10 Directional-Sign Disasters

10 Directional-Sign Disasters 10 Directional-Sign Disasters 10 Directional-Sign Disasters By Mark Nichol Here’s a photo gallery of directional signs that should give visitors pause. Enclosing one or more words in quotation marks when the marks are not used in the context of quoting another person is widely believed to represent emphasis, but among careful writers, this technique represents skepticism or distancing oneself from the term, as if to say, â€Å"I didn’t come up with this idea; I’m just reporting it.† Therefore, the use here of scare quotes around not creates cognitive dissonance. The photographic subject looks like an entrance to me. But’s it’s â€Å"not.† Is the author of this message conflicted about the truth of the statement? And is the â€Å"front† door not really a front door? (Solution: Just underline handwritten words for emphasis, and your existential crisis will dissipate.) By the same token, how does one open a door â€Å"slowly†? Does one merely pretend to exercise caution? Does one ignite a slapstick routine by feigning a measured widening of the aperture in the doorway and then suddenly flinging the door open? When the president of the company is the victim of such a prank, is only the perpetrator culpable, or is the sign maker fired, too? (Solution: For job security, use italics.) Metropolitan State University certainly has its protocols down to an exact science, designating a special room where VIPs can be mugged. It might have been better, however, to set aside separate rooms for staff orientation and the reception so that the muggers have enough space to work in and nobody else gets hurt. Yes, that door is very close. You are certainly correct about that. Thanks for pointing it out for me. Is there another close door that I can use? That’s something you don’t see every day. Does Hoover Dam charge admission to view the restrooms from the exhibits? Private room? You know, it’s no problem, really I think I’ll just wait until I get home. Ladie, when you’re done taking a picture of the sign, would you mind stepping aside so I can get to the me’ns room? The typographical error of upon for open is forgivable, but the second sentence is problematic not just in construction (suggested revision: â€Å"IT staff needs access until keys are obtained†) but in what’s between the lines: â€Å"Until we do get the keys, which, thanks to this company’s byzantine requisition procedure should happen sometime in the next decade, help yourself to any of the expensive, vital electronic equipment located herein.† As I said earlier, I can wait. No, really, I’m good. (I can smell the stairway from here.) Irate customer: â€Å"Open if your game enough†? It’s you’re! You’re!! You’re!!! Sales associate at the counter, talking into the telephone: â€Å"Security to the front desk, please hurry!† These images are from the websites Apostrophe Abuse, the â€Å"Blog† of â€Å"Unnecessary† Quotation Marks, and Wordsplosion. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowBetween vs. In BetweenNeither... or?

That Is vs. Which Is

That Is vs. Which Is That Is vs. Which Is That Is vs. Which Is By Mark Nichol This generation, like every one before it and every one to follow, has the dubious pleasure of seeing evolution of language in action. The changes are obvious to careful writers, as they notice with distressingly increasing frequency the erosion of a distinction between words with similar but divergent meanings (for example, anxious versus eager) or a relaxing of a grammatical rule. One example of the latter that is near or at its tipping point (in this case, the point at which a grammatical error becomes so ubiquitous as to widely be deemed acceptable) is the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive, or essential and nonessential, clauses. Throughout the modern era, at least in American English, careful writers have honored a distinction between the use of â€Å"that is† and â€Å"which is† and, universally, the insertion or omission of punctuation to begin or bracket a subordinate clause. For example, the sentences â€Å"The dog that has a bone is well trained† and â€Å"The dog, which has a bone, is well trained† have distinct meanings signaled not only by the difference of a word but also the use of parenthetical punctuation in the latter sentence. For the sake of promoting unambiguous communication, such statements as â€Å"The dog which has a bone is well trained† is avoided (though such usage is common in British English). The phrase â€Å"that has a bone† in â€Å"The dog that has a bone is well trained† provides essential information: More than one dog is visible to the speaker or writer and the observer or reader, and the person making the statement is providing an additional detail to direct the other person to one dog in particular. By contrast, â€Å"The dog, which has a bone, is well trained† likely refers to a scenario in which only one dog is present. The sentence does not specify whether one or more other dogs are in the vicinity, because such information is irrelevant. The phrase â€Å"which has a bone† is providing additional, nonessential information to the base sentence â€Å"The dog is well trained.† Unfortunately, writers often fail to observe the distinction, and even more unfortunately, many of these writers are paid to write; their content is published online and in printed publications that many other people read, and many of these other people see the erroneous content, accept it (it’s published, after all, so it must be correct- right?), and consciously or unconsciously imitate it. Eventually, the tipping point is reached, and (for better or worse) wrong becomes right. A case in point, with not one but two identical grammatical violations: One writer said of two much-anticipated films, â€Å"Before giving us his upcoming Blade Runner sequel that’s shrouded in mystery, director Denis Villeneuve has the sci-fi movie Arrival that is getting incredible  word of mouth.† By including the phrases â€Å"that’s shrouded in mystery† and â€Å"that is getting incredible word of mouth†- with that in place of which and without parenthetical punctuation- the writer creates the impression that the phrases are essential. Evidently, more than one Blade Runner sequel is imminent, and one of them, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is shrouded in mystery. (Presumably, the other is not- or the others are not.) In addition, of two or more movies titled Arrival, one is getting incredible word of mouth. (Presumably, the other is not- or the others are not.) What the writer should have written is â€Å"Before giving us his upcoming Blade Runner sequel, which is shrouded in mystery, director Denis Villeneuve has the sci-fi movie Arrival, which is getting incredible  word of mouth.† This sentence describes two unique films, one of which is shrouded in mystery and one of which is getting incredible word of mouth. The phrases that provide those additional details are bracketed by commas to signal that the details are not necessary for one to understand the basic fact that two films directed by the same man are being released in sequence. (The additional information is potentially intriguing but not essential.) I’ve noticed the lack of distinction between essential and nonessential clauses more and more often over the years, not because I’m more observant than before but because the erosion is more common than it used to be. I know that such evolution is inevitable, but as with any change, one can accept the inevitability yet still resist it. More than that, it is the responsibility of all careful writers to do so. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesDisappointed + PrepositionWhile vs. Whilst

