Sociological Motivations for Recruitment in Terrorist Groups Essay

Sociological Motivations for Recruitment in Terrorist Groups - Essay Example (Frontline) Hence every country has used different methods to combat and recruit terrorist groups. People, and governments in almost every sphere of life are working to reduce terrorism "security, prevention, and suppression of terrorism, legal and ethnic dilemmas regarding democratic issues, such as the individual's human rights, as well as social and psychological and media related issues" (The Counter Terrorism Puzzle: A Guide For Decision Makers). Even though with increasing steps taken to oppose terrorism many innocent people are joining terrorist groups, thus increasing terrorist activities an example of this can be the increase in suicide bombing. Therefore to diminish terrorism we need to know the reasons because of which a person joins a terrorist group. The reasons or motivations can be divided into two broad categories the psychological reasons and the sociological reasons. In psychological we will discuss the mental health leading to terrorism while in sociological we will evaluate how society, norms, crises result in leading an individual to terrorist groups. Marxists is a sociologist and according to him all violence should not be rejected. "The bourgeois politicians who make such claims, while supporting wars, nuclear weapons, armies, prisons, etc are simply hypocrites". Marxists believe that in certain situations, such as wars of national liberation and mass revolutionary struggle, violence may be unavoidable and is good for the prosperity of the society. "While terrorism, as in planting bombs on government or civilian targets, or hijacking planes, or assassinations by small groups acting independently of class struggle, has always been condemned, been unacceptable and has received negative response".According to Marxist perspective the division of classes is the root cause of terrorism. "Marx believes that the root cause of exploitation, oppression, tyranny and war was not bad individual rulers or bad governments but the division of society into classes, and the ownership and control of production by a minority class that live off th e labor of the majority. According to him killing or frightening even large numbers of individuals, could not achieve any results he thought that to overcome the ruling class we need to start the struggle of a new class which is the bearer of a new economic system". (Socialist review) Durkheims perspective on terrorism suggest that collective conscience is the only way to reduce terrorism according to him the concept of individual values is the root cause of terrorism. "Defined by mile Durkheim as the collective conscience was extensive and strong, ranging far and wide into people's lives, controlling them in detail through various religious or other traditional means of sanction. It emphasized the primacy of society over the individual and his or her dignity. However, the growth of individualism, in Durkheim's view, undermined the collective conscience. Individualism decreased the social responsibility, the concept of sanctions was also undermined giving reduced and more opportunity was given to individuals to get involved in activities that might

Management Style in Gate Gourmet Research Paper

Management Style in Gate Gourmet - Research Paper Example This number came to 45 and questionnaires were distributed to 45 employees of GG while they were coming out after completing their shifts. This was considered necessary to achieve the objectives of the study outlined above. The first question related to the overall working conditions prevailing in GG since the settlement of the dispute in 2005. Out of the 23 male employees surveyed 8 of them agreed that the working conditions are satisfying. While 10 of them took a neutral stand 5 of the employees mostly disagreed with the statement that the conditions are satisfactory. A graphical representation of the replies is appended below: The same question was answered by 22 female employees. Of he female employees surveyed 2 of them were appeared to be satisfied with the working conditions at GG. 12 of them took a neutral stand whereas 8 of them mostly disagreed with the statement. For the satisfaction about the overall working conditions, out of the total sample of 45 employees, none of them agreed that they were satisfied with the working conditions. Out of the balance, 10 of them mostly agreed and 22 of the employees neither agreed nor disagreed that the working conditions were satisfactory. While 10 of them mostly disagreed 3 of them totally were not satisfied with the prevailing working conditions. The graphical representation is as below: Here the employ... For the satisfaction about the overall working conditions, out of the total sample of 45 employees, none of them agreed that they were satisfied with the working conditions. Out of the balance, 10 of them mostly agreed and 22 of the employees neither agreed nor disagreed that the working conditions were satisfactory. While 10 of them mostly disagreed 3 of them totally were not satisfied with the prevailing working conditions. The graphical representation is as below: Question 2: Organisational Value: Here the employees were asked to comment whether working with GG makes them feel that they are valued and respected. For this question, out of the sample of 45 people, none of them agreed that there is any value; 5 of the employees mostly agreed; 19 of them took a neutral approach; 19 of them mostly disagreed and 2 of them totally disagreed that they had any value or respect. The pictorial representation: Question 3: Prospects for Employee Growth: Under this question the selected employees were asked to present whether in their opinion there was any opportunity for the employees to apply for getting appointed to senior positions in GG. The answer was 'YES' by none, mostly agreed by 5, neither agree nor disagree by 24, mostly disagree by 15 and totally 'NO' by 1 employee. The graph is as shown below: Question 4: Existence of Downward Communication: The employees were asked to answer the question that whether there was any downward communication between managers and the staff in the form of regular meetings. None of the employees replied affirmatively. While 3 of them mostly agreed that there were meetings, 22 of them remained non-committal. 10 of the employees mostly disagreed to the opinion that

