Does the international community have the responsibility to protect Essay

Does the international community have the responsibility to protect - Essay Example In 2005, world leaders at the UN Summit backed the Responsibility to Protect principle, which ascertains the mandate of the states to protect their populations against war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In most parts of Africa, a lot has to be done before the principle is put into practice as indicated by the Sudan Darfur’s humanitarian disaster. The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty first presented the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2001 to the international community. This came out of the desire to alleviate preventable tragedies like those in Rwanda and Bosnia, which made headlines in the world during the 1990s. With the R2P doctrine, the international community has started to conceptualize and recognize its mandate to intervene in circumstances where the states are unwilling or incapable of protecting civilians, and stop or prevent massive human rights abuses in their borders. R2P has offere d a basis for discussions concerning the creation of African security architecture. Core to R2P is the requirement by the third parties to have the ability for effective and timely intervention in crises. (Besada 2010, p xviii). Case Study on Two African States in The 1990s Burundi Introduction After ten years of civil war and several years of post-independence fighting, Burundi is making progress in post-conflict peace building and recovery. The circumstances in Burundi did not get to full-scale genocide, and this is mainly attributed in part, â€Å"to early and long-term involvement on the part of regional and international actors including UN, African state governments, and NGOs† (Human Rights Center 2007, p89). The international and regional responses to the Burundi crisis are a clear indication of how R2P has been used before to alleviate, and respond to major ethnic violence and reconstruct societies in its outcome (Human Rights Center 2007, p89). Background to the Conf lict Burundi has a long and a sophisticated history concerning its violent conflict. The most recent cycle of violence happened in 1993 when Melchior Ndadaye was murdered by Tutsi-dominated army leading to open warfare between the military and the Hutu rebels. Melchior Ndadaye was the leader of FRODEBU (Hutu Front pour la Democratie au Burundi) and the first president to be elected democratically in Burundi. The resulting ethno-political violence claimed the lives of approximately 300,000 Burundians (civilians were the majority) and displaced millions. Several African leaders including Nelson Mandela (former South African President), Julius Nyerere (former Tanzanian President), and Jacob Nzuma (the current South African President) have sought a lasting solution to the conflict. The efforts to end to the conflict began in 2000 Arusha Agreement, which was signed by the government, the National Assembly, and17 Burundian political leaders. However, the main rebel groups, PALIPEHUTU-FNL (Parti pour la Liberation du Peuple Hutu – Forces Nationales de Liberation), and CNDD-FDD (Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democraite – Forces pour la Defense de la Democraite) did not sign the agreement. The agreement also failed to offer ceasefire agreements, which were consequently negotiated between the

Policy Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy Making - Essay Example They will also help in assisting the staffs and the lawmakers in drafting legislation. Lobbying group will interpreted the impact of the proposed rules and legislation. They will organize demonstrations and protest, talking to the media, running advertisement, hosting potential candidates and engaging in litigation. Most of these groups are not shy of offering campaign to the law makers (Rosati & Scott 2014). Other indirect techniques that can be used are, working through third parties. These will help in influencing legislators and public policy. This can be done by making phone call, writing of emails to the members of an organization to communicate their concerns. By use of these techniques, policies will be influenced by the communicated group by offering support. Lobbing groups is more effective than this technique. In a well-funded interest, groups try to gain public support by mass emailing, media advertisement, and publication. The main reason for using these techniques is because they are effective and will create the intended pressure to the public to influence our policies1. Given the current political climate, some of the challenges we intend to face are both economic and political. Politically, providing evidence of or intended policy will be a problem. This because our policies are experimental with no grantee of our intended purpose; Without the evidence, we might fall back on ideology and conventional wisdom. Policies are not made in a vacuum but rather typically emerge from a maelstrom of political energy. Some of the factors that will influence how good the evidence is include the methodology. A good methodology will allow proper consideration of the problem. Another factor is research skills; Good skills will enable excellent research of a problem. Another challenge is that, gathering evidence might take a lot of time. This can

Review And Study On Commercial Pressures Media Essay

