Sonnet 29 Essays (371 words) - Sonnet 29, Sonnet 1, Sonnet 20

Sonnet 29 Sonnet #29 Despite popular belief, William Shakespeare was considered a great poet before a great playwright. He accomplished writing at least 154 sonnets and other poems of love. In this paper, I will analyze one of his greatest sonnets. One of the most famous of his sonnets is number XXIX. This sonnet is one long sentence, but it still follows the usual Shakespearean pattern of three quatrains (four line sections) and a couplet. It also follows the traditional rhyme scheme for Shakespearian sonnets: ababcdcdefefgg. The first quatrain tells how the narrator is feeling. From reading these four lines, you sense his loneliness and sense of abandonment by fate, G-d, love, and other men. I believe the key line in this quatrain is line 3 (When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,). Here I feel Shakespeare is saying that this person who is very depressed, is crying out for help to others, but he is such an outcast that not even deaf heaven, meaning God and the angels of heaven or listening to his cries. The second quatrain starts off with a line that shows the narrator wishes to be more optimistic. He realizes that in order to achieve his goals, he must believe in himself first and stop being so depressed. The second half of the quatrain shows he is envious of other mens possessions and riches when he says, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least. Moving into the third quatrain, you see that the speaker begins to reflect on himself and starts to compare himself with his friends. You know this when Haply I think on thee, and then my state, is said. Just as you start to think the speaker is going back into a state of self-pity, you realize the speakers inspired sprits are rising like the lark at break of day. Sonnet XXIX ends with a couplet that has an uplifting message. One the speaker remembers the love of his friend and what great things he has, it makes him happy with his life. So happy he wouldnt even consider swapping his place with a king. Shakespeare Essays

Differing Points of View Towards Pollution

Differing Points of View Towards Pollution Free Online Research Papers Differing Points of View Towards Pollution There are two main points of view on pollution; that of the environmentalists and that of industry and big business. Basically, the environmentalists want all forms of pollution greatly reduced or eliminated. At the same time, industry and big business say it is too expensive to cut down on pollution. The Kyoto Accord is intended as a way for both sides to have some middle-ground. Countries around the world are signing on to Kyoto, with the exception of the United States, which says it’s too expensive. The environmentalists take great exception to businesses and governments who will not spend money to reduce pollution and attempt to save this planet. They believe that all major forms of pollution should be reduced or eliminated no matter the cost. They are lobbying governments all over the world to step in and impose regulations on businesses in which they are forced by law to reduce the amount of pollution they produce. Some governments are trying to listen to the environmentalists without completely ignoring the businesses that essentially run the economy. This is how the Kyoto Accord came into being. The Kyoto Accord is basically a set of guidelines that are aimed at reducing major forms of pollution, such as greenhouse gasses, that every country which signs must abide by. Since the conditions of the Kyoto Accord are costly to both business and government, some of the more capitalist countries such as the United States have not signed the Accord. Although other, less capitalist, countries have taken even farther steps than are required by Kyoto. One such country is the United Kingdom. â€Å"Helen Woolston, head of environment at EEF, the manufacturers’ organization, said the new caps would double the existing Kyoto target of a 12.5% cut which affects six gasses.† (Gow) Although they know the increased cost of exceeding Kyoto’s guidelines, they are doing it anyway. The energy industry in Britain is against the government’s decision to exceed Kyoto’s guidelines. It claims that the government is going too far in its efforts to reduce pollution and it’s costing too much money. â€Å"Jeremy Nicholson said: ‘These proposals are counter-productive – they will simply drive industry offshore and raise global emissions†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ † (Harrison) At this time in history, with our complete reliability on fossil fuels, our economy is run in such a way that causes severe damage to the natural environment. We see in many places, such as the Untied States, where big business and money is far more important than the environment, that environmental regulations are not as strict as they are in most other countries around the world. In the United States, and other similar countries, where business and money is more important than anything else, what is said to the government by business executives and other such rich people is what gets done. So this means the environmentalists, and other â€Å"little people† are rarely listened to. Since the environmentalists are not being taken seriously everywhere, pollution is still a major problem. It is a problem that has no economically easy solution. The Kyoto Accord is the first step to save the environment, but it will be a very long time before it has a major impact on the environment because of countries, namely the United States, which will not sign the Accord. Research Papers on Differing Points of View Towards PollutionThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationDefinition of Export QuotasRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NicePETSTEL analysis of IndiaGenetic EngineeringAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeTwilight of the UAWBringing Democracy to AfricaMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New Employees

