The Bluesky Software Consulting Firm

People clearly are an organization’s most critical resource. Their knowledge and skills along with their commitment, creativity, and effort are the basis for competitive advantage. It is people that have creative ideas for new products or for process improvements that devise marketing strategy or take technologies to the next level. As consultant for Blue Sky, it is my obligation to develop recommendations based on issues addressed in the case, to ensure Willis can develop an effective management team in accordance with company’s requirements. Blue Sky is a fifteen year old software-consulting firm, however, has some obstacle to overcome. As the consultant, I will respond to four outlined questions pertaining to the case study. This analysis will provide areas of improvement for Blue Sky Software and the necessary management techniques to make for their organization to run functional and efficient. Question 1, in the case asked to address the differences in leadership style and approach today and in the recent past at Blue Sky. In the past, the leadership styles were lead by an autocratic leader. Autocratic leadership can be said to be synonymous to dictatorship where only one person has the authority over the followers or workers. Their decision has to be taken as the golden rule and should never be questioned. They plan out everything and order their subordinates to work according to their rules. Max Blue seemed to think meeting was not necessary and thought planning was a waste of time and no one questioned his authority. This type of leadership style unfortunately made employees at Blue Sky passive as they couldn’t make decision on their own. There seemed to be several types of leadership styles circulating throughout the company depending on the different department you were in. The organization structure was broken down by the CEO, VP of the division, director of marketing, CFO, and the regional directors being in the upper management levels. The regional directors were all younger and had been with Blue Sky relatively a short period of time. They seemed to be more aggressive, whereas, they wanted to expand clientele and product lines. The older manager mainly the vice presidents who had been with the organization for awhile, had a more passive approach because of the autocratic leadership style from Max Blue. Willis, the new CEO is more of a collaborative leader. When establishing collaborative relationships it is not always natural or easy, particularly because people have different lifestyles, backgrounds, and experiences. A collaborative leader takes a much different approach essentially suggesting that the most effective way to guide an organization, process, or project is through inclusion and consensus. Also, the â€Å"benevolent dictator† approach is highly efficient eliminating the wavering of many competing voices in the decision-making process. Even though, collaboration is the way people naturally want to work, because it builds teams through mentoring and coaching, building trust and mutual respect and beak down walls between people, teams, departments and division to accomplish goals. It was clear the others looked to Willis to solve the problem, so this left Willis not being able to come to a consensus as he had hoped. In question 2, of the case study there was a focus toward the organization looking at motivation being a critical element. Be sure to discuss and evaluate the approaches to motivation at Blue Sky now and the past. In the past, the approaches to motivation were to provide employees with big dividends. Many studies show that interesting work and sense of accomplishment are some of the greatest motivators for an employee. These rewards lead to the type of motivation known as â€Å"intrinsic,† which can be defined as causing â€Å"†¦ people to engage in an activity for its own sake† (www. reference. com). Studies show that intrinsic motivation is important for high job satisfaction, which can affect an organization's performance. Many different techniques exist to intrinsically motivate employees(Walker, 2008). Some include: job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. As noted earlier, job satisfaction among employees is important for a company to attain, thus, the use of techniques that boost intrinsic motivation is key. However, the employees were happy because they were paid well. The flip side to that is those older employees are closes to retirement, and have no intrinsic motivation. They are not motivated in sharing to new ways in doing things for the organization, such as saving money and hiring new clientele as suggested by Hubres in her memo. Therefore, it has been suggested by Willis that James and Counts work together to develop a retirement package for senior employees in the division without any immediate replacement for retirees. This would be a start in saving money for the division. In question 3 of the case study, it relates to strategic plan and decision-making process. The question ask, if there has been a strategic planning and decision-making change at Blue Sky? If so, is this a positive change? Yes, there has been a strategic plan and decision-making process at Blue Sky and positive change. The strategy plan comes from an outside consultant that has been asked to help Willis to develop an organization plan. A strategy plan must be for an organization and not an analysis of the current plan. In the past, there was no strategic plan in place based on Susy Hubres, one of the newest members of the Executive team. In her memo, she is proposing a three-day retreat for Blue Sky executives, and her main agenda for the meeting is developing a ten-year strategic plan.

