Fundamentals of organizational behavior Research Paper

Fundamentals of organizational behavior - Research Paper Example The main objective of OB was to lay emphasis on the different elements of this subject to understand the varied facets of the employee behavior. Therefore, the origin of OB is derived from the above mentioned subjects. In France, the emergence of OB was with the evolving of other subjects and was quite different from OB taught in the east, UK and USA. OB laid emphasis on the varied aspects like organizational communication, development, outcome and climate (Desreumaux 352-444). The communication system in France was developed since a long time and the dissemination of information was structured in a unique way. Thus, OB in France focused especially on the organizational communication, which is considered as backbone for the smooth integration of activities and systems within the organization (Desreumaux 444-577). Organizational Culture, Social Systems, Role & Status Organizational structure is largely dependent on the organizational culture, which helps in the development of a positi ve organizational climate (Jackson, â€Å"Cross-Cultural Management and NGO Capacity Building†) In France, the different kinds of organization usually have formal or informal structures, which lead to creation of different kinds of organizational culture, climate and environment (Brennan and Vecchi 149-164). The development of social culture within the organization is essential for the perfect balance between the organizational environment and outcome. In France, mostly the employee attitudes, beliefs and opinions form the basis of development of employee role, which contributes significantly to the individual employee outcome. The role of an employee plays a significant role in the formulation of strategy, which can help in tackling organizational problems and removal of functional barriers. The role of the employees or designation is very important in shaping the organizational culture. It also helps in the contribution to the integration of the varied systems and process o f the organization (Davidson and Omar 1352-1706). Motivation, Maslow’s Hierarchy Model & Herzberg Two Factor Needs Motivation inspires the employees, who indirectly help in increasing the employee outcome. Motivation also helps in the systematic grouping of the organization, which leads to proper teamwork and coordination of activities among varied departmental units. The French give due importance to the systematic grouping, which lead to proper delegation of tasks and activities. This in turn promotes the development of positive organizational climate for the betterment of the entire system. As mentioned before, the French organization give due importance to the communication channel within the organization, which relies heavily on the certain factors like motivation, leadership etc. Similarly, the Maslow Needs of Hierarchy is critically important in French organizations, which serves purposeful as guidance for the increase in the organizational outcome and also to maintain a perfect balance within the organ

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 13

Summary - Essay Example Therefore a careful attempt is made by the authors to bring out all the effects that the rapid change of the family structure is making on the economy. It also states the difference between the structure of the married and the individual working class. It lays an emphasis on the role of the different genders in a family and their relationships. With the rapid change of the economy and the society there has been transformation in the role of the family members. Therefore the authors have tried to emphasize on the current change of roles in between man and woman and their implications. According to the authors, the relationship between the members of the family directly affects the market and its outcomes. The authors seem to bring clear evidence that the family as a unit is continuously aiming for maximizing their income. Taking this into consideration it can be assumed that the monetary issues are one of the prime considerations of the family members and all other goals and aims revo lve round the primary aim. Chapter four of the book, ‘‘Economics of Women, Men, and Work’ basically deals with the time allotment between the household and the labor market. The major emphasis is made on the female gender in this area. The authors have made it clear in their book that they advocate more and more female participations in the labor market. Primarily, the women are involved in the household work therefore that they do not often get time for any other job. But as the aim of the family unit, according to the authors, is maximization of income, thus the women should allocate time both for the household chores and even their career. Right allocation of time between both would not only help the women but also the family in both short and long runs. In the short run, it will help the family in maximizing their income and also in the long run these earnings will provide the women and their children a better economic viability in

