Monday, September 30, 2019

Warren Pryor

Poem Essay Warren Pryor From Farm to City Feeling like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence is a common feeling. In the poem, Warren Pryor, the protagonist’s parents sacrifice everything â€Å"to free him from the stony fields, the meagre acreage that bore them down. † Warren’s parents only want what they think is best for him — and that isn’t life on a farm. â€Å"They blushed with pride when, at his graduation, they watched him picking up the slender scroll, his passport from the years of brutal toil and lonely patience in a barren hole. † But Warren’s parents are pushing him to pursue a career he doesn’t want.They see a new life in the city as more desirable than working the stony fields — the grass really is greener on the other side. In the poem, Alden Nowlan suggests that the parents’ wish to ensure Warren escapes the farm is stronger than their son’s desire to choose his own path in lif e. Warren doesn’t fight his parent’s decision to send him away to school and off the acreage. â€Å"He was saved from their thistle-strewn farm and its red dirt,† they believe. â€Å"And he said nothing. † There are two views of the farm in this poem. His parents think of the acreage as a desolate wasteland and Warren sees it as home.While Warren is lucky to have parents who are willing to sacrifice to provide him a better life, it’s a sacrifice he doesn’t want. He should have told his parents how he felt. In his job at the bank, Warren feels powerless and angry, â€Å"like a young bear inside his teller’s cage. † He feels conflicted because he doesn’t want to betray his parents’ choices, but he’s unhappy with his life. His â€Å"axe-hewn hands† are wasted, just as a bear’s strength would be if it was caged. Warren feels caged by his city life and he has developed his own desire to escape. War ren Pryor shows how influential parents can be — in both positive and egative respects. If the poem were to be told from the parents’ point of view it would tell a completely different story. There is also a hint of irony in this poem because Warren’s parents are suffering to push him into a life that creates even more suffering. The poem tells us we must try to live our lives in our own way, and not allow others to choose our path. Warren struggles to cope with city life and his parents deal with the hardships of farm life. They both want to escape to a better place. But everyone has their own dreams of where that better place is. For some, that may mean working on a farm.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Picaresque Novel

Callie Dahlhauser Lora Devereaux Composition II April 3, 2013 A Picaresque Novel The picaresque novel is an early type of novel originating from the Spanish word picaro. Picaro means a rogue or an adventurer. This type of novel describes the journeys that the main character or â€Å"picaro† take part in. The main character is usually of low social class and manipulates their way through life instead of working for what they want.The main point of the picaresque novel is to present the main character and reveal his/her adventures (Murfin). There are seven key qualities that determine if a novel is picaresque or not. First, the novel will tell of the rogue’s life usually in first person. Second, the rogue comes from low social class and is very basic. Third, the novel is made up of â€Å"episodes† that are put together to create the whole. Forth, the main character will not change personality throughout this story. Fifth, the novel is going to portray realism. Sixt h, the picaro does not engage in criminal activities.Seventh, there is a variety of social classes thrown in throughout the novel (Harmon). Picaresque novels are told in first-person point of view and discuss thoroughly the social class of the characters. The picaresque novel is very much discontinuous and structureless. The point of this type of novel is to address the life story of the mischievous main character. This character relies on his intellects to get him far in life rather than hard labor. This adventurous character participates in escapades where he barely succeeds to escape ( Harmon).In a picaresque novel, the central character does not develop into someone else. They start of being a picaro in the beginning and end the same way. They describe the life of the rogue or even just part of their lives. Their qualities stay the same as does the main characters social status. As mentioned before, these types of novels lack structure and usually involve unrelated parts that co me together as a whole (Murfin). Many classify picaresque novels to be romantic because of the adventurous storyline.The picaresque novel however is actually marked as being realistic. Because of the fact that the settings in these stories are very life-like, it gives the novel a realistic texture. The novel is presented with simplicity of language also. It can also be considered realistic because of the in depth detail that is portrayed throughout the novels (Bloom). The rogue in these novels usually does not involve themselves in criminal mischief. They lack virtue which means they rely on tricks and pranks to get them what they want.Many times if the picaro is employed they do tedious work and do not fully apply themselves. In these novels, there is no plot. The story is made up of loosely connected adventures and stories (Harmon). One example of a picaresque novel is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is the picaro in the story and the novel tells of h is adventures. He was born of the low social status and wandered into danger during his adventures. Huck fits the definition of a rogue because of the fact that he is a loner.He feels more comfortable on his own and away from society’s cruel judgments (Bloom). Another great example of a picaresque novel is The Unfortunate Traveller, or, The Life of Jack Wilton. This is considered the first English example of a Picaresque novel. The narrator, Jack Wilton, tells of his adventures throughout the wars against the French. He describes the dangers he encounters and the tragedy that he witnesses. Another way that makes this novel picaresque is because of the fact that Jack Wilton travels and comes into contact with many different societies (Bloom).Another example of a picaresque novel is One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. It is considered picaresque because of the corrupt society and the humor seen throughout the novel by the picaro. Randle McMurphy is the novels m ain character and picaro. During the novel, he is faced with many different challenges. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells of his adventures of being in the mental institute and describes his carefree personality ( Bloom). Although picaresque novels came about in the 16th century, the picaresque genre is still used frequently today.Picaresque novels have greatly influenced literature (Bloom). Works Cited Bloom, Harold. â€Å"Episodic Novel. † Blooms Literary Reference Online. N. p. : n. p. , 2012. N. pag. Facts on File. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. Harmon, William. â€Å"Picaresque Novel. † A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2009. 416-17. Print. Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M. Ray. â€Å"Picaresque Novel. † The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 382-83. Print.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

RISK ASSESSMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT - APPLICATION OF MODELS Assignment

RISK ASSESSMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT - APPLICATION OF MODELS - Assignment Example Further, estimates show that the people living in developing nations, particularly women and children are more affected by indoor air pollution due to their reliance on bio fuels like coal, dung, wood etc (WHO 2006). Thus indoor air quality has been a major area of concern for scientists and policy makers in the recent years due to its implications for health and welfare. Hence, the risk assessment and risk management of indoor air quality deserve special attention. This report discusses the risk assessment and risk management of indoor quality using the NAS model. The NAS model consists of hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk characterization and risk management (Common Wealth of Australia 2002).All these steps focusing on indoor air quality are discussed in detail in the following sections. A hazard is defined as an agent’s ability to produce any harmful effect on environment or health. It is not same as risk but can be the factor that can be a source of risk or risk factor. Hazard assessment involves two steps .They are hazard identification and dose response assessment (Common Wealth of Australia 2002).In the hazard identification stage of indoor air quality , it is determined whether nor not particular agents of indoor air are harmful to health or environment. The hazard identification for indoor quality is done based on epidemiological, toxicological and occupational or indoor studies. Hazard identification describes qualitatively the capability of agents to produce harmful effects .It is based on indoor observations that may potentially create adverse impacts on health or environment (ECA 2000). After identifying the hazards, the next step is doze response assessment. This describes quantitatively the links between the agents and adverse effects. The dose assessment is done using chamber studies

Friday, September 27, 2019

Igneous Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Igneous - Essay Example Igneous rocks are made when molten rock material called magma cools and solidifies. Magma may be thought of as a molten rock but it is not regularly a simple molten fluid. Nonetheless, it is rather a multifaceted blend of molten solid materials, for example, crystals, rocks, as well as dissolved vapor. Magma’s chemical composition and physical properties such as viscosity and density are all important factors that control magma’s overall behavior, for instance, how fast or slow it will move, how explosive it will be, what minerals will form in it, and their grain sizes and physical interrelationships. In terms of chemical composition, all magmas except rare carbonites are rich in carbonate component. They are also silicate magmas in which the dominant component is silica (SiO2), which generally comprises 45 % or more by weight. Alumina (Al2O3), with its abundance in common igneous rocks anywhere between 13 and 18 %, is at a distant second. Igneous rocks are categorized according to location, chemical composition, surface consistency, and mineralogy. Two significant factors used for the taxonomy of igneous rocks are the rock grain size, which largely depends on the cooling history, determines the texture and the mineral or chemical composition of the rock (Krebs, 2003 p. 95). The identification of these rocks is majorly done by texture. The grain consistency of volcanic rocks comprising the size, distribution of mineral grains, shape, orientation, and the intergranular relationships will decide if the rock is designated as simple or pyroclastic lava, or a tuff. Subsequently, it also determines what minerals are found in what kind of igneous rock. These are large rocks with mineral grains that are big enough to be identified by the eye. They are formed when magma slowly cools to form intrusive mafic igneous rocks. The well

