A critique of movie Waiting for Superman Review

A critique of Waiting for Superman - Movie Review Example The film focuses on five children and their families (Dutro 1). These are suggested to represent the burgeoning number of children that want to be saved from the devastating public school system. The families of the children are depicted as struggling in an effort to have their children attain college education as well as accomplishing the American dream (Dutro 1). As a result, the family members engage in the lottery process. The film employs first hand interview with the children and families (Guggenheim). There is also reliance on statistics, interviews with expert, animations, and clips from the media. A critique of the movie waiting for the super man helps in understanding various issues being addressed concerning education. The film has achieved one of the vital components that are expected of the author. This has been author good credibility. This is an essential component in any film for its success and accreditation. The credibility of the author Davis Guggenheim is the reason why the film has attracted attention as compared to other films discussing the same issue (Ravitch 1). The other films taking on education such as ‘The Lottery’ and ‘The Cartel’ have received little attention so far (Ravitch 1). The reputation of the author is seen as being the holder of an Academy Award. The author won the ward due to his film about global warming ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ (Ravitch 1). His credibility is also seen as the film is discussed in popular media such as Time and New York. The film has also featured in popular shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show (Ravitch 1). This is a clear indication that the author is credible and hence has excellent credentials. The author of the film relies significantly on various support to support the ideas of poor education system. This has been evident through interviews, images, cartoons, clips from popular media and speech by key figures in the

Assets, liabilities, equity Essay Example for Free

Assets, liabilities, equity Essay Accounting, per se, is based on five types of accounts namely: assets, liabilities, equity, income and expense. These account types belong either of the Balance sheet accounts or Income and Expense accounts. Assets, liabiliites, and equity fall under the balance sheet account and the rest goes to the income and expense accoutnts. Definining each, asset is composed of a group of things that an individual or an entity owns. These includes tangible items like car, cash or often stocks (intangible) and others that possess convertible values. On the other hand, liabilities are group of things on which an individual or an entity is indebted to. Loans and mortgages are the common examples of liabilities. Equity, is what we also call net worth an amount that is represented to be the remainder after deducting the liabilities of an individual’s or an entity’s from its group of assets. Meanwhile, income is the same as profit – something that you earn as payment from the time, services, or goods that you offered in exchange of money. Expenses include all those monetaries that were used to acquire the goods or services of someone else. Amongst various accounts in an entity, the stocks swap and replacement costs are the fundamental accounts that change when an entity assimilates to a corporate merger. Stock swap is frequently used in the accounts of a corporate merger since it does not prohibit the shareholders of merging companies to distribute among them the risk that is involved in the merging transaction. Replacement cost, on the other hand is comes in when entities will employ cost in replacing that target company. However, replacment cost can only be true in most cases where an industry does not give services. References Investopedia ULC (2008) Mergers and Acquisitions: Introduction. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://www. investopedia. com/university/mergers/default. asp Money Instructor (2005) Basic Accounting Terminology 101. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://www. moneyinstructor. com/art/basicaccounting. asp

