Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Motivation - Essay Example Managers of the 21st century workplace face new kinds of challenges that include employee retention, flexibility of working hours, and interpersonal conflicts in the culturally diverse workplace, which were hardly ever experienced by managers of the mid-20th century. One challenge that managers commonly face in motivating the employees today is employee retention when the opportunities out there are rampant for the employees. Employees in the present age are constantly in search of better opportunities of employment where they can get better salaries and more flexibility of working hours. The Internet has increased the availability of such opportunities to the employees manifolds because of which managers face the risk of losing the employees any time. Another challenge that managers face in motivating the employees today is the conflict between the managerial and employee perception with respect to working hours. While in most companies, managers think that employees have to stay in the office from the start till the break-off time, employees particularly the young employees hold a different perspective; they think that they have to produce the work required of them and it should not matter whether they stay in the office to achieve that goal or elsewhere. When managers make the employees stay in the office against their will, employees’ level of motivation comes down and managers have to take additional measures to raise it back to the original level or higher. The third challenge that managers commonly face in motivating the employees today is of cultural diversity. â€Å"†¦managing organizational behavior during changing times is challenging† (Nelson, Campbell, and Nelson, 2013, p. 12). Over the past few decades, the society has become increasingly multicultural as a result of rapid inflow of immigrants in the advanced countries from the developing and the underdeveloped countries. As a consequence of

The Carol Web Portal (CWP) Project Planning Coursework

The Carol Web Portal (CWP) Project Planning - Coursework Example This project report will give an overview of the system as it is perceived and will discuss various milestones of the CWP.   The software is destined to be a web-based system with several independent modules to be implemented as and when required.   These modules include Concert Management Module, Fan Club Module, Inventory Module, Order Management Module and Payroll System.  As the system is designed to be a complete web portal, therefore, it has to have following important system components and servers. The CWP will use visual studio 2005 platform, the frontend will be developed in ASP dotNet, business logic will be implemented using C Sharp and SQL Server 2005 will be used as backend database system for the portal. The CWP will be developed to sustain many unforeseen circumstances in various steps to respond to contingency include the availability of Uninterruptable Power Supply system, standby servers, system maintenance equipment and staff etc. The CWP will be the complete solution for Carol the singer and it will fully digitize the environment, orders will be placed online, system generated invoices, fully integrated email system, staff payroll system is some of the important segments of the portal. These systems along with other functionalities will provide value to the system users and will help to establish a paperless environment. Moreover, the backups and disaster recovery strategies will ensure prompt system and data recovery. The CWP is required to support all activities of the Carol Concerts, staff management, fan club management, email management, order and invoice management and other activities related to duo Val and Tyne Card. The success of the system depends on its availability around the clock, functional support for all requisite operations highlighted in the requirement analysis of the system.

