System Software & Application Software

TABLE OF CONTENTS [pic] 1) Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ P. 2 2) Identify Software Categories 1. Definition of System Software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. P. 3-4 2. Definition of Application Software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦. P. 5 3. The difference between system software and application software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. P. 6-7 3) Two examples of system software and the benefits 1. Microsoft Windows 7†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 8-12 2. Mac OSX†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 13-14 4) Two examples of application software and the benefits 1. Excel†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. P. 15-16 2. PowerPoint †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. P. 17-18 5) Five Features of Microsoft Word†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 19-20 1. Copy and Paste 2. Spell Checker 3. Find and Replace 4. Add Bullets and Number 5. Mail Merge 6) Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. P. 21 1. INTRODUCTION [pic] Christy is our new customer and she is a beginner for using computer. Base on her situation, I would like to introduce some kinds of software suit her. For better customer service, I will explain the background information & benefits details for her. For a good start , I have chosen the most popular and latest version of the operation system; Microsoft Window 7 and Mac OS X, they are easy to learn and simple to use. Moreover, Microsoft Office is a useful, most common and user-friendly application package for a starter. Excel, is an electronic spreadsheet program which help you to handle all your data. PowerPoint is a complete and professional presentation package. These are the essential tools for her first step in entering the computer world. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] Software (Computer Software) is often divided into two categories: †¢ System Software †¢ Application Software 1. Definition of System software System Software used to operate the computer hardware, to provide resources and maintain a platform for running application programs. The set of instructions or programs of System Software can make up or create a basic environment for the applications software to work. They are responsible for controlling, integrating and managing the individual hardware components. Actually, it runs at the most basic level of your computer and the background; it is called â€Å"low-level† software. It generates the user interface and allows the operating system to interact with the hardware. It can be seen as the basics of a computer which come built-in or pre-installed. †¢ Types of system software †¢ Computer BIOS and device firmware, which is stored on non-volatile memory. They provide basic functionality to operate and control hardware connected to or built into the computer. †¢ The operating system (such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), which supervise and control of the input and output of data from the computer and the others peripherals. It can be allows to transfer data between memory and disks or rendering output onto a display device. It provides a platform to run high-level system software and application software. And also it handles error routines, communication with the operator; ensure the efficient use of the CPU and the other devices. †¢ Utility software, which helps to analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] [pic] [pic][pic] 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. Definition of Application software Application Software is a computer program designed to help the user perform a particular task or a certain type of work. This is a set of programs, which will comply with the user’s requirement. An application allows users to accomplish more than one specific function, such as a word processor, web browsers, e-mail programs, databases, desk top publishing, digital image and voice processing. Multiple applications bundled together as a package referred as an application suite. One typical example is MS Office, which bundles together with word processor, a spreadsheet, and several other discrete applications. The tailors systems can meet the user's specific needs, for example the accounting system or inventory system. [pic] [pic] 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. 3. The difference between system software and application software System software consists of programs that run in the background, enabling applications to work smoothly. These programs include assemblers, compilers, file management tools, and the operating system itself. While system software is automatically installed with the operating system, you can choose which application you want to install. Application software is different from system software or middleware, which is involved in integrating a computer various capabilities, but typically does not directly apply to the performance of tasks. The purpose of system software is to insulate the application program as much as possible from the details of the particular computer complex, especially memory and other hardware features. Such accessory devices are communications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc. Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. Sometimes applications are bundled with the computer but they always run as independent applications, since they are often tailored for specific platforms. The separate applications in a suite usually have many common user interfaces which make it easier to learn and use and they may interact with each other. For example: PowerPoint file can be combining with a spreadsheet and a word documents. Therefore, application software determines what processing is done by the computer. System software determines how that processing will be done. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. 3. The difference between system software and application software pic] Operating System and Application Software This diagram shows the components of the operating system and typical application programs that run in a desktop computer. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] One of software categories is system software; the most important type is operating system (OS) . It is an interface be tween hardware and users, responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources. Base on the above criteria, I have selected two typical and common examples, which are Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac OS X. [pic] A layer structure showing where operating system is located on generally used software systems on desktops. 1. Microsoft Windows 7 Nowadays Microsoft Windows dominates the personal computer world, it shares nearly 90% of PC market. Windows provides a graphical user interface (GUI), virtual memory management, multitasking, and support for many peripheral devices. Windows 7 is the latest public release version of Microsoft Windows, it can be applied to home and business desktops, laptops, notebooks, netbook, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Windows 7 aim at â€Å"making your PC simpler. , it was released on October 2009. It was designed for different types of market ,such as Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] Windows 7 would be more â€Å"user-centric† and focus on performance improvements. Microsoft was using a variety method to trace and measure the performance. On the other wor ds, it is not only compatible with Vista and designate that it would be a refined version of Windows Vista. Benefits & Features: â€Å"Windows 7 simplifies everyday tasks† Windows 7 includes a number of new features, it provides the better ways to find and manage files, helping you speed up tasks; like Jump Lists and improved taskbar previews. It's designed for faster and more reliable performance and follows the way you want it to. It takes full support and advantages of the 64-bit. It also makes many new things possible, for instance HomeGroup, Windows Media Center and Windows Touch. Key performance improvements: ? Design to sleep, resume, and reconnect to your wireless network more quickly. ? When hunting for answer, search faster. Sorting and grouping of search results is also significantly quicker. ? Plug in a portable flash drive or other USB devices; get ready in seconds or even shorter. ? Be less memory hungry and less busy that can boost up the overall performance. Windows  7 is designed to run speed-sapping background services only when you need them. ? Browse online newspapers, flick through photo albums, and shuffle files and folders. Windows Touch is fully embrace multitouch technology, easy and fun to use. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] The Important Features: ? HomeGroup [pic] Connecting two or more PCs, HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, picture, video, and files with other people. Concerned about privacy and security control, we have password-protected. You can decide what keeps private, read-only files and share to others. ? Jump Lists [pic] Jump Lists not only show shortcuts to files, they also can provide a method of speedy access. Just simply right-click a program icon on the taskbar and you can find the documents, pictures, songs, or websites that you use each day. The Jump List for Windows Media Player  12 lists commonly-played tunes. Internet Explorer  8 shows all you frequently-viewed websites. You can pin whatever files you like. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] ? Snap, Peek and Shake [pic] [pic] [pic] Snap gives you a new and quick way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the edges of your screen; you can make it expand vertically. Peek gives you the power of X-ray vision, so you can peer past all your open windows straight to your desktop. Shake, it’s a quick way to minimize all open windows on the desktop except the one you want to use. ? Windows Live Essentials [pic] Windows  Live Essentials – the free software that let user do more great things. Things like e-mail, instant messaging, photo editing and blogging. Download from the Windows Live website. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] Messenger Photo Gallery Mail Writer Movie Maker Family Safety Toolbar 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] ? Windows Search [pic] â€Å"Find more things in more places—and do it faster. † Typing the key words in search box and search in different location, it will show you a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on screen instantly. The searched results are grouped by date, file type and category, it contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan. ? Windows Taskbar [pic] â€Å"Better thumbnail previews, easier-to-see icons, flexible, powerful and more ways to customize† Taskbar is the familiar place for switching between windows. You can pin and rearrange your favorite programs anywhere on the taskbar for easy access. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] 2. Mac OS X Mac OS X is the newest version of Apple Inc. ‘s Mac OS line of operating systems. Most of the Macintosh owners are using this version. Darwin is not only built on a rock-solid, time-tested UNIX foundation that provides unparalleled stability; it also delivers incredible performance, stunning graphics, and industry-leading support for Internet standards. It makes the Mac innovative, highly secure, compatible, and easy to use and incredibly powerful. Benefits & Features: ? Power of UNIX – Simplicity of the Mac When you start up your Mac to the applications you use, which is designed with simplicity and elegance in mind. Whatever you’re browsing the web, checking your email, or video chatting with a friend on another continent, getting things done is at once easy to learn, simple to perform, and fun to do. ? Perfect integration of hardware and software Since the software on every Mac is created by the same company and you can get an integrated system in which everything works together perfectly. It takes full support of the 64-bit, multicore processors and GPUs to deliver the greatest possible performance. The built-in iSight camera works seamlessly with the iChat software so you can start your video chat. Your Mac notebook includes a Multi-Touch track pad that supports pinching, swiping, and other gestures. The OS will wisely decide whether the CPU or GPU is best for a task and dim the screen in low-light conditions automatically, so that it will increase the battery life. ? Elegant interface and stunning graphics User interface is the remarkable feature of a Mac and made possible by advanced graphics technologies. These technologies provide the power such as multiway chatting, real-time reflections, and smooth animations. Fonts on the screen look beautiful and extremely readable. A soft drop shadow makes it clear at a glance 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] which window is active and which ones are in the background. You can preview the file using Quick Look, it is high resolution and fine to read. You can create and view the PDF from almost any application in the system. ? Highly secure by design Mac OS X doesn’t get PC viruses. And with virtually no effort on your part, Mac OS X protects itself by offering a variety of sophisticated technologies that help keep you safe from online threats. Mac contains a secure configuration and Apple responds quickly to online threats and automatically delivers security updates. ? Built for compatibility The versatility and power of Mac OS X make it compatible in almost any environment, including Windows networks. User can work with most type of digital cameras, printers, and other peripherals. It can open the common file types such as JPG, MP3, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. ? Innovation for anyone need Mac OS X provides and support with a wide range of assistive technologies that help people with disabilities. For example, the built-in VoiceOver screen-reading technology makes it possible for those who are blind or have low vision to control their computer using key commands or gestures on a Multi-Touch track pad. Mac OS X also offers out-of-the-box support for over 40 braille displays, including Bluetooth displays, and many other accessibility features, such as dynamic full-screen magnification, playback of closed captions, and a scalable screen. ? Reliable to the core The core of Mac OS X is built on the same UNIX foundation. Even upgrading your Mac to the next version of Mac OS X is reliable, easy and compatible. Even better, it doesn’t need to reformat your drive and you can keep all your applications, files, and settings. Furthermore, the Time Machine of Mac will do automatic backups of your drive. . Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] Another software category is application software. For our new customer, I have selected two popular, practical and powerful programs for her daily operation; Excel and PowerPoint are fully featured and the basic tools for Microsoft Office. 1. Excel Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program; you can enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use for calculating, sorting, organizing and manipulating data. It can produce graphs, statistical analysis and reports etc. When you look at the Excel screen, you can see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns. The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1,2,3 ¦) and the vertical columns with letters of the alphabet (A,B,C†¦AA,AB,AC). The intersection point between a column and a row is a small rectangular box known as a â€Å"Cell†. Each is a basic unit and given an address to identify it, such as A3, B6, AA345. Features & Benefits: ? Data Types, Formulas, and Functions The types of data that a cell can hold include numbers, text or formulas. Formulas are used for calculations, usually involving data contained in other cells. Excel includes a number of built in formulas used for common tasks known as functions. Some of the following commands are: †¢ AutoSum †¢ Align Cell Entries †¢ Copy, Cut, Paste, and Cell Addressing & Formatting †¢ Insert and Delete Columns and Rows †¢ Create Header, Footer, Borders and Layout †¢ Merge and Center 4. Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] ? Financial Data Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include: 1. Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns and rows of figures. 2. Finding values such as profit or loss. . Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages. 4. Finding the average, maximum, or minimum values in a specified range of data. ? Other Uses Excel can be used for other operations: 1. Creating Charts and Graphics, which assist users in identifying data trends. You can choose from a variety of chart types, such as co lumn, line, pie, bar, area, and scatter. Your chart will automatically update when you change your data. 2. Sorting and filtering data to find specific information. The information store in a spreadsheet can easily be incorporated into electronic presentations, web pages or report printing. . Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] 1. Power Point 1. What is PowerPoint? Microsoft PowerPoint is a complete presentation graphics package. PowerPoint offers word processing, outlining, drawing, graphing, and presentation management tools, it designed for you to produce a professional-looking presentation. PowerPoint uses a graphical approach to presentations in the form of slide shows. This program is widely used in business and classrooms and is an effective tool when used for training purposes. It is the number ONE presentation tools for worldwide. Anyone can easily create & design their professional presentations. PowerPoint can be made into photo albums, comply with music and veido. For business field, it can easily to add an illustrative chart of data or an organizational chart of company's structure. It can make your presentation into a web page for emailing purposes, as a promotion displayed on your company's website. It is familiar to customize presentations with your company logo and clip-art. You can use many pre-designed templates and search for more beautiful templates from different websites. In addition, it can provide and print out the handouts and outlines for public. And also the notes pages for the speaker that is useful during the presentation. All in all, PowerPoint is a â€Å"one-stop-shop† application to create successful presentations for the business world, the classroom or just for your own personal use. 4. Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] 2. Power Point ? The overview of the benefits and features in PowerPoint: †¢ When you create a presentation using PowerPoint, the presentation is made up of a series of slides. It can present as overhead transparencies. Beside that you can print handouts, outlines, and speaker's notes. †¢ Slide Master, powerful tools to format all the slides in a presentation. †¢ Store the whole presentation in a single file, includes all the slides, background music, video, speaker's notes and handouts. †¢ Import the files from other MS Office products, such as Word and Excel. 5. FIVE FE ATURES OF MS WORD [pic] MS Word is a typical example of word processing program; it is the most familiar application software. You can use it to create, edit, format, print and store all types of letters, reports, and documents. Word contains a concept of â€Å"What you see is what you get†. Here are the five common features and their benefits as below: 5. 1. Copy and Paste User can copy text form one area of the documents and stores the data on the Clipboard. So it can be placed to anywhere in the same or another document. This feature is really helping you to save times of typing and more accurately and efficiently. 5. 2. Spell Checker This feature is a great helper for user; it allows you to check your spelling and grammar mistakes as you type. For the spelling errors, it displays with a red wavy line under the word. For showing of the grammar errors, it displays with a green wavy line under the word. When it checks against with the dictionary, if the word is misspelled, it will be highlighted on the screen and noted. Then the feature gives you the suggestions of the correct words. The program will also recognize the special name or words that you have already added in your personal dictionary. 5. 3. Find and Replace When you need to search a particular word or phrase in your document, especially useful for working with a large file or limited and selected area, you can use the â€Å"Find† command. Basically it will scan the whole document and highlighted the word or phrase that you search. Then user can execute the â€Å"Replace† command to replace one word or all the words with the new text. 5. FIVE FEATURES OF MS WORD [pic] 5. 4. Add Bullets and Numbers If you have lists of data or a group of items, you may want to bullet or number them. When using this command, you can easily create bulleted or numbered lists of items. Various bulleting and numbering styles or formats, in the Bullet library, are available for your selection. Examples: Bulleting Examples: Numbering pic] [pic] 5. 5. Mail Merge Mail merge can be used for creating many documents that contain identical information and where each document contains unique elements. Firstly, you prepare the template that contains the same version information. Then you add some placeholders from the data source (such as name, address or serial number) that is unique to each version. When producing of a large number of letters (message, label, envelope or numbered coupon) for mass mailing purpose, it can help to reduce your workload and diminish the duplicate work. 6. CONCLUSION [pic] After considering all criteria, I recommend Christy to choose Microsoft Window 7. This operation system is powerful, user friendly and compliable. Most importantly, it is suitable for beginners to work efficiently and explore the computer world. Furthermore, Excel & PowerPoint are also useful applications for personal & office use. After taking my advice, I am sure Christy will have lots of enjoyment of her computer life and improvement in managing her daily work. References 1. Software Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 18,2010,from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/System 2. Operating system – Computer Definition. Retrieved January 19,2010,from http://www. yourdictionary. com/computer/operating-system 3. Application software – Definition. Retrieved January 19,2010,from http://www. wordiq. com/definition/Application_software 4. Windows 7 features – Microsoft Windows. Retrieved January 21,2010,from http://windows. microsoft. com/en-us/windows7/products/features 5. Apple – Mac OS X – What is Mac OS X ? Retrieved January 21,2010,from http://www. apple. com/macosx/what-is-macosx 6. What is Excel. Retrieved January 22,2010,from http://serc. carleton. edu/introgeo/mathstatmodels/UsingXL. tml 7. What is Microsoft Excel – What is Excel – What is Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets. Retrieved January 22,2010,from http://spreadsheets. about. com/od/tipsandfaqs/f/excel_use. htm 8. What is Microsoft PowerPoint? – How Do I Use PowerPoint? Retrieved January 23,2010,from http://presentationsoft. about. com/od/powerpointti psandfaqs/f/ppt_overview. htm 9. Microsoft Word 2007 Tutorial—Free & Online. Retrieved January 24,2010,from http://www. baycongroup. com/wlesson0. htm [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] ———————– Types of System Software Types of application software:

