Common Ground Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Common Ground - Essay Example The authors nevertheless place greatest stress on the effects of sprawl on the environment while they separately discuss the matter of wildlife preservation. Effects to the environment include air and water pollution, the destruction of scenic and historical vistas, the economic costs and higher level of maintenance required, traffic congestion, absence of sidewalks, and proliferation of obesity due to abandonment of walking and bicycling as means of transportation. Chen and Duany also mention the effects on animal life and habitat, the topic exclusively dwelt on by the other two articles. As to value of animal life and their habitat, the articles agree that sprawl has intruded into the natural habitats of wildlife. They disagree, however, as to how this intrusion affects both animal habits and human lifestyles. For Chen and Duany (2000), they see sprawl as a form of broad ecosystem degradation implying a destruction of the ecological territories where the animals thrive. Terris (199 9), on the other hand, bewails the increasing land area occupied by urban sprawl as impacting negatively on the wildlife whose habitats are encroached upon. What Chen and Duany merely imply as the negative effects of sprawl on the ecosystem, Terris implicitly describes as posing an actual and tangible risk to the survival of American wildlife. According to Terris, the rapidly growing settlements endanger a great number of species of American wildlife, destroying their feeding and breeding grounds, causing their populations to shrink, fragment, and disappear altogether. For Shaw (2004), she sees sprawl more of an enhancement of the areas where wild animals thrive and adapt. She cites an upsurge in incidents of human encounters with wildlife, such as bears raiding trash cans and mountain lions prowling the subdivisions. More than implying that people are moving into the territories and habitats of the wildlife in the area, it means that more and more, suburban life tends to attract wi ld animals. Aiding the proliferation of wild animals is the natural reforestation taking place as well as the expansion of low-density residential developments outside cities that animals find attractive. Developers create ponds, establish gardens and plant trees which creates a setting conducive to animals, while in their natural habitats nearby, wetlands may be drained, hayfields may disappear or trees cut down. The result is increasing hazards of automobile collisions with deer, and human injuries or deaths due to animal attacks. Causes of sprawl According to Chen and Duany, Increasingly complex requirements for urban planning have caused subdivision developers to resort to sprawl. Some requirements for instance require wide streets to accommodate vehicles travelling at 65 mph, setbacks of buildings far from streets, parking lots of a certain minimum size, etc. Wide streets and curved corners encourage use of cars and speeding, thereby also endangering pedestrians/bicyclists. Oth er causes cited by this article include population growth, technological change, and the misguided government policies on development and its inability to plan for future growth (Chen & Duany, 2000). Shaw agrees with Chen and Duany that

Procurement Routes in the Construction Industry Assignment

Procurement Routes in the Construction Industry - Assignment Example This process follows a number of steps but depending on the urgency of the required goods or services, some organizations may choose to make their procurement routes less lengthy and less tedious. Conventionally, procurement entails everything that is done within the complete acquisition of goods and services i.e. from preparation and dispensation of a requisition form through to the receipt of goods or services and the approval of the invoice for payment (White, 1996: pp. 242-3). Procurement often follows ten major steps: planning for purchase of goods or services, determination of the specific standards desired in the goods and services, development of finer specifications on the goods and services, doing extensive research on possible suppliers and selecting one supplier, conducting value analysis, determining the financing of the purchase e.g. whether to take a loan or use money in the company's bank account, negotiating the price, making the purchase, administration of the supply contract, controlling inventories and stores to guard against diversion and finally, the eventual disposals if any. Generally, the process is lengthy because of need for quality goods and/or services from competitive suppliers at competitive prices. The rules governing the process need to be followed strictly because the process o procurement has been identified as the key and major gateway for embezzlement and misappropriation of company funds and other corrupt deals. Each industry has its own procurement regulations and the whole process of procurement is structured to fit the nature of the industry's operations. For example, if an industry requires goods and services to be delivered urgently, then the process is likely to be made short. Taking the construction industry as our working example, this paper seeks to highlight the process of procurement in this industry with special emphasis on the particular types of procurement routes in the construction industry. The construction industry deals with the provision of a number of goods and services. It deals with the building of new structures such as schools, churches, factories, apartments, houses, offices, factories, roads and even bridges. Apart from building of the aforementioned structures, the industry also engages in preparation of the building or construction site, modification and annexing of existing structures and the maintenance and repair of the already existing structures. Therefore, the constructors are usually contracted to carry out any of the activities. The contract may involve the design alone, the design and building or even the management of the construction process carried out by other constructors. The way of contracting these constructors to carry out any of the services may be termed as routes of procurement. There are three main routes of procurement: Traditional Procurement also called conventional procurement, Design and Build Procurement and Management Procurement . Traditional Procurement also called conventional procurement is a very common procurement route for most small and medium sized projects such as the construction of a school. The client in this kind of procurement route first contracts consultant(s). The consultant(s) design and lay down all the exact specifications on how the construction is supposed to be carried out. After the consultants have completed their job, the client then proceeds to contract a

