ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
While trying to define what a gang is, it is important to point out that the term ‘gang’ greatly varies depending on the circumstance and the social locality or context within which the gang is set up. It is against this backdrop that this paper is going to discuss the gang activity that is prevalent in the United States of America. The gangs in the U.S have attracted the attention of so many scholars and many articles and findings have been compiled that provide a detailed progression of these gangs from colonial times to the modern time. However, many of these scholars have amicably come to a common consensus; many of the gangs have evolved from harmless entities to become some of the most dangerous security threats. Gangs have ‘metamorphosised’ to become conduits not only of drugs and liquor but of dangerous and illegal arms (Asbury 34). In the U.S the media has portrayed many of these street gangs as disrespectful gun-toting young youths who incessantly engage in territorial disputes. According to the media, these gangs are largely dominated by African- Americans whose background and economic status drive them to the gang activities. Until the 1910s after the great migration, the activities of the gangs were not recognized as a social problem (Asbury 36). No one has defined gangs better than Harold M. Rochon his book “Terrorists in Designer Jeans.” According to Rochon “ gangs should not be seen as a group of teenage thugs who never finished high school, but should be seen as male and female groups of individuals terrorizing our neighborhoods, some while dressed in designer clothes they are no different than ‘terrorists.’ Their causes may be different, but their actions are the same. And they’re using our communities as their battlegrounds, stealing, killing and destroying the very fiber of life in America.” (Rochon) Today the activities of gangs are variably seen as a security problem that needs to be studied because it poses a great danger to the very social fabric that society is made of. In trying to counter the obnoxious activities of the gangs it is important to approach the issue with great care because the existence of the gangs is both an economical, social, and economic issue intertwined into one. It would take the expertise of an anthropologist, and sociologists to better understand how to nub the gangs, where a holistic approach should be used rather than resorting to the use of force and threats. The later measures often have proved counterproductive even though sometimes they have achieved the desired result albeit for a short while (Klein et al 122). Various studies hav
Abstract Negotiations strive to achieve a consensus among parties that have differing opinions. Ideological differences are common among individuals and whenever they take place, negotiations need to be instituted so that the differences receive required solutions. For negotiations to be effective, the parties to the conciliation need to utilize factors such as effective communication, accept change, be keen listeners, and avoid emotional flare-ups. Consequently, the cases provided by the paper are very practical in presenting the relevance of the factors that lead to successful negotiation. These cases clarify the reasons why parties need to ensure that successful negotiation should be a win-win situation. Introduction Negotiations characterize our daily activities. Decisions concerning education, work, and places of residence are outcomes of negotiations. Although individuals may not realize that a certain decision is arrived at after a process of negotiation, the decision may always require some level of negotiation. In advanced levels, people negotiate to get answers that solve various challenges that come their way. Conflicts that cut across borders or issues that arise between organizations compel concerned parties to engage in a process of negotiations in the quest to address the situation. While many people engage in negotiations, some do not understand the factors that facilitate successful negotiations. As such, the individuals enter into a negotiating session without prior preparation a phenomenon that at times leads to disappointing results. It is within this context that this essay explains the factors that are essential for a successful negotiation and uses two examples to highlight negotiations themes. Essential Factors for Successful Negotiation Effective Communication Negotiation involves two or more parties who are focused on solving conflict and attaining an acceptable outcome that satisfies the interest of all negotiating parties. For successful negotiations, there is a need to engage in practices that utilize effective communication. It is paramount to assert that communication is vital in ensuring that the issues under examination receive the requisite redress. In the perspective of Lewicki, Barry, and Saunders (2016), communication is a process where a sender encodes and sends the message to a recipient who decodes it and provides feedback. Concisely feedbacks depend on the message and the scale of understanding. Poorly encoded messages are susceptible to unwanted responses. The response acquired after sending a message relies on the process of encoding and packaging the information. Smart negotiators understand that to receive good results, they need to practice exceptional encoding strategies, which relay the information to the other party in its right content and quality. Staying from Emotional Flare-Ups and Negative Feelings Emotional flare-ups and negative feelings disrupt negotiations and yield disappointing results. Flare-ups and negative feelings are indeed the challenge
