WEEK 4 DQ 7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

WEEK 4 DQ 7 - Assignment Example Generally, organizational culture helps in enhancing teamwork in the organization. The type of organizational culture adopted and applied in an organization depends on the management and the amount of control that it wants to exercise in the organization (Schein, 2010). The most common types of organizational culture include the collaborative culture, the controlled culture, the competitive culture, and the creative culture. The collaborative culture encourages teamwork and cooperation of activities while the controlled one depends on punctuality and has fewer margins for error. On the other hand, the competitive culture encourages competition between the employees on a daily basis while the creative one allows independence in projects. The culture provides a sense of identity, promotes trust, fosters commitment, and gives the employees a reason to behave in a certain way (Sims, 2002). An organization’s culture is very important because the organization can use it to improve i ts overall performance. This is because the culture determines the mode of decision making in the organization as well as the extent to which the employees can communicate with the management to provide input on certain issues that may be affecting the organization. A good organizational culture can even function as an organization’s competitive

Political Science Essay Example for Free

Political Science Essay Non-governmental organizations and Inter-governmental organization are defined as actors in the international level which operate and they carry out their activities without any state control. Non-governmental organizations are formed voluntarily by citizens, with the aim of charitable participation within the organization. They are independent within the laws of society and are managed by those elected or the appointed board. Its legal status is based on freedom of association, one of the most basic human rights. This paper will focus on various aspects of these two kinds of organizations and their effects on the international relations of a state. NGOs are not established with the purpose of making profit rather they are engaged in revenue-generating activities. The revenue obtained is used in pursuit of the organization’s mission. Employees get the proper reward for relevant work done. Nevertheless, boards are not paid for the work they do but are reimbursed for any expense they incur in executing board duties. In addition, NGOs aims at improving the circumstances and prospects of people and to act on issues detrimental to the well being of the society as a whole (Ahmed Potter, 2008). There exists great diversification in terms of independence, size of business, source of funding, international reach and operating procedures. These organizations can execute projects, shield or promote specific causes and seek to manipulate policy. NGOs are not subject to international law and include organizations like Amnesty international, the International chamber of Commerce and International Red Cross. IGOs  Intergovernmental organizations, commonly abbreviated as IGOs, comprise of sovereign states that are positioned to carry out projects and plans in common interest. NGOs act in conjunction with IGOs by complimenting IGO- initiated and funded programmes, as operational partners. IGOs include organizations like the European Union and the international financial institutions, World Bank. Most of IGOs work for and are financed by rich corporations and some state governments (Beigbeder, 1991). They are important aspect of public international law and are formed by treaty that acts as a bond creating the group. IGOs plays a major role by providing means of cooperation and multiple channels of communication between and among states in fields which cooperation and communication provides advantages for almost all nations. With the major roles of IGOs as rule making, data collection and agenda setting, they decrease uncertainty between states and explore cooperative solution for international problems. IGOs may manipulate norms of international relations and preferences of nation-states; for instance, the United Nations Environment Program which played key role in the conception of regimes such as the protection of the Mediterranean Sea. A well known case is the International Atomic Energy Agency which evidenced that IGOs play a significant role in monitoring principles, norms and rules of international institutions and international regimes. Infrastructure has developed within states as IGOs are greatly concerned with technical issues like telecommunication, postal services, transportation and environmental management. Economic development has been witnessed with IMF and the World Bank being successful in money flowing, debt management and financing debt issues between rich and poor states. States are able to obtain information about the international society and politics. Decisions made by IGOs are as a result of negotiations among the governmental agents assigned to them. Activities of IGOs such as the UN and the IMF are seen to be more influential for most diminutive countries as compared with countries with very big powers as they are not constrained too much by their principles. NGOs exists in many kinds such as transnational, governmental organized, governmental regulated and initiated, business and industry, transnational social movements and anti-governmental. For the recent decade their effectiveness for transnational politics has become pertinent and their number increased. NGOs mobilize universal networks by creating transnational organizations, gathering data on local conditions through associates around the world, creating immediate response and drum up pressure from the outside states. NGOs work hand in hand with IGOs by participating in their conferences and engaging in social appointments, building communal coalitions, raising new agendas and addressing IGOs meetings (Beigbeder, 1991). They also maintain inter-state collaboration by preparing backing papers, reports and refining delegates of states to narrow technical gap, intensifying policy options and bringing delegates together. They carry out activities within states such as linking to local partners and transnational movements, providing humanitarian aid protecting persons in danger. NGOs promote public participation within states by bringing awareness to the government delegates that they are being watched. This is achieved through the endless effort in increasing transparency and honesty of international negotiations and public institutions and aggravating public protest. They do mobilization of international community to fight against oppression, afflict, group and personal rights. Effects of NGOs and NGOs on international relations of a state Non-state actors have caused great transformation in international relations as they have become the major determinants of foreign policies of nation states as they have remained active in playing their major roles in more than one state. They are involved in both domestic and international settings. Through their personal connection with their employees, they help nation states to solve problems such as climatological changes, shortage of food, poverty, and insufficient natural resources. In many cases of political conflicts like the cold war which resulted to tribalism and other cultural cleavages, many non-state actors have been involved to solve them and shape national, regional and international policies and thus their role has been widely accepted by many political scientists. However, these scientists only differed on the level of relevance and effectiveness of non-state actors. Intergovernmental organizations and Non-governmental organizations are included in the part of world system and are source of effectiveness in international politics. In today’s world, it has become quite difficult to evaluate international politics and pattern without attaching the great influence of non-state actors which are gaining position. Moreover, non-state actors have shown concern with the rural poor and have managed to maintain field presence in distant locations where it quite difficult to keep government staff in station. They have identified the needs of the rural poor in terms of agricultural developments. They have also implemented new systems for testing new technology such as soya production in Bangladesh (Ahmed Potter, 2008). In other cases, non-state actors have assisted to organize landless labourers to get and operate water pumping technology and irrigation schemes. Concisely, they have sustained joint efforts in soil and water conservation whether is on private land or on micro-watershed areas. Conclusion  In conclusion, increased transactions, awareness and common concern on regional and global problems require collaboration between states and non-state actors so as to maintain their welfare. These organizations will also require further cooperation and communication among themselves to strengthen their effectiveness as actors in the implementation of sustainable achievement. Nation-states including the most powerful one, the United States, have to attach great significance to non-state actors in order to improve and achieve their main interests.