Do you Believe in Feng Shui Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Do you Believe in Feng Shui - Essay Example This is thus harmful energy and brings bad luck and negative energy from the surroundings into a house facing a T-junction because a house that is facing such a junction is said to have all the negative energy coming in from the road directly into the house without any place for it to escape. If the house is very close to the road then the bad energy seeps in with immense force and is very aggressive. For the purpose of this paper, I interviewed my parents and they tend to believe in Feng Shui a great deal; they have placed objects in their home on the basis of the same because they believe it helps to secure a better present and bring in the maximum amount of positive energy. Superstitions of Feng Shui are believed by many people around the world and as per personal opinion, I do feel that it is true as I have seen my parents practicing it on a daily basis and it has helped to make the home a lighter and more positive place. Every object in the household emanates a certain form of e nergy; the area that one’s home is placed in has a surrounding environment filled with different forms of energy and in order to churn out the most amount of positivity, it is important to place the objects carefully. It may be regarded as a cultural superstition but is indeed very scientific because it talks about the positive and negative forces of the earth; Feng Shui helps in calming the home by directing all the positive vibes inside. Having superstitions is not detrimental in nature because they help people to be careful; Feng Shui is a very positive superstition and thus it is only beneficial to people that follow it as it helps to channel good vibes into one’s home and keep oneself in a better mood throughout the course of the day which is brought on by positive vibes. It is suggested that if people live in T-junction facing homes, then they should try and get some landscaping done around the house for the energy to dissolve into the surroundings and not focus completely on the home and the members present within. Another way by which the effect of the bad energy can be mitigated is to be living near a road with very less traffic. In order to improve the positive energy in the household, every possible open space in the house should be landscaped in order to minimize the sharpness of the energy; doors and windows should be covered with plants to give out more oxygen and reduce the level of pollutants from the road. Yet another cure is to place a Bagua mirror inside the house which is another superstition that will be discussed further. It is believed that Bagua mirrors protect a household and bring it good luck and positive energy according to Feng Shui, especially if the home is placed in a wrong area or faces an environment consisting of bad or negative energy. The mirrors should ideally be hung outside the house in order to repel or ward off any kind of bad luck or energy passing through the house. Buildings and homes that are placed n ear T-junctions should ideally include these mirrors in order to ward off the negative energy that approaches them. The origin of this particular superstition may be traced to the i-Ching or the Chinese Book of Changes said to have been created more than 200 years BCE.     

Obligations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Obligations - Essay Example The specific performance of the task by the offerree is the objective indicating that the offerree has agreed to the terms of offer and acceptance. Therefore, it flows that there are three aspects to it, firstly, there is a valid offer flowing from the offeror to the offerree, secondly, the offeree accepts the offer by promise or conduct and thirdly, the object of consideration is fulfilled by the offerree. Therefore it could be logically analysed that the offer is an expression of willingness to contract on certain terms and the intention of the offerree, upon specific performance, becomes binding as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom it is intended. (Offer). In the above case, Aishah fulfilled the terms of the offer made by her father, Hasan, by attending all her seminars and also by graduating with a first class degree. By conduct she has accepted and fulfilled all the terms of the agreement. Thus her father is bound to pay her  £1000 and also give her a car as promised to her through a valid offer. This could be enforced by Aishah on her father, Hasan. There are several rules which govern offer and acceptance. In the first place, the communication of acceptance has to be communicated to the offeror by the offeree, or by any other person. Again, in case of non-acceptance, the fact should also be communicated to the offeror. In the leading case, Felthouse v.Bindley (1862) 142 ER 1037, it was held that silence was not tantamount to acceptance. The details of this case were that an uncle wrote to his nephew expressing his intentions to buy one of his horses. He wrote if he did not hear from the nephew, he would consider the horse as his (uncle) own. The nephew did not reply. The uncle though he had established ownership over the horse by implicit acceptance. However, later, the horse was sold through auction. The uncle sued the auctioneers, on the grounds that

