Physical Changes in Adolescence Essay

Children must pass through several stages, or take specific steps, on their road to becoming adults. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services the term adolescence is commonly used to describe the transition stage between childhood and adulthood. Adolescence is also equated to both the terms â€Å"teenage years† and â€Å"puberty.† They also state that puberty refers to the â€Å"hormonal changes that occur in early youth; and the period of adolescence can extend well beyond the teenage years. In fact, there is no one scientific definition of adolescence or set age boundary.† During the adolescence stage, parents will notice the greatest amount of changes that will occur in their child’s body. The adolescent himself/herself will also take note of these changes. Some of these teenagers may experience theses signs of maturity sooner or later than others. Adolescence is the time for growth spurts and puberty. The adolescents may grow several inches in height. This is true for both boys and girls at the age of 13 and goes as far as 18 yrs old. When it comes to the puberty change then these become more visible since there are several signs. The females start with these changes as early as 8 years old and in males at 9.5 yrs. Sexual and other physical maturation that occurs during puberty is a result of hormonal changes. As a child nears puberty, the pituitary gland increases the secretion of a hormone called follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This hormone then causes additional effects. In girls, FSH activates the ovaries to start producing estrogen. In boys, FSH causes sperm to develop. In boys it is more difficult to know exactly when puberty is coming. There are changes that occur, but they occur gradually and over a period of time, rather than as a single event. Some of these changes might be the enlargement of the testicles, appearance of pubic hair their voice deepens and at the age of 14 some of them may have even ‘wet dreams’. The girls also happen to experience some changes as well. The first one to be noticed is the developmental of their breast, menstruation period and changes in their body shape start to show. No two teenage bodies are the same so some may  experience these physical changes before others. Physical development is a critical part of adolescence. How adolescents perceive their physical self, that is, what they think they look like and how they feel about it, directly relates to their overall sense of self-worth. Many of these feelings are influenced by their culture, the media, their peers, and their families. They are also influenced by their own initial sense of self-esteem as they enter this rapidly changing phase of physical development. We know that the changes are rapid and often drastic, resulting in rapid growth and physical maturity. Now that we have a sense of some of the important physical changes that occur during adolescence, we can use this information to help us better understand teens. It will also help us recognize their sensitive thoughts and feelings. We can use this information to help us direct them toward positive behavior and outcomes. By the beginning of late adolescence, many of these changes are nearing completion. This allows teens to gain more acceptance and ownership of their body image. By reminding ourselves of these changes, we can become more sensitive to teens’ growth experiences and treat them with the respect, compassion, and consideration that will help them move smoothly through these physical transitions. Parents can help their children by providing support and by being understanding and tactful during discussions about these changes. Preparing one’s children for the initial onset of puberty (menarche for girls and spermarche for boys) will let them know what to expect. It will also minimize any stress and shame that they may feel without adequate preparation. The approach to this preparation should be gentle, but informative. It may be given in a manner that is very positive, explaining that these events are â€Å"normal† and everyone experiences them once in their life. Once the child understands that this is part of the path to adolescence and a rite of passage, they will view these changes with minimal stress and maximum acceptance. What does my adolescent understand? The teenage years bring many changes, not only physically, but also mentally and socially. During these years, adolescents increase their ability to think abstractly and eventually make plans and set long-term goals. Each  child may progress at a different rate and may have a different view of the world. In general, the following are some of the abilities that may be evident in your adolescent: develops the ability to think abstractly  is concerned with philosophy, politics, and social issues  thinks long-term  sets goals  compares one’s self to one’s peers. As your adolescent begins to struggle for independence and control, many changes may occur. The following are some of the issues that may be involved with your adolescent during these years: wants independence from parents peer influence and acceptance becomes very important male-female relationships become important may be in love has long-term commitment in relationship How to assist your adolescent in developing socially: Consider the following as ways to foster your adolescent’s social abilities: Encourage your adolescent to take on new challenges. Talk with your adolescent about not losing sight of one’s self in group relations. Encourage your adolescent to talk to a trusted adult about problems or concerns, even if it is not you he/she chooses to talk with. Discuss ways to manage and handle stress. Provide consistent, loving discipline with limits, restrictions, and rewards. Find ways to spend time together. Topic Home Page | Return to Full List of Topics The information on this Web page is provided for educational purposes. You understand and agree that this information is not intended to be, and should not be used as, a substitute for medical treatment by a health care professional. You agree that Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital is not making a diagnosis of your condition or a recommendation about the course of treatment for your particular circumstances through the use of  this Web page. You agree to be solely responsible for your use of this Web page and the information contained on this page. Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and information providers shall not be liable for any damages you may suffer or cause through your use of this page even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

Ethical Lens Inventory

When it comes to conducting myself as an ethical and responsible student, based on my experiences, my self-knowledge and my readings for this class, I will study the positives of different ethical lenses, I will find balance in when to look at a group of people as a whole or individually, and I will ensure that I hold myself accountable for those depending on me. I will study the positives of different ethical lenses so that I can be the best that I can be. Different situations call for different ethical views. If I can expand my knowledge of dissimilar ethical lenses then I will be better equipped to handle a wider variety of situations. I have more of a value on sensibility, when there are times when thinking rationally is for the best. When I am able to find the balance between when to view a situation as a whole or by the individual, I will increase my effectiveness in dealing with a larger number of people. I tend to focus on the individual instead of the group. I have to start taking a step back at looking at the bigger picture when necessary. When focusing solely on each person alone I very easily can lose sight of the bigger picture. Sometimes to reach a goal everyone has to be held to the same level of responsibility instead of different goals for each singular person. When I am able to exercise my free will I lean towards walking away when my needs are met. I have to hold myself responsible for making sure all requirements are achieved. I cannot leave my associates or fellow students to struggle to have everything completed. I am not only responsible for my part, but also helping everyone else to complete their share of the work. In conclusion, I will determine how the different ethical lenses can help me, I will find balance in looking at the immediate needs and the big picture, and I will make certain that I hold myself answerable to those depending on me. All of these changes can and will help me to become a more ethically responsible person; which would make me a better, more well-rounded, employee, student, and individual. Ethical Lens Inventory When it comes to conducting myself as an ethical and responsible student, based on my experiences, my self-knowledge and my readings for this class, I will study the positives of different ethical lenses, I will find balance in when to look at a group of people as a whole or individually, and I will ensure that I hold myself accountable for those depending on me. I will study the positives of different ethical lenses so that I can be the best that I can be. Different situations call for different ethical views. If I can expand my knowledge of dissimilar ethical lenses then I will be better equipped to handle a wider variety of situations. I have more of a value on sensibility, when there are times when thinking rationally is for the best. When I am able to find the balance between when to view a situation as a whole or by the individual, I will increase my effectiveness in dealing with a larger number of people. I tend to focus on the individual instead of the group. I have to start taking a step back at looking at the bigger picture when necessary. When focusing solely on each person alone I very easily can lose sight of the bigger picture. Sometimes to reach a goal everyone has to be held to the same level of responsibility instead of different goals for each singular person. When I am able to exercise my free will I lean towards walking away when my needs are met. I have to hold myself responsible for making sure all requirements are achieved. I cannot leave my associates or fellow students to struggle to have everything completed. I am not only responsible for my part, but also helping everyone else to complete their share of the work. In conclusion, I will determine how the different ethical lenses can help me, I will find balance in looking at the immediate needs and the big picture, and I will make certain that I hold myself answerable to those depending on me. All of these changes can and will help me to become a more ethically responsible person; which would make me a better, more well-rounded, employee, student, and individual.

Effect of Colors on the Brain and on Emotions Essay

Colors are an intimate facet of our everyday lives and exist in everything that we see. Colors and emotions have a strong relationship between them. It is widely recognized that colors have also a strong impact on our emotions and feelings (Hemphill, 1996; Lang, 1993; Mahnke, 1996). The color red has been associated with excitement, strength, sex, passion, speed, and danger. White has been associated with pure, virginal, clean, youthful, and mild. Blue that is most popular color has been associated with trust, reliability, belonging, and coolness. Black is allied with sophistication, elegant, seductive, mystery, and sexual. And Pink is allied with soft, sweet, nurture, and security. Colors are linked with many different emotions. All colors have positive and negative impression connected with it. It has been tested and proven that colors have different alpha rate associated with it. The purpose of the study was to see if the brain responses differently while looking at different colors and to see if there were any connections between color and emotions. Methods Participants The data for this study was gathered by a total of 11 participants from Cognitive Neuroscience Lab class (4 male and 7 female) at the University Center, Lake County Campus. Among those participants included one professor and the other ten consisted of undergraduate students from psychology department at Northeastern Illinois University. All the participants tested had no sort of color deficiency. Stimuli Series of six questions were prepared for the experiment consisting of two parts: the first part included power-point with the five different colors playing each for 20 seconds followed by the questionnaire. The series of questions asked the participants about their emotional stage while looking at the colors. Five random colors were chosen based on cultural reference for America. The colors consisted of red, white, blue, black and pink. The color samples were prepared using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 software. Procedure For this study, participants were tested individually in a classroom designed as a computer lab. Each participant was seated front of a desktop computer. The monitor displayed each color illustration full screened one at a time which lasted 20 seconds each. Participants were told to look for a smiley face while looking at colors to keep them focused on the screen. Each participant was observed under the NeuroSky Mindset EEG while viewing the colors to record their brain activity. The order of color illustration was same for all the participants. After each participant was done looking at the colors; they were asked a series of questions related to emotions. Participants were asked, â€Å"What emotional response do you associate with (name of color)? and What color attracted you more? These questions were modified from Boyatizis and Varghese (1994) and Hemphill (1996). Only one response was permitted for each question. The answers were recorded on an observation sheet. Each observation lasted about 5 minutes each. Results Data for this study was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The median and mean was conducted to get the different alpha amplitude. There were a total of seven different responses for answers to choose from for the emotion section of the questionnaire and five different colors to choose from for the response to what color attracted the participant more. Some of the questions had the same meaning (e. g. , calm, angry) and some had different meaning such as (honest, stable). Based on the results; red had the highest amplitude which means that participants were calm while watching the color red. Pink had the lowest amplitude which means that participants were excited or stressed while watching the color pink. The average mean ranged from 29. 3 – 11. 6. Even though red is considered an excited color; the EEG showed that participants were more calm or relaxed while observing red. Pink is considered a soft and sweet color but the EEG showed that participants were stressed and excited while observing pink. One-tailed t-test was used to analyze the data for significance. There was significance between all colors except when we compared red vs. white and white vs. black. The p-value for red and white was 0. 1, for white and blue p-value was 0. 02, between blue and black p-value was . 14, and p-value between black and pink was 0. 03. These results show that there was significance difference in alpha. The different amplitude showed the different alpha rate. Nine out of eleven participants chose pink as most excited color and six out of eleven chose pink as their favorite color. This shows a correlation between brain activity and emotions. The EEG showed pink as the most stressed or excited color and the participants chose pink as more excited as the answer to one of the question for experiment. Discussion The main aim for this study was to examine color-brain activity allied with emotions among random sample from undergraduate students and professor. The present study consisted of five different colors including red, white, blue, black and pink. A headset from NeuroSky Mindset, desktop computer and a questionnaire. Overall, 54. 4% participants said that pink was their favorite color and 81. 8% of participants said that they felt excited when they say the color pink. 18% of participants said they were attracted to the color red and the rest of 27% was distributed equally among the color white, blue and black. The results concluded that there was a significant different among all the colors except for red vs. white and black vs. hite. A total of six participants said that they felt danger when they saw red but the EEG results showed the opposite concluding that they were more relaxed. A total of six participants said they felt calm while looking at white and seven said they were calm while looking at blue color. Almost all for except one said they felt serious while seeing the color black. For future studies, I would have the participants write their emotional response right after they see the color and have them decide what response they feel instead of having them to choose one of the answers given.

