Communication and Decision Making

Abstract Heuristics are strategies that people use in making decisions thus coming up with appropriate solutions to existing problems. The assurance that these strategies eventually lead to the right solutions is elusive. This paper concentrates on decision making heuristics such as representativeness, availability and anchoring. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Communication and Decision Making specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These heuristics are used together with effective communication strategies in an effort to convince an individual to make appropriate choices especially during the hiring process. In addition to heuristic decision making, the paper explores ethical and legal implications an individual experiences when making decisions based on wrong heuristics. Introduction The company I work for has concluded the process of interviewing candidates in a bid to fill a vacant position. One of the candidates, a Hispanic woman has caught my attention as the best candidate for the job. She has a master’s degree in marketing and has experience of over 20 years working with our rival. The problem is that my co- worker does not think the candidate is fit for the position. This is in spite of the fact that he doesn’t have a reason to reject the candidate. My job is to persuade him to change is mind. Heuristics in Decision making Representative and availability heuristics are normally used when making decisions when hiring a candidate for a vacant position (Page, 2008). In this case my co- worker is affected by representative heuristic thus coming up with the conclusion that the Hispanic woman is not fit for the job. This is because he did not have a solid reason to block her hiring. All he says is that she is not the right person for the job. I conclude that he is simply being judgmental and discriminatory. People affected by the representativeness believe that things appear an d occur randomly. My co- worker concluded that the candidate is not fit for the job probably because she is a woman. There is a possibility that my co- worker feels intimidated because she is experienced and well educated. It is also possible that such a decision was a result of previous associations of the potential recruit with a rival company. Another possible reason for my co workers action may be in line with the fact that the potential recruit is Hispanic thus existence of racial issues. Ethical and Legal Implications A number of legal and ethical implications exist in reference to this matter. First my co- worker is being unethical as seen in his qualifications that makes one believe that he should perform exceptionally well in making such decisions. He fails to achieve such a feat. Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is unethical to be discriminatory to candidates ba sed on personal biases. It is clear that my co-worker is biased because the Hispanic candidate is highly qualified as evident in her experience and education. If my co workers reasons for not hiring the Hispanic candidate are insufficient and unfounded, it can lead to serious legal implications (Duquenoy George, 2008). Decision making concepts for persuading others eliminating bias in decision making In an effort to persuade my co- worker, I would use the three main models/ concepts of decision making. The first one is decision making under perfect information. This is evident in my co- workers knowledge on the candidate’s qualities thus ability to facilitate her hiring. The Hispanic candidate is experienced, she could therefore figure out concepts that are a prerequisite of the requirements. The candidate was obviously smart with good credentials and appropriate knowledge. Another concept I would use to persuade my co- worker to hire the candidate was decision making with sampling information. In this case I would persuade my co- worker to examine the candidates resume once more and if necessary put her under a second interview to ascertain her qualifications (University of Michigan, 2009). My co-worker could be worried that the candidate may not work in a team or even manage a team. The ability of the Hispanic candidate to lead, make decisions and fuel change is therefore in question. I would encourage my co-worker to test the Hispanic’s candidate interpersonal skills and her ability to lead. It would be an assurance to him that in the event that she failed the test she will subsequently lose her opportunity. A useful concept in decision making that is likely to come in handy in such an event is sampling information. In this case I would point out to my co- worker that the existing information absolves the candidate. Conclusion Little can be done to prevent or at least discourage employers from making decisions prior to analysis of a partic ular matter. The only remedies that seem to work in making such corrections involve an on- the job evaluation and educating the employers on proper decision making concepts. References Duquenoy, P. George, C. (2008). Ethical, legal, and social issues in medical informatics. Hershey: Idea Group Inc (IGI).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Communication and Decision Making specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Page, S. (2008). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. University of Michigan. (October 2009). Publications. Volume 283. University of Michigan. Institute of Social Research. This essay on Communication and Decision Making was written and submitted by user Leighton Duke to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Rene Descartes and John Locke

