Community Centre Observation Essay Example

Community Centre Observation Essay Community Centre Observation Name: Course: Instructor: We will write a custom essay sample on Community Centre Observation specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Community Centre Observation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Community Centre Observation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Institution: Date: Community Centre Observation I visited the Woodgreen children care center, which is part of the Woodgreen Community Center. Visiting the center was an exciting experience as it revealed the kind of work I would be involved in after graduation. In addition, the people in the center seeking services seemed in need of help due to their conditions or circumstances. Different services are offered by the community and its substitute centers. The community center enables people within the community to find adequate, safe housing within the community. The center enables people to file for subsidized housing and the related negotiations for housing with the property owners on behalf of potential tenants. In addition, the Center also aids people who are unemployed and underemployed individuals in their job searching activities. The organization offers tips for the unemployed individuals by providing coaching and practical coaching activities for use in job searching activities. Parents with young children also find the venue as safe for the care of their children. The organization offers childcare services across eight of its locations in the city of Toronto. The visit in essence was an enlightening. However, I felt pity for some of the families who were in search of hosing yet they did not have adequate funds to pay for the required housing rates. The center was forced to intervene and urge some property owners to accept their terms and conditions of house rates. The visit increased my passion for social work due to the numerous numbers of people who were in the center queuing for services from the social workers despite the small numbers of the social workers within the center. This made me realize the dire need of the country for more professionals who are adequately trained in offering social services to those in need. In addition, I realized the compassion with which the workers treated the individuals seeking assistance. Hence, it became evident that it is important to possess a humanitarian approach in the conduct of duties as a social worker. The workers could also be described as passionate in that they did not have any regard for working hours, as they were deeply engrossed in offering services to the people. This increased my determination to become a competent social worker aimed at alleviating troubles for those in need within the society. People come to the center in search of the various services such as people seeking safe and affordable housing, trained professionals seeking to enter the job market, parents seeking to access childcare for their children. Others include children and youth seeking after-school programs, immigrants seeking to settle into Canadian lifestyle and homeless and marginalized people to get off the streets by finding shelter or appropriate housing. The center exercises a policy that accepts people from all corners of the city. In addition, the center does not exercise discrimination based upon race, ethnicity, social status and nationality. This enables people in the community center to integrate themselves with other people within the center and the community. The visit to the community center made me realize of the passion I have for community service and relating with and helping people within the community. The diversity offered by the center is exciting as attendance of any programmed is marked by the presence of people who possess diverse lingual skills, racial, ethnical and cultural values. This would prove to be an important factor in the social service line of study, which requires the integration with people possessing diverse traits either racially or culturally. The ability to blend with people of variety is important as it enhances ones individual skills. The services offered by the community center could be described as a necessity for numerous individuals. This is because the services are aimed at alleviation of the troubling circumstances of individuals. In addition, due to the necessity of the services there are numerous numbers of people within the community center as they queues for assistance from the community center or social workers. Working at the centre in simple terms is a challenging affair as it involves attending to many people who have distinct issues of which they need addressed with utmost speed. In social studies we are urged to prepare to meet people of diversity as this particular field involves encounter with people form various countries as and culture. It is important within the studies and the line of work to adopt a multinational and multicultural approach for improving the ability to relate with people form various countries. The visit also made me realize of the presence of homeless individuals within the Toronto. Their presence could be due to the increase in dysfunctional family settings. In addition financial troubles is a major issue which could be the root cause of the numerous issues at the centre such as need for safe and affordable housing, inability to hire The racial and cultural diversity within the center could be described as exceptional because it enables workers and those accessing services form the center with an opportunity to accept diversity in the day today activities and their lives. In addition, diversity enabled me to accept people despite their desperate financial situations and their circumstances because of understanding that financial troubles could affect any individual within the society. In addition, I was able to learn more about my line of study to become a social worker. In essence, the visit revealed the various tasks and numerous challenges working as a social worker. Despite the challenges within the job description, the field of work is my passion in helping those in dire need of social services and other personal needs, which could be solved within the job description.

Bias in the Media essays

Bias in the Media essays News broadcasters have a basic job , that of supplying their viewers with the facts. With this occupation news anchors and reporters can remain seen as human beings, humans with feelings and opinions. However, their job is not to reveal these to the public. Viewers should be able to feel confident that a program will be sharing factual information on subjects and then they will be able to form their own opinions and judgments. Unfortunately with many of todays newsmakers this ideal can not always be made possible. The number of democratic party members is very high in journalism. In fact in a 1996 survey, as reported in a book titled Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg, a considerable eighty nine percent of journalists voted for Bill Clinton in the presidential election compared to only a forty-three percent vote from the general American population. In particular primary news sources, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC have long been viewed my many people as possessing and distributing a liberal tone (1). Many viewers are easily swayed to more liberal ways of thinking due to the structure of the reporting by these newscast stations. Many viewers however can realize that the women and men of television are political partisans. They take the facial expressions, aside comments and tone of voice, used by these professionals light heartedly and it has been accepted. However it becomes unaccepted when their political opinions bring about falsities delivered to the public as facts. On September 8th of this year CBS news anchor, Dan Rather, reported documents concerning President George W. Bushs Air National Guard service during his nightly show 60 minutes. Details of the documents included that Bush had been receiving requested special treatment in order to avoid his service commitments. Mr. Rather spent most of the following week defending his sources and the l...

Adopting Native American Names - Abandoning Redskins Research Paper

Adopting Native American Names - Abandoning Redskins - Research Paper Example Controversial cases of adoptions of Native American symbols and names for the emblems, mascots, and names of sports’ teams are the ‘Chief Wahoo’ mascot, supporters’ ceremony named the ‘Tomahawk Chop’, the professional basketball team Atlanta ‘Braves’, and possibly the most notorious of all, the name of professional football team—Washington ‘Redskins’ (Yiannakis & Melnick 204).Native Americans and other groups have been demanding to eradicate this tradition as they regard it to be disrespectful, insulting, and racially prejudiced. This paper argues that racial stereotyping as such, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’, is damaging, and condemns the notion that such team names like ‘Redskins’ value Native Americans. Therefore, this paper argues that the Washington, D.C. professional football team should change its name/mascot in response to recent criticism. Colman McCarthy of the Washington Post argues that â€Å"’Redskins’ is a slur name that smells with the stench of racism† (Yiannakis & Melnick 204). Almost all of the new supporters of the team are not aware of the historical framework of the team’s racial prejudice. The ‘Redskins’, not once acclaimed for broad-minded race dealings, were the last team in the National Football League to accept African American athletes and were only forced to do so by the 1957 Stadium Act (Stapleton 15). The way racial minority groups call themselves—for instance, ‘Native American’, ‘black’, or ‘Negro’—is very important for those belonging to these groups. The way other people see them not merely works as a proof of the nature of intergroup relationships or affairs, but can actually be a critical, momentous issue. Racial insults, whether caused by deep-seated hatreds or of thoughtless stereotypes, breed hard feelings or enmity and usually deteriorate into violence or aggression (Stapleton 38). In an effort to show higher cultural respect, several academies, such as Stanford, Miami of Ohio, and Eastern Michigan, have given up their old Native American-based team labels. In numerous cases, opponents have criticized these movements as confirmation that political correctness is going berserk on universities (King 29).

