First 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

First 1 - Assignment Example Political science, therefore, guide on how to address political situations such as sharing of national resources to avoid disputes and dangers of conflicts groups. According to Nelson (2014), politics is the science of ‘who gets what, when and how’ (Nelson). The president has therefore a choice to appoint political scientist to help him address the struggle that exist in budgeting, military stand points and in international powers brokering in a countries interest. Political scientist has the knowhow to address region and international politics. The issue of energy crisis for example requires the understanding of energy producing country policies to better sigh cost effective and long lasting political, economic and social ties. A president who is keen on keeping a high rating on his performance and always a delight on his electorate would have a political scientists as his staff. Political scientists ensure that the policies pursued by his president are that that addresses people’s needs Vis a Vis others interests (Nelson). For example, President Obama is keen on addressing the immigration problem in the United States because it is at the heart of his electoral college. Majority of the people that voted for him were hopeful that he would address their needs while he is the president. Therefore, a political scientist has a priority to roll out immigrations policies more than any other academician. In contrast, if the president were to hire an economist or an environmentalist as his staff he would suffer from political unrest and poor rating because these experts is best in addressing problem disregarding political effects. Economist answers economic problem touching on every American while a political scientist would have a different view of the same as he or she would be weighing the benefit of economic policies on the needs of the president political strengths. A political scientist on staff run the

All About Me Letter Essay Example for Free

All About Me Letter Essay My favorite sports are football and basketball. I play the recorder. I participated in football for three years and basket ball for one year. I played the recorder for one year in the fourth grade and earned all the belts for each skill level. On the other hand I don’t like to read what so ever, but I’m going to improve my reading this year. I don’t like to read because I fall asleep as soon as I begin to read books. The books that I like are adventurous and action-packed books because they interest me so I won’t fall asleep. These kinds of books stimulate my imagination and help me visualize the story. In order to keep me interested in reading I would like to have audio or graphics books. I did great academically last year as I made A’s and B’s. My academic goals this year are to make straight A’s and to receive scores above 900 on the CRCT. Considering that I do not like to read, it’s hard for me to brainstorm ideas and write an essay. Therefore, I do not think of myself as a good writer, as I prefer digital images to awaken my creativity. The few times that I must write, I like to write narratives about my family vacations in new places. Narratives allow me to express my emotions. Unfortunately, brainstorming ideas causes me to have headaches that turn me off from writing. I hope to learn how to overcome this obstacle and improve my writing skills. In conclusion, you can help me achieve my academic goals by suggesting some action-packed or adventurous book titles for me to enjoy reading. I learn best by following examples and listening to instructions. The activities you can help me with are reading and sentence-structure in writing assignments. I welcome the opportunity to learn from your expertise. Sincerely, Phillip Harrington Phillip Harrington

Coherence and Epistemic Rationality :: Mathematics Science Theories Papers

Coherence and Epistemic Rationality This paper addresses the question of whether probabilistic coherence is a requirement of rationality. The concept of probabilistic coherence is examined and compared with the familiar notion of consistency for simple beliefs. Several reasons are given for thinking rationality does not require coherence. Finally, it is argued that incoherence does not necessarily involve fallacious reasoning. Most work in epistemology treats epistemic attitudes as bivalent. It is assumed that a person either believes that there is an apple on the table, or that there is not, and that such beliefs must be either warranted or unwarranted. However, a little reflection suggests that it is reasonable to have degrees of confidence in a proposition when the available evidence is not conclusive. The rationality of such judgments, formed in response to evidence, will be my concern here. Degrees of confidence have mainly been discussed by Bayesians as part of a general theory of rational belief and decision. Bayesians claim that rational degrees of confidence satisfy the standard Kolmogorov axioms of probability: 1. Pr(A) = 0 2. If A is a tautology, then Pr(A) =1 3. If A and B are mutually exclusive, then Pr(A v B) = Pr (A) + Pr(B). It should be observed that people do not generally assign point values to propositions, which is required if their degrees of confidence are to conform to the axioms. Moreover, it is doubtful that an assignment of point values to propositions is usually reasonable, since it seems that our evidence rarely justifies such precision. Such vague degrees of confidence can be treated somewhat more realistically, as interval valued, by associating them with sets of probability functions. For simplicity, I will take degrees of belief here as point valued in my discussion here. The claim that degrees of confidence should satisfy the probability axioms is most often defended by appealing to the so-called Dutch Book argument, which was first presented by Ramsey in his famous paper "Truth and Probability". The idea is that degrees of belief that do not satisfy the probability axioms (commonly termed incoherent) are associated with betting quotients that can be exploited by a clever bookie to produce a sure loss. Ramsey held that an agent's degrees of belief can be measured roughly by the bets that she is willing to accept. If they are incoherent, there will be a series of bets, each of which she will be willing to accept, but which are certain to result in a net loss for her.