Thursday, September 26, 2019

LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example In order to meet the new business situation, the company had to implement many changes. This paper investigates the change that has taken place in SMC since the acquisition. The research provides company’s profile and its history as a basis for further investigation on the influence of the acquisition and a new parent Sinosteel Corporation (Sinosteel) on the Midwest Corporations. The purpose of this study was to research and critically examine the change process in SMC, analyze the impact of the change on employees and on the company as a whole. Some critical review and recommendations are based on the leadership knowledge. The methodology of the study implies a review of related academic journals that helped to examine the company’s changing process. A questionnaire was filled in by SMC employees to provide the researcher with a clear picture of how in particular the change was implemented. A list of key questions will be made for interviewing a SMC decision-making exe cutives was based on the data collected from the questionnaires and conceptual framework from the journals. 2. Introduction and Objectives The purpose of the study was to review and critically analyze the changing process that took place in Sinosteel Midwest Corporation. Before the acquisition the company was operated by its founder and several major shareholders, as top executives and broad members. Most of these executives (i.e. broad members) left the company having sold their shares to Sinosteel, the company’s current owner. The major objectives of the company were changed too. Previously, the main goal of Midwest was looking for strategic investors (business partners) to finance the company’s iron ore projects development. Midwest was then supposed to use its revenue from selling iron ore to pay back to the investors. To change the situation, Sinosteel, as one of the biggest Chinese iron ore traders, does have an ability to finance the project development and, at the same time, provides a big demand for SMC’s iron ore. Since financing is not a problem anymore, SMC’s core business has changed to work more efficiently on the development of iron ore projects. A serial of change from business strategy to organizational structure have been made to meet the new situation and new requirement. Therefore, this study has explored how the SMC’s management team designed its new strategy and new structure for them to correspond to the new conditions the company works in after the acquisition. The research also examines how the change implementing process was leaded by a new Chinese Managing Director and whether the company’s leadership was effective enough as to implement the changes successfully. The impact of the change on both SMC employees and the company in general has been reviewed. Finally, the study provides some recommendations on how such changes can be implemented more effectively and what lessons other businesses c an learn from SMC’s experience? 3 Organizational Context – Sinosteel Midwest

Prepare a SOSE unit of work with rationale Essay

Prepare a SOSE unit of work with rationale - Essay Example In this case, they build up their capacity for participating in the community and provide meaningful rejoinder to environmental and social matters. Through this curriculum, learners get to understand global ideas of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people with their connectivity to other groups and places. They are able to apply their understanding to their connections to places and people in the world. Students are able to use essential ways of working to create and demonstrate their understanding of knowledge. Inquiry in this process is very important. It offers an opportunity to students to investigate a range issues locally and globally. They converse by use of different kinds of texts for precise purposes and audiences. This makes them participate actively in groups or individually in their villages in making enterprises while responding to issues creatively. Students have the ability to select precise tools and technologies to use which involves ICTs to carry out inquirie s and communicate within environmental and social context (Stage & Quiroz, 2008). There are different methods used in teaching. They are categorized into two groups. Teacher-centred and learner-cantered. Teacher-centred methods take the teacher to be the creator of all learning practices and procedures. An example is the lecture method. On the other hand, learner-centred methods identify the learner as the core creator of the learning process while the instructor or the teacher becomes controller of the learning procedure according to piagates theory of learning (Suai & Homer, 2006). It is the view of this paper that the lessons prepared will guide learners to acquire the desired skills, attitudes and knowledge to exist in the current globe. The methods also provide the chance for the society to learn new ideas from one another. The paper substantiates learner-centred methods through broad examination of environment as a topic in teaching of science. The method applied in this paper is Constructionism. It enables the learners to participate fully in the lessons investigating new ideas while the teacher guides through the process. The paper has singled out environment as a topic to examine different aspects of teaching and learning process. It is an interesting topic in a school setting. This will enable learners to participate fully in their classrooms during the lesson (Siebert, 2005). Some of the skills needed in a science lesson are supposed to help the learner with literally skills for writing reading and communicating orally about science principles and concepts. All these skills are incorporated into the topic â€Å"environment† Reasons for choosing the topic Environment is what surrounds an organism. There are two types of organisms, living and non-living organisms. Learners being one of the organisms in the environment require understanding how to live in it. This is important to help them acquire knowledge and skills to deal with different situ ations in life. Learning about environment is quite interesting and maintains learners’ interest to desire to know more about their surroundings. In this unit, learners undergo different real life experiences. This is important since they can easily relate what they are learning in class to what is happening out of their classrooms. For instance recycling of plastic is carried out by several industries (Siebert, 2005). It is possible for the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Brevrage industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brevrage industry - Essay Example It is the largest ever platform for the companies to spearhead and implement responsible corporate policies and practices. The beverage industry too needs to manage and govern their businesses across the world without diverting their focus from important CSR issues as they are likely to play a decisive role in the growth of their businesses. Currently, no industry or the companies can ever ignore environmental factors while formulating their business strategies. All beverage industries consume huge water in their processes and its judicious use is of paramount importance to sustain future operations and as an effective sustainability strategy. Water resources must be preserved and for that integrated waste water recycling initiative is a fundamental necessity. Another important area for environmental preservation is energy conservation and its management. There is a need to reduce carbon footprint by reengineering manufacturing, distribution, packaging operations within beverage industry. Beverage industry consumes enormous amount of packaging material causing enormous pressure on environment. Fresh use of packaging material needs to be reduced through recycling in line with food safety principles. The beverage industry must incorporate environment friendly and sustainable infrastructure for their future growth as an im portant objective to fulfillment of the CSR. Respect for human rights is significantly important while implementing CSR. Workplaces need to be transparent, safe, spearheading inclusive growth for all employees. Employees must be provided with freedom of association and the principle of collective bargaining must be followed. Any child or forced labor should be done away with. Discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, creed or caste should be discarded in its entirety within the company. Trained and empowered workforce can play a significant role in the company’s growth

Monday, September 23, 2019

Companies must constantly improve the integrity and honesty of their Essay

Companies must constantly improve the integrity and honesty of their brands. Demographic trends have a huge effect on brand development and sustainability. Disc - Essay Example Therefore, investor’s and researchers are always concerned about the actual effects and results of marketing components including advertisement, sales promotions, and company emblems - upon the consumer’s perception and their consequence upon brand equity. In the last decade, a lot of research has been dedicated to conceptualizing and measuring customer-based brand equity. However, apart from putting forth various influencing factors, no integrative framework has so far been developed to account for the complex psychological processes underlying the formation of customer-based brand equity. In this context, this paper attempts to propose such a framework by drawing on the theory of the Elaboration Likelihood Model in order to study the effect of demographic trends on the sustainability of a brand in terms of its honesty and integrity. The modern day consumers’ decision making as far a choice of a brand remains widely unquestioned as far as practical observations and research go. As discussed through our five areas of research earlier, there are a variety of models to conceptualize and measure "brand equity" in order to explain how brand equity is generated in the consumer’s mind. These models consist of a thorough analysis of each factor that influences the decision making process as well as several synoptic approaches examining the influence of different variables on brand equity are available (Kotler, 1997 , p. 443). This promotes a deeper understanding of the elements of brand identity. Brand Identity is that element of customer perception and awareness which has its focus in the results of a certain kind of projection through the brand equity building measures. This calls for an integrative model which will combine the basic elements of the brand identity and brand equity concepts so as to create a platform for the effective discussion of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. While on one hand a brand may have visible, tangible,

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Case Study Deloitte Case 09-8 Classified information

Deloitte 09-8 Classified information - Case Study Example In the year 2006, the gross profit increased by 8.6%, with the total net sales increasing to a figure of $ 86.5 million, the sassy Spa division yielding a net profit of $ 11.2 million. Contribution from the ‘Sassy Spa Division,’ therefore, increased by a whopping 287.18 %. This shows that the other divisions did not contribute much to increase in sales revenue in 2006. Contribution to the total profit in the year 2006 was therefore from sale of a fixed asset i.e. the sale of corporate HQ ($ 1.7 million), and winning a lawsuit against a supplier yielding further revenue of $ 2.7 million. This contributed to a non-operating income of $ 4.4 million in the financial year 2006. ‘420-10-S99’ codification standard defines such income as restructuring charges and may not be presented in an income statement as extraordinary items. Paragraph ‘225-20-45-16’ states that items which do not meet the classification criteria of an extraordinary item should be reported as component of income. Therefore, this figure can be added to the gross profit in 2006, yielding net revenue of $ 34.8

