Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner

‘Multiple intelligences’ is a theory first created by Howard Gardner.   They describe eight different ways that people can be smart without falling into the traditional description of what people think of as smart.   It is good to know what one’s own intelligences are, and to know the intelligences of one’s students in a teaching situation, because everyone learns differently. The multiple intelligences were first described in the early 1990s by Howard Gardner, a psychologist who was interested in the ways that people learned.   He noted that most traditional intelligence tests looked at visual/spatial ability, mathematical/logical ability, and verbal ability.   However, Gardner was convinced that people did not have to have these abilities to be smart. He saw that people were ‘talented’ in music, sports, or even in their ability to be reflective or relate to others.   Whereas most people considered these abilities ‘extra’ or ‘talents,’ they did not consider them as intelligences.   Gardner disagreed. Gardner felt that people were considered smart in seven different ways (the eighth intelligence was added later).   The original intelligences were visual/spatial, logical/mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, and linguistic.   The eighth intelligence is naturalistic. Visual/spatial intelligence deals with the ability to understand pictures and objects in two and three dimensional space.   Someone with this strength is good at art, reading maps, and related visual abilities. Logical/mathematical is about the ability to reason and work with numbers.   People with this intelligence are good at math, logic puzzles, and other forms of reasoning. Interpersonal deals with the ability to relate to others.   People with this intelligence are good at making friends, winning people over (like in politics or leadership situations), and understanding others. Intrapersonal deals with one’s ability to understand oneself.   People with this ability are usually reflective and introspective, and may keep journals.   They continually try to understand themselves better and to improve themselves based on their reflection. Musical is exactly what it sounds like, the ability to understand music.   These people are often musicians, and find understanding and hearing patterns in music easy, and find learning instruments easy as well.   They are ‘gifted’ in the field of learning music. Bodily/kinesthetic refers to being good at physical motion and coordination.   These people are good at sports, hand-eye coordination, and other physical pursuits.   They find motion easy, and may be basketball players, dancers, and gymnasts (or other athletes). Linguistic is the ability to understand languages.   These people often find it easy to learn and understand foreign languages.   They also enjoy reading, writing, and relating in written fashion. Naturalistic intelligence, which was added later, is about understanding nature.   People will be interested in nature, find it easy to understand the way plants and animals live and function, and are soothed by being in nature. All of these intelligences are equally important in Gardner’s model.   Also, everyone has more than one of these intelligences and may, to some degree, have all of them.   Each person has two or three real strengths; some have more or less.   Some people are very strongly intelligent in only one area while others may have four or five that are all fairly strong. Knowing what a person’s strengths are will determine how they learn.   A person who is kinesthetic tends to be very hands-on, and to want to try things.   A person who is musical may learn by using songs or chants.   A person who is linguistic may want to read when learning.   It is important to know a person’s preference for learning so that whenever possible, classroom activities can be geared towards as many students as possible. After completing the inventory, I have discovered that I have intrapersonal strength, logical strength, interpersonal strength, and kinesthetic strength.   In these areas, I scored far higher than I did in other areas.   My scores were section 1-4, section 2=6 section 3=8 section 4=7 section 5=8 section 6=8 section 7=4 section 8=10 section 9=2.   This analysis sheds light on my strengths and weaknesses, and I can use this knowledge to learn in the ways that make sense to me.   This can also help teachers to understand their students.   Multiple intelligences are a good way to assess and understand students.

As I Lay Dying 9

May 10, 2010 013 Child Relations In the book â€Å"As I lay Dying† by William Faulkner the character that is dying name is Addie Bundren, the mother of five children. She was also the wife of no good Anse Bundren. Anse is lazy, selfish, no good farmer, who can hardly be called a farmer because he does almost none of the work himself. Out of an act of lust Addie and Anse married and ended up giving birth to Cash and Darl soon after. After the birth of her two sons Addie was bent on not having any more children. The birth of Cash confirms her feeling that words are irrelevant and that only physical experience has reality and significance. Through the act of giving birth she becomes part of the endless cycle of creation and destruction, discovering that for the first time her aloneness had been violated and then made whole again by the violation† (Vickey 54). Anse wanted as many children as possible so that he would have as many hands a possible to work for him, but Addie w as determined to have no more. This made their marriage very rocky and lead to Addie requesting to be buried with her blood relatives in town. In this time period this was hard because of the lack of transportation that they had as well as a lack of money. Her determination to not have any more children was brought to an end because she had an affair with Whittfield, which lead to the birth of Jewel. Anse did not know of this affair so he thought that jewel was his child. Addie decided to make it up to Anse by giving him two more children. â€Å"She consciously and deliberately gives Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel and Vardaman to replace him† (Vickey 55). Among the five children that she had Addie treated them all in a different way. Addie especially treated Cash, Darl, and Dewey Dell very differently. The relationship between Cash and Addie is magnificent for many reasons. Out of the five children that Addie had she liked Cash’s personality the most. Cash is the oldest of the five children. In addition to being the oldest, Cash is also a man of very few spoken words. He can be considered a very simple character compared to the others of the novel. For example, in his first narrative excerpt from As I Lay Dying Cash speaks in list form. {draw:custom-shape} This is one of the most simplistic forms of communication known. As a skilled carpenter, Cash, went and built his mothers coffin, especially to her liking in front of the window in which she was slowly dying. Cash and Addie had a relationship based off very few spoken words. â€Å"Her blissful union with Cash exist beyond body language: Cash did not need to say it [love] to me nor I to him† (Clarke 38). Clarke is explaining in this passage how there are no words needed in the relationship between Addie and Cash. As Cash built his mothers coffin, for each piece that he completed he held up for her approval. â€Å"She’s just watching Cash yonder† (Faulkner 9). This shows how Addie was continuously looking out the window to check on Cash’s progress on her coffin. Cash is extremely determined to complete the coffin. â€Å"With Cash all day long right under the window, hammering and sawing at that——â€Å"(Faulkner 19). This is proof of their strong relationship because he spends all his time doing this strenuous task. â€Å"Work is Cash’s way of communicating with Addie, his means of getting and holding her attention, and thereby assuring that unspoken understanding that has always existed between them†(Bleikasten 179). Bleikasten is showing that Cash rarely speaks unless it is through his actions such as building the coffin. Although Addie and Cash did have a very good relationship, Cash still needed something to help him cope with the death of his mother. For him this would be his carpentry skills. â€Å"The carpentering itself is an activity in which Cash can immerse himself sufficiently to insulate himself from the harsh reality of his mother’s imminent death† (Powers 56). This is simply saying that Cash is using carpentry to replace his mother after her death. The work of mourning begins before death has actually occurred† (Bleikasten 178). The mourning begins early because Cash already has a strong feeling that his mother is about to pass on so he begins to work on her coffin. â€Å"The building of the coffin should become for Cash the object of a manic counter investment. If he cannot be the jewel, he can at the very least be the jewler, the maker of the perfect shrine in which the mother’s precious body is preserved. In nailing Addie into the coffin, Cash encloses himself with her, burying his desire and pain† (Bleikasten 179). Cash making the most perfect coffin possible is his special way of mourning and the completion of the coffin with his mother’s body in he is enclosing his pain. â€Å"The infant loved by his mother grows to be a man of deeds; and Addie, in the absence of Jewel, calls out to him at the moment of her death—and he continues that relationship in his silent agony on the wagon†(Williams 117). Addie and Dewey Dell did not have the best relationship but at the same time did not have the worse possible relationship. Addie felt indifferently towards Dewey Dell, meaning that she didn’t particularly care what happened with her. She didn’t really care because Dewey Dell was only meant to negate Jewel because it was her illegitimate child that Anse did not know of. Addie purposely gave Anse Dewey Dell and Vardaman to make up for the birth of Jewel. Dewey Dell clearly did not have the strongest relationship with her mother though. â€Å"Dewey Dell is not so clearly disturbed by her mother’s death, yet her activity with the fan at Addie’s bedside may be seen as similar in protective function to Cash’s carpentry†(56 Powers). Dewey Dell too had something to substitute for her mother’s death. Dewey Dell, terribly preoccupied by the bud of life within herself- the result of going to the woods, the ‘secret shade,’ with Lafe- can scarcely attend to Addie’s death†(Powers 56). Dewey Dell quickly became pregnant after an agreement that she had with Lafe. Lafe manipulated the agreement and found a loop hole and ended up picking cotton into her basket. As she lost her virginity under the secret shade and realizes soon after that she is pregnant â€Å"Dewey Dell admits that ‘the process of coming unalone is terrible’† (Williams 105). It quickly became clear that â€Å"Dewey Dell has no need to replace the mother figuratively, for she replicates the mother in her own pregnancy† (Clarke 41). This shows that Addie and Dewey Dell really did not have a close relationship because even through her pregnancy she should have been attending to her mother’s needs as she left this world. Further more as they took the casket into town, Dewey Dell’s intent to go to town was so that she could try to find some abortion medicine, because like her mother she did not necessarily want her first child at that point in time. So the daughter goes through the same experiences as her mother: in pregnancy Dewey Dell discovers as Addie did her destiny as begetter, and like her mother she is snatched from aloneness only to be thrown back to it†(Bleikasten 180). Although Addie and Dewey Dell have many similarities when it comes to their pregnancies they are also different. â€Å"Unlike Addie, she is determined, if possible, to effect their separation. Thus, she will not name her condition even to her self because to do so would be to transfer her pregnancy from her private world of awareness to the public world of fact† (Vickery 61). Darl and Addie on the other hand had the worst possible relationship ever. This was proven several times throughout the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Darl had said â€Å"I cannot love my mother because I have no mother† (Faulkner 95). This shows exactly how they have a bad relationship, but it is not just a one way street, Addie in turns hates Darl also. â€Å"Addie claims to have been tricked by a word in Darl’s conception; she says that my revenge would be that he would never know I was taking revenge. And when Darl was born I asked Anse to promise to take me back to Jefferson when I died† (Williams 115). This is the beginning of the dislike on Addie’s behalf because she did not want another child to begin with, so she intended on getting revenge on Anse. â€Å"He too must finally cast the son most like him (Darl, the one that folks say is queer, lazy, pottering about the place no better than Anse, the one who most resembles his father looking out over the land†¦with eyes [that] look like pieces of burnt out cinder†(Williams 115). In this passage Williams describes why Addie actually hates Darl. She hates Darl because she hates Anse with a passion, and Darl acts just like Anse in the sense that he is lazy like his father. Because Addie accepts the fact that she and Anse live in different worlds, her second child, Darl, comes as the ultimate and unforgivable outrage† (Vickey 54). Since Darl receives no love from his mother he makes it his duty to terrorize everyone else in the Bundren family minus Anse. â€Å"Never having had a mother, Darl is more surely poss essed by her than any of his brothers. Darl’s eyes, as Dewey Dell describe them, are full of the land dug out of his skull and the holes filled with distance beyond the land†(Bleikasten 188). Darl is known for his abilities to communicate without words, â€Å"at times, a kind of nonlinguistic â€Å"feminine† intuition† (Clarke 35). Using this ability he continuously terrorized Dewey Dell because he was the only one whom knew of her pregnancy in the Bundren house hold. In one of Dewey Dell’s narratives she said â€Å"He said he knew without words like he told me that ma is going to die without words, and I knew he knew because if he had said he knew with words I would not have believed that he had been there and saw us† (27). What Dewey Dell is explaining is that Darl speaks to her without words and knows of all things that are happening and only the most important things Darl says with no words, such as the death of their mother. Darl also takes it upon himself to confuse his youngest brother Vardaman even more than he already is. For example, Vardaman says â€Å"My mother is a fish† (84). This shows how confused Vardaman really is. The conversation that Darl and Vardaman had concerning Vardaman’s mother being a fish and the horse being Jewel’s mother really left Vardaman confused. As if this little part was not confusing enough for the five year old, Darl then confesses that he does not have a mother. â€Å"I haven’t got ere one, Darl said, Because if I had one it was. And if it is was, it can’t be is. Can it† (101)? This conversation leaves Vardaman in a world of confusion. He now starts to doubt if Darl and Jewel are really his brothers. â€Å"Darl, who seems to float through a world of words, passing into peoples minds and crossing vast spaces at will† (Clarke 46). Darl was able to make everyone miserable because he had no substitute for his mother’s death unlike everyone else in the family. Vardaman had the fish to replace their mother, while Dewey Dell had her pregnancy to occupy her mom, Jewel had his horse, and Cash had his carpentry to replace the emptiness left by their mother’s death. Darl had no substitute â€Å"because he never had a mother to replace† (Clarke 46). Darl said this several times throughout the novel in many variations. For example, â€Å"I can not love my mother because I have no mother† (95). There is a reason why Darl feels this way and Addie in turn hates Darl also. Darl’s feeling that he is not a part of his mother is more than just an expression of sibling rivalry. Addie’s rejection of him is absolute; it is the most terrible thing she does. † The rejection by his own mother makes Darl feels that he has no mother especially as a support system. In turn Addie rejects him because he is just like his father Anse of whom she despises as said previously. As a resulting factor â€Å"for Darl, the constant e xception, the journey is a continual nuisance, and he wants only to see his mother- distinctly dead- buried and out of the way†(Powers 61). Darl is constantly suffering emotionally throughout his life due to the absence of his mother, and continues to be affected by his lack of motherly guidance once Addie actually passes away. â€Å"His brothers, as we have seen, all end up some how displacing their grief and replacing Addie: Jewel with a horse, Vardaman with a fish, Cash with a coffin. But Darl’s mother is literally irreplaceable† (Bleikasten 188). Darl’s mother is irreplaceable because all his life he never had one because he was despised by Addie. In conclusion Addie Bundren had very different relationships with her children. After her death all her children had different ways of coping with her loss also. The relationship with Addie varied greatly from her children Cash, Dewey Dell, and Darl. Cash, her oldest child, she had a great relationship with. They loved and understood one another through the minimum use of words possible. Often times they communicated through body gestures and other types of movement. To substitute the emptiness in Cash’s heart due to the death of his mother, he focused on carpentry. Cash hand built Addie’s coffin to her approval as she looked beyond the window as she lay there dying. Addie and Dewey Dell had a relationship in which they felt indifferently about one another. They basically coexisted within the same house hold. Addie brought Dewey Dell into the world with a purpose: to â€Å"negative† Jewel because he was Addie’s illegitimate son. Dewey Dell also had a replacement for her mother after her death. At the time of Addie’s death, Dewey Dell is pregnant with her first child. This pregnancy takes the focus that Addie would have had on Addie and redirects towards an illegitimate child of her own because she is not married. And then there was Darl. Addie and Darl had the worst relationship possible between a mother and a son. They hated each other. Addie despised Darl because he was just like her husband Anse of whom she also despised. Darl also was her second child who she really did not want to have at all. This was the point in which she vowed to seek revenge upon Anse and made Darl an outcast. As for Darl, he hated Addie because she never mothered him his whole life, which left him broken emotionally causing him to terrorize the rest of his siblings especially his younger ones. Darl did not have a substitute for the death of his mother. In Darl’s eyes he had no mother so the mourning of her would be pointless for him. Work Cited Bleikasten, Andre. _The Ink of Melancholy_. Requiem for a Mother. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. 1990 Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. New York: Vintage, 1990. Powers, Lyall H. Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha Comedy. : The University Of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor. Vickey, Olga W. The Novels of William Faulkner: A Critical Interpretation. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. Print Williams, David. _Faulkner’s Women: the Myth and the Muse_. University of Toronto Press. 1977.