The 19th Century American Art described Naturalism as

The 19th Century American Art described Naturalism as: Life imitating nature and the artists of this period began focusing on â€Å"real life† situations.   Naturalism literature began to flourish after the civil war and after the most loved Romanticism and Victorian literature.   Naturalism focuses on the lower to middle class man in which he is a futile figure of a domineering universe of a hostile nature.   Some sort of struggling for the fittest and the strong and predestined are the only sure winner.The Ambrose Bierce story at Owl Creek Bridge is told by a third party narrator. For a simple reason that a man who is dead cannot narrate his own death?   It says nothing more of a man named Peyton Fahrquhar, a planter from a respected Alabama family; the author even distinguishes him as a gentleman which befits his physical appearance.   Despite of the man’s description, the person in the story seemed to die a futile death giving stress on the character of na turalism to which man is unimportant as quoted by the narrator below:†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"he   . . original secessionist   Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had . . . .army which had fought the disastrous campaigns †¦ (Bierce, 2004)Cynical, skeptical or mocking characteristics is vividly present along these lines,â€Å"To be hanged and drowned,† he thought, â€Å"that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; .. not be shot; that is not fair.†(Bierce, 2004)The story dealt more on the agonizing death of a person but it was more descriptive than sentimental.   It is an unwanted way of dying and yet there is no reason to stop it.The entire theme below is focused on someone who has experienced a few moments of life before death and another few moments after dying.   His soul seemed to search and in a way could not even tell he is really dead. The story of the life of Peyton is a step by step narrative about the ironies of violent death, as if a man could account of his own dying which can be paraphrased:â€Å"To die of hanging at the bottom of a river! — the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness †¦above him a gleam of light, but how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter †¦.mere glimmer.†(Bierce, 2004)â€Å"His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire, his heart, – fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was –   wrenched with an insupportable anguish! â€Å"(Bierce) 2004.The two lines below were skillfully drawn by the author and I must say that he has expertly given the most significant characteristic to the story by defining life and imitating nature.   He uses the forest and trees, even the detail of a leaf and those that inhabits itincluding the morning dewdrops.   He described nature just as he des cribes a new life that is to be unfolding.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ the forest on the bank of the stream – trees, the leave ,, veining of each leaf — he saw the very insects †¦ noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops †¦million blades of grass. The –   gnats that danced..the eddies . . . the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes – water spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat — all these made audible music.†(Bierce)2004.â€Å"A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water.†(Bierce) 2004.This brief sentence above almost completed the story the author wanted to conclude, that death has come and the heavens could be so near.   As if describing that the soul came out from the eye and it moves thru the waters.   Bierce in his few words was able to describe a real life situation which is one of the most interesting characteristic of a naturalistic piecework.  Ã‚   Tha t after life naturally comes death.â€Å"Peyton Fahrquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side †¦beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.†(Bierce) 2004.Though the whole work is a literary genius, it leaves a mark of pessimism on the part of the reader. Pessimism in the sense that the character of the story was never given a chance. He was doomed simply because of a circumstance that is beyond the control of the person being told.   There was no hope but a dream or it could be real that the character’s soul transcended only to be able to look for his love ones. Even in this scene we can see that there is a big division.   There is desire to be with someone and yet the story emphasizes more on losing. The sad part of it is for an observer to have an impression that not all prayers are answered and an urgent question that need to be asked – where is God why did he allowed such fate?REFEENCES:Bierce,   2004 A. An Occurrence A t Owl Creek Bridge [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 24 September 2007 from

Compare and contrast business systems in Japan and China. Answer with Essay - 1

Compare and contrast business systems in Japan and China. Answer with reference to relevant theories and use comparative country - Essay Example As identified by Gordon Redding, who serves as a professor in the management department at the University of Hong Kong, the global arena can be categorized under five major cuisines and three of these cuisines which can act as a gateway to economic prosperity are Asian – namely Japanese, Chinese and Korean. By effectively integrating the cultural norms, values and traditions of the land of Asia which are characterized by the presence of collectivism rather than Western individualism, the aforementioned Asian nations have been able to develop a unique and admirable model that has enabled them to address the requirements of their cultural practices.The key element in this scenario however, is the finesse with which Japanese, Chinese and Korean business and management systems have been able comprehend the â€Å"hierarchy-sensitive and collectivist norms of Asian culture† to unite the organization as an energetic group. The Japanese economy emerged as a leading force on an international level as a consequence of events which occurred in the nation during the post-war period. The extensive expansion and growth which was experienced by the economy precisely took place from 1955 to 1990, thereby, permitting the living standards of Japanese citizens to coincide and eventually exceed those of their Western counterparts. An examination of the business systems in Japan can only be conducted effectively once the historical background of the development of state-business relations is assessed from multiple perspectives. In this regard, the implementation of state policies in Japan before World War II and after World War II must be highlighted and their association with the present scenario identified. Towards the departure of the 19th century, the process of industrialization was initiated in Japan amidst strong state intervention in the formulation of industrial policy which was characterized by the agenda of establishing a wealthy nation with unparalleled military strength. A fundamental feature of the economy during this time was that of high concentration with the focus of the government directed towards developing industries which could be termed as strategically significant to the state. In this case, the influence of the government in the entire process meant that industrialization was promoted for the purposes of fulfilling a particular political agenda rather than maximizing the well-being of citizens. While, the influence of the state on the economic affairs of the land remained constant in the period preceding World War II, the traditional forces of Japanese culture exercised similar power over business systems. Assessing the influence of such elements on the development of Japanese business and managerial practices, Chen outlines the role of large business groups that are termed as keiretsus who have been dominating the nation’s economy to the present day (4). A defi ning feature of keiretsus is their relationship with the zaibztsus which comprised of individuals belonging to the same family managing large-scale financial and industrial business

