A Conversation Analysis - 2502 Words

ENGLISH IN CONTEXT ANALYSIS OF SPEECH People spend a significant part of their lives listening and talking, that is the main reason why conversation is regarded to be the most generalised form of talk that concerns both speakers and listeners and it is contemplated to be the essential ingredient in co-operative undertaking (Wardhaugh, 1985). Conversation is informal talk involving two or more people and interviews are a particular type of conversation. Interviews are regarded as meetings at which a journalist asks questions in order to find out the interviewee’s opinion. This is an assignment that analyses a telephone interview, so there is an absence of eye contact, body language or facial expressions that are attributes of a ‘live’†¦show more content†¦Two examples that portray this representative type are: the suppositional statement made by the journalist at the beginning of the interview that reads ‘Are we losing the overall picture here, anybody in West Yorkshire who’s gett ing a bit sore that Tetley’s getting the elbow?’ (journalist, first page); and, the supposition concerning the name’s change for Royal Mail to Consignia that ‘it was like a flop, wasn’t it?’ (journalist, second page). Furthermore, certain speech acts in this conversation are examples of direct speech because the question that reads as ‘I think of stories like Consignia, you remember?’ (speaker, first page) is associated directly with its relevant answer in its literate sense that reads as ‘yeah’ (journalist, first page). In cases that there is a hidden difference of opinion, a suggestion of politeness is formulated in positive face polite statements and relates to the desire to be liked and express approval (Brown and Levinson, 1987 cited in Maybin Mercer, 1996). The intention of satisfying the face needs of others while protecting our own is evidenced in this interview’s utterances such as, ‘well, if I see it from that point of view may well be’ (speaker, third page) that indicate a certain kind of polite tone through mediating of opinion. The expression of personal opinions in a ‘down to earth’ interview, that overall ‘touches’ the topic and ‘captures’ the listener’s ear, is re-enforcedShow MoreRelatedTurn-Taking System as Described in Conversation Analysis1562 Words   |  7 PagesOutline and illustrate the turn-taking system as described in Conversation Analysis Introduction to Discourse Student Number: 12022165 Academic year 2012/2013 TABLE OF CONTENT 1 INTRODUCITON 2 TURN-TAKING 3 STRUCTURE OF THE TURN-TAKING SYSTEM 3.1 Techniques for selecting the next speaker 4 OPENING AND CLOSING OF THE CONVERSATION 4.1 Openings 4.1.1 Topic 4.2 Closings 5 CONCLUSION INTRODUCITON In conversation people seem to follow a certain rule of communication whichRead MoreHow We Communicate in Conversations Essay1123 Words   |  5 Pageson participants engaged in conversation. Therefore, this essay will examine the settings, participants background, social context, register, turn-taking and other elements that are contributing on creation and in analysing different kinds of conversations on different examples of transcripts. More specifically the aim of this essay is to discuss the way in which people use English as a social tool in ordinary conversation through the discipline of conversation analysis on each speech act, as AllingtonRead More Studying and Treating the Communicative Dyad Essay1784 Words   |  8 Pagesprograms, the programs’ effectiveness, and their long-term outcomes have been reviewed by Turner and Whitworth (2006). There were three major types of conversation partner training (CPT) programs that the researchers identified in the availabl e literature. One type was Conversation Analysis motivated therapy, which encourages collaborative conversation, and the communication partners shape their responses based on the previous conversational turn. In this manner, both conversational partners have aRead MoreTurn Taking Mechanisms in Conversation Essay1968 Words   |  8 PagesTurn Taking Mechanisms in Conversation From the amount of conversations we witness on a daily basis we can see that they are governed by some sort of mechanism or rules. From these observations, it becomes clear that turn taking is a major constituent of conversation, with the arrangement of talk across two participants. Levinson (1983: 296) explains that, despite the ‘obvious’ nature of turn taking (i.e. A speaks, then B speaks, then A speaks again) the way in whichRead MoreConversation Analysis Essay6877 Words   |  28 Pagesreport is then developed on the textual analysis, which discusses that different genres have different elements that bring coherence. However, it is noticed that lexical cohesion forms strong cohesive ties and bring coherence in case of both the texts analysed. The paper argues that although cohesion is an important aspect of developing a coherent text, yet coherence is also possible without cohesion. Key words: Coherence, Cohesion, Text, Discourse, Analysis 1. INTRODUCTION The focus of this paperRead MoreLinguistics Conversation Analysis On Women Essay1924 Words   |  8 Pages Linguistics Conversation Analysis Anadelia Dominguez November 21st, 2016 Professor Burke Fresno State Since the beginning of time, women have been thought of as less when compared to men. In fact, women are constantly having to fight for equality whether that be equality in opportunities or equality in the workforce including wages or certain jobs. Language is no different, women â€Å"use† different language than men. In fact, according to Candance West and Don H. Zimmerman’sRead MoreAnalysis Of The Flight From Conversation 1357 Words   |  6 Pageserry Turkle, the author of â€Å"The Flight from Conversation†, is a psychologist who focuses her research on psychoanalysis and human-technology interaction. In this article, Turkle expresses her opinions on modern day communication and how it is negatively affected by social media. Nicholas A. Christakis, the maker of the famous TED talk â€Å"The Hidden Influence of Social Networks†, is a sociologist and physician known for his research on social networks and on the socioeconomic and biosocial determinant sRead MoreTextual Analysis : Flight From Conversation1503 Words   |  7 PagesTextual Analysis: The Flight from Conversation Technology has been developing dramatically since our turn into the new era. It is undeniable to say that technology makes our lives much easier. For instance, the invention of the cell phone makes the connection between people easier. It is not a problem for a person to contact another person who is on the other side of country or even world because the texting feature in cell phones has been widely used. It is much easier for people to browse the newsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Flight From Conversation By Sherry Turkle944 Words   |  4 PagesIn the narrative â€Å"The Flight from Conversation† by Sherry Turkle, she says in this age of mobile devices and Facebook people have sacrificed conversation with connection. People are always on their phones and struggle to maintain eye contact, and when they’re texting in classrooms and even in dates when you are supposed to connect to someone physically and emotionally, and instead people act like robots and text even on dates and probably other social occasions. All this meant to show how peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of Sherry Turrkle The Flight From Conversation958 Words   |  4 PagesProfessor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sherry Turkle, in her New York Times article â€Å"The Flight from Conversation†, identifies society’s declining ability to connect with each other on a person-to-person basis. Turkle’s purpose is to highlight the importance of human interaction with the absence of technology. She supports her argument concerning technology’s negative implications on people’s interactions amongst each other by the following:

Socrates Apology Of Plato s Apology - 981 Words

Part I: Essay Outline Question #2 At 23b of Plato s Apology Socrates claims to be wiser than his interlocutors because, unlike them, he does not think he knows what he does not know. Question: Is this self-assessment genuinely meaningful or is it merely clever word play? Thesis Statement: I think Socrates’ message behind his speech to his interlocutors was to both state his superior wisdom and gain the attention while doing so. Outline I. Introduction A. Opening Statement 1. What is wisdom? 2. Wisdom vs. foolishness B. Bridge 1. Socrates’ speech displays his determination to explain the foolishness of his interlocutors. 2. Quote At 21d Socrates says: †¦when I do not know, neither do I think I know; so I am likely to be wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know. (Plato, 23) C. Thesis Statement II. Socrates elaborates the need of asking questions to gain more knowledge. A. What does Socrates mean when he proclaims his obliviousness in this manner? 1. Positively he implies this: he understands that he has more to learn. This is a typical elucidation of this thought, and likely the one the vast majority have. 2. He is additionally alluding to the constrained way of human knowing as he says; all human knowledge is useless, nothing, at the end of the day, uncertain. Indeed, even in their best operation, notwithstanding with respect to those convictions for which we have the best reasons, and invested the most energyShow MoreRelatedPlato s The Apology Of Socrates874 Words   |  4 PagesIn Plato s â€Å"The Apology of Socrates†, Socrates states, â€Å"the unexamined life is not worth living† and he would rather be put to death them stop his practice of philosophy (The Apology). In this writing, Socrates is charged with not accepting the gods recognized by the state, devising new gods, and corrupting the youth of Athens. However, the word apology in the title is not our modern English interpretation of the word. The name of the speech stems from the Greek word apologia, which translatesRead MorePlato s Apology Questions On Socrates1104 Words   |  5 PagesSeptember 04, 2017 Plato’s Apology Questions 01) Socrates says he faces two groups of accusers or accusations What/who are these? Socrates faces old accusers who for years have accused him of things he has not done. Socrates fears these accusers but he believes that they are not the worst of them. Socrates believes the far more dangerous accusers are the ones who have grown up as children in these falsehood beliefs and have these views embed in their minds. Socrates was accused of corrupting theRead MoreThe Apology : Plato s Version Of What Socrates865 Words   |  4 PagesThe Apology is Plato’s version of what Socrates said in the court when facing a public prosecution against the charges of not believing in the city’s gods and corrupting the youths of the city, Athens. He lived during the time of Peloponnesian War, in which Athens was defeated by the hands of Sparta. The term â€Å"Apology† is a greek word that means to defense, in the book, Socrates defense his actions and beliefs. From the book, it seems that Socrates led a simple life, kept a distance the politicianRead MoreThe Apo logy Is Plato s Retelling Of Socrates s Trail1599 Words   |  7 PagesThe Apology is Plato’s retelling of Socrates’s trail. Within his account, he portrays Socrates as a confident, but almost haughty, and reasonable man. The main philosophical themes that Plato presents through Socrates are wisdom, justice, and his purpose in the community. Socrates is at this trial because he has been accused of two things: 1) â€Å"Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, andRead MoreLessons Learned From Socrates Plato s The Apology 1453 Words   |  6 PagesThree Lessons Learned From Socrates (Three Points Learned From Socrates in Plato’s â€Å"The Apology†) In the year of 399 BCE, the philosopher Socrates was put on trial for two things, being an atheist and corrupting the youth. Both of these charges were because of false accusations of people who were insulted by Socrates’ intelligence. Socrates’ argument or defense against the charges while he is on trial is written by Plato, Socrates’ student, as â€Å"The Apology.† During Socrates’ trial, he argued that heRead MoreSocrates Defense Against The Criticism Of Plato s Apology2077 Words   |  9 PagesAfter the introductory remarks, Plato’s Apology continues with Socrates’ defense against the â€Å"First Accusations,† because his accusers are many, and of all ages: the older accusers have persuaded the youth to speak and think badly of Socrates, and given that they were at an age of influence, the lesson stuck. The old accusations that Socrates has to address first and foremost are: â€Å"Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makesRead MoreAnalysis of Socrates in Aristhphane ´s Clouds and Plato ´s Apology1081 Words   |  5 Pages Socrates was a pompous man who believed that he was wiser than most, if not all, Athenian men of his time. He is also credited as one of the fathers of western philosophy, his own philosophy revolving around the welfare of one’s soul and reflecting on what the good life was. He was told by an oracle that he was the wisest of men and spent a great deal of time trying to prove it false, he decided that he was considered wise for accepting that he knew nothing, and never claimed to know anything thatRead MoreThe Four Texts On Socrates By Plato And Aristophanes Looks At Plato s Works, Euthyphro, Apology, Essay1935 Words   |  8 PagesEmily DePasquale Philosophy 103 Monday,Wednesday,Friday 9A.M. Professor Nichols September 30th, 2016 Journal One: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito I. 1. The Four Texts On Socrates by Plato and Aristophanes looks at Plato’s works, Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito. Plato’s works fall under the genre of philosophical dialogue presented in a context similar to that of dramatic monologues. Although Plato’s works are based in historical context, the works are less historical fiction, and more of a dramaticRead MorePlato s Apology And The Apology1591 Words   |  7 PagesIn this paper I will discuss how Plato s Apology and Phaedo have difference ideas of what it means to be a philosopher. I will explain how in the Apology, the philosopher is wise in how he/she understand that they are wise because they know that they don t know, and in Phadeo the philosopher knowledgable and are concern in gaining more knowledge. In Plato s Apology we learn about Socrates life and who he really is. In platos Apology a philosopher is a wise person because he understands thatRead MoreWhat Are The Charges Against Socrates?1019 Words   |  5 Pagesthe charges against Socrates as recorded in the Apology. Is he guilty of them? Why or why not? The Apology is assumed to be the most realistic account that has been conserved of Socrates defense of himself as it was presented before the Athenian Council. It is in essential agreement with the references to the trial that occur in Plato s other dialogs. We may determine that Apology is not written by Socrates and only contains the words of Socrates that were memorized by Plato, since he was present

