Wednesday, November 27, 2019

The Estates General and The French Revolution

The Estates General and The French Revolution In late 1788, Jacques Necker announced that the meeting of the Estates General would be brought forward to January 1, 1789 (in reality, it didnt meet until May 5th of that year). However, this edict neither defined the form the Estates General would take nor set out how it would be chosen. Afraid that the crown would take advantage of this to fix the Estates General and transform it into a servile body, the Parlement of Paris, in approving the edict, explicitly stated that the Estates General should take its form from the last time it was called: 1614. This meant the estates would meet in equal numbers, but separate chambers. Voting would be done separately, with each having a third of the vote. Bizarrely, no one who had called for the Estates General over the past years appears to have previously realized what soon became obvious: the 95% of the nation who comprised the third estate could be easily outvoted by a combination of the clergy and nobles, or 5% of the population. Recent events had set a very different voting precedent, as a provincial assembly which had been called in 1778 and 1787 had doubled the numbers of the third estate and another called in Dauphin had not only doubled the third estate but allowed for voting by head (one vote per member, not estate). However, the problem was now understood, and a clamor soon arose demanding the doubling of third estate numbers and voting by head, and the crown received over eight hundred different petitions, mainly from the bourgeois who had woken up to their potentially vital role in future government. Necker responded by recalling the Assembly of Notables to advise himself and the king on the various problems. It sat from November 6th until December 17th and protected the nobles interests by voting against doubling the third estate or voting by head. This was followed by the Estates General being postponed by a few months. The uproar only grew. On December 27th, in a document entitled Result of the Kings Council of State- the result of discussion between Necker and the king and contrary to the advice of the nobles- the crown announced that the third estate was indeed to be doubled. However, there was no decision on voting practices, which was left to the Estates General itself to decide. This was only ever going to cause a huge problem, and the result changed the course of Europe in a way the crown really, really wished they had been able to foresee and prevent. The fact that the crown allowed such a situation to arise is one of the reasons why they have been accused of being in a malaise as the world turned around them. The Third Estate Politicizes The debate over the size and voting rights of the third estate brought the Estates General to the forefront of conversation and thought, with writers and thinkers publishing a wide range of views. The most famous was Sieyà ¨s What is the Third Estate, which argued that there shouldn’t be any privileged groups in society and that the third estate should set themselves up as a national assembly immediately after meeting, with no input from the other estates. It was hugely influential, and in many ways set the agenda in a manner the crown did not. Terms like national and patriotism began to be used ever more frequently and became associated with the third estate. More importantly, this outburst of political thought caused a group of leaders to emerge from the third estate, organizing meetings, writing pamphlets, and generally politicizing the third estate across the nation. Chief among these were the bourgeois lawyers, educated men with an interest in the many laws involved. They realized, almost en masse, that they could start to reshape France if they took their chance, and they were determined to do so. Choosing the Estates To choose the estates, France was divided up into 234 constituencies. Each had an electoral assembly for the nobles and clergy while the third estate was voted on by every male taxpayer over twenty-five years of age. Each sent two delegates for the first and second estates and four for the third. In addition, every estate in every constituency was required to draw up a list of grievances, the cahiers de doleances. Every level of French society was thus involved in voting and vocalizing their many grievances against the state, drawing in people across the nation. Expectations were high. The election results provided the elites of France with many surprises. Over three-quarters of the first estate (the clergy) were parish priests rather than the previously dominant orders like bishops, less than half of which made it. Their cahiers called for higher stipends and access to the highest positions in the church. The second estate was no different, and the many courtiers and high-ranking nobles, who assumed they’d be automatically returned, lost out to lower level, much poorer men. Their cahiers reflected a very divided group, with only 40% calling for voting by order and some even calling for voting by head. The third estate, in contrast, proved to be a relatively united group, two-thirds of which were bourgeois lawyers. Estates General   The Estates General opened on May 5th. There was no guidance from the king or Necker on the key question of how the Estates General would vote; solving this was supposed to be the first decision they took. However, that had to wait until the very first task was finished: each estate had to verify the electoral returns of their respective order. The nobles did this immediately, but the third estate refused, believing that separate verification would inevitably lead to separate voting. The lawyers and their fellows were going to put their case forward from the very start. The clergy passed a vote which would have allowed them to verify but they delayed to seek a compromise with the third estate. Discussions between all three took place over the following weeks, but time passed and patience began to run out. People in the third estate began to talk about declaring themselves a national assembly and taking the law into their own hands. Critically for the history of the revolution, and while the first and second estates met behind closed doors, the third estate meeting had always been open to the public. The third estate deputies thus knew they could count on tremendous public support for the idea of acting unilaterally, as even those who didnt attend the meetings could read all about what happened in the many journals which rep orted it. On June 10th, with patience running out, Sieyà ¨s proposed that a final appeal should be sent to the nobles and clergy asking for a common verification. If there wasn’t one, then the third estate, now increasingly calling itself the Commons, would carry on without them. The motion passed, the other orders remained silent, and the third estate resolved to carry on regardless. The revolution had begun. National Assembly On June 13th, three parish priests from the first estate joined the third, and sixteen more followed in the next few days, the first breakdown between the old divisions. On June 17th, Sieyà ¨s proposed and had passed a motion for the third estate to now call itself a National Assembly. In the heat of the moment, another motion was proposed and passed, declaring all taxes illegal, but allowing them to continue until a new system was invented to replace them. In one quick motion, the National Assembly had gone from simply challenging the first and second estates to challenging the king and his sovereignty by making themselves responsible for the laws on tax. Having been sidelined with grief over the death of his son, the king now began to stir and the regions around Paris were reinforced with troops. On June 19th, six days after the first defections, the entire first estate voted to join the National Assembly. June 20th brought another milestone, as the National Assembly arrived to find the doors of their meeting place locked and soldiers guarding it, with notes of a Royal Session to occur on the 22nd. This action even outraged opponents of the National Assembly, members of which feared their dissolution was imminent. In the face of this, the National Assembly moved to a nearby tennis court where, surrounded by crowds, they took the famous Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to disperse until their business was done. On the 22nd, the Royal Session was delayed, but three noblemen joined the clergy in abandoning their own estate. The Royal Session, when it was held, wasnt the blatant attempt to crush the National Assembly which many had feared but instead saw the king present an imaginative series of reforms which would have been considered far-reaching a month before. However, the king still used veiled threats and referred to the three different estates, stressing they should obey him. The members of the National Assembly refused to leave the session hall unless it was at bayonet point and proceeded to retake the oath. In this decisive moment, a battle of wills between king and assembly, Louis XVI meekly agreed they could stay in the room. He broke first. In addition, Necker resigned. He was persuaded to resume his position shortly afterward, but the news spread and pandemonium broke out. More nobles