Cause and Effect Essay Example for Free

Cause and Effect Essay The dedication and self-motivation required to balancing schoolwork and practice is the most difficult part of being a student-athlete. I find that being a student-athlete plays out to be much harder than most people think. It’s very difficult especially at the beginning of the year, when it finally hits you that you’re growing up and finally have to do your own laundry. You’re not only getting your-self situated as far as classes go, but also meeting new people. You have to balance all the new tasks in your life as well as starting new relationships. One obvious cause of wanting to become a student-athlete is the persona. Everyone wants to be the star athlete and everyone wants to be the cool kid on the sports team that gets all the chicks. This is something that we were raised around, all the professional athletes getting praised as kings while walking around with a supermodel around their arm. I mean who wouldn’t want that kind of life? Being a student-athlete is something that you can take pride in. You want to take pride in yourself by representing your team in athletics but also want to further your education by acquiring a degree witch causes you to be a student athlete. It also makes you stand out among the rest because not only are you a full time student but also a full time athlete. Which gives you life skills like motivation and determination that you take with you through out life. Above all it gives your parents something to brag about to their siblings because their twenty three year old son is still living in their house, while flipping burgers down the street. The major cause of being a student-athlete is that you want to have friends. Sure being a student-athlete teaches you how to balance a crazy life style and creates better time management but it also allows you to create great friendships. With schoolwork and practice you usually don’t have socializing time but you will always have your teammates. Knowing this could cause you to become a student-athlete. The cause of student-athletes is when a person wants to thrive to better them self, they want to push themselves to new heights, they want an edge on their competition, want to hopefully find new friendships and in some cases they just want the praise of being a student-athlete. It takes a special person to want to be a student athlete for the right causes, and might need to be revaluated if all you want is the praise of being a student-athlete. A plus is that most of the student-athletes either quickly realize its not for them because their grades become less of an importance and cheerleaders along with a thirty rack becomes a priority, or they end up seeing the importance of education and find themselves succeeding in life. The first effect of a student-athlete is that you will develop physical abilities. Your body will be in better shape, and you’ll be able to achieve things that physically you couldn’t accomplish before. You will push your self to levels you didn’t think wherever possible to reach. You my not have your photo in all the papers and the model on your arm is more likely to be a cute hometown girl that you met at a party, but you have still accomplished more than you would have if you where a normal college student that sits in front on his video games all day, only leaving the room to buy more chips because he destroyed his last bag of Doritos. The second effect has to do with your personal life. Practicing a sport requires some time, plus schoolwork and everything else going in your life you usually don’t have time to lie around and be lazy. Which teaches you not only to have an amazing work ethic but also how to manage the time that you have. It also keeps you busy enough to stay out of trouble, most of the time. When you are playing for a team the name on the front means a hell of a lot more important than the name on the back. When you go some place to play your not representing your self, you’re representing your team and your university. There is only a fortunate bunch of people that get to put on a uniform to represent something bigger than them, so as a student-athlete you take pride in what you do, and you take advantage in representing your school every time you touch the field. The most important effect of being a student athlete is your teammates and your everlasting friendships. You will meet a lot of people being a student-athlete but only a small group of individuals will become your friends to the point you can call them your second family. That is the meaning of a team. As an athlete you will develop a strong character and a competitive spirit. You’ll become more disciplined and responsible, which will certainly help you in your professional life. Above all you develop relationships that can be unbreakable. You go through hell with each other, or as some people like to call it conditioning. You step on the field and go to battle with one another trusting that the other guys in the game will give as much effort if not more to win. You’ll get on each other’s nervous and sometimes get into fights, but no matter what at the end of the day you’ll always have your second family. The effect of being a student-athlete shapes your body, your life, and your mind in good ways. Practicing a sport, going to classes, doing homework and trying to balance a social life keeps you entertained and far away from boredom. In addition you will have the chance to experience the amazing feeling of success after all the hard work you put in to being a student-athlete. It’s worth all the early morning practices, and tough love conditioning to be able to see defeat in your opponents face. It’s worth all the seven o’clock classes, and professors’ monotone lectures to be able to see the overwhelming sense of joy on your mothers face as you receive you diploma. It’s worth the long bus rides, and all the tough losses to be able to have a group of guys you can call you’re family. Even though its hard work being a student-athlete is a great experience that will stay with you forever.

