Preparation for Chinese New Year Essay

Preparations for the New Year begin a couple of weeks before the big day. This is a fun time full of anticipation and joy as we get ready for the thrill and excitement of the celebrations. According to the traditions, this is the time to clean the house, prepare food for the feast and make banners and decorations special for the New Year. A clean house to welcome the New Year Before the New Year comes, it is one of the Chinese New Year customs to clean the house from top to bottom to get rid off all the bad luck gathered in the previous year. And after the New Year comes, you cannot sweep during the first days otherwise all the new luck will sweep away! So one of your Chinese New Year activities will be to†¦ clean your room! Wouldn’t want all that accumulated bad luck for another year would you!! Cleaning house also means settling all your unfinished business to start fresh for the new year: Pay off all your debts, resolve all quarrels with friends, catch up with homework!!! Make some Banners and Decorations Red banners with New Year messages of good luck decorate the main entrance of your house/room. Red is a very lucky color and symbolizes vitality of life and happiness. You can make your own Chinese New Year decorations with bright red paper and markers or a brush if you prefer. Here are some instructions to make your own New Year Banners including the â€Å"Lucky Characters† stroke by stroke. Preparing the Chinese New Year Banquet On New Year’s Day, the families come together to celebrate and everything must be ready for this important fest. Food must be prepared ahead of time, as one of the popular Chinese New Year superstitions dictates that all knives must be put away. Using a knife during the first days of the New Year â€Å"cuts off† all the good luck for the coming year. The New Year’s feast takes many days to prepare. These are some of the traditional chinese new year foods served on New Year’s day and throughout the festivities: * meat dumplings for good luck * tangerines for good fortune * apples for peace * sweet rice cakes for more wealth every year * fish for plenty * veggies with long noodles for long life * chicken for wealth * mustard greens for a green year for farmers * soup means everything better than last year * oranges for money and wealth * shrimp for abundance Paying respects to the Ancestors The New Year Celebrations can only begin after paying respect to the ancestors. On New Year’s Eve, people will go to the temples and pray for good fortune for the new year. They bring offerings of food and incense to please the spirits of the deceased so that they might bring good luck. So now that all the preparations are done with, the long-awaited day arrives and the New Year’s festivities can begin! Chinese New Year Preparation Preparing for the Chinese New Year begins on personal and social front and can start months before the New Year. These preparations are made in the hope to usher the New Year in the best context possible. Most people try to settle their debts with friends before the New Year so that they can start the New Year debt free. However, this settling of debt often refers to debt between friends and do not include home or car loans with financial institutions. These are considered as investments. Many people will also check predictions of their luck in the New Year. The Chinese calendar has a 60 year cycle and each year is presided by a star. Everyone has a star that corresponds with the year of birth. This birth star may conflict with next year’s presiding star, çŠ ¯Ã¥ ¤ ªÃ¥ ²  creating difficulties in work, business or personal life. To avoid or minimize the impact, rituals can be conducted at temples before the New Year. During the dates for these rituals, temples are often crow ded with devotees. Nearer to the New Year families start their spring cleaning to welcome the New Year. This is the period when new furniture or minor renovations will be undertaken. Chinese New Year decorations such as couplets, banners are used to create a festive atmosphere. A major activity before the New Year is the exchange of gifts. Most of the gift items have symbolic meanings or status symbols to demonstrate good will or to express good wishes. New Year gifts can be presented to family, friends and between companies. Popular items include New Year cakes, Niangao, Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã§ ³â€¢ in auspicious shapes, Mandarin oranges, Bakkwa (BBQ meat), sweets, candies, chocolates and hampers. New Year cards è ´ ºÃ¥ ¹ ´Ã¥  ¡ are also sent to family members, friends and business contacts. A few weeks before the Chinese New Year, markets and fairs specializing in New Year goods can be found in most cities. These markets offer foodstuff, candies, New Year decorations, flowers, clothes, New Year CDs and almost everything required for the New Year. These items are bought as gifts, for home consumption or used to entertain visiting family members or guests. These New Year markets often end in the early hours of New Year’s day. Many people visit these markets after their reunion dinner and stay till after midnight to buy the items at huge discounts.

Education: Grammar School and Government Essay

In this essay I am going to look at the changes to education legislation from 1944 to the present day. I will look at how these changes have reflected government educational policies and to what effect. Firstly I will look at the ‘Butler Act’, war time 1944. The education act 1944 was called the ‘Butler Act’ after the conservative politician, R.A.Butler. The 1944 ‘Butler Act’ was undoubtedly a significant milestone in terms of the history of education Britain. It became increasingly clear that education was of vital importance to the nation and to the individual. It planned to remove the inequalities which remained in the system. The proportion of ‘free places’ at grammar schools in England and Wales increased from almost a third to almost half between 1913 and 1937. However when poorer children were offered free places parents often had to turn them down, owing to the extra costs involved. The ‘Butler Act’ 1944 provide d free education for all pupils. By 1946 the School Milk act was introduced. Previous investigations completed by John Boyd Orr revealed there was a link between low- income and malnutrition and under – achievement in schools. Ellen Wilkinson minister of education, (the first woman in British history to hold the post), was a long campaigner against poverty and in 1946 managed to persuade parliament to pass the school milk act. This act ordered the issue of one –third of a pint of milk free to all pupils. Local Education Authorities (LEAs), were required to submit proposals to the new department of education for reorganising secondary schools in the area, LEAs were required to assist children’s special needs. Most of the LEAs aimed to establish the three main ‘streams’ or categories at school this was known as the tripartite system. The three categories were grammar , secondary modern and technical , the children would be allocated on the basis of an examination at the age of 11, known as the ’11 plus’. The 11 plus had the intention to provide an equal opportunity for children of all backgrounds and walks of life. The implementation of this break by the ‘Butler Act’ seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement ‘streaming’ since all children would be changing school any way. Was the ’11 plus’ a good idea or would it begin to emerge as a large historical accident? Many people related more to the wider education system rather than the academic selection. The proportions of school children  gaining a place at a grammar school varied by location and gender, and due to the continuance of single sex schooling there were fewer places for girls than boys. Many critics claimed that there was a strong class bias in the exam. It seemed that children on the borderline of passing were more likely to get grammar school places if they came from middleclass families. It would appear that the ’11 plus’ was a system based on unfairness. For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were easier for middle class children to answer but far less familiar to those from less wealthy and less educated backgrounds. The ’11 plus’ also led to divisions in schools (streaming), in the country (social class distinctions) and also led to irreconcilable political attitudes, (labour vs. conservatives) with the conservatives in favour of this selection and labour against it. In the 1950s, all the opposition against the 11 plus exam and the selection process had led to the idea of the modern comprehensive system. This idea was cherished by labour and rejected by the conservatives. In 1964 the labour government was elected, Harold Wilson is the new prime minister. Going into 1965 the circular 10/65 has stated for everyone to prepare for the introduction of the comprehensive schools. This was recognised as a fairer system better for working class people. Wilson was very anxious to increase opportunity within society, this meant change and expansion to the education system. For the first time ever a British government spent more time on education than on defence. This led to the significant increase in the number of university places. Wilson’s record on secondary education was disappointing. Whilst the proportion of children attending comprehensive schools rose to 30% during this period, his government failed to establish a fully comprehensive system. The selection system survived. Wilson lost power in June 1970 when Ted Heaths Tories won the general election with a majority of 30. Circular 10/ 70, newly elected government withdrew 10/65. Circular 10/70 was an attempt by Margaret Thatcher new secretary for education, to reverse the effects of circular 10/65. The first circular recommended to LEAs to begin the process of conversion to full comprehensive systems. This is ironic as it was in line with labour governments’ wishes on the transition  to a national comprehensive system. However the second circular said that no funding would be given for new non- comprehensive schools. LEAs were given more power to decide the future of secondary education in the area, under their authority independently of central government. It is believed that Thatcher was trying to reinstate grammar schooling. It was left to the LEAs individually whether or not they would go comprehensive. Heath needed to make cuts in public expenditure, Margaret Thatcher offered amongst other things to abolish the universal provision of free school milk. This was achieved in the 1971 education milk act. It led to the jibe ‘Thatcher, Thatcher milk snatcher’. In 1972 the school leaving age raised to 16 in response to rising youth unemployment. Was the government really concerned about giving people a better education or was it just a simple matter of keeping children in school longer to boost unemployment levels in order to make them look better?. This was not a popular decision. During 1973 the LEAs continued to submit plans which were presented as individual school plans which Thatcher accepted. There were now more children in comprehensive schools than selective one. Primary schools remained stable. Now I come to the ‘education reform act’ 1988. Conservative government are in place. The educational reform act is widely regarded as the most important single p iece of education legislation since the ‘ Butler’ education  act1944. This act introduced the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum believed everybody should have a knowledge of everything. Power was given to schools letting them spend the money how they like. Schools were ‘bribed’ as they were offered  £30,000 to opt out of the LEA. Thus Thatcher’s, intention was to weaken the power of the LEAs, giving more power to schools allowing them to spend the money how they liked. If more schools were to opt out poorer areas would not benefit, for example in well off middleclass areas people have more money and schools could raise more money through donations and school fairs act. Schools would become selfish only looking after their own needs. Head teachers were given more power and had to manage rather than ‘teach’. Schools were potentially paying more attention to material objects and resources rather than concentrating on teaching. On the plus side, schools could look for better and cheaper deals allowing them to spread the cost of their money effectively. City technical colleges were  also introduced providing specialist education by selection, opening up more doors. In 1992 The Education Act introduced the OFSTED, inspection system value for money. This was seen as a great idea by many as it made sure all schools were up to a certain standard. During 1997, the new labour government was elected (Tony Blair). The labour government’s intention was to devote attention to a higher standard of schooling, and to also make change to the national curriculum. This labour government would be a new ‘modern’ labour party as the labour government no longer stands for its traditional values. The new ‘modern’ labour government would; * Encourage private initiative funding, allowing private companies to build new schools. * Promote specialist educational academies in sport, sciences, languages and technology. There would be no money to build new schools. Schools would ask companies for computer deals whereas labours traditional view would have expected the state to pay. Therefore labour no longer stands for its traditional values. Schools were also encouraged to maximise the effect of their resources. This did not benefit poorer areas. Schools were taught to budget in order to allow a more effective financial control. In 2006 the Education and Inspection bill was introduced. This passed in March 2006, within the face of some opposition from within the labour party. Some of the main changes of the Education and Inspection bill were as follows; * Foundation (trust) schools * School admissions * Staged introduction of changes to the curriculum and entitlements including new diplomas to replace A-levels to be emplacement by 2013 * School travel * School food Also it was suggested that the school leaving age should be raised to 18 by 2013. This was propaganda as again was the government really concerned about a great education for children or was it just the case of making unemployment figures look better? The labour government believe education is much bigger than what goes on in school; trigger points for this were the  sad case of Victoria Climbie and the Soham murders. CRB checks were introduced to protect children, as there was poor communication between the police and schools. In 2003 the introduction of ‘Every Child Matters ‘was introduced. Every Child Matters is one of the most important policies to have intuitive and develop a programme in relation to children and the children services of the last decade. Its main aims were for every child, whatever their background or circumstances to have the support they need, * Be healthy * Stay safe * Enjoy and achieve * Make a positive contribution * Achieve economic well-being The Every Child Matters act had been title of three government papers, and in 2004 lead to the Children Act. Which took the Every Child Matters act further and the government started to get more involved with the parents suggesting what their child should and shouldn’t eat and encouraged more physical activity, Education was now not only stopped at children parents were now being educated on the well-being of their child. Sure start programmes were opened giving support to families. In 2008 the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families was replaced by the Department for Education after the change in government following the general election 2010. The Department has also come under criticism during the 2010 General Election, after it was revealed that the Department’s offices had a refit which included a â€Å"contemplation room† 0ther features include a grand glass and steel staircase and imported Italian designer furniture. The total cost of the refit was estimated to be three million pounds, at a time when the department needed to make two billion pounds of savings. With the election in May 2010, there has been some confusion. The election of the coalition conservative/ liberal some changes were made immediately as previous government plans were put on hold or reversed. The new government believe that the previous government was taking the power from parents , not only did this cost a lot of money it was controlling society tainting and shaping it , taking the role from a parent. The new  government now does not want to get involved in how a child should be brought up; it is a parent’s job. The government should go no further than education. The new government would now scrap the building schools for the future scheme, the last government over spent and money needs to be saved. A new secretary of state for education, Michael Gove MP believes the education system is a mess. Too many people are going to universities costing the government too much money. I am now coming to the end of my essay; the new government is still making changes to the education system and believes that the lab our party had let standards slip. The new government believes in traditional standards and is now scraping GCSEs in favors of a tougher exam. Overall I believe the secondary education will always be un- stable as new and traditional standards will come in and out of place. Many lessons have been learned and hopefully a better and fairer system will eventually come in place; however is this possible as labour and conservatives differ so much? The education system has come far since 1944 and the importance of the ‘Butler’ act still plays a part in the heart of the education system and many people should think of this as one of the biggest milestones in history.

