Hire a White Paper Writer Online

Hire a White Paper Writer Online White Paper Writer for Hire Online Home›White Paper Writer for Hire OnlineWho Can Help Me With White Paper Writing?Not sure how to write a white paper? What is white paper writing exactly? This type of assignment is an authoritative guide or report that assesses a problem and finds the right solution. When you go out into the business world, writing a white paper can be effective for helping you generate business leads and market your products. It is especially important when you need to understand and address a particular issue. If you are struggling with your white paper assignments, your best bet is to hire a white paper writer from QualityCustomEssays.com.If you want to succeed in a highly competitive business environment, a credible white paper is key. Compared to those dull, run-of-the-mill advertisements, consumers are likely to respond to highly informative white papers. Of course, a good white paper needs to be well organized and properly targeted to the particular audien ce. This is exactly what your white paper writer can do for you.White paper writing can be so inspiring if you know how to do it right.  But if you dont? We recommend you not to wait for motivation or inspiration.  We can write an excellent white paper right now. (Only Reliable Payment Systems)When seeking out our white paper writing services, we provide our clients with expert white paper writers who complete assignments that are persuasive, thoroughly researched, and very practical. Our professional experts have been helping students with their writing tasks for years, which means they know the ins and outs of crafting a perfect white paper.

Starbucks Essay Example Pdf - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3790 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Case study Did you like this example? Recruitment at Starbucks Starbucks is a speciality coffee house which originated in Seattle. Today the organisation has over 15,000 outlets worldwide. It sells a range of hot and cold drinks, food items and accessories. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Starbucks Essay Example Pdf" essay for you Create order Its philosophy is to create an experience for the customer and a human connection. With the introduction of the Starbucks Card purchasing drinks, food etc. from the outlets has now been made a lot easier. Customers can top up their cards and use them as a method of payment. Starbucks products are also available from supermarkets. Some of the range includes packets of coffee, coffee makers, gift sets etc. Starbucks is constantly innovating its offer to keep up to date with competition from McDonalds, Cafe Nero, Costa Coffee etc. You are required to answer the following questions making reference to Starbucks. Task 1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Recruitment, Selection and Retention A Barista at Starbucks must have a number of personal characteristics and skills which will enable them to carry out their role. These skills and characteristics are likely to include friendliness, attention to detail, a commitment to providing customer service and an ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Pilbeam and Coridge indicate that successful resourcing is as much to do with good organisational fit as it is to do with HRM best practice, and therefore the first stage of recruitment should be to undertake a role or person specification in order to establish the skills and attributes necessary for the role. Phillips and Gully suggest that successful recruitment, selection and retention should also be aligned to the strategic objectives of the firm and therefore care and consideration should be given to the most suitable recruitment and selection methods in order to ensure they will attract the best potential candidates and also that the entire process will result i n long term employee retention. Bratton and Gold state that recruitment is the process of generating a pool of capable people to apply for employment to an organisation. Selection is the process by which managers and others use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons more likely to succeed in the job(s), given management goals and legal requirements. Accordingly, Torrington et al observe that there are a number of alternative recruitment and selection strategies including interview, assessment centre, and psychological testing. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages and therefore it is not uncommon for multiple approaches to be used in combination depending on the seniority of the role in question. However, before recruitment and selection can commence it is necessary to determine a suitable specification for the role. Thus the suggested specification for a Barista at Starbucks is given below:- Figure 1: Personal Specification Template for a Barista at Starbucks (Source, Author) Requirement Essential or Desirable? Qualifications / Education / Training: No essential qualifications required, food safety or food hygiene would be desirable Desirable Experience: Customer service, food handling, retail Essential Knowledge: Some retail knowledge would be desirable, along with a knowledge of various coffees Desirable Skills Competencies: attention to detail; ability to work in a high pressure environment, customer-centric Essential Personal Attributes: open friendly, keen to provide an exceptional customer experience Essential Other: Prepared to go the extra mile to offer exceptional service and use own initiative when necessary in order to promote the brand and concept Desirable The specification is not exhaustive and further attributes may be considered such as an ability to communicate in more than one language, especially if the location of the outlet is such that overseas tourists regularly visit (eg parts of London). The most cost-effective form of recruitment and selection process for Baristas would be CV and subsequent interview as managers in Starbucks at a local level have a clear idea of their local customer demographic and demand and thus potential applications who submit a CV can be easily screened for desirable and essential skills and attributes. The manager can then interview potential applications before making a decision on selection. An interview has further benefits as it allows the manager to identify the personal attributes and characteristics of the application in order to assess how the application would fit within the existing team, as much of the Starbucks ethos and working model requires a high level of teamwork. Potent ial questions which might be asked at interview for the Barista would include asking the application to describe their retail experiences to date and getting them to explain how these experiences have relevance at Starbucks. This would test for depth of experience and also organisational fit in terms of focus on the customer experience. Other technical questions might relate to Food safety and handling in order to ensure that the application understands the critical importance of this when delivering an exceptional customer experience. From a regulatory perspective the manager conducting the interview must be sure not to inadvertently discriminate against any potential applications during any stage of the recruitment and selection process. Therefore all applications must be asked identical questions and none should relate to issues of gender, age, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. In short, Starbucks is proud of its heritage as an equal opportunities employer. During th e recruitment process potential applications must be offered full opportunity to ask their own questions in order to ensure that they fully appreciate the nature of the role which they may be committing to. Task 2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Building Winning Teams One of the foremost scholars of team building, Meredith Belbin, identified that in order to function effectively an organisational team requires members with different skills and attributes. In her research she identified that there