The Effects of Team Dynamics on Corporate Communication

Good communication skills are one of the required skills from the human being to maintain and achieve the expected outcomes of the organization or team. An effective communicator tends to work well in a team. Working as a team in any environment is more productive and the expected outcomes tend to be more of a profitable than working alone. In this report there will be the discussion on the effects of team dynamics on corporate communication. The topic will be divided into sub sections: developing positive team dynamics, effect of team dynamics on individual’s behaviour, personality types and team dynamics and also the author personality type will be discussed. The communication theories and the categories identified by Belbin will also be discussed. It is clear that people got deferent personalities and different ways of adapting the group dynamics, the personality type and team dynamics will be discussed. The types of personalities as described by MBTI will be discussed individually. What is Team Dynamics? â€Å"Team or group dynamics concern the fluid and on-going interaction between and among team members, their actions and reactions. Team dynamics relate to the interpersonal and interdependent process of work—how things get done by and through people, and how team members relate to their task and to each other†(Team Dynamics. n. d. ). It is clear that if team members have the shared vision, goals and objectives about the performance of the team, the team can reach it objectives and it can build healthy team dynamics. Developing a Positive Team Dynamics People are unique and got different beliefs, it is therefore very correct that you study your team mates very well and emphasis more on what is important for the group. Having well defined standards and reporting standard to a group leader that will lead to a healthy group dynamics. These standards can only be effective if the team members are committed to the positive interests of the team. After deciding on team rules or standards the team can easily develop the personal relations and develop trust to each other. This trust and personal relations became visible by the time we managed to delegate someone to represent the group on dance practise, we trusted the person the he won’t let us down. We also managed to learn the dance from him. And that has made us to bond more. Effect of Team Dynamics on individual’s behaviour Most people are more effect when working as a group than working alone, other people will find this as a problem. Working in a group of people of different cultures could lead to more tensed environment within the team, it is therefore very correct to learn or try to understand the do’s and the don’ts of other members culture and that will lead to profitable results as it stated that â€Å"Teams working together increase problem-solving skills and innovation, quality, and decrease turnover and absenteeism† (Teresa Armstrong, n. ). After developing positive team dynamics, the group will had the common goal of achieving the expected outcomes. This was shown on the camp when we were doing speed introduction, we managed to know each other better and had a chance to know the dos and don’ts of other peoples culture. This made us to perform well on the activities that were given and submit them on time. What is Personality? Hjelle and Ziegler (1987, p. ) explains that â€Å"personality refers to the overall impression that an individual makes to others†, at the same time Robbins (1979, p. 90) explains that â€Å"personality is the sum of ways in which an individual reacts and interact with others† Personality affects the performance of the entire group, and these authors agree on the definition of personality. The team need to study each member’s personality, hence that will create a healthy working environment. Personality Type and Team Dynamics The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used to understand the personality of individual, and that can be effective in developing team dynamics. MBTI shows the following characters of personalities: Extroverted/ Introverted, Sensing/Intuitive, Thinking/ Feeling, Judging / Perceiving. Extrovert/Introverted These kinds of people are either described as people who are out spoken, work well in a group (extrovert) or people who focuses on the inner world and this kind of person likes to work individually. Introverts can sometimes frustrate the Extroverts, because of the strength of the Introverts shines when they alone and they are not more in group discussions as it stated that â€Å"Extraverted types who work best by thinking out loud and considering matters in dialogue can be frustrated by Introverted types whose best work on thinking and considering is done internally and detached from active interaction† (Personality Pathways, 2009). Even though these personalities are differing in terms of preferences, they can contribute to the team positively. Hence the introverts in a group will be treated as the knowledge source or the strategist of the group while Sensing/Intuitive Since in the team people have different personalities, here there will be a discussion on how the groups or teams benefits to people with sensing and intuitive personalities. Effective communicators they first identify the problem and then propose solution(s) to the problem, so people with this kind of personality in the sense that they are more realistic, practical and got self confidence. Psychological Types ( 2008a) explains that â€Å"Intuition is an ability to deal with the information on the basis of its hidden potential and its possible existence†, it is therefore clear that this kind of personality can effectively contribute towards the group or team. Hence they are able to foresee the possible outcomes of the task and this will help the group to effectively communicate with vision of the possible solution. This kind of personality is clearly found on someone who is the go-getter and someone who is creative. Thinking/Feeling Psychological Types ( 2008b) explains that â€Å"Thinking is an ability to deal with information on the basis of its structure and its function. Feeling is an ability to deal with information on the basis of its initial energetic condition and its interactions†, people with this kind of personality (thinking) are more in the decision making side. Someone with thinking personality has the greater ability of doing things in logical manner and he ends to pay more attention on the bigger picture of the given task. People with the feeling personality type are more concerned about feelings of other individuals and they are more ethical, which makes them to be good in developing team dynamics. Team with good ethical rules they tend to be more effective and produce quality results. In any working environment there will be some times conflicts and sometimes conflicts can lead a group to informed or uninformed decisions. So people with the feeling personality don’t like conflicts and that could be their weak link, because when working as team there are high probabilities of conflicts and sometimes conflicts are healthy for the survival of the team. Judging/Perceiving Judging Personality type is essential to the success of the group, because people with this kind of personality are creative in making plans, organizing tasks to be done. By having an individual with that kind of personality and the communication channels of the group or team are clearly defined, the team is advantage of achieving its objectives in expected time. The individuals with judging personality is more like the backbone of the group or team because someone with this kind of personality doesn’t give up on the given tasks and that individual can be sometimes be called the information centre of the group, because some of the possible solutions for the group might come from that individual. The other type of personality is called Perceiving. This type of personality is referred to someone who can adapt in any situation that the group find its self in. Individuals with perceiving personality is referred to as more open minded as it stated that â€Å"Perceiving is the preference outwardly displayed. Perceiving people are flexible, and they like to keep their options open and think randomly† (My Personality. Info. n. d). If an individual is described to have the perceived type of personality, the individual need the attention of the group, because the performance of this individual depends on his/her mood. And can be costly to the team performance and the team level of communication, because if the individual is not in mood then the entire team will be affected too. Having well defined ethical behaviour in the group and well established accountability standards that will lead to mutual respect mong group member, effective communication and profitable results in the given activities. The Author’s Personality Type After conducting the online personality type test, the author of this paper was described as ESTJ where E stands for Extrovert, S – Sensing, T – Thinking and J – Judging. The results of the test were exactly the author’s personalities. Even though the test results exactly explain the personality of the author, and the author is strongly agree with the fact that these results are true and also feels that these results are not fully explaining the author of this paper. The reason the author believes that is an extrovert is because of the fact the author can easily adapt to the new group and can easily get along with people of different culture and different backgrounds. This was shown on the camp when I had to be in the cabin with people that I saw for the first time. I managed to get along with my cabin mates and I made many friends from that camp. The effective communicator is not someone who speaks loud but it’s someone who can effectively convey the message to other people without any difficulties and the massage received is clear and unambiguous. The author is also having the sensing type personality, because of the self-confidence that the author has and how realistic the author is. The online personality test also sees the author of this paper as Thinking type of personality, and the author fully agrees with the test results because of the fact that when it comes to decision making for the benefit of the team or group the author excels. Every individual got its own talent and specialization area, and the author of this paper believes that clear communication channels and clear definition of roles in the team, that will healthy working environment. The online personality test has further seen the author of this paper as someone who is having Judging type of personality, and the author strongly agrees with that outcome because of the contributions that the author contribute towards the given tasks of the group and the self discipline the author has. The ESTJ type of personality is more essential towards the success of the group, because in a group there will be different personalities such as INFP. This kind of personality reacts to group dynamics differently as ompared to ESTJ type of personality. So if the group dynamics are well developed to the benefit of the team, and all different personalities are given platform to express its opinions that will lead to effect working environment. Since team dynamics are more concerned about how the group interact, how tasks are scheduled from the start to the end and also how the decision making is made, the personality type of the author of this paper allows the author to fit in any kind of working environment. Knowing what is expected of you in a group, that’s what makes team members to work effectively and deliver what is expected of them. When the team roles are divided is done according to the expertise of an individual member of the group, hence that will enhance productivity within the group. The author of this paper has the very power full mind of looking at things in a way in which will benefit the group. References http://www.personalitypathways.com/MBTI_intro.html http://www.socionics.com/main/types.htm http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/judging-perceiving/

Immigration in Lebanon

For a great period of time emigrants from Lebanon have been establishing communities throughout the world, and have been talking a lot about migration, until the number of Lebanese people outside Lebanon became greater than the double the number of Lebanese citizens. The Lebanese migration seems to have several principal causes. Hence, how are those causes really affecting the Lebanese migration? The first one is the economic causes, the second one is the social cause the third one is the weakness of the academic level in Lebanon.The lack of work opportunities and poverty IS ONE OF THE Famous economic problems in Lebanon that causes a massive immigration. People especially men are migrating from Lebanon searching for a job opportunities running from the poverty tending to live a decent life.The overpopulation so as the insecurity and the lack of security programs made a lot of Lebanese people migrate from Lebanon running from a life full of insecurity tending to a safe life. Beside t he overpopulation that made the life needy.The weakness of the academic level in Lebanon where the attraction of the destination countries to the Lebanese people and the lack of experimental fields and the presence of poor managements in the domain was the main reason for Lebanese migration which made it massive compared to the number of teens that are searching for a decent education.

