art Essays (618 words) - Discrimination, Hatred, Racism, Kurds

One of the deputies of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which happens to be Turkey's main opposition, made an interesting remark during her speech in Parliament. She said that Kurds cannot be equal to Turks. This remark came at a time when there is an important effort to make the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) lay down its weapons and integrate its sympathizers into Turkey's social and political life. The deputy probably had the intention of putting the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) into a difficult position, because she knows that there are many nationalists who vote for this party. Maybe she also had the intention to say to the religious and conservative voters that the party they support is now cooperating with those who murder our policemen and soldiers. This was pure provocation and nothing less than racism. Discrimination and racism are qualified as crimes in the Turkish Penal Code. However, I sincerely don't remember anybody being condemned for these crimes. Even when a murder is committed with racist motives, judges have the habit of viewing the case as simple murder. One of the most illustrious examples on this matter is the Hrant Dink assassination. Several weeks ago, an 85-year-old woman was murdered in Istanbul's Samatya district in her apartment where she was living alone. In the following weeks, three other elderly women were attacked in the same neighborhood. The police have announced that these attacks were carried out by ordinary burglars. However, these four women had something in common: They were all Armenian. When many other women are killed or beaten by their husbands, we generally are never informed about their ethnic origin. However, when the victims are Armenian, their ethnic origins are emphasized by the press. This is a proof that we all have internalized discrimination or that we all expect religious minorities to be attacked for political purposes. Discriminatory or racist rhetoric is so frequent in our political and social language that people don't even notice that the words or expressions they use are racist. Several social groups suffer from it and face discriminatory and humiliating language or behavior on a daily basis, such as ethnic and religious minorities, women or LGBT people. Moreover, when a violent act is committed for racist or discriminatory purposes, there appears an effort to justify these crimes. For example, when there is an attack against the Kurds, some people promptly say that this is normal because Kurds are involved in terrorism. When Armenians are attacked or insulted, some people start to explain how relations between Turks and Armenians have been bad for almost a century. We have to keep in mind that racist and discriminatory attacks are not directed against individual persons but against an entire group. Several months ago, nine Turks were killed in Germany, not because the victims had personal problems with their murderers, but simply because they were Turks living in Germany, and in that country there are people who don't want to cohabitate with the Turks. What the CHP deputy has declared is nothing more than expressing what is internalized by most people. We already know that there are many people among that party who think the same way. We have also seen in the past some members of this party explicitly defending racist crimes, maybe because they didn't think these were crimes. Or maybe the CHP hopes that adopting racist rhetoric will bring in more votes. It is of course wrong to suggest that the CHP is the only political party responsible for discrimination. All parties and too many of our politicians are affected by this phenomenon. Let's hope that this latest scandal will make people think thoroughly about it.

the remains of the day essays

the remains of the day essays The Remains of the Day" is a book that reveals the fact that Lord Darlington was an unintentional sympathizer of the Nazis. He believed that their intentions for Germany were honorable, yet he was quite mistaken. He called a meeting at his home between German and British heads of state in an attempt to bring peace to Europe on a whole not realizing that Nazi Germany was bent on destroying the lives of millions of innocent people. One factor that was significant to the development of the novel was the relationship between Stevens, and Lord Darlington. For three decades, Stevens worked for Lord Darlington as a head butler in Darlington Hall until the day Lord Darlington died he held Stevens on a pedestal and treated him more as a friend than simply a butler. Stevens and Lord Darlington both shared the self-evaluation of making remorseful decisions in their lives. By Stevens's psychological depression for years of not expressing to anyone his feeling and putting full trust into Lord Darlington, he learns his choice of path in life. Even though for a majority of the book Stevens was proud to serve this noble and old fashion gentlemen, in the end he reveals his passion of not expressing the ideology of his viewpoints and experiences. Another identified contribution of the mystery was his culpability of not being able to express his feelings for Miss Kenton. Working together for years and arguing about household affairs, Miss Kenton displays the personality that Stevens failed to expose .In addition, the continuing feud of nagging by Stevens and the declination of not letting his shared sensation of her lead to the undiscovered love he had. She is a character who is equally intelligent to Stevens but does not mend on Lord Darlington's values showing greater personal integrity and dignity. Through his brief meeting with Miss Kenton, he accepts his true emotional bond with her and is able to move on with his life. ...