left their estate and joined the assembly. With the first and second estates now clearly wavering and the support of the army in doubt, the king ordered the first and second estates to join the National Assembly. This triggered public displays of joy and the members of the National Assembly now felt they could settle down and write a new constitution for the nation; more had already happened than many dared to imagine. It was already a sweeping change, but the crown and public opinion would soon change these expectations beyond all imagining. The Storming of the Bastille and the End of Royal Power The excited crowds, fueled by weeks of debate and angered by rapidly rising grain prices did more than just celebrate: on June 30th, a mob of 4000 people rescued mutinous soldiers from their prison. Similar displays of popular opinion were matched by the crown bringing ever more troops into the area. National Assembly appeals to stop reinforcing were refused. Indeed, on July 11th, Necker was sacked and more martial men brought in to run the government. A public uproar followed. On the streets of Paris, there was a sense that another battle of wills between the crown and people had begun, and that it might turn into a physical conflict. When a crowd demonstrating in the Tuileries gardens was attacked by cavalry ordered to clear the area, the longstanding predictions of military action seemed to be coming true. The population of Paris began to arm itself in response and retaliated by attacking toll gates. The next morning, the crowds went after arms but found stacks of stored grain too; looting began in earnest. On July 14th, they attacked the military hospital of the Invalides and found ​cannon. This ever-growing success led the crowd to the Bastille, the great-prison fortress and dominant symbol of the old regime, in search of the gunpowder stored there. At first, the Bastille refused to surrender and people were killed in the fighting, but rebel soldiers arrived with the cannon from the Invalides and forced the Bastille to submit. The great fortress was stormed and looted, the man in charge lynched.​ The storming of the Bastille demonstrated to the king that he couldn’t rely on his soldiers, some of whom had already defected. He had no way of enforcing royal power and conceded, ordering the units around Paris to withdraw rather than try and start a fight. Royal power was at an end and sovereignty had passed to the National Assembly. Crucially for the future of the Revolution, the people of Paris now saw themselves as the saviors and defenders of the National Assembly. They were the guardians of the revolution.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers

How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers Promote your blog post. Sage advice for the content marketer. If you’re anything like me, writing a blog post takes time. Lots of it. In fact, this post took me about 15 hours to write. And now I have to promote it, too? Exactly when am I supposed to do the other work required to keep my business going? I’m in the process of launching a new company. I have a new website, a new blog, and a new product. And like all businesses, I wanted to get my marketing engine going but didn’t have time to spend hours both writing great content and promoting it. Over the years, I’ve developed three strategies to promote blog posts, drive traffic to your site, and collect emails even if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands. In this post, Im going to share with you in detail what has quickly become my absolute favorite strategy for promoting a blog post in 20 minutes: Content syndication. How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers In No Time via @GregDigneoThe 20-Minute Traffic Strategy I just launched a new blog. No traffic, no email addresses, no backlinks. No nothing. If you’ve ever launched a blog of your own, I’m sure you know there is absolutely no truth to the axiom, â€Å"If you build it, they will come.† Back on April 6th, I published my first blog post called â€Å"How to Reach Over 1 Million People Through Guest Blogging.† This is the original post published on my blog. And for more than  three months, the post just sat there. I was getting pretty much zero traffic. It wasn’t generating traffic. It wasn’t collecting email addresses. It wasn’t being read. In order to promote the post, I decided to republish the post on the popular marketing blog, SteamFeed. A strategy called content syndication. As soon as I syndicated that one post to that one blog, I immediately started seeing a small (but steady) flow of traffic to my site. After I syndicated content, my traffic increased. And I even started collecting email addresses. Once people see your content, they'll know you write great stuff. That influences email subscribers. And the whole thing took just 20 minutes. Look, syndicating one post on one popular blog isn’t the silver bullet to content marketing riches.   Like everything, consistency over time can lead to big results. James Clear, of JamesClear.com, built his blog from 500 email subscribers to an email list of 100,000 people and 250,000 unique visitors per month  by syndicating  his content. All in less than 2 years. So let’s get into the nitty gritty of how to syndicate your content on another blog. How To Syndicate Your Content On A Popular Blog Unlike other promotion strategies, by the time you’re ready to syndicate your content, 95% of the heavy lifting is complete. The hardest part of the process is writing a great blog post. So let’s start there. Step 1: Publish a  great post. What makes content great? The truth is, great content is like a great work of art. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Great content is like a great work of art. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.And the bar for great content is being raised every single day. What was considered â€Å"great† last week is average today. So instead of showing you how to write great content, the best I can do is give you 3 guidelines that have helped me write great posts. 1. Detailed How-To Post Leave no stone unturned. When you write a "how-to" post, you want to be as descriptive as possible. Make sure that you include every little detail about how to achieve a task.   At the end of the post, the reader should be able to replicate every single step without fail. For example, I would consider this a detailed â€Å"how-to† post. 2. Personal Experience People can always relate to a personal experience. We all struggle. We’ve all been down on our luck in some way shape or form. What makes for a really great blog post is when we open up about these struggles. We share a bit of our vulnerability. We open up and let people identify with us. Why? Because at some point in time, we’ve all been down on our luck, or we are all going through some struggle right now. 3.   Case Studies Which headline sounds more interesting? "How to get more traffic?" or "Case Study: How a brand new blog got 5,300 unique visitors and 230 email addresses in one week." I don’t know about you, but I’ll pass on the first headline and devour the second one. The â€Å"get more traffic† post has been done. A lot. It’s boring. But the nature of the case study headline is that it promises to give very specific tips, tricks, and strategies that I’m going to want to copy. Step 2: Create bonus material. The bonus content is designed to be complementary to your blog post in order to entice people to give you their email address. For example, in my guest blogging post, I created 3 pieces of content to put into a bonus. First, I turned my blog into a checklist. I hired a designer on Fiverr to make it look a little nicer. Since I’ve been guest posting for a while, I had a list of 101 blogs that accept guest posts. And finally, I gave away the copy for my highest converting byline and landing page and called it a â€Å"Traffic and Conversion Swipe file.† While it may sound like a lot of work to create all of this content, repurposing things that you have on your digital bookshelf will speed up the process. Recommended Reading:  Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers Step 3: Turn your post into a lead magnet. My main goal as a content marketer is to build an email list. However, not all of the traffic will go to a landing page. Quite a bit will go to your original post. Let’s make sure that we capture as many email addresses as possible. Here’s what I did: 1. Exclusive Blog Bonus Right before the first subheadline, I created an â€Å"exclusive blog bonus†. This is the bonus material that you created in step 2. Exclusive blog bonuses provide relevant content right in your blog posts in exchange for email addresses. In order to get access to the bonus material, the reader has to click on the link and enter their email address. This is what’s known as a content upgrade. As far as I can tell, Brian Dean is the pioneer of this strategy. I will repurpose this material multiple times during the content syndication process. 2. Customized Email Capture Form In The Footer A lot of blogs have email capture forms in their footers. But most bloggers don’t customize the form. This is a huge mistake. If someone spends 15 minutes reading your blog post, chances are they are interested in the topic and want to find out more. I used the WordPress plugin Thrive Leads to easily create a customized email capture form that complements the blog post a visitor just read. After reading a post on guest blogging, I figured it’d be natural to want a list of blogs accepting guest posts. Gather leads and promote your blog with exclusive blog bonuses. 