A Woman Of No Importance Essay

‘A Woman of No Importance’ was written in 1892 by Oscar Wilde. In the play Wilde shows the hypocrisy that permeated through the 19th century and he expresses his views on a parochial society. The exposition of the play is pivotal in Wilde’s craft as he establishes characters and lays the foundations of the play. The play shows how 19th century, upper-class societies functioned. With hindsight, we can reflect upon Wilde’s use of suggestion as he radically expresses his views on the society in which he lived in. Wilde successfully introduces the characters within the exposition and the subtext allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the true nature of all the characters. Wilde immediately introduces us t the character of Lady Caroline, a woman who has been married four times herself, a trait that would be highly disapproved of in the 19th century. Her opinions seem to echo what many women of her status may have thought about the goings on in a 19th century society. She is persistent in patronising Miss Worsley and takes amusement in insulting her about her American heritage. ‘I am not sure Miss Worsley, that foreigners like you should cultivate likes or dislikes’. This statement shows that Lady Caroline places herself above Miss Worsley in society, although she is a Lady, and Hester has no title. Lady Caroline clearly thinks that everything she says is correct, as in conversation with Lord Kevil she comments that she is ‘usually right’, even though she refers to Lord Kelvil as Kettle, and she has to be corrected by her passive husband, Sir John. ‘You believe good of everyone Jane. It is a great fault’, although this is a virtue, Lady Caroline is clearly a pessimist, and her statement is a paradox. The statement shows that Lady Caroline has warped morals and is greatly unaware of her own nature. Through Wilde’s presentation of Lady Caroline we are shown how we cannot believe the surface appearance of characters in the play, deepening our knowledge of a 19th century culture was truly like. Wilde reinforces the hypocrisy of Lady Caroline, creating the impression that her knowledge is purely based upon gossip. ‘It’s said, of course, that she ran away twice before she was married’. This is an aspect to Lady Caroline that is key in understanding her nature; her egotistical vanity creates a particularly bad impression of 19th century upper-classes, as her views almost mirror modern day celebrities. Wilde portrays Hester as a stark contrast to the malicious character of Lady Caroline; Hester has a nonchalant manner and speaks in long, meaningful dialect, whereas Lady Caroline’s dialect is shorter and far more aggressive. Through Hester we can see Wilde’s possible true intentions, as he is perhaps suggesting that an American society far exceeds the British way of life. ‘In America those are the people that we respect the most’, Hester says this to Lady Caroline when she is being informed that Lady Caroline is disdainful towards people that have to work for a living. Hester is clearly an independent woman, and like the Suffragette movement during the 19th century, she represents the ‘new woman’; she is very clear about what she wants and is able to make her own decisions. In the 19th century the Suffragettes battled for the rights for women to vote and were very forward in their thinking, much in the same way as Wilde and Orwell (1984). When Hester comments on her thoughts and feelings towards Gerald Arbuthnot many of the characters disapprove of her speech, as she is breaking the stereotypical expectations of a woman in the 19th century. ‘He has one of the most beautiful natures I have ever come across’. Although Hester is the most isolated and vulnerable, due to her being from America, the audience seem to her like her the most out of all the characters, as she appears to be the most honest and likeable, she also has a witty sense of humour.

The Achievement of Desire

Growing up is something inevitable to all cultures and people. We have all gone through that time in our lives when we move on from being a child and become an adult. However, in the reality that education is the fact that starts this transition, Richard Rodriguez brilliantly focuses on the realization that education itself gives us the â€Å"ways of speaking and caring† about this transition. In the essay â€Å"The Achievement of Desire†, Rodriguez explains how his own life can be seen as his achievement for the desire to be the â€Å"scholarship boy†. Throughout his early years, Rodriguez defines himself as a good â€Å"imitator† â€Å"anxious and eager to learn†(546). He would constantly take in what his teachers taught him and then take these new ideas back to his family. This kind of â€Å"scholarship boy† to Rodriguez could be described as a model student who simply brings up the information obtained through his teachers yet doesn't develop his own idea. Rodriguez himself became, from an early age, that model student, superior to the rest of his peers. However, he also notes that being this kind of person, also meant he didn't express anything other than the thoughts provided by his teachers and books. Nevertheless, Rodriguez goes deeper into his â€Å"scholarship boy† situation and questions the motivations behind his actions, in other words, he questions his ability to originate ideas. What he realizes in third grade is that his education was actually changing him and separating him from the life he once had and loved. This realization was very important for Rodriguez because it meant that there would come a time when a choice would have to be made. A choice between keeping the ways of education in his home life, or choosing to abandon his home life and start his journey to a successful, independent, educational life. A choice between allowing his parents, who he loved more than anything, teach him or allowing his teachers to teach him more completely. It is at this point in Rodriguez’s life that he sees the education system as a kind of permanent examination and chooses to follow his own ways of learning and goals. In essence, he ends up developing the â€Å"ways of caring† about this transition. Rodriguez admits that all of us, one time or another must go through this kind of transition and separation from our past. However, he rejects any belief that education and the home culture can actually exist together. He describes these two ‘worlds' as extremes throughout his life growing up. The choice between these two worlds, these two extremes, is not a mysterious one, but it is an obvious one according to Rodriguez. To the scholarship boy, both the choice and the sacrifice it requires are obvious, and it is that decision which gives the person the â€Å"ways of speaking and caring† about the decision that is made. The scholarship boy fully understands the decision at the moment of making it, and so engages in a way that will allow him to reflect about it in the future. Nonetheless, Rodriguez also argues that most people are not as changed by education as he was. Rodriguez himself was a very special case. Having been born and raised by his uneducated parents, his culture and education allowed him to exceed the academic level of his parents. This environment was especially hard for him in his high school years, as he was embarrassed of his parents because they were not like his teachers. Over the years his parents lost their authority to him. This made him look for something else, whether that was knowledge given by his teachers or their authority towards him. For Rodriguez, he could not afford to admire his parents. As he moved from fourth grade up, he slowly developed the skills to hide the secret of his success. What he was actually doing was hiding his enthusiasm about his separation from his parents and his home life. In doing so, he found the tools required to both care and speak about the changes he knew were taking place with him. Eventually Rodriguez does get to the top of his education when he graduates high school and is accepted into Stanford University. Everything he had worked so hard for was finally worth it, as he could enter the real world of academics. Pleased with the idea of entering this new world, Rodriguez found that the academics community was lacking something. This is evident after his return home and not being able to connect with his family anymore, he also comes to the realization that he has been removed from the everyday life of his family and friends. In his sacrifice to become formed by education, he has in effect been changed deeply, so deeply that its not possible to connect with that past life. As he grew up and experienced changes of such importance in his life, Rodriguez learned and developed a number of scholarly abilities that provided him the â€Å"ways of speaking, reading, and caring† about his own life. He developed a professionalism in language as in a way to separate himself from his parents. Not only that, he also developed an incontrollable hunger of knowledge whether it was from books or teachers, which allowed him to study those who were like him or had ideas like him. For example, his article turned around proving wrong Hoggart’s idea of what a â€Å"scholarship boy† really was in the inside. In fact, his article proved that scholarship boys were not those who absorbed information and repeat it afterwards, but those that could use that information and education to form original thoughts and opinions as well. He demonstrated that â€Å"ways of reading and caring† were valued in the academic community. He explained his desire of becoming a teacher as for the knowledge and the â€Å"desire for knowledge† that he had. Rodriguez shows a desire for something, a desire to understand ideas. He explains this by saying that what he â€Å"withheld from his mother and father of what mattered the most: the extraordinary experience of first-learning†. This kind of desire to achieve the ways of reading, speaking, and caring about academics and life in general is why he had â€Å"always been a successful student†. Lastly, Rodriguez’s view on the definition of education and what it meant to be a â€Å"scholarship boy† in this article made him an independent thinker, which is what Rodriguez desired most, to have his own opinions and thoughts. He finally had changed from being a simple â€Å"scholarship boy† to become a real independent thinker. Everything in his life, his family, his teachers, his schooling, his books, and himself led him to discover the true â€Å"achievement of desire†.

