Training and Development in Small Businesses Research Paper - 1

Training and Development in Small Businesses - Research Paper Example The entrepreneur should know the all the key sections within the technology supply chain. After understanding this, the entrepreneur should determine the appropriate equipment or services to expand the energy business. As an entrepreneur, you should determine the following Product and service; do you aim at providing products only, services related to your products or both? What will be the uses of the products and services you will provide? Will you provide a wider range of products or related services that will enable the sustainability of your business? For instance, providing repair and maintenance services, supplying complimentary products, providing training for use and maintenance of your products and giving credits to your consumers. It is also important to establish a good and working supply chain (Sahlin A). As an entrepreneur you should know how and where to obtain products and provide them to your consumers. For the company to flourish well in the competitive market there is need to understand the markets. The company should identify potential segments that will provide a ready market for the products. The company must understand the ability of consumers to pay for the services and products (Sahlin A). The company needs to have a better understanding of the end user of their products, the levels of spending on energy needs of the product in the target market and the socio-economic strata of the society. Human labor is so important in any enterprise, each and every employee should be treated in the best way possible, and employees should undergo a comprehensive orientation program to familiarize them with the new trends in the markets. Orientation will ensure that new employees familiarize themselves with the structure of the business and will help them cooperate with the existing staff members (Goldstein, 1989). It is important and efficient for employees to receive information concerning the company’s

SM - Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

SM - Strategic Management - Essay Example It has a niche market in the soft drink business and has its presence in almost all parts of the world. The extent of the business of the company is evident from the fact that the Coca-Cola Company owns four of the top five soft-drink brands in the world. Some of the best known and most popular brands of the company include Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite. The company also owns other less known but nevertheless popular brands such as Barqs, Minute Maid, POWERade, and Dasani water. In North America, the company has products such as Groupe Danones Evian. Coca-Cola also sells Crush, Dr Pepper, and Schweppes outside Australia, Europe, and North America. The company either makes or licences more than 400 drink products in more than 200 nations. The mission of the company is to create value in the food industry. A SWOT analysis is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a company based on many factors such as market data, historical performance of the company, internal and external factors that impinge the companys performance etc. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis will help to analyse or rather predict the performance of a company in future. It will also give a clear idea as to where the company could be heading with regards to its business performance. Perhaps one of the most important strengths of the company is that it is a world renowned brand. Apart from negative popularity in some countries because of political fallouts, the brand is relatively well known all through the world. Regarding the brand image of the company, the brand is well known and obvious and is easily recognised thanks to the many years that it has been in business. Another important internal strength of the company is that it has a lot of finance at its disposal. The company has been able to generate revenues that are substantially better than most beverage companies. This allows room for the company to expand