You can make the topic by yourself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

You can make the topic by yourself - Essay Example to two kinds of people in this regard, the winners who like to change and adapt themselves to new things while the losers are those who cling to the past. Progress is mostly cumulative as each level builds on the past achievements and improves on it. One such unique period in the history of human progress when changes were rapid was during the Industrial Revolution which started in the mid-eighteenth century in England and then spread rapidly into Western Europe and later on into the United States of America. It was a period of exciting changes in almost all spheres of life; old norms, traditions, and customs were cast aside in favor of newer ones. One result of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of Modernism which was a philosophical movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a reaction or response to widespread changes in Western societies. Profound social changes altered the way of life for everybody. This period was the best time of times and paradoxically, also the worst of times, when people have to cope with so many changes going on simultaneously. Some people embrace change while others cling to old habits and cannot adapt to change and found it both terrifying and confusing. Modernism created outcasts out of the people who cannot cope or deal with the changes. The Industrial Revolution started around 1760 and lasted up to 1870 or thereabouts. It was indeed a major turning point in human history as society embraced new ideas, inventions, and innovations in the fields of science, technology, commerce, and in virtually every field of human endeavor. Perhaps the most profound of the changes occurring at this period was the rise of the modern free-market capitalism in which a new wealthy class of capitalists came into being and replaced the old class of feudalistic land owners as capitalist groups put up factories that produced profits for them and increased their wealth holdings. This was a watershed period in history as society

Workplace Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 107

Workplace Teams - Essay Example As the discussion declares the structural shift from a top-down management system to a team-based management led to the creation of workplace teams. Many companies adopted the team-based approach because it enhances innovativeness and problem-solving abilities of the company. People can brainstorm on problems and propose ideas that are more optimum compared to a single person working. It enables a company that adopts it to be agile as its workforce is agile. Workplace teams are thus, important in a changing environment. Therefore, every student ought to be prepared to be an effective team player. Teamwork skills are important, and thus many companies, usually, consider the ability of its prospective employee to work effectively in a group. From this paper it is clear that a team-oriented structure means organizations or companies rely on small teams to handle and manage a number of tasks. Workplace teams proffer certain benefits because it permits collaboration of a number of employees. As defined by Ahles & Bosworth, a team consists of a small number of persons with matching skills. The persons hold themselves accountable for a common intention, approach, and a set of goals. Therefore according to the definition of Ahles & Bosworth and supported by Cornish, workplace team leads to better solutions, better production, and creativity. The advantages of a team-based approach are due to the ability of the approach to place equal responsibilities on the members of the group.

The Causes And Effects Of Plagiarism English Language Essay

The Causes And Effects Of Plagiarism English Language Essay Plagiarism is not to do any research or quotation and cite other person`s thoughts or words as your own. It is a kind of cheating and a breach of academic ethics. However, the phenomenon of plagiarism becomes more and more common and happens every day. A shocking news by The New York Times (Christine Haughney, August 10th 2012)that Fareed Zakaria, a famous host of CNN and Editor-at-large TIME Magazine, was found to plagiarize several paragraphs from an April 23 New Yorker article on the National Rifle Association was written by Jill Lepore. Consequently, Time had suspended him for a month .CNN deleted  his  article  and  informed him of  further  warming. And then,  they  started to  investigate  his  work. There is no doubt that he would suffer from  an  abrupt  frustration. His lesson will keep alert the rising  phenomenon  of  plagiarism, especially in universities. An investigation taken by The Sydney Morning Herald (Alexander, 2006) discloses th e problem in Australia. For instance, the university of technology, Sydney recorded 362 counts of plagiarism in 2005, at the same time, the University of Wollongong recorded 134. Across eight Australian universities, it is approximated nearly 3500 students have been caught cheating or plagiarism since 2001. Another research journal in Australia was launched in 2005, the International Journal for Educational honesty, to solve the education and academic problems. According to this research plagiarism in Australia, particularly in relation to the country`s historically high number of international students(Cohen, 2007, p. A51). So, what do universitys students especially international students actually think about the concept of plagiarism and what does it mean to them? Penny cook (1996) states that he notion of ownership of text is a particularly Western concept. He indicates that plagiarism is a complex phenomenon. As a result, we have found that the reasons of plagiarism in universi ty are followed by ignorance, digital resources and personal factors. The first cause of plagiarism in university is some students` ignorance. So we can find , student are always confused whether the action is plagiarism, especially for international students. For example, Students from the areas out of the UK, may have been taught different rules and academic environments before they entered in the English academy. Matalene (1985) states that her Chinese students produced a writing assignment, she found their sources were too similar and students were surprised by her subsequent objections to what they saw as a valid writing method. Later, one of her students found this eloquent way of summing up the ensuing class discussion: In this case the students agreed that they had copied from their sources but believed that they just to borrow the language from a source and copying was appropriate. They did not want to violate academic standards or pretend that they had not copied. As a result, this phenomenon have been offered, due to different cultures bring out different attitudes for plagiarism. In addition to students` ignorance, Internet may be is another cause of plagiarism. So, internet provide so many different channels for students to get all binds of information in today`s digital age. For example. They can search whatever information they need in Wikipedia and Google, at the same time, they also can share and gain tens of thousands information in facebook and twitter. And there are incalculable number of words without the author attributed. So that is the important reason that some students even don`t realize they were plagiarizing. Figures obtained from an investigation by Journal of Second Language Writing (Yongyan li,2012,P165-180) reveal that the students` understanding of plagiarism and take an interview with a girl, for example, Her teacher found that approximately 25% of her essay overlapped. According to this interview, we can found that this student never intends to plagiarize by using internet, but always did not know how to dealing with it. Well, that is true. Sometimes, when we looking for some resources on internet, it is too difficult to make a choice because of there are too many information online. The last cause of plagiarism may be some personal factors which are attitude and procrastination. Specifically, may be most students will good faith effort to write their essays, there will always be some people just do not want to work hard. Steve Schriener, an English teacher in Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, who gave his students a poetry assignment:According to Schriener s experience, and there is a find that some students did not think their actions will be caught or bothered about the consequences of plagiarism. Meanwhile, procrastination may be one of the personal factors, especially for international students. When foreign students go to a country for studying, they will have many problems that they need to deal with. Such as the language barrier like not fully comprehending the assignment, adapt to new manners and customs. Sometimes they may have a little time to do their essays. So, some of them were forced to copy. Because of those causes, there are some serious issues of integrity, learning and relationships happened in college student. College-level plagiarism will product so many irreparable effects such as students betray trust with their fellow friends and professors. The serious punishment include expulsion from school, and when they plagiarize, they lost their original intention of studying. First of all, plagiarism is a disrespect of others, especially for teachers and classmates. For instance, Plagiarism taints teachers and students, creating a climate of suspicion. Specifically, teacher and student need to means teacher s want to rely on their students honesty. Students have to be able to trust each other. When you steal the job from other writers, you lost your credit. And maybe no longer can your teachers believe that is your own works. Also, plagiarizing teachers and the job of the independent whose work is a kind of plagiarized action. If you didnt care about the honesty of other peoples work, maybe later you would have to care about the relationship with people as well. For the classmates, if they help you before, they would think of you as a thief full of unfair, if students know that you are cheating and getting away with it, they may cheat Secondly, plagiarized is a disrespect action for yourself, especially for your leaning and motivation. When a student plagiarizes someone elses job, it means he lost a very important opportunity to improve his writing skills and the ability of thinking, as well as he waste the time and life. plagiarized work means that you spent so many time and did an insignificant job. In other words, the reason why teacher want you to writing an essay, is to expand upon what you have learned in lectures and carefully develop writing assignments. To make sure that students can articulate the knowledge they have learned by a clear way. On the campus when plagiarism is discovered, unofficial drawbacks can have serious effects. To sum up, there is no doubt that plagiarism is a kind of abominable action for yourself, your teachers and the school, even it produces a bad influence for the society. So we have to think about some serious questions that why we studying and what is the most important thing during our studying process. The answers are genuine understanding and you must make all of knowledge become your own mind. It is not just replaying something you have heard and looked. Writing is a kind of form to show your own mind to readers, and you have to achieve that the readers can distinguish what is yours and what is someone elses at a glance. At the same time, it is the very important and effective way to test whether you understand a topic authentically. However, plagiarism makes your learning become insignificance. You need to learn how to write a paper that can show your mind completely and equips your own styles, maybe sometimes you found an essay that has the same ideas as yours, it is clear and easy to understanding, so you may be influenced by it, then you would write the similar one, but it not means you have learned it, it just learns how to cut and paste. And we should think about another question that why you should believe me if without the reference. We always use so many references in our essay when we want to show our minds clearer and equip more persuasion, that is good but we have to recall what the most in our paper is, references or our own words. If just someone elses sentence, even they are from some famous people. It is true that your essay is very authoritativeness but it is a kind of plagiarism even so you are unintentional to do that. So in my opinion, plagiarism is not inevitable. In view of the above-mentioned causes in raising the output, I have written three reasons why plagiarism happens, if it happens just because there is no ability to accomplish it, we can find a solution for example the teachers can decrease the requirement and extend the time you make it temporary. It is not a way to relax just because of our only objective is we can learn and understand all of them authentically. And the second reason is internet, there is no doubt the internet can provide so many information for us, the great and the bad. I think if students can search the essay that has the same idea as them, they would copy them unhesitatingly because everybody can write the same words. So we can change the education environment like letting the students had the imagination and ability of creation when they were children, and how to pick the useful information up in the internet and become the own words not just cut and paste. The la st one is changing your attitude of learning, just thinking about plagiarism is from someone elses but not your own, it is an action to waste life.

