Environment and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Environment and development - Essay Example What is perceived of the term ‘Ethical Consumption’, at the very basic level, is the buying, purchasing, consuming or to obtain something for one’s own personal or (at least related) use; keeping in mind the ethical values one has established for one’s own sake. Now different people may have different ethical values but beings with similar ethical values tend to form groups and societies as illustrated by Stuart Hall: â€Å"†¦the word can be used to describe the ‘shared values’ of a group or of a society† (Hall , p.2). These groups tend to act as mass ‘effectors’ and can really bring change in lieu of what they consider ethically right or wrong. However, the correctness of their own ethical views does not matter in this regard since most people form almost the same ethical values concerning certain aspects of our planet, the humanity and the environment. Now people who buy, with reference to their own established Ã¢â‚¬Ë œethical standards’ of shopping or consuming to be more precise may consider a certain product to be ethically wrong or being produced in a manner which is ethically wrong or its very production effects certain aspects which the consumer tends to care about, and hence considers the production ethically wrong; now this consumer, who considers a product to be immoral may boycott its purchase or avoid it at all possible costs, at least that’s the general perceived reaction from a consumer who buys in accordance to his ethical standards. And the same can be expected off a certain group formed due to similar ethical standards concerning a certain product, and it is quite evident that the group and even the individual alone can affect the market value of that certain product in a positive (if the product meets their ethical standards) or negative (if the product does not meet their ethical standards) manner. But it is not always the case that the consumer considers buying wi th respect to his/ her

Business Capstone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Capstone - Essay Example For example, in 2013, the company production output stood at 9,714,654 vehicles. This paper seeks to discuss some of the major aspects that have General Motors to be a successful company locally and internationally. One of the major aspects that make GM to be a unique company is that it does not have an official mission statement. However, according to the company website, making the world top brands can only be achieved through the support of world greatest workers. The company focus is to take pride of its workers and take precaution to produce exceptional cars as well as providing ownership experience to its customers across the globe. Through the commitment that the company has to its customers, the company missions makes it to be innovative thus producing quality brands that meet the needs of its customers in the local as well as global markets. GM vision is to become the global leader in transportation products thus earning trust and loyalty from its customers across the world. In order to produce top brands, the vision of the company has made it to be driven by integrity and strong team work thus making the company to enjoy high sales and dividend. One of the major GM stakeholders is the employees. With more than 219,000 skilled employees, GM has been able to improve its services in the production facilities as well as in the distribution centers. Similarly, the management team headed by Tim Solso has put in place effective management policies that have made the company to be innovative and deliver long-term investment value thus making it to effectively face off its main competitors that includes Toyota Motor Corporation, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Nissan Motor, Daimler AG, and Ford Motor Co among others. On their part, the shareholders have made the company to be successful based on their increased investments. This has made the company to continue giving dividends to the

