Personal Development Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Personal Development Plan - Essay Example It shall also evaluate team building theories and the implications for effective management of practice. Finally, this paper shall justify my managerial style within the workplace. In effect, this paper shall critically analyse the evidence base for the action plan with the application of current management theories. Discussion As stated in the personal development plan, I need to develop my communication skills. At present, my communication skills are limited and they need improvement; more particularly, my English speaking skills need improvement. Communication is an important part of effective management because it assists in my self-improvement and it aids in successful management (Adair, 2009, p. 4). By increasing reading materials, I can improve my reading and writing skills; and by enrolling in private English classes, I can improve my grammar and syntax, as well as my technical writing skills. These methods can help inject confidence into my speaking, reading, writing, and li stening skills (Lehman, 2007, p. 69). Improving communication is a basic need or skill which has to be fulfilled before I can move on to bigger goals. Fulfilling this need is very much in keeping with the theory as set forth by Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs (Outward Bound, 2007, p. 56). There are different theories and motivation and leadership, and these theories affect the management of organizations. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people start off fulfilling first their physiological needs and then go on to fulfil their safety, social, esteem, and finally self-actualization needs (Owston, n.d). People therefore can be motivated by their basic needs and also by other more noble goals or causes. For some employees, their motivation in working can start off with the basic need to feed their families (Marchionini, 2006, p. 42). At this stage, they would not look beyond the purpose of their work besides feeding themselves and their family. However, once t heir basic purpose is served, they go beyond that basic goal into higher goals – perhaps, that of saving for their family, and later serving humanity through their work (Marchionini, 2006, p. 42). In my case, my motivation for improving on my communication and eventually my information technology (IT) skills is to maximize use of our organizations’ IT programs. In terms of leadership, the loftier goal for many world leaders has been on the motivation of their armies – with one side insisting that his goal has more moral worth than the others (Owston, n.d). In this case, some leaders may see the need to deliver pain or threats in order to motivate, and others believe that doing so would not be effective ways of motivating people. In other ways, promising more tangible things like money, food, and even excitement can serve better ways of motivating people (Owston, n.d). In managing change, Maslow’s approach to leadership basically welcomes change because a member or even a leader eventually moves up in the hierarchy of needs. Once he fulfils a need, he has to change and move beyond that need on to bigger and better things (Koltko-Rivera, 2006, p. 302). Maslow’s theory therefore, handles and manages change well. McGregor divided human management into the

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) - Essay Example Following by that, different theories regarding communication and how celebrities play an important role in framing communication strategies has been clarified. Then four types of celebrity endorsement modes have been explicated in order to understand how different celebrities are associated with different products or services. After that this chapter moves out to understand the major part of literature review i.e. four-variable models which are 1] Source credibility model, 2] Source attractiveness model, 3] Product match up model and 4] Meaning transfer model. Finally, this chapter ends with benefits of using celebrities and the risks attached with celebrity endorsement. Furthermore, research objectives have been drafted at the end of the section. Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular strategies for marketing communication and advertisers. Customers see advertisements containing celebrities everyday whether they are at home or outside with their friends and family. Varieties of celebrities’ options are available to advertisers today through which companies can decide on celebrities on the basis of their product, target audience, popularity of celebrity and others. For instance, sports product companies like Nike and Adidas approach present celebrities of the popular sports of their target market audience. The choices are not just limited to sports stars of particular sport like baseball, basketball or cricket, but national or international player choices are also available to them. These celebrities are usually paid high sign up amounts and their contract with the endorsing brand has a specific validity period. Celebrities usually earn from their profession, but they can also earn the sign up amount for any endorsement which is usually higher than their average earning for the same time period. According to Forbes.com (2007), in the list of Celebrity 100 the first five celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Madonna, Rolling Stones and Brad Pitt

