The Fundamental Mission Of The National Association Of...

Introduction The fundamental mission of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is to promote human well-being as well as to help meet the needs of all people, while paying special attention to the needs and empowerment of people living in poverty, oppressed and vulnerability. The social work profession focuses on human and societal well-being in a social context. The key areas of the profession are to outline the environmental forces responsible for creating and contributing to social problems. Social workers are tasked with promoting social change and social justice on behalf or with the clients. Clients in a social context include an organization, a community, a family, a group or an individual (Parker-Oliver and Demiris,†¦show more content†¦NASW code of ethics Social work involves adherence to professional ethics. A social worker has the obligation to articulate the basic values, ethical standards and principles as he or she undertakes the social work duties. The NASW code of ethics provides the principles standards and values as a guide for the social worker conduct. The NASW code of ethics is relevant to all social professionals regardless of their professional functions, environmental settings and the population they serve. Ethical decision making is core to social work practice and must be upheld in incidents of conflict of interests among social workers. Ethical decision making apply an informed judgment among social workers and it should consider how different issues are judged in a peer review process where ethical standards of social work profession are applied. Ethical decision making is not a straight forward exercise as there are occasions where simple judgments are not available to solve complicated ethical issues (Elizabeth, 2012). Leon’s Two Worlds As a social worker practicing as a counselor, NASW code of ethics can be applied to effectively address Leon’s problem. To begin with, understanding of human diversity is central to this case. There is need to acknowledge and appreciate Leon’s culture including the way he perceives different religions. It is also

Dance choreography Extended programme notes Free Essays

Big Brother is a dance that explores the idea of being trapped and controlled within a â€Å"box. † For me the box was a larger metaphor for society, and on another level, the dance explores the idea of society controlling the individual, and the desire to escape this control. The accompaniment I chose is called, â€Å"The Black Parade† by My Chemical Romance. We will write a custom essay sample on Dance choreography: Extended programme notes or any similar topic only for you Order Now I chose this piece of music because I felt it created a very strong atmosphere that largely reflected the emotions of the character in my dance. Though only used for around twenty seconds, the varying pace and the complex rhythms in the piece created an air of frustration, desperation and excitement- emotions I try to convey as the character attempts to break free of the box. The electric guitars and drums complemented the powerful and often heavy dynamics. I chose to use a section that moved from a slower tempo into a faster tempo as I felt this represented the character’s situation at that point in the dance. The slower tempo, I feel, made the character seem weary- tired of fighting. The transition into the faster tempo as the character makes a final attempt to break free of the box gives the final section an exciting climax, and creates a sense of excitement yet desperation at the idea of escaping. I decided to bring the music in slowly as I felt it built the atmosphere effectively towards a climax at the end of the piece. My piece is split into four sections of ABCD narrative. Section A focussed on the character’s discovery of being trapped, whilst section B looked at the character being controlled whilst being trapped in the box (this was also a theme running throughout my piece. Section C, the largest of the sections looked at the character’s attempt to escape from the box. Finally, section D, the shortest section, was the character’s actual escape from the confines of the box. I began my dance at centre stage, in a ball shape on the floor. By making myself look very small, I feel it made me look very vulnerable, and as if confined- immediately defining the idea of restriction. I then began to run around the ‘box’ following a random pathway, pushing off the walls. Creating the circular box as I define these walls. This random pathway indicates the idea of panic for the character on discovering they are in a box. The pathways being random represent the character’s lack of self-control over oneself- and underpinning the theme of my dance. Although within these random pathways, I never travel outside the box, outlining the fact I am trapped. The strong pushing gestures (motif A) I use in this section are one of the main motifs running through my piece, and reveal the fact the character is confined to the box. Section B is performed mainly in bound-flow, though the gestures move from closed to open. Initially, the arms are tight to the body, trying to pull away- symbolising chains. Then when free, I take large steps, trudging around the box in a zigzag pathway, with my arms and head floppy yet tense- as if a puppet. Similarly, the idea of a puppet is reflected in the heavy steps here. I used the puppet to convey the idea of the character being controlled; his strings are pulled by society. I then make a gesture, at the edge of the box, facing the audience, as if ‘pulling’ away the wall of the box. My facial expression here completely changes to one of wonder and amazement, and I use the second motif – a mime of touching/exploring the wall before pushing off into a spin (motif B). I do this very softly, a contrast from the strength of movements inside the box. I am then pulled back into the box, again like a puppet back under the box’s control. This provides the link between section B and section C. I am trying to escape the confines of the box in section C and this is reflected in the repetition of motifs A and B as well as running about the space. As the character is pulled back into the box, the space becomes larger, into a rectangular shape. I included this to allow me to explore a larger amount of the space. This section begins with similar puppet like movements from section B this time repeated on the floor. After getting up, I then run about the space, repeating motif A. After pushing off each wall, I develop this motif by adding to the end of it- travelling to the next in various ways: spins, slide, leap and run. Using many actions emphasises the manic behaviour of the trapped character. The space then again becomes small, this time very small, as if within a corridor. Motif A is again developed, this time by using elbows to push instead of palms. As a result of being trapped in this new smaller box, the somewhat free flow gestures seen earlier in this section become bound flow. I then repeat motif B, this time with a new emphasis on the movements. Instead of them being soft, as they were first, I made them powerful and developed them by adding a hop and push. The hop and push helped make the character look more desperate as if pushing up as well as out of the box. In addition, I developed this motif by repeating each section (the push and spin and then the hop and push) alternately facing to each side. I did this because I wanted to show my motif to the audience from several viewpoints to help add interest to my dance. Section D provides the climax to the dance. The link between section C and D is a set of fast spins, with arms bent upwards. This shows that the character is breaking out of chains seen in section B. The music becomes louder, and moves into a faster tempo- I imagine this to represent the character’s heartbeat. The music in section C is slower, but as the character reaches the final breakout he becomes more and more frantic and excited. The climax is me running into a slide on my knees across the floor toward downstage left. I thrash my arms to represent the break for freedom. I then repeat my developed motif B, further developing it by changing the level. This shows how tired the character has become of fighting to escape. For the final image in my piece I thrash my arms over my head, throw my torso forward and hold. The floppy arms here can be left to interpretation for the audience. They could be seen as showing relief at breaking free of the box. Similarly, they also resemble the puppet arms seen in section B showing the box’s control- and therefore may indicate that however hard he fights, he cannot escape the box’s control. I wished for the audience to make their own interpretation at this point. There is floor work in each of the four sections. The transition between low and high levels suggests at the characters weakness- as if being thrown about the space, as seen in sections A and C. I choreographed this dance as a solo because I wished for it to focus around an individual’s fight to break free from the confines of a society that tries to force people into conforming to certain ways- as if the individual is a puppet. By performing in solo, it allows the audience to focus and speculate more on how the individual is affected by society. Similarly, I could have choreographed a group dance to display how this idea of control or the ‘box’ affects many of us. Throughout my dance I mainly concentrated my focus forward, toward the walls of the box. I did this because I felt it revealed the character’s determination to escape the box. I only had a different focus during two other moments. When being the puppet I had my focus follow my arms and legs to suggest that my whole body was being controlled and pulled toward a point in the space. Secondly, in section B when I pulled away from the wall of the box, to show I was outside of the box my focus was all around the space ahead- as if looking in amazement at what was outside the box. In my piece facial expressions played a huge part in helping tell the story. I used a large variety of facial expressions in accordance with my character’s varying emotions. In the opening section my facial expressions were wide and open, and my breathing heavy, to show the character is panicking at being in the box. In the puppet section, my face is blank, to show I haven’t control over myself. When seeing outside the box, I looked around in amazement to show the contrast between the box and the outside. And during sections C and D my facial expressions were much tighter to show the character is angry at being in the box, and is determined to find a way to escape. I ensured that the music entered at a time that it went well with the narrative. The music was symbolising the character’s emotions. When controlled by the box the character has no control over his own emotions. The lack of music symbolises this- no emotion, no music. Similarly, in section D, the music indicated that the character was about to break free, and gain his own emotions back. As a result my music only came in very close to the climax, when I finally escape the box. I had two main inspirations for the dance. The book â€Å"1984† by George Orwell looks at the idea of society trying to control all aspects of our lives, by taking away individuality and making each person the same. A robot; or puppet in the image of society. This is where I got the main idea for the puppet like movements, and for the idea of being trapped within a box. It is also the inspiration for my title ‘Big Brother,’ a term coined by the book. Also, watching the piece ‘Swansong’ by Christopher Bruce influenced me hugely. I feel the greatest influence it had on me was to create a piece about the world we live in. The themes of bullying and injustices, that Bruce looks at in the piece, are things that happen in the context of prison all around the world. I took from the piece, that sometimes the most powerful pieces are ones that people can in fact understand and relate, to the dance idea. I am extremely pleased with the piece of dance I have choreographed for my coursework. I feel it clearly expressed an interesting dance idea in an engaging fashion. I am particularly, pleased with my manipulation of spatial design to make clear the idea of the box, and the way the box got larger and then closed in around the character. I felt that the simple motifs very clearly communicated the dance idea, with the pushing motions, and were developed in a way that made them very interesting: by adding spins, leaps, hops, turns and varying levels. Feedback from my peers suggested that my main motifs very clearly communicated the idea of being trapped within a box, and that the message of the dance was very clear. I believe I made the right decision in choreographing a solo piece, as I feel that this emphasised the idea of an individual against the greater society well. I did not like the section B I initially choreographed, as after watching it back on video and receiving feedback from my teachers I felt it was much weaker in comparison to the rest of the dance. The movements were much weaker, and the section did not clearly communicate the dance idea, as it was mainly just a set of non-complementing floor patterns and gestures. I instead developed the theme of society’s control, and used this to create the puppet section- a section I am proud of as it is interesting to watch and expresses the dance idea clearly. I could possibly have changed the dynamic of section B to a slower pace to create a greater contrast between the controlled puppet character, and the character fighting for freedom. Other from that, I like the whole of my dance, and felt that all sections were powerful and communicated the dance idea effectively whilst being strong and exciting to watch- especially when combined with my powerful use of facial expression. In feedback from my teachers they suggested that the music would be more appropriately brought in at the point where the character pulls the walls apart and sees outside the box, to show that the character has seen an outside world- a hope- and that now they are not being so controlled but instead fighting the control. My favourite moment of the dance was the ending, the climax to the piece. The loud fast music, powerful and fast dynamic, thrashing gestures and throwing myself to the floor made this very dramatic and a very exhilarating end to the piece. How to cite Dance choreography: Extended programme notes, Papers

