Affect of Computers on Society Essay -- essays research papers

Computers and Society The first modern digital computers were developed in the 1940s for military purposes that arose during World War II. These computers filled entire rooms. They took hours to perform complex mathematical operations. In the 1970s, the first personal computers were sold. Fitting on a desktop, they were much faster and more powerful than the computers that had once filled large rooms. Computers were also affordable to individual consumers, making it possible for many people to use them for personal, business, and academic needs. By the mid-1990s, laptop computers capable of millions of calculations per second had been developed. Currently, nearly half of American homes have a personal computer, and businesses have come to rely on computers for nearly every function. Computers are becoming smaller and more powerful than they were. In future, it looks like computers will be used in almost every aspect of people’s lives and we might not even realize how significant this effect might b e. Lots of business owners and just common people are excited and optimistic a... Affect of Computers on Society Essay -- essays research papers Computers and Society The first modern digital computers were developed in the 1940s for military purposes that arose during World War II. These computers filled entire rooms. They took hours to perform complex mathematical operations. In the 1970s, the first personal computers were sold. Fitting on a desktop, they were much faster and more powerful than the computers that had once filled large rooms. Computers were also affordable to individual consumers, making it possible for many people to use them for personal, business, and academic needs. By the mid-1990s, laptop computers capable of millions of calculations per second had been developed. Currently, nearly half of American homes have a personal computer, and businesses have come to rely on computers for nearly every function. Computers are becoming smaller and more powerful than they were. In future, it looks like computers will be used in almost every aspect of people’s lives and we might not even realize how significant this effect might b e. Lots of business owners and just common people are excited and optimistic a...

Home School vs. Public School Essay

Schooling is an important decision in educating children. In today’s world more and more families are choosing to home school their children. While there are advantages and disadvantages to both options. The major factors in deciding which option is best are the learning environment, the curriculum, and meeting the needs of the child or children. Advantages: Home School Learning environment. Children within the home school environment are more likely to be calm and comfortable in his or her home. The children will not have the peer pressure of the public school, but the children will have peer pressure from his or her siblings. The children may also show competiveness to one another. A child will feel safer in his or her home surrounding which will give them a better success rate in his or her learning and testing scores (Public School vs. Home School). In a recent study children that are home schooled, test in reading, language, and math are in the 88th percentile, whereas public school children are in the 50th percentile (Home School Domination). Children are more comfortable with his or her family which let the child have less fear and allow them to focus and study more. The beneficial factor of home school is the child or children can create a bond with his or her family, and a closeness that lets the child or children learn at his or her own pa ce, and feel comfortable with his or her learning style, for there is no right or wrong way to learn. Curriculum. There are many types of home school curriculums a parent can choose to teach their child or children. In order to choose the right option the parent addresses the child or children and makes a choice based on his or her needs. Some of the curriculum options are the traditional approach, the unit study approach, the Charlotte Mason approach, and the un-schooling approach (Educational Philosophies Defined). Curriculum can be taught as long as a child needs, when it is best suited to learn for the family and the child or children, and how the child learns best (Public School vs. Home School). Home schooling allows for a shorter day, where learning can be taught in a few hours vs. a few days or weeks. The schedule can be modified to the needs of the child or children, field trips can happen more frequently, visits to museums and art galleries can be offered, and daily activities  outside the home can create hands on learning of the child or children’s environment. Meeting the needs of the child. Home school offers a great advantage of the child or children’s needs being meet on a daily basis. Parents can take the time to sit one to one with the child and allow adequate time to teach them and make sure the child is understanding what is being taught. Some children may not need one to one and excel at a rapid pace and at home the parent can make sure the child has adequate amounts of learning so the child does not get bored. The parent can also offer a wider variety of activities, creativity, and unique ways to teach their child or children (Home Schooling vs. Public Schooling: The Pros and Cons of Home Schooling). Some children may learn to read in certain positions or places where they feel comfortable and safe, some children may learn counting with toy cars vs. counting cubes, and some children may learn science with experiments. These are all things okay to allow a child to do while being taught at home. These are all options to offer the best possible learning, for a child and meeting his or her needs. Advantage: Public School Learning Environment. Public schools offer children the ability to interact and work with others (Advantages of Public Schools). It provides academics and skills to use and apply for interactions with peers (Advantages of Public Schools). Children in a public school setting have more exposure to a variety of teachers and curriculum, such as foreign language, art, home economics, shop, welding, physical education, drama, music etc. (Advantages of Public Schools). The higher number in students gives opportunities to work in groups, do projects, and team sports. The learning environment gives an understanding of diverse backgrounds and the ability to build dynamic skills for the real world (Advantages of Public Schools). Curriculum. Most states are adopting the common core curriculum for the public school system. â€Å"The Common Core State Standards provide clear and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life† (Common Core State Standards). The curriculum of language arts, literacy, and math offered in public schools offer basic classes to advance classes. A general focus on the curriculum is giving the students the ability to learn with a strong foundation in basic skills for life and work success (Wyoming Public Schools). Not only is the public school system  focusing on language arts, literacy, and math they also offer a wider variety of extra-curricular classes that help children learn. This gives the children more experiences of what to expect in higher education. Meeting the needs of the child. Public schools have the No Child Left behind Act. This has allowed the public school system to treat each child as an individual and as a whole child (National Education Association). It requires the teaching staff to address each child’s physical, emotional health, and well-being. It requires assurance that students are actively engaged in varying experiences and settings inside and outside the classroom (National Education Association). â€Å"The public education system is critical to democracy and its purpose, as reflected in this Act, is to maximize the achievement, skills, opportunities, and potential of all students by building upon their strengths and addressing their needs, and to ensure t hat all students are prepared to thrive in a democratic society and diverse, changing world as knowledgeable, creative, and engaged citizens and lifelong learners.† (National Education Association). When a parent is deciding on the education of their child or children there are many factors to take into consideration. While there are many more factors to consider than what you have just read, the decision is ultimately the parents and what fits for their child or children. Home schooling seems to give the more flexible approach and the benefits of that in its self are endless. Public school gives many opportunities that home school may not offer as the child or children get older. In general the facts are what matter most and that is the learning environment, curriculum, and meeting the needs of the child and each one of those are met either in home school or public school. Works Cited National Education Association. Meeting the needs of a Whole Child. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. â€Å"Public School vs. Home School.† Education Bug. Web. 16 Oct. 2014. â€Å"Public School vs. Home School.† Public Schools. Web. 16 Oct. 2014 â€Å"Preparing America’s Students for Success.† Home. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. â€Å"Wyoming Public Schools.† Wyoming Public Schools. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. Martin, Jaime. â€Å"Educational Philosophies Defined, Part I – Simple Homeschool.† Simple Homeschool. 21 Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. â€Å"Some Fascinating Facts about Home School vs. Public School† Home School World. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.