Analysis for the article The touch screen generation Essay

Analysis for the article The touch screen generation - Essay Example She also analyzes the changing mindset of parents at the new development, who instead being skeptical, have chosen to promote their children to adept themselves to digital technology (Rosin, 2013). The article starts with the author’s visit to a digital media conference of the children game developers in California. It is clear from the opening dialogue that the app developers’ clientele are babies, which is a cause of concern to the author (Rosin, 2013). Rosin cites American Academy of Pediatrics concern over the excessive exposure of electronic media on the growing children (Rosin, 2013). The author interacts with parents to know their views on the interactive media technology. A parent who is a teacher tells her that she has proscribed rules for game playing for her children. She has fixed â€Å"no screen time,† (Rosin, 2013). The fixing of game playing times has caused her to ask many others about ground rules of playing e-games. The most shocking revelation was that the parents were willing to give not more than â€Å"half an hour a day,† (Rosin, 2013). Thus, parents seem to be worried about the effects of the new age technology (Rosin, 2013). The term â€Å"digital natives† (Rosin, 2013) coined by Marc Prensky is discussed in the context of new developments such as iPads and touch screen technological devices (Rosin, 2013). The devices have now been seen in the hands of toddlers as means to â€Å"mollify, pacify or otherwise entertain them,† (Rosin, 2013). Jane Healy has gone to the extent of calling this situation a â€Å"zombie effect,† (Rosin, 2013). However, the researchers such as Kirokorian from University of Wisconsin at Madison, are dismissive of the alarm raised. Now the experts say children have become so adapted to the medium that at the age of two children become â€Å"very cognitively active,† (Rosin, 2013). The other way of looking at this development may be that digital technology is furthering

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'managing complexity' - Essay Example They deal with me instead of me dealing with them because I have a very narrow understanding of them. Hence, they become increasingly disturbing. My approach to solving them or overcoming them has been rather unmethodical. My perspective of the problem is part of the problem or even makes the problem more complex. Having gone through this course, I have an entirely different approach to understanding complex problems. This course has equipped with knowledge and skills of handling complex problems using simple approaches. The most basic knowledge, which I come to appreciate, is viewing complex problems as systems, and using the system approach to understand and find ways of improving them. I now know that complex problems are made up of ‘components’ (causes, influences, effects, variables, etc). To fully understand these problems, I have to structure them—break them into many bits and reconnect them like a jig saw puzzle taking note of every move I make in the process. I am also equipped with skills of using one or more system diagrams to diagrammatically or pictorially represent the problems. These diagrams make it easier for me and others to graspingly contextualize your problem with a view to unravelling areas interventions and abstractions for solving or overcoming the problems. With all these knowledge and skills, I am now a system practitioner. I can understand and manage complex problems in my office, home using systematic thinking. For every problem I devote time to study I first look at myself as being a practitioner, I appreciate the complex real world situation I engage with, I put things into perspective to enable me contextualize new and better situations, while I manage my involvement in the situation I am trying to understand and improve. Now that I can to an appreciable extent juggle with the four balls a system practitioner juggles with, I can explain convincingly why the traffic hold up on my way to the

Strengths and weaknesses of viral marketing Essay

Strengths and weaknesses of viral marketing - Essay Example Contrary to expectation, Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, found that the chances of infection decreases as interaction increases (Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, 2007, P.14). Therefore, marketers should avoid providing excessive incentives for customers to recommend products due to the corresponding weakening of credibility after the first recommendation. They also found that individuals have influence over only a few friends in network based epidermic models. Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, recommend that smaller tightly knit groups are more conducive to viral marketing (Leskovec, Adamic and Huberman, 2007, P.14). Rationale for viral marketing Viral marketing exploits the established social networks between people by encouraging customers to share product experience and information with friends. It is important for marketers to understand the context in which viral marketing works and the qualities of products for which it is most effective. This is important in order to ensure that the right strategy is adopted to create favorable customer attitudes towards a product (Blythe, 2005, P.110). It can be argued that some services used by people to communicate are naturally suited to viral marketing because such products can be advertised as part of communication. Examples of such products are email services like Yahoo and Hotmail which were adopted very fast because every message sent through them was an advertisement for the service and the service was free. Hotmail spent only $50 000 on traditional marketing but still acquired 12 million users in 18 months. By the end of 2000, Hotmail had over 70 million users with 270 000 new accounts opened each day. Google’s Gmail grew...This is important in order to ensure that the right strategy is adopted to create favorable customer attitudes towards a product (Blythe, 2005, P.110). It can be argued that some services used by people to communicate are naturally suited to viral marketing because such products can be advertised as part of communication. Examples of such products are email services like Yahoo and Hotmail which were adopted very fast because every message sent through them was an advertisement for the service and the service was free. Hotmail spent only $50 000 on traditional marketing but still acquired 12 million users in 18 months. By the end of 2000, Hotmail had over 70 million users with 270 000 new accounts opened each day. Google’s Gmail grew rapidly in spite of the fact that customers had to sign up for the mail service through a referral . Most products cannot be advertised in this way; in any case, the choice of products on offer has increased as a result of the emergence of online marketers who can supply a wide variety of products. Another aspect of online retail is the fat tail phenomena, where a large portion of the sales consists of obscure products. For instance, at Amazon.Com 20 to 40 percent of unit sales fall outside the top 100 000 ranked products. Some online marketers argue that the fat tail indicates that key products with low sales volume contribute significantly to overall sales.

