Introduction to Personality Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Personality Essay Behavior geneticists assess the question of inheriting personality. Are our genes responsible for our creativity, aggressiveness or confidence? Examining personality traits through a genetic focus is an obscure task. Methods employed by behavior geneticists involve epidemiological studies, such as screening family pedigrees, conducting twin heritability studies, and adoption studies. Personality is best described as what makes up a person, their traits and individual differences that make them unique. There has been much research undertaken as to what actually causes a personality to develop whether it is nature (genetically inherited) or by nurture (the environment) research has shown that it is a combination of both. (Walter, shoda, smith 2003) Human society is complex and this presents researchers with difficulties in measurement of the environmental effect and to define exactly what causes personality. Psychologists and behavior geneticists have tried to estimate contributions made by genetics and the environment to individual differences through heritability. See more: how to start an essay Heritability is when research has been carried out to establish the contributions of genetics and the environment to a population sample. This is based on knowing the birth relationship (genetic relatedness), measuring the trait in question and making comparisons between groups with differing levels of genetic relatedness. The amount of variability in a trait or physical measurement within a population is accounted for to show how much has been inherited (genetically) and the percentage remaining is the environmental contribution. Twins were an excellent source of study since their DNA is identical. Before 1970 there was not much recorded information about twins, however there are now larger information sources and larger samples have become available. In Sweden and Finland the central recording of twins raised together and apart also improvements in the interpretation of statistics and technology enabled larger samples to be examined. Findings from heritability studies have shown that personality traits are associated with genetic influence, however this can vary depending on the trait measured, eg neuroticism shows heritability as 30% but measurements of extraversion/introversion show heritability as 50%. Measurements could be inaccurate as variables have to be considered eg environmental factors twins that have been reared apart may have still lived with a family member and could still be brought up in a similar way. The media stories have focused on successful reunions of twins previously separated, twins separated may spend years getting to know each other before they are researched which would be enough time to adapt their personalities. The time separation aspect could mean different things, eg some twins researched had actually spent some years together. (walter, shoda, smith 2003) Twin studies have often used different measures of a person, therefore the results may be unreliable unless the same measurement is taken each time. Other research in families involved examining differences in relatedness between other family members ie siblings, half-siblings, cousins, parents and children. There have also been adoption studies. Research has shown that nature has a proportion of about a third effect on personality, which would infer the larger effect on a personality derives from the environment. There is continual interaction between an organism and its environment from conception throughout life, environments that are both physical and made up with other people. Individual differences psychologists describe environments as ‘dimensions’ ie whether the child has been raised in a controlled or a relaxed environment, the mothers health and well being and the parents relationship. Personalities can change dependant upon the situation that the person is in. The Stanford Prison Experiment is an example of a social experiment where volunteers undertook new roles. Twenty four were selected after various tests to rule out medical, psychological and other tendencies. They were told that the research was to study the psychological effects on prison life, the experiment took place in a mock prison environment within the university. The experiment was cut short because prisoners became demoralized and showed signs of stress, depression and others lost touch with reality. Guards behaved in authoritarian and aggressive way, some became sadistic. The research here showed that social situations have powerful effects on behavior. Researchers have used various forms of evidence that seem to indicate that personality is developed through an interaction between genetics and the environment therefore it would be wise to conclude that only a portion of a persons personality is inherited. Differing situations should be accounted for when comparing the results, to date it has been difficult to define what the exact ratio of heritability – environment is, research has shown heritability to be approximately 30%. References Introduction to Personality: Toward An Integration, Seventh Edition by Walter Mischel, Yuichi Shoda, and Ronald E. Smith. John Wiley Sons; 7th edition 10 Jul 2003

Public Relation Tactics in the Hotel Industry