Rene Descartes and John Locke Introduction Rene Descartes, a rationalist and John Locke, an empiric have a lot of contrasting and common features. In their philosophical writings, they answer questions about the knowledge of asking, what a man knows and his possibility to know. However when answering these questions, their approach is from different angles. Descartes finds out certainty and continues from this point.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rene Descartes and John Locke specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Locke on the other hand employs empiric thoughts to advance through various levels of truth to arrive at certainty. Through this approach, Locke tries to establish truthfulness with each new step. As Locke argued, applying experimental knowledge without reason makes a person to be stuck. Moreover, rational knowledge is meaningless if not used together with knowledge from the senses. Though their work may contrast on certain aspects, it has been influential even in the midst of scientific advances. Innateness of ideas According to Locke, innate principles do not exist. By arguing in this line, Locke does not oppose Descartes, but targets some of his followers who supported the idea that almost all knowledge in man has basis in innate principles, an approach contrary to the Cartesian approach. In his platonic argument for innate ideas, Descartes puts it that we do not come across things like circularity and justice in actual environment of senses experienced. Descartes’ arguments for innateness in the concept of God is platonic because he points out that the idea of deriving God from experience is impossible because experience does not present us with infinite perfection at any time. Locke on the other hand tries to contrast the platonic rationalistic argument of Descartes regarding circularity and justice. In his abstraction doctrine, Locke asserts that even though man fails to come across perfect circles, circu larity may be common to all objects (Locke I.1.2). By distinguishing between simple and complex ideas, Locke tries to contrast Descartes. Locke argued that man experiences less of God and abstract but more of constituents which are simple in God’s complex idea (Locke I.1.1-3). It occurs as if Descartes expected this response as he (Descartes) puts across the simplicity of God’s idea, an argument which is not sufficient to contrast Locke’s empiric view (Cummins notes). â€Å"Innateness is no guarantee of truth† is an argument which Locke fails to put across but he assumes that â€Å"whatever is innate is true† (Locke I.1.4). Therefore, Locke does not directly argue that innate things are from God, a fact which is true. The above argument implies that to a certain extent, Locke’s argument is similar to the pre-Cartesian argument propounded by rationalists that justification is arbitrary (Hospers 10). Locke’s argument that â€Å"whateve r is innate is true† means that he holds a position similar to Descartes that if innate principles were to occur, then it would be the work of God, a position which is true (Locke I.1.1-3). Furthermore, if Locke were to argue fully against his position, then he would lack the foundation or basis to reject innate principles. However, though Descartes’ argument about innateness of God’s idea is complex, he admits that innateness cannot be self evident (Hospers 13).Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Bank slate Locke points out that structures existing in a child cannot be innate ideas. Therefore according to Locke, man lacks innate ideas at birth but can acquire these ideas by experience through observing things in the environment (sensation) or reflection in the mind. Moreover, the power has ability to repeat, distinguish and unite various simple ideas e.g. taste and texture. The above argument is emphasized by Locke’s writings where he asserts that â€Å"†¦the ideas they produce in the mind enter by the senses simple and unmixed the hand feels softness and warmth in the same piece of wax; yet the simple ideas are as perfectly distinct as those that come in by different senses† (Locke I.1.4). Furthermore, Locke points out that these simple ideas put together form complete ideas (concept of filling a bank slate or tabula rasa). For example the complex idea of a banana in the mind is a result of the mind combining several simple ideas about the color yellow. This is also emphasized by â€Å"Though the qualities that affect our senses are, in the things themselves, so united and blended, that there is no separation between them† (Locke II.1.4). According to Descartes rationalistic perception however, it becomes hard to imagine what has not been experienced in the senses as asserted by Locke. Locke’s empi ric thought unlike Descartes rationalist is absurd because it is absurd and difficult for mental ideas to be connected to objects in the environment (Cummins notes). Knowledge, Reason and Experience While Descartes argues that from the possibility of knowledge being obtained from reason, Locke employs an empiric thought that the sole source of knowledge is experience. Locke also notably criticizes the Cartesian view on knowledge basing his criticism on the fact that at first, the mind is similar to a bank slate (tabular rasa) which is filled through generation of ideas by experience. Locke’s perception of a tabula rasa is in direct contrast with the Cartesian point of view of existence of innate ideas. Therefore, according to Locke’s empiric thought, knowledge can be achieved solely through experience (Locke II.1.7). In contrast to Locke, Renà © Descartes, a renowned rationalist asserts that it is through reasoning that a person can acquire knowledge which confers abi lity to discern true and false. This is in contrast to the empiric thought that the source of knowledge is experience (Cummins notes). According to Descartes, experience can cause deception of sensory organs with the way a person perceives objects hence cannot be relied on as a source of knowledge e.g. the false deception that a pencil inserted in water is broken (Hospers 5).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rene Descartes and John Locke specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Descartes uses the above method to point out that a person should ignore judgement due to experience with objects unless proven beyond reasonable doubt. He uses this method to arrive at his method of establishing doubt (Hospers 77). On the other hand, Locke’s method of arriving at his empiric view is in his work of an ‘epistle to the reader’ where he traces the roots of his philosophical empiric thinking. He uses an anecdote about conversations which showed him that for men to pursue knowledge, they suffer because of failure to determine understanding limits (Locke III.2.6). From Locke’s argument, the origin of knowledge is through introspection and our senses (Locke II.1.3) though Descartes uses the methodical doubt approach of â€Å"I think, therefore I am† or â€Å"cogito ergosum† to refute Locke’s view though he points out that â€Å"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power† (Hospers 31). This approach used by Descartes is however proof of the source of knowledge i.e. introspection. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 6th ed.1689. Institute of Learning Technologies. Web. Cummins, Robert. Notes on Locke: Essay Concerning Human understanding.2009.Print. Hospers, John. An introduction to philosophical analysis. Routledge, 1997.Print.

