What Made Pericles an Outstanding Leader in Athens

Table of Contents Introduction Astute Leader and a Commander Courageous Leader Strong Oratory Skills Patriotism Self-trust Works Cited Introduction Pericles was an Athenian leader during the Peloponnesian war; he was the leader responsible for the reconstruction of Athens after the war. Pericles was killed by plague, which descended upon the city. Pericles was the General during the Peloponnesian war, and he was of the opinion that Athens should firmly remain in the war. He organized approximately 100 ships for that purpose.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Made Pericles an Outstanding Leader in Athens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When several soldiers died from the war and from plague, the people of Athens began blaming Pericles for having forced them to go to war, and they wanted him to be held responsible for all the calamities and the misfortunes that had befallen them. Pericles also felt bad abou t the situation, but he was prepared to tackle the outcome. The outstanding qualities of Pericles were espoused during the funeral oratory speech which he was asked to deliver as a routine and custom during funerals; in Athens, speeches were made as a way of honoring and praising the departed. During the burial of the people who had died during the Peloponnesian war, Pericles, the son of Xanthippus was chosen to deliver a speech in their praise, and it is in his speech that some of the outstanding qualities of Pericles were brought to fore (Thucydides 35). Astute Leader and a Commander Pericles was an astute leader and a commander. Despite the misfortunes that had befallen his people, he still managed to convince them that the course was justified and argued that it was for the benefit of the whole state and city. He defended himself by arguing that he knew he was doing what was to be done, and he described himself one who loved the city and could not be influenced by money or any f orm of bribery. From his words, he came out as a man of knowledge despite his limited power. His words and speeches depicted him as an authoritative leader. As a courageous and respected General, Pericles summoned the assembly of the city to instill into them some sense of courage and to rejuvenate their fighting spirit and to push fresh for a war with Sparta. According to him, the freedom of Athens could only be bought through war and work (Thucydides 44). He could not allow himself to be swayed by euphoria or people’s demands but instead he came out as a person who guided the people.Advertising Looking for essay on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Courageous Leader Pericles also came out as a man who was willing to stand up for danger contrary to someone who could run away from the danger. He demonstrated this when he urged the people to be prepared for all the disasters. Pericles was willing to fight in order to preserve the dignity of Athens. He was a good fighter. Despite him having been defeated, he successfully convinced the people that they had won. He preferred to endure hatred and to be unpopular as long as his eyes were focused on the goal. He considered hatred and unpopularity as temporary and what mattered was the glory and the brilliance of the future that followed the success (Thucydides 60). He was considered as an individual who was willing to undergo suffering and hardships for the benefit of the city. He demonstrated courage in the face of the enemy due to his determination to defend his native land. Pericles was one of those people who fought evil with good and had the zeal to fight and more so do service to the people of Athens despite the dangers and harm it could do to their private lives. Strong Oratory Skills The oratorical skills of Pericles made him an outstanding leader; he had the courage to articulate, the charisma to lead and the ability to convince a nd manipulate the population. He demonstrated this character when the people vehemently complained about their misfortunes, and he gave them a speech that rejuvenated their courage, will and confidence to continue with the war. The oratorical skills enhanced his persuasive capability, which was largely due to his application of rationality, logic and knowledge. It is through his speeches and particularly the one he gave at the course of the war that fostered his capacity to effectively capture the minds of the people and allowed him to give reasons as to why the war with Spartans was justified. He was a demagogue and an aristocrat who had an effective voice. Pericles took advantage of his strong articulate nature, his eloquence and perfect speaking skills to achieve support for his plans and objectives. His poetic imagery silenced every friend and fore (Thucydides 34). Patriotism The patriotic character of Pericles made him an effective leader in Athens. According to him, the format ion or the establishment of the Athenian empire was a noble duty that the citizens ought to be willing to sacrifice for, even if it meant going to war. For him, the glory of Athens was paramount.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Made Pericles an Outstanding Leader in Athens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More His actions indicated how dedicated he was to his city. In his funeral oration, Pericles espoused several qualities of the city of Athens, and he brought them strictly into the light. His speech centered on the principle that the Athenians should be willing to put their personal demands aside and strive hard for the benefit of the city. This line of argument was a clear demonstration of the patriotic nature of Pericles. He came out as a proud political ambassador; on several occasions, he stressed on the spirit of the people of Athens, in his argument that the defeat from the war was not anticipated and th at the people of Athens should not desert their houses, he came out as a popular and respected leader of the Athenian city. In his funeral oration speech, he hurled praises on the nature of Athenian morale and the way of life of the Athenian people while at the same time raising the spirits of the citizens. His patriotism was demonstrated clearly during the funeral oration speech when he praised the people of Athens, the city of Athens, the dead, the superiority of Athenian military training and the democratic ideals of the state of Athens. Consequently, his repetition of the phrase â€Å"the power of the city† in his speech and the arguments that the intelligence of the leaders of Athens and the zeal of its population was what fueled the power of the city was an indication of his strong passion for Athens and an appeal to the citizens of Athens to be patriotic to their city and to fight for the sake of the city (Thucydides 62). Self-trust Pericles also had trust in himself; he left success and failure in the hands of hope and when the reality of war dawned on him, he still trusted in his courage and efforts. He considered it more honorable to fight and to risk death and to maintain their position than to surrender and save their lives. Pericles was so daring that he did not fear to face the enemy that he rallied various people of the city of Athens because he wished for the greatness of the city that he had fallen in love with. He had a distaste for apathetic people. He pleaded with the people not to be angry with him, but instead he be given the opportunity to guide them away from their immediate suffering. He believed that there was strength in the city as a whole and not in an individual and at the end people began believing in him because Athens emerged victorious during the war (Thucydides 65).Advertising Looking for essay on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Pericles was ashamed of falling below his or a certain standard. He displayed enthusiasm in fighting for the city, and he gave the best contribution that he could give to war. He sacrificed his life for the benefit of the city and other people of Athens. His blatant self-praise nature cemented his outstanding position in the society as an undisputed leader. His strong belief that he was bestowed with better qualities to lead the people of Athens relieved him of several complains from the people, his argument that he could not be charged with misconduct just by persuading the people to go to war brought out a sense of his modesty arrogance. He just wanted the people of Athens to believe and to accept the true condition they were in and directed them to follow his advice and go for war by declaring that he was above par in patriotism, knowledge and exposition skills. According to him, it was these three qualities that made the Athenians to allow themselves to get persuaded, and his de cisions and advice were unquestionable. His behavior of self-praise and that people should not blame him for the decisions that he was entrusted to make was aimed at eliciting some sense of collective responsibility. Consequently, Pericles maintained some sense of principled personal constancy when he asserted that he still held his previous opinion, which could not be changed until his plans were made or accomplished. In his arguments, he urged the citizens to imitate people like him (Thucydides 64). Works Cited Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian war (book 2: 59-65). New York, NY: Penguin books, 1972. Print. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian war (book 2: 34-46). New York, NY: Penguin books, 1972. Print. This essay on What Made Pericles an Outstanding Leader in Athens was written and submitted by user Greyson R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Definition and Usage of Optimality Theory

