The Mother of a Traitor Summary

English Important Summary SAM The Mother of a Traitor This story written by Maxim Gorky Is a story of a conflict between ‘ambition' characterized by a ‘traitor' a brave but heartless son; and ‘life ‘represented and characterized by the ‘Mother of a Traitor', where the heartless son appears with power and prowess, is easily victimized in the hand and lap of a mother who is appeared in the story very ordinary developed because of the urgency of time.It also signifies through out the history, such ambitions appeared in the name of war; however, ultimately, the life got the victory over the death and human civilized continued, through such difficult hurdles. The story is a study on the underlying essence of the mothers, who are more than kind-hearted and loving, a cruel destroyer for the sake of preservation of life, for which she has especial duty imparted by the nature.Moreover, this story is another quest within human psychology, which shows there is another truth within human mind, and man is something, more than a selfish creature, which m akes one dedicated for the sake of society in the cost of the complete destruction of the selfish interests. Usually, the son is the most lovely and precious one for a mother, for which she is always ready to sacrifice any thing even her life. However, the mother sacrifices the life of her son for the preservation of the society and herself for the sake of her love to her son, in this story.To get to such truth the writer leads us (the readers) through the imagined situation for the story to develop, where the enemy has surrounded a city for several days and each and every part of the hope for life of the citizen has-been lost. There is nothing else than the shadow of death for the citizen. Gradually, the cause after such situation is revealed, the most loving son of another is leading the enemy to attack upon the city to fulfill the hunger of his ambition, without caring the old men, children, women and anything in the city.It hurts the mother extremely, who is so despised by the c itizen that, either they don't care her at all or she listens herself the mothers cursing her womb staying at the side of their slain sons. The incident of the central character Mona Mariana’s encounter with the mother of slain man, breaks and balance and intensifies the story forcing hereto take bold decision for the sake of her city where she was born, and where her forefathers spent their lives for its construction and even their bones are buried there, and which is going to be cruelly destroyed by her lovely son.First she thinks of persuading her son to cancel such evil and desires to take most difficult departure from the loving city and meet her son, the piece of her heart. She feels proud of her son, so smart, active and brave, and proudly raises her head, while listening to the enemy soldiers singing a song on his admiration. However, all of her proud on her son is sunk down, when the son didn't care at all for her feelings, in spite of his love for her. When she got tired f persuading her son, for the preservation of the city, the conflict between her love for the son and her love for the city got into the climax. Meanwhile, she looked to the city through a tend hole, which was waiting for her decision for its life's sake, like a wounded and dumb animal, she couldn't ignore the expectation of the city for its life's sake. She took unexpected and drastic decision of killing her son for the sake of the preservation of the city and killed herself for the sake of her son and to remain together and to share the fate of the son.This story, which starts from the conflict within the mind of a mother ends at the solution of the problem at the cost of the life of a traitor and his mother. On the other hand the wounded and hopeless city gets life and lives new life after the end of the story. The effective images used there, make this story, successful, in terms of attaching the readers with the situation and giving the experience of both hopeless citizen and the mother in the difficulty of her mental conflict. The images used in the first part of the story, which gives the picture of the despaired city as if it is such a small and tender reature within the jaws of dreadful animal, which can be crushed down at any moment without any hope of support of averting such inevitable destruction at any moment. The story is rich with symbol and images, which can easily attach the audience (readers) emotionally to the story: particularly, the image of the city in the dark night like a prey between the jaws of enemy at the initial part, and the image of the city as a dumb and wounded animal at the succeeding part, are successful to make the audience feel with or identify with the central character and motivate them be sacrificed if needed for the sake of their country and society.Knowledge and Wisdom This short prose piece, written by Bertrand Russell, criticizes the general and superficial sayings on the terms ‘Knowledge' and ‘Wis dom', and illustrates concretely, going deep to make the meanings of these terms. In this highly complicated world of science and technology, people say knowledge insufficient and wisdom is no longer possible and needed. The writer asserts this saying doesn't contain the truth because the real meaning of wisdom doesn’t agree with such easy-going meanings.According to him, ‘Wisdom ‘means sense of proportion, in other words, it is giving equal importance to every aspect of a problem. Similarly, Wisdom Includes both knowing the things of distance in time and place (widening the horizon of mind), as well as giving place for them the level of feelings. It is a process of developing the capability of taking the things at the level of feelings. Having wisdom is developing the impartiality within us, being free from the limitation of here and now created by our selfish and physical senses within us.It is the process of emancipating the innate capacity of the mind, keeping it above the disturbances of the sensual perceptions. The development of the wisdom is not extraordinary activities like that of some sages; rather it accords with our natural growth, as the mental horizon of the newly born child keeps on growing, wisdom also keeps on developing. Now, the science is not   able to yield expected success and result, because of the lack of the wisdom.A scientist applies whole of his life and energy, in the quest of some truth and discoveries, he has very little time to think about its bad results. Therefore, the boon of modern medicine has been changed into the cause of over population and scarce of food, and the alternative source of energy, the nuclear physics has been used to make the destructive bomb. Therefore, along with the advancement at the sector of science and technology, the wisdom is equally necessary and needed.Moreover, it should be one of the objectives of modern education system. Use and Misuse of Science This prose piece, written b y Cyril Garbett is an attempt to give the solution of the most burning problem of the modern age, the massive destructive result because of misuse of modern science, while science itself is the boon for the life at present. The evil result of the science is also not beyond the Human understanding.There is ethical principle within everyone in this world, which should be manifested and it should be made able to control the activities of science and discoveries, especially while the negative results are foresighted. Then only the good result, the boon of the modern science is justified. Otherwise, the drastic change, which the modern science has brought into the life of billions of people, which was the privilege of the few within a few decades ago, remains within the shadow of the misuse and destructive result of the science and technology.There are many examples, which make us proud for the advantages brought into our life, at the sector of communication, transportation, medicine, ed ucation, and so on, which have not only made our living longer, and comfortable but also deepened the quality of our life. Still due to the misuse of the science we are always living under the shadow of death and destruction, for which this age has surpassed to all the previous ages, with the nuclear bombs, with their capacity of claiming the destruction of this earth more than seven times at once.Beauty While reading the essay on Beauty by American feminist writer Susan Sontag, It seems she is trying to create such human society which stays above the discrimination of Male and Female, imposed upon traditionally. Moreover, it is useless and senseless to delimit human being restricting from complete development, including the qualities, which are supposed only for male and only for female. It seems it is needless to differentiate betweenmale and female except few of the natural duty.Otherwise, whatever thequalities have been imposed upon Male and Female are not appropriate withthe mo dern time. Most importantly, the Male should be free from the wrong concept thatdelimit him from some of the essential qualities of life, as softness, wisdom,sensitivities, politeness and it is needless for him to remain always proud,and prowess as well as harsh. Similarly, for the Female it is needless to remain always,   weak, soft, indecisive, immature, bodily and fragmented.These attributes particularly for the male and female are not natural but of the social product, produced at a certain stage of history, which automatically changes and must be changed along the course of time. This assay beauty, reflects the spirit of modern feminist movement, and reveals a truth that the narrow-minded and imbalanced interest of male chauvinism has manipulated even the language and word as ‘beauty', for which the females are not aware of and are always living the incomplete and superficial life depending on the male. Language is dynamic and sensitive, which is easily influenced with the sociopolitical situation.It also serves as the weapons for one group to suppress and weaken another. In this essay, ‘Beauty', the ordinary word serves as an example, which has been influenced and been deviated a lot from its original meaning and is being widely used as the veil covering the underlying truth of the female. Now a beautiful female with her high intellectual, physical and spiritual capacity is taken so surprisingly, as if these capacities don's have any relation with the word beauty and it is taken as if a beautiful lady should never be so capacious in these sectors.Moreover, with the adjective ‘beautiful' for any female, we understand her always tender, superficial, dependent and weak, evaluating and admiring her physical attraction in terms of the parts of her body (so inhuman evaluation),while the correspondent term for male ‘handsome', needs complete view and complete evaluation. In reality, the word in the Greek, the root of western civilizati on, with the meaning similar to beauty, includes all the physical, intellectual and spiritual capabilities and attributes of a female and there is no such clear difference between the male and female.Therefore, there must be a mistake in some part of the History, which shrank down the meaning of beauty. At the medieval time, when Christianity had strong dominance over all through the western world, humanity had been suppressed and beauty and attraction used as the source of the evil and against God. Simultaneously, female started to be taken as the source of evil and destruction. They were thought the subject to be suppressed and always depending on the male and being the source of pleasure.Again the humanism is restored in this world; still the meaning of the word, beauty and the attitude to the female is not changed. Female are always deprived of their inborn intellectual, spiritual and physical capacities. Female are living in the false value of flatter with the term beauty. It i s a great misfortune that even the highly intellectual women and women writers are not free from such concept evaluating a female in terms of the superficial and skin-color, how an ordinary lady can be expected free from such mental snares.Paradoxically, women are praised with the false assumption that beauty is the source power, but they should be aware that this is not the power to do anything rather it is the power to stimulate the male to do something upon them, and to be completely possessed by male, and to be consumed by even at the cost of self destruction.   Custom This essay by an anthropologist, Clyde Klukhohn is an anthropological view on the human life and culture.Different than the thinkers of the other fields man anthropologist thinks human life and human civilization differently. According to him, there is something else than the biological reality and scientific advancement inevitably associated with human life in this colorful world society. It divides the human b eing into different cultural sectors. In spite of so great similarity in biological and scientific phenomenon among all the human beings in this world, some of typical behavior makes very deep and effective impact on their life.For example, Chinese dislike milk and milk products; Japanese have the Hara-kiri; some of the Koryak females like their husband to marry another wife, which is the issue of intolerance and jealousy for the female in America. Some of the people devour the meat of snake, which makes disruptive reaction for the people of other places. The children of Indiana cultural do not like to dance boys and girls together, where the physical touches, within same clan are considered as the incestuous and immoral.These differences are caused only because of the geographical and climatic differences. Though these differences seem insignificant superficially, they have great impact on one's life. One can live in the same culture where his habits have been formulated, rather th an one biological identity. If an American is brought to inner China, where the Chinese culture is imparted into his essence of life, he is more Chinese than American in spite of his blood and complexion.These customs make greater differences than the biological realities within the physical body of one individual. Understanding of human life is not complete only with the biological understanding and without the understanding such cultural differences, which are generally known as the custom. A question is asked why the world is so much diversified that one feels completely alien while going to different society, in spite of the similarities in the biological factors in our body, as well as similarities in our behavior with the science and technology.Similar question can also be asked here how the world would be in case there is single custom all-through the world. Can we make the world with single custom? What would be its result? Would the world be as beautiful, as creative, and l iving worthy as we are seeing now? No most importantly man would lose the desire to live once his/her difference is omitted or suppressed completely.

