Prejudice and Biases Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Prejudice and Biases - Assignment Example He or she ought not to think about their particular ethnicity or maybe religious beliefs. In the scenario certainly where a leader will be prejudiced, he or she will certainly disregard the judgments or maybe tip associated with some others that could be equally vital. Some sort of leaders whos going to be prejudiced will develop an enormous space for those who are seeking both white-colored scruff of the neck and maybe azure scruff of the neck careers (Innis, 2008). It is also identified in that leaders that have a sturdy bias work with a great deal of demand handle management, because it isnt a real high quality of any leader. Instead, the leader needs to be clear of bias as a way to work with liability within their management (Whitley & Kite 2006). The best way to handle bias is usually to avoid the gross splendor of individuals, this is because it has been identified in that once a person is often discerning other people she or he will start to grasp bias; therefore it is in order to avoid splendor in order to avoid bias. The actual leaders can be careful of these terminologies in order to prevent the way it regards bias, this is because once they are making their language imperative she or he wont take into account different languages. An excellent leader shouldnt embrace or perhaps inspire biases inside their division of function. An example, in a situation in which a couple distinct employees in an organization are experiencing a quarrel, whenever they go to a biased boss he or she will not likely consider the fascination from the other party of different ethnic group. He or she will certainly will not able to solve the condition available (Whitley & Kite 2006). Sometimes some boss who are biased can look at themselves over others, any situation that can be excellent or even efficient they can decide to put for themselves. In order for leader to

Managing and leading people 01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing and leading people 01 - Essay Example Based on some critical research findings related to culture, this report intends to focus mainly on its implications on labour legislation, human resource management (HRM), leadership and people management, cross-border negotiations, knowledge management etc and any other issues that might get noticed during literature study. Finally, conclusions will be drawn based on key findings and applicable recommendations will be made if required. Impact of culture on industry and economics has been established through numerous research and studies throughout the world; the main study that stands out in this sphere is that conducted by Hofstede (1980) whose pioneering work in this sphere has opened up new ways to approach business and management in the international contexts. These studies revealed that national culture has an impact on social norms, which in turn influence work-related values of individuals; and that national culture influences the corporate culture through the kind of policies, practices and procedures followed in the organisation. Values of business owners get translated into practices for employee management. Hofstede’s work identified five dimensions of national culture that get translated into, or influence, management practices. These include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-feminity, and time orientation (French et al., 2011). Following Hofstede, ma ny other studies on culture and its impact on management have been conducted with significant findings. Trompenaars and Turner (1993) identified seven dimensions; and Hall’s (1989) work identified aspects of communication that could have different meanings in different cultures. The project GLOBE by House et al., (1997) is yet another groundbreaking work to determine impact of culture on various management aspects (Steers, Sanchez- Runde & Nardon,

Issue of Urban Sprawl in Regina

Issue of Urban Sprawl in Regina Ryan Boychuk Urban Issue of Urban Sprawl in Regina Introduction Urban Sprawl continues to be the trend of city growth in Canada. In the city of Regina, urban sprawl is a problem that needs to be addressed among the city planners. Negative effects of urban sprawl include, but are not limited to, increase in public expenditure, auto reliance, health, environment and social living. The purpose of this paper is to offer an empirical investigation of the factors proposed as generators of urban sprawl. The Auto Eccentric City Many believe as Salingaros (2006, p. 114) that, Sprawl exists only because it is an outgrowth of car activities. Thus, the focus here is on how auto reliance contributes to sprawl in Canada. Regina, like many other Canadian cities, is a very auto eccentric city. Sprawling communities are a major contributor to climate change and air pollution, in part because they require so much automotive transportation, which is heavily dependent on energy consumption from fossil fuels, the biggest source of greenhouse gases. Since 2005 Canadian vehicles have contributed to approximately 170Mt in C02 emissions. This number is due to the sheer amount of people in Canada that rely on vehicles to go virtually everywhere. According to data from the General Social Survey (GSS) on time use, the proportion of people aged 18 and over who went everywhere by car as either a driver or a passenger rose from 68% in 1992, to 70% in 1998 and then 74% in 2005. This rising trend in auto culture inadvertently cause s a push for more roads, more suburbs, successfully created more urban sprawl. As Regina continues to grow outwards and push for suburban development city plans are contributing to this ever growing traffic problem,. Not only is this detrimental to the environment but the lifestyle itself is unsustainable. The excessive use of fossil fuels in this auto reliant culture will eventually cause many irreversible problems in the future. The Increase of Public Expenditure The debate over the base tax proposal has revealed that Regina is a deeply divided city. The building industry, real estate interests, business organizations and people living in more expensive homes pushed the city council to impose a $400 base tax on residential property. The base tax would have shifted some of the burden of property taxation from those in the new suburban areas to homeowners who live in the older areas of Regina and have lower valued property. Low density development in outlying areas requires much higher expenditures on infrastructure and services, and this leads to reduced spending in the older city areas. Regina is following the pattern. Inner City Decline Christopher Leo of the University of Winnipeg has studied the problem of inner city decline and how the city is affected by this process. When a metropolitan area is divided into neighborhoods where poverty predominates and others were comfortable circumstances are the rule, it is inevitable that there will be a concentration of social problems in the poor areas. And where social problems predominate, lawlessness follows. Increasing crime and growing poverty lead to the decay of some downtown neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood profiles for Regina prepared by city staff using 1996 census figures highlight the effects of local urban sprawl development. For the city as a whole, household income averaged $45,000; for the central zone, it was only $29,000 and lower still in the Core and North Central areas. For the city as a whole, only 35% of homes were rented compared to 59% in the Central Zone and 71% in the Core area. Single parent families and Aboriginal people are much more likely to be found in the Central zone neighborhoods. To present date, little has been accomplished in combating this issue at hand. Gang violence has been a problem that the residents of North Central Regina have been constantly at arms with. According to a 2005 study done by the Criminal Intelligence Service Saskatchewan, there are approximately 500 gang members and associates operating out of Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. Not only is the economic viability and safety of the community threatened, but also the residents are left feeling alienated. People living in these areas feel afraid to leave their houses, go to the park or even participate in community reinforcement activities. The NCCA is currently trying to get it’s funding to bring back the RAGS program and hopefully reduce gang violence in Regina. Rise of The Box Store James Howard Kunstler argues in The Geography of Nowhere that the box store is a form of corporate colonialism, going into distant places and strip-mining them culturally and economically†. Economist Tom Muellers studies found that 84% of Wal-Marts sales came from other businesses. For every two jobs created in a warehouse store, three are lost. They dont buy from local manufacturers or producers but larger national firms. Dairyland Foods, our prairie farmer-owned co-operative, recently sold out to Saputo Inc., a large private firm. Dairy farmers were told that if they did not get bigger and faster they would lose access to the national grocery retailers. The most widely-cited study of the box store phenomenon was done by Ken Stone. Ken was an economics professor at Iowa State University and he monitored the impact of Wal-Mart on Iowa between 1983 and 1993. The state lost 555 grocery stores, 298 hardware stores, 293 building suppliers, 269 clothing stores, 161 variety stores, 1 53 shoe stores, and 116 drug stores. A total of 7,326 businesses went under.10 It’s hard to see the positivity in light of this box store epidemic. This was a shocking number for me but taking a drive down victoria you can see this as an evident problem in regina. These stores do not only pose a threat economically but also culturally. Cities characters have been stripped as there unique local business have been outmatched. This in turn has created a very Dull homogenized atmosphere within Regina and cities in other areas of the world. The Effects on Health Sprawl affects us in surprising ways. It cuts into our precious free time and contributes to expanding our waistlines. A commuter who drives just one hour each day spends the equivalent of nine working weeks a year in a car. Researchers have found that people living in sprawling suburbs spend less time walking and weigh up to six pounds more than those living in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. According to Ontario College of Family Physicians, there are five main health effects due to urban sprawl. These effects of urban sprawl are as follows, Commuting and driver stress, loss of natural environment, loss of social capital, loss of community and negative effects towards childhood development. †In these spread-out communities, homes are separated from schools, workplaces, stores and services, forcing people to drive virtually everywhere. More time driving means less time with family and friends, less time for oneself, and less time to engage in community activities. 1 Research shows that urban sprawl commuters spend 3 to 4 times more hours driving than individuals living in well-planned, dense communities.† 2 Those extra hours that we spend driving in cities such as Regina contribute to more back pain, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, asthma, headaches and stress. There is also research stating that traffic congestion also has adverse effects on ones blood pressure, mood frustration tolerance, illness frequency, work absences, job stability, and overall life satisfaction. Taking all this into account you can see that these additional stresses on our lives can contribute to depression, home abuse and many other damaging social problems prevalent in our society. â€Å"Thousands of pedestrians and drivers die every year in North America. The anguish and emotional scarring caused by the death of a loved one, permanent disabilities and related pain and suffering greatly impacts at every level of our social structure. 14% of traffic accident survivors have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 10 and 25% have psychiatric problems one year after an accident.† 2 Road rage is one example of mental health stress related to driving that has received considerable attention in recent years. Road rage is characterized by violent disputes between drivers that sometime causes serious injuries or even death; often road rage involves people who are not usually violent. The two primary causes for aggressive driving are being rushed or behind schedule, and increased congestion and traffic. Road rage also contributes to higher percentage of accidents as drivers tend to make poor decisions in a heightened mood. Walking or biking are not only healthier alternatives in terms of physique and stress relief but are also generally safer in biker friendly areas. Unfortunately, there is usually little emphasis on walking and biking services in car culture. Environmental Decline The environment that we live in affects our health in both negative and positive ways. Animals, plants, landscapes and wilderness all have a tremendous impact on human well-being, as humans are innately attracted to other living organisms. Positive effects of the natural environment have been documented and include improved social and cognitive functioning, and decreased violence.A study done in Chicago found that people who live in buildings surrounded by greenspace have a stronger sense of community, better relationships with neighbours and less heated domestic conflicts.1 Impact on Social aspects Research today is beginning to gather undeniable evidence that cons of Urban communities definitely outweigh the benefits. Over the past half-century, many writers have addressed the isolating effect of low-density suburban development. The use of vehicles does not encourage the same level of social interaction that could exist if residents met each other on the street (Katz and Bradley 1999). Suburban residents are also less likely to take on additional community responsibilities due to increased commuting times (Putnam 2000). Some writers have gone as far as suggesting that the most common interaction between neighbours in suburbia is through the blinking turn signals on their cars (Holtz Kay 1997). Simply put, low-density suburban developments do not foster the same level of social interaction as dense, walkable, neighbourhoods.2 Regina’s policies to Improve Infrastructure Green Field Development Urban sprawl and greenfield development share only one common trait they both occur on the outskirts of urban areas. Unlike urban sprawl, where there is little or no suburban planning, greenfield development is about efficient urban planning that aims to provide practical, affordable and sustainable living spaces for growing urban populations. The planning takes future growth and development into account as well as seeks to avoid the various infrastructure issues that plague existing urban areas. Regina is currently in a process to formulate the City’s Official Community Plan (OCP), which will shape the way future growth will unfold. The public consultation process, Design Regina, that accompanies the new plan is such a great idea. We all need to be involved in the conversation about the future of our city. Citizens, Community Developers, Builders and Public Officials all need to be engaged in this process. In 2013 The province of Saskatchewan approved the new Official communi ty plan, entitled design Regina and replaced the Regina Development Plan on December 2013. In this Plan they recognized the need for complete communities,thats is, communities that provide all necessary recreational, social and consumer need within close proximity to residential areas.6 â€Å"While the diversity of housing that has entered the market in the past few years has helped to improve housing choice based on location and housing preference, there is still a greater need for residential development in proximity to services and amenities to create complete communities. Similarly, the development of below market and affordable units in greenfield areas creates challenges due to a lack of nearby services resulting in increased transportation costs to meet a household’s everyday needs.† 3 Design Regina In the official city document for the cities future there seems to be many goals aiming towards greener, more pedestrian friendly cities. According to the document, we have have had improvement overall for affordable housing in Regina. They are also making strides to address the increasing homeless population. â€Å"The Cold Weather Strategy is a partnership program with the Ministry of Social Services and service providers to Regina’s homeless population, including shelters, emergency service agencies, the City, and health services. The purpose is to ensure services work together so no one is without a safe place to sleep on cold nights in Regina.† 3 There are also plans to increase housing diversity within the city to grant people more affordable housing that is still within city limits. With this plan we may see more development near inner city areas effectively breathing new life into otherwise stagnant areas. Works Cited 1 Kuo, F., and Sullivan, W., (2001). â€Å"Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?† Environ. Behav. 33, pp 343 – 367. 2 SPRAWL, U. Social Mental Health Ontario College of Family Physicians. 2013. http://ocfp.on.ca/docs/committee-documents/urban-sprawlvolume-4social-and-mental-health.pdf?sfvrsn=5> 3 Design Regina. 2011. 9 Apr. 2015 http://www.designregina.ca/> 4 Canadas Emissions Trends 2013. 2015. 9 Apr. 2015 https://www.ec.gc.ca/ges-ghg/985F05FB-4744-4269-8C1A-D443F8A86814/1001-Canadas%20Emissions%20Trends%202013_e.pdf> 5 GUIDE, ACS. Understanding Sprawl David Suzuki Foundation. 2010. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2003/Understanding_Sprawl.pdf> 6 Dont Confuse Greenfield Development with Urban Sprawl 2013. 9 Apr. 2015 http://reginahomebuilders.com/news/view/20> 7 Discourage Urban Sprawl David Suzuki Foundation. 2010. 9 Apr. 2015 http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/reduce-your-carbon-footprint/discourage-urban-sprawl/> 8 Causes and Effects of Urban Sprawl Conserve Energy Future. 2013. 9 Apr. 2015 http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-effects-of-urban-sprawl.php> 9 Gang Culture in Regina and Saskatchewan | The Carillon. 2013. 9 Apr. 2015 http://www.carillonregina.com/gang-culture-in-regina-and-saskatchewan/> 10 Urban sprawl development in Regina, Canada and the 2005. 9 Apr. 2015 http://www.johnwarnock.ca/sprawldevelopment.html>