Introduction The peculiarity of the topic, concerning the elections and election campaign is that it regains its popularity every four years. It attracts the attention of the political experts, mass media, audience, and, surely, the world community. Constitution The process of the elections is fully controlled and regulated by the constitution. It states the terms of the politician’s occupation of the position, how many votes a candidate should attain in order to pass. The constitution should state, in what order the candidate should for the government, and what party forms the majority in the parliament. Generally, the majority is formed proportionally to the achieved votes, consequently, the more votes – the more places in the parliament (Hart, 2007). Branches of Government The issue of the elections does not touch all the branches of power, but only Executive (The President) and legislative (Congress). The fact is that, these two branches may change the constitution (through the particular process), and thus influence the terms and conditions of the elections. Major Proponents The major proponents on every election campaign in the United States are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These are the two opponents in every question and in every matter: the democrats mainly focus on the internal affairs, while republicans pay more attention to solving the international problems. Democrats stand for the privatization and development of private entrepreneurship, and the republicans severely defend the concept of nationalization (Seligson, 2008). As for the interest groups, it is necessary to mention, that the Democratic Party is constantly supported by the trade unions, entrepreneurs and anti-militarists. The matter of anti militarism often becomes the burning point of democratic candidates, as the USA often rushes to solve the international problems (such as the struggle with world terrorism) forgetting of the internal problems (unemployment, immigration, financial crisis etc). Polling Data Taking into account the wide practice of polls (including exit polls), it is necessary to mention that the data of the polls often helps to sort out the information on the ratings of the candidates. The polls are aimed to follow the rises and falls of the ratings, as the particular actions by the candidates directly impact the results of the polls (Knuckey, 2007). As for the exit polls, these are the powerful instruments of preliminary counting of the votes, before the proclamation of official results. The popularity of exit polls are so high, that currently this experience is spreading all over the democratic world. Role of the Media Media is often called the fourth branch of power, as the person, who owns the information – owns the world, as Winston Churchill once stated. The power of media beyond any doubt, and the matter of the elections, if touched by the media reveals all the details of the election campaign. It is hard to overestimate the role of the media in the political life of the country, as it reall
Introduction Since the dawn of the Hollywood era, a popular means of filmmakers to make money has been to re-create the favorite stories of literature into filmic productions. There are numerous examples of this from Hollywood’s early recreation of Tennyson’s poem “Enoch Arden” in 1911 to the recent production of the ancient text Beowulf as a filmic event. However, the ability of the film to provide an accurate depiction of the original text is almost always questionable at best. Ask any fan of the popular Harry Potter series and it becomes clear that the film, while sometimes very interesting and bringing out elements of the story that were not particularly emphasized before, is never capable of delivering the story to the same degree of depth and artistry. In many cases, such as those listed above, the film adds in artistic elements of its own that may or may not help to inform the intended meanings contained within the book. More recent films are able to surprise and interest the viewer thanks to the technological advances of digital imaging and faster acting cameras, often changing the perspective of the story altogether to reflect themes or social changes relevant to the modern world that may not have been considered by the original author. In bringing Shakespeare’s classic story of Hamlet to the big screen and reset into a modern context, director Michael Almereyda is forced to reinterpret the role of Ophelia due to significant changes in modern women’s status, in the process forcing audiences to reassess their common assumptions regarding her role in the tragedy. Main Text Directors undertaking a film adaptation of a classic work of literature, such as William Shakespeare’s play, face a number of challenges. The first of these challenges is whether or not one should remain rigidly tied to the original script. Because of a widespread perception of Hollywood and cinema as a mere entertainment venue, movie producers consistently come up against the same problem of how to make their films appear authentic and valuable on a par with the literature they depict. “For the last two decades, academic criticism has predominantly viewed mainstream cinema as a sequence of emptily expensive, aesthetically impoverished spectacles” (Maltby, 1998: 22). This is only partly based on the frivolous nature of some of the films designed merely to bring in box office dollars. Another part of the problem is the inherent limitations placed on film. It doesn’t take a great deal of thought to realize that the material intended to fill a four to six hour play cannot be faithfully reproduced in a medium limited to two hours. This issue was one of the first recognized problems of adapting works of literature into filmic performance. In 1957, George Bluestone warned, “mutations are probable the moment one goes from a given set of fluid, but relatively homogeneous, conventions to another; that changes are inevitable the moment one abandons the linguistic for the visu