Carbon Capture Technology Not Ready to Limit Carbon Emissions Essay

Carbon Capture Technology Not Ready to Limit Carbon Emissions - Essay Example ective system is needed for the proper and flawless storage of Carbon Dioxide if this technology is to be used globally on large scale (Al-Fattah & Duncan, 2011). Storage Issues The storage of CO2, along with the capture, on the other hand, is a relatively a new concept and hence not very effective as yet. This makes CCS inefficient because there is no point of capture if there is no storage mechanism available for the technology. More recently, Carbon capture tanks have been developed and they are employed for storage but they are very expensive and not easy to develop, use and maintain (Hester et al, 2010). Energy consumption Issues Another reason for CCS’s not being ready for usage yet is the energy that it requires to run. The capture and compression of CO2 requires a lot of energy, and this result in raising the running costs of CCS-equipped power plants. The process results in the increase energy needs of a plant by about 10-40%. This extra consumption of energy has rais ed many eyebrows in industrial world because with this new technology, instead of improvement in their produce, they have to invest even more in this extra consumption of fuel. This is a very important obstacle that has kept industrialists from employing this technology in their systems (Hester et al, 2010). Cost related issues of the technology CCS is a very expensive technology and this is also a reason why it is not ready for usage on large scale. As this technology is in its experimental stages, it is not very economical. The equipment and plants made for CCS are very expensive both in building and in later usage. With the passage of time, this obstacle may be removed by employing cheaper techniques and materials for building and running CCS equipments but so far it is not possible and this... In a nutshell, CCS is a very novel technology and as yet it is not flawless. There are many flaws in the system and operation of CCS and that is why it is not ready for use on large scale. With high fuel and energy consumption it becomes a very expensive technology. This makes it inefficient for large scale usage. Concerns regarding its role in promoting pollution have contributed towards making this development a controversial issue. For this reason, more effective and cost-friendly equipment should be developed aimed at reducing pollution in the environment. When effective technology is available, legislation to enforce application of this technology at industrial level may increase its demand on international level, so much so that the cost of equipment may get reduced. This will allow greater acceptability of the technology by industrial sector; thus contributing towards a healthier and green environment globally. It should be kept in mind that any technology in its nascent stage s is far from perfect; as human knowledge evolves, the technology becomes a masterpiece.

Mutual Funds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mutual Funds - Essay Example Mutual funds are securities that are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Broadly speaking, they are composed of stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and other securities that function as a means of hedging against possible declines in a security or investment sector. The main understanding is that this diversified approach will provide the investor an option that protects them against market fluctuations, as when one security drops in value, another will increase. A manager or board of directors oversees these funds. The board hires a fund manager and works to ensure that the mutual fund is managed in the intended interest of the shareholders. This essay examines the advantages, disadvantages, and different types of mutual funds. Advantages There are a great variety of advantages to investing in mutual funds. One of the most prominent such aspects is the increased amount of diversification. In terms of portfolio theory, diversification constit utes perhaps the most overarching concept. Essentially diversification is the gathering together of diverse investment securities as a means of guarding against the failure of one specific sector. While it is possible for investors to diversify their portfolio through a widespread purchase of stocks, such a process is both extensive and also contains liquidity issues. In terms of liquidity, most brokerage firms attach a fee to individual trades, such that an individual attempting to withdraw money from a portfolio of diversified stocks would be required to pay a series of fees; mutual funds offer liquidity in terms of one direct and easily accomplished sale (Pozen, Hamacher, 2011). Another prominent advantage of mutual funds is that they operate in terms of economies of scale. Essentially the equivalent of economies of scale is volume discounts in department stores. In the context of mutual funds, a wide variety of investment funds are collated allowing the fund manager to gain grea ter value per purchase (Pozen, Hamacher, 2011). Divisibility is another prominent advantage to investing in mutual funds. Divisibility can be understood in terms of the purchase of a wide variety of stocks. It’s noted that, â€Å"Smaller denominations of mutual funds provide mutual fund investors the ability to make periodic investments through monthly purchase plans while taking advantage of dollar-cost averaging† ("Advantages of mutual," 2009). Essentially this indicates that through a mutual fund, an individual with modest means is able to invest in a great amount more stocks than they would if they only purchased the securities on their own. This allows for considerably greater amounts of diversification. Another prominent benefit of investing in mutual funds is that they are under professional management. The obvious implications of this are that an experienced and knowledgeable professional will be overseeing the securities and investment strategy. Ultimately, th e cumulative advantage of these benefits makes mutual funds an attractive option for conservative or inexperienced investors. Disadvantages While there are a great variety of advantages to investing in mutual funds, there are also a number of prominent disadvantages. Even as mutual funds offer a generally conservative investment option as compared to stocks, precious metals, or derivatives, there is nonetheless a degree of risk associated. The main understanding in these regards is that even with extensive levels of diversification, macroeconomic elements oftentimes contribute to a large-scale market decline. In these regards, individuals that do not have the financial wealth or patience to out-wait market downturns might find mutual funds an unattractive option