3. Targeted Opt-In I’m not going to lie, I hate light boxes. But they work. So, I made a compromise. First, I created a targeted opt-in. Once again, unlike the generic opt-ins that you see on most blogs, this one relates directly to my post on guest blogging. And second, I set the box to only appear on the exit intent. This means that the popup will only appear when the person is about to hit the back button. I probably sacrifice a few conversions, but it keeps the reader experience clean. Exit intent light boxes or popups are great ways to capture leads as they leave your blog. Step 4: Find a blog to syndicate the content to. In the business space, there are quite a few blogs that are looking for content syndication opportunities. They are: Business2Community: A popular multi-author business blog. Social Media Today: A popular multi-author social media blog similar to Social Media Examiner. Business Insider: A popular business publication. Having a relationship with an editor will help your chances greatly. BizSugar: Popular posts featured on Bizsugar will get published on Small Business Trends AllBusiness: A popular multi-author small business website. Huffington Post: One of the largest blogging platforms in the world. Kristi Hines has put together a few more sites  that routinely syndicate content. If none of these blogs work for you, then you can always use Google. First, you can use the search query: â€Å"This blog was originally published on†.   This is because Google requires all syndicated posts to contain this message (or something similar). Second, you can use the search query: â€Å"Sites accepting syndicated content†. Other bloggers have curated sites for you. This will help you broaden your reach. Step 5: Pitch the editor. As in most instances, having a relationship with the editor of the popular blog will enhance your chances of getting the post accepted. For example, I had written several guest posts on SteamFeed before being able to syndicate content to the site. However, cold outreach can still work. It just takes some persistance. If it is a large blog such as Business Insider or The Huffington Post, the blog will have several editors. By doing a Google search, you should be able to find the name and email address of the editor that fits your niche. Here is the email script I’d use to syndicate my post: Subject: Syndicate This Post About Guest Blogging Hi (name of blog editor), I wrote the following post which details a step-by-step guide to getting a guest post accepted on a popular blog. I leave absolutely no stone unturned and I think that SteamFeed.com readers will love it. Here’s the link: (include the URL) If you enjoy it, I’d love to see it republished on your blog. Greg Tip:  Research the editor of the blog or who you are pitching to. One of the biggest turn-offs for editors  is seeing  that the person asking you for a favor didn't even take the time to look up your name. The Best Way To Syndicate Your Content In 20 Easy MinutesStep 6: Rewrite your conclusion. The only change that I made from the original post to the syndicated post is the conclusion. I built in a call to action so that people will get even more information on guest blogging. I borrowed this strategy from Bryan Harris  in order to help me increase the amount of email subscribers that I received. Here it is: Now let’s break it down: The first thing you want to do is wrap up the post (pink box). This is a way to tie everything together. As you can see, a sentence or two can get the job done. Next, you want to introduce the â€Å"Exclusive Blog Bonus† that you created for the original post. If you look at the green box, you’ll see I used three bullets to let people know exactly what they were going to get. Finally, you need a call to action. I used LeadBoxes from LeadPages to create a content upgrade so that people can download the bonus directly from the SteamFeed blog. They don’t have to go to a landing page! Step 7: Create a landing page. Now that you’ve gotten your content  syndicated on the blog of your choice, it’s time to create a high converting landing page. Here are 2 key components to a landing page that will convert traffic into leads: 1. A Relevant Offer Instead of sending them to a generic landing page, I would create an offer like â€Å"5 Ways Facebook Dark Posts Can Get You Cheap Traffic† or something like that. An offer like this is irresistible to a reader who just spent a considerable amount of time reading about Facebook ads. 2. Personalize It A personalized landing page can help you see a huge boost in conversions on your landing page. And it’s incredibly easy to do. For instance, let’s say I’ve just finished a post on Social Media Examiner. As soon as someone came from that post to my landing page, the first thing they would see is â€Å"Welcome Social Media Examiner Readers.† Neil Patel, of Quick Sprout fame, says that he sees a bump in conversion by 10% by personalizing  the landing page. Not too shabby for a few seconds of work. Step 8: Write your byline. I always write my byline last. That way, I can easily match my call to action to the offer that I created for the guest post. A byline should answer 3 questions: Who are you? What do you do? Where can I learn more about you? For instance, my byline was: Greg Digneo is the founder of Birchfield, a software company that helps content marketers build their email list through referrals. We are in beta. Click here for early access. Bonus: SEO implications I’m no SEO expert by any means. I know my way around backlinking a bit. And I can insert keywords into a post. But I would remiss if I left out the search engine implications of â€Å"duplicate content† in a post that is largely about duplicate content. When I was doing some research, I found a few things that will mitigate SEO issues. First, you should wait at least two weeks to syndicate your content.   This will give the various search engines enough time to index the original post on your site. Second, at the bottom of your post, add the sentence â€Å"This article was originally published on†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Each blog will have its  own syntax. But you need to tell search engines that the article is duplicated content and show them where it is. Finally, if you have access to the WordPress editor, you can add your URL to the â€Å"Canonical URL† section in the Yoast SEO plugin. This will ensure that the syndicated post is linked back to the original. Tag your syndicated posts as canonical with Yoast. One More Thing†¦ When I first published my blog post â€Å"How to Reach over 1 Million People Through Guest Blogging†, I didn’t have an audience. No one was tweeting it. No one was sharing it. No one was talking about it. But when I syndicated my post on a popular blog, magic happened. People read it, 267 people shared it (and counting), and I got exposure to my startup. This is what my syndicated post looked like on SteamFeed. That’s the power of content syndication. Want 2 More Ways To Promote Your Post If You’re a Busy Content Marketer? As I've focused more and more time on my startup, I’ve had less time to promote my blog posts. Working as a content marketer for the past few years, I’ve created two additional effective promotion strategies that you can use to get traffic and collect emails for your business. I’ll go in detail how you can use these strategies to grow your business.  Click here and enter your name and email address and I'll shoot them over to you immediately.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Communication Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication Theory - Essay Example The various functions of the communication theory will be discussed briefly which include the function of measuring the amount of information is transmitted, the amount of information being generated, the different types of sources, the interdependence of these sources and concepts such as noise, equivocation and causality of information. The chapter will provide a basic understanding of these concepts and will provide a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the theory in measuring communication taking place. The communication theory is a purely quantitative theory used to measure how much information is transmitted to be associated in a given state of affairs and which would then in turn provide a measure as to how much information will be available at various points. This theory discusses the amounts of information being transmitted, not the type of information, as the name provides a misleading direction. In respect to studying the amount of information generated this theory works in a sort of elimination technique removing all the possibilities which have been calculated to not exist. Eliminating all the choices which will not occur provides information as to the narrowing down of the decision. A binary decision, where the elimination of half the possibilities takes place till the required outcome is obtained, is also an elimination technique used to generate