Political Activism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political Activism - Assignment Example This will see the current policy of the Canada revenue agency (CRA) that relate to political activities conduct by registered charities remaining unchanged. The changes arising from the Budget 2012 should not be left to deter the registered charities from engaging in political activities. Charities should get involved or continue to participate in the political activities so long as they pursue the rules applicable. The charities should as well document all their political activities involvement. There have been allegations against environmental charities in their use of donations that are claimed to be received from foreign sources. A group of politicians specifically, has raised questions concerning the foreign funding appropriateness on environmental charities in Canada, whether the funds in question were useful in lobbying the government. For instance, of significance is the initiated Senate inquiry by Senator Nicole Eaton on February 2012, based upon the claims by the Senator th at such funding were influencing policy discussions improperly in the country. This was presumed with regards to government projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline. There was no credibility in such accusations in that, the charitable sector has quite a number of segments in Canada, and each year these segments receive a large scale funding from foreign sources. Such includes hospitals, universities and religious organizations, and the federal government has not made any allegations that the funding could be used in support of a political activity. Noting the strategy of counter terrorism by the federal government released on February 2012 is so crucial since it equated white supremacy environmentalism and terrorist activities in the city of Oklahoma in 1995 (Carter & Claridge, 54). As a result of this strategy and other kinds of attacks on environmental charities, the charities have created a force to enable them engage in political activities (Carter & Man, 47). However, the ab ility of charities to get involved in political activities has not been impacted by Budget2012, through the implementation of its legislation. Engaging in alternative community services could be more effective in addressing this issue. For instance, all registered charities are needed by law to have charitable purposes that are beneficial to a community such as poverty relief, promotion of advanced education and religion, and promoting of health care for the communities. The policy statement of the CRA on political activities, CPS-022, the activities by registered charities can be categorized into three as political activity, charitable activity or prohibited activity. An activity considered charitable is normally permitted without any limit. For example, communicating with public through a charity on the issue that relates to the purposes of the charity can be, under certain circumstances, be a charitable activity. However, the sort of communication has to satisfy the following req uirements: 1. Relate to and subordinate to the charitable purposes of the charity. 2. Reasoned well. 3. Does not contain inaccurate, false, or misleading information. Involving in charitable activities in a political platform

CHILDREN AND THE MEDIA - media literacy Literature review

CHILDREN AND THE MEDIA - media literacy - Literature review Example They gain exposure to different methods in which the media can be used to manipulate and misrepresent and also its role in view generation and reality (Pannu and Tomar, 2010, pg. 21). However, the above definitional can be described as outdated for media literacy has evolved from just theses abilities and formats into electronic forms (Pannu and Tomar, 2010, pg. 21). Since 1970’s when information technology emerged, media and information has shown tremendous growth forming a basis for education and learning. This saw information becoming more digital, while people and countries became more networked. This has led to a complex and transformed environment filled with all kind of data and information that is easily accessed by a simple swipe or click of a button (Cohen, Schwartz and Harris, 2013 pg. 52). In the 1300’s, long before the information technological boom, Sorbonne library located in Paris had 1,338 books which made it the largest library in Europe. However, only an elite group of people had access to the tremendous amount of information contained in the library. In this century, thereis a high number of libraries containing more than eight million books. These books are lent out to millions of people across the globe (Potter, 2011, pg. 6). Media literacy has received a massive boost due to this. The creation of online libraries that store books in virtual cloud space has also attributed to easy ac cess to books. In 2007, 276,649 new book titles were produced by commercial publishers. A further addition of 134,773 book titles were produced by on demand publishers (Potter, 2011, pg. 6). Due to this tremendous amount of information being produced every day, humans have come up with ways to automatically sieve through this information and get the information required in a matter of seconds or faster. This has seen people from age groups develop skills that are essential in accessing information from anywhere and at any time. This