How Communication Plays A Vital Role English Language Essay

How Communication Plays A Vital Role English Language Essay Communication plays a vital role in our lives. We communicate based on five reasons which are to influence people, to establish or maintain interpersonal relationships, to acquire different kinds of knowledge, to help people, and to play (DeVito, 2001). With this in mind, communication can be considered a sophisticated activity and that is why misunderstandings and conflicts tend to arise. According to Bovà ©e and Thill (2000), communication barriers are usually due to a number of factors such as differences in perception and language, poor listening, emotional interference, cultural differences and physical distraction. Listening skills is an important aspect in effective communication. Listening is defined as the acquisition of information in an interpersonal interaction (Bostrom, 1996a; 1996b). Comprehending, retaining, and responding are the three elements of listening (Rothwell, 2004). There are however, some problems that contribute to the barriers to listening. Qn 1 Based on the clip Stephanie Explodes at Eric, there are three barriers to listening that I observed. First is the competitive interrupting. Competitive interrupting occurs when we dominate the conversation by seizing the floor from others who are speaking. At 00:11 to 00:13, when Eric interrupted Stephanie, the conflict was further ignited. Eric failed to listen to Stephanies points. Erics actions prove that men are more frequent competitive interrupters (Mulac et al., 1988; Stewart et al., 1996). Secondly, I observed ambushing. Ambushing occurs when we listen for weaknesses and ignore the strengths of a speakers message (Rothwell, 2004). At 00:38 to 00:50, Stephanie ambushed Eric by saying that he had an illegitimate child with Brooke, which is totally out of context. In the argument, Eric wants Stephanie to realize that her act of confronting Brooke in front of the media is wrong. However, Stephanie had selectively listened to Erics point of view and attack him by bringing up Brookes personal life story as Wood (2004) mentioned Once a conflict begins, everything that has been stored up is thrown in. Last but not least, I observed content-only response. A content-only response focuses on the content of a message, but it ignores the emotional side of communication. As cited in 1:13 to 1:23 clip; Eric has long known that Stephanie has never agreed to the idea that Brooke works in their family-business company, Forrester Creations. When Stephanie finally thinks that it is the right time to fire Brooke, Eric failed to understand and acknowledge Stephanies feelings towards Brooke. He was too concern with the status of the company. Problems simply arise when we expect or assume the opposite sex should think, feel or act the way we do (Conner, 2000). Qn 2 In enhancing listening skills, a competent communicator needs to take note of informational listening and critical listening. Informational listening expands our knowledge and understanding of our world whereas critical listening helps us sort through bad ideas to discover good ideas that will solve problems and help us make quality decisions that improve our lives (Rothwell, 2004). Both situations require emphatic listening. Emphatic listening requires us to take the perspective of the other person; to listen for what that person needs (Rothwell, 2004). In the clip, both Eric and Stephanie could use emphatic listening to enhance their listening skills. In 00:11 sec, when Stephanie mentioned that Im not as angry with Brooke as I am angry with you, Eric could firstly, used the probing response to seek more information from others by asking questions (Rothwell, 2004). He could have asked Why did you say that? to understand the underlying causes of Stephanies statement. Secondly, Eric could use supporting response which acknowledges the feelings of the speaker and tries to boost the persons confidence (Rothwell, 2004). Instead of saying this is not about you in 1:37 sec, Eric could have said I can see how much Forrester means to you. The response will acknowledge Stephanies feelings thus calming her down. Last but not least, in resolving conflict, Stephanie could use the understanding response which requires a listener to check his or her comprehension of the speakers message by paraphrasing and perception checking (Rothwell, 2004). In time code 1:37 to 1:55, rather than shouting dont you dare talking to me about any damn united front, Stephanie could have responded I understand youre concerned about the future of Forrester, and you agree that Brookes behavior is unacceptable. Qn 3 Based on the clip, I perceived Eric to