Public Relation Tactics in the Hotel Industry Introduction The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. According to an American educator and writer Peter F. Drucker. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. According to Al Ries Strategy and timing are Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is Catskills Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal The tourism consumer is the critical judge of successful marketing and public relations activities. In todays increasingly competitive marketing environment there has been a shift from traditional marketing techniques towards more aggressive and varied approaches to marketing and communication. The change from transactional to relationship management in marketing over the past fifty years has been marked by improvements in consumer satisfaction and client recommendation of repeat purchase of products and services. Brands today are often built with effective PR campaigns and then maintained through a blend of marketing and PR tactics. The impact of the Internet is having profound impact upon PR and Marketing practices enabling PR practitioners to conduct two way communications in order to maintain and enhance customer relationships. MARKETING The Oberoi Group Oberoi Hotels Resorts is famous the world over with providing the right blend of service and luxury. Internationally acclaimed for all-round excellence and unparalleled levels of service, Oberoi hotels and resorts have received innumerable awards and accolades. The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambore has been ranked the worlds best hotel by Travel and Leisure Readers Poll for 2010, The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra has been ranked the fifth best in the world, The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur is ranked the thirteenth best and The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur has been ranked the fifteenth best hotel in the world. . Trident hotels are five-star hotels that have established a reputation for excellence and are acknowledged for offering quality and value. At present there are nine Trident hotels in India. These are located in Mumbai at Bandra Kurla and Nariman Point, Gurgaon (Delhi National Capital Region), Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Cochin, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur. The Oberoi Group also operates a Trident hotel in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. The Groups commitment to excellence, attention to detail and personalized service has ensured a loyal list of guests and accolades in the worldwide hospitality industry. THE OBEROI The Oberoi, Mumbai (Location) Located in the citys prime business and shopping district of Nariman Point, The Oberoi, Mumbai has been completely redesigned to be the ultimate destination for contemporary style and luxury in the city. Overlooking the Arabian Sea, the hotel is full of space and serenity. Luxuriously appointed guestrooms have been meticulously planned with a host of innovative features using the latest technology. The Oberoi, Mumbai is located on Marine Drive, the famed boulevard along the coast in South Mumbai. An hours drive from the airport and only minutes away from the business, financial and entertainment districts, the hotel is also well located to visit the citys tourist attractions. The hotel offers a rich variety of dining experiences ranging from an all day dining restaurant serving global cuisine, to an Italian Restaurant and a signature Indian restaurant under the direction of a Michelin starred chef. An ideal location for business meetings and conferences in Mumbai, venues range from private meeting rooms at the 24-hours Business Centre to the conference rooms on the top floor of the hotel offering sweeping views of the Arabian Sea. The Oberoi, Mumbai is the ideal hotel for discerning business and leisure travelers. Porters fives forces model is an excellent model to use to analyse a particular environment of an industry . So for example . if we were entering the hotel industry, we would use porters model to help us find out about: Marketing Strategy of Oberoi Hotels Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organizations energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firms marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena, corporate strategies, corporate missions, and corporate goals. As the customer constitutes the source of a companys revenue, marketing strategy is closely linked with sales. A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a co mpanys overarching mission statement. The Oberoi Group, founded in 1934, operates 28 hotels and three cruisers in five countries under the luxury Oberoi and five-star Trident brands. The Group is also engaged in flight catering, airport restaurants, travel and tour services, car rentals, project management and corporate air charters. Oberoi Hotels Resorts is synonymous the world over with providing the right blend of service, luxury and quiet efficiency. Internationally acclaimed for all-round excellence and unparalleled levels of service, Oberoi hotels and resorts have received innumerable awards and accolades. The Oberoi group has tradition of pioneering in the hospitality industry, striving for unsurpassed excellence in high-potential locations all the way from the Middle East to Asia-Pacific. The basic strategies of the Oberoi hotels are: They provide reservation facilities through toll free numbers and online registrations Oberoi hotels and Resorts has partnered with Indias certified airlines to make consumers satisfied. They promote their service through mileage point which provides customers and travelers some offers depending on their points. Providing special offers such as Himalayan Adventure, exotic honeymoon, exotic vacations, Business travel plus etc. Creating and developing customer loyalty Customer service is important for small businesses of any industry, and developing customer loyalty can increase overall engagement and satisfaction with a company. The concept of Marketing emerged in the mid 1950s when the scope shifted from a make-and-sell-attitude to a more customer focused sense-and-respond attitude. In other words the businesses started to find products for their customers rather than finding customers for their products2. Direct marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and other relationship marketing concepts have been a topic of discussion for practitioners and academics for the later part of the 20th century and is widely claimed to be the future of marketing. Some academics have stated that the concept of relationship marketing is the biggest change in 50 years of marketing and is bringing marketing back to the preindustrial era when the producers and consumers dealt directly with each other3. Relationship marketing is an umbrella term with many subfields and is in general more connected with high-level strategic thinking. CRM has in contrast a stronger connection to marketing strategies over the customer lifetime and understanding the customers needs, attitudes, life stage, profitability and lifetime value. Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Virgin Atlantic, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranked number one in hotel, airline, and rental car industry customer satisfaction, respectively in 2009. In 2009 Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, an Indian brand associated with ultra luxury hotels, earned the highest customer satisfaction score among all hotels (93.7). Midscale without food and beverage (+0.5 to 84.0) improved more than any other segment in 2009. The customer wants value for money and is generally getting discerning. Modern day research being conducted reveals that customer loyalty is taking a back seat. It is now about being innovative, and it is about fulfilling a need not saying, Youre my customer for the last 20 years, and therefore you should be my customer over the next 20. The Oberoi is an organisation that is training oriented, and which has built its brand over the last 30 years. The Oberoi has also exported its brand to some extent internationally. 2Kotler et al., 2009 3Sheth Parvatiyar, 2000 The system therefore that is being put into place is Learn, Perform, Deliver, Reward. A lot of structures are being put into place which are transparent and they created an entire communication drive in order to let people understand how these transparent structures would help them on an ongoing basis. Their vision is to develop their company to achieve world-class standards consistently. The company strategy is based on five important criteria. Job functions have been made more meaningful with new designations and responsibility levels. Rewards will no longer be based on a ten-year system but on performance. With increased responsibility will come greater authority. For greater efforts and increased productivity our people will be rewarded, and Finally, their people shall have more career opportunities in our rapidly growing organisation. They do both internal external customer surveys. When these come in, they have small teams that work towards improvement. Their focus is on Strong People, Product and Processes. Communication has played a tremendous role in getting people to believe them. Oberoi Hotel is synonymous the world over for providing the right blend of service, luxury and quiet efficiency. Internationally recognized for all-round excellence and unparalleled levels of service, Oberoi Hotel has received innumerable awards and accolades. A distinctive feature of The Groups hotel is their highly motivated and well trained staff that provides the kind of attentive, personalized and warm service that is rare today. The hotel provides best facilities like: Combining the finest of all that is contemporary and the best in latest technology with the timeless traditions of Oberoi Hotels Resorts, The Oberoi, Mumbai is the leading choice of business and leisure travelers. The meetings and conference facilities at The Oberoi, Mumbai are designed to accommodate exclusive and intimate business meetings and social gatherings. The well appointed Business Centre features nine meeting rooms that accommodate up to 20 guests. Network and relationship marketing Relationship Marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. As a practice, Relationship Marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it recognizes the long term value of customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages. With the growth of the internet and mobile platforms, Relationship Marketing has continued to evolve and move forward as technology opens more collaborative and social communication channels. This includes tools for managing relationships with a customer that goes beyond simple demographic and customer service data. Relationship Marketing extends to include Inbound Marketing efforts, PR, Social Media and Application Development. Just like customer relationship management, (CRM), Relationship Marketing is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a companys interactions with clients and sales prospects. It also involves using technology to organize, synchronize business processes, (principally sales and marketing activities), and most importantly, automate those marketing and communication activities on concrete marketing sequences that could run in autopilot, (also known as marketing sequences). The overall goals are to find, attract and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Once simply a label for a category of software tools, today, it generally denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitabil ity, and reduce operational costs. Relationship marketing also stresses what it calls internal marketing. This refers to using a marketing orientation within the organization itself. It is claimed that many of the relationship marketing attributes like collaboration, loyalty and trust determine what internal customers say and do. According to this theory, every employee, team, or department in the company is simultaneously a supplier and a customer of services and products. Brand identity and strategy Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process. Its often the element that causes most businesses the biggest challenge, but its a vital step in creating the company identity. A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. Its important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. A brand is the source of a promise to the consumers. Its a foundational piece in the marketing communication. Defining a Brand This is the first step in the process of developing brand strategy. By defining what the brand is one can create the foundation for all other components to build on. The brand definition will serve as measuring stick in evaluating any and all marketing materials and strategies. Determining The Brands Objectives Critical to effective brand management is the clear definition of the brands audience and the objectives that the brand needs to achieve. The objectives have to be defined and a plan has to be put into place that would help to succeed in meeting them. Focusing on Target Audience The power of brand relies on the ability to focus. That is why defining target market will help to strengthen the brands effectiveness. Discovering and Crushing Brand Barriers When creating the