Introduction to buisness free essay sample

As far as marketing is concerned Bremont , have already cut out into the with the brand itself has already reaching international luxury markets in Hong Kong. It will be also attracting most of their UK-based customers, with the made in Britain stamp. Bremont will opening a new workshop opening in Hanley-on-Thames , which will increase production and improve the operations. Since the parts will be assembled and manufactured in the UK, this will cut down on costs from the parts that are usually being imported from Switzerland to be assembled in the UK. As far as human resources is concerned, 35 new workers will be employed on the new sites. The watches at the moment, are reasonably priced. Since a watch takes two years to build, it can be said that the companys finances, should be more focus on the manufacturing section. Most of this will be accomplished, from the development of the new workshop. Weaknesses There aren’t many weaknesses that can be seen as of yet with the marketing, Bremont seems to be doing all the right things at the moment. Such as breaking into international markets and building up their own name brand in the UK. Their main weakness at the moment, is trying to compete with the big luxury name brands in Switzerland. The weaknesses in operations are as such, they are not able to produce enough to keep up with demand. As it was mentioned, the demand far outweighs the supply. This has much to do with, the fact that building a watch takes two years. Most of the weaknesses stemmed from this issue, that there is not enough manpower and supply at the current moment. This overtime will change, through the production of the new workshop and personnel. Not many weaknesses can be shown from human resources at the moment, as the workers have not yet been hired, nor have the brothers had enough any personnel over a certain time period to highlight this issue. The investing, as per the article showed, was a financial weakness. That may change in the future as the company have taken on investors that have experience in the luxury field. Opportunities If the company would build up their name, more in the UK, this would be a great opportunity to accomplish what they want to start, which was to have their customers buying first from home. Once they could efficiently, break into the market in the UK, this would give them more of an edge and stronger whole to their name brands internationally. Finances play a big part of difference operation opportunities. If the development of this new workshop proves to be successful, financially and with production, they could possibly expand and build more workshops does hiring more personnel and producing more watches to balance out supply and demand. Threats The biggest threats at the moment lie in the marketing, operations and finances. Most of the big Swiss companies dont need to spend as much money or time marketing as such, since they have built up the name brand over years, most of them are well-known internationally. Swiss companies also have a much greater budget for marketing than Bremont. They are also able to produce luxury watches more and possibly faster due to the fact that they have a lot more experience, money and have sorted out their investment issues already. Swiss watch companies can be said simply, to be the biggest threat of Bremont. If Bremont, is not careful with their investments in things such as operations and marketing, this could be very consequential and they could end up broke, but since they are their own shareholders the only consequence they will have is on themselves. Since they are starting out small with the marketing, this may be an opportunity for the other watch companies to figure out how squeeze them out of the competition. Part (b) The organizational culture of Bremont, is influenced by the communications. Communications in this case, influence Bremont, through the events that have happened in both of the brothers lives, and a love for aviation to inspire the interest of making luxury wrist watches. The brothers since had a career, in restoring vintage aircraft. They were inspired, by their father’s passion of engineering and watches. These things all tied together, and the fact that the wristwatch was invented for pilots, influence the culture and background for Bremont, making wristwatches, also with airplane parts. What could be taken from this is that, aviation had influence the behavior of this business to start making wristwatches, particularly those watches made with certain airplane parts. Question 2 Part (a) Based on the Hackman and Oldham’s (Schaefer, 2006) model the main thing that needs to be established is how to make the workers enthusiastic and willing to come to work. This is achieved by designing the job the best way possible that comfortably allows the employee to use their abilities. As well as properly fitting jobs to the employees through a selection process. An employee should be selected for the job based on their skill level and background. This is a means to show that this job cannot be done by everyone and is significant to the individual. The benefits of the work done from the employee and a progress chart to show the significance It is important to make the task as fulfilling as possible. As the Hackman and Oldham’s model describes. This would include showing the significance of the job task and what the outcome will be when the specific job is completed. Feedback is very important. Things like flexible work times, unions, more than the minimum vacation days, and payment benefit schemes, would make working in the workshop more desirable. Employees could come in a certain time of the day and choose what time of the day to come in as long as they complete their task. Most employees favor a workers protection organization such as a Union. This keeps a general neutral background for the employer and employee to have dialogue without consequences. With only a staff of 35 people that may not be necessary. Proper integration and induction (Marriot, 2007)is important for the new employee, they must be trained properly and not simply thrown in and expected to function with zero experience. Induction allows for this as it is somewhat of an introduction. This could be for example a tour of the Bremont workshop as well as showing the new employee who is responsible for them and how to work certain machinery etc. All things that is necessary for starting a new job. Part (b) Bremont has many different possibilities to recruit and select employees. The best way to go about this is finding the most efficient and cost effective method. A method in which filters out a percentage of applicable and non-applicable selectees before an interview. The internet is a low cost, efficient and effective way to select and recruit employees for a further interview. Bremont could list their job openings online on popular recruiting websites and have the applicants upload their resume online. This would allow the HRM department to quickly and easily go through resumes by also adding important keywords (Such as Mechanical Engineer with min. Through their search and job listing to make sure that applicants can check if they are qualified on an impersonal level before an interview would take place. Job specification as well as a thorough job description is helpful in this case. This cuts down on cost of running an ad every week in the newspaper and allows the company to look themselves for qualified applicants quickly and efficiently without having to wait for a reply and then set up an interview in a hope that this person meets the basic impersonal requirements. Employment agencies are also another method but very costly for a company as money is paid for each person placed as well as the training cost for the employee. I would actually instead of using employment agencies I would put the money into promoting the Businesses brand. Advertising the brand such as on billboards, newspapers and internet would be a practical example. That combined with an online recruitment and selection process would cut down on many costs compared to formally interviewing every candidate without pre -qualifying them. Pre-qualifying through the internet would also free up the HR department so they can process every application in a allotted time they choose. Part (c ) The first main issue of marketing is how to market on the luxury level as this is a different type of customer and different type of competition. Can the marketing keep up with supply and demand? Operations as well need to be, set up and successfully running in order for the marketing to be successful. They run hand-in-hand with each other. Breaking into the global market is important. In order for this to be done, the name needs to be strongly established in the home country. This being the UK, once a successful there. It could be possible that other countries would be knocking at Bremont s doorstep. This would make things a lot easier for Bremont, and possibly make the barriers in countries such as China and India, easier to overcome. This combined with globalization only makes it much easier for Bremont to be successful internationally in the global market. Since Bremont does not have the same finance budget as a Swiss company, this would further confirm why making the name brand in the UK popular is a more important priority. Question 5 Part (a) Globalization is an expansion of economic activities which expands political boundaries and borders (Nayyar, 2002). At the moment Bremont has its parts made in Switzerland and assembled in the UK. This is an example of globalization across boundaries and borders. The company makes most of its sales from its exports the US and Asia. This system of selling in other countries has taken place because of globalization. It does have its negatives such as hurting the countrys local economy due to figure outside companies setting up shop within a foreign country. This is another reason why it is hard for small shops to compete with bigger stronger , Name Brand and even foreign companies. (b) The four drivers of globalization (Schaefer, 2006) are: Cost drivers In the case of Bremont, the cost of marketing and improving production and operations of the biggest cost drivers. Market drivers Market drivers in the case of Bremont would be an establishing the brand first strongly in the UK before they move on internationally. Government drivers Trade barriers need to be reduced in this case. As mentioned before with India and possibly other countries would help move the products forward for Bremont. Things such as import tax and customs duties could be negotiated between governments to allow marketing to be easier, while still protecting each countrys local market. Competition drivers This situation has already been created in the UK as there is a cross border and free movement of companies in EU and EEA countries to allow for a broader playing field for competition. This also allows for the companies to be strategically placed around the globe and make countries interdependent. The strongest driver for Bremont is the Government driver. Since Bremont is competing with Swiss watch companies on luxury brands, most Swiss companies still have a higher up as they are able to do more marketing internationally. As well as setting up companies globally. Globally they are more flexible but with time when Bremont sets up a workshop in the UK and markets properly this will allow the brand name to become stronger and might possibly open up certain economic issues that lie from lack of agreements from certain countries about borders, and duty tax rates etc.

Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets

Identifying the Problem of Talents in Emerging Markets Leaders of many companies are convinced that a famous name and relatively big starting salaries are everything that talented people are looking for in the organizations. In reality, that is not right. Surely, there are still many people who do not need more.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, growing talents of developing countries would never agree to those conditions. Such kind of people want to prove to the world that their country is able to make a difference and innovate, even at the global level, so instead of striving for high salaries they want to find opportunities for self-development and doing something special. The Reasons for Growing Talents to Choose Emerging Markets Why talented people tend to prefer emerging markets to well-developed? The answer is evid ent – emerging markets offer the opportunities that people are searching for, while others do not. However, it seems to be a paradox since developed markets are supposed to have many advantages over the developing ones; this idea lies in the terms themselves. However, this paradox now is a reality. The statistics of emerging markets is steadily growing. That growth began in 2000, and now the tendency preserves. The analytics predict that developing markets are going to grow nearly three times faster than developed once in the nearest future (â€Å"The growing role of emerging markets† par. 2). Indeed, such countries as China, Russia or other representatives of BRIC have better economic performance than the Euro Union members or the United States. Therefore, that is the first reason why talents are so attracted to emerging markets – they offer an opportunity to grow with the company and a unique chance to be one of the first. The second reason would be obvious to anyone who has ever chosen between a startup and a large corporation. That is like a standard problem of different generations. Grown-ups usually forget what it is to be children or teens, forget what they have wanted and needed in that age. The same happens between emerging and developed markets. While developed ones already have enough employees as well as a regular influx of new ones, emerging markets do their best to win them. And these efforts do not go unnoticed. However, it is better to know what exactly attracts people.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Identifying the Hypothesis: What Organizations Should Offer One of the strategies is suggested in the article by Ready, Hill, and Conger called Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets. The strategy is built on two pillars: making attractive promises, from which it is hard to refuse (to win the battle for t alents), and keeping those promises (to retain talents) (1). Seems to be simple, doesn’t it? Each of these pillars, in its turn, is built on several more. To make attractive promises, an organization should focus on three points: the brand (the reputation based on excellence), opportunities (self-development, possibility to innovate, challenging projects, and so forth), and the purpose (really worthy and needed by people). The paragraph about keeping promises the authors start with the following words. It’s tempting to overpromise just to get new hires in the door. But failure to deliver on those promises will sour current employees on the company and ultimately hurt its appeal for potential new hires. Keeping your promises is especially crucial in emerging markets where employees can easily move to global or local companies that seem to offer greater overall rewards. (Ready, Hill, and Conger 1) So, the most important point here is the willingness to fulfill promises. And in this regard, the company’s organizational culture plays a crucial role. The Need for Study in the Article In this part of the paper, it is discussed why the study conducted by Ready, Hill, and Conger is useful, who needs it, how it can be applicable to the UAE/GCC environment, and why it is appropriate for the MBA program. Who and Why Needs the Study? Emerging markets are steadily growing. Consequently, organizations, which operate in developing markets, are growing as well. They need new people and especially those talented ones. That is why the battle for talents between emerging markets and their organizations is fierce. Additionally, despite the fact that developing markets have some advantages over developed ones, they still have to compete for talents with each other. So, first of all, this study is essential for companies from emerging markets that are searching for talents since it provides them with a relevant strategy. However, it has the same value for compa nies operating in developed markets.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the best characteristics of this article is that it gives numerous examples in addition to the strategy. Therefore, companies can examine and even implement them if it is possible. For example, on the very first page, the authors told about the Standard Chartered Bank that reduced its attrition rates to retain their employees (and attract new ones) while the majority of other companies increased those (Ready, Hill, and Conger 1). That is actually a good idea, which can be implemented by every company regardless of the sphere it operates in. How is the Study applicable to UAE/GCC environment? In 2015, Morningstar Indexes, considering a â€Å"significant improvements in UAE in recent years†, decided to classify this country as an emerging market (2 ). This status means that since now the UAE has to compete for talents at this level. As for GCC environment, the study is applicable since â€Å"emerging-market countries provide significant opportunities† for it, particularly those can improve a connection with Asian countries (27). Additionally, many talented people in these territories want to find decent job opportunities, do something worthy and valuable. Why is the Study Appropriate for the MBA Program? This work is appropriate for the MBA program as far as it encompasses a significant and urgent topic, which has great practical value, and the results that can be used by numerous organizations. This study also cost the authors huge efforts and lots of time. The details in this regard can be found in the following paragraph (Ready, Hill, and Conger 2). Methodology of the Study As the authors of the article state, â€Å"All three of us have spent decades studying talent management and leadership development, but this wa r for talent is like nothing we’ve ever seen before† (Ready, Hill, and Conger 2). To examine the concept, they have spent eight months, involved â€Å"dozens of executives†, and collected information from twenty different global companies (Ready, Hill, and Conger 2). The research method that the authors have chosen is qualitative. The primary method used for the data collection is an in-person interview. The authors interviewed dozens of CEO, managers, and supervisors. In this particular situation, the qualitative research is probably the best possible option since details are imperative.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Firstly, because the problem investigated in the article is subtle. Secondly, because the quantitative research would not provide many examples of an implementation of the theory, and those are essential as it has already been concluded above. Choosing between various methods of data collection, which are observations, in-person interviews, focus groups, and action research, the authors have done a right chose (â€Å"Methods of collecting qualitative data† par. 4). An interview is the only possible way that lets people examine an issue from the inside and make conclusions about the practice, not theory. In comparison with observations or focus groups, interviews give much more information, including particular details, which are not available in any other way. As a result, the authors’ analysis has revealed four factors that are crucial to the organization in the battle for talents. Those are the company’s brand, opportunities, purpose, and culture. Critique of the Article The work that the authors of the article have done is praiseworthy and priceless. However, particular drawbacks of their theory still can be found. They should not be considered as the deficiencies of the authors’ work since they are primarily caused by the disadvantages of emerging markets as such. Unstable Environment Several years ago, both emerging and developed markets survived a serious economic downturn. Even some well-developed markets were harmed. For emerging ones, such kind of crises is always destroying. As Michaelson ironically notices, â€Å"good business behavior is at risk in developing markets because, well, the markets†¦ are developing† (238). Indeed, such markets do have high economic performance, and they are weak in front of global crises and economic recessions. To minimize adverse effects of those, companies in emerging markets should try to maintain the demand for their products, retain valuable employees and find some kind of à ¢â‚¬Å"sustainable competitive advantage†, which will benefit them during bad times (Liu 2824). Naturally, for each company, those advantages will be different. Cultural Challenge The second significant challenge is cultural. Hiring people of various nationalities and cultures is fraught with numerous problems. Among those are both minor, such as simple misunderstandings, and serious ones, based on ethnocentrism or prejudice. To avoid this, organizations should make every effort. Otherwise, all advantages of a diverse workforce will be wiped out. At this point, strong ethical leaders are imperative. They can address the cultural issue in the best way, implementing various interventions, conducting workshops, giving particular social tasks to their followers, and so on. Besides, to be sure that both employees and managers are aware of all nuances of working with a variety of cultures, organizations should establish formal written policies in this regard. That is how people will know that any discrimination or ethnocentrism in the workplace will not go unpunished. Other Barriers Two issues mentioned above are probably the most significant ones and should be addressed as a matter of urgency. Nevertheless, there are also many others, and linguistic one goes first on the list. A variety of languages is not only an advantage on a global scale but also a barrier. Hiring people, whose first language differs from English and who do not speak English well enough, organizations face difficulties associated with the communication within the group. To overcome this challenge, they should hire more bilingual employees and provide training courses to improve employees’ language skills. Another problem is a territorial one. When some of the employees work remotely, and face-to-face communication is impossible, people’s relations and trust can worsen. Another significant barrier is caused by different time zones, and it makes communication even more complica ted. The advancement of technologies can also become a problem since some countries are developing better than others in this regard. Besides, cities usually have more opportunities and connections than villages. This list can be greatly expanded. Considering problems and limitations of emerging markets as such, we can make conclusions about the direction of future studies in this field. Since every issue mentioned above is important, all of them should be sooner or later addresses in research. Summary and Conclusion For many decades, the relationships between emerging and developed markets have been mainly the same. The West was the strongest, and the members of the Euro Union and the United States literally set the direction for everybody. Presently, the situation is changing. Economic indicators of emerging markets are steadily growing. In 2000, they could account for 37 percent of global GDP, in 2005, this number reached the point of 50 percent, and the growing tendency preserve s (â€Å"The growing role of emerging markets† par. 1). This rapid and relatively stable growth attracts talented people from developing countries since it provides them with an opportunity to grow as well. They are able to be one of the first, innovate, realize their ambitions, and prove to the world that their country can make a difference. These people want something more than just a big salary and a famous brand, and an awareness of their interests can help to win the race for talent in emerging markets. Ready, Hill, and Conger give their hypothesis of what such people need. To prove their point of view, they have spent eight months for the qualitative research, which is described in the article, and â€Å"decades studying talent management and leadership development† (Ready, Hill, and Conger 2). The information was gathered mainly through interviews with CEOs, managers, and supervisors. Twenty different global companies took part in the research. According to Read y, Hill, and Conger, there are two pillars, on which winning the race for talents depends on (2). Those are making attractive promises and actually fulfilling them (Ready, Hill, and Conger 2). The first one is imperative to find new talents and make them choose your company, and the second is needed to retain those talents after all. Three points characterize attractive promises. The first one is a brand of a company, which should be famous for the excellence and advancement. The second is built on the opportunities – the opportunities for growth, self-development, working on challenging and interesting tasks, and so on. Finally, the third one is the purpose. An organization should have a worthy purpose, which people would need. Since it is always â€Å"tempting to overpromise just to get new hires in the door†, to be sure that the promises will be fulfilled, a company should have an adequate culture (Ready, Hill, and Conger 1). This theory is really useful because, in addition to theoretical knowledge, it provides examples of strategies of particular organizations and explains how those have worked. Since personal interviews have been chosen as a data collection method, the article contains many priceless details, which would be impossible to gather through any other research methods or tools. Admittedly, the strategy suggested in the article has its particular drawbacks but those exist in view of the concept of emerging markets as such, there is no fault of the authors in that. Among such drawbacks, the most significant are the cultural challenge and an unstable environment, in which developing markets operate. Additionally, there are also such barriers as linguistic, territorial, technological, and others. All of them should be considered as challenges and addressed in future studies. Works Cited Liu, Yang. â€Å"Sustainable competitive advantage in turbulent business environments.† International Journal of Production Research 51.10 (20 13): 2821–2841. Print. Methods of collecting qualitative data n.d. Web. Michaelson, Christopher. â€Å"Revisiting the global business ethics question.† Business Ethics Quarterly 20.2 (2010): 237-251. Print. Morningstar Indexes 2014, Morningstar Indexes Market Classification Results: UAE to be Classified as an Emerging Market. Web. Ready, Douglas, Linda A. Hill, and Jay A. Conger. â€Å"Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets.† Harvard Business Review 11 (2008): 1-10. Web. The growing role of emerging markets in shaping global demand 2014. Web. This case study on Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets was written and submitted by user Hezekiah Valenzuela to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

