Facilitating the interview process Essay Example for Free

Facilitating the interview process Essay In this essay I will evaluate each document from Harrow College Application Pack, it will include information that applicants will need to know before they applied for the job. Inside the pack, it includes welcome letter from the principal, the curriculum of Harrow College, Organization chart, policy statement, travel policy, how to fill in an application form, job description, and person specification. In the application pack, a welcome letter from the principal of Harrow College will help recruitment because the letter is written by the principal it will set the standard and it attracts applicants and also it will make a good impression to applicants knowing the principal welcoming them to apply to Harrow College even though the principal is not saying it in person but it will make the applicant more welcoming and comfortable with the College. Secondly, the letter said â€Å"Harrow College now ranks as the top FE College in West London and Hertfordshire†, this will make applicants be more interested about the job role because they want to be part of Harrow College success and want to be part of that reputation. Harrow College can improve their welcoming letter by making the applicant feel more welcoming, instead of the principal saying thank you to applicant for applying, the principal should also include staff in Harrow College, that way applicants will feel the support of everyone in Harrow College. The letter also should include some background information of Harrow College and what kind of achievements Harrow College had to attract applicants. I think the letter from the principal is important because it will show a good sign that the college is welcoming and tells the applicant small information about Harrow College. The curriculum letter will help recruitment because it shows what subjects are majored in Harrow College; it will give a chance for applicants to see what other subjects they can apply for if in the future Harrow College have any vacancies. In the curriculum letter, it has background information about Harrow it will benefit the applicant because if the applicant doesn’t live local, they can find out about Harrow area. The organization chart will help recruitment because it will help applicants know who does what and who to report to, it shows Harrow College that they are a well-organized college, also it will allow the applicant to know there are people in different department doing different task. This document also helps me when I was recruiting in John Lewis because by knowing who is the CEO of the company and who is my manager in the organisation chart, it will help me in the future that if I have any problem I know who to report to. The equality and diversity policy statement will help recruitment because it will encourage applicants with different background to apply for the role, it will give a good impression to applicants that Harrow College don’t care where the applicants are from. Harrow College can improve their equality letter by showing figures of different background of staff in Harrow College because even though the letter tells applicants they accept anyone no matter where they from but some applicants would like to see the figures of different race and sex to know Harrow College is committed to equality and diversity. How to fill in an application form will help recruitment because is a step by step instructions of filling in an application form for applicants, that way applicants wouldn’t make any mistake or miss a section out, it will benefit for Harrow College because if the applicant make a mistake in the application form, employers from Harrow College can straight away not read the rest of the application form because employers might think if the applicant can’t follow simple instructions from the application pack then they can’t follow instructions when they are employed. Job description will help in recruitment because it sets out the main purpose of the job; it shows where the job is fitted in the organization structure, and the main responsible of the job and the type of task they will need to perform, putting the right information on job description is important because if Harrow College didn’t include detailed information on teaching and related activities and general duties, then when they have recruited the applicant, the applicant might not have any experience as a lecturer, they might not be flexible e.g.: travelling to two Harrow College Campuses, to act as a personal tutor to students. If those details weren’t included in job description, then the college would be hiring someone who have no qualifications and experience and that will cause Harrow College time and money because they would have to train the applicant or hire someone again. The changes that I would make is to improve their job description is to include how many hours the applicant will need to work, is important to put that information in the job description because applicant would want to know how many hours they need to work furthermore some applicant might have a family that they need to look after or pick up their children so if Harrow College would want the applicant work long hours during the week then some applicant can’t apply because of their personal problem. Person specification will help in recruitment because it gives information to the applicant what qualifications and experience is needed if they want to apply for the job, also Harrow College has designed well information of person specification, it included a lot if skills, different qualifications, and it specify on equality and diversity because selecting the right business lecturer is important for Harrow College, if they hire someone who hasn’t got any experience or the right qualifications then the lecturer won’t be teaching right to the students then it would mean Harrow College have to waste money again to recruit another lecturer again in addition to students would fail their exam which will cause Harrow College success’s rate to drop. The changes I would make to prove their person specification is to include the location of the job the reason for that is because applicant might want to know which campuses they will be teaching in and by putting the location applicant can decide whether they want to apply because if Harrow College would want the applicant to work in both campuses then applicant can’t apply because they might not want to travel to two campuses. Also Harrow College can include another column in the person specification e.g.: essential and desirable the reason for putting another column is because in the person specification it tells the applicant what skills are needed and what Harrow College is looking for but if they made it clear by putting skills into two column then it