Review of Renaissance Architecture

Throughout the past old ages the outgrowth of architecture have gone through assorted evolutionary stages.The doctrine of Architecture produced with clip two major subdivisions which is the basic Renaissance and Baroque architecture.The development of Architecture from basic Renaissance signifier which indicates holding the features of self-respect and formality shown through symmetricalness and that to hold an available infinite for rational battle with the Godhead which can be asserted that it surely provides a rational battle with architecture which is a more effectual agencies to grok and understand architectural signifier than the Baroque signifier which perversely presented the beginning of new dynamic, fluid and theatrical attack to architecture that was designed to impact straight upon emotional manners of battle. The Baroque architecture which was originally linked to the counter reformation which is a motion within the Catholic church to reconstruct itself to react to the P rotestant church and its embroideries were more approachable to the feelings and power of the Italian church which formed a new manner, whereas Renaissance was a mixture of spiritual and secular force and retreat the prosperity and strength of the Italian churches. From the 14Thursdayto the 17Thursdaycentury In Italy, the metropolis of Florence specifically is where the launch of Renaissance architecture which is besides known as ‘Rebirth’ or ‘Revival’ of the Roman authoritative Humanistic disciplines had foremost began and subsequently was distributed to the remainder of Europe. Symmetry, geometry, proportion and regularity of elements are they are shown in Ancient Roman architecture is what stipulate the Renaissance manner. However, in the metropolis of Florence, designers and creative persons demonstrated their support through their advancement of new forms of picture, sculpture and architecture, similar to seeking of prestigiousness and place through their aid of art and letters by the bankers and rich merchandisers. Hence, As clip passed by Renaissance Architecture has evolved and went through multiple phases.At first it has gone through the Early period which is the first passage period.Secondly comes Proto-Baroq ue which is before Baroque or in other words High Renaissance.Finally It evaluated to Baroque period.Baroque architecture began in late 16Thursdaycentury in Italy that turned Renaissance architecture into a philosophical and inventive in a theatrical manner manner frequently to show an inventive thought. Lights and dramatic strength is used besides to stand for Baroque architecture. Bernini and Borromini are the first two major designers that developed Baroque period as Bernini was the first one to germinate many sculptures into his edifices and the Francesco Burromini came to Italy to larn from Bernini. However, every manner of Architecture has its ain features, stuffs, elements and forms and different purposes, but it is supported that nearing architecture with Renaissance manner tends to be more piquant with architecture and understanding it and stand foring it in a right signifier than Baroque manner. Late Roman edifices, peculiarly Donato Bramante’s St. Peter ‘s Basilica Tempietto in Rome its design attains a colossal integrity that was non known before and hence can be considered as ascendant to baroque architecture. Donato Bramante was an Italian designer, who introducedRenaissance architectureto Milan and theHigh Renaissance manner to Rome, where his program forSt. Peter ‘s Basilicaformed the footing of the design executed byMichelangelo. Donato Bramante Tempietto in Rome represent absolutely the Renaissance manner of architecture The tempietto identified the start of the Renaissance in Rome in 1502, when a sanctuary to stand for where saint Peter was killed was requested from Alexander to be built allegedly.Bramante made his edifice to typify the Christian mention for tradition and Platonic penchant for the early church. The edifice is surrounded by a one-story Doric colonnade with entablature and bannister and a 2-story cylinder covered by a hemispherical dome Bramante’s St.Peter strategy symbolized a edifice on the buildup of the Baths of Diocletian covered by a dome similar to that of the Pantheon. Began in April 1506. About all the critical designer of the 16Thursdayand 17Thursdayhad been altered by the same clip that the church was to the full adjusted. Renaissance architecture in both of these edifices tends to holding two-dimensional classicm in which its walls are decorated with culomns, pediments, and blind arches of little physical deepness and that serves as level canvases for a classical inveer, which serves to divide a wall into a precise and orderly signifier, perversely in Baroque architecture the walls are profoundly chelised and curved which treats as undulating whole.Furthermore, St Peter’s basilica and Donato Bramante’s Tempietto in Rome have Facades that are symmetrical around their perpendicular axis. A systenm of pilasters, arches and entlabatures which form a relative surmount the frontages and the columns and Windowss demonstrate patterned advance toward the centre.In contrast Buildings such as John Balthasar Neumann’s Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Bamburg, Germany the frontages consisted of many curves, Baroque pediments ( which is the triangular country between the rooftop and the border of the roofs ) were frequently extremely decorated. Scrolls and gilded formed the tips sometimes. This is a exposure for John Balthasar Neumann’s Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Bamburg, Germany which represent the Baroque architecture Floor program: John Balthasar Neumann’s Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Bamburg, Germany which represent the Baroque architecture The Baroque manner has its alone egg-shaped form and took the advantage of marbles, bronze and gildings in copiousness of the inside and sometimes the insides are covered by multiple aureate puttos and life sized 1s. Using an art technique called as ‘‘Trompe l’oeil’’ painting including strongly realistic imagination hence to make the optical vision and semblance for objects to be seeable in three dimensions the ceilings and domes of the Baroque architecture were formed, alternatively of being an ordinary two dimensional picture. The major function that Baroque architecture acted upon was the call for an architecture that is both approachable and accessible to feelings and emotions and besides a shown statement of wealth and power of church. The frontages consisted of many curves, Baroque pediments ( which is the triangular country between the terminal of the roofs and the rooftop ) were normally highly decorated. The tips were sometimes turned into co ils and gilded. A listed characteristics of churrigueresque architecture would include more curves instead than consecutive lines, cosmetic columns alternatively of a supportive one and twisted in form every bit good, detailing with a high sense of ornament, using the visual aspect of traveling and uninterrupted flow every bit good, along with an copiousness of Windowss, and a batch of pictures intermixing with the architecture. The church was constructed between the twelvemonth of 1743 to 1772 along with it alone design in the inside which strongly reflect the Baroque architecture. The program of the church shows the church has layout which is considered to be a complex of extremely divided spacial agreement in a Latin cross signifier, along with a series of ellipses that divides a big series of ellipses that’s perpendicular to it. Traveling on to the ceiling, it’s broken up with immense Windowss that allow the infinite to be exposed to directional visible radiation. Uniting all this together which is the sum of light coming from the Windowss and the flawless stucco work done by the designers, created an astonishing and simple in footings of a transporting inside which has been called â€Å" God ‘s Ballroom.As a individual approaches the church he or she will witness a fantastic sandstone facade resembling a glorious Baroque manner along with an appealing and warm chromaticity. In decision, Baroque architecture which considered to be related to emotional battle, this manner or architecture dressed ore and give more attending to ornament more than support of the construction, curves instead than consecutive lines, and accent on the visual aspect of motion all along the church. Although Baroque has barrows many characteristics from the idiosyncrasy and Renaissance, but at the same clip there is a batch of differences found between these two manners of architecture. In bespeaking those differences u will reason that Renaissance is more based on pragmatism and being consecutive, every bit good as holding the features of self-respect and formality shown through symmetricalness and that to hold an available infinite for rational battle with the Godhead which can be asserted that it surely provides a rational battle with architecture, while the Baroque manner concentrates more in being complex and in a flow. Giving those factors renaissance architecture can be con sidered more convincing in footings of architectural facets due to the high degree of stableness and proportionality which reflects the construct of power and modus operandi which is needed in topographic points like churches

Painting, Music, Theater and Dance as Individual Discipline Essay

Discipline implies a commitment to hard work and that hard work is necessary to grow spiritually, just as it is to develop one’s artistic talents (Wuthnow 2006, p. 107). Painting, music, theater, and dance are individual disciplines as artists have to work hard to master techniques and movements. Learning the art of painting, music, theater, and dance is a discipline because it is a painful step of going through the process of mastering its art. Citing various opinions on discipline, Wuthnow stated, â€Å"To make something that would not meet my expectations and to try again and improve it, step by step, that’s discipline. Four means of expression for each discipline Appreciating a work of art implies an intellectual involvement with what is to be appreciated, be it a painting, music, theater arts or dance. Painters expressed their arts in many ways. One of this is the so called â€Å"realism† whose manner of presenting their subject depends on the interest, imagination, creativity, and purpose of the artist. Their Objects are depicted in the way they would normally appear in nature, and the presentation is said to be realistic. Next is the Abstract form which is usually expressed in geometric shapes which are rarely identified. The third is Distortion this is used by artist to dramatize the object and to create an emotional effect. Last is cubism which represents realities through the use of geometric object. Music artist express their arts in various ways. First is through the so-called â€Å"live music† which is played fast or slow, loud or soft, and happy or sad. Second is the Jazz which is an exhilarating and an intricate play intending to mystify the listeners. The third is the Rock is usually inspired by classical string pieces. The last is the so-called Sonata which Hoffman (2005) identified an instrumental piece. The theater art is expressed through audio-visual. Foremost of this expression is the Broadway which has been generally referred to as an institutionalized exhibition of art. Opera is another expression of theater art which is usually a character depiction while Shadow puppet is an important expression of theater art especially among Asian countries like China and Indonesia. Finally, Puppetry is a â€Å"calculated and controlled† discipline in exhibiting the art form (Harkavy, 1996). Dancing is considered as art that is characterized by a free movement that is guided by the tempo of music. Dancing as an art is expressed in such manner as â€Å"Ballet† â€Å"tango† â€Å"Ballroom† and modern dances. Description of four characteristics for each discipline The characteristic of painting is that need subject which are either a human person, nature or an art it self. Next, imagination and creativity is both the artist’s invisible eye to see things hidden and technological tools. Canvas is also an element of painting which is a hempen cloth loosely woven and is used by painters for painting. The simplest element of painting is Paint which is a chemical use by painters in varied colors. Elements of music include strings instruments. These are instruments played by artist using their fingers. Wind instruments are another element of music. They are played by using their lips. Drums too are elements of music. Artists played them using a stick and are usually accompanied by other instruments such as cymbals and tambourine. Tempo is also an element of music. It is the music’s beat, that is, its speed. Theater elements include Character depiction, which is usually performed by artist on stage, drama which is an element of theater art and is usually a story acted by artists to the audience. The dramatists are the artists or the stage performers. Plays are perhaps the most important element which is normally the entire script or a form of story telling. Elements of dance include choreography which is creative dance movement that conveys ideas. The tempo of music is an in a dance that determines the actions and movements. Emotions are the elements of dance that â€Å"makes the immediacy come alive† (Runco & Pritzker (1999, p. 476). Scenery is the place for dancing which is a wide open area conducive for dancing. How each characteristic is unique to the discipline? Each characteristic is unique to the discipline in such a way that they provide important knowledge and ideas of the particular discipline. They also serve as the introduction and identities of each discipline. These characteristic are unique to the discipline they identify their description only fits with the particular discipline they are representing. References Harkavy, M. D. (1996) Baroque, In the New Webster’s International Encyclopedia. ’ Hoffman, M. (2005) The NPR Classical Music Companion USA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Runco, M. A. & Pritzker, S. R. (1999) Encyclopedia of Creativity USA: Elsevier Wuthnow, R. (2006) All in Sync USA: University of California press