Paula Scher Research Paper Essay

Paula Scher, also known as America’s first design lady, is a graphic designer, illustrator and art educator. The Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia is where Paula Scher majored in illustration and finished her BFA in nineteen seventy. As a student Scher abstained from graphic design as she was short of the required tidiness artistry, and she did not like aligning Helvetica on a framework. â€Å"The act of organizing the Helvetica type-face on a grid reminded me of cleaning up my room,† she admitted. Drawing was her tender spot, so she adopted an approach which was to illustrate using type Stanislaw Zagorski who was her teacher. He was the one to give her that advice which was profoundly substantial for her career. Shcer describes in her book â€Å"MAKE IT BIGGER† that the Zigzag rolling paper and album covers, especially the Beetles’ covers where her major inspiration during the sixties. This influence can be noted in some of the work she did at CBS, like the cover for Ralph MacDonald, fig:1, the way feet are place bears resemblance to the Beetles cover, fig:2. During the nineteen seventies, there was an increase in political awareness, which initially stared in 1960, along with the economic liberty of women and the dimming of the hipster movement. Nineteen seventy was also the year Paula Scher graduated, it has been called the â€Å"golden days of illustration†. There were well established arts at that time, like Miltion Glaser, Seymour Chwast, James McMullen, Pual Davis whom Paula perceived as inspiration. Paula’s work doesn’t have many distinct features that display the influence of the artist above on her work, since she has a style of her own, but there are some corresponding color pallets. STYLE Common components of her work * Use of bright colors * Use of hand written text Use of bold strokes * Domination of type Paula Scher’s designs are intended to captivate the interest of modern public, it does so by the use of the components above along with pop icons, music, films and many others. Conceiving images that communicates with the public’s feelings, the designs she made become observably equivalent to the New York retro movement. Retro art is a genre of pop art, is amplified during the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties, it was a reaction to the demand for courageous, attractive graphics. Scher had an eye for bringing together different typing, leading, churning and coloring blended together in a bold and very astonishing way. The â€Å"BAM!!! † effect to some extent has a flashing impact to the design which is her way of visualizing, expressing and exemplifying the retro by means of conventional methods. Fig:3 shows a poster done by Scher for the public theater, â€Å"A Retro Style†. Scher’s justification for her style and approach is plainly a counter for dissatisfaction with the type-face Helvetica along with her rebellious mind set, that differentiated her among other artist by breaking the so called â€Å"rules†. Influence of the Dada movement Dada movement started in nineteen sixteen, by a poet and artist named Tristan Tzara and Hans Arp. As a response to the killing, propaganda and firstly the first world war. Individualist groups joint together by means of similar concepts, even though these groups did not share a universal style, but since they all rejected the idealism, stale artistic and intellectual conventions and modern society’s unchecked embrace of ‘rationalism’ and ‘progress’. Dada was anti-aesthetic, anti-rational and anti-idealistic. Fig: 4 shows a poster that was done during the Dada movement, it is a blended combination between a collage and typography, these similar elements are found in the poster designed by Paula Shcer designed for the public theater fig: 5 which also has a very similar feel. This is not the only poster that shows the influence of the Dada movement on Scher’s work, most of the designs made portray a certain ideology and there is a concept that supports why certain elements are added, positioned and combined together to form the design. The design feel of the art done in during the Dada movement and Scher both have the messy effect of being cluttered, yet the design is harmonious in a baldy manner. Both are known for their utilization of geometric elements. Even though they share enough similar features, Shcer brings out the pop art feel into the Dada inspired work, which is what identifies her designs from those done in the nineteen sixty. Conclusion Researching and viewing Paula Scher’s work and designs show me how two or more very different styles, can collide together to form a single artistic entity. The relation to other artists and art movements like futurism and constructivism with resemblance to the Dadaism all reflect Scher’s point of view towards the art she constructed. It’s quite inspiring to blend and merge two or three of the styles together emerging with a beautiful piece of work, but scher’s work was based on taking completely unrelated topics such as collage and typography. This work is a true divine and virtuoso of art as we know it.

