Analysis of the Use of Tag Questions Essay Example for Free

Analysis of the Use of Tag Questions Essay Tag questions are those fragments at the end of a sentence when a person is asking to be affirmed. Instead of a statement being declarative or imperative, the use of the interrogative fragment at the end of the sentence reformulates the statement into a tag question (Akmajian 2001). Examples of variations of tag questions include â€Å"†¦, will you? †, â€Å"†¦, isn’t it? †, â€Å"†¦, okay? †, and â€Å"†¦, right? † Use of these interrogative fragments at the end of sentences are often referred to as leading questions, in that the questioner is desiring the answerer to verify what one is saying is true. In studying the use of tag questions among random groups of people of varying occupations and genders, it is interesting to note the ways in which certain tag questions are used in a wide range of settings. Men and women differ in their use of particular tag questions, as do people who are more or less familiar with one another (Lakoff, 1973). People from different cultures also use tag questions in various ways, placing emphasis on different word choices in various settings (Moore Podesva, 2009). This study aims to describe the ways in which tag questions are used in various populations and to make an assessment of the most widely used tag questions. In narrowing down the tag questions being studied, it is assumed that â€Å"okay† and â€Å"right† are the most commonly used tag questions. â€Å"Okay† is a tag question which is more open-ended and allows for the answerer to have more leeway in answering negatively. â€Å"Right† is a tag questions which is more close-ended and places more pressure on the answerer to answer affirmatively. In beginning to study linguistic patterns and collect data, it is hypothesized that the most often used tag question will be the use of the tag â€Å"okay†, with â€Å"right† being used more often by males than females. Methodology In studying the linguistic patterns of people in speech and writing, data was collected about the speakers and contextual situations, including the tag question being used, the gender of the questioner, the gender of the answerer, the familiarity of questioner and answerer, and the channel of communication. There were various situations in which the use of tag questions was identified, including discussions between men, women, elderly, adults, children, spouses, coworkers, friends, and strangers, and in informal settings, formal settings, stores, workplaces, face to face, telephone, and electronic messaging. Each noted tag question was recorded in a small notebook, collecting data on the diverse amounts of tag questions being used in a wide range of natural settings. By paying attention to nearby conversations and online messages, one is able to gather a significant amount of information about linguistic patterns, including the prominence and level of occurrence of various tag questions. It is important for linguistic researchers to be good listeners and to make careful observations of the situations they are attempting to describe. The moment in which a tag question is utilized comes very suddenly, and the good linguist has one’s ears perked for these significant moments and is able to take a virtual snapshot of the scene, including and emphasizing the use of language. In this study, 50 different random occurrences of the use of tag questions in society were collected, with significant identifiers and situational circumstances being recorded.

Significance Of Recruitment And Selection Business Essay

Significance Of Recruitment And Selection Business Essay Recruitment and selection process in an organization is important in order to attract an effective workforce. This is important because it would determine the business success and would affect the whole organization operation. One of the most valuable assets in an organization is the employees. Recruitment is defined as the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers, and with appropriate qualifications, and encouraging them to apply for jobs with an organization (Mondy Noe, 2008). There are two main stages of recruitment. Firstly, strategic planning is needed to define the objectives and goals of the organization. Next, human resource planning is needed to identify the whether there are surplus or shortage of workers or just enough workers to achieve the organizational goals. The objective of recruitment is to attain the number and quality of employees that can be chosen to help the organisation achieve its objectives and goals. It also helps to create a pool of potential employees for the organisation in order for the management to select the right applicant for the right job. Selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants the individual best suited for a particular position and organization (Mondy Noe, 2008). The vital goal of selection is to hire the candidate who is most suitable for the job duties and the culture of the organization. Using the right selection methods and delivering them effectively is important. Human resource managers can determine effective selection tools with the job when job analysis is carefully done.( Neil Kokemuller) Proper selection of candidates can reduce the cost of training because qualified candidate can perform well and achieve organizational goals. Selection can also reduce employee problems in the organization such as labour turnover and absenteeism. 2. Content Since recruitment and selection cost are significant, there are some alternatives to solve shortage of employees. The alternatives to recruitment are outsourcing, contingent workers, professional employer organization and overtime. Outsourcing is when the organization uses an external company to perform task and function of the organisation. Contingent workers are also known as temporary workers, part-time workers and just-in-time workers. When there is not enough full-time employees to complete some task, using contingent workers is a good choice. Professional employer organisation is companies that lease out their employees to organisations for a certain period. Overtime is when employees work for extra hours to deal with a large workload that is temporary. This way organisations save money on recruiting, selecting and training new employees. 2.1 Recruiting methods Recruitment source is the place where qualified individuals are found (Mondy Noe, 2008). Recruitment method is defined as the ways in which potential employees are attracted to an organisation (Kleynhans, 2006). Internal recruiting methods are employee database, employee referrals, job posting and job bidding. Employee database is able to show the organisation whether current employees have the required qualifications for filling the vacancies. Furthermore, an employee referral is when employees mention someone who is capable and suitable for the job opening to the recruiter. Job posting is a procedure of letting employees know there is a job vacancy whereas job bidding is a procedure that employees who believe that they possess the required qualifications to apply for the vacant position. There are several external recruiting methods. The methods commonly used are media advertising, job fairs, internships and employee agencies. Media advertising is a popular method. The organisation can put up its employment needs through various advertising means such as newspaper, internet, radio and television. Other than that, job fair is a recruiting method used by employers to attract large number of applicants to one location for interviews. Internship is where students are hired by an employer for a period of time into professional or technical position that relates to their area of study and prepare them for the workforce (Internship