Quiz Computer Forensic & Investigation Essay

Hanley Strappman, 37, was trying to learn about the Computer and Digital Forensics program at Champlain College. He was able to obtain some files, which he put on a floppy disk. To disguise his espionage, he decided to smuggle the floppy back home after altering the files so that they couldn’t be read using the ordinary DOS/Windows file manager. His deception was discovered, however, and the floppy has been recovered. Some of your counterparts have already tried to examine the disk to no avail. Upon discussions with Hanley, he has boasted that there are three files on the disk but that â€Å"You’ll never know what I got!!† You are being provided with a forensically true and accurate copy of Hanley’s floppy disk. You are asked to examine the floppy disk and provide answers to a few questions about the integrity of the data that was recovered (in terms of maintaining the evidentiary chain), the recovery of certain information, and any actions that the suspect may have taken to intentionally delete, hide and/or alter data on the floppy disk. Good Luck! Using the software tools provided to you in class, audit the disk and conduct a full analysis of any artifacts found on the media. The following questions must be completed in the time allotted: The Questions 1. What is the name and address of the person to whom Hanley wrote a letter? Dr. John Watson 8295 Martha Lane Los Alamitos, CA 90720 2. Who is in the picture that Hanley obtained? Lewis Carroll, Edith, Lorina and Alice Lidell 3. What is the information that Hanley supplied in a password-protected form? A file named â€Å"curriculum† in Microsoft Excel format. 4. What are the names of the files on the floppy? Each was hidden or obscured in a different way; indicate how you found the files and how you recovered the information. The file name is cc_stuff.exe Change the format to the .zip format and enter the password to get the information 5. Where did you find the password? By using PRTK software, inside the evidence image at the pwd

