Role in sports in popular culture Essay Example for Free

Role in sports in popular culture Essay Many people around the world have enjoyed playing many sports and have been for a very long time. Of course ancient Olympics, medieval aristocrats, cave people, and hordes of peasants kicking a ball from one village to the next is, despite the genealogy, rather far removed from sports as we know them today (History of Sports, 2012). With the history of sports we can go back and look at many sports, the earliest that the sport of baseball was present in the United States goes all the way back to 1791. It was not until 1845 that the New York Knickerbockers were founded. (History of Sports, 2012). Many people today have used sports as a useful way for the people to increase their mastery of nature and the environment that they live in. Many sports have utilized the humans own basic skills to develop and exercise their own human agility and show others what they can do on their own. When we look at the sports of today, either be the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) many people can understand where all of these athletes had to do to get where they are at. It can all go back to when those athletes were young kids and those people that have known them for a long time can experience how good they are and the power and wealth that comes to those athletes that have practiced and mastered their skills to advance to those different leagues of professionalism. Many professional athletes have experienced their own wealth and power in their sports no matter what sport they are in. When athletes get to that point when they get a large amount of money for what they do on the field or courts, what comes with that is they will try to receive the power as well. Many athletes think that they are worth a lot of money for what they do as a professional athlete. Today, in its current state, many athletes make plenty of money to support themselves for the rest of their lives, and with that type of wealth and money, there will always be talk of why we are paying those athletes that type of money and why do the owners of those teams pay that amount. The owners know that they will have the power to negotiate and have the athlete know who has the power to make things happen. Wealth and power in sports degrades the essence of sports from an enjoyment perspective. Players for all sports are always negotiating for a better deal, working on contract negotiations, and arguing about trade negotiations. These types of negotiations just remove the player who once enjoyed and truly love playing the sport. All of the sudden, it has become a business. Sports should be played with heart. Do the owner and franchise teams help in this matter? In my opinion, they are the culprit. There is a constant battle to gain headlines with the next big contract totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for said number of years. There is a constant battle for endorsements to sign the next potential superstar to help sell shoes or the new line of thirst quenchers. There is a constant battle among agents to exploit players into this world consumed by wealth and how success is is measured. For the pure enjoyment of playing a sport, it’s truly gone. It’s an assembly line where media and fame have crossed their boundaries as they measure athletes by wealth and power. The fans are just as guilty as we continue to pay ridiculous ticket prices and purchase over-priced jerseys and memorabilia. The level of influence we have as fans is more like an addicted customer who can’t walk away from the product. There is increasing value added to rising players and their performance level. For the athletes, wealth and power have consumed their level of importance. They have no longer become a trainable, tailored athlete to a specific level where coaching dominates the team. Wealth and power have excluded most players from accepting a team concept through the visions of their coach. There is a sense of individualism among the wealthiest and most recognized players. Depending on the sport, some of those players ignore the coach or disrespect them altogether. Some could chalk up this attitude to personality conflicts that occur on any level of sports, but there is too much consistency with sports and how wealth and power have influenced those players. If wealth and power in sports could be a stock available for investment opportunities on the NASDAQ stock exchange, it would most likely be the best investment anyone could make. There is rarely a decline as players contracts continue to increase and venues continue raise prices. Most sports fans see the great athletes starting their careers soon after completing high school. Two sports icons that come to mind are Kobe Bryan and Dwight Howard. All athletes are considered role models for young people on the court and off the court. It is for that reason players need to very cognizant of their environment and their behavior. Athletes that are fortunate enough to make it to the professional ranks usually hire managers, trainers, coaches, attorneys and publicist. Players are advertised everywhere in our society. They do endorsements for restaurants, stores, energy drinks, and foot wear. Some even have their own clothing line. Players must be at their best in every aspect of their lives. Always being watched, they are examples to the next generation. Fans of these great entertainers are just as responsible for their dress and their behavior. Children must be the primary and most important focus of our society. We begin to teach our youth immediately and this must be at the forefront of our creations and thoughts. Parents need to learn everything about the business to be able to guide their teenagers if they decided to go professional in sports. Recommendations in consuming and participation include continuing to coach and mentor our children from a young age to create the athletes we wish to see. That is where it begins. It starts with families and family morals, discipline and love. Alcohol and drugs should be discussed frequently with care. At every level of school or competition there must be rules and regulations, love, checks and balances. Sports over many generations have basically become a money making issue. No one says on national TV that they love the sport and would play for free. It is a business. We can no longer think of sports as something fun for our children because in the backs of these parents minds their children just might be good enough for the big time and their futures may be filled with money. References Kobe Bryan Biography. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. biography. com Highest-Paid Athletes 2012 the World’s Richest. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. therichest. org Ogonsji, A. S. (2012). International Journal of business Social Science [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. : . Retrieved from Ebscohost, website. Athletes as Role Models. (1998, February). Current Health, 24(6), 25. Ebscohost. com.