Stace & Dunphy Essay Example for Free

Stace Dunphy Essay Five dilemmas that have characterised decisions about organisational change: 1. Adaptive V rational strategy development 2. Cultural change V structural change 3. Continuous improvement V radical transformation 4. Empowerment V leadership and command. 5. Economic V Social goals Having discussed the five dilemmas, Dunphy and Stace (1996) differentiate them in terms of `soft and `hard approaches to managing change: Soft approaches are characterised by: adaptive strategy, cultural change, continuous improvement and empowerment. while hard approaches are characterised by: rational strategy, structural change, radical transformation and leadership and command. Introduction to Cultural Change Structural Success in business is often determined by how effective an organization manages cultural change. That is success is not achieved by an executives skills alone, nor by the visible features the strategy, structure and reward system of the organization. Every organization has an invisible quality a certain style, a character, a way of doing things that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or any formal system. This invisible quality the corporate culture dictates how effective the organization is in the marketplace. Achieving cultural change to maintain a prime market position has to be a key preoccupation of every chief executive. To understand the soul of the organization and the cultural change required necessitates us probing below the below what is visible, e.g., charts, rule books, machines and buildings and into the underground world of peoples feelings, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, only then can the corporate culture be defined and cultura l change initiatives be identified. To provide meaning, direction and mobilisation, i.e., the social energy that moves the corporation into either productive action or destruction requires constant cultural change to keep abreast of current management thinking and technology. Many organisations however simply do not recognise the need for cultural change and therefore this social energy has barely been tapped; whether diffused in all directions or even deactivated, it is not mobilised to help the company. Most members seem apathetic or depressed about their jobs and no longer pressure one another to do well. Even cultural change pronouncements by top managers that they will improve the situation fall on the deaf ears of employees who have heard these promises before. Consequently, without cultural change being itself part of the culture, the soul of the organisation slowly dies. The crucial role of corporate cultural change in shaping behaviour, and the especially powerful effects of group norms, one way to turn around a maladaptive company is to effect cultural change by managing its norms. Even cultural norms that dictate behaviour, opinions style and attitudes, etc., can be brought to the surface, discussed and altered by cultural change initiatives. Experience of corporate consulting work, has revealed it helpful to have all group members (generally in a cultural change workshop setting) list the actual norms that currently guide their behaviour and attitudes. This can be done for one or many cultural change groups, departments and divisions. Sometimes, it takes a little prodding and a few illustrations to get the process started, but once it begins, cultural change group members are quick to suggest many norms. In fact, they seem to delight in being able to articulate what was never written in any document and rarely mentioned even in casual conversation between themselves. What is Structural Change Structure is the place where culture grows. The structure of the organization, its physical structure, its work processes and systems support and create the behavior of the people who work there. Often organizations distribute new mission statements, beautiful posters with new values on them, but since the structure of the workplace does not support the mission or values, they are doomed to disappear. The networks of an organization function as culture maintainers organization members who communicate in predictable ways about predictable things based on history. Fundamental and lasting change requires the transformation of the networks that are the foundation for communication and relationships within the organization. By changing the way people sit, the processes they use, the structure of relationships between departments new networks form and old ones fade away. The structural changes should be small, many and high leverage. The changes should be small so that small numbers of volunteers can implement them quickly. Changing many things at the same time destabilizes the old, out-dated systems and processes. High leverage changes have a profound impact on the whole system. New structure forces new behaviors, just as changing the position of a wall in a room, or taking it away all together, causes people in the room to move and to change their focus. (Ref: Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK) Structural change is enduring and difficult to undo. Once new walls, new systems and new processes are built to replace old structures, it is hard to return to the old way of doing things. Remember when the typewriter and the computer sat in side-by-side in the offices and how the people continued to use their typewriters? As soon as the typewriters were gone, people switched to computers. A test for structural change is an econometric test to determine whether the coefficients in a regression model are the same in separate subsamples. Often the subsamples come from different time periods. CNN has picked up on a report by the New York Federal Reserve Bank that suggests that the recovery is jobless because there is a restructuring beginning to happen. In a recent report, economists at the New York Fed suggest that what is happening is structural. In past recessions job losses