Saturday, August 31, 2019

Diversity Reflection Journal Essay

Powell addresses a number of stereotypes and one of them is that women lack male characteristics, which are much appreciated in management. They are less aggressive and more compassionate, which make them not as valuable as men in managerial positions. Even though female leadership becomes more and more common in the world, women still have to prove that their really deserve to have those positions. Moreover, they have to cope with various attitudes concerning their behavior and decisions. Most of them are quite different from traditionally male, ambitious, self-confident, straightforward managers cultivated in the world. They are perceived as to be milder more compassionate, less solid in their opinions, weaker as personalities. Even though I do approve the increase of women in business and management, reading this book it has become clear to me that in some way my opinions and attitudes are affected by this old and very widespread stereotype about female and male roles at work. This stereotype strongly influences my perception of diversity at work because it some way it shows that men are better at decision-making, planning, negotiations and management at all. Women receive the role of reformers, support and other roles, which are to follow someone at work. This stereotype also sends me back to the way of perceiving women as being weaker than men. Influenced by this stereotype, they are perceived as having less power to influence other people, control them. Also, there are seen as less respected that their male colleagues. Of course, in some cases when I know the background of a person I can assess him or her without reference to this stereotype, but when it comes to generalization, especially when I hear about misfortunes of the company, for me it is much better to blame management and refer to gender than to estimate the failure as coincidence. I am not poisoned by this stereotype and in most of the cases I catch myself thinking in this wrong way, but sometimes such thoughts still appear and I cannot remove them from my mind completely. This perception of females was formed under the classical thought that women are weaker than men. This thought is still common because most of world societies are patriarchal. I have formed my perception of gender based on my family. There is a clear gender stratification of mother’s work and father’s work. Mother was more likely to look after kids, cook and do all other things women usually did. Father did different male things like repairing the car, maintaining something in the house etc. In fact, I perceived mother’s work to be easier that father’s work and it made an impression and constant thoughts that mother could not do the same things my father did. This way of thinking is extremely difficult to overcome because it appeared when I was a child. When I was born, people used to think and behave in a bit different way they do now. Today parents tend to share their work around the house, pay equal attention to their children and participate in their upbringing equally. When I was a child, it was a common thing to look at everything through gendered prism. In this way, it is not surprising that I think in this way. Though, I think that this stereotype is dying in our society today. In order to reinforce my thoughts and perceptions, I can encounter several examples. First of all, it is the success of Apple. I cannot imagine any women who can organize the same company and become the same popular. I attribute most of the success of the company to Steve Jobs and his managerial skills. Other successful corporations like Google or Microsoft are founded and managed by men, which is not a surprise for me. However, recently I have found out that HTC founder and CEO is female, and that was a really great surprise for me. It is not a secret that the number of women obtaining top managerial positions is increasing day by day; roles of the best of the best managers are associated with male managing styles. In the world of technology most companies belong to men and the achievement of CEO if HTC achievement challenges my perception of women in business. The second thing is that there have been no female presidents in the history of the United States. People tend to rely on men more than on women. Mrs. Clinton wanted to change the situation but failed. It shows that most people still count on their stereotypical perception of females more than on objective reality, which clearly states that women already can do something to prove their ability to manage something starting from their own company to a huge business or the whole country. People do advocate that men and women have the same opportunities today, but, overall, there are many stereotypes, which work against women and cannot be removed at once. There are some world countries, where presidents are female, but they create a minority out of all world countries. These facts show that women still need to prove that they can achieve the same success because of societal pre-attitude to their abilities, performance and ideas. Biased attitude to gender at work is experienced by every person in the United States. In my life, I had many examples of biased attitude to women as well as men. For instance, once we were asked to move to the conference hall for meeting and there were not enough chairs for all of us to sit. It was clear that male employees were asked to bring more chairs because they were male. To add to the point, the stereotype â€Å"male equals strong† was not common at that case because most of female employees were into sports as outrageous followers of healthy lifestyle. The opposite things happened when all employees, as a part of team-building, decided to watch the movie after work. Everything was fine, but female employees were asked to prepare some snacks (order a delivery) because they knew better what was good for their company. These are minor things but they take place almost everywhere. People still follow old gender stratification model typical for patriarchal societies, where men get everything and women hide in the shadow of their success. America is moving to the acceptance of a new neutral model of gender stratification where both genders deserve equal treatment. Yet, people cannot forget their long history and change their attitudes practices by millenniums in 10 years. Even I, as a representative of a younger generation, cannot get rid of all the old stereotypes about gender at work. References: Powell, G. (2010). Women and Men in Management, 4th Edition By N. W.