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Types of data sources Essay Example for Free

Types of data sources Essay 1. Evaluate relevant sources of data and information and discuss the criteria for selection of data and information. There are several different types of data sources for example there are primary sources of data which would be original documents, original research studies (peer reviewed), case studies. Secondary data is data collected from someone other than the user for example a biography of an individual would be secondary data compared to the person’s auto biography. There is also tertiary data which is a combination of both primary and secondary sources of data. Relevant sources of information tend to be sources that are reliable and credible. There are two basic types of information which are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative information is expressed in figures which will answer questions such as, how likely? How long? How many? Etc. Qualitative information expresses information that cannot be measured in a numerical formation and answers questions such as How? Why? What? For example the quantitative data of a product would tell the user the diameters of the product, how much the product weighs etc. This information would be useful for say the packaging department but to the advertising department this information would only have so much use they would need qualitative data about said product in order for them to sell it Joint and by product costing – There are different methods to allocate costs within a production process for example a process may produce three different products x y and z, the costs for this process would be allocated to each individual product based on the amount of each product that is produced in one run of this process and the costs may be allocated in different ways such as weight produced or the net realisable value (selling price) of each product and apportioned this way. The mos t appropriate method of cost allocation will inform management which product or products are generating a profit or a loss and this information would be used to make decisions as to continue certain processes of products. Variance analysis of costs i.e the difference between actual expenditure and budgeted expenditure, would generate quantitative data such as the differences between the two figures however it would not example HOW this happened so without the qualitative data on HOW this happened giving management more useful information to work with to improve the adverse variances . The criteria for the selection of data and information would be as to whether it is relevant, reliable, The rational model proposes that people follow a rational, four step sequence when making decisions. The four steps are: * Indentifying the problem * Generating solutions * Selecting a solution * Implementing and evaluating the solution The normative model suggests that decision making is characterised by; * Limited information processing there is a limit to how much information a person can manage. * Judgemental heuristics shortcuts are used to simplify decision making. * Satisfying choosing solutions that meet minimum requirements and are good enough 3 – Evaluate methods of communicating decisions made and discuss the processes for implementing and evaluating a communication method Oral Communication: Oral communication could be said to be the most used form of communication. Whether it is to present some important data to your colleagues or lead a boardroom meeting, these skills are vital. We are constantly using words verbally to inform our subordinates of a decision, provide information, and so on. This is done either by phone or face-to-face. The person on the receiving end would also need to exercise much caution to ensure that he/she clearly understands what is being said. This shows therefore, that you would need to cultivate both your listening and speaking skills, as you would have to carry out both roles in the workplace, with different people. Written Communication:Â  Writing is used when you have to provide detailed information such as figures and facts, even while giving a presentation. It is also generally used to send documents and other important material to stakeholders, which could then be stored for later use as it can be referred to easily as it is recorded. Other important documents such as contracts, memos, and minutes of meetings are also in written form for this purpose. It can be seen in recent years however, that verbal communication has been replaced to a great extent by a faster form of written communication, and that is email. You could also use videoconferencing and multiple way phone calls with several individuals simultaneously. Apart from a few glitches that could occur, these methods of communication have helped organizations come a long way. Body Language: Although the most common methods of communication are carried out orally or in writing, when it comes to management techniques, the power of non-verbal communication must never be underestimated. Your smile, your gestures and several other body movements send out a message to the people around you. You need to be mindful of this while dealing with your employees and customers. Always remember to maintain eye contact. This would show that you are serious and confident about what is being said.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Definition Of Change Management As An Organizational Capability Management Essay

