Matrix Essay Matrix - 938 Words

â€Å"The Matrix† is an action-packed, Oscar-winning, sci-fi extravaganza starring Keanu Reeves as Neo. Buddhism is an ancient religion built on the teaching of the original Buddha with a goal to reach nirvana. On first glance these two things could not be more different from each other, or could they be? In actuality, â€Å"The Matrix† encompasses many central themes of Buddhism like freeing the mind, and uses images such as spoons and mirrors. The need to free the mind is a core element of both Buddhism and â€Å"The Matrix.† Many Buddhists claim that â€Å"the illusionary nature of the world consists in our knowledge of the world† (Brannigan 103). Our minds interpret the world based on our perceptions. Buddhism deliver us from the â€Å"epistemological†¦show more content†¦There is also another mirror usage in the movie such as the mirror-finished glasses that are only worn in the matrix by those freed from the Matrix. They do not cling to the false images of the Matrix (Brannigan 102). Another image used is the spoon. In the Matrix, there is a scene with a young bald child holding a spoon. He says to Neo, Do not try and bend the spoon, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no spoon. Then youll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself† (â€Å"The Matrix†). This strongly resembles the Zen Buddhism flag parable in which monks argue about whether the flag moves or the wind moves. A third monk tells them that â€Å"neither the flag nor the wind moves. ‘It is your mind that moves’† (Brannigan 103). In both instances, the monks and Neo are stuck between the two concepts and must let go of those two things. Their minds become too fixed to see the truth. They must free the mind by letting go and opening themselves up to experience. This ties back into the mirror image as Neo sees his reflection in the mirror of the spoon. This is a moment â€Å"represents clarity and truth† r egarding the boy telling Neo that â€Å"there is no spoon† (Brannigan 102). We cannot be fixated on images as they like mirrors can be distorted especially since the spoon is concave/convex surface and prone to distortion. However, some portions of â€Å"TheShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Matrix1072 Words   |  5 PagesThe Matrix The Matrix is a science fiction movie about artificial intelligence computers replacing mankind. I believe that this movie is a common type of display from the media is common paranoia so that they can get a reaction from people and sell their story. In the case of The Matrix, the movie dazzles people with awesome special effects using modern computer technology, which I find ironic. I find it self-conflicting and hypocritical for the media to use modern computer technology for theirRead MoreEssay on The Matrix2824 Words   |  12 Pages The Matrix Interweaves much symbolism, mythology, philosophy, and psychology. On the surface, the movie challenges the dominance of technology in our culture and predicts an apocalyptic result from the use of artificial intelligence. Yet, behind the human struggle for survival is a mythical backdrop upon which are backlit some of C.G. Jungs basic ideas regarding the human psyche. These Jungian ideas include the ego-Self relationship and how it rela tes to the persona, the shadow, individuation,Read MoreThe Matrix Essay899 Words   |  4 PagesCompare and Contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences? An Essay Submitted to Jason Elvis BY Williestine Harriel Liberty University online September 24, 2012 Compare and Contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences? After reading The Matrix, and reading from Plato and Descartes, I find that there are some similarities and differencesRead MoreEssay about The Matrix1338 Words   |  6 Pagestantalizing movie, quot;The Matrixquot;, a breed of AI computers takes over the world. It harvests human embryos in laboratories called quot;fieldsquot;. It then feeds them through grim looking tubes and keeps them immersed in gelatinous liquid in cocoons. This new quot;machine speciesquot; derives its energy needs from the electricity produced by the billions of human bodies thus preserved. A sophisticated, all-pervasive, computer program called quot;The Matrixquot; generates a quot;worldquot;Read MoreEssay about The Matrix1131 Words   |  5 PagesThe Matrix Written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, ‘The Matrix’ is a science fiction film, which was released in the year 1999. It was the first film to use the now famous camera technique of ‘bullet time’ and also introduced wirework martial arts into conventional cinemas. Its vision of the future is similar to other science fiction films such as ‘Men In Black’ with the agents always wearing sunglasses and the idea of man vs. machine\evil. In the openingRead MorePlato And The Matrix Essay1463 Words   |  6 PagesIn â€Å"The Matrix† and Plato’s Phaedo and Republic questions of what makes up a whole and fulfilling life are answered. Both The Matrix and Plato provide alternate forms of reality, one that is based on truth and is fulfilling and one that is based on a false reality that offers false forms of fulfillment. The Matrix and Plato show the difference of living a life in a true reality and a â€Å"fake† reality where everything inside this reality is fake making the lives inside this reality fake. True educationRead More The Matrix Essay1310 Words   |  6 Pages The Matrix In 1999 directors/writers Larry and Andy Wachowski (Bound) made a dark and often disturbing Science Fiction film, The Matrix. With the production expertise of Joel Silver (Commando, Predator, Lethal Weapon series, and Die Hard series), Andrew Mason (The Crow, Dark City) and Barrie M. Osborne (Face/Off, The Fan, Childs Play), The Matrix is sure to be a favorite among Science Fiction movie fans for years to come. The Matrix won the Oscar award in all four categories it was nominatedRead MoreEssay on The Matrix577 Words   |  3 PagesThe Matrix The Matrix has been doing remarkably well in sales since its release in the cinema last summer and its recent video releases. This is largely due to stylish advertising techniques and word of mouth. The Matrix has been approved by critics who enjoy the film and also the ones who dislike the theme. Among young viewers, it has already achieved great status. So what else is the film about? Firstly the film copies the theme from many popular films that came before it, and involves intelligentRead MoreEssay on There is No Escaping the Matrix1916 Words   |  8 PagesThere is No Escaping the Matrix In the video game world anything is possible, and if your player dies you can always play again. The videogame industry is exploding in the market place; its far from childs play and far from the days of pong. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (December 6, 2002) there is an article, Video Game Nation, discussing a new video game experience being touted as the wave of the future, The Real World meets The Matrix. In this virtual world called TheRead MoreEssay on Baudrillard and the Matrix1177 Words   |  5 Pagesand Andy Wachowski wrote and directed an American science fiction action film called The Matrix. The movie depicted a future where many humans might perceive is real, is actually a simulated reality. The Wachowski brothers made many explicit references in their film based on the work of French sociologist Jean Baudrillard. In Jean Baudrillard’s essay entitled â€Å"Simulacra and Simulations† he mentions in his essay how society has replaced all re ality and meaning with representation of symbols and signs

Duckweed Free Essays

Feed Industry Overview: Duckweed feed has been found to be a very nutritious feed source for many types of livestock. The fact that duckweed can be fed to animals in its wet form or dried for a more concentrated food source make an efficient, cost effective, harvester a possible attractive product for this market. Traditional Harvesters are economically unfeasible and manual harvesting is very labor intensive for medium to large scale operations. We will write a custom essay sample on Duckweed or any similar topic only for you Order Now Feed prices can vary drastically due to crop yields, gas prices, and product demand. After the initial investment of the Proskimmer the costs for producing this feed additive would be minimal. There is opportunity for duckweed to be used more as a feed source in coming years to alleviate increasing demand on corn and soy yields. Analysis According to North Carolina Reasearchers: â€Å"Duckweed holds great promise as an alternative feed supplement. One of the smallest plants known to man could help us produce cleaner water while at the same time providing a high quality feed for domestic stock animals (poultry, swine, and cattle). The nutrient uptake ability possessed by duckweed along with its fast reproductive rate and environmental requirements make it easy to manage. The problem with duckweed is in the harvesting of the small plants and removing the excess water. Assuming that can be done efficiently, we will be well on our way to making new strides in the supplemental feeding of duckweed. † These statements are made by some of the leading duckweed researchers in the feed/fuel/watstewater. A duckweed harvester is a natural fit to solve the harvesting needs of the market. Recent studies have confirmed duckweed’s potential as a valuable high-protein, vitamin-rich feed supplement. A two acre pond surface with duckweed yields as much as 30 tons of dry matter or approximately 12 tons of protein per year. This protein is of very high quality for feeding to animals (or human beings). Experiments show that the quality of this protein for ducks and hens is similar to that in soybean meal. As protein is currently priced at approx $500 per ton as a stock-feed ingredient, the protein yield of a hectare of duckweed is worth in the order of $6,000 per year. Although inexpensive to produce, duckweed contains a range of vitamins, pigments and minerals. These include those normally added to dietary formulations for livestock such as poultry and pigs in the form of commercial mineral-vitamin premixes. Duckweed has particular value as a poultry feed. It typically contains high concentrations of calcium (which is required in the diet of laying hens) equal to 10-25 g/kg dry matter. Duckweed contains relatively large amounts of xanthophylls and carotene, which result in a rich yellow/orange color to the egg yolks. In comparison, the synthetic yolk pigments usually included in mineral-vitamin premixes for layers are a costly component of commercial poultry diets. Dried excess duckweed can be pelletised and sold as animal feed. At approx $6000 dollars the Proskimmer would be economically viable in this arena. Feeding trials reported in the literature and carried out recently in Peru have demonstrated that duckweed can be substituted for soy and fish meals in prepared rations for several types of poultry: broilers, layers, and chicks. Cultured duckweed can be used as the protein component in poultry diets. Acceptable levels of duckweed meal in the diets of layers range up to 40 percent of total feed. Duckweed-fed layers produce more eggs of the same or higher quality as control birds fed the recommended formulated diets. Levels of up to 15 percent duckweed meal produce growth rates in broilers which are equal to those produced by control feeds. Diets for chicks, consisting of up to 15 percent duckweed meal, are suitable for birds under three weeks of age. Duckweed meal will almost certainly find as large a range of animal feed applications as soybean meal. Duckweed meal may also have great potential to blend with non- conventional diets based on inexpensive carbohydrate sources that can be used by poultry and hogs. Today pork production offers perhaps an unprecedented opportunity. Due to economic expansion and population growth in Asia, demand for pork is increasing like never before. In fact, experts predict that in the next 35 to 40 years, we’ll have to quadruple, or more, the approximately 875 million hogs now on Earth. That’s why new and expanded hog production facilities are being built in Australia, Canada, Mexico, South America, and, when opposition is overcome, in the U. S. And as they’re built, new jobs and economic growth are being created. A major limitation to fish farming is that meals high in protein with high biological value are expensive and often locally unavailable. Supplementary feeds can take up to 60% of fish production costs. Duckweeds have a high protein content (around 40%) of high biological value. Fresh duckweed is highly suited to intensive fish farming systems and duckweed is converted efficiently to liveweight by certain fish including carp and tilapia. Drying duckweed presents the largest current challenge to the plant being traded as a commodity. No conventional drying technology has been able to produce dried material without incurring signifigant loss. Several solar methods are showing promise however we feel they would be for large scale operations and not relevant to our market. The leading researchers in North Carolina have paired with a company called Aeroglide who makes industrial drying technologies for the feed industry. We feel Proskim should focus on the wet applications for land livestock and fish farming opporunities. http://www. lib. ncsu. edu/theses/available/etd-05242004-103543/unrestricted/etd. df Institute of Animal Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Str. 10, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany 24 February 2010; http://www. aeroglide. com/aquafeed-dryers-coolers. php SWOT Analysis Feed: Strengths: Low cost in relation to other mechanical harvesters/low labor intensity when compared to manual techniques. Currently manufactured product with little to no customization for many harvesting needs. Duckweed has be en proven to be a breakthrough feed alternative to corn and soy based feeds. Weaknesses: Little to no current marketing strategy in the Bio arena. Lack of marketing material directed to Bio arena. Less developed nations will use manual techniques. Company physical location is not in areas which promote rapid duckweed growth. Opportunities: Feed supplement for fish, swine, poultry needing effective harvesting techniques. Market directly to these farmers. Academic researchers using grants to study duckweed in the Bio arena. Government grants and foundations in the Bio arena. Threats: Other harvester inventions and trial inventions to harvest duckweed. Less demand for corn ethanol due to regulations or opportunity costs could lower prices and in turn corn feed prices. How to cite Duckweed, Papers