brand strategy for a product or service it is important to perform a careful analysis to determine principal barriers. These barriers are also known as market conditions that can keep the product or service from achieving success. Brand Packaging and Identity Branding is someones identity in the marketplace and the Oberoi brand says what it should. The company image is all about the appearance of the packaging. Successfully out-branding ones competitors is a continuous battle for the hearts and minds of the customers. The proposition the brand strategy makes must be very compelling, attractive and unique among competitive offerings. The proposition must also be consistently reinforced throughout all phases of an organization, from senior executives to customer service, research and development, business development and even any business partners. The brand statement, often called the brand promise or proposition, is a derivative of branding research. It states the benefit of buying and using the companys products or services. For Oberoi industry the brand statement is Our commitment is that every guest leaves satisfied. Oberoi Hotels which is an Indian brand associated with ultra luxury hotels. Founded in 1934, Oberoi manages 30 hotels and 5 luxury cruises under the Oberoi and Trident brands. All the hotels owned by the company across the many segments in India operate under the Oberoi brand name. The usual trend in the international hospitality industry is to have distinct brands for each segment that a hotel group operates in. This strategy ensures that the brand equity is not diluted when the brand enters the business segment or economy hotels segment. But the Oberoi brand has not treaded this path till now. The Oberoi Group has removed the Oberoi brand names from six of its hotels which are not luxury hotels. Simultaneously, it has brought all the luxury palace-hotels previously called villas under the Oberoi brand to convey the brand spirit and strengthen the brand equity. This strategy ensures that Oberoi preserve their brand equity and also facilitates the expansion to other segments by endorsing the sub-brands with their parent brand names. With the Indian travel and tourism industry expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.8% to US$90.4 billion in 2015, these brand maneuvers become very important to ensure the famous Indian hospitality brands are up to the global challenges. Viral and guerilla marketing Guerilla Marketing: Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. Viral marketing: Marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message. The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, potentially interactive, and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, or any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to Guerrilla marketing now utilize cutting edge mobile digital technologies to engage the consumer and create a memorable brand experience Guerrilla marketers use all of their contacts, both professional and personal, and examine their company and its products, looking for sources of publicity. Many forms of publicity can be very inexpensive, or even free. Levinson says that when implementing guerrilla marketing tactics, small size is actually an advantage. In The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, he states: In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customers needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits. The Oberoi group has actually implemented this strategy in providing their services and maintaining good relationship with their customers. Strategic Customer Relations For larger-scale enterprises like The Oberoi group, a complete and detailed plan is required to obtain the funding, resources, and company-wide support that can make the initiative of choosing and implementing a system successfully. Benefits must be defined, risks assessed, and cost quantified in three general areas: Processes: Though these systems have many technological components, business processes lie at its core. It can be seen as a more client-centric way of doing business, enabled by technology that consolidates and intelligently distributes pertinent information about clients, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness, and market trends. Therefore, a company must analyze its business workflows and processes before choosing a technology platform; some will likely need re-engineering to better serve the overall goal of winning and satisfying clients. Moreover, planners need to determine the types of client information that are most relevant, and how best to employ them.4 People: For an initiative to be effective, an organization must convince its staff that the new technology and workflows will benefit employees as well as clients. Senior executives need to be strong and visible advocates who can clearly state and support the case for change. Collaboration, teamwork, and two-way communication should be encouraged across hierarchical boundaries, especially with respect to process improvement.5 Technology: In evaluating technology, key factors include alignment with the companys business process strategy and goals, including the ability to deliver the right data to the right employees and sufficient ease of adoption and use. Platform selection is best undertaken by a carefully chosen group of executives who understand the business processes to be automated as well as the software issues. Depending upon the size of the company and the breadth of data, choosing an application can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more. 4DestinationCRM.com (2002) 5TechTarget (2009) Strategy Checklist: Planning for CRM and Customer Service Success The three phases in which strategic consumer relations support the relationship between a business and its customers are to: Acquire: Strategic consumer relations can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling, and fulfillment.6 Enhance: web-enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of one-stop shopping.6 Retain: CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives. Over the last decade, too many organizations have assumed that their products or services were so superior that customers would automatically keep coming back for more. But in order to compete effectively in todays marketplace, organizations must change their strategy to become more customer focused, not product focused. Strategic consumer relation is the best way to integrate this customer-facing approach throughout an organization. 