Vladimir Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vladimir - Essay Example he conflict took the ugly turn of vandalism – an act committed in secrecy since the concerned person could not directly confront Vladimir, but he left enough indications of his ire in the message that was scrawled on Vladimir’s car. The easy way to resolve the crisis can be to dismiss the vandal and hand him over to the police together with the evidence, but such an approach would in no way improve the interpersonal relations within the team. On the other hand, it might exasperate the already tense atmosphere since the opposing camps feel justified in the ugly event and the resultant punishment. The conflict would linger and lead to repetition in due course, because no attempt is being made to rectify behavioral patterns. A better way to deal with the crisis is to address the root cause of the problem and iron out differences through counseling. This would be a learning or retraining process in the context of team work and common goals of an organization. According to Thompson, â€Å"Many conflicts in teams emerge because people feel misunderstood or ignored† (Thompson, as quoted in Halverson and Tirmizi, 2008, p.214). By bringing into open the behavioral aspects of the warring factions, a possibility ca n be created whereby misunderstandings can be reduced. In the proposed counseling session, the rough edges of Vladimir’s behavior would be exposed to sensitize him to the feelings of his teammates. In a similar manner, instances of Vladimir’s failed attempts to cope with his lesser-endowed colleagues would also be recounted to demonstrate that as a person Vladimir is not averse to correct himself and his behavior. The consequences of handing over the surveillance tapes to the police, dismissal and prosecution will be brought forth strongly to deter repetition of such behavior. Simultaneously, the counseling process would be demonstrated as the management’s goodwill gesture for the first time offence, provided both parties realize their shortcomings and

Undecided Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Undecided - Essay Example s their major differences are concerned, it is worth noting that the color, genetic make-up, function, lifespan, fur, and flexibility are major factors. Therefore, this paper highlights the major differences and similarities between the behaviors of a donkey and a horse. Despite the fact that both donkeys and horses are domestic animals commonly known as ‘beasts of burden,’ it is important to note that they exhibit similar social behavior, especially when it comes to cooperation with human beings. In essence, human beings tame both animals so that they can help humans in performing certain task that humans alone cannot handle. They both respond well to human instructions they will handle any turf task before them as long as they remain well fed. In this respect, it is critical to note that both donkeys and horses can be used to transport goods and human beings, or they can even haul heavy loads for human beings. Perhaps the only difference between the two animals in this respect is that one is faster than the other is. Perhaps the major behavioral difference between a donkey and a horse lies in their perception and response to danger or threat. As for the horse, speed is the ultimate way of escaping from any real or perceived danger or threat. Indeed, a horse will not give a second thought to any object that poses a threat to its life. It is especially swift to flee besides its significant speed over long distances. On the other hand, a donkey is usually stubborn to threats and it will prefer to face the threat before thinking of an alternative course of action. It means that a donkey is more likely to suffer harm than a horse due to its attitude towards danger. When the two animals are in combat with their ‘enemy,’ a horse prefers the hind kicks while a donkey will throw hind kicks in addition to bites. Lastly but more importantly, donkeys and horses make different sounds, although the sounds may have some similarities, especially to an inattentive ear.

Grounds Maintenance Building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Grounds Maintenance Building - Essay Example The building integrated photovoltaic is designed for easy integration into the building even after it is built (BIPV). Thus the building integrated photovoltaic could easily be used as the roof for the building besides acting as a mini power source for the same building unit. This would be adequate to meet its essential lighting and also the outside illumination needs. The modules are designed such that they are transparent and part of the natural light could also be easily transferred into the building. Structurally they are crystalline and micro perforated amorphous transparent modules (BIPV). Their ability to be fixed to both tile roof and flat roof could give them an ample scope for demonstration in the college campus. Also, using photovoltaic as the venation blinds is another area that could be explored in our settings. Though the systems demand high level of expertise and planning an excellent demonstration of this technology would help to realize how the past impact caused by the structural elements could be mitigated by saving the environment into future. And thus Ground Maintenance Building would stand as the icon of environmental sustainability in the college campus.