Recruitment Selection of Internally Motivated Employees

Recruitment Selection of Internally Motivated Employees Growth in Global companies today demands the increasing need of recruitment and selection process. The number of expatriates has increased over the last 30 years due to increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions. Recruiting an expatriate is mostly associated with increase in the salary range, improvement in hierarchal levels. But the facts that there will be drastic change in the culture change in social life, career risks, are all very important aspects to consider when planning a recruitment process in an organization. The role of a HR manager is to enable individuals to achieve organizational goals and objectives. To ensure a successful gain, they need to know who these people are, where they are from, how they can be developed for personal fulfillment and to achieve organizational goals, and the impact of external constraints. All these come together and demand the need of formulation of HR functions in an organization. They are involved in the development and implementation of HR strategies and policies and various people management activities like human resource planning, talent management, knowledge management, recruitment selection, learning and development, reward management, employee relations, health and safety, welfare and any other matters related to employment relationship. Ulrich (1998) pints out that: The activities of HR appear to be and often are disconnected from the real work of the organization. He believes that HR should not be defined by what is does but by what it delivers. It is often a face there are a limited number of employees willing to travel within the organization. Considering other specifications like their past work experience, technical skills, ability to be flexible with teams, job requirements and period of expatriation as well. In many cases, Human resources team tends to select a candidate who is willing to take the overseas opportunity. Lack of effective selection process and emphasized technical requirements listed out are the major reasons for failure in the process. To handle successful HR operations an organization need to consider both internal and external contexts that has great influence on the business. External contexts could be including Political, Economic Social Technological contexts. However many organizations today operation in a global context, that direct HR managers to develop an international strategy considering the cultures and values. One of the key concerns that often lead to failure in recruiting an employee in cross cultural context is related to family concerns. According to Tung (1987) and Forster (2000) the inability of the spouse in adopting foreign environment and language issues are the general causes of a failed expatriate. Bonache Brewster (2001) illustrated the survey conducted by Windham International and the National Foreign Trade Council (1999) is mentioned that a large number of international assignments are turned down in between the time due to personal family and spouse issues. It is also important to understand that a successful domestic operation with well framed policies and procedures leads to improvement in handling international operations. Companies need to show strong need for a proper recruitment and selection processes. Briscoe, Schuler (2004) believe that it is definitely important to understand that the HR in International context is different from its domestic counterpart in many ways. This includes Multifunctional IHR department Expanding the areas of expertise Having to face much greater challenge in recruiting and selection international employees and many more. Role of well developed Cross Cultural HR practice in Recruitment and selection processes of internal motivated employees: Recruitment of candidates plays a very important role of the major HR function and this becomes specific in an international cross cultural context. Bratton and Gold (2003) illustrates recruitment as: the process of generating a pool of capable people to apply for employment to an organization. Selection is a discrete and subsequent process, by which managers and other use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons most likely to succeed in the job(s), given management goals and legal requirements. A close look at the importance of managing employees with various cultures explains the need of strategic and planned process of choosing employees in an international organization. Ghemawat (2001) describes that there can be significant impact in employees relations, that further explained and clarified the importance of right recruitment and selection process in organizations. Within the narrow description of recruitment it is typically seen as occurring in two main stages: the formative basic work and recruitment practices such as sources and methods that end with the arrival of applications. The most important consideration before the process understands the kind of need: whether an organization is considering new staff of replacing existing staff members. The traditional recruitment cycle: Recruitment Job Description Job Analysis Person Specification Person Analysis: Flexibility to relocate, Family, prior expatriation. Selection (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005) Job analysis: Job analysis is often referred as the information on which two significant recruitment documents are based: job and person specifications. It involves in collecting systematic information about the job from current incumbents and/or their colleagues (Newell and Shackleton, 2000). Analysis on the particular positions need would rather is the first appropriate for a HR manager. This enables him to take decision on designing a better description and specifications. The specifications play a very keen role when the need of recruitment techniques becomes important. This importances becomes challenge when facing a job analysis in a cross cultural context. Wanous (1992) referred the recruitment technique is a theoretically derived from an individual need of an organization culture matching process is the realistic job preview that presents the candidate with negative and positive aspects about a particular job. This allows the candidate to match the organizational climates and individual wants. Mac Bartine (2007) illustrates five important steps in analyzing a job basing on the cultural demands of the job. The steps help HR team in gathering more information about the job, about what qualifications for the right candidate should have. Asking yourself: The needs of accomplishment of the new employee that are expected to take the position on periodic basis. A detailed list out will help the HR team in furnishing better Job Analysis process. Implementing the best cross cultural HR practice would result in success in recruitment and selection process. Identifying basic roles and responsibilities of the job and conducting a critical evaluation basing on the cultural demands. Day to day activities of the employee? Resources that the employee is expected to be use in the job? Is the employee expected to handle any team under his supervision? If so will there be any conflicts basing on the team past behavior? Will the employee be allocated any tasks that are important to handle basing on the cultural demands on the country other than typical roles to be performed? The next step in job