A View of Sexism Evident in Nike’s Athletic Promotion

A View of Sexism Evident in Nike’s Athletic Promotion What’s One More Thing for Men to Rule: Finding Women’s place in Athletics This text is questioning why men are looked as being the superior athletes in comparison to women in sports, and more specifically in long distance running. It also questions why we as society feel the need to compare them. The Men Vs. Women challenge advertisement campaign put on by Nike plus acts as the representative example for this text in order to see how society still values male athletes more than female athletes. The author consulted Robert Degner’s work, which explains how men have experienced a longer predisposition to being competitive. The author also joined a conversation with Christine Wegner about her research regarding statistics of female marathon runners. It was found that the number has plateaued and it speculated that this is caused by social norms restricting women from spending extra time on training that they are using right now to raise children. One more thing for men to rule, is the caption on the advertisement of the Men vs. Women challenge put on by Nike Plus (Gould). This particular ad is obviously supporting the men in the challenge. One more thing for men to rule. Is it supposed to intimidate women? Or empower men? Did Nike even think about the fact that the ad might come off as offensive? What exactly are they trying to accomplish? But mainly, why are we making it a competition between men and women? With all this being said, if society knows that there are limitations that have held women back from being as physically capable as men and, if male and female bodies are created differently, why does society continue to value male athletes as more capable and superior to female athletes? My initial hypothesis is that because men have been participating in sports for a much longer period of time than women have, we tend to value them more than female athletes. The Nike Plus ad, which I will be analyzing as my representative example, was part of a campaign originally to get more women to join Nike plus, an app that connects to your iPod or phone to track your mileage and pace. I chose to use this advertisement as my representative example because Nike is a pretty well known company and they are still ignoring gender equality just for one of their campaigns. The employees at Nike decided that the best way to get women to join the app was to start a battle of the sexes. On the ad in favor of the men’s side there is a guy running wearing Nike running clothes. He looks very focused. There are big white words in front of him saying â€Å"one more thing for men to rule.† and then under that in smaller letters are words saying â€Å"join the men vs. women challenge at nikeplus.com.† He looks like he knows what he is doing, like he is an experienced runner (correct form, proper running clothes, defined muscles, etc.). There was an ad similar to the men’s ad supporting the women. There is an experienced, focused female runner with words in front of her saying, â€Å"Ladies First. Men second.† It seems ironic that they chose to say ladies first because at no point in history have women dominated sports. Men have a vastly different athletic background than women do. The Olympics have been around for thousands of years, running events have been included in all of them. Except, only for men. Women weren’t able to participate until 1900 and didn’t start competing in running events until the 1928 Olympics (The History of Women’s Running). A handful of women were able to compete in the 800m run in 1928, however a lot of them collapsed at the end of the race so it was banned until 1960. This seems really unfair because even though they were allowed to finally run they hadn’t gone through proper training, or education on how to race an 800m. After that event there became a rule that women could not race more than 1.5 miles because they physiologically incapable of running more than that. The marathon was not incorporated into the games for women until 1984 after a group of women fought long and hard to prove that they should have the rights to race more than 1.5 miles (The History of Women’s Running). Women have not had nearly enough time to adapt their bodies for maximum potential because our history did not include lots of physical activity. Why were men participating in sports when women weren’t? Men on the other hand have had plenty of time to adapt their bodies for physical activity. Robert Deaner and some of his colleagues published an article exploring the evidence that men have had an evolutionary history of physical competition, they hypothesized that because men were involved in more physical activity, â€Å"Men have experienced a longer predisposition to be competitive, which has driven them to be more interested in sports†¦Societies have documented female participation in sports but men were always shown to be more involved.† (Deaner) While they did document women participating in sports they weren’t nearly as competitive or involved in them as men were. Could this biological response have been influenced by the social norms of that time? Where these social norms influencing females drive for competition as well? How has women’s biology played a role into their athletic participation? Why was it acceptable for men to play sports while women stayed inside and cared for children? Women are still evolving their bodies to be capable of maximum athletic performance. Russell Pate and Jennifer O’Neill published a paper about the advances women have made in the sport of marathon running. They looked into the trend of the best marathon times for women over the span of 30 years to see how they have changed. It was discovered that women improved their marathon times by 15.6% over thirty years, while the best male marathon times have remained fairly constant for recent decades. They also looked at the physiological differences between male and female runners. â€Å"The male runners had statistically significant higher values of height, weight, sum of 6-site skinfolds, V ?O2max and V ?E compared with the female runners.† (Pate). These biological differences have been adapted over many centuries so that men could run to catch food or fight off enemies. It’s okay to compare males and females. However, we need to draw the line when comparison turns int o a hierarchical comparison and a placement of women and men on a scale based on factors that shouldn’t be compared. This is why I found the Nike ad destructive to the work that many people have put their entire lives into for gender equality. Does being a child bearer mean that women’s bodies aren’t as physically capable of athletic performance because their bodies are able to bear children? It seems like we’ve made a lot of progress with feminism but we still have a lot of work to do. Social norms of women and mothers being the primary caregivers for children have had an impact on the number of women participating in sports. Christine Wegner did a study about the number of women running full marathons and discovered that â€Å"While the percentage of female runners at every distance up to and including the half marathon has increased continually over the past 10 years, the percentage of women participating in full marathons has plateaued since 2006, with women still representing the minority in this distance at 43%.† (Wegner) Women are now the majority of half marathon runners at 61%. They suggested that women have found their spot in running and have become most comfortable running half marathons. They continue and say, â€Å"The environmental filter that once precluded women from distance running has appeared to shift, moving the exclusionary barriers, and now seems to apply only to the longest race distances of 26.2 miles and beyond.† (Wegner) The article mentioned that it is not difficult for women to start running initially, that we have jumped that hurdle but it does become difficult for women to up the amount of time they spend training for races longer than the half marathon (Wegner). They speculate this is because it takes more time out of each day to train for a full marathon that most women using to take care of their children. So have we really jumped over social norms? Society used to see women as exclusively caregivers and nothing else. Their job was to stay at home, care for the kids, and clean the house. Now, it’s socially acceptable for women to run and race but they still have to devote their main priorities to caring for children, given that they are mothers, but running is something they can do if they have spare time. Men have less of a hard time fitting running into their schedules because of they aren’t expected to see to their children as much as women are. Another issue with society’s hierarchy or gender is the pay scale for women compared to men. This article titled, â€Å"Heres why its fair that female athletes make less than men† by Shane Ferro discussed why its fair that women get paid less. It’s because not as many people come to watch female athletics. This specific article looked into soccer players but this is common among most sports. The writers used â€Å"fair† in the sense that what their sport makes is relatively equal to what each athletes makes. They went on to point out that what we really need to be focusing on is why, why are people less inclined to go see women compete, and put less time and money into female sporting events? â€Å"The real question is not why female athletes are paid less. People should be asking why fans and sponsors are less interested in supporting womens sports — and this is what they should be outraged about.†(Ferro) Once again it all goes back to socia l norms that male sports are dominate, which somehow makes them more interesting. Why? Could this difference in pay scale discourage women from running? Could it also empower them to fight for their rights to have equal pay? If we know that our historical differences have led to different biological capabilities than why are we still initiating competitions between men and women? Who is this healthy for? Could this be potentially harmful to men as well? Men too feel pressure from the hierarchy that we have created as well. Except, they don’t worry about whether they will be able to compete in a sport, rather they worry If they will be able to keep up with the expectations that society has set for them as ‘fit males’. When men see that women can beat them in a race they feel intimidated and embarrassed that a girl could beat them. This hierarchy has led to many male athletes afraid because they are supposed to be better, according to society. If they aren’t though, they can feel pressure from other males as well as media to be better, stronger and faster. Athletes will go to extreme measures to prove to society that they are the top dog. One common way they do this is by abusing performance-enhancing drugs. A document released by The American College of Sports Medicine stated that, â€Å"Lifetime prevalence rates for steroid use among male adolescents generally range between 4 and 12 percent and between .5 and 2 percent for female adolescents.†(Yesalis) This is showing that males have a higher chance of using steroids, this article also mentioned that drug use can start pretty early in life, signaling that it could be due to social pressures. If kids are using steroids so early in life it could be hard for them to stop later in life and also change their mindset that they don’t need to use steroids to be great athletes. How do we move forward? I think we have done a lot to get women in sports to where we are today, but yet we still see sexist acts and comments being made on a large scale. Eric Anderson did a study on the cultural forces that are affecting male athlete’s attitude towards sexism. He says in his research, â€Å"Competitive male team sport athletes might maintain socio-negative attitudes toward women even in a time when institutional sexism has been shown to be decreasing.† (Anderson 258). He used data from heterosexual men who played football in high school, a much masculinized sport, and then went on to join collegiate cheerleading in college. He found that the guys largely changed their views regarding women’s athletics. They respected women’s leadership abilities and valued their friendship. While this is all well and good, it astonishes me that men have to actually see women participating in sports close up and interact with them for us to gain their res pect. It shouldn’t have to be like this, but if it helps men take women more seriously in the athletic world then we need to continue in that direction. Maybe this means that we just need to combine more sports and allow men to see that we are just as willing to put in the work as they are. Is this the right way right that we should be going about trying to demolish gender norms? I don’t think there is a â€Å"right† way to do it, however, we need to continue to talk about gender norms and help break them down. There really is no need for comparison, we should be able to respect each other’s differences whether it be due to biological differences or others, but at the same time be able to support one another. Athletics is about bettering yourself and improving your health, ultimately.

Management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Management accounting - Essay Example This is the portion of overhead cost variance that arises due to the actual variable overheads differing from the allowed variable overhead. This arises when the company uses more time to manufacture the product due to defects in production. This arises due to actual number of units sold differing from the budgeted number of units at standard sales margin per unit this may be due to increased taste and preference of consumers, or increase in quality and advertisements. SMPV arises as a result of real selling charge differing from the standard selling cost. This is influenced by prices of competitors, demand for the product or even the price of compliments to the product. Traditionally, overheads have been absorbed to products based on direct labour hours used direct labour cost machine hours utilized or number of units produced. This traditional method of absorbing overheads emerged when factor overhead constituted a small proportion of the manufacturing cost. There was an assumption of a linear relationship between the volume of production and the use of this activity basis. However overheads have recently grown significantly as a proportion of production cost in a decline in direct labour cost and the computerization of the production or manufacturing systems. Consequently, the relevance of continued use of the traditional overhead costing method has been watered with the emergence of new methods of production such as robotic technologies. Flexible manufacturing systems, computer manufacturing kaizen costing and activity based costing. Activity based costing is the cost attribution to cost units on the basis of the benefit the product receives from the activity performed such as ordering, material receiving and handling, setting up machines, scheduling of jobs or assurance of quality. ABC argues that overheads are incurred because of the activities being performed to

Analyse the role of culture in an organisation using the cultural web Essay

Analyse the role of culture in an organisation using the cultural web - Essay Example The last part will highlight the benefits of organizational culture, as well as the specific processes through which organizational culture is observed and maintained. Losely defined, organizational culture pertains to the system of values, beliefs, and norms that influence the overall attitude and behavior of the employees in an organization (Sun, 2008; Wursten, 2008; and Mind Tools, 2013). The construction of corporate values as based on ethical norms, the development of corporate mission and vision, and the establishment of rules and regulations all form part of organizational culture (Longo, 2011). As a result, the employees’ mindsets and actions are refined and aligned to conform with the organization’s so-called ‘unique identity’. Three themes can be linked from this definition. Firstly, organizational culture can be regarded as a learned entity in which new comers are taught with the appropriate way of behaving—a self-preserving activity intended to protect and nurture the organization’s culture. Secondly, organizational culture can also be viewed as a belief system that gives direction to employees’ everyday actions. Lastly, and in relation to the second, it is also type of mental programming that is geared toward building the loyalty and enhancing the performance of the employees. Studying closely these three themes, it can therefore be pointed out that the construction and continued enrichment of organizational culture is part and parcel of its overall business strategy (Garrett, 2012). Such position is based on the argument that since the successful implementation of specific organizational programs relies heavily on the commitment of the involved stakeholders, it is important that all employees are guided on the proper way to confront business issues and goals. As commonly pointed out, while strategic

Project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Project management - Assignment Example I would define the scope of this project by aligning all the products of the project, their features and requirements that is the totality to the entire project work. This involves a proper structure and framework of the breakdown of the products or task involves in the projects along with the description of each task and steps involved in it (Fleming & Koppelman, 2000). In order to determine the scope of this project, I would first consider the objectives of the project, the goals of the project, the phases and sub phase involved in it, the tasks, resources, time, budget and scheduling of the project. The critical path of a project helps in planning, organizing and managing the entire project. It steps down each important step involved in the project. This listing helps in determining what need to be done before and what is required to be done later. The cost, time and resources required to perform these activities are attached in the critical path. If Penny Black would formulated the critical path she would have got a clear picture reflecting the entire journey of the project along with critical points. She would be able to get the idea which task needed to be done before and comes after the initial task. For instance if she would work on the size of the pumps and compressors earlier she would not end up with the wrong orders (Schwalbe, 2013). With the help of Gantt chart, Penny would be able to allocate the project activities in accordance with the time. The Gantt chart also helps her in keeping the track of project’s progress along with the running of costs. Gantt chart are flexible management tool, hence for any changes that occurred during the project she would be able to maintain a proper flow of the tasks and the progress. This tool is very beneficial for the planning process and once utilize properly it reduces the chance of errors (Pich et al., 2002). With that there are some specific techniques that

