Human resources: Job Examples Essay

Respond to the following: Give examples of jobs that you believe rate highly on the five core job characteristics and explain why. During my research I feel that teachers rate highly on the five core job characteristics. Skill Variety: This means there is a perceived variety and complexity of skills and talents required to perform the job. * A teacher motivated by Skill Variety may say something like this: â€Å"People don’t understand what I do. They think I just grade homework, give tests, and enter grades.† Task Identity: Which means the teacher perceives her work’s place in the district’s larger plan. * A teacher motivated by task identity may make comments like this: â€Å"I work in a good school district. Our students graduate with a solid education.† Task Significance: The job is perceived to affect the well-being of others. * Teachers know that their work is important, but it doesn’t hurt to have others agree occasionally. The teacher with the â€Å"If you can read this, thank a teacher,† bumper sticker on his car is motivated by Task Significance. Autonomy: The teacher perceives an opportunity to employ personal initiative in order to do the work. * In an era when laws, standards, and political agendas dictate what needs to happen in the classroom, teachers feel less control over what they can do. The teacher motivated by autonomy may exclaim, â€Å"I am a professional. I know what it takes to do my job.† Feedback from the Job: The teacher feels that he gets accurate information about his job performance. * Everyone likes a job well done. A teacher who is motivated by feedback will talk about student performance saying things like, â€Å"Look at how well my students are doing. Respond to the following: Describe considerations for Sportsman’s human resource management practices following its shift in competitive strategy. The HRM practices will help support the company’s competitive strategy. Sportman’s is trying to sale the shoes at a lower cost compared to the competitors and still make a great profit. The HRM will be the orchestrator and will get the ball rolling. The main idea of HRM is to distribute the functions of personnel department over a large amount of people making everybody responsible for something and decreasing the costs. The human resource management is very useful for  companies to achieve their goals. Describe the kinds of challenges Sportsman will face specifically in the area of compensation. Assess these challenges, indicate which one will be the most important, and explain why. Sportsman will face challenges in many areas such as, putting the right person in the right job. This would be for the current employees. Since the current employees have already been employed with the company they now could possibly be in a new role. Sportsman would have to offer seniority pay for the employees that are currently working for the company and for the new hires Sportsman would probably offer some type of incentive pay that will welcome the new hires to the company.

Doe Season

Doe Season In the short story Doe season, David Kaplan creates a character named Andrea, who would rather be called Andy. Doe Season is not simply a story about a young girl’s hunting trip with her father and friends. During the few days that Andy is on the hunting trip, she takes an incredible journey trying to find out who she really is. Usually, hunting deer is an event reserved for young men and their fathers. Yet, it is through this outing that Andy experiences a rite of passage into womanhood. All through her life Andy has acknowledged herself as being able to relate to male figures and being more similar to her father than her mother.Andy is a young girl who enters the world of a boy's rite of passage to adulthood, experiences an internal journey through the group’s teasing, the killing of the doe, and the transformation of changing from Andy to Andrea. As Andy reflects on past journeys, the family trip to the beach stands out in her mind. She is very uncomfortab le with her feminine side. Unlike her mother, Andy and her father were both nervous in the ocean. Her mother swam and splashed with animal-like delight while her father smiling shyly, held his white arms above the waist-deep water as if afraid to get them wet (513).Andy associates more readily with her father. The naturalness of womanhood only makes Andy uncomfortable. After her mother’s top falls down in the ocean, Andy is embarrassed and quickly looks around to see if anyone has noticed (514). â€Å"The nipples like two dark eyes,† symbolizes Andy’s feelings that being feminine is similar to being grotesque instead of having elegant and beautiful qualities. Yet, this whole time Andy is unconcerned if anyone has noticed how foolish her father must look in the water trying to stay dry (514).In the beginning of the story, there is emphasis on the woods always remaining the same. The woods stretch inevitably and offer a sense of security and safety. Even while hun ting, the same woods lead back toward home where Andy’s mother is waiting for them. She is there and we are here, the thought satisfied Andy (511). When Mac, Charlie’s son, mentions to Andy that Canada is nearby, Andy rejects the idea. These same woods could not possibly go to a foreign country that is not part of home. Just as Andy is emerging into a new person, the woods around her are no longer the same s they were when she originally left home by the end of the journey. Both Charlie and Mac do not like, nor understand the idea that Andy is coming along on their hunting trip to the Pennsylvania countryside. Charlie continually questioning Andy’s father: Charlie Spoon was driving. â€Å"I don’t understand why she’s coming,† he said to her father. â€Å"How old is she anyway—eight? † â€Å"Nine,† her father replied. â€Å"She’s small for her age. † â€Å"So—nine. What’s the difference? Sheâ €™ll just add to the noise and get tired besides† (511). This goes to show that Charlie does not believe that girls or women should go hunting.He does not think that Andy is capable of keeping up with the men, this is very stereotypical. Culture has changed and it is now acceptable for women to go hunting and do outdoor activities. There are many women and girls who go hunting with their fathers in today’s world, but there are still men that think it’s a man’s job. Andy’s father does not see a problem with Andy going hanging with the guys. He sticks up for her every time Charlie and Mac ask why she’s coming with. When Charlie repeatedly stated that he didn’t understand why she was coming, Andy’s father says, â€Å"She can walk me to death.And she’ll bring good luck, you’ll see† (511). He is okay with Andy coming along because she wants too. He sees no difference between him and Andy going hunting than Ch arlie and Mac. Doe Season ends with Andy watching â€Å"her father’s knife sliced thickly from chest to bell to crotch† (521). When Andy’s father begins to gut the deer, Andy has an epiphany. She realizes that, no matter how much she tries, she cannot become part of the male society. She then runs away from everyone. This gesture of turning her back and fleeing from her male companions shows that she finally accepts the fact that she is different from men.The transformation within her is already complete. Then she listens to the sound of the wind which aptly reminds her of the â€Å"terrible, now inevitable sea† (521). The sea now becomes inevitable, owing to the fact the she recognizes she can no longer deny her true identity. She turns from the woods. Which suddenly became strange to her, to the calling ocean, heeding her real destiny- that of becoming a woman. Work Cited Kaplan, David Michael. Doe Season. Literature. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writ ing. EdLaurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 511-521. Print. Doe Season Doe Season In the short story Doe season, David Kaplan creates a character named Andrea, who would rather be called Andy. Doe Season is not simply a story about a young girl’s hunting trip with her father and friends. During the few days that Andy is on the hunting trip, she takes an incredible journey trying to find out who she really is. Usually, hunting deer is an event reserved for young men and their fathers. Yet, it is through this outing that Andy experiences a rite of passage into womanhood. All through her life Andy has acknowledged herself as being able to relate to male figures and being more similar to her father than her mother.Andy is a young girl who enters the world of a boy's rite of passage to adulthood, experiences an internal journey through the group’s teasing, the killing of the doe, and the transformation of changing from Andy to Andrea. As Andy reflects on past journeys, the family trip to the beach stands out in her mind. She is very uncomfortab le with her feminine side. Unlike her mother, Andy and her father were both nervous in the ocean. Her mother swam and splashed with animal-like delight while her father smiling shyly, held his white arms above the waist-deep water as if afraid to get them wet (513).Andy associates more readily with her father. The naturalness of womanhood only makes Andy uncomfortable. After her mother’s top falls down in the ocean, Andy is embarrassed and quickly looks around to see if anyone has noticed (514). â€Å"The nipples like two dark eyes,† symbolizes Andy’s feelings that being feminine is similar to being grotesque instead of having elegant and beautiful qualities. Yet, this whole time Andy is unconcerned if anyone has noticed how foolish her father must look in the water trying to stay dry (514).In the beginning of the story, there is emphasis on the woods always remaining the same. The woods stretch inevitably and offer a sense of security and safety. Even while hun ting, the same woods lead back toward home where Andy’s mother is waiting for them. She is there and we are here, the thought satisfied Andy (511). When Mac, Charlie’s son, mentions to Andy that Canada is nearby, Andy rejects the idea. These same woods could not possibly go to a foreign country that is not part of home. Just as Andy is emerging into a new person, the woods around her are no longer the same s they were when she originally left home by the end of the journey. Both Charlie and Mac do not like, nor understand the idea that Andy is coming along on their hunting trip to the Pennsylvania countryside. Charlie continually questioning Andy’s father: Charlie Spoon was driving. â€Å"I don’t understand why she’s coming,† he said to her father. â€Å"How old is she anyway—eight? † â€Å"Nine,† her father replied. â€Å"She’s small for her age. † â€Å"So—nine. What’s the difference? Sheâ €™ll just add to the noise and get tired besides† (511). This goes to show that Charlie does not believe that girls or women should go hunting.He does not think that Andy is capable of keeping up with the men, this is very stereotypical. Culture has changed and it is now acceptable for women to go hunting and do outdoor activities. There are many women and girls who go hunting with their fathers in today’s world, but there are still men that think it’s a man’s job. Andy’s father does not see a problem with Andy going hanging with the guys. He sticks up for her every time Charlie and Mac ask why she’s coming with. When Charlie repeatedly stated that he didn’t understand why she was coming, Andy’s father says, â€Å"She can walk me to death.And she’ll bring good luck, you’ll see† (511). He is okay with Andy coming along because she wants too. He sees no difference between him and Andy going hunting than Ch arlie and Mac. Doe Season ends with Andy watching â€Å"her father’s knife sliced thickly from chest to bell to crotch† (521). When Andy’s father begins to gut the deer, Andy has an epiphany. She realizes that, no matter how much she tries, she cannot become part of the male society. She then runs away from everyone. This gesture of turning her back and fleeing from her male companions shows that she finally accepts the fact that she is different from men.The transformation within her is already complete. Then she listens to the sound of the wind which aptly reminds her of the â€Å"terrible, now inevitable sea† (521). The sea now becomes inevitable, owing to the fact the she recognizes she can no longer deny her true identity. She turns from the woods. Which suddenly became strange to her, to the calling ocean, heeding her real destiny- that of becoming a woman. Work Cited Kaplan, David Michael. Doe Season. Literature. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writ ing. EdLaurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 511-521. Print.