The Definition and Usage of Optimality Theory In linguistics, the theory that surface forms of language reflect resolutions of conflicts between competing constraints (i.e., specific restrictions on the form[s] of a structure). Optimality Theory was introduced in the 1990s by linguists Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky (Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar, 1993/2004). Though originally developed from generative phonology, the principles of Optimality Theory have also been applied in studies of syntax, morphology, pragmatics, language change, and other areas. In Doing Optimality Theory (2008), John J. McCarthy points out that some of the most significant work on OT is available for free on the Rutgers Optimality Archive. ROA, which was created by Alan Prince in 1993, is an electronic depository of work in, on, or about OT. Its a fabulous resource for the student as well as the veteran scholar. Observations At the heart of Optimality Theory lies the idea that language, and in fact every grammar, is a system of conflicting forces. These forces are embodied by constraints, each of which makes a requirement about some aspect of grammatical output forms. Constraints are typically conflicting, in the sense that to satisfy one constraint implies the violation of another. Given the fact that no form can satisfy all constraints simultaneously, there must be some mechanism selecting forms that incur lesser constraint violations from others that incur more serious ones. This selectional mechanism involves hierarchical ranking of constraints, such that higher-ranked constraints have priority over lower-ranked ones. While constraints are universal, the rankings are not: differences in ranking are the source of cross-linguistic variation. (Renà © Kager, Optimality Theory. Cambridge University Press, 1999) Faithfulness and Markedness Constraints [Optimality Theory] holds that all languages have a set of constraints which produce the basic phonological and grammatical patterns of that particular language. In many cases, an actual utterance violates one or more of these constraints, so a sense of well-formedness applies to that utterance which violates the least number or least important constraints. Constraints can be classified in two types: faithfulness and markedness. The faithfulness principle constrains a word to match the underlying morphological form (such as plural tram -s in trams). But words like buses or dogs do not follow this constraint (the first falls foul of the constraint that prevents the pronunciation of two consecutive /s/ sounds and the second places a /z/ instead of an /s/). These two examples, though, follow markedness constraints, and in these cases the particular markedness scores higher than the faithfulness constraint, so the alternate forms are allowed. Differences between languages, then, are a ma tter of the relative importance given to particular constraints, and a description of these constitutes a description of the language. (R.L. Trask, Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed., ed. by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 2007) Constraint Interaction and the Domination Hierarchy [W]e assert that the constraints operating in a particular language are highly conflicting and make sharply contrary claims about the well-formedness of most representations. The grammar consists of the constraints together with a general means of resolving their conflicts. We argue further that this conception is an essential prerequisite for a substantive theory of UG. How does a grammar determine which analysis of a given input best satisfies a set of consistent well-formedness conditions? Optimality Theory relies on a conceptually simple but surprisingly rich notion of constraint interaction whereby the satisfaction of one constraint can be designated to take absolute priority over the satisfaction of another. The means that a grammar uses to resolve conflicts is to rank constraints in a strict domination hierarchy. Each constraint has absolute priority over all the constraints lower in the hierarchy. [O]nce the notion of constraint-precedence is brought in from the periphery and foregrounded, it reveals itself to be of remarkably wide generality, the formal engine driving many grammatical interactions. It will follow that much that has been attributed to narrowly specific constructional rules or to highly particularized conditions is actually the responsibility of very general well-formedness constraints. In addition, a diversity of effects, previously understood in terms of the triggering or blocking of rules by constraints (or merely by special conditions), will be seen to emerge from constraint interaction. (Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky, Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. Blackwell, 2004) The Richness of the Base Hypothesis Optimality Theory (OT) does not allow for constraints on the inputs of phonological evaluation. Output constraints are the only mechanisms for expressing phonotactic patterns. This idea of OT is referred to as the Richness of the Base hypothesis. For instance, there is no input constraint that forbids the morpheme *bnik as a morpheme of English. The output constraints will penalize such a form, and evaluate this form in such a way that the optimal output form is not faithful to this form, but different, e.g. blik. Since forms such as bnik will never surface in English, it does not make sense to store an underlying form bnik for blik. This is the effect of lexicon optimization. Thus, the phonological output constraints of a language will be reflected by the input forms. (Geert Booij, Morpheme Structure Constraints. The Blackwell Companion to Phonology: General Issues and Subsegmental Phonology, ed. by Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume, Keren Rice. Blackwell, 2011) Optimality-Theoretic Syntax [T]he emergence of OT syntax seems to fit into the general tendency in syntax to blame the ungrammaticality of a sentence on the existence of a better alternative. This view on grammaticality is also found in [Noam] Chomskys Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995), although Chomsky takes optimization to play a much more modest role than OT syntacticians do. Whereas Chomskys only criterion for evaluation is derivational cost, the inventory of violable constraints assumed in OT syntax is richer. As a result, the OT constraints interact and conflict with each other. This interaction is exploited by the assumption that constraints are ranked, and that parametrization can be reduced to differences in ranking between languages. Chomskys economic conditions, on the other hand, have no such direct parametrizing effect. In the Minimalist Program, the locus of the parametrization is the lexicon. (Introduction to Optimality Theory: Phonology, Syntax, and Acquisition, ed. by Joost Dekkers, Frank van d er Leeuw, and Jeroen van de Weijer. Oxford University Press, 2000)

An analysis of the Depreciation Methods in GAAP in the UK

An analysis of the Depreciation Methods in GAAP in the UK Depreciation is the allocation of the cost of a plant asset to expense over its useful (service) life in a rational and systematic manner† (Weygandt, Kieso and Kimmel, 2003:416). There are three factors affect the calculation of depreciation, which are asset cost, useful life and salvage value (Weygandt, Kieso and Kimmel, 2003). Accountant in different companies will use various methods to compute the depreciation. There are straight-line method, reducing balance method (double declining balance, sum of digits, reducing percentage), annuity method, and unit of production method (Mike, Ron and Allister, 1994). And in most companies, especially in the large corporations, they will use the straight-line method, because it is the easiest one to compute the depreciation. This essay will illustrate some method that usually used in the companies and contract with each method to find out which one is the most useful. At the beginning, the essay will illustrate the straight-line method , the second one is reducing balance method, the third method is sum of digits, and the last one is the unit of production method. Below each method, the essay will give an example, which is calculated by me. Under the straight-line method, the annual depreciation expense is the same over the asset’s estimated useful life every year. The annual depreciation expense is determined by depreciation cost divided by the useful life of the asset or multiplied by the annual rate of depreciation (Weygandt, Kieso and Kimmel, 2003). Example 1 An asset costs  ¿Ã‚ ¡11,000, its expected salvage value is  ¿Ã‚ ¡1,000, its estimated useful life is 5 years. Depreciable cost = ¿Ã‚ ¡11,000- ¿Ã‚ ¡1,000 = ¿Ã‚ ¡10,000 Annual depreciation expense = ¿Ã‚ ¡10,000/5years= ¿Ã‚ ¡2,000 OR Annual rate of depreciation =100%à ·5years=20% Annual depreciation expense = ¿Ã‚ ¡10,000*20%= ¿Ã‚ ¡2,000 Year 1 Cost  ¿Ã‚ ¡11,000 Depreciation 2,000 Year 2 Net book value 9,000 Depreciation 2,000 Year 3 Net book value 7,000 Depreciation 2,000 Year 4 Net book value 5,000 Depreciation 2,000 Year 5 Net book value 3,000 Depreciation 2,000 Net book value 1,000 The straight-line method is the simplest way among all the methods; it suitable for the use of asset is unvarying during the useful life; it is popular used by large corporation, such as Campbell Soup, Marriott Corporation and General Mills. However, the reducing balance method has a falling depreciation amount every year during the useful life of the asset. The changing depreciation is depended on the book value (cost less accumulated depreciation). It is calculated to multiply the book value at the beginning of the year and the reducing balance depreciation rate (Weygandt, Kieso and Kimmel, 2003). Example 2 An asset costs (book value at the beginning of year)  ¿Ã‚ ¡11,000, its expected salvage value is  ¿Ã‚ ¡1,000, its estimated useful life is 5 years. Reducing balance depreciation rate = 100%à ·5years=20%* Calculation o f  ¿Ã‚ ¡901.12( ¿Ã‚ ¡4505.6ÃÆ'-20%) is adjusted to  ¿Ã‚ ¡3505.6 in order to make the book value equal salvage value (Weygandt, Kieso and Kimmel, 2003). Sum of digits is another kind of reducing balance method, which has the closest connection with useful life and salvage value of the asset. The depreciation cost is multiply depreciation cost (asset cost less salvage value) by digits of each year (Mike, Ron and Allister, 1994). Example 3 An asset costs  ¿Ã‚ ¡11,000, its expected salvage value is  ¿Ã‚ ¡1,000, its estimated useful life is 5 years The digits add up is 1+2+3+4+5=15