Leadership Strategies for a Changing World

Question: Describe about the Leadership Strategies for a Changing World. Answer: Introduction Leadership has become the priority factor that drives organizations and its success(Aaker 2012). Organizations utilize and enforce efficient style of leadership, in order to increase productivity and efficiency of their employees. Though organizations entrust various dynamic responsibilities on their leaders with the task of managing and controlling their employees, but leaders often face complex problems within the organizational structure. Though leaders devise various strategies and policies in order to overcome these challenges but continue to deal with the high pressure situation leading to lower productivity and efficiency that hampers reaching of organizational goals. Why is leadership such a major issue in modern workplaces? Leaders make extensive use of organizational behavioral theories and techniques such as to increase the amount of employee efficiency and effectively(Szabla 2007). They motivate them, communicate shareholders strategies and policies and takes control effectively over the various functions of the organization. The role of a leader is to effectively manage and take control over organizational activity. He is the medium for communication between the management and employees. The essay is regarding evaluating the statement, Leadership is argued to be one the most important aspects in modern day organizations and in discussing the difficulties leaders face in organizations and suggesting some theories or models of leadership that can be applied to address these difficulties.An efficient and effective leader applied by the organization can lead to organizational success, whereas an efficient leader can lead to organizational failure in the future. Organizations in order to develop sustaina ble strategies and policies need to assign tasks to effective leaders. There are many forms of leadership that are adapted and practiced across organizations(Bass 2006). However, sometimes implementing an incorrect leader leads to organizational failure and lack of employee motivation. The initial part of the essay identifies some of the broad challenges faced by modern organizations, whereas the later part of the essay discusses a wide range of theories and models that leaders apply to overcome the same. Organizations apply various style of leadership according to the needs and organizational culture. The modern challenges faced by organizational leaders found by studies conducted by various researches are in developing managerial effectiveness, in inspiring or motivating employees and co-workers, developing an organizational culture as well as stable employee base, leading a team, incorporating in a change within the organization, management of internal stakeholders and policies(Piccolo 2006). What factors are contributing to the challenges of leadership? Change management : Though leadership is not an issue by itself in the workplace, the leadership style possess an issue that becomes difficult to handle sometimes(Birnbaum 2012). Mismatch of ideologies and leadership values leads to clash of interests. As organizations transform and evolve over time, they tend to change their current style of leadership and then develop newer strategies and techniques to manage employee base. An organization that follows traditional leadership approach such as transactional leadership, and wants to bring about modernized techniques into their systems as well as processes will generally adopt a transformational style of leadership. But the employees of the organizations that are accustomed to the traditional methods might not be at all confortable in applying transformational leadership style(Schaubroeck 2007). This in turn can affect employee job satisfaction levels highly, leading to unproductivity and under productivity. Due to growing dissatisfact ion amongst employees, in the transition phase employees can decide to leave the organization as well. Organizational Culture : Often it is extremely difficult for leaders to implement the necessary organizational culture. The organization culture within organizations needs to be adapted and implemented by all employees such that the organization functions smoothly and its goals are reached. An organization where its employees fail to adopt suitable organizational culture often fails in attaining and achieving the desired goals(Sarros 2008). The new employee tries and adopts organizational culture, but often faces resistance from older employees of the organization. Older employees in their trifle with the leader try to avoid policies and hinder the development of practiced organizational culture(Lambrou 2010). Often the older employee union is so strong that it leads to newer employee following the same without any dispute. Leaders play an ardent role in change management by motivating employees towards the new and changed procedures. In a change process employees are generally reluc tant to change but leaders enable and create an ambience for the change processes to take place effectively, but sometimes due to lack of communication or employee past experience leaders are unable to apply the changed style(Rickards 2006). Inspiring or motivating employees: Leaders are often in-effective in inspiring or motivating their employees to attain a set of goals. This leads to a major challenge within the organization as a leaders primary aim is to get task done by employees. Clash of interests amongst employees intention to do a tasks and the leaders methodology to do the same hinders the progress. Leaders have immense roles in job definition and creating attractiveness for the job such that employees are able to take up new challenges and conduct the job more enthusiastically(DiLiello 2006). Often due to management objectives or employee unions leaders face challenges to implement successful motivational strategies(Chesterman 2016). Leading a team: Leaders are exposed to challenges of leading a team in modern organization. Lack of employee attitude to work in a team and deliver results not only hampers leaders effectiveness but also hampers the overall performance of the organization. The primary role of a leader is to set objectives define goals for its employees such that they are able to lead a team. A leaders vision and ideologies is given to the employees and targets are set and designed for followers(Aarons 2006). An effective leader is able to do so instantly without much effort but often a leader faces immense trouble due to organizational existing culture to do so. Managing internal stakeholder policies and practices: Leaders play an important role in communicating amongst the various internal stakeholders of the organization(Hay 2010). On one hand he decides with the shareholders and senior management of the organization regarding the various policies and procedures and on the other hand he communicates the same to the employees and members of the team. He is an influential person who incorporates the various employee grievances and policies to communicate the same to upper level management(Avolio 2013). For far as employees are concerned he communicates the various objectives and strategies that has been decided by the management to the employees for approval and application. But often a leader takes a side either of the shareholders or of the employees, which leads to biasness. When a leader is biased towards any side then he is bound to face criticism from the other side. The other side is bound to develop some ill-feelings towards the lead er(Samuel 2009). How can a manager use theories/ models to inform their leadership in a modern organization? The various challenges that leaders face in modern organizations can be overcome by the Meme theories of leadership. The theory applies a range of approaches according to organization specific needs in order that leadership to be successful. There are various famous theories of leadership that have been developed and applied in organizations for effectiveness of leaders and overcoming the challenges faced. Some of the popular theories of leadership are Great Man theory, which emphasizes that leaders are born and not made(Caligiuri 2006). But the concept of this theory is traditional in approach and not adopted in modern organizations. Modern organizations train and develop leader with a conscious level to get positive impact on the job role. Behavioral theories of leadership, the role theory and the managerial grid are some of the most popular amongst traditional theories practices in organizations to overcome employee motivation. In Participative leadership styles there are two famous theories one proposed by Lewins leadership style and Likers leadership style(S 2012). These style of leadership are relatively newer styles of leadership that focuses on participative form of management. Both these styles of leadership have immense emphasis on the leader working within the team along with other employees. Another popular style of leadership is Situational Leadership which has been proposed by multiple researchers. The most famous amongst them are Hershey and Blanchards Situational Leadership, Vroom and Yettons Normative Model and Houses Path-Goal Theory of Leadership(Anne Loewenberger 2014). All these styles of leadership focuses on the leaders ability and capability to act on a particular or given situation. These theories suggests a more dynamic nature of leadership compared to other theories and are highly effective in overcoming challenges that are faced in modern organizations. Modern theories of leadership also include the contingency theories of Fiedlers Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) theory, Cognitive resonance theory and strategic contingency theory. These theories are very popular and have gained immense importance in the recent years due to their style of management reflected in these theories. The Meme theory acts as an influential tool in spreading behaviors and styles from person within a cultural framework. The Meme carries as small units to carry cultural ideas through various forms of speech, gestures, rules, rituals and so on. The Meme leadership have been given various colors according to the organizational culture they follow(DiLiello 2006). Orange, black, green, red and so on, each color is associated with a particular style of behavior. Each type of leadership style is selected according to the needs and requirements of the organization. These theories are an extension of the traditional theories of leadership, like contingency theories and others(Dawlabani 2013). How can a manager work to overcome their leadership challenges? The transactional leadership theory of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory is highly practiced in developed nations and has yield tremendous results. Earlier organizations implemented transactional, servant and other leadership styles in order to get performance from employees. Transactional leaders were mostly involved with leaders motivating their employees with certain incentives, performance bonuses and other types of rewards. Employees are motivated to a certain extent with this performance style leadership as they get rewarded and recognized for their endeavors(Schein 2010). This often leads to employee motivation and employee empowerment. Lesser amount of employees leaves the organization leading to lowering of employee turnover. But this style of leadership is often criticized to assume the side of the management and ignoring employee voices in totality. Servant style of leadership leads to high job satisfaction amongst employees, as the leader indulges in a number of activities himself in order to demonstrate. Servant style of leadership is known to create a high level of satisfaction amongst employees and high level