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 13

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Globalization to organizations has many constructive and dynamic features related to improved market access, increased capital as well as better access to technology and information that leads to greater income and employment opportunities. Globalization to organizations presents an opportunity for free trade and the resulting effects of global economy, with free trade leading to increased financial flows. Globalization creates transnational regulatory frameworks, which ensures that organization have the opportunity of tapping into the full potential of global networks because the networks are responsible for the welfare of both nations and the global community. Sharing resources between organizations in a global stage both formally and informally through cooperation and collaboration result in benefits that go beyond what an individual organization can accomplish on its own. Recent advances in technology facilitate intra and inter-organizational communications that are coupled with increased recognition of such organizations in the global society. Through globalization, organizations are faced with the opportunity of increasingly accessing diverse products, services and even technology. Through pooling of knowledge and exchanging more goods as well as services increases domestic economies and offers organizations an opportunity to benefit from technological developments. A combination of these opportunities to organizations means that organization have the opportunity of increasing their volume sales since there is increased growth rate of GDP as well as the empowerment of people through acquisition of additional resources and capital (Monsod, 2000). Globalization offers a complex and interwoven puzzle for organizations since product development needs to go hand-in-hand with supply chain management in individual nations. Moreover, global environment is not always

Death and fate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Death and fate - Essay Example This story thus tries to show how death is inevitable and despite efforts put in place, it will always find ways of capturing its victims. The story revolves around death and its inevitability. It portrays many traditions of the Gothic fiction thus presenting an allegory of death and fate. It is therefore important to study and know how different societies deal with death and the meanings behind their actions. Death in Different Societies Over the years, the mystery of death have stunned many individuals and because no one knows what happens when after death, different societies have come up with tales on the origin of death, causes of death and implications of death. Different people have different believes on death, but the vast majority view death as a form of punishment from a supreme being usually referred to as ‘god’ or ‘the ancestors’. Very few people have embraced the reality about death and view it as natural, many still believe that death occurs as a result of fate or punishment (Lynn 327). To broadly understand death in different societies, we will attempt to look at what the societies believe are the causes of death, what are the remedies to the stated cause and whether death is avoidable by any chance. Death According to the Muslim Societies According to the Muslim community, death is normally regarded as the ultimate completion or end of the physical life of an individual. The dead person is normally referred to as resting because, this society believes that, in the end, the dead will be resurrected by God normally referred to as Allah. Since the dead are only resting, they believe that those who were righteous are capable of seeing visions of Allah even in immortal state. The wicked on the other hand, usually see hell in their visions. According to the Muslim society, there is heaven where the dead will go after judgment (Ivone 174). This place however is restricted to the pure Muslims; non Muslims can only get to heaven after they have been purified in fire, commonly known as the purgatory. In Muslim society, religious legends are worshiped and specific shrines are built for their remembrance. To date, Prophet Mohammed is worshiped and every Muslim knows that he was the most righteous person who ever lived. As a way of recognizing this, special shrine is built in Mecca where Muslims Faithful usually visit to pay their tribute to this hero. This process is done annually. When a Muslim dies, he is supposed to be washed, wrapped in a white clean cloth and buried the same day. This is done to honor the dead and give him last respect. People know very little in what happens after one is buried and they just believes that he or she will be resurrected when time comes. Muslims also believe in a holy war called Jihad. In this war, if someone dies in an attempt to do the will or Allah, he is guaranteed heaven. This is why, some fighters like Osama, having been convinced that they were doing service to God, would do anything without being human enough to reconsider his actions. When he died, the best thing was to bury him under water to avoid shrines and a repeat of the same cycle. Death in Traditional African Society Many traditional practices according to many traditional practices are coiled around death and resurrection. Many individuals believe in the existence of semi-divine powers and the intercession of spirits (Aloysius and Joanne 68). It is therefore important to appease the spirits if one is to avoid the painful consequences of death. There are also

