ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction In line with survival motive in the era of globalization, various organizations are examining their management systems to attain competitive capacity. This is essential towards remaining relevant in their area of operations. Since its inception at the beginning of 1990, Learning Organization (LO) has received overwhelming attention as managers realize that they need to build an organization that can remain relevant in the ever changing business environment. Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino (2008) argue that it is vital that companies should become learning organizations due the tougher competition, and shifting customer preferences. The authors argue that in learning organizations, employees continually acquire, create and transfer knowledge. Consequently, employees will help their organizations acclimatize to the volatile business environment faster than their competitors. The learning organization is applicable to business organization in general and to service sector such as academic, hospital organization, and hotels (Senge, 1994, p. 48). Thus, this reflective treatise attempts to explicitly review aspects of learning in Microsoft Company with the view of identifying learning models applied by the company. Besides, the paper relates Garvin’s diagnostic tools to those in use at Microsoft and HP. Moreover, the treatise identifies the concepts of organization learning, continuous knowledge acquisition, system thinking, knowledge sharing, team learning, personal mystery, and mental models in organizational learning. In conclusion, the paper reflects on success of the applied institution learning module existing in Microsoft Company. According to Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino, experience is the basis from which learning organizations justify progress in terms of productivity and self motivation. Garvin, in article published in the Harvard Business Review, illustrates a learning association as “an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge insight and insights” (Garvin, 1993, p.1). Learning organization A learning organization do engage in active process of learning through promotion of learning, facilitation, and rewarding collective learning since it does not rely on ad hoc process with the hope that learning will occur through chance. Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino in an article, “ Is Yours a Learning Organization ?” published in Harvard Business Review (March 2008), replicates on organization edifice wedges as “supportive learning environment, concrete learning processes, and practices leadership that reinforces learning” (Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino, 2008, p.14). Garvin et al., (2008) argue that by using the diagnostic tools, managers can assess areas of the organization that require urgent improvement. Thus, this help in moving the company closer to an
Introduction Tom is a family man. He has a wife and multiple children. Therefore he needs money to support them. Tom has workaholic tendencies, which lead to him working long hours, being irritable, and exhausted the majority of his free time. One day, he comes home angry enough to verbally abuse his children and wife, after which Tom goes to a bar. Subsequently, he returns home drunk and goes to bed with the anger of others receiving more money than he while doing less. Unfortunately, this type of situation is relatively common. However, by looking at it from a Buddhist perspective, Tom’s issues may be mitigated. His case represents some of the most common issues that men of his age experience. This paper will argue that the application of Buddhist concepts such as the Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eightfold Path, The Two Truths, and The Three Dharma Seals to the presented situation can lead to improvement of Tom’s condition through the elimination of alcoholism and a complete reexamination of his life. The Four Noble Truths One of the fundamental ideas of Buddhism that could help Tom is the process of stopping, calming, resting, and healing. Tom’s situation indicates that he has no control over his life. Thich Nhat Hanh writes the following on the topic of such situations: “the first function of meditation – shamatha – is to stop” (Hanh 2008). Tom is trapped by the habit energy of being a workaholic and refuses to stop. To begin healing, he first needs to stop working such long hours, become calm by recognizing that his efforts to help his family are, in fact, making him harm them. Then he should rest, perhaps by taking a vacation or relaxing at home with his family, he would be able to reach a state peaceful enough for his body to transition to the next step of this process. Finally, resting may lead to his eventual healing. Tom is unaware of his suffering, which leads to larger suffering. While recognition would be essential, it would need to be encouraged for Tom to gai
