The Difference Between Moroccan and French Media

Otmane Barakat AWT1003 07 Tuesday 30th, 2012 Moroccan and French Media â€Å"Whoever controls the media controls the minds†, said Jim Morrison. The media has definitely marked the current generation as it has an enormous power and effect on the nations. Nowadays, the media affects the way the audience thinks and behaves more than it has ever done. Enhanced by the technological advancement, especially the rise of Internet, the link between mass media and the public opinion has begun to change to become similar around the world.Moroccan and French media systems are not different from the others as their similarities are displayed in the fact that they are both using high technology facilities, incite violence, and ran by the government. To get started, the first thing in common between the Moroccan and French media is their wise use of highly-advanced communication facilities. Even though Morocco is a thirdworld country, it has been using communication technology since the end o f the last century.Telephone, telegraph, radio, and television services were available at that time; there were about 1. 3 million mainline telephones, about 120,000 cell phones, and 22AM/ 7 FM radio stations. In 2000, these communication facilities had witnessed an enormous growth as Morocco had the disposal of 243 radio stations, eight Internet providers and 166 television sets for every 1000 people. Nowadays, Morocco has over 21 million cell phones, 6 million television receivers, 8 million radio and internet users.Obviously, the media has made a clever use out of the telecommunication advancement since the storage and transmission of information has become easier than never. For instance, news corporations are offering stream-feeding news reports by emails, call centers, or text messages caring more about the gain than the information itself. Likewise, the French do not prefer to read as they are cited only for 164 adult readers out of every 1000. Further, they are very practica l people trying to make the best use out of technology just like any other developed country.In fact, France secures 60 million cell phone, 34 million television receivers, 55 million radio sets and 45 million internet users that earnestly serve the media. Furthermore, during the past ten years, the French population’s use of internet has increased from 14. 4% to 68. 9% according to the IWS (Internet World Stats) center argues. As an illustration, France has more than 20 news TV networks, 30 news radio stations, and 100 news websites.All in all, Moroccan and French media systems are making a good use out of the telecommunication advancement as it is the most practical way to communicate information with the people even though it may provoke violent behaviors. Media can be harmful to its consumers, especially for children as it incites violent and aggressive behaviors in both Morocco and France. The media has always been possibly deleterious as it is becoming more aggressive, rebellious, and immoral in Morocco.There used to be a time when tears used to stream down people's cheeks when they saw someone dying; however, nowadays, people have got ice cold watching the news in which violent and bloody material is transmitted. The media is desensitizing the humanity. Similarly, in France, news broadcasts are becoming more and more inhuman by showing beat up, injured, or slaughtered mothers and their children. As both Moroccan and French people are consuming these sequences, they are becoming gradually violent, their humanity is slowly fading away, and their conscience is becoming more and more silent.To sum up, the broadcasting of savage and inhuman sequences on media instruments incites an aggressive and inhuman aspect in the person; consequently, he becomes closer to becoming a toy than a freewill individual. Nowadays, the government’s shadows are able to reach anything it aims including the fourth estate. The Moroccan media is mainly run by corporati ons that are either semi or fully governmental. The government has shown interest into taking over the media as it is the perfect instrument for social control.In a critical period, the North of Morocco was against the late king Hassan II, the Sahara was still a contested territory, and the people were against the new and current king. With the appearance of the media, Morocco has been able to contain the fury of the people by spoon-feeding them what they needed to hear. As an illustration, the Moroccan people were experiencing their first interaction with the mystery box — also known as television in western countries — They were under the brainwash.Equally, France’s media is mainly being ran by government as it serves its own aims through telling the people what and what not to think. Governments have been facing difficulties lately as the people became more aware of their rights and privileges; therefore, the main objective of running the media has become thr eatened. Swaying people’s opinion nowadays is no longer easy. To conclude, both Moroccan and French media are being ran by the government as it is essential for them to tell the people what to think and believe.In the final analysis, when it comes to media, Morocco and France are similar. Both of the two countries use highly advanced telecommunication facilities. Further, they are both inciting violence through communicating provoking and aggressive material. Finally, Moroccan and French media are both run by the government as it needs to make sure it controls the people’s curiosity. It is sad to see how the fourth estate is negatively influencing the fate of humans and nations as they are nothing but toys in the big political game.

Plata o Plomo (Javdani) Response Paper Analysis Essay

In her essay, â€Å"Plato o Plomo,† Marie Javdani compares & contrasts the stories of two boys, whom live separately in two countries, to signify their indirect relation. The phrase â€Å"Plato o Plomo† translates to â€Å"silver or lead†, meaning that peasants of South America can either accept a bribe & live (silver) or take a bullet & die (lead). Eric, an American boy, & Miguel, a Colombian, are both out on the road on a Friday night, but their intentions are entirely different. After scoring drugs, Eric whistles while walking down his street to meet up with his friends for â€Å"a bit of fun.† Miguel creeps down the road in his village, praying for the last time in his life; he to be murdered by the guerillas who have been threatening him & his father. The two stories of both Eric & Miguel begin to unite as Javdani narrates the cause & effect of America & Colombia, showing how choices made in the U.S. can affect the harsh realities of Colombia’s drug cartel. By using parallelism in the stories of Eric & Miguel, Javdani identifies the factors contributing to high drug activity. â€Å"Eric & Miguel represent opposite poles in what the United States government refers to as the ‘war on drugs.’† Eric’s drug use symbolizes the demand of production in Colombia, where Miguel’s village is terrorized by the ruling drug lords & paramilitaries. The strategy that the writer uses to represent both Eric & Miguel is cause & effect. This use of parallelism combined with cause & effect is meant to emphasize two sides to the political turmoil of drug violence in Colombia. Javdani mentions that U.S. money being sent to Colombia is ineffective in its purpose, which is to enforce order over the high drug activity that rules Colombia. Because Colombia produces a majority of the world’s cocaine & heroine, the U.S believes that putting an end to the growth of the coca, a plant used for making cocaine & heroine, can stop the use of drugs in the states. But the billions of aid dollars sent to fund, supply, and train Colombian military units have only escalated the violent paramilitaries that support drug cartels. As a result of rebel drug lords having control, Colombians have no choice but to cooperate with the production of coca on their land. This approach to eliminating drug activity was obviously not successful, it is becoming easier to see that drug trafficking is market-driven; the end to the demand.

Addictions in the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Addictions in the 21st Century - Essay Example The main trends incorporate internet surfing, pornography viewing, video gaming and social media. It can involve a single habit or a compilation of several habits within the same range. Addiction is experienced when the participants are constantly plugged into these devises. He states that anything else comes as a distraction. Alexander identifies the â€Å"tragically cool† group as the group that heavily relies on digital technology in their day-to-day life. Their daily interactions involve such activities; hence, they are the most prone to addiction. Indeed, Alexander’s assertions about addiction type 3 are valid. This is because of the increasing numbers of peoples checking into rehabilitative support groups, and the increased legal cases involving internet games addictions. An example was the litigation of the NCsoft Company, a manufacturer of video games. Smallwood sued the company because of his addiction to the Lineage II game. The case was not dismissed as a frivolous suit; thus, the judges found it valid to go through trial. Additionally, countries such as China and Korea consider video games addiction as the primary cause of health complications in their country. Moreover, Addiction 3 factors are gaining commendable attention from researches, medics and the legal world. There are more video game cases on litigation in the subsequent years. Online game producers are also compelled to display warning signs to the members. There are also compelled to derive safer methods to playing these games. Learning institutions and work places have installed devices to obstruct social sites and internet games. This is because of the perceived concern of the effects of internet addictions on time management and work quality. The human nature is viable to irrepressible compulsion thus everyone can easily be addicted. He asserts that addiction is an extrapolated human condition

Valuing Diversity Policy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Valuing Diversity Policy - Assignment Example All said, this can make for an interesting work experience, where anyone with an open mind, eyes and ears can learn from each other (Thiederman, 2008, 45). The variety of experiences and inputs that people bring to an organization like Home Hunters enriches its culture. As such, there is clearly a need for a policy that encourages and values, rather than stifles diversity in the workplace. This is the business imperative for diversity in the workplace. Though some regard diversity as a stumbling block, modern and expanding organizations like ours have to recognize, embrace and value diversity for what it means. A multicultural workforce working together can do so much more than another all coming from the same background, having the same beliefs and ideas and wanting to do things in the same manner from beginning to end, day in and day out. An organization is bound to stagnate and disintegrate in the absence of new ideas and new ways of doing things. Diversity also means that we look inward and outward of ourselves with a new perspective, be ready to face new challenges and create and harness new opportunities, in line with the ever-changing business scenario. We have our strengths and weaknesses, and will develop and choose strategies that give us the best chances of surviving and prospering in the marketplace. Now that Home Hunters has progressed to a national entity and the name of our company and its products and services are rapidly gaining acceptance and familiarity in a number of communities, it is imperative that we create and adopt a well considered diversity policy. Diversity is a cornerstone of equality at work, and encourages equal opportunity for all. It is anti-discriminatory because no one would be disqualified from seeking employment at Home Hunters because of his or her ethnicity, color of skin, language, religious or even sexual preferences. Diversity encourages affirmative action and equal opportunity for all. Encouraging diversity at Home Hu nters would also help build and maintain competitive advantage, as problems, opportunities and strategies can be examined and evaluated from a variety of perspectives before implementation. This is the value of diversity contributing to the richness of ideas. For a prospective home owner, nothing can be sweeter than to hear a sales representative explain to him or her, the pros and cons of buying a house in a certain locality in the native language. This creates a bond between buyer and seller and can be used to sell more houses to similar ethnic groups. All this is possible with diversity, and will certainly reflect favorably on profits and revenues. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIVERSITY POLICY: It is one thing to value diversity, but it is another thing to successfully implement a diversity policy across an organization. It takes a lot of thought and effort to consider which aspects of company policy need to be included or excluded from the diversity initiative (Barak, 2010, 6). Other p olicies made earlier may also have to be revamped in the light of the diversity initiative. Once the changes have been made and the new policy created, it would have to be evaluated by Human Resources and the Policy Committee comprising of the CEO and department heads in our organization. The need for a diversity policy has also been pointed out by the Good Governance Committee as one of the hallmarks of good and efficient governance in an

