Internal Factor Evaluation Essay

Internal factors of a college or university include faculty, students, staff, alumni, athletic program, physical plant, grounds and maintenance, student housing, administration, academic programs, fraternities, sororities, and public relations. The sum total of all weighted score is equal to the total weighted score, final value of total weighted score should be between range 1.0 (low) to 4.0 (high). The average weighted score for IFE matrix is 2.5 any company total weighted score fall below 2.5 consider as weak. The company total weighted score higher than 2.5 is consider as strong position. And from the table above Philippine Women’s University Sta. Cruz, Laguna Campus has a slight strong internal position and there are many areas need to improve further. Strategies After we evaluate our university, we think that there are some things that the university should do like daily checking of air-cons, lights, flushes of toilets, etc. They should build clinic in case of emergency, they should also build canteen, hire an HR, and have a head of each colleges. They should also include all the other or extra fees in tuition fee. And there’s one thing that is important for us senior, we guess that they should take some actions in helping them on finding OJT. And maintain their strength or much better to improve it more.

Comparative Analysis of Art Essay

Throughout history art has served as a preservation and representation of the time in which they were made. During the Ancient Greek period art was not only mare naturalistic and humanistic but also became directly affected by the events going around. Both the Marble Statue of an Old Woman and the Marble Statue of Aphrodite are sculptures that were made during the Ancient Greek era, they each tell a story of what was going on during that point in time. The Marble Statue of Aphrodite is the eldest of the two sculptures, it was sculpted between the 2nd and 3rd century B .  C. During this period Greece was at its peak, the people of Greece had power and wealth. The art made at this time depicted the peace of the Greeks and power that they had attained. The Greeks believed that this greatness was due to the gods and goddesses, as they were polytheistic; keeping the gods and goddesses happy meant good things for the Greeks. Many of the buildings that were built were built as offerings to show their beliefs and to display what mattered most to the people of Greece. The marble Statue of Aphrodite is one of these artworks dedicated to the goddesses. Aphrodite was believed to be the goddess of love, lust and sexuality she was also a symbol of strength; she gave the men of the military hope and optimism when going into battle. As Aphrodite was the goddess of love and lust her statues and sculptures were almost always nude or partially nude. As in this marble sculpture where Aphrodite is pictured fully nude, her face expressionless which is a key attribute to the events going in Greece at the time. Almost all sculptures during this time were expressionless as a symbol that Greece had no major worries, there was no pain or suffering amongst the people and there was a general sense of peace and stability. She is in a contro- postal pose, her feet shifted and most of her weight distributed into one leg. Her arms are now missing as they have fallen off due to the fact that the sculpture is over 3000 years old and aging has worn out the material. Another reason why the arms have fallen off is because, unlike the major societies before them, Greeks believed in humanistic art. Societies before the Greeks, such as the Egyptians, used to keep the material between what would be spaces between arms and body and the legs. This form of art was not humanistic not realistic enough for the Greeks so most of their artwork follows the ideals of humanism. Artists would break off the extra material that would remain after the statue was fully sculpted. To further the realistic look of the Aphrodite sculpture the artist, who is unknown at this time, detailed the curves of her body. You can view the lines of her stomach and breasts which are simple and uncomplicated and create an image that looks like a real woman. Greeks continued with the ideas of humanism and realism even as their society aged and changed. Like many great societies before them Greeks hit a climactic point in their era that had people uneasy and artist evolving away from the artistic norms that had been practiced for years; this new era was known as the Hellenistic Period. The Sculpture of an Old Woman is an example of this radical change in art; still loyal to the idea of humanism this sculpture is not of a goddess or soldier, as many arts were based on before, it was of a normal average, everyday elder woman who could have simply been walking down the street. Not only did the artist stray away from the norms of subject matter but they also stepped away from the expressionless simplistic art that had been around for centuries. The old woman sculpted was not in the traditional contro-postal pose instead she is hovered almost as if she is being weighed down by something or perhaps just the sad truth of aging when your body is no longer as strong as it once was. Her face, which is not almost completely fallen off from the statue, may have been in some sort of realistic expression, as opposed to the Aphrodite sculpture. I can imagine her face being in pain or perhaps sadness; I came to that conclusion based on the body language of the art. She is hovered strained from a lifetime of work and deteriorating from signs of age, similarly to Greece at the time. Like many of its time the sculpture can be seen as a metaphor for what the Greeks were going through during the Hellenistic period. No longer was the empire in control and in power instead Greece was now falling due to the Roman Empire. The people and cities within Greece were now in chaos because the extravagant lifestyle they had grown accustomed to was being torn away more and more as each day passed. Both pieces of art were originally sculpted during the Greek period but the images that now remain were actually sculpted during the Roman era, making both pieces remakes of original pieces. Similarly, both pieces were also made out of marble, as it is a resource that is of great quantity in that area of Europe. They are also lifelike statues not overbearingly tall nor extremely short each does fall upon approximately 5 feet or so. Although both pieces are not equally dedications to higher beings the Sculpture of the Old Woman has artifacts sculpted within it that can be attributed to the idea that the old woman is making offerings to a higher being in order to help her through difficult times. It is most interesting to see how the current events of ones lifetimes can affect the art that is made. Most people believe that the only way to tell these stories is through books and other forms of writing. Personally it is more amazing to see how creative an artistic can get to convey a message from a visual aspect rather than clearly writing what the art was based on. Looking at both sculptures side to side I could not help but to feel for the people living during these times, going from a peaceful and prospering power to having everything torn away and having to live through the chaos.

