Denmark Globalisation and the Welfare State

Human (Cultural) geography is the other part of g Essays - Clothing

Human (Cultural) geography is the other part of g Essays - Clothing Human (Cultural) geography is the "other part of geography". It is the study of cultural diversities "found throughout the world" in relation with spaces and places "where they originate and travels" throughout the world "as people continually move across" different "areas"(web). Human geography studies "cultural phenomena" such as "language, religion, different economic and governmental structures, art, music and various cultural aspects" which will define "how and why people function as they do in the places in which they live" (web, Human Geography: An Over View of Human Geography). The article is related to religious aspect of cultural geography. There is a mutual relationship between "religion and geography". Every individual studying geography with social science have "little interest in religion". This will provide knowledge about "how religion develops, spreads and impacts on people's lives are rooted in geographical factors and they can be studied from a geographical perspective". Here in the article which was previously written by Tom Gjelten has a discussion about hijab (headscarf worn by Muslim women) (Park, C.2004) Religion and geography. Ch. 17). Hijab, or covering headscarf, "takes the center stage whenever there is battle between truth and falsehood". Those women who wear hijab with "religious conviction, the truth is clear". For others who has "limited knowledge" of it may be "confusing". It is essential to get into the realization of various clues related to "hijab and modesty". If one goes through the historical research of various time period, one would find "modest covering of women in almost every society". The other fact is that "modesty" is a part in almost "every world religion, particularly in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam". Besides religious aspects hijab represents woman's obedience, respect and her attachments towards faith. To elaborate this, Allah Almighty says: "That is more suitable that they will be known..." . More than religious importance there are other "purpose and functions of hijab" to explain these the following "purposes and functions of hijab" will explain this point. "Hijab is a test for t he Muslim woman". It is "clear from the Qur'an" that "hijab is a religious obligation, which a woman has to undertake" (Web, Wikipedia), This shows a devote to Allah and a belief of not exposing private parts of women. In this article there is a story about a Muslim girl wearing hijabs in USA where majority of people are non-Muslim. Maryam Adamo talks about her professional life, social life in relation with her religious life. She further more explains her experience of wearing hijabs. Asma Uddin is another woman who is a devote of her religion also explains her religious identity being a burden despite her faith towards it. Another woman Asra Nomani (journalist and teaches journalism at Georgetown University and is co-director of the Pearl Project) in her article says non-Muslim woman wearing hijab "gives an interpretation to the rejection of Islam". She also elaborates "the headscarf has become a political symbol for ad ideology of Islam that is exported to the world by the theocracies of the government of Iran and Saudi Arabia" There is much about who should wear hijabs? And much about how others interpret about Muslim girls wearing hijabs in countries where most of the people are not Muslim. Religion is a learned behavior, it is carried by medium of people who are the followers to the different part of the world, even it is evolved in certain part of the world. Actually not only religion but all the cultural dimensions such as language, art, music are also spread by the people, so it is natural to have people following others cultures knowingly or unknowingly. But there is much focus into hijabs in this article saying non Muslim who don't know about what it means to wearing hijab. Todays world is much getting into religious controversies, in this situation we should maintain peace and harmony rather than arguing about religious topics. As I have realized there is nothing to go with religion being a human, in my perspective, nobody by birth came with a religion, it is a learned behavior, we learned form our society where we lived. Religion is a medium to bind human together to foster positive attitudes and to develop a

Anti-Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anti-Globalization - Essay Example Globalization is portrayed as a positive thing from which undeveloped countries can benefit. However an alternative view suggests something else. Some people are of the view that through the excuse of globalization the developed countries are exploiting the weak economies. They are making the undeveloped countries dependant on themselves and would eventually result in making them their slaves. The theory behind the movement was so strong and convincing that it brought together the ideological school of thoughts who believed in anarchism and communism, and the activists who have a much pragmatic approach to life. Before this movement nothing had worked in order to unite these two opposite forces. The ideology behind the movement is as I have previously mentioned, strong economies use the excuse of globalization to further strengthen their economies and in the process drain the weak economies. Basically, globalization is giving rise to accumulation of wealth and power. The strong are getting stronger and the weak weaker. The undeveloped countries have started becoming increasingly dependant on the developed nations and thus the developed countries are in a position to make or break them. One of the ba... They do not understand the basic value systems. For instance Pakistan's electricity company has been taken over by a Saudi company and now Pakistan is facing the worse electricity crisis ever. According to Noreena Hertz, in her book 'The silent takeover' "Corporations have become behemoths, huge global giants that wield immense political power" and in the process of their evolution, "justice, equity, rights, the environment, and even issues of national security fall by the wayside." This as we can see is very true. Another major issue is that anti-globalization activists believe that the concept of intellectual property has been overly dramatized and stretched. Now information and intellectual property which used to be possessed collectively by a country or an ethnic group is being retained by a smaller portion of people. Thus sharing of resources has finished. The people cling on to their intellectual property and share very little of it with others. Thus weaker people can not benefit from it and are at a loss. Generally they are the big companies who have retained this kind of intellectual property thus their market concentration increases. Labor issues are also a major back bone of the movement. Referring back to the privatization of Pakistan electric company we see that the developed countries are influencing the developing countries to privatize their businesses. This is because in their opinion privatization is a good thing and therefore they are forcing others to go for it too. However privatization causes unemployment for many of the employees. There have been many influential works seen in the movement. Examples of them include Naomi Klien's book 'NO Logo'. This book talks about the unethical side of the production processes of the multi