annot bib example

annot bib example Clyde McNeillMs. BarnesEnglish 111.090715 October 2014Annotated Bibliography"Human Trafficking is real, it's in North Carolina." WRAL Investigates. Writ. Amanda Lamb. WRAL, 3 Nov. 2011. WRAL.com. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.The main topic of this article focuses on human trafficking. Human trafficking is known as the modern day slavery using mainly women. "Women, often from other countries, forced into prostitution, tortured, and held against their will in brothels" (par 1), is not just the movie you watch on Lifetime Movie Network. In reality, human trafficking is affecting more than adult woman in foreign countries, it had reached the United States. Information received from victims that survived and were bold enough to retell the details have confirm that human trafficking is spreading and rapidly. Human trafficking cases can be found in larger states such as New York or the smaller ones such as North Carolina.USAID Human Trafficking Symposium, Sept. 16, 2009 ...To assist in my paper, the a rticle gave me valuable information about human trafficking. Human trafficking was once the industry for selling adult women to be used as tools for brothels but now with the growth of technology, human trafficking is including children. "Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the country" (par 2). The traffickers lure the victims with promises schooling advances, job advances or opportunities for a better life. Technology and social media sites such as Facebook, has allowed children to be lured into the hands of predators by befriending them. Once they are in a secure location, they are abducted, drugged and sold into slavery. "Cumberland County authorities charged Antoinette Davis with human trafficking after investigators said she sold her 5-year-old- daughter, Shaniya Davis into sexual servitude in 2009", stated the article.The main focal point of the article is to shine a...

The Life and Legend of David Davy Crockett

The Life and Legend of David Davy Crockett David Davy Crockett, known as the King of the Wild Frontier, was an American frontiersman and politician. He was famous as a hunter and outdoorsman. Later, he served in the U.S. Congress before heading west to Texas to fight as a defender at the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, where it is believed he was slain with his comrades by the Mexican army. Crockett remains a well-known figure, particularly in Texas. Crockett was a larger-than-life, American folk hero figure even in his own lifetime, and it can be hard to separate facts from legends when discussing his life. Crockett’s Early Life Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, in Tennessee, then a frontier territory. He ran away from home at the age of 13 and made a living doing odd jobs for settlers and wagon drivers. He returned home at the age of 15. He was an honest and hardworking young man. Of his own free will, he decided to work for six months to pay off one of his father’s debts. In his twenties, he enlisted in the Army in time to fight in Alabama in the Creek War. He distinguished himself as a scout and hunter, providing food for his regiment. Crockett Enters Politics After his service in the War of 1812, Crockett had a variety of low-level political jobs such as Assemblyman in the Tennessee legislature and town commissioner. He soon developed a knack for public service. Although he was poorly educated, he possessed a razor-sharp wit and a gift for public speaking. His rough, homespun manner endeared him to many. His bond with the common people of the West was genuine and they respected him. In 1827, he won a seat in Congress representing Tennessee and running as a supporter of the immensely popular Andrew Jackson. Crockett and Jackson Fall Out Crockett was at first a die-hard supporter of fellow westerner Andrew Jackson, but political intrigues with other Jackson supporters, among them James Polk, eventually derailed their friendship and association. Crockett lost his seat in Congress in 1831 when Jackson endorsed his opponent. In 1833, he won his seat back, this time running as an anti-Jacksonian. Crocketts fame continued to grow. His folksy speeches were very popular and he released an autobiography about young love, bear hunting, and honest politics. A play called The Lion of the West, with a character clearly based on Crockett was popular at the time and was a big hit. Exit from Congress Crockett had the charm and charisma to make a potential presidential candidate, and the Whig party, which was Jackson’s opposition, had their eye on him. In 1835, however, he lost his seat in Congress to Adam Huntsman, who ran as a supporter of Jackson. Crockett knew he was down but not out, but he still wanted to get out of Washington for a while. In late 1835, Crockett made his way to Texas. The Road to San Antonio The Texas Revolution had just broken out with the first shots fired at the Battle of Gonzales, and Crockett discovered that the people had a great passion and sympathy for Texas. Flocks of men and families were making their way to Texas to fight with the possibility of getting land if the revolution was successful. Many believed Crockett was going there to fight for Texas. He was too good a politician to deny it. If he fought in Texas, his political career would benefit. He heard that the action was centered around San Antonio, so he headed there. Crockett at the Alamo Crockett arrived in Texas in early 1836 with a group of volunteers mostly from Tennessee who had made him their de facto leader. The Tennesseans with their long rifles were most welcome reinforcements at the poorly-defended fort. Morale at the Alamo surged, as the men were delighted to have such a famous man among them. Ever the skilled politician, Crockett even helped defuse tension between Jim Bowie, leader of the volunteers, and William Travis, commander of the enlisted men and ranking officer at the Alamo. Did Crockett Die at the Alamo? Crockett was at the Alamo on the morning of March 6, 1836, when the Mexican president and General Santa Anna ordered the Mexican army to attack. The Mexicans had overwhelming numbers and in 90 minutes they had overrun the Alamo, killing all inside. There is some controversy over Crocketts death. It is certain that a handful of rebels were taken alive and later executed by order of Santa Anna. Some historical sources suggest Crockett was one of them. Other sources say he fell in battle. Whatever the case, Crockett and about 200 men inside the Alamo fought bravely until the end. The Legacy of Davy Crockett: Davy Crockett was an important politician and an extremely skilled hunter and outdoorsman, but his lasting glory came with his death at the Battle of the Alamo. His martyrdom for the cause of Texas independence gave the rebel movement momentum when it needed it the most. The story of his heroic death, fighting for freedom against insurmountable odds, made its way east and inspired Texans as well as men from the United States to come and continue the fight. The fact that such a famous man gave his life for Texas was great publicity for the Texans cause. Crockett is a great Texan hero. The town of Crockett, Texas, is named after him, as is Crockett County in Tennessee and Fort Crockett on Galveston Island. There are many schools, parks, and landmarks named for him as well. The character of Crockett has appeared in countless films and TV shows. He was famously played by John Wayne in the 1960 movie, The Alamo and again in the 2004 retread of The Alamo portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton. Source: Brands, H.W. Lone Star Nation: New York: Anchor Books, 2004.the Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence.

Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction Research Paper

Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction - Research Paper Example I think increased choice does not make us happy, and therefore, individual choices should not be paternalistically restricted because happiness is not the highest aim of human conduct. There are those actions which add to pleasurable activities that cannot be taken as always right. Moral virtue does not imply end of life since life can continue with unhappiness, misery, and inactivity. Therefore, moral virtues are gained by behaving virtuously but they can be damaged by either defect or excess. People are free to determine what type of self they will have, what type of people they will be. For instance, people are free to be frivolous or serious, selfish or selfless (Ignacio 67). The most significant thing is that at least one should be in a position to maintain the goal of maximal self-determination as a desirable moral and psychological state. Hence, a fully self-determined person is one that is unconstrained by biology, social constructions or by habit. Such a person will operate without constraints, which in turn enables him or her to make choices in the world to maximize his or her preferences in maintaining tenets of rational choice (Mike 42). Happiness is the central core of living, which depends entirely on cultivation of virtues. Playing the mean is the way of cultivating virtues that includes moral virtues for the attainment of individual happiness. Playing the mean is the virtue between two extreme excesses and deficiency. For instance, exercising the act of justice in getting too little or getting too much. Therefore, human beings make choices depending on the circumstances that surround them by choosing on one option and neglecting the other. The task of ethics or tenets of rational choice were to come up with the highest and the best good that is found in human life. Thus, all human activities always aim at some recognized higher end that we always consider as good. Most activities that human beings incur in life are a

Physics lab A Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Physics A - Lab Report Example Then timing of 50 oscillations followed together with recording of the attained results. Second step entailed repetition of the initial step but with varying lengths (0.8m, 1.0m, 1.2m, 1.4m and 1.6m) coupled with recording oscillations after every 25 vibrations instead of 50 as it was in the first procedure. This experiment entailed hanging the spring instead of string from the support with varying masses at its base (0.1kg, 0.2kg, 0.3kg, 0.4kg and 0.5kg). Then displacing each mass in turn from their middle positions, measuring their displacements and tabulating them in a table. The application of these experiments is immensely in the fabrication sectors where engineers construct diverse models to come up with refined designs meant to construct real machines and objects. This is to minimize losses, which could have occurred if the specialists ignored small tests in determining how the real design will

