Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 12

Research Paper Example The payment is made through secure servers where the merchant website redirects to the consumer’s online bank account, allows a secure login and subsequent initiation of electronic payment in favour of the merchant. (Karnouskos and Fokus, 2004). Web 2.0 is the latest technology that has taken the internet worl and the internet community by storm. It is characterised in the way a user interacts with the web. Unlike its predecessor the â€Å"Static Web†, this version of online Web interaction is a 2 way information exchange system. It not only allows the user to view and download content like text, video, audio, flash files etc, but also gives the user freedom to contribute to the online content. The technology behind, blogging, online user profile maintenance, twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Google+, Linked In etc is Web2.0 which allows the user to customise his space or in other –words his profile. This is a frequently encountered feature in open chat rooms or discussion boards where users can either create profile or simply type text in the text boxes posting messages which mainly are polls, opinions, review or feedback about some product, service or technology. Forums like Physics forums, Maths forums, and online help forums are spreading like wildfire where users can interact with a team of experts from the comforts of their homes and get their queries answered by specialists. In such cases the users are separated by time and space which is what makes the interaction even more breathtaking Web2.0 redefines user interaction and has in fact changed the way people use the web. People use its much more like an online repository, a well organised, catalogued, tidy storage system capable of safe, secure and reliable storage of thousands of Gigabytes of information. Executive support systems or Manager Support Systems (as referred in some Enterprise Resource

