Management (Self-Analysis & Professional Development Plan) Essay

Management (Self-Analysis & Professional Development Plan) - Essay Example Before moving into the two sections, listed below are the set of tests that I have undertaken. Also, the results to the test have been attached in the appendix for reference purposes. Before I go into my self analysis, it is essential to get a brief idea about me. I am twenty seven years old and am originally from the Middle East. I have been brought up there and hence English has been my second language. I am a simple and down to earth person with a high zest for life and a learner. Based on all of the results that I obtained from the personality tests, I have got a clearer understanding of myself and I present this as below. My basic character is a good mix of several different aspects like being agreeable, Conscientiousness, and emotional stability. I have scored a total of 13, 12 and 12 for each of the above mentioned respectively. Based on this, it is clear that I have several qualities that will help me in my career. According to the tests, I am a person who is very agreeable, with a calm, trusting, responsible, dependable, imaginative and cooperative nature. I agree to this as by nature I have always been a very quite person, with simple hopes and desires and have always been aware of my responsibilities and my surroundings. I understand the need to be aware of the feeling of others around me. I have been brought up in a large family and hence, these traits have been present from childhood. I have learnt from my mistakes that it is essential to be enthusiastic about things, yet a reasonable and rational decision can only be made with a calm and composed mindset. A saying by George Herbert, reads, à ¢â‚¬ËœBe calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy’1.Hence I pay a lot of attention to being calm, composed yet enthusiastic about life and all its giving. The test to check my Jungian 16 – Type personality also portrays and speaks a lot about me. The results of this test are very accurate and it

Education is essential for economic growth. Discuss this statement Essay

Education is essential for economic growth. Discuss this statement with reference to school and higher education, as well - Essay Example viii). However, some countries have ignored the importance of their educational systems. Moreover, policy makers are reluctant to learn from the experiences of other nations, with regard to educational policies and practices. Despite these practices, the European nations have made it an important feature of their political agenda to change their systems of higher education. There has been a strident call, in these countries, to render higher education more socially relevant, in addition to modernising, adapting, diversifying, and rendering more efficient and more service oriented (Maassen, 2007). A considerable amount of contention has arisen, in the last 25 years of the 20th century, regarding the central steering role of the nations of Europe, with respect to higher education. This development is one of the aspects of the more general transformation that has occurred in the relationship between the public sector and the state (Maassen, 2007). Higher education has undergone the maxi mum change, on account of this transformation. As such, higher education is now expected to better its products and procedures, improve labour market interaction, and enhance the management of its educational institutions. The success of such transformation is dependent on a drastic alteration in the longstanding relationship betwixt the institutions of higher education and the state authorities. The economic and social development of a nation has become dependent on its ability to involve itself in the present day economy. The extant economy is knowledge based economy that depends to a major extent on science and technology, unlike the erstwhile economy, which had been founded on material production (Sahlberg, 2006). There is a new paradigm that is based on socio – economic globalisation and networked industrial organisations. A certain amount of insularity had been prevalent in the field of education. The latter constitutes a national industry, and many a nation had been pr oud of the inimitability of its educational system. The general thinking among those who formulated national education policy was that there was no necessity to imitate or gain knowledge about the policies and practices of the other nations, in the field of education (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010, p. 153). All this has changed, and the forces of communication, economic scarcity, competition, technology and transportation, or in other words the actuators of globalisation are making it necessary to study and practice education as a socio –cultural process. Competition at the global level has compelled the policy makers of the government to accept the importance of education. It has now been realised that education is essential for development and economic competitiveness (Dimmock & Walker, 2005, p. viii). This was glaringly evident, in the Asian crisis of 1997, wherein many Asian economic giants failed, as their social systems had been unable to adapt to the vast changes that had take n place in the global economy. It had been the practice in the UK to provide education free of cost, even at the University level. Thereafter, universities were permitted to charge a fixed amount of ?1,000 per annum, regardless of the subject of study. However, this amount proved to be inadequate, and in order to improve the funding position of the universities, the 2004 Higher Education Act was promulgated (Barr, 2010). This act enabled the universities to charge variable amounts, up