were far more cyclical: The economy turned down, your company laid you off, but as soon as things got better you got hired back. Lets discuss an issue on structural and cultural change on The causes of Poverty in U.S. There are many competing theories about the causes of poverty in the United States with mountains of empirical evidence to justify support for each. The debate among theorists and policymakers is primarily divided between advocates who support cultural/behavioural arguments and those who support structural/economic arguments. This debate tends to manifest itself across political party lines with republicans supporting the cultural/behavioural thesis and democrats looking more to structural causes. (Ref: http://www.canberra.edu.au) Structural Causes Supporters of the structural school of thought argue that most poverty can be traced back to structural factors inherent to either the economy and/or to several interrelated institutional environments that serve to favor certain groups over others, generally based on gender, class, or race. Of the various institutional environments that tend to sustain a multitude of economic barriers to different groups, it is discrimination based on race and gender that create the most insidious obstructions. The disproportionately high rate of poverty among women may be viewed as the consequence of a patriarchal society that continues to resist their inclusion in a part of society that has been historically dominated by men, and as a consequence, welfare programs have been designed in ways that stigmatize public support for women as opposed to marital support; both arrangements tend to reinforce patriarchy. In this regard, the rise in poverty among women is an important structural level variable t o consider, but the lack of reliable data going back to 1947 makes testing difficult. This view is in part analogous to spatial mismatch theory, which generally hypothesizes that the location and relative access to jobs of the disadvantaged group is more operable than race per se. In a comprehensive literature review, Holzer concludes that spatial mismatch has a significant effect on Black employment and is primarily due to the low availability of well-paying jobs in the inner-city; a situation brought on by job decentralization and increasing commute times to distant jobs. However, Holzer suggests that the root cause of higher unemployment among inner-city Blacks may not be clearly distinguishable between the characteristics of the people who reside in each place as opposed to the problems created by location per se.. Structural economic factors include the level and variation in unemployment, median income, and measures of income inequality. The effects of unemployment and rises in median income are well documented and their relationship to poverty is intuitive. The rate of poverty tracks very closely with median income and in general, rises in median income has positive benefits for all classes, including the poor. Over the last half century, as median income has risen, the rate of poverty has decreased in close correlation. This relationship lends credibility to the argument that work is the best mechanism for lifting people out of poverty. Indeed, one of the clearest strategies for fighting poverty should be to focus on ensuring a strong and growing economy. However, for individuals to take full advantage of a strong and changing economy, they need education. Rises in income are positively correlated with educational attainment. Yet education is not equally accessible by all members of the pop ulation. Since property taxes represent the largest share of local school funding, the quality of education will necessarily vary relative the economic wealth of the locality. Federal and State funding represent smaller shares and are meant to level the playing fields somewhat, but they do not. It is education that allows people to adapt to changes in the economy and by extension changes in the demand for labour. During the latter half of the 20th Century, the American economy shifted from one based on manufacturing to one based on services. The gains in wages and working conditions that were made in the manufacturing sector have been weakened by the service economy. For example, Wal-Mart offers its employees one of the weakest wage/benefits packages of any corporation of its kind and continues to fend off unionization; it is now one the most powerful corporations with a huge market share and monopsony power over its suppliers. The gains in US GDP are in part due to the success of a consumer economy that rewards Wal-Mart and its cousin conglomerates, but at what cost to the Americans working low wage/benefit jobs. The barriers created by these trends are difficult for the poor to overcome. How is the poor parent supposed to take care of his/her family based on a near minimum wage job with poor and/or expensive health coverage and child care? A publication by the Institute of Womens Policy Research demonstrates that many among the poor rely on several sources of income in order to get by, including government assistance, income from other family members, child support, and job income. These multiple sources of income along with the stresses inherent to the pursuit of each would not be as needed if sufficient employment were available for livable wages and benefits. Economic Vs Social goals Some obstacles to the development of new forms of work organisation have been recently reported : low level of awareness, poor access to evidence-based resources, ountervailing trends, distribution of the relevant competencies. When thinking of the impact of industrial relations on organisational innovation, another sociological factor may be stressed: Whatever the necessary roles of the collective social actors in the work organisation, employees are now definitely the key actors in this respect. However, in many countries, the history of industrial relations systems, the actual balance of power between employers and employees in companies and the growing social insecurity based on flexibility, lead many employees to wonder about the aim and the effects of the new forms of work organisation. They consider that companies are asking