Healthcare Administrator Essay

Abstract This paper discusses and explains how I determined my chosen career field, healthcare administration. I began this paper by discussing the process of choosing not only what major you want to study, but what you will do with that degree once you graduate. I continue by discussing how and why I intend to aspire to becoming a healthcare administrator. The skills and duties that are needed to be successful were explained, along with an overview of what this career is about. Along with the responsibilities of what a healthcare administrator is faced with, I also discuss what skills I have that are going to set me apart from others and what I can bring to the table. This paper also discusses the types of technology and software that administrators should be familiar with along with why it is important to keep up with the advances in technology. An important topic that is also discussed is the challenges that are faced with this career field, and who could benefit from the talents of health care administrators. It is important to be able to provide patients with quality healthcare, and this paper discusses how healthcare administrators give them that care and how I will be able to do so in the future. Duties of Healthcare Administrators: It’s More Than Just a Desk Job Throughout our entire lives, education has been one of the foremost important things to have. It is a privilege, and we continue to learn many things along the way. As we began to grow as young adults, one question was asked by many (parents, relatives, teachers, etc.) and that was: â€Å"What do you want to be when you grow up?† That question is more important now than ever. Through elementary school, our answers were mostly fantasy dreams, such as astronaut, fireman, princess, etc. As we move up to middle school, our answers become more realistic, although still unsure of what we really long to do. High school prepares us to put one step in the door to fulfill  our ambitions and goals in life. College pushes us to see where we are really heading in life and how much work we are willing to put into it. Throughout most people’s lives, they come up with an answer as to what degree they want to pursue in, but that does not answer the question of what you want to do with that degree. Most will ask what you are going to college for and answers such as, business, pre-med, teaching, etc. will come up; but no one thinks to ask, â€Å"What will you do with that degree?† Most of us get lost in the idea of graduating with a diploma in our hands that we forget what is most important. We need to be able to know who we are as a person, and what we want in life before we can begin to even imagine what our lives will be like. I can finally say, with confidence, that the career field I intend to aspire to is a healthcare administrator. To begin, I never knew exactly what I wanted to do when I first started college, which is, in fact, very common. I always felt as though I had to do something that would get the approval of other people in my life, such as my parents, relatives, and friends. As a result, I first decided to major in pre-med. Although I had interest in medicine and working with people in that field, I soon realized that I was lacking a certain passion that should come along with anything that you are pursuing or will be involved in with for the rest of your life. As I then changed my major from pre-med to business, I still wasn’t sure what job I would want with that major. In the beginning, I thought accounting or just simply marketing/management, but that was still very vague. After discussing what success means to me, gathering research, and learning what I am interested in or what I would want for myself, I found that I had an interest in becoming a healthcare administrator. A healthcare administrator is in charge of running and managing a healthcare facility or private medical center (Dutta, 2009). â€Å"He or she is involved with almost every aspect of running the facility efficiently, effectively, and productively and ensuring delivery of quality healthcare by doctors, staff members, technicians and nurses to patients† (Dutta, 2009, para 1). This career field is a good fit for me because I am able to work with those who I wished to have been working with if I had continued to pursue a  pre-med major, but in other ways. By becoming a healthcare administrator, I will be making sure that there will be given quality healthcare to patients. This is an appropriate substitute to caring for the patient hands on because I will still be making sure they are taken care of in the best way possible. This is also a good fit for me because as I talked to family members and friends, they all agreed that business is a better choice for me, but I should also b e working with people. By becoming a healthcare administrator, I will be capable of doing both. Business is usually thought of as desk jobs, or simply suite and ties, but I am determined to do and be more than that. For this job, there are many duties and skills that are critical for success; but most importantly, success is defined as more than the skills of the job. Success is about enjoying what you do and being happy with what you are doing, but at the same time, to be successful means to be able to get the job done in an efficient and effective way. There are many duties that this field requires. There are clerical duties, management duties, types of administrator duties, and training and compensation the job requires (Locsin, n.d.). In small offices, these clerical duties involve tasks such as answering phones, filing patient records, issuing and paying bills, and processing insurance claims. On the other hand, larger facilities may have enough work to assign a single task to inexperienced administrators (Locsin, n.d.). Although clerical duties are not as hands on with the type of work that I am interested in, it is necessary in order to get the job done. Management duties consist of individual or independent work and sometimes administrators are able to initiate projects. This job also includes consulting with department heads and medical staff on their administrative needs, takes care of maintaining and repairing their physical facilities, and represents their organizations at investor meetings or governing boards (Locsin, n.d.). Five important areas that are essential to be skilled in to becoming a successful healthcare administrator are economics, technology, communication, risk management, and strategic thinking (Yaremich, 2013). It is important to know what the economy is like to be able to sort out any expenses that may arise. By being aware, it will help with maintaining a quality care to the needs of patients. Technology  has continued to evolve throughout the years. It is being used for many different things and in different ways of how we operate on a day to day basis. Health records have now been converted electronically and patient records must be tracked; therefore, it is essential to be knowledgeable about various technologies that are being used today (Yaremich, 2013). Communication will always be an important skill to have, no matter what field you are in. Without good communication, the quality of work that is being done will potentially suffer. It is also important to be aware and to be able to communicate with the appropriate people in order to know the latest changes in health insurance, government policies and patient care standards that will have an affect on staff and consumers of your services, and how they relate to your company’s policies and protocols (Yaremich, 2013). Risk management is an important area to be skilled in because you need to be able to control your operation’s financial and safety risks (Yaremich, 2013). Lastly, strategic thinking is an important skill to have because being able to meet the needs of patient healthcare is very important. To be able to decide how and in what ways you can meet the needs of the community is a very important skill to have. You will need to think of ideas and plans of getting the necessary equipment or medicines that are needed or required. Skills that are going to set me apart from the crowd include hard work and ambitions, the need to accomplish my goals, my passion for helping others, and not only my communication skills, but also my listening skills. There is no question that hard work is necessary to be successful in life. What sets me apart from others is how hard I am willing to push myself to get the job done. My ambitions will help me accomplish more than others, and it will continue to help me look for new goals to achieve. My passion for helping others also sets me apart from the crowd because I have always wanted to be able to help others, no matter what I decided to do after college. It has always been a priority to do something that has meaning and importance in my eyes. By constantly wanting to help people, whether it may be in a big or small way, my passion for helping those in need, will make me a successful person. Lastly, not only will my communication skills help me accomplish my goals in life, but m ore importantly, my listening skills will set me apart from the rest. Although it is important to be able to communicate with those around you, sometimes  it is more beneficial to listen to what others need. By pursuing in a career field that requires assisting the health needs of others, it is imperative to listen to what those needs are in order to be able to do so. Listening is a skill that many cannot say they have. By paying close attention to what patients may need rather than what a hospital may want, will have large impacts on how healthcare administration operates. Although I may not have any experience within the field yet, the skills, knowledge, and ability that I bring to the table include: the skills that set me apart from the rest; the ability to learn quickly to accomplish tasks in an efficient and effective way; and the knowledge I have gained from my research, and the knowledge I will gain throughout my career in the future. As mentioned earlier, the skills that I have that will set me apart from others and what I am capable of bringing to the table are: the level of hard work I am willing to push myself to do, along with my ambitions to help me stay in the right direction; the need to accomplish my goals; my passion for helping others; and not only my communication skills, but my listening skills as well. With these skills, I know I will be able to do my job with a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. Another aspect that I bring to the table is the ability to learn quickly to accomplish tasks in an efficient and effective way. In order to accomplish goals or tasks, you must first learn what is being asked of you and what is necessary to have to get the job done. You cannot learn if you do not ask questions; therefore, I will be asking questions in order to gain more knowledge and learn more quickly. This will, in effect, allow me to achieve my goals in a more efficient and effective way. Lastly, an important aspect that I bring to the table is the knowledge that I have gained from my research, and the knowledge I will continue to gain throughout my career. Knowledge that I have gained from my research include an overview of what a healthcare administrator is and the duties/responsibilities that come along with the job, working conditions/work environment, how healthcare executives and administration can help their employees work more efficiently and effectively, and the career skills that are needed. As stated previously, a healthcare administrator is in charge of running and managing a healthcare facility or private medical center (Dutta, 2009). Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff have enough to do at medical facilities by  diagnosing and treating medical conditions. But unless they tend to administrative details such as marketing, accounting or budgeting, their healthcare enterprises cannot succeed. Healthcare managers and administrators handle the business end of the medical profession by performing several duties. (Locsin, n.d., para 1) These duties consist of clerical duties, management duties, types of administrator duti es, and training and compensation the job requires (Locsin, n.d.). Other responsibilities that this job requires is working with medical staff members, other employees, health specialists and the organization’s governing board or executive management in order to set budgets, schedules, and ensures availability of facilities with interaction with vendors for supplies, equipment, drugs, and medicines (Dutta, 2009). Work environments that healthcare administrators are faced with are mostly office environments in which they work with many people inside the hospital or with other businesses to ensure quality healthcare (â€Å"Healthcare Administrator†, n.d.). Although healthcare administrators do not generally deal directly with patients on a day-to-day-basis, â€Å"they help to shape policy, make needed changes and lead our nation’s health-related organizations in a way that serves individual patients by helping to improve the healthcare system† (â€Å"Health Administrator†, n.d., para 11). Knowledge I have also gained with my research is how healthcare executives and administration can help their employees work more efficiently and effectively. Three ways to do so would be to break down various barriers to optimal performance, create accountability structures, and standardize processes to eliminate unnecessary and redundant work (Herman, 2011). Lastly, knowledge that I have gained from my research is the skills that are needed for this career field. As discussed earlier, the areas of skills that are needed for this career field are economics, technology, communication, risk management, and strategic thinking (Yaremich, 2013). As technology advances and continues to change, so do people. The way we organize and keep files is now all through technology. To be successful in this field, you must be familiar with or be aware of the technology, software, etc. that is being used. As a healthcare administrator, you must be able to convert files and patient records electronically (Yaremich,  2013). Organizations, hospitals, companies, etc. have moved alongside the trend of developing apps and even carrying iPads within the facility. It is important to be familiar with and to understand the various technologies your patients use to track their health. These can include mobile apps, such as the ones for diabetics to keep tabs on their blood sugar levels, and video-conferencing software that connects housebound patients to your facility’s physicians. (Yaremich, 2013, para 5) These factors matter to this career field because it is imperative that you can access patient files and know their conditions. These factors tie into the needs of the patients and to be able to provide them adequate healthcare. In order for administrators to do this, they must first be familiar with any and all types of technology and software that are being used to store any important information. Every career field is faced with many challenges. A few challenges that healthcare administrators are faced with are competing for healthcare professionals, specializing for growth, preparing for the future, improving patient care through technology, and managing Medicare and Medicaid (Freel, 2012). Competing for healthcare professionals is a challenge because there is a shortage of healthcare professionals, which is hurting the profitability of hospitals (Freel, 2012). Due to this, healthcare administrators must make a plan to address the shortage and compete for the best employees without it costing hospitals as much. Hospital administrators need to build strong relationships with schools that offer healthcare-related degrees in their local communities and across the nation. Additionally, they must make working at their hospital attractive, which means thinking beyond competitive pay and benefits to ensuring each individual employee feels connected to the hospital and has a passion for working for the organization. (Freel, 2012, para 4) Next, specializing for growth becomes a challenge because hospitals are facing competition as new centers are being built. In order to resolve this problem, administrators must be willing to compete for patients and be prepared to sell their hospitals apart through a specialized care strategy (Freel, 2012). Preparing for the future is always difficult when we do not know what the future has in store for us. Due to the fact that hospitals are feeling more  pressure to meet the expectations of growing demand, they must ensure that the efforts of patient satisfactio n are aligned with what consumers expect (Freel, 2012). Improving patient care through technology is a challenge that healthcare administrators face because millions of dollars are being spent on technology, such as electronic medical record systems; but sometimes that may not be the best solution, and may not even benefit the patient. It is a challenge because healthcare administrators have the responsibility for ensuring efficient hospital operations and providing medical care to patients; therefore, they must keep up with advances in medicine, technology, and government regulations and policy changes (Freel, 2012). Lastly, managing Medicare and Medicaid is a challenge this career field faces because there is an abundant amount of people who are unemployed. This causes problems because healthcare administrators are challenged with providing healthcare to patients who are both, uninsured and underinsured, while maintaining fiscal responsibility (Freel, 2012). As a result, â€Å"healthcare administrators must find ways to offset these expenses, while expanding their healthcare services in areas where they can serve more patients† (Freel, 2012, para 14). Healthcare administrators are needed in hospitals, physician group practices, nursing homes, medical centers, etc. In order for doctors and nurses to do their job, they need heath care administrators to do theirs. In order for patients to acquire adequate healthcare, the talents of administrators are needed. We are responsible for making sure hospitals, healthcare facilities, medical centers, etc. are running efficiently and effectively in order to ensure quality healthcare for patients. â€Å"A healthcare administrator’s job is demanding and highly people-oriented. It calls for patience, understanding of evolving health practices and technology, and the ability to communicate effectively with varied audiences and stakeholders† (Dutta, 2009, para 5). In conclusion, after discussing what success means to me, gathering research, and learning more about myself and what I wanted, I discovered my interest in becoming a healthcare administrator. My passion for helping others and having a career in which I could benefit someone else’s life is  why this career field is a good fit for me. There are many skills that are necessary to have to be successful with this career, but I also have many skills that are going to set me apart from others. What I bring to the table are the skills that set me apart from the rest; the ability to learn quickly to accomplish tasks in an efficient and effective way; and the knowledge I have gained from my research, and the knowledge I will continue to gain throughout my career in the future. It is also important to keep up with the advances in technology to be able to provide quality healthcare to patients. Many industries might utilize the talents of this career field because healthcare administrat ors are needed in order for patients to receive quality healthcare from doctors, nurses, staff members, etc. Lastly, challenges will constantly arise with any profession, but it is important to know how to overcome those challenges in order to be successful. References Dutta, P. (2009, June 6). What Is a Healthcare Administrator? | eHow. eHow. Retrieved September 21, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5075268_healthcare-administrator.html Freel, M. (2012, January 26). 5 Challenges Hospital Administrators Must Overcome to Succeed in Today’s Rapidly Changing Industry. 5 Challenges Hospital Administrators Must Overcome to Succeed in Today’s Rapidly Changing Industry. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/5-challenges-hospital-administrators-must-overcome-to-succeed-in-todays-rapidly-changing-industry.html Health Administrator | explorehealthcareers.org. (n.d.). Home | explorehealthcareers.org. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/56/H Healthcare Administrator. (n.d.). :: MHA Healthcareers Center ::. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://www.mshealthcareers.com/careers/hea Herman, B. (2011, December 6). 3 Ways Healthcare Exec utives Can Help Their Employees Work Smarter. Becker’s Hospital Review. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/3-ways-healthcare-executives-can-help-their-employees-work-smarter.html Locsin, A. (n.d.). What Are the Duties of a Healthcare Manager & Administrator? | Chron.com. Work – Chron.com. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from