Angry Men Essay Example for Free

Angry Men Essay The character in this movie that was the most effective critical thinker was juror 8(Henry Fonda). The types of characteristics that Fonda, exemplify is provisionalism, creativity, and critical thinking. By doing this he is uncover new ways of interpreting evidence, turns to certainty and shortsightedness when arriving at conclusions. For example, Fonda commented on how the boy had been slapped around all his life and was treated poorly. This kind of thinking leads to more external attributions—it was the way the boy was treated in life, not something inherent about the boy or his character. Next Fonda asks the jurors to consider the larger picture: the defendants background, the witnesses credibility, and the defending attorneys motives. He then shakes up the room by presenting a knife identical to the murder weapona weapon that the jurors were certain was unique. At this point, he has them wavering about reasonable doubt. Fonda was clearly self-confident. He had complete conviction in what he was doing and saying which instilled confidence in other members of the jury who were leaning in that direction a guilty verdict. The character that is the least effective critical thinker is juror 3 (Lee J. Cobb). Cobb made more internal attributions for the boy’s behavior. He agreed with the slum kid idea, but also focused on the notion that kids today don’t have any respect or sense of morality. He is basing this decision on his own life situation because of his poor relationship with his son. Cobb categorizes the defendant as a rebellious kid and wants to persecute him. Another example is when Henry Fonda insulted Lee Cobb by calling him a sadist and that due to his own beliefs. Cobb got mad and said: â€Å"I’m gonna kill ya. † Thus, when Cobb said it, it was just the situation that provoked this expression, but when the boy said it, it was an indication of his murderous rage. So this is an example of Cobb is view as bias. The other jurors are shocked that he seems to have forgotten the sure and certain facts of the case that prove the defendants guilt. Now these are facts, you cant refute facts as stated by Cobb. The barriers that prevented three other jurors were racist, baseball fan, advertisement. Ed Begley was racist this become a barrier when thinking ritically because he is so ingrained in the way of his life. He is not simply accepting information at face value in a non-critical or non-evaluating way. He feel that because the boy as a slum kid this is stereotypes which lead to a biased way of interpreting the evidence. He relayed the idea that there’s something about slum kids who belong to certain ethnic groups that makes them i nherently rotten. These are internal attributions which lead to more of a guilty verdict. Jack Ward barrier was that he wants to conform with the majority in order to quickly end the deliberations so he can attend a ballgame. He was selfish and inconsiderate that another person life was at stack. He also stated the he had enough of all the talking and wasn’t going to say nothing. But when was asked why he could not response why. Webber was continually strays off course with advertising stories and slogans. His job was getting in the way of his decision. Not staying focus on what is going on can lead to the wrong decision. Towards the middle of the movie Sweeny, Marshall, and Voskovec all become critical thinkers. Sweeny initially conformed in the public vote, but switched when it was private—suggesting that he went along with the crowd. But then later he remembers information that the eye witness stated. Sweeny did not accuse either of the eye witnesses of lying but question the information. He said that these people believed they saw the boy commit the crime. In other words, they somehow misremembered what they saw and heard. Thus, they probably witnessed an ambiguous event and filled in the missing information with details that were prescribed by their own stereotypes of slum kids. In addition, the police officers and lawyers who interviewed the witnesses may have planted false memories in them by asking leading questions. In either case, these people probably believed that they saw the boy at the scene of the crime—but this was probably due to the misinformation effect. With Marshall at first he refuses to budge until he is presented with sound reasons for changing his mind. He went by the boys alibi was that he was at the movies when the murder took place. Marshall said that because the boy couldn’t remember the names of the films and who played in them when he was interviewed by the police then he obviously was lying but he remembers that the boy was under conditions of high emotional stress. Thus Marshall failed to consider how the stress of the situation could have affected the boy—and just made an internal attribution that he is a liar. However, when Marshall was asked to remember the films he saw last weekend, he couldn’t fully remember them—even without emotional stress. Marshall also eventually changed his vote based on informational influence. He was convinced that the female eye witness had poor eyesight and therefore couldn’t make a positive identification. This was less of a superficial change. Voskovec became a critical thinker because throughout the trail he took down information that he felt was important. Then when it was time to deliberate him then took down more information that each juror had to say. By this his was gathering important information to base his decision on whether the boy is guilty or not. The four types of logical fallacies that are present in the jurors thinking process are flaws in thinking, illogical sequences of thought, stereotyping, obfuscation, and other typical critical thinking errors displayed in the movie as the characters move through the stages of critical thinking development. Fonda and Cobb revealed an emotional argument: The whole debate in which one character called the other a sadist. A scuffle occurred afterward. Ed Begley revealed unqualified generalization: he was a racist who hated slum-kid such as the defendant. He went on a rant in which he claimed not a one of them are any good. Sweeny showed false analogy: When he mentions how the one of the witnesses in the trial just made a up a story to get attention. The character said that he knew because he would have done the same thing, were he as lonely as the witness.