The Cold War Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Cold War Era - Essay Example The telegram was based on the need to help introduce capitalism in USSR economies with a view that it would aid in addressing democracy and end the employment of socialism devices that serve interests of reactionary capital, despite conflicts-filled capitalistic economies which generate wars; intra-capitalistic between capitalists and wars of intervention by capitalists against socialists. The idea was to reduce the strength and influence of USSR and the socialist friends, introduction of revolutionary upheavals within capitalistic societies and enhance democratic progressivism to bear pressure on capitalistic societies but in line with soviet interests (Roberts pp.2-17). The justification was that majority of the citizens in the socialist economies did not enjoy fruits of their labor, the need to revolutionize urbanization and industrialization, the need to unify capitalistic economies with socialists for a peaceful coexistence and find equilibrium of Marxism in separation of both i nternal and international powers. The significance of this telegram can be traced on the importance of destabilizing the major political western powers who at some point were considered dangerous by their military prowess, the need to advance democracy and rule of law, to financially empower citizens in the socialist economies and promote international harmony between societies. As a witness of history, many questions arise on the implementation of the international policy as stated in the telegram; whether communism as illustrated in the telegram constituted the highlighted atrocities and whether the policies could apply to all other socialist economies apart from USSR considering the weak financial backing (Schumpeter, 9). The second document is a telegram from Walter Bedell Smith, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, to George Marshall, the secretary of state, named â€Å"Top Secret† that sought to notify the realization of United States’ economic plans in the Soviet Uni on as dangerous and that the Soviet government was not to pursue aggressive aims in their foreign policy, but would desire to rehabilitate and reconstruct its own internal economy. It stressed out on the Soviet trade agreements with England, Belgium, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries with which they were willing to incorporate the United States but agitated by the United States’ aggressive economic policies and the erroneous picture by the United States’ press and public officials. The major argument and justification was that dynamism of democratic forces ought to have been more vigilant, alert and aggressive to protect liberty and the fact that it was impossible for American government or citizens to believe that coup d’etat in Czechoslovakia could have been achieved without direct support of Soviet Union (Smith, pp.71-79). The major questions on this document is whether the foreign policy of the United States at the time can be measured with todayâ€℠¢s more so on the need to stabilize economic conditions and aspire for political development (McCann, 6) in the United States? The third document was from Charles Murphy to the secretary of state, Lloyd Bell, dated July 31, 1951 which stressed out the observations of the then American-soviet relations in a bid to achieve peaceful relations between the two economies; more so guided by the fact that Soviet Union was the guiding center of the communist world in relation to the United States’

Reaction to the Movie Passion of the Christ Essay

Reaction to the Movie Passion of the Christ - Essay Example (The Making of The Passion of the Christ, 2003). As a believer in Jesus Christ and the Bible, I fully understand the miracle of how this movie beat all odds and logic to be aired in such a controversial world that is against anything that is Christian and Godly. Its production, its airing, its rating, everything surpassed logic. To me, it was God-ordained and inspired as only a very famous and well-liked celebrity such as Gibson, one with so much influence, could be chosen (by God) to get the job done. If I were an "ordinary" person, it would probably not have passed all objections. Not only this, but Gibson funded it with his own money so it did not need the approval and funds of anyone else. A movie with this much violence with an R-rating would normally cause parents to not allow their children to view and a movie about religion, a specific religion (Christianity), no less, would definitely not bring in the masses.

Story of an Hour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Story of an Hour - Assignment Example The narrative is just so full of figures of speech, one has to really spend time meditating on the symbolisms to fully understand what the story is all about. Although during the initial reading, the reader could understand the events in the story however, it still requires an in-depth analysis for one to really ‘feel and understand’ the story behind the story. Selina Jamil thinks â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is an expression of emotions which she strongly supports through the symbolisms in the story. For instance, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is perceived as an emotional trouble rather than a physical one (Jamil). While other women might easily be been open to accept their fate as being the housekeepers and even husband and children keepers, it is interesting to note that not all men are created equal and Mrs. Mallard is not the common type who would just be satisfied with her share in life. She was the woman who loved the outdoors and whose dreams are not bound within the four walls of her house rather are far and beyond what her eyes can see as it was then revealed as she was alone in her room thinking about how she would be living after her husband’s burial. Aside from the information directly unveiled in the story, symbolisms help to further picture the desires of the main character. The open window that meets her eyes as she opens her room tells a lot about Mrs. Mallard. The room itself is a picture of her private, unspoken thoughts and desires. Entering it without letting anyone follow her could paint the picture of Louise’s secrets that are not meant to be revealed rather are hers alone. The comfortable, roomy armchair is a representation of the ease she can have with her thoughts and herself in the privacy of her room (Lorcher) and the open window symbolizes the window to herself, her heart. This could be