Talent Management In Current Economic Conditions Management Essay

Talent Management In Current Economic Conditions Management Essay INTRODUCTION: The present global economy has not only created a complex but dynamic environment as well and the firms need to learn how to compete effectively and efficiently in order to achieve viable growth. (Briscoe et al, 2009 and Friedman, 2005).But one of the greatest obstacles for the success of an organization is due to shortage of workforces with needed enthusiasm and competencies. Even in the period of recession talent management practices have been put aside in order to cut cost. However it is at this time that the strategies of the company should be reassessed and practices of talent management should be encouraged. The organization needs to ensure, in order to have success, that they are having right people with the needed qualities at the right time and in right location. (U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Personnel Policy, 2001) In this essay I would be explaining the meaning of talent management, along with a history (in the appendix) and then I would be critically analyzing the importance of talent management in current economic conditions followed by a conclusion and the learning outcome. TALENT MANAGEMENT: There is no proper definition of talent management as each organization thinks differently. To some organization it is about managing the highly talented individuals having specialized skills which helps the organization to withstand the market and for the others it is about managing the talent i.e. all people have talent and it should be identified and then to train them as per the requirement of the organization. Most of the talent management decisions are done based on core competency of an organization and the skills required for the particular position. Thus talent management is basically a recruitment of people both internally as well as externally, developing them in line with the organizations current business goals, and then promoting and retaining those people for the future business goals. These all functional aspects are done by human resource department who work in line with the companys business goals. (Sundararajan, 2009) ROLE OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN CURRENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: In the current economic downturn most of the organizations around the world have taken tough decisions in terms of managing their talent. Most of the companies has slashed jobs, reduced training and development budget on their staff and have put talent management programmers on hold or have cancelled. The HR professionals are put under pressure by the companies to cut cost. (Bersin, 2008) Even the demographics are considered to be an important for success of an organization and are also the main driver for talent management challenge. Nearly 70 million baby boomers are expected to stop working in U.S. in the next 15 years and only 40 million workforce are expected to retire in the similar period, thus creating a shortage of workers. (Adecco, 2008). All the above shows that how significant is talent management practices and the job which HR plays is a launch pad of talent mindset. But the companies, thinking of bright future prospects have taken a positive approach towards their business and also managing their talents in the  present economic downturn. The companies which have implemented well controlled talent management programs have not only helped the company to overcome short term business challenges but it has relocated the company to achieve long term success and growth. It also has helped the organizations to increase their profits by employing the right people at the right time. (Deloitte,2009). A recent survey conducted by Bersin Associates(2009) have shown that the organizations which have implemented talent management programs have achieved a 60% higher return as compared to the organization that have not implemented it. Thus the organizations have felt the importance of effective talent management processes and have focused more on retaining their highly skilled people and reviewing their systems to ensure that they have maximum return on inve stment. There is an important requirement of knowledge workers, in an organization, having precise skills which are developed through extensive learning and guidance. These workers have created an essential impact on the success of the company. (Jackson,Hitt and DeNisi, 2003). Most of the organizations require constant innovative products to satisfy the needs of the customer. These can be done only through the workforces of the company. This shows that how the talent management practice is crucial to success. Even most of the multinational organizations have felt the need of these workforces and for these they are moving to other countries to recruit and hire talent people. They always look out to enter into new markets as quickly as possible before their competitor does as this helps them to hire the best talent at best prices which helps the organization to remain competitive in this global environment.(Schuler Jackson, 2009) The talent management programs are vital for an organization as it brings a greater long term benefits as compared to short term benefits. Thus the organization needs to have a long term mindset which is crucial in period of economic instability as it brings benefits to the organization than cutting cost in the short term. SHORTCOMINGS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT: As per Cappelli, the large corporations especially in U.S. talent management practices have become dysfunctional leading to the failure of its practices. The main two reasons for its failures are firstly the surpluses of employees during downturn leading to layoffs and reshuffle and secondly the lack of adequate talent resulting in talent crisis. (Cappelli, 2008) The talent management practices in U.S. were done in two ways that were equally ineffective and fruitless. The most regular practice done by the U.S. companies is that they never did anything nor made any plans to combat the crisis of talent. Thus whenever they require a new talent or any employee leaves the job, they relied on outside hiring to fulfill the gap of talent which proved to be costly.(Cappelli,2008) The second approach which is commonly used among older companies is that they relied on multifaceted and authoritative models of 1950 for forecasting and succession planning. This legacy system proved to be a great success when the business was predictable. But in the present economic conditions, where the environment is unstable and unpredictable, it was very tough to have a long term succession planning.