are nine alternative team roles as she described them (see Appendix for full details). Belbin observed that the most effective teams possessed at least 5 and ideally 7 of the roles, and that an individual member within a team was capable of fulfilling more than one role, but rarely more than two. Tuckman established that when people are first brought together in a team they experience various stages of team development, popularly referred to as forming, norming, storming and performing. This concept is reflected in Figure 2 overleaf. In short, the theory holds that as employee are brought together in a group they experience an evolutionary process whereby they come to understand and appreciate one anothers skills and strengths and then utilise the se complementary skills for the best advantage of the team as a whole. History has shown that Tuckmans theory has almost universal application, however, when used in combination with Belbins theory it becomes even more powerful as it becomes possible to identify in advance whether or not a group I likely to succeed based on the unique skills and attributes of each team member. For example, if there are too many plants within a group then it is likely that the group will be highly creative but the ideas will rarely be translated into action. Similarly, too many co-ordinations is likely to result in arguments as the co-ordinator role is known to be quite stubborn and even manipulative. When applying these theories and concepts to teams at Starbucks it can be observed that different skills are required for different parts of the operation. Holistic observation of a team working at Starbucks demonstrates the power of team working. Each person has a defined role which they foc us upon in order to ensure maximum efficiency and quality of output. For example in any Starbucks outlet one person focuses on taking orders and payments, another one or two (depending on the size of the outlet) focus on making the orders and a further team members is constantly ensuring that the outlet is clean and tidy and well stocked. It can be suggested that this requires a high level of group communication and co-ordination and also a high level of trust as those baristas making the coffee must take on trust the orders given to them by their colleagues. Similarly because two Baristas can work on the same order simultaneously there must be complete understanding and uniformity to the order production process such that they can interchange their roles at any point. Under Tuckmans model it is clear that a team in Starbucks is at the very least in the norming stage of the model and most probably at the performing stage. The concept of team work within organisations has g ained increasing prominence in recent years and with good reason as highly effective teams are more efficient and productive. Furthermore, Armstrong identifies the benefits of empowering team members within a role so that they feel more engaged with the organisation and therefore more committed to delivering the best possible experience for the customer or client. At Starbucks one means of achieving this would be to ensure that every team member is fully cross-functional and that they are given stretch performance targets which require them to work as a team. Full cross-functionality means that each team member has an appreciation for other roles and therefore they tend to be more considerate of outcomes. Moreover, a cross -functional team which has accountability for its own results will typically find more effective means of delivering a service in order to reach targets. Armstrong also discusses how increased responsibility and accountability increase engagement which in turn increases motivation. Some HRM scholars regard the relationship between engagement and motivation as symbiotic, but there is little doubt that engagement and motivation are strong indicators of a high performance team that is committed to exceed expectation and delivering exceptional service. Furthermore, research by Saunders demonstrates that highly engaged teams have lower levels of staff churn. This point is useful as it is closely correlated to the previously discussed matter of recruitment and retention, and thus if the right people are brought into the organisation and they are motivated to stay because they feel the business (for whatever reason) is a good fit for them, then there is reduced churn, increased engagement and greater productivity. In summation, engaged team members are more profitable for the business and thus it becomes a mutually beneficial relationship. Task 3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Leadership Motivation There is a vast amount of literature and research which embraces the topic of leadership; furthermore, leadership theories have experienced a considerable amount of transition over time as societal perceptions of leadership have changed. Leadership has been defined by Mcquire and Molbherg as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Theories of leadership range for discussions as to the traits of leaders their styles of leadership and transactional and transformational theories of leadership. One of the most popular theories used to explain leadership style is the Managerial Grid as developed by Blake and Mouton and shown in figure 3 below:- As can be seen in the figure, the Managerial Grid examines the prevailing managerial technique of leaders within an organisation in order to identify their preferred style. In ideal circumstances Blake and Mouton believe that a manager and leader should adopt a team style which is participative and empowering and allows the employees of the organisation to make their own decisions within the remit of the organisations objectives. It can be suggested that the concepts of the Managerial Grid share some parallels with the discussions as to transformational and transactional leadership whereby Burns argues that in the longer term transformation leadership is far more effective because it empowers employees to deliver the best possible performance as they have accountability for their own daily working lives. It is evident that there are close linkages between leadership and motivation insofar as good leaders motivate their employees and team members to succeed through a combination of techniques such as engagement, empowerment and delegation of power. Armstrong and Cheese et al believe that the use of these techniques in conjunction with other factors such as employee voice ensure that individual employees align their p ersonal aims and objectives with those of the organisation and therefore voluntarily strive to ensure that the service provided by the organisation is a success. It should also be acknowledge that several scholars perceive there is a difference between a manager and a leader within an organisation. The distinction is subtle and relates to the fact that managers generally focus on day to day operational tasks and leaders tend to occupy a more strategic role. However the distinction is certainly not clear cut and considerable debate still centres on this division of roles. Furthermore a leader can also be a manager by dint of their role within the organisation, and thus leadership tends to be regarded as a personality trait as opposed to an organisational position. In short, a leader tends to be more effective at motivating and inspiring employees because of their ability to engage them and encourage them to strive for enhanced performance. In times of change and developme nt, and also in times of difficult circumstances such as recession, leadership and talent management skills are highly valued. In application to Starbucks it should be observed that in times of recession when consumers tend to cut back on luxuries such as coffee from coffee shops, Starbucks must strive to offer improved service to customers in order to retain them. The managers (and ideally leaders) of Starbucks must also continually strive to motivate Baristas to deliver exceptional service even when customers become more demanding. This concept is closely correlated with that change