Group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal

Group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal Introduction An organization can be defined as a group of individuals working together to achieve a common goal or objective. In the business environment various types of organization can be observed, i.e. profit making vs. non profit making, product based vs. service based, localized vs. international and etc. The goals and objectives of an organization would vary according to the type of organization. Since the capability of the organization depends on the ability or the performance of the individuals who works in an organization, ability of the employees can be enhanced through various factors and also through better structure and culture of the organization. For the purpose of this report the organizations which were selected are Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. Nations Trust Bank can be considered as one of the fastest growing banks in Sri Lanka today. As a young and dynamic bank, it has immediate appeal for young and sophisticated professionals looking for a bank they can identify with. The bank has 40 branches, 9 leasing centers, 43 ATMs, 6 personal banking centers as well as Internet Banking. Considered to be one of the most customer-centric financial institutions today, Nations Trust Bank provides tailored services for contemporary lifestyles. Standard Chartered PLC is a British financial services company headquartered in London, England with operations in more than seventy countries. It operates a network of over 1,700 branches and outlets (including subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures) and employs 80,000 people. Despite its British base, it has few customers in the United Kingdom and around 90% of its profits come from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Because the banks history is entwined with the development of the British Empire, its operations lie predominantly in former British colonies, though over the past two decades it has expanded into countries that have historically had little British influence. Organizational Structure and Culture The selected organizations, which are Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, belong to service sector organizations and provide a range of banking services. However, Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank can be categorized as national and multinational respectively; it was possible to arrive at the following conclusion after considering the geographic area in which these organizations operate. Nations Trust Bank can be considered as a localized, national bank as it only operates within Sri Lanka, whereas Standard Chartered Bank has established a global network which spreads over 70 countries from Asia, Africa, America, Europe and Middle East. Hence Standard Chartered Bank can be classified as a multinational organization. Organizational Structure The main purpose of organizational structure can be identified as the division of work among member of the organization, and the co-ordination of their activities so they are directed towards the goals and objectives of the organization. There are mainly three types of organizational structures. 1) Functional Structure: In such a structure groups of people who hold similar skills or perform similar tasks are clustered together and usually departments are formed. 2) Divisional Structure: Divisional structures can be of three types. They are, Division based on Product: Each product division contains the functions necessary to that service the specific goods or services it produces Division based on Market: Group functions into divisions that can be responsive to the needs of particular types of customers Division based on Geography: In such a structure regional divisions are set up to service customers in different geographic areas 3) Matrix Structure: In a matrix structure specialists from functional departments would be assigned to work on one or more projects that are lead by a project manager. As Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank are public limited companies and specially the latter being a very large organization, these organizations need to follow a formal organizational structure where they would be able to monitor the activities, assign responsibility for groups and individual members and co-ordinate different parts of the organization. The members or the employees within Nations Trust Bank have been categorized based on the field or the area in which they are specialized, for instance those who are specialized in sales and marketing would be assigned work related to sales and marketing and would be clustered together. According to this, various departments in Nations Trust Bank have been created, where, for each department an individual leader would be assigned to ensure regulated smooth flow of business operations. These individual leaders would then report the overall progress of each department to the top management and board of directors as required and decisions would be made with the involvement of the top management. Hence, it is possible to arrive at the conclusion that Nations Trust Bank follows a functional organizational structure which is more of a centralized structure. Further it could be said division of work within Nations Trust Bank has taken place by major function or purpose. It could also be said that Nations Trust Bank follows more of a centralized structure than a decentralized structure as the organization sets down policies which would affect the organization as a whole and also mainly since all decisions would be made under strict management supervision and involvement. This centralization could also be due to the cultural effect which is prominent within the country, which is the power culture where control is the key element. Based on the above information it could be understood why Nations Trust Bank follows a functional organizational structure and also it could be understood that Nations Trust Bank follows a functional organizational structure as it has a range of services which can be grouped under one leader. Nations Trust Bank has the following advantages of using a functional organizational structure. Since all the employees who are specialized in a specific area are clustered together, newer employees and other employees would be able to learn easily from each other. Employees would be able to benchmark themselves with other employees who have higher performance and are working in the same specialized area and would develop themselves further in a more competitive manner. In the following structure the decision making process is bureaucratic. Since the culture which is mostly commonly seen within Sri Lanka is power culture, when the bank follows such a structure it will be easier to control the organization in order to achieve its goals and objectives as expected. Since all employees perform similar task within one department work specialization takes place and this would help the organization to increase overall productivity. Nations Trust Bank not only has advantages of following a functional organizational structure but it also has some disadvantages. Since decisions are always made with the involvement of the top management individual employees would not be able to make decisions on their own resulting in inefficiency. The organization follows a bureaucratic decision making process and also problem resolution process; this would mean a low level of employee participation. As a result the chance for a successful leader to be born in such an environment would be low and hence the chance for the organization to gather new leaders from within the organization who understand the nature of the organization would be low. Standard chartered bank is a large multinational organization which operates in more than 70. Unlike in Nations Trust Bank, Standard Chartered