K-Swiss Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

K-Swiss - Research Paper Example From first half sales of $274 million and profits of $45 million in 2006, the company's sales and profits dropped to $225 million and $26 million in the same period in 2007. This case reviews the company's performance, analyzes the potential reasons for the large drop in sales and profits after forty years, and suggests changes in corporate strategies. K-Swiss primarily designs, develops, and markets athletic footwear for sports use, fitness activities, and casual wear under the brand names K-Swiss and Royal Elastics. It also markets apparel and accessories under the K-Swiss brand: tennis apparel such as skirts, shorts, tops, polos, dresses, and warm-ups for men and women, as well as tee shirts, caps, socks, and bags for casual athletic consumers. Products are sold through sales executives, independent sales representatives, and its website www.kswiss.com to specialty athletic footwear stores, pro shops, sporting good stores, and department stores here and overseas. Arthur and Ernest Brunner were avid skiers and tennis players who moved from Switzerland to California in 1966 to start a business venture selling shoes. In the typical fashion of craftsmanship for which the Swiss are known worldwide, they designed a shoe that responded to and supported the specific needs of tennis players by focusing particularly on cushioning for the soles of the feet, as well as the construction of a firm upper that would not easily give way to the pressure of forceful lateral movement (Schlax 7). Marketing, Design and Pricing Strategies They called their shoe "The Classic", introducing the product at Wimbledon in 1966 where it met with great success. The design of the shoe was intended for intense use, but its appearance was simple, austere, and elegant: three sturdy leather pieces constituted the shoe's upper, which was held in place by five narrow leather strips. The sole was a thin but strong strip of lightly treaded rubber that allowed it to be light and relatively frictionless. Aside from a small Swiss flag on the heel of the shoe, the K-"Classic" was entirely white in color, giving the shoe a timeless, preppy appearance. Each piece was numbered, the label was hand-sewn into the shoe's inner lining, and each pair sold for $20 when the most expensive tennis shoe at the time sold for only $7.50. Tennis players and upscale consumers took to the shoe immediately, and soon K-Swiss was enjoying a small but growing popularity in the U.S. as a fashion statement: simple, elegant, sturdy, and expensive. It was not only used for tennis and walking, but for daily casual wear, its white color allowing it to be used by men and women with any fashion combination (Taub 9). Its West Coast location attracted a great number of Japanese residents and tourists, and by the early 1970s, K-Swiss gained an almost cult-like status in Japan, moving the company to open dozens of accounts in that country. When the company's U.S. market exploded, the company began manufacturing the shoes in Southeast Asia, where labor costs were lower,

Argument against Hiring and College-Admissions Quotas Essay

Argument against Hiring and College-Admissions Quotas - Essay Example This paper will present an argument against airing and college-admissions quotas. Additionally, it will show that using racial quotas in admitting students in colleges and either hiring or promoting employees in an organization is intuitive and substantial. A. To the government Quotas are simply numerical requirements commonly applied when hiring an employee in a company, promoting someone within an education or working center, and/or graduating members of a specific racial cluster to another level (Gildenhuys, 2004). In some cases, it is seeable that some people discriminate against others mainly due to their racial complexity. This aspect hampers growth and interaction from many angles. For example, one may fail to enter a certain college simply because he or she comes from a certain minority group. Such an act promotes racial discrimination, which is an issue that the whole universe has been fighting for many decades (Gildenhuys, 2004). In hiring, quotas are a very significant fac tor to consider since they provide a basis for selecting and thereafter hiring individuals from every social, racial, and/or economic background (Mwakikagile, 2006). Agreeably, some communities color pigmentation fails to accord them certain privileges. Some colleges and organizations do not hire, admit, or promote people of a certain color such as the blacks or Indians (Lindsay & Justiz, 2004). Some cases of racial discrimination show that there are colleges where students of Indian or black decency do not get admission whereas there are some companies that cannot hire or promote such people. People from these minority groups may possess special abilities or knowledge that...   Quotas are simply numerical requirements commonly applied when hiring an employee in a company, promoting someone within an education or working center, and/or graduating members of a specific racial cluster to another level (Gildenhuys, 2004). In some cases, it is seeable that some people discriminate against others mainly due to their racial complexity. This aspect hampers growth and interaction from many angles. For example, one may fail to enter a certain college simply because he or she comes from a certain minority group. Such an act promotes racial discrimination, which is an issue that the whole universe has been fighting for many decades (Gildenhuys, 2004). In hiring, quotas are a very significant factor to consider since they provide a basis for selecting and thereafter hiring individuals from every social, racial, and/or economic background (Mwakikagile, 2006). Agreeably, some communities color pigmentation fails to accord them certain privileges. Some colleges and org anizations do not hire, admit, or promote people of a certain color such as the blacks or Indians (Lindsay & Justiz, 2004). Some cases of racial discrimination show that there are colleges where students of Indian or black decency do not get admission whereas there are some companies that cannot hire or promote such people. People from these minority groups may possess special abilities or knowledge that they can offer and make their respective organizations gain more advantages over the others.  