of trust as well. A servant style leader is highly associated with his employees and engages in formal work with them, sharing their loads and so on. But servant style of leadership is also multiple times criticized to be ignoring the management aspect in work motivation(House 2013). The transformational leadership theories of Bass transformational leadership theories, Burns transformational leadership theory and Kouzes and Posners leadership participation Inventory. Transformational leaders are employed by organizations when an organization is a change phase. Transformational leaders are effective in change management procedure and helps employees with the various stress associated with change process(Sachau 2007). He communicates the managements ideologies for changes to the employees and takes employee feedback to the management. Thus this style of leadership is highly accepted in todays organizations as they are dynamic in nature. Why is the information you have found important to know, especially for people who are leading in organizations? An organization in order to motivate its employees also adopts various theories and strategies. The motivational theories that are adopted in modern organizations is Hetzberg Two factor theory, Maslows need hierarchy theory and Alderfers ERG model(Lundberg 2009). In each of the theory there is tremendous importance on the role of the organization implying the leader in motivating employees. The interface of the organization with its employees is through its leader, hence a leader can overcome the barrier of demotivation by stimulating and inspiring employees for fulfillment of a particular role(Brown 2006). All the various theories discussed helps the organization in tacking their complex situations and in their overcoming of various challenges. Though each type of challenge have their own fallout and benefits, organizations adopt the ones that are most beneficial to them. As human resource forms the most important type of resource for the organization and they have to get productivity from them, leaders and leadership styles needs to be carefully selected such that organizational goals can be effectively defined and efficiently applied. Practical evaluation of situation with prompt development and application of strategy helps yield organizational objectives. Leadership has a very crucial role in managing stakeholders interests and their needs, the balancing them accordingly. An effective leader is able to quickly resolve issues and step ahead with the solution and impact changes in the organizations. Leaders are not only part of the management but employees envision them as their repr esentative to the management to attend grievances, challenges and various other issues for them to perform. Conclusion Leadership has an effective and important role to play in organizations; hence organizations need to apply correct styles to get maximum productivity from its leadership. An effective leadership can be a high resource for the organization and lead to it achieving success and sustenance in its path to achieve goals. There are however, various challenges faced in leadership styles and forms due to which leaders are sometimes rendered ineffective. The various challenges can be overcome and proper leadership styles can be gained by applying appropriate leadership styles that help in employee empowerment and job satisfaction. Though there are various styles of leadership are present but leaders evaluate situations and challenges in order to adopt and implement a proper change and solution to a challenge. A leaders intrinsic characteristics and deep-embed motivation helps him to overcome the diversified and intricate solutions so as to become a role model and a leader in all aspect. References Aaker, D.A. and Joachimsthaler, E., 2012.Brand leadership. Simon and Schuster.. Aarons, G.A., 2006. Transformational and transactional leadership: Association with attitudes toward evidence-based practice.Psychiatric services,57(8), pp.1162-1169. Anne Loewenberger, P., Newton, M. and Wick, K., 2014. Developing creative leadership in a public sector organisation.International Journal of Public Sector Management,27(3), pp.190-200. Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. eds., 2013.Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead. Emerald Group Publishing.Bass, BM,RRE 2006, Transformational leadership, Psychology Press. Birnbaum, R., 2012. Genes, Memes, and the Evolution of Human Leadership.The Oxford Handbook of Leadership, p.243. Brown, K. and Cullen, C., 2006. Maslow's hierarchy of needs used to measure motivation for religious behaviour.Mental Health, Religion Culture,9(1), pp.99-108. Caligiuri, P., 2006. Developing global leaders.Human Resource Management Review,16(2), pp.219-228. Chesterman, A., 2016.Memes of translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory(Vol. 123). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Dawlabani, S.E., 2013.MEMEnomics: The next-generation economic system. SelectBooks, Incorporated. DiLiello, T.C. and Houghton, J.D., 2006. Maximizing organizational leadership capacity for the future: Toward a model of self-leadership, innovation and creativity.Journal of Managerial Psychology,21(4), pp.319-337. Hay, R., 2010. The relevance of ecocentrism, personal development and transformational leadership to sustainability and identity.Sustainable Development,18(3), pp.163-171. House, R.J., Dorfman, P.W., Javidan, M., Hanges, P.J. and de Luque, M.F.S., 2013.Strategic leadership across cultures: GLOBE study of CEO leadership behavior and effectiveness in 24 countries. Sage Publications. Lambrou, P., Kontodimopoulos, N. and Niakas, D., 2010. Motivation and job satisfaction among medical and nursing staff in a Cyprus public general hospital.Human resources for health,8(1), p.1. Lundberg, C., Gudmundson, A. and Andersson, T.D., 2009. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of work motivation tested empirically on seasonal workers in hospitality and tourism.Tourism management,30(6), pp.890-899. Piccolo, R.F. and Colquitt, J.A., 2006. Transformational leadership and job behaviors: The mediating role of core job characteristics.Academy of Management journal,49(2), pp.327-340. Rickards, TAMS 2006, 'Creative leaders: a decade of contributions from Creativity and Innovation Management Journal.', Creativity and Innovation Management, vol 15, no. 1, pp. 4-18. Warrilow, S., 2009. Transformational leadership theorythe 4 key components in leading change managing change.Retrieved fromhttps://ezinearticles. com. Sachau, D.A., 2007. Resurrecting the motivation-hygiene theory: Herzberg and the positive psychology movement.Human resource development review,6(4), pp.377-393. Samuel, M.O. and Chipunza, C., 2009. Employee retention and turnover: Using motivational variables as a panacea.African journal of business management,3(9), p.410. Sarros, J.C., Cooper, B.K. and Santora, J.C., 2008. Building a climate for innovation through transformational leadership and organizational culture.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies,15(2), pp.145-158. Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S.S. and Cha, S.E., 2007. Embracing transformational leadership: team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance.Journal of applied psychology,92(4), p.1020. Schein, E.H., 2010.Organizational culture and leadership(Vol. 2). John Wiley Sons. Szabla, D.B., 2007. A multidimensional view of resistance to organizational change: Exploring cognitive, emotional, and intentional responses to planned change across perceived change leadership strategies.Human Resource Development Quarterly,18(4), pp.525-558.

Next Of Kin Essays - Roger Fouts, Washoe, Nim Chimpsky, Next Of Kin

Next Of Kin The next of kin a documentation of mind matter and love. This book was very inspirational it gives you a whole new outlook on the experience and the feelings of animals. Trying to relate with how much Roger Fouts has accomplished in his life is unbearable he has had so many experiences that have been recorded in this book. It was the type of book that was hard to put down from the beginning. In the next few pages I will discuss parts of the book that really moved me and left an impression on me. There are so many great parts it was hard to pick just a few to look into. I read this book in the first few weeks of school and re-read in the last two weeks, also I have bought a copy for my sister who is very interested in primate psychology and it has so much information and personal experience in it that it is in a way a textbook for primate psychology. Washoe was an extraordinary animal saved out of NASA by very patient and brilliant people, it was very exciting to see the advancements that she had made throughout the book. Not only her but also the few people that had have been working with her. The Gardner's the first care takers of Washoe was saved by the Gardner's had put a lot of trust into Roger and he proved to be able to accept and work with Washoe from the beginning on. Fouts, started off as a little kid knowing his only monkey to be curious George, never realizing that George was not a monkey but a chimp. Growing up on a farm Fouts was always around many animals tending and working with them. Realizing the importance of the entire animal Fouts than realized the loyalty when his dog brownie had died jumping in front of the tractor to save his fallen brother. The care for animal was in all of the family even the mother who had many old time stories to tell about animal intelligences. A life and environment changing situation had happened when Fouts was about twelve years old and the only ones still in the house out of nine children was him and another brother. Fouts parents packed up the kids and stuff and move to Los Angeles, California. Around this time in his life he was dreaming of becoming a psychologist. Fouts family had a way of not finishing school but become loyal workers, and Fouts was devoted to finishing college, the only one in his family with the intention of getting more schooling was his mother who at age 52 decided to go back to high school and finish, she to was very interest in the healing of the mind which, also was a inspiration for Fouts to pursue this career. When Fouts started his college career at Compton, his intention was to study human psychology but it was required to take animal psychology as well. The very first animal behavior he was thought that they were mindless creatures who rigid behavior, unlike that of Humans, is controlled by instinct. After much schooling Fouts applied to many clinical schools. After time and time again Fouts was denied and was pushed towards a second-tier school in experimental psychology-or rat psych, as it is affectionately known studies of animal in cages. The University of Nevada accepted Fouts in to their experimental psychology program. Time goes on and Fouts get the cal to change the rest of his life, the call was from a Dr. Paul Secord, telling Fouts "Teaching a chimpanzee to talk," with disbelief roger replied back "what", and the Dr. repeated himself. Fouts went on to take it in with full stride just trying to get his foot in the door, with his main intention of working with kids this entire time. Ready for the job Fouts had one more task into getting the job, and that task was getting through to a very strict man called Allen Gardner. Fouts had taken many courses in animal psychology and statistics. To Garner this was just garbage he didn't believe that everything was to be solved in a laboratory that animal had to watched and worked with? The interview was going terrible, Fouts pulled out all the tricks telling him how he was excited to take courses with two well-known philosophers of science. Garner shot back with "Science doesn't need philosophy." Fouts was very disappointed feeling that it was

