Steroids Should Not Be Banned - 2093 Words

Steroids By: Taci Miller For many years people have debated whether not to have steroids in sports, or to keep them away from all competition. However some athletes use steroids anyway to â€Å"get ahead† of the competition. These action can cause athletes being kicked out of a game or even all future competition. Some people ask â€Å"Why use steroids?† Some athletes use drugs, where they can train their bodies hard and then have their bodies recover fast. Different types of athletes use steroids in different ways depending on what sport the athlete is partaking in. Depending on what the athlete is trying to achieve they will combine certain drugs to give them the result that they want(Knight 23). Another reason that some athletes may start to use†¦show more content†¦The use of steroids has forever changed the face of professional sports, making it a world fueled by drug contacts instead of skill and talent. Roids, juice, hype, or pump are names that people may use when talking about steroids. Anabolic steroids are different from steroids medications. Anabolic steroids help build muscle, buy steroids can not help the ability and or skill of the athlete. Genetics, body size, age, sex, diet and how the athlete trains determines ability(State Health Department 1). Steroids fall into the category of ergogenic drugs. A drug that is classified as orogenetic is a substance that can be used to improve athletic performance. Other ergogenic drugs include prohormones, such as androstenedione and androstenediol, growth hormones, and nutritional supplements. While these substances may act on the body in different ways, the goals are the same: to gain muscles, increase endurance, and speed muscle and strength recovery.(Knight 7). Athletes who are doping rarely take one kind of drug. More commonly, they will do what is called stacking, which means combining a number of drugs in order to have the best c hance at success. Unfortunately, stacking can also lead to overdose and greater chances of permanently damaging vital organs.(Knight 23). Even tho stacking is very bad for everyone, people

Seneca argues Free Essays

What is fine and honorable is to go forth in defense of parents, children, friends and fellow-citizens, under the guidance of duty itself, in the exercise of will, Judgment and foresight – and not through some raving impulse (102)†. A good metaphor herein lies with comparing anger with drunkenness. Some may claim anger as useful â€Å"because it makes men keener to fght (103)†. We will write a custom essay sample on Seneca argues or any similar topic only for you Order Now Seneca very well points out that also drunk men are reckless, careless and keen to fight. In this way, nger can easily be seen as a thoughtless emotion which should be avoided at all cost. By being reasonable, , you give yourself time to reflect. To be able to pass a fair Judgment (104), you must take your time considering the facts surrounding a given matter. By Judging from a point of anger you are more likely to be unfair, because you will have overseen crucial facts in the heat of the moment. Anger will inevitably be based on stubbornness and refusal of being proved wrong, more than reason and a deliberate, well-thought-out argument. How to cite Seneca argues, Papers

Children with Learning Difficulties Emotional Problem

Question: Discuss about theChildren with Learning Difficultiesfor Emotional Problem. Answer: Introduction Learning difficulties refer to a situation where a person has a challenge in understanding or an emotional problem which affects an individuals ability to learn and ability to get along well with others. Characteristics of a child with learning difficulties are getting easily bored, inability to concentrate for long hours, forgetting what a child has just learnt and being extraordinarily talented. These learning difficulties are affected by social barriers which originate from the external environment. Various theories can be applied to help children with learning difficulties. Children with learning difficulties in preschool are greatly influenced by social barriers. The social barriers discussed below are stigma, culture at home and at school and time constraint of family members. Stigma refers to a situation where somebody is set apart by another group of people especially if they are different from the members of the group. As a result, these people discriminated upon because of prejudice. Children in preschool face this challenge of stigmatization especially if they are known to have learning difficulties. These children begin to face shame and distress. Children with learning disabilities are normally very sensitive and at the slightest instance can feel neglected by their parents, siblings, classmates at school or even their teachers (Finlay Lyons, 2000). Culture refers to customs and ideas shared by a group of people. A childs culture should be assessed properly when dealing with a child with learning difficulties. Some cultures expect a child to be exceptional in their studies especially children at preschool level. This gives children a lot of pressure when dealing with their learning difficulties. If the child happens to fail in an exam or an assessment because of his/her learning difficulty, it is possible to feel ashamed and disappointed in themselves (Goodley, 2001). Some families also require a child to be extremely exceptional and this affects their learning in preschool. Children with learning difficulties require a lot of attention and support from their family members. They expect their parents and siblings to guide and motivate them in whatever thing they do. However, with todays economic world, parents who have children with learning difficulties tend to be so busy. They go to work early in the morning and return late in the night, hence spending minimal time with their children. They therefore leave their children in the hands of their caretakers who are less concerned about the welfare of these children (Riddell, Brown Duffield, 2014). The children therefore continue deteriorating with regard to their learning difficulties. Apart from school, children also learn at home. There are theories that analyze human development. These theories can be used to explain how a child learns best at home and at school. These theories include Bronfenbrunners ecological theory, Vygotskys sociocultural theory and Banduras social learning theory. They are discussed as follows: Bronfenbrenners ecological theory argues that the development of a person is affected by their surrounding environment. He divides this environment into five namely; microsystem which is the system one is closest to such as home and school, mesosystem which is the interaction between a persons microsystem, exosystem which is the setting that does not involve a person actively, macro system which is the cultural environment of a person, and chronosystem which refers to the pattern in which environmental events take place (Bronfenbrenner, 1992). The theory is relevant for childrens learning at home because it enables parents understand that the situation presented to a child greatly affects his/her development. The parents are therefore compelled to present less distraction to their children. If the environment is favorable to the children, they will learn faster. The theory is also relevant for childrens learning in school because it enables teachers to know that a childs environment affects how he/she studies. The teachers will therefore be able to reduce pressure on the child with learning difficulties with regard to obtaining results. If the environment at school is not favorable, the children will learn at a slower pace. Vygotskys sociocultural theory argues that parents, peers, the culture and caregivers are responsible for the development of high order functions. Interacting with other people facilitates learning. According to him, children are innately born with learning difficulties already in their minds. He also talks of a zone of proximal development which argues that a person cannot understand some things on their own but can learn with a lot of guidance (Kozulin, 2013). Children are allowed to expand their skills and knowledge by observing a more advanced person do a particular task. This theory is relevant for childrens learning at school. With regard to the zone of proximal development, teachers in preschool need to understand that children cannot understand some things on their own. However, they can learn a lot through guidance by their teachers. Children can expand their skills by observing a more advanced person. At school, the more advanced person is the teacher who is greatly knowled geable. Children in preschool should therefore be exposed to learning through observation. The theory is equally relevant to childrens learning at home. The children need to observe what their parents are doing in order to increase their knowledge. The parents are the more advanced people at home and should therefore allow their children to learn more by simply observing their actions (John-Steiner Mahn, 2015). Banduras social learning theory argues that the process of learning is cognitive in nature and it takes place in a social context. He further adds that learning takes place through direct instruction or observation, and not necessarily through direct reinforcement. Learning also takes place through observing rewards and punishments (Bandura, 1986). This theory is relevant to childrens learning at home. In order for a child to learn at home, his/her parents, elder siblings and caregivers should ensure that the children are given more direct instructions to a particular task. They can also allow the children to engage in observation. The parents, elder siblings and caregivers should also use rewards and punishments to ensure that a child masters a particular task. This theory is also relevant to childrens learning at school. Teachers at school should also give direct instruction to the children and allow them to observe how a particular task is carried out. The teachers should also mak e use of rewards and punishments depending on how the learner masters the task. If he/she does the task well, the teacher should reward the child (Bandura, 2012). However, if the child does the task wrongly, the teacher should mete out punishment to the child. In conclusion, children with learning difficulties are considered as children with special needs. Parents and teachers, who interact more with these children have a task to help children with learning difficulties. It can be challenging helping these children but it is important. The teachers and parents can do the following; writing key points on a white board, highlighting important information and planning daily routines of these children. References Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice Hall, Inc. Bandura, A. (2012). Social learning through imitation. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1992). Ecological systems theory. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Finlay, W. Lyons, E. (2000). Social categorizations, social comparisons and stigma: Presentations of self in people with learning difficulties. British Journal of Social Psychology. Goodley, D. (2001). Learning difficulties, the social model of disability and impairment: challenging epistemologies. Disability and society. John-Stein, V., Mahn, H. (2015). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework. Educational Psychologist. Kozulin, A. (2013). Vygotskys educational theory in cultural context. Cambridge University Press. Riddell, S., Brown, S., Duffield, J. (2014). Parental power and special educational needs: the case of specific learning difficulties. British Educational Research Journal.