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development: OECD

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development: OECD GROUP MEMBERS ARIEL MAHABIRSINGH RACHEL CADOGAN BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE OECD (OECD 2010) Background The OECD is the replacement organization to the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) whose specific purposes was to help the reconstruction of Europe after World War Two. The OECD development was not always smooth one as it has been perceived as â€Å"rich man’s club† its members account for approximately three-fifths of the world’s GNI and has faced many calls for its dismantlement (Woodward, Richard 2009). Over the past 50 years, the OECD has become a valuable source of â€Å"policy analysis and internationallycomparable statistical, economic and social data.† (USOECD 2014) MEMBER NATIONS Image showing member nations of the OECD (OECD 2014) MISSION The OECD mission is â€Å"to promote policies that will improve sustainable economic growth and development, maximize employment social well-being of people around the world.† (Woodward, 2009) ORGANISATIONL STRUCTURE The OECD functions as three tier structure. This is comprised of a Council, a Secretariat and Committees. The Council, which is at the top, consists of ambassadors from the various member states that are in charge of establishing goals and policy issues. The Council holds the power of decision making as they handle the oversight and strategic direction of the organisation. The Secretariat is made up of the Secretary General, the deputy Secretaries General and directorates. These include economists, scientists and lawyers and several administrative staff, who are responsible for research, data collection and analysis. The Secretary General chairs the Council and thereby manages the work of the Secretariat. The Committees comprise of representatives from various member countries that come together to form groups such as education, environment, trade and investment. Table 1 showing: the organizational structure of the OECD (OECD 2014) ROLE AND FUNCTION The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has many key roles. These roles include: The major functions of the OECD are: To provide a platform in which governments of member nations can use to find solutions to common problems organize policies and share good practices To set global standards and principles by monitoring economic trends. and development policies To offers the know-how and ideas to over 1000 non-member countries for their development. (Economy Watch 2010) HOW THE OECD DOES IT? The OECD used the wide range of information gathered on various topics to help governments promote â€Å"prosperity and fight poverty through economic growth and financial stability. They also ensure the environmental implications of economic and social development are taken into account. OECDs work is based on continued monitoring of events in member countries as well as outside OECD area, and includes regular projections of short and medium-term economic developments.The OECD Secretariat collects and analyses data, after which committees discuss policy regarding this information, the Council makes decisions, and then governments implement recommendations. † (OECD 2014) Table 2 showing: The way the OECD works (OECD 2014) Types of Publications The OECD publications fall into three cqtegories Key Publication, which include Factbooks. At a Glance books, Insights, Outlooks, Economic Surveys, OECD Observer, Better Policies Series, OECD Insights and Blogs. They also produce several other types which include statistics, journals,magazines and papers (OECD 2014) A couple examples are as followed BOOKS: Africn Economic Outlook 2014 Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific 2012 Agricultural Policy Monitering and Evaluation 2014 JOURNALS: Financiaal Market Trends Competition Law Policy STATISTICS: OECD Health Statistics OECD Productivity Statistics OECD Science, Technology and RD Statistics Papers; Education Indicators in Focus Trade Policy Papers (OECD ILIBRARY2014) Development Projects of the OECD 1. OVERCOMING SCHOOL FAILURE: POLICIES THAT WORK â€Å"This project is based on the idea that the OECD can provide effective support to countries on how to progress toward fair and inclusive education systems,† It offers data on the policies that are successful in reducing school failure, and supports countries in promoting reform. This project directly reflects one of the roles OECD—providing the platform where governments can work together to solutions to common problems and share good practices. This project is both comparative and selective. It offers the breakdown of challenges faced by countries as well as an overview of the different policies implemented across OECD countries that aims at equity in education policies. Countries that are interested can have a targeted national assessment seminar during which the precise situation of the country will be examined. (OECD 2010) The overall aim of this project is to provide assistance and support to countries trying to improving their education policy and practices, in order to achieve reduction in failure and dropout rates. It updates and fine-tunes policies giving â€Å"tailor-made advice on how to design and model their policies, as well as on how to overcome barriers to implementation†. (OECD 2010) Table 3 showing: The structure of the OECD Project Overcoming School Failure: Policies That Work (OECD 2010) 2. PROGRAMME FOR INTERNATIONAAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT (PISA) (Locally) What is PISA? PISA is the OCED’s answer to the global call for countries to have a way of comparing the effect of their investments in schooling on the students’ knowledge and skills. (Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment. 2011) This is an international assessment that examines educational performances on a common measure that is, reading science across countries, OCED member nations, partner nations and other non-members. (OECD 2014)It addresses the questions of if students are ready for real life future challenges? Are they able to analyze and communicate effectively? Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela have all participated in this project. (OECD 201) Why PISA? With PISA and other data provided by the OECD together with policy analysis, helps to build more effective and unbiased educational system with improved outcomes. As PISA addresses the future questions, the data gathered by this research helps to shape policy plans by identifying possible future issues. (OECD 2014) PISA represents a pledge by nations to supervise the outcomes of education systems through measuring student achievement on a regular basis and within an internationally agreed common framework. It aims to present a new foundation for policy dialogue and for partnership in defining and executing educational goals, in inventive ways that reflect judgments about the skills that are relevant to adult life. (OECD, 2009, p.9) PISA is one of the OECD major policy tools; this programme has pioneered new and highly collaborative ways in which to measure progress in societies on a global scale. There are many lessons that can be learnt from PISA on how to evaluate learning, the pace of achieving learning goal. Some countries have used their PISA results for a policy discussion indicates the likely pace of progress towards achieving a learning goal. 3. THE BETTER LIFE INITIATIVE (Globally) This project is a combination of various OCED works that makes an effort for move beyond GDP as a measure the well being of society, the OCED has pioneered a field of research that focuses on the aspects of life that matter to people and shapes their quality of life. They have identified 11 dimensions as being essential in terms of ‘material living conditions† which are income, housing and jobs and â€Å"quality of life â€Å"education, community, local environment, governance, health, subjective life satisfaction work/life balance and personal safety.(OECD 2011) This initiative is measured by the better life index Table 4 showing: The features of measuring well being [1] (OECD 2011) â€Å"The Better Life Indexes an interactive tool that allows you to see how countries perform according to the importance you give to each of 11 topics that make for a better life. From a statistical point of view, the Index relies on best practices for building composite indicators. The Index is robust to various methodological assumptions.