Chapter One Introduction - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1691 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1.1 Aim of Chapter This chapter aims to give an overview of the dissertation. To start with, general backgrounds concerning the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), behavioral finance and market anomalies are mentioned briefly in order to provide better understanding about the modern area of financial study. Then, two opposed concepts of investment strategies, Contrarian Strategies and Momentum Strategies, are addressed leading to the next section which mention the main purpose and summary of findings of this research. Lastly, the structure of the dissertation has been outlined at the end of the chapter. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Chapter One: Introduction" essay for you Create order 1.2 Background of knowledge about efficient market hypothesis (EMH) The theory of market hypothesis (EMH) is one of the most crucial theories in standard finance that have been revised and tested over the past few decades to uncover its imperfection. This theory was introduced by Professor Eugene Fama in 1970. As defined in his article, the efficient market is the market where securities are priced, at any point of time, by accessible information. It is believed that the markets are extremely efficient that individual stocks and stock markets as a whole are fully reflected by all available information. When new information enters the market, stock prices incorporates the news and responds very quickly with our any delays; therefore security prices are the accurate source of data which can be used as signals in trading investment process. By examining the level of how relevant information reflects in security prices, Fama (1970) categorizes the market efficiency into three forms: weak, semi-strong and strong forms of EMH. However, this theory relies o n certain assumptions, for example, there is no transaction cost paid in trading securities and it is costless for all participants to gather information available in the markets. The weak form of EMH is the condition that exists when share prices are fully reflected by trading data such as past price (or return) histories. For that reason, investors cannot exploit mispriced securities and earn excess returns by using historical stock quotations or charts. Semi-strong form of EMH is the condition that exists when share prices incorporates market trading data and publicly available information. The examples of this type of information are announcements of annual earnings, stock splits, annual reports, analyst forecasts, etc. As a consequence, investors cannot exhibit gains by rely only on fundamental and macro-economics data. Strong form of EMH is the condition that exists when market prices of stocks adjusted according to every kind of accessible information. This includes hidden inside information which are known among specific group in the company (e.g. the top executives and group of operational managers) or some individuals that have monopolistic access to information (e.g. managements of mutual funds). Thus, abnormal profits cannot be generated by either using internal or external information of the company. In other words, both individual and professional investors cannot beat the market and earn excess returns in every way due to the perfect efficiency of the stock markets. As claimed by efficient market hypothesis, market will be efficient in weak form if the past and future returns are not correlated, in other words, they are independently and identically distributed. Thus this refers to the idea of the random walk model. However, Fama (1970) affirms in his literature that the test of random walk model leads to the evidence of weak-form EMH, but not vice versa. Burton (2003) identifies the definition of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“random walkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in his paper that it is the state where the flow of information on specific day is incorporated in stock prices on that day only, not for the subsequent period. The news announced in the market is unpredictable, thus stock prices changes are displayed in a random pattern. As a consequence, uninformed investors are able to earn equal rate of returns as what achieved by professional investors if they long position in well-diversified portfolios. In his paper, Burton tries to examine the criticism of the efficient market hypothesis and the idea that stock prices can be predicted based on initial valuation parameters (e.g. price-earnings multiple or dividend yield). He uses time-series analyses of accounting numbers and multiples and comes up with the results revealing that the stocks market are efficient enough, but it is difficult to predict the share prices. Moreover, the findings also reveal that anoma lous behavior of stock prices may exist, but investors cannot create portfolio trading opportunity and gains excess risk adjusted returns. Fama (1997) states in his study that there are many literatures concerning behavioral finance and market anomalies challenge the hypothesis of efficient market. The opposed idea suggests that stock prices slowly absorb information available, which can be denoted as the market inefficiency. 1.3 Behavioral Finance and Market Anomalies Behavioral finance is the new area of financial study concentrating on the psychology of market and its participants. This field of study has started to appear in many academic journals from 1990s. Shefrin (2002) publish a book regarding the behavioral finance trying to find and explain reason behind the behavior of investors, both professional and individual. The author suggests that investors, who are sometimes prone to commend mistakes and errors, tend to rely on their emotional and psychological forces, thus this causes many market anomalies, the state where there is inefficiency in stock markets, to take place. Two well-known papers of Berberis, Shleifer, and Vishny (1998) and Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subramanyam (1997) proposed behavioral models to explain the conflicting theory of efficient market hypothesis. They reject the previous belief with the proposition that the behavioral biases (i.e. judgment bias) of investors cause the anomalies and knock down the old theory behind. They present the concepts of over-reaction and under-reaction which accommodates the existence of long-term excess returns. Berberis, Shleifer, and Vishny (1996) create a model based on cognitive psychology of two judgment biases: the representativeness bias and conservatism. In their study, the empirical findings of investorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ behaviors are divided into two main groups: one perceives that earnings are mean-reverting. Thus, stock prices show a delayed short-term response and under-react to change in earnings. Another group believes that firmsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ earnings are trending which leads to the overreaction in stock prices. The earnings follow the random walk process; hence, this leads to reversal of long-term returns. Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subramanyam (1997) have different views in conducting the behavioral models. They split the sample group of investors into two categories: informed and uninformed investors. They find that judgment biases are not found among the uninformed investors, but detected among the informed ones. Informed investors are the group of people that determine the stock prices. They are exposed to two kinds of behavioral biases: overconfidence and self-attribution biases. Overconfidence causes the overstatement in investorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ perception of their private stock prices signals, while self-attribution bias causes investors to underweight the public signals about the value of companies. Therefore, the circumstance of overreaction to private information and under-reaction to public information generates continuation of stock returns in the short run. Overreaction leads to the concept of contrarian investing, whereas underreaction induces the theory of momentum inve sting. 1.4 Investment Strategies 1.4.1 Contrarian Investing Contrarian investing is the strategy that aims to generate profits by investing in the direction that goes against the conventional investors. In normal condition, short-sighted investors, who overweight the recent trends of past stocks prices and use this information to predict future prices, engage in buying stocks with good performance in the past hoping that it will continue to perform well in the near future. However, contrarian investing focuses on the opposite direction. People who employ this strategy tend to buy the shares that others have given up on due to either their poor past performance or their miserable and unclear future prospect. They expect the market to react to the behavior of the crowd, so that they can exploit the mispricing of securities and earn abnormal returns. 1.4.2 Momentum Investing Momentum investing is the strategy that is the opposite of contrarian investing. People who employ this strategy seek for making profits by relying on the continuance of the past stock prices and trends in the market in an attempt to predict prospective prices in the future. It is believed that the good stocks with price increases and strong performance in the past will keep on outperforming and generate gains in the future, and vice versa for the poor stocks. Thus, momentum investing suggests investors to hold stocks that had high returns and sell those that had low returns (buy winners and sell losers). The detailed of these two investment strategies will be discussed in the next chapter which both strategies will be supported by existing empirical evidences from several renowned academic papers. 1.5 Purpose and Findings of the Research The purpose of this research is to examine the profitability of momentum strategies, which is one of the most debated investment strategies in financial study, in the UK stock market. This paper employs the prices and returns data of FTSE 100 composites à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the top 100 biggest companies in London Stock Exchange à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as a proxy of the whole UK stocks. The observation period lies between July 21, 2000 to July 21, 2010, which gives a total of 10 years period. Thus, the main contribution of this study is to comprehensively revise existing literatures and employ the more up-to-date the data set with the well-known procedure to test the existence of momentum investing and its profitability in the UK market. However, the findings reveal no evidence of momentum profitability in the observed time for UK stock market, which are inconsistent with the prior research conducted using the different sample periods. 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation The rest of the dissertation is organized as follows: Chapter two comments on the review of the literature regarding the momentum strategies and its criticism, including the opposed theory of contrarian investing. Academic papers concerning the momentum strategies are divided into categories regarding the region of data employed. We carefully asserted and analyzed each paper to find the gaps which are necessary to be concerned for further researches in the future. Then, chapter three gives an overview of data and methodology used in this research. Chapter four shows the summary statistics of data, empirical results and interpretations. Finally, last chapter provides a summary of the results, as well as the limitations of the study.

Prussia s Influence On The World s Foundational...

Prussia was a kingdom that existed nearly half a millennium ago as a patchwork of territorial fragments, with no significant resources founded yet or a coherent culture. With its capital in Berlin, â€Å"Prussia grew from being a small, poor, disregarded medieval state into one of the most vigorous and powerful nations in Europe.†1 Prussia s involvement in the continent s foundational religious and political conflagrations. From the devastations of the Thirty Years War through centuries of political machinations to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. From the enlightenment of Frederick the Great to the destructive conquests of Napoleon. Then from the Iron and Blood policies of Bismarck to the creation of the German Empire in 1871, and all that implied for the tumultuous twentieth century. Prussia’s government was monarchical from the 1700s all the way to the Great War. During all that time it increasingly valued a strong, formidable army, but was not so formidable when it met Napoleon during the Coalition Wars. It put forth effort in training and spending much of its money towards weapons and uniforms. The military technology and strategy of Prussia during 1860s and 1870s was outstanding. Especially with the mind of Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) leading the way against Denmark, and later Austria, and then with his sneaky tactics he used against France before the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. Prior to the unification in 1871, Germany was made up of thirty-nineShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesStory of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution

My Hands That Close To Your Neck Free Essays

In anticipation of an upcoming Ethical Dilemma, I was striving to prepare myself for a choice I might have to make. I wanted to make the choice that gave an accurate impression of who I am; and who I am is someone who wants to be ethical, evolved, yet not at all a oilpan for the machinations of the morally corrupt. Here’s the situation: I lived in a small town, where all your actions can affect how you are viewed, your ability to function in that town, or do business, or simply exist in harmony; and that view can be reflected back to you with dizzying speed. We will write a custom essay sample on My Hands That Close To Your Neck or any similar topic only for you Order Now I was to be involved in a public event, and worried that I might cross paths with a particular person, whom I’ll call the Big Eraser. This person lived in my home, used my things, brought no belongings, and in fact had none–only a white garbage sack of items†¦not due to youth (this person is pushing 40), and not due to an inability to be self-supporting. I had been loving, generous and supportive to B.E., and what I got in return was sloth, abuse, lies, deceit and eventual admissions of hatred after I removed B.E. from my home. This person had treated me with disregard, cost me money, frustration and stress, and managed to get away with it for various reasons. I learned some important lessons–I believe that everyone with whom we cross paths can be seen as a teacher. We don’t have to like them for that to be true. So, this was a small town, as I mentioned, and I was set up to provide a service, and fully expected B.E. to attend this public event, and that it might necessarily put me in a position to provide this service to B.E., should that request be made. It’s important to note that this service is Therapeutic Touch Treatments, and therefore requires me to impart love and healing–the last thing I feel I am capable of giving to this person. My response to this hypothetically anticipated request will also be rather public, and while I didn’t want to seem hostile, I also didn’t want to appear a doormat, nor did I wish to impart â€Å"reward† or seem to condone or approve of B.E., only for the sake of social graces. I was not disingenuous enough to pretend I had affection for this person. Add to this, the fact that B.E. has repeatedly avoided karmic debt, and it irks me that B.E. has been able to charm around and over everyone until they personally experience the truth of who B.E. really is. This is a person who was a self-confessed former drug dealer/maker, who damaged or perhaps was responsible for the deaths of an unknown number of people–maybe even kids–and had the unmitigated gall to brag about it. This is a person who has lied to others (including myself, initially) about burn scars, stating that they were received in some heroic gesture, when really the burns were received in a drug lab fire while cooking Methamphetamine. Yet B.E. had managed to snow everyone else, and also land a great job that paid well and offered security–this, with a criminal past, with a history of dodging taxes, and without a GED or High School Diploma. So in regard to my response to B.E. in this scenario, I have a generalized angst attached, i.e., â€Å"Why do good things happen to bad people?† These are examples of possible skewing of perception, as well as Internal Noise. Now, an argument can be made that The Wheel of Karma spins on its own, and does not require that we manually turn it. If a karmic debt is due, it will be paid, one way or another, and it is the most healthy thing for me to keep my hands off that wheel. I remind myself of this frequently, when I have to deal with people like B.E. Back to the Public Event in which I might cross paths with this person: Should B.E. approach my area and say, â€Å"I’d like a treatment,† my response is crucial for many reasons. In my mind, I had conjured possible responses to such a request (testing hypothesis): â€Å"F*** you.† (anger) â€Å"Are you out of your mind? Get out of my face, Loser.† (anger + judgment) (suggested by my best friend:) â€Å"I would love to give you a treatment†¦but for you, it will cost $700, because that’s one of the debts you left for me.† (sarcasm + bitterness) â€Å"It’s not a good idea for me to have my hands that close to your neck.† (sarcasm + veiled threat) â€Å"I don’t think that would be a good idea.† (avoidance + statement of fact) â€Å"Sorry, I’m on a break.† (avoidance + a lie + non-confrontation)) â€Å"Let me think about that for a while.† (avoidance + stall + nonconfrontation) It is important to me that I make choices rooted in an evolved mind†¦my more primitive side wants to lash out. My intellectual side wants to take a firm stance and my spiritual side wants to put only loving things into my environment and those around me, because that’s what I want to get back. I am a great fan of having all those parts of myself satisfied, yet I suspect this isn’t possible. I have to choose. If I choose the â€Å"High Road† and say, â€Å"Sure, sit right down here and let me give you some love and healing.† Then I feel I have chumped myself, compromised my integrity, become spineless, have condoned reprehensible choices, and somehow validated B.E.’s evil ways. Why would I want to assist someone in their misbehavior? If I allow myself to become angry, I’m ultimately just hurting myself with stress, and giving B.E. power I don’t wish B.E. to have. If I avoid B.E. and the situation, I feel cowardly, yet B.E. will probably order another beer and wander off, and I won’t have to deal with it further†¦ Of course, this scenario might never unfold, but I don’t feel my consideration and energy is moot; I still need to understand how to deal with it, and I still need to ask myself these types of questions. Since B.E. never appeared at the event, my angst and ethical hand-wringing became a moot point. I still don’t know the answers to these questions. I never got the chance to act on the decision, even though I was relatively sure what my decision would be. If I had to say how I might handle it now (and how I would have handled it then, had I gotten the chance) I would say that I would have chosen the last response: â€Å"Let me think about that for a while.† This non-confrontational approach avoids conflict, defuses the situation, and also doesn’t feel like it costs me any of my own integrity. I had an idea of expected behavior in that my choice of responses would have caused B.E. to wander off, without any provocation. It’s quite possible that I would have been met with unexpected behavior, in that B.E. could have continued to engage me in a confrontational way, rather than to wander off. Either way, in order to create a list of responses, I had to understand my own mental models, and making the list alone was enough to inform me of my own place in this ethical dilemma, and it forced me to consider the type of person I wanted to be. How to cite My Hands That Close To Your Neck, Essay examples

Managing Diversity for Culture - Equality and Communication

Question: Discuss about theManaging Diversity for Culture, Equality and Communication. Answer: The organization is accompanied by the complex set of factors which is evaluated by the managers and other policies makers to formulate the business plans and strategies. The effective manager means to get the assigned work done in best efficient manner. He ensures that allocated work is managed and done in best possible manner. Ideally, the management faces issues related to managing diversity in the contemporary workplace. A manager is a person who takes all the strategic decisions and manages employees to achieve certain goals and objectives. A workplace in the corporate world is increasingly becoming more diverse than they were in past. Therefore, in order to increase the overall effectiveness of the company, employees are hired from the different places and culture. Effective managers are very well aware that managing employees with the diverse backgrounds requires the different approach than it does for management of employees with the similar background. The effective manager should be more inclined toward learning employee's behavior and their needs. The main point which needs to be considered by a manager to diversity in the organization is related to employee's perception, culture, equality and communication among them (Bashev, 2016). Diversity is the state of being diverse. The diversity in an organization arises when there are employees coming in the one roof from the diverse backgrounds. This diversity plays important role in the contemporary workplace. It is the process of attracting, developing, maintaining the talented workforce. This contemporary workplace eliminates issues like sexual harassment, cultural issues and other problems in determined approach. The managers in organization formulate standards work policies to manage the diversity. It helps employees to adopt standard working environment and influence them to follow only one culture in their working process. As per the perception of this, it is reflected that companies with the diverse workforce often perform outstandingly. However, in order to drag effective outcomes from the implemented diversified strategic plans, managers need to follow following points which are given as below. Set standards objectives and goals. It is evaluated that if standards objectives and goals are set for the employees then it will give general objectives to each and every employee irrespective of their culture and diverse working environment. Communicate directly In case of diversity, managers should use direct communication methods which could assist him to directly communicate with the employees in a systematic manner. If managers could use proper communication methods based on the unambiguous guidelines then it will increase the overall outcomes of business (Jaeger, Kim and Butt, 2016). Acceptance of feedbacks It is evaluated that managers need to take proper feedbacks from the employee's onetime basis. If the manager could eliminate the employee's issue by taking proper feedbacks then it will increase the overall output and efficiency of the business (Kalev, 2014.). There are several questions which could be undertaken to make effective use of managerial skills to in the diversified organization culture. How could managers reduce the employee turnover of business? How could efficient managers reduce the diversify complexity and manage multicultural workplace? How could diversity management increase the effectiveness of the communication in the organization? As per the views of Garca-Meca, Garca-Snchez, and Martnez-Ferrero, (2015)., it is revealed that employees need to work as the team in organization irrespective of their culture, perception, and values. Managers need to motivate team spirit in employees so that they could learn to work in the multicultural workplace. As stated by, Hirsh and Cha, (2017), it is depicted that communications methods need to be managed by managers in maintain diversified work culture. If the proper communication channel is used by managers then it will reduce the complexity of the diversified work culture in an effective manner. As per the perception of, Lampe and Hilgers, (2015) it is divulged that values, perception, and personal factors highly influence employees in their working. If managers motivate employees to follow standard work culture then it will not only increase the team spirit but also increase the overall outcomes of the organization. I have several skills such as managing complex problems, forecasting future issues and analytical skills. I am always inclined towards learning new things. I have managed various issues through by divergent thinking and analytical skill. The managerial style which I will propose would be persuasive management style. This style helps in evaluating the problems and takes control over the managerial decisions. It reduces issues and problems of the diversified workforce. Nonetheless, as the future is uncertain, I could also change by managerial style based on the internal and external factors of the business. If I will become the future manager then I will first analyze the problems and issues which my employees will face in an organization. After that, I will formulate the proper strategies program to mitigate the possible issues. I have analyzed that if employees are given proper direction and standards work policies then they could easily coup with the diverse organizational culture in the effective manner (McKay and Avery, 2015). After evaluating various multinational companies, I have inferred that persuasive managerial style highly influences employees. It gives new learning path and helps employees to learn the new style of working. However, manager, by using this persuasive style could evaluate all the internal and external factors which may affect the employees in their working. In addition to this, the main communication style which I would use in my future managerial skills would be direct communication methods. It will include observation, interview, and meeting with employees (Park and Lee, 2015). The managing diversity in the organization is the key to success. It is evaluated that if the manager works efficiently then it will decrease the business complexity and increases the overall outcomes of the organization. Now, in the end, it could be inferred that managing diversity will not only decrease the working complexity but also increase the overall outcome of an organization. References Bashev, H., 2016. The sustainability of farms.Economics,1(2), pp.20-53. Garca-Meca, E., Garca-Snchez, I.M. and Martnez-Ferrero, J., 2015. Board diversity and its effects on bank performance: An international analysis.Journal of Banking Finance,53, pp.202-214. Hirsh, E. and Cha, Y., 2017. Mandating change: The impact of court-ordered policy changes on managerial diversity.ILR Review,70(1), pp.42-72. Jaeger, A.M., Kim, S.S. and Butt, A.N., 2016. Leveraging values diversity: The emergence and implications of a global managerial culture in global organizations.Management International Review,56(2), pp.227-254. Kalev, A., 2014. How you downsize is who you downsize: Biased formalization, accountability, and managerial diversity.American Sociological Review,79(1), pp.109-135. Lampe, H.W. and Hilgers, D., 2015. Trajectories of efficiency measurement: A bibliometric analysis of DEA and SFA.European Journal of Operational Research,240(1), pp.1-21. McKay, P.F. and Avery, D.R., 2015. Diversity climate in organizations: Current wisdom and domains of uncertainty. InResearch in personnel and human resources management(pp. 191-233). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Park, H.G., and Lee, Y.J., 2015. The Efficiency and Productivity Analysis of Large Logistics Providers Services in Korea.The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics,31(4), pp.469-476.