African American Reconstruction African American History

Once freed, African Americans believed that the rights of a citizen were granted to them. They truthfully believed this because after a brutally fought war, basic rights such as education, land, and employment were so modest, they were undeniable. Even though they were proclaimed as free, their place is society remained unaffected. The Freedmen's Bureau became one of the earlier agencies to provide support for newly freedmen. The agency offered education, advice and protection to its members. The most significant asset of the bureau was education. The literacy rate of African Americans rose about twenty percent due to the organization. Some freedmen even attended colleges to earn degrees. Many white Southerners viewed the African American attempt at education as a waste of time. They condemned the efforts of their social improvement. With much criticism by racist whites and inadequate funds, the Freedmen's Bureau concluded by 1872 injuring African American hopes of social equality. Another goal of African Americans was the ownership of land. To the freedmen, land ownership was equivalent to economic independency. However, they were mistaken. Economic independency was an unrealistic goal in the southern environment. As former slaves, African Americans were very familiar to the agricultural life style. As a result of Sherman's raids across the south, large plots of land were left uninhabited. Vast amounts of freedmen took the opportunity to occupy these lands. In 1866, Congress also passed the Southern Homestead Act giving African Americans access to public lands in five southern states. Contrary to what the freedmen believed, land ownership did not ensure financial success. Most land owned by African Americans was small and had an inferior value compared to white farms.

Creating a Science Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Creating a Science Center - Essay Example The following information is derived from assessments that were conducted on three separate elementary classrooms. These evaluations were performed on the science centers of a Kindergarten, Third, and Fifth grade classroom. The first classroom science center that was evaluated was for a Kindergarten class at a local school. Kindergarten The Kindergarten classroom assessed had math centers and writing centers; however, no specified center for science. Even though there were several posters and charts on the wall pertaining to scientific information there were no project tables or observation areas, other than the window sill and a teacher’s work table. Several books on plants, animals, the Earth, and so forth were present; however, they were located in the same area as the other reading materials for other subjects and/or general reading. Materials such as magnifying glasses and measuring cups were in the classroom, but again, not in a specified science area. Although, the science material was minimal in this classroom and there was no science center, the student’s needs were still met by the materials that were brought in by the teacher on an â€Å"as needed†

Gods True Prayer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gods True Prayer - Essay Example The prayer also indicates that for this relationship with Jesus to work, the Believers necessarily ought to continue to accept the truth of the message by heart and follow or imitate Christ’s righteousness sincerely. This is a way of truly knowing who belong to the Father and deserve to be with Him in the eternal life after death by the time Judgment comes. 2. What does this prayer tell us about the Believers relationship to the world? Based on this prayer, the Believers do not actually belong to the world forever. Besides being in the world temporarily to come to discover God-endowed human potentials and to appreciate His creation, the world serves as a ground where men are exposed to the physical matter, as opposed to the spiritual so that they may eventually be able to distinguish the divine nature from the human nature and the wonders of faith or forming convictions without having to see in reality Whom one has developed faith with. So in other words, the Earth becomes a p lace of huge significance as it puts each Believer’s faith to test through worldly temptations then filters who among those who initially follow Christ would be his disciple until the end. The world is a representation of what humans are prior to knowledge of God by faith. It signifies weakness of human nature or that which usually cuts the fellowship of Believers in God’s community. If one is ‘of the world’ and could not leave his material possessions behind in exchange of entering God’s kingdom, it is then impossible to be with God since His nature is divine or spiritual and is not in any way made of anything out of the world. 3. What does this prayer tell us about the Believers relationship to the Father? As he utters ‘I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them’ (John 17:26), Jesus similarly desires for the Bible readers to understand that the Believers belong to the Father as His children. Thus, he is given the essential mission of making Him known to the world so that the world may know that He is the Father in return. God expresses His unconditional love toward the Believers, being their Creator and Father who possesses immeasurable abundance in power, mercy, grace, and wisdom which He has constantly imparted mankind to this point due to His unfailing love despite man’s shortfall. Through ‘The High Priestly Prayer of Christ’, Jesus addresses the essence of establishing a relationship with God through Christ that goes beyond mere church traditions. The substance of the prayer calls for righteousness other than fulfilling religious obligations or that to a deeper extent, the Believers are anticipated to genuinely love God back for it is His desire as well for the world to comprehend that He is not a distant being or entity who only punishes the ‘evil’ and rewards the à ¢â‚¬Ëœgood’. Rather, due to the full measure of His love, He does not keep records of wrongs regardless of the number of times sins are committed thus, with an overflowing grace and compassion, He is the Father who is ready to forgive or redeem an unrighteous

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

Organizational Managment - Essay Example This is because social media like facebook and twitter or even skype is the way to capture the attention of a larger group of people especially the youth and hence making it easier to know their thoughts and even challenges and way forward suggestions about health care in general. There are however also challenges and especially concerning the use of technology and social media. One of the greatest challenges is that of confidentiality which should be a priority where QI in health care is involved. There is also risk of the systems being hacked and sensitive health care information falling into the wrong hands. The other challenge is that with new changes in the QI of health care sector, there are required resources in terms of technicians qualified to handle these changes and also monetary resources to install the new systems and to advertise or even collect information over the social media. More time will therefore be necessary for the above to be completed and this may affect the current QI process in place (Sollecito and Johnson,

Finance and Accounting Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Finance and Accounting - Term Paper Example SwissChoc SA (owned by a family friend) is prepared to give him exclusive rights to sell their products in the USA for a ten year period in return for an upfront payment. â€Å"The distributor is an independent selling agent who has a contract to sell the products of a manufacturer. The distributor cannot represent him- or herself as the producer but may display the producer's trade name in signage and in the sales situation† (US Legal, 2012). Since the information provided is not adequate, we have to make certain reasonable assumptions while working out the statements required in this respect. However, the lack of details in these areas is not materially going to affect the reliability of the statements. The assumptions made in this connection have been stated in the report to enable the user to bring in additional details, if it is felt necessary to have a more detailed report on the project. There is uncertainty in the price front as the details given with regard to prices at which the product could be sold are not specific. Instead George has given a price range with minimum and maximum prices for the products to be marketed. There are difficulties in predicting the correct prices due to interplay of the brands, price levels (cheap and costly with various price levels in between), market segments, tastes and flavors. Therefore, sensitivity analysis has been undertaken to highlight impacts due to variations in price realization with justifications for adopting a particular method for working out the reasonable upfront fee payable to the manufacturer – supplier SwissChoc SA and the return on investment that could be expected from the business venture of George. Cash flow statement for the first year of operations In The Statement – I, â€Å"Cash flow statement for the first year of the operations of Mr. George†, while considering various factors contributing to the cash flow, both in flow and out flow we have made certain assumptio ns after carefully considering various implications related to the business. Sale Price: The sale price is considered at $ 135 per kilogram of the chocolate. This is the mean price as per the price range given by George adopted for the purpose of our calculations. The mean price is worked out as below. Highest price = $ 150 Lowest price = $ 120 Average price adopted for calculation = (Highest price + Lowest price)/2 or (150 + 120) / 2 = 135. The chocolates are consumed mostly by the college and school going students. If the tastes and flavors are acceptable to them pricing is not going to be a prohibiting factor in taking a buying decision by them. Since George is an experienced person with business school background along with his wife, his price estimates should be realistic. Moreover, the Swiss made chocolates are reputed for their taste and quality. Therefore, there will not be any resistance from the parents for their children eating these chocolates. The price comparison for t his product would be very difficult as in the case of other fast moving consumer goods with different brands and varieties. The George’s internet business model by marketing completely through credit cards means that the people targeted are high end and sophisticated customers, where the quality and service are more important rather than the price. Therefore, adopting the average price, if not the highest price would be very reasonable. Capital account of George: The amount shown under capital

Discuss how Napoleon and his General Staff took centuries of Essay

Discuss how Napoleon and his General Staff took centuries of monolithic parade units and redefined the protective units both as bodyguard and elite maneuver units - Essay Example n and brilliant mind that resulted in the imposition of rigid admission criteria for Imperial guardsmen, and he also trained them to handle rotating functions. Napoleon is a marvelously bright hands-on leader, devoted to his general staff, who exercised his power with nobility and personally attended to the needs of his staff. â€Å"Napoleon’s personal supervision of even the most mundane matters - such as the quality of ration bread - served to deepen the reciprocal affection between Emperor and Guard† (Haythornthwaite and Hook 7). During the Napoleonic wars, protective units, such as bodyguard and elite maneuver, have duties to save the French empire of Napoleon; however, these units are redefined through the expansion of roles. The authentic definition is to guarantee Napoleon’s safety, but this is predefined from a personal guard to a major combat force that is always prepared for the invasion. Napoleon believed that war is not a preset engagement, but it is an affair where a quick decision to fight is the way to victory (Griess 33). Thus, his protective units are given the role to be employed and politically involved in establishing personal links with foreign allies. The units are not just reserved to fight, but these are the instruments used to tame the enemies by giving them positions in protective