Review And Study On Commercial Pressures Media Essay The national press has long been the backbone of national pride. Seemingly news was one of the only sources of information about all the on going activities and current affairs stories around the world. Newspapers and television news plays a huge role in everybodys lives, to be in the know we either read the paper or watch the news. However now some may argue commercial pressure from the early 1990s have changed the outlook of news production. The primary principal of any form of commercialisation is for financial gain. Society today can seem to be more focussed on economic profitability then the quality they present. Commercialization can connote excessive advertising, ‘corruption, meaning to emphasize the profitable aspects of, especially by scarifying quality or debasing inherent mature. (Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, 2009) Authors Jorgensen and Hanitzsch also argue that commercialisation of news interferes with the publics understanding of issues as mediated by the news me dia. ‘Commercialization of news as any action intended to boost profit that interferes with a journalists or news organizations best effort to maximize public understanding of those issues and events that shape the community they claim to serve (Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, 2009). In this essay I will attempt to evaluate if and how news production changed after the 1990s, and if it was changing why was it changing. Had news surrendered to the commercial pressures? Was commercialising news beneficial for audiences or merely new production companies? Looking briefly into the history of broadcasting will help assist me into determining how news production was before the 1990s and how commercial pressures influenced the way news is being produced today. The ‘Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution bought the emergence of the rise in technology; industrial competition was now becoming fierce. Things were slowly beginning to change in society, aspects such as newspapers were facing rising manufacture costs and people now spending their disposable income on things of a more entertaining nature i.e. magazines. Commercializing news was the way forward in making more profit. The Industrial Revolution created news production companies now to be able to print quantities in thousands; many believe this was the point in the century when commercial aspects such as ‘Journalism as entertainment and ‘Yellow Journalism began. Thussu (2007) argues: ‘As the taxes and duties on the press were progressively reduced during the late nineteenth century, newspapers became an increasingly important commercial enterprise, thriving on sensationalist stories. ‘(Thussu, K, D.2007) The United States of America influenced news production in Britain significantly with firstly Penny Press to news shows such as ABC and Fox News. As Thussu (2007) notes: ‘The US, the home of the idea of a mass society and mass communication, could also be said to be the inventor of the infotainment industry, starting with the ‘Penny Press in the 1830s. (Thussu, K, D.2007) The ‘Penny Press, these were newspapers that were produced in the mid 19th century, it first arrived in 1833, one of the first newspapers was Benjamin Days Sun. The ‘Penny Press were newspapers that were being sold for one penny compared to other papers that were being sold for six cents. The papers appealed to a larger audience firstly because they were cheap but the articles were more about crime, murder and human based interest stories. Could we attempt to say that newspapers in early 1990s and present decided to go back to a similar style of producing news? This maybe what Gitlin (2005:51) is arguing about: ‘For a constituency being conditioned by trashy crime pamphlets, gory novels and overweight melodramas, news was simply the most exciting, most entertaining content a paper could offer, especially when it was skewed, as it invariably was in the penny press, to the most sensational stories. In fact, one might even say that the matters of the penny press invented the concept of news because it was the best way to sell their papers in an entrainment environment. (Cited in Gitlin, 2005:51) (Who has been cited in Gitlin) The 19th century saw the British newspaper take a dramatic turn, the media alongside news production become increasingly commercialised. News was now seen as a commodity, something that could turn commercial, and bring profitable advantage. Before the commercial change news production had editors focused on arguing about politics and power. However by the centurys end editors looked at writing stories for profit. Which story would bring in the most money? As Baldasty (1992: 139) notes: ‘The newspaper had emerged as a business dedicated to presenting information within the parameters of profitability. Baldasty further contends that: ‘The commercialization of news in the nineteenth century was the result of changes in three important areas of the newspaper: its finances, the vision of what the press could and should do, and the exigencies of doing to day- operations. (Baldasty, 1992:04) Looking into more closely the production of news in the UK we will begin with the British Broadcasting Company. The BBC began the broadcasting monopoly, in 1922. The BBC was primarily funded by the licensing fee. The BBC wasnt concerned with any advertisers which made it distinctively stand out as a non commercial channel. Lord Reith developed the BBC; he promoted the ‘philosophy of public service broadcasting both with television and radio. The BBC was awarded the first Royal Charter in 1927 and they began broadcasting in 1936, however in 1955 they lost its monopoly with the launch of ITV. ITV being an independent television channel, it was solely funded by advertisement, which gave the aspect of ITV being a more commercialised channel. However ITV also had to meet public-service obligations. Channel 4 was created by an Act of Parliament; it began regular broadcasts on 2 November 1982. Like the nations long-established public-service broadcaster the BBC, it had gifted broadcasting frequencies, but like ITV it doesnt receive funding from the television licence income. It is publicity owned not profit broadcaster, today all programming is financed through its commercial activities, which include the sale of on-air advertising. Although the channel was funded through advertisement the channel ‘retained and even