Research paper about the Earthquakes Information, time scale, plate

About the Earthquakes Information, time scale, plate tectonic, slope stability, all kinds of it, statistics, num - Research Paper Example The paper uses a practical approach to examine earthquakes by evaluating five specific cases cases. These cases include major events in: 1. The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake 2. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake 3. The 1964 Alaska Earthquake 4. The 1960 Chilean Earthquake and 5. The 2004 Sumatra Earthquake The paper renders a very extensive research into these earthquakes and the effects they had on the lives and properties of the societies at the given points they occurred. It examines the elements of physical geography in the areas and the exact impact of the quakes on these areas. In arriving at this end, the following objectives are met: 1. An examination of the social factors that existed in these three regions prior to the earthquakes 2. The geographical analysis of the components of the earthquakes. 3. An evaluation of the effects of the earthquakes on human lives and property. II Scientific Background of Earthquakes â€Å"An earthquake is a series of vibrations or seismic (shock) wa ves which originates from the focus – the point at which the plates release their tension or compression suddenly† (Nagle & Guiness 263). Earthquakes involve the phenomenon where the earth surface shakes at certain points in time. It involves some kind of vibration that is emitted from deep within the earth's crust. Earthquakes result from some shocks that are remitted from within the earth's surface which is felt on the land and in the sea. Earthquakes often cause the damage of building and destruction of properties. The epicenter of an earthquake is the part of the surface of the earth which is the focus of the earthquake. Usually, the epicenter is the point on the earth where the highest impact of the earthquake occurs. Aside the epicenter, the earthquake is felt in other lands around the epicenter. However, relative to the epicenter, the other areas affected by the earthquake is much lesser than that of the epicenter. Earthquakes are emitted by a series of shocks. T here are some large shocks whilst there are other smaller shocks. These shocks shake the earth surface and are known as tremors. The tremors that occur before the earthquake are known as foreshocks whilst those that occur after the major earthquake are known as aftershocks (Nagle & Guiness 265). In terms of occurrence, there dynamics of earthquakes vary with the layer within which an earthquake emanates. Primary waves are body shocks in the earth's interior. The occur deep within the earth and close to the earth's core. Secondary shocks occur nearer to the surface of the earth. They are known as surface waves. Their impacts are quite less than primary waves. The primary waves affect a wider surface area and have a higher intensity on the epicenter. Earthquakes are measured by two popular methods (Nagle & Guiness 266). One of them is the Richter Scale whilst the other is the Mercalli Scale. The Richter scale records the magnitude of earthquakes on a scale of 1 to 10. The measurement is based on logarithms and it increases exponentially on the scale of tens. Thus an earthquake judged to be 7 on the scale is ten times more than one that is 6 on the scale. That same earthquake (7) will be judged to be hundred times more than another that is 5 on the scale and so on. The Mercalli Scale however measures the earthquake in terms of its impact on the society. It is a more practical approach to measure how the earthquake was felt by the community that was affected by it. The Mercalli

LEGOs Expectations from Flextronics and Outcome Essay

LEGOs Expectations from Flextronics and Outcome - Essay Example This essay declares that LEGO wanted to outsource its production to a famous Singaporean electronics manufacturing company Flextronics. So in the year 2006 LEGO finalized the contract with Flextronics for producing the major parts of its toys. The idea was considered brilliant because the prices were locked for an extended period of time, so this would save the company from the risks of product price fluctuations. Flextronics was handed over the production sites of LEGO for production purposes. The phases started from 2004 to 2006, and throughout this phase the company was making efforts to reduce their production capacity to about 20 percent. They were aiming at keeping a target of 80/20 percent for outsourcing their production functions. This paper stresses that LEGO had created a complex framework for outsourcing external providers. This was also a reason why LEGO faced issues while working with Flextronics. LEGO was going through extreme transition, so it can be said that it became problematic for them to delegate authority and control their global network of production. Further, complexity occurred regarding the flawless transmission of production knowledge. LEGO and Flextronics have different organization structure. Though LEGO outsourced Flextronics, but it could not match its complex systems with that of Flextronics. LEGO was a manufacturing company. It manufactured toys for children. ... Flextronics was an electronic hoods manufacturing company, in which plastic plays an important role. This was the reason behind Flextronics’s interest to move for a long-tem relationship with LEGO. LEGO too found Flextronics to be professional and systematic to work with. However, their collaboration did not last long because of several issues that developed during their three years journey. LEGO’s goal was to optimize their global supply chain by outsourcing their production system to Flextronics. Similarly, Flextronics wanted to utilize the expertise of LEGO in plastics. It was found that LEGO was not satisfied with the quality of facilities provided by Flextronics. LEGO had created a complex framework for outsourcing external providers. This was also a reason why LEGO faced issues while working with Flextronics. LEGO was going through extreme transition, so it can be said that it became problematic for them to delegate authority and control their global network of pr oduction. Further, complexity occurred regarding the flawless transmission of production knowledge. LEGO and Flextronics have different organization structure. Though LEGO outsourced Flextronics, but it could not match its complex systems with that of Flextronics. On the other hand the company who was outsourced would be working according to its own process and framework. So problems of disagreement and misalignment were the result of what the outcome was (LEGO, 2006). Key Challenges in Maintaining a Relationship LEGO was a manufacturing company. It manufactured toys for children. The focus of the company was mainly on production and management of the supply chain. Never did the company feel the need of out sourcing or documentation before it was

Annotated bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Annotated Bibliography Example g amongst others, this journal article gives specific examples to justify how gender equality paves way to not only enabling a highly effective workplace, but also towards enabling diversity and acceptance of the other sex in all walks of life. This journal article also gives various examples from history and religion to prove the fact that gender equality has always been looked forward to rather than gender inequality. Moreover, this journal article sheds light on studies published by various academic professors whose focus is on gender equality. Various researches carried out by numerous professors have also pointed out that an environment which readily accepts both genders as being equal is more likely to succeed going forward, and also stay ahead in the long run in comparison to a society that gives specific weightage to a gender over the other. Therefore, I believe this source is highly essential to my paper. The Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice, as it names tells is published in the American area of Tennessee. This journal deals with article related to racial and gender inequality, along with cases which hint where exactly America stands today as far as gender equality is concerned. This article is highly essential for my paper because it specially focuses on gender equality based cases in the US post 9/11. Moreover, the publication also sheds light on how different genders have different voting rights that differ from each other. The journal also brings into limelight hiring policies of American companies and how they discriminate based on gender. This book is also essential to my research paper as it supports each and every topic with various examples, thereby making it easy to understand why gender inequality is such big an issue and why and what causes it in the first

Politicians and Elections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Politicians and Elections - Essay Example The expectations of the electorate regarding personal conduct and characteristics of politicians, immensely impacts the decisions of voters on the people to choose during the election period (Thurber, 2004). The perceptions held by the electorate significantly affects the decision making process of the electorates. Within political scenarios, various challenges define the success of political campaign, including the presence of a crisis and the ability to handle the crisis amicably. These perceptions commonly occur in three dimensions of personals character, associated individuals and characteristics regarding the citizenship of the person. During the campaign period, the politicians aim at convincing the electorate to change the negative perceptions held, regarding the politicians. The rhetoric method of self defense could be utilized in damage control of an individual’s political character, as well as personal character. Though the method could be identified as containing pa ranoia or arrogance, the utilization of the method by George Hansen enabled him to continually get re-elected into the United States congress. The character of this politician underwent serious scrutiny within the congress, and outside the congress. During the campaigning period, Hansen continually employed the method of delivering rhetorical speeches as a way of seeking to convince the electorate about his questionable character. The issues arising within the political scenario, surrounding Hansen, centered on his personal behavior and professional conduct (Short, 1987). This included felony charges and accusations of providing false information regarding his wealth. While defending his political character during the election period, Hansen immensely utilized rhetoric speech to persuade the electorate otherwise, regarding his tainted political character. Voters appear to consider the character competence of politicians over the proposed policies, and in turn increase the desire for politicians to present themselves as capable, regardless of their perceived public image. The crisis within politics appears to affect the electorate decisions adversely; hence the management of these issues remains fundamental to successful campaigning. Accusations of deceptive dealings between opposing candidates continue to present surmountable crisis within campaign teams. The response offered to the public could be termed as a damage control measure for the candidates. While some candidates might choose to answer such image tainting crisis through the media, others speak directly to the electorate as a way of convincing them. Political analysis cannot define the better method of crisis control; however the candidates choose modalities which they deem fit for their campaign teams. Proper handling of political crisis stands between success and failure for any prospective political candidate in modern politics. The challenges presented by political crisis could adversely affect t he probability of candidates getting elected into prospective seats. In handling the political crisis that questioned his integrity, Hansen delivered speeches to the electorate. Concerning the prevalent issue of age, President Reagan failed to deliver any speech; however, he rhetorically joked about the issue and utterly ended the recurrent speculations regarding his age (Hahn, 1987). The methods utilized in handling political crisis depend heavily