Diversity in the Workplace (Sociology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diversity in the Workplace (Sociology) - Essay Example Diversity among the military workers is a challenge itself, but should be also viewed as the number of certain separate aspects and diversities, among which are generation gap, incomes and benefits, communication with civilians, etc. The fact, that 'many large corporations transfer executives and their families to different cities, particularly early in their careers. [] The military is unique in the American labor force in the extent to which it expects its rank-and-file personnel and their families to relocate'. (Segal & Segal, 2004) This creates the principal diversities in the workforce among military. Generation gap is rather common problem among military, as well as among the other kinds of working staff in the country. From the sociological point of view, the principal attention of this aspect should be devoted to relations between the representatives of Generations X and Y. Though both generations display rather comfortable relations with technology, they still tend to have d ifferent attitudes towards work as the notion and the co-workers as the social surrounding at workplace. In the military workforce, where the changes in surroundings occur more frequently due to the geographical and movable character of the military work, it is essential not only to remember the differences, but to manage these differences effectively. Both generations, having much in common, still need different techniques of motivating them at work, which should also be accounted. Stereotypes in relation to generation gap should be eliminated. It is common to judge the person and its attitudes on the basis of the commonly spread assumptions; 'although certain characteristics may be attributed to one generation or another, that does not mean that all people in a particular generation exhibit each of that generations' common characteristics'. (Segal & Segal, 2004) The same characteristics should be eliminated in stereotyping the mostly probable population to serve for military. For example, as Segal & Segal (2004) state, 'enlistment is predicted by parents' education, high school grades, college plans, race and ethnicity'. However, it does not mean that sociologically this or that population layer is more likely to participate in the military, than the other. Thus, stereotyping is a common problem in the military organization. As other issues, it is closely connected with the challenge of active move across the country, or even abroad, for both militaries and t heir families; thus in getting used to the new work surrounding stereotyping should be replaced by immediate feedback and thorough analysis of the actions performed. The diversity in income and benefits directly impacts the performance of the military in one organization. It is clear, that the rank plays certain role, but the process of promotion also influences the attitudes of marines towards the job they have to do. 'When you came up for promotions, your minority status was prominent and was included as a basis for promotion." He recalls the promotion candidates' dossiers being flashed to board members from a microfiche projector. "On the screen was the dossier, and splashed across on a diagonal banner, in big, bold, capital letters was the word MINORITY.' (Waller, 2001) This probably resulted in the inappropriate behavior among marines which has become the subject of ardent discussion in press and

Society in general Essay Example for Free

Society in general Essay J. B Priestly lived from 1894 to 1984. An Inspector calls was written in 1945 and challenges the social class system of pre-war Britain. This era is often called the Golden Era, but is also remembered for its terrible poverty in lower social classes. The play shows the two states of rich and poor in the quote.. . Historically and socially, the years around 1912 were very unsettled. The British Empire was beginning to decline and Queen Victoria had died in 1902, leaving the people expectant about the new era; much like the turn of the century or new millennium. Priestly uses a character within the play to get across his views on society, and some of the following questions can be picked up from the text, Is there a true society? Should we take responsibility for everyone? And finally, Do actions we take directly affect others? If the play was written in a political article rather than a play, the information would not be put across but by expressing certain opinions in a play, people think of the views actually within the characters, therefore making it much more effective, its like almost learning from enjoyment. From Act One we know certain aspects about the Birling family. With out reading the play we can know so much about them just from the stage directions. They were a rich wealthy family but not too rich as they lived in a fairly large suburban house. Also you can tell that they had money coming form a factory.. A prosperous manufacture. It can be said that there was a metaphor for the Edwardian society and this is the word titanic. The Birling family can also been seen as the titanic, this is because it showed hope, luxury, progression and wealth. The Birling family represents the higher society in the social class system; we can tell his by the way they look down upon other classes. Mr Birling says well, well this is very nice. Very nice. Good dinner too, Sybil. Tell cook from me. Then later Mrs. Birling comments on his statement Arthur, youre not supposed to say such thing. This shows those being that high up couldnt even tell their cook it was a lovely meal. Priestly describes the Inspector, when he first appears on stage, in terms of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness, symbolising the fact that he is an unstoppable force within the play. His disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking gives the impression that he sees through surface appearances to the real person beneath. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtlessness of each characters treatment of the girl. His role in the play is not simply to confront each character with the truth, but to force each character to admit the truth they already know. He works methodically through the characters present one at a time, partly because he recognises that otherwise, theres a muddle, and partly because, given the chance, the characters are all quick to defend each other, or to call upon outside help (such as Colonel Roberts) in order to avoid accepting the truth of what he suggests.