Human Resource Management in Sweden Research Paper

Human Resource Management in Sweden - Research Paper Example As per Hofstede there are four broad cultural dimensions along which societies can be differentiated i.e. power distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance comprises the extent to which less influential individuals of a society accept discrimination in society. This acceptance level varies along different culture. Individualism culture focuses on societies where people are concerned about self-interest and interest of family only while collectivism refers to a culture where individuals protect the society’s interest. Masculine culture expects men as compared to women of society to play the assertive and ambitious role who strive for material success and it defines a caring and serving role for women. Feminine culture on other hand defines an overlapping role for both men and women and it focuses on interpersonal relationship and shows concern for the weak. Sweden is depicted with a feminine culture as it does not require any gender to be more ambitious and highly competitive. A culture which avoid uncertainty is active, security seeking and intolerant while a culture which accepts uncertainty tolerant, less aggressive and unemotional (Vitell et al). In Table 2 index for Sweden has been given on the basis of power distance (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty avoidance index(UAI). From the Table2 we see that Sweden is not likely to avoid uncertainty. They are risk oriented. We also see that Sweden is more of a feminine country which emphasizes on relationship with people than with money. Swedish businessmen prefer appropriate code of behavior in business meeting. They believe in reaching a solution via joint decisions. They believe in facts, delivery schedule and need a longer period of time to inculcate shared information. Since they believe in consensus for a solution so they worry about what others might think of them

Lightweight Community-Driven Approach to Support Ontology Evolution Essay

Lightweight Community-Driven Approach to Support Ontology Evolution - Essay Example The chapter goes on to identify the advantage of ontology evolution, the lack of systematic approach for ontology evolution and explains the motivation for this study. The chapter ends with the objectives of the study and thesis structure. 1.2 Ontology Definitions The term â€Å"Ontology† is derived from its usage in philosophy where it means the study of being or existence as well as the basic categories (Witmer 2004). Therefore, it is now used to refer to what exists in a system model. Definition 1: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2011), â€Å"It is a particular nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence. Definition 2: Gruber (1993), on the other hand, provides a more concrete definition of Ontology. He defines it as a study which explicitly explains concepts and relationships (Gruber 1993). The set of concepts (e.g. classes, relations, functions) are used to represent and describe domain knowledge. For example, in oil and gas industry there is an established ontology for Statoil in Norway (Association 2008) a standard library related to an oil and gas domain. 1.3 Ontology Editor Ontology Editor is an application which is developed to view and edit ontology. In the past few years many applications have been developed such as OilEd (Bechhofer, Horrocks et al. 2001), OntoEdit (Sure, Erdmann et al. 2002), Protege (Gennari, Musen et al. 2003) and Web-Protege (Tudorache, Vendetti et al. 2008). Further details are explained below about each ontology editor: - OilEd: OilEd was developed in Manchester University. It is a simple ontology editor that provides further guidance in the development of Ontology Interchange Language (OIL)-based ontologies (Bechhofer, Horrocks et al. 2001), which is basically a web-based representation of ontologies organized to make it accessible and usable (Cover, 2000). It is the one which pioneers ontology editing (Bechhofer, Horrocks et al. 2001). - OntoEdit: OntoEdit was developed by the Knowledge Ma nagement Group at University of Karsnuhe Institute AFIB. It provides an ontology development that allows collaboration and inferencing. The method involves three main steps which start with requirements specification, refinement and evaluation. The first step is where the ontology engineers and domain experts meet and work towards identifying the goal of the ontology, description of the domain, and the availability of references. Design guidelines are also established in this step. Then, the team then makes the ontology in the refinement phase. Finally, the ontology requires evaluation according to its requirements specification by identifying possible errors in the ontology and efficiency for enabling collaborative work (Sure, Erdmann et al. 2002). - Protege: Protege was developed by Mark Musen at Stanford University. It is an ontology editor which has come a long way. Protege started in 1987 as a small application, which was aimed at building knowledge acquisition tools. Protege h as then been developed further, providing many new features for each version that has been released. Currently, there are hundreds of individuals and research groups are using Protege (Gennari, Musen et al. 2003). - Web-Protege: Web-Protege is a web version of Protege, also developed in Stanford University. This allows the users who have access to view and edit the ontology from the internet (Tudorache, Vende