them for more efforts in their single interests (productivity, quality of product) without any evidence that it may improve employees ones ( working conditions, job security, wages, industrial democracy). For them and for some of their unions, closing the gap with stakeholders is an illusion, and improving workers involvement requires a real balance between economic and social goals in organisational innovation. Therefore, in some industrial relations systems, even more than technical tools, learning processes, used rhetorics or formal provisions, this balance is a basic precondition for most employees to implement and develop new forms of work organisation. In order to meet this precondition, i.e. to ensure both economic and social goals in work organisation, a major tool is employee representatives participation in the decision making, the monitoring and the evaluation of organisational changes at every regulatory level. Proposals are already on the table that actors should build coalitions or should have a proactive role in developing these changes. But in many countries, such proposals cannot be implemented if employers or managers remain the only decision makers in work organisation. Confirming this approach, the EPOC results (Employee Participation in Organisational Change, a programme including a survey on 5800 European companies) reported that, from most managers point of views, the more employee representatives are involved in the regulation of direct participation, the more this participation is efficiently implemented, with a good impact on cost reduction, improvement of quality of product/service, absenteeism. In the same way , in France, reducing working time by law finally was, in many companies, the best way for actors to co-operate in changing work organisation. The deal was clear, with advantages for both partners. Such a social actors involvement in regulation of work organisation is now converging with a more general trend in industrial relations systems towards what may be called a multilevel model of regulated autonomy, involving social partners in co-producing rules at most interlinked levels of work regulation, from the European level to the workplace one. Moreover, this model itself between deregulation and old top-down regulation- is clearly aimed at introducing regulatory flexibility at local levels while common rules may be kept at upper levels. The Auroux Law was the first example in France of such a model. So, in order to establish balanced goals and advantages in organisational change, and more generally in order to co-produce work regulation, employees representatives are or should be at the core of the system. But a major problem then appear. Their weakness in many countries, specially at company level, is often leading to u nbalanced situations in which they dont have the power to play their roles of counterpower. In the long run, the results of the bargaining between unbalanced partners often look unbalanced and not satisfactory for workers, for instance about employment, precariousness or working conditions. (Ref: Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England.) Empowerment Leadership and command Empowerment evaluation is part of the intellectual landscape of evaluation. It has been adopted in higher education, government, inner-city public education, nonprofit corporations, and foundations throughout the United States and abroad. A wide range of program and policy sectors use empowerment evaluation, including substance abuse prevention, HIV prevention, crime prevention, environmental protection, welfare reform, battered womens shelters, agriculture and rural development, adult probation, adolescent pregnancy prevention, tribal partnership for substance abuse, self-determination and individuals with disabilities, doctoral programs, and educational reform (the Accelerated Schools Project a national educational reform movement). Descriptions of programs that use empowerment evaluation appear in Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment and Accountability (Fetterman, Kaftarian, and Wandersman 1996). Foundations of Empowerment Evaluation presents a complete description about how to conduct an empowerment evaluation (Fetterman, 2001). The definition of a leader is someone who has followers. To gain followers requires influence but doesnt exclude the lack of integrity in achieving this. Indeed, it can be argued that several of the worlds greatest leaders have lacked integrity and have adopted values that would not be shared by many people today. Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. Conclusion on Dilemmas While measurement issues remain, including the applicability of a national level analysis to various regions and cities each with potentially differentiated forms and causes of poverty, the final Model V of this analysis provides a useful framework for understanding the general causes of poverty at the national level. Contrary to the hypothesis of the paper, the cultural variables employed could not be integrated with the structural/political variables into a larger model that demonstrated the dynamic interrelation between the structural environment, cultural processes, and behavioral outcomes as theorized by Orlando Patterson Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. As is the case in traditional evaluation, everyone is accountable in one fashion or another and thus has an interest or agenda to protect. A school district may have a five-year plan designed by the superintendent; a graduate school may have to satisfy requirements of an accreditation association; an outside evaluator may have an important but demanding sponsor pushing either timelines or results, or may be influenced by training to use one theoretical approach rather than another. Empowerment evaluations, like all other evaluations, exist within a context. However, the range of intermediate objectives linking what most people do in their daily routine and macro goals is almost infinite. People often feel empowered and self-determined when they can select intermediate objectives that are linked to larger, global goals. In addition, a self-evaluation is more meaningful when linked to external requirements and demands. Empowerment evaluation also empowers external evaluators. Specifically, the external evaluators role and productivity is enhanced by the presence of an empowerment or internal evaluation process. Most evaluators operate significantly below their capacity in an evaluation because the program lacks even rudimentary evaluation mechanisms and processes. The external evaluator routinely devotes time to the development and maintenance of elementary evaluation systems. Programs that already have a basic self-evaluation process in place enable external evaluators to begin operating at a much more sophisticated level. References * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK. * Robson Wendy, (1997), strategic management and information system, 2 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * http://www.canberra.edu.au * http://www.drew-associates.