Effect of Compost on White Button Mushrooms

Effect of Compost on White Button Mushrooms ElisaBeth Shrom General Mushroom Information and Life Cycle A mushroom’s scientific name is Agaricus campestris. Mushrooms have been known for thousands of years as a food, medicine, and even to create â€Å"spiritual visions† (i.e. â€Å"magic mushrooms†) This mysterious organism, often thrown into the same category as plants, is actually another species altogether. An entire underground world remains unseen to the human eye, yet has the unbelievable power to change the world, one ecosystem at a time. Mushroom production begins in spores or â€Å"seeds,† (not the technical term,) are released from the gills of the mushroom underneath the cap. However, the mushrooms visible above ground are not the whole fungi; they are merely the fruiting bodies of an underground organism called fungi mycelium. Similar to vegetables like corn or potatoes, these fruiting bodies â€Å"fruit† slowly. When mushrooms fruit under the right conditions at the most beneficial site, they will produce there year after year. â€Å"It’s the reverse of photosynthesis. Mushrooms take in carbon and consume oxygen, while plants consume carbon dioxide, and create carbon and oxygen.† (Paul Stamets, founder of Fungi of Olympia, Wash. and author of six books on mushroom culture) Due to mushroom’s many benefits, this fungi is the only one humans cultivate intentionally. It is important to not assume a mushroom is healthy to consume from the wild, because many mushrooms are poisonous and it is difficult to tell poisonous types from others. When they are safe to eat, mushrooms play a huge role in keeping the human immune system healthy. Mushrooms are a simple addition to any household and require little work to produce a large quantity of a delicious ingredient for dinnertime. The major components to control while growing mushrooms at home are humidity and temperature. They thrive when the temperature starts at a humid 70 ° while the mycelium grows, then stays humid and around 55 ° and 60 ° F. Loose or bottled spawn or ready-to-go mushroom kits can be purchased from catalog companies to simplify and quicken the at home growth process. They come infused with the required nutrients and soil in a box, simply instructing the user to keep the topsoil moisturized and to store the box in a humid section Companies that produce huge amounts of mushrooms use marker assisted selection, an improved type of selection paired alongside classical mushroom breeding techniques. Other methods of increasing mycelium fungi production are being explored and implemented to modify and transform series of mushroom strains. Genetic transformation allows possibilities of genetic integration from efficient DNA traits of other strains or species to express themselves in one quality product. Mycelium Mycelium are thin, white, thread-like â€Å"roots† of fungi that must develop fully before any fruiting bodies become visible aboveground. Mycelia communicate signals from plant to plant. For example, it might send a chemical signal that a tree is sick that causes other trees nearby to build up their immune systems and avoid the same sickness. The largest known organism in the world is a 2,400 acre mycelium growth in Oregon, US. It is not unusual for a mycelium organism to stretch for miles under forests. Mushrooms are not the only ones with mycelium. In fact, most fungi grow with mycelium. Common household fungal systems recognizable to most are easily visible mycelia that provide an example for mushroom’s underground mycelium. Mycelia grows faster where there are less nutrients to search for a site rich in food. It grows slowly where its food is abundant so that it can extract the materials needed to stay alive. The explanation for mushrooms growing in â€Å"fairy rings† lies with mycelia. It grows in a donut ring shape, rather than a pie shaped, leaving an area drained of supplies to branch outward into new regions. â€Å" mushroom mycelium is hungry. It wants to run.† (Paul Stamets) The organism expands as spores germinate and produce hypha (aka, germ tube), which are similar to branches of a tree, except they are microscopic and grow outwards from other hypha. Hypha increase in growth only lengthwise the width stays around one one-hundredths of a millimetre around. They cross-connect, intertwining, which helps transport nutrients to where they need to be. Lots of hyphae grow in bundles, or mycelial cords and each species of fungi has a different type of branching pattern. In order to produce fertile mycelium, a network of cells with two nuclei fused in the cell and two spore mating types each are required. Meiosis of these non-sister cells produces a heterokaryotic mycelia. Single spore cultures can also produce mushrooms as long as one single spore â€Å"seed† has two mating types. In the big picture, mycelium restores the environment and neutralizes toxins with it’s natural digestion of nutrients. Some mushroom’s mycelia can digest recalcitrant bonds (bonds that are resistant to the breakdown of a substance into smaller, less toxic molecular bonds.) They can separate bonds in human-produced pollutants to keep the entire ecosystem thriving. Mycelia is able to transform polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from oil wastes or coal tar into food for itself. All types of fungi do this by releasing enzymes into the soil or surrounding area to break down polymers and absorb simple sugars from the waste into their hyphal walls. Mushrooms Breakdown Toxic Materials The discovery of mushrooms’ distinct ability to break down harmful toxins and pollutants has and will continue to