Second Industrial Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Second Industrial Revolution - Essay Example the policy makers were much more concerned with the creation of a stable economy, which according to them would be achieved easily through service-based industries as compared to the manufacturing industries. With the US currently in a state of modifications as manufacturing jobs depart the country and service trades rocket, a lot of parallels to the Second Industrial Revolution have been brought forward. A lot of jobs have been mislaid in the manufacturing industry; thus, the country is simply short of innovations (Adler & Pouwels, 2011). The new generation broods do not want courses that deal with engineering, but prefer law, banking sector amongst others. The country has also gone through issues of balance trading, since its goods cannot compete well in the market. Due to the demands of the service industry, the government has been forced to take on in deficit spending, so as to continue to exist in the industry. This is without a doubt a great risk to both tax payers and the country at

The Fall of the Berlin Wall Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Fall of the Berlin Wall - Essay Example Those in charge of the Eastern Bloc felt that this migration would lead to a so-called â€Å"brain drain†, particularly as many of the migrants were young and well-educated . The East also felt that the West, particularly West Germany, was still under fascist influences , and these two fears lead to the feeling that such migration should be stopped and the erection of the Inner German Border, separating the two areas of Germany but allowing traffic to flow freely between the two areas of Berlin, despite the city being occupied by separate powers .  Due to Berlin’s more open nature, there were fears that the emigration to the West would continue. Nikita Khrushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the time, is implicated in making the suggestion that the Berlin Wall be erected and President John F. Kennedy is thought to have implied that no resistance would be made against the erection of such a border . Shortly following this, a deal w as made to finalize the plans, and the border was closed by military officials and barbed wire in the early days of August 1961, with the concrete elements of the wall shortly following. From this date until November 1989, it was nearly impossible to cross between the two areas of Berlin.Wall. The Cold War was a state of political tension between the West (headed by the U.S.) and the East (headed by the Soviet Union) which never showed direct military action but was symbolized by the constant threat of nuclear war.... ration should be stopped and the erection of the Inner German Border, separating the two areas of Germany but allowing traffic to flow freely between the two areas of Berlin, despite the city being occupied by separate powers5. Due to Berlin’s more open nature, there were fears that the emigration to the West would continue. Nikita Khrushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the time, is implicated in making the suggestion that the Berlin Wall be erected and President John F. Kennedy is thought to have implied that no resistance would be made against the erection of such a border6. Shortly following this, a deal was made to finalize the plans, and the border was closed by military officials and barbed wire in the early days of August 1961, with the concrete elements of the wall shortly following. From this date until November 1989, it was nearly impossible to cross between the two areas of Berlin. The End of the Wall and the War The Cold War had a huge part to play in the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall. The Cold War was a state of political tension between the West (headed by the U.S.) and the East (headed by the Soviet Union) which never showed direct military action but was symbolized by the constant threat of nuclear war7. Ronald Reagan was one of the most influential figures of the Cold War and its end, signing an agreement to ban intermediate-range nuclear weapons with the then-Soviet Genera l Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev8. Reagan also challenged Gorbachev to tear down the wall, symbolizing as it did the oppressive regime of the Soviet Union and everything that the President stood against. At the same time, much of the Soviet economies were stagnant and revolutions in Poland and the Baltic States were well underway,

Research paper for Final exam Organ transplantation in Canada

For Final exam Organ transplantation in Canada - Research Paper Example In as much as most of the patients are normally expected to wait for a substantial period before undergoing the medical procedures, the world has extensive research and technological advancements in the field of medicine to thank. This is because both have worked towards minimizing organ rejection and at the same time increasing the set of organs that can be transplanted. The World Health Organization has often reaffirmed its position on organ transplant, which demands that organ trade should not be practiced, and that a clear guideline should be followed in case it has to be executed. Whereas nations such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have been at the forefront of ensuring flawless parameters are followed while carrying out organ transplants, states such as Iran have repeatedly violated such provisions (Sanavi et al 184-187). This essay aims to provide more insight on organ transplant, taking particular interest in how the procedure is carried out in Canada and Iran. Health Canada is the organization tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the process of blood and organ transplantation in Canada. The establishment, with the input of other stakeholders in the health sector normally prepares a waiting list, which contains the names of patients in need of organ replacement. Once a suitable donor is found, Health Canada, through its branches informs the patient on the waiting list, before carrying out the procedure within a stipulated duration. According to data from Health Canada, well over 2124 organs were transplanted in Canada in the year 2012, a figure that has stayed practically the same from the year 2006, while currently about 4500 individuals are waiting for organ replacements in Canada (Health Canada). On a rather sad note, the organization reports that about 256 patients died during the same year while waiting for ideal donors to be found. Unlike in nations like Iran where organ trade is rampant, Health

The Cost of Illegal Immigrants in Texas Research Paper - 1

The Cost of Illegal Immigrants in Texas - Research Paper Example This quote is an extract from the Dallas Morning News, which examined the financial effects of the illegal immigrants in Texas. This calculation was done on behalf of the millions of taxpayers who were paying heavily in tax dollars for the presence of illegal immigrants residing in the state. The reason why this problem is especially prominent in Texas as opposed to the other forty-nine states of America is that this state is situated at the very south of the country. Due to its location, it is very near to Mexico, and thus Mexicans illegally emigrating from their own land often settle down or take refuge in this state. Thus, there are thousands of such unregistered immigrants residing in the state of Texas, the costs of which are paid for by the taxpayers and legal inhabitants of Texas, as well as the government responsible. The reason why the presence of these illegal immigrants proves to be such a financial challenge for the legal citizens of this state is that they consume the public goods, which the government provides to the residents of this country. The US, being a developed country, provides several such goods to its citizens, such as health, education, and defense. These are all public goods, which it provides to every citizen of the country. These costs are especially prominent concerning health care costs, which these illegal immigrants incur. As research shows, â€Å"The  Texas  Hospital Association has estimated the annual  cost  of uncompensated care to illegal immigrants  at nearly $400 million a year† (A Lone Star Report, 2006). In addition, as mentioned in the news extract above, these costs included the cost of 66,000 births in one year, which makes up a large proportion of these costs. These services however are not completely free of cost for these citizens. The government finances them using the tax dollars that these citizens themselves pay out of their own incomes, in the form of both direct and

Social Work Practice- Alcohol Misuse in Young People of Ages of 16-19 Essay

Social Work Practice- Alcohol Misuse in Young People of Ages of 16-19 Years - Essay Example Psychological theories play a very important role in the social work practice on alcohol abuse among the young people. According to the Social Learning theory by Albert Bandura, people are not born with specific types of behavior (Monti, 2002; pp. 3-6). This is to mean that people learn behaviors from different contexts such as the environment in which the individuals live in. The theorist continues to indicate that the response patterns that individuals acquire are either acquire through direct experience or through observation of concepts they see in their environment (Monti, 2002; pp. 3-6). On the grounds of this theory, it is validated to indicate that the environment is the major source of learning and the main source of observable behavior. In the context of the young adults aged 16-19 years, the theory explains that they learn new behaviors through modeling. Additionally, Bandura argues that the social behaviors are learned through watching as well as performing the actions learned. For instance, a young teenager who sees his/her peers using alcohol as a form of recreation, they are likely to learn this behavior and even adopt the same as part of their lifestyle (Monti, 2002; pp. 3-6). Despite numerous criticisms that the social learning theory simply takes the individuals as mere unreceptive recipients of the stimuli in the environment as Bingham & Conner argue (2010; pp.10), this theory is relevant in the study of alcohol misuse, as the misuse of alcohol can be termed as a social practice as the misusers of the alcohol simply learn the habit as a result of mere interactions with the various actors in the environment. The biopsychosocial model of addiction explains that alcohol misuse has a link with the psychological and social factors  (Miller, 2011; pp.12). Biologically, individuals may have the genetic inheritance of alcohol syndrome while psychosocially, the environment may influence an individual to alcohol misuse.  

Current Events Journal 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current Events Journal 3 - Essay Example The Federal government has also contemplated this issue. Many Republican congressmen would go as far as to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. An article by Steve LeBlanc that appeared recently in the Boston Globe examined this issue. An important concept of the Constitution provides that those of a minority opinion cannot have their rights as Americans taken away by those that subscribe to the current majority opinion. Thus, a vote should not determine whether or not gays should be able to marry. Opponents to gay marriage argue that democracy is based on the will of the people thus the decision should be in the hands of the voters. They also say that a judge should not be able to abolish centuries of tradition with no consideration of majority opinion. Being gay is a choice and therefore their civil rights are not being violated and they are not experiencing discrimination. By contrast, a person of minority heritage, women and the disabled do not have a choice. A letter was issued to Massachusetts lawmakers from 165 prominent business and civic leaders asking that legislators frame the gay marriage issue as a civil rights concern when debating the question of amending the State’s Constitution. The letter read, in part, â€Å"†¦we should not write discrimination into the Constitution and oppose efforts to amend the Constitution that would take away rights, including the right of gay and lesbian citizens to marry.† Another letter, released by the four Catholic bishops in the state supported a gay marriage ban amendment. â€Å"The debate over the meaning of marriage should not be limited to government officials since the magnitude of the issue calls for the full participation of the public. Neither the judiciary nor the legislature should substitute itself for the sovereignty of the people, especially on such a foundational matter as the meaning of marriage.† The