Definition, 2008). Employee agencies are organisation that aids to recruit employees and also help individuals to find for jobs. 2.2 Selection process The first step of selection process is preliminary interview. This step is to eliminate obviously unqualified candidates. The HR manager can conduct this step via telephone, video or virtual job interview. Telephone interview is commonly used as it saves time. The next step in selection process is review of applications and r à ©sumà ©. Evaluation of the applications of employment is done by the employer to determine whether the applicant is suitable for the position. Subsequently, the organization will administer some test such as work sample, job knowledge, psychomotor abilities test, vocational interest, and personality. Work sample test is used to test the ability of an individual to perform task that represent the job itself. Job knowledge test are used to test the applicants knowledge on duties of the job applied. Psychomotor abilities test assess the strength, coordination and agility of the applicant. Vocational interest test are used to test ones satisfaction or interest on the occupation. Personality test measures trait, temperaments and characters of the applicants. Employment interview is the oral examination of candidates for employment. The employer will exchange conversation with the applicants to evaluate them. There are two types of interview; structured and unstructured. Structured interview ask about questions related to the job whereas unstructured interview ask open-ended question. There are also four methods of interviewing which are one-on-one, group, broad and multiple interviews. Following the employment interview, investigation of the applicants background and reference are done to determine the truth of information stated. Previous employment, education verification, criminal history and personal reference check are some elements to verify. Next, selection decision is conducted. This is the most crucial step in the process. Candidate with the best qualification would be recruited by the organization. Lastly, medical examination is administered to see whether the candidate is physically capable to execute the job functions. If the applicants pass the whole process successfully, they will be notified to commence work as soon as possible. 2.3 Significance of Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection process is important for an organization to achieve its goals. When the right people are selected, the employee will produce productive results and stay with the organisation longer hence having a low employee turnover. If selection is not carefully done, the employee may make mistake which leads to a financial loss. It also wastes the time of human resource managers to go through the recruitment and selection process again. 3. Case development 3.1 Company description The company that we have chosen for our assignment is Public Bank Bhd. This company was start up in August 1966 by its Founder and Chairman, Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr. Teh Hong Piow. Public Bank is a top-tier bank in Malaysia. Public Bank Berhad is engaged in investment holding, stock-broking, provision of related financial services, management of unit trust funds and sale of trust units, underwriting of insurance. Furthermore, Public Bank also emphasises on a wide range of banking services such as commercial banking, investment banking, financing Islamic banking business and card businesses. In the market of banking services, Public Bank is the market leader in consumers banking and retail commercial lending to SMEs in Malaysia. Besides, Public Bank has about 250 branches throughout Malaysia .The company employs 90% in Malaysia which mean more than 14,000 people are employed by the company and the services that provides in each of the branches include deposit accounts, insurance plans, loans, insurance plan and as well as credit cards. In addition, it has more than 100 overseas branches in countries including Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The Public Bank Group has demonstrated powerful capacity of transporting exceptionally high rates of organic growth in its core businesses. In other hand, this company perform six segments. Retail operations which concerning on transferring the products and services to all small and medium-size businesses. Second, hire purchase operations, the provision of passenger vehicle financing to all levels of customers are being concerned by hire purchase operations. Furthermore, corporate lending operations provide the financing needs of corporate customers. In addition, trading treasury related products and services is engaged in the treasury and capital market operations. Investment banking operations which provide the business needs of business customers. Last but not least, fund management operations which consist of sale of trust units and the management of unit trust funds. Besides, Public Bank`s banking and management excellence has continued to be accorded prestigious domestic and international recognition. Furthermore, its excellence performance has received several awards granted by highly reliable institution and magazines. These awards included the Best Domestic Commercial Bank in Malaysia by Asiamoney and The Asset, Best Local bank in Malaysia by FinanceAsia and Euromoney, Best Bank in Malaysia by Global Finance and the Most outstanding Annual Report Award. In other hand, Between the 40 mainly well regarded Malaysian companies, Public Bank was ranked at 2 in year 2003. The bank also won the KLSE Corporate Excellence Award for the fourth consecutive year and the inaugural Malaysian Business Corporate Governance Award in year 2003, becoming the standard bearer of good corporate governance practices in Malaysia. Human capital is the most valuable assets for Public Bank Group. The Public Bank Group is committed in generating its human capital and determine the need for a powerful performance reward system to encourage their employees to perform better by rewarding their employees. Previously, Public Bank Group still stands out as one of the strongest and successful financial services group during the global recessionary economic conditions. Besides, Public Bank Group reward the staff with higher bonus as a result of their excellent performance. The compensation make up of a basic salary of RM 2,800 per month for entry level, other benefits and caring environment for the right applicants. With increasing online purchasing, Public Bank is now providing internet banking services, PBeBank.com .The security of the internet banking was improved with an alert mechanism that is well-qualified to identifying and diminishing doubtful account activities and preventing unauthorised access. Besides, this internet banking system allows customers to make payment for regular bills. In branches, every customer service delivery is improved with special care counters for senior citizens, expectant mothers and the disabled. Moreover, in each of the branches it provide convenient one-stop assistance for customer enquiries on loans. 