HR Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HR Management - Essay Example hree expatriates were assigned the positions of Director of Engineering, Manufacturing and Finance however, they had very little knowledge to Chinese market for example, Director of Finance was from Singapore and he did not have much knowledge about Chinese financial system. Before starting the JV in China Filtration Inc should have also considered the development and maintenance of the competencies of its people especially the expatriates. Although company provided language tutorials to its expatriates and orientation trainings however, to reduce the operational difficulties in an entirely different environment, company did not focus on inadequate health conditions, performance management systems, morale problems and discipline. To select the expatriates company did not follow any strong selection process. When the company showed its intentions to expand internationally, James showed his interest to his international human resource manager to take part in international assignments. Moreover, he has been showing his interest for international assignments during performance appraisals. When the company planned to start its JV in Tokyo, the company announced to hire a younger, more politically connected fast tracker. The company made a formal announcement and the expatriate position was promoted as a consolation prize. However, no interview or any kind of test was conducted. James was selected entirely based on his long term association with the company and because of his interest. Following is the model presented by Ronen to select an expatriate. The model shows that a company should consider job factors, relational dimensions, motivational stat, family situation and language skills while selecting an expatri ate. On the other hand, only motivational state and family situation of James were considered to select him as an expatriate in an entirely different culture of China. Although James was very enthusiastic and motivated for this assignment which makes him a

Data Governance, Quality, Integration, and Security Essay

Data Governance, Quality, Integration, and Security - Essay Example Although these aspects are closely interrelated within a system, addressing and improving them independently results in better performance of the system as a whole (Arens, Chee, Hsu & Knoblock, 1993). Data Governance Data governance encompasses a set of procedures ensuring that important assets in data form are properly managed in all divisions of an enterprise (Abiteboul, Benjelloun & Milo, 2002). The processes ensure that data is trustworthy and employees can be held accountable for any harmful occurrences that take place due to low quality of data. The organization under review was found not to have effective control measures as to who accessed data and in what way. There were many cases of deleted or edited information by users other than the authorized owners. One way to improve data governance is by defining the governance process (Arens, Chee, Hsu & Knoblock, 1993). The organization needs to make data auditable and enable its accountability. This facilitates accurate monitorin g and effective reconciliation between the data source and its consumers. The process needs to cover initial input of data, its standardization and refinement along the whole information flow path (Resnik & Yarowsky, 2000). ... Accountability entails the creating and empowering governance roles in the company. The organization should create the roles at appropriate levels and assign them to dedicated owners and stewards (Arens, Chee, Hsu & Knoblock, 1993). With outsourcing of data governance and processing becoming a reality for most organizations, the responsibility hierarchy should be accountable to the owners of data. For example, an outsourcing agent will be held responsible by an organization for breach of governance committed by the outsourced service provider (Resnik & Yarowsky, 2000). Data Quality Data quality may be termed as the state of timeliness, validity, completeness, accuracy and consistency that render data suitable for the intended use (Abiteboul, Benjelloun & Milo, 2002). A challenge faced by the organization under review is detecting issues caused by the quality of data at the point of entry into the system from the numerous users. They are mostly typing errors as well as intentional dec isions. Recommendations to improve data quality include use of simple queries or profiling tools (Resnik & Yarowsky, 2000). Others are tracking mail deliverability, verification of information prior to database entry and understanding contents of organizational data and the way it got there. Email and other personalized communications form a considerable percentage of the marketing tools. Therefore, given their high traffic, they can be accurate indicators of data quality. By implementing a process that tracks bounced and returned emails, an organization is able to monitor its data accuracy and make applicable changes (Resnik & Yarowsky, 2000).

The topic is to answer the case questions that are in box Coursework

The topic is to answer the case questions that are in box - Coursework Example Therefore, the statement is correct since firms are different and cannot all adopt similar strategies. Multinational firms have many departments and units, and there is a high probability of the organizations operations not being smooth. The international markets are very uncertain and hence there is a need to combine integration and differentiation in order to operate effectively even with the uncertainties. Performance ambiguity occurs when the firm cannot understand the reasons as to why a subunit or a department is experiencing difficulties. It is necessary that a firm predict possible causes and consequences of performance ambiguity before venturing into an international or a transnational strategy. Understanding the causes and consequences leads to designing better performance strategies, and losses are  minimized. The main reason for an expansion is maximization of profits.it is necessary that performance ambiguity is avoided by understanding its possible causes and consequences so that the firm does not fail to achieve its aims. Organization architecture determines how decisions are made, how individuals are and how performance is evaluated (Miles & Snow, 2003). Transnational organizations have complex environmental demands that require flexibility in internal integrative process. There is a tendency to have conflicting domestic and foreign operations, and so each unit should operate individually. An international divisional structure should be  adopted. All units will operate individually but under one overall management. The operations of one unit will not influence the other units. Each unit should be independent and should adapt to its business environment. When each firm operates individually, controlling becomes easy since mistakes can be identified and corrected without affecting the whole organization. Shared decision-making is  avoided. A firm that requires globalizing is subject to operating in diverse forms of business

Muslim and Christian Medieval Theocracies Essay

Muslim and Christian Medieval Theocracies - Essay Example Generally speaking, a theocracy exists when the ruler of a government is also the religious leader of that same government. In many theocracies of the past the ruler has been one who was designated by the religious leader of that time and place. The major religions during medieval times were Christianity and Islam. In many cases the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire bordered the boundaries of the Muslim world. Oftentimes these borders changed as both the Holy Roman Empire and the Muslim world conquered or lost territory. This can be seen in the maps of both worlds (Appendix A). The timeline of this comparison begins at 1500 AD and moves forward in time. The state of the Holy Roman Empire at 1500 AD was one that had the leadership struggling to maintain control of the Empire through select leaders and communication methods. As with any government, communication is vitally important to the success or failure of the ruling party. Most of the Empire was located in what is now Eastern Europe. Western Europe was constantly under assault from barbarians thus making it hard to maintain control and rule over land and peoples. In the late 1400's publishing of books became a profession. The power of the written word was used by the Holy Roman Empire to maintain control over land and peoples. ... Between 1500 AD and 1700 AD the Holy Roman Empire began its decline. By this time the Hapsburgs held the imperial crown. "Frederick was the last Emperor to be crowned by the Pope in Rome and did much to consolidate the Habsburg possessions."2 As the last appointed emperor Frederick was the last theocratic leader of the Holy Roman Empire. The Hapsburg line had died out by 1740. While there are individuals that hold titles resulting from The Holy Roman Empire to this day, the powerful hold on Europe that the Empire had no longer exists. For the most part many Catholics throughout the region still hold the papacy as their religious leader while maintaining citizenship of their countries and following the laws of their government. In essence, the Christian theocracy no longer exists (except in Vatican City, Italy where the Pope presides). During the last years of the Holy Roman Empire the Ottoman Empire was at its peak. The Ottoman Empire bordered the Holy Roman Empire on many fronts. In 1500 Pope Alexander declared a Year of Jubilee and ordered a tithe to the Empire to fund the crusade against the Ottoman Turks. The struggle against the Turks took a hit when Henry VII declined the Pope's request to fight against the Turks. In 1792 Napoleon Bonaparte led France in its bid for independence from the Empire. Later the Prussians reunified the German state by defeating the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire crumbled. It is important to note that the Holy Roman Empire is no more but Christianity is still a strong group of observant peoples. Christianity has spread around the world despite the fact that few Christian theocracies exist. In contrasts the Muslim world did not crumble and end. If