American Disability Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Disability Act - Essay Example ADA has received many criticisms that are mainly classified into two categories. The first category concerns employment of people with disabilities. Under this category of criticisms, critics have pointed out that ADA reduces the employment of persons with disabilities. In addition, critics have pointed to the concern that ADA increases the cost of conducting business for business owners. The criticism based on reduction of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities has been supported by the fact that just after its enactment, the period covering between 1991 and 1995, the employment of people with disabilities reduced by 7.8% and this reduction affected people of disabilities regardless of their age, their levels of education, or even type of disability afflicting an individual. The most affected with that drop in the employment rate due to the enactment of ADA were young people, those with lower levels of education and men that were mentally disabled. Nevertheless, there has not been any concerted focus on investigating the causal link between the Act and the decline in employment for disabled people for that decade since its enactment. The second category of criticisms relates increase in private plaintiffs. The argument is that since the Act was enacted, it became an integral part of the employment law yet the Act only permits private plaintiffs to get injunctive relief. Injunctive relief is the court order making it mandatory for public accommodation to remedy contraventions of the accessibility laws. Besides injunctive relief, ADA only demands that private plaintiffs receive attorneys fees. However, it fails to provide monetary compensations to private claimants who take legal action against non-compliant businesses. Thus, for persons with disabilities to receive the remedies left out by ADA, it is upon the specific state to

How the news affects stock prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How the news affects stock prices - Essay Example Research suggests that there is a positive correlation between the political news and the stock prices. Asset prices and returns are determined by the changes in the economic as well as political variables and since the stock returns are expected values therefore the arrival of any news changes these expectations. (Elmendorf, Hirschfield and Weil). The event of 9/11 virtually forced the stock markets of the world to close for couple of days to accommodate the stock prices to adjust to this event and most of the companies especially in airline sector witness complete erosion of their market capitalization within the matter of days after the incident. The Efficient Market Hypothesis suggest that all the news are being discounted into the stock prices as market expect them however with the news like the death of US President through a terrorist attack, this sudden and strong news will cause the major shake up in the stock market and the stock prices of Coke and Microsoft will certainly drop in order to account for the increase uncertainty and risk involved due to the death of US President. EMH suggest that only the unexpected part of the news has the power to shake the market therefore with the news of the murder of the US President market will respond to it in negative way. Previous research conducted on the correlation between the stock prices and the news suggested that there is hardly a correlation between the both however after allowing for different stages of the business cycles, the news has a very positive correlation to the stock prices. (McQueen and Roley). This is particularly true in the news event of the murder of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan who was assassinated in the last week of Dec 2007. Though her death caused million of dollars loss to the government of Pakistan as there were widespread riots all over the country but stock prices did not reflected that political event in that much amount as the

Classical Civilisation Essay Example for Free

Classical Civilisation Essay To what extent can we reconstruct the palace civilisation of Mycenae? What does the evidence tell us about their society and how they lived?  This Golden Age, kept alive by Homers poetry, tells the story of an advanced society during a period in history adorned by wealth and legends, believed to have been circa 1450 to 1100 BC. Assembling the limited evidence reveals the art and architecture of the Mycenaean World. The remains of the palaces show evidence of a rich civilisation. The later Greeks referred to this period as a Golden Age when men were bigger and stronger than they are now (Homers Iliad). This is a fascinating era glorified with heroes and victory, which almost three millenniums later, still captures the curiosity of so many. The evidence used to reconstruct this period is questionable. There are archaeological finds, which include the sites and the artefacts. It is difficult to draw accurate conclusions from these due to their age. Then