Christmas Day

Christmas is a Christian festival. Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian faith, was born on 25 December. Hence the day is observed as the ‘Christmas Day' in order to commemorate Christ's birth. On the day, the Christians dress themselves colourfully with a gay spirit. They wish ‘Merry Christmas' to their friends and relatives. They visit one another's house in order to exchange good wishes. The Christians decorate their houses on the occasion with the Christmas Tree which is an evergreen (artificial) tree beautified with small electric bulbs and zari laces or other tiny pieces of decoration like dazzling paper stars, halls etc. hat add a typical festive mood to the occasion. They prepare Christmas pudding rich dark plum cakes which are eaten at Christmas. The Christians all over the world enthusiastically celebrate the Christmas festival. It is a great day also for the children, who sing the carol, which is a Christmas hymn in chorus in memory of Christ's birth. They fervently look for Santa Claus or the Father Christmas who is supposed to appear to distribute attractive gifts to the children on the day.Santa Claus dress ­es himself in red and white, wears white and long false beard, and carry a bag full of presents for the children. The shops, hotels, churches, schools, colleges-all are decorated with various types of coloured paper flowers or other designs, balloons and lamps on the Christmas day. The festival is now-a-days found to be enjoyed and celebrated also by other communities not as a religious belief, but as a festive occasion.

Commentary on ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Essay

In the novel ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams, a scene that often catches the attention of readers is the poker scene. It begins when Blanche and Stella return from seeing a show too early, not wanting to have been a distraction or a nuisance while the men played poker. Stanley rudely dismisses the ladies making sure they know they aren’t welcome to join in, the tension escalates as does the banter and Stanley whacks Stella’s thigh to end the discussion. Mitch and Blanche then meet for the first time as he exits the bathroom and they are both immediately taken with each other. The poker games continues to progress and the ladies listen to the radio and gossip about the men, Stanley becomes unnecessarily agitated by the music and insists that they turn it off. Mitch then deals a hand and leaves to talk to Blanche, he offers a cigarette from a silver case, which he then continues on to explain the significance behind it, being from a girl whom he was once involved with that passed away. They continue to talk and Blanche explains how she was an English teacher and enjoyed her job even though the majority of her students didn’t retain much interest in the English curriculum. Then, the real action begins to unfold; Blanche turns the radio back on, not aware of what her actions will lead up to. Stanley was already at his wits end by the first time he ordered the radio turned off and a second provocation would only lead to trouble. The music begins to play ‘Wein, Wein, nur du allein’ which translates to ‘Wine, Wine, and you alone’ giving the reader auditory imagery. I find this ironic, as I believe Blanche is an in denial alcoholic, perhaps the song suggests that the only think she can really rely on for comfort is alcohol. She then begins to dance, waltzing ‘with romantic hand gestures’, this gives proof of her aristocratic and privileged upbringing for few of lower standing would know how to waltz. As for the romantic hand gestures, Blanche is utilizing her means of coquettish seduction on Mitch (who seems all too happy to be at the receiving end to her tryst) as she desperately clings to the idea of a stable and supportive relationship with a husband (as well as a source of income and roof over her head). This course of action has Stanley very riled up, even more so then before. The first time I read this passage I believed his anger to be unwarranted and simply unnecessary, but by putting yourself in his shoes it is possible to visualize where he’s coming from. Stanley sees himself as a ‘manly man’ completely sure of himself and filled to the brim with testosterone. Now combine that with whiskey, more testosterone, a little friendly competition and the fact that he’s losing, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Stanley prides himself on his authority and control of his friends, so when his winnings start to go south and he begins to loose face among them; something he prides himself upon. Its logical to say that his reaction will be harsh to any form of provocation using it as an outlet to his frustration and anger, no matter how unconscionable it was. As Stanley reacts to the radio being played the visual imagery and his disposition becomes wild, animalistic and primal. He ‘stalks fiercely’ to the radio, snatches it up, shouts an oath and then throws it out the window. In my opinion Stanley gives off a strong sense of Neanderthal attitudes because his actions are so primal and savage. In the next line Stella even accuses him of being such stating ‘Drunk – drunk – animal thing, you!’ I think it is this accusation from Stella that makes Stanley snap, taking his anger and need for violence past the point of no return. Stella was the last string in his anger coming to be so severe, because after his friends winning more then he, taking some authority and control away form him, his wife then blatantly insulting him in front of his friends on top of that had to do it. Even in his approach he is like an animal ‘Stanley charges after Stella’ as if he is predator and she is prey (which in this scenario it is safe to say was the case). His friends make feeble attempts at calming Stanley down, trying not to anger him further and at the same time avoiding his wrath being directed towards them. At this point I think Stella knows what’s going to happen and her threats of retaliation are empty as she warns ‘You lay your hands on me and I’ll – ’ as she backs out of the scene with Stanley in pursuit. A cacophony of noises is then heard as Stanley hits Stella and then as if the limelight has been off Blanche for too long she begins to scream and run around. Bringing attention back to herself, it also has to do with the fact that she has never been put in conditions as such and is useless, thus she must find some way to give herself the importance she craves so badly. Stanley’s men finally step up to restrain him in the throes of the crazed mist of rage he has succumbed to. Even in a condition as his ‘he nearly throws them off’ giving the reader a reminder of the brute force and strength that is Stanley. Then as if hit with an epiphany of great importance, realization hits, he surfaces from his delusions ‘all at once he subsides and is limp in their grasp’. Stella, presumably still in shock and fear from what has occurred claims that ‘[in a high, unnatural voice, out of sight] I want to go away, I want to go away!’ what’s interesting about this line is that her tone brings us back to Stanley’s demeanour before he attacked her, inhuman, very much like an animal which brings one to wonder that if Stella can react as such that maybe they aren’t so different from each other in that they can be both very animalistic at times. Mitch is one of the quieter characters in this play, much more reserved and miles more civilised then any of the other male characters. And after all these things have occurred he finally speaks up, simply stating that ‘Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women’ Now, what I see he’s trying to get across is that all of the previous conflict and violence is solely to blame upon the fact that women were in the same building in which poker was being played, Surely this combination cannot be so dangerous as to inspire domestic abuse? Mitch is wrong on this matter because it is obviously not a dangerous combination; it is Stanley’s overbearing and easily angered personality that makes the situation so volatile. As I said before, Stanley was just a time bomb waiting to go off it was just a matter of someone setting him off (in this case, Stella). After all of this has come to pass, Blanche hastily takes Stella upstairs to the neighbours, Stanley realizes what has happened, that Stella is gone and becomes frantic. Becoming violent and telling his men to ‘Let go of me, you sons of bitches!’ it is unsure whether he is going to become mad with anger once again. His friends see this and hastily make their way out, not forgetting to reclaim their winnings. Tennessee Williams then uses repetition to enforce Mitch’s sexist opinion on the matter by having him state, again, that ‘Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women’ as if the outcome was unavoidable due to this. Our attention is then taken back to Stanley as he continues through this almost heartfelt and emotional realization that Stella has left him, sobbing and crying out for her, this period is brief though and he soon becomes demanding and stubborn with Eunice (the neighbour) in wanting Stella back. When his plight proves useless, it’s as if he’s relapsed back into the desperate, sobbing man he was a moment before, maybe in thinking that this is the best course of action to manipulate Stella into returning. An animalistic reference is made again to Stanley in the description of his actions in that ‘he throws back his head like a baying hound and bellows his wife’s name: ‘Stella! Stella, sweetheart, Stella!’ This continues along with more banter with the neighbour until with one last attempt, as if he is back to his normal self, he cries out ‘[with heaven-splitting violence]: STELLL – AHHHHH!’ After a moment, Stella emerges and the two come together with an unspoken amount of emotion. This passage is extremely intimate and tender, not something that is often witnessed on stage or in books because it takes on such a personal and real feeling. Even as they come together there is still this animosity in the line ‘they came together with low, animal moans’. Stanley is a strong symbol of virility, manhood and all that is masculine but as he kneels half-naked and exposed on the pavement outside their house desperately crying out for his wife it makes you wonder if there is more to him then what the reader thinks. It is a difficult scene to act out in my opinion because the actor must be enticing and terrifying at the same time. Hence, Stella’s unhealthy attraction towards him, even when shouting her name in desperation on the pavement he still remains a dominating force that pulled her towards him. Their reunion at the bottom of the steps is without words – purely physical with a hint of tenderness as Stanley carries her back into their flat. What I think Tennessee Williams was trying to make the reader/audience feel when writing this passage was fear and curiosity at the same time. Fear from what would happen to the characters, namely Stella from Stanley and curiosity for the same reason. What makes this scene so interesting is the conflicting emotions coming from all of the characters, Blanche’s seduction of Mitch and need to feel useful, Stella’s embarrassment and fear of Stanley’s actions, Mitch’s defensiveness of Stanley’s actions, the other friends wariness if not fear of Stanley and Stanley’s anger and frustration at needing to be in control of the situation at all times. Needless to say, it is an incredibly complex situation, which at the same time remains extremely ironic.

