Should We Allow Gay Marriages as Civil Unions

Consumerism in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep essays

Consumerism in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep essays In the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick explores the recurring idea of entropy-a concept which describes everything as moving towards disorder and energy as being perpetually lost and wasted. This idea of constant disorder in emotional, societal, and metaphysical aspects permeates throughout the story. It is represented by consumerist characters who readily purchase commodities as well as by kipple, which serves as a symbol for wasted goods. Throughout his novel, Dick notes how entropy is a continuous, and unstoppable procedure and suggests that humans consumerism is a futile attempt to fight it. Dick employs the mood organ to suggest that attempts at reducing disorder through artificial means leads to further chaos and bedlam. Dick introduces the protagonist of the story, Rick Deckard, and his wife, Iran, and through the dialogue, he immediately portrays their relationship as unconventional and broken. Iran constantly berates Rick, calling him a murderer with crude cops hand[s] and Rick, in response feels irritable which grows to outright hostility towards his own wife (Dick 4). To combat these negative feelings, they use a technological development called a mood organ; a device which can control a users mood. Instead of finding genuine hope and happiness in this decaying world, they resort to artificial and consumerist products that reduce complex emotions to simple three digit numbers. Rick can just dial in numbers for creative and fresh attitude toward his job, awareness of the manifold possibilities, or ecstatic sexual bliss (6-7). However, the mood organ can also be u sed for negative emotions and when arguing with Iran, he considers dialing for a thalamic suppressant (which would abolish his mood of rage) or a thalamic stimulant (which would make him irked enough to win the argument) (4). T...

INTERNATIONAL HRM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

INTERNATIONAL HRM - Assignment Example As a result, the concept has evolved to be wider and more complex to be defined within limited words. It has also expanded its dimensions by covering cultural, political, technological and economical divergences in order to determine appropriate set of objectives and strategies in order to attain them. Therefore, HRM practices differ from one nation and geographical region to another. With this belief, the discussion of the paper will emphasise on identifying various dimensions of International HRM in the context of the US. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the impact of political, economical, social and technological factors existing on the HRM practices in the US. Moreover, the paper will critically evaluate and analyse two key areas of HRM in modern day phenomenon, i.e. training & development and performance appraisal applied by a US based multinational company, i.e. Walmart. 2.0. International HRM In recent years, the world has witnessed steep rise in international activi ties which forced the managerial dimension to cross the regional boundaries and enter the international market. For instance, evidences reveal that since the early 20th century, international trade and production operations have increased substantially. This forced national companies to expand their business in the global platform recognising them as Multinational Companies (MNCs). Consequently, there are also few challenges which are faced by MNCs while implementing their HRM practices in the international platform. However, managing dichotomous cultures and economic factors with efficiency is termed to be the most challenging tasks of International HRM (IHRM) (Tayeb, 2005). Similar set of challenges were also faced by the US based MNCs in their global operations. Studies reveal that during early period, most of the US based international companies witnessed failure in their global operations, especially in managing their human resources with efficacy due to lack of effectiveness i n the HRM policies. In other words, the companies were concerned in practicing similar kind of HRM policies in the international platform as it did in the national context, i.e. in the US. Consequently, the practices lacked affectivity and efficacy and thus faced the challenges in terms of expatriation (Ashamalla, 1998). In this context, numerous researches have been performed to identify the effect of global and local factors in determining the efficacy of IHRM practices by the US based international companies. Most of the researches stated that the IHRM practices and policies of the companies operating globally often tended to provided greater significance to the local factors without entirely ignoring the prospects of their parent companies. Evidences have also revealed that different factors existing in the external environment influences the IHRM practices. For instance, the IHRM practices and policies executed by the Japanese leaders globally tend to be highly focussed on the localised factors in terms of ‘corporate welfarism’, but in a tailored manner to adopt the changes present in the targeted market while training the expatriates. Likewise, the IHRM policies and practices implemented by the US subsidiaries tend to be based on developmental strategies to a large extent with a similar concern. Therefore, it becomes quite apparent that both the international and national factors influence the IHRM practices