Friday, August 30, 2019

MIS Coursework

Answer 12: The intelligent techniques are the various ways into which the humans would devise an electronic device to perform what they do with their intelligence and manual energy. The various intelligent techniques would make sure that all the various collaborations among the machines are invested into various kinds of expertise which are required for making it replace human efficiency for productive use of time and effort. The behavioral attitude and the exposure which is required for fetching the right kind of mannerism and exact pattern matching on the part of the electronic devices for making them to perform in line with the humans. The intelligent devices are of great interest to the businesses for knowledge management as they are required to manage the data which is very crucial for making the gross transition towards the management of knowledge and its successful retrieval. The organizational attitude towards various forms of knowledge must be understood and dealt accordingly with respect to demand. The priority of knowledge derivation and data warehousing would make sure that all the various forms of knowledge would be handled and managed for its being when a lot of evaluative and intelligent analysis is required for the job. Various patterns of knowledge are crucial to businesses to predict future actions and make help them in decision making in businesses. The various forms of decision making require valid data and information to derive at business solutions. The various differences between human intelligence are as follows: Human beings think and behave rationally while AI imitates the actions and behavior of human beings and their thinking and reasoning process. Human intelligence makes the computers intelligent and automates the activities like decision making, problem solving, learning and reasoning process so that still it can remain within human control. Answer 13: Expert systems are a branch of computer science, which deals with the study and creation of computer system that exhibits some form of intelligence. AI is the process of making machine intelligent, so that it can perform well and efficiently in absence of human beings. It is system that performs either of the following: i.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Learns new concepts and tasks. ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reason and draw conclusion. iii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Able to explain iv.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Process natural language. It is the process of developing computer programs to solve out complex problems by application of processes analogous to the human reasoning process. It is a system that thinks and behaves rationally like human. This definition has got two major parts: Computer solution for major problems is one where regular software exists Process, which is analogous to the human reasoning process, is the distinguishing feature of AI programs. Characteristics of AI programs: i.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AI programs manipulate symbolic information to a large extent in contrast to the conventional program. ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AI program has combinatorial explosion of solution. iii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AI programs deal with real life problems to a large extent. iv.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A vital characteristic of AI program is that it is easy to learn. Intelligence requires knowledge and knowledge should have some desirable properties. AI technique is a method that exploits the knowledge that should be represented in such a way that 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Knowledge captures generalization i.e. it is necessary to group the objects together, which share important and common properties. ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It can be understood by people, who must provide it. iii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It can easily be modified to correct errors and reflect changes in the world and in the world’s view. iv.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It should have a wide application and implementation area, even though it is incomplete and inaccurate. v.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It should be used to overcome narrow range of possibilities. Advantage: Generalized and self-explanatory like search strategies for knowledge representation. Disadvantage: Voluminous, hard to characterize and constantly changing. Three important AI techniques: i.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Search: It provides a framework in which any available direct technique can be embedded. It provides a problem solving method for which no more direct approach is available. ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Use of knowledge: Provides a way of solving complex problem, by exploiting the structure of objects involved. iii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstraction: Provides a way of separating out important features and variations from unimportant ones. Expert systems help in knowledge management as the ability to learn from the environment and make decisions would contribute to the very catering of knowledge and its usage. The expert systems utilize knowledge and skills to a very large extent and make enough judgment for making a right mark.