Business Environment Awareness

Organisational behaviour Forces that surround any given business environment affect the way it conducts its affairs and the kind of access that it has to scarce resources. An organisation’s environment consists of factors that are broadly categorised into external and internal factors.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Business Environment Awareness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Environmental issues have become immensely significant, especially in today’s modernisation age. These issues have proved problematic for organisations in all countries. They include the relationship that subsists between the environment and technology, economic growth effects, society, water and air pollution, global warming, competition from other industry players, legal requirements, staffing within the organisation, finance, and politics among others. It is important for an organisation to acquire a good comprehens ion of its environment for it to institute effective management. This paper seeks to explore some of the reasons why organisations need to be aware of their environment. Awareness of the environment Firstly, an organisation’s good understanding of its environment helps it to take advantage of opportunities that come due to certain changes in one or more of the factors in its immediate environment (AktaÅŸ, Çià §ek, KÄ ±yak 2011). For instance, the failure of a firm’s major competitor because of financial issues mean that such a firm should alter its plans upon taking into account the drop out of the competitor. The huge advantage can have the effect of helping the organisation to achieve enormous unprecedented levels of growth. Failure to gain a good understanding of the environment may see firms fail to take advantage of such situations to increase their cash flows (Jones Page 2002). Secondly, awareness of the environment is essential in helping organisations to reduce or eliminate the effects of certain negative events that may take place within their surroundings. One of the biggest challenges that businesses face is competition from their close rivals in the same industry or product lines (Gadenne, Kennedy Mckeiver 2009). It significantly affects the way a business operates and/or approaches its target market. Knowledge of the environment may influence a firm that operates in a very competitive market to the extent of moving out of the market into another where the competition is low (Jang 2011). The same firm may also choose to remain in the market and face the competition head-on.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Further, awareness may improve the efficiency of an organisation’s management. It enables it to monitor various socioeconomic and political factors and the degree of impact they have on the organisation ’s operations, thus enabling the management to make informed choices with regard to budgeting, expansionary plans, and marketing strategies for the organisation’s products among others (Cho 2006). This awareness helps to avoid unnecessary losses while at the same protecting the firm’s image. As highlighted, there are a number of reasons of great significance as to why organisations need to be aware of their environments. Responsiveness on their environment enables them to maximise some opportunities that may come up because of changes in some of the environmental factors either internal, external or both. It also prepares them for certain negative events in their environment as a way of helping them to make wise decisions to minimise risks that are posed by such happenings. In addition, it helps managers of such organisations improve their efficiency, thus serving to protect the institution’s image as a well-managed entity. Hence, it is paramount for orga nisations to make efforts to understand their environment for them to achieve greater success in fulfilling their objectives. Motivation theory and leader effectiveness Leaders have the role of guiding people who are under their leadership. The headed people include employees or citizens of given area. In the case of employees, a manager needs to guide and motivate his or her employees to ensure that a given task is done well and in good time. While seeking to understand how leaders operate and/or the ways of improving their effectiveness, researchers have developed a number of motivational theories whose comprehension by leaders is paramount to their success in their leadership roles. These theories seek to find an explanation for the driving force behind the conversion of people’s thoughts into behaviours. Even though these theories tend to elaborate similar motivational concepts in different ways, other researchers offer a new theory altogether. This paper seeks to explore how a good comprehension of motivation theory contributes to the effectiveness of a leader. Maslow’s motivational hypothesis has assisted many organisational bosses in visualising worker inspiration. The theory has enabled them to lead their employees together with their companies to huge success in fulfilling the set tasks and objectives (Burke 2001).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Business Environment Awareness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The premise entails Maslow’s ladder of wants that classifies the essential requirements of people into five groups, including security, self-respect, self-actualisation, collective, and physiological demands. A leader who assists his or her subordinates in fulfilling these needs inspires them to become better workers (Bennis Nanus 2007). An individual who has already obtained self-esteem, social, physiological, and safety needs is able to develop se lf-actualisation that in turn drives one towards accomplishing his or her life’s agenda. The implication of this theory is that through developing genuine interest in the people that one leads, acknowledging their fundamental needs and taking the right steps to realise them, one inspires and motivates his or her employees (Knudsen 2005). Another motivational theory of immense relevance in promoting a leader’s effectiveness is the theory of transformational leadership. The theory has been considered appropriate in many corporate situations. According to this theory, leaders need to guide other based on values, meaning, and their elevated purpose (Bolden Gosling, 2006). It specifically requires people to exude integrity, encourage, set a good example, adopt effective communication, inspire, support, provide stimulating assignments, give credit where necessary and when it is due, set realistic goals, and/or assist their subordinates in focusing on group interest as oppos ed to their individual needs (Steel Konig 2006). The roles of an effective leader include motivating followers, satisfying their needs, treating them fairly, rewarding performance, and applying effective discipline (Locke Latham 2002). Clearly, a good comprehension of the motivation theory contributes to the effectiveness of a leader. Maslow’s theory has assisted managers in motivating their employees to achieve huge success in their leadership roles. With the theory, managers get to understand employee needs and their priorities, which when fulfilled give the manager an easier time. Leadership transformational theory calls upon heads to incorporate principles, significance, and a superior rationale when directing their teams. Regardless of people’s culture, age, or gender, they have some motivational factors, which a leader can maximise on to get them perform the duties diligently and help in the achievement of set goals and objectives.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Leaders need to get a good understanding of motivational theories to use them to better the effectiveness of their leadership. Usefulness of separating leadership and management Achieving business victory calls for diverse individuals to handle diverse functions for organisational operations to be handled as planned. While some roles are easy to define, others may at times have confusing boundaries due to their vague nature. An example of a case where such confusion may arise is differentiating between a leader and a manager. Management and leadership have an imperative function in getting things done. However, both of them have varying aspects with respect to the role they play and their impact. This claim does not imply that one cannot play both roles simultaneously. It is possible for one to be a leader and a manager at the same time performing both roles. However, it is worth noting that being a great leader does not necessarily imply that such a person makes a phenomenal leader and vice versa. For this reason, it is paramount for people to get a clear understanding of the fundamental differences between the two if they are to get a clear picture of how they can fair in their roles as managers or leaders. This knowledge may enable them to acquire relevant skills in performing and achieving success in their functions. This section seeks to explore the practical and theoretical significance of separating leadership and management to improve organisational effectiveness. One of the fundamental differences between a leader and a manager is that a manager administers while a leader innovates (Miner 2000). This distinction implies that a head is usually bestowed with the duty of raising new opinions, which are meant to take the organisation into a chapter of ensuring that the set goals and objectives are realised. Hence, the head must always guarantee success in the organisation. This agenda keeps all workers motivated when they get the news that the organisatio n is accomplishing its key agenda, thanks to the employee efforts. There is a need for a leader to be someone who ensures that he or she has proper knowledge of the latest skills, research findings, and trends. Much of the knowledge that leaders may have acquired in school to complement their functions often need modification on their part in order to achieve the effectiveness that is expected of a leader as he or she always has to be a step ahead of the rest at all times (Yukl 2010). On the other hand, an administrator’s role is to execute all key deliverables that the head has set for the organisation. He or she has to maintain focus on the bottom line. The manager has to maintain control to avert any organisational disorder (Yukl 2008). In fact, an administrator must work closely with all workers to ensure that what each of them is doing translates into the achievement of the company’s vision. To achieve this goal, a manager has to understand the people that he or s he is working with and get to know their passions and interests (Bass 2010). He or she is then able to build a team out of such people through decisions that relate to placement, promotion, pay, and communication with them as a team. The manager tends to use the authority that comes with his or her position to get things done. At times, a manager is required to make strict orders that have to be adhered to by those that he or she is managing, whether they feel encouraged to abide by them or not. A leader is someone who inspires trust among people whom he or she leads. Leadership is not merely about what one does as a leader (Gronn 1999). Rather, it is about what other people do in response to one’s actions. It involves influencing one’s other people to be his or her followers and to act or conduct themselves in a way that reflects the leader’s expectations (Drucker, Maciariello 2008). A good leader is someone who will always tend to have people around him or he r. Such people must be interested in whatever the leader is doing, his or her plans, and/or what he or she has to say. People tend to associate themselves with leaders. As a result, they will often make an effort to attend their events or functions in which they are scheduled to deliver a speech. For this reason, if a person who considers him or herself a leader organises a function and people fail to attend, this outcome points to his or her shortcomings as a leader. Further, the management of a project varies significantly from empowering other people into doing something that comes with leadership. Whereas a leader may ask about what can be done and why it needs to be done, a manager may tend to ask how something happened and when it took place (Lunenburg 2011). A leader needs to be in a position to question the occurrence of certain actions, something that may involve challenging his or her superiors. For this reason, leaders need to have the ability to face the top management w henever they feel that there is something else that needs to be performed for the organisation. Leaders do not expect to be always right since all people make mistakes at certain points in time. When a organisation they are leading experiences failure, leaders are expected to come in and explain why the failure took place, ask others for their opinions on why they think the failure may have taken place, and the lessons gained from the experience (Scott 2011). Leaders will ask their teams to give their suggestions on how the organisation can use the information gained to approach their goals better. Managers rarely deliberate on the meaning of failure. They tend to operate like soldiers while ensuring that they implement the plan accordingly. They understand the significance of plans and orders. Their work is to maintain their vision on the current organisational goals (Toor Ofori 2010). Understanding the difference between manager and a leader is important, especially for a person who is in charge of a team in an organisation or the whole organisation (Smythe, Norton 2011). In the technological industry where creativity and innovation are a necessity, it is crucial for people who hold top positions to comprehend the nature of their roles and how such roles influence the progress of their organisations in achieving their objectives. Specialist employees in the technological industry tend to work better with leadership since it gives them the room and time to exercise their creativity and innovativeness, which directly influence the organisation’s success (Lunenburg, Thompson Pagani 2010). The inspirational aspect of business makes it appropriate in setting technology developers in the right mood that improves their innovativeness. However, some form of management aspects can be helpful in meeting certain targets that may require some degree of control on the activities of the employees (Zaleznik 2001). If leaders and managers can borrow from each othe r some management and leadership aspects respectively, they can achieve unprecedented success in their roles. However, this achievement may take time since being good in both functions is not easy due to the conflict that arises between leadership and management roles. The conflict makes it hard for one to balance between the two (Leavy 2000). Nonetheless, the best managers turn out to be good leaders to some extent in some cases. However, for greater efficiency within an organisation, it is preferable for different persons to be put in place to play management and leadership roles. To understand the usefulness of separating leadership from management, one can take an example of the giant social site company, Facebook. The firm acknowledges the difference in strengths that leadership and management have. The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a proven leader. However, the firm needs someone who has strong supervisory skills that are found in managers to take care of other fun ctions. It recognises the fact that great leaders do not necessarily make phenomenal managers. For this reason, Facebook has settled on Sheryl Sandberg who happens to have a wide-range of skills in the area of management as its Chief Operating Officer. For the duration she has been with the company, she has been able to streamline the company’s functions, transforming from it from just being an admired site to a very profitable firm. She oversees the company’s business operations that include, but not limited to, business development, public policy, human resources, communication, sales, and marketing. Her inputs and those of the firm’s CEO have helped Facebook to be among the world’s most profitable companies that have clients the world over (Fairholm 2004). Their combined skills continue to see the company record tremendous growth each year by outdoing its competitors. Clearly, separating leadership and management is vital in improving organisational ef fectiveness. Whereas a manager’s function is to direct, a leader tends to innovate. Leaders are responsible for some of the fresh ideas that help organisations to stay ahead of their competition. Leaders use the knowledge that they have acquired in class creatively by innovating to suit some of the circumstances that they encounter. Managers seem to be more concerned with maintaining order in the organisation. Managers use the authority that comes with their positions to run things in line with the organisation’s goals and objectives. Leaders are inspirational in nature. They influence other people to act in a certain way as opposed to managers who tend to give orders on the activities that they expect their teams to carry out. Leaders are more willing to recognise failure, share their views with their teams, and/or seek their opinions on the way forward. They are also courageous enough to stand up to a higher authority in an organisation and recommend certain changes that they feel are necessary. On their part, managers depict excellent supervisory skills that are important in getting things done in an organisation. Facebook Company considered the variation in leadership and management roles in its structure by choosing to hire Sheryl Sandberg who has a strong management background while maintaining Mark Zuckerburg as the CEO. Hence, it is paramount to separate management and leadership for greater organisational effectiveness. References AktaÅŸ, E, Çià §ek, I KÄ ±yak, M 2011, ‘The Effect Of Organisational Culture On Organisational Efficiency: The Moderating Role Of Organisational Environment and CEO Values’, Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, vol. 43 no. 2, pp. 1560-1573. Bass, B 2010, The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications, Simon Schuster, New York, NY. Bennis, G Nanus, B 2007, Leaders: The strategies for taking charge, Bolden, R Gosling, J 2006, ‘Leadership Competencies: Time to Change the Tune?’, Leadership, vol. 2 no. 2, pp. 147-163. Burke, J 2001, ‘How Do Mentorships Differ From Typical Supervisory Relationships?’, Psychological Reports, vol. 68 no. 1, p. 459. Cho, K 2006, ‘An Empirical Study on the Effects of the Internal Company Factors and External Environment Factors on the Usage Level and Performance of Electronic Commerce in the Shipping Companies – Primarily on the Liner Shipping Business’, Journal of Korean Navigation and Port Research, vol. 14 no. 3, pp. 483-489. Drucker, P Maciariello, J 2008, Management, Word Press, New York, NY. Fairholm, M 2004, ‘Different Perspectives on the Practice of Leadership’, Public administration Review, vol. 64 no. 5, pp. 577-590. Gadenne, L, Kennedy, J Mckeiver, C 2009, ‘An Empirical Study of Awareness and Practices in SMEs’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 84 no. 1, pp. 45-63. Gronn, P 1999, ‘Substituting for Leaders hip: The Neglected Role’, The Leadership Couple, vol. 10 no. 1, pp. 41-62. Harper Collins, New York, NY. Jang, S 2011, ‘The Effects of Internal, External Environment and Entrepreneurship on the Performance of Social Enterprise: Focused on the Network Activity’, Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial Cooperation Society, vol. 54 no. 5, pp. 4801-4811. Jones, L Page, D 2002, ‘Theories of Motivation’, Education + Training, vol. 29 no. 3, pp. 2-16. Knudsen, C 2005, Theories of The Firm, Management, and Leadership, Springer, US: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Leavy, B 2000, ‘On Studying Leadership in the Strategy Field’, The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 7 no. 4, pp. 435-454. Locke, E Latham, G 2002, ‘Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey’, American Psychologist, vol. 57 no. 9, pp. 705-717. Lunenburg, C, Thompson, B Pagani, D 2010, The multifactor leadership Lunenburg, F 2011, à ¢â‚¬ËœLeadership versus Management: A Key Distinction—At Least in Theory’, International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, vol. 14 no. 1, pp. 1-3. Miner, B 2000, ‘Testing a Psychology Typology of Entrepreneurship Using Business Founders’, Journal of Behavioural Sciences, vol. 36 no. 1, pp. 43-69. Questionnaire (MLQ): Factor structure of an operational measure, American Educational Research Association, Denver, CO. Scott, L 2011, ‘Leadership 101 Column 2: Leadership versus Management — Either, Or, Both?’, Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association, vol. 1 no. 1, pp. 107-08. Smythe, E Norton, A 2011, ‘Thinking As Leadership/Leadership As Thinking’, Leadership, vol. 23 no. 4, pp. 65-90. Steel, P Konig, C 2006, ‘Integrating Theories of Motivation’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 31 no. 4, pp. 889-913. Toor, S Ofori 2010, ‘Leadership Versus Management: How They Are Different , And Why’, Leadership and Management in Engineering, vol. 1 no. 1, p. 61. Yukl, G 2008, ‘How Leaders Influence Organisational Effectiveness’, The leadership Quarterly, vol. 19 no. 6, pp. 708-722. Yukl, G 2010, Leadership in organisations, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Zaleznik, A 2001, ‘Managers and leaders: Are they different?’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 55 no. 1, pp. 67-78. This coursework on Business Environment Awareness was written and submitted by user Jaylen Ochoa to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Team Dynamics and Group Formation