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Counterbalancing China or Exploiting BRICS

Counterbalancing China or Exploiting BRICS COUNTERBALANCING CHINA OR EXPLOITING BRICS: OPTIONS FOR INDIA INTRODUCTION 1.BRICS, a unique group of countries with shared opportunities common challenges, came into being in New York in Sep 2006. However, it was during the third Summit at Sanya, in China, in Apr 2011 that South Africa joined this group thereby completing the acronym. BRICS symbolises the amalgamation of the most powerful emerging economies of the world into a group whose composite economic strength will wrest the global economic power away from the developedG7economies. 2.BRICS economies account for a quarter of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been consistently displaying sustained high annual growth rates. The economic potential of the BRICS nations cannot be overlooked however, it is yet to be seen whether BRICS would only limit itself to being an economic group or will it also assert itself on the world matters in global forums that have been dominated by the G7 nations. The possibilities of using its economic potential are endless. In its quest to realise the stated goals, it is imperative that these nations work jointly cohesively. 3. The Sixth BRICS Summit held in Brazil on 16th 17th Jul was an important milestone for the member nations as well as huge economic opportunities for them as well as the member nations with the announcement of making BRICS Bank operational to be headquartered at Shanghai. China and India being the two of the largest and most influential members share an uneasy relationship both economically and politically. BRICS is the key to their relationship and path to mutual growth. Statement of the Problem 4.Can India leverage BRICS platform to offset its economic and border issues with China? Hypothesis 5.India can resolve its economic and border issues with China by leveraging BRICS platform. Method of Data Collection 6.The information for this paper shall be gathered through the study of various books, journals papers in print as well as the Internet. Views of various guest speakers would also be incorporated. An attempt would be made to refer the sources from various agencies. Scope 7.The scope of the Dissertation is:- (a)Background/Historical perspective of BRICS. (b)Economic potential of BRICS. (c)Significance of BRICS in global politics/ international governance. (d)Challenges faced way ahead. (e) Sino-Indian Disputes. (e)Sino-Indian Relations in Foreseeable Future. (f) How India can leverage BRICS. CHAPTERS Chapter I : Background/Historical Perspective Of BRICS 8.This section will attempt to throw light on the origin the journey of BRICS from its inception to the present day. It will also broadly cover important aspects of the Goldman Sachs report by Jim O’ Neil that brought about the acronym of BRICS. Chapter II : Economic Potential of BRICS 9.Developing to Emerging Economies. This section of the paper will bring out the geo economic geo political journey of individual nations, leading to their present status. It will also give out the steps initiated by the member nations of BRICS to emerge as a cohesive stable economic platform. It will also highlight the key economic reforms resorted to by the BRICS nations the latent potential existing with these members. 10.Present Scenario. This section will deal with the current economic potential of the BRICS nations, both individually collectively. The present potential of BRICS has been listed as progressive however certain critical aspects that boost the economic potential are not symmetric across the members of BRICS. 12.Future Potential. The future potential as predicted for the BRICS will be discussed in this section. This section will also analyse the barriers that BRICS can implement to immune itself from the present global economic slowdown thereby maintaining its economic growth. It will aim to bring out that as economic powerhouses regional hubs, intra-BRICS market integration can insulate these nations from worldwide economic downturn. Chapter III : Significance Of BRICS in Global Politics / International Governance 13. Economics Finance. The interaction of BRICS members in order to reform international financial system is likely to remain a key priority in the midterm perhaps also in the long term. 14. Global Politics. BRICS as a group has already accumulated valuable experience in coordinating actions with regard to several major global political problems. BRICSs deeper engagement with the UN will aim to preserve strengthen the central role of the Security Council in maintaining international peace security. 