Research Assignment Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Assignment - Research Paper Example Nevertheless sometime the terms negotiating and bargaining are employed to depict the same process. The primary purpose of collective bargaining is to reach a conclusion of an issue. Some of the major subjects on which collective bargaining takes place are higher pay packages, more leaves, increase in the number of employees for a particular job, to improve the condition of working, demand for additional facilities, rules and regulations pertaining to hiring and firing, promotion of workers, procedures of lodging complaints, safety within the workplace and about the different policies of the organization. Sometime unions also demand for shorter working hours (Beaumont 43). On the other hand collective bargaining agreement can be defined as the agreement in written form between the union and the employer. It reflects the terms and conditions, rights, responsibilities and the privileges of the employers (â€Å"The Collective Bargaining Process†). Such bargaining agreements or th e union contracts last for a period of one to five years. However the most common period is of three years. A collective bargaining mainly follows an eight step approach. The approaches are preparing, arguing, signaling, proposing, packaging, bargaining, closing and agreeing. In the context of United States whenever an agreement is reached by the process of collective bargaining, the conditions of that contract are written down into a legally enforceable bargaining agreement or a union contract. In order to provide a real life example of collective bargaining, authentic electronic sources have been used. It was about the registered nurses of Tufts Medical Center. The nurses were the members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. They bargained with the management regarding the staffing changes for facilitating better care of the patients, appointment of extra nurses during busy hours (â€Å"Real-Life Examples of Collective Bargaining†). After the negotiations they have been able to ratify the contract in the year 2011. Hence it was a successful collective bargaining. Works Cited Beaumont, Phil B. Safety at Work and the Unions. London: Routledge, 1983. Print. â€Å"The Collective Bargaining Process.† Ilocarib. n.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sep. 2012. . â€Å"Real-Life Examples of Collective Bargaining.† collectivebargainingfacts. AFL-CIO., 2011. Web. 24 Sep. 2012. . Question 2) List and discuss three U.S. laws that support collective bargaining, and three examples of employer unfair labor practices. Also discuss the laws. Solution The three U.S. laws that support collection bargaining between the employee representatives and the employers are the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947; National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 1935; and Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 1959. The three unfair labor practices include sacking a union supporter, discrimination against the employees based on various factors, threatening the employees on taking up union activities. The laws are discussed below:- Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947: - The labor management relations Act of 1947 is also known as Taft-Hartley Act. It was an amendment of NLRA act of 1932. The Princeton university website highlights that the act was passes in the year 1947. The

Ethical behavior principle Essay Example for Free

Ethical behavior principle Essay The behavior of each and every person is control by moral and the guiding principles. This is normally portrayed in our daily usual acts, and hence shaping of our ethical behavior is critical in the making sound decision and upholds the trust of the public. A successful business is only possible if there is a strong and profound held value. Most companies will set up strategy of coming up with the required values in order to attract their prospective clients, manage their workers, and attained the expected development of the company. The guiding principles of ethical behaviors which these companies will struggle to uphold are based on the values. According to American Psychological Association, (1953) these values include beneficence and nonmaleficence, fidelity and responsibility, integrity, justice, respects for people’s rights, and dignity. Coordination and active participation of the workers will be of great importance in attracting the attention of the clients. In any organization, leaders will continually strive to ensure that their company achieved its standard. Their main aim is to make sure that the rights of the employees are taken care of, and that the company in general performs well at all cost. In order to achieve this, their actions will be guided by the ethical values which will assist them in the decision making processes (Leal, 1998).