The Sociology of Consumption

The Sociology of Consumption The sociology of consumption is a subfield of sociology formally recognized by the American Sociological Association as the Section on Consumers and Consumption. Within this subfield, sociologists see consumption as central to daily life, identity, and social order in contemporary societies in ways that far exceed rational economic principles of supply and demand. Modern Context Due to its centrality to social life, sociologists recognize fundamental and consequential relationships between consumption and economic and political systems, and to social categorization, group membership, identity, stratification, and social status. Consumption is thus intersected with issues of power and inequality, is central to social processes of meaning-making, situated within the sociological debate surrounding structure and agency, and a phenomenon that connects the micro-interactions of everyday life to larger-scale social patterns and trends. The sociology of consumption is about far more than a simple act of purchase and includes the range of emotions, values, thoughts, identities, and behaviors that circulate the purchase of goods and services, and how we use them by ourselves and with others. This subfield of sociology is active throughout North America, Latin America, Britain and the European continent, Australia, and Israel, and is growing in China and India. Research Topics How people interact at sites of consumption, like shopping malls, streets, and downtown districtsThe relationship between individual and group identities and consumer goods and spacesHow lifestyles are composed, expressed, and slotted into hierarchies through consumer practices and identitiesProcesses of gentrification, in which consumer values, practices, and spaces play a central role in reconfiguring the racial and class demographics of neighborhoods, towns, and citiesThe values and ideas embedded in advertising, marketing, and product packaging;Individual and group relationships to brandsEthical issues tied to and often expressed through consumption, including environmental sustainability, the rights and dignity of workers, and economic inequalityAnd, consumer activism and citizenship, as well as anti-consumer activism and lifestyles Theoretical Influences The three â€Å"founding fathers† of modern sociology laid the theoretical foundation for the sociology of consumption. Karl Marx provided the still widely and effectively used concept of â€Å"commodity fetishism,† which suggests that the social relations of labor are obscured by consumer goods that carry other kinds of symbolic value for their users. This concept is often used in studies of consumer consciousness and identity. Émile Durkheim’s writings on the symbolic, cultural meaning of material objects in a religious context have proved valuable to the sociology of consumption, as it informs studies of how identity is connected to consumption, and how consumer goods play an important role in traditions and rituals around the world. Max Weber pointed to the centrality of consumer goods when he wrote about the growing importance of them to social life in the 19th century, and provided what would become a useful comparison to today’s society of consumers, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. A contemporary of the founding fathers, American Historical Thorstein Veblen’s discussion of â€Å"conspicuous consumption† has been greatly influential to how sociologists study the display of wealth and status. European critical theorists active in the mid-twentieth century also provided valuable perspectives to the sociology of consumption. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno’s essay on â€Å"The Culture Industry† offered an important theoretical lens for understanding the ideological, political, and economic implications of mass production and mass consumption. Herbert Marcuse delved deeply into this in his book One-Dimensional Man, in which he describes Western societies as awash in consumer solutions that are meant to solve one’s problems, and as such, provide market solutions for what are actually political, cultural, and social problems. Additionally, American sociologist David Riesman’s landmark book, The Lonely Crowd, set the foundation for how sociologists would study how people seek validation and community through consumption, by looking to and molding themselves in the image of those immediately around them. More recently, sociologists have embraced French social theorist Jean Baudrillard’s ideas about the symbolic currency of consumer goods, and take seriously his claim that seeing consumption as a universal of the human condition obscures the class politics behind it. Similarly, Pierre Bourdieu’s research and theorizing of the differentiation between consumer goods, and how these both reflect and reproduce cultural, class, and educational differences and hierarchies, is a cornerstone of today’s sociology of consumption. Notable Contemporary Scholars and Their Work Zygmunt Bauman: Polish sociologist who has written prolifically about consumerism and the society of consumers, including the books Consuming Life; Work, Consumerism and the New Poor; and Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers?Robert G. Dunn: American social theorist who has written an important book of consumer theory titled Identifying Consumption: Subjects and Objects in Consumer Society.Mike Featherstone: British sociologist who wrote the influential Consumer Culture and Postmodernism, and who writes prolifically about lifestyle, globalization, and aesthetics.Laura T. Raynolds: Professor of sociology and director of the Center for Fair and Alternative Trade at Colorado State University has published numerous articles and books about fair trade systems and practices, including the volume Fair Trade: The Challenges of Transforming Globalization.George Ritzer: Author of widely influential books, The McDonaldization of Society and Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Continuit y and Change in the Cathedrals of Consumption. Juliet Schor: Economist and sociologist who has written a series of widely cited books on the cycle of working and spending in American society, including The Overspent American, The Overworked American, and Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth.Sharon Zukin: Urban and public sociologist who is widely published, and author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Spaces, and the important journal article, â€Å"Consuming Authenticity: From Outposts of Difference to Means of Exclusion.† New research findings from the sociology of consumption are regularly published in the  Journal of Consumer Culture  and the  Journal of Consumer Research.

Business Forecasting and Data Analysis Method

Discuss about the Business Forecasting and Data Analysis Method. It has been evaluated that the stock price of GLB is lower pared to that of CRH. Hence, in order to increase its stock price, there are certain options available to the organisation to ensure petitive advantage in the Singapore market. One of such options is the stock repurchase, which would lead to increased demand of stock in the market. As a result, the price of GLB stock would rise in the market. In addition, stock repurchase would help GLB to convince the investors about the reliability of the stock, since the pany expects positive future performance in the market. Along with this, raising debt from the market of Singapore is another option available to GLB to boost its share price. This is because obtaining debt would minimise the overall risk of GLB; however, it is assumed that the organisation has not attained the point of financial distress. Furthermore, depending on the debt amount and way of obtaining the same, it could have positive impact on the share price of the organisation. It has been assessed that CRH has high stock market volatility, which could reduce the return on investments for the investors. Therefore, in order to deal with this situation, CRH is required to develop a plan of risk management to protect against any unanticipated loss with the help of insurance. It could adopt proactive steps for cross training to bat with such risk. As a result, when the stock price of CRH falls in the Singapore market, it could cover its losses from the insurance panies, which would not significantly affect the profitability of the organisation. Hence, it could be inferred that stock repurchase and raising debt are two alternatives available to GLB to boost its share price, while CRH needs to transfer the risk to insurance panies to hedge against the stock volatility. The above assignment aims to evaluate the stock price position of Cemebt Road Group (CRH) and Glanbia (GLB). The different statistical tools like descriptive statistics and inferential statistics have been used to increase the reliability of the conducted evaluation on the two above-mentioned organisations. With the help of inferential statistics, the hypothesis testing has been conducted. The descriptive statistics conducted include measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. From the mean value puted, it is evident that the share price of CRH has been quite higher pared to GLB. This denotes that GLB has been highly effective in winning the trust of the investors due to higher dividend payout and returns on investments. The median value also depicts the identical scenario, in which the CRH has higher share price value than GLB. However, the standard deviation value depicts that the stock of CRH contains greater amount of risk. Therefore, the investors could be able to earn huge returns either on investments or below the expected returns. This has been validated with the regression ou es obtained. Therefore, a series of r mendations have been provided to both the organisations to improve their overall financial performance. GLB is r mended to conduct stock repurchase and raising debt from the Singapore market in order to boost its share price. This is because stock repurchase would help in increasing the stock demand, which would eventually lead to higher share price. In addition, raising debt would have positive impact on the share price; however, it is assumed that the organisation has not attained the point of financial distress. On the other hand, CRH is r mended to develop a risk management plan by transferring risk to the insurance panies. This is because when the stock price of CRH falls in the Singapore market, it could cover its losses from the insurance panies, which would not significantly affect the profitability of the organisation.

Corporate Frauds and Absence of Ethical Demeanor Essay

Corporate Frauds and Absence of Ethical Demeanor - Essay Example As per Trevino and Weaver (2003), ethical culture is one which rouses ethical demeanor. Ethical leadership involves proper demeanor through interpersonal relationships and personal actions and the advocating such demeanors to subordinates, mainly through two-way communication, decision-making and reinforcement As per Martin and Cullen (2006), ethical climate in an organization refers to normative systems of organizational work climate mirroring the organization’s policies, procedures, and practices with moral outcomes. As per Victor and Cullen (1988), ethical work climate refers to the organizational procedures and practices that direct the decision-making of organization and the systematic outcomes to ethical dilemmas. The ethical climate is one of the main ingredients of the culture of an organization. Ethical climate plays a dominant role when fraud is observed in an organization. As per Shin (2012), CEOs’ ethical demeanor is directly associated with employeesâ€℠¢ overall view of the ethical atmosphere of the organization (Soltani, 2014, p.254). Enron on October 16, 2001, published figures that exposed conspicuous accounting malpractices. One of the questionable accounting practices followed by the Enron was that is improper accounting of a note receivable from Enron’s equity partners in different limited partnerships. WorldCom also indulged in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in the US which were projected at $14 billion as of March 2004. SEC alleged that WorldCom purportedly exaggerated its† revenue before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)† in 2001 and in 2002 (SEC Annual Report 2002). HealthSouth Corporation of USA ordered the accounting personnel’ of the company to inflate the revenue to match the Wall Street analyst’ projections (Soltani, 2014, p.262).