Politeness and Culture Essay

1.1 What is politeness? Politeness is a kind of socio-cultural phenomenon in human communication. It has been defined in diverse ways. For Kochman (1984), politeness has a protective mission exercised in putting things in such a way as to take account of the feelings of others: Polite conversation is†¦ a way of showing consideration for other people’s  feelings, that is, not saying or doing anything that might unduly excite or arouse. The ‘gentleman’s agreement’ (though, hardly just confined to adult males) is and was ‘ you don’t do or say anything that might arouse my feelings, and I won’t do or say anything that might arouse yours’†¦ (1984:204) Watts (1992) defines polite behaviour as â€Å"socio-culturally determined behavior directed towards the goal of establishing and/or maintaining in a state of equilibrium the personal relationships between the individuals of a social group, whether open or closed, during the ongoing process of interaction† (1992:50) Therefore, the term â€Å"politeness† may be generally defined as adequate social conduct and tactful consideration of others aiming to avoid interactional conflicts. Politeness can be realized in a number of ways, among which the use of language concerns us most in the present discussion. Politeness is then taken to be the various forms of language structure and usage which allow the members of a socio-cultural group to achieve their conflict-avoiding goals. If politeness is seen as the adequacy of linguistic behavior, then all speakers of different languages are equally polite, since they all have linguistic means at their disposal, which according to their rules of application are adequate in different situations. The concept of politeness, therefore, is universally valid. 1.2 Motives of Being Polite Why do people apologize when they have done something wrong? Why do they compliment on their friend’s hairstyle? In one word, why do people behave appropriately, hence politely? The explanation of such diverse communicative behaviors lies in the consideration of â€Å"face†. Face is thus viewed as a positive public self-image that is maintaining in society. That is, in newly formed contacts the individual engages in establishing a public image for himself. In continued contacts he engages in sustaining and improving the face he has encouraged the others to develop for him. A fundamental preoccupation of people around the world is maintaining or protecting face. Threats to face, whether intended, accidental, or only imagined, are the basis of most interpersonal conflicts. They arise when people feel that their right to a positive self-image being ignored. One conventional way of avioding threats to face in all cultures is to be linguistically polite. To secure this public self-image, people engage in what Goffman calls â€Å"face work†, performing action â€Å"to make whatever they are doing consistent with face†(1967:12), while trying to save their own face as well as the other’s. Goffman (1967) specifies two kinds of face-work: the avoidance process (avoiding potentially face-threatening) acts and the corrective process (performing a variety of redressive acts). However, he says little about how face can be maintained linguistically while damage is occuring. As implied above, face wants are reciprocal, i.e. if one wants his face cared for, he should care for other people’s face. The reason is that, while the individual is absorbed in developing and maintaining his face, the others also have similar considerations for themselves. It is clear that one way of ensuring the maintenance of their own face is to keep everybody’s face undamaged. Normally, the participants during interaction work on the understanding that one will respect the other’s face as long as the other respects his. This point is best expressed by the concise rule in Scripture: Do unto all men as you would they should do unto you. Since face wants are reciprocal, politeness naturally concerns a relationship between two rational participants or interlocutors, whom we may call self and other. In a conversation, self may be identified with speaker or addresser, and other with hearer or addressee. Also it is possible that  speakers show politeness to a third party that is related to interlocutor’s face. 2.0 Language and Culture 2.1 Defining Culture Culture is a large and evasive concept. Sapir (1921) holds that culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks, and language is a particular way of thought. Language, in this way, is part of culture. Culture is also interpreted in the sense of Goodenough’s definition: As I see it, a society’s culture consists of whatever it is one had to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members†¦ Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end-product of learning: knowledge, in a most geneal†¦ sense of the term (Goodenough,1954:167). Culture is thus whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society, including language and conventional behavioral norms that a person must follow or that other people in the society expect you to follow, to get through the task of daily living. When we study a culture, it is not enough to merely learn the knowledge of a language and behavioral norms, as Steinmetz, Bush and Joseph-Goldfare (1994) point out: Studying culture does not mean looking only at customs, insititution, and artifacts†¦, but also studying people’s values, beliefs, and attitudes and how they influence or are influenced by interaction among people. Culture should be studied as a process as well as a product (1994:12). As a combination of these views, culture consists of not only language, behavioural norms, which can be observed, but also values and beliefs underlying them. The famous metaphor of the â€Å"culture iceberg† (Hall & Hall,  1990) indicates that many aspects of culture, such as certain beliefs, world views, and values, are below the surface of consciousness ( in the submerged part of the iceberg). Other aspects of culture, like language, eating habits, customs, are in the conscious area ( above the waterline). It is often the less conscious cultural aspects that influenced the way people communicate with each other. 