Team Dynamics and Group Formation Introduction Teamwork occupies a special place in the operational models of most organizations worldwide. This comes from the realization that it is the most efficient way of achieving the goals of an organization. Globalization is the major force behind the changes seen in workplaces because it is causing inevitable interaction of different cultures.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Team Dynamics and Group Formation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This realization has been the motivation for learning institutions to adopt the use of group based models of learning to enrich the learning process. This paper relates to the experiences derived from a team-based approach to learning. It focuses on the formative stages and the operational dynamics of the team. The goal of the team is to analyze the operations of Qantas in order to identify sustainable business practices and the change management process at the airline. In itial Functioning of the Group There are two reasons behind the formation of the group. The first reason is that the course under study calls for the analysis of an organization in order to determine elements such as its operations and its change management strategy. This group is working on Qantas Airlines as the case study. The second goal for the team’s formation is to develop an appreciation of how teams function. In addition to the primary objective of analyzing the operations of Qantas, using a team model to do it promises to provide all the members with an idea of how team function and the dynamics controlling the development process. Teams tend to develop through certain stages that follow a logical progression. Different scholars refer to these stages using various terms. According to Phillips and McConnell (2005), teams go through five stages in their development process. These stages are, â€Å"formation, disequilibrium, role definition, maturity and maintenanceâ € . They take on a logical progression that follows the dynamic processes at work in the life of the team. However, the more popular way of looking at the team development process is by the model developed by Bruce Tuckman that labeled the stages of team development as Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since then different scholars have developed variations to it to accommodate new research and to increase awareness to some of the core issues covered under each of the stages. One of those variations presented by Williams (2006, p. 323) adds three stages to the process titled, â€Å"de-norming, de-storming, and deforming† after the performing stage in Tuckman’s model. The goal for these additions is to show that teams are not permanent but must disintegrate after the attainment of the objectives. Another exa mple of variations to Tuckman’s model presented by Heldman and Mangano (2009, p. 187) is the addition of a stage called â€Å"adjourning†, after Tuckman’s performing stage. These examples show that there is agreement among scholars to the fact that teams go through a logical development cycle. In order to discuss the development process of the team under discussion, Tuckman’s model will provide the framework. This is because it is simple enough and covers all the key stages of relevance to this discussion. The first stage that the team went through was â€Å"forming†, which covered the circumstances that led to its creation. The members did not have a choice of whether or not to be part of a team because it was a course requirement. The members decided to be part of a team of their choice but they did not have a say as to whether they wanted to be in a team or not. This brought about a sense of common destiny because the performance of the members in the course depended on their performance as a team. This situation is not unique but is common especially in the disciplined forces. Soldiers do not have a choice regarding the company they will be in. However, once together, they must put their differences aside and work around their differences to win the war at hand because they all have a common destiny.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Team Dynamics and Group Formation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The second stage in the team development process is â€Å"storming†. This is the stage where the actual work in the team begins. It is characterized by infighting and jostling for positions because the member are not yet clear what their roles in the team are. In some cases, some members opt out because they find the jostling unbearable. In the case of the team under review, there was a bit of tension originally as members sought to clarify how the team w ould operate. Most of the member had other jobs, which made the issue of finding a common time outside of class work very difficult to find. In addition, there was the challenge of deciding on who would be the team leader. Since the interaction of the members was limited to classroom encounters, member did not have a good appreciation of who had the best skills to lead the team. A vote to decide on the team leader settled the issue. The next stage that the team passed through was â€Å"norming†. After settling down and appointing a leader, the team found it easier to talk and to raise issues related to the project. Some of the issues had a direct impact on the progress of the work while others had to do with the needs of the members. The team did its best to accommodate the schedules of all the members, especially those who had other jobs. Meeting regularly proved to be a bigger challenge than originally anticipated but the team has worked very hard to settle and get down to business. The team is currently in the fourth stage of â€Å"performing†. There are clear rules guiding the team’s operations and its outcomes. It is clear to all team members that failure to deliver on targets will affect the whole team. The team is working very hard to keep up with the schedule for completion of the work. There are fewer personality related conflicts compared to the initial stages of the teams work. One of the issues that warrant mention in the whole development process is the goal setting process that the team adopted. In the first meeting, the only thing that was clear was that the team was going to analyze the operation of Qantas. However, the process of doing it remained in the hands of the team. It was up to the team to make up its mind regarding how the project was to proceed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One definition of a goal is â€Å"an end towards which you direct specific effort†. One of the first goals the team had to set and execute was choosing a team leader. The team realized that a team leader would help coordinate the work of the team better than if each member went to work without some form of central control. After choosing a leader, the team looked at the assignment in detail and developed options for meeting the objectives. At this point, the team identified specific objectives relating to the desired outcome of the process. One of the decisions taken included giving each member a particular department in Qantas as their individual area of focus. The idea was to develop a comprehensive picture of the company before going on to analyze the trends that showed up based on individual reports. The outcome of the analysis is what will form the core discussion in the final submission of the teams work. Developed specific goals included the analysis of the operation o f specific departments in Qantas, the development of an overall picture of how the airline operates, and the analysis of the change management strategies employed by the airline. Midstream Changes in Team Dynamics The critical events that characterized the development of the team related closely to the stage that the team was in. During the forming stage, the critical issue was choosing team members. As noted earlier, the task for the team was not open for debate hence it was not possible to opt out. After the class to the class to form teams, people grouped themselves based on what they felt was the best arrangement based on the limited interaction with each other in class. During storming, the team went through a period of distrust and jostling. The members were not sure of whom to trust the responsibilities. Some attempted to take more work to ensure that completion of the assignment, while others took only limited work because of their tight schedules. Eventually, under the guid ance of the team leader, the team rationalized the workload by asking each member to pick a specific aspect of the overall assignment. There was a bit of jostling too because members did not have a good idea of what their role in the team was. Forming stage gave the team a chance to reconsider its goals, processes, and achievements. The members relaxed and became less formal during meetings. It was in this stage that it became necessary to enforce rules developed earlier because members became relaxed. Without direction from the chair, the team would have lost time to socialization and to other irrelevancies. However, these activities also helped to build trust. After the norming stage, the team sorted out many of the issues that came up during storming. The key strengths of different members became apparent during the performing stage. This enabled the team to work better. Some member proved to be more adept at research while others had better analytical skills. Members collaborate d in and out of team meeting to leverage on the strengths available within the team. The key characteristics of the team in this stage were collaboration and high productivity. The team is currently in this stage. Output is satisfactory but there are still problems with meeting the team’s deadlines mainly because of the tight schedules that some team members operate under. Change Management Process The characteristics of strong teams include a clear vision, objectives and goals, synergy, flexibility and adaptability, and a strong review mechanism. The team in this report had a very clear objective, which was the analysis of the operations of Qantas. The setting of this objective partly came from the clarity of the course requirements. In addition to this objective, the team set a number of operational objectives including the number of meetings it needed to have in order to achieve the goals, the targets for each individual member and the quality of work the team wanted to pr esent at the end of the exercise. In as far as strong objectives characterize strong teams, this team met the requirement. The second characteristic of a strong team is synergy. In other words, it is the working together of the team members by leveraging on the strengths of individual members to create a strong result. This aspect came into play when the team used its strongest members to validate research and analysis done by the other members. The team members passed on their work to members who were strong in research and analysis for criticism and comment. This improved the quality of the output that each individual provided and by extension it improved the overall quality of the work the team produced at each stage. The third aspect of strong teams that this team displayed was flexibility and adaptability. Flexibility showed when team members constantly put effort into adjusting and synchronizing personal schedules to create time for team meetings. As mentioned earlier, some of the team members have demanding jobs and getting time off apart from class time to attend meetings is a major issue for them. Nonetheless, a lot of effort went into finding a workable time to ensure the meeting of the team’s objectives. On the issue of adaptability, the team worked hard to find ways of remaining in touch outside the meetings and classes. In this sense, the use of email and text messaging made it possible for the team members to keep in touch and to continue with work despite the severe time constraints. This option was not immediately obvious to the team because the model that the members originally had in mind included meeting together for discussions and compiling parts of the work. The reality however is that it is difficult to meet as often as earlier envisaged. This called for innovation and a flexible attitude to see how to employ electronic means of communication. The final characteristic of strong teams is that they review progress regularly as a sou rce of learning. On this count the team still has a lot to do. The time constrains associated with this team’s work means that most of the meeting time went into the actual development of the work with very little time left for meaningful review. However, in principle, the team fully appreciates the need for regular review. Conclusion The experiences of the team with this project illustrate the practical hurdles teams face in the process of executing their mandate. There are always forces acting to make it difficult for the team to execute its mandate. It also shows that each team must go through the formative processes. The stages of team development occur concurrently with the team’s efforts to achieve the primary goals. There is always need to balance the needs of the team as a growing unit with the achievement of the objectives set for the team. Reference List Burns, J. M. (1979) Leadership. Harper Row, New York, NY. Gaist, P. A. (2009) Igniting the Power of Commu nity. Springer, New York, NY. Heldman, K., Mangano, V. (2009) PMP Project management Professional Exam Review Guide. Illustrated edn, John WIley and Sons, Indianapolis, IN. Hopkins, D. H. (1999) Using History for Strategic Problem-Solving: The Harley-Davidson Effect. Business Horizons, pp. 52-60. Kanter, R. M. (1997) World Class: Thriving Locally in the Global Economy. Simon Schuster, New York, NY. Murthy, C. S. V. (2007) Change Management. Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai. Ohmae, K. (1995) The End of the Nation State. University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota. Paliwal, M. (2006) Business Ethics. New Age International, New Delhi. Phillips, R. L., McConnell, C. R. (2005) The Effective Corrections Manager: Correctional Supervision for the Future, 2nd edn. Jones Bartlett Learning, Sadbury MA. Rosenthal, S. B., Buchholz, R. A. (1999) Rethinking Business Ethics. Oxford University Press, Cary NC. Roulliard, L. (2002) Goals and Goal Setting: Achieving Measured Objectives, 3rd ed. Ceng age Learning, United States of America. Thakur, M., Srivastava, B. N. (1997) International Management. Tata Mcgraw-Hill Education, New Delhi. Vakola, M Nikolaou, L 2005, Attitudes Towards Organizational Change: What is the Role of Employees Stress and Commitment?, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol 18, no. 1, pp. 163-176. Williams, C 2006, Management, 4th edn, Cengage Learning.