15.Security. The format of the BRICS does not provide for deliberating military, political issues developing mechanisms for military cooperation. However, there are regular meetings of the high representatives of the members on security issues, including strategic stability, international regional security, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction the settlement of regional conflicts. This section will aim to bring out the underlying security implications for the BRICS nations in current geo – political environment. Chapter IV : Challenges Faced Way Ahead 16.The BRICS is still in its nascent stage owing to which it is likely to face a number of challenges ahead. The member nations need to overcome the internal contradictions to develop the group into a cohesive entity. This section will analyse some of these challenges like:- (a)Growth Disparity between member nations. (b)Trade Imbalance Mutual Distrust. (c)Public Private Participation. (d)Policy reforms for BRICS members to make their growth processes more durable development oriented. (e)Bring out the need to reform the structure functioning of IMF. (f)Launching of a joint development bank. 17.The Way Ahead. Under way ahead, recommendations for BRICS nations to sustain their economic growth mutual development will be deliberated. The important aspects such as mutual cooperation, handling of economic situation, establishment of BRICS bank and other miscellaneous issues will be discussed. Chapter V : Sino-Indian Disputes. 18. This chapter will be covering the disputes between both the nations as under:- Border issues. Geopolitical threat. Economic imbalance. Tibet issues. Nexus with Pakistan. Potential arms race. Indian Ocean Region. Brahmaputra water projects dispute. (j) Race for minerals/hydrocarbons in Africa and CAR. Chapter V : Sino-Indian Relations in Foreseeable Future. 19. This Chapter will be dealing with the mutual relations:- (a) Political relations. (b) Economic relations. (c) Potential cooperation areas. Chapter V : How Can India Leverage BRICS? 20.Key Thrust Areas for India. There are a few key thrust areas that India must seek in order to enhance its influence in the world forums. These thrust areas such as strengthening economic infrastructure reforms, building strategic alliances with members of BRICS, maintenance of steady pace of economic growth; increasing service industry’s influence energy security will also be discussed in this section. 21.Leveraging BRICS. (a)Geo-Political Leverage. This sub section will bring out how India stands to gain Geo-Political mileage by being part of BRICS. It will cover the aspects that will bear major advantages for India in the Geo-Political sphere. (b) Economic Leverage. This sub section will dwell upon India’s likely economic gains from BRICS that will further boost its economic growth add greater value to its economic potential. (c) Geo-Strategic Leverage. BRICS offers India ample opportunities to enhance its global reach overcome certain strategic impediments. This sub section will view all these opportunities against the backdrop of the Geo-Strategic implications that they may bring forth. (d) Defence Cooperation. This sub section will analyse the opportunities that India will have in realms of security while being the member of this group especially as Russia China, two of major military powers also part of the group. CONCLUSION 19. It is well evident that BRICS has emerged as an entity that has the potential to challenge the influence of G7 in the world forums. This potential evolves from a sustained economic growth the diversity exhibited by its member nations. The economic potential of BRICS is the sole reason why it is being viewed as the initiation of a Multi Polar World Order that is set to overcome the unipolar hegemony of the US. However, BRICS, in order to maintain its economic potential will need to eradicate multiple challenges that it faces due to the Geo-strategic locations divergent national interests of its member nations. BRICS will be a success in true self only if India and China can resolve their mutual issues and steer it towards the path of development and prosperity.

Job characteristics :: essays research papers

1. Introduction C# (pronounced â€Å"See Sharp†) is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, and Java programmers. C# is standardized by ECMA International as the ECMA-334 standard and by ISO/IEC as the ISO/IEC 23270 standard. Microsoft’s C# compiler for the .NET Framework is a conforming implementation of both of these standards. C# is an object-oriented language, but C# further includes support for component-oriented programming. Contemporary software design increasingly relies on software components in the form of self-contained and self-describing packages of functionality. Key to such components is that they present a programming model with properties, methods, and events; they have attributes that provide declarative information about the component; and they incorporate their own documentation. C# provides language constructs to directly support these concepts, making C# a very natural language in which to create and use software components. Several C# features aid in the construction of robust and durable applications: Garbage collection automatically reclaims memory occupied by unused objects; exception handling provides a structured and extensible approach to error detection and recovery; and the type-safe design of the language makes it impossible to have uninitialized variables, to index arrays beyond their bounds, or to perform unchecked type casts. C# has a unified type system. All C# types, including primitive types such as int and double, inherit from a single root object type. Thus, all types share a set of common operations, and values of any type can be stored, transported, and operated upon in a consistent manner. Furthermore, C# supports both user-defined reference types and value types, allowing dynamic allocation of objects as well as in-line storage of lightweight structures. To ensure that C# programs and libraries can evolve over time in a compatible manner, much emphasis has been placed on versioning in C#’s design. Many programming languages pay little attention to this issue, and, as a result, programs written in those languages break more often than necessary when newer versions of dependent libraries are introduced. Aspects of C#’s design that were directly influenced by versioning considerations include the separate virtual and override modifiers, the rules for method overload resolution, and support for explicit interface member declarations. The rest of this chapter describes the essential features of the C# language. Although later chapters describe rules and exceptions in a detail-oriented and sometimes mathematical manner, this chapter strives for clarity and brevity at the expense of completeness.