Emily Dickinson Poetry Essay Essay

There is a lot more to poetry than just the words themselves. â€Å"What William Shakespeare called, â€Å"the mind’s eye† also plays a role† (Borus34). What that means is that your experiences and thoughts will add to your understanding. Dickinson had an active mind and a style so unique and unusual with her writing. Something that was very unusual about her writing was that she never put a title to her poems. Just like many poets, she used a wide assortment of literary devices such as, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and symbolism. Unlike many writers of her time, Dickinson did not use conventional rhyme, capitalization, or punctuation† (Borus36). For example, she would put dashes not just at the end of a line, but also within the lines. Dickinson’s writing deals with all different aspects of life; love and death, time and eternity, and war. She treats these themes in a matter of her own, often with humor and playfulness, but most often than not, she is writing with seriousness and sensitivity. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10th, 1830, in the town on Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst, 50 miles outside of Boston was becoming well known as a centre for education. â€Å"In 1830, was the time when railroads were beginning to crisscross the country, connecting places that were formerly unreachable; people thought of train travel the way we think of traveling to other planets† (Borus9). During this, the economy was based on agriculture, and most people were working as farmers. Emily, however, came from a family of scholars and lawyers. Her values and priorities were very high, due to the high expectations she was given by her grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson, a very religious, hard and steady worker she looked up to. The Dickinson family might not have been too well off and wealthy, but they were very well-known. Emily spent most of her earlier years enclosed in her house; it was very unlikely to see girls playing outside. In the 1800’s, there were many deadly diseases going around such as scarlet fever and whooping cough. There were many children dying from just minor cuts and scratches that were becoming infected. Just these simple things that don’t seem life or death today were defiantly deadly back then. Being the strong minded observer that Dickinson was, she would most often write about her feels with the things that were going on around her. Dickinson was very dedicated to her work in writing poetry, she took it very seriously; she strived in exploring to find poetry in every aspect of her day-to-day life. â€Å"The themes of life: love, spirituality, or the belief in something outside the physical world, and jealousy and despair, repeat themselves throughout her work† (Borus46). Dickinson was not always consistent in her views; her viewpoint seemed to change from poem to poem. There are always different beliefs or thoughts that people have on death; there might be fear or anxiety that people experience in thinking what afterlife might hold. In 1863, Emily Dickinson wrote the poem â€Å"I heard a Fly buzz – when I died-,† starting off the poem with this, gives the reader a rare glimpse of dying from the viewpoint of someone who is already dead† (Borus51). No matter what one thinks about life, death is always in the future. But, according to Emily, there is a continuing of life after death. This poem is written in the past tense about someone who has already died. â€Å"Emily Dickinson uses past and present tense words together, which indicate a transition between life and death† (Borus57). The poem is ironic and unique in the way that there is such a boring and eventless matter such as a buzzing fly at such a final moment of life, â€Å"And breaths were gathering firm†. An annoying buzzing fly in not the importance in ones last moments of death. Death is supposed to come across as a serious time in life. Dickinson first sets the scene in the third and fourth stanza, â€Å"The Stillness in the Air-/Between the Haves of Storm†. In the room, there was a silence. â€Å"The Eyes around- had wrung them dry-† (5). To who is suffering, the family is anxiously waiting for the news to come. For that last Onset-when the King/ Be witnessed-in the Room-† (7-8), â€Å"In the first part of this line, the author uses an oxymoron by stating â€Å"that last Onset†. Last means an â€Å"end,† while the definition of onset is a â€Å"beginning. â€Å"† (Borus57). Dickinson’s poems use a lot of symbols, things that represent other thi ngs. When the speaker describes â€Å"Onset- when the King Be witnessed- in the Room-,†(7-8). I feel like the king is being targeted as a symbol of God and death. This is showing connection that the narrator must have a strong belief in religion. This poem is full of sadness, with the narrator stating, â€Å"I Willed my Keepsakes† (9). â€Å"Making a will is the last and final way of ensuring the narrator’s previously-owned possessions staying with loved ones after death† (Borus62). Most people fear death, the tone of the narrator is merely one of sad acceptance† (Borus62). At the moment of the revealing of the narrators will, â€Å"There interposed a Fly-,† This is telling us that the fly is again interrupting (12). The fly seems to come across as a noisy fly. Why is it representing as a noisy fly? Why did the fly appear at the end of someone’s life and at their last breathe? The description of the fly changes in stanza thirteen as the narrator states, â€Å"With Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz-,† thus explaining the fly is no ordinary house fly but a metaphorical figure representing death† (Johnson173). The blue buzz in being compared with noise, but a noise can’t be a color. I think that the narrator is interpreting in this comparison is that the sky is blue and it symbolizes the heavens. â€Å"Emily Dickinson’s poem â€Å"I heard a Fly buzz- when I died† is told by a narrator who uses past tense to describe the final moments of their life† (Johnson178). This poem was written to give the reader the inside looks to the final moments of life, but from the perspective of someone who has already had experience of death. The fly is very symbolic; it is representing the oncoming of death. Dickinson filled this poem up with a variety of metaphors and similes, such as the king being represented as god and death. Those whom going about living life without hope, carry a huge about of stress and worry for sure. Hope surely is the light in the opening of a dark tunnel. It is true that many people all over the world are in extremely hard situations, leading to horrifying conditions. When people are put into these situations and have to live with them, is hope the thing that things can change? When reading â€Å"Hope is a thing with feathers† by Emily Dickinson, this was a thought that came in mind. The content and idea that comes out of this poem is far from being simple, the idea of hope in â€Å"extremity†, and hope being â€Å"the chilliest land-, and on the strangest sea-,† (8-10) is an interesting way in viewing the world. It is very clear that Dickinson wrote this poem to create the mind to think outside the box and get a lot more out of it than just a simple piece of verse. The message that was obvious to me that Dickinson was trying to get across was that â€Å"whatever life throws at the individual, there is always the drove-like gleam of hope that sits within all of us that is stronger than us as a person that its voice can still be heard in the â€Å"gale† of the stormy times† (Borus42). Everyone goes through rough times in their life, and might hit a bump in the road every once in a while. But, no matter whom you are on earth, or where you come from, even if that might be from the â€Å"strangest sea†, yet you might abide, but there is no room for despair. In â€Å"Hope is a thing with feathers†, Dickinson describes that pain and hope come to all of us, â€Å"And sore must be the storm† (6). Hope is what keeps all human nature stubborn and keeps us fighting the things that life throws at us. A bird that â€Å"perches in the soul-,† (2) is a metaphor that Dickinson is using to show us that regardless of who you are, your gender, or where you come from, your race, there is always a soul within you, and everyone has a soul that is â€Å"keeping them warm† against the challenges that the storm in life is hitting them with. This poem is telling us that our soul â€Å"never stops-at all-,† (4). â€Å"It is something that is present within us that we take for granted and usually think little of, until that is we come across poetry like this to capture our attention† (Johnson92). This poem is very clear in telling that whatever life might bring us, and all the battles that we may face, hope will always win in the end.

The role of process modeling for Knowledge Management Essay

The role of process modeling for Knowledge Management - Essay Example he other accomplishments of the human mind today, rest on a wide foundation of previous knowledge that were â€Å"managed† or organized so it could be shared, studied further, and improved. This four-part paper explains and connects the key concepts in these initial considerations. The first three parts discuss how knowledge is managed and how it is transmitted. The fourth part is a simple case study that illustrates how these three esoteric concepts are put together to come up with useful products. The world is full of what are called â€Å"processes1†, which could be defined as a set of activities, events, or mechanisms expressed as a sequence of steps that must be performed to achieve some goal. Some processes are natural, such as the weather; others are human, such as writing an essay like this one. Anyone who wants to understand the process needs only to look at the sequence of steps or interrelated events. If the process is useful, the set of activities, their sequences, and the goal or goals achieved must be represented in a way that it could be learned by others. This representation is what is referred to as the Process Model. Examples of process models are: (1) the equation that show the behavior of a gas in an enclosed space; (2) a simple sketch by a soccer coach showing how the team will mount an offensive; and, (3) a flowchart that maps a complex piece of software. All these models represent a simple or complex process in ways that others can understand. This is why modeling the process is useful, because by describing, representing, and simulating the process, it would be easier to explain how it works, behaves, and reacts, what it’s characteristics are, where it comes from, and where it can go. Process modeling is applicable to all phenomena, from simple ones like tying a knot to complex ones such as sending people to Mars. Models are simplified abstractions of reality representing or describing its most important driving elements and