Bank does not follow a functional organizational structure and is less centralized (but the bank follows a centralized structure) meaning Standard Chartered Bank gives more authority to its employees than Nations Trust Bank. Instead of following a functional organizational structure, Standard Chartered Bank follows what is called a divisional organizational structure according to geographic area. Where Standard Chartered Bank would have a regional or divisional head for each region within which it operates. Standard Chartered Bank mainly has the following advantage of using a divisional structure according to geographic area. The bank would be able to provide banking services which would be more suitable for each country. For example Standard Chartered Saadiq Banking is a service associated with Islamic banking, in other words the bank follows Shariah principles. The bank has provided various Islamic banking products and services for countries where Islamic population is high (e.g. Malaysia, UAE, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Beyond this there are a few disadvantages of using such a structure. These disadvantages are listed below. Since there would be repetition of similar jobs the operational overhead cost would be high. Since the branches of the bank would be benchmarked against each other conflict situations may arise. After analyzing the above mentioned information it was possible to arrive at the conclusion that a divisional structure would be the best organizational structure from the above two organizational structures if Nations Trust Bank has an intention to expand overseas as it will be easier to control the organization and since it would not be very practical to use a functional structure in such a situation. And also becoming less centralized will help the organization to function with more efficiency. Organizational Networks and Linkages Nations Trust Bank has a network which covers only Sri Lanka. Due to this network the bank has been able to expand itself throughout the island in such a manner that customers would be able to carry out banking transactions easily from any part of the island where there is at least an Automatic Teller Machine available. The bank uses the Flexcube Banking System to maintain the network of branches, outlets and ATMs. It has been identified the availability of flexible working programs within Nations Trust Bank is low. Part time employment can be identified as the only significant flexible working program at Nations Trust Bank. Standard Chartered Bank covers a wide range of countries unlike Nations Trust Bank. The bank uses computer software in order to maintain a global scale network. Especially the bank would use Sun Microsystems platform or UNIX platform software in order to maintain the data base. These systems enable the centralization of data for the bank. Standard Chartered Bank has recognized the importance of flexible working programs. The bank has understood flexible working programs play a vital role in retaining employees, increasing engagement and attracting a larger and more diverse pool of talent. Hence the organization is trying to introduce more flexible working programs. At the moment the bank uses the following flexible working programs; part time employment, switching between shifts (the employee would be given the opportunity to choose the shift during which he prefers to work) and also the bank has introduced working from home facility initially in four countries namely Ghana, United S tates, United Kingdome and Singapore. However, the bank does not follow working from home facility in Sri Lanka. Organizational Culture Each organization will have its own unique organizational culture and most of the time large organizations would tend to have a mix of these cultures. 1) Power Culture: Power culture is common for small and medium size organizations. In such organizations decision making is centralized and also these organizations can react quickly to danger around as there would be no consultation required. Further, in a power culture control would be the key element. 2) Role Culture: Role culture is common for large organizations. The key element would be the area of specialization. 3) Task Culture: Task culture is popular in modern business society and refers to a team based approach to complete a particular task. In such a culture staff would feel motivated because they are empowered to make decisions within their team. 4) Person Culture: Person culture is common in non profit or charity organizations. The main focus of such organizations is the individual or a particular aim. 5) Forward and Backward Looking Cultures: Forward looking organizations are risk takers and perform well due to this risk taking ability. Whereas backward looking organizations are organizations which do not embrace change and are led by systems and procedures. When the organization, i.e. Nations Trust Bank, has been analyzed it was possible to identify the organization has a dynamic and a fast paced working environment where open feedback, performance based rewards and remunerations are encouraged. Further employees are encouraged to develop new skills and are empowered by the provision of career opportunities which have a variety of different features. Based on this information it was possible to identify that the culture within Nations Trust Bank is a forward looking culture which has allowed the organization to perform well, expand and become one of the youngest and successful banks within Sri Lanka. However, the bank has some aspect of power culture as well. This could mainly be seen in the decision making process where employees would tend to rely upon some superior source when making a decision. Power culture within the organization could be due to the strong power culture existing within the country. Standard Chartered Bank being a bank which operates in more than 70 countries with its headquarters located in London, England would mainly follow the organizational culture which is prominent within its headquarters, this would be role culture. However, there would be variations to the culture of branches operating in other regions as it would not be practical to follow an organizational culture which would conflict with a particular regions culture. For example consider the United Kingdom headquarters and the Sri Lankan Head Office. Employees in United Kingdom would usually be clock conscious as they would consider time is money and also it is unprofessional to get late for work, whereas in Sri Lanka the employees would not really see much of a difference in getting late for work as the country would naturally have easy going relaxed people who would not hurry things. The headquarters would naturally assume that all employees of the bank would perform their tasks and duties on time as this is their culture. However, this would not be the case in most situations and therefore to ensure that work is done the branches in Sri Lanka would have to lay down strict rules and regulations. Constant reminders too would have to be given in order to get a task done. And hence the culture of the country automatically starts taking effect where power culture would have to be followed in order to achieve the expected. However, on analyzing the overall information of Standard Chartered Bank it can be understood that the bank has a unique culture which it has developed through the years by communicating with broad ranges of stakeholders, prospective employees and customers. Based on the above information finally it was possible to arrive at the conclusion that organizational culture plays an important role in forming an organizational structure as well as for the success or the failure of a business. Misinterpreting the culture in which an organization operates can lead to conflict and finally maybe even complete shutting down of the organization. Therefore it is a must to