Model for free and open university courseware

One of the determinants of creation of FOCI contents is the capacity building which generally refers to developing required competences for creation of FOCI online contents. Dealing with copyright issues may be a serious roadblock even if the intention of the author was meant to provide the resource for free access and use. In the process of preparing contents, instructors research contents from various sources of which some may have various uprights and other restrictions. Instructors may also raise issues of their intellectual property rights.Another determinant is the motivation of instructors; there is no clear incentive of engagement for the faculty to participate in open courseware. The greatest concern is the time that is required by instructors to prepare a course that will be available, monitored, maintained, updated and perhaps re-formulated for new settings and different uses. The open courseware materials provided by the instructor will be Judged by the peers; therefore e ffort in producing quality desired is of essence. Validation Quality assurance mechanism will guarantee that materials are validated for publication.Quality in this sense refers to the relevance of material to the public, compliance to education standards and integrity, organization of contents and compliance to intellectual property rights. The FOCI materials should be intellectual property-cleared, meaning that the university has the rights to make the materials available under open terms and that nothing in the materials infringes the copyrights of others. Secondly, conceptualization and localization of contents trials from course instructors have been designed for their students at the university.If the same contents are to be available for public view, it is important to consider relevance of the contents to other people outside the university in diverse thematic areas of research and training. Quality assurance will involve checking the contents for consistency, pedagogical as pects, compliance to education standards and organization of contents. By publishing materials in the web for open access through FOCI, university is allowing the public to Judge what is offered by the institution.If materials are of poor quality, it may be threat to the reputation of not only the author but also the university. The university should strive to provide best quality material to avoid negative criticism by the public. Reliance should be made on standards and specifications to the extent possible. Lastly, there is need for accreditation which is the official approval of contents for publication in FOCI sites. Dissemination A key component of open courseware is the dissemination of contents whose cornerstone is technology. The technology is based on the CIT infrastructure for publishing the contents.Open courseware technology infrastructure consists of several components, internet connectivity, desktop tools for building course web sites and file conversion, web authorin g tools, workflow, metadata capture and publication tools, content staging infrastructure, content publication infrastructure, content repositories (file storage) Implementation. The technology should be designed to allow the use of a variety of appropriate tools, with a minimum of integration problems. The choice of technology should consider setup and maintenance cost.In our framework we endeavor to recommend use of cheap but efficient technology eatable for Kenya situation. One of the key determinants of dissemination of FOCI contents is the internet Connectivity. The university should be well served with internet and the bandwidth should be sufficient to allow access of not only textual information but also transmission of multimedia contents. Sufficient campus network connectivity is crucial to facilitate easy creation and updating of contents by course authors at the comfort of their offices.Secondly, Contents delivered through open courseware should be easily searchable and w ell organized for open access. Care would be made for usability considerations, which means contents, should be easy to edit or modify (formats, specifications) and should accommodate different kinds of access considerations. There is need for content management systems which provides a means of managing large amounts of contents and at the same time providing room for incorporating other pedagogical aspects.From literature review we found out that a number of content management systems are available and which are suitable for open courseware. Lastly, preparing contents for web access also require inserting metadata information. In most cases, local access of online contents does not pose a big problem to users as the remote access. Some of remote users may access courseware contents using very slow connections given the situation of internet in our country. For example it can be extremely difficult to watch or download video contents using slow connection.Before university implemen ts open courseware it is important to consider the connections of the expected users especially for remote access. In addition, a whole range of delivery modes should be made available for cases where connectivity at sufficient bandwidth would cause a robber. Lastly, criteria for the assessment of outcomes on the user of open courseware should be defined. Feedback mechanisms should be designed and implemented. It should allow users to express their views on their experiences with the courseware. In addition the site should include access counter to tell the number of people who visit the site.Utilization Utilization refers to usage of open courseware materials in the context of our proposed framework . This may entail learners using the materials for additional learning and research, instructors from other institution using the materials in their raining and other people using the materials for personal study. Awareness is thought as one of determinant of utilization in which case t argeted citizenry needs to be sensitizes of the availability of open courseware. The public should have information about what is available on open courseware and benefits of using the materials .The impact of the contents on the learner will greatly determine the utilization of the contents. Care should be taken in that the design of contents. The material should not only be useful to the university students but also majority of the public. Lastly, given that FOCI will be delivered through ‘CT. It is important to consider literacy levels of FOCI users. Basic cit requisite skills are needed for one to be able to search open courseware materials on internet, interact with the site in different ways, save contents and provide feedbacks.Methodology The research adopted a field survey research design whose objective was to establish factors that discourage or/and encourage free and open courseware in public universities of Kenya. The target population of the research was the publi c universities in Kenya. Questionnaire was the primary data collection instrument and as divided into five parts based on the five elements the free and open courseware framework elements; organization, creation, validation, dissemination and utilization. The study involved both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A sample size of 450 students and 150 lecturers was targeted.Data collection took place in August 2010. It was collected from 3 public universities that is university of Nairobi, Kenya and Com Kenya University KODAK). Useful and complete responses were obtained from 392 students representing a response rate of 87% and 1 11 lecturers representing a response rate of 74%. RESULTS On the basis of the analyzed responses the following inferences were drawn Table 4. 1. Elements Components Processes Observations Governance & Management -Planning -Setting up testators -Free and open courseware has not so far been implemented in Kenya. No comprehensive plan. Partnership and col laboration Building alliances and consulting Foci partners -Public universities have established some local and international links on open contents provision. Institutional policies Creating policies that support open courseware -Universities policies do not cater for free and open content. Some of universities are errantly reviewing policies. Sustainability Establish ways of meeting the setup and maintenance cost -Difficult to direct university limited funds to free and open courseware project. Low support from Government and Nags Developing knowledge & sharing culture Faculty assassination and advocacy A number of workshops and conferences have been held Capacity building -Improve CIT literacy among lecturers -Training of faculty in E-content development -Creating textual and video contents -Majority of faculties are CIT literate. -Majority of lecturers have not attended training in E-content development -Most of structures contents is not in electronic format -Faculties have not developed video contents of most of lectures. Lecturers have no access to video capturing and editing facilities. -Dealing with copyright issues -Adhere to PR -Set up open sharing licenses -Majority of lecturers obtain materials from copyrighted sources -No clear Intellectual property rights policies in Kenya and particularly in the universities that cater for open sharing. Attitudes -Developing positive attitudes towards open sharing materials Majority of lecturers have negative attitude towards open sharing. However, majority are willing to share heir materials for free under open Terms.Motivation -Establish ways of motivating lecturers Low motivation of faculty. Majority of lecturers indicated that they cannot dedicate their time to embark on contents creation for free publishing without clear terms of engagements. Validation Copyright clearance -Perform copyright clearance Majority of lecturers obtain contents from copyrighted sources. Conceptualizing of contents Perform releva nce check Some of the materials are not relevant to the public Quality Assurance Perform quality assurance Some of the instructor's materials do not meet quality standards for OCW.Accreditation of materials -Get official approval and seek authorization for publishing from faculty No policies available to support accreditation of open materials. Utilization -Awareness -Public assassination -Low awareness level Majority of university students, instructors and administrators are not aware of open courseware. -CIT Literacy Improve cit literacy Majority of learners at public university are CIT literate -Access Improve internet access Internet usage level is generally high by university students.However, majority of students utilize free contents available on the web for research as opposed to buying kooks. -Relevance Maintain high standards and quality in production of open courseware materials Some of the materials are not useful to public 5. 0 Conclusion Results from the study shows th at the concept of FOCI has not been embraced in Kenya. However, it is not an absolutely new phenomenon since some of the universities are sensitivity their faculties on content sharing and aligning their policies to accommodate open contents.Nevertheless, the study reports low awareness of FOCI in Kenya universities among students and faculty members. The study identified a number of issues that pose significant challenges in implementation of FOCI in Kenya based on regression test performed . Amongst, Intellectual property rights and attitudes of faculty towards open courseware have shown significant effect on creation of FOCI contents while quality and relevance of materials shown significant effects on utilization of open courseware. In addition sustainability of FOCI project is another issue that poses a significant challenge to the implementation.The fact that the original design of FOCI is not to generate income for the university or contents providers begs the question of how such project can be sustained. It is encouraging to note that the number of lecturers participating in development of content for online learning is on increase. Universities have also set up repositories for storage of contents e. G University of Nairobi and Kenya University has each two servers for storage of contents and backups and the universities are gradually embracing online learning in their curriculum.Lastly, over last five years internet connectivity has greatly improved in Kenya and currently, the majority of public universities in Kenya are connected through a fiber-based local and external access infrastructure. 5. 1 Recommendations There will be need for rigorous campaign and assassination to raise the awareness level if a university wants to embark on implementation of FOCI. The public needs to get information about the availability of materials, various techniques of accessing the materials online and build confidence about the quality of materials.Study has reveal ed that majority of lecturers utilizes copyrighted contents in preparation of their lecture materials and this poses a significant challenge of sharing the contents to the public. The study identified IP clearance as one the solutions of coping with issue of non adherence to copyright laws. IP clearance is the process that ensures the open courseware publisher has the rights to make the materials available under open terms and that nothing in the materials infringes the copyright of other . Let may involve getting approvals from authors whose contents have been copied and/or removing such contents.It may also involve making sure fair use of other author's contents which involves ensuring that the original authors are properly acknowledged and may involve granting licenses to open courseware end-users to use, reuse, adapt, and redistribute materials for non-commercial educational reposes, in accordance with the open courseware concept. The greatest concern is the time that is require d by faculty from academics to prepare elements of a course that will be available, monitored, maintained, updated and perhaps re-formulated for new settings and different use.Therefore motivation and attitudes of instructors is critical. The study recommends that stakeholders in academia should first demystify the whole issue of free and open sharing of contents through assassination of the faculty. It important for management of open courseware to consider financial rewards of the developers for their time and other forms intrinsic motivation such as recognitions of leading authors by the universities or/and other agencies. Course materials published on FOCI are subjected to public scrutiny.End users will constantly evaluate the quality of content offered by the university. Therefore, quality of content can positively or negatively impact on the reputation of the institution. It is difficult to achieve 100% acceptance of FOCI content in the face of the diverse thematic areas of re search and training, and the different approaches and modes of delivering contents. However universities should strive to make the contents relevant to majority of the public. One of the unresolved issues is delivery methods for remote access which includes off campus accesses.The scope of our study did not carry out assessment on the network infrastructure outside the university. But, results from other studies indicate that, it may be difficult to maintain high speed connection in most of places in Kenya especially the remote areas. Nevertheless, the current Kenya devolution promises to improve the internet connectivity of major towns and increase the internet reach for majority of citizens. It is also important to set up distributed contents servers or mirror servers in various parts of the country especially in major towns to improve speed of access all over the country.Sustainability of the project has shown significant effect on the implementation of FOCI, given the high setup and maintenance cost of implementing. It might be difficult to maintain budget line for open courseware. However, universities which already have an existing and well established online learning infrastructure can easily and cheaply migrate to FOCI. If the university offers online learning for a umber of years, over time published materials will be continually refined and since online learning is income generating Return-on-Investment will have been achieved.

Jonurl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jonurl - Essay Example In my FIRO-B scale, certain results were evident while undergoing the elementary examination. My inclusion demands were rated at 6 which is a moderate result in comparison with other people. The effect of such a result is the ideal level. In other areas such as control, I came out with an 8 grade. This is usually characteristic of an independent person with high qualities to lead a group. Affection levels were rated ideal at 5. The effect these had is that I was designated to lead the group for having strong control. My temperament characteristics was OWL that means wise, knowledgeable, composed, sees everything, sees things before others see them and scans from high perch, swoops down with precision. I am great in decision making especially in difficult situations and also have ample knowledge on general matters. I have helped the group thoroughly in making financial decisions and also certain inter group challenges. I have a Phlegmatic introverted temperament. This makes me a good administrator of the group, I get to be very observant to the situation and reactions of other group members of the group. On the Jessica Baby story, I was keen to notice some strong reaction as well as from the group members. The story was inspiring to many people famous and infamous in society and has head relatively similar impact on a lot of lives in many people. The situation was very sympathetic and fills one with remorse and compassion. It was difficult for many to hide their compassion in the group. However, people showed theirs in different ways. Some would go to nearly crying while some would demonstrate their ambitions by playing as though they were part of the ordeal. Group members showed affection in different ways. Certain MBTI models can perfect one’s performance and people need different motivations for their problems, as the superstar who saw the circumstance as a motivation to quit drugs. Eschers Relativity picture has been used

