavior. Another argument presented in this article is the idea that decisions based on future prospects, past decisions, scarce resources and infinite time, and reaction to past decisions and the sunk costs they have entailed, is often rational behavior. Scholarly Themes The theme of the article is when people engage in this type of behavior it is not rational and they commit a sunk cost fallacy. Sunk cost is the basic theme of this article in which the authors have discussed that the people might rationally invest more if they have invested more in the past, because it might convince that high past investments would lead towards the closer success. The reaction of people has been discusses for investments in regard to the sunk cost. Simons Revenge: or Incommensurability and Satisficing, by Michael Byron Byron, M. (2005). Simons revenge: or, incommensurability and satisficing.  Analysis,  65(4), 311-315. Retrieved April 9, 2010 Central Argument Michael Byrons article, Simons Revenge: or Incommensurability and Satisficing, is another analysis of the Rational Choice Theory based on Herbert Simons criticisms of the theory. Byron provides a discussion focused on Simons solution to the Rational Choice Model of Decision Making. The central theme of Byrons article is about Simons coined term, Satisficing, and its potential in serving as an alternative model to Rational Choice Theory. Summary of Work Byron explains that Simon thought for large-scale decisions, the deluge of relevant information and uncertainties overload the cognitive capacity of managers to process it. Managers strive for rationality; therefore, they tend to be rational. However, Byron uses Simons argument to strengthen his research by explaining cognitive limits, uncertainties, and time limits cause decisions to be made under conditions of bounded rationality. They do not maximize in accordance with rationality assumptions instead they satisfice. To paraphrase Bryons argument, satisficing is a term meaning what we do when we make the best of what we can. This is the reality of decision making. Satisfice is the combination of two words: satisfy and suffice. Byron explains Simons alternative model of satisficing does not require maximization such as Rational Choice Model. Simon saw maximizing had failed; therefore, his revenge, or model of satisficing, was designed to garner success outcomes descriptively. Byron argues Simon designed this alternative model by making it cognitive demands nominal, simplified its value function, and completely eliminated the probabilities of the model. Scholarly Themes The idea of this article is Satisficing. Managers try to be rational but due to limitations they have to be bound rational in their decision making to provide satisficing decision and alternatives. A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action, by Elinor Ostrom Elinor Ostrom.   (1998). A behavioral approach to the rational choice theory of collective action presidential address, American Political Science Association, 1997.  The American Political Science Review,  92(1),  1-22.   Retrieved April 9, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  26931044). Elinor Ostroms article, A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action, is presented in Chapter 16 of Michael Dean McGinniss book entitled Polycentric Games and Institutions: Readings from the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. Central Argument Ostroms research regarding the Rational Choice Theory and decision making is based on her argument that the theory is effective if expanded into a behavioral model of collective action when making decisions in times of social dilemma. This is the central argument of her research. Summary of Work Ostrom explains that Rational Choice Theory assumes that humans are self-interested, maximizers. Her research argues that Rational Choice has been successful in predicting marginal behavior in competitive decision making but when it comes to using this theory to predict decisions that are made during social dilemmas it has proved to be ineffective. Extensive empirical evidence and theoretical events causing change in multiple disciplines motivate a need to develop the range of rational choice models to be used as an establishment for the study of social dilemmas and cooperative action. After an introduction to the problem of triumph over social dilemmas through collective action, the leftovers of this article is divided into six sections which include theoretical predictions of currently accepted rational choice theory related to social dilemmas, challenges to the sole reliance, empirical findings that begin to show how individuals achieve results that are better than rational, the possibility of developing second-generation models of rationality, an initial theoretical scenario, implications of placing reciprocity, reputation, and trust at the core of an empirically tested, behavioral theory of collective action. The implications of developing second-generation models of empirically grounded, bloodedly rational, and moral decision making are substantial. New research questions will open up. We need to expand the type of research methods regularly used in political science. We need to increase the level of understanding among those engaged in formal theory, experimental research, and field research across the social and biological sciences. Scholarly Theme The main themes of the article are rational choice models, empirical evidences and theoretical development. The mentioned themes can be used to expand the variety of the rational choice models so that the study of the social dilemma and collective action can be carried out. To vote or not to vote: the merits and limits of rational choice theory, by Andre Blais Blais, Andre. To vote or not to vote: the merits and limits of rational choice theory. 2000. USA: University of Pittsburg Press. Central Argument Voter turnout and our reasons for voting have been exhaustively examined in the literature; however, Blais expresses his dissatisfaction of what has been presented in the literature about voting. The central theme of Blaiss research is whether or not the decision to vote or abstain from voting evolves from a rational choice perspective. Summary of Work Blais strengthens his argument by pointing out that rational choice authors have admitted a problem with exist voting and rational choice perspective because voting is a paradox of irrational response. Blais concludes his argument, after two solid years dedicated to this topic, with the view that the Rational Choice Theory does make a real contribution to understanding of why people vote but the contribution is quite limited. Blais uses Green and Shapiros infamous critique of the Rational Choice Theory to compare his verdict of the actual role Rational Choice plays in ones decision to vote. Green and Shapiros research blatantly stated the Rational Choice Model had failed to contribute any advancement of the empirical study of politics. Blaiss verdict is not as harsh and contrary to his colleagues findings. Blais uses a strong example to prove his point stating that motivations that make people vote, such as civic duty, are far from Rational Choice that claims people are self-interested. In Blais comparative analysis of his verdict to Green and Sahapiros, he stresses that political science offers many reasons to not vote. The fact that people still make the decision to vote is irrational. After Blaiss research, he candidly reveals that he cannot make sense of why people vote without taking the Rational Choice Model into consideration. Since most citizens vote despite even when it is not in their best perso nal interests to do so is a fascination that only Rational Choice Theory can explain. Scholarly Themes In the book, the author is focusing on the reasons for the choice for casting the vote. Voting and rational choice theory are interlinked and only this theory can explain it. CONCLUSION The 10 articles examined for the purposes of conducting a miniature literature review of Rational Choice Theory clearly indicates that this theory is of the most powerful in the field of social sciences, especially political science. An immovable effort was made to garner research that presented different perspectives about the effectiveness and feasibility of Rational Choice Theory. Rational Choice Theory has been criticized for being unrealistic. In decision making, Rational Choice is thought to be too time consuming, too costly, and too strict. The literature has criticized the theory for not taking human intuitive behavior into consideration. Furthermore, many theorists and researchers are not satisfied with Rational Choice Theory because it neglects empirical research. On the other hand, many theorists believe in Rational Choice Theory to explain things such as voting phenomenon. People vote inspire of the fact it may not be in their personal best interests. Some theorists believe only Rational Choice Theory can explain and predict this type of behavior. Other theorists believe the theory can be strengthened through incorporation of behavioral models. Overall, Rational Choice Theory has been approached with skepticism by theorists. The theorys validity and reliability has been questioned because of its lackadaisical approach to include empirical research. This argument seems to be the central theme of a vast majority of the research on Rational Choice Models. Theorists wonder what Rational Choice should do when empirical anomalies arise. Although there are many critiques for Rational Choice Theory, but still it is helpful in many fields such as to understand the rational of voting, in business organization etc.