Mary Whiton Calkins Essay Example for Free

Mary Whiton Calkins Essay In the early days of psychology there were few female psychologists who had any type of impact on the field of psychology. There was sex discrimination and it was a common belief that women were inferior to men. Mary Whiton Calkins was able to beat the odds and have a long lasting legacy in psychology. She is considered one of the pioneers in psychology and is credited with a major theoretical contribution of self-psychology, which was centered on the idea that all consciousness is personal. Calkins overcame discrimination from both students and scholars and succeeded in inventing a procedure that was historic; paired associate learning, which has become the standard method in cognitive research (Goodwin, 2008). Mary Whiton Calkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1863. She was the oldest of five children; their parents encouraged their education, especially the study of languages and cultures (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins did graduate from high school in Newton Massachusetts and began Smith College in 1882 as a sophomore. Unfortunately, in 1883, her sisters illness and subsequent death caused her to decide to study Greek at home the following year. However Calkins returned to Smith College in 1884 as a senior, and graduated with a concentration in classics and philosophy in 1885. In 1887, after graduating from Smith College, she was hired to teach Greek at Wellesley College. She had been teaching for three years when she was offered she was offered a position teaching in the new area of psychology (Goodwin, 2008). In 1890 Wellesley finally offered Calkins the position, with the condition that she would study psychology for a year. There were very few psychology programs available at that time, and even fewer that would accept women applicants. This made it difficult for her to have the one year of study needed to teach the subject of psychology. During the following year Calkins also worked unofficially at the psychology laboratory at Clark University with Edmund Sanford. He also assisted Calkins in the creation of a psychology lab for Wellesley College, equipped with state of the art equipment. That psychology lab officially opened in 1891, the same year that Calkins began teaching psychology at Wellesley (Goodwin, 2008). After being invited to sit in on some of the lectures at Harvard, Calkins formally requested that she be allowed to sit in on these lectures. She decided to try to take classes at the Harvard Annex taught by Josiah Royce, a Harvard professor, because the Annex was not an official part of Harvard University. Royce, however, pushed her to try to attend regular Harvard classes because not all of his classes were available through the Annex. Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard, believed strongly that the two sexes should be educated separately. But it was not until the pressure applied to him from both James and Royce was combined with a petition from Calkins father and a letter from the president of Wellesley College that Eliot finally agreed in 1892. Calkins would be allowed to attend James and Royces seminars on psychology, but it was officially stated that she would not be a student of the University entitled to registration. (Furumoto, 1980). Calkins felt like she needed to do more graduate work. She continued teaching while simultaneously studying with J. Munsterberg until 1894 when she studied full-time for a year. At that time Munsterberg petitioned Harvard to admit Calkins as a Ph. D. candidate, but was refused. The Harvard psychology department held an informal examination of Calkins, which she passed in 1895. The same year, while at Harvard, Calkins presented her theses, where she completed a series of experimental studies on association. She developed a procedure known as paired-associate learning (Goodwin, 2008). Her subjects first studied stimulus-response pairs comprised of sequentially presented color patches and numbers, and then they tried to recall the umber responses when shown the color stimuli. Her results showed that recall was enhanced by each of the four factors: frequency, vividness, recency, and primacy. These four conditions could strengthen associations, and found that frequency was the most important. (Goodwin, 2008). Calkins then returned to Wellesley College where she continued to teach until her retirement in 1927. From about 1900, her publications became less research-oriented as she developed her major theoretical contribution to psychology, self-psychology. Calkins maintained that psychology could be the study of mental life, but that the central fact of psychology must be that all consciousness contains an element of the self (Goodwin, 2008). In 1900, Calkins published her first article on a system of psychology of the self, a topic which became her primary focus. Over the next thirty years, Calkins continued to present, develop, and defend her theory of self-psychology, gradually moving more towards philosophy and away from the psychological trend towards behaviorism. There is evidence that her primary interest was always philosophy rather than psychology. She was teaching psychology for almost a decade before another faculty member trained in psychology joined the philosophy department. (Furumoto, 1980). In 1905, Calkins became the first woman elected president of the American Psychological Association. As her interests shifted to philosophy, she became the first woman elected president of the other APA, the American Philosophical Association in 1918. All of her work in philosophy as well as psychology came to center around the importance of self. She used it as a way to reconcile competing theoretical schools of thought including structuralism and functionalism (Furumoto, 1980). She believed that self-psychology was a method of resolving disputes between structuralism, which analyzes consciousness in to its basic elements, and functionalism, which focuses on how consciousness serves to adapt the individual to the environment (Goodwin, 2008). Among her major contributions to psychology are the invention of the paired associate’s technique and her work in self based psychology. Calkins believed that the conscious self was the primary focus of psychology. Despite Mary Whiton Calkins contributions, Harvard maintains its refusal to grant the degree she earned and her influence on psychology is often overlooked by both scholars and students. She was passionate about her beliefs, even when Harvard was going to award her a PhD. from Radcliffe College; she refused to accept the degree because she did not agree with the â€Å"injustice of unequal treatment of the sexes based on the implicit assumption that there are inherent differences in their mentalities† (Furumoto, 1980). Mary Whiton Calkins was a pioneer in psychology. She was responsible for the creation of a method of memorization called the paired associate technique, founder of one of the early psychological laboratories in the United States, and creator of a system of self-psychology (Furumoto, 1980). Conclusion Mary Whiton Calkins was a prolific writer in both psychology and philosophy, publishing four books and over a hundred papers divided among the fields. In addition to being the first woman president of the American Psychological Association, Calkins also served as president of the American Philosophical Association in 1918. The topics Mary Whiton Calkins studied in psychology covered a wide range including dream research, animal consciousness, and memorization. In 1892 she presented a report on a dream study that she had worked on with Sanford at the first meeting of the APA. Thirteen years later she was elected president of that same organization. In 1895 she returned to Wellesley as an associate professor, and in 1898 she became a full professor, a position she held until she retired in 1927 (Furumoto, 1980). On February 26, 1930, Calkins died of inoperable cancer, one year after retiring from Wellesley as a Research Professor and turning over that department to Eleanor Gamble. Her teaching career spanned forty two years. She died with two honorary degrees, a doctor of letters from Columbia University and a doctor of laws from Smith College. However, she never received the degree that she worked for at Harvard. In 1927 a group of Harvard alumni petitioned the president of Harvard requesting that the university grant Calkins her Ph. D. , but they were denied (Furumoto, 1980).