Riordan, Inc. is a private organization that engages itself in the manufacture of plastic products that are later sold to other manufacturers. The items produced in this company include plastic bottles, fans, heart valves, custom plastic parts, and medical stents. Over the years, the company has experienced tremendous growth that has resulted in the establishment of other branches, namely: San Jose, California, Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan, and Hangzhou, China. Riordan Company has a defined strategic plan to dictate how the organization will accomplish its mission. This paper will focus on the strategic plan of Riordan Inc and the importance of ethics and social responsibility in its strategic management plan. The strategic plan of Riordan is an issue-based plan because it aims at providing solutions to the hurdles that have been cited as barriers towards achieving the company’s goals. Riordan Company has realized that it can accomplish its goals by trimming the expenditures and improving on its performance. For instance, the company plans to integrate IT infrastructure in its corporate strategy to interlink the four branches. According to Bryson (2011), the current Enterprise Resource Planning systems are not compatible and hence it is necessary to install a common system that offers compatibility to all the branches. This is because the four branches are one entity and thus, their inventory records should be uniform. Using the same ERP system ensures that employees can perform their tasks at ease, regardless of their location. This is because Riordan is a growing organization and employee transfers are bound to happen. Such transfers should not affect the performance of the employees who work in the incorporated departments. For instance, if an employee from Michigan office was relocated to China, that employee would have to be trained again for him/her to be able to catch up with the rest. The incompatibility of Riordan ERP systems need to be solved because the problem can affect the inventory records and thus lead to a decline in output. The differences in the choice of system imply that the four branches did not address the issue of compatibility. Lynch (2006) explains that in strategic planning decisions are not made blindly because an organization needs to analyze the future implications of its decisions regardless of whether the solution is long term or short term. In addition, the customers of Riordan are not limited to one geographic location and thus compatibility should enable the customers to interact remotely with the organization. In business world, trust is built by communicating regularly and from the look of things incompatibility can bar customers from communicating with Riordan. This interaction is important because it provides an opportunity for an organization to get feedback from clients and thus improve towards meeting customer needs. Riordan Company scanned the environment with the aim of
Background information on the hospitality industry Hospitality industry falls under the broader service industry. It includes clubs, restaurants, lodgings, hotels and amusement parks. The industry is changing tremendously. The change in people’s lifestyles, technological innovations, new patterns of traveling and the improved knowledge of the people influence the hotel’s design, construction, and marketing. Environmental changes also affect the hospitality industry, for instance, the desire to have a green park for resting and fresh air. A drop in the economy of a particular country greatly affects the hospitality industry because people struggle to meet the necessities of life and fail to focus on the entertainments perceived as secondary needs. Investors in the hospitality industry compete to win the customers in the market. Since people vary in terms of economic stability, social well being, technological expertise, education, age, interests and hobbies, any investment in the hospitality industry will most likely get customers. The target market affects the kind of staff employed in a particular place within the hospitality industry. The shift in generations from X to Y affects employees’ attitude towards their employers. Employees’ empowerment also affects service delivery in the hospitality industry. Introduction to the article critique The following is an analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of two articles about the hospitality industry. In particular, the focus is on the employees in the industry. The first article is an international journal published by Emerald entitled Different or Alike?: exploring the psychological contract and commitment of different generations of hospitality workers (Blomme, Marije, Matthijs, Schalk, & Xander, 2012). The second article is a journal on industrial engineering and management published at the faculty of Economics & Business at the University