Analysis is measuring the need of tasks of the employee. Comparison of the present roles of the employee to the tasks expected to handle and measure them using Key Resolution Areas (KRAs). Measuring the abilities of the employee: Stress management, flexibility etc. Discussing with the team if there will be any differences between the roles of the job comparing with the past and expected to be in future. Discussion with subject matter experts locally and also with the experts placed abroad. Job Descriptions: A well written Job Descriptions plays a very important in a cross-cultural context. They are understood as written statement that describes the duties, responsibilities, required qualifications, and reporting relationships of a particular job. Job Descriptions are the further steps of Job Analysis and allows the organizations to perform better. There are various important aspects that should be taken into consideration when writing a job description for any international assignment. A poorly framed description can result in the failure of an international assignment. Other than the general important aspects of describing a job on the roles, skills base, vision base, objectives and goals base that are set with complete expectations from the candidate, offering and expectations on the relocation should also be listed accordingly. Susam.M (2000) describes that a well-written job descriptions organization employees, who must work with the person hired, understand the boundaries of the persons responsibilities. Person Specification: Crafting persons specifications gives the HR team a chance to understand on what the organization really need from the job. Most often employers rush to hire person to fill in the position but misses to find the need. (Adelà ¨ Bird) While the job description describes the job, persons specification describes the skills, experience, knowledge and aptitudes of the desired candidate he/she should have to fill the position appropriately. Applicant will have clear understanding of those details only if the above listed specifications are listed. Unfair discrimination attracts widest range of potential employees internally within the organization and externally. The need for closer look at the persons specification is critical when hiring for an international assignment. HR management demands high amount of cross cultural knowledge in handling these assignments. Person Analysis is the most important aspect of person specification, when hiring for an international assignment. 1) Knowing the flexibility of the employee in adjusting towards the cultural changes and adoption to new work atmosphere. 2) Knowing the family background of the employee make it necessary in taking the decision. It is studied that majority of the international assignment fail due to spouse unable to adopt the culture. 3) Knowing the employee about his/her past experiences of international travel will help the HR team in judging the flexibility of the candidate. Selection of future expatriates is the further challenge of HR team in across cultural context. Measuring technical and professional education is possible all the time, but skills like interpersonal communication is also required to be assessed when refereeing current and previous colleagues or superiors. However there are various factors that that are difficult to be measure when selecting an employee to go abroad (J. Kline Harrison, 1994) Profile of expatriates qualification: According to Harrison there are certain traits and characteristics that are identified as predictors for expatriate assignment successful. It is not that without these traits are guaranteed to achieve successful expatriation but without them the chances of failure is higher. They include technical ability, managerial skills, cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude, emotional stability and maturity, and adaptability of family. This summarizes that besides technical ability, professional skills and role discrimination, behavioral components have to be taken into account during the selection process. Otherwise the assignment results in unexpected culture shock to the employee. The dual career problem importance of spouse and family As a part of selection process it is identified that spouse and family plays a very vital role. The family situation of the expatriate has great importance in successful expatriation assignments. It is often noticed that an unhappy family or spouse of the employees assignment is terminated before the mentioned period. Duel career problem happens when the spouse leave his/her present job and travels along with expatriate and finally found no job matching his/her education, often get isolated and irritated. An assessment of the family members makes it important during the process of recruitment and selection which can avoid the damage up to an extent. Most of the global companys still lack effective methods of selecting managers for international assignments. If a company is very successful in domestic movements, it does not mean that the knowledge of selecting managers for international assignments is completely accumulated. An integrated screening and selection system to determine the aptitudes of the candidates make it more important in the selection process. Kealey (2006) suggested components consisting of aspects that play vital role in selection process in a cross-culture atmosphere. Developing skills and knowledge profile- qualifications of the employee need to me matching with the job requirements, cultural constraints and the host organization environment. Procedures for planning and implementing of selection process- regular personality tests during the selection process, biographical data questionnaires, structured interviews and behavioral assessment techniques; Monitoring the past overseas performance. One of the leading ideas that organizations follow is that they were preferring couples working in organizations specially in senior management team, so that the plan of expatriation have very few chances of failure. The family will remain expatriates together with clear understandings. The results of the above study show that there are various issues in handling Human Resources at a view of recruitment and selection processes at a globalised organization. According to Tung (1987) one of the key causes for the premature return of expatriates from overseas assignment was related to concerns of family. This supports previous studies on expatriate failure indicating the inability of the spouse to adapt to the foreign environment as the frequent cause of the early return of the expatriates back to their home country. A carefull understanding of the recruitment and selection process can reduce the failures in international assignment. A major challenge of Hr team is to develop strategies in improving the processes better. The Recruitment and Selection process is the key in the human resources department as its so effective to the businesses it credits by taking in people that want to benefit the business. The recruiting and selecting has so many responsibilities to go thorough from a vacancy arising to planning and preparing a job to selecting the right candidate. One of the main issues of this process is the selecting as it does not show much expertise. These are all the aspects of having a fair treatment in the employability, this is what brings in the public view of the organisation of being a well structured company.