Titanic disaster affect on JP Morgan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Titanic disaster affect on JP Morgan - Essay Example After participating in this major merger, he thereafter created the federal steel company by merging several steel corporations together in the year 1901. He further undertook some consolidations consolidating steel and wire companies to form the United States Steel Corporation. At the height of Morgan’s career, he and his partners had vast investments in both the financial and the corporate fields and were accused of their critics of controlling the nation’s high finance a criticism that he dispelled through a banking coalition in 1907. Despite such dispelled rumors, facts have it that Morgan was the lead financier of the Progressive era and his dedication and efficiency contributed in injecting transformations in the American businesses "J.P. Morgan, FDIC tangle over who will pay off WaMu liabilities."(2010). This is the man behind the Construction of the American owned vessel, the Titanic through financing the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC) and as the owner of the company. This company controlled trust and retaining ownership of the White Star Line, Red Star Line, Dominion Line, American Transport Line, and the Leyland Line. During the construction of the Titanic, the vessel was American owned as mentioned but Morgan kept the ships of his trust under the British registry with the British crew. He did this to escape accuses of violating the American Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 most so after the act had taken down J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. It is worth noting that Most of the vessels flew both American and British flags with the White Star Line burgee (Levinson 1912 pg 36-9). In addition to this massive investment, Morgan also owned US Steel, General Electric and numerous banks and other financial institutions. JP Morgan and company continue to thrive today as JP Morgan Chase. Did the sinking of titanic affect the JP Morgan Corporation According to Merchants and masterpieces (1995), if JP Morgan’s company I MM was not actually down then we can say that it was seriously wounded after the Titanic fiasco. The war at the time caused a lot of havoc to the company and the company crumbled during the war years. Most of the businesspersons in America at that time expressed interest of discounting all the dreams of Morgan without expressing any signs that they might one day try and pick up the pieces to recapture the visions that Morgan had in the near future. JP Morgan and his partners like Harriman, Hill and Hanna collective dream of the transportation industry failed but the legacy they left behind still lives with us up to date. The name Morgan is still around with us today most so his great contribution in the banking industry though JP Morgan & Chase "J.P. Morgan, FDIC tangle over who will pay off WaMu liabilities."(2010) Their legacy in the transportation industry though a company like Citibank lives with us to date though the pieces of the transportation network they constructed fell aw ay gradually. The white star line continued to date although it is quite hard for it to recover completely from the destructions caused by the Titanic and the same destruction took place with the IMM (Morris 2005 pg 126). The IMM and the white star line suffered another major loss most so after the loss caused by the Titanic and the onset of the war. This loss had an impact on the massive commercial travels across the Atlantic routes in the year 1916. During this time, the Britannica had served as the hospital ship from the time it was launched in 1914, within the same period specifically in November 21st the ship got a hard hit on a mine and sank off the island

Compare marx's notion of liberation with mill's notion of liberty Essay

Compare marx's notion of liberation with mill's notion of liberty - Essay Example In Part II of The Communist Manifesto (II - Proletarians and Communists), Marx gets down to the brass tacks, as it were, of Communism’s intentions and, in doing so, blows the lid off of much that societies and individuals have traditionally admired, even revered. If the liberation of the individual is a part of Marx’s world view, one is hard pressed to locate it. In demonizing capitalists - the bourgeois – Marx is clearly willing to deny an individual their rights or at least their preferences by giving those entitlements to a group, i.e. robbing Peter to pay the Proletariat. His concept of liberation is critically narrow to avoid philosophical messiness, for the only freedoms he stresses are those antithetical to Communism’s a priori assumption that Property is the root of societal evil. On page [pt II, paragraph 27] he specifies that the freedom he refers to is â€Å"free trade, free selling and buying,† as if those evils of capitalism constitute the extent that freedom needs to be discussed or valued. 1) Abolition of property; 2) Progressive or graduated income tax; 3) Abolition of inheritance rights; 4) Confiscation of emigrant and rebel property [which would certainly leave German-born Karl with even less than he had!]; 5) State monopoly of banking; 6) State monopoly of communication and transportation; 7) State monopoly of factories and agriculture; 8) Obligation of all to work; 9) Abolition of the distinction between town and country by redistributing population [no doubt the Cambodian Khmer Rouge loved that one]; 10) Combining education with industrial production. One does not have to have the politics of a George Orwell to perceive in Marx’s list a profound mistrust of individual initiative and responsibility. And, though it is not in this paper’s scope, to ask why a respect for individuality is absent is not

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

Article evaluation - Essay Example The article concludes that the three theories; the routine activity theory, environmental criminology and rational perspectives all contend that the organizational environment plays a significant role in the commission of such crimes and that the management of organizations must develop appropriate relationships with the environments to safeguard both their resources and the privacy of the employees. The routine activity theory, for example, develops the concept of targets. By routine activities with computers at the place of work, helps reveal the weaknesses that perpetrators often exploit before they commit crimes.The case study shows the importance of enhancing the safety of information systems in an organization. Using the case, the article applies the three theories thus showing the nature of the relationship that exists between the staff and the organization environment. Despite the strengths, the article has several other weaknesses key among which is the application of the th ree theories since they sound repetitive. The routine theory, for example, explains the behavior of employees at an organization thereby showing the features of both the victims and perpetrators. Environmental criminology does the same a feature that makes either redundant.The author of the article draws a systematic conclusion by proving the application of each theory in the Barings Bank case. He concludes that criminals often use the knowledge of the environment coupled with their understanding of the operations of the organization to commit a crime.

What types of problems do you think NTSB might encounter when dealing Essay

What types of problems do you think NTSB might encounter when dealing with an international investigation involving several ICAO members What about involving non-ICAO members - Essay Example ile conducting an investigation, policies themselves need to be as carefully examined as the actual cause of the accident, since they might be one of the reasons eventually leading to the accident. This might not be achieved if a number of members of an NTSB investigation are from the ICAO, as they would try to influence the results, thereby making the investigation faulty. 2) Another important issue is that an NTSB investigation, when conducted independently might lead to certain conclusions that require legislation to be changed. It might require a change in procedures followed by the airline operators that can sometimes increase their costs considerably. However, if the policies of the ICAO are against such an increase in costs, these changes might be discarded, thereby affecting the entire investigation. Therefore, although the NTSB would benefit from the technical expertise of the members of the ICAO, due to reasons that might affect the outcome of the investigation, it would be appropriate to include non – ICAO

Discuss the advantages and and challenges of RFID in logistic industry Essay

Discuss the advantages and and challenges of RFID in logistic industry - Essay Example Therefore, the tracking of goods by the use of an exceptional serial number makes it easy for employees to calculate and find stocks (Jones, & Chung, 2008). RFID also enables companies to reduce stock outs from their warehouses, and this helps to maintain customers especially those who run out of patience easily (Ustundag, 2013). This is because companies are able to determine their reorder levels, and at this point, they order new stock. By the time the new stock arrives at the company’s stores, the buffer stock is used to satisfy the available demand. The technology also helps logistics managers in saving the time that they would use to move from one location to another to check the conditions of their stocks (Ustundag, 2013). This is because RFID does the work of recording and transmitting the condition of goods. If the technology was not there, organizations would have employed people to do this work, and this would consume more time and cost. The major limitation of RFID in logistics is that it is expensive to acquire and use (Jones, & Chung, 2008). The chips used by this technology and the tags that are attached to goods to enable companies in tracking them are expensive. Therefore, most logistics departments do not afford to use the technology in their companies. RFID is also complicated and requires to be used only by skilled workers who have the knowledge of the technology (Ustundag, 2013). However, most of the companies employ lowly skilled workers who require less pay than the highly skilled ones. This causes these workers to mishandle RFID leading to low or no achievement of the main objective of the technology. The high expenses associated with the technology also make it possible only for few companies to acquire and use it. Some companies such as Procter and Gamble argue that the technology is unreliable because it still experiences some errors that would still take

Emeregency Management (Basic Quantitative Methods) Essay

Emeregency Management (Basic Quantitative Methods) - Essay Example Since health effects are included in the scope of consequences, then it may be said that as per ASME specifications, severity of injuries would have been included as part of the assessment of risk as early as the asset characterization stage. Other ASME literature makes further reference to severity, this time in direct relationship to fatality or injury, an illustrates with a table of â€Å"severity ranking†. In this ranking scale, S5 (â€Å"Very High†) specifies â€Å"offsite fatalities and multiple onsite fatalities†; S4 (â€Å"High†) is the â€Å"severity rank for the possibility of onsite fatalities as well as offsite injuries†; S3 (â€Å"Medium†) is allocated to the absence of â€Å"fatalities or injuries anticipated offsite, but with the possible widespread onsite serious injuries.† S2 (â€Å"Low†) is designated for â€Å"onsite injuries that are not widespread but only in the vicinity of the incident†; and S1 (â€Å"Very Low†) is associated with â€Å"possible minor injury onsite; no fatalities or injuries anticipated offsite† (ASME, 2006:28). Such a ranking would lead one to reason, therefore, that indeed RAMCAP would allow for the cons ideration of severity of injuries anticipated in a possible incident. Smith (2006, April), presenting the case for the U.S. Department of Homeland Securities, is inclined to agree with the ASME. On the other hand, a more careful reading of the Cox (2008) article, as already mentioned, specifically stated RAMCAP does not consider severity of injuries (p.1750), although it does allow for the â€Å"severity of possible adverse consequences† (p.1755). Cox argues that there are serious limitations of â€Å"severity† in the RAMCAP model, which essentially requires the estimation of all factors in quantitative terms. First limitation is that there is â€Å"no objective certainty-equivalent for uncertain

G H 402 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

G H 402 - Assignment Example This document examines various ethical, economic, political and moral issues presented by e-health technologies across the globe. There are various ethical concerns about e-health technologies. For instance, there is concern about accessibility and affordability of the information among different users. The e-healthcare information should be accessible to all users cost effectively (Anastasius 58). However, there is concern about the accessibility of such information considering that many people lack access to the internet which is very critical for accessing electronic resources. The cost of obtaining such information may have reduced in terms of money, but how about the quality of the services offered to the users? There are various concerns about the privacy and confidentiality of the user information. The healthcare profession requires the patients’ information to be treated with much confidentiality and should be shared with third parties only with the patient’s consent. With a use of information communication technology (ICT) in a provision of healthcare services, there is an increasing con cern about the protection of user information (Anastasius 59). Furthermore, there is an issue of laws that are applicable in case in the event of breach of patient’s rights in the use of e-health services. In addition, the use of e-health services raises an issue of credibility of the information offered electronically (Anastasius 59). While professional and legal measures ensure the protection of patients’ information against unauthorized disclosure, the use of electronic health exposes patients to greater risk of loss of privacy of information. Health care providers should be morally responsible for ensuring the information they give to online users is credible and accurate while ensuring safety of users information (Anastasius 60). Healthcare has the political connotation in every nation because, in some instances, it is