Pythagorean Theorem Essays - Triangles, Triangle Geometry

Pythagorean Theorem The Pythagorean Theorem is a geometrical expression used often in math and physics. It used to 2 2 2 find the unknown side of a right triangle. The exponential form of this theorem a + b = c . That is the equation you use when you are looking for the unknown side of a right triangle, and it is what I'll demonstrate on the attached exhibit. The upside down capital L in the bottom of the left hand corner indicates that sides A & B are the legs of the triangle. Since we know side A = 5 inches and B = 3 inches we may fill that in to 2 2 2 or equation for step one. (1) 5 + 3 = c What the theorem will help us find is the c side of this triangle. 2. 25 + 9 = c All we do is distribute 5 to the second power and 3 to the second power as seen is step two. Next, we add these two numbers together to get 34, 25+9=34, in step three. 3. 25+9=34 Then, in step four we find the square root of 34. 4. 34 In step five we see that 5.83 is the unknown side of the right triangle. 5. c= 5.83 We found this answer by using the Pythagorean Theorem as taught in geometrical form. This theorem may also be summed up by saying that the area of the square on the hypotenuse, or opposite side of the right angle, of a right triangle is equal to sum of the areas of the squared on the legs. The Pythagorean Theorem was a studied by many people and groups. One of those people being Euclid. Sometimes the Pythagorean Theorem is also referred to as the 47th Problem of Euclid. It is called this because it is included by Euclid in a book of numbered geometric problems. In the problem Euclid studied he would always use 3, 4, and 5 as the sides of the right triangle. He did this because 5 x 5 = 3 x 3 + 4 x 4. The angle opposite the side of the legs was the right angle, it had a length of 5. The 3:4:5 in the right triangle was known as a Pythagorean triple or a three digits that could be put in a right triangle successfully. These three numbers were also whole numbers and were used in the Egyptian string trick, which I will talk about later. This Pythagorean triple, 3:4:5, are the smallest integer series to have been formed, and the only consecutive numbers in that group that is important. These numbers can be, and often were, studied from a philosophical stand point. The symbolic meanings of the 3:4:5 triple told by modern writers such as Manly P. Hall say 3 stands for spirit, 4 stands for matter, and 5 stands for man. Using Hall's study the symbolism of this arrangement is as follows: "Matter" (4) lays upon the plane of Earth and "Spirit" (3) reaches up to the Heaven and they are connected by "Man" (5) who takes in both qualities. A process similar to that of Euclid's 47th Problem was the Egyptian string trick. Egyptians were said to have invented the word geometry (geo = earth, metry = measuring.) The Egyptians used the 3:4:5 right triangle to create right triangles when measuring there fields after the Nile floods washed out there old boundary markers. The Egyptians used the same theory of Euclid, 5 x 5 = 3 x 3 + 4 x 4, to get there boundaries marked correctly. Although Euclid and the Ancient Egyptians studied the theorem, the true inventor of it ( or the person most people believed invented it first ) was Pythagoras of Samos and his group the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras was a man born in 580 B.C. on the island of Samos, in the Aegean Sea. It is said Pythagoras was a man that spent his life traveling the world in search of wisdom. This search for wisdom led him to settle in Corona, a Greek colony in southern Italy, in about 530 B.C. Here Pythagoras gained famous status for his group known as the Brotherhood of Pythagoreans. This group devoted there lives to the study of mathematics. The group, as led by Pythagoras, could be described as almost cult-like because that it had symbols, rituals, and prayers. The group was also cult-like because of there odd ways of not writing down any of

Bowling Industry Information Technology essays

Bowling Industry Information Technology essays There are two main systems in place in most bowling centers. Included are the point of sale system, and the lane interface system. These systems complete many tasks in the bowling center. First we will describe the point of sale and back office system, and then we will explain the AMF Advantage lane interface system. Touchbowl 2.0 is AMFs point of sale and back office software. In front of the house operations it makes transactions with customers, suppliers, and it is a time clock. Touchbowl utilizes touch screen technology to provide quicker service. Typical bowling centers have three touchbowl nodes, which are point of sale systems. They are dispersed at the front desk, snack bar, and in the lounge. These POS terminals send information to the back office computer through a network. The back office computer reports this information. The information is categorized in various ways, it shows different items sold, how many of an item at what price, supplier payouts, and it calculates payroll. The back office computer is also used as a marketing tool with the AMF Playbook program. It has marketing information and usable flyers and artwork. The AMF Advantage is the computer that turns the lanes on, keeps league bowler information, reports the information, and it controls the AMF Accuscore automatic scoring system. It is a necessary part of operating the business. Upon turning on a lane, the operator must distinguish a rate category for the games that are being bowled. The Advantage counts every ball that is rolled and then it puts those games in whatever category the operator chose. For example, 8 games were bowled in rate category 2 which is 3.75 per game. The Advantage also does league bookkeeping. All of the scores from the Accuscorers are sent to the Advantage and then the Advantage generates many different statistics and reports for leagues and league bowlers. One of the important reports that it ge...

Spreading the Good Friday Message

Spreading the Good Friday Message Christmas may be at the top of the festival chart, but Easter also ranks high among the favorites. But before the happy Easter celebrations, Christians observe Lent, a forty-day period of penance and fasting. The Friday that comes before Easter is Good Friday. Good Friday has religious significance since it is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. Good Friday is regarded as a day of mourning among Christians. Special church service is held on Good Friday. The Friday Before Easter Unlike Christmas, which falls on December 25 every year, there is no fixed date for Easter. This is because Easter is based on the lunar calendar. Hence, Easter typically occurs somewhere between March 22 and April  25. After much research and calculations, religious scholars concluded that Jesus crucifixion took place on a Friday. The estimated year of Jesus crucifixion is 33 CE. Good Friday is also referred to as Black Friday, Holy Friday, and Great Friday. The Story of Good Friday The famous Bible story begins with Judas Iscariots betrayal of Jesus. Despite being one of Christs disciples, Judas betrayed Christ. Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Although Pilate could not find any evidence against Jesus, he gave in to the crowds clamor to crucify Christ. Christ was flogged, made to wear a crown of thorns, and eventually crucified alongside two common criminals. The story goes that when Christ finally gave up his spirit there was an earthquake. This happened on Friday, which later came to be known as Good Friday. Jesuss followers later placed his body in a tomb just before sunset. However, the wondrous tale does not end here. On the third day, which is now known as Easter, Jesus rose from the grave. As an American author, Susan Coolidge put it, Earths saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart! This is why most Easter quotes brim over with happiness. A famous quote by Carl Knudsen goes, The story of Easter is the story of Gods wonderful window of divine surprise. The Promise of Easter The tale of Good Friday is incomplete without the optimism of Easter. Christs death by crucifixion is closely followed by his resurrection. Similarly, the promise of eternal life follows the despair of death. 20th century English Christian leader and Anglican cleric John Stott once proclaimed, We live and die; Christ died and lived! In these words lies the promise of Easter. The gloom of death is replaced with unsullied joy, an optimism that shines through in these words of St. Augustine, And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here. If you seek a deeper understanding of Christianity, this collection of Easter quotes and sayings may be insightful. Sacrifice and Triumph Christs death on the cross is regarded as the supreme sacrifice. The crucifixion and the following resurrection are widely regarded as the triumph of good over evil. Augustus William Hare, writer, historian and reverend, expressed his beliefs beautifully in the following lines, The cross was two pieces of dead wood; and a helpless, unresisting Man was nailed to it; yet it was mightier than the world, and triumphed, and will ever triumph over it. Good Friday Traditions The prevailing mood on Good Friday is that of repentance, not celebration. Churches remain undecorated on this Friday of the Holy Week. Church bells do not ring. Some churches cover the altar with black cloth as a sign of mourning. On Good Friday, pilgrims to Jerusalem follow the path Jesus walked carrying his cross. The pilgrims stop at the twelve stations of the cross, as a reminder of Jesus sufferings and death. Similar walks are observed around the world, especially among Roman Catholics who undertake the walk in a bid to atone for Jesuss agonies. Special services are held in many churches. Some organize dramatic renderings of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ. The Relevance of Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday Children often look forward to eating hot cross buns on Good Friday. Hot cross buns are so-called because of the pastry cross that runs across them. The cross reminds Christians of the cross on which Jesus died. In addition to eating hot cross buns, families often clean their homes on Good Friday to prepare for the big celebration on Easter Sunday. The Good Friday Message Among other things, Good Friday is a reminder of the compassion and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you believe in religion, Good Friday tells us a tale of hope. The Bible upholds the teachings of Jesus words of wisdom that are valid even after two thousand years. Jesus spoke of love, forgiveness, and truth, and not of violence, fanaticism, or revenge. He eschewed ritual for spirituality, urging his followers to tread the path of goodness. Regardless of whether Good Friday is near or far, we all stand to gain from these Jesus Christ quotes. Spread the Good Friday message of compassion and love through these quotes. John 3:16God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Augustus William HareThe cross was two pieces of dead wood; and a helpless, unresisting Man was nailed to it; yet it was mightier than the world, and triumphed, and will ever triumph over it. Robert G. Trache Good Friday is the mirror held up by Jesus so that we can see ourselves in all our stark reality, and then it turns us to that cross and to his eyes and we hear these words, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Thats us! Theodore Ledyard CuylerExalt the Cross! God has hung the destiny of the race upon it. Other things we may do in the realm of ethics, and on the lines of philanthropic reforms; but our main duty converges into setting that one glorious beacon of salvation, Calvarys Cross, before the gaze of every immortal soul. William PennSo shall we join the disciples of our Lord, keeping faith in Him in spite of the crucifixion, and making ready, by our loyalty to Him in the days of His darkness, for the time when we shall enter into His triumph in No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. Robert G. Trache There is no faith in Jesus without understanding that on the cross we see into the heart of God and find it filled with mercy for the sinner whoever he or she may be. Bill HybelsGod led Jesus to a cross, not a crown, and yet that cross ultimately proved to be the gateway to freedom and forgiveness for every sinner in the world. T. S. EliotThe dripping blood our only drink,The bloody flesh our only food:In spite of which we like to thinkThat we are sound, substantial flesh and bloodAgain, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.

Critical Incident Analysis Definition, Models and Frameworks Essay

Critical Incident Analysis Definition, Models and Frameworks - Essay Example In doing critical incident analysis, several models have been offered. Models serve as frameworks that will guide the person in analysing the event. It is the paradigm in which the event is made understandable. In other words, model is the lens that people use as they try to understand and make sense of their experiences of the world. As mentioned, the event acts as the precipitator of the analysis. However, the reflection in critical incident is not just a reflection of one’s self per se. It is deemed as reflection of one’s self in the context of one’s work. It is a purposive looking into the event and after the event in order to arrive at the possible things that can be learned from the critical incident. In this regard, the ethos behind undertaking analysis/reflection of the critical incident is to arrive at knowledge that can be gleaned from what had happened. This is made possible because reflection becomes an â€Å"active, persistent and careful considerat ion of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it". For this paper, Gibbs Model (1988) has been chosen because it affords a step-by-step approach in doing reflection. It is holistic as encompass all the essential elements in the incident – the critical incident, the person, the things learned and the action. Lastly, the model allows for a continuous re-evaluation of the incident and as such, the model makes room for filtering and    re-assessment of the events and the actions undertaken.... In this regard, the ethos behind undertaking analysis/reflection of the critical incident is to arrive at knowledge that can be gleaned from what had happened. This is made possible because reflection becomes an â€Å"active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it and the further consequences to which it leads† (Dewey 1933, p. 9). The Choice: Gibb’s Model For this paper, Gibbs Model (1988) has been chosen because it affords a step-by-step approach in doing reflection. It is holistic as encompass all the essential elements in the incident – the critical incident, the person, the things learned and the action. Lastly, the model allows for a continuous re-evaluation of the incident and as such, the model makes room for filtering and re-assessment of the events and the actions undertaken. Description: What Happened? The patient was considered in critical condition because of the patient ’s suicidal tendency. As a plan of action, the patient was given a one-on-one CNA to protect the patient from self-harm. However, despite the ‘guarding’, the patient was able to commit suicide. Feelings: What did you feel? I felt fear, anguish and worry all coming together trying to find the answer, how could it happen? It was numbing. I felt and knew that when the tasks is to care for the patient, a care that is developed and built on knowledge, technical skills and ability to perform one’s duty to the utmost of your ability, something like that do not happen. However, why it happened? I felt terrible during that incident because the patient was able to commit suicide when the major care plan was to watch the

