Saturday, August 31, 2019

Cultural Critique – Racism

Unfortunately, in this time and age, racism continues to be an issue in the American society, especially in the south. Since the introduction of slavery, many people have the belief that skin color determines someone’s ranking in life. After the freedom of slaves, racism became a big problem in America. As a result, other races look down upon many different cultures and ethnic groups believing that they are superior to others. Racism has lead to people discriminate against one another and become prejudice. Unfortunately, racism effects peoples lifestyles, job opportunities, and education. Racism affects a person’s lifestyle.Unfortunately, racism can cause a person to go into deep depressions. After constantly hearing negative aspects of a person’s image, people can begin to loath themselves. Unfortunately, self-loathing can cause a person to become suicidal or cause self-harm. Because of racism, people have gone to extreme lengths to change their physical appeara nce. For example, many people have confessed about trying to change their skin complexion by putting harmful substances on their bodies to bleach their skin. Dealing with racism can be oppressive. Fortunately, there are people who turn things like this into auspicious outcomes.For example, during the civil rights movement, the people of America fought to change the oppression of racism. By doing so, they defeated the milestone and overcame racism, by doing what they were told they could not. Instead of letting others put them down with spiteful words, they lifted each other up with encouraging words. As a result, they created self-love and the common phrase â€Å"Black is Beautiful. † Racism can also affect a person’s job opportunities. Racism cause races to believe that they are better than another race. As a result, people may discriminate against another person due to their appearance.For example, many African Americans are discriminates against in the work place. C onsequently, African Americans have to work harder than others to obtain the same job than someone of a different race does, say Caucasians. This affects the African American community causing for the different negative statistics about unemployment and welfare increase. Fortunately, there was a law passed that prohibits discrimination of any type in the work place. These laws prohibit jobs from discriminating against people for their race, gender, and ability. Racism has affected the education of many children.In the past, racism has caused segregation. During the times of segregation, African Americans students attended different schools than the Caucasian students. The African American children had to use used books with torn and ripped out pages, while the Caucasian students used brand new books. This caused there to be a gap in learning process of African American students. Although segregation no longer exists in the school system, it still affects the education of children to day. Schools in African American communities do not have the different amenities as schools located in diverse communities.Researchers have found that the achievement gap is linked to racial segregation. There are currently no segregated schools, but instead schools that are aimed toward different ethnic groups, but will allow any one of any race to attend. For example, there are schools that target the black community and educate them on their heritage and the school board curriculum. The people who participate in racism are intolerable to others racial appearance. Regrettably, racism hurts the lives of many people. The people who continue to be racist and intolerable to others people’s nationality make the lives of others a living hell.Many people have caused self-harm to themselves and others due to racism. People carry racism to their job place, and other places creating an uneasy and negative atmosphere. Racism has shaped America into what it is today. Without racism, pe ople would not be as strong as they are today, with thicker skin for words. Comparing people’s treatment of now to the treatment of who endured racism, the negativity is nowhere near as harsh. Racism has also caused many people to love themselves even more. There is currently a new trend of people becoming excited by their â€Å"haters;† and instead of allowing it to hurt them, they use it for motivation.America has been negatively impacted by racism. It has caused negative changes in people’s lifestyle, job opportunities, and education. Due to the negative influences of racism, people have gone into deep depressions. People have succumb to depression because they are constantly discriminated against inside and outside the work force, they have to constantly over compensate and compete for jobs with people of different races, people are called out of their name, and are being miseducated by the educational system. Racism has negatively influenced America since i t was introduced during slavery.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Developmental Stages in Children and Adolscents

Developmental Stages in Children and Adolescents Erica Bass May 7, 2012 Andrew Fletcher PSY 104 – Child and Adolescent Development Developmental Stages in Children and Adolescents In exploring the differences in children and why and how they develop can be quite interesting. There are many different theories that suggest different explanations as to why children develop when they do, whether it is cognitive, socially, mentally, etc. Three very interesting theories are Kohlberg’s moral development theory, Piaget’s cognitive theory and Freud’s psychosexual theory.How does each of these theories pertain to the average child, and can these theories work together? First let us explore three very different theories, the first being Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Moral development is a major topic of interest in both psychology and education. One of the best known theories was developed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg who modified and expanded u pon Jean Piaget's work to form a theory that explained the development of moral reasoning. Kohlberg extended Piaget's theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan.Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, while Kohlberg's theory of moral development outlined six stages within three different levels, which are outlined below: * Level 1. Preconventional Morality * Stage 1 – Obedience and Punishment – at this stage children see rules as fixed and absolute, they view rules as being important because they avoid punishment * Stage 2 – Individualism and Exchange – at this stage children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs * Level 2.Conventional Morality * Stage 3 – Interpersonal Relationships – at this stage the focus is on living up to social expectations and roles. * Stage 4 – Maintaining Social Order  œ at this stage the focus is on following rules and respecting authority * Level 3. Postconventional Morality * Stage 5 – Social Contract and Individual Rights – at this stage people begin to account for different values, opinions and beliefs or other people. Stage 6 – Universal Principles – at this stage people are supposed to uphold the universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning (http://psychology. about. com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg. htm) Paiget’s Theory. Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development describe the intellectual development of children from infancy to early adulthood. Piaget believed that children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. He also proposed a number of concepts to explain how children process information. The three concepts to support Piaget’s theory are: Schemas – Are categories of knowledge that help us interpret and understand the world * Assimilation – The process of taking in new information into our previously existing schema’s * Accommodation – Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schema’s in light of new information There are also four different stages to Piaget’s theory, which are: * The Sensormotor Stage – This stage last from birth to two years of age and is centered on the infant trying to make sense of the world * The Preoperational Stage – This stage occurs between ages two to six, and is centered on language development * The Concrete Operational Stage – This stage occurs between the ages seven to eleven, and is centered on thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts * The Formal Operational Stage – This stage occurs between the ages twelve and last through adulthood, during this time people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts (http://psychol ogy. about. com/b/2008/04/21/key-concepts-in-cognitive-development. htm) Now let’s explore a second theory, Freud’s theory. According to Sigmund Freud, personality is mostly established by the age of five.Early experiences play a large role in personality development and continue to influence behavior later in life. Freud's theory of psychosexual development is one of the best known, but also one of the most controversial. Freud believed that personality develops through a series of childhood stages during which the pleasure-seeking energies of the id become focused on certain erogenous areas. This psychosexual energy, or libido, was described as the driving force behind behavior. If these psychosexual stages are completed successfully, the result is a healthy personality. If certain issues are not resolved at the appropriate stage, fixation can occur.A fixation is a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage. Until this conflict is resolved, the individual will remain â€Å"stuck† in this stage. Freud’s theory consists of five different stages, which are: * The Oral Stage – This stage occurs from birth to one year, the infant’s primary source of interaction is through oral simulation through tasting and sucking. Because an infant it is entirely dependent upon caregivers, the infant develops a sense of trust and comfort through oral simulation * The Anal Stage – This stage occurs from one to three years of age, which is basically training the child to control his/her, bodily needs, toilet training to be specific. The Phallic Stage – This stage occurs from three to six years of age, at this stage children begin to discover the difference between males and females. * The Latent Period – This stage occurs from six to puberty, at this stage the libido interest is suppressed, and the development of the ego and superego contribute to the calm of this stage. This is the time of exploration but is d irected more towards intellectual and social interaction. * The Genital Stage – This stage occurs between puberty and death, this is when an adolescent develops a strong interest in the opposite sex (http://psychology. about. com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev. tm) All of these theories have their way in the world, and when speaking to parents about their children I am sure that they can apply each of these in some shape or form. For example the Kohlberg theory, moral development: Suppose there is a child who has no rules or boundaries. There is one in particular that comes to mind. This child is born, the father is absent, the mother doing it alone, she has issues with alcohol and drugs, so therefore the child gets very little personal attention, or guidance, she is free to do as she wishes. Because of this from birth to adolescence beginning with conventional morality, she does not have rules so, does the Kohlberg theory apply? I would venture to say no, becaus e the ideal of these rules and boundaries being put it to place are not there, and do not happen. This

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Carol Ann Duffys Mean Time

Carol Ann Duffy's Average Time Carol Ann Duffy's poetry Average Time is another way to lose love, change time and lose life itself. This poem is very personal and autobiographical for Duffy's life. It is almost the same as her poetry. Average time is based on mourning your lost love and when you awake one day you realize that it's not just time passed, regret seems meaningless but time also I steal my life It is your mourning regret. This contemporary Victorian poetry can also be compared with the Shakespearean sonnet and another contemporary Carroll Andhafi poem. Ann Hathaway plays a loving wife and an adventurous woman at Anne Hathaway's poet Anne Hathaway. Duffy 's way of demonstrating this is by her choosing the type of structure used in that poem. She became a rhyming crowd that could be thought of as resembling Shakespeare's Sonnet style, using a modified sonnet. After all, this couple almost imitates the style used in Shakespeare's sonnet. Because they always use rhyming coupl ets and end up with dramatic rhyming tuplets. Anne Hathaway was a wife of Shakespeare, so this sonnet style was being considered in her poem. Finally, using this rhyming phrase highlights the focus of her and his beloved poetry. Compare Carol Ann Duffy 's Valentine' s Day and Andrew Marvell with this mission 's niece and compare Carol Ann Duffy' s Lovers with Andrew Marvell 's To Coy Mistress. Valentine's Day written in this poem is the 20th century and speakers use onion as a metaphor for expressing her love. The poetry of giving his niece in the 17th century tells the poet that he is trying to persuade his lover to sleep with him. - The poetry of Andrew Marvel and John Donne is the era of beautiful poetry. In particular, the two poets, Andrew Marvell and John Donne, wrote a poem by Carpediem full of vivid images and metaphysical meditation. Everyone tells the message live for the present. This information can be clearly seen in Marvell and Donne's flea poem To the coy Mistress. Th rough clever metaphor and tools these poems are not only symbolic but also have physical features.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Leadership vs. Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership vs. Management - Essay Example That is because of the existing gray area in the definition of the two. However, Warren Bennis who penned the book â€Å"On Becoming a Leader† (1989) has tried to differentiate leadership and management by explaining that; In essence, leadership sets the tone that the group is to follow while management controls and directs the workers towards achieving the goals based on established values and principles (â€Å"Definition of Leadership and Management†). Based upon the aforementioned differences of a leadership and management, we can now create a more solid perception of what the good characteristics of a leader should be. According to Tanya Prive (2012), there are 10 qualities that depict the best characteristics of a leader. These characteristics include; While there is a very long list of characteristics that is expected of a leader, there are only 5 very important qualities that a manager must have according to Jacob Morgan (2013). These qualities include; Experts such as Erika Andersen (2012) believe that it is possible for a single person to be a good leader and manager since the two are complementary and related. The characteristics of a good leader and manager actually overlap in 4 areas according to Andersen (2012). These include â€Å"listen well, are curious, manager their self - talk, and hold themselves accountable for moving their business forward.† Leadership qualities therefore, can be acquired, developed, and taught to others. That is because business managers learn to observe their leaders in order to properly manage their business. The leaders train the managers to become their clones on the floor and therefore allow these managers to develop their leadership abilities, which are taught to them and which they pass onto their subordinates. In conclusion, I would advise that those interested in management and leadership read more articles pertaining to the method by which these two highly