A Comparison Of Liberalism Socialism And Nationalism Politics Essay

A Comparison Of Liberalism Socialism And Nationalism Politics Essay The three most powerful ideologies that emerged in the beginning of the nineteenth century were Liberalism, socialism and nationalism. These ideologies came together to destroy older order that existed in Western Europe. However, there is very little that is actually known about the real origin of these three ideologies. Most of the research only talks about the recognized authorizes that exercises these ideologies but do not talk about the real issue. This essay seeks to compare and contrast these ideologies and trace their origin, development and revolution. Liberalism This was a product of some kind of enlightenment by human thinking. It held that the progress of human beings was inevitable. This is the reason it believed that all human beings should be viewed to be equal before the law and no one was above the law. Moreover, it believed that every person was born free and is good in some aspect let alone owning the chance to improve in skills and general thinking. Liberalization therefore expected that all governments were representative of its citizens and not part of the citizens. According to Hansen, Curt & Curtis (2008) this could only be achieved through the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and protection from arbitrary arrest. The nineteenth century liberalism which is also referred to as classical liberalism was against the involvement of the government in the economic and social affairs of the nation. This is therefore very different from what we currently know liberalism to stand for where active government intervention is highly supported and represented through democratic parties. Classical liberalism was first developed by Adam Smith as expressed in his book â€Å"Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations.† (Hansen, Curtis & Curtis, 2008). He proposed the fact that there was a need for a free enterprise where prices would be regulated by market forces. This he believed would offer a free and equal chance to all citizens to participate in what they do best. In this way both the rich and the poor will benefit rather than a situation where the rich are the only ones who benefit. This was very much different from the earlier situation of mercantilism where the government was very deeply involved in regulation of markets. While the British were experiencing gradual expansion of freedoms and rights of ordinary citizens, the French were denied of such rights until the 1989 when there was the Revolution. Unlike in France, there was no central instrument with which the British used to be oppressed with like the army ready to do what the monarch said. The British liberalization was never aimed at overthrowing the Monarchy. On the contrary it was aimed at reigning its power through the expansion of representation of the people. Because of common political, ethical, cultural and geographical factors liberalization in the United States took so much from the British kind of liberalism than it took from the Frenc h. However, during early stages of Beiner (2003) argues that American Revolution, there was much borrowed from the political thoughts of the British. Subsequent developments then later own changed and took more from the French.

Too much weight is attributed to chance in the field of involuntary Essay

Too much weight is attributed to chance in the field of involuntary manslaughter. Discuss - Essay Example one individual, in that black moment, sets in motion many related to the cause of jurisprudence in a democratic set up i.e., Police Officers, Prosecutors, Defence Lawyers and Judges & of course, the Media. Then you see parties to the case hover in the courtroom. Arguments and counter arguments continue. Some one is desperately trying to suppress the truth, within the framework of law. You seek somehow, that precious freedom! Liberation from the clutches of law! In a wintry morning, we visited the ward of the combustible younger generation in a famous Jail, to see our friend, charged with manslaughter. The ward housed about 100 such inmates. Were they criminals? If you were not told in advance about the place of visit, you would guess that it was a college campus! Youngsters in colourful T-shirts, fashionable trousers, casuals and jackets! They practiced dances that day, as part of the reformation and rehabilitation program initiated by a Non-Governmental Organization. They put the steps again and again to achieve perfection, which they were bound to! For, the secret of success lies in unstoppable efforts! We were surprised to observe variety of growing talents! The boys were in the in the process of learning how to convert defeats into victories, so that they could utilize their stay in the Jail to fine-tune the personality! From one such cluster of youngsters, we heard a resolution, â€Å"After release from the prison, we shall form a dance-troupe.† While taking leave after an hour of observation of their activities, I told them, â€Å"My dear brothers, I am very glad to be with you here to watch your multitalented activities! Thanks and good wishes to you all! I would never like to see you here again!† Is too much weight attributed to chance in the field of involuntary manslaughter? Before the visit to the Jail, you would have remained on the other side of the fence, but not now. In most such cases, the offender needs to be pitied rather than condemned. The

Profit Maximization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Profit Maximization - Essay Example Businesses have developed a heightened interest in promoting awareness on ethical responsibility. Issues concerning environmental damage, improper work regulations and inappropriate employee treatments and faulty production of products which either cause inconvenience to customers or danger public safety are resolved through the links on their objectives and actions. Value-based decision-making through integration of clearly-defined values into organizational structures of numerous organizations proactively address a broad range of community dilemmas. These organizations which attach functional aspects of operations to public welfare include various companies ranging from pharmaceuticals, automobiles, consumer goods to services. Corporate social responsibility, described as the alignment of a company's activity to public expectations, governs organizations which clearly show that public concerns and not profit maximisation is the common objective among organizations. British organizations alone would prove that improving the quality of human life is the primary objective of their operations. Consider GlaxoSmith Kline, a pharmaceutical company established in London whose aim is to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. The mission to contribute to the improvement of lives guides the company in developing innovative medicines and products that help millions of people around the world. It does research for medicines and vaccines for the World Health Organization's priority diseases that include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The company shows its care to Third World countries where debilitating diseases affect millions of people by providing discounted medicines to let more patients acquire necessary cures. These cost reduction schemes applied by the company in its business operations entailed losses from probable profit collections. Actual earnings have been reduced as a result of the pro spects that considered lowering of prices through discounts. The corporate strategy is indeed a way of the company to provide value to consumers and society notwithstanding the objective of financial advantages and profit maximisation (GlaxoSmith Kline, 2001). In the early part of the 21st century, the company made efforts to lower its prices on HIV/AIDS drugs for the benefit of developing countries in relation to their commitment to deliver ways to reduce costs and pass the savings to patients. As a result of their action, patients suffering from the illness in various developing countries were able to take medications and these constitute live of millions of individuals. Due to its desires to continuously improve access for healthcare products, the company gained international recognitions for its decisions that reduced barriers in the consumption of health products (Baker, 2003). In the pharmaceutical industry, social responsibility is not a practice of a single organization. Aside from the GlaxoSmith Kline, another international company with British operations that promotes global corporate social responsibility is Astra Zeneca. Corporate social responsibility is an integral part on how operations are run by the company

How i am alike my mother.(write a essay in which you discribe three

How i am alike my mother.(write a in which you discribe three characteristics i have in herited from aparent - Essay Example By eighteen, I look a lot like Mom; I am her height- well in my high heels to be honest. We share the same hair color, widow’s peak, and skin tone†¦and will those dimples still look great, when we grow older. Armed with these physical assets and her quick mind, I put on airs to match her elegance, because I believe that’s a shortcut to becoming more like her. Well, to be straight, we look the same when we are in this frame of mind, and in a lovely environment such as this. However, when we have our differences, Mom becomes a cool still lake without a single ripple, and I am like a stormy sea with huge emotional waves crashing all over – and even then we are the same†¦ because we tenaciously hang on to our individual point of view. My biology teacher had of course de-mystified the whole business of inheritance so I knew why I look like her. My mother had genes that expressed traits more dominantly than my father’s for eye color, dimples, and the widows peak, so I inherited the dominant set from her. In reality, it is the complex interaction of several genes that gives rise to these traits. Genes are very basic units of inheritance that decide what traits will be expressed. These genes are made of DNA, riding on chromosomes. DNA are in the form of double helices, and their constituent protein sequence determines the gene structure, and thereby the trait expressed. (Heredity and Genetics). That is why I have Dad’s eyes, and still most of me looks like my mother. The day has been long and exciting, and as I get between the covers of my bed, I cannot stop the last thought that goes through my mind, as Mom walks in to say goodnight. Even without our physical resemblances I would love to be like Mom - to be an organized home-keeper and balance a wonderful career at one and the same time, to be the strength of her husband, and the sanctuary for her child’s confidences. God bless

The Stress of Working in a Call Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Stress of Working in a Call Center - Essay Example Each day that I reported for work, I was on the receiving end of the harshest berating, the meanest insults, and the most intellectually insulting comments that one would only wish on his worst enemy. To make matters worse, I had no right to stand up for myself and let them know that I was just a person tasked to receive their complaints. I wasn't the enemy. I was there to help. Or at least, let them vent to a certain degree. But these clients took complaining to a whole new level. Every time I was demeaned as a person, I felt like shouting at the person on the line, or simply disconnecting the headset and running off crying or to let off some steam. But I wasn't allowed to do that. I needed to stay on the line no matter how I felt. Rather than taking my anger out on the clients, I made sure that I spent at least an hour a day releasing my anger and stress. They say nothing beats boxing when it comes to releasing stress. That is exactly what I did. Each day, I would get home from my shift and pop a boxing game into my X-Box Kinect and jab away for a few minutes in order to remove the stress and anger that I had pent up inside of me. Then on the days that I had off, I made sure to get a full body massage in order to relax my body, mind, and soul even for only a few hours a day. These two regular stress-busting practices of mine were definitely the way to go. I would return to work refreshed and with a new perspective on my job situation and how to deal with it. I learned that work stress could actually be released even on the job if I simply had a way to let it out as I did my task. That was when the stress ball massager became a daily part of my work life. Every time I got a problem call, I take the stress ball and squeeze it as I felt my tension and anger building up inside of me. All of the negative emotions that I wanted to unleash on the client transferred to the stress ball.  

