The History of Bradford

Bradford began as a minute village but at the turn of the 19thcentury the population increased at a rapid rate, this lead to death rates to augment which meant that a cemetery was urgently needed. Time took its toll and life in Bradford became worse and by 1854 the Undercliffe Cemetery was created. This cemetery contains such facets that are very idiosyncratic and display Victorian life in a unique way. The main focus of this paper will be on the different features of the site and how they support and contradict the Victorian values and attitudes, along with my research I will also be extracting evidence from the burial ground and analysing both primary and secondary sources in order to find out how the site has interpreted and shown the Victorian attributes Value 1: Social Status For those in the upper classes of society etiquette was an essential way of living, Victorian society was prominently concerned about every aspect of their life. From the moment the upper-class left their beds their day was ruled over by many do’s and don’ts. Victorian society although may have been strict on an array of rules, it could also be quite pleasant but only depending on your financial status. The cemetery itself supports the idea of the high class holding onto their social position for example in site 4 the Illingworth mausoleum portrays many characteristics such as the tomb itself being built inside with lavish marble in order to keep the bodies cool and the sphinx guarding the tomb gives the impression that they were in some cases showing off that they had travelled to a foreign country. This mausoleum in particular is a great feature of the cemetery that represents how important social status was to the Victorians this is because the tomb itself contains such descriptive detail that evidently shows the Illingworth’s were beginning to show their status in society. Their grave appears to show their importance and wealth due to its intricate design and detail such as the sphinx. This evidence of the illingworth’s mausoleum is a pure example of how the cemetery contains a feature which supports the Victorian values and attitudes regarding the social status of the upper class Victorians. While gathering my evidence of the Victorian value’s I came across a source in form of an image that in some aspects supports as well as contradicts the way the cemetery has portrayed social status and social class. A painting by J. Ritchie which was produced in 1858 that goes by the name of ‘A summer’s day in Hyde Park’ contains various activities that can be seen and amidst them various people that portray different classes in 19th century society. Although this source was written four years after the cemetery was created it provides illustrative substantiation that the affluent citizens wanted to stand out therefore they are painted with a white colour bringing out their importance whereas the workers and servants are daubed with a dull colour which shows how they were kept in the dark and were not to be seen. Along with the rich being highlighted the image brings out some metaphorical evidence which can be seen within Undercliffe Cemetery, in the painting the upper class are placed in the centre of the image this idea supports the cemetery because the rich are in fact the most dominant and are placed within the centre of the burial ground to show their importance. Social status was a very important value that the Victorians held onto it was their way of expressing who they were, the cemetery’s features can in fact support the idea of social status being one of the main features that are thoroughly explained, this source in particular has added to my understanding that this burial ground is in fact categorised and certain sites within the cemetery were only for certain classes. My own research on the source and on social status gives the impression that the cemetery supports the indication of Victorian society being very cautious on their title and position. Value 2: Family Values Although position in society was of importance to Victorians they also had another value which can be seen throughout the cemetery this was their family. There were many rules regarding the family which would consist of the father being the head of the house and he was always to be obeyed. In public, children were expected to be seen and not heard. At Undercliffe Cemetery I observed a tomb located in site 3 which belonged to The Behrens family, they had decided to include everybody’s name that was in their family implying that they were all buried together. This grave brings out a feature of the cemetery that supports that family values were an important element in the Victorian life. It also provides evidence that this value was seen as some importance due to the way it was shown in the cemetery. The family during the 19th century was very similar between the Upper and middle class but also differed in many ways. Each member of the family had its own place and children were taught ‘to know their place’ Most days the middle and upper class children saw very little of their parents. The children would spend most of their time in the nursery and would be brought up by their nanny. This information helps me understand insight into a child’s life from an opulent background it shows how the family values in Victorian times were very stringent and the cemetery doesn’t give any evidence of the luxurious wealthy having this sort of background it only shows the extravagance of the graves and this enquiry on the actual rules on family etiquette was something no outsider was expected to know about. Although family values did appear to be harsh a very well-known British painter named William Powell Frith did a very good depiction of how important family was to the average Victorian family. His painting which was produced in 1856 and is named ‘many happy returns of the day’ suggests that Frith’s personal life was happy and yet secretive. It shows that although the household was important to the man of the house this didn’t deter him away from the Victorian hypocrisy. This interpretation of Victorian hypocrisy can be seen in the corner of the painting near the man himself he is seen sat next to another mistress with children from him, this suggests that family values obviously couldn’t have been as important to the husband as he may have made them out to be and scandals such as these were something that should have been avoided at all costs. This exact source regarding values of family in various ways contradicts what the cemetery is trying to display. The source has given me a different sort of understanding that the cemetery doesn’t provide although the burial ground shows one grave with family values it’s the source that shows the true life of Victorians whereas Undercliffe cemetery has a feature that although stands out it doesn’t 100% give accurate evidence of the importance of family values to Victorians. Value 3: Paternalism Many husbands in the Victorian epoch were considered to be paternalists they believed that they were the men of the house and women were seen as inferior ones. This notion of men being the dominant can clearly be seen at the cemetery and it therefore makes it a very distinctive feature. While studying the memorial park I came across two graves in particular one which supported the Victorian value in respects to paternalism but another which totally controverted paternalism. These two people were in fact located on the main avenue in site 3. Firstly Robert Milligan who was a merchant and had been the MP of Bradford had a grave which was mostly dedicated to him and a small memoir regarding his wife, not only did this reveal vanity it also showed how he believed he was the man in charge and how mediocre his wife was compared to him. On the other hand a middle class man who owns the tallest pedestal within the cemetery had decided to put his wife first his name is in fact William Sharp. He was not a paternalist but in fact quite the opposite. Paternalism was a value within the Victorian times that every man governed over, the cemetery corroborates that paternalism was in fact a facet that helps one understand where men were within society. In a more general format the cemetery’s main feature shows that paternalism was the most dominant element of the Victorian life due to the various graves that begin with the husbands or fathers name first. Another source which was observed at the cemetery itself was William sharps grave it gainsays the cemetery as being paternalist as he decided to put his wifes name first. This displays a man who had gone against some ways of how a Victorian had lived, firstly he wasn’t an upper class gentlemen yet he is the one who worked his way to the top. This grave helps me apprehend that not everybody followed all the rules in the Victorian times some people wanted to work in order to be in a higher position in life and didn’t want to feel like they were supposed to be a certain way In order to fit in. Even though being the man in charge, William sharp felt that his wife had the same equal rights as him and that even if he was dominant she was his wife and he loved her. In order to show his affection he may have decided to place her name before his. Paternalism does stand out well in the cemetery and William Sharps grave does indeed provide evidence that some Victorians in terms of paternalism shouldn’t be generalised as not all men believed to be the most dominant in the house. Value 4: Role of Women While studying the site at Undercliffe Cemetery another Victorian value which I believe is a feature of the cemetery that stands out is the role of women, the site shows me that women were considered to be nothing but an ornament for one to admire, the many graves that were at the cemetery began with the husbands name this interpreted that women were seen as sub-standard compared to the males. I researched further into what life was like for genuine Victorian woman and the rights were very appalling. To begin with women weren’t given any suffrage rights, they weren’t given any rights to own property and education for them wasn’t considered important as long as they could get a husband. This Victorian value helps me understand that life for Victorian women was quite limited they were only allowed to do certain things and were considered to be feminine and courteous. An extract from Mrs Beetons book which talks about household management and reinforces the role of women and how they should set a timetable for every aspect of their daily life. She begins by saying ‘As the commander of an army, or the leader of any enterprise, so it is with the mistress of a house’ This woman is trying to explain that although women aren’t superior they still have the command over the house and its their duty to make sure everything is in order. This source helps me understand that during the Victorian times the woman was supposed to keep herself busy and at the same time avoid doing chores or getting involved in business, finance or even politics they were allowed to have social gatherings and plan parties but they weren’t allowed to venture into the world of work. The cemetery shows that women were inferior but it doesn’t give any more information of what women went through during the Victorian times therefore it in some ways supports the cemetery. This value in the Victorian era helps me understand through both the sources and my own research that women did not receive any equality and to some extent the cemetery supports this evidence. In conclusion to all of the above Victorian values in which I have studied I can say that there are many features of Undercliffe Cemetery that support the attributes and many sources that were from that period of time that support and also contradict evidence seen at the cemetery. In my opinion I believe that although the burial ground’s features display Victorian attitudes and values to some extent they are quite inaccurate as they don’t give the full information as the true insight into the Victorian life. Therefore I believe that my own study of the sources and research has helped me understand the features of the cemetery that stand out.