Proctor and Gamble. Should Proctor & Gamble expand into the Chinese Research Paper

Proctor and Gamble. Should Proctor & Gamble expand into the Chinese market How should they expand and what problems could they face - Research Paper Example Over the years, Proctor and Gamble has grown and continued to expand in terms of the subsidiaries that the company has. Further the profits of the company have been increasing over time and this has the company ranked severally on the Fortune Magazine’s list of the Most Admired Companies Worldwide. The structure of the company is in such a manner that there are global benefits in more than 180 countries where the brands of Proctor and Gamble are sold. The global network that Proctor and Gamble has managed to establish over the years works to their advantage in the sense that in the event that the company wants to expand, it becomes less challenging having built a name for itself worldwide. When considering expanding to China there are some factors that Proctor and Gamble may want to put into perspective. The first and most obvious factor is the competition that the company is likely to face from companies such as Johnsons and Johnsons and Unilever (Cunningham, 1981). It is important to remember that China is one of the fastest growing economies the world over and expanding to such an economy would be an opportunity for the company to amass massive income and high profits. Even though a company like Johnsons and Johnsons which offers similar products as Proctor and Gamble has already established itself in China, Proctor and Gamble still has a chance to enter into the Chinese market and become one of the most successful companies worldwide in the provision of consumer products. Proctor actually did manage to enter the Chinese market and despite the fierce competition it has constantly faced from its rival companies such as Unilever and Johnson and Johnsons, Proctor and Gamble has managed to create a niche for itself not only in the Chinese market but the in all other parts of the world where her brands are sold. This discussion will thus consider the various options for a entering a new market and Proctor and Gamble may have considered and the one they

Zero Tolerance Policing and New York Quality Essay Example for Free

Zero Tolerance Policing and New York Quality Essay Another understanding of zero tolerance policing posits that the law enforcement officers, will ignore minor offenders and cases of social disorder and concentrate on quality of life or the sub criminal activities such as public urinating, public drinking, begging, vagrancy and vandalism. Often behind this understanding is the theory of crime: broken windows theory, published by George Kelling and James Wilson (1982). In such a theory a broken window is representative of disorderly behavior and minor cases of criminal acts among the community. Usually if such a window is not repaired the message is that there is lack of control in the community and another window is likely to be broken. Under such a theory there is bound to be an increase in activity against minor offenders without any prior offenders (Marshall 1999). A classic example is the New York scenario where the zero tolerance policing possessed salient and easily distinguishable characteristics. Key among these characteristics is the unique crime control strategies that ensured that policing efforts were concentrated on drugs, guns, auto theft, traffic offenses, domestic violence, youth crime, and quality of life crimes. Over a period of two years, decentralized policing ensured that detectives and beat officers were assigned predetermined categories in the crime control strategies. Additionally, timely, accurate and reliable intelligence data identified cases where the potential of risk was more predominant. Emphasis on the quality of life crimes ensured that incidences of graffiti, public littering and cases of public drinking were reduced (Marshall 1999). Persons suspected of being involved in relatively minor crimes were also targeted through misdemeanor arrests. The result was an emulative success story where crime significantly reduced. However, despite these successes, there are concerns that security agents are using aggression and ruthlessness when dealing with comparatively low level criminal activity. Moreover, over emphasis and reliance on quantitative statistical data as a presentation of success can lead to manipulation of such data to suit the objectives of the policy makers. Even if such figures of crime reduction were genuine, zero tolerance policing emphasizes on short term law enforcement strategies such as arrests, conviction and imprisonment while neglecting long term strategies which involve cooperation with the communities, improving education, health care and planning. Because it is basically a quick fix strategy it fails to address the clearly understood causes of crime (Marshall 1999). Problem Oriented Policing Problem oriented policing focuses on clear identification and analysis of problems with respect to the conditions that exist in the local circumstances. It is a novel policing strategy that aims at ensuring that the police effectively deal with criminal problems that have been brought to the fore by the public (Leigh et al 2004).

Ernest Hemingway Essay -- essays research papers

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois July 21, 1899. Hemingway is known to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He has written more than one hundred short fiction stories, many of them to be well known around the world. Some of these short stories had just as powerful an impact as his novels. As a young man, Hemingway left from his hometown to Europe, where he worked for the Red Cross during World War I. His time spent there inspired him to write some of his most famous novels. Most of which spoke of the horrors of the war (Benson xi). Hemingway's short stories, "Soldier's Home" and "Another Country" are used to show the damaging psychological and physical effects of World War I.Hemingway knew first hand the horrors of war. In May of 1918, Hemingway became an honorary second lieutenant in the Red Cross, but could not join the army because he had a defective left eye. Hemingway first went to Paris, and soon after receiving new orders he traveled to Milan, Italy. The day he arrived, an ammunition factory exploded and he had to carry mutilated bodies and body parts to a makeshift morgue. This was definitely a most terrifying moment for the young Hemingway. After being seriously injured weeks later, Hemingway found himself recovering at a hospital in Milan. After his stay at the American Hospital in Milan, Hemingway was relieved of duty (Mitran 1). Having no other purpose in Europe, he returned unhappily to Oak Park, Illinois. The impression left on Hemingway by his stay in Italy had changed him profoundly. He never really returned to America as an America(Meyer 115). When Hemingway returned home from Italy in January of 1919 he found Oak Park dull compared to the adventures of war, the beauty of foreign lands, and the romance of an older woman. He was only nineteen but the war had matured him beyond his years. He was now living with his parents who didn't really appreciate what he had been through. His parents where concerned about his future and wanted him to get a job, and further his education. Hemingway could not find anything he would be interested in. Hemingway often exaggerated his war stories to satisfy his audience. This frustrating period of his life was used to create the short story called, "Soldier's Home" (Meyer 115).Hemingway's story "Soldier's Home" con... .... Hemingway's short stories, "Soldier's Home" and "Another Country" are used to show the damaging psychological and physical effects of World War I. Hemingway is able to explain these affects of war to his readers most effectively. This is because of his firsthand experience in his involvement in World War I. He had been exposed to the horrors of war himself. In the story "Soldier's Home" a man who represents Hemingway comes home from World War I much to late. No one appreciated what he had done for his country and was forever psychologically damaged. He came home as a totally different person and now couldn't lead a normal life. He didn't have the will to work or obtain an education. The American soldier's in "Another Country" where forever damaged by the war. Each of these men couldn't even leave Europe because of their injuries. These men can never return home and pick up from where they left off. Their injuries will hold them all back from doing the things they love most. One mans injuries held him back from being with his sick wife back at home. These two short stories are perfect examples of how war can change a man's life forever.

Generally, there are 3 basic principles/processes of project quality management: Essay

Planning for quality involves identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to fulfill those standards. Integrating quality standards into project design is a core portion of quality planning. For an IT project, quality standards include enabling system growth, planning a considerable response time, or making sure that the system produces accurate and consistent information. The core outputs of quality planning are a quality management plan, quality metrics, quality checklists, a process improvement plan, and project document updates. Performing quality assurance Performing quality assurance includes periodical evaluation of the whole project performance to make sure that the project will meet the desired quality standards. The process involves assuming roles of quality in the entire project life cycle. Senior management must take the lead in emphasizing the roles all employees play in quality assurance. The core outputs of this process are organizational process asset, project management, project document, and change requests updates (Kathy, 2008). 1. 1. 1 Performing quality control Performing quality control involves monitoring specific project results to make sure that they adhere to the desired quality requirements while identifying methods to enhance ultimate quality. This process is mostly linked to the technical techniques and tools of quality management, such as quality control charts, statistical sampling, and Pareto charts. The main outputs of quality control include quality control measurements, validated deliverables, change requests, validated changes, organizational process asset updates, project management plan, and project document updates (Kathy, 2008). This research seeks to: Incorporate the best practices in project quality management with quality leadership/ team work within a quality focused company, Evaluate the significance of project quality management for IT products and services, Understand the techniques and tools for quality control, and  Describe how leadership model relate to enhancing quality in information technology projects. 2. 0 Review of Literature In his book on quality control, Juran (2002) stressed the significance of top management commitment to continuous product quality improvement. In 2000, Juran published the fifth edition of his famous book. In both texts, Juran developed and built upon a trilogy involving quality improvement, quality control, and quality planning. Juran emphasized the difference between the manufacturer’s view of quality and the client’s view. He observed that manufacturer’s focused on adherence to requirements, but client’s focused on fitness for use. In this book, Juran developed 10 stages to quality improvement. These include; building awareness of the need and chance for improvement, set goals for improvements, organize to reach the goals, provide training, carry out projects to solve problems, report progress, give recognition, communicate results, keep ratings, and maintain momentum by establishing yearly improvement part of the regular systems and processes of the economy. Crosby (1979) wrote Quality Is Free and is best known for suggesting that firms struggle for zero defects. He stressed that the costs of low quality must include all costs of not doing the work right the first time, such as rework, scrap, wasted man hours and machine hours, customer ill will and wasted sales, and warranty costs. Crosby proposed that the cost of low quality is so misappropriated that firms can profitably spend unlimited amounts of money on enhancing quality. Like Juran, Crosby developed 14 stages for quality improvement; these include making it clear that management is committed to quality, organizing quality control teams with representatives from each section, establishing where current and potential quality problems lie, evaluating the cost of quality and explaining its use as a management tool, raising the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees, take actions to correct problems identified through previous steps, establishing a committee for the zero defects program, training supervisors to actively carry out their part of the quality improvement program, holding a-zero defects day-to allow all employees realize that there has been a change, encouraging individuals to establish improvement goals for themselves and their teams, encouraging employees to communicate to management the barriers they face in achieving their improvement goals, reorganizing and appreciating those who participate, establishing quality councils to communicate on a regular basis, and reworking to emphasize that the quality improvement program never ends. Crosby (1979) initiated the Quality Management Process Maturity Grid. Such a grid can be applied to a firm’s attitude toward product usability. For instance, the initial level in the grid is ignorance, where employees might think they do not have any difficulties with usability. The last level is wisdom, where employees have changed their attitude so that usability defect prevention is a routine part of their activities. Ishikawa (1976) developed the concept of quality circles and pioneered the utilization of cause-and-effect graphics. Ishikawa made notable contributions to quality management, the most important being Ishikawa’s total quality perspective, organization quality control and emphasizes to human based quality, the quality diagram, and the creation and use of his 7 basic quality tools. The tools are: Pareto analysis, stratification, cause and effect diagrams, check sheets, scatter charts, histograms, and process control charts. Ishikawa believed these 7 tools must be known in depth, if not by all, in a firm and used to evaluate problems and create enhancements. Used effectively the tools form a powerful quality kit. Genichi (1998) believed it is good to develop product that is stout and or insensitive to manufacturing process variation, rather than trying to control all variations during manufacturing. To practice this idea, he embarked on the already developed knowledge on design and made it more practical and usable for quality experts. Genichi’s idea was mainly about the routine maximization of process and product prior to actual processing rather than quality control through inspection. Reliability and quality are ensured at the designing stage. Genichi went on to break off-line quality into 3 core levels. These levels include; system design, tolerance design, and parameter design. Foster (2004) identified leadership as being core to the quality improvement process, assuming minimal difference between management and leadership. The role is of a facilitator, and the foundation is-managing by walking, allowing the leader to be in touch with clients, people, and innovation, the three primary sections in the expedition of excellence. Foster believes that, as the leader walks, three main operations are occurring: listening, facilitating, and listening; suggesting caring, able to provide instant help, and transmission of values respectively. Foster, having analyzed key American firms concluded that any smart concept to organizing had to take into account 7 variables, a framework that was designed to include both the software and hardware of a firm.

Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity Essay

With more than six billion people in this world, with a huge variety of human shapes, colors and sizes can race really be defined? As people spread across the world. Mixing among each other creating new kinds of faces there is no true race. But people such as Hitler believed that the Aryans where the superior race responsible got the cultural achievements in Europe and that they has to stop â€Å"racial contamination† that would come from breeding with inferior races by destroying them. Which caused the slaughtering of those deemed inferior: Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, slaves, and people with disabilities. It didn’t stop here, you’d think the world would try to make a difference but as Hitler era was fading, the â€Å"ethnic cleansing† by Serbs in Bosnia, the mass killings of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 were and are stilling taking place years after Hitler. What these people failed to see is that there is no â€Å"pure race†. People show such a mixture of physical characteristics ? in skin color, hair textures, body shapes, eye color, height, weight and so on that there can not be a â€Å"pure race†. Our characteristics follow endlessly together, the mapping of genome system shows that were strikingly homogenous. Although large groups of people can be classified by blood type and gene frequencies they still cannot be classified as a race. The idea of a race in far from a myth, its embedded in our culture, it is part of our everyday lives. Sociologist D. S. Thomas observed that if people define situations as real, they’re real in their consequences in other words, people define situations as real, they’re real in their consequences in other words, people act on beliefs, not facts. As a result to that we will always have people like Hitler who feel that killing people that they believe is inferior is perfectly fine.Incidents such as the above still happen in today’s world but they are hidden from the public eye, what isn’t hidden and does continue toady seems as if no one is trying to make a difference is prejudice and discrimination, a war that will never stop. Prejudice can be defined as a prejudging of some sort, discrimination on the other hand can be defined as an action, and unfair treatment directed against someone on basis of their age, sex, height, origin, marital status, education, income, religion, etc, but when its due to race we usually call it racism. Why are people prejudices? The common sense answer is that people may have had a negative experience with a member of the other group. But Psychologists such as Eugene Hartley (1946) made studies showing that its more than just an old incident, his studies showed that prejudice against all other groups as well. Social scientists have developed several theories to explain prejudice; there are two types of theories, Scapegoat, and the Authoritarian Personality. People who are unable to release there stress to the source usually tend to release it on other people and they tend to find someone to blame their mishaps on and this usually becomes their scapegoat, often a racial, ethnic, or religious minority that they unfairly blame for their troubles. The other theory is The Authoritarian Personality Theodor Adorno’s term for people who are prejudice and rank high on scales of conformity, intolerance, insecurity, respect for authority, and submissive to superiors. Sociologists find these theories to be inadequate, they stress that the key to find prejudice is from the outside not form within. Sociologists focus on how some environments foster prejudice, while other discourages it. Sociologists have a few theories; Hitler used Functionalism, he hired Fritz Hippler, a Nazi intellectual was put in charge of the entire German film industry and he was told to create anti-Semitist, and he did by producing movies that compared Jews to rates, that their breeding would contaminate their â€Å"pure breed†. You can see that prejudice is functional and it creates in-group solidarity, and destroys human relationships. Conflict Theory- a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups competing for scarce resource. Symbolic interactionism examines how people’s labels affect perception and create prejudice. When we apply a label to a group we tend to see its members as all alike, this leads to stereotyping and discrimination and may even create a depicted behavior. Symbolic interaction shows that were not born to a â€Å"race†, and ethic group where we lean beliefs, values; we learn to perceive them negatively or positively. If discrimination is common in our groups, we learn to practice it commonly. Discrimination is like a learned skill if you practice it enough you won’t even realize you using it. William Julius Wilson, a sociologist, argues that social class has become important that race is determine the life chances of African Americans. Prior to the Civil War African Americans were excluded from everything that could help you advance in life and become wealthy. As African Americans moved out of the inner cities, as legislators began opening doors for African Americans, as a result they were able to get better paying jobs, live a middle-class life, but those who were left behind in the inner cities they were trapped in poverty. I believe that people choose their way of life, yes it is true that things may be harder for an African American or a Latino person, but things are hard for everyone in their own individual ways. I do believe that in today’s world things aren’t based on race in some places yes but as from what I see I believe its based on your social class, who you are, who you know, where you work, and how much money you have, that’s what I believe matters in today’s society. Although sociologists like Charles Willie, states that even African Americans do the same work as whites, whites average higher pay than African American, he argues that it racial discrimination not social discrimination. He states that we need to provide more jobs for the people in the inner cities; with more jobs there’s more hope in inner cities and an anchor to a responsible life. But being richer for an African American is still a problem because certain people start assuming things for example an African American person driving a new car a cop tends to find reason to pull them over, just to make sure the car isn’t stolen. Both sociologists have a strong point of view, but I also do have my own view in prejudice and discrimination. In today’s society minority groups have a better chance to achieve their goals, for example everyone can attend the same college, travel the country, eat in the same place and even be best friends with someone of a different ethnicity, while this is taken for granted I honestly think it’s a beautiful thing. Prejudice and discrimination is a war that will be fought through out ones life regardless, of their race, color, size, height or social status. As we flash back we see that discrimination has always been around in all different forms. We, as the human race need to focus on not judging people before we know them for who they are. Today, there are so many type of people in the world that stereotyping are always incorrect. If everyone in the world had respect for one another we would live in peace and be able to let others believe in what they wish and except everyone’s differences. If we teach our children and change our ways, sometime in our future we will be closer to accepting that a man’s character is based upon content of his soul, not his color, ethnicity, or their religion.

North Carolina essays

North Carolina essays North Carolina has an area of 136,420 sq miles and is the 29th largest state in the U.S. The capital is Raleigh. The state bird is the cardinal, and their flower is the dogwood. Their Governor is James B. Hunt, Jr. They have a Democratic Government. The state tree is the pine tree. The largest city in North Carolina is Charlotte. The states population in 1997 was established at 7,425,000. The states motto is Esse Quam Videri which means To be rather than to seem. The states personal income is $148.3 billion and ranks in 13th place. Several indian tribes include the Algonquians, Sioux, and Iroquois. They all inhabited the area before the Europeans arrived. The coast was explored by G. da Verrazzano in 1524, and the first English settlement in the New World was established at Roanoke Island in 1585. It formed part of the Carolina Grant of 1663. A provincial congress in April 1776 gave the first explicit sanction of indepence by an American colony, and it was invaded by British troops in 1780. An original state of the Union, it was the 12th to ratify the Constitution. Its 18th century agriculture economy based on slave labor continued into the 19th century. It seceded from the Union in 1861; in 1865, following the American Civil War, it annulled the secession order and abolished slavery, and it was readmitted to the Union in 1868. In the 1940s its economy was improved as some of the nations largest military installations, including Fort Bragg were located there. After World War II the long struggle to eliminate racial segregation began. It has a large rural population but is also the leading industrial state of its region, and has an expanding high technology industry in the Raleigh-Durham area. Products include tobacco, corn, and furniture. ...