MGMT Orinazational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MGMT Orinazational Behavior - Essay Example Organizational change management is a structured approach by which companies administer the entire process of change implementation. It also makes sure changes are successfully and smoothly implemented. Before going into further discussion about the necessity of change in an organization, I would first like to discuss some points about the driving factors of change. Some of the major driving factors of change are detailed below: - To satisfy the changing need of Customers: - The needs of customers have always been dynamic in nature and keep changing with time. Therefore for a company to constantly meet the customer needs, it needs to bring changes to its operation system (Havaldar 116). To maintain a competitive Edge over the rivals: - For an organization to sustain and get success in the market place for a longer period of time, it needs to have an edge over its rivals. This is only possible, if companies constantly bring changes and innovation into its system. Internal environmenta l Factors: - The internal environmental situations of the organizations act as one of the major driving forces of change. The internal environment of an organization includes people, events, system, structure and internal conditions which are controlled by the company. The internal factors play a crucial role in influencing organizational activities. Hence, when the management feels certain areas are not doing well or fitting to current situations, an internal change is initiated (Raoprasert and Islam 35). External Environmental Factors: - The external environment factors are the strongest force for an organizational change. The external factors are those which remain beyond the control of the organization, such as the economy, competition, market demand, customers, societal and political condition, and the common resources. It is imperative for an organization to continuously monitor and complies with the external environment and sometimes to match with external environment organiz ations need to change (Sisaye 82). Considering, the current business scenario, I believe an organization should constantly make changes into its system of operation. In addition, organizations at times are also required to make changes in some other elements of the business. For example, there can be changes in the form of new product development, new promotional strategy or implementation of a new performance management system of the employees. I strongly believe that, for an organization to get success in the market place it constantly needs to bring some form of modification to its current state. The present business environment is characterized by constant technological innovation and globalization. These factors also forces organizations to make changes in their operation. However, it helps them to conduct business which matches with the recent trends and comply with the requirements of the customers and employees. Some of the evident examples of organizational change are adapt ion of social media for the purpose of product promotion and adaptability of mobile. There have been constant debates over the fact whether organizational change is necessary or it depends upon the management’s wish. Additionally, there have been also debates over the need of managing the implementation process. In this context, several scholars believe that organizational change is not a necessary element of business and organizations should try to minimize the rate of change. Moreover, the