would made it more clear and organize for the applicant. The advantage of Harrow College using their own application forms instead accepting CV because in an application form Harrow College can set as many question as they like and what type of questions they would to like to know from the applicant also they have set a limited space in the form so they would expect applicant to write only important information instead of applicant writing unnecessary information in there which will make employers not bothered to read the rest of the application form because it will make employers feel that applicants didn’t follow the instructions by reading the questions and putting relevant answers in the form. Secondly, if Harrow College accept CV instead of application form, it will waste a lot of time and money for employers to read and compare each CV instead employers can use that time to do other things e.g.: mark students work and teach furthermore because each CV have different layouts with different information it will make employers much more harder to choose the right candidate that will be suitable for the job. Thirdly, employers can already tell if the applicants is a organize person or not by their writing and also their grammar, if the applicant grammar is poor which shows a really bad impression to the employers because the job role is lecturer and if their grammar is poor that will make employers in Harrow College consider that they can’t teach properly and if they hire that applicant then the applicant wouldn’t mark the student’s work properly. In my opinion, every document in the application pack is important. If one document is missing in the application pack, the company won’t hire the right applicant but overall I think the most important document is job advert and person specification because without job advert, no one would know about the job, applicant wouldn’t know how to apply for the job and what the job is about, also job adverts are very expensive whether the business is small or big. At the end of the day, the businesses still need to pay. Often job adverts are in short detail but the advert highlights the knowledge, skills and experience that each individuals are require within each advert. Job adverts would never change because of the job role because it would always tells the summary of the job, the location and how to apply so it wouldn’t make any difference with any job role but whereas person specification with different job role it would include different information depending how important the job role is e.g.: in the application pack, Harrow College is hiring Business Lecturer, therefore person specification would have a lot of information that they would require from a applicant but if Harrow College want to recruit a reprographics assistant, the person specification wouldn’t have much responsibilities as a business lecturer so when applicant read the person specification it won’t have a lot of requirements as the business lecturer person specification.

Identity in clothing

Identity in clothing THE CREATION OF IDENTITY THROUGH CLOTHING The work of Alison Lurie (Lurie, 1983) â€Å"The Language of Clothes† and Didier Gondola’s (Gondola, 2010) â€Å"La Sape Exposed! High Fashion among Lower-Class Congolese Youth† will be discussed in order to examine the concept of creating an identity through fashion. The first idea of discussion is Lurie’s concept (Lurie, 1983: 6) â€Å"Colour and Conformity†. Secondly Gondola’s comments on the Sapeurs. The third paragraph, applying the Lurie concept of Colour and Conformity to the Sapeurs and lastly the Colour and Conformity of Lurie, applied to the Smarteez. Lurie states (Lurie, 1983: 1) â€Å"Today, as semiotics become fashionable, sociologists tell us that fashion too is a language of signs, a nonverbal system of communication†. In Gondola and Corrigall’s articles, they discuss the way the sub-culture groups, Sapeurs and Smarteez used extravagant, colourful fashion to rise above their challenged, impoverished circumstances to create a flamboyant identity. Lurie’s (1983) article â€Å"The Language of Clothes† argues that wearing clothes is a form of language interpreted by all. Lurie states (Lurie, 1983:1) â€Å"†¦human beings have communicated with one another first in the language of dress†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In the section â€Å"Colour and conformity† Lurie mentions that psychologists discovered, looking at different colours may alternate our vital signs and emotions (Lurie, 1983: 1). Lurie justifies this by claiming that when someone is approached, the first thing that occupies the visual field is the colour of clothing having a great effect on the nervous system. (Lurie, 1983:2) â€Å"Loud, clashing colours, like loud noises [†¦] may actually hurt our eyes or give us a headache†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This implies that (Lurie, 1983:2) â€Å"Colour in dress is also like tone of voice in speech†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . A white evening dress communicates a different message than a scarlet one. (Lurie, 1983:2) According to Lu rie (Lurie, 1983:3) â€Å"Convention alters the meaning of colours according to the place and time at which they are worn.† The corporate environment requires conventional dress code to communicate status, but the same people would wear colourful eveningwear, suggesting that not dressing in the recognized range of colour for given situations, attracts unfavorable attention. To the Sapeurs, making an immediate impact with their colourful clothing was of greater importance than the attention they received. In his article â€Å"La Sape Exposed! High Fashion Among Lower-Class Congolese Youth† (Gondola, 2010: 157) Gondola comments on the Sapeurs, the oppression faced and the new identity created in response to that. French colonialism brought to Africa, a mission to civilize the people. Gondola states (Gondola, 2010: 158) â€Å"†¦their mission civilisatrice was predicated on redeeming [†¦] â€Å"primitive minds†[†¦] â€Å"primitive bodies† of the â€Å"naked people†. During the 1920s, the word sape(dress) and se saper (to dress fashionably) was used to describe the fashion energy that characterized Parisian socialites. (Gondola, 2010: 158) They influenced the young Sapeurs to dress fashionably, even over dress. Gondola comments (Gondola, 2010: 160) â€Å"†¦Congolese houseboys spurned their masters secondhand clothes [†¦] spending their meager wages extravagantly to acquire the latest fashions from Paris†. After independence of t he Congo’s in 1960, young Congolese flocked to Europe, because of economic chaos. Their dreams of a new life hindered by discrimination. Gondola argues (Gondola, 2010: 165) â€Å"†¦la sape became a refuge that enabled them to forge new identities away from home†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gondola’s