Should the United States involve in a war in Libya Essay

Should the United States involve in a war in Libya - Essay Example Libya is one country in which people started agitations against dictatorship of Gaddafi. However, Gaddafi tried to use iron fist to suppress the public agitation which forced United Nations to declare a no fly zone over Libya in order to save the innocent people from air strikes from the Gaddafi’s forces. Currently United States and its allies are protecting the Libyan agitators from the hands of Gaddafi. However many people believe that United States should declare war against in order to save the Libyan public from the dictatorship of Gaddafi. At the same time many people oppose America’s interference in Libya since they believe that attacking a sovereign state without enough reasons is morally and politically wrong. In my opinion, America should attack Libya in order to save the life of innocent people and this paper argues in favor of attacking Libya. Why Gaddafi should be expelled? The major reason why I support America’s intervention in Libya is the massacr es against the innocent people conducting by Gaddafi. â€Å"Many in Libya still remember how Gaddafi used to execute those who opposed him — or those he felt had opposed him — and would leave their bodies hanging from nooses for days as a warning† (Abdulrahim, n. d). ... Gaddafi is trying to sustain his administration and he using all false means to suppress the public agitation against him. Majority of the Libyan population like to see the ouster of Gaddafi since they like breath the air of freedom. Human right violations appear in many forms in Libya. Those who are expressing their opinion against the administration will be imprisoned in Libya. In the name of Islamic administration, Gaddafi is exploiting the weaknesses of the public. Gaddafi succeeded in enforcing censorship upon media so that the to and fro motion of unhealthy information between Libya and external world is impossible. The entire world is currently undergoing drastic changes because of globalization. Even the communist China has made lot of changes in their internal and external policies to give a humanitarian face to communism. In a civilized world like ours, people always like to enjoy equality, freedom, liberty etc. Only a democratic administration would be able to provide all these things to its citizen. Only a democratic administration would give power to the people in choosing their political leaders. Gaddafi is trying to prevent people from enjoying all such freedoms and hence America should do everything possible to expel Gaddafi. â€Å"Hope for a new government and for more fearless opposition to the regime is reflected in the ongoing protests. Multiple Libyan diplomats and politicians, including the justice and interior ministers, have resigned† (Soliman, 2011). The support for the ouster of Gaddafi not only comes from the public, but also from the colleagues of Gaddafi. In other words, nobody has any satisfaction over the Gaddafi administration which means America will get immense public support if they decide to

Firewalls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Firewalls - Essay Example (2013). Performance and Information Security Evaluation with Firewalls. International Journal Of Security & Its Applications, 7(6), 355-372. doi:10.14257/ijsia.2013.7.6.36 8 A firewall is a device (it could be software or hardware system) that disallows any illegitimate access towards or from a network. (Davis et al.,  2011, p.  xx-xx) Firewalls can be employed in either software or hardware or by combining both of them. Today firewalls are mostly configured to stop unauthorized access from the internet to the private local area networks (LANs) connected with the internet. Firewalls are configured to monitor all the data that enters or leaves the Intranet. It examines every packet and drops those that do not fulfill security standards set by network security engineers. Packet filtering firewall is one of the basic firewall that works on transport and network layer of TCP/IP layering model. (In Vacca,  2014, p.  152-153)A packet filtering firewall monitors packets that are coming in or going out of the network. It accepts or rejects packets on the basis of criteria defined during its configuration. Filtering of packet is pretty effective and transparent to users. One main disadvantage of packet filtering is that it is hard to configure.   1. IP-address of the source. Thick check should be made essentials as most of time IP spoofers change the source IP to show the source of the packet from somewhere else, instead of showing the original source. Application level firewall is generally an application specific firewall. It is configured with a set of application-specific rules that can give control over the network traffic of on the user’s level. (Kizza,  2014, p.  134-135) The main functionality of application layer firewall is to manage internet browsing, filtering emails and its attachment, and transferring of files. Traffic coming inside the network or going outside the network can be denied or allowed on the basis of the different set rules. These rules

35 Years for Wikileaks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

35 Years for Wikileaks - Essay Example Hence, the prosecution awarded him a severe punishment of imprisonment, perhaps the longest period of confinement. Analyzing this punishment to a soldier in uniform is an inspiration and lesson for every military officer. Although it is an American issue, the impact of this incident on other countries cannot be ignored. The given punishment clearly indicates the importance of maintaining the secrets military activities. Thus, the other nations also understand how cruel and unethical activities were carried out by the US military. It also paves a way to protest against such operations as they cannot justify and defend their heinous act of murdering. Moreover, it points out the world about an insecure life of a soldier from every corner. This type of punishment and activities by the court martial can make man critical minded. Firstly, how could an individual like Bradley Manning in military is offered with all details of military activities? Does it reveal the weakness of military system in preserving documents and information? Secondly, is it a drama being played to reveal the power of the military to scare rival nations about the aftermaths of their illegal activities? Lastly, if such kinds of activities are undertaken what is expected in the future? Would the nest generation be fortunate to know what harmony is? Simpson, I & Roshan, M. (Aug 21, 2013). U.S. soldier Manning gets 35 years for passing documents to WikiLeaks. Reuters. Retrieved from

Jeri Caldwell at Moex, INC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jeri Caldwell at Moex, INC - Assignment Example rt from that, others like Jeff Fairbanks, Bonita Harriman and Rafford Marshall feel being subjected to colorblind referring to conforming to the mainstream or dominant group way and feel pressured to give up their unique way of speaking, dressing, religion or relating to one another by the minority group (Robins, Judge and Vohra, 56). The minority group at MOEX is also experiencing exclusion discrimination as they feel they are treated like outsiders in the company. The problems are coming from the past behavior that is unfair discrimination practices of the company, insufficient affirmative action to correct the past discrimination and ineffective diversity management. Also the conservative culture of MOEX, in comparison with other high-tech firms, low representation of minorities in the workforce due to company’s inability to attract and retain diverse people and its reputation in color communities of being unsupportive and sometimes hostile attitude towards colored people are leading to the problems of discrimination and colorblindness. Apart from that, the discriminatory behavior of dominant group that is stereotyping the color people, ethnocentrism and non-inclusion of minorities are also contributing to the problem of discrimination. To tackle the problem of unfair discrimination the simplest method is using legislation and affirmative action. However legal approaches are effective only after the event of discrimination as they do not exactly specify how discrimination can be prevented (Crane and Matten, 275). It is also clear from the case that MOEX has taken steps towards changing its past behavior with respect to discrimination by recruiting diverse employees. However its strategy was not effective and it also failed to retain diverse employees. It is in the hands of the management and its policies can avoid the occurrence of discrimination, colorblind and exclusion. MOEX by implementing the following diversity management strategies can effectively