Cellular Phones Essays (571 words) - Mobile Technology,

Cellular Phones CELLULAR PHONES Each day something like 30,000 people in the United States sign up for and start using a cellular phone. With a cell phone you can talk to anyone on the planet from just about anywhere (80% of the U.S. has coverage). A cell phone is really an extremely sophisticated radio. A cell phone is a duplex device which uses one frequency for talking and a second, separate frequency, for listening. A cell phone can communicate on 1,664 channels and operate within cells. They can switch cells as they move around. Cells give cell phones incredible range. Someone using a cell phone can drive clear across a city and maintain a conversation the entire time. The way a cellular phone does this is the carrier chops up an area (such as a city) into cells. Each cell is typically sized at about 10 square miles (perhaps 3 miles by 3 miles). Cells are normally thought of as hexagons on a big hexagonal grid. As you move toward the edge of your cell, your cell's base station will note that your signal strength is diminishing. Meantime, the base station in the cell you are moving toward, which is listening and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, will be able to see your phone's signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO, and at some point your phone gets a signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. This ?handoff? switches your phone to the new cell. Roaming makes things a bit more interesting. In modern systems, the phones listen for a System ID (SID) on the control channel at power-up. If the SID on the control channel does not match the SID programmed into the phone, then the phone knows it is roaming. The phone also transmits a registration request and the network keeps track of your phone's location in a database. This way the MTSO knows which cell you are in when it wants to ring your phone. As you move between cells, the phone detects changes in the control channel's strength and re-registers itself with the new cell when it changes channels. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to it knows it is out of range and displays a no service message. Cell phones suffer from a problem known as cloning. When your phone is cloned it means that someone has stolen your phone's ID numbers and is able to make fraudulent calls on your account. Here is how cloning occurs. When your phone makes a call, it transmits two pieces of information to the network at the beginning of the call: - A MIN (Mobile Identification number) - a 10 digit number derived from your phone's number (both the MIN and SID are programmed into the phone by the dealer) - An ESN (Electronic Serial Number) - a unique 32-bit number programmed into the phone when it is manufactured. The MIN/ESN pair is a unique tag for your phone, and it is how the phone company knows who to bill for the call. When your phone transmits its MIN/ESN pair, it is possible for someone to listen, with a scanner, and capture the pair. With the right equipment it is fairly easy to modify another phone so that it contains your MIN/ESN pair, and now someone else can make calls on your account. Engineering

Abortion, Religion, and the Death Penalty essays

Abortion, Religion, and the Death Penalty essays In this paper, I will argue against the most controversial things that exist, including religion, the death penalty, and abortion and try to find consistency in people that are in favor of it and in their arguments. These are things that should be handled with common sense and not with the mindset that everything has some type of divine intervention or religious answer. Furthermore, I will take a stance that will show that religion is used as an excuse for people in this world to believe that life is something worth living for because of the after-life. First off, I would like to start with a term we have all heard that is referred to as the Sanctity of Life. Personally, I think its a crock of nonsense. Life is sacred? Who said so? God? If you read history, God is one of the leading causes of death, has been for thousands of years. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus all killing each other because God said it was a good idea. Some of the most brutal wars have been fought over religion, the Crusades for instance. Even if you do try to talk about the Sanctity of Life you cant try and blame it on God because we made it up. You know why? We are alive, thats why we made it up. Living people have a strong interest of promoting that life is sacred. What does Richard Nixon have to say about the Sanctity of Life? Whats the latest from JFK? What do the victims of the World Trade Center attack have to say about it? Nothing! Thats because Richard Nixon, JFK, and the victims of the World Trade Center are all dead. Last time I checked, dead p eople could care less about the Sanctity of Life; only living people care about it. Therefore, it grows out of a completely biased point of view. It was a self- serving man-made bunch of garbage. Its one of these things we tell ourselves to make us feel noble. If everything that ever lived is dead, and everything that is living is going to die, then wh...

ICD-10 Implementation in the United States Essay

ICD-10 Implementation in the United States - Essay Example According to Sanders (2012), implementation of the ICD-10 will help healthcare providers to document medical complications, catalog diseases, thus making healthcare more effective. The implementation of the clinical adaptation will precisely illustrate the types of medical conditions met by healthcare organizations, and it will reduce medical errors and improve patient health outcomes. It will also help in the reduction of fraud and abuse in the healthcare institution. The transition to ICD-10 dives United States the opportunity to propagate public health disease and surveillance data globally. The healthcare industry in this country continues to advance medically and technologically, and incorporating a more modern coding system will be a major boost in the industry. The coding system offers many advantages that will cause an improvement in hospitals, medical device manufacturers and many more institutions. Enhanced quality care is one of the major benefits since it will lead to improving eminence carefor certain health conditions such as chronic illnesses. With each challenge, there are obstacles that lay ahead. The implementation of ICD-10 has encountered a number of challenges including implementation cost and planning, but in the push for healthcare reforms, it has seen its implementation which has more benefits in improving the healthcare industry. Sanders, TB. (2012). The Road to ICD-10-CM/PCS Implementation: Forecasting the Transition for Providers, Players, and other Healthcare Organizations. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 22 May 2015, from

Impacts on Liquidity - ECO316 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Impacts on Liquidity - ECO316 - Essay Example This consequently led to the financial crisis and eventually a shortage of liquidity due to wrong policies. Excessive savings were required to fight the crisis and ensure that no financial institution faced liquidity issues. United States first followed the expansionary policy where it experienced an increase in the monetary base. To avoid excessive liquidity in the market, US implemented contractionary policy to control the rate at which the monetary base was increasing. The financial markets yet had liquidity and were not insolvent. Adding the role of government, the budget deficits have been soaking up the savings. Consequently, this has hindered the growth of the market and economy. The government budget deficits have created solvency issues not only for the government but also for the whole nation. The impact of government spending is less productive as compared to the measures undertaken by the central bank, Fed. Government budget deficits do lead to difficulties in getting investments, and it does cause solvency issues, but that can be fought with a right monetary policy by the central bank, Fed. Falling government budget deficits do support and strengthen the fact that there was too much liquidity in the financial markets. However, it does not mean the government’s declining budget deficits had stronger influence on increasing liquidity. Federal Reserve (Fed) has the strongest ability to influence the monetary base which consequently determines the level of liquidity available in the financial markets. By 2006, Federal Reserve (Fed) had been able to increase liquidity in the financial markets. In fact, there was too much liquidity, and to control the liquidity level, by the fall of 2006, Federal Reserve (Fed) introduced contractionary monetary policy. This is when US budget deficits started declining. The rapidly increasing monetary base and levels of liquidity were consequences of the monetary policy and measures taken by the

Leadership and management Style Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership and management Style - Assignment Example My past experience tells me that nowadays there is a lack of alignment between goals of an organization and leadership style. I, being a leader, want to align the strategy of the organization with leadership style. Management style varies depending upon the nature, size and kind of the organization. The authoritative leadership style works well when the job is monotonous and does not require much innovation and input from employees e.g. Military organizations and hospitals. Through my past experience I have found that I am good at leading people authoritatively. But my weakness is that I crashed during stress times and critical decision making. Although I always came up with the right decision but I got extremely nervous when I had to complete more than one task at a time. I was more involved in taking suggestions from others regarding taking decision. But my experience has told me that this job cannot be done without being authoritative as it is the matter of life of patient. In fut ure, I would not repeat this mistake of mine and will improve my leadership style. The trait theory of leadership says that there are certain traits that are required in individuals who want to become at the leadership positions and the leaders are born as leaders. These traits describe basic qualities leaders possess like achievement drive, motivation, self-confidence, knowledge of business, cognitive ability, emotional maturity and few others like charismatic personality and flexibility. It assumes that leaders are born with these qualities and cannot be made (Trait Theory). Task 2 When applying this theory on my own personality, I come to a conclusion that I am a born leader. Throughout my job experience, I observed my behavior at certain situation which told me that I possess the leadership qualities. My past experiences were all of this kind that helped me getting to know about my own talents and abilities. I have always been supportive and cooperative. There have been times wh ere I had to take some decisions authoritatively as the job of nursing is a very important job where there is not much room for flexibility. My self-confidence and cognitive ability enabled me to manage stress and time but not that well as I want to. Knowledge of business is the most important trait of a leader in my view. When one does not know what his or her business is, he cannot be an effective leader. My educational qualification as well as past job experiences were fruitful enough to give me a knowhow of the field of nursing. However, in my view the traits of the leaders are not always present in the leaders in every situation. There are times when changes in traits are needed. In my view I lag in the flexibility part of the traits and in my view this trait can be acquired by the experience. What kind of situation will be most helpful for what kind of trait, these are few things on which I need to focus and learn. My personal development objectives are To become a part of an organization where I can apply my leadership skills I want to add value to the enterprise rather than being just a part of it I want to learn more about the decision making importance in nursing field Given the sense of autonomy, I want to utilize my potential to the maximum I want to learn where do I lag when it comes to managing the people I want to improve my communication skills and be more supportive I want to increase the flexibility of my traits so that I can be a