writing highlights that the sapeurs overcame their struggles by allowing fashion to be the essence of their identity through the use of vibrant suits. (Obv.org.uk, 2015) â€Å"Within this society, men are encouraged to have their own sense of style, bringing an individualised definition of sophistication and elegance that suits each character and enriches the group as a whole†. This image of the Sapeurs is an example of Gondala’s comment (Gondola, 2010: 158) â€Å"One could easily spot them strolling down the boulevards [†¦] in expensive and flamboyant attire†. Combining a maximum of three colours was their idea of perfection. (Michalon, 2015) â€Å"The ways of Sapeology are impenetrable for any Sapeologist who does not know the rule of 3: a trilogy of finished and unfinished colours†. They had to know the rules of elegance, which implied matching colours harmoniusly without being excessive. (Gondola, 2010) The loud and striking message the Sapeurs portray in this image does not have a negative effect, as Lurie implies (Lurie, 1983: 2) because of their stylish matching of colours. Like the Sapeurs o vercame their obstacles through their fashion identity, the Smarteez also formed an identity through their excessive colourful attire. In her article â€Å"AGAINST THE MACHINE: THE ‘SMARTEEZ’ FASHION A NEW POST-APARTHEID IDENTITY† Mary Corrigall writes about the Smarteez (Corrigall, 2011: 2) â€Å"a youth-driven street fashion sub-culture†. The image of the group above reflects their striking outfits. (Corrigall, 2011: 2) â€Å"The Smarteez outfits are garish and excessively colourful and thus immediately recognisable as in the vein of dandyism in which the subjects appear like costumed objects†. Lurie argues (Lurie, 1983: 4) â€Å" some people may avoid colours they like because of the belief [†¦] that they are unbecoming, while others may wear colours they dislike for symbolic reasons†. The defining feature of the Smarteez was combining primary colours in their outfits, referring to their name,â€Å" a bright sugar-coated chocolate confection†. (Corrigall, 2011: 3) The name smart refers to their formal wear and intellectual acuity. (Corrigall, 2011: 3) â€Å"â € ¦the Smarteez attire is a parody of the middle class values†. According to Lurie (Lurie, 1983: 1) â€Å"†¦dress is a continual manifestation of intimate thoughts, a language and a symbol.† Rejecting those who did not wear brightly coloured clothes. Therefore they set out to create their own unique identity. The aim of this essay was to assess Lurie’s (1983) â€Å"The Language of Clothes†, specifically her discussion of â€Å"Colour and Conformity† and Didier Gondola’s (Gondola, 2010) â€Å"La Sape Exposed! [†¦] Congolese Youth† by examining the concept of creating identity through fashion. Lurie comments on clothing as a language that communicates. Using colour attracts favorable or unfavorable attention. The Sapeurs created an accomplished and wealthy identity through colourful clothing, their flamboyance making immediate impact. The Smarteez valued their brightly coloured clothing to the extent of rejecting those that did not conform. Therefore these subcultural groups rose above their struggles by creating new identities through fashion. Bibliography Gondola, D. (2010) La Sape Exposed! High Fashion among Lower-Class Congolese Youth. Gott, S.L.K. (ed.) Contemporary African Fashion, 1st edition, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Lurie, A. (1983) The Language of clothes, Random House Inc. Leroux, D. (2014) Forget the hipster fashion, preppy, preppy golden swag. Nothing compares to the Fire of Congo, 11 Nov, [Online], Available: http://www.tonbarbier.com/2014/11/11/oubliez-la-mode-hipster-preppy-bcbg-ou-le-swag-rien-nest-comparable-aux-sapeurs-du-congo [24 May 2015]. Edsuter (2015) The Smarteez | Ed Suter, [Online], Available: http://edsuter.com/my-work/the-smarteez/ [24 May 2015]. Obv.org.uk (2015) Sapeurs: The creativity of African fashionistas | OBV, [Online], Available: http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/sapeurs-creativity-african-fashionistas [24 May 2015]. Michalon, N. (2015) Sussing out La Sape: fashion, science or religion? Clique.tv, 07 Apr, [Online], Available: http://www.clique.tv/en/enquete-sur-la-sape-mode-science-ou-religion/ [24 May 2015]. Corrigall, M. (2011) Against the Machine: The Smarteez Fashion a new post-apartheid identity, Fashion Conference, Oxford, 1-4. 1

Workplace Monitoring Surveillance And Workplace Privacy Information Technology Essay

Workplace Monitoring Surveillance And Workplace Privacy Information Technology Essay Today business is being conducted electronically because internet access in every organization has become a business necessity. The internet, social networking, email, websites, forums, wikis, blogs, and instant massaging are the essential tools that an employee uses to communicate, collaborate and to do research work. But, these resources could be misused for private and illegal activities. As we all know the majority of all employers monitor employee arrival and departure time. Almost every organization, cash has been handled accurately. The majority monitor accuracy and quality of there employees work. Each and every employer expects maximum productivity from there employees. The employers think that the monitoring is not unreasonable; monitoring is commonly accepted as a business requirement. Still large number of organizations they do not monitor the manner in which the workers use there computers. The improper use of computer tools can have serious threats for an organization. In a computer base business environment lost of productivity wont be the only issue that an employers face how much time do they spent for none related activities? For instance, how much time were employees surfing the internet? What do they do during there time online? Play games, look for the perfect partner? How many none related emails that they got and send? By doing numerous none related work they waste valuable the time of the employees and network bandwidth of the company sometimes, employees get internal confidential information and data and use them for illegal purposes. Therefore, the monitoring in this regard should be highly considered. Personal surfing has become a nuisance for employers. Employees utilize computer tools for there leisure and pleasure within the normal working hours. A survey revealed that in an organization the lost time of an each employee is around 2.5 hour per worker. With the use of the number of work force and the hourly pay rate the total employee cost of cyber lacking could be estimated and it was a considerable amount. One of the security company, Sophose disclosed 60% of its uses accessed the social networking site, Face Book during the working hours. And that more than 25% of its uses accessed the site more that 10 times each day during working