Critique of Pure Reason Essay

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is the central figure in modern philosophy. He synthesized early modern rationalism and empiricism, set the terms for much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, and continues to exercise a significant influence today in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and other fields. The fundamental idea of Kant’s â€Å"critical philosophy† — especially in his three Critiques: the Critique of Pure Reason (1781, 1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790) — is human autonomy. He argues that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience; and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. Therefore, scientific knowledge, morality, and religious belief are mutually consistent and secure because they all rest on the same foundation of human autonomy, which is also the final end of nature according to the teleological worldview of reflecting judgment that Kant introduces to unify the theoretical and practical parts of his philosophical system. 1. Life and works Immanuel Kant was born April 22, 1724 in Konigsberg, near the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Today Konigsberg has been renamed Kaliningrad and is part of Russia. But during Kant’s lifetime Konigsberg was the capitol of East Prussia, and its dominant language was German. Though geographically remote from the rest of Prussia and other German cities, Konigsberg was then a major commercial center, an important military port, and a relatively cosmopolitan university town. [1] Kant was born into an artisan family of modest means. His father was a master harness maker, and his mother was the daughter of a harness maker, though she was better educated than most women of her social class. Kant’s family was never destitute, but his father’s trade was in decline during Kant’s youth and his parents at times had to rely on extended family for financial support. Kant’s parents were Pietist and he attended a Pietist school, the Collegium Fridericianum, from ages eight through fifteen. Pietism was an evangelical Lutheran movement that emphasized conversion, reliance on divine grace, the experience of religious emotions, and personal devotion involving regular Bible study, prayer, and introspection. Kant reacted strongly against the forced soul-searching to which he was subjected at the Collegium Fridericianum, in response to which he sought refuge in the Latin classics, which were central to the school’s curriculum. Later the mature Kant’s emphasis on reason and autonomy, rather than emotion and dependence on either authority or grace, may in part reflect his youthful reaction against Pietism. But although the young Kant loathed his Pietist schooling, he had deep respect and admiration for his parents, especially his mother, whose â€Å"genuine religiosity† he described as â€Å"not at all enthusiastic. † According to his biographer, Manfred Kuehn, Kant’s parents probably influenced him much less through their Pietism than through their artisan values of â€Å"hard work, honesty, cleanliness, and independence,† which they taught him by example. [2] Kant attended college at the University of Konigsberg, known as the Albertina, where his early interest in classics was quickly superseded by philosophy, which all first year students studied and which encompassed mathematics and physics as well as logic, metaphysics, ethics, and natural law. Kant’s philosophy professors exposed him to the approach of Christian Wolff (1679–1750), whose critical synthesis of the philosophy of G. W. Leibniz (1646–1716) was then very influential in German universities. But Kant was also exposed to a range of German and British critics of Wolff, and there were strong doses of Aristotelianism and Pietism represented in the philosophy faculty as well. Kant’s favorite teacher was Martin Knutzen (1713–1751), a Pietist who was heavily influenced by both Wolff and the English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). Knutzen introduced Kant to the work of Isaac Newton (1642–1727), and his influence is visible in Kant’s first published work, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces (1747), which was a critical attempt to mediate a dispute in natural philosophy between Leibnizians and Newtonians over the proper measurement of force. After college Kant spent six years as a private tutor to young children outside Konigsberg. By this time both of his parents had died and Kant’s finances were not yet secure enough for him to pursue an academic career. He finally returned to Konigsberg in 1754 and began teaching at the Albertina the following year. For the next four decades Kant taught philosophy there, until his retirement from teaching in 1796 at the age of seventy-two. Kant had a burst of publishing activity in the years after he returned from working as a private tutor. In 1754 and 1755 he published three scientific works — one of which, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755), was a major book in which, among other things, he developed what later became known as the nebular hypothesis about the formation of the solar system. Unfortunately, the printer went bankrupt and the book had little immediate impact. To secure qualifications for teaching at the university, Kant also wrote two Latin dissertations: the first, entitled Concise Outline of Some Reflections on Fire (1755), earned him the Magister degree; and the second, New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Cognition (1755), entitled him to teach as an unsalaried lecturer. The following year he published another Latin work, The Employment in Natural Philosophy of Metaphysics Combined with Geometry, of Which Sample I Contains the Physical Monadology (1756), in hopes of succeeding Knutzen as associate professor of logic and metaphysics, though Kant failed to secure this position. Both the New Elucidation, which was Kant’s first work concerned mainly with metaphysics, and the Physical Monadology further develop the position on the interaction of finite substances that he first outlined in Living Forces. Both works depart from Leibniz-Wolffian views, though not radically. The New Elucidation in particular shows the influence of Christian August Crusius (1715–1775), a German critic of Wolff. [3] As an unsalaried lecturer at the Albertina Kant was paid directly by the students who attended his lectures, so he needed to teach an enormous amount and to attract many students in order to earn a living. Kant held this position from 1755 to 1770, during which period he would lecture an average of twenty hours per week on logic, metaphysics, and ethics, as well as mathematics, physics, and physical geography. In his lectures Kant used textbooks by Wolffian authors such as Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762) and Georg Friedrich Meier (1718–1777), but he followed them loosely and used them to structure his own reflections, which drew on a wide range of ideas of contemporary interest. These ideas often stemmed from British sentimentalist philosophers such as David Hume (1711–1776) and Francis Hutcheson (1694–1747), some of whose texts were translated into German in the mid-1750’s; and from the Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), who published a flurry of works in the early 1760’s. From early in his career Kant was a popular and successful lecturer. He also quickly developed a local reputation as a promising young intellectual and cut a dashing figure in Konigsberg society. After several years of relative quiet, Kant unleashed another burst of publications in 1762–1764, including five philosophical works. The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures (1762) rehearses criticisms of Aristotelian logic that were developed by other German philosophers. The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God (1762–3) is a major book in which Kant drew on his earlier work in Universal History and New Elucidation to develop an original argument for God’s existence as a condition of the internal possibility of all things, while criticizing other arguments for God’s existence. The book attracted several positive and some negative reviews. In 1762 Kant also submitted an essay entitled Inquiry Concerning the Distinctness of the Principles of Natural Theology and Morality to a prize competition by the Prussian Royal Academy, though Kant’s submission took second prize to Moses Mendelssohn’s winning essay (and was published with it in 1764). Kant’s Prize Essay, as it is known, departs more significantly from Leibniz-Wolffian views than his earlier work and also contains his first extended discussion of moral philosophy in print. The Prize Essay draws on British sources to criticize German rationalism in two respects: first, drawing on Newton, Kant distinguishes between the methods of mathematics and philosophy; and second, drawing on Hutcheson, he claims that â€Å"an unanalysable feeling of the good† supplies the material content of our moral obligations, which cannot be demonstrated in a purely intellectual way from the formal principle of perfection alone (2:299). [4] These themes reappear in the Attempt to Introduce the Concept of Negative Magnitudes into Philosophy (1763), whose main thesis, however, is that the real opposition of conflicting forces, as in causal relations, is not reducible to the logical relation of contradiction, as Leibnizians held. In Negative Magnitudes Kant also argues that the morality of an action is a function of the internal forces that motivate one to act, rather than of the external (physical) actions or their consequences. Finally, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime (1764) deals mainly with alleged differences in the tastes of men and women and of people from different cultures. After it was published, Kant filled his own interleaved copy of this book with (often unrelated) handwritten remarks, many of which reflect the deep influence of Rousseau on his thinking about moral philosophy in the mid-1760’s. These works helped to secure Kant a broader reputation in Germany, but for the most part they were not strikingly original. Like other German philosophers at the time, Kant’s early works are generally concerned with using insights from British empiricist authors to reform or broaden the German rationalist tradition without radically undermining its foundations. While some of his early works tend to emphasize rationalist ideas, others have a more empiricist emphasis. During this time Kant was striving to work out an independent position, but before the 1770’s his views remained fluid. In 1766 Kant published his first work concerned with the possibility of metaphysics, which later became a central topic of his mature philosophy. Dreams of a Spirit-Seer Elucidated by Dreams of Metaphysics, which he wrote soon after publishing a short Essay on Maladies of the Mind (1764), was occasioned by Kant’s fascination with the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), who claimed to have insight into a spirit world that enabled him to make a series of apparently miraculous predictions. In this curious work Kant satirically compares Swedenborg’s spirit-visions to the belief of rationalist metaphysicians in an immaterial soul that survives death, and he concludes that philosophical knowledge of either is impossible because human reason is limited to experience. The skeptical tone of Dreams is tempered, however, by Kant’s suggestion that â€Å"moral faith† nevertheless supports belief in an immaterial and immortal soul, even if it is not possible to attain metaphysical knowledge in this domain (2:373). In 1770, at the age of forty-six, Kant was appointed to the chair in logic and metaphysics at the Albertina, after teaching for fifteen years as an unsalaried lecturer and working since 1766 as a sublibrarian to supplement his income. Kant was turned down for the same position in 1758. But later, as his reputation grew, he declined chairs in philosophy at Erlangen (1769) and Jena (1770) in hopes of obtaining one in Konigsberg. After Kant was finally promoted, he gradually extended his repertoire of lectures to include anthropology (Kant’s was the first such course in Germany and became very popular), rational theology, pedagogy, natural right, and even mineralogy and military fortifications. In order to inaugurate his new position, Kant also wrote one more Latin dissertation: Concerning the Form and Principles of the Sensible and Intelligible World (1770), which is known as the Inaugural Dissertation. The Inaugural Dissertation departs more radically from both Wolffian rationalism and British sentimentalism than Kant’s earlier work. Inspired by Crusius and the Swiss natural philosopher Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777), Kant distinguishes between two fundamental powers of cognition, sensibility and understanding (intelligence), where the Leibniz-Wolffians regarded understanding (intellect) as the only fundamental power. Kant therefore rejects the rationalist view that sensibility is only a confused species of intellectual cognition, and he replaces this with his own view that sensibility is distinct from understanding and brings to perception its own subjective forms of space and time — a view that developed out of Kant’s earlier criticism of Leibniz’s relational view of space in Concerning the Ultimate Ground of the Differentiation of Directions in Space (1768). Moreover, as the title of the Inaugural Dissertation indicates, Kant argues that sensibility and understanding are directed at two different worlds: sensibility gives us access to the sensible world, while understanding enables us to grasp a distinct intelligible world. These two worlds are related in that what the understanding grasps in the intelligible world is the â€Å"paradigm† of â€Å"NOUMENAL PERFECTION,† which is â€Å"a common measure for all other things in so far as they are realities. † Considered theoretically, this intelligible paradigm of perfection is God; considered practically, it is â€Å"MORAL PERFECTION† (2:396). The Inaugural Dissertation thus develops a form of Platonism; and it rejects the view of British sentimentalists that moral judgments are based on feelings of pleasure or pain, since Kant now holds that moral judgments are based on pure understanding alone. After 1770 Kant never surrendered the views that sensibility and understanding are distinct powers of cognition, that space and time are subjective forms of human sensibility, and that moral judgments are based on pure understanding (or reason) alone. But his embrace of Platonism in the Inaugural Dissertation was short-lived. He soon denied that our understanding is capable of insight into an intelligible world, which cleared the path toward his mature position in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), according to which the understanding (like sensibility) supplies forms that structure our experience of the sensible world, to which human knowledge is limited, while the intelligible (or noumenal) world is strictly unknowable to us. Kant spent a decade working on the Critique of Pure Reason and published nothing else of significance between 1770 and 1781. But its publication marked the beginning of another burst of activity that produced Kant’s most important and enduring works. Because early reviews of the Critique of Pure Reason were few and (in Kant’s judgment) uncomprehending, he tried to clarify its main points in the much shorter Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as a Science (1783). Among the major books that rapidly followed are the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Kant’s main work on the fundamental principle of morality; the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786), his main work on natural philosophy in what scholars call his critical period (1781–1798); the second and substantially revised edition of the Critique of Pure Reason (1787); the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), a fuller discussion of topics in moral philosophy that builds on (and in some ways revises) the Groundwork; and the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790), which deals with aesthetics and teleology. Kant