Gender Bias

A large amount of early research has been conducted on the biological differences between males and females; however, focus has shifted to environmental and social factors that may influence the gender gap in STEM subjects. The Eccles et al. Value Model, developed in 1983, considers motivational factors related to decisions regarding educational and career choices. Some of these factors include self perceptions, social variables and environmental factors Oacobs 2005, AAIJW 2005).American culture and society may influence how students view themselves, inherently contributing to the gender gap found in the STEM areas. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), many studies have confirmed the negative impact that stereotypes have on students (Hill, C. et al. 2010). Gender differences within math and science develop early in adolescence (Sleeker & Jacobs, 2004). There are many stereotypes and social stigmas that contribute to the reasons that boys may perform bette r in STEM fields than girls. One common stereotype the arts.The cultural stereotype may encourage girls to believe that math and science are not intended for them and in turn affect activities and career aspirations (Cvencek et al. , 2011). The Implicit Association Test was developed to â€Å"measure implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are unwilling or unable to report† (Project Implicit, n. d. ). Approximately 70 percent of IAT tests revealed stereotypes associating science with males more than females (Nosek et al. , 2009). Researchers at the University of Washington adapted the IAT to conduct a study on children ages six to ten years old.The test focused on gender identity, math-gender stereotype, and math self-concept. The results showed that by second grade, girls showed a weaker identification with math than boys, confirming the stereotype that math is for boys Cvencek et al. , 2011). Another study utilized the IAT to contrast science and liberal arts, and found that women who associated males with science were least likely to pursue science, and males with similar stereotypes were more likely to pursue science (Smyth, n. d. The study validated the link between stereotyping and self- efficacy. This is evidence that American culture may influence the way children view themselves related to subjects learned in school. Fear of poor performance in the classroom may also contribute to lack of interest in math and science. A study onducted in 2010 by the AAUW, focused on college students with similar math abilities and divided them into two rooms. The first room was advised that men outperform women on the test, while the second room, was told there was no distinction in performance. Gender Bias A large amount of early research has been conducted on the biological differences between males and females; however, focus has shifted to environmental and social factors that may influence the gender gap in STEM subjects. The Eccles et al. Value Model, developed in 1983, considers motivational factors related to decisions regarding educational and career choices. Some of these factors include self perceptions, social variables and environmental factors Oacobs 2005, AAIJW 2005).American culture and society may influence how students view themselves, inherently contributing to the gender gap found in the STEM areas. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), many studies have confirmed the negative impact that stereotypes have on students (Hill, C. et al. 2010). Gender differences within math and science develop early in adolescence (Sleeker & Jacobs, 2004). There are many stereotypes and social stigmas that contribute to the reasons that boys may perform bette r in STEM fields than girls. One common stereotype the arts.The cultural stereotype may encourage girls to believe that math and science are not intended for them and in turn affect activities and career aspirations (Cvencek et al. , 2011). The Implicit Association Test was developed to â€Å"measure implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are unwilling or unable to report† (Project Implicit, n. d. ). Approximately 70 percent of IAT tests revealed stereotypes associating science with males more than females (Nosek et al. , 2009). Researchers at the University of Washington adapted the IAT to conduct a study on children ages six to ten years old.The test focused on gender identity, math-gender stereotype, and math self-concept. The results showed that by second grade, girls showed a weaker identification with math than boys, confirming the stereotype that math is for boys Cvencek et al. , 2011). Another study utilized the IAT to contrast science and liberal arts, and found that women who associated males with science were least likely to pursue science, and males with similar stereotypes were more likely to pursue science (Smyth, n. d. The study validated the link between stereotyping and self- efficacy. This is evidence that American culture may influence the way children view themselves related to subjects learned in school. Fear of poor performance in the classroom may also contribute to lack of interest in math and science. A study onducted in 2010 by the AAUW, focused on college students with similar math abilities and divided them into two rooms. The first room was advised that men outperform women on the test, while the second room, was told there was no distinction in performance.