How to Map Content to Your Marketing Funnel to Boost Conversions

How to Map Content to Your Marketing Funnel to Boost Conversions Here’s the problem: You’ve created an excellent website, but no one is buying. Or maybe you’ve written an awesome blog post, and it hasn’t done anything to drive conversions. You review your marketing funnel and realize the content you’ve created focuses on one section of your funnel and leaves out the others. This creates a gap that your prospects can â€Å"leak† out from and cause you to miss potential revenue. Whats the solution? Mapping out content ideas on your editorial calendar, and aligning them with each stage of the funnel. This way, you can present potential customers with the right message, at the right time, to encourage more purchases. At , we saw this in action when we used the following framework to help us create an email drip campaign that increased our conversions by 69.77%. In this post, we’ll walk you through exactly what a marketing funnel is and how to map your content to your funnel. We’ll also walk you how to develop messaging and show you how to choose best types of content to deliver those messages at each stage in the funnel. How to Map Content to the Marketing Funnel and Boost Conversions By 69.77% via @Download Your Marketing Funnel Content Mapping Template This easy-to-use spreadsheet will help you sort the content you’ve already created and assign it to stages in your funnel. Plus, you’ll also easily be able to see where the gaps in your content are so you can map new content to prevent those leaks. This content, in turn, will guide your audience all the way through the funnel. Before we launch into how to map out your marketing funnel, there are a few terms you should keep in mind. Marketing Funnel: The journey that customers take from being completely unaware of a brand to purchasing their products. Content Mapping:  A process where you decide what content is most appropriate for a person at a given time. TOFU/MOFU/BOFU: Each of these acronyms refers to the parts of the funnel. The top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Discovery:  Your customers are just beginning to understand what your brand is about. They are experiencing some pain point in their life, and they aren’t sure how to fix it. Consideration:  They are now aware that there are solutions to the problem they are facing and that your brand offers one. What they don’t know is that your brand provides the best solution to their problems. Purchase:  They know about your solution and think you are the best option, but they need one last little shove over the line to buy your product.What exactly does the marketing funnel look like, anyway?Why Is Understanding The Marketing Funnel Important? Understanding how your customers flow through your marketing funnel is essential to make sure that it does its job. Here’s an infographic that gives you a little more information. Why is it important to understand how the marketing funnel works?The fact of the matter is that people don't move through the funnel in a linear process. So, you'll need to have content that reaches your audience at whatever stage they're at. 5 Marketing Funnel Examples Marketing funnels can come in all shapes and sizes. They will change a bit based on the company that created them, so here are six examples to look at. The Marketing Funnel The funnel is built in five stages and looks like this: Moz Marketing Funnel Moz’s  marketing funnel looks like this. Single Grain Marketing Funnel The Single Grain marketing funnel  looks a little like the Moz funnel, but it breaks down into three parts instead of four. Crazy Egg Sales Funnel The Crazy Egg sales funnel  looks a little different than all the other marketing funnels. In this example, theirs is mapped out based on the pages they’ve created to address customer needs at each stage of the funnel. Where the other examples are more theoretical, this one shows how a website might be structured to move customers down the funnel. Neil Patel’s Conversion Funnel Neil Patel’s conversion funnel  resembles more of a bow-tie and looks like this. If you want to learn more about different sales funnels and how they work check out this video from a CMWorld talk by Andrew Davis. Determine Who Your Target Audience Is Before you dive into your funnel, you need to  define your audience persona. Why is knowing your target audience so important? Because if you don’t know who you’re talking to,  you can’t craft the right messages  that will help them move through your funnel. So what is an audience persona,  and how can you create one? An audience persona is: A document that details your target audience’s who, what, when, where, and why. It also includes general demographic information such as gender, job title, job function, business size, team size, needs, pain points, and challenges. To build  your marketing persona, you need to be able to answer the following questions: What pain points are your potential customers experiencing? Where do they live and work? What gender are they? What hobbies do they enjoy? You can gather that information by sending a survey through social media or email. You can create a survey  using services like Survey Monkey  or Poll Daddy.  Once you have your data collected format your information into an audience persona statement.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"[INSERT YOUR BRAND] creates content to help and inform [INSERT DEMOGRAPHIC] so they can [INSERT ACTION] better.† Recommended Reading: How To Find Your Target Audience With A Marketing Persona How To Map Content To Your Marketing Funnel The marketing funnel goes by many names, but the core of each one is still the same. At , our marketing funnel looks like this: How much content should marketers create at each stage of the funnel?Now, you usually would want a customer to flow through the marketing funnel from top to bottom. However, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes your customers can enter in at a different point of the funnel besides the top. If you don’t have content throughout the funnel that helps guide your customers to the bottom, they will most likely get frustrated and leave. So how can you ensure that there is content in each phase of your funnel? You can do this by mapping out each phase and assigning content to it. As we’ve mentioned,  there are three phases to the marketing funnel. At ,  we’ve broken each of down into  different subcategories, too. Here’s what our stages look like. Discovery In the Discovery phase of your marketing funnel, your customers know  absolutely nothing about your brand. The end goal of this phase is to have people learn more about your company. Your content should slowly guide your customers to the conclusion that while they can solve their problem themselves, your product will make it easier. Some recommended content types for this phase of the marketing funnel are: Blog posts Podcasts Infographics Social media posts Videos Microsites Guides Before you decide what  types of content that you’re going to create for this phase of the funnel,  you need to determine the messages you’ll send. Unaware Phase The unaware phase is the very top part of your marketing funnel. At ,  we define this phase as: These prospects haven't identified a pain or a solution. They may have stumbled across a link to our blog or website within a piece they were reading, met us at an event, or saw an industry ad. Another possibility is that something we published piqued their curiosity. You can use this definition or you can come up with your own. After you have your definition set, record it in your template: The message that needs to be delivered to your audience in this phase of the funnel should be about solving a problem or answering a question they might research. They’re reading your content for a reason. That problem may or may not be directly solvable by your product, but it should be something that your target audience cares about. In this phase, you’re trying to  get their attention and  show  them they can trust you. Define the message you want your content to send in the unaware section and record it in your template: If you’ve already written marketing content, how do you know if it falls into the unaware category? Ask yourself these two questions: Does this content relate broadly to your audience’s interests  (not just your product)? Does this address a potential pain point? If the answer to both is yes, you can categorize it as top of the funnel/ unaware content. The last section of your template that needs to be filled in is the example section and the expectations that your unaware content needs to meet: RExamples of Unaware Content From The Blog: How to Write a Powerful Case Study Fast With 35 Examples Red Bull Marketing Strategy: What You Need to Know (And How to Copy It) Pain Aware Phase The next phase of this process is the pain aware phase. This is where your customer realizes there is a problem that needs to be fixed. We define this stage as: These prospects feel pain of some kind, but don't know of a solution. They have identified an issue/challenge with their existing process, and are actively looking for information to help them fix it. Add your definition to your template. The message you need to deliver in this  phase is: You can identify the problem and you will teach them how to fix it. The difference between the pain aware stage and the unaware stage is that the problem you are looking to solve for your reader directly ties into your product. To identify if your previously written content fits the pain aware stage, ask yourself the following: Are you addressing a specific problem that your product solves? Are you teaching them how to solve this problem? If the answer is yes, you can file that content under pain aware. Add in the expectations your pain aware content needs to meet as well as any examples that you may have. Examples of Pain Aware Content From The Blog: How to Increase Marketing Efficiency With Content Workflows How To Build The Best Social Media Promotion Schedule For Your Content Solution Aware Phase The solution aware phase of your marketing funnel is when your potential customer realizes that there are products out there that may help solve their problem. The definition we use at is: These prospects feel a specific pain and just discovered there are solutions for it. They have hit the point of frustration where they actively seek solutions to help. They know tools are designed to help them solve the problem. Use ’s definition or create your own and add it to your template. The message that needs to be delivered for this phase should be targeted toward  showing your customer that there are solutions that solve their problem  (including your product). They could take care of the problem by themselves by implementing your advice. However, your product will make it even easier. Decide what message you want to send during the solution aware phase of your content and record it in your template. Now, if you’re trying to categorize solution aware content for your funnel, here are the questions to ask: Are you addressing your product category directly? Are you showing customers what to look for in the solution they’re searching for? Are you positioning your product against others? If you answered yes to those questions, you can fill that piece of content under the solution aware category. Identify the expectations that your solution aware content needs to meet as well as examples of solution aware content that you’ve already created. Examples of Solution Aware Content From The Blog: How To Plan A Marketing Calendar That Actually Works The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year Consideration Once your potential customers are out of the discovery phase of your funnel, they move on to the consideration phase. At this point, they are aware of your organization and are actively thinking about purchasing your product. Now you need to convince them that your product is the best one out there. Some recommended content types for this phase of your funnel are: Case studies Trials Demos Product video Product Aware Phase In the product aware phase of your marketing funnel, your customer is finally aware that your product is the solution that they’ve been looking for. At we define this phase as: These prospects are learning our product is a solution to the pain. They may be trialing and comparing different tools to ultimately choose the best one that will solve their pain. Decide on your definition and record it in your template. The message that needs to be delivered to your potential customers at this point in the funnel is that while other products could solve their problem, yours is the best option. Based on that information, decide what kind of message you need to deliver with your product aware content and record it in your template. If you are trying to decide if your existing content fits into this format, ask yourself the following: Are you directly positioning your product as the best solution to their problem? Are you showing them how your product works? Are you emphasizing what makes your product stand out? The last step for your product aware phase is deciding what expectations your product aware content needs to meet and examples of product aware content you’ve created. Examples of Product Aware Content From The Blog: What Is The Best Social Media Scheduling Tool On The Market? How to Overcome Makeshift Marketing: The Buyer's Guide Purchase The last phase of your marketing funnel is the purchase phase. At this point, your customer should be ready to convert to buying your product. They may just need that extra push to get there. Some recommended content types to create at this stage of the funnel are: Sales page Webinars Customer stories Pricing pages Testimonials Reviews Most Aware Phase This is the final subcategory of your marketing funnel. At this point, your customers are the most aware of your product and are ready to purchase. We define this phase as: These prospects are learning that our product is the best solution to the pain. They love our product in comparison to the other tools available to solve the pain and are looking for options to purchase. They are deciding which plan fits them best and how it works in their budget. Define what most aware phase means for your marketing team and record it in your template. The message that your audience needs to hear at this point is reaffirming their decision to trust your product and possibly see how others in their position have loved their choice. Using that information, highlight what message your most aware content needs to send to your audience. If you’re trying to decide if the content you’ve already written fits this phase, answer the following questions: Are you providing them with in-depth info about how your product works? Are you explaining your different pricing options or product lines? Do you include testimonials from other customers about your product? Finally,  identify the expectations your most aware content needs to meet and include examples of most aware content you’ve already created. Examples of Most Aware Content From The Blog: How To Pitch Using To Organize Your Marketing To Your Boss From Spreadsheets to : How to Make the Transition Successfully Using Your Marketing Funnel Template To Map Content Now that you know what makes up your marketing funnel,  you can move on to the very last piece:  filling in the content gaps in your funnel. Using your template,  fill in the content name, the URL (if applicable), the publish date,  and the stage in the funnel your content is in. Use the questions listed earlier in this post to determine which phase of the funnel your content belongs in. Once you have everything sorted, you may have your funnel stages listed out of order like this: You can sort your content by stages in the funnel by selecting column A on your spreadsheet. Click Data and then sort: Select â€Å"Continue with the current selection†: Make sure that you sort by column A: Click OK  and you should be good to go: Now you can track your content this way, or you can make it even easier and track, organize,  and publish your content with . Our marketing calendar has several organization features that will help you map your content to the funnel. Recommended Reading: Marketing Calendar By : A Centralized View For All Your Marketing Efforts Using Tags and Color Labels to Label Content and Funnel Stages in Tags in   can help you sort and label your content quickly and easily. To use them, select the piece of content on your calendar and click Tag in the upper left-hand corner: Type in the tag name and you’re good to go. You can also use the filter in your calendar to sort by tags. Choose the funnel in the upper left-hand corner, scroll down to Tags and select the tag you want to sort by: You can also sort and organize content using Color Labels. Color labels allow you to assign specific color codes to your content and sort your content types according to what color they are. To use them, go to the settings portion of your calendar and scroll down to Color Labels. Each color code will need its own label. The best part is that with Custom Color Labels, you can always create more: Once you have your labels built, go back to your primary calendar and select or create a piece of content. In your content, you’ll see a little white circle. Your color labels will appear, and you can select which one fits the content best: You can sort your calendar by Color Labels as well by going back up to your funnel and scrolling down to Labels. Go Create Awesome Content For Any Phase In The Funnel Now you know how your marketing funnel should work and how to solve the gaps in your funnel with content that helps increase conversions. Work with your entire marketing team to brainstorm what’s next and constantly adjust your material based on what’s working for your customers and what isn’t. Then, when you’re ready to get into the planning and execution phase of your content,  start a free trial  or schedule a demo  with . See how our marketing calendar can help you get and stay organized as well as sort all your content by marketing funnel stages. Do you have a different funnel that is creating success for your marketing team? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Capital Punishment should be abolish Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Capital Punishment should be abolish - Essay Example Capital punishment is exercised on mentally ill individuals, it also causes emotional suffering for their families and is applied without taking into consideration the convict's case and situation. Thus, death penalty should be abolished. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) says: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 5)." So how can we explain that each year death penalty is performed throughout the world not observing the individual human rights Moreover, "Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (Article 6)." Does capital punishment treat offenders as human beings Rather not, I reckon. Instead, the state chooses to punish the villain citizen by killing him. One of the incontrovertible arguments against the capital punishment is that criminals are also real, human beings like us, who have their lives and families. Many of the serial killers have deep psychological problems and instead of being killed should be put into mental institutions and asylums. We have to wisely consider how we will look at criminals, especially murderers - as evil or sick. This is another very important issue and it seems that society hardly ever reacts reasonably on this.

