Monday, September 30, 2019

Violating Social Norms

For this assignment, I decided to violate the social norm of not talking on the phone while watching a movie in a movie theater. Before the movie started, I tested my sister and asked her to call me during the movie. When she did so, I proceeded to have a 2-3 minute conversation with her and spoke loudly so that those around me would notice and be distracted. The people around me In the theater were obviously bothered by my behavior and annoyed. Several people turned around to stare at me or whispered under their breath to their friends.A few Just Just shook their heads or sighed. The social norm of refraining from talking on the phone during In a movie theater was an example of an explicit (In this case), Injunctive norm. The norm was explicit because during the movie previews, there was an advertisement that read â€Å"Please no talking on the phone or testing during the movie. † Through this ad, everyone In the theater was made directly aware of the social norm. Not talking on the phone In a movie is an injunctive norm because it is observed as the socially acceptable and polite thing to do.It is perceived that people approve of this behavior because it shows respect and consideration for those who want to watch the movie free of distractions or disturbances. This social norm is typically enforced through compliance. Even if a person might originally consider talking on the phone in a movie theater, they usually comply with the theater's directly stated request to not do so in the pre-movie â€Å"Please do not talk on the phone or text during the movie† message. My violation of this social norm elicited various mechanisms of social control from those surrounding me.As mentioned above, fellow movie-watchers tried to make me feel guilty for my â€Å"rude† behavior by fidgeting in their seats, loudly sighing, frequently turning around to stare at me, and muttering complaints to their friends. A woman at the end of my row even turned to face me and loudly said â€Å"Really!? Please get off your phone. † During my violation of a social norm, I felt extremely uncomfortable and self- conscious. I felt like all the attention in the theater was focused on me, and that everyone was negatively Judging me. As a result of the hostile responses around me, I let very attacked, anxious and embarrassed.I wanted to remove myself from the awkward situation as soon as possible. I think the people around me In the movie theater would explain my behavior with the assumption that I have a blatant disregard for others. They would probably attribute my violation of the social norm to what they see as self-centeredness, disrespect, and social awkwardness because compliance with the norm of not using your cell phone in a movie theater attempts to show decency and concern for the enjoyment of others. Since I used my phone and did not try to control my volume, people logically assumed that I Just didn't care about those around me.Violat ing Social Norms By calligrapher's would notice and be distracted. The people around me in the theater were obviously The social norm of refraining from talking on the phone during in a movie theater was an example of an explicit (in this case), injunctive norm. The norm was explicit talking on the phone or testing during the movie. † Through this ad, everyone in the theater was made directly aware of the social norm.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Spansion apart

Spansion (China) Ltd. offers workers at its plant in China's Suzhou Industrial Park many of the same employee benefits as scores of other nearby factories. What sets Spansion apart from the pack is the management style of its 47-year-old Singaporean chief executive officer, Loh Poh Chye. Most factories in the park, which is east of the city of Suzhou in the province of Jiangsu, offer medical plans, in-house training programs and promise to treat employees like family, says Mr. Loh. â€Å"But to me the difference is how you do it and how you engage the employees.I believe you have to show them it's not just slogans — you have to walk the walk. † That philosophy propelled Spansion to No. 1 this year in the Best Employers in Asia survey by human-resources consultancy Hewitt Associates. Spansion makes flash-memory products used in consumer electronics such as high-definition television sets and MP3 players. Headquartered in California, it employs 1,300 people in China and i s a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of the U. S. and Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. It is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. One of the first things Mr.Loh did at Spansion was to put in place a management team that thinks like he does. He also runs a mentoring program that pairs managers with someone two or three tiers below. And he gives each division a budget to fund an activity outside work such as a group dinner or a community-service oriented activity. Twice a month, Mr. Loh joins a dozen or so factory workers in the company's cafeteria to talk about staff issues ranging from pay scales to career goals to the quality of the canteen's food. So far, his strategy is working. Staff turnover in Suzhou Industrial Park averaged 30% last year, Mr.Loh says, but Spansion's rate was half that, even though its pay scales lag some other companies in the park. Hewitt Associates conducts its survey every two years. It started the surveys in Asia in 2001 and this year's involved 772 co mpanies and 160,000 employees in seven markets. Besides China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, Hewitt added for the first time Australia and New Zealand, which are treated as a single market, and Japan and India. In addition to quizzing CEOs and their human-resources departments, Hewitt does random polls of employees.The data is then evaluated by independent judging panels appointed by Hewitt, and winners selected. â€Å"It comes down to getting the basic things right, but most companies seem to let a lot of stuff get in the way of that,† says Andrew Bell, head of Hewitt Associates' regional talent and organizational consulting practice. â€Å"Everyone these days will say ‘our people are really important' but when you get inside these winning organizations, there's a deep philosophical belief about that — and it starts with the CEO, and cascades from there. â€Å"Joining Spansion at the top of Hewitt's survey are Three on the Bund, a company that runs fou r restaurants, a spa, an art gallery and high-end retail outlets in an historic building in Shanghai, and the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Hong Kong. Hotels usually rate highly in the best employers survey and this year five of the top 10 are hotel companies. According to Hewitt's research, hotels often top the survey because they have to be the best kind of employer. Every employee — from housekeeping staff to bellhops — has contact with the customers, and one bad experience with a maid can ruin a hotel stay.Hotel managers must engage and motivate each employee, not just top-tier managers. So, top-tier hotels are run on the premise that employee satisfaction leads to guest satisfaction. Hotels also offer great mobility: They tend to hire from within and value customer-service experience, which is gained in every hotel job, as much as formal education. A bellhop, for instance, can work across and up to become a food and beverage manager. Indeed, Hewitt's latest survey shows t hat workers from all industries rate recognition and career prospects far above pay. The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, like other hotels in the U.S. chain, has an effective communication program, Hewitt says. Managers meet with employees in their team at morning meetings to brief them on what's going on with the hotel that day. At these daily meetings, Ritz-Carlton managers acknowledge staff who've done something to stand out. They also read out the company's employee pledge: â€Å"Our ladies and gentlemen are the most important resource. † The company backs that up with human-resource programs to help employees identify areas of strength and set career goals, and provides training to help them achieve those things.â€Å"As part of our culture and philosophy, we constantly encourage internal growth as we strongly believe in talent retention and development,† says Mark Lettenbichler, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. â€Å"With succession planning, we nurture and maximize talent, creating long-term careers†¦ and eventually building employee loyalty and commitment. † The Ritz-Carlton's human-resources policies also offer a lesson for companies in other industries. In an environment where everyone counts and anyone can climb the career ladder, employees are likely to be more committed and work harder, says Hewitt's Mr.Bell. That translates into profit. Hewitt's survey shows that companies that engage their employees have stronger earnings. The top 20 companies in this year's survey have had 75% higher revenue growth than the rest over the past three years; their productivity was 67% higher, and their profit growth 38% higher than other survey respondents. For Mr. Loh, a factory full of committed workers is well worth the extra effort he and his managers put in. It's not always about doing what employees want, he says; often it's simply communicating clearly why the company is doing what it's doing.Newly hired employees sometime s gripe about Spansion's pay. But Mr. Loh says good communication is key to keeping employees happy. â€Å"We have to be honest and tell them we are not the highest paymaster because we can't afford to be. We don't blindly pay the top market rate — but we do pay for performance,† says Mr. Loh. â€Å"So those who stand out get higher pay, and those who are below average get lower pay. † And when an employee complains that a colleague has been promoted above him or her, Mr. Loh challenges the employee to pursue a promotion, rather than sit back and wait to be singled out by a manager.â€Å"We are always willing to offer training to someone who's motivated, or move someone to a new department, laterally, to work across and up in a new area, † he says. â€Å"Sometimes when I say this, they start to get uncomfortable — they don't want to move out of their comfort zone. I tell them not to put all their career movements in the hands of the company â€⠀ (you) have to take ownership, discuss it with your supervisor, show your capacity and get out of your comfort zone. † Feedback is another big part of Mr. Loh's management strategy.Employees in Hewitt's survey say they like to be able to make suggestions, but don't like it when feedback forms are met with silence. Members of Mr. Loh's management team encourage staff to make suggestions on the company intranet, and respond to each individual suggestion, regardless of whether it is implemented. â€Å"The affinity level between myself and my department managers is very high. We're all very close — not just a friendship kind of close, but more than that; we spend a lot of time talking, and they can read my mind and I can read theirs,† Mr. Loh says.His managers have taken a page from his book; two years after Mr. Loh came to Spansion, department managers starting holding cafeteria chats of their own once a month. Mr. Loh, who joined Advanced Micro Devices in Singapo re 1984, started reading ancient Chinese texts for management tips in a bid to better connect with his employees when he was posted to China in 2001. â€Å"There's a saying in Chinese: attack the heart instead of the castle. Management is about winning and managing the heart of a person — then that person will start to believe in the vision you have.† Of course, â€Å"that's got to be accompanied by proper compensation and benefits,† he adds. â€Å"Most of the traditional Chinese literature talks about management style that focuses on managing the hearts and emotional qualities of a person, instead of the hard stuff,† says Mr. Loh. â€Å"I feel that it is in the blood of the old Chinese people — they value culture, they value a people-oriented style of management, and I think that carries over to this new generation. â€Å"