Scenario planning for Globilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Scenario planning for Globilization - Essay Example This reduction was first attributed to the growing number of mountain bark beetles by a forest ecologist, Scott Green from the University of Northern British Columbia. In the past, the pine forest used to recede in summer but would regain its density in the winter. But over the past 20 years or more, the mountain bark beetles have reproduced in such large numbers, that winters have hardly done any job to reduce their number, and the extinction of the pine forests have sustained equally through winter as they did in the summer. Recent research has shown the influence of rise in temperature upon the tendency of the mountain bark beetles to breed. With an overall rise of 2?C in the global temperature since 2010, the mountain bark beetles have increased in number by millions. Forest ecologists are of the view that if the present rate of greenhouse gas emission sustains for another decade, the mountain bark beetles would become the biggest threat to forests all over the world. Story 2: Ov er the last two decades, droughts and floods have frequently been occurring as a consequence of the 2?C rise in the global temperature since 2010. The biggest sufferings have been noticed in the Arctic. For the last twenty years or more, the temperature of air in the Arctic has increased at a speed twice as much as that for the other parts of the world. Accordingly, an overall increase of 4?C has been noticed in the Arctic. More than half of the total volume of summer sea ice in the Arctic has liquefied and flowed into the water over the last twenty years. This has majorly happened as a result of insufficient temperature controlling measures taken since 2010, since the scientists then expected this volume to recede not before 2100. The reality squeezed that period of ninety years into twenty years and the precautionary measures that were designed according to a ninety year period have proved just too insufficient. As a result of the massive loss of ice in the Arctic, polar bears hav e become extinct for the last five years. They are nowhere to be seen but the intensive care units designed by the WWF for the preservation of extinguishing animal species. The veterans are proposing new medications and techniques to increase the breeding rate of polar bears, but many are skeptical about the usability of these techniques since the polar bears can not be provided with natural habitat in ice after birth. Once released, many would die because of the loss of habitat like their ancestors. Story 3: The ice sheets have melted away with an enormous speed since 2010. The drought and spread of epidemics noticed in the last five years is fundamentally attributed to the rise of sea levels. The number and enormity of tropical cyclones has been greatly affected by the heat developing in the seas. Number of storms has generally remained the same as they were five decades ago, though typhoons and hurricanes have dangerously increased both in number and intensity. In the US, parts o f Gulf Coast and East Coast have been hit hard by the typhoons, while coastal flooding has become a routine in New York. In the two consecutive years; 2028 and 2029, Queens and Brooklyn have seen some of the worst natural disasters of the past 100 years. The two foot rise of the sea level has also generated many hurricanes in Shanghai, Bangkok, London, Venice and Cairo since 2025. People have

Sociology and Psychological Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Sociology and Psychological Prejudice Essay The following are some of the key definitions and terms used in this article. Tele-Health, Tele-Medicine, Teaching and Education, Tele-Medicine Information, Hospital Primary Care Networks, E-Readiness, Hard Technologies, Information Communication Technologies Infrastructure, Technology Adaptation, Technology Adoption, Transportation Modality. b) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1986, 1989) is an adaptation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Initially Telemedicine, may be determined or measured by the End-Users willingness to embrace and utilize a new or adaptation of existing technologies for specific application to telemedicine, in preference to an old technology (Davis, 1989). And later on focusing on a number of inter- and extra-organizational variables, Igbaria, Zinatelli, Cragg, and Cavaye (1997) made a number of interesting discoveries relative to computing utilization. For them the external components were (a) internal computing support, (b) internal computing training, (c) management support, (d) external computing support, and (e) external computing training. c) Overview of the France healthcare system Modern France has one of theâ€Å"universal† health care systems in the world and is a leader among European nations. It offers a â€Å"high quality services and is easily accessible at the same time†. In France, every employed individual, regardless of the level of employment, is covered by a national health insurance plan known as securite sociale (Social Security). The French health care system is mainly financed by social insurance but there is also a significant supplementary insurance. C. 1 Telemedicine Systems in France. During the 1960’s, France experienced significant growth in the use of telephone and radiophone consultations for health care purposes. This growth led to the creation of the SAMU (Service d? Aide Medical d? Urgence) in 1968 and the SAMUR (Service Mobile d? Urgence et Reanimation), which represented important milestones in the history of telemedicine in France. Since the late 1990’s to date, France, being one of the co-founder of the European Community, implemented a number of programs that have catapulted France into the forefront of Telemedicine, not only in Europe but worldwide. France has taken many steps to extend telemedicine applications. Given all that France has accomplished in the area of Telemedicine, it is inconceivable that further advancements will be tempered only by advances in medical technology. d) The U. S. healthcare system. Perhaps, driven by the â€Å"market-oriented economy of the U. S. , the U. S health Care System is a â€Å"blend of public and private involvement in the delivery of health care services† (Shi and Singh, 2004). The health care system in the U. S is financed through (1) Voluntary payers for those who can afford to pay for health care services; (2) A Multi-payer system that includes premiums or general taxes. At this level there are health care insurance services that provide coverage for most employees and their immediate dependants; and (3) Government sponsored (Medicare and Medicaid) – where many that are â€Å"under-insured† or â€Å"un-insured† rely mainly on this netting to cover basic health care services. D. 1 Telemedicine Systems in the U. S. In the 1970’s telemedicine received a tremendous boost from manned space-flight program when Lockheed Missile and Space (now Lockheed Martin) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) doctors demonstrated that they provide health care services to people with severe health problems, but who had difficulties accessing health care services. In 1990, Maritime Health Services (MHS), based in Seattle, Washington, initiated a program that allowed medical officers on board fishing trawlers to communicate directly with shore-based physicians as needed, around the clock (Zundel, 1996). However there are three basic areas of telemedicine that are worthy listing: (a) NASA’s Telemedicine applications with terrestrial based applications; (b) Telemedicine application in Disaster Response; and (c) Telemedicine in the area of Home Health Care. 3. YOUR THOUGHTS RECOMMENDATIONS As per our article, French has better telemedicine service than USA because French takes short time to approval of new technology and USA more focus on efficacy of device while French focus on safety. In rural area of USA, telecommunication and information infrastructure is requiring for success delivery of telemedicine, Georgia State is best example of that. So, in USA, try to make fast approval of new medical device and technology. Also, some other recommendations are * Teaching health care professionals using appropriate telecommunication systems * Research designed with a view to harmonize training schemes or research programs for telemedicine * Raise the special fund to develop telemedicine. * Develop better communication network in rural area and teach people how to use them. * Telemedicine is best way to transfer medical service in rural area and isolated communities. * Connect all hospitals and allow to access each other patient’s treatment 4. AREAS OF ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Use of Telemedicine as an extension of a doctor’s medical practice is more readily accepted in France, where there are no credentialing issues. A doctor may physically be located in Paris while he remotely guides surgical procedures in other parts of France without having to acquire appropriate credentials in that remote area. Credentialing of civilian health care personnel is easily overcome. Further research is necessary in this area. France, and Europe in general, will continue to make greater strides in the deploying telemedicine application more than the U. S. due in part to the shorter time it takes to approve medical technologies. Further research is necessary in this area.