New Yorker

Response distill Leper's: â€Å"The Prism† Mr.. The violation of one's privacy and different events that have aroused within history that regurgitate a violation of privacy is the theme surrounding this article. In addition to this the article Is centered around the Idea that as Individuals are defending their privacy more and more methods are being developed to try and invade that privacy, especially more so in this modern day and age because technologies are being developed that were unprecedented hundreds of years ago.Another theme expressed in the article is the idea that American culture today can e viewed as a paradox because many individuals love being seen and hidden at the same time, that the only thing that Is loved more than privacy Is publicity. Lastly, two big events that occurred and are currently occurring that reiterate a violation of privacy are the incidents with Giuseppe Amazing, an Italian exile in London in 1844, who had his mall read by the British govern ment without his consent and the N. S. A. Collecting data online for years by tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies. Personally. I believe this article Is quite Interesting and entertaining and Is tryingly supported with reliable sources and anecdotes. The author uses a certain literary prose and Biblical references in an attempt to capture the audience; and the author also structures the article In an effective way. For example, the article began with an anecdote about something not very well-known but then connects it with the N. S. A. And the current Obama Administration in order to improve our understanding of the event. This article relates to U.S. History because It Incorporates the Obama Administration as previously mentioned and at the same time it refers to earlier American history. For example the article speaks of Almagest v. United States in 1928 In which the court considered the constitutionality of wiretapping. Eventually Alm agest was convicted but after serving three years' hard labor was pardoned by Franklin Roosevelt in 1935. Clearly, this article has different aspects of the long history of the united States which Is one of the reasons It is such an Interesting. Capturing article.Response to Jane Meyers: â€Å"A Word from Our Sponsor† A documentary filmmaker, Alex Gibing, created a film called â€Å"Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream† which was centered on the growing economic inequality in America. Gibing uses the contrasting ways of the individuals living in the most expensive apartment buildings in Manhattan on 740 Park Avenue and those of the underprivileged people living In the Bronx as a case study. However by doing this Gibing puts David Koch, a billionaire industrialist who resides in 740 Park Avenue, under heavy scrutiny.This caused problems because the film was set to air on public broadcasting entitles such as PBS, WENT, HIGH, and TIPS and Koch was a donor to all these companies and he was also a trustee of both WENT and HIGH. Many of the head executives of each of the companies were not sure if they should to the many problems that came about Koch decided to resign from WENT on May 16 as he felt he was not supported as well as he should have been by the media organization he gave so much to.I believe this article is interesting and is applicable to young students all the way up to adults because it provides an insight into not only the growing economic inequality within American society but also the way in which the possession of money translates to power. The author does a good Job of presenting the information in the article because she gives different accounts to add more detail into the theme of the article which surrounded David Koch. The article relates to U. S. Story in different ways; one of them being that the growing economic disparity in America is highlighted. In addition the article states that the Koch's were funding much of the opposition to President Barack Obama by organizing a compilation of advocacy groups. Also, it talks about how federal funding for public broadcasting has been dwindling and the government's contribution only makes up a small percent of public broadcasting funds. As one can see this article deals with many current problems within the U. S. Which heavily center on money and its possession. Response to Jill Leper's: â€Å"The Force† The article is centered around the topic of the amount of money the United States spends on military defense and whether it is necessary or not. Another essential aspect surrounding the article is the fact that individuals at the head of Congress that control military actions should not be in such positions of power because of the fact that many of them have never experienced active duty in the military and thus o not understand the troubles one faces during war.Also the article speaks of how the ideals of the United States military seem to be changing with the progression of time. Currently it seems that many Americans view the strength of the nation as stemming from the strength of the military; and that many individuals in Congress believe in the destiny that the United States needs to rule the world. Ultimately the idea that the United States' military force requires some sort of limitations and perhaps needs to revert back to its original ideas of not having a standing army is the entrant themes surrounding the article.I believe this article is captivating because it presents information that truly affects the lives of us as Americans every day. The author does a fairly good Job of organizing the article in such a way that captures the reader because she shows the changing entity of the U. S. Military from early in American history to the present day as we wage in the Afghanistan War. The author supports her assertion of the changing American military by using different first-hand accounts from anti-war veterans and former President Eisenhower. Clearly the article relates to U. S. Story as the article is predominantly centered on the U. S. Military and the amount of revenue and problems that have been faced by the military. Ultimately, I found it quite interesting that the author mentioned that many Congressional hearings have poor attendance because many individuals that are a part of Congress do not find every hearing important. This came as a shock to me because I was under the assumption that regardless of the hearing there no doubt had to be a great number of people attending because they all in one way or another impact the status of the intrigued.Response to Keeled Saneness: â€Å"Paint Bombs† This article is focused around the idea of anarchism and about a particular individual, David Grabber, who supports it. He was a part of the Occupy Movement that occurred on Wall Street and many individuals were struggling against the local government and police because they did not believe in the idea of a single governing body ceasing the majority of the power. Grabber states that if a new society were to be created that people would have the ability to have a wider range of options.A big topic of discussion surrounding this article was the idea that as the government egging to expand it is even more necessary to try and shrink it. At the same time the article explains that as the state/government grows it may be easier to imagine that one could live without the support of the government since the amount of direct help one would receive would dwindle. In addition the article speaks of how Anarchism may be on the rise in today's modern world because of the fall of so many institutionalized governments, which is an interesting point.I believe this article is interesting especially because I was never really exposed to the ideas or history of Anarchism. I believe the author did a good Job of presenting the information and making his/her point felt to the audience. For example, the author focuses in on one particular individual whom practices Anarchism and gives accounts of his life while at the same time giving accounts of other individuals that support his ideas. This relates to U. S. Story in different ways such as when the author mentions that Anarchism has been on the rise in America because of the fall of the Soviet Union. In addition the author also mentions that current President Obama had to present his health-care reforms as an opportunity to reduce federal gadget; which has not worked out as planned. Also Grabber credits the Occupy Movement with preventing Mitt Rooney from becoming President; and perhaps if Rooney would have been elected President America may be a different place as we speak.Response to Jill Leper's: â€Å"The Commandments† This article focuses on the American Constitution and the way in which it is open for a great deal of interpretation by Americans; and the fact that different people vary quite a lot on the wa y in which they decide to interpret the laws that lie within the Constitution. Perhaps one of the reasons that the Constitution is up for such a retreat deal of interpretation stems from the fact that it has its many faults as Benjamin Franklin pointed out when the Constitution was being originally drafted.In addition, the article focuses around the fact that very few Americans have actually took the time to read the whole Constitution and this proves to be a downfall. If we, as Americans, were familiar with what the Constitution outlined then we would be more apt to demand that our representatives in government abide by it. Also the article mentions that Originations argue that originals is the only legitimate way of Constitutional interpretation. In this manner elected representatives pass laws and the courts protect the will of the people by making sure those laws abide by the Constitution as originally drafted.Ultimately the Constitution may not be perfect but nonetheless it is every Americans' rule of law. I believe this article is interesting and informational, however the author could have done a better Job of presenting the information in a way that captured the supporting evidence for the claims she made such as when she said few Americans have read the Constitution and she goes on and gives the statistic that 72 percent of bout a thousand people questioned had never read all forty-four hundred words of the Constitution.Clearly the article is centered on the forefront of American history and how throughout time many Americans have failed to cherish and appreciate their own Constitution as they have not taken the time to truly understand it. Ultimately, this article focused on the way in which America has evolved and progressed throughout time due to the structural foundation laid by the Constitution and to some America's progression is not as ideal as could be but nonetheless something that has to be accepted by Americans. Response