Article Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article Review - Essay Example Moreover, the limited funding usually available to managers of non-profits make them focus on only high-priority tasks, sacrificing quality of management. Hence, there is an inherent trade-off between management efficiency and leadership quality. Most non-profits seem to have one or the other; but the most successful few are those that display both these characteristics. Most leaders of non-profits surveyed for the article do indeed recognize this trade-off and admit to short-comings in their management standards. In their willingness to improve the same, these leaders were open to learning new techniques and principles and adopting them to their organizations. Some of them have already implemented some of principles and tasted success. The first of such measures is Getting Strategic Clarity. Achieving strategic clarity â€Å"means answering, in very concrete terms, two questions that are core to a nonprofit’s mission: What impact are we prepared to be held accountable for? A nd â€Å"What do we need to do - and not do - in order to achieve this impact?† (Stid & Bradach, 2009, p.37) By answering this set of questions, leaders are in a better position to align their resources and processes around core objectives.

Spinoza and Leibniz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spinoza and Leibniz - Essay Example (Montag, 2002) Further on, his meditations on the 'nature of Divine' were connected with such intellectual and philosophical movements of the time as Pantheism, Determinism, neutral monism, intellectual and religious freedom, separation of church and state, and so on. (Nadler, 1999) Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646 ---1716) was born in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire, and died in Hannover, Electorate of Hannover. Great German philosopher had wider recognition not only because of his metaphysical works (problems of 'theodicy' as well as of 'universal language'), but also because of his impact in mathematics and history of logic (Woolhouse and Francks, 1998). Briefly speaking, he invented lots of things: 'infinitesimal calculus;' 'monadic' concept; thesis that our Earth was the 'best of all possible worlds;' then, there were also 'Leibniz harmonic triangle;' 'Leibniz formula for determinants;' 'Leibniz integral rule;' principle of sufficient reason; 'diagrammatic re asoning;' notation for differentiation; kinetic energy; proof of Fremat's little theorem; 'law of continuity;' 'transcendental law of homogeneity;' 'calculus ratiocinator;' binary number system, etcetera (Jolley, 1995). The Role of God in the Ideas of Spinoza and Leibniz God exists in both systems of Spinoza and Leibniz. ... e determined by the nature of God.' Giving an answer on a complicated question about 'free choices' and 'actions determinated,' it is possible to find out a right correlation between 'free choices' of human beings and 'Divine determination,' according to Spinoza and Leibniz. Spinoza on God: 'Ethics' There are several names for this 'transcendental agent' in Spinoza's fundamental writing: God, Nature, and Universe. 'Reality is perfection,' (Nadler, 1999) therefore, 'if circumstances are seen as unfortunate it is only because of our inadequate conception of reality.' (Nadler, 2006) Moreover, there is a 'universal truth,' but abilities of our intellect are always so miserable and limited, that we are able to see only a fragment of chain of cause and effect; that is why 'emotion is formed from inadequate understanding.' (Nadler, 1999) Essentially, only 'intuitive knowledge is eternal,' and 'the world as it exists looks imperfect only because of our limited perception.' (Nadler, 2006) Con cerning a question on 'freedom of human will' and 'eternal determination by a transcendental subject,' it should be stated that for Spinoza such separation does not make sense at all. He is concerned with a limited abilities of human intellectus, and his idea is that when this intellectus in a perfect condition being developed sufficiently, such person knows 'eternal truth' or 'universal principle' of how things are, or used to be, or how they will be. The question about 'freedom of will' is about a level of our hesitation about such truth inside ourselves, an issue about our state of mind, or cognitive abilities of our intellect, more developed or totally undeveloped. When it is undeveloped, we are thinking that we are totally free from restrictions, but when we have our abilities and

Relationship between Organizational Learning and HRM

Relationship between Organizational Learning and HRM Both organizational learning and human resource management (HRM) have been studied more recently because of their important role in improving organizational performance and as a source of competitive advantage which is probably the most significant for organizations to achieve sustainable development in the changing economic environment. With the frequent application of the concepts and theories of organizational learning and HRM in the organizational operation management and practice, a wide range of literatures have focused on these two disciplines and find that a proper combination of the two has a positive influence on organizational performance. Thus this essay is to explore and analyse the relationship between organizational learning and HRM and their impact on organizational performance. It will explain the key concepts and theories used in these two disciplines including definitions and discuss how learning and HR practice affect each other further to organizational performan ce. Firstly, this essay will introduce organizational learning concepts, learning