Malaysia Sarawak. The document is entitled “Empowerment: hotel employees’ perspective” (Ayupp & Chung, 2010). Synopsis of the two articles The study aims at exploring the differences in generations by focusing on the psychological contract of hospitality employees and work outcomes such as their commitment and their intention to leave the company. The two generations of employees studied include X and Y. Results and findings showed that there is no significant difference for work atmosphere, salary and job description. Differences noticed are that employees in generation X balance their work and life. In addition, they secure their jobs and are autonomous. Employees in generation Y, on the other hand, are not fully committed to their work and have a higher intention of turnover. The authors’ practical implication was to guide the hospitality managers on how to handle the workers’ generational differences in terms of their expectations from the employers. This assists the manager in establishing
The majority of black males who were involved in the abolitionist movement, except William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, opposed the idea of women holding offices in the prominently male-run societies including the American Anti-Slavery Society. The push for women voting rights was seen as an unwarranted distraction from the abolitionist cause. However, black women were not deterred by such opinions, and thus they continued to participate in the anti-slavery campaign in various capacities as speakers and agents for various societies. White abolitionists would introduce black agents to doubting audiences as first-hand witnesses of slavery and its debilitating effects. This assertion explains how Frederick Douglas, as an antislavery spokesperson, became an American hero. Newspapers also played a central role in the spread of the antislavery message. Specifically, African American newspapers would spend time explaining the ideas and goals of the abolitionist movement, especially to black audiences. For instance, Samuel Cornish, a black journalist, and adherent of the abolitionist movement established the Freedom’s Journal in 1827, which was the first black newspaper. A year later, Cornish published an extremely radical black newspaper, Rights of All, calling for immediate abolition, but it did not last long. Other black newspapers that supported abolitionism included Weekly Advocate by Charles B. Ray, Colored American by Philip A. Bell, the National Watchman, with William G. Allen as the editor, and Fredrick Douglass’s The North Star. Before the Civil War, black abolitionists countered the proslavery message using different tactics and on several levels. For instance, Black intellectuals would respond fearlessly to elements of racism in scholarship, especially by questioning the persistent use of science to support racist practices in society. One writer commenting in The Colored American lamented, “We had hoped for much from science… We had fondly dreamed that she would ever rear her head far above the buzz of popular applause, or the conflicting opinion of the moral world…” (Franklin & Higginbotham, 2011, p.197). To counter such tactics, some black scholars, such as Robert Benjamin Lewis, used science to prove the claims that blacks were superior to whites. For instance, his 1836 four-hundred-page treatise deliberately ignored the existence of whites in the history of humanity backed by what he called scientific proof as a countermeasure to the proslavery narrative. The Underground Railroad also played a significant role in promoting the antislavery agenda. This extensive network attracted thousands of people to the abolitionist movement. Wilbur H. Siebert, a historian, compiled a list of over 3200 active workers, but many more have remained anonymous to date. Levi Coffin, a white worker, also known as the president of the Underground Railway, worked tirelessly to promote the abolitionist cause. He helped over 3000 slaves to escape from their bondage. Another notable figure in the Underground Railway system was Calvin Fairbanks, who would travel s
According to Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy (2009), leadership involves influencing people with an aim of achieving certain set objectives. Leadership involves, directing, control and supervisions of activities among other roles. The achievement of organizational objectives is accomplished through use of effective skills in leadership. Leadership involves application of traits that will work to influence people to achieve desired outcomes. For effective leaders there is need to understand how influence tactics come into play in leadership. A leader should develop the necessary power to influence behavior in an organization to a certain direction. In influencing behavior, an effective leader applies strategies or tactics that are meant to change the attitudes of the staff, their beliefs, values, and how they act (Fairholm, 2009). Effective managers apply soft tactics in their leadership that are friendly to their employees, are not coercive and other people perceive this tactics to be fair to them (Fairholm, 2009). Some of the tactics applied by effective managers include use of rational persuasion; it is where managers attempt to convince their juniors by applying logical arguments as well as introducing evidence that is based on facts. Effective managers will also apply inspirational appeal, which is attempting to create enthusiasm amongst the employees by attempting to appeal to the emotions, valu