Reflective Report For Project In Fostering Solutions

Reflective Report For Project In Fostering Solutions As a part of my Postgraduate degree program I got an internship opportunity for a period of three months at Fostering Solutions Ltd. The internship duration was from June till September. This report is a reflection on my experience of working as a consultant at Fostering Solutions. The project consisted of conducting a Competitor Analysis for the betterment of Fostering Solutions. Along with me were my team members Li who was responsible for carrying out the process improvement and Mani Shankar was vested with the responsibility of devising a national and marketing strategy. There was going to be a lot of team work, since the three parts would be combined together as one project. The project turned out to be a grand success and in this report I take you through my journey as a consultant from the beginning of the project till its conclusion looking at the various problems I faced and how I overcame them, the skills I learnt, my strongest motivation, how we developed team capabilities and finally the ending of the project. This was one of earliest projects that were posted on blackboard which I applied for, and was successful in proclaiming an internship after an interview with Fostering Solutions at Manchester Business School. It was a special feeling as I had a chance to work for a foreign company and this would subsequently add commendable strength to my resume. The Beginning The prospect of working on a live project as a consultant evoked plenty of excitement. For me the most significant aspect of the project was my opportunity to inculcate the theories and models I learnt in class to the corporate world. Having done my Bachelors in Management studies and currently pursuing a Post graduation in Business Analysis, this was the perfect opportunity for me to utilize my skills and relate to the learnings from the classroom. Most significantly having the knowledge and understanding of business models which I studied in the Analysing companies module at Manchester Business School helped me a lot. Though, this was possible only because I was able to implement those learnings in my internship project. The beginning was challenging because this was a new industry to me and we were unfamiliar with the concept of fostering. I had to start from scratch by learning the fostering basics, the industry mechanics followed by the current scenario of the market. This was going to be the foundation of the project and a key factor to its success. All this had to be done in a short span of time because I needed to get a head start in the project. 2.1 Day 1 In our first meeting with the client at Fostering Solutions Ltd, we were introduced as external consultants to all the members of staff in different departments. My first observation about the company was its organisational culture. I noticed that the organisational culture was of the role culture type, in which the organisation is split up into various functions and each individual is responsible for a particular duty. (Learn management, 2010) We were given a briefing about the project, the companys background and the fostering industry in general. I learnt that Michelle Sloan would be supervising me for my part of the project at the company. My first impression about Michelle was that she is a friendly and easy going person. I was given authority and freedom to work in any method comfortable to me. Her style of leadership was participative, since she would give me freedom and authority to work in my own way although she would check and double check my work to assess its suitability . We were presented a red folder containing inspection reports of different offices of fostering solutions, details of Fostering Solutions offices, contact details and a survey that was conducted on foster carers named as Foster Carer Viewpoints. This was the first significant aspect of my learning process to carry out a competitor analysis, this was regarding an inspection carried out by an organisation named Ofsted on independent agencies known as Ofsted Ratings. I learnt that Ofsted ratings is one way to assess competitors. The motivation I was strongly motivated by the fact that Fostering Solutions were going to take our findings and analysis very seriously. Subsequently our supervisor Prof Kurt kept highlighting the fact that Fostering Solutions unlike other big company internship project would analyse our recommendations meticulously and implement a few key ones. Knowing I had an opportunity to make a difference to an organisation was a big driving force for me. In addition to this I acknowledged to the fact that I was working for a social cause of helping overcome the shortage of foster carers in United Kingdom to the increase in the number of children in care with local authorities. My findings would help Fostering Solutions to recruit better and more foster carers and in turn help a number of children find homes and family. The Learning process In this section I reflect upon the learning process with respect to this internship project. I illustrate the gradual progress I made towards completion of the project successfully, there were learnings and knowledge gain at every level. The learning process began with understanding the foster carer approval process. Understanding this process was very complex and was a difficult task. As the project progressed I realised I cannot compare the approval process or the number of foster carers approved between different competitors because they would not divulge such key information to me. There was no other procedure to find the information either. However understanding this process helped me understand that for a fostering agency it is critical that the right people register their initial interest with the agency. This was the first step to recruiting foster carers. Therefore, more the number of suitable applications received more will be the foster carers approved. The learning proces s continued with understanding the Fostering industry business model. Learning and understanding the business model was key to carry out an efficient competitor analysis. Independent agencies like Fostering Solutions recruit and approve foster carers, and place them with children provided by local authority. The Independent agency charges the local authority for this and pays the foster carer allowance for their carer service. Shown below is my understanding and reflection about the fostering industry business model. My Understanding of the Fostering Industry Business Model For determining an organisations success in todays highly competitive and complex environment, the business model is the most significant tool. I understood that for any company to exist in this industry it has to recruit foster carers. Subsequently, I learnt more and more about the company, the industry and how things work in general with each passing week. One of the key learnings was when I realised that the local authority runs this industry and is a key ingredient of the business model. This understanding was essential for me to carry out my competitor analysis. After this the most significant aspect was to list out the key issues involved in recruiting foster carers. I understood that different people had different motivations to choose fostering. They are 1. For the sole purpose of fostering. 