Climate change is a growing concern as well, thoug Essay Example For Students

Climate change is a growing concern as well, thoug Essay h it is somewhat debatable as to whether or not humans caused it. Natural changes in weather have had perhaps the greatest affect on biodiversity and ecological systems. The threat of humans shifting the climate is therefore extremely threatening to the natural environment. Were the average temperature to rise by several degrees Celsius, that warming would probably be followed by potentially large reorganizations of some ecological communities. (1). One last issue concerning the affects that humans have on biodiversity is that of overpopulation. Recent advances in science and medicine have allowed for much greater life span and a very small infant mortality rate. We are increasing in population more rapidly than ever before. The growing population causes displacement of natural environments, not only because we need more living space, but also because the demand for agriculture and industry becomes higher as a result. It is painfully clear that in many ways humans have had a significantly negative affect on biodiversity and Earths natural environment as a whole. It is essential to realize that as rational beings, humans have the ability to not only understand the problems we have created and what needs to be done to amend them, but also the capability of accomplishing these tasks. There are two basic venues of thought as to why we should protect biodiversity and our natural environment, one being intrinsic reasoning, and the other being anthropocentric. Many believe that there are intrinsic reasons to protect biodiversity, separate from all human needs and desires. These arguments are based on the idea that humans are part of nature, not separate from it. Evolution, for example, is what allowed us to come into being originally, and humans are now destroying the same biodiversity that allowed evolution to happen. A similar, but slightly different principle behind the intrinsic theory, is that people did not create nature, and therefore should not have the right to destroy it. Every species has a right to not be eliminated by humans. Furthermore, because humans destroy natural habitats consciously, we should be responsible for fixing any unnecessary damage that we have done. A somewhat contradictory view is the anthropocentric theory. This is based on the idea that biodiversity has value for us as humans. The first, most direct example of this lies in goods obtained from nature. The most important, and often overlooked, is food. It is natural and necessary for us to consume a variety of living things, from vegetables to animals, in order to remain healthy. Cloth is another such example; we need the diversity of life in order to make clothes for ourselves, whether they be cotton, as many are now, or animal skin, as used in the past. Other goods include pharmaceuticals and medicines that are derived from naturally existing sources. These have proven to be incredibly valuable to us, and millions of plants have never been chemically tested, which leaves many open opportunities for discovery of new organic remedies .

Whole Foods Company Analysis

Definition of Whole Foods’ Products This company specializes in distributing organic foods that are produced in natural ways. These foods are grown in farms and derive nutrients from nature. The products’ nutrients are not supplemented by organic fertilizers like those of other companies like Wal-Mart. In addition, these products are processed and stored in natural ways without using artificial preservatives.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Whole Foods Company Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This means that when a client buys any product from this company the person will enjoy the natural taste and flavor of the products. This is achieved by using natural ways of preserving and processing farm products. Even though, this company may be offering a higher price compared to other companies most clients prefer having quality food that will not risk their health. This is shown in most labe ls that claim the products are 100% natural, organic and contain no additives. In addition, this company has a variety of products that supplement each other like wines and cheese. The employees are well trained to offer useful information and tips about various products. These products are sourced from local areas to ensure each stall monitors and identifies naturally produced vegetables, fruits and animal products. The above principles help this company to ensure it delivers value to its clients without necessarily forcing them to visit its stores due to lack of other options. Threats Posed by the Popularity of Organics The entrance of competitors like Wal-Mart in selling organic products is a sign of hard times ahead for this company. It is easy to predict that this company is no longer going to enjoy the monopoly of distributing organic products in Canada. It is necessary to state that while other companies are exploring the benefits of stocking and supplying organic products th e consumer market remains constant. This means that these companies will compete for this market and share their clients proportionally. As a result, Whole Foods will face serious challenges since other big companies have economies of scale and production that will enable them to dominate this market. In addition, they are already established and known by consumers; therefore, they will not need introduction or extensive marketing strategies to get a good share of the market. On the other hand, the popularity of organic products in this region will not affect this company’s market if it develops strategies to retain its clients. It has already established a large clientele base and should focus on retaining it and if possible getting new ones from other competitors. The best way to start competing is by ensuring the existing clients are offered quality services. This will make them market this company to other potential clients.Advertising Looking for case study on busin ess economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Even though, other competitors like Wal-Mart have started selling organics it will take time before their clients start buying them. In addition, the new entrants will take time before they discover the secrets of quality organics. This will give Whole Foods time to prepare to face their competitors and in the process it will gain competitive advantages. Therefore, this company should ensure it wins the confidence of all existing clients and expand its marketing programs to ensure the existing customers are retained and at the same time attract new ones. Future Challenges This company has targeted the low and middle income earners that are conscious about what they eat. It is important to state that these groups will always be present in a population no matter how technology or democracy changes. The society must always be disintegrated into various groups depending on their political , social and economic orientations. In addition, the need to live in a clean environment and eat healthy foods will force people to seek organic foods that are widely recommended by nutritionists. This means that this company will continue to dominate in offering organic products. Moreover, the human population is never static but instead it keeps multiplying at a very fast rate. This increase in population will necessitate the need to have enough food to feed everybody. Consequently, the demand for food will continue to rise no matter the type of food a company produces. However, it is clear that there is a serious challenge facing this company in terms of production costs. Current demographic data shows that agricultural lands are diminishing at an alarming rate. Therefore, in the near future there may be no land for producing organic foods. The company will be forced to spend a lot of money in acquiring natural products. This will lead to reduced profits since there will be high operational costs. Even though, most people know the negative impacts of inorganic foods they are usually reluctant to buy organic foods since they are very expensive. The world is experiencing economic hardships that seem to become more forceful in the coming years. This will force middle and low income earners to tighten their budgets by purchasing inorganic foods that are less expensive and readily available.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Whole Foods Company Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This company has developed effective marketing tactics including branding their outlets with catchy phrases like â€Å"Whole Paycheck†. However, the name given to this outlet located in California does not mean that the products offered are cheap. This marketing mix is a tactic employed to win the trust of those who understand the balance between quality and quantity. This company cannot avoid this t rick since it is an advantageous tactic used to attract clients who are conscious about what they eat. However, it can be agreed that this issue may change in the future depending on the impacts of new entrants like Wal-Mart in the distribution of organic products. This means that if the anticipated competition exposes this company to market risks it must adjust its prices to ensure it maintain its existing clients. Other companies may use this pricing issue to their advantage by downplaying Whole Foods’ marketing mixes. Impacts of the Future Trends It is important to state that this company relies on two critical issues that determine its market penetration and control. It has to ensure that it puts its slogan into practice by producing natural products. The temptations to adopt genetic engineering products may prove to be beneficial in the short run but will cost this company a lot in terms of clients’ trust. Secondly, this company has to reconsider its prices given that the world is experiencing frequent economic melt downs. People are cautious about their spending and wish to save money for use in the future. Therefore, it may be forced to adjust its prices to maintain its market and avoid giving its competitors a head start. Other companies are planning to sell organic products and Wal-Mart has already started exploring this possibility. Therefore, Whole Foods will be forced to offer cheap products to contain the effects of new entrants in this field. This case study on Whole Foods Company Analysis was written and submitted by user Isabell Wilkinson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Why Your Resume Was Thrown in the Trash

Why Your Resume Was Thrown in the Trash We’ve all been there. Proactively firing resumes into the void, uploading and submitting them to job after job, hiring manager after hiring manager, and getting no response. If you’re wasting a whole lot of time and bait and not getting any nibbles, double check that you’re not making any of the following rookie resume mistakes.1. Aiming too highAmbition and confidence are both great qualities, and necessary to succeed. But part of the job search process is knowing which category of job you’re qualified for. You’re allowed to stretch for the top branches, but you want to make sure you’re not in the forest trying to stretch up all the way to Mars.Send resumes to jobs within your current qualification and experience bracket, then a few tiers above. Recruiters will take your resume more seriously.2. Inattention to formattingThis doesn’t even mean your indents are inconsistent. This means they specifically asked for .pdf or .rtf and you su bmitted a .docx. It seems like such a small detail, but sometimes different formats are incompatible with certain systems. You’ll be asking the recruiter to do an annoying bit of extra work before they even open your resume and, probably, they won’t.3. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t say muchYou’ve designed your resume to the hilt. It’s a work of modernist art. Up on all the latest trends. Complete with snazzy infographics. But if your recruiter can’t get the basic information needed to assess your skills and experience, you’re sunk. Make it clear, concise, and accessible. Stylishness within those parameters is gravy.4. Language and grammar  mistakesYou didn’t spell check, you didn’t proofread. You didn’t even make sure you used the same font. You misspelled â€Å"cadndidate.† The recruiter is hitting delete so fast, you won’t even know which particular error was the culprit. Pay attention to th ese details. It will be glaringly obvious if you don’t.5. Too many multi-syllabicsThey’re assuming you passed your SAT. You don’t need to throw every fancy word from your old standardized test study guides at them. Stick to clear language that correctly conveys what you need them to know.6. DishonestyDon’t lie. Period. You will get caught eventually. Even if you make it past the resume screening process to the interview. Even if you get hired. Be honest about where you’ve worked and what you know, and don’t try to sweeten anything up beyond the realm of truth.7. You’re too persistentPlay a little hard to get. Calling every three hours to ask whether your resume has been received will only annoy the hiring manager. Rather than nudge them to get to your resume faster, this will likely backfire and send it straight to the trash.8. You’re too muchDid you send flowers or chocolate? A singing telegram? Include a headshot for a job th at doesn’t need one? Write an honest, but slightly desperate note about why you want an interview so badly? Send one too many weirdo signals and you’ll end up in the weirdo pile. Stay professional.9. You oversharedThere are a ton of resume creation aides online. Bottom line: you need to include your name, your contact information, and a chronological list of your work and education history, plus any relevant skills or certifications. You do not want to include your birthday, favorite color, personal information, race, sexual orientation, or your membership in political groups. You’ll only look like you don’t know what you’re doing. And you might even offend someone. Stick to the basics.

