Role of Education in 21st Century

Role of education in 21st  century Long, long ago, Newton had said that he was ‘like a child, who is  picking pebbles at sea-shore while the great ocean of knowledge lies before me’. Since then, knowledge has grown enormously at  a much faster speed than human ability to cope with it. Technological advancements of twentieth century, especially during post 1970? s due to revolution in the field of information technology, have changed the whole scenario. Entering into world of knowledge is like going into a dense forest. Only way out is to develop clarity of thought/mind, as to what one wants to know  and make sincere efforts to  pursue relevant knowledge in that specific area. Also it is equally important to upgrade knowledge continuously. As  Alvin Toffler, renowned writer has said, â€Å"The illiterate of twenty-first century will not be those who can not read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. † Purpose of education Unfortunately, meaning and purpose of literacy and education is misunderstood. Literacy does not merely mean the knowledge of three ‘R’s, nor does it  mean only academic or theoretical studies/knowledge leading to award of degrees. Increasing knowledge-base through available information is also  not the purpose of learning. Bookish-knowledge and award of degrees through formal education without effective training-systems neither serves  any purpose  nor led the people to get employed gainfully. As Khalil Gibran has said – knowledge, the object of knowledge and application of the knowledge – all the three are equally important for motivating to take a wise action. A little knowledge that acts is worth more than much knowledge that is inactive. One, whose knowledge is confined to books, cannot use his wealth of knowledge, whenever required. The scope of education – The scope of education is much broader. It is a continuous process. It means complete up-bringing of the individual starting from the childhood till end. In its wider sense, literacy and education embraces within itself reading, observation, thought and its application in real life situations. Within its jurisdiction, also comes formation of habits, manners, character, attitude and aptitude along with imparting knowledge. Learning at each and every stage of life increases knowledge-base, understanding and attitudes of a person. A well-planned and sound system of education inspires human beings to control their senses, mind and intellect, so that they could be adjusted better in real life’s environment. It guides people to achieve their goals within time and cost parameters and to channelize their efforts towards desired direction. In short, a sound education system imparts knowledge, shapes attitudes, cultivates skills and builds work habits of the people. Distinction between action, forbidden action, and in-action – Knowledge has  been considered essential for the purpose of giving activities, their due meaning and value. According to Hindu philosophy even a wise man may get puzzled without knowledge about do’s and don’ts. It is only after the acquisition of knowledge, that a person  understands the real nature of work and could distinguish correctly between action, forbidden action and in-action. India and its Education system High regard for knowledge- India has always given importance to and showed a high regards for knowledge, wisdom, virtues, characters and will power. According to Indian philosophy, ‘Wealth of knowledge is supreme among all forms of wealth’. (Vidya dhanam sarvadhana pradhanam). Therefore, knowledge is the greatest thing to be sought after. A human being is human because he has the organic capacity to think and seek knowledge. More importance to knowledge than wealth – Unlike India, in Western countries, more importance is being given to creation of wealth. Wealth is the ultimate aim of the people, yardstick of success and a status symbol. Traditional India was not so materialistic. Its systems had separated pursuit and achievement in knowledge from temptations of worldly comforts, wealth or power-politics. According to Indian philosophy, when a person runs blindly after money and forgets about the real purpose of knowledge, both wealth and knowledge vanishes from their lives. The only judicious way to generate wealth and gain power goes via the path of true knowledge. Knowledge as the base of ranking – Earlier the greatness of a person, institution or a nation was judged on the basis of the degree of righteousness and justice. Greatness of a nation was judged  with which its administration governed lives of the common men or their character. It was not on the basis of the size of a state, its military power  or its treasury/bank-balance. Similarly, in the society, a person or a caste was ranked on the basis of knowledge, iscipline and moral standards, and not on the basis of material success, muscle or money power or of having controlling  power over the destiny of common man. Respect for knowledgeable persons – In ancient India, apart from Brahmins, others were also paid respect  by the society  for their learning, character, spirituality and ability to guide  general masses. The system was quite liberal in this matter. It grace fully accepted the right and opportunity to get to the top from the humblest origin and earn the respect of the whole society. For example, Vashishtha, the principal of the conservative school of Brahmanism, was the son of Uravshi, a prostitute. Vishwamitra, the maker of the very Gayatri Mantra, the quintessence of the Vedic Brahmanism, was a Kshatriya. Aitreya, after whom the sacramental part of Rig-Veda is named as Aitreya Brahamana, was the son from a non-Aryan wife of a Brahman sage. Vyasa of Mahabharata fame was the son of a fish-woman (belonging to Mahr community – Dalit according to present standards and to which Dr Ambedkar, the messiah of Dalits belonged). Balmiki, an untouchable according to present standards, the original author of Ramayana, is highly respected all over India. None of them were not ashamed of  their origin. They still hold a very high position in general public minds. Close connection between Knowledge and hard work -For acquiring knowledge, training mind in a scientific manner and concentrating energies of mind, one has to