The Srivijaya Empire in Indonesia

Face Communication Is More Effective Than Other Types Of...

There are many different points to consider when considering whether face to face communication is more or less effective than other types of communication, such as the importance of facial expressions and nonverbal body language. Communication would be considered effective when the most information is conveyed between the people involved. Nonverbal body language is generally nonverbal behaviours that can include interpersonal distance, body movement, facial behaviour, touch, vocal behaviours, and others. (Hall, Coats and LeBeau, 2005) With nonverbal body language one needs to consider what signals do people pick up from nonverbal communication as well as what conversations lose with these signals. However, there is the other side to†¦show more content†¦Another thing that is offered by face to face communication is that it offers something when information is received and understood, without delay, something electronic forms of communication cannot offer. Face to face commu nication also offers the opportunity to take turns when speaking and in turn create a sequence whereas with electronic communications, such as emails or texts, the conversation can be broken up by irrelevant interruptions and do not have the same effect. However Clark Brennan, (1990) did look at how electronic communication can also be a more effective form of communication. For example with emails and texts information will always be there and can be later reviewed by other people in case there needs to be editing of information before sending. Face to face communication can possibly be irreplaceable as well. Hallowell, (1999) looked at how face to face communication is essential for human movement, an authentic psychological encounter that occurs when two people share the same physical space as well as emotional and intellectual attention. However on the other hand face to face communication can be disruptive and costly, and other forms of communication might be preferable. Sprou ll and Kiesler, (1992) found that technological changes can help people cross social, psychological and physical boundaries and can effect group behaviour and decision

GDP †A Gross Deception Free Essays

Capitalism concentrates on production of wealth more than distribution of wealth to satisfy the needs, which is secondary in their view. Therefore, the capitalist economic system has one aim, which is to increase the country’s wealth as a whole, and it works to arrive at the highest possible level of production. It considers that the achievement of the highest possible level of welfare for the members of society will come as a result of increasing the national income by raising the level of production in the country, and in enabling individuals to be able to take the wealth, by being left free to work in producing and possessing it. We will write a custom essay sample on GDP – A Gross Deception or any similar topic only for you Order Now So for capitalists the economy does not exist to satisfy the needs of every individual, rather it is focused on satisfying the needs of the wider community by raising the level of production and increasing the national income of the country. It believes that through the availability of the national income, the distribution of income among the members of society occurs, by means of freedom of possession and freedom of work. So it is left to the individuals to obtain what they can of the wealth, everyone according to what he has of its productive factors, whether all the individuals or only some individuals are satisfied. This is the so called â€Å"trickle-down effect†, a now-discredited theory of distribution which holds that the concentration of wealth in a few hands benefits the poor as the wealth necessarily â€Å"trickles down† to them, mainly through employment and as a result of investments made by the wealthy. In most cases, this policy failed, as the benefits were pocketed by a few. GNP is used widely by the capitalist nations as a measure of total production of all goods and services produced in a nation (usually annually) and central to a government’s national income accounts. GNP was introduced during World War II as a measure of wartime production capacity, since then the Gross National Product (since changed to Gross Domestic Product – GDP) has become a nation’s foremost indicator of economic progress. Yet the GDP was never intended for this role. It is merely a gross tally of products and services bought and sold. However it is now widely used by policy makers, economists, international agencies and the media as the primary scorecard of a nation’s economic health and well- being. Yet in this role it has many serious flaws. 1. The GDP ignores everything that happens outside the realm of monetized exchange, regardless of its importance to well-being and the society. Hence values (humanitarian, ethical, spiritual) other than material values go entirely ignored. 2. The GDP records every monetary transaction as positive, so the costs of social decay and natural disasters are tallied as an economic advance. For example the terrible effects of crime are recorded positively as adding billions of dollars to the GDP due to the need for locks and other security measures, increased police protection, property damage, and medical costs. Hurricane Andrew was a disaster for Southern Florida USA, but the GDP recorded it as a boon to the economy of well over $15 billion. 3. GDP ignores the drawbacks of living on foreign assets. Where governments have increased their spending by borrowing from abroad, this raises the GDP temporarily, but the need to repay this debt becomes a growing burden on the national economy. This downside of borrowing from abroad is not reflected in the GDP. 4. The GNP was turned into the GDP – a change that was deceptive and exploited by the Capitalist nations. Under the old measure, the Gross National Product, the earnings of a capitalist multinational firm were attributed to the country where the firm was owned and where the profits would eventually return. Under the Gross Domestic Product, however, the profits are attributed to the country where the factory is located, even though the profits won’t stay there. This accounting shift has deceptively turned many struggling nations into statistical boomtowns. Statistics which are used in aiding the push for globalisation and free trade. Conveniently, it hides a basic fact: that the western Capitalist nations are walking off with the resources of poorer nations and calling it a gain for the poor. 5. Above all GDP ignores the distribution of income. In effect the GDP hides the fact that a rising tide does not lift all boats. From 1973 to 1993 in the USA, while GDP rose by over 50 percent, wages suffered a decline of almost 14 percent. Meanwhile, during the 1980s alone, the top 5 percent of households increased their real income by almost 20 percent. Yet the GDP presents this enormous gain at the top as a bounty to all. Furthermore the average number of poor people averaged more than 30 million people over the last 40 years in the US, with an average of 15% of the population being poor. In the meantime, the gross national product continued to increase drastically, over the same period. The GDP grew from $400 billions to $10 trillions from 1959 to 2000. This very large increase in the national product did not contribute to the resolution of poverty. More than 30 million people continue to be poor. Hence Capitalism superbly increases the production of products and services, and hence wealth. However this completely fails to resolve the poverty of the individuals. The number of poor people continues to grow. In reality therefore GDP as a measure of a nation’s economic well being is really a deception. It begins to explain why people feel increasingly gloomy despite official claims of economic progress and growth. In Islam, the economic problem is focused on distributing the means of satisfaction for individuals i. e. the distribution of the funds and benefits to the members of the nation or people, not on the needs which the nation or the people require without having any regard to every individual within the nation. In other words, the problem is the poverty which occurs to the individual not the poverty which occurs to the nation. The concern of the Islamic economic system is focused predominantly on satisfying the basic needs of every individual, not the study of producing economic commodity. Islam makes the subject of study, the basic human needs of man, as a human being, and the study of distributing the wealth to the members of society to guarantee the satisfaction of all their basic needs. Unlike capitalism it is aware that the treatment of the poverty of a country, through raising the level of production, does not solve the problem of poverty for individuals. Rather, Islam advocates the treatment of the poverty problems of all the individuals, and the distribution of the wealth of the country among them by addressing their basic needs first, thus motivating all the people of the country to work in increasing the national income. How to cite GDP – A Gross Deception, Papers