The Impact of Personal and Organisational Variables

The impact of personal and organisational variables on the leadership styles of managers Summary This study has attempted to collect and analyse data on a number of personal as well as organisational variables that are considered as potentially useful in explaining the leadership styles of managers. Such data include the gender, age, length of service in present organisation, length of service in an organisation, hierarchy, size and type of organisation, whether a manufacturing or a financial services entity, for example.The objective of the study is to examine the impact of these variables, if any, on the leadership style practices of managers. In the modern management of human resources it is useful to investigate whether, for example, there is less use of directive form of leadership in preference to consultative, participative and delegative leadership practices. If so, such practices will be in line with the expected liberalisation in today’s world as different from yeste rday’s more authoritarian styles of organisational management.It would be useful to know what personal characteristics, such as age, have on leadership practices which is supposedly based on some suggested principles. For example, how do older and younger top-level and lower-level organisational leaders differ in their leadership activities? Knowledge of the answers to these and similar questions can be used to improve the management of human resources. Respondents to this study identified a number of personal variables during the data collection phase.This included their age, gender, and length of service either in the present organisation or in all organisations in which they have worked. Although a number of variables were thus involved and consequently used in the exploratory data analysis, some of them, like gender and length of service, were not significant, on their own, in the analysis. However, age shows up most significantly in their effects on the leadership styles of the managers. On leadership styles and behaviour, ompared with older workers, the researchers found that younger workers feel more comfortable in fast changing environments and are more willing to take risks and consider new approaches. They also operate with more energy and intensity, and have a greater capacity to energise others. In addition, they are more likely to seek out opportunities to take charge and push vigorously and competitively to achieve a high level of results. When compared to older workers, younger workers also tend to work to develop and promote themselves.Similarly, on leadership styles and behaviour, compared with younger workers, the researchers found that older workers study problems in light of past practices in order to ensure predictability, and minimise risk. They tend to maintain a calmer and more understated (though not detached) demeanour. Older workers tend to maintain an in-depth knowledge of their field and use this knowledge to approach proble ms. They cooperate and delegate more, in addition to showing a greater degree of empathy and concern for other workers. Contrary to the practices of younger workers, the authors suggest that older workers work to develop and promote others.Respondents were asked to indicate their overall satisfaction levels with their boss’s leadership styles. Given the hierarchical nature of most organisations, subordinates rated bosses who, in turn, rated their own bosses and so on so that a full picture of the situation with this consideration was obtained. A further examination of the data suggests that managers at higher organisational hierarchy, obviously, tend to use some but not all of the four leadership styles – directive, consultative, participative and delegative.The impression seems to be that before they get to the higher organisational position they would have tried each of the leadership style dimensions and decided to concentrate on only one, two or three of them but n ot all four leadership styles. Experience would have assisted them in selecting and concentrating on the style or styles of leadership that they considered most appropriate during the performance of each of their organisational activities.A corollary of this finding is that lower level managers tend to use significantly more of the overall leadership styles in comparison with the higher-level managers. This finding is as expected since lower-level managers need time and experience to decide which of the styles would work best for them in different situations. Thus in their learning processes, they might decide to use each and all of the leadership styles during their learning period. This study set out to examine the leadership styles of managers from the perspectives of their ages and the levels they occupy in their organisational hierarchies.Using survey data from over 400 UK employees and managers, the authors found that managers at higher organisational hierarchies tend to use l ess of the overall leadership style in preference to one or the other of the directive, consultative, participative or delegative leadership styles. It was felt that their experiences enable them to more easily select an appropriate style of leadership in performing their organisational activities rather than relying on a composite leadership style. However, it was also found that older managers tend to use less of the individual leadership styles in preference to the overall leadership style.This situation leaves us with the conclusion that the higher level managers in our study may not be the oldest ones and that, today, younger managers are rising to the top positions in organisational management. One reason for this, of course, is the increasing use of technology in managerial duties and that younger managers tend to be more adept at this than their older colleagues. One of the implications of our finding is that organisations today must increasingly recognise the complementary roles and skills of younger and older employees in achieving their goals. Age does not necessarily have to be an asset or a barrier.THE DOWNSIDE OF SELF-MANAGEMENT: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF CONFLICT ON TRUST, AUTONOMY, AND TASK INTERDEPENDENCE IN SELF-MANAGING TEAMS Summary Over the past few decades, interest in self-managing teams has increased, particularly interest in understanding their design, structure, and performance. Little is known about how self-managing teams design and adapt themselves, and how these actions affect performance. A recent review of teams in organizations that specifically discussed adaptation did not reference any research exploring structural change as an adaptive mechanism.The author illustrated an example of teams with high trust suffering performance losses when they adopted a design with high individual autonomy. Thus, selfmanaging teams’ ability to choose and adapt their structures has important implications for their performanc e. In general, flexibility and adaptability are beneficial and are often what allow teams to avoid trouble and manage problems successfully. However, the author suggest this flexibility can sometimes be a liability, specifically when a self-managing team unintentionally adopts a potentially dysfunctional design.The authors focus is on how task and relationship conflict in self-managing teams can cause them to restructure themselves in response. The author defines task conflict here as disagreement among group members about decisions, viewpoints, ideas, and opinions and as potentially including controversy over the best way to achieve a group goal or objective. In the context of self-managing teams, the issue of structure and process becomes more complex than it is for â€Å"traditional† work teams.Normally, structural, or design, variables are considered exogenous inputs in a classic input-process-output (IPO) model, but in the case of self-managing teams they can clearly be outputs as well. This characteristic raises two thorny issues, one conceptual and one methodological. First, it suggests that the study of self-managing teams should address not just the immediate effect of structure on outcomes such as performance, but also the effects on structure itself of various processes, such as conflict, and the effects of emergent states like trust.Conflict has long been known to have the potential to harm group processes, such as coordination and cooperation, as well as performance outcomes, such as goal accomplishment, and much is known about the causes and effects of conflict in teams. Although the benefits of sharing divergent viewpoints and discussion are clear, especially in terms of team decision-making quality, the overall effect of both task and relationship conflict on performance appears to be negative. Despite voluminous research, the effects of onflict on team structure have remained largely unexplored, representing a significant shortcoming in academic understanding of teams, particularly selfmanaging ones. The author believes that the links between conflict and structure may not only be direct, but also indirect—through intervening variables such as intrateam trust, which has been found to be important to self-managing team performance. Hypothesis 1. Higher conflict, whether task or relationship, is associated with lower trust.The author expects that the reductions in trust associated with increased conflict will in turn influence team structure, resulting in lowered autonomy and task interdependence. Autonomy and task interdependence both consistently stand out in the team design literature as the two primary structural factors of teams. Hypothesis 2. Lower trust is associated with lower levels of individual autonomy in a team. It is also likely that trust influences task interdependence. By a logic similar to that presented above, perceptions of risk may also lead team members to limit task interdependence and coordination requirements.Task interdependence is often considered the extent to which an individual’s task performance depends on the efforts and skills of others. Hypothesis 3. Lower trust is associated with lower levels of task interdependence in a team. In addition to the indirect effects discussed above, it is also possible for conflict to have direct effects on team structure. In terms of autonomy, such effects might result from a desire for revenge or retribution in response to task or relationship conflict; a team member might essentially withhold autonomy from another as a punitive act.Hypothesis 4. Higher conflict, whether task or relationship, is associated with lower levels of individual autonomy in a team. A direct effect of conflict on task interdependence is also possible, as team members may redesign their team to avoid interacting with one another. If relationship conflict is high, members can reduce task interdependencies to minimize their contact with team members they do not like, thus avoiding conflict. Hypothesis 5. Higher conflict, whether task or relationship, is associated with lower task interdependence.Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 thus suggest that trust serves as an indirect intervening variable by which trust is affected by conflict and, in turn, affects team structure. Hypothesis 6. Higher conflict, whether task or relationship, is associated with teams characterized by a combination of lower task interdependence and lower individual autonomy. Finally, it is worth noting that such a design— low interdependence combined with low autonomy—is potentially dysfunctional.Thus, moving slightly outside the main focus of the present study, the author would also expect to find such an interactive effect of autonomy and task interdependence on team performance. In other words, design changes that are either directly or indirectly associated with conflict in a self-managing team are likely to have dysfunctional effects on perfo rmance. The authors basic contention is that self-managing teams can be particularly susceptible to detrimental effects of conflict as a result of their ability to alter their own structures and designs.The results have largely supported that contention. He has shown that higher levels of conflict (especially relationship conflict) in teams are associated with lower task interdependence and individual autonomy, partly because of direct effects, and partly because of indirect effects of lower trust. He also demonstrated that high conflict in teams is associated with the combination of lower autonomy and interdependence, which is a potentially dysfunctional design for a self-managing team, with lower performance than other configurations. Leadership in the Service of Hospitality SummaryThe definition of leadership has changed considerably in the past one hundred years, beginning with the â€Å"great man† concept and, more recently, focusing on â€Å"transformational leadership . † The next step in leadership evolution is servant leadership, in which the leader seeks to support and empower followers. The implications are considerable for the hospitality industry, since it is based on the concept of leadership through service. Hospitality educators could take steps to instill servant leadership principles in students to equip them for this increasingly relevant leadership style.This paper looks back on half a century of publications, the changes it has recorded in leadership theory and practice illustrate the evolution of approaches to understanding the relationship between leaders and followers in hospitality organizations. In the current business climate, there is a greater need for leaders who can guide with integrity and courage instead of autocratic leaders. Therefore it seems logical to research several philosophies on employee care and environmental stewardship. These philosophies promote a culture of trust and respect.This emerging approach to leadership is examined in light of the pressing issues businesses are confronting as we move into the second decade of the twenty-first century—leaders whose motives are often questionable and a workforce that has become increasingly stressed, disillusioned, and disengaged. Early theories focused almost exclusively on personal characteristics of the leader and attempted to better understand the reason for his or her impact on organizational performance. In fact, one of the first perspectives was called the â€Å"great man† theory under the premise that leaders (at that time, almost exclusively male) were born, not made.During the 1950s and 1960s, behavioural theories emerged with increasing frequency. Theorists proposed that individuals could learn to be leaders through skill development and deliberate action. While the earliest theories focused on the leader’s characteristics and competencies in search of the key to greater effectiveness, thinking during the p ast twenty-five years has generally taken a broader view that considers both the dynamics created between the leader and his or her followers as well as the context and features of the particular environment.Servant leadership captures and reimagines elements from earlier thinking on the requirements of both the individual as leader and his or her relationship with followers. Servant leaders demonstrate the flexibility required for effectiveness in a culturally diverse workplace, incorporating the positive and appropriate aspects of other leadership models. Behaviors Associated with Servant Leaders 1. Listening intently to others combined with personal reflection on what is heard 2. Empathy: assuming the good intentions of colleagues 3. Awareness: understanding issues involving ethics and values . Persuasion, rather than relying on authority or coercion 5. Conceptualization: servant leaders dream great dreams and are also operationally skilled 6. Foresight: the ability to foresee th e likely outcome of a situation 7. Stewardship: holding institutions in trust for the greater good of society 8. Commitment to the personal and professional growth of all employees 9. Building community within the organization As definitions of customer service turn to customer care, servant leadership becomes increasingly relevant. Servant leaders appreciate, encourage, and care for their followers.Employees, inspired by the example their leader sets, in turn provide generous and genuine care to guests. When employees take personal responsibility for addressing each guest’s needs, when they serve out of a personal commitment to provide value and assistance, service becomes authentic and quality increases. This customization of service translates into high customer satisfaction and subsequent organizational effectiveness. When employees perceive their leader as trustworthy—when they keep their promises and act on espoused values—employee commitment, effort, and efficiency increase.While both servant and transformational leaders seek to empower employees, servant leadership adds an ethical emphasis beyond what is generally found in transformational leadership theory. Arguments have been posed that transformational leaders, highly motivated to accomplish their organizational goals, may be tempted to use their charisma and misrepresent aspects of the situation to their followers. The path to servant leadership is not always direct, and students must be encouraged to cultivate a long-term view of the journey.Educators can help each student to see the value in doing what is right, even if it is not immediately recognized or rewarded. While focus is on facilitating these outcomes in student learners, faculty may find that modelling servant leader attitudes and practices can help them to facilitate personal responsibility and high standards of ethical behaviour. When faculty demonstrate empowerment and build trust, they can raise students’ expectations regarding the requirements of their future hospitality leadership role. Job-Related Barriers and Coping Behaviors n the Career Development of Hospitality Undergraduates Summary The main reason why this research is done is to understand the reason for the extremely high turnover in the hospitality industry. The purpose of most of the hospitality education programs is to prepare students for future management positions. However, many of these students drop out after 3-5 years. The first step of the survey, in the direction of solving the problem is to understand students' career planning. Studies from the student perspective are scarce, so this study will focus mainly on these students, hree main objectives guiding the study. 1. To explore and compare hospitality students' perception of work-related barriers 2. The relationships between the role of the barriers students investigate in their career decision processes. 3. To evaluate the effectiveness of career counseling to improve and suggest directions for future studies focusing on barriers for hospitality students Job-related barriers are defined as â€Å"events or circumstances, either within the person or in his or her environment, which are part of a career progress difficult†.Several studies focus on further classification of these career difficulties. Factors, including race, age, education and background are examined during the years. In addition to the quantitative studies that have focused on the effects of barriers for student career development processes a few researchers found that qualitative methods have the advantage of improving the exploration of the students' perceived barriers. Nowadays hospitality researchers have developed a new and different approach to the career development of students in the hospitality industry.Acquiring useful skills is viewed helpful in promoting hospitality graduates compatibility with advances in the industry. Along with the before mentioned a pproach, the view and the perception of the students in the hospitality is considered more and more important. The lack of opportunities for growth was the main reason reported by alumni of hotel and restaurant programs for changing employers or leaving the industry. Unsuitable working hours and poor financial compensation be mentioned as another important reason for the change businesses, changing careers, or leave the industry altogether.Career decision-making self-efficacy (CdSe) refers to the degree of confidence people have in their expertise or ability to informational, educational and professional goal-planning activities to be carried out. In addition to these CdSe states that â€Å"the students' perceptions of barriers can be based on several considerations: chance barriers arise, the degree of disruptiveness as it occurs, and an individual is able to overcome barriers† . A total of 430 surveys were distributed to hospitality students at two universities through the stratified sampling method (program enrollment ratio: 7:3).School 1 is located in a small suburban university city with a population of 27,906 and a number of medium-sized cities in the area. School 2 is located in a medium sized city known for commercial and medical institutions with a population of 217,326 and the proximity of nearby small towns. Selection of these two samples, the investigator in order to determine whether location has significant influence on the selected variables. One of the outcomes of this research is what kind of factors are considered as the main barriers.The factors, difficulty finding a job because of a tight labor market and not knowing the â€Å"right people† to get a job came in first and second. The findings of this study suggest that students perceived barriers differently, because the same item are grouped into different factors within the subscales. Thus, the inability to move away from friends / family seen as affecting â€Å"getting a jo b they desire† (finding the job factor), but the move was also seen as their â€Å"performance on the job† to influence (performing the work factor).When both quantitative and quantitative measures were used to students' perceptions of career barriers to explore other results have emerged from these two reviews. When students had a choice to predetermined list of wide assessments given, they rated the tight labor market as the top concern, followed by lack of connection. The findings of this study showed that students often use problem-oriented methods to deal with barriers.Again, although the qualitative method may have limited students from considering all possible coping strategies, students turned on internal (hard to improve themselves, work) over external assistance (eg professional help) to find solutions. This result showed a consistency in the qualitative data, because internal barriers (lack of experience, motivation, self-confidence) more than external ones ( tight labor) were cited. Finally, the moderate relationship found in this study showed that although students were able to career decision in the hospitality industry , they do not have the confidence in this field to conquer the barriers.By studying the career development processes of hospitality students, hospitality teachers will benefit from understanding how to help students cope with barriers