George Whitefield Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

George Whitefield - Essay Example He died in 1770 (Orentas). Whitefield was specifically popular among the poor and the illiterate lot for his wonderful power of oratory, so they gathered in large numbers to listen to him. Brief history of George Whitefield: In his childhood days, Whitefield would often skip school in order to prepare himself for the on-stage performances that made part of his school’s co-curricular activities. He was a big fan of plays, and had read hundreds of them. In the later years of his life, Whitefield retreated from acting and spared theatrical performances altogether, yet the practice he did in the early years of his life was sufficient to inculcate the qualities of a potential preacher in him. How Whitefield got into preaching: Whitefield joined Pembroke College, Oxford after his school was over. It was the very college where Whitefield joined a community of pious â€Å"Methodists†. Those Methodists introduced themselves to others as â€Å"the Holy Club†. Wesley brothe rs, namely Charles and John were the leaders of this group. Having joined the Holy Club, Whitefield felt a change inside himself and his concerns for the religion and its teachings grew manifolds. As a result of his increased association with the religion, Whitefield took the decision of serving as a missionary in the colony of new Georgia aside the Atlantic Ocean. â€Å"Fight the good fight of faith, and God will give you spiritual mercies† (Whitefield cited in â€Å"BrainyQuote†). The qualities of George Whitefield: 1. The oratory power: The most distinguishing quality of George Whitefield was that he was blessed with a magical oratory power by the nature. He did not know it from the start, but soon as he began to make speeches in front of the public, Whitefield realized that people in the crowd hung on every single word that he uttered. He had an unusual way of portraying the characteristic features of various characters in the Bible. There used to be a great realis m in his speech. While making the speech, Whitefield used to cry and dance. He spoke at the top of his voice. David Garrick, who used to be one of the most popular actors in UK in those days said, â€Å"I would give a hundred guineas if I could say 'Oh' like Mr. Whitefield† (â€Å"Christian History†). Once, it so happened that he was speaking about eternity. While making the speech, he suddenly paused, looked sideways and screamed, â€Å"Hark! Methinks I hear [the saints] chanting their everlasting hallelujahs, and spending an eternal day in echoing forth triumphant songs of joy. And do you not long, my brethren, to join this heavenly choir?† (â€Å"Christian History†). 2. Gathering of the mass: Whitefield knew the magic of gathering people in no time. Crowds that he used to address often exceeded the entire population of the cities in which he would make the speech. Whitefield made a tour to America in 1739 with an intention to preach. His first stop in America was Philadelphia which was the world’s most cosmopolitan city. To hear his speech, so many people gathered that even the most spacious churches in Philadelphia could not accommodate them. The crowd in Philadelphia had some 8000 people in it. In order to address them all at one time, Whitefield had taken them outdoors. Often, Whitefield himself became surprised to see the volume of listeners and would think how scattered crowds managed to gather so quickly

Reforming global governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Reforming global governance - Essay Example There were also found substantial evidence that the provisions of the TRIPs Agreement were unscrupulously invoked to advance the interests of transnational pharmaceuticals over the poor and sick patients who do not have access to essential life-saving medications. It has been uncovered that despite the flaws and partisanship of the GATS and its erstwhile predecessor Multilateral Agreement on Investment, in favor of rich nations and transnational corporations, WTO zealously worked in vain for their implementation. Heated debates during the Seattle Millennium Round confirmed considerable inefficiency of the part of the WTO to dispense its duties for global governance of trade. In all the areas considered in this paper, WTO flaunted its corporate agenda in the guise of free trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the lone international organization which takes charge of trade policies between and among nations. Its headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The aim of the global body is to assist manufacturers and traders of goods and services in their business. Created in the year 1995 by the Uruguay Round of negotiations from 1986 – 1994, WTO now consists of 153 member countries. It main functions include: (1) administration of WTO trade agreements; (2) provision of a forum for trade-related negotiations; (3) handling of trade dispute; (4) monitoring of trade policies; provision of technical assistance and training for developing countries; and (4) cooperation with other international organizations. The WTO budget for the year 2009 is 189 million Swiss francs. It present director-general is Pascal Lamy (â€Å"What is†, 2008). The WTOs founding and guiding principles remain the pursuit of open borders, the guarantee of most-favored-nation principle and non-discriminatory treatment by and among members, and a commitment to transparency in the conduct of its activities. The opening of

The health care in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The health care in China - Research Paper Example The Chinese health care sector have had much reforms in the recent decades, still the urban and rural people are least satisfied to the health care facilities of the country. This can be mainly directed towards the poor implementation and lack of funding by the Chinese Ministry of health to the health centers located widely in the country. The rural population of China is faced with many health adversities and is struggling hard to get access to quality medical care due to the ignorance of the Chinese Ministry of Health. Only a proper funding from the government, and allocating and distributing health care resources intelligently can consistently upgrade the health and wellbeing of all the population of china. Topic: The Health Care in China Introduction China is a country which has recently reached tremendous heights in economical, social and educational scenarios. It is the nation with largest population in the whole world, and is still continuing to develop in all fields at a stag gering rate. However, in recent times, health care has been a subject of great interest for Chinese government as the social standard of the people in the country improved dramatically... It is seen that the economic and social development of china has not led to much change in the substantial growth of the health care sector of the country. ... ding to (Blumenthal,2005,pg.1165-1170) â€Å"After Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist Party took control of China in 1949, they created a health care system that was typical of 20th-century communist societies that are now largely extinct†. Since China is a nation with wide geographical dimension, extraordinary energy and unimaginable size, the health care demand and expectation is highly demanding in the nation. The Chinese government has given attention in improving health care system recently, but comparing to other sectors the health sector is lagging far behind. Health Care in China Generally speaking, the health care system of any country should be very comprehensive and elaborate as it directly is concerned with the quality of living of its citizens. Health care is as important as any other sector of a developing nation, and it can be said that it is vital to the growth of the economic and social areas of the nation. If one look at the Chinese health care indicators , it can be analyzed that development in the rural sector of the nation is very undermined and underdeveloped. Although, the growth in the health care system has been increasing in the past decade, the recent reviews show that there had been a noticeable stagnation in the development of health sector. It is been noticed that the health care expenditure of the country has increased lately but when compared to developed and developing nations it is still at a low rate. As per (IBM,2006)â€Å" China spent 5.8percent of its GDP on health care in 2002, as compared to8 percent by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)8 countries and 5 percent by other developing countries, such as South Africa (8.7 percent),Brazil (7.9 percent) and India (6.1 percent)†.It is unfortunate to know that,

Tesco Brand and Culture Essay Example for Free

Tesco Brand and Culture Essay Corporate culture is one of the main determinants of success or failure in a business development practice, because it largely determines how flexible, accepting of change and innovative a company tends to be. Fairfield-Sonn (2001: 36) provided a four-layer model of corporate culture that included cultural artifacts, cultural history, core ideology and core values that helps to quantify and describe the corporate culture of an organization. Thus, Tesco’s corporate culture can be determined from its corporate responsibility statements, which describe its core values and core ideologies as well as some aspects of cultural artifacts. Tesco’s stated core priorities include: Ensuring community, corporate responsibility and sustainability are at the heart of our business. Being a good neighbor and being responsible, fair and honest. Considering our social, economic and environmental impact as we make our decisions. Tesco, 2010) These values have had a significant impact on the way in which Tesco does business, as well as its financial performance. For example, its expansion into California was designed to be not only profitable, but also socially responsible. As in the United Kingdom, American inner cities have a food supply problem wherein there are few large supermarkets and the smaller supermarkets do not have an adequate supply of fresh foods, including fruits, vegetables and proteins (Wankel Stoner 2007: 223). Because supermarkets are reluctant to build in the inner cities and many residents do not have transportation outside the area, inner city residents do not enjoy an appropriate diet, and suffer health consequences as a result (Wankel Stoner 2007: 224). Tesco’s corporate culture priorities allowed the company to consider opening stores in areas where native supermarkets were reluctant to go, and to provide services to the area that the local providers either couldn’t or didn’t consider. Thus, they opened stores in underserved regions, not only allowing them to express their core ideals, but also providing an opportunity to enter an almost untapped market. Although native retailers have scrambled to enter the markets in which Tesco is now providing services in the United States, Tesco will continue to have the advantage in terms of the markets it has already entered; it also has a corporate culture that encourages the expansion and ervice of these areas. Another area in which the company’s business development practices have both impacted and been impacted by the corporate culture is the introduction of lines of natural, organic and free-range foods to its stores beginning in the 1990s, and continuing into its development of the Nature’s Choice sustainable production lines over the past few years (Tesco, 2010). These lines, which include organic fruits, vegetables, meats and other proteins, dairy products, free-range eggs and other responsibly produced goods, has increased its importance in recent years to the company’s bottom line due to growing awareness of environmental factors by customers. The provision of lifestyle ranges like those above is one of the core strategies of the Core UK strategic business unit (Tesco 2010), as it provides the opportunity to reach the greatest number of customers, particularly those who believe that the way in which food was produced is as important as the food itself. However, this provision is also mandated by the company’s corporate culture’s core ideals, particularly those of environmental responsibility and awareness. These ideals entered the corporate culture in the mid-1990s, at about the same time as the first environmentally aware lifestyle product range (that of free-range eggs) was introduced (Tesco 2010). Whether the shift in corporate culture inspired the change in development strategy or whether the shift in development strategy inspired the shift in corporate culture truly is a chicken and egg question!