interpret and understand the culture within which an organization operates and to select an appropriate organization structure on this basis. The Human Resource Function Stakeholder Perspective: It is clear that stakeholders would have objectives and would expect organizations to achieve these objectives. The organizations should always consider their stakeholders point of view before making any decisions as this will help to minimize conflicts and avoid a purely instrumental or theoretical approach to Human Resource Management. Nations Trust Bank considers the impact of its activities on various stakeholder groups, carries out activities which will develop a good relationship with stakeholders and also abides by the rules, regulations and carries out business in an ethical manner for the above mentioned purposes. The same would apply to Standard Chartered Bank. However, the branches of Standard Chartered Bank would provide more flexibility (especially for employees) and facilities than Nations Trust Bank. Human Resource Roles: The role of Human Resource Management (Personal Management) is taking care and handling the organizations most important resource which is the people resource or the employees. Human Resource Management would help the organization to maintain a balance and efficiently coordinate with the employees so they can work more efficiently and effectively. The HR department of Nations Trust Bank carries out an immense number of activities for the above mentioned purposes; these activities range from arranging functions such as Christmas Eve get-togethers to New Year celebrations where management and employees from various departments can interact with each other. Beyond this career guidance programs, training and development programs (the bank has a special training and development team for this purpose), remuneration and reward schemes and exit interview are conducted. Standard Chartered Bank too carries out an immense number of activities like Nations Trust Bank to ensure that they stand by their HR roles. Further, Standard Chartered Bank provides a day care facility; the centre provides day care services and educational activities throughout the working day for children aged between six months and 12 years. The organization also carries out exchange programs (India China exchange program) so that employees would have an exciting opportunity to advance their careers and experience a new culture. For the Bank, it is an opportunity to facilitate the sharing of best practice, ideas and new ways of working between two key markets. Personnel Policies: An organizations personnel policy means a plan, a course of action or guiding principles which that business will use to influence and determine decisions, actions and other matters. Both Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank would have various personnel policies. For example Standard Chartered Bank has developed a policy on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). By this policy the bank ensures that its employees who have HIV AIDS can still work as normal employees without any form of harassment. Where Nations Trust Bank has a policy, going paperless, by which it tries to minimize the usage of paper by transferring all its activities to non-paper based forms such as emailing. By this the organization expects to protect the environment. Beyond the above mentioned policies both of these banks would have numerous policies which have been set in place regarding various matters. Strategies, Operating Plans and Strategic Goals for Personnel: An organizations strategy is about what the organization wants to achieve in the long term. There would be various techniques followed by an organization to achieve these goals and objectives. For example, Standard Chartered Bank wants to achieve growth and it plans to do so by following a simple method where it would ask itself self assessment questions and by following a SMART approach. The bank would apply the same procedure for its employees. Nations Trust Bank follows a similar approach where it has stated its strategic priorities and how the bank expects to achieve them. Finally it was possible to arrive at the conclusion that carrying out Human Resources Functions would help any organization to be successful. For these purposes various elements such as stakeholder perspective, HR roles, personal policies, strategies and operating plans, and strategic goals for personnel have to be considered. Individual Behavior at Work Each individual would be different from each other in some aspect or the other. These differences could be due to demographic factors, abilities and skills, perception, attitude and personality. These factors would not only differentiate individuals but would affect their on the job performance as well as their behavior. Nations Trust Bank would have employees from various ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. Therefore the employees at Nations Trust Bank would be able to experience the difference between each culture and would behave according to the stimuli they receive from the working environment. Due to the civil war which was going on for many years, some of the Sinhalese employees working at the bank would have formed a perception about Tamil employees and would have a different attitude towards these employees, where they would tend to act in a negative unfavorable manner, lose interest and in turn would think negatively regarding their job. Beyond this the Sinhalese employees may think that they are better able to perform the tasks rather than Tamils due to cultural factors. Also since some of these Tamil and Sinhalese employees would have been affected by the civil war, the personality of these employees may have been affected and may have induced negative thinking patterns within them. This may lead to conflict within the organization. However, Nations Trust Bank treats all employees equally and has taken many measures to ensure that no conflict takes place. In fact Nations Trust Bank encourages its Sinhalese employees to learn the Tamil and Tamil employees to learn Sinhalese. Further, the bank has encouraged interaction between these groups of people through various social activities so that they would be able to better understand each other and value each others culture. The bank provides counseling sessions, training and development and also carrier guidance for these employees so that they can improve themselves. This would help the employees to understand their tasks and duties better, will lead to improved performance, help employees to understand the importance of what each other is doing and appreciate their performance. Since Standard Chartered Bank is an international bank the demographic element in terms of especially in terms of culture would be very prominent. The branches which operate in Sri Lanka would undergo nearly the same issues related with individual behavior at work and follow similar measures to prevent conflict of any form. However, when Standard Chartered Bank is considered from an international point of view it is clear that the bank would like to increase interaction and gain better understanding of different cultures as well as provide its employees awareness regarding different cultures. A clear example for this type of attempt is the employee exchange program which the bank conducts, for the first time this was done between India and China. Further the bank has included female workforce where 46% of the workforce are females and employees with disabilities where the first employees with disabilities were from Sri Lanka. Further the bank believes that different employees from different regions have skills which would be useful for other regions this is another aspect which Standard Chartered Bank has considered in its employee exchange program. These exchange programs will help the employees with different skills to interact