Strategies for Tracing the Women in Your Family Tree

Strategies for Tracing the Women in Your Family Tree The individual identities of women who lived prior to the twentieth century are often very tangled in those of their husbands, both by law and by custom. In many places, women were not allowed to own real estate in their name, to sign legal documents, or to participate in government. Men wrote the histories, paid the taxes, participated in the military and left wills. Men were also the ones whose surname was carried into the next generation by the children. As a result, female ancestors are often neglected in family histories and genealogies- listed with only a first name and approximate dates for birth and death. They are our invisible ancestors. This neglect, while understandable, is still inexcusable. Half of all of our ancestors were women. Each female in our family tree provides us with a new surname to research and an entire branch of new ancestors to discover. Women were the ones who bore the children, carried on family traditions, and ran the household. They were teachers, nurses, mothers, wives, neighbors and friends. They deserve to have their stories told - to be more than just a name on a family tree. Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Abigail Adams, March 1776 So how can you, as a genealogist, locate someone who is invisible? Tracing the female side of your family tree can be a bit difficult and frustrating, but is also one of the most rewarding challenges of genealogy research. By following a few basic research methods, with an added measure of patience and creativity, youll soon be learning about all of the women who passed their genes down to you. Just remember, dont give up! If your female ancestors had given up, you might not be here today. Generally, the single best place to locate a maiden name for a female ancestor is on her marriage record. Marriage information can be found in a variety of records including marriage banns, marriage licenses, marriage bonds, marriage certificates, marriage announcements and civil registration (vital) records. Marriage licenses are the least common form of marriage record to be found today because these were usually given to the couple being married and have been lost over time. The paperwork generated by the application for a marriage license has usually been preserved in church and public records, however, and may provide some clues as to your ancestors identity. Marriage registers and vital records are usually the most common and complete records of marriage. Marriage Records in the United States  Marriage records in the United States are usually found at the county and town clerks offices, but in some cases they are found in the records of churches, the military and in the state offices of vital records and boards of health. Find out which office holds the marriage records in the locality where the couple was living at the time of their marriage or, if they resided in different localities, in the brides county or town of residence. Look for all records of a marriage including marriage certificates, applications, licenses, and bonds. In some areas all documents generated by a marriage will be found combined into the same record, in others they will be listed in separate books with separate indexes. If youre researching African-American ancestors, some counties maintained separate marriage books for blacks and whites in the years following the Civil War. Marriage Records in Europe  In many European countries, church records are the most common sources for marriage records, though Civil Registration became the norm in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Civil marriages are often indexed on a national level, though it is very helpful if you know the province, region, parish, etc. in which the marriage took place. In the church, most couples were married by banns, rather than marriage licenses, mainly because licenses cost more than banns. Banns may be recorded in the marriage register or in a separate banns register. Marriage Records in Canada  Marriage records in Canada are primarily the responsibility of the individual provinces and most were recording marriages by the early 1900s. Earlier marriage records can usually be found in the church registers. Details Found in Marriage Records If you find a record of the marriage for your female ancestor, then be sure to take note of all pertinent information, including the names of the bride and groom, places of residence, ages, occupations, date of the marriage, the person who performed the marriage, witnesses, etc. Every little detail can lead to new information. Witnesses to a marriage, for example, are often related to the bride and groom. The name of the person who performed the marriage ceremony may help to identify a church, a lead to possible church records of the marriage, plus other church records for the family. The  surety, or person who put up money to guarantee that the marriage will take place, on many marriage bonds was a relative of the bride, usually a father or brother. If the couple was married at a residence, you may find a notation of the location. This could provide a valuable clue to the brides fathers name since young ladies often married at home. Women who remarried were often listed by their p revious married name rather than their maiden name. However, a maiden name can usually be ascertained from the fathers surname. Check Divorce Records Too Prior the the 20th century divorces were often difficult (and expensive) to obtain, especially for women. They can, however, sometimes provide clues to maiden names when no other sources exist. Look for divorce decrees in the court in charge of administering divorce decrees for the area in question. Even if your female ancestor never received a divorce, that doesnt mean she didnt file for one. It was fairly common in earlier years for a woman to be denied a divorce, despite claims of cruelty or adultery - but the paperwork from the filing may still be found among the records of the court. The cemetery may be the only place where you will find proof of the existence of a female ancestor. This is especially true if she died young and had little time to leave official records of her existence. Clues Among the Stones If you have found your female ancestor through a published cemetery transcription, then try to visit the cemetery yourself to view the tombstone. You may find family members buried in the same row, or in neighboring rows. This is especially true if she died within the first few years of her marriage. If your female ancestor died in childbirth, then her child is usually buried with her or next to her. Look for any surviving burial records, though their availability will vary widely by time and place. If the cemetery is associated with a church, then be sure to check the church burial and funeral records as well. Details Found in Cemetery Records While at the cemetery, make note of the exact spelling of your female ancestors name, the dates of her birth and death, and her spouses name, if listed. Be cautious, however, when jumping to conclusions based on this information as tombstone inscriptions are often incorrect. Also keep in mind that women married men of the same given name more frequently than you might think, so dont just assume that the name on her tombstone is not her maiden name. Continue looking for evidence in other sources. While census records will not usually provide you with the maiden name of your female ancestor, they should not be overlooked for the wealth of other information and clues that they provide about women and their lives. It may be difficult, however, to locate your female ancestor in earlier census records, unless she was divorced or widowed and listed as head of household. Beginning about the mid-1800s in most countries (e.g. 1850 in the U.S., 1841 in the U.K.), the search gets a little easier, as names are usually given for each individual in the household. Details Found in Census Records Once you locate your female ancestor in the census, be sure to copy the entire page on which she is listed. To be on the safe side you may even want to copy the page directly before and after hers as well. Neighbors may be relatives and you will want to keep an eye on them. Make a note of the names of your female ancestors children. Women often named their children after their mother, father, or favorite brothers sisters. If any of the children are listed with middle names, these may also provide an important clue, as women often passed down their family name to their children. Pay close attention to the people listed in the household with your ancestor, especially if they are listed with a different surname. She may have taken in a child of a deceased brother or sister, or may even have an aged or widowed parent staying with her. Also make a note of the occupation of your female ancestor, and whether she was listed as working outside of the home. Land records are some of the earliest available genealogical records in the United States. Land was important to people. Even when courthouses and other record repositories burned, many deeds were rerecorded because it was considered essential to keep track of who owned the land. Deed records are usually indexed for this same reason. A womans legal rights varied depending on whether she lived in an area governed by civil or common law. In countries and areas which practiced civil law, such as Louisiana, and most of Europe excluding the UK, a husband and wife were considered co-owners of community property, which was managed by the husband. A married woman could also manage and control her own separate property. In common law, which originated in England and was carried to its colonies, a woman had no legal rights in the marriage and her husband controlled everything, including property she herself brought to the marriage. Married women in areas under common law are difficult to find in early legal dealings, such as land transactions, as they were not allowed to engage in contracts without their husbands approval. Early deeds for married couples may only give you the name of the husband with either no mention of his wife, or only a first name. If your female ancestor was widowed or divorced, however, you may find her conducting her own land transactions. Womens Dower Rights When a couple sold land in the nineteenth century, the woman is often identified due to her right of dower. A  dower  was a portion of the husbands land that was allotted to his wife upon his death. In many areas this interest was one-third of the estate, and was usually only for the widows lifetime. The husband could not will this land away from his wife and, if he sold any property during his life, his wife had to sign a release of her dower interest. Once a widow inherited money, possessions, or property, she was allowed to manage them for herself. Clues to Look for in Land Records When you are examining deed indexes for your surnames, look for the Latin phrases et ux. (and wife) and et al. (and others). Examining deeds with these designations may provide the names of females, or names of siblings or children. This will often occur when land is divided upon someones death, and can lead you to a will or probate record. Another area to watch for is when a man or a couple sold land to your ancestors for a dollar, or some other small consideration. The ones selling the land (the grantors) are more than likely the parents or relatives of your female ancestor.

Are the Council of Ministers and the European Commission Essay

Are the Council of Ministers and the European Commission interdependent or competing institutions - Essay Example These institutions are responsible for the formation of public policy after series of arguments and discussions among the members and it is true that they consider the interest of the Union rather than that of member states while making important decisions and therefore assumes a higher degree of independence. The unique institutional structure of the European Union sets it apart from other traditional institutions as the entire member states have agreed to focus more on the national interest. Each of these institutions has a unique role to play in the decision making process by complementing each other. This paper is an attempt to analyse the importance and interdependence of the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. The council of ministers The most prominent among all the institutions of European Union is the Council of Ministers which instigated to draw more attention after the integration of European Community. According to Alex Warleigh, â€Å"the council of minist ers is the collective noun for the member state representatives who meet to take final decision on all EU legislative proposals† (Warleigh, p.26). ... On the other hand there are experts who consider the Council as an obstruction to the political incorporation which always hinder the innovative ideas suggested by the Commission and the Parliament. But the true fact is that the Council protects the people of the EU from profligate European proposals and also controls the powerful politicians from the member states and direct their state oriented discussions towards a shared and expanding policy agenda (Warleigh, p.1). The structure The council of ministers which encompasses one minister from each member states of the EU meets frequently in Brussels or in Luxembourg in order to make legislative decisions. EU nations choose the appropriate minister to represent them in the Council according to the subject under consideration. Each member nation holds the presidency for a period of six months which rotates among them. The Committee of Permanent Representatives which is also known as COREPER and the general secretariat prepare most of t he work to be done by the Council. COREPER consists of officials from different governments of the member states. Decisions of the Council are made on the basis of vote and the population of each state is the factor which determines the weight of its vote (Pearson Education, publishing, 2011). It is comparatively an easy task to identify the institutions of a member state where the legislative and executive powers are easily distinguishable. But in the case of European Union such a distinction is hard to make as the executive powers are shared between the Commission and the Council and the legislative powers between the Council and the Parliament and therefore the Council of Ministers possess both the executive and legislative functions.