Leadership and Nib Bank

Report-on-organizational-behavior-of-NIB-Bank. doc LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL May 31, 2008 Mr. Retd. Cdr. Tabassum Teacher, Organizational Behavior Bahria University Karachi. Sir: We herewith present our â€Å"Term Report† authorized by you as a requirement for this course. In this report, we have tried to provide analysis on organizational behavior of NIB Bank. We hope we have covered all that was required for the report. If there be any clarification demanded, we would appreciate a call from you to our group members. Sincerely, Maaz Khalid Muhammad Usman Badar Muhammad ZainACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the name of â€Å"Allah†, the most beneficent and merciful who gave us strength and knowledge to complete this report. This report is a part of our course â€Å"Organizational Behavior†. This has proved to be a great experience. This report is a combine effort of, Maaz Khalid, Muhammad Usman Badar and Muhammad Zain. We would like to express our gratitude to our organizational be havior teacher Mr. Retd. Cdr. Tabassum, who gave us this opportunity to fulfill this report. We would also like to thank our colleagues who participated in a focus group session.They gave us many helpful comments which helped us a lot in preparing our report. 1. 3 Objective The general purpose of this study is to determine the satisfactory level of job among the employees of British American Tobacco Bangladesh. We have selected British American Tobacco because this company has a multinational job environment and ensures the maximum level of efficiency among the employees. 3. Research Methodology A. Pilot survey We did a pilot survey for questionnaire testing (Vogt, 1999; Babbie, 2004) to detect error, validity and scale reliability.We used a 5 point- scale (â€Å"1† for Strongly Disagree to â€Å"5† for Strongly Agree) developed by Likert (1932). The pilot survey was done during in the month of January-February, 2008 with 30 respondents from 6 enterprises. A total numb er of 20 HRM items were used for this study. The sample size was 30 at managerial (mid level) jobs and simple random was used to obtain feedback and the scale validity of the survey. The calculated Chronbach’s alpha (? ) value is 0. 9063, which indicates the high eliability of the instrument. B. In-depth Interviews The second stage of our research method was in-depth interviews with the 12 executives. Semi-structured open-ended questionnaire was used for in-depth interviews. A simple random sampling method was used at this stage. The questionnaire was distributed to the executives to get feedback. C. Full-scale survey Full scale questionnaires were administered in the month of April, May and June 15, 2008 within 53 manufacturing organizations out of 103 (BEPZA statistics, May, 2008) organizations in economic zone, DEPZ.That covers 216 respondents from the total of 512 in the surveyed enterprises with the response rate of 42. 18% (26. 18% of 825 total entire populations). A si mple random sampling method was used for selecting the enterprises. From the pilot survey and in-depth survey finding and suggestion, questionnaire was modified and surveyed for this stage. D. Sample For the survey, a random sampling was chosen for selection enterprises from the A, B and C category of DEPZ organizations. A total number of 53 enterprises were selected from 103 and that covered 216 respondents. HISTORY OF THE DHAKA BANK LIMITED: DHAKA BANK LIMITED was incorporated as a public limited Company on 6th April 1995 under the company act. 1994 and started its commercial operation on June 05, 1995 as a private sector bank. The bank started its journey with an authorized capital of Tk. 1,000. 00 million and paid capital Tk. 100. 00 million. It is now one of the most renowned private banks having multiple branches in the major cities of the country. DBL has started its business with all the features of a corporate bank and the products of both corporate and retail banking syste m to facilitate the daily clientele requirements.Among all of its products Credit card is one of the most important financial-tool of the modern banking sector, Though DHAKA BANK is always trying to improve their services in this field, but in today’s competitive business world, banks need to offer additional concentration to the clients’ requirement in order stay at the top. Therefore, besides dealing with the general attributes of the Credit card, they also have been trying to put more emphasis on the customer benefits and other customer related facilities.The Credit Card Division is a new venture for the bank, so the card is only for the use within the city and therefore it is facing a huge competition against the existing local Credit Cards in the market. Moreover, DHAKA BANK LIMITED has expressed tremendous interest to create a competitive market for their Credit cards. GOAL SETTING THEORY: Goal setting theory was born out of Aristotle’s theory of final cau sality and then researched in greater detail by Edwin A. Locke in the 1960s to understand how goals can influence an individual’s performance.The basic theory behind goal setting is that human behavior is galvanized and governed by goals and ambition. Today, goal setting theory is very important not only for those studying organizational psychology, but for anyone seeking to increase productivity, enhance performance and reach for greater heights of success. Goals are able to motivate and spur you to meet your ambitions because it helps you focus your efforts on that objective. Every objective we have requires a list of tasks to be executed.By setting goals, we’re able to persist with the list of tasks and are compelled to develop strategies in order to reach our objective. The incredible results achieved with the goal setting theory explain why it’s not just colleges, universities and sports institutions that use it to obtain results, but in businesses too wher e survival is based on ensuring positive outcomes. Having objectives is not the issue, but striving to attain them is. Following are the points that help you to achieve goals: †¢ State your goals in specific terms.Understand what your goals are and know why you’re selecting these goals. †¢ Make your goals attainable. There is no point setting goals you believe are unattainable. The best way to do this is to break your goals down into actionable steps. †¢ Measure your goals. Set a timeframe, or a milestone that can put the pressure on you to meet your objectives. ANALYSIS: To what extent you and your colleagues feel that the company sets challenging goals for itself and expects quality performance and outstanding production? Answer Log Table: Low |1 |2 | |standards | | | | | |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 | |1 |Tells group members what they are supposed to do. |- |- |4 |18 |3 | |2 |Acts friendly with members of the group. |- |- |3 |5 |17 | |3 |Sets standards of performance for group members. – |2 |5 |12 |6 | |4 |Helps others feel comfortable in the group. |- |- |4 |8 |13 | |5 |Makes suggestions about how to solve problems. |- |2 |4 |6 |13 | |6 |Responds favorably to suggestions made by others. |- |- |6 |10 |9 | |7 |Makes his/her perspective clear to others. |- |- |2 |16 |7 | |8 |Treats others fairly. |- |- |2 |5 |18 | |9 |Develops a plan of action for the group. |- |1 |14 |7 |3 | |10 |Behaves in a predictable manner toward group members. – |3 |12 |2 |8 | We asked different questions relating to the leadership style from NIB Bank employees to know which leadership style their leader uses and we found that two of the leadership styles that are task oriented and people oriented or relations-Oriented. The results we got from employees of NIB Bank that 53% of the employees feel that their managers are relationship oriented leaders and remaining 47% feels that their managers are task oriented leaders so this shows that the NIB Bank has got the com bination of leaders that are task oriented and relationship oriented.This shows that NIB Bank have the leaders that perform better in all situations and can manage their teams more effective in favorable conditions and also in very unfavorable conditions. PATH GOAL THEORY: House’s PATH GOAL THEORY describes how leaders can motivate their followers to achieve group and organizational goals and the kinds of behaviors they can engage in to accomplish that Path Goal theory suggests that effective leaders follow three guidelines to motivate their followers.The guidelines are based on the expectancy theory of motivation. Effective leaders who follow these guidelines have highly motivated subordinates who are likely to meet their work goals and perform at high levels. Determine what outcomes subordinates are trying to obtain in the workplace. For example, what needs are they trying to satisfy, or what goals are they trying to meet? After gaining this information, the leader must hav e control over those outcomes or over the ability to give or withhold the outcomes to subordinates.Reward subordinates for performing at high levels or achieving their work goals by giving them desired outcomes. Make sure the subordinates believe that they can obtain their work goals and perform at high levels. Leaders can do this by showing subordinates the paths to goal attainment (hence the name path goal theory), by removing any obstacles that might come along the way, and by expressing confidence in their subordinates capabilities. House identified four types of behavior that leaders can engage in to motivate subordinates: Directive behavior (similar to initiating structure) lets subordinates know what tasks need to be performed and how they should be performed. †¢ Supportive behavior (similar to consideration) lets subordinates know their leaders cares about their well-being and is looking out for them. †¢ Participative behavior enables subordinates to be involved in making decisions that affect them. †¢ Achievement-oriented behavior pushes subordinates to do their best.Such behavior includes setting difficult goals for followers, expecting high performance, and expressing confidence in their capabilities. ANALYSIS: We designed a different questionnaire especially for the TOP MANAGEMENT OF NIB Bank and the questions were related to PATH GOAL THEORY as the questionnaire belongs to the top management so we asked four top level managers of NIB Bank to fill this questionnaire list of their names and designation are given below: By studying our questionnaire we found different behaviors of leadership and there contribution in the organization’s behavior.We found different results for each behavior after analyzing the answers of our respondents which are given below: Directive Leaders Behavior: The most contributive behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank having 27% share in leadership behavior was found to be directive behavior whic h is being frequently used in the organization we targeted. The benefit of using directive form of leadership which is characterized by greater control, defining what needs to be done, allocating resources and establishing clear expectations.The directive leadership behavior takes a more pragmatic approach to handling affairs in NIB Bank and is characteristically utilized in corporate turn-around situations. Supportive Leaders Behavior: The second most contributory behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank having 26% share in leadership behaviors was found to be supportive behavior the results obtained shows that supportive behavior used in NIB Bank is almost the same as the use of directive leadership behavior with having difference of only 1% which is not a very big figure. Participative Leaders Behavior:Participative leadership behavior is the least used behavior in NIB’s culture with having 23% this shows that the NIB Bank leaders do consult with their subordinates whi le making a decision but at low frequency as compared to other PATH GOAL leadership behaviors. Achievement Oriented Leaders Behavior: The third most contributory behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank with having percentage of 24 this shows that the leaders of NIB Bank set challenging goals for their subordinates with low frequency but they expect from their employees to perform at their highest level.The results of our analysis shows that there is no such big difference in leadership behaviors used in NIB Bank and this is a very good sign for NIB Bank that their leaders manage their subordinates according to different situations with different leadership behaviors. NORMS: â€Å"Norms are shared group expectations about behavior and how members ought to behave. † Norms provide groups with control and predictability and give members a sense of security and comfort. Norms are also the way we express values, attitudes and beliefs.Norms put boundaries on members that may be narrow or wide. Many norms in organizations originate from management expectation or from work rules and procedures of the formal organization. They develop and operate in informal groups. Many central work group norms revolve around productivity. Norms can put lower and upper limits on productivity. Controlling productivity not only spread the work ought to more people for a longer period, but also prevents management from rising its expectation.Some organizations have norms emphasizing social concern for employees this norm foster taking care of people who needed or other wise contributing to the quality of an employee’s life at work. Management can foster many norms that contribute to organizational success, such as norms effecting work quality, helpfulness or customer relation. A norm of secrecy may be critical to keep competitors from stealing ideas. ANALYSIS: Norms are of four types. The one we quire about is social norm. The reason of selecting social norm is that our culture is based on collectivism so the importance of social norms is very high.The situation of norms in NIB’s culture is fair enough according to the result of our