Cosmos Episode 7 Viewing Worksheet - Teacher Resources

Cosmos Episode 7 Viewing Worksheet - Teacher Resources The seventh episode of the first season of Foxs science-based television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson makes an excellent teaching tool in several different disciplines. The episode, entitled The Clean Room deals with many different science topics (like geology and radiometric dating) as well as good lab technique (minimizing contamination of samples and repeating experiments) and also public health and creation of policies. Not only does it dive into the great science of these subjects, but also the politics and ethics behind scientific research. No matter if you are showing the video as a treat for the class or as a way to reinforce lessons or units you are studying, assessment of the understanding of the ideas in the show is important. Use the questions below to help with your evaluation. They can be copy and pasted into a worksheet and tweaked as necessary to fit your needs. Cosmos Episode 7 Worksheet   Name:___________________    Directions: Answer the questions as you watch episode 7 of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey    1.   What is happening to the Earth at its very beginnings?    2. What date for the beginning of the Earth did James Ussher give based on his study of the Bible?    3.   What type of life was dominant in the Precambrian Time?    4.   Why is figuring out the age of the Earth by counting the layers of rock not accurate?    5. Between what two planets do we find the leftover â€Å"brick and mortar† from making the Earth?    6. What stable element does Uranium break down into after about 10 transformations?    7.   What happened to the rocks that were around at the birth of the Earth?    8. On what famous project did Clare Patterson and his wife work together?    9.   What kind of crystals did Harrison Brown ask Clare Patterson to work on?    10. What conclusion did Clare Patterson come to about why his repeated experiments gave wildly different data about lead?    11. What did Clare Patterson need to build before he could completely rule out lead contamination in his sample?    12. Who are two of the scientists Clare Patterson thanks as he waits for his sample to finish in the spectrometer?    13. What was the true age of the Earth found to be and who was the first person he told?    14. Who is the Roman god of lead?    15. What modern holiday did Saturnalia turn into?    16. What is the â€Å"bad† side of the god Saturn similar to?    17. Why is lead poisonous to humans?    18. Why did Thomas Midgley and Charles Kettering add lead to gasoline?    19. Why was Dr. Kehoe hired by GM?    20. What organization gave Clare Patterson the grant to study the amount of lead in the ocean?    21. How did Clare Patterson conclude the oceans were being contaminated by leaded gasoline?    22. When the petroleum corporations took away their funding for Patterson’s research, who stepped in to fund him?    23. What did Patterson find in the polar ice?    24. How long did Patterson have to fight before lead was banned from gasoline?    25. How much did lead poisoning in children drop after lead was banned?

The Shack by William P. Young - Book Review

'The Shack' by William P. Young - Book Review The Bottom Line The Shack by William P. Young has become a phenomenon. This book originally written by Young for his kids was rejected by mainstream and Christian publishers alike. Young and friends started their own publishing house to produce it, and now there are more than one million copies in print and it has topped bestsellers charts for weeks. The Shack does not have amazing character depth, and the dialogue sometimes seems forced; however, it is a thought-provoking book that is a worth reading as an entry into thinking about suffering and Gods role in the world. Pros The Shack delves into some of lifes biggest questionsThe Shack is easy to readThe Shack provides an artistic avenue for understanding Christian truths Cons The dialogue is forced some parts are cheesy - This isnt great literatureThere are some theological holes Description The Shack is published by Windblown Media.Published: May 2007253 pages Guide Review - The Shack by William P. Young - Book Review The Shack by William P. Young is a story about Mack, a man whose daughter is kidnapped and brutally murdered. A few years after her murder, Mack receives an invitation from God to meet Him at the shack where they found his daughters bloody clothes. Mack goes and works through the meaning of suffering as he spends the weekend with the Trinity, uniquely portrayed (God the Father is a large black woman, for instance). Why is The Shack so popular? Is it actually a must read? To the first question, I can only say that I think The Shack is asking some of the most important questions people can ask, and exploring the answers in a way that is very accessible. While reading, I understood its appeal these are the very questions that I wrestle with in my heart, and Young works through them in a very comforting way. As to whether The Shack is a must read, Id say, that depends. It sort of reminds me of the words, I love you. There is nothing especially unique about them, and they are extremely overused. From certain people or in certain situations, you are likely to dismiss or even be infuriated by hearing them uttered. Of course, from the right person, hearing them can be one of the most powerful experiences of your life. So with The Shack. This is a decidedly Christian answer in a somewhat shallow story with forced dialogue. Its not the best writing in the world, but I can easily see how if you read The Shack at the right moment, it has the power to change your life. I know Im still thinking about it, and I received enough gems from the novel to recommend it to others.

Theater Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Theater Art - Essay Example This is a film that is very much about faith, in particular Larry's faith. He is beset by a series of very difficult and painful personal problems. His wife has left him, his children have problems, at work there are a number of issues. Everything he does goes wrong. He is very much like the character of Job from the Old Testament. He seems to be being made to suffer for the amusement of some supernatural force. Climbing to the roof of his home (albeit for another purpose), he is getting closer to heaven and the gods which control his fate. He is also taking the opportunity to survey his situation and his place in the world from on high. The camera angle is below Larry in this shot. His back is to the camera and he looks awkward and ungainly; indeed, his shirt is tucked in and he is wearing nice shoes, not the kind of outfit one wears to climb on the roof. The sky is a bright, clear blue, but much else in the shot is sterile. The only other object, besides the shingles on the roof, i s the antenna, to Larry's left. Larry is in the centre of the frame and all the lines of the roof lead up to him. He is clearly the heart and soul of this picture. Climbing onto the roof is an important chance for Larry to survey his life. After this frame he looks out on the streets and his neighbours.

Secondary Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Secondary Research Paper - Essay Example And most of the time, service provide are seen taking the lead to offer exceptional plans which may include abundant amounts of air time and even less rates with regard to international roaming. Further, getting online too is being made easy through the cellular handset, which the fixed line telephone user can never dream of. With the internet turning out to be an important part of everyday life, mobile phones most of the time, while on travel or on holiday, help the customer log on to the World Wide Web without much hassle. Customer experiences have also given the thumbs on this, complaining that the fixed phone lines often turn out to be too noisy to allow a modem connection at any speed.   Ample research done on this suggests that the mobile telephones have overtaken fixed telephones in terms of subscribers. So is the case with traffic and revenue. Besides, fixed-line operators have begun having to face competition from new entrants in local, national and international long-distance telecommunications and Internet markets, as well as substitution from their mobile counterparts. In such an event of fixed line phones facing an era of being obsolete in the near future, it would be important to study what causes this phenomenon, and to look at what really ails the fixed-line telephone sector. The ever increasing spread of mobile phones and easy access to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) facilities have stood in the way of fixed line operators, ever since these technologies began to blossom. More subscriptions meant more revenue for service providers. As more customers began logging on to these new-age technologies, users diminished with regard to fixed line operators. More important was the cost involved. Long distance calls came for peanuts, as compared to the costs involved in making such calls over the fixed phone. Many a mobile phone company took the leap toward more revenues seeing the vast opportunity before them. More customers