Implications of Information Technology in Developing Countries Essay

The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the flexible organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. Although Information technology is still a .black box . technology for developing countries, it is largely applied in industrialised countries to the disadvantage of the majority of developing countries. This paper will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 1. Introduction The rate and magnitude of change are rapidly outpacing the complex of theories. economic, social, and philosophical on which public and private decisions are based. To the extent that we continue to view the world from the perspective of an earlier, vanishing age, we will continue to misunderstand the developments surrounding the transition to an information society, be unable to realize the full economic and social potential of this revolutionary technology, and risk making some very serious mistakes as reality and the theories we use to interpret it continue to diverge..-Arthur Cordell(1987). We have modified our environment so radically that we must modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment..Norbert Wiener(1957) The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the .flexible. organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. This study will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 2. Aspects of Information Technology Information technology (IT) may be defined as the convergence of electronics, computing, and telecommunications. It has unleashed a tidal wave of technological innovation in the collecting, storing, processing, transmission, and presentation of information that has not only transformed the information technology sector itself into a highly dynamic and expanding field of activity – creating new markets and generating new investment, income, and jobs- but also provided other sectors with more rapid and efficient mechanisms for responding to shifts in demand patterns and changes in international comparative advantages, through more efficient production processes and new and improved products and services (e.g. replacing mechanical and electromechanical components, upgrading traditional products by creating new product functions, incorporating skills and functions into equipment, automating routine work, making technical, professional, or finan cial services more transportable). The development of IT is intimately associated with the overwhelming advances recently accomplished in microelectronics. Based on scientific and technological breakthroughs in transistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits (â€Å"chips†), micro-electronics is affecting every other branch of the economy, in terms of both its present and future employment and skill requirements and its future market prospects. Its introduction has resulted in a drastic fall in costs as well as dramatically improved technical performance both within the electronics industry and outside it (Malone and Rockart, 1993). The continuous rise in the number of features on a single micro-electronic chip has permitted lower assembly costs for electronic equipment (each chip replacing many discrete components), faster switching speeds (thus faster and more powerful computers), and more reliable, smaller, and lighter equipment (fewer interconnections, less power and material). Similar dramatic falls in costs occurred in the transport and steel industries in the nineteenth century and in energy in the twentieth, associated with the emergence of the third and fourth Kondratiev cycles, respectively. The potential effects of microelectronics are thus very far-reaching, for its use in production saves on virtually all inputs, ranging from skilled and unskilled labor to energy, materials, andcapital. All sectors of the economy have been influenced by the development of IT applications: information technology opens up greater opportunities for the exploitation of economies of scale and scope, allows the more flexible production and use of labor and equipment, promotes the internationalization of production and markets, offers greater mobility and flexibility in capital and financial flows and services, and is frequently the precondition for the creation of innovative financial instruments. Information system developments are constantly being applied to increase the productivity, quality, and efficiency of finance, banking, business management, and public administration. In manufacturing, and to some extent in agriculture, many processes have been automated, some requiring highly flexible, self-regulating machines, or robots. The engineering industry has been transformed by computer-aided design and three-dimensional computerized screen displays. The pace of technological change in IT will most likely accelerate the already observable growth in the interdependence of international relations not just economic or financial, but also political and cultural. National economies have become more susceptible to the effects of policy decisions taken at the international level, and domestic economic measures are having increased impacts on economic policies of other countries. World markets for the consumption of similar goods are growing, and so are common lifestyles across national borders. The advance of telecommunications and computerization has recently enabled large companies to use information systems to transmit technical and economic information among numerous computer systems at different geographical locations, subjecting widely dispersed industrial plants to direct managerial control from a central location; this affects the international division of labor and production and international trade, changing the patterns of industrial ownership and control, altering the competitive standing of individual countries, and creating new trading partners. It is the integration of functions that confers on information technology its real economic and social significance. More than just a gradual and incremental technological evolution leading to improved ways of carrying out traditional manufacturing processes (i.e. simply the substitution of new technologies for existing systems and the rationalization of standard activities), IT offers the opportunity for completely new ways of working through systems integration. Rather than applying one item of new technology to each of the production functions now performed at distinct stages of the production process, i.e. design, production, marketing, and distribution (in what could be called â€Å"stand-alone† improvements or â€Å"island automation†), having evolved in to new technologies, i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning systems, IT offers the possibility of linking design to production (e.g. through programmable manufacturing, measuring, and testing equipment responding to the codification of design), planning and design to marketing and distribution (e.g. through a variety of computer aids and databases that sense and collect changing market trends), production to distribution (e.g. by automatically incorporating orders and commissions by customers and suppliers into the production process), etc. The complete integration of all these production subsystems in a synergistic ensemble is still more a long-term trend than a reality, but use of automated equipment to link together individual items of equipment belonging to hitherto discrete manufacturing operations has already made IT a strategic issue for industry. More technical advances are expected soon in the automation of telecommunications and the linkage of computers by data transmission that will enhance the possibilities of systems integration. Such â€Å"programmable automation,† or computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), has the capability of integrating information processing with physical tasks performed by programmable machine tools or robots. CIM offers radical improvements in traditional problem areas confronting manufacturers, such as: – reduced lead time for existing and new products; – reduced inventories; – more accurate control over production and better quality production management information; – increased utilization of expensive equipment; – reduced overhead costs; – improved and consistent quality; – more accurate forecasting; – improved delivery performance (Miles et al., 1988). These features characterize information technology as a new technological system, in which far-reaching changes in the trajectories of electronic, computer, and telecommunication technologies converge and offer a range of new technological options to virtually all branches of the economy. Moreover, IT forms the basis for a reorganization of industrial society and the core of the emerging techno-economic paradigm. The reason for the pre-eminence of the new technological system clustered around information technology over the equally new technological systems clustered around new materials and biotechnology is the fact that information activities of one kind or another are a part of every activity within an industrial or commercial sector, as well as in our working and domestic lives. Almost all productive activities have high information intensity (some involve little else, such as banking or education). Further more, along with the premier of internet technology and e-business architectures; powerful concepts like inventory control, supply chain management, customer relationship/service management, and management resource planning through the internet under the name of Enterprise Resource Planning have enabled IT to be capable of offering â€Å"strategic† improvements in the productivity and competitiveness of virtually any socio-economic activity. Other than industrial or commercial sectors, information technology is also applicable in education sector and in public institutions. Thus, Information Technology is universally applicable. Probably only a fraction of the benefits derived from information technology-based innovations have so far been reaped and the rest remain to be acquired in the next decades. The shift towards systems integration to capitalize the full potential benefits of IT requires considerable adaptations, learning processes, and structural changes in exis ting socioeconomic institutions and organizational systems. The tradition in most current organizations is still to operate in a largely â€Å"disintegrated† fashion, reminiscent of the Ford-Taylorist management approaches that dominated the fourth Kondratiev cycle: high division of labor, increasing functional specialization/differentiation and de-skilling of many tasks, rigid manufacturing procedures and controls, long management hierarchies with bureaucratic decision-making procedures and a â€Å"mechanistic† approach to performance. Under these conditions, use of IT is restricted to piecemeal technology improvements. By contrast, information technology-based systems offer organizations the opportunity of functional integration, multi-skilled staff, rapid and flexible decision-making structures with greater delegation of responsibilities and greater autonomy of operating units, a more flexible and â€Å"organic† approach enabling a quick adjustment to changing environmental conditions. (Piore and Sabel, 1984.) But this means that information management skills require the ability to make choices about the optimal arrangements for particular situations: unlike earlier generations of technology, IT offers not a single â€Å"best† way of organization but a set of more or less appropriate alternative organizing, staffing, and managing options that may be adopted in different organizational contexts. There is no â€Å"determinism† in the way information technology influences the socioinstitutional framework. Therefore, organizational innovation is a crucial part of the requirement for firms to adapt to survive (Miles, 1988). Unfortunately, this is true for all the institutions as well. Further, it is even more dramatic for the organizations in developing countries because of not being able to properly adapt to this so-called .black-box. technology. No matter how frustrating it is interpreted for these countries, IT still has significant impact on their development. Although socio-economic structure of these countries resists organizational or institutional changes, the complex interrelations between these changes and information technologies have significant implications for the way IT does and will affect the societies and economies of developing countries. As a matter of fact, the negative and positive potential impacts of IT on these countries are a matter of great controversy among economists and politicians. The main short term issues usually discussed are the potential erosion of the comparative advantages of low labor costs, particularly in relation to assembly facilities, and the effects of automation, particularly on internal markets and international competitiveness. Implications of information technology for those countries hold great importance. 3. Implications for Developing Countries The first direct effect of the â€Å"micro-electronics revolution† was the location of production for export in third world countries. While production of mainframe computers continued to be located largely in industrialized countries, production of smaller computers and of microelectronic devices, more subject to price competition, was shifted to low-wage locations, mainly in East Asia, where countries presented low wage costs as well as political stability, a docile labor force, and government incentives. Location of production for local and regional consumption followed, but the countries concerned were mainly middle income: three quarters of US investment in third world micro-electronic industries was concentrated in 11 countries, namely the four Asian â€Å"dragons,† India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia (Steward, 1991). Export-oriented investments in these countries were associated more with direct foreign investment from larger firms in industrialized countries than with firms producing for the local market; on the other hand, licensing was more associated with smaller firms (Tigre, 1995). The automation of production decreases the relative importance of labor-intensive manufacturing and cost of labor, thereby eroding the competitiveness of low labor costs. For instance, automation led to a sharp decrease in the difference between manufacturing costs of electronic devices between the United States and Hong Kong: in manual processes, manufacturing costs were three times higher in the United States, and the introduction of semi-automatic processes made the difference practically disappear (Sagasti, 1994). Equally, the expansion of automation in Japan has contributed to a reduction of Japanese investments in the Asia/Pacific region involving firms in electronics, assembly parts, and textiles (Sagasti, 1994). The trend to increasing systems optimization and integration is most likely to induce large producers in industrialized countries to bring back a significant share of their production located in developing countries (offshore production). This movement has been called â€Å"comparative advantage reversal.† As integration increases, with functions previously obtained by assembling pieces being incorporated in the electronic components, value-added is pushed out of assembly processes into the components themselves and upwards towards servicing. In addition, the growing technological complexity of electronic devices increases the value of the parts manufactured by firms located in industrialized countries The amount of value-added obtained in offshore assembly has thus been constantly decreasing (Sagasti,1994). Global factories constructed in locations of least cost, often at a considerable distance from final markets, were economically worthwhile because labor was one of the major determinants of costs. Technology and rapid responsiveness to volatile local markets are becoming more important components of competitiveness. The reduction of product cycles due to the growing resistance to obsolescence of programmable machines and equipment has led to a concentration of manufacturing investment in capital-intensive flexible manufacturing, further adding to the erosion of the comparative advantages of developing countries. The assembly of systems will probably continue in some developing countries that have adopted protective legislation for local production targeted at particular market segments (e.g. Brazil), although this is changing very rapidly (Steward, 1991). The types of equipment produced under these circumstances are used largely in internal markets and are hardly competitive on the international level; they tend to be far more expensive than comparable equipment available abroad, and often their installation and use are also more costly because of expensive auxiliary installations, under-use, and lack of management skills. Nevertheless, they may at least provide the country with the capacity to follow the development of information technologies more closely. In other countries, assembly of equipment is taking place from components bought practically off the shelf, but as the level of hardware integration and the amount of software incorporated into the chips (firmware) grow, valueadded will be taken away from the assembly process, reducing or eliminating its economic advantages. The introduction of microelectronics requires certain new skills of design, maintenance, and management, as well as complementary infrastructural facilities such as reliable telephone systems and power supplies. Deficiencies in these factors prevent the widespread adoption of information technology in developing countries (Munasinghe et al., 1985). The more advanced developing countries, with a wider basis of skills and infrastructure and a more flexible labor force, may be in a better position to adopt IT and to increase their productivity and their international competitiveness. But the less developed countries, with inadequate skills and infrastructure, low labor productivity, and lack of capital resources, will find it difficult to adopt the new technologies; they are likely to suffer a deterioration in international competitiveness vis-à  -vis both industrialized and the more advanced developing countries (Stewart et al., 1991). Quality, too, requires an adequate level of skills, infrastructure, and managerial know-how that is generally lacking in developing countries. This greatly reduces the synergies, number of options, faster responses, and more informed decisions that can be implemented in the firm by the optimization of the systems performance. In turn, the composition of the labor force existing within firms located in industrialized countries will further improve their systems performance and further reinforce the advantages derived from automation. The proportion of the labor force employed in production is constantly decreasing in the industrialized countries, implying that performances at the systems level and innovation, not manufacturing, are becoming the key to profit, growth, and survival (Sagasti, 1994). Like biotechnology, information technology is a proprietary technology, vital technical information regarding design engineering specification, process know-how, testing procedures, etc., being covered by patents or copyrights or closely held as trade secrets within various electronic firms from industrialized countries. Many companies in the software area do not patent or copyright their products because it entails disclosing valuable information, and firms are generally reluctant to license the more recent and advanced technologies. Therefore, technology transfer takes place mainly among established or important producers, hindering the access to developing countries. Moreover, the main issue facing developing countries is not so much the access to a particular technology but to the process of technological change, because of the dynamism of this process. Sagasti implies this issue in the book The Uncertain Guest: science, technology and development (1994) that recent trends in int er-firm relationships seem to indicate that this access takes place essentially through the participation in the equity of the company holding the technology.

Introduction of Information system in Organisation Essay

Introduction of Information system in Organisation - Essay Example Nowadays, high level of competition and other environmental impacts can be observed in fast food restaurant business all over the world and Nigeria is not an exception. For fast food organisations, it is apparent that there is an increasing focus on accomplishing better customer satisfaction and also to augment the organisational value. Several fast food organisations have now realised the significance of customer focused and customer based business services (Iwarere & Fakokunde, 2011). Due to rising demands and expectations of customers and enhanced competition from several multinationals, maintaining strong performances has become a challenging task for TFC. In years ahead, TFC will strive to improve the operational efficiencies as one of the main concerns of business. TFC seeks to develop in the areas of improved service delivery and enhance customer services (De Tastee Fried Chicken Limited, 2010). In this context, it can be stated that Information Systems (IS) can provide opport unities for TFC to enhance efficiency and improve the operational competency in the long run. Implementation of Mobile Point of Sale (POS) can provide an invaluable opportunity for TFC to enhance its overall performance. This essay describes about development of a new information system in TFC. The objective of the essay is to highlight different technical aspects which must be considered and the procedure for developing new information system i.e. mobile POS. Like other fast food organisations, TFC also uses the fixed POS system. Although fixed POS system is effective but mobile POS system in TFC can help to keep up with the increasing competition in fast food segment. The principal business of the organisation is to provide fast food services to the customers (Goodlife, 2012). Customers are the key stakeholders of TFC. Any kind of changes in business operations due to implementation of new information system can