Throughout history, the world has been treated to a series of devastating fire tragedies leaving a whole lot of destruction behind. Some of the fires are natural whereas others are instigated by deliberated or accidental human faults. Attempts to contain the fire have been successful in some rare and small magnitude incidences. However, there are exceptional cases where the fire fighting departments get overwhelmed, hence leaving the fire to take pleasure on what it consumes. This realization is a point of concern to any investor, as well as home owners as the security of their buildings and property, are jeopardized. As such, there is an urgent need to adopt proper fire codes that could assist in minimizing the extent of destruction resulting from the fires. In this essay, the 1906 San Francisco fire disaster is considered, and the subsequent changes in fire codes explored. The San Francisco Fire disaster was unforeseen. It all started as an earthquake in the wee hours after that fateful day. The earthquake lasted for approximately 45 seconds, and a number of buildings had given up to the shock waves that had resulted. Thanks to the strong architectural designs, there are, however, some buildings that remained standing tall after the earthquake. Presumably, the owners had started celebrating completing oblivious of the aftermath of the earthquake. A few minutes after the incidence, the city of San Francisco was engulfed in a wild fire that threatened to bring the whole city into utter ruins. The buildings that had otherwise withstood the quake had no option but to succumb to the fire that was gutting down everything on its path. The fire emanated from three different regions fanned by the high winds that were blowing across the city. The fires coalesced to form a firestorm with intense temperatures of approximately 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Efforts to combat the fire proved futile as the fire fighters were overwhelmed by the raging fire. As a matter of fact, the fire fighting department in this city ran out of water that was necessary to calm the fire. The effects of the inferno left more than 514 city blocks in ruins. This is an equivalent of 28,000 buildings that had been consumed in the deadly inferno. Also, lots of property and life were lost in the incidence. One strategy employed to calm the fire was the use of dynamites to blow down the buildings that were in the path of the growing conflagration. This was a desperate tactic to rid off anything that could fuel the fire further. Unfortunately, this mechanism bore little fruit, if not contributing to further development of the fire as both the fire fighters and civilians had no experience w
Introduction In the last few decades, customer relationship management (CRM) has been developed as competitive advantage strategy. In fact, as competition intensifies among all retailers, CRM has become one of the most effective strategies of maximizing their share of wallet. It is imperative to review the tenets of CRM strategies that retailers use to earn sustainable competitive advantage as more and more similar businesses spring every day. Customer relationship management is the first step towards customer relationship and to expand the distribution channels that attract near markets. Reflectively, the concept revolves around a comprehensive review of ‘push and pull’ factors which determine functionality of a retail business to offer an alternative strong marketing tool in the quest for quality, reliability, and trust among clients. A properly CRM is crucial in presenting brand knowledge, awareness, penetration strategy, and passing information to target audience. This analytical treatise attempts to explicitly review the application of CRM in three categories of retail formats. These categories are department store (Best Buy), specialty store (The Body Shop), and discount department store (Walmart). Department Store (Best Buy) Best Buy has employed the laggard activism strategy to not only capture the global market, but also leapfrog the dominant Amazon Company. The store operates on the Customer-to-Customer (C2C) platform and Business-to-Business (B2B) platforms. As a result, the Best Buy has penetrated the global market due to a balance in factors such as the Western business style, global business approach, and flexible organizational structure (Best Buy, par. 6). In order to penetrate the expanding global market, Best Buy’s business platform was modified through introduction of services such as premium customer experience, compact support from the community, and low charges for loyal customer. For instance, the Customer-to-Customer platform adopted by Best Buy has created and successfully implemented the
Introduction Modern Christianity has come under serious criticism from various religious organizations because of a growing culture of idolatry. Christianity applies in various brands that have been subject to accusations on idolatry (Benson 20). Christians, especially Roman Catholics have been accused of worshiping images of Jesus and the crucifix. Christianity is a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus, as embodied in the New Testament. The bible is very clear, on whom Christians should worship. The concept of idolatry applies differently today compared to ancient days (Johnson par. 5). Christianity has its own explanation of idolatry and use of images in churches. It explains idolatry as any practice of worshiping something that is not God (Benson 33). In the context of Christianity, anything includes material things, actions, and thoughts that make people to exhibit great independence in thought and action from God. For a long time, Christian worship has incorporated the use of icons and symbols, which has resulted in people developing