Observations at Roosevelt middle school Essay Example for Free

Observations at Roosevelt middle school Essay I observe at Roosevelt Middle School, which is in River Forest, in Mrs. Brauns sixth grade English class on Tuesdays in the morning. As I have observed, I have noticed that the classroom is student-centered. During computer time, Mrs. Braun focused more on helping the students get into the computer program to start the assignment than on having enough time to get the assignment done. Several times, Mrs. Braun gave helpful comments on how to do things on the computer or in the program, such as how to install automatic spell check. Mrs. Braun was also very patient as she was being asked questions while she was trying to explain the assignment. From what I saw, some students were getting bored, though, while the assignment was being explained and started whispering to each other. However, the whispering did stop when the students had to get started on the assignment. I have also observed that there seems to be a strong set of rules in place in Mrs. Brauns classroom. This is evident through some of Mrs. Brauns subtle, and not-so-subtle, reminders. For example, she gently made an example of a student by pointing out that his decorated pen (with a silly topper on it) was not allowed in class if it was going to be played and not used. She made a general statement that all pens similar to it are not welcomed is they are going to be played with. Overall, the students follow the rules very well, and there have not been any severe disruptions. There has only been whispering occasionally, but it stopped when Mrs. Braun asked. Disciplinary strategies seem to be in place as well, although I have not seen any discipline used while I have been observing the class. There is even a routine in place in the classroom for each period. During period one, first of all, old assignments are collected by Mrs. Braun, and then vocabulary is covered. Then a vocabulary assignment is given with any other new assignments on what is being cover in class. Next the teacher reads or goes over any assigned readings from the book that is being covered in class. This is the same basic routine for period two. The third period is computer time and the routine seems to vary. There is a quick transition from activity to activity during these routines. The classroom environment is that of a basic classroom setting. There are some decorations and other things hanging on the wall. Among the decorations is a hand-made calendar on the wall by Mrs. Brauns desk. There is a history of each students last name on the wall on the other side of Mrs. Brauns desk. There seems to be a controlled temperature and lighting in the classroom and they are set at an adequate setting. The room is arranged with five groups of desks in a circular type shape. In the middle of the room is a cart where new assignments are put and reading journals are kept. There are different locations throughout the room for different supplies. With the layout of the room, it seems there is adequate space to move around and do in-class activities. The physical space also seems conducive to teaching and learning. The physical space, including seating and grouping arrangements, seems to enhance cooperation and learning because there seems to be fewer distractions around them. There seems to be fewer distractions because the students have less people to talk to than if they were seated in rows, though they may still be tempted to talk. This classroom seems to function well as a total environment through its layout. I have observed many things in my first two observations in Mrs. Brauns class. The students do a lot of in-seat assignments, such as handouts. There seems to be a few good projects being done but they are done mostly outside of class. I feel that some time should be spent in class working on the projects, even if it is 10-15 minutes. The layout seems like both a good idea and a bad idea. It seems like a good idea because if one student gets stuck on something, there are others around to help. It seems to be a bad idea, though, because of what I stated before, there is still the temptation for the students to talk when they are not suppose to and distract each other. The only implication I have is that it seems that some old methods are hard to leave behind, such as busy work (hand outs), for more interactive methods (interaction with each other).