† 4. LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN-OECD INVESTMENT INITIATIVE (Regionally) This Initiative aims to increase the input of private investment to economic and social development. It help improves government policies at three levels: (OECD 2010) Table 5 showing: How the initiative improves government policies Success and Failure of Initiatives SUCCESS: The Better Life Initiative has been by itself a success, considering that it is a newly introduced program. Out of this came the â€Å"Better Life Index† and â€Å"How’s Life†. The Better Life Index which was launched in 2011 is an interactive tool that allows one to assess the performance of countries based on eleven key elements that are important in the development and well being of OECD countries. It has been created in order to involve and engage citizens as they too play a role in the decision making of policies that lead the way to their social well being. The eleven dimensions include: Housing, Income, Jobs, Community, Education, Environment, Governance, Health, Life Satisfaction, Safety and Work Life Balance. . Each flower represents one country . Each petal represents one of the eleven dimensions . The length of the petal represents the country’s score in a topic and the width represents the importance of the topic (OECD 2011) Table 6 showing: How the better life index works (OECD 2012) FAILURE: PISA Program for International Student Assessment is an international evaluation that measures fifteen year old students’ performance in areas such as reading, mathematics and science literacy. It was first administered in 2000 and this is when Finland’s education system became involved. Finland has been the world leader in education however; recent assessments have shown that they are no longer at the top as results have declined since the mid 2000’s. PISA has driven the improvement in the beginning, however recent trends have changed. The involvement of PISA has therefore become a question in the education system. Some argue that it has encouraged the altering of teaching styles, curricula and grading schemes to make students well adapted to the program. It is established that while PISA has developed the Finnish education system in the early 2000’s it has also done some harm and produced minor downfalls. It has been proven to be an expensive way of handling the students who are â€Å"left behind†. These students sometimes become school drop outs or prolong their period of stay in order to successfully complete school. This therefore incurs additional costs on the governments. A second major issue is the gender differences in various areas of study. An example of this is in mathematics where girls are less motivated to learn and perform. This also ties in with the fact that girls are underrepresented in certain career fields such as engineering and computer science. This then widens the gap in education and so places more emphasis on one side, rather than an equal and fair system.(Strauss, 2013) Table 7 showing: PISA results Perception and Responses to the Institution PUBLIC PERCEPTON Positive Perception The OECD is seen as an organization with a bright future because it is forward thinking, one of the best in analysis and policy advice. It is seen as an essential international organization that provides a place for interstate consensus and cooperation bringing nations with similar challenges of globalization and sustainable development together. (Julin 2003) The OECD is perceived as being useful with their data since in some instances has improved policies and strategies when used to implement internal measures, (Asia Society. 2014) Negative Perception Mr. Paul Krugman is of the view that the OECD in the wake of soaring unemployment rates and low inflation â€Å"have consistently called for policies that would depress advanced economies even more.† He believes the OECD often makes recommendations without a rigid application of conventional economic models. (Krugman 2013) Some believe other institutions such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum have become competitors the OECD and are actually outperforming them in issues that were once considered OECD turf. They believed that the OECD is outperformed due to the way in which they operate -extremely slow- making the organization seem powerless to pushing burning problems to the top of their agenda. Because of this, there is the perception that the OECD is not a key player in dealing with the issues of globalization and sustainable development. (Julin 2003) CIVIL SOCIETY AND NGO’S PERCEPTION The OECD has been engaging with civil society since its inception. For many years the civil societies, especially those whose focus is on business and labour sectors through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) has had a positive response to the OECD since the OECD has increasingly engaged in formal dialogues with them. (Global Policy Forum 2003) On the other hand, some civil organizations a NGO’S view the OECD as â€Å"a servant of developed country interests, sometimes even as an adversary, rather than a partner, in globalization and sustainable development† Civil societies especially criticize the OECD for their lack of openness to membership to nations other than European and a few rich non-European nations (Julin 2003) especially since the dialogue with these other interests are usually informal.. References Asia Society. 2014. â€Å"What is PISA and Why Does it Matter?†Accessed September 22, 2014. http://asiasociety.org/education/learning-world/what-pisa-and-why-does-it-matter Economy Watch. 2010. â€Å"Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.† Accessed September 15, 2014. http://www.economywatch.com/international-organizations/organization-of-economic-cooperation-and-development.html Friends of the Chair group on broader measures of progress. 2014. Some national, regional and international efforts and practices in the measurement of sustainable development and human well-being.† Friends of the Chair group on broader measures of progress. Global Policy Forum 2003. â€Å"NGOs and the OECD†. Accessed September 22, 2014 https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/177/31572.html, Julin, Jorma. 2003. â€Å"The OECD: Securing the future† OECD Observer, December. Accessed September 22, 2014 http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/1197/The_OECD:_Securing_the_future.html Krugman, Paul. 2013. â€Å"Uncertain at the OECD.† The New York Times. September 12, Accessed September 22, 2014 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/uncertain-at-the-oecd/?_php=true_type=blogs_r=0 OECD 2010, â€Å"Active with Latin America and Caribbean†. Accessed September 28, 2014. http://www.oecd.org/globalrelations/Latin_America_2013_GB.pdf OECD 2010, †Latin America and Caribbean: Conference on investment for jobs and development, Santiago, Chile, 27-28 September 2010† Accessed September 28, 2014 http://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/latinamericaandcaribbeanconferenceoninvestmentforjobsanddevelopmentsantiagochile27-28september2010.htm OECD 2011. How’s Life? Measuring well-being, OECD Publishing Accessed September 18, 2014http://dx.doi.org.10.1787/9789264121164-en OECD 2011. â€Å"Latin America and Caribbean: Conference on investing in infrastructure for jobs and development† Accessed September 28, http://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/latinamericaandcaribbeanconferenceoninvestingininfrastructureforjobsanddevelopment.htm OECD. 2011. â€Å"OECD Launches Your Better Life Index.† Accessed September 20, 2014. http://www.oecd.org/general/oecdlaunchesyourbetterlifeindex.htm OECD 2012. â€Å"Latin America and Caribbean: Conference on international value chains† Accessed September 28, 2014. http://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/conferenceonglobalvalue-chainsandcompetitiveness.htm OECD. 2014. â€Å"About PISA† Accessed September 19, 2014. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/pisafaq.htm OECD. 2014. â€Å"History.†Accessed September 15, 2014 http://www.oecd.org/about/history/. OECD. 2014. â€Å"Members and Partners†. Accessed September 18, 2014 http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/ OECD. 2014.†Latin America and Caribbean: Conference on infrastructure investment† Accessed September 28,, 2014. http://www.oecd.org/countries/peru/lac-2014-infrastructure-conference.htm OECD. â€Å"OECDiLibrary.† Accessed September 17, 2014. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/books;jsessionid=2pk5e0rnb7ls8.x-oecd-live-02 OECD. 2014. â€Å"Who Does What?† Accessed September 20 2014http://www.oecd.org/about/whodoeswhat/ OECD. 2014. â€Å"OECD Publishing† http://www.oecd.org/about/publishing/ OECD ILIBRARY. 2014 Accessed September 20, 2014. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/# Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment. 2011. â€Å"POLICY EFFECTS OF PISA† Accessed September 18 2014 http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Policy-Effects-of-PISA-OUCEA.pdf OECD/AfDB/UNDP(2014),African Economic Outlook 2014: Global Value Chains and Africas Industrialisation, OECD Publishing. Accessed September 21, 2014. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/african-economic-outlook_19991029 Strauss, Valerie. 2013. â€Å"Are Finland’s vaunted schools slipping?† The Washington Post , December 3. Accessed September 8, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/03/are-finlands-vaunted-schools-slipping/# United States OECD. 2014. â€Å"What is the OECD?† Accessed September 22, 2014. http://usoecd.usmission.gov/mission/overview.html Woodward, Richard. 2009. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Institutions, Taylor Francis. Accessed September 15, 201 4 http://books.google.tt/books?id=F61_AgAAQBAJpg=PR1lpg=PR1dq=why+is+the+oecd+dismissed+as+a+rich+mans+clubsource=blots=DTD0vhbGIHsig=3s8GpUJXJRm4icRfN8rmkprI5qAhl=ensa=Xei=g8ciVNqSK8eQgwTn7YHQAQredir_esc=y#v=twopageqf=false [1]