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

MANAGERIAL FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MANAGERIAL FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING - Essay Example Particularly focusing on the financial monitoring aspect of the company, Creative Ltd. requires additional accounting resources to ensure an optimum level of efficiency and transparency in its financial reporting activities. Accounting is the monitoring and controlling of all financial transactions that take place, or are liable to take place, and it provides a transparent view of where the company stands financially at any given point in time. However within itself, we can classify it into two major segments (1) Financial, and (2) Managerial. They are discernible as follows: remains balanced. These activities include recording financial transactions, posting the double entries to general ledger, maintaining and adjusting general ledgers, closing the books and preparing financial statements. Managerial Accounting is more about monitoring financial performance, conducting variance analysis, following through with revised targets. It also encompasses the forecasting of sales, revenues, costs, budgeting activities of the firm etc. Financial Accountancy is conducted for external stakeholders of the company such as investors, Stockholders, Debt Providers, Regulatory Bodies etc. whereas Managerial Accountancy is executed for decision making within the firm and the information is mostly employed by middle and upper level management of the company. Financial Accounting is solely based on the past performance of the company, while Managerial Accounting focuses on the current predicaments and the possible future outcomes based on the previous performance of the company. (Diffen Online) Financial Accountancy requires that the data be completely objective and verifiable, whereas in the case of Managerial Accountancy, the data need not be completely objective or verifiable. This is because financial accountancy is primarily an overview of how the company has performed, thus it must be backed by accurate and concrete figures. However,

Monday, August 26, 2019

Critique OPEC website Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critique OPEC website - Essay Example This essay discusses OPEC, that has been quite successful in presenting its case as a joint effort to protect its members from possible exploitation by industrialized countries. For this purpose, it has used several means of propaganda and its website www.opec.org has been quite effective in projecting the serious aspect of OPEC’s loquacious inducements of using oil as a tool of diplomacy, intimidation and restitution. The details and information that have been made available through this website is the sharp example of how fastidious OPEC is about its appearance or presentation to the entire world. A number of causes comes into focus of this essay. The list of reasons starts with restrained production policy of OPEC nations. These nations have the upward trend of oil production since 1999 and have added more problem to the economic crisis that raised its head in 2008 and is still continuing. Though the prices have again fallen to the almost less than one third of the peak val ue of US $145 per barrel but it’s the recession that is responsible for this fall rather than OPEC nations’ contribution towards economic partner to the world as whole. This essay not only analyzes impact and effects that OPEC have on modern oil market, but also researches possible promotional actions of it's website. OPEC website is one of the mouthpiece or better to say a means through the use of electronic media. In conclusion, the researcher states that the website has been developed quite efficiently in pursuing the goals of OPEC as a tool for information and image broadcasting.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Comparison of the novel Wuthering Heights with one of its Film Essay

Comparison of the novel Wuthering Heights with one of its Film Adaptations - Essay Example Judging from the popularity, the novel has been transformed into a movie numerous times. The story is narrated by two characters: Nelly Dean and Lockwood. But each movie has some differences especially when it comes to the narration or the perspective shown in each movie. For instance, in some of the movies Catherine’s ghost does not appear, which is a rather drastic change. Other than the settings, the nature of characters has also been changed. Catherine is not that selfish and spiteful in the movie as she is in the novel. In the movie, it seems as if she is a pitiful and passive character. However, it is actually because of her nasty and selfish nature that she takes such a drastic decision of marrying Edgar Linton. In the movie it seems that she is a vulnerable victim of nature and the society. In the book Heathcliff listens to Catherine saying that marrying him would degrade her and her family. Heathcliff is wounded by this admission and so he goes away. In the movie Heathcliff just goes away without even hearing anything. So instead of recklessness, which is significant in both the characters in the book, it seems more of a childish attitude in the movie. Childish, they never are. They are arrogant, passionate and reckless. Hence, the very depiction of characters has been deviated from, thus, sucking the life out of them. So when they try to act silly, they look awkward and this extinguishes the flame of passion and desire. Considering the age of the characters in the movie it creates more of a funny situation in the viewer’s eyes. However after reading the novel one feels angry and livid at the turn of events and the tragic incidents. Another major difference in the novel and the movie is the death scene. In the novel Heathcliff never gets to see Catherine’ s body. But in the movie, Heathcliff digs up the grave and hugs the body. This gives a totally unreal quality to the storyline. Moreover, in the novel when Heathcliff is not able to see Catherine’s body, it adds to the tragic element and the readers also feel bad about it. But the

Arab Culture and Beliefs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arab Culture and Beliefs - Essay Example The Islamic faith had taken roots in the 6th century AD in Saudi Arabia and spread out into the surrounding regions. The Islamic rulers were trained in the art of warfare, astute statesmen and able administrators6. They ruled with an iron hand but they were fair in their dealings7. They were patrons of literature, arts, science and philosophy8. Trade, education and military expeditions were high on their agenda and they carried out these in the best tradition9 and vision the newly found religion propagated and expounded10 (Saudi Arabia: Culture). Hence, given the ideal state of affairs storytellers flourished11. These bards were thoroughly familiar with the fallacies and foibles of all men from at all levels12. They were either trained in the art of storytelling or were motivated13 enough to stir up their imaginations to arouse interest and maintain it through mentally manufactured plots which they narrated before gaping, awe-struck audience14. Which audience will resist the temptation to hear accounts of rags to riches episodes15 couched with mysterious events, adventures, gallant heroes, beautiful women, eccentric rulers, scheming villains, strange beings and beasts, and rounded up with the most unlikely and profound endings.16 The Arab culture of medieval times provide the fantastic backgro... The Arab culture of medieval times provide the fantastic background of valor and wealth, innocence and greed, intrigue and deceit, ogre and jinn, and a rich variety of oriental charm and chicanery17 to embellish the Arabian Nights with the unique touch and brand of a world where the interplay of facts and fiction18 gave both an aura of invincibility and supernatural powers to perform the impossible.19 The Arabian Nights tantalizingly reflect the heydays of Arabia's past glory20 when ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11,12,13,14,15 Saudi Arabia: Culture 16,17,18,19,20 The Arabian Nights the Arab world was a world centre for learning, science, arts and philosophy21. The advent and spread of Islam in the Arab world22 and beyond happened in the times the Arabian Nights came to be written and told23. Possibilities exist for some of the stories to have been given a makeover of the Arab culture and beliefs24 to make it more acceptable to the regional masters and citizenry15. It is also possible that many of the stories originated25 from one of the countries with whom Arabia had economic and cultural ties like India26. The stories resonate with the culture and ethos of these places where the Islamic rulers had dominion including the countries the Arabs did business with27. What distinguishes the Arabian Nights from other folklores is the way metaphysics28 is incorporated to highlight ordinary life and situations with supernatural aliens and incidents29. The stories of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sindbad the Sailor, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp30 are some examples of

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Argentina FX assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Argentina FX assignment - Essay Example It is imperative to point out that the devaluation enhanced speedy growth of the Argentina’s GDP. This growth was the reason for the re-election of Kirchners. The strategy involved setting the prices of Argentinean exports based on the boom that occurred in the commodities’ prices. This was ramped up with the spending by the government. The devaluation resulted in the tumbling of the Argentina’s fiscal balance from 7.14 per dollar to 8.50 per dollar. Venezuela is reported to have weakened the bolivar through the partial devaluation of its currency. This was devalued to approximately 11.3 per dollar. This was inclusive of the remittances and tourism in comparison to the rate of 6.3 per dollar, which is the official rate of exchange. The tumbling of the fiscal balance from 7.14 per dollar to 8.50 per dollar prompted the Argentina’s central bank to resort to selling its reserves amounting to $100 million in order to control the slide. The devaluation is expected to result in a reduction in the â€Å"stockpile of dollar reserves† (Parks, Turner and Lyons 2). The decision by the Argentinean government to shift away from policies that were friendly to the market to populist attitudes that granted the government subsidies that were generous on sectors of the economy led to rise in the inflation that was insinuated to be among the highest across the globe. The devaluation was conducted without letting the international monetary fund to review the free-market policies. This also led to the collapse of the peso. The government implemented various unorthodox policies aimed at regulating the inflation rate. These included currency controls and price controls through the Argentina’s central bank. The inflation rate for Argentina is estimated to have risen approximately to 25% to 30% according to economists. This estimation is contrary to the government’s records that indicated that last year, the inflation