Market assessment, planning and strategy of Apple Inc Essay

Market assessment, planning and strategy of Apple Inc - Essay Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is Apple. It was co-founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California in 1976 as a micro-computer manufacturer. The following year the company was incorporated and released one of the first commercially successful personal computers, the Apple II. In 1984, the company released the Macintosh, which changed the computing world with its revolutionary graphical user interface. Following the success of these two products in the market, Apple had its IPO in1984. In 2001, the company changed from being a personal computer manufacturer to a consumer electronics company. Today, the company designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Apple Inc. has a worldwide presence and sells its products globally through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. Between 1994 and 1997, the company experienced record-low stock prices and severe financial losses, a scenario that only begun to be corrected with the re-instatement of Steve Jobs as the CEO in July 1997. Currently, the company boasts of being the most valuable company in the world with one share valued at US$ 598.35, net sales in 2011 of US$ 108.6 billion and free cash flow of US$ 33.27 billion. As at September 2011, Apple has a workforce of 63,300 employees.... The company’s obsession with excellence means that it only participates in markets where it can have a significant contribution (Chaffin, 2009). For this reason, Apple Inc. believes in focusing on few projects at any given time. With this mission statement, Apple categorizes its customers into three segments: consumer, small and mid-sized businesses; education; and enterprise and government. The company believes in giving its customers a high quality buying experience, therefore, in its major markets Apple sells many of its products and third-party products directly to consumers and businesses through its retail and online stores. In other markets, the company invests in programs to enhance reseller sales by placing high quality Apple fixtures, merchandising materials and other resources within those locations (Apple, 2011). To better meet the needs of its global market, Apple’s business is divided geographically into the Americas (North and South America), Europe ( Europe, Middle East and Africa), Japan, Asia-Pacific (Australia and Asia) and Retail (Apple-owned retail sales globally). Examination of the Market Environment Cooperative environment With the introduction of services such as iTunes Store, iBookstore, App Store, Mac App Store and iCloud, Apple moved from being merely a product manufacturer and seller to providing a platform that supports different business ecosystems. For example, the iBookstore supports the eBook business that comprises of authors, publishers and customers. In fact, in 2009 Apple came up with a new type of pricing strategy in the eBooks industry that shifted pricing power from the retailers to the publisher. Under the iBookstore agency model,

Should Colleges have Child Care on Campus Essay

Should Colleges have Child Care on Campus - Essay Example The seemingly minute family concern is getting much attention from school administrations and law-makers because of the domino effect the situation can bring not only to the family but to the nation as a whole, affecting its economy and success. Looking at the situation, the individuals who have potentials which are supposed to be nurtured through higher education are forced to drop out in favor of taking the responsibility of being a full time parent. On another angle, when students are able to find child care centers for their children, the centers are usually underrated that the welfare of the children is sacrificed (McBride). For the aforementioned circumstances, it is essential that schools offer child care centers in the campus, enabling students to acquire affordable assistance with high quality performances that caters to the different schedules of students. Every parent wants to provide quality care to their children so that one of the basic considerations in choosing child care centers is the atmosphere the children are exposed to. Statistics shows that children who are given quality early childhood care are more likely to succeed in life (Anderson & Dektar). Therefore, high performance levels of child care centers need to be considered in establishing them inside the school campuses. To ensure this, having the child centers accredited should be a must. One of the accrediting bodies is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) which aims to strengthen the operational aspects of early childhood systems for the benefit of the children. Such accreditation will provide peace of mind to the parents, knowing that the child care centers they are entrusting their children to are efficient because they are conforming to the requirements demanded by the accrediting body. Simply having one’s child in the care of people who are not able to provide the basic needs of a child would not be sought for as parents will always be parent s, valuing more the safety and care of the children rather than their own education. However, with the accreditation of child care centers in schools, parents would be sure that the staff are well qualified and have the necessary education and training (naeyc.org) to look after their children at affordable prices. Speaking of prices, it is also to be thought of because the people the center services usually come from low-income students who are at the brink of dropping out if they do not find affordable, quality based centers for their children. Affordable prices of course, do not mean they are to be very cheap wherein the child care center will not be able to fund itself and pay for its employees anymore but that the payment should be comparable to the services. This might bring the school child care center to have two or more categories where a cheaper plan would provide the most basic care to the children like feeding, changing diapers and the like. For growing up children who ne ed more attention like being taught how to speak, walk and others, they will be given higher fees. Probably, if there are parents who would like more services to be offered to their children like being taught how to write and read, such can avail of the services at a higher rate as well. In addition, wanting more use of facilities and materials like television, computer, and toys will have to demand additional fees for