Moshe Dayan Research :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military warrior who became a crusader for peace. He was skilled in both battle and diplomacy. He played a key role in four wars, but also helped negotiate the historic Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.† â€Å"Moshe Dayan was a Soldier and statesman who led Israel to dramatic victories over its Arab neighbours and became a symbol of security to his countrymen.† Moshe Dayan was born in a kibbutz, in a town called Deganya Alef (Alef is the name for the letter A in Hebrew) in Palestine, then still part of the Ottoman Empire May 20th, 1915. His parents were Shmuel and Devorah, and he was the first child born in the newly-established community. When he was only 14 he joined the Haganah. (The Haganah (In Hebrew: "Defense") was a Zionist military organization in Palestine). He was very influenced by military techniques and teachings officer Orde Wingate gave Moshe. Afterwards he went to Bulgaria where he graduated from the military academy. This is a picture of Moshe’s Birthplace. He was once arrested by the British, (when the Haganah was declared illegal), but released after two years when the British cooperated with them during World War II. While he was serving on the Australian 7th Infantry Division, Dayan lost his left eye and began wearing the eyepatch that became his trademark, and later Dayan received the â€Å"Distinguished Service Order†, one of the highest military honors. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Dayan occupied various positions of importance, first as the commander of many military units on the central front. Later he was he became the prime minister’s protà ©gà ©, together with Shimon Peres (the future Prime Minister). After the 1948 war, Dayan’s ranking rose very fast. From 1955 to 1958 he was the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Force, where he commanded the Israeli forces during the â€Å"Suez Crisis†. â€Å" In 1959, Dayan joined MAPAI, the leftist party in Israeli politics. Until 1964 he served as the minister of agriculture in Israel, and in 1967, Eshkol (current prime minister) decided to give him the position of Minister of Defense.†2 General Moshe Dayan (center), Chief of Staff General Yitschak Rabin (right) and General Uzi Narkiss (left), enter Old Jerusalem in 1967 Dayan was still the secretary of defense when the â€Å"Yom Kippur War† catastrophically began on October 6, 1973. He was in charge for military planning, and at first didn’t opt for a mobilization of the army, he said that he didn’t want Israel to appear as the aggressor, and that Israel could win the war even after an Arab attack.

