African Americans and Politics Essay Example for Free

African Americans and Politics Essay For decades African Americans have faced struggles throughout history. Most notably, African Americans were involved in slavery, suffrage, and the civil rights movement. These struggles were very visible and everyone was aware of what was going on. However, now African Americans are involved in a struggle that it not visible and recognizable. This is a struggle that is used to capitalize on wealth and prevent African American families and individuals from living normal lives. They are involved in environmental racism. Environmental racism â€Å"refers to intentional or unintentional racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, the intentional or unintentional targeting of minority communities for the siting of polluting industries, or the exclusion of minority groups from public and private boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies. †[1] This form of racism has been plaguing African American communities for years and most people have not taken notice. There are many form of environmental racism; however, this paper will specifically address redlining, blockbusting, racial profiling, and housing segregation and how each has impacted the African American community. Redlining is the act of refusing or increasing the cost of services such as loans, insurance, banking, and access to healthcare to citizens based upon race. The practice involves taking a map and drawing a red line through neighborhoods where banks would not invest money. Redlining was used to segregate African Americans in the housing, workforce, and school market. Parents had to find work in other areas of the city because there were not any resources available in the community. Because of redlining, schools became over crowded with 50 students crammed into one classroom. With the schools overcrowded, teachers were not able to provide special attention to the needy students and other students became uncontrollable. Cathy Cohen would argue that African Americans were being marginalized in the school system. To be considered marginalized means, to have continuously been denied access to dominant resources, barred from full participation in dominant institutions, and defined as â€Å"others, â€Å" living outside the norm and values agreed upon by society (Cohen 1999). African American students were all forced to go to one school in the community to keep them out of the White schools. Along with marginalization, Blacks were, and still are, a part of a power struggle. Blacks were seen, and will always be seen, as an inferior race. Also, Blacks have been disempowered knowingly and unknowingly. African-Americans have been taken advantage of and used to make other races feel superior. Blockbusting was a practice used by real estate agents and developers in the United States to encourage white property owners to sell their homes by giving the impression that minority groups (such as African Americans) were moving into their previously racially segregated neighborhood. [2] When African Americans began to move into the inner city, fear arose that they were an economic threat. Blockbusting was also the cause of many White Americans moving into the suburbs. The practice of blockbusting involved an African American purchasing a home for very cheap in a predominately White neighborhood. The real estate broker would contact the White residents and offer to buy their houses for quick cash and resell the house to an African American family for much higher. Real estate agents claimed that African Americans moving into a predominately White neighborhood would cause property values to go down and urged White homeowners to sell as soon as possible. Real estate agents indicated that the property values would go down because African Americans would not keep up their property, avoid lawn care, and if would affect the entire neighborhood. This practice has caused major shifts in urban neighborhoods, especially Chicago, in recent decades. The Blockbusting methods were profitable and became common across the nation. For example, by 1962, when blockbusting had been in practice for fifteen years, Chicago had over 100 operators and the city had been changing an average of two to three blocks a week for several years. Blockbusting is the reason why cities such as Chicago are now predominately African American and the surrounding suburbs are predominately White. Blockbusting caused African Americans to be marginalized as well. They were denied fair participation in the housing market. Real estate agents inflated housing prices for African Americans to gain commission. White homeowners already had prejudices about African Americans and the real estate agents only made the situation worse. The stereotypes that Black families do not take care of their property was the main reason White homeowners sold their homes. Racial profiling is â€Å"the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a predictable manner. †[3] The practice of racial profiling is a huge problem in the United States. African Americans are usually the targeted victims in the act of racial profiling. It is believed that an African American driver will be more likely stopped than a White driver. Some police officers share the belief that Black drivers will most likely possess an illegal substance of committing an illegal act. However, policemen argue that they do not base their arrests on race but are greatening their probability of a successful search. Some policemen also argue that the probability of catching a Black offender is greater than catching a White offender. Whether the statement is true or not, it places a bias on African Americans and White Americans. The belief that African Americans men are more likely to commit crimes is unfair and not true. One cannot base the behavior of all African American men on the ones that have done wrong and been imprisoned. Another belief of racial profiling is it is the cause of the racial disparities in the American prison system. There are many more African American men in the jail system than there are White men. The previous statement is mostly likely to be true. Because some policemen hold biases and have prejudices against African Americans, it will cause more African Americans to be placed in the jail system. Another instance of racial profiling involved African Americans owning nice material possessions such as a car or a house and African Americans being in a predominately White neighborhood. For example, in an episode of Family Matters, Eddie was in his car travelling through a predominately White