The benefit of being Vegetarian Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The benefit of being Vegetarian - Research Paper Example Also, pesticides and insecticides used on animals to remove parasites can contribute to both land and water pollution, and as such the vegetarian lifestyle can help in the reduction of this kind of pollution.According to Iacobbo & Iacobbo (2006), another main benefit of being a vegetarian is that there are financials gains that emerge from this kind of lifestyle since meat is considered to be generally expensive as compared to fruits and vegetables. Food expenditures that are without meat products can be reduced by up to 25%. Almost 10% of most American spending is on meat and its related products. A standard American family can spend up to a projected figure of $4,000 annually on meat products. Since the vegetarian lifestyle is healthy, one saves a lot of money by lowering their health care and health maintenance costs. Better health means that one can avoid diseases such as gout and high blood pressure hence money spent on treatment of the meat related ailments is saved. Also, fina ncial resources spent on animal rearing for the purposes of meat production can be saved if people opt for this lifestyle. Conclusion In summary, the vegetarian lifestyle can be a viable solution to the major global issues such as global warming, the global hunger crisis, and the recent global financial crisis. Though it may be a bit difficult to convince everyone to adopt this kind of lifestyle, many can agree that its benefits are quite substantial and if opted for people can live a little bit healthier.

History of scientific method Essay Example for Free

History of scientific method Essay Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died 1626. He ended up being a great philosopher, an author, and the inventor of the inductive method, also known for advancing the scientific method. He was the second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne Cooke Bacon. Lady Anne was the second wife of Sir Nicholas. Sir Nicholas was also the Lord Keeper of the Seal at the time, which is a job that would eventually be held by his son, Francis Bacon. Bacon started going to Trinity College in Cambridge in 1573, when he was only 11 years old. He completed his course of study there only two years later. After that he went to the school that his older brother, Anthony, went to which was Grey’s Inn, where he studied law after his father died in 1579. Bacon’s involvement in high politics started in 1584. He always aimed to change the thoughts of natural philosophy and tried to get himself in high political offices. However, Queen Elizabeth tended not to trust him very much especially he refused to agree to her request of funds for the Parliament. He decided to vote to allow the subsidies but to double the amount of time it takes to deliver them. â€Å"Bacon had emphasized the necessity of scientific improvement and progress. Since he failed to secure for himself a position in the government, he considered the possibility of giving up politics and concentrating on natural philosophy. It is no wonder, then, that Bacon engaged in many scholarly and literary pursuits in the 1590s†(Klein). In 1597, he published his first book, the seminal version of his Essays, though his income was still fairly unstable. I find it fairly humorous that Bacon planned to marry a rich widow named Lady Hatton, but was unable to because a man named Sir Edward Coke was courting her. In 1617, Francis Bacon was made the new Keeper of The Seal, and was made lord chancellor the next year and received the title of Baron Verulam. In 1620, Bacon wrote the book â€Å"Novum Organum,† which means â€Å"New Method. † He was the leading advocate of the inductive reasoning method. Inductive reasoning is the process that draws on the particulars of sensory evidence to form general principles(Fiero). He used inductive reasoning in attempts to improve the errors made by both Plato and Aristotle. â€Å"Aristotelian philosophy was based on a set of rules that governed the consistency between conclusion and a foundation that was accepted as unquestioningly true; Bacon’s philosophy was the opposite†(Soibelman). Bacon turned his back on Aristotle and Classical science. He looked to remove errors by blind obedience of religions and traditional authorities(Fiero). Bacon was also warned against four â€Å"Idols† that make clear and objective thoughts difficult. The first he called The Idols of the Tribe, which are deceptive things inherent in the mind of man, and so the entire human race has it. These may include that people always try to fit things into patterns, even if it isn’t actually in a pattern. They see what they want to see according to their beliefs because their six senses are flawed and are able to fool them(Terry). The next he called The Idols of the Cave, which are in the minds of each individual and are based on the individual education and background of each person. The â€Å"Cave† represents the mind. The person’s thoughts wander, some peoples thoughts wander more than others, through the cave of the mind. They can be changed by the person’s mood, education, background and habit. People will usually look back on conclusions they have learned before or come up with themselves and they will tend to favor the ideas that support those previous ideas. Individuals also tend to favor different things because of their background or education. For example, some will favor differences, while others favor similarities. People will see different things depending on their interests as well. The mathematician will see math and numbers in all things, like the T. V. character Charlie Eppes from the show Numb3rs. The chemist will see chemistry in all things and the architect tends to see shapes in all things. The third he called The Idols of the Marketplace, and that one was based on the verbal communication of people. It is based primarily on bad word choices and misunderstanding of others. He believed that, though people like to think they use words to express their thoughts on a subject, the words would replace thoughts all together. â€Å"†¦Words arise as substitutes for thoughts and men think they have won an argument because they have out-talked their opponents†(Hall). Words can have several different meanings. For example, the word light could mean the opposite of heavy or it could mean something that illuminates, such as the sun, a lamp, fire, or a beacon. Another example of this is the word like. Like could mean to be similar to, or it could mean to have a preference for something. Words can frequently work against what the speaker is really trying to say. They can make things seem different than what was really intended. The last was known as The Idols of the Theatre, which are hindrances caused by philosophy, tradition, theology, and science. Since these idols are practiced and defended by the well-educated people, the less-educated people tend to just accept their validity without question. This is how cults and even some religions have started. A person will take a single verse or small group of verses out of the Bible completely out of context and build a whole religion off of it. Using that method, a person could make the Bible say whatever they wanted it to say. The really sad part about that is that those cults will often still see themselves as, and call themselves Christians. People who follow these ways of thinking have children and grandchildren who just accept it as truth because it’s all they’ve known, so it becomes part of their way of life and influences their way of thinking. In 1626, Francis Bacon decided to try an experiment on how the cold would affect the decay of meat. So he bought a chicken and stuffed it with snow. Unfortunately, he caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia, and he died on April 9th. Bacon was the man that set up the basis that let people like Galileo come up with the theories that they did. Before this peoples’ philosophies were based on pure faith and, actually, had very little to do with logical reasoning. He was the guy that disagreed with the way things were and pointed them out. Descartes probably would not have gotten along with him very well. Even today, we base the majority of our philosophies on reasoning rather than just human belief. Actually, Bacon’s Four Idols are, even still, good things to watch out for and avoid. They do pose serious problems even if you aren’t a philosopher. There is a lot to be learned from the way Bacon looked at the world. Works Cited