there are literary sources such as Homers Iliad and Odyssey. The problem with using these sources is that many people believe that Homer lived around 700BC, which means the stories he tells will have been greatly adapted to his period. Additionally, others argue that there is little evidence proving that the books are not purely fictional. Architecture and construction proves wealth and culture. Increasingly influenced by Crete, the Mycenaeans began to build palaces of their own. Initially they modelled them on Minoan architecture. This implies that they sailed across the sea. Later they began to develop huge fortifications. Palaces were built throughout Hellas. The most famous Greek palace of the Mycenaean period was found at Mycenae, the city of the legendary Agamemnon who was anax of the expedition against Troy. Others were found in Pylos, Thebes, Athens and Iolkos. They were logically constructed and shared the same features, which proves there was a link between them. They were obviously not isolated from one another. One may assume Mycenae was the main palace and possibly had a primitive infrastructure connecting it to the other sites.  The centre of the palace was a columned porch called a megaron (figure 1). A throne would have also been found on one side. This implies they had a King who held an important role in society. The first floor appeared to have been used for storage and the second floor was where the women lived. The materials used to construct these buildings include stone blocks, mud brick, bonding timber and plaster, which proves the Mycenaeans were a resourceful, organised society. Their building technique is known as corbelling, where each successive row of stones in a wall is laid further out than the previous one below it. The palace of Pylos was the only one not to be fortified by huge walls, one of the main features of Mycenaean palaces. There were three types of citadels: polygonal (various shaped blocks neatly fitted together), ashlar (squared blocks neatly fitted  Cyclopean walls 2 The Lions Gate   together) and finally the famous cyclopean walls (huge, irregular stones yielding massive walls) called so because they were so large that it was believed only a Cyclops could have built them (figure 3). The walls at the palace of Mycenae, where The Lions Gate was uncovered in 1841, are 1100 meters long, protecting the dominating power of the Peloponnese (figure 4).  These massive defences also show that the Mycenaeans felt the need to protect themselves from external threats. Houses were built below the citadel, which implies a close community. They were generally self-sufficient homes with a kitchen, altar and hearth. Their furniture was varied and frequently included a plaster bench, tables, foot-stoles and even bathtubs. Their homes appear to have been comfortable.  More isolated homes were also uncovered in the hills (i.e. Mouriatada, on the west coast). The constructions were smaller and did not use such high quality masonry but did include a megaron and private houses. One may deduce from this that wealth peaked in and around the palaces. Water supplies were an equally important construction to ensure survival and well-being. The palace of Athens had a well, built within the walls, making it accessible, even if they were threatened by a siege.  The cistern built at Mycenae at the end of the 13th century, extended underground beyond the walls, making it more vulnerable (figure 5).  The Mycenaeans learned from the Minoans, in crafts, in efficient organisation and in writing. This is concluded from the similar architecture, tablets and pottery found. The wave of palace destructions on Crete around 1450 and the eventual fall of Knossos around1375 marked the start of the most flourishing period for the Mycenaeans. New pottery shapes and styles began. They produced three handled jars, kraters (large bowls) and kylikes (goblets with long stems). Backgrounds were being painted red or black as opposed to light, matt tones. Forms appeared more natural, like the Minoan art. They began to use floral decorations.  Next, the Mycenaean Age adopted geometric patterns and abstract forms on its pottery. They made stirrup jars, yet another indication of Minoan influence. As the civilisation reached its height, so did the art. Vases were mass-produced for export as well as for use on the main land. Evidence of objects from afar were found at the Palace of Knossos, in Crete, which shows signs of huge wealth, probably due to the position of the island, the cross road of the Mediterranean in circa 1400 BC. The Mycenaeans were equally as good tradesmen as the Minoans. Their pottery was found in Sicily, Rhodes, Cyprus, Italy, Asia Minor, Northern Syria and Miletus, which suggests they were good sailors and traded with the east Mediterranean and Europe. In some places their influence seems so strong that one could think that they had permanent strongholds there, what we may consider today a colonisation. However, they were not able to enter Asia Minor because of the Hittites, described as a strong, troublesome civilisation.