questionnaire most of the employees follows the norms set by the organization and they are satisfied with them, but we found some employees who are willing to improve the conditions i. e. norms the calculated value of there willingness is about 25%. The major factors of social norms are friendliness, trust and mutual support. According to the employees in NIB Bank the conditions of trust and friendliness are pretty good and they are willing to increase mutual support.It is necessary to emphasize on social arrangement norms in country like Pakistan because of its collectivism culture and these norms helps the organization to get the participation of their employee in positive manner to achieve the goals set by the organization these kind of norms also motivates the employees to remain in organization because of f riendly culture in organization social arrangement norms also helps the employees to interacts with each other in more friendly manner which will increase trust among them and with there top management.If these norms are valued by the management then it will positively affect employee satisfaction and productivity and it will also enhance the organization culture CONFORMITY: â€Å"Conformity can be defined as a change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people†. Who does Conformity affect? Conformity can affect people in all different ways, positively and negatively. In task-specific situations, those who are led to believe they do not have the required aptitude, their tendency to conform increases.Individualistic societies are less likely to conform than collectivistic. How does Conformity work? An individual will most likely conform if: ? The majority consists of experts ? The members of the majority are important to the individual ? The individual can relate to the majority on some level–there are similarities between the individual and the group ANALYSIS: Through our questionnaire we analyzed the pattern of answers given by employees and we found many similar answers in regard of questions and it hows greater extend of conformity among employees of NIB Bank as they have almost marked similar options given in each questions of our questionnaire. The level of conformity shows there good relations and understanding with each other which also shows that they will not leave each other in hard times but on the other hand the high level of conformity indicates the danger of employees saying always yes to other’s decision instead of thinking critically about it and there might be a chance of employee saying yes under pressure in the fear of loosing group and may result in loss of any useful idea.After Asch’s study about conformity, in the world the conformity is decreasing as the level of knowledge and awareness are increasing and the result of our questionnaire shows high level of conformity, we can suggest the reason â€Å"collectivism culture of Pakistan† TEAMS: A group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of the individuals input.Guideline for team leaders set by NIB’s management: |Definition: | |Has a natural authority, generates commitment and builds team cohesiveness by setting a clear vision for the team, reflected in core values. |EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR |LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR | |MORE OF THIS |LESS OF THIS | | | | |Communicates frequently a realistic picture of future plans so people know |Takes independent decisions and asks the team to follow | |what has to be done and why? instruction without questioning. | | | | |Arrives at decision by consensus, where appropriate, to gain team |Waits for team to ask for information instead of proactively | |commitment. | keeping them informed of the ‘big’ picture. | | | |Is supportive of the team / individuals and helps in overcoming problems to|Exhibits high personal energy when initiating action but does not | |achieve targets. |follow through. | | | | |Leads by example; displays behavior which reflects the desired work norms |Talks about the theory and principles of leadership, yet not | |and values. reflected in behavior. | | | | |Spends time finding out the way individuals want to be managed and work |Uses the abilities of staff for own personal and career gains; | |together; adapts leadership by style to match. does not share benefits and praise but passes on criticisms and | | |blame. | |Maximizes the available resource by constructing well-balanced teams; | | |acknowledges and helps others values the unique contributions of each |Does not seek to identify and discuss the values of the team to | |member. |ensure everyone is working towards a common goal. | | | |Identifies own lea dership style and strengths, adapts these to specific |Avoid admitting own mistakes or limitations. | |situations. | | | | | |Follows up with dissenters or blocker to contain negativity. | Guidelines for reducing conflicts between team members set by NIB’s management: |Definition: | |The ability to pull together individuals or parties in conflict by diffusing emotions, identifying the critical issues and helping got reach a| |compromise; keeps the focus on common objective to meet both needs. |EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR |LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR | |MORE OF THIS |LESS OF THIS | | | | |Confronts covert conflict; draws out sensitive issues or relationships. Lets conflict escalate before taking any action. | | | | |Uses all-round knowledge to manage interdepartmental and |Seeks to diffuse conflict after listening to only some of the parties | |intra-departmental conflicts. |involved; jumps to conclusions about others based on earlier | | |situations. |Keeps the focus of conflict resolution on the long term overall | | |interests of the organization. |Adopts a singular style or strategy across different contexts. | | | | |Facilitates open discussion between conflicting parties. |Does not identify brewing conflicts from emotional reactions. | | | |Remains impartial when dealing with others; listen to arguments of each|Suggests own solution to conflict without identifying the source. | |party. | | | |Focuses too much on emotional aspects of the conflict rather than the | |Adapts approach to the situation and the culture of the conflicting |solutions. |parties. | | | |Conveys inconsistent messages to conflicting parties, thus resulting | | |in the further confusions. | ANALYSIS:After visited to NIB Bank we discovered that the NIB Bank employees comprised of self-managed works teams according to employees responses they feel greater level of responsibility on their shoulders and they manage the things like planning, scheduling of work, and assigning task to the member of team, control the pace of the work, make decisions through discussion between the team members, take actions to solve the problem and also interact with their customers and we found that the employees called their colleagues relationship officer rather than sales officer.QUALITY MANAGEMENT: CREATIVITY |Definition: | |Is able to conceive original, imaginative and valuable ideas to solve problems and improve processes. |EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR |LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR | |MORE OF THIS |LESS OF THIS | | | | |Develops ideas and thinks through to an innovative conclusions. Prefers to use tried and tested methods to solve problems rather than| | |think of new and innovative solutions. | |Questions traditional thinking in order to initiate new perspectives. | | | |Sees opportunities as risks; talks about the dangers and risks rather| |Builds on information and ideas provided by others. |than the potential benefits. | | | |Acts quickly to grasp and dev elop novel opportunities. |Actions ideas giving appropriate thought only to short-term benefits | | |and immediate impact. | |Improvises effective solutions when faced with ambiguous and difficult | | |situations. Is overly absorbed in own ideas; hence is not as aware of the | | |environment or important events as required. | |Tests out ideas for practicality and feasibility. | | | |Over relies heavily on past experience; does not think laterally. |Seeks out pools and thinkers and puts them together to generate ideas; | | |uses tools and techniques to simulate others’ creativity. | | CONTINUES LEARNING: |Definition: | |A strong personal commitment to self-development reflected in an underlying curiosity to know more about people, things, issues, stretching | |beyond what is routine or required job knowledge. |EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR |LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR | |MORE OF THIS |LESS OF THIS | | | | |Identifies skills needed for the future and takes steps to devel op |Over emphasizes the importance of won professional development at the | |self and others. cost of work priorities. | | | | |Actively seeks professional development opportunities, both inside |Relies too heavily on own knowledge does not accept constructive | |and outside the organization. |feedback. | | | |Seeks opportunities to work with the others of diverse backgrounds, |Sticks to own area of expertise rather than broadening one’s focus. | |experience, viewpoints. | | | |Develops oneself for tangible rewards rather than more and grow. |Has personally established on-going systems or habits for information| | |gathering through professional memberships, literature and contacts. |Waits for others to identify own development needs. | | | | |Sets clear personal development targets which focus on behavioral |Considers skills lifelong; continuously resorts to tried and tested | |improvements as much as professional / technical skills. methods. | | | | |Volunteers for assignme nts which contribute to individual learning |Prefers to cover up mistakes rather than seek feedback and learn. | |goals. | | | | | |Accepts and seeks feedback from others; learns from past mistakes. | CONCLUSION: After studying and a analyzing the results of our research on the various issues related to the organizational behavior within the organization that are affecting the performance of its management and particularly its employee, followed by several general and specific list of questions we asked and the interviews we conducted during our visit to the two branches of NIB bank one on â€Å"Tariq Road† and other on â€Å"I.I Chundrigar Road†, we are able to draw out our conclusions about this report. NIB Bank is a global bank which is also operating in Pakistan. The organization behavior regarding goal setting for employees we have concluded that the management of NIB Bank is effective in setting goals according to the competition in the banking sector of Pakistan . As the requirement of growing banking sector it is necessary to set challenging and effective goals so as to become market leaders.Despite of setting challenging goals the employees of NIB Bank are satisfied with these challenging goals and performing well to achieve the goals which were provided to them. The management style in NIB Bank is kind of participative management in which employees are given chance to share their ideas for decision making so the NIB Bank is utilizing its employees by getting different ideas from different employees this provides greater chances for getting better and innovative ideas.Not only this but from this activity employees feel motivated because they think they also have the authority in decision making process and they are also a part of an organization. During the interview of an employee NIB Bank he told us â€Å"All the employees here are given title of relationship officer rather than any other designation and at the beginning of each month the top level management visits every branch and arrange meeting with all the employees of the branch and discuss the problems faced by every employee and immediately tries to resolve the problem and this is the major motivating factor for us†.For motivating their employees management uses different types of motivating tools the innovative ones we found are ESOP (Employees Stock Ownership Plan) and the pay plan for less productive workers. By providing ESOP the employees gains the ownership of an organization and work hard not only for their benefit but also to maximize the profit of the organization. The next thing about the pay plan for less productive workers the company motivate their employees whose performance is not up to the mark by giving them the salaries equivalent to the market value of the any other employee of same rank.As the motivation and reward systems are up to the expectation of the employees so the employees are very much satisfied and don’t want to leave the organization. The leadership styles in NIB Bank are mixture of both the task oriented and relationship oriented but it is little lien towards relationship oriented leadership style. The leader’s behavior consisting of all the leaders’ behavior provided by House’s Path Goal Theory having almost same percentages with very low variation.Overall we concluded NIB Bank inherits strong organizational culture having values for leaders and as well as for employees and the organization behavior is up to the mark for any company being in Pakistan.RECOMMENDATION: 1. NIB Bank should offer training and development sessions for undergraduates; this will help NIB Bank in future while recruiting employees. 2. NIB Bank should reduce conformity by giving rewards to employees for suggesting more effective idea in the benefit of the organization this will not only provide wider range of ideas but also act as a motivational tool for their employees. . NIB Bank should arran ge extra curricular activities like cricket matches on inter bank level to further improve relations between employees as other organizations are organizing (for example ABN Amro, Mobilink, etc. ) 4. NIB should introduce â€Å"Dress-Down† day i. e. employees should be given permission to wear dresses other than formal dresses on certain days so as to make them relaxed while work.