management and goal setting whereby engaging Baristas with the process can ensure that they feel empowered to respond to the challenge and that they have responsibility for it. At a local level this may mean running small promotions which would suit the customer demographic in order to attract and retain more customers. Furthermore, if Starbucks wish to retain their employees it is prudent to con tinue to invest in training and development in order to ensure that they are highly skilled and capable of responding rapidly to changes in customer demand. This might include job exchanges with Baristas from other retail outlets in order to share best practice, or creating a forum where Baristas can put forward their suggestions for improvement. Although these are relatively small steps they can help individual Baristas to progress within Starbucks and this ensures that Starbucks generates a reputation as an employer of choice which fosters home grown talent and treats employees with fairness and respect. Research into the prevailing management style at Starbucks reveals that they have a relatively flat hierarchy which ensures that it is easy to disseminate information widely and effectively within the organisation. Starbucks has a clear mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time and this is fully evidenced in their training policies and ethos. The structure and leadership style of Starbucks also ensures that the business can be responsive to customer needs because the baristas are in direct contact with customers every single day and also have the necessary mechanisms to ensure that they can provide valid and timely feedback to their managers in order to improve the customer experience. Task 4 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Work and Development Needs and Performance Management Armstrong defines performance management as a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved. It is important to observe that from a HRM perspective performance management is not solely concerned with disciplinary procedures, but rather it is concerned with ensuring that each and every employee has the necessary support to achieve their objectives and potential. Thus, performance management is often closely correlated with learning and development as in order to achieve to their maximum potential employees must continue to expand their skills and to develop their capabilities. Furthermore, scholars such as Benson et al have observed a link between training and development and employee retention, which as previously identifie d, helps to ensure increased engagement and reduced employee churn. However in order to monitor and improve employee performance it is first necessary to set suitable objectives and targets and to apply metrics and benchmarks to these objectives and targets in order to objectively assess employee performance and development. At Starbucks there are two core elements which form the basis of employee performance; these are technical capability that is to say the ability to consistently produce a high quality cup of coffee, and secondly the ability to interact with other stakeholders including team colleagues and customers. The former can be objectively assessed by observation against agreed performance metrics such as speed of production and consistency of taste. This has benefit to individual employees and Starbucks as a whole because it ensures consistency of service and product quality across the network of franchises meaning that the reputation of Starbucks is maintained a nd also that Baristas are employable across a range of franchises that they may be prepared to travel to, thus increasing their value to the company. The second performance metric to assess is more intangible and pertains to perceived service level and customer and colleague interaction. In terms of colleague interaction this can be assessed through a variety of measures such as 360 degree feedback, line manager observation and self-reflection during a performance review. Research has shown that generally speaking individual employees are reasonably self-aware of their skills and capabilities and it is rare that a performance review highlights anything that the employee was not at least already aware of at some level. However the benefit of performance review is that it can demonstrate to individual employees specific areas where they could improve or would benefit from training to enhance their skills set. For example a food safety certificate to help ensure that an indivi dual franchise was fully compliant with legislation, or perhaps rudimentary book-keeping skills to help ensure that the cash is managed accurately in each store. In terms of assessing Barista performance when interacting with customers this can be achieved through feedback forms and customer incentives. For example it is becoming increasingly common that receipts from retailers encourage customers to provide feedback about their service online. This has the dual benefit of helping the organisation to become more engaged with customers and response more rapidly to customer feedback. It can also be used to gather individual barista feedback if specific questions in the feedback questionnaire relate to performance and service such as speed and friendliness and helpfulness of the Barista. The information gathered from feedback surveys can be fed back to each barista in regular performance reviews in order to help them identify areas of development and subsequently improve perfo rmance. As noted at the outset of this section, performance management techniques should not be designed with the sole intention of discipline employees, although it is almost inevitable that at some stage a form of discipline may be required for certain employee. However, best practice makes it clear that regular performance reviews can help to forestall any such issues as if they are held regularly and reasonably frequently it should be possible to forestall any problems before they become issues of concern. Finally it is necessary to consider how Starbucks applies principles of delegation in order to motivate Baristas. As discussed previously in this review, Starbucks encourages team working and the creation of stretch targets to help Baristas develop and to take responsibility for their own areas of production. This approach is closely linked to effective performance management because empowering Baristas to set and achieve their own targets helps to motivate them to ac hieve as they feel in control of their targets and daily responsibilities. Targets can be used to monitor and evaluate Barista performance and at each performance review they can be revised as necessary in order to help the Barista improve. For example in the early days of a baristas employment this could be to improve the speed of production and to obtain a certain customer service rating. In due course this could progress to internal training courses in advanced customer service management and customer experience. This holistic process also helps Baristas to appreciate that they are valued and therefore this leads to them becoming more engaged and motivated and delivering improved performance. References Armstrong, M. (2009) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (11th Edition) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Kogan Page, London Beardwell, J. Claydon, T. (2007) Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach (5th Edition) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Pearson Education, London Belbin, R.M. (2010) Management teams: why they succeed or fail. 3rd ed. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Benson, G. S., Finegold, D., Mohrman, S. A. (2004) You paid for the skills, now keep them: Tuition-reimbursement and voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3): 315à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"331. Blake, R.; Mouton, J. (1985). The Managerial Grid III: The Key to Leadership Excellence. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co. Bloisi, W. 2007. Management and organisational behaviour. 2nd ed. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Boddy, D (2008) Management: An Introduction (4th Edition) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Prentice Hall, London Bratton, J. Gold (2007). Work and organizational behaviour. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macm illan. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper and Row Publishers Inc.. Cheese, P., Thomas, R.J. and Craig, E. (2008) The talent powered organization: strategies for globalization, talent management and high performance. London: Kogan Page. Foti, R.J., Hauenstein, N.M.A. (2007). Pattern and variable approaches in leadership emergence and effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 347-355. Govaerts, Natalie, et al. (2010) Influence of learning and working climate on the retention of talented employees, Journal of Workplace Learning 23:1. Harrison R (2009) Learning and Development, London, CIPD Hoque, K Noon, M (2004) Equal Opportunities Policy and Practice in Britain in Work, Employment Society vol.18 no.3 pp.481-506 Huczynski A, Buchanan D (2003) Organisational Behaviour: An Introductory Text à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Pearson Higher Education, London Mcquire, D., Molbherg J. K., (2011) Human Resource Development Theory Practice London: Sage. Murphy, N. (2009) Talent managements role in a time of recession. IRS Employment Review. No 927, 13 August. 5pp. Phillips and Gully (2009) Strategic Staffing Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, pp12-35 Pilbeam, S. Corbridge, M. (2010) People Resourcing: Contemporary HRM in practice. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall International. Ch 2 Saunders, M.N.K., (2011) Trust and strategic change: an organisational justice perspective in R Searle and D Skinner (eds) Trust and Human Resource Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Starbucks (2012) Search and Apply [online] available at https://careers.starbucks.co.uk/job-search-and-apply retrieved 3rd Feb 2012 Starbucks (2012) Mission Statement [online] available at https://starbucks.co.uk/about-us/company-information/mission-statement retrieved 3rd Feb 2012 Torrington, D. Hall, L. Taylor S (2007) Human Resource Management (7th Edition) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Prentice Hall, London Zaccaro, S. J., Gulick, L.M.V. Khare, V.P. (2008). Personality and leadership. In C. J. Hoyt, G. R. Goethals D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leadership at the crossroads (Vol 1) (pp. 13-29). Westport, CT: Praege

The Torture A Critique Of The Ticking Bomb Argument

applied by the Nazis. I completely disagree because there is no way to compare the atrocities of the Nazis to few cases of enhanced interrogation by the United States. My interpretation of Hunsingher’s conclusion is that it goes to high extremes because the methods used by the Nazis were far more inhumane. According to Jessica Wolfendale, the author of the article â€Å"Training Torture: A Critique of the Ticking Bomb Argument,† â€Å"We have every reason to doubt that military and political authorities will use torture only in extreme cases† (Wolfendale 270). In other words, she states that if torture becomes acceptable, the government will find different ways to apply it to everyone with no exceptions or restrictions to achieve a goal. My interpretation of Wolfendale’s statements is that an individual has the right to question and demand answers. She is right to assume that torture is not going to stop in extreme cases. I agree with her view that it will get out of hand, because the government seem to look for new ways to apply laws. In communities where the use of torture is a controversial, most people would agree that it is wrong and it should not be applied. According to an article â€Å"Torture in the Public Mind,† written by Mivaslov, Ninic and Jennifer, Ramos, they state: â€Å"70 percent of who participated in a study said that torture is wrong† (Ninic and Ramos 242). To put this in other words Ninic and Ramos state that people have negative views of torture, and thinkShow MoreRelatedThe use of torture has become a prominent matter of dispute as we enter an age of the global war on1600 Words   |  7 PagesThe use of torture has become a prominent matter of dispute as we enter an age of the global war on terror. The debate on whether it has become morally permissible to torture terrorists is argued by many as the legitimacy of such actions are brought into question in a world where global terror is outstanding. With the use of the ticking time bomb scenario, some make a desirable case tha t in special circumstances, there is a right to torture individuals implicated is acts of mass violence. Yet manyRead MoreThe Legal And Ethical Perspective Of The World War II1354 Words   |  6 Pageshuman history, enemy combatants of the defeated forces were generally taken as war prisoners, often expected to confront brutal tortures or agonizing executions. Such trend managed to steer its way into recent human history. Some of the most atrocious crimes committed against mankind were witnessed during the second World War where prisoners of war underwent unthinkable torture procedures either to give confessions or for the purpose of human experimentation. Hence, participants of the Geneva ConventionRead MoreShould the United States Use Torture to Gather Information1474 Words   |  6 Pageswith the question of, whether their government intelligence agencies should be prohibited from using torture to gather information. According to Michael Ignatieff, this is the hardest case of w hat he describes as ‘lesser evil ethics’—a political ethics predicated on the idea that in emergencies leaders must choose between different evils Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, torture was viewed by most American’s as only actions that brutal dictators would employ on their citizens, toRead MoreHuman Torture Essay1559 Words   |  6 PagesI. Introduction The American citizens have been wrestling with the question of whether their government intelligence agencies should be prohibited from using torture to gather information. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th the American government vowed to do whatever it took to hunt down those involved. In May 2004, The New Yorker released photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The disturbing pictures were released on the internet showing bodies of naked Iraqis piled onto each

Wild at Home Free Essays

Persuasive Speech Outline Topic: Exotic animals do not make good pets Specific Purpose: To convince the audience that even though the baby versions of wild animals are cute, they don’t stay that way forever. Therefore wild animals should not be pets. Central Idea: Wild animals should not be kept as pets, because it is bad for us as owners, bad for the animals themselves and even bad for the environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Wild at Home or any similar topic only for you Order Now Introduction Attention Getter: Picture this, you are hiking in the woods and come across a baby bear. There is no sign of it mother and it looks hungry, what would you do? According to the center for veterinary health sciences: the emotional appeal baby animals have on humans will allow you to look past the dangers of the animal and take care of it, possibly even taking it home with you. But when you think about it, would taking home a wild animal be such a good? Topic Introduction: Today I will try to convince you that even though the baby versions of wild animals are cute, they don’t stay that way forever. Animals including: Lions, Tigers, Wolves, Bears, Reptiles and non-human primates do indeed grow up, and can possibly become dangerous, therefore should not be kept as pets. Relate the topic to your audience: I’m sure at one moment in your life, you have all wanted a wild animal as a pet. Relate the topic to you as a speaker: I know I did. When I was younger I wanted a baby panda. But, while doing my research for this speech I realize what a bad idea that would have been. If don’t believe me, by the end of this speech I