Morals of The Milagro Beanfield War :: Milagro Beanfield War Essays

Morals of The Milagro Beanfield War The Milagro Beanfield War, written by John Nichols, demonstrates several themes on life. They range from the interactions of the rich and the poor to the hot arid farming climate in New Mexico. All of which have significant importances in this famous novel. Perhaps the most important theme that is represented in this novel is the idea that people should do what is wright no matter the consequences. People are constantly faced with the choice of right and wrong. What they choose not only effects themselves, but everyone else involved. That is why being true to yourself is being true to everyone. "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Yet if I am for myself only, what am I?"(p. 1). This theme carries the plot throughout the book. Milagro is a small agricultural town located in the hot arid state of New Mexico. Joe Mondragon, a man of his mid 30's, provided for his wife and two kids. He was a farmer, but a farmer with no fields. During the 1935 Interstate Water Compact, much of the water was transferred to big-time farmer's fields, like Ladd Devine. This would not have been a problem except for the fact that Joe's field was located on the west side of Milagro and all of the water flowed to the southeast side. All of the people of Milagro were unhappy about this change, but no one would say or do anything that would oppose the Devines. One day, Joe had had enough and tapped into the water supply. He knew that watering his father's field would cause problems, but he didn't care. Day after day Joe worked in his fields, preparing them for harvest. People from all the town gathered each day to watch Joe work. While Joe worked on his fields, the Devines worked on a plan to get rid of him. They did not like the idea that Joe Mondragon, a simple farmer, had not conformed to their ways. The Devines involved several various people in order to get rid of Joe, but all of these people could not stop Joe from obeying his morals. Bernabe Montoya, the Milagro town sheriff, and Sheriff Kyril Montana, a government officer, were assigned the duty of arresting Joe. They worked hard and diligently to arrest him, but time after time, they failed.