Psychology for Social Work Practice

Psychology for Social Work Practice Child development is the process of human growth and changes from birth through adolescence (Smith et al 2005). It is the study of how children develop perception, thought processes, emotional reactions and patterns of social behaviour (Mussein, 1990). Observation is a vital tool in analysing and understanding child development and holds key implication of effectiveness of social work practice in recent year (McKinnon 2008). The aim of this report is to analyse my observation of a two years three month old girl. My interpretation of the behaviour observed will be analysed critically using psychological theories with detail of the steps carried out in other to gain consent for the observation. Furthermore, the skills required for my observation will be described, in relation to my future practice, and some relevant psychological theories; stages of human development will be discussed including their relevance. Finally I will reflect on my learning and how it applies to social work as a profession. Child and Family Confidentiality Prior to the observation being conducted, I familiarized myself with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) (2002) Code of Practice to enable me to carry out the observation in a professional way. The child chosen for observation is my colleagues friends daughter, at the preliminary stage, I requested if I could observe her child for my coursework. My observers mother informed me she would discuss the issue with her husband and get back to me. A few days later, I was invited to meet both parents and was able to explain the aim of my assignment. Having explained my aim, I assured them that confidentiality will be maintained; their daughters identity will not be disclosed. I reassured the couple that their privacy will be respected and the daughters wellbeing will be paramount throughout. Consequently, I was given a verbal consent by both parents with approved signatures on the letter of agreement. Child Details As stated above, for anonymity, the childs name will not be mentioned, but will be referred to as Child A for the purpose of confidentiality as stated in GSCC 2002 section (2). Child A is a two years, three month old female. The observation took place at Child As family residence; she is the second child of the family, the only female, lives with her parents and her older brother of which the family composition is middle class, the aim of the observation is to observe Child As behaviour and also to learn how different behaviours relate to different theories. Skills required for structured observation Planning, respect, communication, working as partnership, reflection, listening and being focused are necessary skills required in carrying out structured observation. In Childs A selection process, I established a relationship of collaborative/partnership work between myself and Child As parents, listening to Child A communication with her family during observation has given me the insight of the importance of attentive listening through structured observation (CDWC 2007a: 7-8). The need to be focused by looking closely at Child A and not deviating from my aim has made me to understand how child learns and develop (HNCRC 2007). I also use reflective skills for child observation, as it enables me to reflect on what I have seen and provide accurate record of child behaviour (Wood et al 2005). Psychological theories and their relevance to social work practice Psychologists have defined behaviour in terms of bodily processes and social psychology defines it in terms of peoples interactions. For example Skinner (1953) believes that behaviour modification is based on operant conditioning and it is a way of assisting someone to change their unacceptable behaviour by offering a reward or punishment. From my observation in (Appendix week1), Child A, cries whenever she needs any item from Child B, she is aware of the attention gained whenever she cries and this will result in her getting what she wants. However, this behaviour could have negative consequences as well. Skinner will relate Child As behaviour as an operant conditioning, as Child A continues to cry for her older brothers toys, having known that her behaviour leads to a particular consequences. She behaves this way as she receives attention from her brother by always getting back the toys she wanted, which is reinforcement with reward, a behaviourist perspective. On the other hand, the study of behaviour by Bandura (1977) a Social perspective would disagree with Skinner, as Skinner would say that Child As behaviour is observational based on learning imitation. Child A may have seen someone at her school or a social gathering displaying such behaviour and so copies the same behaviour. Bandura (1971) suggested that learning moral rules by the individual is not in response to their exposure to punishment or reward, but by observing the behaviour of other people (Nicolson et al 2006: 23).This relates to Child As behaviour in (Appendix week1) and shows how the end result may not be as significant as the behaviourist perspective would have believed. As a professional social worker, working with people from different backgrounds it is important to have knowledge of psychological theories as its a vital tool that can be used to understand and interpret behaviour in social work practice. Also social workers need to have a wide knowledge of different cultures and be sure when they are applying psychological perspectives they have an objective mind taking into account individual differences such as ethical, cultural and religious. Stages of human development and its relevance to social work practice. The study of human development is the progressive behavioural changes in an individual from birth. Psychologists have identified the changes that occur at a similar age for most children, from research and evidence, these changes are dependent to some extent on maturation, although certain environmental factors must be present for development