3.2 Company recruitment practices and implementation There are two recruitment methods; internal and external. Public Bank uses both methods but mainly on external. Internal recruitment method Promotion from within The internal recruitment source that used by Public Bank is promotion from within. In general it is a procedure that the manager has stated a promise to consider promoting current employees for an opportunity before employing applicants from outside the organization. One of the employees, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Utama Thong Yaw Hong who was the Director in June 1986 and made Chairman in October 1986, now serves as Independent Non-Executive Co-Chairman of the Board at Public Bank Bhd (Reuters). External recruitment method Online Recruiting Method Public Bank is using external recruitment sources to find qualified individuals. One of the external recruitment source that usually used by Public Bank is online recruiting. Public Bank post their job vacancy on their company website and job search engine such as jobstreet.com. Media Advertising Besides, external recruitment method that used by Public Bank to attract potential employees is media advertising. The most common media advertising that used by Public Bank to convey their employment needs is through newspaper namely in The Star Jobs section. Job fair Moreover, Public Bank also used Job fair as one of the external recruitment method. Job fair is a exposition or fair that organized by an organization for the purpose of matching job seekers and people who seek for a job. One of the job fair that Public Bank has involved is the MCTF 12( Malaysia Career and Training Fair 2012). Before the Job fair Public Bank may posted their vacancy job detail on their website. The detail included minimum qualification, previous employment, communication skill and so on. Public Bank usually will transfer their employees from one department to another department. And this could bring the benefit of providing a excellent candidates for Public Bank to fill a vacancy. 3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Recruiting Methods Promotion from within . Because the current employees had gone through the training that provide by company and it take the current employee much less time to become efficiency and effective to the new job because current employee is already familiar with their job, so the current employees is someone who is capable for the empty job in the company. Besides, it is economical. By using the internal recruitment source, Public Bank has eliminated the cost of advertising, interviewing, training and development since the current employee has familiar with their works. In other hand, current employees have worked for the company for a period of time. So they are able to fit in with the company culture. It is very important because it could help to achieve organization efficiency. For example, employees who can work well with their colleague improve the efficiency in productivity of the organization because a person work in a warm and good culture environment could improve the productivity of the organization. Besides, this internal recruitment practices could motivate the employees. It encourages the employees to work hard and get promoted. One of the disadvantages of promotion from within is limited choice for the company. The selection of applicants is forced to be done from a limited pool. Due to this, the quality of applicant may need to be sacrificed and resolved in applicants that have less qualification. Other than that, candidates from within do not have a new ideas. Employees from within could not bring in outside talents and skills to maintain new ideas and plans to come in. And this will not make the company grow and improve. Moreover, promotion also can be resulted in inefficiency as it only focus on the services length rather than value, and it may be a good thing for inefficient candidates as they will not need to work hard in order to prove that they are worth to stay in the organisation. Online Recruiting The advantage of e-recruiting is that it saves cost on promoting company vacancy because it is free for Public Bank since it is placed on their website. Secondly, it is also easy to place an online advertisement. HR Managers dont need an in-depth knowledge on IT since most job sites and CV database are user-friendly. By using the external recruitment source of online recruiting, it is also time-consuming because it will generate many unqualified candidates. The human resource managers will waste time trying to filter and sift out all of the unqualified candidates. When they are choosing candidates, they will become confused because there are too many candidates. Media advertising The reason that Public Bank using this method is newspaper advertising can appeal to a wider audience. Those audiences have different backgrounds, specialized knowledge and experience. Public Bank can refer to their viewpoint and try to apply in their business. It can also help to fill the vacancies fast. However, there are many disadvantages for advertising too. Advertising will waste a lot of money. It will not be cost-effective. It is also time-consuming because it will generate many unqualified candidates. The human resource managers will waste time trying to filter and sift out all of the candidates. When they are choosing candidates, they will become confused because there are too many candidates. Career Fair Through this career fair Public Bank had the chance to meet up large number of applicant in a short time. Besides, this fair allow the employers to meet their potential employee face to face, exchange information and impress them. However there are some cons on job fair too. One of the cons is during the job fair the environment may be very noisy and overcrowded. This could affect the recruiting process. Besides, it is time consuming, the employers may meet a lot of unqualified employees and it may take some time to filter the unqualified employees. 3.4 Selection Process After the recruitment process, Public Bank will undergo selection process. Selection means choosing the best individual best suited the particular position in Public Bank from a group of qualified applicants. Public Bank want to make sure that the applicants is properly matched with jobs and organization by selection process. The selection process in Public Bank is done step by step after Public bank recruited qualified people throughout the selection methods. The first process is preliminary interview. The main objective Public bank do this process is to eliminate the obviously unqualified individuals. Public bank will phone the candidates recruited to have a telephone conversation. In the conversation, the applicants will be eliminate once they are found not fulfill the qualification. Second process is review application and resumes. Qualified applicants will send their resume according to the jobs they apply. Summary of experience, education, training development must include in the resume for the process of selection. Public Bank will check for the validity and reliability of the resume in different ways such as make a phone call to the university he or she graduated, make a phone call to his or her last company to check for his or her experience and personality. The third process is having a selection test. In Public Bank, they basically will have cognitive test, job knowledge test and work sample test. Public Bank will give the applicants an IQ test form to fill up, to make sure the ability of applicants and how well he or she can perform a job. After that, Public Bank will give them job knowledge tests to measure how deep their knowledge about the position. After that, Public Bank will create a situation and require applicant to solve it based on their experience. This is the best way to test the ability of the applicant, to find out how applicants deal with the uncertainty and solve the problem with best solution. Fourth process is employment interview. Public Bank will ask the applicants come to branch to have a face-to-face interview. Basically, the interviewer will ask about occupational experience, academic achievement, interpersonal skills and how well applicants try to fit into the organization. Public Bank will uses both structured and unstructured interview. First ask applicants to introduce themselves, lists out their strength and weaknesses. After that, the interviewer will ask about the job related question. Public bank usually uses one-on-one interview method. Fifth process is pre-employment screening. Public Bank wants to determine the accuracy of information submitted by applicants. Public bank will checks applicants previous employment, education, criminal history, compensation history and credit history. The validity of information is very important; this is to make sure they hire the best workers among the applicants. Sixth process is selection decision, the most important and critical step. Interviewer will discuss with their head of department and head of human resource management to choose the person most closely conform to the open position and organization. Final process is to notify the applicant who being chosen. Public Bank will inform them as soon as possible by email and formal letter. 