Emergence of Tele-education

Tele-education has a long history beginning with systems like that for teaching children in Australian Outback, the British Open University and other such organizations. These built on the idea of correspondence courses where course materials are sent periodically by post and augmented the experience with broadcasts either on radio or on TV. The problem of student isolation was addressed partially through techniques such as telephone access or two-way radio links with teachers. At the end of 1980s, the vest majority of distance education throughout the worlds was still primarily print-based. Technologies used for distance education are evolving from primarily ‘one-way† technologies and applications such as computer aided learning, computer based training and computer aided instruction, to more ‘two-way† technologies and applications such as computer mediated communications and computer conferencing systems for education. The significance of ‘two-way† technologies is that they allow foe interaction between participant and tutors, and perhaps even more significantly amongst participant themselves. This development has allowed and in some senses force researches to look more closely at the impact of educational environment, on the students learning experience. In the future, it is expected that the telecommunications-based technologies to become the primary means of delivery of distance teaching. The reasons for this are as follows: a much wider range of technologies are becoming more accessible to potential distance education participants the costs of technological delivery are dropping dramatically the technology is becoming easier to use for both tutors and learners the technology is becoming more powerful pedagogically education centers will find it increasingly difficult to resist the political and social pressures of the technological imperatives. The Emergence of Tele-education Radical changes in the computing infrastructure, spurred by multimedia computing and communication, will do more than extend the educational system, that is revolutionize it. Technological advances will make classrooms mush more accessible and effective. Today, classroom education dominates instruction from elementary school to graduate school. This method has remained popular for a very long time and will probably persist as the most common mode of education. However, classroom education has its problems, that is the effectiveness decline with increase in the number of students per class. Other pressures affect the instructors, many of whom are not experts in the material they must teach, are not good ‘performers† in class, or simply are not interested in teaching. The biggest limitation of the classroom instruction is that a class meets at a particular time in a particular place. This essentially requires all students and the instructors to collect in one spot for their specified period. But with the emerging technology, these problems can be overcome. Reasons for studying Tele-education The current Tele-education systems that have been applied in some countries are generally of multipoint transmission technique. It is found that, this kind of transmission technique having several problems or defects. Mostly, problems raised during the application of the system. One of the significant problems raised is that, for the multipoint transmission, the signals or information transmitted by the sender do not completely received by the receiver. This problem is might be due to error that occurs during the transmission of the signals or information. Another problem is lag of transmission. For this case, the signals or information transmitted do not arrive at all the receiver at the same time, for example, the question raised by the lecturer might not received by the students at the same time and this is not a good environment for Tele-education system. Some receiver receives the signals earlier than the others and some later or even not receives at all. Therefore, it is important to study the Tele-education technology from time to time to overcome these problems so that the Tele-education system could provide a more effective way of learning environment. In order to have a lecture from, for example, a very famous professor from other country would require him to come at our place. But the amount of money spent for paying him to give lecture would be very expensive and this also would cause troublesome for him. However, this problem can be solved with Tele-education system in which the professor does not need to go anywhere else to give his lecture. This would save a lot of expenses and time. Another reason is that, in normal classes the learning process would not be very effective if the number of students in a class is very big. This is because the lecturer alone can not coordinate such a large class. With Tele-education system, one lecturer could deliver his lecture to as many students as possible effectively in a way that a large number of students from different sites having the same lecture at once. The purpose of this research is to study the current Tele-education system that has been applied in some countries. This study covers the background of Tele-education; that is its definition, the publications of Tele-education; that is any papers that discuss about Tele-education as a whole, the performance of applied Tele-education, and also the technology of Tele-education; that is its network architecture. But the main purpose of this study is to understand the Tele-education system that have been applied in another country and try to implement it in our country. CCITT Committee Consultatif International Telegraphique et Telephonique ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network ISO International Standard Organization JAMES Joint ATM Experiment on European Services SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol TCP-IP Transmission Control Protocol – Internet Protocol Since Tele-education is a very new technology that is popularly discussed today, it is quite difficult for me to find any books that discuss about Tele-education from the library. Therefore, the easiest and the fastest way to gather information relating this project is via the Internet. I have surfed and found many interesting sites that discuss about Tele-education. Besides surfing, I also have contacted several people who are involved in this area, Tele-education, by e-mail . But unluckily, this does not really help because most of them did not reply. Besides using the Internet, I also get the information for this project from the IEEE Database at the library of Universiti Telekom. What is Tele-education? Before discussing about what Tele-education means, lets look at what distance learning is. This is because Tele-education and distance learning are very related to each other. Distance learning is the acquisition of skills and knowledge through electronic communications that allow student and instructor to be separate in either in time or space. The to distance learning is ‘asynchronous learning† which can be defined loosely as learning at different time. It is a highly flexible method of training because the sender and receiver do not need to be synchronized in space or time. But Tele-education is more than that of distance learning. In Tele-education, not only asynchronous but synchronous learning is also made possible. In other words, Tele-education is the evolution of distance learning. As stated before, asynchronous learning environment is not real-time environment. It is a self-study-based application and is accessed via the Internet to a server. The requirement to the student is only an ordinary PC with standard software and Internet access. This application is applicable for a large amount of users who can access the course independent of each other. The combination of the lecture-part, group-work-part, and self-study-part is another type of Tele-education learning environment, which is synchronous learning. It is a real-time environment. In this environment, students and lecturers can interact with each other simultaneously. Tele-education use the technology of video teleconferencing that allows two or more parties at different geographical area to interact with each other or to have learning process together. But people usually get confused whether video teleconferencing can be considered as Tele-education as well. Tele-education is actually different with video teleconferencing in a way that Tele-education usually involve a large number of people as compared to video teleconferencing, that is, it is in video teleconferencing many people use a single monitor to see other people at other area but in Tele-education, students have their own monitor that can be used not only to see their lecturer and colleagues but also to send and receive educational materials. Emergence of Tele-education Tele-education has a long history beginning with systems like that for teaching children in Australian Outback, the British Open University and other such organizations. These built on the idea of correspondence courses where course materials are sent periodically by post and augmented the experience with broadcasts either on radio or on TV. The problem of student isolation was addressed partially through techniques such as telephone access or two-way radio links with teachers. At the end of 1980s, the vest majority of distance education throughout the worlds was still primarily print-based. Technologies used for distance education are evolving from primarily ‘one-way† technologies and applications such as computer aided learning, computer based training and computer aided instruction, to more ‘two-way† technologies and applications such as computer mediated communications and computer conferencing systems for education. The significance of ‘two-way† technologies is that they allow foe interaction between participant and tutors, and perhaps even more significantly amongst participant themselves. This development has allowed and in some senses force researches to look more closely at the impact of educational environment, on the students learning experience. In the future, it is expected that the telecommunications-based technologies to become the primary means of delivery of distance teaching. The reasons for this are as follows: a much wider range of technologies are becoming more accessible to potential distance education participants the costs of technological delivery are dropping dramatically the technology is becoming easier to use for both tutors and learners the technology is becoming more powerful pedagogically education centers will find it increasingly difficult to resist the political and social pressures of the technological imperatives. The Emergence of Tele-education Radical changes in the computing infrastructure, spurred by multimedia computing and communication, will do more than extend the educational system, that is revolutionize it. Technological advances will make classrooms mush more accessible and effective. Today, classroom education dominates instruction from elementary school to graduate school. This method has remained popular for a very long time and will probably persist as the most common mode of education. However, classroom education has its problems, that is the effectiveness decline with increase in the number of students per class. Other pressures affect the instructors, many of whom are not experts in the material they must teach, are not good ‘performers† in class, or simply are not interested in teaching. The biggest limitation of the classroom instruction is that a class meets at a particular time in a particular place. This essentially requires all students and the instructors to collect in one spot for their specified period. But with the emerging technology, these problems can be overcome. Reasons for studying Tele-education The current Tele-education systems that have been applied in some countries are generally of multipoint transmission technique. It is found that, this kind of transmission technique having several problems or defects. Mostly, problems raised during the application of the system. One of the significant problems raised is that, for the multipoint transmission, the signals or information transmitted by the sender do not completely received by the receiver. This problem is might be due to error that occurs during the transmission of the signals or information. Another problem is lag of transmission. For this case, the signals or information transmitted do not arrive at all the receiver at the same time, for example, the question raised by the lecturer might not received by the students at the same time and this is not a good environment for Tele-education system. Some receiver receives the signals earlier than the others and some later or even not receives at all. Therefore, it is important to study the Tele-education technology from time to time to overcome these problems so that the Tele-education system could provide a more effective way of learning environment. In order to have a lecture from, for example, a very famous professor from other country would require him to come at our place. But the amount of money spent for paying him to give lecture would be very expensive and this also would cause troublesome for him. However, this problem can be solved with Tele-education system in which the professor does not need to go anywhere else to give his lecture. This would save a lot of expenses and time. Another reason is that, in normal classes the learning process would not be very effective if the number of students in a class is very big. This is because the lecturer alone can not coordinate such a large class. With Tele-education system, one lecturer could deliver his lecture to as many students as possible effectively in a way that a large number of students from different sites having the same lecture at once. The purpose of this research is to study the current Tele-education system that has been applied in some countries. This study covers the background of Tele-education; that is its definition, the publications of Tele-education; that is any papers that discuss about Tele-education as a whole, the performance of applied Tele-education, and also the technology of Tele-education; that is its network architecture. But the main purpose of this study is to understand the Tele-education system that have been applied in another country and try to implement it in our country. CCITT Committee Consultatif International Telegraphique et Telephonique ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network ISO International Standard Organization JAMES Joint ATM Experiment on European Services SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol TCP-IP Transmission Control Protocol – Internet Protocol Since Tele-education is a very new technology that is popularly discussed today, it is quite difficult for me to find any books that discuss about Tele-education from the library. Therefore, the easiest and the fastest way to gather information relating this project is via the Internet. I have surfed and found many interesting sites that discuss about Tele-education. Besides surfing, I also have contacted several people who are involved in this area, Tele-education, by e-mail . But unluckily, this does not really help because most of them did not reply. Besides using the Internet, I also get the information for this project from the IEEE Database at the library of Universiti Telekom. What is Tele-education? Before discussing about what Tele-education means, lets look at what distance learning is. This is because Tele-education and distance learning are very related to each other. Distance learning is the acquisition of skills and knowledge through electronic communications that allow student and instructor to be separate in either in time or space. The to distance learning is ‘asynchronous learning† which can be defined loosely as learning at different time. It is a highly flexible method of training because the sender and receiver do not need to be synchronized in space or time. But Tele-education is more than that of distance learning. In Tele-education, not only asynchronous but synchronous learning is also made possible. In other words, Tele-education is the evolution of distance learning. As stated before, asynchronous learning environment is not real-time environment. It is a self-study-based application and is accessed via the Internet to a server. The requirement to the student is only an ordinary PC with standard software and Internet access. This application is applicable for a large amount of users who can access the course independent of each other. The combination of the lecture-part, group-work-part, and self-study-part is another type of Tele-education learning environment, which is synchronous learning. It is a real-time environment. In this environment, students and lecturers can interact with each other simultaneously. Tele-education use the technology of video teleconferencing that allows two or more parties at different geographical area to interact with each other or to have learning process together. But people usually get confused whether video teleconferencing can be considered as Tele-education as well. Tele-education is actually different with video teleconferencing in a way that Tele-education usually involve a large number of people as compared to video teleconferencing, that is, it is in video teleconferencing many people use a single monitor to see other people at other area but in Tele-education, students have their own monitor that can be used not only to see their lecturer and colleagues but also to send and receive educational materials.

Game theory in online game market Essay

In Chinese online game market, there are two normal price strategies, Charging and Free. The Charging means that the customers need to pay for the game. They need to buy the game client or pay for the playing time (for example: RMB30 for 4000minits or RMB90 for 1month). The Free means that the customers can play the basic game for free. And they can buy some items in the shop on the official website or directly in the game store. The two players I picked for this analysis are World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.and a new launched online game from Beijing Perfect World Network Technology Co. , Ltd. Blizzard Entertainment is one of the best game producers all over the world. And the World of Warcraft is one of the three most famous game launched by Blizzard Entertainment. In number of simultaneous online players of World of Warcraft reached its peak on 2009 at about 13million players. This number decreased to about 10million in 2012. And now, based on the financial report from Blizzard Entertainment, this number is about 8million. Perfect World is one of the most famous game producers in China. They launched more than 15 online games not only in Chinese market, but also in oversea market such as Europe, North America, Russia and Australia. My topic is about that Perfect World wants to launch a new online game in Chinese market. And then Blizzard Entertainment will decide the price strategy for World of Warcraft. Both the two company has two price strategies, Charging and Free. The World of Warcraft now using the Charging price strategy. Because that when Blizzard Entertainment launched World of Warcraft, it was the best online game in the online game market. Now some of their customers go to play free games. But the World of Warcraft still being seen as has higher quality than any â€Å"Made in China† online games. Perfect World Blizzard EntertainmentPW: Free BE: FreePW: Charging BE: Free PW: Free BE: ChargingPW: Charging BE: Charging In the left top block, both the two company choose Free. In this case, more customers will choose Blizzard Entertainment’s game. At the same price, they will naturally choose the better one. But the Blizzard Entertainment’s profits will decline as they translate from Charging to Free. In the left bottom block, Blizzard Entertainment keep Charging and Perfect World choose Free. This situation is what happened in recent years. Some of their customers go to play free games. The Blizzard Entertainment will lose their customers and profits. In the right top block, Blizzard Entertainment changes its price strategy to Free but Perfect World chooses Charging. In this case, most of customers will choose Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. Because they can play higher quality game for free. In the right bottom block, both the two company choose Charging. In this situation, both of them will lose their profits. The customers will go to find other free games in the market. So l will evaluate the case as follow: Perfect World Blizzard EntertainmentPW: Free(4) BE: Free(5)PW: Charging(3) BE: Free(10) PW: Free(5) BE: Charging(6)PW: Charging(3) BE: Charging(3) So we can see that no matter Blizzard Entertainment choose Charging or Free, Perfect World will choose Free to get more profits. That means, in this Sequential Game, Perfect World has its domain option to choose Free. After Perfect World make its decision, Blizzard Entertainment will keep Charging to get more profits.