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Why are strong writing skills important to your success in education Essay

Why are strong writing skills important to your success in education or a career - Essay Example Performance assessment systems are based on the writing abilities of a student. The better a student can write, the more his/her creativity becomes obvious to the teacher. A student who can write can write research papers. Research is one of the most important outcomes of education. Thus, writing skills are required not only to attain the degree but also to do research. Writing is a fundamental part of an employee’s duties in the workplace. Writing is so fundamental a business skill that employers take the employees’ writing skills for granted (McKay, 2011). Companies require employees with good writing skills to write memos, write letters to the customers and contractors, make advertisements and write research papers elaborating the usefulness of the company’s products and services. Convincing writing is one of the strongest ways of getting the competitive advantage. Concluding, strong writing skills are imperative for the advancement of both the academic and the professional career of an individual. Writing makes a record unlike verbal communication. Thus it is considered a useful means of assessing a student’s performance. Employees’ writing skills are required for professional communication in the

Friday, September 27, 2019

OM8025 assignment 7 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

OM8025 assignment 7 - Research Paper Example The question on how management can merge various cultures into one cohesive and dynamic work force becomes a challenge. To acquire success in any projects, blending of cultures while maintaining perspective and respecting each culture’s unique attributes must be studied and implemented. This research seeks to establish how management can merge various cultures into one uniform and vigorous working class, focusing on project perspective and understanding how diversity in the work place impacts on work production. This paper also aims to evaluate how peculiar qualities in Third World cultures can affect their ability to work with each other; and also how their cultural differences can eventually be merged into a coherent and positive work relationship. An organization is composed of people – people with different level of skills, knowledge and culture. In order to achieve the single goal of the organization, employees with different individuality must learn how to work with each other. Thus, to deal well with this diversity, the managers have to implement recruiting, mentoring, promotion methods, and strict policies on sexual and racial discrimination. Furthermore, if the underlying culture of an organization does not change, all other efforts to support diversity will fail (Daft 431). The research aims to answer the questions relative with cultural differences and cultural blending of various culture into one uniform and effective work force from a project perspective. Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions: Introduction of internet into the developing countries plays important role to the economic development. However, there some of the drawbacks associated with it such as unemployment since most of the businesses will be carried over the internet. Developing nations like the Philippines, Haiti, Uganda, and Afghanistan are facing these problems. However, because of the improvements associated with technology,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Phoenix Supermarket Fire Incident Case Study

The Phoenix Supermarket Fire Incident - Case Study Example For instance, the phoenix fire of March 2001 started on an exterior dock just like the Charleston fire. Admittedly other fires have started from the interior of the supermarket but many vital survival observations and lessons can be learnt from phoenix disaster. During the Phoenix supermarket fire incident, a fire engine attacked the fire from the exterior loading dock while a rescue company embarked on checking the interior of the building ensuring that all occupants safely evacuated the building (NIOSH, 2001). At the initial moments of the rescue mission, there was clear visibility within the building and the crew worked hard to check for extensions. As the crew advanced with a one-and-a-half inch attack line, they noticed that smoke was easing into the building from a storage area at the rear corner. As the firefighters continued with their mission, they realized that they needed backup and communicated this to the incident commander. The commander gave orders to another engine crew to advance another one-and-a-half inch line through the building. At this very time, another engine crew from the loading dock entered the storage area to attack the fire. There were11 firefighters in the building when a second alarm team was on its way to the incident scene. With time visibility levels within the main store began to reduce as a result of spreading smoke. The situation suddenly worsened as dense smoke filled the supermarket to the ground and the heat increased almost instantly (NIOSH, 2001). This necessitated the team's retreat. Meanwhile, the interior sector officer continued to give progress reports and updates to the incident commander of the worsening state of affairs and the decision to evacuate. This almost immediately led to the commander announcing emergency traffic. Within a short time, following emergency tones, the incident commander ordered that the entire store be evacuated. The condition worsened quite fast. A first mayday call was broadcast during the evacuation by Brett Tarver, a firefighter. He made a declaration that he was out of air, offline and lost. This prompted the immediate ordering of the front rapid-intervention team to take action by the commander (NIOSH, 2001). The team consisted of a ladder and an engine. Another engine was also ordered to support the rescue mission from the front of the building, and yet another went through the loading-dock region. During this time several other mayday calls were received. Post Incident Activities In total, four firefighters got injured and were taken to hospital. A fire captain was saved from the scene unconscious and spent many days in hospital, but Brett died before the rescue team could reach out to help him. Following the incident, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the Phoenix fire Department have both conducted in-depth investigations (NIOSH, 2001). The investigations examined the following areas: incident command system, standard operating procedures, rapid-intervention teams, progress reports, air consumption, accountability systems, concealed systems and deep-penetration fire operations. According to report findings, the command organization was good; consisting of several sector officers and an incident commander. During the crisis, the command team reacted quickly and effectively.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Henri Matisses Fauvism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Henri Matisses Fauvism - Research Paper Example The involvement of his mother in advising customers on the best colors in his father’s shop that sold house-paints is what made him develop some interest on color. Thus, it was from his mother that he developed the sense of color. This is also justified by her mother who was not only a skillful painter, but also a fashionable artist. Unfortunately, Matisse grew as an awkward youth who disregarded the rigors of the North. He despised winter seasons with passion. He was also a contemplative child though not very bright. Despite undergoing growth and development, Matisse never lost interest on nature; he still valued his native soil as well as growing things (Ferrier, 1996). Matisse worked as a court administrator in his hometown, Le Cateau-Cambresis, after gaining his qualification in Paris. Matisse discovered his real profession in a unique way. He started painting in 1889 when he was still recovering from appendicitis through the aid of his mother who brought him art supplies. It was also through his mother’s advice that Matisse decided to follow his emotions in pursuing his interest in the profession he loved. His mother had advised him to follow his own emotions instead of the rules of art. A year after his recovery appendicitis, 1891, Matisse returned to Paris to further his studies in art at Acadenie Julian. It was also in Bouguereau that he learnt essential lessons of classical painting. He also did many drawing exams so as to have a chance of joining Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The amen corner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

The amen corner - Essay Example In the play, in looking at the father of the boy who strayed away from the Lord to do his things, the role is made believable. First of all, the actors play the role in a natural setting, once could see him smoking in one of the scenes. In addition, by being a father also had some grey hairs making him an elder. In regard to movement of the actors around the stage, it was realistic and natural. Different settings were provided and scenes changed appropriately hence the making proper utilization of the stage. In addition, it was affective in telling the story by bringing it to near reality of what actually happens. The arrangement was good as it moved with the story. In addition, the arrangement of performers was within scenes as it also related to the way other performers were placed. The arrangement helped to establish various relationships between scenes. In some cases, there was a little bit of confusion in regard to performer’s placement in regard to scene action. The action though flowed smoothly with minimum

Monday, September 23, 2019

Changing Fashion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Changing Fashion - Essay Example The essay "Changing Fashion" discusses how and why fashion and trends change. From the definition of Barnard it is evident that fashion can mean different things to different people. Kawamura propounds a sociological approach to fashion that is based on a system of social institutions that produces and nurtures the concept of fashion as well as the phenomenon or practice of fashion. An institutionalized system comprising a persistent network of beliefs, customs and formal procedures form a distinct social organization with the acknowledged focal purpose of creating or producing fashion. Fashion is dynamic, it keeps changing, it is a target that keeps moving; yet fashion is not just change per se, it has been defined as â€Å"institutionalized, systematic change produced by those who are authorized to implement it.† Again, it has also to be understood that notwithstanding the fact that fashion undergoes a continuous process of change, the institutions, organizations and firms t hat form the basis of fashion can be relatively very stable. Some researchers tend to incorporate this dichotomy into their works by differentiating between style and fashion. Style is defined as â€Å"one of the main components of group identity A style is the external manifestation of certain underlying values and principles †¦ Style is not just musical taste, ways of dress or speech. It should be seen as a combination of all this elements, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.† Fashion is considered to be the variations.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Protecting our Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Protecting our Environment - Essay Example Global warming and climate changes are the major outcomes of injudicious human activities. It is believed that sustainment of life in this world may become extremely difficult in near future itself if effective measures were not taken to counter environmental problems. Even though the size of the earth remains the same, global population is growing at alarming rates so that it may become extremely difficult for our earth to accommodate or cater the needs of all the people. As each individual contributes heavily to environmental problems, growth of population means growth of environmental problems also. In other words, population growth is directly proportional to environmental problems. As the world population grows, so does hazardous waste, toxic materials polluting our environment and affecting our eco-system. There should be a coordination effort by governments around the world to control pollution affecting our environment in order for human survival for future generations. Water pollution and preventive measures United States has many federal and state laws that have enacted to protect our water system and help regulate the amount of pollutants that affects our water. However, the implementation of these laws are not much effective so that American water sources are getting polluted more and more as time goes on. For example, Colorado River seems to be one of the major victims of environmental pollution in western American region. More than 30 million people use Colorado River as their major drinking water source. However, Colorado River is dying gradually because of environmental problems. â€Å"If climate change results in a 10 percent reduction in the Colorado River's average stream flow as some recent studies predict, the chances of fully depleting reservoir storage will exceed 25 percent by 2057, according to the study† (Future Of Western U.S. Water Supply Threatened By Climate Change, 2010) Irrigation projects are helping agricultural farming in America. However, water drained o ut of the agricultural lands may contain toxic ingredients because of the increased usages of fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides to improve the agricultural yields. Selenium seems to be the major harmful chemical content in irrigated water drained out of the agricultural lands. â€Å"When selenium uptake is too high health effects will be likely to come about. The health effects of various forms of selenium can vary from brittle hair and deformed nails, to rashes, heat, swelling of the skin and severe pains† (Selenium – Se, 2009). The Environmental Protection Agency, have supported and helped enforcement of water laws in our country and have introduced many laws concerning safe drinking water. The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Contr ol Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1977. Under the CWA, EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. CWA act was formulated for the purpose of preventing all types of