Nat Traversal For Video Streaming Applications Information Technology Essay

Nat Traversal For Video Streaming Applications Information Technology Essay Video streaming is considering one of the famous technologies which is used today. It provides the ability to playback video files remotely through computer networks. The demand for this technology is rapidly increasing due to wide spread of Internet and increasing of the network bandwidth[1] While HTTP protocol uses one TCP port at the transport layer, RTP can use many ports. RTP can use UDPs or TCPs ports at the transport layer depending on how much the packet path is suffered from packet loss [2]. In low packets loss environment, the use of RTP over UDP protocol is preferable, since in media streaming, the small ratio of packets loss better than packets delay. Hence, the higher reliability of the TCP is not desired[3]. UDP/RTP has also the multicasting feature and has the ability to deal with real time communication due to its features in bandwidth, jitter, reliability and end nodes processing. RTP/TCP can cause the video streaming to suffer from discontinuity because the need to retransmission and reordering the packets, whereas RTP/UDP can suffer from dropping the packets by some filters (firewalls) in the Internet Service Provider (ISPs). Some ISPs drop UDP packets because they are connectionless hence unfair against TCP traffic. They also need high processing power and memory to ensure security [4]. But the main issue that can occur is when using the RTP with the Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT drops any RTP/UDP or RTP/TCP packets that are initialized from the outside (Internet) when incoming to the end-systems (behind the NAT). The NAT is a technology that permits many computers on the same network to share a public Internet Protocol (IP) address for accessing the Internet. The main reason behind the wide spread of using the NAT is the limited number of the available IPv4 addresses [5]. The use of RTP/UDP or RTP/TCP video streaming is started with a TCP connection that is established by a request from the client to the server, after initial negotiation using the RTSP protocol on the same established TCP channel, the server starts video streaming through UDP or TCP ports initialized from the server not through the original RTSP/TCP channel [2]. The NAT permits to pass the outgoing connections requests from a host behind the NAT into the outside network (like Internet) [6], however it does not permit to pass any connection request from the outside network (like Internet) to any host behind the NAT [7]. This is because the translation table entry is constructed only when a client (behind the NAT) initializes a request to connect to a host on the outside network (Internet) [8], [9]. If the initialized request came from a host on the outside network of the NAT into the inside network, the NAT cannot identify the destination host for this request and the connection between the outside host and the inside one cannot be occur [8], [10]. Regarding to the RTP/UDP video streaming, the NAT will not allow the UDP video streaming channels to pass to the client behind the NAT, since the RTP/UDP channels are initially established from the server (on the Internet). Considering the RTP weakness points, the HTTP protocol, is the preferable choice for video streaming. However, HTTP protocol also has known weakness points: the user can suffer from quality reduction and playback discontinuity due to the probing behaviour of TCP protocol. This can also cause an oscillating throughput and slow recovery of the packet rate. In contrast, the UDP protocol provides a mean to keep the desired sending rate constant. It also keeps streaming smooth and eliminates the TCP related processing. This paper presents a novel method to utilize the benefits of both TCP and UDP. The proposed method enables NAT traversal by converting each RTP/UDP and RTCP/UDP packet into fake TCP packet just before being sent (at data link layer) by adding a fabricated TCP header before each UDP video streaming packet and making the necessary modifications to the length and checksums fields. These fabricated TCP packets will pass the NAT, since they will be transmitted on the channel (IP, TCP port) that firstly initialized (RTSP/TCP channel) by the client behind the NAT. In this paper, this channel is called the active channel. The receiver, on the other side has to restore the original UDP packet before being processed by the corresponding transport layer. The restoration is based on a specific signature. In order to restore the packets, every fabricated TCP packet has to have a known signature. Depending on that signature, the receiver will restore the original packet. All of the previous changes are performed at the data link layer. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: section II, looks at some related work. In section III, the proposed methodology and algorithm are presented. In section IV, the experiments of the implemented proposed method and its discussions are described. In section V, the evaluation of the proposed method and comparisons between the proposed method and the existing technologies are presented. The paper is concluded is section VI. Related work Limited to our knowledge, no many similar works are presented. However, [4] present a method to overcome the RTP/UDP issues by putting a proxy server between the client and the streaming server (at the global network). The proxy receives a HTTP request (TCP) from the client and translates it to a RTSP/RTP request to the server (TCP+UDP). The proxy has two different connections (one for the client and the other for the streaming serve). The main function of the proxy is to translate the HTTP streaming protocol into RTSP/RTP streaming protocol. This can overcome the NAT problem due to that the HTTP request (TCP) is initialized by the client and the reply will pass through the same TCP port. However a third device is needed. In addition it is still using the constraints of the TCP between the proxy and the client (e.g. retransmission and reordering à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc) (in addition to the increase of traffic to the network). Another issue is that there are too many operations in order to convert a complete application protocol into another one. Beside, this method loses the real time property that is needed for end to end communication because all the packets mush be forwarded at the proxy server. Proposed Methodology In this work, both the client and the server are assumed to convert all the RTP/UDP streaming packets into fabricated TCP packets that can be sent to the other side using the active channel. This fabrication process which is implemented for Windows Operating System (OS) requires a full control of the incoming/outgoing packets. However, there is the issue of source code of the TCP/IP (non open source for Windows OS) is not readily accessible and Windows does not allow the manipulation of the packets in any TCP/IP protocol suite from level above the TCP/IP driver layer. To overcome the inaccessibility issue, a hooking technique is used in order to control the (frame/packet) at the point that links between the protocol driver and the NIC card(s), which is represented by the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS). Hooking is a technique that can convert the calling of one operating system function into a new one that in turn calls the original one. The new function can do extra job before moving the execution to the original. This can be done without the need for the source code of the original [11]. The proposed modules is implemented and run in windows user mode. When the module can hook the NDIS, it can monitor, control, add, and modify the NDIS incoming/outgoing packets easily. The NDIS-Hooking driver inserts itself between TCP/IP and all of the adapters that bind with it as shown in figure (1). Figure 1. NDIS hooking driver with relation to user mode When TCP/IP sends a packet, it reaches the NDIS-Hooking driver (as a frame) before sending to the adapter. Likewise, packets that are to be indicated (received) on TCP/IP will go to the NDIS-Hooking driver first. The fabricated TCP header is inserted/deleted in the data link frame, this means that the original RTP/UDP protocol is used without modification. Nonetheless the fabricated packets can still bypass the NAT as authenticated ones. Figure 2. Proposed frame structure As these extra bytes (fabricated TCP header) will add when the packet is in the data link layer, this may cause the packet to exceed the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) of the network. Since, no packet must exceed the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) of the network [12], [13], therefore, the senders MTU must be decreased by length of the fabricated TCP header length (20 bytes). The whole proposed system is composed of two main modules. The first module resides on the streaming client while the second resides on the streaming server. Figure (3) shows the video streaming network topology. Figure 3. Video streaming network topology Each module consists of the following components: A component (hooking function in Fig. 1) that makes the access to the frame at the data link layer. This component accesses the frames in data link layer which is in the kernel mode and moves it into the user mode and vice versa. A component that finds the required frame based on its content. This component extracts the specified packets from the frames which have to be changed (fabricated/restored) depending on sending direction (income/outcome). A component that makes the required modifications (fabricating/restoring) to the predetermined packets. This component changes the predetermined packets depending the sending direction (send/receive). In sending, the component changes the RTP/UDP packet into fabricated TCP packet. In receiving, the component restores the fabricated TCP packet into its original RTP/UDP content. This component also re-computes length and checksums. Client Side Module As mentioned earlier, the module has to access the kernel (at data link layer). This is done by accessing the NDIS driver. The module listens until a packet event has occurred. There are two possible scenarios: Incoming packet: If the packet is coming from the streaming server, then the program will look for the TCP that contains an RTSP packet. If this RTSP packet contains both the clients and servers streaming ports, then record this connections information into an array. This is happened normally at the setup phase of the RTSP connection. Later (when the RTP packet used), the client will check every TCP packet if it contains a specified signature. If this signature is raised (in the TCP header), this mean that this TCP packet is fabricated and it contains the original RTP/UDP packet. The program will remove the TCP header and recomputed the UDP and IP checksums. All these steps are done before sending the packet to the rest of TCP/IP protocol stack Outgoing packet: If the packet is outgoing to the streaming server and the outgoing packet was a RTP/UDP packet, then insert a new fabricated TCP header before the UDP header. This fabricated TCP header contains the TCP connection information taken from the appropriate record from an array containing all streaming connections details. This TCP header also contains a specified signature that has to been recognized from the streaming server in order to return the