Evolution of thoughts in Scientific Management Essay Example for Free

Evolution of thoughts in Scientific Management Essay At the first stage where groups of people were insignificant, management in all spheres was carried out by one person the leader of this group. Further, in process of group growth and complication of functions carried out by them, the necessity of labour division and group differentiation has appeared. But it couldnt happen at once, it required centuries. The Egyptian pyramids build in 3000 2000 B.C. are a good example not only ancient Egyptians culture, but also their administrative art. Construction of huge pyramids demanded, first of all, precise planning. While the practice of management can be traced back to 3000 B.C., it was not given serious attention until 1800 when large organisations emerged. Industrial revolution has given a push to development of theoretical researches and management practices. However, till an epoch of capitalism function of management was carried out by the owner himself and a small group of the persons approached to him. The role of the specially trained managers developed during an epoch of monocapitalism. Having been faced with a competition, changeable environment, managers developed knowledge system of how it is better to use resources. During all history of management development we distinguish two approaches: classical and modern. Classical approach allows to allocate four patterns of management thought: 1898 Scientific management 1916 Administrative management 1920 Bureaucracy 1927 Human relations SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT Occurrence of scientific management takes place at the beginning of 20th century and is connected to F.W.Taylors name, Henri L.Gantt, Frank and Lilian Gilbreth. Scientific management focuses on worker and machine relationship. Organisational productivity can be increased by increasing the efficiency of production process. In 1911, Frederick Taylor, known as the Father of scientific management, published Principles of Scientific Management in which he proposed to design  work methods to increase productivity. One of his famous experiments was performed at Bethlehem Steel Company in Pittsburgh. He examined the time and movements, developed a better method for performing that job and trained the worker. In addition, Taylor offered a piece rate that increased as workers produced more. Taylors studies were followed by Gibreths, a husband and a wife, who also helped to find more efficient ways for workers to produce output. Frank Gilbreth made his contribution in the field of brick lying by changing an 18 step process into 5 step that led to increased productivity by about 200 percent. The Gibreths believed that were was one best way to perform an operation. However this one best way could be replaced when a better way was introduced. Other representative of Scientific Management was Henri Gantt. He developed a Gantt chart, which is used for scheduling multiple task over a time period. He developed a pay system with a guaranteed minimum wage and bonus systems for people on fixed wages and brought in a significant contribution to the leadership theory development. ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT Unlike Scientific Management which focused its attention on productivity, Administrative Management have engaged in development of management in the organisation as a whole and was concerned about administrative part of the organisation. The ancestor of this school was Henri Fayol. He worked as a mining engineer and came to realise that managing an enterprise required a lots of skills apart from technical ones. Henri Fayol was the first to identify the four management functions: Planning Organising Leading Controlling He also developed guidelines for managers to follow. These guidelines form fourteen principles for effective management. Other contributor to Administrative Management was Mary Parker Follet. She pointed out that all managers want flexibility, and she also distinguished between the motivation of individuals and groups. BUREAUCRACY Max Weber, known as a father of Modern Sociology, concentrated on how to structure an organisation for success. Weber outlined key elements of an ideal form of structure, which he believed would develop efficiency and called it bureaucracy. The bureaucratic structure had a number of important advantages for large organisations. The division of labour increased efficiently due to the continued repetition of the task. Hierarchy allowed developing a chain of command. Format selection meant that employees were hired on knowledge and experience and no other criteria would be used. Career orientation ensured that career professionals would give the organisation a degree of continuity in operations. Rules and procedures controlled employee performance. The impersonality of the organisation ensured that rules were applied across the board without personality or other influence getting in the way. HUMAN RELATIONS During the 1920s, an emphasis on the human side of the workplace began to influence management thinking. They started to realise that people are social and self-actualising. People at work are seemed to seek satisfying social relationships, respond to group pressures, and search for personal fulfilment. The human relations movement began with the Hawthorne Studies that were conducted at the Western Electric Company in Cicero 1924 -1933. The intention of these studies was to determine the effect of working conditions on productivity. The illumination experiments tried to determine whether better lighting would lead to increased productivity. Both the control group and the experimental group of female employees produced more whether the lights were turned up or down. It was discovered that this increased productivity was a result of the attention received by the group. In the relay assembly group experiments, six female employees