Beethoven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Beethoven - Essay Example On Beethoven, Neefee asserted that "If he continues like this he will be, without doubt, the new Mozart"(Davies, 108). At the age of 14, he was appointed by the Court of Maximilian Franz, which allowed him to meet several individuals, who continued to love and support him throughout his life. His friends included â€Å"The Ries family, the von Breuning family and the charming Eleonore, Karl Amenda, the violinist, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, a doctor, and a dear friend who also went to Vienna, etc† (Davies, 129). In the year 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, where he met Mozart. He went to Vienna to enhance his music skills. However, he had to return because of his dying mother; his best friend. In 1792, Beethoven went to Vienna for the second time to learn music. In 1800, he had â€Å"organized a new concert at Vienna including, notably, the presentation of his first symphony† (Davies, 211). From then onwards, he was successful in composing several symphonies including Coriolan Overture and Pastoral. â€Å"May 7th 1824 was the date of the first playing of the ninth symphony and despite musical difficulties, and problems in the sung parts, it was a success† (Davies, 255). In the year 1827, he passed away. Beethoven is considered to be one of the most influential composers and musicians of his times. He had been successful in changing the structure of Western music and his works, continue to influence young musicians and composers of our

Naomi Klein's Don't Fence Us in Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Naomi Klein's Don't Fence Us in - Essay Example This paper illustrates that in recent times on a worldwide scale, capitalism has been evident in free trade, as carried out by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in the phenomenon called globalization. Klein’s essay uses the metaphor of the fence to describe the barriers that come up every time capitalist policies are enforced. The fence here can be virtual as to stop or paralyze people from exercising their freedom   The fence can real and visible, as when governments or powerful groups prop up security apparatuses to keep out workers or activists from getting too close in their protests against capitalism. She describes capitalism as the all-source or origin of state policies such as privatization, of World Bank missives to borrower-governments dictating fiscal or budgetary priorities, and to the recent phenomenon of globalization. On the other hand, she also writes that capitalism is dismantling â€Å"necessary fences† such as the one protecting schools from be ing invaded by advertisements, an example of a public space being overtaken by the private sphere. The purpose of the â€Å"Don’t Fence Us In† is to dominate and discredit capitalism for being the all-source of the negative manifestations of privatization, of the continuing debate on free trade and globalization and of even on the issue of what is behind genetically-modified food. Her arguments are too all-embracing as they try to tackle several issues all at once and point to one single cause, capitalism.

Management accountant Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management accountant - Assignment Example They are only recognized as expenses when they are sold and at that time they are recognized as cost of goods sold (Drury, 2008). According to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) it is essential that a firm uses absorption costing to record the value of inventory in the books of accounts (Accounting Tools, 2014). The main components of this type of costing methods are: It is however possible to allocate expenses with the help of activity based costing method. But it is considered to be a more elaborate method and therefore more time consuming and costly. The costs allocated under the method of overhead absorption costing method may be over absorbed or under absorbed. The costs are allocated on the basis of rates of overhead. It may be seen that the actual expenses incurred and that which is recorded might not be the same. Also there might be costs that cannot be directly be traced to the products as they might not fall under the overheads. Under such circumstances direct costing is more helpful as it does not require any allocation. Absorption costing is also referred to as full costing or full absorption (Izhar and Hontoir, 2001). Overhead Costs- The next step is to calculate the over head costs of each department. This is done by multiplying overhead rate with the hours per unit. The obtained figure is again multiplied with the units produced of each product (Lucey, 2007). Rates per unit calculation- Under ABC costing, the first step is to calculate the rate per activity. As per the given problem, it is known that there are five activities. The total units in terms of each activity are known. The total cost is also known. Therefore it is possible to calculate the rate per unit. They are calculated by dividing cost pools by cost drivers given in the problem (Jain and Khan, 2006) Total Cost for each activity- Now that the rates are known

Realist Approach to Foreign Policy in Syria Research Paper

Realist Approach to Foreign Policy in Syria - Research Paper Example oreign relations strategies that self interest and are chosen by a country to safeguard their national interest so that they can achieve goals within their international relations. The strategies employed here are in relation to other countries and as such interact with those countries (Hinnebusch, 2002). This paper therefore seeks to analyze the realist approach to foreign policy in Syria; what do/would Hans Morgenthau and John Mearsheimer says about that; how they would interpret it; and why. Further the paper will give a brief conclusion on the subject issue – foreign policy. In relation to the US foreign policy in Syria, there in deed exist two contrasting sides in the debate. They are the realists and the ‘declinists’. The realists see the policy as one that favours the implementers understanding their interest while the declinists think otherwise. Obama’s administration could be engaging in a very guarded but also genuine diplomacy with this country Syria. Is it an issue of great powers having a sphere influence? The use of fight to end a fight or rather fighting a war with the intention of preventing or ending one is what the other side sees. These two opposing sides seeks argue their sides based on their observations and analysis of the foreign policy in Syria. The foreign policy seams a well thought idea and the resultant outcomes can be assessed from the point of view of the enforcers. However, an analysis of the realist approach to foreign policy in Syria has a lot to reveal. The realist theory supports the idea that foreign policy as an amoral field needs an approach that has a pragmatic power considerations in relation to national interests and not a pursuit to goals that are a nations ideals (Mearsheimer, 2014). In the Middle East, Syria as a country has been a critical power in maintaining a balance. The realist theory, believes that states should act in accordance to their vital needs and not institutions or international norms they

Performing Arts - Film and Drama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performing Arts - Film and Drama - Essay Example In the silver screen, the audience, regardless of seat location, has a relatively better view of the presentation. In this regard, the actors may easily convey emotions or thoughts through their facial expression. The multiple cameras used in shooting a movie may zoom in on a particular angle such that the audience may have a good view of what the director and cinematographer intend for them to focus on. On the contrary, the audience of a live drama, especially in large theatres, may have a limited view of actors’ facial expressions. As such, they would have to utilize other non-verbal forms of communication to get their emotions across. With this, stage actors put much emphasis on gestures rather than facial expression to enable the audience to relate. In â€Å"The Constant Gardener†, movie actors Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz have portrayed the characters - British diplomat Justin Quayle and his activist wife Tessa, in a much toned down manner. They played the role a s if in real life, how real people normally react in dealing with the given dilemmas. In contrast, energy level of stage actors Kaleo Griffith and Ruth Eglsaer, who played the role of Jack Tanner and Ann Whitefield are relatively higher. They delivered dialogues and acted out gestures in a manner that electrified the audience and carry the story forward. Since film is recorded and edited prior to actual showing, the shift in the setting is quite flexible. Moreover, in the movies, scenes can be shot on location.

To Shame or Not to Shame the Offenders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

To Shame or Not to Shame the Offenders - Essay Example Tangney believes that shame discourages the offender to be better. While reading this article, the main question that lingered in mind is how we can discourage crime in society? In essence, it is crucial to shame individuals to deter crime in the society. Well, one way to discourage offenders from committing a crime is by imposing a structure where they understand that they will reap what they sowed. Thus, this paper seeks to discuss why it is important to shame offenders so that they can focus on the negative effects of their behavior.   I agree with Tangney article on how offenders are likely to be guilt when imprisoned for life. As this article puts it, this may increase brutalization in society and increase the crime rate. The act of imprisoning people to death may increase psychological problems and thus, this is likely to increase the rate of killing. The act is morally problematic and flawed especially with the cost linked to it. Tangney (571) believes that society should work hard to ensure that offenders understand their negative constructive feelings. For instance, the government may create a platform where offenders understand the painful impact they bring to others. Tangney believes that this would prevent people from committing the crime without having to imprison them for life.However, I believe that most offenders are selfish and they do not care about the person they are harming. For instance, one would go into a jewelry store and steal an expensive necklace. I believe that such a person understand th e negative consequences of his behaviors to others. In other instances, sex offenders are selfish and do not care about the consequences of their negative behaviors. They ignore the fact that the person they are sexually assaulting can be sexually infected or become pregnant. Based on my analysis, I believe that most offenders are fully aware of their actions and how they affect others. With this, I believe that offenders should suffer for their wrongdoings and in the case of murder; he or she deserves a death penalty (Cromie and Lynn 22). The measure of the punishments should depend upon the magnitude of the crime. The court should punish those in the wrong to deter crime in the society. Criminals should be punished for the wrongdoing and capital punishment or the death penalty should be imposed on those convicted of a severe crime. Capital punishment is justified to a nation as it deters murders from killing innocent people.