6 James A. OBrien George M. Marakas (2009). Enterprise Business Systems. Management Information Systems. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Effectiveness of e-marketing An e-marketing strategy is needed to provide consistent direction for an organizations e-marketing activities that integrates with its other marketing activities and supports the overall objectives of the business. For many companies, the first forays into e-marketing or Internet marketing are not the result of a well-defined, integrated Internet strategy; rather, they are a response to competitors activities or customers demand. There is no evidence to suggest that the approach to developing and implementing a strategy should be significantly different for e-marketing. Established frameworks for corporate strategy development or strategic marketing planning should still be followed. These frameworks provided a logical sequence to follow which ensures inclusion of all key activities of strategy development. However, with e-marketing there is an even greater need for a highly responsive strategy process model where rapid reaction can occur to events in the marketplace. The use of Soviet-style 5 year planning does not seem appropriate; a preferable approach is an emergent e-marketing strategy process that is part of a continuous improvement. E-business or e-marketing strategy process models tend to share the following characteristics: Continuous internal and external environment scanning or analysis are required. Clear statement of vision and objectives is required. Strategy development can be broken down into formulation and selection. After strategy development, enactment of the strategy occurs as strategy implementation. Control is required to detect problems and adjust the strategy accordingly. They must be responsive to changes in the marketplace. There is four stage models for e-marketing strategy development: 1. Strategic analysis. Continuous scanning of the micro and macro-environment of an organization are required with particular emphasis on the changing needs of customers, actions and business models of competitor and opportunities afforded by new technologies. Techniques include resource analysis, demand analysis and competitor analysis, applications portfolio analysis, SWOT analysis and competitive environment analysis. 2. Strategic objectives. Organizations must have a clear vision on whether digital media will complement or replace other media and their capacity for change. Clear objectives must be defined and in particular goals for the online revenue contribution should be set. 3. Strategy definition. Strategy definition may be denoted by eight factors: Target market strategies. Positioning and differentiation strategies. Resourcing Internet marketing priorities significance to organization. CRM focus and financial control Market and product development strategies. Business and revenue models including product development and pricing strategies. Organizational restructuring required. Channel structure modifications. 4. Strategy implementation It includes devising and executing the tactics needed to achieve strategic objectives. This includes relaunching a web site, campaigns associated with promoting the site and monitoring the effectiveness of the site. The travel industry survives as one of the better performing sectors in e-commerce. With no fulfillment and no need for online payments, the hotel industry is well positioned to capture the full potential of ecommerce while avoiding many of its risks. Despite the burst of the Internet bubble, the promise of the Internet for hoteliers is still real: Online distribution can reduce costs, attract affluent customers and lessen dependency on more traditional and expensive distribution channels. The Oberoi group is providing effective e-marketing services to their customers. Conclusion: Through this assignment I have found that the main purpose of hospitality and tourism industry is to entertain a guest with goodwill. Oberoi hotel is using all the marketing strategies and has developed good customer relationships, which is the reason for their increasing and worldwide growth. Oberoi hotel is always offering a range of facilities and business services like as internet, fax machine. I have found that Oberoi Hotels Resorts are synonymous the world over for providing the right blend of service, luxury and quiet efficiency. Internationally recognized for all-round excellence and unparalleled levels of service, Oberoi Hotels Resorts have received innumerable awards and accolades. A distinctive feature of The Groups hotels is their highly motivated and well trained staff that provides the kind of attentive, personalized and warm service that is rare today. The Groups new luxury hotels have established a reputation for redefining the paradigm of luxury and excellence in s ervice amongst leisure hotels around the world. Recommendation: With the completion of this assignment I know much about how to run a business smoothly and what is required to become a good and successful business man and get good profit. One should be very much clear about what the needs of the customers are and how to satisfy them. Every businessman should give focus on the customer needs because this is first and foremost thing in business. If we make strategies before starting any business then we wont have to face many problems. Organizations should be arranging and delegating work for accomplishment of their goals. Relationship Marketing refers to a long-term and mutually beneficial arrangement where both the buyer and seller have an interest in providing a more satisfying exchange and is essential for any industry to reach high status. A key principle of relationship marketing is the retention of customers through varying means and practices to ensure repeated trade from preexisting customers by satisfying requirements above those of compe ting companies through a mutually beneficial relationship.