Luke’s gospel Essay Example for Free

Luke’s gospel Essay Each of the four evangelists had a particular slant to their writing:- One could say that Mark was a brief account of the preaching of Peter. Johns Gospel was written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31). Matthew was written for Jews to show how Jesus teaching related to their laws and traditions. And Luke wrote for those who had become disciples and wanted to ground their faith in historical fact. Luke is described in the title of Jean-Francois Racine’s 20008 article as ‘Luke: Storyteller, Interpreter and Evangelist. ’ Despite his skills as both narrator and interpreter of events, he would have perhaps felt most comfortable with the last of these – Evangelist. In his gospel he makes many theological points – he was concerned for instance that his readers knew exactly who the person of Jesus was not as Alan Richardson says ‘a docetic apparition’ i. e the belief , later considered heretical, that Christ merely appeared to have a human body, an idea that Luke opposes with his birth narratives and the genealogy in chapter 3. Nor is he ‘a pagan theophany’ i. e. the mere visible, but not material appearance of God . This reality of God in history can be seen in the reading of this passage. Jesus is not just reading an old prophecy. He is laying claim to it. It is not to be interpreted as ’The Spirit of the Lord ‘ is upon some unknown person, some future long promised Saviour, but upon Jesus, the boy they had all seen grow up. It is perhaps no wonder the congregation found this difficult to accept. God in man, yet not someone who would perform miracles just to prove a point as is made clear in the description of the temptations in the wilderness, yet who is prepared to reveal signs that can be interpreted. The bringing of sight to the blind was in particular something associated with ‘the servant of the Lord’ according to Richardson and would be seen as a \Messianic sign. It is clear from the words of Isaiah that he chose that he saw the miracles he was able to perform as signs of the coming of the kingdom of God ‘the day of the Lord predicted by Isaiah. He makes this clear when he follows his reading by making the astounding claim ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’. After the prologue ( Luke 1 verse 1 to 4 ) Luke’s Gospel can be divided most obviously into 5 main sections in a frame work that more or less follows that set out by Mark, but which includes many events recorded solely by Luke:- †¢ Births of John and Jesus, Luke chapters 1 v 5 and 2, and unique to Luke †¢ Galilean Ministry, ( this section would also include his baptism and genealogy). The genealogy too is unique, for although Matthew includes such a list they vary. This section concludes at Chapter 9 v 20 with Peter’s confession when he acknowledges Jesus as ‘God’s Messiah’. †¢ The parable of the Good Samaritan in chapter 10 begins the next section wherein Jesus gradually moves towards Jerusalem. †¢ Luke 19 v 28 marks Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem and a re-joining of Luke’s narrative with that contained in Mark’s shorter gospel. Although there are accounts of earlier confrontations, in particular with the Pharisees this section marks a period of greater confrontation , as when he drove out the merchants in the temple in Luke 19 v 45-48 and of course later with the Sanhedrin and the Roman rulers. †¢ The passion narratives can be said to start from Chapter 22 with the feast of unleavened bread and the preparations for the last supper with the disciples. They conclude with the ascension, described again in Acts 1.. Jesus at the point described in 4 v 14 -30 has returned to his home town of Nazareth in Galilee. It is a passage that place Christ right at the centre of the story of salvation. According to Conzelmann and Buswell in the section of their 1992 book entitled ‘The centre of history’ Luke ‘deliberately takes the â€Å"today† which is expressed in this passage as belonging to the past, and builds up the picture of Jesus whole career on the basis of this historical interpretation. ’ â€Å"Today† might not actually be included in the passage in most translations, but is still implied as the passage is in the present tense and in the final line as in the Message paraphrase ‘This is God’s year to act. ’ In the Amplified Bible the passage reads :- The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound. Headings in the Good News Bible for this passage are ‘Jesus begins his work in Galilee’ and ‘Jesus is rejected at Nazareth’ The local people would have heard about the miracles don e in other places in the region. They must have been thinking ‘If he has done so much in other villages, how much more will he do here’ Instead he quotes to them a well known proverb :- Surely you will quote this proverb to me: Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum. I tell you the truth, he continued, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He goes on to expound upon the way in which Gentiles could have faith, giving the examples of the widow of Zarephath who had been helped by Elijah, and also Naaman the Syrian, both of whose stories would have been familiar to the congregation. The passage has been proceeded by the birth narratives, the account of the early visit to Jerusalem, the sudden jump to the preaching of his forerunner John . His baptism is recorded briefly and then comes the genealogy which traces Jesus’ ancestry back to God The temptation in the wilderness is described as immediately preceding the events of 4 v 14 – 30. So we have Jesus, a unique being, ‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Christ, the Lord. ’ And , according to the words of Simeon, not just a Saviour for the Jewish people, but also ‘Salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. ’ It had been traditionally expected that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah as is pointed out by Luke by his inclusion of the prophecy from Isaiah ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord†¦.. the crooked roads shall become straight , the rough ways smooth, and all mankind will see God’s salvation. ’ So once again the image provoked is of a universality to the message of salvation. John the Baptist is an Elijah type figure, especially if one reads Mark’s description of him , ‘John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ’ The baptism was a public event , but according to Luke the message from God to his son was a personal one, and it is not clear in this passage whether others heard the voice ‘You are my son whom I love; with you I am well pleased. ’ , a parallel passage to the one in Mark , but in John it is clear that John the Baptist at least was a witness, ‘John gave this testimony :† I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Matthew gives a slightly different version of events, which seems to imply that God was publically acknowledging Jesus as his son. ‘A voice from heaven said â€Å"This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ So all is ready – Jesus is established in history as being God on earth, the special, unique person , prophesied of old as the means of the world’s salvation – now he can begin. Which brings us to the Nazareth synagogue scene which marks , as far as Luke is concerned, the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. How far does passage set the agenda for the ministry of Jesus? According to Hans Conzelmann and Geoffrey Buswell in the 1982 book ‘TheTheology of St Luke’ ‘It is significant that according to Luke Jesus is not led by the Spirit, but himself acts in the Spirit. First of all there is the obvious contrast between ‘He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him’ which refers in a general way to the synagogues of various Galilean towns, and the reaction in his home town of Nazareth, presumably before a congregation of those who knew him well :-‘Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son? ’ and then when he expounded on the passage, pointing out how Elijah had not been sent to a Jewish home in the time of famine, but to help the Gentile widow of Zarephath in Sidon, this provoked an extremely violent negative reaction ‘All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this’ so much so that they were apparently prepared to actually kill him according to verse 28 and 29. Why such a violent reaction? Israel had long been expecting her Messiah. He had been prophesied from Genesis through to Malachi, but in both negative and positive ways ‘ I will put enmity between you and the woman ,and between your offspring and hers’ and ‘Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant; whom you desire, will come, says the Lord Almighty. ’ However the people were expecting a warrior, a physical king, someone who would free them from the yoke of the Romans not a village boy, perhaps even an illegitimate one people have long memories. The passage Jesus was reading was from the scroll of Isaiah, chapter 61 . He bought the reading to an end in what, for the congregation, would be considered ‘the wrong place’. i. e half way through what is in modern Bibles , verse 2 of the chapter. He includes the phrase ‘to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ but omits the one after it ‘the day of vengeance of our God. ’ These people wanted a powerful saviour who would rid them of Roman oppression. Isaiah’s prophecy goes on to talk about a double portion for the Israelites who would feed on the wealth of nations. Preaching good news to the poor was fine, but it wouldn’t send the Romans back to Rome. Don Swager in his commentary says :- Jesus praise for outsiders caused them offence because they were blind-sighted to Gods mercy and plan of redemption for all nations. This sudden change of mood from the previous verses in which Luke records that he found acceptance where ever he went is a pivotal point in the gospel record. It exemplifies what will come and so can be said to set