The American Public is deeply divided on a range of social, economic, Essay

The American Public is deeply divided on a range of social, economic, and political issues - Essay Example Another issue that is depicted in American society is the fact that the public is divided can be brilliantly depicted through the issue of homosexuality. Many Americans feel that gay marriages should not be approved. However, many feel that with society progressing, homosexual marriages should be upheld and should be treated as a typical marriage between a man and wife. Political The second reason why this statement is true is due to the fact that American politics is because of the fact that America is a â€Å"melting pot.† The reason why Americans differ in these issues within is because of the wide array of backgrounds, cultures, and adversities that Americans have faced. Thus, diversity is the main factor that serves as a catalyst for this division. For instance, the clash between political groups is a consistent testament of this issue. Democrats and Republicans as fueled by American opinions represent the two sides of how a government should operate. Politics in public A merican policy represent the two egos of the American public. The initiation of political parties can be traced be back during the 1824 era in which the Republican Party was formed. On one side, the Democrats, who are in the liberating front and continue to call for social progress and challenge the status quo through taxation and more government involvement. Consequently, the Republican Party tends to oppose reform by propagation for status quo. These two major parties have dominated the American politics since many decades. Undoubtedly, the ideological polarization has increased throughout American society not only amongst individuals, but also amongst government officials. Political parties are groups of individuals that collaborate for the purpose of choosing public candidate in public office. Although the constitution mentions nothing about parties, the Americans have solidified their difference through the channels of political parties. Moreover, the organization of the struct ure contains no specifications of party formations. As a matter of fact, George Washington, in his farewell addressed American citizens as he states, â€Å"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.† Clearly, the American nation should have foreseen this warning that created an internal clash of conflicts within the nation. Economical Another key testament that the American public is divided into majority of the issues is due to the legislation that is enacted on a regular day basis on an economical basis. Interest groups are so dominant in American society for both sides of the issues that it creates an environment of division within the public. For instance, economic Interest groups dictate the legislation. The U.S Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers dominate the lobbying sphere by influencing congress to lower tariffs, assist corporations through tax breaks, and induce the concept of laissez-faire. Trade associations along with labor movements dominate the entire industry that influences legislation.

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example The researcher of this essay aims to analyze that nevertheless, the present business environment needs to examine the cost of implementing the activities so that it does not exceed the budget. The activities should be monitored so that appropriate data is collected for balancing the different operations of the organization. The actions of the managers have a respective impact on stakeholders (Banerjee, 2011; Panwar, et. al., 2008; Schwartz, 2011). The main aims of the paper are to decipher the importance of CSR against the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and provide a detailed discussion regarding different stakeholder groups. The report also examines different stakeholders of Coca-Cola CSR, sustainability and GRI.Coca-Cola Company is the largest beverage company in the world, whose main goal is to refresh its customers with soft drinks. The portfolio of the company consists of 16 billion dollar brands that include Fanta, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Powerade, Minute Maid and Del Val le (Coca-Cola Company, 2013). The company has gained recognition globally by providing sparkling beverages and ready-to-drinks and juice drinks to the customers. The sustainability framework of the company is divided into three parts: Me, We and World. It is the shared vision, which highlights that the company works together with the stakeholders to add value and create the positive difference for the communities and customers that they serve. â€Å"Me† aims at improving the personal well being of company and customers (Coca-Cola Company, 2013; The Coca-Cola Company, 2015a). The company offers low or even no-calorie beverages in the market, which helps the individuals to stay fit and healthy. Coca-Cola also organizes physical activity programs for the population, where they operate. It also provides transparent information regarding the nutritional value of the products on the front side of the bottle.

Limited Liability Partnership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Limited Liability Partnership - Essay Example This business entity will be registered in the US under the state laws of the country. As an entrepreneur, I have identified two other investors who have a similar objective of establishing a social communication company in the US that will link up people through a website. In order for people to communicate, they will have to register and give their personal details that will differentiate them from other persons. Under this communication platform, we will earn our income from advertisements, which are posted, on our websites. This means that the higher the number of registered social networkers, the greater the outreach of advertisements. We intend to have a global presence and a minimum of 250,000 registered people by the end of the first fiscal year. To achieve our noble idea, we have decided to form a partnership business with the two investors. We will register our partnership business under the Uniform Partnership Act of 1996 that govern partnership businesses in the US. Our b usiness will be a limited liability partnership that will strictly follow the regulations laid by the Act. Limited liability partnership has several advantages that have fascinated us to form a partnership business. Under the limited liability partnership, all the partners in the business will be limited depending with their individual contributions to the business. In the partnership agreement, we have decided that each partner will contribute equally to the business. This means that the amount of liability will be treated equally to all partners. Moreover, the profits and losses will be shared equally to the partners. Besides, all partners should participate equally in management of our partnership business in order to achieve our vision, mission, goals, and objectives. Various factors have riveted us to form a limited liability partnership. Limited liability partnerships are advantageous in that they are easy to establish and manage as compared to corporations and companies. Limi ted liability partnerships require no minimum capital to be established as compared to other forms of businesses, such as companies and corporations. The partners in the agreement decide the amount of capital in this form of business. Limited liability partnerships have few legal formalities required to establish the business. For instance, a few numbers of partners, 2, are required to form the partnerships as compared to a company’s 50 members. In management of our partnership business, designated partners, who are in charge for ensuring the compliances of all applicable laws, will manage daily operations of limited liability partnership. Limited liability partnerships are advantageous in that the partnerships are treated as separate legal entities from their owners. This means that the partners cannot be sued individually for the liabilities resulting from the partnership. This means as limited liability partners, we are obliged to take responsibility of the partnership bus iness through proper management. Furthermore, limited liability partnerships and their members are treated as distinct and separate from each other (Bouchoux 34). These depicts that a partner will be accountable for the duties bequeathed upon them by the partnership. Additionally, partners in this form of business organization are not held responsible for the acts of other partners and their personal assets are treated separately and never exposed unless there is a case of fraud. Limited liability partnerships are flexible as compared to companies. Flexibility of limited liability partnerships is brought about by the minimal legal requirements to establish the partnership. Such an example is the minimal amount of capital required to

Reflection Papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reflection Papers - Essay Example Similarly, the contestation over the significance and meanings of ‘girl power’ and girl culture have produced new relationship between feminism, girls, and popular culture. In particular, popular culture has always been the primary focus of feminism (Biddle & Gibson, 2009). Apparently, the impact of contemporary life on women and the importance of popular culture to mapping ideologies and desires around the modern woman have been of vast interest to feminists. As a popular civilization, girl culture is conceivably a form of feminism. Many of the contemporary feminist approaches underline the active deployment of popular culture by women. In summary, the complexity in discussing or analyzing the relations between Spice Girls and their fans suggests the difficulty surrounding ‘identification’ (Biddle & Gibson, 2009). According to British cultural theorists, Paddy Whannel and Stuart Hall assert that the pop stars girls admire are tangible idealizations of life of a typical teenager, and not merely remote stars. In addition, the psychoanalytic principle claims that girls are normally characterized by over-investment in objects. The principle reflects or denotes a fear of separation and