Working with UNIX Text Editors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Working with UNIX Text Editors - Essay Example The writer mode allows the operator to enter the text on the system, the write mode uses the lower case letters, and this is because the visual editor is more sensitive to lower case letters (Peek, Peek, Robbins, Lamb, Rosenblatt & Dougherty, 2000). Two ways might be used to create or open the file using the Visual text editor (VI). Some of those ways include; typing the word VI on the computer command space and saving the file using the most appropriate name that one has chosen. The file might be open by tying the VI and the name that one used to save the document. The second way of creating and accessing the document is by typing the name VI, this is accompanies by the file name. For example, if one wants to create or open a file named as Joe, one may type vi/home/Joe to access that particular file (Peek, Peek, Robbins, Lamb, Rosenblatt & Dougherty, 2000). Some of the common navigation commands utilized by VI include but not limited to; b, 1, j, k, (,), W, 1G, W, U, B, F and D. The command implies that one should move left, while 1 means that there should move one character on the right, the character J means one line downward movement while k implies one line upward movement. The command, (, means the beginning of the sentence while,), means the quell of a sentence. The command w means a word should be written. On the other hand, the command, Ctrl>U make the screen to move the screen halfway while command B moves the entire screen upwards. Command F moves the screen downwards and finally command D makes the screen to move halfway (Sco Group, Inc, 2005). The VI has three modes of operation namely; input, command and line operation modes. The input mode is used for entering a text into a given file. This mode requires the user to type the word VI into the command prompt. The

Attachment Styles and Relationships Essay Example for Free

Attachment Styles and Relationships Essay As human being there is the thought that love is difficult to understand. Why are some people attracted to the people that they are attracted to and what is it that draws them to each other? Understanding the dimensions of love and knowing attachment styles clear up some of the confusion. There are three dimensions of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. These are known as the triangular theory of love (Sternberg, 1986, 1987). Intimacy refers to mutual understanding, warm affection, and mutual concern for the others welfare (Baumgardner, 2009). Intimacy is imperative to a relationship if it is going to last. With intimacy there is a bond or a closeness between a couple. If a couple has intimacy, they are connected on more of an emotional level than a couple who only experiences passion. Intimate couples have more of a chance to move on to commitment as well. While intimacy is a big step toward commitment, having intimacy does not necessarily mean that there will be commitment on anyone’s part. There may be nothing more to the relationship other than the passion and intimacy which is romantic love. As long as neither person plans to be with this person for a long time there is not a commitment. Passion means strong emotion, excitement, and physical arousal, often tied to sexual desire and attraction (Baumgardner, 2009). Passion can be lustful infatuation but is also an important element to a happy and strong relationship. A relationship without any of these components could be in danger of dissolving, however, in our society today, sex and passion is very important. The importance placed on sex by society is taught to children early in life, most before they know what it is. A couple without passion could lose the bond they have created through intimacy without any passion and risk them falling out of love. Commitment is the conscious decision to stay in a relationship for the long haul (Baumgardner, 2009). Being committed does not necessarily mean that there is intimacy and passion involved. Many couples decide to stay together for different reasons even though there is no love involved. Some couples stay together for the benefit of the children if there are any, others may be bused or have low self-esteem, or it may be ma simple matter of convenience. Consummate love combines high levels of all three dimensions to create a complete love. This is a love where some of the components may fade but are never completely gone. Intimacy, passion, and commitment may be stronger in some couples than others but they are happy and in tune with each other. These couples prefer the company of each other over going out with a group or crowd. They always touch or have some type of contact with each other and prefer to be close to each other most of the time. The attachment theory raises the intriguing possibility that some of our most basic, and perhaps unconscious, emotional responses to intimacy are shaped by the relationships we have with our parents (Baumgardner, 2009). Infant attachment styles look at the relationship between children and their caregivers. There is an assessment of attachment styles known as the strange situation test. This experiment involved an infant, the child’s mother, and a stranger in a room equipped with toys. The test involved seeing how the child would react when the mother left the room, then again when the stranger left and came back in a specific order. Most infants showed a secure attachment style. This style shows that the child is secure and confident while the mother is in the room, and as the mother leaves, shows some distress and plays with less of the toys. After the mother returns, so does the child’s confidence. Some of the children exhibited no signs of distress when their mothers left the room and even avoided the mother. This is avoidance attachment style. The anxious-ambivalent attachment style is the style used to describe the minority of children who both seek and avoid the mother’s attention. They played very little and showed great distress when the mother left the room. The parenting style of the mothers to these children were avoidant and almost neglectful, showing mixed feelings toward the child. There are four adult attachment styles also. Secure attachment, preoccupied attachment, fearful avoidant attachment, and dismissing avoidant attachment. Secure attachment style describes people who are confident in their relationship, with no anxiety or avoidance. A relationship of a couple with secure attachment style experiences positive emotions and sensitivity toward each other’s needs. The preoccupied attachment style represents people who want intimacy but have high levels of anxiety and low self-esteem. Their actions are centered more on themselves that those of the people they claim to love even though they may seem loving and caring. The fearful attachment style describes people who are high in avoidance and anxiety because of their low self-esteem and fear of being rejected. These people display a lack of love for themselves and therefore, feel they cannot be loved. These people show little to no trust toward people and may come off as hostile or distant. Dismissing avoidant attachment describes people who are high in avoidance and low anxiety. This type of people are usually self-reliant, independent, and confident. Basically their view is that they do not need other people because they, themselves, are all they need. Relationships with these people are usually without commitment and less intimacy than those of secure or preoccupied attachment styles (Baumgardner, 2009). People’s attachment styles define what their relationship will be like. For example, a person who exhibits the fearful avoidant attachment may be alone most of his or her life because they are too afraid of rejection to ask for or accept a date. People with secure attachment have healthy relationships and seem more satisfied with their lives. If a person is unhappy with themselves the idea that no one else could love them could destroy a relationship. To make sure both parties are equally happy, compromises and considerations need to be thought of. Getting to know all of the things a person likes and dislikes is the most exciting part of a new relationship. If done well, it will result in a well-rounded couple.

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution Essa

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution Introduction Located on the third floor of the National Museum of American History, "A More Perfect Union" documents the forced relocation of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II. The exhibit focuses on the violation of constitutional rights that occurred during this process. The purposes of this review are as follows: describe the scope, purpose, and message of the exhibit, analyze how that message is organized and communicated, evaluate the effectiveness of the exhibit, and interpret the exhibit as a cultural artifact. Description During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Japanese immigrated to the United States and started new lives on the West Coast or Hawaii. The majority of these people, as well as their children, held U.S. citizenship; however, due to the racial prejudice and distrust of World War II these Japanese Americans were denied their rights guaranteed in the Constitution. This statement is the overall message of "A More Perfect Union." "A More Perfect Union" begins with the image of the Constitution portrayed on a large wall. Nearby, the Bill of Rights is shown and explained. The privileges guaranteed by these documents are fully developed through prose and quotations. The freedoms associated with U.S. citizenship are all clear in the minds of the museum goers as they proceed to the next section. The second section of the exhibit contains information on the immigration and assimilation of the Japanese into the culture of the West Coast and Hawaii. This area shows how the first generation of immigrants, or issei, traveled over the Pacific to an entirely new nation and society. Many soon became citize... ...on. She felt the message of the exhibit was "to apologize for the Americans who acted out of hysteria in imprisoning a multitude of fellow citizens who were completely innocent." A large portion of her review is devoted to expanding this apology concept. In my opinion, the purpose of the exhibit should be to educate, not to ask forgiveness. Conclusion I feel that "A More Perfect Union" did an excellent job of telling the true story of the Japanese internment. It also was successful in celebrating the achievements of the Japanese American people. The only flaws I found in the exhibit were the unnecessary emphasis on Japanese American soldiers and the praising of the American people and their use of the Constitution. All other aspects of the exhibit, especially the artifacts and audio-visual displays, were suitably used to tell the story of the Japanese relocation.

PED 212: week 5 Final Project Essay

Fundamental Skill: Demonstrate locomotor skills (running, jumping, skipping, crawling, marching, and etc. ) State Standard: Georgia, The Georgia Performance Standards for Physical Education are founded on the National Physical Education Standards established by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (NASPE) The Standards suggest what a physically educated student must know and be able to at every grade level (K-12) There are six standards and they are â€Å"demonstrates capability in motor skills and movement patterns needed to accomplish a selection of physical activities, demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities, participates regularly in physical activity, achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness, exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings. † Lesson Introduction. Description of the Lesson: The students would be playing follow the leader. This lesson is great for kindergarten children to learn different locomotor skills such as crawling, marching, running, jumping, and etc. This lesson has a low level of safety concerns. Student Learning Objective: The purpose of this lesson is to get children to use a selection of locomotor skills to move in different directions and routes. This lesson will also help build cooperative recreation abilities used while trailing a partner. Classroom Management: I will be placing the students in groups; there are 18 students so I will break them up into six groups of three students per group. I will give the students the chance to decide who is going to be the leader first, if they cannot decide calmly who goes first I will pick for them. After I place the students in their groups I will then explain the rules and safety precautions at this time. I will explain that everyone would get the chance to be the leader and a follower. Each child will get 60 seconds each to be the leader so that every student would get a chance to be the leader. I will explain that the leader has to move around in different directions and not to perform hard traveling patterns for their partners. For safety persecutions I will make sure that they keep their distance from other groups so that they do not bump into another group. Any student who does not follow the rules would be taken out of the activity immediately and given an alternative assignment. At the end of the lesson I will tell the students that they did a great job and explain the importance of the lesson in a way that they could understand. Equipment and Environment: The lesson will take place in a large area outside of the school free of any obstruction. There will be bright orange place markers so the children know not to wonder out of the designated areas. Lesson Procedure Introducing the Lesson: Hello class today we going to play follow the leader. First I’m going to demonstrate the roles of leader and follower. I’m also going to show you what you can and cannot do in this lesson. Safety, Rules, Protocols: The lesson follow the leader is a low risk activity. For safety measures you are not to get two huge steps for each other. The only things you can do to insure no one gets hurt are crawl, walk, run, jump, march, and go in different directions. Also keep your distance from other groups so that you do not bump into one another. you are not allowed to go outside the areas that are marked with bright orange place markers. Any student who does not follow the rules will sit in time out, if that does not work you will be giving an alternative assignment, and the last if you continue to misbehave I will then take you down to the principle office. Teaching/Assessing: I will be walking around to monitor and assist each group and making sure that each group of students are performing each part of the lesson. If I see that a student is having a hard time performing one of the locomotor skills in this lesson I will work with them until the student has mastered the skill that they were having trouble with, Home Connection: Dear Parents, It is an honor to be able to able to work with your children. The purpose of this email is to provide you with an activity that you could do at home to help your child practice the locomotor skill running that they learned in class. Your child could chase the dog around in the yard that will help them grasp the locomotor skill running. If you have questions feel free to email me or stop by the classroom. Mrs. Williams Lesson Accommodations: Accommodations for Children with Disabilities: Children who are in a wheelchair can roll themselves, or can have a partner push them through the pathways. Children who have some movement limitations can still participate in this lesson but their partner will have to move slowly. In the Event of Change in Venue: In case there we have find another place to do our lesson because of another class using the space. I will find empty classroom that is big enough for me to be able to teach this a lesson and for my students to be able to participate. Accommodating a few Students from First Grade: To accommodate some student’s from first grade into my lesson I will put them into a group and switch them out with my kindergarteners who already finished the lesson. After the Lesson Review: At the end of the lesson I will have the students clean up after the lesson. I will then go over with students what the purpose of today’s lesson. I will ask them questions about what they learned and enjoyed about this lesson. I will then ask for a few volunteers to demonstrate some of the skills that was in today’s lesson. REFERENCES Georgia Department of Education . (2014, January 13). Retrieved from GEORGIA PERFORMANCE STANDARDS for PHYSICAL EDUCATION: https://www. georgiastandards. org/standards/GPS%20Support%20Docs/Physical_Education_Standards_4-30-09. pdf Pre-school PE Lesson Ideas. (2014, January ).