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay The online media or the New Media has also been a consequence of dynamic communications technology developments and the need of a universal platform that emerges traditional media with the interactive power of computers and the participative aspect of the Internet. I strongly believe that online media has indeed become a very useful tool for citizens to play their role in political and social participation. The reasons are various: Internet is very popular and user-friendly, it give people the opportunity of engaging in civic discussion and there is a common lack of time, interest and proximity issues hinder their willingness in participating, As Margaret Scammell also pointed out in her paper The Internet and Civic Engagement: the Age of the Citizen-Consumer, (anul) the Internet, we hear constantly, will change everything. Thus far, however, the evidence for politics is rather small. We see vastly expanded information sources for citizens, new delivery systems for political institutions, greater opportunities for politics at the margins. But mostly we see the same old electoral and institutional politics with no evidence of huge new communities of participating citizens. What is actually emphasized here is the fact that we expect a greater involvement of citizens in political and social aspects on online media platforms, whereas new media online only endows us with brand new instruments of citizenship performance. Internet, as one of the 20th centurys most important developments, facilitates old and new functions of media, by orientating traditional media, like newspapers and television towards more participation, interactivity, flexibility, real time interaction, experiences and information sharing at a low cost. Politics and political participation of citizens is one of the topics of discussion over the Internet. The basic function of media informing people, is clearly seen in the huge World Wide Web community. Politicians have recently started to be aware of the impact that the Internet has, especially on young generations and therefore have moved online, where they have their own blogs, participate in online political forums, and get in direct contact with their electors. A very good example in this sense is Barack Obamas famous online campaign which helped him engage more with his voters and actually gave them the opportunity of integrating and even creating a political campaign. I think it helped us to access a lot of people by giving them to tools to organize, to create events, to connect with each others and giving them everything that they needed, so that when they had talking points to pass onto their families, videos, events in their area that were happening, community outreach pro grams in their state. Everything that we did was to connect people, because it was a movement that was fundamentally about people. (http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/04/felesky-rahaf.html Rahaf Harfoush interview) Moreover, even in 2000 American elections, American Online reported that seven of the all-time top ten live online chats were political, suggesting an increase in interest and involvement in the political process (Marlin 1999: 12 in CAROLINE J. TOLBERT AND RAMONA S. MCNEAL, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY). Another essential aspect of online citizenship is the civic engagement. One might argue that civic engagement online is one of the pioneer activities promoted online and which had a tremendous success among both nongovernmental organizations and participants to different online campaigns, petitions, manifestations. Its mobilizing character has had a very good outcome in community volunteer work, environmental causes and protest behavior, as it has engaged people in various discussions on social media platforms or in sharing experiences and thoughts about problems of common interest on YouTube, Blogs, MySpace, Facebook and websites. A very good example of a civic engagement campaign that has attracted many participants is the Greenpeace campaign. Promoting their activities in environmental causes and simultaneously asking for peoples direct involvement online has ensured the success of their campaign. Online medias main advantage that of offering great opportunities of sharing information and experiences to its users can sometimes turn into a disadvantage, because normal people are becoming journalists. This facilitates subjectivism and might sometimes lead to misinforming the other users. Moreover, many organizations, politicians or public figures have sensed the potential impact and success of online campaigns and therefore tend to control certain information flows for their own interest and even manipulate the content of forums, blogging, etc. The Web community facilitates the achievement of different types of citizenship, whether they are political, cultural, social or national. Citizens have often declared themselves dissatisfied with traditional media coverage; due to media concentration, the information and knowledge they get seems most of the times to be influenced by particular view that media moguls try to impose indirectly. Therefore the online media give them the opportunity of expressing themselves without restrictions and engage actively in different knowledge sharing activities and even direct participation to political decisions. Taken all this arguments into consideration, I believe that the new media indeed contribute to a better citizenship by means of more interaction, delivering own experiences and thoughts towards different political topics, being informed and having access to a greater range of knowledge sources. Online media, creates opportunities for all the Internet users to contribute to the main attribute of democracy and that is, being able to take part at political and social decision making process.

Oil and The Internal Combustion Engine Essay -- Engines History Histor

Oil and The Internal Combustion Engine Our cars are powered by an obscure fuel source. The answer to this lies many decades or, more accurately, perhaps centuries ago. The inventors and pioneers such as Rudolf Diesel, Felix Wankel and Nikolaus Otto, would have never considered the fuel that they did if they knew the kind of political ramifications that it would have had on the world today. I propose, that due to this fuel source, the internal combustion engine as we know it has been a perpetual source of top-down exploitation ever since Henry Ford mass produced the first model T. At the time of the engine’s development, Gasoline (which is a derivative of oil) was cheap, plentiful and most importantly, a potentially powerful fuel. It provided smooth combustion and the ability to work hard without all of the messy details usually associated with the maintenance of farm animals. That is why the first engines were rated in ‘Horse power’ since it was a direct measure of how much work an engine could perform in relation to its animal counterpart. Jump to the present, we use internal combustion engines in our everyday lives, most notably in our cars but also when we demand electricity which was generated using engines. We depend on the work crews that cut down trees for the wood we use to build our houses. How do they do that? Answer: chainsaws, which use one kind of engine. When someone’s home is on fire, how do the firefighters extinguish the fire? Simple, they use engines that pump water into their hoses so they can put out the blaze. The list of uses that the internal combustion engine has would take up more space than this paper can allow. So, it comes as no surprise that the internal combustion engine has such a tight grip o... ...mbustion too!) The problem that Americans face is, exploitation through the use of this technology by powerful corporations and government legislation. It would seem that all of the dinosaurs keeled over and died in all of the world’s political hot spots. But actually, this â€Å"black gold† is simply sought after due to the great demand attached to it. I think that if oil were to disappear tomorrow, we would still have exploitation from powerful ethanol companies. Perhaps there is no escaping the greed for profit no matter what the fuel supply. But certainly with a ‘renewable’ fuel supply, we can fight back a little bit harder in future generations. Works Cited: 1. Money, Nov 2000, Vol.29, Issue 12, Pg. 73, Ron Insana, Daniel Yergin 2. Forbes, Nov 2000, Vol.166, Issue 13, Pg. 56, Robin Gibb 3. Fortune, Oct 2000, Vol. 142, Issue 10, Pg. 58, David Stipp