3.5 Advantages of the practice of Selection methods in H.R management Save time and cost When Public Bank does the preliminary interview, it helps to reduce time and effort. This method can eliminates weak candidates and send the high quality applicants for the second interview. Phone call will not cost Public Bank as much as compare to face-to-face interview and effort of interviewer. It is also a way to test for the verbal skills by having tele-conversation. If the applicants cannot perform well in tele-conversation, for sure they will also not perfom well during face-to-face interview which require higher verbal skills include body language, eye contact and movement. Increase efficiency Applicants will be given a selection tests. All the results obtain from the selection test will be standardize and uniform. Hence, it will be faster during make comparison between applicants, directly increase the efficiency of selection process. Other that, structure interview also will increase the efficiency of selection process because the question is similar for the entire applicant such as introduce yourself. By this, interviewer will have a best formal answer and determine which applicant will give the answer most close to the formal answer. Increase reliability and accuracy Public Bank will have a background and references checks after face-to-face interview with the applicants. They want to make sure that information given by applicants is not fraud and certificates and documents submitted are recognized by the issuing units. Once the issuing units confirmed the certificates and documents thus prove the applicants have the qualification with proper education background. If records are not found when refer to the issuing units, thus can eliminate the applicant to prevent organization hire the unqualified worker. Disadvantages of the practice of Selection methods in H.R management Interviewer may have bias to certain group of people Public Bank is using one-on-one interview method. This method is quite inappropriate when the interviewer is biased to certain group of people. The performance of applicants is very subjective due to the perspective of the interviewer. For example, when the interviewer believe that man will perform better in banking industry compare to woman, no matter how well the women performance during the interview or having higher education of that area, having more experience, she will still not been selected because of the point of view of the interviewer. This may cause Public Bank lose a better worker thus directly reduce competitive advantage. Time consuming Public Bank want to increase reliability and accuracy but in another hand waste time. To check for the validity of certificates and documents, the issuing units need time to proceed. While waiting for the feedback from issuing unit, applicants may search for other jobs. Once they found the information given by selected applicant is fraud, they need to select another applicant and go through this process again. Besides that, by having one-one-one interview method, it takes times to review all the applicants. As we know time is crucial because when the applicants wait for a long time and do not receive any feedback, they may search for other job opportunity.

A World Without Engineers :: essays research papers

A World Without Engineers Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, on the planet Zovirax, there was an evil king, King Syphilis, who was mighty pleased with himself, for he had just banished all the engineers on the planet to work in the Pixie Stick Powder mines on the moons of Gluteus. "You see," he told his sycophantic servants and lackeys, "I have solved two problems with one simple executive order. I have rid the planet of those annoying, nerdy, know-it-all, engineers." (King Syphilis was actually quite envious of them, because he went to a Junior University in Palo Alto, and didn't know very much at all.) "And secondly," he explained, "I have provided cheap slave labor for the Pixie Stick Powder mines, thus ensuring a limitless supply of this heavenly confection for all to enjoy." All of King Syphilis' staff applauded loudly, because he tended to behead those who didn't. "Bring us intoxicating chemicals, so that we may celebrate," ordered the king. "I'm sorry, Mr. King Syphilis," replied the servant. "You banished all the chemical engineers to the powder mines, so we cannot make the intoxicating chemicals anymore." King Syphilis was quite mad. Nobody talked back to him and go away with it. "Bring me my plutonium phasor gun, so that I may vaporize this impudent guy," ordered the king. "I'm sorry, my good King Syphilis," replied another servant. "Since you deported all the nuclear engineers to the powder mines, we have been unable to operate the plutonium powered phasor gun." Now the king was really mad. "I'm really mad!" said the king. "Bring me my limousine, so that I may repeatedly run over these contumelious servants of mine." "No can do, Mr. King," said the third servant, whose part will be played in the movie version by Keanu Reeves. "All the mechanical engineers are in the mine place, and everyone knows, you can't drive cars without mechanics." "Go jump off a bridge!" said King Syphilis. Another of his servants interrupted, "We have no more bridges, since all the civil engineers have been exiled to the powder mines. Perhaps we should bring them all back." But the king was not the brightest of kings, so he didn't agree to that just yet. "Bring me my vibrating pleasure device, so that I may relax and think about this dilemma of ours," ordered the king. "We are unable to do that, my king, because all the electrical engineers who design the vibrating pleasure devices are in the powder mines." "Hmmm," thought the king. "Perhaps I was wrong in banishing the

Economics Today :: essays research papers