neighborhood and was pulled over by the police for â€Å"failure to signal. † However, the routine traffic stop turned into nothing more than a beating for young Eddie. The significance of the episode shows that racial profiling does exist in the United States and it takes place every day. The practice has impacted African Americans because hundreds of innocent people have been harassed and humiliated by police officers simply because of their race. The most recent national example of environmental racism occurred when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. When New Orleans was flooded with tons of water, there were no relief efforts for days and almost a week. Many believed this was due to the fact that majority of the New Orleans population was African American. The population was basically ignored for days until the help decided to come. Citizens of New Orleans were faced with intentional racism and were denied help for several days. This has impacted African Americans because many people died because of the heat, starvation, and disease from the water. African-Americans have been marginalized for centuries. To be considered marginalized means, to have continuously been denied access to dominant resources, barred from full participation in dominant institutions, and defined as â€Å"others, â€Å" living outside the norm and values agreed upon by society (Cohen 1999). Most recently, African-Americans were marginalized in regards to the outbreak of HIV/AIDS. While HIV/AIDS was once considered to be the disease of white gay men, Blacks are now the center of the epidemic. With the turn of the new millennium, the outbreak of AIDS in the Black community has soared. Black men who consider themselves to be â€Å"down low† are the center of the rising epidemic. The men have intercourse with other men while continuing to have intercourse with their female partners thus spreading the AIDS virus. Even though the soaring rate is shocking, there has been limited response from the African-American community. One can argue that Blacks have been marginalized from the resources to treat the epidemic. However, the Black community seems to be ignoring the spreading AIDS virus and focusing more on electing a Black president and high blood pressure. While both electing a Black president and lowering high blood pressure are important issues, similar emphasis should be put on the rising AIDS epidemic. In a sense, African-Americans have marginalized themselves from dealing with AIDS. Continuing to turn a cold shoulder to the issue will not fix the problem. Although Blacks are being marginalized when it comes to AIDS, they are also marginalized when it comes to property and social relationships. For example, when it comes to receiving bank loans, African-Americans is marginalized heavily. Some bank loan officers practice redlining which causes Black residents, whether qualified or not, to be denied loans for property. By using the redlining technique, bank loan officers are marginalizing Blacks from being able to own their own property. Relating back to the AIDS epidemic, Black men were marginalized for having the virus. For instance, if a Black man was open about his homosexuality would be marginalized heavily. Homophobia could be a valid reason for the marginalization of Black men. With open homosexuality, an African-American could be left out from participating in activities and denied being recognized as a normal individual. Homophobia could damage an individual’s social life and leave him feeling disempowered. [4] Along with marginalization, Blacks were, and still are, a part of a power struggle. Blacks were seen, and will always be seen, as lower than Whites. Also, Blacks have been disempowered knowingly and unknowingly, which is the center of environmental racism. African-Americans have been taken advantage of and used to gain wealth and keep at the bottom of the ladder. In short, there are many types of power struggles. One does not have to see power to know that it is taking place. [5] For instance, being called an inferior race is a power struggle within itself. African-Americans that believe that they are actually inferior will begin to act that way. They will begin to doubt themselves and their abilities in life. Once they have it in their mindset that they are inferior, it will cause them to act that way. Housing Segregation is â€Å"the practice of denying African American or other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. †[6] The act of housing discrimination involves real estate agents and landlords not providing African American families with an accurate account of available housing. Housing segregation happens when landlords and real estate agents lure White Americans to available housing only in white communities, and African Americans to Black or diverse and mixed communities. The realtor and landlord usually work together in the process and will agree not to tell the African Americans about the available units in the European American communities. This process goes back to the assumption that African Americans residents will bring down the property value of homes in the neighborhood because they will not take care of their own property. Housing segregation is intentional racism that excludes African Americans from participating fairly in the housing market. Black families should be able to live wherever they please without regardless of the demographics of the neighborhood. With all that African Americans have been through, environmental racism should not be ignored or taken lightly. People should take heed to the practice and fight for what is right. All of the above forms of environmental racism have plagued the African American community. It has caused a major shift in the urban cities such as Chicago. Real estate agents have inflated the costs of housing for Black families moving into predominantly White areas. African American families can fight the issues by becoming more aware of their surroundings and becoming familiar with the practices. They can hire good lawyers to defend them and fight for justice. With regards to the AIDS epidemic, African Americans have been marginalized when it comes to resources and thus leads to environmental racism. African American of the new generation, as a whole, should stand together and fight the justice that was promised to them in the United States Constitution. [1] Dictionary. com [2] Dictionary. com [3] Dictionary. com [4] Cathy J. Cohen, The Boundaries of Blackness (The University of Chicago Press) 47-48. [5] John Gaventa, Power and Powerlessness (The University of Illinois Press) 1-32. [6] Dictionary. com.