Management Institute Essay

In consulting Linton, there are two main components that would have to be closely analyzed: Deborah Linton’s leadership style and Lisa Benton’s ability to positively impact her new business environment. Lisa Benton is well educated and experienced in her field; yet, she allows dysfunction to distract her of her ability to contribute. Benton surrendered the power of her voice because she humbled to the intimidation perceived from her supervisor, coercive teammate, and questionable environment. LINTON MANAGEMENT PROFILE Deborah Linton is the average person in a leadership role who does not know the difference between management and leadership. Because she does not know the difference, her approach towards Lisa Benton is all wrong for the right reasons. Her initial address to Benton was out of fear versus confidence in her ability to manage a Harvard graduate. Linton’s fear warrants a close investigation of her management style, her conflict resolution, and her measurements of being a leader. Deborah Linton’s management profile has to be priority in order to accurately identify and effectively address in order to improve her effectiveness. If we were to complete a DiSC Assessment of Linton’s management style, Linton would most likely be a D (Dominance) style manager. Linton had a â€Å"sophisticated appearance and confident manner† by which she carried herself in the office. Upon meeting with Lisa Benton for the first time, Linton expresses her discontent with â€Å"MBAs [who] act like they know a lot more than they do† (Weber, 1994). This is reflective of the D style motivation of power and authority. And how blatantly noticeable Linton is  forceful and direct when addressing Benton. Immediately, she sets the tone of her position and authority by challenging Benton’s academic success with great insensitivity. Linton’s dominant management style is consistent throughout the article when she addresses Benton on a couple occasions or even her counterpart, Jack Vernon. The approach with Lisa Benton was misguided from the start which prompts the question, â€Å"Who would want to be led by [Linton]?† This question is significant because Goffee and Jones emphasize the importance of followers to leaders. They state that leaders â€Å"better know what it takes to lead effectively — they must find ways to engage people and rouse their commitment to company goals† (Jones, 2000). Linton does not give Benton any idea of the current state of the company or how she would like for her department to impact the company’s success. She did not share her vision for her department and what she expected to produce in a particular time frame. Benton had no clue as to how her role was to impact the Although Linton greeted Benton pleasantly, she negated the meeting by complaining her arrival was a week too early. Benton’s eagerness to contribute to the company’s success was not celebrated or welcomed. This attitude was perpetuated once Linton pushed-off Benton to another product manager, Ron Scoville. Linton has proven herself to be more of a manager versus a leader. Although Benton was new to the team, Linton places more importance on product management. Priority should have been placed on making sure Benton was properly trained. Linton focused her efforts on â€Å"the detailed steps that are necessary to get results† (Lecture, Wk 2). Benton felt like an intruder whenever she stepped to Linton’s office because she was refused regularly. Linton’s lack of concern towards Benton’s development further demonstrates her dominant management style. Linton not only managed with dominance, but also dealt poorly with resolving conflicts. Thomas and Kilmann would assess that Linton is unassertive and uncooperative when resolving conflict amongst subordinates. Evidenced when Linton resolved conflict between Benton and Scoville by adopting Scoville’s  perspective. She addresses Benton by stating â€Å"I understand you’re too good for copying† implying that Scoville’s assessment was accurate. According to Thomas-Kilmann, Linton sidesteps the issue and postpones dealing with the conflict. Linton expresses her knowledge of Scoville not being liked in the office despite her personal feelings towards him being â€Å"misunderstood† and â€Å"having a heart of gold.† In both instances, Linton never truly addressed or resolved the issues. She avoided the issues and encouraged Benton to do the same in the interest of results. Linton is weak in the area of emotional intelligence. She struggles in the key areas regarding emotional intelligence: Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Linton is not aware of her own emotional impact on her employees or their emotional challenges. Scoville definitely has emotional challenges made evident through his emotional outbursts with Benton. Benton herself dealt with a great deal of emotional challenges. Linton failed to recognize the emotional challenges and utilizing them to build up her team. Additionally, Linton did not motivate her team members to cooperate or collaborate. She is not able to motivate because she does not empathize with Benton. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LINTON Using Jack Welch Winning as a mirror to Linton, there are some basic principles that must be established and practiced. First of all, Linton needs to learn her new team. She has a close relationship with Scoville; yet, she needs to consider the chemistry of the team now that Benton is on board. Instead of demeaning Benton and her education, she should set the standard for her performance by giving her a vision, a goal. Linton does not†define where she wants her team to go† (Lecture, Wk 1). Benton never received her objectives or given a set of expectations from which her performance would be measured. Linton does not know what it takes to be a leader. As mentioned previously, Linton is a manager who believes her position qualifies her as a leader. My first recommendation is for Linton to understand the difference between a manager and a leader. Kotter makes an interesting distinction between  management and leadership as being forms of coping. Kotter states that â€Å"management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change† (Kotter, 2001). Linton does not cope well with the change of Benton, an MBA graduate of Harvard, joining the team. Linton needs to better understand what is characteristic of a leader. Jack Welch specifically details what leaders do. I would encourage Linton to adopt and immediately apply these rules. Of the eight rules that Welch identifies, several rules need to take precedence. â€Å"Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team.