2. For the purpose of fostering and the financial interest in the allowance they would get. 3. They could be interested in adoption but first would like to foster the child and adopt at a later stage. After this I began the data collection process by assembling data regarding the industry to write a brief description and the challenges it is facing. By doing so, I learnt that there was a shortage of foster carers in the industry and an increase in the number of children coming into care. I learnt that the government of the United Kingdom were looking to reduce spending on Fostering in the coming years and this was a major threat to the fostering industry. By the end of June after consulting with Michelle, Fostering Solutions, we short listed nine companies on whom I would be filing reports which would shed light on how these firms compete with Fostering Solutions in the market. On doing further analysis to understand the factors which clarified how these firms compete with Fostering Solutions, I came up with criteria on which they would be compared and analysed, these criteria included turnover, profit margin, number of employees, location, foster carer allowance paid, services pr ovided, placement provided and Ofsted ratings. On carrying out a through analysis of these factors would enable me to gain an understanding of the positioning of these companies in the market. The learning process reached its peak when I could prepare a framework for my project report as shown below. Framework of the competitor analysis Working in teams There were times when I had to inherit the qualities or role of a leader, friend, colleague and subordinate while working as a part of a team. Good team leadership is to create conditions which would allow thoughts, ideas and people to succeed, by coming together and with a flow in the performance. When in pursuit of challenging team goals one can encourage effective teamwork by balancing peoples strengths with building good relationships. I enjoyed working with this team. The team would meet twice a week to discuss our parts and understand the progress each one of us was making. We would go to the office to meet with the client twice a week till the middle of July. The difficulties I faced in working in this team were communicating with Li who is Chinese and has a funny English accent. Similarly, she would have found our accent funny and would have found it a little difficult to grasp an understanding in one conversation. There were numerous occasions most recently today itself when I had to ask her to repeat her suggestion on the recommendation because I could not understand her English in the first attempt. Despite the cultural and geographical differences, it was an interesting experience working with a person from another country. I adjusted my method of working and communicating with the dynamics of the team. I believe this would be a key requirement for my future prospects when I work in an organisation. It is very important to adjust and settle down in accordance with the dynamics of the team you are working with. Despite our differences, we were a team that worked together, fought the difficulties and appreciated each others work. (Lawf ord, 2003) We shared work in such a way that every member could use his/her strengths to attain the required goal and not have to work on tasks which required skills which may be deficient. By doing this we increased the productivity of the team and the team morale. An example could be that I was good at making charts and compiling the whole report, whereas Li was good at the editing work and proof reading and accordingly we distributed the tasks to achieve proper synergy. An example of our progress as a team with reference to the Tuckmans Team Model Tuckmans Stages of Team Development Tuckmans model gives an understanding of how a newly formed team gradually develops maturity, ability and the establishment of relationships within the team members. From the Forming stage where the team comes together for the first time through 4 different stages the team goes through a series of changes and ultimately performs as a team and works towards achieving its goals Forming  stage Formation of the team Tuckmans model explains In this stage the team has been assembled and tasks are allocated among members. Team members pretend to get on with each other but they might not trust each other due to not knowing each other well enough. At this stage I felt it was important to bring the group together and work on our goals. It was important that we established our roles and this stage was a period of high learning. It is a stage where I learnt about beliefs, attitudes and observed the behaviour of my team members. Such things gave me an idea to understand these individuals and thus understand the group dynamics which were going to be formed. Storming Tuckmans model explains In this stage the team members strive to get down with the issues and ways to achieving them. At this stage, it is expected that arguments and tempers will flare. We did have a lot of arguments regarding each others report analysis and findings. The arguments occurred on topics such as format of the reports, whose part should come first and also the word count. As mentioned above, the incident where I named a file wrongly had led to arguments. Sometimes teams can become stuck in this phase for a long time due to persistent arguments and problems. At this stage the most important thing is to listen to each other, there was a need to create a positive vibe in the group and appreciate each others work. There was a necessity to set tasks and walk along with the team towards the next step. Hence a belief of yes we can was needed to make the transfer to the next stage. Norming  stage Tuckmans model explains This as the stage where the team members get used to the working ways of each other and develop trust and strive for team productivity. In this phase teams begin to work as a cohesive unit trusting each other. Li and Mani were aware that I work through the night and sleep early in the morning right upto 11 a.m. Hence we used to schedule some meetings for 1p.m. or later. Mani and I took a little longer to finish our sections of the report because we had a tough time getting the data we needed from secondary sources. Li understood and appreciated this difficulty. We had developed an understanding of exactly what was going on in each others section of report. It is highly important to self evaluate and communicate effectively at this stage. We shared responsibility by delegating tasks to be completed between the three of us. The risk at this stage was that the team could become complacent and lose its creativity or driving force that is required to achieve success in its goals. Our team did not lose its focus we kept working towards a common goal and took the step towards the final stage of our project. Performing  stage Tuckmans model explains This is a stage where the team is totally committed and strives towards a common goal. This is the final stage of the team where it focuses in finishing the tasks it set out and adjourning. Once we finished individual parts of group report, we met regularly at Manchester Business School to discuss the link between the 3 parts. At this stage individuals in the team are highly motivated for the success of the team wasting little time with high trust on one another. We proof-read each others work and thoroughly examined each others recommendations, sometimes through discussions, before coming to a consensus. It is key to note that a team according to tuckmans model can return to an earlier level if there is a change, for instance a review of the recommendations or the report or if a team member leaves prematurely. Difficulties Faced and How I Overcame Them At the outset of this Internship project I faced plenty of difficulties. In this section I reflect on the difficulties that I faced and what I did to overcome them. The beginning period was very tough for me from a personal point of view. My Father had a heart problem during May end/June start. I could not concentrate on my work and kept thinking about how things would be back home and worrying. It was an emotional and stressful beginning. At such time, there is no way to find out if your family is telling you the truth about the situation or otherwise. This makes things all the more difficult. It took me about ten to fourteen days to get back to normal self and believing that everything was alright. Nevertheless, this incident motivated me a lot to give it my best shot. I worked harder than ever to make my parents proud of me. 6.1 Problem solving model This problem solving model was adapted by me from the eight disciplines problem solving method. (David Bruce, 2010) I reflect on different problems I faced during the project and how I used this model to find a solution to those problems. Lack of Data During the early days of the project I had a tough time because I was reading information that had nothing to do with competitor analysis. Such was the vast nature of information provided to me about Fostering Solutions. I was given a number of books on fostering, care and training methods, which I read and found out, had nothing to do with my competitor analysis. A lot of precious time was wasted in going through irrelevant data. Often in research projects consultants could spend time reading, researching information that are of no use in the research but still have to be read and assessed to find out its use in future analysis. When analysing this problem with respect to the