Understanding The Federal Reserve System Essay Example for Free

Understanding The Federal Reserve System Essay Operating Federal Reserve System through Stocks. The Federal Reserve System (Fed) is the principal monetary authority or the central bank of the United States of America. Its primary role is to conduct monetary policy, supervise federal and state banks and maintain stability in the system by providing payment services to depository institutions. It is made up of a seven member Board of Governors in Washington DC, 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks and their 25 branches. The Board is appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Federal Reserve issues monetary policy guidelines and carries out stabilization activities which are particularly important in times of financial crisis such as stock market decline in 1987, the international debt crisis of 1998 and the terrorist attacks in September 2001. The principal instruments at the disposal of the Federal Reserve for maintaining stability are interest rates for loans, reserve ratio stipulations for commercial banks thereby determining liquidity and regulating circulation of new currency. The latter is carried out by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) by buying securities in the open market thereby increasing money supply. This will simultaneously decrease the federal funds rate, reducing interest on mortgages and loans and generating demand. The price of bonds and securities operate within a narrow margin as these are long term instruments pledged by the government. During such times, it would be seen that the price of stocks which are volatile instruments will undergo large fluctuations as opposed to bonds and securities. Similarly an increase in money supply also results in people putting more money into the stock market. In case the economy is growing too fast, Fed can sell Treasury securities and reduce the money supply, marking higher interest rates. Stocks construe ownership of shares in the assets of a company. The price of shares is determined by the market. The New York Stock Exchange provides a facility for trading shares. Stocks are guaranteed to the extent of the liquidity of assets of the company and unlike federal bonds are not direct instruments of liquidity. There is a possibility of default in stocks unlike bonds. The US Fed will not be able to ensure stability through regulation of money supply by holding stocks. The aim is also to ensure sustained long term growth in the economy; this is achieved through investments in long term instruments as mortgages, insurance and loans. Stocks are relatively short term instruments which provide market marked returns and thus are not suitable as a policy instrument for the US Federal Reserve. Impact Open Market Purchase of Gold or Foreign Currency. Purchase of gold or foreign currency by the Federal Reserve will increase money supply in the domestic market. Buying gold or foreign exchange is similar to outright purchase of government securities from the open market. In this case money supply is altered permanently rather than temporarily. The purchase of gold or foreign currency is carried out in very few cases merely to send an appropriate signal as the impact is considerable. Similarly theoretically speaking if the Fed sells gold and foreign currency it will be decreasing money supply in the domestic market. The gold and foreign exchange markets are beyond the control of the Federal Reserve as there is no regulatory authority unlike the bond market. Thus fluctuations can be substantial and impact the domestic economy gravely. Instability in the Gold and Forex market has not been defined and can cause speculation which is related to fluctuations in the exchange rates as well as trader’s reluctance to buy and sell the commodity or foreign exchange. Maintenance of stability in the economy is the principal role of the Federal Reserve. This has to be done through specific instruments which are provided for the same and the controlling organization for it, which is the Federal Open Market Committee, the federal and the state banks. The Federal Reserve has been intervening from time to time in a small way in the foreign exchange market merely to send an appropriate signal to the investors. In this case Federal Reserve sells dollars and buys foreign currency to exert downward pressure on the price of the dollar while it buys dollars and sells foreign currency to exert an upward pressure.

Curb Your Enthusiam - an in Depth Analysis Essay Example for Free

Curb Your Enthusiam an in Depth Analysis Essay In the year 2000, the legendary comedian, Larry David ,created curb Your Enthusiasm. It is a comedy television series produced by HBO about Larry David, starring Larry David himself. He plays himself as a retired comedian producer and writer. The show follows him through his day to day life, which frequently puts him in awkward situations as he often gets annoyed with the status qua and normal social situations. Larry is extremely vocal about his irritations, involving not only him, but the other characters on the show. The show depicts an unflinching, self-deprecating depiction of his life and the lives of his family and friends. The show is called Curb Your Enthusiasm because Larry David feels that most people live their lives by means of false enthusiasm. He thinks they do this in order to give off the impression that â€Å"we are better than you†. Larry also called the show Curb because he did not want his audience to expect too much from the show following seinfelds enormous success. Curb eventually became one of the most critically acclaimed television series, reaping in numerous awards and fans. There are many versatile characters on Curb Your Enthiusiasm, which makes the show extremely dynamic. His wife and eventually ex wife, Cheryl, played by Cheryl Hines is usually Larrys voice of reason. She often guides Larry in the right direction of the social norms, and vociferously expresses her annoyance with him on his many social faux passe. Larrys best friend, Jeff Greene, played by Jeff Garlin, is another major influence on Larry’s character. He is known to be without morals and scruples, paying little regard to the fact that he is married and with a child. Many times, Jeff gets Larry involved in his infidelities, constantly building to Larrys own drama. His wife, Susie Green , played by Susie Essman, is a bully. She is constantly putting down her husband,Larry, and friends, often using profanity and sheer uncouth behavior. Although she has a foul mouth, she walks on the straight path of morality versus her husband and Larry. Last but not least, Larry himself. Larry is an uncivilized, crude, and neurotic individual. He usually has good intentions, but they are blinded by his selfish and stubborn personality. He is not shy about his thical principles and morals, and continuously voices his opinion when a situation does not go his way. Generally, he initiates his situations on petty details, which snowball into major issues and dilemmas. He pursues what he perceives to be the right path, although the social norms may dictate something else entirely. His actions continuously lead him into awkward, entertaining, and side splitting situations which he is persistent about correcting. His misjudgments are so extraordinary that Larry David created a place for himself in pop culture termed a â€Å"Larry David Moment†: an extremely awkward social situation. Some of Larry’s most famous indiscretions are â€Å"stopping and chatting† with acquaintances and tipping at restaurants. Larry David himself is an extremely talented comedian. He, along with Jerry Seinfeld co-wrote and produced the mega popular Seinfeld. After nine seasons of Seinfeld , it was an end to an era. Seinfeld ran its last episode in 1998. In 1999, Larry produced the first Curb Your Enthusiasm. Originally It was meant to be a one time exclusive, a one hour mockumentary- when the characters are aware of the precense of the cameras and crew. The show turned out to be a major success. The Larry David show quickly snowballed into Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of the greatest and highly acclaimed shows of all time. Television has many different popular genres, styles, and programs. Before Curb Your Enthusiasm arrived on the scene, the most popular programs from the nineties were Roseanne, Friends, Full House, Family Matters, and Everybody Loves Raymond. These television shows formed TV into new directions and defined the humor of the decade. They were the start of television sitcoms- shortened for situation comedies. A sitcom is a show that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue. Originally, sitcoms started as radio shows, but as we evolved to a television-oriented society, sitcoms acclimated as well. One of the most famous original sitcoms is I Love Lucy, known for being one of the best and most popular shows of all time. It was the first show to perform in front of a studio audience. Lucy showed and influenced society in many ways such as the difference between the sexes. â€Å"The I Love Lucy show continued the ever-popular and age-old battle between the sexes scenarios. Ricky and Fred would try to teach the girls a lesson now and then, and vice versa. In many ways the Ricky Fred team vs. The Lucy Ethel team put men and women on equal ground, as the two continually schemed against one another with similar rates of successful schemes and backfired ones. This was one way for Lucy to escape the submissive housewife image with some defiance of her own. There was a constant desire to outdo the other sex, which perhaps was a signal of the changing times and changing roles men and women would hold in the coming decades†. Sitcoms used single camera filming style, which was more practical given the visual effects used in these shows. This allowed for the careful creation of special effects and sharp editing, features which were not possible with the same finesse in a multi-camera production. Many of these programs were not filmed before live audiences, and featured a laugh track. Jerry Seinfeld, in 1989, created Seinfield, the mega popular sitcom, known to be one of the greatest shows of all time. Seinfield follows the life and creator Jerry Seinfeld, as he lives his life using absurdism- conflict between the human tendencies to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any. The characters of Seinfeld have no morals, hope, ambition, and compassion. Everything they do leads to failure. The show is a show about â€Å"nothing†, meaning there is no climax or moments of pathos for any of the characters. Curb also uses many of the same attributes. The show is based on absurdism, with the characters having little or no morals whatsoever. It is also a show about â€Å"nothing†, following the characters mundane day to day tasks. Television shows have a major cultural affect on society. Friends, for example, was so popular that its influences still affect us till this day. Of example, Rachels haircut is called â€Å"The Rachel†, Joeys catchphrase â€Å"How you doin† and the Central Perk Franchise are just a few of the cultural affects Friends had on our society. It also changed the format of love and family, thriving on the concept that â€Å"all you need is good friends†. The sitcom depicts the idea that we can choose our family and live life in a more unconventional manner. According to pop-culture expert at the University of Buffalo, Friends is one of those rare shows that marked a change in American culture. Most of the Television shows that premiered when Curb Your Enthusiasm came out were complete opposites of it. For examples, shows such as Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Scrubs, and Degrassi were extremely popular. These shows are all drama comedies, scripted, and the fictional opposite of documentary style. Another popular television show is Grey’s Anatomy. Greys Anatomy is a medical drama about a group of surgeons working at Seattle Grace Hospital. The show centers on Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her life as a resident at the hospital. In addition to her relationship with her neurosurgeon husband, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and best friend Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), it also explores her relationships with her peers and the other doctors around her. It is filled with romantic drama and ethical dilemmas that are extremely unrealistic. The characters are also very good looking and impracticable. Curb is unique in many ways that makes it exceptionally hilarious and an instant cult classic. The show is mostly improvised, meaning that there is no real script that the show sticks to. The characters have a storyline, based off of a couple of pages written by Larry David himself. The actors then improvise their dialogue based on the story outline, direction, and their own creativity. Unlike most other popular sitcoms, Curb has basically no writers, no script, and no rehearsal. The characters are raw, and easily believable. They do not dress in high fashions, look like models, or act like people normally would. There is no epic romances or crazy drama. The show is just Larry taking on the social scene in his own unique way. In many episodes, Curb—like its predecessor Seinfeld—tied together apparently unrelated events woven throughout a given episode into an unforced climax that resolves the story lines simultaneously, either to Larrys advantage or detriment. For example, in the episode The Black Swan ( season seven, episode 7) that is exactly the case. In the beginning of the episode, Larry discovers that his mothers gravestone is misspelled and vows to fix it. Larry and his buddies are then seen at the snobby golf club, which has many rules that Larry constantly breaks, including accidently killing the owners swan and other golf member and refusing to tip the waiter. At the end of the show the grave says â€Å"mother of swan killer† and Larry gets caught. The whole show ties together beautifully, with every detail eventually playing a part in the ending. Another example of the show is Every show displays this brilliance, making it hilarious and highly enjoyable to watch. The show also uses a single camera setup. The single camera setup is generally utilized on comedy series that either require or strive for specific shots and camera angles and visual set-pieces. When the potential of the single camera filming style is fully maximized the camera movement, the way shots are composed and edited, and other directorial flourishes, will be as much a source of comedy as the behavior of the characters. The shows asthetics are also plain and simple, making it seem as if its real life and easy to believe. This leads to the style of the show- a mockmentary. Mockumentarys are in the same style as a documentary, yet shot when the cast is fully aware that the cameras and crews are there- like a fake documentary. It is highly improvised, meaning the characters do not memorize a script and just act. They must be creative with the story and put their own â€Å"sparkle† in it. The show is not filled with the typical dramas and unrealistic actors that other leading television series are famous for. It is therefore easily relatable and loveable. Another example using all these elements is from season eight, episide three- The Palestinian Chicken. Larry relishes his role as a social assassin until it becomes a liability with his friends, on the golf course and at a Palestinian restaurant. The story once again has a beginning, middle, and ends which all ties together towards the end of the episode. Another appealing aspect to the show is its depiction of Jewish characters. Vincent Brook stated, Curbs commitment to Jewish identification greatly enhances its storytelling capacity, as it lends greater realism and dimension to the characters and opens the show up to episodes with meaningful Jewish themes. Larry’s character mirrors the â€Å"schmiel† from Yiddish folklore. The schlemiel is usually a comic character whose actions lead to his inevitable downfall, but also stands as a form of resistance to social and cultural values and norms. David Gillota wrote: As a true schlemiel, Larrys failure serves as a direct challenge to the status quo and encourages viewers to question the myriad unwritten rules that we follow in our everyday lives. Gillota also observed: Whereas the schlemiel of Eastern Europe encountered problems that mostly affected Eastern European Jews (such as anti-Semitism and economic survival), Larry encounters problems that affect contemporary middle- to upper-class American Jews, namely, Jewish assimilation, secularism, intermarriage, and, as all of these uggest, the Jews precarious ethnic identity in an increasingly multicultural environment. Alec Berg, one of the writers for Curb and Seinfeld said, â€Å"Structure, structure, structure. Every single thing in a script must advance the plot or define a character more deeply (ideally both, in a hilarious way) or it will die in the edit†. Larry David himself is nowhere near as vivacious as the Larry David he plays onscreen. Larry lives vicariously through his character, acting as a total social piranha wherever and whenever he pleases. He has said in an interview that, â€Å"he is my version of Superman. The character really is me, but I just couldnt possibly behave like that. If I had my druthers, that would be me all the time, but you cant do that. Were always doing things we dont want to do, we never say what we really feel, and so this is an idealized version of how I want to be. As crazy as this person is, I could step into those shoes right now, but I would be arrested or Id be hit or whatever. I find the character to be honest. And honesty comes off as cranky or rude, I suppose. But that character is way happier than I am. Im cranky. Hes not cranky. Id be much happier if I were more like him. He also said â€Å"From the character I play on the show? The only difference is he’s much more honest than I am. He’s brutally honest, and I am not. People seem to think that he’s cranky, I get that. I don’t see him as a curmudgeon. I just think he’s honest, and he gets in confrontations with people because he’s honest. I am not honest. Because of this very delicate, socially balanced world we live in, you can’t talk like that†. He feels as if he is breaking through a barrier, an inhibition that he couldnt do as himself. In conclusion, Curb Your Enthusiasm is not your average Television show. Thanks to the comedic genius, Larry David, the show has become a smash hit success, running a full eight seasons and counting. It has become part of pop culture, establishing its own terms and concepts. The use of mockumentary, absurdism, dry humor, and realism are a major part of the shows charm and success. Filled with quirky and dry humor, Curb continues to break barriers, pleasing and shocking its audience’s episode after episode.