organization, levels and types of learning. Then, it will demonstrate and discuss the reasons and the ways of a combination of organizational learning and HR practice including recruitment and selection, human resource development (HRD), reward and employee relations in the improvement of organizational performance. Organizational Learning Organisational learning has become a field with rapid growth and receives more and more attention of researchers now. It has been defined from many perspectives by scholars. According to the definition given by Garvin (1993), organizational learning is like an organization which does well in generating, getting and shifting knowledge and in action correction of staff in order to have reaction on new information and views. However, learning has been recognized as both the knowledge itself and the process of getting it by Argyris and Schon (1996) who defined organizational learning as the action of organizations obtaining various information including knowledge, methods, ideas and news through any ways with a more macro perspective. Many researchers propose that resultful organizational learning plays a significant role in improving organization commitment and realizing and keeping competition advantage (Shipton et al, 2002). Organisational learning is the courses in which an organization deals with information to improve its latent capacity while obtaining beneficial knowledge (Huber, 1991). In the similar way, organizational learning is defined as a process that the employees learn to change and enhance their behaviour through the cycle of absorption of new knowledge and technique and critical knowledge accumulation and development in order to achieve organization value creation and increase (Patricia, 2002). This essay will define organizational learning as a process in which organisational performance can be improved by managers through the advancement of learning ability of staff step by step on the basis of focusing on its significant role in organisational performance (Jones, 2000). Learning Organization In the study of organizational learning, the concept of learning organization has been defined in different ways. In Senges (1990) eye, learning organization is an organization which has the ability to carry out adaptive learning and generative learning for a flexible development. According to Senge, detectable features of learning organization are unclear in definition instead of identifying the necessary rules of how to create a learning organization (Yang, et al, 2004). From a strategic view, a learning organization has been defined as an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights (Garvin, 1993, pp.80). In these different definitions of learning organization, we could find some features in common. First, organizations have the ability to learn like people and it is known that this capability is the most significant advantage for organization in competition in long term (Yang, et al, 2004). The second feature of a learning organization might be different levels of organizations such as individual, group or team and organization have their own characteristics (Yang, et al, 2004). Organizational learning and learning organization are related but different. The concept of the learning organization usually means organizations with the features of ever-lasting ability to learn and strong ability of adaptation. In comparison, organizational learning refers to a collection of experiences of learning for studying new knowledge and enhancing ability (Yang, et al, 2004). Three-Learning Loop Theory Three-learning loop theory (Argyris and Schon, 1978) is the most important theory in the study of individual learning. As an important part of a successful organization, individual learning has been widely discussed in the area of organizational learning. As stated by Chang and Lee (2007), the dynamic of development is learning and the power of organizational development is individual level learning. First is the single-loop learning that refers to instrumental learning that changes strategies of action or assumptions underlying strategies in ways that leave the values of a theory of action unchanged (Argyris and Schon, 1996, pp.20). In this situation of learning, a single feed-back loop caused by an investigation followed by error detection is a result of unusual phenomenon according to the definite strategies of organization in order to control the operation in the norms of organization (Argyris and Schon, 1996). When this situation happens, the employees who have learnt the theory-in-use of the organization will carry out this kind of approach to solve problems due to their previous learning and feedback confirmed by managers that it is proper according to the organisational norms (Yeow, 2009). Next is the double-loop learning refers to a learning that cause the value of theory-in-use, strategies and thoughts of organizations changed (Argyris and Schon, 1996). Double-loop lear ning happens when the employees evaluate the previous strategies on the products, services, customers and norms (Yeow, 2009). Deutero-learning is the third learning approach focusing on previous study process includes failure (Yeow, 2009). Human Resource Management Human resource management is a discipline comprises a broad range of theories and concepts. In other words, it is a subject of all human things focusing on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. From the perspective of organization, human resource emphasizes on the abilities, skills and knowledge that are benefit for the organizations of their employees (Price, 2007). The relationship of organizational learning, human resource management and organizational performance