Definition Of Change Management As An Organizational Capability Management Essay Able and How, an international management consultancy firm, specialises in helping clients solve their communications, change and people issues. The project saw the light when the group was working on a growth strategy for Rio Tinto . It was then that the group made a recommendation that said that the massive organization needs to have a capability to manage change and adapt itself to the volatile business environments in order to grow by 100% in the next 3 years!!! Problem Definition The tinkering over the recommendations lead the group to question, whether they can create a definition of change management as an organizational capability? If yes, whether there are any reliable and credible ways of assessing and benchmarking the same? The long term goal of the group is to create a sort of ranking system that would rate organizations on their ability to manage change or adapt itself successfully to the changing environments. Search for the Solution It was the combination of challenge, vagueness of the idea and the knowledge of the expertise at Cass, which lead to Able and How coming to Cass and specifically to Veronica Hope Hailey to help with project. Literature Review: The rapid changes in the business ecosystem create pressure on organizations to implement change initiatives to meet the demands of the stakeholders. Of late, the frequency and magnitude of change has increased. If anything one was to look at as a indicator of this, it would be the Fortune 1000 list of companies. The list shows that between 1973 and 1983, 35% of the companies in the top 20 were new, and this has increased to 60% when we compare the figures for years between 1993 and 2003. This indicates that increasingly more businesses are dealing with / managing changes in their organizations to stay ahead. At this point, one pertinent question that comes to our mind is what is change management? Change management, as defined in the Business and Management dictionary, is the coordination of a structured period of transition from situation A to situation B in order to achieve lasting change within an organization. Change management can be of varying scope, from continuous improvement, which involves small ongoing changes to existing processes, to radical and substantial change involving organizational strategy. Change management can be reactive or proactive. It can be instigated in reaction to something in an organizations external environment, for example, in the realms of economics, politics, legislation, or competition, or in reaction to something within the structures, processes, people, and events of the organizations internal environment. As a proactive measure, an organization might undergo change in anticipation of say, unfavourable economic conditions in the future. (Bloomsbury Business Library Business Management Dictionary 2007) Change management is a well-known and respected means to deal with budget cuts, volatile requirements, and other non stationary core reasons for project failures. The definition of change management includes at least four basic aspects: (1) the task of managing change, (2) an area of professional practice, (3) a body of knowledge, and (4) a control mechanism. Change can either be programmatic and planned or can be emergent, driven by unforeseen external events (Carl and et al, 2010). Boomer suggests that both academics and practitioners see change management capability as a strategic advantage and view change as a control mechanism, which typically results from standards, policies and processes. He goes further to define that as a body of knowledge, change management consists of methods, tools and techniques (Boomer 2008) to successfully manage the transition from one state to another. A lot of research work has taken place in this area, especially in the academic world. If one were to search for change management, in the past 20 years, in the business source complete, one could find that there are 2515 results in the category of academic journals out of a total of 4309. Moreover, the importance of the industry can be highlighted by the presence of the number of consulting firms with sophisticated tools and techniques to help clients manage change. However, even recent studies show that approximately 70% of all planned organizational change initiatives fail (Eaton, 2010). This leaves us wondering why The study done by Beer and Eisenstat in 2000, does talk about the top 6 silent killers of a change initaitive. They are Top-down or laissez-faire senior management style Unclear strategy and conflicting priorities An ineffective senior management team Poor vertical communication Poor coordination across functions, businesses or borders Inadequate down-the-line leadership skills and development (Beer and Eisenstat, 2000). A lot has been talked about in the academic literature and in practioners world of the prescriptive way to overcome these issues, however, not much has been done to identify the causal effect of these and the failures of change initiatives thereafter. As identified by Pellettiere, one of the main causes for these failures is the lack of a thorough diagnostic investigation in an organizations readiness and risk for a planned change. By a thorough diagnostic investigation, he intends to include both an external as well as an internal analysis using some form of an assessment to determine the need to change as well as an organizations readiness and risk involved in a planned change. He did identify that organizations have a tendency not to conduct a thorough internal analysis but rather have a propensity to initiate quick-fix solutions, sometimes ignoring the context, when implementing a change initiative (Pellettiere, 2006). As such, there have been numerous efforts to develop a scale to assess an enterprises managerial or organizational capabilities to change. Before we go an talk about a metric, let us try to define an organizations capacity for change. Organizations Capacity to Change When an organization undergoes a change, new organizational solutions have to be decided upon; product programs must be modified; positions must be reallocated; routines and policies must be revised; employees training programs need to be planned and implemented; and so on (Meyer Stensaker 2006). This requires a lot of effort. As such, as highlighted by Meyer and Stensaker (2006), organizations that have a capacity for creating multiple change processes in order to create sustainable change must not only have the ability (resources and capabilities) to change the organization successfully, they must also have capability to maintain daily operations and implement subsequent change processes. They defined change capacity as the allocation and development of change and operational capabilities that sustains long term performance (Meyer Stensaker 2006). An organizations capability in managing change should ensure that change should happen without destroying the well-functioning aspects in an organization or adversely affecting subsequent changes. This requires both capabilities to change in the short and long term as well as capabilities to maintain daily operations (Meyer Stensaker 2006). Gtaetz and Smith define it as a firms ability in initiating, managing and implementing critical changes in organizational structures and development processes (Graetz and Smith, 2005; Self et al., 2007). These refer to a firms ability to launch and implement large scale changes to develop organisational capabilities for rapid adaptation, flexibility and innovation (Graetz and Smith, 2005; Yanni Yan, Ding Mak 2009). This definition of change capability does give us an impression that the capability is a static advantage. It can be set in place by having the right processes and structures. If it is so prescriptive then why does it happen that there are organizations that are better off at changing because of some unknown factors. The answer to this was found in the extension of the RBV and the intersection of the same with change management capability. Savory (2006) attempted at extending the RBV concept and distinguished the terms resource, competence and capability. He defined resources as factors that are owned and controlled by the organization or available through alliances and other external relationships whereas competence is the ability to use the resources to an acceptable level of performance towards a desirable purpose. Further, he defined capabilities as the ability to operate a specific configuration of an organizations set of resources and dynamic capabilities as the ability to reconfigure both the use and coordination of a specific configuration and the development of new configurations of resources, according to changes in the organizations environment and strategic direction (Butler, 2009). Dynamic Capability We know the key ingredients of a successful planned change comprise of leadership, visioning, teamwork and communication, but in dynamic environments on the other hand, change can hardly be planned ex ante in a detailed and distinct manner. The most severe disadvantages of planned change can be seen by large losses in the short-term, a high probability of a relapse, issues coming up as an result of limited foresight, unadjusted takeover of best practice from a different context, ignorance of key contingencies, a possible implementation lag that makes change already outdated before completion and a lack of suitability for large-scale change matters (Weick, 2000; Burnes, 2004). One especially severe drawback for hypercompetitive environments is that planned change represses innovative behaviour and, thus, rejects the important innovators, innovations and adaptive processes for this context (Weick, 2000; Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm 2008). These drawbacks have encouraged us to think of the proactive, emergent change. Such an approach supports experimentation, is sensitive to local contingencies, open to shortened and tightened feedback loops from results to action, is comprehensible and managable. However, also within emergent change there are some drawbacks such as due to its incremental nature the speed of change which is slow, outcomes might be too small and, thus, more appropriate for exploiting opportunities than countering threats. Weick (2000) suggests that such an emergent change, in general, is most suited for operational level change than a major strategic change, which however can be built up incrementally through smaller emerging changes. Moreover it is because of the diffuse and less focused character of emergent change that it is less likely to deliver a transformational shift (Weick, 2000; Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm 2008). When we talk about organizational change capacity, it cannot be an activity performed in order to improve operations or products once the change has been implemented. Instead, it is an inherent and continuous ingredient of the firms activities that need to be incorporated as a capacity of regular operations. Organizational change is thus upgraded from being a one-off and unique activity, to a strategic capability of the successful companies in hypercompetitive or turbulent environments (Nadler and Tushman, 1999; Meyer and Stensaker, 2006; Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm 2008). Flexibility and creativity, as per rhe Mckinsey Quarterly (april 2009), are very important for a successful organizational change. These all lead us to think that there exists some kind of dynamic capabilities in an organization that would enable it to proactively change to the external environment. Teece et al. (1997) define dynamic capabilities as firms ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments. In other words, independent of the line of business, technology applied or markets served, dynamic capabilities point to the ability to constantly change in order to respond to environmental changes, to overtake competitors and to maintain competitive advantages (Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm 2008). The dynamic capability is an extension of the static resource based view, which fails to explain firms competitive advantage in changing environments (e.g., Priem Butler, 2001). As a result, Teece and colleagues proposed the dynamic capabilities framework to fill that gap. Teece et al. (1997). It seems that the concept dynamic capabilities was the one most suited for developing a theory on organizational capacity to change because of the focus of the theory on the organizational processes that enable growth and adaptation in changing environments (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Teece et al., 1997). Moreover, such capabilities are grounded in organizational learning and managerial capabilities, the former, because organizational learning both leads to dynamic capabilities and is a dynamic capability (Zollo and Winter, 2002) and the latter as managers play crucial roles in developing organizational capabilities (Teece et al., 1997). The dynamic capabilities have actually taken up a strategic stage and subjugated the operational capabilities as zerolevel capabilities, being the how we earn a living now capabilities (Winter, 2003; Dixon, Meyer Day, 2010). Organization Capability for Change When we talk of a construct that would enable us to measure an organizations capacity to proactively change, one is lured to think of 3 antecedents, viz. organizational ambidexterity, environmental uncertainty and relative performance. Ambidexterity, which means doing 2 things at the same time, when extended to an organizational context, refers to the ability of organizations to achieve alignment in their current operations while also adapting effectively to changing environmental demands (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004). As conceptualized by Ghoshal and Bartlett (1994) ambidexterity builds on the 4 interdependent attributes, which are discipline, stretch, support, and trust. Discipline encourages individuals to voluntarily strive to meet all expectations generated by their explicit or implicit commitments. Stretch tempts members to voluntarily strive for more, rather than less, ambitious objectives. Support refers to the collective action of members to lend assistance and countenance to others. Finally, trust induces members to rely on the commitments of each other (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004). They argued that an organization needs to foster discipline and stretch to encourage individuals to push for ambitious goals, but it also needs support and trust to ensure that this happens within a cooperative environment. In terms of the yin and yang of continuous self-renewal (Ghoshal Bartlett, 1997): a balance between a pair of hard elements (discipline and stretch) and a pair of soft elements (support and trust) (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004). To understand the meaning of environmental uncertainty, another antecedent to the change capability, we need take each word at a time. Uncertainty, which is defined as an individuals perceived inability to predict something accurately because he/she perceives himself/herself to be lacking sufficient information to predict accurately or because he/she feels unable to discriminate between relevant data and irrelevant data (Gifford, Bobbitt, Slocum, 1979). The word environmental when attached to the