Evaluate the Credit Default Swaps

Question: Explain how derivatives are used by the investment bankers and critically evaluate the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and systemic risk. Answer: Derivatives are contract, the value of which is derived from the asset that is underlying. The underlying asset may be in the nature of stock, market index, security, etc. The investments bankers use derivatives to take a position and hedge the position accordingly. The position is hedged through the tools like options, forwards, future, and swaps. The investment banker buys an asset and sells it through a futures contract (Teoh, 2009). The investment banker that leads to a better opportunity takes arbitrage opportunity. Credit Default Swap It is an agreement of financial swap that the CDS seller will pay the buyer if the default happens in case of a loan. The CDS buyer makes a payment series to the seller and in this regard gets a payoff of the default happens. The existence of CDS can be traced to 1990 and its use has increased after 2003. It is not traded on the stock exchange and needs no reporting of any transactions to the government (Teoh, 2009). CDS data is of great use as financial professionals, regulators, as well as media to evaluate how the market takes a stand of credit risk on which a CDS is available can use it. A CDS can even be unsecured in nature and will carry a higher risk for a default (Zhang, 2005). The International Swaps and Derivatives Association document most CDS utilizing the standard formats that are drafted. Systemic Risk Systemic risk is the risk of collapse of a total financial system or entire market as contrast to the risk associated with any single entity, component, or a group. This risk can be stated as the instability of the financial system, potential harm, events in financial intermediaries. Moreover, it reflects the risk that is imposed by interlinkages in a total system (Zhang, 2005). It is inherent in the system and hence termed as systematic risk. References Teoh, M 2009, Does Size Matter in the Hedge Fund Industry?, SSRN Working Paper. Zhang, L 2005, The Value Premium, Journal of Finance, vol. 60, pp. 67à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 103.

Coming To The New World Essays - Calvinism, Congregationalism

Coming To The New World Coming to the New World was a major advancement in the lives of many Spanish, French, and English people between the years of 1942-1629. The migration effected the lives dramatically. They will come to see that in the coming years almost everything will change from religion to their types of settlement. The role of religion was very important, for it had an immense power over the European society. Christianity converted all of Europe including the Spanish, French, and English. Christian doctrine provided a common understanding of God. The church provided authority and discipline in the society. Every village had a church, which thought that Satan constantly challenged God by tempting people into evil. Christianity had played an important role in Portugal and Spain, but it divided Europe into Catholics and Protestants. A protestant rebellion in the Spanish Netherlands drained the wealth of the Spanish and gave resources to expand into North America and brought a new impact of European and Indian people. Over time, the Catholic Church had become very large and wealthy, controlling resources throughout Europe. In 1517, a German monk and professor, Martin Luther, sold indulgences. These were church certificates that pardoned a sinner from punishments in the afterlife. He was excommunicauhujuujjujjted by the pope and threatened with punishment by King Charles I of Spain. He was protected by a northern German princess and could not be arrested. After Luther, came a French theologian from Switzerland named John Calvin. He stressed omnipotence of God and the corruption of human nature. He preached the doctrine of predestination, the idea that God chose certain people for salvation even before they were born. He appeared to Christians and said to people that they needed a personal relationship with God. Calvin believed in a God that gave what he received and also that saintly people could change government. People started to believe on Prodesism and Calvinism; people believed in things that made sense to them. All these things together had an effect on the history of the United States, for these beliefs were brought over. Calvinists won over people all over Europe. The Huguenots in France adopted it, reformed churches in Holland and Belgium, and converted people in Scotland. Following Calvinism, Puritans banned several traditional religious rites, such as Holy Communion, focusing more on sermons and ethics. They also encouraged people to read the Bible, by this, promoting extensive literacy. Consequently, Puritan migrants carried these doctrines to America. ?Luther's challenge to Catholicism came just two weeks before Cortes conquered the Aztec empire, and the two events remained linked (Brody, 24).? Spain became the wealthiest nation in Europe, for it had all the gold and silver from Mexico and Peru. It also made King Phillip II the most powerful ruler. Since religion played an important role, Phillip, and eager Catholic, tried to wipe out Protestantism in the Netherlands. In order to protect their Calvinist faith, the Dutch and Flemish revolted against Spain. Phillip planned to bring back Catholicism in England and then wipe out Calvinism in Holland, but he failed. He had spent so much of his American Gold on wars that by the time of his death, Spain was in serious economical turmoil. Meanwhile, English merchants promoted settlement in Virginia. fled first to the Dutch Republic, then to New England, and then to the West. Many people, English men and women, thought of the idea of migration to America to escape a new wave of religious c onflict. King James I rejected more Puritan and Presbyterian reforms. ?James threatened to carry them out of the land. Radical Protestants took his word and Indies. The voyage was long but they remained driven by poverty and persecution and hope came along with the New World. The influence of religion in the conquest of the Americas played a very important role. The invasion of Europeans in the New World, religious conversion threatened Indian people with the loss of their land, lives, and age-old cultures and traditions. The Spanish forced the Indians to convert to Catholicism and to wok by digging for gold. When Columbus first arrived in the America, he brought along all his beliefs. ?They should be good servants and of quick intelligence?.and I