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 17

ART - Essay Example Some portions have smooth textures – those areas where the interweaving takes place; but there are also sections that appear to have coarse feel and appearance – areas near the horn-like edge right on its crest. The sculpture takes a relatively miniature scale of some symbolic gothic structures of Greece or Italy. It is quite symmetrical although there are fragments that look distorted, perhaps because of age; and the colour is much more saturated than pale. I think that there is an original intention to express oldness or flow of time. The sculpture overall resembles a diminutive figure of an archaic piece of structure that is adhered by the wild vines or some type of lianas or trailing plants. This adherence is emphasized in order to retain the underlying meaning of this particular artwork, that is, â€Å"the fleeting of time†, regardless of the extent at which this artwork shall exist. The inscription of some unfamiliar scripts or symbols relate to the interweaving vines in that it suggests of the aimed oldness of the artwork, whether it is a representation of another piece of art of a larger scale or it is the sculpture itself. Another magnificent piece of art was made by Mahonri Young. The geometry of the sculpture is rather consolidated because it uses human figures to convey its message. It is quite difficult to display an overwhelming geometrical clarity or symmetry when using human figures. The colour is highly saturated. It stresses on the boldness of colour that corresponds to the nature of the sports being depicted. Not much contrast in colour is shown on the sculpture. It is small in scale. It has a very smooth texture and is even all throughout. Perhaps, it is because of the material being used. There is a subtle connection between the colour and the description of the sculpture. It portrays a bloody sport, which is, boxing. Its use of a duskier shade somehow unveils the concealed meaning of the artwork. Moreover, the definite muscular

Bags Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bags - Essay Example I decided to sharpen my skills with this game. Practice marketing is a modern, 3D multiplayer marketing strategy game (Practice Marketing). Practice marketing was designed to be a digital learning product for the backpack industry. This game enabled me to apply the theoretical part that I have learnt in class into a simulated world which is very similar to reality. The best part of the simulation game is that it allowed me to practice my marketing skills in a ‘real world’ but in a much funnier way which enhance learning apart from honing my marketing skills by cutting out boredom, classroom monotony and increasing creativity. Practice marketing uses the 4Ps of marketing that is product, price, placement and promotion (Practice Marketing). In the multiplayer game each student has to launch a new backpack product of their own original design to the market in the ‘real world’. First, I had to choose my target market. I chose the college students as my target market because in my years of college, I have seen how college students, especially girls spend almost all their money on fashion and boys always carry backpacks as they are handy for school and their manly stuff. College students were the best choice for my target market because first, the student body in my school alone is huge. Therefore, I designed a backpack that is both fashionable yet handy for other purposes. I had to design a backpack that was not feminine yet not masculine, so that both genders could purchase my backpack. Secondly, I chose to sell to college student because even though the price was about average- that is college friendly prices- the volume of sales would be huge thus significant profit levels. My strategy was unique in that most backpacks are meant for the male gender, but here I had designed a gender equal backpack and this is where I beat my competitors. Furthermore, my backpack design is not only meant for school as they can be used on other occasions too. This

Role of Biology in Contemporary Criminological Thinking Essay

Role of Biology in Contemporary Criminological Thinking - Essay Example Cesare Lombroso was an Italian prison doctor during the 19th century who later to be known as the 'father of criminology'. Cesare Lombroso suggested that physiological features such as cheek bones, hairline, or cleft palate are indication of one's inclination to criminal acts. Lombroso's approach was greatly influenced by the theory of phrenology and by the theory of evolution of Charles Darwin. However, such theories were later taken over by the modern day theory on genetics and chemistry as influencing factors in one's inclination to behavioural crime ("Criminology", 2006). Lombroso furthered his studies with statistical analysis wherein he identified more 'Watavistic stigmata', as well as the immorality of efficiency in the approach of born criminals. Lombroso proposed the fair treatment of offenders by suggesting rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment. Despite Lombroso being the forerunner of criminology, his studies became the foundation of movements such as the eugenics during the 20th century. Today, Lombroso's research is no more the basis of modern criminology; however, psychology as well as psychiatry has used his theory in identifying crime potential of an individual independent of his surrounding environment ("Casare Lombroso", 2006).Ever since, medicine has been involve in the study of crime and its related problems. Medical studies such as physiognomy and phrenology which found the interconnection of the shape of the skull to the way mind think and behave. These theories were popular because they relieve the blame of the cause of crime from the hands of the government and the society as a whole, rather the blame is placed on the offender themselves who were biologically predispose to commit a crime which have distinct features from peaceful citizens. Modern studies only relate the body structure to crime due to the fact that people with stronger features can do more harm physically, however, with regards to studies such as by Lombroso is no longer being adopted. The new studies on genetics further showed evidence in the genetic cause of crime as chromosome and some genes that predispose one to commit crime were identified. However, further studies on twin, family, and adoption proved no direct link of genetic factor to crimes being committed ("Positivist school", 2006). Thereby propelled the nature vs. nurture debate further. Genetic factors More and more studies have shown that genes play a big role in aggressive behaviour of individual. One such study was conducted by Philip Vernon and colleagues wherein they have studied 247 adult twin pairs. 183 were identical twins and 64 others are fraternal twins. The subjects were examined with the use of 18 aggression measurements. Their analyses, they say, 'revealed that multiple measures of different dimensions of aggressive behaviour have moderate to quite large heritabilities'. Moreover, they say, 'there appears to be substantial overlap between genes associated with different types of aggression' ("Strong genetic influence on aggression seen", 2000; Vernon et al, 1999,

Housing Prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Housing Prices - Essay Example In this paper, we will first have a look at the whole U.S. mortgage crisis scenario as that has been the major factor that has brought this whole situation into the public perception. Understanding the situation in the light of statistics is very important, as even though this whole topic is so dense and enormous that it cannot be in this paper, but it is certainly essential to have a feel of the situation before we move along. Then, we would move onto the U.S. housing market and try to understand the shifts in pricing over the past decade and the reasons behind these shifts. Furthermore, we will try and determine the implications of the housing market on the economy of the country in general i.e. what effect will the volatility have on the demand and supply equilibrium of the market itself and the greater effect this will have on the economy in general. This is an important section of this paper as this provides the rationale for conducting an analysis on the housing prices and also helps us understand key economic indicators which can help us understand the market better and perhaps prevent market meltdowns like the one suffered in 2006 from occurring again. Finally, we will conclude the paper with our final remarks on the conducted analysis. [1] The U.S. mortgage side has been ruined. ... Even those from lower classes "benefited" from this housing price bubble by being able to own houses with small down payments. Rising prices of housing led to increased borrowing on home equity. The Americans were enjoying their time in the U.S as housing prices shot up 40% between 2000 and 2006 to a high of $234,000. The ratio of median house price to median household income rose from a historically steady ratio of three times (from 1970- 2000) to five times in 2006. This could not be sustained. Housing prices tapered off and started to decline in early 2006 and furthermore in 2007 and 2008; in compliance with what we have seen in the recent two years. With a $20 trillion housing sector, every 10% fall erodes off $2 trillion in household wealth. Almost in parallel, rates of default and foreclosure began to climb. In 2006, 1.2 million household lends saw foreclosure, up 42% from the previous year. The basic definition of sub-prime mortgages is basically lending to borrowers who want to buy a house but who have a weak credit rating. Lenders did so by providing small or zero down payment, and low introductory adjustable rate mortgages. Between 2004 and 2006, there were bookings of $1.5 trillion (15% of the total U.S. housing lends) of sub-prime mortgages. Total sub-prime lends form 25% of the housing mortgage market; these sub-prime lends were fine as long as the housing market continued to boom and interest rates remained stable. When these conditions disappeared, sub-prime borrowers defaulted. The defaults caused an implosion of Mortgage-backed securities and the Collateralized debt duties industry. The blow out shelled in June 2007 with the collapse of sub-prime mortgage hedge funds managed by Bear Stearns, quickly followed by suspending other funds managed

Sales agreement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sales agreement - Essay Example 15 important points are elaborated, in which it starts with the product limited warranty. Acer emphasizes that no defects in materials will disturbed and provided workmanship during the limited warranty period if reparation is needed due to certain options. Fortunately, buyers can have hardware technical support via on-line, telephone and other methods. Buyers should be careful to use their own software since it might have errors that have no relation to be assisted by Acer. For the on-site service, buyers should understand their locations, because there are regulations of distance and geographical areas from Acer. Point number 5 (five) of â€Å"Limitations and Exclusions† be carefully noticed; in this case, those are things that Acer is not responsible for such as damages caused by personal faulty, damages caused by combination made to the products with other non-Gateway branded products, and mice problem at buyer’s place. Next, buyers should be on time to make registr ation of their warranty within 30 days after the purchase. Assistance from buyers is needed when there are problems to repair, and Acer want them to keep the data on other devices when the reparation is about to be done.

Performance Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance Art - Essay Example In such a performance, there are majorly two factors that are analysed that bring the difference in various performing groups. The musical aspect: the musical part of the presentation plays a vital role in the whole orchestra; it is the music that moves the emotion and feelings of the audience. It is from the music being played that the audience can feel that it is a sad moment or happy moment. Music played can therefore occasionally make some people to shade tears or ululate in happiness. Therefore, in any performance music plays a key role in touching people’s emotions. The music must be well arranged despite being generated from different musical equipments. The equipments must be properly tuned to play within a certain keynote to avoid discord. Music, therefore, is the pillar of sending information since it is where the audience gets the wordings and explanation of what the performance is all about. Clarity is as well important while singing, and it is from the clear wordi ng that the audience will get to hear the words and comprehend the words accordingly. Visual aspect in the performance has a key function; it is the visual part that the audience are able to see and appreciate everything that is taking place in the stage. When people visualise the participants performing, they internalize the non-verbal communication taking place. It is imperative in any performance since there are some things that can only be acted to relay an information rather than say them. The moves must be very distinct and avoid mix-ups.