The Significance of the Role of Malcolm X on African American Activists Essay Example for Free

The Significance of the Role of Malcolm X on African American Activists Essay A. Plan of the Investigation To what extent was the role of Malcolm X significant in the rise of radical African American activism (1965-1968)? This investigation will assess the significance of Malcolm X’s significance in giving rise to African American activism. Malcolm X’s motives, involvement in the civil rights movement and his leadership will all be discussed in order to understand the extent of his significance. To add further understanding and provide justification a summarization of evidence will be included. Also, an evaluation of sources will allow for details which provide justification in saying that Malcolm X’s role was significant; both sources being evaluated in their origin, purpose, value and limitations. B. Summary of Evidence Malcolm X, initially born under the last name Malcolm Little in 1925. Later on life he adopted X, which became a symbol to represent his lost past, particularly the rejection of his â€Å"slave† name. Malcolm X was an activist and an outspoken public voice for the Black Muslim Faith who challenged the civil Rights movement and the non-violent pursuit of integration that was led by Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X was an activist who believed that non-violent acts would achieve nothing in receiving racial equality, he believed that people had to take action. He once said â€Å"it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of racial attacks.† Malcolm X was so significant to the rise of radical African American activism because he is one of the two most important and influential black leaders during the late 20th century. Malcolm X rearticulated and gave African Americans clarity as to who they are, what their problems were and how to s olve them. He did this by speaking about the black radical tradition which consisted of ideology, class and culture. And he made many African Americans energized to take action. Also, Malcolm X was an advocator of black pride which led more people to follow him and his ideas. Malcolm was such a powerful leader and activist that he gave way to some black art activists, which is interesting because art was not his main focus. Malcolm wanted blacks to learn about their roots and gain and understanding of their heritage, therefore he made it a central part of the Organization of Afro-American Unity which in turn furthered radical black art activists. Malcolm X gained this desire when he partook on a journey through North Africa and the Middle East. Malcolm’s desire for wanting blacks to understand their heritage also promoted the rise of cultural nationalism within the Black Panther Party. C. Evaluation of Sources Malcolm X and the Black Arts Movement by James Smethurst was published by Cambridge University Press in the year of 2010. The purpose of this source is to demonstrate how Malcolm X was deemed such a commanding figure and brought rise to Black activists, even in the arts, a subject that Malcolm X rarely spoke about. The value of this source lies within the author’s description of how Malcolm X was a leader and how he inspired many people to rise and take a stand, especially in the arts. For example: X did not touch on the subject of arts as often as his did race in his speeches. However, some Black art activist came to see him as a commanding figure. This source is limited due to its lack of detail. This source mainly gives brief description on how Malcolm X laid the foundation for different types of Black activists but does not go in depth about what he did to influence these activists. Malcolm X: A powerful black leader who fought for human rights by Sharrod Patterson was published by the student newspaper of Winston-Salem University in the year of 2007. The purpose of this source is to identify Malcolm X’s rise to becoming a world renowned activist. The value of this source lies in the discussion of where Malcolm X started to where he ended. He started as a young boy who began to head down the wrong path, getting into drugs and involved with the wrong people but overcame that and ended up being a prominent civil rights activist. However, this source is limited due to the lack of discussion about his impact on many people and how he laid the foundation for many activist groups and organizations. D. Analysis When making the final evaluation of Malcolm X’s role of significance in bringing rise to African American activism, tow aspects of his role must be evaluated. One includes his motivation and the other is what he wanted to accomplish. Malcolm X’s motivation was his oppressed youth. When Malcolm was younger he and his family were harassed by the Ku Klux Klan which caused them to move to another part of Michigan. Sadly enough, after they moved, the racism became worse. A racist mob set his family’s home on fire and all of the white emergency responders and firefighters watched their house burn down. Shortly after this, Malcolm X’s father died and this sent his mother into a deep depression of shock and grief which eventually caused her to be submitted into a mental institution. Malcolm left home and after leaving, he became involved in drugs and crime. This became his motivation. He wanted to fight back and provide young black youth with better and more positive opportunities. However, it was not just young black youth he was advocating for, but it was all African Americans. As an outspoken civil rights leader in the 1960s, Malcolm X wanted to encourage black power. He advocated Black Nationalism and separation form the white society.17 He argued that integration of blacks and white represented the succumbing of African Americans to white culture and values. African Americans needed to embrace their own culture and communities and be independent of the white world. Many people embraced the ideas of Malcolm X. Many people began to see what he was advocating as true. This served as a contributing factor to the rise of African American activism. Through his radical tactics and his self- defiant demeanor, he open many gates for African Americans and led them along the path of fighting back or taking a stand. Malcolm X wanted to better the lives of blacks and open their eyes to who they are and what being an African American stood for, pride and promise. The more people who started to realize this, the more people who took action. Needless to say, Malcolm X’s role as a leader and a civil right activist, played a significant role in causing rise in African American activism. E. Conclusion Malcolm X played a significant role in bringing rise to African American activism. Malcolm X shed light upon the many dreadful conditions faced by the people of African descent. However, while it may be impossible to measure his impact in its entirety, it is just to say that Malcolm X helped to expose unfair practices towards African Americans which ultimately led to significant changes, changes that the legal system deemed unlawful. This drive to better African Americans made Malcolm X an extraordinary leader and gave African American new incentive. This led African Americans to begin to take further action which gave rise to activists groups such as the Black Panther Party. It is evident that Malcolm X played a significant role in giving rise to African American activism. His role is equally as significant to that of Martin Luther King Jr. or even that of Rosa Parks. And while some may call him violent or racist, others consider Malcolm X to be one of the most influential and great est African Americans in history. Works Cited Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, eds., The Reader’s Companion to American History (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1991) http://www.history.com/topics/malcolm-x (accessed November 29, 2012) William W. Sales, Jr., â€Å"The Legacy of Malcolm X,† Online Publication. http://www.socialistalternative.org/literature/malcolmx.html (accessed November 29, 2012) James Smethurst, â€Å"Malcolm X and the Black Arts Movement,† Cambridge Collection Online. http://cco.cambridge.org/extract?id=ccol9780521515900_CCOL9780521515900A007 (accessed November 29, 2012) Sharrod Patterson, â€Å"Malcolm X: A Powerful Black Leader Who Fought for Human Rights,† Student Newspaper of Winston-Salem University, February 19, 2007. Bio. True Story, â€Å"Malcolm X Biography,† The Biography Channel Website. http://www.biography.com/people/malcolm-x-9396195 (accessed November 29, 2012) Teachers Domain. Malcolm X: Black Nationalism.† 18 Jun. 2004. Web. http://www.tea chersdomain.org/resource/iml04.soc.ush.civil.malc1/ (accessed December 5, 2012)