information related to selections (tossing of coins selecting the winner and eliminating the loser). Bits are the number of times a binary decision has to take place before getting to the required outcome. The general formula used to compute the amount of information generated is: I(s) = log n Here the I(s) is used to denote the amount of information generated by the association of the source. n is the number of equal possibilities that may or may not occur. This formula raises a point which must be distinguished that is that the amount of information (in bits) created by some state of affairs is different from the number of binary digits that will be used to represent the state of affairs. Both are different aspects. Using binary digits instead of distinguishable characteristics can cause in the creation of less efficient codes and would cause a more complex selection and elimination process. I(s) can also be referred to as the average amount of information generated by the source which is also called the entropy of the source at s. Similarly a source r can take place. This source causes an elimination of alternatives and can be interdependent with the source s. Thus I(s) and I(r) are also interdependent. But sometimes the possibilities of occurrences are not equable. These different possibilities s1, s2,,sn can be written in the form of p(si). This is often called the surprisal of the particular event. These formulas and probabilities prove that the communication theory deals with the sources rather than be concerned with the particular messages or the amount of information associated with the events occurrence. When calculating the average amount of information associated with a given source I(s) capable of providing different individual results then we take the surprisal values of all the specific individual possibilities of that source. Another thing

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Information Requirements for a Hypothetical Information System Essay

The Information Requirements for a Hypothetical Information System - Essay Example To make the implementation of this new information system a success we will need to fulfill some additional requirements. In this scenario, some staff training will be required for learning and understand the use of the new system. I have outlined below some of the specific requirements: To make the implementation of this new information system a success we will need to fulfill some additional requirements. In this scenario, some staff training will be required for learning and understand the use of the new system. I have outlined below some of the specific requirements:†¢ Staff Training Manual development  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training seating arrangement development  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training instructor selections and interview  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training books distribution  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training course content development  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training area definition  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training operations definition†¢ Staff daily learning schedule development†¢ Staff Training area assessment  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Staff Training material approval†¢ Staff Training timetable distribution. In the previous phases, we have presented an overview of the system which we are going to develop the shopping mall management. We have also presented a feasibility study report for this project. In this phase of the system development life cycle, we will present the information requirements for the shopping mall management system. In addition, these requirements will be classified into different categories and each category will demonstrate specific requirements.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Time Management Essay Example for Free

Time Management Essay Time Management in the Business World It is true that the majority of the time, people learn to manage their time the proverbial hard way (i.e. working late at night, trial and error, barely meeting deadlines, etc.). The definition of time management can be stated to be the process of both controlling and understanding the time spent on a variety of activities. Time management is by and large affected by a variety of certain methods, techniques that are utilized to accomplish the goals, objectives and tasks at a company within a particular time frame. Time management has typically been discussed in business sectors, however, throughout the years; there have been an incorporation of personal activities within the topic. Literature has noted that how one manages their time is a fundamental question that should be inquired upon within the business management arena. The subject of what is time has also been expressed in the business area in order to get individuals to better understand how to utilize it more effectively and more efficiently. The definition of effectiveness is being able to accomplish a given project in a prudent manner; while efficiency operates on ensuring that the tasks associated with the given project run as smoothly as they possibly can (Adair and Allen, 2003; Covey, 2004; Saunders et al., 2004). Ritter (1989), Irons (2003) and Schwartz and McCarthy (2007) ruminate that the core issue surrounding time management is that time is a resource that is restricted and that employees have to have energy for a business to run successfully. Schwartz and McCarthy (2007) took a step further by stating that the behaviors and rituals associated with employees at companies have a direct effect on that companys revenue and reputation in addition to the factors of performance and productivity. Hence, time management becomes an even more precise concept to both analyze and examine in order that businesses function to the best of their ability (Jex and Elacqua, 1999). Time management is a â€Å"balancing act† ( Friemann, 2000). Employees and staff at certain companies and corporations have problems with time management mostly as a consequence of not learning how to manage their time prior to entering  into the career world (Chase, 2003; Gamauf, 2012), personal and/or workplace stressors (Adebisi, 2013) and a lack of discipline (Viswanathan and Olsen, 1992; Kay, 2011; Mancini, 2003). To combat the issue of time management, certain journal articles have posited that management needs to implement certain types of strategies that help employees, managers and staff manage time well within certain projects and tasks that they are given (Anonymous, 2009; Chesbrough and Appleyard, 2007; Oshagbemi, 1995; Oncken and Wass, 1999; Nagra, 2011). There is reason to believe that certain strategies along the lines of goal setting (Irons, 2003), Pareto analysis; and quadrant goal implementation also referred to as the Eisenhower Method (Adair and Allen, 2003; Mancini, 2003; Thatcher, 2006), as well the my time or yours strategy noted in (Saunders et al., 2004), which outlined the importance of time management for companies and corporations that operate on both virtual teams and what would be perceived as the typical 9-5 work routine. Certain literature has even posited that certain strategies work better at particular times of the year (Bingham et al., 2011). What essentially the n is the best practice associated with time management? How can companies and corporations ensure that their staff is managing time to the best of their ability so that they run smoothly? Statement of the Problem Time management is a problem. Many companies and corporations often suffer at the hands of goals and projects not being completed on time. This results in cutbacks, frustrated employees and workers who are not being recognized accordingly (i.e. appraisals, compensation) (HRLook.com, 2007; Mancini, 2003) and a lack of output for the companys products. While trial and error is typically the best way individuals learn to manage their time better, it becomes all the more important in the business management setting that time is managed, and managed properly; just not at the expense of the employees, managers and staff. Description of the Problem The focus of my research then will be to determine the best strategy (ies) that companies can implement to curtail the issue of time management. What courses of actions and methods best suit all sectors? While that is a loaded question, as there are many strategies that can be put into motion within  companies and corporations, there is rationale to ascertain that one strategy or two at a minimum can be employed in all areas of business management (in all sectors). As aforementioned, there are many different courses of action that a company can take in terms of aiding employees and staff to manage their time better so goals are properly executed. Stephen Covey (2004), in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People stated that time management could be approached from any of his four categories: first generation, which was noted to be based on timepiece, whose job is alerting individuals that a duty needs to be completed; second generation, which was more along the lines of planning solely based on setting goals; third generation, which was a prioritization technique