Compare and Contrast of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Essay

Compare and Contrast of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin - Essay Example Even though the genre of both the stories is different, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty takes a humorous look at marriage and The Story of an Hour is more intense, but both deal with the negative aspects of marriage.Besides the main theme of marriage I think the writers also discuss how male and female react differently to situations. If the basic concept is woven around failing marriage then the two protagonists being of different gender provide an understanding as to how the two genders react in the condition. In the next few pages I provide a summary of both the stories and then discuss the two main themes of the stories, gender roles and marriage, under separate headings. Finally a conclusion is provided to the discussion. â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† by James Thurber The story deals with the life of Walter Mitty, and old man, who has a dominant wife who bosses around her way while Walter Mitty helplessly listens to her. In order to escape from this reality he li ves in a secret world, a world where he is the boss, he daydreams. In fact he daydreams so often that it is only when somebody else nudges him that he’s brought back to reality. It is interesting to see how he dreams of himself as being a supergenious surgeon or a brave soldier. The writer has used humour to describe the situations however, underneath this humour lies the failure of a person and his inability to do or say anything against a dominant person. It is to be noted that even though it would seem that a dominant wife is the most probable reason for Mitty’s secret life however, the author does suggest that Mitty is the one who follows people cowardly. Despite that marriage can be considered as one of the themes of this story and hence it’s being discussed here. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin Here unlike the previous story the protagonist is a woman who apparently has a weak heart. Her husband has died in an accident and her well wisher s are wondering how to break the news to her considering her condition. However, to reader’s surprise the woman is more happy than sad on hearing about her husband’s death. Thus, Kate Chopin too discusses the negative side of marriage. Even her condition can be partly blamed on the marriage and the stress it must have brought on her. She is happy to learn that she might finally be free. She is overjoyed. Even though it seems a little cruel but the author provides a different aspect of human nature. It could be that the protagonist felt nothing for her husband anymore, maybe the burden of marriage and a strained relationship had killed all her feelings. In the end it is learned that her husband had not dies in the accident. However, to everybody’s astonishment the protagonist dies of a heart attack. She finally does get her freedom. Marriage as a theme In our society marriage is the legal certificate that recognizes the existence of a man and a woman as husband a nd wife. However, this institution seems to have its own stresses and responsibilities and writers have now and then discussed the various aspects of this institution. Here we discuss the two stories that bring the negative aspect of the institution to light. Marriage involves understanding your partner in order to carry on the relationship, which is the same with any other relationship. However, when two people live together the sense of mystery is lost and when one of the partners happens to be of dominant nature the other inevitably suffers.

Second Grade Experience Essay Example for Free

Second Grade Experience Essay During my second year in elementary school, due to the fact that I was doing so horribly in my grades, my parents decided to send me back to El Salvador to bring up my grades. In El Salvador, I lived with my grandma, my cousins, my great aunts and uncles, and most of my family. The schools in El Salvador were so much more different than the schools in America. Since El Salvador is a poor country, the schools couldn’t afford to serve lunch and the houses were much smaller. In America, most kids did not really walk or play outside; they were usually kept locked up in their room, sipping on juice and watching tv. But the kids in El Salvador; they knew how to live their life with meaning. Every single day, as I made more and more friends, I would go to the soccer field and play games outside. We would play tag, soccer, baseball, soft ball; pretty much any kind of sport you could imagine. The soccer fields in El Salvador were the place where I, eventually, learned to play softball. Softball is like baseball but is usually referred to as, â€Å"baseball but for girls. † After learning how to play softball, I decided to join a small softball team that was formed in my second grade class of elementary school. Being on that team, allowed me to be at the fields even more and taught me to love the sport. The idea of fresh air, blue skies, grass stains, balls, and bats made me excited and energetic. Every time I hit the ball with my bat, I ran as fast as my legs could take me, striving to reach the home plate and score a point for my team. Running on the fields all day and hanging out with friends, giggling at our innocent, naive quirks and remarks gave my childhood, memories of freedom and promise. I now look at life like a baseball diamond; you just have to hit the ball and keep running until you finally reach home plate and win.

ICT in the classroom to enhance teaching

ICT in the classroom to enhance teaching Trying to engage students in the classroom each day can be an increasing challenge but there are many ways to make the activities in the classroom worthwhile for learners and to make what they learn, matter. Learners love a challenge and giving their work meaning will motivate them to want more of it because it allows them to be the central point in the learning process. ICT can both improve and enhance both learning and teaching in an ESOL class and technology is not only a tool for use in the classroom, but is also a resource for accessing information that further enables learning to take place. New ways to integrate technology into the learning process are being created daily. In this commentary I will provide an evaluative overview on the use and effectiveness of using YouTube the video-sharing website as a teaching material to assist my learners with two of the key skills, listening and speaking. The Learners The Level 1 ESOL students are from Slovakia, India, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Poland. They have all completed City Guilds Level 1 Speaking and Listening Assessments and the Literacy On-line test at the end of the last semester. All the students have access to computers in the college and use Moodle in lessons on a regular basis. As a group they have expressed that they want more practice in listening and speaking English inauthentic situations to prepare for the real world and so the last few session have been focused on Work and Jobs leading to Interviews. Students have shared that when they are listening to another person speaking a foreign language, (for them, English) they try to translate it into their native language. Comprehension is more difficult when reduced forms, and the level used, and colloquial language is used. Learners need more exposure to them and an awareness of a speakers corrections and rephrasing use, ( ..ermà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I meanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ er..) to expand comprehensibility Scaffolding In the previous sessions I used strategies to assist learning when they were first introduced to the subject of jobs. This is to give them motivation, a context and a starting point from which they can understand new information introduced in the coming lessons. Using Scaffolding techniques can be important for all learners and not just ESOL learners or those with learning difficulties. The aim is that learners will, at the end, demonstrate comprehension independently. Some strategies used include: Activating prior knowledge on jobs, job adverts, CVs etc. (this is a top-down processing referring to utilising learners schemata. breaking tasks into easier, more manageable steps to facilitate learner achievement showing students an example of the eventual outcome facilitating student engagement and participation teaching key vocabulary terms, relating to the genre of Jobs, before reading asking questions while reading to encourage deeper investigation of concepts modelling an activity for the students before they are asked to complete the same or similar activity asking students to contribute their own experiences that relate to the subject at hand According to McKenzie (1999), the defining features of successful scaffolding include clear direction, purpose, and expectation. Results include on-task activity; better student direction; reduced uncertainty, surprise, and disappointment; increased efficiency; and palpable momentum. Scaffolding instruction is also intrinsic in Lev Vygotskys (1978) idea of the Zone of Proximal Development. The main point is to support learners to have communicative competence, the ability for language learners to use socially, contextually and culturally appropriate language in communicative contexts. Content Content that is familiar is easier to comprehend than content with unfamiliar vocabulary or for which the listener has insufficient background knowledge off. Mock interviews is a noticing exercise: paying attention to grammar as it occurs in different contexts and structures in listening material, language practice activities and spoken interactions. This is good differentiation when a one learner point out a point to another. Videos and other visual support can increase learners comprehension as long as the learner is able to interpret it correctly. They can observe facial expressions, gestures; body language and pictures tell their own story. Using the interactive Smartboard has made the whiteboard come alive and one of the latest, convenient and versatile ICT tool in use in the classroom is YouTube where you can share videos of every kind. Although you have to be aware that many education institutes have blocked YouTube due to the inappropriateness of some of the content. The students took part in mock interviews where learners videoed pairs, then watched later to discuss what went well and what did not and gave each other feedback. This is a bottom-up process where learners start with basic language and build to some complex structures. Intonation, stress and rhythm play a part in this process as well and it was important that I gave all the students opportunities to practice statements and questions using declarative forms and with rising intonation with questions. I tried to obtain dvds of real interview but had no success so turned to YouTube where I researched many clips and used ones that I felt were suitable for this group of learners. The clips from YouTube were shown at the end and finishing with a funny clip to lighten the end of the session. Some of the clips feature ESOL students in mock interviews and some were native speakers in real-life situations that give the learners a realistic foreign language experience. Conclusion There are many videos on YouTube that could potentially be used in an ESOL educational class. There are video clips from televisions program, experts discussing a specific topic, or just some home movie clips up loaded by individuals, of a place you are teaching about or may be thinking about visiting. It comprises of user-uploaded content and can mean that a lot of it is unreliable, unbiased or inappropriate for cultural and classroom use. When looking for specific themes a tutor could spend hours searching on the site but can still be a laudable learning and teaching aid. The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 [4] technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, BBC, Vevo, Hulu and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program.[5] Unregistered users may watch videos, and registered users may upload an unlimited number of videos Component The aims of this study reported in this article are to investigate factors affecting English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers use of computers in their classrooms and to find out EFL teachers perceptions of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and ways to improve CALL practice in school settings. Participants in the study were twelve Korean in-service teachers of EFL working at secondary schools in Korea. A questionnaire and follow-up in-depth interviews were employed to collect data. The results of the study indicate that the teachers have positive and favourable attitudes toward the use of the computers. They consider computer technology as a useful teaching tool that can enhance ways of teaching by offering students a variety of language inputs and expanding students learning experiences in real and authentic contexts. It is also reported that external factors such as lack of time, insufficient computer facilities, rigid school curricula and textbooks and lack of administrative support negatively influence the implementation of CALL in the classroom. Internal factors such as teachers limited computer skills, knowledge about computers and beliefs and perceptions of CALL also seem to significantly affect teachers decisions on the use of CALL. Based on the findings of the study, implications are made for the effective implementation of CALL in EFL contexts. Article Text In recent years, the rapid evolution of information and communication technology (ICT) has made great changes in societies and education. The Internet, particularly, has become a useful tool for communication, a venue for experiencing different cultures and a mediator in diverse political, social and economical situations. Along with the impact of the Internet worldwide, the extensive use of computers at schools has had a critical influence on educational environments. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MOE HRD) in Korea, for example, has implemented several Educational Reform Plans since 1997 to meet the challenges in an era of high-technology. At the governmental level, the Education Ministry implemented The Comprehensive Plan for Education in the Information Age aimed at building the infrastructure for education between 1997 and 2000. It included ICT equipped classrooms, computer labs and digital libraries with computers connected to the Internet to provid e schools with technology-enhanced learning environments. On the basis of the plans, the Korean government has provided every school with multimedia computers, software programs and high-speed broadband Internet connections to cope with an information technology society and to integrate ICT into everyday educational practices. In terms of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), the paradigm of English education in Korea has moved to the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach along with the Seventh Educational Reform in 1997 (Choi, 2006; Kwon, 2000). The underlying theoretical concept of CLT is communicative competence, which refers to the ability for language learners to use socially, contextually and culturally appropriate language in communicative contexts (Savignon, 1997). However, most Korean learners of EFL have difficulties to develop their communicative competence beyond the classroom mainly because they do not have a supportive learning environment where they can hear and speak English for communicative purposes (Jeong, 2006). Therefore, some special efforts are needed to help Korean students expand their language learning experiences and practice the target language outside the classroom. This need can be found in the Korean governments special emphasis on English language proficienc y and computer literacy in the spirit of globalization. English language proficiency and computer literacy are currently essential elements in the Korean society in looking for a job, obtaining promotion and entering into a school of higher education (Kwon, 2000). In these circumstances, the Internet, combined with a variety of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs, is on its way to restructuring the concept of the language classroom and the roles of the learner and the teacher in foreign language learning and teaching in Korea. The appropriate integration of Internet-connected computers into the language curriculum is a key issue to consider when examining the effective use of computer technologies for educational purposes in Korea. In many Japanese universities, language instructors are facing challenges associated with low academic achievement among students, mainly caused by reduced competition among students at universities. Teaching at one such university, the author has been seeking to cope with classes where students vary greatly in English ability, with those who have limited English skills and knowledge and/or have not developed basic learning habits or study skills. This article discusses how technology can help the teacher to accommodate different learning needs and get/keep students motivated. It is based on the recent classroom practice in one of the courses the author taught, where students were supposed to learn research and presentation methods by using English in conjunction with computers and the Internet. In addition to using Moodle, an open-source learning management system, other web tools including weblogs and online materials were integrated into learning activities. These activities helped students feel more comfortable using computers and the Internet, and encouraged them to look for better ways to express themselves. Also, the activities were utilized flexibly to accommodate students diverse abilities and interests, helping keep them actively engaged with the course. There are three strategies ESL/EFL teachers can follow to ensure that technology fits their needs. First, investigate new media to see if it is suitable for classroom use. Then identify how new media changes TESOL. Finally, set English Language Teaching objectives before selecting any tools of technology. Itesl (2008) engaging and motivating all learners supporting the development of problem-solving and thinking skills in an open-ended environment helping learners to make meaningful links between subjects and enabling teachers to use ICT across the curriculum encouraging children to hypothesise and discuss what might happen, aiding the development of talking and listening skills and a collaborative approach to learning suiting a range of learning styles: thereby supporting personalised learning giving children a unique means of communicating and developing their ideas. McKenzie, Jamie, (1999). Scaffolding for Success. From Now On: The Educational Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4. from http://www.fno.org/dec99/scaffold.html. Michael Morgan,The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIV, No. 7, July 2008. http://iteslj.org/[accessed 20 April 2011] [Accessed 20 April 2011] Valdez G, http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te600.htm[accessed 20 April 2011] Dodge, Bernie, (December 2, 1998). Schools, Skills and Scaffolding on the Web. from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffolding.html. [Accessed 20 April 2011] Appendix i- References Barton, D. (2007) Literacy an Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford. Crystal, D. (1991) A dictionary of linguistics and phonetic., Basil Blackwell Oxford. Harmer, J. (2007) The Practice of English Language Teaching 4ed. Pearson Education Ltd: Essex. McCarthy, M. (1991)Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Petty, G. (2009) Teaching Today -A Practical Guide 6ed Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham Richards, J (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix 7e, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. The Internet TESL Journal (2005) Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Banville-News/[15 April 2011]