Post-modern management Essay Example for Free

Post-modern management Essay It has always been the goal of man to be able to describe humanity and the world in which they live in. In doing this, we are inclined to search for answers, to find resolutions to our needs and problems. Decisions become important and the ability to use knowledge to make intelligent choices become essential. It is not such a wonder then that through all those years, man has developed countless theories and practices and had reinforced them with countless examples. In the world of management and leadership, the conventional approach to things involves a rigid and tested way of creating solutions. Traditional management science, furthermore, involves the use of computational processes to organizational decision making. It starts off with the recognition and definition of the problem in the real world. The ultimate goal then is to find what is needed is to be able to bridge what the present situation lacks to what the intended result is. It is a beginning of the search for improvement. Conventional methods use an idealized and linear manner to fuse the problem and a known pattern or puzzle to create a solvable model. To make a good intellectual decision, it is necessary to conduct optimization, forecasting, modeling and simulation, and decision analysis. It involves finding out what the best feasible option is, what it entails for the future and what its result would be for varying situations. Models are used wherein the object is to be able to match a puzzle to represent the problem in the real world. Traditional models such as linear and dynamic programming, queuing, discrete-event simulation and causal models are used and from all of these, ultimately the best decision is made. This discipline has become integrated to the basic field of management and has become a standard for various functions of business. (Whalen, 2001) In the context of marketing, traditional methods of simplification and reduction to formulae are used. Highly structured devices, pre-determined market and brand standards are employed to achieve desirable goals. Marketers are the one controlling and driving these goals and therefore consumers respond to this. (McKernon) Robbins, in the article of Summers et al. , further reinforces these patterns of cause and effect by relating organizational behavior through scientific methods. The real world is â€Å"mirrored† by organizational behavior through methods of investigating behavior†. (Summers, 1997) Robbins argues that most of the generalizations of man are made on the basis of intuition, not proven facts and thus investigation is needed. Intuition is likened to common sense and that, most of the times, it is inaccurate. Robbins further explains that common sense is different for different groups of people and that investigation tackles diversity. By investigating, managers can better and more precisely handle and predict the behavior of their personnel. This investigation must be coupled with good research especially on the comparison and weighing trade-offs. The use of case studies, surveys, and experiments must be implemented. Robbins further reiterates that generalizations and conclusions must be based on systematic study, scientific evidence supported by verified data. Organizational behavior knowledge is attained by avoiding intuitive approach and focusing more on knowledge based on meta-quantification analysis and surveys. (Summers, 1997) The leader or manager eventually uses these techniques to properly guide the organization and his/her employees. Optimal leadership ultimately depends on internal and external factors. In the organizational behavior perspective, leaders use contingencies such as national culture, gender and race to improve and strengthen the relationship with subordinates. This contingency theory theoretically provides the manager with the capability to independently make decisions and to do amendments necessary to obtain the desired result. Summers et al. , argue that this is a one-sided view. The conventional organizational behavior methods only show how managers can exercise their influence on the workers but not the other way around. Traditional ways involve exploitation and discipline and encourages an ideology of domination. â€Å"Managers are taught skills in getting workers to accept the status quo, to get ahead and to get along with others but not to question the game plan†. (Summers, 1997) As evident in the deconstruction of Robbins article, Summers et al. propose a de-emphasis on this rigid structure of conventional management. Whalen et al advocate this postmodern view and puts focus on discourses and de-emphasized precise and fixed meanings. With this premise, the dynamic quality in knowledge is established. Soft computing is rallied to be a faster, more creative approach to solutions although admittedly, it welcomes inaccuracy and ambiguity. In the perspective of knowledge management, however, this postmodern approach provides ways for problem management that cannot be quantified through mathematical computations. Whalen et al. further discuss three types of knowledge approach, creation by means of evolutionary and neurocomputing, deployment through decision support systems, and discovery by data mining, applied virtual reality and data visualization. In neural methods, the model build on gathered data and experimentation and proceeds by the random systematic search. The model is based on a fixed database and relies on the matching that of an existent criterion. With experimentation, on the other hand, the aim is to look for an action from a set of choices and parameters that would result to the desired outcome. Decision support systems may also use the case-based approach. Knowledge is derived from various case studies and banks on experiential logic to create the optimal response to a problem. Moreover, data mining utilizes different techniques to look for patterns that associate and correlate various fields of databases. Data visualization and virtual reality applications likewise bring the important contribution of human perception that is irreplaceable by artificial computer simulations. Whalen et al. stress the importance of humanizing the decision process and that the organization’s stakeholders are best catered to when managers are able to produce the right choices that assert the organization’s goals and mission. As the world is getting more complex and dynamic, a postmodern stance must be advocated and that this will â€Å"greatly advance our ability to understand how humans make perception based rational decisions in an environment of imprecision, uncertainty and partial truth† (Whalen, 2001) The postmodernism approach also applies to consumer marketing. The media and marketing are important to aid the people in knowing and explaining the things around them and the events that are occurring. While the consumers are getting smarter, a need for a more suited method arises. In postmodern marketing, the styles of consuming and strategies of the consumer are given more emphasis and focus. In an environment that is mobile and complex, sustainable dynamic techniques must be employed. This approach challenges diversity and creates avenues for discourse among differing people. This is beneficial to managers, employees, consumers, and stakeholders alike. With the right facilitation of information, a brand can reach more of its market and thus generate more favorable returns. Postmodernist approach also banks on the use of critique and story-telling for consumers. Effective stories would be able to connect to the consumer and that its result relies on its ability to provide the consumers with meaning and explanations. Critique, on the other hand, is essential for a brand in that it generates feedback; whether it was a success or not depends on the informed reactions of the users. Reinvention and smooth changing of styles are important techniques in a rapidly changing world. A careful way of guiding the consumers from the familiar and traditional to the contemporary and new must be done with good aptitude. McKernon) It is a fact that the world has increasingly become more complex and ever-changing. At the very least, the knowledge that we have to gain and understand about life in general is much more vast and challenging and that traditional methods and techniques for problem solving, whether in organizational behavior or marketing might actually be lacking in such that they may not be able to solve and explain the entirety of the world’ s troubles and unquantifiable conceptions. It is therefore imperative that a healthy mix of traditional and postmodernist approach to business and management be utilized to be able to grasp more of what the world is telling us. Leaders, employees, customers and stakeholders alike must be able to make informed decisions and take into consideration the various models, theories and practices both old and new for them to make real and objective sense of the world and its organization.

Henry VII & Richard III :: European Europe History

Henry VII & Richard III Richard the Third had just recently become King of England. But he did not know that soon he would not Henry Tudor was from Wales. His surname was really spelt 'Tewdwr.' It was changed to the English way though when he became King of England. Henry was too to France by his Uncle Jasper in 1471, fourteen years before the Battle of Bosworth. His uncle took him to Brittany. There, Henry learnt a lot. He learnt about warfare, treachery and betrayal. He also learned about court politics and how to keep supporters. This helped Henry very much with the Battle of Bosworth. Henry landed at Milford haven in South Wales. He had about two thousand soldiers with him. He marched all through Wales and the Midlands. When he got to the battle site he had around five thousand troops. He had gained more than three thousand on his journey. The battle was fought up on a hill at Bosworth. At the battle site there was a third army. It was small and led by Lord William Stanley. It did not know what side to join. Henry started the battle by moving up the hill and charging at Richard. Stanley decided which side to join. It would be Henry's. He hit on the rear of Richards army causing the Kings forces to run. Richard fell from his horse in the rush and was eventually killed. As the battle ended, Stanley found the Kings crown hanging on a thorn bush. Lord Stanley crowned Henry the King of England. Henry then married Edward the IV'S daughter Elizabeth. This united both of the families together. The battle of Bosworth wasn't any old battle. It was very important in history. The Lancastrian, Henry Tudor defeated the Yorkist, Richard the third at the battle of Bosworth field in 1485 and became King