the agenda – for instance on Palm Sunday we are told that a large crowd ‘began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen. ’ Shouting â€Å"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! This is followed immediately by a plea from the Pharisees that Jesus call upon his followers to be quiet. Presumably they feared a negative reaction on the part of the authorities to someone being hailed as king. It isn’t just the words used. Spreading clothing along his way was known to be the way to greet a king. An example of this would be 2 Kings 9 v 13, a passage that would have been known when to many in the crowd , where, and had anointed him, after Elisha had told his that God wanted him to be king Jehu told his officers that Elisha had said :- Here is what he told me: This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel. ’They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, Jehu is king! But the words were from what are called the ‘songs of ascent’ i. e a normal part of the Passover celebrations and sang every year by pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem for the feast. So any Roman observers would have probably seen nothing unusual, and wouldn’t have been familiar with the passage from 2nd Kings. As with so many other passages this reaction of the Pharisees is unique to Luke. But these people were aware to some extent at least of the miracle that Jesus had performed in Galilee and the resurrection of Lazarus, recorded by John the evangelist, though not by Luke, had only just occurred, John places the event perhaps a week earlier, and it would certainly have been the latest news, so they at least were aware of the special person that Jesus was. These same people, described by Luke as disciples would have course still been in Jerusalem at the end of the week and some at least must have been in the crowd which Luke describes:- With one voice they cried out, Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us! †¦.. But they kept shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him! †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. This constant split in opinion and changes in opinion , the general misunderstanding about what was Jesus’ true ministry as recorded first in Luke 4, continues throughout the passages between then and the trial narrative. In Luke 5 for instance there is the story of the call of Levi ( Matthew) after which there was a feast in Levi’s house. Again it is the Pharisees who complain ‘But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? He tries to explain :- â€Å"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. † The Good News Bible translate this verse as ‘I have not come to call respectable people to repent, but outcasts. ’ – which links back to the Isaiah passage read by Jesus in his home synagogue:- He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, That passage of course begins ‘the Spirit of the Lord is on me’ and of Jesus this was literally true if the account of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him at the time of his baptism is to be believed. It was acknowledge by Luke at the very beginning of the Galilean ministry :-â€Å" Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. † The passage, which comes from Isaiah 61 would not have originally have had the chapter and verse breaks with which we are so familiar. The section immediately before it is headed in the New International Version ‘The Glory of Zion’, and begins ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you’ . Oswald Chambers commenting upon his book ‘My Utmost for his Highest’ notes that ‘We have to make the first step’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢when getting in contact with God in order to find out what he wants’. This is a long positive passage which includes references to God appearing and nations ( i. e. the Gentiles ) coming to his light and which concludes with the words ‘I am the Lord ; in its time I will do this swiftly.. ’. Jesus , although he read only a few lines, would have been very aware of this wider context , and so would many of his readers. This ministry to the outsiders of society would continue and is more strongly evident in this gospel perhaps than in others as for instance in chapter 15, known for its parables of the lost which begins with tax collectors and others on the edges of society coming to Jesus an event that brings an immediate reaction from the religious leaders Right at the beginning of his story Luke had stressed the presence, power and working of the Holy Spirit, something that it was generally felt had departed from Israel. The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. This emphasis upon the Spirit continues. It is evidenced for instance in the raising from death to life of the widow’s son, only one of many healings which took place and which Luke summarizes. At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Even such miraculous events could be misinterpreted, such were the misunderstandings surrounding Jesus, who he was, and what his purpose was. In the gospel’s11th chapter, Jesus, now on his way towards Jerusalem, drives out a demon. :- Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons. This empowering by the Spirit was not restricted to Jesus alone, Anticipating opposition ahead he tells his followers they need not fear :- When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. Another aspect of the passage is ‘the binding up of the broken hearted’. This could be seen as referring to those who mourn for whatever reason as in Matthew 5 v 4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. ’ as Jesus describes life in the coming kingdom of God. The Message Bible has this as :- You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right . Then you can see God in the outside world. Luke is always concerned with mankind fully realizing who Christ is and his purpose and the message might be. The letter to Philippians in chapter 2 contains a quotation from an early Christian hymn which explains this – that Christ humbled himself by coming to earth in order eventually that man will be restored in his relationship with God – a relationship broken in the early chapters of Genesis when man disobeyed what he knew to be the will of God. Luke portrays the purpose of Christ as restoring this broken relationship. In 4 v 43 Jesus says :- I must preach the good news of the Kingdom to God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. Luke also shows the universality of the task in the call of the disciples as when he responds to Peter in 5 v 10, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men’ told . When the seventy two disciples, who had been sent out as recorded in chapter 10, they had been told ‘Heal the sick who are there and tell them the kingdom of God is near you’ They returned full of joy because ‘Lord, even the devils submit to us in your name! ’ This idea that the spread of the gospel is the task and responsibility of the whole church, and they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry it out is of course continued in Luke’s second volume , the Book of Acts, for example in chapter 2 v 4 :- All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. This idea of restoring relationships is shown repeatedly even in the healing miracles, where the emphasis is on the forgiveness of sins rather than on any physical healing that took place as with the healing of the paralytic man brought to his by friends in 5 v 17 -26. The man does receive healing, but even before that in verse 20 we read :- ‘Friend , your sins are forgiven’ something that the Jewish faith believed was only brought about by the offering of sacrifices. The result in this case was not only one man being forgiven, but a whole crowd of people seeing God in power and praising him for it. The theme continues even on the cross when the thief pleads with the dying Messiah :- ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’. Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. When John records Jesus final words, ‘It is finished’ it is a sign that not only is his earthly life drawing to an end, but that of the task which he had taken upon himself. Peterson, in the Message Bible translates this as :-‘It’s done – complete’. A phrase that might be translated as ‘It is accomplished’ as indeed it was if one accepted that by his sacrificial death Jesus is able to restore the relationship between God and his salvation. Luke’s version of the gospel story cannot be seen in isolation, and should be read alongside complementary passages, i. e. the other gospels. It is stated in John 3 v 14 – 18 a:- The son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. References Bible, Good News Version, Today’s English Version, Collins/Fontana London 1976 Bible, New International Version, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1988 Chambers, O. ,My Utmost for His Highest, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, reprinted 1975 Peterson,E. Bible , The Message, Navpress, Colorado Springs, 2002. Richardson,A. Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament, SCM Press, London 1958 Electronic Sources Amplified Bible, retrieved 6th April 2009 http://www. biblegateway. com/passage/? search=Luke%204;version=45; Brow, R. , Lukes Gospel Commentary, Retrieved 6th April 2009 http://www. brow. on. ca/Books/Luke/Luke01. htm Conzelmann, H. and Buswell, G. ‘The Theology of St Luke’ Faber and Faber, London 1992 , Questia on Line Library, retrieved 7th April 2009 http://www. questia. com/read/87968381? title=The%20Theology%20of%20St. %20Luke Racine, J. Luke: Storyteller, Interpreter and Evangelist , Theological Studies, Volume 69, 2008, Questia Online Library, retrieved 7th April 2009 http://www. questia. com/read/5025752564? title=Luke%3a%20Storyteller%2c%20Interpreter%2c%20Evangelist Swager, D. The Gospel of Luke, A Commentary and Meditation retrieved 6th April 2009 http://www. rc. net/wcc/readings/luke146. htm