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Falling from Grace Essay Example for Free

Falling from Grace Essay The novel Falling from Grace is about a young girl who disappears at the beach. Many people feel responsible for her disappearance such as Andrew, her father; Annie, her sister; and Kip, who gets tangled Into the chaos. Family members Andrew and Annie feel that It was their duty to take better care of Grace. Major characters who became Involved Andrew: her father feels the ultimate responsibility for Grace. He said it was alright for them to play one more game of trackers on the beach in the middle of the night. He gets a call from Kip explaining that he found the phone in a bag that was washed in and claims he saw them in the distance. Annie: Graces sister was with Grace when she fell into the sea. Grace saw a penguin in the water and said she must save it, so they did. Then the tide came in and they couldnt go back the way they came, so they had to climb up a small cliff. While Grace was climbing, her backpack fell off , containing the penguin. Then the rock Grace was holding onto fell with some of the cliff so she fell Into the water. Kip: Kip was walking to the beach when he saw a backpack In the water. He found a phone Inside and It started ringing. Of course, he answered It and when KIP said hello the man answered with a bunch of questions bout his daughters. KIP replied that he found the phone In a backpack and saw his girls around the cliffs. Then Kip meets the Ted character, a strange man who shares Kips love of music. Ted offers Kip a coke which Ted jokes might be Gulf War coke. Ted: Ted is a strange man who has little and a lot to do with the plot line; he meets Kip at the start in the rain. Ted cuts his foot on a bottle in the water and Kip helps him stop the bleeding. At the end we discover that Ted whilst he was very drunk found Grace and left her in a cave but he doesnt remember where. But he did leave his coat behind which probably saved her life.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Theory of Alienation by Karl Marx

Theory of Alienation by Karl Marx Introduction Karl Marx has been dubbed as one of the most prolific and influential thinkers of the nineteenth century. He advocated the creation of a classless society that would be guided through proper democracy and equality. In essence, Marx criticized the capitalist system as an order in which the powerful firms have gained considerable power and clout. He argued that workers are treated as commodities under this system. The theory of alienation argues that workers are disenchanted with their work because it is controlled and supervised by hierarchies of managers and supervisors. The individual creativity and freedom has been stifled in the name of efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, Marx argues that the abject poverty of workers means that they cannot live in prosperous conditions. The capitalist system reaps tremendous profits but gives meager wages to its workers. Marx also believed that alienation resulted in workers being suspicious of each other due to the competitive nature of c apitalism. Finally the workers are instructed to perform specific tasks which are against the intrinsic nature of humanity. This nature helps them to attain creativity and design robust challenges to new problems. This report will seek to analyze the four types of alienation that are observed in Marxs theory. The personal experiences of the researcher will also be included in this report. Aspects of Alienation Karl Marx argued that alienation was a natural consequence of capitalism because of several reasons. This is because the workers are manipulated by the forces of capitalism in order to increase productivity and output. The results are that the workers will ultimately lose hope and determination (Leopold, 67). This is because the capitalists strive to ensure that the work activities of the workers are oriented towards specific goals and objectives. The desire of organizations is to ensure that workers can be exploited to attain the maximum surplus value. The worker is considered to be an instrument which leads to the loss of personal identity. It can lead to frustration and resentment since the modes of production are privately owned. Alienation from Products of own Labor Marx argued that the capitalist system seeks to create an illusion that workers are adequately compensated for the work that is performed. In essence, the capitalist system seeks to control the workers by deriving the benefits from the work activities of the latter. This can create alienation which can lead to serious consequences for entire society. In addition, the consumers are manipulated which is achieved through the offering of products (Desai, 93). The huge profits reaped by the capitalist system also can cause high levels of resentment and frustration among the workers. Alienation from Act of Producing Itself Marx believed that the capitalist system encouraged mechanical and repetitive work patterns that do not create any intrinsic value for the workers. The power of workers is transformed into a commodity which is manifested in the form of wages (Carver, 78). Capitalism controls the destinies of the workers by supervising and directing their work activities. This creates serious resentment among the workers who feel deprived of their destinies. In addition, the workers are unable to consume the products that are developed by them within a capitalist system. Alienation from his or her species being Marx argued that human beings have the capability to develop dynamic thinking through the pursuit of multiple endeavors. Thus humanity retains the ability to contemplate the surrounding environment and develop robust challenges to problems. Marx therefore argues that human society is characterized by a constant state of flux and change. The social classes emerge to overthrow existing orders and manipulate the masses (Carver, 78). The results are that a new class relationship that exists in capitalism eventually stifles the creativity and innovation of human beings. This can create resentment which leads to serious consequences. Alienation from Producers Marx argued that capitalism eventually confines labor to the position of a commercial commodity. This means that social relationships are ignored while human beings under the system strive to attain endurance or betterment. The competitive nature of capitalism eventually creates conflicts and disputes. This can cause high levels of alienation and resentment among the masses (Carver, 80). The basic structure of the capitalist system is such that it can cause deterioration in social structures and relationships since workers must compete for scarce resources in order to survive. Personal Alienation I have been working as a sales coordinator for a large organization that is involved in the sale of curtains, sofas, beds, and other furniture. Marx argues that the primary form of alienation is when the workers feel disillusioned with the work activities. This is true for me in many ways. A sales job can be frustrating as we are told to meet basic targets and increase the revenues of the firm. Marx argued that pre-capitalist societies allowed artisans to have a degree of independence in their work activities. Modern capitalist organizations tend to have hierarchies in which the workers are controlled through a system of checks and controls (Wolff, 91). Managers seek to develop the targets and ensure that compliance with organizational policies is achieved. As a sales coordinator, I feel disillusioned with my work activities because of the absence of any incentives. The long hours means that I have to ensure that goals are being met in an efficient and effective manner. The sales strategy promoted by the firm is based upon the notion that existing approaches will be implemented. There is no concept of workers autonomy which could lead to high levels of creativity and innovation. This creates problems because Marx argued that it was essential for workers to be given high levels of autonomy in order to increase their motivation. The second point of Marxs theory is the fact that workers are living in abject poverty due to the conditions of capitalism. He argues that workers are unable to meet their basic requirements due to the wage structure and working conditions of the capitalist system. As a sales coordinator, I believe that this is true because I have to ensure that targets are being met in an efficient and effective manner. The commi ssions earned from direct selling are often inadequate to meet the basic requirements of life. Wages earned from a sales position are adequate for sustenance but they do not enable me to improve my quality of life. It means that I continue to remain trapped within my specific social class due to the structure of the capitalist system (Wolff, 96). Income disparities remain in the United States as top executives are earning remuneration that is fifty times greater than sales coordinators like me. The income gaps create a sense of resentment and alienation towards the system. Therefore my organization is an oligarchy which does not have the proper functions of a democracy. Marx argues that workers do not control their destinies because the capitalist system tends to have overwhelming influence over the modes of production. The results are that workers are unable to increase productivity and output. They cannot derive significant social relationships from each other (Wolff, 93). Marx argues that capitalism has created a system whereby work activities are confined to a set of mechanical and repetitive tasks. For these tasks, the workers are provided meager wages that are inadequate to respond to their primary needs and requirements. As a sales coordinator, I have always focused on competition rather than creating a collaborative network with my fellow colleagues. This is because it is essential for sales coordinators to improve the revenues and profits of the firm. Each worker strives to move up the ladder through competitive strategy. the concept of cooperating orÂÂ   working together as a team has been replaced by the notion of competition. Each p erson therefore perceives his or her own interests rather than analyzing the common interests. As a consequence, I have to compete for scarce resources in order to improve sales. My only duty is to ensure that the organizational targets are being met in an efficient and effective manner. Marx argues that humans are born with the intrinsic ability to contemplate and perceive about the entire environment. This helps to encourage creativity which can be used to resolve complex situations. In addition, humans desire freedom and autonomy as a means of escaping the harsh social structures. Marx believes that social structures have always exerted a strong influence on individuals by creating a set of rules and regulations. In addition, humans must be left free to develop according to their interests and passions. This is surprisingly absent in the capitalist system that seeks to control the workers by treating them as commodities (Singer, 67). As a sales coordinator, I have to work according to the whims and desires of the management. This means that I will seek to achieve the targets of the firm. I will be left with no time in order to pursue my passions or interests. The job is necessary because it is vital for survival in a harsh environment. The market conditions determ ine the nature of human work. In my example, the needs of my furniture company are to target consumers and develop robust marketing strategies. As a sales coordinator, I have to ensure that consumers can be reached in an efficient and effective manner. much of Marxs theory of alienation remains appropriate even in the twenty first century. The abject poverty of workers remains in the world with sweatshop like conditions. The power and clout of the capitalist organizations remains superior. The workers are forced to undergo harsh activities in exchange for meager wages. Conclusion Karl Marxs theory of alienation was postulated in the nineteenth century which was characterized by the rise of capitalism. Industrialization had swept the developed world along with other phenomenon like urbanization, immigration, and capitalism. Marx argued that the capitalist system was based upon reinforcing the divisions of class. His theory of alienation appears to be appropriate even today. His first premise was that workers were alienated with their job duties. Capitalism had controlled the aspects of workers by forcing them to perform monotonous and repetitive tasks. Another premise is that workers live in abject poverty because of the meager wages that are given to them. Workers do not have control over their work activities which stifles their creativity and innovation. It also creates the conditions for oppression and exploitation at the hands of capitalist enterprises. Another premise of this theory is that workers do not have social relationships. The urge to compete ha s thus led to the destruction of the notion of cooperation and collaboration. Finally Marx argued that the workers were unable to attain self actualization in the capitalist environment. This is because capitalism seeks to create rules and regulations that will ultimately create bad conditions for workers. Personally, I have been alienated with my job as a sales coordinator. This is because of the poor working conditions. In addition, the checks and controls have led to monotonous work activities.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