Carr assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Carr assignment - Essay Example Applying this principle on successful companies like Boeing, Toyota, Pfizer etc., they have established their name not by magically injecting efficiency in their system, but by providing better products (capturing market share, non-IT competitive edges, price strategies etc.). Workers must constantly learn new skills to keep up to date with changing technology (Morley 296). IT gadgets have been transformed from strategic resource to commodity products. At one time a company is proud of a IT innovation, and after a few time, it found being ruined by lower middle class of the society, meaning it is no longer expensive unique or unavailable. Technology is always taken up by firms. A lot of investment is ready for a new technology. Industries acquire technology but there is very little research as to how technology actually provided a competitive advantage to a certain firm. The argument that technology gives a competitive edge to a firm is valid. Electricity is a classic example. However the fact ignored is indefinite reliability on a piece of technology is fatal for the corporate

X Files and the Existence of Highly Intelligent Paranormals Movie Review

X Files and the Existence of Highly Intelligent Paranormals - Movie Review Example X-files film is a highly dramatized American science fiction series that perfectly exposes the antagonism that exists in the security network, with a particular focus on the FBI, concerning the idea of the existence of aliens. "Tempus Fugit," which is a Latin word for â€Å"time flies,† is the title given to episode 17 of the X-Files series emerges as one of the most important parts of the entire scientific series. The episode provides a crucial platform for critical examination and understanding of the overarching mythology of the X-Files series. The episode focuses on Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who are both Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents. Scully is charged with the responsibility of handling paranormal cases. In this episode, the viewers come face to face with a strong proponent of the idea of the existence of extraterrestrial life. The death of Max Fenig, who is an old friend of FBI agent Mulder, in a plane crash, invites suspicion about the existence of extraterrestrial beings. Agent Mulder has a strong conviction that a UFO tried to abduct his old friend, thus causing the plane crash. Max Fenig is featured flying on Flight 549 over upstate New York. In the process, Fenig sees a mysterious man on the plane. The idea of the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life is overtly featured in this episode when a bright light hits the plane, indicating that it has encountered a UFO. When agent Mulder and Scully trace the crash location of the ill-fated plane, Mulder postulates that aliens were responsible for Flight 549’s crash. However, the NTSB team, under the leadership of Mike Millar, disowns Mulder’s allegations. The creepy idea about the abilities of aliens is displayed when Mulder and Scully discover time discrepancy between crash time and the time indicated on the wristwatches of the plane casualties. Mulder believes that Max was abducted by aliens and that he will never be found. The idea of alien existence tantalizes human minds and souls (Harding 120).