struggle, work hard, make sincere efforts and face many challenges in life. Now-a-days, courage  to struggle or work hard is missing except in a few students, who still keep the fire of seeking knowledge burning all the time. Without hard-work, search for knowledge remains incomplete and superficial. In ancient India sages (Rishi-Munies) had worked day and night to acquire true knowledge. The love for knowledge inspired many students to walk from different parts of the country to centers of learning at that time like Taxila or Nalanda. A powerful Emperor, like Ashoka the great, thought it his duty, to bow before the monks â€Å"as a mark of my deep respect for their learning, wisdom and sacrifice. What matters in life, are not a person’s status or position, but his virtues and wisdom. Only when you have raised yourself up from ignorance, can you recognize the greatness of a few in a sea of humanity. † For creating modern civilization, sincere knowledge seekers in Western world also did not care for inconveniences or challenges. They had sacrificed their time (for about two centuries), energies and comforts in search of knowledge. Then only they could develop great modern scientific knowledge, technique and wealth. Education  in modern India Sixty four years after independence and self-rule, lliteracy-rate has gone up to 74% from 65%. For males it has risen to 82% from 75%, for females to 65% from 54%. In absolute number, the figure is alarming. No nation can afford to have a large number of its population to remain illiterate, ignorant and unskilled. Constraints That all is not well in education system in India – has been noted by distinguished academicians, policy-makers, political leaders, other eminent persons, commissions and committees. Now and then, they have pointed out its failures in one area or another. It has always been felt that Modern education has become increasingly unrelated to national needs and aspirations, insufficient, wasteful and dysfunctional. In addition to what constraints that have already  been  existing in the education system, many more external and internal problems,  paradoxes and constraints have cropped up. Some defects in modern education based on colonised British Grammer School type education, were pointed out by  Gandhiji like – * It is based upon foreign culture to the almost entire exclusion of the indigenous culture. It ignores the culture of heart and hand and confines itself simply to head * Real education is impossible through foreign medium. External Constraints – Externally, socio-economic and political pressures have violated its identity and autonomy. Some changes have taken place in the recent past in the character, role and inter-relationship of these main constituent of the national elites – the political executiv e, the legislators, the businessmen, the media persons, the organized workers, the surplus farmers and the bureaucrats. It brought into the forefront some undesirable social changes and political turmoil. It has affected adversely the whole atmosphere in the field of education as well. Population explosion has put a heavy pressure on present education system and its available infrastructure. Narrow loyalties, sectional interests and sub-cultures like – favoritism, nepotism and corruption have fast become an accepted way of life. Result is that communal, regional and caste conflicts and unhealthy ompetition between different powerful lobbies are increasing every day to have their exclusive hold on scarce resources available in the field of education or for power and pelf. Few persons and groups, who have the power in their hands, control almost every walk of national life and are working to deny justice to common men. The reflection of all these social evils is found in the educational system as well. Internal Constraints – Internally the system has been fractured along the lines of disci pline deteriorating standard of education in general and student sub-culture. Slowly but steadily, the education system lost its capacity to equip the younger generation with relevant knowledge and skills for enabling them to get gainfully employed and to perform their jobs with a sense of responsibility. It has failed to produce much-needed dynamism in youth as well. Now people have started questioning the legitimacy of a modern education system itself. Disintegrate society – Instead of being an instrument of social integration, education system divides people into two groups – ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. There is government or government aided schools that give education to poor masses. It is economical, but do not maintain good standard. On the other hand there are private schools, which caters mainly the needs of ‘Haves’, because it is very costly. Deteriorating standards – After independence, India is facing a rapid deterioration in standards of education. In the past, though education was thinly spread, it had maintained some standard. Now in an attempt to do quantitative expansion of education, quality of education suffered a lot. The examination and evaluation system tests only a narrow range of skills, especially those of memory. Standard of general education has deteriorated considerably and suffers from grave errors. In addition to it, there is lot of  interference and control of the government at every stage of the educational process. Unfit for original work – Education system in advanced countries makes student a lively, inquisitive and original thinking person. There, it has been able to develop certain special qualities  like regards for laws of the nation, awareness, contempt  for hypocrisy,  sympathy for  underdog and courage to resist cruelty or misuse of power and authority. An educated youth in India generally fails to display genuine social conscience. Store-house of information – Importance of information in knowledge, which provides the basis of all the thinking, cannot be denied. However, present education system at all stages of education, from preliminary through secondary right up-to the college stage makes mind a store-house of information/knowledge and discourages original thinking. It lays emphasis on giving students ready-made knowledge, systematically and neatly organized in the form of lessons, units and text book. English medium – English medium puts extra strain upon the nerves of students and makes them crammers, imitators and unfit for original work and thought. Masses remains deprived. System is producing mostly the youth, who are unable to express clearly in any language, including their own and lack woefully the competence and confidence to assume responsibilities. Higher secondary, the weakest link in Indian education system – Higher secondaryeducation is considered  to be insufficient and a weakest link in Indian education system. It needs sincere efforts to improve the Academic standards, curricula and methods of teaching at higher secondary level. In western countries the standard of higher secondary education is sufficiently high to ensure recruits of higher intellectual attainment to join various jobs at this stage. Degree-oriented: The whole system of education and employment is degree oriented. Degree is the master-key to a nice and respectable career giving status, authority and final reprieve from manual work. Such a narrow mind-set has put tremendous pressure on higher education system. A large number of new substandard and superfluous institutions are being created every day to meet the demand. Government also encourages mass entry into universities and colleges. Rush in institutions are of such students as well, who want degree as a passport and are not interested in studies. Such students seize every opportunity to spoil the academic atmosphere and breed indiscipline. Indiscipline- There is a growing unrest in the student community. Youth of the day want to be absolutely free from all compulsions. For them, discipline and observance of rules are supposed to be unnecessary and irrational. They have no respect for rules/discipline/morality or for elders, teachers or authority. Their interests lie in all that is sensuous, in material gains and in enjoying pleasures in life. Indiscipline in student’s world leads to chaos and violence. It makes people slaves of their weaknesses. Employability – One of the major aims of education is to make youth employable. At present it is difficult to find out and recruit well qualified persons for various jobs in government, public or private sectors. At pre-employment stage, education needs to be comprehensive in scope and sound in nature for making youth acceptable in job-market. It needs to be supplemented by rigorous foundation training telling the fundamentals of their specific jobs and inculcating in them relevant knowledge and skills, otherwise effectiveness, efficiency and quality of work gets a setback. At present, all the basics about their jobs are told to employees after their join work-force, which requires a much more massive effort in order to make employees do their jobs well. Unrealistic Manpower Assessment – Assessment of manpower requirement for economic growth is not done rationally according to national needs. After Independence, the need for technical people was felt and in recent past for management experts. The Government created large number of professional institutions in these areas without assessing the needs of the nation. It resulted in educated unemployment. A large number of scientists, doctors, engineer’s technicians and management graduates have to go abroad in search of suitable jobs. Therefore, for streamlining the performance of people at work after employment, most essential and fundamental requirement is that the character and scope of pre-employment educational system should be redesigned in such a way, that it could continuously provide men and women of vitality, vigor, initiative and imagination with intellectual accomplishments, qualifications and soundness of character needed in different disciplines and at different levels at job market. Where the fault lies? – For all these lacunas, students blame teachers, teachers blame students. Both together try to blame educationists. They, in turn, attack social system. The present system of education  can not be changed or improved overnight. It needs concentrated efforts of all – students, teachers and the society. Then only  a larger base of skilled and trained manpower could be created. Conclusion Rational thinking needs to be done about the real problems and the role of education in modern life after understanding its basics, fundamentals and aims correctly. The requirement of a university degree as a Passport for starting nice and respectable career (white collard jobs) has made a mockery of higher education. Such an attitude has by-passed the need to â€Å"educate all†, resulted in negligence of primary and higher secondary education and in over-crowding the institutions of learning. The stress on quantitative increase has subverted all the attempts to improve the quality of teaching and learning. It has led to continuous fall in the academic standards and students’ discipline, regional imbalances in the growth of educational institutions and politics in the temples of learning. In the present times of neck to neck competition, one should continuously upgrade knowledge. It is the best way to create a larger base of skilled and trained manpower. Education should  instill in students problem-solving attitude and develop the courage to meet the challenges of real life bravely. Instead of offering excuses or blaming others for one’s failures and dissatisfaction,  it should inculcate in students the spirit to face the difficult situations in life and make efforts to change  their destiny themselves. Education must teach people always try to have control over ones life’s situations and to stand up on his own feet rather than depending on others for moving forward. Success  in life depends on developing capacity and courage to take right decisions at right time. Only sound system of education and training  can provide a lasting solution for various problems, people are facing today. It  can lead the youth towards rational, positive and creative thinking. It would make youth capable to make right decision at right time, plan rationally about their career that would suit to their attitude and aptitude and to shoulder their responsibilities properly. It would enable them to act judiciously and promptly, give them courage to avoid out-dated traditions and dogmatic ways of doing things, courage to face realities and challenges.