also published a number of important essays in this period, including Idea for a Universal History With a Cosmopolitan Aim (1784) and Conjectural Beginning of Human History (1786), his main contributions to the philosophy of history; An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1784), which broaches some of the key ideas of his later political essays; and What Does it Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking? (1786), Kant’s intervention in the pantheism controversy that raged in German intellectual circles after F. H. Jacobi (1743–1819) accused the recently deceased G. E. Lessing (1729–1781) of Spinozism. With these works Kant secured international fame and came to dominate German philosophy in the late 1780’s. But in 1790 he announced that the Critique of the Power of Judgment brought his critical enterprise to an end (5:170). By then K. L. Reinhold (1758–1823), whose Letters on the Kantian Philosophy (1786) popularized Kant’s moral and religious ideas, had been installed (in 1787) in a chair devoted to Kantian philosophy at Jena, which was more centrally located than Konigsberg and rapidly developing into the focal point of the next phase in German intellectual history. Reinhold soon began to criticize and move away from Kant’s views. In 1794 his chair at Jena passed to J. G. Fichte, who had visited the master in Konigsberg and whose first book, Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation (1792), was published anonymously and initially mistaken for a work by Kant himself. This catapulted Fichte to fame, but he too soon moved away from Kant and developed an original position quite at odds with Kant’s, which Kant finally repudiated publicly in 1799 (12:370–371). Yet while German philosophy moved on to assess and respond to Kant’s legacy, Kant himself continued publishing important works in the 1790’s. Among these are Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1793), which drew a censure from the Prussian King when Kant published the book after its second essay was rejected by the censor; The Conflict of the Faculties (1798), a collection of essays inspired by Kant’s troubles with the censor and dealing with the relationship between the philosophical and theological faculties of the university; On the Common Saying: That May be Correct in Theory, But it is of No Use in Practice (1793), Toward Perpetual Peace (1795), and the Doctrine of Right, the first part of the Metaphysics of Morals (1797), Kant’s main works in political philosophy; the Doctrine of Virtue, the second part of the Metaphysics of Morals (1797), a catalogue of duties that Kant had been planning for more than thirty years; and Anthropology From a Pragmatic Point of View (1798), based on Kant’s anthropology lectures. Several other compilations of Kant’s lecture notes from other courses were published later, but these were not prepared by Kant himself. Kant retired from teaching in 1796. For nearly two decades he had lived a highly disciplined life focused primarily on completing his philosophical system, which began to take definite shape in his mind only in middle age. After retiring he came to believe that there was a gap in this system separating the metaphysical foundations of natural science from physics itself, and he set out to close this gap in a series of notes that postulate the existence of an ether or caloric matter. These notes, known as the Opus Postumum, remained unfinished and unpublished in Kant’s lifetime, and scholars disagree on their significance and relation to his earlier work. It is clear, however, that these late notes show unmistakable signs of Kant’s mental decline, which became tragically precipitous around 1800. Kant died February 12, 1804, just short of his eightieth birthday. 2. Kant’s project in the Critique of Pure Reason. The main topic of the Critique of Pure Reason is the possibility of metaphysics, understood in a specific way. Kant defines metaphysics in terms of â€Å"the cognitions after which reason might strive independently of all experience,† and his goal in the book is to reach a â€Å"decision about the possibility or impossibility of a metaphysics in general, and the determination of its sources, as well as its extent and boundaries, all, however, from principles† (Axii. See also Bxiv; and 4:255–257). Thus metaphysics for Kant concerns a priori knowledge, or knowledge whose justification does not depend on experience; and he associates a priori knowledge with reason. The project of the Critique is to examine whether, how, and to what extent human reason is capable of a priori knowledge. 2. 1 The crisis of the Enlightenment To understand the project of the Critique better, let us consider the historical and intellectual context in which it was written. [5] Kant wrote the Critique toward the end of the Enlightenment, which was then in a state of crisis. Hindsight enables us to see that the 1780’s was a transitional decade in which the cultural balance shifted decisively away from the Enlightenment toward Romanticism, but of course Kant did not have the benefit of such hindsight. The Enlightenment was a reaction to the rise and successes of modern science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The spectacular achievement of Newton in particular engendered widespread confidence and optimism about the power of human reason to control nature and to improve human life. One effect of this new confidence in reason was that traditional authorities were increasingly questioned. For why should we need political or religious authorities to tell us how to live or what to believe, if each of us has the capacity to figure these things out for ourselves? Kant expresses this Enlightenment commitment to the sovereignty of reason in the Critique: Our age is the age of criticism, to which everything must submit. Religion through its holiness and legislation through its majesty commonly seek to exempt themselves from it. But in this way they excite a just suspicion against themselves, and cannot lay claim to that unfeigned respect that reason grants only to that which has been able to withstand its free and public examination (Axi). Enlightenment is about thinking for oneself rather than letting others think for you, according to What is Enlightenment? (8:35). In this essay, Kant also expresses the Enlightenment faith in the inevitability of progress. A few independent thinkers will gradually inspire a broader cultural movement, which ultimately will lead to greater freedom of action and governmental reform. A culture of enlightenment is â€Å"almost inevitable† if only there is â€Å"freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters† (8:36). The problem is that to some it seemed unclear whether progress would in fact ensue if reason enjoyed full sovereignty over traditional authorities; or whether unaided reasoning would instead lead straight to materialism, fatalism, atheism, skepticism (Bxxxiv), or even libertinism and authoritarianism (8:146). The Enlightenment commitment to the sovereignty of reason was tied to the expectation that it would not lead to any of these consequences but instead would support certain key beliefs that tradition had always sanctioned. Crucially, these included belief in God, the soul, freedom, and the compatibility of science with morality and religion. Although a few intellectuals rejected some or all of these beliefs, the general spirit of the Enlightenment was not so radical. The Enlightenment was about replacing traditional authorities with the authority of individual human reason, but it was not about overturning traditional moral and religious beliefs. Yet the original inspiration for the Enlightenment was the new physics, which was mechanistic. If nature is entirely governed by mechanistic, causal laws, then it may seem that there is no room for freedom, a soul, or anything but matter in motion. This threatened the traditional view that morality requires freedom. We must be free in order to choose what is right over what is wrong, because otherwise we cannot be held responsible. It also threatened the traditional religious belief in a soul that can survive death or be resurrected in an afterlife. So modern science, the pride of the Enlightenment, the source of its optimism about the powers of human reason, threatened to undermine traditional moral and religious beliefs that free rational thought was expected to support. This was the main intellectual crisis of the Enlightenment. The Critique of Pure Reason is Kant’s response to this crisis. Its main topic is metaphysics because, for Kant, metaphysics is the domain of reason – it is â€Å"the inventory of all we possess through pure reason, ordered systematically† (Axx) — and the authority of reason was in question. Kant’s main goal is to show that a critique of reason by reason itself, unaided and unrestrained by traditional authorities, establishes a secure and consistent basis for both Newtonian science and traditional morality and religion. In other words, free rational inquiry adequately supports all of these essential human interests and shows them to be mutually consistent. So reason deserves the sovereignty attributed to it by the Enlightenment. 2. 2 Kant’s Copernican revolution in philosophy To see how Kant attempts to achieve this goal in the Critique, it helps to reflect on his grounds for rejecting the Platonism of the Inaugural Dissertation. In a way the Inaugural Dissertation also tries to reconcile Newtonian science with traditional morality and religion, but its strategy is different from that of the Critique. According to the Inaugural Dissertation, Newtonian science is true of the sensible world, to which sensibility gives us access; and the understanding grasps principles of divine and moral perfection in a distinct intelligible world, which are paradigms for measuring everything in the sensible world. So on this view our knowledge of the intelligible world is a priori because it does not depend on sensibility, and this a priori knowledge furnishes principles for judging the sensible world because in some way the sensible world itself conforms to or imitates the intelligible world. Soon after writing the Inaugural Dissertation, however, Kant expressed doubts about this view. As he explained in a February 21, 1772 letter to his friend and former student, Marcus Herz: In my dissertation I was content to explain the nature of intellectual representations in a merely negative way, namely, to state that they were not modifications of the soul brought about by the object. However, I silently passed over the further question of how a representation that refers to an object without being in any way affected by it can be possible†¦. [B]y what means are these [intellectual representations] given to us, if not by the way in which they affect us? And if such intellectual representations depend on our inner activity, whence comes the agreement that they are supposed to have with objects — objects that are nevertheless not possibly produced thereby? †¦[A]s to how my understanding may form for itself concepts of things completely a priori, with which concepts the things must necessarily agree, and as to how my understanding may formulate real principles concerning the possibility of such concepts, with which principles experience must be in exact agreement and which nevertheless are independent of experience — this question, of how the faculty of understanding achieves this conformity with the things themselves, is still left in a state of obscurity. (10:130–131) Here Kant entertains doubts about how a priori knowledge of an intelligible world would be possible. The position of the Inaugural Dissertation is that the intelligible world is independent of the human understanding and of the sensible world, both of which (in different ways) conform to the intelligible world. But, leaving aside questions about what it means for the sensible world to conform to an intelligible world, how is it possible for the human understanding to conform to or grasp an intelligible world? If the intelligible world is independent of our understanding, then it seems that we could grasp it only if we are passively affected by it in some way. But for Kant sensibility is our passive or receptive capacity to be affected by objects that are independent of us (2:392, A51/B75). So the only way we could grasp an intelligible world that is independent of us is through sensibility, which means that our knowledge of it could not be a priori. The pure understanding alone could at best enable us to form representations of an intelligible world. But since these intellectual representations would entirely â€Å"depend on our inner activity,† as Kant says to Herz, we have no good reason to believe that they conform to an independent intelligible world. Such a priori intellectual representations could well be figments of the brain that do not correspond to anything independent of the human mind. In any case, it is completely mysterious how there might come to be a correspondence between purely intellectual representations and an independent intelligible world. Kant’s strategy in the Critique is similar to that of the Inaugural Dissertation in that both works attempt to reconcile modern science with traditional morality and religion by relegating them to distinct sensible and intelligible worlds, respectively. But the Critique gives a far more modest and yet revolutionary account of a priori knowledge. As Kant’s letter to Herz suggests, the main problem with his view in the Inaugural Dissertation is that it tries to explain the possibility of a priori knowledge about a world that is entirely independent of the human mind. This turned out to be a dead end, and Kant never again maintained that we can have a priori knowledge about an intelligible world precisely because such a world would be entirely independent of us. However, Kant’s revolutionary position in the Critique is that we can have a priori knowledge about the general structure of the sensible world because it is not entirely independent of the human mind. The sensible world, or the world of appearances, is constructed by the human mind from a combination of sensory matter that we receive passively and a priori forms that are supplied by our cognitive faculties. We can have a priori knowledge only about aspects of the sensible world that reflect the a priori forms supplied by our cognitive faculties. In Kant’s words, â€Å"we can cognize of things a priori only what we ourselves have put into them† (Bxviii). So according to the Critique, a priori knowledge is possible only if and to the extent that the sensible world itself depends on the way the human mind structures its experience. Kant characterizes this new constructivist view of experience in the Critique through an analogy with the revolution wrought by Copernicus in astronomy: Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but all attempts to find out something about them a priori through concepts that would extend our cognition have, on this presupposition, come to nothing. Hence let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition, which would agree better with the requested possibility of an a priori cognition of them, which is to establish something about objects before they are given to us. This would be just like the first thoughts of Copernicus, who, when he did not make good progress in the explanation of the celestial motions if he assumed that the entire celestial host revolves around the observer, tried to see if he might not have greater success if he made the observer revolve and left the stars at rest. Now in metaphysics we can try in a similar way regarding the intuition of objects. If intuition has to conform to the constitution of the objects, then I do not see how we can know anything of them a priori; but if the object (as an object of the senses) conforms to the constitution of our faculty of intuition, then I can very well represent this possibility to myself. Yet because I cannot stop with these intuitions, if they are to become cognitions, but must refer them as representations to something as their object and determine this object through them, I can assume either that the concepts through which I bring about this determination also con.