and hospitality situated in a better position to help students with their career goals. Decreasing barriers in students' career planning will improve hospitality students control over their career behavior. A conscious choice of career, a meaningful career goal and career preparation will facilitate hospitality students commitment to their career choices and retention in the hospitality industry. Career Decision Making and Intention: a Study of Hospitality Undergraduate StudentsSummary This study focused on a sample of hospitality undergraduate students and had three main objectives: Firs t, to determine factors that affect their career-related decisions; second, to explore motivations for pursuing a hospitality career; and third, to examine whether the probability of hospitality students’ career intentions can be predicted by selected variables Self-Efficacy. This concept dominates career development theories and may be best described as â€Å"Can I do this? †. Self-efficacy serves as a mediator to motivate people to achieve a special goal, such as pursuing a career in the hospitality industry.Self-efficacy is about individuals’ belief in their ability to carry out the following five tasks: self-appraisal, vocational information gathering, plans for the future, problem solving, and goal selection. Performing these five tasks is essential to achieve career maturity. Outcome Expectations. This factor is an important determinant of â€Å"career interests and choice goals† and may be best described as â€Å"If I do this, what will happen? â € . Outcome expectations are both the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that career choices and goals are based on. Vocational Exploration.This factor refers to a process that an individual engages when choosing a career. This process begins with exposure to various sources of information (about one’s self, the vocational world, and alternative options) and involves activities such as (a) testing occupational preferences and interests, (b) evaluating suitability and obtaining feedback, (c) establishing career goals and overcoming barriers and obstacles, and (d) engaging in and committing to a career choice. Career Intentions. This factor is defined as â€Å"the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behavior†.Both self-efficacy and outcome expectations are predictors of â€Å"career intentions and persistence behavior†. Three methods of data analysis were performed in this study. First, a series o f bivariate correlation analyses was conducted to test the relationships among career-related variables. Second, logistic regression analysis was performed to test the hypothesis and identify background and career-related variables that significantly predicted the probability of students’ intention to work in the hospitality industry after graduation.Third, students’ responses to one open-ended question were thematically analyzed. This question encouraged students to express their own views and opinions about pursuing careers in the hospitality industry. The authors results hold three main implications for both hospitality educators and industry. First of all, hospitality students in this study identified themselves as the most influential factor in making career decisions and also reported intrinsic rewards as more valuable outcomes or motivators for pursuing careers than extrinsic.Implications of this finding suggest that hospitality firms continue to create industry positions that promote â€Å"self-reliance,† â€Å"autonomy,† â€Å"advancement,† â€Å"opportunities for personal and professional development,† and â€Å"sense of achievement†. These researchers concluded that â€Å"money alone does not motivate a young manager† â€Å"the strongest driver of commitment is the intrinsic nature of the job,† and â€Å"one of the most important job features focuses on challenging job that offers growth opportunities†. Industry may also find our qualitative data on students’ motivations for pursuing a hospitality career valuable.Their responses matched with industry professionals’ views regarding qualifications for hospitality graduates in the 21st century, and included service attitude, flexibility, enjoy serving people, enjoy what you do, dedication, and commitment. Second, hospitality educators may find our regression analysis on factors affecting undergraduate students’ c areer intentions worthwhile when planning curriculum. For example, female students were found to show stronger intentions to work in the hospitality industry than male students. How does the material/information in the articles relate to the career development programme hat you followed at IHM? The IHM career development programme is created to prepare the student for his/her professional life after graduating IHM. By the use of several obliged tests and assignments, the student and his/her study career coach try to find out what the weaknesses and more important, strengths of the student are. Along with the before mentioned activities, the students tries to acquire skills that might help him/he in the future. Because the author of this assignment is currently a second year student, the first two years of the career development programme are examined.According to (Kuang Chuang, 2011) most of the career development programmes are designed to fit the student in a profile that companie s expect. However the turnover rate in the hospitality industry is extremely high, most of the universities do not change their programmes to decrease this high turnover rate. As mentioned before, students are bounded to several tests in order to increase their chance to receive a suitable job after graduation. The examples given in the article of the before mentioned authors, are the so called job-barriers.These barriers are events of circumstances that are part of career development difficulties of the ex-student. Examples of barriers are; inflexible working hours, poor financial compensation and the lack of growth. Students mentioned these three barriers as most important factors to leave the industry. Nowadays the industry, together with the universities, realize more and more that the students' point of view is important as well. Only fitting into a profile is not applicable anymore in the current market. Personal opinions, from students in this case, are becoming the new stand ard.The link with the IHM career development programme is that IHM tries to learn the student a range of skills that might turn out useful in any industry and not only the hospitality industry. Improving the lack of experience and motivation are also an important part of the programme. Of course fitting into a certain profile is also part of the programme, e. g. company visitations in the first year, and the expectations that derive from these visitations. Overall the article concludes that hospitality teachers will benefit from understanding how to help students with their barriers and how to give them a better position on the future market.A well chosen choice of career, a well structured goal and preparation will improve the chance of reaching the goals of students. The second article (Ning-Kuang Chuang and Mary Dellmann-Jenkins, 2010), tries to understand the factors that are involved in choosing a future career for students. Further objectives were if the career intentions of s tudents can be predicted by researching several variables. In accordance with the IHM programme, the articles explains the importance of self efficiency. It can be best described as; Can I do this?Part of the self efficiency are also individuals’ belief in their ability to carry out the following five tasks: self-appraisal, vocational information gathering, plans for the future, problem solving, and goal selection. Especially in the practical modules, students are constantly challenged to improve their performance and look critically towards themselves and to others. These factors are essential in achieving a mature and professional student. The focus in this part lies on the last two factors, problem solving and goal selection because these to factors can be best related to the career development programme of IHM.One of the boundaries that lies in the main question in this part of the assignment is the fact that all the articles should relate to the career development progra mme. However, the entire educational programme of IHM focuses on the before mentioned factors, and therefore this part will also include information about the rest of the IHM programme. The most obvious factors in the IHM programme related to problem solving is Problem Based Learning. In short, PBL. During these sessions students are trained in solving real life problems, that might also occur in the careers of the students contributing in a session.But PBL is in the authors opinion not only about solving problems but also about setting goals. What does a group want to achieve, will that challenge them, and why do the students want to know it? All these aspects of the IHM programme relate to this article in such a way that IHM also tries to find out why a student wants to achieve something. In the article, the students stated that money was not the only motivator in a job, but the intrinsic value that was found in a job gave the decisive. Especially these intrinsic values are also m entioned in the industry as most important in hiring people.Therefore the IHM educational programme is an extension of the article or the other way around. Describe in your own words how a manager of a hospitality company can use the information derived from the articles and the career development programme. What is a leader? Is a leader someone born to lead, or someone learned to lead? In earlier times especially men were considered leader that were born. There gender and background gave them the status that was expected and necessary to lead. In those days, most of the leaders were autocratic leaders, not much or little attention was given to the human aspects of leading.According to (Judi Brownell, 2010), the ‘great man' concept was the way to look at leaders. Nowadays leaders are considered transformational, they change according to what is needed to lead successful. The next step is the servant leadership style in which the leader seeks to support and empower followers. T he implications are considerable for the hospitality industry, since it is based on the concept of leadership through service. In the current market there is a need for trustworthy leaders who lead with integrity. Care about employees and the environment are considered more and more important.Keywords are trust and respect, however motives of leaders are, or are becoming questionable, and more often employees are stressed, disillusioned and disengaged. Is the personality of the leader the key factor in success? Or can a leader be trained to be a leader as mentioned before? Servant leadership might be the new success, but I have my doubts about the ‘new' element in this case. The hospitality industry has always been an industry were not the employees, but the guests and their expectations were considered most important.Employees in this industry have always been servants of guests. In my opinion is a good leader in a hospitality company, a trustworthy, respectable and integer p erson. One that has feeling with his company and his employees in order to let the guest feel at home and treated as such. Quality increases when employees feel respected and valued. While both servant and transformational leaders seek to empower employees, servant leadership adds an personal aspect to the business beyond what is normally found in transformational leadership.According to (Titus Oshagbemi, 2008), t would be useful to know what personal characteristics, such as age, and gender have on leadership which is based on some suggested principles. For example, how do older and younger top-level and lower-level organisational leaders differ in their leadership activities? Older workers are considered more calm and understated, they tend to cooperate and delegate more work compared to their younger employees. Also these older workers show a greater degree of empathy and care for their colleagues, they work to develop and promote others instead of themselves.According to my opin ion all this theory is important but not essential. Of course a leader can be trained in more or less disciplines of the hospitality business. But overall a leader is born, a leader has a natural feeling of what he/she has to do in order to make his employees do what he/she wants without being questioned. In addition to this most important factors a good leader, let his/her employees feel valued and respected. I think a hospitality leader is a leader that can deal with all sorts of problems. The most important information in these two articles is the information about the servant leadership.This kind of leadership should, in my opinion, almost be natural in a hospitality company. It doesn't maybe give direct rewards or benefits, but it would increase the quality of a lot of companies. A leader is in every way a role model, not only business wise but also personal wise. When answering the main question, for a hospitality manager without the natural leadership ability, I would recomme nd to turn the entire process around. Try to find out what you would like to experience when visiting your own company. How should the staff treat you, how should the overall feeling be?Explore what being a leader is about? According to these articles there are different ways to achieve a successful company. In addition to these articles, a manager should learn how to develop him/herself, the career development programme gives lot of opportunities to do so. By the hand of e. g. a Belbin Teamroletest or a Core Quality Quadrant, a manager might come up with ways to improve his leadership capabilities. But in my opinion, a manager hopefully already owns this kind of knowledge about him/herself, and should not have to rely on a university programme.Describe in your own words the importance of self management, personal leadership and career development for your personal professional development as a manager. Self management is the ability to lead a group without being constantly supervis ed or controlled. Little is actually known about the pro's and con's of self management, on the one hand it is a positive factor that individual peers can form an autonomous group, with self control. A group that makes it own decisions and is responsible for its performance. Skills like: leadership, cooperation and team-building can be learned.On the other hand, one might say that conflicts easily occur within a group, these conflicts might decrease the overall performance in this group. Conflicts are caused by a bad designed group, a group without clear agreements and without a clear structure. In this case the self management in my own personal professional development as a manager is the main issue. E. g. is the experience I gained at IHM with self managed groups. Especially in module assignments, teamwork is at the essence. Placed most of the time in a random group, it is just luck whether you are placed in a productive group, or not.Of course there are the workshops about cultu ral differences, effective teamwork and communication skills, but these workshops do not contribute to the basic of these groups. A group consists out of 4 peers, 2 peers are contributing and obviously 1 or 2 are not. This is the problem that, in my opinion, comes forward in any group. Answering the before mentioned main subject, self management is extremely important, if carried out correctly. Students at IHM, might get the feeling that there are always negative aspects in a group process. This is a negative aspect in the self managing atmosphere of IHM.However I believe that if carried out correctly and if just slightly supervised, the before mentioned, negative peers get the feeling that they also have to work in order to reach the set objectives. So concluded I would say that self management is important when becoming a future manager but it should be learned correctly in order to succeed. Secondly I will explain my vision on personal leadership in my personal professional devel opment as a manager. As mentioned earlier in this assignment, I think leaders are born instead of taught. I realize that in the current, international market, this vision is to black and white.I understand the importance of knowing the theory behind leading and the ability to perform according to the theory. In addition I will specify the †manager† part in the earlier mentioned statement. At IHM we are becoming future hospitality managers. In my opinion hospitality managers should have a common feeling of what a guest actually wants. The basic should be right in order to successfully create a future manager. Besides all the business, marketing and HRM knowledge, the basic should be right. Therefore I think that just a percentage of all the IHM graduates will become successful future hospitality managers.This might also be a reason for the high turnover in the industry, however this will not be examined further in this assignment. Self management will however remain one o f the most important factors in our future jobs, because of the increasing globalization and the changing nature of the hospitality industry. Finally this part of the assignment will focus on the career development part in becoming a manager. In my opinion standing still is †¦ Especially in the current modern business market, every single individual has to keep improving whenever the possibilities are present.Improving does not only relate to performing better, but also on the before mentioned fact of dealing with problems, the so called barriers. These barriers will not only come up when being a manager, but will cross the paths of current IHM students as well. Therefore I would like to explain the importance of career development by using the example of the students, becoming managers. I think one of the most important factors in career development is to turn the barriers into something positive. Learn from the difficulties that will sooner or later arise. Together with this barrier dealing issue, the performing part is the other main aspect.I think it is wise for managers in any industry to improve their overall performance constantly. Not only from learning theory, but from learning the industry as well. Explore what, related to the hospitality industry, your guests want and how their needs change. What are the trends and how will you use these in your advantage? Write a reflection of what you have learned from this replacement assignment, and how this can help you to make the right career decisions for you. At first, I have to be honest, I thought of this assignment as just the next of many others.The same aspects of the career development programme highlighted again. Until the moment that I started searching for articles. I realized that there was a lot to learn about these kind of programmes. Information that I had never seen before. Useful research that had been done concerning real life students' †problems†. In the last part of this r eplacement assignment I will focus on the 3 factors mentioned in the part above. Self management As mentioned earlier in this assignment I consider the luck factor in a designated module assignment group as a negative aspect. But maybe I should consider this barrier as a positive factor.I will help my fellow peers to gain a feeling with a project, try to guide them trough the available theory and set up clear rules and agreements. This might be a positive influence in a group. These steps will improve the group process and eventually the overall performance. Therefore I consider this a right decision in my upcoming career. Personal leadership I always have, and still do, consider myself as a leader type of person. This comes forward out of my personal experiences. E. g. I have been the chairman of several commissions, part of the largest student hockey club in the Netherlands.And I used to be the captain of my team. One of my strong points is that I can understand the position of ot her people in situations, I always try to listen carefully, not only to what people are telling me, but also what they don't. During my first two years at IHM, especially my practical module points and PBL points, underline this personal skill. Positive feedback from PBL coordinators and fellow peers also prove this. Currently my objective is to get a internship at the famous Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam. During my third year at IHM I will focus more on what is expected from me if I want to get the internship.Together with the Industrial Placement Office, I will try to make the right decisions in this step of my career as well. Career development After making this assignment I think I will consider the career development programme of IHM as a useful part of the education, instead of a less interesting way to receive credits. I think it would be good to make these kind of assignments part of the career development programme, because it offers a lot of information to students that they o therwise wouldn't have seen at all. It also gives students the opportunity to broaden their horizon bout career development, further than the basic assignments, in my opinion, for the portfolio do. The assignments given in the first 2 years of the education give not really a in depth view of the benefits the programme has. Conclusion Finally I want to conclude that however I didn't like the assignment at first, I realize that it will contribute to my career development programme in a positive way. After reading all the information in the articles, my look on the programme changed. It became clear to me that it is a way of preparing you for your upcoming professional life, however at first I might not seem that way.I read more about self management, career development and personal leadership in one week than in the rest of the two years together, and learned a lot. Literature list 1. Ning-Kuang Chuang. (2011). Job-Related Barriers and Coping Behaviors in the Career Development of Hos pitality Undergraduates . Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism. 14-32. DOI: 10. 1080/15332845. 2010. 500183 2. Ning-Kuang Chuang and Mary Dellmann-Jenkins. (2011). Career Decision Making and Intention: a Study of Hospitality Undergraduate Students. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2010 34: 512 originally published online 19-05-2010.DOI: 10. 1177/1096348010370867 3. Judi Brownell. (2011). Leadership in the Service of Hospitality. AUGUST 2010 Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 363. Volume 51, Issue 3 363-378. DOI: 10. 1177/1938965510368651 4. George W. Langfred. (2007). THE DOWNSIDE OF SELF-MANAGEMENT. Academy of Management Journal 2007, Vol. 50, No. 4, 885–900. 5. Titus Oshagbemi. (2008). The impact of personal and organisational variables on the leadership styles of managers. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19, No. 10, October 2008, 1896–1910.