Scientific Journals Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Scientific Journals - Term Paper Example BP is British Petroleum (Alexander, 2010). Three months later, the spill oil was blocked and about half of the oil spilled was removed through evaporation, natural dissolution, and human action (Ocean Conservancy, 2010). However, about half of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil had already polluted the environment (Ocean Conservancy, 2010). Rather than blaming the BP, a House panel blamed a rig device for failure to cut the oil flow (Doggett, 2010). In May 2010, the BP and the US government jointly estimated that more than 5,000 barrels a day of crude has been leaking into the environment and scientists warned of an environmental damage that could rival the 1989 Exxon spill in Alaska (Ball & Hughes, 2010). Other scientists say, however, that the spill may be more than 10 times the 5,000 barrels-a-day joint estimate of the US government and the BP (Ball & Hughes, 2010). On the month, US scientists estimated that the oil spill â€Å"could cause more of Louisiana’s retreating marshland revert to open water† (Ball and Hughes, 2010, 4th paragraph). U.S. Greenpeace, a leading environmental group, has her own interpretation of the timeline of the BP oil spill disaster (2010). According to the Greenpeace US, as early as 2007, the US Interior Department’s Mineral Management Services (MMS) has acquired data that oil-drilling projects are marked with a history of accidents, fires, and deaths (Greenpeace, 2010). In July 2008, a top agency manager of the MMS was criminally charged for having conflicts of interest with oil companies (Greenpeace, 2010). Yet, however, the MMS was allowed to give BP an exclusion from the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement for BP’s drilling operations (Greenpeace, 2010). Based on the â€Å"timeline† of the Greenpeace (2010), the BP oil spill can be blamed to the lax application of US environmental policies as well as to the congruence of

Organizational Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Organizational Development - Research Paper Example In the last section, the study has recommended OD intervention strategies for the organization in order to improve its performance. The research paper has also suggested evaluation technique which can monitor the efficacy of recommended OD interventions for the organization. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Literature Review 5 2.1 Organizational Context 5 2.2 Theories of OD 6 8 3.0 Organizational Needs 10 4.0 Impact of Environmental and Internal Issues on OD 10 4.1 Labor Pool Diversity 10 4.2 Technological Advancements 11 4.3 Global Expansion 13 4.4 Ethical Standards 14 5.0 Recommended Intervention 14 5.1 Human process based intervention strategies 16 5.2 Techno-structural intervention 17 5.3 Socio-technical intervention 17 5.4 Organizational transformation (OT) 18 6.0 Success Factor for Recommended Intervention 19 7.0 Evaluation of Recommended Intervention 20 8.0 Conclusion 21 Reference 22 1.0 Introduction Gone are the days when organizations can stay at top of both organic and inorganic growth by banking on first mover’s advantage in sustainable manner, in hypercompetitive modern business environment, a particular organization need to be flexible and ready to change in order to keep going. The concept of organizational development (OD) was postulated by research scholars almost 50 years ago. According to supporters of OD, the concept can be used solving pertinent issues of change management for a modern organization as like other neo-classical concepts like business process improvement, business process re-engineering, organizational life-cycles and total quality management (TQM). According to Holland and Salama (2010), OD can be described as sustainable and one way improvement of activities for an organization. The scholars’ duos have also pointed out that, implementing OD process is a challenging task for an organization due to reasons like, First- the organization needs to breakdown its structure in partial or comp lete manner in order create room for newly implemented system, Second- the organization needs to adopt resource hungry intervention strategies in order to ensure efficacy of the change management process and last- the organization needs to influence its internal and external stakeholders to align their interest with common mission and vision statement of the change process. Holland and Salama (2010) have found that interaction of organization with the external environment decides the dynamics of OD process. Interesting fact is that, academic scholars state that OD is an initiative of top management to develop mid level and lower level organizational members but there are examples where employees develop themselves without seeking intervention from top management (Mulili & Wong, 2011). The concept of job security has changed after the recession during 2007-2009 and sovereign debt crisis and organizational members are enrolling themselves to flexible and lifelong learning process in o rder to remain employable in changing and harsh economic environment. Therefore it has been observed that employees are embracing various facets of OD process such as, off-the- job education, on-the-job training and many others. Now the question is can an organization improve its performance by using the theoretical framework of OD. Well, answer of this crucial question is the key essence of this research paper. Contextual analysis of OD process