Pride and Prejudice Essay

The concept of love is developed and endured throughout an healthy relationship in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. She successfully incorporates different examples of marriage in nineteenth century and distinguishes the perfect marriage from the hopeless marriage. The definition of authentic love is caring for someone unconditionally. It means putting someone before yourself and not asking for anything in return. There are a variety of different examples of marriage in the novel, but Elizabeth, Jane, and Lydia’s marriages are the best examples of a perfect marriage, easily-influenced marriage ,and a hopeless marriage. It is emphasized that Elizabeth and Darcy will have the happiest marriage within the novel because of their commited relationship with each other. The perfect marriage between a man and a woman in the nineteenth century would probably be centered around Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage. Elizabeth’s character was always honest to herself and especially to others. Her defiant attitude made her stand out from the rest of the women according to Darcy. Although Elizabeth did not love Darcy at first, her loved developed through the ups and downs of their relationship. Once Darcy figured out that he could not win the heart of Elizabeth by lying and being prideful, he started to change for the better good of their relationship. Elizabeth fell head over heels for Darcy and accepted his proposal, â€Å"The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do† (Austen 200). Once she realized that he had a change of heart and his affectionate love for her was unconditional, Elizabeth knew that her marriage with Darcy would be one to last for a life time in complete and utter happiness. Love at first sight is not authentic in some cases. It takes time to love one another to recognize each others flaws and weaknesses. The ability to overcome our flaws and problems with our significant other helps us to develop authentic love with our partner. Jane and Bingley’s relationship was not produced over time, yet they knew that they were soul mates after two dances at the ball. The reason why Bingley came into town was to find a wife; â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife† (Austen 1). Their marriage and relationship will probably be amusing and entertaining in the beginning, but their marriage will sooner or later fall apart. Since they barely knew each others faults and weaknesses before they entered into marriage, their relationship might crumble because of the lack of stability each other has in their relationship. Jane and Bingley’s character are both described as innocent people in society. For example, Elizabeth describes Jane’s character as, â€Å"Affectation of candour is common enough— one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design— to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad— belongs to you alone† (Austen 29). Rather than making their own decisions, they usually obey the commands of others and depend on other people’s judgments. The main reason why many people elope rather than marry into a relationship is due to the fact that they want to make their relationship official as soon as possible. A rushed marriage will only cause more problems because it is partially due to get it over with, or to hide their relationship from the people that they love. Lydia and Wickham’s marriage was an elopement rather than a real marriage. Both characters acted upon their foolishness instead of their heart and mind. Lydia’s character was described as, â€Å"Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. A flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! (Austen 156). Infatuation also played a huge part within Lydia’s relationship towards Wickham. He knew that he could easily sweep Lydia off her feet because she was the youngest and most immature one in the Bennet family. Wickham was self-indulgent in his plan to fancy Lydia. All Wickham ever wanted was money and pleasure, he did no care for Lydia as much due to his self-contempt. Since Wickham was in finnancial trouble with creditors, he made the foolish mistake of eloping with Lydia to get out of town. His decision proved that he did not care about Lydia’s reputation, but only himself’s. Although love may develop in a variety of ways, there should still be the distinction between infatuation and authentic love. Infatuation does not last as long as authentic love does, rather it sets a person up for heart breaks and instability. The elopement of Lydia and Wickham are the perfect example of infatuation because Lydia only loved Wickham for his devious ways of fancing her and Wickham only loved Lydia for her money and her being as an excuse to get out of town. Jane and Bingley’s marriage defined love, but not authentic love. They knew each other’s strengths and priorities, but they did not know each other’s flaws and weaknesses. Both Jane and Lydia’s marriage are the ones to be slightly less felicitous compared to Elizabeth’s marriage because they did not with hold the unconditional love that Darcy and Elizabeth had for each other. In order to have a healthy long-living marriage, both persons within the relationship need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and are willing to help one overcome their flaws. The love they should have for each other should be based upon the love that Darcy has for Elizabeth. He put Elizabeth before himself and his problems in order to prove his devotion towards her. Austen made Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship the ideal marriage in order to show society how a man and woman should love each other.