D-day :: World War II

D-day I think the reson the d-day operation was sucsessfull was because of deception. It was 1944, and by this time the united states had been "in the war" aginst germany for threee years and the british had been in for almost six years. Alot of people dont know that there were many beachs that were seiged that same day that usaully dont get meantioned. the two that were the most importante that most people focuos on were the Omaha and utah beach beacuase of so many american solgers flooded those beachs and they had alot of casulties. Most of the other beachs were tackin with minamal casulties. over the next couple of hours the men on the beachs had to go though hell. The "allied invaders" had to tack these beach they played a huge role in the over all sucsees of the operation. Before the landing the german beachs had to be preped by bombing by air by the united states bombers that with 1,000 ships droped 5,000 tons of bombs. The beachs were also softened up by the united states battel ships bombarding the beachs. Although fewer Allied ground troops went ashore on D-Day than on the first day of the earlier invasion of Sicily, the invasion of Normandy was in total history's greatest water to land operation, involving on the first day 5,000 ships, the largest "armada" ever assembled; 11,000 aircraft (following months of preliminary bombardment); and approximately 154,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers, including 23,000 arriving by parachute and glider. The invasion also involved a long-range deception plan on a scale the world had never before seen and the clandestine operations of tens of thousands of Allied resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied countries of western Europe. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named supreme commander for the allies in Europe. British General, Sir Frederick Morgan, established a combined American-British headquarters known as COSSAC, for Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. COSSAC developed a number of plans for the Allies, most notable was that of Operation Overlord, a full scale invasion of France across the English Channel. Eisenhower felt that COSSAC's plan was a good operation. After reviewing the disastrous hit-and-run raid in 1942 in Dieppe, planners decided that the strength of German defenses required not a number of separate assaults by relatively small units but an intense concentration of power in a single main landing.

Essay – University Entrance Requirements

Essay 1. University entrance requirements are much more lenient than they used to be – some university courses are prepared to accept students without any A-levels. Last twenty years was a time of ongoing changes in the higher educational institution. One of the most controversial and criticized idea was the withdrawal of the entrance exam at all universities. It had caused a serious debate about the importance of high standard on the one hand and the equality in obtaining educational levels on the other hand.However, there are three main reasons why university entrance requirements are much lenient that they used to be. These are education reform, population decline and economy. Firstly, the politics decided to carried out an education reform. Their motivation was to facilitate the access to higher education and control better student’s improvement. As a result, there were no more entrance exam and the matura exam started to be the most important test which decided whe never student have a chance to go into university or not.This strategy should create an equal possibility, because the exam has very strict rules, procedure and it’s the same for all Polish students. Unfortunately, when we creating an ideal exam for everybody we need to consider that the level is always lower than it used to be on the entrance exams. Consequently, it is easier to get into university. After the huge education reform, another problem occurred. The predicted population decline has come out and created unstable situation in educational institution. The great amount of students, that teachers and professors were used to, suddenly had vanished.Year after year, there is even less students to teach. Consequently, less teachers are needed and everybody is afraid of losing their job. Because of this, universities change their strategies by lowered the level of entrance requirements and accept almost everyone. It create a situation when not only the brightest can entere d into higher education but also the lazy ones who doesn’t even care about learning. The last reason surely dominates the education system. Nowadays, it is the money which rules higher education and let everyone who pays to gain a master degree.As I mentioned before, there are less students, but universities need them to exist, because each learner is a certain amount of money. As a result, some courses accept even more students that they should. In that case, universities are constantly cheating on their clients and just churn out obedient students. What is more, there exist many private school which offer the same courses as on the university, but often don’t require positive matura results or good grades. If you pay the rent, the possibility to obtain quickly a bachelor or master degree is almost certain.In general, it is much more easier to get into university that it used to be. However, it is the only positive point of it. Unfortunately, our education system isnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t appropriate for this century. The equal matura exam took all the power from entrance examiners at the universities. The small number of students destroyed all the competitiveness in obtaining higher education. Also, the economic issue create a situation when an university degree is so easy available that people with a Bachelor or Master degree aren’t respected enough. In other words, universities should focused on the quality not on the quantity.