Commentary: An Advancement of Learning by Seamus Heaney Essay

In An Advancement from Learning by Seamus Heaney, he describes a retrospective childhood experience. The narrator compels himself to face a deep-seated and preposterous fear which he consequently conquers. He shares his terror and revulsion by implementing vivid and vibrant imagery presented in nine quatrains. The conquest of an irrational fear depicted in this poem is perhaps a metaphor for overcoming greater fears in life. As the title suggest, this poem is about An Advancement of Learning- facing and subsequently conquering sometimes strong and private fears. Heaney describes a lone stroll along a polluted, ‘oil-skinned’ river bank. The almost sombre introspective tone of the opening two stanzas rapidly changes into one of revolt and terror as a rat emerges from the river. In a moment of panic, the poet attempts to escape, only to find another on the far bank, which encouraged a deeper impact. The second rat provoked the author to question his response to and fear for these animals. He then ‘incredibly’ decides to courageously maintain his ground and face the rodent. Despite Heaney providing the reader with a vibrant image of the animal to reinforce his contempt, he almost battles the rat until he ‘stared him out’. Eventually, as if the narrator won the ongoing battle, the rat retreats into a sewage pipe. Heaney then advances his way and triumphantly crosses the bridge, as he conquered a fright which has bedevilled him since childhood. An Advancement of Learning is written in nine quatrains consisting of short and sharp lines, which almost present the reader with a succession of flashing images. Heaney employs a loose and alternate rhyming scheme- stanzas one, three, six, eight and nine follow the pattern abcb, whereas stanzas two and four follow the abac pattern. Where the seventh stanza follows the abab pattern, Stanza five has the different but effective rhyming scheme abbc. The regularity of the rhythm in this stanza contributes to the reader’s sense of the poet’s rising self control. Heaney makes active use of enjambment and caesura to emphasise many of his emotions and sentiments. The astute use of enjambment from lines ten to sixteen increase the tempo and excitement of the poem, which in turn aid to convey the poet’s  fright and aspiration to flee. Furthermore, the writer applies enjambment between one stanza and the next to allow his descriptions to flow smoothly, which appropriately reflects the fluidity of the river described. Interesting is that the verses reflect the writer’s gradual gaining of self control. The main entity in the poem is the bridge as it symbolises the tree stages in the writer’s conquest of fear. At the sight of the first rat, the poet initially refuses to cross the bridge. Once faced with his ‘enemy’, he establishes a ‘dreaded Bridgehead’ which in military terms means to hold a defensive position. He is fearful but determined. Finally, as the poet defeats his foe and fear, he, with a vestige of triumph, ‘walked on and crossed the bridge.’ The bridge is mentioned at these three key stages of Heaney’s experience as well as structurally in the first, central and closing stanzas to emphasise the stages of overcoming his fear gradually. Heaney’s most striking feature in terms of style and language are unmistakably his effective use of alliteration and sibilance, as well as the appealing use of lexis. The repetition of the sharp consonant sounds s and c, especially conspicuous in the third stanza, contribute to both the sickening nature of the rat and the writer’s feelings towards it. An example of words carefully chosen to enhance and reflect the meaning of the poem is ‘Insidiously listening’, which is despite its impact, neither alliteration nor assonance. The narrator also employs extraordinary and emotive vocabulary, such as ‘slimed’ and ‘nimbling’ to describe the rats, allowing the reader to accurately experience the fear and loathing which he suffered. Remarkable about this poem is that as the writer overcomes his revolt and fright, the description of the animal becomes more forgiving. Where at the beginning the rodents were Insidious, ‘slobberedâ€℠¢ and ‘slimed’ around, they are, less forbiddingly, observed as animals with ‘the raindrop eye’ and ‘the old snout’ towards the end. This indicates how the writer’s fear and terror disappears with the rat into the sewage pipe, and how he now views the rodent in its proper perspective. An Advancement of Learning successfully conveyed the writer’s feelings and  emotions while conquering a lifelong phobia. The use of enjambment and caesura as well as the alternating rhyming patterns, which reflected the increasing order of the situation, all contribute to the vibrant image the reader is provided with. Furthermore, the poet employed the motif of the bridge as a foundation for the poem’s structure while adding more dimension to the text by enforcing it as a symbol of the poet’s route to overcoming his deep-rooted fears.