Malaysias Unemployment Rates

Malaysias Unemployment Rates Jump to: Causes of Unemployment | Types of Unemployment | Unemployment in Malaysia | Impact of Unemployment | Unemployment and Inflation | Conclusion The main objective of this paper is to investigate the unemployment and growth rates of Malaysia. Unemployment is an important issue for developing economies in a country. Inefficiently of using labor resources will cause to high unemployment rate. The result shows that the economics in Malaysia is better with high employment. In economics, unemployment statistics measure the condition and extent of joblessness within an economy.  Full employment should be a major macroeconomics goal because it maximizes output. For many years, the manufacturing has been the strongest sector in the country until it is now being progressively replaced by the service sector. In this research, we will measure how unemployment affects economics growths in Malaysia and also the reason of high unemployment rate of fresh graduate. Thus further research and relevant factors is required.   Introduction This paper asks the question of how the rate of economic growth affects unemployment. The main considerations that lead us to think that this is an interesting question have to do with the re-allocative aspect of growth. Faster economic growth must come from a faster increase in knowledge. Besides, unemployed graduates have become a serious case in Malaysia that need more concern by the government. In year 2006 involving 132,900 graduates from institutions of higher learning all over Malaysia indicated that 30.7% of graduates remained unemployed six months after graduation, while 5.7% were still awaiting job placement (Tan, 2007). There are more female graduates in this country were unemployed because they lacked the relevant skills required in the labor market despite having excellent academic results. The number was much higher in comparison to male graduates (Nor Hartinin, 2007). In the sixties and seventies Okuns Law was regarded as one of the most reliable macroeconomic relations. Okuns Law can clearly present the relationship between GDP growth and unemployment. Most economists were playing down the relationship between growth and unemployment. Unemployment was explained by structural factors, mainly by inflexible labor markets: too high wages, too high unemployment benefits and labors attitude. Unemployment Unemployment or joblessness occurs when those individuals actively seeking jobs remain unhired within the past four weeks. Unemployment is expressed as a percentage of the total available work force. The level of unemployment varies with economic conditions and other circumstances. The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals currently in the labor force. During periods if recession, an economy usually experiences a relatively high unemployment rate. In a 2011 news story, Business Week reported, More than 200 million people globally are out of work, a record high, as almost two-thirds of advanced economies and half of developing countries are experiencing a slowdown in employment growth. Causes of unemployment The level of unemployment differs with economic conditions and other market forces. Unemployment occurs when an individual is out of his current job and looking for another job. It also means that they are unemployment during the time period of shifting between two jobs. Normally the job seeker needs few months to hunt for their favourite job. When there is a mismatch of skilled workers in the labor market, the structural change within an economy will influence the unemployment. Some of the causes of unemployment are geographical immobility, occupational immobility and technological change. Nowadays, most of the companies are using information technology to carry out the job. The employees who have no upgrade himself will disqualify from the company. Moreover they need to go for training to increase their knowledge on the working field. Unemployment will occur when trade unions and labor organization bargain for higher wages, which leads to fall in the demand for labor. Currently the fresh graduates are hunting for the job which has high salary, nice environment and easy task. They do not have determination and bear hardships to face the challenges. Unemployment occurs when there is a downturn in an economy, the aggregate demand for goods and services decrease and demand for labor decreases. At the time of recession, unskilled and surplus labors become unemployed. When there is insufficient demand in the economy to maintain full employment, the problem of unemployment will occurs. If demand falls, firms sell less and so reduce production. If there are producing less, this leads to lower demand for workers. Either worker is fired or a firm cuts back on employing new workers. In the worst-case scenarios the fall in demand may be so great a firm goes bankrupt and everyone is made redundant. Reasons for  unemployment in Malaysia Lack of experience Nowadays most of the companies prefer to employ people with experiences rather than those without working experiences. Based on our research, there are several reasons leading to the high unemployment rate. People lacking of experience are mostly fresh graduates from university or college. The syllabus in university should provide more exposure on real-life industrial training, such as industrial attachment and internship program. Different circumferences have to be managed in different solutions, and the problem-solving skills can be accumulated from the real-life experiences. For example, a programmer has to be familiar with a series of computer languages such as C++, PHP, Java and etc. If the applicant did not meet the basic requirements of the company, the company cannot offer the job to this applicant. In University, the knowledge is mostly gained from textbooks, but sometimes the knowledge learnt is hard to be applied on working environments. University may extend the required internship period from 3 months to 6 months or even longer. If the training duration is not long or sufficient enough, students may not be able to apply what they have learnt in school on their works. University students are suggested to apply for companies related to their courses. This may help them improve the learning and practical skills. It is not recommended to join those companies which simply arrange the trainees sitting in front of the computers and do nothing but day dreaming. Firstly, the reason why employers prefer experienced employees is because experienced employees can complete the jobs easily without spending much time on learning their works. Having employees without experiences, companies need to provide additional training and courses for those employees. This will definitely contribute to the cost of the company. Besides, the employee may be not familiar with the industry, thus, it is possible that they cannot complete the job well on time. It is not ensured that they are able to complete their jobs precisely and correctly with their assigned supervisors. They may spend some time on adapting to the new environment and less focus on the jobs. Thirdly, the skills learnt from school are insufficient in real lives. In real life, company job is based on project and it requires the employee to communicate with colleagues. Universities also have to provide more project-based modules for students. This can create more chances for students to discuss with their group members. In addition, it helps improve the soft skill of students. Last but not least, the fact that new graduates demand for high salaries also causes the high unemployment rate. Some of the graduate job-seekers are with high expectation for their first jobs. Even they are aware they lack of working experience, they still try to apply for higher salaries compared with those with one or two years experiences. Furthermore, students who graduated with excellent academic results are no longer secured with good jobs or competitive edges in career advancement. Lack of social and communication skills Most of the graduates with rural background lack of communication skills compared with those from city. The reason may be because most of the residents staying in villages communicate with their elder adults and friends using their own dialects or mother tongues. They seldom speak in English. However, the working environment in Malaysia mostly requires people to communicate efficiently in English and Malay. Therefore, Kampung students may not be competitive in terms of communication skills even though they graduate with excellent academic results. Besides, a number of town students who further study in university seldom use English to communicate with their teachers or friends. For example, the author mostly speak mother language, Mandarin, with her friends. This situation also makes the communication skill in English poor among town students. According to a survey conducted by Ministry of Human Resources, it shows that in Malaysia compared with male graduates, female graduates become unemployed because the female are weaker in communication and social skills. Furthermore, the female have a poor command of language and low levels of self-confidence. The unemployment rate of female graduates is much higher than that of male graduates. The result also indicates that a lot of female graduates are able to achieve excellent academic results but they could not secure their employment without the relevant skills required in the labor market. According to  JobStreet.com which conducted an English Language Assessment (ELA) test whereby it had ranked Singaporeans is first, Filipino is second and Malaysians is third. This has proven that Malaysian English level standard is not up to satisfaction. The survey reveals that 65% of employers have turned down job seekers due to poor communication of English, which is the official business language for 91% in Malaysias companies. Another report shows that, graduates throughout the country were unemployed due to poor communication skill in English. Though the fresh graduates possess excellent qualification and technical backgrounds, but they are unable to speak English efficiently when facing an interview. They definitely should improve their English language standards. For the basic process of an interview, the first point that the interviewer would assess the interviewee is his/her English communication capability. The way in which the interviewee speaks and interacts with the interviewer is a benchmark when the company measures suitable candidates for the job. If the interviewee even could not talk properly, it is impossible for the supervisor to assign a task to this interviewee. Most of the fresh graduates are not good team players. They are somehow arrogant and believe that they are talented and able to complete the tasks. If the fresh graduates did take part in co-curriculum and be the main committee, this will help prove that they are well trained and capable of managing the task. Co-curriculum also can build characters of people. It provides a platform for students to show their personalities. In addition, the social skill, which is also essential for each graduate, is practiced with various co-curriculums as well. Education in Malaysia Choosing the wrong course and the poor result. Bahasa Malaysia is the national and official language in Malaysia. Bahasa Malaysia is used as the teaching language for primary school and secondary school. In recent years, Ministry of Education Malaysia has begun focusing on English teaching. However, so far Malaysian education still mainly uses Bahasa Malaysia as teaching media, while in working environment people mostly communicate in English. The fresh graduates who are unable to communicate in English fluently will be very tough when finding a job. Generally, the citizens in government organizations use Bahasa Malaysia as communication language. The citizens have got used to communicating in Bahasa Malaysia. However, there are a lot of Multinational Corporations which set their head offices or Asia pacific offices in Malaysia. They require their Malaysian employees capable of communicating in English efficiently. Could Malaysia provide sufficient manpower armed with English communication skills? This is a big challenge for Malaysia educations system. Besides, high-level education of Malaysia is not competitive compared to overseas education. In Malaysia, the top university is University of Malaysia (UM), but its ranking is the 167th so far, among the worldwide university according to investigation of USNews.com. Compared with our neighbour country Singapore, the National University of Singapore (NUS) ranks at the 28th and Nanyang Techonological University (NTU) is the 58th. This is a great distance between the education systems of the two countries. Therefore, Malaysia government has to put a lot of effort into the education sector to upgrade the ranking and provide talents to international labour markets. The syllabus in local university is not sufficient or up to the satisfaction of working environment. Most of the students gain their knowledge purely from textbooks. They lack of practical skills. Facilities in university have not reached the global standard and still maintained in Kampung standard. Professors and researchers are not graduates from world-class Universities. Equipments in the laboratories are 10-20 years backward. These are all the reasons why more and more students are willing to study in overseas universities although the cost of education is expensive. Moreover, the qualification lines of entering the universities are very low, as the corresponding university standard is low as well. University should set the higher entry qualification to increase the standard of coming students. Besides, the university should increase their level as well by employing professional stuffs to strengthen education levels. A lot of private colleges which are unqualified set by the Ministry of Education intend to promote as a university. The official explanation is this can improve the quantity of undergraduates. However, it seems the government did not include the quality of undergraduates into their consideration. It is suggested that Ministry of education should review the education system in Malaysia by referring to foreign education systems to improve Malaysia education system. With a huge number of students graduating with CGPAs below 3.0, it is unsurprising that these people become unemployable in the Malaysian private sectors. It is recommended that students should take courses based on their capabilities and interests but not based on what is apparently in-demand in the society (e.g., IT courses). If students are not interested in the courses, less effort would be put in the study; hence, the result would not be scored in flying colour. Normally the company hire employees based on their paper results and abilities instead of their capabilities in other fields. Student with lower scores would probably get lower opportunities of interviews. Types of unemployment After the research, we found that there are four type of unemployment. And below is the summary of structural unemployment, frictional