Instructional planning Essay

Introduction Proper planning is a core prerequisite to an effective instruction process. Teaching disabled persons poses great challenges to instructors and calls for the careful planning of a lesson so that it may meet the needs of the learners. Disabled persons have special needs occasioned by hearing impairment, vision impairment; nervous problems as well as physical movement problems, therefore any good lesson plan must make sure that children with special needs receive as much gains from the learning process as their regular students. The learning process is very important; there is a need to avail services and facilities such as walking chairs for the physically disabled, hearing devices for the hearing impairment and any other necessary facilities. Another necessary adoption teachers can make to lesson plans to make them more responsive to the needs of the disabled includes the use of technologically mediated communication through computers to aid the learning process. In all adjustments to suit lessons to the special needs of learners, cognitive needs, psychomotor needs and the affective needs of the learner must be borne in mind. From both lesson 1 and 3 it is very clear that the lesson plan is only effective for a regular class. Notably the action verbs used for the objectives such as ‘by the end of the lesson learners should learn the colors’ is biased because the students are supposed to learn by sight or observation. When the teacher uses pictures as a resource material in the lesson, it implies that only the students with visual ability can benefit. The lesson can be adjusted to cater for the disabled and especially the visually impaired by deemphasizing the color aspect of the pictures and concentrating on shapes and texture which can effectively guide a disabled student to meet the lesson objectives. Another objective in lesson 1 and 3 requires the student to participate in physical activity. This again favors the students who are physically normal but it portends a challenge to the physically disabled to which physical activity may be a barrier to the learning process. The lessons can be adapted to suit the disabled students by only choosing the physical activities that the disabled can participate in or availing the necessary equipment to aid the physical activities. The lesson plans involve a lot of drawing and writing activities something that may be a barrier and a challenge at the same time to the physically disabled. Some students are not able to draw or write while others may not be able to even hold a pencil or crayon. Further, the lesson activities involve the use of music that is again insensitive to the hearing impaired. To make the lesson fully useful to the disabled students, the lesson plans should incorporate only special types of music which is responsive to the needs of the hearing impaired. The other key instrument to the lesson involves use of Braille or special computers, use of special needs expert to assist in the lessons as well as the strict use of materials that are responsive to the needs of the disabled learners. The other adaptation of teachers or disabled children is to involve a lot of games in the lesson plans activities. The games can help children to discover their ability to serve in spite of their challenges (Basil, & Reys, 2003). As a principle, every lesson plan should be a fit-all type of lesson plan to cater for different disabilities of the disabled students. Conclusion For a lesson plan to be effective, it has to bear in mind the cognitive, affective and psychomotor needs of disabled students. There is a need for teachers to design lesson plans factoring in the special needs of the disabled students so as to give such an equal opportunity as their regular counterparts. Only making changes to the lesson plan to reflect the needs of disabled learners can help teachers achieve learning objectives. References Basil, C. & Reys, S. (2003). Acquisition of literacy skills by children with severe disability. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, vol. 19, no. 1.

Dancing Skeltons Essay Example

Dancing Skeltons Essay Example Dancing Skeltons Essay Dancing Skeltons Essay Dancing Skeletons In the ethnography, â€Å"Dancing Skeletons, the author Katherine Dettwyler describes many reasons for her research in Mali. The main focus of her research was too attack the problem of malnourished children and to figure out what diseases they were struggling with. This ethnography detailed Dettwyler’s second trip to Mali, and she wanted to relocate many of the children she had previously measured, as well as add more children to her study. Throughout the ethnography, Dettwyler makes it very clear that the malnutrition of these children is a major problem in Mali. She describes many of the children she measures and the picture she paints in one’s mind is horrifying. One of the many diseases she comes across is Kwashiorkor, or funu bana (which means â€Å"swelling sickness†). Dettwyler allows you to feel the pain of this disease by detailing a young girl, â€Å" Her face was round and puffy, almost as though she had been beaten†¦ but the defining characteristic was her enormously swollen abdomen†¦her expression was one of sadness and apathy, her eyes sunken and dull†(Dettwyler 1994:71,72). This description allows the reader to feel for these children and understand the immense hardships that they have to deal with every day. The problem of malnourished children stems from the lack of education within the community. The children all the way up to the adults do not know, or in some cases do not have the resources to drink and eat correctly, or clean themselves. There are a tremendous amount of examples in this ethnography that support this but one of the most troubling is when the teenaged boy tells Dettwyler that his red urine was, â€Å"part of growing up†(Dettwyler 1994:46). She later realized that many cultures believe that the red urine is a sign of being sexually mature and when in reality this was an example of a person with schistosomiasis. This disease is caused by parasites that burrow through the skin ending up in the urinary tract and can be fatal. My reaction to this book was that it was good first hand feedback to the hardships of cultures in Mali. Reading this, many questions arose about different ways Dettwyler went about her research, and how she acted in Mali. First of all Mrs. Dettwyler, why would you ever subject your young daughter, twice, to a place where the malaria and immense amounts of other diseases are widespread and where fully developed healthy adults have died because of it? This is probably the most selfish thing she could have done. She herself explains how many anthropologists have died in areas of Mali from malaria. She provides an example of one American who died, her name was Kay. She died from cerebral malaria, and there were many others in the past just like her who died. Dettwyler experienced this the first time and yet still brought back her daughter, Miranda. I understand that she did this for company but part of being an anthropologist is excepting the fact that at some point you may experience culture shock. This argument was fueled by common sense and also what I learned in class and in the readings. When an anthropologist decides to do fieldwork they are agreeing to deal with many things, one of them being culture shock. Another topic I would have liked to hear about is the healthy children. The entire ethnography is based on the malnourished children. This is the major issue, but is every child in Mali malnourished? If not then what are the healthy children and parents doing differently to keep from succumbing to the ample diseases. The only time Dettwyler really expresses the healthy children is explaining that the ones who were breastfeed are relatively healthier than the others. She says this is the case because, â€Å"mother’s milk provides all the nutrients and calories they need, as well as living cells that grant immunological protection from disease† (Dettwyler 1994:79). This provided good insight into how these children should be nourished and more facts like that would have helped the overall effect of the ethnography. The final thing I wish Dettwyler looked more into was the male/female relationship and how the males felt about the female gender. I do not know if she didn’t address this because she had limited interaction with the males because of her gender, or whether it was simply of no interest to her. If she could have explained further why she didn’t take much account to this it would have added a more well-rounded ethnography. What roles did the fathers play in the child raising? Were they passive like it appeared or was it just not discussed? Dettwyler displayed tremendous anthropological skills as well as some not so good skills. A good thing she did was build a high amount rapport with the Malians. This was important so they would allow her to measure them, and also so they would trust her when she taught them how to properly nourish their children. In the text she almost always displays a calm and intellectual demeanor when she is speaking to parents about their badly diseased or injured child. She has seen so many things that she is not surprised as too what she will see next and it helps her keep her composure. One time she didn’t follow this was when she ran away from the dance because she was so upset about the â€Å"dancing skeletons†. Dettwyler ended up breaking down at a ceremonial dance that they were doing for her. The reason she became so upset was because she saw all the terrible malnourished children dancing, and she said they looked like â€Å"dancing skeletons† Dettwyler who seemingly never seems phased by what she sees, said, â€Å"I fled, in anger and horror†¦hot tears coursed down my cheeks†(Dettwyller 1994:143). This helps reinforce the fact that being an anthropologist is not easy and the things they experience are life changing. One anthropological issue I think she is displaying is ethnocentrism. There are many instances where she does not respect the values of the people and she can be disrespectful towards them. One of the instances is when she refuses to eat the goat they prepared, and Macan replies saying, â€Å"But they killed this goat especially for you† (Dettwyller 1994:82). After Macon says that, she still refuses to eat the meat and is even rude about it. There is also another instance where she refuses to eat the food in the Famabougou village after a day of measuring. She doesn’t care that what she is doing is offending them, because she said the food was filled with bacteria from being out all day, and she didn’t want to eat it. Although I would not want to eat bacteria either, I have learned in class that it is very important to show the utmost respect to the cultural people especially when they go out of their way to provide food.