Analysis Of Change Initiative At Toyota Motor Corporation Management Essay

Analysis Of Change Initiative At Toyota Motor Corporation Management Essay Over the past several decades change management has become one of the mostly discussed topics across different industries on the market. The importance of change management has turn out to be a crucial task for managers and leaders of not only the big global corporations but also small and medium sized enterprises. Research suggests that the change management is fundamental issue that has to be considered especially when it comes to introducing and adjusting new strategies and policies that will influence the companys future perspectives and developments. It is essential part of the long-term competitive success formula (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1991). Although many research findings imply that change management can be defined in different ways depending on the industry and the company, there is a common ground on which the perceptions of the roles of the managers are build on. It is argued that people are the main drivers of change and innovation in the competitive environment of the business world. For this reason, human resources departments play a major role in choosing the right people for the right position and train and develop their employees to become goal and future oriented. Findings suggest that in order for a company to have a successful change management implementation, human resources managers have to be able to cope with both transformation and change within a single company (Urlich, 1997). According to Urlich (1997) transformation entails fundamental cultural change within a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦HR managers managing transformation become both cultural guardians and cultural catalysts. Since nowadays many companies operate on a global scale, the main issue in managing transformation is to lead the company through adaptation and acceptance of new culture without influencing the old beliefs and values. On the other hand change is usually related to introducing a certain degree of newness to the company, starting from employing new employees up to introducing new strategies and reshaping the overall corporate culture, mission, and vision of a company. More precisely change can be considered to be interrelated with transformation. It is defined as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the ability of an organization to improve the design and implementation of initiatives and to reduce cycle time in all organizational activities (Urlich, 1997). In order for a change to be enacted and successfully accepted within a company, it is argued that change has to happen at three different levels 1) organizational, 2) team and 3) individual. When the new strategies and initiatives are accepted at all of the three levels, the implementation of change is successful (Hirtz, 2008). In order to have a successful change management implementation across the different levels of processes within a single company, research findings emphasize on the importance of having change agents. According to some historical data on human resources, the main drivers for change within a company were considered to be the human resource managers (Urlich, 1997). Being a global company inflicted with differences among the team members, individuals, and the overall organizational structure, the role of the change managers have changed over the years. It is claimed that nowadays the managers and the leaders at all levels within a single company are obliged to assert the need for change and its productive implementation. They are the key to successful understanding of cultural, social, political, and legal differences and the main drivers of motivation to the company as a whole (Hartley et al., 1997). In todays business world companies are striving to achieve a high level of change management implementation. In order to do so, an important factor that has to be taken into consideration is the time scale and planning. According to Caudwell (2004), a successful change management should be carefully planned and it should consist of an identified beginning and an ending that will provide desirable outcomes. However, research suggests that during the change implementation, managers often forget to go back and look at the results that they get at the very beginning of the process, which is the reason why many companies failed to transform and change according to their initial plans. For this reason, findings imply that the change management has to be perceived not as a one-time implementation project, but as an on-going, long-term and future oriented strategy (Caudwell, 2004). Lewins Force Field Analysis Model More than fifty years ago Kurt Lewin, using his experience in social psychology and human behavior, developed the widely known force field analysis model in order to explain how changes can happen within a single company. The force field analysis model, or also known as the 3-step model was primarily developed to help change managers identify the so called driving (or external) and restraining (or internal-individual and group behavior) forces that might influence the change within a single company (Burns, 2004a). In order for a successful and effective change to happen, Lewin proposed that there are three stages that every company and the individuals and groups