Friday, August 23, 2019

Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Employment Law - Essay Example The employers need to immediately respond to the complaints regarding the discrimination in a legal manner. These complaints need to be managed and handled in an effective formalized process. The line supervisors should not try to resolve these issues. The supervisors need to inform and notify the human resource professional and top management for an appropriate organizational response. First and foremost, the employer needs to evaluate the allegation of employment discrimination. The employer should involve the top management and HR professionals in this evaluation process (Mello, 2011). First of all, they need to receive and handle the complaint or allegation by asking the complaining employee about the reason behind the allegation. The management team should encourage the complaining employee to provide details in writing about the allegation. Then the management should be asked for his or her opinion to overcome the issue. The employer should strictly review this matter with the help of top management and HR professionals. Based on the complaint and allegation, the employer should try to evaluate all the insights. Then the employer should undertake an investigation process. It is the responsibility of an employer to maintain effective workplace environment within an organization. Moreover, maintaining several legislations and legal aspects will help the organization to perform its business practices without any harassment. This evaluation will help the employer to understand specific workplace behavior. However, the employers need to involve right person in this investigation process. At the end of the day, the employer should try to provide effective justice to the complaining employees based on the proper evaluation and investigation. It is responsibility of the employer to take corrective action based on the investigation to maintain legal workforce balance and ethical standard. Question 3 Employees generally apprise three different families of workplace events. They generally examine the justice of outcomes, justice of formal allocation process and justice of interpersonal transactions. Justice of outcome is known as distributive justice. Justice of formal allocation process is known as procedural justice. On the other hand, interpersonal transaction is known as interactional justice. These three justices generally tend to be co-related. These three aspects can be meaningfully treated as three key components of total fairness. This part of the essay will explain about three components. Distributive Justice The first component of justice is known as the distributive justice as it has to deal with the outcomes or allocations. This distributive justice is generally concerned with the reality that all the employees are not treated in similar

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Cool Quest Video and Reflection Essay Example for Free

Cool Quest Video and Reflection Essay Psychology could influence consumer behavior in many ways. Based on the video, I learned that the brain responds accordingly to what one perceives as â€Å"cool†. With that being said, I’m pretty sure that there are studies that gear towards tis feature of the mind. And companies like Apple use these studies when inventing their newest products. For example, technology has evolved immensely in recent years. When Apple began inventing their latest IPhone, I’m pretty sure that they thought about what would appeal to their consumers. And I’m positive that psychology had a huge impact on their decisions. In my opinion, there a lot of other areas of society that could be impacted by psychology. Such areas influenced are career choices, fashion, and social habits like drinking and smoking to name a few. All of these societal aspects described can be influenced by different areas of the mind. And we all know that in general today’s societies seek to be accepted by all. I know for me the nature versus nurture theory is a huge influence on different aspects of my life. I was raised by a single parent in a poverty stricken neighborhood. My mother didn’t graduate high school. So education is big for me, which would lead to a better career choice. What is fashionably acceptable or not can be related to the video because everyone has a different perception of what is cool or not.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Egypt country, the continent of africa

Egypt country, the continent of africa Egypt, is a country located in the far north-east of the continent of Africa, bordered on the north south-east coast of the Mediterranean Sea on the east coast of north-west of the Red Sea and an area of 1,002,450 square kilometers. Egypt is a state for the majority of its territory in Africa, however, part of its territory, the Sinai Peninsula, is located in the continent of Asia. Egypt borders to the west with Libya, and south with Sudan, and north-east with Israel, the Gaza Strip, overlooking the Red Sea from the eastern side. Pass through its territory the Suez Canal, which separates the Asian part of this part of Africa. The focus of most of Egypts population in the valley of the Nile, particularly in Greater Cairo, which nearly a quarter of the population, and Alexandria; also live most of the population remaining in the Delta and on both coasts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and the cities of the Suez Canal and occupy the premises as a 40 thousand square kilometers. While a majority of the desert area of the Republic and is not built-up. Most of the population in Egypt is now urban, a quarter in the Greater Cairo. [Edit]origin of the name Egypts name in Arabic and other Semitic languages, is derived from the root of an old Sami could mean the country or simple (period), which also means for tressor Almknonp. While the Hebrew name Mizraim mentioned inthe Torah (OldTestament) as the son of welding Ben Noah, a grand father who hails from the ancient Pharaonic people to the knowledge of mythology, biblical (Genesischapters 10,[1]6), and known to Arabs as â€Å"Egypt.† Name that was known forthe Pharaoh sin their home language is the KMT, which means â€Å"black earth†, a metaphor for the land of the Nile Valley and the black to distinguish it from the red desert earth Dchert surroundings. Names are defined in several European languages derived from the name in Latin Ijptos Aegyptus derived in turn from the Greek Oijeptus, the name is explained by some as a derivative of the Ka Ptah landeda focus of the spirit of Ptahis the name of the Temple of Ptah, in the ancient capital of Memphis, in keeping with an ongoing exercise to the day in the commonality between the countrys name and the name of its capital. [Edit]history Crystal Clear app kdict.png Main article: History of Egypt [Edit]Ancient History And built around the valley of the Nileone of the first human civilizations, evolved early to state with a central government, emerged as the Kingdom of the North Mmketan and symbolized by the Red Crown and the Kingdom of the South in the south of the border of modern Egypt, and symbolized by the crown-and-white, while each of the Kingdom of the king and the crown logo and own it do not know the specific date on which grew by these or any Almmketan many details from them. And the beginning of written history is the emergence of the Kingdom that included the Nile Valley from its mouth up to the water fall capitalof Memphis in about 3100 BC by the king of semi-mythical traditionally known as Mina (and can be Narmer or Hor Aha) and the Standardization of his kingdoms of the north and south Egyptian. The era of this country a comprehensive renaissance in all aspects of life, where he reached the Egyptian hiero glyphicsto rule after the families of successive ownership over the next three thousand years to be longer unitary States history;[2]

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Concepts of Bias in the Media