2.2 Language and Culture We are now in a position to see language and culture in a dialectical relationship. Every language is part of a culture. As such, it cannot but serve and reflect cultural needs. This does not necessarily go against Saussure’s thesis that the signified of a language are arbitrary and hence derive their exact identity from systems of relationships. What needs to be added, however, is that this arbitrariness is not as absolute as he suggested, but is limited by the particular cultural setting from which a language extracts its signified. Within the broad limits set by the specific needs of a culture, a language is free to make arbitrary selections of signifieds. This element of arbitrariness is brone out by the fact that there is of a speech community and its linguistic resources. Thus neither linguistic determinism nor cultural determinism can adequately explain why a language should select its unique system of signs, for these selections are made partly in response to cultural needs and partly owing to the inherent ( limited ) arbitrariness of the process. There is yet another sense in which language is not a passive reflector of culture. Even assuming that culture is in many cases the first cause in the language-culture relationship, language as the effect in the first link of the casual chain will in turn be the cause in the next link, reinforcing and preserving beliefs and customs and conditioning their future course. 3.0 Politeness and Culture 3.1 The Concept of Face In Chinese and English The central to B & L’s politeness theory is the concept of face, and its two concimitant desires—– negative face and positive face, which are defined from the perspective of individual’s wants. B & L maintain that notion of face constituted by these two basic desire is universal (1987:13). This section thus aims to examine whether their notion of face is applicable in Chinese culture. Since they acknowledge deriving their formulation of face from Goffman’s classic account of face and from the English folk notion of face (1987:61), these two sources will be dealt with first. 3.1.1 The Source of B & L’s † Face† The first source is Goffman’s account of face. Goffman characterizes face as â€Å"the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact†. He sees face not as a private or an internalized flow of events, supported by other people’s judgments, and enclosed by â€Å"impersonal agencies in the situation† (1967:7). Seen in this light, face becomes a public image that is on loan to individuals from society, and that will be withdrawn from them if they prove unworthy of it (1967:10). B & L say that their other sources is the English folk concept of face, which is linked to notions like â€Å"being embarrassed of humiliated, or ‘losing face'† (1987:61). But in fact, such notions of face seem to be Chinese in origin. The word â€Å"face† is a literal translation of the two Chinese characters and ( Hu,1944;Ho,1975). Presumably informed of these two sources, B & L characterize face as image that intrinsically belongs to the individual, to the self. This seems to part with their first source considerably. Here, the public characteristic that is essential to Goffman’s analysis of face seems to become an external modifier rather than an intrinsic constituent of this image. 3.1.2 Chinese â€Å"Face† As pointed out above, two Chinese characters and are used to convey the denotative meaning of the word â€Å"face† ( that is, † the front of the head†); they also encode connotative meanings, which have to do with reputable, respectable images that individuals can claim for themselves from communities in which they interact, or to which they belong (Ho,1957). More specifically, stands for prestige or reputation, which is either achieved through getting on in life (Hu, 1944:45), or ascribed by other members of one’s own community. refers to † the respect of the group for a man with a good moral reputation†; it embodies † the confidence of society in the integrity of ego’s moral character†, and it is † both a social sanction for enforcing moral standards and internalized sanction† (Hu, 1944:45). Chinese speakers, therefore, will be seen as being polite if they know how to attend to each other’s and and to enact speech acts appropriate to and worthy of such an image. 3.2 Difference Between Chinese â€Å"Face† and B & L’s â€Å"Face† The first difference is concerned with their overall conceptualization of face—-a difference that has been briefly alluded to above. B & L focus their notion of face primarily upon the individual—-rather than the communal-aspect of face; that is, the self is the principal constituent that contextualizes the concept of face. The self is â€Å"public† only to the extent that it depends on other’s face being manifested (B & L, 1987:61). The self depends on the public only to preserve its own interests. In short, the overall composition of this self-image, with its negative and positive aspects, only concerns the individual’s wants and desires. In contrast, Chinese face encodes a reputable image that individuals can claim for themselves as they interact with others in a given community; it is intimately linked to the views of the community and to the community’s judgment and perception of the individual’s character and behaviour. Chinese face emphasizes not the accommodation of individual â€Å"wants† or â€Å"desires† but the harmony of individual conduct with the views and judgment of the community. Chinese face, to quote Goffman again, is â€Å"on loan†¦from society† (1967:10); it belongs to the individual or to the self only to the extent  that the individual acts in full compliance with that face. The second difference is related to the content of face. B & L conceive of face as consisting of negative face and positive face. Their negative face refers to, and values, an individual’s need to be free of external impositions, a desire to be left alone to enjoy a sense of one’s â€Å"territorial integrity†. â€Å"Privacy† is a particular term used to describe this typical value, which is much more treasured in English culture than in Chinese; whereas Chinese face emphasizes one’s dependence on society’s recognition of one’s social standing and of one’s â€Å"reputable†existence, and subsequently, on society’s endorsement of one’s attending to it. Relatively speaking, Chinese â€Å"face† does not comprise the element of what B & L term â€Å"negative face†. 