to take place and so its difficult to decide whether the appearance of a new ability is simply due to learning or maturation (Woods 2000:5). For instance, Jean Piaget (1932) cited in Wood (2000) proposes that children think differently from adults, their knowledge is structured differently and shows their understanding developed in the following stages: First stage is the Sensory Motor Stage (Birth to 18 months) At this first stage the child watches moving object, reach out towards it and is able to grab the object, the child will put the object in the mouth and try to explore it by biting and smelling. Second stage is Pre-Operational Stage (18 months- 7 years old) During this stage the language are developed using words and expression, which enable the child to talk about things and express ideas. Third stage is Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) The child is able to centre more logical thinking and able to understand that it is possible for there to be two different view of the same thing at the same time and able to decentre. While the final stage is Formal Operational Stage (11 years and older) The child can manipulate ideas in its head, for example being able to calculate by thinking through imagining the impossible sequence. From cognitive perspective, Piaget also believed that the environment can affect childs development but, argued that it will not prevent a child from skipping the cognitive development stage. However, he would have interpreted Child As behaviour, as due to the fact that she is in the pre-operational stage and she demonstrates this behaviour by using ability and memory. Her thinking is in a non-logical manner as she suddenly cries for her mothers attention in other to get what she wants (Woods 2000:227-231). Relevance to social work practice The relevance of this observation to social work practise is that the use of theories would help to understand individuals behaviour. As a result social workers need to acquire skills and knowledge to enable them to understand the reason why a particular event occurs. To achieve this, social workers need to be aware of sensitive issues around them (Thompson 2005). However this observation process increased my understanding of Child A; as a very happy chid, to appreciate her skills and unique qualities and to come into her world and see things from her perspective (Faulkner, 1995). This has become so relevant, as the failing of professionals in the Laming Report (2003) highlights; which emphasises the need for professionals to move the focus away from the parents and back to the child (Copper, 2005). Reflect on my experience In reflecting on my role on child observation, I have learnt how to focus my attention and reflect on it afterwards, trying to make my presence less obvious. It is good practice to avoid assumption and being non-judgemental is vital. Each individual is different and their needs must be tailored to individual requirements. I now understand that self-reflection is a continuous process during observation, which is to reflect on what I am doing and reflect on my reaction and interpretation of what took place by thinking, writing and recording report. Payne (1997) defines reflection as to imagine alternative ways to understand situations using observation. In addition, looking into different theories and perspectives has given me the insight into how they can be applied to practice. Children also need to be encouraged to join in to activities that they may not be interested in, taking into account their reasons for not interacting. I have also learnt that children use gesture to express what they want to say if they are not in the mood to speak. This is of an interest to me as I want to work with children with special needs who are not able to communicate through speaking and use their behaviour as a way of communicating instead. As such this assignment has made me feel a little more confident in approaching people. Conclusion In conclusion, I have learnt greatly through observation and reading. I have realised that working from ones own personal perspective can be oppressive and it is better to use different perspectives in dealing with individuals. I have also gained knowledge on behaviourism and how it can be used to relate to childrens behaviour which is relevant to social work practice and not to have general assumption about children as there are individual differences. I have also acquired good knowledge and understanding of child development. REFERENCES Bandura A (1971) Social Learning Theory General Learning Press Childrens Workforce Development Council (CDWC 2007) (online) accessed on 25/11/2010 at http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk accessed on 09/12/10 Copper A (2005) Surface and Depth in the Victoria Climbe Inquiry Report Child and Family Social Work 10 1-9 Faulkner D (1995) Play Self and the Social World In Barnes P (ed) Personal Social and Emotional Development of Children General Social Care Council (2002) (online) accessed on 26/11/2010 at http://www.socialworkconnections.org.uk/content.php?id=47 HNCRC (2007) The early years Foundation Stage: Effective Practice Observation Assessment and Planning Laming Report (2003) (online) accessed on 10/11/2010 at http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_110711.pdf McKinnon F (2008) Child Observation and Professional Practice In Ruch G (ed) Post-Qualifying Child Care Social Work Developing Reflective Practice Sage Mussein P (1990) (7th ed) Child Development Harper and Row publishers Nicolson P Bayner R and Owen J (2006) (3rd ed) Applied Psychology for Social Workers Payne M (1997) (2nd ed) Modern Social Work Theory Macmillan Skinner B F (1953) Science and Human Behaviour Macmillan Smith P C H and Blades M (2005) Understanding Children Development (4th ed) Blackwell Publishers Thompson N (2005) Understanding Social Work Preparing for Practice Palgrave Macmillan Woods B (2000) Basics in Psychology Hodder Stoughton Wood M Taylor J (2005) Early Childhood Studies: An Holistic Introduction Hodder Arnold