† Linton spent time pushing Benton away versus taking advantage of the time to coach her. Rule #2 states that â€Å"leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.† Benton did not receive her objectives let alone understand where Linton wanted to take the company. â€Å"Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit,† as stated in Rule #4. Candor will be addressed later; yet, transparency and credit seemed none existent. Linton rarely met with Benton, let alone, allow herself to become open and transparent. In fact, Benton often felt like she was intruding. Lastly, Linton needs to apply the last couple rules of â€Å"inspiring risk taking† and â€Å"celebrating† her team members. Linton has to celebrate her team members for their contributions and skills they bring. BENTON LACK OF LEADERSHIP Lisa Benton is an experienced and educated potential leader who over-analyzes her own situation. Not that she was not qualified for the position, but the she allowed the circumstances to have a â€Å"muzzling voice† effect over her. Her prowess and proven success were immediately diminished from her first day on the job. Benton was excited about the opportunity resulting from her interview meetings with energetic employees of Houseworld. If she was to take the DiSC Assessment, Benton would definitely fall in the C (Conscientious) management style. Before even accepting the position at Houseworld, Benton based her decision not on her ability, but on which company would provide the training she felt was necessary. Benton did not have a vision to buy into or objectives to guide her efforts. Benton falls prey to her limitations of her management style by â€Å"overanalyzing† her professional situation and isolating herself with  respect to her department. Despite her professional and academic achievements, Benton went from success to failure in accepting the position at Houseworld. Benton aborted her leadership potential by committing a significant sin of leadership. She did not â€Å"give her self-confidence its due.† Jack Welch says that â€Å"self-confidence is the lifeblood of success† (Lecture, Wk 8). Benton also made the mistake of listening to rumors about Linton and Scoville having a personal relationship. This dictated her interaction with them and took away her lateral persuasion. Benton was not able to â€Å"commit to the success† of Linton. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BENTON To sum up in one word a recommendation for Lisa Benton, believe. Benton needs to go back to believing in her own mastered knowledge and proven skills to succeed. Benton needs to identify a focus for her efforts. She attempts to invent work for herself absent of Linton’s objectives; yet, becomes extremely frustrated. Her frustration resides in Scoville’s condescending demands and Linton’s nonexistent leadership. Benton needs to follow the â€Å"10 Keys Transition Challenges.† She needs to â€Å"promote herself† to the ideal and expectations she had of herself coming into this position. Benton successfully â€Å"accelerated her learning, built alliances, and built her network† amongst colleagues outside of her department. Yet, Benton needs to step back and diagnose the situation at Houseworld so she can effectively apply her skills. Additionally, she needs to â€Å"build a good relationship with her boss, focus on strategic alignment, build her team, and secure early wins† for herself. Benton had already built the foundation of lateral leadership which she needed to trust more than fear. Because she feared it she was not able to have the influence with Linton and Scoville that was rightfully due. As suggested in the Art of Persuasion, Benton has to build â€Å"credibility† for herself by confidently performing for the reason she was hired. Then she needs to establish â€Å"shared benefits† and â€Å"memorable evidence† within her department. She has to â€Å"vividly describe a comparable situation† from her  prior professional successes. Lastly, Benton has to â€Å"show emotion† in a more passionate manner towards results and not the explosive fits of frustration. CONCLUSION Although it was not properly implemented, Benton’s performance evaluation was accurate. Linton identified that Benton possessed strengths that she refrained from using. Benton felt this was unjust because she was never really given true direction. Ultimately, Benton is well capable of performing the duties of the position she filled. Benton needed to rise to the occasion, utilize lateral authority and influence, and emphatically believe in herself despite the unfavorable environment. REFERENCES Welch, Jack,Welch, Suzy. (2005) Winning /New York : HarperBusiness Publishers Hill, Linda A. Lisa Benton (A). Harvard Business School Case 494-114, March 1994. (Revised May 1994.) Kotter, J. P. What Leaders Really Do. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999. Thomas, K. W., & Kilmann, R. H. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Mountain View, CA: Xicom, a subsidiary of CPP, Inc. 1974. DiSC Management. Profile Summary Goffee, R., Jones, G. Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard business review, Vol. 78, No. 5. (Sep 2000)