Rivalry between the Two Online Shopping Companies Assignment - 1

Rivalry between the Two Online Shopping Companies - Assignment Example The researcher states that China has become one of the most attractive (in terms of profitability) international markets for making FDIs, and hence, many foreign companies have already entered in this market and other new entrants are trying to enter. However, the domestic Chinese companies have realised market potential considering the performances of the foreign companies in China. Online trading in China has come a long way. The start of China’s online or E-tailing revolution was slow because of several key issues. The political, Legal and social structure in China had many internet based companies question the profitability of setting up e-business in China. Lack of proper infrastructure also delayed the entrance of e-business in China. China lacked technological and financial backing to enter the e-business market. The main reason which made companies avoid China for their e-business was the uncertainty about the policies that the Chinese government will devise to attract foreign industries. China had an extremely low internet penetration. A very selective elite percentage of Chinese population had access to computers and internet. The legal framework regarding the laws and policies governing e-business were not stringent. Buyers often after bidding something online would back out on payment. Such casual approach discouraged many e-businesses from entering Chinese market. The buyers were often not provided with the product they had ordered for. These trends had made the buyers in China very sceptical about the credibility of online purchase. A survey conducted in 2002 by China internet network information centre (CINIC) showed that 13.9 percent of buyers in China did not receive their ordered products.

Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Accounting - Assignment Example teriality, risk oversight, & management, environmental risks & related matters, forward looking information requirements, impact of adopting IFRS, and governance. The Notice requires issuers to consider both qualitative & quantitative factors when assessing the materiality of information. It also reminds issuers that some immaterial facts in isolation often can become material in aggregate. It further proposes that those matters that are likely to become material in aggregate e.g. prospective clean technology expenditures be disclosed as early as possible. Materiality concept is very imperative when it comes to information disclosure because investors rely on the disclosed information to make decisions. Thus, it is important that any information that is likely to influence the decisions of an in investor be disclosed. The notice classifies environmental risks under such topics as litigation risks, reputational risks, business model risks, physical risks, & regulatory risks. The Notice further provides questions in a table format to help issuers in determining risks for each of the aforementioned categories. For instance if an issuer obtains raw material supplies from a region prone to hurricanes, he/she should disclose the mitigation steps taken to minimizes from chances of loss arising from such environmental physical risk. Either concerning the regulatory risks, future cost compliances should be disclosed. In situations where it is difficult to quantify risks, then it is imperative to make disclosure for such underlying risks. A consumer’s response to environmental unsustainable products comprises reputational risk. The Notice states because of this, the issuers’ costs of capital will be affected. Significantly, higher costs of energy because of upstream regulation represent busin ess model risk. Disclosure Form 51-102F1 Management’s Discussion & Analysis demands that among other things, material information, which may not be reflect by financial