American Literacy in the Age of Information Essay Example for Free

American Literacy in the Age of Information Essay The age of information is demonstrated by the development of technology. The American culture has adopted and adapted to a new practice of transmitting and accepting information. Although the age of information presents an outlet for creative expression and exploration, American literacy is in a transitional period because technology is constantly changing and the unlimited amount of capabilities and influence that technology has upon education and communication are significant and since technology is still in the process of development it raises concerns about privacy acts and ethical issues. While this new era enables the opportunity to send and receive information so quickly and efficiently, the new digital age of information requires being educated and knowledgeable about information technology in order to achieve success. Information technology is a term that may be described in many ways but ultimately, information technology (IT) is considered a general term applied to all computer- based technologies of human communications (Information Technology, 2006). Literacy of this time may be simply defined as â€Å"basic competence in reading and writing† (Literacy, 2006). The World Wide Web offers opportunities of unlimited information that could be accessed from anywhere at any time as long as there is internet connection. The freedom to explore and express has two outcomes- to progress society or decline society. Technology has major influences in all trades of the world, but it starts with education. â€Å"Technological education can provide students with a wealth of information and knowledge, which they can then use in the future to pursue related career or simply as a subject of interest and intrigue† (Importance of Technology in Schools, 2009). Creativity and encouragement for young minds to explore all the possibilities produces more productive adults. The introduction of the internet is obviously a worldwide phenomenon. Although this phenomenon provides unlimited access to any genre of information, it may not be true. Educating students on how to productively search for information and how to evaluate credible material makes all of the difference. Furthermore, American literacy is in the process of transition that is constantly improving education and communication. Each individual has different learning capabilities separating themselves from others. The traditional ways of reading and writing with books and pens and paper are updated. It is now made much more convenient, just at a touch! The ability of modern technology provides education for students and adults with special needs that a regular education cannot meet. â€Å"Despite the lack of data showing that technology has a tremendous effect in the classroom; teachers have found that using technology may help address students’ specific learning needs. Charles MacArthur, a special education professor at the University of Delaware, explains that students who have learning disabilities, including dyslexia, typically need help with transcription processes to produce text, spell, and punctuate correctly. However, any students having trouble with writing fluency can benefit from teachers integrating technology into the classroom. And sometimes tried-and-true technology works the best† (Allen, 2008). Addressing students special needs are vital because it encourages and guides them to reach their full potential. The world of technology created an opportunity for special needs students to learn and communicate just as well as independent students. Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without communication? The basic method of communication such as telegraphy advanced to â€Å"snail mail† and it is now at the stage of texting and emailing. Technology is used as a tool in various approaches and may be beneficial or harmful. Finally, the freedom of the new age of information is limitless which raises concerns about privacy laws and ethical issues. With the good, comes the bad. It seems as though there is no way around it. As beneficial as technology is, issues of ethics and privacy concerns Americans who are violated of their personal information. The conveniences of being able to shop, pay bills, create and maintain online accounts online leaves vulnerability to identity thefts and fraud. A USA report suggest that although many Americans acknowledge the potential benefits of being able to interact with government online, similar proportions of the population express concerns about the privacy and security of their personal information submitted through government websites (The New E-Governement equation, 2003). Regulating the internet is going to be a battle. The freedom to explore quality in the truth is a personal right. Criminals and violators will constantly prey on their victims. The resolution lies within the future, but the solution starts with each individual protecting their own identity and prevents fraud and theft. The age of information provides an outlet to send and receive information quickly and efficiently. It is important for students to correctly learn how to utilize the web to enhance their creative expression and information technology comprehension. Education and knowledge is the most powerful took to use when conducting anything. Technology is only progressing and dominating the world. American literacy could not be described as more or less in today’s society but rather enhanced and evolved into normalcy. References: * Education Update:Leveraging Technology to Improve Literacy:Leveraging Technology to Improve Literacy. (2008). Membership, policy, and professional development for educators – ASCD. Retrieved 2012, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education- * Excellence in Government – Home | Online Registration by Cvent. (2003). Retrieved 2012, from http://www.excelgov.org/usermedia/images/uploads/PDFs/egovpoll2003.pdf * Importance of technology in schools | Centre for Education in Science & Technology. (2009).Centre for Education in Science & Technology. Retrieved 2012, from http://www.cest.org.uk/importance-of-technology-in-schools/ * literacy. (2006). In Collins Dictionary of Sociology.