Alpen bank. SWOT Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Alpen bank. SWOT Analysis - Case Study Example The organization has hesitated to launch its credit card services because of poor infrastructure, population inexperience and low per capita income level of the Romanians. However, they have launched this credit card service and able to win the trust of customers. In the year 2000, the organization has entered in the European market. The objective of the study is to form an effective marketing strategy in order to clear cut the positioning strategy considering the credit card industry. A strategic SWOT analysis has been implemented below for Alpen. Strengths Alpen bank is one of the leading banking organizations in Romania. The bank is popular within the country due to the effective customer service and several differentiated customer service. Due to its quality customer service the organization has able to create positive brand awareness in Romania. As it is discussed earlier, premium banking services have increased the core competencies and reputation of the brand name in the Roman ian market. Weaknesses Lower customer base is the biggest weakness of this brand. The organization has implemented credit card service facilities for its clients in Romania. The concept of the credit card was not familiar with the people of Romania. The organization has hesitated to enter in this credit card service business due to the effect of recession, low per capita income of people and inexperience of the people about the credit card services. Lack of awareness and low customer base is the significant weakness of the organization. Opportunities Now the potential opportunities for the credit card service of Alpen bank can be determined by evaluating the effects of following six important environmental factors to the company. Political: The organization has tried to enter in the European Union market to increase its international client base. The credit card industry is comprised of four key parties, such as Merchant acquirers, Merchants, Card Issuers and Network & Associations. However, the banking sector in Romania is least affected comparing to the other developed countries. Strict governmental regulations and ethical policy implementation has helped the organization to win the trust of the consumers. The support of several political parties and government can increase the core competency of the organization. Economical: The organization is overcoming the challenges of previous recession. The economy of Romania has able to overcome some effects of recession. The disposable income of middle class people is increasing significantly. Initially in the year 2006, the organization was trying to enter in the EU region due to the economic advantages of these areas. However, the organization had tried to target the premium customers due to the unfavorable economic condition. The high disposable income of the people of high income level will help the organization to generate high revenue. Social: The people of Romania were not that much aware about the credit car d services. Therefore, it is necessary for the organization to create social awareness about the credit card service. It is a potential opportunity for the organization to increase its market share in Romania. The organization should concentrate on the untapped market. Moreover, changing life style and improved literacy rate will help the organization to create a huge customer base within the country. Technological: Technology is a necessary aspect for the growth of this industry. This credit card facility will encourage the people of modern society. Effective and advanced telecommunication facility, computer technology and developed terminals will help the customers to operate the credit cards comfortably. Environmental: The service sector has able to hold high growth rate comparing to the

Management, Organisations and People Module Report Essay Example for Free

Management, Organisations and People Module Report Essay Introduction: The aim of this report is to provide an explanation to ‘Mimi Vasquez Hair and Beauty’ managers’ approach to leadership and go on to explore his relationship to his work group and how they have developed over time. It will first outline the methodology used to conduct this report and then go on to introduce the managers and workers and explain how their current work roles have developed over time. Subsequently, the report will provide an explanation to ‘Mimi Vasquez Hair and Beauty’ managers’ approach to leadership and go on to explore his relationship to his work group. To conclude the report, there will be a quick summary of what has already been mentioned and some limitations of the findings, methodology and related theories used in the report. The beauty salon which was named after its manager is privately owned and located in Chiswick in West London. In addition, it has two other branches located in Ealing and Hammersmith, both also within the West London area and owned by the same manager. All three of the beauty salons are relatively small in size making satisfactory profits and located just off the high streets in quieter areas. The first branch was opened in 1999 in Chiswick and the others followed on 5 years later, the Hammersmith branch being the newest. Method This report was conducted using both primary and secondary research. The primary research was collected directly from the manager and team members by interviewing them. By so doing, the research collected was new and wasn’t research that had already existed. Secondary research was collected through the use of books, the internet and articles and hence looking at existing data. Findings and discussion Behavioural theory As the manager, Mimi Vasquez, supervises and manages the overall performance of his staff and the business. His current work role is to analyse and recommend developing strategies on how to improve the quality of their services e.g. more speed and efficiency in cutting hair and accuracy with mixing colours of hair dye. These two examples are some of Mimi’s main targets and he wishes to have met these goals by July 2011. Mimi also examines ways to achieve his business goals of maximising profits and acknowledges that compensations and rewards have worked well in the past as they motivate and encourage staff to work better: Every year he elects 2 people as the most improved and most enthusiastic team members and rewards them in the form of bonuses and HMV vouchers. His work role also involves instructing his team members and allocating them to different parts of the salon when the day gets busy Moreover, this has played a great role in the development of Mimi’s leadership within the business. Yukl (2006, p5) defines leadership as- Leadership is the process wherein an individual member of a group or organization influences the interpretation of events, the choice of objectives and strategies, the organization of work activities, the motivation of people to achieve the objectives, the maintenance of cooperative relationships, the development of skills and confidence by member, and the enlistment of support and cooperation from people outside the group or organisation. Yukl’s definition very closely matches Mimi’s approach to leadership in the sense that it emphasizes the importance of ‘people skills’ and the social influence that leadership can have. One theory to provide evidence for this is the behaviour perspective. This theory claims that people become leaders because of what they do and this can be split into two different categories: task behaviour and relationship behaviour. Task behaviour places the main focus on the degree to which a leader emphasises productivity targets, goal accomplishments and maintaining standards. These behaviours can also be called ‘production-centred’ and it can be seen in Mimi’s leadership style when he uses HMV vouchers to motivate his staff to work harder and faster. Mimi has also said that rewards gave his staff an incentive to work and this played a crucial part in keeping them happy and full of energy, even towards the end of the day. Furthermore, relationship behaviour focuses on manager’s actions that show concern for their staff and their welfare as opposed to behaviours that concentrate on completing tasks. Although this contrasts to task behaviour, this can also be seen in Mimi’s leadership approach in the sense that he aims to improve his staff’s skills and help them gain more confidence in their job role. Trait perspective The controversy in defining leadership has enabled many different theories to be developed in an attempt to explain the meaning of a leader within a business or an organisation. Bratton (2010, p363) cited that ‘individuals who occupy leadership positions possess superior qualities or attributes compared with the traits possessed by non- leaders’. This view is known as the trait perspective and its’ theories such as the ‘great man theories’ focus mostly on positive characteristics such as stamina, intelligence and fluency in speech. Research in 1974 by Stogdill showed that socioeconomic factors also played a great role for example, very few corporate leaders had fathers who held a low class position or who were paid quite poorly. Stogdill also found that intelligence and fluency in speech were very closely related to leadership and used these traits to differentiate leaders from followers. He then concluded that there were ‘specific patterns’ of traits that occurred in some people which gave them an advantage when seeking a leadership position. Shabina and Mario also described their manager to hold very positive characteristics such as friendly, talkative, enthusiastic and organised and wasn’t like the other staff members at ‘Mimi Vasquez hair and beauty’ in the sense that he was much more determined. This therefore justifies why Mimi is a leader. In addition, research into ‘substitute’s for leadership’ claim that there should be a distinct difference between the leader and the followers in a business and there should be inflexible rules and formalized areas of responsibility in order to prevent the followers from being guided by their peers and replacing their existing leader. This would occur if the followers realized that their peers had the skills equivalent to their leader and they decided to follow them instead. Keith Grint (2005) also argues that successful leadership- Is not a list of innate skills and competences, or how much charisma you have, or whether you have a vision or a strategy for achieving that vision, but whether you have a capacity to learn from your followers. This again, provides evidence against the trait perspective stating that this is not what makes an effective leader. The shared/super leadership theory The founding of Mimi’s other branches, helped him gain experience which developed his role even further as he had to identify problems, make choices and provide alternatives actions to his initial plans. His role development throughout the years has been quite significant and his responsibilities have duplicated allowing him to improve his time management and organisation. Mario and Shabina are two team members of the salon who were also interviewed. Mario is a professional hair stylist whose work role involves restyling and cutting clients’ hair, dying, permanent hair straightening, Brazilian hair blow drying etc. His work role is crucial to the business as he has qualities and skills that require a lot of training and experience in order to gain. Mario’s work role has developed over the years as his experience has allowed him to move up the ladder in regards to the styles and haircuts he can confidently perform. The number of clients he reserves on a daily basis has also increased over the past 6 years of working at the salon showing an improvement in his abilities. He is now responsible for his own clients as before he would only deal with Mimi’s clients and help around. However, he is still in a lower position to Mimi and is usually responsible for making sure that Mimi’s clients are booked in for the dates and times they requested, making sure none of the time slots clash with one another. The Shared/super leadership theory suggests that excellent leaders are those who help their followers develop by acting as their teacher rather than keeping all of their knowledge to themselves. To add, Peter Senge(1990) also stated that ‘leaders are designers, stewards and teachers’ which supports the view. Mimi has constantly trained his team members, in particularly Mario and this also adds towards the statement that Mimi is an effective leadership. Fiedler’s leadership contingency theory Shabina is the only beautician at ‘Mimi Vasquez Hair and Beauty’ and her role involves taking care of her own customers and making her own bookings as well as offering all of the services; waxing, laser hair removal, threading, massages etc. Her role doesn’t involve anything to do with hair, and she works in her own room downstairs. However, Mimi is her manager also and so it is her responsibility to follow all of his guidelines and instructions. Her role has developed over the past 3 years as she first started out as an assistant, cleaning around and helping the beautician. She then worked her way up by gaining experience and qualifications and developed her role into a full-time professional beautician. Fiedler’s leadership contingency theory proposes that the effectiveness of the leader depends on whether the leadership style is matched with the followers and the environment. It is based on 3 main assumptions: 1) leader-member relations, which relate to whether the leader receives support, respect and trust of the followers; 2) task structure, which relates to how structured the tasks performed by followers are; 3) position power, which relates to the formal authority that the leader can exert through the use of punishment and rewards. This theory can explain Mimi’s leadership style as it explains why Mimi’s leadership is effective and hence how he has been able to successfully run the business for so many years. In relation to this theory, Mimi is placed to be known as a relationship-orientated leader and so it explains that his team members have been able to develop throughout the years because of his concern for them. The situational leadership theory Mimi’s relationship to his group is fairly hierarchical where he would force influence upon others to do something that they otherwise wouldn’t. This hair and beauty business is a good example as it shows how Mario takes responsibility for making bookings for both, his and Mimi’s clients. The group itself had developed over the years as they have slowly started to work as a team, helping each other and finishing each other’s jobs off when the salon gets busy. In 1999, manager Mimi’s Vasquez’s main roles were to simply open and close the salon, receive payments for the service provided and order raw materials such as; hair dye, scissors, wax etc. Now, with the growth of the business, all of the team members in the salon have developed their roles as they have had to cover for each other and enhance coordination skills. The situational leadership model is where the leaders’ leadership style depends on the maturity of the followers; it can explain that why Mimi trusts his staff to look after his salon whilst he is in a different branch. The friendly nature of the business also allows Mimi to be less formal and more flexible with rules and procedures. Bratton (2010, p.370) states that ‘Follower maturity is determined by the ability and willingness of the followers to accept responsibility for completing their work’. The fact that each team member has their own set of responsibilities proves that their levels of maturity are very high and hence can explain why Mimi’s rules are quite flexible, according to Mario and Shabina. Conclusion The report has explored Mimi’s approach to leadership using the behavioural, trait, shared/super leadership, contingency and situational theories and it can clearly be seen that leadership is not easily defined and its effectiveness isn’t easily measured. It has also outlined the work roles of the manager as well as the team members and explained how their roles have developed. To conclude, although the report gives a sense of idea of what Mimi’s leadership approach may be, in reality it is very hard to accurately describe using only one theory. Appendix Bratton, J. (2010) Work and organisational behaviour. 2nd edn, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Grint,K.(2005) Leadership: limits and possibilities, Basingstoke: Palgrave Senge, P.M.(1990) The Fifth Discipline. New York: Currency/Doubleday Yukl, G.(2006) Leadership in organizations.6th edn, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