model I concluded the best option would be to create a framework and scope for my research. By doing so I exactly understood the data I was required to collect and carry out further analysis. I got all the data regarding Fostering Solutions from the company. However getting information about competitors to undertake a competitor analysis was a challenging task. Getting the financial data such as turnover, profit margin proved to a job in itself. During a meeting with Dr. Kurt, he suggested FAME database and it worked. The data for 8 companies out of 9 was available but TACT being a charity organisation there was no data. Another problem was that for Orange Grove (now taken over by Hillcrest Foster Care) and SWIIS the financial information available was only for the year 2008 and not 2009. But the data for other companies was available as per our requirement. The research could have been better had I got the required annual reports of these companies. I overcame this difficulty by considering the options to counter this problem. I selected the best suitable option which would be to conduct a comparison of these companies on data that I had such as services provided or fost er carer allowance. In this way I used my problem solving model and decided to concentrate on the data I possessed to continue my competitor analysis, rather than getting demotivated about the unavailable data. Similarly, getting data regarding the foster carer allowance was a hurdle. This information is important as it provides insight into who provides the best allowance to the foster carers and where Fostering Solutions stands in comparison. The hindrances I faced during this task were immense. This data for many competitors was not available directly; it was either hidden in the services page or FAQs section. By The Bridge did not divulge this information as it was not present on their website, but only in their brochure which they wont send out unless an initial application was filled. I went to the step 2 of my problem solving model and tried a few options to find out this data. I tried calling fostering companies on my radar and acting like a person who was interested in foster care and asked for access to their annual reports, brochure and foster carer allowance. I was told there was no access to annual reports and for brochure I would be required to fill in an application form. Lat er, I decided to try calling them saying I was a Manchester Business School postgraduate student and wanted their brochure, annual report of 2009 or 2008 as I am doing a research project on fostering industry. Even this trick did not work as they outsmarted me. The person I spoke to told me to forward my research project plan and key objectives and then only they will send this information. I could obviously not send this because the research objective was a competitor analysis for the benefit of Fostering Solutions. Thus, foster carer allowance for By The Bridge and TACT could not be found out after exploring the options stage. Hence I went to step 3 of the problem solving model and decided to compare these companies on other key factors such as size, turnover, ofsted ratings and services provided. Similarly, there was no data available regarding number of children placed by each of the competing companies. It would have been very helpful and interesting if I could have got data regarding children placed by each of 9 competitors. There was data available only regarding total children placed by all the Independent agencies and local authorities. I have included the same in the competitor analysis, but there was no data available on children placed by each competitor. Vast nature of the project The vast nature of the project and short span of time of 3 months to complete was a hindrance. According to our Academic supervisor Prof Kurt this project could have been carried out as a PhD for a three year term, such was its wide scope. I had 4000 to 6000 words to present and analyse data, compare the 9 companies to fostering solutions and come up with how they compete with them. This was always going to be too short to compile reports on these companies, write down my analysis, analysis regarding financial data, compile findings/comparison for each company to fostering solutions and lastly recommendations. I progressed to step 2 of the problem solving model and explored my options. Then I selected the suitable option of presenting some of the important data in the appendix and decided to strictly following the framework I had set out for the project and restricting myself to only presenting analysis and information that was key and omitting irrelevant data. Skills Utilized, skills I Lacked and Skills Acquired Skills Utilized Skills I utilized to successful completion of the project It is extremely crucial that a consultant has a complete understanding of the project requirement. I achieved this by breaking down the project into small elements and developed my understanding of the requirement of my client. This was done by discussing the project brief in detail with Fostering Solutions and Prof Kurt. Having applied this skill effectively I now feel I would be able to carry this experience on to future assignments I receive at my workplace. Secondly, having broken down the project into tasks I utilized my communication skills to keep the client informed about my progress in the report. I used the 7 Cs of communication clarity, confidence, comprehensive, concise, conviction, comfort and charisma to effectively communicate throughout the project.(Leslie, 2010) Having good communication skills helped me massively because this being a team project, there were three lines of communication. Firstly with the client, secondly with my team and thirdly with my academic supervisor Prof Kurt. Hence, to avoid confusion it was important to see that everyone was on the same wavelength. This was achieved by arranging a meeting between the company supervisors and our academic supervisor, Prof. Kurt. We agreed that all communication regarding meeting with our academic supervisor would be handled by Mani Shankar. I would be reporting directly to Michelle at Fostering Solutions and emailing Prof Kurt regularly regarding the progress of my report. We had a number of meetings at Manchester Business School and Fostering Solutions to discuss the progress of the project. Once the channels of communication were established early in the project, I had no problems working on the report and communicating with both the supervisors. Thirdly, I needed to be a good analyst to successfully progress in this report. Prof. Kurt gave me a nudge in the right direction by suggesting FAME database to me to look for financial data of companies that are available. Once this was done, competitors were assessed and compared with Fostering Solutions on turnover, profit margin, foster carer allowance paid, services provided and placements provided. This required a lot of data collection most of which was secondary and required a lot of analysis to find out exactly how they competed with Fostering Solutions in the market. Having analysed data on each competitor I discussed it with Michelle and Prof Kurt and got their feedback on the same. I found out an interesting statistics at fostering.net. From this file I found out that local authorities were always going to be big competitors with independent agencies in this industry. They had placed more children, recruited more foster carers and received more applications than the independent fostering agencies across the UK. This was the first analysis I had conducted. Showing it and proving it in meetings at MBS with the supervisors and again at Fostering Solutions gave me a lot of confidence. I started believing in my abilities to succeed in this challenging project and provide a lasting contribution to the success of Fostering Solutions. I found it difficult and challenging to collect the data required in order to carry out my analysis. FAME provided limited information and financial data for some companies were available only for the year 2008. There was no other way to find out the information I needed. I overcame this problem by comparing and doing my analysis for these companies on other variables such as foster carer allowance and services provided. Belief in my abilities grew when I discovered that local authorities had recruited, placed more children and received more applications than independent agencies and proved it with evidence in a meeting