“300” Compare/Contrast Essay Essay

In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast three significant events in the film of 300. First, I will discuss the events leading up to the historical battle at Thermopylae. Then, I will compare the movie version battles at Thermopylae with historical accounts. Finally, I will contrast events after Thermopylae between the movie and actual history. As I recall, when I saw the movie several months ago (it’s not available for reviewing again from Blockbuster until July 31, 2007), the most significant event before the great battle was the visit of the Persian diplomats to King Leonidas offering him and his family great wealth and position with no one getting killed in a needless war, if he would only submit to Xerxes as ruler of a new Persian-Grecian Empire. When Leonidas and his outspoken wife asked them about the preservation of the Greek way of life, that is, freedom and democracy, the offer quickly turned into a threat, the threat of total destruction for Greek culture and a life of slavery for any Greek survivors. When the diplomats scolded the wife of Leonidas for interrupting their â€Å"man-to-man† talk with her criticisms, Leonidas became so furious that these strangers came into a king’s home, insulted his queen, that he threw them down to their death in a large, very, very deep well. There is no historical account that this is the way it really happened. But I think is was probably a good guess by Hollywood how negotiations may have gone except for the killings. I believe that was Hollywood overkill. It is historical fact that the Spartan woman was the most highly respected, independent woman in all the Greek city-states, but diplomats do not usually get murdered over verbal disagreements. After all, they only carry the message. They do not make policy. If these messengers don’t come back alive, they won’t be sent. They were a very important means of communication between armies in those days. In most cases, just the presence of the Persian million-man army scared the invaded city or country into surrendering or face certain defeat from so many soldiers. The basic movie is about two opposing armies, the Persians against the Greeks (led by 300 Spartans), meeting at the pass at Thermopylae to determine whether Greece would survive as the only democracy on earth or be conquered by the great Persian Empire expanding into Europe. On the Persian side,  their army had hundreds of thousands of soldiers ready to fight. On the Greek side, they only had approximately 1500 to defend the pass but, only when Leonidas knew for sure that he would be surrounded and that defeat was likely, he sent them all back to safety except for himself and 300 of his best Spartan warriors to defend the pass and slow down the Persian invasion while other Greek armies were being organized. I believe that this movie is quite accurate according to the historical events that took place during the time of 480 B.C. However, I think some events in the movie are not accurate such as all of those mystical-looking creatures that supposedly existed back then and used in tim es of war. This was bordering more on fantasy to make the movie more appealing to a younger audience instead of just those who follow history. The part of the movie which I think is accurate is Sparta’s army being very strong and disciplined. The Spartans had a good strong leader in Leonidas, constant combat training since they were children, and had superior weapons that were a part of them. The Persians, on the other hand, had many soldiers but there weapons and lack of armor were lighter because of the long distances the Persians had to travel to get to Greece. The movie showed the Spartans to have superior weaponry such as longer spears to resist charges, shorter swords for quick strokes during close-in combat to cut through Persian wicker-type shields, larger metal shields to deflect sword and arrow attacks. This is very accurate, historically. The movie also showed the Spartans to be very muscular and in top physical shape. Again, this is true because the Spartan child (if he was not abandoned in the hillside for being physically defective at birth) would be taken from his home at the age of seven to lead a very hard, military lifestyle until he was tweny-one years old, at which time he would go into the army as a fully trained soldier ready to do battle for the glory of Sparta. I think the movie was pretty much basically over after the battle of Thermopylae was done but, historically, this battle, even though it was a loss, was only the beginning of the Greek victory over Persia. Once word got back to other Greek city-states, it so inspired them to unite as one Greek nation to defend their freedom and culture as the Spartans had defended it, to the death. The Athenian navy finished off the Persian navy at the   of Salamis and destroyed the only way the Persians could have supplied their army if Persia was to hold conquered territory. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_the_movie300 The movie, by Warner Bros.