different understandings on their use. Idolatry in Christianity applies when people use God’s given gifts and commandments to achieve selfish gains by acting to appear powerful and knowledgeable. Discussion One of the most controversial topics in development of religion is the elements of Christianity that apply as idolatrous. In the past, people considered idolatry to be the worship of statues and carved images, while modern explanation of the practice considers God’s commandments. It is important to understand various elements of idolatry, and ways that Christians can avoid the practice. It is important to understand that this practice goes beyond bowing down to sculptures, and involves lack of respect to God’s commandments (Johnson par. 8). In the past people worshiped sculptures, which critics argue to have modern representation in the image of Jesus and the crucifix. A crucifix represents the cross on which Jesus died. Modern Christians are very self-centered, greedy, and rebellious towards God (Mills 58). People are turning away from the biblical teachings that present God’s commandments to all believers. God communicates a lot with Christians through the bible. Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall not have any other gods before me.” Christians have decided to serve two masters at the same time (Mills 59). People have generated their own priorities that come before God for the sake of earthly gains. Christians have turned to worshiping money, if the number of churches and vague prophets emerging everyday is anything to go by (Neumaier par. 4). Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other. He will devote to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” I
The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical novel having names of places and individuals altered and it tells six months in the life of its central character, Esther Greenwood, an over-achieving college student from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Written by the American writer and poet, Sylvia Plath, the book was initially published in London, England, under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas” in January 1963, and it was in 1966 that the novel was first published under the author’s real names. By 1971, due to the desires of Plath’s husband and mother, the publishing of the novel in the U.S. started to take place and it received several positive reviews. An analysis and interpretation of this compelling novel reveals that it parallels Plath’s own experiences. In the opening chapters of the novel, the author introduces the initial situation by illustrating the life of Esther, a college student, working as an intern at a women’s magazine in New York together with numerous other successful college girls (Bloom, 20). Nonetheless, regardless of the fact that Esther had almost all things that a young woman can desire to have, her life is full of a devastating sense of disaffection and hopelessness. In spite of having a dreamy boyfriend, an excellent academic performance, and a comfortable job as an intern, Esther is terribly unhappy with her life and she feels that the community is grooming her for a docile life in future. During summer holidays, she gets back home to a Boston suburb where she proves her most horrible fears about herself. Her bitter relationship with her mom coupled with her dismissal from the summer writing program increased her emotions of alienation and despair for the rest of the summer period. This is the conflict in the story. Next, Plath introduces elements of conflict in the story. As the summer was nearing to an end, Esther’s conduct became more unpredictable as her hopelessness increased, even after visiting a psychiatrist and performing an electroshock therapy. After a few uncertain trials at suicide, she made up her mind to end all her sufferings by creeping into a void beneath her house and consumed an excess dose of sleeping pills; however, she was saved in the nick of time a few days later when she was barely alive. Further, the author introduces suspense in the story in depicting Esther’s situation for the first few days following her unsuccessful suicide attempts. The time she spent at the psychiatric wards of the first two different hospitals did nothing to alleviate her suffering; however, the initiative that Philomena Guinea, the woman who sponsored her college scholarship, took to take her to a private psychiatric institution assisted her in coming out of her depressed state. Thereafter, the author introduces aspects of denouement in the story. At the private institution, Esther’s condition got better until she was given more freedom to go walking in town, which made her to enter into a sexual relationship with a Harvard professor. Unfortunately, she bled p