Business case analyse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business case analyse - Essay Example In the assessment internal aspects of the partnership between Woolworths and eBay, the study focused on the utilization of SWOT analysis tool. This provides the opportunity to assess the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities in relation to business activities of the two major business entities in the case of Australia. The partnership will have the opportunity to enhance Woolworth’s market coverage through the integration of adequate resources to address consumers needs. Secondly, the approach will provide a new convenient and flexible approach for customers to handle their needs and preferences. Similarly, the approach will enable eBay to cut down logistic costs while enabling Woolworths to increase its stock, as well as number of customers for the products. One of the major weaknesses of the partnership is the likelihood of loss of employment for employees involved in the delivery of products, as well as increased competition for the retailers from Woolworths. Additionally, the partnership might affect the image and reputation of the entities in the global context. One of the opportunities to decrease the cost of transportation and logistics since customers will click and collect their products at appropriate destinations. The entities might use this platform to enhance their business relationship with the intention of increasing their market share in other locations within Australia. The Woolworths/eBay will have to deal with diverse lawsuits concerning violation of antitrust regulations. In addition, the damage to the image and reputation of the two entities might affect their global transactions, thus a massive reduction in the volume of revenues and profitability levels at the end of the fiscal period. In the achievement of this goal, the study focused on the utilization of the PEST analysis tool, thus assessment of the political, economic, social, and technological

Don't Ask Don't Tell Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Don't Ask Don't Tell - Research Paper Example This helps in tackling with its limitations and at the same time enhancing its advantages. Therefore, in the below sections, the various phases through which a public policy passes are looked at, thereby analyzing the involvement of various stakeholders and the effects of the policy on each. This will help establish the effectiveness of this approach in relation to this case. The â€Å"Don’t ask, Don’t tell† (DADT) policy of the US military is studied (Harrop 1). The policy The 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy came into effect in 1993 when President Clinton signed it into legislation. The main clause of the law states that "the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion which are the essence of military capability." While this constitutes the ‘don't tell’ clause of the act, the ‘don't ask’ clause is not really a clause, rather an indication to commanders in the military that they must not initiate investigation into the sexual orientation of other personnel. However, there is an exception clause to this which states that if the Secretary of Defense deems that such inquiries are required for the implementation of the policy or if the person being investigated is done so as a result of his behavior, then such investigations can continue. Therefore, the policy heavily weighs in favor of cornering people from the LGBT community by restricting their powers of freedom and enquiry. However, the policy as it was introduced was a compromise between the President Clinton's election promise to lift the ban on homosexuals and the position of the military which maintained that homosexuality is incompatible with military service and that personnel who declare themselves to be homosexual must be discharged from military duty (Feder 1). Agenda Building The su bject of homosexuality has long been a subject of contention in the US military. However, there has not been much debate until the latter half of the 20th century. A majority of the cases were dealt using the legislations Articles of War (AW) and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Both the laws did not tolerate homosexuality. In fact, sodomy was criminalized using through the AW. Homosexuality was seen as a psychological problem and hence people with the 'condition' were seen as sick. Expert psychologists and psychiatrists were used to build public opinion. The policy continued through the Second World War until the years of Ronald Regan during whose tenure the defense directive was issued stating that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" ("History of 'don't ask, don't tell'" 2). However, this signified a change in the rationality of the policy. This was facilitated by a number of cases in federal courts which ruled against the policy implementation. For example, the Watkins v. United States Army case in which Sergeant Perry J. Watkins sued the Army after he had been discharged. Watkins case revealed that he had declared his orientation early on in his career and that he had made no attempt to hide it. Subsequently, after a number of years of court proceedings, the court found that the reasoning behind the provisions of the law was unsatisfactory. These developments forced the Army to

How can I be effective in an Human Resource Business Partner role Assignment

How can I be effective in an Human Resource Business Partner role - Assignment Example strategy is to create a connection between HR and the performance of the firms through such that the value added by the HR team can be measured in more or less the same way sales and accounting departments as are evaluated (Ulrich, 2013). The objective of this report is to come up with ways through which I can contribute to the business strategies of CSIRO, from an HR perspective. To this end, I will be expected to outline the requirements for the facilitation of human resource strategies that provide for delivery of quality advice assistance and coaching of the staff at the business unit as well as leading a team of HR partners in assisting the firm and business units achieve their objective. CSIRO is the commonwealth scientific and industrial research organisations; it is the Australia’s equivalent of NSA and among the biggest and most diversified study organizations in the world. It is divided into 13 sections and they all work in harmony among each other and with leading research bodies around the world, the body is globally recognized for its expertise in research. A major challenge that faces the HR department in CSIRO and indeed most organisations is the task or determining the driving force behind the effectiveness of the firm. According to an analysis by CLC, analyzing different HR structures lead to the conclusion that irrespective of the organization’s model in play the HRBP has been consistently found to explain the variations in HR when it comes to line support effectiveness. In this context, Human Resource Business Partners work with the managers within the businesses and in some cases they are referred to as HR generalists. CLC found that even with exceptionally good professionals in their field of expertise any organization who’s HRBP are not effective will be unlikely to build effective partnerships within the line. One of the main fundamental premises on which the push for a more integrated Human resource practice is based on the

Below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Below - Essay Example After deciding I wanted to commit myself abroad, I decided to enroll in the Paris Summer Program. I felt that this program would offer me a hand on opportunity for me to further enhance and test my control of the French language in real life experience, something that could only be achieved by working overseas. I also knew that this would also help me complete the requirements of my French major. Beside just this, I would also become integrated and introduced to a new and exciting culture, as well as the different ideas and thought patterns of the French people. I feel this is invaluable experience, and an experience that can only be truly attained by working with the culture first hand in that very country. This will also help me to expand my horizons as an International Relations major, and will help be learn how to work with other cultures, a valuable experience for one like me who wishers to further become involved in the field of International Relations. One of my aspirations an d greatest dream is to work with an international organization in Switzerland, which is a Francophone country.

First Day of School Essay Example for Free

First Day of School Essay The first thing I remember about this day was my mother; she woke me up early and started dressing me and combing my hair. I remember I was so excited that I got in the car while singing and dancing. I sat in the front seat and we drove off to the beginning of my life. My mom walked me in while holding my hand and just then I remember not wanting her to let go, I felt so safe with her by my side. Just then the class teacher comes up to us, and I remember her asking me my name, but I was too shy to answer. Then my mom explains to me that she had to go and that Im going to have so much fun here and make a huge amount of friends. I stood there watching my mom walk away with tears falling down my face; I have never felt so alone. But the teacher turned out to be so nice she immediately started to calm me down. That’s when she took me to this room filled with toys and beautiful pictures on the wall, I remember how noisy it was because kids my age were running around everywhere playing and laughing. At the moment the feeling of missing my mom was completely gone and all I wanted to do is join the kids with whatever they were doing. I was shy at first, but then a group of little kids came up to me and asked me if I would count for them while they would all go and hide. I immediately agreed and just like that I was a part of the best hide and seek game in my 4 year old life. I remember how easy it was to make friends but how hard it was to memorize their names. It was an extreme problem for me then because I didn’t know how to call out to them while playing. The best activity of the day was when the teacher took us outside and we played on the swings and slides. The best of all was the sandbox, we would run to the back of the school yard where the water taps were, and fill our little buckets with water and spill it on the sand so this way it would be wet and perfect to make sand castles with. As the day came to end I remember not wanting to go home. But that all changed when I saw my mom in the front door of the class room ready to take me home, I was so glad to see her, as I had so many things to tell. I went on and on about what I had experienced, telling my story with a smile on my face. And when I got back home I repeated the whole thing to dad, everyone was glad I had such a wonderful day. I was looking forward on going back there again tomorrow, but this time with a mission, I was determined on memorizing all of their names, so I would know how to answer when someone asked about the names of my friends. I was officially the happiest kindergartner of all times.

Spatial Patterns Of Tropical And Temperate Deforestation Environmental Sciences Essay