Policy on Refugees and Integration in Costa Rica

Policy on Refugees and Integration in Costa Rica COSTA RICAN GOVERNMENT POLICY ON REFUGEE AID AND INTEGRATION INTRODUCTION: THE AMBIGUOUS STATUS OF THE REFUGEE AND COSTA RICA The problem of the refugee originates as a peculiarly twentieth century phenomenon. The displacement of peoples from the very borders that delineate states presented a historical challenge that threatened the integrity and the essence of the latter. As the philosopher Giorgio Agamben abstracts the pertinence of this problem: Every time refugees no longer represent individual cases but rather a mass phenomenon (as happened between the two wars, and has happened again now), both these organizations and the single states have proven, despite the solemn evocations of the inalienable rights of man, to be absolutely incapable not only of resolving the problem but also simply of dealing with it adequately.[1] For Agamben, this inadequacy of the treatment of the refugee problem, despite the international consensus on the existence of the human rights of the refugee, is intimately tied to the theoretical shortcomings of the notion of the Nation-State itself; there is a consistent rupture in t he functionality of the Nation State when confronted with the anomaly of the refugee, i.e., when a subject is separated from his/her state, this subject becomes a disturbing remainder that other states find it difficult to account for. Thus, insofar as the refugee denotes a certain failure of the Nation State to protect its citizens/non-citizens, the case of the refugee denotes the limit of the State. Nevertheless, despite the tension between the notions of the refugee and the state that ground their relationship, there is an attentiveness to this problematic (evinced in Agambens own remark), demonstrated by the general consciousness of the existence of the refugee. Hence, regardless of any discerned policy inadequacies, there still exists a concerted effort to address the problem. The success of various refugee policies certainly may be evaluated, e.g., as with Agambens negative evaluation. In the case of Costa Rica, its treatments of the refugee crises that began in 1980s Central America was an example of some moderate successes, or at least, the desired mobilization of a states capabilities via governmental policy towards the refugee cause. However, this mobilization encountered its own distinct problems, over-determined (following Agambens abstraction of the problem) by the irregular status of the refugee him/herself. The successes and failures of Costa Ricas refugee policy is a particularly significant case study for numerous reasons. To the degree that there was a concerted effort from the Costa Rican officials to alleviate the refugee crisis, the shortcomings relate not to Costa Ricas negligence of this crisis (thusly indicating the direction of an evaluation of this policy in terms of a general apathy on the part of Costa Rica), but the opposite: it is this very effort that provides a compelling case for an analysis of a refugee policy in terms of its affectivity and its limits. That is, Costa Ricas attempt to rectify their refugee problem, rather than ignore it or deal with it in a manner that undermines the notions of the rights of man, provides an excellent paradigmatic case for the possible indexing of refugee policy. It is because of this very commitment to alleviating the problem that Costa Rica, despite any subsequent further critiques regarding the details of their refugee policy, is recognized by the international community as having advanced a fairly successful policy in regards to refugees. As Tanya Bysok notes Costa Rica is often cited as a model for refugee settlement.[2] However, this is not to suggest that the Costa Rican approach is flawless. Whilst some policies of the Costa Ricans have been recognized as effective by social scientists, this praise does not diminish the evident gaps in the Costa Rican policy. In this paper we shall examine the Costa Rican treatment of the refugee and attempt to understand how the refugee was integrated/or non-integrated into Costa Rican society. This analysis will be concerned with Costa Ricas approach; however, whilst there was a clear Costa Rican governmental policy, a significant factor in the Costa Rican case is the large presence of foreign organ izations that were encouraged to participate in a possible refugee solution. Thus, because of the Costa Rican openness to a diversity of aid organizations and volunteers offering support, the qualitative analysis of the success/failures of the Costa Rican approach cannot merely be attributed to the Costa Rican government itself. Whilst this encouragement of international participation may be logically viewed as an autonomous gesture of the Costa Rican government, it can also be construed as Costa Ricas self-acknowledgement of having been fundamentally overstretched in terms of its capabilities to handle the problem. Secondly, this analysis shall be supplemented with an anonymous questionnaire of former refugees in Costa Rica, in order to introduce a non-theoretical personal discourse within the parameters of our text. The method of the questionnaire is placed into the paper to act as a balancing point with the theoretical evaluation. The emphasis on the notion of testimony, a form of empiricism all its own, forwards an account of the Costa Rican policy that evaluates the countrys treatment of refugees from a theoretical standpoint, while also acknowledging the power and significance of such a testimony. COSTA RICAN REFUGEE INTEGRATION ANALYSIS The genesis of Costa Ricas refugee problem may be preliminarily abstracted as a matter of geopolitical positioning. Costa Rica occupied a hazardous place within Central America in the 1980s. The relative stability of Costa Rica was contrasted by the neighboring conflicts in El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras: The 1980s evinced a certain explosion of such geopolitical and ideological tensions in Central America, from which Costa Rica was spared. As Martha Honey notes, the Costa Rica of the 1980s â€Å"appeared to be an oasis of tranquility†[3] It is this status of a certain oasis in Central America, that evidently yielded Costa Ricas refugee problem: as a stable nation, it represented the destination of choice for refugees seeking to avoid war in their native lands. Costa Ricas stability as a source for refugees has continued in the time period since the beginning of the 1980s. Yet the refugee that Costa Rica encounters now is substantially different: Refuge es coming into Costa Rica today tend no longer to be from Central America but instead the vast majority are from Colombia. Many are middle-class, urban professionals.[4] Thus, by no means is the refugee in Costa Rica a homogeneous figure. The wars across Central America in the 1980s that led to such displacement are no longer a significant factor in present Costa Rican refugee policy. The Costa Rican encounter with the phenomenon of the refugee begins in 1980 with increasing hostilities in the neighboring country of El Salvador. The immediate reaction of Costa Ricas treatment of this refugee influx distinguished itself from other nations such as Honduras. Whilst Honduras policy favored the internment of the Salvadorian refugees in camps, Costa Rica from the outset emphasized the process of making the refugee self-sufficient; they sought to sever any dependency of the refugee on the state apparatus itself, while simultaneously integrating the refugee into Costa Rican society. These two approaches immediately evince a lucid difference in treatment. In the case of Honduras, this treatment may be viewed as an isolationist approach, insofar as the site of the camp becomes the home of the refugee it does not represent a zone of inclusion, but rather one of suspension moreover, it is an implicit acknowledgment of Honduras government inability to deal with the phenomeno n of the refugee, placing the refugee in a certain no-mans land, as it waits for the conflict in the home country to cease. In contrast, the Costa Rican emphasis on autonomy and self-sufficiency denotes the acceptance of the refugee immediately into its boundaries. We can abstract this difference in terms of a synchronous thinking and a diachronous thinking. In the case of Costa Rica, the policy does not introduce the phenomenon of two times, i.e., waiting for the war to stop rather, the interruption of the refugee experience is directly addressed, through a minimization of this interruption that is a policy of refugee inclusion in Costa Rica. On the other hand, in the Honduran approach, two times are articulated, a wartime and a non-war time. There is no possible mediation between the times; there is only a case of transition and thus, a passivity on the part of the government that is then transferred to the refugee him/herself this interruption that is the refugee event determines the entire Honduran policy. In essence, Costa Rica attempted to establish the continuity of the refugees’ life, allowing for the possibility of a normalcy to remain in the face of a crisis. Such initial successes of the Costa Rican programme may be attributed to a certain history of human rights discourse that emerges in the country, i.e., that Costa Rica was conducive to internationalism in its support of UN programmes and its own creation of international approaches. This historiographical element is significant to understanding the immediate difference of Costa Rica from its neighbors, as it stresses a historical Costa Rican commitment to human rights. As Alison Brysk notes, Costa Rica qualifies as a global good Samaritan because its record of human rights promotion is enduring and multifaceted, and it makes a meaningful contribution to globally significant initiatives.[5] Hence, Costa Ricas Good Samaritan status is derived from its fidelity to such initiatives on both a regional and global level. Among its contributions, Costa Rica was involved in the peace negotiations that ended three regional civil wars, while also functioning as the seat for the Inter-American C ourt of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). On the international level, Costa Rica was involved with international organizations such as serving at the initial prepatory conference for the founding of the United Nations, while also initiating the UN Childerns Fund. These historical contributions of Costa Rica may be construed as establishing a certain tradition within Costa Rica that made it more receptive to the specific demands of the refugee influxes that began in the 1980s. Thus, from an ideological perspective, there was nothing in the Costa Rican state ideology that would be adverse to the refugee; rather, the ideology was committed to human rights from its outset. This tradition may help to understand the initial successes of the Costa Rican programme. In the initial stages of the refugee problem in the 1980s, because of such an international tradition of Costa Rican policy, there was no shortage in the country of foreign and international refugee organizations that participated in the alleviation of the crisis. As Basok summarizes these contributions: A number of government and voluntary agencies have participated in refugee settlement [in Costa Rica]. They include local branches of such international organizations as Caritas, the Episcopalian church, and the YMCA. In addition, refugees themselves formed a number of voluntary organizations in the hope of assisting their compatriots. Apart from providing emergency aid to refugees, the UNHCR has also financed most of the refugee urban projects. Financial assistance has been provided by other international NGOS as well.[6] The plurality of non-governmental actors demonstrated a Costa Rican openn ess to the refugee crisis. Moreover, the possibility of refugees themselves forming aid organizations demonstrated a certain autonomy of the refugee within Costa Rica; despite the loss of nationality that is the refugee displacement, the refugees were granted a freedom to organize and assemble regardless of their anomalous status. These international organizations were also complimented by Costa Ricas own approach, which has been termed as the durable solution model, emphasizing integration of refugees into the country of asylum. As an unpublished UNHCR document describes this durable solution model: Self sufficiency projects are the ultimate aim of UNHCR as they allow the refugees to become independent of emergency assistance and be productively integrated in the receiving community. In the under-developed countries with serious unemployment problems, self-sufficiency projects offer the best alternation for the refugees work problem. For the receiving country, these durable solutions are a contribution to the national economy, particularly the projects which include both nationals and refugees.[7] Costa Ricas commitment to what the UNHCR deemed as the most effective program for refugee crisis further explicates the traditional openness of Costa Rica to international consensus, whilst concomitantly identifying Costa Ricas desired integration of refugees. The UNHCRs evaluation further acknowledges the durable solution as beneficial to the new country of the refugee itself: the influx of labour sources provided a boost to the national economy of Costa Rica. Thus, Costa Ricas commitment to the durable solution model may be viewed as both a commitment to international law and the notion of human rights, whilst also a policy decision how to utilize the refugee crisis for the benefit of Costa Rica itself. Nevertheless, what may be termed as Costa Ricas comprehensive solution, insofar as it incorporated the UNHCRs preferred model while simultaneously allowing for the participation of foreign organizations, nevertheless encountered specific problems. Primarily the non-organizational model’s intervention into the refugee problem was problematic: The results, however, were less than satisfactory. In 1985 it became evident to the UNHCR that less than half of the 152 projects registered with government agencies were still active. Most of the others had failed.