The Revolutionary Visions of William Blake Essay -- church, society, lo

Between the late 18th century and early 19th century catholic religion was based off of the old testament in the Bible. During this time there was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment. While in this period, people began to rise against and question the way their lives were being ran by others, who supposedly had power which was derived from God himself. Yet at this time peoplesuch as William Blake found ways to spread the message of the unjust treatment the people would receive from hypocritical clergyman.As a youngman Blake only attened school long enough to learn to read and write, and left aroung the aage of ten. Blake grew up in the Moravian Church (protestant), and found religion to be an early/everlasting part of his life.Blake became a poet and artist, using his mediums lorg express his views on certain .Because of Blakes view that the Church of England was a major oppressor of the natural joys in which society can and should have, many viewed his work as too radical for the time period.Blake utilizes recurrent themes within his poetry; such as â€Å"The Garden of Love†,†Chimney Sweeper (Innocence)†,†Chimney Sweeper (Experience)†, and â€Å"London†, as a method of spreading his views of current religious establishments and their effects on the society which breeds them (at the time, and somewhat today). (Tolson 373,375) In the Garden of Love,a narrator goes on an adventure to a place where he once knew happiness. This place is now overran with religious figures, whom place restrictions on this place of joy.Till the point that the joy is taken away from this place, and the narrator. Blake uses this poem to show that the pursuit of happyness was being hindered by those wit... ...ossession. Going even further joy is an emotion, and to have it means to internalize the feeling of joy. By that logic Blake internalizes Jesus. Works Cited Altizer, T. J. J. (2009), THE REVOLUTIONARY VISION OF WILLIAM BLAKE. Journal of Religious Ethics, 37: 33–38. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9795.2008.00374.x Cervo, Nathan A. "Blake's THE GARDEN OF LOVE." Explicator 59.3 (2001): 121. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014. Lambert Jr., Stephen. "Blake's London." Explicator 53.3 (1995): 141. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014. Roberts, J. and Rowland, C. (2010) William Blake, in The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature (eds R. Lemon, E. Mason, J. Roberts and C. Rowland), Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444324174.ch26 Tolson, Jay. "Blake: A Biography." The Wilson Quarterly 20.3 (1996): 96. Biography in Context. Web. 2 May 2014.