utilizing certain objects daily to elucidate priorities efficiently and fourth generation, which was a blend of the first through third categories with urgent matters taking precedence (Covey, 2004). Perhaps, his discussion on time management can be expounded upon in the research to better understand what strategy actually works and what does not, the best. Definition of Key Terms Each of the presented key terms will be used throughout the research to highlight the topic of time management in the business sector. * Attention management which relates to an individuals devotion of the resources mentally to a particular outcome or task (Mancini, 2003; Warren, 2008). * The action item which is defined as what needs to take place within a particular task (Mancini, 2003). * Chronemics the study of nonverbal contact within the field of business management. Perceptions associated with interfacing and promptness fall within the realm of chronemics (Mancini, 2003). * Goal Matrix – technique associated with prioritizing what is most essential to be completed (Mancini, 2003). * Pareto Analysis – a statistical technique used to have efficient use of resources (Mancini, 2003). * Prospective memory – which is remembering to perform tasks when they are needing to be performed (Srivannaboon and Milosevic, 2006). * Perception of time – a psycholog ical term that refers to the subjective interpretation of what time is (Adair and Allen, 2003; Dight, n.d.). * Time management systems – tools that aid and support employees and staff to better manage their time (Mancini, 2003). Purpose of Study/Methodology Literature will be examined regarding time management. Each of the terms presented will be explicitly defined and discussed. In addition to the literature, questions will be asked throughout the research paper regarding time management such as why has certain strategies been more effective than others throughout the years; is it a manager’s job to motivate their staff to properly carry out duties; what has happened to companies that did not employ any kind of time management skills and strategies to their business; why is time management such an issue; can time management really be trained. In addition to these questions being answered in detail, much attention will be paid to the types of strategies associated with time management. Common strategies and not so common strategies will be important. With the methodology area of the research paper, interviews and/or surveys will be needed to assess and examine how individuals manage their time. While the crux of the research paper is on time management in business, time management is an important component in daily living as well. Thus, the function of the interviews and/surveys will be twofold: to delineate whether time management is a problem or is it laziness; and whether certain strategies that are being implemented by individuals in their daily activities can be incorporated into the business arena and vice versa. This will serve to highlight both the importance of time management and efficient use of time. Additional methodologies may arise throughout the course of the research that may lend itself to more literature reviewing, and analysis of a quantitative nature. Presently, there appear to be no limitations with this particular scope of topic, given the considerable and vast amount of information on it. While that does not contend that limitations will not present themselves over the course of the research, it can be posited that the research question will be answered. References Adair, J., Allen, M. (2003). Time management and personal development (ebook ed.). London, UK: Thorogood Publishing Ltd. Adebisi, J. F. (2013). Time Management Practices and Its Effect on Business Performance. Canadian Social Science, 9(1), 165-168. Anonymous (2009). Defining ‘‘strategy’’. Strategic Direction, 25(4), 9-11. Bingham, C. B., Eisenhardt, K. M., Furr, N. R. (2011, Fall). Which Strategy When?MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, 53(1), 70-79. Chesbrough, H. W., Appleyard, M. M. (2007). Open Innovation and Strategy .CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW, 50(1), 57-76. Covey, S. R. (2004). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Free Press. Dight, E. (n.d.). How do you view time? asks Eileen Dight. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from PerceptionsofTime.com website: http://perceptionoftime.com/ Friemann, M. (2000, September 14). Time management a key homebuilding skill. The Pantagraph, 1-2. Gamauf, M. (2012, October 1). Time Management Skills. DOM Notebook, 108(10), 1-3. Herbane, B., Elliott, D., Swartz, E. M. (2004). Business Continuity Management: time for a strategic role? Long Range Planning, 37(4), 435-457. HRLook.com (2007, J une 29). Time-management skills concern employers. C2. Irons, L. M. (2003, May). Time Valuing: A Teaching Strategy for Time Management. American Journal of Health Education;, 34(3), 172-173. Jex, S. M., Elacqua, T. C. (1999). Time management as a moderator of relations between stressors and employee strain. Work Stress, 13(2), 182-191. Kay, B. (2011, March). 3 Strategies for Better Time Management. Journal of Financial Planning, 26-27. Mancini, M. (2003). Time Management (ebook ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Nagra, M. M. (2011, October). Human Capital Strategy: Talent Management. October-December 2011 33 THE ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT JOURNAL, 31-37. Oncken, Jr., W., Wass, D. L. (1999). Management Time: Whos Got the Monkey? Harvard Business Review, 1-7. Oshagbemi, T. (1995). Management development and managers’ use of their time.Journal of Management Development, 14(8), 19-34. Ritter, M. G. (1989). Cultivating time management skills. Case Notes, 16(6), 264-265. Saunders, C., Van Slyke, C., Vogel, D. R. (2004). My time or yours? Managing time visions in global virtual teams. Academy of Management Executive, 18(1), 19-31. Schwartz, T., McCarthy, C. (2007, October). Manage Your E nergy, Not Your Time.Harvard Business Review, 1-10. Srivannaboon, S., Milosevic, D. Z. (2006). A two-way influence between business strategy and project management. International Journal of Project Management,24, 493-505. Thatcher, M. (2006, March). Breathing life into business strategy. Strategic HR Review,5(3), 28-31. Viswanathan, M., Olsen, E. M. (1992, Winter). The Implementation of Business Strategies: Implications for the Sales Function. The Journal of Personal Selling Sales Management, 12(1), 45-57. Warren, K. (2008, Spring). Dynamic Strategy. Business Strategy Review, 68-70.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Teaching an Applied Critical Thinking Course: How Applied Can We Get? E

Teaching an Applied Critical Thinking Course: How Applied Can We Get? ABSTRACT: Encouraging students to apply classroom knowledge in their personal, everyday life is a major problem confronting many teachers of critical thinking. For example, while a student might recognize an ad hominem argument in a classroom exercise, it is quite another thing for him or her to avoid the same in interpersonal relations, say with parents, siblings, and peers. One approach to this problem is the creation of interaction software to which students can turn for input on the rationality of their own thinking. Students can then speak to computers rather than instructors about their private lives without having to share confidential information with any other human being, yet still receive relevant feedback. I discuss software technology that actually performs this function. The software in question is an interactive, artificial intelligence program that checks beliefs for faulty thinking ("fallacies"), including inductive and deductive errors. The system "scans" student es says for possible fallacies; asks questions at relevant junctions; provides individualized feedback on fallacies committed; provides summaries of fallacies found; diagnoses thinking problems; issues recommendations; and provides other pertinent information. The current movement in "applied philosophy" has helped to re-awaken the Socratic notion that philosophy is a way of living and not merely an academic pursuit. The crux of this movement has been that philosophical theories and methods can make valuable contributions to practical life problems. One very visible area of applied philosophy has been that of ethics. Thus, applied ethics today includes applications of philosoph... ... of fallacy commission in each of the five groups of fallacies addressed in the course. In a sample of about 150 community college students, the mean total score on the PLAI pre-test was 132.543, whereas the total mean score on the post-test was 113.647 indicating a overall improvement (across all five fallacy categories) of 18.896. CONCLUSION While, at this juncture, more data needs to be collected and its significance evaluated, there is reason to think that instructors of critical thinking can, with the assistance of computer technology such as that summarized above, effectively narrow the gap between classroom and students' "external" world. Without undue invasions of students' privacy, instructors can oversee and assess their students efforts in applying critical thinking to personal living. And they can do this without ever having to leave the classroom!