packet back to its original RTP/UDP packet. This operation also needs to recompute the checksums. All these steps are done before sending the packet to the adapter. Figure 4 shows the flowchart of client side module. Figure 4. Flowchart of the client side module Server Side Module In server side module, steps similar to the client are also implemented. The difference is that the system gets the RTSP connections details from the outgoing TCP packet instead of incoming TCP packet in the client. Figure (5) shows the flowchart of the main steps of the server module. Figure 5. Flowchart of the server side module Experiments and discussions Experiments Setup In this experiment, we use three PCs running windows XP. Two PCs with one LAN card (client and the server). The other PC (working as a NAT) contains two LAN cards. RedMug streaming server commercial software is used on the server site. The VLC media player (version 1.0.5) is used on the client side. The VLC media player is set to use the RTSP protocol by giving a URL of one movie on the streaming server. The proposed method (client and server modules) is implemented in VC++.Net Framework and it is running in windows OS environment in user mode. A windows device driver (Windows Packet Filter Kit winpkfilter 3.0 from NT Kernel Resources, http://www.ntkernel.com) is used for the hooking purpose. Experimental Results and Discussion In the first experiment (before using the proposed method), the client tries to access the movie on the streaming server using the above system configuration. The connections establishment and the video streaming negotiations between the client and the server are established normally. However, the connection fails at the stage of data streaming transformation (see Fig. 6). Figure 6. Connection breakdown when data streaming transforming began (server side) The reason for the success of the initialization of the client-server connection and all the negotiations needed to transfer the video streaming are that the connection request is a TCP and the initialization is coming from the client (behind the NAT) and the video streaming negotiations are done by the RTSP that uses the active channel. However, the client could not receive the video streaming data since the NAT dropped the RTP/UDP video streaming packets. The client then sends a teardown command to inform the server that the negotiation is over. The client starts one additional negotiation tries before it close the connection. In the second experiment, we used the proposed clients and server modules. After running, the two modules start monitoring the data link frames. The client monitors the outgoing streaming request while the server monitors the incoming streaming request. When the client request a video streaming from the server, The connections establishment and the video streaming negotiations between the client and the server are established normally and the client starts to display the video streaming data as shown if figure (7A and 7B). FEATURE HTTP RTP/TCP RTP/UDP PROPOSED METHOD Directional Bidirectional Bidirectional Uniary Uniary Playback hiccups Yes Yes No No Quality Reductions Yes Yes No No Oscillating throughput Yes Yes No No Slow recovery Yes Yes No No ISP firewall Traverse Traverse Blocked Traverse NAT traversal Yes No No Yes End-to-End Delay Long Long Short Short Window buffer and reordering Yes Yes No No Streaming method Downloading or progressive Streaming Streaming Streaming Figure 7A. Connection still active when the data streaming are transforming (server side) Figure 8B. Video streaming is displayed in the client (behind the NAT) When negotiation is captured, the host records the connection details: IP, TCP port and the streaming UDP ports. The host will insert the fabricated TCP header (after the UDP header) in the video streaming packet before sending it. The reason for the success of transforming the streaming data is that the sending host converts each streaming UDP packet into a fabricated TCP packet that bypasses the NAT because it uses the active channel. The receiving host in turn restores the fabricated TCP packet into the UDP streaming data at the data link layer before sending it to the upper layer. Evaluation A comparison between our proposed method and the existing technologies is presented in Table 1. The proposed method has several advantages over the existing technologies, although the new packet size is 20 bytes larger than the normal RTP/UDP packet, but less compared with the HTTP. This has a little impact on the network performance. The proposed method can traverse the video streaming over all types of NAT. It can also traverse the firewall that blocks the UDP ports that RTP may use, common with home Internet gateway. Streaming might fail at times even if the gateway has a built-in RTSP NAT. Reference [4] utilizes the two streaming protocols separately by using a third device (proxy) between the client and server (every side with whole streaming protocol advantages and disadvantages), the proposed method utilizes the benefits of the RTP and HTTP protocols without using any extra device. Table I. CURRENT AND PROPOSED METHOD COMPARISON Conclusion The two main transport layer protocols: TCP and UDP can be used in streaming but with the whole advantages and disadvantages of using that protocol. In this paper, a new method is presented and implemented that can merge some advantages of both protocols. It enables the client and server to use UDP advantages in each side for streaming. Both client and server gains scalability by not having to deal with some TCP processing feature (e.g. Acknowledgement and window buffering à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc). In the other hand, utilize the benefit of the TCP advantages to traverse the NAT and the firewall. In other words, the stream is not discarded and traverses the NAT and the firewall. The experimental results show that the new method achieves the firewall traversal and Nat traversal even with the most difficult NAT (symmetric NAT).