[8] The infectivity of the multiplicity of organizations according to the quantitative data of the UNHCR tends to suggest that the approach of a strength in numbers, i.e., multiple organizations engaging in the refugee crisis, was unsuccessful primarily because of a lack of cohesion. Inasmuch as the Costa Rican intent was essentially one of no aid is bad aid†, this ultimate failure speaks to a certain consistency needed be tween organizations, in order better to establish links between groups, and affectively address the grounding problem, that of the refugee him/herself. This bureaucratic entanglement between organizations as detrimental to the refugee is easily discernable from the perspective of the refugee him/herself; because a plurality of organizations exists, the refugee is caught in a bureaucratic system, with no connection to the Costa Rican government itself. This serves as an impasse to the desired integration. This collapse of the various international programs led Costa Rica to attempt a more autonomous policy that would be regulated by the government, therein optimistically hoping to marginalize the previous failures through a centralization of refugee policy. This centralization would enable a consistent discourse of the durable solution to emerge in the Costa Rican space. As Ed Mihalkanin notes After the failure of many of the international and domestic refugee projects, the Costa Rican government tried to integrate refugees into already existing jobs.[9] By Costa Rica directly addressing the problem, this focusing of the remit of refugee policy could better serve the goal of integration: as the refugees are located in Costa Rica, the most efficient means towards integration would be to have the government directly involved in the refugee process by opening economic opportunities to the refugee. This shift reflects a certain fundamental ambiguity at the heart of the general theory of refugee policy. While, prima facie, the plurality of non-governmental organizations that operated in Costa Rica to alleviate the suffering of the refugee may be viewed as a logical step, inasmuch as it emphasizes giving aid to refugees in light of any possible limits to the capabilities of the Costa Rican government, this approach simultaneously suspends the notion of an integration into Costa Rican society. That is to say, if integration is the ultimate goal of Costa Rican refugee policy, such integration can only be engendered by the direct intervention of the government itself, as the government is ultimately congruent with Costa Rica. From this perspective, the collapse of the aid programmes emanating from various international sources may be viewed, in actuality, as a step towards a more direct involvement of the Costa Rican government in the refugee problematic, in terms of a more strident form of integration. This strident form would be necessary if the Costa Rican government would become the primary instrument for refugee aid in the nation, as opposed to the organizational plurality. Nevertheless, after the general failure of the international aid programmes, charity organizations, etc., the new Costa Rican government initiative itself faced various de jure issues that prevented the establishing of a greater remit for refugee aid. As Mihalkanin writes, at times Costa Rican laws actually prevented refugee aid, despite any best intentions of the Costa Rican government. This was the case regarding Costa Rican employee law: â€Å"Yet very few work permits were issued since by law only ten percent of a firms workers can be foreigners.†[10] Thus, the attempt to integrate refugees into the Costa Rican labour force already met opposition in a pre-existing law that marginalized the possibility of foreign workers in Costa Rica. As Mihalkanin notes, despite the intent of both the government to integrate the refugees and the employers’ will to aid the refugees by giving them work, this shared movement encountered a double impasse: the de jure situation of the l abour law, coupled with the de facto situation of employers, whom, although giving refuges a workplace, could not register the workers because of the law. Therefore, any type of de jure integration of these refugee workers who were already working in Costa Rica, was not possible because of the law; despite their labour power, and one must conclude, the desire for this labour source, the separation between the de jure and the de facto situation prevented this opportunity at integration. What occurred then is simply a missed opportunity, a miscommunication between government and private sectors, the latter wholly receptive to the influx of refugee workers, but whose hands were metaphorically tied by the Costa Rican law. This problem of the limits of aid in the sphere of labour relations also extends into the basic human rights of Costa Ricans, such as health care: insofar as health care is available to refugees in Costa Rica, access is limited from both a temporal and financial perspective. As a UNHCR report from 2003 noted, â€Å"in Costa Rica, access to social security services is universal, which means that everyone, regardless of nationality, is entitled to health coverage at a very low cost.†[11] Nevertheless, the caveat here is that â€Å"refugees and asylum seekers are entitled to free healthcare cover during their first three months in Costa Rica.†[12] This leads to an immediate problem facing refugees after the three month period of coverage has elapsed; as Gloria Maklouf Weiss, Director of ACAI (Asociacià ³n de Consultores y Asesores Internacionales), a UNHCR partner in Costa Rica recapitulates this problem: â€Å"some refugees are in such economic hardship that they cannot pay even the very small monthly fees.†[13] Thus, considering the situation of the refugee, the three-month time limit appears insufficient for health care coverage. The securing of an employment opportunity in Costa Rica within this same three-month period would have to be a concomitant aim of a programme; otherwise, the benefits of the Costa Rican health care policy are severely limited by the refugees’ inability to generate capital. On this point, the separation of the spheres of employment and healthcare impede the abilities of the refugee to begin a life in Costa Rica; insofar as employment and healthcare are considered as distinct issues, the benefits of healthcare are separated from the refugee labour force. The weakness therefore in this aspect of the policy is not anticipating the contiguity between employment integration and the possibility of health care. It is examples such as these incongruities in the law and policy of Costa Rica itself that failed to provide a comprehensive programme for its refugees. Thus, whilst Costa Ricas position as a stable country remains attractive to refugees in a time of crisis, various gaps in the system prevented a comprehensive plan to address the phenomenon. QUESTIONNAIRE The data in section 2.0 regarding Costa Rica’s history and policy approach to the refugee crisis only provides one side of the picture. This theoretical analysis of Costa Rican refugee policy, considering the constraints on any discourse of this style, is to be supplemented by a questionnaire submitted to four former refugees in Costa Rica. Whilst the sample size of the questionnaire is admittedly small, the necessity of its inclusion rests on a theoretical significance given to the notion of testimony in an effort to verify or contradict the reading provided of Costa Rican refugee policy. The prejudice of the academic discourse is to be alleviated through the survey presentation; thus, the purpose of the questionnaire is based on a theoretical value attached to testimony and the attempt to provide a more complete picture of the refugee policy of Costa Rica. Because of sensitivity to the time concerns of the participants and because of issues with the English language, the que stionnaire was deliberately simple and limited to four questions. QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS While the sample size is admittedly small, and the nature of the questions direct, the data of the questionnaire would seem to indicate a moderate level of satisfaction with the Costa Rican refugee policy. The option for the refugees in Costa Rica appears to be beneficial; the majority of answerers expressed that integration and employment possibilities were available in Costa Rica, whilst also noting the receptivity of the various refugee organizations to the concerns of the refugees. It is germane to note that the questionnaire deliberately avoided inquiring into the personal history of the participants, in respect for ethics and the privacy of the participants. While this may be construed as detracting from the accuracy of the questionnaire, as it brackets out some of the personal histories involved in the participants, the aforementioned ethical position of protecting privacy was taken as paramount. Rather the questionnaire was to function as a cursory testimonial survey of Costa Rican refugee policy, and thus, while no means a complete account, it does indicate that the Costa Rican option for refugees was more positive than it was negative. CONCLUSIONS The difficulty of the refugee problem primarily lies in the problems it engenders vis-à  -vis the traditional structure of the State, which relies for its function on the notion of citizenry. Inasmuch as human rights become an international imperative, the anomalous appearance of the refugee conflicts with the traditional State model. This tension is however a source for the production of new approaches to the refugee problematic. Costa Rica’s position in the ravaged Central America of the 1980s placed the nation into a role of a paradigm case for refugee policy. The Costa Rican approach must be commended at the outset for its commitment to human rights and the welfare of the refugees. The intent of the Costa Rican policy therefore must be viewed in a positive light. However, the complications that arose from the refugee crisis provide valuable data and source material for the possible improvements of refugee policy. Costa Rica’s acceptance of foreign, international and non-governmental charitable organizations to alleviate the crisis, whilst helping the refugees on the â€Å"terrain†, actually hindered the successful integration of these refugees into Costa Rican society, inasmuch as these organizations, as non-Costa Rican entities, actually created a further distance between the refugee and the Costa Rican state. Moreover, once the majority of these organizations had failed, the Costa Rican government was left to complete the so-called â€Å"durable solution.† The impasses to the â€Å"durable solution† may be traced to employment and economic laws of the Costa Rican state, laws which were unable to successfully meld with the desired â€Å"durable solution.† It is various de jure factors, despite the overall Costa Rican government intent and the intent of the private sector to integrate refugees through employment, which hindered the affectivity of this solution. Nevertheless, Costa Rica is still referred in some academic literature as an excellent example of a refugee policy. This seems to be supported by the anonymous questionnaire that was a part of our research; the questionnaire, while its sample size is admittedly small, nonetheless offers a certain support to the notion that Costa Rica was more effective than not regarding the refugee experience. Thus, whilst there are problematics in the policy of Costa Rican refugee integration, it is nevertheless a paradigm from which numerous positives can be drawn, whilst also providing a better insight into the impasses that may present themselves in such a policy: hopefully these cases, will yield a better approach to the difficult notion of the refugee in the future. BIBLIOGRAPHY Giorgio Agamben, â€Å"We Refugees†, accessed at: http://roundtable.kein.org/node/399 Tanya Basok, Keeping Heads Above Water: Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica McGill Queen’s Press: 1993. Alison Brysk, â€Å"Global Good Samaritans? Human Rights Foreign Policy in Costa Rica†, in: Global Governance, Vol. 11, 2005. Martha Honey, Hostile Acts: U.S. Policy in Costa Rica in the 1980s, University of Florida Press: 1994. Ed Mihalkanin, â€Å"Refugee Aid, Displaced Persons, and Development in Central America† in: Refugee Aid and Development, Greenwood Press: 1993. UNHCR, â€Å"Health Fair in Costa Rica gives refugees much needed medical care†, March 6, 2006, accessed at: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6MNF3L?OpenDocument> 1 [1] Giorgio Agamben, â€Å"We Refugees†, accessed at: http://roundtable.kein.org/node/399. [2] Tanya Basok, Keeping Heads Above Water: Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica, pg. Xvii. [3] Martha Honey, Hostile Acts: U.S. Policy in Costa Rica in the 1980s, pg. 4. [4] UNHCR, â€Å"Health Fair in Costa Rica gives refugees much needed medical care†, March 6, 2006, accessed at: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6MNF3L?OpenDocument> [5] Alison Brysk, â€Å"Global Good Samaritans? Human Rights Foreign Policy in Costa Rica†, in: Global Governance, Vol. 11, 2005. [6] Basok, pg. Xviii. [7] Basok, pg. Vi. [8] Basok, pg. Xviii. [9] Ed Mihalkanin, â€Å"Refugee Aid, Displaced Persons, and Development in Central America† in: Refugee Aid and Development, pg. 90. [10] Mihalkanin, pg. 90. [11] UNHCR, accessed at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6MNF3L?OpenDocument> [12] UNHCR, accessed at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6MNF3L?OpenDocument> [13] UNHCR, accessed at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6MNF3L?OpenDocument>