International Travel Essay Example for Free

International Travel Essay No matter how much you read ahead of time, youll be confronted with culture and custom that you are unprepared for. The farther removed the culture is from your own, the more you can expect to be surprised. Novice travelers will struggle with the basics everything from getting a cab to finding a public bathroom can offer a challenge. Veteran travelers will be more secure with the small stuff and that may offer them a firm-enough foundation to give them the confidence to try the more challenging things. That is where we were on our recent adoption trip to China: Veteran third-time travelers who were confident that we could do anything and blend right in. Our trip to the real Chinese restaurant taught us otherwise. It was our second week in China. We were there with our two previously adopted Chinese children, ages ten and eleven, and wed just added a new family member. She was a new daughter, age twelve, and she spoke not a word of English. Things had been going very well, and our new daughter was really fitting in seamlessly. This being our third trip, we felt pretty cocky. We snickered good-naturedly as first-time travelers timidly peeked outside the doors of the hotel onto the Chinese thoroughfare. They might make a run for the McDonald’s now and again, or go all the way up the block to KFC, but actually heading out into the big city, sans guide, was not on their bucket list for the time being. That was not for us. We decided that wed all head out to an authentic local restaurant, the sort frequented by the Chinese rather than by westerners; the type with plastic curtains rather than doors; a restaurant with no western influences beyond the ubiquitous presence of Coca-Cola products. Three hungry children herded between us, my wife and I set out to find just the right place. We headed out the less-frequently-used rear entrance of Guangzhous China Hotel, which spilled out onto the broad Panfu Avenue, a typical busy main thoroughfare. It was filled with small shops and stalls, looking shabby and temporary to Western eyes, though in reality, permanent centers of street commerce. We wound our way through typical robust foot traffic, straining to keep the kids together amidst the crowds. We passed up several restaurants close to the hotel in an effort to separate ourselves from the tourist-oriented places, but several blocks away we came upon the Liushen Xiguan restaurant, which translates roughly as â€Å"Traditions of the Six Gods† restaurant. It was clad in gold paint, trimmed with red cloth, and several large Buddhas smiled at us as they stood sentry on the sidewalk. The wall in the entryway was covered with awards given by the local of chamber of commerce, and as an added benefit, the awards each offered a picture of the winning dish. Velvet padded bamboo chairs lined the wall in the waiting area. Peeking through the windows, we could see that the dining area was enormous. Such a place was likely to have good food, was clearly worth a stop. It was 4:50 when we asked to be seated, but oddly, the dining room was dark and the hostess desk was empty as were the tables. No table cloths or place settings were to be seen, and the chairs were upended and sitting atop the tables. A hostess apprehensively approached us to talk. After much arm flapping and hand gesturing, we came to understand that the restaurant would not open until five P. M, although we could not see how it would do so. Not a soul was to be seen besides the hostess, and nothing was prepared for customers. We began to have second thoughts and we started to wonder if wed misunderstood the hour that service would start. We decided to wait for a bit, if only to rest. At the stroke of five the lights came on to illuminate a dozen employees rushing from the kitchen, bearing ornate livery for the tables, and tools of the trade for the hungry guests. The dining space went from abandoned warehouse to friendly, well-lit, white linen appareled eatery in a matter of moments. Once seated, we began to notice differences from what we expected in a restaurant. Soup bowls appeared, as well as a pot of tea, tea cups, and a large empty ceramic bowl. We watched the other tables to see what use our fellow diners would have for the bowl. Some diners were watching us. Perhaps they didnt know what to make of the empty bowl either? More likely, they were wondering what a couple of Americans were doing here staring at them too. Other diners were taking the cups, bowls, and spoons and washing them in the tea, using a rather practiced method. The used tea was discarded into the empty bowl. I wasnt sure if this meant we needed to do our own dishes, or if it was simply a custom. To be on the safe side, we started washing. I noticed curious grins. Was I doing it wrong? Did we appear like children playing in a wading pool? Unblemished by the bemused stares, we toweled