Current health issues in relation to the Australian Health Care System Essay

Current health issues in relation to the Australian Health Care System - Essay Example Health Issue Statistics e.g. Incidence According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 6% of Australian adults experience depression on a regular basis. Among employed Australians, 3.6% Australians experience depression on a regular basis. The financial cost of depression, which is estimated to be more than 50 billion dollars annually in Australia, includes the direct treatment costs as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity. Depression also exacts financial as well as emotional costs within the family of the affected individuals. While Australian adults of different age groups have reported suffering from depression at one time or another, it would appear to be most prevalent among women in their 20s, men in their late 30s, and in elderly Australians of both genders (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Many Australians do not feel that their negative feelings may actually be characteristic of depression. This makes them quite reluctant to seek for medical trea tment until they are almost driven to attempt suicide by the negative feelings. Population type affected e.g. gender, age, group etc According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), one in six Australian adults will experience serious depression on an annual basis. The high risk groups include teenagers, young adults, and the elderly people. While women are more likely to report feeling depressed and seek a relief for the negative feelings, Australian men are more likely to seek for more permanent ways, such as suicide, of dealing with depressing feelings. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), depression among Australian men is linked to other illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Australian men are more likely to leave episodes of depression unreported than Australian women. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), Australian men who are 65 years of age and above have the highest suicide rate in the nation, accounting for 29 suicides per 100,000 cases. A new Women's Health Australia research study has also provided evidence that Australian women between the ages of 28 and 33 tend to experience depression even more than their mothers, or even grandmothers, did. According to this study, one in five of these women goes regularly to doctors so as to get prescriptions for anti-depressants (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Identify a range of factors which may affect the health of this client group including risk factors. Give consideration to any specific health and social circumstances of this client group. It is difficult to determine the exact factors that cause people to be depressed because there are so many factors that can trigger an episode of depression. In an Australian society, there are multiple factors that affect indigenous groups such as the Aboriginal community and result in an almost community-wide state of depression which afflicts the young as well as the old (Hunter, 2007). The Aborigines have to deal with racism, poverty, and feelings of detachment that are caused by the fact that their traditional values are for the most part irrelevant in the modern world (Hunter, 2007). This has spurred generational drug and alcohol abuse among the Aborigines which further exacerbates the incidence of depression among the community’s citizens. Among other Australians, there are factors such life traumas

Contemporary issue in financial reporting Case Study

Contemporary issue in financial reporting - Case Study Example Due to the afore-mentioned factor, Microsoft can find the combination of balance sheets more useful in acquiring Yahoo, as it is an online Company. One more aspect that is useful for Microsoft in Pooling of interest method, it does not result in creation of goodwill. This leads to report higher earnings. (Answers.com, 2008) Thanks for giving us a chance to advise you on adoption of 'pooling interest' method. So that we can let you know, why it is beneficial for a company trying to acquire another, while you are contemplating to acquire Yahoo Corporation. While acquiring a company a firm follows one of the two methods. The first one is pooling of interest and the other is purchase method. The later involves the goodwill, which is a premium for buying a business. The goodwill is a result of subtracting purchase price from its book value. However, this is not advisable as Microsoft is trying to acquire Yahoo for more than the book value and this may result in negative goodwill according to purchase method. Hence, pooling of interest method is advisable for acquisition of Yahoo, for reporting higher earnings and a probable resultant higher share price. (About.com , 2008) When we consider the situation of Microsoft taking over Yahoo.com, let us take into consideration the earnings of both the companies at the end of 2007. The earnings of Microsoft at the end of 2007 is $11,030 and that of Yahoo is $1,403. Let us suppose that the book value of Yahoo's share is $10. Microsoft is contemplating to pay $32.5 per share. If it happens, the company has to pay $ 227987.5 million. However, the book value of Yahoo shares is $ 70150 million only. The difference is $ 157837.5 million. This will be termed as good will if Microsoft follows the purchase method and needs to be amortised in 40 years by amortising 1/40th part of the earnings every year. (Microsoft, 2008) If the company follows pooling interest method, there is no need of showing good will and the resultant company's balance sheet is the combination of balance sheets of two companies before acquisition. If the Book value of Yahoo share is $10 then the total book value of 7015 million Yahoo shares equal to $7.0150 billion. However, Microsoft has to pay $ 22. 8billion. The difference is $ 15.785 billion. (Ad vision, 2008) This has to be amortised in the resultant entity within 40 years according to purchase method. In Pooling of Interest method, there is no way to consider the goodwill as the company pays the amount to the investors and the balance sheets are combined from word to word and value to value. This reports the higher earnings and in the future years and allows higher earnings per share resulting in a higher share price in the market, which is not possible with purchase method as every year 1/40th part of the earnings cannot be included in reporting the earnings. A company like Microsoft, which have enough reserves of cash do not need the amortisation and can concentrate on For example, when we consider, the earnings of Microsoft and Yahoo in the year of 2007, the number of shares in Microsoft is 9848 million and the number of sha

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Report - Essay Example Almeera is more efficient than Widam in using its assets to generate revenue. In general, Almeera is more profitable. Widam has higher EPS which is an indication that it is making more money for their shareholders than Almeera. In addition, its high P/E ratio indicates that their investors are willing to pay more per dollar of earnings. Therefore, Widam is a better investment than Almeera. In conclusion, though the companies have fluctuating performance, it is clear that Widam is a better investment than Almeera because of the following reasons. First, it is relatively liquid and can meet its short-term obligations with lots of ease. Secondly, it is Widam is more efficient in its operations than Almeera and uses few assets to generate more sales revenue. Thirdly, even though Almeera is more profitable, Widam is also relatively profitable and generates sufficient returns for its shareholders. In addition, even though it uses relatively more debts, it has infinite cover for its interest expense. Finally, it makes more money for their

Implementation Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Implementation Plan - Essay Example d guidelines of the proposal are pertinent to information security and privacy that are currently put forward by bodies of the state, federal regulators, and the state. New technologies are coming up in the market daily. Therefore, there is need to safeguard the evolving technologies. In the case where MEMATECH Solutions limited has this need, I have proposed to develop and install a new security plan for the company. The idea behind the plan is to come up with a network that connects all the machines in the organization in protecting the plan from being publicized during the stage of development and research. The paper therefore, discusses the proposal of MEMATECH Solutions limited security plan proposal for the connections that dwells on the authentication mechanisms, policies of password, and the plan’s proposed cost (Pipkin, 2000). I have proposed a security plan for MEMATECH Solutions limited for the connection that will safeguard their new products when researching and developing stages are carried out. The paper proposes a comprehensive plan that deals with password policy, network policy, authentication of data, and the project’s cost. To safeguard the project it is imperative that all information and data are kept on different networks and servers that are not within the access of the general corporation. This can be achieved by developing new networks through the appliances of Cisco Terascale router or Cisco ASA security, VMware, VLANS, and Windows 2008 with the help of IPV6 private addressing. Employing the appliances of ASA security and Terascale, I will be able to monitor and control the entire network and access traffic on the corporate network subset through the firewall features. In conjunction with MAC address, I will implement through filtering to offer more security. The IPV6 IP mechanism will be employed to help it from attempts of network intrusion and brute force. I will use a private address to ensure that all the IP address are

Lexus company not Evil Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lexus company not Evil - Assignment Example He suggests that key danger to the olive tree, which he shows to represent everything that locates roots or anchors us, can come from the Lexus (car) which he shows to represent all the anonymous, homogenizing, transnational, standardizing market forces as well as technology, all which make up the current globalizing economic system. The lexus company should not be termed evil because, the company uses the globalization strategies that are clearly seen and perceived even by its clients (Friedman 59). The Lexus Company’s democratizations have changed their operational strategies, greatly, leading to the perceptions of them being evil in some way. The company’s democratization of finance affects its democratization of technology, which in turn changes the whole operation of the company and how it invests. In short, Lexus has opened their markets and has implemented fiscal policies, all being in line, hence their survival in this globalization age (Friedman 60). As Friedma n suggests in his book, globalization is a force acting throughout the globe, impersonally, like evil, and therefore implementation of globalization strategy should not be a perception of evil (Friedman

Fudations of busesiness computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Fudations of busesiness computing - Essay Example I have read the CQU policy on plagiarism and understand its implication. I can produce a hard copy of this assignment within 24 hours if requested." A knowledge worker is someone who works for a living at the jobs of producing or utilizing knowledge. Today we are able to define knowledge workers as contributors in the knowledge economy (Jonathan, 2005). The knowledge economy proposes a financial situation where information and its management are the product and the activity. In the context of todays business world, without a knowledge worker, an immense deal of the business world would come to a standstill. Knowledge workers are occasionally known as information workers, and some times people argue that information workers carry out additional tedious responsibilities than knowledge workers. Knowledge Workers are capable to carry out several activities that are ambiguous in their gain to an outsider, however are really important to the overall success of a company and business. They have the capacity to make use of the most excellent sources to achieve the information they required, which are together correct and modern. After t hat, with the data readily available they excel at pulling out the main information, understanding it, and then manipulating it to offer the organization and its business the maximum benefit possible (Jonathan, 2005). For instance, a knowledge worker can be somebody who works at some of the jobs of acquiring, programming, analyzing, organizing, storing, distributing, marketing, searching, planning, or else contributing to the makeover and business of information and those who effort at utilizing the knowledge so produced. In this question I will discuss the difference among the `information technology and `information system. Information system occasionally refers to an organization of persons, data records and activities that process the information and data in an association, and it comprises the

NEITHER PROFESSIONALS AMATEURS NOR BEGINNERS SHOULD PLAY ANYTHING BUT Essay

NEITHER PROFESSIONALS AMATEURS NOR BEGINNERS SHOULD PLAY ANYTHING BUT THE MUSIC OF THE GREAT MASTERS AND THEN SHOULD NOT ADD THE SLIGHEST OF THEIR OWN TO IT - Essay Example Originality, in this respect, is an important word. Originality may be described as a phenomenon that caters to the personal sense of creation that an artist indulges in. This sense of creation is something that is an outcome of the artist’s sense of aesthetics and what he or she feels will have a wide acceptance and appeal in the long run. In this regard, artists generally regard qualities like timelessness and mass appeal in the creation of work that will be demonstrated before people. Originality is an important concept for this paper due to the nature of the topic. Is it possible to remain original by playing classics – that too without adding a touch of your own to a piece of work? The role of originality here is in the creation. A musician may create a classic on his own and it will be called recreation. Most people might argue that it is important to render your own elements even when playing classics so as to ensure that there is a demonstration of how a person can improvise. In this regard, the counter argument is that the listener is usually not concerned with the technicalities. It very often happens that a recreation of a certain piece of work is not taken to well in its â€Å"improvised† form as there are constant comparisons with the original. This works against the musician in question, therefore making his work ‘a cheap imitation’.