Code of Ethics Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Code of Ethics Paper - Essay Example business, if only to function as risk-management mechanisms; included here is the designing of conformity codes and course of action, or more popularly known as code of conduct or ethics (Baker 2006: p. 46). Regardless whether they are referred to as codes of conduct, codes of ethics or any other terms, the community nowadays expects professional and business organizations to possess codes that determine the guiding standards and norms of proper behavior demanded of their constituents. It is all the time more usual for individual business enterprises to also acknowledge the advantages of having these particular codes, advantages that are functional not merely to the businesses themselves but as well as to the personnel of those organizations, and to their shareholders. The progress of a code of ethics within a business organization is fragment of an essential communication mechanism. It facilitates management to put emphasis to the employees of the company the norms of behavior which they should abide by. It provides regulation and direction to employees who are faced with difficult decisions-making problems while carrying out their tasks; thereby it contributes to the creation of a suitable moral environment within the organization. As such, it can function as a tool for the assimilation of new employees into the principles of the company. General Electric, one of the most successful corporations in the world, has issued one set of policies to put into effect its Code of Conduct and to lend a hand of integrity to GE personnel all over the world. The fundamental duties of all employees and managers, consequences and penalties for infringements and how to deal with an integrity problem are discussed in their booklet. Nevertheless, the following are the principles embedded in GE’s code of conduct (General Electric 2004: p. 3): These policies should be obeyed by GE directors, officer, employees, subsidiaries and other controlled affiliates, non-controlled

China, an Engine of Growth, Faces a Global Slump Essay Example for Free

China, an Engine of Growth, Faces a Global Slump Essay Yardley, J. , Bradsher, K. (2008). China, an Engine of Growth, Faces a Global Slump. New York Times, October 23, p. A6. In the article Yardley and Bradsher discuss China’s’ economic and financial slump caused by the global financial crisis. For three decades China has been one of the most powerful and promising countries in the world. The country has managed to booster its economic development due to flood of low-priced exports. However, global crisis negatively affects the country that faces the possibility of global recession. The question is whether the ruling Communist Party is able to prevent global financial crisis and to support China’s economic miracle. Economists and analysts say that China’s economic development plays crucial role for economies of the United States and European countries as they face serious downturns. Nonetheless, Chinese economic model is to be recalibrated, domestic investments are be stricken with government spending, and policies aimed at increasing consumer demand are to be promoted. China is in need of better health care network, improvements in social safety network, and lower fees for education establishments. Chinese government claims that global crisis insulates country’s financial system and, thus, leaders argue country’s banks would remain domestically concentrated. The overall economic growth has decreased, unemployment rates have increased and many factories have closed export region. China is recommended to use its foreign reserves for purchasing stocks in European as it gives China an excellent opportunity to gain more experience in global business. Some researcher say that America’s decline is inevitable and if China is prepared to manage it, it will be ready to stand as a superpower. In its turns, China isn’t willing to be considered as a replacement of the USA as it is still a developing country with more foreign reserves and more problems than other countries.