to Seymour M.Herb's : â€Å"Last Stand† This article focuses on the Bush Administration and the way in which it went about handling the predicament in Iran as they began to enrich Uranium which can ultimately lead to the development of nuclear bombs. The Bush Administration attempted to make peace talks with Iran assuming that they halted their enrichment activity because they feared that Iran would accumulate nuclear powers and use it to cause devastating effects onto the U. S. Military. The Bush Administration was contemplating whether to engage on an attack onto Iran so that they would not attack the U.S. Forever it was predicted that the war would spread even more as a result. Another topic discussed in the article is the fear of angering Iran which perhaps could lead to them cutting off the oil supply to the United States. In addition the article speaks of how the state of Israel was in great fear because of rumors that Iran had nuclear bombs at their disposal and so Israel seeded out to th e United States for assistance and protection. However the situation was difficult as a failed attack on Iran by the United States would lead to a multitude of problems.I believe this article is intriguing because of the fact that it is centered on such a regale topic that could potentially cause grave danger to the whole world; and for that reason alone it captured me from the outset. The author does a good Job of structuring the article by giving the details and ideas surrounding the Bush Administration and then at the same time giving the different opinions of high- ranking military officials and intelligence officers that was closely tied to the manner.In addition I liked how the author incorporated the state of Israel and where it stood in regard to Iran as a neighboring country. This relates to U. S. History because the policies of a former U. S. President are mentioned and the way in which those policies affected the country is discussed. A large scope was put on the United S tates' foreign policy of diplomatic relations. Response to George Packer's: â€Å"The Choice† This article focuses on the Presidential candidates of the 2008 Presidential Election; which were Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.This article analyzes the different ideas and goals each candidate held such as the fact that Clinton took on more of an executive role whereas Obama took on more of a visionary role in which he believes that Americans can restore their faith in government. The personal autobiography it is revealed that he struggled with finding his own identity but that he solved them and as a result is comfortable with himself and the complexities of the world.However in Silicon's autobiography it was seen that she always seemed to have something to hide as if she does not trust anyone to understand her personal struggles. At the same time there were many people who supported Clinton because they believed she was more committed to using power for social change and she wi ll march ahead and let those who want to follow her follow her. Obama was supported y many as well as he looked to implement his vision of change with every American following him to achieve change.Ultimately there are those who say that in order to have won the Presidency Clinton would have had to change her own tactics and engage in more off leader position. I believe this article is interesting to say the least because it gave me a clear insight into how the Presidential campaign for the 2008 Election was structured and how it swayed the opinions of Americans. I am not very well-versed politically; however after reading this article I became more aware of the political make-up of American politics.In addition I believe the author did a decent Job of keeping the reader engaged because he did not solely focus on one Presidential candidate for a long period of time, but rather gave details about both candidates at the same time in order to more effectively show their differences. Th is strongly relates to U. S. History because it shows how American politics work and the way in which politicians try to gain votes and supporters. Also we are introduced to the reasons behind why the 2008 Presidential Election ended the way it did; and perhaps if it would have ended tit Hilary Clinton as U.S. President we could be living in a different America. However that what if question can never really be answered and the election of Obama as President adds on to the long legacy of American history. Response to Seymour M. Herb's: â€Å"Torture at ABA Grail† This article explores the torture that Iraqi prisoners faced at the hands of American soldiers in ABA Grabs. Major General Antonio M. Taught reported the devastating wrongdoings of American soldiers on Iraqi prisoners and there was compelling evidence such as graphic photographic images.Images show that Iraqi inmates had to endure humiliating poses and engage in humiliating acts such as men being naked in front of ot her men; which are especially looked down upon in Islamic law. These abuses became public because specialist Joseph M. Dairy was outraged and demanded that the soldiers that engaged in such cruel acts should have been punished accordingly. In addition the soldiers that did treat the inmates cruelly stated in their defense that they were given orders by the military intelligence to treat them in that manner so that they could get information out of them.Regardless this situation examined in the article has caused enormous consequences for the imprisoned Iraqis and for the perception of the United States and its Army. I believe this article is perhaps one of the most interesting and mind-boggling articles I have ever read. I would have never believed that American soldiers would engage in such acts of violence and cruelty against a group of people that were basically innocent.I was disappointed in a sense to know that I am an American and feel we Americans should protect the underpriv ileged and not euthanize them and make their situation worse than what it is. But I believe the author did a good Job of presenting the information by giving accounts from different officials that were closely tied to the situation. I appreciate the detail the author gave when describing what the soldiers were doing to the Iraqi prisoners because it allows the reader to get a better understanding of what exactly they had to experience.This article is related to U. S. History because it speaks of how American soldiers treated a certain group of people and the way in which it left a negative image onto America and its history. Response to Jill Leper's: â€Å"Benched† This article is centered on the Supreme Court and its process of Judicial review. Also mentioned in the article is the idea that what the people think about the Judicial review stems from what they think of how the Supreme Court is composed. For example, if the Court is liberal-based then it follows that liberals s ee the Judicial review as good.If the Court is conservative-based then conservatives will thus see the Judicial review as a positive thing. In addition, the idea that Judicial review is part of a larger struggle for the Judicial branch to be free from the constraint of the other trotter branches of government and be free from commercial interests (money) was expressed. For example many state Judges, 90 percent of them, run for office and as a result spending on Judicial campaigns has greatly increased with the progression of time.Also the article mentions that many problems arise within a democracy when the citizens of that democracy believe that the laws that make up the framework of their country are being bought and sold; as is the problem at times within the United States. Ultimately that is one of the big problems being faced by the Supreme Court, he idea of money taking over the constitutional framework. I believe this article was very informative and beneficial to read becaus e it gave me more knowledge about something I did not know very much about.I found it interesting to find out that some founding fathers of the United States viewed the judicial branch as a weak almost unimportant branch of government. For example in the article there is a quote from Alexander Hamilton in which he says, â€Å"The Judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of powers†¦ Of the three powers the Judiciary is next to nothing. The author did a good Job of connecting older ideologies of American history with newer evolving concepts surrounding American history and more specifically the Supreme Court and Judicial branch.This clearly relates to American history because the article is centered on the Supreme Court and its composition and its relation to Judicial review; and whether that Judicial review is deemed acceptable by the citizens or not. Response to Steve Coal's: â€Å"Remote Control† One of the topics discussed in this article is the fact that former President Eisenhower agreed with the idea of executing or overthrowing undesirable foreign traders because as he saw it political assassinations were a good alternative to military action.However it seemed as if Eisenhower method of executing political assassinations were not seen as effective as time went on so the presidents that followed put bans on political assassinations. The tide turned after September 1 1, 2001 when the Pentagon was bombed and President George W. Bush agreed to kill and currently the Obama Administration still utilizes it against suspected foreign threats. However the use of drones may in fact be leading to more problems than lotions because political relations between the United States and Pakistan, which has a growing nuclear arsenal, have collapsed because of the use of drones.Ultimately the question that has yet to be answered is, â€Å"Does America truly understand the repercussions of using drones to attack foreign nations? † I thought this article was quite interesting because it opened my eye to a situation I was not very well aware of. I never knew that the Obama Administration used drones on foreign threats and even more so I was not aware that President Eisenhower agreed with the idea of political assassinations. The author did a good bob of organizing the information into a condensed paper while at the same time still conveying his message to the reader.I found it interesting how the author linked the Obama Administration using drones to former President Eisenhower policy of political assassinations; the idea that the reason the Obama Administration decided to use drones came from the ideals of Eisenhower. This clearly relates to U. S. History as the article analyzed the ideas of a former U. S. President and the ideas of a current U. S. President; and the way in which those ideas have affected the United States' foreign relations today.