at Fostering Solutions. I conducted my analysis on turnovers, foster carer allowance, services provided and the locations of the competitors. This understanding was essential for me to come up with important observations regarding how the competitors compete with Fostering Solutions. Thus, in this way I excelled in using my analytical skills. Skills that I developed during this internship were my planning, organisational skills and time management. If I had to be successful in this project it was essential for me to plan and organise tasks before executing them. I believe I did this efficiently. One thing I would like to highlight and criticise myself is it took me a while to get a head start; Prof. Kurt and Michelle were extremely understandable, patient and helpful. This report could have been better if I had made a better start and I am critical about this issue. Though, the effort that has been put in is the same as I worked longer hours at a stretch when the real assignment began. I efficiently planned the time schedule for understanding the industry, data collection, analysis and writing the report. After analysing the data I would discuss it with Michelle. She would give her feedback and I would incorporate the completed data and analysis in my written report. As planned I completed writing my report before August 22nd 2010. Hence I believe that I have developed good planning and organising skills because without them I would not have been able to complete this project within the time duration; especially after the slow start that I had. One skill I lacked due to my inexperience of working on a project of such magnitude was presentation skills with respect to formatting and presenting a management report. This was the first time I had worked as a consultant for a company. I had no idea about how to present a report of such magnitude. Prof Kurt in one of our final meetings was critical about the way I had presented and written my report. My report draft had a shabby presentation with parts in bold, unnecessary paragraphs and some parts underlined unnecessarily. Prof Kurt showed me the right way and guided me to prepare the report and present it in a more professional and readable way. He taught me that presentation is a key aspect in report writing and all the hard work done could be undone by a shabby presentation. He gave us ideas to make the report look good and interesting to the reader. AIDA Model Attention Interest Desire Action I learnt that a good presentation of the report is a must because firstly it will capture the attention of the reader and generate an interest in the material. After which the reader would develop a desire to read it. These lessons will remain with me for the rest of my life and in future when I work for a company and have to present a consulting report I would reflect upon these lessons Prof Kurt enlightened upon me. (Aida, 2010) Working with Fostering Solutions The Client Fostering Solutions were supportive of this project. Michelle my supervisor was very excited about the whole project from the start. She was very friendly, supportive to me during the duration of the project. I was given a lot of freedom to choose whether to go and work from the office or working from my home/business school library. Michelle could not give me proper feedback because my report was in bits and pieces and in draft format till start of first week of August. But once I sent her the report in full, she helped me edit and also proof read given data analysis for me. Once I submitted my final draft to her, she was very happy with it and gave me her feedback. Michele and Prof Kurt appreciated my effort inspite of the challenges I faced such as lack of data, time constraints, word constraints to conduct a competitor analysis. Michele presented my findings, analysis and recommendations to the director of Fostering Solutions who requested for the FAME financial data to be put in the appendix, and congratulated me for my good work. In my recommendations to the client I adopted a diplomatic method to avoid being too critical or too polite. Michele was critical about a few of my recommendations at first, but once we debated the issues involved she realised that I had raised valid arguments. My responsibility was to recommend ways in which Fostering Solutions could compete in a better way in the market with respect to competitors. Hence I had to find out and raise concerns in the current working methods/strategy of Fostering Solutions in comparison with its competitors. This had to be done with care due to sensitivity of the issue involved, no organisation would like to hear or accept their faults or limitations. Thus I had to structure my recommendations in such a way that it would be read and accepted by the client. The reason being unless they are accepted with an open mind there is no chance of it being implemented by the organisation. Self evaluation model Following is a self evaluation model in which I assess the utilization of skills in this internship project using a coordinate diagram. X axis Skills to be evaluated 1 Planning and organising tasks 2- Communication skills 3- Analytical 4 Problem solving skills 5- Presentation skills with respect to formatting, editing. 6- Team work 7- Creativity Y axis Perfomance rating 1 Poor 2 Satisfactory 3 Good 4 Excellent Self evaluation model Excellent 4- (1, 4) (3, 4) (6, 4) Good 3- (2, 3) (4, 3) Satisfactory 2 (5, 2) (7, 2) Poor 1- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Skills to be evaluated Coordinates and evaluation using the coordinates model (1, 4) Planning and organising skills Excellent (2, 3) Communication skills Good (3, 4) Analytical skills Good (4, 3) Problem solving skills Good (5, 2) Presentation skills with respect to formatting and editing, presentation of work has to be improved -Satisfact

Images of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals :: Essays Papers

Images of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals It all makes good sense so long as animals exist. Humans are not so different from nonhuman animals, yet through a vast array of often mutually supporting structures of domination – from food to fashion and psychology to war, â€Å"the suffering that we inflict on nonhuman beings can be extreme, and the numbers involved are gigantic†[1]. From this, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) branches out. A next step, a necessary path, a biological outgrowth or a wandering extension of a moral â€Å"circle† of consideration of nonhuman animals. The slogan: â€Å"Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment†[2]. But more than a slogan to march to, the pithy philosophy also guides, unifies, and activates the media presence that makes up the fundamental faces of PETA. PETA is also other than a cadre for animal revolution, â€Å"we are complete press sluts†[3]. For animals, the revolution will be televised vigo rously. Whereas this struggle might be understood as the instrumental use of media to effect an outside end for real world concerns (more TV makes less animals die), how PETA’s images have worked can be understood on an alternate screen of anti-aliased renders and widescreen projection. A programming of simulation, nature, and animal. PETA’s internet enabled zoo of images, photos for every block of words and text for every block of pixels, both addresses and symbiotically supports the habitat and survival of the animals they hope to strategically aid. For, while ‘the cause’ would be served as well by the sudden disappearance of animal cruelty, what is advocated is precisely inclusive and referential of itself. These animals, whose kind is to be saved, live inside of html formatted rectangles in Photoshop blended subtlety and complexity. It all makes sense so long as animals exist, and the premise is hard to deny. Animals have been, as PETA is no doubt aware, consistently and progressively devastated, impacted, displaced, conquered, enslaved, caught, captured, killed, boxed in and eliminated. The activist may tell you that this process is by no means inevitable or necessary and must be ended now. But the images sear a different mark: animals, as we once knew them, may have already passed through their disappearance, ascension, and resurrection. Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s director of vegan outreach, has said of meat eating, â€Å"feeding plants to animals then eating the animals is like filtering water through a sewer then drinking it†[4].