Social performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social performance - Essay Example IT infrastructure in health care institutions is also available. Health care facilities, institutions for aging and social challenges, as well as in home solutions for health care technology applications all are available through this multi-capacity ICT based company. ICT can be viewed as a type if IT, thus IT companies has been used for comparison. Apple is a large company that has IT solutions that come in the form of the development of devices and equipment. Apple has a comprehensive code of ethics which includes fair trade issues, supplier responsibility, fair labor, audits around the world, and methods for corrective measures (Apple, 2013). An independent IT consultant, in contrast, has an ethic code that includes information on the rights of his clients and how he will conduct himself in relationship to the work he has been contracted to perform (Camden, 2008). While Apple must address international manufacturing and trade, an independent consultant must be far more concerned with the immediate needs of the individual client relationship. Semprus Bio (2013) is a company concerned with medical IT solutions. The company has similar ethics as most companies but have recently created additions to their ethics codes which include prohibiting entertaining clients in order to gain their business as this can be seen as a form of bribery. Semprus Bio (2013) also has a program to provide items at no cost to the clients that are intended for educational purposes. Some of the issues that this company will need to address in an ethics program is off-sight behaviors, customer relations, and safety concerns during installation. Other ethical considerations that are specific to ICT include cyber theft issues, confidentiality, and customer interrelations. A code of ethics should address how workers will be treated and how they will treat one another. Any legal issues that can

Memorandums Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Memorandums - Essay Example Krahnke et al. (2003) suggest that the US workforce is quite complex not only linguistically but also culturally. Authors further state that in 2002, the California legislature enacted a bill that forbids the regulation of language in the workplaces unless business or safety requirements dictate it. Park (1994) argues quoting Barnaby Zall, a law expert that the Supreme Court has never called a language-related rule as national origin discrimination. Gibson K. (2006) emphasizes that there is no need to restrict the language use. As businesses accept the people in workplace with different ethnicity, race and religion; similarly, they should embrace other languages as well. 5. Though there have been diverse views on the subject but I still stick to the only-English rule at work places. The main reason is that it is necessary for cohesive and smooth functioning of the job at work places. In the US, most of the people have working knowledge of English while it cannot be said for any other language including Spanish. 6. The questions/troubling points for the Yes/No side are: a. What to do if non-English speaking people feel like discriminated if they are not allowed to speak in their language? b. What to do if English-speaking people feel they are being made mockery of as they cannot understand other language? References Krahnke, K., Hoffman, L., Krahnke, K. (2003). Managing Language Use in the Workplace. The Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 2003 – Vol. 4(1) Page 148. Retrieved September 26, 2011 from http://www.ibam.com/pubs/jbam/articles/vol4/article4_9.htm Park, R. (1994). Language in the Workplace. The Social Contract Press. Retrieved September 26, 2011 from http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc0404/article_368.shtml Gibson K. (2006). English Only Court Cases Involving the U.S. Workplace: The Myths of Language Use and the Homogenization of Bilingual Workers’ Identities. Retrieved September 26, 2011 from http://www.hawaii. edu/sls/sls/wp content/uploads/2011/06/Gibson.pdf MEMORANDUM TO: Professor FROM: DATE: September 27, 2012 RE: Is Downsizing a Sound Strategic Initiative? PART A 1. My initial gut reaction that emerges after reading the issue is that downsizing is a sound strategic initiative. 2. ‘Yes side’ appears more persuasive to me. 3. The reaction to this has come to me after experiencing economic sluggishness post 2008 that has spread not only in the US but also Europe and other parts of the world. PART B 4. Cameron (1994) argues that downsizing is done for survival of the organization before it is too late to rectify the situation. The author also argues that objectives towards downsizing should be in line with the long term objectives of the organization. Hornstein (2009) argues that the results of downsizing are not in line with the expectations. Downsizing brings a negative effect on employee morale, leads to knowledge loss and disrupts skills gathered in past years. Author ci tes growing body of research to indicate that downsizing does not even help to reduce costs. Margolis and Molinsky (2009) argue that downsizing is a necessary evil and must be exercised with caution. They give stress on being compassionate and direct; however, it should be performed with respect and dignity. 5. Economic conditions in general and in a specific situation may force organization to resort to downsizing tactics for the survival. I still feel that it is an important strategic initiat

Flight Simulators Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Flight Simulators - Research Paper Example However, before any flight simulator is used for any aviation purpose, it must be evaluated and certified by various authorities like the National Aviation Authority (3). In Canada, this responsibility falls within the mandate of the National Certification Authority and Transport Canada (TC). The device is normally evaluated against a given set of criteria focusing on different aspects. Despite the presence of several types of simulators in the aviation field, the aviation regulators have classified these simulators into three major classes. Full- flight simulators (FFS) flight training devices (FDT), and flight navigation and procedure trainers (FNPT). The full flight simulators are the most comprehensive and consist of completely closed cockpits which create the impression of real aircraft (4). They use very accurate 3D simulations in the training process. The FFS produced by cueSim is certified by the Transport Canada TC and given Level B qualification. This simulator is effective in the training of pilots for S76C++ aircraft types (4). CueSim has been awarded several qualifications for most of its simulators. FFS simulators play a very important role in the initial and recurrent training of the pilots in order to enhance their skills. In this regard, the FSS is granted certifications by different authorities in different countries. While dealing with the flight simulators, the authorities normally differentiate between the technical ability of the simulator and its use in the training process. The evaluation is meant to ascertain the replication of the simulator for training purposes (4). On the other hand, the flight navigation and procedure trainers (FNPTs) offer most of the services realized in the FFS but without the six-axis moving the base. These simulators are normally used in certain levels of flight training and recertification purposes.  

Retail Theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Retail Theatre - Essay Example enticing when the front stage, backstage, the script, roles, the setting, the light effects, and the characters all blend together to stage a play with a unique theme (Baron, Harris & Harris, 2001). Retailers have been trying to create theatre environments that involve opportunities for audience participation and interaction. This metaphor has been used by retailers to gain competitive advantage and as a means of differentiation in the highly competitive market place. However, a theatre has a very elite and specific audience whereas the retailers are trying to create a variety of customer responses and reactions. To what extent this metaphor is justified depends on the benefits that both the retailer and the customers derive. Pine and Gilmore point out that the use of ‘theatre’ was not metaphorical. They use theatre in the sense that â€Å"work is theater† not â€Å"work as theater† (Harris, Harris & Baron, 2003). A retail theatre is considered to be a fun experience aimed at creating excitement. There are certain retail themed environments which employ retail theatre concepts to encourage the consumers to animate the theme. Baron, Harris and Harris (2001) discuss about four different theatrical settings and it has been found that many retailers are actually using such settings to enhance the customer experience and encourage customer participation. In theatrical realism the audiences are voyeurs as they feel that they are looking into their own private world and they observe a very personal situation. Many retailers have been trying to implement this concept. Niketown creates a setting in which the physical exercise and sporting environment allow the customer to become engaged in the shopping activity (Sands, Oppewal & Beverland, 2009). Computer retailers such as Apple have also embraced this concept of realistic settings and have benefited in terms of increased sales and positive word of mouth. Warner Brothers, the sports retailer has set up a video screen

Person's Prior Experiences And Formulating Ideas Essay

Person's Prior Experiences And Formulating Ideas - Essay Example By associating prior experiences with what formulates ideas, Hume assumes that people only can formulate thoughts and ideas based only on the association. This undercuts that mindset by creating the assumption that new experiences cannot also change human thinking and behavior. He assumes that people are already predetermining concepts based on prior experiences rather than learning from new experiences. He states that man is a reasonable being and goes on to say that the â€Å"bounds of human understanding, that little satisfaction can be hoped for in this particular, either from the extent of security or his acquisitions,† (Hume 7) which is again a cut to humans as if that during his analysis that his thought is the only method of thinking but yet he cannot even explain why he is thinking and reasoning this way. Some of the ideas that Hume maintains is that people are unable to justify any inferences that are causal and are based only on unobserved causes. Through past observations, Hume expects for the human mind to only be able to work in a one-way direction. If a person knows one thing is certain than if a similar experience arises, then that person would expect the same outcome. This is not necessarily true because people can, in fact, learn from prior experiences and react differently. This would insinuate that anything that a person has done in the past would cause them to have the same reaction to a similar situation. However, it seems that many people often learn from prior mistakes and do in fact react differently on some occasions based on their prior experiences too. Hume states that He hints that people have certain reactions based only on prior reasoning and that those scenarios lead people to create a truth that is based only on that single instance. Judgment and morals are based only on those circumstances.