Human rights in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Human rights in China - Essay Example The proposed study thus adopts the hermeneutical design of research not only because it promises a high degree of objectivity but also because it is considered the most appropriate methodology for a study of the social sciences. Empirical evidence will be gathered, interpreted and analyzed to disprove or confirm prior conceptions (Schostak, 2002) about the prevalence of human rights abuses in China. Hermeneutics is the art or science of interpretation, which is often used in the interpretation of biblical passages and their applications on day-to-day living. In the same manner, research using the hermeneutical approach describes the practical problem, the processes of data collection and analysis as well as its interpretation and application. When a study asks what something means, the hermeneutically designed research focuses on the entire context within which it happens. Hermeneutics requires that in reading a text, examining a word or phrase will not make sense if the reading does not consider the whole text of which the word or phrase is a part. The â€Å"whole† may be a hospital and the â€Å"part† could be a waterborne or maternity clinic, in which case the relevant study must discuss how the specialized clinic and the hospital as a general treatment center relate to each other. Thus, the proposed research on human rights in China examines how the parts arti culate the whole, and how the whole makes the parts possible and vice versa. The parts here refer to specific instances of human rights violations within China, which will be studied and interpreted according to their place in the overall picture. China is equated with arbitrary detentions, lack of legal safeguards to ensure fair trial, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, lack of religious freedom and human rights violations specific to women. This unsavory image of China has been established through the years not only by

Introduction to Discrete Event Dynamic Systems Research Paper

Introduction to Discrete Event Dynamic Systems - Research Paper Example It is evident that the deterministic expression in automata is just mere regular languages. From the article, there is the need to illustrate impacting on the feedback. These entail observability, stability, and invertibility. The inclusions are parameters used to define the characteristics of the language. This section addresses the determination of current states of the system. Particularly, there is an interest regarding the observable events in relation with the state of DEDS automaton. In reference with the definition of the term observability, there is the concentration of the intermittent observation of the model, among other inclusions. We will only concentrate with the events under P U ∑ and not the events in ∑ ∠© á ¿â€º. In the observation process, it is difficult to understand or identify when these occur. However, it is crucial to identify where to resolve the intervals of events to bring out a basis for identification the bounders. There is also development of state ambiguity where ∑ is not equal to á ¿â€º. To illustrate this state of observability, we need to extend graphically draw the inclusions. Below is an illustration of the graph. We can depict that the output is stabilized if the observer’s state, denoted by E is the subset of E. This is a guarantee that the system is within E. The compensator should therefore ensure that there is correspondence between the observer and the subset E within the finite á ½ · in reference with the observable transitions. The formalization of output stability is as follows: This section expounds on inevitability. The problem concerning inevitability arises from the notion that DEDS is an observable system. This means that seeing these events does not really imply that the events will happen. This requires restructuring the whole sequence of the output. This is a section that needs emphasis to solve the inevitability of the problem. This will facilitate the calculation of the performance

Dissertation Weekly Progress Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dissertation Weekly Progress Report - Coursework Example The article by Pairavinta & Saebo (2008) explained on how a form of e-governance, the electronic voting system, had supported democracy in 1970 in the US in an â€Å"electronic town hall meeting†. I spent 3 hours reading on Oman’s e-government systems. After having 2 hours of wild goose chase, I landed on material detailing Oman’s progress towards e-governance. The article â€Å"Use and Impact of ICT on SMEs in Oman† by Ashrafi and Murtaza (2008) from Emerald database gave me a relief as it was spot on. This article details the country’s investment in ICT infrastructure and the developments made thus far in establishing e-government systems in Oman. I spent 4 hours writing up the introduction to chapter 1, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. I feel the information covered in these sections is satisfactory but I will evaluate the content covered when I compile the report. I spent the next 6 hours formulating and writing up sections 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6. I knew the research questions determined the direction of the whole project and I took my time in framing these questions. Moreover, I observed great detail in formulating my objectives to ensure complete objectivity, and this part consumed a third of the time. Finally, I wrote up the sections to complete chapter 1. I spent 3 hours reading on various applications of e-government systems. I obtain two articles, â€Å"International Technical Standards for e-Government† by Borra (2004) from Emerald database; and the other, â€Å"Critical Factors in the Adoption and Diffusion of E-government Initiatives in Oman† by Alshihi (2006) from Victoria university database. Borras (2004, pp. 75 – 76), and AlShihi (2006, pp. 8 – 15) articles explain the various transactions that governments engage. They explain that Transactions for e-government may take the form of citizen-to-government (C2G), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-employee (G2E) or government-to-government (G2G) transactions. Al

Planning Your Visit Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Planning Your Visit - Research Paper Example In the following parts of this paper, serious health ramifications have been described and highlighted as well. It is followed by personal experience part where the personal observation has been provided. Before the conclusion part, legislative authority and meeting with the legislative authority has been included. All types of cancer can be caused by smoking. In the United States, 9 out of 10 smokers first tried cigarettes by the age of 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1994; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012; Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 2009); and around 3,200 individuals below the age of 18 smoke first cigarette (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014); more seriously smokeless cigarette and hookah are becoming popular in middle and high school students (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Smoking in the earlier stage of life may not highlight severe effects at the initial stage of smoking especially for the youth. However, with the passage of time, smoking starts to show its effect on internal body functions and body activities. At the same time, the chances of asthma and other breathing problems cannot be also ruled out as it is difficult to ascertain and predict the likely potential hazardous effects of smoking on human body. Subsequently, in the long run, chances of other physical, psychological complications cannot be avoided. With my personal experience, I can surely say that smoking puts devastating effects on the entire family fabric in which every family member is affected. In my neighborhood, one family’s teenager used to smoke cigarettes. And his parents always remained worried about him. More often, I used to hear family problems and other issues. In other words, this unfriendly relation was mainly caused by the smoking habit of the teenager. More

Macro Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Macro Economics - Essay Example b) In an economy with a fixed exchange rate, the government or the central bank interfere through buying and selling of foreign currency to maintain a fixed exchange rate. However, a continuing current account deficit may propel the central bank to devalue the currency. The managed exchange rate regime of China is not a floating one. In spite of the huge current account surplus of China, the government and the central bank of China have not allowed the exchange rate of Chinese â€Å"yuan† to appreciate in spite of the upward pressure on the currency. 2. The BP or â€Å"FE† curve was first given by Robert Mundell of Columbia University and Marcus Fleming of the International Monetary fund. This curve explains the effect of monetary policy and fiscal policy on the exchange rate of an open economy. According to the BP curve analysis, an increase in government spending or fiscal expansion leads to an increase in output, an increase in interest rate, an appreciation in the f oreign exchange rate and vice-versa. Similarly a monetary contraction leads to a decrease in output, increase in interest rate and appreciation in the exchange rate.

Political Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Political Organization - Essay Example It could be said that there are two structures with regards to organizational politics. One of it is more oriented to the organization’s needs as a whole, while the other focuses on the needs of the individuals within the organization. The former is called the Theory X form, while the latter is called the Theory Y form. Velazquez pointed that a â€Å"group may genuinely believe that X is in the best interest of both the organization and itself, whereas the person may genuinely believe instead that Y, which conflicts with X, is what is in the best interest of the organization† (p.485). One structure is very rigid and is aimed toward group progress more than individual development, while the other foregoes group progress for the sake of the development and welfare of individual persons within the organization. The problems raised from organizational politics are usually found in the various methods of political tactics done to meet a group’s or individuals’ objectives for the organization, and also at times out of self-interest. Velazquez posited that â€Å"the fact that political tactics are usually covert means that they can be easily become deceptive or manipulative† (P.485). The issue of trust will always be a constant problem in organizational politics. Many times, power groups within an organization would have their credibility held in question. It cannot be helped that sometimes selfish interests get ahead of professional individuals or groups. This would result to distrust among people within the organization. To remedy this, steps must be taken to make actions more transparent; thus, gaining confidence among those within the

Evaluating Civil Engineering in Modern Day Technology as a Career Path Research Paper

Evaluating Civil Engineering in Modern Day Technology as a Career Path - Research Paper Example Civil engineers are analytical thinkers and are more comfortable dealing with concrete facts. When presented with a problem, they like to solve it. I have selected Civil engineering because of its importance in the everyday life and the solutions it gives to the various problems being faced by human beings on Earth which have originated due to the scarcity of resources. Selecting Civil engineering as a profession directly influences the every day life of individuals as the impacts of the environmental issues, the problems due to rapid urbanization and limited resources are equally evident to each and every individual of the society and every individual of the society is equally responsible for solving these issues however, a Civil engineer is in a much better position to propose solutions to these problems and thus he can become an effective member of the society. After selecting this profession an individual does not remain a mere spectator of the problems faced by mankind but can t hink about various different solution available to solve the issues resulting in a remarkable change in the everyday life of the individual who selects civil engineering as a profession. ... For example, only a Civil engineer can think about recycling waste water in Qatar as a solution to water scarcity, a Civil engineer can propose the mechanism to make earthquake resistant buildings in Tokyo, a Civil engineer can propose the mechanism to limit the discharge from industries to conserve air quality in Bombay, a Civil engineer can propose the use of micro-hydro potential of waters in China as a solution to energy crisis, a Civil engineer can propose damping mechanism to limit the vibrations of Millennium bridge in London; in short a Civil engineer sees things differently from other individuals of the society and can provide solutions to the problems which are affecting the everyday life of human beings. Civil engineers design facilities to improve the quality of life of people in the whole world. The various tasks which civil engineers do for improving the quality of life include designing and construction of railways, roadways and bridges to ease traffic congestion, meet ing the increasing energy needs of the world through providing various new non-conventional solutions for power generation and the planning and development of urban areas; all these works are related to the everyday life of individuals living on this planet. Goals and Objectives for a Civil Engineer Civil engineering is a very vast field and has many sub-disciplines as well as interdisciplinary fields. Studying Civil engineering at undergraduate level will allow me to get an understanding of the various sub-disciplines of this field and thus after studying the civil engineering for a few years I will be in a better position to specify my goals and objectives.