Facing the fierce competition in the society, organizations have been aware of the importance of capability of learning and creativity of employees and the whole organization in maintaining the sustainable success (Ulrich et al., 1993). Types of learning and Human Resource Management As for organizations, especially for learning organizations, improving adaptive learning and single-loop learning is only the first level and generative learning and double-loop learning are the key (Senge, 1990). Generative learning could improve the ability of creativity of employees and organizations for the development (Kaynak et al, 1998). When identifying and dealing with problems, generative learning put a focus on ever lasting practice and feedback in the consideration of the situation of organizations (Rouse and Boff, 2005). Focusing on creativity is the nature of generative learning, so systemic thinking, shared vision, personal mastery, team learning and creative tension are involved between the vision and reality (Rouse and Boff, 2005). Take a brief look at the responsibilities of human resource management, comprehensive employee recruitment and selection procedures are one of the most important parts in human resource management (Davenport, 2000). In addition, a determin ing factor of the effectiveness of organizational learning is the quality of their employee (Davenport, 2000). Therefore, one aspect of link of human resource management and organizational learning is the practice of employee selection and recruitment. The implication of this link is best fit employees could be benefit for generating valuable knowledge and assumptions and improving the whole organizational performance further (Kaynak et al, 1998). In other words, organizational learning will improve the value of the most important asset of people. This is one of the reasons that why people apply organizational learning into human resource management. In addition, as discussed above, generative learning help employees improve their ability to solve problems in working process with a creative perspective which is very important in either lower level of staff or higher decision making level such as line managers and top managers and the future of organizations (Kaynak et al, 1998). Thirdly, the outcome of application the theories of double-loop learning and generative learning is to set up a cor porate culture which holds the features of knowledge shared and creative atmosphere gradually. In return, the strategy of human resource management such as employees selection, employment relationship and commitment will be improved as well (Ulrich et al., 1993). The key step of achieve the improvement of organizational performance is to apply the organizational learning theory into the human resource management practice. According to the five features of generative learning, systemic thinking, shared vision, personal mastery, team learning and creative tension. In preparation, the recruitment strategy should be designed with the aim of selecting the fit employees who have the nature or personality of easy to be trained as the members of accepting the corporate culture with creativity and flexibility (Davenport, 2000). It is known that training is also one of the most important human resource practices in the process of organizational learning (Ulrich et al., 1993). In the study of this area, some changes happened to the role of individuals (Perez et al, 2006). As a result, training could be one effective and efficient tool for the application of organizational learning framework. In the process of training, individuals become more important and active in order to achieve the objects of organizations (Perez et al, 2006). The ability of dealing with internal and external information and useful organizational knowledge has become the importance of training (Perez et al, 2006). On the basis of this kind of training, information and knowledge should be treated as a shared vision in order to make sure that everyone who is eager to learn has the newest knowledge in the organization. Just as Kamoche and Mueller (1998) noted that the corporate culture of commitment and trust to learning colleagues and organization should be trained and developed in the process of training. The employees and managers should be taught and learn to be familiar with what the whole working procedures like and how the knowledge and information management system is linked to the values of organization during the process of training (Perez et al, 2006). Moreover, this kind of training would help the new employees get a clear understanding of the companys mission and values and the old employees to get a deeper realization of the organizations developing direction so as to make sure a better direction and result for the learning processes involving acquisition, distribution, interpretation and organizational memory (Perez et al, 2006). At the same time, through using a common style of language and a shared vision, communication and trust among employees might be easy to set up through the strategic training as a basic way (Perez et al, 2006). For one thing, in order to avoid the static of the knowledge belonging to the organizational rules and corporate culture and to help to develop a common understanding, the designs of these training procedures help to share all the knowledge and information (Ulrich et al., 1993). For another thing, they are benefit for the acquisition of information and continuous update of new knowledge and skills, enhancing the extent of openness to new knowledge (Garvin, 1993). What training achieves is to improve flexibility, to make a contribution to promote critical knowledge and to react to competitive advantages (Ulrich