hours [Employee Computer PC Activity Monitoring Solution]. Around the world approximately there are fifty million Face Book users per day. And this number is increasing by 200,000 per day. How many cyberlackers are there in your organization and how much do they costing? The other important matter to be taken to consideration is Intellectual Prope rty Theft (IPT). Interconnected computers and mobile instruments provide new opportunity for people for access and steal data. These data could be conveyed to a laptop or a flash drive. Carnage Mellon Universitys software engineering institute has found 75% capital IPTs were done by internal machines in the staff. In recent case a research chemist has being admitted to stolen $400 Million worth of property data from his former employer DUPOINT [Employee Computer PC Activity Monitoring Solution]. Fraudulent often has access to very confidential information which can be misused by the employee or sold to a third party. It is stated that HSBC customer personal accounts were stolen up to $500,000 after the HSBC employee passed on data in to a criminal associate. [Employee Computer PC Activity Monitoring Solution]. Employers hold some form of legal liability and accountability for the actions done by there employees. According to the institute of e-policy, a considerable percentage of employers were prosecuted by courts due to improper use of electronic mail and web based technologies [Employee Computer PC Activity Monitoring Solution]. Therefore, monitoring employee activities is not a universal remedy to the above problems discussed. Introduction of Effective monitoring with an electronic policy could be implemented as a part of a risk management strategy. Computer Monitoring and Electronic Monitoring is rapidly to growing readably in world business. The technologies have become more powerful and easy today. It is inexpensive to install and maintain. Therefore, the rate of electronic monitoring in developed countries has increased considerably. In United States in 1999 the percentage of employer who electronically monitor there workers was 67%, in 2001 this number has increase to 78% by 2003 92% of employers were conducting some type of work place monitoring [National Work rights Institute]. This rapid growth of monitoring could be destroyed any sense of privacy as we know in American work place. In Srilanka the government embarked ambitious program that establish email and internet all government sector organization in 2003. Under this program they are equipped with a computer and a wide access to online environment has raised numerous privacy related questions for both employers and employees. In particular issues of email and internet usage and employee monitoring in the work place is an important matter to be taken in to consideration. And also issue of electronic surveillance in the work place has an impact on employee privacy rights. There are four categories of usage in organizations. Sending and receiving email, accessing and posting documents on the World Wide Web (WWW), sending and retrieving computer files which is known as File Transfer Protocol or FTP and joining electronic discussions such as news groups internet related chat groups. Email is a widely used internet service although many users are active in all categories. We could see two interest parties exist in an organization and two competing interests in the employment context. The employers right to conduct business in a self determination manner and the employees privacy interests or the right to be let alone. For employer and managers, employee monitoring is a necessity. It has been argued that email and internet monitoring in a work place are the most effective method to ensure a safe and secure working environment and to protect employees too. In addition to that, some argue with that monitoring may boost efficiency, productivity, customer service and allow more accuracy to evaluate employee performance [DeTienne, 1993]. Different types of monitoring systems could be implemented by the managers in there particular organizations. In a computer based work place employee key stroke speed and accuracy is commonly monitored by the employers. Other electronic devices such as video surveillance which detects employee theft and employee safety. Spying is a detective tactic. When there is suspicious activity within the organization, they use systems for tapping of phone calls, the frequency of phone calls and Badge system to locate the employee within the working hours. It is argued as to whether employee monitoring is advantages to the employee. Advantages could be identified a few in number, comparing to the number of disadvantages. Electronic monitoring is beneficial for the employee because it provides impartial method of performance evaluation and prevents interferences of managers feelings in an employee review. Data information collected by the electronic system offers uniform and accurate feedback on the past performance. Therefore electronic evaluation system would be the best performance appraisal based on the quality and quantity and accuracy of an employees actual work, rather than managers opinion. Where there are computers and electronic monitoring is available it provides flexible in-work locations convenient. Working hours by allowing employees to telecommunicate or use system available from the employer The advantages as well as the disadvantages are important to employees because advantage is helpful to employees disadvantages due to monitoring crates negative influence to the benefits of an employee. Some of the employers do monitoring by using law cost methods for better productivity and a good customer service. But the employers, those who really use modern methods to exerting control and power over employees. Electronic technology which uses for monitoring has made it easy of collecting private-data information that could be used negatively against the employees character or behavior and to take unfair decisions to harass the trouble maker and the union organizers within the organization. Fairness in how monitoring is implemented has to be considered. Whether the standers are reviewed as reasonable, the information collected should be work related and important for the employees quality of work life of day-to-day life and not other than anything else [Levy. M, 1994]. In this computerized world, where information and data are the most valuable consumer goods. Personal data is the life of the new economy when the process of information exchanges. For some businesses information is money and for this reason they buy and sell information derived from personal data. In the same way for some governmental and military organizations information and data are for their security purposes, for this reason, they manipulate personal data and information in the