Sustainable Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sustainable Design - Essay Example It is first remarkable that, as Yeang, p. 413, 2007, puts it concisely - "Nature regards humans as one of its many species. What differentiates humans is their capability to inflict devastating changes on the environment".3 One of the major human activities that hugely and adversely affect the environment is the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy for other down line human activities. It is now notable that fossil fuels, even in the first parts of the 21st century, still remain the major energy source. Thus, it stands to good reason that any project that can run on low energy consumption is a profitable one. This is in two senses - firstly, with low consumption of fossil fuels low emission of harmful gases is possible and, secondly, the low consumption of fossil fuels enables energy planners to buy more time to develop alternate sources for future consumption when it is believed that all fossil fuels on Earth will be completely exhausted. This paper, thus, is concerned entirely with one such human project - human architectural activity - that is being designed to consume low energy and produce low emissions. This is what is currently being defined as sustainable architecture. The first part the paper discusses sustainability, its definition and global perceptions and the second part is a critical review about a sustainable development in London, called BedZED, as a successful example, its analysis and evaluation of its various environmentally friendly features. Ecodesign: Yeang4 defines ecodesign, which may be taken as sustainable design in this case, as a built environment that is fully integrated within its natural environment. It is taken here that the concerned 'built environment' is the sustainable architecture that this paper is in search of. Yeang (2007), furthermore, severely cautions against misconceptions that technology alone can provide sustainable architecture. He states that simply putting a set of technologies commonly acknowledged as green such as solar arrays, photovoltaic, biological recycling systems, building automation systems and double-skin facades into a building can merit the term ecodesign. Also, if a high mark in a green-rating system can hardly be construed as satisfactory reason to call the built environment sustainable architecture(Yeang, 2007). Instead, Yeang (2007) implies that ecodesign, or sustainable architecture, can only be operational when the entire building interacts with its natural environment in such a manne r that all its inputs and outputs sustain the ecosystem within which it is built without upsetting its delicate balance of secure survival. In this sense Yeang (2007) believes that not only the building but all its associated activities, such as transportation, for example, must be integrated into its ecosystem where he implies

United States Federal Tax Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

United States Federal Tax Law - Assignment Example United States Federal Tax Law On January 3, 2009, Kathy and Frank Willow got married and entered into a contract with Hive Construction Corporation to build a house for $3,000,000 to be used as their main home. On November 10, 2010, when the outstanding principal balance on the mortgage loan was $2,500,000, the FMV of the property fell to $1,750,000 and Kathy and Frank abandoned the property by permanently moving out. They had made interest payments of $130,000 in 2009 and 2010 and paid $50,000 of principal in each year of those years (2009 and 2010) to bring the mortgage balance from $2,600,000 to $2,500,000 just before the date of abandonment. The lender foreclosed on the property and, on December 5, 2010, sold the property to another buyer for $1,750,000. More than one year after the foreclosure, and after heated negotiations, the couple convinced Outside Lender to cancel the remaining debt. So, on December 26, 2011, the lender canceled the remaining debt owing. Kathy and Frank are filing a joint return for 2011. On December 26 2011, Kathy and Frank had $15,000 in a savings account, household furnishings with an FMV of $17,000, a car with an FMV of $10,000, and $18,000 in credit card debt. The household furnishings originally cost $30,000. The car had been fully paid off (so there was no related outstanding debt) and was originally purchased for $16,000. Kathy and Frank had no adjustments to the cost basis of the car. Kathy and Frank had no other assets. ... Kathy and Frank had no other assets or liabilities at that time, except for the Disputed Amount that remains in dispute. (a) What are the tax consequences to Kathy and Frank, if any, for each year? It should be noted that foreclosure occurred before Kathy and Frank cancelled their debt; therefore, they are liable to gain or loss from the foreclosure. Since they maintained personal liability for the $ 750,000 of the remaining debt, then they were liable to cancellation. Additionally, the insolvency exclusion cannot apply in the Kathy and Frank case since their indebtedness did not qualify for the principal residence (Lyon 64). However, the same could have only applied if their insolvency could have been excluded instead of the indebtedness. Additionally, it should be considered that the remaining part of the debt just before the cancellation did not qualify as principal residence indebtedness since only part of the loan could qualify as the principal indebtedness. Therefore, Kathy and Frank must have ordered for the cancellation. (b) Same as (a) except Hive Construction Corporation financed the purchase of the house for Kathy and Frank and Hive Corporation agreed to reduce the debt to 1,750,000 on December 26 2011 and Kathy and Frank continue to live in the houseand there was no foreclosure in 2010? To this extent, Kathy and Frank do not have the right to elect insolvency exclusion as could be in the case of principle residence exclusion. However, they are liable to apply for the insolvency exclusion to $500,000 for the nonqualified debts since such debt is never qualified as principal residence indebtedness. Kathy and Frank have no tax attribute up to the year 2010 other than the use of basic