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Gene Expression

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Gene Expression Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the gram negative rod shaped bacteria is found in all natural and man made environments. the organism is so stubburn so that it can grow in any environment and also at high temperatures such as 420C. The unique ability of the organism is forming biofilm. The biofilms are formed by the organism with the association with a surface. The surface may be anything such as cloth, paper, glass etc and any artificial surface. It is the opportunistic pathogen which behaves neutral to the normal tissues but it infects once the defences of them are compromised. The development of the biofilm starts with the attachment of the freely moving planktonic cell to a surface. Generally the twitching motility of the P.aeruginosa helps to use its unipolar flagellum to adhere a surface. The bacterium develops colonies known as microcolonies and adhere to the surface strongly which are known as pili structures (Baron S et al.,1996). During the biofilm development several factors pla ys a key role mainly the exopolymeric matrix. The EPS matrix is not visualised directly, but it can be done by using some fluorescent dyes. The functioning of the EPS matrix in holding cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa together and forming the mature biofilms. The biofilm develops with cell division and recruitment. The cells interacts via quorum sensing and these interactions are studied under scanning electron microscopy. The biofilm formation takes place in stages and many changes are observed in its size and shape during the development. The EPS matrix is made up of polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids. The exopolysaccharide matrix is the important component of the biofilm. The exopolysaccharide genes such as pilB, pslA, lecA, ureB and alginate genes are responsible for the formation of pseudomonas biofilms. The locus of the psl polysacchide genes encode the cells to adhere to a surface and thus maintaining the biofilm structure. In this research project we try to quantify the gene expression of the above genes pilB, pslA, lecA, ureB using rpoD as the house keeping gene. The biofilms are grow invitro on microcarriers. The microcarriers made up of dextrons in the range of 60-90 µm in size are used as a surface for Pseudomonas aeruginosa to form biofilms. The microcarriers are spherical in size where the bacteria can easily adhere on surface. In this present work we try to grow planktonic cultures and biofilms cultures on the microcarriers in a fermentor separately. The genes responsible for the biofilm formation are quantified by comparing the planktonic and biofilm samples. The planktonic cells grow very rapidly whereas the bacterial adhering takes some time to form biofilm in other case. The samples are collected at regular intervals and mRNA is extracted. The gene expression is quantified using real time PCR. The relative quantification method of qPCR or real time PCR method does not require any standard curve for the analysis where the samples are normalised by using an internal control. The threshold CT values obtained from the curve are used to calculate relative quantification by comparative à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT method. The results from the planktonic and biofilm gene expression results are compared. On the other hand we also assay the nutrients such as glucose, ammonia, phosphorus and protease during the fermentation. The concentration levels of the nutrients are also compared for both biofilm and planktonic fermentation. Review of literature: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a member of gamma proteobacteria class of bacteria. The bacteria is gram negative, rod shaped and aerobic belongs to the bacterial family of pseudomonadanceae. The recent developments in the taxonomy based on the 16s ribosomal RNA or conserved macromolecules, the family members are divided into eight groups. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a species present in this group sharing the with other twelve members. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a free-living bacterium, commonly found in soil, water, skin flora and in all man made environments. The organism regularly occurs on the surfaces of the plants and animals. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an occasional pathogen to plants. It is also an increasingly emerging pathogen of clinical relevance. The organism not thrives in the normal atmosphere but also in the places with little oxygen and thus forms the colonies in natural and artificial environments. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen for humans, which means that it exploits some break in the host defences to initiate an infection. The bacteria never infects the uncompromised tissues, but it can infect any if the tissue defences are comprised. It can cause infections such as urinary tract, respiratory system infection, soft tissue infection dermatitis, gastro intestinal infections. It causes a variety of systemic infections in patients particularly with severe burns and immune suppressed in cases of cancer, AIDS, cystic fibrosis in lungs. Characteristics Pseudomonas aeruginosa is rod shaped gram negative bacteria. The size of it ranges between 0.5 to 0.8  µm by 1.5 to 3.0  µm. almost all the strains of Pseudomonas are motile with a unipolar flagellum. It is ubiquitous in soil ,water and on the surfaces in contact with water or soil. It has respiratory metabolism and can grow in the absence of oxygen if NO3 is available as respiratory acceptor for electron. Generally the bacterium is found in nature in the form of biofilm attached to a surface or substrate, or in the planktonic form as a unicellular organism swimming actively with its unipolar flagellum. It is one of the most vigorous and fast swimming organism found in pond waters. It can grow at temperatures at 42OC or high, but the optimum temperature is 30 to 37OC. it is resistible to a wide variety of physical conditions such as temperature and can even resist the salts, dyes, antiseptics and most commonly used antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces different types of colonies from the source they have isolated. They appear like small and rough colonies. Moreover the samples collected from the clinical sources look like a fried egg like structure which is smooth, large with elevated appearance. The other type of colonies obtained from the respiratory and urinary tract secretions looks like mucoid.this mucoid appearance is attributes for the production of alginate slime. These smooth, mucous colonies presumably plays an important part in the colonization and virulence. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces two types of soluble pigments. Pyocyanin which is a blue-green and a yellow-green and fluorescent pigment called as pyoverdin. Pyocyanin is produced abundantly in the media with low levels of iron and also functions for the iron metabolism of the organism. Many strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces pyocyanin but not all the strains does it. Although the organism is classified as the aerobic, sometimes the organism is considered as facultative anaerobe where it can adapt and proliferate the conditions with less or total O2 depletion. The organism can grow in the absence of oxygen if NO3 is available as respiratory acceptor for electron. It can ferment arginine by substrate level phosphorylation where the layers of alginate present surrounding the mucoid cells of the bacteria controls the diffusion of oxygen(Collins FM, 1955), this is witnessed in the cystic fibrosis of the lung infection. Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is found in the biofilm form is responsible for a variety of activities involved which are natural and artificial. Resistance to antibiotics Pseudomonas aeruginosa is opportunistic pathogen, has a notorious resistance to antibiotics. The organism is very resistance towards many antibiotics due to the potential permeability barrier provided by the gram negative membrane. Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the biofilm form makes the cells impervious to the concentrations of the therapeutic antibiotic. The organism gets associated with others like actinomycytes, moulds and bacillus because of the natural environment they live. Moreover the organism have antibiotic resistance plasmids R factors and RTFs, the genes are able transferred by conjugation and transduction following the mechanism horizontal gene transfer(HGT) (Todar.K,2008). Biofilms Biofilms are defined as a matrix enclosed bacterial populations which are adherent to each surfaces or interfaces. Microbial aggregates and floccules and also adherent populations within the pore spaces of the media are spoken in the definition (Costerton J.W, et al 1995).bacterial biofilms came into existence and became significant from their first recognition in their ubiquity. The past researches show that profoundly the growth phase of the biofilms is distinct from the planktonic. In response to the surfaces proximity, bacterial cells alter their phenotypes (Costerton J.W, et al, 1995). The early stages of biofilm formation the bacteria is in stable juxta position with those of same and other species. The micro environmental conditions, cellular juxtapositions and the extra cellular polysaccharide matrix constitute to the development of the bacterial biofilm. Different bacteria responds to the specific environmental conditions with certain growth patterns, and a structurally comp lex and mature biofilm develops(Hamilton W.A et al, 1987). Physiological cooperation is the major criteria in shaping structure and juxta positions establishment to make biofilms adherent for the surfaces. It has been proposed that large suites of genes are expressed differentially regulated. Formation The formation of the biofilm initially starts with the attachment of the freely floating bacterial cells to a surface. The bacterial colonies adhere to the surface with weak vander wall forces. These colonies can lead themselves to more adhesion called as pili structures (Baron S et al.,1996). The organism adheres more to the available surface by binary fission, exopolymeric matrix is produced to develop mature biofilms. The matrix produced holds the biofilm together. Biofilm develops with cell division and recruitment, the cell in the biofilm communicate via quorum sensing. We can observe changes in shape and size in the final stages of biofilm formation. Distribution and ubiquity of biofilms The general phenotypic strategy of organism is to change in the mode of growth that to adopt to the altering growth conditions. The cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is a ubiquitous bacterial species respond to all favourable nutrient conditions. The organism adheres to the available surface by binary fission, exopolymeric matrix is produced to develop mature biofilms. The rod shaped bacteria grows in matrix which is enclosed in a sessile growth mode. The cells are protected from the biological, antibacterial, chemical agents and adverse environmental conditions. The periodically shed planktonic cells from the biofilm provide and sacrifice the protection to the new fresh habitats can colonize with the biofilm. The adherent biofilm populations has a significant metabolic activities( Fletcher.M, 1986). The extent of biofilm formation is predicted in the particular system is based on the following principles: Metabolically active bacteria show tendency towards the surfaces for adhesion in all natural environments. In all environmental conditions the extent of biofilm formation is controlled by the available nutrient for cell respiration and exopolysaccharide production. The organic nutrients sometimes tend to associate with the surfaces, in such cases the local biofilm is difficult to trigger. This is more in extremely oligotrophical environments, but bacteria normally does not adhere to surfaces in nutrient less environments. Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms The communities of microbial bacteria(Pseudomonas aeruginosa) forms a definite structures with the association with surfaces are abundantly available environment. These structures are often called as biofilms which are less susceptible to antimicrobial agents. These biofilms causes chronic infections and very difficult to remove. The extracellular polymeric matrix(EPS) are known to holds the biofilm structure and it performs as a matrix. The EPS matrix holds the biofilm cells together and protects them from shear forces in fludic environments. The extra cellular matrix for Pseudomonas aeruginosa forms the biofilm development in different stages. The matrix holds the cells together on the surface and forms a critical structural design resists to many environmental changes. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm develops in a five stage multicellular cycles, the process is initiated by the attachment of planktonic (free) cells to a surface. This is followed by the formation of microcolonies. T he microcolonies are seeded and gets dispersed where the cells form the microcolonies comes out to occupy a new surface( Ma. L et al, 2009;Stoodley.P et al,2002). The EPS of Pseudomonas aeruginosa composed of polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids. It is the important component of the biofilms. The exo polysaccharide genes lec A , Pil B, Psl A, alginate are responsible for the formation of Pseudomonas biofilms. The locus of the Psl exopolysaccharide encodes bacterial cells to surface and thus maintaining the biofilm structure. The matrix which is anchored by the Psl is not visualised directly during the developmental stages of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm. In addition to the present scenario of exopolysaccharides, extracellular DNA also plays an important part in . P.aeruginosa biofilm matrix (Allensen-Holm M et al, 2006). The extracellular DNA is derived from the chromosomes and it functions for signalling between the cells interconnecting the biofilm matrix. In the biofilm matrix, extracellular cellular DNA promotes cation gradients, release of genomic DNA and induces antibiotic resistance ( Mulcahy H, et al. 2008). Real time PCR Polmerase chain reaction or simply PCR is introduced by Kary mulis in 1980, which really a revolution in the molecular biology. PCR is the standard procedure to amplify small quantities of DNA molecule into large quantities. The method depends on thermal cycling which involves the continuous heating and cooling of reaction for DNA melting and enzymatic replication of DNA. PCR applications employ a general heat stable DNA polymerase such as Taq polymerase enzyme isolated from the bacterium Thermus aquaticus. PCR method is involves three major steps.1) Denaturation 2) Annealing 3) Elongation. In the first step DNA template is denaturated to single strand at high temperature of 940C. In the second step, single stranded DNA template annealed with primers, the temperature is 650C. At 720 C the DNA starts elongation which is third step. DNA polymerase synthesizes new complementary strand to the template DNA strand. Real time polymerase chain reaction or qualitative polymerase chain reaction is a laboratory technique which not only amplifies but also quantifies the target DNA molecule. it helps the user for detection and quantification(absolute and relative) of many specific genes in a present in a given DNA sample. The general principle of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is also used in the RT