My Vegas Vacation Essay Example for Free

My Vegas Vacation Essay I had read about Vegas, I had seen pictures of Vegas, I had watched many movies about Vegas, but I had never imagined that I would ever visit Vegas. It wasn’t until I saw the lights of the huge city from the plane that I believed I was actually going to be landing in Las Vegas. The airport was a trip in itself and it took more than an hour to gather our luggage and get to our hotel. Even though it was midnight and we were tired, we quickly left our bags in our room and started to look around. We wandered aimlessly though casino after casino, all the while amazed at the lights, the food, the opulence and, of course, the sounds of winning machines. We spent the whole night, as well as the next three days, trying to decide which attraction was the best. Though much of Vegas was unforgettable, the most memorable were the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio hotel; it was so calming in the middle of the chaotic Vegas strip. We went back a few times to watch it. We also loved the light show on Freemont Street, and riding on the top of the double-decker bus on the way back to our hotel was a lot of fun. The highlight of the trip was attending the Wayne Brady show. He acts much the same as he does on the famous show, â€Å"Whose Line is it Anyway? † He asked for volunteers from the audience and I didn’t raise my hand; I sort of regret that now. It was still one of the most memorable vacations I have ever taken. The word vacation always suggests that there would be some relaxing and resting on the trip. I saved all of the my resting for the flight home and even though I didn’t get a lot of sleep in Las Vegas, I came home feeling as though I had a well-deserved break; what a vacation!

The Third Gender The Hijra Sociology Essay

The Third Gender The Hijra Sociology Essay In western culture, gender and sex have been described under two distinct realms-male and female. These identities to some are determined solely biologically, and many are oblivious to the fact that in many cultures, different genders are present. One of the most prominent third genders is based in South Asia, specifically India. Known as the hijra, they have grown to become a prominent and well-known member of Indian society, but have suffered from discrimination and have struggled for their basic fundamental rights. Based in India, the hijra are physiological males who identify themselves as females at an early age, wearing womens clothing and performing stereotypical female gender roles. Indian society refers to the hijra as a third gender. They are not female nor male, but a separate entity who carries their own culture, values and traditions. In relation to the western world, the closest form to the hijra would be known as a transgender. The hijras trace their origins back to the religious era of the deity Ram. As told in the Ramayana epic, just before his sojourn into the wilderness, Ram instructed all men and women who had come to see him off to return to their village. The hijras, being neither men nor women stayed at Rams point of departure until his return years later. Upon seeing their devotion, Ram blessed them and promised them the right to rule during the final age of mankind (Amisha_2010:835). As religion is a major aspect of Indian culture, much of the hijras history is based off the Indian polytheistic religious era. As religion is of great importance to the hijra, this event historically marked their first interaction with the Indian gods. Many hijra undergo a painful castration process known as nirvan to officially identify as a hijra. This process of the upmost importance as it ends with the new hijra embracing the femininity he has identified himself with his entire life. The process has been documented: His transformation is nearly complete as he prostrates his naked body before the murti of Bahuchara Mata, praying for her blessings. When he stands, his chela (guru) will complete the ceremony with two swift slices of the long blade, permanently severing his manhood. The remaining blood that gushes from the cut is considered the last of the male part. Hot sesame seed oil will be poured over the open wound, which will later be prodded repeatedly to ensure that the urethra remains open. No anesthesia or surgical tools are available, for it is believed that medically performed castration would diminish the spiritual experience of the ritual. (Patel_2010:835) Once the castration process is completed, the hijras both physically and spiritually feel as though they have transformed themselves. As the hijra undergo a physical transformation, they also follow a strict household structure. Members of the gharana, the communal hijra household, ardently support the hijra code. The hijras maintain the basic family hierarchy. The GWU report states, An elder naik oversees the basic running of the household, and chelas initiate hijras and turn over a portion of their earnings for household expenses. In addition, all hijras pay a fee to the jamat, or congregation of hijra house leaders recognized within the larger community. (Patel_2010:836) Many houses are situated relatively close together. As much of Indian society and culture rejects the hijra, the hijra feel it is necessary to isolate themselves from the mainstream culture. Not only does this give the hijra a sense of community, but it also preserves their security and safety. Despite these protective measures, hijras remain a marginalized group in a country that continues to ostracize them. India is two-sided in its social perception of the hijra lifestyle. As a community, Indian society treats hijras with a combination of fascination, revulsion, and fear (Patel_2010:836). As a means of survival, hijras predominantly participate in begging and prostitution. For a small fee, they also perform badhai-local families sometimes welcome them into their homes to bless auspicious births or weddings (Patel_2010:836). For the most part, however, sex work is the most profitable option for the hijra. As a result, Indias hijras struggle as an ostracized social class, subject to gender violence and various other human rights violations. There are very few domestic policies protecting hijras. Although there have been recent pushes for their rights, few have been successful. The hijra have struggled to enjoy the basic human rights many Indians enjoy. Most importantly, Indian law does not recognize them as a third gender. This denies them the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to marry and the right to claim formal identity through any official documents such as a passport or driving license. Accessing healthcare, employment or education becomes almost impossible. In the face of such odds they are forced to earn money any way they can (Harvey_2008:html1). Hijras are regularly robbed and sexually assaulted on the street at the hands of gangs and other local thugs. A hijra who served as chairperson of a human rights organization said, We have no constitutional rights. That is the problem. We dont have voting rights; often we cannot get housing. This is not allowing us to have an identity of our own (Harvey_2008:html1). Reports show however, that attitudes are gradually beginning to change. An initial difficulty in addressing the rights of sexual minorities is in recognizing the differences between the concepts of sex and gender. Sex, by definition, operates within the classic binary biological model, in which the human species is clearly divided into neat categories of either male or female (Patel_2010:836). Gender, however, is a more inclusive term, which includes social constructs of personal belief and sexuality that have deeper meaning than the traditional biological sex distinction (Patel_2010:836). In addition, the classic Western binary models of sex-male and female-and sexuality-homosexual and heterosexual-do not fit neatly into Indias traditional concepts of gender and identity. As a result, hijras are the unknown-the intersex gender between male and female in India. Although the hijra have been ostracized for many years, conditions are slowly starting to improve. As technology and media communication have vastly improved in India, more people are beginning to not only notice the presence of the Hijra, but also appreciate it. The Hijra have formed unions to organize protests for their human rights and will continue to fight for legislation until they are satisfied. India has taken many steps toward recognizing transgender rights. In recent years, hijras have become increasingly visible in the political arena. After gaining the right to vote in 1994, a few have held political office in various states in India, and often have the support of religiously affiliated majority parties as safe candidates. In 2000, Kamla Jaan, a hijra in the state of Madhya Pradesh, was elected mayor of Katni after running as an indepen- dent. Indian society perceives hijras as un-entrenched political candidates-secular, casteless, and asexual-simultaneously able to understand the plight of the downtrodden and able to gather the support of outsiders. Furthermore, mainstream society has recast these candidates as embodiments of respect and morality, above traditional corruption that permeates Indian politics. As a result of their improved prominence, India has taken some effective measures in acknowledging the legal status of hijras. For example, there are three distinct gender classification choices available on the Indian Passport-ma le, female, and others' (Patel_2010:836). In addition, the prominence of hijras in the media has fostered increased social acceptance of transgendered individuals. Thus far, the state of Tamil Nadu seems the most accepting. There, a transsexual hosts a local talk show called Ippadikku Rose. The state also hosts an annual transgender festival to facilitate accept- ance of hijras into mainstream society. In addition, hijras are making appearances in the fashion industry, and recent Bollywood films portray them in a positive light. In 1994, the South Indian film Tamanna portrayed the life of a hijra who saves a young girl from life on the streets and later adopts her. In 2008, a hijra was cast as the first transgender in the country with a lead role in a mainstream Tamil movie. Despite receiving some recognition and social acceptance, hijras remain an ostracized and differentiated social class. Hijras struggle to reconcile their physical visibility with the invisibility of their community as a whole. In the end, however, community invisibility makes hijras susceptible to gender violence and other human rights abuses. By creating and recognizing transgender rights, India has the capacity to battle its current HIV/AIDS epidemic in a meaningful way, give real effect to the human rights of sexual minorities, and serve as a model for other nations to recognize gender-based rights. In order to accomplish these goals, however, India must repeal current discriminatory laws and enact equal opportunity legislation on the basis of gender and sexuality. In order for there to be meaningful change, formal legislation must be passed, and with the help of the human rights activists and unions, the legislation could very well happen. Works Consulted Amisha, R. P. (2010). INDIAS HIJRAS: THE CASE FOR TRANSGENDER RIGHTS[dagger]. The George Washington International Law Review, 42(4), 835-863. Nick Harvey http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2008/05/hijras-indian-changing-rights (Hijras Indian Changing Rights) The Hijras of India http://lisa.cs.duke.edu/~john/finalproject/ Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Parveen, S., Bhuiyan, M. I., Gourab, G., Sarker, G. F., . . . Sikder, J. (2009). Living on the extreme margin: Social exclusion of the transgender population (hijra) in bangladesh. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 27(4), 441-51. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/docview/202996682?accountid=14816