Privatization of Public Utilities Essay

Privatization of Public Utilities Essay A National Government’s Decision to privatize It’s Public Utilities Introduction There has been a prevalent political agreement on improving-benefit effect of private governance in the last decades. More than $1 trillion revenues have been generated for the government on the sale of government-owned firms to private owners. Public executives nowadays evaluate privatization as a suitable tool to implement a rapid growth of promising product innovations, facilitate financial economy development and promote more efficient production technologies. However, substantial figures of firms across the world are still owned by government. (Aghion and Tirole, 1994; Ahmed and Ashutosh, 2008). Having mentioned the privatization benefits, why are there general impediments in the decision process from the government, prioritizing to privatize some firms over the others to private sectors? In answering this research question, certain firm’s political and financial-economy factors were investigated in the selection of companies for privatization. As supported by literature on private firm decision to go public, financial characteristics of firms that can probably influence the decision to privatize were recognized (Ansolabehere and James, 2007). Arguably, the sale of government owned firms can not only confide in financial-economy factors but also on political settlement and costs. However, Dixit and Londregan (1996) argued that privatization may be seen as a negative development by the public on the opinion of undemocratic shift of property owned by the government to private investors. This can result in the governing party losing its votes in such region. The position of political patronage in the decision to privatize was considered, such as; hiring decisions of government-owned firms can be influenced by politicians to favour supporters. Further to the evaluation of political and financial-economy effect on privatization, research was conducted on India Government. This country was used as a case study because it has a huge political competition among its political parties with multiparty democracy (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). This research contributes to the political and finance-economy literature by investigating privatization effects suggest that selection of companies for privatization are done randomly, but the result presented from Dinc and Gupta (2011) point out that privatization decision is probably endogenous to characteristics of the firm. The literature is structured as follows; Section one describes the political system in Indian along with its privatization. Section two, discusses the political and financial-economy factors that are possible to affect government decision to privatize its public utilities. While section three, presents the conclusion of this research. 1. Privatization and Indian Political System 1.1. Firms Owned by Government In Indian post-independence era, firms owned by government were justified by anxiety that projects that involve large investment and time-consuming gestation periods will not be awarded to private sectors. There was rapid nationalization of firms across all sectors between 1960 and 1991, which boost the formation of gross capital in firms owned by the Federal Government to 40% of the entire gross capital establishment in the market economy (Ministry of Finance, 1996). According to Ministry of Finance (2004), the wages of government companies’ workers are higher compare to private companies’ staff and overstaffed usually occur in government companies. For instance, federal government firms employed over 10% workers from various structured sector in 2003, and their wages were averagely double that of private sector (Panagariya, 2008). This huge difference in their wage recommends why government workers vigorously disagree with government decision to privatization. 1.2. Political System India has a legislative system where representatives are directly elected from 543 single member constituencies dispersed across 35 states, while the national government was formed by alliance of parties or political party that wins most of the constituencies. About 450 political parties participated in five elections to the federal government, held since the commencement of privatization program in 1991. These elections are 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. It is important to recognize the establishment of alliance among national political parties, before the commencement of election so as to inflate their probability of acquiring the majority (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). The Congress Party initiated the economic reforms that won the 1991 elections with the support of its allies and remain in as the ruling party until the 1996 election. After 1996 election, there were successive short-lived governments that later collapsed as a result of support deficiency from affiliated members (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). 1.3. Privatization Process In 1991, Indian created sweeping economic reforms which comprises of privatization and deregulations, as a reaction to balance payment crisis. 50 companies out of 280 nonfinancial companies that are owned by the Federal Government were privatized between 1991 and 2006. The decision to privatized list of companies was takes at the Cabinet level where every government produce its own list. The Congress government commenced the privatization in 1991, and later continued in 1999 by the BJP administration after a brief interruption by the successive government (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). Comparatively, privatization is not famously practiced in India unlike United Kingdom (UK) where almost all government-owned firms are been privatized such as British Gas, Transport for London (TFL), British Airport Authority. Since Congress and BJP parties have engaged in privatization, neither any of them as an intellectual obligation to privatization, as both parties have campaigned against each other using anti-privatization rhetoric (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). For instance, the Congress government were attacked by the BJP conservatives on privatization plans (Reuters News, 1992; cited in Dinc and Gupta, 2011), and eventually collide with the labour unions to protest privatisation (Reuters News, 1993; cited in Dinc and Gupta, 2011). In 2004, the Congress Party also campaigned against the BJP’s reform agenda, based on the platform of limited privatization, the Congress party won the election (Dinc and Gupta, 2011). 2. The Role of Political and Financial-Economy Factors in Privatization Decision 2.1. Financial Factors: Firm Size and Profitably Adverse effect could exist in the quality of companies that decide to publicized, if the issuers have more information than the investors about the company’s value (Leland and Pyle, 1977). According to Chemmanur and Fulghieri (1999), they argued that there is probability for adverse selection cost to be greater for both smaller and younger companies. This is backed by the result of Pagano et al. (1998), who suggested that smaller companies are not likely to be privatised. In the context of privatization, the methods of sales in a cross-country sample of privatised companies were compared together by Megginson et al., (2004). From his analysis, he finds that compared to private capital markets, big companies have the possibility to be privatized over shares sales to the public. 2.2. Political Factors Theoretically, Persson and Guido (2002) suggested that is likely for the politicians to target public funds to important constituencies with swing voters to succeed in elections. Experimentally, Dahlberg and Johansson (2002) shows that allowance allocation in Sweden is intense in constituencies with more swing voters, and research shows that French companies that are politically associated create additional jobs in politically aggressive constituencies (Bertrand et al., 2007). Shleifer and Robert (1994) argued that interference in the operation of companies by politicians is a major cause of inefficiency in companies owned by the government. Conclusion Since most privatizing governments sell companies, owned by the government over time or not at all, we investigate if political and financial-economy factors as well as political objectives are likely to affect government decision to privatized its public utilities. Using Indian as an exemplification, government owned companies which comprises of companies that remain fully government owned and privatized companies were investigated. Although privatization advantages like efficiency developments are distributed across the community, the costs are probably to be distinctively intense among a small group. Therefore, the voter’s support could be declined for the governing party in constituencies where the company is located. Similarly, the public may have negative opinion on privatization as a diverging transfer to public utilities or assets to private investors. The adverse reaction on outcome of elections in that constituency will be increased if the ruling party encounter a close race with the other political parties. Finally, the research suggests that selection of companies for privatization is not by chance. Accepting political contest as a tool for privatization decision, the sale of companies owned by the government was found as a facilitator to significance development in efficiency as well as profitability of these companies. References Aghion, P., Tirole, J., 1994. The management of innovation. Quarterly Journal of Economics 109, 1185–1209. Ahmed, S. and Ashutosh, V., 2008, Battles half won: The political economy of India’s growth and economic policy since independence, World Bank Working paper No. 15. Ansolabehere, S., and James S. J., 2007, Party control of state government and the distribution of public expenditures, Scandinavian Journal of Economics 108, 547– 569. BÂ ¨os, D., 1991. Privatization: A Theoretical Treatment. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Chemmanur, T. and Fulghieri, P., 1999, A theory of the going public decision, Review of Financial Studies 12, 249–279. Department of Disinvestment, 2007. Evolution of Disinvestment Policy in India . Government of India. Available at: http://www.divest.nic.in/evolutionp.htm.> Dinc, S. and Gupta, N., 2011. The Decision to Privatize: Finance and Politics. The Journal of Finance, LXVI(1), pp 241-269. Dixit, A. and Londregan, J,. 1996, The determinants of success of special interests in redistributive politics, Journal of Politics 58, 1132–1155. Gupta, Nandini, 2005, Partial privatization and firm performance, Journal of Finance 60, 987–1015. Leland, H. and David P., 1977, Informational asymmetries, financial structure, and financial intermediation, Journal of Finance 32, 371–387. Ministry of Finance, Government of India, 1996, Economic Survey of India (Government of India, New Delhi, India). Ministry of Finance, Government of India, 2004, Economic Survey of India (Government of India, New Delhi, India). Pagano, M., Fabio, P. and Luigi, Z., 1998, Why do companies go public? An empirical analysis, Journal of Finance 53, 27–64. Panagariya, A., 2008, India: An Emerging Giant (Oxford University Press, New York). Persson, T. and Guido T., 2002, Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy (MIT Press, Cambridge). Persson, T. and Guido, T., 2002, Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy (MIT Press, Cambridge). Shapiro, K. and Willig, R., 1990. Economic rationales for the scope of privatization. In: Suleiman, E.N.,Waterbury, J. (Eds.), The Political Economy of Public Sector Reform and Privatization. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Shleifer, A. and Robert, V., 1994, Politicians and firms, Quarterly Journal of Economics. 109, 995–1025. A National Government’s Decision to Privatize its Public UtilitiesPage 1