Public Relations in college Athletics Essay Example for Free

Public Relations in college Athletics Essay Public relations play important role in linking college athletics with other colleges and news media. It represents college athletics related issues to media level. Public relation is responsible for handling all communication and information exchange between the college and athletics and media. It also promotes and develop relations with other colleges and universities.   Public relations will also keep news site updated to keep inform the community about the current issues, updates and goals.   Public relation program will handled all media related inquires, it regularly updates about recent research carried out in the faculty, promote inter-colleges sports and workshops, other promotional programs in the community and many other activities on the campuses.   Public relation facilitates inter-departmental, inter-community and social relations.   Assessment:   College athletic public relations goal is to develop such programs to maintain good public relations with the community and to promote student athletics sports, moral, physical, social and emotional growth. Such programs will keep individuals involve with creative activities and simultaneously promote their social relations with the community, a sense of responsibility and increase their morals.   Plan or board policy in relation to an existing public relations/marking plan or program One of the main purposes of the public relations is to let the students and community learn college rules and regulations and respect it in all circumstances in order to provide well-balanced education and creative skills.   Public relations board will responsible for making new guidelines and policies for people especially parents and guardians to keep them update of regulations and procedures.   Public relations board will develop such policies in order to keep details of all programs and guidelines for the community, guardians and students. The policies must define and update the student’s and communities needs. It must also prepare information regarding programs to give student and guardians full information. Evaluation: According to a recent research (Parry and Hayden, 1993) postgraduate students benefit from the program only when these students are paid attention separately, faculty and departmental staff clearly verify the assistance these students should receive. For recruiting more students in postgraduate program following strategies are needed to be implemented in the new curricula. These strategies are formed after careful analysis of the problems that were faced by the students, which were causing decline in students’ strength in the university. Creative ideas were generated to find out various possible number of solutions for the prevailing problems.   Recruitment and selection of students   There is a need to develop a unique workable policy for accommodating minimum or maximum number of students in the postgraduate program on the basis of preferred recruitment practices and on the university standards to recruit students per class.   There is also a need to start scholarships for students who are unable to pay their full fee.   Technical expertise and competencies in their language should be considered mandatory prior to admission.   Apart from quantitative analysis of students’ recruitment, university should also consider the qualitative approach to recruit students. Thus, admitting those students who are skillful and eligible for the program. And who will prove to be good in giving out results, thus, improving the standards of university in terms of qualitative education.   Audit of an existing safety or crisis prevention plan Staff and supervisors All staff and supervisors should be highly qualified and experienced. Per supervisor and staff, students allocated should be evaluated. Number of supervisor allocated per faculty should be evaluated New developmental strategies for students, supervisors and staff For every student there should be a clear statement for the academic mission of the university and department, research achievements, focus of teaching at the university, discipline rules that are to be followed. Every student should have a clear idea about departmental activities, social and intellectual prospects, facilities, resources, services, support, research facilities, and other procedures. In addition, there should be accommodation facilities, offices for mail typing, laboratory space, technical support, research equipment, computerized infrastructure, photocopying, library facilities, telephone, email and facsimile facilities, research grants and paid work. All above mentioned facilities should be publicized among undergraduate students, who might get interested in taking admission in postgraduate. Recent research showed that postgraduate students find various elements useful such as outline of the research they are taking, opportunity to meet other postgraduates, academics, administrative, technical staff and faculty. Selection of topics should be made easy and should be in consistent with the research facilities and financial resources available in the department. Each student should be guided individually that how they have to conduct research. Each student should be encouraged to acquire specialist assistance in writing thesis, computing, analysis of data, researching in library and archives in the management database. Using recommended assessment techniques,    There should be regular meetings and discussions between the supervisors, other research students for keep check on the progress of work and new innovative ideas that research students might learn from each other. Each student should keep a record of his or her work. Similarly, each supervisor should keep record of their supervision to avoid any misunderstanding between student and the supervisor. There should be brief records of meetings, discussions, deadlines set for the accomplishment of certain task or research work, notes on advice provided to each student, photocopies of other important notes, drafts and student diaries. Working relationship with other students should be kept in harmony. Students should have opportunities to mix socially with other departmental students. There should be network of students to get mixed with each other and learn each other problems, research and learning abilities. Progress of each student should be completely checked. There should be a definite policy to monitor the continuous progress of students. There should be new developmental policies to provide financial assistance for research and other postgraduate students. Each student should keep participating in conferences, seminars and colloquia for sharing their knowledge with other research scholars of the same fields. Create an assessment tool to evaluate a program,    The program’s success depends on individual outcomes, hence, it is important to judge whether these outcomes are worthwhile or just achieved. The desired outcomes of this program are listed below. It will improve motor skills of a student and he would improve his locomotive and perceptual motor skills The program will enhance their learning and memorizing capability. A student will be able to give more attention to his studies. The student will develop better social relations. He would be better off in school and at home. Student’s emotional and psychological development will improve. Emotional problems are usually correlated with his physical, social and cognitive development. But as his cognitive, social and physical development enhances, his emotional development will improve. The program will improve quality of education at school. The student after being trained will have better skills to interact with his environment and will yield better results. The program is cost effective and will safe cost of future problems that may arise due to lack of education and training at this age. The program will speed up student’s cognitive development. The program is not offered for a specific need but it will improve overall development and generalized needs of a student. Teachers and trainers will find it easier to train through this program rather than typical way of teaching. â€Å"Building and modeling caring relationships is crucial to the preservice teachers capacity to receive curricular content and their ability to teach that content to young student.† (Lake, Jones, Dagli, 2004) The program would be able to preserve social and morel values through better education and training of a student. As student are major and most crucial beings in transmitting such values. The program protects student’s right to live and develop to their full potential while benefiting from the environment. References    Lake, Jones, Dagli (2004) Handle With Care: Integrating Caring Content in Mathematics and Science Methods Classes. Journal of Research in Childhood Education Vol. 19, Nos. 1 2, Fall 2004 and Winter 2004 Parry, S. and M. Hayden. 1993. Supervising Higher Degree Research Students. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Mans Relationship to the Land in John Steinbecks Grapes of Wrath Essa

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Man's relationship to the land undergoes a transformation throughout John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Initially, back in Oklahoma, each family feels a strong attachment to the land because the ancestors of these farmers fought and cleared the Indians out of the land, made it suitable for farming, and worked year after year in the fields so that each generation would be provided for. Passing down the land to successive generations, the farmers come to realize that the land is all that they own. It is their family's source of sustenance. However, the strong bond between man and the land is broken when the bank comes to vacate the tenants during hard times.   The tractors hired by the bank literally tear down the bond between man and the land. Due to the eviction, the farmers are forced to move to California, where work is supposedly in demand. As each family takes off for California, it no longer feels a connection to the lands through which it is traveling. Once it reaches California, it feels no connection to its land. For the first time, it is forced to be dependent on somebody else's generosity in distributing jobs, and most importantly, somebody else's land. Thus, in California, the relationship between man and land is not as strong as it was in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The change in this relationship is due in part to the mercilessness of the bank, and in the end, man loses because its connection to the only significant thing it has ever owned is gone. Once the families travel to California, each family member's soul stays back in Oklahoma, making it difficult to adjust to working on lands that have not been cultivate d by their own family for generations.    The land of each generatio... ...job, but instead, little is offered, because of the numbers that they are coming in. Ultimately, one must conclude that no matter how poor a family may be, without land, all is lost in pursuit of a replacement of the heritage that has been destroyed by a superior power. Works Cited and Consulted: Conder, John J. "Steinbeck and Nature's Self: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 125-140. French, Warren. John Steinbeck. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975. Levant, Howard. "The Fully Matured Art: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 35-62. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1978. Wallsten, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine. Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. New York: The Viking Press, 1975.