ourselves dry, and with confidence in the cleanliness of our place settings, we dug into the menu. There were thirty pages of menu items. Many had pictures and some had English translations, though mostly the translations read â€Å"Pork and vegetables in sauce† or â€Å"Chicken with vegetables in sauce†. While Im certain that was accurate, it was of little value in helping us to choose from amongst the twenty five varieties of â€Å"Pork with vegetables in sauce†. We struggled with the pictures and each made the best possible dinner choices we could, with a few appetizers added in. The waitress took our order promptly and returned in a few minutes with my meal, and nothing else. No appetizers. No other orders. Just mine. She placed it in the center of the table and left. My meal was far larger than I expected. In fact, it was large enough to feed us all. Suddenly we grasped what we had missed. The table top was essentially an enormous lazy Susan. It appeared that we would be eating family style. Other tables were sharing food as well, so we set out to share the barbecued pork I had ordered. A few moments later the next meal appeared, and shortly thereafter, the next, and then the next, each meal large enough to feed a family of five. Even the items wed been led to believe were appetizers seemed enormous. Before long, we had enough food for forty people. There was so much, that the server was barely able to find room for the last steaming bowl of fried rice. Ive been to weddings that served less food than wed purchased. We were clearly the center of attention now as we made an effort to at least put a dent in the spread we were responsible for. The pictures didnt do the food justice, nor were they worth the thousands words Id so often been promised. The fried rice was filled with boldly colored fresh carrots, peas and sprouts, and those turned out to be the only vegetables on the table that we easily recognized. We were served steamed and pan-fried dumplings, bursting with juices and filled with meat stuffing. There was a whole roasted chicken, the bright yellow color of a school bus. When I say whole, I mean it. Chicken in China often comes with feet, head and beak attached. It appeared that our dinner had walked straight from the barnyard to the oven. A second chicken was served in pieces which had the bright red color of a fire engine. Both birds were juicy and offered bold flavor, the yellow one having been seasoned with a curry and the red one more of a peppery spice. The seafood dish seemed a bit more tentacle-filled than we were used to, and it went largely unloved. I still have no clue to this day what was in it, though I will admit that the description â€Å"fish with vegetables in sauce† seemed unerringly accurate. Our crisp pork on a platter seemed straightforward. No sauce or vegetables, though I could swear that the translation of the dish said they were included. Our meal was rounded out by a course of tea smoked duck. The dark meat had been roasted over a tea leaf fueled fire and had a deep rich flavor. After some of our other mis-translations, I would not have been surprised to have had it served in a pipe for actual smoking, but it wound up being the best part of the meal. I do hope it was duck though. We left a great deal of food on the table. In very American fashion, we asked for containers to take the remaining food for thirty back to our hotel. That doesnt seem to be the norm in China, but we packed up our bags and loaded up with more victuals than a United Nations food convoy. I was concerned about the cost, but for all the entertainment that our endeavors provided for the patrons, perhaps they should have paid us. The price was thankfully low; bless you generous exchange rate. One last problem appeared. The tip. It is insulting to over tip in China. After having the experience of being publicly chastised by a cab driver for over tipping, I was leery. Loaded down as we were, there could be no quick escape should I insult the staff with too many Yuan, or too few. The Six Gods must have been watching out for us though. The older hostess (manager, cook, waitress, cashier no real idea) took pity on me and selected a bill to leave as a gratuity. It was far less than I would have chosen. Id have given her double that just for getting me out with my remaining dignity intact. We wound our way back to the hotel, filled with a good meal, good stories, and a good deal of new knowledge about how things are done in China. I mentioned the experience to our guide, who filled in a few of the blank spots. He was happy to hear that we were treated well by the local people. I was happy for the experience. A few days later, we coaxed some other group members to come out with us to the restaurant. We displayed our dining skills for them without ever mentioning the difficulties with which they were acquired. After all, that is how veterans maintain their mystique.