Spatial Patterns Of Tropical And Temperate Deforestation Environmental Sciences Essay Global deforestation has become a major concern of human society. Belonging to the last untouched and pristine terrestrial ecosystems on earth, tropical forests in particular are a central issue of many conservation movements. Safeguarding global biological diversity has been widely approved as a political goal throughout the global community with forests playing a major role. Large and rare animals and pictures of burned forests have strengthened the belief in the moral and ethic injustice currently taking place in the tropics. Yet, we have to consider that this point of view originates in western society and mainly remains widely accepted in the developed world where for the most part no tropical forests exist. In contrast to the (partly) intact and less degraded forest ecosystems of the tropics, in the highly developed countries of the northern hemisphere large parts of temperate forest ecosystems have long vanished and been replaced by anthropogenic landscapes. This change in lan d use has resulted in the creation of severely transformed ecosystems fundamental for the economic and social development. These include, for instance, agricultural, pastoral, industrial and urban landscapes. The long time that has passed since their clearance often leaves temperate forests out of the current investigation on deforestation patterns. Rather, scientists concentrate on patterns of tropical deforestation, which is currently the most alarming regarding the net loss of forest cover. Generally, land degradation occurs to a great extent in forested areas since about 25% of total land degradation is associated with broad-leaved forests and 17% with boreal forests (UNEP 2007). With the severity of the consequences of global deforestation becoming evident, environmental and economic science is increasingly addressing the issue. Just recently, beginning in the late 1980s, environmental economists have been publishing new thoughts on valuing the environment and considering its ecological functions in economic decision-making (see de Groot 1987, 1992; Daily 1997; Costanza et al. 1997; among others). Nowadays, the interdependence and importance of forest ecosystem functions and services is widely accepted throughout scientific and economic literature. This development has raised the general awareness of the importance of well functioning and sustainably managed forests and has augmented the acceptance of forest conservation movements (at least in western societies). Supp orted by new technologies, such as satellite imagery and remote sensing methods, the study of deforestation processes and spatial patterns of deforestation has been facilitated at various levels and different scales at affordable costs. By using new technologies and approaches, many studies have been conducted in an attempt to estimate the extent of deforestation and to explain its causes. A great amount of studies focuses on the processes of tropical deforestation which is doubtlessly most alarming at the moment. However, other studies have approached deforestation from a global perspective and also for temperate forest ecosystems in particular. In light of the ongoing debates on deforestation, this paper first defines forest degradation and deforestation and then explores potential misunderstandings of such definitions. This discussion is followed by an analysis of the causes of global deforestation process and concludes with some key findings for tropical as well as temperate deforestation patterns. 2 Defining forest degradation and deforestation Drawing on the publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2009), the following section will shortly present the debate on the definition of forest degradation and deforestation in a global context. As the number of studies and policy instruments concerning forest degradation and deforestation are numerous it is necessary to establish a common language in order to draw mutual conclusions and to find applicable solutions. Being a serious environmental, social and economic problem, forest degradation and deforestation are issues of major concern discussed at various political levels as well as by the public. As consequences of deforestation become evident not only on the local but also on the global scale, finding consensus among different parties is of great importance for responding adequately to a daunting challenge. The definition of forest degradation and deforestation, however, is technically and scientifically difficult to define because it is viewed and perceived differently by various stakeholders who might have different objectives regarding forest use or conversion. Furthermore, discrepancies in the definition can have implications on forest related policy making processes as well as on the monitoring and enforcement of policies (FAO 2009). The FAO report argues that forest-related definitions [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] which are outcomes of international processes are policy tools and can have major economic, social and environmental implications (FAO 2009, p. 8). Besides monitoring purposes, forest-related definitions also determine financial flows and the allocation of financial incentives for various purposes (e.g. restoration or improvement measures, projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) program) (FAO 2009). 2.1 Deforestation Deforestation describes the process of land use change from forest to non-forest (FAO 2009). However, this quite simple definition based on certain thresholds of deforestation has the potential to cause conflicts when the individual factors are evaluated. Different nations, international organizations or ethnic groups might have differing perceptions and definitions of forest or non-forest. Drawing on the definition provided by the FAO, forests are defined as land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than five meters and a canopy cover of more than ten percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ (FAO 2005, p. 16). This definition does not include land that is predominately under agricultural or urban use (FAO 2004). Furthermore, deforestation can occur on different spatial and temporal scales which will be discussed later in the following section. 2.2 Forest degradation While deforestation is relatively easy to define, much more effort is required to define forest degradation. In 2002, a symposium of international forestry-related organizations consisting of the FAO, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) agreed on a common definition of forest degradation, defining it as the reduction of the capacity of a forest to provide goods and services (FAO 2009a, p. 9). This process occurs within the forest and negatively affects the characteristics of the forest, which can be of structural or functional nature and which determine the capacity to provide goods and services. Defining the latter two terms well is a challenging and demanding task. The definition can be comprehensible for one party but could be understood very differently or be misunderstood. For instance, with r egard to the REDD mechanism, forest degradation considers particularly the reduction in carbon stocks within a forest (FAO 2009b). However, there is still a lack of practically applicable approaches to measure the extent of forest degradation because the existing definition is not an operational formulation due to different perceptions of what forest degradation furthermore entails (FAO 2009). Therefore, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) has called for greater harmonization of internationally applicable definitions related to forests to facilitate monitoring and reporting on progress towards the achievement of the global objectives on forests and sustainable forest management [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦](FAO 2009, p. 8). 3 Processes of deforestation As described above, deforestation is a process of change in land use. Although it is currently being addressed widely at different political levels as well as by the public, it is not a new phenomenon. Since humankind began to control fire and to domesticate animals, forests needed to be cleared for various purposes. However, among great parts of western society forests nowadays are being valued very differently than even a hundred years ago. Scientific progress, environmental awareness, technical innovations and deliberative policies have made clear that deforestation has become an important and global issue. The following section shortly depicts the process of deforestation after which the underlying causes for this development and typical observable spatial patterns of deforestation will be presented. In general, it can be distinguished between natural and anthropogenic disturbance processes. Natural interferences occur naturally in the environment, in contrast to anthropogenic interferences which are human induced. While natural stresses occur rather on a small to medium scale and are of relatively short term, anthropogenic disturbances often occur on a medium to large scale and are long term processes. The former include forest clearances by natural wildfires, wind (storms), extreme weather events or changing climatic conditions (though being argued to be human induced). The latter includes timber extraction, pastoral uses, small shifting cultivation plots, induced forest fires and large scale forest conversion activities. Anthropogenic disturbances can either be intentional (direct), e.g. logging or land conversion, or unintentional (indirect), e.g. introduction of invasive species (FAO 2009). However, forest disturbance regimes become less predictable once natural and anthropo genic factors combine (FAO 2009). The two factors are often dependent on each other and combinations can be complex and take various forms. For instance, anthropogenic impacts on forest structure and dynamics in tropical mountain regions can have severe consequences for downstream areas during naturally occurring storm events in the form of floods and landslides. Further, human impacts influence the vulnerability of forests to degradation from natural causes, can negatively affect the successional regeneration process in naturally disturbed forests, and naturally occurring drought periods can be the cause for large scale forest fires ignited by escaped land clearing fires (Goldammer 1992). Moreover, global ecological feedback mechanisms can have far reaching impacts on anthropogenic forest interferences (Goldammer 1992); this will be addressed later in the paper. Usually, forest degradation is associated with a reduction of the vegetative cover (Lund 2009 in FAO 2009). Considering forest degradation as a continuous internal process caused either by natural or human induced disturbances, various thresholds can be defined, for example, in terms of percentage of canopy cover. Thus, when passing a certain threshold, a forest can be classified into various levels of degradation and eventually, when reaching a high level of openness, the forest cannot longer be defined as a forest (i.e. 10% canopy cover), although administratively it still might be considered forest land (FAO 2009). Deforestation can occur abruptly in a very short period of time by simply removing the lands tree cover. Under those circumstances, the forest is usually cleared for the purpose of land conversion for other forms of land use or for the substitution by monoculture plantations of exotic tree species. This form of deforestation, if sufficiently large, is easily detectable by remote sensing (FAO 2009). However, deforestation can also occur over a longer period of a subsequent forest degradation process caused by disturbances which vary in terms of severity, quality, origin, extent and frequency. The impacts occur on varying spatial and temporal scales and are dependent on the type and specific characteristics of the forest (FAO 2009). Its detection and measurement is relatively difficult as it implies a long-term loss of biomass, productivity or species composition that is difficult to assess, especially the impacts on soils, water, nutrients, biodiversity and the landscape. (FAO 2009, p. 13). Yet, forest degradation is not inevitably a prerequisite for deforestation. Forests can also exist as degraded forests for a long period of time without reaching the level of deforestation (Angelsen et al. 2008). 4 Causes for deforestation Various direct and indirect causes for tropical deforestation exist (Geist and Lambin 2002). Drawing on an earlier publication by the two authors (2001), the results are based on the analysis and interpretation of 152 subnational case studies within the tropics. Direct or proximate causes are human activities or immediate actions at the local level [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] that originate from intended land use and directly impact forest cover (Geist and Lambin 2002, p. 143). Indirect causes or underlying driving forces are fundamental social processes [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] that underpin the proximate causes and either operate at the local level or have an indirect impact from the national or global level (p. 143). In other words, direct causes for deforestation are the actual physical impacts on forest cover that degrade the forest or convert it to other forms of land use. Indirect causes, on the other side, are institutional arrangements or socio-demographic forces which facilitate the existence and emergence of the direct causes. At the proximate level, the results clearly show that deforestation in the majority of cases is caused by multi-factorial terms, that is, a combination of direct causes rather than by a single variable. The four single causes are (decreasing in relevance): agricultural expansion, infrastructure extension, wood extraction and other factors (land characteristics, biophysical drivers and social trigger events). The most frequent combination of direct causes is the agricultural wood extraction infrastructure expansion combination that ultimately leads to deforestation (3-factor term of causation) (Geist and Lambin 2001). However, it is questionable to just project this result to the entire tropical forest biome. Each individual case of (small to large scale) deforestation can have a distinct history of the cause or need to change the land use form and might statistically not be represented in the current literature. Likewise, at the underlying, institutional level tropical deforestation is associated with synergetic driver combinations rather than individually operating forces. The five single driving forces are (decreasing in relevance): Economic factors, policy and institutional factors, technological factors, cultural factors, demographic factors (Geist and Lambin 2001). Here, the indirect factors are in the majority operating at the 5-factor term of causation, that is, all underlying factors together are argued to be driving deforestation in more than a third of all cases. In Lambin and Geist (2003), the two authors discuss regional differences in tropical deforestation in more detail. In fact, they argue that the processes of humid tropical deforestation in the three most important areas, namely Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, can vary to a great extent. Reasons for the regional differences are derived from three sets of factors: the environmental and land-use history, the