Death without Rebirth in T. S. Eliots The Waste Land Essay -- T.S. El

Death without Rebirth in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land is filled with a variety of images and themes. Two outstanding themes are desolation and death without rebirth. Eliot employs many different images related to these two important themes. The most prominent image where desolation is concerned is a wasteland: a barren, rocky landscape lacking any life or water. The absence of water is mentioned over and over to suggest no life can ever exist in this desert, as water is a life-providing substance. Without it, death prevails. The dry, rocky land is desolate. Its waterless features are incapable of supporting life. the journey through this land is a harsh one: it is filled with images of other lives which are just as desolate and infertile as the land itself. One woman aborts an illegitimate child, another ignores her husbands presence in bed. Life is disregarded as worthless in both instances, as well as in th... ...t of a dead land." The author sees the renewal of life doomed from the beginning, as in the end it will die anyway. Coming to terms with a disillusioned perception of the meaning of life is a difficult action. Eliot takes a journey across a waste and through hopeless lives to acknowledge life does not necessarily renew itself. Works Cited Eliot, T. S. "The Waste Land." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 2. 6th ed. Ed. M. H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.

Plato †Justice Essay

1. Introduction In this essay in is a discussion about based on philosopher and which group of people Plato thinks should be ruling and why. The essay will start off with clarifying key concepts, for example what is a philosopher because it is much easier to understand the easy when one understands the key terms in it, terms that will appear throughout the essay itself. Then Plato’s theory will then be analysed in more detail and it is also of great importance that one also talks about Plato’s background because that is where he started to see things and that is when he started having ideas as to how the country should be ruled or governed and who should be doing the governing. It is also very important for a person to look at what was said by other people about Plato’s ideal state. 2. Clarification of key concepts. Bellow will be the clarification of key concepts and by that it simply means that the key words that will be used in this essay will be defined and understood a little more better for convenient reading. 2. 1 What is a philosopher? When one is tackling such an essay it is very important that one understands what a philosopher is and what makes one a philosopher. Well a philosopher is a person who always trying to understand life and why things are done the way they are being done and also find better ways of doing things. Philosophers seek answers to the questions of life and seek solutions. Philosophers use their intellect and also their personal experiences. Philosophers are also people that love to share wisdom and teach others what they already know so that they can also grow. When one talks about philosophers it is mostly about people that are deep thinkers and they think about life and the things that happen around them on a daily basis. According to Benson (1992: 63) â€Å"during the ancient times Greek philosophers would sometimes spend the whole day thinking and for that day they would not talk to anyone, it would be just them and their thoughts†. A philosopher can be anyone and from any gender, anyone who has an interest in the study of knowledge. 2. 2 Theory of Justice According to Pappas (1995: 32) â€Å"justice is defined by Polemarchus as the act of giving what belongs to the person and doing good to friends and not good by enemies†. Theory of justice is all about treating people fairly and by fairly it means as they deserve. Rawls (2001: 83) points out that justice can be defined two different ways, one definition being that a person must earn it for example by merit or an individual can lack it. So according to this definition it is clear that it simply means that one must be treated exactly as they deserve. This â€Å"merit theory† of justice, reflecting utilitarian ethics, uses merit to determine just how individual members of society will be rewarded or punished based solely upon whether one’s conduct is useful or harmful to society. The â€Å"need theory† of justice, which assumes that individual members of society should help those other members who are most in need so as to redress their disadvantages. So this is all about treating people as they deserve and rewarding them as they should be or for some punishing them. 3. 3 Theory of Souls Plato’s Theories of Soul According to Lorenz & Hendrik â€Å"there were various developments that were occurring in the sixth and fifth centuries in the way Greeks thought and spoke of the soul resulted in a very complex notion that strikes one as amazingly close to conceptions of the soul that we find in fourth century philosophical theories, notably Plato’s†. There is thus some reason to think that the philosophical theories in question are best interpreted as working with, and on, the relatively non-theoretical notion of the soul that by the end of the fifth century has come to be embedded in ordinary language. In what follows our main concern will be to characterize some of the theories in question. But we should also attend, wherever this seems appropriate and helpful, to ways in which familiarity with the ordinary notion of the soul might enable us better to understand why a theory or an argument proceeds the way it does. In addition, we should note ways in which philosophical theories might seem to clarify and further articulate the ordinary notion. We begin with Plato, and with a question that is intimately tied up with the ordinary notion of the soul as it developed from the Homeric poems onwards, namely whether a person’s soul does indeed survive the person’s death. 3. Plato’s background In understanding Plato more it is very important that one also knows Plato’s background. Plato was born in the year 427 BC and was born in an Aristocratic family. An Aristocratic family is one that is on the one hand impractical, reason being that they were based on a God-like willingness to place the good of the community before the rulers own interest (Heywood, 2007:28). According to Plato politics in natural and not artificial. It is also important that one states that Plato’s greatest influence was Socrates as he learned a lot from him. 4. How Plato views democracy and who should rule according to Plato Heywood (2007: 71) states that thinkers such as Plato as well as Aristotle had a different view to democracy and they saw it as a system that was there to rule masses at the expense of wisdom and property. Plato wanted people to be ruled by philosophers. According to Heywood (2007: 76) â€Å"political equality was useless and he attacked it on grounds that the people possess neither the wisdom nor the experience to rule wisely on their behalf†. So according to Plato the best people for the job of representing the people it was the philosophers. Plato believed that the philosophers were wise educated people that would apply logical thinking and also use experience too. According to Plato in his book â€Å"the republic† Plato stated that government should be placed in the hands of the philosophers being the kings and guardians. And their rule will be that viewed as dictatorship. Plato called this â€Å"Rule by the virtuous† (Heywood, 2007:76). As it was said by Plato himself that the states troubles will never end and civilisation itself, till the world is ruled by philosophers being kings. Plato states that political power must be in the hands of kings (Plato, 2007: 192). One can say that Plato came with really good points as to why knowledgeable person should be the one’s put in charge to rule and govern the world and for them to bring happiness and justice to the world; it may look like the ideal Republic. But still with all that said it is still unrealistic. And to further show that that is unrealistic, as it was said by Aristotle â€Å"man by nature is a political animal and it is inevitable for all†. People will always have something to say as to how they would like to see things happening and people will always want to voice out their opinions about what they do not like and how it should be done. People want to be involved in decisions that will affect them at the end of the day. Plato’s argument is seen as unrealistic because it is like he is asking people to just turn a blind eye in the political process and also to leave their rights and opinions in the hands of the philosophers and is so doing they will be giving in to being dictated. All one sees is that Plato’s ideal state will be just unfit, the same thing that he said about a democratic state, and it is just unfit. Plato’s argument could be seen as valid as he states that philosophers have the â€Å"capacity to grasp the eternal and absolute†, as it is clear to see that common men or the public have no true knowledge of reality to govern themselves (Plato, 2007: 204). Nevertheless, this argument is not persuasive or realistic in contemporary politics and the modern state, for a number of reasons. Plato’s idea of specialization is also linked to justice, which he considers to be structural, as political justice is a result of a structured city, where individual justice is a result of a structured soul, and where each member of the polis has a â€Å"specific craft for which he has a natural aptitude† (Reeve; 2009, 69). â€Å"Ruling †¦ is a skill† (Wolff; 2006, 68), which requires special training available to few. At the same time, philosophers must possess qualities that enable them to rule; for instance, they must be able to recognize the difference between friend and foe, good and bad. Above all, philosophers must â€Å"love wisdom† (Nichols; 1984, 254), as the rule of the wise leads to the reigning of justice, as philosophy becomes sovereign. Justice is a virtue, as is knowledge, which requires understanding. Understanding refers to goodness, and thus, knowledge and goodness are one. The philosopher kings have virtue as they have knowledge, and thus, according to Plato, their rule is justified. Conclusion.