will have hopefully convinced you that: Preview your main points: wild animals should not be kept as a pets, by first discussing why it is bad for the animals. Then why it is bad for the owner, and finally why it is bad to the environment in general. Transition Statement: Even though keeping wild animals as pets can be appealing, it is important to remember that keeping a wild animal as a pet is associated with many potential problems, not to mention legal and ethical issues. Also keeping wild animals as pets requires a great deal of research and preparation, as well as provision of ideal housing and diet as well as medical care (which may be very difficult to find). And if you cannot provide these necessities for the animal it can put the animal in danger. Which brings me to my first main point. Body I. Keeping a wild animal as a pet can be dangerous for the animal a. Most people can’t provide the right home for Wild animals i. Wild animals have complex behavioral, social, nutritional and psychological needs. Most people simply cannot meet the needs of wild animals kept as â€Å"pets†. – For Example: Many monkeys, birds, and wild cats, can all travel several miles in a single day. A walk on a leash through the park won’t cut it. Transition Statement: Exotic animals, by definition are not domesticated as well as unpredictable. Their behavior may change with seasons or life cycles in ways we don’t understand. They also rarely bond with their owners. Pet primates, big cats, and reptiles have attacked and seriously injured their owners. Which brings me to my next point, of why wild animals are also dangerous to their owners. II. Keeping a wild animal as a pet can also be dangerous to the owner a. You could get hurt. i. Keeping wild animals as pets can be dangerous. They can bite, scratch, attack their owners, and their owner’s children and guests. ii. According to livesceince. com there has been 1,610 incidents involving exotic pets and 75 deaths from 1990-2011. iii. Examples from thedailygreen. com: * In 2000 a three year old boy had his arm bitten off by his uncle’s â€Å"pet† tiger. b . You could get sick. i. As a dealer of exotic animals put it† If it walks, crawls, slithers, or flies, chances are we sell it here† This is also true with their diseases. ii. Wild animals carry diseases dangerous to humans. Some diseases are not curable and can be fatal. Diseases include rabies, distemper, herpes viruses, salmonella, polio, tuberculosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and bubonic plague. Wild animals also harbor parasites, such as tape worms, flukes, and protozoa. iii. According to The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 90% of all reptiles carry and shed salmonella in their feces or some form of intestinal bacteria that can be transferred to their owners. Transition Statement: Now that you know some of the negative effects on the animal and the owner. I find it is also important to know how owning a wild animal is also dangerous to the environment. III. Having wild animals as pets also have a negative effect on the environment. a. Taking them from the wild can endanger the species. I. According to livehonestly. com: To meet the demands of those who keep exotic animals as pets, dealers often have to take the animals from their native lands. This disrupts the ecosystems from which they are stolen, and can disrupt the ecosystems to which they are taken if they escape or are set loose. II. According to the Association of Zoo and Aquariums: Parrots are the world’s most endangered family of birds due to devastation from the international pet trade. The enormous global demand for exotic pets is fueling the illegal capture and trade of millions of birds, mammals and reptiles annually, most of which die while being captured or transported. Transition Statement: On the PETA website, veterinarian and animal behaviorist says that â€Å"people who breed these animals and sell them as pets are playing Russian roulette. † Conclusion Link the conclusion to the introduction: Although wild animals, especially babies, appeal to our human emotions because they are so â€Å"cute†, as adults they can be very destructive and even dangerous to have around. Review the main points and reemphasize your central idea: without proper training you can cause harm to the animals as well as yourself and the environment. Specify desired audience response: if dogs or cats aren’t your thing there are plenty cool and unique animals that you could have as a pet. Memorable concluding statement: The main thing is to leave the wild animals to the professionals. But, if you feel the need to be surrounded by exotic animals there’s always the zoo, and it is so much safer that way. Works Cited Owning wild animals statistics. (2011). Retrieved from www. livescience. com The dangers of keeping wild animals. (2013). Retrieved from www. livehonestly. com Wild animal attacks. (2000). Retrieved from www. dailygreen. com Wild animal pets. (2012). Retrieved from www. aspca. org Wild at home. (2013). Retrieved from www. nationalgeographic. com Exotic pets. (2012). Retrieved from www. peta. org How to cite Wild at Home, Papers

World War I Essays (1661 words) - World War I, French Third Republic

World War I Europe avoided major wars in the 100 years before World War 1 began. In the 1800's, the force of nationalism swept across the continent that helped bring about the Great War. Nationalism was the belief that loyalty to a person's nation and its political and economic goals comes before any other public loyalty. . Nationalism led to the creation of two new powers, Italy and Germany. War had a major role in achieving nation unification in Italy and Germany. Nationalism weakened the eastern European empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey. Rivalry for control of the Balkans added to the tensions that erupted into World War I. Another thing was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip. On June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated The Archduke's assassination triggered the outbreak of World War 1. A month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Because of Austria-Hungary's alliance with Germany, Serbia seeked help from Russia. Russia vowed to stand behind Serbia, but first Russia gained support from France. Germany declared war on Russia on Aug. 1, 1914. Two days later Germany declared war on France. The German Army swept into Belgium on its way to France. The invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on Aug. 4. Germanys plan for a quick defeat of France while Russia slowly mobilized was called the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for two parts of the German army to crush the French army in a pincers movement. A small left wing would defend Germany along its frontier with France. A much larger right wing would inv ade France through Belgium. They would then encircle and capture Paris, and them move east. On August 2 the German government informed the government of Belgium of its intention to march on France through Belgium in order, as it claimed, to forestall an attack on Germany by French troops marching through Belgium. The Belgian government refused to permit the passage of German troops and called on the signatories of the Treaty of 1839, which guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium in case of a conflict in which Britain, France, and Germany were involved, to observe their guarantee. Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that Belgian neutrality be respected. When Germany refused, Britain declared war on it the same day. Belgium's army fought bravely but held up the Germans for only a short time. By Aug 16, 1914, the right wing of Germany could begin its pincers motion. It drove back French and British forces in southern Belgium and swept info France. But instead of swinging west a round Paris, one part of the right wing pursued retreating French troops toward the Marne River. This move left the Germans exposed to attacks form the rear. Nationalism encouraged public support for military build-ups and for a country's use of force to achieve its goals. By the late 1800's, Germany had the best-trained army in the world. In 1898 Germany began developing a naval force that was big enough to challenge the British navy. Advances in technology helped aid in making military forces stronger. Machine guns and other new arms fired more accurately and more rapidly than earlier weapons. By the end of the 1800's, technology enabled countries to fight longer and bear greater losses that ever before. A system of military alliances gave European powers a sense of security before World War 1. They formed these alliances with each other for protection and guarantee that other members of the alliance would come to the country's aid if attacked. Although alliances provided protection, the system also created certain dangers. If war came, the alliance system meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. Alliances could force a country to go to war against a nation it had no quarrel with. The terms of many alliances were kept secret. The Triple Alliance was made up of 3 countries: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. They all agreed to go to war if attacked by Russia. . Bismarck also brought Austria-Hungary and Germany into alliance with Russia. The agreement was known as the Three Emperor's League. They all agreed to

Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies

Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies Introduction Perceptions of alien cultures are normally formed through a series of impressions from varied sources. Some may be newspaper articles written about people from that land; others may be books on the same while others are television programs or movies about that culture.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Every contact that an individual has with any of these avenues can either contribute to a deeper and true understanding of the alien culture or it may lead to a prejudicial and mistaken image or perception of the group. This research will focus on the Chinese as the alien culture and western audiences as the reference group formulating these images. Movies will be the communication medium that gets this information out. An analysis of Chinese stereotypes reflected in movies Background of the research China has had a tumultuous history over the past five decades. It underwent a cultural revolution in which its leaders tried to eliminate foreign (especially western) elements of culture in their land. This has the result of isolating China and Chinese culture from the rest of the world (Spence, 2010). Its people were inaccessible and many people did not understand them subsequently. Much has changed in China since the 1970s because the Chinese have travelled around the world and the world has gone to China. Nonetheless, these interactions do not guarantee accurate and well grounded understandings of the Chinese people. Some westerners still choose to look at them based on their past political, social and cultural misgivings and these perceptions get conveyed through communications and media. Alternatively, others may see them for what they are but may choose to focus on the negatives inherent in their culture and this leads to formation of stereotypes (Terraciano et. al, 2005). Further still, most westerners may no t have the time to visit China and may therefore rely on television and movies for information on its culture (Sheridian, 2006). What audiences see on the cinemas or across their screens will eventually determine their treatment of the Chinese people if they come into contact with them. Indeed, it has been asserted that several movie roles containing Chinese actors have some commonalities. It is critical to examine whether these roles are tolerant or prejudicial and whether they lead to a better understanding of the Chinese people or a distorted image of them (Cogan, 2005). Societies can either get along with another or be more alienated from each other depending on their perceptions. It is therefore critical to look at how these perceptions are created.Advertising Looking for report on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Purposes of carrying out the research The main research objective will be to:  "Analyse Chinese stereotypes in movies† The specific objectives will include: To identify the various stereotypical depictions of the Chinese in movies To determine the relationship between Chinese stereotype roles in movies and their real life roles To assess whether Chinese stereotypes in movies harm or contribute to an understanding between China and the western world The specific objectives in this case focus on unravelling the nature of stereotypes of the Chinese with particular emphasis on movies as the source of the stereotypes; this particularly refers to specific objective one. The objectives also focus on comparing these stereotypes with actual social roles. In other words, the research will be focusing on placing the stereotypes in context and showing whether there is a gap between the actual and the perceived. This will demonstrate whether these stereotypes actually are a misunderstanding of the Chinese people or not. The comparison lies in specific objective two . Lastly the research aims at relating these stereotypes to cultural tolerance by examining whether the stereotypes are promoting an understanding between westerners and the Chinese or whether they are actually alienating them from one another as seen through specific objective three. Research questions In the focus group, the following questions will be asked: â€Å"What are the common stereotypes on Chinese intellect in movies? What are the common stereotypes on the kind of lives they lead? What are the stereotypes of the Chinese on their attitudes towards food? What are the stereotypes on their values systems? What are the stereotypes on their attitudes to work? What are the stereotypes on their personalities? What are the stereotypes on gender roles? How do these Chinese stereotypes in movies help or hinder an understanding of the Chinese?† In the questionnaires, participants will be required to answer these questions by selecting a response between 1 and 5. The questionn aire will require Chinese and non Chinese participants to respond the research questions below: â€Å"Do you agree that the Chinese tend to conform to authority? Do you agree that the Chinese are passionate about food? Do you agree that gender relations in China are unfair?Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Do you agree that the Chinese live dull and boring lives? Do you agree that the Chinese are hardworking? Do you agree that the Chinese fear confrontation? Do you agree that manners are very important to the Chinese?† Responses to these questions by the Chinese participants will constitute the x variable (which represent actual Chinese roles in real life) while responses to the same question by non Chinese participants will constitute the y variable which will be the Chinese stereotypes reflected in movies. Possible ethical challenges i n the research Since this will be a research involving human subjects, then a range of ethical issues need to be covered by the latter group. First of all, informed consent will be an important part of this process because the information under analysis will not be public information. The research participants will be specifically picked and they need to be aware that the information they provide will be part of a research publication which will be available to the public (Sharf, 2006). Participants in this research will be told what the research entails and their express permission will be sought. The contributors to the research will also have some privacy concerns which need to be incorporated during the research process. In other words, some may feel like some questions are too intrusive or relate to their personal lives. In the actual research, precedence will be given to questions that only relate to the research objectives. Very little attention will be given to unnecessary o r intrusive questions. Also, other participants will require a certain level of anonymity