The Economics Today   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The opening bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange September 17, 2001 was a ring that no one was sure about. The Stock Exchange had not been open since the tragedies that occurred on September 11, and many were skeptical about how the market would fare on its first day of trading. We lost not only our stability of our nation the day the planes hit the World Trade Centers, but the stability of our economy as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Dow Jones closed at 8,920.70 and suffered the worst point loss since December of 1998. Many other indexes dropped just as sharply after the opening bell and stayed down until the market closed for the day. The losses could have been far worse had the Federal Reserve not cut short-term federal funds interest rates from 3.5% to 3%. It was the Federal Reserves’ eighth interest cut this year and the third to occur between scheduled meetings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Major banks, such as the European Central Bank and central banks in Canada and Switzerland also cut key interest rates in what was seen as a coordinated effort to restrict the financial damage of the terrorist tragedies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, despite government efforts, the market losses were still great. Major financial companies lost ground as well. Bank of America Corp.’s stock dropped by 5.72%. Citigroup lost 6.71%. Broader indexes’ losses were slightly lower. The Wilshire 5000 lost 513.31 points, or 5.08%, closing at 9,590.69.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hit hardest were the airlines. Analysts predict that the airline industry, already weakened by the slowing economy, could lose more than $10 billion in the wake of that week’s terrorists attacks. Delta Airlines plans to cut 80% of its flights. Continental Airlines officials said in a statement they have seen a â€Å"drastic drop in bookings in an already-declining economy†. Since the FAA allowed flights to resume last Thursday, Continental has been running only about 50% of its flights, with an average of about half the seats full. Continental was also said to have $800 million in cash on hand, but that it was burning through it at a rate of $30 million a day to stay in business. Many companies have told their employees to avoid airlines in light of the recent tragedies, and without help from Congress or more people flying, Continental could go bankrupt by the end of October.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Last Friday, the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would provide $15 billion in direct aid, loans, and credit to the nation’s airlines. Economics Today :: essays research papers The Economics Today   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The opening bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange September 17, 2001 was a ring that no one was sure about. The Stock Exchange had not been open since the tragedies that occurred on September 11, and many were skeptical about how the market would fare on its first day of trading. We lost not only our stability of our nation the day the planes hit the World Trade Centers, but the stability of our economy as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Dow Jones closed at 8,920.70 and suffered the worst point loss since December of 1998. Many other indexes dropped just as sharply after the opening bell and stayed down until the market closed for the day. The losses could have been far worse had the Federal Reserve not cut short-term federal funds interest rates from 3.5% to 3%. It was the Federal Reserves’ eighth interest cut this year and the third to occur between scheduled meetings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Major banks, such as the European Central Bank and central banks in Canada and Switzerland also cut key interest rates in what was seen as a coordinated effort to restrict the financial damage of the terrorist tragedies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, despite government efforts, the market losses were still great. Major financial companies lost ground as well. Bank of America Corp.’s stock dropped by 5.72%. Citigroup lost 6.71%. Broader indexes’ losses were slightly lower. The Wilshire 5000 lost 513.31 points, or 5.08%, closing at 9,590.69.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hit hardest were the airlines. Analysts predict that the airline industry, already weakened by the slowing economy, could lose more than $10 billion in the wake of that week’s terrorists attacks. Delta Airlines plans to cut 80% of its flights. Continental Airlines officials said in a statement they have seen a â€Å"drastic drop in bookings in an already-declining economy†. Since the FAA allowed flights to resume last Thursday, Continental has been running only about 50% of its flights, with an average of about half the seats full. Continental was also said to have $800 million in cash on hand, but that it was burning through it at a rate of $30 million a day to stay in business. Many companies have told their employees to avoid airlines in light of the recent tragedies, and without help from Congress or more people flying, Continental could go bankrupt by the end of October.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Last Friday, the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would provide $15 billion in direct aid, loans, and credit to the nation’s airlines.

Resistance and the Shifting Power in Participatory Spaces

Research Methods Data aggregation was undertaken between June and July 2014. The survey relied on open-ended interviews with 12 Nguti community members who were actively involved in the protest mobilisation and action and legion unplanned and unstructured conversations Nguti villagers. We aimed to capture the procedures taking to forest struggle among the private sector ( Wijma ) , the military, and local administrative governments and Nguti villagers. The interviews conducted included both young persons ( eight males and two females ) and seniors ( two males and females ) of Nguti – two types of histrions that would go of import in the flowering of the events related to the Agreement in Nguti. Our efforts at gender balance in the interview procedure were overcome by the limited handiness of respondents given the sensitive nature of the capable affair. Merely respondents who could be that we could keep their namelessness agreed to take. The interviews focused on events environing struggle rela ted to the Agreement. We were besides concerned to derive penetrations into village’s economic activities and support schemes. Of peculiar involvement was to seek and understand what benefits if any, the villagers had received, which could be connected straight or indirectly to Wijma’s operations. For case, since Wijma had agreed to provide the small town with waste wood from its processing activities, as portion of the Agreement we sought to understand the grade of small town dependance on this wood and how failure to provide could interrupt their support schemes. Despite our relentless enterprises, both Wijma and local administrative histrions would non hold to be interviewed. Although their absence might impact a more rounded history of the fortunes taking to forest resource struggle, our chief aim in this paper was to depict the struggle procedure as it unfolded, including the function of the chief histrions with a peculiar focal point on the protest schemes adopte d by some of the Nguti villagers. That notwithstanding, we relied on publications from an environmental audit, including Wijma’s ain publications to derive an apprehension of the company’s place on environmental and societal duty. Through examination of the 1994 Cameroon Forest Law, we gained a deeper apprehension of State-community-private sector partnership agreements and the duties and privileges of each party as prescribed in the ordinance. Penetrations into the struggle procedure were besides gained from correspondence [ Fred Saun1 ] between Wijma and Nguti Youths every bit good as between the Youths and local administrative histrions. Discussions Resistance and the Switching Power in Participatory Spaces Gaventa ‘s ( 2006 ) typology of participatory infinites captures the switching power dealingss at drama in Nguti where it was of import to understand how and why displacements in power occurred and the conditions that gave rise to the different types of participatory infinite where this power was enacted. Additionally, what were the agencies in which Nguti villagers sought to fight for increased answerability and transparence and finally claim the power and legitimacy to give consequence to the Agreement? In short, Gaventa ‘s ( 2006 ) typology puts accent on understanding how displacements in power through participatory procedures among histrions can