Organisational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example Studying organizational behaviour helps to explain, predict and control organizational development, and overall its performance. Organizational climate, on the other hand, ascribes to the observable, powerful force that defines the organization, thus, it can be said to stem from organizational behaviour as it sets the pace for the force. The customs, procedures, policies and practices are what define the organizational climate as these are perpetual. It is important to identify how these come about as such an understanding will help develop models that positively impact performance, behaviours and attitudes of among individuals and groups within the organization. For managers, understanding organizational climate becomes crucial when planning to undertake transformational change. This is because it is more measurable and definable than organizational culture as a tool for driving change. In gaining this understanding, management may gauge the perception of the employees by asking how they feel working there; weighing their level of morale and finding out if there is any goodwill in the business. By asking how the employees feel about working there, management can also deduce their sense of loyalty and belongingness to the organization. This will facilitate designing a strategy for change that will be easily embraced by the employees making it effective (Griffin and Moorehead 2010, p.472). Broken down, organizational climate, following the micro organizational theory, is defined using two relationships between the people and the organization; and between the superiors and subordinates. This lays emphasis on leadership as the most significant determinant of organizational climate. Other determinants include organizational culture, historical forces, standards of accountability, standards of behaviour, rewards, communication, trust and commitment, organizational networks and vision and strategies. Looking into these makes the concept of organizational culture more definable and facilitates modelling to improve performance, attitudes and behaviours. Often, managers focus on organizational culture, which is rather detached from the actual situation (Srivastava 2005, p.42). Leadership is the most significant determinant since a leader will influence the behaviour and expectations of every person within the organization. This may be outlined in two ways, the course followed by management and styles of leadership. A leader sets the climate within an organization going by how he engages with employees to gain their commitment as well as strategizing on the changes that need to be made in order to improve performance. The process of management ascribes to the relationships set by the organizational structure; that is, how superiors interact with their subordinates and vice versa. In addition, it refers to how management initiates change, bureaucracies, policies and procedures. For example, an organization that is reluctant to reward well-performing employees or invest in team-building activities will reflect a negative attitude from employees as they will have no commitment (The Kennedy Group n.d). Of importance as well, leadership practices employed when fostering a desirable organizational climate, that will in turn breed good organizational performance, should focus on competition as an external goal. That is, guiding employees to be better than their counterparts

