Thursday, October 31, 2019

Reducing mongoose in Hawaii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reducing mongoose in Hawaii - Essay Example address the issue through mobilizing collective efforts by the public as well as the government agents responsible of wildlife conservation and management into resolving the issue. There is the need to have the endangered species of animals and plants (threatened by mongoose) saved while still conserving the mongoose because the retaliation efforts by the citizens present another threat to the mongoose species. This paper therefore proposes the creation of management/conservation zones for the mongoose in Hawaii, which would help through protecting them from human beings while at the same time reducing their detrimental effects towards human beings. The position of this paper that conserving the mongoose through conservancy zones would present an amicable solution to the current issue is because the solution has proven with other species on endangered species of wildlife. By keeping the species out of unauthorized interaction with human beings would allow them to breed to the capacity that the ecosystem would naturally support while reducing their risk of threatening existence of other species of animals and plants as claimed. Adaptive management has therefore been shown to be a paramount area of study in the 21st century especially with the increase in human populations and the resultant interference with natural ecosystem. The study is therefore not only interesting but also informative and presents an opportunity for people to devise practical solutions to emerging issues such as the one at hand. Hays, W. S., & Conant, S. (2007). Biology and impacts of Pacific Island invasive species. 1. A worldwide review of effects of the small Indian mongoose, Herpestes javanicus (Carnivora: Herpestidae). Pacific Science, 61(1),

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Moral absolutism Essay Example for Free

Moral absolutism Essay The choices we make in our everyday life all have to do with our ethics. In this paper the topic will discuss the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. In order to understand the similarities, and differences of virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics we must first define them. Virtue theory is defined as a moral excellence. It is a positive trait quality demand to be morally good and is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. It takes the viewpoint that in living your life you should try to cultivate excellence in all that you do and all that others do. Utilitarianism is a theory that suggests that an action is morally right when that action produces more utility for the group than any other alternative. We need to understand what our consequence would be based on our choice. When we make the right choice we will get a positive consequence and are acting morally; if we make the wrong choice the consequences will be acting immorally. Deontological moral is focused on loyalty to independent moral rules or duties. To make the right choices we need to comprehend what our duties are and the rules of our moral perspective. This is a matter of what we view to be moral or immorally based on our beliefs. The similarities between the three theories represent the good in people and how they strive for excellence. The differences are with virtue theory describes a person’s character, cultivating excellence in all we do. Utilitarianism addresses ethical and morality issues by addressing the balance of good over bad consequences. The morality associated with this theory suggests actions that produce a total utility for the group. Deontological ethics have a definition of a definition of a person’s dedication to recognize moral duties. In my current position as an assistant manager I am often put in a situation that includes some type of confidentiality with an associate that falls under me. If I am told about a certain situation that an associate is having in their personal life I have been told in trust and this be unethical for me to tell everyone else what is going on. Also when I have to write up any associate for work performance, that should be kept between me and that associate. For me to be able to keep my word about a particular situation involving any of my associates consist of moral concepts. Values, virtues, and ethics distinguish those actions as being morally right or morally wrong.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Literature Review dependent variable is knowledge productivity.

Literature Review dependent variable is knowledge productivity. 2.1 Introduction This chapter is divided into six main sections. This first section provides an overview of the chapter. The second section is a definition of essential terms that used in this study. The third section discusses the background and the previous study that focusing on factors that influencing and contributing to the knowledge and research productivity. The fourth section discusses the models and frameworks of knowledge conversion abilities developed by past researchers. The fifth section highlights the theoretical framework, hypotheses develop for this study, and the final section summarizes the chapter. 2.2 Definition of Term There are 3 essential terms in this study. There are that are knowledge productivity (KP), organizational factor and individual factor. All these three terms will be frequently highlight and discuss throughout this study. 2.2.1 Knowledge Productivity According to Kessels (2001), Knowledge productivity involves signalling, absorbing and processing of relevant information, generating and disseminating new knowledge and applying this knowledge to the improvement and innovation of processes, products and services (Kessels,2001). Refer to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary), productivity define as a rate at which an organization make or produces goods, it usually judge by the number of people and amount of the materials produce. In the context of this study, knowledge productivity can be refer to the amount or number of knowledge produce or generated. Meanwhile, according to (Jansink, et.al, 2005) concept of knowledge productivity is related with training and research activity. Hence, for the purpose of this study knowledge productivity is referring to research productivity. Williams (2003), define research productivity as an effort of any scholarly research produced by a faculty member that contributes to the new knowledge. In this study the dependent variable is knowledge productivity. 2.2.2 Organizational/ Institutional factor According to Waworuntu and Holsinger (1989), organizational factor consist of the quality of research facilities, research collaboration, reward system and institutional prestige. Meanwhile, according to Long et.al (2009), organizational factors are the affective motivator for the research production. They list out research reward; research expectation and pressure to publish are research comes under organizational factor. Dundar and Lewis (1998) 2.2.3 Individual factor Early work with these factors included the effects of age, gender, socioeconomic status, and educational background (Dundar.H, Lewis.D.R, 1998) 2.3 Previous Study on Knowledge Productivity 2.3.1 Knowledge productivity Research has become the most important functions of universities all over the world. Knowledge is created through research conducted in the Universities. It is clear that faculty build and disseminate knowledge through the production of research (Dundar and Lewis, 1998). Faculty members or academician, the primary producers of academic research, play crucial roles in producing knowledge. According to Teodorescu (2000), professor at Research University are expected to produce new knowledge through research and use the latest result in their teaching. Research productivity or research performance is very synonym with the academician and University. Williams (2003), define research productivity as an effort of any scholarly research produced by a faculty member that contributes to the new knowledge. Research productivity always refer to the number of books, articles, technical reports, bulletins, and book reviews published, as well as presentations given