widened the public- service ethos, particularly in relation to the provision of news and current affairs. (Thussu, K, D.2007) For this section of the essay I will be investigating why newspapers essentially became commercialised. Firstly I will look at the rise of advertising. As Thussu (2007) argues: ‘The growth of advertising- one result of industrialisation provided a major source of revenue for newspapers for newspapers in the late ninetieth century. (Thussu, K, D.2007) Advertising in the late nineteenth century had become a powerful element. Newspapers were facing financial panic and turned to advertiser for financial support. Advertisers needed publicity so they would pay newspapers to publicize their products or services in the newspaper which newspapers would charge for. The rise of advertising came into action as advertiser looked upon newspapers as the source that would bring them circulation all over the country. Newspapers were cheap however they were one of few resources that could communicate something on such a large scale. Thussu notes: ‘The global expansion of television and other media could not have been possible without the support of advertising revenue. (Thussu, K, D.2007) Advertisers wanted to use newspapers as their tool for reaching the consumers, and newspapers needed their financial input. As Baldasty observed: ‘Advertising emerged as the chief financial supporter and shaper of the press. (Baldasty, 1992:139) The rise of popular culture increasingly became a reason why newspapers had to conform to the rules of commercialisation. Popular culture can be seen as commercial culture, culture of the masses. Culture that has been severely influenced by the mass media, popular culture has seen a downgrade in aspects of literacy, reading, television, film and so much more. Newspapers needed to accept and acknowledge their new audience and the demographics. So many can argue popular culture aroused the formation of popular press. Newspapers were formed primarily for the two aspects of informing the world of important events, issues and crimes. Secondly making profit from this. Newspapers in the 1990s saw a change in the trend, a percentage of readers now wanted newspapers to be more entertaining. Baldasty noticed this as: ‘Many came to see the newspapers as a business rather than a political tool. (Baldasty.1992.p139) The readers required articles about celebrities, sport and wanted images to look at. If newspapers wanted to survive they had to give in, it would have been inevitable for them to play the game and accept the needs of their readers. Working class newspapers were now being replaced by popular newspapers such as the ‘The Daily Telegraph with ‘The Sun. Lord Northcliffe an infamous press baron took the newspaper industry by storm. He invested in declining newspapers and then turned them into more entertaining and profitable press; he detected the gap in market and knew how to gain from this. The United State saw television become as important part of their American life after World War 11, the evening news now became a regular feature in many households during the late 1940s and 1950s. As Bernhard argues: ‘The US government used television networks to sell the ideological war against communism to the American public, persuading networks to broadcast news and current affairs programmes approved by the government agencies and thus making them act as unofficial state propagandist. (Bernhard 1999) The predominant change in the nature of newspapers began will their need for financial gain, the papers began to support political parties; this was one small step towards gaining more financial help. The newspapers would write passively about the party and influence their readership. An example of this was when press baron Rupert Murdoch shared his liberal views with the readers of newspapers ‘The Sun and ‘Daily Times. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, he used the newspapers to promote and highlight the left wing politics. Murdoch was also rumoured to have a close alliance with Margret Thatcher. ‘The Sun was also said to be responsible to for unexpected victory of John Mayer, in the elections 1992. Another reason why newspapers had the increase pressure to commercialise was caused due to the rise of technology. Technology has affected everything we know, news production suffered as we welcomed the internet. The internet changed the way we consumed news, we now had news 24 hours a day worldwide. There was no longer the need to walk to the corner shop to buy the paper. Technology and the internet not only changed the way news was being produced it was changing the way news was now being gathered. Mid 1990s saw news production turn to the World Wide Web, the World Wide Web was operational in the 1990s and become a phenomenon. The web was now another source used to illustrate the news stories. Things such as magazines, newspapers and television news programs all faced the dilemma to join the ever developing internet. Lasica argues: ‘News organizations and television networks built virtual newsstands carrying up-to-the-minute headlines (Lasica, 1996) Modern technology allows people to be just like a real news presenters. Mobile phones and the video function create instant coverage of news taking place anywhere around the world. News reporters are no longer efficient or accurate with the production of the latest news. In 2006 the ‘balance of power in Senate was affected in the recording from a cell phone. It was a recording on a cell phone that recorded ‘George Allens infamous ‘Maccaca comment in the mid term elections. People always are now using social networking sights to blog entries, this can seem to be very appealing to the new generation as they can just log onto the internet and read a blog. Commercial pressures such as the rise of technology created the news to no longer be quick enough on news coverage. This can be seen as one of the influential decision on why news had to change and become more commercial, to gain their audience back. Information I gathered on the 20th century informed me that we saw gradual change in the popularization of television, radio and the persuasion industry such as advertising and propaganda. This bought me to the conclusion of television news being the subject of commercialisation also being a reason for commercialisation. 