Electronic Surveillance: Who Is Watching You? Essay -- Privacy vs Elec

When one walks out the front door into the world, how aware and conscious are they of how often they are watched, tracked, and monitored? Through surveillance, everywhere one goes they are having their lives watched and invaded by prying eyes. Most people believe society needs electronic surveillance and that it is there to protect them. Others believe society does not need surveillance and worry about their privacy being invaded. Many argue about different issues relating to the costly use of surveillance. Electronic surveillance has a broad range of purposes dealing with past, present, and future events. There needs to be a balance between the benefits that surveillance employs in society and the misuse of surveillance that encroaches on the privacy of all. Although some are good and some are not, there are several purposes and reasons why society uses electronic surveillance. One main purpose of surveillance, and one of the most common, is for the utilization of promoting safety. People in our society want to feel safe from crime and danger in the world around them. Authorities and law officials use the common means of video surveillance to capture those involved with illegal activity. For example, in the article "Protecting Public Anonymity," the authors state how law officials use video surveillance from a mall to monitor shoppers and to discover if there are any "wanted persons." They also screen malls, or highly populated areas, to "track all persons with previous police records or all persons who have specific genetic, behavioral, religious, or cultural profiles that suggest they are more likely to engage in unlawful activities" (Granger, Morgan and Elaine Newton). This creates problems because it is likely that everyon... ...hipps, Jennie L. and Leslie Ryan. "Traffic Cameras Bringing Eyeballs to Station Sites." Electronic Media. 19 (2000): 16. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Community College Library Media Center. 4 Mar. 2008. Smithsimon, Molly. "Private lives, public spaces: the surveillance state." Dissent 50.1 (Wntr 2003): 43(49). General OneFile. Gale. Community College. 15 Feb. 2008 . Someone's Watching [videorecording]. NY Times/Discovery Times Channel Production. Discovery, [2005]. Surveillance Tech. [video recording]. [United States]: A&E Home Video, 2004 "Watching as you shop." Economist 385.8558(Dec 2007): 28-29. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Community College Library Media Center. 15 Mar. 2008. "Wireless Eyes Watch for Crime." Communications News 44.9(2007):22-24. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Community College Library Media Center. 4 Mar. 2008.

My Philosophy of Education Essays -- Philosophy on Teaching Statement

Philosophy of Education Jean-Paul Sartre said, â€Å"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself† (Myra, David, 402). According to him, personality is made by him/herself according to environment, religion, or society and everyone has a different belief and idea such as how they want to behave toward others or what I want to be on their own through their experience or life. Everyone has his or her own belief, philosophy, and dream but also I have my own concept. My philosophy of education revolves around why I want to be a teacher, my own philosophy of education, and what I want to do in future. After reading the nonfiction book by Torey F Hayden †The Child, Sheera† I was influenced to be a childhood special education teacher. If I didn’t read her book, I would not consider that I want to be a special education teacher. The author, Torey F Haydan was a specialist of a childhood special education and wrote about her experiences. She had a class for handicapped children and devoted her life to them. She always took care of her students. I was so impressed by her dedication that I realized that I want to be a special education teacher. Not only did her book influence me, but children make me happy. Spending time with them, I feel happy even if I may be having a bad day. Through my elementary field experience, I have found students are friendly and open-minded. At first, I was so nervous because I am not a native and I have trouble speaking English well, so I ...

I am Just Like Everyone Else Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about

It's 9:38 p.m.. I guess I've put this off long enough... not that I want to sound unenthusiastic, but it just feels weird. When I looked over the prompts nothing really struck me: I really don't want to drag on about my plastic trophies, or try to convince you that I am the one student that would change your school entirely. The only thing left was to write about a hardship that I had overcome... funny thing though... I couldn't think of many hardships. I mean, a lot of things have happened to me, but most of those things, like my dad dying, were things everyone has to overcome at some point. I never had to do anything... unexpected. That brings me here sitting in front of a screen typing as Chopin plays in the background at 10:00 p.m.. I've changed a lot since my freshmen year; I've changed a lot since breakfast, but I never knew why until just a while ago. When I was a little kid, my class mates would always make fun of me. At first I thought it was because I was stupid, then I thought it was because they were stupid, but by the time I was in eighth grade I had firmly identified the reason for my social awkwardness: I was so much better than everyone else at everything that they were all jealous of me. Why not? It was true. No matter how hard they tried they could never produce answers like me... or questions. Also, I needn't bother about trying to get good grades; that wasn't my "style." Whether by Freudian compensation or an empathic teacher's comment, I began to look at other people as being slower, less farsighted than me. Their senses were dulled while mine were too acute to pay attention to little things like assignments. Entering Valhalla I looked upon the various Goths and Preps, the Ret... ...one there deserved the air I breathed as much as I did. It boggled my mind. Slowly, I began to work back. All the skills I had worked so relentlessly on to be superior were talents in their own right. My road to heaven was being paved with bad intentions. I stopped work on the moonlight sonata (Cj had always played it better than I). I began to teach myself the blues and Chopin. I didn't have to worry about being better at physics than some one. I no longer had to not take notes in class so I could prove to everyone I didn't "need" to. I had always been master to myself, but now I was slave to no man. I was just like everyone else, and that was O.K. That's about all. I can't say that I deserve to go to your school any more than the next guy. I don't really think it will change your life one iota, but I do know that it would change mine. I am Just Like Everyone Else Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about It's 9:38 p.m.. I guess I've put this off long enough... not that I want to sound unenthusiastic, but it just feels weird. When I looked over the prompts nothing really struck me: I really don't want to drag on about my plastic trophies, or try to convince you that I am the one student that would change your school entirely. The only thing left was to write about a hardship that I had overcome... funny thing though... I couldn't think of many hardships. I mean, a lot of things have happened to me, but most of those things, like my dad dying, were things everyone has to overcome at some point. I never had to do anything... unexpected. That brings me here sitting in front of a screen typing as Chopin plays in the background at 10:00 p.m.. I've changed a lot since my freshmen year; I've changed a lot since breakfast, but I never knew why until just a while ago. When I was a little kid, my class mates would always make fun of me. At first I thought it was because I was stupid, then I thought it was because they were stupid, but by the time I was in eighth grade I had firmly identified the reason for my social awkwardness: I was so much better than everyone else at everything that they were all jealous of me. Why not? It was true. No matter how hard they tried they could never produce answers like me... or questions. Also, I needn't bother about trying to get good grades; that wasn't my "style." Whether by Freudian compensation or an empathic teacher's comment, I began to look at other people as being slower, less farsighted than me. Their senses were dulled while mine were too acute to pay attention to little things like assignments. Entering Valhalla I looked upon the various Goths and Preps, the Ret... ...one there deserved the air I breathed as much as I did. It boggled my mind. Slowly, I began to work back. All the skills I had worked so relentlessly on to be superior were talents in their own right. My road to heaven was being paved with bad intentions. I stopped work on the moonlight sonata (Cj had always played it better than I). I began to teach myself the blues and Chopin. I didn't have to worry about being better at physics than some one. I no longer had to not take notes in class so I could prove to everyone I didn't "need" to. I had always been master to myself, but now I was slave to no man. I was just like everyone else, and that was O.K. That's about all. I can't say that I deserve to go to your school any more than the next guy. I don't really think it will change your life one iota, but I do know that it would change mine.

Rewriting American History

Rewriting American History highlights the changes that have taken place in America from the 19th century to the 20th century. It analyses information contained in various textbooks about American history and highlights how peoples’ views have changed over the years. It highlights the various changes that have taken place and how these changes have affected the American citizens. It outlines the various changes that have taken place in America over the years. It outlines the various historical events and their impacts. It dates back to the â€Å" immigrants† from Southern and Eastern Europe in 1900 and their impact to the social integration.These migrants were portrayed as a problem since the original American inhabitants viewed them as invaders. This brought about social disharmony among the people, and it compromised the process of social cohesion and integration among the people. By 1930s, many texts emphasized on the gap between â€Å"the immigrants† and Ameri cans. This gap widened because the Americans did not learn how to live with these people. By the 1940s, the issue of immigrants had become a contentious issue. All the texts written during that period focused on immigrants and the social collapse they had caused.There was a clear distinction between the original Americans and the immigrants. The foreigners were discriminated against by the Americans. By I960s, texts ceased to talk of the immigrants as being distinct from the Americans. This was facilitated by the civil right activists who condemned the discrimination in the country. In the mid 60s history reconstruction was written. The rewriting of history was meant to bridge the gap between people of different races. In the 20th century, the issue has been resolved through condemnation of racial discrimination.Social conflicts have been minimized, and people of different races can live harmoniously. ‘The historian and his facts’ ‘The historian and his facts†™ outline what defines history and the role of facts used in defining history. It emphasizes that facts should lay out directly how history should be written. The article extrapolates on the need of imaginative understanding when writing history. History should be viewed as a continuous dialogue between the past and present. History should be an outline of the historians facts. In addition, the historian should be ready to respond to critics.This will ensure that the historian uses credible facts in his/her quest to rewrite history. Similarities ‘Rewriting American history’ and ‘the historian and his facts’ are similar in the sense that both articles focus on the rewriting of history. In both articles, history is a continuous process which bridges the past and present. History shows how past events have influenced the present. In both articles, the historian provides credible facts to substantiate the contents of his work. Both articles focus on how histo ry has been used as a tool of transformation.History highlights the past events and shows how the outcomes of the events can be used to educate and transform the lives of people. Differences ‘Rewriting American history’ focuses wholly on the American history. ‘Historian and his facts’, on the other hand, gives a general view of how a historian should use facts in defining history. ‘Rewriting American history’ outlines a series of events that took place in America between the 19th and the 20th century. On the contrary, ‘historian and his facts’ does not track any past events. It gives the overview of how the historian should go about with the rewriting of history.