Ethics and “A Few Good Men” Essay

The movie is about two marines indicted for the murder of a fellow marine in their platoon. Private First Class (PFC) William Santiago died because of lactic acidosis triggered by the assault inflicted by Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private Lowden Downey. This assault was the result of a direct order by the platoon commander Lieutenant Kendrick. The order was to train Santiago to respect the Code of the Marines and the chain of command. Private Santiago had broken this chain and written directly to the NIS asking for a transfer, in exchange for offering information about an illegal fence-line shooting. When Colonel Nathan Jessep, commander of the marines stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, learned of this letter, he ordered the â€Å"training† of Private Santiago. In Guantanamo Bay, this â€Å"training† was referred to as â€Å"Code Red†, which was defined as the discipline of marines within the unit, by the unit, without involving the proper authorities – navy Jag Corp. When the navy learned of Private Santiago?s death, Dawson and Downey were placed under arrest, and moved to Washington DC to be court-martialed. After a thorough litigation by defense attorney, Lt. Danial Kaffee, the court found Colonel Jessep and Lt. Kendrik guilty of the murder of PFC Santiago because they ordered the ?Code Red?. Dawson and Downey were cleared of charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but were found guilty of conduct unbecoming a marine, and were discharged from the Marine Corp. 6. Normative Ethical Question: Did Dawson and Downey do the right thing by following the order? Dawson and Downey’s actions were in strict accordance with the orders given to them by their platoon commander, and were thus justified. The Marines believe, â€Å"You follow orders or people die.† This was primarily applicable during wartime when questioning an order can cause the lives of the marine and his fellow soldiers. Although reserved for wartime, the marines in their day-to-day military life practice this belief. So when time comes for the marines to go to war, the thought of questioning an order never crosses their mind regardless of the severity of the order. Following  orders given by a superior officer is a part of the marine discipline, and breaking this discipline is not tolerated in armed forces. The order given to Dawson and Downey was to â€Å"train† PFC Santiago. Santiago’s aggravated heart condition was the primary reason of his death, and Dawson and Downey having followed their order were unfortunate to find Santiago dead in the ‘training’ process. Had Santiago been physically fit, he would have in all likelihood, survived the ‘training.’ However on the charge of becoming a united states marine they were found guilty as charged. The reasoning for this is as follows: Dawson and Downey should have ignored the â€Å"Code Red† ordered by Colonel Jessup, and should have reported him to the proper authorities at the navy Jag Corp. The â€Å"training† also known as the â€Å"Code Red† was known to have harmful consequences. There were two examples of the severity of the â€Å"Code Red† shown in the movie: The first example was that of Private Bell, a soldier, getting nothing but water for a period of one week to keep him alive. The second example involved a soldier been given a â€Å"Code Red† for dropping a gun during a training exercise. His punishment was to put glue on his hands, and have his arm punched for about twenty minutes. Evidently, a â€Å"Code Red† in military parlance meant punishment in its higher degree. PFC Santiago was known to be a weak person. Dawson and Downey ignoring the fact that PFC Santiago’s condition was deteriorating still followed Col. Jessup’s order for â€Å"Code Red† on Santiago. They should have been aware of the fact that â€Å"Code Red† would cause irreparable damage to PFC Santiago’s health; on humanitarian grounds, Dawson and Downey should have contacted the proper authorities at the navy Jag Corp for a fair assessment of the order. Looking at it from a different perspective, Dawson and Downey would have been morally right to have neglected the order given to them by their superior. However, they were bound to their duty; overriding their commanding officer’s orders would have placed their career at stake. This case involves an ethical dilemma for the following reasons: 1. A murder has been committed. It is not acceptable to take a human life merely because this individual doesn’t get along with the rest of the company. 2. The investigation of the murder is hindered. It is not acceptable to lie about the cause of death in an effort to preserve public relations or personal esteem. 3. Cadets and officers lie under oath in court. It is unacceptable to lie in court. The military has determined that it is essential this case be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. A sub-group in the military can’t make its own rules of military morality. PFC Santiago is treated as a means rather than being treated as an end. The murder was immoral in every sense and those causing the murder should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. We further stipulate that it is unacceptable for a coverup of the murder. Colonel Nathan Jessup defends the practice of lying under an area of lying covered by Plato. Plato gave support for some lies when he said: â€Å"It is the business of the rulers of the city, if it is anybody’s, to tell lies, deceiving both its enemies and its own citizens for the benefit of the city; and no one else must touch this privilege.†(1) If using the Plato type justification for the coverup, Jessup and those around him have a deluded sense of their place in national security. Their actions are not for the preservation of military. Their actions and lies are for preservation of their own positions†¦ The responsibility of the commander to make sure his marines are prepared for any sort of danger from the enemy. Colonel Nathan Jessup claims that code  red as a method of training for soldiers was the American way. He defends the practice as that which is indispensable to defend the country. This reminds me of Plato?s conception of warriors where there is no place for the weak or sick people. The only difference between these two cases is that Plato would have not hesitated to propose euthanasia for such unproductive warriors. Colonel Jessup on the other hand proposed to train them by using force if necessary. . However, he uses intense form of punishment for the tiniest mistakes and flaws. So he cannot be justify such a punishment in the name of national security. But in today?s world such practices are detested and are against humanitarian grounds and any form of justification for their practice is barbaric. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) is a military officer who has covered up a murder. When he is in court on the witness stand, Nicholson, yells, â€Å"You want to know the truth? You want to know the truth? Well, you can’t handle the truth.† Nicholson’s testimony is that some military crimes must be covert for national security purposes. He implies that it is acceptable to murder one cadet who isn’t going along with the rest of the company. He states it is acceptable for him to lie about the incident under oath to protect the company involved as well as the military overall. Kant declares: â€Å"A lie is a lie†¦whether it be told with good or bad intent†¦But if a lie does no harm to anyone and no one’s interests are affected by it, is it a lie? Certainly.†(2) Kant believes truthfulness is a duty, an â€Å"unconditional duty which holds in all circumstances.†(3) According to the categorical imperative, if there is even one case in which it is acceptable to lie and honesty can be overridden, then the perfect† status of the duty not to lie is compromised. Kant is most strident in not allowing for even a seemingly innocent lie, which could save a life instead of causing harm. He merely asserts that if something terrible happens it is not your fault. The terrible act is something wholly unjustified in the first place.(4) Duty is often represented by Kant and his deontological views on lying. Kant tells us that it is never acceptable to lie, and places this on the level of  a moral law, or a â€Å"categorical imperative.† He contends that lies always harm others–the individual or society. â€Å"To be truthful (honest) in all declarations, therefore, is a sacred and absolutely commanding decree of reason, limited by no expediency.†(5) Utilitarian Jeremy Bentham also would not allow for the Jessup defense of the coverup. Bentham delivered a frothy lecture to England’s judges who were using their power and lying to the people. Bentham sees nothing more abhorrent than using lies and power to further one’s position†¦.(6) The justification for the behaviors is weak, with hundreds of years of morality, ethics, and laws written in opposition to Jessup’s rationale. In the particular case of PFC Santiago, Colonel jessup seems to be aggravated by his appeal to the NIS and his breach of confidentiality of his unit. This brings us to the another moral debate. Was Santiago right in his decision to give false information of an illegal fence line shooting? We can make two speculations here. Either Santiago lied about the fence line shooting in a desperate attempt to get noticed by the authorities which could get him transferred for the information or he was mistaken about the shooting. This is to say that he did not realized that the mirror had engaged to fire first and Dawsen just retaliated in defence. Santiago can easily be forgiven for the latter. However, in the former case, normatively he should not have done what he did. But that was the only practical thing he could do. Even though we can easily blame Santiago for lying, we should praise his attempt to break away from the blind acceptance of the principles which ruled the lives of other marines. Even though Santtiago was physically weaker than the rest of the Platoon he had the mental capacity to fight against the odds of the absurd life in which he was trying to survive. This reminds me of the mahabharatta where Lord Krishna taught the Pandavas that it is good to lie got the fight for the Good. (I know that Kant would not agree with me) In A Few Good Men the debate is one of to whom is the ultimate duty owed and  where does ‘the law’ fit into the equation? The soldiers facing court martial display their ultimate affiliation firmly?first and foremost their duty is to their marine corps; god and country are secondary to the bond between their comrades and this is the fulcrum of the film: are orders to be obeyed at all costs and where does the buck stop? Professor Alfonso Gomez-Lobo quotes â€Å"Neither can military ethics properly exist without the concept of ordering. By ordering, I do not mean telling subordinates what to do. I refer, instead, to moral structuring and ethical priorities.† In the movie â€Å"A Few Good Men†, a Marine lance corporal tells his lawyers that the â€Å"code† is based upon â€Å"unit, corps, God, country.† He has it, of course, all wrong. In fact, many illegal activities or stupid mistakes in the military services are the result of leaders’ failures to order wisely and well. The duty of a marine to follow the orders of a superior officer. The word duty here needs to be explained. It is the duty of the marine to fallow the orders of his superior officer if they are justified or legal. In Cuba however, disobeying an order implies to commit a crime. But since Code red is a practice discouraged by law, it is the duty of the marine to disobey such an order. An officer is always human and to equate him to be the ultimate legal authority is to make him invincible. It is this act of deception and blind faith that lets the powerful exploit. When an institution demands complete faith in its principles, the individuals within the institution are dependent on it, strive to maintain it and become incapable of independent thinking. At times like these the ethical question crops us: which is more important? guiding principles of life or humans, code of honour or PFC Santiago. As for the Platoons annoyance on Santiago’s betrayal for the unit and selfishness, I don’t think it is valid. It would have been a different case had there been some compassion for Santiago within his Unit. His friends beat him up as a part of following orders, to keep up their jobs. From this perspective, they too are selfish. The only difference is that Santiago is  towards the receiving end of brutalities, and it is convenient for the rest of the Platoon who were comparably stronger to talk about the loyalty within the unit. Interestingly, Lieutenant Kendrick too believe in the ‘proper authority of God or his commanding officer Colonel Nathan R Jessup’ Here we see that blind faith is associated with both God and the Colonel Moreover, the Colonel starts associating himself with God who protects and punishes others and expects the respect of all. He thinks that he is the personification of certain unquestionable principles. That the colonel lives by the rules and notions of the Marine Corps and doesn’t fully comprehend the world outside. Both Dawson and Kaffee are good at what they do. That?s all they have in common. The contrast between the disciplined Dawson and the flippant Kaffee can be traced to their system of beliefs and their environment. Dawson mentions that he joined the navy so that he could live by a code. He believes that he did his duty and did it well and was even ready to face its consequences, but not plead guilty. Here we see the romanticized version of the code of honor. He failed to realize that the real strength of character lies in his discretion to protect the weak and not train him to protect himself. He lives in the misconceptions where certain principles appear Dawson is like a person who wants to be religious and associates himself with religious practices {no matter what they are} which gives him a sense of satisfaction. Kaffee on the other hand has no delusions about the law. His only criterion is to solve his case as soon as possible with the best interest of his client at heart. He believes that a case is not won by the law but the lawyer. He seems to have lost his faith in all legal ethics due to the way  law is practiced around him and he seems to be a part of the system too. Or in the least he has least to live with it. Daniel Kaffee is a smart, flippant, good-looking young Navy lawyer. in his late 20’s, 15 months out of Harvard Law School, and a brilliant legal mind waiting for a courageous spirit to drive it. He is, at this point in his life, passionate about nothing †¦ except maybe softball. His father was a renowned jurist, and Dan feels the burden of his father’s reputation. Indeed, his casual, tongue-in-cheek attitude to the law is his way of avoiding comparison with his father. You can’t fail if you don’t even try. However, he lived in the shadows of his father having no misconceptions regarding different facets of law. He does not believe in a romanticized version of his profession. He did not believe his case to be a winner and first attempts to find an easy way out. Even though he sympathized with the state of his clients who were forced to carry out their orders, were blinded by the belief in false practices like ?Code Red?, he understood the politics associated with the case. His frustration is revealed when he emphasizes that ‘I think you will lose’ and ‘ it does not matter what I believe, it only matters what I can prove..’ Despite these flaws he proves to be an excellent lawyer. This is because unlike the marines. He has learnt to question authority. He has not been conditioned by blind principles. the lawyer defending the two marines in A Few Good Men has to consider whether he should go beyond the legal and ethical codes under which he is bound and accuse a witness on the stand of committing a crime for which the two marines are accused. He of course does and justice is done. In conclusion, it is evident that Dawson and Downey performed their duty as was expected of them. On ethical grounds, they would have been better off notifying the appropriate authorities of the nature of the order and the circumstances in which the order was to be executed. However, as fellow  marines under a commanding officer, they were compelled to follow orders without looking into the ethical or moral aspects of their actions. A marine?s discipline is taken very seriously by his commanding officers; however, this does not imply that discipline takes priority over the mental and physical health of a marine. Santiago?s heart condition was no secret. Despite this fact, he was given the ‘Code Red’ knowing fully well that he may not be able to take the pressure ? definitely, an unethical decision on the part of the authorities concerned.