and grants received through revi ewing curriculum vitae or other print materials (Rotten 1990). Meanwhile, according to Wilson (2001), research productivity defined by the number of the publication of publication in an academic refereed journal and scholarly books. Obviously, research productivity is a number of researches done which measure by the number of publication published. According to Gaston (1970), research productivity divided into two components. There are knowledge creation which is related to the research activity and knowledge distribution which is related to the publication or productivity. Hence in the study, research productivity will be considered as knowledge productivity. Importance of Knowledge Productivity Research is a one of the product creates by academician. Research has a significant impact to career development of the academician. Previous studies shown that research productivity give the impact to academician profession. Research productivity is one of the criteria for promotion, reward system as we as their tenure ( Kotrlik, 2002). It supported by Bloedel (2001), stated that research productivity always serves as a main factor in determine successful of academician, especially related to the promotion, tenure and salary. Meanwhile, according Read et al (1998), criteria for the promotion had been change in recent year. Most of the academician who being promoted in recent year has conducted more research compare with academician promoted in a last few year. This scenario shows that the University has emphasize research productivity for the promotion exercise. Gibbs and Locke (1989), through their study which involved 93 University found that the most important criteria for the pr omotion and tenure decision are the research productivity. The productivity of knowledge or research not only gives the impact to the academician but also to the academician itself. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the important of research productivity to the University or higher institution. According to Blackburn et. al, (1991), research productivity not only important to academician, but also important for enhancing an institution reputation. Research productivity contributed to the University rank and performance (Henthorne et al.,1998). Study conducted by Olsen (1994), also found that increase in productivity led to high prestige for the institution. This supported by Boyer (1990). He found that research productivity not only give a promotion to the academician, but also improve university reputation and rank. Meanwhile, Kasten (1984) found that major criteria for promotion for academician is a research productivity. Influencing factor on Knowledge Productivity The important of the knowledge productivity in the academic environment has encouraged researcher to study and investigate influencing factor on knowledge productivity. Numerous studies have been conducted on the influencing research productivity in academic environment. The studies have identified and investigated numerous factors that influencing research productivity. It is important to identify the factors that have a relationship with research productivity to encourage research activity among the academician. According to Blackburn and Lawrence (1995), socio demographic and career factors as well as self-knowledge, social knowledge, behaviours and environmental related to research productivity. William (2003), identify environmental factors, institutional factors and individual factors are related to the research productivity. Zainab (2001) identify that individual and organization correlated with research productivity among academician in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Fox (1996) found t hat individual characteristics, environmental and reinforcing which included colleagues and mentorship influencing research productivity among academician in science faculty. Personal or individual factors seem a most frequent factor that has been connected with the research productivity. Wood (1990) proved that research productivity significant influence by personal variables. He has conducted a study among academician for Australian university. Through the study, he found that academic research activity is highly influenced by a number of personal variables, such as research styles and the freedom of inquiry (the choice of research topics). The personal correlates considered in studies are gender, age family background and personality traits. Age has been studied in previous studies with different results. Gender Gender is a one of the variable has been examined under individual variable. Most of the previous studies indicated that men are more productive than women (Bailey 1992; Vasil 1992; Billard 1993; Blackburn Lawrence 1995; Creamer 1998; Kotrlik et al. 2002). Blackburn, Behymer and Hall (1978) found that male academician published three times more than are women academician. These finding supported by study done by Cole and Zuckerman (1984). They found that on average male academician published 40% to 50% more compare that women academician. Same scenario also happens on the academician in ASEAN region. Study by Waworunto ( 1989), who focus on the Indonesia academician also found that male academician are more productive in doing a research. There are several reason have been highlight in the previous study on this scenario. According to Guyer and Fidell (1973), this is because of women academician more engaged in applied research compare than men who engaged more on theoretical resear ch. Applied research needed considerably more time to publish compare than theoretical. Cole and Zuckerman (1984) also provided a reason for their result of the study. According to them, women are less productive because of they do not have strong network on research and family obligations also prevent women to spending more time on research. This reason support by (Creamer 1998), indicated that, women naturally members often have family demands that compete with time to conduct research. Further, Gaertner and Ruhe (1983) found women academician are excited to perform better than men, however it caused greater stress to them and effect their productivity However, opposing result has been found by some researchers. They found that there was not a gender difference in productivity (Kotrlik et al. 2002; Teodorescu 2000). Consistent result also found by Rubin and Powell (1987) and also Omundson and Mann (1994). They found no difference in publication outputs for male and females. Meanwh ile Garland (1990) found that gender was not a significant variable on productivity compare with other variables such as rank, educator and type of institution. Age Many previous studies on research productivity have indicated that career publication and age have not strong relationship, although most of studies found that publication generally declines with age (Teodorescu 2000). Over (1982), found that research productivity slightly decrease with age. However, when productivity was investigated in groups by birth date, younger faculty members produced more research at an earlier career stage than older faculty members. He also found that many senior academicians remain quite active in research and their outcomes can be comparable to those of younger faculty members. These finding are significant with the study by Levin and Stephan (1991). They reported in his study that the life cycle effect varies significantly by field. Life cycle is related to publishing productivity and obviously scientists become less productive as they age. Generally, a persons age at first publication affects consequent research productivity. If academic lecturers submi t research for their first publication at a young age, then it is more likely that they will produce more when their age increases. Although many studies found relationship between age and research productivity, there are several studies found that there is no strong relationship between age and research productivity. Bland and Berquist (1997) found that shift workloads and emphasis have strong relationship with productivity compare with the age of the academician. Williams (2000) has studied academic lecturers in the Human Resource Development Faculty in the United States and found no