name of safety and public security. In both cases we could see that an individual or groups do not have always ability to control the flow of there personal information and data and are unable to determine for themselves when, how, and which personal information should be shared with others. Although information technology is related to privacy violation, that the privacy is not a new issue. It is not computes invade privacy but people who have the tendency in many ways to invade the privacy of others. Presently privacy problem seems become even worse, and information technologies such as network database, digital and tele cameras, microphone transmitters and monitoring hardware devices and software programs. The aim of these technologies to select different kind of data information for various purposes. However sometimes personal information and data is maintained without the permission of the individual and personal data travel on the super high way offering invaluable information and details to various parties from marketing companies to government agencies. Creation of electronic surveillance and monitoring in an organization, create unnecessary stress and pressure on them. Under these conditions heavy workloads and repeating functions leads them to social isolation and loss of job satisfaction. Under this type of working conditions a study revealed, that monitored employees suffered from physical and psychological health problems [Levy, 1994]. Employers today, depending the business they do, generally conduct monitoring in there organizations in order to increase productivity and customer care. Most of the employers initiate electronic monitoring which results devastating to employee privacy. Employee monitoring systems frequently record personal communications while at work. Internet monitoring is very invasive especially in a computer environment. It would be easier to communicate through internet than on there office telephone or email. Most invasive of all is video monitoring. These hidden video cameras installed in every were of the work place or factory such as locker rooms and bathrooms and there stoles. Some employers dont know when and what they are being monitored or watched. Some employees know that they have a standard employer who reserves the right to monitor anything at any time. While other employers do not know whether it is there email, voicemail, web access or hard drive or whether they are being monitor ed at all. Therefore, it is clear that the privacy at the work place is at a risk. Therefore, before initiating a program of monitoring employers carefully should consider effective solutions other than monitoring. Business field should have properly trained managers who are capable to deal with sensitive employee subjects. Supervising staffs can set conduct guidelines, address concerns, mediate complaints as well as monitor deal with those employees that choose to abuse company resources. Business should always conduct as in-house assessment to identify whether electronic monitoring is even necessary. Management should speak with employees regarding the productivity problem. Employee may suggest alternative ways to solve the problem if monitoring is chosen; employee may participate designing the monitoring program. If monitoring is conducted the scope must be as narrower as consistent with achieving the particular objective. If the company chooses to adopt electronic monitoring, notice should be given in advance of any monitoring. This notice specifically state what would be monitored and when this would occur. Protection of employees privacy by law is more important where monitoring is conducted. Therefore, to develop a privacy policy in the workplace, an ethical involvement in computer monitoring and work place privacy has to be taken in to consideration. Computer ethics deals with the balance between employee rights and employer interests and development of an effective employer use policy. On a practical basis any computer based organization can draw upon a code of ethics or policy should include the following theories The Law which include moral principals include with negative consequences for disobedience. Code of practice guidelines for employers to work within the organization. Professional Ethics Guidelines to employers/ managers to work within the organization. Personal Ethics Values that influence actions of the individual Monitoring mechanism is very important to employees for many reasons. Failure, to inform and advice the employees that the computer based activities will be monitored maybe a violation of employee privacy rights according to the certain judicators. If the employees have been notified that they are being monitored they will be compelled to prevent from breaching the AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). Furthermore undisclosed monitoring would bring negative impact on employee moral. Therefore following steps could be taken to formulate a acceptable use policy (AUP). An AUP should be communicated to staff of the organization in writing Permitted and prohibited activities should be setout for the usage of e-mail, internet and other applications. Specify the disciplinary actions that will be taken for the disobedience for the AUP. Employer should notify that they are being monitoring and when and what will be monitored. Although both employer and employee should stick to this AUP, there may be particular that could be unannounced monitoring is taken place. But such action should be taken, only after a legal advice. It is advised that an AUP should be supported with worker educational programs too and in these educational programs it should be discussed on the following topics. The necessity of an AUP? That compliance should be compulsory The conditions applicable in the AUP The consequences to disobedience The extent of monitoring Who should consult with any questions about the AUP In this manner employer and employee relations could be established and maintained, industrial peace and the privacy rights of the employee will be secured to create a computer based environment which would enhance production and productivity. That would lead to economic development. The educational program will not only educate the AUP to workers and ensure compliance; it may also introduce of good codes of practices within a social framework and entering them in to legal process. In the contrary, it may provide a defense against law suits by enabling an employer or an organization to demonstrate that all responsible steps were taken to ensure that the work place is free from harassment and all efforts were taken to provide maximum possible protection for employee privacy rights and to maintain the workplace privacy rights of the employees in the organization. Taking in to privacy violation, in the information society it is important