Concepts of Bias in the Media What is Media Bias? What is media bias? It is the perception, correct or incorrect, that television, print, and online content particularly journalism lacks objectivity and either consciously or unconsciously skews to favor a particular ideology, agenda, or point of view, political or otherwise. The term is generally (though not exclusively) employed by conservatives who are frustrated by their perception that the news media is relentlessly liberal and unfair in its coverage of news events. A simple Google search of the phrase media bias in fact turns up an overwhelmingly disproportionate number of conservative or rightward leaning sites raging against liberal bias in the news. Arguably, then, media bias is a term that is used as a tool in political warfare: The press is often thought of as a unified voice with a distinct bias (right or left depending on the critic). This simplistic thinking fits the needs of ideological struggle, but is hardly useful in coming to a better understanding of what is hap pening in the world. (Cline, 2005) Deeper insight is critical into understanding what media bias is, beyond a buzz phrase. It is perhaps unlikely that true objectivity is possible given the inherently subjective nature of human perception and experience. Human communication always takes place in a context, through a medium, and among individuals and groups who are situated historically, politically, economically, and socially. (Cline, 2005) Balance in journalism, however, is not only possible but also desirable. It is also possible and desirable for journalists to be aware of their own prejudices and/or biases and to adjust the methodology of their news reporting accordingly. Taking pains to seek out as many sides of an issue as can be reasonably included in a story is the minimum a journalist can do to ensure balance, even if complete objectivity is ultimately unfeasible. To the extent that it occurs, however, bias is neither necessarily inherently unfair, nor does it necessarily imply untruth. Facts are facts, and although they can be used selectively and manipulated to support a certain ideological point of view, the truth is ultimately what a good journalist seeks, or at least a fair array of facts which allows the consumer of the news report to come to his or her own conclusion as to what the truth is. In his Media / Political Bias essay, news media professor Andrew R. Cline poses a variety of questions which may be used to determine whether media bias truly exists in any given news story. Here are a few of them: What is the authors / speakers socio-political position? With what social, political, or professional groups is the speaker identified? For example, numerous recent reports have shown that various departments in the United States government (including the Department of Defense, Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services) have been producing news segments, complete with fictional reporters and anchors hired by the government, which are then dispersed to television and radio stations as if they were press releases. In many cases, news outlets have run these spots unedited and without attribution explaining that the source is the government. This practice by the Bush Administration has provoked outrage from all political corners, some of which have dubbed the practice propagandistic and fascistic. Given the conservative ideological slant of the Bush Administration, it is unreasonable to assume that these faux news segments are without bias, particular ly after the Administration publicly rejected the finding of the Congressional Government Accountability Office that such stories designed to resemble independently reported broadcast news stories so that TV stations can run them without editing violate provisions in annual appropriations laws that ban covert propaganda. (Lee, 2005) Who would the government go out of its way to give itself permission to not disclose to media outlets that the Bush Administration produced its pre-packaged news segments? As alluded to above, the mere fact of their engaging in such activity does not mean that the positions advocated by the government are without merit or lacking in factual accuracy, but it is peculiar, if the Administration believes in the factual veracity of its productions, that they are unwilling to let them be subjected to scrutiny. It is therefore incumbent upon the news stations to reveal the source of these news segments, and/or seek other points of view with which to balance t he point of view articulated in these segments. Does the speaker have anything to gain personally from delivering the message? Making headlines of late in the United States is the so-called right-to-life case of Terri Schialvo, a brain-dead woman who has been on life support since an accident in 1990 that left her in a coma. Her husband and legal guardian has on twelve separate occasions received the blessing of a variety of courts to disconnect her feeding tube and allow her to die, saying he is convinced that not only does she have no hope of recovery, but she would not have wanted to live in such a vegetative fashion. However, Miss Schialvos parents disagree and want her kept alive. They hired a spokesman to handle all their media interactions, a man by the name of Randall Terry. Who is Mr. Terry? He was famous as an anti-abortion activist in the 1980s and 1990s, whose organization Operation Rescue advocated harassment and violence as a means to stop abortions and to conduct protests at abortion clinics. A 1998 lawsuit put a st op to Operation Rescues activities, leaving Mr. Terry without his key cause, and, presumably, means to earn a living. Can Mr. Terry be trusted as an objective, fair spokesperson for Terri Schialvo, given his bias? Is his goal an altruistic one, i.e. simply to save Terri Schialvos life, such that it is, or does he have another agenda, to further his own career and the cause of the religious fundamentalists who refuse to accept the various court decisions giving Mr. Schialvo the right to terminate his wifes life? Mr. Terrys own words may give some insight into his ultimate goals: In a 1995 speech, for example, Terry reportedly said of doctors who perform abortions, When I, or people like me, are running the country, youd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you and we will execute you. (Miner, 2003) This is a peculiarly ironic and hypocritical warning, given Mr. Terrys proclamation in defense of the sanctity of human existence: Life is life. (Miner, 2003) Given these fac ts, it is unlikely Mr. Terry can be trusted to be unbiased or objective given his ulterior motives and personal belief system both of which he is entitled to, but ought to be fairly and fully disclosed by those reporting on the Terry Schialvo case. How does the speaker present arguments? Is the message one-sided, or does it include alternative points of view? Does the speaker fairly present alternative arguments? Does the speaker ignore obviously conflicting arguments? If the message includes alternative points of view, how are those views characterized? Does the speaker use positive words and images to describe his/her point of view and negative words and images to describe other points of view? Does the speaker ascribe positive motivations to his/her point of view and negative motivations to alternative points of view? The most effective way to explore this series of questions is to utilize the macro-example of the Fox News Channel, owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation, employs the slogans We Report, You Decide and Fair and Balanced, when in fact Fox News is anything but. First, the chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes, was the campaign manager for George Bush, Sr.s 1988 presidential campaign, and a political consultant for several subsequent Republican candidates. The 2004 documentary Outfoxed obtained internal Fox News memos that documented directives from senior management instructing news editors, assignment editors, and anchors to focus on stories mirroring talking points issued by the Republican Party on a daily basis. Notably, the Republican Party line that Democratic Senator John Kerry, George W. Bushs opponent in the 2004 presidential campaign, was a flip-flopper, is employed dozens of times by Fox News anchors out of the context of editorials, following a March 16, 2004 memo from Fox Ne ws executive John Moody setting the story of the day, which says, Kerry, starting to feel the heat from his flip-flop voting record, is in West Virginia. The documentary also shows several clips in which Fox News anchors deliver other shockingly unfair and unbalanced lines on-air, such as Assuming the unthinkable happen and Senator Kerry becomes president Former Fox News reporter John DuPre details how he was sent to California to cover Ronald Reagans 90th birthday party at the Reagan Library, only to find only a handful of citizens had showed up; when he tried to tell his superiors there was no story to be covered, he was told to lie on air that a huge crowd had amassed nonetheless. Later, DuPre was suspended and then resigned. The media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) conducted a study analyzing six months of Fox News Channel programming (June to December 2003) to see if, in fact, the proportion of its guests political viewpoints was indeed fair and balanced. The study determined that 57 percent of guests were explicitly conservative, 12 percent were centrist, and 11 percent were liberal or progressive. These data speak for themselves. Another remarkable aspect of Fox News Channels analysis of current events and news is the way in which it characterizes opinions that run counter to the conservative Republican point of view. Outfoxed shows conservative talk show host Bill OReilly repeatedly demanding on several different occasions that his liberal guests shut up when they disagree with him after OReilly denies on camera that he has only silenced a guest once in such a manner. When OReilly guest Jeremy Glick, whose parents were killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, expressed his opinion that President Bush had helped create a foreign policy environment which fomented the hatred of Al Qaida against the United States, OReilly flew into a rage and threatened bodily harm on the air to Glick unless he left the building. On the Fox News Channel talk show Hannity Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity taunted actress Janine Garofolos stance against the Iraq war by taunting her: Saddam Hussein loves you. Ultimately, one of the most damning statistics is an October 2003 poll of regular Fox News viewers which showed that 67% believed the United States had found a link between Iraq and Al Qaida, an assertion completely unsupported by facts and explicitly rejected by President Bushs bipartisan 9/11 Commission. Can any reasonable person come to the conclusion that Fox News Channel is seeking to provide the truth to its viewing audience? What is even more chilling, however, is that several Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets in Australia refused to run ads for Outfoxeds theatrical release in that country, claiming the film was offensive, and (unsuccessfully) threatened lawsuits to prevent its release in the United States. Fox News Channel has the First Amendment freedom to say whatever it cares to on-air, whether it be right-wing propaganda or anything at all; what is intellectually disingenuous is that the channel refuses to acknowledge its bias, and instead employs a blatantly false marketing technique to assure viewers of its journalistic objectivity. Former Fox News producer Jeff Cohen says in Outfoxed that a better slogan for Fox News would be We opine, you recline. This witty remark cuts to the heart of the issue, which is that Fox News is and should be free to be an outlet for right-wing editorializing, but it is nothing less than a travesty for a powerful 24-hour cable news channel to pretend to be a reputable source for objective reporting. To be fair to Murdoch, he has made no public secret of his wish to balance what he perceives to be the liberal bias of such media outlets as CNN, CBS News, and the New York Times, but none of these sources of news employ the crass, manipulative distortions employed by Fox News Channel. The one example, perhaps, is the story on CBS 60 Minutes program in which famed anchor Dan Rather delivered a story purporting to show documents proving George W. Bush had illegally avoided military service during Vietnam. It was subsequently determined that the documents may have been forged, and not properly vetted in a rush to air the story in time to affect the 2004 presidential election. The resulting scandal led to Rathers early retirement. These sorts of incidents, however, are few and far between in comparison to Fox News Channels regular journalistic transgressions. In forming Fox News, what Murdoch may have reacted against legitimately is the irrefutable fact that most journalists are left-leaning in their personal political views. 1997, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) surveyed over 1,000 journalists, asking What is your political leaning? The results? 61% said Democrat or liberal-leaning; 15% said conservative or Republican-leaning, and the rest identified themselves as independents or centrists. Not only that, but the proportion of journalists identifying themselves as conservative or Republican-leaning had declined 7% since the survey was first taken in 1988, whereas the liberal-leaning/Democratic statistic was unchanged. Is it possible for these 61% to not consciously or unconsciously let their personal views affect the way in which they report the news? The political proportions found in the ASNE rather closely resemble the political proportions of the guests on Fox News Channel, except in reverse. Nobody can say whether this is a coincidence or not, but Murdochs formula is certainly enjoying a considerable amount of success. Fox News ratings are even eclipsing those of longtime cable news giant CNN: [As of March 2, 2005] FNC averaged 1.57 million viewers in primetime, up 18 percent from the same period last year, while CNN fell 21 percent to 637,000 viewers from the same time period The growth appeared across the board at Fox News: On the Record With Greta Van Susteren up 37 percent; Hannity Colmes up 19 percent; Special Report With Brit Hume up 20 percent; and The OReilly Factor, up 9 percent. (WorldNetDaily, 2005) Clearly there is a hunger for what Fox News is peddling, whether it be garbage or truly fair and balanced. The real question is why Murdoch and Roger Ailes arent simply calling Fox News exactly what it is: an unashamedly biased and partisan source of conservative propaganda. What, indeed, is wrong with bias as long as there are a fair number of balanced biased outlets available for people to choose from? As alluded to before, Murdoch and Ailes are perfectly entitled to program their cable channel any way they care to; it is within their First Amendment right to do so. However, given the fact that millions of people tune in to Fox News, in many cases solely to Fox News, to become informed, it is a travesty of journalism that Murdoch and Ailes arent being honest about what their channel is peddling. If they were to claim that CBS and the New York Times are not honest about the liberal slant of their journalistic wares, then the challenge for Fox News is to one-up its rivals in integrity by being honest about what it is. Until such time, as they do, they are the ultimate example of media bia s; they are not a cure for the problem, but a mutation of a terrible virus. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cline, Dr. Andrew R. Media / Political Bias, University of Missouri, 2005. Lee, Christopher. Administration Rejects Ruling on PR Videos, Washington Post, March 14, 2005. Miner, Barbara. Randall Terry Resurfaces: Christian Right Jumps into Terri Schiavo Fray In These Times, November 24, 2003. Outfoxed, documentary produced and directed by Robert Greenwald, Carolina Productions / MoveOn.org / The Disinformation Company, 2004 American Society of Newspaper Editors Survey, 1997. Available from: http://www.asne.org/kiosk/reports/97reports/journalists90s/survey19.html CNN Tanking as Fox News Surges, WorldNetDaily, March 2, 2005

Monday, August 19, 2019

Cold War and Its Effects Essay -- World History

The end of the cold war signified a new era of history that has changed the entire world. The face of Europe and Asia has changed dramatically. Vast changes have been felt socially, politically, and especially economically. Also the effect the cold war had on foreign policy was paramount. The effect of these changes is not only felt across the ocean but can be felt here in America. The goal of this paper is to define what the cold war specifically was, and reflect upon the various choices throughout the world as a result of the end of the cold war. The cold war was a period of time in which the United States was the world power in the western world. The Soviet Union (now Russia) was the leading power in the eastern world. While this would seem typical in any planet to have two world powers this case is extremely interesting because they had different governmental structures that were completely the opposite. On one hand there was America. We are a free market economy that is defined as being capitalist. Capitalism is a social and political system that means every person must fend for themselves. This is true economically and politically. Each individual has the ability to do whatever they choose with their life. They can make their own choices, and move wherever they want. While there are laws, the government has no say so over things that we take for granted everyday such as freedom of expression, religion, the right to bear arms, and even march down the street in support of the Ku Klux Klan if you so choose! The Soviet Union at that time was represented by a form of governmental control called communism. Communism was formed by a man named Karl Marx. The belief is that the government should control ev... ... It all comes down to choice. After the Cuban missile crisis ended both superpowers realized the severe consequences of nuclear war. They knew the implications involved, and religion was not the issue. The Russian government suppressed it to an extent. It was humanity. What good would it do to blow up the earth? What good did it do to drop atomic bombs on Japan? Imagine what Bush felt on Sept. 11 and the choices he made to vow that this would not happen again. These are all choices that countries think about everyday, and the cold war is the latest and most powerful example of something that almost ended the world. References: http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/03so/03sowall.htm, "After the Cold War", by Mitchell B. Wallerstein, 11 pages. Twentieth Century World History, by William J. Duikker, 1999, Wadsworth Publishing, page 337 and page 166.