Groups And Group Development Commerce Essay

Groups And Group Development Commerce Essay Many people used the word team and group interchangeably, but there are actually a differences between the word team and group. It is much easier to form a group than a team. In group, they could be grouped according to gender, experience, age or other common factors. Although the effectiveness of the group may be variable, but forming a group just based on a certain commonality is not particularly difficult. A groups strength may come from sheer volume or willingness to carry out a single leaders commands. On the other hand, a team can be more difficult to form. The members will selected for their complementary skills, not a single commonality. In a team, each member has a purpose and a function. So the overall success depends on a functional interpersonal dynamic. When working together in this way, there is usually not as much room for conflict. A teams strength depends on the commonality of purpose and interconnectivity between individual members. GROUPS AND GROUP DEVELOPMENT Although most groups arent formed for such dishonest purposes, the success of this group at its task was impressive (Stephen and Mary, 2007). Managers would like their groups to be successful at their tasks and the first step is understanding what is a group and how its develop. 2.1 Group Definition According to Stephen and Mary (2009), a group can be defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals. . Although a groups often have goals, but theres not state that group members must share a goal or motivation. 2.2 Types of Group There are two types of group which is formal group and informal group. Formal group will designated work assignments and specific tasks directed at accomplishing organizational goals and defined by an organizations structure. There are four examples of formal work groups ( Sidin J.P, 2011) : Command group groups that are determined by the organization chart and composed of individuals who report directly to a given manager. Task group groups composed of individuals brought together to complete a specific job task. Cross-functional teams groups that bring together the knowledge and skills of individuals various work areas of groups whose members have been trained to do each others job. Self-managed teams groups that are essentially independent and that, in addition to their own tasks, take on traditional managerial responsibilities, such as hiring, planning and scheduling, and evaluating performance. While informal groups are group-based social elements. These groups occur naturally in the workplace and is more concerned with friendship and common interests. A friendship group is friend who do many activities together and it is relatively permanent and informal, and its benefits from the social relationship among its members. Meanwhile, the common interest such as bowling group and womens network is relatively temporary and is organized around an activity or interest shared by its members. 2.3 Stage of Group Development http://gmx.xmu.edu.cn/ews/business/management/ABrobbins4_15_09.gif Exhibit 2.1 Stage of Group Development ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) 2.3.1 forming Forming stage is the first stage in group development. This stage has two phases. In a formal group, people join because of some work assignment. The second phase begins when the people joined the formal group. Then these people define the groups purpose, structure, and leadership. This stage is complete when members begin to think of themselves as part of a group. 2.3.2 storming When group members get to know each other better, the storming stage begins. This storming stage named because of the intragroup conflict that occurs over who will control the group and what the group needs to be doing. This stage is characterized by a bid for power. There are six characteristics of the storming stage which is competition, strained relationships, leader is challenged, tension and disunity, differences are uncomfortable, and the issues of autonomy vs. control support vs. competition influence decision-making. When this stage is complete, there is a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership and agreement on the groups direction. 2.3.3 norming The norming stage is one in which close relationship develop and the group become cohesive and has begun to be effective. Theres now a strong sense of group identity and camaraderie. This stage will be complete when the group structure has been assimilated as a common set of expectations about behavior and become solid. There are some characteristics about this stage : Issues of strengthening relationships, open communication, positive/constructive feedback. Increased cohesion Emerging trust More collaboration Appreciation of differences 2.3.4 performing The fourth stage of group development is performing. Many groups never reach the performing stage. Â  This is the stage at which would be an excellent customer service and to create an impressive examples. The group structure is in place and accepted by group members. In this stage, characteristics include productivity, full development of the potential of the group and the individuals in the group, harmony and effective problem-solving. This is the last stage of development for permanent work groups. 2.3.5 adjourning The final stage is adjourning. In this stage, the group prepares to disband. Group members will react in some way that is independent of a confident and excited about the performance of their group. While, others may be sad over the loss of camaraderie and friendship. Thats why more attention is focused on wrapping activities rather than task performance. WORK GROUP PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION A work group is include the organizations strategy, authority relationships, formal rules and regulations, the availability of resources, employee selection criteria, the performance management system and culture, and the general physical layout of the groups work space. Thats mean a work group was affected by external conditions (Stephen and Mary, 2009).Exhibit 3.1 Group Performance Satisfaction Model (Sidin J. P. , 2011) 3.1 Group Member Resources Group member resources is a groups performance potential that depends on a large extent on the resources each individual brings that group. These resources include personality traits, knowledge, skills, and abilities. They will determine what members can do and how effectively they perform in that group. There especially conflict management and resolution, communication, and collaborative problem solving in interpersonal skills. Its consistently emerge as important to perform well in a work group. The group performance also affected by personality traits because they strongly influence how an individual will interact with the other group members. 3.2 Group Structure Work group arent unorganized crowds. They have an internal structure that shapes members behavior and influences group performance. The structure defines roles, norms, conformity, status systems, group size, group cohesiveness, and leadership. Roles A role refers to behavior patterns expected of someone occupying a given position in a social unit. In an organization, managers arent the only one individual who play the various roles. In a group, individuals are expected to do certain things because of their position in the group. Besides that, the different expectations of these roles, make the employees face role conflict. 3.2.2 Norms All groups have norms. A norm is a standards or expectations that are accepted and shared by a groups members (Stephen and Mary,2009). Norms that exist within the group structure emphasizes such things as punctuality, work output, absenteeism, speed to complete the work, and the amount of socializing at work. Norms that exist within the group structure will enhance the action of antisocial individuals. Conformity Each individual would like to be accepted by the society around. As well as individuals who are in a group in the organization. However, they are too afraid not accepted by other group members, then the vulnerability pressure to conform. Early experiments done by Solomon Asch demonstrated the impact of the conformity has on an individuals attitudes and judgment. Next, people tend to find it more pleasant to agree than to be disruptive even it will improve the groups effectiveness. So we conform. But conformity can go too far when an individuals opinion differs significant from the others in that group. When this happens, a phenomenon that known as groupthink will appear. Groupthink will occur when there is a clear identity, group perceives a collective threat to positive image and members will hold this positive group image that they want to protect. Exhibit 3.2 Examples of Aschs Cards ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Status Systems Status systems are an important factor in understanding groups. Status is a position, rank within a group and a prestige grading. Status can be formally and informally. Status is formally and its important to employees believe that the organizations formal status systems is congruent. Theres consistency between the status symbols he or she receives from the organization and the perceived ranking of an individual. While, the informally of the status systems is may be conferred by characteristic such as skill, education, or experiences. Anything can have status value if the members of the group evaluate it that way. Group members have no problem to placing into status category. Usually the group members will agree about who has low or high status. Group Size According to Moorhead and Griffin (2001), group size is the number of members of the group and have an important effect on performance. Group size will affect the number of resources available to perform the task, but the effect depends on what the group is supposed to accomplish. One important research finding related to group size concerns social loafing ( Stephen and Mary,2009). Social loafing is the tendency of some members of groups to put forth less effort in a group than they would when work alone. The implications of social loafing are significant. When managers use groups, they must identify the individual effort. If not, group productivity and individual satisfaction may decline. Group Cohesiveness According to Moorhead and Griffin (2001), group cohesiveness is the extent to which a group is committed to remaining together. Group cohesiveness very important because its related with a groups productivity. Some research has generally shown that cohesive groups are more effective than less cohesive ones (Stephen and Mary, 2009) and the relationship between cohesiveness and effectiveness is complex. The more the members follow its goal, the more cohesive for that group. A cohesive group is more productive than a less cohesive group when the goals are desirable. But, the productivity will decrease when the cohesiveness is high and attitudes are unfavorable. In this case, theres no significant effect on productivity when cohesiveness is low and goals are not supported. Exhibit 3.3 Group Cohesiveness and Productivity ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Group Processes Group processes are important to understanding work group because they will influence the performance and satisfaction positively or negatively. The synergy of four people on marketing research team who are able to generate more ideas than work individually is an example of positive process factor. While, the group that have negative process factor such as social loafing, poor communication and high levels of conflict, that may hinder the effectiveness of the group. There are two important group process : Group decision-making Its an organization that doesnt use task forces, review panels, study team or other similar groups to making a decision. In group decision-making, there are such of advantage to do it. Some of that is groups can generate more knowledge and compete information for their work. Besides that, they will have an experience when work in group to make a decision process that an individual cannot. In addition, groups will increase legitimacy. Decision made in a group more legitimacy than decisions that made by self. While, the disadvantage to do this group decision-making is that almost group always take more time to reach a solution than would an individual. Another disadvantage is the critical thinking that group think can determine will harm the quality of final decision. If we want to determine whether groups are effective at making decision, it depends on the criteria that used to assess effectiveness. The group decision may work best when its creativity, accuracy, and degree of acceptan ce are important. Beside of that, the decision effectiveness is influenced by the group size. Exhibit 3.4 Creative Group Decision Making ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) Conflict management Conflict is perceived incompatible differences that result in interference or opposition (Stephen and Mary, 2009). In conflict management, there are three different views such as traditional view of conflict, human relations view of conflict, and interactionist view of conflict. The traditional view of conflict is the view that all conflict is bad and must be avoided. Meanwhile, the human relations view of conflict is the conflict that is natural and inevitable outcome in any group but has potential to be positive force in contributing to a groups performance. The interactionist view of conflict is the most recent view. Its proposes that not only be a positive force in a group, but some conflict is absolutely necessary for the group to perform effectively. Exhibit 3.5 Conflict and Group Performance (Sidin J. P. , 2011) There are more conflict such as functional conflicts, dysfunctional conflicts, task conflicts, relationship conflicts, and process conflict because the interactionist view doesnt suggest that all conflicts are good. Exhibit 3.6 Conflict- management Techniques ( Sidin J.P, 2011) 3.3 Group Task Group task are either simple and complex. Simple task are standardized and routine. While, complex task tends non-routine or to be novel. Its appear when the more group benefits from group discussion about alternative work methods, so the more complex of that tasks. In this situation, group members will rely on standard operating procedures and no need to discuss such alternatives for a simple task. Thus, the tasks are complex and interdependent when effective communication and controlled conflict are most relevant to group performance. 4.0 TURNING GROUPS INTO EFFECTIVE TEAMS From group there will turning to teams. In teams all of the members will working together to achieve the common goals. A team is not just a people who work at the same time in the same place. Most of the people that work in a team are not all equal in talent, education, or experience, but they are equal in one vitally important way. Team relationships fulfill that basic needs. 4.1 Teams Definition According to Williams (2007), work team is a small number of people that work together with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, improving interdependent work processes and achieving performance goals. In many industries, teams are importance because they help organizations respond to challenges and specific problems. 4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Work Team In work as a team, there will have a lot of advantages and disadvantages. The advantages when work as a team is: Improved customer satisfaction Improved product and services quality Improved speed and efficiency in product development Employee job satisfaction Better decision making and problem solving Meanwhile, the disadvantages of work as a team is : Initially high employee turnover Social loafing Disadvantages of group decision such as groupthink, inefficient meetings, domination by a minority, and lack of accountability. 4.3 Groups Versus Teams Work teams Work groups Leadership role is shared. One leader clearly in charge. Accountable to self and team. Accountable only to self. Team creates specific purpose. Purposed is same as broader organizational purpose. Work is done collectively Work is done individually. Meetings characterized by open- ended discussion and collaborative problem-solving. Meetings characterized by efficiency; no collaboration or open-ended discussion. Performance is measured directly by evaluating collective work output. Performance is measured indirectly according to its influence on others. Work is decided upon and done together. Work is decided upon by group leader and delegated to individual group members. Table 4.1 Source: J. R. Katzenbach and D. K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams, Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005, p.161. 4.4 Types Of Teams Teams can do all of things. They can design products, coordinate projects, offer advice, provide services, negotiate deals, and make decisions (William, 2007). Work teams is a groups whose members work intensely on a specific, common goals, individual and mutual accountability, using their positive synergy, and complementary skills. There are several types of teams: Types of team Explanation Problem-solving teams A team from the same functional area or department thats involved in efforts to solve specific problems or improve work activities. Self-managed work team A type of work team that operates without a manager and is responsible for a complete work segment or process. Cross-functional team It is a work team composed of individuals from various specialties. Virtual team Its a type of work team that uses technology to link physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goals. Table 4.2 Types of team ( Sidin J. P. , 2011) 4.5 Creating Effective Work Teams Teams are not always achieve high levels of performance and also not always effective. However, research on teams provide insight into the characteristics typically associated with effective work teams. There are nine of characteristics of effective teams: Exhibit 4.1 Characteristics of Effectiveness Teams (Sidin J. P. , 2011) Characteristic Explanation Clear goals It is a high performance team that has clear understanding of the goal to be achieved. The members in the team will know what theyre expected to accomplish, committed to the teams goal, and understand how they will work together to achieve these goals. Relevant Skills Effective teams are composed of competent individuals that have the necessary interpersonal and technical skills to achieve the desired goals while working well together. This is important because not everyone who is technically competent has the interpersonal skill to work as a team members. Mutual Trust The effective teams are characterized by high mutual trust among the members. The members must believe in each others ability, integrity and character. This is because trust is fragile. So, maintaining trust requires careful attention by the managers. Unified Commitment This characteristic is characterized by dedication to a teams goals and a willingness to expend extraordinary amounts of energy to achieve them. Good Communication All of the effective teams will characterized by the good communication. Members convey messages, verbally and non-verbally, between each other in ways that are readily and clearly understood and the feedback will helps to guide team members and correct misunderstanding. Negotiating Skills Effective team will making adjustments to who does what and this requires team members to posses negotiating. This is because the problems and relationships are regularly changing in teams, and members need to be able confront and reconcile differences, Appropriate Leadership By clarifying goals, demonstrating that change is possible by increasing the self-confidence of team members, overcoming criteria, and helping members to more fully realize their potential. Internal Support The team should have sound infrastructure, which means proper training, a clear and reasonable measurement systems that team members can use to evaluate their overall performance, a supportive human resources system, and an incentive program that recognizes and rewards team activities. External Support In external support, managers should provide the team with resources needed to get the job done. Table 4.3 Characteristics of Effective Teams and The Explanation (Stephen and Mary, 2007) CHALLENGES IN MANAGING TEAMS Managers can build effective teams by understanding what influences the satisfaction and performance. But, manager will also face some current challenges in managing team, primarily to those that associated with managing global teams and with understanding organizational social networks ( Stephen and Mary, 2007). 5.1 Managing Global Teams There are two characteristics of todays organizations are obvious such as global and work is increasingly done by teams. That means that any manager would like to manage a global team. There are drawbacks and benefits in using the global teams. Drawbacks Benefits Disliking team members. Greater diversity of ideas. Mistrusting team members. Limited groupthink. Stereotyping. Increased attention on understanding others ideas, perspectives, etc. Communication problems. Stress and tension. Table 5.1 Global teams (source: based on N. Adler, International Dimensions in Organizational Behavior, 4Th Edition, pp.141-147) In addition, by using our group model as a framework, we can see some of the issues associated with managing global teams such as: Group Member Resources in Global Teams. In global organizations, understanding the relationship between group performance and group member resources is especially challenging because the unique cultural characteristics represented by members of a global teams (Stephen Mary, 2007). In addition, managers need to be familiar with the team members abilities, skills, knowledge, and personality to clearly understand the cultural characteristics of the group members that they manage. Group Structure. Some of the structural areas where we see differences in managing global teams include social loafing, cohesiveness, status, and conformity. Social loafing has a Western bias(Stephen Mary, 2007). Its consistent with individualistic cultures, such as the U. S. and Canada, which is dominated by self-interest but not consistent with collectivistic societies, in which individuals are motivated by group goals ( Sidin J. P., 2011). Cohesiveness is another group structural element with which managers will face the special challenges and its often more difficult to achieve because of the higher levels of mistrust, miscommunication, and stress. For status, it is important in France and depends on social origin and also the countries that have differ on the criteria that confer status. Besides that, to manage global teams, conformity also findings generalizable across culture. As might as expected, conformity to social norms tends to be higher in collectivistic cultures than in individualisti c cultures ( Sidin J.P., 2011). Group Processes. The process that global teams use to do their work can be particularly challenging for managers and for one thing communication issues often arise because not all team members may be fluent in the teams working language (Sidin J. P., 2011). This particular situation will lead to inaccuracies, inefficiencies, and misunderstanding. However, managing conflict in global teams isnt easy, especially when those teams are virtual teams because conflict can interfere with how a team uses information (Stephen Mary, 2007). The Managers Role. There are things that managers can do to provide a group with an environment in which effectiveness and efficiency are enhanced. First of all, because communication skills are vital, so managers should focus on developing those skills (Sidin J.P., 2011). Also, managers must consider cultural differences when deciding the type of global team to use. Finally, its vital that managers be sensitive to the unique differences of each member of a global team ( Stephen Mary,2007). CONCLUSION As a conclusion, work as a group will have a strong, clearly focused leader who had individual accountability and also have a purpose thats the same as the broader organizational mission. While, work as a team have some following characteristic such as, shared leadership roles, specific team purpose and so on. From this chapter, we know that group is two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals ( Stephen Mary, 2007). While, team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to common purpose, common performance goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Griffin, 2006). Ginny V Lee in his article From Group to Team have said that in teams, they will shared the common purpose and goal. Besides that, team members also are interdependent because they understand that they need to work well as a unit inorder to complete their task. Ginny also said that skilled facilitation moves a group from a collection of individuals to an effective team.