Finance Analysis of McDonalds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Finance Analysis of McDonalds - Essay Example D. Main products and services: McDonald's menu concentrates on five main ingredients: beef, chicken, bread, potatoes and milk, which account for 255 million of food expenditure. The company's main menu lists its basic food offering: the Big Mac, which still exists as a major seller; other standard product names come from the McDonald's convention of adding a 'Mc' to a particular item. So, a chicken sandwich becomes a 'McChicken' sandwich and chicken nuggets become chicken 'McNuggets'. This idea has been extended to their dessert range, with the creation of the 'McFlurry' ice cream5 (biz/ed, 1996-2008). E. Geographic area of operations: McDonald's is one of only a handful of brands that command instant recognition in virtually every country of the world. McDonald's began with one restaurant in the US in 1955 and today there are more than 26,500 restaurants in over 119 countries, serving around 39 million people every day - making McDonald's by far the largest food service company in the world6 (McDonalds). The business is managed as distinct geographic segments: United States; Europe; Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA); Latin America; and Canada. In addition, throughout this report we present a segment entitled "Corporate& Other" that includes corporate activities and non-McDonald's brands (e.g., Boston Market). The U.S. and Europe segments each account for approximately 35% of total revenues. France, Germany and the United Kingdom (U.K.), collectively, account for approximately 60% of Europe's revenues; and Australia, China and Japan (a 50%-owned affiliate accounted for under the equity method), collect ively, account for nearly 50% of APMEA's revenues. These six markets along with the U.S. and Canada are referred to as "major markets"... The paper describes the company's history from the beginning. It shows the full list of the products and services and gives the financial analysis of McDonalds. McDonalds is one of the world’s largest food chain and a key player in the restaurant industry. The company regards itself as the leading global food service retailer. The company has got over 30,000 restaurants all across the globe and is serving more than 47 million people in almost 121 countries each day. As part of this paper, the financial analysis of McDonalds has been carried out. The various financial aspects like the company’s sales and net profit, asset and capital structure, expense distribution have been observed and analyzed for a period starting from 2001 to 2006. Each of the above discussed calculation and analysis have been supported by a graphical representation. The overall performance of the company with respect to all these various calculations was very good except that there had been a dip in the overall sales of the company in the year 2002 which was eventually made up in the very next year. Also, ratio analysis of the firm has been done from diffe rent perspectives like liquidity, profitability, asset turnover, efficiency and market valuation etc, for two consecutive years i.e. 2005 and 2006. An important and yet notable figure with respect to the market valuation of the company is its price-earnings ration which actually exceeded the industry average in the year 2006 which clearly shows the efficiency of the firm in productive utilization of its resources.

The effects of the cold war on the middle east Research Paper

The effects of the cold war on the middle east - Research Paper Example Egypt found itself cornered as it was unable to get ammunition and economic support from the USSR; it could not support Egypt in the 1967 Six Day War and in the War of Attrition against Israel. Although Egypt underwent a political changeover from Soviet Union to the United States in 1972 under the leadership of Anwar El Sadat yet the 1973 Yom Kippur War brought about huge congregation of American forces putting at stake detente because of the propaganda of Soviet involvement in backing Egypt in the Yom Kippur War. Soviet influence in the Middle East could be seen not only in the pre-Sadat Egypt getting Soviet help but other countries such as South Yemen, Algeria, and Iraq as well as indirect support to the Palestinian cause by backing Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Cold War, â€Å"Wikipedia,† par. 6). The Six Day War or June War held in 1967 was one such major event known by different names such as the 1967 Arab- Israeli War or the Third Arab-I sraeli War was waged between Israel and the neighboring countries Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel won the war comfortably capturing Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The area captured by Israel during the Six Day War followed up with the refugee problem, which has become a concurrent issue of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This has created issues in global law affecting international relations in the long term (Six Day War, â€Å"Wikipedia,† par. 1). Earlier, after the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt had to give consent to the positioning of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Sinai for abiding with the 1949 Armistice Agreements. It entered into bilateral defense agreement with Syria. Jordan blamed Egypt for not supporting it militarily under the garb of UNEF. When the Soviet Union made false reports of gathering of Israeli forces on the Syrian, borders, Egypt ousted the U NEF forces from Gaza and Sinai; its force taking up UNEF positions at Sharm el-Sheikh opposite the Straits of Tiran. Along with others, Egypt also sent its forces to Jordan to support against Israeli aggression resulting from the closure of the Straits for Israeli shipping. The deteriorating political climate finally provoked Israel in waging war by the name of Operation Focus at the firs day of the Six Day War with a sudden air attack. On can not deny the role of the Soviet Union played by sending false announcements of Israeli troops positioning at the Syrian borders. In one way or the other the then super power, the USSR, played the provocative role of adding petrol in the enflamed political environment, furthering it to the Six Day War (Six Day War, â€Å"Wikipedia,† par. 2). Afghanistan became the battleground of Cold War when the Soviet troops landed on its soil in December 1979 in support of the Afghanistan’s Marxist government led by its ex-Prime-minister, Nur Muhammad Taraki. The US has been providing support to the Mujahidin insurgency against the Soviet supported Marxist government even before the arrival of Russian forces there. This fact was revealed in an interview by the French weekly newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur by the American President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. The Cold War between the then Super Powers was an extension of their desire to become world leader by waging a proxy

How a person can fall into debt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How a person can fall into debt - Essay Example A person missing on one or two payments can kick start a process of never ending debt trap where enormous amount of charges in the form of late payments, mark-ups etc are charged which never subsidize to allow a breathing space to the person availing the debt. Falling into debt is not a new phenomenon as almost everyone in civilized world is trapped into this never ending vicious cycle of debt. There are various ways through which a person can fall into debt. These means include from economic hardships to increasing social pressures to maintain certain social status within a society. b. Living beyond one’s means therefore force individuals to look for money to match their lifestyle with those they want to match. Thus forcing them to incur high cost debt and when they fail to payback, a never ending spiral of mounting debt start to increase thus almost perpetually forcing them to remain into debt. Social as well as economic pressures on individuals force them to fall into debt. This falling into debt, in current world, is mostly done through financial institutions – banks especially which offer various products catered according to individual needs at high cost which ultimately put a person into perpetual

Pope Rebuking Priest Using Several Modern Day Christian Thinkers Essay

Pope Rebuking Priest Using Several Modern Day Christian Thinkers - Essay Example According to the church history, a lot has changed where there has been emergence of new technology and practices altering the way religious teaching are being done. Pope Paul III has also raised concerns about the modern changes of Christian teachings; he has pointed various modern day Christian thinkers, who have used their new perceptions, ideas and understandings to alter the traditional Christian religious teachings. These characters include Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Soren Kierkegaard, Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Rudolph Bultmann, Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, and Dietrich Bohoeffer (Brown). Rogers states that Pope Benedict XVI, who in the past few years has guided the church’s doctrinal agency, delivered his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica during the time that priests recall the swearing they made when ordained (233). He sharply condemned a team of rebellious Austrian priest and laymen for going against major teachings of Catholic Church; this group is of ficially known as Pfarrer initiative and it has posed a lot of challenges to the church on issues such as banning of female priests and priestly celibacy. During a Maundy Thursday gathering in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI made a speech that he was not to tolerate disobedience. He was actually referring to the current efforts made by priests in both Austria and Europe of disobeying the church. Speaking from the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict said that despite these priests claiming their concerns for the church, they are influenced by their own ideas and preferences to create desperate actions for changing the church, and that they should instead be turned into radicalism of obedience. In the year 2006, a team of Austrian priest opened the Pfarrer initiative led by Rev.Helmut Schuller; the former leader of a Catholic aid organization, with the intentions for calling for disobedience. Their aim was to abolish priestly celibacy and opening clergy to women in order to relieve priest shortages. However, according to Italian news reports, together with priest across Europe and United states, the Pfarrer initiative claims to acquire more than 300 Austrian priest and deacons together with supporters in other nations. Its influence has therefore increased to such an extent that Vatican officials met with superior Austrian bishops with an aim of discussing on how to handle them. Benedict also mentioned that in June the same year, about 2000 Austria’s priests in the initiative, had essentially threatened a schism, claiming that Vatican’s refusal to consider their protests left them with no option but to follow their conscience and take action independently. These priests made a revised call to disobedience, stating that parishes were capable of celebrating Eucharistic services in absence of priest and that they would make public speech about female and married priesthood. Benedict rejects the dissident’s idea, made during the second Vatican committee, of fossilizing the church and reviews that on the contrary; the development of new religious society in recent decade illustrated the vitality and true rejuvenation of the church by the 1962 to 1965 Vatican II. Benedict’s message is one of the greatest – and most straight- speeches that have mostly been dominated by a scandal of sexual abuse, Vatican hierarchy in disarray and recurring tangles with other faiths. It also has made Benedict discover who has