Discuss the Dramatic Devices Williams Uses in the Play to Suggest

Discuss the dramatic devices Williams uses in the play to suggest that Blanche is doomed. A Streetcar Named Desire is a tragedy that is unlike a traditional tragedy in that the characters in it are not struck by some calamity or fall because of unwise choices on their part. Instead, we enter the play in the delayed aftershocks of a tragedy that has befallen the main character, Blanche, as she attempts to hold on to whatever remnants of her beautiful past she can, but ultimately fails due to a combination of her past that catches up to haunt her, and also because of the rough-handed, misogynistic, and brutally pragmatic Stanley.Throughout the play, Williams hints and ultimately cements the idea that the audience will see Blanche fall. This is done through a blend of symbolism, character interaction, musical and auditory cues that foreshadow Blanche’s ultimate fall from beautiful to insane. Blanche’s tragic past is hinted by Williams to audiences even in Scene 1 by the an alogy of the names of the streetcars and place that Stella and Stanley live in.In Scene 1, Blanche tells Eunice about how she got to Stella and Stanley’s place; â€Å"They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields† Blanche’s journey on New Orleans’ streetcars represents the journey of her own life up to now. The streetcar named desire is an allusion for the life she lived after her late husband, Allan, died. Blanche was a promiscuous woman who had sex with random men for the superficial attention she longed for.After, she transferred to a streetcar named Cemeteries, a name for a place of the dead. This must’ve represented that part of her life where she has been ostracised by her hometown of Laurel for her various affairs, that probably disrupted the social and marital affairs of those in the town. After all, that was the â€Å"death† of her time of â€Å"desire†. Finally, she arrives at Elysian Fields, Stella and Stanley’s place. Elysian Fields is a place of Greek Mythology, a transition area for the afterlife.Just as Blanche as â€Å"died†, she has gone to rest in Elysian Fields. In the myth, Elysian Fields was just an area for souls to go to before moving on to their next stage in the afterlife. This alone is enough to show that Williams hasn’t intended for Blanche’s story to end in Elysian Fields. Blanche’s tragic past has effectively â€Å"killed† her, and just as she must move on from Elysian Fields as per myth, her past is due to catch up with her and continue to wreak havoc on her.Furthermore, we see Williams’ use of the dark imagery of â€Å"Cemeteries† and â€Å"Elysian Fields†, as opposed to any more heavenly images (say, â€Å"Heaven†) to suggest that Blanche’s journey after Elysian Fields to be anything rosy – which is ultimately the case. Another way Williams shows that Blanche is destined to doom is through her absolute juxtaposition to life in New Orleans. By showing her as not being able to adapt to and accept life in the seemingly balanced and progressing New Orleans, Blanche is ultimately doomed to be something forgotten and left behind, like an old obsolete symbol of the Old South.From Scene 1, we see Blanche physically standing out in the rough and tumble world of New Orleans, from her striking white clothes in the colourful world of New Orleans, and her delicate description of being a â€Å"moth†. As the play unravels, we see she is unable to adapt to any new situations New Orleans throws at her. She never changes her high register speech which starkly contrasts Stanley and crew’s pidgin English and she constantly ignores the spreading truth about her.Even her sister, who is of same background as her, is able to accept the â€Å"rougher† life in New Orleans, and th is difference is put across by when Stella tells Blanche about her and Stanley’s wedding night. Stella is â€Å"thrilled† by Stanley’s barbaric smashing of the lightbulbs, while Blanche is horrified by it. It is obvious that Stella has at least partially assimilated into New Orleans life, while Blanche never does so throughout the play. By holding on to her beautiful dream of her past life, we see that Blanche sets herself up for disaster by never being able to break away from the past and head forward into the future.Her juxtaposition in New Orleans till the very end of the play serves as a reminder that she is a relic from the Old South