Strategy of Mercedes Benz in India

Mercedes-Benz India has evolved a four-pronged strategy towards passenger cars this year as it transfers its truck and bus business under Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). The company had been selling buses — inter and intra city and Actros mining trucks — in the India market, which would now fall under DICV portfolio. Project as performance oriented brand by introducing new models. Mercedes-Benz plans to launch eight new products this year, invest in dealer network, improve overall ownership cost and double production at the Chakan plant. Going forward, Chakan will be for passenger cars and Chennai will be for trucks and buses.More sales outlets,?with the A-Class clocking in 400 bookings since its launch earlier in May 2013. Starting with the launch of G63, Merc plans to drive in its much-awaited premium hatchback A-class in diesel and petrol variants by end-2013. Other launches are the new GL in May 2014 and the B-class diesel variant around the same time. Mer cedes-Benz is doubling its production capacity from 10,000 units to 20,000 at Chakan by end of year 2013 to make space for the new models. Moreover, the company is looking at localisation in a big way to improve ownership cost to the customers.Mercedes-Benz assembles models like S-class, E-class, C-class and M-class at its plant with localisation ranging from 10% to 60% over various mentioned models. Pushes for pre-owned cars. According to an estimate, the domestic used car market is 1. 3 times the new car market. The pre-owned segment is largely unstructured in India and with new financing options, customers could upgrade to newer models at ease by returning used cars. Try to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. Bank upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers. Marketing Strategy Audi IndiaPositioning in Luxury not as broad, but micro segment of luxury entry which will be having highest growth among all segment. All standard products, as Indian Market w ill be matching with the Global standards. Distribution of special zones with high and affluent people. Branding for Inspirational and aspirational attributes. Meeting high requirement of working capital through sustained market share and service bundling. Marketing Strategy BMW India India is one of the major growth markets for BMW and they are confident of maintaining their leadership in the premium segment through launches, dealerships expansion and customer delight.Planning to assemble more products in the country at our Chennai factory to increase volume growth. Plan to expand our completely-knocked down range in India. By April, the 7 series will be assembled in Chennai, which will be followed by the 1 series by the end of 2013. With this, the company will have six products (1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 7 series, X1 and X3) assembled in India. Market Analysis of BMW, AUDI & Mercedes In the Indian car market, the demand for new vehicles has been sluggish since the beginning of 2013. However, this is not the case for luxury car manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.Riding on the back of new model launches, the German triplet has made significant inroads in 2013. Mercedes-Benz, in particular, stepped up the ante as it introduced several new models and their facelift versions. The company had a revival of sorts in India as not only the demand for vehicles surged but the overall market share also rose considerably. According to estimates of Mercedes-Benz, the Indian car market is going to outpace the demand of other emerging regions like China, Brazil and Russia. http://articles. economictimes. indiatimes. com/2013-10-05/news/42745251_1_audi-q3-bmw-india-luxury-car-market http://www.autocarindia. com/auto-news/audi-races-past-bmw-to-number-one-spot-341884. aspxLed by the new generation compact cars A Class and B Class, Mercedes Benz India has bridging the sales gap with a rapid pace. Mercedes Benz India was ahead of Audi by selling 151 units more. M ercedes Benz India sold 2,696 units in July to September of 2013 as against 2,545 units sold by Audi in the same period. Mercedes Benz first overtook its Munich based luxury car rival BMW in the first quarter of 2013 to regain the number two position and now Audi in the quarter 3, but for the full year, it is still number two.Audi is still pretty on the number one position for the calendar year starting January to September 2013, with sales of 7,391 units. Mercedes Benz India trails by a significant 930 units, registering sales of 6,461 units in the same period. Announcing the Q3 results, Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: â€Å"Our year of offensive strategy yielded satisfactory result as we continue to improve our strong performance with each quarter, amidst one of the toughest market situations faced by the industry.We are confident of maintaining this positive momentum for the remaining quarter and achieve our targeted growth for 2013. † The main catalysts for Mercedes-Benz have been A-Class and B-Class models, which have further helped to increase the market share. Audi on its part with the locally produced Q3 and expanding dealer network is confident of holding on to its number 1 position for 2013 and aims at being the first luxury car maker in India to sell more than 10,000 units in India.After growing by 25-30 per cent since 2007 till 2011-12, the luxury car market too is facing the heat of the slowdown. Barring the entry level cars like Mercedes Benz A Class, B Class, BMW 1 Series and some SUVs like Audi Q3 and Q5, which brought incremental volumes in 2013, the traditional saloon segment of Mercedes Benz C Class, E Class, S Class, BMW 3,5 or 7 series and even Audi A4, A6 and A8 have remained sluggish.During 2013, Mercedes-Benz introduced eight new models in which the sales of performance oriented brand, AMG picked up by a fair bit. The German manufacturer is trying hard to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. It is banking upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers as it has already helped the company to come at par with its rivals like Audi and BMW. Industry players, say the market is likely to post 10-15 per cent growth in 2013 only on the back of these entry level models and SUVs.In 2014, Mercedes-Benz aim to expand in double-digits faster than the market. † Industry experts have already predicted that Mercedes-Benz would come hard at Audi in 2014 banking upon of new model launches that include next generation S-Class. Mercedes-Benz is famed for producing high-end vehicles in the country. As a result of this, customers and luxury car aficionados have shown affinity Strategy of Mercedes Benz in India Mercedes-Benz India has evolved a four-pronged strategy towards passenger cars this year as it transfers its truck and bus business under Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). The company had been selling buses — inter and intra city and Actros mining trucks — in the India market, which would now fall under DICV portfolio. Project as performance oriented brand by introducing new models. Mercedes-Benz plans to launch eight new products this year, invest in dealer network, improve overall ownership cost and double production at the Chakan plant. Going forward, Chakan will be for passenger cars and Chennai will be for trucks and buses. More sales outlets,†¨with the A-Class clocking in 400 bookings since its launch earlier in May 2013.Starting with the launch of G63, Merc plans to drive in its much-awaited premium hatchback A-class in diesel and petrol variants by end-2013. Other launches are the new GL in May 2014 and the B-class diesel variant around the same tim e. Mercedes-Benz is doubling its production capacity from 10,000 units to 20,000 at Chakan by end of year 2013 to make space for the new models. Moreover, the company is looking at localisation in a big way to improve ownership cost to the customers.Mercedes-Benz assembles models like S-class, E-class, C-class and M-class at its plant with localisation ranging from 10% to 60% over various mentioned models. Pushes for pre-owned cars. According to an estimate, the domestic used car market is 1.3 times the new car market. The pre-owned segment is largely unstructured in India and with new financing options, customers could upgrade to newer models at ease by returning used cars. Try to shred the old-man image associated with the brand.Bank upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers.Marketing Strategy Audi IndiaPositioning in Luxury not as broad, but micro segment of luxury entry which will be having highest growth among all segment. All standard products, as Indian Marke t will be matching with the Global standards. Distribution of special zones with high and affluent people. Branding for Inspirational and aspirational attributes.Meeting high requirement of working capital through sustained market share and service bundling.Marketing Strategy BMW IndiaIndia is one of the major growth markets for BMW and they are confident of maintaining their leadership in the premium segment through launches, dealerships expansion and customer delight. Planning to assemble more products in the country at our Chennai factory to increase volume growth. Plan to expand our completely-knocked down range in India. By April, the 7 series will be assembled in Chennai, which will be followed by the 1 series by the end of 2013. With this, the company will have six products (1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 7 series, X1 and X3) assembled in India.Market Analysis of BMW, AUDI & MercedesIn the Indian car market, the demand for new vehicles has been sluggish since the beginning of 2013. However, this is not the case for luxury car manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Riding on the back of new model launches, the German triplet has made significant inroads in 2013. Mercedes-Benz, in particular, stepped up the ante as it introduced several new models and their facelift versions. The company had a revival of sorts in India as not only the demand for vehicles surged but the overall market share also rose considerably. According to estimates of Mercedes-Benz, the Indian car market is going to outpace the demand of other emerging regions like China, Brazil and Russia.http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-05/news/42745251_1_audi-q3-bmw-india-luxury-car-market http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-news/audi-races-past-bmw-to-number-one-spot-341884.aspxLed by the new generation compact cars A Class and B Class, Mercedes Benz India has bridging the sales gap with a rapid pace. Mercedes Benz India was ahead of Audi by selling 151 units more. Mercede s Benz India sold 2,696 units in July to September of 2013 as against 2,545 units sold by Audi in  the same period. Mercedes Benz first overtook its Munich based luxury car rival BMW in the first quarter of 2013 to regain the number two position and now Audi in the quarter 3, but for the full year, it is still number two. Audi is still pretty on the number one position for the calendar year starting January to September 2013, with sales of 7,391 units.Mercedes Benz India trails by a significant 930 units, registering sales of 6,461 units in the same period. Announcing the Q3 results, Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: â€Å"Our year of offensive strategy yielded satisfactory result as we continue to improve our strong performance with each quarter, amidst one of the toughest market situations faced by the industry. We are confident of maintaining this positive momentum for the remaining quarter and achieve our targeted growth for 2013.† The main catalysts fo r Mercedes-Benz have been A-Class and B-Class models, which have further helped to increase the market share.Audi on its part with the locally produced Q3 and expanding dealer network is confident of holding on to its number 1 position for 2013 and aims at being the first luxury car maker in India to sell more than 10,000 units in India.   After growing by 25-30 per cent since 2007 till 2011-12, the luxury car market too is facing the heat of the slowdown. Barring the entry level cars like Mercedes Benz A Class, B Class, BMW 1 Series and some SUVs like Audi Q3 and Q5, which brought incremental volumes in 2013, the traditional saloon segment of Mercedes Benz C Class, E Class, S Class, BMW 3,5 or 7 series and even Audi A4, A6 and A8 have remained sluggish. During 2013, Mercedes-Benz introduced eight new models in which the sales of performance oriented brand, AMG picked up by a fair bit.The German manufacturer is trying hard to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. It i s banking upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers as it has already helped the company to come at par with its rivals like Audi and BMW. Industry players, say the market is likely to post 10-15 per cent growth in 2013 only on the back of these entry level models and SUVs. In 2014, Mercedes-Benz aim to expand in double-digits faster than the market.† Industry experts have already predicted that Mercedes-Benz would come hard at Audi in 2014 banking upon of new model launches that include next generation S-Class. Mercedes-Benz is famed for producing high-end vehicles in the country. As a result of this, customers and luxury car aficionados have shown affinity.