Zulu African Tribe views on death and afterlife Term Paper

Zulu African Tribe views on death and afterlife - Term Paper Example It is believed that in the 16th century the Zulu migrated and settled in the south of the African continent. This paper is to examine the practices, customs, belief and views of the Zulu, a tribe found in South Africa regarding death and the afterlife. The Zulu tribe views on death and the afterlife The Zulu belief in gods, for instance, Inkosi Yezulu means ‘Chief of the Sky’. This is a male god of the sky and is considered as the maker of all humans (Magesa, 187). However, despite him being the maker of everything, he is associated with lightening, thunder and rain clouds. This male god has a twin god called mother earth (Krige 46). The Zulu as well believe people who die go to the twin god. The Zulu also identify their ancestral spirits by names like amalozi, amathonga and amakhosi. This ancestral spirits are souls of the recently dead people and are normally considered effective contacts between the Zulu and their gods and therefore responsible for positive, construct ive and creative results among the Zulu. At the same time these ancestral spirits can also work for the ill of the tribe (Krige, 47). For this reason the Zulu hold these ancestors in high esteem so as to bring good will to the region. Umsamo is a particular place identified in the Zulu hut of Zulu chiefs’ jurisdiction where religious action is done.... Besides, their bodies are quietly unceremoniously buried. Ceremonies and rituals associated with death and the afterlife Immediately after death, one is considered to be in an "in-between" region which is some kind of limbo. The Zulu believe that the dead person stays in this ‘in-between’ situation for a period that could be between one month and a year. However, being in this limbo position is necessitated by three things. One of the reasons for this is that after a person’s death, the village’s chief herbalist will be devoted with finding out the cause of the departed’s death. These search periods will last for about one month, besides; if the person was not married he would be in limbo for that period of time until the cause of his demise is traced. In the event that he was married, the widow would mourn for a period of twelve months since the death occurred. A ritual is carried out which involves taking of medicine and praying to prior to beseech ing the current Chief to perform what is known as Ukubuyisa Idlozi. This is normally done as an initiation to "bring home the ancestor"(Lawson 32). They believe that this act makes it possible for the recently deceased person to join his ancestors in the Umsamo. Once the deceased person has been brought to the Umsamo, his position in this place will determine where he goes after here. In the event that a chief dies, the Zulu believe that his spirit will remain within the living world so as to oversee the happenings his homestead even in death. Except for Chiefs, it is believed that all those who die go to the underworld, which is located deep inside mother earth (Tempels 38). Ethical responsibilities and obligations to achieve the afterlife When a family member dies, the remaining family

Aurora, Colorado Movie Theater Shooting Assignment

Aurora, Colorado Movie Theater Shooting - Assignment Example As such, this brief analysis will consider the means whereby a litany of reporters and news agencies have dealt with the situation, the way in which the police and prosecutors have responded to this, and the harmful precedent that this has set for the world of journalism and the furtherance of the trade. Firstly, though the veritable firestorm of media activity surrounding this particular case has somewhat subsided recently, the press ravenously sought to find any and all relevant, juicy, or pertinent information with regard to the case in the early stages after the violence took place. This was primarily accomplished by seeking to engage individuals that experienced the violence firsthand or had lost friends or family in the massacre in the theater. Initial eyewitness reports that were gained by several news outlets sought to portray a situation where a type of coordinated attack involving two or more individuals was something that could likely have happened based upon eye-witness t estimony. However, as key instances of the case were better understood, the media began to more appropriately list the real perpetrator as a lone-wolf acting alone. Moreover, as time has gone on and the trial has been set for Holmes, little if any media attention has taken place. Although it is the expectation of this student that this will change when a verdict nears in the case, such an action may very well be indicative of a press that operates on the very edge and can afford no more than a brief coverage of an event until the viewership/readership is bored and ready for the next story. However, due to the fact that as yet no verdict has been proclaimed by the court, overall coverage of the issue itself has abated and the viewpoints expressed have tended to mirror what was originally discussed once the details of the case were clearer. Secondly, with regard to the sheer shock that the shooting engendered within the nation, it is not a surprise that the media instantly sought to g ain access to the information surrounding the events that led up to and culminated in the massacre at the theater in Aurora. However, what was particularly shocking was the sheer persistency with which the media sought to engage those individuals who had experienced the shooting and survived as well as those individuals who had lost family members in the shooting (Ingold 1). Since the very beginning of investigative journalism there has been the thin line between getting the story and respecting the rights of a traumatized individual; however, these rights were egregiously ignored in the case of the Aurora shooting interview and subsequent attempts to glean information from the ultimate shareholders. This was so much the case that the police and prosecution were forced into the public arena to announce that the actions that were being undertaken by various media representatives and their reporters were unethical at best and downright harmful to the furtherance of the investigation a t worst. Although there was and is no criminal code, other than harassment and filing an restraining order, with regard to keeping an overzealous reporter at bay, the problem that many of these shareholders faced

ASB 2104 Principles of Organisation and Management Essay

ASB 2104 Principles of Organisation and Management - Essay Example The discussion explains some prominent management theories, their similarities and dissimilarities and their present day relevance. The classical theory of management is the oldest and the most widely accepted school of management. The classical theory was propounded and practiced extensively between 1885 and 1940. The genesis of the theory can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution that necessitated the need for systematic and logical methods to manage organizations. Many factories were set up during the Industrial Revolution because of which the need for proficient planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of workers arose. The classical theory of management evolved with a view to enhance the worker-level productivity and that of the entire organization. The classical theory of management consists of two major schools: There were many contributors to the theory of scientific management. However, the most prominent work in this sphere was that of Frederick W. Taylor who is regarded as the father of scientific management. Taylor, who worked at the Midvale Steel Company, felt a pressing need to cut costs, analyze work methods and develop labor and management co-operation. On the basis of his time studies, Taylor recommended a differential piecework plan wherein workers were paid higher wage rates for above standard performance and low wage rates for below standard performance. The concept of minimum basic wage rates can also be attributed to Taylor’s works, for till that point of time, there was no guarantee of minimum wages to workers. The contribution of Henri Fayol forms the backbone of the theory of general administration. Fayol termed planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling as the basic functions of management. According to the author, all activities in industrial projects could be classified into six broad categories: technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and managerial. Additionally, Henri

Water Hardness Essay Example for Free

Water Hardness Essay METHODS: 1. Prepare an approximate 0.004 M disodium EDTA solution. To prepare this solution, weigh about 0.7-0.8 g of Na2EDTA and dissolve in 500 mL deionized water in your plastic bottle. Make to to shake the bottle to dissolve the salt. 2. Obtain a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask and transfer a 10 mL of CaCO3 using a buret into the flask. 3. Measure 30 mL of deionized water and add it into the titration flask. 4. Make sure to stir the solution 5. Inside a fume hood, add 3mL of ammonia/ammonium chloride buffer (pH10) into the flask and stir for another 30 seconds. 6. Add four drops of Eriorchrome Black T indicator solution. Stir for another 30 seconds 7. Begin titration. Record your initial volume and final volume. At the endpoint, the color will change to pink to violet to blue. 8. Repeat this titration two more times. Now that you recorded the volume, your second and third trial should be a lot easier. 9. Take your water sample that you obtain from the stockroom and record the unknown number. 10. Transfer 25 mL of the unknown water sample to a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. 11. Add about 20 mL of deionized water to the titration flask. Stir for 30 seconds 12. Inside a fume hood, add about 3 mL of ammonia/ammonium chloride buffer (pH10) and stir for another 30 seconds. 13. Add four drops of Eriorchrome Black T indicator solution to your flask and stir for 30 seconds. 14. Begin titrating. Record you initial volume and final volume. Repeat this twice more. Calculate the average hardness and your experimental precision from the three trials. RESULTS: EDTA Solution: 0.7533g of Na2EDTA mixed with 500ml DI water Table A: Standardization of EDTA Trial| Start Volume| End Volume| Amount of EDTA| 1| 3.90ml| 29.85ml| 25.95ml| 2| 5.35ml| 28.35ml| 23.00ml| 3| 0.45ml| 23.50ml| 23.05ml| Moles EDTA calculations 1st and 3rd trial (10.1 mL CaCO3) x (1L/1000ml) x 1.000g CaCO3/1L) x (1 mole CaCO3/100.1 g CaCO3) x (1 mole EDTA / 1 mole CaCO3) x (1000ml/L) = 0.101moles EDTA/L 2nd trial (9.90 ml CaCO3) x (1L/1000mL) x (1.00 g CaCO3/L) x (1 mole CaCO3/100.1g CaCO3) x (1 mole EDTA/1 mole CaCO3)x (1000 mL/1L) == 0.099 moles EDTA/L Mean molarity: (0.101 + 0.099 + 0.101)/3 = 0.100 moles EDTA / L Water hardness calculations Unknown water sample #24 Table 2. Water sample Trial| EDTA | Water sample #24| 1| 13.45ml| 25.1ml| 2| 13.35ml| 25.5ml| 3| 13.50ml| 25.0ml| CaCO3 molar mass: 100.1g/mole 1st trial (13.45 mL EDTA/25 mL of unknown water sample) x (1L/1000mL) x (0.101 moles EDTA/1L) x (1mole CaCO3/1 mole EDTA) x (100.1 g CaCO3/1 mole) x (1000 mg CaCO3/1g) x (1000mL/1L) == 5439.2 mg CaCO3/1L 2nd trial (13.35 mL EDTA/25 mL of unknown water sample) x (1L/1000mL) x (0.099 moles EDTA/1L) x (1mole CaCO3/1 mole EDTA) x (100.1 g CaCO3/1 mole) x (1000 mg CaCO3/1g) x (1000mL/1L) == 5291.9 mg CaCO3/1L 3rd trial (13.50 mL EDTA/25 mL of unknown water sample) x (1L/1000mL) x (0.101 moles EDTA/1L) x (1mole CaCO3/1 mole EDTA) x (100.1 g CaCO3/1 mole) x (1000 mg CaCO3/1g) x (1000mL/1L) == 5459.5 mg CaCO3/1L Calculate the total hardness in ppm CaCO3 1st trial 13.45ml EDTA x (0.004M/1000ml) x (100.1g CaCO3/1mole CaCO3) x (1000mg CaCO3/1g CaCO3) x (1000L/25.1ml) = 214.6 ppm CaCO3 2nd trial 13.35ml EDTA x (0.004M/1000ml) x (100.1g CaCO3/1mole CaCO3) x (1000mg CaCO3/1g CaCO3) x (1000L/25.5ml) = 209.6 ppm CaCO3 3rd trial 13.50ml EDTA x (0.004M/1000ml) x (100.1g CaCO3/1mole CaCO3) x (1000mg CaCO3/1g CaCO3) x (1000L/25ml) = 216.2 ppm CaCO3 Average ppm (216.2 + 209.6 + 214.6)/3 = 213.5ppm CONCLUSION: The concentration was concluded to be 213.5 ppm in the unknown which is right about in between Phoenix’ water hardness which is 164-291 ppm. REFERENCE: Department of Chemistry.(2012,February).Complexometric Determination of Water Hardness.Mesa Arizona City of Phoenix Official Website http://phoenix.gov/waterservices/quality/index.html