Educational System In Cambodia Education Essay

Educational System In Cambodia Education Essay Education is very important means to train and build up human resources for development of each country and it is also important for development of child as person. However, educational system in Cambodia has suffered too much during Khmer Rouge Regime from 1975 to 1979. After that period, the government has tried to improve it by cooperated and collaborated with external aid and non-governmental organization (NGOs). According to the Cambodian constitution, it states that the state shall provide free primary and secondary education to all citizens in public school. Citizens shall receive education for at least nine years. Nowadays, though the pupils have no pay the fee, they still have to spend money on other things such as stationery, textbooks, contribution fee etc. Moreover, some provinces students are asked to spent money to teacher for fee; this is the problem that prevent pupil from poor families from attending school. About a half a million Cambodian children from 6 to 11 years old have no access to school, then 50percent of those who entered grade one dropped out of school and had to repeat the class. Those problems are caused by video games, karaoke and the presence of brothel for the students in city, and for female pupils, they could not attend school because of many problems. First, parents are poor, so they cannot provide children to learn and sometime they need their children, especially the girls, to earn money to support the family. Second, the schools are located too far away from their house. Only boy can go to school at some distance from home because they have given accommodation in pagodas near the school. The last one is some parents do not understand about the important of education, so they do not allow their children to attend school. Moreover, the ministry of education has not provided adequate education for minority children. Many children cannot access to school, and there is no provision for schooling in minority languages except for classes provided by private ethic associations. Not only that, there is insufficient special education provision for disabilities children. Even though some organizations co-operated with government to provide school for those, this effort is not yet enough. Then, the quality of education in Cambodia is very poor. Some schools in urban areas have around 60 to 80 students in each class, because there are not enough class for pupils, most schools operated two shifts or three shifts per a day that affect the pupils feeling to study . Other thing is that the limited skilled of teachers reduce the quality of educational system. Technical and pedagogical training for teacher is not up to standard yet. There are many teaching methods such as child-centered learning method has been taught to some teachers; however, teachers still follow the old teaching methods. The last point is the lack of commitment of teacher because they receive a small amount of salary (about $15 to $20 per month) that lead to the low motivation for teaching. Then, they need to find others job to supplement their incomes for survival. In fact, the national government budget allocation to Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport was only 10.3% in 1997 and increase to 12% in 1998, which is still very, in particular when compared to 52% for the defense sector. The government should pay more attention because this sector is the major sector for development the country. Government should provide the high salary to teachers, and build more school all around the country, and national budget allocation for education should be increased promote and facilitate the education to minority children and provide special school for disabled children and promote education for girls, raise awareness of parents about the advantage of education. Finally, the educational system in Cambodia has faced many problems that have to solve immediately. Those problems can be affected on development for country as well. Because of that, the government needs to collaborate or cooperate with international organizations. United Nations Organization is an international organization that aim are facilitating collaboration in international law, international peace and security, human right, economics development, social progress and achieving world peace. United Nations has many specialized agencies to operating the problems of member states. Those including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, FAO and UNESCOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.and so on. However, we only focus on three specialized agencies because these agencies are very important for development in developing countries. First, UNDP is the UN global development network. It promotes for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people to build a better life. The specialized agency has countries offices in 166 countries, where it works with local government to meet development challenges and develop local capacity. UNDP administrator is the third highest ranking official of United Nations after the United Nations Secretary-general and Deputy Secretary-general, and its headquartered is in New York. UNDP is funded by voluntary contribution from member states. UNDP helps the countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG is adopted by United Nations General Assembly to develop the poor countries in 2002. These priority MDGs countries are concentrated is Sub- African, Central America and Andes, Central Asia, and the part of Southeast Asia. Millennium Development Goals is related to poverty, primary education, gender equity, maternal health, child mortal ity, HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnerships for development. Second, UNICEF was created by United Nations General assembly on December 11, 1946 to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been destroyed by World War II. UNICEF provides long-term humanitarian and development assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. UNICEF support child health and nutrition, quality basic education for all boys and girls, access to clean water and sanitation and the protection of children from violence, exploitation and AIDs. In 1953, UNICEF became United Nations System and its name had shortened from United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund and its headquartered is in New York City. UNICEF fund is provided by voluntary contribution of government, businesses, foundations and individuals. Third, UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations which established on 16 November 1945. Headquarter of organization is in Paris, with over 50 field offices and many specialized institutes and based in throughout the world. Its objectives is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international cooperation through education, culture, and science in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights along with fundamental freedoms declared in the Charter of UN. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social sciences, culture, and communication and information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical assistance, and teacher-training programs, science programs, the promotion of independent media and press freedom, regional and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity; international cooperation agreements to save the world cultural and natural herit age (World Heritage Sites) and to protect human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. UNESCO in Cambodia has worked through with the local authority and NGOs. UNESCO focused on its activities through five major agendas such as education, culture, natural sciences, social and human sciences, and information and communication. First, in education, UNESCO has developed the policy and strategies for ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education), introducing global level policy trend and innovative practices, and contributing to draft the policy on ECCE by providing advisory services. Moreover, UNESCO has improved on teacher education by providing policy framework and policy choices for developing teacher professional standards and appropriate measurement, designing incentives to motivate the teachers for better teaching and student learning, deploying qualified teachers to rural and remote areas. Then, UNSECO has focused on technical vocational education and training, HIV/AIDs prevention education, and education and planning management. As the chairs of educational sector wor king group, UNESCO has played an important role in facilitating well coordinated and professional response from the donor community to the demands of the education development and the request from government. The main partner in education of UNESCO is Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS). UNESCO assists MoEYS for the formulation and establishment of national education framework and policy to outreach broader populations. A number of education policy are formulated with technical support from UNESCO and other development partners including: National Non- Formal Education Policy, the National Plan of Action for Non- Formal Education, the policy on School Health and policy on Education for Children with Disabilities, and National ICT (Information and Communication for Technology) policy and strategy. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the international development goal which focus on eight problems such as eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDs and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development. However, in Cambodia, because of recognizing the major constraint to development is the continued contamination of mines and explosive remnants of war, the Royal Government of Cambodia added the de-mining and victims assistance as the ninth major development goal. Then, on the topic of the second goal of CMDGs, it is mention about Achieve Universal Nine-year basic Education that took root of the Education for all by ensure that all children will complete primary schooling by 2010 and Nine-year basic schooling by 2015. UNICEF in Cambodia has provided de-worming tablet to 95 percent of children in primary school. Moreover, UNICEF has supported the financial assistance for the salary of community preschool teacher in order to improve the preschool to all children. According governments statistics, the pre-primary school enrollment rate of Cambodians five year old in school year 2006-2007 was 27.7% including state, community, home-based, and preschool classes. Then, Cambodian government and UNICEF official maintain that early childhood development program have proved over and over that preschool encourages on time enrollment in primary school and improve academic performance. In sum up, those organizations are important for improving or promoting the all sector in Cambodia, especially in educational sector which is important sector for development. However, the government should contribute to promoting as well, so our country will achieve all goals early. Since you focused on the roles and frameworks of MDGs, UNICEF, UNESCO, you have known that those frameworks are suitable for improving the education in Cambodia. However, do these agencies and government can promise that they will improve or promote education well as they expect? According to the statistic from reports, the primary school projects have been complete successfully. In 2000, there are around 85% to 86% of children from urban area can attend school, and for the children in rural area, there are approximately 82% to 83% go to school, but the children living in the remote area can attend school only 60% to 63%. From one year to year, the numbers of attending school from those three areas are increasing gradually. In fact, in 2009, in remote area the children attend school about 90.3%. Surprisingly, the urban children which had the figure higher than others do not increasing dramatically as the rural area in 2000. Rural areas children go to school much more than the urban areas children, is 95% and 92.2%. Nevertheless, projects to promoting the secondary school is seem failed because the target of project predicted that about 65.3% in 2009 for the children attending secondary school, but in reality, there are only 31.9 for students attending school. By the way, gender disparities in primary school have been eliminated and regional disparities have also been eradicated. Then, the proportion of 6-14 years old out of school is stagnating. Based on the data from CMDGs, the flow of the line of graph is smooth from 1997 until 2003, but in 2004 the figures of the data is increasing from 18.7% to 19.81%. Nonetheless, the expected target is only 14.4% in 2008 for the out of school students, so it seems not go beyond as expectation. Literacy rates of 15 to 24 years old; therefore, in 1998 there is around 82%of literacy. CMDGs expected that in 2009, there would be about 92.1% for literacy, but in actual, there is around 87.47% for literacy because the line of the graph was increasing slowly. In sum up, education in Cambodia become better than before. Even so, those agencies need to improve or promote more because as you known, the education is the important sector for develop country. Then, in case education in Cambodia does not good, how could Cambodia improve or develop country well? After you have understood about the roles and frameworks, effect of the agencies, you can say that though they could not achieve all goals as setting, but they could improve or promote the education in Cambodia. As you can see, educational system in Cambodia has suffered too much during Khmer Rouge Regime from 1975 to 1979. After that period, the government has tried to improve it by cooperated and collaborated with external aid and non-governmental organization (NGOs). About a half a million Cambodian children from 6 to 11 years old have no access to school, then 50% of those who entered grade one dropped out of school and had to repeat the class. Those problems are caused by video games, karaoke and the presence of brothel for the students in city, and for female pupils, they could not attend school because of many problems. Due to these problems, the Cambodian government tries to pay attention on education systems because as mentioned before, education is very important means to train and build up human resources for development of each country and it is also important for development of child as person. If Cambodian people poor at the knowledge, how could Cambodia has been developed to become the strong country as the neighboring countries. Moreover, the IOs (International organizations) also pay attention on education sector as well. They try to encourage and collaborate with Cambodian government to improving the education systems. As mentioned, According to the Cambodian constitution, it states that the state shall provide free primary and secondary education to all citizens in public school. Citizens shall receive education for at least nine years. Then, IOs have also contributed to improvement as well. First, UNESCO has improved on teacher education by providing policy framework and policy choices for developing teacher professional standards and appropriate measurement, designing incentives to motivate the teachers for better teaching and student learning, deploying qualified teachers to rural and remote areas. Moreover, UNESCO has played an important role in facilitating well coordinated and professional response from the donor community to the demands of the education development and the request from government. Second, CDMGs is mention about Achieve Universal Nine-year basic Education that took root of the Education for all by ensures that all children will complete primary schooling by 2010 and Nine-year basic schooling by 2015. Third, UNICEF has supported the financial assistance for the salary of community preschool teacher in order to improve the preschool to all children. According governments statistics, the pre-primary school enrollment rate of Cambodians five year old i n school year 2006-2007 was 27.7% including state, community, home-based, and preschool classes. Then, Cambodian government and UNICEF official preserve that early childhood development program have proved over and over that preschool encourages on time enrollment in primary school and improve academic performance. In conclusion, some problems the state could not deal with by herself, so she needs the assistance from NGOs, IGOs, and so on. However, in case the states do not pay attention with those problems, the solution still cannot meet. As Cambodia, because the government and specialized agencies try to cooperate each other, the education system seem improve a little by a little. In my opinion, in future, Cambodia will decrease the rate of illiteracy from time to time.