Globalisation And Social Security Politics Essay

Globalisation And Social Security Politics Essay The underlying idea behind social security measures is that it is a duty of the society to protect the working class that contributes to the welfare of the society against hazard. It protects not just the workman, but also his entire family in financial security and health care. The Sate bears the primary responsibility for developing appropriate system for providing protection and assistance to its workforce. Hence, a welfare state is expected to engage in all activities necessary for the promotion of the social and economic welfare of the community. But, globalisation has affected the capacity of the welfare state. This chapter undertakes the review of the literature. The chapter is organized as follows: Section 2.1 evaluates relationship between globalisation and social security and with the welfare State. Section 2.2 determines the relationship between welfare economics and social security. Section 2.3 examines the social security in developed and developing countries. Section 2.4 discusses the public action as a strategy for social security in developing countries. Section 2.5 evaluates social security in India and in Indian States. Section 2.6 compares the social security in organized and unorganized sector. Section 2.7 examines the resettlement and welfare of retired Defence personnel (ESM) / Veterans: Problems and solutions. Section 2.8 concludes the study. To have a better understanding about the impact of globalisation on social security, a review of the different studies carried out in different dimensions is essential. For the convenience of the study the literature reviewed have been classified into three categories as (a) issues related to globalisation, social security, welfare state and welfare economics, (b) issues related to social security in developed countries and in developing countries especially in India and (c) issues related to resettlement and welfare of ESM (PBOR). 2.1 Globalisation and Social Security There are few studies based on the exact relationship between globalization and social security. Most of the studies analysed globalisation in relation to its impact on welfare state. In the first perspective, DHaeseleer, Steven and Berghman, Jos (2005), argued that challenges of globalization for social security systems are real and it increases the need for redesigning social security. The study concluded by suggesting that social security provision in low-income countries should be organized in a complementary way, drawing on the strengths of both formal and informal arrangements. Future reforms should be attempted to promote economic development and international economic integration. Similar analyses offered by Dries Crevits and Bea Van Buggenhout (2005), the study attempts to assess the impact of the process of globalisation on social protection. Analysis of globalisation shows that it has increased the need for socially protective measures, considering the fact that it causes more inequality, and insecurity concerning jobs and earnings and that it has increased the territorial mobility of employees and employers. At the same time, globalisation constitutes a threat for the existing levels of social protection, as pointed out by the social dumping hypothesis. Social policy makers therefore face some tremendous challenges, building a frame for a generalised basic social protection at a global level, securing the financing of existing social security systems and adapting the schemes to the increased mobility. Jitka Dolezalova (2001), analysed the influence of globalisation on systems of Social Security in Europe. Globalisation forces the countries to compete for the investments with lower taxes, and lower social contributions. The influence of globalisation is becoming more and more substantial and globalisation process will force the Social Security Systems on a revision. Dutt, Amitava Krishna and J. Mohan Rao (2001), study recorded diverse views about effects of economic reforms on social outcomes. It analysed that employment and wages are the most important potential channels through which the social impact of globalization can be felt. Further, the study point out that impact of globalisation can be seen in government policy for spending on social security programmes. 2.1.1 Globalisation, social security and welfare State The relationship between globalization and welfare state is addressed in this section. There is a wide divergence of views as to how globalization impacts on the welfare state. In most of the studies, international comparisons tend to be confined to particular organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in welfare spending such as Germany, Britain, Japan, Sweden, and the USA, and neglected the developing countries. Bowles, Paul and Barnet Wagman (1997), identified four hypotheses concerning the relationship between globalization and welfare state in the context of OECD countries namely, downward harmonization hypothesis, upward convergence hypothesis, the convergence hypothesis and the globalization irrelevance hypothesis. To prove the hypothesis the indicators like welfare state spending on education, health and social security and welfare has been used. The results shown that globalization may indeed have posed a challenge to the welfare state. Rudra, Nita (2004), investigates the relationship between openness, government social expenditures (i.e., education, health, and social security and welfare), and income distribution through a time-series cross-sectional panel data set for 35 less developed countries (LDCs) from 1972 to 1996. The results show that while all categories of social spending help improve income distribution in richer countries, the effects of social spending are much less favourable in LDCs. Only spending on education in LDCs encourages a more favorable distribution of income in the face of globalization. The pressures of a more competitive global economy increase incentives for more redistributive education spending, whereas publicly sponsored health programs and, particularly, social security and welfare programs confront greater political lobbying. Deacon, Bob (2000), argues that neoliberal globalization is presenting a challenge to welfare provisioning in the industrialized countries and to the prospects for equitable social development in developing and transition economies. This challenge flows partly from the unregulated nature of the emerging global economy and partly from intellectual currents dominant in the global discourse concerning social policy and social development. The study contends that certain global conditions are undermining the prospects for the alternative: equitable public social provision in both developed and developing countries. These conditions include the World Banks preference for a safety-net and privatizing strategy for welfare; the self-interest of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in providing basic education, health and livelihood services that might otherwise be provided by the state; and the World Trade Organizations (WTOs) push for an open global market in health services, education and social insurance. Ming-Chnag Tsai (2007), study investigated the effect of globalization on progress in human well-being by using a time-series cross-national data during 1980-2000, a period that observed an extremely high tide of global flows crossing borders to deepen international economic integration, establish supranational governance, and foster cultural harmonization. The study contributes in offering a theoretical model and providing empirical evidence by testing the hypothesized relationship between globalization and human well-being. It is concluded that globalization identified by increased global flows and exchanges contributes rather than hampers progress in human welfare. Stefanie, Walter (2010), discussed how globalization affects the welfare state. Based on survey data from Switzerland, the study provides empirical micro foundations for the compensation hypothesis. It finds that globalization losers are more likely to express feelings of economic insecurity. Such feelings, in turn, increase preferences for welfare state expansion, which in turn increase the likelihood of voting for the Social Democratic Party. The analysis also shows that globalization losers and winners differ significantly with regard to their social policy preferences and their propensity to vote for left parties. Burgoon, Brain (2001), argued that globalisation may have varying effects on welfare policy. It can spark more concentrated demand for welfare compensation or less compensation. The vulnerable group demand for more compensation. To prove the same, a cross-sectional data on the relationship between openness and welfare spending for eighteen OECD countries for the period 1961-94 analysed with regression analysis. The result shows that openness has a slight effect on welfare outcomes and therefore, it is not the most important determinant of welfare efforts in OECD countries. From the above review, it is possible to identify two main arguments about the current and future condition of the welfare state under globalization: the first of these claims that globalization erodes the welfare states and its foundations; the second claims that globalization effects are absorbed and mediated by the welfare state. 2.2 Welfare Economics and social security From macro-economics angle, social security policies are always analysed within the framework of welfare state theories. The extent of welfarism undertaken by the nation-states consequently, became the benchmark in understanding different social security mechanisms. This approach evaluates social security policies in terms of the quantum of the programmes and aggregate of expenditures. On the other side, micro-economics analyse the issue of social security and welfare  [1]  policies in the framework of welfare economics. Welfare economics examine the effects of economic policies on the welfare level of individuals or groups of people (social welfare). Social security is a part of economic policy which contributes to social welfare. To compare situations in the society economists had constructed welfare criterias. A brief historical survey of welfare economics will provide us the tools given by welfare economics to measure the welfare and maximising the social welfare. The theory underlying social welfare can be traced back to the welfare economics. It is discussed below. Classical Economist on social welfare Jeremy Bentham  [2]  defined social welfare as the sum total of the happiness (or welfare) of all the individuals in society. Following Benthams doctrine, Pigou (1920) defined social welfare as the arithmetic sum of the individual welfare. According to him, social welfare increases if there is an increase in national dividend without any increase in the supply of factors, and a transfer of wealth from rich to the poor. In nutshell, social welfare was regarded by the economists of cardinal utility tradition as the arithmetic sum of the utility gained by the individual members of society. This concept of social welfare has, however, met with certain serious objections. First, it is argued that utility cannot be cardinally measured and, hence, cannot be added to obtain the social welfare. It is, therefore, meaningless to define social welfare as the sum of the individual utilities. This objection is universally accepted. Secondly, it is also widely accepted that ordinal measurement of utilities is not possible either and, therefore, inter-personal comparison of utilities is not possible in an objective or scientific manner. It would, therefore, not be possible to determine how a change in existing pattern of resource allocation would affect the aggregate welfare unless it is unrealistically assumed that all individuals have identical income-utility and commodity-utility functions. Owing to these problems, Benthams and Pigovian concepts of social welfare had become in- operational, in the sense that, it cannot be used objectively in any policy formulation. Therefore, th e cardinal utilitarian thesis that the welfare of different individuals could be added up to arrive at the welfare of society had to be abandoned. The need for to judge the events and policies economically, leads to development of the idea of social optimum by Pareto (1896). Pareto: Concept of Welfare This concept is central to Paretos welfare economics. According to Pareto, although it is not possible to measure and add up utilities of individuals to arrive at the total social welfare, it is possible to determine whether social welfare is optimum. Conceptually, social welfare is said to be optimum when nobody can be made better-off without making somebody worse-off. Its important to note that Paretos concept of social optimum does not define or suggest a magnitude of optimum social welfare. Pareto was concerned with the question whether the magnitude of social welfare from a given economic situation can be or cannot be increased by changing the economic situation. The test of increase in social welfare is that at least one person should be made better-off without making anybody else worse-off. The Modern View of Social Optimum According to the modern view of social optimum, it is difficult to conceive economic policies which can improve the welfare of an individual without injuring the other. To overcome this problem, economists, viz., Kaldor-Hicks (1939) have evolved the compensation principle. It asserts that, even if the economic change makes some person better off and other worse off, the change is still desirable provided the gainers can compensate the losers for their loss. This principle recognizes that most economic policy measures make some one better off and someone worse off. It does not attempt to quantify the total social welfare. It concerns itself with only the indicators of change in welfare. The present study applies Kaldor-Hicks compensation criteria to analyse the impact of globalisation on social security (with respect to resettlement and welfare benefits) of retired army PBOR. It has been discussed in detail in chapter-3. The concept of social security has been playing important role in developed as well as in developing countries. The following section reviews the literature on social security in developed and developing countries. 2.3 Social Security in developed and developing Countries Johanees, Jutting (1999), overviewed the kinds of social security systems that are currently in place in developed and developing countries. It dealt with the reasons for the failure of the State and the market in providing social security in the developing countries. It presents an overview of the importance of the State, market, community and private household-based social security systems in the developing world. Midgley, James (1984), analysed the growth of social security system in developing countries, in African, Asian and Central and S. American countries during the colonial period. Although more and more developing countries established social security schemes covering a large number of contingencies since the mid 50s, the situation is basically similar to that of the pre-war colonial period when a very small number of individuals and their dependents were covered by social security. The system caters only to small proportion of the labour force engaged in regular wage or salaried employment in the urban areas of developing countries, while the majority of the population who work in subsistence agriculture in the urban informal sector is excluded. Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen (1999), addressed some foundational and strategic issues of social security, including the nature and form of human deprivation, the distinction between protective and promotional social security, the interconnections between economic growth and public support, the influence of market mechanism, and the relationship between State action and public action. Atkinson, A.B. and John Hills (1999), investigated the relevance of the experiences of the developed countries to the strategy of social security in developing countries. They bring out how the social security system of developed countries has evolved along quite different routes, in response to country specific objectives, constraints and pressures. Wouter van Ginneken (2003), reviewed the main trends and policy issues with regard to the extension of social security in developing countries. It shows that in many middle-income countries, statutory social insurance can form the basis for the extension process. However, this is generally not so in the low-income countries, where only a small minority of the population is covered by social security. The paper concludes national policies should consist of improving and reforming statutory social insurance programmes, of promoting community and area based social insurance schemes. The above studies are related to types of social security system, growth and trends of social security in developed and developing countries. It also reveals that the issues in developing countries, where the social security is yet to become full fledged, are however, entirely different from the developed countries. There are very few studies on social security systems in the developing countries. 2.4 Public Action A strategy for Social Security in developing countries The ILO defines social security vary narrowly and advocates strategy of social insurance and social assistance for providing social security. It does not capture the socio-economic conditions (deprivation and vulnerability) of developing countries like India (discussed in detail in chapter-3). Therefore, public action has been suggested as a strategy to provide social security in developing countries. In this context, Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen (1999) argued on the basis of economic analysis as well as empirical evidence, that public support has an irreplaceable role to play in removing deprivation and vulnerability, and that this role can be played quite effectively even at an early stage of development. Burges, Robin and Nicholas Stern (1999) provided a systematic analysis of the content of social security, the motivation for public support, the possible contributions of different agents, and the dilemmas that public action has to face. The study strongly supported for extensive public involvement in the fields of social security. Agarwal, Bina (1999) investigates some aspects of the relation between public action and family relations in the provision of social security. This study examines the survival strategies of vulnerable households, with special attention to issues of intra-household inequalities. The study brings out the close connection between the external and internal vulnerabilities of particular household and suggests public action to support more vulnerable individuals. Datta, Rakesh (1998) studied mathadi labour market in Mumbai where unionization of mathadi workers as a case of public action enabled the manual workers in unorganised sector to achieve protective Social Security benefits. The study suggested that public action can play a central role in ensuring expansion and monitoring of social security. Ambalavanam V and S Madheswaran (2001), analysed the social protection measures available to urban informal sector workers in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. Public action was suggested towards the goal of extending social cover to wider population on the line of traditional societies protecting the interest of the people in a locality. 2.3 Social Security in India In the Indian context, Varandani, G (1987), discussed the historical development of the concept of social security workers for Industrial workers in India since ancient times. The study observed that although the constitution of India imposed on the State to protect the interest of industrial workers either by statutory or non-statutory measures or with the help of economic institutions but the State has not succeeded up to now to achieve the satisfactory results in the field by providing sufficient social security benefits to the Industrial workers. The cause attributed for failure of the State is the lack of proper planning, improper implementation, and lack of sufficient fund with the government. Subrahmanya, R.K.A. (1995), analysed the social security schemes promotional and protective schemes provided by the Central government, State governments, and Private sector to the employees both, in the organised sector and unorganised sector. The study pointed out that social security system in India is characterized by multiplicity and heterogeneity of schemes administered by different agencies namely Central government, State governments and also by some voluntary organizations. The cash benefits under the ESI scheme and the schemes under the EPF act administered by Central organization, the administration of all other schemes is in the hands of the State Governments. A coordinated approach has been lacking. It leading to wide gaps in the coverage hand and overlapping of benefits. As there is no unified system of social security, there is also no uniform coverage. Different groups of the people receive different types of benefits. Planning Commission report on Labour and Employment in the Tenth plan (2002) examined the efforts made through earlier plans to extend the coverage of social security through various acts and laws as well as through programmes viz. social insurance schemes, centrally funded social assistance programmes, social welfare funds etc. It suggested in the tenth plan to provide the social security to the organized and unorganized sector workers on self-sustaining and self-financing basis without putting any additional pressure on the budget of the government. It advocated that in time of liberalisation and globalisation, there is a need of comprehensive social security policy for a large section of the society by integrating the services of the existing schemes Wardhan, S. K. (1992) studied the role of social security in the context of stabilization and structural adjustment programmes and change in the new industrial policy of India. The restructuring of the industry may substantially add to number of unemployed and create serious and additional social problems. The existing social security can play a substantial role in the alleviation of the suffering caused by displacement of labour due to restructuring of the economy. It stressed that there should be a single agency providing comprehensive package of social insurance including unemployment benefits. Hirway, Indira (1994) argued that inspite of recent shift in policy towards market economy and the resource constraint the government could not evade that responsibility. A comprehensive and integrated system of social security in India would have to comprise of a variety of elements based on anti-poverty programme covering not only the workers but also the unemployed and the destitute in the form of social assistance as well as social insurance. Prabhu, K Seeta (2001), viewed that the provision of socio-economic security in India has been unsatisfactory. The Government and the community constitute the two pillars that need to be strengthened for meeting the genuine need for socio-economic security of the masses in India, particularly during the period of economic reforms. Jetli, N.K. (2004) studied that the social security situation in India is characterized by ambiguity in policy and responsibility. There is a variety of schemes but these have been framed at various point of time and, therefore, do not confirm to any overall design reflecting a comprehensive and consistent policy or direction. Report of the Study Group on Social Security (2002) recommended for an integrated and comprehensive system of Social Security in India which will encompass the whole population of diverse needs. It cannot be a single scheme but a combination of schemes catering to the needs of different groups with different needs and different paying capacities. To cover the entire population the study group suggested four tier structure Social Assistance programmes financed wholly tax based and financed from the exchequer Schemes which are partly contributory and partly subsidized by the State Wholly contributory Social Insurance schemes Voluntary schemes On social security expenditure, Dev, S Mahendra and Jos Mooji (2002), examined trends in social sector expenditure in the central and state budgets for 1990-91 to 2000-2001. In this analysis they included social services as well as rural development expenditure. They would like to conclude with two observations. First, there is an urgent need for steeping up social sector expenditure. Second, there is an obvious need for stepping up social sector expenditure. Similarly, Prabhu, K Seeta (2001), also analysed the protective and promotional security expenditures of the Union government and 15 major State governments. 2.5.1 Social Security in Indian States Dev, S Mahendra (2002,) reviewed the experience of the growth-mediated  [3]  and support-led social security arrangements for the unorganised sector in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The author argued that, in the context of marketisation, there is a substantial section of society which does not have the resource power to enter into market operations. The government and those who are already in the market have the responsibility in providing Social Security for the large sections of unorganised workers and other vulnerable groups who are out of the market. But, the government cannot provide security to these workers as there are limits to its administrative and financial capacity. There is a need for public-private partnership in providing social and economic security for unorganised workers. Kannan, K.P. and Shaji K Francis (2001), highlighted the impressive performance of social sectors achieved mainly through State-sponsored social security measures with public support in Kerala. Compared to other States, Kerala spends a larger share of its budgetary resources on State-assisted social security programmes like food security and employment security, which need to further strengthened rather than expanded. It also demonstrates the possibility of extending the provisioning of social security to a larger proportion of population who are outside the formal sector of employment. Unni, Jeemol and Uma Rani (2001), carried out a study on social protection in informal economy for informal workers in Gujrat. Traditionally, social security instruments addressed contingencies arising from random shocks and only affecting basic securities such as illness or sudden death. In globalising world, social protection in the context of poor informal workers needs to address both the economic and basic security issues. Besides, the government, private market and NGO initiatives need to be strengthened and many pore innovative approaches have to be devised to bring social protection to poor informal workers. Vijay, G (2001), analysed social security of labour in the post-liberalisation period in new industrial towns with reference to the State of Andhra Pradesh. It views that; the opening up of markets has resulted in the growth of new industries. The most obvious impact of this has been an increase in the process of flexiblisation and, therefore informalisation in the new industries, resulting in the conditions of labour supply becoming highly vulnerable. Examining the social security benefits of labour in the context of its informalisation, the Mehboob Nagar case reveals that besides the well-recognized insecurities like lack of job security and absence of minimum level of wages, inadequate housing and health facilities, old age and retirement benefits, several other insecurities are faced by the contract and casual labourers. 2.6 Social security in organized and unorganized sector: Methods, problems and solution Thakur, C.P. and C.S. Venkat Ratnam (2001), analysed social security for organised sector in the background of constitutional and legal provisions. The emerging trends, in the wake of structural adjustment programme shows that, the government continues to have welfare orientation but is both reluctant and unable to raise contributions commensurate with the needs from its budgetary resources. Its prime concern seems mainly to encourage savings in the economy. As far as employees are concerned, they want income and other sources of security for their employees, which is efficiency enhancing. Workers interest continues to lie in seeking further improvement of existing benefits. Dev, S Mahendra (1996) reviewed the performance and issues relating to concept, policies, financing and effectiveness of social security for Indian workers in the unorganised sector. The performance and issues relate to five types of social securities, namely, food, employment, health, education and women. The performance has not been satisfactory during the first few years of the reform period. Expenditure in some of the social security programmes may have to be increased in order to cushion the poor during the reform period in order to face the negative consequences of reforms. However, in the short and medium terms, the social security programmes (both promotional and preventive) may have to be continued till economic growth makes some of these programmes redundant. For effective implementation of the programmes, there is a need to have decentralization, transparency in decision making, right to information and social mobilization. On the ways to provide social security, Ginneken, N.V. (1998), viewed that employment is the most important guarantee for social protection in both the organized and unorganized sector. It provides the basis for earnings, part of which can be saved for insurance -private or social. Social security protection is not just the consequence of a sufficient level of earnings: it also contributes to greater productivity and earnings. Guhan, S (1993), analysed the problem of social security for the unorganized poor in general. Providing access to assets for the poor is a basic form of social security. The assistance in the form of creation of assets, assurance of minimum wages, food security, subsidized insurance and social assistance for various purposes could provide social security to different groups. Pillai, S Mohanan (1996) provided an empirical verification of the effectiveness of welfare fund schemes in providing Social Security to the casual workers in the unorganised sector through a case study of scheme for the welfare of loading workers. The study revealed that the welfare funds scheme has brought about drastic changes in the living conditions of the workers both socially and economically. It found be a new experiment not only in providing social security to the under-privileged segments of the workforce but also in the financing of social security for unorganized sector in a resource constrained economy. Ginneken, N.V. (1998) highlighted the major problems pertaining to the existing measures of social protection a. Inadequacy of coverage and benefits of social security Existence of wide variations in standards of social security, eligibility criteria and scale of be