Ethics Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Case Study - Essay Example In general, the LPN has less training and less education requirements than the RN. In any office, it is the RN who is able to sign prescriptions and administer medication to patients. The LPN is under the supervision of an RN and therefore cannot dispense medication or prescriptions without the okay from the RN. In this situation, Jerry McCall does not know this patient and therefore does not know the dosage that the doctor has given him in the past. Also, the patient could be lying so McCall should look at the individuals chart before doing anything. What Jerry should do in this situation is tell the patient that he will talk to the doctor about it and see what he can do. He cannot take the word of the patient that the doctor has given him Valium in the past. Jerry can tell the patient that the doctor is currently out, but he will page him and ask him about the prescription. It does not matter whether the patient needs medication for high blood pressure because the point is that the LPN must always have a doctor or an RN sign off on their work. If Jerry were to call in the refill and something happens to the patient, he is not protected from a lawsuit because he went beyond his scope of practice if he calls in the medication. The doctor that he works for would be in the most trouble under the doctrine of respondent superior. In terms of ethical and legal issues, Jerry must first think about the oath of "do no harm." If he were to prescribe the Valium, and something should happen to the patient or the medication should have an adverse affect, his boss would be the most liable in the situation. However, Jerry has acted under his own will if he gives the medication and legally, he was not able to dispense this medication on his own, which means he could lose his license to practice. Depending on the state that the individual is practicing in, they may have more legal responsibilities in this case. Ethically, Jerry is bound by whatever training he had and the

Management info Systems class discussion wk9 Essay

Management info Systems class discussion wk9 - Essay Example Various organizations consider several factors before selecting the type of organization structure. Among the factors considered are; cost of using each, customer base, targeted group, the language used, technology supported among others. Companies that adopt the global organization structures are mainly financially way from the other companies. I find the global structure as it reaches a greater radius; this opens new and greater opportunities for enlarging these companies compared to the other structures. The global organization structure also presents significant obstacles among all the other GIS organizational structures as it requires; greater finances, network barriers due to technological backwardness, more significant consultations needed and language barriers, and problems of management that come up due to operating in large scale among other major challenges. The problem of a language barrier can be done by including language options in their GIS. More experienced and knowledgeable GIS experts can be employed to ensure the problem of management due to operating in large scale  gets  solved while the problem of network can be solved by using more sophisticated and advanced servers. In a nutshell, organization structures vary mainly in the coverage and the systems adopted in such organization when using the Global Information

Preventing vent acquired pneumonia (VAP) in the icu Essay

Preventing vent acquired pneumonia (VAP) in the icu - Essay Example Microbiological surveillance is important because it prevents emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and also in determining empirical therapy for patients with VAP. According to Babcock et al (2004), educating health professionals about prevention of VAP is critical for prevention of not only VAP, but also various nosocomial infections. Similar reports were delivered by Needleman et al (2002) and Cho et al (2003). Another important strategy for prevention of VAP is early extubation and this is possible by following certain extubation protocols like interruption of sedation every day. According to Cook et al (2000), decreased time of mechanical ventilation decreases the risk of aspiration and consequently decreases VAP risk. The third strategy useful to prevent VAP is prevention of aspiration. Nieuwenhoven et al (2006) have reported that evevation of bed at 45 degrees prevents aspiration. Timely drainage of secretions in the subglottic region which get contaminated easily (Bonten et al. 2004), avoiding manipulation of fluids in the ventilator circuits (Han and Liu, 2010) and use appropriate endotracheal cuff pressure (Valencia et al. 2007) also prevent aspiration of contaminated fluids and secretions. There are several decontamination strategies which have been advocated for prevention of VAP. Some drugs like chlorhexidine are useful for oral decontamination. Selective decontamination of the intestines is possible by using antibiotics like polymyxin which are non-absorbable (Bonten and Krueger, 2006). Babcock, H.M., Zack, J.E., Garrison, T., Trovillion, E., Jones, M., Fraser, V.J. et al. (2004) An educational intervention to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia in an integrated health system: a comparison of effects. Chest, 125, 2224–2231. Tablan, O.C., Anderson, L.J., Besser, R., Bridges, C. and Hajjeh, R. (2004) Guidelines for preventing health-care–associated pneumonia, 2003:

Tata Docomo Essay Example for Free

Tata Docomo Essay Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It encompasses seven business sectors: * Communications and information technology * Engineering * Materials * Services * Energy * Consumer products * Chemicals. Tata Group was founded in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata as a trading company. It has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents. Tata Group has over 100 operating companies each of them operates independently out of them 32 are publicly listed. The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan Industries, Tata Communications and Taj Hotels. The combined market capitalization of all the 32 listed Tata companies was $89.88 billion as of March 2012. Tata receives more than 58% of its revenue from outside India. Tata Group remains a family-owned business, as the descendants of the founder (from the Tata family) owns majority stake in the company. The current chairman of the Tata group is Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, who took over from Ratan Tata in 2012. Tata Sons is the promoter of all key Tata companies and holds the bulk of shareholding in these companies. The chairman of Tata Sons has traditionally been the chairman of the Tata group. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The Tata Group is perceived to be Indias best-known global brand within and outside the country as per The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India survey. The 2009, annual survey by the Reputation Institute ranked Tata Group as the 11th most reputable company in the world. The survey included 600 global companies. The Tata Group has helped establish and finance numerous quality researches, educational and cultural institutes in India. The group was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 in recognition of its long history of philanthropic activities. HISTORY The Tata Group was founded as a private trading firm in 1868 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. In 1902 the group incorporated the Indian Hotels Company to commission the Taj Mahal Palace Tower, the first luxury hotel in India, which opened the following year. After Jamsetji’s death in 1904, his son Sir Dorab Tata took over as chair of the Tata Group. Under Dorab’s leadership the group quickly diversified, venturing into a vast array of new industries, including steel (1907), electricity (1910), education (1911), consumer goods (1917), and aviation (1932). Following Dorab’s death in 1932, Sir Nowroji Saklatwala became the group’s chair. Six years later Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (J.R.D.) took over the position. His continued expansion of the company into new sectors—such as chemicals (1939), technology (1945), cosmetics (1952), marketing, engineering, and manufacturing (1954), tea (1962), and software services (1968)—earned Tata Group international recognition. In 1945 Tata Group established the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) to manufacture engineering and locomotive products; it was renamed Tata Motors in 2003. In 1991 J.R.D.’s nephew, Indian business mogul Ratan Naval Tata, succeeded him as chairman of the Tata Group. Upon assuming leadership of the conglomerate, Ratan aggressively sought to expand it, and increasingly he focused on globalizing its businesses. In 2000 the group acquired London-based Tetley Tea, and in 2004 it purchased the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea’s Daewoo Motors. In 2001 Tata Group partnered with American International Group, Inc. (AIG) to create the insurance company Tata-AIG. List of Tata Group Chairmans * Jamsetji Tata (1887–1904) * Dorabji Tata (1904–1932) * Nowroji Saklatwala (1932–1938) * J. R. D. Tata (1938–1991) * Ratan Tata (1991–2012) * Cyrus Mistry (2012–present) The Tata Group has donated a Rs. 220 crore ($50 million) to the  prestigious Harvard Business School (HBS) to build an academic and a residential building on the institute’s campus in Boston, Massachusetts. The new building will be called the Tata Hall and used for the institute’s executive education programmes. The amount is the largest from an international donor in the business schools 102-year-old existence. The recent The Brand Trust Report 2011 has ranked TATA as the second most trusted brands of India. In a 2011 investor poll conducted by equity research firm Equitymaster, TATA Group was voted as the most trustworthy among the Indian corporate houses. Over 61% of the respondents showed their confidence in the Tata Group. The Tata Group retained its Most Trustworthy status in the 2012 edition of the poll. One Tata project that brought together Tata Group companies (TCS, Titan Industries and Tata Chemicals) was developing a compact, in-home water-purification dev ice. It was called Tata swach which means â€Å"clean† in Hindi and would cost less than 1000 rupees (US $21). The idea of Tata swach was thought of from the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which left thousands of people without clean drinking water. This device has filters that last about a year long for a family of five. It is a low-cost product available for people who have no access to safe drinking water in their homes. The advantage of this device is that it does not require the use of electricity. TCS also designed and donated an innovative software package that teaches illiterate adults how to read in 40 hours. â€Å"The children of the people who have been through our literacy program are all in school,† says Pankaj Baliga, global head of corporate social responsibility for TCS. In 1912, Tata Group expanded their CEO’s concept of community philanthropy to be included in the workplace. They instituted an eight-hour workday, before any other company in the world. In 1917, they recommended a medical-services policy for Tata employees. The company would be among the first worldwide to organise modern pension systems, workers’ compensation, maternity benefits, and profit-sharing plans. Trusts created by Tata Group control 65.8% of company shares, so it can be said that about 66% of the profits of Tata Group go to charity. The charitable trusts of Tata Group fund a variety of projects, for example the Tata Swach and the TCS project. They founded and still support such cherished institutions as the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Tata Memorial Hospital. Each Tata Group company channels more than 4 percent of its operating income to the trusts and every generation of Tata family members has left a larger portion of its profit to them. After the Mumbai attacks, Salaries of then heavily attacked Taj Hotel employees were paid despite the hotel being closed for reconstruction. About 1600 employees were provided food, water, sanitation and first aid through employee outreach centres. Ratan Tata personally visited families of all the employees that were affected. The employee’s relatives were flown to Mumbai from outside areas and were all accommodated for 3 weeks. Tata also covered compensation for railway employees, police staff, and pedestrians. The market vendors and shop owners were given care and assistance after the attacks. A psychiatric institution was established with the Tata Group of Social Science to counsel those who were affected from the attacks and needed help. Tata also granted the education of 46 children of the victims of the terrorist attacks. Tata DoCoMo TATA DOCOMO is an cellular service provider on the GSM,CDMA and platform-arising out of the strategic joint venture between Tata Teleservices (subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Tata Group) and Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo (subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) in November 2008. It is the countrys sixth largest operator in terms of subscribers (including both GSM and CDMA. TATA DOCOMO is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The company received licenses to operate GSM services in nineteen telecom circles and was allotted spectrum in eighteen of these circles and launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It began operations first in South India and currently operates GSM services in eighteen of twenty two telecom circles. It has licences to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the Government. Docomo provides services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas.[citation needed] On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company  to launch 3G services in India. Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010. TATA DOCOMO MARKERT SEGMENTATION: Tata DoCoMo divided the market into smaller segments with distinct needs, characteristics and behavior with separate marketing strategies. TATA DoCoMo used the Demographic segmentation firstly to introduce the new brand keeping an eye on mid and higher end of the Indian consumers. They chose Indian youth as their primary target and started occupying the space in young Indian minds by connecting with them at various levels and through multiple channels The rationale behind this choice were 1. Tata Docomo intended to generate most of its future revenues through its differentiated content based and value added services, which is not so much relevant for low end consumers who are more price sensitive than mid and high end consumers 2. Indian telecom market was soon expecting 3G licenses. This would mean a huge potential for content based and value added services in the near future. Mid and higher end young consumers will be the early adopters of these services as they are more adaptable to change, are dynamic and willing to try new things. 3. They wanted to connect to opinion makers, and Indian youth would be the best fit to that profile. 4. Indian telecom market was soon expecting Mobile Number Portability (MNP). This would mean a potential of switching of telecom vendors by Indian consumers. And targeting the opinion makers would mean an aspiration build up in masses to switch to the brand that is most admired. 5. Tata teleservices has its CDMA offering which already caters to mass market in India. Hence there was no specific need to address this segment. TATA DOCOMO MARKERT TARGETING: * TATA DoCoMo is offering series of differentiated products to their respective markets. * Home calling cards for the family of those professionals who work abroad. * Cheap SMS facility for youth. * Facilities for circle users. Tata Docomo rolls out a marketing campaigns platform over cloud, Hosted Campaign Manager (HCM) service for its Enterprise and SME customers. This service is offered in 16 circles namely Hyderabad, Karnataka, Mumbai Maharashtra, Kerala, UPW, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata and West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and UP East. Aggregators, FMCG, service industry, media and banking insurance companies, outsourcing companies, advertisement agencies and campaign event management companies can get its advantage to the fullest. Through voice blast feature, customers can send a prerecorded message to thousands of phones from a targeted, DND scrubbed dialing list. This solution enables one to conduct effective communication anywhere across the PSTN cloud at blazing speed, said a press note. Tata Docomos Hosted Campaign Management enables customers to reach out to larger target audience, more frequently, at affordable costs without any infrastructure to run th e outbound processes. Differentiation It used tariff plans to differentiate itself from other major players like Vodafone, Airtel and Idea in the GSM category. It has cheaper rates than any other CDMA service provider and the added advantage is that unlike CDMA, a different handset is not required. Pulse rate of per second, where all other services used one minute gave TATA DOCOMO the first mover advantage. Also, services offered were customised as per subscribers. TATA DOCOMO has unveiled a portfolio of Value-Added Services that has reinvented mobile telephony in India. It offers products and services like diet SMS, Free VoiceMail, Timed SMS Service, Missed Call Alerts, Call-me Tunes, etc. All of them are customized to liberate and refresh the subscribers. Brand Positioning TATA DOCOMO has positioned itself as a â€Å"value for money† brand. The first move on this front was to cut through the clutter and redefine the entire pricing paradigm. In the clutter of confusing service providers, TATA DOCOMO is positioned as the country’s most transparent, innovative and liberating telecom brand. * Tata Docomo wanted to create an identity for themselves in the mind of the youth. They realized that their brand should do the  following * Familiarity – they need to create familiarity for the brand in the mind of their target i.e. Indian youth. Youth should always be able to recognize the brand ‘logo’ and its value proposition. In fact, Indian youth should be more than willing to identify themselves with the brand in society * Relationship –They need to associate themselves with attributes like transparent, simple and innovative brand in the mind of their target customers. And over the term of their relationship with their customers, they should be consistent to these attributes in every interaction. * Experience – They need to ensure that customer gets consistent message and promise irrespective of which channel he chooses to interact with the brand. Brand’s communication, new offerings and actions should consistent to its promise to the customers * Trust – They need to stand up to probity in public life and social dealings to be perceived as socially and culturally compatible brand and thereby gain trust of the society. In the already cluttered Indian telecom market, Tata Docomo positioned itself as one of the country’s newest and most-exciting GSM telecom services company that provides value for money and can be easily identified with the attributes as transparency, simplicity and innovation. 1. Positioning based on value for money – Complex pricing mechanisms and processes were used by Indian telecom players. These were not easily understood by consumers and they found difficult to choose the best plans for them. Tata Docomo launched its products with ‘Pay what you use’ policy which were attractive for customers. 2. Positioning based on technology – 3G service and Number Portability were soon to be launched in India. And Tata Docomo leveraging its partnership with NTT Docomo positioned itself as a provider ready to provide 3G services in India. Telecom customers are not really happy with their existing service providers. According to Nielsen Mobile Consumer Insights ‘Close to one in five (18%) of Indian mobile customers said that they would change their operator if they have the ability to retain their number’. It was good enough reason to attract customers who are looking for a better provider. 3. Positioning based on innovative ways – Tata Docomo positioned itself based on its ‘Do the New’ promise. It introduced multiple innovative offerings like ‘Buddy Net’, ‘Diet SMS’, ‘Pay per site’, ‘Pay per second’ etc. To establish their brand equity in Indian telecom industry, Tata Docomo started with their branding activities. Brand/product/company The Tata DOCOMO brand is the 10th entrant in the crowded Indian telecom market which was already ruled by established brands such as Airtel, Reliance, and Vodafone. Despite the stiff competition the company made a dent in the telecom market due to an innovative marketing strategy. In a short span of time the company has been able to differentiate and distinguish itself from the other brands and own a distinct consumer mind space. The company has brought disruptive innovation to the market not only through it products and services but also through unique marketing initiatives that have captured the minds of the consumers. As it stands today, Tata DOCOMO is the fastest growing brand in terms of market share. We (project team) chose to study and analyze the Tata DOCOMO brand due to its uniqueness and the success of its marketing strategy. For consumers, the Tata DOCOMO brand offers a host of differentiated services. Tata DOCOMO boasts the following benefits to consumers on its official website. * We are the fastest growing young telecom brand in the country; we never stop innovating and thinking out of the box. With us every day is new. * We dont need creams to be fair, its in our blood. With us you will get honesty, frankness, transparency. Say hello to the most transparent plans, a world-class network responsive customer care. * We are the first private operator to launch 3G in partnership with the world leader in 3G, NTT DOCOMO, Japan. * We redefined competition with our pay per second tariffs and decided to let the good news spread, therefore we introduced pay per second on STD ISD. You can call USA and Canada @1p/sec. * Keeping up with our mantra of doing the new we have made roaming affordable to the common man by extending the pay per second offers on roaming anywhere in India on our network. * We dont bully you to take what you dont need. And thats why; we have pay per site, that lets you pay only for the site(s) you love @Rs.10 per site per month. * We never ever ask you to count your friends. With BuddyNet you can bond with the whole world @1p/6sec On-Net. Be ready! * We dont decide for you, you decide your own pick from our daily, weekly or monthly packs of Talk-time, GPRS, music, cricket updates, night calling etc. starting at Rs.2. * Why should anyone else decide what song you should listen to when you call someone? With My Song hear your song when you call. * We completely believe why you should pay  for whats not your fault, thats why with us you get free Missed Call alerts in case you miss a call when you are not in coverage area or your phone is switched off. * Fun in limit is no fun. With us you can download unlimited Call-Me tune @Rs.10 per week. * We dont believe in making you pay for reaching out to us. Call our toll free customer care number anytime. * When we say you are important we mean every single word of it. So why should you wait, have direct access to the customer care executive by pressing 9 anytime during the call. * We are all ears. You can call us or online Live Chat with us, anytime. And guess what, you can access your hometown call center even when out of town. Product line TATA Docomo launched many products in the ‘Diet’ product line aimed at reducing the cost for the customer. Following products were launched ï‚ · Diet SMS Its custom made for those who are allergic to typing long. In this service, each SMS merely costs you 1 paisa per character, up to a maximum of 15 characters. And user is not charged for the spaces. ï‚ · Diet Postpay Plans – It offers refreshingly different options to postpaid users. They get opportunity to make their own plans by choosing the service they use most frequently, be it Local, STD or SMS. And to make their own plans they have more than 100 options to choose from. NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IDEA GENERATION Tata group of industries want to introduce their products in almost every field of life. With invention of mobile phone services world become a global village. Increasing number of mobile users attract TATA group of industries to introduce their product in mobile phone services. The board of directors of TATA gets the idea for mobile service operator by its own employees who were using other mobile operators. They think about to bring their own technology or to share any existing company through which they communicate with other employees and officials. IDEA SCREANING: From too many ideas the TATA group selected one to create a telecom company with the experience of any existing company. They decided to introduce a new mobile operator company with the partnership of Japanese telecom giant NTT  Docomo and launch TATA DoCoMo in India. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT TESTING: The Tata DOCOMO (DO Communication over mobile) brand stands for â€Å"Do†ing things that you want to do. The Tata DOCOMO brand is all about co-creation and user participation. The youth brand that Tata DOCOMO set out to build has been successfully created in the digital space through a balanced mix of design, innovation, technology and engagement. The brand’s main mantra â€Å"Do the new† is a concept that prompts every citizen to do something new, even if it’s a small thing. This concept aligns with the company’s products and services, many of which are new to the market. TATA has good reputation in all over the India. They make a questioner to ask people about new telecom service and when they started their transmission people show positive response towards the product. MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT: Being the tenth entrant in the already competitive telecom market, it was difficult for Tata Docomo to differentiate themselves from the existing service providers. Tata was already a well-known household brand name in India, however Docomo was hardly known to Indian masses and hence there was a need to establish the Docomo brand. They wanted to create an identity for ‘Tata Docomo’ which customers would love and trust. Tata Docomo has a vision to be the most loved teleservices brand in India. And their marketing research revealed that their service offering should be centered on transparency, simplicity and relevant ‘life centric’ innovation to achieve this. They found that they should connect to the opinion makers of the society and create brand attraction among Indian masses. This focused approach can give them visibility in highly competitive market. Tata DoCoMo adopted disruptive innovation as a market penetration strategy. This was required to enter the Indian telecom market which had dominant players such Airtel and Vodafone. To capture market, Tata DoCoMo offered services that were unlike anything the consumers had experienced before. The per second tariff also changed the rules of the game by forcing existing service providers to lower their tariffs and also set a benchmark for new entrants such as MTS who now offer similar tariffs. This allowed Tata DoCoMo to capture market quickly. Having penetrated the market successfully, Tata DoCoMo now competes not only on the basis of price but also with value added  services. BUSINESS ANALYSIS: After the market strategy development the TATA group make a telecom operators business analysis. Their Cost, sales, profits and other business routines. They study the Airtel and Vodafone which were already existing very strong telecom operators in the market. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: When TATA group analyzed the other telecom operators business they satisfied with the profit margins and finally started to capture all the India and install their transmission equipment in all the major cities. When transmission equipment installed then TATA start to furnish customer offices in targeted areas and started their services. TEST MARKETING: Finally TATA DoCoMo introduced in market initially. The customer gave positive response and highly like this service in the market. And its first testing sales are too fast and people demanded it and admire it due to its brand name. COMMERCIALIZATION: TATA DoCoMo after first introduction in the market started their full commercialization in market in a very small time they got maximum market share. To bring in the knowledge of people about this new service of DoCoMo they used different channels like TV, newspapers, radio, brushers, magazines, etc.