and help employees to identify their skills. This will help employees attitude as this will encourage positive thinking. Also this would help employees to gain confidence and in terms improve their personality. This would affect their behavior at work. Beyond this the organization has established a day care facility in Sri Lanka. This will help the working parents to attend their duties without worry and this will help overall attitude of the employees during work making them more productive. Provisions of such facilities help the employees have a better perception of the organization. On analyzing the above information it was possible to arrive at the conclusion that behavior of employees at work from both organizations would be affected by factors such as demographic factors, abilities and skills, perception, attitude and personality. It was also possible to arrive at the conclusion that developing understanding among employees will help the organizations function as one unit and achieve the goals and objectives of that organization. Approaches to Management and Theories of Organization Management approaches and organizational theories deal with how an organization achieves its management objectives through the organizational structure, its design and other elements. The management theories can be classified as five major schools of management thought. They are, Classical School of Management (Includes Scientific Management and Bureaucratic management) here the emphasis was on managing workers and organizations more efficiently Behavioral School of Management (Includes Human Relations) here the emphasis was on understanding human behavior in the organization Quantitative School of Management here the emphasis was on increasing quality of managerial decision-making through the application of mathematical and statistical methods Systems School of Management here the emphasis was on understanding the organization as a system that transforms inputs into outputs while in constant interaction with its environment Contingency School of Management (Includes Contingency approaches) here the emphasis was on applying management principles and processes as dictated by the unique characteristics of each situation It was understood that Nations Trust Bank follows a functional structure and Standard Chartered Bank follows a divisional structure based on geographic area. Standard Chartered Bank follows a mixed structure where centralized and decentralized are both considered when making decisions. And Nations Trust Bank follows a centralized approach. Further it was identified that Nations Trust Bank follows a tall span of control whereas Standard Chartered Bank has a flat span of control. Based on the above information it is important to understand the management theories which the organization follows. Classical School of Management: Even though scientific management was introduced many years before, organizations still use these principles or theories with minor adjustments. When scientific management is considered, Henry Fayol would be the significant character which would emerge. Todays organizations follow what Henry Fayol introduced with minor adjustments. Bureaucracy means the usage of rules, regulations, policies, procedures and standardization of activities. This concept was introduced by Max Weber. This type of management would be used in the military and not in a bank usually. This could be understood through the way in which both banks operate. Behavioral School of Management: According to research which was carried out it has been possible to identify that human interaction or group relationships have a direct impact on productivity and would help to increase the motivation of employees. Therefore, the behavioral management school principles are more focused to understand individual employees behavior, their interaction and also motivational factors. When Nations Trust Bank has been considered it was possible to understand that the organization carries out many activities which would encourage employee communication. Further, the employee exchange program which is carried out by Standard Chartered Bank can be considered as another example. Systems School of Management and Contingency School of Management: As it was mentioned before both the organizations, Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, follow a centralized structure. However, in the case of Standard Chartered Bank centralization is less prominent as the bank believes that empowerment of employees would bring out the best from the employees. In a systems approach the organization as a whole would be considered as one system and hence in these type of systems integration, communication and independence plays a vital role. Whereas in contingency approach it is believed that there is no best way to arrange an organization and this has to be decided based on the nature of the organization. Finally, it could be understood that even though organizations still follow scientific management they try to move more towards the usage of human relations approach and a contingency approach. Functions of Management There are mainly four functions of management. These functions are, 1) Planning: Determines the broad lines for carrying out operations, preparing methods by which they are carried out and setting standards of performance. When planning is done the management of the organizations would need to gather information from the environment in which they operate. For this purpose the organizations would use the macroeconomic factors and would use the PEST tool. Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank would both use the PEST tool so that they would be able to analyze the macroeconomic factors which would affect their organization. PEST factors would nearly be the same for both these organizations when the Standard Chartered Bank which operates in Sri Lanka is considered but the bank would have a greater international influence than Nations Trust Bank. The constant changes in the environment should be regularly noted through the PEST tool and based on that the organizations should be able to respond. Further, planning would have the following aspects; forecasting, utilization and also action decision. 2) Control: Checking actual performance against standards to ensure satisfactory progress and performance, and recording as a guide to possible future operations. Control is a vital element for both, Nations Trust Bank and also Standard Chartered Bank, as it is the only way by which the managers can find out if the organization is achieving the goals and objectives. Controlling can be carried out by standards, measurements and comparisons. For example, when considering the employee turnover for both the organizations, Nations Trust Bank has been able to continuously decrease its employee turnover. However, at Standard Chartered Bank the employee turnover in countries like India and Pakistan has been increasing. To prevent this bank has introduced a pilot. Further, organizational performance could be measured based on productivity measures, through financial rations which could be compared against benchmarked companies, by setting standards and having key performance indicators. 3) Co ordination: Balancing and marinating the team by ensuring a suitable division of work and seeing that tasks are performed in harmony. Both banks have been able to co ordinate their activities through suitable divisions. In the case of Nations Trust Bank the bank has ensured that its range of diverse employees would better understand each other through various activities so that ultimately they would be able to work together as a team to achieve the goals of the organization whereas in Standard Chartered Bank the organization would also have to consider the international market within which they operate so that they would be able to better co ordinate

Essay --