particular combination of causes triggering and driving land-use change, and the feedback structure, that is the social and ecological responses to land-cover changes (p.24). Though, Rudel (2006) distinguishes more precisely the most important tropical forest areas (Central America the Caribbean, South America, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia) and depicts a detailed image of the relevant agents of deforestation (road builders, corporate loggers, forest managers, reserve advocates, urban enterprises and consumers). He argues that wh ile the size of the forest area decreases, the agents of change adjust their behaviour and act differently in respect to the actual forest size. The authors main conclusions can be shortly summarized as follows. As forests decline in size roads are ceased to be built, corporate enterprises stop exploiting the forests, community forest management becomes more effective, protected forest areas become less applicable for conservation measures, and degraded sites are reforested by urban consumers (Rudel 2006). Thus, the causes for deforestation and land use change are not static and since all factors are interdependent it is difficult to assess causes in a biome wide or global perspective. However, the quite general conclusions that are drawn by Geist and Lambin for the three major tropical forest areas (Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa) must be viewed cautiously. For instance, an extensive and diverse area such as central and western Africa is reviewed by means of only 19 case studies from eight countries. The results then are treated non-exclusive, are thus assumed to be comparable (although being quantitative as well as qualitative) and are used for drawing representative conclusions on the entire tropical Africa (Geist and Lambin 2001). Furthermore, the definition of deforestation that is used by the authors must be viewed critically since they use a broad and inclusive (Geist and Lambin 2001, p.17) definition which considers not only forest conversion (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) but also different types of [forest] degradation (p.17). Nevertheless, Geist and Lambin (2001, 2002, 2003) provide a good overview of the existing causes for deforestation in the tropics an d relate underlying and direct causes (as well as accompanying occurrences) before they conclude with a quantification of the causative linkages. Also, they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their chosen methodology and address potential biases and ambiguities to the reader adequately (2001, p. 17 ff). Also, it is important to stress the importance of roads or access in general to (remote) forest areas, which is a prerequisite for large scale anthropogenic interferences. This is true not only in the tropical forest biome but also in the temperate forest biome. In many logistic regression models for the assessment of deforestation patterns, the distance to roads is a major factor and closely related to deforestation processes (Mertens and Lambin 1997; Altamirano and Lara 2010; Echeverria et al. 2008; Wilson et al. 2005; among others). Although agricultural expansion is mentioned to be the most significant cause for deforestation, it should be mentioned that the intensification of agricultural practices, however, can have a positive effect on remaining forests since productivity increases and the pressure of expansion thus is reduced (cf. Barbier 2001). As the global human population and the demand for food and agricultural products increase, the importance of agriculture must not be neglected and should be incorporated into policy responses. In his book Logjam Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance, David Humphreys (2006) shortly describes the European deforestation process from an institutional economics perspective. He argues that, in contrast to Garret Hardins theory of the tragedy of the commons, common property regimes are crucial for the conservation of forest public goods (such as watershed protection or climate regulation) as long as land tenure rights and legal ownership are secured. Likewise, Elinor Ostrom (2002) argues similarly in her essay Reformulating the Commons and identifies several requisite attributes for the resource system and the appropriators in order for efficient self-governing associations to form. The most important attributes mentioned are the spatial extent of the resource system, the salience or dependence of the appropriators on the resource for a major portion of their livelihood, trust and reciprocity and autonomy, among others (Ostrom 2002, p. 5). Common property regimes can be defined as institutional arrangements for the cooperative (shared, joined, collective) use, management, and sometimes ownership of natural resources. (McKean 2000 in Humphreys 2006, p. 4). Humphreys (2006) states that in Europe the common use of forests under public ownership was widely respected until the Middle ages when the aristocracy and political elites organized the systematic and widespread displacement of commoners from common land, and the subsequent enclosure of this land by fencing (p. 6), thus, changing the property regime from public to private. Then, with the rise of the centralized state during the 16th to 18th century, forests were further enclosed and exploited with timber as a steady revenue source. In central Europe soon only few species were considered economically profitable. By conserving only economically valuable species, this instrumental, utilitarian and abstractionist logic eroded biodiversity in the forest and promoted the development of scientific f orestry [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Humphreys 2006, p. 6). This socioeconomic development, an increasing demand for timber and fuel wood and a steadily growing population promoted the exploitation of temperate forests across Europe and lead to the degradation of the forest public goods which were considered unproductive in economic terms. The practices of enclosure and scientific forestry were later also brought to the European colonies in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas (Humphreys 2006) where currently remaining pristine tropical forests are experiencing a similar trend. To sum up this paragraph, again I use the words of David Humphreys since they convincingly make a point and cannot be formulated better. Enclosure during the medieval and colonial eras degraded and destroyed forest commons across the world. Forest degradation in the 20th and 21st centuries has rarely been due to poorly functioning common property regimes. It is invariably the result of the enclosure of commons by s tate and private interests, who overexploit the forests for economic gain and who have a totally different relationship to the forest than the commoners whom they displaced. (p. 7). 5 Spatial change patterns Only as recent as the last 150 years have tropical forests experienced a drastic human induced change in terms of forest cover and species composition in contrast to many temperate forest ecosystems which have experienced severe and large scale changes for much longer. While vast areas of tropical forest were still without anthropogenic pressure, temperate forest landscapes (in Europe i.e.) were, in relation to available land area, highly populated and forest ecosystems largely impacted and altered (Potapov et al. 2009). Today, it is estimated that over one half of the temperate forest biome has been fragmented or removed by humans, in comparison to nearly one quarter of the tropical forest biome (Wade et al. 2008) Tropical forests have recently experienced a constant loss of forest area. Achard et al. (2002) estimated a loss of tropical forest of 0.52 % for the period 1990-1997 and Hansen et al. (2008) estimated that 1.39 % of the total tropical forest area were lost between 2000 and 2005. Temperate forests, however, recently experience neither large net gains nor losses in forest area and some areas even show an increase in forest cover (FRA 2010). For the tropics, six general spatial patterns of the forest/non-forest interface were developed by Husson et al. (1995) which were used for example in Mertens and Lambin (1997) or Geist and Lambin 2001. The six types of patterns are: geometric, corridor, fishbone, diffuse, patchy, and island. Geometric patterns are related to large-scale clearings for modern sector activities, corridor patterns to roadside colonization by spontaneous migrants, fishbone patterns to planned resettlement schemes (yet limited to the Brazilian Amazon), diffuse patterns to smallholder or traditional subsistence agriculture, patchy patterns to high population density areas with residual forest patches, and island patterns to (peripheral) urban areas (Geist and Lambin 2001, p.66). Such spatial patterns are easily detectable once the deforestation process occurs quickly and when the connectedness of the forest area was large hitherto. These characteristics are more likely to be found in the tropical moist bro adleaved forest type (especially in South America and Africa (Wade et al. 2003)) and thus the spatial models depicted here are more adequate to be used in the tropical forest biome. Source: Geist and Lambin (2001), p. 66 For the temperate forest biome (here: Europe) Estreguil and Mouton (2009, p. 6) present four different and typical patterns of forest loss. Drawing on publications by Forman (1995) and Bogaert et al. (2004) they characterize local spatial forest loss by a) attrition (the disappearance of patches), b) shrinkage (decrease of the size of remaining patches), c) perforation (cleared holes within forest patches), and d) fragmentation (braking up of forest areas). Source: Estreguil and Mouton (2009), p. 7 6 Consequences of deforestation The consequences of deforestation can cause local scale and far reaching ecological feedback mechanisms such as atmospheric, hydrological and climatic changes (Goldammer 1992) and can furthermore have implications on the socio-economic environment. This, in turn, affects the whole forest ecosystem at large scale and in the long run. Regarding the current debate on a changing global climate, forests are of major concern since they serve as a great sink for atmospheric carbon. The wooden and photoactive biomass as well as forest soils sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon. In comparison, forests store and sequester more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem (Gibbs et al 2007). A great amount of the total human induced global carbon emissions is argued to be released from forest degradation and deforestation; a great amount in tropical regions since here deforestation rates are currently most striking. Calculations that not even include tropical forest fires estimate the amount of carbon released at 10-25% of the total human induced carbon emissions (Santilli et al. 2005; Houghton 2003). The proportion of carbon released by forests fires and burning of biomass is still difficult to determine but is practically responsible for great amounts of carbon and other harmful substances released into the atmos phere (Goldammer 1992; Houghton 2003). While tropical deforestation processes are estimated to significantly add to global carbon emissions and act as a source, temperate forests of the northern hemisphere are considered a carbon sink (Heath et al. 1993 in Potapov 2009; Goodale et al. 2002 in Houghton 2003). 7 Forest rehabilitation At any level of degradation, forest conditions can be improved and the process of degradation halted or even reversed. Essential for the rehabilitation of degraded forests are silvicultural or protection measures on degraded forest land or reforestation measures on non-forest land. These rehabilitation measures must be adapted to the specific ecological conditions of each individual area. If successful, those measures might eventually lead to a level of non-degraded forest (FAO 2009). In general, tropical forest rehabilitation is more complicated and requires more efforts than in temperate forests. From an institutional perspective, the implementation of rehabilitation or conservation measures by corporate enterprises is seldom achieved on a voluntary basis because (tropical) forests are mostly characterized by open access conditions and forest ecosystem services are public goods. Only if secure property rights are allocated, monitored and enforced and incentives for action are being provided are such measures more likely to be realized. Moreover, forest degradation and deforestation can be argued to be negative externalities that are often neglected by forestry or agricultural enterprises or even small-scale users. David Humphreys (2006) puts it as follows: While corporations are effective in supplying private goods, their efficacy in public good provision is highly questionable. Corporations have one overwhelming responsibility, namely to maximize shareholder value. This is a fiduciary responsibility in private law in most countries [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (and) rationalizes both t he internalization of monetary benefits and the systematic externalization of social and environmental costs. (p. 11). For those ecologically negative externalities to be considered during decision making processes adequate policies and governance structures are required. In our current capitalist system of neoliberal economic policies, an ecologically and socially sustainable economy will be very difficult to achieve, if not impossible. 8 Conclusion The scientific progress towards an understanding of ecological forest processes and deforestation patterns has recently fueled the debate on the true value of intact forest ecosystems. With the recent tendency of accelerated anthropogenic forest conversion into other land uses, the impacts of considerable small-scale disturbances along with large-scale conversions accumulate to such an extent that they become measurable on a regional and even global level. Although forest ecosystems are of central importance regarding the economic development especially in humid tropical countries, Hansen et al. (2008) argue that forest governance is still impaired by a lack of timely information on forest cover change. They conclude that a mixed strategy for monitoring should include data at multiple temporal and spatial resolutions (p. 9443) providing a feasible and cost-effective methodology to produce timely, precise, and internally consistent estimates of biome-wide forest clearing (p. 9443) (Hansen et al. 2008). However, global governance on forest ecosystems is currently not sufficiently developed. A biome-wide assessment of the forest development must therefore be viewed critically. Rather, a decentralized assessment of the causes and processes of deforestation should be aimed at to find appropriate political answers to halt deforestation and promote a socially and environmentally sustainable forest management. Goldammer (1992) points out that a reliable assessment of tropical forest development requires detailed knowledge of interacting ecological processes, namely the consideration and connection of small-scale impacts with large-scale feedback mechanisms. Thus, not underestimating the social importance forests play, a comprehensive understanding of deforestation processes and patterns requires an interdisciplinary approach from an ecosystem perspective that considers ecological, economic and social sciences. Word count: 4558 (list of references excluded)