to discuss about the right of privacy to some extent. Communication privacy includes privacy of email, teleconference, voice telecommunication and postal mail. Information privacy determining the purpose of use and communication of personal information with others. It consists of rules including legislation and industrial codes concerning with the collection, providing data on request, scatter about selective information or personal data such as credit information and medical and governmental data information and records. With regard to computer ethics, communication and data communication privacy are the main concern. Method of privacy violation in the data communication and technology sector could be classified in to the following categories, Intrusion: wrongful entry of acquiring procession of property belongs to another and by extension, violation of privacy. Misuse of data information: illegal use of information for unauthorized activities Interception of information: unauthorized access to private information by a third party to a private communication. Data matching: data combined, linked and compared from two of more unrelated databases to create new information. The purpose of data matching is to regain statistical information, or create computer profiles. This data matching is used for instance, by security agencies to discover wanted criminals, terrorists or missing persons or by tax agencies to find out illegal earnings and tax defaulters. Data mining: the collection of masses of data into one or more data bases in order to get new information and knowledge that was previously hidden and unidentified. It is used in direct marketing, allowing marketers to combine various criteria taken from databases to focus on a specific target group. [Stamallos.G, 2007] According to the above possible methods of privacy violation, databases, networks do a major role therefore, what can be done to protect individual personal privacy? Some of the governments have tried to protect personal data through special legislations or privacy guidelines. In 1998 OECD (Organization for Economics Corporation and Development) ministers adopted the declaration on the protection of privacy on global networks in order to ensure the respect of important rights, build confidence in global networks, and prevent unnecessary restrictions on transborder flows of personal data. UK parliament published the data protection act of 1998 which protects the personal data of an individual (Stored in either digital or paper form) from unreasonable or illegal use. The Australian Federal Government the OECD guidelines with privacy act in 1988. The US privacy legislation seems to be a special one but more recently the US privacy legislation has supplemented two major laws on the use of personal data. One is the privacy act of 1994 and the other one is the computer matching and privacy protection act of 1998. [Stamallos.G, 2007]. It is very clear that old common laws do not really cover the area of work place privacy in many countries. Therefore, a gap exists between the times when a new communication technology is created; new laws have to be designed by the state legislature to cover the new technologies and to protect the work place privacy as well.

Odysseus Personal Qualities (f Essay -- essays research papers

The Odyssey, by Homer, is about Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. Odysseus fights in the Trojan War and wins. He travels towards Ithaca but does not reach it because he is not in favor of Poseidon, god of the sea, who prevents his return. For many years, Odysseus wanders the seas and has many adventures. Meanwhile, suitors attempt to marry Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, but she remains faithful to her husband. The gods pity Odysseus and assist in his safe return to Ithaca. Odysseus’ personal qualities of bravery, self-discipline, and intelligence also help him to survive. Though Odysseus has the help of the gods, his personal qualities contribute to his survival in the seas and the return to his family in Ithaca.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bravery is one of Odysseus’ qualities that enable him to survive his adventures. In one adventure, Odysseus encounters the goddess Circe who has turned his men into pigs. Eurylochus escapes from Circe and tells Odysseus what has happened. When Odysseus offers to rescue the men, Eurylochus says that no man can return alive. Knowing this, the brave Odysseus says, “Very well, Eurylochus, you may stay here in this place, eat and drink beside the ship. But as for me, go I must, and go I will.'; (P.117) In another adventure, Odysseus must visit Hades, the kingdom of the dead. When he arrives, he takes out a cup of blood for the prophet, Teiresias, which attracts all of the dead souls. “All this crowd gathered about the pit from every side, with a dreadful great noise, which made me pale with fear.'; (Pg.124) Despite Odysseus’ fear, he shows his courage by remaining calm, protecting the cup, and talking to the souls. In another adventure, Odysseus is forced to sail his ship past the six-headed monster, Scylla. Circe warns him of Scylla and says, “She is no mortal, I tell you, but an immortal fiend, dangerous, deadly, savage, invincible!'; (Pg.140) Nevertheless, Odysseus bravely sails his ship past Scylla knowing that he and his crew may be eaten alive but also that this is the only way home. Because of Odysseus’ bravery with Circe and Scylla and his bravery in Hades, he is able to survive his adventures at sea.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another quality that enables Odysseus to return home and restore his kingdom is self-discipline. One testimony to h... ...uitors. He plans to keep his identity a secret and wait for the perfect time to take vengeance on the suitors. As a beggar, the betraying suitors are cruel to him. He notices the kindness of the innocent suitors and they trap the corrupt suitors inside the palace. Because of his intelligent plan, Odysseus is able to trap the suitors in a room, spare the innocent ones, and kill the corrupt ones. Odysseus’ intelligence with the Sirens, the Cyclops, and in his plan to kill the suitors, help him to survive and regain his family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus’ personal qualities enable him to survive his adventures and return home to his family. One quality, bravery, is shown through his encounters with Circe, the dead souls, and Scylla. The quality of self-discipline is shown through the adventures with the wooden horse, Nausicaa, and in disguise as a beggar. The quality of intelligence is shown through the encounters with the Sirens, the Cyclops, and the suitors. Odysseus’ personal qualities of bravery, self-discipline, and intelligence contribute to his survival at seas and his return to his family in Ithaca.