Reaction Paper on Vampires Essay Example for Free

Reaction Paper on Vampires Essay Vampire movies always have lots of fans, and of course, I’m a vampire film fan, too. In the past, vampires looked so scary: they were old, extremely ugly, knows nothing but killing†¦ Nowadays, however, people start to make vampires more â€Å"human†(and sometimes they are made even better than human beings): They are so good-looking they have breath-taking faces, they have sexy figures; they are immortal  they won’t die because they are too â€Å"old†, in other words, they are undead. They still looked young even thought they are hundreds years old; they have so many superpowers they read minds, they move as fast as wind, they are unbelievably strong. Now people even made vampires know more than just hunting like animals they know romance as well, they will fall in love with like human do†¦ I think this might be one of the reasons why people love vampire movies that much: because we find that our dreams (which can never come true in real life) come true in these movies. Reverse Psychology† is often used on children, through which parents let their children to do something by telling them †don’t do this. † This is because children are more likely to respond orders with reactance. In the movie â€Å"let the right one in†, when Eli and Oskar first met, Eli told Oskar â€Å"I can’t be your friend†. But obviously, Oskar didn’t have a clear desire to make friends with Eli. Eli started stating a negative in order to achieve her positive goal. And this is the use of reverse psychology. Based on the film notes, Eli’s intentions regard the function of Oskar is a replacement of Hakan. But even after reading the film notes, I still feel that Eli’s ultimate goal with Oskar is not just for finding someone to kill people and get blood for her. For me, Eli is just trying to have a friend who can keep her company. It’s easy to tell that Eli’s attitude towards Oskar is totally different from that to Hakan, she cares about Oskar (at least for me it is). At the beginning I thought Hakan is the father of Eli, but later on I found he’s more likely to be someone who helps Eli finding â€Å"food†. He might used to be Eli’s lover, but that’s just a guess, because there might be other reasons why he chose to take care of Eli. For example, he might be the one who cause Eli’s changing into a vampire, he feel guilty so that he chose to stay with her. According to the notes, at first Eli tried to sense Oskar as a potential serial killer, then she took control of Oskar’s self-image†¦Assume that Eli is a pedophile, she might keep Oskar, a young boy with her and replace Hakan, who’s no longer useful to her. In this film, the uncanny ability is shown to audiences over and over again, and it presents that love is just an excuse, which is used to disguise the subliminal reality of objectification and exploitation. By looking at the way Oskar dresses and behavior, we can tell that Oskar is an effeminate personality in this movie. I think that’s why the boys enjoy making fun of him. I thought that the reason why Oskar didn’t ever fight back is because he is so cowardice that he’s afraid that they might hit him harder if he fights back. But the note assumes that Oskar is actually sublimating his unconscious sexual attraction by allowing himself to be victimized. I think that because the group of bad boys always attacked Oskar and he couldn’t get any help from someone else, so he was mentally ill already. He had a strong desire of revenging but he didn’t have the â€Å"courage† to do so. He wants to kill people if it is allowed. Just because he knows that he cannot do it, he transferred his inner desire of killing to collecting the newspaper clippings on murder. I think his too cowardice. When I first watched this movie and saw Eli asked Oskar to teach her how to play the Rubrik’s cube, I didn’t think too much about this. But after reading the notes, it shows me that Rubrik’s cube might be one of the tools Eli use to achieve her subterfuge (which is to get close to Oskar). I think because Eli is a vampire who cannot live without drinking human’s blood, so it’s better for her to live in a lower class apartment so that she won’t catch people’s attention, otherwise she will get into trouble so easily. In a telling scene, we saw Eli’s naked groin with a horizontal suture, which means Eli was a boy but castrated by someone.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different OS Computer Science Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different OS Computer Science Essay An operating System is a program or you can say its software that manage and handles all the software and hardware resources of any computer. It controls our computer system. Operating system is the first software that loaded in a computer memory. Without an operating system user cant open the computer system that means he cant turn on his system. Actually an operating system is a program which design for only to run the other programs on a system. Operating system is the most important program for any computer system. The controls and memory of a computer depends upon the operating system. LINUX is also an operating system like Windows, Mac etc., which enables applications and users to access the device. It was created by the student at university of Helsinki, Finland. Its developed after UNIX. Linux is actually a developed form of UNIX operating system which behaves like UNIX. Linux was released around 1991. It is available in source code as well as in binary form. Linux have lots of standard UNIX features like networking, multitasking and multiuser. It became famous for mainly server. You can say it mainly use on server due to its high security. LINUX is actually technically advanced than other operating system. If we consider about its user interface then you can say its something difficult for the new users in comparison of windows and other operating system. Security is the one of the most best and important features of LINUX. Due to this reason it is widely use on server. Advantages of LINUX There are so many advantages of LINUX operating system. I am going to describe some important advantages or features: Cost: The one of the most important advantage of LINUX is its cost. User can obtain this without paying any fee. While Microsoft products are highly rated. Microsoft licences are generally allowed for a single computer while LINUX can be installed in so many computer systems without paying any amount. So obviously you can say LINUX is free of cost. Security: This is the greatest feature of this operating system. LINUX became most famous due to its high security. Due to this reason it mainly used on server. The one more thing is you dont need to spend so much money on antivirus for virus protection. LINUX is very secure in comparison of windows. It has so many features that protect our system to unauthorized users. That means you cant do anything without permission. No viruses can affect the LINUX. So you can say its virus free operating system. Hardware: LINUX operating system is very useful for those who have old computers. It can be installed in low configuration system and it will work really fine. Software: Some software like word, power point, excel DVD burner etc. are inbuilt in LINUX operating system. So you can say there are so many important features in LINUX operating system. Disadvantages of LINUX Understanding: The user interface of LINUX is difficult for the new users. That means you can say it is not familiar operating system like windows. If anybody want to use LINUX operating system then first of all ha has to learn about LINUX. While in windows you dont need to do that. So it will take some time to learn. Compatibility: The one of the main problem of LINUX is that is not compatible with all hardware. LINUX doesnt work very well with the new and latest hardware. So you cant try it with the latest hardware. Where is LINUX? Today LINUX be used in varieties of technical and electronic equipment. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and 12 Garmin Nuvi 860, 880, and 5000 Google Android Dev Phone 1 HP Mini 1000 Lenovo IdeaPad S9 Motorola MotoRokr EM35 Phone One Laptop Per Child XO2 Sony Bravia Television Sony Reader TiVo Digital Video Recorder Yamaha Motif Keyboard These are the some examples where LINUX be using. So you can say LINUX be using worldwide. Apart from that LINUX be used in defence department of US. Even Google search also run on LINUX. LINUX VS Windows LINUX and Windows both are the successful operating system in worldwide. There are so many advantages and disadvantages in both operating systems. If we consider about cost then absolutely LINUX is totally free of cost for user but not windows. Windows operating systems are highly rated. Microsoft Windows are most popular than LINUX because its user interface is so friendly for user. If any new user wants to operate LINUX then first he will have to learn about it. LINUX dont need high configuration of computer. It will work very well with the old computer systems. The most important and the best thing about LINUX is security. Its security is so high. No viruses can affect the LINUX. Thats why it mainly used on server. LINUX has always been a very secure operating system. So if you are using LINUX then you dont need to spend so much money on anti-virus. You can say LINUX is virus free operating system. Windows is very friendly in compare of LINUX. In the whole world most of user use windows. LINUX has some useful inbuilt software like excel, power-point, word; CD/DVD burner etc. without permission unauthorized user cant use the LINUX operating system. So finally you can say LINUX and Microsoft Windows both have some own features and as well as disadvantages. LINUX Gaming LINUX Gaming means the games which develop for LINUX operating system. There are lots of games available in the market for LINUX operating system. This is fact that Windows have a very huge collection of games in comparison of LINUX operating system. Here I am going to describe some LINUX games: Neverball: Actually Neverball is a puzzle game with lots of fun. You have to use mouse or keyboard to move the ball and you have to collect coins. If you will not collect the coins then you can never go in the next level. So the main goal of the game is to collects the coins. The graphics quality of the game is so nice; especially the stage of the game seems very pretty. There are total 75 levels in the game. Its very tough to win in one sitting. This game is also available for windows. Frets on Fire: It is just like a Guitar Hero game. You can say it just a remake of this game. The best features of the game are that you can edit your own song and play the game. This game is totally based on the music flow and user can also download so many songs for this game. The game already comes with some preloaded tone. This is mainly single player game which is developed by Unreal Voodoo around August 2006. The game is developed on Python programing. It is also available for Microsoft Windows and Mac operating system. A Fret on Fire X is one of the famous versions of the game. If user wants to change his track then he can. The best part of the game is audio because its upon you. There are lots of modes of this game that you can download from net. You can change your gameplay and also overall looking of the game. FlightGear: This is one of the most popular games of LINUX operating system. FlightGear is a flight based game developed by the FlightGear project during 1997. The game is mostly written in c++ language. This game is available for Windows, LINUX and Mac. There are so many version of the game is available for user. The most recent version is 2.0.0 that came in 2010. The game has a large collection of aircraft and locations. The graphics of the game is not so well, but overall it seems good. Texture of the hills, clouds, runway, rivers, and road are pretty well. The game is all about flying. You can also add scenery in game from the net. Adding scenery and aircraft is very simple. The gameplay of the game is very realistic and interesting. The game provides so many options to the user, even you can also create a model and you can use that in the game. Americas Army: This is a multiplayer first person shooting game published by Ubisoft in 2002. The game is also available for Windows and Mac operating system. As the name, game is totally based on US military. Americas Army 3 is the latest version of the game. The game used Unreal Engine 3. The game looks very fantastic and realistic. All the characters, weapons, locations etc. seems very nice. The graphics and the sound quality of the game is really awesome. The sound effects of the weapons are very nicely done. The game starts from training session which takes a long time. After than you have to complete the mission one by one. You can say this game is the combination of teamwork, strategy and patience. The online play is more interesting and popular because it is so well done. The game has lots of challenging situations and you will enjoy.