be in the right. The first attribution that Ive made with regards to his behavior is based on internal attribution which is caused by internal factors such as personality, characteristics and individual belief (Dobkin-Pace, 2006). In the argument, Eric has consistently portrayed a strong characteristic as a businessman as he showed that he certainly knows what is best for the company and stood by it. The first cue is he tells Stephanie that the argument is not about her and that they should worked together to put up a united front so as to convince the media that the company is not falling apart. Secondly, although he has a personal relationship with Brooke, his argument with Stephanie has never been based on his feeling but for the interest of the company. The second attribution I made is based on external attribution which is caused by external forces such as the social situation or physical environment (Dobkin-Pace, 2006). The main reason why the arguments between Eric and Stephanie started is because Stephanie made a rude remark towards Brooke in public which might jeopardize the future of the company. Because the remark was made in public, Eric had to react immediately to defend Brooke hence not able to control himself as he is overwhelmed with shock and anger. I made this attribution based on the words of Eric who reminded Stephanie that it is wrong to insult Brooke in front of her children, employees and media (cue 00:27 sec to 1.05 sec). Qn 4 In making my attribution about Eric, there are two biases that I may have made. Firstly is the fundamental attribution error which is defined as the overestimation of the degree to which other peoples behaviors are due to internal factors and underestimation of the significance of external forces (Dobkin-Pace, 2006). I mentioned earlier that Erics defense toward Brooke is solely for the benefit of the company. However, I may have overestimated the behavior. It can be possible that Eric still have feelings towards Brooke whom he had children with. This in turn, explained his behavior towards Stephanie when she made a remark on Brooke. Secondly is the attractiveness bias which means we tend to think better of attractive than unattractive people and we tend to make positive attributions about their behavior (Dobkin-Pace, 2006). From the start, I have paid more attention to Erics points rather than Stephanie due to the fact that as a women, I tend to be attracted to physical attractiveness of a male as compared to female which I believe affects my attributions. It is natural for human beings to make perceptions toward others without finding the actual facts. Based on the study above, it is proven that these biased perceptions tend to cause grievances, misunderstanding and conflicts. Therefore, it is important to practice good communication in our everyday lives. (1200 words) References: Bostrom, R. N. (1996a). Aspects of listening behavior. In O. Hargie, (Ed.) Handbook of communication skills. (2nd Ed., pp 236-259) London: Routledge. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from http://www.uky.edu/~bostrom/ncalist3.htm Bostrom R. N. (1996b). Cognition, behavior, and listening: A reply to Thomas and Levine. Human Communication Research. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from http://www.uky.edu/~bostrom/ncalist3.htm Bovà ©e, C. L. Thill, J. V. (2008). Business Communication Today (9th ed.). USA: Prentice Hall International, Inc. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elcttr/ES2002/communication_process.html Conner, M. G. (2000). Understanding The Difference Between Men And Women. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.oregoncounseling.org/ArticlesPapers/Documents/DifferencesMenWomen.htm DeVito, J. A. (2001). The Interpersonal Communication Book (9th ed.). New York: Longman. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elcttr/ES2002/communication_process.html Dobkin-Pace (2006). Communication in a Changing World. Singapore : McGraw Hill. Mulac, A., Wiemann, J., Wideman, S., Dibson, T. (1988). Male/female language differences and effects in same-sex and mixed-sex dyads: The gender-linked language effect. Communication Monographs, 55, 315-335. Rothwell, J. D. (2004). In the Company of Others : An Introduction to Communication. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Steward, L., Cooper, P., Stewart, A., Friedley, S. A. (1996). Communication and Gender. Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick. Wood, J. T. (2004). Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters. New York: Wadsworth. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from http://department.monm.edu/portfolio/cata2005/kstitt/Relationship%20Paper.htm