Example Creative Project Analysis as Film Studies Essay Example for Free

Example Creative Project Analysis as Film Studies Essay In my storyboard I started with normal diegetic sound to create the normal, realistic atmosphere of sounds such as gates creaking and the wind blowing. This is so the audience is aware of the surroundings, considering no establishing shot was used prior to this to show the setting also generates a dark and mysterious atmosphere to begin with, leaving it to the audience’s imagination to guess what is going to happen as no hints to the genre have even been made yet. Then we have non-diegetic sound as music influenced by the beat from Jaws starts to play. This makes the audience feel uneasy and unusual as they realise something bad may happen because of the sinister music. I was conscious of the significant use of music to create atmosphere within the horror genre and therefore wanted the soundtrack to emphasise the tension on screen. The music gets louder and louder as the attacker gets closer to the victim to emphasise the fact that there is danger ahead and something bad is clearly about to happen. The music stops just before the murder as the girl screams as it is inevitable now that the girl is going to die, it builds up tension more and pulls you into a false sense of security. At the end the only sound we hear is the diegetic sound of the attacker laughing, this is so all the focus is on her and shows she has no guilt over what she has done, leaving the audience wondering about the character so it keeps it interesting and intriguing for them to watch. Costume is used in this storyboard to show normalcy. The attacker is dressed like a normal teenage girl so the audience can somehow relate to her as well as the other character and to suggest she is just another typical modern girl, which is why it is a shock to the audience when she kills the other girl and impacts so greatly. The killer in this film is also a female because they are usually seen to be damsels in distress that need saving so you’d never expect her to kill someone, which is another way I have attempted to make the film be original and shock the audience. Women serial killers may not be as strong as a male would be but they have a bigger impact on the victims and on the audience watching, the influence for this idea comes from films such as Friday The 13th, Audition and Phenomena. The props in this storyboard are also significant, especially the use of the knife in the picture when the attacker is at the door. The use of the knife is taken from the 1996 slasher/horror film scream which greatly influenced the film and how the killing took place, this is to help when marketing to a specific target audience and so the audience can have something to compare the film too without it being too over-predictable. In picture 10, the girl is being killed and has a teddy bear in her hand; this is to imply she is young, innocent and vulnerable and also shows that she is just a normal child in the comfort of her own home and was not expecting anything like that to happen, which is an effective contrast to when she is being stabbed. The lighting used was very dim and minimal throughout as it was shot at night so the killer could hide in the shadows effectively to make her seem mysterious at first and to make the audience wonder about her. This is to play on the audience’s natural fear of the dark and shadows, which is a usual characteristic of the genre and is seen in many other horror films. The main camera shots used where over the shoulder shots and point of view shots from the killer itself, this is so the audience can actually identify with the killer and the audience will drive pleasure from the actions of the killer because if the audience is there to see a horror film they expect there to be deaths and blood as it is typical of the genre itself to play on natural human fears. During the attack there is rapid use of camera movement such as a zoom used to intensify the stabbing action and to put it in clear perspective for the audience. The extreme close up at the end is also used to emphasise on the psychotic glare of the killer as she laughs and is meant to unnerve the audience. In my creative sequence I wanted to use micro features in keeping with the horror genre in order to create audience response. My choice of sound, mise en scene and cinematography was done so to maximise the effect of my chosen scene and to effectively make a different type of horror film with an addition of originality and an addition of normal generic conventions, overall I think it was successful.

Essay --

Abu Dhabi Police: Customer Relationship Management Abdullah Ali Mohamed K-91105597 Ahmed Abdullah Al Maysari K-81105597 â€Æ' Introduction about Abu Dhabi Police: Abu Dhabi Police is the major law enforcement agency in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which was established on 1957. Abu Dhabi Police is mainly responsible for enforcing criminal law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout the Emirate. As a representative of the Ministry of Interior, and in its capacity as a global partner, the Abu Dhabi Police also works closely with local, national and international agencies to contribute to global peace and stability. Integrity, honesty and respect for human rights are the core values of the Abu Dhabi Police while the notion of public service is a central pillar in Abu Dhabi police thinking. Embraced as a legitimate partner by the community, the Abu Dhabi Police pursue efficiency and effectiveness through the use of the latest technological advancements and systems management practices. By incorporating the best of the old with the best of the new, Abu Dhabi Police has achieved the flexibility, adaptability and dur ability required to be widely regarded as one of the world's leading law enforcement agencies. Vision: To ensure continuity of Abu Dhabi emirate as community enjoys security and safety through the provision of high quality police services to citizens, residents of the emirate and its visitors. Mission: Working for a safe community, achievement of stability, reduction of crime rates. Contribution to implementation of justice in a manner that promotes the confidence of the public in police.â€Æ' The internal and external customers in Abu Dhabi police: Abu Dhabipolice externa... ...o customers are going in front of the other customers, in order to treat all the customers equally. Finally, availability of more seats in the waiting area will create a more satisfied customers, were they can be seated instead of standing in the crowded waiting area with a few seats available. Changes that can be implemented to improve the service provided by Abu Dhabi Police: Provide more smart services through the mobile, in order to complete all required services without the need to visit the service center. Continue providing training on communication skills to all the employees to maintain that the customers are satisfied while dealing with the customer’s service employees. Provide a suggestion and complains box to improve the service in Abu Dhabi police service centers in the future. References: http://www.adpolice.gov.ae/en/Portal/about.adp.aspx

Food and Beverage Essay

* Food and Beverage service is the â€Å"food and beverage flow† (from the purchasing of the foods to service to the customer) mainly concerned with the delivery and presentation of the food to customer, after completion of the food production. * Sometimes, it involves transportation if there is a separation of production and service facilities. Beverage * French bevrage, from boivre (â€Å"to drink†), from Latin bibo . * It is also said to be derived from the Latin word ‘Bever’ meaning rest or repose from the work. * The term beverage refers to all kinds of potable drinks which have thirst quenching, refreshing, stimulating, and nourishing properties. * Any potable( drinkable) liquid can be termed as beverage which regulates the stomach system and balances the pH level. * Beverages are consumed mainly to quench thirst , compensate loss of body fluid due to perspiration, feel fresh and active, as rituals, during social gatherings, and during and after eating. * Broadly beverage can be classified into two ways; 1. Alcoholic Beverage 2. Non- Alcoholic Beverage What is Alcoholic Beverage? * Alcohol is a colorless, odorless and volatile liquid. * It is a potable liquid containing ethyl alcohol or ethanol(C2H5OH) of 0. 5 per cent more by volume. * The percentage of alcohol in a drink varies from 0. 5 to 95 per cent , depending upon the method of preparation. * Alcohol is obtained by fermenting a liquid containing sugar. * The word alcohol came from the Arabic word ‘ al-kohl’ which referred to any fine powder that was applied to essences obtained by distillation by the alchemists of medieval Europe. Fermentation is the process in which a liquid containing sugar is acted upon by yeast which converts the sugar into alcohol and gives off carbon dioxide. * E. g. Grape juice- Wine * Apple Juice- Cider * Pear Juice- Perry. * Distillation is the process of separating elements in a liquid by vaporization and condensation. * During the distillation process of alcoholic beverages, the alcohol which is present in the fermented liquid(alcoholic wash) is separated from water. * Spirits are the examples of distilled drinks and the plants producing the spirits are known as distilleries. * The following wash are responsible for particular spirits which are as following: * Brandy- fermented grape juice * Gin, Whisky- fermented cereals * Tequila- fermented sap of Agave Tequilana weber * Rum- fermented molasses * Vodka- fermented potatoes or cereal.

An Essay on “Less than Zero”

Life is ever-changing, ever-moving in the passive world of today’s youth. This thought came to mind when I was reading Bret Easton Ellis’ novel â€Å"Less Than Zero†. It is a book that speaks of the life of young people in the society these days. This essay aims to describe the elements of textual style, time movement, and the leading character of the novel. First, the author’s style which employs fluidity of spatial location depict the constant changing of ads, videos, scenes, programs and channels on television to which this story resembles. It can be observed that the story jumps from one location to another. Indeed, reading the novel is like watching a television. Just like in this paragraph from the text: â€Å"After leaving Blair I drive down to Wilshire and then onto Santa Monica and then I drive onto Sunset and take Beverly Glen to Mulholland, and then to Sepulveda to Ventura and then I drive through Sherman Oak's to Encino and then into Tarzana and then Woodland Hills. I stop at Sambo's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This scene narrates the constant search of Clay, the leading character of the story, for a place where he can find enjoyment and pleasure yet he always ends up feeling empty and frustrated. This characterizes the youth of the 80’s and of today. They do a lot of things, go to a lot of places, and meet a lot of people yet they end up with nothing. The teens in the story spend their time, money and energy in worthless activities such as drinking alcohol, sniffing cocaine, partying, and engaging in sex and more but they do not get anything worthwhile. There is another scene of Clay and Rip tells of the aimlessness of going from one place to another. It didn’t matter if they are getting nowhere as long as they are moving. Second, the fast and quick time movement of the story illustrates that people come and go. Nothing is permanent in this world and time flies fast. And this is probably the reason why it seems that the novel constantly talks of death. What is worse is that Clay and his friends do not even care. Like the case of the twelve-year old girl who was kidnapped, gang-raped by Rip together with his friends and was found dead the next day. It is such as gory sight yet it seems these teenagers in the story are unaffected. It can also be observed that together with the change of location is a change of time. Such as these phrases: â€Å"Blair picks me up from LAX†¦ Nobody’s home†¦ I bring Daniel to Blair’s party that night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  These scenes come after each other abruptly. There is no transition. It goes on and on. Lastly, Clay‘s character in the story portrays the nihilism and the passivism that characterizes the youth of today. He is the total picture of rich kids who have parents who can give them all the money and material things they want except for the love and time that they need. He narrates the story with passive indifference, probably because of his being constantly stoned with cocaine. He is detached in his feelings towards his family, his girlfriend, his friends and others. He seems not to care about what is happening to them. He sees the death that comes to people and yet he is unconcerned. However, he has a craving for something deeper. In fact, there are flashback scenes in the story where he remembered his grandparents and aunt. He even went back to Palm Springs where he grew up and he says: â€Å"I guess I went there because I want to remember the way things were.† This tells of a hidden part of him to get back to the good old days. In conclusion, the novel is an effective medium of presenting a picture of the younger generation’s life, struggles and hopes through the fluidity of spatial location, time movements and the character of Clay. Indeed, this novel â€Å"Less Than Zero† shows that the life of a teenager these days constantly changes and moves because of nihilism, passivism and aimlessness. Works Cited Ellis, Bret Easton. Less Than Zero. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. 1

Reasons for surfing the internet

Reasons for surfing the internet The term ‘surfing the internet’ was invented because of people’s behavior of randomly roaming from one website to another. Internet surfing essentially involves causal clicking of different web links one after the other in search of similar or related information. As such, it is important to note that internet surfing was only possible after the invention of the World Wide Web.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Reasons for surfing the internet specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Given the vast information that is currently available on the internet, most people especially the young adults have found themselves being addicted to internet surfing. However, it should be noted people surf the internet reasons. This paper is therefore an in-depth analysis of the various reasons that make people surf the internet. Since the invention of the internet, it is agreeable that it is one of the most important innov ations to be made by man. This is because of the many benefits it has proved to have to people of all generations. The list of things that can be done on the internet is endless. First of all, the young adults most of who comprise of students normally surf the internet for educational information, corresponding via electronic mails, chatting with their distant friends and downloading music and applications among other uses (Himanshu 1). Through surfing the internet, the young adults/ students have been able to share information with their colleagues by creating their own websites that show their interests. Internet surfing has also made it possible for people to share memories via videos and pictures. Students have also had the privilege of attending online classes through internet surfing without having to physically move from their homes. This has had the benefit of helping students overcome geographical boundaries and be able to study at educational institutions of their choice. The other reason that the young adults and students surf the internet is to reconnect with their old and current friends through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace just to mention a few (Himanshu 1). The adults surf the internet for various reasons, which include online shopping instead of having to literally move from one shopping mall to another. This way, they manage to save much time that could be utilized in other important matters. The internet has also made it possible for people to make online payments for instance, using PayPal. This has made it easy for people to carry out transactions faster, without delay of payments as witnessed in most of the cheque system. Surfing the internet also helps in giving information regarding places that people would like to visit for holidays.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Travellers are able to gather informat ion regarding different places and have the option to choosing the best without having to waste time and money travelling to the physical places. In addition to this, children also surf the internet or games, which they play online during holidays. People at work can also surf the internet for games and other leisure materials as they take a break from the busy schedule. In fact, a study conducted in 2009, indicated that surfing the internet by workers increases their productivity (Cheng 1). From the aforementioned reasons of surfing the internet, it can be clearly depicted that internet surfing has been of significant help to the lives of almost people in the society regardless of age. The only problem that could arise due to internet surfing is internet addiction that could compromise the roles and obligations of an individual such as studying for the students, working for the employees and even feeding for the young children. As such, it is important that internet surfing is done with limitations to avoid chances of being addicted. Cheng, Jacqui. Study: surfing the internet at work boosts productivity. 2009. Web. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/04/study-surfing-the-internet-at-work-boosts-productivity/ Himanshu, Sheth. 10 reasons why people use internet. 2011. Web. blogtechnika.com/10-reasons-why-people-use-internet/