PCR. Unlike PCR, RT PCR is a new technology product is detected at the end of the reaction. There are two common methods for the product detection in RT PCR 1) Non -specific fluorescent dyes which interacts with the double stranded DNA molecule 2) Sequence specific DNA probes consists of oligonucleotides that are fluorescently labelled with reporter. The product is detected after the hybridization of the probe and complementary strand. The RT PCR is used to amplify the reversly transcribed cDNA products from the mRNA, which is becoming the effective and powerful tool in the field of molecular biology to quantify and study the gene expression. The RT PCR method is very easy to apply provides the reliable, accuracy and rapid gene expression quantification. The accurate nucleic acid quantification requires mathematical application for data analysis(Michael W.P., 2001). The real time PCR provides the very accurate and reproducible quantification of gene copies (Heid C.A., 1996). Unlike other PCR methods, RT PCR does not require post process sample handling, prevents product contamination, provides faster and accurate assay results. Real time PCR is very accurate and less labour usage than the present gene quantification methods. Nucleic acid sequence quantification has an important role in the biological research. Measuring the gene expression have been extensively used in the biological responses to various external s timuli( Tan et al, 1994; Huang et al,1995). Gene and genome quatification also used for HIV demonstrates the change in the expression level of virus in the disease period( Conner et al. 1993); (piatak et al, 1993). There are two types of quantification methods used in real time PCR: Absolute quantification Relative quantification Absolute quantification determines the input copy number generally by relating the PCR signal to a standard curve. In this method equal input amounts of sample, each sample under analysis amplifies with identical efficiency up to the point of qualitative analysis( Heid et al,1996). We quantitate the unknowns based on a known standard quantity. The unknown samples are compared to the known by creating a standard curve. The input copy number of the PCR signal is related to standard curve in absolute quantification method. Sometimes it is not necessary to know the copy number but it is important to calculate the relative change gene expression (Livak.K.J et al, 2001). The second method is relative quantification, we analyse the changes in gene expression in a given sample relative to another reference sample(untreated control sample). Relative standard again consists of two types of methods they are relative standard curve and comparative Ct method. In the relative quantification the PCR signal is related to the targeted transcript of the samples in the group. The new applications of comparative Ct method is the 2-à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ct method which is efficiently useful for the analysis of qPCR data. The 2-à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ct method(Livak.K.J et al , 2001): Derivation of 2-à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ct method: The equation for the amplification of PCR can be written as: Xn=X0 (1+Ex)n(1) Where Xn is the number of target molecules at cycle n of the reaction. X0 is the initial number opf target molecules. Ex is the efficiency of the target amplicon. n is the number of cycles CT is the threshold cycle, indicates the fractional cycle at which the amount of amplified target reaches a fixed threshold. XT =X0 (1+Ex)CT.X=Kx(2) Where XT is the threshold number of target molecules. CTX is the threshold cycle for target molecule and Kx is constant. A similar reaction for the internal control gene is RT =R0 (1+ER)CTR=KR-(3) Where RT is the threshold number of reference molecules R0 is the initial number of reference molecules ER is the efficiency of the reference molecule. CT.R is the threshold cycle for reference amplicon. KR is a constant. Dividing XT and RT, we get , (XT/ RT )= (X0 (1+Ex)CT.X) / (R0 (1+ER)CT.R )= (Kx / KR ) = K-(4) For real time amplification using Taqman probes the exact values of the XT and RT depend upon the number of factors including the reporter dye and fluorescence properties of the probes, efficiency and purity of the probe, florescence threshold setting. Thus k cannot be equal to one. Assume the efficiencies of target and the reference as equal. ER = Ex=E (X0 / R0) (1+ E) CT.X- CT.R =K(5) XN (1+E)-à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT =K-(6) Where XN is equal to the normalised amount of target gene (X0 / R0) and à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT is the difference of the threshold cycles of target and reference (CT.X- CT.R ). The expression can be written as XN=K(1+E) -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT -(7) If we divide the whole equation by XN for any sample q by XN as the calibrator(cb) XN.q /XN.cb ={[ K(1+E) -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CTq ]/[ K(1+E) -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CTcb ]} =(1+E) -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT Here -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT = -(à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CTq -à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT.cb) For amplicons which are designed less than 150 bp, primer and magnesium concentration are optimised, the efficiency is nearly equal to 1. Therefore the amount of target gene, normalized to an endogenous reference which is relative to a calibrator, taken as Amount of target =2-à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT . When the threshold is set for n standard deviations in the plot , above the mean of the base line emission from cycles 0 to n. The standard deviations is calculated from the data attained from base line of the amplification plot. When the fluorescence exceeds the threshold limit, CT values are determined at that point. The CT values are ten times more than the standard deviation of base line. The point at which amplification plot crosses the threshold can be defined as CT (Heid et al, 1996). Materials and methods Identifying pseudomonas aeruginosa Gram straining: Prepare a small amount of smear on a clear glass slide. Heat fix the smear to slide. Add a drop of crystal violet on to smear allow for 60 seconds. Rinse the slide with water. Add a drop of grams iodine to the smear allow for 60 seconds. Rinse the slide with water. Add 95% absolute ethanol to destain the crystal violet. Rinse again with water. Add a drop of saffronin over the smear, allow for 60 seconds. Rinse with water. Blot dry the slide, do not rub. Observe the smear under microscope. 10. If the colour of the bacteria appears pink it is gram negative, it is gram positive if it appears purple. Rod shaped pink coloured bacteria is clearly observed for gram negative pseudomonas aeruginosa. Shake flask method Prepare media of nutrient broth about 13 grams per litre of distilled water. Mix well and pour 50 ml of media into a 250ml conical flask. Plug the conical flask and wrap the mouth with aluminium foil. The less volumes of media in the flask increases surface area and oxygen transfer rate(OTR). The flasks are autoclaved at 1210 C and 1.5 lbs pressure for 1 hour 15 minutes. Planktonic-contains 50 ml of nutrient broth Biofilm-contains 25ml of PBS with microcarriers plus 25 ml of nutrient broth. Inoculate a loopful of pseudomonas aeruginosa into 50 ml nutrient broth aseptically. Allow the bacteria to grow overnight. Take the optical density at 550nm using spectrophotometer.The amount of the inoculums to be added to the shake flasks for analysis is calculated using the formula below: Amount of sample to add into shake flask = [working concentration X volume(ml)] / stock(OD) obtained After inoculation the flasks are kept in the orbital shaker at 300C. The samples of 1 ml is collected for RNA extraction at particular time intervals at 0,1,2, 4,24 and 48 hours for planktonic. In respect the biofilm samples are collected at time 0,22,24,26,44,46 and 48 hours as their growth is slower than the freely suspended planktonic cells. Then 2 ml of RNA later solution is added to the collected samples for RNA stabilization. The optical density is regularly monitored to check the growth of pseudomonas aeruginosa . Fermentation The fermentation process we perform here is batch fermentation. The bioreactor used for the study is a small scale fermentor from APPLICON BIOTECHNOLOGIES. The process will take place in a 3L fermentor(consists the working volume of 2.5L) for about 24 hours. During the run the criteria of temperature is kept at 300C . The pH is run free, stirrer speed is set at 600rpm for planktonic culture. The fermentor is run free for 24 hours overnight to check the production of foam. The cold finger helps to control the temperature by feeding water from/to the reactor. The o ring is checked for any leakage. The sample port is a tube for sampling using back pressure and forces the liquid into a glass recipient. The inlets for acid, alkali and antifoam are linked to durham bottles, going through the pumps. The durham bottles are blank, because above parameters are not controlled in this process. Air is pumped through a filter. The condenser is connected to water that comes out of the fermentor. Wh en the water is warmer than outside, condensed water reaches the condenser. The gas goes from an outlet connected to the condenser. The dissolved oxygen probe is connected to dO2 cable from the machine. It measures the amount of dO2 in the media. This probe needs to be kept in the buffer, when not in use. The probe should be plugged for 10 to 12 hours before the inoculation inorder to polarize. The stirrer is placed on the top of fermentor. The vessel is heated with the help of heating pad and temperature is detected using temperature probe. The air inlet is set up through the pumps and its volume is controlled with a rotometer in front of the machine. In this case 2.5L of air/min is supplied to the fermentor. For the gas analysis of oxygen and carbon dioxide the gas is passed through a drying column and reaches the monitor which is already set up for calibration. we run two runs of fermentor for both planktonic and biofilm cultures. The parameters such as temperature, aeration for planktonic and biofilm cultures are almost same. The only parameter varies for both is stirring is maintained at 600rpm for planktoni c and 200rpm for biofilm fermentation. Procedure: The fermentor is sterilised and all the valves are sealed with foil before going into the autoclave. The fermentor is run for about 24 hours before adding the inoculum to check any formation of foam. About 20 ml of an overnight culture is added to the fermentor. Sampling :About 7ml of sample is collected for every 20min for planktonic and every 2 hours for biofilm until the exponential phase is reached. The sample collected is preserved in the freezer for different analysis. The sample is assayed for gene expression by adding 2 ml of RNA later solution for RNA stability. The samples are assayed for ammonia, phosphorus, glucose and protease. The fermentation conditions are listed below. RNA EXTRACTION (protocol provided by applied biosystems) Materials required: 2-mercapto ethanol,100% ethanol, 10% SDS(in RNase free water), 0.5  µl/sample. Lysozyme solution: 100  µl/ sample 10mM Tris HCl (PH 8.0)mM EDTA 10mg/ml lysozyme (in RNase free water) Lysis buffer: Before beginning the lysis and homogenization steps, prepare a fresh amount of lysis buffer containing 1% 2-mercapto ethanol for each purification procedure. Add 10 µl 2-mercaptoethanol for each 1ml lysis buffer. Use 350  µl of freshly prepared lysis buffer for 1109 bacterial cells. Lysis and homogenization: Harvest 1109 bacterial cells and transfer them to an appropriately sized microcentrifuge tubes. Centrifuge at 500xg for 5 minutes at 40C to pellet cells. Discard the supernatant. Add 100  µl of prepared lysozyme solution to the cell pellet and resuspend by vortexing. Add 0.5  µl 10% SDS solution vortex to mix well. Incubate the cells in the tube for 5 minutes at room temperature. Add 350  µl lysis buffer prepared with 2-mercaptoethanol. Vortex to mix well. Transfer the lysate to a homogenizer inserted in an RNase free tube and centrifuge at 12,000xg for 2 minutes at room temperature. Remove the homogenizer when done. Purifying the RNA from bacterial cells: These steps are followed to bind wash and elute the RNA from the P.aeruginosa cells sample. Add 250  µl 100% ethanol to each volume of bacterial cell homogenate. Mix thoroughly by vortexing to dispersing any visible precipitate that may form after adding ethanol. Transfer the sample(including any remaining precipitate) to a spin cartridge( with a collection tube. Centrifuge both the spin cartridge and collection tube at 12,000xg for 15 seconds at room temperature. Discard the flow through and re-insert the spin cartridge in the same collection tube. Add 700  µl of wash buffer I to the spin cartridge. Centrifuge at 12,000xg for 15 seconds at room temperature. Discard the flow through and the collection tube. Place the spin cartridge into a new collection tube. Add 500  µl wash buffer II with ethanol to the spin cartridge. Centrifuge at 12,000Xg for 15 seconds at room temperature. Discard the flow through and re insert the spin cartridge into the same collection tube. The steps are repeated once again. Centrifuge the spin cartridge and collection tube at 12,000Xg for 1 minute at room temperature to dry the membrane with attached RNA. Discard the collection tube and insert the spin cartridge into a recovery tube. Add 50  µl of RNase free water to the centre of spin cartridge. Incubate at room temperature for 1 minute. Centrifuge the spin cartridge and recovery tube for 2 minutes at 12,000Xg at room temperature. Store the purified RNA or proceeded for DNase treatment after RNA treatment. (store purified RNA at -800C for long term). Agarose gel electrophoresis: The RNA samples after extraction are checked for the RNA signal. To visualise the RNA 1% agarose gel electrophoresis. The materials required for agarose gel electrophoresis is TAE buffer and agarose. TAE buffer(50x Tris acetate) 242 g of Tris base 57.1 ml glaciel acetic acid 100 ml of EDTA 0.5M PH .8.0 700ml of dH2O . About 20 ml of above solution is mixed with 980ml of distilled water to make it 1X. 1 gram of agarose is added to 100 ml of TAE buffer. The solution is mixed well. The solution is heated until the agarose is completely dissolved and solution becomes colourless. About 2.5  µl of ethidium bromide is added to the solution to visualise the RNA bands. Special care is taken while adding the ethidium bromide because it is bio-hazardous. Then about 5  µl RNA sample is mixed with 1  µl of DNA loading dye. The RNA samples are RUN with the potential difference of 80V with DNA Hyper ladder II as a standard. DNase treatment (protocol and kit provided by applied biosystem) The DNase I treatment is performed to remove any traces of genomic DNA from the eluted RNA. Protocol: Add 10x DNase buffer and DNase I to the RNA sample in the following composition: Amount component 1/9 th volume 10x DNase buffer 4  µl DNase I The components are mixed with gentle pippeting. Then the mixture is incubated at 370C for 90 minutes. DNase inactivation reagent is added to the solution and mixed well, leave at room temperature for 2 minutes. The samples are centrifuged at maximum speed for 1 minute to pellet the DNase inactivation reagent, after that the RNA solution is transferred to a new RNase free tube. The samples are run on 1% agarose gel electrophoresis to check the DNA contamination. We fou