et al., 1993). Learning levels and human resource management In order to achieve the goal of improving organizational performance and keeping competitive advantage, managers should get a clear understanding of the function of a combination of the implement of organizational learning and human resource management in organizations. Adapting organizational learning to the operations of organizations is the only way to keep organizations in the state of high efficiency, competitive strength and win (Senge, 1990; Deevy, 1995). Many of the best human resource management practices have a positive effect on enhancing organizational performance for organizations (Marchinton and Wilkinson, 2006). Some researches have shown that a variety of human resource management practices could enhance motivation and commitment of organization (Theriou and Chatzoglou, 2007). In general, three important natures can be identified from the literature which are enhancement of individual learning, where organizational learning begins from the employee working in the organisation, engaging team learning, where knowledge is gathered through employee interactions and learning from each other, and organisational learning practices, where tacit knowledge is procedurally and systematically acquired and transformed into explicit forms and become organisational knowledge which are assessable by employees or approved parties. For the purpose of this study, the three attributes of organizational learning have been identified as contributing factors toward performance. Conclusions In conclusion, this essay shows that organizational learning and human resource management are interdependent and interactive in the practice of performance management. Through the discussion on the reasons and the ways of that organizational learning could be applied to human resource management. This essay finds that there is a positive relationship in the two disciplines in achieving the improvement of organizational performance. In order to keep the sustainable development of organizations, managers should carry out the strategy of a combination of organizational learning theories and framework and best human resource management practice. This essay might contribute some ideas of the specific pattern of the combination of the theories and frameworks of these two disciplines to the study of the application of organizational learning to human resource management. With the further development of organizational learning, the application could be used widely and deeply. This essay will suggest that although organizational learning develops on the basis of human resource management, however, organizational learning and human resource management could not be treated separately because of the interdependence and interaction of these two disciplines. Considering the importance of learning, organizational learning theories were expected to further development. Accounting, Management and Information Technologies Volume 5, Issue 1, January-March 1995, Pages 61-77

Global Effects of Ozone Depletion Essay -- Environment Ozone Layer Ess

Global Effects of Ozone Depletion Ozone depletion in the earth’s atmosphere is under constant scrutiny by the American press and people. Perhaps the concern is warranted; the ozone layer protects life on earth by absorbing 97-99% of the damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2006). Over the past twenty years, the stratospheric ozone has decreased approximately 3% per decade. Possible concerns have been raised about loss of polar caps, DNA damage, increased human health risks, and environmental process disturbance. Emerging research has helped clarify effects of global ozone depletion. Three areas that have received recent scientific attention include UV effects upon macroalgae, decomposition, and nitrogen fixation. Ozone is depleted both by natural and industrial sources. One natural source of depletion is volatile organohalogens, which are produced by marine macroalgae (Laturnus, et. al., 2004). Scientists are not sure why macroalgae produce organohalogens, but many believe it is due to stress. UV radiation is a known source of plant stress. If this is the case, then plants would likely produce more organohalogens if exposed to increased UV radiation. To test this hypothesis, a group of Swedish scientists applied increased levels of radiation to five marine macroalgal species. After four hours, the levels of organohalogens produced by the macroalgae were measured. The scientists found that â€Å"exposure to ultraviolet radiation rendered a significant increase in the concentration of four or more of the volatile organohalogens for each of the studied macroalgal species† (Laturnus, et. al., 2004). Although the findings appear quite disturbing initially, the inc... ...a A.; Sala, Osvaldo E.; Robson, T. Matthew; Caldwell, Martyn M.; Scopel, Ana L. 2005. Direct and indirect effects of solar ultraviolet-B radiation on long-term decomposition. Global Change Biology 11:1982–1989. Solheim, Bjorn; Zielke, Matthias; Bjerke, Jarle W.; Rozema, Jelte. 2004. Effects of enhanced UV-B radiation on nitrogen fixation in arctic ecosystems. Plant Ecology 182:109–118. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2006. Ozone. http://www.epa.gov/maia/-html/ozone.html Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 2006. Ozone Depletion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-Ozone_depletion Yang, Eun-Su; Cunnold, Derek M.; Salawitch, Ross J.; McCormick, M. Patrick; Russell, James III; Zawodny, Joseph M.; Oltmans, Samuel; Newchurch, Michael J. 2006. Attribution of recovery in lower-stratospheric ozone. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 111 (D17): Art. No. D17309.