Disney: To be a Young Woman Essay -- disney princess, unrealistic beau

To be a Young Woman (according to Disney) Since Disney first introduced Snow White from the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves back in 1937, the definition of what it means to be a young woman has been hugely influenced by Walt Disney Studios princesses. From the hair and the dresses to the demeanor and poise, Disney princesses have been showing girls of all ages how a woman should look and act, if she wants to have a happy life and find the perfect husband. Being constantly fed the seemingly ‘ideal’ image of beauty since their youth; most girls feel a need to strive to that level of beauty in order for them to feel accepted in society, and confident in themselves. According to researcher Dawn England, â€Å"The princesses in the first three Disney Princess movies were frequently affectionate, helpful, troublesome, fearful, tentative, and described as pretty† (England).Focusing in on the three original Disney princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, according to those thre e princesses what it means to be a young woman is to have unrealistic physical beauty, be dependent on a man, and be submissive and obedient. The Disney princesses’ unrealistic level of beauty can be seen in the artist portrayal of each princess. In the article, "The Mixed Blessings Of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales" Asma Ayob talks about how the princesses’ are created, â€Å"Snow White and Cinderella are presented as beautiful archetypal princesses who are ideally perfect. With the advent of the ï ¬ lm, and the animators’ ability to create ï ¬â€šawless bodies, this type of female attractiveness, which can be compared to â€Å"air-brushing† models on the covers of popular magazines, is a hard act to follow† (Ayob). The ‘hard act to follow’, has been t... ...llier-Meek. "Gender Role Portrayal And The Disney Princesses." Sex Roles 64.7/8 (2011): 555-567. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014. "Marry The Prince Or Stay With Family—That Is The Question: A Perspective Of Young Korean Immigrant Girls On Disney Marriages In The United States." Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 34.2 (2009): 39-46. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. Do. "The Princess And The Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, The Function Of The Disney Princess." Women's Studies In Communication 27.1 (2004): 34-59. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Whelan, Bridget1. "Power To The Princess: Disney And The Creation Of The 20Th Century Princess Narrative." Interdisciplinary Humanities 29.1 (2012): 21-34. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Disney: To be a Young Woman Essay -- disney princess, unrealistic beau To be a Young Woman (according to Disney) Since Disney first introduced Snow White from the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves back in 1937, the definition of what it means to be a young woman has been hugely influenced by Walt Disney Studios princesses. From the hair and the dresses to the demeanor and poise, Disney princesses have been showing girls of all ages how a woman should look and act, if she wants to have a happy life and find the perfect husband. Being constantly fed the seemingly ‘ideal’ image of beauty since their youth; most girls feel a need to strive to that level of beauty in order for them to feel accepted in society, and confident in themselves. According to researcher Dawn England, â€Å"The princesses in the first three Disney Princess movies were frequently affectionate, helpful, troublesome, fearful, tentative, and described as pretty† (England).Focusing in on the three original Disney princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, according to those thre e princesses what it means to be a young woman is to have unrealistic physical beauty, be dependent on a man, and be submissive and obedient. The Disney princesses’ unrealistic level of beauty can be seen in the artist portrayal of each princess. In the article, "The Mixed Blessings Of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales" Asma Ayob talks about how the princesses’ are created, â€Å"Snow White and Cinderella are presented as beautiful archetypal princesses who are ideally perfect. With the advent of the ï ¬ lm, and the animators’ ability to create ï ¬â€šawless bodies, this type of female attractiveness, which can be compared to â€Å"air-brushing† models on the covers of popular magazines, is a hard act to follow† (Ayob). The ‘hard act to follow’, has been t... ...llier-Meek. "Gender Role Portrayal And The Disney Princesses." Sex Roles 64.7/8 (2011): 555-567. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014. "Marry The Prince Or Stay With Family—That Is The Question: A Perspective Of Young Korean Immigrant Girls On Disney Marriages In The United States." Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 34.2 (2009): 39-46. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. Do. "The Princess And The Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, The Function Of The Disney Princess." Women's Studies In Communication 27.1 (2004): 34-59. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Whelan, Bridget1. "Power To The Princess: Disney And The Creation Of The 20Th Century Princess Narrative." Interdisciplinary Humanities 29.1 (2012): 21-34. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Essay --

Ashley Lotoszynski Darren Pagtakhan Social Justice December 17, 2013 Imaginary Fear Teddy Roosevelt once said that, â€Å"the only thing we have to fear is fear itself†. Fear is a product of the absence of knowledge and thoughts that are blown out of proportion. As humans we are scared of the unknown and what it conceals from us. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of children crash land on an unknown island without adults. As time passes, the kids become uneasy and try to seek comfort in their leaders. When their imagination takes over, the unknown soon ignites their fear and apprehension hinders the juveniles as they attempt to restore order. Since fear is fueled by imagination, the boys’ outward attempt to conquer it only results in violence and chaos. Because we are scared of what we do not know, we believe that the unknown can hurt us. In the beginning, the littluns become scared and speak of a â€Å"beastie†. Piggy asks one of the littluns what he saw and reports that, â€Å"he [the littlun] says he saw the beastie, the snake thing...he says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches†(Golding 36). The â€Å"snake thing† is a figment of the littluns’ imagination, causing the children to be more scared which in turn leads them to conjure up more imaginary objects that they believe will hurt them. It is also evident that the boys are scared when Ralph says to Jack that, â€Å"they’re frightened...they dream. You can hear ‘em...They talk and scream...As if it wasn’t a good island† (Golding 52). The boys have nothing to fear on the island however they want to return home where there is danger and war. It is ironic that the boys wan t to leave the island and return home where there ... ...(Golding 181). Jack is a character that instills the fear in the other boys to manipulate them into getting what he wants. By putting the fear into the other boys, they follow him and carry out his evil work leading to violence and chaos. This not only shows that Jack is manipulative, but that he also has a fear of not being a leader and in control. Imagination is the root of fear and leads to destruction and death in the novel. It can make people do irrational things and triggers responses in our security center. In the Lord of the Flies, fear is more dangerous than any beast because the boys are afraid of themselves. Everything that the boys are scared of have an unknown aspect to them. Instead of conquering fear, imagination provokes violence and chaos. The only thing we really have to fear, is fear itself due to its mentally and physically destructive nature.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Performance appraisal system of milma Essay