Value added Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Value added - Coursework Example Although some view this exporting of raw materials to be beneficial, it is in order to say that the value-added industries succumbs losses in terms of employment to the public. Value-added for processing the raw materials allows for growth in the economy since it is considered efficient in comparison to export of the latter. If a company exports raw materials, as opposed to processing it themselves, the cost of the input is high due to the travelling costs, processing amounts and other expenditures at hand. In this case the value-added becomes low thus less efficient. Also, value-added for processing raw materials helps in the company’s operations strategies compared to value-added for exporting the raw materials. This is seen in the amount of money that is saved within the company. Obviously, with the right equipment to process the raw materials to the final product, valuable costs are saved and so the value-added industry prevails. It is cost effective and reliable in terms of value-added for processing raw materials compared to value-added for exporting the raw materials. Time spent to effectively process the raw materials to a finished product is favourable to consider in adding value to the item. Putting this into consideration then we have that value-added for exported raw materials is low compared to that of value-added for processing the same raw materials since there is less time involved in production of the raw materials within a firm than to export them for

Devolving Responsibility Of Human Resource To Managers Management Essay

Devolving Responsibility Of Human Resource To Managers Management Essay By devolving responsibility of Human Resource to managers, organizations are expecting to create a closer relationship between managers and employees which will be achieved by quick decision making and effective problem solving at workplace. Some organizations however have both the HR specialists and the managers who work together by bringing in expertise from their own areas. This report identifies the context, enablers and inhibitors of the involvement of management in HR function. In conclusion, the report identifies that adequate training and expert knowledge support must be provided to managers if they are expected to integrate HR responsibilities within their managerial function. Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to a collection of policies used to organise work in the employment relationship and centres on the management of work and the management of people who undertake this work (Claydon 2010). (Storey, 2007) states that HRM plays a pivotal role in strategically deploying highly capable and committed workforce by using human resources expertise to achieve competitive advantage. A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging peoples capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and practices. (Gold 2007) Human Resource Management ensures the productive use of people in an organisation to achieve the organisations strategic business objectives. Human resource management also involves maintaining a healthy employer-employee relationship and the satisfaction of the individual employer needs (Stone 2007) Human resource policies and the business policies have been integrated together with the management function rather than a separate entity to achieve the organisations objectives more efficiently. Discussion of the context (Wilkinson M. M., 2002), states that many criticisms concerning the lack of contribution by HR specialists to organisational performance have come from line managers. The four main criticisms are first, personnel practitioners are regarded as out of touch of commercial realities and unable to comprehend much about the nature of the business, its customers, or its corporate goals. The allegation is that HR professionals base their decisions upon a set of principles and ideas, such as welfare and employee rights which have little relevance for competitive prospects. Second, HR is often thought to constrain the autonomy of managers to make decisions that they feel are in the best interest of the business. These are mainly the legal constraints of equal opportunities or individual rights and the involvement of union representatives. The third criticism is that HR managers are slow to act, always wanting to check the options thoroughly (Cunningham and Hayman, (1999). Finally HR practition ers are criticised for promulgating policies that may be fine in theory but hard to put in effect or unsuitable to their particular requirements. Legge (1995) argues that HRM is caught in a vicious circle because senior management do not involve them in the business decision making and planning as people issues are not considered at this stage of decision making. But in due course problems arise due to non involvement of HR such as poor recruits, inadequate training of staff or work disruption. When such problems are brought to HRs attention they have insufficient time to resolve the issue which in effect results in short term solutions with detrimental long term effects. HR function gets the blame for inefficient problem handling and continues to be excluded from decision making, thus completing the vicious circle. As line managers work closely with the people they manage, the problem solving can be immediate and relevant rather than having to wait for the HR department to get back to them. The solutions provided by these managers are also likely to be in congruence with the organisations goals and business requirements. Ulrich (1998) hence recommended that HR should be reconfigured so as to highlight what it delivers rather than what it does. The four recommendations for HR are, to become a partner with business and line managers for strategy formulation, to become an expert in the way work is organised and executed to reduce cost and to increase efficiency, to become a champion for employees by acting as a medium between the employees and the senior management to increase employee contribution and finally to become an agent of continuous transformation by shaping processes for successful implementation of change. The CIPD research on employee well-being and the psychological contract (Guest and Conway, 2005) established that too many managers are failing to motivate and improve the performance of people they manage. Due to the devolution of HR function to managers, their responsibilities have increased and their role in the organization has become more important. HR initiates policies and practices but it is the management which is responsible for implementing them. HR proposes but the line disposes (Armstrong 2006). It is hence important that the policies are well