Mrs Birling in An Inspector Calls Essay -- J.B. Priestley

"I've done nothing wrong - and you know it!" Mrs Birling exclaims, refusing to take responsibility for her actions, which is just one of the reasons why the audience may not see Mrs Birling as a very likable character. This essay is going to explore how J.B. Priestley creates such a disagreeable character and why the audience feels this way about her. Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the Inspector says, "You're not telling me the truth" and she replies, "I beg your pardon!" She seems horrified that somebody could speak like that to a lady of her class. This is not only an example of how she is portrayed as self-important but also how class-conscious she is. Another example of this is in the stage directions at the beginning of the play when Mrs Birling is described as ?her husband?s social superior? meaning she is probably more aware of what the class boundaries are than perhaps Mr Birling would. She is also presented as rather cold and severe, ?If the girl?s death is due to anybody, then it?s due to him? Mrs Birling says as she criticises the father of Eva Smith?s baby. Here she shows she has little or no real regard towards other people?s feelings, especially people of a lower class. She says that the man responsible should be ?dealt with very severely?, assuming that he, like Eva, is lower class, therefore implying that upper class people never do anything like that. This links with the theme of stereotypes which is seen a lot in the play. Mrs Birling does not react well to questioning from the Inspector. She is not present for the majority of the inquiry, so therefore she is unfamiliar to the Inspector?s abruptness.... ...class conscious, ?I don?t suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class?? Mrs Birling says, being so overly class conscious that she is automatically judging everybody by their class status. This is again making us compare her with people of all different classes and members of the family, such as Sheila. When the Inspector leaves, unlike Sheila, Mrs Birling tries to carry on as if nothing has happened, ?you?re just beginning to pretend all over again,? says Sheila, showing she has been influenced by the Inspector when her mother has not. In the context of this play, Mrs Birling is not a very amiable character. Although she does what she believes is right, she is also judgemental of everyone and is too aware of the divisions in the social class system to be liked by both the audience and members of her own family. Mrs Birling in An Inspector Calls Essay -- J.B. Priestley "I've done nothing wrong - and you know it!" Mrs Birling exclaims, refusing to take responsibility for her actions, which is just one of the reasons why the audience may not see Mrs Birling as a very likable character. This essay is going to explore how J.B. Priestley creates such a disagreeable character and why the audience feels this way about her. Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the Inspector says, "You're not telling me the truth" and she replies, "I beg your pardon!" She seems horrified that somebody could speak like that to a lady of her class. This is not only an example of how she is portrayed as self-important but also how class-conscious she is. Another example of this is in the stage directions at the beginning of the play when Mrs Birling is described as ?her husband?s social superior? meaning she is probably more aware of what the class boundaries are than perhaps Mr Birling would. She is also presented as rather cold and severe, ?If the girl?s death is due to anybody, then it?s due to him? Mrs Birling says as she criticises the father of Eva Smith?s baby. Here she shows she has little or no real regard towards other people?s feelings, especially people of a lower class. She says that the man responsible should be ?dealt with very severely?, assuming that he, like Eva, is lower class, therefore implying that upper class people never do anything like that. This links with the theme of stereotypes which is seen a lot in the play. Mrs Birling does not react well to questioning from the Inspector. She is not present for the majority of the inquiry, so therefore she is unfamiliar to the Inspector?s abruptness.... ...class conscious, ?I don?t suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class?? Mrs Birling says, being so overly class conscious that she is automatically judging everybody by their class status. This is again making us compare her with people of all different classes and members of the family, such as Sheila. When the Inspector leaves, unlike Sheila, Mrs Birling tries to carry on as if nothing has happened, ?you?re just beginning to pretend all over again,? says Sheila, showing she has been influenced by the Inspector when her mother has not. In the context of this play, Mrs Birling is not a very amiable character. Although she does what she believes is right, she is also judgemental of everyone and is too aware of the divisions in the social class system to be liked by both the audience and members of her own family.

Social Reflections of Slumdog Millionaire Essay

In the dramatis personae system in India. there is really small room for societal motion. It is really difficult for person born in a lower caste to travel up to a higher caste and get away the slums. Even if person who is born hapless plants hard and becomes monetarily affluent. they will still non be accepted by a higher caste. They may hold money but they will be populating in the same country with the same people as he or she has had to make their whole life. The increasing popularity of an American telecasting show in India. as portrayed in Slumdog Millionaire. is consistent with more and more citizens valuing pecuniary wealth over all else. It besides shows that the population doesn’t want to hold to work hard for their money. They want easy. fast money that involves really small attempt. Hence the popularity of the telecasting show. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Not merely does a show like this promote pecuniary values over life experience and difficult work. but it besides makes Heroes out of people merely for going affluent. Many Indians were glued to their Television sets as they watched Jamal. a immature adult male from the Slums. drama to win six million rupees. They turned Jamal into a hero. merely for being affluent. They cheered him on as it is announced that he has won. non even cognizant that the money ne'er mattered to Jamal. He valued something much more cherished than physical wealth. He valued his life experience. hard-work and love above everything else. Society now yearss cheers person who did non hold to work for their money over person who has worked hard for what they have.

Organizational behavior Essay

1.Define organizational behavior, discuss its purpose, as well as what it includes within an organization. Basically organizational behavior is the study of the way people interact within groups in an organization by taking a system approach. The purpose of organizational behavior is to gain a greater understanding of those factors that influence individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting so that individuals, groups and the organizations to which they belong may become more efficient and effective. 2. Identify and explain what an organization’s foundation is based on. In addition, describe two steps an organization can take if they truly want to increase employee morale. An organizational foundation defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated. Step 1. Show employees some appreciation by saying thanks, or give them sincere admiration for a job well done (especially in the presence of others). Employees need to know that they are being appreciated, even for the little things they do. Step 2. Encourage communication between employees and management: doing this will allow employees to feel comfortable to voice their opinions and make suggestions to improve conditions and work environments. Listen to your employees concerns about the job or possible problems at home or work. Find out if there are other concerns that need to be addressed. 3. Explain what motivation is and the benefit for organizations to have motivated employees. In addition, identify and describe the most valuable asset an organization has and how they keep them motivated. Motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way, it underlines what employees choose to do and how much effort they put into accomplishing the job. Employee motivation is an important part of managing employees. This is because motivation can be directly linked to job performance. An employee’s performance typically is influenced by motivation, ability, and the work environment. There are several different motivation techniques that can be applied, many of which are universal and others which are dependent upon the situation, employee, department, or overall organization. People——- an organizations most valuable asset and must be kept engaged in the organizations process to stay motivated. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. Engaged employees care about the future of the organization and are willing to invest the discretionary effort, exceed duty’s call, and to see that the organization succeed. 4. Identify and discuss the five main motivational theories of management. According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): Physiological/biological, — food, water, shelter, air (all things needed for survival) safety, –stability, security, freedom from fear social/belonging/love,–affection, relationships and famil ego/esteem—recognition, respect and achievement and self- actualizing—self fulfillment, seeking personal growth and realizing personal potential 5. Explain the two key practices to managing an employee’s performance. Employee engagement——– Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organizations give companies crucial competitive advantages (including higher productivity and lower employee turnover.) Employees that are engaged usually will not take off from work just to be off, but will come to work and give more than a 110% Commitment——– Commitments requires an investment of time, as well as mental and emotional energy, most people make them with the expectation of reciprocation. That is, people assume that in exchange for their commitment, they will get something of value in return (such as favors, affection, gifts, attention, goods, money and property.) In the world of work, employees and employers have traditionally made an agreement. In exchange for workers’ commitment, organizations would provide forms of value for employees, such as secure jobs and fair compensation. Reciprocity affects the intensity of a commitment. View as multi-pages