Video game industry

Video game industry Sony Computer Entertainment Ltd. Versus Nintendo Ltd. For many years, video game industry has played a key role in the growth of economics of some counties. Both Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Nintendo are two representatives of this industry and they also are the main competitors in this fierce market. Previous research has shown that SCE had dominated the video game console market since Playstation2 launched with 138 million unit sales (Plunkett, 2009). Nintendo however occupy much marketing share after their new generation game console Wii and Nintendo Dual Screen (NDS) succeeded in this industry. This essay will compare and contrast SCE and Nintendo in several aspects and this paper which based on secondary resources without exclusive information. Therefore, it will begin via discussing the characteristics of product produced by these two companies, subsequently a discussion concerning price factors between the products of two corporations, for examples the development cost and price of software. Finally, this essay will focu s on the marketing share and sales. Nintendo is a multinational corporation founded on 23 September, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi which producing handmade hanafuda cards. Then the company had tried several small businesses before they developed into a video game company, for example as a cab company and love hotel (Nintendo, 2009a). Consequently, Takenaka (2007) points out Nintendo became Japans third most valuable listed company by developing game console and software, with a market value of over 85 billion USD. Nintendo on the other hand is the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team. Unlike Nintendo, SCE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony which was established on 16 November, 1993 for handling the Research and Development, production and sales of both hardware and software for Playstation (SCE, 2009). SCE currently has three main headquarters around the world: Japan which controls operations in Asia; USA and UK response to control operation in North America and Europe respectively. SCE and Nintendo have their own way to innovating for making their product attractive in order to surviving in the competitive market. Therefore, according to the announcements about new consoles of SCE in 2004 and 2006, Playstation Portable (PSP) and Playstation3 has launched in 12 December 2004 and 11 November 2006 respectively. People were amazed about the high technology in the hardware of the two consoles, for instance, PS3 has built-in Blu-Ray Disc (BD) player and cell processor, and PSP has UMD disc player and 3D image processor. BD is the new standard of disc which has enough space to save the high definition media files. As a result, the software launched for PS3 and PSP, particularly video games evolved by fantastic screen. Unlike SCE, Nintendo did not invest much to develop disruptive technology in order to improving the hardware but creating new game style. The product features of Wii are the motion sensitive remote and NDS with touch screen and internal microphone. There fore, most of software launched on Nintendo console has bring the features in full play. For instance, the Wii Fit is the education program about Yoga and it is suitable for people who want learn yoga at home, especially ladies. Furthermore, My Word Coach DS and SekainoGohan Shaberu DS are the software for teaching user language and cooking respectively. While, Nintendos product no matter consoles and software are considerably cheaper than SCEs. The significant brand image of SONY and the costly latest technology for consoles determine SCEs product is expensive. There were two hardware configurations announced for PS3 in E3 2006: a 20GB model and a 60GB model, initially priced at 499 USD and 599 USD respectively (IGN, 2006). Furthermore, PSP is the first venture of SCE in the pocket game console market with price skimming strategy too. The price of the base model in first announcement of it was 19800 yen about 181 USD in 2004 (IGN, 2004). Then, in accordance with appendix 1(Curmudgeon Gamer, 2007), the table reveals the comparison of the average game price between DS and PSP in Mid-Nov 2006 and Mid-Apr 2007 respectively. The trends of average game price for PSP and DS both were experienced a decreased during that period of time. Besides, the average game price of PSP is more expensive than DS by 2-3 USD per game. However the price of Nintendos consoles wii and NDS are much lower than PS3 and PSP. Compared with PS3, the Wii launched in United States in November 2006 at 249.99 USD nearly half of PS3 (Sanders and Casamassina, 2006). Moreover, according to Harris (2004) Nintendo announced the NDS would be released in North America in November, 2004 for 149.99 USD. Nintendo already had occupied much more marketing share than SCE with the successful strategy and the attractive features of consoles. Although SCE had invested significant mount of money for developing their new generation game console. Sony released its life-to-date sales for the PS3 and PSP. As of June 30, 2009, the high-powered and relatively high-priced console had sold 23.8 million units worldwide since its November 2006 launce. (Thorsen, 2009: no page) Thorsen (2009), also cited in the Game Spot, The PSP, which launched in 2004 (Japan) and 2005 (all other territories), had sold 55.9 million units as of the end of Sonys last fiscal quarter. On the contrary, Nintendo (2009b, pp9) reported NDS and Wii had sold 107.75 million units and 52.62.million units since it launched to the June, 09 respectively. Moreover, appendix 2 illustrates the sales of the four game consoles in the three main markets (Japan, United Kingdom and United States). To sum up, the purpose of this essay is to highlight some main differences and similarities between SCE and Nintendo, it has been seen that even though SCE and Nintendo produce the same types of products, they have the different way on designing their products and expanding their business. In terms of evaluating the circumstance of the two corporations it has emerged from the discussion above that Nintendo occupied much more market share and it is in a stronger financial position than SCE. Given the current economic climate, Nintendo therefore is the video game development company which would suffer the least economic loss. References Brightman.J (2008) Wii U.S. installed base now leads Xbox 360 by almost 2 million (Online) Retrieved from http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/wii-us-installed-base-now-leads-xbox-360-by-almost-2-million [Assessed 24 October 2009] Curmudgeon Gamer (2007) Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP: game pricing update (Online) Retrieved from http://curmudgeongamer.com/2007/04/nintendo-ds-vs-sony-psp-game-pricing.html [Assessed 22 October 2009] Famistu (2009) Revenue of Japan video game industry was almost 582.61 billion yens (In Japanese) (Online) Retrieved from http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1221045_1124.html [Assessed 24 October 2009] Harris.C (2004) Official Nintendo DS launch details (Online) Retrieved from http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/549/549919p1.html [Assessed 23 October 2009] IGN (2004) Japanese price and date set (Online) Retrieved from http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/560/560947p1.html [Assessed 22 October 2009] IGN (2006) E3 2006: The final word on playstation (Online) Retrieved from http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/709/709973p1.html [Assessed 22 October 2009] Kiyoshi Takenaka (2007) UPDATE 2-Nintendo sets $85 bln high score, thanks to Wii, DS (Online) Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUST30751820071015 [Assessed 10 November 2009] Martin, M (2009) Console installed base reaches 22m in UK (Online) Retrieved from http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/console-installed-base-reaches-22m-in-uk [Assessed 24 October 2009] Nintendo (2009a) Company History (In Japanese) (Online) Retrieved from: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/outline/index.html [Assessed 21 October 2009] Nintendo (2009b) Consolidated Financial Highlights pp9 (Online) Retrieved from http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2009/090730e.pdf#page=23 [Assessed 24 October 2009] Plunkett, L (2009) Sony talks Playstation lifetime sales, PSN revenue (Online) Retrieved from: http://kotaku.com/5340392/sony-talk-playstation-lifetime-sales-psn-revenue [Assessed 21 October 2009] Sanders, K and Casamassina, M (2006) US Wii price, launch date revealed (Online) Retrieved from http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/732/732669p1.html [Assessed 23 October 2009] SCE (2009) Company Profile (Online) Retrieve from: http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/index_e.html [Assessed 21 October 2009] SCE (2004) PSP enters the market on December 12, 2004 at 19,800 Yen in Japan (Online) Retrieved from http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/041027ae.pdf [Assessed 22 October 2009] SCE (2006) Playstation3 Launches on November 11, 2006 in Japan (Online) Retrieved from http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/060509ae.pdf [Assessed 22 October 2009] Thorsen.T (2009) PS3 sales almost 24 million, PSP near 56 million (Online) Retrieved from: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6214693.html?om_act=convertom_clk=newstoptag=newstop;title;5 [Assessed 24 October 2009]