Mary Whiton Calkins Essay

In the early days of psychology there were few female psychologists who had any type of impact on the field of psychology. There was sex discrimination and it was a common belief that women were inferior to men. Mary Whiton Calkins was able to beat the odds and have a long lasting legacy in psychology. She is considered one of the pioneers in psychology and is credited with a major theoretical contribution of self-psychology, which was centered on the idea that all consciousness is personal. Calkins overcame discrimination from both students and scholars and succeeded in inventing a procedure that was historic; paired associate learning, which has become the standard method in cognitive research (Goodwin, 2008). Mary Whiton Calkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1863. She was the oldest of five children; their parents encouraged their education, especially the study of languages and cultures (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins did graduate from high school in Newton Massachusetts and began Smith College in 1882 as a sophomore. Unfortunately, in 1883, her sister’s illness and subsequent death caused her to decide to study Greek at home the following year. However Calkins returned to Smith College in 1884 as a senior, and graduated with a concentration in classics and philosophy in 1885. In 1887, after graduating from Smith College, she was hired to teach Greek at Wellesley College. She had been teaching for three years when she was offered she was offered a position teaching in the new area of psychology (Goodwin, 2008). In 1890 Wellesley finally offered Calkins the position, with the condition that she would study psychology for a year. There were very few psychology programs available at that time, and even fewer that would accept women applicants. This made it difficult for her to have the one year of study needed to teach the subject of psychology. During the following year Calkins also worked unofficially at the psychology laboratory at Clark University with Edmund Sanford. He also assisted Calkins in the creation of a psychology lab for Wellesley College, equipped with state of the art equipment. That psychology lab officially opened in 1891, the same year that Calkins began teaching psychology at Wellesley (Goodwin, 2008). After being invited to sit in on some of the lectures at Harvard, Calkins formally requested that she be allowed to sit in on these lectures. She decided to try to take classes at the Harvard Annex taught by Josiah Royce, a Harvard professor, because the Annex was not an official part of Harvard University. Royce, however, pushed her to try to attend regular Harvard classes because not all of his classes were available through the Annex. Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard, believed strongly that the two sexes should be educated separately. But it was not until the pressure applied to him from both James and Royce was combined with a petition from Calkins father and a letter from the president of Wellesley College that Eliot finally agreed in 1892. Calkins would be allowed to attend James and Royce’s seminars on psychology, but it was officially stated that she would not be a student of the University entitled to registration. (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins felt like she needed to do more graduate work. She continued teaching while simultaneously studying with J. Munsterberg until 1894 when she studied full-time for a year. At that time Munsterberg petitioned Harvard to admit Calkins as a Ph. D. candidate, but was refused. The Harvard psychology department held an informal examination of Calkins, which she passed in 1895. The same year, while at Harvard, Calkins presented her theses, where she completed a series of experimental studies on association. She developed a procedure known as paired-associate learning (Goodwin, 2008). Her subjects first studied stimulus-response pairs comprised of sequentially presented color patches and numbers, and then they tried to recall the umber responses when shown the color stimuli. Her results showed that recall was enhanced by each of the four factors: frequency, vividness, recency, and primacy. These four conditions could strengthen associations, and found that frequency was the most important. (Goodwin, 2008). Calkins then returned to Wellesley College where she continued to teach until her retirement in 1927. From about 1900, her publications became less research-oriented as she developed her major theoretical contribution to psychology, self-psychology. Calkins maintained that psychology could be the study of mental life, but that the central fact of psychology must be that all consciousness contains an element of the self (Goodwin, 2008). In 1900, Calkins published her first article on a system of psychology of the self, a topic which became her primary focus. Over the next thirty years, Calkins continued to present, develop, and defend her theory of self-psychology, gradually moving more towards philosophy and away from the psychological trend towards behaviorism. There is evidence that her primary interest was always philosophy rather than psychology. She was teaching psychology for almost a decade before another faculty member trained in psychology joined the philosophy department. (Furumoto, 1980). In 1905, Calkins became the first woman elected president of the American Psychological Association. As her interests shifted to philosophy, she became the first woman elected president of the other APA, the American Philosophical Association in 1918. All of her work in philosophy as well as psychology came to center around the importance of self. She used it as a way to reconcile competing theoretical schools of thought including structuralism and functionalism (Furumoto, 1980). She believed that self-psychology was a method of resolving disputes between structuralism, which analyzes consciousness in to its basic elements, and functionalism, which focuses on how consciousness serves to adapt the individual to the environment (Goodwin, 2008). Among her major contributions to psychology are the invention of the paired associate’s technique and her work in self based psychology. Calkins believed that the conscious self was the primary focus of psychology. Despite Mary Whiton Calkins contributions, Harvard maintains its refusal to grant the degree she earned and her influence on psychology is often overlooked by both scholars and students. She was passionate about her beliefs, even when Harvard was going to award her a PhD. from Radcliffe College; she refused to accept the degree because she did not agree with the â€Å"injustice of unequal treatment of the sexes based on the implicit assumption that there are inherent differences in their mentalities† (Furumoto, 1980). Mary Whiton Calkins was a pioneer in psychology. She was responsible for the creation of a method of memorization called the paired associate technique, founder of one of the early psychological laboratories in the United States, and creator of a system of self-psychology (Furumoto, 1980). Conclusion Mary Whiton Calkins was a prolific writer in both psychology and philosophy, publishing four books and over a hundred papers divided among the fields. In addition to being the first woman president of the American Psychological Association, Calkins also served as president of the American Philosophical Association in 1918. The topics Mary Whiton Calkins studied in psychology covered a wide range including dream research, animal consciousness, and memorization. In 1892 she presented a report on a dream study that she had worked on with Sanford at the first meeting of the APA. Thirteen years later she was elected president of that same organization. In 1895 she returned to Wellesley as an associate professor, and in 1898 she became a full professor, a position she held until she retired in 1927 (Furumoto, 1980). On February 26, 1930, Calkins died of inoperable cancer, one year after retiring from Wellesley as a Research Professor and turning over that department to Eleanor Gamble. Her teaching career spanned forty two years. She died with two honorary degrees, a doctor of letters from Columbia University and a doctor of laws from Smith College. However, she never received the degree that she worked for at Harvard. In 1927 a group of Harvard alumni petitioned the president of Harvard requesting that the university grant Calkins her Ph. D. , but they were denied (Furumoto, 1980).