significant relationship with age. Kotrlik et al (2001) also found the similar result. His study on the university agricultural education faculty members in the United States found that age did not significantly affect research productivity. Besides that, Ramsden (1994) also found age is not correlated with research productivity. Marital Status Luukkonen and Hieskanen (1983) indicated in their study that, married female academician are more productive. Kyvik ( 1990) who done a study among academician in Norway also found that married and divorce academician ( men and women) were more productive compare than single academician. Author also found that, women with children were more productive compare than that academician who doesnt have children. However the result showed that women who have only one child were more productive compare than women academician with two and more children. Through this study, author has provided some explanation for this finding. These findings because of married women have more energy and stamina compare with women without children. Married academician also gets a support from their husband or wife and their have more experience in social life. Authors also explain that family life have increase their self respect and being married neutralize the affect of sex since married women corporate more with their male colleagues. In contrast, Creamer (1998), discovered that there was either no significant effect or a positive effect on publishing productivity for married women. Interest, attitude and motivation (research skill) Wood (1990) found that personal or individual characteristic influenced research productivity among Australian academician. The personal or individual characteristic that has been study is the ability, energy, creativity, motivation, ambition and also self discipline. According to author, productive academician tended to be a senior academician because they ready with extraordinary workload, intellectually curiosity and like writing and puts time away for research. Productive academician also saw as a gamesmanship, who hard-nosed about the time allocated for research even though need to scarified other responsibilities such as teaching. Through this study, author found that less of productivity are because of the lacked of confident being judge by peer, adhere to such high standard that their work never get published and also lack of experience. Author also found that productive academician is a who have certain attitude and approach toward research such as they put greater stress of research activity and also working extra time on their research activity. Interest in research also was study by Behymer (1974) and found research interest to be the best predictor of research productivity. Meanwhile Noser et al. (1996) found attitude toward research to be related to research productivity. Sageemas N.W.,S.N, Wongwanich.S Bowarnkitiwong.S. (2009) also found capabilities in research skills and technique, funding skills, research management and research communication skills and networking and team work would produce high research productivity among Thailand academician. Bland, C.J. et al (2002) also have study motivational factor on research productivity. They found that academician who highly research driven is positively associated with research productivity. This result is significant with the study by Zainab (2001). She found view or perception on the research also positively associated with research productivity among Malaysian academician. Work habit Fox 1993 refer A recent study by Fonseca et al. (1997) of50 eminent Brazilian scientists in the field of biochemistry and cell biology, indicated that they are highly motivated, found pleasure in their work and able to face challenges effectively. High publication productivity reflects excellence. The eminent scientists have a common trait in that they were all highly productive. The scientists were also interviewed and their CV examined to identify periods of greater and lesser productivity. The peaks and falls were used as a reference point in the interviews. For each scientist two productivity scores were computed (a) total number of published papers and (b) sum impact factors (IF) of the journals in which the articles are published. The IF of a journal is the average number of citations received in one year by the articles published in that journal in the two previous years. These two scores were plotted along the years of each scientists career. The interviews revealed five groups of factors i nfluencing productivity: (a) human factors related to human relations in the laboratory, the quality of the working team, the relationship of the leaders to the students, the ability to exchange ideas, interact with other scientists, and the rapport among team members; (b) subjective emotional factors related to the ability to face challenges, motivation and pleasure at work.; (c) active material conditions related to facilities, equipment and money to buy chemicals ; (d) types of research related to having the freedom A recent study by Fonseca et al. (1997) of 50 eminent Brazilian scientists in the field of biochemistry and cell biology, indicated that they are highly motivated, found pleasure in their work and able to face challenges effectively. High publication productivity reflects excellence. The eminent scientists have a common trait in that they were all highly productive. The scientists were also interviewed and their CV examined to identify periods of greater and lesse r productivity. The peaks and falls were used as a reference point in the interviews. For each scientist two productivity scores were computed (a) total number of published papers and (b) sum impact factors (IF) of the journals in which the articles are published. The IF of a journal is the average number of citations received in one year by the articles published in that journal in the two previous years. These two scores were plotted along the years of each scientists career. The interviews revealed five groups of factors influencing productivity: (a) human factors related to human relations in the laboratory, the quality of the working team, the relationship of the leaders to the students, the ability to exchange ideas, interact with other scientists, and the rapport among team members; (b) subjective emotional factors related to the ability to face challenges, motivation and pleasure at work.; (c) active material conditions related to facilities, equipment and money to buy ch emicals ; (d) types of research related to having the freedom Academic rank Numerous studies have been done to correlate academic rank with the research productivity. Academic rank was studied by Bailey (1992), Dundar and Lewis (1998), Kyvik and Smeby (1994), Teodorescu (2000) and Vasil (1992). Each found rank to be a significant predictor of research productivity. Ramsden (1994) found seniority of academic rank to be correlated with research performance. Meanwhile Patterson and Barnes 1984; Bentley and Blackburn 1990) indicated that academician in higher rank have more productivity compare with lower rank. Similar result also found by Wanner,Lewis and Gregario (1981). They indicated found that rank has strong relationship with research productivity. Kyvik (1990a) indicated full professor produce more research because they have less teaching load then they can more on the research productivity. . Meanwhile Tien and Blackburn (1996) found slightly different result. Full professor publisher more than other rank of academician but there a no difference between assistance professor and associate professor. However, in contrast, Over (1982) also found rank has no influence. Same result also found by Gregario (1981). Gunne and Stout (1980) also found there is no significant relationship between rank and research productivity. Experience and Tenure Tenure also has been examined in previous study toward research productivity. Tenure is guarantee of their career as an academician and secures their position in the University. A tenured academician will have a more privilege and benefit compared that non tenure academician. This scenario will provide morale boot and secure working environment. Hence, there is no doubt tenure will affect the productivity of academician. Butler