(Cappelli, 2008) The companies could not forecast of how many employees would be staying with them once the development program was completed. Thus whenever an important vacancy occurs, the candidate identified as a successor may not be able to meet the needs of the job because of the unstable environment. The company then searches for the talent from outside to fill the gap. This outcome resulted to have a negative impact. Firstly the candidate feels betrayed as the succession plan creates an implicit promise and secondly the investment made in developing these candidates is wasted.  (Cappelli,2008) As per Cappelli, the survey conducted shows that nearly two third of the American companies are not doing any sort of manpower planning nor predicting how many employees are required and the advice they got was to return to the traditional practices of 1950s and create a long term succession plans. For implementing these plans they need to ensure that some sort of planning are done or else the company may have to depend on outside hiring to fill those gaps. The problems related to outside hiring is that it led to the problem of retention of current workers as they feel demoralized and also the cost of hiring a new employee is also very high. (Cappelli, 2008) IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS ON TALENT MANAGEMENT: Whenever an economic crisis occurs, the first and foremost which the organization does is to make deep reductions in cost by eliminating jobs and also eliminating any cost related to recruitment and professional development. Even the learning and development budget gets reduced. This results in two different scenarios: firstly the people get promoted without having necessary talent, knowledge or exposure to execute the roles effectively and secondly the studies have shown that the employees greatly value the growth of their own talent and thus plummeting the training and budget cost. This results in reduced self-esteem and act as a de-motivator for the employee and it also leads the employee to leave their job.(Insight Research, 2009) Most of the organizations have downscale their business by removing the workforces mainly due to global economic and financial conditions. The research conducted in the area of talent management have reflected that the impact of loss was not felt initially but later on it did make the organization to realize their mistake, when they had no employee with the required knowledge and skills to either foresee or solve problems that occurred. (Collins Mellahi,2009) Finally whenever a crisis occurs the managers shouldnt forget about talent management practices. They should take time to vigilantly re-evaluate their talent management strategy and make sure that they are using their largest talent their staff- as effectively as possible.(Street,2008) CONCLUSION: The most novel way to manage the talent is to use the four values drawn from the operations of supply chain management .The two of them address the improbability in the demand side and the other two addresses the supply side. Make and Buy to Manage Risk: having too much of employees are expensive. So the best way to combat such problems is to develop less candidates than the future requirement and if there is shortfall of talent then it can be hired from outside. The organization must carefully review where to put their assets as some positions can be easily crammed by outside talent.(Cappelli,2008) Adapt to the uncertainty in Talent demand: the actual requirement of talent in future is uncertain and hence the company should employ the demand in shorter groups. Then these groups are selected in regular interval thus putting fewer burdens on the management and also the employees are given general common training to all, and then they are send them back to their jobs to specialize.(Cappelli,2008) Improve the return on investment in developing employees: In order to improve the ROI, the employees should be made to bear the cost of development which helps the employees to gain knowledge. It can also be that the employees may be asked to do work on certain projects on freely basis. And the most important part is to maintain the relationship with the former employees, so that when they return back to job they bring back your ROI in the form of skills.(Cappelli,2008) Preserve the Investment by balancing the Employee-employer relationship: the employees can leave the job if they find better prospects. The best way to retain these employees is to maintain a relationship by having him share the advancement decisions.(Cappelli,2008) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brscoe, D., Schuler, R. and Claus,E.(2009), International Human Resource Management 3rd Edition, Routledge London.[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: Friedman, T.L., The World is Flat, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. [Online]. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Personnel Policy(2001), Workforce Planning Instruction Manual, Available at: http://www.doi.gov/hrm/WFPImanual.pdf. (Accessed on: Sundararajan(2009), Emerging Trends of Talent Management and Challenges of HRM ,[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/emerging-trends-of-talent-management-and-challenges-of-hrm-957837.html.(Accessed on: Bersin,J. (2008), Talent Management: State of the Industry, Human Resource Executive [Online], Available at: http://www.hrexecutive.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=98598263query=talent%20management.. (Accessed on: Tarique, I. and Schuler, R.S. (2009), Global Talent Management: Literature Review, Integrative Framework and suggestions for further research, Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5M-4XK321Y-1/2/814a88aaea2c415c71975e14a443484e?zone=raall. (Accessed on: Adecco(2008), The next decades talent war, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Schuler, R.S., AND Jackson, S.E. (2009), The Global Talent Management Challenge: Drivers and HR actions for Attaining and Sustaining Global Competitive Advantage Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Mellahi,K. and Collings, D.G.,(2009), The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate elites in MNEs, Science Direct, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6W5M-4XJW048-2_user=8742368_coverDate=10/29/2009_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1211489006_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000009999_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=8742368md5=4c47e726a2ba56294846ce945e8801ef. (Accessed