Management of Organizational Performance: Literature Review

Management of Organizational Performance: Literature Review Many broad descriptions of management of performance can be found when one goes through the bulk of management materials available in books, journals and internet. Michael Armstrong 2000 plainly describes management of performance as a means of getting better results from a whole organization, or teams and individuals within ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦within an agreed framework of planned goals. Whereas Armstrongs description does not exactly introduce a novel definition in management literature, it captures the extensiveness of the field of appraisal. This field is full of complexities in regards to elucidating the exact scale of practices and mechanisms involved in performance appraisal. Armstrongs definition sets us on an excellent path when it comes to understanding these complexities. Donna Mitchell in her book Performance Management is more forthcoming in her definition and attempts to cover more ground in the management literature. She adds another dimension to the definition by first i ncluding performance measurement in her attempts to exhaustively describe management of performance. She describes performance measurement as the process of assessing progress towards achieving predetermined goals (Mitchell, 2007). She goes ahead to describe management of performance as, building on that process adding, the relevant communication and action on the progress achieved against these predetermined goals (Mitchell, 2007). On top of incorporating the aspect of measurement of performance in management, it is notable to appreciate that management of performance is fundamentally about management of people. It is basically an attempt to comprehend the manner in which people in an organization work, both individually and with others. Aspects like supervision, decision making, inclusive employee involvement, motivation and promotion of technological innovations among workers are equally crucial in the development of the organization. Mitchells definition is an improvement from Armstrongs description and more elaborative. It can be observed from the two writers that the field of management is unmistakably composed of several disciplines. Diverse modalities for organizational evaluation are existent and thus various operational methods have been formulated to independently appraise an organizations development. Financial department policies that specifically deal with accounting are mostly employed in evaluati ng and controlling the fiscal robustness of organizations. The technical operations department evaluation policies are inherently concerned with enhancing the logistical fluidity of activities and functions in the various departments. The human resource department on its part is largely specialized in enhancing output of personnel. These three offer an insight into the compound realm of management of organizational performance. The discipline of management that is closely related with the appraisal of organizational performance is the human resources. Nevertheless, other departments have evaluation score cards that respective managers use to review in assessing employee outputs and efficiency. Elaine Pulakos, in Performance Management: A New Approach for Driving Business Results, underscores the significance of management of organization performance being tactical, united, geared towards enhancement of performance and enforced enactment of positive development concepts. But this wide and ambiguous definition of management of organizational performance makes it an increasingly intricate undertaking. The specific appraisal component that is clearly implicit of the progression of performance evaluation is definitely the performance scorecard Rampersad posits that the Balanced Scorecard, as a tool of measurement has evolved into the ultimate unit pointer of progression or regression. He divides the measurement tool into two components; the Personal Balanced Scorecard or PBSC and the Organizational Balanced Scorecard (OBSC) (Rampersad, 2003). The former is for individual employees to evaluate themselves, while the latter is for entire organization to gauge its collective progression. Whereas different literatures on management will present divergentthough synonymousdescriptions of management of organizational performance, most of them are homogeneous in their acknowledgement of the importance of the practice. To formulate a strategy, a business or organization needs sufficient data that indicate its current status. The current status of the organization will be determined only by a review of the organizations performance. The performance management similarly aids in management of the process of implementing the conceptualized strategies. In the process of managing the formulated strategies, the scorecard data will caution against making assumptions. In the absence of a scorecard, an organization can easily make assumptions about its position and use the hypothetical data to make skewed and erratic projections about the future. Balanced Scorecards for the individuals and the organization are the only sure means of checking the development or degeneration direction of firm (Thorpe Holloway, 2008). The management of organizational performance can help a company ascertain that it is realizing minimum allowable standards that are necessary for continued existence. These could be standards pertaining to environmental safety or legal provisions. Management of appraisals of the company also communicates a clear message of expectation to the employees. As such, employees are conscious of not only their duties and responsibilities, but of performance standards the employers expect them to deliver. Stakeholders are also informed of the companys sense of direction; such stakeholders include current and prospective shareholders, concerned government authorities and clients or customers. Management of organization performance can be a system for the acknowledgement and appreciation of the hard work and outstanding behavior of excellent employees. Appreciating and rewarding excellent employee behavior can be an incentive or a source of motivation for other employees to improve on their del ivery and output. Clear as the benefits of management are, there exist two performance management precepts. The first is the tactical management of performance and the other is conservative management system. The tactical system which is purely strategic is also intrinsically reactionary and depends on market or environment settings and conditions. The tactical management system is triggered whenever there are drastic