The Valley Girl in Buffy the Vampire Slayer :: TV Television Show Essays

The stereotypical valley girl would have to be one of my longstanding favourite characters in both television and film. With the valley girl known for often being the quintessential popularity queen, it may not seem so obvious to include the Buffy we know today as part of the valley girl hall of fame. But one only has to go back to the 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer to observe the full extent of Buffy’s bleach blonde valley girl roots. To place Buffy within the larger category of the valley girl, first one must have an understanding of what exactly this means. Undoubtedly, the valley girl is a product of the eighties, or at least a character that was crystallised and labelled during this period, and she has been a significant presence in teen films and television ever since. It has come to my attention that there has been a definite change, or evolution over the last two decades, of the living, breathing barbie doll otherwise known as the valley girl. And, it seems, this evolution of the valley girl within teen film and television can be traced through the character of Buffy Summers, starting from her first appearance on the big screen in 1992. For my purposes, the term â€Å"valley girl† is useful in reference to a limited spectrum of popular teen girls in film and television, who, despite originating in name from the location of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, [1] are not strictly limited or restricted to being natives of this particular site. Often alarmingly oblivious to many basic concepts of social etiquette, the valley girl is the ultra-feminine, two-dimensional character identified by an abundance of material possessions and surface features that are highly prized by herself and her peers. Some of the basic, essential signifiers of the valley girl can be extracted from examination of valley girls over time who have manipulated the following: 1) POPULARITY: which is often directly linked to the valley girl also being a cheerleader (often team captain, of course) and/or prom queen. Although, sometimes basic popularity is pure and simple enough. 2) CASH SUPPLY: generous funds, namely daddy’s credit card, often help with gaining or retaining popular status, and is especially important for it’s contribution to the following, 3) THE WARDROBE: often filled with the latest fashion trends and designer labels. The valley girl must be well-versed in knowing what is now, retro, and the dreaded zone of â€Å"five minutes ago.

Are Youths Self Centered?

Consider the criticism leveled at young people that their only values are self centered ones. There has been a biggest drop in empathy in recent history. â€Å"College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago. † Self-centeredness is caring only about oneself and one’s own needs. Having a large proportion of self-centered young people would have a great impact on the society as the young people would be the future of the nation.That would mean a generation of self centered individuals all over the country. Not to mention the values these individuals would impart to their offspring. But is this criticism valid? I do not agree that the criticism is valid. In this essay, I will be touching on two key points. Firstly, young people are just trying to find their own paths. Secondly, young people are still transitioning from children to adulthood. Young people are still in the process of finding their own paths.Young people are taught to trust their own judgment, make their own decisions, fight for their belief, be themselves and persevere. However, in the process of that, young people are stopped and questioned of their actions. While defending for their actions that they have trusted and believed in, they get misunderstood for being self-centered and self- absorbed. Young people seem self-centered but in actual fact, they cannot find out about themselves unless they pay attention to themselves and do things for themselves.That is how they learn their preferences, dreams, goals and passions. For example, young people have faced criticisms that they are self-centered and friend-centered. However, they are closer with their friends, as they understand better their needs, preferences and dreams as they are in the same age group. They aid each other in finding out about themselves. There are many things that have changed since parent’s time of teen-hood and they may not understand the challenges po sed to young people now.Therefore, young people seem like they are acting self-centered as they are just in the process of finding their own paths. Secondly, young people are still transitioning from children to adulthood. Young adults are facing many different emotions, needs, hormones, excitement and anxiety. In order to face these new feelings, they need energy and attention. This may result in the misconception of self-centeredness when the individual is trying to sate their own feelings. The teen period is a time of transition from the security of the small child to the adult world.For example, physical changes in the body like menstruation and voice deepening is a very frightening and confusing change, and in process of dealing with these changes, physically and mentally, suddenly, what is to be understood and secure has changed. New rules have been set. All these new details start to form mountains and it leads the individual to think, â€Å"So what exactly am I suppose to d o? † As a result, they turn their attention to themselves and get misunderstood as being self-centered. Therefore, young people seem like they are acting self-centered as they are still transitioning from children to adulthood.