3.3 Cultural Assumption In this section, the differences of politeness in English and Chinese will be elaborated in terms of the different historicity that the concept of politeness can be traced back to, and of the fundamental cultural assumptions underlying the two different notions of English and Chinese â€Å"face†. 3.3.1 A Historical Review As we have known, privacy is a value derived from B & L’s notion of face. It is a notion embracing at once the freedom, rights, and the independence of action of man. Such a value is closely associated with the emancipation of man from the yokes of the church on the European continent, and with the opening up of the New World on the other side of the Atlantic—-North America. Consequently, showing respct to an individual’s liberty, his rights, his independence in Anglo-American culture, will be considered polite; lack of it will be improper, hence impolite. On the contrary, Chinese culture has had a 2000-year-long history of feudalism. Chinese civilization has been established on agriculture, and †Ã‚  Generations of peasants were tied to the land on which they lives and worked. Except in times of war and famine, there was little mobility, either socially and geographically† (Hu & Grove,1991:1). From this historicity resulted the collective (group-oriented) nature of Chinese value, which was reinforced ideologically in the Confucian tradition, a tradition that advocates subordinating the individual to the group or the community, and maintains that the ultimate goal of human behavior is to achieve harmony, which leads the Chinese to pursue a conflict-free and group-oriented system of an ever-expanding circle of human-relatedness (Chen, 1993). Namely, an individual is presumed not to satisfy the desire for freedom, but to gain self-esteem in harmony with group. Just as English culture values privacy, Chinese culture values harm ony. In modern Chinese, the equivalent of politeness is believed to have evolved in history from the notion of Li . The ancient philosopher and thinker Confucius (551—479 B.C.), in order to restore the harmony of society when there were constant wars between feudal states, advocated restoring Li. Derived from this book are four basic elements of politeness, or what count as polite behaviors: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth, and refinement. â€Å"Respectfulness† is the self’s positive appreciation of admiration of the other concerning the latter’s face, largely identical with the need to maintain the hearer’s positive face. â€Å"Modesty† can be seen as another way of saying â€Å"self-denigration†; though â€Å"modesty† varies in the importance attached to it in different cultures, it is to a large extent universal, her to interpret it as self-denigration is uniquely Chinese. â€Å"Attitudinal warmth† is the self’s demonstration of kindness, consideration, and hospitality, the speaker runs the risk of infringing on the hearer’s personal freedom, viz. privacy, thus threatening his negative face. Finally, â€Å"refinement† refers to the self’s behavior to the other which meets certain moral standards laid by society; it represents the normative character of politeness in addition to the instrumental aspect. These four essential elements of politeness are believed to manifest themselves in many Chinese speech events. 3.3.2 Two Construals of the Self: Interdependent and Independent If we examine the â€Å"deep structure† from which the two different notions of English and Chinese â€Å"face† can possibly be derived, them they can be said to have been informed metarphorically by two divergent underlying forces (Mao,1994): the centripetal force, which leads Chinese â€Å"face† to gravitate toward social recognition and hierarchical interdependence, and the centrifugal force, which enables English â€Å"face† to spiral outward from individual desires or wants with the self as the initiating agent. The centripetal force and centrifugal force represent two different face orientations, which correspond to two distinct construals of the self: an interdependent construal of the self and an independent construal of the self respectively(Markus and Kitayama, 1991). The independent construal of the self, endorsed by English culture and most Western countries, builds on † a faith in the inherent separateness of distinct persons â€Å". The normative imperative of this culture is to become independent of others and to discover and express one’s unique attributes (Miller, 1988). Thus achieving the cultural goal of independent requires construing oneself as an individual whose behavior is made meaningful primarily by reference to one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, rather than by reference to those of others; whereas the interdependent construal of the self, favoured by Chinese culture and most East Asian countries, insists on † the fundamental connectedness of human beings to each other†(Markus and Kitayama, 1991:227). A normative imperative of this culture is to maintain this interdependence, therefore, entails seeing oneself as part of an encompassing social relationship and recongnizing that one’s behavior is organized by what the self perceives to be the thoughts, feeling, and actions of others in the relationship, so that the self within such a construal becomes most meaningful and complete. BIBLIOGRAPHY Blum-Kulka, S. et al. 1984. Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech acts realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics 5(3):192-212 Brown, R. & S. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge:CUP. Chen, Guoming. 1993. A Chinese perspective of communication competence. Paper presented at the annual convention of the speech communication association, Miami Beach, FL. Goffman, E. 1967. Interactional Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. Goffman, E. 1972. Interactional Ritual. London:Penguin. Goffman, E. 1971. Relations in Public: Macrostudies of the Public Order. Harmondsworth:Penguin Goodenough, W. H. 1957. Cultural anthropologh and linguistics. In Garvin, P.L.(ed.) Report of the 7th Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Study. Washington: Georgetown University Press Hall, E. & M. Hall. 1990. Understanding Cultural Differences. Yarmouth, ME: International Press. Ho, D.1975. On the concept of face. American Journal of Sociology 81(4):867-84 Hu, Wenzhong & C. L. Grove. 1991. Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans Yarmouth, ME: International Press. Mao, L. R. 1994. Beyond politeness theory: â€Å"face† revisited and renewed. Journal of Pragmatics 21:451-86 Markus & Kitayama. 1991. Culture and self. Pshchological Review 98(2):224-53 Miller, J.G. 1988. Bridging the context-structure dichotomy: culture and the self. In M.H. Bond (ed.) The cross-cultural Challenge to Social Psychology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. 266-81