Theme Assignment- Night Essay Example for Free

Theme Assignment- Night Essay Night Theme Assignment Holocaust survivors provide an opportunity for studying the lasting effects of massive suffering and extremely stressful experiences. Before the Second World War, the Germans made laws, which said that Jewish people are no longer welcomed in Germany. German people began to persecute them. When the Second World War started most of the Jews were brought to concentration camps all over Europe including Eliezer and his father. Everyone who was in one of these concentration camps will never forget their experience during the war. In the novel, Night, Elle Wiesel states the theme, that the victims of the Jewish holocaust are profoundly affected by their hellish experiences. Many quotations from different major characters extracted from the novel support the theme. â€Å"One day I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not yet seen myself since the ghetto†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 115) this quotation is a final statement about the effect the Holocaust has had on Eliezer. He implies that even though he has survived the war physically, he is essentially dead; his soul was killed by the suffering he witnessed and experienced. In this quote he indicates a fundamental separation between his sense of self and his identity as a Holocaust victim. His body-image reminds him of how much he suffered throughout the holocaust and how much of himself-his faith in God, his innocence, his faith in mankind, and his family. Eliezer survives and develops a sense of identity that will endure beyond the Holocaust. In assessing the impact of the Holocaust on survivors, it needs to be said that no person could have survived Hitlers concentration camps and emerged totally unchanged. Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed â€Å"(p. 34, 11-12) this is one of the first quotation which shows that Eliezer’s life change from the beginning of the camp. The quotation is taken after Eliezer is brought to the camps. In his head there are always these memories from the journey they had to make. He thinks about Mrs. Schachter who went crazy in the train because she had no water. He thinks about the smoke from the crematoria which scared him a lot. And he thinks about all his lost hope. Elizer doesn’t believe in god anymore beginning from this point. He thinks if someone like god would exist, he wouldn’t have to suffer in a concentration camp and he wouldn’t have to see all these pain. â€Å"That night, the soup tasted of corpses† (p. 65) this passage occurred after the pipel suffered, struggled between life and death, under Eliezer’s eyes, as he was obligated to watch a criminal act. Eliezers had seen worse, like the old man and the Polish boy who had done wrongs to deserve the punishments they received. The Polish boy stole during the bombing session and the old man ate soup from the cauldron. The pipel on the other hand did not really do anything wrong, but refused to talk and sacrificed his life. The death of the innocent child represents the death of Eliezer’s own innocence. Elizer was starting to lose faith in god in a world where an innocent child could be hung on the gallows and his entire emotional worldview transformed. The fact that the young boy remained alive and experienced death slowly made them cringe the most, which is why the soup tasted like corpses. Many psychological effects caused by the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and themselves. â€Å"Many years later in Paris, I sat in the Metro, reading my newspaper. Across the aisle, a beautiful woman with dark hair, and dreamy eyes. I had seen those eyes before. † (p. 53, 21-23) this quotation occurs when Eliezer is working in a factory. One day, unprovoked, Idek, a German officer, savagely beats Eliezer, after which a French girl who works next to Eliezer in the warehouse offers some small kindness and comfort. She tells him to keep his anger for another day and advise him not to begin consider rebellion but to rely on faith. Eliezer sees after many years this one French girl again in Paris. He still remembers her look, especially her eyes. They talk about what happened in their past and in this one moment they shared. This quotation proves that pain goes by, but the horrible memories are still alive and can be affective in a person’s life. â€Å"Men to the left, women to the right† (p. 29) eight words spoken, indifferently, without emotion with painful life changing meanings. These ords separated Eliezer and his mother and sister forever, as well as countless other husbands and wives, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters on their arrival. The weak, old, and young people were basically worthless and had to be immediately executed by the SS officers. It emphasizes the cruel Nazi guards and the tragedies that were daily upon Jews in Auschwitz concentration camp. Millions of J ewish lives were profoundly affected by the Holocaust as a result. Being separated from your loved ones at such a young age is something that sticks with you your whole life and can make you cold as a person. Years later I witnessed a similar spectacle in Aden. Our ship’s passengers amused themselves by throwing coins to the â€Å"natives,† who dove to retrieve them† (p. 100, 18-20) in this quotation Elizer is after the Holocaust on a ship for holidays. When this ship passes natives the passengers starting to throw coins to them. Elizer sees how to young children are fighting in the water to grab these coins. Immediately his old memories are coming up when he is sitting in the train and people try to help by throwing bread into the wagons. But the people in there are starting to kill each other for bread. Deeply in Eliezer’s memories is one moment when a son kills his own father just to eat his bread. Elizer who felt this pain already once doesn’t want to happen it again, so he tells the passengers on the ship to stop it. All this proves that his experience and all the things that happened in concentration camps will never be forgotten by the prisoners â€Å"Jews, listen to me! That’s all I ask of you. No money. No pity. Just listen to me! † (p. 7) this passage occurs after Moshe returns and describes how the deportation trains were handed over to the German secret police at the Polish border. He escaped the concentration camp in order to warn Eliezer about the situation, but no one wanted to believe his story and people thought he was a lunatic. Moshe was a different person when he returned to his hometown; the joy inside of him was gone. His horror stories about deprivation, killing, and taking away everything you owned sounded so awful and unbelievable that his truth was dismissed. Moshe tried his best to warn the people from Sighet, but they ignored him and as a result everything that he was telling the citizens actually occurred again in 1944. This time he was clever enough to slip away before getting caught again. This quotation proves that Moshe’s previous hellish experience affected his chance of surviving. â€Å"I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. † (p. 42, 23) The Nazis started in the camp to mark people. They did it so they wouldn’t have to learn the names of the prisoners and the Nazis could handle with numbers and letters to identify them. Every prisoner became his own number. This number is a symbol for how he was seen in Auschwitz, as a slave and not as a person. This tattoo will always stay on Eliezer’s body, and it constantly reminds him of the many bad memories and feelings at the camp. So the most terrible thing which will always remind Elizer of his ominous time at Auschwitz is his tattoo. Night mostly occurs when suffering is worst, and its presence reflects Eliezer’s belief that he lives in a world without God. In Night, Eliezer exploits this allusion and develops the theme that the victims of the Jewish holocaust are deeply affected by their hellish experiences. Wiesels experiences in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald are very well detailed in the story; his accounts of starvation and cruelty are shocking—an intense testimony to the penalties of evil. The Holocaust was perhaps the most evil single event ever performed by human beings. Today, he is a writer, professor, political activist, and a holocaust survivor. â€Å"No human race is superior, no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them† Eliezer Wiesel.

Reflective Account Examples Childcare

Reflective Account Examples Childcare Reflective account- Conferencing In taking part of the conferencing it has improved my academic skills and has broadened my knowledge and understanding of different aspects of life. When we first got given the task and were told to start posting comments and forming discussions I didnt see a big discussion going on within my group but once people were getting the hang of it, then more discussions were made. At first I found it very challenging and I was thinking that people in my group will judge me for what I say and go against everything that I posted. I started to build up my confidence in posting my first comment under social class where I talked about the different social classes that me and my family lived amongst. Also making reference back to some reading and research that I made. Looking back at my childhood I was aware of all the different stages of social class from a very young age and this does not only apply to what my family was going though but others around us as well. This is because there were times where I get everything I desired from my father and times were I couldnt have anything. And as a child this had a big effective on me as it would for other children in not getting what they want. I still think that social class is affecting me and my family in having a lot of financial crisis to overcome. Therefore this makes me became less sociable, in going out with my friends and started to keep my self to my self. Both of my parents do not work for medical reasons and are on income support therefore at times I feel like I am not getting everything that others are but having traveled aboard and seeing how people were living in absolute poverty it makes me come back and realise how thankful I should be as people are not getting half of what am getting. According to Julian Glover she states that â€Å"the poorest people in society are most aware of its impact; with 55% of them saying class, not ability, greatly affects the way they are seen.† This is a clear statement that in todays society people are judging each other according to their social class/ wealth and not according to a person as an individual. Being in a low social class can have a great impact within the family. By this I mean the parents can have bad tempers most of the times and can take this out on their children and abuse them, also can cause the parents to have suffer depression. What we see is the lower class areas have been most affected by drugs and crime and it is those aspects that seem to be given more focus than education also this has an impact on the family unit. The family is pivotal in the upbringing of children and if the family unit is unstable then that will no doubt have a domino effect on the children and their future. Also the children may suffer from this be not getting fed healthy, in order for them to have a strong immune system so they dont become ill and they continue to grow. In my childhood in Saudi Arabia I was aware of different ethnicities according to different races and cultures but not religions. This is because we had a maid in our house to help my mother with the house work and to look after me, my sister and my brother. She was from Malaysia but has the same religion as us which is Islam. But once I came into the Untied Kingdom I was more aware of different cultures, races and beliefs and especially in the city of Sheffield where it is a multicultural society and a large number of Muslims, Christians, Hindus and many other beliefs. When I started attending my first primary school I found children from all different ethnic minorities. This was something different to what I was used to seeing in Saudi Arabia as everyone there were from the same race and had the same culture and belief. Once I got into secondary school I started having lessons on religious education in these lessons we covered all different cultures and beliefs. I found it really interesting to learn about other cultures then my own such as Indian, Chinese, Catholic and many more. We were also being able to compare the similarities and differences in marriage ceremonies etc within the different cultures. I decided to take it as a chosen subject in my GCSEs. This then made me become more aware of ethnicity. During my childhood I never wearied a head scarf as it is apart of the Islamic religion that a woman should wear it to cover to from any strange men. I wasnt forced my parents to wear it but in secondary school I had a lot of friends that did wear the head scarf. Is was in year 10 when my friends persuaded me to wear the scarf and I found it as a big step to take but I agreed at the end and started wearing it and never took it off. I felt like I had to overcome a lot of racism because I had chosen to wear the scarf. I was getting racist comments from the boys in my school who were black and used to talk to me before and didnt like the fact that I covered my hair. Even though my secondary school had 75% of children who were Muslims from different ethnic minorities. Not all the racist comments that I was getting from school but I was getting them from the public as well for example bus drivers just drive past me as am standing in the bus stop with my hand out and the bus is not even fu ll. At first I used to let these things get to me but I realised that some people are not aware of other religions and cultures so therefore they decided to be racist because they went everyone to follow their beliefs. I felt that it was vital that children should be introduced to different ethnic minorities; they should be taught that every religion and belief should be respected. As I was growing up I was aware of different genders within my family. I have a brother that is seven years older than me and a sister that is three years older than me. When we were young in Saudi Arabia we all shared one big room. I used to see what different roles we got by our parents. For example my brother would be asked to go to the shop and get things that are missing for the house and my sister and I were just ask to tidy our rooms up and little jobs as such. As part of the Islamic religion a womens role in life is to care for her family and mens must take on the role of supporter, protector, provider, custodian and servant to the family. This does not mean that a woman should be forced to clean, cook and stay at home no thats part of their care for their family put a man should no aspect a woman to be doing that all the time. If a woman shows to carry on with her education to gain more knowledge then there is nothing that can stop her from doing so. But this as well goes ba ck to the time where woman were seen to be as house wifes and cant even vote etc. I have come across in many placements that I have worked in children having a firm understanding of gender for example in the games in which girls can play but boys cant and the opposite. This now where woman and man seem to be equal and settings do tend to follow the anti- discrimination and anti- bias set policies and proceeds. When I was in Saudi Arabia the schools dont allow to have mixed genders. Therefore when my sister and I went to school it was girls only. We both enjoyed that and the way that we are all girls and have the same mentality and were able to discuses issues freely. The final dimension that we had to discuss in our conferencing was disability. In my childhood I was aware of disabled people by seeing them in the media. My siblings and I were looked after by aunty sometimes and she has a speech and language disorders where she couldnt speak fluently. Another thing was that she would have tantrums and knowing that she is having them. I have also realised that she has the mentality of a child thats like ten years old even though she is a lot older. Starting my secondary school I was finding my reading and writing to be very poor. Therefore I seemed to be struggling in my studies but I was fighting myself to do well all the time and to let it but me down. I got to college and during my final year I felt like I was under a lot of pressure and left like I might have a learning difficulty. So I went to the learning support base in college and I asked if I can have a test taken and so I did. The results showed that I was dyslexic and I so therefore I was given extra time in handing my coursework and for my exams. As I started university I tried to apply for disabled students allowance and I sent my college report but the said they dont accept it. So they offered me to take a test with the university it self so I did and the results turned out to be that am not dyslexic and that I wasnt eligible to any extra support. Therefore am finding it hard being at university and trying to cope with all the assignments that are been given to me without any additional support.