benefit the environment. The fact that humans can play a huge role in creating a healthier ecosystem by treating toxics with mycelium has almost unlimited benefits. In 2003, the gas stations â€Å"Chevron† and â€Å"Texaco† were reported by over thirty-thousand angry Ecuadorians to dump eighteen and a half billion gallons of toxic waste into pits in Ecuador. This damaging act of spillage resulted in the flow of harmful poison into residents water systems, and injuring the environment in more ways than one. Research projects have been conducted on many sites to conclude how the disintegration of toxins is not unlike that of other materials. Fungi secrete enzymes that break down toxins in the same way they split wood and straw’s chemical bonds. In one project, two piles of toxic soils near an oil pit were treated with different substances. After a year, the soil with mycelium and substrate had invited worms and bugs to help restore the soil. There were no signs of crude, and the toxins had been completely neutralized. The pile that had not been treated with mycelium fungi was still very toxic, and had a crude odor and felt oily to the touch. This mycelium method proves effective on large scale oil spills from companies, and is a cheaper, more ideal answer to fuel wastes in backyards or farms. The conversion of waste to mushroom development, or mycoremediation, causes hundreds of environmental and community improvements to open up. Food is provided, jobs are created, family incomes are enhanced, the burning of waste is cut back. This helps lower air pollution, lessen forest fire danger, manage environmental cleanup, protect the mushrooms, and create opportunities to effectuate mushroom substrate for compost and bioremediation. Paul Stamets meant when he said, â€Å"Fungi govern the decomposition cycles, and make it possible for natural biological systems to operate. They are tremendous allies for the health of people and the planet.† Another huge use for fungi is to turn mushrooms themselves into a substrate for other plants. Mushroom substrates replenish humus and organic matter by cutting carbohydrates in the soil in half in as short a period as one week. Mushroom compost farms are helpful for the plant the mushroom substrate will be treating. It also helps in creating an outlet for the waste disposal of the materials put inside this nutritious plant formula. More productive composts are being searched for to mix substances in a substrate to support plant growth, eliminate toxins, and keep fungi surviving. The White Button Mushroom In the United States as of 2010, 90 percent of mushrooms consumed were white button mushrooms. They are simple to grow at home, and provide several important health benefits to the human body. White button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, are valuable medicinally, but are mostly known as â€Å"portobello† and used as a soup ingredient, pizza topping, or other consumption delectable. A study on an animal-model and cell-structure experiment at Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University concluded that white button mushrooms support natural killer cells. The researchers found that these particular mushrooms produce many antiviral proteins and other helpful enzymes that can repair or protect tissue. They also found that white button mushrooms dendritic (transport functioning) cells to mature from bone marrow. The dendritic cells synthesize T cells, which are white blood cells that recognize other foreign materials and transport the materials from the pathogens to defense system cells. Here, the immune system cells are activated by an enzyme and begin defending against pathogens. This defense function will, when successful, defend against diseases like the La France disease that attacks white button mushrooms, and sneak-attacks the mycelium without any surfacely visible symptoms. Ideal Growth Mediums for Mushrooms New and improved cultivation techniques and the improvement of composting have been able to increase the available cultivation area of mushrooms. As more and more mushroom farms experiment, each type of mushroom’s food has been discovered and brought to its greatest potential as a nutrient. The best types of nutrients required for mushroom growth include many of the same things plants, animals, and humans need as fuel like sugars, starches, cellulose, lignan, and nitrogen. To prepare mushroom spawn before it starts to grow mycelia, grain or non-waste plants are excellent sources. Straw, sawdust, and other mixtures in a compost make good alternatives, though. A diet of horse manure and straw mixed in with the soil site for growth provides the exact nutrients mushrooms need. This method is proved to work best if the compost is first turned three or four times for a week before it is used. Another compost method involves corncobs, straw, water, leaf mold, tankage, granite dust, rotted compost, and sand combined into a multi-ingredient compost for mushroom growth. These organic materials all work perfectly, and mostly every natural material that would be found rotting into the ground is useful to provide necessary nutrients. Chopped hay, chicken, bullocks, and horse manure, cereal straw, elephant grass, or sawdust will also provide enough nurture for the organism. Fermented horse manure and chopped tobacco stems are the fastest growing substrate for Agaricus bisporus spawn. Over one hundred fifty types of waste have been tested to grow mushrooms. Depending on the type of fungi, obviously different types of compost will create more health and growth opportunities, but mushrooms will only survive where their conditions for life are met.