and Cantrell (1989) was studied tenure variables among business faculty members and it showed significant correlated with research productivity. Later Radhakrishna et al. (1994) found that tenured faculty members held publishing as significantly more important than non tenured faculty members. Another study was done by Bailey (1992) found that productivity level increase when academician moves from non tenure to tenure academician. However contrast result found by Teodorescu (2000). He found that tenure was not significantly correlated with article productivit y. Similar result also found by Bartlett et al. (2001). He indicated that the number of years a faculty member held a tenure track position did not explain a significant portion in variance for research productivity. Meanwhile experience also was study by Rushton, Murray and Paunonen (1987). They found relationship between publication and experience and also age. The number of publication increase with the number of experience of the profession. The vast experience in research determine the research productivity in India ( Babu and sigh, 1998). Organizational / Departmental Organizational factor also defined as departmental by some researcher. Support from Time spend on research and teaching (64) Austin and Gamson (1983) indicated that extrinsic factors such as teaching load, administrative tasks, reward and opportunity could influence research productivity. Meanwhile clark,corcoran and lewis (1986) -. found that academician who allocated a smaller percentage of their time in teaching had a stronger research orientation. Calligro et al (1991) -. also found a similar result. They found academician who are productive spent more time on research. However Webster (1985) found that there was a little or no positive correlation between research and teaching. Same result found by Feldmen (1987) . Fox (1992). has study of the academic role, time allocation for research and teaching, teaching load and also time administrative. The result indicated that publication productivity was not related to teaching. Other study by Blackburn et al ( 1991) also indicated interest in research need not necessary predict high productivity in research. Discipline difference wood Department size Graduate student supervision Departmental prestige Culmulative advantage Leadership Role of the leader in organization in influencing research productivity and performance have been studies previously. According to Friedrich ( 1985) Friedrich,G.W.(1985). Renewing the commitment to Scholarly.Annual Meeting of the speech communication assocaition) leader can help to create healthy climate for scholarship by setting realistic goal, identify area where they can excel and be a more individual approach when dealing with staff. McKeaachie ( 1983) McKeaachie, ( 1983). Faculty as a renewal resources. In: College faculty: versatile human resources in a period of constraint, study on the fuinction of leader in encouraging research activity. Leader who respected research performance among academic staff provided an environment that encourage research activity. Boice (1988), found the important of leader in encouraging writing through forming discussion group, highlight good writing habit and conduct a research workshop. Barnhill and Linton (1992), indentify how leader can promo te research. They found that promoting a balance between teaching and research, identify the best undergraduate for the staff requirement,ecourange under represented staff to perform, provide clear research goal, encourage team research group, and also identify the need for the research. According to author, leader also should have a leadership criteria such as lead by example,lead pro actively, encourage inter disciplinary research and also research collaboration. The done by Fonseca et al 1997 -.) also found the relationship between leader and research productivity. Beside the environmental factors mentioned above, the leadership of an institution or department leaders are important factors affecting research productivity. Leadership is a relationship between leaders and their constituents and a subtle process of mutual influence that fuses thought, feeling, and action to produce collective effort in the service of the purposes and values of both the leader and the led (Bolman Deal 1991). Kerr (1977) reviewed the literature on leadership and found that leadership plays an important role in research universities because the leadership highlight staff morale and self-esteem. For Gardner (1995), who studied leadership from the perspective of the cognitive psychologist, leaders are persons who, by word and/or personal example, markedly influence the behaviours, thoughts and /or feelings of a significant number of their fellow human beings (p.6). Leadership in academic organizations can be understood as taking different forms depending on how leader s view their institutions. A university can be viewed as a bureaucracy, a collegiums, a political system or an organized anarchy (Chaichanapanich 1998). Generally, leadership has a weak relationship with academic productivity, even when the Chair of the faculty lends moral support or provides monetary backing for the research, because faculty members continue to be more concerned about their teaching, their research or their scholarship. Indeed, it has been observed that faculty staff members valued more highly the assessment of their colleagues and their students than the support of their leadership (Blackburn Lawrence 1995) Colloboration / knowledge sharing Financial Financial element is a important in research productivity. Amount of funding will influence amount of research or knowledge produce. Salisbury (1990), Foncesa et al (1997) found a significant relationship between financial support and research productivity. Wood (1990) also indicated that adequate and continued funding is very important factor in ensuring successful of the research. Warner, Lewis and Gregario (1981) have compare the publication number and amount of grant and they found that amount of grant have resulted in greater productivity or articles. Again, this result shows the positive relationship between fund and productivity. Facilities ( library, electronic support, Library play the important in research. Capabilities of library to provide the resources influenced research productivity. Electronic facilities Schefermeyer and Sewell (1988) indicated that using of email among academician to communicate and seek other for research collaboration have open opportunity to increase research productivity. Almquist (1992) Almquist, E.(1992). Listening to users:case studies in building electronic community.Fox institution annual conference, found that the scientists used IT facilities for different phases of their research especially at the subject identification and also find a similar research or literature. Meanwhile, Bruce (1994)- found that over 80% of Australian academic believed that network access give them benefit in conducting research and 63% believed it can helped increase their publication. Massy and Zemsky (1995). suggested that the availabilitiy of IT facilities provided greater access to the resources and it increase the productivity of research. Huges (1999) investigated the telecommunication environment that support research productivity and found that a networked environment he lped to promote information about research productivity. 