Free Essays on COLLEGE

High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the transformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. However, with my new goal-... Free Essays on COLLEGE Free Essays on COLLEGE I’ve gained, I’ve lost, I’ve found, I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, I’ve loved, I’ve hated, I’ve discovered, I’ve forgotten, these are what best exemplify my past year. The transition from high school to college was bigger then I could have ever imagined. Not so much academically, but emotionally. I think that I have grown as a person, and learnt much more then could be taught at school. The summer between high school and college, I lost people that were very dear to me, lost people that knew me, that loved me and understood me. At the beginning of the school year, I stayed with the people that I knew, but soon I met new people, people that have brought so much in my life, in such a tremendously short period of time. These people, while looking back, I cannot envision what my life might have been like without them. I can not imagine going to school and not seeing them, having problems and not crying on their shoulders, them hav ing a life that I was not part of. It’s funny how life changes, when the people you were once close to become total strangers, and total strangers become people you are close too. Life has its very unexpected twists and turns, which unfortunately are not always good. One lesson that I have learnt this year is that you cannot dwell upon things. You have to move on, and discover how to solve your problems, even the problems that may seem impenetrable. You have to live life thinking that things will get better, and that all your pain and sorrows are just part of the gift of life, where all that your pain can really do is just make you stronger as a person. That’s were the phrase â€Å"What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger† comes in play. A year is an immense period of time; the numerous amounts of things that can happen within the time span of a year are unbelievable. You can fall in love, fall out of love, discover a best friend, and make a new ene my, so many things can happen. Although not... Free Essays on College Leaving from home and exploring ones own dreams are a very important part of maturing. Though, the physical separation from home is for some a difficult transition to college life. What are those things one takes for granted while living at home, and attending high school? What changes does one face upon entering college? Just think of all the times the alarm clock did not go off, and mom was there to make sure school was still reached on time. When the alarm clock fails to go off at college, then the first class of the day is simply missed. At home breakfast is made to order: eggs, bacon, pancakes, or even French toast. In college one finds a particular meal that is edible, and must stick with it. A cabinet could be opened at home and a variety of tasty foods are readily available. In college a meal card is swiped though a machine upon entering the cafeteria, and the word "tasty" rarely enters the mind. Mom is at home to make sure the dishes are put away after the meal by everyone; dish duty is passed along each night. The tray is simply handed over to pairs of hands waiting to clean the dishes at college. Nutrition is a factor at home, and Mom creates meals with that in mind. A new food group sprang to life upon entering a residence hall: Mountain Dew, Doritos, Ben & JerryÕs, Ho-Ho! Ôs, Oreos, the list could go on and on. Privacy is always available at home; there is somewhere to read, write, listen to music, or to just rest. Dorm life is a harsh reality to college, and the only time the room is empty is on a Thursday night. At home a bedroom is somewhere to keep all personal belongings; there is a particular space for everything to fit. Space efficiency becomes a survival tactic in college. When at home there is no worry of someone coming into the bedroom unless permission is given to enter. In college a day without at least ten random visitors is considered boring. At home, family was the only peop... Free Essays on College My name is Jamie-Rae Mathers and instead of making this a flowery fairytale about myself, I want to focus on revealing characteristics that give you an opportunity to learn more about me as a person as well as a writer. I have many qualities and achievements in addition to my passion for the arts that will enable me to be successful in my post college graduation plans. However I believe attending the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts to study journalism will be the cornerstone to my success. After graduating college, I want to work for a magazine to write about one of the two things I love: art and fashion. I am utterly devoted to learning. Doing research and coming up with new and creative ideas for subjects to write about, is something I will truly enjoy doing as part of my career. Enjoying my career is much more important to me than making a fortune. I honestly pity anyone who has to work a job they hate everyday. I understand that to obtain the career I want I must work for it. It’s not often that someone starts at the top. I also refuse to limit myself as a writer. I relish in the arts, but see myself learning and writing about all sorts of diverse subjects. My key ambition is to express myself through the art of literature. I have numerous amounts of qualities, skills, and talent to bring to your school. I am an adept leader in virtually all that I undertake. Another quality that allows me to excel is I am remarkably creative. I am constantly told by teachers, friends, and family how immensely innovative I am in assignments and projects that I take on. Perseverance is an attribute that I am certain I posses. I was taught from a young age to never give up. Certain skills that I posses to help me succeed include a great deal of knowledge in English and grammar. My study has provided me with a sense of myself as a citizen of the world. I have analyzed and interpreted a variety of literature representing many genres, time peri... Free Essays on College From my college experience, I hope to gain many things. Obviously college is a time that students can truly become individuals. When I attend college I will have the opportunity to become more independent and to take on new responsibilities. I have always relied on my parents for support, but at college I will be on y own an will have to push myself harder. This will help me to become more mature and will help me grow in character. Right now I have a fairly accurate idea concerning what I want to do with my life. Yet, I am also aware that I may change my mind several times before I begin a career. College will introduce me to new and various things, an I will develop new interests from this exposure. During my high school years, I have been very involved in school and community activities. In college, I will also be exposed to new clubs and activities. Involvement in extra events has provided a balance for rigorous course study. With the pressures college brings, I will probably want to be involved in many groups. I hope to find a balance between my studies and my social life, and I hope to offer my leadership qualities to my college community.... Free Essays on College High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the transformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. However, with my new goal-...

Definition and Examples of Vogue Words

Definition and Examples of Vogue Words A vogue word is a fashionable word or phrase that tends to lose its effectiveness through overuse. Also called a  voguism. Vogue words, says Kenneth G. Wilson, are perfectly good Standard English words that suddenly become modish, so that for a time we hear them being used everywhere, by everyone, until we are utterly sick of them (The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, 1993). Examples and Observations [Some] vogue words are technical words clumsily applied to other fields. These include parameter, bottom line, interface, mode, and space; phrases like immediate feedback and close the loop; and, in a sense, ballpark figure, and touch base with you.(Matt Young, The Technical Writers Handbook: Writing With Style and Clarity. University Science Books, 2002)IconicMr. Leopold is not turning 95 years old, but his iconic ice cream business is. . . .Now owned by Peters youngest son, Stratton, and his wife Mary, the iconic sweets shop on Broughton Street still serves its premium recipes in a fun, retro-style soda shop. . . .She says they plan to offer plenty of room for guests to find a seat while hot dogs will be for sale and the iconic Leopolds portable carts will be on hand outside the store.(BDay Bash: Leopolds Celebrates 95 Years. Savannah Morning News, August 14, 2014)ArtisanThere are, I think, two ways one could read the fact that McDonalds is using the word  artisan  to market it s chicken. On the one hand, it could be a self-aware joke meant to finally deal a death blow to one of the most grating words in the pop lexicon. The king of mass-produced fast food has officially appropriated a phrase that once denoted something expensive and handmade, thus rendering it fully devoid of meaning. In which case: McDonalds 1, upper-middle-class foodies 0.The other possibility: The chain is struggling to  reverse its sales woes, and bewildered by the brave new world ushered in by Shake Shack and Chipotle, it has latched on to artisan as an inadvertently desperate-sounding synonym for less industrial.†(Jordan Weissmann, McDonald’s, Bewildered by Modernity, Is Now Selling an Artisan Chicken Sandwich. Slate, April 27, 2015) Favorite and Least Favorite Words: Awe and Awesome!- Awe, a word we are about to lose, that has been robbed of its meaning by the unfortunate adjective awesome. Awe meaning ecstatic, reverential feeling before Beauty, before the Magnificent. Awesome, a tiresome word, flung indiscriminately in all directions, on all occasions until it has become so trivial, it is valueless.Awe, to be used on rare occasions before the marvelous, the extraordinary. It conveys wonder and amazement. Even the sound conveys a feeling. Saying the word, the mouth opens in speechless delight before that which is greater than the self.(Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in Favorite Words of Famous People. Marion Street Press, 2011)- In a world of sensory overload, most terms of acclaim are exaggerations. A pile of french fries hardly makes us tremble in awe, yet we call it awesome, exaggerating for the sake of persuasion. But because awesome is so worn out, the exaggeration doesnt register; it needs an element of novelty to help it to do so. Novelty gets attention. The fries were industrial-strength awesome. The ride was shiver-me-timbers awesome.(Arthur Plotnik, Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives. Cleis Press, 2011)- Im just amazed that hundreds of people can gobble up this malarkey and repeat it, with straight faces. Im equally amazed by the high regard in which HubSpot people hold themselves. They use the word awesome incessantly, usually to describe themselves or each other. Thats awesome! Youre awesome! No, youre awesome for saying that Im awesome!(Dan Lyons, Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble. Hachette, 2016)- Vogue words like  awesome  catch on because everyone is using them, and they irritate because everyone is using them. Adopters hear other people using  awesome  to indicate enthusiastic approval generally and pick it up because it gives them a sense of solidarity and group identity. Scorner s resist  awesome  because they do not care to sound like those people.Acceptance or rejection of group identity sharpens the reactions.For example, sticklers will likely carp about impoverishment of vocabulary and semantic drift,  awesome  in the enthusiastic approval generally sense having little or nothing to do with  awe  (just as they would previously have objected to  terrible  for its attenuated connection to  terror). For the stickler, disapproval is a badge of cultural and social superiority. For the adopter, approval is a thumb in the eye of the pretentious.(John E. McIntyre, Shock and Awesome. The Baltimore Sun, December 23, 2015) ViableViable means workable and likely to survive. It has become a vogue word and is commonly used in the sense of workable or achievable. Adjectives such as durable, lasting, effective, and practical are more appropriate.(James S. Major, Writing Classified and Unclassified Papers in the Intelligence Community. Scarecrow Press, 2009)Associate You walk into a PetSmart, a supermarket for dog and cat supplies that allows customers to shop along with their animal companions. You hear a voice on a loudspeaker say urgently, Would an associate report to the rubber-toys aisle. Instantly, a guy with a mop and pail appears, zeros in on the puddle behind a shamefaced puppy and takes care of the problem.The job title of the person doing the mopping-up is associate. No longer is today’s man with a muck rake termed an employee; that description is deemed demeaning. Associate hints at managerial equality.(William Safire, On Language: Vogue-Word Watch. The New York Times, July 15, 2009)Unacce ptableWhy is everyone using the word unacceptable lately? An irate woman on Five Live phoned in this morning and said that it was completely unacceptable that the banks were gambling with our money.Tonight, on East Midlands Today, after a disturbing report about a sawn-up body found in a wheelie bin in a Nottingham suburb, a policeman said, This is a quiet residential area and, as such, this crime is totally unacceptable.A neighbour who was interviewed in the street said, I noticed the bin had been out on the pavement for three days, which is obviously unacceptable.(Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. Penguin, 2010) ImageA great darling among the loosely used pseudoscientific vogue words of recent years is image in the sense impression that others subconsciously have of someone. A jaundiced observer of modern life might well suppose that what we actually are is not nearly so important as the image we are ableto use another vogue wordto project.(John Algeo and Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the English Language, 5th ed. Thomson, 2005)FeedbackFeedback. In its rigorous scientific sense, feedback is the return to an input of part of its output, so as to provide self-corrective action. Feedback is a vogue word in a loose sense for which response would be a perfectly adequate alternative, as in we got a lot of valuable feedback on our advertising campaign.(Ernest Gowers, et al. The Complete Plain Words, rev. ed. David R. Godine, 1988)How to Resist Vogue WordsThe best way to offset the harm of vogues is to stick resolutely, in speech and writing, to each vogue words central meaning. Addre ss an audience or a postcard, but not a problem or a question. Call a substance or a temperament volatile, but not an issue or a situation. Express sympathy far and wide, but keep empathy for aesthetics or psychiatry. Remember Tiny Tim and avoid naming things minuscule or minimal.(Jacques Barzun, Simple Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers. Harper Row, 1975)