Effectiveness of United Nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Effectiveness of United Nations - Essay Example The effectiveness of United Nations in the War against Terror was pivotal as far the out breaking of a wider conflict is concerned, but its role as a free global organization was widely questioned because of American influence on the Security Council’s resolutions. Apart from the diplomatic pressures exercised on the member states to achieve unanimity of stance against an enemy quite vague and unknown until nine-eleven, the war against terror and al Qaeda was instigated at quite large scale. The Afghanistan was declared as the chief suspect of the al Qaeda and its leadership hideout and safe heaven. However, today after about ten years of all-out efforts to eliminate al Qaeda and terrorism, which are more often than not taken as synonyms, the war against terror could not meet a successful end. Thus, has raised several questions on the effectiveness of Security Council’s resolutions for the use of power in the region. This is what official US reports suggests, â€Å"By early 2011, senior leaders, including the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General David Petraeus, were pointing to discrete progress on the ground, though noting that such progress was still â€Å"fragile and reversible†.The war against terror despite its enormous support from member states in the Security Council has challenged the effectiveness of UN to avoid such a prolonged war. The worst side of this crisis is the absence of a declared result and measureable success in terms of international peace, security and stability.  ... United Nations has tackled raging and roaring national sentiments and channelized them to achieve the objectives of global peace and security to some extend if not to a desirable level. The effectiveness of United Nations in the War against Terror was pivotal as far the out breaking of a wider conflict is concerned, but its role as a free global organization was widely questioned because of American influence on the Security Council’s resolutions. Apart from the diplomatic pressures exercised on the member states to achieve unanimity of stance against an enemy quite vague and unknown until nine-eleven, the war against terror and al Qaeda was instigated at quite large scale. The Afghanistan was declared as the chief suspect of the al Qaeda and its leadership hideout and safe heaven. However, today after about ten years of all-out efforts to eliminate al Qaeda and terrorism, which are more often than not taken as synonyms, the war against terror could not meet a successful end. Thus, has raised several questions on the effectiveness of Security Council’s resolutions for the use of power in the region. This is what official US reports suggests, â€Å"By early 2011, senior leaders, including the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General David Petraeus, were pointing to discrete progress on the ground, though noting that such progress was still â€Å"fragile and reversible†.† (Dale, 2011). The war against terror despite its enormous support from member states in the Security Council has challenged the effectiveness of UN to avoid such a prolonged war. The worst side of this crisis is the absence of a declared result and measureable success in terms of international peace, security and stability. The proclaimed

Reflection on Placebo Effect Essay Example for Free

Reflection on Placebo Effect Essay Does a Supportive Patient-Therapist Relationship Enhance Clinical Improvement? Kaptchuk (2008), Components of Placebo Effect: Randomised Controlled Trial in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. (PRO) Argument 1: Kaptchuk (2008) suggested that placebo effects (non-specific effects) include three components: a patient’s response to observation and assessment, the patient’s response to the administration of placebo treatment, and the patient’s response to the patient-practitioner interaction. Kaptchuk (2008) found that the symptoms of IBS patients in the condition with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship ameliorated the most across all measures compared to patients with having only observation and the patients with only placebo treatment. Thus he claimed that a supportive patient-therapist relationship is the most potent component of placebo effects. Argument 2: After three and six weeks, only in the condition with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship, the symptom severity score of 60% patients decreased 50. Also Kaptchuk (2008) found that after six weeks, the change in life quality of patient in condition with only observation and the life quality of patient in condition with placebo treatment was similar, but the life quality change of patient with placebo treatment and supportive patient-therapist relationship was observable. So Kaptchuk (2008) suggested that a supportive patient-therapist relationship can enhance clinical improvement. Argument 3: Kaptchuk (2008) also compared these IBS patients to the patients who received IBS drug treatment. He found that the patients with placebo treatment and supportive relationship had comparable symptom relief as those who with drug treatment. His finding was only applied to IBS patients with supportive patient-therapist relationship, thus he indicated that a supportive patient-therapist relationship could enhance the efficiency of clinical treatment. Critique (or Strength): The result of the study done by Kaptchuk (2008) clearly demonstrated the importance of supportive patient-therapist relationship in medical treatment. However, Kaptchuk conducted the study on IBS patients, because he believed that placebo effects are most likely to be demonstrable in disorders defined by subjective symptoms. As Kaptchuk (2008) stated in limitation that he did not know if his finding could be applied to other illnesses, I also think that if Kaptchuk conducted his study on patients with the disease that has external causes, the results will be more convincing. One of important causes of IBS is stress, a subjective etiology. Thus a supportive patient-therapist relationship may have greater influence on IBS patient than the patient with other diseases, like flu.