Domestic Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Domestic Violence - Essay Example Several factors do involve why family violence is kept secret by the family members. It is in this way he/she can tolerate his/her acts of family abuse. Domestic violence is also termed as intimate violence. To consider a misdemeanor as domestic violence, there is the requisite of intimacy between the offender and the aggrieved party. Hence, domestic violence is not only true at the doorstep of the family, but to any relationships or affairs as well. There has been a vast campaign against domestic violence since then, most especially to women and children. Women and children are considered as the weakest human being and often entrenched to physical abuse. The prevailing condition of the society imbibed the legitimacy of man’s figure as the superior form of human being which shall maneuver the society. Women’s activist pushed through in establishing the woman’s figure and worth in the society. Furthermore, since there is an implied paternalism, the criminal justic e has lesser focused on domestic violence. This transfiguration has been contested by many individuals to honor and legislate laws and statutes that shall protect and safeguard women and children’s right. Domestic violence has different variations, the most common type is the physical abuse, and the other form is through emotional abuse. Physical abuse entails the use of force or objects in perpetrating the acts. The physical agility of men display their dominance over their partner, thus it is easy for them to inflict harm to their partners. There has been no postulated reason why men usually beat their wives or partners, but some probable cause or motives is due to financial matters. Grassroots families are more likely to be exposed in domestic violence mainly due to financial constraints. Instead of procuring a job, they turn their anger to their

The Waiting Years Essay Example for Free

The Waiting Years Essay The passage from the â€Å"The Waiting Years† reveals a bleak look into the earlier years of Shirakawa, who had worked as a government official. It also reveals dedication of moving from moving from one assignment to another and how difficult that time period must have been for the family. When we hear about the winter months, and how Shirakawa’s mother died, we understand what a hardship the winter months must have been for them, and get a direct link between feelings of guilt on Shirakawas’s part, from the quote and his mother’s passing but we also learn the importance of work and family loyalty. The family crest description offers a deep respect for the family members when the author describes the shrine, concealed in a black lacquer safe, emblazoned with the family crest in gold and it demonstrates a wonderful respect for the family member who had earlier passed on, when the passage speaks about the custom. Tomo acted in a very responsible manner, and it seemed that she had no other choice, but to keep a keen eye on the family property and she was going to do so and hear what she need to know with her own ears. Tomo had taken on the custom of dealing with all business matters concerning the rent on the houses and the land in this Buddhist retreat, tuck away at the back of the house. We also learn that there was more land that belonged to the family, and they had an acre or so each, which brought in a lot of money for the family and we understand that she had to watch out for those who defaulted on the property .