Strategic Plan of Shangri-La Hotel

Table of Contents 1. 0Introduction2 2. 0Strategic Plan3 3. 0Describe mission statement, strategic goals and corporate strategies for a hotel4 3. 1Mission Statement4 3. 2Strategic Goals6 3. 3Corporate Strategies7 3. 3. 1Shangri-La Care 1: Shangri-La Hospitality from Caring People9 3. 3. 2Shangri-La Care 2: Delighting Customers9 3. 3. 3Shangri-La Care 3: Recover to Gain Loyalty9 3. 3. 4Shangri-La Care 4:  Take Ownership10 4. 0SWOT chart for the Shangri-La Hotel11 5. 0Conclusion14 6. 0Reference15 1. 0 Introduction Our group have chosen Shangri La as our topic of discussion for our report writing.Shangri La is a cooperation that has a lot of hotels and resorts in the whole wide world. The name of ‘Shangri La’ was actually from a novel published in 1933 named, ‘Lost Horizon’ written by James Hilton. In present days, the name ‘Shangri La’ has become famous in the worldwide. In 1971, Shangri La has its own deluxe hotel in Singapore. After that, Shang ri La had grew into a huge cooperation which own 72 hotels and resorts in different countries, such as, Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East, Europe and yet Shangri La is planning to develop more hotels in different countries.Besides that, Shangri La has two Asia’s most prestigious recreational clubs, that is, the Aberdeen Marina Club in Hong Kong, and the Xili Golf and Country Club in Shenzhen. Furthermore, Shangri La’s always follow Asian Hospitality as their unique hospitality to treat their customer. In order to compete with other hotels and resorts, Shangri La had emphasized on hospitality towards their customer. The main thing that makes Shangri La being successful and being different from the other hotels and resorts is offering high level of Asian standards of hospitality and caring for people.Therefore, Shangri La hotels and resorts will care for each and every customer. They will make sure that every customer will satisfied with their services. Shangr i La search for trendsetters and professionals to serve their customer and to achieve the goal, that is, to make sure every customer has great experience once they stay in the hotels and resorts. Strategic planning is critical to business success. Different from classic business planning, the strategic variety involves vision, mission and outside-of-the-box thinking.Strategic planning describes where you want your company to go, not necessarily how you're going to get there. However, like all other â€Å"travel plans,† without knowing where you want to go, creating details on how to arrive are meaningless. Strategic planning defines the â€Å"where† that your company is heading. In order for a business to be successful, there needs to be a roadmap for success. A strategic plan helps to provide direction and focus for all employees. It points to specific results that are to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them.A strategic plan also helps the various work units within an organization to align themselves with common goals. Building a strategic plan is not difficult. It will take some thought and some feedback from customers and others, but businesses should be routinely garnering feedback from appropriate constituent groups on an on-going basis. The process of developing a strategic plan should be rewarding for all involved and usually helps develop stronger communications between members of the planning team. Once developed, the key to making the plan work is a commitment to seeing it through and sound implementation.Many businesses have developed strategic plans only to put them on a shelf to gather dust. Managers need a well-developed strategic plan in order to effectively establish expectations for their employees. Without a plan, expectations are developed in a void and there is little or no alignment with common goals. A good strategic plan looks out 2 to 5 years and describes clearly how the business will grow and prosper over that planning horizon. 2. 0 Strategic Plan 3. 0 Describe mission statement, strategic goals and corporate strategies for a hotel 4. Mission Statement In 2010, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts had more than seventy hotels and 40,000 employees, with a vision to double within five years, all while maintaining their unique culture of high quality caring and hospitality. In recent years, the hotel chain has won almost every global award, including Asia’s best hotel brand for business and vacation, best luxury hotel chain (Asia Money), best business hotel brand in Asia Pacific (Business Traveler) and top five best overseas hotel (Observer and Guardian) (Marquardt 2011).Shangri-La has a powerful vision for its employees as well as its guests. Employee learning and development is an integral role in Shangri-La and is part of the company’s mission, which states that its aim includes â€Å"enabling all employees to achieve their personal and professional growth. â₠¬  Eng Leong Tan, Director for HR notes, â€Å"We seek to be the first choice employer among hospitality workers. We are committed to providing an environment in which employees can learn and grow.It is not enough just to pay well and offer good benefits. Growth opportunities are equally important, especially to younger employees† (Marquardt 2011). Shangri-La’s hotel mission statement we envision a community of responsible and educated citizens who are environmentally conscious, practice social responsibility in their daily lives and inspire others to do the same. We commit to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner whilst balancing the interest of diverse stakeholders (Lincoln 2007).We strive to be a leader in corporate citizenship and sustainable development, caring for our employees and customers, seeking to enrich the quality of life for the communities in which we do business and serving as good stewards of society and the en vironment (Shangri-La Asia Limited 2010). â€Å"To delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our hearts†. Again the same, they want to delight their quests, but as there is a low traffic of guests, it is self explanatory that they are not fulfilling the needs of their guests.According to their mission they want to differentiate them with others by providing the guests a feeling of home and interacting but for that they need customers, without that they can’t do anything (Kumar Swain 2011). 4. 2 Strategic Goals Shangri-La Hotel is a facility of services which provide places to stay for customers around the world. It is known as a hotel or a resort for consumers to relax or  even have a  vacation at  the hotel. Shangri-La Hotel is a  much known hotel in Singapore  because it was founded there itself. Shangri-La Hotel has provided a hotel for business traveler.Therefore, it has made another target of business in its management. With these targets, the company has proven to be the world’s best finest hotel in management and services. This hotel has also been situated in Malaysia itself, which have also become a finest hotel for business travelers and also travelers around the world and locally. Therefore, with these achievements, we have decided to make a research about the company itself and prove of its facility that satisfies us as a customer (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012).Great hotels are made by great employees, not by crystal chandeliers or expensive carpets. This strongly held belief at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts translates to a firm commitment to employee development. Such dedication will be increasingly important as the group’s workforce grows from 37,000 to nearly 60,000 by 2013 (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). The process begins with careful selection staff are â€Å"hired for attitude, trained for skills† providing a fertile f oundation for the Shangri-La philosophies to be embraced.Shangri-La then invests heavily in training perhaps more than any other hotel group with intensive, ongoing coaching for all staff at 68 hotels and resorts. The group then retains its high caliber staff by creating an environment whereby employees may achieve their personal and career goals. Shangri-La has one of the lowest staff turnover rate in the industry (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). 4. 3 Corporate Strategies Shangri-La Care the group’s defining feature is its exceptional and warm hospitality, as defined by its philosophy Shangri-La hospitality from caring people.All staff undergoes the â€Å"Shangri-La Care† training programme within six months of joining the group. The programme is designed to develop a consistent Shangri-La style of service to deliver a superior guest experience and build brand loyalty. Respect, courtesy, sincerity, helpfulness and humility are all core values of the training. Under the umbrella theme â€Å"Shangri-La Care the Shangri-La Way† the programme is divided into four modules: Shangri-La Care 1 – â€Å"Shangri-La hospitality from caring people†, Shangri-La Care 2 – â€Å"Delighting customers†, Shangri-La Care 3 – â€Å"Recover to gain loyalty† and Shangri-La Care 4 – â€Å"Taking ownership. The four modules of Shangri-La Care focus on the group’s mission: Delighting customers each and every time, part of Shangri-La’s guiding principles (Mohd  Rizal 2007). Shangri-La Care is a living culture within the group, strongly supported by top management and continuously cascaded through the organization. All hotels are required to allocate a specific budget for people training and development and the hotels’ general managers are responsible for ensuring the all the allocated funds are spent year after year.Below is Shangri-La Care Modules that line out what servi ce personnel do and how to serve their customers should best (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). 4. 4. 1 Shangri-La Care 1: Shangri-La Hospitality from Caring People First of all, addresses how to make the guests feel special and important by focusing on the five core values of Shangri-La Hospitality: Respect, Humility, Courtesy, Helpfulness and Sincerity. It also imbues  the value of  Ã¢â‚¬ËœPride without Arrogance’ as the service  hallmark (Mohd  Rizal 2007). . 4. 2 Shangri-La Care 2: Delighting Customers Focuses on the importance of guest loyalty and how it can only be achieved by delighting the guests not just the first time but every single time. Employees must be guest obsessed, doing more for guests by ‘going the extra mile', being flexible and never  saying no, anticipating and responding quickly, and recognizing the guest's individual needs (Mohd  Rizal 2007). 4. 4. 3 Shangri-La Care 3: Recover to Gain Loyalty High lights the impo rtance of recovery when a mistake is made.When recovery is done well, it may be an opportunity to gain further commitment and loyalty but if there is no or poor recovery the lifetime value of the guest is lost in addition to at least 25 others who may hear of the incident through word of mouth. The module teaches the five steps to recovery – Listen, Apologize, Fix the Problem, Delight – the Extra Mile and Follow Up (Mohd  Rizal 2007). 4. 4. 4 Shangri-La Care 4:  Take Ownership Finally, addresses the importance of our employees taking ownership to show care for the customers, colleagues and company.The driver of ownership is  Ã¢â‚¬Å"SELF†, which means S (Show commitment), E (Eager to take initiative), L (Lead ourselves) and F (Filled with  passion). This module attempts to create in the employee’s the mind-set to live in an environment that is  filled with  Care for  guests, Compassion for colleagues and  Pride in the  company (Mohd  Riz al 2007). 4. 0 SWOT chart for the Shangri-La Hotel Strengths| Weaknesses| 1) Shangri-La Hotel is regarded as one of the world’s best management hotel.It includes Shangri-La Hotel and Traders Hotels. 2) Shangri-La Hotel manages to train well employees who are able to provide better quality services to customers. 3) Shangri-La owns strong capital and service that helps it earn good reputation and consumer loyalty. 4) Shangri-La Hotel the uniqueness of interior design of the hotel rooms, lobby, dining cafe and state of the art facilities has been able to attract customer’s intention. It also has been on the luxury of facilities, which can make customers feel comfortable. ) Improved the existing electronic Best Practice process to ensure company-wide benchmarking where ideas with potential for global implementation are highlighted. The most valuable Best Practice recognition was created and is awarded on an annual basis. | 1) Senior executives approaching retirement with n o clear recognizable successor. 2) Problems in recruiting employees to work at the resorts. 3) Shangri-La is very famous in Asia but not in the other continents. So it is hard to attract those customers. ) Losing market share to rivals and higher overall unit costs relative to rivals 5) Unattractive compensation packages. Thus, failure to understand culture differences. | Opportunities| Threats| 1) Relatively safe and peaceful business environment. No natural disaster around the Hotel location, no riots, no terrorist attack, without violent protest or demonstration. 2) The resort hotel is located in a unique island with beautiful beaches and clear water ideal for snorkeling and living activities. 3) Shangri-La has opportunities to attract more ustomers. And then it can improve its fame all around the world. 4) The income of residents continued to rise, according to Maslow’s theory of the level demand, when the people’s living standards up to a certain extent, they hope to meet spiritual needs. Hotel facilities will attract customers’ so the hotel consumption of the people will continue to increase. 5) Increase presences in Asia and also relaxed travel restrictions. | 1) Aggressive fishing activities have been carried out nearby the island lately and it has caused unduly pollution as a result. ) There are many existing and newly built island resorts in the Asia-Pacific region. 3) The competitors are strong. There are lots kinds of hotels, so Shangri-La does not have tremendous competitiveness. 4) Restrictions on travel. 5) Increase in the cost of labor and current economic situation. | SWOT analysis can be defined as â€Å"a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and treats in relation to the internal and environment factors affecting an entity in order to establish its condition prior to the preparation of the long term plan. In addition, strengths and weaknesses analysis involves looking at the particular stre ngths and weaknesses of the organization itself and itself and its products/services range. It is an internal appraisal. An analysis of opportunities and threats is concerned with profit making opportunities in the business environment and with identified threats such as falling demand, government legislation and new competition etc. Therefore it is an external appraisal. 5. 0 Reference ) Online Business Advisor, 2006, (Why is Strategic Planning important), viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://www. onlinebusadv. com/? PAGE=171 2) David Ingram, D 2012 (Why is the Implementation of projects important to strategic Planning and the Project Manager) viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://smallbusiness. chron. com/implementation-projects-important-strategic-planning-project-manager-18215. html 3) Shangri-La 2012, (International Hotel Management Ltd. ) viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://www. shangri-la. com/en/corporate/aboutus/overview 4) Strategic Plan of Shangri-La Hotel Table of Contents 1. 