Analysing The Market Of Milk Economics Essay

Analysing The Market Of Milk Economics Essay 1. a.) Highlights of scientific studies in an advertising campaign that find drinking milk can help reduce weight gain. The campaign will positively affect both the price and the quantity demanded, as a result more consumers will demand for large quantities of milk. High demand will cause a shortage of milk supply, therefore the quantity supplied will be insufficient, and this will result in the increase of the market prices for milk (Doherty, 2007). b.) presence of a mad cow disease epidemic. In this case, the consumers will refrain from milk consumption causing a decrease in the quantity demanded. This will result to surplus milk being produced and consequently lead to a fall in the price of milk. c.) A decrease in the price of milk. A decrease in the price of milk implies that the consumers will have high purchasing power; they will probably buy more of the milk. As it is explained in (Mankiw, 1998). Due to the low prices of milk the producers will be discouraged due to the accompanied expenses of production; as a result there will be a decrease in the quantity supplied. d.) The government decides to implement a price ceiling on milk. Government interventions always have a very significant effect on supply of any commodity. If the Government sets the price of a commodity to a value which is below the market-clearing level, then the quantity that the producers are willing to supply will be less as compared to the quantity that consumers will be willing to purchase. Consequently, the extent of the excess demand that is implied by this kind of response will directly depend on relative elasticitys that exist with respect to the demand and supply. In case both the supply and the demand variables are elastic, then the price ceiling will create a shortage that is larger than when both are inelastic. Other factors such as the willingness of the consumers to more milk and the farmers ability to change the sizes of their herds and to produce less will also determine these elasticitys and influence the governments regulation pattern and hence magnitude of excess demand (Arnold, 2007). As Rosen, (2005). Explains, the governments price will result in the situations of excess demand where some producers will be unable to incur the expenses that are associated the production. In case the government price ceiling impacts negatively to consumers of milk, then those whose demands cannot be met will possibly attempt to purchase the substitutes, therefore increasing the demand for the milk substitutes, a phenomena leads to the rise in the prices of the substitutes. 2. The advantages and disadvantages to price controls Advantages The incentive to minimizing of the cost re-emerges due to the regulatory link that is created between the costs and the ceiling prices. The connection between the profits and rate base is broken. The Price ceilings on the monopoly products can help in the prevention of the predatory pricing on the competitive services. This is necessary when the regulated and the competitive products are placed in different baskets for the purposes of formulation. Disadvantages The farmer is usually the residual claimant of the surplus below the cap; therefore it has the incentive of minimizing costs. This has an implication that it also has the incentive of lowering the service quality, for any decrease in the quality it is equivalent to an increase in the price. The incentive that is associated with the predatory pricing persists in case both the competitive and the regulated services are subjected to a similar X-factor and specifically if the firm exhibits the joint costs. The Implementation of the price caps especially in the context of the informational asymmetries is complicated. Price-cap regulation has no obligation to the publication rates of return, and therefore they have greater discretion, which also entails a greater potential in capturing of the regulatory process of the government. In case when there is lack specific obligation to serving all customers of the monopolized products, then the regulation process may lack the incentive to serve the categories of the customers with the highest costs or those who are less willing to pay. (Colander, 2008). 3. Milk in this case has elastic type of elasticity. This is due to the responsiveness of the consumers to the changes in the prices of milk, which has direct impact on the supply and demand of milk. According to (Harris, 1958) elasticity of supply measures the magnitude of the responsiveness of the quantity that is supplied in relation to the changes in price, since the percentage change in the quantity supplied is induced by a small change in the price. Since the supply is usually increasing with the prices, then the price elasticity of the supply is usually positive. Other elasticitys are calculated for the non-price determinants of supply. For instance, a percentage change in the amount of goods supplied that is caused by a one percent increment in the price of related goods is an input elasticity of supply if the related goods are the inputs in the production process. The significant determinants of elasticity include: The availability of substitutes; Substitutes play the role of replacement thereby reducing the demand for the main product there by making the consumer to be non-responsive to the change of the prices. The percentage of ones budget that is spend on the product; The higher the percentage of the budget that is spend on the product, the more responsive the consumer is and vice versa. Reaction time: The price elasticity supply coefficient is largely determined by how quickly producers can react to the price changes by increasing or decreasing the rate of production and the supply of goods to the market. The Complexity of Production process: Elasticity depends mainly on the complexity that is associated with the production process. Milk production process is relatively simple. This is because the labor is largely unskilled and the production facilities are very cheap. There are no special structures that are needed. Therefore, the price elasticity supply for milk is elastic. Contrary to this, the price elasticity supply for other production process facilities such as the types of milking machine is relatively inelastic. Machine milking of the cows is a simple process which requires very specialized equipments, some partly skilled laborers, and very large suppliers network to reduce storage costs (Carley, 1968) Consumers response time: The more the time that a consumer takes to respond to the price changes the more elastic the supply is. For example, a milk consumer cannot immediately respond to the increase in the prices of dairy cow feeds as compared to the price of milk. Excess capacity: A milk producer who has excess capacity in the production units can quickly respond to the changes in the price of his market with the assumptions that the variable factors are readily available which is advantageous. The Inventories: A milk producer with a constant supply of milk or who has the available storage capacity can quickly respond to the price changes. 4. The total revenue decreases with the increase in the price of milk; this is attributed to the elasticity of the dairy industrys products. The consumers of dairy products, specifically milk in this case are very responsive to the changes in milk prices. Increase in the price of milk means that there will be a shift on the demand curve to the right; this is because the consumers will tend to reduce the rate of milk consumption to curb on the costs. This will cause a decrease on the total revenues due to the low demand for milk. (Tucker, 2008)

MP3 :: essays research papers fc

Executive summary It's only been about three years since a little known extension of an audio compression technique-MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3 or MP3-opened the door to being able to send large volumes of CD-quality music over the Internet by pack the equivalent of several commercial compact disks onto the equivalent of one CD platter (Lange 01). It also initiated the veritable floor of pirating activity by an underground community students and hackers. Hundreds of MP3 Internet sites sprung up overnight. At these sites, everything in music from Mozart to Marilyn Manson is being reproduced (Lange 01). Of course, it's illegal, but it's free, which has a huge appeal. Two men summarize the battle that is still raging over this new technology. On one side there's Val Azzoli, co-CEO of the Atlantic Group, which has numerous popular artists signed to their label; and on the other is the CEO of the website MP3.com, which gives away digitized songs by new artists that no one has heard of yet (Mardesich 96). While this may not sound like much of a threat, what lies at the heart of this conflict is the concern of recording industry that this new technology may chance the balance of power and if allows the shipment of music directly to the consumer (Mardesich 96). The five giant corporations that contr ol 80% of the global music industry-worth roughly $60 billion a year-have taken notice (Wood; D'arcy 42). The following discussion will explore more fully why the record companies, despite their obvious power, are scared. Pros and Cons It is the impressive 12:1 compression ratio of the MP3 that has made it so popular. While 60 or so Mbytes are needed to store a typical song, once it is converted to MP3 format it becomes a single 5 Mbyte file (Lange 01). "The advantages are obvious," commented one executive, "CD-quality sound in a small package" (Lange 01). The drawbacks are all felt by the record companies. Artists are likely to benefit, eventually, if they take advantage of the new technology and deliver their songs to their fans directly via the Internet (Mardesich 96). They'l l no longer have record companies making money off from their work and by eliminating this "middle man" could conceivably earn a great deal more then they do now. However, for the large record labels, this new technology could mean real trouble in the future. Right now, the loss are negligible. For example, Americans spent almost nothing on downloaded music in 1998, but they spent nearly $14 billion on music from stores (Mardesich 96). Nevertheless, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that MP3 piracy may have contributed to a