1.1Introduction to the study In the business world. Investment is made in machinery, equipments and services. Quite naturally time and money is spent ensuring that they provide what their suppliers claim. In other words, the performance is constantly appraised against the results expected. When it comes to one of the most expensive resources companies invest in, namely people, the job appraising performance against results is often carried out with the same objectivity. Each individual has a role to play and management has to ensure that individuals objective translate to overall corporate objective of the organization. The process of HRD helps the employees to acquire and or develop technical, managerial and behavioral knowledge, skills and abilities and moulds the values, beliefs and attitudes necessary to perform present and future roles. The process of performance appraisal helps the employee and the management to know the level of employee’s performance compared to the standard/ pre- determined level. Performance appraisal is essential to understand and improve the employee’s performance through HRD. It was viewed that performance appraisal was useful to decide upon employee promotion/transfer, salary determination. However, the recent developments in human resource management indicate that performance appraisal is the basis for employee development. Human Resource (or personnel) management, in the sense of getting things done through people, is an essential part of every manager’s responsibility, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently. â€Å"People are our most valuable asset† is a clichà ©, which no member of any senior management team would disagree with. Yet, the reality for many organizations is that their people remain undervalued, under trained and underutilized. Performance Appraisal is the process of assessing the performance and progress of an employee or a group of employees on a given job and his /  their potential for future development. It consists of all formal procedures used in the working organizations to evaluate personalities, contributions and potentials of employees. HRM practices mostly depend upon strategy adapted by the company. Similarly, performance appraisal practices also depend on the strategy. Traditional technique of performance appraisal is appropriate for the stability and sustainable growth strategy. Similarly, appraisal by superior is appropriate for these strategies. Modern performance appraisal technique is sustainable for growth strategies like expansion, diversification, joint venture, merger and acquisitions. These strategies helps the company to meet competition, built competencies, acquire strength, enhance market share, innovate and create new, market, new product and new technologies. Performance appraisal was formerly used for the purpose of evaluating the employee’s performance and controlling the performance against the set standard. This technique was used to control the employee ignoring the human aspect. However, with the emergence of human resource concept, organizations are using this technique to analyze employee’s performance and to further improve or develop it. Thus, this technique is used as an enabling and motivating tool to improve the performance. 1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEM The problem selected for research is to make an in depth study of performance appraisal system of MILMA at THRISSUR. Performance appraised is the systematic description of an employee’s job relevant strength and weakness. It is aimed at knowing how the employees feel about the system that is prevailing in the firm, their suggestions if any for making system effective and to know whether it satisfies the need of company and employee. Thus the main problem behind is to make the performance appraisal an effective tool to improve employees work level and their productivity 1.4 TITTLE OF STUDY The study entitled â€Å" a study on performance appraisal system at supervisory level of Milma in Thrissur 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY In every business organization, the most important asset is its employees in  all level. The performance appraisal is a systematic process consisting of number of steps to be followed for evaluating an employee’s strength and weakness. It is a systematic and objective description of an employee’s strength and weakness in terms of job. The appraisal is continuous and ongoing process where the evaluation is arranged periodically according to definite plan. This study would provide valuable suggestion to management. The presented study related to the survey including the office staff of various departments. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Performance appraisal have been considered as the most significance as indispensible tool for an organization. For an organization, information it provides is highly useful in making decisions regarding various personnel aspect such as promotion and merit increases. Performance measure also link information gathering and decision making processes, which provides a basis for judging the effectiveness of personnel sub divisions such as recruiting, selection, training and compensation. Accurate information plays a vital role in the organization as a whole. They help in finding out weakness in the primary area. Formal performance appraisal plans are designed to meet three needs of the organization and other two of individual namely: They provide systematic judgments to back up salary increase, transfers demotion or termination They are the means of telling a subordinate how he is doing and suggesting needed change in his behavior attitude skill or job knowledge. They let him know where h e stands. Superior uses them as basis for coaching and counseling the individual 1.6 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY To study the performance appraisal system in MILMA DIARY THRISSUR To know the employees awareness of performance appraisal system To know the satisfaction level of employees with current performance appraisal system To suggest measures for improving current system 1.7 RESAERCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH DESIGN Research design gives the outline of a research work that involves planning  for data and analyzing the collected data. The research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted. There are 2 type of research design Exploratory research designs Conclusive research design Descriptive research design Causal research design Tools and techniques The tools and technique involve various accounting technique and statistical tools like percentage, which are used as a device to analyze and interpret the performance appraisal of Milma. Graphs, tables figures, pie and bar diagram are used as it helps in presenting facts and figures in simple and easy way so as to get a clear idea. DATA COLLECTION Primary data Secondary data Primary data: the primary data was collected through personal interview and questionnaire given to the staff at supervisory level. Each individual employee in the sample was separately interviewed and asked to fill the questionnaire Secondary data: Data, which are not originally collected but rather obtained from published or unpublished. Secondary data used in study are project reports and records. Questionnaire Construction Questionnaires were constructed based on the following types: †¢ Open ended questions †¢ Close ended questions †¢ Multiple choice questions Sampling method Survey is used as a sampling method. Out of total employees, 50 employees are selected as samples. And data was collected through questionnaire method. FIELD OF STUDY: Milma at Thrissur DURATION OF STUDY: Three week 1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY: Employees were reluctant to reveal their problem freely before students Personal bias and prejudice of the respondent could have affected the result of study Most of the respondents seem to be very busy with their jobs and are not interested in answering the questionnaire CHAPTER – II PROFILES 2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE MILK INDUSTRY Milk and milk based industries plays an important role in the world. Internationalization remains a key focus for almost all of the world’s leading dairy farm. The entire world’s largest dairy farm operates in more than one country and some of them are truly international with the activities in every part of the world. The availability of milk and milk product, in the modern world is blend of the centuries old knowledge of traditional milk product with the application of modern science and technology. Diary is a place where handling of milk and milk product is done. WORLD SCENARIO HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL DIARY FEDERATION The internal diary federation, with its head quarter brissels, was established in 1903 and consists of 32 member countries throughout the  world. UNICEF has been the motivating force for establishing diary industry in many under developed countries. One of these in India, where large processing plant have been set up to process locally produced milk or to reconstitute milk from donated or purchased milk fat and powder. Domestic milk production has increased in India and a part of the pasteurized milk is provided free to children in the larger cities through UNICEF. The first co-operative artificial breeding association was organized in Denmark in 1936. There are now many such association which helped the diary industries. After 1950, diary industry faced a wide range of development throughout the world. INDIAN SCENARIO ORIGIN OF THE INDUSTRY Indian diary sector has come a long way during the past independence era of acute milk shortage and depended on foreign aid in the form of milk powder to meet the growing milk demand. India’s milk production in 1950-1951 was low as million tones. The diary sector in India has shown remarkable development in past decades and India has shown now become one of the largest producer of milk and the value added milk product in the world. Today Company has emerged as the second largest milk producer in the world currently there are over 275 diary plants and 83 milk products factories in co-operative, public and private sector. The world famous ‘Anand Milk Union Limited’ popularly known as Amul was established in 1946 and the National Dairy Development Board was set up in 1965. Kerala Cooperative Marketing Milk Federation (KCMMF) popularly known as Milma was established in April 1980. Diary co-operative accounts major share of processed liquid milk marketed in the country. Milk is processed and marketed by 170 milk producers’ co-operative unions, which federated into 15 state Co-operative milk marketing federation. By the end of the third phase of operation flood programme about 72700 dairy co-operative societies with 93 million farmer member where organization. The company has at present one lakh organized primary village diary co-operative with an aggregate membership of 1.1 crore producers. The co-operative milk procurement crossed 20-millon kg/day in 2004-05. Over the years, brand created by cooperatives have become synonymous with quality and value. In Kerala there are 3243 dairy  co-operative includding2404 Anand pattern society functioning under KCMMF. Milam represents more than 7.63 lakh diary framers who have organized 2404 Anand pattern diary cooperative diary societies. It also represents 10 diaries, handling 9.96 lakh liters milk/ day chilling plant, 2 cattle plant, a milk powder plant, an established training center and 5000 distribution outlets. OPERATION FLOOD The dairy program called operation flood was launched in 1970 under the aegis of NDDB. NDDB. Functional as technical consultant and the rest while Indian diary co-operation as the funding agency as the ideology followed by the operation flood was the remuneration linking of rural milk producing centered with the demand centers so as to build up a viable dairy industry. STATE SCENARIO OPERATION FLOOD IN KERALA The operation flood in Kerala was included in the second phase of operation flood (1981-87) the 8th southern district from Trivandrum to Thrissur were included in the area of the project which has a total outlay of Rs. 99 crores. The uncovered northern area from Palakad to Kasargod was thus brought under the co-operative umbrella with the inspection of north Kerala Dairy Project. KERALA CO-OPERATIVE MILK MARKETING FEDERATION LIMITED (KCMMF) The Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) popularly called ‘Milma’ was established in April 1980 as a part of operation flood 2nd program, with head office at Thiruvananthapuram. It was started under the indo Swiss project. The project was launched in 1963 based on a bilateral agreement execute between the Swiss Confederation and the Government of India. The project was made great strides in the improvement of livestock farming in the state. One of them is the development of Swiss brown a cross bread suited for the state condition. The project is now Kerala livestock board. Its main motive was to implement the operation flood program started by NDDB in Kerala. KCMMF has played a major role in the development of dairying in the state. It has a strong presence in the market. With an  ever-increasing demand for the entire product manufactured by KCMMF, it is necessary that efforts be taken to fill in the gaps arising out of inadequate supply. The KCMMF is a three-tier system with the primary milk co-operative societies at village level, regional milk producers union at middle level and an apex body at the state level. At present there are three regional co-operative unions operating. They are: 1. Trivandrum regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union limited (TRCMPU) 2. Ernakulum Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited (ERCMPU) 3. Malabar Regional Co-operative Milk Marketing Producers Union Limited (MRCMPU) 2.2 ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE Brand household name, ‘MILMA’ stands for milk and a whole variety of milk products, which enjoy the confidence of each Keralite, for their unmatched quality and standard. The name also signifies the vast organization Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) with it units of procurement, processing and sale spread over all the villages and towns of the state, giving employment and prosperity to a large number of small and marginal farmers including women and the landless, processing employees and sellers. KCMMF was established in 1980 with its Head Office at Thiruvananthapuram for the successful implementation of the dairy programme ‘Operation Flood’ under NDDB. Over the years, MILMA has developed a long-term health perspective about the people of the state, who suffer from life style diseases including diabetes