Moral Relativism vs. Moral Objectivism

Moral relativism is a philosophical doctrine which claims that moral or ethical theses do not reveal unqualified and complete moral truths (Pojman, 1998). However, it formulates claims comparative to social, historical, and cultural, or individual preferences. Moreover, moral relativism recommends that no particular standard or criterion exists by which to evaluate and analyze the truthfulness of a certain ethical thesis. Relativistic standpoints repeatedly see moral values as valid only within definite cultural limitations or in the framework of personal preferences. An intense relativist stance might imply that assessing the moral or ethical decisions or acts of other individuals or group of individuals does not contain any value, still most relativists bring forward a more inadequate account of the theory. On the other hand, moral relativism is most commonly mistake as correspondence to moral pluralism/value pluralism. Moral pluralism recognizes the co-existence of contrasting and divergent ideas and practices yet it does not entail yielding them the same authority. Moral relativism, quite the opposite, argues that differing moral standpoints do not contain truth-value. At the same time, it suggests that no ideal standard of reference that is available by which to evaluate them (Pojman, 1998). History traces relativist principles and doctrines more than some thousand years ago. The claim by Protagoras that man is the measure of all things marks a premature philosophical antecedent to modern relativism (Pojman, 1998). Furthermore, Herodotus, a Greek historian, viewed that every society looks upon its own belief system and means of performing their functions as the finest, in comparison to that of others. Though different prehistoric philosophers also inquired the concept of a universal and unconditional standard of morality, Herodotus argument on moral relativism remains as the most fundamental idea of moral relativism. In the medieval age of moral philosophy, Thomas Aquinas defines moral philosophy as the collection or collections of ideas and claims which, as values and guidelines of action, identify the types of preferred action that are justly intellectual and rational for human persons and society (Pojman, 1998). It is a basically realistic philosophy of values which motivate individuals towards human fulfillment so that better-off state of affairs is mutually represented and practicable by means of the actions that equally evident and put up the superiorities of moral fiber conventionally labeled as virtues. Aquinas argument about moral is not really confined with his prior conceptualization of the idea of virtue – that is acquired through regular practice or by habit. For him, moral law is not a mere product of habituation. As explained above, his idea of moral law is linked with the concept of rationality or reason. A human person regards an action as morally right not because it is habitually observed or performed but because it comes within rational analysis of that individual. In the contemporary period, Ruth Benedict, an anthropologist, opines that morality differs in every society which is evidently framed on the idea of moral relativism (Pojman, 1998). Benedict argues that there is no such thing as moral values but only customs and traditions. She admits that each society has its own customary practices that are justified simply because they are part of the tradition exclusive to that society. For Benedict, morals obtain their values based on how individuals see certain acts and behaviors as beneficial to their society. And such is what she called as the standard of moral goodness. Now, such morally good action is deemed to perform habitually to maintain the advantages brought about by such morally good actions. In effect, being morally good and habitually performance of an action subsist together as the society upholds their own moral law. References: Pojman, L. (1998). Moral Philosophy: A Reader (2nd ed.). Hackett Publishing Company.