Different Views On Motivation Education Essay

Different Views On Motivation Education Essay Motivation, a psychological feature can be defined as the direction and intensity of ones effort (Sage, 1977). In short, the direction of ones effort alludes to an individual is attracted to a certain situation, for example the student may be motivated to go out for a soccer team. Whereas, the intensity of ones effort refers to how much effort a person put forward in a particular situation, for example a student may attend physical education class but do not put effort during class. The relationship of direction and intensity of efforts are directly related, typically a student who seldom miss training lesson will usually put in more effort during participation. Different views on motivation There are generally 3 different types of views on how motivation works, typically the trait-centered, the situation centered, and the interactional. The trait centered view refers to a motivated behavior actually comes from individual character. The personality, needs, interests and goals are some of the component that determines a motivated behavior. The situation centered views sees motivation as an influence of a certain situation. A student may be unmotivated in attending soccer training but motivated to play for the school soccer team. The last view of motivation which is widely endorsed by sport psychologists is the interactional view, this view actually combines the trait centered views and situation centered views to form a new view. An interactional view of motivation study was conducted by Sorrentino and Sheppard (1978) on 44 male and 33 female swimmers in universities, testing them on a 200 yard individual event and then a part of a relay team. The study has shown that kno wing the swimmers personal characteristics (trait centered view) was not the best way to predict the behavior (individual best split time), because the performance also depended on the situation like whether it is relay or individual race (situation centered view) (Brewer B, ,2009)3. Achievement motivation and Competitiveness In sport, achievement motivation and competitiveness are known to be able to influence performance and participation. Achievement motivation is defined as a persons efforts to master a task, achieve excellence, overcome obstacles, perform better than others, taking pride in exercising talent (Murray, 1938). It allows athletes, exercisers, students to achieve excellence, to gain high levels of fitness and to maximize learning respectively. Achievement motivation is also an inclusive of trait view, situation view and interactional view of a motivation of a person. Competitiveness, on the other hand is defined as disposition to strive for satisfaction when making comparisons with some standard of excellence in the presence of evaluative others (Martens, 1976). Both deal not just with the final outcome but also the journey of getting to the final outcomes. Own motivation experience I am interested in the concept of motivation because due to my own personal account. I am currently a contract Physical education (PE) teacher with Ministry of Education. In 2 months time (June 2010), I will be going to National Institute of Education (NIE) in Nanyang Technological University to train as a PE teacher. However to be admitted into NIE, I need to pass a physical proficiency test (PPT) conducted by NIE Physical Education and Sports Science. The PPT comprises of 5 different stations, namely the agility run, badminton, possession game, gymnastic and swimming. To pass the PPT, a candidate must achieve the following: a. A score a total of 9 points or more in the test. b. Does not fail any station. To date, I have taken the PPT twice, but failed to pass the agility run station both time, the minimum passing time for the station for male runner is less than 17.7 sec. Even though, I am very disappointed, but I am very determined and motivated to take and pass the test again. Hence, the achievement motivation (Wikipedia, Jan 2010)2. for this PPT has influence a wide variety of my current behaviors, thoughts and feeling for example. Choice of activity (seeking out runners of greater ability to learn with them the correct techniques). Effort to purse goals (I have been practicing for every alternate days) Intensity of effort in the pursuit of goals. (To do 25 mins sprinting, mobility, warms up before the run.) Persistence in the face of failure and adversity (When I still not able to run within the 17.7 secs, I will work harder, to try new ways to run the test.) In short, with the understanding of the 4 theories of achievement motivation, I (considering myself as low achievers) have summaries the major predication from each theory and hoped to use them to guide my own practice to pass my PPT in march 2010. Low achiever Motivation orientation High motivation to avoid failure (Need to pass PPT) Attributions Ascribes failure to stable and internal factors within my control. (Dry testing field, well prepared) Goal adopted Outcome goals (Pass PPT) Perceived competence and control Low perceived competence and believes achievement is outside own control. (To date, still cannot clear 17.7 sec) Task choice Seeks out difficult challenges (Pass PPT, to become PE teacher) Performance conditions Performs poorly in evaluative conditions Four theories of achievement motivation Over the years, four main theories were evolved to explain motivation in people, they are the need achievement theory, attribution theory, achievement goal theory and competence motivation theory. Need achievement theory Need achievement theory (Atkinson 1974; MClelland, 1961) has 5 components which include personality factors, situational factors, resultant tendencies, emotional reactions, and achievement related behaviors. These components serve as the framework to predict task preferences and performance outcomes. Achievement related behavior results from the interaction of the other four components (high achievers tend to perform better when evaluated and select challenging tasks with intermediate risks; low achievers tend to avoid risky and challenging tasks, and perform less well when evaluated). Attribution theory This theory focus on the explanations that people tend to make to explain success or failure (Heider, 1958, Weiner 1985, 1986). The theory has 3 main categories, they are stability, locus of causality and locus of control. Stability refers the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the we believe the cause is stable, then the outcome is likely to be the same if we perform the same behavior on another occasion. If it is unstable, the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.. Locus of causality refers to the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment. Locus of control refers to the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is on e that we do not believe we can easily alter. The most important contribution of the theory is it explains the attributions affect expectations of future success or failure and emotional reactions (Biddle, Hanrahan Sellars, 2001; McAuley, 1993b). Achievement goal theory According to this theory three factors interact to determine a persons motivation: Achievement goals, Perceived ability, Achievement behavior. This theory also indicates that individuals in achievement settings are typically oriented to one of two goals either task goal or outcome goal. When determining whether or not they have been successful in these contexts. Someone may have an task goal orientation where they only focuses on comparing performance with personal standards and personal improvement Others may have an outcome orientation that focuses on comparing performance with and defeating others, Competence motivation theory A theory of achievement motivation based on a persons feelings of personal competence. According to the theory, competence motivation increases when a person successfully masters a task. This encourages the person to master more tasks (Weiss Chaumeton, 1992). For example, a young high self-esteem soccer player believes that he has control over the learning and performance of skills, then the efforts to learn the game will increase his pride and happiness, this will in turn lead to increased motivation. An analysis of the relationships between the four theories Based on the book (Weinberg, R.S., Gould, D. (Eds), 2007)1, the 4 theories of achievement motivation are able to work together and give a clear predication of the motivational behavior for high and low achievers. The table below establishs how high and low achievers vary in terms of their motivationals orientation, attributions, the goals, their task choices, their perceived competence and control, and their performance. High achiever Low achiever Motivation orientation High motivation to achieve success Low motivation to aviod future Focus on the pride of sucess Low motivation to achieve success High motivation to aviod future Focus on shame and worry that may result from failure Attributions Ascribes success to stable and internal factors within ones control Ascribes failure to unstable and external factors outside ones control Ascribes success to unstable and external factors outside ones control Ascribes failure to stable and internal factors within ones control Goal adopted Adopts task goals Adopts outcome goals Perceived competence and control High perceived competence and believes achievement is within ones control Low perceived competence and believes achievement is outside own control. Task choice Seeks out challenges and able comptitors and tasks Aviod challenges; seeks out very diffcult or very easy tasks and competitors Performance conditions Performs well in evaluative conditions Performs poorly in evaluative conditions In contast, high achievers normally embrace task goals and are fully aware of their own ability and control. They believe success is due to stable and internal factors like high skill and they see failure is due to unstable and control factors like low efforts, they always have a positive and optimistic attitude. For example, someone who has a positive attitude always focuses on opportunities rather than on potential drawbacks. They focus on solutions rather than on problems. Low achievers usually have low ability and control, believing on more outcome goals and credit success to luck and ease of the task, they blame failure due to low ability. They always have negative attitudes most of the time. For example, they focus on the possible drawbacks rather than on opportunities. The low achievers tend to dive in and find problems when others find solutions. In summary, with the results tabled above, parents, teachers and coaches are able indentify the personal and situation factors in influencing achievement behavior for different individuals (for high and low achievers). They are able to emphasize task or master goals instead of outocme goals for different individuals. They are also need to assess and correct inappropriate individuals attributions and enhance perceptions of competence and control. And finally, helping different individuals to decide when to compete and when to focus on individual improvement.

Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by :: English Literature

Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by two very different poets, both of whom write with regards to their own cultures, backgrounds and places of origin SCAVENGERS and NOTHING’S CHANGED Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by two very different poets, both of whom write with regards to their own cultures, backgrounds and places of origin – all of which are very different. What could these two poems have in common. Ostensibly, nothing. Scavengers is simply about the social divide between the upper and working classes, whilst Nothing’s Changed tells of a young man’s anger at being discriminated because of his colour. But after even the most shallow disection it is easy to see the connection between these two poems. Nothing’s Changed’s angry young man is obviously a victim of other peoples racial prejudice, but the two bin men of Scavengers are also victims of prejudice, looked down upon by the middle and upper classes because of their job, their financial situation, their parents. There’s your first shared theme. Then you got the second: hypocrisy. The hypocrisy theme runs strong in both poems. In Nothing’s Changed it’s that this poem takes place after a law had been passed against racial discrimination. Laws change. Attitudes don’t. There may not be a sign on the door denying the young boy entry, for it is an unwritten law that he is rebelling against. He is rebelling against the attitudes of the people inside the resturant. With Scavengers it is the entire American Dream that is called into question and shown up to be what it is: a lie. The American Dream is that anyone, no matter the class, creed or connections, can do anything, be anything. A person born into poverty and raised on the streets can rise to be president. All it takes is hard work, and you can be whoever you want to be. Which is, of course, a lie. The current president of the United States is a straight C student. In this country, he might have scraped into Sixth Form by the skin of his teeth. He might have got to be a office desk jockey for a paper merchant. But in the US, he’s the son of a former president, argo – he’s president. Of course, blood has nothing to do with it *please read with dripping sarcasm in mind*. The poem is quite clear in it’s message: The American Dream Is a Lie! Great Hemocracy? Great Hipocrisy. There’s another thing that connects the two poems. It’s the idea that many people in these unfortunate positions often hinder any sort of