Strategic Human Resource Management Essay -- Employment, Change Proces

Writing Assignment #4 Strategic human resource management can be defined as the linking of human resources with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility and competitive advantage. In an organization SHRM means accepting and involving the HR function as a strategic partner in the formulation and implementation of the company's strategies through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel (Sinha, 2007). This is the effective way of organizing the workforce by the adoption of a specific strategy, where employees' performance can help to achieve the planned organizational targets, such as increasing revenue or improving the profit margin. However, there is no common strategic human resource definition that fits every situation (Lotinggi, 2008). This paper will focus on strategic human resource management at Smarte Carte, Inc. and attempt to make a determination if the co mpany uses SHRM effectively or if there are areas where improvements could be made. Smarte Carte Inc., is a vending services company that specializes in unattended vending in four segregated markets: luggage carts for rent at airports, shopping carts and baby strollers at shopping malls, electronic locker storage at a variety of locations such as transportation facilities, ski resorts, theme and water parks, and massage chairs located in airports, malls, fitness centers, and now even Wal-Mart. They have operations throughout the U.S. and Canada and a growing presence in Australia and New Zealand. Smarte Carte’s corporate office is located in St. Paul, MN where they employ 65 employees while employing approximately another ... ...ing enough in internal training and compliance audits to lower their risk in expensive employee litigation. Two key strategies that Smarte Carte has implemented in the recent past is a greater reliance on expert outside legal counsel for fighting and resolving labor law cases and adding employment practices liability insurance to prevent or cap large settlements in labor law disputes. With employment law becoming an increasingly complicated dimension of the employment relationship, it is more likely that managers unversed in the changing aspects of laws may commit violations (Mello, 2011). The reality of it boils down to even when you’re correct and did everything right in handling an employee situation, it costs an organization a significant amount of money defending itself. Smarte Carte’s strategy for utilizing outside counsel and EPLI is a good strategy.

The Lost Thing Belonging by Shaun Tan

â€Å"More than anything else, belonging is about finding a sense of place in the world. † Do you agree? Argue your point of view, referring to Shaun Tan’s â€Å"The Lost Thing†. Achieving a sense of place in the world, mentally and physically, allows an individual to feel an awareness of belonging – a feeling unobtainable through little else. Places where imagination and distinctiveness are condemned force those who adapt to live a dull reality that holds no challenges or freedom of thought. Minority groups are set apart from the majority, with the mainstream becoming blind to those who are excluded simply because they don’t fit society’s standards.Shaun Tan’s â€Å"The Lost Thing† explores a world that directly reflects society and its inability to accept indifferences. Through Tan’s use of film techniques such as tones, costuming, and camera shots, the audience is able to have an increased understanding of belonging an d the necessity of finding a sense of place in the world. Until an individual is able to find a place where they feel security and a sense of identity, they are unable to belong in the world. Conforming to a society that eradicates individuality and creativity results in a mundane existence without challenges and freethinking.The fundamental need to belong can consequently see many altering themselves in order to fit society and its perceptions. A monotone narrative voiceover introduces the premise of the film, as the young protagonist reveals his wavering ability to remember stories that use to humour and amaze. Amused by the irony of his reflection, â€Å"I used to know a whole lot of pretty interesting stories, some of them so funny you would laugh yourself unconscious†¦but I can’t remember any of those†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , the audience’s rapport with this character is immediately established.Sepia tones are juxtaposed with the bright colouration of the lost thing p ortraying a dichotomy between the industrialised world and the misplaced ‘Thing’. Curiosity and a sense of trepidation lure the protagonist and the audience simultaneously. A playful bell on the Lost Things tolls waking the creature, which is followed by an increased diegetic sound including a growl, further displaying Tan’s use of dichotomy to create a distinction between the mechanical aspects of the society that the ‘lost thing’ has found itself in and its own gentleness.Dull and uniformed costuming of the members in society highlights the suppression of individuality