term uncertainty, suggests that the source of the uncertainty is the organizations external environment. This uncertainty stems from the components of the environment (e,g, suppliers, competitors, government, distributors, consumers, etc) in which a company operates. Milliken (1987) said that the decision makers need to not only understand the particular source of environmental uncertainty, but also understand the type of environmental uncertainty. While specifying the source of uncertainty he refers to the domain of the environment which the decision maker is uncertain about (eg. competitors or suppliers). The type of uncertainty focuses on delineating the nature of the uncertainty being experienced. This could of 3 types, State uncertainty, Effect Uncertainty and Response uncertainty. State uncertainty refers to the inability in understanding how components of the environment might be changing. Effect uncertainty is defined as an inability to predict the nature of the impact of a future state of the environment on the organization. Response uncertaintys definition acknowledges the lack of knowledge of response options and/or the inability to predict the likely consequences of a response choice (Milliken, 1987). One of the reasons to construct a scale to measure an organizations capacity to change is to help the firm gain a competitive edge. This would mean superior performance. A firms performance depends on its strategy, but as per Bourgeois, (1980) the lack of consensus on means is more troublesome than disagreement on ends (final strategy). Also, a firms performance is affected by its organizational structures (centralised or decentralised), adaptive entities and decision problems (decomposable or non -decomposable) (Siggelkow and Levinthal, 2003). Based on the aforementioned 3 concepts, a new dynamic capability called organizational capacity for change (hereinafter referred to as OCC) was developed by Judge and Elenkov (2005). They conceptualize OCC as a dynamic organizational capability that allows the enterprise to adapt old capabilities to new threats and opportunities, as well as create new capabilities. More specifically, it is defined as the dynamic resource bundle comprised of effective human capital at varying levels of a business unit, with cultural predispositions toward innovation and accountability, and organizational systems that facilitate organizational change and transformation (Judge et al., 2009). OCC is defined as a meta-capability that enables an enterprise to regain or remain competitive with other enterprises through effective leadership, adaptive cultures, resilient employees, and an organizational infrastructure conducive to change. As suggested, it is different from Cohen and Leventhals (1990) absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity focuses exclusively on organizational routines and processes while OCC focuses not only on the organizational routines and processes but also takes into account leadership talent and employee attitudes (Zahra and George 2002; Judge et al., 2009). Another construct that comes close to the OCC is the organizational readiness for change (Armenakis, Harris and Mossholder 1993),as both constructs deal with the organizations receptivity to change and organizational resilience. However, organizational readiness for change is focused exclusively on employee attitudes toward change, while OCC examines employee attitudes, leadership capabilities, and organizational infrastructure for bringing about change. In essence, OCC presents a comprehensive and as such, OCC is a bigger and more encompassing concept than absorptive capacity or organizational readiness for change (Judge et al., 2009). Having defined the Organization Capacity for Change, lets see how this has been developed as a construct in the organizational sciences that can be used by executives to prepare for and enhance their organizational change process, or for scholars to study the organizational change process. Building Blocks of the OCC Construct The construct was developed by an inductive process of assessing the works of several academics and practitioners in the area of organizational change over a period of 20 years. The construct has defined eight distinct but inter-related dimensions relating to the issues of human capabilities, formal organizational systems/processes and informal organizational culture (Judge and Douglas, 2009)*. [An earlier version of this paper was accepted for the 2006 Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings for the Organization Development and Change Division.] [Insert the pic here] Sl. No. Dimension of OCC What does it mean? Referred Work 1 Trustworthy leadership Ability of senior executives to earn the trust of the rest of the organization and to show organizational members the way to meet its collective goals (Barney and Hansen, 1994) 2 Trusting followers Ability of the non-executive employees to constructively dissent with and/or willingly follow a new path advocated by its senior executives (Kelley, 1992) 3 Capable champions An ability of an organization to attract, retain, and empower change leaders to evolve and emerge (Kanter, 1983) 4 Involved mid-management The ability of middle managers to effectively link senior executives with the rest of the organization (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1996) 5 Innovative culture The ability of the organization to establish norms of innovation and encourage innovative activity (Kotter and Heskett, 1992) 6 Accountable culture Ability of the organization to carefully steward resources and successfully meet pre-determined deadlines (Ulrich et al., 1999) 7 Effective communication The ability of the organization to communicate vertically, horizontally, and with customers (Oshry, 1996) 8 Systems thinking The ability of the organization to focus on root causes and recognize the interdependencies within and outside the organizational boundaries (Kilmann, 1991) Not only have Judge and Douglas (2009) designed the construct, interestingly they have found significantly positive relationship between OCC and financial performance of companies. This co-relation lends support to the contention that OCC is a strategically important organizational capability, and that it may be a source of competitive advantage. This capability assumes all the more importance when the perceived environment uncertainty is high (Judge and Douglas, 2009). Judge and Douglas (2009) have attempted to make OCC construct as robust and relevant as possible by refining it while surveying 3,725 employees within 161 organizational units in a wide variety of industries during the period of 1999-2005. While they do intend to help leaders in one of the most difficult aspects of leading organizational change initiatives, which is the ability to diagnose and develop the organizations capacity for change (Bossidy and Charan, 2002), their study is not void of shortcomings. Neither does it take into account the size of the change nor does it measure the effects of the specific nature of the environment changes. The study is not free of regional bias, as all the findings are validated in a North American context. Moreover the construct has references to studies that are out-dated, the oldest one done in 1983. A lot of research has been taken place in each of the dimensions in the recent years. It will be worth exploring / expanding the ideas of the construct in the light of latest works. New findings Trustworthy Leadership: The construct talks about trustworthy leadership, but it will be worth understanding what attributes make leadership trustworthy. Ingenhoff and Sommer (2010) identified the 4 different dimensions that influence the degree of overall of trust, namely ability, integrity, benevolence, and information quality. They also identified trust as being significantly important for a companys ongoing success, as it strengthens the long-term relationship between stakeholders and the company (Ingenhoff and Sommer, 2010). Trust, which is correlated with greater information sharing, has been identified to reduce transaction costs. It is unique as a governance mechanism and also creates value in the exchange relationship (Dyer and Chu, 2003). Croonen, 2010, through his studies strengthened the findings of Brockner and Siegel, 1996; Krishnan et al. 2006; Mishra and Spreitzer, 1998 who have considered fairness as an important element of trust and says that it should be shown more often. Trusting followers: When subordinates trust their managers, they are willing to provide benefits in the form of extra effort toward job performance and OCB and should have more favourable attitudes toward the exchange relationship and be more willing to maintain it (Dirks Ferrin, 2002; Konovsky Pugh, 1994; Mayer Gavin, 2005). Every leaders top priority should be to establish trusting relationships in order to drive productive working environments, as a study by the Institute for Organizational Performance has revealed that trust alone predicts 46% of the difference between low and high performers (Mercurio, 2005). For this, it is not only sufficient for senior managers to be able to demonstrate that they are trustworthy, but also they have to trust their subordinates. Such trust-building practices involve exchange of information and the empowerment of employees (Cummings, 1983; Deluga, 1994; Folger Konovsky, 1989; Whitener, 1997). This does puts the manager in a more vulnerable position and organizations should help managers learn to use these procedures wisely (Brower et.al, 2009). It has been identified that effective followers play significant roles in fostering leadership and organizational effectiveness. Trusting followers leads to very effective employees, but requires the leaders put forth leadership over their specific area of work and requires honest upward communication. Such followers need to be dependent, loyal and co-operative (Agho, 2009). Capable Champions When we talk of capable champions, what skills and abilities are we referring to? In his book, The Change of Champions Field guide: Strategies and Tools for Leading Change in the New Era, Ulrich says that the winners in turbulent times will be the ones who are good at understanding the environmental and technological contingencies and leveraging them to the advantage of the organizational performance and excellence. It has been found that good change managers are very good at envisioning. They can see the future they want to create, the short and long-term wins they want to achieve. They are completely aware of the dynamics involved in developing adaptability, team-learning and responsiveness within the organization to achieve the desired win (Khan, 2006). We all know that change in an organization takes in 3 phases and each phase requires specialized skills. The table below gives a summary of same and has been adapted from the study done by Warrick, 2009 and the book Exploring Strategic Change by Veronica Hope Hailey and Julia Balogun (2008). [Refer to book by Veronica .. ] Stage of Change Role played by the Change Champion Skills Needed Mobilise Initiating Developing a change mindset Providing visionary leadership Involving key stakeholders and building commitment Well informed and cognizant of the issues and opportunities and knows how to get things done Move Facilitating Working with teams Working with people Networking and getting the right people together Sustain Implementing Planning and managing the change process Making things happen Motivating people Developing feedback mechanism to evaluate and monitor progress Persevering until the change succeeds (Warrick, 2009) For a successful change, change champions are required to create a creative culture, manage diversity, empower employees, maintaining organizational integrity, establish a just and fair reward system, create an environment of trust and inclusion that will really empower leaders and proponents of change to deal with any change process. Some additional skills are the use of appreciative enquiry, intuition and creativity (Khan, 2006; Warrick 2009). Involved Mid Management When we talk about line managers, researchers say that they can be of 2 types, the realists and the humanists. Realists are goal orientated and focus on getting things done, which includes things like developing a plan and a budget for the work and ensuring that the deadlines will be hit. On the other hand humanists, as the name suggests, focus on the people aspects-for example, making sure everybody understands and is committed to the plan, and figuring out how to handle any resistance to the plan (Axelrod, 2007). Axelrod (2007) further suggests that to get things done in an organization, one needs to bring together both the perspectives in his / her thought process and make it an all encompassing approach by moving beyond the usual suspects to include people who care about or stand to be affected by the initiative, people with relevant knowledge and expertise, and people whose authority is touched by the work. All change efforts need some element of fresh thinking and ways to overcome resistance. It has been found that innovative solutions can be obtained by including people with diverse points of view. Also, by bringing resisters, detractors, and other troublemakers onboard, one can reduce the resistance as it reduces the chance of stirring up trouble and distrust from the outside and might even convert the detractor to an instrumental team member (Axelrod, 2007). Axelrod has suggested some steps, for an involved middle management in a change effort. They are Keep the vision for the project front and center. Remind people whats going to be different as a result of your collective efforts. Give them regular progress reports about whats been achieved so far. Listen and value to the subordinates inputs. Communicate and celebrate the closure is very important too. (Axelrod, 2007). Innovative Culture Change is intended, amongst other reasons, to foster innovation and as suggested by Judge et.al. (2009), it also is one of the pillars that supports and organizations capacity to change. How do we foster innovation in an organization? The answer lay in leaders ability in fostering and developing innovation among their followers by having a vision and mission that encourage ideas from their workforce and actively seeks input from all departments and across all levels. It means giving followers the freedom to make decisions. This act enables employees to try out new ideas in a conducive environment and challenge themselves with a new way of thinking. With the ability to add to the work process, employees will begin interacting in a way that supports innovative ideas and influences the future of the business. It has been prescribed that with proper leadership training, accountability, and daily communication about leaderships responsibilities to foster creativity and trust, mid-level managers can rise to the standards necessary to inspire innovation and grow the next generation of innovative leaders (Agin and Gibson, 2010). When we talk about a culture, what would attributes would define an innovative culture? Daniels, 2010, discovered that innovative workplaces share six cultural characteristics. They are Dimension Meaning Context rich Information feed innovation. It would lead to a culture which ensures free-flowing communication so that innovators can draw on a rich background and perspective. Customer close Key to innovation lies at