Islamic View of Medical Treatment Research Paper

Islamic View of Medical Treatment - Research Paper Example However, a new branch of thinkers interpret the possibilities in the principle and suggest that a temporary abstinence of child bearing chosen with mutual consent is acceptable by way of physical contraception methods which do not affect the structure and function of the body. Ap0artr from the application of medical resources for birth control, there is an equal challenge on the issues related to fertility treatments. Most of the women consider discussing problems related to conceiving a child and giving birth as taboo and ignore the chances of consulting a doctor for treatment of their failure. While on the other hand, pregnancy is the gift of God as per the belief of this religion and it must be treated as virtue of a woman to give effect to the sperm of the male. The Qur’an teaches us to respect the ability of women to bear a child as it says â€Å"If they have a burden (pregnant) then spend on them until they bring forth their burden† (Ch: 65:6, cited in Angelfire.c om, n.d) . Religious views are against the artificial methods of fertilizing as it strongly condemns the factor of the woman’s exposure of her private parts to a person other than her husband. However, the modern society is willing to allow medical treatment for infertility subject to conditions applied as per the guidelines of the derived principles. Euthanasia and Organ Donation As Islam has its own guidelines about handling birth and fertility related affairs, so it has a claim on the debate of euthanasia or the right of a person to choose death with assistance of a physician. On the basis of Islamic views, withdrawal of life supporting apparatuses for granting relief to an individual is not acceptable. Though there were primitive... This essay studies and evaluates some of the religious implications of medical treatment methods practiced by the scientifically inspired new society. As per the religious concept, marriage is meant for the basic purpose of having children as a contribution to the growth of the community. Any attempt to deliberate termination of pregnancy or the practices for attaining sterility endorses the principles of this religion. The fetus has an independent right to live within the mother’s body; therefore an attempt to abort it is an assault as well as a murder. Surgical methods of sterilization such as vasectomy and hysterectomy are not permissible in the religious point of view. As Islam has its own guidelines about handling birth and fertility related affairs, so it has a claim on the debate of euthanasia or the right of a person to choose death with assistance of a physician. On the basis of Islamic views, withdrawal of life supporting apparatuses for granting relief to an individ ual is not acceptable. In conclusion, Islam is a religion with absolute concern for integrity and the value of life. It believes in the principle of power of all knowledge meant for the well being of believers under the guidelines of the Prophet. Therefore the topics discussed in the essay are subject to scientific consultation in the present day community while considering the essential factor that the religion never allowed them for convenience but it approves them for the concept that necessity can sometimes over rule prohibitions.

Starbucks and the Risse of the City State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starbucks and the Risse of the City State - Essay Example The sentiments of opposition often provide us with newer ways of carrying out the task and we can prepare ourselves even for adverse circumstances. For example; it is said that, "If you want peace, be ready to fight." and Sun Tzu further stated that, "If you want a real shape, firstly be unshaped." During the last century power basically implied military power and the ruling power. But as we enter into the 21st century, economic power seems to have taken over all other types of power. While earlier the 'power' used to be shown in the battlefield, now it the company's boardrooms which plan out the fight. The fight is then executed with the help of well laid out marketing and promotional strategies. The levels of prosperity of the citizens and the economic power of the country are now increasingly being used by nations as a tool to exert pressure on other nations. This way these nations are enjoying glory without fighting on the battlefields. Like Sun Tzu says; "Glory without fighting is the best." New world order says that, 'do not kill your enemies, but use them to become stronger.' Some people prefer to call the global footprints of multinational corporations as examples of imperialistic designs from the developed nations. These are termed as example of countries using their economic power with their companies. Starbucks is one such example where the company has established itself well in many countries around the world. Starbucks has been a well known brand for specialty coffee offering fresh rich-brewed coffees, espresso beverages, a range of pastries and confectionary items, coffee-related accessories and equipment, and a line of premium teas under its brand name. The company has opened its outlets in about 43 countries outside the USA1. Starbucks was also able to enter into strategic alliances with other companies and make fullest use of the opportunities to widen its customer base. Sun Tzu says, "Divide your soldiers and give them prize for booty and do not fight in the unimportant area, fight for fatal places." This seemed to be basic inspiration behind the strategy of Starbucks. Starbucks has established itself well in big cities and is offering a tough competition to rival companies. With different types of offers to customers in different locations and on different occasions, the company has been able to take fullest benefit of localizing the products and services. As per Sun Tzu the rule of 'strategic capturing' is "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." Starbucks has been able to establish itself as a company in key cities around the world, where they can cater to the people with time and money to be spent with their friends and families. So far they have been able to open and popularize their outlets in places like New York, London, Tokyo, Dhaka, Beijing, Istanbul etc. The manner in which Starbucks has been able to successfully implement its strategies, despite oppositions from some quarters is an indication of the script written by Sun Tzu and followed by the company. Sun Tzu stated, "There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed." Despite the

