Should design be a compulsory subject in high school? Essay

Design refers to the process of creating a work that satisfy the requirement, including conception, preliminary sketch, making etc. This essay will argue that design should be a compulsory subject in high school for the following reasons: improvement of average level of design skill and knowledge, enrichment of students’ imagination and creativity and connection with other subjects. The first argument that design should be a compulsory subject in high school is improvement of average level of design skill and knowledge. As students living in modern-day society, it is necessary for them to have a better understanding of a piece of work specifically, from selection and matching of colors to massive structure in furniture or architecture, through this curriculum. Besides, in many working aspects these design knowledge are highly applicable, such as PowerPoint, Photoshop skills, which is beneficial to their future career. While it can be argued that not every work has requirement of them, as a matter of fact, they can be applied not only in working field but also in daily life to meet contemporary aesthetic values. For example, students are aware how to dress up in a fashionable way or how to choose tasteful as well as functional furniture to decorate their homes, making their lives more enjoyable. Additionally, it could be argued that design, as a compulsory subject in high school, can enrich students’ imagination and creativity. During the period of adolescence when their imagination and creativity are booming rapidly, they need a stage where they are able to express innermost thoughts freely rather than absorb knowledge blindly. Hence, in the design class they are provided an opportunity to make fully use of their imagination and creativity and realize their thoughts. Plus, they will receive a large number of innovative ideas when they have interaction with other students. Although it is believed that not every student have plentiful imagination and creativity, actually these courses will guide students how they explore and develop them as much as they can. Finally, design being a compulsory subject in high school has strong connection with other subjects. When students study design, they are more likely to acknowledge other arts’ subjects such as history, cultures, which are tightly associated with design. Students always remember the days when William Morris led the Art Craft Reform and those modern designs from Bauhaus. Not only the arts knowledge but also the science ones can be obtained from various designs. For example, a great deal of mathematical regulation can be found in the designs made by nature and some of these patterns physically contribute to structure in architecture. While more time may be put in studying, students actually can relax their brains after whole day intense study of Math or English when discovering and appreciating the beauty of their colorful lives. In conclusion, there are several reasons, which strongly support the argument that design should be a compulsory subject in high school. In fact learning design in high school can benefit students by promoting their basic design skill, which can be applied in future occupation, and their daily tastes, cultivating their imagination and creativity and exploring relationship between design and other subject through a relaxing atmosphere.

Different learning styles Essay

Equality means that we should all have equal access and equal opportunities to learn and be successful regardless of gender, race, religion, and ability. Diversity refers to the fact that we are all different. Some of us are male, some female, some tall, some short, some dark skinned, some light skinned. We come from different cultural backgrounds, different faiths, and different family groupings. And we have different learning styles, different personalities, etc. Because we are all different, or diverse, from each other, every classroom is diverse and every teacher must be prepared to work with a great variety of students. Inclusion is the practice of including differently abled learners into a mainstream classroom of students with primarily standard abilities. Discrimination refers to the practice of treating someone differently due to characteristics beyond their control, or for which they should not be treated in a negative manner. Some people discriminate against others because of their sex, their age, or the color of their skin. This sounds silly, but a lot of us do it without even realizing we are doing it. We need to accept people at face-value instead of judging them based on minor circumstances or superficial characteristics. The Children Act (2004) places a duty on all services to make sure that every child has the support they need to achieve .Inequality and discrimination can stop children from reaching these outcomes, so we have a duty to challenge this. Equality Act 2010 Disability Act 2005 Employment Equality Act I actively encourage and support young children in embracing both diversity and equality. I make sure each child feels a sense of belonging. I observe and listen to children’s play and adult interaction to identify any bias or discrimination then develop methods to deal with issues that arise. Every aspect of the setting comes into play: how children relate to each other, and how language is used, how and what discussions take place, and what activities are undertaken.

Mattel and Toy Safety Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mattel and Toy Safety - Research Paper Example Toy safety is a kind of regulation based practice by which a regulating body of a country ensures the safety of the kids from the harm generated by using unsafe products. There are certain potential hazards which can cause harm to the kids such as ingestion of the magnetic toys, the presence of small parts of the toy, sharp parts of the toy and use of the chemical substance. To ensure the product safety, the regulating institutions set different standards which need to be maintained by the toy makers. This is done to eliminate the accidents that can cause injury to the kids. A few of the regulating bodies include the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Toy Industry Association and International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA). By the period of 2000, China had become the leader in the world in respect of toy production. Until the time of 2007, 80 percent of the toys coming to the US were manufactured in China. Mattel produced 65 percent toys in China. One of the primary reasons behind this is definitely cheaper human resources. For the cost minimization perspective, Mattel delivers its most of the demands through the manufacturing head present in China but owing to the corruption of a few subcontractors in China it created a major obstacle for the company in terms of its goodwill by a considerable extent. Noticeably, it can be highlighted that Mattel has achieved various awards rendered by a few of the well-known organizations such as World’s Most Ethical Companies 2013 by Ethisphere Institute, Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2012. These recognitions have increased the company’s goodwill (Schmidt, 2008).     Mattel’s Social Responsibility and Ethicalness towards the Safety of Its Toys Mattel has been recognized as one of the most ethical along with so cially responsible organizations but in relation to the issue of product recall it violated the child safety norms thus, it can be termed guilty and socially irresponsible. Acting Chairman of Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Thomas Moore stated: â€Å"This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act" (CNN Money, 2009). Each and every organization works for its profit and sales maximization. Its motive is to survive in the market but it always needs to maintain certain rules and regulations with regard to its safety of products during its manufacturing process. In the year of 2007, Mattel recalled nearly 20 million Chinese manufactured toys after violating the safety norms.  

Enrichment Report ( marketing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enrichment Report ( marketing) - Essay Example This journal contains original, peer-reviewed briefings on the practical problems and available solutions in the field of consumer behavior marketing. The aim of this journal is to support and assist in the understanding of consumer behavior for its readers and share the latest research and applications related to this field. The JCB publishes double-blind peer-reviewed and high quality theoretical and pragmatic research (derived from experiment and observation). This is one of the best features of this journal. It has a foundation in the social sciences and has a diverse and multidisciplinary view point which looks for sharing information related to consumer behavior. (Wiley::Journal of Consumer Behaviour) The JCB also showcases alternative, modern and contested representations of consumer behavior along with the latest developments that have been taking place in established traditions of consumer research. Being an international journal, the JCB offers the latest thinking, new developments and cutting-edge techniques in all aspects of consumer behavior in an international forum. Since the editorial perspective of this journal is international, it does not reflect the interests of any specific country. The research that the JCB communicates is in a forum that includes case studies, research reports and forecasting trends as well as articles. The articles are reviewed by international experts on the Editorial Board, emphasizing on the latest applied research and theoretical thinking in the field. The journal includes: 2. Cutting-edge Practice Papers: These papers explore the key international issues facing practitioners today and presenting case studies which are relevant. They also illustrate contemporary application techniques and forecasting reviews. 3. Book reviews: These reviews summarize content and assess the relevance, and each of these submissions is again

Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Development Essay

Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Development - Essay Example No consideration has been given to the impact of business practices on the environment. This has resulted into an increase in the global warming, and the natural resources reserves are diminishing all over the world. As people learned more and more about these facts owing to the immense universal rise in the literacy rate since the past few years, they have developed a sense of responsibility towards the environment. Ethics and ethical concepts like corporate social responsibility were never given as much importance as they are valued in the contemporary age. There has been a general discouragement and disliking for environment ruining businesses. As a result of this, modern day entrepreneurs face additional challenge of having to comply with the ethical standards in order to gain competitive advantage over their contemporaries in the market. Business ethics is a concept that is getting increasingly prominent in the current market scenario. It is a â€Å"buzz word† in the mode rn age corporations (Arrizza, 2009). This has also invited much debate owing to the conflict between the intrinsic nature of business and the ethical standards it is required to comply with. Business ethics is increasingly being taught in schools all over the world presently. ... Discussion: In any kind of business, the owner makes cost and benefit analysis of his decision to know whether the cost incurred in taking the action surpasses or is less than the expected benefits. Interestingly, what is beneficial to an entrepreneur is often harmful for many others and vice versa. Few decades ago, the doyen of market economics, Milton Friedman overtly expressed the concerns of a businessman saying, â€Å"There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.† (Friedman cited in mindfully.org, 2000). Business owners tend to measure the financial benefits of their decisions. Any attempt that is business driven is an attempt to maximize the profits. A successful business is often quite ignorant of the implications of the owners’ actions on the society at large. This can be attributed to the fact that the stakeholders affected by the businessman’s decisions often realize that their rights have been subdued or they have been harmed in any way much after the harm was actually caused. For example, as the technological era was gaining strength, more and more industries were being established. The establishment of factories and industries was seen as a sign of development. People were not educated much. The scientific research was also not quite mature and sufficient to judge the environmental impacts of the conventional practices that were in place. The factories discharged waste into the water, and polluted the air with chemical rich dust. No one actually estimated the dreadful impacts of such practices until global warming showed up in the form of a

Country Analysis Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Country Analysis Report - Research Paper Example Wikipedia notes that China is probably the fourth largest country in the world by total area and defiantly the second largest in the world by land area after Russia. Over the years Beijing has been the most popular tourist destination in China, this is according to an article on top tourist destinations in China by Kelly. Other major interesting places in China are The Terracotta Army in the province of Xi`an, panda breeding in the province of Chengdu, the scenic Zhangjiajie, the plateau of Tibet, the yellow mountains of Huangshan, the idyllic limestone scenery of Guilin, the cities of Hong Kong ,Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou which one can all visit by use of the bullet train. Since my business is that of Tourism and travel Management which involves the detailed organizing and booking of tour trips for my customers I choose China due to its diverse culture. The diverse culture in China will be very profitable to my business in that, my customers will have a varied number of choices to make from the tour packages that my business will be able to provide. These tour packages will include all the festival events in China, the beautiful geographical scenes in china and the opportunity to have the time to travel and shop in China. China has a decentralized political system, a system that provides the provincial and sub-provincial leaders with a significant amount of autonomy. The Marxism ideology followed in China provides a rather conducive political environment for the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) entities in China.