Regarding Facts as Truth

Regarding Facts as Truth In order to address the specific question, first, the word fact needs to be defined. Often associated with information and knowledge, a fact is a truth that has been verified and is supported by objective evidence. This being said, facts are limited by the scope of human ability and reality. Therefore, factual disputes can occur and will examined within the areas of knowledge of art and history. Regarding facts as a truth, individuals can mention the theory of relativism which states that there is no absolute truth, so truth is considered relative to culture or the individual; essentially, what is considered true for some, is considered false for others. Therefore, relativism allows both views to be valid. On the other hand, some can argue that truth is considered what an individual believes to be true. It is the use of our judgement, which stems from reason, that ultimately allows us to reach a conclusion. Therefore, facts as an aspect of truth can be subject to disputes; even if the facts are clear, judgements may differ based on reason, emotion, sense perception, and language. This leads to the knowledge question, to what extent is reason reliable in obtaining knowledge in history? History is the study of present evidence of the past. Using primary or secondary sources, historians try to understand the past using these records. In history class, different historians perspectives are examined on one specific event. For example, regarding German foreign policy, intentionalist historian Hugh Trevor- Roper stated Hitler was a man of ideas that had clear strategic objectives in foreign policy and war. On the other hand, structuralist AJP Taylor argued Hitlers foreign policies were essentially a continuation of imperial German motives and aimed to overturn the terms of the Versailles Treaty. These two historians can have differing views since they use reason to reach a different conclusion. Therefore, it is the methodology of history as an area of knowledge which requires the use of reason by which individuals not only analyze and construct their own ideas, but also, in which people can collectively create meaning by exchanging and improving these ideas. It is through reason that the legitimacy of knowledge claims can be questioned and answered. When disagreements occur, not only do the facts and subject of the matter need to be questioned, the evidence which allow facts to be accepted or valid need to be questioned. As individuals seek to determine the validity of facts, other issues will arise, such as reliability, and will allow them to consider the purpose of analysis in the framework of history and the issue of truth defined in the context of history. The interpretations and perspectives of individuals based on their process of reason will invite analysis. In one case, Historian R.G Collingwood (1889-1943) drew attention to the importance of going beyond the study of the actual historical event and understanding the motives and reasons behind those involved to understand the event as a whole.[1] This involves using emotion, imagination, and reason in order to evaluate the actions and thought process behind an event. However, if may difficult to sympathize with certain events or historical figures like Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.; this may cause an overload of emotion and instead cause social bias. Poor ability to reason can cause ignorance and prejudice, which in certain cases in the methodology of history, can be a limitation. A counterclaim to this is that reason is limited to the human ability and therefore, there may be certain things we, as humans, do not have the capacity to comprehend. Another way of knowing that comes into mind when mentioning reason, is language. So, to what extent do reason and language work together to achieve certainty in history? As the framework of history depends on language and the communication of information, we need to understand the meaning of language before truth can be analyzed. In history class, our class held a discussion in which we discussed the demands of the French revolutionaries which were satisfied by 1794. Depending on how the word, demand, was interpreted, students came up with different responses. For example, I interpreted the word demand as the social, intellectual, economic, and religious goals of the revolutionaries. Therefore, different people reason the meaning of language differently which can cause disagreement despite access to the same facts. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are aspects of truth that cannot be described adequately with language. Moving on to the second area of knowledge, art, is focused on sense perception and emotion. We can call something art because the intentions of the artist are known; something is a work of art if the maker intended it to evoke an aesthetic response. We can call something art as the intentions of the artist are known and was intended to evoke some sort of response. Another individual can call something art by assessing the quality of the work. According to the methodology of art, art relies upon the personal knowledge of the artist and is meant to interact with the audience on an emotional level. Therefore, art and the response to art may change over time and differ between individuals because art relies on sense perception and emotion as ways of knowing. Therefore, it is accepted that there are certain standards to judge art by, but different people have different tastes based on their perceptions and emotions towards a specific piece of art. This leads to the knowledge question, to what extent are sense perception and emotion reliable in interpreting reality in the arts? Upon viewing Jackson Pollocks Convergence painting, I personally thought the painting looked like a child could have painted it, but my sister loved the painting. For both my sister and I, we first used our sense perception and based on these senses, we constructed a basic understanding and meaning of what we were seeing. This was affected by the emotions that were sparked from what we sensed. EssentiallyÂÂ ¸ we were using our perception and emotion to understand what we were sensing. From this basic understanding, we built on it by drawing on past experiences or encounters. Therefore, based on these aspects, it is possible that my sister and I could reach different conclusions on how this piece of art was viewed. In this way, depending on the response evoked by each individual, art can influence our views and perceptions of the world. This can lead to confirmation bias and willful ignorance as we tend to favour the interpretation that coincides with our own interests and experiences. However, the emotions that are provoked can influence decisions and actions and it may challenge us to question our assumptions. A counterclaim is that despite the different perspectives and emotions that are evoked, truth is not guaranteed. Despite the interpretations and the response of the individual, the certainty of truth is not whole. Therefore, it is possible that experts within a discipline can disagree despite having access to the same facts as seen in history and the arts. These facts are reliant upon reason, sense perception, emotion, and language. I view disagreements similarly to perspectives; according to the cubist theory of truth, the more perspectives you have, the closer you are to the truth. Even though truth can vary with perspective, this does not mean there is no truth at all. In fact, different views can enrich our understanding of the truth and different interpretations give meaning to the facts. Furthermore, this allows us to avoid the error of dogmatism, mistaking a half- truth for the truth, as well as the error of relativism. [1] Boucher, D., 1989, The Social and Political Thought of R. G. Collingwood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Safety And Security And The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Safety And Security And The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay Introduction and Background of the Study Safety and security plays a big role in this century. Everyone is concerning about their safety and security when they are staying in the hotel during vacation. In the worldwide hotel industry, the management too concern about safety and security issues pertaining on their guests and employees. In the hospitality industry, they are proud of themselves because they are known friendly to everyone in such way of attitude in welcoming their customers or guests. Therefore, they should practice and maintain the concept of a home-from-home with their open-door approach with comfort, convenience and privacy to their guests (Gill, Moon, Seaman Turbin, 2002). After the disasters such as terrorist attack at Luxor Egypt in 1992 and 1993, 852 passengers died on the shipwreck of Estonia in Baltic Sea on 28th September 1994, Iraq war terror attack of September 11, 2001 in New York, United States, the SARS epidemic in 2003, Tsunami disaster on 26th December 2004 in Thailand and Bali bombings, the need for safety and security around the world is growing and the topic of safety and security has become a popular discussion among the people in the world. Besides, most of the hotels have now implemented a safety and security plan as well as quality plan such as providing training for the employees and guests safety and security (Steene, 2009, Lockyer, 2007 and Helena Natasa, 2010). The hotel management has separated the hotel safety into two broad categories which are safety and security. The management categorized safety as in the services provided, also included the construction of the hotel interior designed whereby making sure they are safe built for the employees to work in and in-house guests. However, security in hotel related to threats that set by people than setting by the physical surroundings, which means it depends on the person who set the security danger that cannot be predict (Policy Department, 2008). Based on Enz (2009) personal definition on safety and security, she defined safety as protecting guests safety, while keeping guests property safe will be included in the security definition. In other words, according to Enz and Masako (2002), safety involves in protecting employees and guests while in the hotel area from serious injured and death. In terms of safety, it can be further categorized by various aspects such as fire safety and others aspects of hotel safety. As for hotel safety, it includes food safety, swimming pool safety and not forgetting the hotels property safety such as crime safety (Policy Department, 2008). Problem Statements Training safety and security measures is important to the hospitality industry whereby without the important of measures, the hospitality and tourim industry will not have boom so fast. This is because everyone take their life as precious as gold. Unfortunately nowaday, hotels only used of the tecnology safety and security system to protect their guest. They should have also used of training method and procedures to train their employees and educate guest as a precautions for accidents to happen. Morever, the hospitality should be more concern on which aspects that will have a high rate of accidents happen in the daily rountine. However, why training is crucial for the hospitality industry to look upon on? What are the ways that the hospitality industry able to use to train their employees and guests to keep safe from danger? Which aspects must they concerned on? Research Objectives The intention of this research is done to determine employee safety and security training and education for guests do helps to minimize the safety and security issues in the hospitality industry. This research is carried out to achieve several objectives in the following below: To determined the importance of training safety and security. To determined the ways that the hotels implement to train their employees and educate guests on safety and security to feel secure and comfortable while in the hotel. To identify the factors that the hotels will look into concern and train employees and educate guest to prevent these issues to happen. Research Questions This study is attempted answer the research questions in the following below: Why it is importance of training safety and security? What are the ways that the hotel implements to train their employees and educate their guests on the safety and security? What are the factors that the hotels will look into concern and train employees and educate guest to prevent these issues to happen? Hypothesis Statement The hypothesis in this research will be done based on the value of the population which the hypothesis statement will be related to the importance of training safety and security does lower the percentage of safety and security issues. In this hypothesis research, the author has used a statement which will give less bad effect on the result. Ho = There is no significance between the importance of training safety and security will lower the percentage of safety and security and have no effect on safety and security issues. H1 = There is a significance between the importance of training safety and security will lower the percentage of safety and security and have no effect on safety and security issues. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework The importance of training safety and security on employees and guests Importance of training safety and security Training the employees on safety and security Ways and factors to concerned on Fire safety Accident and private safety Educating guests on safety and security Crime safety and security Figure 1.1 A conceptual framework on the importance of training safety and security on employees and guests in the hotel industry. Basically the above figure shows about this research will be focusing on several facts and facts such as the aspects that the hotel should be more concerned on by implementing ways to protect them. Before the author determined the aspects and ways on protecting the employees and guests safety, the author would like to explain on the importance of training safety and security on employees and guests and not just relying on the safety and security features such as CCTV and others more. As for the aspects for the hotel to be concerned on will be the fire safety, accident and private safety and crime safety and security. These aspects should be concerned on because they will happen in our daily life. Fire is a phenomena aspect which we cannot predict to happen, thus it is important for the hospitality to train the employees and guests on ways to overcome it when it happens. As for accidents and private safety, if the employees and guest are teach to prevent them to happen, the rate of accidents will be lower down. For example, housekeepers should be trained in a right way to clean the room with safety measures. Crime happens almost every day in our life, thus the hotel should also take in precautions even though there are security police and officers. For example, the hotel needs to train employees on ways to not fall into the criminal traps when they suspected suspicious people wondering in the hotels. Significance of the Study Training employees and educate in-house guests in order to keep themselves safe and secure is a very important elements in the hospitality and tourism industry nowadays. With the training of safety and security, they will reach the employees and guests satisfaction where they will feel safe just like they are in their own house. In the mean time, it will also increase the attention from the outsiders and travelers if they know the hotel manage well in safety and security matters, thus this will brings benefits to the hotel when they need more manpower and increase the economy and status of the hotel. The author had recognized the types of training methods for employees and guests to follow to overcome the negative factors which will make them feel safer while being in the hotel at anytime and anywhere. Moreover, the effects of these method used will minimize the safety and security issues. This research will help the organizations in the hospitality industry to understand the purpose of training safety and security will benefit the employees and travelers. This will also benefit the hotel as they practice and applying on the employees and guests to manage and improve the safety and security measures. Scope and Limitation Basically, this research is mainly focusing on the method that the hotels management uses to train their employees and educates their in-house guests in order to keep them safe and secure, also help to reduce negative issues that will happened in the hotel and the surrounding. Hotels keep them safe and secure in terms of avoiding injuries and death on the employees and guests when there are accidents, crime and fire. However, there are several limitations related to this study have occurred in order to complete this research successfully. Firstly, it will be the availability to search for secondary data, the electronic sources. The author has faced some difficulties in searching additional information and electronic articles and journals from the websites that related to training safety and security for employees and educating guests when being in the hotel. Even though, the respective college university has provided several sources for the author like academic websites but there are still lack of sources for the author to collect more information because some of the journals and information need to be purchased before consume. Moreover, the author had faced some challenges because of lacking experience and knowledge in conducting a proposal. It is a great challenge when the author does not have sufficient experience and the skills to collect strong and good data for this research. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction In this chapter, it will contains the finding of the authors had done research regarding on the important of training the employees and educate the guests, also several ways to train the employees and educate guests to keep safe while they are in the hotel. Besides, it will also include the factors where the hotel will be more concern on and avoid injuries happened. As for the previous researchers findings and theories, they will be used as supporting information also ensuring that the methods and factors will be focusing on will help in this research. Moreover, all information and data that have been gathered for this research are from various secondary data sources such as electronic articles and journals. 2.2 Importance of training for safety and security The word training is means by giving a person the actual and enough information to him or her needed in order to work safely. It is not crucial that training need to have a formal class session or seminars and courses for the employees to attend. In this generation, there are various aspects that make the hotel successful whereby these aspects are health, safety and sustainability of the attractions business (Williams 2008). According to Pitt (2007), in United Kingdom, there are about more than 30 million of working days lost in each year due to employees health sickness and seven million are because of employee injured in the working place. Every year, there are more than a million of employees suffering from bully while working by their own colleagues or public. Therefore, in order to reduce the number of workplace injury and others factors, training employees and guests to keep themselves safe while working and staying in the hotel are crucial. Based on the research by Health and Safety in the Catering Industry Liaison Committee, there is a legal law to provide information and training regarding to health and safety aspects to all employees who are needed (http://www.hse.gov.uk). 2.3 Training employees Weitze (2008) noted that if the hotel management is lacking of employees training, lack of maintaining the policies and procedures and lastly lacking of prevention, these will all lead to a safety related incident. Thus, it is important to train the employees from the hotel itself first before to educate the guests. Moreover, the staffs of Shangri-la Hotel are the first people who will interact with the guests once they step into the hotel. It does not matter they are from which department of the hotel, as long they are Shangri-la Hotel employees such as bell boy, front desk staffs, housekeepers and more, the employees are responsible to create a culture of safety and professionalism to keep themselves safe and keeping the guest safety and security as well (Kwiecinski, 2010). Therefore, it is crucial for the management to train every employee to be able to face to face in any accidents such as fire, police and other emergency services people so that they may help out if that is a need (William, 2008). Based on a health and safety manager, Duncan Aspin, he had stated that managers need to shape up health and safety training policy for ensuring every employee have sufficient training on safety and security issues to reduce accident (Mottram, 2005). For an example, according to Mottram (2005), providing program regarding on staff development and safety training has given a hand to North-West division of Birse Civil to achieve zero percent accident rate, which is also the top 1 company in UK as construction industry for safety. Therefore, training employees not only will help to save their lives but also help Shangri-la Hotel to rise up hotel status. 2.4 Educating guests Besides Shangri-la Hotel train their employees to keep themselves safe and implementing safety and security features for the guest safety, it is also important for them to train their in-house guests to take care of themselves as well. In general, everyone who travels around and look for accommodations would expect they will be safe and their property will be secure leaving them in the hotel while they are out for travel. However, sometimes it is hard to predict that guest will be safe by just depending on the hotels safety and security features, thus the guests should also learn how to protect themselves away from crimes, accidents and fire. According to the research by Mottram (2005), in the year of 2003, 80 people who include the guests and employees of Birse Civils have attended the safety management and courses. In result, the company has recorded as zero accidents occur within the company area. 2.5 Ways and factors that will be concerned on 2.5.1 Fire Safety Fire accident is an accident whereby we cannot predict when to happen and when not to happen. Even if there is a fire, the guests might not know how to handle because they are not aware of it. Therefore, the hotel management should take precautions on handling the safety of their employees and guests. For example, sometimes foreign in-house guests might have slow respond to the evacuation alarms when it rings because they do not have an understanding situation in the local hotel (Roberts Chan, 2000). According to Helena Natasa (2010), in order to protect guest safety, the management of the hotel needs to educate guest by providing instructions, labels and reminders which related to fire preventions. The purpose of implement this so that guests will not be panic and nervous when there is fire accident, in fact they will stay calm and know the way to leave the hotel building safely. Throughout the research, as for the fire precautions to protect the guest and employees safety, Shareton Hotel did the best in training their employees to handle fire incident in order to save their life and the guest life too. They provide full induction and training for all hotel staffs on working safe procedures and responses which relate to fire. Besides, new personnel will be trained to use types of extinguishers and taught them ways to handle when the hotel is on fire (Roberts Chan, 2000). 2.5.2 Accidents and Private Safety In the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), it has stated in 1970 that each working people either man or woman in the nation need to have a safe and healthful working conditions which also means that without having any injuries during the working period (Hobson, 1996). In the hospitality industry, it is important for the hoteliers to look into this aspect because accident can happen in the hotel easily at anytime and anywhere on the employees and guests. In the research by Mottram (2005), the company of Birse Civils does provide training to their employees which included first-aid training. This training is to ensure that their employees are qualified to the Health and Safety Regulation 1981, which need four days training at St John Ambulance premises. Thus, as for all hospitality industry, the management should provide training like this as a protection to their employees and guests safety. In addition, in certain time, housekeeping department has a high percentage of causing accidents when the housekeepers do not handled dangerous chemicals in a proper way and practicing unhealthy poses while cleaning the rooms. Due to they are dealing with dangerous hazardous chemicals which will affect their health and life, safety and security training and orientation are important and should be practice in the housekeeping department even though the housekeepers did not handle any machinery. As an example, Wyswert hotel does provide training and information for the housekeepers on what they are supposed and not supposed to do (Kristanti Kuhn, 2005). However, sometimes it is a part of the employees jobs to protect the in-house guests safety. Leong (2000) has stated that the entire employees need to be trained so that they know about the security procedures to follow on which will be helpful for the guests. Thus, training employees is important especially when the front desks agent is dealing with the arrival guests room key. According to Kristanti Kuhn (2005) and Woods, Ninemeier, Hayes Austin (2007), they have mentioned that front desk agents are not allowed to give out keys, room numbers, messages and mail to anyone from the requester without the owners of the room real identity. Also, during the process when the front desk agent passes the room key to the guest, they should not announce the guests room number out in the public. In addition, restaurant staffs also play a role in keeping the guests safety and security whereby they need to keep their customers property in secure when they are having their meals in the respective restaurant. The restaurant manager needs to train the server to be more alert on the customer belongings (Kristanti Kuhn, 2005). 2.5.3 Crime Safety and Security Nowadays, violent crime in the workplace has become a world issue that everyone will concern. Therefore, it is now has become a problem to the hospitality industry that they will be facing and this problem is increasing in other countries (Hobson, 1996). After the incident of a popular singer was raped with a knife pointed at her in Long Island motel, the issues of security become a serious issue to all hotels in the United States (Leong, 2000). Therefore, hotels have aware of crime issues and security system and start practicing crime management (Gill, Moon, Seaman Turbin, 2002). Crime in the workplace has generally separated into different categories such as robbery and other commercial crimes, employer or other employee direct situations and terrorism. In order to minimize the rate of violence crime in the hospitality industry, the management can strengthen the manager and supervisors security skills and ways to use first aids. It is important for both of them to be expert in managing these securities because they are the one will handle the problems when there is a problem. For example of a case that happened in Pasadena, Texas in 1977, the manger of the hotel did not help the victim because of lacking of security knowledge (Hobson, 1996). Besides training the higher level of management, training the front line employees is needed too so that they will have the knowledge on handling it. The management of the hotel can give training such as smile training which known as dont look them in the eyes training to teach the employees so that they will be more prepare and calm when there is a situation occur. A clear and understandable instruction should be given in order to avoid fighting when there is a robbery (Hobson, 1996). Under the research that has been done by Shellum (2002), several hotels have taken action to strengthen the security issues. They have improved their security-guards training and then evaluate them by standard operating procedures so that it is constant. Research has shown that awareness is the most important tools in order to take care of safety, thus the example of the hotel has done show the right way of training the employees (Helena Natasa, 2010). Thus, they have increased the staff-awareness by giving them more training instead of hiring security guards (http://www.hotelasiapacific.com). CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction In this chapter, the author will be describing about the research methodology which will be using to collect data for this research and seeing how the data will reach the research objectives. With the used of this research methodology by following the structure of guidelines, it will help the author to collect reliable and trustable results for the research. In order to test the results for this research, qualitative and quantitative methods will be used as a support with one another and the outcome of the results will be accurate in this research. 3.2 Research Design Qualitative methods is used for this research whereby it will be rely more upon interviews sessions and some case studies research dealing with some small numbers of people. The author will collect the data and information by targeting to interview the people in Shangri-la Hotel on how they train their staffs and guests to keep themselves safe while being in the hotel. The author would plan to interview the managers based on one on one basis so that more information included own opinions and thoughts will be given by themselves. The interview questionnaire will be set and ask based on the related questions stated in Chapter 1. The progress of doing interview session with the respondent will basically starts with creating the interview questionnaires and scripts that have related to this research. After the progress of preparing the questionnaire that will be asked to the respondent, setting and conducting a direct test steps will be taken for the interview session. After all, the last section of the process will be the author interview the respondent in one on one basis. Quantitative method is another part of research methodology that will be used to collect information from the respondent. This research method will have less interview sessions and observation. However, it is more towards on the collections of the data and analyzes the numerical data and statistic. For this research, survey technique will be used by creating a survey questionnaire for the respondent, which is the guest in Shangri-la Hotel. This is done in order for the author to have more understanding on this research. 3.3 Data Collection In this research, there are two types of data collected that has been used for this study which are the primary data and secondary data. The combination of these two data collection may be useful and able to show accurate results which will help the author to do for this research. 3.3.1 Primary Data In this research, primary data is important for the researchers to collect data because the information that collected is direct from the respondent itself. Therefore, it will be much more accurate. However, this method that will be used requires more time, cost and energy to complete. Thus, the author needs to spend more effort in order to collect great information and data. The primary data for this research will be collecting through one on one interview and questionnaire survey. Firstly, the author will be only target the manager of each department in Shangri-la Hotel to collect information and data which relate to this research. The respondent that will be interviewed will be at least at the manager level; therefore the results taken will be more useful and reliable. The interview questionnaire will be asked will more base on the ways and the factors of safety and security issues will be focusing on. The purpose of using interview method is because data that given will be more in depth and interviewer able to ask more personal question in order to gather extra information. Also, it is possible for the interviewer to record down the conversation during interview session as references and proofs with the permission approve from the interviewees. 3.3.2 Secondary Data Secondary data are data that have gathered and done by previous researchers and now become the needs for the current researcher. Besides, secondary data can be known as ready quick sources with strong facts and evidence. Secondary data includes books, journals, articles, news and others more. As for this research, the secondary data will be more relying on the electronic journals and less on academic textbooks. The data collected will be used more on internet sources because it is easy to gather valuable data which have done by someone else previously. Electronic journals articles that used to find relevant articles and journals as a support for some facts in this research are from the database of EBSCOhost from KDU e-library websites, Emerald from USCI library website and Google Scholar. All information that collected from these three websites is validity, accuracy also free for bias. In addition, the author will borrow some books for extra information which relate to the research doing from the library of KDU University College at Petaling Jaya campus. 3.4 Sampling Design 3.4.1 Sampling Technique The author would choose non-probability sampling as a tool to choose the respondent for this research study. The author will be interviewed the managers of Shangri-la Hotel through quota sampling to get information. However, quota sampling will not be a helpful tool for the author to do this research because not everyone is selected to be interviewed, thus convenience sampling will be use in survey questionnaire. The questionnaire will be distributed to the targeted respondents who are willing to answer the questions sincerely. With the use of this method, it gives the author to have large number of full complete questionnaires fast and inexpensive which help the author to save cost. 3.4.2 Sampling Frame In this research, the hotel that the author choose to do on research is Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, thus the author will only target the respondents who are the guests who stays in Shangri-la Hotel regardless of gender or races for the convenient sampling. As for the quota sampling, the author will only select people who have a high level of management to interview.