The reasons for changing patterns of marriage Essay Example for Free

The reasons for changing patterns of marriage Essay Examine the reasons for changing patterns of marriage and divorce over the last 50 years or so. Marriage is the legal relationship between two people in eyes of law. Over the last 50 years or so, the patterns of marriage and divorce have changed significantly and are still changing in today’s society. This is due to many factors such as less stigma, changes in women’s positions, secularization ,cohabitation and many more. Nowadays, there is less pressure to marry and a lot more freedom for individuals to choose the type of relationship they want. It’s considered more important about the quality of a couples relationship, rather than the legal status. The main and most important reason for the decrease in marriage and increase in divorce was the change in attitudes towards them. People now believe that it is alright to get a divorce if they are not happy in their marriage and with that, the stigma towards divorces has decreased. People divorce now on a day to day basis. We see in magazine articles about celebrities getting divorce and no one is against it anymore, unlike before when older members of the family would encourage the younger couples stay together through thick and thin. Thats the same for marriage, as more and more people want to cohabit with their partner rather than get married as women now have more opportunities to work, higher expectations and set own rules about their life’s that before wasn’t possible. Secularisation is also involved in why there are changing patterns of marriage and divorced. Churches are in favour of marriage, and do not encourage divorce but as their influence declines, people feel freer to choose not to marry. People do not let the influence of the church or god take over their decisions. Society today has became secular, no place for god. Divorce has increased dramatically over the past 50 years. Now 1 in 2 marriages are likely to end in divorce. High divorce rates mean people are able to re-marry however, some churches do not accept remarriages. People are also now marrying later in life, as people stay longer in education and are likely to cohabit first. This is partly due to the legislation that was took into place in 1969 called The Divorce Reform Act. This Act made it easier for couples to get divorced and made it a lot cheaper for those who could not afford it in the past. The Government have also introduced the welfare provision which made it easier for w/c women to get divorced as this  law helped women financially with divorce and being a single parent. In addition, Alan and Crow agree with the idea that there have been changes in the position of women. Women are now better educated, which makes them less dependent on men financially, which therefore enables women have greater freedom not to marry, or to end a marriage. In support, feminists see divorce as desirable as it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family. However Functionalist writer Parsons states that he believes people getting divorced is everything that is wrong with society. He believes that marriage essential as there is a clear division of labour, That both the man and women should play their role in the family and not break it apart as it is essential for the smooth running of society. However Wilmot and Young argue that the roles have changed and men are now taking on greater share of domestic tasks and women are now working in the labour market. Although feminist Oakley totally disagrees with Wilmot and Young. Oakley dismissed the idea of the symmetrical family. She critics Wilmot and Young as they only asked one question in their research do you help with housework?. She believed this question was irrelevant to their research as it does not state how much the men actually do and the domestic division of labour had led to the increase in divorce as women do not want to carry out a dual burden role. In conclusion these reasons have all dramatically affected the increase in divorce and the decrease in marriage. However it must be acknowledged women are not rejecting marriage and that there has been an increase in remarriages so this means that women are now raising their expectations and not rejecting marriage.

Family Violence :: Domestic Violence Essays

Domestic abuse and child abuse have widespread social and emotional costs. Family violence affects all segments of the family. The impact of violence on childrens' lives appears to be far more substantial than the impact on adults lives(Family, Pg. 1). In most cases of family violence the family has conformed to a pattern in which the line of family violence started generations ago. This pattern must be broken before more children growup and live in a family that resorts to violence. But there are also children who live in loving families who do not resort to violence and as these children mature they start resorting to violence to help solve and deal with their problems. Studies show that physical punishment could cause aggression in children, but other studies show that even abusive parental violence does not always lead to an increase in children's aggression. Only by recognizing and addressing the multifactorial roots of violence in our society can we move closer to livi ng in peace. Violence within families often reflects behaviours learned by children from their parents. A theory is that violent behaviour is passed down from generation to generation through families (Cole & Flanagin, Pg. 2). The majority of Americans are subjected to corporal punishment at one point or another during their lifetime(Kandel, Pg. 4). Surveys suggested that almost all American parents used physical punishment at one point or another and the punishment was regared as an appropriate child rearing technique. Another survey also suggested that some psychologists belive physical punishment to be an effective and useful socialization tool(Kandel, Pg. 2). Aggression is commonly conceived as existing on a continuum, ranging from very severe parental aggression to much milder and normal parental aggression, such as use of corporal or physical punishment(Kandel, Pg. 1). A common concern is that parental use of physical punishment will lead to aggressive behaviour in children. There are three types of relationships between parents and their children, the first is a positive, linear one: some researchers have contended that any parental aggression may be positive and casually related to the development of antisocial aggression, the second group suggested that lack of physical punishment may contribute casually to the development of aggression and in the third group there was either too little or too much physical punishment that may increase the probability of aggressive behaviour in