Professional Wrestling is Not a Sport, It’s Entertainment Essay

Professional Wrestling is Not a Sport, It’s Entertainment In what All-American sport can skin-tight spandex be worn and women flaunt giant biceps, while brandishing names such as Disco Inferno or Manna the Headhunter and still are adored by a mass audience? Why, in wrestling, of course. The dramatically choreographed sport entertains an audience of violence-starved fans who covet moves, such as the coined "People's Elbow". In fact, wrestling rises emotion from almost every viewer the industry draws in. Whether the emotion is intrigue, or pure disgust, this form of entertainment relies on the audiences' reactions, nonetheless. In this day and age, an industry has been built based on wrestling as a revolutionary form of mass culture entertainment. Polan explains how mass culture is essentially the regime of content, theme, the formulaic regularity of simple explanatory myths, an art tied to the gives of an everyday world (169). Even though some individuals may have reserve to whether wrestling is art or not, the sport certainly "finds an emot ion resonance in the genre's audience" (Polan 167). Wrestling's main motive is to reach a large-scale audience, and the sport relies on a predictable audience and appealing, symbolic entertainment. Truly, without the hundreds of fans that swear allegiance to wrestling, there simply would be no sport. The wrestlers go about entertaining the masses with outrageous matches and just a tough of cheesy drama. As proof of this, Putterman states: Most sports begin as games that the press and public then overlay with their own wish-fulfillment fantasies in order to turn the game into melodrama. Wrestling begins with the situation and characters of melodrama and then, t... ... Clearly, wrestling is in existence for the show business, but relies on a mass audience to create the sport of wrestling. The money and fame come merely as seconds in wrestling, for the audience must be entertained. Thus, the wrestling industry's ability to bend the audiences' sediments with every move is a raw example of mass culture entertainment. There is no doubt that wrestling is effective in controlling its audience, for it consists of all the elements that embody mass entertainment. Do not let the acronyms fool you, for wrestling is an up-front form of mass entertainment that has no shame and does not try to hide what the sport is all about. So, keep watching, continue to be entertained, even attend a match, and remember that the sweaty, emotion soaked crowd is much more unpredictable than the actual match. That's the effects of entertainment, baby.

The Rosetta Stone :: essays research papers fc

Introduction The Rosetta stone the key to the Egyptians I chose the Rosetta stone because of its mysteries and unsolved scripts and hieroglyphics. It occurred to me when I was reading up on Egyptians. I hope to learn the guarded secrets it holds so I can know to decipher the ancient texts and to reveal the secrets of the Egyptians. The Rosetta stone is found in a British museum in London. The Rosetta stone is three feet nine inches long, two feet four and a half inches wide, and eleven inches thick. The Rosetta stone was discovered in 1799 that may mean that it has been lost for almost 1400 years. Athanasius kircher, a German priest of the 1600s, wrote the first grammar and vocabulary of Coptic, the language of the Christian Egypt. The French general Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt with an army of 38,000 soldiers. Egyptians wrote on stones called slabs. In 1802, the Rosetta stone was shipped to England. On august 1st the British army caught the French fleet off guard and completely destroyed Alexandria. After almost one hundred years of deciphering the Rosetta stones hieroglyphics were translated in 1850. The Rosetta stone has three different scripts. People who could write in ancient times were called scribes. Scribes wrote on paper called papyrus. The advance language called Coptic replaced the ancient Egyptians language. Coptic had then had been replaced by a further advanced language called Arabic. Egyptians wrote in sign called hieroglyphics. Instead of the word people in Egyptian language it was called demotic. On July 1,1798 Napoleons army captured the city Alexandria. Napoleon entered the Egyptian capital, Cairo in July on the 21st. Egyptian text that was enclosed in an oval outline is called a cartouche. Cartouche a French word meaning cartridge. French surrender to British September 1801. Jean Franà §ois Champollion was born 1790. Champollion graduated in 1807. Champollion, in 1822 was reserved a position on deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone. Thothmes was a pharaoh who ruled from 1501 to 1447 B.C. A book on hieroglyphics was published in 1824. On March 4, 1832 Champollion died in series of strokes. By 2500 B.C. complete sentences began appearing on tomb inscriptions. Demotic was first known as hieratic. The French discovered the Rosetta stone in 1799. Conclusion The researcher learned that the Rosetta stone is one of the most important artifacts of the Egyptians. It was written in three ancient scripts and is located at the British museum in London.

To His Coy Mistress :: essays research papers

Seduction has been the game most played through out the centuries, as males attempt to convince and invite females into their beds. In Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and Donne's "The Flea", the speakers, propose a peccadilloes offer, which is so cunningly backed up by a liberalistic argument and is presented to each female when the generous request has been declined. These arguments are designed to induce thoughts of a carnal nature. The persuasions used by each are completely different but are structured entirely for one purpose. To corner or trick the maiden into saying "Yes". Though both arguements are supurb, Marvell's has a nicer, refined style to it. In "To His Coy Mistress" and "The Flea", there is an exemplification of just how crafty men can be during the hunt. The speakers, in both poems, makes a "modest" but declinable offer for sex to their maiden of choice. And, upon rejection, each male begins a fluent yet rh etoric arguments on why the maiden should accept his simple offer of passion. For Marvell, the argument was that there wasn't enough time left in the world, and that the maiden should partake in indulgence before it is too late." But at my back I always hear/ Times winged Charriot hurrying near"(lines 21-22). He also states the unpleasuarble thought of the worms enjoying her verginity instead of him. Suggesting that if she continues to waste time she will die a virgin. "then Worms shall try/ that long preserv'd Virginity:"(lines 27-28). Whereas Donne's argument revolves around a metaphorical flea. Which as claimed by the speaker, represents his union with the maiden in matrimony, since the flea has taken blood from them both."It suck'd me first and now sucks thee/And in this flea our two bloods mingled be"(lines 3-4). And, since their bloods have already mingled together, intercourse with him wouldn't be a sin and no honor would be lost if she yields to him."Though know'st that this cannot be said/A sin nor shame nor loss of maidenhood:" (lines 5-6) Though however similar the gist of the poems might be, the art of seduction used by each speaker is quite different. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" seems to change his tone of persuasion rapidly from stanza to stanza. At first he is sweet, comming across as a gentleman and overstating how many ages he would spent on a single part of her anatomy "A hundred years should go to praise/Thine Eyes.