The Region Is The Middle East International Relations Essay

The Region Is The Middle East International Relations Essay The region is the Middle East. The cause of the Israel/Palestine conflict is the question of land and who rules it. Jewish colonization and Palestinian nationalism, both laying claim to the same territory is the basis of this long conflict.The land involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict totals approximately 10,000 square miles at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. The state of Israel encompasses the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean ocean, bordered by Egypt in the south, Lebanon in the north, and Jordan in the East. The Gaza strip is an additional141 square miles south of Israel, thatis under the control of the Palestinians. Palestine is one of the oldest agricultural sites in the world. Archeologists found wheat at Jericho dating from before 8,000 B.C. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have roots in the Middle East. The land has been one of conflict and shifts in power back to the days of the Bible. I believe unfair reports and incomplete information have reached the American people with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The only way to find the real stories is to go looking for them. Richard North Patterson brought the lack of accurate information to my attention when I read his novel called, â€Å"Exile†. I, like most Americans, have received most of my information, and therefore the basis for my beliefs from the media. Mr. North Pattersons novel shook my beliefs enough for me to want to look further into the facts of the conflict. As the organization of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting shows, the media does not always provide the unbiased detail to understand what the conflict involves. It is difficult to report a story without taking a side to the conflict, but one side seems to have had the sympathies of the media and therefore the rest of the world. After World War II, the United Nations recommended partitioning Palestine into two states and the internationalization of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In this UN Resolution, the minority of the Jewish people received the majority and the better of the land. The Arabs received 43 percent of the land, the Jews 57 percent. Despite the Arab Palestinians rejection of the partition and the existence of Israel, Israel was proclaimed a state on May 14 1948. While the Jewish people obtained their homeland, there has been no Palestine and no internationalization of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In 1948, Palestinians were driven out of the new state of Israel into refugee camps in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and other regions. Approximately 750,000 people were driven from their homes in Israel; and many Jews were also driven from their homes in surrounding Arab countries. Both the expelled Palestinians and Jews often had their land and bank accounts and other property seized. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of the longest and has led to thousands of deaths. For both the states, the claim to the land goes back thousands of years. The Jewish peoples claim dates from Biblical times when Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish Kingdom. By 70 A.D. the Romans had claim to the land which started the Jewish â€Å"time of wandering†. The Romans lost control by the 9th century to the Arabs who were mostly Muslims and who, like the Jews considered Jerusalem one of the holiest cities. Palestine remained under Muslim rule for over ten centuries. Britain claimed control of the land in November of 1917 and the League of Nations gave the British control to govern and help Zionists settlers build a Jewish national home. In 1922, Britain divided the land, with the eastern half becoming the separate country of Jordan. The British ruled Palestine over the next 25 years until hostilities between the Arab Palestinians and the Jewish settlers became intoler ably hostile so that Britain turned Palestine over to the newly formed United Nations. The holocaust during World War I, from 1939 to 1945 was a catalyst for the Jewish people to return to Palestine. The worlds sympathies were with the Jews and creating a Jewish national homeland. As a result in 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into two states; one Jewish the other Palestinian. The Palestinians felt that establishing Israel and the resulting Jewish settlers that displaced the original Palestinian inhabitants created the conflict that exists today while the Israelis argue that the Palestinians refusal to accept Israel and by trying to destroy it, created the conflict that exists today. On May 15, 1948, the day following the declaration of Israels independence armies from five Arab countries combined to invade Israel. After a year of fighting, Israel held more land than was originally given to them by the United Nations. Cease-fire agreements were signed but the Arabs would not sign a peace treaty because they did not consider the war to be over. Egypt and Jordan absorbed the parts of Palestine not taken by Israel. The Arab Palestinians call this war the â€Å"Catastrophe†. Approximately a million Palestinians that were left without homes or farms fled Israel but most were turned away from other Arab countries and found themselves living in United Nations run refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank. In 1967, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel. During the 6-day-war Israel took large stretches of land from the Arabs including the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank from Jordan, which was the center of ancient Israel but was supposed to become the center of the Palestinian state in 1948. By winning the West Bank, Israel held most of historic Israel and the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron and the old city of Jerusalem. After the war, Israel attempted peace by returning all the land except Jerusalem but the Arab Palestinians would not negotiate on this point. The United Nations passed Security Council resolution 242 in November that called for, â€Å"Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in exchange for secure and recognized boundaries†. The Arabs rejected the resolution but over time, most Arab nations accepted the resolution as the basis for todays peace agreements and negotiations. Jerusalem is prized because of its religious history as the holy city for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The current conflict over Jerusalem is the direct result of the United Nations Partition Plan in 1947, which would make Jerusalem an International city under United Nations control. In the 1948 war following the partition, Israel captured West Jerusalem and Jordan held East Jerusalem. The city remained divided until the 6-day war in 1967 when Israel also captured East Jerusalem from Jordan. Since 1967, Israel considers the entire city of Jerusalem to be its capital, while it was historically Jerusalem was the capital of Palestine and must be the capital of their future homeland. Peace depends on resolving the issue of Jerusalem. Palestinians have lived in the West Bank under Israeli occupation since 1967. Israel has built settlements in the West Bank which house 400,000 Jews. These settlements are illegal under International law, which Israel disputes and ignores. These settlemen ts on what should be Palestinian land are also a major factor in the conflict today. Since 1967, negotiations have centered on retuning land to pre-1967 states as required by International law and United Nations resolutions. In the late 1980s began the first Palestinian uprising called the â€Å"Intifada†. The movement was initially non-violent but the media focused on the violence that did occur. Young Palestinians confronted Israeli troops with slingshots and stones and thousands were killed by the Israeli military. In 1993 another one-sided peace accord, the Oslo Peace Accord, provided that Israel recognize the PLO and gave them limited autonomy in return for peace and an end to Palestinian claims on Israeli territory. This was one-sided because Israel gained control of the land, water and other resources, and the Palestinians really did not gain anything. Many acts of violence have occurred over the years from both sides but with little results. The Palestinians are still without a nation, have limited rights and suffer from poverty. Israel continues to increase and expand settlements into occupied territories, and are willing to give up less and less land than they promised. The Palestinians have lived under military occupation for over thirty years. Frustration and anger against both the United States and the United Nations have resulted in extremism in some cases. These militant groups from Palestine and other Arab nations have engaged in acts they see as freedom fighting but that Israel, the United States and most of the world see as terrorism. In 2002, Israel began building a large security fence in the West Bank to stop terrorists from entering Israeli cities and settlements, this fence falls on Palestinian land. The International court says the barrier was illegal but construction continued. In 2003, the United States and Palestinians pushing for peace and a two-state resolution announced a cease-fire but Israel continued to assassinate militant leaders leading to Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli air strikes. In recent years, anger and frustration mount as poorer Palestinians find themselves with poorer and poorer land while Israel bulldozes their homes in an attempt to kill militant leaders more often killing innocent civilians including women and children. Israel has demanded that the Palestinian National Authority control the suicide bombers but then Israel bombs official buildings and compounds making it impossible for the Authority to control the terrorists. Israel is actually giving more power to the extremists such as Hamas and fueling their desire to destroy Israel. Hamas has gained power with the Palestinian people because although their means are terrorism and they are listed as a terrorist organization, Hamas spends most of its $70 million annual budget on extensive social programs. â€Å"Hamas funds schools, orphanages, mosques, health care clinics, soup kitchens, and sport leagues. Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural and educational activities.† The people depend on Hamas because the Palestinian Authority does not provide these services and because Hamas has a reputation for honesty compared to the corruption within the Palestinian Authority. The result of this conflict appears to be one-sided. The Israelis gained their homeland and the holy city of Jerusalem while Palestine lost its entire state and their holy city. Most Palestinians had their land taken, land which had been bought by or given to their ancestors and passed down through generations. The United States and other Western countries interest in the Middle East is and has been largely about oil. The United States military and financial support of Israel has been largely due to the oil to ensure a large, strong ally in the Middle East. However, the military and financial support has resulted in Israel having the strongest and most advanced military in the Middle East, which includes nuclear weapons. The United Nations has attempted many resolutions that have been critical of Israels inaction, and though the international community has been behind these resolutions, the United States vetoes them. Instead, there is more Israeli land expansion and settlements. There is no doubt in my mind that the original United Nations plan to divide the land to provide for the needs of both the Palestinians and the Jews. The United Nations plan has not been carried out, honored, or enforced by the United Nations or by the United States. Today the Palestinians are in the â€Å"wandering time† without a homeland. There is no way to end Israels responsibility in the conflict without eliminating the consequences of the â€Å"catastrophe† of the Palestinian people. The same conflict exists today because of the continued wars, occupation, aggression, and walls to glorify Israels independence and legitimacy while trying to eliminate Palestinians legitimate national rights, freedom, and independence.† One cannot exist without the other. United Nations resolutions enforcement and United States interventions could right an imbalance. In the quest for a Jewish homeland with the creation of Israel, there has been devastation of Palestinian live s. Historic Palestine was of its people whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim and they lived together in peace. Violence and force will not bring peace to either side. â€Å"Only a peaceful solution to the conflict based on mutual rights will put an end to the violence and suffering on both sides, and will lay down the foundations for the prosperity and well-being of the two peoples (Bisharat).† Shah, Anup. â€Å"The Middle East conflict—a brief background.† Global Issues, Updated: 30 Jul. 2006. Accessed: 08 May. 2010. http://www.globalissues.org/article/119/the-middle-east-conflict-a-brief-background>