College Admissions Essay: I Will be an English Teacher :: College Admissions Essays

I Will be an English Teacher "Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor." -- Robert Frost I felt trapped, immobilized, confused. It was my senior year in high school. My friend Nancy aptly described me as laboring under a "stupor of thought." Finally, I did the one thing that held any promise of relief - I decided to become an English teacher. I didn't just switch oars in the middle of the stream; I switched to an entirely different river. Throughout high school, instructors and classmates have said to me, "You know, you'd make a great teacher." That's nice, I'd say, but I already have a plan, a nice, sensible plan: earn a degree in accounting, marry my love of music to my skill with numbers and computers, and become the financial manager for a non-profit music arts organization. I outlined my plan in essays. It was a good plan, a sensible plan, a righteous plan. I can't change now. It's too late, too late! It's too late...isn't it? After three years of resistance, my passion for learning and literature and my experiences as a student finally defeated my sensible plan. I decided it was not too late. I would become a teacher - truth be told, I already was. Outside the classroom, I wore teacher-ness on my sleeve. Volunteering in the school office, I'd chat with the students about their classes. They'd moan about the speech class they intended to put off as long as possible. I'd counter with tales of giving my instructional speech on Japanese style gift-wrapping - the women in the class produced beautifully wrapped gifts, but the men were all thumbs! "Gee, you make it sound cool. Have you ever thought about teaching?" Oh no, not me. I'm going to be an accountant. The drive to learn more and share what I learned exposed me. After fulfilling the algebra requirement, I realized that I enjoyed algebra. So I took more math classes, just for the fun of it. I stayed up late, working additional problems, caught up in the thrill of understanding. I became an unofficial tutor, helping my classmates with factoring and linear equations. It was fun helping them learn. Whipping around the room from one student to the next was exhilarating! "Have you ever thought of becoming a math teacher?

Reviewing English in the 21st Century :: essays research papers

Reviewing English in the 21st Century Edited by Wayne Sawyer & Eva Gold Designed for teachers of English, Reviewing English in the 21st Century provides an overview of changes in English teaching in Australia over the last six decades, and the theories behind such changes. This edition also explains current popular theories for teaching English, and suggests methods for implementing them in the classroom. The first section of the book, ‘Reviewing’, relates how new models of English teaching, such as the cultural heritage, skills, personal growth and cultural studies models, have been influenced by developments in learning theories. The second section of the book, ‘Developing and Contextualising†, is concerned with providing effective pedagogies for English teachers in many areas, including ESL students, indigenous students and students with learning difficulties. The final section of the book, ‘Applying’, provides practical applications and student activity suggestions for teaching English, such as methods in drama, media, novels, poetry, visual representations and information technologies. This book focuses on the student as an active participant in their learning, and advocates a student-centred curriculum. By placing value on what the student brings to the classroom, awareness is raised in areas such as youth culture, media and oral practices in English. The significance of traditional English texts is not undermined, however they may be more harshly judged in terms of their relevance to the students (Doecke & McClenaghan, 2004, p. 54). Another strength of the book is the broad spectrum of areas and activities presented for consideration. The syllabus outcomes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, representing, thinking and communicating are all addressed, within the differing texts of fiction, poetry, film, non-fiction, drama, media and multimedia. Also, an important structural feature of this book is the accessibility of teaching ideas: all suggestions for classroom applications are highlighted by an indented margin, making them easy to identify from t he theory. One weakness of the book is that it can lend itself to being slightly political. For example, after reviewing the popular models of English teaching, the suggested model is justified by presenting a certain aspect of Government funding, which, when all factors in the wider context are considered, ceases to be an issue (Thompson, 2004, p. 21). Both teachers and student teachers will benefit from reading this book. Besides providing many teaching strategies, lists of books suitable for particular stages of the syllabus are included (Tucker, 2004, pp. 210 – 214), as well as some useful web resources (Sawyer & Watson, 2004, p.