Assessing your own leadership capability Essay

Understand leadership styles within an organisation 1.1 Review the prevailing leadership styles in the organisation There are a range of leadership styles that can be adopted by organisations in order to try to achieve their goals. Each of these is often suited to certain situations and has drawbacks preventing any one style being the best style of leadership for all situations. Even within organisation different styles of leadership can be identified with this being more prominent in larger organisations with a longer chain of command. One â€Å"study suggests that differences in the leadership styles practised by managers may be blurred in organisations with short chains of command, while it will tend to be pronounced in organisations with long chains of command, other things being equal.† (Oshagbemi T & Gill R, 2004) Within Dacorum Borough Council there are different prevailing leadership styles present at different levels of the organisation. On a corporate level senior management are trying to adopt a transformational style of leadership, which would reflect the changing nature of the organisation. However a trait style of leadership is far more prevalent, with this being of a task orientated nature. This is due to that although ambitious new projects are planned and underway, often work is set in a very formal manner or very inflexible due to the demand of the politicians who have a large influence on how work is undertaken. This is reinforced by the way telling, rather than selling, or preferential gaining true buy-in, has been adopted with very little staff engagement within the senior levels of the organisation. Even since major management changes four years ago when 50% of the senior management team were made redundant the council has still struggled to fully move to the transformational leadership style that it is clearly trying to establish. When the senior management team was reorganised managers were kept who were flexible and could identify and act on opportunities. However given the political constraints I have mentioned above this is often  problematic with the council needing to fulfil often bureaucratic processes. Although much of the work directed from senior management levels is task orientated, once these have been set the middle managers vary across the organisation in their own styles of leadership. The amount these vary is quite dramatic with some areas adopting a laissez-faire approach and others taking a much more autocratic approach to the leadership style that is used. Much of this can be down to personality and the types of work that are being delivered. Tannenbaum & Schmidt looked at the issue of leadership styles within organisation and developed a leadership continuum. The model demonstrates the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team and the level of authority used by the manager. (Tannenbaum, Robert and Schmidt, 1973) This model assists leaders and managers in their choice of leadership pattern by making them aware of the forces which are most relevant. At a middle manager level there are different levels of freedoms within the organisation corresponding to the leadership styles that have been adopted and the service area staff work in. Within my service there is less freedom, as the head of service has a very hand on attitude to certain elements of work, often meaning that rather than having full control over a situation that at best this is done via consultation and more frequently direction. There are three sub teams in my area and even between these different approaches are taken as the head of service is a specialist in one of the areas but has very little interest in another which is reflected in the way that they interact with the managers below. This allows some mangers in the team more freedoms and others less so, thus restricting their own abilities to do there jobs. 1.2 Assess the impact of the prevailing leadership styles on the organisation’s values and performance The task orientated leadership that is demonstrated by Dacorum Borough Council effects the values and performance of the organisation, with the two heavily linked together. With Dacorum being a large complex organisation, which needs to fulfil statutory responsibilities to the tax payers, the senior management need to establish a leadership style that then can both do this but also strive to establish the vast changes that are planned for the organisation in the coming months and years. However this is sometimes at odds with the values that Dacorum have recently been promoting of becoming more innovative and transformational, to match the way in which future working and the physical surroundings themselves will be changing. The task orientated approach leads work and key projects being defined at a senior level with often one of the senior managers taking an active role in the project to oversee these. This has led on occasion to middle managers being disillusioned by having little say over decisions they could be involved in and being told what action is required. This approach may have more positive impacts in areas such as finance and benefits, as this approach would be more suited to a more highly regulated service area which would add certainty in the way work is carried out. One of the core values that the council is fostering is that of creating a high performance culture. However, as I have mentioned above, the style of leadership shown by the senior management can be stifling to the middle level managers below them and not motivate them to want to work towards the vision that they have very little influence over. Middle management at Dacorum has adopted democratic and bureaucratic styles within different areas of the council. Input is taken from lower level managers and a selling approach, rather than telling, used when setting goals and targets. This has a better impact on employees with an understanding of what is trying to be achieved and gains some buy in from those expected to deliver the work programme. This approach will harness better results as the performance of staff under a task orientated or autocratic style when not in a time of crisis. (Unknown (2013)) Be able to review effectiveness of own leadership capability and performance in meeting organisational values and goals 2. 1 Assess own ability to apply different leadership styles in a range of situations Different leadership styles are required for different situations as each style has its own benefits and drawbacks. Examples of when different styles would be required can be seen through Tuckmans (1965) model where teams are forming, storming, norming and performing. As a team is forming, this can be a new team or when new employees have joined the team, the employees need to be given clear direction with reliance upon the leader for both guidance and instruction. During this stage it would be appropriate to adopt a more autocratic approach to leadership; this would be shown towards the left hand side of the Tannenbaum & Schmidt model. Once formed the team would then move to the storming stage where individual’s roles are established. This stage requires coaching to help with uncertainties that could exist within the team and the leadership style to start moving towards the right on the Tannenbaum & Schmidt model. After the storming stage the team will enter the norming, this is where the roles and responsibilities are understood and the team encourage each other with the leader gaining respect. At this stage a democratic style of leadership can be adopted where the leader acts to facilitate rather than give firm direction. The final stage, which some teams may never achieve, is the performing stage. During this stage instruction is no longer required as independence is achieved and the team moves towards shared goals. At this stage a laissez faire style can be adopted where each team member knows what they are doing and needs little guidance. FORMINGSTORMINGNORMINGPERFORMING Team Focus Inclusion: â€Å"Why are we here?† Control: â€Å"I want to have my say.†Openness: â€Å"Let’s do it.† Success: â€Å"Wow, we’re great!† Typical Team Behaviors Dependent on leader/facilitator Uneven/tentative participation Quiet defiance Polite conversation Conflict Question leadership, authority, rules Verbal/nonverbal resistance Dysfunctional behaviour Frustration Give/receive feedback Encourage others Active listening Recognize and discuss differences Trust and comfort Task appears to be effortless Interdependence develops Balanced, supportive participation Differences valued and discussed candidly Facilitator Focus To model openness, disclosure, and active listening To help the team recognize group dynamics and address conflict positively To uncover unspoken issues and encourage self-critique To teach the team to self-facilitate Facilitator Behaviors Listen, especially to what is not said. Be attuned to nonverbal cues that signal apprehension. Intervene. Demonstrate disclosure by expressing your feelings. Ensure objective, goals, and agenda are clear. Use icebreakers to encourage disclosure. Ask team members to clarify their assignments at close of meeting. Pay particular attention to group dynamics. Be specific when describing behaviours. Encourage team members to discuss their feelings. Encourage team members to discuss their interests versus their positions. Immediately point out non-conformance to ground rules. Encourage self-critique. Encourage the full exploration of ideas. Explore inferences. Plan with the team leader how to share leadership role. Coach the team in facilitator skills. Plan brief sessions for the team to recognize progress. Encourage reinforcing and redirecting feedback. As well as this different styles may be appropriate for other reasons, such as adopting a more autocratic approach in times of crisis to speed up decision making without dissent, such as in times of war. When I first started out as a manager I was managing three members of staff, all of which were new to their roles, with two new to the council. The team at this point was very much in a forming stage where clear direction was  needed from all members of the team and a decisive autocratic style was needed to give stability and assurance to the team. Of the three employees it was clear that each had different strengths and weaknesses as well as goals and ambition within their roles. Naturally I have a tendency towards a theory Y (McGregor, 1960) style of management which offers more coaching rather than taking such an autocratic approach. This situation required this firm approach and it was only was each team member was confortable in their roles and the storming process had finished that I was able to move towards my natural tendencies. It was noted that while all team members joined at approximately the same time some settled and became familiar with their responsibilities and objectives quicker than other team members. This meant I could take different approaches when dealing with different members of the team, as some where still storming while others had a clear grasp on their role and were now performing. Moving forwards the team will be changing as will how we work at the council. While we move through this process a transformational style of leadership will be of most benefit to the team, who are now well formed. Rather than continue to use a situational style, the team understand how their work fits in to the organisation goals and with the wider vision. By fostering the feelings of trust, admiration, loyalty and respect, and because of the qualities of the transformational style of leadership, staff are willing to work harder than originally expected (Bass & Riggio, 2006). This style requires the leader to act as a role model for followers, to inspire them while challenging them to take greater ownership for their work. This will be explored in more detail under section 3.1. 