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Expedia vs Thomas Cook, the E-Tourism

This new way of preparing and booking a travel has totally transformed the travel market in etiologic terms: changing of customer behavior; and In economic term: reduction of costs, low price, competitiveness†¦ Bit by bit, the place of offline agencies become less important, creating a disruption in the market. These agencies have seen their sales fell but also and above all their market share. We will see in a first part, a presentation of the tourism market, Its history; Its figures accompanied of concrete examples, France and united states.With the development of Internet, intermediaries are evolved, reducing the market share of traditional agency and increasing the part of online company. Competition has increase allowing to develop a price competition, more favorable for customers. Travel agency must adapted in order to stay competitive and follow the evolution. B) Story of travel agency Thomas Cook, international travel agency is the first one to have organized a travel in rain for a group of about 540 people in 1841 in United Kingdom.In 1845, he opens his first agency, the first travel agency. The concept is to offer travel in train or steamboat toward various destinations: Europe, USA†¦ With the development of this concept the company integrate hotels at its portfolio, allowing sell and organism all the travel. This concept is to take over a competitor, Club Med in 1950, offering fly and complete stay with various activities. Before the Second World War, tourism industry stay reserved to wealthy people in spite of the obtaining of paid leave in 1914 in US ND 1936 in France .Consequently, tourism become accessible at a larger population after the second world war thanks to technological innovations and arbitration allowing the development of travel agency and foremost the development of other way to travel: car and plane, real substitute to train in order to go abroad easily. The new way of transport, the plane is the veritable sign of boom of agencies. Indeed, plane allows to move people toward far away countries: Asia, Caribbean†¦ Thanks to continual innovation, plane can transport more and more people, on greater distances and allowing higher savings.Boat is also a way of transport that favors development and so success of travel agencies. In the 19th century, liner is the principal way of transport through ocean and sea, allowing to transport a lot of people. Today, this type of transportation is above all destined for cruise, which offer a complete service: transport; activities; accommodation; swimming pool; call†¦ The last but not the least innovation impacted on travel agencies is Internet. With the global development of Internet, the tourism industry, especially for travel agencies, is completely modified.With Internet, customer is freer, he can compare an offer with other agencies; he can buy a ticket or do a reservation directly without pass by an agency; he can do reserve about destination alone, no need of an advisor†¦ Consequently, agencies become more an advisor than an intermediary between clients and professionals. In a large part, clients do research in Internet about that they want: which country; how; when†¦ But come back toward agency, because agency is more ability to do reservation and propose adapted formula.The problem AT Internet Is Tanat sources AT International or reservation are too Important, too numerous. Customer is often lost and do not which website or offer is reliable or not. But this problem is not important when we see advantages of Internet concerning tourism. In more that the development of specialized website, comparing offer of different company or agency, allowing to chose the best one thanks to various criteria of chose; Internet allows the development of travel agency specialized in Internet and so offering lower cost.Moreover, with Internet, customer can reserve a flight directly to the air company and can reserve directly his accommo dation in the country chosen, reducing costs. Indeed, when clients do reservation for a travel through an agency, the final bill is more expensive in view of the committee of the agency. C) Evolution of travel agency 1- USA example: With the development of Internet, the function of travel agency has really changed leading the diminution of the number of agency in the world. To prove that, we can take the example of United States.In USA in 2008, the number of travel agencies is from of 34,000 to 18,000 in one year . Indeed, even if sales of travel agencies are stables, their part in comparison of global sales (sales in internet, direct sales†¦ ) decreases. The following chart, show the evolution of market share between 2006 and 2009 of agencies in comparison to the market in USA in billion dollar: This reduction of agencies' market share is due to changing that brings Internet. People have less and less recourse to agency for their traditional travel.People who get used to a tra ditional travel (I. E. : go every summer in Hawaii) how the country, how hotel, airplane company†¦ They can organism their travel themselves. But for specific travel, inordinate travel, toward inhabitable destinations like Africa or Asia or for specific need (wedding); people prefer again pas by an agency which know everything is necessary to know about the destination and know prepare the travel. In 2006 in USA, traditional travel agency reserves still 77% of cruises and 73% of formula .The changing can be visible also by prices. To penetrate the market traditionally reserved to travel agencies; online agencies are completely broken prices, becoming an important competitors for travel agencies in term of offer and so in term of price. Internet was view like a competitor for traditional agencies, but today Internet is more view like an asset, allowing to develop new tools and new offers to be more nominative than company which are completely on internet like Expedited, Orbits, Traceability or Principle.However, for agencies which are not on Internet, result can be dramatic, the non-adaptation of evolution with Internet can be a disadvantage for these agencies. 2- France example: 10 snow ten evolution AT travel Ministry In ten world, we can also we Interest on ten French market, even if evolution is global, another point of comparison allows to show the really impact of Internet on this industry. In France, tourism is the market where purchases on Internet are the most important, 58% of Internet user are already by a ravel on Internet.Travel online generated Ð ²?8 billion in 2009 more 15% compared with 2008; 35% of French people are reserved their travel online for this same year . This figure increases constantly showing the important for travel agency to have in place in the online offer. But 40% of suppliers of travel do not offer online reservation, which is for this player a lack of earns but also an opportunity of development. With the development o f Internet, people have possibility to prepare or reserve their travel; it is important to make a distinction between both because a person who repaper his holidays on Internet do not necessary reserved it online.Indeed, 64% of French people prepare their travel on Internet in order to have a larger offer (comparison between the different offer) and in order to find the offer the most adapted. Moreover for 39%, Internet allows to find travel less expensive rather than in agency. Consequently Internet is an important source of information to prepare a travel, 91% of traveler are consulted Internet before buy an offer in agency. To find information about a travel, people prefer more and more find information on Internet rather than go in office of tourism or travel agency.Indeed, 77% of French people prefer go on Internet to find information that they need; than 21% go on agency. In France, the five website of travel the most visited are: – voyage-sync – legitimates â₠¬â€œ provenances – expedited – pods Like we can see, in this five best website of travel, none is a travel agency (website), showing that website specialized on Internet (no agency) are more important than website of companies which are also on Internet. Internet is a real and indispensable tool to find the good travel at lower price. In France: will of customers online and offline Indicators Online buyers Offline buyers Both buyers

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Civil Rights Essay