MBA for engineers

The time duration and requirements for the degree vary around the world but the main requirements include a few years work experience. It varies from 2 year programs to a 3 year program depending on the time one can give to it. Generally people opt for the degree after non technical degrees in order to enhance their job perspectives and get promotions at their current jobs. The MBA trend at one point fully saturated the job market with such graduates. This caused a shift/ decline in the MBA trend which was picked up a few years back with engineers opting for MBA instead of their regular Master programs.Opportunity cost of a MBA degree: The total cost of an MBA, inclusive of tuition as well as two years of Oregon salary, has risen to ‘four times the post-degree starting salary in the past 10 years† according to Fortune magazine. And in the case of Stanford Graduate Business School, for example, Pedestrians calculates the total cost to be â€Å"a whopping $351 ,662. † Full-time Mambas, however, at least have the luxury of being able to focus on their studies exclusively and have unrestricted access to all the program's resources (including career services).Part-time MBA programs are more affordable financially, but their principal cost is even more finite – time. For these students juggling work and school eaves very little time for having a social or personal life. The degree also takes longer to complete; typically three years in the United States. In addition, some MBA programs restrict on-campus recruiting to those with full-time status, and part-time students may not have access to all the programs or classes afforded their full-time counterparts. Executive MBA students, like their full-time counterparts, are able to complete their degree In two years.Admission, however, is usually restricted to applicants with more than ten years experience (Topmast. Coma's survey determines the average age of students to be 37). The MBA is also th e most expensive degree to obtain on the basis of tuition alone; for example, in 2012 the tuition to attend Wharton is $1 71 , 360. For most people, this is cost-prohibitive if their employer is not sponsoring the education. And, like part-time MBA students above, MBA students still have to wrestle with the time management problems of attending school while working full-time.Is MBA worth it for Engineers: When people have gone as far as they could with their present education, they have two options. Either they get an advanced degree or a similar degree as the previous one. This may be the answer to the people who want to untie working the same type of work and would like to continue in the same aspect of their career. But on the other hand, they have a second option and that is to get an MBA degree which will allow them to move up the career ladder. A lot of engineers wonder if they should seek an advanced engineering degree or an MBA degree.The answer to the question lies with the future goals of the individual. If they plan on Opening their own business one day, an MBA degree would be a valuable asset to them. Since looking at technical aspect of their degree is important for the business as well but the business requires more than that. It teaches how to look at technical skills from a business point of view and market the skills to prospective clients. Since one of the skills taught in an MBA is financial skill, it helps the technical background graduates manage their business with a keen sense of the market.Engineers excel at being able to stay focused and solve problems with a limited set of resources in a logical and practicable manner. When coupled with the ability to â€Å"talk the language of business† this combination is invaluable to an employer. On the value of the MBA education, Didgeridoo explained that there is a need for people who speak both the technical engage as well and the C- level language. Since engineers are given a problem st ate, a set of limited resources and are told to find a way out from the very beginning, they are able to work more effectively in MBA.He also said that his engineering background gave him a huge advantage in non technical fields while he was in his MBA program. Putting himself among people with non technical background, he realized that he had an overall advantage by allowing him to think like an engineer, having the language of an MBA. In a Wall street journal article, written by a Havana strategy roofless Julie Wolf, it was mentioned that with there maybe implications for middle managers looking to advance their careers but are being held back by the lack of managerial skills/ experience.Also in it, it was mentioned that corporate succession plans might favor functional experts who have managerial capabilities and at least general managers who are willing to work with the highly technical/ specialized counter parts. A candidate with both the technical expertise to understand the n uts and bolts of the product development cycle as well as the ability to see the wider marketing or striation picture is highly desirable. If you are looking to move â€Å"out of the lab coat† and into the corner office, obtaining an MBA may be just the ticket.If one is a candidate with the technical expertise to understand the mechanics of product development as well as see beyond the current market picture is available, then that candidate will be high desirable. Also if someone is looking to change their careers or move out of the laboratories, MBA might just be the ticket for it all. Since engineers overall act as managers at times, one can easily think about shifting the career focus if they think they have cached their maximum promotion level with the engineering degree.Some times it is not all about doing your own job but about getting others jobs done. This is one of the basic managerial skills which is learned outside an MBA degree. Having an MBA degree just provides valuable skills and a chance to shift the career away from the technical field towards managerial roles or acting as a bridge between the technical and non technical people. This characteristic is one of the most desired in the market currently since the HRS department requires technical assistance from time to time. Having both the kills can enable anyone to bridge the gap and earn more than before.For engineers, there is hardly anything challenging in the MBA program as they have already come from a curricula which involved a lot more technical study and advanced mathematics than a regular MBA program. Contradictions to the choice: People when asked about the requirement for promotion to management positions often reply that experience is the single most important factor. But according to Jay Rogers of Rangelands Engineering says that placement requests for an MBA graduate are as low as 0. 6% as compared to Engineering Masters degree and BBS in Engineering which comes close to 1. % and 97. 7% respectively. Also according to the same dataset applied above, the average salary of an MBA is less than that of an Engineer. So we can say that MBA can open some doors but engineering have fewer doors and choices which is why the salaries are high A lot of companies also believe that MBA is an expensive hire. Software and computer engineering is one area that is dominated with the startup culture with the idea that MBA is a hindrance instead of a help. A lot of companies also hold bias against the Mambas and how they try to run organizations.Similarly, top companies who have understood the importance of an MBA tend to hire people from the top schools. So if someone wants to shift careers, they will have to choose the top MBA programs since top companies have an image to take care of. On the other hand, people who just want to enhance their job skills or shift their positions in the same organization they are working in, any MBA degree is acceptable. It all depends on how one visualizes their future and what do they expect from the degree since all that is taught in an MBA program is something that you an learn by studying a few good books on the subject.MBA culture in Pakistan: MBA picked up the trend relatively late as compared to the rest of the world. By the time the trend of engineers opting for an MBA was picked up in Pakistan, the market was already saturated with the traditional Mambas. The engineers, who picked up the trend wanted job enhancement and promotions in their respective jobs. The study further details about what prompted the trend to emerge in Pakistan. According to the research we did, we came across two major reasons why people were opting for an MBA.