Samsung Performance Appraisal

Samsung Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is the process of collecting, observing and analyzing the recorded information about the relative worth of an employee. The min motive behind carrying out the process of performance appraisal is to measure the actual performance of the employees with the expected performance that has been set. 1.2 Process of Performance Appraisal: ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS: this accounts for the first step in the performance appraisal system which involves setting up of the standards that will act as a base to judge the performance of the employees. It also measures the degree of their contribution towards achieving organizational goals and objectives. The standards set should be clearly communicated, easily understandable and in measurable terms. COMMUNICATING THE STANDARDS: once the standards have been set, it is the duty of the management to effectively communicate the same to their employees so that they are well aware of their duties and responsibilities to be performed. This enables the employees to understand their roles and the kind of performance expected. The standards also have to be duly communicated to the evaluators or appraisers and can undergo changes at this stage if required, on the basis of feedback received from employees or evaluators. MEASURING THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE: this stage is the most important as it is crucial to measure the actual performance of the employees in the right manner within the specified period of time. Performance appraisal being a continuous process involves monitoring the performance throughout the year and it requires careful selection of appraisal techniques, eliminating degree of personal biasness and providing assistance rather than interfering in an employees work. COMPARING THE ACTUAL WITH THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE: as apparent, this stage involves comparing the actual performance with standard performance and identifying deviations in the same. The deviation can be positive, i.e. actual performance is more than the standard performance or negative, i.e. the actual performance is lower than the desired performance. Thus, the crucial functions to be carried out in this stage are recalling, evaluating and analyzing of the data related to employees performance. DISCUSSING RESULTS: then the result of the performance appraised is communicated and a follow up session with the employees on a one to one basis takes place. The aim of this follow up is to solve problems and reach a consensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude or else it might have a negative impact on the employees morale and performance. DECISION MAKING: the final step to performance appraisal system is to take decisions as to improve the performance of the employees, take corrective measures to eliminate the deviations identified and HR related decisions like rewards, promotions, transfers, etc. 1.3 Samsung: Samsung is one of the leading brands of electronics in the world. It has become even more popular with the launch of its android smart phones which are similar to the Apple iPhones. Samsung has several branches in India which are running successfully. Samsung also sells basic mobile phones that are very cheap, thus popular with the lower income groups. We interviewed Mr. Rajesh Dhadich, the Area Business Manager of Samsung, Pune. He was very helpful and provided us with the necessary information about the performance appraisal system that is used in their organization. Samsung uses the traditional method of performance appraisal, i.e target vs. achievement method. The employees performance is evaluated based on their achievement in the specified period, whether they are able to meet their target or not. 1.4 Hierarchy: President Vice president Director All India head regional manager Zonal Self Manager Area Business Manager 2. Objectives of the Study: To observe and analyze the performance of the employees over a specified period of time. To find out the difference between the actual performance and the expected performance. To give the employees feedback of their previous performance. 3. Methodology Adopted: There are two types of methodologies to find out the system of performance appraisal used. They are: Primary data collection Secondary data collection This survey was conducted using primary data collection. Mr. Rajesh Dhadich, Area Business Manager of Samsung, Pune was interviewed. 4.Data Analysis and Interpretation: Do you follow a well-defined performance appraisal system in your organization? Yes, a well-defined performance appraisal system is carried out in the organization where in the employees are judged on the basis of the targets achieved by them. The employees have the freedom to cross question their bosses if they are not satisfied with the rating. Which type of performance appraisal system do you use? Samsung uses a traditional system of performance appraisal. They follow the system of target vs. achievement wherein every employee is given a specific target to achieve in the beginning of the month. This target may vary from an increase in the market share or an increase in the total sales. Depending on the target achieved, performance of the employees is rated. For example, an employee may be given the target of selling 1000 smartphones in one quarter. If the employee achieves his target, he is given a high rating. What is the purpose of having a well-defined performance appraisal process in your organization? Training and development: performance appraisal helps to find out the drawbacks in an employees performance and hence he can be trained in those skills which would help him perform better. Succession planning: through performance appraisal, employees with good leadership are identified, which helps the organization to spot people to fill future key role positions. Does the employee have a clear understanding of his duties and responsibilities? The office provides the employees with an employee friendly Human Resource (HR) Manual at the date of joining which gives them a brief idea about what is expected out of them, their duties, responsibilities, along with their rights. Are the employees free to express themselves in case of a mismatch between the actual and the desired performance? In case the employees are unsatisfied with their bosses ratings and think they deserve more, they are free to post their grievances and differences through a great workplace portal. They are free to express themselves and negotiate with their bosses. For example, if an employee is rated 8 on 10, and he feels he deserves more because of his performance, he is free to express himself and negotiate with his boss and find out the reasons for the bosss rating. This shows that Samsungs work environment is open to discussions and extremely work friendly, which satisfies the employees in the long run. What are the incentives given to the employees apart from monetary benefits? If the employee wishes to buy any electronic gadget, Samsung products are available to him at a discounted rate, say for example 25%. Quarterly rewards are given to the people with the best performance. Further, outstanding performers are given special rewards and allowances. All these induce the employees to perform better and achieve their target. What are the challenges faced by you while evaluating the performance appraisal of the employees? Sometimes due to a positive change in the market conditions, an employee may be able to perform better than his colleague in the previous quarter leading to confusion for the manager as to who has performed better. Due to this reason, it becomes difficult for the manager to differentiate between a performer and non-performer, and rating becomes a little confusing. What is the feedback given by your employees on your performance appraisal system? Employees were asked to rate the performance appraisal system of the company in which it was concluded that 85% of the employees are satisfied with the feedback given to them. 5.Conclusion: Samsung is one of the leading electronic brands having its branches all over India which are running successfully. After conducting a thorough research, it was found that Samsung follows an employee friendly approach of performance appraisal wherein target vs. achievement method is used. Performance appraisal in an organization is very important as it helps in finding out the difference between the actual and the desired performance of an employee. It also helps the employers in guiding their employees to achieve their goals. Training and development of the employees is also possible with the help of a good performance appraisal system. Thus, it is necessary for every organization to have a well-defined performance appraisal system.