Best Practice Companies: Training in the Airline Industry

After September 11th, there was a great deal of turmoil in the airline industry as a tremendous amount of money was needed to be allocated toward other things such as security enhancements. As a result, most airlines cut back costs in other departments, especially in the department of training. However, some airlines deemed training their employees effectively to be pertinent to their development, and thus decided to enhance their training programs to provide a more long term benefit. This is part of what contributed to the title of a â€Å"best practice company† for many of these airlines. They recognized training as not only a fundamental part of human resource management but also for their growth and reputation. Training offers a way of developing skills, enhancing productivity and quality of work, and building worker loyalty to the firm, and most importantly, increasing individual and organizational performance to achieve business results. Training is widely accepted as an employee benefit and a method of improving employee morale, and enhancing employee skills has become a business imperative. Increasingly, managers and leaders realize that the key to business growth and success is through developing the skills and knowledge of its workforce. The best practice companies we observed included Southwest Airlines, Jetblue, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic Airways; all of which have made it on the Fortune 500 list of â€Å"Most admired Companies†. We came to the conclusion that these five airlines can be seen as best practice companies in the field of training, due to their dedication in providing high quality training, their innovative training tactics, and their emphasis on training in customer service. Dedication To Providing High Quality Training as a Means to Being a Best Practice Company: The superior quality of training is something in which these airlines take a great deal of pride in, and has been achieved through employee motivation and an intensive amount of learning. Three of the airlines including Southwest, Jetblue, and British Airways actually have â€Å"training universities† in which every employee is expected to attend. Some classes are standard for everyone in the workforce, while others cater to specific jobs, such as pilots, stewards, ground workers, etc. Employee's are paid for the time they spend in class at these designated schools and will typically work forty hour weeks doing so. All five of these airlines cater to the learning development of their employee's, to ensure complete knowledge of the company and their specific job. Dedication To Providing High Quality Training: Southwest Airlines The key to success in any organization is motivation, the ability to rally a group of people behind a specific goal. When motivation is in place employee’s engage in low absenteeism and job satisfaction, to name a few. Herb Kelleher, the founder and creator of Southwest Airlines has been able to do just this through many ways such as implementing training and career development programs. As many people have heard Southwest does not hire for skills but rather attitude and personality. Before considering if you would like to be employed you must first ask yourself, â€Å"Am I motivated? † if not there is a great chance you will not be hired. Not having all of the correct skills on the other hand is not something to worry about seeing how Southwest will train you for the skills needed. ‘It is the people; it has always had to do with their selection,† Heskett says. †They are selected primarily for attitude, and most people primarily select for skills. They have a particular view for people who will fit into a team-oriented organization and the airline industry is team-oriented. If you have people pointing fingers, you have problems† (people. bu. edu). Southwest has develo ped their own training program which they have named the â€Å"University for People. † This school is based in Dallas out of the Love Field Airport. , more specifically within an old airplane hanger. Within this hanger employee’s engage in a significant amount of role-play. For example someone might get to play the pissed off customer whose flight just got cancelled or the mother traveling with her children. The whole center has been designed to facilitate learning in real life situations. â€Å"The University for People is where new recruits are sent for orientation and indoctrination into Southwest's culture. They get to see video footage of Herb Kelleher, Southwest's legendary founder, dressed as Elvis at a company party and otherwise carrying on. † (key. om) Southwest is an organization that believes in continuous learning therefore Southwest’s â€Å"individual employees become ‘international learns’ who look to learn in everyday experiences rather than occasional classes† (ccp. com). The main purpose of the University for People is to introduce and enforce hard work, high-energy, fun, local autonomy, and creativity. Dedication To Prov iding High Quality Training: JetBlue Airlines JetBlue, which has only been in existence since 1999, has learned the training practices of many other airline companies to formulate its very own unique program, and has since been extremely effective. JetBlue established its own universities to ensure that people were properly trained; they have the College of Flight, the College of In-flight, and the College of Customer Service (Wynbrandt134). Third, the company consciously evaluates employees, including management and gives them feedback. Once hired, pilots and flight attendants are sent to Florida for three weeks for their training. JetBlue’s philosophy on training is creating the best working environment so the crew is motivated to work for the company. The Chief Learning Officer at JetBlue University shares the training viewpoint behind the company. At JetBlue U, our goal is to provide our crew members the tools they need to succeed. These tools include the technical aspects of each crew member’s responsibilities†¦ and inculcation of our crew members in our unique corporate culture† (Sosbe). Many airline companies have separate training sessions for pilots and flight attendants, because the nature of their training material is very different. However, JetBlue tired something different, â€Å"Flight attendants and pilots are together for much of the first two weeks, and while a lot of the training is in separate classes, there is still a lot of overlap. Most airlines keep the two employee groups strictly apart. † This process of putting the two groups together is a strategic method of JetBlue who believes that â€Å"analysis of accidents have revealed that lives have been saved when the crews were comfortable with one another† (Peterson 184). The first week of JetBlue U is about crew culture. They use icebreakers and activities to bond the flight attendants and pilots. They then go over Federal Aviation Administration or FAA regulations. They have a lifestyle lecture, â€Å"the vagaries of drugs and booze awareness, and even hair and makeup pointers† (Peterson190). Each crew member must follow the appearance standards. From the second week on, the flight attendants and pilots divide into their different areas of focus. Dedication To Providing High Quality Training: British Airways British Airways, which is the largest airline in the United Kingdom, and considered one of the largest in Europe, is a best practice company because of the in depth way they train their employees. They put time and effort into educating their pilots, flight attendants, and other company personnel. They go above and beyond the required amount of training. They have even created their own university, and incorporate real life simulators as a training component. According to 2006 Fortune 500 Magazine British Airways ranked seventh under the airline industry category, British Airways is, â€Å"catching the competition wide awake. † British Airways is always finding ways to make their company more profitable. According to Oracle press, â€Å"British Airways is using a new, comprehensive learning offering from Oracle to create a global learning programs for its 48,000 employees. † This company has taken pride in making the best company it can be. Dedication To Providing High Quality Training: Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines is one of the most renowned companies in the world and is ranked in Fortune as number seventeen in the year 2007 list of â€Å"World’s Most Admired companies. Singapore Airlines’ CEO, Chew Choon Seng, attributes his company’s success to their extensive training programs. â€Å"Training is a necessity, not an option. It is not to be dispensed with when times are bad†¦ Training is forever. No-one is too young to be trained. † As you can see, there is no one in the company that is not trained extensively. This keeps everyone in the business on their toes and ready to handle any situation. Mrs Lam Seet Mui, Singapore Airlines’ Senior Manager for Human Resource development, talks about two types of training that Singapore Airlines does. Essentially we do two types of training, functional training and general management type training. Functional training is about equipping people with the skills to do their job, to make them technically competent and confident as possible†¦ The general management training has to do with the softer skills. † Within these two groups, Singapore Airlines trains about 9,000 annually, the same amount as the National University in Singapore. Their courses are usually short and concise, and they feel that this allows them to be efficient and stay committed. (www2. arwick. ac. uk) To share the latest ideas and newest training techniques, Singapore Airlines brings together 50 executives from different departments all over the world. When the executives return they have all been exposed to the latest ideas and should be prepared to be a role model for the changes being made to better the company. (Fung) Dedication To Providing High Quality Training: Virgin Atlantic Airways Virgin Atlantic Airlines has only been around since 1984 and has managed to become the second largest airline in the United Kingdom. (Branson 185) Virgin Atlantic has been formerly recognized on many occasions for its excellence in training. In 2005 they won the regional final of the National Training Awards. The awards acknowledge outstanding and lasting excellence and success through training. Dr Graeme Hall, Chief Executive of UK Skills, who runs the National Training Awards on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills, says, â€Å"Effective training will help create a more effective, productive and flexible workforce. The message to UK Plc is simple: invest in training