Driving Age Should Be Increased to 18 Essay

The huge number of car crashes caused by young drivers is an issue which is now being strongly debated in Australia. According to the new research released on 7 April 2010 by Carhistory.com.au, Australia’s most comprehensive vehicle history website, one in ten Australian teenagers have had a car accident (Coffey, J 2010). Due to that serious fact, an idea of increasing the driving age to 18 with a minimum of 18 months on ‘P’ plates has been suggested to reduce the number of teens’ deaths by car accidents. Although that proposal will lead to some inconvenience for young drivers, it can prevent them from unsafe and immature way of driving, which guarantees the reduction on teens crashes. One drawback of the issue that the driving age should be increased to the age of eighteen is the inconvenience caused to teenagers. Driving is becoming essential in modern society, especially for the youth. 16 and 17 year old children should be allowed to drive to get to scho ol or work because taking public transportation is very time consuming, and it is also a big problem for them if they are late from the classes for they miss a bus. Furthermore, country kids who live in areas with few buses or trains and very far from city cannot expect their parents to drive them around every day, so having rights to drive is really necessary to them. On the other hand, everything has two sides. The increase in the driving age to 18 has been strongly advocated due to the fact that young drivers are not able to control the cars safely on the road. One major reason leading to car accidents is the distraction while teenagers drive. Multi-tasking is  becoming popular in many teens but it does not work for young drivers. They chat on the phones, listen to an iPod while driving, and even eat some fast food. They can also be distracted by debating with their friends or changing the radio station (The three top reasons why teen crash cars). Those actions directly prevent them from concentrating on the road, which is able to cause collisions. Even experienced drivers can have accidents when they leave their minds and eyes off the road, and their hands off the wheel. From the research for young drivers of South Australia government, having passengers in the vehicle is a distraction and can increase the risk of a crash. Inattention was reported as the cause of 32% of fatal crashes and 44% of serious injury crashes in 2005 (Government of South Australia 2005). Another element leading to car crashes is young drivers’ inexperience on the road. During the first 500 miles of driving, teen drivers are 10 times more likely to be in auto crashes than any other age group because they are lack of training (Ten tips to keep teens safe behind the wheel 2010). At the age of 18, one gets more exposure to traffic situations and experience in making decisions, so he drives more securely and is less likely to harm others. Moreover, the longer teenagers stay on ‘P’ plates, the safer they drive due to some restrictions like no alcohol while driving as well as the speed limit of 100 km/h even where the posted speed limit is higher (Government of South Australia, n.d.). Therefore, 18 months on ‘P’ plates is a good idea to make young drivers drive more consciously. Another factor leading to the raise in the age of driving is young drivers are not mature enough to be on the road. Firstly, teenagers’ brain does not develop enough to deal with all complicated situations while driving. This is clearly shown by the fact that some parts of the brain do not develop until late teenager, like the prefrontal cortex which is the most intelligent part of the brain and known as the brain’s executive. According to Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at MIT, the prefrontal cortex does not grow fully until the age of eighteen, nineteen and twenty (Patterson 2010). Moreover, young people are those who are at an age of demanding the independence, as well as taking part in a thrilling social life. They act at night, travel at a very high speed under the influence of alcohol or drug to show off because of peer pressure. Teenagers are also  irresponsible for what they cause. With the overwhelming desire to experience new more challenging actions, they usually do whatever they like without thinking about the subsequences. This is proved by the fact that the parts of the brain responsible for controlling impulses and considering the consequences of decisions may be under development until well after teenage years (Young Drivers: The Road to Safety, 2006). Therefore, they cause an enormous number of car accidents which result in a significant amount of deaths. In Western Australia, according to the Western Australia Government, young less experienced drivers, especially from 15 to 19 years old, who consume alcohol before driving are at higher risk of crashing than people in the other age groups (Government of Western Australia 2010) In conclusion, the increase in the driving age to the age of 18 with the minimum of 18 months on ‘P’ plates has raised many for and against arguments. For young drivers, that idea is indeed irritating. In spite of that fact, it cannot be denied to help to avoid the raising number in car accidents caused by young drivers because of reckless and unconscious driving. Modern technology such as car was invented to serve the society, but young people are abusing it and causing a lot of regrettable consequences. Therefore, the law of increasing the driving age should be applied as soon as possible to urgently lessen the bad results that young drivers may cause. REFERENCES Coffey, J 6 April, 2010, One in ten Aussie teens have has a car accident, Media release, accessed 13 April 2011, . Government of South Australia, 2005, Road crash facts 2005 for South Australia, Department for transport, Energy and Infrastructure, pp.15, accessed 13 April 2011, . Government of South Australia, n.d., P1 provisional licence, Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, accessed 13 April 2011, . Government of Western Australia, July 2010, Drink driving: Information sheet, Government of Western Australia, accessed 15 April 2011, pp.1. Patterson, L Mar 29, 2010, Earl Miller says younger generation will be better multi-taskers, Earthsky, accessed 12 April 2011, . Ten tips to keep teens safe behind the wheel, Jul 21, 2010, accessed 06 April 2011, . The three top reasons why teen crash cars, n.d., Car accident advice, accessed 06 April 2011, Young Drivers: The Road to Safety, Oct, 2006, Policy Brief, accessed 06 April 2011, .