Australian English Essay Example

Australian English Essay Example Australian English Essay Australian English Essay Strine: Stralyan Slang from Singlet and Stubby The question What makes us Australian has underscored Australian politics and culture since the Second World War. Is it the colour of our skin No; immigration means that 10% of all Australians are now of non-European extraction. Is it our culture Perhaps, but there are hundreds of different cultures co-existing in Australia, again, due to immigration, and if we were to take White Australian Culture as national, then how unique is it really in comparison to New Zealand, Canada, the U.K. and the like Ah! I hear you say, But what about our language Now thatâ„ ¢s something we almost all have in common. All right then, does our language make us Australian Not at all, it couldnâ„ ¢t be more uniform. We, as Australians, use the same English as one-and-a-half billion others worldwide. Or do we There are three important distinctions. The first, vocabulary, is our extension of the Language. The second, colloquialisms, is our modification of the Language. The third, pronunciation, is the accent with which we speak the language. According to its editor Dr. Bruce Moore, the newest edition of the Oxford Australian National Dictionary is anticipated to include more than 14,000 distinctly Australian words and meanings. Words from the Convict Era such as Swag, from the First World War such as Aussie and Furphy, from the Contemporary Era such as Removalist and Benchtop, negative words such as Bludger, positive words such as Battler and Larrikin, and the more recent: Bogan and Ranga. Bogan, meaning Foolâ„ ¢ or Hooliganâ„ ¢, first appeared in the 1980s. Bogan has since screamed onto the scene, replacing the former regional equivalents: Westie, from Sydney and Melbourne, Bevan, from Queensland, Chigga, from Tasmania, and Booner, from Canberra. Ranga, a derogatory term for someone with red or orange hair, derives from the word O-rang-utanâ„ ¢. It rose to fame with the Australian Television satire Summer Heights High. From the words mentioned above, Bogan and Ranga are two which can be described as slang. Fittingly enough, there is another slang term used to denote the very same slang it defines: Strine. The colloquialisms of our Language, known nationally as Australianisms, take three forms. The first, diminutives, are abbreviations on nouns such as afternoonâ„ ¢, breakfastâ„ ¢ and footballâ„ ¢. These turn into arvo, brekky and footy. A similar pattern can also be followed for other words like journo, from journalist, and hecky, from hectic, a noun for an aggressive, hard-drinking youth. The second, nicknames, are endearing variations on oneâ„ ¢s first or last name such as Whitey, from White, Johnno, from John, and Jezz, from Jeremy. The third form of Australianisms are incomplete comparisons, these include sweet asâ„ ¢ and, similarly, sick asâ„ ¢, expressing pleasure or approval. The Australian accent is just as, if not more, Australian than our strine or colloquialisms, and it would simply be unthinkable to barbeque a shrimp without one. From 1788 it developed haphazardly from a mish-mash of British and Irish dialects. None, however, of the first generation of Australian born children would have spoken the dialects of their parents. Dr. Bruce Moore: A speaker with some very pronounced dialect sounds might find it very much to their advantage to modify those sounds if they caused significant misunderstandings for the speakers of other dialects. He continues, many of the really distinctive dialect variants that existed among the speakers of their [the childrenâ„ ¢s] parents generation would have been eliminated. A process of dialect levelling would have taken place. Soon, Australian pronunciation splintered into three categories: Cultivated Australian, the accent of the well-educated, General Australian, the accent we recognise today, and Broad Australian, the accent of Strine. Cultivated Australian English, most similar to British Received Pronunciation, is now only spoken by 10% of the population and is on the decline. General Australian is spoken by 80% of the population and is a compromise between Cultivated and Broad. Broad Australian is spoken by 10% of the population and is the accent most commonly identified as stereotypically Australian. However, even within the category General Australian, there exist regional variations. The most passionately disputed of these is the gra-ph or gra-rph dilemmaâ„ ¢. In South Australia and Victoria the word graphâ„ ¢ is pronounced with a long aâ„ ¢ sound, like that which one might make at the Dentistâ„ ¢s, whereas in the other states the short aâ„ ¢ sound, like that in the word tapâ„ ¢ is pronounced. This dilemma also applies to words such as danceâ„ ¢, grantâ„ ¢, commandâ„ ¢ and so on. The long aâ„ ¢ sound is most similar to Cultivated Australian, whilst the short aâ„ ¢ sound is closer to Broad Australian. I, personally, find the short aâ„ ¢ to sound lazy and unsophisticated, but perhaps, because of our relaxed and laid-back nature, we just donâ„ ¢t feel the need to pronounce words correctly. This is certainly the case with words like waterâ„ ¢ and runningâ„ ¢ and others similar, which turn into worda and runnin, respectively; and why not After all, it is our Language. In 1987 the government report National Policy on Languages stated: Australian English is a dynamic and vital expression of the distinctiveness of Australian culture and an element of national identity. And, whatever the colour of your skin, whatever your culture, you would have to agree. Bibliography: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Lingua Franca Australian English: Australian Identity. ABC.net.au. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Collins English Dictionary. Bogan Definition of Bogan by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus The Free Dictionary. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Convict Creations. Language and Identity in Australia. Convict Creations Thinking Different. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Harvey, Peter. What Is Australian Culture | Peter Harvey |. Big Think. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Moore, Dr. Bruce. Power of Speech All Ours. The Australian | The Heart of a Nation. The Australian. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary: Ranga. Urban Dictionary. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Wikipedia. Australian English. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Wikipedia. Demographics of Australia. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . Acknowledgements: Dr. Bruce Moore.