be understood and applied dynamically. Initially, Nguti villagers had small chance to efficaciously take part in determinations that affected them related to the wood processing undertaking, so in Gaventa ‘s words it was a, ‘closed infinite ‘ even though the Agreement in rule sought to present small town ben efit. Decisions were made by others beyond the small town with small or no engagement or even audience with villagers. Subsequently, after the decease of the original benevolent agent, self-appointed ‘shadow histrions ‘ opportunistically stepped in with clear rent-seeking purposes. There was infinite for this within the new institutionalised wood administration constructions in Cameroon. Because the Agreement was informal and negotiated behind closed doors, there was no mechanism for the villagers to name WIJMA or the other histrions involved to account to present on committednesss contained in this. This state of affairs is non alone to Cameroon. Elsewhere reexamining instances from India, the US, Russia and the Philippines, Robbins ( 2000: 424 ) argues that such ‘extralegal’ exchanges that allow unbridled entree to natural resources are more of a regulation than an exclusion, and represent an institutionalised system of nature/society interactions. To chan ge by reversal the state of affairs, NGUYOCUDA and finally the small town Elders and others mobilized and staged a inactive public protest by ordaining a traditional injunction to convey those who brokered the Agreement to account and in making so efficaciously ‘claimed infinite ‘ to prosecute their involvements through their actions. There were sedate hazards involved for the villagers in taking this public look of dissent, as evidenced by the initial military response to the small town mobilisation ( and other similar incidents in Cameroon ( see Amin 2012 for elaborate military response to youth mobilisation and protest, particularly the ill-famed February 2008 events ) . But by taking this public action, which was linked to legitimate traditional establishments, new boundaries were created which allowed villagers ‘ voices to number ( Scott 1990 ) . This ‘claimed infinite ‘ later gave manner to ‘invited infinite ‘ as Wijma realized, given the break caused by the small town injunction and the inability of the State to manage this type of rebelliousness, that they now must carry through their duties to the villagers and include them in decision-making if they are to go on to their lumber procedure operations unhindered. This alteration suggests that villager engagement had become meaningful or influential in that it led to positive alteration. Of class this ‘resolution ‘ to the administration job of the lumber processing undertaking faced by Nguti villagers is comparatively minor in footings of opening up the many closed infinites of natural resource administration that citizens are consistently excluded from in Cameroon – a point which is discussed farther below. While this public look of rebelliousness appears to hold been effectual in the Nguti instance, the ‘special conditions’ which need to be before a traditional injunction can be invoked are likely to restrict an upscaling of simi lar public protests. [ 1 ] Lack of Accountability in the Forest Law and on the Land When Cameroon’s 1994 Forest Law was created it was recognized at the clip as a landmark statute law in Sub-Saharan Africa due to its elaborate amplification of stairss to purely safeguard and esteem the societal, environmental and economic ends of the country’s forestry ( Cerutti et al. 2008 ; Assembe-Mvondo 2013 ) . One major job with the Forest Law, nevertheless, is that it was guided more by market aims intended to hike the macroeconomic potencies of the forest sector, with small attending to chiseled mechanisms that would steer and modulate the execution of private-public-community partnerships on the land. Another major job with the Forest Code arises from the deficiency of mechanisms to safeguard the involvements of communities hosting logging activities and to protect them in struggle state of affairss against the more powerful profit-driven companies. The World Bank-instituted SAP resulted in the chase by the authorities of Cameroon of high foreign grosss by pro moting increased forest development to counterbalance for diminishing universe market values for its other major exports like oil, java and chocolate ( Thomaset Al.1996 ) . The deficiency of pertinent sustainability foresight in the jurisprudence and the inability and/or involuntariness of the Government to implement its ain Torahs have led to small or no answerability in the sector on the land, with major effects for hapless rural communities. Consequences from the Nguti site show that communities populating next to commercial logging activities are frequently politically and economically weak and vulnerable to the corrupt societal and environmental patterns of powerful logging companies and rent searchers. This job is non alone to Nguti community entirely. Schwartz et Al. ( 2012 ) and Thomas et Al ( 1996 ) suggest that large-scale investings in natural resources in Cameroon by and large fail to esteem community rights in footings of audience, compensation, contractual footings and environmental protection. Furthermore, the involuntariness demonstrated by Nguti local administrative governments to step in in possible struggle state of affairss and keep logging companies to account in their legal power is farther testimony of the exposure of rural communities and the pronounced absence of answerability precautions in the private-public-community partnership agreement. Thomas et Al. ( 1996 ) besides describe similar tensenesss between logging companies and communities elsewhere in Cameroon as a consequence of the unfulfilling by these companies of their ( informal ) understandings with the villagers. In add-on, the repeated refusal by Wijma to hold to the villagers’ petition for a duologue – which is much contrary to their stated struggle bar and direction aims – and the prompt military response by local administrative governments to interrupt echt small town mobilisation for a common cause, constitute clear illustrations of deficiency of an swerability on the portion of both Wijma and local administrative governments to rural communities. The deployment of the armed forces against the peaceable small town presentation clearly resonates with the US September 11 image painted by Greenhouse ( 2005 ) in her statement that the hegemonic moves of the executive and other subdivisions of authorities in struggle state of affairss consists in repackaging subalterns in a manner that contributes to the undertakings of regulation and political capital by scapegoating them through such hegemonic mechanisms as Draconian anti-crime Torahs, which in Cameroon take the signifier of anti-protest military action. The military intercession in Nguti is besides an indicant that local authorities offices are less accountable to their citizens but more to pervert and uncompromising concern directors in order to safeguard a continued flow of gross from the private sector into authorities caissons. This state of affairs is non surprising, as it r eflects the econocentric aims that underpin and guide the 1994 Forest Law and its application as a major constituent of the World Bank-led Structural Adjustment Program of the state. The corrupt patterns of Wijma functionaries, local authorities histrions and the self-appointed agents suggest that de jure Torahs and de facto regulations barely of all time exist in sole isolation. Making a similar statement Robbins ( 2000: 427 ) Drew from institutional theory to situate that officially ( de jure ) constituted regulations frequently merge with informal ( de facto ) norms to make existent ‘operational’ regulations