changes in the organizational surroundings and the business needs to readjust its activities in the wake of environmental changes. The conservative performance management system on the contrary is a continuous system that is carried out at predetermined regular intervals to self-regulate the firm. The regulation could be a quarterly, bi-annual or yearly process, planned to coincide with specific but organization-wide release of statements, for example production output statements, fiscal position reports or profit announcements (Carton Hofer, 2006). Other than communicating the position of the firm to stakeholders, the regular management of organizational performance is critical in inspiring and rewarding exceptional employee behaviors. While in the conventional logic the evaluation of employee performance and the reward schemes have been associated with release of firms fiscal reports, some organizations are using the Personal Balanced Scorecard to negotiate salary, wages and compensation for their employees. Niven, 2006 is a big critic of the system that seeks to use appraisal reports in assigning compensation packages for its employees. Niven argues that appraisal results are efficient only if the rewards for good behavior are gifts that supplement an employees pay, not if the result is used to calculate and determine the compensation package. Mohan Nair disputes Nivens argument in his book, Essentials of balanced scorecard. Mohan is of the view that a scorecard is the surest means of keeping employees in check all year round . He, Mohan, posits that an organization has no business providing attractive compensation packages to non-performing employees as the main goal of an organization is to generate profits. Niven is critical of using scorecards to determine compensation packages because they create rivalries among employees within departments and they are also unsustainable. Niven wants us to imagine a scenario where the performance of an employee keeps fluctuating on monthly basis. If an employee is outstanding on the first month, average on the second and grossly underproductive on the third, does the management keep on updating the compensation package for every of those months and for every single employee in the organization? Matthew Kammerer explores deeper into the pros and cons of balanced scorecards as were developed by the pair of Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. He notes that while Kaplan and Norton were innovative in formulating a system for evaluating performances, he hypothesizes that anomalous employee behavior is most likely to be observed in the long haul. This system will eventually water down on the worth of tactical performance management as it will not be entirely impartial to all employees. Research done by Michael Hammer on the same issue backs up Kammerers hypothesis, and points out to the prejudicial nature of scorecards on junior employees. The reward scheme is done by senior organization employees and these superiors will assign themselves favorable points and pocket the bulk of the rewards. Many departmental managers have raised complaints regarding the partiality of performance rewards scheme, and particularly criticized the criteria employed to settle on rewards. The human resource department is at the centre of this reward scheme and is equally burdened by the tenets to be used in rationally allocating rewards (Hammer, 2007). The big question therefore is, what aspects need to be managed when evaluating the performance of the organization? The quandary of assessing organizational performance is such a demanding undertaking that management experts and observers can only speculate on the best ways forward. Fiscal strategies are conventionally regarded as the easily usable schemes in many firms. With the turn of the millennia however, organizations have become more complex with multifaceted dimensions that need cannot be evaluated by fiscal analysis alone. Paolo Taticchi reckons in the International journal of Productivity and Performance Management that fiscal analysis, by use of management accounting, is an incomplete tool as a comprehensive organizational performance indicator. Taticchi notes that the use of management bookkeeping information is only enough when reviewing inflows and outflows. The inadequacies of purely financial appraisal systems in performance review have spawned a shift from cost analysis to encompass a wide range of issues such as a review of the firms goals. Observers in the appraisal of performance have debated and proposed ways in which organizations can formulate proper assessment systems. From the bulk of management literature available on performance measurement, comprehensive review outlines have the aim of delineating performance in a manner that echoes strategic organization goals (Taticchi, 2010). These outlines possess fundamental attributes that assist in pinpointing the apposite series of standards against which performance is sustainably assessed and managed. The literature covered in Thorpe and Holloway (2008), and Taticchi (2009) highlight the reality that a series of review measures employed by a firm must depict a crystal representation of the firm. These measures ought to echo the fiscal as well as the non-fiscal strategies; the internal and environmental attributes; and the competence and efficiency measures. The generated outline of quantifiable measures must also generate a clear indication of the firms performance. Case in point, the minimalism and perceptive basis of the Organizational Balanced Scorecard is regarded as its most resourceful feature, as it is simple and readily grasped (Fakhri, Menacere Pegum, 2011). Outlines need to show the necessity for a firm to employ a series of measures that are multifaceted in dimensions. All areas of organizational performance must be measurable to reflect development or regression in the outline. The sight of a chief executive officer handling a mass of data that has not been filtered into meaningful information is not so uncommon. Such heaps of data does not present any meaning and insightful account of the performance of individual and departmental units in the organization. To eliminate the occurrence of a scenario where an executive reads heaps of data that bears no informative insight, the department of quality management has to come into action. Some reputable methodologies can be used by the quality management department to cover the apparent inadequacies of balanced scoreboards for example the Demming Cycle (Balanced Scoreboard Institute). Developed by Edward Deming in the mid last century, he held that business processes ought to be scrutinized and gauged to make out the sources of discrepancies which result in manufactured goods digressing from clients specifications. The Demming Cycle represents just one of the many assessment tools that are not only geared towards fiscal analysis but cover other crucial organizational issues. The Demming Cycle is simple; place the undertakings and activities of the firm in an incessant feedback loop so that supervisors can make out and alter the activities that need upgrading. To demonstrate the cycle, he used the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle to keep performance management in continuous check (Averson, 1998). Under the Plan, the management or whoever is concerned with the review of performance management-devises and revises the organization processes and the associated components (activities) to guarantee continuous development or improvement in results. The Do part of the cycle is concerned with the carrying out of the Plan, and the gauging of processes performance. The Check section is meant for assessment of