2.2 Assess own ability to communicate the organisation’s values and goals to staff in own area Dacorum Borough Council has both clear values and goals. The goals are set out through the corporate vision as well corporate documents by both senior management and middle managers. The values come through from the vision of the council as well as more formalised values within corporate policy documents, although many values, such as performing a good public service  are not explicit in corporate documents. To communicate these values and goals to staff within my own area I use range of communication tools and methods. The most important thing to establish is the individual needs of each member of staff to make a judgement on which methods will work best to get the messages through that I would like to deliver. With all staff in my area who I manage I hold regular 1-2-1’s and appraisals, This helps me understand what types of communication and interaction suits them best as well as giving a clear opportunity to talk about their objectives and demonstrate how these fit in to the wider goals and then to the vision of the organisation. Commitment to goals & values are built through these meetings, where action plans are linked to the key delivery documents (PID’s) which are focused around delivering the organisation goal, which creates the ‘golden thread’ through all the work we do. Feedback through these 1-2-1’s is an important mechanism as this can reinforce positive behaviours that are in keeping with the corporate values and goals although once again the level of feedback will need to be different for different members of staff depending on how they like to be managed. Another method that I regularly use to help communicate the key goals is through regular team meetings. At these meetings it is also important to recognise that the way one speaks to a group may need to differ from interacting with individuals, as it is important to find the best method that helps communicate the goals and values to the group as just using the same techniques may alienate some members of staff. To reinforce the values it is important to ensure that when the goals are set they are grounded in the values of the organisation. This helps that when setting individual objectives with staff that the link between all of this work is clear and easy to identify and understand. Gaining the buy in from the staff ensures that they will By using the corporate values in the work we set it helps to create a consistency and fairness when dealing with all members of staff so that one approach is adopted. As well as this we also hold annual or bi-annual service events where the key messages and values from the organisation are reinforced, with this giving members f staff to not only give feedback on their objectives but also ion the goals which have set. 2.3 Assess own ability to motivate others and build commitment to the organisation’s values and goals In motivating a team the first aspect is to identify what it is that motivates the individuals. When holding regular 1-2-1’s with staff I would look to establish what motivates them so I can look to develop a framework for how I can create the conditions for them to be motivated. It is important to remember that rather than trying to motivate staff we should be trying to create the conditions where staff will be motivated. Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfil the next one, and so on. This model can be used to assist in the understanding of human behaviour and understanding motivation by listing the key driving forces for individuals. Following this framework it shows how manages nee to create the correct environment for their staff and the staff will then act to motivate themselves. Now the team I manage is settled, with all the members of staff settled in their roles, I am able to identify mechanisms that will help create the conditions to motivate each member of staff. Although each member of staff is an individual it is possible to sometimes group individuals together if they share the same individual motivations, e.g. if two members of the team were both seeking further social needs through work then it may be possible  to use the tools to help achieve a situation to motivate both of these employees. Setting clear goals which jointly created objectives can feed into helps in this process of staff understanding why certain tasks are being carried out and helps to create greater ownership of the work they are doing. The CMI motivating the demotivated checklist offers other examples of how staff can be addressed to increase motivation within the work place. The checklist includes offering help with planning, involve the unmotivated, try to get buy in, and make sure the rules are clear. These examples have been carried through to help identify when these approaches can be used to address individual situations. Be able to adopt an effective leadership style to motivate staff to achieve organisational values and goals 3.1 Justify the most effective leadership style to motivate staff in own area, to achieve the organisation’s values and goals While one needs to ensure in a given situation the leadership style that is chosen be explicit in order to remain consistent and ensure that a clear message is delivered, the leadership style chosen must be correct for the situation and be able to be reviewed as a situation changes. Given the range of leadership styles that have been identified it will be important that the correct style is chosen by a leader in order to get the most out of staff. Theories have evolved from the â€Å"great man† notion of heroic leaders, through trait theories, behaviourist theories, situational leadership, contingency theory and on to transactional and transformational leadership. As I have described in previous questions the team are currently in a state where each member knows their roles and are comfortable in the job they are doing. Dacorum Borough Council will be changing the way we work over the  next two years and this will affect all staff in the council including those who work in my area. This will mean that the leadership style that I take on will need to be able to accommodate these changes and motivate staff to get the best results in a time of change. Given the changing nature of the team and the changes due to take place in the future a contingency-situational theory may be appropriate. These theories were developed to indicate that the style to be used is contingent upon such factors as the situation, the people, the task, the organisation, and other environmental variables. (Boulden & Gosling (2003)) A situational style of leadership, such as through the Hersey-Blanchard model of leadership, allows the developmental levels of a leader’s subordinates to play the greatest role in determining which leadership styles are most appropriate. From here four leadership styles develop: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating. This approach was used when the team first formed and as the team matured and moved towards performing, on the Tuckman stages of team development, so I could change my style to reduce task behaviour and increase relationship behaviour until the followers reach a moderate level of maturity A more recent approach would have been to use a situational model as described by Tannenbaum & Schmidt. Rather than responding to the maturity of subordinates they view leadership along a continuum from one extreme of autocracy to the other as democracy with subordinate’s participation and involvement increasing as you move along. This approach allows you to change based on the situation you are in and more readily respond to changes in the environment. The theories mentioned previously describe ways in which could be used to successfully manage my team, however the leadership style that has the potential to motivate staff in my area most will through a transformational style of leadership. Employees in my area are now well established and performing well but in the future more will be expected from each of us and I feel that this form of leadership has the most potential to give  subordinates genuine self-esteem and self-actualisation. This style of leadership requires me, as the leader, to take actions to increase employees awareness of what is right and important to raise their motivational maturity and to move them to go beyond their own self-interests for the good of the group and the organisation. Transformational Style Leader Behaviour 1) Idealized Behaviours: living one’s ideals †¢ Talk about their most important values and beliefs †¢ Specify the importance of having a strong sense of purpose †¢ Consider the moral and ethical consequences of decisions †¢ Champion exciting new possibilities †¢ Talk about the importance of trusting each other 2) Inspirational Motivation: inspiring others †¢ Talk optimistically about the future †¢ Talk enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished †¢ Articulate a compelling vision of the future †¢ Express confidence that goals will be achieved †¢ Provide an exciting image of what is essential to consider †¢ Take a stand on controversial issues 3) Intellectual Stimulation: stimulating others †¢ Re-examine critical assumptions to question whether they are appropriate †¢ Seek differing perspectives when solving problems †¢ Get others to look at problems from many different angles †¢ Suggest new ways of looking at how to complete assignments †¢ Encourage non-traditional thinking to deal with traditional problems †¢ Encourage rethinking those ideas which have never been questioned before 4) Individualized Consideration: coaching and development †¢ Spend time teaching and coaching †¢ Treat others as individuals rather than just as members of the group †¢ Consider individuals as having different needs, abilities, and aspirations from others †¢ Help others to develop their strengths †¢ Listen attentively to others’ concerns †¢ Promote self-development 5) Idealized Attributes: Respect, trust, and faith †¢ In still pride in others for being associated with them †¢ Go beyond their self-interests for the good of the group †¢ Act in ways that build others’ respect †¢ Display a sense of power and competence †¢ Make personal sacrifices for others’ benefit †¢ Reassure others that obstacles will be overcome Transformational Leadership Styles and Behaviours (Bass and Riggio, 2006) This approach allows for the elevation of the needs for employees (from security needs to needs for achievement and self-development) which in turn will allow for greater productivity with well-motivated staff and allow for high performance. 3.2 Implement the most effective leadership style in order to motivate staff in own area to achieve the organisation’s values and goals As there are significant barriers that exist in order to implement a change in leadership style at the senior management level within the organisation this approach will be first adopted within my service to use as a test case for the wider organisation. Based on whether this style of leadership is successful this can then be reported back through the organisation through the various senior management meetings. A first step to adopting this within my service area will be to meet with other managers of people, as this approach will need to be adopted across the service area to become effective. Once the buy-in of front line managers and the middle managers has been secured I will meet with staff to discuss the organisational values and see how these fit with theirs. At these meetings I will also again set a clear direction of where and what we want to achieve and reiterate how their specific objectives are working towards our goals of making Dacorum a better place to live and work. These themes will then also run through team meetings and 1-2-1’s to further reinforce this message. The next step will be to set the example of a positive new direction and embracing the changes that we are about to face both for the team and for the council as a whole. Regular communication of these messages will be made through regular meetings and as the changes draw closer team days to look at how we can take the most out of these future opportunities. Some of my time will be allocated towards both mentoring and coaching of staff to help bring out their strengths and to work on any areas which the staff feel require further development. References: Bass B M & Riggio R E (2006). Transformational Leadership (Second ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Bolden R & Gosling J (2003), A review of Leadership theory and competency frameworks, Centre for leadership studies: University of Exeter. Hersey P & Blanchard K H (1969), Life cycle theory of leadership, Training and Development Journal, 23 (5), pp 26-34 Maslow A H (1943), A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), pp370-96. McGregor D (1960), The human side of enterprise. McGraw Hill Higher Education Oshagbemi T & Gill R (2004), Differences in leadership styles and behaviour across hierarchical levels in UK organisations, Emerald 25. Tannenbaum R & Schmidt W (1973), Choosing a leadership pattern. Harvard Business Review, May-June 1973, Cambridge, Mass Taraschi R (1998), cutting the ties that bind, Training and development USA, Nov vol. 52 no. 11, pp. 12-14. Tuckman B (1965), development sequence in small goups. Psychological bulletin. 63, pp 84-99, Bethseda Unknown (2013), Various ILM 5 course handouts, May-July

Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions The WritePass Journal

Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions Introduction Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions IntroductionBibliographyRelated Introduction Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions, be it government or corporate or even citizen. Banking sectors of many developing countries was recently liberalised. One such country is India. The Indian liberalisation took place due to the ineffectiveness of the banking sector. The liberalisation leads to cut throat competition. Post liberalisation major players from the banking sectors of developed economies also extended their geographical boundaries towards India. India with a good population and the massive development results in a good opportunity. In order to compete and survive in this competition there is a need of good foundation of customers who are loyal to the bank. This group of customers can be gained through retention programs. Customer retention in Indian banking sector is proving vital with time. There are recent problems like the financial recession, where the banks can rely only on these customers. Many banks in the Indian sector have already experienced the importance of customer retention and are improving in the customer retention activities by increased investments. The most important factor of any firm is the customer. Without customers, a firm cannot do business, as they are the end users of the products. Peter Drucker in his book The Practice of Management has stated that, ‘the customer is the force who decides the business, the production, and the profitability of the firm (Parasuraman et al., 2006) In today’s world customers are not just local but they are global, companies in this era do not just concentrate on the local or host country markets but also the cross border business. This revolution is due to the massive development in the field of communication, technologies, privatisation and deregulations in the economies. This has not just expanded the markets but also has increased the competition. The competition is intense even for the survival, and this can be met up by only having good customer relationship. The work does not stop at acquiring customers. The real efforts starts after the customer has been acquired, i t is crucial for a company to offer them unique products and maintain a friendly relationship and proper communication channel with the customers in order to make sure that the business is not lost. Businesses use the tool of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to retain their customers in today’s business. CRM is a process in which companies identify its profitable customers and then shapes its interaction with the customers in a way that increases the current and future prospective of business. (Bejou et al., 2006) This sector is facing rapid changes as a result of the economic reform brought about by the Government of India a decade ago (Kamath et al., 2003) This reform is a result of inefficient way of working in the banking systems (Turner and Arun, 2003).As a result of this everything in relation to banking is changing, right from the ownership pat terns, the funding its cost and availability to the prospects of earning. There is a big change in the type of services offered. The change in the interest rates has also fluctuating, as there is a reduction in the spread of the currency, security and loans (Kamath et al., 2003).The reform programs also includes the implementation of a prudential approach to bank regulation, which focuses on minimum capital adequacy requirements and supervisory control via on-site and offsite monitoring (Turner and Arun, 2003). Apart from all these the banking regulators in India are struggling not because of the slow failure of Indian banks but also due to the r apid growth of the sector. As there is a rapid growth in the Indian banks lending pat tern. Apart from this there is a continued increase in the consumer credit card sector. The growth of the Indian companies, their expansion and overseas acquisition is resulting in the rapid growth of corporate banking. The next sect ion is the investment banking which is also increasing at a higher pace. These things are resulting in more and more demand for banking products. Banks like ICICI has been growing at very rapid face. Its profit growth in the year ended March 2007 is 22% (Bukoveczky, 2007). There is massive change in this sector in regards to the development caused due to the change or advancement of technology, which has also erased the traditional boundaries of banking and also increased the business geographically. Not only the companies but also the governments are seeking better banking services for their organisational efficiency. In spite of al l the most profitable and the major business for these banks are the Indian consumers. The change in the income levels and the cultural change, in regards to westernised lifestyle are increasing day by day. Indian consumers seek more and more finance and are generate more asset creation. This has lead to massive growth in the Indian retail-banking sector. The backbone to serve all these segment of customers is a strong back up of technologies. This offers the bank convenience in managing the retail, corporate and government clients efficiently and effectively (Kamath et al., 2003). In some Indian commercial banks like ICIC I, Bank of India the stress is more on relationship building with the existing customers. Bank of India advertises as their main mission is to build relationship beyond banking (Bank of India, 2003). Thus in this excessive competition in the banking sector is seen increasing day by day with the advent of various foreign banks like the Duetche, Barclays have brought about a revolution in the customer service, since then not only creation of customer but also retention of customer through customer relationship models have taken pace (Sureshchander, Rajendran and Anantharaman, 2003) Customer retention is a structure of act ions carried out by a firm to augment their process, depending upon the positive position of the customers that result in success through customer purchase. Another definition for customer retentions stresses more on the firm’s commitment in case of customer retention. The companies’ processes should enhance, the constructive outline to shape the behaviour of the customers with the existing pat terns keeping the future objectives of the customers mind set of business with the firm. This is to establish the future relationship with the customer. The banking growth became the heart of the economical growth in India (Prasad, Bhide and Ghosh, 2002).These reform brought a massive growth in this sector and also increased the competition by two fold, this has also brought about a huge pressure to the Indian banking sector (Pauchant and Roux-Dufort, 1993). Bibliography Bank of India (2003) Bank of India, 1 December, [Online], Available:  Ã‚   HYPERLINK bankofindia.com/  Ã‚   bankofindia.com/   [12 April 2011]. Bejou, D., Ramaseshan, B., Jain, S.C., Mason, C. and Pancras, J. (2006) Issues and Perspective in Global Customer Relation Management, Journal of Service Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 195-207. Bukoveczky, E. (2007) Banking on Indias Continued Growth (IBN), Regioanl Business News. Kamath, K.V., Kohli, S.S., Shenoy, P.S., Kumar, R., Naik, R.M., Kuppuwamy, P.T. and Ravichandran, N. (2003) Indian Banking Sector: Challenges and Oppurtunities, COLLOQUIUM, vol. 28, no. 3. Parasuraman, A., Shah, D., Rust, R.T., Staelin, R. and Day, G.S. (2006) The Path to Customer Centricity, Journal of Service Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 113-124. Pauchant, T.C. and Roux-Dufort, C. (1993) Rumors and Crises : a case study in the banking industry, Organization Environment, vol. 7, no. 3, September, pp. 231-251. Prasad, A., Bhide, M.G. and Ghosh, S. (2002) Banking Sector Reforms: A Critical Overview, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 37, no. 5, February, pp. 2-8. Sureshchander, G.S., Rajendran, C. and Anantharaman, R. (2003) Customer Perception of Total Quality Service in the Banking Sector of a Developing Economy A Critical Analysis, The Internatioanl Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 233-242. Turner, J.D. and Arun, T.G. (2003) Finacial Sector Refor and Corporate Government of Bank in Developing Ecomies: The Indian Experience, South Asia Economic Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 188-204. Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions Introduction Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction Developed and developing economies depend on banking sector for all the financial transactions, be it government or corporate or even citizen. Banking sectors of many developing countries was recently liberalised. One such country is India. The Indian liberalisation took place due to the ineffectiveness of the banking sector. The liberalisation leads to cut throat competition. India has a huge population and the massive development results in opportunity. In order to compete and survive in this competition there is a need for a strong concrete base with loyal customers. This group of customers can be gained through retention programs. Customer retention in Indian banking sector is proving vital with time. There are recent problems like the financial recession, where the banks can rely only on these customers. Many banks in the Indian sector have already experienced the importance of customer retention and are improving in the customer retention activities by increased investments. Ba nk of India was the 1st bank to introduce the 1st online banking facility to more than 100-Thousand customers. The most important factor of any firm is the customer. Without customers, a firm cannot do business, as they are the end users of the products. Peter Drucker in his book The Practice of Management has stated that, ‘the customer is the force who decides the business, the production, and the profitability of the firm (Parasuraman et al., 2006). In today’s world customers are regarded as the king with the status equal to The God. They are not just local but they are all over the world. Banking companies in this era do not just concentrate on the local or host country markets but also the cross border business. For instance ICICI has 25% of its investors who are NRI (ICICI Bank Ltd., 1999). This revolution is due to the major change and development in the field of communication, technologies, privatisation and deregulations in the economies.   As a result of this there is a creation of new market and also rise to competition. The competition is intense even for the survival, and this can be met up by only having good customer relationship. The work does not stop at acquiring customers. The real efforts starts after the customer has been acquired, it is crucial for a company to offer them unique products and maintain a friendly relationship and proper communication channel with the customers in order to make sure that the business is not lost. A healthy and long term business relation will provide a great benefit to banks. It is less costly to maintain any relationship with any existing customer. At the same time, a loyal customer will also gain much more benefits in return such as low rate of interest on loans and credit cards. Businesses use the tool of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to retain their customers in today’s business. According to Bejou et al, CRM is a process in which companies identify its profitable customers and then shapes its interaction with the customers in a way that increases the current and future prospective of business. (Bejou et al., 2006). The Banking sector is facing rapid changes as a result of the economic reform brought about by the Government of India a decade ago (Kamath et al., 2003). This reform is a result of inefficient way of working in the banking systems (Turner and Arun, 2003). As a result of this everything in relation to banking is changing, right from the ownership patterns, the funding its cost and availability to the prospects of earning. There is a big change in the type of services offered. The reform program also includes the implementation of a prudential approach to bank regulation, which focuses on minimum capital adequacy requirements and supervisory control via on-site and offsite monitoring (Turner and Arun, 2003). Thus there is a feel of control of power, this is a post-modernist view. Apart from all these the banking regulators in India are struggling not because of the slow failure of Indian banks but also due to the rapid growth of the sector. As there is a rapid growth in the Indian ban ks lending pattern. Apart from this there is a continued increase in the consumer credit card sector. The growth of the Indian companies, their expansion and overseas acquisition is resulting in the rapid growth of corporate banking. The next section is the investment banking which is also increasing at a higher pace. These things are resulting in more and more demand for banking products. Banks like ICICI has been growing at very rapid face. Its profit growth in the year ended March 2007 is 22% (Bukoveczky, 2007). There is massive change in this sector in regards to the development caused due to the change or advancement of technology, which has also erased the traditional boundaries of banking and also increased the business geographically. For instance, due to the net banking facilities a customer can view and print its account statement at home and also transfer the money at the same time. There is no need to physically go at the bank. Not only the companies but also the governments are seeking better banking services for their organisational efficiency. SBI has the largest ATM machines; in 1994 it had 200 which rose to 3400 in 2004 (Joydeep and Renny, 2005). The change in the income levels and the cultural change, in regards to westernised lifestyle are increasing day by day. Indian consumers seek more and more finance and are generate more asset creation. This has lead to massive growth in the Indian retail-banking sector. The backbone to serve all these segment of customers is a strong b ack up of technologies. This offers the bank convenience in managing the retail, corporate and government clients efficiently and effectively (Kamath et al., 2003). In some Indian commercial banks like ICICI, Bank of India the stress is more on relationship building with the existing customers. Bank of India advertises as their main mission is to build relationship beyond banking (Bank of India, 2003). Thus in this excessive competition in the banking sector is seen increasing day by day with the advent of various foreign banks like the Duetche, Barclays have brought about a revolution in the customer service, since then not only creation of customer but also retention of customer through customer relationship models have taken pace (Sureshchander, Rajendran and Anantharaman, 2003). Customer retention is a structure of act ions carried out by a firm to augment their process, depending upon the positive position of the customers that result in success through customer purchase. Another definition for customer retentions stresses more on the firm’s commitment in case of customer retention. The companies’ processes should enhance, the constructive outline to shape the behaviour of the customers with the existing pat terns keeping the future objectives of the customers mind set of business with the firm. This is to establish the future relationship with the customer. The banking growth became the heart of the economical growth in India (Prasad, Bhide and Ghosh, 2002).These reform brought a massive growth in this sector and also increased the competition by two fold, this has also brought about a huge pressure to the Indian banking sector (Pauchant and Roux-Dufort, 1993). References Bank of India (2003) Bank of India, 1 December, [Online], Available:   HYPERLINK bankofindia.com/ bankofindia.com/   [12 April 2011]. Bejou, D., Ramaseshan, B., Jain, S.C., Mason, C. and Pancras, J. (2006) Issues and Perspective in Global Customer Relation Management, Journal of Service Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 195-207. Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2003) Business Research Methods, 1st edition, Oxford University Press. Bukoveczky, E. (2007) Banking on Indias Continued Growth (IBN), Regioanl Business News. ICICI Bank Ltd. (1999) Sixth Annual Report, Mumbai, India. Joydeep, S. and Renny, T. (2005) What Indian consumer want from bank, 2005th edition, India: McKinsey. Kamath, K.V., Kohli, S.S., Shenoy, P.S., Kumar, R., Naik, R.M., Kuppuwamy, P.T. and Ravichandran, N. (2003) Indian Banking Sector: Challenges and Oppurtunities, COLLOQUIUM, vol. 28, no. 3. Parasuraman, A., Shah, D., Rust, R.T., Staelin, R. and Day, G.S. (2006) The Path to Customer Centricity, Journal of Service Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 113-124. Pauchant, T.C. and Roux-Dufort, C. (1993) Rumors and Crises : a case study in the banking industry, Organization Environment, vol. 7, no. 3, September, pp. 231-251. Prasad, A., Bhide, M.G. and Ghosh, S. (2002) Banking Sector Reforms: A Critical Overview, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 37, no. 5, February, pp. 2-8. Sureshchander, G.S., Rajendran, C. and Anantharaman, R. (2003) Customer Perception of Total Quality Service in the Banking Sector of a Developing Economy A Critical Analysis, The Internatioanl Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 233-242. Turner, J.D. and Arun, T.G. (2003) Finacial Sector Refor and Corporate Government of Bank in Developing Ecomies: The Indian Experience, South Asia Economic Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 188-204.