A Promise Is A Promise :: Personal Narrative Death Friendships Papers

A Promise Is A Promise The room was ridiculously cold and my skin was damp against the sheets. No matter how extreme the temperature, I am addicted to the calming lull of the air conditioner as I sleep. It’s what they call my â€Å"white noise.† The afternoon sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds as its rays snuck in through the blinds. The muscles in my neck and shoulders were throbbing. I was still trying to get used to my awkward dorm room bed. A muffled voice traveled through the paper-thin brick wall and the sound of familiar music took center stage in my dreams. At first, I was pissed off because my new neighbor was interrupting my precious nap, but I soon realized that I had a special attachment to the song she was singing. It instantly reminded me of an old friend. As I drifted back to sleep, I began to dream about a childhood memory. I remember feeling as if the day was never going to end. Even now as an adult, my concentration still seems to plummet as the weekend approaches. At that time in my life, the degree of patience I could sustain had only been maturing for ten short years. I made that particular school day even more unnecessarily dramatic than usual since I knew it wasn’t just an average Friday. Instead of going to my house after school as usual, I was going home with my best friend. After hours of literally twiddling my thumbs (like I said, I was a dramatic child), we were finally standing outside at the parent pick-up location with the other eager elementary students. My book bag was light on my back, which meant there was no homework in store for me tonight. All I had to look forward to was a sleepover filled with PG-13 movies, a nauseating amount of Reese’s Pieces and Mountain Dew, and prank phone calls to random boys who were also in Mrs. Webb’s fifth grade class. I loved prank phone calls. As I bent down to tie my shoelace, a slippery raindrop slithered down my lightly freckled cheek. Before I had the chance to look up at the silver sky, the clouds exploded like champagne flowing over the edge of a bottle. Renee grabbed my hand, and we darted off as fast as our little legs could run. As I hopped into the middle of the backseat, the scent of the brand new car continued to saturate my already moist pores. A Promise Is A Promise :: Personal Narrative Death Friendships Papers A Promise Is A Promise The room was ridiculously cold and my skin was damp against the sheets. No matter how extreme the temperature, I am addicted to the calming lull of the air conditioner as I sleep. It’s what they call my â€Å"white noise.† The afternoon sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds as its rays snuck in through the blinds. The muscles in my neck and shoulders were throbbing. I was still trying to get used to my awkward dorm room bed. A muffled voice traveled through the paper-thin brick wall and the sound of familiar music took center stage in my dreams. At first, I was pissed off because my new neighbor was interrupting my precious nap, but I soon realized that I had a special attachment to the song she was singing. It instantly reminded me of an old friend. As I drifted back to sleep, I began to dream about a childhood memory. I remember feeling as if the day was never going to end. Even now as an adult, my concentration still seems to plummet as the weekend approaches. At that time in my life, the degree of patience I could sustain had only been maturing for ten short years. I made that particular school day even more unnecessarily dramatic than usual since I knew it wasn’t just an average Friday. Instead of going to my house after school as usual, I was going home with my best friend. After hours of literally twiddling my thumbs (like I said, I was a dramatic child), we were finally standing outside at the parent pick-up location with the other eager elementary students. My book bag was light on my back, which meant there was no homework in store for me tonight. All I had to look forward to was a sleepover filled with PG-13 movies, a nauseating amount of Reese’s Pieces and Mountain Dew, and prank phone calls to random boys who were also in Mrs. Webb’s fifth grade class. I loved prank phone calls. As I bent down to tie my shoelace, a slippery raindrop slithered down my lightly freckled cheek. Before I had the chance to look up at the silver sky, the clouds exploded like champagne flowing over the edge of a bottle. Renee grabbed my hand, and we darted off as fast as our little legs could run. As I hopped into the middle of the backseat, the scent of the brand new car continued to saturate my already moist pores.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s Cats Cradle Essay -- Cats Cradle Vonnegut Essays

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle In the early sixties, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. released his candidly fantastical novel, Cat's Cradle. Within the text an entire religious sect, called Bokononism is born; a religion built on lies, absurdity, and irony. The narrator of Cat's Cradle is Jonah, a freelance writer who characterizes Bokononism as being, "free form as an amoeba" (Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, 3). It is boundless and unpredictable as the unconscious itself. Bokonon lives on the impoverished island of San Lorenzo where he spends his days scribing poetic calypsos in the books of Bokonon. Jonah arrives on the same island in his pursuit of Frank Hoenniker, the military commander and son of the eccentric Dr. Hoenniker, who invents a substance capable of freezing the world over in seconds called ice-nine. When San Lorenzo's totalitarian ruler, Papa Monzano, passes away—infecting the oceans with ice-nine in the process—Frank transfers his inherited power to Jonah. Even within this skeletal sketch of the novel, one can see that the absurdity and humor within the religion of Bokonon is imposed on the plot itself, creating a world of comedic fantasy in which the reading audience can partake. In light of this, Cat's Cradle exemplifies imagination and play, thus correlating with the theory Freud illustrates in the essay "Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming," which emphasizes the importance of fantasy to the creative writer and its therapeutic value for the audience. At the most fundamental level, even the title of the novel provides a strong example of the importance of play to Vonnegut. Cat's cradle is a childrenÕs game of weaving yarn between the fingers whereby the player forms various patterns. To see beyond what exists (or in Vonnegut's w... ...ite poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who. (Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, 287) Bokononism's refreshing defiance of restraint and reality with the creative power of playful imagination is a precise illumination of the therapeutic value Freud christens as inherent in literature. Works Cited Freud, Sigmund. "Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming." Freud Reader, Edited by Peter Gay. New York, NY: Norton and Company Inc., 1989. Freud, Sigmund. "On Dreams." Freud Reader, Edited by Peter Gay. New York, NY: Norton and Company Inc., 1989. Vonnegut, Kurt. A Man without a Country. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2005. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York, NY: Delta Books, 1963. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York, NY: Random House, 1969.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Suicide in A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J. D. Salinger Essay

A Perfect Day for Bananafish follows the events leading up to the eventual suicide of Seymour Glass. In the story, Seymour is described as a lost spirit who sees himself as being fundamentally different from his social environment following his wartime experience; he leaves the war â€Å"seeing-more† and as a result, awakens to find that he has lost touch with the material world. Salinger uses the story’s dialog as the medium for conveying Seymour’s struggle; he establishes the shallow nature of the environment Seymour is exposed to using the dialog between Muriel and her Mother while simultaneously giving clues about Seymour’s character from the perspectives of the two women in his life. Seymour’s character is built upon further in the second half of the story during the scene in which he converses with Sybil, and also when Seymour is in the elevator moments before he commits suicide. The subtle clues Salinger weaves into the dialog suggest that Se ymour commits suicide to escape the dilemma of either conforming to the materialistic world and sacrificing his spirituality, or choosing not to conform and consequently live estranged from his own wife and the society in which he lives. The opening of the story serves to create the precedent that Muriel is shallow. The first passage describes how Muriel â€Å"uses† her two and a half hour waiting period before her mother’s call. She accomplishes multiple tasks such as painting her toenails, reading a women’s pocket-size magazine article, brushing her hair, and removing a stain from a skirt. Salinger describes Muriel as â€Å"a girl who for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing.† The references to Muriel as â€Å"a girl† are repeated throughout the story to signify her immaturity; her concern for trivial... ...nd his own life. Many of these clues can be found in the story’s dialog. They suggest that Seymour’s suicide is the manifestation of an awakening gained through his war experience; he is separated from the shallow environment he lives in and can find no other escape. Perhaps Seymour commits suicide in an attempt to break through the barrier that separates him from Muriel and the rest of society. Or maybe Seymour’s mental faculties were damaged by his wartime experience, leaving him disturbed and unstable. The text can be read many ways; however, there is no single interpretation that captures the complexity of Salinger’s short story. While the clues that Salinger leaves throughout the story influence the reader’s perspective on Seymour Glass, ultimately the meaning and justification of Seymour’s suicide depends on the reader’s personal connection to the protagonist.