Positive Communication in Pre-School Setting

Positive Communication in Pre-School Setting Janet Murphy 1. Maintaining effective communication and avoiding any barriers It is essential to have effective and positive communication within a pre-school setting for the staff, the children and their families or carers in order to develop solid and caring relationships. It is important for pre-school managers to develop a strong working relationship with staff with effective communication. This will create a much happier and productive working environment for all staff, which in turn will encourage an effective and positive relationship with the children within the setting and their families or carers. In order to keep all up to date with current issues within the setting, e.g any child protection issues, medical diagnosis needs of a child, any new children starting within the setting, any new policies introduced by the setting, it is necessary at all times to keep communication between all staff and management up to the minute and current. This can be carried out either verbally or non-verbally, for example via e-mail, memos etc. Nurturing and maintaining good communication levels between staff and management also helps staff to know what is required of them and for the manager to be aware of any feelings, anxieties or uncertainties the staff may have within the setting, which then can be discussed and addressed. It is important to ensure that the staff see this communication as positive and not just the manager ‘checking up on them’. If a manager does not have this positive and effective level of communication with their staff, this could cause problems within the setting that go un-noticed and could have a negative effect for the children and families or carers. ‘The relationships that my staff and I have with the children and their families are what make or break the business. Relationships are difficult and not always positive. The important thing is to talk. If you want staff to be nurturing then you need to nurture them show you appreciate them, make sure they’re not overloaded and ensure that they know they can talk freely’. (Sue Chesson, Skips Nursery). As the manager of the setting it is important to try to identify and eliminate any barriers that staff may feel towards effective and useful communication. Barriers to communication can include verbal barriers, for example a noisy environment, cultural or personality barriers and the environment of the setting being segmented making it difficult to have effective two way communication. Other areas of verbal barriers may include when a member of staff is stressed which in turn could cause a fractious atmosphere within the setting or a member of staff could possibly not understand the communication that is trying to be conveyed. Non-verbal barriers mostly consist of ‘body language’ barriers, for example a lack of eye contact between the members of staff, unhelpful or misread facial expressions and different perceptions of body language and gestures. One of the most common communication problems within a preschool setting is simply a failure for people to listen to comments or instructions being made. 2. The appraisal process The main aim of the appraisal process is to have a two way discussion between manager and employee to identify any issues relating to the role expected of the employee and to identify any strategies necessary to improve performance within the setting. Discussions should also be made as to the wellbeing of the employee, within the setting and personally. Appraisals should also be designed to include discussions on when employee has done well in their role so that they feel that their hard work and effort has been recognised, which will then encourage good morale and motivation. The appraisal process within the pre-school setting is very important and is a very effective way to review and employee’s performance over the last year and to identify any strengths and weaknesses and any concerns and barriers there may be with the employee’s performance. It gives the manager and member of staff the opportunity to discuss any further training and development which would be beneficial to both the employee’s long term potential and the pre-school setting and identify appropriate targets for the future. Appraisal meeting with staff and manager should be positive and productive and encourage effective working practice and strengthen the working relationships. Formal appraisals are normally carried out once a year between the manager and employee and should cover items such as working relationships, professional knowledge, communication and organisational skills. It is an opportunity for an employee to raise any issues they may have and any ideas they may have in their role and in the setting. The employee should be provided with guidance notes and an Appraisal Form prior to the meeting to assist them identify the areas they wish to discuss with the manager. There should also be an Appraisal Policy within the setting which should be available to the employee to read and discuss upon commencement of employment. Although the annual appraisal meeting is a very effective and productive way to communicate with staff, it must be remembered that some staff may find it daunting and be apprehensive about the process. It is important that the manager tries to dispel any concerns the member of staff may have and convey the meeting as positive and productive for all parties involved. Apart from the annual appraisal meeting, important issues that may raise time to time within the setting would be best addressed at the time rather than be allowed to continue, for example if a member of staff is using inappropriate language within the setting. Discussions between the manager and the employee should also take place informally throughout the year in order to monitor any targets, training and development which has been set within the appraisal meeting and/or any new issues which may have arisen since the meeting. 3. Disciplinary and Grievance procedures The disciplinary procedure within the pre-school setting is there to ensure a fair and effective method for dealing with any matters arising relating to the performance, capability and conduct of any employee. The grievance procedure is designed to enable an employee to raise any complaint they may have relating to their employment within the setting to the manager. The disciplinary process must be adhered to and the setting is expected to comply with the principles as set out by the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Upon the onset of any disciplinary procedure being taken with an employee is it important that the manager follow the process as follows:- 1. The manager should carry out a full and fair investigation into the allegation to establish the facts. 2. The employee should be informed immediately of the case against them and provided with all evidence of this. 3. If the manager establishes that it is necessary to pursue a disciplinary meeting the manager must prepare a written statement of the employee’s alleged misconduct relating to the setting. 4. The employee should also be issued with a letter giving clear and concise advice on the allegation made against them. The letter should be given to the employee at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting and include full details of date, time and location of the meeting and who will be in attendance. 5. The employee should be advised of their right to be accompanied at the meeting by a recognised trade union representative or a work colleague. 6. During the meeting the manager should inform the employee of the allegation against them and provided with any evidence and or witness statements obtained regarding the matter. The employee should be given full opportunity at the meeting to respond to the manager over the allegations. 7. During the meeting the manager must decide whether or not a disciplinary penalty is to be issued. The outcome of the meeting must be confirmed in writing to the employee giving them full details of the appeal process available to them. 8. Following a disciplinary meeting there are usually three outcomes: No action taken or deemed necessary A Warning issued to the employee Dismissal of the employee 9. If the employee feels that they have been disciplined unfairly the manager should ask the employee to appeal in writing to the pre-school, detailing the grounds for their appeal. The employee must follow this procedure within seven days of the disciplinary meeting. 10. Following this an appeal meeting should then be arranged with the employee where possible with a different panel to that of the original disciplinary meeting. 11. Managers are also able to follow an informal grievance procedure where an employee and manager can discuss any issues on a day to day basis in a more comfortable environment and therefore hopefully resolve any problems that may have arisen within the setting with the employee. It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that disciplinary and grievance procedures are carried out in an open and transparent manner with good and clear communication between all parties involved. The process should also be no-discriminatory and all matters should be dealt with quickly and within any specified times. Where at all possible the manager should attempt to deal with the disciplinary action informally to avoid the need for formal disciplinary action and possible employment tribunal. 4. Recruitment and selection process The first process within the pre school setting for recruitment and selection of staff is to evaluate the role of the job being advertised including the job’s purpose within the setting, the tasks that will be required of the job holder. It is very important to consider what skills will be required to carry out the role. Decision on salary offered, hours of work, holiday entitlement and other terms and conditions must be made in order to be able to effectively create a job description for advertising. This will then give candidates a clear indication of what role they would be expected to play within the setting and what their key responsibilities will be. Advertisement of the vacancy should be made in various locations enabling applicants from all different groups the opportunity to apply. It is important to inform applications that you are an equal opportunities employer and that you welcome and encourage applicants from all sections of the community. The format of advertising and applying should be clear as to the role being offered and give details of the renumeration package. The advertisement should include the following job description and person specification : The name of the pre-school Description of the position vacant Skills required for the position by the applicant Details of essential requirements of the applicant Location of the position Renumeration package Hours of work Whether position is temporary of permanent Full details on how to apply for the position Contact details of the pre-school Closing date for applications Creating an application information pack for applicants to fill out helps the process of recruitment as all information received from candidates will be received in the same consistent format. This also gives the applicant full details of the job description and person specification required. It should also include guidelines on how to complete the application and the pre-schools terms and conditions relating to the role. Once all applications have been received by the pre-school it is then the process of short listing the applicants which are believed to be suited to the role. This process must not be discriminatory in any way, e.g. exclude applicants because of race, age, religion, sexual belief, etc. Following the process interviews can then be offered to applicants. All applicants which have not been successful in the short listing process should be informed in writing. All interviews should be conducted in a fairway for all applicants. Interviews can be very daunting and nerve-wracking for people so you should try to make them feel at ease during the interview. Staff Policies Upon recruitment of a suitable applicant, the applicant should be given a copy of the Pre-school policies and encouraged to read them in order to become familiar with them. They should also be given the Employee Handbook which provides them with all the information regarding the pre-school policies, procedures and guidelines. It is a good idea to recruit an existing member of staff where possible to mentor the new member of staff which will give them an opportunity to get familiar with the day to day running of the pre-school and the other staff and children within the setting. All new staff should be made aware of the pre-school health and safety policy, fire safety policy, children’s medication policy and information on any children with allergies. Particular emphasis should be placed on staff development to ensure skills are kept up to date and a high quality of care can be provided to the children and their parents/carers. The possibility of promotion within the pre-school should be made available to all staff and run in conjunction with the Appraisal process.