Soviet Industrialization :: essays research papers fc

When one looks at the history of the USSR, one of the most important aspects to look at is the massive industrialization that took place under the Soviet regime. This industrialization, like so many other things, is a complicated issue, with many arguments circling around it. The process was marked both by tremendous progress and expansion, as well as gross inefficiency and waste.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To better understand the Soviet industrialization, it is necessary for us to briefly look at the history that preceded it. When the Bolsheviks came to power, they inherited a country with economic conditions that were far from favorable. It was a country devastated by World War I as well as the civil war that followed it. For all intents and purposes, one can say that the economy of the country was in ruins, and drastic steps were necessary in order to feed the hungry population, and for the country to survive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To answer this problem, a New Economic Policy (NEP) was implemented. In essence, this policy went away from communist ideology to a large degree. It allowed farmers to go out and sell what they have produced, and brought in many elements of the free market. At the same time, the Soviet regime restored the industry which existed but was devastated by war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To a large degree, this policy was successful. By 1920s, the USSR managed to reach industrial production levels of roughly 1913. (Suny 233) Furthermore, the population was no longer starving, and living conditions improved throughout the country. However, NEP also brought in several problems. One of them, in the eyes of the Soviet leadership, was that it naturally brought polarization into society, producing some rich and some poor peasants, whereas ideologically there were supposed to be no classes in the new society (Suny 171)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A more serious problem, however, was the fact that rapid industrial advance was incompatible with NEP. It was necessary to shift country’s resources from agriculture towards the production of heavy industry. Instead of producing consumption goods, it was necessary to produce capital goods. (Suny 234)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The peasants, however, had little incentive to sell their product, since there were few things of use that they could get in return (since the economy concentrated on production of capital goods instead of consumption goods). This, naturally, brought tension between the city which had to be fed, and the peasants who would not give up or sell their product, unless compelled to do so by the state.

The Dutch in Japan Essay -- History

â€Å"The Red Haired Barbarians:† The Dutch in Japan The success of Dutch merchants in Japan illustrates the uniqueness of the Dutch Republic amongst the 17th century European countries. Not only would the Dutch come to dominate trade in Asia, in Japan they would demonstrate a practicality that would enable them to be the singular Western force present in a country that would severely isolate itself from any foreign intrusion. The V.O.C. could indeed be a ruthless cartel in securing trade from its competition and in dealing with indigenous populations around the world, as in the case of slavery where human beings were reduced to mere commodities to be bought and sold. Yet, the relationship between early Dutch traders, the V.O.C., and the Japanese people delineates an entrepreneurial and cultural adeptness that was beyond that of their European contemporaries and competitors in the 17th century. It was the Portuguese, rather than the Dutch, were the first Europeans to begin a relationship with the people of Japan. The Portuguese arrived in 1543 when Japan was a war torn country divided by different warlords. Along with trade, the Portuguese brought Jesuit missionaries who successfully proselytized Christianity if not to a large-scale, which would nonetheless be significant to future Japanese rulers. During their time in Japan, the Portuguese would see the rise of the three great shogunal unifiers. The first of these was Oda Nobunaga, who actually supported Christian efforts in order to counter 2 the militant Buddhist domains that resisted his rule. The second unifier, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was much less tolerant of the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries, and subsequently vacillated between policies of tolerance and b... ...to a greatly different culture. That the idea of tolerance was not prevalent for17th century Europeans is demonstrated by the Portuguese experience in Japan, yet somehow the Dutch managed a cultural acumen that was remarkable for this time period. Works Cited â€Å"Dutch and Japanese Relations†. Consulat-General van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden: http://www.oranda-cg.or.jp/english/relations.html, Retrieved 23 July 2007. Sayle, Murray. â€Å"Japan Goes Dutch†. London Review of Books. Vol. 23 No. 7 (5 April 2001). Retrieved 22 July 2007. Totman, Conrad. Tokugawa Ieyasu Shogun: A Biography, Tokyo: Heian International Incorporated. 1983. Yonemura, Ann. â€Å"Yokohama – Prints from Nineteenth Century Japan†. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C. artelino.com/. Articles/dutch.Nagasaki. Retrieved 23 July 2007. NIAS_User Page 8 10/3/07.

Comparing the Messages of Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees Essay

Political and Social Messages of Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees       Perhaps The Poisonwood Bible is Barbara Kingsolver's best work. It was while reading this book (which centers around The Congo and what the western world has done to this country) that I began to make the connection that all of Kingsolver's books contain a political and social message. She uses her stance as an author to illuminate her readers to situations and issues that she feels are important. Kingsolver's voice can be heard in Animal Dreams when the main character, Codi talks about what happened to her sister, Hallie in Nicaragua, and how unaware Americans were to what was happening in that country. "It made the news in Tucson, at least for a day. You just forgot. That's the great American disease, we forget. We watch the disasters parade by on TV, and every time we say: 'Forget it. This is someone else's problem" (Animal Dreams 316).    The Bean Trees touches on the plight of refugees, both in the real life struggle of a Guatemalan couple living illegally in the US, as well as her main character that in a way is a refugee herself, although only from Kentucky. In Animal Dreams, Kingsolver looks at the people living in Nicaragua and how the US government was/is involved. While the characters and personal stories are fictionalized, the situation seems taken from real life headlines. Kingsolver also touches on environmental issues in Animal Dreams, through the people of the fictional town of Grace, Arizona's struggle against an all consuming mines attempt to poison their water and crops.    For this paper I decided to focus on Barbara Kingsolver's first two novels, The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams. The first topic that ... ...html>.   Duval, Alex. "Shafted: How Phelps Dodge Strips Miners Of Their Rights." Tucson Weekly 19 March 1998. 25 March 1998 <http://www.weeklywire.com/tw/03-19-98/Curr3.html>.   Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.   ___. The Bean Trees. New York: HarperCollins, 1988.   ___. High Tide in Tucson: Essays From Now or Never.New York: HarperCollins, 1995.   Perry, Donna. Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993.   Schutz, Jorian Polis. "The Impact of the Sandinistas on Nicaragua." Jorian Polis Shutz, 1998. <http://www.jorian.com/san.html>.   Smiley, Jane. "In One Small Town, the Weight of the World." New York Times on the Web. 2 September 1990. 18 October 1998. <http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/kingsolver-animal.html>.    Comparing the Messages of Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees Essay Political and Social Messages of Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees       Perhaps The Poisonwood Bible is Barbara Kingsolver's best work. It was while reading this book (which centers around The Congo and what the western world has done to this country) that I began to make the connection that all of Kingsolver's books contain a political and social message. She uses her stance as an author to illuminate her readers to situations and issues that she feels are important. Kingsolver's voice can be heard in Animal Dreams when the main character, Codi talks about what happened to her sister, Hallie in Nicaragua, and how unaware Americans were to what was happening in that country. "It made the news in Tucson, at least for a day. You just forgot. That's the great American disease, we forget. We watch the disasters parade by on TV, and every time we say: 'Forget it. This is someone else's problem" (Animal Dreams 316).    The Bean Trees touches on the plight of refugees, both in the real life struggle of a Guatemalan couple living illegally in the US, as well as her main character that in a way is a refugee herself, although only from Kentucky. In Animal Dreams, Kingsolver looks at the people living in Nicaragua and how the US government was/is involved. While the characters and personal stories are fictionalized, the situation seems taken from real life headlines. Kingsolver also touches on environmental issues in Animal Dreams, through the people of the fictional town of Grace, Arizona's struggle against an all consuming mines attempt to poison their water and crops.    For this paper I decided to focus on Barbara Kingsolver's first two novels, The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams. The first topic that ... ...html>.   Duval, Alex. "Shafted: How Phelps Dodge Strips Miners Of Their Rights." Tucson Weekly 19 March 1998. 25 March 1998 <http://www.weeklywire.com/tw/03-19-98/Curr3.html>.   Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.   ___. The Bean Trees. New York: HarperCollins, 1988.   ___. High Tide in Tucson: Essays From Now or Never.New York: HarperCollins, 1995.   Perry, Donna. Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993.   Schutz, Jorian Polis. "The Impact of the Sandinistas on Nicaragua." Jorian Polis Shutz, 1998. <http://www.jorian.com/san.html>.   Smiley, Jane. "In One Small Town, the Weight of the World." New York Times on the Web. 2 September 1990. 18 October 1998. <http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/kingsolver-animal.html>.   