2.4 Theories, Framework and Model of Previous Study 2.4.1 Zainab Awang Ngah (2001) Exploratory study to examined the factor that affecting the research publication of academic engineering and scientist from UKM and UM. This study aim to identify problem as well as increase understanding of factor that conducive for a productive academic research environment. The study identifies total number and type of research publication published.Examined the endogenous factor such as personal,home,academic background,attitude,view and problem faced and how these are related to publication productivity. Examianed exogenous factor, academic staff information used and disseminated behaviour, problem associated with publsihng articles or in obtaining library materials. The sample population comprises 125 academic engineering and 311 academic scientis from UKM and UM. Data collection and information about the staff are obtained from questionnaire, university calendar and interview. The results are reported in descriptive statistic and tested for significant and correlation using the chi square for nominal type variables and the spearman rank test. The result generally show that in more cases the correlated are significant related to publication productivity. The significant correlated ( Masuk kan model nya (diagram disini) 2.5 Theoretical Framework Organization Factor Top management Slack Resource Knowledge sharing culture Training Technical infra Knowledge Productivity (Dependent variable) Individual Factor Research motivation Attitude toward research Research skill 2.6 Chapter Summary Conclusion The diversity of factor influencing research productivity is well documented in published literature. However, difference in finding about the relative relationship of research productivity and various variables remained.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Economics Essay -- Understanding Economics Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Definition of Topic: Economics is the study of supply and demand. It defines the ways that human beings allocate resources and how resources are distributed amongst a market. It allows you to see trends in current market places and predict what may happen in the future. Many different subjects were once regarded as a part of economics. Political science and even sociology were once considered part of the field. These subjects still play a major role in understanding economics but are also completely separate disciplines today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  History: Since ancient times, humans have contemplated basic economic problems. Many great minds have tried to master the subject. Aristotle and Plato were probably the first to document such studies. Both agreed that living by trade was ill fated. Influenced by Greek economic ideals the Romans built their wealth. After the fall of Rome, the Catholic Church would become the power behind most economic laws. They would condemn usury and regarded commerce as inferior to agriculture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It wasn’t until 1776 that economics became a study of its own. Adam Smith is considered the father of economics. Through his work Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, he used mercantilism and physiocracy to develop classical economics. Smith emphasized consumption, rather than production to broaden the scope of economics. Modern thought still follows his examples for permitting self-interest in order to promote national prosperity. This is most evident when looking at today’s smaller business market.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Twenty years later, Malthus would write a discouraging, but very influential book, An Essay on the Principle of Population. Malthus believed that the human race would eventually be doomed by overpopulation. His theory was that food would increase in arithmetic ratio but population would double every generation. This theory is faulty because it does not account for disease, famine, war, etc. Malthus’ view of supply and demand left a permanent impression on generations to come. It would hence be know as â€Å"the dismal science.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next to revolutionize economics would be the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Karl Marx had the classical vision of capitalism, Marxism was in large measure a sharp rebuttal, but to some extent it embodied variations of classical themes. For Marx, the labor theory was a clue to the inner work... ...oss the country at many prestigious universities for economics professors. As an economics major, graduates could work for the National Institute of Health as an Operations Research Analyst, as an accountant (anywhere), or in almost any research or marketing opening. The Centers for Disease Control even require economists; they currently have positions open for post-doctorate fellowships. These are just a sampling of the job opportunities in the field and related fields of economics. With very little research, anyone interested in economics could find a plethora of interesting and challenging careers pursuable within the realm of economics. Works Cited The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright  © 1994, 2000, Columbia University   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. http://www.careerbuilder.com searched (economics) http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0816721.html http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/employment.html Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2002.  © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Understanding Business. Nickels, William G. McHugh, James M. McHugh, Susan M. Copyright 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. New York, New York.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Organizational Culture Essay

In 1986, Steve job purchased the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm for $10 million and established the independent company called Pixar. Ed Catmull as the co-founder and chief technical officer of Pixar. At that time, there are about 44 people are emplyed at Pixar. Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award  ®-winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other related products. Pixar’s objective is to combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages. In November 22, 1995, Pixar Animation Studios forever impacted the future of filmmaking, storytelling and the medium of animation with the release of its first feature film, Disney ·Pixar’s Toy Story. After Pixar founded nine years ago, Toy Story exhibited years of creative and technical achievements from a small group of passionate computer scientists and animators, led by present day President Ed Catmull and Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter. After Toy story released in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios cooperated with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to create and produce another feature film such as A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. 2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010). Pixar is one of the successful company which climb to the pinnacle of computer animation was a quick one and the company continues to push the envelope in its art and technology inspired moviemaking endeavors. (Pixar, 2012) Issue Identified Pixar is one of the successful corporation in the world. Pixar is famous on creative and it is important breakthroughs in the application of compute r graphics (CG) for filmmaking. Also, Pixar has attracted some of the world’s finest talent in this area. Since 1986, The technical and creative teams of Pixar have collaborated to developed a wealth of production software used in-house to create its movies and further the state of the art in CG movie making. This proprietary technology allows the production of animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in the industry, and above all, allows the director to precisely control the end results in a way that is exactly right for the story. Pixar continues to invest heavily in its software systems and believes that further advancements will lead to additional productivity and quality improvements in the making of its computer animated films. Moreover, Pixar can climb quickly to the pinnacle of cuomputer animation throght creative. Therefore, in this report, I would find out the reason that Why Pixar’s culture is related to creative? Nowadays, If some one talking about Pixar, they must concerned creative in the process. People know Pixar would related to creative. In opppsite, People know creative also would related to Pixar. Therefore, Pixar is important for the creative and the industry. It seems Pixar and creative as a body, they can’t separate each other and they were interact each other. For example, Pixar produced their feature films thorugh their creative and technology team. Thinking in-depth, If the Pixar’s creative and technology are not talent to creation, could the Pixar climbed to the pinnacle of computer animation quickly? Could the Pixar