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Causes of the Collapse of the Bretton Woods System

When U. S. President Richard Nixon formally ended the backing of U. S. currency by the gold standard system in 1971, the noble attempts of the Bretton Woods delegates finally ended. . This paper will examine the causes of the death of the Bretton Woods System: Some have blamed it on the changing situation of the international economic system; others blamed it on the failure of the System itself. We will explore the Bretton Woods System, its ideals and contradictions, in an attempt to discern what indeed went wrong.Fixing the exchange rate between the U. S.  dollar and other currencies was doomed to failure because of various principles of macroeconomics which will be analyzed herein. However, in spite of its failures, the Bretton Woods System played a crucial role in the economic development of Europe and Japan in the decades immediately after World War II.Its original purpose was the economic rehabilitation of Europe and Japan, and in this, the Bretton Woods System was indeed succ essful. The collapse of the Bretton Woods System in 1971 could be traced to a number of reasons. The most important of these was the increasing trade imbalance of the U.S. economy. The Cold War between the United States and the USSR drained the U. S. Treasury, leading to deficit spending, and a surge in imports.In particular, the Vietnam War became a veritable black hole of runaway spending. Furthermore, the rehabilitated economies of Europe and Japan soon made up for lost ground, and caught up to the United States’ economy. The U. S. economy, booming throughout the Fifties and Sixties, finally reached the point of deficit in the early 1970s. At this time, the U. S. started to experience massive cash outflow to the rest of the world.This was certainly instrumental in the collapse of the Bretton Woods System, but not the only reason. A second reason for the end of the Bretton Woods System was the lack of autonomy to maintain its workings. As the U. S. currency came to a crisis in the early 1970s, the System collapsed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the authority to control the currency exchange rate, had no power to stop the System from collapsing, and the System subsequently spiraled out of control.The powerlessness of the IMF was due to the lack of autonomy of the U.S. currency dominance based on the gold standard. In this paper, we will show that these reasons were the main causes of the end of the Bretton Woods System, by analyzing the economic data and considering the economists’ and historians’ arguments. The origin of the Bretton Woods System will be explored to clarify the theory behind the System. Additionally, we will review the world economy of the 1950s, when the Bretton Woods System was working effectively, and compare it to the world economy of the 1960s, when the System began to lose effectiveness.The comparison is necessary to answer to the question why the Bretton Woods System became ineffective although it was func tional at the beginning. This paper will also analyze the structure of the International Monetary Fund, to see how that too was instrumental in bringing the Bretton Woods System to its close. It is important to understand how the IMF had been trying to standardize the currency until 1973, the year in which the world transferred to the exchange currency system from a pegged exchange rates system.The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, better known as the Bretton Woods Conference, was a meeting among 730 delegates representing the 45 Allied nations of the Second World War. The conference was held at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The conference followed the conclusion of the Second World War and convened from July 1 to July 22, 1945. The purpose of the delegates at this Conference was to establish a new global economic order following the trauma of the war, not simply a re-hash of the world economic system of the 1930s.Most economists agreed that that system had not been efficient during the period between world wars. Depression hit the United States in 1929, and recession gripped the world economy in the thirties. While some nations let their currencies float, others set a policy of pegging their currency to gold or other currency. This system had outbreaks of â€Å"competitive devaluation†. In order to keep their reserve at a high level, governments introduced exchange control, restricted the use of foreign currency and imposed higher tariffs barriers to limit the volume of imports.World trade declined because of these restrictions, and the world faced very slow economic recovery in the 1930s. Delegates at the Bretton Woods Conference worked to revamp these short-sighted, restrictive policies. They felt the need to establish economic institutions which would transform the world economy into a well-oiled machine, one which promoted international trade for all countries..The delegates created three major structur es: the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or the World Bank; and the International Trade Organization (ITO). However, in 1950, the U.S. Congress nixed the formation of the ITO, and it never got off the ground. In place of the ITO, a treaty was agreed upon by most of the world economic powers and the rest of the world.The treaty was commonly known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which took over the ITO ideology. The other two institutions, IMF and the World Bank, were to take responsibility of being the bi-pillar system of the Post-Second World War global economy. The purpose of the World Bank was to promote development, and that of the International Monetary Fund was to maintain order in the international monetary system.The delegates of the Bretton Woods Conference based the new global economic structure on a code of what they felt to be economic fairness. This code related to a global regime of fixed but adjustable exchange rates. This system of adjustable rates was designed to implement equity on a world economic scale. The adjustable fixed rate provided exchange rate stability in the short run, just like the gold standard system. At the same time, it also allowed the possibility to adjust the exchange rate when a national balance of payment is in a crucial state of disequilibrium.However, the weakness of this adjustable exchange system was that it lacked the stability, the certainty of the gold standard and the flexibility of the flexed exchange rate regime. Despite the demerits of this currency exchange mechanism, the Bretton Woods System worked fairly well in the 1950s and early 1960s. The adjustable-fixed exchange was successful in increasing international trade and supporting the recovery of the economy in Europe and Japan.The system resulted in the per rate system, under which currencies of the member countries were fixed within 1% of the value of the U.S. dollar, which was pegged to the value of gold. With this system, the IMF was successful between 1946 and 1966, although it had its kinks. The Bretton Woods delegates hastened the integration of the world economy, but they could not so easily achieve a smooth currency exchange system, because the destruction of the Second World War was too massive to recover without unilateral action such as discarding the pegged exchange rate system. Some nations set up their own restrictions on trade and currency exchange so that the IMF could not get those countries into the world currency system.Moreover, the ruined European nations requested massive funding from the IMF until 1950. In spite of IMF mistakes, the global economy progressed after 1951. The Fund successfully spread its economic activities to all members, not just to the fund users. However, after 1966, the world economy changed substantially once again. The problems inherent in the Bretton Woods System started to be exposed gradually in the mid-1960s. Richard N. Cooper, in his book The International Monetary System, listed the features of the Bretton Woods System as well its contradictions..The first characteristic of the system was that member countries of the Bretton Woods System would determine their own domestic economic policies. This permitted autonomy of domestic economies, enabling nations to pursue their own internal economic objectives, such as assuring low inflation or achieving the â€Å"natural† unemployment rate. The second feature of the Bretton Woods System, according to Cooper, was that the U. S. currency be pegged to gold. The third feature was that other nations adopted the adjustable-exchange rates system.Cooper argues that these three features of the Bretton Woods System contradicted each other:: Countries could not frame their national economic policies independently and still maintain fixed exchange rates and currency convertibility except by luck and coincidence. That potential conflict w as recognized by the Bretton Woods architects†¦ Cooper suggests that to fix these contradictions, the creators of the system, the delegates, added two elements. One was the establishment of the IMF, and the other was altering exchange rates under the condition that a nation comes to a severe economic imbalance.According to Cooper, the Bretton Woods System architects assumed that new gold production coming into monetary reserves would be an ample supply to fuel adequate growth. The US dollar, they further assumed, would be able to provide for the required liquidity to keep the exchange rate at the fixed level. However, until the 1970s, growth in the global gold demand had been increasing faster than new gold production. World monetary reserves outside the United States increased by $54 billion, a 4. 5 per cent per annum growth rate.United States gold reserves departed to other countries to the tune of $9 billion, while only $4 billion came from new gold production. Foreign excha nge, which was overwhelmingly in dollars as the medium of choice, supplied $30 billion of the growth in reserves. Additionally, the IMF started, in 1970, to provide Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is the new type of international reserve assets generally called â€Å"paper dollars†. U. S. gold reserves declined dramatically during this period because its stock of gold had gone to much of the rest of the world.The reasons for this exodus of American capital were complicated and controversial. Military expenditures involved with the Cold War and the Vietnam War predominate. As the result of heightened expenditures, the United States tried to increase its money supply regardless of being able to back it up with gold reserves. The rest of the world accumulated these lost U. S. reserves until the beginning of the 1970s, which caused uncertainty in the value of the US dollar itself. The second reason for the exodus of U. S. capital was that the European and Japanese economies had caught up to the United States’ economy.Due to the increased economic clout of revived nations, the United States began suffering from the trade deficit. European nations and Japan were taking advantage of the underestimated price of their currency, enabling them to increase the volume of their exports. The United States suffered because of the high price of the dollar relative to other currencies. After accumulation of the wealth, European countries and Japan embarked on converting reserve surpluses into dollar reserves. They practiced this policy because of the interest that could be earned on U. S. dollars.Moreover, if it ever became necessary the U. S. dollar could be converted to gold. These were miscalculations of the International Monetary Fund creators.. In these ways, the Bretton Woods economic structure was undermined, as the nominal price and real value of U. S. currency came into conflict. In 1970, in order to restore the system, the IMF introduced a new inter national reserve asset. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were expected to supplement the other components of global reserves, i. e. U. S. dollars and gold. The need for liquidity in the international monetary system was the reason for the creation of SDRs.In 1970, when the SDRs were first allocated, the United States had the largest share, totaling about $867 million, followed by the United Kingdom, at $410 million. According to Acheson, â€Å"A problem†¦ is the prospect of conflict over the amount of SDRs to be created. † The development of the new asset system was eventually unsuccessful. Richard Harper argues that the failure of IMF came from a fundamental problem within the system itself. The problem, he says, is that a fixed exchange-rate system requires national governments to arrange their monetary policy in problematic ways.If, for instance, one nation has continuously higher inflation rate than others’, it cannot compete in the world market, and its citizens would be buying more expensive imported products, leading to trade deficits. Therefore, the government has to be adjusting to its trading partners all the time. Harper goes on to say that under the pre-1914 gold standard system, there would no such problem because the inflation rate would spill over to the countries around it and achieve a convergence. By contrast, under the par value system, the mechanism of self-converging is missing.Harper summarizes his thoughts about monetary cooperation between nations: Lack of co-ordination of monetary policies and, in particular, the implementation of inappropriate policies by any individual member, resulted in the countries in question facing runs on their currency when there was perceived to be an imbalance between their internal monetary policies and external exchange rates. He argues that this systematic flaw was closely related to the ultimate obsolescence of the Bretton Woods System. Instability of the System came to a head, and it co llapsed, like a house of cards.The real signal of its death was in 1971, when U. S. officials declared suspending the convertibility between dollars and gold, making other nations’ currency float. The fixed exchange rates between U. S. dollars and other world currencies disappeared, and the Bretton Woods System went the way of the dinosaurs—extinction. After its collapse, on March 19, 1973, the central banks of the world economic powers gave up their commitment to stabilize exchange rates between their currencies and the dollar.After suspending the convertibility from dollars to gold, the fixed exchange rates between U. S. currency and others began to disappear, even though many nations insisted on keeping the pegged exchange rates of the Bretton Woods System. Riccardo says: It now seems clear that the really essential characteristic of Bretton Woods was not the maintenance of party but the convertibility of the dollar†¦ After March 1973, the central banks rapidly discovered that it was simply not possible to abandon exchange rates to market forces completely. In this way, the Bretton Woods System lost its key component—convertibility from dollars to gold–in 1971, then an ancillary key component—adjustable-fixed exchange rates in 1973.Henceforth, currency valuations were determined according to market fluctuations. The IMF lost the function of setting exchange rates.. Conclusion The Bretton Woods System came to an end in 1973, almost three decades after the Conference. The System contained contradictions and flaws since its foundation in 1945. Some economists argue that the system’s defects were negligible, and that the problem lay in the changing world economy, not the Bretton Woods System itself. However, it is undeniable that the mechanisms of the Bretton Woods System were not flexible enough to adjust to a changing world economy.Adaptability is the key to survivability, and in this sense, the Bretton Woods Sys tem was doomed to failure. The revivals of European nations and Japan were predictable, given the scope of international policy to revive these moribund economies. More than thirty years have passed since the collapse of the Bretton Woods System. Some economists say that Bretton Woods II is emerging in the world today.. The fact that China pegs its currency to the US dollar seems similar to the situation at the Bretton Woods Conference of yesteryear.Because of the fixed exchange rate system between the Chinese Renminbi and the U. S. dollar, the United States suffers a huge trade deficit with China today. . Matthias Kaelberer argues that Bretton Woods II would be different from the classic one, for the Bretton Woods System from 1944 to 1973 was agreed upon by its members, while the emerging system of today comes from Chinese de facto unilateral behavior pegging its currency to the U. S. currency. However, he also emphasizes that, no matter what their origin, reviewing the classic Bre tton Woods System will be helpful and important to predict the consequences of the Chinese-American fixed exchange rates relationship.The Bretton Woods Conference helped ease the world’s economy through a tumultuous period after the Second World War. Although the economic solutions they espoused seem anachronistic today, we should also thank the architects for playing a vital role in restoring some semblance of equilibrium to a world in tatters.BibliographyAcheson A. L. K. , Chant, J. F. and Prachowny M. F. J. Bretton Woods Revisited: Evaluations of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Papers Delivered at a Conference at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.Toronto, On, Canada: University of Toronto Press. 1972.Chacholiades, Miltiades. International Monetary Theory and Policy. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1978.Cooper, Richard N. The International Monetary System: Essays in World Economics. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. 1987. Harper, Richard. Inside the IMF: Ethnography of Documents, Technology, and Organizational Action. San Diego: Academic Press. 1998.Parboni, Riccardo. The Dollar & its Rivals. London, England: Verso. 1981. Witteveen, H. J and Szabo-Pelsoczi, Miklos (ed. ).Fifty Years after Bretton Woods: The New Challenge of East-West Partnership for Economic Progress. Brookfield, Vt. , USA: Avebury. 1996Stone, Randall. Lending Credibility: The International Monetary Fund and the Post-communist Transition. Princeton University Press, 2002 Matthias Kaelberer. â€Å"Structural Power and the Politics of International Monetary Relations. † The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. Washington: Fall 2005. Vol. 30, Iss. 3;http://proquest. umi. com. myaccess. library. utoronto. ca/pqdlink? Ver=1&Exp=04-03-2012&FMT=7&DID=911841951&RQT=309 Accessed on April 3, 2007. Via ProQuest.