on: Ready, D.A. and Conger, J.A. (2007), Make your company a talent factory, Harvard Business Review, [ONLINE], Available at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6W5M-4XJW048-2_user=8742368_coverDate=10/29/2009_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1211489006_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000009999_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=8742368md5=4c47e726a2ba56294846ce945e8801ef. (Accessed on: Deolitte(2009), Balancing talent strategies in difficult times, Available at : http://rss.hsyndicate.com/file/152003927.pdf. (Accessed on: Bersin Associates And Centre for Creative Leadership Industry Study(2009), High Impact Succession Management, Available at: http://www.centerforcreativeleadership.com/leadership/pdf/research/HighImpactSuccessionManagement.pdf. (Accessed on: Jackson, S.E., Hitt, M.A. and DeNisi, A. (2003), Managing knowledge for sustained competitive advantage, [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.dgfp.de/perdoc/document.php?id=81143. (Accessed on: Cappelli, P.(2008), Talent Management for the Twenty first century, Harvard Business Review,[ONLINE], Available at: Moodle of the University of Glasgow.(Accessed on: Insight Research(2009), Perspectives of talent management in challenging times, Available at: .http://www.accaglobal.com/documents/talent_management.pdf. ( Accessed on: Street, M.(2008), Talent management in a Recession , Available at: http://www.management-standards.org/client_files/Talent%20management%20in%20a%20recession.pdf. (Accessed on:

Fever: 1793 Coming of Age Book Report Essay example -- Laurie Halse An

At some point in a person's life, they must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Many of a persons early life experiences can contribute to this transition, even if it is the simplest of things. Yellow Fever hit Philadelphia hard in 1793. It also hit hard in the book Fever: 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this book, fourteen year-old Mattie Cook?s life gets turned upside-down when Yellow Fever strikes Philadelphia. In her adventure, Mattie must show responsibility, and experience the pain of death before she matures into an adult. In the book, Mattie starts out as a lazy teenager who needs to be told what to do by her over controlling mother, but throughout the story, she becomes more responsible and adult-like. For example, at the start of their adventure, Mattie leaves P...

Virgils Aeneid as Roman Propaganda Essay example -- Aeneid Essays

Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda  Ã‚   Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of the founders of Rome. In some sense, this does make the Aeneid seem as a piece of propaganda. However, upon closer examination, there is another idea that Virgil presents. War is painted as a vicious and bloody, not some glorious event. The image of war condemns the concept of Rome as the all-p owerful conqueror of other nations. Not only that, but the strong emphasis on duty is frequently mocked. These underlying ideas would seem to run contrary to the theory that Virgil was simply producing a synthesized history of ancient Romans. In order to determine the true intent of the Aeneid, it is important that both ideas presented be examined. "I sing of warfare and a man at war†¦Till he could found a city†¦the high walls of Rome." (Book I, 1-12) There can be no dispute that the Aeneid is an account of the history of Rome. There are several items which with Virgil links the story of Aeneas to the Rome of his time period. Probably the most obvious of these is the surplus of predictions concerning Rome’... ...many readers today still are). No one can be entirely sure of Virgil’s true intent in writing the Aeneid. Perhaps he meant it as a glorification of Rome that had some discrepancies in it. Perhaps he meant it as an attack upon the character of Rome with some inconsistencies. Either way, it does not work well. Whatever Virgil’s argument, he compromises it by playing up the opposite argument. If Virgil meant to attack Rome, he failed in some respects. Likewise, if he meant the Aeneid to be a work of Roman propaganda, he was ineffective. Works Cited and Consulted Horsfall, Nicholas, ed. A Companion to the Study of Virgil. Leiden, New York, and Kà ¶ln: E. J. Brill, 1995. Putnam, Michael C. J. â€Å"Anger, Blindness, and Insight in Virgil's Aeneid.† Apeiron 23 (1990): 7-40. Virgil. Aeneid. Dover Thrift Edition. Trans. Charles J. Billson. New York: Dover, 1995. Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda Essay example -- Aeneid Essays Virgil's Aeneid as Roman Propaganda  Ã‚   Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of the founders of Rome. In some sense, this does make the Aeneid seem as a piece of propaganda. However, upon closer examination, there is another idea that Virgil presents. War is painted as a vicious and bloody, not some glorious event. The image of war condemns the concept of Rome as the all-p owerful conqueror of other nations. Not only that, but the strong emphasis on duty is frequently mocked. These underlying ideas would seem to run contrary to the theory that Virgil was simply producing a synthesized history of ancient Romans. In order to determine the true intent of the Aeneid, it is important that both ideas presented be examined. "I sing of warfare and a man at war†¦Till he could found a city†¦the high walls of Rome." (Book I, 1-12) There can be no dispute that the Aeneid is an account of the history of Rome. There are several items which with Virgil links the story of Aeneas to the Rome of his time period. Probably the most obvious of these is the surplus of predictions concerning Rome’... ...many readers today still are). No one can be entirely sure of Virgil’s true intent in writing the Aeneid. Perhaps he meant it as a glorification of Rome that had some discrepancies in it. Perhaps he meant it as an attack upon the character of Rome with some inconsistencies. Either way, it does not work well. Whatever Virgil’s argument, he compromises it by playing up the opposite argument. If Virgil meant to attack Rome, he failed in some respects. Likewise, if he meant the Aeneid to be a work of Roman propaganda, he was ineffective. Works Cited and Consulted Horsfall, Nicholas, ed. A Companion to the Study of Virgil. Leiden, New York, and Kà ¶ln: E. J. Brill, 1995. Putnam, Michael C. J. â€Å"Anger, Blindness, and Insight in Virgil's Aeneid.† Apeiron 23 (1990): 7-40. Virgil. Aeneid. Dover Thrift Edition. Trans. Charles J. Billson. New York: Dover, 1995.