and could never survive in the radically changing New Orleans, and is destined to die out with the old traditions. Auditory cues in the play also serve as a symbol as Blanche’s imminent disaster. The Varsouviana Polka appears when Blanche is being confronted with her past and the truth, such as when Mitch confronts her a bout her true age and the truth about her past.The polka symbolises disaster to Blanche, playing when she witness the traumatic death of her husband and whenever situations in the future bring these feelings of disaster to her. The Polka never goes away during the play, instead, we see that the polka is a recurring symbol in the play, showing that disaster has followed Blanche to New Orleans and is affecting her in every facet of her new life there. For example, in the scene where Mitch confronts Blanche about her past, we see the Polka being distorted, coupled with what seem to be Blanche’s hallucinations of the night Allan died.When Stanley provides Blanche with the bus ticket to go back to Laurel, â€Å"The Varsouviana music steals in softly and continues playing†, which represents the disaster Blanche faces should she go back again. As such, we see the Polka (and hence, disaster) never leaving her, instead representing the disastrous past creeping out on her, as it becomes more distorted and skewed throughout the play, representing her confused and deteriorating state of mind and doomed destiny.Ultimately, the polka is also there to play along with her downfall, : where, â€Å"The Varsouviana is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle† to symbolise the final destruction of her humanity (the jungle), and her deteriorated mental wellness (the distortion). Other notable examples of music used in the play to represent doom are songs like Paper Moon, that Blanche herself sings. Say it’s only a cardboard moon, sailing over a paper sea, but it wouldn’t be make believe, if you believed in me. Without your loveIt's a honky-tonk parade Without your love It's a melody played in a penny arcade It's a Barnum and Bailey world Just as phony as it can be Paper Moon by Ella Fitzgerald, a song about make-believe and props for show, is quite fittingly sung by Blanche, who all this while has lived in her make-believe world of her former glory. Such songs surfacing in the play, especially by the perpetrator herself cements the idea to audiences that Blanche is in fact a phony in her own right, and thus cannot survive in the very â€Å"real† world of New Orleans.It is yet another indicator that Blanche cannot and has not accepted the harsh future and reality of this life. It is extremely befitting to Blanche that it is true that if someone believed and truly loved her, she need not live out a make-believe world, where she is as white and as beautiful and as false as a paper moon. As such, songs like Paper Moon show audiences that Blanche embodies the person who cannot move from fantasy out to reality, and is doomed to live out in her fantasy world where she is like a paper moon – a move that ultimately spells her insanity in the harsh real world of New Orleans.The foreshadowing of Blanche’s doomed destiny is also portrayed through other minor characters actio ns. The Mexican flower seller, an old lady close to death, sells flowers for the dead, as if to foreshadow Blanche’s imminent â€Å"death† from reality, while Shep Huntleigh’s continued absence as Blanche’s â€Å"saviour† shows not only her disillusions about who she really is now as a woman, as well as serve as a reminder to audiences that it seems nothing can pluck Blanche out from her dire situation in New Orleans.Blanche is stuck in New Orleans miserable with the increasingly abusive Stanley, and no former beau can offer escape. Williams hints from the very beginning of the play that Blanche is doomed, but it is events throughout the play that signal her refusal and inability to move from fantasy to reality, that cement with audiences that Blanche has little hope of being released from her predicament.A Streetcar Named Desire is littered with small but extremely significant events to show that Blanche is still the paper moon she sings about, an d thus leads to her ultimate fall from the pititful facade of grace we were introduced to at the start of the play, to the hopeless state of delusion she ends up in after New Orleans and the people in it are unable to fed her fantasy anymore.