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Retirement Planning Essay -- essays research papers fc

Retirement Retirement seems to be one of the most often overlooked areas of people’s future plan. Simply because it seems so far away, it is an area that is subject to procrastination. People are expected to live longer now than ever before, this is another reason why young adults and teenagers are not worried about saving for their retirement. The baby boom generation, the seventy seven million people born between 1943 and 1960, face an entirely different retirement plan. As they began to retire, people are starting to think that there will be no money left and this will turn into a crisis. What will happen when seventy-seven million baby boomers begin to want the money they paid in†¦ but it is not there? Retirement provisions such as Social Security, IRA’s, and 401k’s are there to help when you are deciding how to save money. Social Security started a long time ago, in the 1930’s, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. He was elected president in November 1932. By March there were over thirteen million people that were unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a sweeping program to being recovery to business and to agriculture and relief to those who were in fear of losing their farms and homes to being unemployed. In 1935, recovery was slowing arriving, but more And more people were turning against Roosevelt’s New Deal program. This led Roosevelt to a new program of reform, which we know today as social security. It stated heavier taxes on the wealthy, new way of controlling banks and public utilities, and a huge work relief program for those people who were unemployed. Social Security has been around for so long, but now people under the age of sixty-five think it will go bankrupt before they retire, according to a new CNN/TIME poll, and most of them do not think they will be able to save enough on their own. Only thirty-one percent say that the system is currently in a crisis; ma jority just feels that there are problems but not a crisis. The way you feel about Social Security is based totally on what age you are. People over fifty seem to think the system is fair while others feel it is not. In the Industrial Age, a Defined Benefit pension plan meant that the company guaranteed you, the worker, and a defined amount of money for as long as you lived. This made people feel secure because these plans assured a stead... ... will take your retirement, even if it seems too far ahead, more seriously. I am including these graphs and a questionnaire to let you see some statistics of U.S. citizen’s opinions. From a CNN/POLL: Financial Condition of Social Security Crisis 31% Problems, not a crisis 55% No problem 10% Asked of all Americans Will Social Security go bankrupt before you retire? Yes 54% No 42% Asked of Americans under age of 65 If Social Security did not exist, could you save enough to retire? Yes 44% No 52% Asked of Americans under age of 65 Who should control Social Security Investments? Individuals 80% Government 14% Asked of all Americans Investing in a stock market is a good idea Now 57% 1994 38% 1990 26% Asked of all Americans Will Congress and Clinton be able to fix Social Security? Yes 43% No 46% Asked of all Americans Is Social Security fair to people your age? Yes No 18-34 years 41% 52% 35-49 years 46% 45% 50-64 years 61% 27% Over 64 years 80% 15% Bibliography http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/polls/social.security/ U.S. News Magazine, Turning 40, March 20, 2000. Vol. 128, number 11 www.usnews.com, 2000 Benefits that last a Lifetime, 1997 Retirement solutions pamplet. Retirement Planning Essay -- essays research papers fc Retirement Retirement seems to be one of the most often overlooked areas of people’s future plan. Simply because it seems so far away, it is an area that is subject to procrastination. People are expected to live longer now than ever before, this is another reason why young adults and teenagers are not worried about saving for their retirement. The baby boom generation, the seventy seven million people born between 1943 and 1960, face an entirely different retirement plan. As they began to retire, people are starting to think that there will be no money left and this will turn into a crisis. What will happen when seventy-seven million baby boomers begin to want the money they paid in†¦ but it is not there? Retirement provisions such as Social Security, IRA’s, and 401k’s are there to help when you are deciding how to save money. Social Security started a long time ago, in the 1930’s, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. He was elected president in November 1932. By March there were over thirteen million people that were unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a sweeping program to being recovery to business and to agriculture and relief to those who were in fear of losing their farms and homes to being unemployed. In 1935, recovery was slowing arriving, but more And more people were turning against Roosevelt’s New Deal program. This led Roosevelt to a new program of reform, which we know today as social security. It stated heavier taxes on the wealthy, new way of controlling banks and public utilities, and a huge work relief program for those people who were unemployed. Social Security has been around for so long, but now people under the age of sixty-five think it will go bankrupt before they retire, according to a new CNN/TIME poll, and most of them do not think they will be able to save enough on their own. Only thirty-one percent say that the system is currently in a crisis; ma jority just feels that there are problems but not a crisis. The way you feel about Social Security is based totally on what age you are. People over fifty seem to think the system is fair while others feel it is not. In the Industrial Age, a Defined Benefit pension plan meant that the company guaranteed you, the worker, and a defined amount of money for as long as you lived. This made people feel secure because these plans assured a stead... ... will take your retirement, even if it seems too far ahead, more seriously. I am including these graphs and a questionnaire to let you see some statistics of U.S. citizen’s opinions. From a CNN/POLL: Financial Condition of Social Security Crisis 31% Problems, not a crisis 55% No problem 10% Asked of all Americans Will Social Security go bankrupt before you retire? Yes 54% No 42% Asked of Americans under age of 65 If Social Security did not exist, could you save enough to retire? Yes 44% No 52% Asked of Americans under age of 65 Who should control Social Security Investments? Individuals 80% Government 14% Asked of all Americans Investing in a stock market is a good idea Now 57% 1994 38% 1990 26% Asked of all Americans Will Congress and Clinton be able to fix Social Security? Yes 43% No 46% Asked of all Americans Is Social Security fair to people your age? Yes No 18-34 years 41% 52% 35-49 years 46% 45% 50-64 years 61% 27% Over 64 years 80% 15% Bibliography http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/polls/social.security/ U.S. News Magazine, Turning 40, March 20, 2000. Vol. 128, number 11 www.usnews.com, 2000 Benefits that last a Lifetime, 1997 Retirement solutions pamplet.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Paulo Freire and William Brickman Essays -- education, scholars

This paper briefly compares two important figures that have major contributions in education. The paper includes both educators Paulo Freire and William Brickman and discusses their contributions’ to the field of Education. In all, this paper reveals the struggle each person had to overcome to advance in their research, the comparisons and differences between them, as well as reasons that might have impacted their success. IMPORTANT SCHOLARS PAULO FREIRE AND WILLIAM BRICKMAN 3 The Contributions Paulo Freire and his family had no option but to relocate to the countryside of Brazil due to the Crash of Wall Street in 1929 (Flanagan, 2005). Freire personally endured the effects poverty had on education at a young age while living next to impoverished peasantry (Flanagan, 2005). Freire was able to grasp how education is used as a tool by the oppressor to keep the oppressed systemically controlled, dominated, and suppressed (Flanagan, 2005). The oppressed people understood how education in conventional schooling was used by the oppressor to ensure that they lived with the understanding that they are worthless. In this conventional system Freire explained that the teachers are the narrators of knowledge and students are passive learners (Flanagan, 2005). Freire also contributed to a system where students are passive learners and their job is to listen as the teacher provides them with content of their knowledge, this system is called The Banking Concept of Education. One way that Freire sought to fix this process was by introducing student and teacher discussions. Students would learn by experience and practice, this process would integrate problem solving activities and perso... ...est Education Ever: London: Continuum International Publishing. Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, trans, by Myra Bergman Ramos, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972. Flanagan, Frank M. Greatest Educators Ever. London, GBR: Continuum International Publishing, 2005. p 241. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ncent/Doc?id=10250946&ppg=241 Copyright  © 2005. Continuum International Publishing. All rights reserved. Silova, I., & Brehm, W. C. (2010). For the Love of Knowledge. European Education, 42(2), 17- 36. Doi: 2753/EUE1056-4934420202. Swing, E.S. (1987). In memoriam: William W. Brickman (1913-1986). Comparative Education Review, 31(1), 1-6. Retrieved online from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1188218?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101186958721 myopinionandthoughts.wordpress.com

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Volpone, by Ben Jonson :: Free Essay Writer