Factors Affecting Employment Of Health Care Professionals In Long Term Care Essay

Health is wealth. A nation or any organization that is keenly interested in maximal individual and collective output, improved working skills and commitment to service of her citizens or members take the issue of health with utmost integrity and assiduity. In accomplishing this important objective, institutions consider a number of factors during recruitment of health care professionals in long-term care. Level Of Education: although there is minimum standard medical education, the level of education and area of specialization of the prospective employee is important to be considered before employment. Employees are employed based on the need within the health organization, the challenges of long-term care in the future and how these professionals can effectively harness the resources at their disposal to resolve the challenge. Relevance Of The Professionals: the place of medical professionals in the health institution cannot be overemphasized. They are indeed indispensable for smooth running of such institutions. This brings to fur the relevance of any professional in other area of life apart from medical education, especially skills in business administration. There is no doubt that the employer is aware of the level of education of the prospective employee. He would also be interested in the level of preparedness of the individual to contemporary challenges outside medical education that may naturally require their attention. Compensation, Benefits and Advancement: this also influences employment of health care professionals for long-term care, as increased cost of employment heightens other health parameters such as cost of health care service, affordability, accessibility and its quality. Job Security And Retention: there is need to be able to access the retention factor for these professionals. Those who keen commitment would serve better and would be of maximal impact in health institutions dedicated to long-term care. This is on e of the most important factors to consider in this case. Continuing Education: it is also important to consider the possibility of and access to continued educational training for the workers in order to improve their service. Working Conditions health care professionals need a good environment to work well. In the absence of this, retention among them is slim and the output is highly variable. Include both those that are crosscutting and those that relate to specific issues of concern.

Applied Definition: Virtue Ethics Essay

1. In what ways did the historical context from which virtue ethics emerged shape its basic principles? Presocratics, regarded as the first philosophers, brought the term logos to philosophy (literal translation: ‘word’; also denotes ‘logic’, ‘argument’, ‘reason’. Aristotle’s concept of Virtue Ethics regards humans as rational animals, implying that ‘logos’ is purely a human trait. Known as Plato’s most gifted student, Aristotle disagreed with his teacher’s view that the â€Å"essence of reality lies in some abstract world of Forms or Ideas† (Brannigan, 2005:60). Aristotle’s point of view directly contrasts his teacher’s, stating that the â€Å"source of meaning comes from concrete, physical reality† (Brannigan, 2005:60). This direct contrast with Plato leads to Aristotle opening his own school, which he called the Lyceum. Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics is his literary formation of his ethical theories. Aristotle believes that ethics originate from real world experiences, that there is not a set of rules to apply to life that will mold us into ethical beings, but rather the â€Å"individual exists in relationship with others† (Brannigan, 2005:61). Thus, ethics is based upon how the individuals relate to each other and the cultivation of good character. How do we cultivate good character? Aristotle states we must fulfill our human nature. He tells us that all things existing in nature have their own specific end purpose, which he refers to as telos (Greek term for specific end). For example, an apple seed’s telos would be to grow into an apple tree and produce apples. Aristotle tells us that only humans are capable of using logos as a form of thought, and that all humans are, by nature, rational animals. Therefore, the human’s end purpose is to â€Å"fulfill our human nature as rational animals by properly exercising our reason† and he also asserts that, â€Å"only in this way can we be genuinely happy† (Brannigan, 2005:62). Furthermore, Aristotle states that all humans have one end goal – eudaimonia (Greek for happiness), and that happiness is an â€Å"intrinsic good†. Intrinsic good means that we seek happiness for the sake of being happy, and we do not seek happiness to obtain something else. In contrast, instrumental good are steps we take to achieve this intrinsic and ultimate good of happiness. For example, students take college courses to fulfill a requirement, gain understanding, and so on. Regardless of the reason, ultimately students take courses to achieve something, with another goal in mind, thus making it an instrumental good. All goods are instrumental, except happiness. Human excellence and telos can be acquired, â€Å"only when we realize our true natures as rational animals, when we properly exercise our reason throughout our lives† (Brannigan, 2005:62). Aristotle terms human excellence with a new name – virtue; genuine happiness is to live virtuously, and only by living virtuously can we attain happiness, and living virtuously requires making a habit of practicing virtue to cultivate good character. Therefore only those with good character can be truly happy. To live virtuously, we must avoid extremes and maintain a balance, which Aristotle terms as the â€Å"golden mean†. The â€Å"golden mean† is the balance between the extremes, and we must use rational thinking and reasoning in a balanced fashion. He distinguished two types of virtues: intellectual and moral. Intellectual virtues require us to use out reason in two ways, one practical and one philosophical. First, â€Å"we reason in order to live practically in our day-to-day lives, which requires us to live sensibly through practical reason† (Brannigan, 2005:64), which Aristotle terms phronesis. Second, â€Å"we reason for the purpose of discovering higher truths†¦ so that we may contemplate higher, more theoretical truths and principles such as the idea of the Good† (Brannigan, 2005:64). Moral virtues (which Aristotle termed ethike) focus on our behavior and how we live our lives, and are the focus of Aristotle’s ethics. Aristotle’s belief was that moral virtues only came about with habitual practice, the Greek word for habit is ethos, which shows the link with ethics. In conclusion, a summary of Aristotle’s ethical beliefs: the goal/aim is to cultivate good character, which can be achieved only through habitual practice of virtue (intellectual and moral), which will create the condition of virtue, thus making us virtuous persons. Repeated actions lead to a condition, which makes an action distinct from a condition, therefore meaning one virtuous act does not make a person virtuous. Rather, acts of virtue must be an ethos(or habit), so that virtuous acts become a sort of second-nature. These repeated acts of virtuous ethos lead to the condition of virtue, and the condition of virtue = good character, and vice versa. Since acts of virtue are not acts of virtue unless logic, reason, and rationalization are utilized to find the â€Å"golden mean† between two possible extremes, one cannot achieve their telos and/or ultimately the condition of happiness, without finding balance in every decision that presents itself and then acting upon this balanced decision. This creates the assumption of a natural link between who we are and what we do, between being and doing. However, doing the right thing simply because you are following a rule or guideline does not make a virtuous person, thus placing the emphasis of Aristotle’s ethics on being rather than doing, meaning that an honest person will tell the truth because this person’s character/being is honest. The reverse of this would be a dishonest person will be dishonest, or a dishonest person will tell the truth because societal rules/guidelines say it’s the virtuous decision – either way, a dishonest person’s being and character is still dishonest, regardless of whether this person tells the truth or not – one act of virtue does not equal a virtuous person. â€Å"Virtue then is a state of deliberate moral purpose, consisting in a mean relative to ourselves, the mean being determined by reason, or as a prudent man would determine it. † (Brannigan, 2005:88) 2. What would virtue ethics suggest should be done in response to the dilemma of the school child who was made to turn his shirt inside out? Why? Virtue ethics really focuses on â€Å"the golden mean†, which is achieved through rational and logical thinking. By avoiding extremes habitually when making decisions, â€Å"the golden mean† can be achieved, leading to a virtuous person, and ultimately happiness and telos; this is the only way to truly achieve the ultimate goal of happiness and virtue. Blindly following rules, without rationalization and an effort to avoid extremes, does not make a virtuous person or achieve â€Å"the golden mean†. Thus, being virtuous leads to virtuous and ethical actions, but not vice versa. In the case of the principal, a virtue ethicist would argue that the principal was merely following a rule, therefore the action was not virtuous. However, the principal also exhibited balance between extremes, by making the child turn the shirt inside out behind a tree; the principal could have made an extreme choice by either ignoring the child’s shirt (and the rule in place) and letting him/her wear this shirt through the rest of the school day (deficit), or by sending the child home for the day (or longer) as punishment for wearing a shirt that breaks the dress code. When you look at the parents actions and choices from a virtue ethicist’s point of view, they have missed â€Å"the golden mean† when making decisions. In regards to the choice of dressing their child in a University of Michigan shirt, a virtue ethicist would state that this decision showed ignorance (since they were provided with a student handbook, which has dress code guidelines), but only if they neglected to read rules that they were provided with. If they simply weren’t provided with such rules, they still exhibited ignorance, but not because of being ignorant. If they read these rules and opted not to follow them because they did not agree, then they should be applauded for not blindly following rules for the sake of following them. However, the decision to send their child to school in a shirt that breaks the rules could be argued as a balanced decision. The deficit decision would be sending the child in all Oklahoma college apparel, just to stay within the guidelines; the extreme would be sending their child in a completed University of Michigan football uniform. It is clear that the parents miss finding the â€Å"golden mean† when deciding how to express their feelings about the rule, by going to the extreme and bringing it to the media’s attention (they could have met with school boards, or even the principal, to try to compromise). They also are on the extreme side of things when they accept gifts from the university (who surely appreciated the attention brought by the media). 3. Using your own personal ethical beliefs, in what ways do you agree or disagree with the decision and the reasoning used to reach the decision in the above question? I agree with the final statements brought out by taking a virtue ethical perspective, such as the principal making a balanced choice when taking action about the shirt, the parents possibly being ignorant of the rule through personal neglect or neglect from the school, and the choices the parents made following the shirt issue being extreme. However, I do not necessarily agree with how these outcomes were achieved through this view. First, I agree that there is a balance that needs to be achieved (or atleast attempted to be achieved) in most of the decisions and actions we make daily, but I do not thing that non-ethical choices and actions are made because the person’s â€Å"being† is bad. I feel like good people can and do make ignorant, unethical, or bad choices; vice versa being true as well. While I believe that being and doing definitely shape each other, I do not feel that one is formed ultimately by the other. As far as what I feel should have been done in this situation, I agree with the principal’s decision. Maybe the code needs refined a little, but your 5 year old having to turn his/her shirt inside out is a much better option than your 5 year old getting shot because the shirt holds a different meaning to a gang member. In class, it was argued that the University of Michigan’s logo held no meaning to the local gangs, but that does not eliminate the possibility of the logo being mistaken for something else, or even influencing a gang we don’t know about. The possibility that your child’s safety is in question should be plenty enough reason for the parents to, at the very least, complain to the school board instead of the media. The fact that the parents brought the media into the situation, I feel, decreases the credibility of their complaint, especially since they ultimately prospered from the incident and the resulting media attention (game tickets, university apparel, and so on). If the principal had ignored the shirt, let the child wear it throughout the day, and then the child became the victim of gang-related violence because of his shirt, I’m sure the parents would hold a different view-point about the rule – and still end up bringing the issue to the media’s attention.