Ascendable Computing with Storage Resources

Ascendable Computing with Storage Resources INTRODUCTION Ascendable computing with storage resources through the Internet have been preferred by a cloud computing. It also assists users for accessing services with no regard where the services are presented and the way they offered same to water, gas, electricity, and telephony utilities [1]. With the adaptable and clear components in the resource assignment and also service delivering, a lot of data-intensive applications are improved in the environment of cloud computing. The data rigorous applications dedicate many of their implementation time in disk I/O for exercising a huge amount of data, e.g. commercial transactions data mining, satellite data processing, web search engine, etc.An evolving dedicated cloud computing platform for the   data-intensive application is Apache Hadoop [2][3] Data is allocated over the cloud. This has to be made possible to the applications that want to utilize it. There should not be any degradation of performance. The data accessing speed must be augmented, maintaining the load balanced in the system [4]. Possibility and Scalability are the two significant components to enhance the cloud performance. Generating replication is one of the vital strategies to attain the above. This replication also minimizes access latency plus bandwidth consumption. Then the data is saved at several places. The entreated data is derived from the closest source from which the appeal created. It results in increasing the performance of the system. The replications advantages do not occur without the overheads of generating, sustaining and also updating the replicas. Here, Replication can hugely enhance the performance [5]. The cloud computing applications performance of gaming, voice, storage, video conferencing, online office, social networking, and backup relies hugely on the possibility and effectiveness of great-performance communicating resources. For better reliability and high performance low latency service provisioning, Data resources may be drawn nearer (replicated)   to the place   known as physical infrastructure where the cloud applications are functioning. One of the most broadly learned spectacle in the allocated environment is Replication. Data replication algorithms are classified into two categories: static replication [6] [7] plus dynamic replication algorithms [8] [9] [10]., The replication policy is reestablished and very well defined in the static replication model. Moreover, dynamic replication generates automatically and removes replicas based on the modifying access patterns. And, static plus dynamic replication algorithms are further categorized into two groups, they are distributed and centralized algorithms [11] [12] Two kinds of replication techniques are Active and passive Replication. In active replication the whole replicas derive and execute the similar series of client appeals. In Passive replication the clients dispatch their appeals to a primary, implementing the appeals and dispatches updated messages to the backups. The replications target is to reduce the data access for the user accesses and also improving the job implementation performance. Replication proffers both enhanced performance and dependability for mobile computers through generating several replicas of significant data. For enhancing the data access performance in conventional wired/wireless networks, Data replication has been broadly used [13]. With the data replication, the users can utilize the data with no assistance of network infrastructure, and also can minimize the traffic load [14]. Scheduling is one of the significant tasks executed to fasten most profit for boosting the effectiveness of the cloud computing work load [15]. In cloud environment, the vital aim of the scheduling algorithms is, creating the utilization of the resources orderly. In cloud computing the different job scheduling [16] techniques are Cloud Service, User Level, Static and Dynamic [17], Heuristic, Workflow [18] and also Real Time scheduling. A few of the scheduling algorithms in cloud whether otherwise task or job or else workflow [19] or resources are Compromised-Time-Cost, Particle Swarm Optimization related Heuristic [20], enhanced cost based for tasks, RASA workflow, plus   new transaction intensive cost constraint, SHEFT workflow, Multiple QoS Constrained for Multi- Workflows.   Demonstrated workflow scheduling algorithms [kianpisheh2016] are available. Some of them are ant colony, market oriented hierarchical, deadline constrained, etc. Related Work Mazhar Ali et.al [21] suggested Division plus Replication of Data in the Cloud for Optimal Performance and Security (DROPS) which approaches the safety and performance problems collectively. In the DROPS methodology, A file was separated into fragments, and then replicate the fragmented data through the cloud nodes. All nodes saved only one fragment of a specified data file that assures that even in a victorious attack, meaningful information was not exposed to the attacker. They presented that the possibility for generating and compromising every node saving the fragments single files fragments is utterly low. They also matched the DROPS methodologys performance with ten other plans. The greater level of safety with little performance overhead was noticed. For minimizing the consumption of Cloud storage while confronting the data dependability requirement, Wenhao Li, Yun Yang et.al [22] proposed a cost-efficient data dependability management mechanism called PRCR regarding a common data dependability technique. By utilizing proactive replica examining method, when the running overhead for PRCR can be negligible, PRCR assures dependability of the great Cloud data with the minimized replication, that can also function as a cost efficiency yardstick for replication related methods. Javid Taheri et.al [23] suggested an innovative optimization algorithm based on Bee Colony, called Job Data Scheduling using Bee Colony (JDS-BC). JDS-BC comprised two integrating mechanisms to schedule jobs effectively onto computational nodes and then replicate data files on the storage nodes in a system hence the two independent, and in several cases conflicting, objectives (i.e., makespan plus whole datafile transfer time) of these heterogeneous systems were minimized concurrently. Three benchmarks differentiating from small- to huge-sized instances were utilized to evaluate the of JDS-BCs performance. For presenting JDS-BCs superiority under variant operating situations, Results were matched opposite to other algorithms. Menglan Hu et.al [24] suggested a sequence of innovative algorithms for solving the joint issue of resource provisioning and caching (i.e., replica placement) for cloud-based CDNs with an emphasis on handling the dynamic demand patterns. Firstly, they propose a provisioning and caching algorithm framework called Differential Provisioning and Caching (DPC) algorithm, that focuses to rent cloud resources for constructing   CDNs and whereby for caching   the concepts hence the complete rental cost can be reduced while every demands are served. DPC comprised 2 steps. Step 1 first augmented total demands assisted by available resources. Then, step 2 the whole rental cost for innovative resources for serving all remained demands. For every step we mapped both greedy plus iterative heuristics, each with variant benefits over the prevailing methods. Yongqiang Gao et.al [25] presented a multi-objective ant colony system algorithm for the virtual machine placement issue. The aim was, deriving efficiently a sequence of non-dominated solutions (the Pareto set) that reduce the total resource wastage plus power consumption simultaneously. The suggested algorithm was examined with some examples from the literature. Its solution performance was matched to that of a prevailing multi-objective genetic algorithm plus two single-objective algorithms notable bin packing algorithm and a max-min ant system (MMAS) algorithm. Zhenhua Wang et.al [26] presented workload balancing framework and resource management to Swift, a broadly utilized and conventional distributed storage system on cloud. In this framework, workload monitoring plus analysis algorithms were designed by them for inventing over and under loaded nodes in the cluster. For balancing the workload amidst those nodes, Split, Merge and also Pair Algorithms executed for regulating physical machines when Resource Reallocate Algorithm was mapped for regulating virtual machines on cloud. Additionally, by leveraging the experienced architecture of allocated storage systems, the framework resided in the hosts and operates through API interception.

Susan Glaspells Trifles - The Sweetness of Revenge :: Trifles Essays

Sweetness of Revenge    Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, seems to describe the ultimate women’s suffrage story. No longer will men have an upper hand against women after reading this story. Cleverness will be the key to retaining power from the men in this story. The one thing that woman are criticized for, the idea that women tend to look at the ‘little picture’ instead of the ‘whole picture’, will be there path to victory. Two stories of revenge are told in this story, the revenge of suppression and revenge of being portrayed as ‘unsophisticated, unintelligent’ women. First we have the story of Mrs. Wright and the struggles with her husband, John. Married women throughout history have been portrayed and played the role as being inferior to the husband in marriage. This seems to be the case with Mrs. Wright. Even though John’s public image was somewhat respectable, it was obvious that behind close doors the story was different. There is evidence of abuse in this marriage. First, the discovery of the broken door leads me to conclude that John was very physical and anguished. Second, it is assumed that Mrs. Wrights husband had broke her canary’s neck. The canary, which of course had to be caged, was represented as the old Minnie Foster herself. The canary is a beautiful, free spirited bird that had a sweet voice, as Minnie had at one time. This was the end of the line and ‘Minnie Foster’ was about to be reborn. She would stand up for all those abused and suppressed house wives across the world and makes the first ‘final’ decision she had ever been allowed to make. The bird’s cage was her jail. The bird’s death was her freedom for the fate of the bird was the fate of her husband. John was discovered with a rope tied around his neck, the freedom of a women who could no longer be held down. This was the first implementation of women’s power in the story. The women at Mrs. Wrigh t’s home played an important role in the story as well. The ‘professional’ detectives were busy about the house finding clues to indict Mrs. Wright in the murder case. They ridiculed the women in the house by ‘putting them in their place’ as typical ladies, so worried about small things and useless ordeals. Mrs. Hale noted the stitches in the quilt to be erratically stitched as if something were wrong.

Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Nineteen

And wouldn't you know. Something big was arranged. The Colonial Union showed up. The shuttle landed and a little green man popped out. And I thought, This seems familiar. It was even the same little green man: General Rybicki. But there were differences. The first time I saw General Rybicki, he was in my front yard, and it was just him and me. This time his shuttle landed in the grassy area right in front of Croatoan's gate, and a large chunk of the colony had turned out to see him land. He was our first visitor since we came to Roanoke, and his appearance seemed to give the idea that maybe we would finally be out of exile. General Rybicki stood in front of the shuttle and looked at the people in front of him. He waved. They cheered wildly. This went on for several minutes. It's like people had never seen someone wave before. Finally the general spoke. â€Å"Colonists of Roanoke,† he said. â€Å"I bring you good news. Your days of hiding are over.† This was interrupted by another gout of cheering. When it calmed down, the general continued. â€Å"As I speak to you, my ship above is installing your communications satellite. Soon you will be able to send messages to friends and loved ones back on your home planets. And from here on out, all the electronic and communication equipment you had been ordered to stop using will be returned to you.† This got a huge whoop from the teenage sectors of the crowd. â€Å"We know that we have asked much from you,† Rybicki said. â€Å"I am here to tell you that your sacrifice has not been wasted. We believe that very soon now the enemy that has threatened you will be contained – and not just contained, but defeated. We couldn't have done this without you. So for all of the Colonial Union, I thank you.† More cheering and nonsense. The general seemed to be enjoying his moment in the sun. â€Å"Now I must speak with your colony leaders to discuss how to reintegrate you into the Colonial Union. Some of this may take some time, so I ask you to be a little patient. But until then, let me just say this: Welcome back to civilization!† Now the crowd really went nuts. I rolled my eyes and looked down at Babar, who went with me to the landing. â€Å"This is what happens when you spend a year out in the wilderness,† I said. â€Å"Any dumb thing looks like entertainment.† Babar looked up at me and lolled his tongue out; I could tell he agreed with me. â€Å"Come on, then,† I said. And we walked through the crowd to the general, who I was supposed to escort back to my dad. General Rybicki saw Babar before he saw me. â€Å"Hey!† he said, and bent down for his slobbering, which Babar duly and enthusiastically applied. He was a good dog but not a hugely accurate judge of character. â€Å"I remember you,† he said to Babar, petting him. He looked up and saw me. â€Å"I remember you, too.† â€Å"Hello, General,† I said, politely. The crowd was still milling around us but quickly dispersing as folks raced to all corners of the colony to pass on what they were told. â€Å"You look taller,† he said. â€Å"It's been a year,† I said. â€Å"And I am a growing girl. This despite being kept in the dark all this time.† The general seemed not to catch this. â€Å"Your mother said that you would be escorting me to see them. I'm a little surprised that they didn't come out themselves,† he said. â€Å"They've had a busy couple of days,† I said. â€Å"As have we all.† â€Å"So colony life is more exciting than you thought it would be,† the general said. â€Å"Something like that,† I said, and then motioned. â€Å"I know my dad is very interested in talking to you, General. Let's not keep him waiting.† I held my PDA in my hand. There was something not quite right about it. Gretchen noticed it too. â€Å"It feels weird,† she said. â€Å"It's been so long since we carried one around. It's like I've forgotten how to do it.† â€Å"You seemed to remember pretty well when we were using the ones in the information center,† I said, reminding her of how we'd spent a fair amount of the last year. â€Å"It's different,† she said. â€Å"I didn't say I'd forgotten how to use one. I'm saying I've forgotten what it was like to carry one around. Two different things.† â€Å"You could always give it back,† I said. â€Å"I didn't say that,† Gretchen said, quickly. Then she smiled. â€Å"Still, you have to wonder. In the last year people here actually did manage to get along without them just fine. All the hootenannies and the plays and the other stuff.† She looked at her PDA. â€Å"Makes you wonder if they're all going to go away now.† â€Å"I think they're part of who we are now,† I said. â€Å"As Roanokers, I mean.† â€Å"Maybe,† Gretchen said. â€Å"It's a nice thought. We'll have to see if it's actually true.† â€Å"We could practice a new song,† I said. â€Å"Hickory says Dickory's been wanting to try something new for a while now.† â€Å"That's funny,† Gretchen said. â€Å"One of your bodyguards has become a musical fiend.† â€Å"He's a Roanoker too,† I said. â€Å"I guess he is,† Gretchen said. â€Å"That's funny, too.† My PDA blinked; something happened with Gretchen's as well. She peered at hers. â€Å"It's a message from Magdy,† she said. â€Å"This is going to be bad.† She touched the PDA to open it. â€Å"Yup,† she said, and showed me the picture. Magdy sent a short video of him mooning us. â€Å"Some people are getting back into the swing of things sooner than others,† I said. â€Å"Unfortunately,† Gretchen said. She tapped onto her PDA. â€Å"There,† she said. â€Å"I made a note to kick his ass the next time I see him.† She motioned at my PDA. â€Å"He send it to you, too?† â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"I think I'll refrain from opening it.† â€Å"Coward,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Well, then, what is going to be your first official act on your PDA?† â€Å"I'm going to send a message to a certain two someones,† I said. â€Å"And tell them that I want to see them alone.† â€Å"We apologize for being late,† Hickory said to me, as it and Dickory stepped into my bedroom. â€Å"Major Perry and General Rybicki gave us priority status on a data packet so that we could communicate with our government. It took some time to prepare the data.† â€Å"What did you send?† I asked. â€Å"Everything,† Hickory said. â€Å"Everything,† I said. â€Å"Every single thing you two and I did in the last year.† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"A digest of events now, and a more comprehensive report as soon as we can. Our people will be desperate to know what has happened with you since they last heard from us. They need to know you are well and unharmed.† â€Å"This includes what happened last night,† I said. â€Å"All of it. Including the part where you oh so lightly mentioned your plans to murder my parents.† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"We are sorry to have upset you, Zoe. We would not have wished to do that. But you offered us no alternative when you told us to speak the truth to your parents.† â€Å"And what about to me?† I asked. â€Å"We have always told you the truth,† Hickory said. â€Å"Yes, but not all of it, have you?† I said. â€Å"You told Dad that you had information about the Conclave that you didn't tell him about. But you didn't tell it to me, either. You kept secrets from me, Hickory. You and Dickory both.† â€Å"You never asked,† Hickory said. â€Å"Oh, don't give me that crap,† I said. â€Å"We're not playing word games here, Hickory. You kept us in the dark. You kept me in the dark. And the more I've thought about it, the more I realize how you acted on what you knew without telling me. All those alien races you had me and Gretchen study in the information center. All the races you trained us how to fight. Hardly any of them were in the Conclave. Because you knew that if the Conclave found us first, they'd try everything not to fight us.† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"Don't you think I should have known that?† I asked. â€Å"Don't you think it would have mattered to me? To all of us? To the entire colony?† â€Å"We are sorry, Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"We had orders from our government not to reveal information to your parents that they did not already know, until such time as it became absolutely necessary. That would have only been if the Conclave were to appear in your sky. Until then, we were required to exercise care. If we had spoken to you about it, you would have naturally informed your parents. And so we decided that we would not bring these things up with you, unless you asked us directly about them.† â€Å"And why would I do that?† I asked. â€Å"Indeed,† Hickory said. â€Å"We regret the necessity. But we saw no other alternative.† â€Å"Listen to me, both of you,† I said, and then stopped. â€Å"You're recording this now, aren't you.† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"We always record, unless you tell us otherwise. Would you like us to stop recording?† â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"I actually want all of you to hear this. First, I forbid you to harm my parents in any way. Ever.† â€Å"Major Perry has already informed us that he would surrender the colony rather than destroy it,† Hickory said. â€Å"Since this is true there is no reason to harm either him or Lieutenant Sagan.† â€Å"It doesn't matter,† I said. â€Å"Who knows if there's going to be another time you decide it's going to be necessary to try to get rid of John and Jane?† â€Å"It seems unlikely,† Hickory said. â€Å"I don't care if it's more likely that I was going to sprout wings,† I said. â€Å"I didn't think it was ever possible that you might think to kill my parents, Hickory. I was wrong about that. I'm not going to be wrong about it again. So swear it. Swear you will never harm my parents.† Hickory spoke briefly to Dickory in their own language. â€Å"We swear it,† Hickory said. â€Å"Swear it for all Obin,† I said. â€Å"We cannot,† Hickory said. â€Å"That is not something we can promise. It is not within our power. But neither Dickory nor I will seek to harm your parents. And we will defend them against all those who would try to harm them. Even other Obin. This we swear to you, Zoe.† It was the last part of this that made me believe Hickory. I hadn't asked him to defend John and Jane, just not harm them. Hickory added it in. They both did. â€Å"Thank you,† I said. I felt as if I were suddenly coming unwound; until that second I didn't realize how worked up I was just sitting there, talking about this. â€Å"Thank you both. I really needed to hear that.† â€Å"You are welcome, Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"Is there something else you want to ask us?† â€Å"You have files on the Conclave,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"We have already given them to Lieutenant Sagan for analysis.† That made perfect sense; Jane had been an intelligence officer when she was in the Special Forces. â€Å"I want to see them, too,† I said. â€Å"Everything you have.† â€Å"We will provide them to you,† Hickory said. â€Å"But there is a lot of information, and not all of it is easy to understand. Lieutenant Sagan is far more qualified to work with this information.† â€Å"I'm not saying give it to me and not her,† I said. â€Å"I just want to see it too.† â€Å"If you wish,† Hickory said. â€Å"And anything else that you might get from your government on the Conclave,† I said. â€Å"And I mean all of it, Hickory. None of this ‘you didn't ask directly' junk from now on. We're done with that. Do you understand me?† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"You understand that the information we receive might in itself be incomplete. We are not told everything.† â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"But you still seem to know more than we do. And I want to understand what we're up against. Or were, anyway.† â€Å"Why do you say ‘were'?† Hickory asked. â€Å"General Rybicki told the crowd today that the Conclave was about to be defeated,† I said. â€Å"Why? Do you know any different?† â€Å"We do not know any different,† Hickory said. â€Å"But we do not think that just because General Rybicki says something in public to a large crowd, it means he is telling the truth. Nor does it mean that Roanoke itself is entirely out of danger.† â€Å"But that doesn't make any sense,† I said. I held up my PDA to Hickory. â€Å"We were told we can use these again. That we can use all of our electronics again. We had stopped using them because they would give us away. If we're allowed to use them again, we don't have to worry about being given away.† â€Å"That is one interpretation of the data,† Hickory said. â€Å"There's another?† I asked. â€Å"The general did not say that the Conclave had been defeated, but that he believed they would be defeated,† Hickory said. â€Å"That is correct?† â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"Then it is possible that the general means for Roanoke to play a part in the defeat of the Conclave,† Hickory said. â€Å"In which case, it is not that you are being allowed to use your electronics because it is safe. You are being allowed to use them because you are now bait.† â€Å"You think the Colonial Union is leading the Conclave here,† I said, after a minute. â€Å"We offer no opinion one way or another,† Hickory said. â€Å"We note only that it is possible. And it fits what data we have.† â€Å"Have you told my dad about this?† I asked. â€Å"We have not – † Hickory began, but I was already out the door. â€Å"Close the door behind you,† Dad said. I did. â€Å"Who have you talked to about this?† he asked. â€Å"Hickory and Dickory, obviously,† I said. â€Å"No one else.† â€Å"No one?† Dad asked. â€Å"Not even Gretchen?† â€Å"No,† I said. Gretchen had gone off to harass Magdy for sending her that video. I was beginning to wish I had gone with her instead of making Hickory and Dickory come to my room. â€Å"Good,† Dad said. â€Å"Then you need to keep quiet about it, Zoe. You and the alien twins.† â€Å"You don't think what Hickory is saying is going to happen, do you?† I asked. Dad looked directly at me, and once again I was reminded how much older he was than he appeared. â€Å"It is going to happen,† he said. â€Å"The Colonial Union has laid a trap for the Conclave. We disappeared a year ago. The Conclave has been looking for us all that time, and the CU has spent all that time preparing the trap. Now it's ready, so we're being dragged back into view. When General Rybicki's ship goes back, they're going to let it leak where we are. The news will get back to the Conclave. The Conclave will send its fleet here. And the Colonial Union will destroy it. That's the plan, anyway.† â€Å"Is it going to work?† I asked. â€Å"I don't know,† Dad said. â€Å"What happens if it doesn't?† I asked. Dad laughed a very small and bitter laugh. â€Å"If it doesn't, then I don't think the Conclave is going to be in any mood for negotiations,† he said. â€Å"Oh, God,† I said. â€Å"We have to tell people, Dad.† â€Å"I know we do,† he said. â€Å"I tried keeping things from the colonists before, and it didn't work very well.† He was talking about the werewolves there, and I reminded myself that when all this was done I needed to come clean to him about my own adventures with them. â€Å"But I also don't need another panic on our hands. People have been whipsawed enough in the last couple of days. I need to figure out a way to tell people what the CU has planned without putting them in fear for their lives.