Book Review on Undaunted Courage

Book Review on Undaunted Courage Book Review on Undaunted Courage Book review: Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose In his book, Undaunted Courage, Steven Ambrose brings to our attention the life history of young Lewis before the expedition to the pacific coast. He gives us an impression that Lewis was an intelligent young boy, an attribute that saw him lead the expedition. According to the author, Lewis’ childhood was promising and his future was bright. He made good choices in his youthful life. The Lewis and Clark expedition was influenced by the relationship between Lewis and Thomas Jefferson, who was a family friend. The author comes up with a summary of the 2000-mile expedition in an amazing prose. During the exploration, Lewis wrote his characteristic voluminous journals expressing their two years joy as well as the mysteries they were experiencing. President Thomas Jefferson chose Lewis to lead the expedition whose purpose was to explore and discover a northwest route to the Pacific Ocean and opening commercial ties with the inhabitants of the area. Lewis is a perfect choice to lead the expedition because of his military background where he was a captain. Again, it is indicated in numerous instances that he was very intelligent, something that began since he was a small boy. Lewis is presented by the author as a reasonable man with a natural gift in scientific observation. He is even said to have been a skilled and experienced naturalist. These are some of the qualities that made him catch the eye of the president of course considering the two were friends from home. In his troop, the second in command was Lieutenant William Clark, a friend to Lewis who still was a younger brother to an activist and a war general, George Rogers Clark. The troop went by the name ‘corps of discovery’ and consisted of 30 other recruits. The expedition started in May 1804 and they sailed the river using canoes with others walking on foot along the banks. The leader had strict instructions from the president to keep a journal, which he wrote about the daily events taking place around them. This included daily measurement in latitude and longitude and his scientific observations. As the expedition goes on, a Canadian decided to join the ‘corps of discovery’ with his teenage wife who later on plays a big role in the survival of the voyage. Lewis is disappointed as there is no connection between the river Missouri leading to the pacific so the troop had to traverse through the great falls of the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains. By this time, their food reserves were running low and were forced to trade their horses against foodstuff for survival. The troop reached the pacific coast in November 1805, were they put up a fort that was named Fort Clatsop. The following spring, the expedition having suffered low supplies begun their voyage back. Lewis and Clark however decided to split the troops into two and explore the east and west water routes. At this time, the corps encountered a hostile military engagement but the troops remained intact without losing anyone of them. However, two lives were lost in the attacking community. Upon their return, Lewis and Clark are received back home as heroes and Lewis is appointed as governor. This was the beginning of his troubles since he was not a good politician and eventually he became an alcoholic, as he was depressed. He unfortunately loses his life at an early age of thirty-five years after committing suicide. Ambrose has used the journals from the expedition and presented the story in a systematic way that reveals the history of Lewis’ background. In my opinion, the presentation of the chronological events that took place in regards to Lewis prior, during and after the expedition is very clear and informative. The author has dedicated his efforts to establish and impart basic knowledge on the details and circumstances surrounding the historic expedition by Lewis. This is an excellent piece of art that I would recommend anyone to read as it is based on the accounts of the historic expedition in the pacific. Feel free to buy a book review online, on any topic you need. All custom book reviews are written from scratch by professional review writers.

Software project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Software project management - Assignment Example you that the productivity of game developers varies widely, from 5-25 lines of code (LOC) of per day (fully tested), and this is the same productivity range achieved for the other game. a. Provide an estimated range in LOC (e.g.,  x - y LOC)  for the software size of the game to be developed. Show your work. To help you calculate the available capacity of a programmer in a calendar year, the Human Resources Department has told you to assume 52 weeks x 5 working days per week, minus the following unavailable days based on the yearly history for the average programmer in the company: 3. The following table is a very rough plan consisting of a list of activities, immediate predecessors, duration estimates, and resources required (one network engineer (NE) or one user interface architect (UI)) for a project to develop a network administration dashboard. There is only one network engineer and only one user interface architect available for the duration of the project. 5. say in chapter 14 about "the 10 percent solution to project estimates", "life-cycle costing", and "logistics support" (what we have called MOOS-Maintenance and Ongoing Operations Support).  In your own words, how would the ideas from Kerzner: In the aspect of the logistic support and life cycle costing, the projects estimates should taken properly to eliminate any sort of deficit be it on the short term as well as long term project phase

Effects of Competitiveness on the UK Construction Industry Literature review

Effects of Competitiveness on the UK Construction Industry - Literature review Example The success of an organisation in a given nation highlights the important factors that the organisation controls when compared to other organisations (Jones & Saad 2003). The UK construction industry enjoys various competitive factors that enable it to succeed in the current market. Some of the competitive factors within the industry include the good leadership strategies, strategic advantage, market advantage, good marketing strategies; furthermore, they have knowledgeable personnel, production advantage, modern technology, finance advantage, good administration and risk management advantage (Morton 2007). Effects of competitiveness on the UK construction industry The U.K construction industry has more than 300, 000 firms, which employs over 2 million individuals to perform several roles (Morton 2007). The construction industry typifies the material and products used in construction, suppliers and the producers of the construction material, building services offered by contractors, providers and installers of the services, constructors, sub-constructors, professional advisors , construction clients and the different organisations that specialise in design and building (Morton 2007). The sector accounts for 5 percent of the UK Gross Value Added, which is similar to the values that France, Germany and U.S contributes towards their economy (David & Male 2001). The construction industry in UK specialises in the residential and nonresidential building as well as infrastructure. The industry has an advantage because the designers, civil engineers, contractors and product manufacturers are globally reputable because they devise high-tech solutions to varied projects within the construction industry. The industry has been undergoing a tremendous growth in the infrastructure and commercial construction sector (Cobbold & Lawrie 2001). The UK construction industry competes in an aggressive global market. The industry has high production level and its goods and services a re of high quality. This counteracts the competition from other industries worldwide. The construction industry adopts several approaches that enable it to increase its productivity and quality (Benati 2004). The UK construction industry embraces admirable leadership strategies because it has a long-term defined vision. This encourages the industry to meet the long-term developments. The leadership process also enables the industry to compete in the market because the industry gives room for success, letdown and learning. The UK construction industry maintains an appropriate learning environment because it allows people to learn from errors (Evers & Gerke 2008). This establishes a framework for the industry to improve on their developments; hence, reducing the possibility of failure. The leadership team within the industry highlights their expectations for them to monitor and identify whether they are competent enough to meet the set targets. Additionally, the leadership team devise s effective decision-making methods, which are vital in the building and maintenance of competitive advantage. The industry has a diverse management team with different talents; hence, maximizing their production. The leadership team has good communication skills, which enables them to build the long-term relationship and advance their operational productivity (Great

Proof of Gods Existence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Proof of Gods Existence - Essay Example However, I find the other theories including ontological, design, evil problem, and methodological naturalism are all tied in some way to cosmological argument. Looking at ontological argument, God is perfect. Ontological argument fails by itself since it implies that God exists only in human mind. Therefore, it limits God’s ability to highest level of human thought. Argument from design posits that the universe is so complex to be a random occurrence and therefore God, the designer, must exist. Design theory therefore seemingly supports cosmological argument that God is the initiator. Methodological naturalism seeks to explain that universe resulted from natural processes. However, the natural processes go back to God, the initiator, another support of cosmological argument. Although the evil problem seeks to negate existence of God, it can be argued that God exists cosmologically and that he deemed it appropriate to have evil present in the world for a greater good for mankind. The only argument that does not seem to tie to cosmology is fideism. Looking at the above arguments, I contend that cosmological argument seems the most pla usible of all. Efforts by philosophers to provide proofs are indeed an important endeavor. I think such proofs provide meaning to life for those that believe in them. For instance, as a cosmologist, I tend to live in harmony with mankind as a show of respect to God the

Socio-economic background communication barriers Essay

Socio-economic background communication barriers - Essay Example For example, in a case involving a wealthy person and an underprivileged person, the wealthy individual may experience a communication variance in associating with the underprivileged person (Sonnenberg, 1990). A deprived economic situation can make a person have a feeling of inferiority and a well off economic condition can cause a feeling of superiority, thus causing a communication disparity between the two people. An individual’s religious status also has an impact on communication. In the justice system, in a number of occasions, an individual may not feel comfortable communicating with a person from a different religious status. This is largely because of the divergence in their belief systems. Religious notions have an impact on the way in which an individual thinks and perceives things and may result in a difference in views. In addition, an individual’s racial makeup may be a cause for communication barrier in the criminal justice system. Employees, victims, or offenders of a different racial position may contain a number of barriers to adequate communications, for example, through their assorted language and cultures. Social situations may comprise physical barriers that may be a cause of communication barrier in the criminal justice system. Physical barriers may entail specified territories into which unknown people cannot have access, or segregated sections for individua ls who hold different statuses (Sonnenberg, 1990). This separation causes a breakdown in communication in the entire criminal justice system. These barriers have an impact on individuals working in the criminal justice system. First, communication barriers may have a negative impact on the capacity of an individual to make a constructive contribution to the custodial and judicial course. What may be presumed to be lack of penitence, contempt for the courtroom regulations, or a lack of concern may at times be clarified by

Are you ready for the Big Data Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Are you ready for the Big Data - Coursework Example The competitor company had used this ability to carry out myriad of experiments in the real world giving it a competitive advantage. The main point the authors put across is that big data collection is the game changer in the 21st century corporate world. Big data has the potential to revolutionalize the management practices. The authors pose a challenge to the companies to decide whether they are ready to exploit the potential of big data and to manage the threats it could pose effectively. The rest of the article explores the important ways in which big data could transform the competition in the corporate world, alter the corporate ecosystems and improve innovation. One of the major elements of organization development is effective communication across all organizational sectors and also extending to external stakeholders such as the suppliers. This article lays emphasis on the importance of sharing data across the different lines of business such as finance, management, productio n and sales and marketing. It further calls for integration of the organizations data system with suppliers, data systems in order to accrue benefits such as instant stock replenishment and real-time price adjustment. It argues that the tendency of many companies to accumulate huge volumes of data in their silos and other forms of information hoarding impedes timely exploitation of this data. This is not in line with essentials for organization development. Organizations need to open these data enclaves and integrate data from various systems.