The Meaning Behind West African Kente Cloth

The Meaning Behind West African Kente Cloth Kente is a brightly colored, banded material and is the most widely known cloth produced in Africa. Although kente cloth is now identified with the Akan people in West Africa, and particularly the Asante Kingdom, the term originates from the neighboring Fante. Kente cloth is closely related to Adinkra cloth, which has symbols stenciled into cloth and is associated with mourning.​ History Kente cloth is made from thin strips about four cm thick woven together on narrow looms - typically by men. The strips are interlaced to form a fabric which is usually worn wrapped around the shoulders and waist like a toga - the garment is also known as kente. Women wear two shorter lengths to form a skirt and bodice. Originally made from white cotton with some indigo patterning, kente cloth evolved when silk arrived with Portuguese traders in the seventeenth century. Fabric samples were pulled apart for the silken thread, which was then woven into the kente cloth. Later, when skeins of silk became available, more sophisticated patterns were created - although the extortionate cost of the silk meant they were only available to Akan royalty. Mythology and Meaning Kente has its own mythology - claiming the original cloth was taken from the web of a spider - and related superstitions - such as no work can be started or completed on a Friday and that mistakes require an offering to be made to the loom. In kente cloth colors are significant: Blue means loveGreen means growth and energyYellow (gold) means wealth and royaltyRed means violence and anger,White means goodness or victoryGrey means shameBlack means death (or old age) Royalty Even today, when a new design is created, it must first be offered to the royal house. If the king declines to take the pattern, it can be sold to the public. Designs worn by Asante royalty may not be worn by others. Pan-African Diaspora As one of the prominent symbols of African arts and culture, Kente cloth has been embraced by the broader African diaspora (which means people of African descent wherever they might live.) Kente cloth is particularly popular in the United States among African-Americans and can be found on all types of clothing, accessories, and objects. These designs replicate registered Kente designs, but are often mass-produced outside of Ghana with no recognition or payment going to the Akan craftsmen and designers, which Boatema Boateng has argued represents a significant loss of income to Ghana. Sources Boateng, Boatema, The Copyright Thing Doesnt Work Here: Adinkra and Kente Cloth and Intellectual Property in Ghana. University of Minnesota Press, 2011.Smith, Shea Clark. Kente Cloth Motifs, African Arts, vol. 9, no. 1 (Oct. 1975): 36-39.

About me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

About me - Essay Example My first step was to create a timetable for myself with the appropriate timings for all the different tasks. Though the time table did take time but I promised myself that I would stick to it. I allocated a perfect time to all my works according to their importance. Along with this I also bought a small notebook which could fit into my pocket so that I could carry it anywhere with me. This assisted me in the development of the habit of taking small notes so that I did not forget tasks that needed to be performed. The maintenance of a time table was a crucial step since it assisted me in the further steps that I had to take which included reading, memory and concentration. I made it a habit to read two pages of the English newspaper so that my reading could improve. Concentration was always a problem and because of that I could not concentrate on my class lectures. To assist in this, I started allocating an hour everyday to read a book without any break. For enhancing my memory I started writing down things at least thrice that I had to learn. If they were lengthy I would read them more than twice so that I could retain them. Also as soon as a test schedule was received I used to mark it as a top priority on my time table. I also gave my reading time and the time for concentration in this preparation time to read my own text books which would maintain my concentration as well my reading habits. These formulas turned out to be very helpful for me. I excelled in studies with improving grades in every session. Thus proper management and priority of works assists in excelling in one’s studies and it is actually practice that makes one