The Effects of Gangs :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Effects of Gangs What is a gang? According to Steven Sachs, a probation officer since 1978, it is "a structured, cohesive group of individuals, usually between the ages of eleven and twenty-five, who generally operate under some form of leadership while claiming a territory or turf," (Sachs XV). Distinctive clothing, the use of special street names, language, symbols and signs, and the committing of organized and spontaneous criminal acts describe some of the characteristics of a gang. Gang members can be male or female, but they are most often male. Jeffery Fagan and Joan Moore, researchers who primarily use self-reports and observations in the field, estimate that female participation in gangs may be as high as 33 percent. In the first national survey that was conducted by Walter Miller in 1975, he estimated that 48 percent of gang members in the six largest cities in the United States were black, 36 percent Hispanic, 9 percent white, and 7 percent Asian. A few years later, in a more extensive surv ey in nine of the largest cities, Miller found that 44 percent of all gang members were Hispanic, 43 percent black, 9 percent white, 4 percent Asian. Based on these statistics, he speculated that illegal Hispanic immigrants may have contributed to the increasing number of gangs in California (Kinnear 76). Gangs are often rooted in the historical experience of discrimination and economic struggle. White gangs exist mainly to promote and act on racist beliefs, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Skinheads. Black gangs, Blood and CRIP, formed mainly for protection from other gangs. Hispanic gangs like Latin Kings and Sureno are typically concerned with the self-respect and integrity of their neighborhood. Asian gangs including Chinese and Korean are perhaps more organized than the Hispanic or Black gangs and have been associated with gambling, prostitution, and narcotics on a more sophisticated and profitable level than other types of gangs. They are also more mobile (Landre, Miller, Port er 4). As a result of gangs, increased use and dealing of drugs, a person's sense of belonging to a gang, and gang related crimes have had negative effects on society. Many of the images of gangs, based primarily on media reports, include the use of alcohol and drugs. People tend to believe that gangs sell drugs to make extra money or even that many of them are structured as mini-corporations and are heavily involved in the drug trade.

Improper and unethical behavior Essay

Analysis of How Improper & Unethical behavior can be avoided in the Workplace In any workplace there will always be rules and regulations regarding that need to be followed. These rules and regulations usually require employees to observe proper behavior, wear the proper attire, and act professionally, among others. However, more often than not, there will be times that an employee is distracted from his or her work and he or she eventually ends up doing things that are not-related to work or things are unethical. These improper and unethical behaviors may include arriving late for work, chatting with co-employees, boisterously laughing out loud, falling asleep while working, insubordination, accessing prohibited files, using company money, leaving the workplace without notifying the direct superior, and fighting with co-employees, among many others. These â€Å"sins† at work usually have a corresponding warning or penalty. While these behaviors are common in almost any workplace, there are a lot of ways to avoid them. First, a worker or an employee must always focus on his or her task. He or she should completely understand the reasons why he or she is working there and his or her goals. Secondly, a worker or employee should provide himself or herself with reasons not to be distracted from his or her work. In other words, he or she should keep himself or herself busy so that he or she does not end up doing other things that could result in his or her inefficiency in work. Moreover, the worker or employee should not be the one to initiate any non-work related activity and instead be the one to prevent such things from happening. While doing so may earn the ire of other workers who do not always adhere to the rules and regulations, this will prevent him or her from being reprimanded or penalized. In this connection, a worker or employee should have the initiative of setting a good example to other employees. Since most companies usually hand out rewards or give recognitions to the best employees in a month, a worker or employee who behaves properly and works efficiently has a good chance of receiving this award and, in effect, he or she would motivate his or her co-employees to follow his example. In addition, a worker or employee should always see to it that he or she â€Å"keeps his or her eyes on the prize. † Meaning to say, while at work, an employee or worker should focus on the rewards he or she would receive if he or she maintains a good track record while also keeping in mind the consequences if he or she fails to accomplish his or her tasks. In short, this means that he or she should use the possible rewards as a form of motivation for him or her to work harder and use the possible punishments also as a way for him or her to avoid committing mistakes such as displaying unethical and improper behavior. Furthermore, the worker or employee should also know his or her place at work and respect the proper authorities and co-employees so that he or she would also earn their respect. Giving proper respect includes greeting co-employees properly, especially during the first time you see them in the morning, as well as calling them by their proper names, and also, obeying orders from a superior. Basically, the bottom line is that for any worker or employee to avoid improper or unethical behavior, he or she should completely focus on his or her task to avoid being distracted, religiously follow the rules and regulations in the workplace, and motivate or inspire himself or herself to achieve his or her personal goals.