Negotiated Order

: â€Å"The Negotiated Order of organizational Reliability. †| | Watson (2008), â€Å"Organizational rules and hierarchies play a part of in the patterning of life in organizations but the overall organizational order is one that emerges out of the process whereby different groups make use of rules, procedures and information in the day- to-day negotiations that occur between them about what is about to happen in any given situation at any particular time. Paul Schulman, in his writings on the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant unfolded the different aspects of management step by step showing how organization rules, hierarchies and cultures affect the efficacy of the plant. At the beginning of the article ‘The negotiated order of organizational reliability’, Schulman (1993) delves into the realm of both the worker and manager by introducing and further conceptualizing the idea of â€Å"slack†. He expounds the link of this concept, of slack by breaking it do wn into two varieties.Firstly â€Å"resource slack, in time money, personnel†¦can be viewed negatively as a nonproductive inefficiency in the organization, a suboptimal allocation of available means to desired ends. † This concept outlined inherently speaks to the idea of Taylor’s ‘systematic soldiering’, where Taylor explains this notion as â€Å" employee’s deliberate attempt to restrict output and still get maximum reward without tempting management to come back and tighten the rate. † The second aspect of slack zeroed in on is that of control slack.Despite the negative connotation of the word slack in essence from an industrial sociology standpoint can be viewed positively as a way to move away from a scientific management approach which helps to break down a centralized bureaucratic authority. Shulman’s aim on the paper being discussed is generally focused on the idea of organization function and efficacy and reliability from workers. One such way of doing such was by the work environment, the article outlined a quite detailed description of the surroundings of the plant; the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is located on acres of beautiful farm land with beef cattle and crops on the way.Parker in his book Sociology of Industry (2005), noted from the Hawthorne studies conducted that environmental factors played a key role on motivating workers behavior. Industrial sociology would pinpoint the strategic effort places on environment to be all part of management’s way of motivating or just keeping workers happy. The author highlights a clear division of labor as well as support groups, separate departments to handle each problem example Safety and Emergency Services department as well as Safety Review groups, fire Marshalls, hygienists.This inherently shows the rigid bureaucratic structure eminent at the firm with each specific group having a designed task to take care of. Workers jobs are monitored via quality assurance who reports to the vice president of utility. He shows that the firm as well maintains a level of compliance when it comes to specific standards. Most importantly when it comes to employee interaction and say on the job, what separates this firm from a scientific management style is the fact that they have weekly meeting which inherently allow employees to be a part of the firm as well as support group for workers.Schulman highlights in his research that despite the high levels of specialization and organization there is pressure to â€Å"formalize† tasks and as a result there are some â€Å"established norms for operations—not formally but informally. † These norms the writer ties into the title of the article negotiated order which he highlighted there is at the firm however it was difficult to actually point out except with the case of improper communication between the day and night supervisor who did not tell each other about changes that were made.In all the case of Diablo canyon managers aim to diminish slack and gain maximum safe levels of performance, they have implemented formalized standardize hierarchical structures which help inherently promote cultures desirable for the organization as they saw that were arrogant were not seen as an ideal worker as well the internal polity had a system of somewhat overlapping powers thus decreasing centrality. Analyzing this piece from an industrial sociology standpoint brings up many issues.Firstly Schulman fails to show how really employees are motivated at Diablo Canyon. Despite all the programmes and meetings put in place there is no clear indicator of how the employee is in fact motivated. The author centralizes on management and management functions, and measures they put in place. His main issue of concern as mentioned prior was efficiency on the light of the manager’s perspective of the firm. A lot of the paper went on to â€Å"sort out units†, separate different part of the organization and highlight their role.For example there is a â€Å" Plant Staff review committee that meets weekly to approve procedural modification and design changes, as well as a Technical review group† , showing that management takes high level of importance in quality and control. With all these groups especially support groups and safety groups it acts as a motivator to workers. Thus here we can say that there is even though not mentioned by the author some sort of motivation taking place by implementation of these groups.Looking at the Pychologistic side in management, we see that Maslow (1954) believed that scientific management should be revamped and remodeled to and â€Å"centered on releasing people’s potential at various levels† Maslow designed and put forth a model he called the â€Å"Hierarchy of needs† in which he outlines various levels of motivation for workers. At the Diablo canyon we see that workers are motivate d on the second as well as some evidence of third level, which are safety needs and love needs respectively.Especially safety needs with all the inspection units, the Onsite Planning Engineering Group for example â€Å"engineered to verify activities are performed properly and looks over general safety of the plant as well as looks over equipment modification. † Worth mention is the comparison the author makes to a study entitle â€Å"The Hospital and it’s Negotiated order† (Strauss, Schatzman, Ehrlic, Bucher and Sabsin (1963) described what the write states as a â€Å"complex pattern of reciprocal yet unstated agreements† between hospital staff.Schulman clearly highlights as part of his issue that the aforementioned phenomenon of negotiated order which was brought forth by the Interactionist School in industrial sociology can in fact be observed within the plant. â€Å" not only are a range of informal interorganizational agreements observable, their ne gotiation and continual renewal are recognized and embraced formally in the organization†. Here one clearly understands that yes there is an existence of negotiated order however he fails to impact on its existence on the plant here at large.Instead he seems to bring out the idea of a more Durkheimian strand of groups and the importance of formal and informal groups at the workplace. Tony Watson (2008) highlights a case which can mirror a comparison with the idea of groups. A researcher found that within two departments that the department with a higher level of social solidarity, were more bonded with similar experiences, and just had a group or community type setting. Thus it lends the reader to ask whether or not the managers at the firm aimed to bring out such factors and create a motivator in and of itself out of the groups.Schulman (1993), shows the reader that â€Å"A new agreement had been negotiated between the Radiation protection officer and the night shift foreman to make minor modification in the design of scaffolding† however it was found that the night shift foreman failed to make mention to the day foreman. There is not sufficient evidence to show whether or not as well this could have been a case of negotiated order and they made the decision unknowing to the day because of their own benefits, as the day foreman did complain: â€Å"They are changing the rules in the middle of the game†. However the author shows how swiftly management resolves such an issue.Here management worked hard to ensure everything was cleared up and he states to â€Å"restore amicable relations between the two departments†. Therefore one can imply that at Diablo Canyon there is a focus of cohesion and agreement among the firm which takes a bit away from the scientific management realm that Taylor would talk about. Trust is a vital cohesive unit and this is brought about by as well the decentralization and separation of powers at the plant, aga in moving focus away from a manager centric role, at the plant there seems to be more of a worker oriented feel to an extent.This may be so whereby there are efforts to have weekly meetings hearing employee feedback as well as the breaking down of roles within the organization despite the rigid bureaucratic structure there is some flexibility which lends back to the point at the beginning of the paper by Schulman when he mentions â€Å"control slack†. To further contribute to the writing of Schulman using the thoughts and concepts akin to that of Industrial sociology, first to delve more into the issue of negotiated order as it relates to â€Å"slack†.A firm like Diablo Canyon can easily fall susceptible to unhappy workers, due to the type of environment managers ought to look out for informal social groups. While mention of it was made, looking at Durkheim’s analysis on social groups and how it impacts on a firm. In addition because of the environment being a p lant and having a somewhat scientific management style, the writer should have paid more particular attention to aspects of worker interaction and their feel of the job. Issues such as Deskilling and alienation of workers, how can a reader be sure that workers do not feel totally dissatisfied with their jobs.Watson (2008) brings forth the idea of Marx’s notion of alienation, whereby a worker because the monotonous nature of his job may start feeling estranged. One might argue that the mere groups and weekly meetings counter the feelings of estrangement and instead due to technology highlighted in the plant may be akin to Braverman’s (1974) idea of up skilling. The level of equipment highlighted needs a certain amount of skill even at the lowest level thus separating the workers of Diablo plant from a normal processing plant that may require much less skill.The entire focus of the writer delves into the aspect of as mentioned throughout efficiency of the worker this is achieved via motivation principles through groups and safety. The writer shows how management even though having a strong, rigid bureaucratic structure allows some control slack as well as the large number of informal groups may impact on negotiated order and other minor work disputes however due to the set of the organization these such disagreements are quickly dissolved and rectified.However the writer from an industrial sociologist standpoint failed to take in key considerations since it is a plant, issues such as alienation, deskilling could have been more addressed as well as more emphasis could have been put into the notion of negotiated order. Works Cited Parker, S. R. , R. K. Brown, Child J, and M. A. Smith. The Sociology of Industry fourth edition. London: Unwin Hyman, 2005. Schulman, Paul R. â€Å"The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. Administration and Society 25. 3, 1993: 353+. Watson, Tony J. Sociology, Work and Indistry 5th edition. NewYork: Routledge, 2008. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Watson, Tony J. Sociology, Work and Industry 5th edition. NewYork: Routledge, 2008. pgs 49-50 [ 2 ]. Schulman, Paul R. â€Å"The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. † Administration and Society 25. 3, 1993: 353+. [ 3 ]. Watson, Tony J. Sociology, Work and Indistry 5th edition. NewYork: Routledge, 2008. pg. 3 [ 4 ]. Schulman, Paul R. â€Å"The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. † Administration and Society 25. 3, 1993: 353+. [ 5 ]. Watson, Tony J. Sociology, Work and Indistry 5th edition. NewYork: Routledge, 2008. [ 6 ]. Schulman, Paul R. â€Å"The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. † Administration and Society 25. 3, 1993: 353+. [ 7 ]. ibid [ 8 ]. Schulman, Paul R. â€Å"The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. † Administration and Society 25. 3, 1993: 353+. [ 9 ]. ibid