Elements of Design Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Elements of Design - Research Paper Example Sylbert had a tremendous impact on the film and, along with the art director W. Stewart Campbell, would be nominated for an Academy Award (Eaton). In terms of specific contributions, Sylbert oversaw the costuming which placed strong emphasis on 1930s accuracy. In addition, it was Sylbert’s responsibility to design and structure the facades that would be built as the vintage backdrop (Eaton). In these regards, he constructed bleach-washed facades that were reminiscent of drought-era 1930s Los Angeles. Art Director The film’s production designer was W. Stewart Campbell. W. Stewart Campbell worked directly with Richard Sylbert in envisioning and constructing general mise-en-scene elements. In this specific film Campbell contributed more to the specific mise-en-scene within the context of individual scenes, whereas Sylbert functioned as constructing the overarching production model (Eaton). Ultimately, both individuals would be nominated for Best Art Director. Use of light in the scene Lighting is a highly important element in the scene. Indeed, the neo-noir conventions of the film are such that lighting is one of the most distinguishing features of its aesthetic. In this specific scene this noir lighting is highly evident. In these regards, the scene occurs at night and many of the on-looker’s faces are ensconced in darkness. Even when the film focuses in on Noah Cross he is wearing a hat and his faced remains dark ("It's chinatown," 2011). The obvious implications of this dark lighting are that they indicate an overarching cynical perspective on existence and a morally ambiguous environment. This is also reflected throughout the entire film, as even the supposedly good characters engage in some morally dubious behavior. Setting The setting of the particular scene occurs in an external setting on the street in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The specific time period is the 1930s. This is significant to the film as it is a formative period in Lo s Angeles development as they were experiencing tremendous water shortages, which would be a motivating element of action in the film. In addition, the specific culture of Chinatown, as evidenced in the scene’s final line ‘It’s Chinatown’ demonstrates a culture of crime. Costuming As noted earlier, rather than implementing a fanciful characterization of 1930s costuming, the production design greatly focused on constructing accurate period clothing. In this specific scene the characters are contained in suits with hats. The similarity of the good character – J.J. Gittes – with the costume of the bad – Noah Cross – demonstrates that one of the film’s underlining themes is moral ambiguity. Still, Noah Cross wears a billed hat that shrouds his eyes in darkness, designating him as an evil force ("It's chinatown," 2011). Furthermore, Katherine is wearing a white dress, greatly contrasting her from the others, and heightening he r sense of innocence and purity ("It's chinatown," 2011). Hairstyle and Makeup In terms of hairstyle, all the characters are wearing hats so this is not a factor in the scene. Makeup, however, plays an important role in the film as J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is featured with a cut nose ("It's chinatown," 2011). While the cut is from earlier in the film, it is prominently witnessed in this scene

Personnel Selection and Assessment Research Paper

Personnel Selection and Assessment - Research Paper Example According to Field (2009) when testing for validity, one is effectively testing for ‘evidence that a study allows correct inferences about the question it was aimed to answer or that at test measures what it set out to measure conceptually’ (p. 795). There are three main types of validity. Construct validity refers to whether a test correlates to the theorized construct that it purports to measure. For example, an intelligence test is a test which requires strong evidence for construct validity, since researchers need to be sensitive to the extent to which they are measuring intelligence rather than language or culture differences (Mertens, 2009). The second type of validity is content validity, which is relevant to test which aims to evaluate a specific body of knowledge. For example, a depression scale may lack content validity if it does not represent the entire range of possible items, such as the behavioral dimension. Finally, criterion-related validity is a measure of how well a test is effective at predicting of a construct. This type of validity testing is divided into two types, namely concurrent and predictive validity, where concurrent validity is assessed by correlating a test with another test that has been previously validated. These two tests are taken at the same time. Predictive validity differs in that the one test is taken earlier and is meant as a predictor to a later measure (Mertens, 2009). The utility of selection methods refers to the value it has in the process of selection.

Hosting a dinner party for friends Essay Example for Free

Hosting a dinner party for friends Essay Ask how many guests will be coming for the dinner. Determine if any of the guests have any special food requirements like being vegetarian or any food allergies. Determine what the budget is for the dinner party. Plan the menu for the dinner; take note of serving nutritious and delicious food. Identify what dishes will be served and list all of the ingredients and the required tools for preparing the ingredients. Go to the market to purchase all the needed ingredients. Recruit help from willing family members to help in the dinner preparation. Set the theme for the dinner and buy flowers and fruits for the centerpiece. Prepare and cook the dishes for the dinner. Clean the house and make sure there is enough room for each person. During Make sure that guests are comfortably seated. Provide entertainment or keep the conversation flowing smoothly. Make sure that the food is well presented and served in order. Ample time is given for the guests to digest the food before serving the dessert. Personal necessities like going to the bathroom, flossing, washing their hands and the like are provided. After Supervise the cleaning up of the dinner table. Wash the plates and cutlery before going to bed. Left-over dishes should be stored properly. Make sure that everything is cleaned and tidied for the next day.