The recent increase in agricultural productivity

In the recent times the agricultural productiveness has been increased two times while the country of the cultivated land is increased by merely 10 percent.But the job is how to manage the inauspicious effects of clime alteration on agribusiness productiity.Incrasing populations at high rate I is besides a serious concern, harmonizing to FAO the universe population will make 9 billion by 2050 which is presently 6.7 billion.It is estimated that the universe agricultural nutrient demand will be increased to 70 % , and at the same clip clime alteration is expectrd Ro cut down the agricultural productivity.The function of developing states is critical and they should must transform their tradional patterns to modern techniques.To guarantee the nutrient security in future FAO has proposed figure of valueable ways through which the agricultural production will increased with minimising the consequence of utmost clime conditions.The proposed methods are soi and alimentary direction in this methods smallholders can profit the most by the usage of manure and harvests residues to increase production.Management of H2O in harvests prodution is besides of import, today irrigation is practiced in merely 20 % of the agricultural land in the devloping states but are genearting 130 % more yields.Smallholders should follow the efficeint methods or H2O use.Cliamte alteration has increased the effects or plagues and diseases impacts on the harvests which in consequence has decreased the outputs leval.Resilence othe ecosystems is of import as ecosystem can assist in many ways in prolonging the cliamte and cut downing the degree of GHGs emissions.Harvesting and supply ironss of the harvests should be efficient and advanced so that the station crop losingss should be minimized.Processing and storage of agricutral merchandises besides helps in cut downing the losingss of excess food.Use of advanced engineerings improves the production degree but at the same clip, in some instances the job of ecological harm, resource development and plague and diseases are noticed.These all patterns are making good in different developing states under the guidline of FAO but still there are still so me information spreads which consequences in the faliure of practical application of these production systems and patterns. Rice is one of the most cardinal nutrient point used in most underdeveloped states and about 3 billion people eat rice daily.Due to the utmost waether conditions H2O logging and irregular rainfall enchantments has adversly effact the end product of rice crop.Differnt methods are proposed to command these effects.Croping forms are changed and embankments are built to construct t protect rice farms from inundations and drouth, tolerant and resistent varities of rice are being introduced.Different researches are being done on rice cultivation and urea deep arrangement UDP engineering has been developed.In bagladesh these this pattern has shown 60 % nest eggs in urea usage and output additions of about 1 ton per hacter.Differnt extenuation and version techniques are being used by different states e.g usage of natural fertilisers, variegation of harvests nad no cultivated land. Conservation agiculture is another pattern which is proposed by FAO it has three steps.Managemant and usage of fertilisers in such a manner that more is produced with less usage of fertilizers.Rotation of harvests and usage of legums workss for nitrogen arrested development and avoidence of tillage.It reduces the vulnerabilty of harvests by version to cliamte alteration and besides better the nutrient security in sustainable way.agroforestry is another pattern by which the issue of milliliter and nutrient security can be minimized.It is the usage of trees an vitamin D bush in agricutural harvest and in land managemnr systemTrees can better the dirt birthrate, particularly the N repairing legume trees.In Africa this system has increased corns end product from 1.3 to 1.6 tons.It is besides one of chief beginning of C sequestartion of the universe CO2 emissions.It is of import for two hundred extenuation. Urban and semi urban agricuture is besides impotant to adress the issue of nutrient security and turning demand.50 % of universe population is populating in metropoliss but they can non run into their demand of nutrient so they rely on rural agri products.In metropoliss agriclture production can be parcticed in diffent topographic points like schools, infirmaries roof tops and Windowss boxes etc and these are go oning in some countries.But there are different sorts of hurdlings like the deficit of H2O, land issue, envirnomental impacts of urban agri consequence the populace and make diseaes and wellness concerns.therefore mor advanced tecnolgies are required and metropoliss be aftering should back up the urban agri activities.The demand of more advanced production system is besides needed which can besides carry through the smallfamers enregy needs.Biofules shuold be produced from the residue of different harvests.