especially because culturally related studies may be sensitive and controversial. To this end, all the subjects will be identified by a number rather than their names throughout the research process and in the research report as well. Issues of responsibility from the part of the researcher will need to be considered as well. Sometimes, the researcher will have to mislead the participants in order to get what he or she is looking for but this should be kept at a minimum. The researcher will conduct the investigation in an honest way.Advertising Looking for report on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Numerous issues will have to be covered in terms of copyright infringement and authorship. Taking credit for another researcher’s work is not tolerated and will therefore not occur in this research. All the external information will be properly referenced. Also, issues of fabrication may crop up. Some researchers may decide to change data or may use personal biases if the research is qualitative. The subject matter which is Chinese stereotypes in movies could expose some biases in western audiences and these cannot be neutralised or exaggerated through interventions made by the researcher so no such things will be done. It is not ethical to overstate the number of subjects and this will not occur in the subsequent publication (Hobbs Wright, 2006). Methodological outline This research will use mixed research methods, i.e. a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. The quantitative aspect will involve the use of questionnaires and the qualitative aspect will entai l a focus group. Because specific objective one is qualitative in nature i.e. the identification of Chinese stereotypes in movies then this will be done through the focus group. Also, specific objective three which focuses on assessing whether the stereotypes leads to misunderstandings or understandings between western and Chinese cultures is also qualitative in nature because it involves providing an in depth look at a social phenomenon that it is context specific (Hesse-Biber Leavy, 2006). The qualitative aspect will be through the use of focus groups. On the other hand, specific objective three will require quantitative analysis because it attempts to make a generalisation about the issues of Chinese stereotypes as compared to their actual roles. Therefore, many cases of these comparisons will be looked at in order to draw out a pattern on their relationships. This part will be done through the use of questionnaires. Mixed methods for the research were selected because of the ad vantages they would create in the paper. First of all, they provide room for triangulation. In any research, there is always the possibility of external influencers in the research. Mixed methods reduce the effects of these interferers on the results and therefore contribute towards consistent results. Additionally, the mixed methods will introduce complementarities into the research. One method may not be that specific and may require another one in order to enrich it (Uwe, 2007). In this particular research, the quantitative method which employs the use of questionnaires will not offer some additional and deeper issues concerning Chinese stereotype depictions in movies especially on the nature of the depictions themselves and the effects they have upon the two cultures. To this end, focus group analysis was introduced in order to bring in those different dimensions. Also their open ended nature contributes more to these insights because it ensures that participants are not trapped by the narrow views of the researcher. Furthermore, mixed methods contribute towards a development process in the research. This is because one method can give partial results and then it may need another method to complete it. In this regard, the focus group method will be a development of the quantitative questionnaires. All in all, the use of more than one method in research will ensure that the paper is rich and detailed. It will also entail the expansion of the study on interactions between Chinese and western cultures. This research design will bring out better results owing to the fact that most of the strategy entails utilisation of mixed methods. Further still, it is likely that the scope and quality of this research will be much greater than it would have been if it depended on only one method. The research aims at being more expansive on issues of cultural interactions; by increasing the level of accountability, the research report will be more critical and more reflexiv e (Neuman, 2007). Proposed data analysis Data analysis will need to be done in two phases owing to the fact that two methods were used in the research Focus group data analysis: as stated earlier, the research questions that were qualitative in nature included specific objective one and three which attempted to determine the nature of Chinese stereotypes and to assess the impact that the stereotypes have on understandings or misunderstandings between the two cultures. These objectives will be analysed through a step by step procedure. First, the transcripts recording all the focus group sessions will be obtained and so will observation notes as well the audio tapes. It should be noted that these various ways of recording were employed in order to capture every single piece of information conveyed by the contributors (Litoseliti, 2005). The data will need to be organised first. Here, the responses will be arranged in a manner that falls in line with the research questions. In other w ords, all the key points that the research will unravel will be categorised through the specified research objectives. Key points will be determined by having a look at the things that the participants wanted to talk about mostly. They will then be coded into certain variables such as gender relations, Chinese value systems, reverence for authority and diligence. After categorising the key points, the research will then review that information in order to confirm some of the stated objectives. For example, it will look at some of the issues that were assumed to be certain but then challenged in the focus group. It will also look at some of the issues that had been suspected but were confirmed or even challenged by members of the focus group. New data that had not been thought of certainly will also be reviewed. All the data will be codified under agreed upon codes. Since it may sometimes be difficult to decide this by oneself, it will be essential to look for external parties to hel p in this codifying process (Silverman, 2005). Neutral individuals can contribute towards better results because they are not blocked by previous conceptions of the same. The analysis will then be verified by another external party so as to make sure that there is sufficient evidence to make the conclusions in the research report. If the external party will come to the same conclusion as the researcher then this means that the data was properly analysed. The quantitative aspect of the research will be analysed through the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The data has to be related to the research objective (Piantadosi et. al, 2007) which was to ‘To determine the relationship between Chinese stereotype roles in movies and their real life roles’. The x variable in this case will be elements that reflect real life roles and the y variable will be the elements that symbolise stereotypes of the Chinese in movies. The ranks assigned to both will be one to five depending on whether participants agree or disagree with each element on the research. 