Epic of Beowulf Essay -- Beowulf Poem Poet Poetic Essays

Beowulf The epic poem Beowulf is a story of heroes and monsters, good and evil. The poem tells about the accomplishments and deeds of a legendary Geatish hero who first rids the Danish kingdom of Hrothgar of two demonic monsters: Grendel and Grendel's mother. Later in the story, Beowulf meets a dragon, kills it with the help of Wiglaf, but dies of wounds. No one knows who wrote Beowulf. It was not really written in the way that literature is written now. It is an epic poem, meant to be spoken aloud, very few of them were ever written down, and very few of them survived into modern times. Known as the first poem of the English literature, Beowulf is the major literary monument of Old English literature and of Anglo-Saxon England. The original work was written around the year 1000. The myth that Beowulf embodies has captured the modern imagination and placed the poem among the masterpieces of world literature. The poem documents the values, questions, and attitudes of the time and explores themes that are still engaging and fascinating. Beowulf is the oldest known piece of literature in English. Main Characters Of The Play Beowulf: The title character and hero. He is first the prince of the Geats and becomes their King. He is often referred to as the son of Edgetheow. Hothgar: The old, once great King of the Danes whose hall, Heorot is attacked by Grendel. Grendel: The monster who attacks Heorot. He attacks Heorot because he is jealous of the friendships and happiness of the Danes. Grendel's Mother: Has no name of her own. She is a monster and gives Beowulf just as difficult fight as her son does. The Dragon: The enemy that finally kills Beowulf. It guards a great tresuarehoard, and when... ...be different. Mothers and fathers will weep again for their dead children. The black raven, the wolf and the eagle will find a feast on the battlefield. The Geats will be people wandering without a homeland once our enemies come in upon us.' It appears that Beowulf's death signals the end of the Geatish people and the glory they won during Beowulf's reign. Works Cited: The Norton Anthology New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company R.D. Fulk (1991). Interpretation of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology Indiana University Press Harold Bloom (1987). Beowulf: Modern Critical Interpretations New York: Chelsea House Publishers Stanly B. Greenfield (1982). A Readable Beowulf Southern Illinois University Press Donald K. Fry (1968). The Beowulf Poet Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. George Clark (1990). Beowulf Boston: Twayne Publishers

JetBlue and WestJet

How important is the reservation system at airlines such as West Jet and JetBlue. How does it impact operational activities and decision making? Over the past years, it seems customers have heavily relied on airline reservation systems to book their tickets, reserve seats, pay for the tickets, and check-in-online. This has been very convenient for customers to plan their trips. These systems have also allowed the airlines to manage their whole flight inventory. They have the all the information stored and recorded and maintained.It provides a platform for communication between airlines for their â€Å"code-sharing plans† this also allows agents or other ticketing office to see real time information such as booking or seat availability (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). Because all of the parties rely on heavily on these systems it is important for Airlines Company to have it. A perfect example of the chaos that is created when one company decides to switch to a newer version of this sys tem would be the case of WestJet.The impact of operational activities and decision making has greatly changed with the new system. The system has helped the airlines maintain accounts with other airlines, as well as help processes internal information between departments with more efficiency since everything is done online (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). Now that customers can plan, book, and pay online for their trips it as boosted customer satisfaction with faster service.This system has allowed airlines to make good strategic decisions on which routes to monopolize, and how to improve their services by accessing information about previous customers stored on the system. However, this system can affect customers’ decision while they are booking for example if the system is slow or not user friendly customers may be more likely to go to a different site to book their flights. Evaluate the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk f actors. There are always risks to any business when they are upgrading their systems.However, the biggest risk to a business is the down time that they will occur when transferring and receiving data from the old system to the new upgraded system, not to mention the time it will take to train the employees that will be overseeing the new system. In the situation with WestJet and JetBlue upgrading the reservations system had its own risks and it could only go two ways smooth with no inconvenience to the customer or horrible wrong and the customers are angry and your good name is now in trouble (Laudon & Laudon, 2013).Despite the extensive training that WestJet had before the upgrade, it did not prepare them enough for when they went live some of the problems they had were not on the practice test environment they trained with. No one can predict that the updates to the information system will could create a defect in the system. The time it took to transfer the information to the res ervation system could create a gap in the services to the customer. Having a major outage to their online services could cause major setbacks for the two companies that neither of them could afford.Classify and describe the problems each airline faced in implementing its new reservation system. What people, organization, and technology factors caused those problems? In