products measurements, and the identification of faults. The results obtained from the Check section are forwarded to the organs of decision making. Finally, the Act part is mainly an action phase. Changes are made at this stage in case faults have been detected in the system. Tools for quality assessment managers are not few. There is the OODA loop which is an acronym for Observe, Orient Decide and Act that is used as a precept for strategic operations in the organization. The OODA loop appreciates the reality that the process of decision making is continuous cycle that needs regulated periods of observing and acting indefinitely. Similar to the Demming cycle, it is a deterrence mechanism that requires communication in the organizational structure. The six sigma is another management strategy, initially a project of Motorola, which is geared to identifying defects and eliminating them before they impact on the performance of the firm. It incorporates statistical quality management systems. Six sigma has its own share of debatable controversies and has been likened to the balanced scorecard for its lack of creativity by a host of management literatures. Research into the sigma six effects on business quality has revealed that an excess of 90 percent of fir ms that implemented the quality assessment programs recorded a loss in fortune (Morris, 2006). Others quality assessment tools include COBIT or Control Objectives for Information and related Technology that is specifically used in the information technology organizations and is a creation of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. AIDA an abbreviation for Attention Interest Desire Action is another tool used in the marketing department to appraise marketing performances (Morris, 2006). All the management literature reviewed in this paper provides resourceful information in managing the performances of an organization. The literatures clearly indicate that for an organization to unlock its potential it must deal with right quality management tools and they should be applied appropriately to realize their potential. Performance management ought to be cross-sectional and not only target a particular section of the workforce. The exact performances that are being appraised ought to be reflected against expectations, the requisite requirements for outstanding performance and the qualities the clients are looking for. Performance must also be managed and appraised against feasible strategies and goals. A cross-sectional link between the performances of employees in hierarchical organizations should be explicitly assessed, so that the elimination of any possible conflicts in evaluation of employees is carried out. Conflicts are clear stumbling blocks in organizational eva luation. Such conflicts in the form of organizational politics need to be deracinated to ensure that departments with functional dependencies correlate with each other harmoniously. Organizations must center their performance appraisals systems towards communicating insight to employees, and not just generating raw data on employee productivity. If quality assessment tools are effective and the organization is realizing its objectives without subjecting employees to data about their performance, a positive culture of self drive is calculated amongst employees. On the contrary, if an organization is performing well and the company keeps on generating data for the purpose of rating employees, it creates a rivalry among departments and employees. This consequently results in some employees developing dysfunctional behaviors, either due to paranoia or insecurity over their jobs (Falcone Sachs, 2007). Considerable collective organizational effort must be spared to ensure the gradual development of apposite traditions in the firm that promote engagement of the firms employees in the processes and objectives of the company. Such a tradition should cultivate the feeling of appreciation among the employees so that employees enjoy their work. In brief, organization performance management will first encompass aspects such as planning of employee roles and demarcation of specific expextations from employees. Second, it involves an incessant process of performance supervision by use of quality assessment tools. Third, it encompasses the development of employees aptitude and competence to execute their roles. Fourth, it involves the intermittent positive appraisal of performance of individuals and departments. Finally, it covers the sensitive issue of rewarding employees who are exhibiting excellent organizational behavior and performance. Why i decided to go to college? Why i decided to go to college? When I think about college I think about a lot of studying and not enough time for myself. But I know that when I graduate college I will have many opportunities available. Going to college has affected my life in many ways, but in the end it will all pay off. I then decided that I wanted to go to college because I want a better future. After I graduated high school, I never thought about college. The reason I never thought about college was because, my parents didnt have that much money to support me through college. My parents wanted a better future for me, so that I can take care of myself. I then decided to go to Hennepin Technical College because they offered me financial aid. If it wasnt for financial aid, I wouldnt even think about going to college. I have a total to five in my family, and my father is the only one working. Financial aid helped me out a lot because, I didnt have to pay for anything. They helped me out with my tuition and my books. But sometimes my tuition don t always cover all of my cost in college. That made me happy because, I know that my parents didnt have to worry about paying for my tuition. Another reason I decided to go to college is because, it is closer to home. I wouldnt want to be making a long drive home from college. I also decide to go to Hennepin Tech because, of the time. They have morning, afternoon, and evening classes. I am a evening person. I concentrate better in the evening than 7:00AM. When I wake up that early, I feel like I cant concentrate. So for my classes, I have mostly all evening classes and one morning class. I try my very best to stay focused, but that was the only time they have available for morning class. When I started college, I thought that it wouldnt be so hard, but I was wrong. Not only do I have to study hard, but I dont have enough time for myself. I am going to college to become a dental assistant. In my dental class I have an exam every time I go to that class. I also have papers due for my other class the same time I have to study for my dental exam. It is so frustrating, because I dont know which one to do first, and I also become stressed out. But I end up doing well on my papers and on my exams. With all that studying and exams I have, I cant get a job, because I have so much work to do at college, I dont think that I can keep up with a job. My parents are great, they never tell me to get a job, because they know that I have to much papers and exams at the top of my head. They always tell me to focus on my studies and dont worry about a job, that they will support me. That made it less stressful knowing that I dont have to worry about getting a job. College has affect my life in many ways. I am the first one in my family to attend college, which means my parents are very proud that I decided to go. Since I am the first to attend college, I want to show my two brothers that they can do it, if I can. College has change my way of thinking. I know that when I graduate college, I will have a brighter future with many job opportunities available.