† â€Å"Despite the fact they should be,† I said. â€Å"That is the catch,† Dad said, and gave another bitter chuckle. Then he looked at me. â€Å"It's not right, Zoe. This whole colony is built on a lie. Roanoke was never intended to be a real colony, a viable colony. It exists because our government needed a way to thumb its nose at the Conclave, to defy its colonization ban, and to buy time to build a trap. Now that it's had that time, the only reason our colony exists is to be a goat at a stake. The Colonial Union doesn't care about us for who we are, Zoe. It only cares about us for what we are. What we represent to them. What they can use us for. Who we are doesn't actually enter into it.† â€Å"I know the feeling,† I said. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Dad said. â€Å"I'm getting both abstract and depressed.† â€Å"It's not abstract, Dad,† I said. â€Å"You're talking to the girl whose life is a treaty point. I know what it means to be valued for what I am rather than who I am.† Dad gave me a hug. â€Å"Not here, Zoe,† he said. â€Å"We love you for you. Although if you want to tell your Obin friends to get off their asses and help us, I wouldn't mind.† â€Å"Well, I did get Hickory and Dickory to swear not to kill you,† I said. â€Å"So that's progress, at least.† â€Å"Yes, baby steps in the right direction,† Dad said. â€Å"It'll be nice not to have to worry about being knifed by members of my household.† â€Å"There's always Mom,† I said. â€Å"Trust me, if I ever annoyed her that much, she wouldn't use something as painless as a knife,† Dad said. He kissed me on the cheek. â€Å"Thanks for coming to tell me what Hickory said, Zoe,† he said. â€Å"And thanks for keeping it to yourself for now.† â€Å"You're welcome,† I said, and then headed for the door. I stopped before I turned the handle. â€Å"Dad? How long do you think it will take before the Conclave is here?† â€Å"Not long, Zoe,† he said. â€Å"Not long at all.† In fact, it took just about two weeks. In that time, we prepared. Dad found a way to tell everyone the truth without having them panic: He told them that there was still a good chance the Conclave would find us and that the Colonial Union was planning on making a stand here; that there was still danger but that we had been in danger before, and that being smart and prepared was our best defense. Colonists called up plans to build bomb shelters and other protections, and used the excavation and construction machinery we'd kept packed up before. People kept to their work and stayed optimistic and prepared themselves as best they could, readying themselves for a life on the edge of a war. I spent my time reading the stuff Hickory and Dickory gave me, watching the videos of the colony removals, and poring through the data to see what I could learn. Hickory and Dickory were right, there was just too much of it, and lots of it in formats I couldn't understand. I don't know how Jane managed to keep it all straight in her head. But what was there was enough to know a few different things. First, the Conclave was huge: Over four hundred races belonged to it, each of them pledging to work together to colonize new worlds rather than compete for them. This was a wild idea; up until now all the hundreds of races in our part of space fought with each other to grab worlds and colonize them, and then once they created a new colony they all fought tooth and nail to keep their own and wipe out everyone else's. But in the Conclave setup, creatures from all sorts of races would live on the same planet. You wouldn't have to compete. In theory, a great idea – it beats having to try to kill everyone else in the area – but whether it would actually work was still up in the air. Which brought up the second point: It was still incredibly new. General Gau, the head of the Conclave, had worked for more than twenty years to put it together, and for most of those years it kept looking like it was going to fall apart. It didn't help that the Colonial Union – us humans – and a few others expended a lot of energy to break it up even before it got together. But somehow Gau made it happen, and in the last couple of years had actually taken it from planning to practicality. That wasn't a good thing for everyone who wasn't part of the Conclave, especially when the Conclave started making decrees, like that no one who wasn't part of the Conclave could colonize any new worlds. Any argument with the Conclave was an argument with every member of the Conclave. It wasn't a one-on-one thing; it was a four-hundred-on-one thing. And General Gau made sure people knew it. When the Conclave started bringing fleets to remove those new colonies that other races planted in defiance, there was one ship in that fleet for every race in the Conclave. I tried to imagine four hundred battle cruisers suddenly popping up over Roanoke, and then remembered that if the Colonial Union's plan worked, I'd see them soon enough. I stopped trying to imagine it. It was fair to wonder if the Colonial Union was insane for trying to pick a fight with the Conclave, but as big as it was, its newness worked against it. Every one of those four hundred allies had been enemies not too long ago. Each of them came in to the Conclave with its own plans and agenda, and not all of them, it seemed, were entirely convinced this Conclave thing was going to work; when it all came down, some of them planned to scoop up the choice pieces. It was still early enough for it all to fall apart, if someone applied just the right amount of pressure. It looked like the Colonial Union was planning to do that, up above Roanoke. Only one thing was keeping it all together, and that was the third thing I learned: That this General Gau was in his way a remarkable person. He wasn't like one of those tin-pot dictators who got lucky, seized a country and gave themselves the title of Grand High Poobah or whatever. He had been an actual general for a people called the Vrenn, and had won some important battles for them when he decided that it was wasteful to fight over resources that more than one race could easily and productively share; when he started campaigning with this idea, he was thrown into jail. No one likes a troublemaker. The ruler who tossed him in jail eventually died (Gau had nothing to do with it; it was natural causes) and Gau was offered the job, but he turned it down and instead tried to get other races to sign on to the idea of the Conclave. He had the disadvantage that he didn't get the Vrenn to go along with the idea at first; all he had to his name was an idea and a small battle cruiser called the Gentle Star, which he had gotten the Vrenn to give him after they decommissioned it. From what I could read, it seemed like the Vrenn thought they were buying him off with it, as in â€Å"here, take this, thanks for your service, go away, no need to send a postcard, bye.† But he didn't go away, and despite the fact that his idea was insane and impractical and nuts and could never possibly work because every race in our universe hated every other race too much, it worked. Because this General Gau made it work, by using his own skills and personality to get people of all different races to work together. The more I read about him, the more it seemed like the guy was really admirable. And yet he was also the person who had ordered the killing of civilian colonists. Yes, he'd offered to move them and even offered to give them space in the Conclave. But when it came right down to it, if they wouldn't move and they wouldn't join, he wiped them out. Just like he would wipe us all out, if despite everything Dad told Hickory and Dickory we didn't surrender the colony – or if, should the attack the Colonial Union had planned on the Conclave fleet go wrong, the general decided that the CU needed to be taught a lesson for daring to defy the Conclave and wiped us out just on general principles. I wasn't so sure just how admirable General Gau would be, if at the end of the day he wouldn't stop from killing me and every single person I cared about. It was a puzzle. He was a puzzle. I spent those two weeks trying to sort it out. Gretchen got grumpy with me that I'd been locked away without telling her what I was up to; Hickory and Dickory had to remind me to get out and work on my training. Even Jane wondered if I might not need to get outside more. The only person not to give me much grief was Enzo; since we got back together he was actually very accommodating about my schedule. I appreciated that. I made sure he knew. He seemed to appreciate that. And then just like that we all ran out of time. The Gentle Star, General Gau's ship, appeared above our colony one afternoon, disabled our communications satellite so Gau could have some time to chat, and then sent a message to Roanoke asking to meet with the colony leaders. John replied that he would meet with him. That evening, as the sun set, they met on the ridge outside the colony, about a klick away. â€Å"Hand me the binoculars, please,† I said to Hickory, as we climbed out to the roof of the bungalow. It obliged me. â€Å"Thanks,† I said. Dickory was below us, on the ground; old habits die hard. Even with the binoculars General Gau and Dad were little more than dots. I looked anyway. I wasn't the only one; on other roofs, in Croatoan and in the homesteads, other people sat on roofs with binoculars and telescopes, looking at Dad and the general, or scanning the sky, looking in the dusk for the Gentle Star. As night finally fell, I spotted the ship myself; a tiny dot between two stars, shining unblinkingly where the other stars twinkled. â€Å"How long until the other ships arrive, do you think?† I asked Hickory. The Gentle Star always arrived first, alone, and then at Gau's command, the hundreds of other ships would appear, a not-at-all-subtle bit of showmanship to get a reluctant colony leader to agree to get his or her people to leave their homes. I had watched it on previous colony removal videos. It would happen here, too. â€Å"Not long now,† Hickory said. â€Å"By now Major Perry will have refused to surrender the colony.† I took down my binoculars and glanced over to Hickory in the gloom. â€Å"You don't seem concerned about this,† I said. â€Å"That's a different tune than you were singing before.† â€Å"Things have changed,† Hickory said. â€Å"I wish I had your confidence,† I said. â€Å"Look,† Hickory said. â€Å"It has begun.† I glanced up. New stars had begun to appear in the sky. First one or two, then small groups, and then entire constellations. So many had begun to appear it was impossible to track every single appearance. I knew there were four hundred. It seemed like thousands. â€Å"Dear God,† I said, and I was afraid. Truly afraid. â€Å"Look at them all.† â€Å"Do not fear this attack, Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"We believe this plan will work.† â€Å"You know the plan?† I asked. I didn't take my eyes off the sky. â€Å"We learned of it this afternoon,† Hickory said. â€Å"Major Perry told us, as a courtesy to our government.† â€Å"You didn't tell me,† I said. â€Å"We thought you knew,† Hickory said. â€Å"You said you had spoken to Major Perry about it.† â€Å"We talked about the Colonial Union attacking the Conclave fleet,† I said. â€Å"But we didn't talk about how.† â€Å"My apologies, Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"I would have told you.† â€Å"Tell me now,† I said, and then something happened in the sky. The new stars started going nova. First one or two, then small groups, and then entire constellations. So many expanded and brightened that they had begun to blend into each other, forming an arm of a small and violent galaxy. It was beautiful. And it was the worst thing I had ever seen. â€Å"Antimatter bombs,† Hickory said. â€Å"The Colonial Union learned the identity of the ships in the Conclave fleet. It assigned members of your Special Forces to locate them and plant the bombs just before the jump here. Another Special Forces member here activated them.† â€Å"Bombs on how many ships?† I asked. â€Å"All of them,† Hickory said. â€Å"All but the Gentle Star.† I tried to turn to look at Hickory but I couldn't move my eyes from the sky. â€Å"That's impossible,† I said. â€Å"No,† Hickory said. â€Å"Not impossible. Extraordinarily difficult. But not impossible.† From other roofs and from the streets of Croatoan, cheers and shouts lifted into the air. I finally turned away, and wiped the tears off my face. Hickory noticed. â€Å"You cry for the Conclave fleet,† it said. â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"For the people on those ships.† â€Å"Those ships were here to destroy the colony,† Hickory said. â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"You are sorry they were destroyed,† Hickory said. â€Å"I am sorry that we couldn't think of anything better,† I said. â€Å"I'm sorry that it had to be us or them.† â€Å"The Colonial Union believes this will be a great victory,† Hickory said. â€Å"It believes that destroying the Conclave's fleet in one engagement will cause the Conclave to collapse, ending its threat. This is what it has told my government.† â€Å"Oh,† I said. â€Å"It is to be hoped they are correct,† Hickory said. I was finally able to look away and face Hickory. The afterimages of the explosions placed blotches all around it. â€Å"Do you believe they are correct?† I asked. â€Å"Would your government believe it?† â€Å"Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"You will recall that just before you left for Roanoke, my government invited you to visit our worlds.† â€Å"I remember,† I said. â€Å"We invited you because our people longed to see you, and to see you among us,† Hickory said. â€Å"We also invited you because we believed that your government was going to use Roanoke as a ruse to open a battle against the Conclave. And while we did not know whether this ruse would be successful, we believed strongly that you would have been safer with us. There is no doubt that your life has been in danger here, Zoe, both in ways we had foreseen and in ways that we could not. We invited you, Zoe, because we feared for you. Do you understand what I am saying to you?† â€Å"I do,† I said. â€Å"You asked me if I believe the Colonial Union is correct, that this is a great victory, and if my government would believe the same,† Hickory said. â€Å"My response is to say that once again my government extends an invitation to you, Zoe, to come visit our worlds, and to travel safe among them.† I nodded, and looked back to the sky, where stars were still going nova. â€Å"And when would you want this trip to begin?† I asked. â€Å"Now,† Hickory said. â€Å"Or as close to now as possible.† I didn't say anything to that. I looked up to the sky, and then closed my eyes and for the first time, started to pray. I prayed for the crews of the ships above me. I prayed for the colonists below me. I prayed for John and Jane. For Gretchen and her father. For Magdy and for Enzo and their families. For Hickory and Dickory. I prayed for General Gau. I prayed for everyone. I prayed. â€Å"Zoe,† Hickory said. I opened my eyes. â€Å"Thank you for the invitation,† I said. â€Å"I regret I must decline.† Hickory was silent. â€Å"Thank you, Hickory,† I said. â€Å"Really, thank you. But I am right where I belong.†