communicated to the manager who will implement it if it is perceived to be in the interest of the business. If managers are unaware of any laws requiring the implementation of those policies then it is up to the HR to educate the managers about this. (J.Purcell 2003) noted that well conceived HR policies and practices didnt automatically result in organisational performance improvement but the difference was made by the way in which those polices were implemented by the managers. If they used discretion in implementing HR policies then some policies will just be a set of useless ideas (Armstrong 2006) (H.H.Larsen 2003), pointed out the five main reasons why organisations want to integrate these functions; Pressure on firm costs to integrate HR function in line management role To provide a more comprehensive HRM which is achieved through this integration of line management and HR functions The growing influence of service industries where line managers are responsible for customer management HR specialists may take too long to resolve HR issues Devolution may be considered as an alternative to outsourcing the entire HR function resulting from changes in philosophy and organisational structure. Enablers for integrating management and HR functions Managers play an important role in implementing the HR policies (Gold 2007). Research has revealed that line manager behaviour has a significant impact on employee commitment, which in turn has an impact on customer commitment, which has an impact on business performance (Lazenby quoted in Purcell 2003). The enrichment of line manager roles within the organisations and their greater involvement in HR decision-making has arisen due to the increase in customer service demands and the resulting time pressure in decision making. Increasing performance requirements, transparency, flexibility and accountability has increased the importance of this dual role. Involving line mangers in HR functions can be seen as a strategic approach to managing people. (Renwick 2003), has listed the main benefits that organisations can derive from such integration; HR problems are solved at source saving vital organisation resources Better change management is achieved through manager participation in policy implementation Closely working managers can make decisions at increased speed Greater scope for HR managers to focus on strategic importance of HRM HR issues get a business focus before they are implemented hence those policies will no more be created in isolation from organisational goals Since managers are aware of HR issues they cant ignore them hence leading to a better employee manager relationship Managers are more likely to be committed to their own HR decisions rather than having to implement due to compulsion from HR department Promotes local management accountability and responsibility for HR issues Reduces costs due to integration of functions Promotes the case that HRM cant always be transferred to specialists Line managers occupy an important position in the organizational hierarchy and they can directly affect the level of service delivered. Entrusting line managers with HR responsibilities will add to their existing pressures, increase workload and the need to deliver on short-term priorities. Formal administrative approaches within the departments would require line managers to display a high level of HR competence. This signifies the need for high-quality training programs for line managers to ensure that they feel confident in discharging their new HR responsibilities. Money invested in training management personnel can result in saving company from expensive litigation and in maintaining a god corporate reputation. Providing line managers with such training is very important as they are not naturally trained to deliver HR duties, which are quite different to making business decisions. Inhibitors for integrating management and HR functions (Renwick 2003), has given the following inhibitors to HR and management integration; Increased pressure to train and/or re-skill managers in HRM A need for strict HR auditing Problems and maintaining consistency in decision making Risk of falling standards or abuse of position through discrimination Problems in maintaining balance of power between management and HR specialists Potential for the HR/ER management role to be marginalised Low line capability/commitment when doing HR work Little time for managers to perform HR duties well due to operational demands on them Risks of job overload/stress as manager workloads are increased Harrison (2009) supports the argument in favour of management staff by saying that, line management is mostly faced with situations pressurising them to achieve objectives resulting in the increase in profitability or in the reduction of costs resulting in less dedication to support human resource development apart from the basic tasks. If line managers are faced with a decision to prioritize between making a key business decision or to formulate policies and procedures to improve the working conditions of employees, the priority would normally be the business decision as that would be considered as their primary responsibility and also more business focussed. Brewster and Soderstrom (1994) say that before delegating tasks or entrusting people with more responsibility in different areas, it must consider the level of knowledge possessed by the individual and the willingness of such individual to train to learn new competences, since they could already be overburdened with their current tasks making it uncomfortable for them to absorb more responsibilities. In order for the line managers to deliver their HR tasks they need to maintain a good relationship with HR specialists which could be complex at times. According to (Thomas N Garavan 2006) while the line manager is a key stakeholder in the training and development process, their relationship with the function and/or the specialist can often be negative. This could result in issues arising from lack of good communication and understanding between the departments. According to Grace and Straub (1991) training specialists often exclude line managers from training the reason for which is mainly the threat of being substituted. Some such instances as noticed by them are; Excluding line managers from the needs assessment process/program; Unwillingness to consider line managers as subject matter experts; Unwillingness to utilize line managers as instructors for training duties. This could also be due to the resistance on part of the line mangers to take initiative to train as this could entail more responsibilities for them. As (Thomas N Garavan 2006) continues the argument by saying that the issue is due to the lack of trust between the line managers and the