Nandos Management and Leadership Structure

Nandos Management and Leadership Structure Nandos started in 1987 in Rossetthenville, South Africa when two friends, Robert Brozen and his friend, Fernando Duarte went into a restaurant and ordered the offer that was on the menu. The friends had the flame grilled chicken with peri peri and they enjoyed the meal so much that they decided to buy the whole restaurant, Chickenland and changed the brands name to Nandos. Nandos has moved to the UK five years later and since become a world re-known brand name associated with flame grilled chicken. Nandos first restaurant in the UK was based at Ealing, from which they created a unique vision encapsulating many aspects of the South Africa Portuguese experience which played an important part of the ethos of how they developed their restaurants. Robby wanted all restaurants to individually reflect the location and retain the character. He recruited engaging and inspiring people to manage the business, maintained quality of the product by flame grilling the product to be consumed by customers not far from where they seated, over time, the brand was born. Grant, R M (2002) From this time onwards, a remarkable and unique major multi-million dollar business serving in many parts of the world. Today, it employs around 7000 workers in the UK with about 228 restaurants and is growing at a rate of 15 to 20 more restaurants on year by year growth rate. On the international scene, it has developed a strategy by which it expands using Franchising model that allows it to stay close to the core business. It maintains its core values, culture and location attributes making it stay focussed on the nature of the business in its franchise relationships. Culture and leadership According to (Johnson and Scholes 2006): Nandos allows flexibility for the culture of the countries they operate in to be incorporated. The companys leadership has achieved a great deal in the short time that they have been around. The major achievement recently was recorded when in March 2010, the company was awarded first place in the Sunday times top 25 best companies to work for in the UK. The classification is based on being able to employ at least 5000 or more workers. White, C (2004) Grant, R M (2002) Nandos achieved a maximum of three stars in the Best Companies Accreditation Award in 2009. Nandos is the only worldwide company to receive three stars in the United Kingdom. The award measures eight significant areas that include well-being, personal growth and leadership. And in 2010 the company entered the Sunday Times Best Companies to work for and came out first, beating other companies such as Goldman Sachs and Price Waterhouse Coopers. The company again received the full three stars, showing not only quality but sustained commitment to the leadership and management development across the organization. Grant, R M (2002) Training and development The National Training Awards (NTAs) have been running for quarter of a century, the awards recognise and celebrate Investors in People accredited organisations that have delivered outstanding organisational benefits by directly linking the training needs of their people to the business needs of their organisation. Nandos, over the years have achieved awards for five of their in-house training schemes. These are: buddy systems (buddies are much experienced staff who help train new staff); new restaurants opening training; working in management teams (team building); Nandos inductions; and coaching programmes. In addition, Nandos was first recognized as an Investor in People in 1998. They are now celebrating ten years of recognition. White, C (2004) So, what is behind the outstanding set of achievements? According to Nandos human resources director Julia Claydon, Its not just one thing; its a whole mix of different things. At the heart of the business is a unique culture and a set of fundamental values and ways of doing things. Pride, passion, courage, integrity, and family are the five values that drive behaviours and decision making in the company. Fun, friendly, and different, is the way one employee described the feeling of working at Nandos and the sense of belonging that is found within the company or family as it is described. I wanted to be part of a success story and be with a family of like-minded people. They even use different words, tone of voice, and language in everyday life at Nandos. The board of directors are referred to as the Full Monty, restaurant managers are called Patrao (head of the family in Portuguese), Nandoca is a waiter, Grillers are the chefs, and the head office in Putney is referred to as Central Support. All throughout the restaurant interior, on the menus, the walls, internal documentation, company website, and marketing material, you will see the same fun, funky, and different style of language. Barcelos is the Cockerel, was chosen as the symbol of Nandos because Robert and Fernando like the explorers of yesteryear believed in faith, justice and good luck. They refer to CSR (corporate social responsibility) at Nandos as Do the right thing. The spirit of Nandos is alive in each of their restaurants through the hand-selected, diverse mix of global music usually South African, and unique features to ensure you enjoy the Nandos experience. They have the largest collection of art by South African artists in the UK and the support and investment in this industry has changed many lives for the better in deprived areas of South Africa. On the green energy front, a new Nandos restaurant which is located on the Junction 27 on the M62 in West Yorkshire is an eco-restaurant, where h eat energy from the grills are recycled to warm up the water and heat up the central-heating system. Also, the frying fat is recycled for fuel. This approach will be gradually introduced to all the Nandos group of restaurants. The members of staff are encouraged to participate in community projects in their locations of their own sites, and schools and colleges partnerships and the funding of community improvements, as well as the donation of staff time and effort is strongly supported and is also seen as a staff development opportunity. Grant, R M (2002) Pride, passion courage, integrity, and family, the five business values drive the everyday ethical and honest behaviour, and this engaging culture results in an impressive level of 45 per cent of appointments that are filled through career progression within the businesses. The management ethos is to allow as much leadership responsibility and authority for decision making to be at the local restaurant level as possible, once the restaurant has been approved and signed off personally by Robert Enthoven himself. In essence, the leadership and management style is one that can be associated with a hands-on action-orientated, situational, and contingency approach. There is a fairly tight framework, as you would expect, to ensure consistency around the product and brand, that is centrally controlled by the support functions of procurement, marketing, and distribution. Yet almost all else is down to the local leadership of the Patrao (manager/family leader). That is, the recruitment/select ion, resourcing, motivation, training of staff, and the customer service and profitability of the restaurant. Training and facilitation in the Nandos way as well as developing the business profitability and the personal growth of the Patraos themselves, and spotting future talent, are promoted up to the next level up of management, the MDs (managing directors). Even below the conventional management level, all Nandocas are encouraged to challenge substandard quality and service in line with the company values. White, C (2004) There is a widespread development process to support career paths at Nandos. There are some specific and technical courses that member of staff must undergo, such as food hygiene, licensed house, health and safety regulations, etc. Then also many other sessions; coaching, people management, finance, and leadership development, etc. Staff can select as many sessions as appropriate that have been identified in the success management process. In terms of speed of career progression, it usually takes approximately 12 to 18 months to get to first assistant position and a further similar period to get to be Patrao. As can be seen, Nandos investment in training is given high priority as this is considered a key enabler for business success. In fact, the training of staff members costs amount to approximately 75 per cent of the human resources budget. Nandos human resource department is faced with improving the training and development evaluation systems and looking for continuous improvement methods that will really measure worth and added value of this level of training and development. Whilst there is a strong intuitive sense and informal evidence that this investment in training is linked to the success of the business, Nandos would ideally like stronger, more specific assessments. Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003). Diversity is also a major factor which differentiates Nandos from any other restaurant groups. It has always employed staff from a wide diverse culture, regardless of their level of English. They are trained in ways that work best for that individual and provided with development opportunities. These members of staff are given opportunities to develop within Nandos and to be the best they can and there are numerous stories and examples of employees from abroad who have fitted in well with the Nandos family culture and gone on to develop successful careers within Nandos. Recruitment and selection are carried out by each restaurants manger itself and the team members are also heavily involved. Normally, a trial shift is set in order to see if a new recruit has the right skills and capabilities, if they have the right attitude, and if they get involved in the fun and delivery of good service within the restaurant. Participation and a high level of involvement by all staff are significant to Nandos. It is a regular occurrence for conferences and formal get-togethers, where staff are consulted and included in introducing new working practices and processes. But its not all work; they also like to enjoy themselves, and one thing about the people at Nandos: they have great annual Nandoscars, which are parties thrown by the company and awards are given to the best members of staff. White, C (2004) Leadership in the organisation In 1987 two major reports Handy et al., and Constable and McCormick, acknowledged that the UK had the lowest number of qualified and degree-educated managers when paralleled to chief competitors of the time and that there seemed to be an association between productivity or organizational success and educational achievement of managers and leaders (Constable and McCormick, 1987), the development of leaders and managers has grown in importance. Handy et al. (1987) found that most managers had little higher education and when a manager got a new managerial role they generally learned about the new job through gaining experience at work. These reports led to the professionalization of managers in the UK and to the realization that leaders were not just heroic characters who appeared in an organizations hour of need, but that there was a diversity in leadership and that individuals could be assisted to develop leadership and management skills. Debates about the connections between leaders and managers similarities and differences are one of the key sections. White, C (2004) Variety plays a vital role in the restaurant since the need for developing and educating leaders and managers was recognized, an increasing range of methods with different interventions were developed, mostly focusing on within the company. Leadership and management development has matured, often in seclusion, from the remainder of personnel and human resources manager, and sometimes even as a separate function from employee training and development. Whilst there may have been worthy reasons for such separation, however, it is important that clear links are made within the major human resource management and development areas-and that these, in turn, are able to contribute to and be part of business strategic planning to secure an organizations future senior managers and leaders. The importance of horizontal and vertical integration of business strategy, organizational development, and the management and development of human resources has never been more obvious as organizations, fro m all sectors struggle for survival in an increasingly difficult national and international environment. Grant, R M (2002) The growing importance of continued improvement of those who are future leaders and managers can be acknowledged by reviewing changes in the external environments in which organizations operate. Within the UK, there are major changes and debates about the nature of work and the working population, with increasing diversity, changing opportunities, and increased external political, economic, environmental, and social influences. Globally, changes and influences are very easy to identify through new developing economies and cultures. Recent crises help to demonstrate that all nations and economies are critically linked and that survival of each is reliant on all. Managers and leaders therefore have to learn how to work in such organizational and international environments, taking account of diversities within. For organizations, there are more opportunities due to greater employee mobility, but with technological development there are requirements to manage increasingly distant and div erse employee groups through technological networks. Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Theories of motivation Many theories have been proposed by many authors on the subject of motivation in organisations. Among some of the notable contributors to this debate was an industrialist named Frederick Winslow Taylor, who put forward the concept that workers are motivated by rewards in pay. In his Theory of Scientific Management, he argued that workers do not necessarily enjoy to work and therefore need to be controlled and closely supervised. In order to achieve this, managers need to breakdown the production into a number of small related tasks and given training to improve their skills sets which should result in efficiency over a period of time for the tasks they are assigned to do. The second major observation was that workers should be paid according to the production levels they attain over a given period of time, this he called piece rate pay, which as a result would encourage workers to produce more achieving the maximisation of productivity. These methods later were adopted by the business world as they saw the benefits that they offered through increased production levels resulting in lower unit cost of production. Henry Ford was the first to use the methods on a large scale when he introduced the production line to make ford cars. This was the beginning of the mass production systems as we now know them to be. Within Nandos there is a resemblance of the Taylorism which is applied by the workers having division of labour. There are those who simply welcome the dinners and those that serve them on the till. Yet still some ensure that the flame grills are going on smoothly so that the patronage is served on time. There is a good case for a classical production system within Nandos restaurant. Taylors methodology has close relations with the concept of an autocratic management style, where managers decide on all the decisions and simply give orders to staff members that are below them, and Macgregors Theory X methodology to workers in which workers are viewed as lazy and wish to avoid responsibility. Further down the line, the workers soon came to dislike Taylors methodology as they were only given boring, on challenging, repetitive tasks to carry out and were being treated little better than human machines. Businesses could also afford to lay off workers as productivity levels increased which in turn led to an increase in strikes and other forms of industrial action by dis-satisfied workers. Elton Mayo understood that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better encouraged by having their social needs met whilst at work (a factor that Taylor ignored). He presented the Human Relation School of Thought, which concentrated on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together. Mayo carried out a series of experiments at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric Company in Chicago where He secluded two groups of women workers and studied the effect on their productivity levels of altering factors such as lighting and working conditions. He anticipated to see production levels decline as lighting or other conditions became progressively worse but what he actually discovered astonished him: whatever the change in lighting or working conditions, the productivity levels of the workers improved or remained the same. From this series of experiments Mayo came to the conclusion that workers are best motivated by three major factors: Improved communication between managers and workers (Hawthorne workers were consulted over the experiments and also had the opportunity to give feedback) White, C (2004).Greater manager involvement in employees working lives (Hawthorne workers responded to the increased level of attention they were receiving) Working in groups or teams. (Hawthorne workers did not previously regularly work in teams) In practice therefore businesses should re-organise production line in order to encourage greater use of team work and introduce personnel departments to encourage greater manager involvement in looking after employees interests. His theory most closely fits in with a paternalistic style of management. Abraham Maslow along with Frederick Herzberg introduced the Neo-Human Relations School in the 1950s; the main focus of the school was the psychological needs of employees. Maslows theory states that there are five levels of human needs in which are essential for employees to have in order to be fulfilled at work. All of the needs are structured into a hierarchy (see below) and only once a lower level of need has been fully met, would a worker be motivated by the opportunity of having the next need up in the hierarchy satisfied. For example a person who is dying of hunger will be motivated to achieve a basic minimum wage in order to buy food before worrying about having the respect of others. Grant, R M (2002) A company should therefore offer different enticements to workers in order to help them fulfil each of the needs in turn and advance up the hierarchy (see below). Managers should also be aware that not all workers are motivated in the same way and do not all move up the hierarchy at the same pace. They may therefore have to offer a slightly different set of incentives from worker to worker. Frederick Herzberg had a close relationship with Maslow and believed in a two-factor theory of motivation. He argued that there were certain factors that a business could introduce that would directly motivate employees to work harder, the motivators. He also believed that there were also factors that would de-motivate an employee if not present but would not in themselves actually motivate employees to work harder, the Hygiene factors. Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Motivators are more concerned with the actual job itself, for example how thought-provoking the work is and how much opportunity it gives for extra accountability, credit and advancement. Hygiene factors are factors which surround the job rather than the job itself. For example a worker will only turn up to work if the company has provided a reasonable amount of pay and safe working environment but these factors will not make him work harder at his job once he is there. Importantly Herzberg viewed pay as a hygiene factor which is in direct contrast to Taylor who viewed pay and piece-rate in particular. Herzberg understood that businesses should motivate employees by accepting a democratic approach to management and by improving the nature and content of the actual job through positive methods. Some of the methods managers could use to motivate employees are: Job enlargement, in which workers are given a greater assortment of tasks to perform (these tasks are not necessarily more challenging) which should make the work more stimulating. Job enrichment which involves workers being given a wider range of more difficult, exciting and challenging tasks surrounding a complete unit of work. This should give a greater sense of achievement. Empowerment means allotting more decision making power to employees to make their own choices over areas of their working life. Managing diversity Multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and behaviours that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their socio-cultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organization or society. White, C (2004) There are the four pairs of action phrases that give substance to the Definition of multiculturism: beliefs and behaviours, recognizes and respects, acknowledges and values, encourages and enables, and a fifth one, empowers. Multiculturalism is a system, a set of interrelated parts-in this case, beliefs and behaviours-which make up the whole of how humans experience and view todays world. It includes what people believe about others, their basic paradigms, and how this impact, and are impacted by, behavior. The outcomes of this framework of beliefs/behaviors are seven important actions. The first is acknowledgement of the rich variety in a given society or organization. For the longest time racial/ethnic minorities, the physically disabled, and women have not been given the same acknowledgement as others. The one-sided approach to history and education has been a testimony to that fact. Grant, R M (2002) With acknowledgement should also emanate respect. Respect and acknowledgement are not the same, since be acquainted with the existence of a group does not necessarily produce respect for the group. In a slave economy, for example, the presence of slaves was recognized but their humanity was not respected. For example, in the United States of America, the presence of   American Indians in the Western expansion of the continent was constantly recognized by whites, but their environmentally conscious cultures were never respected. Thecontribution of women has usually been relegated to a footnote status.   Multiculturalism also entails recognizing the validity of the cultural expressions and contributions of the various groups. This is not to imply that all cultural contributions are of equal value and social worth, or that all should be tolerated. Some cultural practices are better than others for the overall betterment of society. Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) These cultural expressions and contributions that differ from those of the dominant group in society are usually only acknowledged when there is an economic market for them, such as music for African Americans, native Indian dances for tourism or cuisine from India. When the business sector wants money, the advertising industry pictures people of colour in a positive light. But in most other cases the entertainment media simply misrepresentate minority stereotypes, such as women usually in supportive background roles. Multiculturalism means valuing what people have to offer, and not rejecting or belittling it si mply because it differs from what the majority, or those in power, regard as important and of value. Multiculturalism will also encourage and enable the contribution of the various groups to society or an organization. Grant, R M (2002) Women and persons of colour, for example, often experience dissuasion because what they bring to the table for discussion is often regarded as of little value or worth. Not everything can be utilized, however, nor is of the same worth Many different organisations in society, such as colleges, churches, businesses, corporations, as well as communities have also achieved diversity well, but again, for purposes of segregation. Audre Lorde 2010 explains, we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. Without such patterns or models, the prevalent attitude and behavior toward persons of colour and others with biological, physical and sociocultural differences, or those with operating out of different thinking systems, has been one of exclusion and control. Today, to reach potential as organizations and society,that attitude has to shift to one of inclusion. White, C (2004) states that managing diversity is an non-stop process that unleashes the various skills and abilities which a varied population bring to an organization, community or society, so as to create a wholesome, inclusive environment, that is safe for differences, allows people to reject rejection, delights in diversity, and maximizes the full potential of all, in a cultural context where everyone profits. Multiculturalism, as the art of managing diversity, is an inclusive process where no one is left out. Diversity, in its core, then is a safeguard against idolatry the making of one group as the norm for all groups. Therefore, one of the dangers that must be avoided in grasping a proper understanding of multiculturalism is bashism. Bashism is the tendency to verbally and/or physically attack another person or group based solely on the negative meaning given to group membership-due to natural, cultural, political or socioeconomic differences (such as sex, age, race/culture, political party, class, education, values, religious affiliation environmental destruction), one of the principal problems confronting world society today is the problem of racial/ethnic hostility and cultural insensitivity-the new wine of racial/ethnic ferment in conflict with the old wineskins of intolerance. Cultural diversity What is Cultural Diversity? Cultural Diversity means a variety of different cultures or peoples with different ancestries, religions and traditions all living and intermingling together. Britain has profited from its vast cultural diversity throughout its history and is currently one, if not the most culturally diverse countries in the world. The diet we eat, the music we listen to, and the clothes we wear have all been influenced by different cultures coming into Britain. Foreign food, for example, is part of an average British diet, the most common example would be the Indian curry that has been served in Britain from 1773. Nandos restaurant recognises its origins as South Africa, with Portuguese influence and therefore has a policy that encourages inclusion in the work force. Hence appointments at all levels tend to reflect the nature of diversity within the organisation. Conclusion Nandos is relatively young company has the right type of leadership to drive it into the future. Their policies are well inclined to be inclusive taking into account the nature of diverse societies where it operates in. According to Adalfer, workers are motivated to produce efficiently and effectively if they are managed adequately through a good payroll system. Adalfer called these as the Hygiene factors. This position is supported by Maslow who suggested that the basic needs tend to be fulfilled first after which higher needs are sought after until such a time when the individual attains self actualisation.