Biography of French Pirate François L’Olonnais

Biography of French Pirate Franà §ois L’Olonnais Franà §ois L’Olonnais (1635-1668) was a French buccaneer, pirate, and privateer who attacked ships and towns – mostly Spanish – in the 1660s. His hatred for the Spanish was legendary and he was known as a particularly bloodthirsty and ruthless pirate. His savage life came to a savage end: he was killed and reportedly eaten by cannibals somewhere in the Gulf of Darien. Franà §ois L’Olonnais, Buccaneer Francois LOlonnais was born in France sometime around 1635 in the seaside town of Les Sables-dOlonne (the Sands of Ollone). As a young man, he was taken to the Caribbean as an indentured servant. After having served his indenture, he made his way to the wilds of the island of Hispaniola, where he joined the famous buccaneers. These rough men hunted wild game in the jungles and cooked it over a special fire called a boucan (hence the name boucaniers, or buccaneers). They made a rough living by selling the meat, but they were also not above the occasional act of piracy. Young Franà §ois fit right in: he had found his home. A Cruel Privateer France and Spain fought frequently during L’Olonnais’ lifetime, most notably the 1667-1668 War of Devolution. The French Governor of Tortuga outfitted some privateering missions to attack Spanish ships and towns. Franà §ois was among the vicious buccaneers hired for these attacks, and he soon proved himself an able seaman and fierce fighter. After two or three expeditions, the Governor of Tortuga gave him his own ship. L’Olonnais, now a captain, continued attacking Spanish shipping and acquired a reputation for cruelty so great that the Spanish often preferred to die fighting than to suffer torture as one of his captives. A Close Escape L’Olonnais may have been cruel, but he was also clever. Sometime in 1667, his ship was destroyed off the western coast of the Yucatan. Although he and his men survived, the Spanish discovered them and massacred most of them. L’Olonnais rolled in blood and sand and lay still among the dead until the Spanish left. He then disguised himself as a Spaniard and made his way to Campeche, where the Spanish were celebrating the death of the hated L’Olonnais. He persuaded a handful of slaves to help him escape: together they made their way to Tortuga. L’Olonnais was able to get some men and two small ships there: he was back in business. The Maracaibo Raid The incident fanned LOlonnais hatred of the Spanish into a blaze. He sailed to Cuba, hoping to sack the town of Cayos: the Governor of Havana heard he was coming and sent a ten-gun warship to defeat him. Instead, LOlonnais and his men caught the warship unawares and captured it. He massacred the crew, leaving alive only one man to carry a message back to the Governor: no quarter for any Spaniards LOlonnais encountered. He returned to Tortuga and in September of 1667 he took a small fleet of 8 ships and attacked the Spanish towns around Lake Maracaibo. He tortured the prisoners to make them tell him where they had hidden their treasure. The raid was a huge score for LOlonnais, who was able to split some 260,000 Pieces-of-eight among his men. Soon, it was all spent in the taverns and whorehouses of Port Royal and Tortuga. L’Olonnais’ Final Raid In early 1668, L’Olonnais was ready to return to the Spanish Main. He rounded up some 700 fearsome buccaneers and set sail. They plundered along the Central American coast and even marched inland to sack San Pedro in present-day Honduras. In spite of his ruthless questioning of prisoners – on one instance he ripped out a captive’s heart and gnawed on it – the raid was a failure. He captured a Spanish galleon off of Trujillo, but there was not much loot. His fellow captains decided the venture was a bust and left him alone with his own ship and men, of which there were about 400. They sailed south but were shipwrecked off of Punta Mono. The Death of Franà §ois L’Olonnais L’Olonnais and his men were tough buccaneers, but once shipwrecked they were battled constantly by the Spanish and the local natives. The number of survivors dwindled steadily. L’Olonnais attempted an attack on the Spanish up the San Juan River, but they were repulsed. L’Olonnais took a handful of survivors with him and set sail on a small raft they had built, heading south. Somewhere in the Gulf of Darien these men were attacked by natives. Only one man survived: according to him, L’Olonnais was captured, hacked to pieces, cooked over a fire and eaten. Legacy of Franà §ois L’Olonnais LOlonnais was very well known in his time, and greatly feared by the Spanish, who understandably loathed him. He would probably be better known today if he had not been closely followed in history by Henry Morgan, Greatest of the Privateers, who was, if anything, even harder on the Spanish. Morgan would, in fact, take a page from LOlonnais book in 1668 when he raided the still-recovering Lake Maracaibo. One other difference: whereas Morgan was beloved by the English who saw him as a hero (he was even knighted), Franà §ois LOlonnais was never greatly revered in his native France. LOlonnais serves as a reminder of the reality of piracy: unlike what the movies show, he was no noble prince looking to clear his good name, but a sadistic monster who thought nothing of mass murder if it gained him an ounce of gold. Most real pirates were more like LOlonnais, who found that being a good sailor and charismatic leader with a vicious streak could get him far in the world of piracy. Sources: Exquemalin, Alexandre. The Buccaneers of America. Online edition from the Harvard University Library.Konstam, Angus. The World Atlas of Pirates. Guilford: the Lyons Press, 2009

Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Management - Essay Example The data provided herewith were taken from sources of good repute. They unanimously illustrate the leadership of DIS in its sector and industry, and they altogether declare that DIS is a strategic buy at its current price range. Prospects for the US economy remains bleak as indicators currently report no improvement since the year 2007 when the downturn first set in. Since 2006, GDP has been decreasing year-on-year and all other economic variables have depicted the same economically bleak scenario. In 2008, the annual averages of the benchmark treasury rates and the federal fund rates have been lowered to 1.37 and 1.92, respectively, while the unemployment rate increased to 7.2%. In March 2009, the benchmark treasury rate and the federal fund rate were as low as 0.21 and 0.18, respectively, while the unemployment rate increased further to 8.5%. It should not be surprising that the series of disasters in the economic arena dealt a heavy blow to the overall investors' confidence in the financial markets. In the year 2008, the market indices took such drastic plunges that badly damaged the market valuation of listed companies - Dow Jones decreased by 35%, S&P 500 decreased by 39%, and NASDAQ decreased by 42%. The first quarter of the year 2009 further lowered Dow Jones to 7,608.92, S&P 500 to 797.87 and NASDAQ to 1528.59. (AOL Website) Despite the turmoil in the economy and in the financial markets, Walt Disney Company (DIS) has managed to do very well in 2008. Next to Time Warner Inc. (TWX), DIS is the second largest multimedia conglomerate in the world in terms of assets. It is into the production of movies, music, and television shows, the publishing of its renowned materials and the operation of its well-frequented theme parks. While shares of its holding company are traded in NYSE, Disneyland Corporation's subsidiaries are variously traded in the Buenos Aires stock market and in European bourses such as XETRA, Berlin, Stuttgart, Paris, Munich, Hanover, London and Paris. (Yahoo! Finance) Since January 2000, Robert A. Iger has been the company's President and Chief Executive Officer. (2008 Walt Disney Co Annual Report) Under his efficient leadership, DIS has come up with sales amounting to $37.8 billion and with a net income of $4.4 billion in 2008 - an impressive feat in the light of the prevailing economic scenario. DIS has over 150,000 employees and has assets worth over $64.9 billion as of the year-end of 2008. As of 01 May 2009, DIS has market capitalization amounting to over $40.73 billion. (Yahoo! Finance) Compared to its competitors, DIS also has done a lot better in the stock market. Comparing their 2008 year-end prices with their 2006 year-end prices, losses were computed at 33% for DIS, 73% for CBS Corporation (CBS), 56% for News Corporation (NWS), and 53% for (TWX). Their respective closing prices as of the end of April 2009 were

Nagel, The Absurd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nagel, The Absurd - Essay Example Nagel’s first argument is that we lead our lives with such intense concern that we become unable to avoid seriousness. This unavoidability of seriousness adds to the absurdity of life. We always have to confront the discrepancy between our serious acts and the possibility of our acts coming true. We are so serious about our actions that any bend in the situation disturbs our minds. Nagel (1971, sec II, par.7) states that human beings â€Å"are prudent, they reflect, they weigh consequences, they ask whether what they are doing is worthwhile.† They have to weigh the choices and their decisions. This is what makes life all the more somber, and the seriousness cannot be avoided. The second is the inescapability of doubt. When we step back to have a look at our lives and goals, we come to know how petty like ants our goals are, and how unimportant our struggle is. He states: â€Å"humans have the special capacity to step back and survey themselves, and the lives to which they are committed, with that detached amazement which comes from watching an ant struggle up a heap of sand† (Nagel, 1971, sec II, par.9). This mismatch of what we do and our looking deeply into it, or comparing it to what others are doing, creates absurdity. Yet, Nagel agrees that we stay engaged to life, no matter we recognize that life is absurd because our perceptions that life and its goals are arbitrary in comparison to what we are actually doing in our lives. An objection to Nagel’s perspective is that: when we assess a situation and its outcomes, we do so by bringing into consideration some set of values and standards, which help us judge the situation, or determine whether it has been carried on in the right fashion. However, this cannot be applied while judging our lives. Stepping back to analyze our lives is like stepping into nothing, because there is no set of values and standards lying outside our lives, which could help to