Leadership Imperatives in the Arab-American University Essay

Leadership in a school of higher and advanced learning such as the Arab-American University requires collaborative and confrontational challenges with a number of issues, typical but not limited to that of any educational institution. Such issues as cultural diversity, inclusivity, intellectual activities such as research and instruction, social involvements such as community extension services, students affairs, finance, marketing, strategic business models, organizational theories, profitability and shareholder value, political and social congruencies and differences, among others, often create deep chasms to and between the various school sectors that are ironically bound by a common purpose – quality education. This is made more demanding when Arab and American views are integrated in a single community. What unique leadership and management model therefore would apply under such a sensitive configuration? What risk management intervention would constantly prevail? What residual risks or synergy, if any, would be evident? Leadership and management in an educational institution are perhaps among the most formal, sensitive and confrontational roles a professional can assume. Business organizations established for profit are far easier managed and led as there is that environment and mandate of compliance required of every employee based on employment contracts and agreements. This compliance system gives the manager the elbow room to adopt an organizational approach under a theory x or y scenario. Admittedly, discipline under an entrepreneurial undertaking is demanded primarily to meet shareholder value targets and for survival secondarily. Universities are considered more complex than most organizational systems as they demand the most professional processes than any other institution. Schools are assumed to be the fount and cradle of learning, hence a strong exemplary modeling of instructors and administrators are always the subject of intensive scrutiny among other sectors. Would this university therefore require a business-like management style or an organization leadership mix that is as fluid as the socio-cultural and political dimensions? . In an age where socio-cultural and political diversities are characterized with the widest spectra and extremes, the establishment of an Arab-American intellectual Mecca can be expected to require the most intense professional and socio-cultural leadership anywhere. This study would be interested in identifying areas of collaboration while addressing confrontational issues and risks along the process. Similarly, the relevance of this study along multicultural settings in complex and diverse forms and in highly professional environment would transcend, even revolutionize all assumptions, hypothesis and even all forms of propositions about multicultural biases. Brief history of the Arab-American University The Arab-American University (AAU) was established in 1973 as non-sectarian, non-profit and non-government institution of higher learning. Its primary purpose is to address the educational needs of Arab-Americans starting from preschool to basic, secondary, higher education, to graduate and post-graduate levels. Among its goals and objectives include providing full scholarships to families of indigent but intellectually capable members of the Arab-American community in a specific area with a relatively high density of Arab-American families. While the university accepts Muslim students, it also caters to students from other religious and cultural denominations and groups.. The university is primarily a combination of a business college strongly oriented towards information technology and engineering courses, both technical and baccalaureate degrees. The university is composed of seven schools: the Schools of Business Management, Hospitality Management, Accountancy, Nursing and Midwifery, Medicine, Arts, Political and the Social Sciences, Polytechnic Institute composed of the Departments of Architecture, Computer Science, Electronic Communications Engineering, Civil and Mechanical Engineering and Fine Arts, its flagship programs includes Accountancy where it ranks among the top 50 business schools in the United States, Electronics Communications Engineering, Nursing, Hospitality Management and Mechanical Engineering. All seven schools are verticalized with their respective graduate schools. As of the year 2008, the university boasted a population of 30,000 highly selected students and scholars from 25 states and 15 countries mostly from the Middle East and Asian countries. Its student population increases by an average of 15 per cent and expected to hit 50,000 by 2012. Presently, it maintains two campuses – the Chicago and Urbana Campuses, each with its own charter and separate sets of faculty. All courses are offered in both campuses. For the last three years, AAU has garnered a number of academic awards, including twelve top researches awards in Accountancy, Computer Sciences, Nursing, Electronic Communications Engineering Awards. As of December 31, 2008, the school started to become consistent in its passing rate for the Accountancy, Nursing and Engineering courses all averaging about 80 per cent against the national norm of 40 per cent. For nursing, AAU has started to register a 100 per cent passing rate in the Nursing Board Examinations. All colleges and schools in the university are headed by a Dean of the College and are assisted by a Vice Dean with a pool of Academic Chairs for each of the courses or majors within the college. A Faculty secretary is the administrative officer of each college or school and must be a holder of a doctor’s degree in any of the courses in the college where he or she is assigned. The faculty secretary is the point person of every college but maintains a built-in six units of academic load in addition to his full-time administrative work. The university boasts of complete state of the art facilities for all of its laboratory classes including its basic education department. Its library is one of the most complete, up-to-date libraries in the world with the most comprehensive collection of traditional and electronic materials. During the last five years, the university has been the recipient of awards for excellence in community involvement and extension services. Its research center laboratory enjoys an endowment fund from where it trains and maintains its pool of researchers from the ranks of the faculty. Leadership Efficiency and Effectiveness and the primary key concepts adopted in the university Just like any school of advanced learning, the university