training and development specialists. Line managers refuse to co-operate with the training specialists who makes an attempt to offer advice to improve work operations because they consider training specialists as staff as providing a service in accordance with line manager requirements and expectations. Efforts to change this role are often perceived by the line managers as an attempt to thwart line authority with the generation of better ideas. Sometimes HR professionals were even seen as policing line managers. This perception leads to inflexibility and negative responses aimed at demolishing the strengths and foundations of the training specialist. Also Storey (1992) points out that lack of training and education of line managers hinder the smooth delivery of new HR practices. Those line managers simply underestimate the need for investment in the training of their subordinates. Developing and implementing HR initiatives can become a difficult task for the managers to incorporate in their regular management function. Suggestions to improve managers as people managers (J.Purcell 2003), have suggested that managers can improve their people management skills, to deliver their HR responsibilities, in following ways; Senior management must understand the prioritisation issues that managers may face when both management and HR issues arise at the same time. Pressurising from the top will not help in such circumstances Managers must be selected considering the behavioural requirements and competencies expected from them as they would be doing HR function as well Managers need to have a clear understanding of the organisational values, goals and culture for efficient people management. A good working relationship needs to exist between staff and their manager Managers must be provided with the necessary training to enable them to deliver their HR functions such as performance management, grievance and complaints handling Although line managers can be trained to an extent to carry out the HR function, there are several key competencies possessed by HR professionals that might be difficult to incorporate in a line manager function as per (Armstrong 2006). There has been a significant change to the way in which organisations manage their business in the recent years and hence there has been changes in the way different departments operates within it. Changes to work demands have made it difficult for the HR department to find people with required talents for the organisation. HR department is required to keep up to date with the HR requirement of the departments and ensures the human resource is able to meet new challenges and demands (Wright, 2003) A human resource manager must consider the nature of external and internal influences before selecting a particular course of action. Internal environmental influences involve the factors that are found within the organisation such as the organisational strategies, organisational culture, organisational structure and organisational systems. Several external factors influence the formulation and requirements of HRM policies. Some of the external factors facing organisations are changing nature work force, technological changes, globalisation and labour force demographics. (Stone 2007) CIPD has presented a list of core functions delivered by HR professionals as below; Business and cultural awareness: understand the business environment and the competitive pressures in the market facing the organisation, the key business activities, culture and the impact of HR policies on the business performance Strategic capability: seeks involvement in business strategy function, develops coherent HR strategies which are aligned with business strategy, understand the importance of human capital measurement to ensure efficient utilisation Organisational effectiveness: contributes to the analysis of people issues and proposes practical solutions, develops resource capability by ensuring that the organisation has the workforce with required skills, process redesigning for better utilisation of staff, contributes in the development of knowledge management processes Internal consultancy: proposes practical solutions by providing expert advice and coaches management on dealing with their department specific problems Service delivery: delivers appropriate services promptly and efficiently to requests for HR services and advice and provides guidance in HR decisions as required Continuous professional development: continuous development of skills and knowledge, to deliver the HR duties to high standards by updating the new HR concepts, practices and techniques As discussed above HR function is far more specialised in its core activities and many of its functions need specialist expert knowledge which is difficult for management to keep up to date with. HR Outsourcing has become more common in the recent years as the companies are relying on them for HR related matters. A good human resource outsourcing deal is to ensure that nearly all your transactional and basic advisory services are outsourced and that the jobs of the HR teams are redesigned so that they no longer focus on the operational level decisions but the focus would be on more complex business challenges and strategic needs. (Hunter 2007). But many organisations may choose to rather incorporate the HR function within their management functions rather than outsourcing. Conclusion HR can be seen as an integral part of a managerial post, as a manager is responsible for the performance and job satisfaction of his staff. There have been several factors over a period of time that has had an impact on the role of HR managers and practitioners. If an employee in a management positions accepts to deliver HR duties it is possible to achieve a higher level of efficiency. However, the success of any change process involving line manager HR participation will ultimately depend on striking a balance between factors favouring devolvement and those inhibiting HR involvement. While making line managers more responsible for HR may bring about a speedier resolution to workplace conflicts, clear structures need to be implemented to allow line managers seek guidance and advice, but also allow employees to repeal decisions made. In this regard, HR specialists need to proactively engage with line managers and bring about partnership HR approaches to managing employees. There are however certain boundaries to such a devolution. All of them lie either in line managers lack of specific knowledge and expertise or in their conflict with HR specialists. As devolution of HR responsibilities are taken for granted it is suggested that it is HR specialists who need to re-consider their role within organisations, while line managers are to be given an appropriate training.