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Haiyi Hotels Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Haiyi Hotels - Assignment Example The attainment of the vision of this organization is a result of a myriad of ideas laid out in the core values of the company. First, the company’s executive’s commitment to offering effective leadership will propel the business forward to attaining the leading position that the vision aims at achieving. Innovative practices, creative thinking, and an entrepreneurial spirit define this duty. Secondly, the company’s culture of integrity, honesty, and ethics in all facets of business coupled with the respect that honors each guest’s individuality is an important milestone in achieving the vision. These values give the company an upper hand in tailoring customer service to fit customers’ specifications and expectations. The company hopes to build on the already strong and loyal customer base, as achieved by a keen observance of the values mentioned above, to venture into new locations and better their services in the existing establishments. A genuine connection with the environment and neighborhoods and the communities in which the hotel company operates is of fundamental importance in the realization of the vision. Information about the market and customer expectations are of invaluable significance in the company’s vision of having autonomous establishments that have unique cultures. Maintaining such a connection with the neighborhood and the communities gives the company an assurance of a continuous flow of authentic and spot-on information.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Managing Marketing Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Marketing Communications - Essay Example Some of the aspects of marketing communication include: public relations direct marketing, advertising, online communications, sales promotion and social media. Although all these marketing communication can appeal to a customer on their own, they have a better they are unified. This presents one strong message to the customer and a much reduced cost. Marketing is about perception and the power to convince potential customers, (Maria & Ionela, 2009, p 1160). Once the brand message has been strengthened, the customer has an easier decision making process. Integrated marketing approach is increasingly becoming significant within the marketing practice. This is because it is considered to be cost effective. The mass media has continued to reduce its cost effectiveness. Besides, it continued to become more and more fragmented making it difficult to reach many customers at the same time, (Marx & Lainson, 2000, p 53). Most customers spend a lot of time and on their mobile devices like cell phone and iPod. This has rendered the traditional approaches quite ineffective. For an organization to target many customers effectively, it needs to diversify its marketing approach. This has to be done with a sense of urgency and precision. Marketing strategies have to evolve due to the changing trends, (Mihart, 2012, p 129). The world has become more digitized and integrated marketing communication is now inevitable. All means of exposing a brand need to be tied to those customers who can remember the products. Sometimes marketing is just about reminding the customers that the product still exists, (Ogechukwu1,, 2011, p 62). Marketing approaches need to be diversified. This diversification need to be harmonized by use of integrated marketing communication. These two methods are mutually inclusive. The strategies of brands cannot be well understood by only looking at how they are advertised. Rather, they can easily be understood by looking at how these methods of communication wo rk together. The synchronization of these methods should also personalize the customer’s needs and tastes, (Ogechukwu1,, 2011, p 62). This should be done in real time just like as in a conversation. This is a concept of marketing with the aim of appreciating the contribution of a variety of marketing approaches. IMC involves a comprehensive plan that involves many marketing disciplines, (Marx & Lainson, 2000, p 53). It also takes into consideration how they work in relation to reach other based on the customer perception of the prevailing environment. The aim of combining the various disciplines of marketing is to provide clarity, maximum communication impact and consistency. Most of these definitions incorporate several basic ideas. These ideas include: synergistic effect, a combination of instruments of communication and seamlessness or making these communication efforts homogeneous, (Mihart, 2012, p 129). This means that marketing can be personalized, and at the same time it can be made public to masses almost simultaneously. This is an improvement from the traditional methods of communication. Integrated marketing communication has many components. These components make the IMC work towards achieving its intended goals. The foundation is one of the most critical components. It is based on the fundamental and strategic understanding of the market and the