Returning to a Pre-Print Culture Understanding of Music :: Web Internet Technology Essays

Returning to a Pre-Print Culture Understanding of Music If the Web technology like Napster is eventually incompatible with the current print based recording industry, which values individual works (i.e. records, CD’s, videos) as commodities, then the paradigm of the current music industry will have to be changed drastically. To bridge the gap, something akin to cable service, which uses a flat rate for basic service and then has add-ons like pay-per-view might be used to curb or at least contain free dissemination of files while still remaining lucrative. This does not change the current industry paradigm so much; it simply awards more commodity status to access than product. Last July, Bertelsmann and Napster CEO's met to discuss a subscription partnership. "Between the two of them, the price for a subscription to the new Napster was floated at somewhere between $4.99 and $15 a month" (Alderman, 171). The problem with this solution is that many people may not be willing to pay for something that they have in the past acquired at no cost. It has been relatively easy to bypass security limitations placed on Napster, and in addition, similar applications have appeared to compete with Napster, or replace it in the event that access is blocked (i.e. Morpheus, Gnutella, Aimster [2]). A more effective solution might be one similar to what Grateful Dead lyricist John Barlow proposed in a 1994 issue of Wired: "Intellectual property law cannot be patched, retrofitted, or expanded to contain the gasses of digitized expression†¦ We will need to develop an entirely new set of methods as befits this entirely new set of circumstances" (Alderman, 20). To completely change the paradigm might involve going back to a pre-individualist, pre-high capitalist system. To keep the industry lucrative, the question that record labels, musicians, and other industry types should be asking themselves is not â€Å"How can we make money using existing copyright laws in the networked environment?† but â€Å"How can we still survive as an industry in an environment where copyright does not?† A possible alternative, and an option that hearkens back to pre-print culture, is that musicians might be salaried on the basis that they provide a service. Their art would be free for public enjoyment, but the musicians themselves would be compensated on salary to ensure that music continued to be made at its current rate.