Employment Essay

The Organization that we selected as our topic of discussion in our Project Paper is the Wal-Mart Corporation. Sam Walton is the founder of Wal-Mart. He opened his first store called Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas in July of 1962. Their corporate office is currently located in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. incorporated its stores on October 31, 1969. In 1972, they started selling stock on the New York Stock exchange. Although, though the company has had controversial operational business practices they have grown to be the largest Retail Corporations in the world. In 1997, Wal-Mart was able to become the largest private employer in the United States. In that same year, their annual sales totaled over $105 billion. In 2010, Wal-Mart has over 2. 1 million employees worldwide. There 2010 fiscal year sales exceeded $400 billion dollars (Wal-Mart About Us, 2010). I have been a loyal customer of Wal-Mart for years. Therefore, I was shocked when I found out about some of Wal-Marts questionable unofficial policies through talks with friends and family members who worked for them in the past and some who currently employed by them. My mother in law worked for them from 2006 thru 2008. She was required to work 8-hour shifts without a lunch break on a regular basis. One of my cousins was required to clock out because he was about to be in overtime and continue to work to keep labor cost down. I decided to Google Wal-Mart, to see if other people experienced the same injustice. I was stunned to see some of the practices of this company I loyally supported. According to an article released by the Associated Press on 12/24/08 called Wal-Mart to Pay Workers Up to $640 Million it will pay as much as $640 million to settle 63 lawsuits over wage-and-hour violations, ending years of dispute. Wal-Mart faced 76 similar class action lawsuits in courts across the country as of March 31, 2008. These violations range from having employees clock out and continue to work without pay, denying them with lunch breaks that they are entitled to by law, non-payment for overtime worked. They have also had issues with discrimination against women, resulting, from denying them promotions and paying them less then their male counterpart even though they held the same position, and in some cases, women had seniority over the men (Associated 2008). It is widely known that Wal-Mart pays its associates below the average retail wages. In 2008, the average full time Associate (34 hours per week) earns $10. 84 hourly for an annual income of $19,165. That is $2,000 below the Federal Poverty Line for a family of four. In 2007, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott earned $29. 7 million in total compensation, or 1,551 times the annual income of the average full time Wal-Mart Associate. Consequently, large portions of their employees qualify to receive Government Assistance to support their families. They are well aware that they pay their fulltime employees below the poverty level. In fact, Wal-Mart actually encourages their employees to take advantage of the Government Assistant Programs (Wake Up Wal-Mart, 2008). Wal-Mart does not offer its associates affordable healthcare insurance benefits. According to Wal-Mart employees, when they complained about high the cost of the insurance and lack of coverage it offers their managers would simply suggest that they try to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare. According to Wal-Mart Facts. om, If an average full-time Wal-Mart employee chooses the least expensive family coverage plan, they would have to spend over 20% of their income before the health insurance provided any reimbursement. An average full time Wal-Mart Associate faces a serious family health issue. They have to pay the entire out-of-pocket maximum for the least expensive health plan, which adds up to pay 53% of their income (Wake Up Wal-Mart, 2008). I am just a customer of Wal-Mart. I am an accountant, so I budget my money pretty well and I love a good bargain. However, when I look at this organization and their business practices all I see is greed. Therefore, as a customer I have to question my whether or not to continue to support this business if they persist on behaving in such an manner that is clearly unfair to its employees. This is not a struggling organization. It brings in sales exceeding $100 billion annually. Wal-Mart has the resources to make their employees NEEDS a priority. I would like to believe that they are sincerely willing to make the necessary changes. Wal-Mart’s management behaves immorally towards its employees. They do not value their employees’ needs, rights, or the labor laws that the US put into lace to protect them. Wal-Mart’s low price on everyday household products is what sets them apart from other discount retailers. Their employees help make it possible for them to dominate their competitors in the discount retail market and maintain their competitive advantage. It is essential for employees to feel that the company that employs them provides an ethical organizational culture in order for them to feel a sense of job security and to be motivated to be productive for the company. What is Organizational Culture? What type of OC does Wal-Mart reflect?  What effect does their OC have on employee job satisfaction, morale, and performance? What can management do to improve their employee relations? According to our text Organizational Behavior, 11th Edition, a company’s organizational culture is a shared set of beliefs and values within an organization. The culture is the behaviors that employees feel they are required to fit in order to meet the expectations of their organization (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, & Uhl-Bien, 2010, p. 12). On of the OCI’s that the Human Synergistic Study addresses the Aggressive/Defensive Culture. The cultural norms are built upon a value structure whereby management puts its own interests before those of its key constituents—its customers, employees, suppliers, and even stockholders. Members place priority on doing what is best for themselves over the long-term best interests of their organization. Previous organizational successes (due to prior leadership, technological patents, or good business strategies) fuel the arrogance and short-term orientation of management and allow Aggressive/Defensive organizations to continue to appear effective—at least for a while. However, as shown by John Kotter and James Heskett’s study of 207 organizations (and consistent with research based on the OCI), this type of value structure prevents organizations from effectively adapting to changes in their environments and ultimately has a negative impact on their financial performance (Human Synergistic 2006). Your business strategies shift; your organization’s values should not. Organizational values guide employee actions and