Literature Review On Defining Employee Engagement

Literature Review On Defining Employee Engagement The purpose of this review is to present the definitions of engagement found in the literature and list the drivers of engagement that have been identified by many authors. The Sunday Times 100 Best companies to Work For surveys eight engagement factors will also be explained in detail along with their link to engagement. Subsequently, authors views on the factors that turned out to be more sensitive for Addleshaw Goddard will be reported along with authors recommendations on how to leverage them in order to boost employee engagement. Introduction In the midst of economic crisis and with its unavoidable negative effect on employee morale and motivation, it is important that organisations take steps to maintain, if not increase, employee engagement [IDS report, April 2009, Vol. 892, pp2] Most studies conducted around the topic shows its link to company performance and sustainability, as Bates et al. claimed that employee engagement predicts employee outcome, organisational success and financial performance [Bates, 2004; Baumruk, 2004; Harter et al, 2002; Richman, 2006]. Lockwood [2007], in her report pointed out that it is a key business driver for organisational success and that high levels of engagement in firms promote retention of talent, foster customer loyalty and improve organisational performance and stakeholder value. The importance of engagement is that it has an effect of what people do and how they behave in their jobs and what makes them act in ways that further both, the organisational objectives and their personal goals. Defining Employee Engagement Employee engagement is growing as a concept within the business world due to evidence and research that points out that an engaged workforce performs better and hence creates a strong employer brand [Leigh and Roper, 2009]. This promotes organisations as good employers hence recruiting and retaining key talent becomes less problematic, as evident from the IDS report [2009], where they state, effective employer branding captures the essence of an organisation and sells it to the labour market and employees. A strong employer brand embraces an organisations vision, values and working culture. [IDS Report, April 2009] On the subject of engagement, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) says that Employee Engagement, or passion for work, involves employees feeling positive about their job, as well as being prepared to go the extra mile [CIPD, 2010]. Macey et al. [2008] argues that engagement has been used to refer to a psychological state (e.g., involvement, commitment, attachment), performance (e.g., either effort or observable behaviour), character (e.g., positive affect), or a combination of the above. For example, Wellins and Concelman [2005] suggested that engagement is an amalgamation of commitment, loyalty, productivity and ownership. It is personified by the passion and energy employees have to give to the organisation. It is all about the willingness and ability of the employees to give constant discretionary effort to help their organisation succeed [Cook, 2008]. Furthermore, Towers Perrin Talent Report [2003] which is a study that tracks views and attitudes of employees to understand the elements of the work experience that drive attraction, retention and engagement has defined engagement as a factor that involves both emotional and rational factors relating to work and overall work experience, where the emotional factors are linked to peoples personal satisfaction and the sense of inspiration and affirmation they get from their work and from being part of their organisation. Engagement can be seen as a combination of commitment to the organisation and its values plus a willingness to help out and support colleagues (i.e. team work) Improvements in engagement can be made in many areas and the key concepts are trust, listening, flexible working and the avoidance of the long hour culture. However, this is not in itself a new concept, and highlighting this, Rankin [2008] refers to engagement as: embracing the older concepts of job satisfaction, motivation and attachment that describes individual employees attitudes to their employer, but goes beyond them to provide a complete model of the psychological relationship between individuals and organisations. Rankin [2008] This suggests that employee engagement is inextricably linked to the Psychological, or unwritten contract which exists and concerns discretionary effort, having many positive effects. For example Leigh and Roper [2010] highlighted that psychological contract is a subjective behaviour where employers and employees have their own perception of what is expected of each other. Hence, it is obvious that engagement is something that employees have to offer and that it is impossible to require engagement as part of the employment contract. It is rather an emotional link to the organisation, its purpose and its people. When an organisation delivers on its commitments (when by their actions they fulfil employees expectations), this reinforces employees sense of fairness and trust in the organisation and generates a positive psychological contract between employers and employee. There are many reported examples of employers who have executed strategies to improve employee engagement through business transformation, which in turn improved employee morale, retention and ultimately business performance. Rankin [2008] suggests that management are more likely to embrace initiatives to drive employee engagement, rather than simple retention strategies, owing to the extra benefits of such strategies, such as improved business performance, profitability, focus on customer service and organisational efficiency, of which retention is a positive by-product. What are the Key Levers of Employee Engagement? Defining engagement is crucial but the real value is in determining what creates engagement. Therefore, where studies have been conducted on engagement, there has also be reports on the key enablers of engagement. There is a range of opinions on what the key drivers or enablers are, for example the findings of the UK Governments MacLeod Review into employee engagement have underlined the critical role played by an engaged workforce [MacLeod and Clarke 2009] in both organisational success and individual well-being. As an example, ibid. [2009] suggested in their study that Leadership, Employee Voice, Engaging Managers and Integrity were strong levers in engaging workforce. In other words, without these factors, organisations would have disengaged staff which would lead to poor performance. Furthermore, Lockwood [2007] also underlines that engagement is influenced by many factors, from workplace culture, organisational communication and managerial styles to trust and respect, leadership and company reputation. For todays different generations, access to training and career opportunities, work-life balance and empowerment to make decisions have also become imperative. According to Towers Perrin report [2003] the factors that drive engagement are a combination of Macleod et al. [2008] and Lockwoods [2007] study such as, (a) Senior managements interest in employees well-being (b) Challenging work, (c) Decision-making authority (d) Career-development opportunities (e) The companys reputation as a good employer (f) Collaborative work environment and (g) Clear vision from senior management about future success, to name a few.  [1]   There is no definitive list of engagement drivers. However, CIPDs [2010] research into employee attitudes found that the main drivers of employee engagement were communication and leadership, along with pay and benefits, learning and development, line management and work-life balance as key factors of measuring employee attitudes which can determine how engaged a workforce is. An alternative model of engagement comes from the burnout literature, which describes job engagement as the positive contrast of burnout, underlining that burnout involves the erosion of engagement with ones job [Maslach et al 2001]. According to Maslach et al, six areas of work-life lead to engagement: workload, control, rewards and recognition, community and social support, perceived fairness and values. They argue that job engagement is associated with a sustainable workload, feelings of choice and control, appropriate recognition and reward, a supportive work community, fairness and justice, and meaningful and valued work. Like burnout, engagement is expected to intercede the link between these six work-life factors and various work outcomes. May et als [2004] findings support Maslach et als [2001] notion of meaningful and valued work being associated with engagement, and therefore it is important to consider the concept of meaning. The development of survey tools and questionnaires such as Gallups Q12  [2]  and The Best Company Survey allow levels of engagement within an organisation to be measured. Most of the studies mentioned above have some common theme. Similarly, while Purcell et al [2003] found a number of factors to be strongly associated with high levels of employee engagement, the one thing all of these factors had in common was that they were connected with an employees involvement in a practice related to their work. The Best Companies Survey has also done their share of research linking it to some of the existing researches and categorised the measurements of engagement into eight factors as mentioned earlier in Chapter 1. Critics of Employee Engagement Even though Employee Engagement has become such a commonly used term within the organisational scene, as it is seen as a lever for business success [Wiley, 2010] some studies have shown that organisations fail to understand the true meaning of engagement as quoted by Macey et al.[2008] numerous definitions of engagement can be derived from practice and research driven literatures but the literal meaning is still not clear among practitioners and academics [Macey and Schneider, 2008: pp4] An example of this could be seen from the study Cunningham et al. [1996] did on Empowerment. After the 1990s when empowerment was introduced in the business world, there was a hype about it for years where organisations wanted to Empower their people, without considering the true meaning of the word. While empowerment only represented the most recent manifestation of employee involvement practice [Cunnigham et al., 1996: pp143]. Also argued by Wilkinson [1997] that the term empowerment when first introduced was very loosely used [Wilkinson, 1998: p40]. Likewise, engagement is seen and known widely as beneficial for organisations yet engagement in the UK is said to be critically low as employers are said to be barking up the wrong tree, as Holmes [2010] reports on personnel today. Also as witnessed in Wileys [2010] report he found that UK engagement results lag behind compared to the global results. This is mainly because of the lack of understanding the term as a whole. Hence the concept of employee engagement could be viewed as being faddish and might fade away in a few years when another concept is introduced in the business world. Employee Involvement versus Employee Participation According to CIPD [2010X]: Employee involvement is a range of processes designed to engage the support, understanding and optimum contribution of all employees in an organisation and their commitment to its objectives. Whereas. Employee participation is defined as a process of employee involvement designed to provide employees with the opportunity to influence and where appropriate, take part in decision making on matters which affect them. Farnham [1997] defines Employee Participation as one of four choices for managing the employment relationship. Cited in Rose [2008, p335] Farnham states: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦an employee has the right to question and influence organization decision makingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. this may involve representative workplace democracy. The other policy choices Farnham identifies are worker subordination via managerial prerogative, union incorporation via collective bargaining and employee commitment via employee involvement. It is clear then that there are differences between employee participation and employee involvement. The literature suggests that employee participation is a pluralist/collective approach with a range for employees from no involvement to full control [Blyton Turnbull, 1998]. Hence, it may involve processes and mechanisms such as: Collective bargaining Employee share schemes Works councils Worker directors Joint Consultative Committees European Works Councils Whereas, Employee involvement, is more of an individualistic and unitarist approach which aims to harness commitment to organisational objectives. Defining Leadership Leadership is about the ability to influence people by personal attributes and behaviours [CIPD, 2010a]. Leaders need to act out and communicate organisational values otherwise this endangers trust in organisations leading to poor performance. Hence, the Best Company measures how people feel about the head of the organisation, the senior management team, and organisational values. Rayner and Adam-Smith [2007] have pointed out that leaders are key players in devising and implementing organisational strategies. And high level of engagement depends in the way employees are led and managed, as quoted by Armstrong [2009]: degree to which jobs encourage engagement and positive discretionary behaviour depends upon the ways in which job holders are led and managed on any formal process of job design. [Armstrong, 2009:140] There is considerable evidence from prior research that perceptions of managerial processes impact on engagement [Wildermuth and Pauken, 2008]. Evidence suggests that employees level of engagement and other work responses are affected by their perceptions of management or leadership style. For example, opportunities for upward feedback increase engagement through greater participation, which, in turn, relates to better understanding of broader organisational issues as well as personal involvement [Robinson et al 2004]. 3.4.1 Role of leaders in engagement In Macleods engagement report [2009] he stressed that leadership provides a strong strategic narrative which has widespread ownership and commitment from managers and employees at all levels. However, it has been proven through Hays Group research findings [2010] that 56 per cent of leaders were disengaging the staff that they led; and only 26 per cent of the leaders achieved in creating an engaging environment that encouraged high performance. In order for employees to be engaged, it is crucial that leaders themselves be engaged; they need to work and succeed in both their core and non-core job roles [reference] Management from the top to the bottom of the organisation should be committed leaders and key role of the immediate line manager/supervisor is recognised as one of the most important channel to achieving effective employee engagement. Leadership plays a vital role in influencing levels of employee engagement. Goal clarity and direction are identified as factors that can influence an employees level of engagement [Rayner and Adam-Smith, 2007]. Staff perform well when they are clear about their goals and objectives, and know how to go about achieving them, an example could be Latham and Lockes Goal-Setting Theory [1979] where they suggest that by establishing goals individuals are motivated to take action to achieve those goals. As a result, employees tend to be motivated and committed to it. Hence, communication of clear goals and direction from the leader becomes crucial. Leaders also help employees develop personal accountability for their goals and help achieve them. Setting performance expectations and instilling personal responsibility among employees are critical for getting results. The biggest challenges which leaders face is how to effectively motivate, initiate change, and sustain improved performance amo ng employees i.e. Employee engagement has emerged as a critical leadership challenge [Molinari and Weiss, 2005]. Leaders should provide challenging work with opportunities for career growth. Good leaders challenge employees but at the same time they should create confidence that the challenges can be met [Seijts and Crim, 2006]. 