Analysis of FedEx marketing channels

Analysis of FedEx marketing channels Generally, a channel designed to make the service available to customers. A service without good marketing channel consider useless because it is not accessible for customer to get the service. FedEx as a service company that mainly focuses on transportation or shipment services, channel played an important role leading to success. FedEx need a good channel to get and reach more customers. FedEx has a strong network structure linking all the market together. FedEx serves more than 220 countries and territories currently. Further, these networks are linked up by land, air and ocean transportation. FedEx’s service covered all around the globe, making services available for customers from many countries and almost every place. FedEx has many drops off location around the globe. Customer can choose either one drop- off location that is nearest to them. FedEx has great air network, having more than 320 daily international flight and 654 aircraft ready to ship the packages. FedEx h as many hubs around the world working as a midpoint of delivering the packages. There are four hubs in Asia pacific. That is Shanghai, Osaka, Seoul and Guang Zhou. Besides, FedEx has hubs in London, Colonge, Frankfurt and Paris which will later ship the parcel around the European area. Moreover, hubs that link the Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada was in Memphis and Miami. One thing that makes FedEx so special out of so many transportation or shipping company is the collection of airplane uses by FedEx in order to ship the parcel. FedEx is the first company who use the plane called Boeing 777. The uniqueness of the plane is the plane is fuel saver. It shorter the transit time with larger space to put the parcel. This had made the overnight carrier service possible. FedEx was famous in its overnight service. Customers can receive their packages at the same time on the next day. The strong backbone of shipping network structure by FedEx makes this service available. An example g iven to explained how FedEx manage to ship the parcel between 24 hours and reach at 10.30am. A customer decided to ship his parcel from Shang Hai to New York City. FedEx pick up the shipment in time to make the same-day trans-oceanic flight. FedEx picked up the package from client at the time of 4:50 pm, Tuesday. The package was delivered to Shang Hai’s facility for sorting process. Then, the package reaches Shang Hai Pudong International Airport at 9:30 pm. At 11:30 pm, the package leaves China and in the Boeing 777 aircraft on the way direct to Memphis, Tenn. The flight travel east of the Pacific Ocean and passed the International Date Line. At the time 11:30 pm, the package arrived in Memphis. In Memphis, the package was on loaded, cleared, sorted and reloaded on to a flight from Memphis to Newark. In Newark, the shipment ship by truck to New York City. This is how the package from Shang Hai reach client in New York City and at the time 10:30 am Wednesday. From the example , the package was first picked up and sends to the facility for process, then to airport. The package then reach the hub and been process again. Finally, the package was delivered by motorized vehicle. FedEx has more than 43,000 motorized vehicles which make FedEx manage to reach many places in different country. Example of motorized vehicle commonly used by FedEx was trucks, vans, containers, and also tricycles.

Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma (Part Two) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma (Part Two) - Essay Example Life is a gift from God and no human being has the right to do whatever they please with it. She believes death is gods will and wish and everyone has their time of death and there is no turning back from this time. She is opposed to all forms of euthanasia, not just because she believes God is the creator of life or because of the teachings of the catholic church, but also because these churches and biblical teachings are supported by philosophical, ethical and reasoned argument that can be availed (Armstrong, 2009). As a Christian, Mary Gonzalez believes it is against her religious background and moral perspective to take her life or even request someone in doing so. She believes no one has the right to kill or assist in killing no matter how hopeless the situation. In relation to euthanasia being a way to relieve pain, to the suffering individuals, Mary insists that it is wrong and against the Hippocratic oaths of doctors. The oath states that, â€Å"I will not give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect or in swearing the giving of poison when asked for it.† The American Society of Internal Medicine and American College of Physicians do not encourage or give support to physicians regarding euthanasia (ACP-ASIM, 2010). Physician assisted suicide, she believes, deteriorates the trust that patients have in the physicians. The government is wrong to give any right to a certain group of people to kill other people. This is illegal and should be abolished. Instead, people should encourage the suffering and give them hope until God decides when to take their life. The biblical worldview according to Mary Gonzalez is a well reasoned and gives a moral value to the sanctity of life (Cox, 2009). This is because it is possible to point to a moral right or wrong. It is concerned with the good of the community at large while the secular worldview is more focused on the individual

Gender Differences in Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Gender Differences in Intelligence - Essay Example Therefore, these theoretical orientations emphasize that over time, different sets of conditions may influence the changes in children's behaviour in different stages of development (Piaget, 1952). Both the maturational and psychoanalytic theories highlight the influence of these internal variables in development of intellectual acumen and behaviour of children in relation to age. From that perspective, early childhood development can be considered to be expression of inborn predispositions primarily, which is an invariant innate process. According to these theories, a child's learning and intellectual development proceed according to a prefixed biologically dictated plan, which could have been determined by the specifics of genetics at the moment of conception. Therefore individual variations in intelligence and cognitive abilities can be reflections of differences in genetic traits. These theories which emphasize the dominant and determining role of innate and internal biological f actors as primary driving forces of early development can be categorized traditionally as nature side of developmental explanations. There is, however, considerable similarity among young children in the early part of their development when learning and education begin. These are best understood by maturational theories. It can be argued that if changes in children's behaviours and intelligence are conceived to be originating from inborn traits primarily, the role of adults would be to just provide appropriate conditions based on appropriate interpretations (Alloway, 1997). However, theories of education in early childhood are based on the belief that parenting and teaching can have considerable impact on the course of young children's development, both educational and intellectual (Jones Diaz and Robinson, 2000). Gender is a significantly important equity issue to be addressed with young children's' development and has consequently been incorporated into educational programmes in early childhood. Over time, research in this area has increased understanding and awareness of the ways gender operating in young children's lives, at least in the early phase of development. Years over, researchers have proposed that spatial and mathematical abilities domains point at gender differences in cognitive abilities since they were known to yield marked differences favouring the males (Ingraham, 1994). Other studies have revealed that throughout elementary school, girls clock better grades in mathematics and other subjects in comparison to the boys. Some researchers have shown that boys' advantage in mathematics is not prominent until secondary school. Current research throwing a close look at children's performance on specific intelligence and cognitive ability test items reveals that both genders are equ al in basic knowledge in mathematics with girls doing better in skills of computation. Despite controversies, boys' advantage appears in reasoning involving geometry and complex word problems. If mathematics or being good at mathematics is a measure of intelligence in early childhood, therefore, girls are no less than the boys (Katz, 1982). In comparison to past paradigms, there have been major

The role of social capital in the business start-up and Essay

The role of social capital in the business start-up and entrepreneurial development - Essay Example Capital, as stated by the economists, is a produced means of production. The expenditure incurred on capital in business is often termed as investment. This is because with the benefits of investments, an organization can generate economic surplus in future. The concept of social capital has gained importance in the contemporary business world. This concept was initially introduced by the sociologists and political scientists. In the current epoch, the concept of social capital withholds all those social relations that possess productive benefits within them. It is true that the success of growth or prosperity of an organization is derived with the help of easy access of financial or productive factor resources. However, goodwill and social relations are also important for determining factors that influence the success of a new business organization. The brand loyalty for a product can be developed by the consumers only if they are able to use the product. However, it is only social capital that can enhance the brand value of an organization at its initiation period. The business environments in the commercial marketplaces in the current era are highly competitive. In this situation, social capital acts as a core competence and helps a business to start-up efficiently. It also helps these new firms in developing and enhancing their entrepreneurial skills in business (Block, 1982). Literature Review The social capital largely helps the growth of an organization since its inception. Today at the business start up stage, the social networks of the entrepreneurs are utilized. In the later stage, the concept of networking between the business promoters falls under the context of social capital. It is true that by using social capital, the new business organizations gather human and financial capital in their business. This helps the organizations to develop their business in the contemporary competitive marketplaces. It is thus believed that in the modern days, succ ess of business organizations can only be achieved through a quantifiable amount of social capital. Unlike the concept of human and financial capital, social capital is intangible in nature and hence, it is highly difficult to measure it. It is thus true that the recent scholars face difficulty to precisely measure the exact amount of social capital required for business development. In 2001, Cote and Healy had stated that social capital relates to the norms, network and values of a business organization. Measuring the value of social capital has been considered to be one of the most primary tasks of World Value Survey in 2001. Hjollund and Svendsen had stated that the primary well-being of a new venture can only be established by the use of social capital (Stryker, 1998). In the society, social capital not only helps in the formulation of new business firms, but also facilitates the job creation activities. Thus, many economists suggest that in the long run, social capital helps to reduce the amount of unemployment. This is because social capital aids the formation of new firms or business ventures in an economy, thereby raising the employment opportunities in the same. It should also be analyzed that the rate of economic growth in a nation depends on the rate of new business formations. Thus, indirectly social capital is the underlying driving force for economic progress in a nation. In the