Although the 1960’s are usually considered the decade of greatest achievement for black civil rights, the 1940’s and 1950’s were periods of equally important gains. Asses the Validity of this statement. Equality was always a touchy subject following the civil war. Following the war, the north did not put emphasis on equality for all men. It took almost a century longer for complete equality to be achieved. Clearly these changes did not come around quickly, and it took a large group effort to bring about change. The ending results of the fight for Civil Rights that came in the 1960’s are of equal or even lesser importance to the events that enacted the change during the 1940’s and 1950’s. The 1960’s were a time of great results of the effort to establish civil rights for African Americans. In the earl sixties, movements such as the Freedom Riders were still in full effect, but the government was beginning to sway to the black side. President Kennedy brings the Civil Rights Bill to congress in 1963. It is put down by the southern democrats. As a result, Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement organize a massive political march in Washington. One of the high points of this march is Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. The efforts come to fruition with the passing of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, and Voting Rights Bill of 1965. But the Efforts made in the sixties are mere fractions of the total amount of drive from the previous decades. Civil Rights was an important issue that came up after, and during, WWII. Many Blacks wanted to serve their country in the army, but couldn’t due to military segregation. President Truman brought the Civil Rights issue to light when he established his Committee on Civil Rights. Shortly after the committee was established, the President passed a series of executive orders removing segregation in the military and in the government workforce. This was the first effort taken by the government concerning equal rights for the African Americans. These Efforts promptly continued at the turn of the decade. The Civil Rights movement really began to sink in leading up to it’s peak in  the late fifties. In 1950, a major court ruling changed the face of racial segregation involving schools. The Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education was a shock to the US population that had Blacks all over seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Segregation in schools was ruled a violation of the fourteenth amendment by the court. This ruling was put to the test in 1952 when nine black students attempted to enroll in a public high school. Crowds gathered in order to stop the students. Then, President Eisenhower sent in a group of troop to escort the students to school; showing that the federal government would support the court ruling. More and more Blacks decided to take a stand. In Montgomery, Alabama, Civil Rights activists staged a bus boycott. These events turned more and more people towards the cause. As time went on, activists grew more organized. The events of the 1950’s set up the success that came in the 1960’s The 1940’s and 1940’s were just as important as the 1960’s for the Civil Rights movement because, major events during this era created a sense of unity that allowed for organization in the sixties. It is important not to overlook the necessary preludes to the march on Washington. Although results are finally felt in the sixties, it could never have happened without the bravery of the previous twenty-so years.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Suitability for purpose Research Paper Example

Suitability for purpose Research Paper Example Suitability for purpose Paper Suitability for purpose Paper 1. Suitability for purpose: It was met as it will be obviously decipherable by the user. The main theme of the website is based around the environment and such is shown by the theme/house-style used. The purpose of my website was to make others more aware of environmental issues and this was covered clearly and linked to from the Equipment page for every piece of recycling equipment.Another purpose of the website is to allow those who do not already own any of those pieces of equipment to easily acquire it this was engaged with the viewer by using a different, larger font size which, when clicked on, will link the user to an external website. The final purpose of the website is to make youngsters aware of global issues and how these can be assuaged. This purpose was successfully communicated by the use of simple words, images and an animation, aiding understand.2. Suitability for audience: The likely audience of the website is diverse. Some of those may be randomly browsing to see i f there is anything is interesting, others may want to find out more on how to use their recycling equipment, others want aid in ordering this equipment and, finally, an audience may even be youngsters.Needs for each different group is provided; those browsing around can use the navigation bar to quickly search for what they may find interesting, those wanting to find out how use their equipment merely have to browse to the next where they can choose their required equipment the ordering link is also provided there. Youngsters wanting to access the environmental section only have to click once on Recycling and the Environment button of the navigation bar.3. Readability: Font size has been adjusted to fit the reading atmosphere and purpose of the text. The main heading, Recycle GB, has been inserted into the master-page in order to become common on all the other pages. Sub-headings have also been kept around the same size, with the exception of when there is too much text, protect t he ecosystem recycle.Text colour has also been used with the intention of fitting into an independent theme. Red text, used on the first page, represents urgency and hence is used to prompt users that if there are any problems, they could email the customer support team. Blue text is used casually to introduce/explain text; it is the standard font colour used for this website. Black text is used for formal issues, such as the form and in tables which present information.Arial MT Bold is used for the main heading as it looks more user-friendly than, say, Times New Roman, yet still being standard; it is also easy to read for some people who require more viewing assistance (accessibility). Arial Narrow is used for normal text as it looks different, smaller than most other fonts (therefore more flexible when stretched to fit a box) and looks more formal when is not bold.Language used throughout the website is simple-moderate. There are not many descriptions, those are replaced with tex t-tables, images and animations to aid easier understanding, pertain interest and support the user-friendliness, which users can comment on in the form.4. Usability: Navigation is consistent throughout all pages. Forward and Backward buttons are implemented into each page according to whether they are needed or not. They link a page to another page, in priority/chronological order. For example, the Homepage links users to the Equipment page, where they can either click each individual hotspot to their desired location or could merely click Next until they get there. For those who are not keen on persistent clicking can use the navigation bar. If a person wanted to, say, go to The Black Bin page without having to go to the Equipment page and clicking can hover over Equipment on the navigation bar, highlighting The Black Bin and clicking. The navigation components are clearly sized for users to see and recognise. Highlighting of hyperlinks is automatically used to aid users for clicki ng there. The form is laid out so that users can easily understand it and additional information is provided in brackets: 1=Bad 10=Fantastic. Text to aid the user is provided to ensure they understand the components around the website, The table on the right shows to you more specifically5. Accessibility: As demonstrated in AO2 Evidence, by screenshots, I could create a different master page with contrasting colours and larger-sized fonts in order to make the pages viewable for those with accessibility issues for example I have used a black, white and yellow theme, both the white and yellow contrast with the black to make it easier. Tables have also been used to organise all elements consistently at a suitable size, for example in the hotspot on the Equipment page.ALT tags have also been added to most images in order to help those who cannot see images, either due to accessibility or slow-speed connections, to at minimum read what the picture is displaying.Strengths:* When choosing this assignment title, I had a rigorous idea of what how I was to plan my website, organise it and what to insert in every page this is reinforced by my site-plan* Implementing most components, which were used on the website, from previous units, accurately; Roll-over buttons and the navigation bar from Unit 21, the advertising animation from Unit 20, and various skills from Unit 1 (mainly through the Publisher task)* Good at finding appropriate images of good quality and size using appropriate search functions* I have given each task of the project appropriate timings, building on and linking from previous steps (for example I have consciously structured Task 2, inserting the components into the website, to follow-on to Task 3, inserting the hyperlinks)* Before inserting the components into the website, I have planned thoroughly where they are going to go, what is going to be said (in text) and the reasons for such choices* From visiting internet websites so much, I had a firm id ea about whether my website was actually looking like one or something else, like a Newsletter, for example* From previous practice assignments/tutorials, I had prior experience with the web-design software used, WebPlus 10, before undertaking the assignment.Weaknesses:* Some pages do look as if they have been rushed as they do not contain much activity* Viewers may not understand why different font colours, other than green, like blue, have been used when it does not fit the general house-style. I could have made these inconsistencies more decipherable.