History of gambling Essay Example for Free

History of gambling Essay ?In modern day America, gambling is seen everywhere. Whether it is gambling on a sporting event, a horse race, a game of cards, or any other event, it is seen as a common practice among many American citizens. The most popular place for one to gamble is a casino. There are many casinos throughout the country, and despite the many critics of such venues, these casinos are here to stay for quite some time to come. Starting in 1931, Nevada took control of the casino gambling market and held a monopoly within this industry. It was the first state to have legalized commercial casino gambling, and it was the only state to have such legislation until 1976 (Morse, Goss 13-14). During the 1950’s, Las Vegas started to develop rapidly, opening many casinos within the city. Throughout the 1960’s most of these top-end casinos were purchased by Howard Hughes, which led to an ending of organized crime in the Las Vegas area. Corporations then began building and purchasing casino properties. The profitability of such properties made entering the casino industry quite attractive. This was the beginning of the transition of casinos from a simple form of gaming to a legitimate business (History of US Gambling). In 1976, commercial casino gaming was legalized in New Jersey, and Atlantic City began to thrive in ways similar to Las Vegas. This was the outcome that was hoped for, because it was done in an effort to revitalize Atlantic City. Casinos started to be built in Atlantic City, and a popular location for these casinos was the city boardwalk, along with in the marina district (Morse, Goss 14). More than a decade later, several states began to legalize commercial casino gambling. There are currently fifty-seven counties in the United States that allow commercial casino gambling. In states other than Nevada, a good majority of commercial casino gaming takes place adjacent to a river or some form of a body of water that creates a geographic border dividing states. This promotes the idea of riverboat gambling, along with the competition between each state and their neighbors for their gambling supporters (Morse, Goss 14-15). Soon after the rapid expansion of legal gambling locations throughout the country, tribal casino gambling became an important part of today’s casino industry. Tribal casino gambling is a practice that came to place after the 1987 Supreme Court decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. This case determined that the state of California did not have the proper authority to use its regulatory statutes for the gambling activities that took place on Indian reservations. The only institution that had complete authority over the issue was the federal government; therefore congressional authorization was necessary for state power to enact regulations. In 1988, Congress responded by passing and enacting the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). This was done for the purpose of balancing both the interests of the states and those tribes that resided within them (Morse, Goss 18-19). There were many policy goals that the IGRA aimed to accomplish. The first was to promote economic development and self-sufficiency amongst tribes. The second goal was to create a regulatory base that protected Indian gaming from organized crime, to make sure that the only beneficiary of the gaming operations is the tribe itself, and to ensure that the gaming operations are both fair and honest. The final goal was to establish an organization that would assist in these purposes, thus the creation of the National Indian Gaming Commission. Basically, the IGRA allowed tribes the right to build and run gaming facilities, or casinos, on their reservations to the same extent as the gaming allowed by state law (Morse, Goss 19). Tribal gaming has proven to be quite beneficial for Indian tribes in the United States. The tribes that have benefited the most are those that have exclusive rights to owning and operating casinos within their state. That means that specific states have an agreement with the tribes in their state that there will not be any commercial casinos within the state, just tribal casinos on tribal territory. This creates endless opportunities for tribal members, allowing them to generate large revenues and provide jobs for many members of their tribe (Morse, Goss 20-21). More recently, a new type of casino has emerged quickly into the gambling business, that being racetrack casinos, or racinos. These casinos are essentially a horse-racing track, along with many other casino features, such as slot machines, video gambling terminals, card tables, etc. This brings in a diverse crowd of people, for a lot of people only like to gamble on live racing events. It also helps states contain gaming expansion to their current racing grounds, and the economic benefits have quite a positive effect for the state (Morse, Goss 22). Each type of casino benefits the state in different ways. By a slight margin, there are more commercial casinos in the United States than tribal casinos, but tribal casinos are being built more rapidly (192 built between 2004-2007, as opposed to 175 commercial casinos built), so it is expected they will pass up commercial casinos in the near future. States benefit most from commercial casinos, receiving on average 16. 4% of revenues, as opposed to just 6. 1% of revenue from the tribal casinos (Morse, Goss 23). One factor that has led to major success for casinos in the United States is the great amount of promotion and advertising. The average casino spends 2. 5% of all revenues on promotion and advertising, which is a heavy amount compared to many other business industries. Throughout the years of the existence of legalized gambling, casinos have been figuring out the secret to generating the highest possible revenue, and that is through promotion. Promotions for casinos originally started out pretty basic, offering a patron a free bet if they come to the casino, or a free drink or meal. With the addition of hotels to many casinos, casinos began offering free night stays to customers, and sometimes even free transportation both to and from the casino for the time of their stay. Since then, there has been such an intense competition between casinos to attract gamblers to their establishment, so more and more promotions started to come into place and be offered by casinos around the country (Morse, Goss 27-28). Some casinos found their best strategy was to pay their patrons to play. This came in either the form of simply handing the patron money upon walking in the door (usually between 5-$20, but sometimes upwards of $100), or paying the person for the amount of time they spent in the casino. This is done by activating a â€Å"player card†, and every time that player sits down to play a game, they scan their card at that station and the system keeps track of how much time the player has spent gambling. Their account is then credited with however much money they earned during their time spent at the casino (Ogwyn). Competition between casinos continued to grow every year, and still does to this day. Promotions have become a necessity in order for a casino to succeed, and many amenities have become expected by patrons upon entering a casino. For one, soft drinks are expected to be complimentary at every casino. Many casinos have waiters and waitresses walking around taking orders, so there is a convenience of receiving a soft drink without needing to get up from your chair. It is seen as courteous to tip the servers, and is also seen as good karma for the gambling that is done after. The most intense promotion competitions take place in the major casino markets. Harrah’s is a major casino corporation, and it is one of the highest spenders when it comes to promotions. In 2005, it initiated possibly the biggest promotion in casino history, and that was the $1,000,000 Treasure Hunt. To partake in the hunt, customers had to go to one of the many Harrah’s Casino locations in the country, and depending how much time the customer spent at the casino, they earned an entry (or multiple entries, depending on the frequency of visits) into the contest. These entries represented an opportunity to partake in the actual treasure hunt, which took place in Las Vegas on November 10, 2005. A treasure chest containing $1,000,000 was placed in a remote desert location, and whoever found it first kept it all. This created an uproar of hype for Harrah’s Casinos, and has helped increase revenues in the following years since as well. Many other casinos learned from that, and started similar promotions to help boost their own revenues. This is a good example of how casinos have been learning from each other throughout time, and adjusting quickly to whatever is necessary for maximum business. The bottom line when it comes to casino promotions: do whatever it takes to get customers through the door; revenues will generate from there (Morse, Goss 28). Many studies have been done to find the effect of legalized casino gambling in an area on the residents who reside in that area. A study done by Morse and Goss in 2005 had surprising results, finding that counties that legalized casino gambling experienced lower personal bankruptcy rates in the first several years of having a casino operating in the county. After those years, however, it was found that the personal bankruptcy rates began to rise, eventually becoming higher than the rates from before the legalization of casino gambling (Morse, Goss 53). Casinos have been growing and expanding ever since their first existence. It is a unique industry in that, unlike many other large industries, it is not that crucial to focus on cutting costs, while instead it is best to just focus on generating revenues. As said before, this industry has a history of experiencing great success, and it is only getting greater and greater each year. Looking at some statistics from 1998-2003 is a good way to show an example of this growth; the average number of employees for stand-alone casinos in the United States went from 201 in 1998 to 265 in 2003, and in casino hotels it grew from 988 to 1,208 employees. Average pay for these employees grew as well. In 1998, stand-alone casino employees earned on average $21,700 a year, while in 2003 they earned $25,100 a year. It was a similar jump in salary for casino hotel employees, going from earning on average $23,700 a year to $26,100 a year (Morse, Goss 55). Today, the United States has an incredibly large market for casino gambling. There was an estimated 147 billion U. S. dollars in global revenue from casino gaming, and 60 billion of those dollars was from United States gambling. In the twenty states with legalized commercial gambling, there are about 450 commercial casinos in the United States (CASINO GAMBLING HISTORY). Gambling has been around since the beginning of United States history, and the creation and expansion of gambling centers that we call casinos has led to many opportunities for both growth and decline for citizens in this country. Whether viewed as positive or negative, casinos are here to stay for some time.