Amway Japan

Amway Japan Limited Executive Summary In 1996 Amway Japan Limited (AJL) was the leader in direct selling market, and the most successful company within the entire Amway group. In the first half of  1997, AJL experienced a net sales decline of 11. 6% and net income to 27. 6% from the first half of the previous year. The Japanese economy and declining value of  the Yen relative to the U. S. Dollar has decreased AJL’s sales volume and profit margin. The Japanese government recently passed laws that confused AJL’s distributors and discouraged potential consumers from buying certain product lines. Furthermore, AJL suffers from a negative public image with over 70% of their customer base having either a neutral or negative opinion of the company. In order to rebuild growth in the second half of 1997 and achieve AJL’s long-term sales goal of ? 300 billion by FY2000, the following strategies must be implemented. AJL must strengthen the overall Amway brand image in Japan by promoting high quality products with a competitively fair price. In addition, AJL needs to target their public-relations campaigns to specific groups by promoting individual products and product lines to build upon their brand equity. AJL will undertake a focused extensive distributor training program which emphasizes distributor ethics, techniques on building correspondent down-line relations, and a greater understanding of Japan’s door-to-door sales laws and regulations. AJL will improve  the internal marketing strategy by extending target-marketing initiatives toward specific demographic distributor groups to add upon their success with the Artistry cosmetic brands. AJL will successfully capture their momentum to reach their target revenue goals by implementing the solutions offered above.

Life Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Life Science - Essay Example Such constraints directly influence their life history stage, genetic diversity, reduced gene flow, poor genetic drift, deprived genetic multiplicity of breeding, inadequate space, thereby making the population inactive. Vast space is required for the appropriate mobility as well as to establish connectivity for the perseverance of population. Human activities not only restrict the mobility and connectivity of trouts population but also create barriers. Human deeds fragment touts habitat, eventually, causing loss of trouts population. Invasion of non-native salmonids generates potential danger too. Restricted space condenses demographic and stochastic destruction hazards. Efforts to protect and restore trouts population are being performed, but appropriate study is highly essential to protect trouts population. Some conservation methods have been proposed but fortification is required at the water shed level and catchments such as streams. Conservation measures for the protection of trouts population must be taken seriously in order to preserve their natural habitat, allowing them to move freely, minimizing fragmentation of their habitat and allowing them to have genetic

Technology and business assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Technology and business assessment - Essay Example As stated on its website, Cisco Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create Internet solutions that allow individuals, companies, and countries to increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction and strengthen competitive advantage. The Cisco name has become synonymous with the Internet, as well as with the productivity improvements that Internet business solutions provide. Cisco Systems vision statement claims that their vision "is to change the way people work, live, play and learn." Source from website ) Stanford University Computer Scientists Sandy Lerner and Leonard Bosack founded Cisco Systems. There was a genuine need for large scale computer networks based on industry standard technologies and while in college, they found that the inefficiencies of the current infrastructure led to great technical hitches in being compatible with the numerous mail clients. This inspiration served as a spark that set their ideas in motion and when they left the campus, they were ready to embark upon the operation. Surprisingly, its stupendous growth was the harbinger of its problems. Cisco grew rapidly and to cater to the company and product information distribution, launched an official website in 1991. It had a 50% share of the networking market and struggled to keep up with the calls it was receiving. By 1992, its market share was 85% and the customer service requests and training programs were severely straining its existing systems that were not built for these volumes. By 1993, Cisco boasted a growth of an astounding 270% growth, but its IT department was sorely lacking to cope with a half billion-dollar company growing by 50% each year. Unable to sustain, its customer service was not up to the standards desired and Cisco was losing its ratings. Its IT budget was a paltry 0.75% of sales that was way below industry standards. The Plan CIO Pete Slovik and Senior Executive, Doug Allred, brought a revolutionary concept that entailed that the IT spending was linked to the business units that in turn necessitated close alignment to the company goals. The managers of the business units would be required to independently take decisions about the investment required to reach the company targets and the level of customer satisfaction. Cisco's internal network would play a strategic role in providing the connectivity needed for the business units to build applications creatively and therefore this would require a thorough revamp of its internal infrastructure. Because it was a major decision that would cost millions, cash-strapped Cisco deliberated over the decision. Small technical difficulties kept occurring and in 1994, Cisco's systems broke down unable to cope and Cisco was forced to close down for two days. The Solution The board went ahead and approved the proposal for a $15 million Oracle ERP system. This would entail a 2.5 percent of the 1993 revenues, thrice the IT budget of the previous year. The total cost of completing the ERP was $100million. It is not an overstatement to say that the Oracle ERP system became the backbone of the Cisco E-Business. It unified all of the Unix Servers and became a source of centralized information.