in resource scenes. Robbins theorizes as follows: ‘the de facto regulations that govern corrupt exchanges are forged out of the natural stuffs and societal resources supplied by de jure regulations, adapted and curved around the contours of local power’ ( pp 427 ) . Using this to the Nguti instance, we observe that the prevalence of local norms in Ng uti such as the corrupt patterns of Wijma and authorities histrions, and peculiarly the rent-seeking actions of the shadow histrions suggests less the forsaking of national ordinance in favour of de facto local systems, and more the adjustment of these local norms into loopholes that exist in the formal system. As the system of backing is profoundly rooted in local systems of power in Cameroon, instances of shadow histrions presuming the function of agents is non uncommon. Sometimes disputing this well-entrenched localised norm can turn out really hard, as evidenced by the initial refusal by Wijma – with the support of local administrative histrions – to give in to the invocations of NGUYOCUDA associating to the remotion the function of those shadow histrions in farther Wijma-NGUYOCUDA dialogues. Lack of Public Information on Land Tenure The happening of land differences in Cameroon are really high. A major ground for this relates to a general deficiency of public information on the being and localisation of land licenses and how to travel about land enrollment procedure, with serious deductions for the poorest in communities. All land that does non fall into the classs of Public Property of the State, Private Property of the State or is non capable to a private land rubric, is classified as National Land under the 1974 Ordinance set uping regulations regulating land term of office in Cameroon ( Schwartz et al. 201 ) . This means in simple footings that parts of community land that are non capable to private land rubrics are by inference National Land, even if they are occupied and/or used by locals. As a affair of general rule, the granting of land grants follows a procedure whereby a committee made of local bureaus and community representatives identify lands for the intent of avoiding overlapping rights ( Schwartz et al. 2012 ) . This is barely the instance in Nguti. The community as a whole is considered to hold usufruct rights to unoccupied community land. The community may make up one's mind to offer this land to specific persons as compensation for services rendered as is the instance with the land on which WIJMA operates. The bone of contention here lies in the fact that the land had been offered by the community to the influential Nzo Ekanghaki in gratitude for his development enterprises in the small town. Whether Ekanghaki should be able transportation such rights to a 3rd party like Wijma is what did non sit good with some sources. They felt that even though the land was granted to Ekanghaki, it was still community land in footings of customary rights while it was non being straight used or occupied by Ekanghaki, and as such WIMJA is accountable to the community ( as the customary rights holder ) . Others refrained from such ownership polemics and instead argued that WIJMA is morall y apt to the small town because of its claims as maintainers of corporate societal duty criterions or merely because of the duties agreed to. Many people do non register their land with the Ministry of Land Tenure’s cadastre. This state of affairs generates the conditions for land differences. The sources we spoke to were non certain whether the land on which Wijma operates had been punctually registered as private belongings. The feeling was that even if the land had been registered as such, it was community land and as such should non be registered without due presentment of, and permission by, the appropriate Nguti governments. A necessary measure to avoid struggles like this would be, foremost, to make public consciousness of the necessity of duly registering private land and obtaining land rubric for it. Second, by doing the procedure of granting of land grants by the small town transparent and consistent with both customary and land Torahs – as these two beginnin gs of land allotment can overlap and bring forth confusion and defeat, or even worse, diminish people’s rights. Decision Events in Nguti have revealed important land term of office overlaps between customary land rights and land Torahs, as a consequence of deficiency of sufficient public consciousness about the pertinence of both types of Torahs. This led to contradictory claims over rights and duties. Events in the instance survey have besides shed visible radiation on built-in defects in Cameroon’s wood policy reform to redistribute rights and benefits to communities through deliberative procedures in pattern. We showed how power operates in closed administration infinites to work against just, democratic and effectual policymaking. We besides revealed how disfranchised communities can efficaciously open up these closed infinites and obtain effectual engagement in procedures denied them. Penetrations from the instance suggest that answerability mechanisms both within the 1994 Forest Law and existent execution procedures have non been tailored to efficaciously reflect the present neoliberal sig nifier of resource administration. This World Bank-institutionalized signifier of administration of natural resources brought with it other major histrions in forest direction, such as powerful private logging companies. The forest company involved in this instance survey failed to listen to community concerns about the agreements that had been brokered to let them to run in Nguti. Not merely did local authorities fail to keep WIJMA to account, it injudiciously sided with the company and authorized a military intercession to quash peaceable community mobilisation against WIJMA. The purpose of those Nguti villagers mobilized was non merely to do their voices heard and thereby do the lumber processing company accountable to them. Their attempts were besides aimed at taking the function of the rent-seeking shadow histrions from the administration agreements. These shadow histrions who, encouraged by weak administration constructions and uneffective answerability mechanisms in the wood sector, had seized negociating power from the community and acted without legitimacy as small town agents. We besides emphasized that the corrupt patterns at Nguti do non connote the absence of ordinance, but instead the presence of an option, nonlegal norm that transforms the weak enforcement of ordinances into corrupt signifiers found in profoundly frozen local systems of power. Nguti is portion of a state where the authorities does non merely promote increased forest development in order to roll up foreign gross, but it is besides dying to command protests and agitations that might impede its making this end. In add-on to extinguishing these timeserving histrions, the registration by NGUYOCUDA of other institutional groupings into their protest constituted a major manner to place themselves as a major force to think with in Nguti. The pick of a traditional injunction as the chief class of action when every other scheme was turn outing unfruitful or unsafe enabled them to efficaci ously ‘claim space’ in what was ab initio a ‘closed space’ . Recognizing that their concern operations were efficaciously halted by the power of the traditional injunction entirely, WIJMA instead reluctantly settled for inclusion of the villagers in determinations impacting them and promised to go on to make so in the hereafter. At this point, the officially ‘closed space’ for participatory decision-making on affairs impacting Nguti community had been wholly transformed into an ‘invited space’ , where they had chance to claim rights antecedently denied them.