Knowledge-based organization

Knowledge-based organization Knowledge-based organization Introduction Most organisations in one way or another have embraced the notion that to operate effectively in todays economy, it is necessary to become a knowledge-based organization (Alvesson, 1993). But few truly understand what that means or how to carry out the changes required to bring it about. Perhaps the most common misunderstanding is the view that the more a companys products or services have knowledge at their core, the more the organization is, by definition, knowledge based. The knowledge-based society of the 21st century is characterized by knowledge generation as the primary source of wealth and social well-being. This economic development, facilitated by networked actions of a variety of global actors utilizing new information and communication technology (ICT) including Internet technologies, is fundamentally changing the rules of the game of performing in both private and public organisations. Accordingly, new concepts, frameworks, models and theories are required in order to increase our understanding of the principles of the creation and use of knowledge and information as a resource. This development both in theory and in practice is evident because, contrary to the traditional factors of production, knowledge and information are partly intangible in nature. It is therefore vital for organisations to provide a holistic view of contextual factors which have an impact on the creation, processing, storage, maintenance and use of information and know ledge as a resource. Moreover, organisations must know more about the means that affect processes related to knowledge and information. Knowledge-Based Organisation in Malaysia In the early 1980s, when the Japanese advances in the economy and began to make great impacts on the business state of affairs, knowledge work began to make headway to the workers levels. The Japanese enterprises show their way to knowledge work at the workers levels through such practices as QCC activities, 5S activities, Kaizen suggestion schemes and the like. These practices continue to contribute to improving productivity and competitiveness in production. By mid 1980s, Japan has overwhelmed other western companies and organisations with their low cost and high quality products by it techniques and quality tools. Malaysia as any other countries in the world is moving towards improving their information technology facilities and services. After achieving independence on 31 August 1957, Malaysia was basically a resource-based country and depending on the extraction of natural resources. The need to provide jobs for the local population then was one of the primary foci of the economic development plans. In order to compete with Japanese organisation success Malaysian government in the Malaysian Context of Industrial Development has emphasis learning in every national agenda. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Malaysia launched the First Industrial Master Plan, 1986-1995 (IMP1) in 1986 with the main focus is to rationalize the industrial growth process and the growth of manufacturing industry. The Malaysian Prime Minister first mooted Vision 2020 in 1991 and it is Malaysia national vision for the countrys continuing development into a developed nation (Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, 1993). Even with the success of the IMP, the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth recorded over the period 1992-1997 was below the expected level. The manufacturing-based industrialization strategy will only take the country into an industrial society and this will not be sufficient to achieve the post-industrial/advanced industrial society and a civil society as envisaged in the Vision 2020 (NITC, 1998). As Malaysia prepares to become a knowledge-based economy, new strategic focus calls for the nation to work towards the digital economy and a knowledge-based economy. The national response to this is the National IT Agenda (NITA) to direct the progress and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MDC, 1999) and its associated programs that aim to create the IT waves towards this new economy (NITC, 1998). Organisations will have to refocus their strategies to be globally competitive. The new competitive strategy will be knowledge-based, and organisations will have to be knowledge-focused. Even if production of tangible outputs is the core business, the competitive strategy will have to be knowledge-based. In other words, the competitiveness of an organisation will be its knowledge rather than is physical outputs. The proposition here is that managing and exploiting organisational knowledge or knowledge management is a strategic focus for organisation to achieve competitiveness, and the learning organisation is the outcome of this strategic process. Knowledge Management initiatives are developing in a wide variety of government sectors in varying countries around the world and this conference will provide and intergovernmental forum for the discussion of best practice in public sector knowledge management. A recent survey reveals that 73% of governments feel they have made mistakes in setting up their online systems and 56% say that the work has taken longer than expected. Nonetheless, 89% are not yet tired of implementing e-government. By placing individual services on-line, government departments could achieve cost savings of up to 25 percent. If departments collaborate to provide a one-stop shop for a handful of services-say, by creating a World Wide Web site where you apply for a drivers license, pay a traffic ticket, and make an appointment for an emission inspection-the figure raises to 45 percent. Getting departments to collaborate is the tricky part. What is Knowledge? Knowledge as we all know comes from a cycle that involves the transformation from data to information and to knowledge. Information if it is not interpreted accordingly will not be knowledge. Knowledge is an organised combination of data, assimilated with set of rules, procedures, and operations learnt through experience and practice and without meaning knowledge are just information or data (Bhatt, 2001). It is only through meaning that information finds life and becomes knowledge (Bhatt, 2000). McDermott describes six characteristics of knowledge that distinguish it from information (McDermott, 1999): 1. Knowledge is a human act. 2. Knowledge is the residue of thinking. 3. Knowledge is created in the present moment. 4. Knowledge belongs to communities. 5. Knowledge circulates through communities in many ways. 6. New knowledge is created at the boundaries of old. In today competitive environment, organisations are competing which each other to achieve a high competitive advantage. In this era information is now considered as the most important assets in organisation. Information comes from knowledge and knowledge comes from the mind and experience of an individuals. Davenport and Prusak (1998) have provided the following definition of knowledge: Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluation and incorporating new experiences and information. If originates and is applied in the minds of knower. In organisations, it is often becomes embedded not only in documents of repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practice, and norms. Knowledge management emphasizes on the inter-personal communication over the mere capture and storage of knowledge. Organizational intellectual assets and capital are the most priority aspects of the knowledge management efforts. Knowledge is the important elements in a value-chain. This value chain includes data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and the conceptualisation of knowledge management as a process of refinement, leveraging data and information to the more valuable level. These value-added elements can help organisations in problem solving and decision-making to improve performance and increase innovations. Innovation is an ongoing process in which organisations create problems, define them, and then develop new knowledge for their solution (Beveren, 2002). Knowledge Management Knowledge management is an emerging trend. This is because organisations have started to realize the importance of knowledge in order to achieve competitive advantage. Recent years have seen an explosive increase of interest in knowledge management. As well as a massive outpouring of books and articles on KM, many organizations have embarked upon their own KM programmes. A recent KPMG survey (KPMG, 1998) of 100 leading UK firms found that a staggering 43% of respondents were undertaking some kind of KM initiative. For an organisation to survive they must be able to move one step further from their competitors and would be able to differentiate themselves between other. Creating and sustaining a competitive advantage a one way of achieving goals. To coupe with these rapidly changing environments, organisations needs to know what are their corporate knowledge assets and manage these assets to sustain competitive advantage. Knowledge belongs to the family of progressively increasing corporate assets, like management systems, brand identity, customer information and corporate reputation (Pascarella, 1997). Knowledge is a person, highly personal asset and represents the collective expertise and efforts of networks and alliances. Knowledge management has becoming the most critical aspect in organisation to achieve competitive advantage. Nonaka (1991) stated that in an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. According to McCampbell (1999), to have a successful knowledge management projects, knowledge management was at least partially responsible for a major transformation of one large consulting firm and the transformation was all-embracing in terms of a marked improvement in financial result for the firm while engaged in knowledge management practices. Knowledge Management is multi-disciplinary approach and has now becoming very powerful concept. It is rapidly growing practice used as strategic tool for organisation to produce efficient and productive product and services. This concept helps organisations to seek and maximize value by helping people innovate and acclimatize in the face of change. As the world is moving towards a global knowledge economy, proper management and practice of knowledge can transform services and product and put value into it. As global competition based on knowledge intensive products or services swiftly increase, it is little wonder that organisations are seeking ways to harness knowledge through business strategies and knowledge management tools and techniques (Vandermerwe, 1997). Many organisations are already thriving in our increasingly knowledge-intensive world, often referred to as the new or knowledge economy. These organisations are achieving success by focusing on how knowledge can be used to deliver value to the organisation and its stakeholders. Knowledge management helps people prepare for an environment of constantly shifting demographics, industries, economies, and customer needs by ensuring that people have the expertise and information they need in order to properly assess business problems and opportunities. Knowledge Management is a process that helps organisations to find, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important information and expertise necessary for activities such as problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic learning and decision-making (Gupta, Iyer and Aronson, 2000). Knowledge management caters the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous environmental change. Essentially, it embodies organizational processes that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings (Malhotra, 1998). Tacit and Explicit Knowledge There are two types of knowledge. Knowledge that cannot be articulated is called tacit knowledge. In organisations, tacit knowledge is the personal knowledge used by members to perform their work and make sense of their worlds (Choo, 2000). Tacit knowledge is also as important as explicit knowledge. The only problem that occurs is that tacit knowledge is hard to be explained and communicate. As Michael Polanyi the chemist-turned-philosopher who coined the term, put it, We know more than we can tell. Polanyi used the example of being able to recognize a persons face but being only vaguely able to describe how that is done. Contrast to tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge is the knowledge that has been articulated, capture in the form of text, tables, diagrams, product specifications and so on (Cortada, 2000). Explicit knowledge is also knowledge that is expressed formally using a system of symbols and can therefore be easily communicated and diffuse (Choo, 2000). This type of knowledge is the most recognized and captured by organisations. Most organisations concentrate more on explicit knowledge because it is easy to understand and capture (Barlow, 2000). Both tacit and explicit knowledge are very important and critical to organizational information or knowledge management system development. It is just a matter of identify and captured it to make it as an valuable assets. TACIT EXPLICIT INDIVIDUAL DEPENDENT Personal Tacit Self-Motivated Creativity Know-How Know-What Know-Why INDIVIDUAL INDEPENDENT Cultural Tacit Organisational Tacit (e.g. Causal Ambiguity) Regulator Assets (Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks) There are three types of explicit knowledge resident in any organisation 1. Cognitive knowledge, 2. Advanced systems skills, and 3. Systems understanding. In Figure 1, Meso and Smith (2000) described cognitive knowledge, also termed know-what is the basic mastery of a discipline that professionals achieve through extensive training and certification (Quinn et al., 1996). Advanced skills or know-how refer to the ability to apply rules of a discipline to complex real-world problems (Quinn et al., 1996). Systems understanding, also termed know-why is the deep understanding of the web of cause-and-effect relationships underlying a discipline (Quinn et al., 1996; Nonaka, 1991). The creation of new knowledge comes from the ongoing innovations form learning organisations. Therefore, organizational learning occurs at the intersection of tacit and explicit knowledge during the interaction of the various employees, departments or teams in an organisation (Nonaka, 1991). Sustainable competitive advantage results from innovation. Innovation in turn results from the creation of new knowledge (Meso and Smith, 2000). Knowledge Creation It is process how organisation gathers internal and external information in one system. Knowledge creation refers to the ability of an organisation to develop novel and useful idea and solution (Marakas, 1999). Nonaka (1994) identifies four mechanisms for knowledge creation: 1. Socialisation whereby one individual shares tacit knowledge with other. Sharing of experiences through observation, imitation and practice; 2. Combination whereby one pieces of explicit knowledge is combined with other; 3. Externalisation whereby tacit knowledge is made explicit; and 4. Internalisation process of