successful in the industry? That all of examples are the assumption, but I think that creative is one of the critical elements for the development of Pixar. Therefore why this report wanted to find out the reason of why Pixar’s culture is related to creative through some theorey. Theoretical Framework For find out the reason that why Pixar’s culture is related to creative, I would use some theorey as reference to find out the reason. The theoretical framework adoted in this report is Mckinsey’s 7s. Although there are other theoretical could be use but why i would use Mckinsey’s 7s. Some theoretical look at internal factors, others look at external ones, some combine these perspectives, and others look for congruence between various aspects of the organization being studied(McKinsey’s 7s model, 2005). However, Mckinsey’s 7s model was developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in 1980 which cannot really be considered as a pure strategy model, but rather as a way of thinking about development or remodelling of organizations. Its name comes from the seven factors that Tom Peters and Robert Waterman found essential in the context of organization development: strategy, skills, shared values, structure, systems, staff and style (Joe Cheal, 2008). Also, The Mckinsey’s 7s model is very useful tool for analysing and diagnosing organisational issues, and then for the planning of interventions and change (Joe Cheal, 2008). In the first phase of the Mckinsey’s 7s model is usually determined. The next step is to define what the organization must be especially good at in order to be able to implement its strategy, in other words, what skills it must develop or otherwise acquire. The final step is to determine what changes are needed in the other five factors to make the change a successful one (McKinsey’s 7s model,2005). The advantage of the Mckinsey’s 7s model is its simplicity and immediacy, and then in the complexity that follows by understanding that these components do not stand alone, but work in relationship to one another (Joe Cheal, 2008). The model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either â€Å"hard† or â€Å"soft† elements. For â€Å"hard† elements including strategy, structure and systems. For â€Å"soft† elements including shared values, skills, style and staff [pic] For the â€Å"hard† elements, the Strategy refers to the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition. Moreover, it is known of the concepts relating to organizational change. The structure refers to the way that organization is structured and who reports to whom. The systems defined as the procedures or processes which exist in a company and which involve many people for the purpose of identifying important issues, getting things done or making decisions such as daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done. Also, it is important things that system could strongly influence on the company and it is power tools of management for decision making. For the â€Å"soft† elements, the shared values refers to the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic. The skills refers to actual skills and competencies of the employees working for the company. The Staff defined as the employees and their general capabilities. Also, it is concerned with the question of what kind of people the company needs. This is not so much a question of single individuals as of the total know-how possessed by the people in the organization. Last, the style defined as the style of leadership adopted and it could be influence the style of the company performance (Joe Cheal, 2008). Main Body Pixar Animation Studios was succeed since Pixar created the first new generation of animated feature films, Toy Story which obtain the awards and it was the breakthrough to the computer animations. Regarding to the structure of Pixar, the begining of the Pixar since 1986, Steve job purchased the computer graphics division of Lacusfilm and established the indepentent company called Pixar. Also, Ed. Catmull as the co-founder and the chief technical office of Pixar and that time. Moreover, Ed. Catmull attracted John Lasseter who is working in the Disney (Mark Henne, 1996). Now, Ed.  Catmull is the president and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios. And John Lasseter is the Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studio, Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering (Pixar, 2012). They were devoted to the Pixar such as Pixar’s talent of computer animations to led the succeed of creating the first feature films, Toy Story. Till to recently, Pixar is the leader in the industry. Pixar produced many famous feature films through their creative. Also, Pixar can obtain subtantial advantage through all of successful feature film. For example, Pixar can obtain the revenue as $362 million of the Toy Story. Also, Pixar can obtain the reputation such as Academy Award while produced the famous feature film (Datamonitor, 2004). The strategy of the Pixar is the design of the company and the work space. Why the work space’s design would be the strategy. It is the distinctive of Pixar. For example, the work space of â€Å"Cars 2† director and Pixar creative head, Lasster which is blast of color, plastic and nostalgia, filled floor-to-ceiling with so many toys it’s hard for the brain to process. Also, the president of Pixar, Ed.  Catmull’s work space is modest space looks colorless by comparison, with some chairs, a table, a desk and no clutter(Peter Hartlaub, 2011). It seems like that a simply open office design but it is important of the strategy. Most employees like worked in Pixar because Pixar could gave them freedom such as communicate wilth anyone, they work as the familiar so they enjoy to work in the Pixar. Moreover, creative is important for Pixar and each employees so the strategy of Pixar is make each of employees enjoy the company, the work space, the environment (Ed. Catmull, 2008). Also, Ed.  Catmull, the president of Pixar who is bearded comes to work in jeans and a short-sleeved black button-down shirt (Peter Hartlaub, 2011). He wears look like casual and employees also can wears casual that what is creative. Employees didn’t face to pressure and easily to involve the work and perfect integration with other employees when they were brain storming and produce the successful feature films. The systems is the dailies of the Paxir. It is the practice working of daily reviews and dailies, which is a process for giving and getting constant feedback in a positive way. This process is John Lasseter learnt from Disney and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). When John Lasseter joined Paxir and Paxir build up an animation crew for Toy Story. John Lasseter used the process of daily reviews where learnt from Disney and ILM. Then, John Lasseter used what he learnt to develop Paxir’s daily reviews process (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In the process, anyone were encouraged to comment and showed the incomplete state to the whole animation crew. There are several advantages of the process. First, everyone would be more creative after everyone showing the work still in progress. Second, the director or creative lead guidling the review process can communicate and focus on the important points to the whole animation crew at the same time. Third, everyone can learnt from and influence each other. Also, highly creative piece of animation will spark others to raise their game. Last, everyone’s overwhelming desire to make sure their work is good when showing to other and the finished version is possibility that won’t be what the director wants. The daily review process avoids such wasted effort (Ed. Catmull, 2008). The staff of Pixar can defined as three part respectively recruitment, contracts and Pixar University. First, the recruiting standard of Ed. Catmull is extremely special. Ed. Catmull always hired employees by their talent. For example, Ed. Catmull always hired some one who is better than himself such as John Lasseter (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In general, most company wouldn’t hired some one who better than CEO or president because it is threaten for CEO or president. Second, the employees in the Pixar weren’t hired by contracts