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects Abstract Today Information Technology is gaining new heights with greater leaps. This enables new age managers to develop newer tools to manage business better. IT has not only expedited the intra and inter organizational communication but also enabled us to manage a lot of data effectively. Knowledge management is emerging as a key management tool for the new century. Although it can be defined in a variety of ways, the process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. The Core competencies of a company go together with the sustainable competitive advantage. This report explains the process of Knowledge Management to bring in Competitive advantage in the Indian IT industry. It also elaborates on the methods on how innovation can be encouraged in the company. Further, the challenges for KM like resistance to culture change and tacit knowledge sharing are discussed. In India companies have started taking knowledge management as an important aspect as it not only gives a good working culture but also improves the return on investments eventually. However, there is still a good scope of improvement in the field of Knowledge management for the Indian IT industry. The research uses questionnaires and interpretations from interviews to collect primary data .Though it gives a comprehensive analysis, it leaves a further scope for research in the field. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Knowledge Management is relatively new buzz in the corporate world. It is a tool developed to safeguard the organization from competition in future. Apparently, the physical assets and tangible capacities are not sufficient to sustain a competitive advantage in todays market place. What make difference in the long run are the intangible assets, such as Brands, Intellectual property, knowledge etc. These assets can not be bought but have to be created within organization, by the members of organization over a period of time. Aim The aim of this report is to identify and analyse the concepts and current practices of Knowledge management in order to recommend ways of propelling innovation and competitive advantage within the companies. Objective The Research Objective is to Get a comprehensive idea of the current Knowledge Management practises. Identify and analyse the challenges faced by the organizations in implementing Knowledge Management Know the ways of how companies can propel innovation and competitive advantage. Recommendations in order to improve the company culture. Suggest the methods to attain sustainable competitive advantage handling the challenges faced. Key Questions The guiding principal of my research is as follows How do companies integrate KM with their company policies? How change should be initiated? What are the levels of hierarchy? When the change does actually happen? Is KM just for innovation, competitive advantage or more? Are rewards and recognition the way to drive KM? What are the basic challenges for KM? Research Approach The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) This research contains mainly qualitative data collection methods for both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by interviewing the key people of some of the IT companies in India. Questionnaire was designed to get the views of the employees working in the IT industry. Questionnaires were also designed and used to obtain primary data. The response of these questionnaires is being used in order to obtain a particular result in the form of percentage. The secondary data has been collected through books, journals, websites, etc. All of the research methods will be discussed in further detail in the relevant chapter. Research Outcomes The key outcome of this research would be a perfect understanding of the knowledge management practises and to know how companies use it in India for competitive advantage and innovation. Thus using this knowledge the researcher expects to identify main problems in the current trends and evaluate solutions for them. Finally, it also determines the difference between being a multinational corporation (MNC) and small to medium enterprise (SME) with respect to knowledge management. CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter describes the research methodology adopted for the report. To start with, this report elaborates on the research philosophy Positivism, moving on towards the various stages of research like primary and secondary data collection methods. The reasons behind selecting the particular method are also explained in the report. 2.1 Approach This report includes both primary and secondary data collected from various sources. Secondary data refers to data already collected by someone else and primary data is collected for a specific purpose by the researcher (Saunders, 2000).The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) 2.1.1 Research Strategy: This research is based on the quantitative research strategy which involves collection of data from various sources. It also proposes to collect some primary data through interviews and questionnaires from people from the IT industry in India. A survey is a method whereby a sample of subjects is drawn from a population and studied to make analysis about the population. The survey strategy enables the researcher to collect a large amount of data in a highly efficient way. 2.1.2 Sample Size: For the interviews there was no such constraint of number of questions. The interviewees were asked questions in order to know the KM practices in their organization. In case of the questionnaires due to restrictions of time and access, only 500 questionnaires were distributed to various IT company employees. The reason for distributing the questionnaires to the employees from all the levels and department was to get a clear idea of how employees take the concept of Knowledge management at their workplace. 2.2 Research Stages 2.2.1 Secondary Data Collection: The first stage of the research was a critical literature review to obtain the secondary data. Secondary data collected includes the information and concepts from books, journals and websites based on Knowledge management, Organisational behaviour, Knowledge Integration etc. The list of various sources referred can be viewed from the relevant chapter of the report. Access to the books and journals was through Coventry University Library and electronic library databases like FAME, Engineering Village2 etc. Case studies of various companies as mentioned in the appendices were analysed by the researcher in order to get the relevant information and to decide on certain concepts considering them as the evidences. 2.2.2 Interviews: The second stage of the research was to interview some key people of various IT companies in India. Selection of these companies for the interview was done on the basis of how KM practices are being carried out there. These vary from the Market leaders to the new entrants in the IT industry. Many companies are such that they have been practising good KM processes since a long time, but a few have just started to get into it. This was done so because it gave researcher a clear idea of the current scenario in the Indian IT industry. Selecting the best companies alone would not have helped in introducing the scope of improvement for the research. The interviews were face to face interviews and the researcher has written down the important points from the session. The people who have been interviewed were mainly the Knowledge Management Executives in the companies. These were the people who knew exactly what processes are being practised in the company, so interviewing them was the best way to get the details about the KM practices in the companies. Their designations were like senior knowledge officers, Chief knowledge officers etc. Confidentiality was requested by the interviewees so company names are not mentioned anywhere. 2.2.3 Questionnaires: The final stage for primary data collection was through questionnaires. The questionnaires designed were distributed to the employees of junior level in the IT companies. It had just 10 questions but they were selected in such a way that the they would serve the main purpose of the survey to understand the current scenario in Indian IT industry among that class of employee by whom the KM practices are expected to follow. Questions selected were simple to answer so that the respondents are interested in answering till the end of the questionnaire. This also makes it possible to collect maximum responses. These questionnaires were not passed on to the management level or the KM people as the interviews were carried out with them. The researcher wanted to extract information from the employees in the Indian IT companies regarding their views about the Knowledge Management processes in their companies. This was also helpful in getting an overview of the facts about the how aware the Ind ian corporate world is in regards with knowledge management. CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL LITRATURE REVIEW 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1. What is knowledge? Definition of knowledge provided by Schulz (2001) beginning with the 1992 American Heritage Dictionary: ‘knowledge is what has been learned from experience or study. Knowledge is a broad concept that usually includes insights, interpretations, and information. Organizational knowledge refers to knowledge and information that all, part, or parts of the organization share, and that is frequently stored in standard operating procedures, routines, or rules. Today, knowledge has emerged and is accepted as the most critical resource available to an organization (Bartlett and Ghosal 1993, Davenport and Prusak 1995, Drucker 1993, Leonard-Barton 1992, Nonaka 1991, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Nonaka et al. 2001, Stewart 1997 and 2001, Toffler 1990 and World Bank 1998). Knowledge can be defined as the understanding of a concept gained by education, experience or even by mere observation. To acquire knowledge means processing of information with the help of learning, communication, perception, reasoning and linking. It is the theoretical or practical understanding of information and facts which is obtained by correctly processing the raw data. Here arises the need to understand the difference between data, information and knowledge. Data is the collection of certain facts or values about a particular concept. Information is the processing done on data using relevant theory. The organization of data is nothing but information. The extraction of information on the basis of proper understanding is Knowledge. This can be further explained by considering an example of solving a quadratic equation. The variables are in the form of information, a value of the variable is data and the operation we carry out with them for calculating the answer is our knowledge. The following figure shows the DIKW (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom) hierarchy as stated by Clark, 2004. Figure 1: The DIKW hierarchy (Clark, 2004) Knowledge is generally personal, subjective and inherently local it is found â€Å"within the heads of employees† (www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm 2004) 3.1.2 Classification of Knowledge: Knowledge can be classified as: 1. Tacit Knowledge This type of knowledge is hard to formulate and communicate because it is gained by experience. Tacit knowledge is personnel and context specific. People carry tacit knowledge in their brain, thus it is not easy to share it. There is no systematic approach to store tacit knowledge as people are many times unaware of their tacit knowledge. However it is the most valuable form of knowledge as it is can be acquired only by experience and is not easily found written anywhere. 2. Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is transmittable into a formal systematic language with the help of tacit knowledge. Thus, the codification of ones tacit knowledge results into explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be in the form of books, manuals, notes, documents etc. The definition of some phenomenon is the explicit part whereas the practical understanding behind the phenomenon is tacit. 3. Embedded Knowledge The knowledge contained in some kind of physical form is known as embedded knowledge. For example the design of an artefact gives us the basic idea of where it can be used. 3.1.3 Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is defined as the process of getting the right information to the right people at the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of organization and its partners. This means providing access to information at the time people need it to make the best decisions possible for mission safety and success. According to Wally Block of The Intranet Journal, the following points make up the generalized term: Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is the way that organizations create, capture and reuse knowledge to achieve organizational objectives. Knowledge management can also be defined as a process with four parts that comprise a loop. Knowledge is created. This happens in the heads of people. Knowledge is captured. It is put on paper in a report, entered into a computer system of some kind or simply remembered. Knowledge is classified and modified. The classification can be the addition of keywords; it may be indexing. Modification can add context, background or other things that make it easier to reuse later. The test of this steps success is to determine how easily people in the organization will be able to find and use the knowledge when they need it. Knowledge is shared. When knowledge is shared and used, its modified by the folks who use it. This takes us back to knowledge creation. The process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. 3.2. Knowledge Creation: According to Nonaka â€Å"the key to knowledge creation lies in the mobilization and conversion of tacit knowledge†. The process of Knowledge creation is done my transformation of tacit and explicit forms thus giving rise to four forms of transformations. This can be further explained with the help of the following diagram: Fig: Nonakas Spiral model. Source: Nonaka, I.   (1991)   The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review, 69, (Nov-Dec) Tacit to Tacit: Socialization Team meetings are held to share the experiences of the team members. This provides everyone to share their ideas and also solution of similar problem in the past can be used. Tacit to Explicit: Externalization This can be done by having question answer sessions. Here the senior employees are capable of solving the queries of their juniors. Explicit to Explicit: Combination Sharing of documents is the best example of this type of transformation. The case studies, notes etc can be exchanged in order to have a faster creation of knowledge. Explicit to Tacit: Internalization Internalization can be done by reading and understanding documents prepared by others. Extracting knowledge from an e-mail received from a colleague is the best example of this. 3.3 Knowledge Capture 3.4 Knowledge Sharing The World Bark (1998) identifies and discusses the most important decisions that an organization must make in establishing its knowledge management program. These are: Deciding with whom to share; deciding what to share; deciding how to share; and deciding to share. 3.5 Learning Organization: A Learning Organization is one in which people at all levels, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about. The learning organization focuses on enhancing its systems (including people) to continually increase the organizations capacity for performance. The concept of learning organization can be better understood by considering the following points: Development An organization learns many important aspects of business, skills and technology during the process of learning. For an organization to grow in a competitive world, it is very important to never let the learning process end. 3.5.2 Levels of learning: Aligning learning with corporate priorities Designing learning for maximum impact Using e-business technologies to enable formal and informal interactions Obtaining recognition by the entire organization that learning is a critical enabler to success Community of Practice Ardichvili, Page and Wentling (2003) study community of practice at Caterpillar Inc and find that when employees view knowledge as a public good belonging to the whole organization, it flows easily. However, even when individuals give the highest priority to the interest of the organization and of their community, they tend to shy away from contributing knowledge out of fear of criticism or misleading the community members. Trust increases knowledge sharing. Essex (2000) discusses a study titled .Beyond knowledge Management: New ways to Work and Learn undertaken by the Conference Board in New York in early 2000. It says that management support and corporate culture, not technology, drive successful KM projects. CHANGE what draws people to share varies from organization to organization and matches the core values and other processes. Alignment with the current culture and a practical purpose to share is, specifically, what draws people most strongly to share knowledge. (Blue http://gbr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/1/119) The concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations Communities of Action Communities of Circumstance Communities of Interest Communities of Position Communities of Purpose (Source: Shin and Bickel (2008) in Chris Kimble and Paul Hildreth (2008). Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators. Information Age Publishing) Obstacles Performance Management NECESSITY OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT A systematic capture, transfer, and use of internal and external know-how are a vital part of any business strategy. With no common processes for sharing information among employees, partners, and customers, limited information exchange will occur among suppliers and the engineering, manufacturing, and service functions. Consequently, the organization will experience ineffective design reuse, and product launch mistakes will be repeated. If there is no company standard expertise locator or people finder, then the inability to locate subject matter experts will result in lost opportunities, lost time, and being incapable of applying the right resources to significant problems. And with too many different systems, proposals, and pricing sheets, sales representatives cannot have access to information they need when they need it. This can prolong the sales cycle and lead to less-than-best sales solutions offered to the client With retirement and turnover, knowledge is walking out the door everyday. New hires do not have the benefit of past experiences and lessons learned, yet their time-to-competence needs to be compressed. Mergers and acquisitions result in two bodies of knowledge and expertise and two cultures that must assimilate quickly. Portals and e-business are drivers of knowledge management. People want information they can use and trust from a single point of access. Also, an often neglected point is that customers want access to your knowledge and to their business transactions with you. Another driving factor is e-learning. Firms now must know where and how knowledge is really being created and acquired. Knowledge management can set the framework for how learning fits into the overall picture of developing employees and making them productive. The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† (Carliner, section 1) Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge.   (Hauschild, 2001) Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. COMPONENTS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM â€Å"The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge. Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Enterprise knowledge management entails formally managing knowledge resources in order to facilitate access and reuse of knowledge, typically by using advanced information technology. KM is formal in that knowledge is classified and categorized according to a prespecified—but evolving—ontology into structured and semi structured data and knowledge bases. The overriding purpose of enterprise KM is to make knowledge accessible and reusable to the enterprise. Knowledge resources vary for particular industries and applications, but they generally include manuals, letters, summaries of responses to clients, news, customer information, competitor intelligence, and knowledge derived from work processes. A wide range of technologies are being used to implement KM systems: e-mail; databases and data warehouses; group support systems; browsers and search engines; intranets and internets; expert and knowledge-based systems; and intelligent agents. In artificial intelligence, knowledge bases are generated for consumption by so-called expert and knowledge-based systems, where computers use rule inference to answer user questions. Although knowledge acquisition for computer intervening is still important, most recent KM developments make knowledge available for direct human consumption or develop software that processes that knowledge. Historically, KM has been aimed at a single group—managers—through what has been generally referred to as an executive information system. An EIS contains a portfolio of tools such as drill-down access to databases, news source alerts, and other information— all aimed at supporting managerial decision making. More recently, however, KM systems are increasingly designed for entire organizations. If executives need access to information and knowledge, their employees are also likely to have an interest in and need for that information. In addition, KM technology is ideally suited for non management groups—such as customer support, where customer service requests and their solutions can be codified and entered into a database available to all customer service representatives. IMPLEMENTING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT As organizations store an increasing amount of information and knowledge in data and knowledge warehouses and in data and knowledge bases, they are attempting to manage that knowledge in more efficient ways. Historically, organizational knowledge has been stored on paper and in peoples minds. Unfortunately, paper has limited accessibility and is difficult to update. And when people leave, they take most of their knowledge with them, so reuse is not always feasible. Thus, firms have moved to data and knowledge warehouses and to data and knowledge bases to improve accessibility, updatability, and achievability of data and knowledge. Data warehouses In many companies, one of the first KM tools is a data warehouse. A data warehouse acts as a central storage area—a warehouse—for an organizations transaction data. Data warehouses differ from traditional transaction databases in that they are designed to support decision making rather than simply efficiently capturing transaction data. Typically, data warehouses contain multiple years of transaction databases stored in the same database. Data warehouses are not updated on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Instead, the entire database is updated periodically. The size of data warehouses can be substantial. A leading bank in US has a 560-Gbyte data warehouse, for example, and MasterCard On-Line is a 1.2- Tbyte database available to member companies for a fee. With all the data accessible in one place, relationships between data elements can be more effectively explored. Users can browse the data or establish queries, though this type of analysis generally results only in knowledge for particular individuals. An alternative approach is to use a process called knowledge discovery to determine whether there is additional knowledge hidden in the data. Knowledge warehouses Rather than the kind of quantitative data typical of data warehouses, knowledge warehouses are aimed more at qualitative data. KM systems generate knowledge from a wide range of databases including Lotus Notes databases, data warehouses, work processes, news articles, external databases, Web pages (both internal and external), and people. Thus, knowledge warehouses are likely to be virtual warehouses where the knowledge is dispersed across a number of servers. In some cases, a Web browser can be used as an interface to a relational database. For example, Ford Research and Development uses a browsable Oracle database. The database contains manuals and design rules, specifications, and requirements. A