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Use and analyse the use of a range of Lean tools ( Engineering Essay

Use and analyse the use of a range of Lean tools ( Engineering Business ) - Essay Example Bicheno & Holweg (2008) distinguished between four types of flexibility, namely process flexibility, product flexibility, volume flexibility and labour flexibility. These are detailed in the table below. The organisation can then devise its strategy according to the type of flexibility desired. Some other tools are histograms, Pareto charts, cause and effect diagrams, flow charts and control charts. It is pertinent to point out that strictly; lean is not merely a set of tools. Individual tools are useful for specific purposes, but they are designed to be used together in such a way that increases overall efficiency. The combination and synchronisation of tools allows for a wide range of strategic options. The improvement in competitiveness is made possible by â€Å"an end-to-end value stream† (Bicheno & Holweg, 2008). It is therefore a complete system, which involves processing for enhancing value by reducing waste. Lean tools serve to be applied such that they improve specific and overall efficiency. Mistakes could be made at any time during ordering, but most of these tend to be the result of human errors. It is important to prevent mistakes, for example because it could lead to producing defective parts, giving the wrong service, and ultimately to customer dissatisfaction. Moreover, â€Å"mistakes in one area have consequences in all others† (Nicholas & Steyn, 2008: 485). The alternative could be to make inspections but this itself is not mistake proof, and it is also an inefficient method. Preventing mistakes could eliminate the possibility of failures, and thus producing wastes. This could in turn avoid time wasting and prevent unnecessary costs. Mistakes with an order can be prevented by implementing a safety mechanism at any stage of the ordering process where mistakes would be likely to occur. The Japanese term for making processes protected from mistakes is ‘poka yoke’ (ãÆ' Ã£â€š «Ã£Æ' ¨Ã£â€š ±), which

Monday, August 26, 2019

Communication theory 3-4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication theory 3-4 - Essay Example Through the times, the focus has expanded to construct meanings of the world within which one lives. Thus, rhetoric not only promotes wider understanding of issues and events around oneself but they also serve dual purpose of giving ideas to people and people to ideas for widening the scope of understanding. Rhetoric involves rhetor who uses symbols for communicating with public under different situations and constraints. It has developed over the time to encompass different elements of human interaction and provide one with distinct symbolic construction of ideas. Classical, medieval, renaissance, contemporary and post-modern are important historical period that have witnessed evolution of rhetoric to its present form. Classical era from 5th to 1st BC was started by sophists who defined and codified art of rhetoric. It was later compiled by Aristotle and further refined by Romans and Greeks. Medieval rhetoric was mostly recognized as pagan art of persuasion that went against the Chr istian doctrine. Augustine revitalized rhetoric to be used by preachers which made it easy for them to teach. During Renaissance period (1300-1600 AD), rhetoric was seen as important way of constructing meaningful language and through it to understand the world. Language as a medium was recognized as critical vehicle of rhetoric and showed the powers of the words and symbols. In the age of Enlightenment, rhetoric was used for rationalization. Great thinkers like Descartes, Francis Bacon etc. used it investigate the working of mind and role of imagination in perceiving things and events. Thus, knowledge was differentiated from the language which had just become a tool to disseminate information about the truth and provided language with distinct style of communication. It was used in letter writing and different formats of literature like poem etc. This also limited the role of rhetoric and provided it with negative connotations. During contemporary and post-modern period, rhetoric b ecame vital link of communicating in public. It was an art that provided orator with myriad symbols to emphasize dialogues and effectively communicate ideas. It was also reassessed and used to understand the world at large and helped provide different perspectives for critical thinking. The post-modern rhetoric was significant in understanding the experiences of life through the broader understanding of race, gender, culture, class and sexuality. Queer theory is interesting because it helps to understand the nuances of public speakers that make public speech more complex that require deeper knowledge to decipher the meanings of words. The alternative rhetoric based on race and culture identity like AfroAmerican, Asiacentric, Aborginals etc. are important post-modern uses of rhetoric that expand its scope and emphasize role of symbols in communication. Communication theory of identity Communication theory of identity explores personal identity with reference to one’s surroundi ng. Specific identity within the broader societal framework is one of the most important aspecst of human race that facilitates its interaction and promotes relationship building. The social identity provides individual with a distinct characteristic that helps to establish social status, thus representing him/her physically in the world. Moreover, it also contributes to a knowledge base that others can instantly access to have a general idea about