mariah carey :: essays research papers

Mariah Carey is diva. Her hits have spanned two decades and have broken records long held by music heavyweights like the Beatles and one Elvis Presley. Her concerts have grown exponentially and she consistenly sells out venues across the globe. Her success has allowed her to throw millions and millions of dollars around as if it were petty cash. But she insists, she's still just a girl from New York. Mariah grew up on Long Island, daughter to hard working parents. Her father Alfred Roy, half Venezuelan, and her mother Patricia, Irish, instilled strong values in their baby Mariah. Life was tough for Mariah, but she kept her chin up. She worked her way through Oldfield Middle School and graduated Harborfield High School at 17, and one day later she moved to New York City. Mariah had stars in her eyes and an astounding voice backing up those dreams. She is known for an eight octave voice level, something nearly unparallel in the music industry. But, as anyone who's worked in the industry knows, talent doesn't always equal superstardom. But Mariah had a few other things going for her as well. She was able to grab a gig working as a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr, who was so impressed with Mariah's voice that she volunteered to pass along her demo tape. Starr passed it to Tommy Mottola, a musical mastermind, the man behind Sony Music and Columbia Records. Tommy loved it; and apparently loved her as well. The two wed in 1993. But before the couple exchanged nupitals, Mariah released her first album, a self-titled, heavily played smash success. The album would set into motion a number of the records Mariah was able to shatter during her career (most consecutive #1 singles, first female soloist to go straight to #1, a #1 hit in each year during the 90s). Her success was cemented with Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist. Mariah's ever-important sophomore album (which seems to make or break a number of artist - see Hootie & The Blowfish) failed to disappoint. "Emotions" had three big hits and sold quite well. "Music Box" would follow, along with "Daydream", "Butterfly", and "Heartbreaker." Apparently, the record companies are just as pleased as the American public.

Free Awakening Essays: Kate Chopin :: Chopin Awakening Essays

The Awakening: Kate Chopin Kate Chopin was an American author who lived during the nineteenth century, but because of The Awakening, a novel which was considered scandalous at the time, she has just recently been "†¦accepted into the canon of major American writers"(Trosky 105). Through Kate Chopin’s main character of The Awakening, Edna Pontellier, she is able to portray her feelings and desires that were otherwise suppressed by the ideals of American society at that time. Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1851 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was brought up in a family that was a member of the prominent French- Creole community. During her childhood she possessed a love for reading. Her favorite types of literature were fairy tales, poetry and novels. She secluded herself for almost two years, away from her family and school in her attic, spending the majority of her time reading (Trosky 102). After her schooling, Chopin spent her days as a belle in St. Louis’ high society. She was greatly ad mired for both her beauty and wit. She continued her readings, becoming more interested in contemporary works. In 1869, she traveled to New Orleans where she met Oscar Chopin, whom she married. Though married, Chopin remained fairly independent, practicing habits such as smoking and walking alone in the city, two things unheard of from women at that time.(Trosky 102) In 1883, Oscar Chopin died of swamp fever. By 1884, Kate moved with her six children back to St. Louis. Around this time, Chopin began her writing career, writing in periodicals and publishing collections of short stories. She received good reviews and continued to write at an impressive rate. Her acclaim was short lived though, following the publication of The Awakening. "This work, which would eventually be recognized as her masterpiece and a seminal work in American feminist fiction, first proved her most notorious publication and her literary undoing."(Trosky 103) At the time, Chopin’s novel was considered sc andalous and immoral, for it dealt largely with a women’s sexuality. At the time The Awakening was written, a novel would be judged on it’s moral message as much as its artistic merits. After the negative response of critics, Chopin published a few more works, but nothing was well received. She received little recognition, which when given, described her as an author of southern local color stories (Trosky 103). Local color writing was a movement which tried to capture the feeling of a particular region through descriptions of local speech and manners("The Age of Realism").