The main premises and limitations of functionalism

The main premises and limitations of functionalism The theory I have chosen is functionalism, whose basis is the systemic nature of culture, or what might be most appropriately designated as a glue concept of culture. I am however, deeply aware that no theory explains everything and every theory has its limitations, reason why the grand theories all failed: calling for complementarity in the theoretical frameworks and methodological assumptions that informs our research. This fact explains the continuous growth of theory in anthropology from evolutionism with its unilineality to poststructuralist theories today. In what follows, I will explain and illustrate the main premises of functionalism, and highlight the limitations of the functionalist framework. Functionalism was one of the earliest anthropological theories. Its main theoretical postulate is an analogy of the human organism as a microcosm of society: parts as making up the whole, different individuals playing different roles and having different statuses, although one individual can have different statuses simultaneously. According to this metaphor, the various parts of the human body like the traits and institutions of a culture are interrelated and work together to ensure its proper functioning (see Barth, 1979:20-22). Following one of functionalisms precursors, Polish-born British anthropologist Malinowski, who is associated with bio-cultural/psychological functionalism, cultural institutions are meant to meet human instrumental needs: economics, social control, education, political organization among others. On the other hand, Radcliffe-Brown who developed the idea of social structure presents human society as based on networks of social relationship and that institution s maintain society as a system. The difference between Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown is that unlike the former who emphasizes the individual, the latter sees the individual as irrelevant'(Goldschmidt,1996:510) As a critique against evolutionism, diffusionism and historicism, functionalism wanted a shift away from speculative history and cultural survivals to ahistorical synchronic study of social institutions within bounded, functioning societies(Young,1991:445). The core idea of the functionalists was to look for the reality of events in their present day manifestations. This does not imply a wholesome rejection of history per se but rather, a rejection of what Harris (1968:524) calls pseudo-history. Methodologically speaking, the functionalists viewed society in systematic terms, parts as being dependent on one another so as to maintain social equilibrium, but they recognized the prospects for internal social conflicts and disequilibrium. The second methodological premise is that of intensive fieldwork through the traditional method of participant observation. It implies in this case, the search for functional relationships among customs and institutions as a useful mechanism of abstracting data. And thirdly, analysis was to be based on short time scale. As recent advances in anthropological and sociological theory suggests, culture is contestation and we need to write against the whole concept of culture so as to embrace the very dynamism of anthropological fieldwork due to the mobility of subjects owing to globalization. Gupta and Ferguson (1997:4) have rightly called for anthropology to embrace changing trends in contemporary world marked by people, objects and ideas rapidly shifting. These shifts; they argue have changed the notion of the field as a fixed territorial space and of people as immobile and dealt a serious blow to the traditional notion of community as bounded. This is quite evident when considering new tribes like refugees, migrants, displaced and nomadic communities. They note that culture is not bounded and therefore does not occupy designated spaces. They further note that such conception do not account for people inhabiting borderlands nor do they factor in cultural differences of people occupying the same geogra phical space. They further assert that post-coloniality and globalization have heralded the idea of hybrid cultures in which concepts like identity and solidarity are no longer based on proximity to marked spaces and contact zones and thus making the case for a radical re-thinking of anthropological models of analysis (Ibid). Following Appadurai, (1991; 191,196), the contemporary world structured by the overarching effects of globalization has become quite de-territorialized in ways that have altered the conception of locality and space. In the same light, Fox and Gingrich note that of late, the notion of whole cultures or integrated societies has been questioned and new ideas about globalization, cultural flows, fragmentation and fluid signs have been touted as definitive blows to anthropologys traditional objects of study: local communities of some order (2002:27). Clifford also observed that ethnographic studies seeking to disassociate themselves from totalizing anthropology use multiple allegories (1986:103). Against this backdrop, there has been a shift from single to multiple case studies: study individuals both in the village and in the urban milieu to which they have migrated, from single to multiple case studies, calling for the need to always extend out beyond the locale of natives and capture the voices of those away from home since migration may presuppose a change or modification of values and lifestyle. Multiple case study designs have been variously justified: Ethnographic data from multiple-case studies is often considered more persuasive and thus making the overall study more robust (Yin, 1994:141). A multiple case study exposes regularities through the simultaneous inspection of numerous cases (Eckstein, 2000:137). All other things being equal, a finding emerging repeatedly in the study of numerous sites (a multi-site study) would seem to be more likely to be a good working hypothesis about some yet unstudied site