High Staff Turnover in Healthcare Industry Lab Report

High Staff Turnover in Healthcare Industry - Lab Report Example This research will help to identify the intensity of the problem persisting in the industry, to examine its different aspects and to make potential recommendations to solve the problem. This research intends to obtain a clear view of the issue based on both primary and secondary sources. In short, this research is aimed to show how a real life problem can be solved using primary and secondary research methodologies. What Do I Hope to Accomplish? This research tries to address staff shortage issues in modern healthcare. Although the recent healthcare reform aims to deliver quality care and increased patient safety at affordable costs, the issue of staff shortage continues to be a potential challenge to smooth performance of the US healthcare sector. In this context, it is relevant to explore the issue more in order to develop strategic measures to deal with this problem in future. For this purpose, this research paper will discuss the significance of maintaining adequately staffed hea lthcare system. Short term as well as long term consequences of staff shortage issue related to the US healthcare can be identified through this research. This research would highlight the necessity of placing a particular emphasis on staffing while developing healthcare policies. The research will give specific attention to the root causes of the staff shortage issue. Such an investigation would be useful to find potential ways to eliminate staff shortage issues in the healthcare. Various studies conducted on this topic indicate that different healthcare sectors adopt different strategies to address the staff shortage issue. Hence, this paper will examine which policy or set of policies would be most effective to avoid current troubles in healthcare staffing. Hence the findings would help to attract more qualified and experienced candidates to this field. In addition, the research is framed to evaluate whether or not geographical factors can have any influence on the staff shortage issue. Finally, the paper will explore some potential practices that can identify staff shortage issue in a healthcare setting on time. Primary Research and Target Group Surveys and interviews will be the major sources used as they would increase the accuracy and reliability of data or information collected. Professional assistance will be sought to ensure the efficiency of surveys and interviews. In addition, the organization’s annual reports will be considered as primary sources because those reports clearly indicate staffing status of the firm throughout the fiscal period under consideration. The organization’s human resource management and senior management team will be the target group for this research. In addition, the research will interview departmental heads in order to clearly identify staff shortage problems in different departments. Finally, external healthcare professionals’ views and suggestions will also be collected for making this work authent ic and effective enough. Potentiality of the Chosen Primary Sources For this research, the above mentioned primary sources would be highly effective. It is obvious that primary research techniques such as interviews and surveys are considered as direct methods of data collection. Through interviewing officials concerned, the interviewer can directly ask questions and record more reliable and accurate information. Furthermore, interview is one of the simplest and cost effective methods of acquiring required data/information within the minimum possible time. In addition, it is the perfect way to get complete information required for the project with less chance of misunderstanding and documentation errors.