The Formation of the Islamic State Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Formation of the Islamic State - Assignment Example He was the founder and leader of al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad formed in the 1990s (Osobista 17). Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the current leader of ISIS but before that he was an active Muslim cleric and a follower of Saddam Hussein. He preaches radical Islam and is believed to be a Caliph by his supporters. The two men play a role in the formation of ISIS as Zarkawis terrorist groups led to the formation of ISIS as well as the teachings of Baghdadi the leader of ISIS. Baghdadi was the leader of al-Qaeda in 2010 before the formation of ISIS in 2014. The two men were working together in terrorist attacks that later formed ISIS (Osobista 30). Baghdadi is a man of few words where one can say he is an introvert. History suggests that he was not a social person and did not have many friends. He is a caliph who spends most of his time in the mosque leading prayers. Baghdadi, unlike Zarkawi, is not a violent person. Zarkawi’s personality, on the other hand, is open right from his leadership of al Qaeda. He was the one leading in the radical teachings of Islam and had a large following (Osobista 15)..

Special Populations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Special Populations - Assignment Example Still in these communities there are the vulnerable population integrated throughout (Nyamathi & Koniak, 2007). The discussion will focus on people with AIDS, as a vulnerable population in the society. In this case, it will discuss this group in details, their description, and their social and health problems. It will also focus on a program that will enable this group have a better stay in the society, also focusing on the ethical and legal implications and present strategies developed to diminish the cycle of vulnerability in the society. The welfare of the people with AIDS may it be adolescents, elderly and young adults mainly depends on trail of personal developments, economic and social experiences of the society and stressors that may be distinct to the diverse age groups or to communities at different times. Several vulnerable groups in the society fall prey into abuses by the rest of the people may it be physical, sexual, mental, social stigma, and financial, and they can still happen to people with AIDS. They can be susceptible to influences that are devastating to their well fare. There are more reported cases each year of abuse of this population and more that often occurs and not reported. This is evident from the reports produced each year by the health care sector in several countries (Nyamathi & Koniak, 2007). Awareness of the abuses of people with AIDS is essential since this group comprise of the fastest growing population in America among others. Most of the people with AIDS abuses occur within cultural, economic, racial, and ethnic groups regardless of the religion and socioeconomic status. The abuse of the group goes back a long way to the ancient times when they regarded people with AIDS as outcasts and discarded after contracting with HIV (Aday, 2001). Reports published in the year 1970 showed that the abuse of

UK Businesses Going Abroad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

UK Businesses Going Abroad - Essay Example This also has various tax implications. In UK, the double taxation hit has come about due to the fact that the foreign income dividends have been abolished. By going abroad, companies like SmithKline Beecham, BAT industries, Glaxo Wellcome, RTZ as well as Reckitt and Colman, have managed to accommodate the principles of geographical diversification as a bid towards cushioning the blow of double taxation that has been proposed by the Chancellor of Exchequers. (Ahmad, 1997) There are numerous ethical issues that come up in this regard. To begin with, there has been a sharp increase in the number of companies that have chosen to pay their dividends as "Fids". This cost the UK economy and UK businesses over 400 million due to the fact that most of these UK businesses were moving abroad. Other issues include an analysis of whether or not it is ethical to make use of the various facilities in terms of fiscal, policy and financial mechanisms that are made available to developing countries. (Ahmad, 1997) Developing countries are in need of aids that will further the cause of economic progress. Therefore, the tax implications for these countries are favourable. Yet, the economics of these countries can accommodate only a certain percentage of businesses as far as the enjoinment of these benefits is concerned. In this regard, when a UK business moves to one of these countries, it is technically eating into this share that could otherwise have been enjoyed by the national businesses. This is an ethical issue that has been explained by cynics and economic scholars as making use of the next best opportunity. (Ahmad, 1997) International Marketing The arena of international marketing has become a field on its own that has revolutionised the arena of geographic diversification. UK businesses have taken the step towards international diversification due to make better use of opportunities that lie in the avenues of international marketing on today's world. This involves reaching out to developing countries like India, the Far East countries and other developed nations like US as well. While the developing countries have increasing levels of disposable income due to a growth in economies, the UK businesses are aiming at these countries. The UK businesses take to more developed countries like USA and Australia due to consistency as far as standards in management and marketing are concerned. Also, culturally the UK businesses are closer to the culture followed in USA and Australia more than other countries. In this regard, it is imperative to loosely define international marketing before moving on. International marketing is that sphere of activities that is aimed at introducing a product in a country or group of countries with the aim of creating sales and some amount of awareness regarding the brand. Customer satisfaction in today's world has come to occupy a place of vital importance. The phrase, "customer is king", is not just a phrase anymore. It is symbolic of the changing times where consumer courts are waiting to help citizens assert their rights. In this context, a traditional industry like banking has followed the trend and pulled up its socks. The characteristic laid back attitude of the banking industry has been long replaced by

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films Essay

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films - Essay Example Bentrancourt and Chassot (2008, p. 3) highlight that the fundamental reason why kids are attracted towards animated films is due to the visualizations they create, which helps in overall understanding of situations. Further, it is claimed that animations are very helpful for kids because they enhance memory of the animated information which later aids to advance comprehension of various situations depicted by the animations. Therefore, it is observed that animations are attractive to children because they create memorization and comprehension of whatever subject they illustrate. Moreover, kids are attracted to animations and 3d animated films because they are funny and entertaining to watch. Therefore, they are very appealing, humorous, motivating and most often capture children’s attention. In their tender age and little comprehension abilities, kids get bored when watching television, hence, they are usually inclined to watch more fun and entertaining programs than TV programs, which are mostly in the form of animations (Shanghai Jianghong Gifts, 2008). For example, if children were doing their homework at home and an adult was watching news, they are likely not to develop any interest in the TV. However, if the channel is changed to a cartoon program, the kids will lose interest in the homework and will be motivated to watch TV. This proves that kids are attracted towards animated films because they are fun and entertaining to watch. In addition, kids are attracted to animation films because animations use space in representing elements in their relations. In this case, animations create characters that kids are able to relate to and themes which make character differences and this attracts them to watch animated films. Therefore, when kids watch animated films, they also develop favourite characters who might be good in the film. Hence, this will give the

Starbucks Coffee Essay Example for Free

Starbucks Coffee Essay Starbucks coffee has pursued rapid expansion both at home and abroad. In mid- 2004, Starbucks could boast more than 7,800 outlets around the world, and chairman Howard Schultz and CEO Orin Smith have no plans to slow the growth, ? The company planned at least 1, 300 more stores in 2004 and has a long term goal of reaching 10, 000 outlets in the United States alone. The presidents vision is that the company ? Starbucks? could have as many as 15,000 international stores. Today Starbucks has nearly 1, 500 store outlets in the United States including Europe , Pacific Rim ,Middle East and Mexico. ? Most of Starbucks international stores are now operated as joint ventures with local companies. Starbucks has to go fast or lose the opportunity ? and a local partner can facilitate rapid development of a new market. Executives are learning to adapt the companys operating methods and product offerings to better suit local conditions and tastes. 1) ? How could you classify Starbucks grand strategy and global strategy? Which of Porters competitive strategies is the company using? Explain each answer? ? ? We classified the grand strategy of starbucks pertaining to its Growth. In order for starbucks to sell and market its products is by: ? A. ?Allocating new funds to invest namely like prime locations and lots. Basically any establishment will earn more if the store is located in a highly busy route or place. Potential clients can be marketed. ? B. Investing in hiring the best and qualified personnel. In order for a store to run smoothly , the company should have competent and high breed of people who can manage the store and the same time enjoy the work itself. ? C. ?Purchasing of new set of equipments , glassware , lighting , tables and chairs can be a plus factor for a good ambiance. For the Global Strategy , Starbuck is implementing Transitional process where in they seek to achieve both global integration and national responsiveness. A true transitional strategy is difficult to achieve , because one goal requires close global coordination while the other goal requires local flexibility. However a lot of increased competition means they must achieve global efficiency , going pressure to meet local demands and national responsiveness. Starbucks designs quality stores to sell and market its products to use components in a few larger scale, basically , the company goes global to introduce it to other countries and to increase its market. 2. Discuss how top executives are using leadership structure , information and control systems and or human resource to implement international strategy? What steps would you recommend for implementing drive-through stores or Hear Music coffee houses? ? Top executives uses its leadership qualities by bringing Starbucks on a the right path and showing a vision for the company and its employees. Top executives have several ideas percolating to the companys growth. ? a. Establish rapport and solid partnership or joint venture with other countries makes things cohesive. b. ?Adapting the companys operating methods and product offerings to better suit local conditions and taste. Not all countries have same taste with regards to starbucks products. They sell what is needed and wanted. c. Acquiring highly skilled people barista? who can prepare , serve and enjoy the tasks. 3 Starbucks has typically maintained a uniform look and feel to its outlets and product offerings. What do you think this change might mean for starbucks in terms of further international expansion? ? ?Starbucks is known for there quality of coffee, excellent service and appealing ambiance. We believe Starbucks coffee is a brand and neighborhood name. You can see a starbucks store in a 2 km radius. Basically there everywhere. Making some changes the way they look and maintained a uniform type of set-up can only mean one thing. The Company is growing. Changes are normal. Most of the food and coffee establishments try to change and create ideas to in order to sell new products. As for starbucks , they should do the same to be more competitive and to increase sales and revenues. ?