Bioghraphy -- Emily Bronte :: essays research papers

Ita Cohen  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Marvin English  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  January 4, 2000 Biography Report of Emily Bronte   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In every author’s life, there is an event or sequence of childhood/ early adulthood events that have shaped the author’s life and general point of view. These events often color or influence the author’s outlook and filter their way into the author’s work. In Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, this is clearly shown.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . The reader sees an extraordinary inwardness in Emily Bronte’s book Wuthering Heights. Emily has a gloomy and isolated childhood. . Says Charlotte Bronte, â€Å" my sister’s disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favored and fostered her tendency to seclusion; except to go to church, or to take a walk on the hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home.†(Everit,24) That inwardness, that remarkable sense of the privacy of human experience, is clearly the essential vision of Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte saw the principal human conflict as one between the individual and the dark, questioning universe, a universe symbolized, in her novel, both by man’s threatening and hardly-to-be-controlled inner nature, and by nature in its more impersonal sense, the wild lonesome mystery of the moors. The love of Heathcliff and Catherine, in its purest form, expresses itself absolutely in its own terms. These terms may seem to a t ypical mind, violent, and even disgusting. But having been generated by that particular love, they are the proper expressions of it. The passionately private relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine makes no reference to any social convention or situation. Only when Cathy begins to be attracted to the well-mannered ways of Thrushcross Grange, she is led, through them, to abandon her true nature. Inwardness is also the key to the structure of the novel. The book begins in the year 1801, on the very rim of the tale, long after the principal incidents of the story have taken place. Mr. Lockwood, our guide, is very far removed from the central experiences of the narrative. Under Lockwood’s sadly unperceptive direction, the reader slowly begins to understand what is happening at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Gradually we move toward the center of the novel. In a few chapters, Nelly Dean, takes over from Lockwood, and the reader is a little closer to the truth. Still Nelly is herself unperceptive and the reader must struggle hard till reaching the center of the novel; the passionate last meeting of Heathcliff and Cathy in Chapter 15.

Groves and the Atomic Bomb :: Essays Papers

Groves and the Atomic Bomb â€Å"Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek,† said Mario Andretti, a famous racecar driver (FamousQuotes.com). When taking on a project or job, people must have a strong mind and heart to achieve their goal. People may face many obstacles, but leaders can find ways to rise above them with determination. In the end, those dedicated will succeed and accomplish their goals. With determination, General Groves managed to greatly aid the development of the atomic bomb. Leslie R. Groves was in charge of the Manhattan Project and authorized sites to be found for the production of the atomic bomb, which had to match his criteria. A site had to reach certain criteria in order for it to be made into a facility in helping to produce the atomic bomb. Part of Groves’ criteria was that a site had to be twenty miles from any town made up of a thousand people or more (Goldberg, Atomic 50). The reason a site had to be away from a large town was in case of an accident at the facility. Groves also said, â€Å"No main highway or railroad should be closer than 10 miles to the nearest pile or separation plant† (Groves 71). This criterion was important because no one should be able to get close to the site and wonder why it was being built. Altogether, specific criteria had to be met to protect the security of the atomic bomb project and to protect the people that lived around the area. Even though finding a perfect location site seemed dif ficult, Groves knew that it was possible to find a site that matched the specifications for an atomic bomb production site. Groves and his administration found land in Tennessee that matched the specific criteria. Groves acquired Oak Ridge, â€Å"59000 acres of Appalachian semiwilderness along the Clinch River in eastern Tennessee [†¦] for the Manhattan Engineer District as one of his first official acts† (Rhodes 486). This land was large enough to house a facility and was an acceptable distance away from other towns.

Pitbulls Essay -- essays research papers

Picture this for a second. You come home both mentally and physically exhausted after a strenuous day at school. All you want to do is watch TV and relax with your best friend. As you begin up the concrete cracked driveway, these thoughts linger in your mind. You push the key into the door handle but you notice something is wrong. There is no barking, no tail wagging, no sign of your best friend at the gate. All that is left is a notice on the front door explaining that your dog has been destroyed by the RSCPA. This is the outcome that many Queenslanders are facing for owning an American Pitbull Terrier. But it is not only APBT owners that are suffering from this ordeal, but owners that have dogs that even slightly resemble the APBT will be destroyed. This will soon become the case in Victoria if no one tries to save the name and true reputation of the APBT. I would appreciate if you forgot all the hysterics the media has put forward over time on this breed and listen to how it is not his fault if he escapes, is tort to attack or is put into the ring to fight to the death. The APBT does not deserve this reputation, this reputation has evolved from mans misdemeanors. Renewed calls for the eradication of the APBT were prompted by yet another seemingly endless dog attack. Yet when the public learn that these attacks are easily preventable and in almost every case, it is the owner’s irresponsible ownership which allows the gate open for these attacks to occur? The vicious kil...