The Origins and Early Form of the Arms Race Research Paper

The Origins and Early Form of the Arms Race - Research Paper Example These technological developments, however, only occurred because of vast systems of ideology and doctrine that convinced both sides they needed to adopt and aggressive postures towards each other. To truly understand the arms race, it is essential to understand the doctrines and philosophies that led to the perception of its necessity. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies during the Second World War, but even before the close of the that conflict significant cracks began to emerge – Truman and Stalin were already spoiling for a conflict as of the Potsdam Conference prior to the close of the war. His journal entries at that point contain subtle threats. In one time, Stalin and Truman had a frank discussion, in which Truman refers to Stalin’s questions as â€Å"dynamite,† before referring to the fact that Truman had â€Å"some dynamite too, which I’m not exploding now.†3 This clearly speaks to veiled threats – Stalin making some, before Truman refers to the fact that he has a secret weapon more powerful than the Soviet Union. So even as of World War II, both the Soviets and Americans were convinced they would be in conflict with each other – they were certain that their ideologies were too divergent, their interests too opposed to each other, and the world simply too small to accommodate the both of them. This represents the earliest beginning of the Cold War and the arms race. The arms race became further reinforced by the differing doctrines of both countries The first doctrine that the United States adopted towards the Soviet Union after the close of the Second World War was the Truman Doctrine, a doctrine essentially of containment of Soviet Union, which the United States believed was highly imperialist.4 The Soviet Union, for its own part, believed that a spreading proletariat revolution was a necessity, and heavily encouraged communist revolutions in a variety of countries, including successful revolutions in North Korea, Vietnam, China, as well as the de facto annexation of much of eastern and central Europe through the conflict of the Second World War. This further reinforced the idea in each country that they would eventually come into conflict with each other. It seemed almost certain. But this conflict would be different from any that came before it, because it would involve nuclear weapons, something against which there was no effective defense. Previous systems of weaponry could be battled – to destroy a city through bombing would take massive waves of bombers, which could be destroyed, thus limiting damage. With the advent of atomic weapons, however, this all changed. If a single airplane flew through a defense, it could obliterate a city. There was no way to defend against this new kind of weapon, which meant the only way to stop it from being used was through deterrence. Each side had to be absolutely certain that if it used atomic weapons, they would have atomic weapons used against them. This brought about a troubling strategy

Analysis of the Origin of the marriage rituals, traditions, practices Research Paper

Analysis of the Origin of the marriage rituals, traditions, practices of Jewish weddings in Orthodox communities - Research Paper Example Marriage is a social institution in which two individuals are united in holy matrimony. The institution of marriage, as we see it today, has grown over many centuries. Traditionally viewed as the union of a man and a woman, this concept has become more complex today owing to the increased sophistication and civilisation of modern societies. Thoroughly immersed in customs, traditions, religion and civil regulations, many of the conventional rites have perished over time to yield place for new ones. The rituals, traditions and practices of marriage differ greatly across diverse cultures, religions, countries, ethnic communities and social strata. Majority of the traditional marriage ceremonies comprise an exchange of nuptial vows by the couple, offering of gifts and a public announcement of the marriage by an authority figure. Some other commonly incorporated elements in a wedding ceremony are traditional music, recital of poetry, chanting of prayers or readings from religious texts. A ll of these marriage customs have their roots firmly embedded in the beliefs and customs of the society in which they are conceived. In Judaism, marriage is regarded as the ultimate state of mankind and a man without a wife or a woman without a husband are regarded as incomplete. As Isaac Klein quotes from Leviticus 34a in his book "A man who does not marry is not a complete person." (Klein, 1979, p. 381) It is also believed that "Any man who has no wife lives without joy, without blessing, and without goodness." (Garland, 2003, p.276) In Jewish literature, the term that denotes marriage is â€Å"kiddushin†, which in English means "sanctification".

Chinese History papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese History papers - Essay Example It presents a brief background history of China before unveiling the purpose of the Great Wall. Just like any other grand civilization in the world, China’s culture can be said to have originated from a blend of small original tribes which have since expanded to become a great country that is China today. Historians also believed there some eminent people namely: emperors like Li Shimin, Philosophers like Confucius and great poets like Qu Yuan among others in the long list of individuals who contributed enormously to the development of China as a country as well as to the enrichment of her history (Slavicek 18). Notably, Chinese society can be said to have progressed through five major stages- the primitive community, Slave society, Feudal Society,, Semi-feudal and Semi-colonial Society, and Socialist Society (Slavicek 21). One aspect that historians have since agreed on and perhaps it’s the most recognizable symbol of China is the Great Wall of China. Originally, Emperor Qin Shi Huang (c. 259-210 B.C.) during his reign conceived the Great Wall as a means of preventing rampant incursions from the barbarian nomads into Chinese Empire. Although the Great Wall of China never actually and effectively barred the invaders from entering China, Slavicek (27) noted that it was also believed to have assumed the function of psychological barrier between Chinese culture and the rest of the world, under such it remained as a powerful symbol of the country’s enduring strength. According to Slavicek (28), the Great Wall as it exists today was basically constructed during the mighty Ming dynasty (1368-1644). During this period under the governance of Ming rulers, Chinese culture flourished and the era saw an immense amount of construction added to the Great Wall, which included bridges, temples, and pagodas. Noteworthy, after the initial phase of territorial expansion, the Ming rulers took wholesomely a protective stance, and their amendment and extension of the Great