Indian Book Retail Industry Essay

The Indian book retail industry is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore, out of which organised retail accounts for only 7 per cent.The industry is expected to grow by approximately 15 per cent a year.Book retail contributes only about 1 per cent to the overall retail industry. Text and curriculum books account for about 50 per cent of the sales. Second-hand books are also a big chunk of the book retail market. In the past few years, several large format book store chains have come up, such as Landmark, Crossword and Om Book Shop etc . More than 75 per cent stores of these large chains are in top eight cities. These Organized Book retailers are focusing on improved customer experience. Many book stores have also introduced coffee shops and provide a library-like atmosphere where customers can sit and read, while sipping coffee. Besides this online channel is also significant with players like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam etc. With the printed word considered an endangered species in much of a rapidly digitizing world, India now represents one of the best book markets in the world. â€Å"There has definitely been a huge jump in the size of the industry in terms of book sales and the number of books being published,† said Mita Kapur, the founder of Siyahi, a literary agency, who says the number of books published in English is growing by 30 percent a year. Vikrant Mathur, associate director of Nielsen Book, India, said the volume of book sales grew by 45 percent during the first half of 2011. For the entire year, Nielsen, a global information provider, documented English-language book sales of 3.28 billion rupees – about $62 million – from more than 12 million books sold. And that is probably only a fraction of true total sales, since Nielsen only measures about 35 percent of the total market. â€Å"Where physical books are concerned India right now is a very, very big market,† said Priyanka Malhotra, director of Full Circle Publications. â€Å"There is a whole younger generation coming up from BPOs who are starting to read in English, which is where a lot of new demand is coming from.† Online retail have also spurred growth in the industry. To summarize India’s book retail industry is broadly divided into 3 sectors : 1. Organized 2. Unorganized 3. Online The organized sector has big names such as : crosswords, OM book shop , landmark etc to name a few. On the other hand unorganized sector is huge and highly fragmented, with shops spanning from local book stores to road side book shanties to red light book sellers etc. This sector is also filled with piracy and pirated copies of original books (which is a serious threat to the sales of organized sector) Online sector is the newest of them all and has just started to takeoff in sales since last 3-4 years. The major advantage of such a format is the wide variety of offerings under one roof and ease of access for the users. Thus this is the fastest growing sector among all of them. The prominent players in this category are Flipkart.com, Infibeam.com etc. Unorganized sector (Golden book depot) Golden book depot is a typical book store among many in the unorganized sector of the india book retail industry. This store is loacated in the vicinity of our target organized sector store ( OM book shop) i.e. Ber Sarai ( adjacent to IIT) in south Delhi. As can be seen in the photograph, this is a small shop , almost 1/10th of the size of om book shop and most of the products are available behind the counter, with only magazine stand placed just outside the store. As magazines as a category has most no of impulse purchase. On an average around 50-70 customers come to this book store, and this tore has a footfall conversion of over 85% which is very high as compared to the organized sector (OM book shop) . The reason for this behavior is that most of the products in these kind of shops are behind the counter and it doesn’t provide the luxury to the customer to stroll around and search and read a book as in the case of organized sector. Therefore almost all of the customers coming to these shops like golden book depot are aware of what they want and demand that directly from the shop keeper who then searches the book in the shop and hands over to the customer. Besides having a smaller area , less variety of books and behind the counter selling, the sales (in terms of no. of books sold) is still higher in golden book depot as compared to OM book shop . The reason for that being : 1. Availability of educational books , i.e. educational course materials and  competitive exam preparation books. These books constitute the majority of the portion of these book shops in unorganized sector. These kind of books , especially course materials for various courses such as MBA, B.Tech, BCA etc . are not available at book stores like OM book shop. As they (Organized) focus more on selling of novels and leisure read books. 2. Many of the popular shops in unorganized sector offer a facility to bring the old books and exchange them with the new books at a discounted rate or return the old books at a discounted rate in form of cash return. This is a major reason why price conscious middle class Indian customers prefer unorganized sector over organized sector. 3. Perception in the minds of Indian customers that these small shops will offer the same product at cheaper rate than the organized sector shops, which have flashy interiors and huge shop floor. This perception is true also upto some extent as these shopkeepers in these small shops have the control over their margins and not guided by any company policy ( as in the case of OM book shop) that means these shop keepers can even squeeze their margins from around 10% to as low as 1-2% to attract or retain a customer by offering them the cheapest bargain. Organized sector (OM BOOK SHOP ) About Om Book Shop Retailer and Publishing House: Om Book Shop is a part of Om Books International, a leading English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, and is a prominent player in the Indian book industries. The book retailing chain has a significant presence across the Delhi-NCR region. Besides stocking books, movies, magazines and CD ROMs, Om Book Shop is also a major distributor of books of many leading international imprints. OBI began publishing in 1993. Collection: With a strong focus on children books and coffee-table books, the store has a diverse collection including books on Lifestyle, Nature and Wildlife, Fashion, Bollywood, Heritage and Culture, Management, Health & Fitness, Cookery, Architecture and Interiors, pictorial books for children etc. Children section is a major thrust area for the company and OBI publishes children’s titles under the Om Kids imprint: illustrated classics, mythology, folk tales, encyclopaedias etc. Loyalty programs and other salient features: Other salient features Om Book Shop currently holds about 50 thousand registered customers with the Om Book Privilege Loyalty Programme which offers points, discounts & other offers to its loyal customers. OBS aims to popularize the Gift -a- book idea across its stores and delivers services like Dial-a-book which allows the customers to shop from their homes; and the efficient and helpful staffs in the book stores assists them in finding the right book or the right gift for the right occasion. Overview: Product, Category and Store Product Category: ‘Books’ Retail Format: Category Specialists Customer segments: In terms of demographics, the Om Book shop customer can be a child/adult from any age group, gender, income class (reasonably well off) etc. Store: Om Book Shop is located in DLF Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj. The store is located on the 2nd floor of the mall and the floor plan is provided in Figure1. The store is strategically located in a way that it falls on one of the 2 ways to the food court and movie theatre. Figure 1: Floor Plan of Om Book Store STORE PHILOSOPHY * Layout * Ambience/dà ©cor * Sale program * Loyalty Store layout structure Om book store has a very functional and efficient physical layout. Mall sq. foot area is very expensive so there seems to be an effort on part of the book store to utilize as much area as possible. Hence the layout may be a bit crammed for some customers. The bird’s eye view of the layout is as follows: The front view of the store is a transparent glass window through which a passerby can easily see into the store. The poster’s on display from the  front view are only of â€Å"OM publisher’s† in different categories like kids books, cook books, and biography (Amir Khan’s â€Å"I’ll Do it My Way†. The most popular and eye-catchy book categories are positioned near the entrance of the store. The largest selling categories, Children’s books, Fiction, and New Arrivals are placed in shelves that a customer encounters as soon as he enters the store. These sections also have the largest impulse buy and are therefore kept at the forefront. Om book’s self published books in the kids category is displayed in big piles on the ground straight in the line of path of a customer who walks into the store. Since the child often runs about choosing his/her own story books and activity (colouring/mask) books and heavily influencing the purchase decision of the parent so the children books of the OM publisher has been strategically kept within reach of the child on the ground to woo the him/her. Other publications in the same Children’s category have been kept on the shelf and in â€Å"sideway† display to decrease their exposure to the child/parent. Om Publication’s in any other category when placed on the shelf have been given a frontal full display to encourage sales. Management books being the next most popular category, they have been placed right after the popular categories when comparing in terms of â€Å"distance from entrance†. Categories pertaining to work or hobby like gardening, travelling, cooking etc / or specific topics of interest like astrology, philosophy, poetry, etc have been grouped towards the end of the store, furthest away from the entrance. This is because these categories