Empowerment supports organisational objectives at the expense of the individual worker Essay Example for Free

Empowerment supports organisational objectives at the expense of the individual worker Essay Introduction Companies today are designed in someway, at some level, to develop individuals either for their own sake, the companys sake or hopefully for both. The team has become a sophisticated structure. I t is finely engineered, maintained to a high standard, and when running smoothly it is highly productive (Cole, G, A, 1997: 63). It provides an environment in which energy can be maximised towards corporate needs, which also allows the individual to satisfy his or her own needs within work, rather than only outside of it. So often seemingly dull unimaginative and uncreative employees surprise their companies when they reveal the depth of their energy outside work. However it is the corporate attitudes (Legge, K, 1995: 104) that stifled them, and when released companies recognise they have a pool talent, a wealth of resources, at their fingertips. In the 1980s and 1990s rationalisation and downsizing (Legge, K, 1995: 53) were very much the order of the day therefore empowerment became a business necessity. Empowerment has been in the forefront of quality improvement efforts (Cole, G, A, 1997: 23). Several businesses worldwide have been and still are currently closely watching quality the ability to produce superior and distinguished goods and services to meet customer needs. The commitment to quality today is very present in service industries, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions (Mabey at el, 1998: 48). Total Quality, also known as Total Quality Management (TQM), is seen differently by different people. Organizations are reportedly introducing soft and hard (Cole, G, A, 1997: 67) employee relations policies associated with the shift to human resource management (HRM). Softer aspects of HRM, based on the encouragement of employee commitment in support of management aims, have received particular attention given their proposed linkage with improved organizational performance (Cole, G, A, 1997: 67). This has, in turn, led many organizations to adopt schemes designed to encourage employee involvement. The concept of empowerment has been identified as a recent and advanced manifestation of employee involvement (Cole, G, A, 1997: 68). Empowerment has been defined in different ways. Some have claimed it is a fundamentally different way of working together (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 271) and quite different from the traditional notion of control (Cole, G, A, 1997: 94). Cole (1997) is able to define the concept of empowerment as an application to none managerial roles such as team members. However, he argues there are several possible meanings. These can range from having increased authority (Cole, G, A, 1997: 53) and therefore their ability exercise a wider range of choices at work and to be given a more varied and interesting job in the form of job enrichment. At best empowerment increases individuals discretion over how they do their work. It may also provide additional opportunities for group problem solving on operational issues. Empowerment is seen as ways of giving people more opportunity or power (Mabey et al, 1998: 38) to exercise control over, and have responsibility for, their work. It is intended to encourage individuals to use their abilities by enabling them to take decisions. According to Potterfield (1999), empowerment will be best defined as a way of bestowing upon employees the power to use more judgment and discretion in their work and to participate more fully in decisions affecting their working lives (Legge, K, 1995:84). Others are more sceptical. Armstrong (1996) points out that Empowerment, for example, may mean little more than giving employees the opportunity to make suggestions for change (Armstrong, 1996: 76). In practice, empowerment is intended to release active employee engagement only so long as it falls within the parameters for which it was selected as a strategy. In most organisations it is management which defines and adjudicates and ultimately exercises control (Armstrong, 1996: 78). The concept of empowerment is based on the belief that to be successful, organisations must harness the creativity and brain power of all the employees not just a few managers (Graham Bennett, 1995: 3). The idea that everybody in the business has something to contribute represents a radical shift in thinking away from the old idea that managers managed and the workforce simply followed orders. The fact that empowerment does represent a radical shift in thinking explains why, in many organisations, the initiative has failed. Empowered organizations are composed of empowered persons, although it is not necessarily true that a group of empowered persons automatically creates an empowered organization. Organizations that are truly empowered have moved out of the old paradigm of competition and beliefs in limitation and scarcity (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 291). The face of the contemporary workplace is drastically changing. More and more companies are realising the value of more flat democratic organisational structure (Mabey et al, 1998: 23) over the traditional autocratic, hierarchical management styles. In contrast to empowered workplaces, disempowered workforce suffers from poor self-esteem, lack of a personal vision and a feeling of hopelessness. These attitudes and beliefs form inner barriers that block growth and proactive development (Legge, K, 1995: 63) and manifest in the worker in the form of reluctance to accept responsibility, hesitance to communicate openly, lack of commitment and ownership and, ultimately, in below average performance. Such employees become passive passengers who are more focused on having their personal needs met than on contributing fully (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 82) so that the company can grow. Because they feel afraid, uncertain and insecure, they will unconsciously sabotage new interventions and approaches. An example of this is the resistance management often experience when implementing a quality management system (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 82). In this way employees become a stumbling block to progress instead of much-valued assets. In companies where managers make a concerted effort to delegate and share power and control, the results are not always impressive (Graham Bennett, 1995: 93). The reason for this is either a lack of understanding of the nature of empowerment, or a greater focus on applying a set of managerial techniques than on creating conditions that are essential for empowerment to thrive. Where empowerment does not work it is because people do not think it through (Mabey Salaman, 1997: 83). To avoid such failures it is important to gain commitment for the senior management team, and then to cascade this down to other levels of management. The hardest group to convince about empowerment are middle managers (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 92), because it is their jobs that are most likely to be affected. It is because these managers often have the most to lost that they may have a tendency to undermine or delay implementation of a new policy. The implementation of empowerment in organisations instead of the traditional hierarchies means a flatter organisational structure (Cole, G, A, 1997: 57), which can give rise to considerable resentment and individual resistance. There are, naturally, many problems that can arise in the empowerment process. Many workers may resist these new responsibilities (Mabey et al, 1998: 23); they in fact like having their decisions made for them and will resent the extra burdens (and work). There still may be those workers who resent the implications of greater self-direction, possibly even arising from an obvious fear. There is an interesting theory underlying this reaction. Maslow has called this the Jonah Complex, the fear of ones own greatness (Maslow, 1971: 34). While Maslow discussed this term in a more mystical, spiritual context, it is associated as a sort of classic block to self-actualisation. Since empowerment speaks to the same sort of needs as self-actualisation, it could be drawn that there is the possibility of a collective sort of Jonah Complex at the heart of many conflicts in organizational transitions. Employees may also be cynical and suspicious of this approach (Gennard Judge, 1997: 235, Hitchcock and Willard, 1995:27) as another way to get more work out of them for less money. However allowing employees to take an active part in the change process from the very beginning, and showing them that their organization is truly changing will remove some of their wariness. There is also the danger of the employees feeling too empowered (Legge, K, 1995: 57); in feeling so independent of other facets of the organization that there might also be troubles in transitioning to teams. Empowerment supports organisational objectives at the expense of the individual worker to speed up the decision making processes and reducing operational costs (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 293) by removing unnecessary layers of management such as staff functions, quality control and checking operations. In retrospect empowerment is usually advocated to release the creative and innovative capacities of employees (Armstrong, M, 1996:386), to provide greater job satisfaction, motivation and commitment and giving people more responsibility enables employees to gain a great sense of achievement from their work therefore. The reasons for empowerment emerging as a concept for our time (Armstrong, M, 1996:385) is the need to generate energy release in employees by providing them with visionary leadership and a supporting environment and by treating them as a valuable asset to be invested in rather then as a cost despite the fact that organisations are driven by profit generating, cost reduct ion and market pressures. Empowerment at workplace level has greater justification for management in HRM terms (Beardwell Holden, 1994:582). Management needs to decide how much power to delegate to employees while controlling their levels of creative energies and at the same time not undermining managerial prerogatives (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 582). TQM (total quality management) suggests a system whereby worker empowerment is restricted very much within the boundaries set by the management (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 582). Training can provide an opportunity to empower and motivate employees (Honold, L, 1997). Empowering workers in this small way (i.e., schedule the training sessions) during the actual implementation of the organizational change can provide workers with a small degree of control over what is essentially a change in process over which they have no control. Empowerment can be argued as an objective in its own right as a means of extending worker satisfaction (Gennard Judge, 1997: 211). This can be related to the concept of Quality of Working Life (QWL). It refers primarily to how efficiency of performance depends on job satisfaction, and how to design jobs to increase satisfaction, and therefore performance. The early psychological basis of QWL and of justifications of empowerment relating to increased worker motivation was Herzberg (1968). Herzberg developed a theory called the two-factor theory of motivation. Herzberg argued that job factors could be classified as to whether they contributed primarily to satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Spencer Pruss, 1992 : 64). There are conditions, which result in dissatisfaction amongst employees when they are not present. If these conditions are present, this does not necessarily motivate employees. Second there are conditions, which when present in the job, build a strong level of motivation that can result in good job performance. Management very rarely discusses the practical problems in attempting to apply empowerment through quality management (Mabey Salaman, 1997:34) therefore employee views and feelings are unheard. The argument in supporting quality management requires an increase in workers skills and results in genuine employee empowerment (Mabey Salaman, 1997:34). However, in contrast to the optimistic approach is the argument that empowerment through quality management results in the increasing subordination of employees in return for little or no extra reward (Mabey Salaman, 1997:35). Recently, empowerment has become an important Human Resource Management tool (Graham Bennett, 1995: 93) in many organisations. It has been portrayed as the ultimate tool to access unleashed potential and help leaders get the best from their people. In reality, however, organisations that are trying to empower people may be fighting an uphill battle. Managers who harbour a fear that affirmative action may jeopardise their jobs, may be more worried about keeping their jobs than about empowering others. With the rationalization of layers of management, promotion is becoming less realistic and, therefore, middle managers share with non-managerial employees growing feelings of cynicism as well as a heightened sense of estrangement from the predominant goals and values of their employing organizations (Denham, N et al, 1997). According to Maslow (1998), people need a sense of self-determination, autonomy, dignity, and responsibility (Legge, K, 1995: 221) to continue to function in a healthy, growth-motivated way. When placed in an environment where any or all of these qualities are removed from them and they are instead forced to submit to anothers will and think and act under constant supervision (Legge, K, 1995: 221), their sense of esteem and self-worth is robbed from them. The implementation of empowerment can be used successfully as a HRM tool as it provides a competitive advantage ensuring organisational survival (Mabey Salaman, 1997:25) and at the same time protecting employees jobs. However, employees maybe compelled to work harder and more flexibly for their own good (Mabey Salaman, 1997:25) otherwise they might be made redundant for the greater good. The aim of