being part of that environment should go through. Graphical depiction of the model is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 Note: Table is taken from http://rapidbi.com/management/kurt-lewin-three-step-change-theory/ The first stage is the so-called unfreezing stage where the current situation should be carefully analyzed by producing disequilibrium between the driving and the restraining forces. By identifying the field- term referring to the current individual attitudes and beliefs within a group change agents are ready to move on, from the so-called status quo position, into the next stage called the move or change stage (Burnes, 2004a). At this point change managers are required to develop a plan that will initiate the urge for change among their employees. The change agents are expected to influence their employees and initiate acceptance and adaptation to the new processes, by strongly focusing on motivation and support. Finally, the third and the last stage is the so called refreezing stage where the role of the change managers is to successfully implement the change strategy (in terms of norms, practices, policies, and culture) and make sure that these newly accepted changes are not subj ect to deterioration (Burnes, 2004b) Even though Lewins model is one of the most widely used contributors to understanding the change management within a company, there are some critics that have been developed over the past fifty years. Research suggests that the implication of the model is useful in identifying the need, the type, and the resources needed to implement a certain degree of change within a company. It implies that the change occurs only at the times when the need for change is identified and that, once the individuals beliefs and attitudes are influenced and the social conflict is resolved, the change is accepted as a positive influence (Greener and Hughes, 2006). Findings propose that the model is based on simplistic assumptions that the companies operate as static and mechanistic environments and that the change would follow a clear pattern (Burnes, 2004a). Victor and Franckeiss (2002) suggest that in todays highly globalized and highly competitive business world, influenced by the differences in cultures, economies, and politics, change management is a phenomenon that occurs constantly and is planned, revised and updated on a regular basis. It is considered to be a must-do element of their day-to-day activities, and their future growth and expansion plans (Victor and Franckeiss, 2002). Analysis of change initiative at Toyota Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational corporation with its headquarters located in Toyota city and Tokyo- Japan and it is the worlds leading automaker. Since its establishment in 1937, the company has successfully managed to expand globally entering the US market in 1957, Asia, Middle East, and China in 1962, and Europe and Africa in 1987. Today Toyota has its overseas bases in 27 countries and regions, as well as 52 production bases and 8 overseas offices. Toyota employs approximately 320,808 employees in their directly affiliated companies around the globe not counting the substantial number of indirectly employed dealers and suppliers. One of the main differentiation strategies of the company is that they managed to keep the same organizational culture and strategy throughout the years of their existence. The company has their own Guiding Principles at Toyota and the Five Main Principles of Toyoda that have been successfully implemented in every Toyota subsidiary, factory, a nd even among their dealers and suppliers. The main purpose of their principles is to keep their stakeholders motivated and prompt to change at any time (Toyota, 2010). More detailed information on the Toyota principles can be found in Figure 2. Figure 2 Guiding Principles at Toyota Honor the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertake open and fair corporate activities to be a good corporate citizen of the world. Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to economic and social development through corporate activities in the communities. Dedicate ourselves to providing clean and safe products and to enhancing the quality of life everywhere through all our activities. Create and develop advanced technologies and provide outstanding products and services that fulfill the needs of customers worldwide. Foster a corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and teamwork value, while honoring mutual trust and respect between labor and management. Pursue growth in harmony with the global community through innovative management. Work with business partners in research and creation to achieve stable, long-term growth and mutual benefits, while keeping ourselves open to new partnerships. Five Main Principles of Toyoda Always be faithful to your duties, thereby contributing to the Company and to the overall good. Always be studious and creative, striving to stay ahead of the times Always be practical and avoid frivolousness. Always strive to build a homelike atmosphere at work that is warm and friendly. Always have respect for God, and remember to be grateful at all times. Note: Table is taken from the official web page of Toyota Motor Corporation. Since the birth of Toyota, the companys philosophy has been based on successfully contributing to the society, meaning identifying the local cultural