John Rawls and Political Liberalism Essay -- Essays on Politics

John Rawls and Political Liberalism Describe in detail the role that the ideas of â€Å"overlapping consensus† and â€Å"comprehensive doctrine† play in Rawl’s theoretical answer to the fundamental question of Political Liberalism: â€Å"How is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines?† (Rawls 4). More specifically, how do these concepts help to preserve the traditional liberal values of freedom and equality? And do these concepts help to preserve stability within a pluralistic society? John Rawls book, Political Liberalism, addresses the need for the reformation of the unjust democratic constitutional regime. According to Rawls, â€Å"there is at present no agreement on the way the basic institutions of constitutional democracy should be arranged if they are to satisfy the fair terms of cooperation between citizens regarded as free and equal,† (Rawls 4). In the real world, individuals all follow their own political values or â€Å"comprehensive doctrines† that are not in equilibrium with other values. These principles, not being compatible, cause problems in a weak democratic society. Thus, Rawls hopes to create a model for disagreements that could arise within liberalism, in which they could have stronger sense of common ground, or stronger overlapping consensus, which people can make reference. Therefore, Rawls calls for the use of certain theoretical intellectual tools. The first order intellectual tool to guide this reform is the principles of justice. Strong principles of justices will lead to a large â€Å"overlapping consensus† and better political values, thus resulting ... ...because that which exists in the original position is fair. Moreover, there is a successful reform, in that a principle of justice (which is a tool of bringing about reform in an unjust democratic constitutional regime) survived the test of the original position. Thus, the ideas of â€Å"overlapping consensus† and â€Å"comprehensive doctrines† do in fact play a significant role in his theoretical question: â€Å"How is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines?† (Rawls 4). Moreover, these concepts help to preserve the traditional liberal values of freedom and equality help to preserve stability within a pluralistic society. Works Cited Rawls, John. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.

The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

THE GREAT GATSBY This novel is about the American dream or rather the dreams of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s. In the novel The Great Gastby notes on the careless and moral deteariation of the twenties. It is clear that fitzgerald has made a relation with his and Gatsby’s life. This can be seen in many different ways such as fitzgerald attended Yale college for a wile then went off to be in the army. In The Great Gatsby the character Gatsby went to Oxford then left to go to the army. Also Fitzgerald wanted to become a football player and I think that tom was another character by Fitzgerald that he wanted to be like. For tom was a big x football player who was rich. Fitzgerald as a boy dreamed of becoming a football hero. Football was also one of Fitzgerald's earliest attractions at Princeton University. Fitzgerald tried out for the Princeton freshman team but was cut within the first week. As a successful professional Fitzgerald translated his love of the game into two Saturday Evening Pos t stories. This novel is filled with multiple themes but the predominate one focuses on the death of the American Dream. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime he didn't hold to the American Dream guidelines. Nick also suggests this with the manner in which he talks about all the rich characters in the story. The immoral people have all the money. The thought of repeating the past. Gatsby's whole being since going off to war is devoted to getting back together with Daisy and have things be the way they were before he left. That's why Gatsby got a house like the one Daisy used to live in right across the bay from where she lives. He expresses this desire by reaching towards the green light on her porch early in the book. The last paragraph, So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past reinforces this. Fitzgerald was in his twenty's when he wrote this novel and since he went to Princeton he was considered a spokesman for his generation. He wrote about the immorality that was besieging the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, people were partying all the time, and affairs were common play. The last of which Fitzgerald portrays well in this novel. Ernest Hemingway Fitzgerald's friend and literary rival once commented that "poor Scott Fitzgerald" was "wrecked" by his "romantic awe" of the rich.

Essay --

Typical of our fights, it always ends with one of us banging the door, and walking away in fury. It has always been our way of letting the other know that we are pissed beyond the thin stretch that separates sane from the absolutely insane phase of things. Sigh. Well, to tell the truth, I am the one who does the banging of the door most of the time. Anyway, early this month we moved into a new house, and perhaps it was the pressure of moving, coupled with our tendency not agreeing with things that matter (Like me insisiting that we need new curtains and him insisting that our old curtains will work just fine in covering our windows, cus after all, they are just curtains *Sigh*) So he yells: DO WHAT YOU WANT†¦ and Bang! He slams the door behind him, and I hear his car speeding off into the blackness of the night. Inside me, am seething with deep anger†¦.damn! he cant just leave like that! Yaani! How can he just leave like that? In the middle of an argument? He just drives off and leaves me talking to myself like a maniac? Where do his priorities lie? I pick my phone and start writing him a text about how much of an insensitive coward he is, and that he should come back home so that we square it like adults *Giggling* but I stop myself because I am the mature one in the fight, and I read somewhere that fighting through texts is for teenagers and errm, new loves who have subscribed to unlimited texts. Anyway, I am soooo furious at him that I can barely touch my supper. I just take plenty of cookies and coca cola and suffer through it *Giggling again* I am in such a bad place that I heap more cookies to my plate and eat them slowly, munching while replaying the argument on my head†¦.over and over†¦. I had fought it so logically, lo... ...in to her. She giggles on the other end. I hang up. My other sister is on the call wait. I explain to her too. She clicks and says: â€Å"Na venye umetuamsha tukilala. Nkt.† Then she hangs up. I tell mister how he has made me worry people. He stifles laughter and tells me â€Å"It was just clothes that had fallen, you didn’t almost die†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Suddenly, I analyse the whole thing in my head and I find it kinda funny. I start laughing too. So we laugh~ â€Å"But I could have been surrounded by thugs. And you were not here†¦I tell him with a pout. He looks me in the eye, the kind that makes me blush, and he moves his face so close to mine till I can smell the distant whiff of alcohol in his breath hit me in the face. â€Å"Even if I was here, what could I have done†¦.† He asks, a playful smile on his face. And he moves his face even closer, till I feel the graze of his dry lips on mine†¦. Essay -- Typical of our fights, it always ends with one of us banging the door, and walking away in fury. It has always been our way of letting the other know that we are pissed beyond the thin stretch that separates sane from the absolutely insane phase of things. Sigh. Well, to tell the truth, I am the one who does the banging of the door most of the time. Anyway, early this month we moved into a new house, and perhaps it was the pressure of moving, coupled with our tendency not agreeing with things that matter (Like me insisiting that we need new curtains and him insisting that our old curtains will work just fine in covering our windows, cus after all, they are just curtains *Sigh*) So he yells: DO WHAT YOU WANT†¦ and Bang! He slams the door behind him, and I hear his car speeding off into the blackness of the night. Inside me, am seething with deep anger†¦.damn! he cant just leave like that! Yaani! How can he just leave like that? In the middle of an argument? He just drives off and leaves me talking to myself like a maniac? Where do his priorities lie? I pick my phone and start writing him a text about how much of an insensitive coward he is, and that he should come back home so that we square it like adults *Giggling* but I stop myself because I am the mature one in the fight, and I read somewhere that fighting through texts is for teenagers and errm, new loves who have subscribed to unlimited texts. Anyway, I am soooo furious at him that I can barely touch my supper. I just take plenty of cookies and coca cola and suffer through it *Giggling again* I am in such a bad place that I heap more cookies to my plate and eat them slowly, munching while replaying the argument on my head†¦.over and over†¦. I had fought it so logically, lo... ...in to her. She giggles on the other end. I hang up. My other sister is on the call wait. I explain to her too. She clicks and says: â€Å"Na venye umetuamsha tukilala. Nkt.† Then she hangs up. I tell mister how he has made me worry people. He stifles laughter and tells me â€Å"It was just clothes that had fallen, you didn’t almost die†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Suddenly, I analyse the whole thing in my head and I find it kinda funny. I start laughing too. So we laugh~ â€Å"But I could have been surrounded by thugs. And you were not here†¦I tell him with a pout. He looks me in the eye, the kind that makes me blush, and he moves his face so close to mine till I can smell the distant whiff of alcohol in his breath hit me in the face. â€Å"Even if I was here, what could I have done†¦.† He asks, a playful smile on his face. And he moves his face even closer, till I feel the graze of his dry lips on mine†¦.

Project Report on Performance Appraisal Essay

It is not constituted by individual sounds but by their accurately measure the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as vital resources. The performance of an employee is his resultant behavior on task which can be bserved and evaluated. It refers to the contribution made by an individual in the accomplishment of organizational objectives. Performance can be measured by combining quantity, quality, time and cost. People do not learn unless they are given feedback on the results of their actions. For learning to take place, feedback should be provided regularly and it should register both successes and failures. It should also follow soon after the relevant action or actions. Performance appraisal system provides management an opportunity to recall as well as give feedback to people. This feedback is pertaining the performance of the worker. This helps them to correct their mistakes and acquire new skills. Performance appraisal (PA) refers to all those procedures that are used to evaluate the personality, the performance and the potential of its group members. Evaluation is different from Judgment. The former is concerned with performance and the latter is concerned with the individual. While evaluation deals with achievement of goals, a Judgment has an undercurrent of personal attack and is likely to evoke resistance. Performance appraisal could be informal or formal. Informal performance appraisal is a continuous process of feeding back information o the subordinates about how well they are doing their work in the organization. The informal appraisal is conducted on a day-today basis. For example, the manager spontaneously mentions that a particular piece of work was well performed or poorly performed. It is due to the close connection between the behavior and the feedback on it, the informal appraisal quickly encourages desirable performance and discourages undesirable performance before it becomes permanently ingrained. Therefore, informal appraisal should not be perceived merely as a casual occurrence but as an important activity and an integral part of the organization’s culture. The formal performance appraisal occurs usually annually on formal basis and involves appraise and appraiser in finding answers to the following questions: 1 . What performance level has to be achieved during the period? 2. Has it been achieved? 3. What has been the shortfall and constraints? 4. What are we going to do now? 5. How will we know that we have done it? 6. What kind of feedback can be expected? 7. What assistance can be expected to improve performance? 8. What rewards and opportunities are likely to follow from the performance appraisal? When the employees have this type of information, they are aware of the following pecifications:- 2. What assistance is available? 3. What can they expect when the required level of performance is achieved? This increases employee acceptance of the appraisal process and results in the trust that the employee has in the organization. An environment that affords an opportunity for further growth while minimizing stressful situations certainly enhances appraisal acceptance. Establishing this type of environment goes far beyond the performance appraisal process. Every aspect of managing people and their work relates to the improvement of their quality of work life. Performance appraisal is an integral part of trusting, healthy and happy work environment that goes a long way in promoting the same. Performance appraisal has been used for the following three purposes: Remedial Maintenance Development A performance appraisal needs to cover all these three purposes with the same focus. If any purpose predominates, the system becomes out of balance. For instance, if remedial purpose is foremost, then the performance appraisal may become a disciplinary tool, a form of a charge sheet and a tool of power instead of instrument of evaluation.

How Does Knowledge Management Influence Innovation and Competitiveness?