Measuring The Impact Of Given Hrm Strategy Commerce Essay

Measuring The Impact Of Given Hrm Strategy Commerce Essay Human resource is seen as one of the most critical differentiators contributes to the organizations competitive advantages. All the other assets, such as products, markets, cash, buildings and equipment are passive require human application to generate value (Caliskan, 2010). It is the manpower that plays the key factor to sustaining the productivity for the organizations. How people being managed effectively and the behaviours of theirs can tell an organizations performance. In other words, the organizational performance can be explained by productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness made by the employees. INTRODUCTION This essay will discuss why work ethic principles and values are part of the human resources strategy, how training and further education can enhance employees behaviours therefore to offer more to the organizations performance, and how human resources impacts on corporate performance. THE FACTORS INVOLVED IN MEASURING THE IMPACT OF GIVEN HRM STRATEGY Every organization is powered by its people. And the organizational effectiveness is viewed by the quality of services deliver to their customers who develop the organizations reputation. HR strategies play to role to help to organizations to delivery excellent services. Successful organizations see HR strategy formulation and execution as a continuous and dynamic process. In fact, effective HR strategies are essential to ensure productivity and maximum success for organizations. Effectiveness is one way of measuring the impact of HRM strategy implantation. The true success of the human resources management could not be just measured by the organizations financial targets. We should not treat strategies isolated, they need to be bundled. Therefore, to measure the effectiveness of strategic contribution of human resource management should focus on the overall contribution to the success of the organization, in terms of added value, competitive advantage and the impact on business performance (The Association of Business Executives , 2008). And typically, ways in which this contribution has been made will include: Develop a positive and healthy working environment Enhance positive motivations and commitment Increase employee skills and extended the skills base Provide employees with extended responsibilities so they can make full use of their skills and abilities Provide career opportunities and define competence requirements Provide career development and job security to employees Instituting processes of performance management and continuous development Use reward management system to convey messages about what the organization believes to be important. Share information and management transparent. Provide employees with invoice. Treat employees as partners instead of team players. (The Association of Business Executives , 2008) THE AVAILABLE TOOLS USED FOR MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HRM STRATEGY Organizations need to have a complete system for the followings: Identify what process should achieve (i.e. its objectives), then measure what is actually being achieved, compare what is actually being achieved against what should have been achieved, then provide required corrective actions if necessary, last implement new actions. By doing all these can measure weather the HRM strategy being effective or not. The popular concept for measuring the effectiveness of human resources strategy these days are: Balance scorecard and Benchmarking. Balance scorecard is comprehensive management tools to measure and share the organizations progress towards its achievement of the strategic goals. More specifically, the balance scorecard is a strategic planning management system that consists of people, strategy, process and technology to align the organization to share a version of achieving its success and getting the people working on the right tracks. Added value, it is people who develop visions, define and set goals, develop strategic plans and implement them (The Association of Business Executives , 2008).This right organization structure is to develop employees being motivate and managed effectively, gain their commitment therefore to deploy them effectively, productively. For example, traditional measures of performance such as value of sales per salesperson, With this strategic management scorecard system, the organizations operational performance such as financial status, customer results, operational efficiency and capacity building can be measured and valued. The balance scorecard is also a communication system through the whole organization to provide better aligning strategic objectives with resources. It sets goals and drives all the employees to adopt and adjust their attitudes and behaviours/actions to achieve them. The balance scorecard helps people within the organization to come to a better understanding regards the interrelationships between different organizational functions. Therefore the top management can avoid the functional barriers and improve decision-making and problem solving. Ultimately enhance the organizations performance. Last but not least, the balanced scorecard helps the organization focus on the future not simply the past or present. Another popular tool of measuring organizations performance is Benchmarking. In fact benchmarking has long been recognized in industry as an effective means of improving business performance. Benchmarking is frequently cited as the second most popular global technique (after business planning) for performance improvement (Bencharmarking, 2006). The shortest definitions of benchmarking is Finding and implanting best practice (Camp, 1995). It means searching for industry best practice that lead to superior performance. Benchmarking is the process of comparing ones business process and/or best practices from other industries. Organizations benchmark themselves in quality, time and cost etc. against their real peers therefore to improve their performance. Benchmarking process diagram (Bencharmarking, 2006) There are two types of benchmarking: Informal and Formal benchmarking. Here I would only talk about formal benchmarking, which consists: Performance and best practice benchmarking. Performance benchmarking involves comparison of the organizations financial status (such as expenditure, cost of labour, adherence to budget, cash flow, revenue collected etc.) and non-financial measures (such as staff turnover, budget processing time, complaints etc.). Through benchmarking, the organization can recognize whether is being a leader or it is far behind in the market. For example, by comparing the income with the organization itself to the industry, the organization can know whether it is making too small profits or there is still more rooms to grab more profits. These processes involve identifying, capturing, analysing and comparing, the organization gains knowledge to know its status well enough which leads to better business strategies and responding human resources practices. The CONNECTION BETWEEN HRM STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE Human resource is considered the most important factors to gain and sustain competitive advantages for organizations. In order to achieve this, the human resource management practices need to be aligned within themselves (internal fit). The human resource management also need to be aligned with the organizations strategy (strategic fit) (Lamboij, Sanders, Koster and Zwiers, 2006). Human resources strategy should always match the business strategy. It should be flexible, compatible, adoptive, integrated, and effective to the organizational changes. The goals of HR strategy process are strictly concerned with the managing people effectively which can assist in the achievement of organizational objectives. The best fit human resource strategies that help the organizations to gain and sustain competitive advantages should be: Invest in people to increase capability and align skills to the organizational needs through on-the job and off-the job training and further educations. Providing training and development, job security and satisfaction are key human resource techniques essential for high performance. Acknowledge the organizations identifies and the knowledge/attitudes that require to meet the organizational goals and satisfy the customers. Define and promote the behaviours and positive attitudes required for organizational success and encouraged, valued and rewarded them. The better employees know what to expect from them, the more they behave cooperatively towards their co-workers and their supervisors. HRM provides professional conduct guides that apply to from hourly employees up to top management to determine business related acts or behaviours are right or wrong. Appoint right employees with the right skills/abilities to do the right jobs to let them feel fulfilled and challenged. Gain employees commitment and loyalty to the achieve organizations missions and goals. ETHICAL CODES OF CONDUCT/BEHAVIOUR IN HRM STRATEGY There are a number of reasons why developing a workplace code of ethics is crucial. Workplace ethics is the moral conducts of behaviours developed by a place of business to determine what is expected of employees in a particular settings. Managers play the key role to take responsibility for determining and enforcing the acceptable and expected standards within their organizations. Workplace ethics set the rules of conduct for everyone at a particular business environment. It helps everyone to know what is encouraged/expected or inappropriate at work. If everyone is clear on what kind of behaviours are expected and what is unacceptable, employees are able to be point out when there are some actions are out of the lines. Workplace ethics also ensures that employees are treated equally and they always have rights to speak for themselves. Workplace ethics helps to enhance reputation by gaining consumers to think that the organizations are somehow better than their competitors. More impo rtantly, the ethical standards/values are shared and known within the organizations by the entire staff, the environment will be conductive to values-driven behaviours, such as values that can guide decision making and discussion and information sharing; values can help to enhance a sense of commitment to the organizations and therefore, are an important part of high commitment management. Values can improve the all the relationships within and outside the organizations. For example, within the organization, between the organization and its workforce, values and ethics codes identify the attitudes towards equal opportunities and diversity; Between management and employees, value and code ethics guide the managers to maintain a professional relationships with employees, and to identify the importance of trust, respect and equality; Between employees, values and ethics codes identify what sort of behaviours are expected among employees. Outside the organization, values and ethics and make an organization stand out among other competitors to its customers and consumers (The Association of Business Executives , 2008). Indeed an organization that has good value and ethics code can impress its customers with their attitudes, the responsibilities they have towards the social responsibility and the views of the environment, etc. THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Human resource managers are in a key position to ensure that ethics codes management is applied through the whole organization. Communications and training programmes are essential. And managers need to make decisions ethically to determine business-related acts or behaviours are right or wrong. Business ethics can provide businesses with moral guidelines in conducting their affairs. Managers often face ethical dilemmas in the workplace but they may not aware of it. On reason is the manager is not trained in ethics so it is difficult to know when an ethical issue exists (Mintz, 2011). The first step in making ethical decisions is to be sensitive to identify the unethical signposts in question. Determine whether your decision harms one or more parties while benefiting others. Managers need to be aware that ethical decision making causes the consequences of the actions on others the stakeholders in the specific situation. The next step is to identify alternative choices and actions to evaluate them in the ethical way. Be sure to follow the laws, regulations, practices and company policy including the code of conducts. From an ethical perspective certain guidelines apply such as dont violate anyones rights; be fair-mined in deciding how best to resolve the dilemma, always follow basic virtues including honesty, integrity, reliability and being responsible and accountable for ones actions (Mintz, 2011). After evaluating the alternatives from the ethical perspective, managers need to know for certain how the potential decision might affect the stakeholders. It should create trusting or even legal problems/reputation damage among employees and top management. The last step in ethical decision-making is the most difficult one. It takes a lot to carry out an ethical decision with ethical action. It could be the case that the ethical decision and ethical action would actually do harm to the company reputatio n or other employees image among the organization. For example, if sales A found out that sales B, one of the top sales in the company, misleading customers a bit regarding the product (not a serious mistake) in order to get more sales. In this case, should sales A reports to the top management straight away or just pretend nothing happen? If reports to the top management, they may likely not do anything. Or they would think sales A is just getting jealous with sales B, which will lead them to think that sales A is not the type of guy that they want to keep for long term. Or the top management invest in the detail and find out the truth and they have to fire sales B, which the consequence will be the company lost a top sale and some big customers therefore it effects the organizations reputation and selling targets. One of the the rational way to deal with this unethical issue will be whistle-blowing. Sales A could make an anonymous complain or letter to report this unethical behavi our explain the behaviour or issue in detail as well as how the issue should be resolved. Nowadays organizations have employees from different culture background. One thing managers need to ensure that they do not discriminate unfairly in their decisions or actions towards employees, either before or during the employment. Organization should provide equal opportunities to everyone within the organization. Managing cultural diversity is never easy. Recognising the behaviours of discrimination is the first step towards establishing equal treatment working environment. All in all, the responsibilities of good managers in making ethical decisions are: Be sensitive with the ethical issues in working environment Be clear with the responding consequence followed by the ethical decisions/actions Identify company policy, code of ethics conducts and carry out the ethical actions TRAINING METHOD IN WORK PLACE Training in an organization can be divided to two broad types. They are on-the-job trainings and off-the job trainings. With on-the-job trainings, employees receive trainings while they are at work. In this way, employees are conducting and learning when they are working. On-the-job training gives employees motivation to start the job. Some reports indicate that people learn more efficiently if they learn hands on rather than just listening to the instructors. Example: New engineers could work with experienced engineers. They could ask questions about the machines and the tools they are operating on, the problems they may come across the usual solutions to them etc. Instructors need to make the plan for what should be taught, and how much time spend on it, and after the trainings employees will informed about their progress. The main methods of on-the-job/off-the-job training included: Demonstration / Instruction Showing on site to the trainers specifically how to get the job done. Coaching a more detailed and intensive method of training that involves a close working relationship between the experienced trainers and the trainees. Coaching gives trainees the chance to ask questions and receive honest answers. Lectures Lectures usually take place in a classroom-format. Giving lectures supply huge amount of information to a lot of people in a short amount of time. But lectures could get boring and trainees lose interest in it. Group discussion Group discussion is most likely to take place in a classroom where a group of people discuss issues. Group discussion can allow employees to ask questions and provide ideas for the management. Comparing to lecture, it gets more involvement from the employees, and managers can heave the voice from the employees. Role playing Role playing allows employees to act out issues that could occur in the work place. Role playing can be effective in connecting theory and practice. There are many methods of trainings. The key is to find the best training method to suit the actual situation. Assess each training method implemented in the organization and get feedbacks from trainees. Then decide to adopt the most effective method to specify the training programme (Silva, 2011) FURTHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT These days for every business their goal is to stay competitive in the market. And highly skilled, motived and committed staff is the key factor to achieve that goal. Further-training widens employees skills and acknowledge, and therefore enable their personal advancement to contribute more to the organizations performance. Providing career development helps to motive employees and gain their commitment. In details, firstly, training and development helps in maximizing the human resource which further helps the organization to achieve organization goals as well as their personal goals. Secondly, training and development helps to provide opportunities to broaden employees knowledge, increase their skills, improve their personality even. Thirdly, training and development helps in increasing the productivity of the employees that helps the organization further to achieve its long-term success. Fourthly, training and development helps building the positive attitudes, good team spirits, and friendly working environment among the organization. It also helps improving the quality of work and work-life. Last but not least, training and development helps in the organization development. For example, the organization gets more effective decision making and problem solving with dedicated and skilled staff. Training and development helps in developing leadership skills, employee motivation, loya lty, positive attitudes, good perceptions between managers and employees. CONCLUSION Human resource is the most valuable resource to gain and maintain competitive advantage for organizations. From above we know that HRM impacts greatly on organizational performance. There are available tools such as balanced scorecards and benchmarking to measure the effectiveness of HRM. In workplace, unethical issues are inevitable and ethical codes of principles are necessary for every company. Mangers need to make ethical decisions and act on them ethically. Training and further education improves employees skills and abilities therefore enhance the organizations performance greatly.