Describe three historical characters in european history since 1450, Essay

Describe three historical characters in european history since 1450, and explain a life lesson you learned from each - Essay Example In a vast majority of cases, parents become tense when their child does not perform good at school or in studies. Albert Einstein happens to be the lesson for such parents because he himself was one of such students as a child. Owing to his great contribution in the knowledge of Physics, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 in Physics. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) became a Ruler from a vagabond on account of his bravery. I adore Adolf Hitler for his boldness. Both of his parents had died when Hitler was a teenager and he was left in this world alone with his sister. Hitler did menial works to make both ends meet. In 1914, he voluntarily joined German Army and fought bravely in the First World War. Later, he joined politics and became world class ruler. Another thing that I particularly learned from Hitler was the power of effective speech. Hitler was a born painter. He knew the art of sketching as well as playing with words to gain the consent of audience. Not tha t I appreciate that he speaks of the power of lie, but I adore the way he plays with words to make the audience spell bound.

Are you ready for the Big Data Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Are you ready for the Big Data - Coursework Example The competitor company had used this ability to carry out myriad of experiments in the real world giving it a competitive advantage. The main point the authors put across is that big data collection is the game changer in the 21st century corporate world. Big data has the potential to revolutionalize the management practices. The authors pose a challenge to the companies to decide whether they are ready to exploit the potential of big data and to manage the threats it could pose effectively. The rest of the article explores the important ways in which big data could transform the competition in the corporate world, alter the corporate ecosystems and improve innovation. One of the major elements of organization development is effective communication across all organizational sectors and also extending to external stakeholders such as the suppliers. This article lays emphasis on the importance of sharing data across the different lines of business such as finance, management, productio n and sales and marketing. It further calls for integration of the organizations data system with suppliers, data systems in order to accrue benefits such as instant stock replenishment and real-time price adjustment. It argues that the tendency of many companies to accumulate huge volumes of data in their silos and other forms of information hoarding impedes timely exploitation of this data. This is not in line with essentials for organization development. Organizations need to open these data enclaves and integrate data from various systems.

Bad Sugar Essay Example for Free

Bad Sugar Essay Unnatural Causes In this video Bad Sugar the Pima and Tohono Oodham Indians of southern Arizona have the highest diabetes rate in the world. This affects more then half the adults in this Indian group, but a century ago diabetes wasnt even heard of. What has happened to the health of the Pima Indians? During the 20th century the river water was used by white settlers and Pimas local Indians went into poverty and became dependent on the U. S. government. This resulted in the Indians eating tepary beans, cholla buds and wild life these everyday ood items changed to white flour, lard, processed cheese and canned foods. Needless to say this had a big impact on the Pima Indians. This exclusive documentary shows crucial evidence on how we pour more money into drugs, fad diets, medical technologies, but is it deeper then that? Evidence shows therere more to bad habits and unlucky genes. If we can find a solution to poverty we can solve many of the problems that individuals deal with on a day-to-day bases. As a future educator I will teach them strategies and help improve their daily exercise. Teaching hem strategies will help them to become independent with their exercise as well as quality nutrition and realize how truly Important It Is, which should lower the diabetic rate. Goals: 1 . Promote healthy lifestyles to prevent risk factors for pre-dlabetes, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke 2. Improve the detection, control and treatment of risk factors and pre-diabetes for the prevention of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke 3. Improve the detection, control and treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular disease to prevent complications and disabilities and reduce the severity and progression of disease

Importance of employee relationship management

Importance of employee relationship management Employee-relationship management is an important aspect of any organizations success. The world is becoming increasingly global, the competition in different industries is soaring high coupled with rising recession woes and layoffs. Amidst, these kind of panicky and intense circumstances, stress levels at work places have been at an all time high. It is thus, very important to effectively manage employees in organizations. Social values and beliefs systems play a pivotal role in shaping up the attitude and behavior of various individuals and organizations towards employment-management relationship. Many individuals tend to look for a broader, introspective meaning in the work that will enable them to feel that they are contributing to the community at large. In most organizations, the urge to behave ethically and to assume responsibility for social and environmental consequences of their doing, has become mandatory in developing good employment relationship management at work. The tr end for individual and organizational behavior is more output oriented today. The output is in line with the ethical and social values that have a direct impact on psychological contracts created in todays organizations. This paper will critically analyze psychological contract in the contemporary organization. What are the issues associated with psychological contract, what are the ethical standards of behavior, in light of both, the individual as well as the organization. It is important to study this, because employee performance is directly related to his morale and higher the employee morale, the higher his productivity and higher the chances of enterprise productivity. According to Nelson, employees evaluate the organizations actions with respect to the contributions the organization has contracted deliver. When they see no discrepancies, the psychological contact continues to remain stead. On the other hand, Feldman believes that if a discrepancy is observed, the individual will undergo a cognitive process in figuring out if the discrepancy has a positive or a negative impact. If they feel that its a positive impact, then business continues as usual while if the impact is negative then the discrepancy is considered as a breach. Anderon and Schalk, Morrision and Robinso are of the view that the level of emotional involvement will determine if the breach is a violation indeed. They believe that a lot of factors are responsible in magnifying the scale of the loss. This includes the history and the current stature of the employment relationship too. This means that not every discrepancy can be considered as a breach and not every breach can be qualify to to be called contractual violated.However, the expanded interpretive framework. Thus, as explained by Nelson in his study, the expansion of the interpretive framework for the psychological helps us to look beyond the constraints associated with transactional and relational parameters that have held sway in most research related to psychological contract. It allows us to identify the boundaries of individual-organization,where relationships are subjective and can be affected by forces that exist beyond these boundaries. In another study conducted by Cheng Ping Chang and PO Chiun HSU, an interview method was used to explore the psychological contracts of temporary employees working at the Administration Bureau of South Taiwan Science Park. The results of the study suggest that improvements in management practices and worker welfare work positively. These suggestions can be employed by government agencies who hire temporary employees. The term psychological contract was introduced by Argyris in 1960. He linked it with an unwritten agreement. He explains that whenever an employment relationship exisits, an innate psychological contract takes form between the individual and the organization. On the other hand, Levinson believes that psychological contract is an unwritten, connotative contract on the general rights, duties, and expectations of employeer and employee. There are two dimensions of this contract: the individual and the employee. Schein on the other hand feels that psychological contract play s a pivotal role in shaping the behavior of an organization. These views were contradicted by Rousseau who recently explained that the psychological contract is more than just agreement between the employee and the organization. It is an individuals trust in the organizations. Its about the individuals belief of their employment and the the extent to which they feel that the employer is dedicated to them. Thus the perception of psychological contract varies in light of general expectations, the individuals belief about work, or their expected status in the organization. In Changs study a qualitative analysis was undertaken to determine the difference between the psychological contract as perceived by a temporary employee and as implemented by the employment company actually. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with employees at the Bureau of South Taiwan Science Park and the data consolidated and analysed. The results of the study demonstrate that ideal psychological contract of the temporary employee resembles that of a permanent employee. Because temporary employees, do not receive benefits such as bonuses and vacations,certain differences exist between the permanent and the temporary employee. In their study, Culliane and Tundane have questioned the theoretical deficiencies in the existing literatureon psychological contract. From the work of Argyris to Rousseau to Guest recently, there is a realization that more needs to be done to give the psychological contract a viable framework which is capable of understanding thhe complex nature of the relation between the employeer and the employee. They also threw light on some of the central points which have been left un-attended in literature. The need to theorize the psychological contract to advance understanding was voiced out by them. Irrespective of various theoretical and empirical implication, the paper realizes that the notion of psychological contract continues to be popular in todays age and time. In the study conducted by Jeffrey. N. Street, employee commitment to the organization was examined as an outcome variable fo the psychological contract. He explains it is generally referred by many as the employee perception of the value he gets in exchange of his work at employment. Streets study is primarily conceptual in nature with propositions related to the impact on individualism and collectivisim on the type of contract formed, whether transactional or relational are offered and discussed. Street draws comparison between the psychological contract of the Japenese and Americans. While Japaneese psychological contract of the employee is relational, in the United States, it is primarily transactional. In transactional contracts, there are tangible benefits such as salary betweent the employee and the employeer while high competitive wages and absence of long term commitments are characteristics of transactional contracts. Street proposed a study on mid-level managers and mid-career salaried professionals of Japanese-American firms stationed in the United States and of Japanese firms located in Japan. He believed that the organizational level and position of each participant would be identified by each company on the basis of the description of the target respondent. The study has its own limitations. The biggest problem in studying Japanese owned firms in the United States is the fact that they are unusual organizations and have little in common with other organizations. There is a lot of cultural diversity in the United States. It impacts the influence of individualism on the formation of the psychological contract. The study will have determine the impact of changes in work atmosphere in the United States where jobs are no longer considered as safe because of the extent of change in society in the last couple of decades.