in a conformed society. Dirty off-white coloured prison-like uniforms with numbering imprinted on each uniform illuminates to the responder their imprisonment and insignificant existence. A mob of members of society is seen walking in one direction, together. This use of synchronized choreography exhibits their subconsciously controlled lives. Their robotic movement implies their los s of independent thought, forcing the responder to evaluate their own society.It becomes clear to the audience that more than anything, belonging is about finding a sense of place in the world encouraged by the use of these film techniques. As conforming is blatantly the prominent theme throughout Shaun Tan’s â€Å"The Lost Thing†, Tan expresses that following a society where imagination is lost can lead to mere existence rather than having purpose, yet the protagonist conforms nonetheless. Tan stresses that although conforming might not be ideal it is by doing this that an individual is able to gain a sense of place in the world and consequently feel as though they belong.The majority of society is blinded to the ostracised minority, as they don’t follow the preordained path. The protagonist in this short film only finds the lost thing by chance, while no one else pays attention to ‘the thing’, as they have lack of sight for things they don’ t ideally fit into their lives. An engaging panning shot around the ‘thing’ when the protagonist finds the ‘lost thing’ emphasizes the singularity of the ‘thing’ he has found, reflecting specific groups that don’t adhere to society’s perceptions of normality.The responder, consequently, is influenced to feel sympathetic towards those in society who don’t inherently know where they belong. Subtle allusion utilised when the protagonist goes to pick up what he believes will be a bottle top for his collection, but unintentionally discovers the thing, introduces the concept that individuals who have molded to society are blinded to any of their surroundings that don’t coincide with society’s expectations. It is implied to the audience that unless those that are different manage to intrude on the activities of popular society they would go unnoticed due to the subconsciously encouraged blindness.The audience is humo ured by the idea that due to his lack of sight the protagonist was unable to see the huge object that is soon discovered as the ‘thing’, but instead took notice of the small bell buried in the sand next to it, for which he probably mistook as a bottle top. This literal sightlessness is further enforced by the repetition of a specific line in the dialogue of the narrative voiceover, â€Å"†¦too busy doing other stuff I guess† that is used when talking about how the ‘lost thing’ or ‘things’ go unnoticed.Specifically the very last lines, â€Å"I see that kind of thing less and less these days†¦maybe I just stopped noticing, too busy doing other stuff I guess† leads the responder to assume that the protagonist has been absorbed into society and so has inadvertently gained that blindness, allowing him to be able to simply ignore the presence of the minority. Through this line, the responder is now left feeling sorry for not o nly the ‘lost thing’ but for the protagonist as well.Symbolic representation, or the presence of the street-like arrow signs elucidate that society believes there is a path you must take, except that the chaos and disorder of these signs in many of the scenes suggests that following one particular path is difficult and that you shouldn’t have to just follow one path when there are so many to choose from. The responder is forced to question how a society can decide what particular path everyone is meant to take if there are ultimately hundreds of options.The ludicrousness of conformity in a collective group of people is highlighted due to the use of this technique. Suppression of minority groups makes it difficult for the excluded to feel as if they belong. Through demonstrating that not belonging comes from feeling as if they have no place in the world Shaun Tan successfully instills the belief in the responder that without a possibility of belonging in a physica l place it is not possible to belong in any sense.Through finding a location where one can feel a sense of acceptance an individual can achieve belonging, more than anything else. Conforming to society, although not necessary or ideal, can allow an individual to gain this feeling, even if it means adapting to dull surroundings that lead to nothing more than a mundane existence. Suppressed groups find it difficult to belong as they have no ability to feel ‘at home’ in a location, but through understanding this it is possible to apprehend that it truly is a sense of place that allows a genuine sense of belonging.Shaun Tan uses many film techniques to successfully display these concepts and ensure the responder is able to also grasp them. Tan’s â€Å"The Lost Thing† ultimately displays a metaphoric world that reflects our own society and encourages us to question our own behaviours. More than anything else, belonging is about finding a true sense of place in the world.