Allergies: Immune System and Genetically Modified Organism

Adrian V. Perse Human Biology Dr. Lawrence C. Cwik * 19 November 2012 Allergies * We live in a world were technology is growing every day. We have new medical technology and are able to save more lives. With benefits come risks we have all this technology and we cant seem to stop genetically engineered foods from causing allergies. Ever wonder why people have allergic reactions to specific things? A lot of people don’t think about the foods they consume could cause them to have an allergic reaction.In this essay I will be talking about how genetically engineered foods can cause allergies or other adverse health effects. * Allergies are very common in the United States. Allergies affect over fifty million Americans and is the fifth leading disease in America. Different people also have different kinds of allergic reactions they could be more severe while some are mild. There are also different reaction times to allergies some take longer to develop while some only take a few se conds.If you have an allergic reaction that means you have something inside your body that could be harmful to you, this cause your immune system to have an over reaction to that hurtful/harmless substances. When this happens your body produces white blood cells to produce antibodies to eliminate the source of that threat. But what dose that have to do with GMOs? GMOs enter our body system directly through the foods that we eat. GMOs have a bigger effect on children then they do on adults because they are younger and their immune system isn’t as strong/resistant as an adults so they are more venerable.So what are GMOs you ask? GMOs stands for Genetically Modified Organism, which means a single celled organism that have been modified and put into foods to prevent pesticides. These are some of the GMOs that resulted from agricultural. One kind of GMO that has been approved out there is called Herbicide Tolerance, which is found in soybeans it builds tolerance to glyphosate allo wing crops that would normally have been destroyed to live. GMOs have a big impact not just on us but the environment to. Over eighty percent of GMOs grown are used to herbicide tolerance.GMOs pigs also affect animals; cows and chickens are some of the main few. GMOs remain in our system long after we stop eating GMOs. GM crops also produce toxins through milk or animals that were feed GMOs. Kids are also at risk by drinking a lot of milk. GMO’s can affects kids even before birth. Yea GMOs even affect pregnant mothers it harms the fetal development and future genes passed on. That’s a brief description of what GMOs are and what they do. * Now lets talk about plant breeding and how it affects us. Let me tell you what plant breeding is first.Scientists have a method to removing and adding new DNA to organisms. They remove a part of DNA from an organisms then they find the specific gene they want and remove that from the DNA. After that they bind they bind the DNA and ins erter it into a new organism. Scientists have been altering the genetics of plants trying to increase their value, they genetic alter crops by using unnatural breeding and use ultraviolet or gamma rays on these crops that we later consume. Genetically cross breeding decreases nutrition value then it normally would have been.Another disadvantages to plant breeding is antibiotic resistance. Plants are being inserted with antibiotics genes. When the plants receive the antibiotic and survives the antibiotic still remains inside the plant. When animals or humans consume this we could become immune to that antibiotic that we could of used later on being immune to a lot of antibiotic could prove harmful later in our generation. Increased toxicity is another disadvantage of plant breeding. Normally plants produce toxins but they are so mild that they do not have an affect on our health.By cross breeding plants this increases the toxicity level of plants and could prove to be harmful to our health that normally would have had been; before cross breeding. Those are some of the different affects of plant breeding. * After all you heard about your probably wondering why we still use GMOs. One thing scientists have been testing is to manipulate tree genes into absorbing CO2 to help reduce global warming. GMOs are needed to feed the growing population of the earth. We need more food cause were growing so fast we need to keep how much we produce higher then how much we consume.But who really needs the GMOs? Animals consume more GMOs then human do. More corn, soybeans, and other crops are feed to animals then humans. GMs are resistant to bacterial and viruses. GMs grow much faster then normal crops. GMs are resistant to harsh weather conditions such as colds making them able to grow in different environments. They can also add vitamins to the modified food, which could prove a good thing for third world countries that suffer from malnutrition. Another benefit to GMOs is that they last longer. They have a longer life expanse then they would of normally had. Now that you heard some of the advantages of GMOs let me tell you some of the disadvantages. Allergies are a big impact. In the past few years allergies has increased. This is cause by GMOs and cross breeding plants. Cross breeding plants mixes up the different genes in organisms combining different proteins that should have not been combined with that organism normally. These new proteins are produced from genetic engineering and our immune system hasn’t experienced this from of protein. This alerts the immune system to have an allergic reaction, which causes inflammation.This of course has a much more severe impact on children then it dose on adults and also has some long-term effects if you consume a lot of GMOs. GMOs don’t just affect humans they also hurt the environment. This could even affect babies before they are even born. We all know pregnant moms shouldn’t be eating sp ecific kinds of foods. If a protein from something she’s allergic to be mixed with another species and she consumes it could be harmful to herself but the baby as well. Changing different spices of plant could hurt the natural cycle of life.If they don’t think GMOs are such a bad thing why don’t they label it? The FDA refuses to put labels on food stating weather they have been genetically mortified or not. Americans have the right to know weather they are consuming genetically mortified food or not. People shouldn’t be eating foods that could prove harmful to them their children. Other countries around the world have labels on their food stating if they are GM or not. When they are cross-breading plants/fruit they could be transferring different viruses from one organism to another with out even realizing it.GMOs also decrease the genetic diversity. Another big problem with GMOs are toxic fiction of neighboring crops. Nature is a very complex being and e verything is linked together so altering the balance messes up nature’s cycle of life. There are a lot of advantages to using GMOs I’m not saying there aren’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that allergic reactions have increased substantially since the use of GMOs. A lot of countries already realized this and labeled their foods stating wither or not they contain GMOs. I think the United States should start labeling their foods.This isn’t going to stop the use of GMOs but it will reduce the allergic reaction rate in America. It’s a little scary to know that over seventy percent of the world’s population has been genetically modified. And how we don’t know what we’re consuming that we just consume. We don’t think about our health till the day we actually get sick and by then it’s to late. Around eighty six percent of the words GMOs are grown right here in the U. S. those are some of the ways I think genet ically engineered foods can cause allergies or other adverse health effects. *

Cultural adaptation and cultural change Essay

Culture is the set of all society’s spiritual, emotional, material and intellectual features of a social group or a whole society. It incorporates lifestyles, literature, traditions, value systems and beliefs with which the people from a certain society or even a group should follow. Individuals are made to respect their culture as a tool towards safeguarding it. Generally therefore, culture can affect one’s behavior both positively and negatively when individuals seek to adhere to the ways and authorities of their culture. Societal culture is an important tool towards shaping the people’s behavior. It provides norms, values, and traditions with which the people are supposed to adhere to in order to be in harmony with the societal rules, regulations and foundations. The cultural diversity within a society therefore seeks to provide respect on the fundamental human rights and freedoms. Through culture, the society is provided with a harmonious system through which they can interact with one another through various social integrations. Therefore, culture constrains our behavior when its promulgations require us to go by its standards. The personal feeling about a certain behavioral conception is dictated and shaped by the cultural dictations which require them to abide by these cultural dispensations. This is to say that, the people’s behavior within a society is constrained towards a certain behavioral conception by the requirements and dictates of their culture. (Lee, 1999) The role posited on the cultural constrain towards shaping our behavior can be argued diversely about its authenticity. At one level, it is good and recommendable since it helps in shaping and restoring the people’s behavior towards conceptions that are acceptable within a specific society. However, a counteractive argument can be placed on the negative implications allied to the cultural constrains in the societal behavior. By and large, the overall effect of this constrain is that it is wrong and a bad conception that is aimed at pulling the people behavior towards specific societal expectations. These expectations may be illogical to the changing societal structures. Behavioral constrain by culture has only acted to limit the people behavior towards a global behavioral change which would be a requisite to the requirements of societal change. This has therefore led to dogmatic scores and backwardness in behavioral expectations from such people who lack adequately borrowed behavior from the changing course of the global imagery from the effects of their society’s cultural dictates and authorities. Some major cultural dispensations are far below the scale that promotes a projected individual development since they are shaped and governed by traditional societal scores. (Lee, 1999) However, cultural change would perhaps be the most eminent tool towards governing strong behavioral changes. Cultural change can only be possible through cultural integration. This is the process with which different cultural groups come together to exchange their cultural imageries. Different cultures are intermingled through exchange and concept borrowing to bring up cultural diversity. A diversified culture is that which incorporates various cultural scores in its regulations and abandon specific cultural dispensations which could be underscored by traditionalism and dogmatic backwardness. Consequently, through cultural integration, people come to learn about new cultural systems embodied by other groups which bring more realistic sense towards modeling the societal behavior above its growth. Perhaps, cultural integration is what has rooted out various traditional cultures through models of westernization. Cultural diversity therefore opens more practical cultural developments that concur with the change in societal structures. Reference Lee, C (1999) The Complex Whole: Culture and Evolution of Human Behavior. West View Press

How Technology Has Changed Our Lives Essay

Technology has altered our lives significantly in 20 years. It has advanced in many things like phones, computers, television, science, etc. Devices I think devices have improved the most in 20 years. In my opinion, I feel it has made our lives more independent. It enables us to wonder about things further, and then become curious and Google it. For example, when we aren’t sure of what to do (for school projects, DIY jobs) we can just pull up a site such as Ask.com, Answers.com and get instant help. Devices also have several reminder, alarm, note and calculator applications, making you stress-free. The internet now allows shopping lovers to purchase everything, from pencils to penthouses. And when you’re on the go, you’ll never be bored with games and book applications. Education Education has changed a lot too, and you might not notice it. If a kid is doing geography, they can access sites like Google Earth and explore the world in 3D. They are now able to access websites for checking homework, reminders, and important events. Teachers hardly ever use blackboards now, thanks to the new touch sense screens called SmartBoards. And for homeschooled kids ,they get just the same education as regular schooled kids. They can log on to online programs where they have lessons from real teachers via voice calls. Now a teacher is not limited by the number of chairs in her classroom. One teacher can teach 100 kids at a time. Medicine In the field of medicine, technology has truly saved millions of lives. Doctors have found cures to so many diseases, which were otherwise at one time fatal. Doctors can study the human body so very closely now, with things like CT scans and x-rays. With CT scans, doctors can examine everything in the human body to determine a certain problem that the person may have. Doctors have also developed more antibiotics, which are mandatory when a person is sick. These are just a few of the reasons how technology has changed our lives in 20 years. Read more:Â  Technology Improving Our Lives