and obesity, albeit economic prosperity. So, MILMA has attuned its products to ensure balanced nutrition as well as reduced cost of healthcare and also launched new beverages other than milk products. Founded because of the great democratic principle ‘of the People, by the People and for the People’, the dominant concern of MILMA is to render true service to society while ensuring that it does not incur losses. Organizational study is conducted in the Kerala Co-operative milk marketing federation popularly known as Milma at Thrissur diary is under the control of ERCMPU ltd Edapilly. This regional union was registered 12/09/1985 and is an ISO: 9001:2000 certified company. The company aims in the socio-economic progress of dairy farmer by procuring  their milk at most remunerative price around the year and by ensuring consumer Satisfaction through prompt satisfaction of prompt supply of pasteurized milk products. Now 142 APCOS are functioning and milk from these societies are collected twice per day by diary around the year. By providing input facilities such as veterinary services, cattle feed supply, insemination facilities, support for folder department activities and manpower training on scientific aspect of clean milk providing to dairy farmers. The capacity of Thrissur plant is 60000liter/day. Every day they procure 34000-liter milk from primary society twice per day by milk routs. In this unit, they produce ghee, buttermilk and milk. Thrissur dairy have seven departments. Among this, one is handled directly from the head office. The departments are Procurement and input section Marketing Engineering Quality control Production Accounts Procurement and administration For procuring milk from primary society, vehicles are used on basis of contract with the owners. Three-tier system is followed for this purpose. If any one of them could not meet the requirement, then it is given to the third party. In each department one assistant manager is been appointed. The name Milma represents 2568 primary milk co-operative societies 7.5 lakh farmer members 3 regional co-operative milk producers union 11 dairies capable of handling 9- 90 lakh liters of milk per day 13 milk chilling centers 2 cattle feed plant with cumulative capacity of 600 MT per day One milk powder plant of 10 MT/ day A well established training centers 5200 retail outlets Over 32000 people working directly or indirectly for the functions of Milma  apart from these Milma serve millions of consumer day in and day out. OBJECTIVES To channelize marketable surplus milk from rural area to urban deficit area to maximize the return to the producer and provide quality milk and milk products to the consumer. To carry out activities for promoting production, procurement, processing and marketing of milk and milk products for the economic development of farming community To build up a viable diary industry in the state To provide constant market and stable price to the diary farmers for their producers. MILMA NETWORKS The motto of co-operative â€Å"of the people, by the people, and for the people† is the three-tier structure followed by the organization. At the village level, they have the village milk co-operatives societies, which have the local milk producers as its members. The village co-operative unit at the regional level form regional co-operative milk producer unions. These unions are federated at the state level to form state federated namely Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF). MILMA’S ASSOCIATES Milma is in constant touch with other organization in this sector. It is namely through this tremendous change that Milam grew from a small diary co-operative to the position it holds today. CHIEF ASSOCIATES ARE: National diary development board NDDB under Dr. Kurien’s guidance set up KCMMF in 1980. Ever since they, there has been a very close co-operation between NDDB and the federation. NDDB are the originator of the operation flood programme and have been funding agent for the operation flood project in Kerala. AMUL The diary co-operative of Gujarat have been the inspiration of the  development of such a vast network of diary co-operative in Kerala. Among the co-operative in Gujarat, the kaira district co-operative milk producer union (AMUL) is the first in this sector. Its cooperative is called â€Å"Anand Pattern Co-operative Societies† following the illustrious lineage of AMUL. GOVERNMENT OF KERALA The phenomenal success of dairy co-operatives in Kerala could not have been achieved without the foundation of animal husbandry activities, led by animal husbandry department and Kerala livestock department development board of the government of Kerala. ORGANISATIONAL CHART DIARY MANAGER P & A P& I ACCOUNTS MARKETING ENGINEERING PRODUCTION QUALITY CONTROL Junior Assistant A/c officer Assistant Technical TS dairy Dairy Supervisor PO Marketing Supervisor Chemist Officer Junior Senior Junior Marketing Junior Plant Lab Assistant Supervisor Supervisor Organizer Assistant Operator Technician Junior Junior Marketing Technician Plant attender Lab Supervisor Assistant Assistant Assistant Attender Attender FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF KCMMF KCMMF HEAD OFFICE Provides staff management functions to support its units and regional milk unions. KCMMF head office has a well established marketing, quality control, production , finance, HRD. MARKETING Brand management Lean flush management Bulk trading of surplus products Institutional supply contracts Co-ordinate promotional activities Packaging and product development Procurement and consumer pricing PURCHASE Centralized purchase of dairy consumables. Purchase of raw materials for cattle feed plants Purchase function of KCMMF head office QUALITY CONTROL Render technical and legal assistance to primary dairy co-operatives and regional milk unions. Liaison and maintain quality of milk and milk products as per the standards Liaison with statutory authorities for bringing in suitable amendments in statutes Attend to consumer complaints on quality problem FINANCE Financial management of KCMMF and its units. Liaison with financial institutions for availing loan for creation of infrastructure. Liaison with government for availing government financial assistance Long term repayment and scheduling of loans Capital management scheme for primary co-operative societies. Recommend remunerations of APCOS employees. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELPOEMENT Milma family has 2098 skilled, efficient and qualified personnel and has an excellent labour relationship. Take active role in farming personnel policies and service rules. Finalize long-term wage settlement, bonus etc. CHAPTER III LITERATURE REVIEW LITERATURE REVIEW Rationale of performance appraisal Performance appraisals are one of the most important requirements for successful business and human resource policy (Kressler, 2003). Rewarding and promoting effective performance in organizations, as well as identifying ineffective performers for developmental programs or other personnel actions are essential to effective to human resource management (Pulakos, 2003). The ability to conduct performance appraisals relies on the ability to assess an employee’s performance in a fair and accurate manner. Evaluating employee performance is a difficult task. . Once the supervisor understands the nature of the job and the sources of information, the information needs to be collected in a systematic way, provided as feedback, and integrated into the organization’s performance management process for use in making compensation, job placement, and training decisions and assignments (London, 2003). After a review of literature, a performance appraisal model will be described in detail. The model discussed is an example of a performance appraisal system that can be implemented in a large institution of higher education, within the Student Affairs division. The model can be applied to tope level, middle-level and lower level employees. Evaluation instruments (forms) are provided to assist you with implementation the appraisal system. Introduction to performance appraisal Performance evaluations have been conducted since the times of Aristotle (Landy, Zedeck, Cleveland, 1983). The earliest formal employee performance evaluation program is thought to have originated in the United States military establishment shortly after the birth of the republic (Lopez, 1968). The measurement of an employee’s performance allows for rational administrative decisions at the individual employee level. It also provides for the raw data for the evaluation of the effectiveness of such personnel- system components and processes as recruiting policies, training programs, selection rules, promotional strategies, and reward allocations (Landy, Zedeck, Cleveland, 1983). In addition, it provides the foundation for behaviorally based employee counseling. In the counseling setting, performance information provides the vehicle for increasing satisfaction, commitment, and motivation of the employee. Performance measurement allows the organization to tell the employee something about their rates of growth, their competencies, and their potentials. There is little disagreement that if well done, performance measurements and feedback can play a valuable role in effecting the grand compromise between the needs of the individual and the needs of the organization (Landy, Zedeck, Cleveland, 1983). Performance appraisals should focus on three objectives: Purpose of performance appraisal system Performance, not personalities; valid, concrete, relevant issues, rather than subjective emotions and feelings; reaching agreement on what the employee is going to improve in his performance and what you are going to do (McKirchy, 1998). Both the supervisor and employee should recognize that a strong relationship exists between training and performance evaluation (Barr, 1993). Each employee should be allowed to participate in periodic sessions to review performance and clarify expectations. Both the supervisor and the employee should recognize these sessions as constructive occasions for two-way communication. Sessions should be scheduled ahead of time in a comfortable setting and should include opportunities for self-assessment as well as supervisor feedback. These sessions will be particularly important for new employees who will benefit from early identification of performance problems. Once these observations have been shared, the supervisor and employee should develop a mutual understanding about areas for improvement,  problems that need to be corrected, and additional responsibilities that might be undertaken. When the goals are identified, a plan for their achievement should be developed. The plan may call for resources or support from other staff members in order to meet desired outcomes. In some cases, the plan might involve additional training. The supervisor should keep in contact with the employee to assure the training experiences are producing desired impact (Barr, 1993). A portion of the process should be devoted to an examination of potential opportunities to pursue advancement of acceptance of more complex responsibilities. The employee development goals should be recognized as legitimate, and plans should be made to re ach the goals through developmental experiences or education (Barr, 1993). Encouraging development is not only a supervisor’s professional responsibility, but it also motivates an employee to pursue additional commitments. In addition, the pursuit of these objectives will also improve the prospect that current employees will be qualified as candidates when positions become available. This approach not only motivates current performance but also assists the recruitment of current employees as qualified candidates for future positions (Barr, 1993). How to arrive? Reasons why need to be done Benefits of productive performance appraisals. – Employee learns of his or her own strengths in addition to weaknesses. – New goals and objectives are agreed upon. – Employee is an active participant in the evaluation process. – The relationship between supervisor and employees is taken to an adult-to-adult level. – Work teams may be restructured for maximum efficiency. – Employee renews his or her interest in being a part o f the organization now and in the future. – Training needs are identified. – Time is devoted to discussing quality of work without regard to money issues. – Supervisor becomes more comfortable in reviewing the performance of employees. – Employees feel that they are taken seriously as individuals and that the supervisor is truly concerned about their needs and goals. (Randi, Toler, Sachs, 1992). Pitfalls to Avoid performance appraisal When conducting performance appraisals on any level, it is important to keep in mind the common pitfalls to avoid. These pitfalls may include but are not limited to : 1. Bias/prejudice. Race, religion, education, family background, age and/or sex. 2. Trait assessment. Too much attention to characteristics that have nothing to do with job and are difficult to measure. 3. Over-emphasis on favorable or unfavorable performance of one or two task, which could lead to an unbalanced evaluation of the overall contribution. 4. Relying on impression rather than on facts. 5. Holding the employees responsible for factors beyond his/her control. 6. Failure to provide each employee with an opportunity for advance preparation (Maddux 1993 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS Any performance appraisal system used to make employment decisions about a member of a protected class (i.e. Based on age, race, religion, gender, or national origin) must be a valid system (an accurate measure of performance associated with job requirements). Otherwise, it can be challenged in the courts based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1975 (London, 2003). Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection 1978 is the controlling federal law in the area of performance appraisals. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires that any measurement used to differentiate between employees must be valid and fairly administered. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) suggests that performance appraisals for people with disabilities for people with disabilities will not be conducted any differently than those for other employees. Another important aspect to consider is the employee’s right to privacy. Employees must have complete access to their personnel files, but others should have controlled access. The records should be accurate, relevant, and current. Rewards Effective reward systems are often hard to establish when creating performance appraisals. The question of how specific the reward, when the  reward should be given, and how to reward group efforts can be a tricky subject to master. Our advice on this is to keep it simple. It is important to have an established reward system. However, rewards can be as simple as more autonomy on the job, praise for progress, additional professional development funding, and vacation time. The important aspect to remember when establishing reward systems is to be consistent. If two employees are being evaluated in the same way, their reward opportunities should reflect their evaluation outcomes. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK Meaning Performance appraisal system is a method of evaluating the behavior of employees in the work spot normally including both the qualitative and quantitative and qualitative aspect of job performance. Performance here refers to the degree of accomplishment of the task that makes up an individual’s job. It indicates how well an individual is fulfilling the job demand. Some of the important features of performance appraisal may be captured thus Performance appraisal is the systematic description of employee’s job relevant strength and weakness. The basic purpose is to find out how well the employee is performing the job and establish a plan of improvement Appraisals are arranged periodically according to a definite plan. Performance appraisal is not job evaluation. Performance appraisal refers to how well someone is doing the assigned job. Job evaluation determines how much a job is worth to the organization and therefore what range of pay should be assigned to the job. Performance appraisal is a continuous process in every large-scale organization. NEED FOR PEORFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance appraisal is needed in order to: Provide information about the performance ranks basing on which decision regarding salary fixation, confirmation, promotion, transfer and demotion are taken. Provide feedback information about the level of achievement and behavior of subordinate. The information helps to review the performance of subordinates, rectifying performance deficiencies and to set new standards of work, if necessary. Provide information, which helps to counsel the  subordinates. To prevent grievances and in disciplinary activities. WHO WILL APPRAISE 360-degree performance appraisal: the appraiser may be any person who has thorough knowledge about the job content, contents to be appraised standards of content, and who observers the employee while performing a job. Typical appraisers are supervisors, peers, subordinates, employees themselves, user of service Consultant. Performance appraised by all these parties is called 360-degree performance appraisal. Supervisors include superiors of the employee, other supervisors having knowledge about the work of the employee and department head or manager. General practice is that immediate superiors appraise the performance, which in turn is reviewed by the departmental head/manager. This is because supervisors are responsible for managing their subordinates and they have the opportunity to observe, direct and control the subordinates continuously. On the negative side, immediate supervisors may emphasize certain aspect of employee performance to the neglect of others. In addition, managers, have been manipulate evaluation to justify their decision on pay increase and promotions. Peers appraisal may be reliable if the work group is stable over a reasonably long period and performs tasks that require interaction. However, little research has been conducted to determine how peers establish standard for evaluating others or the overall effect of peer appraisal on the group’s attitude. Subordinates: the concept of having superior rated by subordinates is being used in most of the organizations especially in developed countries. Such a  navel method can be useful in other organizational setting too provided the relationship between superior and subordinates are cordial. Subordinates rating in such cases can be quite useful in identifying competent superiors. Self-appraisal: if individuals understand the objective they are expected and the standards by which they are to be evaluated, they are largely in the best position to appraise their own performance. In addition, since employee development means self-development, employees who appraise their own performance may become highly motivated. User of services, customers: The customers or user of services can better judge Employee’s performance in service organization relating to behavior, promptness, speed in doing the job and accuracy. Consultant: sometimes consultant may be engaged for appraisal when employees or employer do not trust supervisor appraisal and management does not trust self appraisal or peer appraisal or subordinates appraisal. In this situation, consultants are trained and they observe the employee at work for sufficiently long time for the purpose of appraisal. METHODS OF PERFORMNACE APPRASIAL With the evolution and development of appraisal system a number of methods and techniques of performance appraisal have been developed. Some of them are TRAIT METHOD Trait method to performance appraisal measures the extent to which employees possess trait or characteristics like dependability, creativity, initiative, dynamism, ability to motivate and leadership. Trait method is based on job description and job specification. Graphic rating scale: graphic rating scale compares individual performance to absolute standards. In this method, judgments about performance are recorded on a scale. This is oldest and widely used technique. One of reason for the popularity of the rating scale is its simplicity, which permits many employees to be quickly evaluated. Such scales have relatively low design cost and high in case of administration. The major drawback to these is their subjectivity and low reliability Ranking method: Under this method, employees are ranked from  best to worst on some characteristics. The rater first finds the employee with the highest performance and the employee with the lowest performance in that particular job category and rates the former as best and the later as the poorest. One important limitation of the ranking method is that the size of the difference between individual is not well defined. Paired comparison method: this method is relatively simple. Under this method, appraiser ranks the employee by comparing one employee with all other employees in the group, one at a time. Forced distribution method: forced distribution method is developed to prevent the rater from rating too high or too low. Under this method, the rater after assigning points to the performance of each employee has to distribute his rating in a pattern to confirm to normal frequency distribution. This method eliminates central tendency and leniency biases. Essay or free form appraisal: this method requires the manager to write a short essay describing each employee’s performance during the rating period. This format emphasizes evaluation of overall performance, based on strength and weakness of employee performance, rather than specific job dimensions. The time involved in writing separate essay about each employee can be formidable. Group appraisal: under this method, a group of appraisers appraises an employee. This group consists of the immediate supervisors of the employee, to other supervisors who have close contact with the employees work, manager or head of the department and consultants. The group appraises the performance of the employee, compared the actual with the standards of performance, find out deviations, discusses the reason therefore, suggest ways for improvements of performance, prepare action plans, study the need for change in the job analysis and standards and recommends change if necessary. Confidential report: assessing the employee’s performance confidentially is a traditional method of performance appraisal. Under this method, superior appraises the performance of the subordinates based on his observation, judgment and intuitions. The superior keeps his judgment and report confidentially. In other words, the superior are not allow the employee to know his report and performance. BEHAVIOURAL METHODS While trait measures various characteristics, behavioral methods measures employee behavioral skill on a continuum. Behavioral checklist method: a  checklist is designed with the list of statements that describe the behavior essential for employee performance. The appraiser checks whether the appraise possess them or not. Employee’s performance is rated based on the behavioral skills that the employee possesses to the total statements. Critical incident method: employee are rated discontinuously, i.e. once in a year or six months under the earlier methods. The performance rated may not reflect real and overall performance as the rater would be serious about the appraisal about two or three weeks before the appraisal. Hence, a continuous appraisal method, i.e. critical incident method was developed. Under this method, the supervisor continuously records the critical incident of the employee performance or behavior relating to all characteristics in a specially designed notebook. The critical incident method has the advantage of being objective because the rater considers the record of the performance rather than the subjective point of opinion. Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS): the BARS method combines elements of the traditional rating scale and critical incident methods. Using BARS, job behavior from critical incidents- effective and ineffective behaviors are described more objectively. This method employs individuals who are familiar with a particular job to identify its major components. They then rank and validate specific behaviors for each of the components. Behavior observation scale (BOS): the appraiser, under this method, measure how frequently each of the behavior has been observed. Appraiser plays the role of observer rather than a judge and provides the feedback to the appraise continuously. Assessment centre: in this approach, individual from various departments are brought together to spend two or three days, working on an individual or group assignment similar to ones they would have been handling when promoted. Observers rank the performance of each participant in order of merit. RESULT METHODS Organizations of contemporary period evaluate employee performance based on accomplishments they achieve rather than based on the behavioral factors/traits. Employee accomplishments include sale turnover, number of units produced, and number of customers served, number of complaints settled and the like. Productivity measures: under the productivity measures of performance appraisal, employees are appraised based on the ratio of output  they turned out to the input they used. The balanced scorecard: it brings the linkage among financial, customer, processes and learning. Learning and people management contribute to the enhancement of internal processes. Internal processes are critical for enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The balanced scorecard can be used to appraise employee performance. The following recommendations ensure the successful application of balanced scorecard to performance management. Human resource accounting: human resource accounting deals with cost and contribution of human resource to the organization. Cost of the employee includes cost of work force planning, training, development, wages etc. employee contribution is the money value of employee service, which can be measured by labour productivity, or value added by human resource. Management by objectives: MBO is a process whereby the superior and subordinate manager of an organization jointly identifies its common goals, define each individual’s major areas of responsibility in terms of results expected of him, and use these measures of guides for operating the unit and assessing the contribution of its members. SYSTEMS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Establish performance standards Communicate standards/ expectations to employee. Measure actual performance by following the instructions. Adjust the actual performance due to the environmental influence Compare the adjusted performance with that of others and previous Compare the actual performance with standards and find out deviations, if any. Communicate the actual performance to the employee concerned. Suggest changes in job analysis and standards, if necessary. Follow – up performance appraisal report. USES OFPERFORMANCE APPRIASAL Performance appraisal has several uses. The important among them are: Performance improvement: performance feedback allows the employees, manager and personnel specialist to intervene with appropriate actions to improve performance Compensation adjustment: A performance evaluation helps decision-makers determine who should receive pay raises. Many firms grant  part or all of their pay increases and bonuses based upon merit, which is determined mostly through performance appraisal. Placement decisions: promotions, transfers and demotions are usually are based on past or anticipated performance. Often promotions are reward for past performance. Training and development needs: poor performance may indicate the need for retraining. Likewise, good performance may indicate untapped potential that should be developed. Career planning and development: performance feedbacks guide career decision about specific career paths one should investigate. Staffing process deficiencies: good or bad performance implies strength and weakness in the personnel departments staffing procedure. Informational inaccuracies: poor performance may indicate error in job analysis information, human resource plans, or other part of personnel management information system. Reliance on accurate information may led to inappropriate hiring, training, or counseling decisions. Job design errors: poor performance may be a symptom of ill- conceived job design. Appraisals help diagnose these errors. PROBLEMS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL The major problem of performance appraisal is- 1. Rating biases Halo effect The error of central tendency The leniency and strictness The recency effect 2. Failure of the superiors in conducting performance appraisal nad post performance appraisal interviews 3. Most part of the appraisal is based on subjectivity 4. Les reliability and validity of the performance appraisal techniques 5. Negative rating affect interpersonal relations and industrial relation system 6. Influence of external environmental factors and uncontrollable internal factors 7. Feedback and post appraisal interview may have a setback on production 8. Relationship between appraisal rates and performance after promotions was not significant 9. Absence of inter –rater reliability