A Day in the Life of Deaf Culture Essay Example for Free

A Day in the Life of Deaf Culture Essay After watching the videos about how deaf people go along with their daily life, I realized there isn’t very much that is different than how someone who can hear lives there daily life. When watching all of the 5 people, I noticed that every single one of them used a video phone or cell phone, computers, and other gadgets. I didn’t know how much technology they actually used, and I was quite surprised, and interested in more, or other technology that is out there for the deaf community. Detoine, who was in the second video mentioned how he goes along with his day starting with school, followed by going to work, and then hanging out with his hearing friends. Even though he can’t hear, he still does everything that someone who can hear does. This goes for all of the others except Ashley, but only because she cannot see well. Ashley has a disease that has left her deaf and partially blind. It’s scary that the disease she has can still worsen and leave her completely blind. See more:  Capital budgeting essay Being blind and deaf combined would be terrifying and how someone could live with it; I don’t know. Even though she cant drive, she still does everything else a parent does. She takes care of her son and she even works. They may be deaf, but all of them live their lives and want to make something of themselves just like anyone else in this world does. Every one of them shares a common thing and that is that they like to communicate with the hearing weather it’s from signing or texting (technology) or writing notes. And they encourage us hearing people to try and communicate with them. Like they said they are just like anyone else that you’ll meet. Martha reminds me of my two younger sisters. All they do is go to school come home, do homework, play around, listen to music, write, and draw. And there is nothing wrong with that; what else can a kid do? She’s just like any kid out there. I think it is really cool that there are schools for the deaf. Not only are there deaf schools for kids like elementary through high school, there are also deaf colleges or normal collages that are mixed with deaf and hearing. Julian, who works at a camp as a counselor, seems very nice and he talks about how he loves sports. He is the only one in his family who is deaf. The only problem he has with being deaf is that he can’t hear people knocking at the door, and his parents have to let him know if there is someone at the door. He also talks about getting food at a fast food restaurant; he has to order inside, and not the through the drive through. I heard that problem a lot throughout this video. Julian talks about how he and the deaf community are different; they have their own culture, standard language (ASL) and history. During this video there was some that someone had said that really stuck out to me. â€Å"I am deaf, I am different. We are all different. † Julian said that, and I really agree with him. But even though everyone is different, I believe that the deaf and hearing communities are very much alike. Watching these videos made me appreciate this class more because there’s so much that I can learn from ASL, and the Deaf Community.