Consider the end of the play, the lack of resolution in the Bonario - Celia relationship, the class based difference in the severity of Volpone and Mosca`s punishments, the situation in which Corbaccio, Voltore and Corvino are left. Do you find the ending just and in structure or are the unresolved situations disturbing? In the epistle of the play Ben Jonson states â€Å"it being the office of a comic poet to imitate justice.† It can be said that this is shown in the ending and that it is just and in structure as all the characters are punished in some way for their avarice and the â€Å"innocent† characters Bonario and Celia who in a way provide a contrast to the immoral selfishness, are set free and Celia is given back with three times her dowry money to her father. However there are unresolved issues left at the end of the play concerning these characters. One point of view would be that Celia and Bonario were secondary characters in the play used as virtuous characters to provide a distinction between the corruption and greed of Volpone. Mosca, Corvino, Corbaccio and Voltore, consequently making the problems concerning them as unimportant in context with the punishment or â€Å"justice† served by Jonson to Volpone. But then it is important to bear in mind that as these two ch aracters were so inherently good-natured that the reputation of them and lack of resolution can be regarded as disturbing. Another disturbing injustice can be viewed as the class based difference Mosca and Volpone`s punishments. Volpone is sent to â€Å"Thou art to lie in prison, cramped with irons, till thou be`st sick and lame indeed.† As he is â€Å"By blood, and rank a gentleman.† And is sent to the Hospital of the Incurables. Mosca, â€Å"Being a fellow of no birth, or blood.† Is sentenced to â€Å" first thou be whipped; Then live perpetual prisoner in our gallies.† This inequity can be seen as being based on the fact that Mosca is a parasite, in metaphorical terms a flesh fly who feeds of others: the lowest of the low. However, when one of the avocatore thought Mosca had inherited the money therefore moving up in status, as a clarissimo he had described Mosca as â€Å"A proper man! And were Volpone dead. A fit match for my daughter.† And is called a â€Å"gentleman.† This shows how differences in class make a difference for how the characters are treated i n punishment.

From Maus Post Modern Techniques

1) Choose one of the texts above and write a 300-500-word response identifying its use of postmodern elements. From Maus contains elements, which identify a postmodern text. The elements used are the interrogation of the past, pastiche, the use of a non-linear journey, mixing of genres, the use of language and the high and low culture. The fragmented form and the use of anthropomorphism allow the audience to be exposed to a postmodern text. The use of anthropomorphism shows the direct way in which the author hopes to achieve his message. From Maus the text, which uses the low and high culture to identify the element of postmodernism found in the text. This can be seen by the layout of the text, which is a comic book strip however the author is talking about a serious issue. In addition the author allows the audience to go through several historical events, which are narrated by a father talking to his son about the holocaust. The text not only talks about the holocaust it also talks about the post and pre-holocaust. It encounters the problems in which the characters deal with loosing family members for example the father. Furthermore the text is an interrogation of the past, which can be associated with postmodern texts. The use of animals also highlights the contrast in the serious story line. The use of language assists in displaying the postmodern elements found in the text. As the text’s main theme is a historical event you would associate the text with formal and informative language. However, From Maus uses common colloquial language this is evident when the father is talking to his son about the holocaust â€Å"Some Jews thought in this way: If they gave to the Germans a few Jews, they could save the rest† The use of language used by the narrator creates the contrast between high and low society. In addition the use of pastiche and the non-linear form adds to the texts fragmented form. The non-linear form assists in displaying the story line in which is viewed from present day which goes backwards due to the narrators memory. In conclusion from the following elements: pastiche, the high and low culture, mixing of genres and language assist in creating a postmodern text.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Arousing music Essay

The Obendorfer’s three-story Victorian home rested at the corner of Peabody and Main in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The grand homes candy-corn colored shutters peaked out from mature oak and trimmed spruce trees. It was a glorious day, the September’s morning breeze pungent with honeysuckles and sage. Across the meadow soon-to-be-ripened pumpkins slumbered beneath crawling vines. Preparations had been made, silver polished, crystal goblets buffed and glistened along side china place settings in anticipation of Valentin (last name goes here). Arriving notebook in hand Solomon the butler shows the Ladies Home Journal (LHJ) reporter in for a sumptuous breakfast of, kippered herring, liver, bacon and griddle cakes with Mrs. Marx Obendorfer, her son Reginald, heading off to college and daughter Daisy, a member of the Symphony Society and high school student. The interview will explore the controversy the scathing article revealed in the August issue of Ladies Home Journal entitled: Does Jazz Put the in Syncopation? {Reginald dressed in plaid waist-coat and knickers enters the dining room. Daisy seated at the window-box-seat is fiddling with her starched middy-blouse collar} Reginald: Good Morning, Daisy. Daisy {yawning}: Morning Reg. Mrs. Obendorfer: Good Morning children. Your father won’t be joining us for breakfast, business affairs you know. {Doorbell chimes and Sage the butler shows Valentin into the dining room. } Mrs. Obendorfer {extending her gloved hand in welcome}: Oh, do come in Mr. Put your last name here. Valentin: {clutching a notebook under his arm}: I ‘m so pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Obendorfer; it was kind of you to invite me into your home. Mrs. Obendorfer: {to butler} Solomon please take our guests hat and escort him into the dining room at once. {Solomon takes Valentin’s fedora and top-coat and seats him at the table and he’s introduced to Reginald and a bored Daisy}. Valentin {placing his fork down and leaning in towards Mrs. O}: Who was it that said, â€Å"Music soothes the savage beast? Mrs. : Obendorfer: Young man, music can change one’s mood, it can soothe the heart, bolster the spirit. It is the greatest gift to mankind. Valentin: Your article last month caused quite a stir if you please lets talk about why should we believe that ‘music might invoke savage instincts? † isn’t music just a series of sounds? Mrs. Obendorfer: In the past we have been content to accept all kinds of music†¦ and to admit music in all its phases into our homes simply because it was music. Never before in the history of our land have there been such immoral conditions among our young- Reginald {Frowning}: Oh Mother! You can’t believe that a type of music corrupts the morals-. Mrs. Obendorfer: I tell you surveys have been conducted, and it has been proven the culprit is jazz music, and its evil influence among our young people. Daisy: Mother all this talk about a passing phase. Why we at the Symphony- Reginald {Getting red-in-the face and interrupts Daisy}: Daisy what do you†¦ know you just echo Mother’s sentiment- Mrs. Obendorfer: Reginald! That will be quite enough we have a guest. Valentin: Mrs. Obendorfer, you mention in your article that the dance music of the past could really do no harm because it was music. What exactly do you mean? Mrs. Obendorfer: What I mean is the music of the past was not morally deficient. Yes, in the past certain restrictions were placed on some types of music and dance, but it was by the clergy who I might add have never been particularly enthusiastic about dancing anyway. It was not immoral as this Jazz! Valentin: I’m interested in the idea that immoral acts can be directly attributed to certain dances. Can someone flesh this out for me? Is there really a cause-and-effect relationship? Mrs. Obendorfer: I am appalled at the outrageous dances that have been permitted in private as well as public ballrooms. Vulgar and evil acts can be traced acts to the influence of these immoral dances. Reginald: Jazz is not evil. Jazz is freedom a freedom of expression. Mother, how can syncopated rhythm and tempo create immorality? Valentin: Uh†¦what sort of immoral acts would there be, anyway? If we can discuss them in mixed company, that is†¦ Mrs. Obendorfer: Such arousing music with its jerky half steps invites immoral variations. How can one find refinement when the music is void of any?

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Linguistics writing Essay

Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4]Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4] Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4] Literacy is the ability to read and write[1]. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand visual forms of communication such as body language,[2] pictures, maps, and video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need, demand and education. The primary sense of literacy still represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the written or printed text. Key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. [3] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the â€Å"ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. â€Å"[4]

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Women in prehistory

The agriculture revolution change the production of food and the division of labor change due to fact that great emphasis was placed on animals and the oleos they played in agriculture which was owned by men, hence the roles of men and women shifted. Men was responsible for the majority of farming, while the women contributed to harvesting or taking care of domestic animals.The social status of women declined and their major role shifted to child bearing, food preparation, and textile and craftsman preparation. 3. What were the larger societal effects that occurred as a result Of this revolution in agricultural production? Material possession and the accumulation of domestic animals, which was pass on to one generation to the next, became more valuable and amounted o wealth. As a result, neighboring tribes raided each other to steal cattle, which caused warfare.The wealthy became more powerful by lending farm labor or support in battle against other groups to poorer families. In such a society, people themselves became objects of value and exchange like animals and material possessions. 4. What evidence did the author use to come to her conclusions? In your opinion, is it appropriate to draw these conclusions from this type of evidence? Would other forms of evidence be better?