the case of WestJet successfully planning the development would have saved them millions of dollars, and it would have saved them many of angry customers. WestJet biggest mistake was they did not have a plan for system failure as well as the extra help at the call centers until it was too late and the issue was already out of control.If WestJet would have planned for the time it would have took to transfer all their files to the new system, and lighted the passenger load they would bypassed all the problems they had during the transfer. JetBlue on the other hand did successfully plan the switch they decided to do the switch when the airlines were not as busy and they also decided to book fewer seats during the time of the switch (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). They also a built a backup system to prepare for the worst, and hiring temporary call center workers was a great idea this allowed them to make sure they were available for customers during the transition.However, there were a few glitches such as wait times for calls and the airport kiosks and ticket printers were not online right away they still managed to be well prepared for any of these problems. Describe the steps you would have taken to control the risk in these projects? The steps I would have taken to control the risks in this project would be similar to what JetBlue did. I would have planned for an outage in the system and tried to look at the situation from the customer’s point of view.The training that we have done to prepare us for this new system cannot prepare us for everything that can go wrong during the transition. I woul d have to look beyond what could happen and prepare for that. I would slowly move the company into the transition and prepare the customers for it as well. Maybe by letting the customers know up front that the company will be doing a transition on the reservations system will allow customers to be prepared in the case something happens while making their reservations.Offering some sort of discount will help the customers through the transition and help keep the customers loyal to our company. On the business side making sure that we have options if something goes wrong by having a backup system we can turn to if the new system goes down. Making sure we do not over book our flights during the first few days of the transition and making sure we are all prepared and ready for anything that can happen is the only way we could overcome the situation.

Historical Critical Perspective on the Life and Works of Langston Hughes Essay

The paper will focus on criticizing the works of Langston Hughes in the basis of his life and influence of his surroundings. The historical perspectives will be the basis of criticizing his works. How the political and social aspects did influenced him to create his poetries. The life and works of Hughes in response to his adamant life will be discussed critically in this paper. Langston Hughes Life Born at Mississippi in 1902, Langston was the son of both African American citizens. In his growth, his environment was stained with racial discrimination issues which were instigated by his grandmother and the environment he lived. This rooted in writing about social issues which is mostly the topics of his writings. His greatest achievement was that he was the first Black American who was considered with racial consciousness to make a living by writing (Leach 14). He received many awards regarding his writings as he is a well-known figure in the society, a leading literalist in the Harlem Renaissance and critique of racism. His works includes the book of poetry which is The Weary Blues published in 1926. He was famous in playwright and musical dramas which were used in his time. Three of his famous works will be summarized and the influence of his works will be discussed.  · The Black Nativity (1921) – this is a collection of gospel songs which must be presented by black people. This means the character within the gospel about the birth of Christ is portrayed by African Americans.   It was played in Chicago and became a big hit in its time. The play was made from the influence of racism in the state. Langston created a new image of nativity when he arranged it to be played by Black people. This had become controversial but still became popular because of its uniqueness in approach.  · Not with Laughter (1920) – is a novel which depicts the black life in a town of Kansas. The work shows the character’s life on his dealings with tragedies and peaceful life in the town.  · The Weary Blues (1926) – this is collection of poetry blues by Hughes. The blues poem shows the nature toward affirmation and self negotiation, both consolatory mourning and melancholia (Ramazani 144). His works shows the life of black people in his time mixed with fictitious plots and heartwarming ideas in his works. The people view his works as inspirational and influences the way people view on the black people. The Harlem Renaissance is described as a period wherein racial criticism is intense wherein the blacks challenge the white racism by producing African Americans good in various field. This inspired Hughes to continue his endeavor towards writing his own poetry. Criticisms on his works At present, his works can be seen as not to promote racism but to see how Blacks and Whites have the same talents and ideals. The thorough examination of his works shows how he gave the tragedies on the life of blacks but then provide the positive side of it. His renowned play which is the Black Nativity showed a different approach in the way people think about gospel plays. The new approach was criticized but then, the issue of equality in religion beyond racial boundaries prevailed. His works became useful in the development of African American literature and continues evolvement of the discipline. His experience and his thoughts influenced the society through his writings. He’s well known works influenced the culture and life of the people in his time and the present.