unemployment, and cyclical unemployment. Structural unemployment When there are less suitable job provide for the people will cause to structural unemployment because there is a mismatch between the skills needed for the jobs and the skills of the unemployed workers. For example, A employee fired by his car maker company because machine had replace human in making car and the employee does not know how to operate the machine, so the employee only have the skills of make car and he have the difficulty in searching a new job. Structural unemployment may also be affected by cyclical unemployment. If a nations economy is suffers from a recession, that means many of the unemployed workers become discouraged, while their skills become rusty and outdated. This means that they (unemployed workers) may not suitable for the job vacancies that are reserved for them when the economy turns to normal. Some economists see this scenario The implication is that sustained high demand may lower structural unemployment under the speech from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the 1970s and 1980s. This theory has been referred to as an example of path dependence. A lot of technological unemployment occurs, because of the replacement of workers had change into machines to produce more effectively, we called as structural unemployment. Thus technological unemployment refer to the way in which production increases by machine but lesser workers to produce the actual same level of output or more output every year. The fact that aggregate demand increase suggests that this problem is instead one of cyclical unemployment. As like we said before Okuns Law, the demand side must grow rapidly to absorb the growing labor force but also the workers made redundant by increased labor productivity. Frictional unemployment Frictional unemployment is the time period between jobs and unemployed workers when a worker is seeking for a better job and or a new environment. Frictional unemployment is always present in an economy no matter which country are u, so the level of unemployment is calculated by the unemployment rate minus the rate of frictional unemployment. This means that any changes in unemployment rate are normally represented in the simple statistics. Frictional unemployment exists because both jobs and workers are multifarious, and a mismatch between the demand and supply. Such a mismatch can be related to skills, payment, work-time, location, attitude, and other factors. New entrants of employee such as graduated students and homemakers that want to return to the career can also include in frictional unemployment. Workers as well as employees accept a certain level of compromise or risk. Time and effort will be invested to find a better match but there is always a risk. This will increase the economy growth since it results in a better allocation of resources. However, if the mismatches are taking too long finding a job or too frequent, the economy will suffers a decreasing, since some work will not get done. Therefore, governments should search for multiple ways to reduce unnecessary frictional unemployment happen too deep through planning nicely which means including providing education, advice, training, and assistance such as having some camp providing the more information about how to seeking job. An increase or decrease in labor market frictions will shift the curve outwards or inwards. The frictions in the labor market sometimes will illustrate graphically with a Beverage curve, a downward-sloping, convex curve that shows a relationship between the unemployment rate and the vacancy rate. Changes in the demand or the supply for labor cause movements along the curve. Cyclical unemployment Cyclical unemployment, also known as deficient-demand unemployment, occurs whenever there is not enough aggregate demand in the economy to provide jobs for everyone who needs a job (People who seeking for job). Demand for most goods and services decreases will lead to less production and for sure fewer workers are needed when they are less product in the market, wages fall and fail to meet the equilibrium level. Its name is derived from the frequent shifts in the business cycle although unemployment can also be persistent (during the Great Depression of the 1930s). Besides, with cyclical unemployment occurs, the number of unemployed workers will increase and exceeds the number of job seekers, so that even with full employment and all open jobs were filled, they are still some workers will remain unemployed. These two friction cyclical unemployment and frictional unemployment happen because of the cyclical variables. For example, a surprising decline in the money supply may influence the entire rational economic factors and will cause to restrain aggregate demand. Summary Structural unemployment Where their skills becomes outdated.  (Example: Someone who do not use computer get fired because he do not know how to type in information into computer.) Frictional unemployment where people lose their jobs in order to look for better ones or still searching for job. Cyclical unemployment Unemployment occurs when there is a recession of economy in a nation. The thing about unemployment is that the economy has to do with gross domestic product (GDP). We can produce more stuff with full employment. So if there is high unemployment, we should produce more but if we dont, this will lead to a bad economy growth in a nation. Malaysia Unemployment Rate Normally unemployment rate in developed countries is higher than developing countries due to higher competition. For example, in the last three quarters of 2011, United Kingdoms unemployment rate has rose from 7.8% to 7.9% and followed by 8.3% respectively. At the same time, Malaysias unemployment rate has went up from 3% to 3.2% and followed by 3.3%, and was ranked at 170th place out of 198 countries based on their degree of severity (The Human Resource Ministry of Malaysia and CIA World Factbook, 2012). Observation reveals that youth unemployment rate is even greater than the overall unemployment rate for both of the countries suggesting that youngsters are facing more difficulties in finding jobs as compared to adults. In Malaysia, one of the badly affected sector is the nursing field whereby in 2010, more than 54% of the private nursing graduates were unemployed three to four months after graduating, compared to only 21.7% in 2008 (The Star, 2012). It is a worry situation as fresh graduates find themselves difficult to get employed despite having a solid academic qualification. Malaysia Unemployment Rate (From July 2010 until January 2012) The unemployment rate in Malaysia was last reported at 3 percent in April of 2012. Historically, from 1998 until 2012, Malaysia Unemployment Rate averaged 3.3600 Percent reaching an all time high of 4.5000 Percent in March of 1999 and a record low of 2.8000 Percent in March of 2012. The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force. This page includes a chart with historical data for Malaysia Unemployment Rate. Needs of the Labour Market Quality of education Firstly, the quality of education has become a significant cause in current situation and it getting worst. Seems like every year our country produces more and more excellent students. This is proved where our students get better and better result (straight A) in SPM or PMR. With the increasing number of straight A students in SPM and PMR, it seems like our student is improving a lot. Besides that, it is also easier to find degree holders anywhere. Surely, this is a good sign of the graduates quality. This statement may not bode well with some of the institutions out there but this should be taken as a challenge, not a mockery. (Abdul Razak Ahmad, New Straits times Sunday, March 20 2005) Most of the students will concern only on the major subject instead of minor subject. Besides, government also offer less minor subject to the students. Now the majority of student studying only for certificate, so they do select the easier subject compare to others. Most schools also began to commercialization to benefit, they will reduce the level of subject, resulting in a lot more apparent (look impressive but is worthless) of the University. Economy Secondly, fresh graduate unemployed because of the recession of economy in our nation too. The changing of the economic structure is a probably cause for the increasing number in unemployment. For many years, the manufacturing has been the strongest sector controlling the unemployment rate in the country until it is now being replaced by the services sector step by step. The services sector requires people who do not only know the right technical knowledge, but also those people who know the right soft skills wisdom, communication, interpersonal, maturity and business oriented. Economics growth Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time. It is conventionally measured as the percent rate of increase in real gross domestic product, or real GDP. An increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services, compared from one  period of time to another. Economic growth can be measured in nominal terms, which include inflation, or in real terms, which are adjusted for inflation. As an area of study, economic growth is generally distinguished from development economics. The former is primarily the study of how countries can advance their economies. The latter is the study of the economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. As economic growth is measured as the annual percent change of gross domestic product (GDP), it has all the advantages and drawbacks of that measure. Advantages of Economic Growth Sustained economic growth is a major objective of government policy not least because of the benefits that flow from a growing economy. Higher Living Standards: For example measured by an increase in real national income per head of population see the evidence shown in the chart below. Employment effects: Growth stimulates higher employment. The British economy has been growing since autumn 1992 and we have seen a large fall in unemployment and a rise in the number of people employed. Fiscal Dividend: Growth has a positive effect on government finances boosting tax revenues and providing the government with extra money to finance spending projects. The Investment Accelerator Effect: Rising demand and output encourages investment in new capital machinery this helps to sustain the growth in the economy by increasing long run aggregate supply. Growth and Business Confidence: Economic growth normally has a positive impact on company profits business confidence good news for the stock market and also for the growth of small and large businesses alike. Disadvantages of economic growth There are some economic costs of a fast-growing economy. The two main concerns are firstly that growth can lead to a pickup in inflation and secondly, that growth can have damaging effects on our environment, with potentially long-lasting consequences for future generations. Inflation risk: If the economy grows too quickly there is the danger of inflation as demand races ahead of aggregate supply. Producer then take advantage of this by raising prices for consumers. Environmental concerns: Growth cannot be separated from its environmental impact. Fast growth of production and consumption can create negative externalities (for example, increased noise and lower air quality arising from air pollution and road congestion, increased consumption of de-merit goods, the rapid growth of household and industrial waste and the pollution that comes from increased output in the energy sector) These externalities reduce social welfare and can lead to market failure. Growth that leads to environmental damage can have a negative effect on peoples quality of life and may also impede a countrys sustainable rate of growth.   Examples include the destruction of rain forests, the over-exploitation of fish stocks and loss of natural habitat created through the construction of new roads, hotels, retail malls and industrial estates. How does unemployment affect your economy? If more people are unemployed, less people pay taxes or less money for spending. Spending money boosts the economy through taxes which is why everything is taxed. The taxed money adds up when everyone shops. If one is unemployed, they live on what is saved or what unemployment departments give them. Therefore, they do not have more money to spent, they only buy necessities. Also by not having the money to buy wants, not only needs, it means some business will have to cut prices in order to try to sell. By cutting prices this leads to less, no, or sometimes negative profits. Enough of this happens and that business might go out of business which leads to MORE unemployment. All of this leads to deflation which could lead to a depression. Deflation does not encourage spending, in fact it does the opposite. Also your dept numerically stay the same but now you earn less so it will be even harder to pay them off. The consequences of unemployment to the Malaysian economy Unemployment can lead to stress emotionally and mentally. When stress occurs, the individual and the loved ones around them suffer. There would be unnecessary pressure and expectations and a case of low morale. Thus leading to misunderstandings.   When misunderstandings occur, one may resort to violence and in turn affect the relationship or lead to an increase in crimes. Unemployment affects the economy by having a reduction in AD (aggregate demand), and economic growth. There would also be a lack of demand as people unemployed are saving. Unemployment influence and effect economic growth Unemployment affects the economy in ways that most people do not visually see. If more people are unemployed, less people pay taxes or have money for spending. Spending money boosts the economy through taxes which is why everything is taxed. The taxed money adds up when everyone shops. If one is unemployed, they live on what is saved or what unemployment departments give them. Therefore, they do not have money to be frivolous, they only buy necessities.  Spending less doenst benefit the economic growth. With the increase in unemployment people will be more inclined to turn to a life of crime thereby decreasing the economic growth. Some of the well-known effects of unemployment on the economy are: Unemployment financial costs The government and the nation suffer. In many countries the government has to pay the unemployed some benefits. The greater the number of the unemployed or the longer they are without work the more money the government has to shell out. Therefore, the nation not only has to deal with the lost income and decreased production but also with additional cost. Spending power: The spending power of an unemployed person and his/her family decreases drastically and they would rather save than spend their money, which in turn affects the economy adversely. Reduced spending power of the employed Increased taxes and the insecurity about their own work may affect the spending power of the working people as well and they too may start to spend less than before thus affecting the economy and also the society in a negative manner.