Friday, September 13, 2019

Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategy - Essay Example This is a great distance from the view of Chandler (1962), who views strategy as being connected to how an organisation is administered outside of functional responsibilities. His definition of strategy is â€Å"the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p.13). Porter (1996, p.75) finally reaches a definition of â€Å"creating fit among a company’s activities†, which does bear some relation to Chandler’s view, although Chandler deals with the long term survival of the organisation, where Porter acknowledges that achieving fit determines strategy success and if there is no fit, then nothing to sustain (ibid). Teece (1993 p.199) recounts Chandler’s view that competitiveness depends upon organisational and financial capabilities, and supporting institutions. Porter would disagree with the ide a of resources and capabilities being important to strategy, which not only puts him at odds with Chandler but also with Penrose. Penrose’s view of strategy was that it was â€Å"to increase total long-term profits† (Penrose and Petelis, 1999, p.12) again, emphasising the long term view. She also viewed administration as important, identifying that â€Å"administrative co-ordination and ‘authoritative communication’ define the boundaries of the firm† (Penrose and Petelis, 1999, p.9). She saw firms as resource bundles that could be combined in specific ways to generate products and services â€Å"for sale in the market for a profit† (ibid), a view with which Porter disagrees, and which causes her to be portrayed as the founder of the resource-based view of strategy (Foss, 1999, p.87), although Foss argues that what is now seen as the resource-based view is not what Penrose was describing in her work. Standard strategy textbooks provide definit ions of strategy, based on the views of the authors. Johnson et al (2008, p.857) say that strategy â€Å"is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations†, a broad definition that would find both favour and disagreement with the earlier writers mentioned above. But what is interesting is the difference between definitions of strategy in 1959 (Penrose – the year her book was published), 1962 (Chandler), 1996 (Porter) and Johnson et al (2008). There is no direct linear progression, yet Johnson et al’s definition includes all of the ideas of the earlier theorists. It would seem that all of the ideas have merit, and affect strategy, but their discovery was due to something else that caused different things to be discovered at different times. Categories of Strategy Different writers have differ ent ideas of strategy, but only one has attempted to bring all of these together to create a coherent whole. Richard Whittington (2001) considered the different theorists’ views on strategy and tried to make sense of them by constructing a model that produced four different types of strategy. He provides a summary of these in the form of a table, reproduced here: Classic Processual Evolutionary Systemic Strategy Formal Crafted

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Design and Implementation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Design and Implementation - Assignment Example Design and Implementation Between-subjects design refers to such experimental designs where the participants are exposed to any one condition from among the various conditions. However in this case, a participant cannot be allowed to go for both the conditions. In other words, between-subjects design is used for measuring the effect of a particular thing on different groups, exposing one group to the particular condition and restricting the other group from being exposed in such condition. It never exposes the same subject to different conditions for studying the changes in the outcome. The statistical term for this method is nested design. This method can be applied in the process of measuring the effectiveness of the teaching aids used in modern times. In this experiment, the participants will be grouped randomly independent of their age, gender or educational status. Two groups will be formed namely group A and group B. Group A will go through a learning session where traditional methods like books, lectures and weekly tests will be included. The other group (Group B) will be exposed to audio-visual mediums, internet and group-discussion. After a month, both these groups would seat for an exam and the results will decide which teaching method is more effective. But it should always be noted, that factors like intelligence quotient (IQ), retention capability, slow learning, age etc. plays a major role in the outcome of the test. ... Provide an example of how you could use a nested design to conduct a study on a topic of interest to you. Answer Between-subjects design refers to such experimental designs where the participants are exposed to any one condition from among the various conditions. However in this case, a participant cannot be allowed to go for both the conditions. In other words, between-subjects design is used for measuring the effect of a particular thing on different groups, exposing one group to the particular condition and restricting the other group from being exposed in such condition. It never exposes the same subject to different conditions for studying the changes in the outcome. The statistical term for this method is nested design. This method can be applied in the process of measuring the effectiveness of the teaching aids used in modern times. In this experiment, the participants will be grouped randomly independent of their age, gender or educational status. Two groups will be formed na mely group A and group B. Group A will go through a learning session where traditional methods like books, lectures and weekly tests will be included. The other group (Group B) will be exposed to audio-visual mediums, internet and group-discussion. After a month, both these groups would seat for an exam and the results will decide which teaching method is more effective. But it should always be noted, that factors like intelligence quotient (IQ), retention capability, slow learning, age etc. plays a major role in the outcome of the test. Question 3 In your own words, describe the characteristics of a within-subjects (or, repeated measures; or, crossed) design. Provide an example of how you could us a

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Network Operating Systems and Security BEng Assignment

Network Operating Systems and Security BEng - Assignment Example In the context of network security definition, it consists of concerns related to network communication privacy, confidentiality of data over the network, accessing unauthorized classified data, access to prohibited network domains and utilizing Internet for concealed communication (Network Security. 2007). The security predictions that were published in an article for the year 2010 incorporates new advanced threats named as advanced persistent threats (APT), Cyber war escalates, VoIP attacks, Perimeter shrinks and harden, social networking sites, malware, DLP for intellectual property protection and malware as a service (MaaS) (Watchguard Unveils Top 10 Security Predictions for 2011. 2011). In order to protect the computer network, organizations emphasize on implementing hardware and software application as well as a security policy. This policy is followed by constructing a security policy document that defines rules and procedures. A typical security policy is constructed on a set of rules that defines authorization and access of network resources of an organization (, what is security policy? definition and meaning).The aim of implementing these security policies is to establish rules and procedures for improper use of network services. Moreover, the objective is to create a framework that will assist in identification and prevention of unauthorized access of network services (, Network Security Policy). Network security issues can lead to many different aspects. For example, if the server containing customer data is breached, organization will lose its credibility and trust among the customer and that will result in business loss. Similarly, if a critical system is hacked by internal or external sources, organization’s financial data along with goals and objectives can be revealed to other competitors. In order to eliminate the threats including unauthorized access, viruses, Trojans, malware and malicious codes, a security policy document is require d. The document will provide a consistent framework to secure the integrity of the network along with eliminating risk abided by security threats and vulnerabilities. 2 Risk Assessment Risk assessment is a process to evaluate risks associated with threats and vulnerabilities to the network. Three factors will be considered in this scenario i.e. Assets, Threats and Security Priority Identification. 2.1 Assets The identification of information assets is vital before conducting risk assessment. Information assets are defined as the entities that hold organization data. A good definition is available on ‘www.ibm.com’ which states it as, â€Å"information assets are specific to your business functions and business strategies, they may be contained within broad categories such as contractual and legislative compliance, those needing virus prevention, those critical to business recovery following security compromises, etc.† The information assets for an organization wil l be technology assets, data asset, service asset and people asset. In case of educational establishment the assets that need to be prioritized are: file space server, Linux web server, finance server, student database and email server. 2.2 Threats Threats are defined as

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Anatomical features Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Anatomical features - Essay Example The â€Å"Lucy† skeleton found at hadar Ethiopia and Dikika also found in Ethiopia. Other features like Footprints and others discovered by paleoanthropologist proved that certain creatures lived on earth millions of years ago before we were born. Australopithecus afarensis is one of the extinct creatures discovered by Paleoanthropologists. Its remains were found in Ethiopia and it lived between close to 4 million years ago (Walter 2002). It was slenderly built. It is believed that A. afarensis was more closely related to modern human species, Homo sapiens The most famous fossil is the partial skeleton named Lucy (3.2 million years old) found by Donald Johanson and colleagues (Esteban 2007). In life, Lucy had a height of roughly 1.1 meters and its weight was about 30 kilograms. Lucys skeleton gave signs that she was bipedal. The shape of lucys pelvis was a good reason to believe that she was bipedal. Another proves is femurs angle from hip socket to the knee joint, her skull was the same size as that of a chimpanzee (Esteban 2007). Lucy had one pelvic bone and made it difficult to tell the gender The feet of Lucy were far apart, and each hind leg descends straight to the ground beneath the hip socket. The tibiae drop straight to the ground. Lucy teeth were resemblance to that of modern human. She had canine same size like that of human being. Fingers were curved in such away that it suggests they grasp branches as they climb. Its iliac blades were short and seem wide. Its sacrum was wide and positioned directly behind the hip joint. Lucy had had much smaller and more v-shaped jaws. The footprints found in volcanic ash were similar to features of human leg phalanges and proved o be a creature similar to human. Ardipithecus is a fossil hominoid, described by its discoverers as a very early hominin genus. Aramidus lived about 4.4 million years ago. It was Like