Computer Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Computer Systems - Essay Example working on conventional models like grid, support autonomic features and used on the basis of billing utilities, but the idea of a cloud is comparatively different and opposite to the features of grid, for example SaaS, Utility Computing etc. Cloud promises the availability of all the required architecture including application, hardware, platform, software and required amount of storages through an ownership of a suitable internet connection. Enables people to access the required information through any device that has an internet connection-instead of being attached to the desktop. It is also cost effective as it doesn’t require installing hardware or software. Powerful idea behind cloud computing is computing by service-oriented architectures (SOA) – transferring of an incorporated and organized collection of functions to users by mean of both freely and firmly coupled purposes, or services – most of which are network based. Virtualized infrastructure enables the development and deployment of applications dramatically easier, thus increasing the reliable scope of these applications achievable within allocated budget and organizational controls.. Virtual infrastructure also expands reliability, efficiency and quality by including similarities within application requirements and aids the organized sharing of services. Now a day, almost every business activity requires Information Technology and its services in any form available. Technology wants to develop end-user efficiency and decrease Technology-driven overhead Service Oriented Architectures is not a new concept, but in the recent years it has gained a considerable attention. Examples of some such early that were based on SOA are Object Request Brokers (ORBs), DCOM and Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). Most recent model of SOA is known as Grid Computing solution and infrastructures. In a Service Oriented Architecture environment organizations or customer request an Information Technology