can usually not create impulse purchase and so every customer need not pass through these segments/aisles. People who do buy these books are targeted shoppers and will anyhow walk to the back end of the shop to pick up his/her book. These categories are not as popular as the others and have loyal customer following. The impulse buy accessories are lined along the passage on either side from the entrance to the cash counter. It is further seen that the counter is placed at the other end from the entrance to ensure that a customer has to walk through all the impulse purchase offerings before he/she can buy the book. The products on offer in this so called â€Å"impulse accessory† shopping segment are: pens (parker and waterman), magazines, cookbooks, horoscope books, key rings, bookmarks, marble-paper/wrapping paper, and bestsellers in each category. It can further be noticed that the best seller section just prior to the cash  counter is dedicated solely to Om publication. Additional aspects of the Store Layout The layout is no doubt very functional keeping in mind the profit maximization philosophy of the store and the main agenda of pushing its own publication to the shopper. However the spacing of shelves is crammed with little walking space, hardly any sitting space (only 2-3 stools), and only 1 book stand. The entire focus is on 1 product offering i.e. books. Unlike competitors in the organised sector like Landmark, it is not focussing on the entire shopping experience, (no coffee, no other items on offer like stationary etc, no sitting space). Store Ambience and Decor The bookshelves were made of engineered wood like particle wood. This created a unique and rich traditional effect. Plastic or metal bookshelves were not used since they do not look expensive and give a modern feel, which was not something the book store wanted. Furthermore the particle wood was coloured a light shade of brown to give a bright and roomy/spacious look to the store. However the bookshelves were placed too close and for a particular section of customers who prefer the comforts of abundant seating arrangement, coffee facility, and walking space (as provided by Landmark), the sheer functional design of the store might be interpreted as a crammed. This might not work well for a particular segment of customers whose involvement with the shopping experience is as high as, if not higher than the involvement with the product itself. Furthermore the store works on the philosophy that it will focus on selling books alone and not encourage customers to spend hours just reading in the store. This is unlike some of its contemporaries like Landmark that encourage customers to sit and read inside the store. Hence at OM book stores some customers may complain that the staff hover close to them and make them feel uncomfortable if they stay too long. The store plays light and slow English instrumental music to suit the taste of the higher-strata of people who usually visit the Promenade Mall and create a relaxed atmosphere in the store. Instrumental music is  played since a song with wordings would disturb the concentration of a customer reading the epilogue/back-cover of a book. This gives a contemporary feel to the store. Store Sale Programs The store’s maximum profit comes from its Children’s section. Hence the sale period coincides with the summer and winter vacation in schools in Delhi. December to Mid-January and May to June are the respective winter and summer sales. The store is also receptive to mall trends in sale. Since almost every other shop in the mall had a sale in July, so the store too announced a sale to cash in on the increased footfall to the mall during the sale-period. There was no Flat Sale offer. Discount amounts were graded on the basis of demand. Books with high demand had low sale; New Arrival, Top 20 Fiction/Non-Fiction, general Fiction, and bestsellers had only 10% discount. The store felt that irrespective of the price these books would sell and so gave negligible discount on them. However on the kids section the discount was higher, around 20%, and even higher discounts on children’s books published in-house by Om Publications. This is because the store believes that parents during the sale period buy in bulk and a higher sale would induce them to buy more and yet it would not affect your margins. Furthermore parents are price conscious when buying for little kids since the books cannot be added to a collection later on and mostly become irrelevant in a short time after the child has outgrown them. The sale on OM publication was the highest because they already had the highest margins on it due to the absence of a middleman, and therefore could easily afford a large discount on those books. By touting the large discounts they aim to attract consumers to their publication and yet make the largest profit on the same sales. The books with the largest discounts (say more than 50%) were displayed in piles on the floor. This was due to the belief that even if the books weren’t displayed at eye-level, even then the mammoth sale amount would encourage the shoppers to make the effort of bending down to pick up the book. To publicise the sale big red stickers were pasted on the glass walls of the store which can be viewed by the casual shopper passing by the store. Inside the store the discount for each section was  mentioned separately through stickers and pointers. Store Loyalty Program A book is generally a product category where the consumer’s involvement with the product (i.e. the book itself) is much higher than his involvement with the store. Even if a person might have store preferences, yet his/her loyalty lies with the book and not with the store. Hence a consumer would not really care much as to whether he bought his/her book at OM Book stores or at Landmark, which is a stones throwaway. Thus in order to boost retention of loyal customers Om book stores has come up with a loyalty program, a privilege card holder concept which is as follows: * 1 point for every Rs.10 purchase. * Minimum points for redemption are 500 points. * 1 point equals Rs 1 reduction in bill amount. 60-70% of walk-in customers were privilege card holders and the store already has 4500 privilege card holders. The scheme is a moderate success. Store Timings | 11 A.M to 10 P.M ( For Mall)11 A.M to 8 P.M ( For standalone shop not the store we studied)| Working days| All 7 Days of the week| Peak days| Saturday and Sunday| Peak hours| Evenings post 6:00 pm| Staff| 10-12 members including the manager. Manager stands behind the counter at one of the two cash registers. He is accompanied by 2 staff members whose work is to: 1. Use the second cash register for quick transactions during peak hour to prevent long queuing period 2. To get a book for a customer if he/she directly comes to the counter and asks for a specific book.| Floor Staff responsibilities| * Taking care of the specific three to four sections assigned to them. * keeping a track of inventory * Filling the requisition form for the replenishing of stock * Guiding the customers if required * Sticking the barcode behind each new book before placing them on the shelf.| Shifts| There are no shifts; each staff member works throughout the day from 11:00 AM -8:00pm (fixed) and from  8:00pm-10:00pm (variable) depending on the rush. Hence post 8:00 pm the retained staff is paid on overtime basis.| Showrooms (strategic positioning)| NCR – 5 in malls and 2 stand aloneMumbai – 1 stand aloneThe store we studied was in the Promenade mall beside DT cinemas movie ticket counter on the 2nd floor.| Revenues| 1.5 to 2 Lakhs on weekdays3 to3.5 Lakhs on weekendsChildren, Fiction – highest selling category (80% of sales)| CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The product category is such that it involves Limited-Decision Making by the customers. The reasons for purchase of a book from the store can be: * Buying for self- Leisure * Buying for self Knowledge * Buying for Others- Regular * Buying for Others- Situational The greater the motivation to make an optimal decision, the more likely an attribute-based choice will be made. Thus, attribute-based processing is more likely for an expensive book purchase than it is for an inexpensive magazine. The easier it is to access complete attribute-by-brand information, the more likely attribute-based processing will be used. A variety of situations influence which choice approach is most likely. A book bought with the intention of a gift purchase is assigned more importance than a purchase for oneself. Thus, gift purchases would be more likely to produce attribute-based decision processes. Time pressure is a major determinant of choice process used, with increasing time pressures producing more use of attitude-based decisions. Thus, we can identify 3 major clusters of customers that visit Om Book Shop. Category I: DEDICATED READER This is the kind of person who feels complete with a book in his hand. For him, the behaviour is governed by his choices alone and it is solely his decision. He is always trying to find the time to get back to his book. He is convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. His primary information search happens within the store only. Category II: LITERATE GOOD CITIZEN This is the kind of person who usually buys a book after reading it review by a critic or an expert. Such a person does more information search before coming to the store. For our respondent group, the most dominant sources for this information were reviews and Bestseller lists published in newspapers, magazines or online blogs and sites likes Amazon.com. Category III: FAD READER This is the kind of person who only reads the popular books/ latest bestsellers so he can be up to date on what other people are talking about and be seen by others as someone who is well read. He often reads for the social credit he can get out of it. His primary information search is more through his friend circle or his group of colleagues from whom he might hear the latest ‘fads’ in terms of books. Such a person could also go in for information search in popular newspapers/magazines or the shares on social media websites.