Normative and Educational Ethics :: Philosophy Morals Papers

The controversies in our time between teleological and deontological ethics which come down to the problem "from being to ought," referring to human being or nature, can be resolved only by an adequate conception of human nature. Taking up the ancient tradition (Plato, Aristotle, Stoa) again, we can re-examine the teleological conception of human nature as primarily instinctive and selfish, and say that human nature is constituted also by reason and that the instinctive nature is predisposed to be guided by reason or intellect. The constitutive order of the human soul, with the subordination of the instinct under the intellect, involves already some natural goodness, of which the intellect is aware (in the natural moral conscience) and for which the will strives (in a natural inclination). This is the basis for the "moral law" and for normative ethics. Thus, human nature is not selfish in itself. Although moral goodness as humankind’s perfection is an ideal, it has in us alrea dy imperfect natural beginnings, a "natural morality." In a certain sense, the moral ought of actions comes from one’s being, from the natural moral goodness of which the intellect is aware in itself, and from its good intentions. I. Problems of Foundation Seen historically, the foundation problems of ethical norms and normative ethics have been treated, in modern times, in two opposite directions, the empiricist and the rationalistic way. The former is characterized as the aposterioric way, taking the criterion of morality only from the result of experience — feelings of usefulness and happiness —, in contrast to the latter as aprioric, taking the criterion from a law of reason — universal human duties — foregoing to all experience. Kants’ ethics tried to superate the aposterioric ethics of the English empiricists, claiming, with the rationalists, a law of reason apriori, but in doing so he did not follow the way of pure rationalism. Rather he established his position as a combination of both directions, the empiricist and the rationalistic one. They form the so-called "material" and "formal" side of his ethics. The moral law of reason, the famous "categorical imperative", belongs to the formal side, whereas the objects of our actions are considered as "material", i.e. as objects of our sensitive desire or vital needs which can be given only in the field of sensible intuition. He denies with the empiricists any intellectual intuition and formulates the "paradox of method" (1) that no object or "good" can be the criterion a priori for morality, but only the categorical imperative, of which, if applied to actions, every object or good is a consequence.

The Fall of the House of Usher :: essays research papers

In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe uses the life-like characteristics of the decaying house of Usher as a device for giving the house a supernatural atmosphere. This not only makes the story act upon the reader in a grabbing way, but it also creates an impression of fear, mystery and horror, typical for Poe’s literary works. For example, from the very beginning of the story, the reader can tell that there is something unusual and bizarre about the old house. As the narrator approaches the home of his long-time friend, Roderick Usher, he refers to the house as the "melancholy House of Usher". This description in the beginning of the story prepares the reader for the mysterious events that will follow. Upon looking at the building, he even feels some sense of intolerable darkness which pervades his heart. The windows appear to be "vacant† and "eye-like† as if watching at the narrator and wandering through his mind. With an insecure feeling he goes to observe the "rank sedges," and the "black and lurid tarn," in which he sees the reflection of the house. He later says, "when I again uplifted my eyes to the house itself, from its image in the pool, there grew a strange fancy...". Although, the narrator tries to view everything he sees in a rationa l manner, upon seeing the house and its surroundings, he has an elevated sense of dread. He goes on to say that, "about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity". This statement indicates that perhaps the house does indeed have some thrilling and spiritual nature. The narrator observes the details of the house once more and finds that the house has mold growing all over it and the masonry of the building is decaying. He says, that " there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the utterly porous, and evidently decayed condition of the individual stones". This observation suggests that perhaps something eerie is holding the house whole, otherwise it would have fallen to the ground long ago. With this description, the house is also represented as a witness of many fates and a long period of history. It is as a mute observer of the time, knowing more, tha n anybody who lives in there. Later on, when the narrator enters the house, he sees its inside as well as the odd behavior and personality of its inhabitants and is increasingly convinced that the house has some strange impact on the people living in it.

Your Attitude Is Showing :: Business Marketing

Your Attitude Is Showing: A Primer of Human Relations I enjoyed reading "Your Attitude Is Showing" a great deal more than I expected to. I normally hate to read because I am not very good at it, and I am usually uninterested in the subject. I found that this book to be quite easy to read. The language that the authors used was very easy to understand. Also, it was divided into many chapters with many sections in each chapter. This made it easy for me to keep my attention on the book. When reading I normally become tired and bored, but I was able to focus well on this book. The content of the book also helped keep me interested. I felt that the authors addressed many important points throughout the book. Though I knew much of the information discussed, I also learned a lot from it. This is why I enjoyed the book the most, because it taught me things that I will use, and that are very important for how successful my life is, professionally and personally. Key Points When reading this book I found there to be many important points that were addressed in each chapter. I found three points in particular to be more valuable to me than the others. The first key point that I found was in chapter 2. â€Å"All organizations are built around people. And when you build healthy relationships with your fellow workers and supervisors, you open doors that would otherwise be closed.† I found this statement to be very interesting. This section went on to explain how knowledge of a particular job is not all that is important to succeed in a career. I had previously not realized this in my life, even though I have had personal experiences that reflect this. I was recently offered a management position at my current job. I thought that it was strange because I had relatively no experience working in retail, and I had only been working with the company for a few months. But after reading this section I realized that, most likely, the reason why they off ered me the job was because of the strong relationships I had developed with my supervisors and co-workers in such a short period of time. From now on I plan on keeping this point in mind whenever I begin a new job. The second key point that I found was discussed in chapters 3 and 4.

Alejandro Quiroz Essay

1. What were two major influences on German Baroque music? How did these factors influence the music? The German Baroque bow and Baroque organ. They both gave the music a new kind of sound that is still represented in the music today. 2. How did music differ before and after Bach? Almost everyone in the piano-playing world would agree that his compositions are light-years ahead of his time, harmonically speaking. He introduced unexpected chord changes of which some were considered blasphemous because it was written for a formal choir. 3. How have the performances of Baroque music changed (in terms of tempo, balance and timbre) from the Baroque period to today? When compared to â€Å"classical† performances, modern performances of Baroque music typically use a slower tempi, a similar balance (although recording studios can disrupt the natural balance sometimes, by pushing the harpsichord into the background) and a flatter timbre due to the instruments used in modern times 4. What is a Baroque spirit when playing music? Baroque spirit expresses enthusiasm. 5. At the bottom of the page that discusses Baroque music performance, there are some examples of music that you can listen to. These examples often use different instruments than we are used to hearing today. What are some of these instruments? How is the sound of the music different than what we might hear today? They use instruments such as harpsichords, lots of violins, and clavichord. People today still sometimes use violins but the beats and instruments sound very different then what we hear today. 6. Who was Arcangelo Corelli? What are some of his contributions to classical music? Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer, Corelli initially he started studying music under a priest in the nearby town of Faenza, and then in Lugo. The style of execution was introduced by Corelli, which is important for violin playing. As the time passed Corelli became a â€Å"iconic point of reference† for other violinist. 7. Who was Gottfried Silbermann? Silbermann and Bach were contemporaries and both of them worked together as colleagues and friends, both of them shared an interest and advanced knowledge of acoustics as applied to the voicing and location of organs. In their later years they would work again on the escapement mechanism for first fortepianos, Silbermann would receive the title of honorary court and state organ builder to the king of Poland and the duke of Saxony at Dresden, probably the most famous aspect of Silbermann’s instruments is their distinctive sound. 8. After listening to some of the music samples, how would you describe Baroque music to someone who had not heard it before? Choose at least one piece of music to discuss in detail. What instruments do you think the work uses? Who composed the work? What does the work sound like?

How does Fallout New Vegas (2010) compare to The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (2002)?