Benefits and Features of Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet program. Microsoft Excel is written and distributed by Microsoft. It is used mainly in computers that uses Microsoft Windows operating system or Apple Macintosh computers. It features an intuitive interface and capable calculation and graphing tools. Because of aggressive marketing, Microsoft has made Excel one of the most popular spreadsheet applications that are used these days. It is the dominant spreadsheet application available for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms. The latest releaseof Excel is Microsoft Office 2007 Excel (beta version).Benefits and Features of Excel In Excel user can run queries to sort and filter data, as well as user can run complicated calculations to derive the information they want. One important feature that Excel contains is use of Microsoft PivotTable and Microsoft PivotChart views to work with data interactively. Both uses forms to add, update, delete and navigate user data. Excel is capable of report generations o n data and view in multiple formats. One of the important features Excel contains is to connect to external data and view, query, and edit it without having to import.Excel can imports data form external databases and also capable of export of data too. Excel can create web pages to display data as read-only or to access it in an updatable format and can create a Microsoft Word mail merge (Nelson 2006). Microsoft Excel organizes data in columns. Columns are also called as fields and store a particular kind of information, or data type. At the top of each column, the first cell is used to label the column. Excel is used in the cases when the data is flat. Suppose user has to create a report only once from a set of data, then in this case Excel will be preferred.Second case is when the relationships is not going to change, this means that the structure of the data will remains same so Excel can be used in this case. Another case when Excel can be used is when the report format of the data is not going to change (Kevin 2006). Below is the summary of the cases when the data should be stored in Excel: †¢ If there is a requirement of a flat or non-relational view of data †¢ If the data is mostly numeric. †¢ If user want to run primarily calculations and statistical comparisons on data.†¢ If the dataset is manageable in size (not more than 15,000 rows). (Nelson 2006) References: Nelson, E. 2006. ‘Using Access or Excel to manage your data'. Retrieved on 29 November 2006 from http://office. microsoft. com/en-us/help/HA010429181033. aspx Microsoft Excel. Retrieved on 29 November 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel Kevin 2006. ‘Access Vs. Excel: When to Use Excel'. Retrieved on 29 November 2006 from http://www. workplacelife. com/2006/05/09/access-vs-excel-when-to-use-excel/

Animal Farm and the Questions Underlying It

Identify Old Major, Boxer, Clover, Benjamin and Mollie. Old Major was an old pig. He began the whole idea of the revolution. Boxer was a huge and strong horse, not very smart but was nice. Clover the female horse she is Boxers faithful companion. Benjamin was a donkey, the oldest animal on the farm. He was skeptical, cynical, and never laughed. Mollie was foolish and liked sugar and ribbons. 2. For what purpose did Major call the meeting of the animals? He wanted to tell them about his dreams of a happier time for animals, a time when the animals can live together and have a much better life without Man. 3.After they vote and decide rats are comrades, Major summarizes his points for the animals to remember. What are they? Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 4. What is â€Å"Beasts of England†? For what does it stand? Beasts of England is the song of the revolution. It stands for the hopes and dreams of the animals f or having a better life. 5. Why did the pigs get the job of teaching and organizing? They were smartest of the farm. 6. Identify Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer and Moses. Napoleon was not much of a talker but had a reputation for getting his own way.Snowball was quicker in his speech , but was not considered to have the same depth of character. Squealer was a good talker. Moses was a tame raven who told the animals about Sugarcandy Mountain. 7. What actually brought about the rebellion? The animals were hungry and broke in to get food. When Jones tried to stop them, they didn’t listen. 