to gain a true competitive advantage. Meanwhile, Virgin staff are happier and more motivated, and attrition is down. (Jackson 25) Like the other airlines, Virgin is committed to instilling a great deal of learning into the minds of their employees. This is accomplished by outlining the company framework, and using a variety of techniques to teach, with an emphasis on e-learning. Although Virgin Atlantic Airlines does not have a so called â€Å"unive rsity† to train its employee's, it does have a general training facility used to employ all of its staff and specializes in individual e-learning. One of the groups Virgin is most noteable for training is their management team. After the major descent in air travel following the attacks of 9/11, Virgin Atlantic went through a period of intense growth. The management team however, was not quite ready to take on such a period of rapid growth or to respond to new opportunities which may unwillingly present themselves. Branson also found it keen to increase the amount of management vacancies that were filled internally, to safeguard Virgin's work culture. In order to provide a resolution to this shortcoming, â€Å"Virgin decided to send all of its 120 managers on personal development workshops at Roffey Park, at a cost of ?2,000 to ?3,000 per head†. (Bringing out the Branson) The workshops began with individual coaching sessions that set personal development objectives for the managers, based on feedback from the 360-degree appraisal and personality tests. These were followed by a series of activities that aimed to instil Virgin's leadership principles into management behavior. The program finished by producing individual personal development plans and split each group into two sets of six managers, who met up six times over the next nine months to monitor their own progress and bounce ideas off each other. (â€Å"Bringing out the Branson†) Innovative Training Tactics as a Means to Being a Best Practice Company: Another distinguishing feature of these airlines is the innovative practices used to train their employees. A typical day of training will use an extremely wide variety of ways to enforce and encourage productive learning. These techniques include: on-the-job training; apprenticeship training; role playing, scenario building, classroom training; and electronic learning, which may involve interactive Internet-based training, multimedia programs, distance learning, satellite training, other computer-aided instructional technologies, videos, simulators, conferences, and workshops. We noticed that the majority of the innovative training has been used for the pilots as many airlines have taken advantage of today's great technology to provide an excellent source of simulated training. Also, with the release of the new aircrafts, such as the airbus, there has been an increase in providing new training tactics to meet the quality of the new aircrafts. Innovative Training Tactics: JetBlue JetBlue has been all over the media for its developments in pilot training. Special training for pilots is given to ensure they know the newest technology and procedures. In 2005, JetBlue signed a contract to send their pilots to College of Flight were they are trained by experienced professionals at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. â€Å"The agreement calls for Embry-Riddle to deliver the ‘Initial Training Course’ (TS1) and the ‘Recurrent Training Course’ (TS2) to JetBlue’s ‘College of Flight’ instructors beginning in early 2006. The instruction is designed to enrich the pilot training programs for JetBlue’s fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft† (Embry-Riddle). JetBlue wants to equip its pilots with the most current information. As part of the plan, all current and new JetBlue flight instructors will be taking introductory and advanced courses designed to boost teaching effectiveness for instructors who provide academic and simulator training to front-line pilots† (Embry-Riddle). A major difference between JetBlue’s training programs compared to other airlines is JetBlue pays its employees for their time during trainings. â€Å"Certain other big airlines, when they hire pilots, they say ‘you’re privileged to work for us, so we’re not going to pay you while you’re in training. Moreover] we’re going to make your pay for your own hotel [during your training]. ’ And then little wonder people come out of the class mad because they had to borrow money or they had to sacrifice, and they didn’t really respect the company because they took advantage of them† (Wynbrandt135). JetBlue not only pays their pilots, but pays for all of their accommodations while training. JetBlue makes their employees feel like they are cared about. An important role in their training is feeling like they are wanted. Pilots sign a five year contract guaranteeing them employment, which doesn’t allow the company to lay them off. According to Neeleman, the net result is â€Å"employees are convinced the airline cares about them† (Wynbrandt135). Upon graduation from the University there is a final exam to test each crew member on the knowledge they have acquired. There is a graduation ceremony and many crew members have flights that depart the next morning. â€Å"They’ll be training two groups a month, cranking out the crew members at the rate of nearly one hundred a month† (Peterson 199). Innovative Training Tactics: British Airways British Airways has developed an extensive training program for both their fight attendants, and pilots. They have developed flight simulators to make their training program tangible. The flight simulators offer joint aviation instruction. Their flight simulators make up the biggest Boeing training center outside of the United States. They are using the most worlds most advanced technology to make the simulators create real world situations. The simulation training includes use with Boeing and Airbus Airplanes. They include work with Boeing 747, Boeing 777, Boeing 767, Boeing 757, Boeing 737, and Airbus A320. British Airways has also included pilot, ground school, and cabin safety to their training programs. Their ground school teaches JAR approval aircraft type-technical courses. They are computer based training and used in every day work. Each class that they offer is two hours long. The classes incorporate scans, procedures, and relevant aspects of the company. The pilots that take the class are tested every three days to make sure they are on task, and have understanding of the course material. The course generally last ten to twelve days, and in order to enroll in the course they are asked to take a pre-course for two to three days on flight management computers. British Airways also uses a number of approaches to prepare their cabin crew for emergency situations. They are trained in cabin safety in areas that include: fire and smoke, wet drills, slide descents, and door operation. They are trained on any and all of the different planes that they fly, so that they are familiar with all of British Airways fleet. Each area of training for safety focuses on different situations. For cabin simulators they teach the crew about skills and how to deal with any emergency situation. They start with the fire and smoke training. The crew is training how to deal with a plane fire emergency. They are given realistic simulation on first and they are taught how to with them in a orderly fashion. They then move on to the wet drills. For this drill the crew is taught how to operate a life jacket, and they are taught how to help the passengers in a water landing. The last set of training workshops that the crew goes through is door operations. In this class they are taught how to use the exist doors and cabin doors. Innovative Training Tactics: Virgin Atlantic Airways Virgin Atlantic Airways utilizes the company Canadian Aviation Electronics (CAE), which is a worldly renown company that provides â€Å"customized training services for pilots and maintenance technicians ranging from integrated programs to deployable ground school capabilities and e-learning solutions. Their philosophy is to â€Å"enhance clients' safety and efficiency and provide clients a training environment where they can continuously pursue a practical and operational learning experience through new and innovative technology. † (â€Å"Simulation Products†) There are five different simulator programs in which CAE uses to train pilots, one of which is a simple piece of CD-Rom software which can used at any computer. The other four programs involves the use of a large piece of machinery which utilize programs and are operated by controls that are similar if not identical to what pilots would typically be exposed to when operating an aircraft. The great thing about this new wave of training is that it is extremely hands on and interactive, and it caters to individual learning and progress. Whether the pilot in training is at home or at the training facility using the flight simulators, they can progress at their own pace, which ultimately maximizes learning. Each program is divided into a number of sections or chapters which contains an exam at the end to make sure that the information has been retained. Another great feature about CAE's flight simulators is they even use satellite technology to display current weather conditions across the world, so that the pilot will be prepared to fly in any type of climate. In addition to using actual weather conditions, there are 3D synthetic environments used in every visual system. CAE has been able to make quite the name for itself over the past few years, as it has become a standard training program for the military, has been adopted by a number of other airlines, and has revolutionized human resource management in the field of training and development. â€Å"Simulation Products†) Virgin Atlantic Airways has been recently been labeled as one of the most innovative airlines in the world for their plan to send a select few of their best pilots to have the opportunity to go through astronaut pilot training. In the article titled â€Å"Virgin Atlantic Pilots Are Out of This World,† it was quoted that all 700 of Virgin Atlanic's pi lots are welcomed to apply and those who are chosen â€Å"will receive nine months of aerobatic, fast jet and executive aircraft for zero gravity flights training. They will then spend the next nine months flying the mothership and participating in Mission Control work – the last nine months will be spent flying Virgin Galactic Spaceships into space. Once they have completed their 27 month secondment they will return to Virgin Atlantic as qualified pilot astronauts. â€Å" (Virgin Pilots Are Out of This World With Virgin Galactic) Emphasis on Training in Customer Service as a Means to Being a Best