influence business practices. They help provide meaning for employees searching for an emotional connection to work each day. Also known as ground rules or operating principles, at their best values are actionable guidelines, not to be confused with abstract beliefs that are merely â€Å"held† or posted on a plaque (Organizational Values, 2008). † In an Aggressive/Defensive Culture, management tends to have very little value for people. There focus is on setting goals and meeting them by any means necessary. They are very competitive and want to devour the competition. Some of the characteristics of this type of culture are oppositional, competitive, motivated by power, and perfection. Managers may oppose things indirectly, stubborn, always has to be right, avoids admitting mistakes, resists suggestions made by others, and have a strong need to win or dominate. Their members do not feel any sense of job security. Employees typically believe that they have to go with the follow in an effort to avoid the label â€Å"troublemaker† in order to keep their job. They fears managements’ retaliation and often feel as though they are in a hostile work environment (Human Synergistic 2006). Staff turnover is near 20-year highs for many companies. Two research firms, Walker Information and Hudson Institute, recently joined forces to conduct a nationwide employee loyalty study. Their results confirmed that staff loyalty is in short supply. Only 24 percent of employees consider themselves truly loyal, committed to their organization and its goals, and planning to stay at least two years. Thirty-three percent of employees were high risk, not committed and not planning to stay. Thirty-nine percent were classified as trapped. They plan to stay, but are not committed to their employer. Among those who felt they worked for an ethical organization, 55 percent were truly loyal. For those who did not feel they worked for an ethical organization, the loyalty figure was 9 percent (Lowenstein 2006). Creating a culture within the organization that nurtures loyalty, commitment, advocacy and productivity from the moment the new hire walks through the door and throughout the lifecycle of the employee will go a long way to sustaining customer loyalty behavior. The good news is that employees, particularly those in customer service, seek trust and trustworthiness; and they desire to be active contributors to that effort (Lowenstein 2006). The benefits for business of adopting ethical human resource management practices and viewing employees as human capital to be developed and to provide a unique advantage in the marketplace can be utilized as part of a corporate social responsibility strategy. Effective corporate social responsibility requires that along with minimizing harm to the environment, a company needs to be aware of the social impacts of its operations and ensure that they are not harming human stakeholders (Tracey Lloyd 2009). The importance of health insurance as an employee benefit is also illustrated by the fact that more than one quarter of Americans report that they or an immediate family member have encountered job lock, passed up a job opportunity, stayed at a job they would otherwise have quit, or had not retired solely because they needed to keep the health insurance coverage they were receiving. According to another survey, employees are moderately satisfied with their benefits, with 39% of full-time workers reporting this, which is a rise from 32% in 2003 (Reddick 2009). Employers who hope to retain solid, hard-working employees should be prepared to offer basic employee benefits. In addition to salary, good benefits provide important resources that not only help build a positive working relationship between employer and employee but also promote good work habits and financial practices (Thompson 2010). Wal-Mart problem is their leadership style. It reflects many of the characteristics of an Aggressive/Defensive Culture. Its issues stem from them putting their interest before the needs of their members. It does not value its employees as of Human Capital. Employees are just another resource used to achieve the organizational objectives. Wal-Mart leaders invest a lot into making decisions and strategies that will get the best prices for their customers and keep their competitive advantages. Nevertheless, they are not investing enough time and effort in training managers on how to treat their human capital. As a result, managers are presented with problems that they have no been trained for and they avoid the issue or make bad decisions. I find it hard to believe an organization as large and successful as Wal-Mart can make these types of mistakes and they go unrecognized or resolved for so long. Several people had to have been complaining about the errors before having to go before a judge. Considering the validation of the errors during the trial investigation, it is safe to say that if Wal-Mart had done its due diligence prior to trial they would have resolved this pay issue. There is no reason a company of Wal-Mart’s size and resources could not have identified and addressed the discrepancy prior to it escalating to a court issue. Which raises the question of, was this done intentionally or their employees concerns or grievances are not a priority to them. This type of mmoral behavior ultimately leads to employees distrusting the company, resulting in a low morale, lack of motivation, and high turnover. Every company has a distinct set of characteristics that drives the decisions, practices, policies, procedures, and organizational goals, which in turn affects the organizations’ atmosphere. The biggest influences are going to come from the visions and standards that the Senior Leaders of the company. Wal-Mart’s employees do not feel any emotional connection or sense of value from their organization, which leads to a lack of job satisfaction, loyalty, and commitment. Of course, this is going to show up in how employees treat customers. All Wal-Mart has to offer is low prices, there is very little customer service. For example, I pulled up to customerservicescoreboard. com and some one posted this comment. â€Å"Wal-Mart has the worst customer service, worse yet, they ignore any inquiry and advertise that they value it†¦ I really have to commit to not shopping there any more†¦ lines are long, cashiers are slow and don’t even help put bags in carts. Their greeters wont get carts and roll their eyes, the bathrooms are a mess, the shelves are empty, I hope they get what they deserve†¦ ower customer count and lower profits†¦ today I tried once more and wasn’t disappointed, no carts, very long lines and best yet†¦ customer service said there was no manager on duty and there were not customer complaint forms†¦ go figure. mad at Wal-Mart 4/1/10 2:21PM â€Å". In order to change this Wal-Mart has to consider ways to attract and retain productive employees (Customer 2009). Another