Personal Narrative - To Leave or To Stay Essay -- Personal Narrative G

To Leave or To Stay Have you ever felt lost? Have you ever felt scared of the future not knowing what to expect and what to do? If you have then you have experienced a crisis that you had to resolve in order to continue your life normally. Sometimes it is really hard to know what is best and to realize what have to be done, and the younger you are the harder it is. No matter what you think though, the only way to solve your problem is to sit down and think about it and come up with all the positive sides and all the negative sides of the situation, and then decide what you should do. I was 16 years old when I faced my biggest crisis. I did not know what to do; I even refused to think about it. I thought everything was going to resolve itself but that was impossible. My mother had received an opportunity to come legally to the United States as permanent residents and she was also allowed to take her family with her – my father, my brother and me. They seemed to be happy about it. That was their dream, but I didn’t know what to think and whether to be happy or sad about this. The thought that I had to leave everything I owned and everything I loved and then go somewhere else to start a whole new life scared me. What about all the friends I had? What about the relatives†¦ my dog? What about the beautiful Bulgarian mountains and lakes and the Black Sea, and my little garden in the back yard. What about my whole life up to that point. Would I still be able to come back to it? Would it be the same? Would my friends still be my friends and remember me ? I was confused and scared. There were so many questions in my head. I was afraid to imagine leaving even for a part of the second. Time was passing and my crisis did not resolve i... ... much time together, we still kept in touch and we were not going to forget each other. My sweet best friend, the German Shepard Nora waited for me by the door and gave me a big kiss when she saw me. She looked good and healthy due to my responsible and caring grandparents that took care of her. The other good thing was that I like traveling anyway, so now I have one more good reason to travel more often. This is also why I want to share my favorite quote with you:† Distance isn't for the fearful, it's for the bold. It's for those willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for little time with the ones they love. It's for knowing a good thing when they see it even if they don't see it nearly enough.† I do not know who said this, but I know that it sounds right. Now I know that I have made the better decision and I am glad that I came over to the United States. Personal Narrative - To Leave or To Stay Essay -- Personal Narrative G To Leave or To Stay Have you ever felt lost? Have you ever felt scared of the future not knowing what to expect and what to do? If you have then you have experienced a crisis that you had to resolve in order to continue your life normally. Sometimes it is really hard to know what is best and to realize what have to be done, and the younger you are the harder it is. No matter what you think though, the only way to solve your problem is to sit down and think about it and come up with all the positive sides and all the negative sides of the situation, and then decide what you should do. I was 16 years old when I faced my biggest crisis. I did not know what to do; I even refused to think about it. I thought everything was going to resolve itself but that was impossible. My mother had received an opportunity to come legally to the United States as permanent residents and she was also allowed to take her family with her – my father, my brother and me. They seemed to be happy about it. That was their dream, but I didn’t know what to think and whether to be happy or sad about this. The thought that I had to leave everything I owned and everything I loved and then go somewhere else to start a whole new life scared me. What about all the friends I had? What about the relatives†¦ my dog? What about the beautiful Bulgarian mountains and lakes and the Black Sea, and my little garden in the back yard. What about my whole life up to that point. Would I still be able to come back to it? Would it be the same? Would my friends still be my friends and remember me ? I was confused and scared. There were so many questions in my head. I was afraid to imagine leaving even for a part of the second. Time was passing and my crisis did not resolve i... ... much time together, we still kept in touch and we were not going to forget each other. My sweet best friend, the German Shepard Nora waited for me by the door and gave me a big kiss when she saw me. She looked good and healthy due to my responsible and caring grandparents that took care of her. The other good thing was that I like traveling anyway, so now I have one more good reason to travel more often. This is also why I want to share my favorite quote with you:† Distance isn't for the fearful, it's for the bold. It's for those willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for little time with the ones they love. It's for knowing a good thing when they see it even if they don't see it nearly enough.† I do not know who said this, but I know that it sounds right. Now I know that I have made the better decision and I am glad that I came over to the United States.