Plagues And Epidemics :: essays research papers

Plagues and Epidemics Humans are remarkably good at finding a religious scapegoat for their problems. There has always been someone to blame for the difficulties we face in life, such as war, famine, and more relevant, disease. Hitler blames the Jews for economical woes in a corrupt Germany long after the Romans held the Christians responsible for everything wrong in a crumbling, has-been empire. In the fourteenth century, when Plague struck Europe, it was blamed on "†¦ unfavorable astrological combinations or malignant atmospheres†¦" (handout p2), and even "†¦deliberate combination by witches, Moslems (an idea proposed by Christians), Christians (proposed by Moslems) and Jews (proposed by both groups)." (H p2) The point is, someone was to blame even when the obvious reasons, flea ridden rats, were laying dead on the streets. As time progressed to the twentieth century, there have been few if any exceptions made to this phenomena. In the case of Oran, the people raced to find a culprit for the sudden invasion of their town, which became the unrepentant man. This is one of Camus’ major themes; The way a society deals with an epidemic is to blame it one someone else. Twenty years ago, when AIDS emerged in the US, homosexual men became the target of harsh and flagrant discrimination, and even today are still held accountable by some beliefs. While we may no longer lynch in the nineties, we do accuse innocent groups, like the gay male population, for the birth and explosion of AIDS in our society. Given, there are some differences between each respective situation, but there are striking similarities that cannot be ignored. As the Plague invaded the town of Oran, the people quarantined within its walls began to look to their leaders for answers. Most likely these people had trouble believing that such an awful thing was happening to them, and needed someone to point the finger at. In the meantime, Father Paneloux was preparing a speech to answer the questions and fears that surrounded him, and probably vexed him as well. The truth is, his speech was as much therapeutic as it was didactic, and in winning the opinion of the public he could calm his own fears. " If today the plague is in your midst, that is because the hour has struck for taking thought. The just man need have no fear, but the evildoer has good cause to tremble." (p95) Paneloux is passing the blame, but in a very intriguing way. "You believed some brief formalities, some bendings of the knee, would recompense Him well enough for you criminal indifference.

Audiences and Publics Are Important in Media Convergence Culture

SCHOOL OF MEDIA, CULTURE AND CREATIVE ARTS ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET To be attached to all assignments (ALL SECTIONS MUST BE COMPLETED) STUDENT NAME:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦HAO JING WEI†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ STUDENT ID:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦15646457†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ UNIT NAME AND NUMBER:†¦MCI212 Consumers, Audiences, Publics and Users DUE DATE:†¦Critical essay 15 October 2012 (by 4pm via email) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. WORD COUNT:†¦1800 – 2200 words †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. TUTORIAL DAY AND TIME:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11am to 2pm, Wednesday, C25†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. TUTOR’S NAME:†¦Ms.Lai Jia Weng †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOUR TUTOR’S NAME IS ON ALL SUBMITTED ASSIGNMENTS DECLARATION: I declare that I have retained a copy of this assignment. I have read and understood Curtin University policies on Plagiarism and Copyright and declare that this assignment complies with these policies. I declare that this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted previously in any form for assessment. Signature:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Hao Jing Wei†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 15. 10. 2012†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Audiences and Publics Are Important in Media Convergence Culture IntroductionAfter we have studied about consuming culture through module 1, now all of us should know about consumption better. As we know audiences and publics are important parts in consuming culture – such as audiences purchase goods, shopping, living, traveling, education, services and so on, the world especially the consumption world is all about audiences and publics, at the same time they play a very important role in convergence culture as well. In today’s increasingly digital cultural, the way consumers consume and the way publics and audiences communicate are totally different from the traditional media times.Nowadays, people require both of physical and mental for life satisfaction such as purchase more healthy foods, watch digital TV, go to higher education, have internet services and so on. Convergence culture is the outcome of the rapid development of new information and communication technologies. According to â€Å"†¦Media convergence must also be seen as having a cultural logic of its own, blurring the lines between production and consumption, between making media and using media, between active or passive spectatorship†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Deuze, 2007, p. 74)From this quote we know that media convergence makes several changes between production and consumption, between making media and using media, between active or passive spectatorship of mediated culture. In this essay there are four main points to discuss how audiences and publics play roles in convergence culture. Discussions Firstly, the role audiences and publics play has been changed from passive to active. With the high technology development of media, new media has become more and more important than old media. Back to 20th century, old media such as TV was the main trend in the world and controlled audience.For instance, as we know all the TV programs will follow a fixed schedule, audiences only can watch whatever the TV programmes show, once you miss the show, then you will miss the show ever, unless the TV channels broadcast again. While nowadays, with the digital TV appeared, the audiences have become from passive to active. First of all, the digital TV can broadcast programmes at the same time, and based on â€Å"†¦Another huge advantage of digital television is that digital data takes up less bandwidth, meaning more channels can be broadcast at the same time.This gives viewers much more choice in what they watch and allows for follow up channels which broadcast the same programs as their namesake, just an hour later†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Davies, n. d. ) And â€Å"†¦Digital TV from Telenet: watch whatever you want, whenever you want†¦(Digital television, n. d. ). These mean the audiences can watch different shows at the same time, as well as they can switch programmes to whatever they want to watch. This kind of changes is a big different from analog TV. Next, digital TV allows audiences to pause or record live broadcasts at the click of a button.According to â€Å"†¦With Telenet Digital TV you can pause prog rams and rewind programs that you have viewed. You can record a program by simply pushing one button and your recording is immediately stored digitally on a hard disk†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Digital television, n. d. ), so you no longer have to miss your favourite TV programmes! And based on â€Å"†¦However, it’s a great leap to presume that the availability of digital networked technologies turns everyone into active participants. †(van Dijak, 2009, p. 44) From these quotes and examples we can see that audiences and publics are not passive any more.Secondly, audiences and publics have more participation and interactive with production company. For instance, Big Brother is a reality TV from United Kingdom and developed in the late 1990s. This TV programme offers audiences go to the onscreen world of the programme, use mobile phones and automatic number redial techniques to try and ensure their candidate in the house emerged the winner. These are two special points of Big B rother. According to â€Å"†¦Over the past 15 years, viewers have increasingly acted as participants in game shows, quizzes, talk shows and make-over programmes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (van Dijak, 2009, p. 3) And â€Å"†¦particularly the surge of reality television has boosted the of ‘ordinary people’ in broadcast productions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Teurlings, 2001) and â€Å"†¦In addition, the popularity of personal and communal media (home movies, home videos, community television) has profoundly affected television culture, particularly since the 1980s†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (van Dijak, 2009, p. 43) And based on â€Å"†¦Viewers were encouraged to visit the websites, and for a small subscription fee, could buy additional access to coverage of the more intimate activities, likes and dislikes, directly to the gained from syndicated†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ross, 2003, p. ), from these quotes we can see that the audiences have more interactive than before and the production company tr y to require unprecedented levels of interactivity with public as well. Thirdly, the perspectives of audiences and publics have more influences on programmes producing. Not only TV programmes but also all media programmes need audiences, need public. If a production company produces a programme without listening to the voice of audiences, it is just like flowers are far away from soil, fishes are far away from water. Without audiences, the progranmme is dead sooner or later.Based on â€Å"†¦Similarly, producers of popular television entertainment – such as soap operas or police dramas – are developing innovative ways to collect audience feedback, and then applying this information to the development of new characters and plotlines, as well as to include the most current social issues in their shows†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Deuze, 2007. p. 75) And according to â€Å"†¦A very important reason is to understand your audience. The more you know about the types of people i n your audience, their backgrounds, their interests, and their preferences, the better you can be at making programs to suit them†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Know Your Audience, n. . ) With the development of media convergence, audiences’ interests have become more and more important. â€Å"†¦The intensity of emotional involvement exhibited by viewers of reality TV led programme executives to consider new ways to monitor, channel and exploit viewer interest†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ross, 2003, p. 3) From the quotes we can see that audiences’ perspectives play an important role in the development of programmes producing and audience curiosity is subject to commercial exploitation. Fourthly, audiences and publics play more than one roles in media convergence culture. †¢ Audiences as users †¦In the development of a professional identity among media workers, can be illustrated by a November 2005 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project among teenagers in the United St ate, which report concludes:’ Some 57% of online teens create content for the internet. ’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Deuze, 2007, p. 76) And based on â€Å" †¦During 2005, online social network sites like MySpace and Facebook became common destinations for young people in the United States†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Boyd, 2005, p. 119) From these quotes, we can see that with the rapid development of Internet technology, social networks appeared into people’s life, especially for the young generation.Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. â€Å"†¦Young people were logging in, creating elaborate profiles, publicly articulating their relationships with other participants, and writing extensive comments back and forth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Boyd, 2005, p. 119) Users can create blogs, create or work on a webpage for school, an organizations, or a friend, share original content such as photos, opinions, stories, videos online, or art work and so on. Another example is Sina Weibo. Weibo† in Chinese stands for micro-blog, it has been launched recently in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and North America. Sina Weibo is China’s twitter, it is the hottest mircroblogging services in China now and it’s activity around Chinese Diaspora. â€Å"†¦In Weibo, the user can post pictures and embed videos directly into their feed. Much like in Facebook, the media is thumbnailed and will expand if clicked on instead of opening up a completely new page/tab as in Twitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Jou, 2012) Based on â€Å"†¦According to Sina, Weibo has a registered total user base of 358 million, of which roughly 36. million active users daily†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Jou, 2012) And according to â€Å"†¦It consumes 90% market shares of China’s microblogging services, with more than 140 million users in less than 2 years, while Twitter gained 200 million users in less than 5 years. It’s new, itâ €™s hot, and it’s becoming bigger and stronger†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Falcon, n. d. ) Bade on these data, we can know that social networks have become an important part of people’s life. â€Å"Social network sites are based around profiles, a form of individual (or, less frequently, group) home page, which offers a description of each member.In addition to text, images, and video created by the member, the social network site profile also contains comments from other member and a public list†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Boyd, 2005, p. 123) According to â€Å"†¦Identity refers to our own sense of self and how we are seen by our communities†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Social Design, n. d. ) And â€Å"†¦Social Design defines how we understand ourselves and each other and can be broken down into three core elements: Identity, Conversation and Community†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Social Design, n. d. ) Users can create their individual profiles based on their own identity, such s you can design how your homepage looks like, share what you are interested, show privacy information about yourself to public etc. †¢ Audiences as citizen journalists With the social networks appeared, audiences are not only a group of people who receive messages, news and information but also be senders to send information, publish news. Audiences as public also can share information and news in the first place, that is we called citizen journalism. â€Å"†¦Citizen journalism is when private individuals do essentially what professional reporters do – report information†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rogers, n. . ) And â€Å"†¦The Internet gave average people the ability to transmit information globally†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rogers, n. d. ). From these quotes we know that as the development of Internet technology, nowadays everyone could be a journalist to publish what happen around us and around the world. According to â€Å"†¦New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websit es, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular phones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to people worldwide†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Citizen Journalism, n. d. ).We know that citizens can often report breaking news more quickly than professional media reporters. Such as â€Å"†¦two predominant groups of youth published information, calls to action, documentation of policy brutality, and coordinated their planning and activities via Facebook and Twitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Anemic Portrayal of, 2012). Another example is â€Å"†¦was a topic on The Call, and the show’s blog post for the topic incorporates citizen-generated content into the posts. The post starts off with a brief intro by host John Schiumo, a nice fresh statement that goes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (â€Å"The Call† interactive, 2012) The third example is â€Å"†¦At 10:25 p. . on May 1, 2011, Keith Urbahn, who happened to be the former chief of staff for Donald Rumsfeld but in this case was funct ioning as a citizen journalist, tweeted: â€Å"So I’m told by a reputable person†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (How citizen journalism, 2012) The last example is â€Å"†¦Online petitions undoubtedly, though, do represent a fabulous means of exercising one’s civic voice and leverage a response from public officials. In this example, New York City restored most of the proposed cuts to its public library budget due†¦ † (Petition power, 2012) As those examples tells us citizen journalism is more and more popular for media audiences.This is the outcome of development of Internet technology and development of mobile phone technology. Today, you can use your mobile phone to surf the internet while watch a TV programme, or watch a programme that was on TV last night on your smartphone while you are on the way to work and so on. There are too many changes in people’s life. Conclusions â€Å"All over the world, as audiences increasingly take control of their media and communications use, traditional business models are being forced to adapt quickly to the new realities of the digital era. † (Convergence Review, 2010. From the quote, we know that audiences and publics play important roles. Everyone has been in an audience, we have all been part of a group of people who come together to experience film, music, foods, traveling or other social activities. In media convergence, â€Å"All media events are audiences events since they require people to hang out in media time-spaces where they physically, mentally and emotionally engage with media materials, technologies and power structures. † (Ross, 2003. p. 6). Audiences are any group of people who receive a media text, it could be ny format such as Internet, TV news, radio programmes, newspapers and so on. Audiences are not only be audience any more, they also could be consumers and users at the same time in new media terms. They are not a group of people who receive messages and be pass ive any more, they are more active, participate and interactive with media convergence. Word count: 2106 References Anemic Portrayal of. (n. d). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://mobilekazar. word press. com/2012/02/10/anemic-portrayal-of-the-digital-road-to-egypts-revolution/ Boyd, D. (2005). Why Youth  ¦ Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life’, in Youth, Identity and Digital Media, Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 119-142. Citizen Journalism. (n. d). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://mashable. com/follo w/topics/citizen-journalism/ Convergence Review. (2010). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://www. dbcde. go v. au/digital_economy/convergence_review/convergence_review_background_paper. html Davies, M. (n. d). The Advantages of Digital TV. Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://ezinearticles. com/? The-Advantages-of-Digital-TV&id=1425944Deuze, M. (2007). ‘Creative industries, Convergence Culture and Media Work’ (Extrac t), in Media Work, Cambridge: Polity, pp. 74-83. Digital television. (n. d). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://telenet. be/business/ en/small/digital-television Falcon, A. (n. d). Twitter Vs. Weibo. Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://www. ho ngkiat. com/blog/things-twitter-can-learn-from-sina-weibo/ How citizen journalism. (2012). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://mobilekazar. wordpress. com/2012/05/04/how-citizen-journalism-drove-the-news-of-bin-ladens-death/Jou, E. (2012). Why Sina Weibo. Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://kotaku. com/5940025/why-sina-weibo-is-better-than-twitter-even-though-theyre-pretty-much-the-same Know Your Audience. (n. d). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://www. audiencedi alogue. net/kya1a. html Petition power. (2012). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://www. mobilekazar. wo rdpress. com/2012/06/29/petition-power/ Rogers, T. (n. d). What Is Citizen Journalism?. Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://journalism. about. com/od/citize njournalism/a/whatiscitizen. htm Ross, K. Nightingale, V. (2003). ‘ Audiences Today’, in Media and Audiences: New Perspective, Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 1-11. Social Design. (n. d). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://developers. facebook. co m/socialdesign/ Teurlings, J. (2001). ‘Producing the Ordinary: Institutions, Discourses and Practices in Love Game Shows’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 15(2): 249-63. â€Å"The Call† interactive. (2012). Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://mobilekazar. w ordpress. com/2012/01/25/the-call-interactive-tv-news-gets-expanded-time-slot/