or signed by contracts. According to Randy S. Nelson, who joined the company in 1997 and is dean of Pixar University. Mr. Nelson said contract allow employees irresponsible as a company. Also, there have the excellent things created in Pixar which incredible workspace, opportunities to learn and grow, most of all greatest co-worker is better than any contract (William C. Taylor & Polly LaBarre, 2006). It is why Pixar wouldn’t need to signed contract of each employees. Last, the Pixar university is one of the improtant thing for training the employees. Every employees even an animator, technician, director, president or other positions in company is encouraged to develop up to four hours per week for a training. In the class, employees might be set next to the direcotr or president. It is also the way of creative. Moreover, Pixar is encouraged even accountants also need to learn drawing. Mr Nelson said drawing class not only teach drawing, it teaches how to improve their observation (William C. Taylor & Polly LaBarre, 2006). The skill of Pixar generally is the breakthroughs in the application of computer graphics (CG) for filmmaking. Also, Pixar has attracted some of the world’s finest talent in this area such as John Lesseter who is hired by Ed. Catmull. Pixar’s technical and creative team have collaborated since 1986 to develop a wealth of production software used in-house to create its movies and further the state of the art in CG movie making. The proprietary technology allows animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in the industry. Also, Pixar continuity to investment on their proprietary technology cause Pixar believes that they can improve the quality of making computer animations by their skills (Pixar, 2012). Moreover, there are important dynamic created by John Lesseter: â€Å"Technology inspires art, and art challenges the technology. The other one might feel that it is a sentence, it just a word. But for Pixar’s technology and creative team, they believes that it is a way of life had to be established and still has to be constantly reinforced. Also, all of the employess in Pixar believes that the technology integrated with art would produce to magic. The magic of the animation, the magic of the creative (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In generally, the style of Pixar must be creative. But, What is the creative come from? The style refers to leadership of Ed. Catmull, according to the above, Ed. Catmull is the president of Pixar. , the style would refered by Ed.  Catmull who is wearing casual and created the modest work space. Moreover, the style of Pixar is full creative and casual, Pixar gave subordinates freefom but not indulge cause relax could lead employees bring talent and creative into full play. Therefore, Pixar give everyone must have freedom to communicate with anyone. Also, when employees offer ideas it must be safe for everyone. For example, employees make a concerted effort to make it safe to criticize by inviting everyone attending these showings to e-mail notes to the creative leaders that detail what they liked and didn’t like and explain why. Moreover, employees must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community. For example, Pixar recommended their technical artists to publish their research and participate to in industry conferences. Although the publish may leak out the ideas but Pixar can keep connection of academic community. It can helps Pixar can attract exceptional talent and reinforces the belief throughout the company that people are more important than ideas (Ed. Catmull, 2008). The shared value of the Pixar that it is clearly in the people development business — going to great lengths to nourish, support, creative and fun for its employees. That means Pixar is the company that focus on the development and the fun. For example, in the Pixar, there had stage is set with Steve Jobs’s inspired design of the curved metal roof resembling an airplane hangar, and the open-air â€Å"incredible-sized† atrium that serves as a â€Å"town square† for impromptu meetings, company celebrations, and just plain having fun. Also, the Pixar university provide training for each of the employees which four hours per week. It is because Pixar focus on developments. Pixar hoped their employees could maintain the competitive, improve their talent and make employess closer as familiar such as when employees could find president Ed. Catmull in a class at Pixar university. This is why Pixar identified as people development business. Also, there are so much fun in the Pixar. For example, employees of Pixar had a lot of freedom such as they could communicate with anyone and they weren’t signed any contracts. Moreover, they never considerd to leave away of Pixar. It is because they enjoy this work, they enjoy this work style and this shared value where Pixar had (Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson, 2010). Conclusion In conclude, Pixar is the creativity and development company which was Steve Job established. Also, Pixar is the successful company of breakthroughs of the computer graphics for producing the feature films which climbed to the pinnacle of computer animation quickly. It is the reason of Pixar shared value. The shared value of Pixar is development to the employees and the fun. The Pixar university lead Pixar to be succeed that provide the continuously training for the employees four hours per week. For example, The university provided the drawing course for the employees whether you are animator or accountant. It is because Pixar believes that drawing can help everyone enhanced their observation and high observation can helped emplyees lead to perfect performance. On the other hand, the creative of Pixar concerned the fun of shared value. Pixar is the modest and the most creative company in the computer animation industry. Firts, the workspace’s design in the Pixar is unique and is modest. It can give the special environment to employees and animation for employees who were working in the Pixar. Second, employees of Pixar have most enough freedom that they could communicate with anyone. It can give employees shares their ideas, working progress and they can form a small team to showing their work, brain storming in any time. Third, each of employees of Pixar aren’t signed the contract. It is because Pixar believes that contract led employees irresponsible for company and lack of freedom of employees. It is the reason that why Pixar have a fun. Last but not least, the Pixar produced the feature films through the creativity. It is the talent of the Pixar and there are many feature films were succeed in the world such as the first feature film, Toy Story which obtain the Academy Award, substantial revenue and the reputation to the Pixar. It is reasons that why Pixar need the creative. Pixar couldn’t lost creative, also creative couldn’t lost creative. It is because Pixar and Creative are relatively indispensable. If people wanted to know Pixar, then people must know the creative first cause creative is the gatekeeper of Pixar. Moreover, Pixar is the company improved by creative which the culture is build on the creative. In simply, known Pixar, known Creative. If anyone want to joined the Pixar. , the first critical requirement is talent. Why is not creative? It Is becuase Pixar always recruit the best people and Pixar believes that after you joined Pixar, Pixar can provide the training, the environment that developing the own unique creative progressively. Therefore, Pixar is the most creative company in the industry and Pixar and Creativity wouldn’t separate each other.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

My Sociology Paper Essay