worked in a special, separate area. They were given breaks and had the freedom to talk and were continuously observed by a researcher who served as the supervisor. Once again researches failed to find any direct relationship between changes in physical working conditions and output. Productivity increased regardless of the changes made. Two factors were set up as having special importance. One was the group atmosphere; the workers shared pleasant social relations with one another and wanted to do a good job. The other was more participative supervision. The workers were made to feel important, were given a lot of information, and were frequently asked for their opinions. It was not the case in their regular jobs. The final Hawthorne Study was conducted in the bank wiring room and centred on the role of the work group. A surprise finding here was that people would restrict their output in order to avoid the displeasure of the group. It was recognised that group can have strong negative, as well as positive influences on individual productivity. Two writers who helped advance the human relation movement were Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor. In 1943, Maslow advanced a theory suggesting that people are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Which are physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation needs. People try to satisfy the five needs in sequence. They progress step by step from the lowest up to the highest. Meanwhile Douglas McGregor represents Theory X and Theory Y. According to McGregor, managers holding Theory X believe that those who work for them generally dislike work, lack ambitions, are irresponsible and prefer to be led rather than to lead. While in the Theory Y managers believe that people willing to work are capable of self-control, are willing to accept responsibility, are imaginative and creative. CONCLUSIONS Scientific Management Analysis of the past allows a better understanding of the present to predict the future Scientific Management improved peoples productivity at work by reducing number of motions choosing one best way to perform the task. However, Scientific Management was not without its critics. Taylor assumed that people were motivated only by money and ignored social and psychological factors. Also, Scientific Management techniques often resulted in lay-offs and it led to job losses. Relationship between the organisation and environment wasnt taken to attention. Despite these criticisms, we use some of scientific techniques nowadays. For instance, on factory that produces mobile phones, the whole production mechanism is broken down to small tasks. The workers are guided by carefully calculated standards. They know how many details they should approximately produce per hour. Each movement is chosen carefully in order to reduce excess motions. I have been working in a hotel industry for three years. The scientific management techniques have been used in my department as well. To make checking in and out more efficient everyone had his or her own best way of performing the task. Administrative Management. Nowadays Faylols five main functions gained widespread recognition. Lets take a hotel, for instance. Managers have to make plans for the future, organise short-term plans, co-ordinate recourses and finances, and control plans get their goals. In the Royal Bayswater Hotel, where I worked, managers aim was to get a Service Excellence Award. They planed to increase service by: training the staff; paying more attention to internal customers because happy staff is happy customers and by trying to exceed customers expectations. During all this process managers were controlling if everything was following the plans. And as a result to everybodys effort the hotel has been awarded with Best Excellence Service Award Bureaucracy While the term Bureaucracy has a negative meaning some of its elements are still relevant. In the earlier mentioned hotel, for example, staff is selected and promoted on ability to perform the task. Workers are career orientated. In order to obtain the organisational objectives procedures are measured and performed according to the organisational rules and standards. Standards and rules applied without personal influence. Human Relations Until the late 20th human relationship hasnt been taken to serious consideration. It has only been  after Hawthorne Experiments, the improvement of relations between all levels has been accepted as a very important element in the development and improvement of any organisation . This is still have a great importance  nowadays. The job of the manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to encourage, teach, control, motivate and lead people. But that easier said than done. At my place of work there were different people with different needs. While some of them were satisfied with physiological and safety needs, the others there seeking for recognition from others, self-control and actualisation. So managers couldnt expect a good performance at work if an individuals needs havent been satisfied. We also had two types of managers. 1 Those who followed Theory X assumption 2 Those who followed Theory Y assumption As for me it was more difficult to work who doesnt give you much freedom for your thoughts, and things that supervision is a necessity. On the other hand, it was a pleasure to work with someone who allows more flexibility, and thinks that control and punishment are not the only ways to make people work. As a result they got more commitment to the organisation. LIST OF REFERENCES 1 ManagementStephen P. Robbinsons, Mary Coulter, 7 edition 2 Management John R. Schermerhorn, JR. 8 edition 3 Management John R. Schermerhorn, JR. 7 edition 4Management Ricky W. Griffin 7 edition 5 Modern Management Siobhan D. Tiernan, Michael J. Morley, Edel Foley www.sfsu.edu/~erich/slides2/-5k www.ee.uwa.edu.au/~ccroft/em333/leca02.html-12k www.evolutionevent.co.uk/-2k