Institutions of Poverty in Guadalupe and Chavez Essay

Institutions of Poverty in Guadalupe and Chavez - Essay Example The manner in which each institution acts on the society is controlled by numerous factors. This is aimed at separating individuals who earn their income using unlawful means from ones who with legal sources of income. This is therefore what is represented by indigenous organizations. This separation is in regard to the geographic means since these institutions put into consideration areas with more security and ones with high crime rates. Normally, illegal groups live in the crime-ridden areas because they won't have to care about the police. This is due to the fact that there is no constant presence of police officers. On the other hand, social networks are organizations that aim at helping people to find jobs. One thing that is being noticed is that there are certain jobs which are exclusive to a certain ethnic-racial group since what really matters is the number of that group. The third institution, the local subculture, is responsible for controlling means through which a family gets aid (219). That is, the needs and mentality of the family are the main factors that will determine whether the family will be given the welfare’s aid or not. Usually, size and the role of each family member define the structure of the family. A neighborhood, ethnic group, and family structure are the other factors which influence these three institutions. First, the existence of police officers in certain neighborhoods provides the chance for the illegal networks to work away from police-view. Second, ethnicity is the major factor which the social networks put into consideration (who works where). This is acc ording to its assertion above that every certain race dominates certain kind of jobs. Furthermore, a big role is played by the family structure in the subcultures and determines the manner through which aid would be distributed among the members.

Does the effectiveness of hand sanitizer reduce over time Essay

Does the effectiveness of hand sanitizer reduce over time - Essay Example Hand hygiene is one of the simplest and effective ways to prevent the spread of microbial infections. A hand sanitizer is a supplement or an alternative to hand washing with soap. The purpose of a hand sanitizer is to eliminate germs on hands that could cause diseases. Although a proper hand washing with soap is more effective in killing bacteria and viruses than hand sanitizers (Grayson et al., 2009), the latter is widely used in most hospitals as fast and efficient antiseptic tool when water and hand soaps are not readily available. Accessible dispensers with an alcohol-based, waterless hand sanitizer have been demonstrated to significantly increase hand hygiene among health care workers (Bischoff et al., 2000). Notably, a hand sanitizer is not only effective against bacteria and viruses, but also on other microorganisms such as fungi. During a flu season, for instance, alcohol-based hand sanitizers have proven effective in getting rid of such disease-causing microorganisms commonl y associated with respiratory and/or gastrointestinal infections (Sandora et al., 2005). There are two main types of hand sanitizer: alcohol-based and non-alcoholic based sanitizers. Non-alcohol based hand sanitizer consists of non-toxic and non-flammable ingredients which are friendly to users and the environment. However, such hand sanitizers may cause germs to develop resistance to the sanitizing agent, and so, they merely reduce their growth rather than kill them (Todd et al., 2010).

Apple's marketing strategy in China Literature review

Apple's marketing strategy in China - Literature review Example The competitiveness of the global environment has been made possible by technological advances that have leveled the playing field for international businesses to penetrate cross-border markets (Friedman, 2007). Modern means of communication, which facilitates information gathering and business transactions, â€Å"allowing people around the world to compete, connect, and collaborate† (Cherunimal, 2010). Nor is the globalization trend limited to commerce and trade, such that â€Å"No institution, whether a business, a university or hospital, can hope to survive, let alone to succeed, unless it measures up to the standards set by the leaders in its field any place in the world† (Peter Drucker, 2007, p. 66). Several frameworks for international marketing planning have been conceptualized to capture its nature and scope, although the specific nuances of the process continues to evolve with the changing dynamics of globalization. Li and Li (2009) proposed an Internet-enabled , multi-agent-based hybrid framework, which was designed to address the three types of uncertainty conditions identified by Ashill and Jobber (2001), namely: state uncertainty, or the inability to forecast future events in the global marketing environment; effect uncertainty, which results from failure to understand the causes and effects of the changing environment; and response uncertainty, or the inability to predict how the market will respond to the changes. The framework is graphically portrayed in the following diagram: Figure 1: The Internet-enabled multi-agent-based hybrid intelligent support framework (Li & Li, 2009). The decision-making framework synthesizes the processes identified in earlier academic literature. Environmental scanning and monitoring involves the continuous observation of political, economic, social and technological events, and competitors’ moves (Jain, 1990). Strategic analysis assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, evalu ates the principal criteria or factors which the firm must address. Management identifies the strategic intention, risk, synergy effects, and market attractiveness, and thereby defines the firm’s competitive advantage. Go versus no-go decision under uncertainty is a pass/fail test conditioned by fulfillment of the Go condition and failure of the No-go condition (Cohen, Rolph & Steffey, 1998). The decision-makers decide the course of action and possible alternatives to take, with cognizance of the state, effect, and response uncertainties. Entry mode selection under uncertainty is the choice of the manner in which the firm enters the target market, given the degree of risk and the level of market control (Chee & Harris, 1998). Finally, formulating marketing strategies is concerned with the means of achieving the defined marketing goals and objectives towards creating the competitive advantage defined for the firm. These processes will be more closely described in the following sections. In the hybrid model, the processes are carried out by multiple software agents, working in an Internet-enabled system through a suitable software architecture and underlying integration method (Li & Li, 2009). Table 1: International marketing envir