Visual Effects And Post Modernism In Logo Design Arts Essay

Visual Effects And Post Modernism In Logo Design Arts Essay The designing of logo is a particular aesthetic activity that is related to the special techniques under the modern cultural environment. An analysis of the special techniques used by modern designers reflects the fact that visual design devices are heavily influenced by new techniques, which in turn are impacted by the new features of life and thinking of the contemporary people. The visual effects of these works, as will be analyzed in the latter parts of this essay, imply that the influence of new notions and ideas concerning visual design are achieving profound impacts on the formation of designing philosophy of modern designers. It is as well an important trend of becoming a more complicated cultural phenomenon that is in turn impacting the aesthetic changes of the audience of logo designing as well (Bruner, J. 1990). In its very essence, the core of logo designing is the use of the most effective means to communicate with the audience about the needs, ideas as well as the effectiveness of the designing. To a large extent, such effectiveness is depended on the personal understanding of the visual effects by the designers. For many professional designers, they have to observe two aspects of things so as to achieve this effectiveness. On the one hand, they have to fully understand the inner mechanism of human beings in accepting visual information and on the other hand, they have to beware how designing can be effective in catching the attention of the audience (Bethel, E. et al 2003). It is only based on these two aspects that designing work can be regarded successful; otherwise it can not be possible to ensure the fidelity of the designing job. In many fields of designing, such as fashion design, mechanic design, architecture design or software design, designers have to pay attention to the combin ed effectiveness of these two aspects. In public facility design, since this type of design is closely related to the concentration of large audience, the visual designing problem seems to be more crucial for the success designing job. This essay will conduct a detailed analysis on the visual effects of logo design by observing the special techniques used. 2. Principles of visual design in logos By and large, the principles used in logo design reflects the peculiar needs to arouse the cultural feelings of the audience. That is to say, the purpose of logo design is to arouse up the cultural recognition of the audience toward a certain product or a certain idea (Tu, Zhuowen, Zhu, Song C. 2002). This is a cultural experience closely associated with the aesthetic feelings of the contemporary people, who, by being exposed to different visual effects in their busy life, have a strong aptitude to the understanding of colors and lights in the modern environment where different types of mass media are available in conveying these colors and lights. So, one of the major features of aesthetic feelings of modern people is their strong visual sense to recognize the implications of visual effectiveness. In logo design, for instance, both commercially and non-commercially, people can find some similarities related to the visual effectiveness and the implied significance represented by the colors and the visual effects. For instance, the double arches of MacDonald can be seen a best example to represent the relationship between the colors and the visual effects. So, by and large, this can be regarded as a special cultural aptitude of the people living at the contemporary time. Logo design necessarily involves the methods that help to popularize the influence of a product or an idea. It is important because it is believed by people to be the most effective and convenient way to make a brand or an idea better known to the public. A successful logo design can help the people know the implied feelings within the logo influence. In commerce, for instance, many famous brands in the world will are successful in designing an attractive logo that helps the business development and marketing expansion in the world, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi so and so forth. The success of a logo design is the combination of both artistic exhibition and idea promotion. This has been shown by many successful cases. To understand the function of visual design, we should first of all understand the influence of the artistic implication. That is to say, logo design should be guided by a conception that suits the specific culture and notion of the thing the logo represents. The behavior of artistic appreciation is in practice an activity of both ration and emotion. Thus, logo design should embrace the feelings, thinking, behavior and psychology of the audience. Based on this principle, logo design should be novel and unique. To achieve this, designers should analyze the psychological elements of the audience at the first place. Generally, to make a logo more attractive, creativity, fashion, individuality and aesthetics are the four major principles to be observed by logo (Lynch, Kevin. 1984). These are also the basic principles in visual designing problem too. I. Creativity Novel and creative thinking easily stimulates the attention and interest of the audience. This is the first important principle of logo design. Creativity comes from the careful observation of life and an imitation of peoples psychological tendency to accept the product. It is only through unique characteristic of the product can be attractive and creative. Take the following design for example: This is an advertisement of watchmaker IWC. In this design, we can see that bus straps have been comically fashioned from the striking images of IWCs Big Pilots Watch. The advantage of this design immediately attracts audiences by its novelty and creativity. People watching the advertisement all have the pulse to try the bus strap. In this way, the advertisement successfully stimulates the consumers psychological curiosity. II. Fashion The principle of fashion is not just to catch the attention of the audience. If so, anything that is colossal and unique would achieve this goal. To logo designers, fashion means the quality of meeting such psychological demand of the audience as curiosity and satisfaction. It also helps to create a novel environment that calls for the psychological recognition. III. Individuality This is another important feature of logo design. The feature of this principle lies in the uniqueness and novelty of ogos that emphasizes the recognition feelings of the audience. From the perspective of the consumer, only individuality can arouse their interest. Basically, it is only by individuality that audiences trust their tuition in choosing a certain products. IV. Aesthetics What logos represents is the aesthetic image of a product or an idea. This includes the images obtained from the different sense of feelings: hearing, touching, sight etc. This principle calls for the vivid aesthetic image of a product and improve the artistic taste of consumers. In the meanwhile, this also helps to build up a psychological satisfaction. Look at the following design: Obviously, the purpose of this designer is to highlight the hairstyle of the lady under the umbrella. Here, the half-transparent umbrella gives the audience an imagination beyond the picture itself. What they are strongly feeling is the aesthetic atmosphere that is hidden by the umbrella. In this way, the designer successfully conveys this feeling. 3. Visual effects and logo design Logo design, the purpose of which is to attract the attention of the audience, is in its nature a manifestation of the usage of visual effects to arouse the cultural feelings of the audience at large. This can be understood by many modern designers and artists. Take Barbara Kruger for instance, as a contemporary American conceptual artist, she is especially known for her fine art creation in logo designs that convey peculiar cultural sense. Many of her works are characterized by the combination of graphic design and short direct phrases. The advertisement of I shop, therefore I am can be seen as such an example: (Barbara Krugers I shop, therefore I am) Many of Krugers works are direct and are easy to evoke an immediate response. Her artistic style is most typically featured by the use of simple color combination of black and white. The short message that is stenciled on the image is often in white against a red background. The text and image used in the whole picture are unrelated for the purpose of creating anxiety, which, according to Kruger, reflects a kind of fear and uneasiness. Her representative video and film works include Pleasure, Pain, Desire, Disgust (1997) and Twelve (2004). By and large, logo design is a special artistic activity that needs deep understanding of visual effectiveness. Under the modern cultural environment, it is influenced by a series of complicated notions found in aesthetic, literary, political or social philosophy influenced by the creation of contemporary philosophy as well as the new belief of modern society. It has been regarded as the basis of the attempt to describe the features of the modern intellectualism, which particularly focuses on the use of visual device in designing. Culturally, logo design can be seen as a special way by which artists expose their life style as well as their special understanding of art influenced by new philosophical and conceptual development started by modern thinkers. So, in modern logo designing works, such terms as appropriation, humor (other people may use parody, irony or playfulness to refer to this special attitude of dealing with the creation of contemporary art), deconstruction, simulacra, self-reflexivity, eclecticism (or pluralism), pastiche and inter-textuality are what people can find to refer to the characteristics of modern art, which can be seen as specifically impacted by the visual effects of logos designed specifically to achieve concrete purposes. 4. Post-Modernism reflected by visual effects in logo design Visual effectiveness in logo design particularly reflected the post-modernistic perspective in artistic design. Modern critics agree that postmodern artists reject the notion of the fixed, objective nature of a piece of art (Hatuka, Tali, DHooghe, Alexander. 2007). According to this belief, all that is left in postmodern art is difference. Influenced by various sources of philosophical ideas triggered by the revolution of technological innovation, each person in this new age shapes his or her own concepts of reality. Reality, then, becomes a human construct that is shaped by each individuals dominant social group. There exists no center or authority, nor one lone, encompassing objective reality, but as many realities as there are many different individuals with different ways of life and different ways of thinking (Derntl, M., Motschnig-Pitrik, R. 2008). The interpretations by different people are different. No one has a claim to absolute truth; therefore, tolerance of each others p oints of view becomes the postmodernism maxim. As we know, postmodernism is also characterized by the color of the new age, which is featured by the application of modern technological innovation of and language of art creation. Take LaChapelles designing works for instance; if we have a careful look at his Elton John at Home (1997), we can roughly get a clue. In this piece of art, we can be touched by a strong tendency of expressing the chaos in modern family life. Is this a feature of life attitude perceived by the artist? At least, the brightness of the back color can give us a hint. In the picture, it seems that the pealed bananas and the falling apples can not be clearly distinguished as house decorations or the real objects in life. The existence of wild beasts in the house also seems to hint that the core concepts of family life are different from what have been traditionally accepted, or at least there have occurred significant changes. So, on the whole, the post-industrial influences to the life style of modern people ca n be clearly felt in this picture. The fast pace, the bewilderment of modern people are what dominate the characteristics of his artistic creation. (Elton John at Home by David LaChapelle) Postindustrial influence is also reflected in the various sources of impacts triggered by the innovation of technologies, say, the over-complicatedness or over-simplification of images which are made convenient by the adoption of computer technology. The design work of Barbara Kruger best illustrated such a method. In her trademark design, the large-scale photographic works usually cause people think of the post-industrial cultural images which are processed by the use of modern machinery technology (Nelson, H. G., Stolterman, E. 2003). In her 1989 work Your Body Is a Battleground), for example, she employed an oversized image of a models face and divided it into sections, giving the audience a strong visual impact. (Barbara Krugers Your Body is a Battleground) From these cases we can find the fact that logo designing is not an isolated cultural activity of human behavior in aesthetics. On the contrary, logo design at the contemporary cultural context reflects the cultural impacts of the human society as well as the new changes in aesthetic experiences of the modern world. The logo design for both commercial and non-commercial purposes reflect the particular cultural features of the contemporary time. Without the deep understanding of these features, one is not able to fully understand the essence of the specific visual effects of the logo design at the contemporary time (Bevir, Mark. 2000). 3. Conclusion By and large, logo design at the present time is a special artistic activity that reflects the cultural influence of the contemporary time. It specifically pursue the effectiveness of visual stimulation to the sense of sight of the human beings. In logo design, people can find the special feelings conveyed by the usage of various types of visual images. These images can be seen as the products of philosophical meditation of the modern people who have been influenced by the new ideas in life and in thinking. So, in this sense, logo design is not an isolated activity. On the contrary, it is an activity that is closely related to the aesthetic feelings of human race at the present time. It is as well the product of the aesthetic meditation by modern designers as well.