Why ACT Reading Paired Passages Are So Hard

Why ACT Reading Paired Passages Are So Hard SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Paired passages on the ACT are a relatively new phenomenon, first announced by ACT, Inc in spring of 2013. Just as the changes to the new SAT have made it resemble the ACT, so have some of the changes to the ACT made it more like the SAT. What are paired passages, why are they suddenly on the ACT, and what’s the best way to prepfor them? Read on to find out. feature image credit: Pencil Biting by Walt Stoneburner, used under CC BY 2.0. ACT Reading Paired Passages: The Origin Story As far as I’ve been able to research it out, the first time any mention of two short passages (paired pasages) appeared in the â€Å"preparing for the ACT† manual was 2012-2013 (in 2011-2012, the Reading section was still made up of â€Å"four prose passages† with questions that asked about individual passages). For a long time, however, despite the fact that as early as June 2014 the ACT was including paired passages on official test administrations (as per PrepScholar co-founder Allen Cheng, who took the ACT then), the only place with official practice for ACT paired passage questions was the ACT website, which provided 9 paired passage questions (3 of which asked about multiple passages). Most prep books (including The Real ACT, 3rd (and current) edition, Kaplan's ACT Premier 2014 guide, the ACT Black Book, and Meltzer's The Complete Guide to ACT Reading) do not include paired passage practice questions, let along any strategies to deal with them. As of July 2015, the new 2015-2016 "Preparing for the ACT" guide finally includes a test with paired passages and 10 questions on these passages (incuding another 3 on both passages). Fun fact: as I was looking through the new guide, I noticed that the ACT Reading questions looked really familiar, and so I double checked with Allen's June 2014 booklet (acquired through TIR) and confirmed that yes, the test included in the "Preparing for the ACT: 2015-2016" guide is the (US administered) June 2014 ACT. Why Does This Make Paired Passages on ACT Reading Extra Difficult? I don’t mean to climb on my soapbox, but I see this as more than a â€Å"minor† change. We at PrepScholar have always stated that the best way to practice for the ACT is to use actual ACT Reading practice questions, because only the ACT words the questions (and answer choices) in that certain way. If there are no (or relatively few) questions to practice with, how are students supposed to prepare for the test? Moreover, how can the scores of students who took the ACT without paired passages on the Reading section (any student who took the ACT prior to June 2014) be compared to those of students who are taking the ACT with paired passages (any student who took the test June 2014 or later)? For the most part, answering a question about multiple passages is more difficult than answering a question about just one passage, because nswering questions on multiple passages requires you to synthesize more information and juggling multiple perspectives in your head, as you try to keep track of who said what where and when did she say it. This is definitely a valuable skill to develop, particularly for students heading to college. However, ACT Reading is already a big time crunch (35 minutes to answer 40 questions), and going from 4 to 5 passages, even if those passages are now 2/5 shorter, is not insignificant. chubby soapbox by daretoeatapeach, used under CC BY 2.0. This is clearly a photorealistic portrait of me done as I was writing this article. Clearly. Paired Passage Question: A Comparison Below is a comparison of a paired passage question with a single-passage question, modified to be on the same topic. For each question, I list the steps needed to successfully answer the question. Paired passage example (adapted from an ACTual ACT Reading question): Based on these two passages, which pair of phrases best compares Stark’s relationship to Science and Banner’s relationship to Science? F. Aimless researcher versus idle dreamer G. Fascinated onlooker versus pragmatic worker H. Casual alchemist versus thoughtful artist J. Indifferent outsider versus sarcastic farmer How do you answer this question? You must go through Passage A and find information about Stark’s relationship to Science, then go to Passage B and find information about Banner’s relationship to Science, then compare the two, and then see which answer matches reality. That's a four step process. When answering a comparable question on a single passage, you only have to go through two steps. Take the following (adapted) ACT question: Stark’s approach to the task of converting the junk in the cave to a functioning energy source can best be described as: F. reluctant until his companion’s plans inspire him.G. enthusiastic until his companion’s error puts them both in an awkward position.H. apprehensive until he discovers his error is not a devastating one.J. thrilled until he remembers that his companion is a poor planner. All you need to do in order to answer this question is go through the passage and find information about Stark’s approach to converting junk into functioning energy source and then see which answer matches reality. What Can I Do To Practice Paired Passages? Since there are so few official sample questions out there, this makes it difficult (but not impossible!) to create tailored advice. I recommend starting with my article on how to attack paired passages in ACT Reading, which goes into great detail on this very topic. In short, though, here are the takeaway strategies from that article: 1. Answer questions on individual passages first. As I discussed above, questions on single passages are generally less complex than those on multiple passages, which makes them better to tackle first. In addition, answering questions on a particular passage may lead to your finding information that is useful for answering multipassage questions. 2. Guess on all multi-passage questions. If you’re not aiming for above a 31 on Reading, you can safely skip/guess on the 3 questions per ACT Reading section that ask about multiple questions, and still have some room for other errors. Choose your favorite letter pair (A/F, B/G, and so on) and go for it! 3. Eliminate three wrong answers (yes, that good old standby). Answer choices to questions on multiple passages tend to be relatively complicated, but this means that they can also be easier to eliminate, since if any part of the answer choice is wrong, then the whole thing must be wrong. 4. Practice with official SAT paired passage questions. Currently, there are 8 free official SAT practice tests that contain ACT-length paired passages. Each set of these paired passages has around 12 questions, for a total of 95 paired passage questions (yes, I did actually go in and count it). That's exactly 5x as many questions as compared to the 19 total (not just free, but TOTAL) official paired passage questions provided by the ACT. What’s Next? Want to make sure you're practicing ACT Reading as effectively as possible? Find out more about paired passages and strategies to help answer questions on multiple passages here. How should you approach passages in the first place? Our blog has explanations of three different ways to approach the passage on ACT Reading. Want to improve your ACT Reading skills? Read our series of targeted articles on big picture, little picture, and vocab in context questions - articles about function and inference questions on ACT Reading are coming soon! Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Case Study - planning & strategy in small business Essay

Case Study - planning & strategy in small business - Essay Example 56). His management of finances proved to be good. As the owner of the firm, James has proved skillful in managing its finances and thus ensuring that success is attained. The overall overheads in the company have been minimal by the reduced cases of unnecessary taking of risks and by assigning all work in the firm on a sub-contract basis. The reduction of bad debts is another measure of his finance control. His checking of the profit margins involving all the contracts the company awards, the minimal cases of business bad debts and the leasing of land for business expansion has boosted his finance managerial skills. He is experienced and understands the market demand for the business. His vast knowledge on the relationship between employee productivity and their comfort prompted his venturing into this type of business. His business idea was spurred by his experience in the building and construction field and the knowledge on the existing market competition (Thomas 2006, p. 190). The ch ampioning of new ideas and development of existing ones has ensured growth. He is inexperienced at controlling and managing human resources. The result of his taking of human resource management position, which requires a competent person, has led to his arrogant nature in relation to employee-employer relationship. He cannot delegate duties as a result of his mistrust of employees. The effect is reduction in employee performance as a result of lack of team spirit and motivation which develops into low productivity. This is the case in Comfort Homes where James, despite his lack of experience in human resource management takes the position and controls everything without considering his employees in any decision making. He, however, gets things done but the employees do not feel as part of the company. This has led to poor communication system at the firm and lack of new ideas to steer the business towards growth. For instance, the failure to involve Kevin

Beijing Olympics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Beijing Olympics - Case Study Example Interesting fact is that Chinese government hired a Western public relations firm to work on the 2008 Beijing Olympics instead of local firms in order showcase the brilliance of Chinese culture, technological superiority and infrastructure to rest of the world (Foss and Walkosz, 2008 & Fram, 2008). During the Olympic, Olympic organizing committee took help of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton (WPP Group) to handle its public relationship activities (Clifford, 2008). For last many decades, Chinese government is facing problem from Tibet support groups who are protesting against the encroachment of China in their country. China had experienced bad publicity stint due to widespread publicity of the protest of Tibet support groups before the inauguration of Olympic. Pro-Tibet supporters showed their protest in various cities of western world such as Paris, London, and San Francisco and also interrupted in activities like Olympic torch relay before the Olympic. In some cases, Chinese embassies were attacked by Tibet support groups. Sensitivity of the issue forced Chinese government to think about hiring an international public-relation (PR) who can handle the situation professionally (Ballas & Kanoff, 2008). Preuss (2008) has highlighted the fact that, although China had plenty of domestic PR organizations but Chinese government was not confident enough to take help of these mediocre PR companies to represent the country in the world stage. Chinese government took Olympic game as the stage to showcase their efficiency in terms of infrastructure, technology, marketing etc to western worlds hence in such context, taking help of domestic firms might malign their reputation (Preuss, 2008). Assess the reasons why protesters and activists target events such as the Olympics Olympic is an international event where more than 100 countries participate and China was first time hosting Olympic during 2008. Hence it was the perfect timing for protester to show their protest and bring their agenda for free Tibet in front of representative of international countries. Research scholars such as Fram (2008) and Ballas & Kanoff (2008) have pointed out that Tibet support groups have strategically planned the protest program in order highlight their agenda in front of international countries and gain their support on the agenda. The leaders of protesting groups had created a communication plan and training program for fellow protesters for teaching them how to give interview or even rappel (Clifford, 2008). During the course of Olympic, protesters have changed their agenda from protesting the right of Beijing to organize Olympic to human right violation of Chinese government in different parts of China and China’s investments in Sudan (Clifford, 2008). Kalaya’