A visit of charity Essays -- essays research papers

A Visit of Charity In the short story of "A Visit of Charity" by Eudora Welty, a fourteen-year-old girl visits two women in a home for the elderly to bring them a plant and to earn points for Campfire Girls. Welty implies through this story that neither the society that supports the home nor the girl, Marian, knows the meaning of the word "charity." Websterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s New World College Dictionary defines "charity" as "the love of man for his fellow men: an act of good will or affection." But instead of love, good will, and affection, self-interest, insensitivity, and dehumanization prevail in this story. Welty's description of the setting and her portrayal of Marian dramatize the theme that people's selfishness and insensitivity can blind them to the humanity and needs of others. Many features of the setting, a winter's day at a home for elderly women, suggest coldness, neglect, and dehumanization. Instead of evergreens or other vegetation that might lend softness or beauty to the place, the city has landscaped it with "prickly dark shrubs." Behind the shrubs the whitewashed walls of the Old Ladies' Home reflect "the winter sunlight like a block of ice." Welty also implies that the cold appearance of the nurse is due to the coolness in the building as well as to the stark, impersonal, white uniform she is wearing. Perhaps the clearest evidence of dehumanization is the small, crowded rooms, each inhabited by two older wom...

Biography of Miguel de Cervantes :: essays research papers

Miguel de Cervantes was a famous novelist in Spain in the sixteenth century during the Renaissance. Cervantes lived in Spain during the Golden Age which helped him become a recognized writer. He was very talented, and he showed his talents through the interesting and wonderful novels he wrote. The most famous novel he wrote was called Don Quixote. Cervantes had a very exhausting and enthusiastic life, full of excitement and success. Miguel de Cervantes has great histories which lead him to write his wonderful novels and plays, and these have been very influential during the Renaissance and today’s writers. Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547 in a town near Madrid called Alcala de Henares, Spain. He was the fourth son of seven children. His father was a surgeon and his mother died when he was young. Since his father was a medical doctor his family had to travel to many towns in Spain. During his youth and adolescence he was taught by Jesuits. Not much about his education is known but when he was about twenty-one years old in 1568, he went to Madrid where Juan Lopez de Hoyos, a Jesuit, was his tutor. Cervantes did not attend to university, but he read broadly, this greatly influenced his writings. In about 1568 to 1570 he moved to Naples, Italy. In Naples, he joined the Spanish Army because he had a very big interest in the military. In 1571, he participated in the naval battle of Lepanto, located in the Gulf of Lepanto. The war was between the Spanish and the Turks, since the relationship between the Mediterranean countries and the Ottoman Empire was tense. During this battle Cervantes was wounded in his chest and on his left hand. He lost the use of his left hand and therefore, he gained the nickname of ‘‘Manco de Lepanto’’, meaning Maimed of Lepanto. Nevertheless Cervantes remained in the military although he was wounded because he was very dedicated to it. Then he fought in northern Africa and the Mediterranean lands. When Miguel de Cervantes and his brother Rodrigo Cervantes where sailing back to Spain in 1575, their ship was captured by pirates. Bradbury pirates made them prisoners and took them to Algiers as slaves. Cervantes had to remain a prisoner for five years even though he tried to escape a variety of occasions. He had to wait until his family and his religious order released him from prison having to earn money.

Blue Highways Essay

The beginning to an end, and round again, for Least Heat Moon was when he lost his teaching job. He figured he had two choices – to sleep the matter over or to go crazy. He chose neither. Instead, he decided to take a self-fulfilling journey in search of â€Å"places where change did not mean ruin and where Time and Man and Deeds connected. † Least Heat Moon took a circular route from one end of the United States to another using the back roads or the blue highways because he believed that â€Å"life does not happen along interstates. † He likened Life to a circular route that comes round again, to start over and anew. Least Heat Moon came from the Sioux tribe and like most Native Americans believed that those who embrace the new by discarding the old do not deserve to be honored. His trip gave him the opportunity to meet and talk to people, in the process learning from their experiences. In most cities he visited, people ask about his job. Inasmuch as he had just lost his, Least Heat Moon was vague with his replies and was tempted to answer differently each time. Someone from Grayville, Illinois thought people with nothing to do was common in any part of the country, while someone from Shelbyville, Kentucky distinguished job from work and from occupation in terms of motivation, time and money. He saw people moving and renovating homes in Kentucky. They were log cabins of 1807 and Bob Andriot took pleasure in preserving them for another two hundred years. Bob has something from the past that he is making into something new to pass on to the future. Bob’s kind is so unlike those in Frankfort which was named after their local hero, Stephen Frank. From the old Frank’s Ford it became Frankfurt out of convenience without regard of its historical significance. The entire look of Frankfurt was similarly modernized. Kentucky’s name became associated with Col. Harlan Sanders and his crispy-fried chicken. Least Heat Moon dined in Claudia Sanders Dinner House. Least Heat Moon believed nothing beats the delicious and authentic regional food served in local cafes like they did three decades or so years ago. The Hammonds of Palisades made building a boat their life, a dream made true by their relentless pursuit of it. He lodged and dined at the Shakers’ Trustees Hall, which was built in1839. The Shakers have not outlived their building for their unrealistic views of life and adversity towards progress. On the other hand, Ida, south of Appalachia, was slow to progress because of its isolation. At Gainesboro, Least Heat Moon found that even if he was traveling alone he was to an extent sociable because of the chance that he will meet someone at every stop. At Shepardsville Road, Madison Wheeler refused to part with his old store’s signage despite a tempting offer for the simple reason that he wanted to keep his name. Least Heat Moon was invited to sup at Wheeler’s table, something that Least Heat Moon appreciated noting that those who â€Å"live on little are the ones to ask you to dinner. † In Nameless, Tennessee Least Heat Moon spent an evening with the Watts who showed that him simple pleasures that last and stay in the heart like buttermilk pie, old music, hot bread and a doctor who â€Å"calms like the hand of the Lord. † He made several futile attempts to meet and talk to Native Americans, Hopi or Navajo, for fear of rejection. At Echo Cliffs in Arizona he noticed that White Men in station wagons bought beads from Indians, when it was the White Men in wagons who sold beads to Indians before. When history is repeated, there is a twist in the course of events. In crossing Colorado, the Spanish missionaries of 1776, navigated the Vermillion cliffs in 10 days, ate cactus and 2 horses, made steps to climb and cross 400-ft walls. Least Heat Moon made his in 20 seconds, sitting down. What was terrifying to the Spaniards was magnificent to Least Heat Moon. What was a hurdle to the Spaniards was a breeze for Least Heat Moon. There were 2 observation towers containing reminders of WWII in the southern part of Rehoboth Beach. The young would have no idea at all, but had they been born earlier they would have been among the fallen heroes. Glen Marshall of Smith Island found running a boat a good job because he had no boss to take orders from. , which to him was better than money. Alice Middleton thought that Island Belle brought progress to their island by bringing in provisions, news, medicine, and mails as well as transported the sick and the dying. It was their equivalent to the cars of America. Kendrick Fritz was a Hopi Indian studying Medicine at the Southern Utah State College. Fritz re-acquainted Least Heat Moon on their shared heritage. Fritz said that prejudice against Indians came from seeing them make trouble and that already made them a savage in the eyes of the White Men. The Indians hated the White Way but they enjoy their pleasures as much. Fritz would go back to Tuba, to his people, to practice medicine and money will never be a consideration. To a Hopi, religion is praying for harmony, as well as rain and crops, and a good life. A common symbol among Native Americans is the emergence or the â€Å"road of life. † People go through birth, death, and rebirth. The symbol is also about the journeys we take as well as the â€Å"cosmic patterns that human beings move in. † The Hopi Way teaches that every one is a part of one whole, a greater family. A hunter is forgiven if he hunts and kills for food, for â€Å"only life can feed life. † In the Hopi religion a person is not just one but a part of many things and that if he respects himself then he respects all things too. A person must not set himself above the rest as that would set him apart. The Hopi Way is the Way of the Spirit which is everywhere. Through his encounters with people Least Heat Moon gains insightful knowledge that it serves no purpose to hold on to the past for it will never return, but, it would be regretful if the past is totally forgotten. It is within man to renew the past, not as a repetition but an exciting variation, like the log cabins with beautiful interiors. The present should always connect to the past for there will always be something to learn from and improve on. Without Claudia Sanders kitchen, the world would never know taste of the famous Col. Sanders chicken. The rich cultural heritage of Least Heat Moon seen through the eyes and heard from the lips of Kendrick Fritz replaced his fears with pride and a deeper appreciation of the beautiful journey he had made. It gave him the answers to the questions he sought when he started out and the meaning of the â€Å"wrong turns and blind alleys †¦ fumbling and chance discoveries† he made in his trip. Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road from his Leaves of Grass collection was a reinforcement of the enriching lessons that came along to Least Heat Moon in his travels. Whitman’s verses spoke from the past to Least Heat Moon’s present. Despite the distance he had covered Least Heat Moon’s journey is not finished, because he discovered that â€Å"a true journey has no end. † Works Cited Least Heat Moon, W. (1982). A Journey into America. Blue Highways. An Atlantic Monthly Press Book. Little, Brown & Company. Boston/Toronto.