How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness? The Authors Alberto Carneiro, Alberto Carneiro is Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract Is concerned with human value management, examines the relationships between organizations’ competitiveness, innovation advancements, and knowledge management and presents a set of considerations regarding how these relationships affect strategic management and the formulation of competitive strategies. By considering how knowledge development is related with personal characteristics and personal development, this study review attempts to provide useful insights on the linkages between innovation and competitiveness. These considerations point out the importance of knowledge development and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. This work proposes also a conceptual model, with special focus on the relationships between knowledge management, competitiveness, and innovation. The major factors are presented and directions for future research are suggested according to the proposed model. Introduction Management is increasingly aware that knowledge resources are essential to the development of their organizations. Nowadays, the knowledge and the information technology (IT) are critical success factors for strategic formulation. Critical success factors refer to those managerial and organizational constructs that need to be effectively addressed in order to further the likelihood of implementation success. Since industry attractiveness depends on those factors, strategies and their implementation should be supported by a set of informational data and a knowledge development process. Knowledge is becoming progressively more useful because management is taking into account the value of creativity, which enables the transformation of one form of knowledge to the next. The perception of the existing relationships among several systems elements leads to new interpretations and this means another knowledge level where a new perceived value is generated. This relationship indicates that the innovation highway depends on the knowledge evolution. On the other hand, all the technologies that are present in the activities of the chain value have to be articulated and assisted by an efficient knowledge level. Some of the knowledge involved in the use and improvement of technologies can be written down in detail in procedures manuals and use instructions. Others are tacitly transmitted and learned through practical knowledge. Moreover, the success of technological modifications needs to be supported by more clarified and enhanced knowledge. With but few exceptions, most firms have had difficulty in developing a viable strategic knowledge system. There are manifold reasons for this, but certainly a major one is the omnibus nature of the sources required. Knowledge may flow into the organization in a continuous but unsystematic manner, probably because the amount of information processing resources varies by level of management activity. The lack of specific system objectives inevitably led to a data bank of enormous magnitude. It is necessary to consider the structure of such a system and to implement it, in accordance with the organizational functions that use information to realize activities and to decide. Considering the need to increase managers’ concerns, this work sustains that a set of factors is dramatically useful to justify the relationship between innovation process, competitive advancements and a strategic knowledge management (KM). First, it presents a brief review of the relevant literature on the role of knowledge in the management processes. Second, and in a modelization perspective, we will discuss the relationships among these factors to suggest a better way to deal with human value, to improve KM, and to attain a higher level of competencies. Finally, this article discusses the implications of KM on innovation and competitiveness and presents suggestions for future research. Knowledge: an organizational asset What kind of knowledge should organizations develop? Organizations need to use adequate information to check the status of business activities as well as to make informed business decisions (Martin et al. , 1998). According to their tasks, managers must have the adequate information and the ability to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal sought. This information comes from different internal and external sources and their credibility is crucial to provide an adequate knowledge (Joyce, 1993). Managers have to consider that the most valuable human attributes should be developed because they are one of the most important assets of many corporations. To do so, they need to adopt a new KM philosophy, based on search of information and innovative efforts. In this philosophy, managers should distinguish between different levels of knowledge. Initially, everybody can be aware of various facts and use data coming from those sources. This means that knowledge is reduced to a basic level, although each individual already has a professional understanding of his/her role in the organization. In the next phase, knowledge tends to specialization. The knowledge level and the fields of specialization will increasingly be taken as standards to measure the companies’ value of their assets. However, without being stimulated, it may stay in a static relation within functional areas, although tasks are performed in a qualified manner. If management is interested in knowledge development, it is necessary to consider that knowledge workers should be included in a dynamic process. This process demands the support of motivation, creativity and the ability to improve an intellectual and comprehensive vision of the relationship between the organization and its environment. Management should differentiate these levels, because the core of the decision-making process could be severely damaged if they were intended as similar. In fact, knowledge workers (strategists, engineers, technicians, researchers, etc. ) are able to offer insights in what concerns problems and/or new situations. In an upper level they can also contribute drastically to include more evident values into the company’s offering in order to generate the client’s preferences. Knowledge workers are the core intellectual competence of many firms. In fact, they dominate their expertise fields and, for example, they know how to optimise the systems software that is relevant to strategic decisions. Knowledge workers create most of the value in some industries. The benefits are immediately visible in some innovative industries, such as software, pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, communications, and consulting. That is, knowledge influences competitiveness. At this moment, it is necessary to underline a question: can knowledge be seen as a specific value for the organization or is management only using the employees’ brain capacities in a very innocent manner, because they are human resources? In the past, the returns on investment came predominantly from physical assets like physical products and equipment. Today, knowledge is the main source of another type of assets: intellectual assets. Knowledge levels can be an asset only if they are enhanced and efficiently used. Being so, managers must purposely organize, motivate and control the development of their knowledge workers. These ones are able to provide new solutions in the complex network of organization-client relationships. Owing to technologies, materials, and competitiveness, several industries find themselves in complex scenarios. Knowledge is not the solution, but, in the near future, the intellectual capital will be required to deal with this complexity, and to support innovation and creativity (Brooking, 1996). Usually and specially in the context of dynamic industries, higher knowledge levels live near a frequent dissatisfaction and the capacity of questioning what seems to be already understood. The need of search is one of the consequences. In various industries, the search activities can lead to new products and to innovative processes. Undoubtedly, the increasing complexity of research militates in favor of formal institutions like universities and government laboratories. Nevertheless, if KM is able to stimulate and support their commitment, individual innovators may have an important role in the changing process. Moreover, research activities in the business sector tend to be integrated within manufacturing firms (Mowery, 1983) and they can propose incremental innovation. Considering their missions and strategic objectives, organizations have to define what kind of knowledge will be more important to take care of. Managers should develop the ability to stimulate knowledge workers in order to obtain better effective levels in what concerns the analysis of target markets, technological innovations, and economic trends. Knowledge and information technology Data and information are used for a variety of purposes in organizations, namely for improving the possibility of increasing knowledge potential. Some information is simply data obtained from the database in its initial stage, which is mainly supported by internal documentation and tacit knowledge. Sophisticated or specific information is included in a management information system. Based on various subsystems of information, KM may use many combinations of factors in accordance with the database system and data that are provided by the users (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985). In general, firms’ search for information can be viewed as part of a process, through which an organization adapts to its external environment in order to survive and to become more competitive. Particularly, organizations look for information about specific activities, such as the purchase of new equipment and launching of new products, to obtain benefits of improved final decisions. Information requirements depend on the nature of each situation and on the need to formulate competitive strategies (Wetherbe, 1991). Building effective information systems is a very important challenge that managers are facing today, but it is necessary to pay attention to the need of comprehensive information systems architecture. A firm and its managers use a variety of approaches to combine, sort, and process the environmental data to produce timely and relevant information for forming, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying strategy. This variety should reach a high integration level in order to be possible to obtain a strategic information system. Knowledge professionals do have a decisive role in this integrative task. Summarizing, aggregating, comparing, or combining various sets of data collected in the environment and from competitors and customers produces other information sets, which are used, for example, to measure performance and report on the financial health of the organization. Knowledge workers are often exposed to incomplete information on new events and modifications, but they also have the option to search for additional information in order to update their knowledge levels (Ozanne et al. 1992; Burke, 1990). KM is also a question of cultural way of operating in the market. To enable this culture to prevail, IT is needed. Nowadays, IT is assuming a decisive role in KM and is one of the most important tools, which is used to decide, to fight competitors, and to catch target markets. In fact, adequate software can capture and distribute to knowledge workers all the useful information the company has stored over t ime. Taking this operation as a training process, knowledge workers can integrate several types of data and try to find new solutions for their problem tasks. This is true because they can use information about clients and competitors, technical databases, decision support systems, management models, successful solutions to competitive situations, and access to specialized sources of knowledge. Understanding, interpretation, and the use of IT may enable a possible competitive advantage to be identified and obtained. These three aspects cannot be done without specific and organized knowledge of the relationships among hardware, software, processes, and required results. In fact, some equipment replaces human command-and-control procedures, but knowledge advances have o be used to optimize this equipment utilization. Knowledge workers have adequate qualifications to communicate the information that is needed. Information sharing is a very usual practice. However, some of them avoid this communication flow, because they are not able to see the organization as a system, where the global objectives should be accepted as a common value. In some organizations, information sharing should be stimulated, because it is one of the most important tools of creativity and, moreover, intellectual assets, unlike physical assets, increase in value with use. Knowledge management: some guidelines Management has to analyze in the right time all the environmental elements because they affect the organization performance. Managers must intend to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies goal achievement. The main role of environmental analysis is to detect, monitor, and analyze those current and potential trends and events that will create opportunities or threats to the organization. A number of companies have developed effective means of learning about their environments and, most importantly, have implemented strategic decision systems which allow them to capitalize on opportunities and to defend themselves against threats. These analyses and systems are based on IT and KM. KM improves the conditions for strategic action by way of appreciating and treating problems and challenges by the company. Strategically, the success of most management decisions depends also on a competitive effort, which includes a deep knowledge of customers’ attitudes and an adequate analysis of the stronger competitors (Curren et al. 1992). This means that managers must learn: weaknesses, strengths and movements of their direct competitors; and how their customers perceive their products. Finally, all these findings should be integrated into a management information system. Managers should become aware that the great challenge is settled on the efforts to innovate, to exploit te chnological advances, competitors’ failures, industry opportunities, and the investment in knowledge processes and knowledge workers. In fact, knowledge and knowledge workers can be interpreted as a company’s intellectual capital, and also as a key factor to its sustainable development. According to Kao (1996), some companies are already able to carry out internal knowledge audits in order to quantify the innovative effort for competitive advantage. Most of the times, the intellectual capital is not well recognized and remains largely hidden from the view of financial analysts and executives alike. As a consequence, it is undermanaged. This means that its potential is not entirely used. Top management should focus their attention on these situations because the intellectual capitals of their companies and innovation infrastructure are one of the real sources of future competitiveness (Leonard-Barton, 1995). It is well known that managers have to face uncertainty, that is, they must make decisions under uncertain conditions, often before all the required data are in. Today, managers must be able to embed more knowledge-value in their decisions. Doing so, they will become much more prepared to come out with a new improved and even better alternative before their competitors. Knowledge workers may help in these situations. In fact, they are adequately able to deal with information and present hypotheses and proposals. Therefore, they can have an efficient role in the reduction of uncertainty. This point of view demands new directions of KM. To stimulate the development of creative skills, management should point out some