empowerment is to enable employees to actually have to deal with problems to implement solutions quickly and without recourse to supervisors (Gennard Judge, 1997: 71) and or higher levels of management. This is increasingly necessary as large and bureaucratic organisations delayer (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 91) management hierarchies in the search for administrative efficiency and lower costs. Employee empowerment is a very important aspect when considering human resource management. The failure of employers to give employees an opportunity to participate in decisions affecting their welfare may encourage union member ship (sparrow Marchington, 1998: 53). It is widely believed that one reason managers begin employee involvement programs and seek to empower their employees is to avoid collective action by employees (Cole, G, A, 1997: 83). Employee empowerment offers the employers and the employees the chance to be on the same level, so to speak. Empowerment allows them to help make decisions that affect themselves, as well as, the company. Basically, through empowerment, employers and employees are in a win-win situation. The employees feel like they are needed and wanted, while the employers gain satisfaction through their prosperity (Mabey Salaman, 1997: 64). Employee empowerment can be a powerful tool. The now advanced leadership style can increase efficiency and effectiveness inside an organization (Graham Bennett, 1995: 13). It increases productivity and reduces overhead. Overhead expenses are those needed for carrying on a business, i.e. salaries, rent, heat and advertising (Mabey Salaman, 1997: 39). It gives managers the freedom to dedicate their time to more important matters. Managers can highlight the talents and efforts of all employees. The leader and organisation take advantage of the shared knowledge of workers (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 64). Managers at the same time develop their own job qualifications and skills attaining personal advancements (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 38). Empowered employees can make decisions and suggestions that will down the line improve service and support, saving money, time and disputes between companies and their customers (Gennard Judge, 1997: 291). Empowerment of qualified employees will provide exceptional customer service in several competitive markets; therefore it will improve profits through repeated business (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 76). Customers prefer to deal with employees that have the power to manage arrangements and objections by themselves, without having to frequently inquire of their supervisors (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 76). Empowerment is a strong tool that will increase revenue and improve the bottom line (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 280). Empowerment is also the best way to promote a good long-lasting employee-customer relationship (Sparrow Marchington, 1998:32). Empowerment also brings benefits to employees. It makes them feel better about their inputs to the company; it promotes a greater productivity, and provides them with a sense of personal and professional balance (Cole, G, A, 1997: 91). It exercises employees minds to find alternative and better ways to execute their jobs, and it increases their potential for promotions and job satisfaction. It results in personal growth (Mabey at al, 1998: 174) since the whole process enlarges their feelings of confidence and control in themselves and their companies. It is a process that makes workers utilize their full potentials. This enables them to stay behind their decisions, assume risks, participate and take actions. It is a win-win situation (Wilkinson, A, 1998); customers benefit from sharp employees; organizations benefit from satisfied customers and sharp employees; and employees benefit from improving their confidence and self-esteems. Benefits come with changes in the organizations culture itself. Benefits require changes in management and employees (Mabey at al, 1998: 54). For empowerment to succeed, the management pyramid (Mabey et al, 1998: 54) must be inverted. Old-fashioned managers must take a step back and for the first time serve their subordinates and give up control. Old-fashioned employees must also agree to changes. They could see empowerment as a threat (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 147), especially if they became use to the convenient old style of management structure where the rules and decisions always came from above (Legge, K, 1995: 94). Employee involvement and participation schemes are to enhance job responsibility (Legge, K, 1995: 24) by providing individuals with more influence over how they perform their tasks (employee empowerment). Each individual can make a personal decision on how to perform his or her task instead of being instructed on how to do so by management. When employees are involved, they have some influence on how they perform their job. This in turn is likely to increase their contentment with the job (Mabey at al, 1998: 134), the probability that they will remain in that job and their willingness to except changes in the task that make up the job. Individual employees are more likely to be effective members of the workforce (Sparrow Marchington, 1998: 76) if management taps into their knowledge of the job by seeking their opinion on how the job should be performed and how it can be organised better. For employees, the greater empowerment and control given to frontline staff and to their teams has meant a great degree of freedom than ever before in controlling their own working lives (Sparrow Marchington, 1998:166). The power that managers have, the capacity that managers have to influence the behaviour of employees and work responsibilities, must be now shared with employees (Gennard Judge, 1997: 73) through the creation of trust, assurance, motivation, and support for competitive needs. Work-related decisions and full control of the work is being pushed down towards the lowest operating levels (Armstrong, M, 1996: 58). Self-conducted teams have also emerged, which are groups of empowered employees with no or very little supervision. These groups are able to solve work problems, make choices on schedules and operations, learn to do other employees jobs, and are also held accountable and responsible for the quality of their outputs (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 12) Guest (1987) argued under high commitment management workers would be committed to managements vision, and that management would favour individual contracts over collective agreements as a mean of furthering worker commitment and dependence, thus making unions redundant. Employees who feel they are in a stable work environment will feel more secure and empowered (Cole, G, A, 1997: 94). Advancement opportunities and rewards/incentive programs should also be implemented, as they feed into how committed and employee feels to making positive contributions and whether or not they are recognised for their efforts. Morale, too, provides a good measure of the culture of the organisation. Organisations with a restrictive, secretive environment where information is tightly controlled (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 162) will have less informed less empowered employees. Organisations with a more open environment, where ideas are encouraged from all levels will have a freer flow of information, better-informed employees, and thus higher empowerment. Through the process of employee empowerment, employees feel more valued (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 40) because they are able to participate in the planning process and the decision making process. Empowerment gives employees the opportunity to contribute to the companys overall success (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 40). This helps an employee feel that he/she is truly valued, rather than that they are just a back to be stepped upon by those trying to reach the top. All in all, if the employee is happy with their job, than a paying customer will see that and want to return. Empowerment allows an employee to find new ways to express their creativity (Armstrong, M, 1996: 161). Through creativity, employees are able to make sales or transactions an unforgettable and pleasurable experience for customers, thus ensuring the customers return. Employee empowerment can have a profoundly beneficial impact on the bottom line if used correctly (Mabey et al, 1998: 18). Empowerment allocates responsibility to an employee and creates the motivation to surpass customer expectations. In order to keep customers for life, employers must empower their employees to make their own decisions. Empowerment gives employees the opportunity to make decisions and suggestions (Cole, G, A, 1997: 39) that will down the line improve service and support, saving money, time and disputes between companies and their customers. Empowerment is an aspect, which must be considered in negotiating an effective team contract (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 69) .The team must be empowered to seek and find information across the existing management structures. The communication aspect of empowerment means that the team must be clearly shown where their work adds value to the company, where their effects will show results and where their work fits in with the companys objectives. Organizations wishing to instil a culture of empowerment must find a way of establishing systems and processes that do not restrict employees. By concentrating on what behaviour is considered optimal for the employees and what they do well, management can adapt, develop and change the organizational structure to produce the sought after behaviour (Erstad, M, 1997). Culture changed programmes are commonly promoted (Mabey et al, 1998: 132) to increase the power of the worker, through empowerment. However, critics have argued empowerment is a means of increasing work intensity and gaining greater managerial control over labour (Brambell, 1995, Legge, 1989). Conclusion Work place attitudes such as praising teams for success and punishing teams for failure are inherent in our society (Mabey et al, 1998: 32) where winning and survival have become synonymous. Businesses are installing empowerment into their organisations to give people more responsibility and asking them to test the corporate boundary limits (Graham Bennett, 1995: 91). A t the same time, organisations are asking staff to be more entrepreneurial, and take more risks. It can be argued employees who empower themselves can be called troublemakers and those who take entrepreneurial risks and fail are referred to as failures. The business ethic which condemns failure as a bad thing is going to restrict its best people (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 12), force them to avoid taking risks that may one day be beneficial and will prevent the team experiencing the excitement of the empowerment which is vital to motivation and team dynamics. The advantages gained through empowerment are numerous. Employee empowerment allows an organization to unleash the vital, untapped forces of employee creativity and motivation to solve business problems (Legge, K, 1995: 50). Empowering employee also allows them to make decisions on the spot. This is very important when you work in an industry where you work directly with a paying customer. When employees are empowered, the employer enables them to offer full service to their clients and protect them from the competition. The rewards of empowerment outweigh the risks of losing the employees themselves (Spencer Pruss, 1992: 203). The retail industry is a perfect example. Managers are learning to give up control and employees are learning how to be responsible for the actions and decisions (Cole, G, A, 1997: 34). It is fundamental that management shares information, creates autonomy and feedback, and trains and creates self-directed teams for empowerment to work properly. Managers often prefer not to communicate with employees, and not to share some extremely important information (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 247) with them, but an effective leader must have no hidden agendas. They must treat employees as stakeholders for the road of success (Beardwell Holden, 1994: 247). Employees must have a clear vision of success, because if they are not aware of what success means to the company and where the company is heading, there is no way they can feel empowered to help accomplish this success. Empowerment is not something, which can be passed over from management to employees as a pen is handed from one person to another. It is a complex process, which requires a clear vision, a learning environment both for management and employees, and participation and implementation tools and techniques in order to be successful (Erstad, M, 1997). Bibliography Armstrong, M (1996) A Handbook of Personnel Management Practice, Sixth Edition, Kogan Page Beardwell, I Holden, L (1994) Human resource Management- A contemporary perspective, Pitman Cole, G, A (1997) Personnel Management, Fourth Edition, Letts Denham, N, Ackers, P Travers, C (1997) Doing yourself out of a job? : How middle managers cope with empowerment , Employee Relations; Volume 19 No. 2; Erstad, M (1997) Empowerment and organizational change, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management; Volume 9 No. 7; Gennard, J Judge, G (1997) Employee relations, Institute of Personnel Development Graham, H, T Bennett, R (1995) Human Resources Management, Eight Edition, M+E handbooks Honold, L (1997) A review of the literature on employee empowerment, Empowerment in Organisations; Volume 5 No. 4 Legge, K (1995) Human Resource Management-Rhetorics Realities, Macmillan Business Mabey, C Salaman, G (1997) Strategic Human Resource Management, Blackwell Business Mabey, C, Skinner, D Clark, T, (1998) Experiencing Human Resource Management, Sage Sparrow, P Marchington, M (1998) Human Resource Management-The New Agenda, Pitman Spencer, J Pruss, A (1992) Managing your team, Piatkus Wilkinson, A (1998) Empowerment: theory and practice, Personnel Review; Volume 27 No. 1