Inclusion of Students with Disabilities into Regular Education Classrooms

The American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted by the Census Bureau, estimated that about 6. 3% of the children between the age of 5 and 15 years had some form of disability in 2007. 1 The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was legislated in 1975, requires all public schools in the U. S. to provide ‘all eligible children with disabilities a free public education in the least restrictive environment appropriate for their needs. ‘According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, about 6. 7 million children  and youth, between the ages of 3 and 21, received services under IDEA in 2006 – 2007. 2 The issue of inclusion and mainstreaming of children with disabilities has always been controversial. While it is wrong to differentiate and isolate children based on their abilities, most regular schools are ill equipped to take care of children with certain disabilities and that can be disadvantageous to the disabled child as well as the regular children in the class. So, although every eligible child should have a right to go to any educational institution that he  or she wants to, it is important to make individualized decisions about inclusion.Teachers, doctors, therapists, parents and students should work together and decide what is best for all the children in the classroom. The National Dissemination Center for children with disabilities has defined inclusion as the philosophy, process, and practice of educating students with disabilities in general education classrooms in neighborhood schools with the supports and accommodations needed by those students.However, different researchers and educators have different opinions about what ‘inclusion' can actually mean. Some researchers like Lewis and Doorlang consider a child with disabilities ‘included' if he spends any part of the school day with general class peers in â€Å"common instructional or social activities with additional instructio n and support from a special educator† while Friend & Bursuck believed that inclusion generally occurs when a student with disabilities can meet â€Å"traditional academic expectations with minimal assistance.†Until the late 1960s, there was no help for children with disabilities at public schools. In fact, most schools had the right to refuse admission if the child was severely disabled while children with mild problems had struggle by themselves to cope with the school curriculum. All of that changed in 1969, with the passage of the Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act, when it became mandatory for public schools to provide support services for students with learning disabilities.The Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 which intended to support states and localities in meeting the individual needs of children and youths with disabilities. This law was later renamed as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or ID EA. 2 As more and more kids started receiving special education, it was observed that such children were not taught the general curriculum at the schools. This led to the reauthorization of IDEA in 1997 and access to the general curriculum  was added to the statute.Ever since its formation, IDEA and the concept of inclusion were contentious. The supporters of the act believed that since disabled children have to live in the same society as the general population when they grow up, it is better to start early. This will help the general children also to develop into more understanding and compassionate individuals. The opponents of inclusion, on the other hand, believe that if the handicapped children are sent to  regular classrooms, they would be denied the ‘small-group, multi-sensory, carefully sequenced instruction, integrated with their various physical therapies, now provided by skilled certified teachers' while the non-handicapped children may miss their regular lesso ns.Some critics of inclusion believe that mainstreaming is a better option. Mainstreaming refers to selective placement of special education students in one or more â€Å"regular† education classes. The students are introduced to few regular classes based on each student's individual potential  and they follow a Individualized Education Plan (IEP) under the guidance of a specialist. The students are thus, exposed to the outside world but at a slower pace. The purpose of mainstreaming is specialized academic learning while the purpose of inclusion is to prepare for an independent life as an adult. Inclusion is less restrictive and allows a child with disabilities to be a part of a regular classroom and follow the regular curriculum with assistance of a specialist.Full inclusion, on the other hand, refers to elimination of special education  altogether and instructing all students in the same classroom with same curriculum. The proponents of full inclusion believe that all children are equally worth and hence, should be treated equally. Several models have been proposed to implement inclusion in classrooms across the United States. Some of these models include the Consultant model, the Teaming model and the Collaborative or Co-teaching model. In the Consultant model a special education teacher is made available to the students and will help to reteach a difficult concept or skillThis non- intrusive approach is effective in case of low incidence of special needs students and overall low student population. In the Teaming model special education teacher is assigned to a team and the teacher provides student several strategies to deal with assignments and tests. The team meets on a regular basis, establishing consistent communication among the team members. All team members work together and broaden their knowledge in various areas, whether they are from general education or special education.On the other hand, the Collaborative model involves general ed ucation and special education teachers working together to teach students with or without disabilities in a shared classroom. Students receive age-appropriate academics, support services, and possible modified instruction. Collaborative teaching can be organized in a number of ways like one teacher and one support, parallel teaching design, team teaching, alternative teaching design etc.The kind of model that a classroom might adopt depends on a variety of factors like the  requirements of the students and the number of resources that the teachers have at their disposal. Whichever model it adopts, an inclusive classroom is student-centered and students have a major role to play in deciding the academic and social activities of the day. There is a lot of social interaction with each student doing their own individualized curriculum under the guidance of a special education teacher. The classroom may have different centers that focus on different skills like language, math etc.Child ren are allowed to use many different kind of learning tools like books, computers, taped stories and music. One of the major advantages of a inclusion classroom for regular students is that it helps them develop compassion and sensitivity at a young age. Children get an opportunity to experience diversity in a small classroom setting and it also boosts their self-confidence as they develop an ability to make a difference and to help others. All students have the benefit of having two teachers in the class.Also, inclusion classrooms focus on peer learning and that can have immense impact on most children. Inclusion classrooms can also be beneficial to the teachers as it gives them an opportunity to be a part of a multi-disciplinary team that faces new challenges everyday. The teachers also learn to appreciate the fact that each child has his own strengths and weaknesses and get an opportunity to understand the benefits of direct individualized instruction. Children with special need s can benefit immensely by going to regular schools.It gives them a sense of belongingness in the community. It enhances their self-respect and enables them to develop friendships with same-age peers. A regular school exposes the child to a more stimulating environment and may make it easier for them adjust to the outside world. Thus, the supporters of inclusion believe that all students will benefit from being in an inclusion classrooms in the long run. In spite of all these advantages, inclusion classrooms are controversial and that is because  these classrooms can often be disruptive and under productive. In practice, children pursuing individualized curricula with aides, under the supervision of the teacher who is attempting to teach the whole class may lead to commotion and confusion.The critics also believe that there is no scientific basis for the belief that handicapped children benefit by being placed with non-handicapped children. In fact, some research shows that handic apped children feel more isolated in the regular class, as it imposes greater psychological pressure on them and  they become more aware of what their peers can do and what they cannot. Some research has shown that in Texas, Missouri and Minnesota, special-education students are suspended at roughly twice the rate of regular students, state reports indicate.Also, for children with disabilities in a regular environment, socialization becomes more important than academics and hence, can be detrimental to student's education. Some school districts have reported higher teacher turnover and classroom commotion due to mainstreaming.Many teachers are often uncomfortable with an unorganized classroom. Most teachers lack special training and support to deal with inclusion and can lead to frustration. Inclusion can also be viewed unfavorably by regular students. They may find it disruptive to their own education. Also, if not implemented properly, it can lead to resentment among regular stu dents towards their disabled peers and can lead to unpleasant atmosphere in the classrooms. Even the proponents of inclusion have to agree that it is not for everyone.â€Å"Inclusion without resources, without support, without teacher preparation time, without commitment, without a vision statement, without restructuring, without staff development, won't work. † says Mara Sapon-Shevin, professor of inclusive education at Syracuse University. So, before starting any new inclusion program, it is important to analyze the situation and check for all the available resources. Every body involved in the education system including students, teachers, special  education teachers and parents should be involved in the decision.It is also important to make a smooth transition in a gradual step by step manner that is not overwhelming to the handicapped children as well as their non-handicapped peers. Also, good communication between the teachers, students and the parents is key to the s uccess of inclusion education and thus, schools should have clear strategies and plans before introducing inclusive classrooms to their system.Inclusion is a disputable issue and proponents on both sides of the theory are equally passionate about their cause. It a great concept of education that is based upon the principle of compassion and equality for all. If implemented properly, the inclusion classrooms can be great models for an ideal society. However, it is a difficult concept to implement. Most teachers lack the appropriate training and resources to manage an inclusion classroom and that can be overwhelming to all the individuals involved.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Ad analysis