* Using tables for some of the components did not fit in well as different images were of different sizes. This often over-squashed images, distorting general readability.* There was some wasted space which I couldnt effectively fill in with more components. This should encourage me to plan with greater precision next time.* More interactivity could have been applied to the website by the use of video and/or background sound* User-fo rm could have been linked to in more ways to encourage user feedback.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Heres How to Tell Your Boss You Have Too Much Work

Heres How to Tell Your Boss You Have Too Much Work You’re totally swamped, but you feel like you can’t tell your boss or she’ll think you’re a wimp- or you’ll be written off for promotion because you just can’t cut the mustard. But if you’re not just being lazy (you’re actually overwhelmed because there’s genuinely too much on your plate), then you might just need to find the right way to broach the subject. Continuing to thrash around with your head just below the surface of the water is not going to win you any medals. You might actually do damage to your career. Remember that being overcommitted and dealing with exhaustion can lead to sloppy mistakes or cut corners- or even failing to get something done on time. Far better to give your boss a heads up so you can continue turning in the top notch work you’d rather put your name to.Here are some guidelines to follow.1. Make it about quality.The way to frame this is that you don’t want to sacrifice quality i n order to keep up a ridiculous level of output. Don’t make any accusations, just present the situation frankly. Say that you’re concerned the high standards you hold yourself to might suffer given your responsibilities overload. Emphasize that you’re totally up for turning out four high-quality projects at a time, but that six is a bit too much.2. Be concrete.Don’t just say you have too much work. Give concrete examples. Explain how you’ve been assigned several projects on top of your regular workload. And how any one of them would be fine, but cumulatively, you’re having trouble keeping balls in the air. Give an estimate of how much time it would take for you to complete each and then the aggregate time. Then explain how it would be impossible to meet all of the deadlines. Tell your boss all the times you’ve stayed late or worked extra hours to finish, without complaint.3. Discuss deadlines and delegation.It might be an easy fix, li ke staggering deadlines, or outsourcing some projects or tasks to other team members to get the thing done (and well) in a timely fashion- especially if there are any general administrative aspects that don’t require your skillset that could be passed along to support staff to free you up to concentrate on the meat of the project. Set clear priorities showing you value the most important projects and understand the importance of getting them done to standard.4. Stay positive.Soften the blow by focusing on the positive. Frame the conversation by saying â€Å"yes† to what you can do, and do well, and not â€Å"no† to all you can’t, i.e., you can do project X, but extra added-on projects and tasks might require you to sacrifice that very important project, which you are not prepared to sacrifice. Keep it positive and use an upbeat, devoted-to-the-company tone, rather than one of despondence or frustration. And show, above all, your willingness to pitch in.5. Ask for help.Never underestimate the power of a third party to help ground you when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Get an outsider’s perspective on your workload. They’ll either tell you to suck it up and get it done, or they’ll validate your feeling that you’re really being asked to juggle far too much.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Firm's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Firm's - Essay Example This is an important figure to know because from this, the revenue price for each product can be calculated. The formula is shown below: To determine Average Total Cost, we need to add the Total Fixed Cost to the above equation. The Total Variable Cost and Total Fixed Cost are summed together and divided by the units of output per day. This figure is another important number to know because it can be added together with the Average Variable Cost to determine the cost per unit. In this case, it would be $49 ($22+$27). The formula for Average Total Cost is displayed below: To find out Worker Productivity, we simply take the units of output per day and divide it by the number of workers. This will give us the number of units that each worker produces each day. This formula is shown below: Both sets of calculations have the firm’s output price at $25 and the Average Variable Cost at $22. The difference is in the Average Total Cost. The first scenario has ATC at $27, while the second scenario has an ATC of $37. However, in both of these cases, the AVC is lower that the output price. Because of this, the firm should not be shut down immediately in either case. In terms of break-even numbers, we need to divide the total loss by the daily wage of each worker. For the first example, the $400,000 loss would be divided by $80 per worker (400,000/80), which equals 5,000 workers. If 5,000 workers were laid off, it would leave a workforce of 45,000. If we assume that production remains steady at 200,000 units per day, this means that Worker Productivity would have to increase from 4 units per day to 4.4 units per day (200,000/45,000). The second case would have a loss of $2,400,000 divided by $80 per worker (2,400,000/80), which would result in a loss of 30,000 workers, leaving the workforce at 20,000 workers. If we assume that production output (200,000 units) remains the same, then each worker would have to produce 10 units per

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Wal-Mart Effect Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Wal-Mart Effect - Research Paper Example Thought Wal-Mart does not manufacture its products, it attains economies of scope because it has lower average cost in selling one or more products together than separately, thereby offering competitive low-priced products. Some mom-and-pop stores, on the opposite, focus on one type of brand or product alone, which reduces their economies of scope, and they cannot lower their prices without affecting their margins. Moreover, Wal-Mart has large and numerous stores with different product types and brands that allow it to shape critical economic factors that can affect purchasing behaviors. Fishman (2006) depicted the swift expansion of Wal-Mart: â€Å"Ten years later, by the end of 2000, Wal-Mart had opened 888 Supercenters, an average of seven new Supercenters per month, 120 months in a row† (p.8). The more shops that Wal-Mart opens, the more it is able to keep its prices lower due to product and sales volume. Hence, economies of scope is a large advantage that small shops cann ot easily beat; hence, they can die or have died due to lower competitiveness in pricing and variety.Aside from economies of scope, large companies can gain economies of scope. Wal-Mart and other firms generate cost savings because of their size in the industry. Wal-Mart has economies of scale because the average cost of selling falls as the volume of products sold increases. It can negotiate with, though some critics would call it â€Å"force,† suppliers to sell goods to them at a lower price since they can purchase larger volumes.