Benefits of Low Student Teacher Ratio

The Benefits Derived From a Low Student –Teacher Ratio Albert Fuller American Intercontinental University English Composition II What are the possibilities and impacts of a low student-teacher ratio and how can it be beneficial to both students and teachers alike. Imagine yourself in a class of 30 or more students, you are eager to learn but find it hard to grab the attention of the teacher.You feel lost in a class of pupils and you don’t know if you are going to absorb the lesson of the day. Sitting at your desk wishing that your instructor focused more time on the subjects that you didn’t understand; you find yourself looking for opportunities to refocus attention on you. Hoping to gain the knowledge and intellect that will help prepare you for college, you soon realize that your teacher being overworked often times overlooks your progress.Many students in the world today face these problems. There are multiple signs that point to how reducing class sizes will show an improvement in several areas that are affecting educators and students and once these areas are controlled benefits will be shared by both groups. Students benefiting from the personalized learning experience of smaller classes have a higher probability of entering institutions of a higher level of education.A published journal by Finn & Gerber (2005) estimate that the large studies performed by three states comparing smaller to larger class sizes arrived at the same conclusion, â€Å"that smaller class sizes result in substantial gains in student achievement which sustain to graduation and beyond†. These were the STAR study in Tennessee, the SAGE studies in Wisconsin and the CSR studies in California. These combined studies measured how mixed variations of the learning environment have an impact on percentages relating to educational progress.Konstantopoulos (2008) has pointed to a fact that shows that the smaller learning environment in inner city schools has been s hown to provide students more time to learn details of lessons that would otherwise be cut short in larger classes. Teachers from inner city schools have reported that their students, when placed in a smaller class size are retaining information being delivered simply because they are more abled to review the lesson immediately with students that haven’t gasped the delivered concepts Konstantopoulos (2008).The students feel the benefit of education retention from the smaller classes and more prepared when entering college because of the detail in learning that was available to them during secondary education. A direct consequence of the failure to adequately fund public schools is budget restraints and students in low funded states have had to suffer from some of the largest class sizes in America due to this. State level government has been forced to choose between funding school programs and providing competitive pay to teachers.As a consequence of low school funding, many 9th Graders across the U. S. have the lowest percent of college completion. Burtless (1996) Causing educators to lose focus on the quality of education a student receives, many teachers believe that one of many drawbacks to House Bill 2261 is how it eliminated even the inadequate floor for school funding of the Basic Education Act and replaced it with class size funding at whatever level the State legislature wanted to fund schools during a particular year, this was a major one of many drawbacks to Bill 2261.Konstantopoulos and Chung (2009) Many scholars have cited that the percentage based funding the states have devised now leaves low-income areas of a state forced to have higher student-teacher ratios than other areas of the state; this has cause teachers to lose focus on educating students and be more so spending their days completing various paperwork. These teachers enjoy their profession less than teachers in low student-teacher ratio schools. Burtless (1996) Smaller classes would benefit teachers as well.They will have a smaller group of students to manage which with provide less chance of class disruptions and they will be able to progress through planned lessons in a smoother pace. Due to the low funding of some states, teachers with larger classes are focused on following lesson plans and paperwork with no time to use forms of creative instruction Burtless (1996). Without the individuals creative instruction students surveyed have reported that the information being delivered appears repetitive and less interesting causing them to lose focus and not retain the information being delivered.The focused learning experience that the smaller environment provides will boost class participation and will encourage students to have higher educational goals and will benefit these students in future endeavors. Fewer students will feel a lack of learning in a smaller learning environment. The smaller classes have shown improved statistics in academic behavior an d from this change we are able to see the need for structure in the class along with quality one-on-one time with teachers.Konstantopoulos (2008) Students in smaller class settings are able to retain focus and teachers are able to maintain direction. Fewer students in a class would allow teachers to monitor how well students are retaining information, reduce behavior issues and would prevent students from going off task. Parker (2008) With larger classes, teachers spend more time reviewing course material for those that are behind rather than moving on in subject matter.With the smaller class sizes, educators will be able to cover more subject matter and, in turn, students are shown to learn more than has been expected for that grade level. In conclusion, smaller classes are shown to improve the quality of learning that is currently being provided in larger classes. Students across America have taken part in studies discussed in this essay and experts agree that the benefits of a sm aller class have long lasting impacts on student relations with teachers and nourish the mind to achieve higher educational goals.Although funding in some states do not support smaller sized classrooms, reducing the class size has shown to have a significant impact on the effort a teacher uses in education, the participation of students in smaller classes when faced with more one-to-one instruction, behavior changes in smaller classes, and the increase in the level of education smaller students receives. References: Burtless, G. (1996) Does Money Matter? : The Effect of School Resources on Student Achievement and Adult Success ISBN 0-8157-1275-8 Konstantopoulos, Spyros; Chung, Vicki (2009). â€Å"What Are the Long-Term Effects of Small Classes on the Achievement Gap?Evidence from the Lasting Bene? ts Study†. American Journal of Education 116 (1): 125–54. Konstantopoulos, Spyros. (2008). â€Å"Do Small Classes Reduce the Achievement Gap between Low and High Achievers? Evidence from Project STAR. † Elementary School Journal 108 (4): 275–91. Parker, L. (2008). Little Wonders http://www. aeufederal. org. au/Publications/AE/Spr08pp18-20. pdf Finn, J. D. , & Gerber, S. B. (2005) Small Class Sizes in Early Grades, Academic Achievement, and Graduating From High School, Journal of Educational Psychology, (97) (2) 214-223 http://www. apa. org/pubs/journals/releases/edu-972214. pdf

Accounting & business performance

The current business environment is characterized by a high level of competitiveness and business organizations have to go through a constant process of change in order to develop and maintain a competitive edge that will allow them to maximize their profits.Profit maximization leads to maximization of shareholder wealth and therefore it is the ultimate objective that the management in every business organization strives to attain in the long term. However shareholders are not the only stakeholders to a business organization.Customers and employees are also important stakeholders and satisfying their demands is critical to maintaining the competitiveness of a business organization (cited in Spitzer, 2007). The process of satisfying customers is called customer relationship management.The process of satisfying the employees is called human resource management (cited in Armstrong, 2005). A critical aspect of human resource management is compensation management. Inasmuch as compensation management motivates employees and directly impacts the level of their performance, it is a serious concern for the management of a business organization.Compensation management, by influencing employees to target their efforts towards enhancing organizational effectiveness, forms an integral part of the management control system in a business organization.The management control system ensures that resource allocation happens in a manner calculated to maximize organizational effectiveness. This effectiveness is achieved through strategic alignment. As mentioned before, every business organization has to develop a competitive edge.This enables business organizations to set themselves apart so that customers are more willing to spend money for their products and services rather than for their competitors. Having a strategic focus is integral to developing and maintaining a competitive edge. In order to develop a strategic focus, the management of a business organization has to identi fy its core competencies.These competencies possessed by a particular business organization define what the strategic focus for that organization should be and the organization’s resources are allocated accordingly. One of the most important resources that an organization possesses is its employees. However employees do not possess the big picture.Therefore they are unable to structure the application of their skills efficiently and effectively on their own. That is why the management control system is of critical importance. The management control system in this regard works by means of a framework of rewards and penalties.An organization is a collective term (cited in Armstrong, 2005). It consists of a group of people working together to reach a common target which for a business organization, as mentioned before, is profit maximization. According to the definition above, how employees relate to one another in the organizational setting is a concern of the utmost importance .The effort here is one of identifying a structural framework which can be applied generally to understanding the nature of these relationships. Understanding the nature of the relationship between the superior and his subordinates reveals the set of motives and interests which the senior management of an organization can depend upon to improve the performance of their employees. One such structural framework is the agency theory.According to the agency theory, agents and principals have different motives and interests which guide their behavior and therefore conflicts of interest arise (cited in Atkinson, 2006). These conflicts must be eliminated if their efforts are to be directed to the common good of the organization.Examples of principals are the senior management of an organization while examples of agents may be the managers who work under them. An example of a conflict of interest may be a scenario where the senior management encourages a high level of risk-taking when it co mes to business ventures but the managers they are delegating tasks to do not like to take risks.In this respect, the common goal for both agents and principals to maximize profits is compromised because the two parties are following different approaches. Unless this conflict is resolved, it will be impossible for the senior management of an organization to maintain its strategic focus.How to resolve this conflict has been the subject of considerable research and there is widespread agreement in the scholarly circles that designing the right system of rewards and penalties is the critical issue in this regard.The highly competitive nature of the current business environment requires organizations to change their internal processes in a continuous improvement process. Because the industry is changing fast in terms of products and services and production technologies, the business organization operating in that industry also has to change in order to stay competitive.One of these chan ges is that business organizations can no longer afford to keep their performance measurement systems aligned to the past. That is why the balanced scorecard system is now being implemented in diverse industries in a wide variety of organizations to keep the performance measurement system forward-looking.According to the balanced scorecard, the management of a business organization has to look at the organization in terms of four perspectives: financial, customer, learning and growth and internal processes (cited in Spitzer, 2007).The balanced scorecard links these four perspectives under the framework of total quality management. According to the theory of total quality management, the process of quality control has to be embedded in all the processes organization-wide.The balanced scorecard puts this theory into practice by focusing management control on four key areas of an organizational structure. However once again, implementing the balanced scorecard requires the right system of rewards and penalties.It has been mentioned before that managers and employees have different goals and therefore delegation of duties and responsibilities is hampered. Removing this barrier to strategic alignment between management goals and the goals of their subordinates defines agency theory. The agency theory is very much relevant even when it comes to the implementation of the balanced scorecard.According to this methodology, the managers responsible for particular work processes have to design hierarchies of objectives, measures, targets and initiatives which will assess to what extent those work processes are meeting organizational standards (cited in Spitzer, 2007).Conflicts of interest between the senior management and its subordinates will arise because the senior management will require that lower level managers set aggressive targets for their work processes in the balanced scorecard. However the lower level managers will be unwilling to set aggressive targets becau se in the event these aggressive targets are not met, they risk losing their jobs. The senior management likes to take risks because it has a lot of choices in this respect, i.e. hiring other employees more suited to the task.However the employees will have a hard time finding another job and therefore they set easily attainable targets in order to ensure job security. This conflict can be resolved only through the right system of rewards and penalties.In designing the right system of rewards and penalties, the management has to decide whether the compensation should be behavior-based (fixed salary) or outcome-based (bonus, stock options, profit sharing) (cited in Armstrong, 2005).This decision is reached on the basis of whether the task in question is highly programmable, where senior management can specifically prescribe the behavioral requirements for the task, or not (cited in (cited in Spitzer, 2007).For example, when it comes to maximizing sales, the management has to offer it s sales employees a certain degree of latitude so that the sales employees exercise creativity in maximizing the number of sales in a specific period of time.In this respect, the senior management has no way of monitoring employee behavior and therefore the rewards or penalties are administered based on whether the number of sales reached the target or not. That is why rewards and penalties are important for the management control system.The objective of the management control system in this example is to make sure that in maximizing sales, employees put in their best efforts, which they will not according to the agency theory. That objective of the management control system is reached only through well thought out rewards and penalties which make employees extend their best efforts in attaining the organizational objectives.ReferencesSpitzer, Dean R. Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way WeMeasure and Drive organizational Success. Prentice Hall. (2007).Armstrong, Michael. Strategic Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall. (2005)Atkinson, Anthony A., et al. Management Accounting. McGraw Hill/Irwin. (2006).Horngren, Charles T., et al. Introduction to Management Accounting. Prentice Hall. (2005). Â