Greek Theater Essay -- essays research papers

Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of â€Å"drama,† which is the Greek term meaning â€Å"to do† or â€Å"to act.† Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theater originated from the religious rites of ancient Greek tribes. Located in northern Greece, a cult was formed to worship the God of wine and fertility, Dionysus. The cult held religious celebrations which included large consumptions of alcohol, animal sacrifices, and sometimes massive orgies. Theater was thought as a ritual to release powerful emotions and create pure ecstasy. The cult spread south into Greece and by 500 BC annual festivals in honor of Dionysus were held every spring.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A main part of Dionysus’ rites was the dithyramb. It means a â€Å"choric hymn† and it was completely religious describing Dionysus’ adventures. The performance would have a group of dancers, a chorus in costumes, an orchestra of drums, lyres, and flutes, and a leader/director. It all took place around an altar for Dionysus. Soon after the dithyramb became popular at Athenian festivals where poets would compete to create their own unique dithyramb. Soon the dithyramb ceased to be about Dionysus and his adventures. Famous poets chose subjects from several different periods of Greek mythology. Over time, the dithyrambs formed into stories to be performed thus creating drama.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the golden age of Greece, city-states were developed, the most prominent being Athens with a population of at least 150,000. Here is where the rites of Dionysus created what we now call theater. We have the leader, the chorus, the dancers, and the orchestra. So where did actors come from? Around 525 BC a man from Attica named Thespis, added an actor into the dithyramb to interact with the chorus. The actor was called the protagonist and means â€Å"the main character of a drama.† This addition turned the chorus into theater. Thespis went down in history and is where â€Å"thespians† got there name.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About 534 BC was when the Dionysian Festivals were changed to add dram... ...d of heroic epics involving Gods and legends. He died in 406 BC all alone, extremely cynical of human nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Athenians not only produced tragedies in their culture, but created many lasting comedies. These comedies helped set the way for Romans and Elizabethans coming in later periods. Developed similar to tragedy, comedy was aimed at the common people and had less to do with religious beliefs. Satire was often used in comedies, especially ones written by Aristophanes and Menander. Characters in these plays ranged from celebrities to drunken audience members. Menander’s plays were the main basis of comedy that moved onto the Romans and Shakespeare and the Broadway.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the 200 years from Thespis’ first accomplishments to the death of Sophocles, Greek Theater thrived. However, all good things eventually come to an end. The golden age was ending as Athenian culture was overrun in 404 BC by the Spartans. Theater of course evolved over time and is now a school subject, hobby and profession. Today it wouldn’t hurt to look back over some historically recorded plays and appreciate what the ancient Greeks created for us†¦ drama.

Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” Essay

What would the world be like if mankind disappeared? This is the theme of Ray Bradbury’s story â€Å"There Will Come Soft Rains†. All of the characters in the story are machines, which through personification take the place of human characters. The theme of man’s destruction reverberates throughout the story. Bradbury uses personification to describe the mechanical creations of man that eventually lead to the story’s theme of the destruction of mankind. There are no human characters at all in the story; instead, there are machines with human characteristics. Miller notes that personification is constantly used to describe the house’s actions (1). This is seen in the first line of the story,† In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, seven o’ clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would† (Bradbury 76). The distress of the voice-clock gives it a humanoid impression, which allows it to take the place of human characters. Another interesting example of personification is seen in the way that Bradbury describes the robotic mice. â€Å"Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience† (Bradbury 77). However, machines are incapable of feelings. Hicks observes that readers are reminded that the rodent readers are mechanical, and that feelings-â€Å"those highly praised human emotions†-cannot exist in machines (234). In fact, there is only one living character in the whole story. As Jennifer Hicks points out, the only live being in the house is the dog, who enters mid-story (234). The dog is not very seemly. â€Å"The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud† (Bradbury 77). It is pathetic and dying, much like the human race. Life after the destruction of man is the main theme of the story. It is hinted in the story that an atomic bomb was the cause of man’s demise. Bradbury does not blatantly tall the reader that an atomic catastrophe occurred, but reveals it by describing the house and its surroundings (Miller 6). The reader is told that, â€Å"The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles† (Bradbury 77). The â€Å"ruined city† and â€Å"radioactive glow† give readers enough clues to  conclude that atomic warfare was the cause of man’s downfall. While it is known that the earth is now empty, Bradbury also indicates that it was empty before the bomb. Peltier suggests that this world was empty even before the destruction, with mechanical mice vacuuming and a sing-song clock telling time. The dull, mechanical world was empty long before people were taken from it (238). This can be seen in the nursery, where â€Å"Animals took shape: yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers cavorting in crystal substance. The walls were glass. They looked out upon color and fantasy† (Bradbury 78). Children do not even go outside to enjoy nature, but watch it on their mechanical walls, their lives growing more and more hollow and empty. Another point that Bradbury makes is that if man disappeared, nothing would care, or even notice. Peltier explains that â€Å"The title of the story, taken from the poem quoted within it, suggests that if humankind were gone, nature would not only endure, but it would also not even notice our disappearance† (237). Sara Teasdale’s poem best illustrates this. â€Å"And not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done./Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,/If mankind perished utterly;/ And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn/ Would scarcely know that we were gone (Bradbury 79). Indeed, life would go on after mankind, and would go on peacefully. Therefore, Bradbury’s use of personification describe the machines that eventually lead to the story’s theme of mankind’s destruction. Personification allows the machines to show us what the people who owned the house were like: cold, impersonal, and oblivious to the outside- characteristics that led to both man and machine’s downfall. The author uses the story’s theme of the destruction of man to show readers the effects of becoming too dependent on machines and withdrawing from nature and the world. The chilling thing about Bradbury’s story is the acknowledgment of human dependency on machinery today, and the realization that in such a technologically advanced world, the story could easily become reality.

North American Indian Religions Essay

North American Indian religions rely on icons to give meaning to the immediate environment and the cosmos in general. Icons also symbolize the elemental powers of nature – the spirits, the supernatural world, and the forests. In addition, icons also describes man’s relationship with the so-called ‘Supreme Being. ‘ In many North American Indian religions, the ‘Supreme Being’ occupies an integral role in value formation. The Supreme Being is the foremost source of morality and tribal authority. Indeed, in totems, the Supreme Being occupies the highest position by virtue of power and seniority. Icons can also be analyzed in terms of its social and cultural sense. Icons represent the general values of a community – that is, imprinted images of cherished values. The more revered icons are, the more respected are accepted values in the tribe. Culturally, icons are imprinted beliefs – that is, they symbolize man’s immediate concerns about the environment. These concerns are as follows: survival initiatives, self-esteem and belongingness, and self-admiration. Icons serve to remind man that his natural habits are still active. Objectives: To determine the use of icons or images in North American Indian religions To define the relationship between the use of icons and the immediate environment