Skills Development and Team Work Analysis

Skills Development and Team Work Analysis Effective organizational performance is an aspect that every organization would like to achieve but how those organizations can generate a high performance. Teamwork must be one of the answers. This assignment provides some information and points out that why team work is important more than group work, and also demonstrates the way which team members interact in order to make their work process flow smoothly. Being a good team member, skills requirement is considered because personal skills can be useful in terms of develop a teams performance. Due to this consideration, this is my good chance to improve my skills by identifying some skills which need to be improved. Creating the personal development plan and doing a skills audit are tools which can help me to achieve my goal. As I am currently in the last term before doing my dissertation of the MBA course this assignment will show what I have developed so far and show how much I achieve my goals. This assignment is divided into th ree tasks as follows: Describe the different between team and group and Identify and critically reflect on the relationship between the objectives of significant operational task and my individual role and objectives. Moreover, this task will demonstrate and evaluate how I interacted with my colleagues and show my opinion in what I would do if I look back on the significant task and why I would do that. This part shows how I have developed my skills over the course through my personal portfolio This part shows the reflection on the process of my skills development 1. Working with a number of colleagues on a given project or significant operational task 1.1 The differences between team and group The word group and team usually are used interchangeably, but there are actually a number of differences between a team and a group depends on which part you have considered. Longman dictionary defined both words base on the word meaning : group defined as several people or things that are all together in the same place and team defined as a group of people who have been chosen to work together to do a particular job. Besides you can consider a difference between group and team by focusing on a relationship among members in group or team. Usually, members in a team are close to each other and their individual tasks are related to one another. Significantly, team donates more than one individual involve in goal-oriented joint action while group refer to informal clustering of more than one individual (Wilson A. 1998) and it goes beyond individual accomplishments. (Ruth Herman G.1940). In a group, members they are grouped together for administrative purpose only, some members might no t know each other before but working as a team, they work together because they got a team goal which is best accomplished with manual support and the relationship across individuals is obvious. (RDI handbook, 2009) The important factor which differentiates team from group is the interdependent among the team member in performing the team task (Saiyadain M.S, 2003) The team members are diverse in terms of various perspectives, personalities, status and role. 1.2 Significant operational task During my previous job, I was working in the hospitality sector, (In the small size hotel sector), as a general assistant in a hotels restaurant. On my operational task within the hotels restaurant, all staff were gathered to do our own individual task. As the explanation about team and group above, I think working with my colleagues on the significant operational task is close to a team concept. According to the team concept, goal-oriented joint action is a key point which indicates that we were working as team because we had a goal which we wanted to achieve by working together because our individual tasks are linked. Significantly, my team goal was to make sure that we satisfy customer needs and expectations with a high quality of service. In my team, there were thirteen staff who had a responsibility concern to a whole process of service delivery (e.g manager, kitchen staff, waiting staff,) As I mention above, having the same goal is the key which pulling all team members togethe r because all tasks in the whole work process are linked. In order to achieve the goal, we needed to go towards the same direction because teamwork is a joint action of a group member and each team members have to contribute their skills and opinion toward the team goal. Therefore, our team member, firstly, had to be aware and clear about the goals and understand individual roles and tasks. My main role was dealing with customers and make sure that they got the best service and other team members also got their particular task but every tasks were linked to one another. Working as team, leadership skills is very important. Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing and persuade others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it.(Gary Yukl, 2006) In the team we needed someone who can motivate and lead team members in to the right direction without any fear of any problems. Besides, working as team, we had to interact among members all the time to make our process flow smoothly in the right direction. 1.3 Interaction among team members Significantly, Interacting among team members is the key aspect which can affect to a whole performance because it helps the team to achieve the goal effectively. According to Longman dictionary, Interaction is defined as a kind of action which two or more objects can affect to each other. The contribution from members such as exchanging opinion, idea or knowledge can help the team perform more effective. (Beyerlein M. et al,. 2000) Generally, every team member develop the ways of interacting among members over the time, especially interpersonal communication among members because the effectiveness of a whole performance always depends on how well team members interact to one another. Often, autonomous teams are presented the best practice for increased performance (Hellenthal A. and Molleman E. 2008) because working as team, there exists no single in order to bring the best solution. The interaction such as how a team makes decisions, assigns work, and holds members accountable dete rmines team success, these are very important to consider in any team work. According to my work experience, all of the team members had to clear in mind and understand the teams goal, otherwise we might have been gone in a different direction. In our day-to-day job, we were assigned a task by a team leader. Basically, team leader was not the same member all the time, it depends on the situation. And in any decision making, there was always interaction among team members because in any decision-making everyone had to hold the responsibility for the decision which was finally made because we were working as team. All team members reserved a right to agree or disagree and showed our opinion directly towards our leader. Moreover, because of our tasks were linked and would have been effected to one another, therefore staff meeting which was hold every two week in order to give a chance for staff to apprise our performances and tried to find a solution for any particular problems. 1.4 Significant operational task and the real situation in my work place According to the theory of communication, (RDI hand book, 2009) effective communication within any organization is an aspect that organizations have to concern. Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. Basically, there are three basic types of communications; two-way communication is the one which is highly effective because both sender and receiver can give their feedback directly. Compare with my work experience, my team goal was meeting the customer expectation by delivering a good service. In day-to-day task, good communication skills would be very useful for working as team because in the whole process of working, we had to communicate with the team members all the time to make sure that we reached all customers expectation in terms of service quality. Generally, team members were assigned a task and address a daily goal by a leader every morning and the leader also allowed us to present our idea which might be useful for the team if there was a special event such as private party. During any day working, the most difficult situation was, when there was a special order and waiting staff had to transfer that order to a chef. We had to make sure that we meet the customers expectation. Apart from the day-to-day task, every two weeks, there was a meeting which made for all team members to discuss a whole performance in the past two weeks. Every team member would have got all information which was useful for improving the team performance such as feedbacks from customers which were collected directly from customers. We also got a chance to present our point of view and share our ideas and find the areas of agreement as the basis for collaboration. Personally, I think the way that the operational task was managed was reasonable and efficient, because good communication among team member was very important for working as a team. If I could manage this task, I would still maintain this good point about two-way communication but I would th ink more about staff commitment issue because all staff members were a part of the success and we should return some benefits back to staff for their hard work by appealing to them in terms of reward package such as salary, bonus, status and recognition. If we could win the staff commitment, staff would be happy to work towards the operational task and we would get the best performance from them. 2. Personal Portfolio Personal Development Plan is a tool which contains actions or aspirations oriented towards any of the following aims and it should be seen as a constant process involving enhancement and development of abilities, skills and knowledge (RDI handbook, 2009). Apparently, skills audit is important for everyone who would like to set up PDP. Skills audit is a tool which is designed to help you to identify your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development within various skills areas. (RDI handbook, 2009) Before I set up my PDP, I did a skills audit and four of important skills were chosen to be improved as the table below. Skills Audit According to the skills audit above, I identified my skills which needed to be improved and chose some activities to support me to improve my skills. There are four skills which I think they will be useful for my future career. Those skills are : 1. Leadership skills From my skills audit above I gave myself in a low rating and I thought I needed to improve this skill because this skill is very important skill for a manager. In the workplace manager should have an ability to motivate a team member to work toward a common goal and get the job done in order to make the over performance more effective and successful. For improving this skill, I set some activities such as participating in any group task (classroom) , reading a book Leadership skills for managers . During six months for improving leadership skill, I have been gaining a lot of knowledge and I got many chance to practice this skill. Significantly, I have leant how to persuade group members to agree with my idea and also learn how to be good leader in the group when we were assign the group task such as teams discussions and presentations during class assignments. I also learn from reading books which contain leadership articles. These books helped me to understand the differences betwee n manager and leader; how the leader is so important to very work project and it also teaches me how to be a good leader. 2. Prioritizing skills Prioritizing skills is important for manager because good manager is a person who manages to plan the schedule and divide time equally between tasks can be an asset for the organization. This skill basically was the skill which I gave myself a highest rating among all skills. In the past six months, I improve this skill a lot especially during the MBA course. Generally, there were many assignments which had to be submitted on time, therefore, this skill is very useful for me because I could prioritize all my works and working on the most important at each moment and could submit all my assignment on time. 3. Communication skills Communication skills are very important for working as a team. Working as a team, Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. My communication skills at the beginning of the course were not good enough. Language was my barrier because English is not my first language. Therefore, participating in any group task (classroom) was the activity which useful for improving these skills. During my course, I got many chance to improve my communication skills such as discussion class, work as a group and communicate to other group members. Furthermore, I have learnt a lot form the books about communication. In order to become a more effective communicator, I have learnt many different communications channels such as memos emails meetings teleconferencing instant messaging 4. Planning skills Planning skill is one of those skills which allows a manager to anticipate such issues and be prepared should they arise. My action plan for improving this skill were reading and researching articles or books which are related to an assignment. Over the past six months, I read a lot of books which were useful to my assignment such as the book about Human Resource Management, Managing Change, Marketing, Finance and operational management. Apart from reading, I did practice some exercises before the 24 hours assessment in Finance management. 5. Information technology (IT) Skills Not surprisingly, IT skills are very important in most parts of every workplace because IT skills are still in demand and IT may be the most important factor for long-term career success. From my skill audit above, I gave myself low rating because I got only basic ability about IT. Therefore, I planned to improve these skills by doing a lot of practicing in some computer applications which I already got the basic knowledge about such as Microsoft Excel, internet application. Furthermore, I have leant more about some computer applications which I had never used before such as Autofill with Formulae and functions. From the activities above which were use to help myself to improve my skills in many areas. After my plan reached the target date which was on April 2010, I will review the skills which were developed over the period of time by this following table : From the table above which it shows how much my skills have developed over six months. Basically, I divided my self- assessment into two periods (three months in each period). According to the first period of my self-assessment, I realized that all of those skills were developed gradually. It was because I had to adjust myself into new environment such as educational system and language which different from my country. Leadership skills- in the first period, I rated myself only 3 because I think I need more practicing and need more time to gain some experiences and after six months was over I rated myself 4 which is reasonably confident but need more practicing. Frankly, I think to be a good leader with a lot of confident, I need to keep practicing and leaning from mistakes in the past. Prioritizing skills- Before I started to improve this skill, I rated myself quite high (4) but after the first period was over, I still thought that my prioritizing skill did not improve much because I had to adjust myself to the new educational system. When the self-assessment was over, I think this skill was developed successfully. Communication Skills- These skills was difficult to be improved for me regarding to a language barrier. For the first period, therefore, I needed to practice very hard in both English skills and communication skills because both are linked. After the whole period was over, I think my communication skills were developed reasonably and I would like to practice and learn more to pull these skills to be my strength. Planning skills Although, this skill is quite simple and easy to succeed but being in MBA cause, planning skills was turned to be a bit difficult for me. Nevertheless, keeping myself on track and always focusing on the goal of my study, these made me improved this skill quickly. Therefore, I think this skill was developed successfully. IT skills Frankly speaking, I think these skills are the most difficult to be improve because there are many computer applications which take time to be understood. For the first period, I did not improve much on these skills because it was difficult to learn how to use some computer application by myself but within the second period, I got a chance to practice this skill more often with my classmate due to the financial management module. After six months were over, I think that even though I have improved this skill but I need more practicing and need more time to gain some experiences. According to my self- assessment for all of the skills above, I think I have developed those skills reasonably and successfully and those need to be practiced continuously in order to make them to be my strength and be useful for my future career 3. Reflection on the process of skills development According to the personal development plan, I chose five skills which I need to develop over my course. Firstly, leadership skills are the main skills which I need to develop. Leadership is defined as the process of influencing and persuade others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it.(Gary Yukl, 2006) and it is about persuading people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen (Kuozen J. et al., 2007). Leadership skills are very important for any teamwork because reaching a team goal needs someone who can lead and persuade team members through the right way whether it is difficult or not. As far as I am aware, my leadership skills have been improving because these skills need time to practice. Apparently, group work in the class helps me a lot by building my confidence and I am also learning form the many books about leadership such as Leadership skills for managers which help me to understand more about why leadership skills are important for manager job and how I can become a good leader. Secondly, Prioritizing skill, personally I thought this skill was very easy to be developed but in fact being in MBA course made me realized that there were many obstacles which prevented myself to achieve my goal such as being in a different educational system and language barriers. These obstacles made some of my work delayed but unfortunately, I am still on the track and be able to improve this skill successfully. Thirdly, Communication skills, well communicate among team members is a part of generating an effective team performance. As I have learnt so far during my class period, two-way communication is apparently more effective in practice because discussion in a classroom needs everyone in the class to be participated by sharing our ideas and I definitely got a chance to share my opinion and learn how to be a good listener at the same time. And I always use some techniques form the book, Stepladders to success for the professional which help me to perform in my class more efficiently because difference of ideas or opinion might lead us to groups conflict and it happened to me many times but these experiences help me to learn how to handle the problem. Fourthly , planning skills, according to the fact that I have to submit all of my assignments on time, therefore, planning such as what I had to do, which book I had to read etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦these help me to submit all of my assignments on time and I got a reasonable marks for all of them. This skill can apply to any activities which need to be done in a certain time. Lastly, IT skills which are important for a manager job in terms of using it to generate organizational reports. As far as I am concern, the spreadsheet (Excel software) is very important computer application which simulates a paper, accounting worksheet. According to the complication of the program, it has been taking me long time to learn and understand how it works, but practicing can help me to use this program more effective in the future. Conclusion In any areas of any business, person who has a potential skill is always required. Therefore, skills development is very important for any person who would like to get a good job. Generally, not only for a job seeker but it is for someone who needs to improve his/her skills in order to perform his/her task more effective. Personally, this personal skills development helps me to identify my ability and skills which I need to improve and motivate myself to achieve my goal by setting an action plan. Although, I have not achieved all my plans at this moment but I believe that if I keep follow my action plan, I will definitely reach my goal in the future. Appendices Personal Development Plan My Goal Which skills I need to improve? Actions Required Who or What Can Help Me? Target Date for Action To gain diversified business knowledge and expertise in order to be a potential manager in the future by Improving Some skills which are related to my goal 1. Leadership skills Participating in any group task (classroom) Reading a book Leadership skills for managers Classmates and a tutor By April 2010 2. Prioritizing skills Prioritize all my works, working on the most important at each moment. By April 2010 3.Communication skills Participating in any group task (classroom) Classmates and a tutor By April 2010 4.Planing skills Reading and researching article or book which are related to an assignment Tutor Submit Date 5. IT Skills Learning Some computer Applications which are related i.e. spreadsheet By April 2010 Skills Audit Knowledge and skills which I consider to be important for future job Ability Rating (1-5) Typical Description Tutors Comments 1.Leadership skills 2 Manager should have an ability to motivate a team member to work toward a common goal. Suthira has lead her teams discussions and presentations during class assignments and proved to be good team leader. 2. prioritizing skills 4 Good manager is a person who manages to plan the schedule and divide time equally between tasks can be an asset for the organization. During the course, Suthira has appreciated the importance of prioritizing in the achievement of assignments and tasks. 3.Communication skills 3 Working as a team, Bad communication will inevitably lead to loss of income or worse. Suthiras commands of spoken and written English have improved since starting the program. 4.Planning skill 3 Planning allows a manager to anticipate such issues and be prepared should they arise. Suthira has developed good planning skills. That appeared clearly during her preparations before classes commenced. 5. IT skills 2 IT skills are still in demand and IT may be the most important factor for long-term career success. TitleThe Interaction Between Task and TeamAuthorsAlex Hellenthal, Eric MollemanPublisherVDM Verlag, 2008