Interview Storytelling How to Tell a Story During Your Interview

Interview Storytelling How to Tell a Story During Your Interview â€Å"I remember the daffodils were beautiful that summer. I was young then, just starting out, full of optimism and joie de vivre†¦What? My management skills? Don’t worry, I’m getting to that part eventually.† One of the best things about the in-person (or phone) job interview is that it gives you a chance to take your sterile-looking, rigidly bulleted resume and create a more rounded narrative of yourself and your career. But it’s an area that takes a bit of skill and finesse. You don’t want to end up way out in Tangentville, but you also don’t want to seem like you can’t back up the information on your resume.Find Your NarrativeBefore the interview, it’s important to limber up by coming up with the narrative you want to express during the interview. Is it that you’re a tough leader who always wants to improve? Are you a problem solver who thrives on challenges? Once you work out what you want to achieve with your interview (and what works well with the job description), you can shape your stories and anecdotes to bolster that narrative.Storytelling isn’t just a way to package yourself, it’s also a way to pull in the interviewer and make them care more about the person and resume sitting in front of them. [via DynamicYield]What to Talk AboutAt The Muse, they recommend having six types of stories in your pocket for any interview:Solving ProblemsProblem solving is a very highly regarded skill for hiring managers. They need to know that you’ll step in and be able to handle things on your own.Talk about: You resolved a conflict between two coworkers, or between you and someone else. You came up with a solution to a crisis at the last minute. You identified an area of cost savings that helped save a budget crisis.DON’T talk about: The time you brokered a peace deal between your two fighting frat brothers, or between your mom and Aunt Susan at Thanksgiving. Unless you ma naged a peace deal in the Middle East in your spare time, stick to work-related stories.Overcoming ChallengesEveryone loves the underdog, right? And sure, it’s good to have examples of when things went well, but many interviewers want to know about how you do when things aren’t going so well. In this story, it’s important to identify the challenge, but more important to show how you conquered it successfully.Talk about: You had a difficult relationship with your boss, but came to an understanding. You found a new and more efficient process for doing something that used to take hours. You had a crazy deadline for a project- and met itDON’T talk about: How you started waking up on time after you got in trouble for constantly coming in late.Bouncing Back from MistakesYou’re not perfect. Spoiler alert†¦the interviewer knows that. The trick here is turning mistakes to your advantage. It’s important to be selective here; you want to pick some thing that wasn’t too egregious, and also something that shows real professional growth. Be sure to focus on the outcome (how you’ve pivoted and this mistake made you stronger) over the mistake itself.For this one, you not only have to be a storyteller, but also a spinmaster. It’s important to show that you’re a better and stronger employee for the experience, which of course wouldn’t be repeated in your new job.Talk about: A mistake you made early in your career that made you better at your job. A knowledge gap that you worked hard to address.DON’T talk about: The time you almost got fired for negligence. A major mistake you made for which you never got caught. The time you hit reply-all to make a snarky comment about someone on the email chain, even though you meant to forward it to your friend Jake only. Or the confidential company information that somehow got made public via your Twitter account.Making Good DecisionsThis is not the time for an elaborate story that ends with your colleagues carrying you out of the conference room on their shoulders, chanting your name. Look for stories that show how you took charge of a situation, or managed others to a successful outcome.Talk about: The team you led to a successful year of sales. The event you organized (and went well). The project you spearheaded.DON’T talk about: Successful initiatives where you weren’t actually the person in charge. It’s a dangerous game, taking credit for things. You never know who knows whom, and what can be factchecked as soon as you leave the interview.Working Well with OthersYou don’t have to be the shining leader here, it’s more about how you interact. This one is pretty flexible- any kind of project you’ve done in conjunction with other people will do. Colleagues, clients, volunteers, all are potential teamwork stories.Talk about: The event you organized in conjunction with others. The high-profil e project that involved several different departments.DON’T talk about: Times you didn’t get along with others, or had conflicts.Being, You Know, a Real PersonSometimes you get a bit of a wildcard, an interviewer saying, â€Å"So tell me about yourself.† Rather than launch into a chronological timeline of your education and experience, pick a story or two that expresses your priorities and values. It doesn’t have to be strictly related to work, but if you can use it to shore up one of the big skills (leadership, problem solving, commitment, etc.), all the better.Talk about: You’re training for a marathon. You speak three languages and are working on a fourth. On weekends, you volunteer at a farm for rescued mongooses.DON’T talk about: Inappropriate personal stories. Health issues. Political activities.How to Frame Your StoriesGood interview stories do two things:1. They tell the interviewer something about you that goes beyond your resume bu llet points.2. They engage the interviewer.It’s the same as any story you tell, whether you’re hanging out at a cafà © with friends or in a job interview: you want to tell it in the best, most entertaining way. This does not mean you need to adopt a Catskills comedian persona (â€Å"take my boss†¦please!†), but it’s worth the effort to put a little sparkle on your stories, even if they’re just meant to flesh out the bullet points on your resume.Make the listener care about what you’re saying.Try to tie things back to the job at hand. If you’re talking about leadership skills, talk about how your past leadership makes you a great fit for this job managing three employees. Show the value of these stories to the company that might hire you.Stick to the important points.These stories should be short (maybe only a few sentences). You want to make sure you zero in on the most important details: who, what, when, where, and how it appli es to this new job.Be upbeat.People respond to tone, and if you try to keep the story light and professional, it helps maintain that tone for the overall interview.Make sure there’s a clear ending.You don’t want to trail off, or wrap up with a weak, â€Å"So†¦yeah.† End on a strong note about your goals or what you hope to achieve in this new job.Keep it as short as possible.Here, the sweet spot is somewhere between one-or-two word answers and a ten-minute monologue. Try out some standard answers to interview questions as part of your pre-interview prep. Time yourself†¦if you feel like you’ve been talking for a while without coming up for air, you probably have. If you find that your story is going more than a minute or two, start thinking of spots where you can cut it down.What Not to DoWhen thinking about the stories you want to tell in an interview, the things not to do are just as important as the story itself.Don’t use a timeline.Thi s happened, and then this happened, and then this other thing happened.† I’m already asleep, can you repeat that last event? Instead, try a pattern of â€Å"this happened, and this was the result. What I learned from this was†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Don’t use jargon.Try to keep terms as universal as possible. If you’re talking to someone whom you know is familiar with them, or they’re culturally appropriate to your industry, it’s okay to use specific words, but don’t take for granted that everyone will know what a GMU report is if they haven’t mentioned it before.Don’t make stuff up.The truth is always the best in a job interview scenario. Even if it would make for a better story if you accepted the Nobel Peace Prize at the end, it’s not worth the embarrassment of getting caught in a fib.Don’t leave the professional zone.Even if you’re asked to talk about hobbies or personal interests, don’t use that as an excuse to list all of your pet topics. Pick one or two that you can talk about, and for goodness’s sake, make sure they’re work appropriate. (Any story where your friend had to bail you out- not great.)Moral of the StoryAt the end of the interview, you want to feel like you’ve achieved a good balance between the you-on-paper (your resume) and your presentation. Using stories and anecdotes to show (not tell) how those bullet points and skill actually shape your career is a great skill to have, and just takes a little practice.

UK Mail industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

UK Mail industry - Assignment Example On the other hand, the problems, which the Royal mail has recently faced, made consumers think about the necessity to make the mail market competitive and open for the new participants. As soon as the decision to open the mail market for new companies from the beginning of 2006 has been taken, two questions appeared: will Royal Mail stand the competition and is the competition a threat to its operations and position In order to answer this question, the position of Royal Mail on the British market should be considered from the following viewpoint: is the leading position of Royal Mail connected with the high quality of its services or with the impossibility for the similar companies to enter this marketing segment To my mind, the quality of Royal Mail service in the recent years has somewhat decreased and new competitors may create a serious threat to the Royal Mail leadership, though new companies will have to break the resistance of those consumers, who rely on their constant preferences and are not willing to change the supplier of universal mail services. Royal Mail still carries several advantages and meets some challenges, which help it to keep its profitable position. It is noted among the most reliable employers of the UK, having over 193,000 workers in its staff, which is almost 1% of the working British population. (http://www.royalmail.com) The number of addresses serviced by Royal M ail is the biggest in the country, making up to 84 million deliveries a day. As Royal Mail itself quotes, 'Since then we've undergone a huge transformation, turning losses of more than 1 million a day three years ago into a 537 million profit fromoperations in 2004-05. And we are delivering our best quality of service on record with world-class performances. This success has given giving us a base to meet the next challenge of full competition in the UK mail market from 1 January 2006. We will fight hard for every single letter. We are determined to compete successfully in the open market - but in order to do so we need a fair regulatory regime and the ability to invest in the modernization of our business.' (http://www.royalmail.com) The key words here are 'modernization and investment', which are the urgent needs of Royal Mail today to stand the competition. Despite the serious organizational changes, through which it went in the year 2001, Royal Mail is still fully owned by the Government, thus the need of about 2 billion to renew the equipment, technologies and premises should be invested from the state budget, which now seems problematic. The open mail services market becomes a threat to the Royal Mail and its profitability. Modern customers choose speed, quality and reliability, especially when it concerns such services as mail, which are in fact the foundation of everything. Mail services all over the world face the decrease of the mail volumes, with the wide spreading of emails. Speed is often a decisive factor in relation to the universal mail services, thus new technologies are crucial for Royal Mail to stay a leader on the British market. (Cohen & Waller, 2000) It can be said, that Royal Mail has 'subscribed' on receiving its competitors, as it now faces the

Marx and Weber and Foucault Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marx and Weber and Foucault - Essay Example n these countries commonly cause a significant weakness in the unity of the people within the third world counties, which is essential for economic and political development. Foucault on the other hand believes that insufficient leadership within these third world countries remains the fundamental challenge. The structures existing within these countries a relatively poorly structured and they become hindrances to development within the third world countries. The organisation of the social systems, was fundamental in the results produced from performances undertaken within the society. Foucault believes that the solution to this challenge remains staying focused on achieving excellent results which would present one with capability to lead others. 2. In what ways do these theorists agree or disagree about the nature of power, the role of class, and the function of cultural norms and values. How does each conceive of the nature and possibility of freedom? The philosophers have fundamental perceptions of powers has having significant influence on the social setting which constructs the society. The three philosophers agree on the significant influence of power upon the social order of the society and the necessity to have effective leadership within the societies. The philosophers, however disagree on the element of individualism and cultural values, and the fundamental influence which they present to the entire society. Marx believes in power coming through social conflicts, where the individuals who provide solutions to the existing problems become perceived as having the essential power to lead the others. Weber on the other hand believes that the society remains a fundamental determinant of the legitimate power possessed by leaders, Foucault defines the society as having limited impact of the legitimacy of the power of leaders. Individuals gain power based on their capabilities to perform exemplary well within the social setting. The element of freedom is

On the Privatization of IRS Tax Debt Collection Essay

On the Privatization of IRS Tax Debt Collection - Essay Example Now, what does this new development in the tax paying system tells the American people This tells Americans that despite being the world's most powerful country, the American government has its weaknesses and tax debt collection is one of them. In an ideal world, IRS as the primary handler of the country's revenues should have been capable and responsible to do its functions properly. Although the IRS fronts a positive face in light of this recent development for the privatization strategy, it does not hide the fact that in seeking the services of private companies, they are indirectly admitting incompetence or ineffectiveness on their recent and previous tax collection systems. Why seek the services of private sectors when the government agency itself should be or should have been capable given the capabilities and resources of the country Does it also mean that the employees of IRS are not capable enough to encompass the responsibilities of the government agency That they lack the needed skilled people in their side In this instance, public service has acknowledged defeat to private services. One other great concern of critics is that taxpayer's rights are greatly put at risk of violations on their rights given under this scheme.