Citibank – Performance Evaluation

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT LUCKNOW Written Executive Communication PROJECT REPORT Citibank – Performance Evaluation Submitted to – Dr. Payal Mehra Date – 26/10/2012 Submitted By Group 8, Section C Anuradha Tyagi (PGP28128) Aditya Singh (PGP28158) Bholendra P. Singh (PGP28143) K. Aditya Das (PGP28139) Vishal Raju (PGP28155) Shweta J. (PGP28159) Table of Contents 1. Abstract2 2. Brief Overview of the current situation3 3. Strategy for Case Analysis5 4. Case Analysis6 5. Recommendations9 6. Implementation11 7. References12 AbstractFrits Seegers, President of Citibank California was put in a tough spot when he had to evaluate James McGaren. Mr. McGaren had for long been a good performer, but with the new performance evaluation criteria that take customer satisfaction into consideration, he fared â€Å"below par†. It is now up to Mr. Seegers to take a call on James, should he be given an â€Å"above par† or a â€Å"below par† rating and how wi ll this be communicated to him. Brief Overview of the current situation James McGaran is the manager of the flagship office of Citibank in the Los Angeles area which also happens to be the most important of Citibank’s 31 branches.He has been a veteran not just in the banking sector but also at Citibank. He had delivered impressive financial results for four years in a row exceeding expectations every single year. But when customer satisfaction was included as a decision parameter in when it comes to evaluation, it was evident that James did not fare very well on that front. The new criteria for employee evaluation are as follows: * Financial Measures: Focus was on total revenue and profits * Strategy Implementation: Tracks revenue from a particular segment relevant to the Bank’s strategy. Customer Satisfaction: Surveys were conducted. Emphasis was laid on long term association. * Control Measures: Based on banks internal control processes. If rating < 4, bank is said t o be at risk. * People and Standards: Focused on the efforts of the manager to develop and communicate with peers/ employees. Based on the employees performance in these factors a rating was given, the various ratings that can be given were â€Å"Par†, â€Å"Below Par† and â€Å"Above Par†. Finally, a global rating and overall rating for the manager was awarded.Due to the change in performance evaluation criteria, two major complications flared up: First and foremost, Lisa Johnson has to decide the rating of James. According to bank’s rule an employee can be given above par rating if and only if he is performing at par in all the criteria. John has been excellent at five performance measurement statistics but lags in one i. e. customer satisfaction. So as per the rules he can be given â€Å"at par† rating at best. But Lisa believes that John deserves an above par rating because of his excellent work when it comes to revenues.Secondly, if Lisa decid es to give him an â€Å"at par rating†, she has to decide the best possible way to communicate her decision. She has to inform him in such a way so that it does not have any negative effect on James. Lisa wants James to stay with the company and she has to make sure that the message is communicated properly. It is clear that James will not accept a â€Å"below par† rating and at this juncture, Citibank cannot afford to lose an employee of James’ stature. This is a typical Human Resources related situation which has to be dealt with extreme caution, else there can be dire consequences.Should James’ ego be hurt, there is a good chance he will quit the company and with his credentials, he should not have much trouble getting another job. At the same time, should he be given an â€Å"above par† rating, it would go against the long term vision of the company. Strategy for Case Analysis This case focuses on the performance evaluation James McGaran. Thoug h the performance evaluation parameters adopted in Citi is highly quantified, the performance of Mr McGaran is better measured qualitatively. With a consistent â€Å"above par† rating Mr.McGaran has been a model employee. His financials were outstanding- 20% above target. His strategy implementations were highly rated. It was his branch that generated highest revenue and made the greatest margin contribution to the business. The only area he lagged was â€Å"customer satisfaction† rating. James McGaran was extremely sensitive towards his ratings. He had worked hard to improve the customer satisfaction rating during the last quarter. He felt that extremely disappointed that even with fabulous financial results his rating had suffered due to customer satisfaction.The customer satisfaction rating depends on many factors like the location of the bank, the kind of customer it catered to etc. Mr McGaran’s branch was in Los Angeles. It catered to some really high profi le people. The expectation of such demanding clientele from the branch would be comparatively higher. Besides the customer rating also involved Citibank services rating over and above the branch rating. Hence, judging it on completely quantitative factor wouldn’t provide a completely objective rating. Case Analysis Analyzing James on the new parameter is a very difficult task.As James is the manager of the most challenging branch with highly demanding clientele, it is difficult for him to be the best on all the parameter specially customer service. In five out of six parameters James has been rated above par and it is only the customer service where he has been rated below par. Now as per the new parameters he cannot be rated above par overall. But the question is whether it is rational to not rate him above par. Now if we closely analyze the bank headed by James it is clearly visible that it is one of the most demanding banks in the region not only among Citibank branches bu t also among rivals.The no. of employees at the bank are just sixteen while the clientele of the bank ranges from Households on one end to sophisticated Business customers on the other and Mom and pop store to the sophisticated retail store on the other. Now this diverse clientele has equally diverse customer service requirements. Customer service requirements of one are different from those of the others. So with a employee bas of just sixteen employees it was practically impossible for the branch to provide a very high level of customer service to the clientele.What made things worse for James was that his branch was to bear the blame for the lack of customer services for services such as ATM for which branch was not responsible but the Citibank as a whole was responsible. To add to the woes of James, one of the employee was absent for the third quarter. So very little was in the hands of the James to improve the services of the branch. The huge size of clientele was also causing problem for the branch of James as the no of branches of Citibank were significantly lower than the rivals, so the no. f clients per employee were very large and hence customer service for his branch was very bad. The biggest hurdle in the promotion of James was that other managers were looking at James. If Seeger gave any benefit to James then the other managers would also demand the same benefits and as such the entire performance evaluation system may fail. Also there was a fear that other managers may not take the new performance evaluation system seriously and the sole objective of the bank may to provide relationship banking may fail.But Seeger also knows that the performance of James was remarkable and that he should be awarded for it but at the same time he was not meeting the criterion. Also Seeger had a fear that if James is not awarded than he may be demoralised to excel at the bank and bring those above expectation financial results. Now analyzing, the new scheme propose d by Seeger to evaluate the performance of the managers. The new Scheme fails to count various factors. The new scheme has various pros and cons. Analyzing these pros and cons it is very clear that the scheme is falling short of perfectly evaluating the performance of the managers.As the scheme says that out of six parameters if the manager performs below par in even only one parameter his overall rating cannot be above par. The scheme takes an account on the downside of the performance but does not account for the excellent performance on the other fronts. Let us take the case of James, he was rated excellent in five out of six parameters but still he was not rated above par because his performance in one parameter was below par. The scheme concentrated on the downside of the performance but not on the upside.In fact the scheme became a tool to punish the managers rather than rewarding them. In place of this the bank should have weighted all the six parameters with a minimum perfor mance limit in all. In this case one could compensate the lack of performance in one parameter by excelling in other parameters. The other major shortcoming of the policy was that the policy talked of minimum performance levels. But it failed to talk about exceptional performances. As financial performance of James branch was higher than what was expected of the branch. The bank was failing to reward this exceptional performance.This was highly demoralising for James as he is not rewarded for his financial performances as that was improving the bottom-line of the company. Also one of the problems that was there with customer satisfaction was that the branch was not responsible for all the services as some services like ATM were provided centrally by the Citibank. And so the branch was not responsible for any lack of service but it was held accountable for that. Also another serious issue was that the bank targeted relationship banking but the number of clients per employee were very large as compared to the rivals.The situation was worse in the case of James as he had a very diverse clientele and only sixteen employees so it was very difficult for him to perform above par in the Customer service parameter. On analyzing it is very clear that the bank’s performance evaluation scheme has many shortcomings which have to be taken care of else the deserving manger would rather be punished than getting rewarded. And if this policy implemented as it is, it may lead to demoralization of employees and fall in overall performance of the company. RecommendationsSince five of the six performance measures in James’ year-end evaluation were â€Å"above par†, the customer satisfaction rating was the only one that caused a significant challenge and had substantial financial repercussions for James’ year-end bonus, which was a significant part of his base salary. Based on his customer satisfaction scores, which was â€Å"below par† according t o the banks written guidelines, his total evaluation could be only â€Å"on par† in spite of the fact that he excelled in five other performance areas. In this backdrop two alternatives exist for the company: Implement Lisa’s decision:According to Lisa the evaluation could cause James to consider leaving the company, not even so much because of the reduced bonus, but also because of the feeling of being treated unfairly or not being valued by the company. She recognized that losing James would be a significant loss for the bank, notwithstanding the fact that it would be hard to find as qualified and dedicated manager as James for the particular branch wherein he brought about a dramatic improvement in customer satisfaction score in the fourth quarter from 54 to 72 and took personal pride in successfully running the hardest branch in the division.Not only would it be a substantial financial shortfall in total annual compensation for James, but it would also deal a blow to his self-esteem. She was in favor of providing the due to James even though the branch couldn’t perform under customer service parameter. The outcome of the decision would have been: a. Awarding of ‘above par’ rating to James b. Overriding the system and provide James with a bonus of 30% The decision will reward James’s hard work and commitment towards the organization and will provide him the boost and motivation to perform better. However, there are cons to the decision which are much critical than the gains: a.Resentment among other 30 Branch Managers will develop and they will also demand the compensation even though they weren’t able to achieve all the parameters. Thus achievement in any five parameters of the six will led them to demand the same level of compensation even though the efforts and results are not in commensuration with James one. This is attributable because of the range provided in the Performance evaluation sheet. b. Undue f avor or biased decision will harm company’s management team reputation and will act as a precedent for deviating from defined standards. c. The very motive of the bank to improve upon the customer atisfaction level in the branches will be defeated as there wouldn’t be an incentive or motivation for James to achieve the parameters as laid down in the performance scorecard. Follow standard norms and communicate openly detailing company’s objective and concern: This alternative also serves as our recommendation for the company to adopt in this particular case. As James is not only ambitious, highly qualified employee but also a mature person. He should be briefed by both the officials in a special meeting to explain company’s position and adopting a decision to remain consistent across the bank.Even though he delivered an exceptional performance, the customer survey was the sole reason to give him an overall par rating which led to lowering of his bonus. He should be recognized and rewarded suitably for his overall excellent performance and management should express concern of their inability and problem to reward his actual contribution by rating him above par. All the reasons cited above should be duly explained to him and also future steps to be taken by the management for the improvement of the performance scorecard should also be mentioned accordingly so that his future results are not jeopardized.He should be assured of the best possible addressing of his requests and branch issues by providing him the highest priority in the issues concerned. Implementation This is the first year the balanced scorecard was implemented. Thus, the shortcoming of the scorecard is to be addressed so that all the areas are measured appropriately. Management should review the survey and get some input from Branch Managers on what indicators are more suited towards customer satisfaction which are totally under the control of th branch and not externall y linked.As a token of valuing James performance highest priority is to be assigned to his requests and he should be guided properly in the area of customer satisfaction There may be possibility of balancing other exceptional achievements with other areas and keeping rewards for some of the essential parameters separately. This will act as an additional incentive for people to always perform to the best of their capabilities. References * http://hbr. org/product/citibank-performance-evaluation/an/198048-PDF-ENG * Dr. Payal Mehra (2012),  Business Communication for Managers, Pearson Education