issue is the lack on emphasis on teamwork. Employees concerns and suggestions have no validity. They are not included in any part of the goal setting or decision making process on the individual store retail level. The â€Å"my way or no way† management attitude does not work. There has to be some compromise. SOLUTIONS Wal-Mart has to change their leadership style. The CEO and other major Leaderships need to take a more active role in establishing acceptable managerial behavioral procedures and rules to direct the organization. Instead of reacting to all of the bad press concerning their employee relations they need to take a more active approach to dealing with all of the stigmas attached to the company. For example, they can start by sending out a corporate communication-notifying managers and employees that the company is about to undergo so major changes to and are about to invest in an organization overhaul that will put just as much value in taking care of the associates that make their sales possible and they put into their valued customers. Wal-Mart can continue to ride the cloud of success with no regards to the long-term ramifications of lack of change, but these are the cost of avoidance. Change will be forced upon them one of two ways. The lawsuits will continue to come and the courts will make to settlements high enough that Wal-Mart will feel the financial sting of their unethical behavior. Secondly, they will start to see a significant decrease in their sales because of the poor customer services rendered by their distrusting, low morale, and unmotivated associates. Considering how large Wal-Mart’s organization is this change would be a major project they could consider doing it in-house, but I suggest they hire an outside consulting firm that to oversee the project in order to get some fresh ideas and strategies. Of course, they would be collaborating with Wal-Marts project team in order to what the deliverables are to complete the project. Wal-Mart Leaders need to ensure total participation by giving the project team the financial and staff resources needed to complete the project. The first step would be to perform a training needs analysis and determine where the practice and policy breakdowns are occurring. Then address the issue, by establishing a new uniform policy, updating the employee handbook, training managers and employees on the new policies, and finally enforcing it. This project will take about a year to prepared, reviewed, and implemented. Prioritization will be according to the most critical needs, such as proper employee pay protocol, anti- discrimination policy training, and team building programs. For example, have a workplace diversity class set up to teach managers how to cultivate diversity and to prevent discrimination. Require that managers have a complete training class annually. Address and investigate all allegations of discrimination immediately. Written documentation is required for discrimination allegation, investigation, and resolution steps that taken. The only way to ensure that employees feel a since of organizational justice is to uphold the companies policies on the matter. Consequently, immediate punishment is required if an employee found guilty of the allegation. Send out corporate communication, notifying employees of the companies’ commitment to improve employee relations. Send the communication via email and display it in high traffic areas. Express managements desire to include employees in some of the decisions that directly affect them by establishing an Employee Involvement Team to be apart of the project. That will help Management and employees address employee concerns and grievances, such as a fair and competitive wages and health insurance package. Allowing employees to be apart of the decision making process will help management get feedback on the best ways to go about achieving up coming goals, while building team commitment, loyalty, and moral. There will be annual policies will be reviews and revision if necessary. Managers and employees will complete skill assessment tests annually. There will be skill-training classes set up to teach managers how to promote effective communication and leadership abilities. Issue training results to department heads and certificates of completion to participants. Finally, collect feedback from the managers and employees to evaluate, results and feelings on the process improvements. Leave a comment section to get their feelings on the companies’ efforts to improve employee relations. Identify remaining problems and work with the In-house Project Team and the Employee Involvement Team to improve them.

New York: A Carefree Expression of Freedom

NEW YORK Descriptive essay New York City is the place that I want to visit, revisit, and visit again. Out there on the streets, I feel free. When coming from New Jersey to New York City on the New Jersey Transit tTrain, which is grimy but comfortable, it is an experience unlike I have ever felt before. Crossing under the Hudson River and coming into the crammedjam-packed full station is reminiscent of having some kind of travel machine bringing you from earth to space in a flash. When I visited I felt like anything isn’t impossible .Living in the turks and caicos islands is a fantastic privilege; living in New York City is something further even better. As you stagger up those stairs to the city streets and you capture that first breath of city air, you declare to yourself, this is Freedom!!!!! The buildings are so astonishingly tall and eye-catching. I think to myself, there are so many buildings here I find it hard to believe that man is capable of putting them up, but on th e other hand also knocking them down. The buildings look like they had plunged from God's hands and landed in one spot, where else but in New York City.As I make my way down the city street, I feel overwhelmed by people walking and talking in scores of different languages. People with looks that I have never seen before. , Ppeople that look somewhat bizarre to me. Everyone is different in their ownere way of style. Let me tell you something, this big place called â€Å"New York† is the capital of all the new fashions and old fads. What styles I might find either peculiar or eccentric usually becomes what I start to copy in later years when it becomes starts being the local fashion of my town.What I am trying to say is that New York is the inventor of all invertors. I perceive New York City as a carefree expression of freedom. Most of today's new clothing styles are adopted from New York. People are so full of life and encouragement. No one judges the way you present yourself in this unrestricted environment. People in New York feel comfortable dressing and acting anyway that they care to. Everything there are so upscale and amazing but one thing that caught my attention is that all athough all these things were said theres no place like home