and social differences and creating products that will satisfy the needs and wants of the local customers all around the world. Throughout the years the company has managed to keep up with its corporate principle of delivering glocal products by creating a business model that is mainly a mixture of localization for their global markets (Toyota, 2010). Although keeping their unique corporate culture and values, and implementing the same business strategies and principles of doing business all around the globe, they have managed to differentiate and bring innovativeness to the international markets. The key behind this success is in the regiocentric management orientation. The company has effectively managed to spot the differences and similarities in the home and host countries and develop local view that allowed them to bring changes into their company, starting with the development of few global names of their products with localization content, and developing special training and support programs that will sustain the cultural differences and will allow their new employees to merge with the company much easier (Toyota, 2010). Toyota is one of the worlds widely known companies not only because of their successful business plan that has been implemented at home and overseas, but also because of their revolutionary change that made their management strategy stay the same over the years. By developing the Toyota Production System or TPS which is the method of managing people engaged in work that emphasizes frequent rapid problem solving and work redesign, the company has set the global model for successful performance and productivity (Thompson et al, 2003). The model was originally developed in the 1970s and it was mainly used to facilitate production and improve the speed. Over the last several decades the model was widely accepted by many companies operating in different industries. The reason behind the adoption of the model lies in the efforts of Toyota to bring constant change through experimenting and applying new concepts to the already existing processes (Spear, 2004). But what is the main drive behind successfully applying the TPS strategy? According to Parks (2002) Toyota has been the only company that has managed to apply the process without facing major failures. He claims that for introducing such innovative approach, the whole organizational culture and management should undergo the necessary changes. At Toyota the changes always start with their stakeholders. All the ideas and possible solutions to the existing problems are generated from their employees from all over the world. The solutions are discussed and are implemented as part of their experimental processes after which the final assessment is done. After the decision is made, extensive cross-functional training programs are inducted in order to have productive multifunctional workers who will understand the processes and the implementation of the new strategies. In order to get the desired results, strong change management is needed that will provide guidance and will result in disci plined and effective implementation of the change strategies (Parks, 2002). Having a strong management that promotes open and fair corporate activities involving all of the companys employees, introducing diversity programs that support the different cultural backgrounds, and following a clear set of rules (The Code of Conduct) enacted by extensive on-site training activities, is the key factor for success of Toyotas change management processes and strategies (Toyota, 2010). Conclusion Although the importance of having an effective change management has been introduced more than five decades ago, it seems that in todays business world its significance and implementation has a greater influence and application among the companies operating in different industries. Globalization and internationalization had significantly influenced the companies to embrace the change management strategies. Operating on different markets around the world requires compliance with the local cultures, economies, and politics which are the main factors for success of an international company. The main issue is to manage to create synergies between the home business strategy and corporate culture and the host- local cultures and procedures. Although it might seem like a logical transformation that has to be done, without implementing strong change management policies that will be based on the differences and similarities of the markets and the people, administering change can turn out to b e one of the most difficult processes. Following the example of Toyota, in order to have efficient change management teams and change strategies that would be accepted within a company, managers should stress out the importance of all of their employees. By becoming part of the problem solving and decision making processes, managers would get the opportunity to understand the cultural backgrounds of their employees and eliminate the factors that might influence their behavior. On the other hand the employees would feel involved and motivated and the implementation of the possible changes would result in positive outcomes. This is the reason why over the years Toyota has managed to keep the same organizational culture and strategy, yet always being able to bring innovativeness and set benchmark for other companies on the market to follow.