Biography of Pele Essay -- History

Biography of Pele Edson Arantes do Nascimento, more widely admired by the world as "Pelà ©", was born on October 23, 1940, in a small village in Brasil called Trà ªs Coraà §Ãƒ µes in the Brasilian state of Minas Gerais. He was baptized in the municipal church called Igreja da Sagrada Famà ­lia de Jesus, Maria e Josà ©. His father, Joà £o Ramos do Nascimento, or Dondinho, as he was known in the soccer world, was also a professional player. He was well-known as one of the best-heading players in his time. He was a center forward for Fluminense until an injury kept him from playing professional division one soccer. His mother Celeste gave Pelà © and the rest of his family attention to their needs and a lot of love. When he was a child, Pelà © and his family moved to Baurà º, in the interior of the Brasilian state of Sà £o Paulo, where he learned to master the art of futebol. One day he himself confessed that he "tinha trà ªs coraà §Ãƒ µes [had three hearts]", referring to the city where he wa s born, Trà ªs Coraà §Ãƒ µes, and to Baurà º and Santos. Pelà ©'s Career Pelà ©'s first job was shining shoes. But he had always dreamed of playing soccer. Pelà ©'s soccer career started early. After playing in a few amateur teams like Baquinho and Sete Setembro, at the age of 11, while playing for an uncoached team called Ameriquinha, he was discovered by a former Brasilian World Cup player named Waldemar de Brito. De Brito recognized Pelà ©'s skills and invited him to join the team he was organizing (Clube Atlà ©tico Baurà º?). When Pelà © was fifteen, in 1956, de Brito took him to the city of Sà £o Paulo to try out for the professional club called Santos Futebol Clube (SFC). That day, de Brito told the team directors that "This boy will be the greatest soccer player in the world." Pelà ©'s first show came on September 7, 1956, when he played in place of the center forward Del Vecchio. He came into the game to score the sixth of the seven goals in the 7-1 Santos victory. He scored his goal on the 36th minute, in a play between Raimundinho and Tite. The ball was given to Pelà © in the box, and even though he was surrounded by defenders, he shot on goal and the ball went under goalkeeper Zaluar's body. Zaluar became famous as the first goalkeeper to take a goal from the great Pelà ©. From there, the trip to the summit was fast. In his first league game with Santos, he scored four goals. The next season, he was a re... ...ht goals in one game against Botafogo of Rio de Janeiro. On November 19, 1969, he scored his famous 1,000th goal from a penalty kick on the 34th minute of the game against Vasco da Gama and dedicated it "...para as criancinhas pobres do Brasil...." (to the poor little children of Brasil) and to the elderly and suffering peoples of Brasil. Pelà © also participated in what is known to be the "Golden Age" of the Libertadores Cup from 1960 to 1963, during which the great Uruguayan team Peà ±arol faced the legendary Santos for the final games. Peà ±arol won in 1960 and 61, while Santos took the championship the other two years. Pelà © defined the role of the playmaker/midfielder type. He led some of the greatest Brasilian players of all time - Vavà ¡, Didi, Garrincha, and others. Many said Pelà © would have been the best in any position he played. Pelà © once insisted to the manager of Santos that he play goalkeeper. On January 19, 1964, he substituted Santos goalkeepr Gilmar, who had been ejected, in the semi-final game of the Brasil Cup. For five minutes, after scoring three goals, Pelà © played with the number one jersey and made two spectacular saves that saved Santos the spot in the finals.