What Is The Definition Of Marr :: essays research papers

What is the definition of marriage? What is marriage? In Webster’s Dictionary marriage is defined as the institution whereby men and women are joined in special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family. The definition states â€Å"a man and a woman not a man and a man†. Some people believe same gender marriages should be allowed. But right now the law doesn’t allow same gender marriages. I guess only time will tell if that law will ever change. Marriage has always been an evolving institution, bent and shaped by the historical moment and the needs and demands of its participants (Johnson 266). The Romans recognized the phenomenon we call â€Å"falling in love,† but they considered it a hindrance to the establishment of stable households (266). Marriages certified by the state had their foundations not in religion or romance but in pragmatics-e.g., the joining of socially prominent households (266). At the beg inning of the thirteenth century, facing schisms and heresies, and seeking to consolidate its power, the Catholic Church institutionalized marriage, confirming it as a sacrament and requring that a priest officiate-a crucial step in the intrusion of organized religion into what had previously been a private transaction (266). So instead of just having any person marry a couple you now have to have a priests officiate the couple. This is another issue that makes a marriage more difficult besides the gender issue. To be an official marriage a couple must have a license and the right person to perform the wedding, like a justice of the peace or a priests. Throughout the U.S. same-gender marriages are illegal. The state of Hawaii tried recently to allow these marriages. However, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Defense of Marriage Act. This act undercut Hawaii’s effort and made it practically useless. The Defense of Marriage Act permitted states not to recognize same-gender mar riages performed in other states. There is a separation between church and state in this country (Sullivan 260). Andrew Sullivan states â€Å"we are asking only that when the government gives out civil marriage licenses, those of us who are gay should be treated like anybody else† (260). Many people just don’t believe marriage should be between two people of the same sex. Throughout history marriage has always been between a man and a woman and that’s the way many want to keep it.