Muslims Essay -- Muslim Islam Religion Essays

Muslims I first became interested in learning about Muslims when I met a young man in a Speech class of mine. He was dark skinned, dark haired, and extremely handsome, so I decided to get acquainted with him. I asked him his name and he asked me if I wanted his real name or his made up name. I was a little confused and I asked him what he meant by that. He told me he was a Muslim and his "real" Muslim name is Sadat and his made up name is Danny. I was quite intrigued by, but a little confused by all of this, so I thought I would look further into the subject. Luckily, I was asked to write a paper on a subject of my choice so hopefully I can teach you some of what I learned about Muslims. The Muslims are people who practice the religion of Islam. They were taught their beliefs by a man named Muhammad in the A.D. 600's. Muslim is an Arabic word that means one who submits (to God). There are about one billion Muslims throughout the world today. They form the majority of the population in the Middle East, North Africa and the southeast Asian nations such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. There are three to six million Muslims in the United States. A Muslim's chief duties are prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. Muslims pray five times a daily: at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening, and at nightfall. According to The Economist July 1996, "a crier, or muezzin announces prayer time from the minaret, a large tower. On Friday, which for the Muslims resembles the Jewish Sabbath or Christian Sunday, Muslims are expected to attend noon prayers at this tower." There, a Muslim washes his face, hands, and feet, in a type of ceremony, immediately before prayer. The lead... ... been to achieve stable governments and to feed their people. Some Muslim nations such as Bangladesh, Egypt, and Pakistan, have too many people living on too little land. Other countries lack the moisture and fertile soil needed to produce food. Conflicting interests keep the Muslim people from being united. But they are bound by cultural ties and a determination to resist colonialism. As you can see the Muslims and their beliefs are quite different than other groups such as the Christian beliefs and the Jewish beliefs. It just goes to show what a diverse world we live in. I am glad I have had the opportunity to explore the special ceremonies, rituals, and beliefs of the Muslims. Now the next time I approach someone to ask them their name and they answer in the same way my friend Danny did, I will be able to understand better his or her way of life.

Who Holds Power in the United Kingdom Today Essay -- Papers

Who Holds Power in the United Kingdom Today To approach this question it is essential to consider both the definitions of power and the various different domains within which they work. As power is central to the understanding of politics, it evokes fierce controversy over its meaning. Academics have argued that politics strives to resolve conflict by producing consensus over the issues in question. In contrast, the practice of politics may also be seen solely as a means of execising power, be it through particular coercive forces or a legitimate authoratitive body. Political activity is omnipresent, existing on both micro level (as seen in the relationship between teacher and student) and on a macro level, meaning the state. Consequently, this brings us to make a necessary distinction between 'power' and 'influence'. The former can be seen as an ability to make significant political decisions which facilitates the control over others. e.g.the power of government over society. In contrast, the latter implies the potential to transform any component part of these decisions via some form of external pressure. For instance, this may include anything from rational debating within Parliament, to open intimidation such as armed police forces. Liberal democratic politics dictate the political agenda of the British political system. The 'liberal' element advocates the support for a multitude of different networks within the state as well as a number of different groups working seprate from the state. For example, N.G.Os, a Bill of Rights, an autonomous judiciary and finally, a complex system of 'checks and balances' within the in... ...mocratic, by implication we must live under the rule of a state elite. And if it is the case that such an elite must strive in every way possible to promote big business in order to uphold social cohesion, then surely it is impossible to deny that capitalist interests are the basis of all governmental decisions. It would only be logical to conclude that the concept of who holds power in the U.K today is merely a guise with government being a necessary shadow passed over society by the interests of big business. The reason this stlye of government has endured for so long is perhaps mans neccessity to believe that he has some control over his own destiny or as Thomas Paine so eloquently put it in the "Rights of Man" (1789), "Society is in every state a blessing, but, government in its best state is but a necessary evil".