Merck Pharma Case Analysis

Jim Mesplie MBA 519 – Competitive Strategy Case Analysis #4 FACTS Beginning as a small scale manufacturer of chemical in the United States, Merck Research Labs (MRL) became the top notch research institution in the pharmaceutical industry by World War II. By attracting the top talent in chemistry, biology, and pharmacology, MRL emerged as the leader in human pharmaceuticals with the release of highly necessary drugs to treat infections, and tuberculosis. MRL focused their strengths on three key areas: vitamins, antibiotics, and hormones.With the best scientists in their industries, MRL developed a reputation of being the best and their profitability put them at the top of their own industry. By the 1970’s, pharmaceutical research had advanced dramatically and MRL expanded their leadership in the market by providing â€Å"breakthrough drugs to the market. † In doing so, MRL tripled their bottom line by the 1980’s and were continually one of the most valuabl e companies on an annual basis. MRL’s profitability was hard to match by their competitors along with their innovations in the human therapeutic drug market while maintaining a science-based business model.MRL biggest core strengths was not only maximizing their top-talent to produce profits and cutting-edge drugs to be sold on the open market, but being very disciplined in their drug development process. Every one of MRL’s competitors put their newly designed drugs thru the same development process as they do, but the difference is post-marketing clinical studies (Phase V) makes sure their products are positioned correctly and they are utmost effective to whoever consumes their products for medical reasons. ISSUESIn 1984, the pharmaceutical business world was shook up with the passing of the Hatch-Waxman Act which tore down a barrier that MRL had created with their innovations for other competitors to enter the market. This new law enacted allowed generic drugs to be manufactured which made a big hit to market share for MRL and other competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. Collaboration could be used with smaller companies to replicate drug patents that recently expired which meant smaller R&D was needed to make generic drugs and the timeline for MRL to have exclusivity was depleted.Another hit was a few years later when pricing restrictions were put in place hurting MRL and the industry even further. With the regulations and the FDA allowing businesses to advertise to potential consumers directly thru the mail, television, or print ads in the local newspaper, MRL had to re-think their own strategy and begin what the new CEO Ray Gilmartin called a â€Å"New Reality. † In his view, what made MRL the powerhouse in the past is not going to carry the company forward with the new business battlefield for market share.The belief that the product quality and effectiveness would be enough to justify a premium price in the open market would no t be a long-term solution for MRL since doctors and patients could get something very similar for a much cheaper price by using generic drugs. The biggest struggle for MRL currently is whether they could adapt to the new changes while maintaining their core values as being a â€Å"science-led† or based company. Mr.Gilmartin felt the biggest obstacle for the company was bringing drugs to the new market while still using their larger research department while other competitors are focusing more on a larger sales force to bring their drugs to market. CONCLUSION/ANALYSIS MRL and Mr. Gilmartin still struggle with adapting to the new market and it is obvious that Mr. Gilmartin isn’t quite sold on what the organization has done to be effective with selling their drugs in the market.While not adapting to the drug industry changes, MRL is not leveraging external opportunities with other organizations like their competitors have along with not capitalizing on direct to consumer marketing with a minimal sales force. Now MRL should not forget what made them great by maintaining a top-tiered research staff, but it would be ideal for them start putting more money into other critical stages of the drug development process. As you can see in Exhibit 2, MRL’s puts 60% of their R&D expenditures in the target & clinical phases of the drug development process.Now this helped them become a market leader in product differentiation and quality but today’s competitors are focusing more on phases III and IV to help drugs hit the market with a bigger impact. I feel MRL is on the path to change while adapting new strategies in response to the new market. However the bureaucracy that was created in doing so has inhibited this response to a minimal roar. All these extra teams that Mr. Gilmartin and MRL have created to figure out how to re-gain their market share have slowed down the progress that was intended. I suggest that Mr.Gilmartin keep with his somewhat flat leadership organization but invest more time in working with marketing department to create drugs that are needed in the market place. I feel utilizing the marketing department’s expertise and forecast of what the market will demand will help MRL develop drugs that can be sold in the market from the beginning will alleviate any wasted efforts for the company in those first few critical and expensive stages of drug development. In doing so, costs will be reduced and profits will be reflective of those efforts which would put them back down the same path that made MRL great in the first place.

Martin Van Buren - Eighth US President - Fast Facts

Martin Van Buren - Eighth US President - Fast Facts Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) served one term as president. During his time in office, no major events occurred. However, he was criticized for his handling of the Second Seminole War.   Here is a quick list of fast facts for Martin Van Buren.For more in depth information, you can also read the: Martin Van Buren Biography Birth: December 5, 1782 Death: July 24, 1862 Term of Office: March 4, 1837-March 3, 1841 Number of Terms Elected: 1 Term First Lady: Widower. His wife, Hannah Hoes, died in 1819. Nickname: Little Magician; Martin Van Ruin Martin Van Buren Quote: As to the Presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it. Additional Martin Van Buren Quotes Major Events While in Office: Panic of 1837 (1837)Caroline Affair (1837)Second Seminole War (1835-1842) Van Buren is considered by many historians to be an average president. No major events occurred during his term of office. However the Panic of 1837 did eventually lead to an Independent Treasury. In addition, Van Burens position about the Caroline Affair allowed the US to avoid open warfare with Canada. The Caroline Affair occurred in 1837 when a US steamship called the Caroline travelled to a site on Niagara River. Men and supplies were being sent to Upper Canada to help William Lyon Mackenzie who was leading a rebellion. There were a number of American sympathizers who wanted to help him and his followers. However, in December of that year, Canadians came into US territory and sent the Caroline adrift over Niagara Falls, killing one US citizen. Many Americans were upset over the incident. The Robert Peel, a British steamship, was attacked and burned. In addition, a number of Americans began raiding over the border. Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott to help stop Americans from retaliating.  President Van Buren was responsible for delaying the admission of Texas to the Union in order to help maintain sectional balance.   However, Van Burens administration was criticized for their handling of the Second Seminole War. The Seminole Indians resisted the removal from their lands, even after Chief Osceola was killed in 1838. The continued fighting led to the death of thousands of Native Americans. The Whig Party was able to use the inhumane campaign in their fight against Van Buren. Related Martin Van Buren Resources: These additional resources on Martin Van Buren can provide you with further information about the president and his times. Martin Van Buren BiographyTake a more in depth look at the Eighth president of the United States through this biography. Youll learn about his childhood, family, early career, and the major events of his administration. Chart of Presidents and Vice PresidentsThis informative chart gives quick reference information on the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, their terms of office, and their political parties. Other Presidential Fast Facts: Andrew JacksonWilliam Henry HarrisonList of American Presidents

Were the American Colonist justified in waging war, essays

Were the American Colonist justified in waging war, essays The following changes in European and English society produced a landless class. Primogeniture, caused children other than the oldest son to be left without land, money, or any inheritance whatsoever. The enclosure movement closed off all pastureland, reducing the amount of farmland. And the agricultural inventions reduced the need for laborors. Population was growing rapidly, and the political balance shifted by 1775 the ratio of colonist to englishmen was 3:1. Englands saluatary neglect toward the colonies, furthered the colonist dislike for them. England began to impose absurd taxes. The Sugar act, an act granting certain duties in the British colonies and plantations in America. The Quartering Act, colonist were required to provide soldiers with living quarters. Stamp Act, required the use of stamped paper for legal documents, diplomas etc. The reason taxes were so looked down upon was because the funds went solely to the British government. Meanwhile The Sons of Liberty were working sercretly to oppose these taxes and later Parlimentary revenue programs. The Intollerable Acts were acts that limited the citizens basic rights as Englishmen and violated English BIll of Rights. The Prohibitory Acts were designed to strike at the economic viability of the colonies and stated that they were staging a rebellion against English authority, also that they had raised an army and had illegally taken over the powers of government, finally that they had stopped trade with the mother country. Colonist were not allowed to print money.Merchantilism was also a disadvantage. Economic initiative was stifiled and colonies were restricted. English merchants gouged tobacco growers putting them in constant debt. English felt the colonies should help pay for their own defense. Leaders from rivalry colonies came together to step toward intercolonial unity. ...

Effective Team and Performance Management Essay

Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example 6). The team has become more effective, in norming stage. Each individual began to focus on the possible ways to improve their team. Due to this, more group effort and unity has increased within the team. At this stage, the team is focusing on collaboration or cooperation. The task of the group is to interact, and to ensure the flow of data. It is my duty to support the members and group as a whole. â€Å"During the norming stage of team development, team members will begin to solve discrepancy they felt between their individual expectations and the reality of the team experience† (Parcon 2007, p. 33). I have been a part of the best  team, and that worked out very well, for the reason that all of us, as a team loved the work we were doing. So the teams are ready to set aside their differences, and we truly move forward for attainment of team goals. In norming stage, leaders â€Å"help the team take responsibility for progress towards the goal. This is a good time to arrange a social or a team-building event† (Gears off a Leader Seriies (GOALS) 2011, p. 2) team interacted well each other. This means that we worked together efficiently, and are well with conscious of our goals, and the ways to accomplish those goals. There is no teamwork, devoid of regular communication. â€Å"Teamwork accomplishes a task more effectively and efficiently than individual efforts. Every team member should contribute equally toward accomplishing the task† (Gibson et al. 1980, p. 6). The â€Å"individual behavior† (Gupta 2010) is influenced by factors like abilities, gender, race and culture, perception, attributes, and attitude of the individuals. Behavior and Expectation for the Team in Each Area of Norms: Meeting: All team members should be attending at the meeting, so that they can own group norms resulting from the meeting. In the meeting, only one person at a time is supposed to speak. The opinion of each member is to be placed during the meeting t ime itself. If a member is found to be late, the member is not supposed to interrupt in between the meeting. A member, if always comes late for the meeting, should be asked to depart the group. All members are asked to get involved in the meeting, and the silent members are encouraged to speak and place their opinion. Specific time is also alloted for each member to speak. â€Å"Meeting norms  set ground rules or expectations on how people treat each other at a meeting† (Meeting Process Recommendations n.d.). Decisions: Decision is made by the consensus of the team members. Consensus means the voluntary support from the group. It is difficult to obtain complete consent for a team decision, but the members have to support the decisions, whatever it might be. All members are supposed to contribute their views and opinions regarding the issues. If they remain silent in the group means they too support the decisions. This is applicable for those who abstain from the meeting, as their opinions in absentia have no value. Communication and Co-ordination: Every member should participate, speak on one’s burn behalf, and also give chance for others to speak. Each person will be held responsible for their own actions. There are three choices left before every member: to accept the decisions, or to try to work to make it superior, or leave it. But they are not expected to complain about it, if one is not ready to work on it. Communication