3.4.2 Dealing with Professionals/Leaders reluctance from leaders to learn As mentioned above, leaders play a vital role in communicating the firms strategy, values and culture. Leadership style and support are also said to be crucial for encouraging employee engagement. Years of occupational health psychology research have revealed that a transformational leadership style is effective for this task [Barling, 2007], where leaders lead to positive changes in those who follow. However, Leadership development proves to be a big challenge for HR professionals. HR professionals continue to wrestle with understanding the best ways to retain talent and develop leaders for future succession planning. Increasingly recognised as becoming strategic business partners within their organizations, HR professionals are expected to provide the essential frameworks, processes, tools, and points of view needed for the selection and development of future leaders. Across the globe leadership development has been identified as a critical strategic initiative in ensuring that the right employees are retained, that the culture of the organization supports performance from within to gain market position, and that managers are equipped to take on leadership roles of the future so that the organisation is feasible in the long term. Even though they play such an important role in engagement and instilling HR policies, research has shown that senior managers can be a challenge and be reluctant to their responsibilities as HR mediators. As Pech [2009] quoted in his research that what may be good for the organisation may not be perceived to be quite as good to the organisations senior managers. Research in Europe emphasises the negative impact these defensive managerial behaviours have on organisations and performance in general. The Towers Perrin consulting groups survey showed that 42 percent of employees felt that their senior managers dont have a sincere interest in their well-being and another 37 per cent believed that their senior managers fail to lead by example in demonstrating company values [Towers Perrin Report, 2004]. My Manager Engaged managers are at the heart of this organisational culture as Macleod [2009] said: they facilitate and empower rather than control or restrict their staff; they treat their staff with appreciation and respect and show commitment to developing, increasing and rewarding the capabilities of those they manage. Role of Managers in engagement As Lowe [1992, cited in Blyton and Turnbull:148], highlighted that a consistent theme of the HRM literature is about the responsibility given to line managers for the management of the human resource. While Poole [1990] emphasises that HRM involves all managerial personnel especially general managers. All the studies on motivation and retention of talent identify the critical role of line managers and the quality of the relationship with the boss as a key factor. According to Gallup Management Journal study, line-managers play a critical role in employees well-being and engagement. Macleod [2010] also points out that having able managers is critical as engaged managers lead to an engaged workforce [Macleod, 2010] as there is a positive impact on managers treating people as individuals. Managers are critical of the quality of management training they receive from their company. Senior management need to have a sincere interest in employees well being [Towers and Perrin, 2006] whereas line managers play the vital roles in terms of employee engagement as they are responsible for the most of the front line employees and the day-to-day activities [Cook, 2008]. Line managers are also responsible for bringing reward policies to life, organisational commitment and job satisfaction [Purcell, CIPD, 2007]. The line manager clearly has a very important role in fostering employees sense of involvement and value [Robinson et al. 2004]. Employee engagement is seen as a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss [Seijts and Crim, 2006]. One of the biggest challenges for HR is to support line managers in their role of managing and developing people. A majority of line managers seem to be failing in many or most of the basic elements of good management including providing regular feedback or offering to help improve individuals employment [CIPD, 2010]. Importance of Internal Communication True Communication builds a bridge between two people or within a group via which real understanding and contact occur. [Leary-Joyce 2004:pp53]. Internal communication is known as the most obvious method of generating and maintaining engaged employees. Punjaisri et al. [2008], in his research identified that employees mentioned training and internal communications as the major methods of internal branding. The authors also quoted: although training and internal communication can help employees to fulfil brand promise, the strength of their relationship with the brand is predominantly down to employee attitude. The discovered that brand identification, commitment and loyalty were all partial indicators between internal communication and employee brand performance. [ibid., 2008] Whenever there has been research on engagement, communication has always been a big part of it. It has been long-established that communicating with employees effectively is important in making them feel valued and this is particularly the case in the current economic climate when staff may feel more uncertain and require some additional reassurance [IDS, April 2009]. It is also said to be a mechnism for enabling every aspect of a great company culture [Leary-joyce, 2004] What is Employee Voice? The concept of employee voice focuses on opportunities for employees to be involved in decisions collectively, whether through trade unions or by other means. Gradually this process of two-way communication became known as employee voice. It appeals both to those seeking greater business efficiency and to those looking for employee rights. CIPD research suggests that organisations that seek to promote voice are those that believe that employees want to contribute to the business and that for employees to have an effective voice, the important part of the communication process is not what the employer puts out but what it gets back. Good managers recognise that much of the knowledge required for businesses to be competitive is actually in employees heads. Voice is defined most typically in terms of two-way communications, an exchange of information between managers and employees or having a say about what goes on in the organisation. However, there are differences in interpretation. Some managers see voice as enabling all employees to represent their views to managers, and for those views to be taken into account. Other managers take the more limited view that voice is not so much a dialogue or two-way exchange of ideas as a mechanism for employees to transmit ideas to managers in order to improve organisational performance. Mechanisms for employee voice There is a range of different and often complementary mechanisms for employee voice. The CIPD research referred to above put them into two broad categories: upward problem-solving and representative participation. Upward problem-solving which refers to any technique that managers use to tap into employee ideas and opinions, either through two-way communications channels or through specific systems that are set up for employees to express their voiceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the structures are management-initiated and operate directly between managers and employees rather than through employee representatives. Techniques include Electronic media, Two-way communications, Suggestion schemes, Attitude surveys, etc. Representative participation refers to schemes under which employee representatives meet managers on a regular basis in the case of scheduled committees, or through more ad hoc arrangements. The essential characteristicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is that participation is not direct between individual employees and their managers but is mediated through representatives. Partnership schemes, Joint consultation, Collective representation are known as a few techniques All these mechanisms are formal. But informal mechanisms in effect, simply having a word about a problem to a manager who listens and takes action if necessary can be a very effective form of voice. Informal mechanisms may be relatively more important in smaller organisations where fewer formal structures are needed. 2.5.3.1 Two-way communications IDS Report, [2009] has highlighted the fact that while it is important to keep employees well-informed, an organisation seeking to engage employees should also encourage upward communication. For example, carrying out surveys or holding discussion groups as a way of encouraging employees to provide feedback which would involve employees in a dialogue with the company. The very act of carrying out research on engagement within the organisation can be engaging particularly where employees are directly involved in discussions. [IDS, Apr 2009] Encouraging people to have their say and this emphasised as a core value of the organisation that management at all levels must be prepared to listen and respond to any contributions their people make. Employee involvement and participation are (EIP) are regarded by Marchington and Wilkinson [2008] as a key feature of high-commitment HRM. Excellent leadership and management are built of effective communication and is a source of creativity and innovation. 2.5.4 Trust Important determinants for achieving trust are demonstrations of managerial passion for the work and managerial concern for employee welfare, hiring the right employees in the first instance, and then providing them with a sense of control over their lives. Employees will ask for trust and a sense of control in order to be engaged in their work [Pech 2009] (See Figure 2). Managerial passion for the work Employee sense of trust and control = Employee Engagement Managerial concern for employee welfare Effective recruitment Source: Pech, J. [2009] Fig. 2 Determinants for establishing and sustaining employee engagement Well-Being In the Best company survey well-being is used to measure stress, pressure, the balance between work and home life and the impact of these factors on personal health and performance. It has been reported that employee engagement is more likely to be sustainable when employee well-being is also high [Robertson and Cooper, 2009]. CIPD Flexible working perceived flexibility and supportive work-life policies were related to greater employee engagement and longer than expected retention. [Richman, et al., 2008] Guest[1987], in his model of flexibility, underlined that the three components of flexibility are: (a) related to the organisational design, (b) job design and (c) employee attitudes and motivations. [cited in Legge, 2005]. Flexible work practices have been viewed by employees as valuable workplace tools to facilitate work-life management. Employees report that workplace flexibility influences decisions to join an employer, satisfaction with their jobs, and plans to stay with their employers. Recently, some employers have come to recognise that workplace flexibility positively influences valued business outcomes such as attracting, motivating, and retaining key talent in competitive labour markets, increasing employee satisfaction and engagement, as well as improving efficiency and effectiveness. However, although several studies have examined the role of organizational characteristics and work experiences as antecedents of engagement and retention [Burud Tumolo, 2004; Gibbons, 2006; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, Topolnytsky, 2002], few have investigated the influence of workplace flexibility in particular. Work Life Balance Employee-focused initiatives such as implementing work-life balance initiatives are important in order to connect with employees [Seijts and Crim, 2006]. Employers seek to promote work-life balance by introducing policies that fall within three broad categories: flexible working, including reduced and compressed hours; time off and special leave; and staff support, such as employee well-being programmes and childcare provision [IDS, April 2009]. The mere existence of work-life policies and is associated with positive outcomes for the individual and the organisation. Employees who worked for organisations that had family-friendly policies in place, had higher levels of commitment towards the organisation and lower intentions to leave [Richman et al. 2008] Organisations are better able to portray an image of being a caring employer if they show an obligation and importance to work-life balance. Work-life balance initiatives should seek to improve employees working lives together with their personal lives to the mutual benefit of both employees and employers. Employees should have greater flexibility to pursue their interests outside work and to fulfil any caring responsibilities at home. In the workplace, they are likely to be more in control of their workload and, as a result, feel a greater sense of well-being. In turn, employers may benefit from greater employee engagement. [IDS, Apr 2009] Stress at work Stress has been moving steadily up the workplace agenda in recent years. Any stress can reduce employee well-being and excessive or sustained work pressure can lead to stress [CIPD, 2010]. Hence, it is important to develop a culture that encourages positive attitudes to work, reducing stress and promoting interest and excitement in their jobs (role of top and line managers and leaders). Also communication, involvement, work-life balance are key feature of high-commitment HRM [Marchington and Wilkinson 2008]. Personal Growth Learning is a satisfying and rewarding experience that makes a significant contribution to intrinsic motivation. Alderfer [1972] as cited in Armstrong [2008] emphasised the importance of giving employees the opportunity to grow and develop as it is said to be a motivating factor that directly impacts on engagement when it is an intrinsic element of the work [Armstrong, 2008]. IDS report points out that designing roles that are challenging and giving employees varied responsibilities can help make work more intrinsically engaging [IDS, 2009]. 3.7.1 Career Progression Providing clear and transparent career paths can be vital to engaging em