Racial Preference Essay

In this article, Whites Swim in Racial Preference, Tim Wise discusses the racial inequality in our society. As a whole, we want to believe that our culture is fair and just in racial terms. We would like to believe racial preference is a thing of the past, however, it is very much current. Discrimination has existed for decades but I believe that African-Americans got the bitter end of the stick. In the 1960’s, black people got treated like they weren’t even human beings. â€Å"A full time black male worker in 2003 makes less in real dollar terms than similar white men were earning in 1967.† (Wise, 2003) Obviously, the racial preference has not faded so much as society would like to believe. African-Americans struggled when it came to trying to take care of their family and becoming a citizen. The inequality seemed as if it was becoming norm in the 60’s. Blacks weren’t even given the chance to prove themselves, simply because their complexion was a little darker than whites. As stated in the article, whites have much more of an advantage when it comes to today’s culture. Whites are given more opportunities in life, which in return leads them to be more successful. Tim Wise used the example of University of Michigan providing 20 additional points to students with low-income families regardless of race. Seems fair, right? It seems fair until you total it all up and in the end whites are the ones with more points. It isn’t even given a second thought because whites were raised to believe that their accomplishments are because of their actions and not because they grew up in a system that was set up for them to achieve in. Yes, Affirmative Action happened, but in the end it still benefitted whites more than any other race. Races such as Arabs and Muslims get looked down upon ever since 9/11 and that lessens their success in society. Blacks get perceived as dangerous and reckless. Whites still have the upper leg in many things in society such as politics and jobs.

6 Tips to Customize Your Hr Dashboard

6 Tips to Customize Your HR Dashboard by Jeremy Shapiro Six Tips to Customize Your HR Dashboard What should your recruiting dashboard look like? To begin, it must be able to suit your organization’ s many unique requirements and priorities. Creating the ideal dashboard is not easy, but it helps when designing it to visualize a car’s dashboard. A car’s dashboard tells you when there is danger, or when you should accelerate. In essence, great dashboards are visual representations of data used to make important decisions.Below are 6 tips to help your metrics team customize the best recruiting dashboard for your organization. 1 Set specific goals. Each metric in a dashboard should have a target or target range by which to measure it. Creating a clear visual of where the organization is versus where the management’s target is will make evaluating progress much easier. You may want to set these targets by compiling management interviews and human resources prior ities.This information can then be used to set the measurement goal against the organization’ s desired performance. Ideally, the measurement goal will help you determine a hard dollar amount of savings or revenue increase (for example, decreasing turnover by 10 percent results in a 5 million dollar annual savings). It can also aid in tying back a stated executive priority (for example, we promote a culture of promoting from within). 2 Model your measures. Say you have already determined your executive’s priorities.You now need to model what the metric will look like. How do you identify the data you will need or the best practices appropriate for this measure? Model your metric using dummy data in a spreadsheet first. Then validate your decisions by shopping the metric around for feedback. 3 Build your metrics. This is the actual work of creating the metric using real data. If you have an ad hoc tool, this could be user-accessible; if not, you may need to enlist a tec hnical resource to build your reports.In the latter instance, modeling the metrics (see Tip 2) becomes critical to your success as your report developer will need to understand exactly what the report is supposed to do. 4 Build your dashboard. Think of your dashboard as a collection of well-focused reports on one page. After creating your reports, think about how to best represent them on a single page using graphs and other design techniques. 5 Care for your data. The information you need may be housed in several different places.Someone needs to care for this data; this includes ensuring users of the technology supporting you (HRIS, ATS, TMS, etc. ) complete the information you need. This also includes surveys. A little data maintenance now will save you hours of data repair later. 6 Validate your results. Without validation, your organization could easily misrepresent your data. Check your assumptions with peers, managers in different departments, and even with Finance. —à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Jeremy Shapiro is the Vice President of E-Recruiting Solutions at Bernard Hodes Group.Over the past 11 years, Jeremy has coached hundreds of companies through challenging recruiting technology implementations across industries and sizes. Jeremy is a frequent speaker and author on current/emerging recruiting technology topics, most recently contributing to the HR metrics book â€Å"Ultimate Performance† (Wiley, 2006). Jeremy holds an M. S. in Information Systems from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a B. A. in Economics from Rutgers University. He is an advisor to the industry metrics consortium HRMetrics. org.