Before the age of the Industrial Revolution, ‘leisure’ took the form of education and introspection as it had developed within Greece’s male elite. According to this view of leisure, any time not occupied directly with industry and production should be occupied with intellectual thought and consideration. “Leisure was valued as those moments of life in which one contemplated the eternal truths and participated in music and drama” (Torkildsen, 2005: 13). Because of a close connection established between the pursuits of leisure and the functions of the state, common working men, slaves, children, and women, all of whom were considered to have other, more mundane duties to attend to, were excluded from participation in leisure. “What distinguishes the leisure of Ancient Greece from that found anywhere in the history of leisure is the strong connection between leisure and state government” (Torkildsen, 2005: 13). However, with the growth of mechanized industry, a change took place where ‘work’ time was defined according to a clock, redefining non-work time as ‘leisure’. While this worked for a while, women, because they were usually occupied within the home, still had no defined period for leisure. It was only with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the subsequent advances in society that have brought women to a more equal footing with men and all people upon a more equal footing in terms of recreational and leisurely opportunity. According to McLean (2008), recreation and leisure provide important benefits to the welfare not only of the individual but also of society as a whole. This was recognized even in Ancient Greek society as those individuals engaging in leisure were working out some of the more intellectual and philosophical problems of their world. “Beyond its value as a form of sociability, recreation also provides major personal benefits in terms of meeting physical, emotional, philosophical and other important health-related needs of participants … The very games and sports, entertainment media, and group affiliations that people enjoy in their leisure help to shape the character and well-being of families, communities and society at large” (Kraus, 2008: 1). As we struggle to define ourselves, in terms of the I, which is the way we think about ourselves, and theme, which is the way we feel others think about us, we develop a sense of self-esteem, how we feel about who we are (Bolender, 2005). This concept of ourselves is balanced by our realistic idea of ourselves, our ideal interpretation of ourselves, our idea of what we ought to be, and our idea of what we don’t want to be. These concepts are all necessarily formed as we interact with others within a free environment in which we can be just who we are rather than attempting to fill some concept of what we should be as in the workplace or
Introduction The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was passed by Congress after the devastating effects of the collapse of corporations such as Enron and WorldCom on the economy of the United States (Kathleen, 2010). The main objective of the legislation was to improve the performance of the stock market by regaining investor confidence and trust. After the widespread collapse of large corporations, investors renounced the financial market because they were afraid of further losses. The Act was also meant to act as a tool for detecting cases of fraud in financial statements of companies and businesses, and as a guide for improved financial reporting. The Act has been effective because it has fostered a culture of transparency and accountability in organizations’ execution of financial operations (Kathleen, 2010). Effectiveness of the act First, the Act has succeeded in restoring confidence in the accounting profession that had been lost after the collapse of many corporations in 2000 and 2001. Implementation of the Act led to the adoption of rules that promoted the independence of auditors. The rules have helped to eradicate the manipulation of company reports by auditors. Studies have revealed that the Act has eradicated collusions between auditors and companies (Donaldson, 2005). Companies no longer influence auditors as they used to do before the enactment of the Act. Auditors are strict and adhere to provisions of the Act without compromise. Transparency has been further augmented by acknowledgment of the Financial Accounting Standards Board as a constituent of the body responsible for setting accounting and auditing standards. Secondly, the Act has contributed to the restoration of investor confidence in the capital markets. This has been achieved because the Act has facilitated the enforcement of laws that control the trading of federal securities. Certain rules that were added to the Act discourage financial fraud and facilitate compensation of investors who face losses because of fraud activities by companies (Donaldson, 2005). The Act has enabled the Commission to conduct fair investigations on cases of fraud and award appropriate punishments. This has reduced cases of financial transgressions in dealing with federal securities and investors’ portfolios. The commission can compensate investors who suffer losses due to negligence or fraud activities (Donaldson, 2005). Investor compensation has been facilitated by the fair funds provision contained in the Act. The Act is described as effective because it has overcome several challenges such as discovery and return of funds to victims of fraud (Kathleen, 2010). Thirdly, the Act has contributed to the improvement of executive responsibility in the management of companies (Vay, 2006). According to the Act, the CEO and CFO should certify company reports. In addition, it has illegalized insider trading during bleak financial moments of pension funds and improved timely filing of transactions after execution of a trade. For example, in 2004, many companies complied with the Act’s directive to certify company financial reports. The directive