Leadership and Organizational Theory

â€Å"Human relations† is a broad terminology that refers to the interactions between people in all kinds of situations in which they seek, through mutual action, to achieve some purpose. Thus, it can be applied to two people seeking to develop a happy and productive life together. More so, human relations establish interactions within a social club, a business firm, a school, or to an entire government or even a whole society. According to Owens (2004), the social structure that regulates the human interactions that are the subject of human relations may be formal, clear, and readily apparent (for example, a government, a firm), or it may be informal, even diffuse, and therefore difficult to accurately describe (for example, the power structure of a group of prison inmates, the social system of a school faculty, or a neighborhood).As the world continues to change, work conditions, technology, and the people with whom individuals work have a dynamism about them that is unprece dented in our history. People are more likely today to work with more diversified peers than at any other time. Furthermore, their interactions at work are changing as well. This means that human relations will no longer entail employees in a bureaucratic organization. Instead, they are more likely to be part of a work team, and they are expected to work together to be successful in accomplishing tasks (DeCenzo & Silhanek, 2002).Beginning in the mid-1950s, increasing attention was devoted to efforts to better understand the relationships among (1) these characteristics of organizational structure, (2) the personality (and consequent â€Å"needs†) of individuals in the organization, and (3) behavior on the job (Owens, 2004). The struggle to develop understanding of human resources approaches to organizational behavior has led to the development of a number of theoretical views that can be helpful in clarifying issues confronting the leader.The organizational theory is as much about describing and reflecting what is going on in organizations as it is about finding ways to improve organizational behavior. It is as much descriptive as it is prescriptive. However, there is not one correct organizational structure that will apply to a particular situation. The workers or subordinates within the organization promote the impact on how the organization will be managed by its leader. Workers' ethics, skills, and maturity will affect their response to management initiatives.Since time immemorial, concepts of leadership, ideas about leadership, and leadership practices are the subject of much debate, writing, teaching, and learning. Many scholars sought the formula that could mold true leaders. According to James Kouzes (2003), leadership is not an easy subject to explain. The goal of thinking hard about leadership is not to produce great, or charismatic, or well-known leaders. The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, not even the tone of his or he r voice. Outstanding leaders shine appear primarily because of their followers. Thus, in defining leadership, there are a lot who offered their acquired concept of what a leader should be or do. Brown (1954) defined leadership as:A collective function in the sense that it is the integrated synergized expression of a group's efforts; it is not the sum of individual dominance and contributions, it is their interrelationships. Ultimate authority and true sanction for leadership, where it is exercised, resides not in the individual, however dominant, but in the total situation and in the demands of the situation. It is the situation that creates the imperative, whereas the leader is able to make others aware of it, is able to make them willing to serve it, and is able to release collective capacities and emotional attitudes that may be related fruitfully to the solution of the group's problems; to that extent one is exercising leadership.On the other hand, Tom Peters and Nancy Austin, a uthors of the best-seller, A Passion for Excellence (1985) describe leadership in broader terms:Leadership means vision, cheerleading, enthusiasm, love, trust, verve, passion, obsession, consistency, the use of symbols, paying attention as illustrated by the content of one’s calendar, out-and-out drama (and the management thereof), creating heroes at all levels, coaching, effectively wandering around, and numerous other things. Leadership must be present at all levels of the organization. It depends on a million little things done with obsession, consistency, and care, but all of those million little things add up to nothing if the trust, vision, and basic belief are not there.With those definitions, we could delineate leadership as harnessing capabilities of your subordinates for them to reach their full potentials. Therefore, leaders should see to it that: are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning and serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do the y change with grace? Do they know how to manage in times of conflict?With these questions, it is significant to point out the diverse natures of leadership. The social nature of leadership entails the interpersonal skills necessary to be effective in a variety of situations. The ethical nature of leadership involves the inherent power of a leadership position that, when exercised, should benefit the common good. Leadership is the means by which things get done in organizations. A manager can establish goals, strategize, relate to others, communicate, collect information, make decisions, plan, organize, monitor, and control; but without leadership, nothing happens. Thus, leadership clearly entails more than wielding power and exercising authority and is exhibited on different levels. At the individual level, for example, leadership involves mentoring, coaching, inspiring, and motivating (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004).Corporate organizations in the 1980’s have been adopting and ins talling programs of organizational restructuring and re-engineering. Most of the programs are based on the principles and practices of a widely popular management strategy often called Total Quality Management, participative management or â€Å"the learning organization,† or some other vernacular title for a program of organizational structural and cultural change (Casey, 1999). These changes were then had been aptly devised in different corporate organizational and national settings that deals with organizational behavior. Theories of sharing the common fundamental aims of the reorganization and production of new sets of attitudes, beliefs, and behavior, most organizational change programs commonly aspires to develop on their corporate employees to enable increased productivity and profitability for the organization’s benefit as a whole:Pivotal among the new organizational cultural practices and values are the metaphors of â€Å"team† and â€Å"family.† Many companies, from manufacturing operations and supermarket chains, to hospitals and airline companies, promote themselves in the marketplace and to employees as caring, familial communities, inviting both employees and customers to â€Å"Come, join our family† through their involvement with the company. At first glance, such an invitation may seem a timely and welcome recognition of relational and affective dimensions of human life that â€Å"ought† to be promoted in workplaces historically ridden with industrial conflicts and divisions. Furthermore, team evokes references to cooperation and sharing of skill and labor toward the attainment of shared goals. Both family and team, are, in normative conditions, positive and generative social practices. Therefore, their deliberate installation as part of the new organizational culture fundamentally assumes their reasonable incontestability and universal attractiveness. (Casey, 1999).By leading into a culture of systemati c inquiry and skillful listening, leaders can strengthen the foundation of their organizations. Accomplishing this requires the shifting of culture wherein leaders should scrutinize how dysfunction shows up within them, their group, and their organizational culture and then seek a systems approach in dealing with these problems within the organization. Good leaders know when and to whom a particular task should be delegated (i.e., knowledge), they effectively communicate their expectations concerning a delegated task (i.e., behavior), and they check to see whether the task was accomplished in a satisfactory manner (i.e., criteria). Thus, a skill is knowing when to act, acting in an manner appropriate to the situation, and acting in such a way that it helps the leader accomplish team goals (Hughes, Ginneth & Curphy, 2001). In addition, good leaders also know when to institutionalize organizational change when they think that they need it to improve their company’s productivity .In this time and age, upcoming leaders face tougher challenges as the whole world braces from the rapid spread of information and technology. Apart from that, the expansion of the traditional businesses into venturing in e-commerce and globalization had kept leaders busy thinking of up-to-date business strategies, new competitors, new cultures, complex markets, political uncertainty, and huge logistical problems.As a process, leadership in all its stages requires application of organizational theory and human relations to determine the best possible leadership action. The knowledge and skill level of the duly-appointed leader directly and indirectly influence the short-and long-run goals of any organization. Interpersonal relationships significantly influence the possible alternatives that might be generated to solve a problem or to make a decision. The creative leader who possesses innate intelligence, resourcefulness, dominance, and self-sufficiency will be able to facilitate wha t the proper course of action should be.Organizations in the 21st century are realizing that if they are not quick to adapt to market and competitive changes and become responsive to their key customers, they will have more tendencies to fail. Indeed, the ultimate impact of the practice of leadership in the era of globalization is that leaders should somehow come at pace with the swiftly changing times. Being a global leader is not just a pursuit for self-improvement, but harnessing the energy of other people.   In the end, it is the global leaders who determine the roadmap, a mixture of traditional and modern concepts, which will guide both themselves and their organizations to new heights of international competitiveness.ReferencesBrown, J.A.C. (1954). The social psychology of industry. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, pp. 129–130.Casey, C. (1999) Come, join our family: discipline and integration in corporate organizational culture, Human Relations, 5 (2), 155–178.DeC enzo, David A. & Silhanek, Beth. (2002). Human relations: Personal and professional development (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.Hughes, Richard L., Ginnett, Robert C., and Curphy, Gordon J. (2001). Leadership: enhancing the lessons Of experience. New York: The McGraw−Hill Companies.Kouzes, James. Everyone's business — leadership for today and tomorrow. The Leadership Challenge, 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003.Kreitner, Robert and   Kinicki, Angelo.(2004). Organizational behavior. New York: The McGraw−Hill Companies.Owens, Robert G. (2004). Organizational behavior in education: Adaptive leadership and school reform (8th ed.). NJ: Prentice-Hall – Pearson Education Company.Peters, Tom and Austin, Nancy K. (1985). A passion for excellence: the leadership difference. New York: Random House, Inc.