is a complex organization that adheres to the mission, vision, goals and objectives it has demanded from itself and its academic and non-academic employees the highest standards of professionalism, responsiveness, community involvement, strong, visible and dynamic research-orientations and the disciplinary but compassionate relationship maintained with the students of all levels. To be effective and efficient, the university periodically asserted its need to formalize and communicate its strategic, tactical and operational plan in the same other successful organizations do. (Robbins, 2003). Looking ahead and beyond the current situations in the industry, (in this case the education sector) brings uncertainties and risks into the open and allows the organization a clear means of managing, confronting and even avoiding those uncertainties and risks. (Shaw,2003). The university makes sure that it conducts its strategic planning session annually before the onset of the succeeding year in time for translating the strategic level into the tactical component as well as operationalizing the tactical level. (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2001). Similarly, AAU never fails to conduct an evaluation and assessment of its preset plans as means of determining where it is and what constraining and enabling factors it is experiencing. (Atkinson et al, 2003). This evaluation additionally renders the university an effective means of addressing change (Koller as cited by Robbins, 2003). These planning and change management processes articulates AAUs assertion of leadership under inherent socio-cultural complexities through clear visioning and communication initiatives to all its stakeholders that for many years, have been encouraged to actively participate in the planning sessions. This has greatly contributed to the overwhelming atmosphere of professionalism in the university. The senior administrators of AAU may not have formal training on complexity management, but their organizational leadership styles enable the attainment of an enviable cohesiveness as a team with a common purpose of being; that of addressing ignorance and mediocrity where they are needed. AAU’s uniqueness stems from its capability to harness its management with the leadership character to instill regulatory and policy compliance without having to assert authority and power in between (House cited by Robbins, 2003). It is surprising that even under intense pressure to compete and manage the scarce resources provided endowment; the AAU is able to integrate the sensitive and complex balance scorecard approach in its strategic decision making. (Kaplan & Norton, 2004). The university attributes this success factor on its priority for choosing its leaders under the trait theory that focuses on the personal qualities along charisma, exemplary modeling, attitude, enthusiasm and even personal traits common to both cultures as courage and determination. (Robbins,2003). Despite rigorous studies on identifying leadership traits for its management, supervisory and staff positions, the university correlates traits such as drive and ambition, integrity which includes honesty and sincerity, competence along knowledge and skills and even sense of sacrifice. (Robbins,2003). The university however, continues to experience a dearth of this type of managers with the leadership dimension due to the expansion and establishment of similar institutions outside of the United States. Thus, aware of this constraint, AAU emphasizes its executive and management development training programs to prepare the transition of its key people towards the great demand for exemplary modeling (DelaTorre, 2006); that is, managers and leaders who took initiatives to address the personal needs of the employees as means of making them more productive in the process. (Robbins, 2003). The university seldom experiences the risks of the groupthink factor (Shafritz & Ott on Janis,1992) as it respects the need for all decision makers to be extremely knowledgeable and skilled in the decision making processes. Being a part of its strategic objectives, the annual development programs encourage AAU employees to be continuously motivated, through the behavioral theory approach, effectively deciding as a team in addressing organizational objectives. This motivational drive expands the employees horizons and capabilities towards job satisfaction and sustainable learning and growth of its human capital (Kaplan & Norton, 2003). As a result, AAU has achieved in just 25 years what other universities tried to accomplish in a century and under the most challenging multicultural scenarios. On one hand, the leadership and management mix being adopted in the university guarantees and assure empowerment of units and people towards autonomy and self-regulation. This is granted after intensive training on decision making and university processes that includes appreciation and utilization of marketing researches and theories in support of policy formulation and implementation. The immense authorities and power given especially to the respective heads of offices, primarily the Deans of Colleges and Schools, are always tempered with management control systems to guide all decisions towards achievement of goals every inch of the way. The resultant good governance, control and transparency outcomes of this empowerment initiatives unburdens the senior management with operational concerns, thus allowing this level a clear focus on the strategic direction of the university and strengthening its social and political influence through good governance and risk management processes (Shaw,2003) On the other hand, the administrative efficiency has been excellently adopted through specialization and responsibility accounting that enables units to address issues at every level strengthening the span of control while focusing tasks towards a specific class of clients, concerns and even the university campus designated purposely for the educational services. (Shafrits & Ott on Simon, 1992). The leadership styles and practices exercised by the AAU stakeholder group are creating new levels of efficiency and effectiveness in the hierarchy and creating precedents as well as new theories to emerge in the realm of university value-based (Koller, 1994) management and organizational leadership. These new learning and growth perspectives have revolutionized the balanced scorecard (Horngren et al, 2000) and stakeholder principles (DelaTorre, 2006) with an exemplary mix of leadership innovations. Despite the control risks that mix might be spawned by the staff turnovers experienced during the last few years, the