Abraham Lincoln :: essays research papers

Abraham Lincoln: a true American that made the United States a more unified nation, and a more peaceful place to be. Lincoln was a man of great wisdom and determination, and these traits are what made him into one of the greatest peacemakers of the time. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a reconstruction plan, helped in ending the horrible Civil War, and many other great things in which made him such a remembered peacemaker.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lincoln brought peace to the slaves of the South by issuing one of his most famous documents: the Emancipation Proclamation. This document helped save the slaves everywhere in the United States. This is one of many things that Lincoln did, and maybe one of the most important. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863. It said, “Slaves within any state, or designated part of a state…then…in rebellion, …shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.'; This proclamation was the main cause of creating the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This was important because now there was a bigger sense of peace between the slaves, and the people that once owned them. This proclamation plays a big part of the peace that we have among the different people of the world today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lincoln also designed a plan known as the reconstruction. This construction plan would bring peace to the seceded states and Union, and would bring them back together in unity. This plan of reconstruction brought peace to the Confederacy and Union, because now the states that had once seceded from the Union now had a chance to get back in to be unified once again. Under this plan, Lincoln wanted to form 10 percent government. Under this plan, each individual state could form their own government. This brings peace to the individual state governments, because then these people got along better under their own laws, and didn’t have to worry about other people doing away with their setup. Reconstruction was a big part of unification for the United States, and formed a great deal of peace between the North and South.

Twelfth Night Essay: Feste is No Fool -- Twelfth Night essays

Feste is No Fool in Twelfth Night  Ã‚        Ã‚   In most Shakespearean romantic comedies, there is a character that plays the part of a truth-teller.   And in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night it is no different. Feste, a clown, through his mixed up words and songs enlightens the other characters whilst playing the role of the truth-teller.   Through aiding the Duke with his patience, helping Viola with her love problems, and having a major role in Malvolio's downfall, Feste holds one of the primary parts of the play.    Although Feste is a clown, he seems to be the most perceptive and knowledgeable of all the characters.   He has an ability to be able to understand people and their problems.   Throughout the play, the clown acts as the main link between the characters, clearing up any problems that arise.   Willbern states that "a bit of Feste's seeming nonsense clarifies the situation" (87).   Proud of his expert skill, Feste attests that "... ...h of the characters throughout the play.   Although, he is a "fool", he proves to be the farthest of all the characters, from being a fool.    Works Cited and Consulted Bradley, A. C.. Shakespearean Tragedy. New York: Penguin, 1991. Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. Shakespeare. Othello. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. Rossi. New York: Longman, 1999.

An analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Essay

During the time in which she wrote Mrs Dalloway, on June 19, 1923, Virginia Woolf made a diary entry which expressed a key thought she intended to incorporate in the novel: †In this book, I have almost too many ideas. I want to give life and death, sanity and insanity. I want to criticise the social system, and show it at work, at its most intense. † While some critics have insisted that Virginia Woolf did not care about social values, her husband later said that she was profoundly interested in the social issues of the world around her. This is borne out in Mrs. Dalloway, which does not turn away from the social and political issues of her time. Her characters turn to politics, questioning the status quo and the social order in which they lived. Woolf largely addressed these issues indirectly, showing her views in her works without the authorial interpretation that might be found in a traditional novel; she leaves final judgement to her readers. Mrs Dalloway came at a time when many social critics in England questioned the prevailing ideology. Prior to the war, England had stood at the head of a great empire, upon which the sun never set. When the war ended, England counted herself among the victorious powers, but the horrific losses of the war had destroyed the imperial confidence. In the wake of the war, many people sought to break out of the old thinking to find some new way of understanding the world. In the opening sentence of the novel, Clarissa Dalloway proclaims her independence: â€Å"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. † (Woolf 3) She will do this because Lucy has so much work to do. First of all, â€Å" Mrs. Dalloway† and â€Å"Lucy. † Her maid has no last name, and her own name appends her to her husband. Further, while she feels she is taking on a part of the work that more properly is Lucy’s, her â€Å"work† is only a matter of buying flowers. Woolf injects similar irony throughout the novel, following on the idea suggested in this very first sentence, theme of social commentary. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf shows the abiding superficiality of the social order of which Clarissa Dalloway is a member. Early in this section, Clarissa Dalloway thinks of Miss Kilman, a Communist whom she regards as callous, because she brought out guilt feelings in Clarissa: Miss Kilman would do anything for the Russians, starved herself for the Austrians, but in private inflicted positive torture, so insensitive was she, dressed in a green mackintosh coat. Year in and year out she wore that cost; she perspired; she was never in the room five minutes without making you feel her superiority, your inferiority; how poor she was; how rich you were; how she lived in a slum without a cushion or a bed or a rug or whatever it might be, all her soul rusted with that grievance sticking in it, her dismissal from school during the War – (Woolf, 12) Doris Kilman is critical to this novel. She is an outsider, someone below the Dalloway’s class. In the mackintosh she wears almost as a uniform, she hates and resents them for the ease of their social graces, their wealth, and their class standing. She has been hired to tutor Miss Elizabeth Dalloway in history. While the Dalloways sought someone who could teach this subject â€Å"objectively,† in reality, she shows the meaning of â€Å"objectivity†: objectivity is built on objects, on the property that the rich have, and the poor do not. Miss Kilman covets what the Dalloways possess. She Clarissa Dalloway’s vanity and deceit, Miss Kilman has become convinced that she deserve their money or social position more than they do. In truth, however, she herself is vain, a reverse snob whose mackintosh smelling of sweat is her ensign, proof of her poverty, proof that she belongs to the lower orders, without the cushions and rugs. But her disaffection for that life is clear. Oddly, Miss Kilman turns to religion, ostensibly for solace and peace. although she uses the religiosity as a weapon against Clarissa Dalloway. She puffs herself up, comparing her sufferings with those of Christ, who warned of those who pray loudly in the public square that they already have their reward. She is dogmatic and self-righteous, the sacred messenger of a new faith. Ironically, Clarissa fears males, and looks most fondly for the companionship of women. Miss Kilman is a greater threat than any man in her life. However, it is more the idea that Miss Kilman represents than the woman herself. She has brought her destructive, envious force into the Dalloway house. Her target her is Elizabeth, Clarissa’s daughter. Even in this campaign, Woolf shows us the sides of Miss Kilman she would want to conceal: in the restaurant scene her wolfs her food, gulping down the sugared cakes and chocolate eclairs, a symbol of what she would like to do to the Dalloways, ready to eat their beauty, youth, money, and class. As she stuffs food into her mouth, Woolf focuses on her hands, opening and closing, like the convulsive stretching of the claws of a predatory cat. In the end, Miss Kilman finds no solace for her life, her church having turned arid on her.