We know this because not only is the watch predominantly black in color, normally men's etches are black, but also because it's a large watch with a precise and detailed whiteface. We can tell that the advertisement also is aimed at more athletic, or sporty, men who would want to be like NFG quarterback Eli Manning. The advertisement is using the technique of giving the reader an idea of what they could possibly be if they bought the product. The advertisement is inadvertently saying that if you wear a Citizen Codeine watch, that you could possibly be a superstar, Super Bowl winning, quarterback.They are trying to entice men to buy the watch cause most men have dreams of being a handsome, sophisticated, superstar like Eli Manning and the company Is hoping that men will buy this watch In order to try and become like Eli Manning. This advertisement also features 4 large sentences on the right side of the page. The first sentence Is simply â€Å"Unstoppable†. It then goes on to s ay how Ell Manning Is unstoppable and then It makes the claim saying â€Å"It's unstoppable, Just like the people who wear It†.These sentences are the mall part of the ad, they are trying to make men realize that If they want to be sophisticated and unstoppable† then they must have this watch Like Ell Manning. The advertisement also boasts the fact that the watch will never require a battery. This Is meant to show men that they will not have to worry about buying a new watch battery and getting It Installed. In this ad we see mostly ethos, they are saying that Ell Manning wears this watch so It must be sophisticated and classy. They are using his credibility and hoping that people will trust a NFG superstar.Pathos Is also found In this ad, they use very vivid language when describing Ell Manning and people who ear the watch. They use one word and It Is bolted and repeated throughout the ad. Pathos Is also found In this ad because they are making the reader feel Like If they don't have this elegant watch then they are able to be stopped, but If you do have this watch you are Indeed unstoppable. They are trying to make the reader feel Like they need to buy this watch In order to be successful. Ad analysis By Maydays Eli Manning and the company is hoping that men will buy this watch in order to try the right side of the page.The first sentence is simply â€Å"Unstoppable†. It then goes on to say how Eli Manning is unstoppable and then it makes the claim saying â€Å"It's unstoppable, Just like the people who wear it†. These sentences are the main part of the ad, they are trying to make men realize that if they want to be sophisticated and â€Å"unstoppable† then they must have this watch like Eli Manning. The advertisement also boasts the fact that the watch will never require a battery. This is meant to getting it installed. In this ad we see mostly ethos, they are saying that Eli Manning wears this watch so it must be sophistic ated and classy.They are using his credibility and hoping that people will trust a NFG superstar. Pathos is also found in this ad, they use very vivid language when describing Eli Manning and people who wear the watch. They use one word and it is bolted and repeated throughout the ad. Pathos is also found in this ad because they are making the reader feel like if they don't have this elegant watch then they are able to be stopped, but if you do have this watch you are indeed unstoppable. They are trying to make the reader feel like they need to buy this watch in order to be successful.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Compensation and Benefits Strategies Essay