Ethos Pathos Logos Essay

A positive Ethos can be created The inner character -Honest -Honorable -Truthful -Fair -Ethical The outward manifestations -Attractive -Charismatci -Expert -Possessing Aristote’s classic plan to create persuasive argument 1- Deliver a story 2- Pose a problem 3- Offer a solution 4- Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution 5- State a call to action. For Steve Jobs, it’s as simple as saying  « Now go out and buy one  » Quotations : Base-line = slogan Mission statement : -Defines a company’s basic business and purpose -Ensures employees and all stakeholders are pointed in the same direction. Example :  « Bringing the best to everyone we touch  ». By  « the best  », we mean the best beauty products. The best people and the best ideas. These three pillars remain the foundation upon which we continue to build our  success today. How do I write one ? -Defining what you do -Identifying the core products or services -Determining your value proposition The vision is what the company wants to become. A vivid and clear description of a bright future. Expresses aspirations Describes an inspiring new reality, achievable in a reasonable timeframe Guides internal actions Usually starts with the words  « to become  » or  « to create  » How do I write one ? -Decide what the company wants to become -Establish the critical success factors in the marketplace -Identify strenghts and weaknesses -Clarify the company’s opportunities and threats Pepsi Co Vision Group assignement -Continuous assesment mark -Invent a service and write the vision and mission statements, strategic objectives and baseline for a 5 minute group Powerpoint presentation next week. Vision statement starts with : To be/ become/ create

The New American essays

The New American essays The definition of what it means to be an American has changed dramatically throughout the history of our country. The founding fathers brought forth the idea of a new nation; that made sovereign the supremacy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America has changed drastically over the last two hundred years, and the definition of what it means to be an American has changed with it as well. In class for the last several weeks, the question was raised of what it means to be an American at the end of the twentieth century. The America of the twentieth century is not as far off from what the founding fathers intended; as some people might be led to believe. We have looked at several different works and articles that have given their perspective on what it means to be an American. Although American citizens are shown in Hollywood movies such as Kids, the film does not depict what the true meaning of being an American is. Our country was founded on the principals of there being no borders between us as a nation. Whether it be a difference of race or heritage, we as a people are all Americans. Being an American means setting aside your biases or prejudices, and living side-by-side with other religions, races, and cultures in a society with the absence of a single ethnic origin. Two works that mainly caught my attention were Letters from an American Farmer, written by Hector St. Jean Crvecoeur, and The Disuniting of America, written by Arthur M. Schlesinger. Crvecoeur focuses greatly on the American as a person with the drive and ambition to distinguish themselves from the others that are around them. Crvecoeur's views show a great sense of individuality among Americans. Schlesinger's excerpt attempts to show that our country has failed to create the society that our nations founders originally wanted. A new society in which being an American does not mean you are white and your ancestors were from the or...

Definition of Gobbledegook Essay Example

Definition of Gobbledegook Essay Example Definition of Gobbledegook Paper Definition of Gobbledegook Paper 10/2/2011 Gobbledygook Gobbledygook is defined as when someone uses an extended amount of words in order to stretch their sentences out. According to Stuart Chase the author of â€Å"Gobbledygook† was founded by the Federal Security Agency and was said to help â€Å"Break out of the verbal squirrel cage†. Examples of Gobbledygook can be found in such places as academic and legal talk. An example of Gobbledygook can be found in the legal world. Gobbledygook is defined by most lawyers as â€Å"squandering words, packaging a message with excess baggage and so introducing semantic â€Å"noise†. Basically, it is all the fancy lawyer jargon that they use in order to get their points across and sound professional. The gobble in the legal system is beginning to be banned due to its ineffectiveness. Another common place you can see gobbledygook is in academic talk. An example is when you are writing an essay you are basically using gobbledygook to extend its length. Most of the professors believe that gobbledygook is needed sometimes because it does help get certain points made and some of the bigger words will have a better definition than the smaller ones. In conclusion, instead of using gobbledygook phrases to extend our writings we should just focus on how clear it is first. The federal security agency gives us a list of examples that can help get rid of the gobble; one example is instead of using â€Å"is of the opinion† just use believes. The fsa believes we need to stop producing so much gobble because the clarity of our writing is never there.