Software development and engineering

à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ There are two features which are common to most engineering definitions à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The solution of practical problems for the benefit of humankind à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The use of scientific and other formalised knowledge to design and build artefacts within economic constraints Difference between scientists and engineers: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Scientific reasoning and research is essentially inductive, scientists try to infer general rules or laws from the results of a limited number of observations or experimental results à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The activities of engineers are quite distinct, their objective is for human benefit rather than explaining the natural world. They make use of scientific results in a deductive way (to verify designs and ideas that are feasible and safe. Development of engineering disciplines QUESTION: How does engineering come to make use of scientific and formalised knowledge? ANSWER: The discipline starts in a state of craft practice: At this stage engineering is carried out by practitioners with little or no formal training and knowledge is acquired during apprenticeship. The second stage is the development of commercial exploitation when pressures arise to make economic use of resources or to increase output. Practice becomes more organised and standard procedures are established. The third stage in development sees the emergence of professional engineering. At this stage engineering is carried out by educated professionals who use formal analysis and scientific theory to understand and verify their designs. Characteristics of engineering Engineering projects tackle clearly defined and quantified problems. Another aspect of modern engineering is the use of systematised knowledge, this knowledge gives the engineer a good understanding both of the problems that he or she is addressing and the materials available for their solution. A science-based knowledge engineer will have considerable knowledge of proven procedures and designs which they can reuse where appropriate. An important aspect of this codified knowledge is the ability to learn from failures. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AS ENGINEERING? Development of compiler technology à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In the 1950s when high-level programming languages were first being designed and implemented, compiler writing was regarded as difficult. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The development of the first compiler for FORTRAN, completed in early 1957, required about 18 person-years of effort. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Compiler technology has progressed dramatically since, that a compiler can now be implemented in anything from 6 person-weeks to a person-year. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Modern compilers generally produce executable code that is very efficient and it is rare for programmers to need to resort to lower-level languages. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Compilers are usually extremely reliable being at least as free from errors as most other software on a typical computer. Large-scale development projects Large-scale projects have always been much more prone to problems or failure than smaller developments, such as compiler implementations, due to difficulties of organising and co-ordinating teams, and dealing with clients. But this is not always the case, as seen in these two examples of large and highly successful projects. Example 1: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ SABRE, an Airline Reservation System developed for American Airlines. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The project delivered about one million lines of code and involved around 400 person-years of effort. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ This success is all the more striking because of the lack of supporting software – there were no database systems available at that time, for example. Example 2: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ NASA Space Shuttle. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The project involved introducing rigorous control of software development, tracking all changes and errors, and constantly refining the development process to ensure that errors are eliminated at the earliest possible stage. Other branches of engineering which have resulted in major disasters: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In 1968, Roman point (a high-rise block of flats in London) collapsed after a gas explosion in a top flat. The block was constructed using prefabricated components. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In 1980, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, a suspended walkway which connected hotel floors collapsed causing deaths of 114 people. The failure was due to a combination of design and construction flaws. QUALITY AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In modern industry and business there is enormous concern to try to produce goods and services of high quality. Definition of Quality – ‘The set of characteristics of a product or service which satisfy a customer's requirements and expectations' American Joseph Juran, one of the early advocates of quality management, defined quality as the fitness for uses. Detailed tracking of error statistics during development has been found by developers such as Microsoft, to be extremely useful even though they may adopt a more informal approach to managing software development (Cusumano and Selby 1997). Development of ideas about quality Total Quality Management (TQM): à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Clearly defining quality in terms of customers' or consumers' requirements à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Concentrating on achieving quality by improving production processes rather than by inspection of end products à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The clear specification of processes and the use of statistical analyses and other techniques to track down the sources of faults so that the process can be improved à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The involvement of everyone in quality improvement à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Constantly trying to improve quality by learning from faults and improving processes and designs. The application of quality management to software development Applicable to software development? Each development of a system is a one-off project so it is not obvious that insights derived from improving manufacturing processes are applicable. The argument of Deming and others that quality cannot be achieved by testing alone is borne out by the experience of many software developers. Quality standards – ISO 9000 In order to achieve ISO 9000 certification: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ It has standards against which to measure all aspects of its development practices à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ It has procedures in place to access performance against these standards à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Both the standards and the assessment methods used are recognised in the industry ISO 9000 has been criticised on its particular criteria for introducing too much paperwork and ignoring the importance of continuous improvement. Capability Maturity Model This model is primarily concerned with the way in which projects are managed and organised, so it proposes five levels of maturity in development practices. 1. Initial Level-Not stable environment for developing software. Success heavily dependent on key project staff. 2. Repeatable Level-Managing software projects based on previous experience. Project progress is tracked and under control. 3. Defined Level-A standard process of software development is used across the organisation. Adapted and tailored appropriately for individual projects. 4. Managed Level-Measurable quality targets are set for projects and the results achieved by all projects are monitored. 5. Optimising Level-Measurements obtained from the monitoring of software development are used as a basis for refining and improving the process used. This level is one of continuous improvement. Chapter 11 – Societies for computing professionals WHAT ARE PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Professionals, such as medicine or the law, are distinguished from other occupations by the long period of training and experience which are required in order to qualify as a practitioner. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Regulated by professional societies à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Societies are run by the members of the profession and represent its interests à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Not under the immediate control of the government or employers Professional institutions can be made in two ways: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ By stature (by passing a law) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Royal Charter The Engineering profession (the institution of Civil Engineers, the institution of Mechanical Engineers, the British Computer Society) have similar rights and responsibilities: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To advance knowledge in their area à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To uphold and seek to improve standards of practice (e.g. code of conduct for members) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To set educational and training standards in their field (e.g. running professional exams and accrediting certain degree courses) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To advise the government on issues within their area of expertise (e.g. BCS on the Computer Misuse Act) THE HISTORY OF ENGINEERING PROFESSIONS à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ When engineering was at the stage of a craft practice, there were few formal mechanisms for the training of new engineers à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Throughout most of the nineteenth century British engineers were firmly convinced of the value of practical experience as the basis of training PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS FOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS Two professional institutions which have most relevance for computer professionals are the British Computer Society (BCS) and Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Engineering Council à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Created by Royal Charter in 1981 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Contains 290000 qualified engineers, including about 200000 Chartered Engineers FEANI FEANI represents the engineering profession at a European level and is made of engineering institutions from 27 countries. It was formed in 1951. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP Members of professional societies gain the benefit of meeting other professionals in their field as well as access to other resources, such as libraries, seminars and special interest groups. Course accreditation Computer Science degree courses which cover similar materiel to that of the BCS exams are often accredited by the British Computer Society. For a degree course to give full exemption it must: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover the underlying theory and mathematics appropriate to computing à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Have an emphasis on design à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Promote understanding of ideas of quality à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover systems development approaches à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Cover ethical, legal, social and professional issues à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Include a substantial student project which involves the implementation of an application or tool using an engineering-based approach. Registration with the Engineering Council The Engineering Council maintains a register of qualified engineers. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA1 – introduction to the fabrication and use of materials à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA2 – application of engineering principlines à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA3 – a thorough and structured introduction to industry, involving practical assignments à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ EA4 – preparation for the post with responsibility EA1 and EA2 = accredited in engineering degree EA3 and EA4 = period of appropriate work Professional development BCS has developed the Industry Structure Model to classify different roles and responsibilities which computing professionals must have. It identifies some 200 professional functions ranging from programming to management. The purpose of the model is to help individuals and organisations to plan training and career development by identifying current gaps in knowledge. BCS runs two development schemes: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Professional Development scheme – computing professionals have properly planned and verified training Continuing Professional Development – those who have achieved qualification but who need to broaden their knowledge.