Christianity, Reform and Freedom in Method Essay -- Religion History E

I feel like I need to begin my methodological introduction with graffiti. Graffiti that says: "Bercovitch Bites," or "Foster Rules," or even "Stop Elitist Historicists." Nothing particularly original -- just a few key phrases that capture the frustration I have felt while researching New Historicism and more particularly, its application to texts. Somehow, graffiti -- the unscholarly domain of angry teenagers armed with cans of spray paint -- echoes my reaction to the scholars in this field who seem to be writing only for other scholars, thus excluding those of us who, fascinated with the ideas expressed, would like to learn about the method and topic by simply picking up a book or article. As I understand it, the whole idea of New Historicist criticism is to enlighten the readers of a text further about that text. Enlighten, educate, teach or inform -- however you put it -- this kind of criticism should be inclusive, not exclusive. The heavy use of jargon and obscure references by t hese critics serves as a "locked gate" that only allows those with the proper credentials a "key" to get in. Within the context of the text I have chosen (A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince, by Nancy Prince) this elitist approach seems incongruous simply because of the facts surrounding its author and publication. This is a text written by a primarily self-educated woman who felt very strongly about using her knowledge and abilities in a "hands-on" manner to help and "enlighten" others. Ultimately, she wrote about her experiences to put food on her table, not to impress her colleagues. In any case, for the purposes of this paper, I will attempt to explain what I think New Historicism is and how I intend to use the theories beh... ...iticism. Online. 5 April, 1998. Available: http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/entries/new_historicism.html Cogan, Frances. All-American Girl: The Ideal of Real Womanhood in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1989. Epstein, Leslie. The Politics of Domesticity: Women, Evangelism and Temperance in Nineteenth Century America. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1981. Howe, Daniel. "The Evangelical Movement and Political Culture in the North during the Second Party System." The Journal of American History 77 (March 1991): 1216-1239. Newton, Judith. "History as Usual? Feminism and the 'New Historicism.'" The New Historicism. Ed. H. Aram Veeser. New York: Routledge, 1989. 152. Prince, Nancy. A Black Woman's Odyssey through Russia and Jamaica: The Narrative of Nancy Prince. New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1990.

Robert Frost Essay -- Robert Frost Poet Poems Essays

Robert Frost   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Frost, an Americian poet of the late 19th century, used nature in many of his writings. This paper will discuss the thought process of Frost during his writings, the many tools which he used, and provide two examples of his works.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Frost was born in San Franciso on March 26, 1874, but later moved to Lawrence, Massachuschusetts (after his father died) where he did most of his writing. He was a simple man who taught, worked in a mill, was a reporter, was a New England farmer, and wrote. Throughout his life he had always been interested in literature. He attended Dartmouth College, but remained less than one semester. In 1894 he sold his first work â€Å"My Butterfly: An Elegy† to a New York journal. A year later he married Elinor White. From 1897 to 1899 he attended Harvard College as a special student but left before he acquired his degree. For the next ten years he wrote poems, operated a farm in Derry, New Hampshire, and taught at Derry’s Pinkerton Academy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1912 he sold his farm and moved to England where he could work on his writings full time. He was an instant success! â€Å"A Boy’s Will† was accepted by a London Publisher and a year later so was â€Å"North of Boston†. He also began to get recognized in America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Frosts sailed for America in 1915 and landed in New York two days after the Americian release of †North of Boston†. The book was a good success and he used the profits to buy a farm in Fanconia, New Hampshire. During this time Frost began to write his most successful poems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frost was once asked his thought process during writing; he responded:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I sometimes speak from the last thing that happened to me. I got asked today if I think up poems. Do I think them up? How do I get the right one? Well, it is the hardest thing in the world to tell. But I don’t think up poems. I pick up a lot of things I thought of to make a poem; that is a lot of scattered thoughts through the days that are handy for the poem-that’s about all. That’s where the thinking comes in.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  That is truly an amazing feat; he would just walk around looking at things and a poem would come into his head. He would write these entire inspirational poems in his head and didn’t even think that it was unusual. The best poet of the 20th century did not write rough drafts!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1915 he moved to New England and... ... the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. He once stated that his major goal in life was to write â€Å"a few poems that would be hard to get rid of.† Well, congratulations Mr. Frost. Works Cited Field, Evgene. Poems of Childhood. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Inc. 1925 Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. Greiner, Donald J. Robert Frost: The Poet and His Critics. Chicago: American Library   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Association, 1974. Lathem, Edward Connery, ed. The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: NA, 1969. Lathem, Edward, ed. Interviews with Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1966. NA. Robert Lee Frost. CD-Rom. Microsoft, 1999. Reeve, F.D. Robert Frost in Russia. Boston: Little, Brown Publishers, 1964. Sergeant, Elizabeth Shepley. Robert Frost: The Trail by Existence. New York: Holt, Rinehart,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and Winston, 1960. Thompson, Lawrance. Robert Frost: The Early years, 1874-1915. New York: Holt, Rinehart and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Winston, 1966. Unger, Leonard, ed. American Writers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Inc. 1961. Van Egmond, Peter. The Critical Reception of Robert Frost. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1974.