Lucky Jim :: essays research papers

Characters There is more than a touch of the picaresque rogue in Jim Dixon. Jim perpetrates a succession of practical jokes, tricks, and deceptions on other characters in the novel, especially those who offend his democratic sensibility. He has a talent for "pulling faces" and projecting voices gestures Amis uses to enhance Jim's social commentary. He is sometimes aided and abetted in his roguery by his fellow boarder, the salesman Bill Atkinson. On campus, in addition to Welch, Johns, and Margaret, Jim is seen interacting with certain female students to whom he is attracted and with Mr. Michie, an ardent overachiever who keeps pushing Jim to provide him with the syllabus for Jim's honors tutorial. Off campus, Jim meets Christine Callaghan and eventually steals her away from Bertrand Welch. Through Christine he meets her uncle Julius GoreUrquhart, a wealthy entrepreneur and critic who hires Jim as his personal secretary. Themes As in all good comedy, the theme of this book is the difference between appearance and truth, between illusion and reality. The theme plays itself out through the conventional concerns of romantic love. Jim is caught between the falsity of Margaret Peel and the freshness of Christine Callaghan. He is caught between one job, the future of which involves kowtowing to Welch until he becomes an historical fossil like his superior, and another job the prospect of which offers a supportive employer and interesting work. Amis projects Jim through a series of complications during the course of which the author critiques the stodginess of England's moribund social system. The obligatory happy ending is fulfilled when Jim ends up with the proper woman and the proper work. Techniques/Literary Precedents Lucky Jim is a conventional novel; its narration is third person, its development is chronological, and its style is a conventional mixture of dialogue and description. The characterizations are clearly and sharply drawn. The novel abounds in verbal wit, comic gesture, and good natured satire. One of its most distinguished qualities is the pacing and power of key descriptive passages. Amis controls and builds excruciatingly comic tension in such descriptions as Welch attempting to pass a van on a curve with a Lucky Jim :: essays research papers Characters There is more than a touch of the picaresque rogue in Jim Dixon. Jim perpetrates a succession of practical jokes, tricks, and deceptions on other characters in the novel, especially those who offend his democratic sensibility. He has a talent for "pulling faces" and projecting voices gestures Amis uses to enhance Jim's social commentary. He is sometimes aided and abetted in his roguery by his fellow boarder, the salesman Bill Atkinson. On campus, in addition to Welch, Johns, and Margaret, Jim is seen interacting with certain female students to whom he is attracted and with Mr. Michie, an ardent overachiever who keeps pushing Jim to provide him with the syllabus for Jim's honors tutorial. Off campus, Jim meets Christine Callaghan and eventually steals her away from Bertrand Welch. Through Christine he meets her uncle Julius GoreUrquhart, a wealthy entrepreneur and critic who hires Jim as his personal secretary. Themes As in all good comedy, the theme of this book is the difference between appearance and truth, between illusion and reality. The theme plays itself out through the conventional concerns of romantic love. Jim is caught between the falsity of Margaret Peel and the freshness of Christine Callaghan. He is caught between one job, the future of which involves kowtowing to Welch until he becomes an historical fossil like his superior, and another job the prospect of which offers a supportive employer and interesting work. Amis projects Jim through a series of complications during the course of which the author critiques the stodginess of England's moribund social system. The obligatory happy ending is fulfilled when Jim ends up with the proper woman and the proper work. Techniques/Literary Precedents Lucky Jim is a conventional novel; its narration is third person, its development is chronological, and its style is a conventional mixture of dialogue and description. The characterizations are clearly and sharply drawn. The novel abounds in verbal wit, comic gesture, and good natured satire. One of its most distinguished qualities is the pacing and power of key descriptive passages. Amis controls and builds excruciatingly comic tension in such descriptions as Welch attempting to pass a van on a curve with a