Chocolate is Good for You! Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Chocolate is Good for You! Did you know that getting a daily dose of dark chocolate may be beneficial to your health? Not only is chocolate the perfect gift for your sweetie on Valentine’s Day, it also may benefit your heart. The ingredients in chocolate are not only delicious, but dark chocolate and cocoa powders also contain disease-fighting antioxidants. The key to gaining the most benefits from dark chocolate is to enjoy it in moderation. According to cnn.com (2000), in addition to antioxidants, one of the fats found in chocolate, called stearic acid, may increase healthy cholesterol (HDL), and make bad cholesterol levels (LDL) less susceptible for oxidation, which leads to clogged arteries. This is the opposite effect one might expect, considering the amount of fat in chocolate. Dark chocolate may also improve blood flow, according to webmd.com (2004). In a study of 27 healthy adults given a cocoa drink with high levels of flavonoids, it was shown that adults over the age of 50 benefited the most. Flavonoids provide protection for plants, and when we consume them, we benefit from their antioxidant power. Antioxidants help the body’s cells resist damage from free radicals (Cleveland Clinic, 2004). The reason for the benefits of cocoa is that it controls the activation of nitric oxide synthase, an enzyme, that keeps blood vessels open allowing the blood to flow. Flavonoids may also lessen stiffening of the blood vessels, which is a common side-effect of aging (WebMD, 2004). It is to be noted that white and milk chocolate do not have the same effect on the body as dark chocolate. These are unfortunately more likely to expand your waistline than improve health. â€Å"Chocoholics† are still at risk for obesity, whic... ...ust 27). Dark Chocolate is Healthy Chocolate. WebMD. Retrieved January 30, 2005 from http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/ 73/81921.htm?printing=true. Peck, Peggy. (2004, May 20). The Right Kind of Chocolate is Heart Healthy. WebMD. Retrieved January 31, 2005 from http://my.webmd.com/content/article/ 87/99509.htm. Rauch, Catherine Ann. (2000, February 2). Chocolate: A Heart-Healthy Confection? CNN. Retrieved on January 29, 2005 from http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/02/chocolate.wmd/. Somer, Elizabeth. (2001, July 16). Crazy for Chocolate. WebMD. Retrieved January 29, 2005 from http://my.webmd.com/content/article/41/1671_52404. The Heart Health Benefits of Chocolate Unveiled. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved January 30, 2005 from http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/guide/prevention/ nutrition/chocolate.htm.