Type II Diabetes :: Health, Diseases

Introduction Type II diabetes is a heterogeneous syndrome results from the progressive defects of impairment of ß- cell insulin secretion and insulin resistant of the target tissues. It also increases due to the rising rate of obesity which involves the deficiency of insulin to compensate for insulin resistance by increasing insulin secretion [1]. However it is increasingly clear that reductions in insulin sensitivity and ß- cell functions leads to the rise of type II diabetes [2]. The normal pancreatic ß- cells displaying the remarkable response to nutrients and obesity – associated insulin resistance by the hyper secretion of insulin to maintain fuel homeostasis. But the cellular resistance unable to sustain the ß– cells compensatory response in type II diabetes [3]. Although the cause of the metabolic deterioration is unknown, but several hypothesis have been proposed including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, ER stress, and gluco-lip otoxicity [4, 5]. Recent studies with intensive investigations suggesting that elevated glucose along with circulating free fatty acids distributed especially from the intra abdominal fat are the major culprits of insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction [6, 7]. But the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of gluco-lipotoxicity contribute to ß- cell dysfunction and loss in type II diabetes remains debated. A recent observation from experimental, clinical and genetic evidence suggests endoplasmic reticulum was responsible for molecular mechanism of gluco-lipotoxicity which may contribute to ß - cell dysfunction in type II diabetes [8, 9]. In this review, we discussed about the involvement of ER in gluco-lipotoxicity induced ß- cell dysfunction along with the brief involvement of mitochondria. ER stress response Adaptation to metabolic changes requires the high regulation and co-ordination of many homeostatic systems, since the quality and quantity of available nutrients does not temporally match their needs. Pancreatic ß - cells displaying remarkable response to nutrients by the balance between the anabolic hormone insulin and the catabolic hormone glucagon in order to maintain fuel homeostasis. For an appropriate response, the cells require the development of suitable sensors and signaling molecules, which integrates all these signals into an appropriate insulin secretory rate in order to maintain homeostasis.

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter was a turning point in determining the outcome of the Civil War. Fort Sumter was built on a man-made island of seashells and granite. It was a pentagon shape that was fifty feet high and the walls were eight to twelve feet thick. Fort Sumter is located in South Carolina. It was a defense system for Charleston Harbor. It was named after a Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina. For one of the causes of the Civil War was that the South demanded that fort Sumter be turned over to its new government.United States troops were to leave the fort. President Abraham Lincoln refused to let them. Lincoln said that Fort Sumter belonged to all of the people of the United States, not just to South Carolina. The people of South Carolina were determined to have the fort. They threatened to starve the men stationed there. Lincoln sent food and supplies to the men stationed there. The Carolinians fired on the ship and, then they fired on the fort and destroyed it. That was how the war began (Hakim 61).On April 13, 1861, Fort Sumter surrendered after heavy bombardment to Confederate forces. Accounts of this victory created wild excitement in North Carolina. The Union was deeply saddened that war had started. On the other hand, the South was ecstatic (Hakim 62). President Lincoln had a major role in the Civil War. Lincoln refused to withdraw soldiers from Fort Sumter. He sent a supply ship after the South threatened to stop supplying them. He differed with other northern leaders by that the other leaders told him to back out and Lincoln did not listen to them.He refused to let the South leave the United States. Lincoln proclaimed a blockade on April 16, 1861. The blockade extended from Virginia to Texas. At the time, it was impossible for the federal government to enforce a blockade of the coastline measuring almost four thousand miles and containing one hundred and eighty-nine harbors. In conclusion, many important battles such as Gettysburg and Antietam took plac e after. The Civil War lasted for four years. Today, Fort Sumter is a tourist attraction and it attracts many visitors.