8. What were the Seven Commandments? 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7.All animals are equal. 9. Who gained leadership of the animals? Why? The pigs gained leadership because they wer e the smartest and showed more leadership. 10. Describe the animals' flag. The flag was green for the green fields of England. It had a white hoof and horn on it. 11. What happened to the milk and apples? How did Squealer rationalize that? The pigs were eating the milk and apples. They used it for brain food. Chapters 4 – 6 1. What was the Battle of the Cowshed? Jones and the other farmers came with sticks and guns to retake the farm. Snowball knew it was going to happen. 2. What was Snowball's role in the Battle of the Cowshed?Snowball's role was one of leadership. He bravely fought with the animals. 3. Describe the relationship between Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon and Snowball always disagree. 4. What topic divided the animals? Which pig was for and which was against? The topic of building the windmill divided the animals. Napoleon was against it Snowball wanted it. 5. How did Napoleon get rid of Snowball and gain full control of the animals? He had secretly been raising the nine puppies as guard dogs for himself. The dogs ran Snowball off the farm. 6. What changes did Napoleon make first? He ruled that choices would be made by the pigs. 7.How did Squealer justify Napoleon's take-over to the others? He said that Napoleon had taken on extra responsibility, that he wouldn't want the animals to make the wrong decisions, and that loyalty and obedience were more important than bravery, so Napoleon was better. 8. What two maxims did Boxer adopt? â€Å"Napoleon is always right. † â€Å"I will work harder. † 9. Why did Napoleon in fact change his mind and decide to have the animals build the windmill? If the animals were busy on a project, they would have less time and energy to think about how miserable their lives were and would be therefore less likely to revolt against his authority. 0. For what purpose did Napoleon begin trading? He wanted to get money to buy the items the animals needed. 11. Why did the pigs say they had to move into th e house? They needed a quiet place to work. 12. Who did Napoleon blame for the windmill disaster? Why? He blamed Snowball. Chapters 7 – 8 1. Why did the hens have to give up their eggs? Napoleon needed to sell to get money for food for the animals. 2. How has Snowball's role been changed by the end of Chapter 6? Napoleon and Squealer have convinced the animals that Snowball had been in with the humans against the animals from the start. 3.Why did Napoleon begin executing animals? He threatened the animals so they wouldn’t rebel against him. 4. Whom did Boxer blame for the executions? What was his solution? He said, â€Å"It must be due to some fault in ourselves. † 5. Why did the animals sing the â€Å"Beasts of England† song slowly and mournfully as they were gathered on the knoll? Life on the farm was not as they had hoped it would be when the revolution began. 6. Why was the singing of â€Å"Beasts of England† banned? Napoleon said that it was n o longer needed because the revolution was over, but the real reason was because it reminded the animals of the revolution. 7.In what ways has Napoleon set himself apart from the other animals? He had titles like Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon , also because he lived separately. 8. How did Frederick cheat Napoleon? The bank notes with which he paid Napoleon for timber were forged. 9. What moved the animals to attack Frederick and his men at the Battle of the Windmill? The men blew up the animals windmill. 10. Why was Comrade Napoleon â€Å"dying†? The pigs had found the farmer's whiskey, and Napoleon drank a lot. Chapters 9 – 10 1. What special treatment did pigs and piglets get? They received a special education, the piglets couldn’t play with other animals. . What happened to Boxer? Boxer was seriously injured. Napoleon said he would send boxer to the hospital but he sold him instead. 3. The animals on the farm worked hard. What was their consolation? Their cons olation was that they were not working for man. 4. What was Clover startled to discover? She saw a pig walking on its hind legs. 5. What commandment took the place of the Seven Commandments? â€Å"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. † 6. What did the other animals see when they looked in to the farmhouse? They saw the pigs in helpingthe humans.