How to Conjugate French Spelling-Change Verbs

How to Conjugate French Spelling-Change Verbs There are two groups of otherwise regular -er verbs that have spelling changes in certain conjugations due to hard and soft consonants and vowels. That is, they are conjugated like regular -er verbs, except for slight spelling variations in certain conjugations in order to maintain soft consonant sounds throughout. They are known as are spelling-change verbs. The Consequences of Orthography These orthographic changes occur because of how hard and soft letters affect pronunciation. The letters  Ã‚  a,  o, and  u  are sometimes called  hard vowels  while  e  and  i  are  soft vowels.  Certain consonants (c,  g,  s) change pronunciation according to which vowel follows them. Place the soft vowels e or i after them, and they have a soft sound; place the sometimes hard vowels a, o and u after these consonants and you could get a hard-sounding consonant.   The spelling-change verbs follow these rules of orthography. Thus, wherever the  g  in -ger verbs is followed by a hard vowel like o, it changes to ge  to keep the g soft, as in gel. In  -cer  verbs, wherever the  c is followed by a hard vowel, it  changes to à § to keep the c soft, as in  cell.   The Actual Changes: -cer Verbs Generally, for -cer  verbs, the  Ã‚  c à § spelling change is found only in the imperative and the  nous  conjugation of the present tense:  lanà §ons.  It is also needed in the  present participle,  lanà §ant, but not the  past participle,  lancà ©. All verbs that end in -cer undergo this spelling change, including:   Ã‚  Ã‚  annoncer   to announce  Ã‚  Ã‚  avancer  Ã‚  to advance  Ã‚  Ã‚  commencer  Ã‚  to begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  dà ©noncer  Ã‚  to denounce  Ã‚  Ã‚  divorcer  Ã‚  to divorce  Ã‚  Ã‚  effacer  Ã‚  to erase  Ã‚  Ã‚  lancer  Ã‚  to throw  Ã‚  Ã‚  menacer  Ã‚  to threaten  Ã‚  Ã‚  placer  Ã‚  to put  Ã‚  Ã‚  prononcer  Ã‚  to pronounce  Ã‚  Ã‚  remplace  Ã‚  to replace  Ã‚  Ã‚  renoncer  Ã‚  to renounce The Actual Changes: -ger Verbs For -ger  verbs,  the  g ge spelling change is likewise found only in the imperative and the present tense  nous  conjugation:  mangeons.  It is needed in the  present participle,  mangeant, but not the  past participle,  mangà ©. All verbs that end in -ger undergo this spelling change, including:   Ã‚  Ã‚  arranger  Ã‚  to arrange  Ã‚  Ã‚  bouger  Ã‚  to move  Ã‚  Ã‚  changer  Ã‚  to change  Ã‚  Ã‚  corriger  Ã‚  to correct  Ã‚  Ã‚  dà ©courager  Ã‚  to discourage  Ã‚  Ã‚  dà ©mà ©nager  Ã‚  to move  Ã‚  Ã‚  dà ©ranger  Ã‚  to disturb  Ã‚  Ã‚  diriger  Ã‚  to direct  Ã‚  Ã‚  encourager  Ã‚  to encourage  Ã‚  Ã‚  engager  Ã‚  to bind  Ã‚  Ã‚  exiger  Ã‚  to demand  Ã‚  Ã‚  juger  Ã‚  to judge  Ã‚  Ã‚  loger  Ã‚  to lodge  Ã‚  Ã‚  manger  Ã‚  to eat  Ã‚  Ã‚  mà ©langer  Ã‚  to mix  Ã‚  Ã‚  nager  Ã‚  to swim  Ã‚  Ã‚  obliger  Ã‚  to oblige  Ã‚  Ã‚  partager  Ã‚  to share  Ã‚  Ã‚  rà ©diger  Ã‚  to write  Ã‚  Ã‚  voyager  Ã‚  to travel For both types of spelling-change verbs, these slight changes also occur in the following tenses and moods: Imperfect  - singular conjugations plus the third person pluralPassà © simple  - all conjugations except the third person pluralImperfect subjunctive  - all conjugations For both, there is no spelling change in the  conditional,  future, or  subjunctive. See the Full Conjugations to Understand Check out the full conjugations of spelling-change   -ger  verbs  and  -cer  verbs  for a global picture of how these small changes affect spelling. One caveat: Do not confuse spelling-change verbs with  stem-changing verbs. They are completely different, as their names indicate.

Reconstruction Term Paper

Reconstruction Term Paper Reconstruction Term Paper Reconstruction Term Paper If you have received an assignment to write a reconstruction term paper, you should start with narrowing the topic. Choose one aspect of the topic and develop it. Of course, if your term paper has to be 20 pages in length, the topic should be broad enough.Below is a short term paper sample written on the topic reconstruction. If you need more sample term papers, please check our term paper blog. If you need custom term paper writing service, try our professional help. Custom written paper is original and fully referenced. You will never find it posted in the Internet! Reconstruction Term Paper Sample Though Sumner and Stevens are often the only names heard in text-book accounts of Reconstruction they stood amid a remarkable group of self-made politicians. 1 Amongst them one of the most forceful was Senator Ben Wade, who had been born in 1800 of an old but poor family on a small Massachusetts farm and received little formal education. In 1821 Wade moved to Ohio and followed various occupations before beginning the study of law in 1825; with a rapidity which might be the envy of lawyers in more settled societies he was called to the bar in 1827 or 1828 and joined the firm of Joshua Giddings at the very fountainhead of political abolitionism. He became a State senator, then a judge, and in 1851 was sent to the United States Senate where he was soon recognized as an anti-slavery leader. During the war he was chairman of the key Committee on the Conduct of the War. Wade was vigorous, impulsive and likeable; men deprecated his rough methods of speech and distrusted his judgment but nev er questioned his sincerity and integrity. In 1864 Gideon Welles, though thinking that 'the old man was a little acrimonious towards the President', found Wade 'very pleasant and affable'. In 1868, when much water had flowed under the Reconstruction bridge Welles lamented that ' Wade has become demoralized, and is not the plain, single-minded, honest, unambitious man he was a few years since'. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts had been born as Jeremiah Colbath in 1812. on a very poor New England farm. At the age of twenty he changed his name to Henry Wilson, and established himself as a shoemaker at Natick in Massachusetts; here he built up a considerable business and the 'cobbler of Natick' was actually a successful employer of some hundred men. His happy relations with his work-people foreshadowed the future career of one who was to prove himself the canniest vote-getter in all New England and to rise to the highest positions without ever losing touch with the simple voters of his State. Throughout his adolescence he had been an omnivorous reader, and in spite of his lack of education became a widely informed man. He entered State politics as a Whig Free Soiler and was for a time editor of the anti-slavery Boston Republican. For a short period, which he was always to regret, he joined the Know-Nothings but withdrew in protest against their intolerance and refusal to adopt antislavery views.

Anna Arnold Hedgeman

This paper takes a look at the life and achievements of civil rights protagonist, Anna Arnold Hedgeman. This paper focuses on the life and accomplishments of humanist Anna Arnold Hedgeman. Details about her achievements as a mentor and civil rights leader are provided. The main idea of the paper focuses on race relations among African-Americans and the civil rights movement. Anna Arnold Hedgeman was born on July 5, 1899, in Marshalltown, Iowa.She was one of five children born, her father being a son of slaves.Hedgeman was well educated, for she attended high school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later received a degree in English from the Methodist college of Hamline University.Growing up, Hedgeman became a very articulate, outspoken person.Throughout college, she grew very interested in the social injustices and racial inequality of African-Americans.In the ensuing decades of her life, Hedgeman devoted all of her time and energy to assisting many organizations and administrations that were intent on fighting for the rights of workers and for the better welfare of humanity. She acted as a teacher, consultant, and lecturer to these various groups, and eventually she owned her own consulting firm, Hedgeman Consulting Services.The focus of this paper will be to show how Anna Arnold Hedgemans concern for national and global equality led to her eventual involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington.

Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition Essay

Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition - Essay Example 2. Quality Management at Nokia Quality is at the heart of Nokia’s operations. Quality has been embedded into every aspect of the products in order to achieve the goal of continuous improvement. Quality Management at Nokia starts right at the top management level and flows from top to bottom. There is a ‘Self-Regulating Management System’ at Nokia which charts out the framework for management practices. The customer needs are the most important input in Nokia’s quest for continuous improvement. Therefore, Nokia makes it a point to thoroughly analyze the lifestyles and needs of its target customers (10 Operations Management Decisions). Nokia lays a great amount of stress on Research and Development. More than 30% of Nokia’s workforce is deployed in Research and Development across geographies. The company strives to maintain a balance between the technological design and user friendly layout. Special fashion designers are deployed for the later (10 Oper ation Management Decisions). 3. Quality Management at Micromax Quality management at Micromax is driven totally by customers. According to Vikas Jain, one of the co-founders of Micromax, Micromax is not a poor cousin of Nokia. Micromax has two important success criteria – perfect assessment of the customer needs and the ability to adapt their supply chain to those needs. The company was a pioneer in initiating dual sim phones in India and challenged Nokia’s supremacy with its innovations. The company realized that a large number of customers were willing to use more than 1 sim cards for various reasons. However, not many were willing to carry 2 or more mobile phones in their pockets. This latent need led to the development of mobile phones with dual sim cards which have become a norm today (Dharmakumar, 2010). 4. Common process between the two organizations and its impact The product design process of the two organizations is quite similar. Both organizations consider assessing customer needs as the most important and preliminary stage of product design. In Nokia, this research is done very methodologically by specialists across various geographies and cultures. At Micromax, the market research is not very structured and the focus is more on identifying the latent needs and to target niche segments of the market. The next step is to choose the theme and develop the product. While Nokia believes in designing an experience rather than a product, Micromax considers a theme such as dual sim and develops and markets its product around that theme. The next step is to test the prototype on a selected group of customers. While this step is a must for Nokia, Micromax may actually skip it and go ahead with judgment of its management. After the product is developed, the supply chain management is very important for both the firms. Nokia maintains a set of requirements for its suppliers. Nokia makes efforts in maintaining a sustainable e-supply chain. The su pply chain management at Micromax is less structured but also less complicated. This enables the company to easily swing the supply chain making it more agile. The product design process has a significant positive impact on their competitive position in the market. By focusing on customer needs, these companies win half the battle. This helps them in efficient planning and execution. By maintaining an effective and agile supply chain, these companies are better equipped to manage change in customer needs, market conditions, global economic

Market Entry into China (According to case study finish a Report) Essay

Market Entry into China (According to case study finish a Report) - Essay Example China becomes a hot favourite for investment in the sectors of cooperative enterprises, joint ventures. â€Å"According to Zhang (2005), the impact of the overseas Chinese on China’s FDI inflows can be seen at least in two ways. First, the overseas Chinese invest in China based on language and historical bonds; accordingly they possess advantages in operations in China. Second, the overseas Chinese act as a bridge through which foreign investors understand the Chinese culture.† (Devinney et al 2010). The country, however, did not allow solely foreign-owned ventures earlier, and they had limitation of technological support. This situation has now changed and through export from other countries they now have all the infrastructural facilities. China has now removed many limits, which were also different from their WTO promises and encouraged foreign-owned ventures to guide in higher technology and add to their export quantity. Thus, only foreign-owned enterprise under joint venture model is the most accepted structure of FDI in China. There are a mixture of FDI available in China and the most common among them have been the Equity Joint Venture, Co-operative Joint Venture, and, to rising quantity, completely Foreign Owned Enterprise. However, they have a viable system of legislation and ground rules for creating such ventures and suitable government approvals and business licenses are mandatory. Hong Kong and East Asia are the main sources of FDI in China. Presently Taiwan is also a major source of China’s FDI with increasing amount of investment. Taiwan positions as the second place of FDI in China. â€Å"During the past two years, the government has been working to reform the foreign investment approval system. The approval procedure for five categories of foreign investment has now been vastly simplified, as the central government has allocated significant approval power to its local counterparts.   For foreign investment projects with

The United Nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The United Nations - Essay Example The UN peace troops only observed from the ground and neutrally reported on obedience to the cessation of hostilities, personnel pullout or other elements of peace treaties. The United Nations Principle of peacekeeping had commenced during the height of the Cold War as a probable solution to the growing tensions between states by fielding military personnel who are either unarmed or lightly armed. These personnel are from various countries who could be called anytime by the UN Security Council when the observing of peacekeeping or ceasefires are being observed to uphold peace and security for all citizens, "as projected by the United Nations Charter." (UN Meeting New Challenges 2007). The end of the Cold War had profoundly affected the role of world peacekeeping of the UN. The demise of bipolarization triggered the Security Council to establish a larger and more expanded peacekeeping missions, more often than not to persuade states to pursue peace agreements. Moreover, UN peacekeeping after the Cold War integrated into a non-military element form to guarantee sustainability.