Free Essays on Prayer

. God wants us to have an abundant and fulfilling life, but we must have a relationship with him. Communication with God, must be learned, it takes discipline, patience, and persistence. â€Å"I shall not rush. The Lord is my pacesetter,. He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals; He provides me with images of stillness, which restore my serenity. He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind. And His guidance is peace. Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for His presence is here His timelessness, His all-impor... Free Essays on Prayer Free Essays on Prayer PRAYER â€Å"Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. See me safely through the night and wake me with the morning light. Amen.† That was the first prayer I ever learned to recite. I can remember as a child reciting it on my knees by my bed before I was allowed to go to sleep. As I grew older I began to question prayer as I still do. What is prayer? Does God really listen to my prayers? And what does prayer mean to me. I’m still not sure I know the answers to any these questions, but I think I have a better understanding of what prayer is for me and what it means to me. To me prayer is talking to God one on one, about anything that should happen to be on my heart at the time. In my opinion prayer is a vital necessity in building a relationship with Christ. Okay so now that I’ve gotten the standard ideas of prayer out of the way, I think God does listen to our prayers, but I don’t think he takes all of them seriously. Okay that’s a bold statement to make but here is where I’m coming from. Sometimes at a worship service or at a table grace or even praying before bed, I’m not really into praying, but I do it anyway just because I think I should or it’s expected. I was always taught that I need to say my prayers everyday no matter, but some days I just don’t feel like it. In those prayers I’m not really praying with my heart. I’m just kind of going through the motions. Those prayers aren’t sincere. So I don’t think God really listens to prayers that aren’t from the hear t. I think those prayers are just words directed at heaven for looks. Think about it, when you do something totally for looks you are being vain or even false, and I really don’t think God is down with that. So when I pray without my heart I’m taking something so pure and untainted and making it dirty and sinful. See this is how I think God judges what to listen to and what is just a bunch of smack being directe... Free Essays on Prayer According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, prayer is â€Å"an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought.† Although the world we live in today is sometimes very hectic, there are always moments in which almost everyone takes time for prayer. An article provided by WholeHealthMD Reference Library presents an emphasis on prayer and its importance in our lives. It refers to several statistics, which I, myself, was fairly amazed and interested by. The article also explains several different cases in which a simple prayer has changed the life a person. For instance it explains that a group of medical patients who had been prayed for had improved significantly, whereas another group who did not receive the prayers of others had not been so fortunate. However, not only does prayer help us physically but it also aids us emotionally. Prayer is a way to find meaning in life and serve a purpose. It is a spiritual way in which we can express all our pain, heartache, happiness, or even gratitude from God. Thus may possibly be the reason for which prayer has been said to have helped reduce the rate of depression and suicide. Another theory explains that prayer may also provide help in dealing with stress an other overwhelming emotion s. After reading this article, I became more aware of the importance of prayer. The statistics and cases contained in the article caught my eye and brought to my attention the many ways in which prayer could improve our society as a whole. It helped remind me of the fact that not only can it help me, but others as well, and that alone is enough reason to perform this act of God, which we have practiced over and over again and will continue to do so.... Free Essays on Prayer Prayer Changes Things, where have you heard this statement before? I’ve heard it from the Pastor, My Mother, Grandmother, Strangers, and anyone else I’ve come in contact with who believes in God. Well, let me be the first to testify that Prayer really does change things! First of all Prayer is sacred. When you go into meditation for the purpose of praying, clear your mind and be at peace. Prayer takes divine and sincere communication with God. Pray in secret, this removes the temptation to impress. In order to have your prayers answered you must be dedicated and have faith. I like to learn about prayer (you never can learn too much about it). In the process of learning how to pray, we are taught to be specific. If there is something you need or want, don’t be hesitant about going to God in prayer with that specific request. Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, are we able to petition for our wants, our needs and our desires. Remember Jesus said, â€Å"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you† (NIV, 1996, 1103). Prayer must reflect pure motive, humble action, and an unhypocritical attitude. Also, be direct and to the point. Your prayer does not carry more weight because you fill it with empty words or pray a long time. God only wants to hear from the heart of you, not how well you form words. God wants us to have an abundant and fulfilling life, but we must have a relationship with him. Communication with God, must be learned, it takes discipline, patience, and persistence. â€Å"I shall not rush. The Lord is my pacesetter,. He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals; He provides me with images of stillness, which restore my serenity. He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind. And His guidance is peace. Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for His presence is here His timelessness, His all-impor...