Gun Control Problems and Solutions Essay -- Constituton Bill Rights Ri

The problem with guns is fairly obvious: they decrease the difficulty of killing or injuring a person. In Jeffrey A. Roth's Firearms and Violence (NIJ Research in Brief, February 1994), he points out the obvious dangers. About 60 percent of all murder victims in the United States in 1989 (about 12,000 people) were killed with firearms. Firearm attacks injured another 70,000 victims, some of whom were left permanently disabled. In 1985, the cost of shootings was an estimated $14 billion nationwide for medical care, long-term disability, and premature death. In robberies and assaults, victims are far more likely to die when the perpetrator is armed with a gun than when he or she has another weapon or is unarmed. I believe that there are a few solutions that can be used to solve this problem at both a community and national level. The first course of action is to establish a national system for registering guns and ammunition. Anyone can obtain a gun by going to a state with less restrictive laws or by getting a friend who lives in the state to buy the guns for them. A national system would prevent this by scaring those "friends" into not buying the guns legally and selling them illegally, for if the guns are used in an illegal crime, that person can be held accountable. Secondly, a national system would be more helpful in tracking crimes after they have happened, to bring the perpetrators to justice. Instant background checks, on people attempting to buy... Gun Control Problems and Solutions Essay -- Constituton Bill Rights Ri The problem with guns is fairly obvious: they decrease the difficulty of killing or injuring a person. In Jeffrey A. Roth's Firearms and Violence (NIJ Research in Brief, February 1994), he points out the obvious dangers. About 60 percent of all murder victims in the United States in 1989 (about 12,000 people) were killed with firearms. Firearm attacks injured another 70,000 victims, some of whom were left permanently disabled. In 1985, the cost of shootings was an estimated $14 billion nationwide for medical care, long-term disability, and premature death. In robberies and assaults, victims are far more likely to die when the perpetrator is armed with a gun than when he or she has another weapon or is unarmed. I believe that there are a few solutions that can be used to solve this problem at both a community and national level. The first course of action is to establish a national system for registering guns and ammunition. Anyone can obtain a gun by going to a state with less restrictive laws or by getting a friend who lives in the state to buy the guns for them. A national system would prevent this by scaring those "friends" into not buying the guns legally and selling them illegally, for if the guns are used in an illegal crime, that person can be held accountable. Secondly, a national system would be more helpful in tracking crimes after they have happened, to bring the perpetrators to justice. Instant background checks, on people attempting to buy...

Our Food Has Feelings Too :: social issues

Our Food Has Feelings Too A piece of meat, a glass of milk, or even an egg might seem pretty harmless. Everyone knows where they come from but most choose not to think about it. The truth is that the piece of meat sitting on your plate at dinner came from an animal that was tormented and put through enormous stress and pain to get from the ‘farm’ to the dinner table. Farms that breed and raise animals for meat and other such things aren’t at all what we picture. Green meadows where the animals graze in peace for the few short years of their lives have been replaced by â€Å"fresh produce factories†. Animals not being treated with any respect or humanity, instead seen only as profitable meat products. Cows sheep and pigs don’t just suffer at the slaughterhouse but throughout their lives. Feedlots, the place they are sent to fatten up before being killed are full of harmful bacteria and are extremely crowded. What the animals are fed is also very harmful. Steroids and unnaturally rich diets are used to fatten them quickly, thereby maximising profitability. Metabolic disorders are the result of this. In modern dairies, cows also forced to endure calfing every year, whilst producing milk for seven months of their nine-month gestation period. Cows live up to twenty-five years in a healthy environment, but in these dairies only live three or four years. Like beef cows they are fed unnaturally rich diets to make them produce more milk. Milk production can be as much as ten times more than that of a natural grazed animal. But if you thought that only grown cows suffer, that these farmers at least take care of the babies, you were wrong. Veal is a very profitable meat, the calf usually only living to sixteen weeks in a small wooden crate where it can’t move properly or even lie down comfortably. Some are killed just after a few days, then sold as low grade frozen TV dinners. Chickens and other poultry also suffer in small cages (usually two hens in a cage sixteen inches wide). After having their beaks cut off to reduce pecking their feathers usually fall out, from the constant rubbing against the wire cage. Eventually with bruises and sores covering their bodies, the hens die from fatty liver syndrome, lack of calcium, heat prostration, infectious disease and cancer.