Why is oil such an important resource in the region ( Middle East) Essay

Why is oil such an important resource in the region ( Middle East) - Essay Example The first step is to explore an area for the existence of oil. Once oil has been located, the commercial viability of the well, as it is commonly referred to, has to be ascertained. This depends on the quantity of oil that is available for extraction. Another factor is the quality of oil. Quality is determined by the percentage of sulphur and asphalt found in oil. On the basis of this content, oil is classified into three types. The best quality is known as light crude. This type of oil will be a golden brown in colour it will flow more easily and has low sulphur and asphalt content. Heavy crude, on the other hand will be thicker and dark in colour and its sulphur and asphalt content will be high. The third category, known as medium crude, has characteristics that fall between light and heavy crude. So the best quality oil is light crude, followed by medium, with heavy crude having the poorest quality. â€Å"Crude oil is a mixture of many substances, mainly compounds of carbon and h ydrogen, together with varying proportions of sulphur.† 1 The awareness of oil and its use has been in vogue even 2000 years ago. Its uses were limited mainly to cooking and lighting since technology was primitive in those days. Since drilling methods were not in existence at that time, only that oil which naturally came up to the surface due to pressure could be used. Commercial drilling using crude techniques started in the United States about 200 years ago. The pressure of oil was such that the pioneers in this field often found it difficult to stop the oil gushing out form the wells. But as time passed and modern drilling methods came into to being, exploration has become more efficient and less wasteful. From the beginning of the 20th century, oil was explored and extracted from many regions of the worlds. A majority of the oil companies operating were privately owned. These companies were able to

The Competitive Environment Of British Petroleum Management Essay

The Competitive Environment Of British Petroleum Management Essay This paper is basically about the analysis of British Petroleum PLC (Bp). The analysis covers the competitive environment of the company in terms of its stance in the midst of its various competitors and also how attractive is the industry in which the British Petroleum company belongs to. Apart from the competitive environment, this report also identifies the key business strategies of the company and also the various resources and capabilities of the company that has given the company an edge over it other competitors. In analyzing the competitive environment, business strategy and identification of the various resources and capabilities of British Petroleum, the following frame works will be used; sporter five force, strategic groups, Bowmans strategy clock, value chain analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. OVERVIEW OF BRITISH PETROLEUM (BP) The British petroleum is one of the worlds largest energy companies and also one of the largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies in the world, which provides its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and lighting, and also retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday use. The BP Plc operates across six continents which include: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America and their products and services are available in more than 100 countries in the world. British petroleums operations involve exploration, production of gas and crude oil, marketing and also trading of power, and natural gas liquids. British Petroleums headquartered is situated in London United Kingdom, and it has employs about 80,300 people as part of its labor force. Bp has various brands which include the Ampm, Arco, Castrol, Aral, Wild bean cafà © and Bp itself and the energy mix of the British Petroleum is a mixture of oil, gas, solar, wind and biofuels. BP is a company which focuses mainly on petroleum, but has some interest in alternative energy which shows that the company does not only specialize on oil and gas only like some of its competitors does. THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT OF BRITISH PETROLEUM (BP) . In analyzing the competitive environment of the British petroleum, as earlier stated, a very useful tool to consider is the five forces model of competition which was developed by Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School in 1980, this model identifies factors that affect the organizations competitiveness in the industry and also help the firm to adopted the appropriate strategy in order to enhance its competitive advantage and also protect itself from threat as well. The five forces identified by porter include: Threat of entrants from organisations currently outside the industry Power of suppliers i.e. providers of inputs e.g. staff, IT, accommodation Power of buyers i.e. recipients of products/services Threat of substitutes i.e. things customers might buy instead Competitors/rivalry competition within the industry THREAT OF NEW ENTRANCE: The threat of entrance into the oil and gas industry is Low due to the fact that there is high barrier of entrance into the industry. Some of the companies that constitutes the oil and gas industry like British Petroleum uses heavy and very expensive equipments at well sites For example, pumping trucks and other huge equipments, huge capital investment expenses is involved, such as High infrastructure cost i.e. pipeline, road access in fields, land acquisition etc.  Availability of human resources in terms of scarcity of subsurface reservoir engineer and geologist all this contribute to the high barrier of entrance into the industry. POWER OF THE SUPPLIER: The bargaining power of suppliers is relatively high and this is driven by the presence of high cost of switching from one supplier to another and also the presence of relatively small number of energy and alternative energy suppliers (concentrated suppliers), also some of the buyers such as Bp and some other companies that constitute the industry are vertical integration companies so they might not even have the need to want to require the services of this suppliers so the power of the suppliers is Medium. POWER OF BUYERS:  The balance of power shifts toward buyers. Oil is a commodity and one companys oil or oil drilling services is not that much different from another companys and this  leads buyers to  go in favor of lower prices and or better contract terms.  The power of the buyer will be regarded has being Medium because buyers are powerful and can switch from the consumption of Bp products to another oil and gas companys product and at the same time an individual buyers decision does not necessarily have an impact on the company. THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES: Threat of substitutes is Low and the  Substitutes for the oil and gas industry includes alternative fuels such as coal, gas, solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity and nuclear energy which is still in the developing phase and also involves high cost of production. Oil is of great importance; it is not only used in fuelling cars alone, it is also used in the production of plastics and other materials. Majority of the means of transportation still relies heavily on oil and Oil is needed in order to generate electricity which implies that oil and gas would be depended on rather than the alternative due to its level of development and high cost of production. COMPETITIVE RIVALRY:   The level of competitive rivalry is high; the industry is characterized by big companies which produce low differentiated products and there is low threat of substitute and also low threat of new entrance into the oil and gas industry. Another tool that can also be used in the analysis of the competitive environment of the British Petroleum is the strategy group framework by Porter in 1979. According to porter, a strategic group is defined as a set of companies within an industry pursuing strategies that are similar to each other and different from firms outside the group on one or more key dimensions of their strategy. In terms of the oil and gas industry which BP belongs to, the level of competition is very high because major players in the industry such as Royal Dutch shell, Bp, Exxon Mobil, Total, chevron, and Conoco Phillips all adopt similar strategy and competing on similar bases which is adaptation of a vertical integration to an extent and they also produces similar range of products. BUSINESS STRATEGY OF BRITISH PETROLEUM OVER PAST 5YEARS In analyzing the business strategy being adopted by Bp over the past 5 years, the Bowmans strategic clock would be a useful tool. The strategy clock considers both the price and the perceived added value of goods and services produced by a company and compares it to that of its other competitors. Placing the Bp group under the strategic clock show that the company uses Hybrid strategy which means that they operate at a low cost based, reinvest in low price and differentiated in operation. BP is one of the largest operators and also one of the most well established globally, the company operates both in the upstream and downstream operation and its operations is also increasingly diversified or differentiated in production offering various oil products to the market. At the same time British Petroleum (BP) has a cost base that permits low prices and which is sufficient for reinvestment to maintain bases for differentiation. BP has been adopting the Hybrid strategy for a long period of time now and the sole aim of the strategy is to achieve differentiation and a price lower than that of BPs other competitors.

Semantic Web :: Technology, The Green Guide

To establish the extent to which semantic web has been applied in the sustainable building technology domain, an extensive literature search was undertaken. One of the key findings of the review was that there was no real significant application of the semantic web to sustainable building technologies. The few studies with at least some sustainability issues in the built environment are in Macris and Georgakellos (2006) and Edum-Fotwe and Price (2009). Macris and Georgakellos (2006) explored the use of ontologies to help students to understand the contemporary global environmental issues, how they are linked and interrelated and to consider the different views of these issues, before reaching a decision or judgment. Edum-Fotwe and Price (2009), on the other hand, explored the use of ontologies in appraising sustainability of construction projects and development from the social component of sustainable development. The ontologies developed by Macris and Georgakellos (2006) and Edum-F otwe and Price (2009) are nothing more than academic papers and have never gone beyond prototypical system levels. However, it emerged that there is abundance of green/sustainability specifications/standards/ratings/metrics in the literature dealing with various aspects of sustainable constructions. Some examples of these specifications are the Market Transformation Programme database that contains the different building household appliances in the UK houses arranged in a well-defined taxonomy (Market Transformation Programme 2010; Firth et al. 2008; Wood and Newborough 2007), the Green Guide to Specifications (Anderson et al. 2009), the Uniclass (Smith et al. 1997) and the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED 2010). The Green Guide aims to provide a simple green guide to the environmental impacts of building materials which is easy-to-use and soundly based on numerical data. Uniclass is a new recent classification scheme for the construction industryindustry (Smith et al. 1997). It is intended for organising library materials and for structuring product literature and project information. It incorporates both CAWS (Common Arrangement of Work Sections for building works) and EPIC (Electronic Product Information Co-operation), a new system for structuring product data and product literature. The Green Guide is part of BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) an accredited environmental rating scheme for buildings. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the US Green Building Council, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Semantic Web :: Technology, The Green Guide To establish the extent to which semantic web has been applied in the sustainable building technology domain, an extensive literature search was undertaken. One of the key findings of the review was that there was no real significant application of the semantic web to sustainable building technologies. The few studies with at least some sustainability issues in the built environment are in Macris and Georgakellos (2006) and Edum-Fotwe and Price (2009). Macris and Georgakellos (2006) explored the use of ontologies to help students to understand the contemporary global environmental issues, how they are linked and interrelated and to consider the different views of these issues, before reaching a decision or judgment. Edum-Fotwe and Price (2009), on the other hand, explored the use of ontologies in appraising sustainability of construction projects and development from the social component of sustainable development. The ontologies developed by Macris and Georgakellos (2006) and Edum-F otwe and Price (2009) are nothing more than academic papers and have never gone beyond prototypical system levels. However, it emerged that there is abundance of green/sustainability specifications/standards/ratings/metrics in the literature dealing with various aspects of sustainable constructions. Some examples of these specifications are the Market Transformation Programme database that contains the different building household appliances in the UK houses arranged in a well-defined taxonomy (Market Transformation Programme 2010; Firth et al. 2008; Wood and Newborough 2007), the Green Guide to Specifications (Anderson et al. 2009), the Uniclass (Smith et al. 1997) and the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED 2010). The Green Guide aims to provide a simple green guide to the environmental impacts of building materials which is easy-to-use and soundly based on numerical data. Uniclass is a new recent classification scheme for the construction industryindustry (Smith et al. 1997). It is intended for organising library materials and for structuring product literature and project information. It incorporates both CAWS (Common Arrangement of Work Sections for building works) and EPIC (Electronic Product Information Co-operation), a new system for structuring product data and product literature. The Green Guide is part of BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) an accredited environmental rating scheme for buildings. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the US Green Building Council, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.