A consideration of the principles and practice that underpin the Early Years Foundation Stage and how the current framework relates to young children’s needs and interests

Introduction DfE (2013a) enunciates that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a set of statutory guidelines which all childcare providers (including schools, nurseries and children’s centres) must adhere to in catering for children between the ages of 0 to 5, upon which time they will enter full-time education. The EYFS has been in circulation for several years, undergoing numerous revisions and amendments. The most recent version was published in September 2014 and is a simplified version of past documents, by having four overarching principles which is guided upon: every child is unique, children become strong through building positive relationships, children learn and develop well in ‘enabling environments’ and finally that children develop and learn at different rates (DfE, 2014). These 4 areas will provide the structure for this assignment. The EYFS seems to comprehensively cover all the needs which children may have in their formative years. It is also concurrent with previous initiatives the government have devised, such as SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning), which implored teachers and practitioners to adopt a holistic stance in educating their pupils (DfE, 2010) and Every Child Matters, which stressed that each child was an individual and should be treated as so (DfE, 2004). Principle 1- Every Child is Unique Perhaps the most notable principle espoused in the current early year’s framework is the need to recognise the child as an individual, one who is unique and should have care tailored to meet their needs (DfE, 2014). This is a point which seems to have sound theoretical backing. Bandura (1977) feels that children do develop in a unique manner, also giving credence to the fact that the social environment influences their development, something the EYFS also seems to value. Bandura also feels that social interaction is something that is imperative to the child’s development, which is agreement with the communication and language need identified by the framework. Although Piaget (1952) does recognise that each child is an individual, he posits that their development amongst each other is fairly uniform, as he feels that children progress through a series of fixed stages, particularly in a cognitive manner. This seems to be slightly different to the message which the EYFS framework conveys, as they do recognise that children progress through stages, but the document expresses that their development may not be so homogenous: rather each child is on their own unique learning journey (DfE, 2014). In my own practice, children were treated as an individual, with an emphasis on the present, rather than adhering to a fixed model of child development. On my placement each child had their own box and folder where detailed notes on them were kept, which shows how they were being considered as individuals. It seems important to treat the child as an individual so that they can grow in stature and become someone who has an authentic identity. This is something which is inherent with the theory of constructivism which advocates children being treated as individuals who make sense of their world in a way which is unique to them, allowing them to build understanding in a way which is ‘special’ to them (Bruner, 1961: 22). This seems to ratify the ethos of the current EYFS framework in treating children uniquely, although parallel to this, it may also be pertinent to bear in mind that there are certain stages which children progress through. Even if each child’s development is not uniform, there may still be some similarities between them, which necessitates the importance of consulting certain theoretical models of development. Principle 2- Children become strong and independent through positive relationships This principle seems to be slightly paradoxical in nature. Piaget (1952) articulates the importance of children being active and independent whereas Vygotsky (1977) feels that guided participation (from an adult or worker) is essential in fostering a child’s development. The EYFS framework arguably combines these theoretical notions, recognising that children should have be independent and be able to explore, whilst being able to have a positive relationship with their ‘key person’, the adult who is most involved in their care (DfE, 2014). The framework elaborates that it is the key’s person role to ensure that the child becomes settled into the environment, becomes comfortable in the setting and also to build a productive relationship with the parents. Whilst these are undoubtedly important, Bandura (1977) offers an extra dimension of the key worker’s role, which is that they can model and display the desirable behaviours which the children they loo k after can copy and imitate, a phenomenon which Bandura feels is particularly powerful in influencing a child’s development. Nutbrown and Page (2008) emphasise the importance of the key person, in that they should exude warmth, friendliness and possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills which will enable them to develop a rapport with the child and be able to contribute to their development successfully. A supposition could be made that many of the key attributes that a key person should possess are identical to that of a teacher in mainstream education. Nutbrown and Page (2008) also speak of the importance of the key worker handling the transition for young children from being attached to their parents before progressing to being looked after in the children’s centre. This is something which has been covered many times in empirical theories which surround children’s development. Bowlby (1951), an eminent psychoanalyst, put forward the theory of attachment, where he stated that infants form an attachment to a primary caregiver (known as monotropy), typically with the mother, in the first few years of their life and should receive continuous care from this attachment figure for the first two years of their life. This seems to align well with contemporary practice, with the majority of children going to nursery when they are around three years old (Gov.uk, 2014). Bowlby (1953) conceptualised the absence of such care as maternal deprivation, positing that this could have many ramifications for the child such as delinquency , apathy, reduced intelligence and depression. However, a criticism of Bowlby’s attachment theory is that he did not acknowledge the influence of other stakeholders in the child’s care, such as the father, key worker or extended family members. Elfer et al. (2003) concentrate specifically on the relationship between carers and the child, advocating that they should exude warmth and friendliness and not shy away from forming a strong bond with the infant for fear of confusing it, as even a baby is able to discern between their parents and their carers. The literature expressed above seems to evidence the importance of the key worker in meeting the child’s needs, something which the EYFS framework also gives credence too. Key workers are influential in helping children to gain some stability in the setting and become comfortable there and allowing them to thrive and prosper. If they form a good relationship with the child this can help them to achieve their ‘early learning’ goals, particularly in how they communicate with others and explore the world around them (DfE, 2013b). Sylva et al. (2004) articulated the importance of the key worker being on good terms with the parent in their authoritative EPPE study, which asserted that each child should be assigned a key worker. Essentially, if the key worker has a good relationship with the parent this may allow children to form a better relationship with the key worker and have all of their needs fulfilled, it could also boost the engagement of certain groups of parents such as teen mums, something which my placement noted the importance of. DfE (2013a) also highlight the importance of key workers being suitably trained and educated so they can provide a good service to the children under their care. This was again apparent in the children’s centre which I visited, where the early years teachers had to be educated at least up to a Level 3 standard. In essence, children need to build positive relationships with those around them to become independent, and the key worker is at the centre of this. Principle 3- Children learn and develop well in ‘enabling’ environments Piaget (1952) conjectured that babies are naturally inquisitive and want to explore the world around them and become active participants within it. Therefore it seems appropriate that there should be an environment which stimulates them to do that, intellectually, socially and building their autonomy and independence. Such environments are deemed to be ‘enabling’ with the key worker again at the centre of cultivating and propagating such an environment, which could be potentially similar to the environment to the child is exposed to at home, to ensure greater consistency and continuity (DfE, 2014). However, structuring the environment in such a way may allow children to learn about concepts which will be of use to them in their development as an adult. The children’s centre where I was placed at were proponents of heuristic learning in getting the children to problem-solve and explore activities, with the emphasis being on play and reward, with items like treasure baskets used quite frequently (See Appendix A). Outdoor and indoor learning in the EYFs seems to be equally important, something which the government recognises and gives credence to in the EYFS framework, making it mandatory that childcare providers give access to an outdoor environment which is safe and has plenty of opportunities for play (DfE, 2014). Garrick et al. (2010) extend this, articulating that the environment of an EYFS setting should have abundant opportunities for play, including allowing children to indulge in creative pursuits (something their study valued highly), physical opportunities (like sports and outdoor play areas) and ‘pretend’ play. If a centre did include such an extensive range of opportunities, this could allow them to cater for a larger spectrum of learners as it is widely acknowledged that pupils thrive and learn in a multitude of different ways (Gardner, 2004). Furthermore, the potential for progression in the children could be enhanced if they were encouraged to develop a ‘growth’ mindset by staff and engage in activities that they would not do normally, so they can become more familiar with varied tasks and not be reticent to challenges in their future life (Dweck, 2006). The indoor environment is imperative also to facilitating children’s development. As previously mentioned, there should be ample opportunities for children to engage in a wide variety of activities to stimulate them in different ways. A multi-sensory approach can contribute significantly to the development of children and really aid them in reaching a higher level of maturity and cognition, as they interact with the world around them in different ways and become more flexible and adaptable. Steel (2012) infers that such an approach could have positive longitudinal consequences for the child, including improved academic attainment and retention of knowledge, which seems to be a sound rationale for such an approach. Whilst it seems essential that the indoor environment should be stimulating cognitively, it may be wise not to neglect the emotional aspect of it. Again, the key worker is at the centre of providing the warmth needed in an enabling environment. Nutbrown and Page (20 08) assert that they should show warm responses to the children under their care and react well to them. In essence, an enabling environment is made up of the components of suitable and stimulating indoor and outdoor areas, which the key worker is central in maintaining and facilitating. Principle 4- Children develop and learn in different ways and rates The final principle espoused by the EYFS framework is perhaps more concerned with the cognition of children, although it does refer to their social and emotional development in part. Nevertheless, Katz (1988, as cited in Carr, 2001, p.21) hypothesises that each child has a certain ‘disposition’, something which is distinct from learning; it is concerned more with how they react to certain situations and the habits they adopt and carry out on a regular basis. In a later document, Katz (1993) elaborates that dispositions in young children are normally learned from those around or the environment they are raised in or looked after, which seems to resonate with Bandura’s (1977) theory of modelling mentioned earlier in the assignment. Katz (1993) also articulates that dispositions are strengthened when they are acknowledged and efforts are made to continue them (particularly if they are good habits), which seems to emphasise the importance of treating the child as an i ndividual. It seems evident that all children learn and develop in different ways, as evidenced by the argument above. However, a conjecture could be made that there may be certain strategies which a practitioner or worker can implement which will result in children developing into sensible and mature adults. One way in which to do this is to cultivate a child’s resilience in their ability to complete a task or try a new activity. Children may give up if they perceive the task to be beyond their capabilities and not extend themselves to complete this. This could be a natural response from the child (particularly if the task is incommensurate with their skillset) or it could be something that they have learned over time. Dweck (1975: 673) terms this as ‘learned helplessness’, where a child habitually gives up in the face of a challenging task or adversity, possibly because of a lack of response from the adult in encouraging the child to complete the task and persevere. Combining the sentiments expressed by Katz and the argument above, could be essential in helping children to progress appropriately, particularly when faced with unfamiliar situations and tasks. Siraj- Blatchford et al. (2002) concluded in their Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) study that shared sustained thinking was crucial in helping a child to tackle new problems and persist. This is defined as two or more individuals (with at least one adult ‘facilitator’) working together to complete a task, although the authors stress that each person should be actively contributing to the task, and that there must be a progression towards an eventual solution, even if that is reached straight away. This coincides with Vygotsky’s (1977) theory of cognitive development, which posits that a child will enhance their zone of proximal development (the difference between what they can do on their own and with help) if they are supported by a more knowled geable other such as an adult or more capable peer. Both arguments suggest that collaboration between adults and children is essential to further the child’s development, although again the manner in which this is done should be unique to the child by using questioning which is appropriate to the child’s level of cognitive development (Bloom et al., 1956). Conclusion The rationale which underpins the EYFS framework is the need to treat the child as a unique individual and consider their needs at length, in a cognitive, emotional, social and physical sense to facilitate optimum development in them. There are several ways to ensure this, including that the environment is stimulating and appropriate enough for the child’s needs, that they have access to a multitude of activities, that the key worker has a warm and fulfilling relationship with the child and that they encouraged to develop a growth mind set and persevere with challenging tasks with the facilitation of another adult. Arguably, if a childcare provider follows all of the actions above and adheres to the EYFS framework, then this should allow for children to progress to the desired level of development and maturity. References Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. 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