The Characters in Troilus and Criseyde

Characters Achilles, warrior who kills Troilus and Hector in battle Antenor, a soldier held captive by the Greeks, led to the fall of Troy, traded for Criseyde's safety Calchas, a Trojan prophet who joins the Greeks Criseyde, Calchas' daughter Helen, wife to Menelaus, lover of Paris Pandarus, Criseyde's uncle, advises Troilus in the wooing of Criseyde Priam, King of Troy Cassandra, Daughter of Priam, a prophetess at the temple of Apollo Hector, Prince of Troy, fierce warrior and leader of the Trojan armies Troilus, Youngest son of Priam, and wooer of Criseyde Paris, Prince of Troy, lover of HelenDeiphobus, Prince of Troy, aids Troilus in the wooing of Criseyde Synopsis Criseyde, the daughter of the seer Calchas, lives alone in Troy after her father abandons the Trojans to help the Greeks. Eventually she catches the eye of Troilus, a man who had previously scoffed at love, and becomes the object of his overwhelming desire. With the help of Criseyde’s uncle Pandarus he wins her love but soon loses it when the Greeks and the Trojans conduct an exchange of prisoners. Calchas, who knows of Troy’s imminent destruction, persuades the Greeks to exchange Antenor for his daughter and thus saves her from the doomed city.Criseyde promises Troilus that she’ll return to him after ten days but once she’s back in the care of her father she realizes the impossibility of her promise. Resigned to her fate, Criseyde yields to the flirtations of Diomedes, and her love for Troilus fades. When Deiphobus wins the armor of Diomedes, Troilus discovers a brooch he gave Criseyde upon her departure pinned to it. Heartbroken, he tries to find Diomedes and take his revenge during battle but after slaying many is in his turn killed by Achilles. As his spirit goes to heaven he reflects on the absurdity of all life itself. work cited Wikipedia online encyclopaedia

Corrections Paper Essay

The criminal justice system is responsible for enforcing the laws created at each level of government. A major part of enforcing the laws is detaining the people who break them. The way that an offender is punished for a crime can be different depending on age or the type of crime committed. Depending on the age of the offender they could go through the juvenile or adult corrections system. Each system has levels like parole and probation built in to help rehabilitate the offender. Another form of corrections that is used is community corrections. This form allows citizens to help with the corrections process while giving offenders a second chance. Over time each level of corrections has evolved by evaluating the trends and examining different demands on the corrections system. Consistently evolving allows the corrections system to punish and rehabilitate offenders while keeping society safe. Past, present, and future trends pertaining to the development and operation of institutiona l and community based corrections When it comes to community corrections programs that oversee outside of jail or prison, and are administered by agencies or courts with the legal authority to enforce sanctions. Community corrections include probation, which is correctional supervision within the community rather than jail or prison, and parole which is a period of conditional, supervised release from prison.   In the early colonial criminal law there was a curious mix of religion, English barbarity, and pragmatism. Most punishments were public and involved either quick, corporal tortures or more prolonged humiliation. Among the punishments designed to deter crime by inflicting pain, the colonials often used the whipping post, branding and maiming, gags, and device known as the ducking stool. The latter device was essentially a chair connected to a pulley system where â€Å"slanderers†, â€Å"makebayts†, â€Å"chyderers†, brawlers, and women of light carriage were restrained and they repeatedly plunged into a convenient body of water (jthomasniu.org/PDF/prisonhistory111.pdf) Probation and parole are integral to criminal and juvenile justice in the states. Provides a wide variety of services that are critical to the effective and efficient operation of almost every aspect of the justice system, ranging from law enforcement to sentencing to the release of offenders from confinement into the community. These community corrections agencies conduct investigations to support judicial and parole decision making operate residential and secure custodial facilities and parole free labor to local organizations through community service programs, probation and parole are best known for their role in the supervision of offenders in the community. Probation and parole agencies are part of a large, complex and interdependent array of governmental, nonprofit, and private agencies and organizations that comprise the criminal and juvenile justice systems. No aspect of the work of probation and parole can be considered in isolation, as they are affected by and have an impa ct on many other agencies. With that being said there are strategic trends they will and can use in the future. Collaboration and partnership for example the drug court and other specially â€Å"treatment courts.† Results Driven Management requires a substantial investment of agency time and resources. The agency mission, goals and measures must be articulated and agreed upon. The Re- Emergence of Rehabilitation both was founded on the principle that offenders could change and that the correctional system, and probation and parole officers in particular, had a central role in helping the officer change. With technology when it comes to sex offenders the software is available that can monitor the offender’s computer use and report to the probation or parole officer what Internet sites the offender have visited. Correctional organization and administration functions that reflect fiscal demands The organization and administration functions of jails, prisons, probation, parole, juvenile and community corrections that reflect the operational and fiscal demands are in the many programs, services, and staffs that make these forms of correction run on a daily basis (Burrell, 2003). With jails and prisons facing an increasing overpopulation problem, with less staff, and budget cuts m ore and more probation, parole, and community corrections are becoming a solution (manhattan-institute.org, 2000). Parole and  probation function through their operation programs such as their case classification system (Burrell, 2003). This system allows the parole board to classify which cases should be considered for early release and which ones should not. Once a case is determined to be eligible for parole, then probation uses the case classification system to decide if the case is high risk or low risk (manhattan-institute.org, 2000). Community corrections becomes a part of the parole and probation services once the inmate is released into the community by â€Å"operating residential and secure custodial facilities and provide free labor to local organizations through community service programs, probation and parole are best known for their role in the supervision of offenders in the community† (Burrell, 2003, p. 1). The administration in jails, prisons, parole, probation, and community corrections have many different issues to deal with daily. Corrections face overcrowding, downsi zing of staff, budget cuts, and training issues. To combat these difficult issues administrators use the many departments within the system. It starts with the central office that overseas all of corrections within the state (Peak, 2010). The central office is run by a secretary; under the secretary is the prison director. The prison director is responsible for â€Å"setting policy for all wardens to follow in terms of how the institutions should be managed and inmates treated as well as overseeing â€Å"public or media affairs coordinators, legislative liaisons, legal advisers, and internal affairs representatives† (Peak, 2010, p. 246). The public or media affairs coordinators are responsible for getting information to the public. Legislative liaisons are responsible for helping to bring new laws and needs for new laws to the attention of the state. Legal advisers make sure that no laws have been broken and take care of any impending lawsuits. Internal affairs representatives ensure that ethical behavior is maintained within the correctional system (Peak, 2010). Every jail, prison, parole, probation, and community corrections are under the watch of the central office of the state which is how these department s of corrections operate and function. Security and Technology functions with correctional environments Security is very important with the correctional department. It prevents inmates from escaping jails or prisons, and it also prevents  contraband from entering the facility. When contraband