Free Essays on Movie Review I Am Sam

â€Å"I am Sam† is the story of mentally challenged Sam Dawson who is suddenly faced with raising his newborn daughter on his own after the mother leaves the two of them right outside of the hospital. Sam names the baby girl Lucy Diamond, after the Beatles’ song â€Å"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds†. With the help of Annie, a wise and also watchful neighbor, and Sam’s circle of mentally challenged friends, his informal support network, Sam manages to raise Lucy. Everything goes well until Lucy reaches age 7 which is the level of Sam’s mental capacity. A series of unfortunate events makes a social worker become aware of the situation. She decides that Sam is an unfit father and that he cannot take care of Lucy any longer. The legal argument is that he won’t be an appropriate parent once Lucy is mentally older than him. Sam and his friends realize they need help to ensure Sam’s custody of Lucy and to fight the system. Rita Harrison takes the case free of charge but for completely selfish reasons. The moment she steps into the picture it becomes clear that the purpose of this movie is not only to show how a parent with a disability is caught in the legal and social service systems. There is more to it. The movie raises some serious questions that should be of concern for everyone in our society. What defines a ‘good’ parent? Is it the amount of intellectual maturity displayed or the level of love given? Does being a competent parent have anything to do with money? And isn’t raising a child a challenge for everyone? Director Jessie Nelson wants to make the audience think. She indicates that everyone is damaged in one way or another. Sam may be severely disabled but he is not the only one with a problem. There is his neighbor Annie for example, who hasn’t left her house in years. Or his self-absorbed lawyer Rita who is not even able to spend time with her son. Rita works way too hard to support her shallow, cold and mate... Free Essays on Movie Review 'I Am Sam' Free Essays on Movie Review 'I Am Sam' â€Å"I am Sam† is the story of mentally challenged Sam Dawson who is suddenly faced with raising his newborn daughter on his own after the mother leaves the two of them right outside of the hospital. Sam names the baby girl Lucy Diamond, after the Beatles’ song â€Å"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds†. With the help of Annie, a wise and also watchful neighbor, and Sam’s circle of mentally challenged friends, his informal support network, Sam manages to raise Lucy. Everything goes well until Lucy reaches age 7 which is the level of Sam’s mental capacity. A series of unfortunate events makes a social worker become aware of the situation. She decides that Sam is an unfit father and that he cannot take care of Lucy any longer. The legal argument is that he won’t be an appropriate parent once Lucy is mentally older than him. Sam and his friends realize they need help to ensure Sam’s custody of Lucy and to fight the system. Rita Harrison takes the case free of charge but for completely selfish reasons. The moment she steps into the picture it becomes clear that the purpose of this movie is not only to show how a parent with a disability is caught in the legal and social service systems. There is more to it. The movie raises some serious questions that should be of concern for everyone in our society. What defines a ‘good’ parent? Is it the amount of intellectual maturity displayed or the level of love given? Does being a competent parent have anything to do with money? And isn’t raising a child a challenge for everyone? Director Jessie Nelson wants to make the audience think. She indicates that everyone is damaged in one way or another. Sam may be severely disabled but he is not the only one with a problem. There is his neighbor Annie for example, who hasn’t left her house in years. Or his self-absorbed lawyer Rita who is not even able to spend time with her son. Rita works way too hard to support her shallow, cold and mate...