THE DEVILS ADVOCATE essays

THE DEVILS ADVOCATE essays I recently saw a movie called, "The Devil's Advocate." The previews for this movie seemed unbelievable and sounded very similar to a previous lawyer-based movie. To my surprised, I came out of the movie with many questions, arguments, and admittedly, a little fear. I really enjoy a movie that provokes conversation and arguments about a particular subject that is controversial or makes a person think how they would react in a particular situation. The movie revolves around a small-town lawyer from Florida who is extremely gifted in his ability to win cases, whether his clients were guilty or not. For example, at the beginning of the movie he was defending a person who was wrongly accused of such a horrible crime. He truly believed that his client was innocent because of his position as a well-respected teacher in the community. During the trial he noticed that his client was really enjoying himself and was aroused by her accusations and testimony. At this point he had to make a moral decision that only he could make. Should he continue to represent his client, even though he strongly believed that he was guilty of this crime? He appeared to have a personal struggle with this question, but in the end he decided to defend his client and actually won the case, ultimately keeping his perfect record, but also cheating the abused child who was unfairly molested by this man. He was then offered a great job in New York for a large law firm and became the new hot shot at the company because of his reputation in winning cases. This is when the movie gets extremely interesting, and also a little scary. He and his wife were so surprised and overwhelmed by this new lfie full of nice things and new friends. This new life was possible because of his willingness to do anything to win a case. As it turned out, the head of the law firm was actually the Devil who recruited him because of his disregard for morals in order to do one thing,...