Earths Bigger, Older Planetary Cousin

Earth's Bigger, Older Planetary Cousin Ever since astronomers first began searching out planets around other stars, theyve found thousands of planet candidates and confirmed more than a thousand as actual worlds. There could be billions of worlds out there. The tools of the search are ground-based telescopes, the Kepler Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and others. The idea is to look for planets by watching for slight dips in the light of a star as the planet passes in its orbit between us and the star. This is called the  transit method because it requires that a planet transit the face of the star. Another way to find planets is to look for tiny shifts in the stars motion that are caused by a planets orbit. Detecting planets directly is very difficult because stars are quite bright and planets can get lost in the glare.   Finding other Worlds The first exoplanet (a world circling other stars) was discovered in 1995. Since then, the rate of discovery grew as astronomers launched spacecraft to look for distant worlds. One fascinating world that theyve found is called Kepler-452b. It circles a star similar to the Sun (a G2  star type) that lies about 1,400 light-years from us in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. It was found by the Kepler telescope, along with 11 more planet candidates orbiting in the habitable zones of their stars. To determine the planets properties, astronomers conducted observations at ground-based observatories. Their data confirmed the planetary nature of Kepler-452b, refined the size and brightness of its host star, and pinned down the size of the planet and its orbit Kepler-452b was the first near-Earth-sized world found, and it orbits its star in the so-called habitable zone. Thats a region around a star where liquid water could exist on the surface of a planet.  It is the smallest planet ever found in a habitable zone. Others have been larger worlds, so the fact that this one is closer to our own planets size means astronomers are close to finding Earth twins (in terms of size).   The discovery does NOT tell whether or not there IS water on the planet, or what the planet is made of (that is, whether it is a rocky body or a gas/ice giant). That information will come from further observations. Yet, this system does have some interesting similarities to Earth. Its orbit is 385 days, while ours is 365.25 days. Kepler-452b lies just five percent farther away from its star than Earth does from the Sun.  Ã‚   Kepler-452, the parent star of the system is 1.5 billion years older than the Sun (which is 4.5 billion years old). Its also a bit brighter than the Sun but has the same temperature. All these similarities help give astronomers a comparison point between this planetary system and our own Sun and planets as they seek to understand the formation and history of planetary systems. Ultimately, they want to know how many habitable worlds are out there.   About the Kepler Mission The Kepler space telescope (named for astronomer Johannes Kepler) was launched in 2009 on a mission to spy out planets around stars in a  region of the sky near the constellation Cygnus. It performed well until 2013 when NASA announced that failed flywheels (that keep the telescope pointed accurately) were failing. After some research and help from the scientific community, mission controllers devised a way to keep using the telescope, and its mission is now called K2 Second Light. It continues to search out planetary candidates, which are then re-observed to help astronomers determine the masses, orbits, and other characteristics of the possible worlds. Once Keplers planet candidates are studied in detail, they are confirmed as actual planets and added to the growing list of such exoplanets.

3 Types of Awkward References to Numbers

3 Types of Awkward References to Numbers 3 Types of Awkward References to Numbers 3 Types of Awkward References to Numbers By Mark Nichol This post describes various usage pitfalls that can interfere with clarity when numbers are involved. Take care when using the word over before a sequence of numbers that might be confused for a figure, as in â€Å"The Ohio city will settle a lawsuit over 911 calls,† which might mistakenly suggest to readers that one or more verbs have erroneously been omitted before a reference to more than a given number of calls, rather than that 911 refers to the phone number for reporting an emergency. The sentence is easily revised to â€Å"The Ohio city will settle a lawsuit regarding 911 calls.† Also, two numbers in numeral form should not appear in sequence, as in this example in which an age is followed by a count: â€Å"The day the slain woman was to turn 28, 3,000 people gathered at a church to recall her life.† The proximity of 28 and 3,000 with an intervening comma suggests that the number 283,000, or a similarly appearing figure, has been incorrectly rendered. (Readers will not make that assumption, but the initial confusion is distracting.) If a publication’s style requires ages to be given in numerals, spell out the attendance count, an acceptable treatment of a large round number. If that figure is exact, change it to an estimate styled as a spelled-out round number, or recast the sentence: â€Å"On the day the slain woman should have been celebrating her 28th birthday, 3,000 people gathered at a church to recall her life.† Finally, do not use forces or troops to refer to individual military service members, as in â€Å"Forty-four US forces were hurt in a rocket-propelled grenade attack yesterday† or â€Å"Three troops were found guilty in the black market scheme.† Use soldiers, sailors, marines, or â€Å"service members† (marines, not soldiers, should be used to refer to members of the US Marine Corps): â€Å"Forty-four US marines were hurt in a rocket-propelled grenade attack yesterday†; â€Å"Three soldiers were found guilty in the black market scheme.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Spelling Test 1Acronym vs. InitialismHow often is "bimonthly"?