Practice Company Perhaps one of the most significant contributing factors of these companies success is their emphasis on customer service. All of these airlines recognize the importance in training their employees in providing excellent customer service in order to achieve customer satisfaction and retention. Although spending excess time training in this field is expensive, the long term benefits are substantial as they build a clientel more willing to invest their time and money with the airline which pleases them the most. Emphasis on Training in Customer Service: Southwest Airlines â€Å"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit† (southwest. om). By following their mission created by founder and former CEO Herb Kelleher, Southwest literally has taken off and become a model for a best practices industry. This dedication has led Southwest to develop 10 organizational practices that facilitate the coordination among 12 distinct functions: pilots, flights attendants, gate agents, ticketing agents, operations agents, ramp agents, baggage transfer agents, cargo agents, mechanics, uelers, aircraft cleaners, and caters by building relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect (coachingandmentoring. com). Emphasis on Training in Customer Service: British Airways British Airways serves as an example for other companies because they have a good grasp on what to do to make their customers and employees happy. According to EMCOR, British Airways focuses on, â€Å"serving its customers by getting people where they need to go. † If every airline took pride in their customers like British Airways, the airline industry would run smoother. British Airways customer relations department talked about how they take pride in their customer service, â€Å"we try to ensure you have a good experience when you travel with British Airways†¦ we do our best to respond to you quickly and appropriately. † Emphasis on Training in Customer Service: Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines also places a strong emphasis on customer service training, especially for the stewards and stewardess's, then they must go through two interviews and a written test to even get an offer. After the offer each person must go through four months of training to be prepared to handle the toughest of situations. Some sections of this training includes Food and beverage knowledge, passenger handling, language and communication skills, and safety equipment procedures. Knowing the food and beverage is important because it is important to be able to tell each customer what they are eating on the flight. Passenger handling deals with how to respond to different customers. This includes making sure that each customer is happy and knowing how to satisfy them if they look upset. This also has to do with communication skills. The easiest way to find out how a passenger’s flight is going is to ask them. Since there are many passengers this must be done in a timely and orderly fashion. (www. worksingapore. com) Emphasis on Training in Customer Service: Virgin Atlantic Airways Virgin Airways uses a great deal of scenario building to help their employee’s achieve the highest customer satisfaction. When in training, they will divide the room into groups, each of which includes a current employee who has experienced a situation where a customer was upset with them. The current employee acts as the enraged or frustrated customer, and the other trainees are evaluated based on the way they handle the distressful situation. Afterwards they are given constructive criticism on how they can improve. (Jackson 220). Virgin Airways pays a lot of attention to their customers and emphasizes on providing an excellent customer experience. â€Å"Superior customer service and stress-free travel are two things that our travelers have come to expect from Virgin Atlantic,† said Chris Rossi, Vice President Sales and Marketing, North America. (Branson 78) Interview with Mark Swigonski: After bringing all of our research together, we decided that Southwest would be the best airline to conduct an interview with, since they seem to have the strongest emphasis on both employee and customer satisfaction. We managed to find a Southwest pilot by the name of Mark Swigonski who has been an active pilot for well over ten years now. We asked Mark via email â€Å"What do you think about airlines trying to model Southwest and their best practices within the same industry or different industries? † He replied †The economic plan is a model for any industry. Stimulate sales by making your product more affordable for more people. Instead of making a large profit on a few sales, make a small profit on lots of sales, thereby stimulating the business. Southwest airlines has made air travel affordable for the average American. People who would never dream of flying before can now afford to. Herb says we do not compete with other airlines, we compete with the automobile. One more story. When Southwest first started, the price of a ticket on Continental from Dallas Love to Houston Hobby was $220. Southwest charged $19. People came to Herb and said why don't you just charge $50, you're still a quarter of the price. Herb answered, we will never do that. We will charge what we need to, to make a profit and never a cent more. We are going to stimulate traffic. Southwest still works that way. We also asked â€Å"What would be an anticipated obstacle if companies model this, and are there any financial costs and/or benefits? † He replied, â€Å"It's embarrassing. When you start up an airline and have no first class, no assigned seating, and say you can't afford to buy something, it is embarrassing. If you can't afford it, you can't buy it. You just have to have the self discipline to abide by that rule. You also need patience to wait for the correct market opportunities. Southwest currently has a couple of billion in the bank, waiting for an opportunity. They are in no hurry and will buy airplanes when the price is right, but not before. Three airlines have gone out of business in the last week. The opportunity will be there soon and Southwest will capitalize when the time is right. That takes a great deal of fiscal discipline. Conclusion: Implications and How Other Companies Can Benefit From These Training Tactics Based on the evaluation of our five airline companies, we analyzed how other companies both within and outside of the industries could provide a benefit, and what costs may be associated. We realized that some of the short term implications are the high costs associated with providing such a dedicated training program. These extra costs include what is necessary to run the outside training universities as seen with Southwest, JetBlue, and British Airways. Within the training universities are all of the expenses necessary to use all of the innovative techniques such as the expensive simulative training and all of the software needed for that, as well as the online training programs used both inside and outside of the classroom. These airlines are also responsible for paying all of the highly qualified people who instruct these training courses. The extra time spent in training is also very costly, especially since many of these airlines make some of the training practicum standard for everyone, regardless of their future occupation with the company. Clearly, there are a great deal of costs incurred when running such an extensive training program that is so heavily focused on the employees. However, we concluded that the long term benefits actually outweigh any of these initial costs, because not only will the turn over rate decrease, but business will grow as there will be a more dedicated workforce. More training will prepare all employees for different situations and make them more competent workers. It will also weed out people who do not want to dedicate themselves to the job, making it easier to identify people that actually want to be there. With better workers the company should notice a more efficient use of its resources and it will eventually make up what it lost on the cost of training through more profit in the long run. Maybe a person will be able to help four more customers a day after being trained longer. Four more customers a day adds up over the years to unbelievable amounts of profit. Or perhaps a person gains a better understanding of how to make a machine work more efficiently and can make more products quicker than before. A dedication to training goes hand in hand with a company that succeeds over its competitors. If other companies wish to adopt a training model as extensive as these five airlines, then they must be prepared to take the risk in engulfing an extensive amount of costs, but be aware of all the positive outcomes and benefits which will result. After analyzing the qualities that make these five airlines best practice companies we determined that there are several similarities, however, each airline had a distinguishing trait that gave their company an identity. Southwest is most distinguished for its belief in the idea that if employees are happy, then customers are happy. They focus nearly all of their time and energy in creating a motivational environment to encourage employee satisfaction which eventually transcends to customer satisfaction. British Airways is most notable for their incredibly high standards in training practicum. They call for a rigorous training program so as to achieve only the most qualified employee's. Singapore Airlines strives to be the best in every aspect, whether it be in providing the best customer service, best food, most comfortable seating, or best employee motivation tactics. Singapore believes strongly in the idea that there is always room for improvement. JetBlue is successful in their attempts to standardize education and encourage a solid learning environment in their training practices. They incorporate five core values—safety, caring, integrity, fun and passion—into every aspect of education. They also provide centralized crew-member education in common topics with common courses, creating a strong team orientation and commitment to a greater corporate good. (Sosbe). Virgin Atlantic Airways is most well known constant strive to be innovative in all aspects of the company, whether it be using the most technologically advanced tools for training, or being the first airline to train pilots for space travel. From these five remarkable characteristics, we formulated three main points which were used throughout the paper to draw in the primary defining similarities of these best practice companies. These main points included a dedication in providing high quality training, innovative training tactics, and an emphasis on training in customer service.