How to Cheat the Reaper ::

How to Cheat the Reaper George Brams shivered, despite the warmth of his new car. But George never felt completely warm these days - eighty years had taken their toll on his body, and his tissue-thin flesh provided no barrier against the malevolence of a chilly December night. While locked into familiar routine of driving country lanes, George's mind drifted back to the events of the previous day, and even of the past year. Just when he thought he could safely assume that his old body held no more unpleasant surprises for him, such as his cancer scare a few years ago, strange things had begun to happen. First, there were the voices. They had started about two years ago. At first, he had assumed that an insect had become trapped in his ear, yet he quickly realized that there was not an insect in existence that made this kind of unearthly noise. They seemed to whisper to him from a great distance, yet they sounded remarkably close to his ear. He couldn't quite make out what the voices said, although he had strained his weak ears in the hope of recognizing a stray word. But the voices seemed to slither through the air, continually changing, yet always present. George even thought he recognized some of the voices - of late, they had seemed to increase in volume and urgency, which let the voices spark a fleeting recognition from him - but his memory was old and tired, and the recollection of a familiar voice was swamped in grey and disappeared from his mind. George's heart skipped a beat as he was pulled from his memories by a cat jumping into his car's path, its life saved only by George's still impressively quick reaction. After a few minutes the adrenaline began to leak from George's blood and his breathing slowed. Again the hypnotic nature of the cat's eyes studded along the black road drew George into his memories. He remembered what had happened after he had seen the doctor about the voices - the nightmares. Terrible things that waited until his mind was asleep and open to suggestion, and then dived in, filling the old man's head with such terror that he often awoke himself with his pitiful screams. Before, his wife would wake him before the nightmare reached its surreal and horrifying conclusion, but now Rose was†¦ gone.

Benefits Of Early Retirement :: essays research papers

Benefits of Early Retirement Early retirement is not such a bad idea, but only if itÕs affordable. Today, people who begin this process feel confident that they can live out the rest of their lives comfortably. Still being young enough to enjoy what is earned is another good reason why someone might want to advance into retirement. Also, having good health is another popular reason why it is a good idea to retire early. After working hard, one should reward them self by enjoying what they have worked for. Either off benefits or money allocated throughout the working years, these retirees enjoy what they worked for. Not only do they feel relaxation and enjoyment, retiring early also gives them a sense of accomplishment. Purchasing previously desired land or traveling to a country never visited before are just some examples in which early retirees enjoy the money that was saved. Since the assets are all earned, spending this bonus makes one feel proud for what they worked for and that the working years didnÕt seem like a waste. Something simple such as being young can make someone retire early. Retiring early just for being young also has their advantages. This way, the retiree can explore more areas and get to stay longer because they have more years to enjoy than an ordinary retiree. Also, when someone gets older their health slowly diminish and their ambition to go out and travel also vanishes. Finally, having good health while retired pays off. One would tend to enjoy retirement more if their health were in decent shape. Irritating injuries and irksome illnesses certainly keep the retiree limited while being retired. Ambition to travel and going out and doing things lowers when the health is low.

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech Essay

Abraham Lincoln begins his second inaugural speech on March 4, 1865, in which he addresses the nation on the ongoing civil war and his high hopes to unite the nation once again under God. Lincoln began his speech by saying that the war has taken so much time and energy out of the country and that there is no need to report on it. He declares himself an equal with the public and says he has also felt the wars effects. â€Å"The progress of our arms†¦is as well known to the public as to myself.† He states that he isn’t going to attempt to predict the war but he expresses his hopes for the future and encourages the public to be optimistic as well. Lincoln looks back four years prior to his first inaugural address. He says we were all awaiting a civil war but were hoping to stop it and save the Union. However, insurgent agents hoped to divide the Union. Lincoln says one party would make the war and the other would accept it. PARAPHRASE Today is the second time I am addressing the nation as your president. I no longer see the need to have a drawn out speech, rather I hope to eventually unite us as a country again and help rebuild our future. We all know how the war has played out and there is no reason for me to further discuss it. The war is coming to a close but the outcome is still a mystery. Today is a time to come together and look ahead towards our hopeful future as a nation. At this time, four years ago, all efforts were on controlling the oncoming civil war. The war seemed a necessity at the time in some American eyes and attempts to start a national tragedy were achieved without much hesitancy by opposing parties. No negotiations would resolve the issues so a civil war did come.