Holes Book Report Essay

Holes Book Report Essay Louis Sachar was born march 20, 1954 in New York. He is an American author of childrens books. He has written twenty-four books. Louis Sachar is best known for the Sideways Stories From Wayside School book series and the novel Holes. For the novel Holes Sachar won a National Book Award and the Newbery Medal. Holes sold in five millions copies, and it became a movie in 2003. Plot: The book is about a boy named Stanley Yelnats IV, who is supposedly a very unlucky person because of a family curse. He was sent to Camp Green Lake, after being falsely accused of stealing a pair of sneakers that belonged to a famous baseball player, Clyde Livingstone, from a charity auction to benefit the homeless. At camp Green Lake, Stanley was assigned a bed and given two pairs of clothes and a shovel. Stanley and the other boys who stayed there had to dig one hole each day which was supposed to build character. He later found out that the Warden was making them dig holes in order to find a treasure. One day Stanley agreed to teach his new friend Zero how to read and write and in exchange Zero would dig Stanleys hole for one hour everyday. The other boys got jealous of watching Stanley do nothing, and a fight broke out between the other boys and Stanley. Zero got angry and then ran away into the desert. Stanley decided to go after him the next day. After running deep into the desert he finally found Zero. They decided to climb to the mountaintop called Gods thumb in hopes of finding refuge. Stanley found a field of onions and water. For many days they survived on the onions and water. They planned to find the treasure that was hidden at the camp and so decided to make their way back. They returned to the camp to dig out the treasure. What they did not know was that they dig in a yellow-spotted-lizard-nest, and before trying to leave they were surrounded by the lizards. Setting: The story takes place at a juvenile detention facility called Camp Green Lake. The camp is located in a barren and desolate desert. There are only some rundown buildings and some tents. There is also no plant life except for two trees. Also, the lake is completely dry, and in daytime the sun is burning hot. The fact that there is no water in the desert plays a role in the story because it makes it difficult for the boys to escape from the camp. One hundred and ten years ago Camp Green Lake was the largest lake in Texas. The lake was full of clear blue water, and it was lined with peach trees. We do not get to know the exact time and year that the story takes place in, but I think the story takes place around thirty years ago, in 1981. This is because they used cellphones and cars and also, the book was released in 1998. The story takes place in the months May and June, because on the 8th of June it was Zeros birthday and then Stanley had been at camp for fifty-six days. The book is a mix of fantasy and realistic fiction. This is because a lot of the events in the book could also happen in reality, and for many people some of the situations in the book could be for real. The book is also fantasy because his family is cursed with bad luck. The story is told by the narrator in third person point of view. Stanley Yelnats: Stanley is the protagonist of the book. He is fifteen-years old, he doesnt have friends and he is overweighed. He has constant bad luck that was brought to his family by his great-great-grandfather. While he is at Camp Green Lake he loses weight and develops physical strength. The other boys gave him the nickname Caveman. At first Stanley only looks at the negative sides of himself, but when he becomes friends with Zero, the least popular boy, he finds strength. His friendship with Zero helps Stanley to discover his own courage, happiness and self-confidence. By the time he is released, Stanley gets a new positive sense of himself. Zero: Zero is an African American boy. He is fifteen-years old. He is illiterate, but Stanley teaches him how to read and write. He had a mother but he doesnt know what happen to her, and the rest of his life he had been homeless. He is intelligent and very good at math. Zero was sent to Camp Green Lake after stealing a pair of sneakers. He tells that he used to steal, but he only stole what he needed. Theme: Friendship is an important theme in the book. When Stanley comes to Camp Green Lake he is insecure and dont have self-confidante. After he becomes friends with the other boys he becomes more self-confidante. Its important to have good friends and someone to talk with. Also when Stanley carries Zero in the desert, because zero was too weak its a symbol of friendship. The theme is how fate and history impact everyday life. We can say that destinys shoes landed on Stanley, because his life became much better after staying at Camp Green Lake. The curse is broken, or maybe never had been there. Stanley was finally at the right place at the right time. My opinion: I liked the book because it was exciting. In the beginning of the book it was kind of boring, but at the same time I wanted to continue reading. This was because they only dug holes and that was kind of boring, but I wanted to know why they dug all those holes and thats what made it exciting. Recommendation: I recommend this book for girls and boys between twelve and sixteen years. Both girls and boys who like to read an exciting, and mystery book could read Holes.

College Admissions Essay - The Power of Kindness :: College Admissions Essays

College Admissions Essay - The Power of Kindness One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get a life." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Darn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.

Essay --

The Life of Nelson Mandela Most people have heard the name Nelson Mandela from recent news, but many of them haven't heard his whole story. Mandela not only had a monumental impact on South Africa's history, but also helped to shape the country into what it is today. He's not only had a significant influence on his country, but also the world. From early on, he dreamed of helping the South African people fight for their freedom. This dream definitely became reality. Mandela and the legacy he left behind will be remembered for years to come. Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 as Rolihlahla Mandela, but one of his teachers later gave him the name Nelson. He was adopted at the age of nine, and his father died when he was twelve. For college, Mandela started out at the University of Fort Hare, but was expelled nearly a year later for taking part in a protest. He then picked up his education at the University of Witwatersrand and continued studying law. He didn't get his official degree until 1989, during the last few months of being imprisoned. In 1944, Mandela became a part of the ...

The Allegorical Young Goodman Brown :: Young Goodman Brown YGB

The Allegorical Young Goodman Brown The story about Young Goodman Brown centers around the allegory of a man pitted against his past and his desires to reach beyond that which his benighted heaven would put before him. The allegory is Christian due to the references in Young Goodman Brown to the devil and Satan; it only seems logical that the crux of the story is based upon the religious imagery of Hawthorne's New England in the times of Salem and active religious strife. The beginning of the story mentions the goodman's wife, Faith. The names of the characters alone serve as an indication of what Hawthorne puts as an obvious religious allegory with the goodman and faith soon to be pitted against an unspeakable evil. The goodman even swears that after this night he will "cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven." The devil awaits Young Goodman Brown as he states that the clock of the old south was striking but a few minutes past (Hawthorne is stating how quickly the devil can move--intensifying the airs of the pret ernatural). Young Goodman Brown replies to the devil that faith was keeping him away--Hawthorne's play on words should not be overlooked as this also leads to the realization that a man (a good one) can deal with the devil and possibly win. At this stage in the story the reader still has hope for the goodman who must now deal with what he feels is his duty honor-bound. A "good man" in Hawthorne's day was a person who came from a proper lineage. This very lineage Hawthorne exploits as he begins the goodman's discourse with the devil. The goodman claims that he is from a family of good men that have never been into the forest on such an errand to meet the devil; Hawthorne depends upon this defense to criticize the patriarchal lineage upon which a person places his worth. This view is quickly derailed as the devil himself states that all of his ancestors were with him as they tortured women in Salem or burned to the ground Indian villages, and afterwards the devil and his ancestors would go for a friendly walk. Hawthorne has derided the institution of Young Goodman Brown's lineage, and his society's view of honor by pointing to some simple facts. The question remains as to whom or what is the devil.

Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results

Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Feng Ji Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 [email  protected] com Todd Sedano Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 todd. [email  protected] cmu. edu Abstract Waterfall and Extreme Programming are two software project methods used for project management. Although there are a number of opinions comparing the two methods regarding how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is better.In this paper, we present the results of a controlled empirical study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley to learn about the effective transition from traditional development to agile development. We conducted a comparison research against these two approaches. Multiple teams were assigned a project; some used Waterfall development, others used Extreme Programming. The purpose of this research is to look at advantages and disadvantages based upon the outcomes, generated artifacts, and metrics produced by the teams. 1. Introduction 1. 1.Agile vs Traditional Since the early 1970s, numerous software managers have explored different ways of software development methods (such as Waterfall model, evolutionary model, spiral model etc. ) those have been developed to accomplish these goals and have been widely used by the software industry [1]. Methodologists often describe the Waterfall method as a stereotypical traditional method whereas they describe Extreme Programming as the stereotypical agile method. The Waterfall model, as the oldest traditional software development method, was cited by Winston W.Royce in 1970 [2]. He divided the software development lifecycle into seven sequential and linear stages: Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, and Maintenance. The Waterfall model is especially used for large and complex engineering projects. Waterfall's lasting imp ression upon software engineering is seen even in the Guide to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge which introduces the first five knowledge areas based upon their sequence in the Waterfall lifecycle even though the Guide does not recommend any particular lifecycle [3].Although the Waterfall model has been adopted in many large and complex projects, it still has some inherent drawbacks, like inflexibility in the face of changing requirements [1]. If large amounts of project resources have been invested in requirements and design activities, then changes can be very costly later. High ceremony documentation is not necessary in all projects. Agile methods deal well with unstable and volatile requirements by using a number of techniques of which most notable are: low ceremony documents, short iterations, early testing, and customer collaboration.Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres define Extreme Programming 2. 0 with many practices [4], like Pair Programming, Test First Programming, and Co ntinuous Integration and so on. These characteristics enable agile methods to obtain the smallest workable piece of functionality to deliver business value early and continually improving it while adding further functionality throughout the life of the project [5]. 1. 2. PET project background Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley students start their masters program with the Foundations of Software Engineering course. This course is team-based, project-based, and mentored.Each team builds The Process Enactment Tool (PET). The user personas are software developers and managers. The tool helps users plan, estimate, and execute a project plan while analyzing historical data. The tool's domain encourages students to learn about software lifecycles and methods while understanding the benefit of metrics and reflection. 1. 2. 1. PET 1. 0: In 2001, Carnegie Mellon had one of the largest outsourcing firms in the world develop Pet 1. 0. Later the student teams were brought in to do the n ext release. The initial offerings of the course had the teams follow a Waterfall lifecycle.The faculty decided to use Extreme Programming as the method for the Foundations course because it was an agile method, it had good engineering practices, and it was a safe sandbox environment for engineers to try paired programming since many managers in industry were initially skeptical about its benefits. In 2005, the faculty allowed three of the sixteen teams tried our new curriculum to see if there were any serious issues in the switch, while other thirteen teams continued to follow a start point in 2004. The feedback was extremely positive so in 2006, all teams followed Extreme Programming.For the project plan duration, Waterfall teams needed fifteen weeks to finish their tasks where as Extreme Programming teams were given only thirteen weeks, a 13% reduction in time. 1. 2. 2. PET 1. 1: In 2005, the VP of Engineering advised the three teams that rewriting the code from scratch would be easier than working with the existing code base. Team 30:1 decided to use the latest in Java technologies including Swing and Hibernate. PET 1. 1, the team's product became the starting point for the students in the following year. 1. 2. 3. PET 1. 2: In 2008, the faculty switched the core technology from Java to Ruby on Rails.Ruby on Rails' convention over configuration, afforded a lower learning curve for students. For Pet 1. 2, students would build their projects from scratch. 2. Related work Much research has been done as to when to use an agile method and when to use a traditional method. For example, Boehm Turner's home grounds look at several characteristics, criticality, culture, and dynamism [6]. Our paper aims to extend these limitations to some degree by estimating Waterfall and XP in an academic case study, which provide a substantive ground for researchers before replicating their ideas in industry.Basili [7] presented a framework for analyzing most of the experimental w ork performed in software engineering. We learned that how to conduct a controlled experiment. Andrew and Nachiappan [8] reported on the results of an empirical study conducted at Microsoft by using an anonymous web-based survey. They found that one third of the study respondents use Agile methodologies to varying degrees and most view it favorably due to improved communication between team members, quick releases and the increased flexibility of agile designs.Their findings that we will consider in our future work is that developers are most worried about scaling Agile to larger projects, and coordinating agile and traditional teams. Our work is closely related to the work by Ming Huo et al [9]. They compared the Waterfall model with agile processes to show how agile methods achieve software quality. They also showed how agile methods attain quality under time pressure and in an unstable requirements environment. They presented a detailed Waterfall model showing its software qualit y support processes.Other work has only illustrates one or some Agile practices such as pair programming [10]. 3. Experimental methodology Our research was conducted primarily using Glaser's steps [11] in the constant comparison method of analysis. Step1: Begin collecting data. We collected more than 50 teams’ detailed data during a five year period as Table 1 shows. Table 1. Team building the same project 2004 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 Method Waterfall Waterfall XP XP XP XP Language Java Java Java Java Java Ruby Project PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 1 PET1. 1 PET1. 2 Numbers of Teams 10 13 3 9 6 11Step2: Look for key issues, recurrent events, or activities in the data that become categories for focus. The approach in software design makes us categorize the data into two distinctive software development methods, namely Waterfall and Extreme Programming. Step3: Collect data that provides many incidents of the categories of focus with an eye to seeing the diversity of the dimens ions under the categories. According to Basili[7], we provided some metrics to compare these two categories, Waterfall and XP. Requirements Metrics M1: Numbers of UI screens (ie. mockup) M2: Numbers of use cases (story cards)M3: Pages of Software Requirements Specification (SRS) documents M4: Pages of User Requirements Documents (URD) Design Metric M5: Pages of detailed design documents Implementation Metrics M6: Lines of code M7: Percentage of lines of comments to lines of source code M8: Lines of test cases M9: Ratio of lines of test code to lines of program code Step4: Write about the categories that we are exploring, attempting to describe and account for all the incidents we have in our data while continually searching for new incidents. Step5: Work with the data and emerging model to discover basic social processes and relationships.Step6: Engage in sampling, coding, and writing as the analysis focuses on the core categories. During 2005, there were 13 teams following Waterfal l and 3 teams following XP during the same period of time. These three teams, team Absorb, GT11 and 30:1 are interesting teams to examine as we can compare their data against the Waterfall teams doing the exact same project. 4. Experimental results 4. 1. UI screens (M1) and Story cards (M2) comparison These wide ranges can be seen in Table 2 and Table 3 where the standard deviation of the UI mockups is often half the document size.Comparing use cases to story cards in Table 3, we see that the standard deviation for use cases is much lower than the standard deviation for story cards. This is expected since use cases are a higher ceremony document when compared to story cards. Teams might give little consideration to how to represent each feature on a story card whereas a team writing a use case step by step how a user will use the system will spend much more time thinking about the coupling and cohesion of each use case. Table 2. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of mockups Year 004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Average mockups 15. 5 11. 8 17 18 9 15 12. 8 17. 7 Standard Deviation of mockups 6. 6 6. 3 5. 4 3. 1 8. 8 Table 3. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of use cases/story cards Year Average Number Standard Deviation 2004 User cases 18. 7 2005 User cases 18. 9 2. 3 Absorb Story cards 15 1. 6 GT11 Story cards 13 30:1 Story cards 18 2006 Story cards 16. 6 2007 Story cards 18. 3 2008 Story cards 16. 6 7. 5 6. 8 8. 0 4. 2. Requirement documents (M3&M4) Starting with PET 1. 0, Waterfall teams on average add 1. 7 use cases and modified 2. use cases. Teams were given a 28 page System Requirements Specification (SRS) and on averaged finished with a 34 page SRS. XP teams starting with PET 1. 0 were given the same starting documents. Instead of modifying them, the teams created story cards that represented each new feature. Instead of spending time on writing use cases, XP teams started coding sooner. Because XP has an emphasis on low ceremony docume nts, they had more time to code resulting in an effort savings for the teams. 4. 3. Comparing the size of the detail design documents (M5) There are some insights from Table 4.Waterfall teams using Pet 1. 0 started with a 21 page Detailed Design Document (DDD), which they altered to reflect their new use cases. Waterfall teams typically did not update their design documents at the end of the project. Given the scope of the project, Waterfall teams’ final code matched the original design with respect to new classes. Table 4. Average pages and Standard Deviation of Detail Design Documents Year 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Starting Point 21 21 21 21 0 14 14 0 Average DDD 25. 8 31. 1 18 22 14 18. 3 12. 5 9. 5 Standard Deviation 8. 39 7. 48 7. 70 7. 8 5. 19 XP teams increased their design documents with each iteration. Because the XP teams followed Test-Driven Development, they wrote their code and had an emergent design. At the end of each iteration, the teams were a sked to update the design document to reflect important design decisions they had made during that iteration. Therefore, the design document serves a different purpose in XP. It is not a template or blueprint for future construction. Instead, it can be a guide for understanding why certain decisions were made. In this regard, it is a biography of the development, ot a plan of action. 4. 4. New lines of source code and comments, Percentage of comments in codes Table 5 shows that Waterfall teams starting with Pet 1. 0 produced lines of code with a wide variance. The two XP teams starting with Pet 1. 0 fell right within the middle of the average. Because instead of producing some documents up front, the XP teams spent a longer time coding, one would expect them to produce more lines of code. The research results also show that XP Teams had a higher percentage of comments in source code. Table 5. Average and Standard Deviation of new lines in code YearLanguage Average new lines in code Standard Deviation Lines of test codes Ratio of test codes to program code 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Ruby 9,429 11,910 13,288 14,689 0 9,628 8,572 3,670 7,946 9,851 4,920 5,465 1,507 3378 4164 1380 3186 947 3555 2212 3,255 8% 13% 4% 8% 8% 16% 10% 90% 4. 5. Submitted lines of test codes and ratio of test code to program code The observation of these two metrics in Table 5 shows that the amount of test code written by the Waterfall teams equals the amount of test code written by the XP teams.Initially the faculty thought that Test-Driven Development would increase the amount of testing code, however, given a slow adoption rate of Test-Driven Development, programmers resorted to what was familiar and thus produced similar results. 5. Conclusion In this paper, we observed and presented the data from five years of 50 teams developing the same project each year and the affects of transitioning from Waterfall to Extreme Programming. The ch aracteristics between these two methods were evaluated and compared.Waterfall teams spent more time creating high ceremony documents where as Extreme Programming teams spent more time writing code and documenting their design in their code. Surprisingly, the amount of code and features completed were roughly the same for both methods suggesting that on a three month project with three to four developers it doesn't matter the method used. It is challenging to conduct this kind of analysis of the data in hindsight. Given that this is not a toy problem, and the freedom teams have in the execution of their projects, setting up this kind of experiment properly in advance is also challenging. . References [1] Sommerville, Software engineering, 8th ed. , New York: Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 2006. [2] W. Royce, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, IEEE WESTCON, Los Angeles, 1970. [3] A. Abran and J. W. Moore, Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge: trial ve rsion (version 0. 95) IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2001. [4] Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres, Extreme programming eXplained: embrace change, Second Edition, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004. 5] Mike Cohn, Agile estimating and planning, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Nov 11, 2005. [6] Barry, Boehm and Richard Turner, Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed, Addison Wesley, August 15, 2003. [7] Basil, V. R. , Selby, R. and Hutchens, D. , Experimentation in Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (invited paper), July 1986. [8] Andrew Begel and Nachiappan Nagappan, Usage and Perceptions of Agile Software Development in an Industrial Context: An Exploratory Study, MiIEEE Computer Society MSR-TR-2007-09, no. 2007): 10. [9] Ming Huo, June Verner, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Liming Zhu, How does agility ensure quality? , IEEE Seminar Digests 2004, (2004):36. [10] Jan Chong, Robert Plummer, Larry Leifer, Scott R. Klemmer, and George Toye. Pair Programming: When and Why it Works, In Proceedings of Psychology of Programming Interest Group 2005 Workshop, Brighton, UK, June 2005. [11] Glaser, Barney G, Strauss, and Anselm L. , The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1967. Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Feng Ji Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 [email  protected] com Todd Sedano Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 todd. [email  protected] cmu. edu Abstract Waterfall and Extreme Programming are two software project methods used for project management. Although there are a number of opinions comparing the two methods regarding how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is better.In this paper, we present the results of a controlled empirical study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley to learn about the effective transition from traditional development to agile development. We conducted a comparison research against these two approaches. Multiple teams were assigned a project; some used Waterfall development, others used Extreme Programming. The purpose of this research is to look at advantages and disadvantages based upon the outcomes, generated artifacts, and metrics produced by the teams. 1. Introduction 1. 1.Agile vs Traditional Since the early 1970s, numerous software managers have explored different ways of software development methods (such as Waterfall model, evolutionary model, spiral model etc. ) those have been developed to accomplish these goals and have been widely used by the software industry [1]. Methodologists often describe the Waterfall method as a stereotypical traditional method whereas they describe Extreme Programming as the stereotypical agile method. The Waterfall model, as the oldest traditional software development method, was cited by Winston W.Royce in 1970 [2]. He divided the software development lifecycle into seven sequential and linear stages: Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, and Maintenance. The Waterfall model is especially used for large and complex engineering projects. Waterfall's lasting imp ression upon software engineering is seen even in the Guide to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge which introduces the first five knowledge areas based upon their sequence in the Waterfall lifecycle even though the Guide does not recommend any particular lifecycle [3].Although the Waterfall model has been adopted in many large and complex projects, it still has some inherent drawbacks, like inflexibility in the face of changing requirements [1]. If large amounts of project resources have been invested in requirements and design activities, then changes can be very costly later. High ceremony documentation is not necessary in all projects. Agile methods deal well with unstable and volatile requirements by using a number of techniques of which most notable are: low ceremony documents, short iterations, early testing, and customer collaboration.Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres define Extreme Programming 2. 0 with many practices [4], like Pair Programming, Test First Programming, and Co ntinuous Integration and so on. These characteristics enable agile methods to obtain the smallest workable piece of functionality to deliver business value early and continually improving it while adding further functionality throughout the life of the project [5]. 1. 2. PET project background Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley students start their masters program with the Foundations of Software Engineering course. This course is team-based, project-based, and mentored.Each team builds The Process Enactment Tool (PET). The user personas are software developers and managers. The tool helps users plan, estimate, and execute a project plan while analyzing historical data. The tool's domain encourages students to learn about software lifecycles and methods while understanding the benefit of metrics and reflection. 1. 2. 1. PET 1. 0: In 2001, Carnegie Mellon had one of the largest outsourcing firms in the world develop Pet 1. 0. Later the student teams were brought in to do the n ext release. The initial offerings of the course had the teams follow a Waterfall lifecycle.The faculty decided to use Extreme Programming as the method for the Foundations course because it was an agile method, it had good engineering practices, and it was a safe sandbox environment for engineers to try paired programming since many managers in industry were initially skeptical about its benefits. In 2005, the faculty allowed three of the sixteen teams tried our new curriculum to see if there were any serious issues in the switch, while other thirteen teams continued to follow a start point in 2004. The feedback was extremely positive so in 2006, all teams followed Extreme Programming.For the project plan duration, Waterfall teams needed fifteen weeks to finish their tasks where as Extreme Programming teams were given only thirteen weeks, a 13% reduction in time. 1. 2. 2. PET 1. 1: In 2005, the VP of Engineering advised the three teams that rewriting the code from scratch would be easier than working with the existing code base. Team 30:1 decided to use the latest in Java technologies including Swing and Hibernate. PET 1. 1, the team's product became the starting point for the students in the following year. 1. 2. 3. PET 1. 2: In 2008, the faculty switched the core technology from Java to Ruby on Rails.Ruby on Rails' convention over configuration, afforded a lower learning curve for students. For Pet 1. 2, students would build their projects from scratch. 2. Related work Much research has been done as to when to use an agile method and when to use a traditional method. For example, Boehm Turner's home grounds look at several characteristics, criticality, culture, and dynamism [6]. Our paper aims to extend these limitations to some degree by estimating Waterfall and XP in an academic case study, which provide a substantive ground for researchers before replicating their ideas in industry.Basili [7] presented a framework for analyzing most of the experimental w ork performed in software engineering. We learned that how to conduct a controlled experiment. Andrew and Nachiappan [8] reported on the results of an empirical study conducted at Microsoft by using an anonymous web-based survey. They found that one third of the study respondents use Agile methodologies to varying degrees and most view it favorably due to improved communication between team members, quick releases and the increased flexibility of agile designs.Their findings that we will consider in our future work is that developers are most worried about scaling Agile to larger projects, and coordinating agile and traditional teams. Our work is closely related to the work by Ming Huo et al [9]. They compared the Waterfall model with agile processes to show how agile methods achieve software quality. They also showed how agile methods attain quality under time pressure and in an unstable requirements environment. They presented a detailed Waterfall model showing its software qualit y support processes.Other work has only illustrates one or some Agile practices such as pair programming [10]. 3. Experimental methodology Our research was conducted primarily using Glaser's steps [11] in the constant comparison method of analysis. Step1: Begin collecting data. We collected more than 50 teams’ detailed data during a five year period as Table 1 shows. Table 1. Team building the same project 2004 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 Method Waterfall Waterfall XP XP XP XP Language Java Java Java Java Java Ruby Project PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 1 PET1. 1 PET1. 2 Numbers of Teams 10 13 3 9 6 11Step2: Look for key issues, recurrent events, or activities in the data that become categories for focus. The approach in software design makes us categorize the data into two distinctive software development methods, namely Waterfall and Extreme Programming. Step3: Collect data that provides many incidents of the categories of focus with an eye to seeing the diversity of the dimens ions under the categories. According to Basili[7], we provided some metrics to compare these two categories, Waterfall and XP. Requirements Metrics M1: Numbers of UI screens (ie. mockup) M2: Numbers of use cases (story cards)M3: Pages of Software Requirements Specification (SRS) documents M4: Pages of User Requirements Documents (URD) Design Metric M5: Pages of detailed design documents Implementation Metrics M6: Lines of code M7: Percentage of lines of comments to lines of source code M8: Lines of test cases M9: Ratio of lines of test code to lines of program code Step4: Write about the categories that we are exploring, attempting to describe and account for all the incidents we have in our data while continually searching for new incidents. Step5: Work with the data and emerging model to discover basic social processes and relationships.Step6: Engage in sampling, coding, and writing as the analysis focuses on the core categories. During 2005, there were 13 teams following Waterfal l and 3 teams following XP during the same period of time. These three teams, team Absorb, GT11 and 30:1 are interesting teams to examine as we can compare their data against the Waterfall teams doing the exact same project. 4. Experimental results 4. 1. UI screens (M1) and Story cards (M2) comparison These wide ranges can be seen in Table 2 and Table 3 where the standard deviation of the UI mockups is often half the document size.Comparing use cases to story cards in Table 3, we see that the standard deviation for use cases is much lower than the standard deviation for story cards. This is expected since use cases are a higher ceremony document when compared to story cards. Teams might give little consideration to how to represent each feature on a story card whereas a team writing a use case step by step how a user will use the system will spend much more time thinking about the coupling and cohesion of each use case. Table 2. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of mockups Year 004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Average mockups 15. 5 11. 8 17 18 9 15 12. 8 17. 7 Standard Deviation of mockups 6. 6 6. 3 5. 4 3. 1 8. 8 Table 3. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of use cases/story cards Year Average Number Standard Deviation 2004 User cases 18. 7 2005 User cases 18. 9 2. 3 Absorb Story cards 15 1. 6 GT11 Story cards 13 30:1 Story cards 18 2006 Story cards 16. 6 2007 Story cards 18. 3 2008 Story cards 16. 6 7. 5 6. 8 8. 0 4. 2. Requirement documents (M3&M4) Starting with PET 1. 0, Waterfall teams on average add 1. 7 use cases and modified 2. use cases. Teams were given a 28 page System Requirements Specification (SRS) and on averaged finished with a 34 page SRS. XP teams starting with PET 1. 0 were given the same starting documents. Instead of modifying them, the teams created story cards that represented each new feature. Instead of spending time on writing use cases, XP teams started coding sooner. Because XP has an emphasis on low ceremony docume nts, they had more time to code resulting in an effort savings for the teams. 4. 3. Comparing the size of the detail design documents (M5) There are some insights from Table 4.Waterfall teams using Pet 1. 0 started with a 21 page Detailed Design Document (DDD), which they altered to reflect their new use cases. Waterfall teams typically did not update their design documents at the end of the project. Given the scope of the project, Waterfall teams’ final code matched the original design with respect to new classes. Table 4. Average pages and Standard Deviation of Detail Design Documents Year 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Starting Point 21 21 21 21 0 14 14 0 Average DDD 25. 8 31. 1 18 22 14 18. 3 12. 5 9. 5 Standard Deviation 8. 39 7. 48 7. 70 7. 8 5. 19 XP teams increased their design documents with each iteration. Because the XP teams followed Test-Driven Development, they wrote their code and had an emergent design. At the end of each iteration, the teams were a sked to update the design document to reflect important design decisions they had made during that iteration. Therefore, the design document serves a different purpose in XP. It is not a template or blueprint for future construction. Instead, it can be a guide for understanding why certain decisions were made. In this regard, it is a biography of the development, ot a plan of action. 4. 4. New lines of source code and comments, Percentage of comments in codes Table 5 shows that Waterfall teams starting with Pet 1. 0 produced lines of code with a wide variance. The two XP teams starting with Pet 1. 0 fell right within the middle of the average. Because instead of producing some documents up front, the XP teams spent a longer time coding, one would expect them to produce more lines of code. The research results also show that XP Teams had a higher percentage of comments in source code. Table 5. Average and Standard Deviation of new lines in code YearLanguage Average new lines in code Standard Deviation Lines of test codes Ratio of test codes to program code 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Ruby 9,429 11,910 13,288 14,689 0 9,628 8,572 3,670 7,946 9,851 4,920 5,465 1,507 3378 4164 1380 3186 947 3555 2212 3,255 8% 13% 4% 8% 8% 16% 10% 90% 4. 5. Submitted lines of test codes and ratio of test code to program code The observation of these two metrics in Table 5 shows that the amount of test code written by the Waterfall teams equals the amount of test code written by the XP teams.Initially the faculty thought that Test-Driven Development would increase the amount of testing code, however, given a slow adoption rate of Test-Driven Development, programmers resorted to what was familiar and thus produced similar results. 5. Conclusion In this paper, we observed and presented the data from five years of 50 teams developing the same project each year and the affects of transitioning from Waterfall to Extreme Programming. The ch aracteristics between these two methods were evaluated and compared.Waterfall teams spent more time creating high ceremony documents where as Extreme Programming teams spent more time writing code and documenting their design in their code. Surprisingly, the amount of code and features completed were roughly the same for both methods suggesting that on a three month project with three to four developers it doesn't matter the method used. It is challenging to conduct this kind of analysis of the data in hindsight. Given that this is not a toy problem, and the freedom teams have in the execution of their projects, setting up this kind of experiment properly in advance is also challenging. . References [1] Sommerville, Software engineering, 8th ed. , New York: Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 2006. [2] W. Royce, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, IEEE WESTCON, Los Angeles, 1970. [3] A. Abran and J. W. Moore, Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge: trial ve rsion (version 0. 95) IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2001. [4] Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres, Extreme programming eXplained: embrace change, Second Edition, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004. 5] Mike Cohn, Agile estimating and planning, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Nov 11, 2005. [6] Barry, Boehm and Richard Turner, Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed, Addison Wesley, August 15, 2003. [7] Basil, V. R. , Selby, R. and Hutchens, D. , Experimentation in Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (invited paper), July 1986. [8] Andrew Begel and Nachiappan Nagappan, Usage and Perceptions of Agile Software Development in an Industrial Context: An Exploratory Study, MiIEEE Computer Society MSR-TR-2007-09, no. 2007): 10. [9] Ming Huo, June Verner, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Liming Zhu, How does agility ensure quality? , IEEE Seminar Digests 2004, (2004):36. [10] Jan Chong, Robert Plummer, Larry Leifer, Scott R. Klemmer, and George Toye. Pair Programming: When and Why it Works, In Proceedings of Psychology of Programming Interest Group 2005 Workshop, Brighton, UK, June 2005. [11] Glaser, Barney G, Strauss, and Anselm L. , The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1967.