Looking back at America’s past wars I wonder what would have happened if we lost any of them? What would’ve happened if we lost in the war against Great Britain? What would have happened if we lost in any other war from our pass? There is a strong possibility that this country would have been governed by a form dictatorship, not a state of democracy. War to many is seen as destruction and death to millions of innocent and guilty individuals. But war is much more than just destruction and death; it’s about defending one’s country honor and improving individual’s way of life. Having a strong and powerful military is great for a nation for reason, it can defend, and it can boost the nations economy. Structurally, when different societies and cultural groups look at the military, they should ask this question, â€Å"What makes the military so intimidating to the point we despise it?† In my opinion, the military probably seems intimidating because of their nonstop technological advancements and using anthropologist to help better them understanding a different culture from their own and also go to war with an enemy without harming innocent civilians. Yes, it can be said as well as seen, that the American military spends billions of dollars each year creating and advancing their technology to â€Å"outgun† their enemy during times of war (Lutz). The billions of dollars that the American government uses towards military not alone creates weapons of war, it also provides jobs and keeps a steadiness in the business cycle (Lutz). Even though the government spends a very large amount of money on the military cultural groups tend to overlook the cultural intelligence that also being used to overcome and overpower the enemy. The Human Terrain System (HT... ... as peacemakers in a warzone, they are often looked upon as individuals who are promoting war. The HTS program was designed to mix troop education, ethnography and save lives in communities and territories. Death is evitable it can never be prevented. Death can happen at anytime, anywhere under any circumstances. Like the soldiers who enlisted in the military, the anthropologist knew there was a slight possibility that they would be killed in a foreign country. I feel as though both the anthropologist and soldiers are putting their lives on the line so the world can be a safer place for future generations. When I look at both the military and the brave anthropologist who are apart the HTS program I look at two completely different occupations with one common goal, trying to find a safer way for different cultures and society to cohabit the world with being enemies.

AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). "The virus was discovered in France in 1983 and in the United States in 1984. In the United States, it was initially identified in 1981. In 1986, a second virus, now called HIV-2, was also discovered in Africa.(Bookshelves)" Female prostitutes in Africa probably spread it very quickly. AIDS became a huge crisis of major proportions in parts of Africa. It is my own strongly held opinion, and that of most medical and research community world wide, that the AIDS epidemic is a serious problem. It has become the worst plague this species has ever known. Vastly greater sums should be spent on searching for treatments and vaccines. The United States government needs to do more intensive tests and research to help curb this virus instead of waiting for other countries to do so. AIDS is transmitted in one of three ways: From intimate sexual contact without protection, from the mixing of a person’s blood with infected blood, and from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection can occur from blood transfusions of infected blood, or sharing unclean needles. (Needles already used, in this case, by an HIV positive person and not sterilized.) The HIV-2 virus also causes AIDS. AIDS was first seen as a disease limited gay males in the United States. "This was a result that gay males in this culture before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much greater than the new sexual encounters among heterosexual (straight) men or women. (Strack,5)" In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease. Rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of the United States more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a "gay disease". As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of the American society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the "mainstream" of society here. It is extremely important for scientists to find a cure for AIDS. It is important because mostly everyone in the world has sex. The safest option regarding AIDS and sex is total abstinence from all sexual contact. For those who prefer to indulge in sexual contact, this is often far too great a sacrifice. The development of a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HIV infection is among the highest priorities for the AIDS research effort. Yet, vaccine research historically has received less funding and attention than other areas of AIDS research. Although this may have been justifiable in the past, the continued spread of the HIV epidemic and recent advances in our knowledge dictate a reassessment of priorities and a

Patriotism Aided in Socrates Acceptance of His Death Essay -- History

THESIS STATEMENT Patriotism aided in Socrates' acceptance of his death, although believing he was unjustly convicted of corrupting the youth of Athens and creating divinities in place of the gods. PURPOSE STATEMENT Through books and essays about Socrates, research, and analysis it shows that he was truly guilty of his crimes and accepted them willingly although he believed he was innocent. INTRODUCTION A member of the jury watched as the defendant, tense and nervous, looked over at the Kleptsydra, or the water-clock, and realized time is of the essence. When the Kleptsydra is empty, the jury of five hundred, who are expected to make a decision, look puzzled and confused on which side to vote for. After counting the votes, the verdict, guilty. The defendant had only lost by a slight margin of 260 against to 240. Each party, accusers and defendant, proposes a penalty: the accuser proposes death, but astonishingly, the defendant proposes to be treated as an Olympic victor. The year is 399 BCE. Socrates was a simple man, famous, seventy years old, and had been doing his normal routine when he was confronted with an obstacle, which changed the course of what was left of his life. He had seen something similar in his time which also happened coincide with the obstacle he faced. What he did not know was what was gong to happen next. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and creating new divinities. The new accusers, as Socrates called them, were Meletus, Lycon, and Anytas. He was found guilty, but many today and then argue for his innocence, including Socrates himself. He thought himself innocent, but still accepted his death with courage out of his patriotism for Athens. Socrates could have avoided his d... ... accepted his penalty out of patriotism. Socrates is the meaning of Patriot when it comes to Athens. "Nothing means more to Socrates than Athens, and, more importantly, than the Athenians within it" (Hughes xxii). Socrates served in the military and the assembly, having an active role in politics. He did this to fashion Athens to be the best it can be. Even when Athens turned against him, he still had a deep love for it, by carrying out his sentence of death, believing he had done a favor for Athens by removing the sickness. Socrates was a visionary of a greater Athens, but was quietly targeted and gun down by those who found fault in him. At the end of Socrates' life, he was not honorably discharged, nor did he receive a corona civica for his attempt in changing Athens for the better, but was condemned to death for stepping out of line, marching in plain site.

Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic Essay

Aldo Leopold is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of environmental ethics of all time. Scientist, forester, environmentalist, and professor at the University of Wisconsin, Leopold has influenced and shaped today’s environmental ethics. He impacted many environmentalists with his environmental ethics and emphasized the importance of biodiversity and ecology. Leopold’s most praised work is â€Å"Land Ethic† in A Sand County Almanac that he wrote. In this essay he emphasized the importance of conserving our environment and being part of it, instead of destroying it. In Aldo Leopold’s essay he wrote â€Å"land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.† This means that us as humans and the top predator on Earth should take care of the environment and not destroy it by depleting on its resources. Leopold explains in his essay that everything in the environment depends on one another to survive and keep a healthy environment. Leopold experienced this first hand while he was a forest manager in Arizona and New Mexico; he believed that they should kill all the predators, wolves, to allow deer populations to grow. But as he analyzed it deeper he began to see the healthy balance the ecosystem had. Instead of us humans acting like the top predator or conqueror of the earth, we should consider ourselves as just another member of the ecosystem that cannot survive alone. We also depend on the other members of the ecosystem to survive and maintain a healthy environment. Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic applies to my final paper topic on acid rain because we as humans consider ourselves to be the conqueror of this earth. We do lots of things that are harming our environment and acid rain is just one of the many effects humans have on our environment. Acid rain happens because there are excessive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, and the reason why there is lots of CO2 in the atmosphere is because we produce it by burning fossil fuels for energy. For example driving your car and powering your home. All this CO2 in the atmosphere causes acid rain. Not only does acid rain impact us but it also impacts the environment. It lowers the pH level in lakes, killing many species of fish, loosing biodiversity and can cause the extinction of various species. By killing different species of fish, we are not respecting our land ethics because we are not caring for the other members of the environment and we need those members to maintain a healthy ecosystem. Land Ethic means respect for another member of the environment and for the community; we humans do not have the right to wipe out other species because we are the top predators. We must have respect for the all of the members in the environment and community to properly maintain a healthy and well balanced ecosystem.

Psycology Analysis of Stephen Hawking

I chose Stephen Hawking to write about for my case study because I have always found him extremely interesting. As a fellow atheist he has come pretty outstanding scientific theories on how our universe came about, none of which are attributed to some fictitious being. I am also inspired with the amount that Hawking has done so far in his lifetime. All this has been done in spite of, or because of, having ALS. As a medical professional I am in awe of the things that he has accomplished.Stephen William Hawking, born in 1942 is the eldest of Frank and Isobel Hawking’s three children. Mary was born in 1943, Philippa was born in 1947, and Edward was adopted in 1956. As a newborn Stephen first lived in Northern London. Hawking’s parents where themselves quite accomplished, Stephen’s father was a respected medical researcher in the specialty of tropical diseases, while his mother was one of Oxford’s first female students. When he was just two weeks old Stephen w as almost killed when a V2 rocket damaged the Hawking’s home while they were away.This is when the Hawking’s moved to Oxford in order to avoid the attacks by the Luftwaffe (the aerial warfare branch of the German Armed Forces) and to provide a safer environment to raise their growing family. In 1950, when Stephen was eight years old he and his family moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire. As a child Stephen was awkward and small for his age. His teachers thought he was bright but he did not stand out as being very far above his classmates in elementary school. At one point in school he was third from the bottom of his class.He did enjoy creating games with his friends. They would come together at the family home on weekends and holidays to play. Stephen would create many of the rules and the games would often be so complex that one turn could take an entire afternoon. At the local public high school, the gauche, lisping Hawking was persecuted as a swot, which is a person that devotes themselves solely to their studies and avoids social diversions. He avoided team sports and pop music for a world of jazz, classical music, and debating. I think that these tendencies point toward him being an introvert.Stephen had always shown an interest in science. After graduating from high school he enrolled himself at Oxford. There was no mathematics offered at the time, so Hawking chose Physics as his major. During his time at Oxford Stephen also showed great interest in Thermodynamics, relativity and quantum mechanics. He received his B. A. degree from Oxford University, in 1962, after which he enrolled for studying astronomy. Stephen met his wife Jane Wilde, a languages undergraduate at a New Year's party in 1963, while studying at Cambridge, they were married in 1965.He was named a fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 32, and later earned the prestigious Albert Einstein Award. In 1975 he traveled to Rome, where he was honored with the Pius XI Gold Medal for Science from Pope Paul VI. In the 1980s Hawking answered one of Einstein's unanswered theories, the famous unified field theory. Hawking published his first book, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time in 1975, rocked the physics community by examining and expanding on Einstein’s General theory of relativity, and the general structure of space and time. In 1988 Hawking, published A Brief History of Time.A short, informative book, that became an account of cosmology for the masses. Spending