Development and Training Employees as a Method of Retention

Development and Training Employees as a Method of Retention Free Online Research Papers Employee retention guarantees companies remain high performance organizations. Crucial to retention is identifying talented employees who possess potential, showing them how they add value to the organization, and using their talents, so not only the employees remain engaged, but also the company benefits from the employees’ contributions. Oftentimes, if employees lack engagement, they seek out opportunities with other companies. Since companies cannot afford to lose talented employees to competitors, proper training and development is critical (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2003). Although geared toward companies’ future needs, developing employees aids in retention because development shows employees that they have a future with the company. Conversely, training focuses on employees’ present positions. However, training is as important as development since succession planning highlights high-potential employees, allowing employers to earmark employees for development. Development is not necessarily the employer’ responsibility, as employees aspiring to better positions can and should make their intentions known (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2003). Training an employee to function properly at a given task requires planning and foresight. Desiring to become an Employer of Choice, Lincoln Electric has made a commitment to provide quality training to its employees. This paper will analyze the training and development plan of the following five training issues; needs assessment, design, development, implementation and evaluation of training provided to employees of Lincoln Electric. Employee development is more than just training; it must become the way the company runs. Companies hire people from all skill levels, even those people who possess little more than a high school diploma or GED. Companies provide these talented individuals with challenging opportunities for personal and professional growth and development. In business training, communicating the importance of accomplishing tasks is paramount. Effective training starts with pinpointing the current skill set of each individual employee. One of the first steps of effective training is finding out what each employees current skill set is. The next step is to find out which parts of the job need to be taught to that individual. The team needs to develop a company-wide development and training program for all of the employees at Lincoln Electric. The result will be an organization of talented, engaged and committed employees. The training program will address the training needs for potential, existing, and newly hired employees as well as supervisors and directors (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2003). Lincoln Electric’s pay-for-performance system (Lincoln Electric Company, 2007) is well known; however, Lincoln Electric oftentimes encounters difficulties in recruiting employees (Prizinsky, 1994 Narisetti, 1995). While most people seek positions at Lincoln Electric because of their infamous holiday bonus, which is really profit sharing dividends, many applicants do not meet the position requirements (Narisetti, 1995). Moreover, Lincoln Electric is not capitalizing on its most valuable asset: the employees. Investing in employees makes business sense for the employer. While Lincoln Electric laments the number of skilled workers available to them, they forget that they already have those skilled workers: current employees. Lincoln Electric’s issues with training and development are solvable, and the solution starts with the initial problem, which is the lack of qualified, entry-level applicants (Narisetti, 1995). The better the employee, the better the company runs. Lincoln Electric is doubtlessly aware of this concept. Training and developing employees from the onset guarantees Lincoln Electric remains successful in the future. The first way to hook potential recruits is to catch their attention. Lincoln Electric does this rather well by promising no lay-offs, and sharing the company’s profits with the employees (Lincoln Electric Company, 2007). Perhaps even more important is the employer’s willingness to help maximize employees’ potentials. Although Lincoln Electric promotes employees based on experience, as opposed to seniority, there are no systems in place to ensure employees garner enough experience to realize a promotion. If only a small number of applicants can perform basic math skills, and the results are worse every year, Lincoln Electric has to begin training and development before applicants begin working at Lincoln Electric (Narisetti, 1995). This training r anges from refresher courses in mathematics for new applicants to specialized courses such as tool and die, computer-controlled machining, and welding for present employees. Lincoln Electric cannot hire enough applicants for several reasons. First, most people have no manufacturing experience. Second, many high schools restructured their curriculums and no longer offer students exposure to vocational training programs (Prizinsky, 1994). Consequently, Lincoln Electric rejected a majority of the 20,000 applications received during an 18-month period because applicants lacked basic algebra skills (Narisetti, 1995). Lincoln Electric exhausted its hiring efforts by placing newspaper advertisements, retaining recruiting firms, and launching a mail