Reading Tips to Improve Pronunciation for ESL Students

Reading Tips to Improve Pronunciation for ESL Students If youre working on pronunciation, these tips can help you use reading as a way to practice outside of class, either by yourself or with a couple of friends. Top Tips Choose a paragraph and read aloud.Choose a paragraph and mark each sentence with a sound script (helpful pronunciation markup). This will help you read more naturally, and thus pronounce correctly.Choose a few sentences from your reading material and highlight content words. Read these sentences focusing on accenting these content words while quickly speaking over the structure words.Once you become comfortable reading a single paragraph aloud, read an entire page by reading a paragraph aloud and then reading one silently.Choose some nursery rhymes to practice. They will help you with pronunciation through rhythm.Read a short story or a few paragraphs to a friend who is also studying English. Compare the differences and discuss what might be the reasons for the differences.Choose a paragraph, short article, or newspaper story with new vocabulary. Use the Babylon dictionary or another online pronunciation resource to help you learn the correct pronunciation of these words.Read a play with some friends. Each friend takes a different part. Start with short scenes. Once you are comfortable, read longer pieces together.

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Corporate finance - Essay Example It was also able to maintain total dividend per share at the level of 33.00p. Even in the turbulent market scenario, it managed to increase its sale of life and pensions by 11 percent. Total life and pensions sale became 36,283 million pounds. Sale of general insurance also increased. (Aviva Plc. 2009; Annual Report of 2008) a) Weighted average cost of capital: Cost of capital to a firm is generally defined as the opportunity costs of investors for making their investment in the firm. When an investor invests his fund in a particular firm, he actually looses other opportunities of investing his funds in other securities having risks equivalent to risks of the security of the firm he is actually investing his fund in. hence, if a firm fails to earn a return on capital at least equal to its weighted average cost of capital (WACC), it actually destroys its value. If a firm manages to earn a return that is greater than its weighted average cost of capital, it becomes successful to create value. On the other hand, if it manages to earn a return exactly equal to its weighted average cost of capital, then it neither loose nor create any value. WACC can be defined as the rate that a firm is expected pay for financing its asset. It is actually the minimum level of return that a company needs to earn on its exist ing asset base for satisfying its creditors, its owners, as well other providers of capital.( (Miles and Ezzell, 1980; â€Å"Weighted average Cost of Capital†) The weight of equity can be defined as the ratio of market capitalization to the market value of the firm and the weight of debt can be defined as the ratio of market value of debt to the market value of the firm. Total market value of firm is generally measured by summing total market value of equity and total market value of debt. (Miles and Ezzell, 1980; Fama, 1970; Fama, 1991) Cost of equity is generally treated as the return that the

Article sypnosis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Article sypnosis - Essay Example From the item, it is evident that the company provides quality improvement. This is because the Baldor Electric Company considers product quality the same way as it considers quantity of product. The new quality plan by the company include the improvement of measurement and gauge accuracy, reduce of the cycle times of production, cost lowering of scrap and making of quick and accurate inspections (Manufacturing Business Technology). The article further states that the means used by Baldor Electric Company to provide quality improvement is the use of InfinityQS Real-Time SPC Software in data analysis and making of decisions. For instance, the company implemented this method in the inner-ring and outer-ring grinding, inner-ring machining, face grinding cells and the ring roller. This are done with plans to enlarge the purpose to heat treating induction, heat treating that is convectional and housing machine involving cast iron. Moreover, the Baldor Electric Company has formed an enterprise-wide for the intention of dealing with the task of data analysis. Another quality improvement made by the company is the evaluated gauging with the inclusion of making of updates throughout the production facilities on the shop floor (Manufacturing Business Technology). In conclusion, it is clear that the article tries to give full information about the Baldor Electric Company. For instance, it shows the facilities it produces. The article also indicates the means used in the provision of a quality improvement and also examples of the quality improvements. "Using Statistical Process Control To Improve Quality | Articles | Manufacturing Business Technology." Manufacturing Business Technology |. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2012.