Two games with a release difference of about eight years†¦both being RPGs in their own right and both having similar gameplay†¦the big question is: How does â€Å"Fallout New Vegas† (2010) compare to â€Å"The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind† (2002)? (from left to right: Morrowind and Fallout New Vegas) Fallout: New Vegas Review Before early 2009, I had not heard of the Fallout series. I was too busy playing this neat RPG called Morrowind, which is riveting despite the minor issues with AI and combat. Now I have a game in front of me which is fairly recent (came out in Fall 2010), and is surprisingly similar to Morrowind. Of course, the setting is different and you have many more options in gameplay. The story is that you play as a courier who tries to deliver a package from Primm to New Vegas, who gets shot by a fierce raider gang and is saved by an intelligent robot named Victor. Victor takes the player to Doctor Mitchell, where the game begins. Afterwards, you go through the character creation process which allows you to choose your character's gender, facial features, traits and so on†¦ Sigh†¦ A lengthy character creation, don't you think? Back in Morrowind, all you did was choose your race/gender, facial features, class and birthsign. Then, you were out into the game world faster than you could say John Appleseed. Still, you had the option to answer questions for the funny (they could be twins†¦) looking priest (pictured above, left) so he could choose your class (if you REALLY wanted to hear an old man rambling on and on about rude nicknames, mobs and sweet rolls, that is) but†¦oh snap that! Er, nevermind about the length of character generation in both games. The fact is – in both games, there is a character creation process but they are both radically different. Basically sums it up, don't you think? After the character creation, I set out in the lovely Mojave Desert. Just when you set out in the wilderness, you get a second chance to create your character. No, thank you! I spent about 15 minutes choosing my character (yeah, I timed it†¦) and I will not spend another 15 minutes just staring at the screen and constantly asking myself the same question over and over again (â€Å"Is she a perfect character?†). Nah, â€Å"perfect† does not exist in Fallout's books. â€Å"Good enough† is a better phrase for the term. Sorry about the mix-up. Like in Morrowind, you gain levels when you gain enough experience in your skills (some skills include Unarmed and Guns). With every 2 levels, there is a perk which you can choose. For example, you can choose the Rapid Reload perk which allows you to reload your weapons 25% faster than the normal rate. Cool, huh? After leveling up, I decided to spend about half of my allotted time to go and kill some mutant ants. I loved testing the combat system, especially with the VATS. Basically, if you have enough so-called Action Points, you can choose to shoot any part of the body of your victim. Then, prepare to watch as litres of blood come oozing out of their bodies in full HD! Or otherwise†¦you can make a nice cuppa instant coffee with extra foam. Mmm†¦ Morrowind was pretty simples when it came to combat. All you did was use your sword, dagger, hammer, club, spear, spell, staff, shortsword†¦etc†¦ to pummel your enemies. Finally, both games have quests. You can choose either to agree to help people or not. Sometimes you are kinda forced into completing the quest if the quest-giver offers you an enchanted sword or a nice gun prior to completion. Other than that, you are free to do whatever you want in both games. Both games get my rating of: 9.2 (outstanding) Sources: Morrowind images – Google Images/Morrowind Photography Guild/UESP Wiki Fallout New Vegas images – Google Images/Fallout Wikia Words – My own brain 😛 Commentary I chose to reproduce this article because I am interested in gaming and I thought that this has a large variety of linguistic frameworks to discuss. I used a variety of sentence lengths to engage the reader's interest. The one word sentence â€Å"Sigh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  offers a pause after four long sentences with a lack of punctuation. It is also used for rhetoric effect as it is accompanied by a rhetorical question â€Å"A lengthy†¦don't you think?† so it will leave the reader to make up their own mind and involve them in the gameplay. I use game jargon like â€Å"Fall† and â€Å"gameplay† because of the article is in the form of a blog and it shows by using the direct address to engage the reader and the centered pictures with a short subtitle underneath, â€Å"they could be twins†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This article shows an element of bias as well. I tend to mention the game Morrowind slightly more than the game Fallout New Vegas. This is done purposely because it illustrates my preference for Morrowind compared to the other game. When I am talking about the Fallout game I tend to rush through the summary of the game, using as little punctuation as I could. This is very subtle bias. Even though at the end of the article I give both games the same rating, the true preference goes to Morrowind and therefore I hide the bias by using a variety of linguistic techniques like the aforementioned one. Although, it is implied that I do not really like the Fallout game, my opinion changes when describing the â€Å"VATS† combat system, I use a lot of emotive language and show my utter amazement to the feature, for example the transitive verb â€Å"oozing†. I use the colloquial noun â€Å"cuppa† instead of â€Å"cup of† because it adds humor to the article and also, to create consonance and rhythm between the concrete nouns â€Å"cuppa† and â€Å"coffee†. I used the adjective â€Å"simples† instead of â€Å"simple† as it makes a reference to popular culture. It also adds to the sibilance of the list of weapons which Morrowind has. I added an image below the list to illustrate my point on the variety of weapons which Morrowind had. Finally, I include the list of sources where I have acquired my images. It uses the standard layout and grammar in a sources list until when I say â€Å"Words – from my own brain :P†. This is used for humor and the 😛 emoticon emphasises that I am in tune with colloquial language and modern ways of conversing in an electronic mode text. This contrasts with the headline which looks and reads professionally.