Understanding Personality In Order To Improve Communication

Understanding Personality In Order To Improve Communication New Britain Oils is a Palm Oil manufacturer who specialises in fully sustainable Palm Oil. The organisation is a subsidiary of New Britain Palm Oil Limited which has been around since the 1980s. The organisation consists of a number of site across the globe with the main plantations growing in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands covering 82,000 hectares and employing over 10,000 workers. There are only two refinery, one in Papua New Guinea and the second is in Liverpool. Liverpool is the only site outside of Australasia and had an opening employment count of 26 in 2010, this number currently stands at 78 in 2016. The Liverpool Refinery opened in 2010 starting with bulk oil supply into 28 tonne road tankers. In 2012 the Packing Facility was opened, this plant converts some of the bulk oil into industrial margarine and other bakery fats. Since opening in 2010 New Britain Oils is now the number one supplier of sustainable Palm Oil in the UK. With the rapid growth of the Liverpool site came an increase in employees and inevitably the dynamic of the working environment changed with it. Some employees left the organisation, who have since been replaced, and new departments have been created to cope with the growth of the business. Consequently this instability has affected the productivity in some areas. This issue couldve been exacerbated by the management teams failure to recognise this variation and react accordingly. Bringing in new workers will bring in differing psychological preferences and according to Jung (1971) preferences influence our choice of careers, ways of thinking, relationships, and work habits. Richard L. Hughes et al. (2015) stated that our preferences play a role in the characteristic and unique ways we behave from day to day. Consequently, could increasing the management awareness of their teams individual preferences promote better relationships, through improved communication, within the organisati on? Mary Uhl-Bien and George B. Graen (1995) discovered that higher quality Leader-Member Exchange relationships have very positive outcomes for leaders, followers, work units, and the organisation in general, the same research also found that the development of Leader-Member Exchange relationships is influenced by characteristics and behaviours of leaders and members. This assignment will first outline what can affect the effectiveness of a leader and why increasing the value of relationships could increase the effectiveness of a leader. Using existing research it will look at why communication is a crucial tool for a leader and how an understanding of how differing personality types interact, prefer to receive information and what drives their decision making,   can enable leaders to communicate more effectively.   A recognised psychological test will be used to gather data about the psychological preferences of some of the employees across different areas of the business with the objective being to identify potential differences in preferences. The overall aim of the research is to increase the management teams awareness of some of the differing personality types within their department and understand the differences between these types. The intention is to educate the management team and give them the opportunity to adapt their leadership s tyle to promote better quality relationships through a better understanding of the individuals within their team. Literature Review Leadership Leadership has been the subject of research for a long time. Burns (1978) stated that due to its importance in human groups, the concept of leadership is one of the organisational topics that have most intrigues researchers for centuries. As a result, attempts to define leadership have proved to be an ambiguous. Leadership as simply a complex form of social problem solving (Miller and Ross 1975), leadership is directing and coordinating the work of group members (McCall Jnr et al. 1988), leadership is creating conditions for a team to be effective (Reason and Mycielska 1982). Powell and Pirsico (rev. ed. 2003) defined leadership as the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals. All of the definitions stated have a connection which is the reference to a group or team. This implies that leadership would not exist without individuals to lead. The definitions detailed show the variation in concepts of leadership and this is reflected in the research. Some leadership researchers have focused on the leader-follower relationship and Geoff Thomas et al. (2013) stated that the reason we focus on the leader-follower relationship is because research shows that the quality of this relationship is reliably linked to follower well-being and performance. Other researchers, such as John Adair, looked at how the situation can affect the way leaders act. Adair identified that leadership is affected by three things. The task, the team and the individual and leaders need to balance their time equally between the three areas and at certain times one of the areas will dominate, but over the long run a balance would be achieved (John Adair 1982). Figure 1. shows John Adairs concept of action centred leadership. In different situations the circles will be overlapping different amounts showing which the dominant factor is. Figure 1. John Adair (1982) Researchers have studied the behaviours of the leader and what behaviours are associated with an effective leader. Leadership is earned and it is not granted by role or rite of passage (Lloyd l. Sederer 2012) and through our interactions humans sustain the effect of leadership and we interpret it even though we may not be aware that we do so (Kempster and Parry 2011). This means that leaders could be established by displaying a distinct set of behaviours which followers associate with a leadership role. Research shows that there are behaviours that can be attributed to an effective leader. These are known as The Six Cs of Leadership Credibility (Bamford, 2016) Figure 2. David Bamford (2016) Communication would fall under the Character umbrella and plays a crucial fundamental role in every business. The quality of the communication can be affected by the relationship between two individuals and a key element of the quality of the relationship is the interaction between the personalities. Different personalities and give out information in different ways and how this information is interpreted can affect the quality of the communication.   Leaders who have calm dispositions and do not attack or belittle others for bringing bad news are more likely to get complete and timely information from subordinates than are bosses who have explosive tempers and a reputation for killing the messenger (Hughes et al. 2015). Personality Many theories have been developed to explain what causes individuals to behave the way they behave and why they behave differently to other individuals. The term personality is among the most comprehensive of those in the psychologists vocabulary, clarification of its connotation to the satisfaction of a majority, even of psychologists, is difficult (John K. McCreary 1960). This view begins to explain the range of opinions as to what personality means to people. McCreary goes on to describe some the definitions as experimental, calling for criticism and inviting agreement. This belief is quite ambiguous as all definitions would fall under one of those three categories. Robert Hogan (1991) had a different approach and he stated that the term personality is fairly ambiguous and has at least two quite different meanings rather than a definition. The first meaning implies that personality is the impression a person makes on others. The second meaning is less obvious and focusses more on the unseen processes within a person which explains why we behave the way we behave. These internal processes have been categorized as traits by some researchers. Personality traits as useful concepts for explaining why people act fairly consistently from one situation to the next (Hughes et al. 2015). Traits are characteristics or habits which are specific to an individual. Traits can have one of two outcomes, such as extroversion and introversion however, individuals are not categorized into one these traits but rather they sit on a scale which may show a preference towards one of the two oppositions. If we attempt such scaling, we should remember that we are likely to constrain personalities unnaturally fitting them into one mould (Allport and Odbert 1936) Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert were theorists the idea of traits and trait names. They explored two comprehensive dictionaries and identified 17,953 trait-names in the English language. They reduced the list down to 4500 adjectives. They reported that the unfamiliarity of a large proportion of the trait-names in our list proves that our practical vocabulary is inadequate to the task of representing the complex phenomena of human nature (Allport and Odbert 1936). They arrange the traits into a hierarchy of three: Cardinal Traits the dominant trait Central Traits general characteristics Secondary Traits not obvious, such as attitudes Raymond Cattell further explored the work completed by Allport and Odbert by taking the list of 4500 adjectives and reducing it down to 171 by removing all the synonyms. Cattell was the first to collect data regarding personality traits. The outcome of the data he collected allowed him to come up with 16 personality factors which he used to come up with an assessment called the 16PF. This was one of the first attempts to measure personality. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Measuring personality is difficult because personality cannot be seen but some psychology researchers have devised tools that can be used to give results owing to an individuals psychological preferences. The most commonly used tool is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This tool evolved over a period of 5 decades and was based on the work carried out by Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung who spent a lot of his career researching personalities within individuals. Jung defined two opposing tendencies in personality: introversion and extroversion and while both tendencies are present in all individuals, one tends to dominate the other (Almerinda Forte 2005). Along with the two opposing tendencies for personality, Jung also identified four functions relating to personality which are thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting. Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers both had an interest in individual differences which they brought together, including the work done by Carl Jung, which resulted in the development of the MBTI. The MBTI is a very popular tool used worldwide mainly for psychiatric patients but also the MBTI has been in extensive use in personal and management development since the early 1970s (Leary et al. 2009). The MBTI is based on the principle that the differences in behaviour from one person to another can be expressed in terms of preferences between the polarities (Amel Behaz and Mahieddine 2012) and the MBTI focuses on two primary human activities: how people gather information and how they make decisions (Richard J. Daisley, 2011). However, note that measurement is only possible if we blindly insist that people are comparable in respect to each common trait (Allport and Odbert 1936) Allen et al. (2002) adapted the Four-Part Framework developed by Susan Brock to demonstrate the difference between each of the oppositions. This is shown below: Figure 3. Allen et al. (2002) In completing the MBTI each of the individuals will demonstrate a preference for one of the two oppositions. For example the introvert/extrovert scale is based how the individual get their energy whilst the sensing/intuitive scale considers how people interpret data. The thinking/feeling scale looks at the factors people take into account when making decisions and the judging/perceiving scale considers the amount of information an individual needs before making a decision. Yuval Cohen et al. (2013) described each of the bipolar oppositions in their paper based on personality types of project managers. Figure 4. Yuval Cohen (2013) The first opposition is the most commonly associated when thinking about differing personalities: Introversion or Extroversion. There are three main differences between introversion and extroversion. Energy creation is noted as the most important difference, but the response to stimulation and the approach to knowledge are also different (Heidi Eve-Cahoon 2003). Introverts are energized by the internal world of ideas, impressions, and emotions, whereas extroverts focus outside of themselves and are energized by activities, people, and things of the outside world (Heidi Eve-Cahoon 2003). Extroverts are often seen as possessing the desirable set of personality traits for success in todays fast-paced world, on the other hand, introverts bring a whole host of desirable personality traits to the table, which need to be equally valued, nurtured, and utilized (Shelley J. Schmidt 2016). Samples for the United States suggest that 55 to 60 percent of all people are extroverts (Gardner and Martinko 1996). Fretwell et al. (2013) highlighted some data (Filbeck et al. 2005, Fox-Hines and Bowersoch 1995) relating to each of the four dimensions, which demonstrates the preferences of the U. S. population. This data agrees with other research that a greater percentage of individuals have an extroverted preference. Results of this study will demonstrate any direct correlation to the results of the U. S population. Figure 5. Fretwell et al, (2013) A similar study was documented in Training and Coaching Today (2007) which showed the findings from a recent MBTI study of 1634 individuals in the UK. Figure 6. Training and Coaching Today (2007) As New Britain Oils is situated in the UK, it is predictable that the results from this study will correlate to the results from the study of the UK individuals. As there are four bipolar oppositions for MBTI, this means that there are sixteen possible results which could be given based on the responses to the questions and the scores obtained on the bipolar scale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Figure 7. One downside to having so many possible outcomes and factors involved is that it takes interest and effort to remember ones type (William A. Lynagh 2006). Psychology researchers and advocates of personality preferences maintain that no one type is better than the others because a team benefits from the presence of varied personality types (Cynthia Plonen 2015). The best way to think of it is that neither set of traits is better or more valuable than the other rather, they are different, often complementary, and both are needed to make the world go round, so-to-speak (Shelly J. Schmidt, 2016), however many more leaders are ISTJs, ESTJs, and ENTJs than other types (Hughes et al. 2015). Gathering data from the management team will be able to demonstrate a positive or negative correlation to this statement. Methodology The data collection process involved 25 employees from a number of departments and all of the employees who completed the questionnaire did so voluntarily. Results were obtained from 100% of the employees in two departments along with 50% of employees from another department. Shift patterns limited one department but a representative sample of 65% was obtained to provide data. In addition, 57.14% of the management team were included in the study to determine the range of the personality preferences amongst the management team. Figure 7 shows the structure of the organisation. Figure 7. Despite there being question marks over the integrity of personality measurement instruments, they are still widely used in organisations. A Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test, based on the MBTI, will be used to gather the data for this study. The questionnaire consists of 64 multiple choice questions which will result in a four letter type based on the Myers-Briggs 16 types. The Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test was selected because the results will correlate directly to the MBTI theory and also this method is more accessible for employees and allows for more data to be collected. The purpose of the questionnaire is to begin to develop an understanding of the personality types that exist within some departments of the organisation because personality questionnaires are ideal for describing personality (Luke D. Smillie 2008). The MBTI has been used widely across a number of business sectors for decades. The instrument has been extensively tested for reliability and validity (James C. Lampe 2004) and the extensive research on the instrument since its development supports its reliability and validity (Moore et al. 2004). Over 2 million copies of the instrument are sold each year (Pittenger 1993) and the MBTI is the most widely used instrument for non-psychiatric populations (A. J. DeVito 1985). Despite its depth of validation there are still many sceptics of the MBTI itself as a viable instrument and future research must use more rigorous designs before greater confidence can be placed in the results (Gardner and Martinko 1996). It has been speculated that subjects of the instrument can falsify their responses in an attempt to achieve different results. This wary approach, when questioning the validity of the responses, could be considered when the instrument is used as part of an organisations recruitment process as subjects could change their responses in an attempt to become more appealing to an employer. The organisation has 78 employees and a sample of 32% were included in the study but statistical generalisation is difficult owing to the low number of cases (Bamford et al. 2003). Some correlations can be made between the existing literature and the results of the MBTI used in the organisation but this cannot be reflective of the organisation as a whole. Findings Key Findings The key findings from the research showed that there are a range of personality types present within the organisation and out of the 16 possible personality types the individuals from the organisation fell into 9 of those types. Over 50% of the results from the individuals who took part in the study fell into 3 of the possible 16 personality types. All 3 of the common personality types included a preference for thinking rather than feeling and judging rather than perceiving. This means that 68% of the individuals included in the study prefer to be analytical, critical and make decisions objectively but those individuals only require a minimal amount of information to make decisions and as a result they can make poor decisions. ISTP ISFP ISTJ ISFJ 7 ESTP ESFP ESTJ ESFJ 1 5 3 INTP INFP INTJ INFJ 1 ENTP ENFP ENTJ ENFJ 1 1 4 2 Figure 8. Introvert/Extrovert Preference As mentioned previously, one of the dimensions that then MBTI specifically looks at is where individuals prefers to focus their energy. This dimension has two bipolar oppositions, introversion and extroversion. The data gathered shows that 68% of the individuals who took part in the research had a greater preference for extroversion. This means that more than half of the employees at the organisation prefer to work in larger groups, get their energy from people and activities. The management team could use this data to adapt their leadership style to suit some of the personality preferences within their team and using a collective approach to problem solving may prove to be more effective. Customer Service Team Personality Types 75% of the customer service team have a preference for extroversion and this would fit well with their role and responsibilities as they obtain their energy from interacting with people. Having this preference could help them to build better relationships with customers and suppliers. 