directions to the most important knowledge workers: †¢to be able to define objectives of each task in a systemic network in order to share knowledge and available information with others; †¢to increase the level of individual commitment; †¢to be entirely aware of the amount of resources (equipment, software, materials, assistance) that they are going to need; and †¢to ask for answers, creativity, and innovative solutions. Management needs to show some interest in the intellectual capital, the crucial importance of creativity, the need to sustain a constant flow of innovation, and the new concept of learning organization. Competitiveness and knowledge management Knowledge and the formulation of competitive strategies The success of a strategy depends also on a co-ordinated resources management. Resources may be divided into two groups: physical resources (money, equipment, materials, facilities, and time) and conceptual resources (data, information, and knowledge). Managers have to decide how available resources will be distributed throughout their organizations. In fact, the organizational context calls for or demands certain decisions and results. Being a manner of finding a solution for a problem or formulating a strategy to achieve the objectives previously defined, every decision should be based on: an integrated set of information; the knowledge skills of human resources. In what concerns dynamic organizations, KM is a valuable strategic tool, because it can be a key resource for decision making, mainly for the formulation of alternative strategies. KM should be able to combine innovation efforts, updated IT, and knowledge development in order to achieve a set of capabilities to increase competitiveness. In fact, when this combination is adequately managed, the company can formulate competitive strategies, which integrate innovative products and new technological weapons to face its competitors. Management decision is a very complex process whose evolution integrates several stages. The first step in solving a decision problem is its formulation. In a practical perspective, defining its boundaries and critical components depends on information resources. The analysis of input data needs also a complete and updated understanding of several realities and the capability to find relationships among them. Further, the decisionmaker is able to predict the outcomes because they result from each available alternative. These stages are always based on data, which need to be organized in order to be useful; that is, every management decision must be supported by a set of information because of each situation, the context where it is occurring, and the organization objectives achievement. In a fast-changing environment, the competitive advantage of many companies is based on the decision to exploit, to develop the power of knowledge development. That is why some corporations try to provide opportunities for personal and professional development and are seeing that they should stimulate knowledge development to formulate competitive strategies. To find out and exploit opportunities, companies need to establish the main orientations of KM in order to enlarge their growing possibilities based on innovation and competitiveness. Managers know that it can be disastrous to enter or compete in an industry without being aware of changing critical success factors that define their target markets, since they play a significant role in determining the likelihood of implementation success or failure. If a firm is entirely aware of the vital importance of these factors, management decisions have to consider a complex background where the knowledge of the clients’ needs and preferences and the competitors’ strategies is decisively important. Practically, this means that a market orientation includes the concept of competitive orientation (Slater and Narver, 1994; Day, 1994, 1990). In this context, a company can decide its competitive advantage as a function of the capability to generate radical change in its processes and technologies and of the flexibility to adapt its resources to the strategic formulation. For example, if an organization decides to become a fast innovator, managers should co-ordinate the ability to formulate a competitive strategy and to build advantages against competitors. This ability depends on the capacity of speeding up creative operations to generate innovations (Page, 1993). These considerations are already known and well accepted, but we need to extract from them the logical consequences. A competitive decision should be based on a wide and quite firm support, which shall integrate the different relationships among several types of knowledge. As a consequence, a comprehensive knowledge is the vital ground where competitiveness should be built. Increasing competitiveness using knowledge benefits According to modern approaches, KM is already considered as a key factor in the organization’s performance, because it deals with different resources that can aid decision makers in many ways (Keen, 1991). Managers require complete and updated information and, according to their level of activity, they hope to rely on their knowledge workers. Nevertheless, this hope is useless if these experts are not effectively motivated to deepen continuously their levels of knowledge. Some companies know that the innovation effort and the adoption of new procedures and new technologies may increase competitiveness (Goel and Rich, 1997). This relationship seems to have the following reasons: †¢the innovators can be inventors if they are able to manage research and development function (Gilbert, 1995); †¢knowledge workers can perceive and deal with what target market accepts or expects as value; †¢knowledge development is a fruitful background where incremental innovation may be attempted; †¢if a company can use a knowledge-based competitive edge, it is able to defend itself against the aggressive movements of its competitors. The need for scientific and technical information flow within the firm is well recognised. Knowledge and information derived from data are required for competitive initiatives such as improving customer satisfaction, developing new products and markets, and providing faster response. The link between knowledge and systemic databases should be understood within the context of information resource management (McFadden and Hoffer, 1994). This means that effective decision making requires a rational selection of inter-related data and the possibility of these data being integrated into KM. This orientation can be applied in the strategic planning area, and it presents flexible capabilities. In fact, managers have the possibility of asking for more updated information, using pre-programmed models based on the integrative knowledge of previous situations, considering alternative solutions, and stimulating the construction of innovative proposals. A KM can lead managers to anticipate problems better and to experiment and innovate. Based on a good KM, managers are more able to analyse and evaluate environmental scenarios, and adequate response alternatives in the light of the global objective previously determined (Dutta and King, 1980). At this point, managers can desire to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies the achievement of global objectives. This means that they are deeply concerned with increasing competitiveness. A primary objective of this orientation in modern business organizations is to contribute to greater efficiency in achieving organizational objectives. To assure this contribution, researchers should reinforce their efforts to explore the relationship between the competitiveness optimisation and the KM optimisation, and also the effectiveness of a KM, which has not been entirely clarified. Innovation and knowledge management Can knowledge management support innovation? The innovative efforts include the search for, and the discovery, experimentation, and development of new technologies, new products and/or services, new production processes, and new organizational structures. The consequences of these efforts are sometimes seen as a raw material of information industry. New management philosophies are aware that information is the result of knowledge evolution and that a solid network between intellectual effort and technological innovations is enlarging. The innovative efforts are also the right consequence of the investment in knowledge and knowledge workers. If KM is positively influenced by the search of innovations, the investments in the development of new knowledge may propel companies into new business in more rewarding markets. To achieve better results, innovative efforts have to be strategically combined with a competitive orientation and its consequent movements. This combination depends vitally on the highest level of individual knowledge and on its technological basis. Many companies are taking into account that new technologies and management approaches are changing the traditional perspective of managing intellectual resources. According to some works (Harari, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; West, 1992), the organizations that are able to stimulate and to improve the knowledge of their human capital are much more prepared to face today’s rapid changes and to innovate in the domain where they decide to invest and to compete. Managers should recognise that the skills of human resources and the motivation level make possible creative suggestions, different proposals, and research activities to build up innovations. Due to the new insights of KM, a creative knowledge worker can contribute to face the problems that need new kinds of resolution, the situations that demand innovative approaches, and the relationships that can be discovered in the more and more complex markets where companies are operating. In old times, capital was the company’s most critical and scarcest resource and human attributes were used to contribute decisively to obtain the return of the company’s investment in equipment and plants. Presently, companies are trying to understand and to use a new logic of value, which is founded on its competencies, customers’ evaluation criteria, and competition. It should be underlined that the knowledge development in the fields of technological innovations, specialisation on business processes, and innovative products is the strongest source of competencies. Moreover, all competitive efforts, which come from competitors’ knowledge and innovations, dramatically affect the success of strategies (Gatignon and Robertson, 1993). Innovation should be viewed as a complex process, which involves a set of investment possibilities. In this investment perspective, knowledge has to be considered as a sort of capital. Owing to this reason, its development process is a managerial concern, because it can lead to the launching of a new product. The success of an innovative product is notoriously connected to research activities and changing orientation. On the other hand, these two elements depend on the development of knowledge levels and the innovative efforts of knowledge workers. Knowledge development How to intensify learning involvement One of the most important objectives of a competitive KM should be to increase frequently the different levels of knowledge. Increasing them implies: †¢to straiten the links among the latest advances of IT and the processes of gathering and process information; †¢to motivate knowledge development by recognising its importance in companies’ evolution; †¢to promote the acquisition of scientific culture, specially in the fields directly connected with the company’s main activities; †¢to invest in theoretical courses and practical training; †¢to intensify an effort to get updating in industry. According to the usual characteristics of all learning and experience curves, the knowledge level may grow exponentially if management is able to stimulate the conditions to learn more and to increase experience. Considering the power of these stimuli, which should be integrated into a global human resources policy, management has to define the adequate procedures to enlarge and to deepen knowledge development. Within a scenario of competitive imperatives of speed and considering the need to innovate constantly, learning will be the essential hedge against the possibility of negative consequences. Organizational learning should be seen as one of the most important responsibilities of top management. In fact, organizations may use the individuals’ learning activities and learn through them to create an organizational learning system, which provides the possibility of enhancing the capacity to generate new offering proposals (Coopey, 1995; Sinkula, 1994; Senge, 1990). Some authors consider that an organizational learning includes the ability to increase the understanding level from experience through analysis of problems, experimentation of solutions, and evaluation of results (McGill and Slocum, 1994; McGill et al. 1992). Organizations’ development needs to have the support of the positive changes in the education and training of the work force. This means that management should stimulate and organize this changing process. In general, there are two main ways that managers have to consider: 1. (1) updating efforts: scientific and technological knowledge is almost constantly changing and everybody in the organization should be conscious of the state-of-art of their fields of work; 2. 2) knowledge progresses have to be transformed in a more effective effort in order to obtain better production processes and more competitive technological advances. Learning involvement could be defined as a state of energy that a knowledge worker experiences in regard to an effort to increase his/her knowledge level (McQuarrie and Munson, 1987). A knowledge worker who is highly involved in learning is likely to expect more abilities to create and to suggest new ideas. A set of adequate information technologies should be foreseen. In fact, at any time during the learning process, errors or imprecision can occur. To avoid their negative consequences, KM should take into account the reliability of the information sources and also the data accuracy. These factors will affect positively the objectives’ achievement. Knowledge development as a strategic management instrument If management has a true strategic orientation, the knowledge development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improve the effectiveness of intellectual capital of an enterprise (Edvinsson and Malone, 1998). It is designed to solve problems that adversely affect operating efficiency at all levels. Knowledge is one of the branches where development movements can occur to help managers in their decision-making process, to create new responses, and to enable a set of competitive reactions and/or pro-active proposals. In the last two decades, we have seen a knowledge explosion and a change of the labour force. In fact, knowledge workers are not directly involved in manual activities, but make up a greater proportion of the labour force than ever before. Many companies try to provide an internal environment for experiential learning in which knowledge workers become more and more involved in solving job-related problems. In a quickly changing environment, the organization’s flexibility is one of its key success factors. This flexibility should be strategically combined with knowledge workers’ adaptability and high-quality standards to obtain two types of competition tools: 1. (1) sustainable advantages against competitors; 2. (2) capability to offer to the target market new alternatives. Knowledge development is a sort of response to changes in the external environment and nternal situations. It can be adapted to solve problems that negatively affect operating efficiency, including the need to replace obsolete products by new ones. In what concerns knowledge development, the improvement of products (incremental innovation) and