The Life of Mary Shelley Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Life of Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in 1791 in London. She is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Goodwin. Wollstonecraft was a radical feminist writer, and Goodwin was a writer as well as a philosopher. It was said that this couple's combined intellect was dangerous to society; however, days after Mary's birth, Wollstonecraft died due to complications from the pregnancy. Mary spent a lot of time visiting her mother's grave when she was growing up. Her father taught her how to spell her mother's name by having her trace the letters on the headstone with her fingers, an interesting yet morbid way to teach a seven year old how to spell. Goodwin raised Mary by himself for the early part of her life. When Mary was four, he married Mary Jane Clairmont, who also had children from a previous marriage. Mary never fully accepted the stepfamily; she always felt like an outsider. Many of her feelings of loneliness and longing to know her mother are issues that are prevalen t in the novel Frankenstein. These issues are analogous to the search that the monster had for his creator. During Mary's teenage years, Goodwin owned a publishing company, so the Goodwin household was filled with famous authors and intellectuals. Coleridge was known to visit the house often. On one occasion he read the recently completed The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner in their living room, while Mary stayed up past her bedtime to listen. Percy Bysshe Shelley also came to the house on a regular basis to seek knowledge from Goodwin, who was one of his mentors. Mary grew fond of him, and they began their courtship when she was only fifteen and he was twenty. When Mary was sixteen she ran off to Europe with Percy, a... ... it has on the horror/science fiction writers today. Works Cited and Consulted 1. Caprio, Terry. ( Accessed 23 Oct 00) http://loki.stockton.edu/~stk13818/mary.htm 2. "Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus Home." U.S. National Library of Medicine. (Last Mod 28 Jan 00) ( Accessed 12 Oct 00) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_birth.html 3. Hamberg, Cynthia. "My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." ( Last Mod/1999/2000(c)). Yahoo. ( Accessed 15 Oct 00).http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/27147033/*http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg/ 4. "Mary Shelley and Frankenstein." ( Last Mod 11 Jan 00). (Accessed 10 Oct 00). http://www.desert-fairy.com/life.shtml 5. "Peanutpress.com: Mary Shelley." Peanutpress.com: A Division of Net Library (Accessed 5 Oct 00). http://www.peanutpress.com/author.cgi/1567/05951560-58839-8414692824

Modernism and Modernist Literature

Christina Ortega March 30, 2013 Modernism and Modernist Literature Modernism is the movement in visual arts, music, literature, and drama which rejected the old Victorian standards of how art should be made, consumed, and what it should mean. The concept was what is reality? It used art and literature to replicate reality, and traditions cultivated in Romanticism and Victorianism. It was against all traditions. The Modernist Period in English Literature occupied the years from shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century through roughly 1965.The period was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Experimentation and individualism became virtues, where in the past they were often completely discouraged. In the world of art, generally speaking, Modernism was the beginning of the distinction between â€Å"high† art and â€Å"low† art. Still, the most effective poets and novelists did manage to make deep statements that were absorbed by the whole of society and not just the writer’s inner circles.In Modernist literature, it was the poets who took fullest advantage of the new spirit of the times, and stretched the possibilities of their craft to lengths not previously imagined. In general, there was a disregard for most of the literary making of the last century. The following are characteristics of Modernism: †¢ Marked by a strong and intended break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. †¢ Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is. There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative. †¢ No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair. †¢ Life is unordered. †¢ Concerned with the sub-conscious. Ambrose Bierce, turn of the century California's one of th e most notorious writers. Ambrose was known as Bitter Bierce and his motto was â€Å"Nothing Matters†. Although; Bierce's devastating short stories about the War Between the States–most particularly â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge†.The first page and a half during which the condemned, Peyton Farquhar, is yet unnamed offers a clear description of a military hanging: how it is done, who stands where and who gives the orders, how gentlemen are not excused from the noose. Farquhar, after his escape, his senses supernaturally alert, notices something that would have been commented upon in the camps of the Civil War: the gray eyes of a sharpshooter. He remembers that he'd heard all of the most famous sharp-shooters have gray eyes.Then it turns out to be a mere dream of thought for Peyton. It was a sudden flash of what he would have wanted to happen. With the end of this story resulting in him seeing his wife at one last glance before the reality of his death. This story was written is a way that I the reader hadn’t quite was able to even distinguish that it was merely a dream of thought till the sudden death. The story was very vivid in detail and descriptive. Portrayed a sense of reality giving aspects of what could have happened.Gave me the reader a moment of shock when figuring out it wasn’t real and he had actually been executed. In conclusion the entire story was a great example of a modernist story. Gave me a great example of how he wrote a short store making me determine the true reality of it. This modernist literature definitely made a social statement. Made you realize how we as people do this all the time. I’ve been in many situations where I can imagine another outcome yet, reality strikes and I realize its happening. Works Cited 1.Lewis, Pericles. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print. 2. Lorcher, Trent. â€Å"Modernism in Literature: What Are Characteristics of M odernism in Writing? † Bright Hub Education. Bright Hub Education, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. 3. Rahn, Josh. â€Å"Modernism. † – Literature Periods & Movements. The Literature Network, 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. 4. Stern, Jewel, Kevin W. Tucker, and Charles L. Venable. Modernism in American Silver: 20th-century Design. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2005. Print.