Employees are worth more than their hourly wage, even though, that is typically all that is considered by an employee while looking for a new job or considering a move to a different job or employer. Employers see employees as much more than the hourly or salary that they are offered to do a specific job. The benefits package that employers offer to employees is worth a substantial amount of money. Health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance and other benefits, and even some discount programs are part of the entire compensation and benefits package. Employers, and employees alike, need to understand and educate themselves on the added value they have by looking at the entire compensation and benefits package and comparing it to other companies before taking a position for a higher hourly or salaried rate. Centura Health is evaluated throughout this paper regarding their compensation and benefits strategies. Market Evaluation Companies in competing markets need to know what their competitors are offering in terms of compensation and benefits packages so that they are able to stay current with what other organizations are offering their employees. Researching and understanding the compensation and benefits of competitors is a vital process in hiring and recruiting new employees from the regular job market of employees and when trying to recruit employees away from their current employer. Understanding the compensation structure of your own company, and of your competitors, will make evaluating the current structure easier and then making it more appealing to employees wanting to be employed by the organization will be a more informed decision making process. Centura Health, Kaiser Permanente, and the University of Colorado Hospital will be reviewed. Centura Health Centura Health is one of the largest employers in Colorado. Centura Health’s website states, â€Å"Centura Health takes pride in providing a comprehensive benefits package that’s designed to inspire health† (Centura Health, n.d., p. 1). Centura Health is looking for talented employees that will help them continue their mission and support their key values. Centura Health offers competitive wages, health insurance, prescription coverage, vision, and dental through their health benefits package. Centura Health offers short-term and long-term disability packages along with life insurance and accidental death insurance for an additional low fee. Centura Health offers a paid time-off (PTO) that accrues during each pay period and 401k and other retirement programs. An employee assistance program is offered by Centura Health for employees who may need counseling or a referral to a counselor to help them cope with issues in their work or home life. Centura Health also has an associate discount program that offers discounts on many services such as cell phone carriers, life, and car insurance among many other discounts. Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (KP) is another one of Colorado’s largest employers and a dominate player in hiring talented health care employees. Kaiser Permanente’s website states, â€Å"we understand that providing excellent service to our employees enables you to provide excellent service to our members. As a result, we offer a total compensation package designed to enhance the lives of you and your family member† (Kaiser Permanente, 2015, p. 1). Kaiser Permanente offers a wide range of benefits to their employees with enrollment into the KP health insurance being at the top of their list. Kaiser Permanente also offers â€Å"flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings account (HSA), supplemental life insurance, occupational accident insurance, mental health, care, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, health care on-site, and retiree health and medical† (Kaiser Permanente, 2015, p. 1). Kaiser Permanente also has other benefits under the following categories for employees, financial and retirement, family and parenting, vacation and time off, perks and discounts, and professional support. All of these categories expand into additional areas of benefits  to employees. The University of Colorado Hospital The University of Colorado Hospital is also one of Colorado largest employers in healthcare. The University of Colorado Hospitals (UCH) website states, â€Å"We are proud to provide competitive and comprehensive health and welfare benefits as part of our Total Rewards program† (University of Colorado Health, 2014, p. 3). The University of Colorado Hospital, like the previous employers, offer a medical health plan, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, short and long-term disability insurances, and dental and vision plans. The UCH offers a dependent day care spending account (DCSA) to their employees to help pay the cost of day care with tax-free dollars. The UCH also offers their employees the ability to sign up for a group legal plan. The University of Colorado Hospitals benefit enrollment guide states that their UltimateAdvisor program, â€Å"offers you a wide range of legal services to help you prevent and resolve everyday legal issues† (University of Colorado Health, 2014, p. 17). The daycare and legal programs offered by the UCH are not offered by their competitors and make them more desirable when comparing compensation and benefits packages. Compensation Structure Centura Health uses an annual employee review system called Performance, Feedback, and Development (PFD) to review employees to determine if they are eligible for a yearly raise. This process involves the employee rating themselves on how they are meeting their job performance in accordance with Centura’s seven core values. The seven core values are compassion, respect, integrity, spirituality, stewardship, imagination, and excellence (Centura Health, n.d., p. 1). This process is time intensive and cumbersome for employees and managers to sit down and write scenarios and narratives for these values. Employees skip the self-assessment section by doing the bare minimum of just checking the auto-populated response available to meet their required timeline for turning in the assessment. Market Position Centura Health’s market position falls into the large-sized companies. Centura Health employs â€Å"17,100 employees and associates† (Draper, 2014, p. 1). Centura Health is expanding into a new health campus and new physician  buildings in the northern Denver Metropolitan area. Centura Health had a net income of $61.5 million â€Å"(Sealover, 2013, p. 1). Centura Health operates 15 hospitals throughout Colorado after the recent expansion into the St. Anthony North Health Campus. Compensation and Benefits Centura Health needs to stay competitive when offering their compensation and benefits package to new employees. The existing compensation package that Centura Health offers is solid and market comparable to their competitors. As Centura Health continues to expand their locations and the need for employees continues to grow it would be advised that Centura Health looks at daycare benefits to their employees with children and, to include, elderly family members who may need assistance of daycare programs as well. Centura Health promotes health and wellness throughout their system and has recently stopped hiring any employee that smokes. Employing healthier employees does several things for Centura Health. Sick time will be reduced by hiring healthier employees, reduced profit loss by having more employees at work than on sick time and reduced health insurance costs for both Centura Health and the employee. Work-life balance is important for Centura Health to review in their compensation and benefits packages. Centura Health can benefit from telecommuting for many administrative jobs and to support more flexible work schedules for employees who need to start earlier or later and can stay for the full shift amount of time because of their home life requirements. Work-life balance is important to employee’s health and wellness and offering additional options into the preconceived mold of being a healthcare worker will make Centura Health a more desirable employer for the talented employees they want to employ. Performance Incentives and Merit Pay Centura Health would benefit from a reward-based program that would include bonuses, for employees who are doing the non-management and non-executive jobs. Incentive Compensation for employees creates a work environment of higher performance and competition between employees. Employees and lower level management can give each other a pat on the back for a job well done, cost savings identification or a heroic moment with a patient, but those moments are short-lived. Rewarding employees speaks volumes when trying to  create a positive work-life balance in an organization. Creating an incentive-based program that management can reward on-the-spot accomplishments creates the need to do better with the other employees in the organization. Recognizing employees for a job well done with an incentivized program using gift cards, bonuses, or additional PTO motivates others to try and receive these awards. Creating a positive competitive work environment encourages employees to strive to wo rk better, do better, and be better. Laws The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was originally created to address issues with pension plans and did not address health, life, disability, or medical benefits. ERISA has been modified, for the most part, to address pension plans, but the medical coverage area was modified with the creation of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). COBRA was created â€Å"to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be terminated† (United States Department of Labor [USDOL], n.d., para. 1). COBRA COBRA is offered to employees who have been terminated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, without any gross misconduct or because of the reduction of work hours by the employer. COBRA is paid for out-of-pocket by the employee and at higher rate than offered through their plan when they were employed. The qualified employee must be offered identical coverage to the plan they had while employed. COBRA is usually an overly expensive option for employees that have been released from their jobs. HIPAA HIPAA is a federal law that â€Å"limits pre-existing condition exclusions, permits special enrollment when certain life or work events occur, prohibits discrimination against employees and dependents based on their health status, and guarantees availability and renewability of health coverage to certain employees and individuals† (United States Department of Labor [USDOL], n.d., para. 3). Special enrollment examples are exhaustion of COBRA benefits, marriage, and new child by birth or adoption. The employee is to be given a 30-day period to request the special enrollment option regardless of the plan’s set enrollment dates as provided by the employer. Conclusion Centura Health is one of Colorado’s largest providers of healthcare services and largest employers. Centura Health has invested in understanding the health care market so that they can provide a competitive and attractive compensation and benefits package to entice talented employees. There is a benefit to Centura Health and the employee regarding understanding the package presented to them during the hiring process so that both parties understand the worth they are gaining with employment. The compensation and benefits process for an employer is worth an in-depth review of their competitors and the market the organization is in. References Centura Health. (n.d.). Compensation, Benefits and Tuition Reimbursement. Retrieved from http://www.centura.org/careers-and-education/compensation-benefits-and-tuition-reimbursement/ Centura Health. (n.d.). Mission & Values. Retrieved from http://www.centura.org/about-us/mission-and-values/ Draper, E. (2014). Colorado hospital giant Centura Health to stop hiring tobacco users. Retrieved from http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26977759/colorado-hospital-giant-centura-health-stop-hiring-tobacco Kaiser Permanente. (2015). Benefits, pay, and enrollment. Retrieved from http://www.kaiserpermanentejobs.org/employee-benefits.aspx Kaiser Permanente. (2015). Kaiser Permanente Benefits. Retrieved from http://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Kaiser-Permanente-US-Benefits-EI_IE19466.0,17_IL.18,20_IN1.htm Sealover, E. (2013). Denver hospitals post healthy profits. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2013/05/30/denver-hospitals-post-healthy-profits.html United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Applicable Laws, Regulations, Publications and Related Links. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/elaws/ebsa/health/7.asp United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions COBRA Continuation Health Coverage. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_compliance_cobra.html University of

Friday, September 13, 2019

Illegal Immigration can be curbed by enforcing existing immigration Essay

Illegal Immigration can be curbed by enforcing existing immigration laws, repealing birthright citizenship, and requiring proof - Essay Example In the decades that followed, the number of immigrants entered USA presented a trend of continuous increase; in 1977, 1 million immigrants from Mexico entered USA (Reed 25). It is clear that appropriate measures need to be developed towards the elimination of illegal immigration across the country. These measures should not be considered as an opposition to human rights but rather as an effort to secure the quality of life of citizens. Moreover, appropriate criteria should be used for judging the provision to immigrants of American citizenship. The measures taken for the control of illegal immigration across USA would include the introduction of mechanisms for enforcing existing immigration laws (especially ‘the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996’ (Koven & Gotzke 142)), the repealing of birthright citizenship and the provision of right to apply for social services only to th ose who can prove their citizenship. The above issues are discussed in this paper referring to the literature that has been published in this field. It is assumed that the plans promoted in USA for the control of illegal immigration are important but they are not appropriately monitored; as a result, these plans often fail to address effectively the specific problem. It is assumed that it is not a problem related to the lack of legislation but rather to the lack of effective cooperation among the authorities involved in the relevant processes. In accordance with Anderson (2010) the control of illegal immigration in USA has been proved to be quite difficult; in the context of the above finding, authorities in USA have tried to focus on those forms of immigration that would be easier controlled – reference is made to the legal immigration (Anderson 215). For this reason, the measures developed for the control of illegal immigration in USA may affect legal immigrants also, a pro blem, which needs to be appropriately addressed; however, the above problem should not prohibit the authorities from enforcing the current immigration laws, as such practice would benefit the illegal immigrants across the country. At this point, the following issue needs to be highlighted: under certain terms, immigration laws are not enforced in US because of the existence of a series of interests depended on illegal immigration; the most indicative example of such case is the entrance of illegal immigrants in the workplace. Illegal immigrants cannot ask for normal wage – in terms of its level; in fact, their wage is lower compared to the average wage of employees in a similar job position. As a result, employers prefer illegal immigrants, a fact that makes the entrance in the workplace for citizens and legal immigrants even more difficult (Weissinger 203). The above phenomenon is so extended that the enforcement of immigration laws across the country has become quite proble matic. However, no signs seem to exist regarding the limitation of the above problem. In fact, in a relevant research it has been revealed that the immigration agents across USA are about 2,000 – while the illegal immigrants in USA have been estimated to 11.5 million (Gaines & Miller 124). In accordance with Wepman (2007) the lack of effective enforcement of immigration laws in USA leads to the following assumption: existing illegal immigrants across the country ‘face little or no risk of removal once they entry the country’