Culture And Crime Essay

The umbrage rate of societies differs with each other. If the disgust rates of European countries and American countries were comp ard, the directs would be different. The same is true if countries from the East and westmost were compared in regards to their crime rates. This can be attributed perhaps to different norms and models on crime of different societies, as well as the overall representation of life of the spate in any minded(p) area. If this were analyse further, it will be noted that ending plays a role in the management that crime is viewed in a given up ships company.This essay deals with the concept of burnish, especially in the way that it relates to crime. subtlety, Society and Criminality ahead juxtaposing crime and refinement, however, it would be undeniable to posit the overly used and abused concept of polish. Generally, culture is the overall pattern of the way of life of a given connection of people together with the structures of symbols and meanings that they attach to several(a) aspects of their society. This also includes the morality of the society as well as the collection of unobjectionable and non-acceptable behaviors (Krober & Kluckhohn, 1952).Since the moral system is included here, it impinges upon the liking of what is right, as well as the way that people in a given society view law, together with the deputation of crimes. Given that culture guesss the overall life style of peoples in a society, it is inevitable that crimes are also affected by culture. For example, in a occupy conducted by Karstedt (2001), she menti aced that culture has been recognized by criminology as one of the factors influencing crime. The study took note of various tender pick up factor in Asian countries with low crime rate such as Japan.Karstedt called for the introduction of methods and ways by dint of which cultures may be effectively compared to study the differences in culture and its impingement on crime. By conducting an extensive survey in one of the S forbiddenhern States in the US, Warner (2003) rear out that cultural disorganization affect crimes. Her findings show that a prevailing culture conditioned by disadvantage in the society and the disconnection of loving ties pay back significant impact on the train of social relationships and ties of the community. This in turn impacts daily modes of social control in the society.Without these idle social control, it would the tendency for crimes to be perpetrate becomes stronger. On the other hand, Leonardsen (2002) investigated the apparent unusual person of Japanan urban country with in truth low crime rate. In his study, Leonardsen pointed out to apparent loss of too practically individualism in Japan magic spell focusing on the overall community. He argued that although the loss of individuality can be seen in Japan, it has much to teach to westerly countries, especially regarding identity, obligations and social connecti ons.Conclusion establish on the studies mentioned above, it can be seen that and so culture has a significant impact on crime. Crime cannot only be hold backed through formal means such as law, police force, and the prison system. Rather, at that place are escaped institutions and norms that help prevent or perhaps encourage the happening of crime. When social ties are severed and a negative culture of the disadvantaged spawns, social controls are weakened, thus increasing the likeliness of the occurrence of crime.A focus on the communitys norms, however, can result to a more orderly society with low incidence of crime. These studies are congruent with Blacks theory that if the culture and the means of informal social control in a society are weak, then the tendency for that society is to realise laws that are more powerful as compared with other societies with stronger social control means (Black, 1976). A combination of effective laws and informal social controls, are howev er necessary so that order can be kept within the society. Reference Black, D. (1976). The way of constabulary.San Diego, CA Academic Press. Karstedt, S. (2001). study Cultures, Comparing Crime Challenges, Prospects and Problems for a Global Criminology. Crime, Law and Social Change, 36 (3), 285-308. Kroeber, A. L. & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge, MA Peabody Museum. Leonardsen, D. (2002). The unrealistic Case of Japan. Australian and New Zealand daybook of Criminology, 35 (2), 203-229. Warner, B. D. (2003). The Role of Attenuated Culture in Social Disorganization Theory. Criminology, 41 (1), 73-98.