1 will be for ‘strongly disagree’ while 5 will represent the other end of the scale which will be ‘strongly agree’. The data analysis will commence by creation of two columns first. Column 1 will be labelled Xi – containing of all the elements that will depict Chinese roles as seen in real life and the next column will be labelled xi and this will be an indication of the rankings assigned to each variable. The third column will be labelled Yi and will contain all the elements that are associated with the stereotypes of the Chinese. The fourth column will contain rankings for these stereotypes as well from 1 to 5 for strongly agree and strongly disagree respectively and will be called yi. It should be noted that some of the elements that will be form part of the Chinese stereotypes in movies include: ‘conformance to authority’, ‘strict gender role s’, ‘overly hardworking’, ‘dull and boring lives’ and ‘fear of confrontation’. Participants will be required to state whether they strongly agree with these elements or somewhat disagree, somewhat agree or strongly disagree with these variables on Chinese culture. The fifth column will contain differences between columns xi and yi and will be known as di. Finally, the sixth column will contain a squared value of di. The spearman’s correlations coefficient (ÃŽ ¡) will then be computed through the latter formula ÃŽ ¡=∑i(xi-†¾x)(yi-†¾x) √{∑i(xi-†¾x) 2 (yi-†¾x)2} (Corder Foremen, 2009) Significance of the study and proposed result interpretation This study will be statistically significant if the null hypothesis i.e. there is no relationship between Chinese stereotypes in movies and their actual roles in real life is negated and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient is not zero or has a ne gative value. This will indicate that these stereotypes actually hold true and are an indication of how the Chinese really are. Conversely, the coefficient could have a positive value that affirms the null hypothesis. In this regard, the study will reveal that western cultures misinterpret the Chinese way of life by relying on stereotypical images of these people in their movies. With regard to the focus group, the results on various depictions of Chinese stereotypes will be an eye opener because they will be critiquing a very common and often relied upon information source. These results will be demonstrating that audiences need not embrace some of the communications they receive on face value because a substantial number of them may contain distortions about other cultures (Aronson Steele, 2005). The second research objective under analysis through the focus group method will be highly significant. If it has been shown that stereotypes contribute towards a misunderstanding of Chi nese culture then westerners will be aware of the source of these misunderstandings and may be prompted to act in order to counter those forces by reforming the film industry. Alternatively, they may be urged to look for more accurate information about the Chinese culture and this will promote greater tolerance between the two groups. On the other hand, if it has been found that there is really greater understanding of Chinese culture through these stereotypes, then it is likely that movies as a means of communication will continue to perpetuate the stereotypes and westerners will be a little less closer to the Chinese than they would have been if the stereotypes were found not to be true. Western media will come off as objective and highly reliable. Conclusion Generally, the study will contribute towards a deeper understanding of a non western culture through the film lens. In the end, cross cultural interactions will be better understood and perhaps will be smoothened due to this attention given through the research (Ewen Ewen, 2006). Reference Cogan, T. (2005). Western Images of China: Recent travel accounts. Waseda studies in social sciences, 2(1), 24 Corder, G. Foremen, D. (2009). Non parametric statistics for non statisticians. NY: Wiley Spence, J. (2010). The Chan’s Great continent: China in western minds, London: Norton Sharf, J. (2006). Ethics of doing naturalistic discourse research. London: Sage Piantadosi, J., Bolan, J. Howlett, P. (2007). Matching the grade correlation coefficient using a copula with maximum disorder. Industrial and management optimization, 3(2), 305-312 Uwe, F. (2007). The sage qualitative research kit. London: Sage Hesse-Biber, S. Leavy, P. (2006). The practice of qualitative research. London: Sage Neuman, W. (2007). Basics of social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches. London: Allen and Bacon Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook. London: Sage Litoseliti, L. (2005). Usin g focus groups in research. London: Continuum Hobbs, D Wright, R. (2006). Sage handbook of fieldwork. London: Sage Ewen, S. Ewen, E. (2006). Typecasting: On the arts and science of human inequality. NY: Seven stories press Terraciano, A., Adam, N. Abdel Khalek, A. (2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science, 310(57), 96 Sheridian, P. (2006). Hollywood, Burbank and resulting imaginings. Journal of public affairs, 5(13), 72-73 Aronson. J. Steele, C. (2005). Stereotypes and fragility of academic motivation competence and self concept. Competence handbook. NY: Mcmillan

The Most Famous Arsonist in Ancient Greece Wanted to Be a Star

The Most Famous Arsonist in Ancient Greece Wanted to Be a Star The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were famous even in antiquity, but not everyone loved gorgeous architectural marvels. Heres a tale of the ancient worlds most infamous arsonist, who burned down one of the greatest buildings of the Mediterranean. The Burning of the Temple The burning of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus  in modern Turkey, which was first built in the sixth century B.C.E., happened on the same day Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C.E.  According to Plutarch, a guy named Hegesias the Magnesian quipped that Artemis  (Diana for the Romans), goddess of childbirth, among other things, was too busy welcoming the future king of Macedon and much of the Mediterranean into the world to keep an eye on the temple. The Ephesian priests, dubbed the Magi, took the destruction of the temple as a much bigger portent. Looking upon the temples disaster as a sign of further disaster, [they] ran about beating their faces and crying aloud that woe and great calamity for Asia had that day been born. Of course, that danger was baby Alexander, who would  eventually brutally conquer most of Asia. The Ultimate Punishment:  Being Forgotten Forever! The criminal responsible was a man named Herostratus. What made him commit such a heinous act? According to first-century author  Valerius  Maximus: Here is appetite for glory involving sacrilege. A man was found to plan the burning of the temple of Ephesian  Diana so that through the destruction of this most beautiful building his name might be spread through the whole world. This madness he unveiled when put upon the rack. In other  words, after being tortured, Herostratus admitted he torched  the temple for personal fame.  Maximus added, The Ephesians had wisely abolished the memory of the villain by decree, but Theopompus’s eloquent genius included him in his history. Herostratus was the most hated man around...so much so that a   damnatio  (meaning his memory was to be obliterated forever)  was decreed! The second-century C.E. Roman writer Aulus Gellius noted that Herostratus was dubbed inlaudabilis, namely, one who is worthy neither of mention nor remembrance, and  is never to be named. It was decreed that no one should ever mention the name of the man who had burned the temple of Diana at Ephesus.   If Herostratuss name and  memory were banned,  then how do we know about him? Most sources followed the rules and never mentioned his name, but Strabo disagreed. He was the first to break the rules in his Geography, stating the Ephesian temple was set on fire by a certain Herostratus.  The priest Aelian even  associated Herostratus  with atheists and enemies of the gods. After Herostratus did his dastardly deed, the Ephesians didnt hesitate in resurrecting their holy spot. According to Strabo, the citizens constructed one more magnificent. Howd they get the cash for such an extravagant building? Strabo said the tax collectors brought in ornaments of the women, contributions from private property, and the money arising from the sale of pillars of the former temple to pay for a new one. So the temple was even more awesome than before, all thanks to a firebug.