Hamlet Feminist Criticism

This lack of prior knowledge of her being allows the reader to question the importance of her history. The question of the importance of her life is delegated and her current presence Is the only one that matters for the existence of the play. This shows the negative portrayal already to be brought about because of her underdeveloped, backbreaking. Sometimes words are needed in defense, for no words can be Just as negative. â€Å"Frailty; thy name Is woman. Is one of the most impacting quotes In the whole play.It directly states of the nature in which the feminine world is to be perceived. Woman, according to the time, were supposed to be mentally unstable, and fully dependent on their male spouse. This was no better exemplified than In Hamlet. Aphelia, after having taken orders from her father her whole life, his death made her go mad. She was then no longer able to function, ultimately resulting in her death. Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, quickly re-married to be supported by her lat e husband's brother. This shows her weakness to be successful without a partner and lack of self- assurance.Aphelion's specific death, that by drowning, can be linked directly with being a woman. â€Å"In his discussion of the ‘Aphelia complex,' the phenomenology's Gaston Bachelor traces the symbolic connections between women, water, and death. Drowning, he suggests, becomes the truly friendly death In the dramas of literature and life, one which is a beautiful immersion and submersion in the female element. Water is the profound and organic symbol of the liquid woman whose eyes are so easily drowned in tears, as her body is the repository of blood, amniotic fluid, and milk. Aphelion's brother Alerts states that he has once again became man after crying tears. Tears which are liquid, liquid being feminine, and friendly being weakness. The idea of women being signs of sexuality has been present for thousands of years. Aphelia is especially known for this, being a woman constan tly entangled within flowers and white linens. The scene In which Aphelia becomes mad, passing out flowers to those around can be contrived as symbolism for, â€Å"deflowering† herself.She publicly has humiliated herself, her family, and the female name for her actions. It was Montreal Day numerous critics now teeny Delved Tanat It was snapper's anger against women for making his characters act in these ways. An interesting aspect of some of the criticism on Aphelion's behavior has to do with those who act out the plays, themselves. Earlier renditions, when females were not as welcome on the stage, men played Aphelia and tended to react with more emotions to make Aphelia seem even weaker not only mentally but also in a physical aspect.When portrayed by a female, the pity and fragility were still present, Just not in the mocking demeanor as when portrayed by men. In other places, Aphelion's lines were shortened and censored because many did not believe in her place in the play at all. As time went on however, she is portrayed as childlike and frail in contrast to mad and dangerous. Hamlet's negative portrayal of women can be linked to many historical beliefs, but the examples are certain. The reader's lack of prior knowledge concerning Aphelia allows one to question the importance of her history.Woman, according to the time in which Hamlet was written, were supposed to be mentally unstable and fully dependent on their male spouse; Gertrude and Aphelia were prime example's of this phenomenon. Aphelion's specific death, that by drowning, can be linked directly with being a woman for water's liquidity. The idea of a woman being a sign of sexuality has been a common thought for thousands of years, this showing the ability for the plays modern day relevance.

Alfred Binet

Among the or so prominent persons in psychic testing is Alfred Binet, who was born July 11, 1857, at Nice, France, and died in Paris on October 18, 1911. Binet completed a licence in law in 1878 and then prosecute, but did not complete, a medical degree. Binets proto(prenominal) wager in psychology was influenced by Charcots work in hypnosis. Binet then pursued other experi psychological topics, hithertotually arriving at his interest in mental testing. For frequently of his career, Binet served as director of the Laboratory of physiologic Psychology at the Sorbonne.Following a block of experimental inquiry with Victor Henri, he accepted a collaborative research arrangement with Theodore Simon. Simons proximity to mentally retarded subjects and Binets membership with the confederacy for the Psychological Study of the Child form the basis for significant research. Binets dynamic involvement with the society led to his interlocking to a study commission of the Ministry of universal Instruction from the vantage point of which he saw the compelling need to catch a way to differentiate those children who could win usually from those who could not (Wolf, 1973, pp.2122). After weakness to obtain academic positions at terce French universities, Binet establishd with Theodore Simon, in 1905, the branch news represent scale oriented to tasks or behaviour rather than to so-called faculties (Wolf, 1973, p. 29). The scale was collapse of a more comprehensive transition for differentiating normal and retarded children, and it was revised in 1908 and 1911. His test was introduced in America by Henry Goddard, who developed his own revision. The most popular American revision was that of Louis Terman in 1916. Binets scales ingrained the concept of mental age in testing for decades.The first experiments to catch his fancy involved the deuce-point wand the simultaneous stimulation of the skin by two compass points, and the determination of the conditions at a lower place which they were perceived as one or recognized as two. This procedure had already been the subject of practically experimental investigation, and early psychologists had learned that the separation of points required to produce a sensation of twoness varies greatly with the subtract of the body stimulatedfor typeface, it is some xxx seasons greater for the small of the binding than for the tip of the index finger.Several theories had been pro comprise to account for these variations, counsel on the presumably varying scattering of nerves in different move of the body. (Thorndike, R. M. , and D. F. Lohman, 1990). Binet conducted a few simple two-point doors disturbed experiments on himself and some friends, and concluded that the theories he had read to the highest degree were wrong in some of their details. He quickly wrote an bind describing his experiments and offering a corrected theory. evermore a graceful and persuasive writer, he succeeded in ge tting this produce.Any pleasure at seeing his words in soft touch was shortly curtailed, however, because his article caught the critical attending of one Joseph Delboeuf (1831-1896), a Belgian physiologist who had through with(p) some important work on the two-point threshold which had been overlooked by Binet. Delboeuf published a critique stating that his own frequently moresystematic experiments did not agree with several of Binets findings, and screening that he had already published a much more sophisticated var. of Binets theory long before.Binet had obviously rush along prematurely into print, and Delboeuf publicly humiliated him for it. (Thorndike, R. M. , and D. F. Lohman, 1990). fifty-fifty Delboeufs attack could not diminish Binets warmth for psychology, however, and his next passion became the associationist psychology of bath Stuart Mill, whom he would later call my only when master in psychology. Binet was persuaded by Mills arguments roughly the potent ially unlimited explanatory spot of associationism, and said as much in his second venture into psychological publication. (Joy A.Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper, 2003) notwithstanding Binet was once again treading upon dangerous ground. associationism as a psychological philosophy clearly had its merits, but by 1883 much evidence had already accumulated to show that it could not stand as a complete explanation of mental phenomena, even after any possible naive factors were placed aside. In particular, associationism was ill equipped to account for varying motivational influences on thought, or for many of the unconscious(p) phenomena that were coming to increasing attention at that time.Thus the laws of association were hard pressed to explain, by themselves, why a particular starting time thought can lead to tout ensemble different trains of associations, depending on the motivational maintain of the individual. Phenomena such as post-hypnotic amnesia posed another difficulty for exclusively associationistic theory. When a recently hypnotized subject was asked what happened plot of ground he was hypnotized and failed to remember, he provided an example of disassociation of ideas.The stimulus of the question failed to film in its train the associated ideas and memories, including the answer, which one would normally expect. Mills laws of association had nothing to say about how ideas could become disconnected, or dissociated, from each other. (Joy A. Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper, 2003) This time Binet recognized the deficiencies in his psychology without care from a Delboeuf, and took steps to remedy them. precisely even though he was soon to augment his associationism, he never lose respect for its great though uncomplete explanatory power.Years later, when he attacked the problem of assessing intelligence, he would not be restricted, as Galton and Cattell had been, to the circumstance of presumably innate factors such as sen sory acuity or neurological efficiency. Instead, Binet would argue that intelligence whatever else it was could never be isolated from the actual experiences, circumstances, and personalized associations of the individual in question. (Joy A. Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper, 2003) Among Binets achievements was the unveiling (with Dr. Henri Beaunis) of the first French psychology journal, LAnnee psychologique, in 1895.He was a significant numeral in early French psychology, and the studies of his two daughters likely influenced the subsequent research of blue jean Piaget. Though Binet was neither trained nor served as a groom psychologist, he has had an enormous impact on the practice of school psychology. References Joy A. Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper. Fifty Major Thinkers on Education From Confucius to Dewey Routledge, 2003 Thorndike, R. M. , and D. F. Lohman. A century of ability testing. Chicago Riverside, 1990 Wolf, T. H. Alfred Binet. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1973