process innovation (radical innovation) should be integrated. The aim is to improve the horizo ntal flow of information, because this flow is a very important tool to understand the relationship between the organization, its clients and its competitors. To make better decisions, managers have the option to search for more accurate information. One of the most important sources is the knowledge development of their collaborators, because they have been adequately trained to find out what are the new advances of science and technology. Training and motivational measures can be used to leverage professional intellect, but human intellectual capabilities can not be managed as if it was the only goal. In fact, top managers must consider the critical knowledge bases, the intellectual skills, and also the accumulated experience that can be used to increase the organization performance and to support their strategic decisions. Most developments at enterprise level are not possible without changes in education and training of the human resources, namely the intellectual capital. In fact, this capital is focused on innovative effort, on the information about competitors, and on proactive strategic decisions (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993). In many important complex problems there simply are not enough empirical data to provide a basis for complete analysis. Many aspects of a decision process require personal judgement, that is, the presence of updated knowledge workers. The problem-solving capabilities of knowledge workers lie in education background, professional training, creativity, and motivation. Non-routine processes demand for more skilled workers, because innovative solutions should be found and adapted to market needs. Sometimes, an organization needs to assimilate competitors’ technologies, to imitate them, and, in a benchmarking perspective, to adapt them in order to obtain specific benefits (reduction of costs, faster capacity to satisfy their market needs). This strategic effort demands a sufficiently motivated intellectual capital. In fact, even people with exceptional talent will not be able to develop potential without the adequate motivation (Twining, 1991). Moreover, knowledge development should include an effort to integrate the intellectual power of the organization’s human resources. Skills that are integrated according to a systemic perspective are more effective than a set of disconnected and/or uncoordinated talents. The co-ordination of the various abilities and aptitudes may lead to a learning process with a holistic approach. Being so, knowledge workers can learn more, recall information more accurately and use all their resources to build up innovative solutions. Influence of KM on competitiveness and innovation The influence of KM on management decisions effectiveness should be considered to support and also provide insight into how knowledge workers can contribute to obtain better results. However, management must consider that knowledge is not a simple and unique entity. The commitment to generate new discoveries and a more demanding understanding is not enough. The organizations need to look for the knowledge that is able to add value. Value adding knowledge is very different to an information-mix. This mix can be important, but first it is necessary to find out how the markets perceive the presence of value. These considerations can be taken as a guideline for KM. There are perhaps an unlimited number of factors that can define management attitudes regarding the role of intellectual capital into organizations’ life. Some managers evaluate significantly this capital as a very important resource that should be used to obtain adequate profits. Therefore this capital should be constantly improved. As can be seen in Figure 1, a conceptual model of KM is proposed. It emphasises that innovation and competitiveness can be a function of the KM. This model takes into account numerous determinants (determinant factors) of the relationships among various fields. The top portion of the model shows the most common factors that usually define management’s attitudes and deals with the following questions: †¢How important is intellectual capital? †¢How does management evaluate knowledge development? Is training one of the important aspects to be planned? †¢Is knowledge considered as a strategic tool? †¢Are managers prepared to motivate knowledge development? †¢Are managers able to stimulate the potential capacities of their knowledge workers? KM has to deal with two domains: 1. (1) personal characteristics of each knowledge worker; 2. (2) factors that affect personal development. The most common factors t hat affect initially the personal characteristics of a knowledge worker are education level, attitudes and values, innovativeness and creativity (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Allen et al. 1992; Mayo and Marks, 1990; Bearden et al. , 1986; Hirschman, 1980). Innovativeness is an important factor for supporting innovative efforts and it contributes also to define the personality. However, it is not enough to desire new products or new processes. In fact, an innovation that an enterprise presents into the market may be also due to the creativity of its knowledge workers. Personal development is directly related to professional experience. Any personal experience may be an information source and a learning situation. As a result from a personal or a managerial decision, training courses may contribute to reawaken previously acquired knowledge and to facilitate the access to a higher knowledge level. The development of each knowledge worker has its own dynamics, which is related with personal objectives. The more demanding the objectives are the more the learning efforts should be intensified. Nowadays, learning processes and knowledge updating procedures depend on information technology. Moreover, it has a decisive role on knowledge development because competitive advantage can only be maintained by the use of information for innovation (Huffman et al. 1990). Nowadays, managers have to decide whether they want to obtain better results from their knowledge workers or they prefer to lose the creative power that they possess in their minds and their professional experience. Managers’ attention must be focused on personal development. To obtain an effective knowledge level, investment in knowl edge development is needed. Managers should improve their ability to motivate knowledge workers to attain higher knowledge levels, because the arousal of this set of intellectual needs may be caused by external stimuli. Motivations should be intensified, because they should impel knowledge workers to increase their knowledge levels. This movement will be decisive in terms of innovation and can contribute to a stronger competitiveness. Even when no innovation is possible, an improved knowledge of the market and competitors can lead to more competitive movements. The technical capacities of a modern information technology will help this motivational scheme. Companies have to find ways to reach knowledge workers’ involvement. A person’s level of involvement plays a role in how much effort is used to learn new subjects or to deepen knowledge. Moreover, this involvement is an adequate condition for information sharing among knowledge workers. Adding IT, creativity and knowledge leads to a particularly potent combination. Managers can obtain impressive results in what concerns the companies’ abilities to innovate if they are able to develop the stimulation of innovative proposals through motivational methods and adequate rewards. The same can be said in what concerns key success factors: managers should practice frequently the stimulation of competitive efforts, provided through utilisation of both existing and new technologies. This conceptual model intends to interpret the relationship between KM, innovation, and competitiveness. It may contribute to an integrated understanding of the knowledge development process and its influences into the domains where management efforts should be focused. Conclusions This article intends to provide insights to a better understanding of KM in what concerns the possibility of influencing innovation and competitiveness. Its considerations provide considerable support for the importance of knowledge workers as a decisive contribution to the strategic enhancement. The implications for managers have been underlined. Regarding these implications, some concluding remarks can be made: †¢define methods for measuring the degree of KM effectiveness; †¢develop effective strategies for integrating innovative efforts, professional experience, skills, interactive capacities to create value for a company’s competitiveness; †¢determine the means to capture, transfer and leverage knowledge effectively; †¢let KM enter into strategic decisions concerning the profitability of intellectual assets. The suggested model also enables us to extend some of the frameworks for understanding managers’ evaluation criteria. This extension to traditional models of management strategic decisions is a direct result of the informational complexities in modern organizations. Consequently, these considerations intend to represent an important step forward in unravelling the KM as an efficient support for innovation and competitiveness relationships. Directions for further research Deepening the analysis of managers’ interest on knowledge is critical to understand how KM can contribute to improve strategies’ formulation. Future research should examine the differences among industries, and measure accurately the relative importance of the factors that affect personal characteristics and knowledge development. Because these relations are not fully investigated, we suggest additional studies concerning the industries where knowledge workers have a more defined and important role. Future research on managers’ attitudes facing the linkages between strategic management and human value may have to examine carefully the role of a KM orientation as an effort to support adequately successful strategies. This discussion contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of a management orientation, which is able to leverage knowledge advances. It is the task of management to improve the types of knowledge that best fit innovative efforts and competitive strategies. If this management orientation is well pursued, the organizations are likely to profit from knowledge development and from their human resources creativity. Figure 1Influence of KM on innovation and competitiveness References Allen, C. T, Machleit, K. A, Kleine, S. S (1992), â€Å"A comparison of attitudes and emotions as predictors of behavior at diverse levels of behavioral experience†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 pp. 493-504. Bearden, W. O, Calcich, S. E, Netemeyer, R. G, Teel, J. E (1986), â€Å"An exploratory investigation of consumer innovativeness and interpersonal influences†, in Lutz, R. J (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 13. Brooking, A (1996), Intellectual Capital: Core Asset for the Third Millennium Enterprise, International Thomson Business Press, London, . Burke, S. J (1990), â€Å"The effects of missing information on decision strategy selection†, in Goldberg, M. E, Gorn, G. , Pollay, R. W (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 17 pp. 250-6. Coopey, J (1995), â€Å"The learning organization, power, politics and ideology†, Management Learning, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 193-213. Day, G. S (1990), Market Driven Strategy: Processes for Creating Value, The Free Press,, New York, NY, . DeSanctis, G, Gallupe, B (1985), â€Å"Group decision support systems: a new frontier†, Database, pp. 3-9. Dutta, B. K, King, W. R (1980), â€Å"A competitive scenario modelling system†, Management Science, Vol. 26 No. 3, . Eagly, A. H, Chaiken, S (1993), The Psychology of Attitudes, Harcourt Brace Janovich, Chicago, IL, . Edvinsson, L, Malone, M. S (1998), Intellectual Capital: Realizing your Company’s True Value by Finding its Hidden Brainpower, HarperBusiness, New York, NY, . Gilbert, J. T (1995), â€Å"Profiting from innovation: inventors and adopters†, IM, pp. 28-32. [Harari, O (1994), â€Å"The brain-based organization†, Management Review, Vol. 83 No. 6, pp. 57-60. Hirschman, E. C. (1980), â€Å"Consumer modernity, cognitive complexity, creativity and innovativeness†, in Bagozzi, R. P (Eds),Marketing in the 80’s: Changes and Challenges, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 135-9. Huffman, C. D. , Loken, B. , Ward, J (1990), â€Å"Knowledge and context effects on typicality and attitude judgements†, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 17 pp. 355-60. Joyce, J (1993), â€Å"The industrial buyer’s use of information sources: an empirical investigation of source type and topic interrelationships†, AMA Winter Educators’ Proceedings, pp. 260-5. Kao, J. (1996), Jamming The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, HarperBusiness, New York, NY. , . Keen, P. W. 1991), Every Manager’s Guide to Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. , . Leonard-Barton, D. (1995), Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, . Martin, E. W, DeHayes, D. W, Hoffer, J. A. , Perkins, W. C (1998), Managing Information Technology: What Manage rs Need to Know, 3rd ed. , Prentice-Hall, New York, NY, . Mayo, M. A, Marks, L. J. (1990), â€Å"An empirical investigation of a general theory of marketing ethics†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 18 pp. 163-71. McFadden, F. R, Hoffer, J. A (1994), Modern Database Management, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc, Menlo Park, CA. , . McGill, M. E, Slocum, J. W. Jr (1994), The Smarter Organization: How to Build a Business that Learns and Adapts to Marketplace Needs, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. , . McGill, M. E, Slocum, J. W. Jr, Lei, D. T. (1992), â€Å"Management practices in learning organizations†, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 5-17. McQuarrie, E. F. , Munson, J. M. (1987), â€Å"The Zaichkowsky personal involvement inventory: modification and extension†, in Wallendorf, M. Anderson, P. F. (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 14 pp. 36-40. Mowery, D (1983), â€Å"The relationships between intrafirm and contractual forms of industrial research in American manufacturing, 1900-1940†, Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 351-74. Nonaka, I. (1994), â€Å"The dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation†, Organizat ion Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 14-37. Ozanne, J. L, Brucks, M, Grewal, D (1992), â€Å"A study of information search behavior during the categorization of new products†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 8 pp. 452-63. Page, A (1993), â€Å"Assessing new product development practices and performance: establishing crucial norms†, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 10 pp. 273-90. Prescott, J. E. , Gibbons, P. T (1993), â€Å"Global competitive intelligence: an overview†, in Prescott, J. E, Gibbons, P. T (Eds),Global Perspectives on Competitive Intelligence, Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Alexandra, VA, . Senge, P. M (1990), â€Å"The leader’s new work†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 7-23. Sinkula, J. M (1994), â€Å"Market information processing and organizational learning†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 35-45. Slater, S. F. , Narver, J. C. (1994), â€Å"Does competitive environment moderate the market orientation-performance relationship? â€Å", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 pp. 46-55. Twining, J. E (1991), Strategies for Active Learning, Allyn & Bacon,, Needham Heights, MA. , . West, A (1992), Innovation Strategy, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ, . Wetherbe, J. C (1991), â€Å"Executive information requirements: getting it right†, MIS Quarterly, pp. 51-65.