100% of the customer service team had a preference for thinking which means they are more concerned with operational considerations and are able to detach themselves from the decisions they make which is a good characteristic to have relative to their role. Engineering Team Personality Types          50% of the engineering department contributed to the research and 100% of the employees who contributed showed a preference to extroversion so using team meetings when tackling engineering issues would give the extroverts the forum to think out loud, share ideas with each other and has the potential to be very effective. The Engineering Manager showed a preference to introversion and so he would prefer to take the information gathered from the team meeting and spend some time thinking about in order to come up with the most effective solution. This approach to engineering issues has the potential to be very productive by considering the individuals preferences in order to maximise their input and provide the Engineering Manager with lots of information before making decisions. Shift Workers Personality Types The responses from the shift workers presented a large amount of variation, however, 69.23% of the shift workers, who completed the questionnaire, showed a preference for extroversion. This outcome is reasonably foreseeable in having a higher number of extroverts in this department as all of the individuals work on a shift consisting of four employees. Individuals with a preference for introversion would be less attracted to work which would include them working within shifts, although only having four employees on a shift would be more attractive than organisations with high numbers of employees on each shift. 92.3% of the shift workers showed a preference for judging rather than perceiving and individuals with this preference only require a minimal amount of information before making a decision. Shift workers operate on a 24 hour rotation system therefore they work outside of normal hours and so they are expected to make quick decisions independently. Individuals who have a preference for perceiving like to intake as much information as possible before making a decision and so too many perceivers on one shift could delay decisions and corrective action which could result in reduced output from that shift. Management Team Personality Types 57.14% of the organisations management team took part on the study. The data shows that the management team fall into three different personality types: ISTJ, ESTJ and INTJ. The results showed that 50% of the individuals who contributed had a personality type of ISTJ which displays characteristics which would typically be associated with someone who is in a senior position, such as being serious, practical and realistic. 75% of the management team, which would equate to 42.8% of the total management team, demonstrated a preference for introversion rather than extroversion and these members of the management team are responsible for technical, engineering and the safety department. All of these departments are smaller, in team size, than all of the other departments and each of these members of the management team have their own individual office and so it is foreseeable that they would have a preference for introversion. The extroverted individual from the management team is responsible for a large team consisting of 20 shift workers and their workspace is located in the production area and so having the extroverted preference is advantageous to their ro le. All of the members of the management team showed preferences for thinking and judging rather than feeling or perceiving respectively. This again is a predictable outcome given their position within the organisation as this indicates that they prefer to be analytical, approach decisions objectively and pay careful attention to any potential operational impacts. Discussion The first of the four dimensions provides data on the individuals preferences towards introversion or extroversion. Samples from the United States suggest that 55 to 60 percent of all people are extroverts (Gardner and Martinko, 1996). The data obtained from this study appear to validate this statement as 68% of the individuals showed a preference for extroversion. The data in the study by Fretwell et al. (2013) noted that 70 75% of individuals in the U. S. have a preference towards extroversion and that data would correlate more closely with the data obtained in this study. The study of the U. K. showed only 52.6% of the individuals have a preference towards extroversion which is contradictory to the results of this study. Consequently more than half of the employees, involved at the organisation have a personality focused on the outside world, get motivation from interaction with other people and by doing things (Yuval Cohen, 2013). The data could be used by the management team in order to improve productivity by using groups sessions allowing the individuals share ideas. Comparison to Existing Research The data previously mentioned in the study by Fretwell et al. (2013) and the data shown in Training and Coaching Today (2007) showed results for individuals in U. S. and U. K respectively and some of those results are closely correlated to the results of this study. Dimension U.S. U.K. New Britain Oils Extrovert 70-75% 52.6% 68% Introvert 25-30% 47.4% 32% Sensing 70-75% 76.5% 60% Intuition 35-30% 23.5% 40% Thinking 60% males 40% females 45.9% 68% males 36.6% females Feeling 40% males 60% females 54.1% 32% males 33.3% females Judging 55% 58.3% 88% Perceiving 45% 41.7% 12% The similarity of results for the extrovert and introvert dimension has already been discussed but there are similarities with results for the other dimensions. The sensing and intuition dimension results are similar to the results from the studies of the U. S and U. K. albeit closer to the results from the U. S study, as there is a greater preference towards sensing. This means that the individuals prefer concrete details of a situation and rely on the five senses to observe facts or happenings (Fretwell et al. 2013)This also means that they tend to be practical, orderly, and down-to-earth decision makers (Hughes et al. 2015). When comparing the thinking and feeling dimension, the results are more closely correlated with the results for the study of the U. S. population. 72% of the individuals, in this organisation, showed a preference to thinking, however in the study of the U. K. the majority of the individuals showed a preference to feeling. This means that individual from this organisation prefer to assume a more objective approach to decisions and show more consideration to operational factors. Individuals who show a greater preference towards thinking are associated with careers such as consultants, lawyers, executives and engineers. (www.similarminds.com). The results for the final dimension show that overall the individuals from the organisation have a much greater preference for judging rather than perceiving. These results compare with the studies from the U. S. and U. K., in terms of the majority of the individuals showing a greater preference towards judging, however nearly 90% of this organisation shares this preference as were the other studies show just over 50%. This could impact the organisation because individuals with this preference tend to make up their minds quickly and as a result can make poor decisions (Hughes et al. 2015). The management team in the organisation presented results which partially correlated with the work done by Hughes et al. (2015), who stated that more leaders are ISTJs, ESTJs, and ENTJs than other types. In this organisation, the management team demonstrated personality types matching ISTJ and ESTJ however there were no ENTJ personality types from the results collected. 50% of the management team showed a personality type of ISTJ and this preference would be associated with behavioural characteristics such as being responsible, organised and punctu