more than four years atop the London Sunday Times' best-seller list, it has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 40 languages since its publication. In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea that God could have created the universe, stating, â€Å"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can, and will create itself from nothing, Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe e xists, why we exist. Along with his brilliance, Stephan Hawking is also well known for the length of time that he has been afflicted with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was diagnosed at age 21 while studying cosmology at Cambridge. Hawking's disease helped him become the scientist he is today. Prior to receiving the ALS diagnosis Stephen Hawking hadn't always focused on his studies. â€Å"I was bored with life before my illness,† he said. â€Å"There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. Realizing that he may not live long, Doctors giving him only two years to live, Hawking threw himself into his studies, and his research. He has astounded doctors by far exceeding this expectation. Hawking's ability to communicate had been dwindling for years, until in 1985, due to an emergency tracheotomy, he lost his voice completely. Hawking caught the attention of a California computer programmer who had developed a speaking pr ogram that could be directed by head or eye movement. This allowed him to select words on a computer screen using a handheld clicker.They are then passed through a speech synthesizer. Today the program is controlled by a sensor attached to his check, due to the amount of control that has been lost in his body. Stephen Hawking’s adult life has been an example in motivation. His disease has pushed him to achieve things that others would not have found possible. ‘The realization that I had an incurable disease that was likely to kill me in a few years was a shock,' he recalls. ‘How could something like this happen to me? ‘ stated Hawking.He has often been quoted as stating that his disease has been the driving force behind his work, because not knowing how much time he would have before he died has made him want to achieve as much as possible in whatever short amount was left. I think that using Erik Erikson’s work on psychosocial development you can see that the autonomy Hawking was given as a child to be as creative as he wanted paved the way for Stephen’s ability to create his phenomenal theories as an adult. I don’t think that Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development can be applied here because there is no documentation of any moral dilemmas in Hawking’s past.Maslow’s hierarchy can be applied though, even in the stages of life that Hawking is confined to a wheelchair. As a very young child, Hawking’s parents strive to achieve a safe environment that will protect him from the dangers of world war two. They do this by moving the family multiple times. I feel that through the creativity and publications that Hawking has done he has achieved the final portion in Maslow’s Hierarchy, self -actualization Using the humanistic approach, it seems to me that Stephen Hawking used the enthusiasm with which he increased his education as a means to help him cope with the diagnosis that h e received of ALS.This in turn made him a successful physicist. By vastly increasing the education he received, he was able to advance his career. This increase in his research also allowed him to feel as if he was contributing to society. By offering so much to the public he has shown himself that, although his body is frail he is very much able to be productive. By doing this it reinforces his feelings of self-worth. We, as humans have the need to be needed, and in turn the want to be appreciated for the things that we achieve. Stephen Hawking has many astounding, mind blowing theories in publication.All this has been done though the advancement of his disease, and due to his original diagnoses. It seems that the motivator for Mr. Hawking is the need to do as much as his failing body will let him in whatever time he has left. To me, the statement â€Å"You can’t understand others unless you understand yourself†, means that in order to help others, you need to know wh o you are as a person. Even though I don’t really understand psychology, I feel that if you are going to try to psycho-analyze another person, you need to have done so to yourself. There are definitely applications for psychology in my work life.Since I am a pediatric nurse working towards my BSN I use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs on a daily basis. There is always the need to ensure that an infant’s need for physical well-being and comfort is met before you can work on making sure that the age appropriate milestones are being reached. With children, if you address their need for independence, they will be your best friend, and allow you to perform the many tests that are required during their visits. I have learned many things during this class. The biggest thing that I have learned is about my personality type.Although I was not exactly correct about what I thought about myself, I was pretty close. This helps me to know that I know who I am. This in turn lets me know that I am fully equipped to help my patients. References Stephen Hawking (2006) Retrieved June 3, 2012 fromhttp://www. csupomona. edu/~nova/scientists/articles/hawk. html Stephen Hawking Biography (n. d. ) Retrieved June 3, 2012 http://lifestyle. iloveindia. com/lounge/stephen-hawking-2668. html Master of the Universe (Robin McKie, 2001) Retrieved June 3, 2012 http://www. guardian. co. uk/education/2001/oct/21/highereducation. cademicexperts Psychosocial Theory: Erikson (Davis & Clifton, 1995) Retrieved June 3, 2012 http://www. haverford. edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/erikson. stages. html Theories of Development (Crain, 1985). Editorial board Words of Wisdom (2011) Introduction to Psychology Stephen Hawking. (2012). Biography. com. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from http://www. biography. com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710 Stephen Hawking Biography (2010) Retrieved May 26, 2012 from http://www. notablebiographies. com/Gi-He/Hawking-Stephen. html#ixzz1vzRLUH5F About Stephen Hawking (n. d. ) Retrieved May 26, 2012 from http://www. hawking. org. uk/about-stephen. html