What Javascript Cannot Do

What Javascript Cannot Do While there are a great many things that JavaScript can be used to enhance your web pages and improve your visitors experience with your site, there are also a few things that JavaScript cant do. Some of these limitations are due to the fact that the script is running in the browser window and therefore cannot access the server while others are as a result of security that is in place to stop web pages from being able to tamper with your computer. There is no way to work around these limitations and anyone who claims to be able to perform any of the following tasks using JavaScript has not considered all of the aspects of whatever it is that they are trying to do. It Cannot Write to Files on the Server Without the Help of a Server-Side Script Using Ajax, JavaScript can send a request to the server. This request can read a file in XML or plain text format but it cannot write to a file unless the file called on the server actually runs as a script to do the file write for you. JavaScript cannot access databases unless you use Ajax and have a server-side script to perform the database accesses for you. It Cannot Read From or Write to Files in the Client Even though JavaScript is running on the client computer (the one where the web page is being viewed) it is not allowed to access anything outside of the web page itself. This is done for reasons of security since otherwise a web page would be able to update your computer to install who knows what. The only exception to this are files called cookies which are small text files that JavaScript can write to and read from. The browser restricts access to cookies so that a given web page can only access cookies created by the same site. JavaScript cannot close a window if it didnt open it. Again this is for security reasons. It Cannot Access Web Pages Hosted on Another Domain Even though web pages from different domains can be displayed at the same time, either in separate browser windows or in separate frames within the same browser window, the JavaScript running on a web page belonging to one domain cannot access any information about a web page from a different domain. This helps to ensure that private information about you that may be known to the owners of one domain is not shared with other domains whose web pages you may have open concurrently. The only way to access files from another domain is to do an Ajax call to your server and have a server side script access the other domain. It Cannot Protect Your Page Source or Images Any images on your web page are downloaded separately to the computer displaying the web page so the person viewing the page already has a copy of all of the images by the time they view the page. The same is true of the actual HTML source of the web page. The web page needs to be able to decrypt any web page that is encrypted in order to be able to display it. While an encrypted web page may require JavaScript to be enabled in order for the page to be able to be decrypted in order for it to be able to be displayed by the web browser, once the page has been decrypted anyone who knows how can easily save the decrypted copy of the page source.

Water Safety and Its Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Water Safety and Its Guidelines - Essay Example According to the recent statistical information of the United States of America, it has come under observation that there are several reasons and grounds for the accidental and unintentional deaths in the U.S. and amongst them drowning or submerging in water is one of the crucial, major, and substantial causes. The contemporary data also presents the evidence that the proportion of human life loss and injury due to drowning comes in the ranking chart as a principal and leading cause. This trend has come under surveillance particularly amongst the young children of less than fifteen years in age (Barraclough, 2007). Therefore, it becomes an important factor and aspect to educate the visitors and the general populace about water safety. One of the most effective ways of spreading and promoting the theme and moral of water safety is the commencement of projects and programs on the community level. The community-based programs come under functioning and demonstration in parks, health fai rs, classrooms, and many other places (Pancella, 2005). These projects and community programs are even in alliance and joint ventures with companies on a district or provincial level. Such programs play a vital and imperative role in creating awareness, familiarity, learning, and education on water safety for the entire community. It not only benefits the denizens of the community, rather, it also facilitates the local businesses, as well as they, do get the opportunity to market them and create their brand name (Barraclough, 2007). As the programs and projects are held in association and affiliation with the local coast guard companies, it helps in better understanding the local culture, customs, way of living and their perceptions about the residents of that place, and alleviates and eradicates the cultural barriers (Pancella, 2005). The projects and programs involve activities and online games for the children and the people that include ‘life jacket loaner program’, ‘floatation citations’, ‘demonstration of water safety practices’, ‘safe boating’, ‘water safety adventures’ and many more (Pancella, 2005). Other means of fun, entertainment and educational activities that emphasize and highlight the significance of water safety incorporate contests and endow with rewards or gifts, posters, coloring books, t-shirts, coupons and discounts, and many others (Barraclough, 2007). Programs and projects commenced at health fairs prove and authenticate to be an influential, dominant, and persuading factor in the learning of water safety tips and guidelines. As people are always concerned about their health, therefore the ratio of people visiting the health fairs tends to be relatively high. In addition, the health-fairs underline and focus on entertainment activities and promote the learning process with real-life examples, rather than just providing the written piece of information in the form of long h andouts; therefore, they attract and motivate the young people to be a part of it (Pancella, 2005).