Organizational Behavior – Mid Term

ASSIGNMENT FRONT COVER | | | |Module name: Class # 790 – Organizational Behavior | |Assignment title: Midterm Exam | |Assignment deadline: November 12th 2012 | |Effective number of words used: 1471 | |Table of Contents Question 1: Understanding Human Behavior is critical to organizations – discuss the benefits of self evaluation/self assessment as it relates to leaders today . †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 Question 2: Prejudice can be hurtful and destructive – discuss how you can personally reduce prejudice in your workplace – please provide an example †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 References and Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 6 Question 1: Understanding Human Behavior is critical to organizations – discuss the benefits of self evaluation/self assessment as it relates to leaders todayIn today’s ever changing environment, organizations need to continuously adapt and transform, not only in order to succeed but even just to survive. While it takes a capable manager to efficiently run a business in steady-state, it takes a leader to successfully drive an organization through change (Kotter in Robbins and Judge, 2009: 385). Dealing with technology, economic and legislation changes isn’t new for organizations. The speed of change has however substantially increased in the last few decades as has the disruptive nature of these changes.Leaders today are faced with challenges such as globalization and instant communication that were not present until recently. The words and actions of leaders are broadcasted across the globe within seconds and are heard and seen by individuals who will perceive and interpret them through the filter of their own values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations. In this accelerated environment, effective leaders need to be able to swiftly read trends and anticipate change, adapt to new situations, fine-tune their actions and continuously inspire others towards the pursuit of a compelling vision.In order to do so, they need to be perceptive of the environment around them and detect when discrepancies between their assumptions and reality arise (Clawson, 2001: 14). An example of business failure due to the mismatch between leader’s assumptions and environmental reality is Polaroid. When in 1977 Polaroid launched its instant-video product Polavision (an innovative instant movie camera that used an additive process to generate color), it experienced the first of several product fail ures that eventually forced the company into bankruptcy.The mistake that Polaroid’s Leader Edwin H. Land made was to assume that the market-follows-technology approach that had been successful for the previous 40 years was unchangeably valid (Lefler, 2010), despite the skepticism expressed by many within the company. Simpler and cheaper videocassette based alternatives were released at the same time by Kodak and other competitors. These â€Å"non-instant† products responded to markets’ trends better than Polaroid’s ground breaking instant-video solution, condemning Polavision to irrelevance and Polaroid to massive losses (Giambarba, 1977).I think Polavision is the story of a self awareness lacking leader, failing to identify his blind spots and driving the organization to failure. In my opinion Mr. Land failed to question his assumption in a changing marketplace and to openly listen to others, consequently ignoring precious feedback. Had Mr. Land listened to the concerns expressed by others around him, including Polaroid’s president Bill McCune, things could have possibly gone differently. Self evaluation is what allows individuals to identify those blind spots and weaknesses and to put measures in place to compensate them (Musselwhite, C. 2007). Through self evaluation, self awareness is achieved. The benefits of self evaluation and self awareness for a leader in today’s organizations are significant. By understanding your strengths, efforts can be focused on them, hence developing a greater potential for success (Roberts at all, 2005: 1). By recognizing your weaknesses you are in a better position to accept them and deal with them effectively. In the case of Polavision, Mr Land’s product and technology strengths were overshadowed by his marketing weakness. For his leadership to be effective, Mr.Land should have commissioned a market research to validate his assumption that the public was ready and willing to c onsume the product he was developing. Self awareness is the basis of self management and social awareness (Goleman, 2000; 80). The ability to read and manage your emotions, reactions and feelings, helps seeing yourself and the world under a different light. This in turns enables you to shift your point of view and identify opportunities and solutions that were otherwise impossible to imagine (Covey, 1989: 86). In the case of Polaroid a more socially aware Mr.Land would have valued the input of the Polavision skeptics and maybe redirected his creativity towards developing a product more in line with current market trends. Moreover, acknowledging your limits and not hiding them induces trust. You are perceived as human and people relate to you better. When trusted, you become a more effective leader as people feel safe when they follow your direction. Your behavior remains consistent in different situations and the influence of the environment on your actions is weakened. You develop charisma. You become authentic (George, B. et all, 2007: 7).Self evaluation implies asking for feedback and actively listening to what you hear. As you learn from asking questions, people around you also feel more comfortable doing so. This ignites a virtuous learning circle that drives personal growth. The biggest asset of organizations is their human capital. An engaged, motivated and virtuous human capital is the engine behind organizations’ success. In particular, by developing an environment where it is OK to ask questions, to challenge status-quo, to try new things and to make mistakes, innovation forces are unleashed (Musselwhite, C. , 2007).Conclusion Self Evaluation develops self awareness. Self awareness promotes personal growth and enables behaviors that are associated with charismatic leadership. Charisma is what inspires others to follow the leader. They trust her, share her vision and feel empowered and motivated to work towards a common goal. Charisma is a cruc ial element of effective leadership, but it is often not sufficient to drive organizations, particularly large ones, to sustainable success (Nadler and Tushman, 1990: 85). Self awareness developed through self evaluation, allows a leader to also understand and address this.By recognizing her limits, a self aware leader will develop an organizational structure that complements her strengths and, through alignment, effectively works towards the set vision. The most prominent benefits of self assessment for leaders today in my opinion are therefore the enablement of charismatic and institutional leadership, both of which are necessary to effectively guide an organization. Question 2: Prejudice can be hurtful and destructive – discuss how you can personally reduce prejudice in your workplace – please provide an examplePrejudice (prior judgment[1]) implies forming an opinion about the personality traits, expected behavior, skills and capability of a person, without that opi nion being backed by empirical evidence. These pre-formed opinions are often very strong, deriving from values and beliefs that are deeply embedded in our psyche. As such they are hard to remove. We may even unconsciously reject evidence negating the pre-judgment in a self affirming effort to confirm our assumptions. The end result is a diminished ability to appreciate the full range of qualities and the potential of the impacted individual.Prejudice and the corresponding discriminatory behavior, including institutional prejudice, are major issues for organizations today. Increasing cultural diversity in the workforce and the global reach of markets require organizations to actively strive for integration rather than assimilation or differentiation (Thomas & Ely, 1996: 1). In my opinion, the onus of promoting an effort in that direction lies mostly on managers. As a manager I have a moral and professional duty to address prejudice in my organization and I have taken specific steps i n that sense.I started with doing introspection to identify my own prejudices. I focused on my upbringing: who were the most influential figures in my childhood? What messaging did I receive from them and from the environment around me? What stereotypes derived from this? Being of white, catholic and Italian origin, I could immediately identify how anything outside of that archetype, was subject to some degree of prejudice, even if involuntarily. The good news is that â€Å"Prejudice is externally sourced† and â€Å"since it s learned, it can be unlearned† (Clawson, J.G. & Smith, B. , 1990: 5-6). I then realized that most likely everyone in my work environment have similar preconceptions. For example, some people talk to me with the typical Italian-American mafia accent from The Sopranos[2] probably thinking it is hilarious. It doesn’t bother me, but I can definitely see how it could be bothersome to other Italians. I made treasure of these realizations and dete rmined that these are ignorance-based preconceptions that can be resolved by increasing inter-cultural knowledge.I therefore resolved to take steps to encourage people from different backgrounds and cultures to interact with each other. For example, recently I included two international team members (Bryan the reporting manager who is Chinese and Manish the systems analyst who is Indian) in a 4 person project team based in the US Midwest, dealing with the integration of systems and processes from our Company’s latest acquisition. I personally facilitated the first few meetings and encouraged open participation by listening to and publicly valuing everyone’s contribution.I then assigned tasks in a way that required interaction and cooperation. The effort paid off and the team succeeded. The system and process integration was completed in record time, with wide consensus and to the smallest details. References and Bibliography Books Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational Behavior. 13th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people. USA: Free Press. Internet Resources Lefler, P. (2010). Polavision – Polaroid's disruptive innovation failure. [Webpage]Available from: http://www. spruancegroup. com/blog/bid/32860/Polavision-Polaroid-s-disruptive-innovation-failure [Accessed on Wednesday, November 7th 2012]. Giambarba, P. (1977). [Webpage] Available from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Polavision [Accessed on Wednesday, November 7th 2012]. Musselwhite, C. (2007). Self Awareness and the Effective Leader. [Webpage] Available from: http://www. inc. com/resources/leadership/articles/20071001/musselwhite. html [Accessed on Wednesday, November 7th 2012]. The Online Etymology Dictionary, word search: prejudice. [Webpage]Available from: http://www. etymonline. com/index. php? term=prejudice [Accessed on Thursday, November 8th 2012]. Wikipedia, word search: the sopranos. [Webpage] Av ailable from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Sopranos [Accessed on Friday, November 9th 2012]. Journal Articles and Written Course Material Roberts, L. M. , Spreitzer, G. , Dutton, J. , Quinn, R. , Heaphy, E. , and Barker, B. (2005), â€Å"How to Play to Your Strenghts†, Harvard Business Review, January 2005. Goleman, D, (2000), â€Å"Leadership that gets results†, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000. Clawson, J. G. 2001) UVA-OB-0652 Leadership and Intelligence, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation. George, B. , Sims, P. , McLean, A. N. , and Mayer, D. (2007), â€Å"Discovering Your Authentic Leadership†, Harvard Business Review, February 2007. Nadler, D. A. , Tushman, M. L. , (1990) CMR-024 Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change, California Management Review, Harvard Business School Publishing. Clawson, J. G. & Smith, B. (1990) UVA-OB-0381 Prejudice in Organizations, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Darden School Foundation. Thomas, D. A. Ely, R. J. (1996), â€Å"Making Differences Matter†, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1996. ———————– [1] See the â€Å"Online Etymology Dictionary† (http://www. etymonline. com/index. php? term=prejudice) [2] From Wikipedia (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Sopranos): The Sopranos is an American television drama created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads.