Computer program Essay

Discuss the ethics of developing a computer system that track large numbers of their citizens and thair actions? THERE ARE NO ETHICS INVOLVED IN IT. IT IS ALREADY IN PLACE. CELL PHONES ARE JUST GPS TRANSMITTERS AND CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS DO A PRETTY GOOD JOB OF SHOWING WHAT A PERSON IS DOING. NOT PARANOID, JUST THE WAY THINGS ARE. Software development tool To help counter terrorism, many countries are planning the development of computer systems that track large numbers of their citizens and their actions. Clearly this has privacy implications. Discuss the ethics of developing this type of system. Ethics is a concern of humans who have freedom of choice. Ethics is about individual choice: When faced with alternative courses of action, what is the correct moral choice? What are the main features of ethical choice? Software engineers have wider responsibilities on systems development than the mere application of their technical skills. Ethically, an engineer should respect the confidentiality of the public irrespective of whether or not a formal confidentiality agreement has been undertaken. Developing computer systems to counter terrorism by tracking citizens of a country and their actions has privacy implications. Privacy entails an individual’s right to control the collection and use of his or her personal information, even after that information is disclosed to others with the consent of that individual. Systems are been developed that violates the human privacy rights. Examples are: Surveillance cameras Surveillance cameras are setup in peculiar places and are often illusive in the sense that individuals don’t realize that they are being filmed. For the most part these cameras are setup with good intensions namely for the benefit of public safety. They can be a vital tool in preventing or solving crimes. The problem is not that the individual is being filmed, but usually this is done without his or her consent. In some cases the surveillance cameras have been unlawful used or setup without permission. Credit cards When we contemplate all the electronic data that is now gathered about each of us as we move through our everyday lives, there seems little doubt that we are leaving behind an electronic record of our activities. The internet There are a multitude of†¦

The Chinese Revolution, a Momentous and Significant Revolution

The Chinese Revolution, beginning in 1911 and ending in 1949 was a momentous and significant revolution within history. The Chinese Revolution was a result of impearialistic control of China by other countries, unfair treatment of peasants, and young people’s desire to modernize China. Similar to The Chinese Revolution, the novel â€Å"Animal Farm† was an allegory that also exhibited the strive for freedom and respect within a nation, or in this case the Manor Farm. In the novel, the animals fought hard inorder to rebel against the rule of their often drunk owner Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones was a mean unkind master who enjoyed a care free life while the animals lack food. Respectively, the Chinese also strived for freedom and rights in China while under the rule of the Qing Dynatsy, although the Qing Dynasty was very helpful with major improvements as building roads and post offices to make interchange of labor, information, and resources in china, making the first currency th at can be used through whole China, and, formulating language, written letters, numeric system, units for weights and measure in china. The Qing Dynatsty was still a very unfair and unjust political system ran by a long line curropt dictators all within the Qing family, and the people of China as did the animals in the novel decided enough was enough. So with the help of Mao Zedong, communist philantropist and future leader of china, offered communism as an alternative to the peasants in china promising food, jobs, and homes to everyone who followed the words of communism. And with the team work of china’s peasant population which was the majority of China and Mao Zendong they effortously overthrew the Qing Dynasty. As did the animals, but instead of the Chinese government simply the Manor Farm, but the proccess towards conducting these revolutions were almost identical. Knowing the novel animal Farm is based on the time period of the Russian Revolution, the animals within the novel can been seen as the peasants of The Chinese Revolution. The Pigs, or futher known as Snowball whose character is based on Lenin Trostsky, and Napolean whos character is based on Joseph Stalin can be viewed as Mao Zendong or the other contibutors to the Chinese Revolution as Chaing Kai Shek. With the help of both parties the animals using strength pyhsically and in numbers, wit, and intelligence wer able to formulate plans and strategies like Mao Zendong

An Analysis of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice Essay

Nearly two centuries after Jane Austen penned Pride and Prejudice to paper the attribute that most grabs your attention is the wonderful familiarity found in the characters. You know these people. You are already acquainted with these characters because you see mirrored in Austen’s characters the very men and women you come into contact with every day. You yourself have lived through the similarities of relationships such as those that come to life within the pages of this novel. This is all too familiar territory. Pride and Prejudice is simply a look at marriage and elationships as they actually were in Jane Austen’s society, a view that still holds true today. Of the five main marriages presented in this novel each relationship is unique yet realistic. These five marriages have their own contrasting qualities which reveal some insight into the thoughts and opinions of Austen on the subject of marriage and relationships. Clearly Jane Austen views the marriage between Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley as one of two examples of a successful relationship. Austen expresses this opinion through Elizabeth in Chapter 55 of Pride and Prejudice by writing: â€Å"Elizabeth really believed all his [Mr.  Bingley] expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself. † (328) However, Austen does see a minor flaw in their relationship. She points out that both characters are too good hearted and too trusting to ever act strongly against anything. (Douthan, 3) Also found in Chapter 55 of this novel, Austen writes of this situation through Mr.  Bennet stating: â€Å"You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income. † (329) The union between Lydia Bennet and Mr. Wickham is a portrayal of a poor marriage. The foundation of their marriage is solely based on appearances, youthful exuberance and vanity. Their marriage is based on a foundation that crumbles once these qualities are no longer visible in one by the other. This becomes apparent when the relationship begins to slowly fade. Lydia and Mr.  Wickham’s marriage gradually becomes â€Å"indifferent† and Lydia becomes a regular visitor at the homes of her two elder sisters when â€Å"her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath. † (366) Clearly Austen illustrates through this example that marriages which are hastily planned and are based on shallow qualities often lead to unhappiness. Even though there is little said as to how Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet met and became married, it can be gathered by their various conversations that their relationship may have been similar to that of Lydia and Mr. Wickham. One similarity between Mr. Bennet and Mrs.  Bennet’s relationship and the relationship of Lydia and Mr. Wickham appears in the favoritism Mrs. Bennet shows toward Lydia. Mrs. Bennet’s comments regarding how she was once as lively as Lydia are further proof. (30) It can also be presumed that Mr. Bennet married a woman who he found to be sexually attractive without giving regard to her intelligence or their similarities in personality and compatibility. This is a fate that he evidently did not want to fall upon his daughters. His feelings on this are revealed with his comment to Elizabeth in Chapter 20 when he addresses her regarding the proposal of Mr.  Collins and Elizabeth’s decision to refuse this proposal. In this occurrence Mr. Bennet tells Elizabeth â€Å"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do. † (109-10) With this occurrence Austen divulges her stance, giving reason to believe she feels it is necessary to use good judgment when selecting a spouse and provides insight into her feelings about true love and its place in a successful marriage. Another marriage found in Pride and Prejudice, quite different in nature that the other marriages of this novel, is the marriage between Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. Theirs is a marriage based on economics rather than emotions or appearance. Austen successfully portrays Charlotte as many women of Austen’s time period were, as one who believed that she had to marry to gain financial security even at the risk of being miserable. (Pemberley. com) Inequality between genders appears to be embellished somewhat by Austen and gives the idea that those women who submit themselves to this type of marriage often times will suffer in painful silence. A tormented silence that Austen points out Charlotte experiences in Chapter 28: â€Å"When Mr. Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she [Elizabeth] involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear. † (154) With this statement Austen reveals Charlotte’s silent misery and furthermore gives credibility to the idea that her marriage was not based on mutual feeling and admiration. The last example of marriage is that of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr.  Darcy. Theirs is a relationship that unveils the attributes that form a truly successful marriage and the second such marriage of this novel. One of these attributes is the absence of prejudice in a relationship. The development of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy proves that feelings cannot be created due to appearances and must progress steadily between two people as they come to know one another. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were, at first, detached from one another due to their own initial prejudices that were formed up their first encounter. Austen, 13-14) Through time, however, they were given the opportunity to overcome their first impressions, understand one another and re-evaluate their feelings for the other. (Douthan, 2-3) Thus, the foundation of their successful relationship is a result of their mutual understanding and affords them a happy and lasting marriage. With the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Austen exposes another attribute necessary in a succ essful marriage and that is the importance of taking the time to become fully acquainted with a person and being certain of your feelings and compatibility before marrying. These five marriages contribute to the idea that Jane Austen felt it takes time to build a foundation for a successful marriage and that any successful marriage should be based on mutual feelings, understanding and respect. Clearly, in Pride and Prejudice, Austen condemns the social elements of marriage that she found objectionable such as marriages that were impulsively entered in to as well as those based on superficial qualities and economic reasons, but she also described those relationships in a manner that was true to life. Sir Walter Scott said it best when he wrote these words about Jane Austen: â€Å"That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. † (Bender, et. al. , 125-26) Perhaps this is why Austen’s characters seem to come alive to readers, this is not a story driven by agendas or politics; it is a story about people, drawn from true reality and one that commemorates all the chaotic details of real life and real relationships†¦ then and now.