Sneaker War

Nike currently enjoys a 47% market share of the domestic footwear industry, with sales of $3. 77 billion. Nike has been manufacturing throughout the Asian region for over twenty-five years, and there are over 500,000 people today directly engaged in the production of their products. They utilize an outsourcing strategy, using only subcontractors throughout the globe. Their majority of their output today is produced in factories in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, but they also have factories in Italy, the Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea. These factories are 100% owned by subcontractors, with the majority of their output consisting solely of Nike products. However, Nike does employ teams of four expatriates per each of the big three countries (China, Indonesia, Vietnam), that focus on both quality of product and quality of working conditions, visiting the factories weekly. They also developed their code of conduct in 1992 and have implemented it across the globe, as its goal is to set the standard for subcontractors to follow if they wish to do business with Nike. However, due to a manufacturing network of this magnitude, they have faced numerous violations involving factory conditions and human rights issues, which have been widely publicized. They have responded to these issues through the Andrew Young report, the Dartmouth Study, and Ernst & Young's continual monitoring, but are still approximately two years away from completely addressing these problems throughout the globe. Reebok Reebok, as the second leading manufacturer of footwear, has domestic revenues of $1. 28 billion and a market share of 16%. Similar to Nike, they also utilize a 100% outsourcing strategy and manufacture their products throughout Asia. They have created and implemented their own code of conduct for manufactures to follow, but have less infrastructure than Nike across the globe to enforce it. They are facing scrutiny in regards to wage, overtime, and air quality issues, and like Nike, are working to address these issues. However, their strength, the creation and distribution of a global brand, is allowed to foster under this manufacturing strategy, as hey focus on their core competencies, and out source their production. Adidas is currently enjoying the fastest growth of any brand domestically, with a market share of 6% and revenues of $500 million. They have been shielded from bad publicity by the two Goliath's of the industry, Nike and Reebok, and are reaping the rewards substantially. They have adjusted their manufacturing strategy, from a vertical operation in Germany in the 60's and 70's, to an outsourcing focus today throughout Asia. Unlike the big two, they do not have a code of conduct, and their factories are considered to be the worst in the industry. It is just a matter of time before they are exposed, with an underground swelling of negativity already occurring today. In order to avoid the negative effects and lost revenues that Nike and Reebok have received, they need to immediately begin to take a pro active stance in regards to the working conditions of their factories.

Documentary Film Analysis of Tough Guise Essay

Documentaries are useful as research sources. They are also used quite frequently as supplemental learning tools in the classroom. A common writing assignment is a critical review or analysis of films. A good review will explain how the film has enhanced the learning experience, but it should also provide an account of your personal response. There are several standard components of a review: Step 1 Give details of the documentary †¢Title of the film or documentary: Be sure to name the film in your first paragraph. State the date of its release. †¢Intended Audience Step 2 Explain the purpose of the documentary †¢What is the purpose of the documentary? †¢What is the main message the director wants to get across to the audience? †¢What sources are used? Step 3 State your prior knowledge of the subject †¢Did you know anything about the subject before you watched the documentary? †¢What did you expect to see? †¢What questions did you have about the subject? Step 4 Summarize the documentary †¢Who/what is the subject of the documentary? †¢What happened in the documentary? †¢What are the main events? †¢Where was it filmed? Step 5 Talk about the sound effects, camera work, interviews, special effects †¢Do you like the sound effects? †¢Are the images sharp? †¢How is the filming? What camera angles were used? †¢Do you like the interviews? What have you learned from the interviews? †¢Are there any special effects? Step 6 Give personal comments and recommendation †¢Which part of the documentary do you like most? Include specific reasons for likes and dislikes. You can’t say â€Å"it was boring† unless you provide justification. †¢What have you learned from it? †¢Was there anything that surprised you? †¢What are the drawbacks of the documentary? Again, include specific reasons. †¢Would you recommend this documentary to your friends? Why?