Management challenges for the 21st Century

What Are Three 21st Century Challenges in Strategic Management? Answer Many challenges face a manager in the 21st century. A looming challenge in strategic management right now is globalization. Another is a volatile world economy. A third challenge in 21st century strategic management is the ever changing environment of government regulations, both domestically and internationally. Globalization Globalization is the international integration of intercultural ideas, perspectives, products/services, culture, and technology.Ethics and GovernanceEthics is at the core of corporate governance, and management must reflect accountability for their actions on global community scale. Diversity Globalization demands a diverse work force, and assimilating varying cultures, genders, ages, and dispositions is of high value. Career Success and Personal Fulfillment Career success and fulfillment hinges on effective human resource management, the practice of empowering employees with the necessary t ools and skills. Technology Technology management is crucial in offsetting the risks of new technology while acquiring the operational benefits the technology provides.Competition Managers must understand a company's competitive advantage, and translate this into a strategy that incorporates the competitive landscape. A Framework for Considering Challenges: PESTEL The PESTEL framework highlights six critical factors for management to consider when approaching the general business environment. A Look at the Managers of Tomorrow Posted on August 25, 2009by greatworkplace Randstad recently published an excellent report on the Managers of Tomorrow, including some fascinating statistics and observations on what our managerial landscape might look like in the future.In his book, â€Å"The Future of Management,† Gary Hamel argues that the secret to long-term business success is â€Å"not operational excellence, technology breakthroughs, or new business models, but management innova tion–new ways of mobilizing talent, allocating resources, and formulating strategies. † We’ll take a look at some predictions for the future and how we might be able to influence them. Who wants to be a supervisor? According to Randstad’s report, current employees have mixed feelings about the quality of managers currently, but their outlook of future supervisors looks somewhat bleak.The report goes on to suggest that â€Å"It’s clear that finding and preparing the next generation of managers is rapidly becoming one of the most critical business needs in the modern workplace. † The problem: future generations of employees aren’t embracing the role of a manager. â€Å"Employees watch their managers and see long hours, loads of new responsibilities and not much more money. Increased stress is the number one reason employees don’t want to become managers. † What attracts employees to a manager role?We’ve established t hat future generations might not currently embrace the role of a manager, but Ranstad’s report does provide some insight on what employees do find attractive about being a manager. So what makes management more attractive? â€Å"Maybe it begins with rethinking management. When we asked employees to list the reasons why they would want to be a manager, the answers were surprising. Power, status and money didn’t even make the list. The number one reason was being able to share my knowledge with others. Number two was being responsible for the success of an organization. And, number three was being able to influence decisions.†Some Goals for the Future In February, the Harvard Business Journal published an article featuring 25 Stretch Goals for Management in the 21st Century. Here are a couple interesting points from the article: Redefine the work of leadership. The notion of the leader as a heroic decision maker is untenable. Leaders must be recast as social-syste ms architects who enable innovation and collaboration. Create internal markets for ideas, talent, and resources. Markets are better than hierarchies at allocating resources, and companies’ resource allocation processes need to reflect this fact.Depoliticize decision-making. Decision processes must be free of positional biases and should exploit the collective wisdom of the entire organization. Retrain managerial minds. Managers’ traditional deductive and analytical skills must be complemented by conceptual and systems-thinking skills. (Source: â€Å"25 Stretch Goals for Managementâ€Å", Harvard Business Journal) Supervisory Training for Tomorrow’s Supervisor Today’s work environment demands highly skilled frontline supervisors different from the command-and-control leaders of the past.People are not interested in working for someone who just gives orders daily and conducts evaluations annually. Today’s employees are looking for leaders who devel op, support and coach them and keep them engaged. In ERC’s popular Supervisory Series I, beginning September 8, participants learn the managerial and interpersonal skills necessary to handle all leadership interactions—including those that are emotionally charged—along with the ability to apply both of these skill sets in any leadership setting or interaction. Organizational Promotions – The Managers of TomorrowSEPTEMBER 1, 2010 BY JORRIAN GELINK 1 COMMENT The people decision process is the control an organization has in whether its vision is being executed as well as achieving high performance. Having mission statements and core values posted across the walls is irrelevant unless the actions towards the people align with the organization’s core vision. Delivering a message emphasizing the importance of attaining new markets falls short when the company promotes an associate that is focused on retaining older clients but moves up due to â€Å"long tenure†.Every decision that is made in regards to people movement up, down or sideways is viewed on carefully not only by those within the department or division; but as well with others that do a â€Å"temperature check† of what it takes to stay/move up within the organization. The management of today need to follow two core steps in order to promote the management of tomorrow. Integrity of character. The start of any promotion should be on an individual’s integrity; for without that the organization is compromised. Integrity is not something learned in an organization, it is a trait brought into the organization and is easily judged by others.Integrity is always worn on a manager and is the fabric that can never come off; whether the integrity is strong or weak, all can see it and will respond to it accordingly. Lack of management integrity will show up in less than one month, but be rest assured the damage will show up the same time that integrity of characte r is breached. Many examples plague a manager’s strength of integrity: favoritism, fear of dealing with strong subordinates, placing blame on others, fear of performance communication, and promoting others â€Å"like me† are some of the main issues that plague poor management today.The people of the organization will forgive upper management promoting someone new to role, but they will never forgive a promotion of one with a lack of integrity. Organizational Performance. The organization has to promote based on performance: clear results achieved by executing tangible goals of the organization. Behavior leading to results needs to be looked at, any manager promoting one based on performing the right behaviors but not achieving results shows a lack of ignorance to the organization’s goals. Others will look upon this type of poor promotion it as â€Å"as long as I do what my manager tells me, who cares if I need to perform†.Not only will you damage your bus iness, you also shun others from wanting to move up the organizational ladder. Another result of poor promotion planning are the â€Å"opinions† of whether one can be handle a new role: what needs to be there is factual evidence of performance. The worst damage that can be done is not only average performance of a candidate, but under-performance, as any objectives and goals leading to results will not be taken seriously by co-workers and upper management will be looked upon as â€Å"the promoter of friends†.Continuous poor promotions with this method result in sub-ordinates leaving the organization due to favoritism or even worse, destroy the organizations objectives by trying to be-friend their superior in place of achieving results. The managers of tomorrow require high integrity of character as well of results of organizational performance. Focusing on these two requirements helps the organization be fair and accountable to what it needs from its teams. Missing eve n one of these requirements not only threatens the performance of the organization, but also detracts others from looking to be promoted.This is the true control of the organization: moving the right people into the right places for the right reasons. Jorrian Gelink Management Architect 5 Key Roles for HR Managers of Tomorrow What wlll the HR directors of tomorrow look like and what will their roles be? If we listen to theorists and academics, they might not look like much at all — in fact, they might already be extinct. This isn’t news: mandates for change in the profession have been prolific since the ’90s. Remember Fast Company’s 2005 article â€Å"Why We Hate HRâ€Å"? That certainly got our attention: attacking HR’s intelligence and value.Still today, noted practitioners like Jacques Fitz-Enz advocate breaking up HR, suggesting that the competencies needed for each area of the HR practice be allocated to other capable departments within a co mpany. I, naturally, wholeheartedly disagree with Fitz-Enz and other HR-killing proponents. Why? There is absolutely nothing in any organization that does not require people. People are an organization’s greatest asset — they are the human capital. So why should there not be a talented team of professionals focused on all things people?I think there is hope for HR, but it will require a dramatic paradigm shift and a deliberate refocus on what’s important to an organization in order to drive the performance and development of the workforce. If HR is to survive, it must think and act as if the organization was paying for its services — and could pull the plug at any time. Here are five roles that the HR Leader of tomorrow will have to play in order to shift the paradigm and add true value to an organization: Strategic Investor Today’s HR team is overwhelmed, overly busy and stretched beyond capacity.With multiple customers having exponential number o f needs, run from one project to the next, without stopping to understand why we are doing it, what the end result should be and whether or not we met the end results. Think about that. If HR were a business with services and products for an organization, would we not have to think about our business as a strategic investor, providing the right products and services for a cost that the customer will pay? We cannot be everything, and do everything. We need to learn to deliver our work where it adds value, and continuously measure that delivery.Relationship Facilitator Sticking with the concept of Human Resources as â€Å"all things people† for a minute, it goes without saying that a huge element of that role is facilitating relationships throughout (and outside) the organization. I see â€Å"building relationships† as being part of this, but not all. Yes, HR needs trusted relationships with executives, peers, the HR team, and the employees. But Human Resources cannot st op there; they must facilitate relationship building up and down levels, across business units, and with the community at large.Relationships are the biggest derailers of organizational success, and HR is poised to be the trusted facilitator bring people, teams and the organization together to drive business success. Developer of People Human Resources tends to be the â€Å"cobbler’s children†, going without shoes while the cobbler provides shoes to everyone else. Developing the skill and talent of the workforce goes without saying on the HR job description (at least in my mind), but we cannot forget our own team. How can we expect to influence and facilitate if our own team is in disarray?How can we facilitate trust, if our HR team is not trusted? Risk Manager There is no getting around it; there are tremendous risks related to people in an organization, and it is the role of HR to manage those risks. That doesn’t mean providing policies and procedures to ensur e no one steps out of line, but building capability in the leadership team and engagement and commitment in the workforce. Technology Geek The Human Resources Director of Tomorrow cannot survive on inference and buzzwords; they must provide credible business intelligence.Anyone stepping into HR leadership must have broad knowledge of technology systems, data integrity, process improvement and analytics. We must be able to critically analyze our processes to ensure that the business intelligence that we provide to our customers is credible. With the complexity of today’s HR systems, HR has to have to â€Å"geek-y curiosity,† asking, â€Å"how can we do this better and more efficiently using technology? † Can We Shift the Paradigm? Not only can we, but we must, not only for our survival, but for the organizations we serve.The people of the organization make it or break it, and need the talent and skills to make it. That’s where HR can shine. A Word from the Associate Dean: VUCA and the managers of tomorrow Posted on July 4, 2013 by GMBA Community Change is occurring faster than ever before, the world is more and more unpredictable. More players, more issues, and more voices means chaos and complexity and the â€Å"realities† of doing business are not so hard and fast as we may have once assumed it to be. Organizations operating under these forces face unique challenges and opportunities in decision-making, problem-solving, and planning.VUCA, an acronym standing for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity is a term derived from military vocabulary that is increasingly relevant for describing how managers should take into account the external environment. Being aware, being prepared, and anticipating the complications arising from VUCA are essential characteristics of a global manager today. As companies understand (or more likely, fail to understand) this operational chaos, they seek a new kind of leader, a talent tha t is prepared, aware, and capable of foreseeable strategy and informed action.These are the kinds of leaders the Global MBA seeks to train, to help provide companies with the talent they need to stay ahead of the trends. The companies that fail to perform today are the ones that are still operating under the talent acquisition, talent management, and workforce planning processes of yesterday. But this chaos is here to stay, so businesses and business leaders not only need to get up to speed but to start finding the relevant talent that can perform and remain agile in this environment.Agility is a term we stress in our program. In the age of innovation, disruption, and globalization, sticking with the tried and true won’t necessarily cut it. Unique challenges require unique solutions, and the demands placed on business leaders in this setting are diverse, varied, and in constant flux. As new markets emerge, new opportunities and obstacles arise. At a faster pace, the future is upon us before we can anticipate it. And with disruptive innovation the rule rather than the exception, competition is breakneck.Traditional leadership styles don’t work in this sort of dynamism. The leadership must mirror the environment and focus on VUCA preparedness, anticipation and evolution. And that doesn’t mean that there’s a one size fits all model for management; complex problems require complex solutions and equally complex strategies. Tomorrow’s leaders must be able to thrive in multiple, multi-faceted environments, keeping a finger on the pulse of emerging markets, mature markets, entrepreneurship and innovation, and efficiency and optimization.Embracing chaos, taking risks, being capable of rapid strategy changes in response to changing markets: all of these characteristics must also be balanced by pragmatism and commitment and underscored by a passion to bring employees along on the adventure. The skills gained through interacting with a d iverse cohort, traveling and working internationally, exposure to emerging markets, studying in a mature market, learning from the best professors from around the world are all hardwired into the design of the Global MBA to respond to these needs.Studying a variety of cases of multiple situations and from diverse industries helps students examine strategy and learn from failure. Extensive teamwork helps them learn to collaborate, share strengths and compensate weaknesses, and adapt collectively in response to the VUCA microcosm of a rigorous, 12-month MBA. How should companies respond to these complex external environment? In kind. Agile leadership means harvesting the best of skills, styles, and experience to meet specific, unique needs.In July, the Global MBA students will take off around the world for their International Immersion Projects. Each team consists of students of different nationalities, with different linguistic capabilities, with different professional expertise and different academic strengths. They would be working in for a Lifestyle brand in China, agri-business in Bolivia, energy and bottom-of-the-pyramid issues in India, eco-tourism in Morocco, small and medium size sector development in Djibouti and wine industry in S.Africa. To tackle these diverse projects in challenging external environment requires diversified skill set. The teams will work in environments ranging from -20 degree C to +50 degree C! It also means that the teams are uniquely equipped to respond to the shifts and demands of their different projects in different locations through practiced collaboration and constructive conflict. The successful companies of the future will harness resources like these and use them to become leaders in a VUCA-fueled world.