Identify how you would beta test a multimedia project for delivery Essay

Beta testing is a test for a computer product prior to commercial release may it be an application software, an operating system or a multimedia product. It is a stage where in the product is put into a larger community after a rigorous in house test. To some, it is also a way of knowing how well the community responds to the product. Beta testing is the last stage of testing, the last possibility to correct errors that would render a product priceless to customers. And because of this, beta testing of multimedia products is in essence a difficult task. PURPOSE The purpose of this document is to present a strategy to beta test a multimedia product. It presents possible alternatives that would yield the best result. BETA TESTING STRATEGY In the past, beta testing is used to be a secret. Beta testing is given to a group carefully selected by the company who owns the product to be tested. The fear that finding a considerable amount of bug might diminish customer interest was the old belief. Now, the perspective has changed. Beta testing is already considered an important marketing tool (Nelson & O’Connor, 2004). It increases the popularity of the multimedia product. The best strategy therefore is to make it available for free in the beta testing phase. The first step is to advertise the beta software and provide links to beta version download. Then provide a feedback center for them to comment on observable bugs. Providing the beta version free has many advantages. First, it is very cost effective because you do not have to spend money for hiring a group of people to beta test the software. You may have to spend a certain amount to accelerate interest by providing rewards to people with most important bugs found or by advertising the beta download locations, but these are small compared to hiring an entire group. Second, it is the best way to reach the most number of beta testers. The number of beta testers is directly proportional to how effective the beta testing would be. Third, providing it for free is a way of advertising the software to gain more users. The finding of bugs is just one part of beta testing, there should also be a way for users to provide suggestions. Suggestions are very important to make the multimedia product more acceptable to the market. The suggestions and reported bugs should be monitored on daily basis. Suggestions should be evaluated of whether there is a plan to include it or not. Reported bugs should also be evaluated of whether it is connected to some other bugs or it is really a bug. Then an update release should be available on a periodic basis, for example a monthly update until the reported bugs are already tolerable or it is already completely bug free. The end result of this methodology should produce a very robust multimedia product. If the multimedia product gains public acceptance, the number of users who will beta test this product would also be many. This will give the developer an early view of whether the multimedia product would become profitable. Although there are some possible drawbacks, the beta software should also be given some licensing limitations to prevent users from simply using the beta version instead of the final version. An example would be a pop-up of the reminder to purchase license when the beta period expires. CONCLUSION Multimedia products undergo beta testing to ensure good quality. The best approach in beta testing is to make it free and available for public download at the beta version stage. This would increase its popularity and the cost of beta testing would be minimal. References Nelson, T. and O’Connor, M. (2004). Beta Software: Get In the Development Process. Retrieved from the PC Today website: http://www. pctoday. com/Editorial/article. asp? article=articles/2004/t0205/20t05/20t05. asp&guid= , on January 24, 2007

The Decision Making Model essays

The Decision Making Model essays I work in software development, primarily focusing on enterprise java applications and recently I was tasked with designing an application which would give a web front-end to one of our in-house developed tools. The original tool is a fairly large client side application that allows our people to enter and modify data, which is their main function. The primary goal in this project was to create an administrative tool whereby supervisors could create assignments and then give the assignees the ability to log in offsite, complete their work, and submit the data for approval by the supervising editor. We wanted to re-use as much of our existing code as possible which was thankfully not a huge issue due to the component model inherent in the enterprise java bean specification which we had programmed all of our server components to. We applied a decision making model to our analysis, design and coding by first stopping and thinking about what we anticipated we would need to do for this application and writing down our initial thoughts into concise notes. We then began collaborating with our internal team to write a thorough design document about what we all agreed the application would do and the problems it would solve. We clarified our goals and came to have a common expectation. We planned on developing the application in release cycles that revolved around completing certain key features. We would begin by creating the simplest working example of what the application would evolve into and built the rest out from this prototype based on feedback and new knowledge acquired during this phase. We also worked on developing options for the design and integration of existing technology into the new application. There was a lot of existing infrastructure which we could easily make use of to build the ...