Today’s generation is equipped with highly advanced and sophisticated technology that are very useful in many ways particularly in keeping and obtaining information. The internet serves not only as stock files of information but also for commercial advertisement, and for publication of all sorts of both scholarly and worthless articles as well as biased and non-biased piece of writings. This sort of complexity however, gives as a wide range of option and choices as to what one intends to do. For those who seek quality information scholarly and journal articles provides a strong references. The only thing that needs to do is evaluate the source whether its content are scholarly. In view of these, this paper will attempt to evaluate the articles listed above whether they are biased or non-biased sources by discussing the main issues raised by these sources. At the end the paper will conclude whether these sources are biased or not, based on the careful analysis of the content of each of these articles. Discussion of the articles In the first article, the main issue is the mandatory minimum sentence imposed on persons convicted of possessing half a kilogram of cocaine powder or more to at least five years imprisonment. The authors cited that this mandatory minimum have a strong bipartisan support from elected representatives and even from presidential candidates. While there are pros and cons in this issue, in view of the authors the mandatory minimum sentence can be viewed as means of attaining the country’s drug control objectives (Caulkins, J. P. ; Rydell, P. ; Schwabe, W. L. ; & Chiesa, J. 1997, par. 3). Controlling drug use in the country could be a welcome objective as often times; guns and violence are linked with drug use. According to Scott Newark in his article entitled â€Å"The 2006 Crime Stats Analysis- Time for the Truth† drugs like cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth are astoundingly 21% up over the past five years (Newark, par. 17). While the authors discussed and considered other available alternatives on easing drug problems, their opinion were focused on reducing drug consumption rather than its impact on the society. Thus, they put more emphasis on treating heavy users than on the criminal offenses associated with the use of illegal drugs. The Second Article, written by Steven Levitt, primarily deals with the decline of crimes in America. Levitt pointed out that while most experts are predicting an explosion of crime during the early and middle of the 1990s, crime rates plunged precisely at this expected period and authorities were not anticipating it to happen. Levitt refused to attribute this decline to the popular perceptions like increased imprisonment, tougher gun control laws, strong economy, and so forth. Levitt was not surprised by this turn of events rather he questioned why the decline of criminality did not happen earlier.  (p. 164). According to Levitt, what is remarkable with the decline of crimes in the USA during this period was it magnitude from the 1950 to 2001. Of all the criminal offenses, Levitt identified homicide as the most serious crime that had experienced the biggest drop between 1991 and 2000, from 9. 8 to 5. 5 or a drop of forty-four percent. While Levitt focus in his article was to identify the real causes of the decline of criminal offenses in the US during the period from 1991 to 2001, he seemed to have to fail to categorically identify the real causes of such decline. Instead he shifted his emphasis on the remarkable aspect of this decline. He noted that this decline appeared unusual compared with other countries in the world, in which most of the most common criminal offenses such as homicide, robbery, and burglary experienced sharp decline from 1991 to 2000. The author also discussed the universality of this drop in crime citing decline in each subgroups for all crime categories (p. 167). However, at the end of the article, the author recognizes six factors namely, the strong economy, the changing demographics, better policing strategies, gun control laws, laws allowing the carrying of cancelled weapons, and increased of capital punishment that according to Levitt, played little or no role in the crime drop. He also acknowledge the four factors that explained the decline of crime such as the increase in number of police, the rising prison population, the receding crack epidemic and the legalization of abortion. The last article, by Scott Newark, deals with crime statistics which was accordingly â€Å"disappointing without critical analysis by the media† (par. 3). Contrary to the article by Steven Levitt, Newark’s Crime Stat Analysis reveals the other side of police records of criminal offenses. While Newark was talking of the crime rates in Canada, he noted indirectly that recorded crimes are only the most serious ones suggesting that there are more crimes unreported, aside from those that were not recorded by the statistic gatherer. This means that Levitt’s account of crime drop in the United States is clouded with doubts, indeed, according to the United States Crime Rates 1960-2007, in 2000 United States was ranked as â€Å"22nd having highest Criminal Index† (United States Crime Rates). From the way it looks, Newark’s article was a fair assessment of the reality of criminal offenses and offenders. He emphasized that it is unrealistic to spend billions of dollars with the rehabilitation of serious offenders who when released, will commit the same crime again. Conclusion The three articles discussed in this paper provided basic ideas about criminal offenses. Although the paper did not give a clear stand in each of the articles discussed, it leaves the paper a debatable issue regarding the seemingly contradicting views between the reality of crimes and offenses in Canada and the United States as revealed by Levitt and Newark respectively. However, while the three authors have different views and emphasized on different aspects of criminal offenses, it was clear that their common objective is to shed light on issues that they deemed needed to be pointed out to the public. Quality of Sources The first article entitled Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences: Throwing Away the Key or the Taxpayers’ Money by Jonathan P. Caulkins, C. Peter Rydell. William L. Schwabe and James Chiesa, was biased in the sense that the authors appeared to one sided in their opinion. They seemed to focus merely on reducing drug consumption without giving due consideration to the implication of drug related offenses. This seemed to promote sympathy of the heavy user, rather on the consequence of violating the law. This is quite tantamount to tolerating the use of illegal drugs and then rehabilitates the users later on. The second article, Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Deadline and Six that Do not by Steven Levitt is not biased article in view of its critical and balanced presentation of facts and evidences. Although The article appeared surprising given the sharp decline of crimes in the US amidst the proliferation drugs in the inner cities of America as cited in an internet article entitled â€Å"Operation SOS. † The article noted the proliferation of drugs in the city causing violent crimes in the neighborhood (Operation SOS) yet the author was able to shed lights on all sides affecting the issues being discussed. The third article The 2006 Crime Stats Analysis-Time for the Truth by Scott Newark is also not biased article on the ground that this source was a realistic point of view. With out pretense, the author reveals the other side of the crime statistics release by law enforcers which in view of the author, is often selective and statistic gatherer are watering down their statistics to include only the most serious offense. The source is not bias because the writer was very objective and open minded in perception of the realities behind the law enforcements records of criminal offenses. References Caulkins, J. ; Rydell, P. ; Schwabe, W. L. & Chiesa, J. Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences: Throwing Away the Key or the Taxpayers Moneyhttp://www. fathom. com/media/PDF/2172_ss. pdf Levitt, S. (2004) â€Å"Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Deadline and Six that Do not† Journal Of Economic Perspectives—Vlume 18,Number1http://pricetheory.uchicago. edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004. pdf Newark, S. The 2006 Crime Stat Analysis- Time for the Truth Prime Time Crime July 23, 2007http://www. primetimecrime. com/contributing/2007/20070723newark. htm United States Crime rates 1960 – 200 http://www. disastercenter. com/crime/uscrime. htm â€Å"The Operation SOS† Division of Citizen Services City of Buffalo 2001- 2008http://www. ci. buffalo. ny. us/Home/City_Departments/Special_Programs_and_Agencies/Save_Our_Streets/OperationSOS