How an Ice Cream Soda or Float Works

How an Ice Cream Soda or Float Works An ice cream soda or ice cream float (called a spider in Australia and New Zealand) is made by adding soda pop or seltzer to ice cream. Some people add flavoring, like chocolate syrup, or a little milk. However you make it, as soon as the soda hits the ice cream you get fizzy, frothy, tasty bubbles.Do you know how it works? Its basically the same as what is going on with the Mentos and Soda Fountain, except not as messy. You are knocking the carbon dioxide in the soda out of solution. Bubbles of air in the ice cream provide nucleation sites around which carbon dioxide bubbles can form and grow. Some ingredients in the ice cream lower the surface tension of the soda so the gas bubbles can expand, while other ingredients trap the bubbles in much the same way as small amounts of protein in seawater trap air to form seafoam.You can make all types of floats, including black cows (coke floats with cola and vanilla ice cream), brown cows (root beer float with root beer and vanilla ice cream ), and purple cows (grape soda and vanilla ice cream), but you can use other ingredients. Heres a recipe for a coffee cola Float, which is bubbly and caffeinated and therefore a double-win: 2-1/2 cups coffee (room temperature or chilled)2/3 cup light cream or milkcoffee, chocolate or vanilla ice creamcola Mix the coffee and cream or milk, pour it into glasses, add scoops of ice cream, and top it off with cola. You can garnish it with whipped cream, chocolate covered coffee beans, or a little coffee powder or cocoa.

Année

Differences Between French Pairs Like An/Annà ©e The French word pairs an/annà ©e, jour/journà ©e, matin/matinà ©e, and soir/soirà ©e can be confusing to students because each pair has a single English translation. The important thing to understand is that the difference between the words in each pair has to do with two different ways of considering time. The short words an, jour, matin, and soir (note that they are all masculine) indicate a simple amount of time or division of time. For the purposes of this lesson, well call these division words. Je suis en France depuis deux jours. Ive been in France for two days.Il est fatiguà © ce soir. Hes tired this evening. In comparison, the longer words annà ©e, journà ©e, matinà ©e, and soirà ©e (all feminine) indicate a duration of time, usually stressing the actual length of time. Ill call these duration words. Nous avons travaillà © pendant toute la matinà ©e. We worked all morning.Elle est la premià ¨re de son annà ©e.* Shes the first in her year/class. *Though annà ©e is feminine since it begins with a vowel you have to say son annà ©e (not sa annà ©e) Division Words vs. Duration Words Here are some general rules about when to use division words vs. when to use duration words, as well as some important exceptions. But if you consider them carefully, youll see that the exceptions follow the basic differences outlined above. Use division words with: 1. Numbers, except when you want to emphasize the duration or when the word is modified by an adjective. Un homme de trente ans.   A 30-year-old man.Il est arrivà © il y a deux jours. He arrived two days ago.Dans trois ans, jaurai terminà © mes à ©tudes. In three years, Ill have finished my studies.Jà ©tais en Afrique pendant trois annà ©es, pas deux. I was in Africa for three years, not two.Ils ont passà © sept merveilleuses journà ©es Paris.   They spent seven marvelous days in Paris. 2. Temporal adverbs demain matin tomorrow morningtà ´t le matin early in the morninghier soir last night Use duration words with: 1.de a descriptive noun lannà ©e de base base yearune journà ©e de travail de huit heures an eight-hour workdayles soirà ©es dà ©tà © summer evenings 2. with nearly* all adjectives, including: attributive adjectives lannà ©e scolaire the school year indefinite adjectives certaines annà ©es certain years interrogative adjectives preceded by a preposition en quelle annà ©e in which year possessive adjectives ma journà ©e my day However, note that an/annà ©e is far more flexible than the other pairs; for last year you can say lan dernier or lannà ©e dernià ¨re, next year can be lan prochain or lannà ©e prochaine, etc. Except for demonstrative adjectives, which are used with division words: cet an - cet an que jai và ©cu en France that year - that year that I lived in France (But when talking about the current year, say cette annà ©e - this year.) ce jour - ce jour oà ¹ nous sommes allà ©s au musà ©e this/that day - that day we went to the museumce matin, ce soir this/that morning, this/that evening The indefinite word tout has a different meaning with division vs. duration words; it is an indefinite adjective with division words and an indefinite pronoun with duration words. tous les matins, tous les jours every morning, every day vs. toute la matinà ©e, toute la journà ©e all morning, all day Note that when referring to the day of the week, you need the division word: Quel jour est-on? Quel jour sommes-nous? What day is it?Vendredi est le jour de la fà ªte. Friday is the day of the party.

Summarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Summarize - Essay Example The report cited several important in the findings of the 2008 survey. First, financial fraud still constitutes the largest and most expensive cybercrime and security incidents. Here, it was found that an average of $500,000 was lost to those who have experienced fraud. Secondly, virus incidents still dominate the computing and networking community. The report, for instance, found that 49 percent of the respondents have experienced it for the past year. Then there is also the case of bots and malwares, which costs organizations around $350,000 to eliminate. Other cases of threats include theft of hardwares such as laptops and mobile devices and insider abuse of networks, breaches in security such as unauthorized access, website defacement, system penetration, password sniffing and sabotage. The findings of the survey, compared to that of last year, reflected a downward trend in cybercrimes and attacks on computer security. This could be attributed to the increase in security efforts of organizations. The study found that at least 68 percent of organizations have a security in place; 18 percent are developing theirs; while only one percent does not have a security policy. Furthermore, IT security budget still constitutes a significant share in the security budget for organizations in 2008. In regard to solving cybercrimes, the CSI survey reported that while most organizations attempt to identify the perpetrators, only 27 percent report the incidents to law enforcement agency or has been referred to legal counsel. In addition, organizations are also more averse to be involved in information sharing in order to solve computer and networking threats. According to the survey, the future computing and networking problems, as with the past two years, still concern issues about virus, malware, security, legal issues. The CSI, in its conclusion identified two kinds of threats that must addressed: the actual threats and the developing

Womens rights and how women got them what they went through to get Research Paper

Womens rights and how women got them what they went through to get them - Research Paper Example In general, it absorbs a critique of gender discrimination; more particularly, it contains the encouragement of women's interests and welfare (Duggan, 1979). It can be said that the first wave of feminism started in the early 1848 and it lasted till the 1960s after which the women started getting their rights. However some argue that the movement ended in the 1920s as the constitution to allow women to vote was passed in this very year.. This essay would further prove this claim by giving an overview about the first wave of feminism in the United States and its drawbacks (William 1969) Women have been treated as inferior to the men in every segment of this world until they fight for their rights to be served as equal to the men. The first wave of feminism started in 1868 and lasted till the 1960s in the United States (William 1969). The main aim of this feminist movement was to retain the rights of women in the country. Before the first wave of feminism took place the condition of wo men in the United States was miserable. The women were not allowed to vote and had no shares when it came to property rights. Wives did not have any rights when it came to justice over their husbands as they were not allowed to file any petition in case of any harshness.... f the first feminist movement proved quite successful in achieving their objectives but on the other hand they were not successful enough to provide all the necessary rights to women living in the United States and thus other similar movements had to come into play so that these rights were also achieved for the women. It basically revolved around the issues of seeing women as sexual objects, their individual identity, their right to vote, the issues which they faced in their work places and healthcare. The first wave was brought about by different groups which were then known by different names such as the Abolitionist groups and the Women Rights Organizations (Clarke 1974). The women in the first wave demanded moral equality to the levels of a man. The most important issue which the feminists pursued was to achieve individual status for women living in the United States. In other words they wanted a woman to represent the community of women living in the county. In order to pursue all these rights the women set out with different conventions and marches so that their demands could be accepted by the government. In 1848 the famous ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ was announced which became the basic principle of the movement which was going on in the United States. Similarly this was followed by the formation of different organizations which worked towards achieving the rights which the women were previously deprived of. Following this the organizations in achieving rights for women seemed successful as the women were provided with rights to property ownership and child custody. They also provided workplace laws which helped to women to participate more in the working sector. In 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution of United States took place and this gave