Group Discussion

Introduction Discussions of any sort are supposed to help us develop a better perspective on issues by bringing out diverse view points. Whenever we exchange differing views on an issue,we get a clearer picture of the problem and are able to understand it. The understanding makes us better equipped to deal with the problem. This is precisely the main purpose of a discussion. The dictionary meaning of the word Group Discussion is to talk about a subject in detail. So,group discussion may refer to a communicative situation that allows its participants to express views and opinions and share with other participants.It is a systematic oral exchange of information,views and opinions about a topic,issue,problem or situation among members of a group who share certain common objectives. G D is essentially an interactive oral process. The group members need to listen to each other and use voice and gesture effectively,use clear language and persuasive style. GD is structured: the exchange of ideas in a GD takes place in a systematic and structured way. Each of the participants gets an opportunity to express his/her views and comments on the views expressed by other members of the group.GD involves a lot of group dynamics, that is, it involves both -person to person as well as group to group interactions. every group member has to develop a goal oriented or group oriented interaction. A participant needs to be aware of needs of other group members and overall objectives of the discussion. Definition: Group discussion may be defined as – a form of systematic and purposeful oral process characterized by the formal and structured exchange of views on a particular topic,issue,problem or situation for developing information and understanding essential for decision making or problem solving.Group Discussion and Other forms of Oral Communication There are several types of oral group communication. In Public Speaking,the speaker is evaluated by the audience;however there is not much interaction between audience and speaker. Audience,for the most part would only listen to the speaker. In the interview,a panel of members would assess the candidate for the requirement of selection or promotion etc. In meetings,there are discussions on issues mentioned in the agenda. Meetings may have multiple agenda.A chairperson conducts the meeting and controls and concludes the deliberations.. Group Discussion differs from debate in nature,approach and procedure. Debates include representation of two contrasting viewpoints while GD can include multiple views. A GD may help achieve group goals as well as individual needs. The examiner observes the personality traits of several candidates who participate in the G. D. Importance of Group Discussion skills A Group Discussion helps problem solving , decision making and personality assessment.Whether one is a student, a job seeker ,a professional engineer or a company executive one needs effective GD skills. Students need to participate in academic discussions, meetings, classroom sessions or selection GDs for admission to professional courses. A job-seeker may be required to face selection GDs as part of the selection process. Professionals have to participate in different meetings at the workplace . In all these situations, an ability to make a significant contribution to group deliberation and helping the group in the process of decision making is required.The importance of GD has increased in recent times due to its increasing role as an effective tool in a)problem solving b)decision making c)personality assessment. In any situation of problem, the perceptions of different people are discussed, possible solutions are suggested. The best option is chosen by the group. While taking a decision, the matter is discussed, analysed, interpreted and evaluated. While using GD as a tool for personality assessment, a topic-a problem, an opinion or a case – is given to the group consisting of eight t o ten members seated in a circle.The total time given for discussion is usually 30 minutes. Each candidate is expected to voice his opinion and offer counter arguments. The selection committee evaluates the candidates on the basis of their personality,knowledge,communication skills and leadership skills. Hence it is important to be able to take part in the GD effectively and confidently. Participants should know how to persuade their group members, how to reflect leadership qualities and how to make the group achieve its goal. Characteristics Of Successful Group DiscussionFor any group discussion to be successful,acheiving group goal is essential. Following characteristics are necessary: Having a clear objective: The participants need to know the purpose of group discussion so that they can concentrate during the discussion and contribute to achieving the group goal. An effective GD typically begins with a purpose stated by the initiator. Motivated Interaction: When there is a good level of motivation among the members, they learn to subordinate the personal interests to the group interest and the discussions are more fruitful.Logical Presentation: Participants decide how they will organise the presentation of individual views, how an exchange of the views will take place, and how they will reach a group consensus. If the mode of interaction is not decided, few of the members in the group may dominate the discussion and thus will make the entire process meaningless. Cordial Atmosphere: Development of a cooperative, friendly, and cordial atmosphere avoid the confrontation between the group members. Effective Communication skills: The success of a GD depends on an effective use of communication techniques.Like any other oral communication, clear pronounciation, simple language, right pitch are the pre-requisites of a GD. Non-verbal communication has to be paid attention to since means like body language convey a lot in any communication. Participation by all can didates: When all the members participate,the GD becomes effective. Members need to encourage each other in the GD. Leadership Skills: Qualities like initiation, logical presentation, encouraging all the group members to participate,summarizing the discussion reflect the leadership qualities. Evaluation in a GDIn any kind of GD, the aim is to judge the participants based on personality,knowledge,communicative ability to present the knowledge and leadership skills. Today team players are considered more important than individual contributors. Hence the potential to be a leader is evaluated and also ability to work in a team is tested. The evaluators generally assess the oral competence of a candidate in terms of team listening, appropriate language, clarity of expression, positive speech attitudes and adjustments, clear articulation, and effective non-verbal communication.Personality: Even before one starts communicating,impression is created by the appearance,the body language,eye-c ontact,mannerisms used etc. The attire of a participant creates an impression,hence it is essential to be dressed appropriately. The hairstyle also needs to suit the occassion. Other accessories also have to be suitable for the occasion. The facial expression helps to convey attitudes like optimism,self-confidence and friendliness. The body language, a non-verbal communication skill gives important cues to personality assessment.It includes the posture of a person, the eye-contact and overall manner in which one moves and acts. In the entire participation in the GD,the body language has an important role in the impact created. As non-verbal cues such as eye contact, body movements, gestures, facial expressions, and so on can speak louder than words, examiners closely watch the non-verbal behaviour of candidates. They generally evaluate the body language cues of candidates to determine personality factors such as nervousness, cooperation, frustration, weakness, insecurity, self-confi dence, defensiveness, and so forth.So, it is important to be careful while using non-verbal messages. However, one should recognise the power of non-verbal messages and use them effectively. Content: Content is a combination of knowledge and ability to create coherent, logical arguments on the basis of that knowledge. Also a balanced response is what is expected and not an emotional response. In a group discussion, greater the knowledge of the subject more confident and enthusiastic would be the participation. Participants need to have a fair amount of knowledge on a wide range of subjects.The discussion of the subject must be relevant, rational, convincing and appealing to the listeners. One needs to keep abreast with national and international news, political, scientific, economic, cultural events, key newsmakers etc. This has to be supplemented by one's own personal reasoning and analysis. People with depth and range of knowledge are always preferred by dynamic companies and orga nisations. The topics for GD tests may include interesting and relevant ideas pertaining to social, economic, political or environmental problems; controversial issues,innovations or case studies.To read daily newspapers, relevant magazines and periodicals, to watch news bulletins and informative programmes on television are is a simple ways to gather the general knowledge. One can use the Internet to improve one's knowledge about recent developments in different areas. Internet is a valuable source to acquire information along with mulitimedia form. Subject knowledge also includes the ability to analyse facts or information in a systematic way and to place them in the context of the framework of one’s personal experiences. For the expertise in the GD, the only way is to practice wherever one can.The other members can evaluate the performance and give suggestions. Communication Skills: First and foremost feature of communication skills is that it is a two way process. Hence t he communicator has to keep in mind the listeners and their expectations. The participants need to observe the group dynamics. Since GD tests one’s behavior as well as one’s influence on the group, formal language and mutual respect are obvious requirements. One may not take strong views in the beginning itself but wait and analyse the pros and cons of any situation. If one needs to disagree, learn to do so politely.One can directly put forward the personal viewpoint also. One may appreciate the good points made by others;can make a positive contribution by agreeing to and expanding an argument made by another participant. An idea can be appreciated only when expressed effectively. A leader or an administrator has the ability to put across the idea in an influential manner. Hence the participants in a group discussion must possess not only subject knowledge but also the ability to present that knowledge in an effective way. Since oral skills are used to put across the ideas, the ability to speak onfidently and convincingly makes a participant an impressive speaker. The members of the selection committee closely evaluate the oral communication skills of the candidates. The effective communication would imply use of correct grammar and vocabulary, using the right pitch, good voice quality, clear articulation, logical presentation of the ideas and above all, a positive attitude. It is expected that there are no errors of grammar or usage and that appropriate words, phrases etc. are used. One should try to use simple and specific language. One should avoid ornamental language.Clarity of expression is one of the important criteria of communication. When there is clarity of thinking, there is clarity in usage of language. Positive Speech Attitudes is another criterion of evaluation in the GD whereby the participant’s attitude towards listeners including other group members is judged. The temperament of the participant is also evaluated through t he speech pattern. Listening Skills: Lack of active listening is often a reason for failure of communication. In the GD, participants often forget that it is a group activity and not a solo performance as in elocution.By participating as an active listener, he/she may be able to contribute significantly to the group deliberations. The listening skills are closely linked to the leadership skills as well. Leadership Skills: The success of any group depends to a large extent upon the leader. One of the common misconceptions about leadership is that the leader is the one who controls the group. There are different approaches to the concept of leadership. By studying the personality traits of great leaders or actual dimensions of behavior to identify leadership one can learn to cultivate essential traits of leaders.In a GD, a participant with more knowledge, one who is confident,one who can find some solution to the problem and display initiative and responsibility will be identified as the leader. A candidate's success in a GD test will depend not only on his/her subject knowledge and oral skills but also on his/her ability to provide leadership to the group. Adaptability, analysis, assertiveness, composure, self-confidence, decision making, discretion, initiative, objectivity, patience, and persuasiveness are some of the leadership skills that are useful in proving oneself as a natural leader in a GD.The leader in a group discussion should be able to manage the group despite differences of opinion and steer the discussion to a logical conclusion within the fixed time limit. The examiners will assess whether each participant is a team player who can get along with people or an individualist who is always fighting to save his/her ego. Employers today look for candidates who can work in a team-oriented environment. GD participants need a number of team management skills in order to function effectively in a team. Some of the skills needed to manage a group effective ly include adaptability, positive attitude, cooperation, and coordination.In a selection GD, the group, which may consist of six to ten persons, is given a topic to discuss within 30 to 45 minutes. After announcing the topic, the total GD time, and explaining the general guidelines and procedures governing the GD, the examiner withdraws to the background leaving the group completely free to carry on with the discussion on its own without any outside interference. In the absence of a designated leader to initiate the proceedings of the discussion, the group is likely to waste time in cross talks, low-key conversations, cross-consultations, asides, and so on.The confusion may last until someone in the group takes an assertive position and restores the chaos into order. It could be any candidate. In order to get the GD started, the assertive, natural leader will have to remind the group of its goal and request them to start the discussion without wasting time. A few examples of the ope ning lines are given below: †¢ Well friends, may I request your kind attention? I am sure all of us are keen to begin the GD and complete it within the allotted time. Let me remind you that we have only thirty minutes to complete the task. So, let us get started. My dear friends, may I have your attention please? As you all know, we have to complete the discussion in 45 minutes and we have already used up five minutes. I think we should start the discussion now. Hello everybody. I am sorry to interrupt but I have something very important to say. We are here to discuss the topic — † Human cloning should be banned. â€Å"—and the time given to us is just 30 minutes. Let us begin, shall we? Leadership functions during a GD include initiative,analysis,assertiveness and so on. GD doesnot have a formal leader, hence one of the participants is xpected to take the initiative. The leader will promote positive group interactions; point out areas of agreement and disa greement;. help keep the discussion on the right track and lead the discussion to a positive and successful conclusion within the stipulated time. The ability to analyse a situation is a quality of leadership. Analytical skills and objectivity in expressing opinions are absolute requirements for leadership. With patience and composure one can develop the analytical skills. Reaching consensus by considering the group opinion will make the GD successful.Assertiveness, that is an ability to bring order to the group by handling the conflict is another desirable quality of leadership. Self confidence is a quality which helps win the agreement from other participants. In GD, participants can make a favourable and forceful impact on the group by being persuasive and convincing. In order to be persuasive, one has to advance strong, convincing, and logical arguments properly supported by factual data and forceful illustrations. A firm tone and a sober voice would also help in establishing on eself.A leader's ability to convince others and make them accept his/her views and suggestions will establish his/her credentials for leadership. Leaders are charactrerised by a high level of motivation and can motivate others too. A person with motivation can work hard to do the best job possible and can achieve targets. Team Management skills are important for a leader to manage the members of varied interests. Some of the skills needed to manage a group effectively include adaptability, positive attitude, cooperation, and coordination. Try this quiz