Jacksonian revolution essays

Jacksonian revolution essays As a person and as a president Andrew Jackson was looked upon in different ways. There are many people that have a high regard for him during his presidency, while others scorn him as a president. He is portrayed as an intimidating, energetic, aggressive and compelling person. Several people are under the impression that Andrew Jackson was responsible for the creation of the Democratic Party, however, this article expels this idea and informs the reader the actual story. John C. Calhoun and Martin Van Buren banned together to form an alliance with one another as well as with several politicians from the south. A political organization that revolved around the presidential candidacy of Jackson was created by this group of southern politicians. This political organization became acknowledged as the Democratic Party. From knowing this, it is evident that Andrew Jackson was not the creator of this party; rather, it was the group of politicians that admired Jackson that were responsible. The members of the Democratic Party practice the same principles as Jackson. They opposed the idea of a strong central government, as well as, a broad interpretation of the Constitution. The idea of the federal government sponsoring public works was greatly opposed by the Democrats. They argued that internal improvements could inflate the power of the central government and jeopardize liberty. During his presidency, Andrew Jackson used his powers in numerous amounts of ways. Jackson vetoed many bills that came across him, this exemplifying a way in which he used his power. Jackson vetoed congressional legislation more times then all the other presidents combined. Another example of how he used his power was he favored majority rules. He announced to Congress The majority is to govern. This belief was mostly due to the fact that he was devoted to a strict dedication to democracy. Jackson p ...

Chapter 6 Presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Chapter 6 Presentation - Essay Example Theres also potential for harm when decisions affecting students futures are being made based on results of assessments made with tools that are not appropriate for the purpose. A good designer generally begins to think about assessment instruments as she develops the learning objectives. This is done to help ensure that not only does the assessment match the objectives but appropriately amplifies and clarifies the objectives themselves. Practicality: Optimal assessment might be a many-itemed constructed response or performance exam that is as close as possible to the real life situation in which the learners will apply their knowledge for all objectives with a carefully developed set of criteria for evaluating the responses. Trade-offs in Assessment Design: It is indeed important to consider carefully decisions as to which factors are most important for the particular assessment situation and then male trade-offs among the factors of validity, reliability and practicality. All design work involves consideration of trade-offs (Petroski, 2003). Swanson, Norman, and Linn (1995) proposed that â€Å"authentic assessment† is synonymous with performance assessment. They defined performance assessment as â€Å"testing complex, ‘higher order’ knowledge and skills in the real world context in which they are actually used, generally with open-ended tasks that require substantial examinee time to complete. 1 Observation of On-the-job performance: The best way to see if students have learned what we want them to learn at the necessary level is to take into the real world and have them perform what they have been instructed to do. The test instruments can be a checklist or rating scale. Checklists may be appropriate for on-the-job assessments if all critical cognitions in the newly acquired learning are manifested in observable behavior. Rating scale is used when a more refined evaluation of a process or product than just

Case study analysis of a vertebral condition for mobilisations Essay

Case study analysis of a vertebral condition for mobilisations - Essay Example One likely cause of lower back pain is sprains of the muscles at that point. A sprain is basically a ‘pulled’ muscles. This can typically resolve itself in a period of not less than two weeks but the same should not go over four weeks (Petty & Moore, 2001). This thus means that if the pain is to go over four weeks, then an intervention should be through through and put in place. According to Petty and Moore (2001), symptoms of sprains includes minor ache but sometimes this may lead to a debilitating pain. However, Nordin & Frankel (2003) notes that it is unlikely that the pain which comes as a result of spraining a muscle will be felt far from the location of the muscle. In essence, such a pain tends to be localized. Therefore, the intermittent side in the lumbar region to the left side of lower back may be as a result of muscle sprain. However, such a pain is not expected to spread to the buttock as is the case. The intervertebral disc in the lumbar region helps absorb compressive forces, in the process creating a space for spinal nerves to leave the spinal column (Nordin& Frankel, 2003). In the event excessive compressive pressure is placed on the disc, sometimes tears can occur in the disc. The force of the jelly put on the tears can lead the disc tearing at that point. In some cases, the disc can ruptured at the point of the tear. Disc problems like this makes the disc vulnerable to compression as the player takes various swings in the process of playing, and this results into the pain. Unlike pain caused by muscle sprain, this type of pain can radiate into the buttocks and the legs (Muscolino, 2009) and may be the cause of pain being felt into the buttocks. Thus, to conclude, the two types of pain being felt by this particular player may be as a result of both a muscle sprain in the lower back region and a disc