HRM Practices and Key Points

HRM Practices and Key Points Analysis of Sources It is important for human resources and firms operating in different cultural background to engage in training to enable them have a competitive edge over others because training helps employee to appreciate and respect the cultural values of other people (Coget 2011, p.85). This stands out as the key message in Coget’s article â€Å"Does National Culture Affect Firm Investment in Training and Development?†Advertising We will write a custom article sample on HRM Practices and Key Points specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Coget is an associate professor of management in the Orfalae College of business and California polytechnic state university. The methodology used in gathering this information on the study area involved surveys carried out by Hilla Perezet from Ort Braude college, Israel. An approximate of 6000 firms was surveyed in 21 different countries. The study’s findings indicated that cul tural differences influence whether the firm invests in training or not. Firms in countries with low power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, and higher future orientation invest more in training of their employees compared to those operating or embracing higher power distance, low future orientation, and low uncertainty avoidance. Power degrees is the degree to which member of a certain group expect that power should be distributed equally. Written by Shiryan, Shee, and Stewart, the article ‘Employee Training Effectiveness in Saudi Arabian SME Performance’ is a must-read composition that finds out the relationship between employee training and organisation’s performance. The three authors are based in the school of management and information systems faculty of business and law in Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. They affirm that employee training is critical if an organisation aspires to achieve its objectives. They based their study in Saudi Arabia where they collected data through surveys. 500 questionnaires were sent to managers and staffs of various SMEs. An estimate of 264 questionnaires was returned for analysis. The findings showed that most of the firms and SME managers in Saudi Arabia in the firms lack skills on training (Shiryan, Shee, Stewart 2012, p.52). They do not understand the essence of training. Management training is essential in staff training since good leadership and change management can enable an organisation to achieve its set goals.Advertising Looking for article on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As Chidambaram and Ramachandran point out in the article ‘A study on efficacy of employee training review of literature’, any successful organisation should invest in its human capital (2012, p.275). Above all, human resources are the most important parts of an organisation while assets are just a supplement ary portion of the organisation. Without efficient human capital, organisations cannot achieve their objectives or goals. Training of human capital is important as it helps employees to cope with both the internal and external forces within their operations. Through training, individual and organisational needs are attained thus helping the organisation to meet its objectives. The author summarises the literature review on the aspects of employee training. He suggests that, organisations should not relent in developing their employees in order to achieve their goals. Management therefore has the responsibility of ensuring that adequate programs are in place to allow its staff to acquire more skills and knowledge to be abreast with the ever-changing markets. Grossman and Salas’ ‘The Transfer of Training: What really Matters’ is a well researched piece that looks at the transfer problem in the training of employees. Even though many organisations have invested thei r funds in noble training course, many of the employees trained do not transmit such skills at their work place (Grossman Salas 2011, p.105). This stands out as a problem that many organisations continue to grapple with, which needs quick remedy. The authors employ Bald and Ford’s model of transfer in arguing their case. Factors that relate to skill transfers investigated include self-efficacy, cognitive ability, motivation, perceived utility of training, and training design among others. Therefore, it is recommended that human resource managers in charge of training programs should first evaluate the kind of training that is appropriate before using or recommending it to employees. Firms may lose huge sums of money in these training programs thus ending up not reaping any value from the same. Zeutinoglu et al. are all professors in human resource management areas in DeGroote School of Business, Mc Master University. As they point out, the training of low job workers in Cana da is beyond the recommended standards (Zeutinoglu et al. 2008, p.5). As per the Statistics Canada Workplace and employee survey of 2001, few low-job employees received low wages on the job training compared to those in high jobs.Advertising We will write a custom article sample on HRM Practices and Key Points specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is therefore important that organisation train their employees to enable them earn decent life, perform well on their jobs, and to contribute in productivity at the workplace, as well as in the economy. Government needs to support on job training for these low-job employees in a bid to achieve this goal. In his article ‘Line manager involvement in learning and development: Small beer or big deal’, Gibbs argues that line managers should be involved in learning and development at their work (2003, p.282). This step is aimed at ensuring a positive relationship between human resource managers and the line managers. They should be involved in this program at work to help them trigger positive relationship besides increasing productivity in the organisation. Organisations are changing. Therefore, to be part of the change, such critical changes in these areas should be supported and encouraged. Even though line managers should be included in the learning and development, there are various disadvantages in this issue. One of the disadvantages is that they may not be able to carry out their duties well because they are trained to be better skilled developers as opposed to being specialists in learning and development initiatives at work. HRM Practices Human resource management is aimed at formulating strategies and policies that can best drive the objectives and goals of an organisation forward. The department aims at ensuring that human capital is well taken care to ensure that staff work towards the realisation of the organisational goals and objectives. Various H RM practices are worth adapting in a bid to drive individual and organisational performance to achieve the intended goals and objectives. The three approaches will include, regular coaching, training and developing of staff’s competencies, ensuring greater employee autonomy and discretion, and developing teamwork. Regular coaching and developing of staff on the job is one of the approaches that I believe will help in promoting individuals’ self-confidence besides ensuring that performance of the organisation improves (Grossman, Salas 2011, p. 103). Employees’ training and coaching initiatives will also center on the best ways of managing people through performance management system.Advertising Looking for article on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This system is conducive as it aligns individual objectives to those of the organisation. Identifying the potential and the areas of interest of employees is important in staging training and coaching program to trigger positive change in an organisation. Employees are very important components in an organisation. Therefore, to ensure that they remain in the organisation to improve in their skills and knowledge, training should always be carried out. There are different type of training and coaching that an organisation can use. One is on-the-job training where employees are trained directly by interacting or performing certain tasks. This type of training is less expensive. Most organisations prefer this because it is not expensive. Besides, it does not require a lot of time. The other type of training is off-the-job training, which is normally attained through special duration programs in learning and technical institutions. Some organisations sponsor their employees to attain ski lls and knowledge in specific areas. This has turned to be a burden to the organisation. Training is an expensive venture. Because of its importance, organisations have no alternative apart from practicing it. Many organisations that have embraced training are competitive in terms of development of salient skills in management, leadership, and the general operation or functioning of an institution. Another human resource management approach that I intend to encourage is greater discretion and autonomy on the workplace. Employees feel part of the organisation if they are well treated and appreciated for what they do (Shiryan, Shee, Stewart 2012, p. 49). The environment of working should be conducive to allow employees a space to express their views besides share their opinions with other employees to present their problems to the management. Free communication in an organisation helps in nurturing the spirit of teamwork and unity. Furthermore, this will trigger innovation and creati vity as employees will have the opportunity to invent and innovate at their discretion. For the organisation to achieve good performance, it should be able to innovate and come up with ideas that are able to add value to the organisation. Therefore, greater autonomy is the best way that employees will have a sense of belonging to trigger their self-esteem thus enabling them to influence the organisation’s objectives positively. Teamwork is yet another human resource practice that will be encouraged in the organisation. This will help employees to share and learn new knowledge as they work together to achieve the overall organisation’s goals. Teamwork is also preferred because it enables a group to work together to assist one another in achieving similar objectives (Shiryan, Shee, Stewart 2012, p. 46). The teams will be made up of people with different levels of training and experience. The teams will be rotated in a bid to eliminate boredom besides building the spirit of teamwork and unity. Organisations that have strong teams face their challenges without fear. They usually ensure that they find the best solutions to their problems. Teams are also one way of creating or enhancing cohesion. They are made up of people from different cultural backgrounds, which is a benefit in creating or establishing a brand. Conclusion In conclusion, human resource management has the responsibility to ensure that organisations embrace changes besides recruiting employees who are able to stir ahead the goals and objectives of the organisation. One of the important duties of HRM in this current world is to implement training programs that are able to acquaint employees with skills and knowledge to trigger increased production. The training should be tailored to the objectives of the organisation. Other HRM approaches that are equally important in improving individual and organisational performance are ensuring that there is a greater autonomy among employees and t eamwork. References Chidambaram, V, Ramachandran, A 2012, ‘A study on efficacy of employee training review of literature’, Business Theory Practice, vol. 13 no. 3, pp. 275-282. Coget, J 2011, ‘Does National Culture Affect Firm Investment in Training and Development?’, Academy of Management Perspectives, vol. 25 no. 4, pp. 85-87. Gibbs, S 2003, ‘Line manager involvement in learning and development: Small beer or big deal?’, Employee Relations, vol. 25 no. 3, pp. 281-293. Grossman, R, Salas, E 2011, ‘The transfer of training: what really matters’, International Journal of Training Development, vol. 15 no. 2, pp. 103-120. Shiryan, S, Shee, H, Stewart, D 2012, ‘Employee Training Effectiveness in Saudi Arabian SME Performance’, International Journal of Business Social Science, vol. 3 no. 14, pp. 46-52. Zeutinoglu, I, Cooke, G, Karlene, H, Chowhan, J 2008, ‘Low-Paid Workers and On-the-Job Training in Canada†™, Relations Industrielles (Quà ©bec, Quà ©bec)/Industrial Relation, vol. 63 no. 1, pp. 5-29.