university has maintained a loyalty index of more than ten years among its people. This is a sustainability plus factor in human resource management of the school. Other key principles and concepts adopted In the area of instruction, research and extension services for example, excellence in the classroom is primarily driven by a strongly motivated select members of the faculty pool whose training and development focus is based on aligning the needs of the teachers with the needs of the university. This congruency theory in objectives (DelaTorre, 2006) allows for mutual and beneficial relationship between faculty providers and students. The intervention theory (Shafrits & Ott on Argyris, 1992) in organizations demands a strong psychotherapy approach (Rogers & Roethlisberger, 2000) to communications. The theory presupposes the presence of a special relationship between people to enable openness and transparency among constituents. Teachers display this practice in terms of open and complementary student advising and counseling sessions not only as part of the intervention process but a critical part of the formation process in education. Students need and demand attention in the form of interventions especially in difficult and complex scenarios they find themselves in the process of earning a degree. Thus this psychotherapy theory helps in providing a strong motivational environment in the classroom opens avenues for students to be creative and enthusiastic about their career plans. Secondarily, this special attention given to student clientele becomes a strong promotional and marketing tool for the university in attracting students even from those school already established. The need for any intensive advertising and marketing efforts to project the identity of the schools are addressed by the students themselves who become informal marketing and testimonial proofs of quality education. This has expanded the market of the university even to those non-Arab-Americans who appreciate the philosophy that the school articulates and manifests through its graduates. Managing and leading a university in the current socio-economic environment becomes problematic even under the various principles of organization (Shafritz and Ott on Cohen and March, 1992). These anarchic ambiguities of purpose, power, experience and success can render even the most competent university president to fail in some circumstances in due time. Thus the management and organizational leadership mix is both critical and mandatory. This allows the president to grab the appropriate management and leadership tool at a given situation and scenario and exert and even allow certain precedent-setting decisions to effect changes with the least minimum resistance or optimum cooperation. Thus, inability along this line runs the risk of getting confused with his leadership character or manager authority or some hybrid in between. For AAU, the consultation process with the constituents and stakeholders becomes the medium by which decision critical to every office head’s functions are articulated. This explores the best idea possible while addressing and dissipating potential resistance to any innovations and measures not easily understood or appreciated.

The Sorrows of Young Werther Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Sorrows of Young Werther - Essay Example Werther finds Lotte to be the object of his hopeless desire, but social conventions of a world based on reason keep her just out of his reach. His unrequited passion for Lotte ultimately destroys him as his frustrated melancholy drowns every other aspect of his personality. Werther too can be defined by one key trait: his inner sensitivity. His sensitivity enables him to be acutely aware of his emotions and the beauty around, which makes him attractive to others. Sensations can be intensified to such an extent that he is often entranced to a blissful state. The introduction, as written by the fictional editor, establishes Werther as worthy of admiration: "You cannot withhold your admiration and love for his character, any more than your tears for his fate... take comfort in his suffering" (Introduction, l. 3-6). However, the same trait cultivates Werther's flaws: self-absorbed, egotistic, and hypersensitivity. Werther, has little internal struggle and is usually forthright about his emotions. Werther's defining trait also acts as the central cause of his actions: "my heart, which is the fountainhead of all-all strength, happiness and misery my heart alone is my own." (p. 97) Werther often complains about the hardships of living, and yet he proclaims: "We human beings often complain that there are so few good days and so many bad ones; but I think we are generally wrong. If our hearts were always open to enjoy the good, which God gives us every day, then we should also have enough strength to bear the evil" (p. 38). As The Sorrows of Young Werther's end approaches, Werther is in a deep depression and is allowed to fall deeper in love despite recognized consequences: "Dear God! Am I culpable that I even now feel a supreme happiness in again living through those glowing moments of joy in all their intensity Lotte! Lotte! - And this is the end!" (p. 135). Suicide is an unnatural act, fundamentally contradicting the central action of life: living. Death renders beings ultimately desensitized, the complete opposite of Werther's trait. Concluding, the story is not just about a young man who is obsessed with a young woman and kills himself because he cannot have her. The main theme is more about passion which completely drives the story. Werther is passionate about practically anything. He clearly values nature, youthfulness, society and the love for Lotte. He is totally dominated by his hopeless passion for all things in life. From the beginning of the story, Werther takes particular pleasure in nature. He tells William "I feel content herethe abundance of this youthful season gives warmth to a heartevery tree, every hedgerow is a bouquet" (p. 24). Werther is devoted to nature; his "whole being is filled with a marvelous gaiety, like the sweet spring morning" (p. 24). When his mother first sends him on the journey, he says he is "alone and glad to be alive" (p. 24). He talks about a spring he is mysteriously drawn to: the natural beauty that surrounds him enchants him. He goes on to talk about the "footpath that leads to the villageoverlooking the entire valley" (p. 30). He puts so much emotion into his letters to William about the "most marvellous sunrisethe trees, wet, the fields refreshedblustering wind stormsrush of a forest" (p. 92). And from this, we can see exactly why he has