experiencing knowledge through an explicit source, where explicit knowledge is converted into tacit. Meanwhile Rovertson (2001) has identified four types of organisational knowledge: 1. Conscious, which is an individuals explicit knowledge; 2. Automatic, which is an individuals implicit knowledge; 3. Objectified, which is explicit, social knowledge, and 4. Collective, which is implicit, social knowledge. Knowledge Capture Knowledge can be captured inside and outside organisation. The captured knowledge then will be integrated within one system in organisation as a resource. The purpose of knowledge management is to integrate internal and external knowledge at all time in order to cope with environmental changes both within and outside the organisation, to solve existing problem as well as to innovate for business expansion. Beveren (2002) provides a model where information is acquired through the sensors and processed in the brain by using prior knowledge (see Figure 1). Where: Knowledge is the stock of conceptual tools and categories used by humans to create, collect and share information. During the processing of information, new knowledge can be acquired or created for future use, when more or new information is acquired and processed. Knowledge Dissemination Knowledge dissemination in corporate knowledge is involving with the activity to disseminate or distributes knowledge to members in organisation. Knowledge benefited to organisation if they can disseminate. Knowledge needs to distributed and shared if an organisation to leverage value from it (Bhatt, 2000). Beveren (2002) illustrates how knowledge is transformed into information within the brain to be communicated externally through language or demonstration (see Figure 2). Language in this model includes all forms of communication, such as written, verbal and body language. In this model, the prior knowledge contained in human brains is required for the creation of information, just as the creation of knowledge often requires the input of information through the sensors to the brain. The initial formation of prior knowledge has been a huge area of debate for many years and has been discussed from two opposed positions, the empiricists and the nativists. Organizational Learning 2.5.3 Knowledge Sharing The organisational creation of differential knowledge, at its central part, springs unpredictably and unknowingly from social interchanges between competent organisations. Thus the importance of organizational behaviour in adapting to change is self-evident. Unfortunately, our understanding of the processes of organizational change is quite limited. The basic facts of human cognition are that our brains have the capacity to establish an extremely large number of possible networks of connections, but only a small fraction of this potential can be realized. Indeed, the growth of knowledge and the possibility of innovation depend on the incompleteness of present connections (Loasby, 2000b). Knowledge sharing only takes place on a significant scale where organisations have organized themselves into communities of practice. These communities need to be integrated to the companys strategy and its organizational structure.The phenomenon of communities of practice is known under different names. The World Bank, for example, is leveraging global knowledge sharing to attain its goal of becoming a clearinghouse for expertise on sustainable development (Wah, 1999) and they are called thematic groups; in Hewlett Packard they are learning communities or learning networks; in Chevron they are called best practice teams, and in Xerox they are know as family groups (Denning, 2000). Many practitioners pf knowledge managementincreasingly see knowledge sharing as a better description of what they are about than knowledge management. Advantages of knowledge sharing as a term include its commonsense comprehensibility, along with a certain degree of inter-activity implicit in any sharing. Drawbacks of knowledge sharing include the possibility that even sharing is insufficiently interactive, and that it implies (falsely) that the existence of knowledge precedes the sharing process, thereby (wrongly) separating knowledge management from knowledge creation and innovation and research. Knowledge Exploitation Knowledge exploitation is one of the vital parts in corporate knowledge. Knowledge exploitation means making knowledge more active and relevant for the organisation in creating values. If an organisation did not find it easy to locate the right kind of knowledge, the organisation may find it difficult to sustain its competitive advantage (Ganesh 2001). There are certain indicators for an organisations ability to create, disseminate and apply knowledge. Demarest (1997) identified six key questions an organisation has to answer to participate in knowledge management effectively: 1. The culture, actions and beliefs of managers about the value, purpose and role of knowledge; 2. The creation, dissemination and use of knowledge within the organisation; 3. The kind of strategic and commercial benefits a organisation can expect by the use of effective knowledge management; 4. The maturity of knowledge systems in the organisations; 5. How a organisation organise for knowledge management; and 6. The role of information technology in the knowledge management program. Using Demarests model, McAdam (2000) in his research on A comparison of public and private sector perceptions and use of knowledge management found that in terms of knowledge construction, organisations recognised the need for both a scientific and a social construction of knowledge if the benefits of knowledge management were to be realised. Knowledge embodiment was found to be highly dependent on employee interchange, which must be recognised as a source of knowledge and key to the success of knowledge embodiment in organisations dissemination and use. Approaches to knowledge dissemination as part of a KM system were found to be mainly ad hoc. There was little systematic use of the more sophisticated methods available. The use/benefits of knowledge management within the organisations studied was based mainly on reduced costs, and improved quality and efficiency. Creating, managing and transferring knowledge is the top of agenda for a growing number of organisations in the Chase study. They believe knowledge management would improve performance and result such as improved decision making, increased responsiveness to customer, improved efficiency of people and processes, increased ability to innovate and improved products and services (Chase, 1997). Although organisations recognised the importance of creating, managing and transferring knowledge, the research findings also found that many of the organisations still have been unable to translate this competitive needs into strategies. Other conclusion from his study is that the best practice organisations are experiencing great difficulty in translating knowledge management theory into practice. Communities of Practice In todays organisations community of practice seems very important for employees to contribute and share their tacit and explicit knowledge for the organisation development. Community of practice can be define as a group of practitioners who share a common interest or passion in an area of competence and are willing to share the experiences of their practice. Community of practice can play an important role in leveraging knowledge in organisation. Gamble and Blackwell (2001) defined community of practice as collections of individuals bound by informal relationship who share a similar work role in a common context. They are groups that: 1. Come together voluntarily for a shared purpose; 2. Have members that identify themselves as part of the community; 3. Repeatedly engage in activities with other member s and communities; 4. Have interactions that last for an indeterminate period of time. An essential ingredient of knowledge sharing programs in large organisations is the community of practice. In undertaking knowledge sharing programs, most organisations have found sooner or later that the nurturing of knowledge-based communities of practice is a sine qua non to enabling significant knowledge sharing to take place. Such communities are typically based on the affinity created by common interests or experience, where practitioners face a common set of problems in a particular knowledge area, and have an interest in finding, or improving the effectiveness of, solutions to those problems (Denning, 2000). Launching and nurturing communities of practice for knowledge sharing programs can be accomplished in a variety of ways (Denning, 2000). 1. Endorsing informal communities that already exist. 2. Asking practitioners what issues they care about. 3. Instructing leaders to form communities. 4. Launching purely virtual communities. 5. Launching communities among the incorrigibles. Communities of practice can add value into organisations in several important ways: 1. Community of practice can help to drive strategy. 2. They can start new lines of business. 3. They can solve problems quickly. 4. They transfer best practice. 5. They develop professional skills. 6. They help companies recruit and retain talent. Organisational Culture Organizational culture is a critically important aspect for facilitating sharing, learning, and knowledge creation. It is not homogeneous and sometimes has subcultures (McDermontt and Odell, 2001). An open culture with incentives built around integrating individual skills and experiences into organizational knowledge will be more successful (Gupta, Iyer and Aronson, 2000). Goh (2002) argues that one cultural dimension critical to knowledge transfer is co-operation and collaboration. Recent research on co-operation in organisation may help increase organizational understanding of the dynamic knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer requires the willingness of a group or individual to work with others and share knowledge to their mutual benefit. Without co-operations and collaboration culture knowledge transfer form individuals and groups will not be successful. Culture plays significant function in the success of knowledge management implementations. McDermontt and Odell (2001) used a definition of culture that helped to see its multiple levels (Figure3). Following Schein (1985), McDermontt and ODell defined culture as: The shared values, beliefs and practices of the people in the organisation. Culture is reflected in the visible aspects of the organisation, like its mission and espoused values. But culture exists on a deeper level as well, embedded in the way people act, what they expect of each other and how they make sense of each others actions. Finally, culture is rooted in the organisations core values and assumptions. Often these are not only unarticulated, but so taken-for granted that they are hard to articulate, invisible to organizational members. Because of these layers of culture, people can often act in ways inconsistent with the organisations articulated mission and values, but consistent with its underlying or core values. Following this definition, in an organisation with a knowledge sharing culture, people would share ideas and insights because they see it as natural, rather than something they are forced to do. They would expect it of each other and assume that sharing ideas is th e right thing to do. In order to achieve high level of collaborations and co-operations, there is a fundamental variable needed. It is a matter of trust. A high level of trust is therefore an essential condition for a willingness to cooperate. Trust belongs to the area of human factors in knowledge management. It is defined as expectations and acts that the members of the community direct to each other. In organisations trust supports and enables collaboration and knowledge sharing which are processes related to knowledge management. Collaboration and knowledge sharing are based on organizational culture and climate, which can either support or prevent them (Yoon, 2000). In order to overcome cultural barriers to sharing knowledge has more to do with how organisations design and implement their knowledge management effort than with changing the existing organizational culture (McDermontt and ODell, 2001). It involves balancing the visible and invisible dimensions of culture; visibly demonstrating the importance of sharing knowledge and building on the invisible core values. The companies we studied felt they are still learning how to do this effectively. McDermontt and ODell (2001) derive five critical aspects about aligning knowledge sharing with the organisation culture. 1. To create a knowledge sharing culture, make a visible connection between sharing knowledge and practical business goals, problems or results. 2. Match the overall style of your organisation rather than to directly copy the practices developed by other organisations. 3. Link sharing knowledge to widely held core values. By linking with core values of the organisation values, you make sharing knowledge consistent with peers expectations and managers considerations. 4. Human networks are one of the key vehicles for sharing knowledge. To build a sharing culture, enhance the networks that already exist. Enable them with tools, resources and legitimisation. 5. Recruit the support of people in your organisation who already share ideas and insights. Managers need to encourage and even pressure people to share their knowledge. Build sharing knowledge into routine performance appraisal. There must be a well-built culture of continuous improvement and learning, linked to problem seeking and problem solving and focused on specific values such as product quality and customer service. Employees are encouraged to gather relevant information and to use and share that information in problem solving and implementing innovative solutions and practices (Goh, 2002). Organisational Knowledge Structures Organisational knowledge structure is different than organisational culture and climate in at least two significant ways. The concept of knowledge structures deals with goals, cause-and-effect perspective, and other cognitive essentials. Furthermore knowledge structure is more clearly linked to an organisations plan for survival and more subject to change than an organisations culture, neither of which changes readily of provides specific strategies for action for an organisation (Lyles, 1992). In developing knowledge structures, there are three stages that individuals go through to reach agreement (Weick and Bougon, 1986): 1. Agreement on which concepts capture and abstract their joint experience; 2. Consensus on relations among these concepts, and; 3. Similarity of view on how these related concepts affects each party. Human resource is an important asset and within these resources lays the knowledge useful for organisations. In order to develop organizational knowledge the role of individual knowledge is very important. Organizational Change The organisations creation of differential knowledge, at its core, springs unpredictably and unknowingly from social interchanges between competent organisations. Thus the importance of organizational behaviour in a