Identity Theft Essay -- essays research papers

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is currently a huge growing number of criminals that now do greater and more widespread damage to their victims without ever meeting them. Identity theft surfaced in the early 1990s and turned peoples everyday transactions into a data gathering game. Bits of personal information such as bankcards, credit card accounts, income, social security numbers or just someone name, address, and phone numbers are now collected and could be used illegally by these individuals without anyone’s knowledge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purpose of this study is to investigate what is being done to help control this growing crime in North Carolina. This includes the evaluation of the identity theft policies that the banks in North Carolina have in place. The study attempted to determine which bank had better and tougher policies as well as whether or not these security policies had helped reduce identity theft complaints in North Carolina since the date of it’s origin. Background of the study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Identity theft is whereby an individual obtains some piece of an unsuspecting victim’s sensitive information and uses it without their knowledge to commit fraud or theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), â€Å"people whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and their hard earned money trying to clean up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record. Some victims have lost job opportunities, been refused loans for education, housing, cars or even arrested for crimes they didn’t commit.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the FBI statistics, Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S.’s (Tribune Business News, 2003). Identity theft thieves have perfected the art of collecting information of unsuspecting victims and now all the law enforcement agencies, as well as affected companies, are working hard to find ways to combat these issues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several ways that identity theft thieves gain access to your personal information. Lost wallets, purses, stolen or lost mail used to be the main source of such private information. Mail, which sometime, includes bank statements, pre-approved credit cards, and tax papers are a source of a large amount of data. In recent years, many have been known to steal reco... ...g numbers of identity theft cases, since the late nineties, have become a growing concern for the law enforcement agency and the community as a whole. Involving the public in this warfare calls for all organizations, banks included, to get tighter policies in place and protect the integrity and security of their customer’s data. This study will show whether or not the implemented policies in the local banks have helped reduce identity theft cases overall. Research Questions and Hypothesis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To perform our research study, we attempted to get answers to these questions: How do North Carolina bank policies reduce the spread of identity theft? To what extenet are the policies of one bank better than the policies in the others in reducing identity theft occurrence? What role can N.C. bank consumers play in reducing the risk of becoming identity theft victims? We hoped that the responses would prove our hypoithesis: the banks that have tight security policies in place have less consumer complaints than those that do not. Literature Review   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As stated earlier, the method of data collection was done using a survey