than a finding emerging from just one or two sites (Schofield, 2000:79). Such a study is capable of going beneath the political binaries (Burawoy,1998:6) of researcher and subject, local, national and international contexts so as to uncover multiple processes, interests and identities since the postcolonial context provides fertile ground for re-condensing these proliferating differences around local, national, and global links in view of the fact that various actors and stakeholders are multiply drawn into alliances at all levels (Buroway,1998:11). Like any other theoretical perspective, functionalism has received its own share of criticisms. Among these is the fact that the presence of an institution cannot precede its existence usefully suggesting that functionalist explanations carry a hardened notion of culture which is obviously not the case because historical processes are always at work. It is further assumed not to be concerned with social processes and to negate cross-cultural comparison because it sees every institution insitu. As one of the earliest anthropological theories, its forerunners suffered from lack of historical data in so-called primitive societies which might have greatly inhibited the quality of the data they obtained and therefore the type of analysis and theory they eventually came to construct. Secondly, proto-anthropology was begun by non-professionals: missionaries, travelers, and colonial administrators who wrote mostly to exoticize the communities they had come in contact with and to entertain people. First hour anthropologists were therefore partly preoccupied with making sense of these societies from the standpoint of the natives through participant observation. They were further preoccupied with particular questions, particular institutions, how societies that were presumed to have no histories and other institutions were capable of meeting particular cultural needs. Generally, they adopted an encyclopedic tradition, trying unlike today to study and grasp the functional relevance an d interrelationships of every institution to the other within a given culture. E.E. Evans-Pritchards (1940) classic study of the Nuer for instance, shows how an understanding of social structure is important to grasping the overall functioning of Nuer acephalous society. He does this using his concepts of fussion and fission, segmentation and combination with segments of the same order. By so doing, he demonstrates that in politics there are no permanent enemies. Malinowskis study of the Trobriand Islanders of New Guinea and the ceremonial annual kula Ring exchange shows its association with magic, religion, kinship and trade. In the same light, in Argonautes of the Western Pacific (1922), he paints a total picture of the peoples life through participant observation detailing among others, their technology, sexual life, everyday life and conflict resolution. One way of going beyond the limitations of these studies would have been to see these societies in historical context, as dynamic over time since the overall vision of the functionalist was not to negate history but rather, only to explain the present. Such a view will reconceptualize culture, not as based on consensus but rather as renegotiated by stakeholders in the light of changing circumstances. They dealt with circumscribed field sites and therefore did not go beyond local or how extra-local forces affected individuals in the societies that they studied. It is true from the history of sociological theory that every theoretical perspective has its shortcomings, calling for the need for complementarity. This is even more accentuated because social phenomena are multifaceted- different causal factors might explain the existence of a particular phenomenon. For instance, the classic example of Durkheims suicide based on observation may not be tenable today because of changes in soci al structures. Theories are rooted in particular historical epochs. Time changes and certain explanations become untenable, calling for more research and the need to reformulate old theories or discard them totally. This further demonstrates the spatio-temporal relativity of truth. There are of course, no universal truths despite the existence of cultural universals. Functionalist theories emerged as a response to the crisis of social order, seemingly the outcome of two developments. The first was industrial society with its loss of community, poor working conditions and increase in crime. The second was the French revolution with its ideals of equality, happiness and freedom of the individual. These two events were influential in the development of the consensus theory, although this theory fails to address conflict. Often times, some studies are replicated using different theoretical assumptions over time demonstrating that no theory is capable of explaining every aspect of human society. This explains why some anthropologists return to their field sites several years later so as to map the various changes that have taken place after their fieldwork. The dilemma with grand theories such as functionalism is their claim of attempting to explain every known phenomenon in the universe. The Durkheimian theory on suicide for example, seems to present a unilineal view of culture- some social groups and people with a protestant religious ethos are more prone to commit suicide than others. But even within a group, the groups values are constantly being contested and each group in reality might have multiple identities. Culture is actually a constant field of contest, negotiation and constant renegotiation. In summary, functionalism was geared towards investigating particular phenomenon using particular theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches. The authors were preoccupied with particular questions which largely determined their theoretical assumptions and above all, these theories were imbricated in particular historical moments and with changing times, some of their assumptions have been shown to be faulty.