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Priority List Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Priority List - Essay Example In the list, Air force Plant 85 appears as number 1 with site identity number by EPA being OH1170090004, Allied Chemical & Ironton Coke appears as number 2 with site identity number by EPA being OH043730217 and Bowers Landfill listed as number 8 with site identity number by EPA being OHD980509616 (EPA, 2012; EPA, 2011; EPA, 2013). Hazardous chemicals listed in the inventory and associated with Allied Chemicals & Ironton Coke include benzene, ammonia, cyanide, naphthalene and Polynuclear Aromatics Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenolics (EPA, 2011). The ground water within the site contains all the listed chemicals, which are dangerous to human health. In the inventory list, Air Force Plant 85 characterizes with chemicals that include chlorinated solvents, trichloroethylene, PCBs and hydrocarbons. The site also suffers from contamination with dangerous metals like mercury, chromium and cadmium (EPA, 2012). The groundwater under the site has contaminations of the metals and chemicals, and unhealthy for human consumption. The inventory also features Bowels Landfill site as contaminated with contaminants such as barium, manganese, pesticides, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), phthalates, lead, polychlorinated biphyenyls (PCBs) and arsenics, which have also infiltrated into the groundwater and making the water unsafe for human consumption (EPA, 2013). The chemicals and metallic substances within the sites infiltrate underground, contaminate and make the underground water unsafe for human consumption. Buying home within the sites can be the least decision considering that residing in the areas is tantamount to deliberate risking of one’s health and life especially if the areas rely on groundwater as primary source of water. However, if municipal authorities connect piped water into the areas surrounding the sites, then one can

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Functions of Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Functions of Food - Essay Example Even when the body is under relaxation (i.e. during sleep) energy is compulsory to carry out the automatic processes of the body such as digestion, respiration, circulation, the beating of the heart etc. Energy is also compulsory to carry out skilled, household and other activities. To do this activities energy is absolutely necessary and that energy comes from foods, food which have more carbohydrates and fats in it. Secondly, Foods generally provide the human body the necessary materials for the tissue building, growth and body repair and all these ingredients are present in the proteins and minerals which are available in the food. In the human body, the development of muscles, bones in different parts of the body and their maintenance all entirely dependent on protein and that protein is there in healthy foods. Different minerals like calcium, iron, and phosphorus affect the formation of blood and skeleton tissue (bones). Thirdly, healthy foods protect the human body from the att ack of different diseases. In this case, vitamins play a vital in regulating body processes like growth, eyesight, health of the skin, the formation of teeth and good digestion. Minerals also act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body. Minerals also play a key role apart from development in muscle and bones in the development of a nervous system which helps the body to react to different kinds of external situations. Both vitamins and minerals are important in order to maintain the general health of the body.

International Trade and Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Trade and Finance - Essay Example A country can only be considered least developed if it fulfills the three criteria suggested by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) which include low-income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), 2011). Due to the fact that international trade plays an important role for the development of LDCs, World Trade Organization (WTO) should also be considered. The main thrust of this paper is to have an in-depth analysis with regard to the trade and economy of LDCs from the perspective of the WTO, and determine how does it help LDCs. Nepal and the World Trade Organization (WTO) WTO is the â€Å"only international organization dealing with rules of trade between nations...the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business† (World Trade Organization (WTO), n.d.). There are currently 153 WTO members worldwide and most of them have high performing economies ; however, they commit themselves to the objectives of WTO and reaffirm to the agreement that trade concessions and special provisions will be given to LDCs (World Trade Organization, 2001, p.9). ... Nepal is one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in Asia, and become the first member of WTO among LDCs in 2004 (United Nations, 2007, p.75). Nepal’s application for accession to WTO had last for almost 14 years until such time that the organization decided to give the Nepalese government a formal hearing in the last stages of the accession process (Gallagher, 2005, p.54). The country bid for membership because it was â€Å"motivated by a desire to ensure predictable market access and become eligible for the special concessions available to LDCs under WTO rules† (Baumuller, et al., 2008, p.1). Aside from this, the country also wanted to enter the export and industrial sector in India and it needs to have a multilateral back-up that would assure its transit to the overseas market. WTO membership is the only choice for Nepal considering that it did not have the capacity to compete with the fastest growing economy in the world like China. As a result, Nepal is give n preferential access and bilateral agreement in the Indian market that made the country more competent to trade and take full advantage in the global trade opportunities. â€Å"Close collaboration between business, government and civil society gave Nepal access to the benefits of the global trading system in the midst of constitutional crisis† (Gallagher, 2005, p.55). However, the total benefits offered by WTO membership are not for free and not automatic because various efforts are needed such as the ability of Nepal to take advantage with the enhanced opportunities and learned to become an independent economic country. The membership is not a guarantee for Nepal to have a long-term economic