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) Essay -- Animal-Assisted Therapy Essays

For many humans, a pet provides unconditional love and affection. Others feel an overwhelming calming, happy feeling when they are around animals. According to The American Veterinary Medical Association, studies have shown that due to these positive emotions that are stirred, the presence of and interaction with animals can lower heart rates and blood pressure. Animals that meet specific training criteria can become an integral part of a treatment process for a variety of psychological and physiological problems. Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions... ...dren with Pervasive Developmental Disorders." Western Journal of Nursing Research 24.6 (2002): 657-70. Print. Motomura, Naoyasu, Takayoshi Yagi, and Hitomi Ohyama. "Animal Assisted Therapy for People with Dementia." Psychogeriatrics 4.2 (2004): 40-42. Print. Tyberg, Amy, and William H. Frishman. "Chapter 6 - Animal-Assisted Therapy."Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Pain Management. By Michael I. Weintraub, Ravinder Mamtani, and Marc S. Micozzi. New York: Springer Pub., 2008. 115-24. Print. O’Conner-Von, Susan. "Chapter 14 - Animal-Assisted Therapy."Complementary & Alternative Therapies in Nursing. New York: Springer, 2010. 207-23. Print. Zilcha-Mano, Sigal, Mario Mikulincer, and Phillip R. Shaver. "Pet in the Therapy Room: An Attachment Perspective on Animal-Assisted Therapy." Attachment & Human Development 13.6 (2011): 541-61. Print.

Peaceful Execution in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Steinbeck Of Mice and Men Essays

Peaceful Execution in Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is written by John Steinbeck. The story is about these two men, George and Lennie, and they find work at this ranch. Within a few days, Lennie, a tall bulky man with the brain of a young child, gets in trouble, making his traveling buddy, George, do the unthinkable. George shoots Lennie to make his death a more "joyous" one than the one he would've received from Curley, the man that wanted to kill him the most. It was right for George to shoot Lennie because Lennie died suddenly, was thinking about the dream, and was shot by a friend. By having George shoot Lennie, Lennie died suddenly. Curley would have shot him in his stomach area to have him die a slow and painful death. Lennie didn't have to suffer the pain of death and George wouldn't have to stand there and have Lennie ask questions about why he didn't do anything to prevent Curley from shooting him. When Lennie died, he was thinking about the dream. This made Lennie happy because he was "gonna tend the rabbits". That means his last thoughts before he died were happy ones of a farm, a little shack and rabbits eating the alfalfa. If Lennie didn't shoot George and Curley did, George would be thinking about how he killed Curley's wife and that Curley was really mad at him. That thought wouldn't make Lennie happy and Lennie knew that so he shoot him. Lennie was shot by a friend who cared about him. There was no hatred between them making the death non-revengeful. It was just as if Lennie was hooked up to a machine that kept him alive and George pulled the plug. He was bound to be shot anyways so it was better that George "pulled the plug" instead of Curley. Curley would have shot Lennie in the guts to have Lennie suffer a more painful and slow death. It shows that George really cared for Lennie.

The Half Husky :: miscellaneous

The Half Husky Society’s firewood A literary essay on Margaret Laurence’s ‘The Half-Husky’ by Mark Rozema What is it that determines what a person is to become? Is it our genetic makeup or is it our environment – the sum of our experiences that brings our personalities upon us? In the short, loosely autobiographical story; ‘The Half-husky’ the author; Margaret Laurence, gives her say on this. Harvey’s attitude and personality correspond with his environment; Vanessa’s attitude is in tandem with her environment, and Nanuk has both a loving and a savage side. Is this simply his nature or is it the sum of his experiences? Margaret Laurence is suggesting that it is our experiences – the environment we live in – that determine what we are to become. There is almost a direct correlation between Harvey and the environment in which he spent most of his life, more importantly the early years of his life, the developing years. Harvey is described as â€Å"lethargic† and â€Å"pallid†. This is reflective of the area of town, the environment that he grew up in; the north end of town. The north end of town is filled with â€Å"shacks and shanties†. An unhealthy environment like this saps one of their health and vitality – making them like Harvey, â€Å"pallid† and â€Å"lethargic†. Harvey â€Å"[torments]† Nanuk on a regular basis, causing him deliberate and pointless pain. He has no desired end, the pain he causes Nanuk is both a means and an end. This is the same as his home life where his aunt causes him pain when she â€Å"[hits] him across the face† with an â€Å"explosive quickness†. Harvey’s neighborhood is the kind of neighborhood where there is a mentality of do now and think later, so this is what Harvey does. Harvey is symbolized in this story by the plebeian poplar, he, like the wood is considered of little value and so is put into an environment in which there is little chance of him gaining any value. He is placed into a sinkhole, created by society. Harvey’s personality is reflective of his life experiences; he is a plebeian poplar log that is being stored outside. Like Harvey, Vanessa reacts to situations in ways very similar to the ways her main influences would react to those same situations. When talking to her brother about what to name her new dog she notices that her voice carries a â€Å"disturbing echo† of her grandfather’s voice.

Factor That Affecting

Government Regulations – With the introduction of new workplace compliance standards your human resources department is constantly under pressure to stay within the law. These types of regulations influence every process of the HR department, including hiring, training, compensation, termination, and much more. Without adhering to such regulations a company can be fined extensively which if it was bad enough could cause the company to shut down. Economic Conditions – One of the biggest external influences is the shape of the current economy.Not only does it affect the talent pool, but it might affect your ability to hire anyone at all. One of the biggest ways to prepare against economic conditions is to not only know what's happening in the world around you, but also create a plan for when there is an economic downturn. All companies can make due in a bad economy if they have a rainy day fund or plan to combat the harsh environment. Technological Advancements – T his is considered an external influence because when new technologies are introduced the HR department can start looking at how to downsize and look for ways to save money.A Job that used to take 2-4 people could be cut to one done by a single person. Technology is revolutionizing the way we do business and not Just from a consumer standpoint, but from an internal cost-savings way. Workforce Demographics – As an older generation retires and a new generation enters the workforce the human resources department must look for ways to attract this new set of candidates. They must hire in a different way and offer different types of compensation packages that work for this younger generation. At the same time, they must offer a work environment contusive to how this generation works.