Provinces of the Philippines and Kara David Essay

Ang Huling Prinsesa† (The Last Princess) is a documentary from Kara David shown in I-Witness back in 2004. It is a challenging feat for anyone who wants to see and explore a mysterious tradition preserved for decades among some of the mountains isolated communities. I-Witness travels to the Tapaz Mountain, considered the farthest in Capiz, located in the central Philippines island of Panay. Reporter Kara David reaches the community of Rizal Sur, a village that looks just like any other isolated community, where the people living in traditional huts and survive on whatever nature provides them. In the midst of this community, she meets one of the last remaining binukots, 73-year-old Lola (grandmother). This old woman lives in an old hut, just like everybody else in the community. However, she has stayed inside a room in the house ever since she was five years old, living in isolation as the family chosen binukot. Since being chosen the binukot of her tribe, the old woman has worn a veil so that no one can see her face. She is lifted onto a hammock every day so her feet never touch the ground. She is bathed, combed and served only the best food like an ancient princess. Her work is to learn the traditional dances and memorize the tribe’s hours-long epics. Only the binukots learn the epics, which are taught to them orally. Thus, they are also the only ones who may pass the long stories of their ancestors to the next generation. Personal insight Stories of princess were part of our childhood memories. We dream of becoming one during those times. But in Tumandok tribe in Tapaz, Capiz, Philippines, there were women, who were treated like a princess. They are known to be the binukot.

Operations & Process Mgt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operations & Process Mgt - Assignment Example Expected inventory level is the stock held by a business more than its obligation for the lead-time. Firms hold Expected inventory level to guard against â€Å"stock-out† (Shah, 2005:227). Average inventory is utilized to approximate the quantity of inventory that a company naturally has on hand more than a longer time period than just the last period. Since the balance of inventory is computed at then end of the last dealing day of a month, it can vary significantly from the average quantity over a longer period of time, depending upon whether there was an unexpected decline of stock or possibly a big supplier delivery at the ending of the month. â€Å"Average inventory† (702) is also helpful for assessment to revenues. While revenues are naturally accessible in the statement of profits and loss not only for the most recent month, but also for the â€Å"year-to-date† (Bragg, 2011:151), it is helpful to also compute the average stock for the â€Å"year-to-date† (151), and then match the inventory average balance to the revenues of year-to-date in order to see how much stock investment was required to support a specified sales level. The company considers the average costs connected with â€Å"placing, processing and receiving† (Sabri, Gupta & Beitler, 2007:34) a replacement order for any part amounting to  £40. It also estimates the standard cost of holding a particular unit of every component in inventory for an entire year at 6% of the unit cost of the item. An â€Å"alternative inventory policy† (Fu, 2014:46) that denotes the quantity of units of inventories, which should be held to decrease costs is proposed. We can reduce the total annual stockholding costs by recognizing average inventory and decreasing â€Å"safety stock† (Minner, 2000:35). By reducing overall lead time and lead time variability, estimating investment cost and having a clear awareness of real possible investments

A central assumption made in Mean-Variance Analysis and the Capital Coursework

A central assumption made in Mean-Variance Analysis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is that investors prefer to invest in the most efficient portfolios available - Coursework Example The concept of the efficient portfolio can be well understood after revisiting the preceding portfolio management theories. One such theory is the famous capital assets pricing theory (CAPM). The CAPM is a model that shows the association between the required rate of return and the risk on assets that are held in a portfolio that is well diversified. According to Fama and French (2004), the origin of the capital asset pricing model is the prominent work of William Sharpe (1964) and John Lintner (1965). The CAPM model is very useful in activities such as the determination of the companies’ cost of capital and in assessing portfolio performance. A portfolio is a group of assets (more than one asset) held by an investor (Sharpe 1964). The theory of portfolio attempts to guide investors on how to make the best combination of assets to optimise returns as well as minimise the risk associated with the investments. The commonly used CAPM equation is a follows: ER = Rf + (Rm – Rf)ÃŽ ², where Rf is the risk free rate, ER is the expected return on the portfolio, (usually denoted by the interest rate on treasury bills), Rm is the expected market return for the same period, and ÃŽ ² is the beta, which measures the relationship between the portfolio performance and the market performance. In other words, beta indicates how sensitive the portfolio’s performance is to the variations in the market performance. The above equation shows that a portfolio’s return can be expressed in terms of the risk-free return, the risk premium and the beta. Based on the equation, which is a linear, it is revealed that the portfolio return is directly related to the risk. That is, the higher the portfolio risk, the higher the portfolio’s return. The CAPM theory brings us to another idea of the efficient portfolio. A portfolio can be efficient under

Pursuing a Career in Real Estates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pursuing a Career in Real Estates - Essay Example Title companies’ main work is to make smooth the exchange of properties between the concerned parties, doing all the work for the buyer who can be a citizen or a foreigner (Tyson and Griswold 62). Unlike the U.S., other countries have rules in regards to what property foreigners can buy. In Mexico, for example, foreigners are not allowed to own property within 50 km of the coast or 100 km from the borders unless they have a Mexican trust or Mexican corporation title. In South Asian countries like Thailand, foreigners cannot own land, but properties in it can be purchased followed by land acquisition under a lease option of 30 years. However, this land acquisition is not assured because the government still insists that land ownership by foreigners is illegal. In the Philippines real estate development is one of the fastest growing businesses (Edwards 78). This paper discusses real estate as a possible business venture and the qualities of a successful real estate agent. THE RE AL ESTATE BUSINESS SECTOR As the world economies evolve, individuals and organizations have seen the need to make smart investment choices. In his book, on investing in real estate, Eldred asks, ‘What types of markets offer the best opportunities for future profits? What type of markets alleviates risks?’ (20). Questions like these are the ones that an individual asks when they wish to invest. The answer to the questions lies in the real estate industry. Real estate development has had a positive impact on economies of nations over the years. This is because land is so much a limited resource that even reclaiming it from the seas is not a sustainable option. Thus, a smart investor invests and owns part of it so as to have a bargaining chip. Furthermore, its value rarely goes down, and even if it does it does not take long for its value to shoot once again. Fields in the Real Estate Business. Private property ownership, has led to the development and growth of real estat e to a significant business sector, also called commercial real estate. In reality, real estate properties are always expensive thus; they require a significant amount of investment. In addition, each piece of land has unique characteristics, which has lead to development of different fields in the industry with specialists that evaluate the real estate and facilitate the transactions. Businesses in real estate include Appraisals, where a professional determines the value of the property (Edwards 78). Second is the brokerage, where a broker is paid a fee to facilitate the transaction between the two parties. Third is development, which involves land improvement for use via replacing or adding buildings. Fourth is net leasing, which ensures tenants pay rent plus the additional expenses that are supposed to be paid by the landlord. Fifth is property management, which involves managing a property on behalf of the owner. Sixth is real estate marketing and it entails managing the sales a spect of the property. Seven is real estate investing, which entails management of the investment in the real estate. Eight is the relocation services, and as the name suggests, involves relocating business or people to different countries or regions. Lastly is the corporate real estate, which deals with management of a corporation’

Should the federal government provide health care for all citizens who Research Paper - 1

Should the federal government provide health care for all citizens who cannot afford their own - Research Paper Example President Obama has put forward measures to adopt such a system but it has not been welcomed by the judiciary and other stake holders of the nation. This move by the president is under scrutiny, in this writing we will focus on whether US can adopt such a system or they are better off without it. The above graph shows that the benefits provided by employers to their employees in private organizations with US has declined, and there has been a steep decline in the amount of health benefits provided by these companies to their employees (Mauersberger 2012). Those in the favor of such a system state that the number of people within US who are living without health care insurance has elevated to the figure of 45 million (Washington, 2000). Organizations are even trying to cut their cost by not providing health coverage in their compensation plan to the employees. Decrease in the rate of wages and layoffs have even promoted individuals and employees of US to live without an insurance plan. All these events have taken place because insurance providers have increased the rate of premiums associated with health plans. Citizens of US do get free medical services for those diseases and illnesses that are not covered by health insurance providers. But there are those who can not purchase insurance services, these people need to be covered by the government otherwise their quality of life will continue to deteriorate. Those individuals and businesses that have already purchased health insurance have to end up paying very high rates of premium. If businesses continue to spend huge amount of their money as premiums, they will have lower amount of money to conduct investment activities and provide employment. Individuals who are paying loads of money as premium for health coverage are spending less on food and other necessities which is resulting in failure of businesses. Thus