Division of labor in a Household Essay -- essays research papers

Division of labor in a Household   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The division of labor in the household hold depends on the environment. Society creates gender ideology that affects the roles women and men take on in the household. In The Second Shift by Arlie Russell, she states three different ideologies of gender. There is the traditional, transitional and egalitarian ideology that determines what sphere men and women want to identify with, home sphere or work sphere. However, it depends what kind on the time period and society you live in that determines the â€Å"norm† gender ideology, which affects the division of labor in a household. The society, which affected the Mendoza and Ortega family that I have observed and interviewed, constructs views of the appropriate roles for men and women in the family devotion schema. Historical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An important period of United States history that affected the division of household labor was during the earlier industrial revolution. Before the industrial revolution in America, men and women work in the farm; it was a private family farm that both men and women worked. So around the 1830’s these farms were taking over by corporation, and during this time there was a growth of factories, trades and business in the new cities of America, which attracted men and women away from the farm life. However, there was a transition in economy of America, which affected men and women, but it affected them differently. The jobs that men were receiving were different from what women were getting. â€Å"In 1860, most industrial workers were men.† While, men where working in factories women where working in more domestic jobs, but only 15% of women were working for paid. Hence, most women stayed at home to take care of the second shift, housework. When men star ted working in factories and women working in domestic jobs, this change the way people lived, especially family life. Now men are leaving their homes, where they use to work as farmers, to city to work, while women primary stay at home to work. During this time period, the lives of men where changing more drastically, but women identity was still identifying with the home, while men were identifying with his paid work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nowadays, women’s lives have changed significantly due to the expansion of jobs that have gave women more opportu... ...n working, still the women were the one who did most of the housework. The placement of living also had an affect on their lives as well. As a native New York, the part of queens the Ortega family lives, would be consider as â€Å"suburbs† and the part of Brooklyn, the Mendoza family live in would be considered as the urban. Their surroundings affected their affirmation of their choice of gender ideology. In Queens, most women were stay-at-home mothers and expected the man to provides the finical needs. Sherry affirmed her notion of traditional mothers by giving examples of her neighbors to state that it’s the â€Å"norm† to take at home and take care of your children. On the other hand, Gen lived in an area where most of the mothers worked outside the homes. She stated that today, â€Å"women should not identify herself with only the home, but with the labor force as well.† Both families’ neighbor encouraged them to believe in their gender ideologies, which had some contradiction between what a person said they believed, their gender ideologies and what they actual did in the second shift. The Mendoza and Ortega family had one person, the wife/mother, doing more of the second shift, housework.

Abortion is a Constitutional Issue :: Free Abortion Essays

Many people believe abortion is a moral issue, but it is also a constitutional issue. It is a woman's right to choose what she does with her body, and it should not be altered or influenced by anyone else. This right is guaranteed by the ninth amendment, which contains the right to privacy. The ninth amendment states: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This right guarantees the right to women, if they so choose to have an abortion, up to the end of the first trimester. Regardless of the fact of morals, a woman has the right to privacy and choice to abort her fetus. The people that hold a "pro-life" view argue that a woman who has an abortion is killing a child. The "pro-choice" perspective holds this is not the case. Before the 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wage, whereby abortion was effectively legalized, women died by the thousands at the hands of back-alley butchers. S ince Roe, less than 1 woman in 100,000 will die from an abortion. In fact, the procedure results in fewer deaths than childbirth or even a shot of penicillin. Despite the official legality of the procedure, it is still largely under attack by opponents. The fight is far from over, and is important that anyone who champions a woman's right to choose understand the ongoing threats abortion faces. The New Civil War offers a clear, compelling explanation of the issues surrounding the procedure and the ways in which antiabortion activists attempt to criminalize it. Divided into five parts, The New Civil War does not leave one stone unturned. This collection of essays is well written, succinct, and concise. Indeed, such a book is a necessary resource for anyone interested not only in the abortion debate, but also in the overarching patriarchal structures that create and maintain women's subordination. Part I is entitled "The Sociopolitical Context of Abortion." The first chapter in this section reviews abortion's status in the courts since Roe. Wilcox, Robbernnolt, and O'Keefe highlight the necessity for psychologists to remain vocal in the debate, primarily by providing research supporting the findings that abortion does not promote ill effects in those women who have them. Antiabortionists continue successfully to push forth legislation designed to prevent women from willfully terminating their pregnancies.

Gift and Novelty Economics Forecast :: essays research papers

Economic Forecasts The retail consumer market must take into consideration many indicator forecasts that help estimate what the economic market will be like for the future. The following information contains two or more forecasts based on our teams six pre-selected indicators. This team will provide reconciliation between both forecasts and will apply economic theory in deciding which one may be the most relevant to the gift and novelty industry. GDP Information retrieved from the Economist Intelligence Unit Data Services (2005), the GDP (in billions) is expected to be 13034.5 in 2006 and 13766.2 in 2007. However, according to the data retrieved from the Blue Chip economic indicator, the forecasted GDP (in billions) is 12907 for 2006 and 13617 in 2007 (The White House, 2005). Foreign investment is a factor that is increasing the overall GDP. Over a period of time this will eventually bring higher gross domestic investments, resulting in more productive physical capital in the U.S economy. The additional capital will make labor more productive, which provides an increase in GDP and wages. Based on this information, it is thought that the EIU forecast is more correct than the Blue Chip indicator. Unemployment Unemployment is another area that can affect this industry. Data retrieved from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) projects that the unemployment rate in 2006 will be at 5% (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005). Data derived from the Blue Chip consensus indicator, however, projects the unemployment rate for 2006 will be at 5.2% (The White House, 2005). By taking into consideration many outside indicators, such as the GDP—that show a slow but constant growth, will allow private investment to remain constant. This will encourage private industry to maintain their employment at a constant level. In understanding what this nation faces in the near future, this team recognizes that many of the Baby Boomers will retire, which reinforces the premise that unemployment will eventually stay at or fall below 5 %. Housing Starts Housing starts seems to be one of the most visible in regards to economic growth. Based on the analytical tables provided by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Steele Analytics, 2005 and 2006, housing starts will decline slightly. NAHB shows that 2005 housing starts (in thousands) at 1,969 decreasing in 2006 to 1,855 (NAHB, 2005). Steele Analytics also shows housing starts (in thousands) for 2005 start at 1,883 with a slight decrease in 2006 to 1,825 (Steele Analytics, 2005). It