Primary Education in India: Evolution, Structure and Development Essay

Education is one of the major factors which control a nation’s economic and scientific growth. In the report, an attempt has been made to analyze the primary education system of India and how it has evolved over the course of history and affected various sections of the society. To create the report, various data sources, secondary research, surveys and government legislations were used and referred. The report charts the evolution of the Indian education system in an attempt to understand the reasons behind the present condition of the system. A description of the features of the public education system and low cost private schooling system in India, both in terms of quantity and quality, has been provided with the help of various data sources and secondary research. It was found that the literacy rates, especially in the younger age groups, for both boys and girls are on an upward trend. However, the increase in literacy rates and education provided has not been uniform in various sections of society as well as various states. Similarly, literacy rates for girls, rural residents, and members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes also lag behind those for boys, urban residents and the upper castes. Public expenditure on education in India has been rising over time and the government initiatives have resulted in a 9% increase in the literacy rate from 2001 to 2011. An analysis of the schooling system shows the growth in the literacy rates of the country since Independence and how it parallels with the increase in initiatives by the Indian government. It reflects non-uniform growth and disparity in the education imparted with respect to various sections, castes, gender and states in the country. The report also aims to increase the understanding of different perspectives and alternatives to the present system of primary schooling and education in the country. 2. INTRODUCTION Primary education is the foundation on which the development of every country is built on. In every country in the world, education is acknowledged as a tool for development and prosperity. Education is viewed as an intrinsically valuable commodity and a means to economic and social wellbeing of an individual as well as an entire nation. ? Most developed nations in the world also possess a sound primary and secondary education system. In the past few decades, the government of India has focused on provision of more schools ‘quantity’ and not on the ‘quality’. Various studies shown in the report will demonstrate that the percentage of ‘functionally literates’ is very low and the inadequacy of basic facilities and lack of infrastructure in schools. Government’s continuous efforts in the form of programs like ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’, DPEP, Mid-Day meals can be credited to achieve the above objectives. Literacy Rate of India has had an increase of 62% since independence, but individual literacy rates of various states show significant variations. In 2011, 95% population of 7+ of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were literate, while Bihar had a literacy rate of 63. 25% with a female literacy rate of 33. 6%. The results of the surveys conducted show that some states are ‘educationally more advanced’ than others. India’s primary education has evolved from the traditional schools to the modern classroom. This has given the opportunity to the masses to get educated. New modern education also exposes the world and provides adequate infrastructure for an integrated learning environment. India’s literacy rates have increased from 12. 0% to 74. 04% in 2011 and although the male-female literacy rate gap is still 24. 1%, it has decreased over the last decade by 10%. The number of primary schools has increased three-fold from 209,671 to 664,041 and now 90% population has a school within 1 kilometer. While critics argue that the primary education system of India is not as advanced as the system in most developed countries, it is bound to become one of the fastest growing and most effective systems in the world in the near future due to the strong policies made by the government and the rapid growth of the alternative schooling system. 3. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF PRIMARY SCHOOLING IN INDIA ? In the pre-British era, education in India commenced under the supervision of a guru in traditional schools called gurukuls. Historically and traditionally, India had predecessors to the modern system of higher education at Nalanda, Takshashila and Ujjain Universities where Science, Art, Economics, Politics, Law, and Medicine were the few early subjects that were taught. The British came to India in the second half of the millennium and by the late 19th and early 20th century, they were successful and instrumental in creating a proper schooling system with primary and secondary education which has been followed by the Indian state ever since. After India gained independence in 1947, education became the responsibility of the states. The Central Government’s only obligation was to co-ordinate in technical and higher education and specified standards. This continued till 1976, when the education became a joint responsibility of the state and the Centre.? In 1976, education was made a joint responsibility of the states and the Centre through a constitutional amendment Center is represented by Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Department of Education and together with the states, it is jointly responsible for the formulation of education policy and planning. The 86th Amendment of the Indian constitution makes education a fundamental right for all children aged 6-14 years. When India gained independence, the literacy rate was as low as 12% but has been growing ever since. Even though the literacy rate rose to 74% in the 2011 census which also translated into economic growth, there’s still a long way to go. In recent past, India has made great progress in terms of increasing primary education enrolment, attendance rate, retention and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. Figures released by the Indian government in 2011 show that there were 5,816,673 elementary school teachers in India. As of March 2012 there were 2,127,000 secondary school teachers in India. Education has also been made free for children for 6 to 14 years of age or up to class VIII under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. There have been several efforts to enhance quality made by the government. The District Education Revitalization Programme (DERP) was launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary education in India by reforming and vitalizing the existing primary education system. 85% of the DERP was funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent was funded by the states. 4. STRUCTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS The main types of schools are those controlled by State government boards The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) International schools. These schools try to copy the schools in the West in pattern and syllabus and are considerably more expensive than regular schools. Overall, according to the latest Government Survey undertaken by NUEPA (DISE, 2010-11), there are over 1 million schools. Expenditure on Education in India Expenditure on education is on a rise. The Indian budget has provided Rs. 34,400 crores to the educational sector in India. It is an increase of 20% over previous year. In 2004 expenditure on education stood at 3. 52% of the GDP and in the eleventh plan it is estimated to be around 4% while it should be at least 6% of GDP. The District Information System for Education (DISE) reported in 2012 that 95% of India’s rural populations are within one kilometer of primary schools. The 2011 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which tracks trends in rural education, indicated that enrollment rates among primary-school-aged children were about 93%, with little difference by gender. However, behind the veil of such promising statistics, the learning outcomes of India’s children show little progress. The country ranked 63 out of 64 in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, with some of its best schools ranked about average among those surveyed. The 2011 ASER stated that only 48. 2% of students in the fifth grade can read at the second grade level. The number of students completing their primary education with inadequate numeracy and literacy skills is startling. To see this manifest in an economic sense, one may attribute India’s productivity growth — lagging behind that of East Asian economies — to a lack of progress in the foundational elements of countrywide, high-quality education. India’s private-schooled, English-speaking urban elite may attract global attention, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of Indian children attend government-run primary schools in rural areas. In 2008-2009, rural India accounted for more than 88% of India’s primary-school students, of whom over 87% were enrolled in government-run schools. This is where we see some of the nation’s challenges. â€Å"The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms. † (Education Commission, 1964-66. ) This statement rings true half a century later.? While the development planners rightly recognized that expansion of educational facilities has to be accompanied with improvements in quality and relevance of education at all levels, the outcome is different at different places in the country. 5. THE INDIAN SOCIETY AND ITS ROLE IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 5. 1 Socio-economic disparities Despite the strong constitutional backing for the provision of primary education in India and its expansion over time, the system is characterized not only by low achievements but also by large unevenness of achievements. Differences remain between rural and urban areas, and the probability of getting any education at all sharply depends on gender, caste and income. Women, scheduled castes and tribes and the poor are faced with barriers when it comes to getting basic education. Of the 200 million children in the age group 6-14, it is estimated that 59 million are out of school. Of these 35 million are girls and 24 million are boys (Ministry of Human Development, GOI). Apart from socio-economic determinants, the educational infrastructure and the management and the governance of the educational system in India are far from efficient or sufficient. The government is the largest provider of education in India with only about10% of primary schools owned by the private sector. The  quality of education provided by the public education system is low which translates into low educational abilities even for those who are able to complete primary education cycle. Moreover, there is a lot of ‘waste’ in the educational system with dropout rates as high as 40% for the country as a whole and in some Indian states, they are as high as 75%. Though the number of primary schools in the country increased, more than 1 lakh habitations still do not have access to a primary school within a distance of one kilometer. Teacher-pupil ratios are inadequate: less than 2 teachers are available in rural areas to teach a class size of around 100 students. Teacher motivation and teaching incentives are also very weak. 5. 2 Rural-Urban and Gender Disparities Perhaps, the largest disparity in educational attainment in India is by rural-urban location. While there has been some catching up in literacy rates for both males and females between rural and urban areas, the differences continue to be unacceptably large, especially for females. The child sex ratio also has a major impact on the disparity of the education imparted. Haryana, where the child sex ratio is decreasing, also sees the maximum amount of disparity when it comes to gender inequality of education. Only 46% of females in rural areas were literate as opposed to nearly 73% in urban areas in 2001, a gap of around 27 percentage points. For males, the gap was lower at around 15% percentage points with 71. 18% of males in rural areas and 86. 42% in urban areas being literate in 2001. However, school attendance has been rising for both girls and boys at the elementary school level in both rural and urban areas. The following table shows school attendance for boys and girls in the 614 years age category in 1992-93 and 1998-99 for rural and urban areas. Fewer girls attend school in rural areas compared to their urban counterparts, and also compared to boys in rural areas. The proportion of girls attending schools, however, has increased from 59% to 70% between the years under comparison. School Attendance (%), age 6-14 years 1992-93 Female Rural Urban Total 52 79 59 Male 72 85 75. 5 1998-99 Female 70 86 74 Male 81 89 83. While participation of girls in education has seen an increase over time at all levels of education, it continues to lag behind that of boys. Even in 2001-2002, girls’ enrolment remains below 50% of total enrolment at the primary school level. This is true of girls’ enrolment at all levels of education, though they have been increasing at levels beyond the primary as well. The table above provides enrolment data, which only takes into account entry into the school system and not attendance or retention, which as we have noted above was 73% for females compared to 79% for males. Moreover, if we view statistics for India as a whole, the numbers hide considerable variations. According to the Indian Census of 2001, of the 593 districts in India, 309 districts had (total) female literacy rates lower than the national average and 324 districts had a gender gap in (total) literacy rates that was greater than the national average. The gender gap in education is mostly due to entrenched gender norms, especially in the states of the north, where girls are married off at very young ages and exogamy in marriage means that any benefits of investment in education of girls will be captured by the household after marriage. This reduces parental incentives in the education of girls. The gender gap in education perhaps reaches its apogee in the North-western state of Rajasthan which can be seen as illustrative of what plagues gender equity in education in India as a whole. According to the 1991 Census, Rajasthan had 7 million children of primary school going age of which only 52. 8% attended school. Moreover, among girls the attendance rate was only 37. 4%. The drop out rate from the primary school system was as high as 55%. A large fraction of out of school children were girls. Among scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the literacy rates for women were as low as 9% and 7% respectively. Thus, gender and caste attitudes have resulted in severe gender inequity in education in Rajasthan. These social attitudes are reproduced officially rendering them invisible, further compounding the low status of women in Rajasthan. 5. 3 Scheduled Castes and Tribes Membership in castes continues to exert a powerful influence on the attainment of socio-economic well being for people in India. This is reflected in almost all the social and economic development indicators for scheduled castes and tribes in India vis-a-vis the rest of the population. Scheduled tribes do worse than scheduled castes and girls belonging to scheduled castes and tribes do much worse than boys belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. At the primary school level, most boys are now enrolled in schools and the percentage of girls enrolled has also improved over time, though it continues to lag in certain states. One of the tables in the appendix provides enrolment ratios for boys and girls belonging to scheduled castes for 1997-98. Enrolment ratios for boys are above 100% for all states. However, drop-out rates for boys and girls belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are higher than average. In the case of scheduled tribes, nearly 64% of boys and 70% of girls drop out before completing primary school (MHRD, 1994). 6. THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SYSTEM Education is one of the most important parameters that can lead a country to a more sustained growth trajectory. The effect of education increases more in a country like India with over 1billion people. It should be noted that till 1976 in India, education was a ‘state subject’ . Post 1976 even the central government got involved in the process but the state could still enact laws modifying those passed by the central government. This implies that the primary responsibility for education lies with the state government. It may be noted that while expenditure on primary education may be nominal or even zero, especially in rural areas, the opportunity cost of education can be high which is why many households in the rural areas are reluctant to send their children to school. They see them as earning members of their families right from their childhood. In 2001-2002, India spent about 4% of its GDP on education, which is less than the proposed 6%. The following table shows government expenditure on education (all levels) as a ratio of expenditure on all sectors as well as percentage of GDP. From above, it is clear that elementary education was ignored by the government and more emphasis were given to secondary and tertiary education but at the start of the 21st century elementary education was finally given its due importance by allocation of more money. Elementary education is financed almost completely by the government – central, state and local – and government funds account for 99% of all recurring expenditure in elementary education. The District Primary Education Program(DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) are two large scale programs undertaken by the government of India to provide primary and upper primary education to all the citizens of India. 6. 1 District Primary Education Program (DPEP) The Government of India launched the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in 1994 with the aim to attain the goal of universal elementary education. The objectives of the program are: †¢ To provide access to all children to primary education through formal primary schools or its equivalent through alternatives †¢ To reduce overall dropouts at the primary level less than 10 percent †¢ To increase achievement levels by 25 percentage points over and above the measured baseline levels †¢ To reduce disparities of all types to less than 5 percent. The criteria to identify districts under the programme are: †¢ Educationally ward districts with female literacy below the national average †¢ Districts where TLC(Total Literacy Campaigns) have been successful leading to enhanced demand for primary education (Department of Education: 1993). When the program was launched in 1994, it covered forty-two districts in seven states, namely Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Later, it was extended to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Currently, the program covers 176 districts in 15 states of India. These states together have 60% of the child population in India. Another 60-65 districts are slated be brought into the DPEP fold. DPEP is a centrally sponsored scheme with the central government providing 85% of funds and the state government providing the remaining 15%. The share of the central government comes from external assistance from bilateral and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, IDA, DFID, EC, UNICEF and the government of Netherlands. In the first phase of DPEP, 1,60,000 teachers were trained, 4,500 new schools, 5,000 class rooms were constructed and 14,400 toilet and water facilities provided. According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA, 1998a), between 19931994 and 1996-1997, enrollment rates in DPEP districts increased by more than in non-DPEP districts. In many of the DPEP districts, primary school enrollment of girls increased at a higher rate than that for boys. Of the additional 6, 30,000 children enrolled in 39 of the 42 phase I DPEP districts between 1995-6 and 1996-7, 51. 5% were girls. Another NIEPA study (NIEPA, 1998b), found that among the DPEP phase I states, the highest enrollment increase of 35. 6 % was in Assam followed by Haryana (15.9%) and Maharashtra (14. 6%) in 1996-97. The national average was 9. 4 per cent. In 1997-98, the highest increase in enrollment was in Madhya Pradesh (10. 5%). 6. 2 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) The central government launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Universal Elementary Education) in 2001. The goal of SSA was to provide meaningful and quality education to all children between the ages 6-14 by 2010. It is an umbrella plan for elementary education in India and includes the DPEP. SSA is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country and an opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education. It is a partnership between central, state and the local government. Objectives of SSA †¢ All children should be in school, Education guarantee centre, alternative school or back to school camp by 2005. †¢ All children in the state complete five years of primary schooling by 2007. †¢ All children complete eight years of schooling by 2010. †¢ Focus should be made on Elementary emphasis on education for life in the state. Education of satisfactory quality with †¢ Bridge all gender and social category gaps at the primary stage by 2007 and at the elementary level by 2010 in the state. †¢ Universal retention of children by 2010. The financial obligation by the government towards SSA has been estimated to be an additional Rupees 6,000 million over the next ten years to be shared by the central and state governments. Unlike the DPEP, the SSA is a program that is entirely domestically funded and does not rely on external resources. The funds for the SSA are allocated from the Union Budget. Secondly, the SSA is an initiative of the Central government, even though education in India is largely the responsibility of state governments. 6.3 Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) It is the largest noon meal programme in the world. It covered about 10. 46 crore children of primary and upper primary classes in 11. 92 lakh govt. aided, local body, and NCLP Schools as well as Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS). Rs 48000 crores allocated for the program me during the 11th five year plan; Rs 38,000 crores spent so far. The benefits of MDMS are: †¢ Preventing classroom hunger †¢ Promoting school participation †¢ Facilitating healthy growth of children †¢ Intrinsic educational value †¢ Fostering social equality †¢ Enhancing gender equity †¢ Psychological Benefits The nutritional norm for upper primary stage was fixed at 700 Calories and 20 grams of protein. Midday meal scheme is an important step forward in improving both the education and health outcomes of children in India and greater effort and funds should be channeled in improving its quality and implementation. 7. QUALITY AND QUANTITY India has complex social structure where economic, social and gender disparities are present. Providing education to the masses keeping in mind disparities in the Indian society has been the goal of the government since independence. In India there is an emphasis on provision of more schools (‘quantity’) and providing easy access to these institutes. ‘Quantity’ of an education system can be defined as the measure of physical access to schools. Under ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ the government aims to ensure that every person in India has a school within one kilometer of his/her residence and is given free primary education. This is to ensure that in rural and tribal areas where resources people have are limited, have easy access to school. Between 1950-51 and 2011-2012, the number of primary schools increased from 209,671 to 664,041, which is more than a three-fold increase. Eighty-four percent of Indian population now has a primary school within one kilometer and local government or local bodies run ninety percent of these schools. ‘Quality’ of an education system is a measure of school supplies, level of teaching and basic amenities provided by the school. Low quality education system indicates that students who have completed primary school are not functionally literate and numerate. In Maharashtra, Community based surveys of 28 cities and 8 rural districts in 2003 found that 30% students were able to read basic texts and perform basic arithmetic according to a report by A.  K. Bannerjee in 2001. The Probe team in 1999 reported similar results in Northern states. A study of two districts of Madhya Pradesh by Leclercq in 2002 found that only 27% students were able to read texts fluently. Thus, while increase in literacy rates are significant, the numbers may be misleading and do not show the ‘functional literacy rates’. The infrastructure in schools is an important measure of the ability of the education institution to impart ‘quality’ education to students. Most schools do not have classrooms large enough to accommodate all students. The  Probe Report in 1999 found that there are as many 40-50 students in a class with its seating capacity of only 25 on an average. The low figures of 25 in schools in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh do not indicate adequate resources, but low attendance in the schools. School structures also lack basic facilities like running water and toilets. A study showed that in Uttar Pradesh, 54% schools did not have running water and 86% schools did not have toilets (World Bank, 1997). Grover and Singh (2002) in their study of two districts of Tamil Nadu found that out of twentyfive schools only two had toilets. The non-availability of these basic facilities reduces student attendance, as the students have to return to their home to use these basic facilities. The lack of separate toilets for boys and girls also influences parent’s incentives to send their daughters to school. The quality of education provided is most affected by the teachers in the institute. Teacher availability in rural areas is very low. A report by a NGO (CSO 2001) shows that 80% teachers in rural areas apply for transfer to urban areas. This has led to severe imbalance in distribution of resources between the two areas. This reflects on the student-teacher ratio. India has a student to teacher ratio of 43, which is almost, double the ratio observed in developed countries. Moreover, most rural schools (almost 45%) are single or two-teacher schools, there is multi-grade teaching, which reduces the quality of education even further and is not shown by pupil-teacher ratios. There is little check on teacher accountability and teacher attendance reported is also low. In many schools, a lot of teaching time is devoted to do paperwork than actual teaching. In rural areas, Opening and closing times of the school deviate from the administrative fixed timings according to the whims of the teachers. The Grover and Singh report (2002) found that schools were often unexpectedly closed during rain, excessive heat, or agriculture peak period and for cultural reasons like marriages. This finally leads to irregular attendance and poor quality of education. Teacher qualification is an important parameter in the education system. In Tamil Nadu, The Grover and Singh report found that 85% teachers had adequate qualifications and 2 years of training for High school education, but this is not the case in other states like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan. Teacher training programs are also not designed for the reality of environment and the constraints under which teaching actually takes place. There is no focus on single-teacher schools where a teacher has to teach multiple grades and handle administration. The program also does not sensitize teachers for economic and social disparities, which are characteristic to the Indian scenario. Stronghold of teacher-unions has further reduced teacher accountability. In 2002, 457 allegations were registered against teachers and principals for ‘corruption’. This includes miss-use of school funds, recruitment of friends and relatives as teachers and ‘selling’ important positions in the school by bribes and social connections. Teacher apathy comes out very strongly in small surveys carried out by various research teams all over India. PROBE (1999) team reports that there was no teaching happening in half of the sample schools the team visited and the problem further compounded by poor infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and lack of teaching materials. A research conducted by Grover and Singh in 2002 reported that in 70% of schools in Madurai and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, no instruction was taking place. In Madhya Pradesh, management has been decentralized to village level bodies like Gram Panchayat to improve administration according to the regional needs. Alternate schools also report social differentiation and inequality in schools . Social differentiation on the basis of caste was always present in India, and the above reform has alleviated the problem. This is observed especially in the areas where students belong to a ‘lower’ social caste and teachers belong to the dominant caste. This increases the problem of low enrollment, dropout rates and parental apathy towards public schools. World Bank’s study of 1997, estimated 45% girl and 42% boy dropout rate before class five. The All-India rate is 40% highlighting that dropout is still a major problem in Public education system. The dropout rate of girls is always higher than boys (Except Karnataka) and in five states UP, Bihar, Rajasthan West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh; dropout rates are more than 50%. Corporal punishment is reported to be practiced in both rural and urban schools. Psychologists say no matter how serious the offence, beating should not be allowed. It leaves a very serious trauma on the student’s mind. In 2011, 40 cases were registered in Delhi of corporal punishment. The worst aspect is that almost 90% of the cases go unreported as parents too think it must be their child’s mistake and that’s why he/she must have been administered a beating. It was seen as an acceptable form of punishment by the society until 2000, when the Supreme Court banned it in all schools. There have been many cases in which students have lost their lives because of corporal punishment. In 2010, a nine-year old girl, Piya Chaudhary died of due to cancer arising out of injuries inflicted on her head by a schoolteacher. In 2012, Aslam Ansari died after thrashing by his teachers in Madhya Pradesh. Every year, numerous children die due to corporal punishment in schools. This reflects the quality of education and teacher apathy. 8. LOW COST PRIVATE SCHOOLS VS GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS One of the major movements that have come up in India and other developing countries is the system of low-cost private schools which are accessible by the masses. The affordable or low-cost private school system which basically consists of private schools where monthly student fees varies from Rs 100-Rs 750 ( 2 US$ to 15US$) is gaining momentum worldwide and helps poor families in having a say in their children’s education and future. . In a UNDP survey across 10 major cities of the developing world, however, as many as 75 per cent of students were attending private schools, paying fees of less than US$10 a month. ? These schools serve as alternatives to the age-old system of public schooling in the developing countries in the world. The various differences between public schooling and low-cost private schooling will be studied with the case of Indian schooling system as the focal point. India lives in its villages and the primary education system in most villages is below par. The country aims for a 6% allocation of the GDP dedicated to the education sector of the country but hasn’t been able to put it into practice as of now. It is often very difficult to quantify growth and learning of a student and distinguish between the overall performances of students of public and private schools. The parameters and benchmarks are very subjective. The quality or effectiveness of the low-fee private schools is very difficult to gauge especially in India when it’s still in the nascent stages. There is no comparable measure of learning achievement in private and public schools Test scores and literacy rates along with passing percentage are one of the few criterions to work with. The relative cost of private and public schools, where the focus is on the monthly cost of teaching each student. The major chunk of the expenditure goes on salaries.