marketing campaign (Prizinsky, 1994). While they did hire some workers using these methods, the original problem remained. Lincoln Electric can meet its hiring goals by sending new recruits to math refresher courses. As opposed to turning away all applicants who fail Lincoln Electric’s math assessment, Lincoln Electric should send those applicants to the math refresher courses. Doing so ensures a continual su pply of entry-level workers. More important, Lincoln Electric can groom these employees for higher positions within the company. Lincoln Electric currently affords employees the opportunity to develop their own career path, and promotes employees based on experience, not seniority (Lincoln Electric Company, 2007). Lincoln Electric should take this incentive a step further by offering tuition reimbursement to employees showing an interest in tool and die making, welding, computer-controlled machining, or any two-year college program that will help employees perform their job more satisfactorily. Tuition reimbursement often pays unforeseen dividends. An employee who realizes his or her true potential is bound to perform better. Although costly, this strategy offers Lincoln Electric a better return on investment than their direct mail marketing campaign. Carefully analyzing costs is one of the many reasons Lincoln Electric is a successful business. To ensure employees stay with Lincoln Electric after completing their degree or certificate, Lincoln Electric should have employees sign contracts that mandate employe es remain under Lincoln Electric’s employ for a specified number of years in exchange for their education. Cleveland Clinic has a similar program; for every 2 years of education the clinic pays on an employee’s behalf, the employee owes the clinic 1 year of employment. If employees leave beforehand, they are liable for the cost of the education (C. Ormsby, personal communication, 2007). Implementing this strategy has a cyclical effect on the hiring, training, and development process. Once new employees enter entry-level positions, seasoned workers who have completed their schooling progress to higher positions, and the cycle continues. As an alternative, Lincoln Electric can offer in-house training program that will inaugurate each January after analyzing contract bids from any area college interested in the advertisement. Participants must sign in for the lab, and take a pretest, which aids in future benchmarking. Lincoln Electric will test participants again after five math labs and participants must demonstrate significant improvement in order for the contract to remain viable. Participants gain no compensation, other than their respective gains in job skills and qualifications. This program will encourage, though not mandate, managers at Lincoln Electric to attend at least one lab a year. The labs commence at Lincoln Electric twice a week at both 8:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M., to compensate for Lincoln Electric’s rotating schedule (Lincoln Electric, 2007). The primary purpose of these labs is to focus on improving skills in two areas – mathematics and computers. The company will post the schedule on a bulletin board to encourage as many employees as possible to attend. Unfortunately, many ambitious adults do not possess adequate math or computer skills to help Lincoln Electric. This plan will provide otherwise-dedicated employees the basic skills needed for company growth and potential. The evaluation process consists of a two-step process. During the training process, management focuses on the participation and enthusiasm of the employees. Next, employees describe the main points of the training. After the training and development process, the employees demonstrate their mastery of the training session, while management observes. This is an evaluation tool used for employees with direct observation performed by supervisors. While observing, supervisors, prepared with checklists evaluate whether employees demonstrate the desired and required behaviors and skills of the position (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2003). Businesses usually conduct annual evaluations on their employees rather than providing ongoing process of continuous feedback. A problem with annual appraisals is that the evaluation can sometimes focus on recent events as opposed to past events, which, depending on the details of the events, could be either good or bad for the employee. Both positive and negative feedback is recognized as effective when it is done shortly after completion of a task. Therefore, ongoing evaluations are required at Lincoln Electric. After completing training, employees have the opportunity to complete satisfaction surveys of the training. Any feedback they have helps in their learning process and feedback also lets the employees know their opinions matter and the company as a whole will do their best to consider their opinion. After all, they are the ones using the information they gain from the training on a daily basis. Any employment setting implementing a training program requires planning. For Lincoln Electric, the training and development processes begin at the hiring phase. By implementing training geared toward specific positions, Lincoln Electric can overcome its hiring issues and further develop career path incentives already in place. The institution of math classes and tuition reimbursement provides effective training, and ensures adequate delivery of the training to the employees. Moreover, once employees complete training, supervisors conduct evaluations on the effectiveness of the training, and employees have opportunities to provide feedback. These days, all industries including manufacturing need skilled employees. By providing adequate training to employees at the onset and further developing employees, Lincoln Electric can prepare employees and the company for future growth. References Lincoln Electric Company (2007). Incentive Performance A Cornerstone of Our Culture. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from lincolnelectric.com/corporate/career/ Narisetti, R. (1995). Many workers are called . . . but few are qualified. The Wall Street Journal [Electronic Version]. Retrieved November 24, 2007 from ProQuest Database. Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B., Wright, P.M. (2003). Fundamentals of human resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Prizinsky, D. (1994). Going to church gets new meaning: Lincoln electric tries varied venues to find employees. Crain’s Cleveland Business [Electronic Version]. Retrieved November 24, 2007 from ProQuest Database. Research Papers on Development and Training Employees as a Method of RetentionAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaTwilight of the UAWResearch Process Part OneThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in Capital