Workforce Obsolescence

Workforce Obsolescence The loss of critical skills, i.e., the disappearance of non-replaceable workforce, is a problem faced by many product sectors tasked with supporting critical systems. This problem is common for organizations that must manage the DMSMS-type obsolescence problems for hardware, software and materials discussed in the other chapters of this book. For some products, the loss of worker skills and experience can be mitigated by simply adjusting hiring rates and instituting training of younger workers, however, in other sectors experience can be very difficult to replace. This chapter focuses on the loss of critical skills that are either non-replaceable or take prohibitively long times to reconstitute. 13.1 Defining Workforce Obsolescence Mismatches between the skills possessed by the workforce and the skills needed by employers create a number of issues that complicate the long-term manufacturing and sustainment of systems. These mismatches have been classified into the following three general categories: skills obsolescence, skill shortage, and critical skills loss. Skills obsolescence (also referred to as human capital obsolescence) describes situations in which workers lack the skills needed to either become employed or remain employed, (De Grip and Van Loo, 2002). This often includes the segment of the workforce that have skills, but those skills are obsolete requiring retraining of the worker. Where obsolete skills refer to skills that are no longer needed. Skill shortage describes situations where there are insufficient available skill competences to fill the needs of an organization, e.g., (Green et al., 1998). Skills shortage articulates the need to identify, train and retain the workforce to fill current and expected future skill needs. Skills shortage has many causes including the speed of technology advancement, e.g., (Duan et al., 2002), training and education gaps (Skinner et al., 2004), and can also be the result of an organizations inability or failure to protect its core skill competencies over long periods of time or during economic downturns (Melymuka, 2002). Critical skills loss is relevant to this book and is the focus of this chapter. Critical skills loss refers to the loss of skills that either cannot be replaced or require a prohibitively long time to reconstitute, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). In this case reconstitution of the skills may require many years if possible at all. Critical skills loss is a special case of organizational forgetting, i.e., the loss of knowledge gained through learning-by-doing. Organizational forgetting can be caused by labor turnover, periods of inactivity, and/or failure of an organization to institutionalize tacit knowledge (Brsanko et al., 2010). Critical skills loss is a permanent and involuntary form of organizational forgetting that may be unrecoverable. Critical skills loss (in the context of legacy system support) is the result of long-term (20+ years) of workforce attrition where highly-skilled workers retire without a sufficient number of younger workers to learn their skills and take their p lace.[1] Critical skills loss is not necessarily the result of poor planning or lack of foresight (and although activity is light, it is not nonexistent); rather it is an inevitable outcome of the organizations dependence on a highly-specialized highly-critical skill set for which there is small, but non-zero, demand, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). It should be stressed that critical skills loss is a long-term phenomenon it occurs gradually over 20+ years, i.e., over the span of several generations of management coupled with mergers, acquisitions, and product line changes, critical skills often diffuse and eventually disappear. In the context of this book, the salient issue that defines workforce obsolescence for legacy mission-, infrastructure-, and safety-critical systems is critical skills loss. 13.2 How Critical Skills Loss Impacts Systems and Where it Comes From Critical skills loss is rarely a problem in high-volume low-skill manufacturing applications, e.g., assembly-line workers. For these applications, an appropriate workforce nearly always exists or can be readily constructed through training programs. However, managing human skills obsolescence is becoming a significant problem for organizations tasked with supporting legacy systems. These support organizations need to be able to understand, forecast and manage a highly-specialized workforce with potentially irreplaceable skill sets. The system support and management challenges created by the loss of critical human skills have been reported in many industry sectors including: healthcare (Waldman, 2004), nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008), aerospace (Testimony of Elliot Pulham, 2002), and other enterprises(Leibold and Voelpel, 2002). In the IT industry, the shortage of mainframe application programmers experienced in legacy applications is very problematic, (Goodridge and McGee, 2002) and (Hilson, 2001); in this case the necessary skills are no longer being taught because demand has dropped and younger workers interests are elsewhere. The loss of critical skills is most troublesome for organizations that must provide long-term support for legacy systems. For example, for defense systems, the loss of critical skills is potentially devastating: Even a 1-year delay in funding for CVN-76 [aircraft carrier] will result in the loss of critical skills which will take up to 5 years to reconstitute through ne w hires and training. A longer delay could cause a permanent loss in the skills necessary to maintain our carrier force. (Congressional Record, 1994). The causes of critical skills loss include: education and training declines (e.g., universities no longer educate engineers in the programming languages that are used in many legacy systems, (Shead, 2013); younger workers may perceive that certain occupations are in decline, e.g., nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008) and are therefore discouraged from entering them; similarly younger workers may perceive certain occupations as not cutting-edge and therefore not enter them (Ahrens et al., 1995) (Adolph, 1996); younger workers may leave jobs supporting legacy systems to pursue other positions that appear to be more lucrative and exciting (Figure 13-2 in Section 13.3.3 shows an exit age distribution for a legacy control system); the shrinkage of feeder occupations, e.g., historically the U.S. Navy has provided highly-skilled workers to the nuclear power industry (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008); older workers protecting their jobs by not passing knowledge along to younger workers, e.g., (AndolÃ…Â ¡ek, 2011); and fundamental differences between young and old workers regarding job perceptions (i.e., social and cultural influences) (Goodridge and McGee, 2002). 13.3 Quantifying the Impact of Critical Skills Loss Critical skills loss impacts the sustainment of mission-, infrastructure- and safety-critical systems. As the human capital that possesses the skills to support a system shrinks, the time that the system is down (non-operational) when the system requires support will increase. Downtime increases lead to increased business interrupt time, which results in a loss of revenue for manufacturing systems. Increases in downtime in the transportation, defense and service industries decreases system availability, which can lead to a loss of revenue, safety compromises, property damage, and loss of life (e.g., emergency vehicle unavailability). In this section, we briefly review the applicability of some existing models to quantifying the impact of critical skills loss and then describe one modeling approach that estimates the financial impact of the problem. 13.3.1 Existing Approaches Nearly all of the existing modeling and quantitative treatments address the problem of skills obsolescence, which is a different problem than the critical skills loss problem addressed in this chapter. Most skills obsolescence treatments assume that workers skills become outdated or are otherwise no longer useful, possibly as a result of automation and other advances in technology. These works focus on the mitigation of skill decay in a workforce over time. The only existing work applicable to critical skills loss focuses on knowledge preservation, i.e., the capture of non-replenishable knowledge, (Joe and Yoong, 2004) (Hailey and Hailey). Some applicable work has also been done on retirement wave planning (Friel, 2002); however, this work focuses on head count rather than skill content. The modeling performed by Bohlander and Snell (2010) addresses a situation that is similar to critical skills loss, however, worker attrition and the costs associated the unavailability of the workers is not considered. In Bordoloi (1999), a model for different skill level workers that enter and exit a company is developed; the model takes into account the rate at which the company gains and loses workers. However, the model in(Bordoloi, 1999) does not estimate workers experience as a function of time and therefore does not determine the impact of critical skills loss on supporting systems. In the planning model developed by Huang et al.(2009) the goal is the determination of an ideal hiring rate using differing worker skill levels. While this model uses workforce simulation and determines the ideal hiring rate, the model does not take into account the costs incurred by the unavailability of workers. The basis for most workforce planning models is the physical sum of people employed, (Holt, 2011). However, the model developed by Holt, however, does not consider the aging of individual workers over time. There are models that have some applicability to critical skills loss in the maintenance workforce planning literature, e.g., (Koochaki et al., 2013) (Martorell et al., 2010) (Ait-Kaki, et al. 2011) and (Ahire et al., 2000). These models focus on optimizing maintenance scheduling and resource allocation. Maintenance policies have the goal of maximizing plant or process line availability while concurrently minimizing cost through the timely presence (and appropriate skill set) of maintenance workers. Koochaki et al., 2013) points out that maintenance workers are usually highly skilled and therefore difficult to recruit and that the efficient and effective use of a scarce maintenance workforce is very important. The model in (Koochaki et al., 2013) addresses the impact of limited ma intenance workers (i.e., maintenance resource constraints) on the grouping of maintenance activities while comparing age-based replacement and condition-based maintenance (CBM). In (Ahire et al., 2000), the makespan (which is the total length of the schedule) is minimized for a groups of preventive maintenance tasks constrained by workforce availability. Other papers treat the influence of CBM on maintenance scheduling and workforce planning, for examples see (Koochaki et al., 2013) and the references contained therein. In general these references focus on the determination of the optimum size maintenance workforce. 13.3.2 Modeling Human Skills Loss A detailed model for the loss of non-replinishable maintenance resources has been developed in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). The technical development of the model is briefly summarized here, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for more detail. The model uses historical workforce data to forecast the size and experience of the workforce pool as a function of time. The workforce experience pool is then used to determine the cost of supporting (sustaining) a system as a function of time. The model was created to address the questions: what will todays skills pool look like in the future? and what impact will the future skills pool have on the organizations ability to continue to support the system? A key assumption in this model is that sufficient experience exists today to adequately support the system, and we wish to forecast the future workforce skills pools experience relative to todays skills pool. The model has four primary inputs: a current age distribution (fC), a hiring age distribution (fH), an exit age distribution (fL) and the hiring rate (H). Assuming a stationary analysis, the distribution of exit ages (fL) and the distribution of hiring ages (fH) and are constant. This does not mean that the same number of people are hired each year, but rather that the hired peoples ages are always distributed equivalently. The same assumption is made for fL. The distribution of current ages (fC) is used as an initial condition. To assess workforce pool size and experience over time, we must project the experience of the workers in the pool into the future. This projection starts with the initial conditions in the pool and accounts for age related loss and subsequent hiring. The level of experience within the skills pool changes over time and can be determined from: 1) the new hires added to the skills pool; 2) the attrition (loss) rate of skilled workers; and 3) the varying skill levels of the workers in the pool and how those skill levels (experience) increase as workers remain in the pool. The net frequency of people in the pool of age a during year i relative to year 0 is given by, (13-1) where, i is the number of years from the start of the analysis, a is age, and Hi is the fraction of new hires per year (fraction of the pool size at the start of the analysis period i = 0). The first term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the current workforce pool size (relative to year 0), the second term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the number of new hires (relative to year 0), and the multiplier accounts for the retention rate. Note, Equation 13-1 assumes that the hiring rate, Hi is the same for all ages, a. The initial condition for the model is that the fraction of people of age a relative to year 0 in year 0 is given by,. The cumulative net frequency of people in the skills pool, NNET, in year i is determined by summing Ni(a) over all the ages (y = youngest to r = retirement), (13-2) Calculating the size of the workforce pool (head count) over time is necessary but not sufficient to capture an organizations future ability to support a system because workers have different levels of experience. Because of the varying experience, not all workers provide an equivalent level of value to the support of the system. In this model, experience is defined as the length of time that a worker has spent in a particular position. The cumulative experience in the workforce pool in year i, Ei, is calculated using, (13-3) where, RE and IE map age to the experience measured in years (RE and IE are determined using a parametric model from actual data). Note, while experience has the units of time, Ei, which is used in this model, represents the cumulative experience relative to the initial condition. The time to perform maintenance in year i is found from the cumulative experience using, (13-4) where, is the time to perform a maintenance activity with a skills pool having E0 experience at i = 0. In Equation 13-4 the time required to perform maintenance increases as experience decreases due to the following factors: 1) less-experienced workers require more time to perform maintenance (learning curve effects), and/or 2) if the pool of workers capable of performing the required maintenance task shrinks, appropriate workers may not be available at every site and may have to travel from a different location, which takes time. The most significant impact of the loss of critical human skills for legacy systems is the ability to perform system support (corrective maintenance) in a timely manner. Corrective maintenance costs consist of: spare parts, labor, downtime, overhead, consumables/handling, and equipment/facilities. When a corrective maintenance event occurs, the cost of performing the required maintenance action is, (13-5) where is the fraction of the maintenance events of severity level j that result in a business interrupt, is the cost of replacement parts (if replacement parts are needed) in year i,is the cost of labor (per unit time) in year i (with appropriate overhead applied), and is the cost of business interrupt (per unit time) in year i. , and are assumed to be discounted using an appropriate discount rate. 13.3.3 Example System Support Case Study A detailed case study was previously published in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). In this section we only provide a few highlights from that case study. The case study considered the support of a legacy control system for a chemical product manufacturing company (the system was originally developed and deployed in the 1970s) and has over 2000 instances (plants) installed and currently operating and supported worldwide. In this case, because the process line availability is very important, unscheduled downtime cannot be tolerated. The model overviewed in Section 13.3.2 requires three distribution inputs: the current age distribution (fC), the distribution of hiring age (fH) and the distribution of exit age (fL). Two of these distribution inputs are readily available from organizations field data: the hiring age (fH) and a current age distribution (fC), Figure 13-1. The current age distribution (in Figure 13-1b) has a mode of 55 years, which is very close to the early retirement age in the organization, thereby demonstrating the issue that this chapter is focused on. The exit age distribution (fL) shown in Figure 13-2 for this case study was synthesized using the distributions for fH(a) and fC(a) in Figure 13-1 along with the assumption of a stationary process. Figure 13-2 is a bathtub curve. It indicates that workers either exit early or exit late (but few exit between ages 45 and 60. The younger workers exit because they are changing jobs within the company. The company modeled in this case study, has had difficulty retaining young workers (engineers) to support the legacy system. The younger engineers have a tendency to relocate to other job opportunities within the company that they perceive as having better long-term career prospects. Above age 60 the workers are retiring. Figure 13-2 supports the critical skills loss observation made in Section 13.2 that younger workers leave legacy system support jobs (presumably for other positions). The number of workers (pool size) is shown in Figures 13-1 and 13-2, but the experience contained within the pool is not reflected in these distributions. To get from pool size to the workforce pool experience, the mapping from age to applicable experience is needed. The parameters for the mapping function in Equation 13-3 were generated from the years of experience (on the control system) and the years of service to the company. The net pool size (number of workers) over time as a fraction of the pool size in 2010, NNET, is shown in Figure 13-3a. Figure 13-3b shows the experience relative to 2010, and Figure 13-3c shows the average age of the workers in the pool. The results in Figure 13-3 assume no hiring, H = 0. Figures 13-3a and 13-3b indicate that although a 10% drop in head count occurs in the first 6 years, the experience remains approximately constant (existing workers are gaining enough on-the-job experience to offset the drop in head count). After 2016, the experience drops as the oldest and most experienced workers leave and are not being sufficiently replenished. Assuming that the lost skills are replenishable (they are not for the real company treated in this case study), we can estimate what the future hiring rate, Hi, would have to be to preserve the initial level of experience, E0, in the skills pool. Equation 13-1 is used to determine the annual hiring rate, Hi, that is required to replenish the cumulative experience lost as a result of attrition and retirement. Figure 13-4 shows results for hiring rate, Hi, relative to the initial pool size P0as a function of the number of years from the start of the analysis. Figure 13-4 shows that no hiring is required in the first five years (we are not allowing hiring to drop below 0, a hiring rate below 0 would reflect a layoff situation). A hiring rate of over 6% is required starting in 2017 for 9 years and then settles to 2-5% for all the years thereafter. When H is greater than zero in (4), the hiring rate is applied to the entire hiring age distribution, fH. The required hiring rate solved for in Figure 13-4 accounts for both the time required for new workers to learn the skills necessary to support the system and the exit age distribution in Figure 13-1. Figure 13-5 shows the annual cost of supporting the legacy control system through year 2040 (all 2000+ instances of the system are costed here). The cost modeling is performed using a stochastic discrete-event simulator that samples time-to-failure distributions for the components of the control system to obtain maintenance events (determining the maintenance event dates and the components that need replacement). Subsystem-specific (and severity category specific[2]) failure distributions are sampled to obtain failure dates for the system. At each maintenance event, maintenance resources are drawn and a cost is estimated using Equation 13-5. Most of the maintenance events do not result in business interrupt time because they only impact one of the two parallel control systems and = 0, however, a small fraction (the most severe events) result in dual control system failures where > 0. The risk of dual failures and the resulting business interrupt is captured by the differing severit y categories. The specific data associated with the system count, the subsystem/severity category reliabilities, and the cost of business interrupt time is proprietary to the customer and therefore not included here. For this case study, was determined to be 0.54, meaning that when the number of people in the pool drops below 54% of the number that are in the pool initially (in 2010), the extra maintenance time penalty (modeled by (15)) is applied. Figure 13-5 shows two support cost results. The results demonstrate that there is minimal effect of skills loss prior to 2030. In year 2028 existing lifetime buys of spares parts (hardware) start to run out resulting in the cost step between 2028 and 2030. We obtain the lower curve in Figure 13-5 when there is no skills loss, Ei/E0 = 1 for all i in Equation 13-4. In this case there is still an annual cost increase caused by part obsolescence that is mitigated via lifetime buys of parts (these buys commit significant capital to the pre-purchase of spare parts and long-term holding costs). The higher cost curve in Figure 13-5 is the case where no replenishment of lost skills is possible (H = 0), this is close to reality for the company considered in this case study. 13.4 Discussion Workforce planning means ensuring that you have the right number of people, with the right skills sets, in the right jobs, at the right time. This chapter presents a model that enables workforce planning in cases where the workforce is non-replenishable. The model developed estimates both the number of skilled employees (workforce pool size) and the cumulative experience in the workforce pool. This information is used to determine the resources available to maintain a system as a function of time. Cumulative experience dictates the time (and the resultant cost) required for workers to perform the maintenance activities necessary to support the system. Because of the prohibitively large cost of legacy system replacement, these systems are rarely replaced unless a catastrophic failure occurs or their support costs become impractical. The model can potentially be used by companies to support the development of business cases for system replacement, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). Numerous important assumptions were made in the development of the model. In the solution presented here, we assume that years on the job is the only way workers can gain experience. We have not accounted for methods that could be used to accelerate the rate at which workers become more experienced, e.g., capturing older workers knowledge in knowledge bases [29,30] could accelerate experience. We have performed a discrete-time analysis because the input data that was available to us only exists annually. A continuous-time solution could also be developed, but one must be careful to match the model to the form of the input data. There are several indirect consequences of the loss of critical skills that we have not addressed, and which would be challenging to quantify in terms of cost. The workers that are maintaining systems (particularly engineers) are likely to be performing other beneficial tasks in addition to corrective maintenance. Besides corrective maintenance, they may also perform: preventative maintenance, projects intended to upgrade the reliability and/or performance of the system, and knowledge transfer activities. As workforce resources decrease, it is reasonable to assume that all tasks, except corrective maintenance, would decrease. Even if sufficient resources remain available for corrective maintenance tasks, an inability to perform the other tasks that the engineers might do results in a loss of: maintenance efficiency improvements, system reliability improvements that could decrease future maintenance requirements, and system performance. Further, if the job satisfaction amongst the eng ineers that are forced to only perform maintenance decreases then their retention may be negatively impacted. There are other factors that may modify the case study presented herein. These factors include location (culture certainly impacts the likelihood that highly-skilled workers remain in system support jobs), gender, the product sector, etc. These effects could be analyzed with the presented in this chapter model if sufficient data existed. [1] For many types of legacy systems, 5 or more years of on-the-job experience may be required to become competent. [2] The level of maintenance required (which dictates the maintenance resources required) and the degree of business interrupt associated with the maintenance event are governed by the severity categories. See From (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for details.