enters the facility, a crime can be committed against other inmates. A Baltimore inmate allegedly acquired a cell phone, ordered an arrangement on another inmate, and would pay the murderer $2500 (Bulman, 2009). To prevent such incidents from happening, jails and prisons are bringing new security measures into the establishments. One such technology is using body scanners, often found in the United States airports. These scanners can scan through clothes and detect any contraband trying to be smuggled into the jail or prison. â€Å"The system was tested and evaluated at Graterford, a maximum-security facility that houses about 3,100 inmates outside Philadelphia† (Bulman, 2009, para 2) and officials working within the prison believed the trial using the body scanners were successful in fin ding contraband. Prisons and jails also use hand-held devices called WANDD. This hand-held device scans inmates, or visitors, and detects non-metallic items, such as plastic or wood items. A prototype was tested in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, and it was able to detect objects such as plastic knives, cell phones, guns, and even credit cards through various types of fabric (Bulman, 2009). Correctional staff is also using some of the latest technology available to track inmate’s movements within a prison or jail called radio frequency identification technology. A little chip is attached to some objects, most often a wristband, and correctional staff can track the movements of each inmates. It also alerts prison staff when a large amount of inmates are gathered within any area within the jail or prison. â€Å"Movement information can be stored in computers and could prove useful in investigations to determine who was present in a certain part of a building at a particular time† (Bulman, 2009, para. 18). Management and control Managing a jail or a prison is not an easy task. Anyone working within these environments must be able to manage a large number of inmates while controlling them at any given time. Correctional guards are the ones who will be in direct contact with inmates. If they become too friendly with inmates or are not paying attention, a situation can occur suddenly. Staying alert and maintaining control is imperative because inmates can read correctional guards easily. Inmates can learn the habits of their guards if the guards maintain the same routine daily. Ethical rights are one of the key factors to  managing a prison or a jail. Even though these inmates have committed a crime, they still human rights. Understanding that aspect of managing a prison may be hard for some people in charge. All individuals visiting, working, or the inmates themselves should be respected to a degree. Having this type of approach to prison or jail management is does not represent a liberal outlook on the system or a ‘soft view.’ Many people who m have worked in different prisons throughout the world, believe this approach works in prison and jail management because they view the inmates as humans (Coyle, 2009). Educational and Treatment Programs Most individuals incarcerated in Jails, prisons, and community correction centers have little or no education. These individuals often commit crimes to support themselves or their families. These individuals are arrested and sentences to incarceration for their crimes. After release, they continue lacking the education and skills to find legal employment and return to lives of crime to support themselves and family. This is a vicious cycle that has led to extreme overpopulation in correctional facilities. Juveniles commit crimes for several different reasons. Some juveniles commit crimes to support their families, some because of peer pressure, and some just to relieve boredom. Whether these adults and juveniles commit crimes because of lack of education and opportunity or from juvenile ignorance and boredom the solution remains the same, education. â€Å"Studies conducted over the last two decades almost unanimously indicate that higher education in prison programs reduces recidivism and translates into reductions in crime, savings, and long-term contributions to the safety and well-being of the communities to which formerly incarcerated people return.† (â€Å"Why Prison Education?† n.d.) (para. 1). The Institute for Higher Education Policy conducted a study in 2011. This study showed that seven in ten people incarcerated will commit further crime upon release and half of these individuals will be incarcerated again within three years (â€Å"Why Prison Education?† n.d.). The results of many studies show the solution to be a seemingly simple one, education equals increased employment, and increased employment equals reduced recidivism. Each facility, prison, jail, community corrections, and juvenile detention offers a different type of education to inmates. Prisons typically house individuals for longer  p eriods of time than other correctional facilities. Because of the lengthy stay prisons are able to offer inmates many more services. In most prisons classes are offered to teach inmates basic skills of language, reading, and math. These skills are developed upon to help the individual obtain a General Education Diploma (GED). Some prisons, such as those in California, offer incentive programs to inmates seeking education. These individuals can earn up to six weeks per year reduction in their sentence for completing educational classes. They also offer sentence reduction for learning vocational skills, such as firefighting and increase the reduction time earned if the skills are used within the facility (â€Å"Cdcr Implements Public Safety Reforms to Parole Supervision, Expanded Incentive Credits For Inmates†, 2010). Some prisons are attempting to begin pilot programs involving distance learning. They can help the inmates to obtain financial assistance to complete online college courses and earn degrees before release. Jails an d community corrections typically do not house inmates for extended periods of time. Jails are often only able to help inmates to begin the learning process or assist in learning the basic skills of language, reading, math, and GED preparation. Many jails can help inmates in beginning the programs and guiding them toward other facilities and organizations who can further assist them upon release. Community corrections often have more flexibility and can offer a more varied selection of learning opportunities to individuals. Because fewer restrictions are involved they can sometimes offer vocational training or strict and structured on-the-job training. Probation and parole individuals usually have advancing their education as part of their probation or parole contract. Most are required to attend GED classes and strongly urged to obtain a GED. Many states require probation officers to receive training concerning how to best assist their clients in furthering their education, job training, and job placement. Probation officers will often assist clients in locating emp loyment that often involves on-the-job training. Aside from education, almost all facilities offer drug or substance abuse programs. Many also offer counseling for anger management and other counseling issues or direct individuals to organizations who are able to assist with these issues. While adults in the criminal justice system are often punished as well as rehabilitated, the justice system  typically places focus on rehabilitation where juveniles are concerned. Juveniles commit crimes for a variety of reasons and most studies show education to be the solution to recidivism prevention. Juveniles are required to continue their education while in detention. Juveniles are also typically provided with addiction counseling, social skills training, and mental health counseling. The older juveniles are encouraged and often assisted with obtaining higher education. They are also provided with job training and job search skills. References Bulman, P. (2009). Using Technology to Make Prison and Jails Safer. Retrieved from http://www.nij.gov/journals/262/Pages/corrections-technology.aspx CDCR Implements Public Safety Reforms to Parole Supervision, Expanded Incentive Credits for Inmates. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/Press_Release_Archive/2010_Press_Releases/Jan_21.html Correctional Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/correctional-education.html Coyle, A. (2009). A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management. Retrieved from http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/ handbook_2nd_ed_eng_8.pdf U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1994). Literacy Behind Prison Walls. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs94/94102.pdf Why Prison Education?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://prisonstudiesproject.org/why-prison-education-programs/