0Introduction2 2. 0Strategic Plan3 3. 0Describe mission statement, strategic goals and corporate strategies for a hotel4 3. 1Mission Statement4 3. 2Strategic Goals6 3. 3Corporate Strategies7 3. 3. 1Shangri-La Care 1: Shangri-La Hospitality from Caring People9 3. 3. 2Shangri-La Care 2: Delighting Customers9 3. 3. 3Shangri-La Care 3: Recover to Gain Loyalty9 3. 3. 4Shangri-La Care 4:  Take Ownership10 4. 0SWOT chart for the Shangri-La Hotel11 5. 0Conclusion14 6. 0Reference15 1. 0 Introduction Our group have chosen Shangri La as our topic of discussion for our report writing.Shangri La is a cooperation that has a lot of hotels and resorts in the whole wide world. The name of ‘Shangri La’ was actually from a novel published in 1933 named, ‘Lost Horizon’ written by James Hilton. In present days, the name ‘Shangri La’ has become famous in the worldwide. In 1971, Shangri La has its own deluxe hotel in Singapore. After that, Shang ri La had grew into a huge cooperation which own 72 hotels and resorts in different countries, such as, Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East, Europe and yet Shangri La is planning to develop more hotels in different countries.Besides that, Shangri La has two Asia’s most prestigious recreational clubs, that is, the Aberdeen Marina Club in Hong Kong, and the Xili Golf and Country Club in Shenzhen. Furthermore, Shangri La’s always follow Asian Hospitality as their unique hospitality to treat their customer. In order to compete with other hotels and resorts, Shangri La had emphasized on hospitality towards their customer. The main thing that makes Shangri La being successful and being different from the other hotels and resorts is offering high level of Asian standards of hospitality and caring for people.Therefore, Shangri La hotels and resorts will care for each and every customer. They will make sure that every customer will satisfied with their services. Shangr i La search for trendsetters and professionals to serve their customer and to achieve the goal, that is, to make sure every customer has great experience once they stay in the hotels and resorts. Strategic planning is critical to business success. Different from classic business planning, the strategic variety involves vision, mission and outside-of-the-box thinking.Strategic planning describes where you want your company to go, not necessarily how you're going to get there. However, like all other â€Å"travel plans,† without knowing where you want to go, creating details on how to arrive are meaningless. Strategic planning defines the â€Å"where† that your company is heading. In order for a business to be successful, there needs to be a roadmap for success. A strategic plan helps to provide direction and focus for all employees. It points to specific results that are to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them.A strategic plan also helps the various work units within an organization to align themselves with common goals. Building a strategic plan is not difficult. It will take some thought and some feedback from customers and others, but businesses should be routinely garnering feedback from appropriate constituent groups on an on-going basis. The process of developing a strategic plan should be rewarding for all involved and usually helps develop stronger communications between members of the planning team. Once developed, the key to making the plan work is a commitment to seeing it through and sound implementation.Many businesses have developed strategic plans only to put them on a shelf to gather dust. Managers need a well-developed strategic plan in order to effectively establish expectations for their employees. Without a plan, expectations are developed in a void and there is little or no alignment with common goals. A good strategic plan looks out 2 to 5 years and describes clearly how the business will grow and prosper over that planning horizon. 2. 0 Strategic Plan 3. 0 Describe mission statement, strategic goals and corporate strategies for a hotel 4. Mission Statement In 2010, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts had more than seventy hotels and 40,000 employees, with a vision to double within five years, all while maintaining their unique culture of high quality caring and hospitality. In recent years, the hotel chain has won almost every global award, including Asia’s best hotel brand for business and vacation, best luxury hotel chain (Asia Money), best business hotel brand in Asia Pacific (Business Traveler) and top five best overseas hotel (Observer and Guardian) (Marquardt 2011).Shangri-La has a powerful vision for its employees as well as its guests. Employee learning and development is an integral role in Shangri-La and is part of the company’s mission, which states that its aim includes â€Å"enabling all employees to achieve their personal and professional growth. â₠¬  Eng Leong Tan, Director for HR notes, â€Å"We seek to be the first choice employer among hospitality workers. We are committed to providing an environment in which employees can learn and grow.It is not enough just to pay well and offer good benefits. Growth opportunities are equally important, especially to younger employees† (Marquardt 2011). Shangri-La’s hotel mission statement we envision a community of responsible and educated citizens who are environmentally conscious, practice social responsibility in their daily lives and inspire others to do the same. We commit to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner whilst balancing the interest of diverse stakeholders (Lincoln 2007).We strive to be a leader in corporate citizenship and sustainable development, caring for our employees and customers, seeking to enrich the quality of life for the communities in which we do business and serving as good stewards of society and the en vironment (Shangri-La Asia Limited 2010). â€Å"To delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our hearts†. Again the same, they want to delight their quests, but as there is a low traffic of guests, it is self explanatory that they are not fulfilling the needs of their guests.According to their mission they want to differentiate them with others by providing the guests a feeling of home and interacting but for that they need customers, without that they can’t do anything (Kumar Swain 2011). 4. 2 Strategic Goals Shangri-La Hotel is a facility of services which provide places to stay for customers around the world. It is known as a hotel or a resort for consumers to relax or  even have a  vacation at  the hotel. Shangri-La Hotel is a  much known hotel in Singapore  because it was founded there itself. Shangri-La Hotel has provided a hotel for business traveler.Therefore, it has made another target of business in its management. With these targets, the company has proven to be the world’s best finest hotel in management and services. This hotel has also been situated in Malaysia itself, which have also become a finest hotel for business travelers and also travelers around the world and locally. Therefore, with these achievements, we have decided to make a research about the company itself and prove of its facility that satisfies us as a customer (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012).Great hotels are made by great employees, not by crystal chandeliers or expensive carpets. This strongly held belief at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts translates to a firm commitment to employee development. Such dedication will be increasingly important as the group’s workforce grows from 37,000 to nearly 60,000 by 2013 (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). The process begins with careful selection staff are â€Å"hired for attitude, trained for skills† providing a fertile f oundation for the Shangri-La philosophies to be embraced.Shangri-La then invests heavily in training perhaps more than any other hotel group with intensive, ongoing coaching for all staff at 68 hotels and resorts. The group then retains its high caliber staff by creating an environment whereby employees may achieve their personal and career goals. Shangri-La has one of the lowest staff turnover rate in the industry (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). 4. 3 Corporate Strategies Shangri-La Care the group’s defining feature is its exceptional and warm hospitality, as defined by its philosophy Shangri-La hospitality from caring people.All staff undergoes the â€Å"Shangri-La Care† training programme within six months of joining the group. The programme is designed to develop a consistent Shangri-La style of service to deliver a superior guest experience and build brand loyalty. Respect, courtesy, sincerity, helpfulness and humility are all core values of the training. Under the umbrella theme â€Å"Shangri-La Care the Shangri-La Way† the programme is divided into four modules: Shangri-La Care 1 – â€Å"Shangri-La hospitality from caring people†, Shangri-La Care 2 – â€Å"Delighting customers†, Shangri-La Care 3 – â€Å"Recover to gain loyalty† and Shangri-La Care 4 – â€Å"Taking ownership. The four modules of Shangri-La Care focus on the group’s mission: Delighting customers each and every time, part of Shangri-La’s guiding principles (Mohd  Rizal 2007). Shangri-La Care is a living culture within the group, strongly supported by top management and continuously cascaded through the organization. All hotels are required to allocate a specific budget for people training and development and the hotels’ general managers are responsible for ensuring the all the allocated funds are spent year after year.Below is Shangri-La Care Modules that line out what servi ce personnel do and how to serve their customers should best (Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. 2012). 4. 4. 1 Shangri-La Care 1: Shangri-La Hospitality from Caring People First of all, addresses how to make the guests feel special and important by focusing on the five core values of Shangri-La Hospitality: Respect, Humility, Courtesy, Helpfulness and Sincerity. It also imbues  the value of  Ã¢â‚¬ËœPride without Arrogance’ as the service  hallmark (Mohd  Rizal 2007). . 4. 2 Shangri-La Care 2: Delighting Customers Focuses on the importance of guest loyalty and how it can only be achieved by delighting the guests not just the first time but every single time. Employees must be guest obsessed, doing more for guests by ‘going the extra mile', being flexible and never  saying no, anticipating and responding quickly, and recognizing the guest's individual needs (Mohd  Rizal 2007). 4. 4. 3 Shangri-La Care 3: Recover to Gain Loyalty High lights the impo rtance of recovery when a mistake is made.When recovery is done well, it may be an opportunity to gain further commitment and loyalty but if there is no or poor recovery the lifetime value of the guest is lost in addition to at least 25 others who may hear of the incident through word of mouth. The module teaches the five steps to recovery – Listen, Apologize, Fix the Problem, Delight – the Extra Mile and Follow Up (Mohd  Rizal 2007). 4. 4. 4 Shangri-La Care 4:  Take Ownership Finally, addresses the importance of our employees taking ownership to show care for the customers, colleagues and company.The driver of ownership is  Ã¢â‚¬Å"SELF†, which means S (Show commitment), E (Eager to take initiative), L (Lead ourselves) and F (Filled with  passion). This module attempts to create in the employee’s the mind-set to live in an environment that is  filled with  Care for  guests, Compassion for colleagues and  Pride in the  company (Mohd  Riz al 2007). 4. 0 SWOT chart for the Shangri-La Hotel Strengths| Weaknesses| 1) Shangri-La Hotel is regarded as one of the world’s best management hotel.It includes Shangri-La Hotel and Traders Hotels. 2) Shangri-La Hotel manages to train well employees who are able to provide better quality services to customers. 3) Shangri-La owns strong capital and service that helps it earn good reputation and consumer loyalty. 4) Shangri-La Hotel the uniqueness of interior design of the hotel rooms, lobby, dining cafe and state of the art facilities has been able to attract customer’s intention. It also has been on the luxury of facilities, which can make customers feel comfortable. ) Improved the existing electronic Best Practice process to ensure company-wide benchmarking where ideas with potential for global implementation are highlighted. The most valuable Best Practice recognition was created and is awarded on an annual basis. | 1) Senior executives approaching retirement with n o clear recognizable successor. 2) Problems in recruiting employees to work at the resorts. 3) Shangri-La is very famous in Asia but not in the other continents. So it is hard to attract those customers. ) Losing market share to rivals and higher overall unit costs relative to rivals 5) Unattractive compensation packages. Thus, failure to understand culture differences. | Opportunities| Threats| 1) Relatively safe and peaceful business environment. No natural disaster around the Hotel location, no riots, no terrorist attack, without violent protest or demonstration. 2) The resort hotel is located in a unique island with beautiful beaches and clear water ideal for snorkeling and living activities. 3) Shangri-La has opportunities to attract more ustomers. And then it can improve its fame all around the world. 4) The income of residents continued to rise, according to Maslow’s theory of the level demand, when the people’s living standards up to a certain extent, they hope to meet spiritual needs. Hotel facilities will attract customers’ so the hotel consumption of the people will continue to increase. 5) Increase presences in Asia and also relaxed travel restrictions. | 1) Aggressive fishing activities have been carried out nearby the island lately and it has caused unduly pollution as a result. ) There are many existing and newly built island resorts in the Asia-Pacific region. 3) The competitors are strong. There are lots kinds of hotels, so Shangri-La does not have tremendous competitiveness. 4) Restrictions on travel. 5) Increase in the cost of labor and current economic situation. | SWOT analysis can be defined as â€Å"a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and treats in relation to the internal and environment factors affecting an entity in order to establish its condition prior to the preparation of the long term plan. In addition, strengths and weaknesses analysis involves looking at the particular stre ngths and weaknesses of the organization itself and itself and its products/services range. It is an internal appraisal. An analysis of opportunities and threats is concerned with profit making opportunities in the business environment and with identified threats such as falling demand, government legislation and new competition etc. Therefore it is an external appraisal. 5. 0 Reference ) Online Business Advisor, 2006, (Why is Strategic Planning important), viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://www. onlinebusadv. com/? PAGE=171 2) David Ingram, D 2012 (Why is the Implementation of projects important to strategic Planning and the Project Manager) viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://smallbusiness. chron. com/implementation-projects-important-strategic-planning-project-manager-18215. html 3) Shangri-La 2012, (International Hotel Management Ltd. ) viewed 23 February 2012, Available from: http://www. shangri-la. com/en/corporate/aboutus/overview 4)