Term Paper, Project Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Term Paper, Project Management - Assignment Example 2. Usage - Mostly done as a preliminary method of finding out information with regards to the interaction between the environmental stressors or risk agents and the target population, communities, or sites (US EPA, 2012a). 3. How it is conducted - The EPA uses a four-step method which consists of the following: data collection and evaluation; exposure assessment; toxicity assessment; and risk characterization (US EPA, 2012a). Data collection and evaluation aims to gather as much information from the site as possible, such as collecting samples and identifying the presence of stressors such as chemicals in the surroundings. After sufficient data has been gathered and analyzed, exposure and toxicity assessments are done next. Exposure assessment is done in order to analyze the contaminants released, to identify the populations exposed and how these stressors reached them, as well as estimating both the concentrations and intakes using various pathways by which the stressors were able t o reach the studied target areas or populations. The toxicity assessment deals with further quantitative and qualitative studies on the stressors such as performing tests that determine the toxicity levels of contaminants. Lastly, risk characterizations list the sum total possible effects of these contaminants to both the environment and the people such as the potentiality to cause chronic or acute diseases. Also, the probabilities and uncertainties of how these contaminants can reach people are summarized in order to aid future risk assessments to be done in later areas (US EPA, 2012a). 4. Comparison to other kinds of assessments – Baseline risk assessment is the most basic but generalized method of analyzing the current condition of target locations and populations. While it shares many characteristics such as the use of scientific methods in the conduct of other kinds of assessments, it is also the foundation for other kinds of analyses to be conducted in the future, espec ially with the larger areas of study and necessary information. There is also a greater need to incorporate as much information from the areas or sites as possible since these are the levels by which future prediction models will be based on, and will be constantly relied on in succeeding area or population analyses. Thus, in order to create accurate models and risk assessments for each site, the baseline risk assessment must be carefully and thoroughly conducted to prevent future miscalculations and assure that there is appropriate risk-management in these areas (US EPA, 2012a). Comparative Risk Assessment 1. Definition – It is a kind of assessment method wherein the ranking of various effects in importance or relevance are established into a scale which, while not exactly designed to work on a single measuring unit or scale, is quite functional in approximating the effects or consequences of such stressors based on location and population (US EPA, 2006). 2. Usage - The EPA use comparative risk assessments in a way that various risks or important points are referred to and then compared to the approximated scale so as to assist risk assessors in weighing the appropriate measures in accordance to the presence or identity of the risks involved (US EPA, 2006). Such

Public Opinion (American Politics) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public Opinion (American Politics) - Essay Example That is, the institutions and politicians shape all the elements of political issues known to the public. The school is one of the organizations that assist the state in shaping public opinion. In the school, the students would learn the political system values and carry it with them in their lifetime. The media passes information that influences the public opinion. The media is a common tool that the politicians use to influence their interests. In addition, opinion leaders have a role in shaping the public opinion. Since the leaders have a voice in the society, people tend to think that his opinion is the best one most of the time. Thus, they do not bother to find out the truth from other sources (Schmidt, Shelley & Bardes 2009). Political ignorance could be beneficial to citizens. Discussing and following the opinions of the political leaders could be misleading. As stated above, many of those who follow politics closely are only interested in casting their vote in the right places. Many of those who do so for the sake of voting do not realise that their vote could not make a difference. Even those who do not participate in political opinions, still cast their votes. It is much cheaper to cast a vote than to follow all political proceedings to make a decision. Thus, for many people it is safe to avoid all the stress of political activities and concentrate on other useful activities that would improve their life. The level of political ignorance has been the same for years. However, the same opinions have existed for decades. The opinions  do  not prevent politicians from having their say. The politicians sway the public opinion to their advantage despite the level of political information to the public (Somin 2013). Opinion leaders have information on certain issues that are not clear to the public. It is their duty  to advise  the masses  on  the meaning of these issues. The

Generalized anxiety disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Generalized anxiety disorder - Essay Example Prior to the conclusion, the researcher will provide some recommendations on how a person could avoid experiencing GAD. A generalized anxiety disorder is normally characterized with chronic anxiety or exaggerated worry or tension. (Haines, 2005) In the process, people who are going through GAD are normally restless, easily fatigue and irritable. (Medscape Medical News, 2003) In fact, most of these patients often expect serious problems to happen with regards to their health, money, family life including their work or school activities and performance. The problem with GAD is that patients are unable to control the degree of their worrying. In most cases, extreme worrying, fear and anxiety significantly affect the normal functioning of their everyday life. months. (Robins and Regier, 1991) Several studies also reveal that GAD can be triggered by a person’s genes (Kendler et al., 1992) or the abnormal level of neurotransmitters in the brain. (Stephens, 2005) Environmental factors such as the death of a loved one, divorce cases, losing or changing jobs or schools and any other traumatic and stressful situations like physical, mental or emotional abuse could trigger the presence of GAD. People who are suspected to experience GAD are normally diagnosed through questioning of their medical history combined with physical examination. (Haines, 2005) Basically, there is not laboratory test that could diagnose GAD. Instead, physicians normally base their diagnosis by looking for any signs of physical illness and the causes, duration, and seriousness of these symptoms. Among the common symtoms of GAD includes stiff muscle, inability to relax, irritability, insomia and other physical symtoms like fatigue, trembling, muscle tension, headache and irritability. (Stephens, 2005) GAD is commonly treated either through proper medication particularly the benzodiazepines or tranquilizers such as Valium, Ativan, Librium and Xanax. Other pharmacological drugs

Factors related to strategic management and leadership that make the Essay

Factors related to strategic management and leadership that make the company highly successful - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that business strategy is an extremely important and perhaps one of the most frequently used buzzwords in the contemporary business literature. Business firms are finding their ‘strategies’ as pathways to success because the strategy of an organization necessarily incorporates planning, people, processes, patterns, procedures, and perspectives. Strategy within an organization is a specific pattern of decisions that defines and determines the objectives of the firm to provide certain structures related to achieving the goals Managing human, as well as non-human resources and utilizing the organizational capabilities effectively, are at the very heart of formulating and implementing the business strategy. Deckers Outdoor Corporation designs manufacture and markets stylistic, innovative and high-quality footwear for men, women, and children with causal and outdoor wearing. The company was founded in 1973 by a student of California University to produce sandals for beachgoers and surfers. The company markets its footwear products and accessories such as handbags and outerwear under three brands, namely UGG, Teva and Sanuk primarily through U.S retailers and international distributors. The company also markets its products directly to end-users both in a home and abroad through its website. Deckers Outdoor gives more importance to finding and building niche brands into global lifestyle leaders through its innovative design and brand differentiation. Its brands are designed with a view to meet specific needs of different groups, activities, jobs, and people around the world. What makes the company and its brands different is that it never caters ordinary outwears. Apart from the three major brands- UGG, Teva and Sanuk, it markets TSUBO, Ahnu, MOZO, Hoka etc. TSUBO is designed for providing a line of casual footwear and Ahnu for outdoor performance and lifestyle footwear. MOZO is developed with a view to providi ng a line of footwear that combines running shoe technology with work shoe toughness for people who spend long hours working on their

Irish Persecution by England Essay Example for Free

Irish Persecution by England Essay Anti-Irish sentiment (also known as Hibernophobia, from Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland) is traditionally rooted in the medieval period. The first British involvement in Ireland began in 1169, when Anglo-Norman troops arrived at Bannow Bay in County Wexford. During the next half millenium, successive English rulers attempted to colonize the island, pitching battles to increase their holdings – moves that sparked periodic rebellions by the Irish. When did this happen? – The English persecution of Ireland began in the 1800’s with the Act of Union which put Ireland officially under the rule of London. It has continued up until present day but persecution has decreased extremely over the past 300 years. Were any specific groups targeted? – Yes, Catholic Irish were strongly persecuted by English Protestants, which continues into present day. North Ireland seceded but was subject to much violence and was eventually forced back under British control, and still is the center of most of the heated debates of today. How were they persecuted? – Irish people were discriminated against and even murdered by English people. One of the most infamous acts came in 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on a group of Catholic demonstrators and killed 14 people. The Penal Laws were considered to be the first form of official apartheid issued in the world, dividing and targeting people by their religion. All those not of the Anglican/Lutheran faith including not only Catholics but also Jews, Presbyterians and other types of Protestants were denied rights in relation to property ownership, political participation, and university education. Prohibition on mixed marriages on the basis of religious and racial grounds led to many rallies and riots by the Irish against the discrimination and prejudice they faced. How does this affect people today? Ethnic relations in the Republic of Ireland are relatively peaceful, given the uniformity of national culture, but Irish Travellers have often been the victims of prejudice. In Northern Ireland the level of ethnic conflict, which is inextricably linked to the provinces divergence of religion, nationalism, and ethnic identity, is high, and has been since the outbreak of political violence in 1969. Since 1994 there has been a shaky and intermittent cease-fire among the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. The 1998 Good Friday agreement is the most recent accord. What happened to cause it? – The English invasion sparked a lot of anti-English sentiment and led to constant fighting between the two groups. Also, the English exerted complete control and did not help the Irish during the Great Famine between 1845 and 1852, which caused riots and sparked other prejudiced movements and laws. Were there any significant figures in this? English King William III asserted complete control over the Irish in 1691. Eamon de Valera was the leader of the Sinn Fein, a political party which advocated Irish independence. He was almost executed for participating in an uprising in Dublin. Michael Collins was the leader of the IRA (the Irish Republican Army) who fought against the British for the Government of Ireland Act in 1920. Bringing the IRA fight into the international spotlight was Bobby Sands, an IRA member who died while on a hunger strike in a Belfast prison to protest his status as a common prisoner, rather than a political one.