The Importance of Protecting Rain Forests

Explain the Importance of Maintaining the Biodiversity of Tropical Rain Forests Biodiversity is the variation of plant and animal life in a certain habitat, in other words it is the variation of life forms within a particular ecosystem. All the living species depend on each other and this is where biodiversity comes into play. According to some research 90 percent of all plant and insect and animal species exists in the tropical rain forests. Biodiversity in tropical rain forests is vital since the large amount of species found there are so signi? cant.Biodiversity helps maintain the ecological balance between species in the rain forests. Tropical rain forests such as the Amazon and the Congo Basin, are home to some 500 million people. These people are some of the least privileged groups in our international society. The locals depend on the forests for many important products and environmental services. The native and indigenous peoples rely on the rain forests for their way of life . They do not only meet their economic requirements for food and shelter but also form an integral part of the culture and spiritual traditions.Tropical rain forests have a huge impact on the global climate. They moderate the daily range of air temperatures and maintain the atmospheric humidity levels. Tropical rain forests have been called the lungs of our planet. Forests absorb atmospheric carbon and refresh the oxygen in the air we humans breath daily. The Amazon produces a large 20% of the worlds oxygen. Additionally tropical rain forests provide timber as well as many products from animals such as varieties of meat and hides. Forests are also an important source of new pharmaceuticals used to ? ght cancer, AIDS, and other serious human diseases.Lastly the Rain forests rich and unique biodiversity makes it a popular tourist destination. The tropical rainforest are being destroyed daily and at a fast rate. Different factors contribute to the wreckage of the worlds endangered fore sts. Large mining companies are causing serious environmental damage through releasing toxic waste products into the rain forests and its rivers. These wastes are not only threatening the forests themselves but also the health of the locals living there. Additionally tropical rain forests are disappearing quickly through deforestation. Humans clear the natural forests o make room for farms, to harvest timber, for construction, fuels, and global sales. Deforestation in the Amazon and other rain forests across the world has a devastating effect including the extinction of rare plants and animals, social con? ict and climate change. Lastly large oil companies such as the American company Texaco, now Chevron, are a huge contributor to the destruction of tropical rain forests. The oil extraction process results in the release of toxic byproducts from oil drilling into the local rivers and broken pipelines and leakage are the results of regular oil spills.It is obvious that the great vari ety of forests products is important by economic standard, such as the rubber industry. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most signi? cant producers of natural rubber in the world. Thus making the Amazon rainforest among others a great economic importance. ! Worldwide the destruction of tropical rain forests accounts for more greenhouse gas emission than all the worlds planes, trains, and cars combined. It is crucial for the tropical rain forests to be conserved to stop climate change from getting even worse and to ensure that we can endure the impacts of global warming.Tropical rain forests absorb and stock extensive quantities of carbon, thus helping to regulate temperature and to produce rain. When the forests are destroyed the carbon is released back into the atmosphere. Additionally they ? ght erosion and shield the underground water reserves. Keeping the rain forests standing is a critical factor in ? ghting climate change and modifying to a warmer world. Biodiversity plays an important role in our global eco system and our very existence. It has an immense value that is worth protecting regardless of its value to the human race.The different varieties of species play an important role in the global ecological system. Different forms of live depend on each other for food and sustainability. An example would be snakes eat frogs, frogs eat insects, insects eat plants. This relationship is called the food chain and is extremely vital to stabilize our global eco system. If one species is terminated from the cycle, it will result in the collapse of other living species that depend on one another for their source of food.Conserving biodiversity can also have other bene? ts. Many varieties of biodiversity species have the possibility to become a source of new pharmaceuticals or to provide protection against diseases. Biodiversity and a healthy natural eco-system are crucial for long term sustainability and for the reduction of the effects of climate change. E ssay word count: 793 Works Cited 1900s, By The. â€Å"Rainforests – Explore the Rainforests of the World. † The Nature Conservancy Protecting Nature, Preserving Life. Web. 04 Nov. 2010.

Using the Snowflake Method to Write a Novel

Using the Snowflake Method to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method to Write a Novel In the annals of ‘unhelpful writing tips offered to first-time novelists,’ Neil Gaiman’s oft-quoted opinion takes the cake: â€Å"You sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It's that easy, and that hard.†If you’ve never written a novel before (and you don’t have an MFA in creative writing), it's only understandable that you’re daunted by the prospect of writing a book. This uncertainty is precisely why outlining systems, such as The Snowflake Method, are so appealing to developing writers.If you want to find out how to use the snowflake method, feel free to skip ahead to this section. But if you have a moment, let’s first look at the basics of this popular approach.What is the Snowflake Method?The Snowflake Method is an approach to writing that encourages starting with the simplest premise possible. From there, you systematically expand it to include plot and character details. Develop ed by American author, physicist, and writing coach Randy Ingermanson, the method's end result is a comprehensive character bible and scene list with which an author can begin the first draft.â€Å"My power flurries through the air into the ground. My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around† -   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Let It Go† from  Disney’s FrozenGiven Ingermanson’s background as a computational physicist, it should come as no surprise that his method was inspired by a mathematical principle known as a fractal. In particular, he references the Koch Snowflake to demonstrate how your story grows with each subsequent stage of the planning process.It's probably no surprise to you to learn that every writer uses a different outline. If you're curious about the general outlining process, we dive deeper into the topic in this post  on how to outline a novel. (Feel free to grab the free book outline template in there as well!) But for now, let's talk about the ad vantages of this particular method.What are the benefits of the snowflake method?Fans of Ingermanson’s method tend to enjoy how structured the process is. Not only does he lay out practical steps for outlining, but he also gives an idea of how long each step should take. For example, he suggests spending an hour on the very first step of honing a single-sentence story summary. Later on, when writing a character bible, he recommends spending a few hours on each character.Has the snowflake method worked for you before? Let us know how you find applying this to your own writing in the comments below!