The History of Japanese Ninjas

The History of Japanese Ninjas The ninja of movies and comic books- a stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder- is very compelling, to be sure. But the historical reality of the ninja is somewhat different. In feudal Japan, ninjas were a lower class of warriors often recruited by samurai and governments to act as spies. Origins of the Ninja It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi- after all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins. Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan. Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninjas art of stealth, began to develop between 600 to 900. Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574 to 622, is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy. By the year 907, the Tang Dynasty in China had fallen, plunging the country into 50 years of chaos and forcing Tang generals to escape over the sea to Japan where they brought new battle tactics and philosophies of war. Chinese monks also began to arrive in Japan in the 1020s, bringing new medicines and fighting philosophies of their own, with many of the ideas originating in India  and making their way across Tibet and China before turning up in Japan. The monks taught their methods to Japans warrior-monks, or yamabushi, as well as to members of the first ninja clans. The First Known Ninja School For a century or more, the blend of Chinese and native tactics that would become ninjutsu developed as a counter-culture, without rules. It was first formalized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi around the 12th century. Daisuke had been a samurai, but he was on the losing side in a regional battle and forced to forfeit his lands and his samurai title. Ordinarily, a samurai might commit seppuku under these circumstances, but Daisuke did not. Instead, in 1162, Daisuke wandered the mountains of southwest Honshu where he met Kain Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke renounced his bushido code, and together the two developed a new theory of guerrilla warfare called ninjutsu. Daisukes descendants created the first ninja ryu, or school, the Togakureryu. Who Were the Ninja? Some of the ninja leaders, or jonin, were disgraced samurai like Daisuke Togakure that had lost in battle or had been renounced by their daimyo but fled rather than committing ritual suicide. However, most ordinary ninjas were not from the nobility. Instead, low-ranking ninjas were villagers and farmers who learned to fight by any means necessary for their own self-preservation, including the use of stealth and poison to carry out assassinations. As a result, the most famous ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga Provinces, mostly known for their rural farmlands and quiet villages. Women also served in ninja combat. Female ninja, or kunoichi, infiltrated enemy castles in the guise of dancers, concubines, or servants who were highly successful spies and sometimes even acted as assassins as well. Samurai Use of the Ninja The samurai lords could not always prevail in open warfare, but they were constrained by bushido, so they often hired ninjas to do their dirty work. Secrets could be spied out, opponents assassinated, or misinformation planted, all without sullying a samurais honor. This system also transferred wealth to the lower classes, as the ninja were paid handsomely for their work. Of course, a samurais enemies could also hire ninja, and as a result, the samurai needed, despised, and feared the ninja- in equal measure. The ninja high man, or jonin, gave orders to the chunin  (middle man), who passed them on to the genin, or the ordinary ninja. This hierarchy was also, unfortunately, based on the class the ninja had come from before training, but it wasnt uncommon for a skilled ninja to ascend the ranks well beyond his or her social class. The Rise and Fall of the Ninja The ninja came into their own during the tumultuous era between 1336 and 1600. In an atmosphere of constant war, ninja skills were essential for all sides, and they played a key role in the Nanbukucho Wars (1336–1392), the Onin War (1460s), and the  Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States Period- where they aided samurai in their internal power struggles. The ninja were an important tool during the Sengoku Period (1467-1568), but also a destabilizing influence. When warlord Oda Nobunaga emerged as the strongest daimyo and began to reunite Japan in 1551–1582, he saw the ninja strongholds at Iga and Koga as a threat, but despite quickly defeating and co-opting the Koga ninja forces, Nobunaga had more trouble with Iga.​ In what would later be called the Iga Revolt or Iga No Run, Nobunaga attacked the ninja of Iga with an overwhelming force of more than 40,000 men. Nobunagas lightning-quick attack on Iga forced the ninja to fight open battles, and as a result, they were defeated and scattered to nearby provinces and the mountains of Kii. While their base was destroyed, the ninja did not vanish entirely. Some went into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became shogun in 1603, but the much-reduced ninja continued to serve on both sides in various struggles. In one famous incident from 1600, a ninja snuck through a group of Tokugawas defenders at Hataya castle and planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate. The Edo Period under the Tokugawa Shogunate  from 1603–1868 brought stability and peace to Japan, bringing the ninja story to a close. Ninja skills and legends survived, though, and were embellished to enliven the movies, games, and comic books of today.