1955 saw boom in television news with the arrival of ITN, Independent Television news. The growth of television is one of the vital reasons of news production i.e. newspapers becoming more commercialized. Television saw dramatic change when we switched over to digital television. This bought with it numerous channels dedicated to news. On June 1st 1980 Ted Turner introduced CNN (Cable News Network) this was a channel that produced news 24hours a day from just one click of a button. Digital television became an overnight success everybody wanted the countless number of channels however this put a major strain on newspapers. Original news shows such as the BBC news seemed to be changing aspects of it to become more appealing, Thussu argues: ‘The BBCs flagship current affairs series Panorama, broadcast since 1953 had set the standards for current affairs reporting for half a century, with a dedicated audience of up to 10million in its heyday in the late 150s. It too was shifted to a late weekend slot and its content diluted to retain steadily declining viewership. (Thussu, K, D.2007) News now contents now could be argued to be infotainment, news being a information based program that now seems o include entertainment contents to enhance viewership. Thussu notes: ‘Infotainment was deemed a necessary mechanism to connect with the rapidly fragmenting news audiences. (Thussu, K, D.2007) An example of infotainment in new was the O.J Simpson case. This case was said to be one of the most published criminal trails in American history, this trial was published all over newspapers. Time magazine published a cover of O.J Simpson; it was a mug shot of him where he appeared much darker than he actually is. This caused lots of media controversy, was he made darker in the picture to appear more threatening? However many argue this was only done to influence readers that this man was guilty and a menace, newspapers now seemed to be appearing biased, was this to gain more readership? Thaler 1992 described the ‘Simpson saga as a mega spectacle, a key in the decline of journalism (Thussu, K, D.2007) Douglas Keller distinguished: ‘For TV news, 1995 was the year of Simpson spectacle, thus making clear that the priorities of corporate journalism are infotainment and profits, merging news into entertainment and journalism into business. (Thussu, K, D.2007) All these commercial pressures combined gave me the impression that news now had become more entertainment based and had ‘dumbed down. TV news was a product of commercialization newspapers now decided to follow, by quality papers becoming more like tabloid trash. Thussu argues that newspapers now had multiple ‘storylines involving murder, sex, celebrity and race.'(Thussu, K, D.2007) I gathered quantitative content analysis from the book ‘Tabloid Tales (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Information was carried out on newspapers Times, Guardian and the Mirror. This was to examine the indications of how tabloidization was occurring over time. Broadsheet papers such as the Times, Guardian were compared to the Mirror a tabloid newspapers. Things that were tested were aspects such as how many fewer international news stories were present, the usage of more images and less text and lastly the increased amount of human/entertainment stories. ‘A continual decrease in the numbers, from a high of 3.7 stories per page in 1957 to a low of 0.4 per page in 1997. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) The Times: ‘increase in the number of photographs per page in the newspaper with a low of 0.4 in 1952 to a high of 2.1 in 1982. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) The Guardian: ‘Results show a steady increase from 0.5 photographs per page in 1962 to approximately 1.5 in the 1970s and early 1980s. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Over the last fifteen years the Mirror has had steady increase in photographs per page. Research shows that the Times and Mirror both show: ‘1.5 pictures per page in the 1990s. ‘If we take an increase in photographs as being a reliable indication of tabloidization, then maybe this could suggest that this particular broadsheet newspaper is becoming more tabloid- like in form. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Sparks and Tulloch also examined the amount of entertainment and human based stories in the newspapers. ‘The percentage of entertaining news stories has increased dramatically over this time period, from just over 6 percent 1952 to 17 percent in 1997. This can indicate to me that readers are now more interested in pubic interest stories than actual news. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Competition early 1990s was increasing with new digital media and 24hours news coverage available online. News production appeared to now have the attitude of ‘give the readers/viewer what they want at any cost, even if this meant losing journalistic range of hard news stories. The early 1990s saw a new form of culture forming celebrity culture. New generations are now seemingly more obsessed with glossy magazines or newspapers that feature human biased stories or have a celebrity spread. Sothard argues: ‘Many of these young people do not read if they can avoid it, they are not interested in politics or current affairs; they do not go to opera or the theatre†¦ They are post-modern, post serious, post-literate,- and post-broadsheet, which means that the audience for serious journalism is disappearing. (Sothard, 1997) When society decided to change, news production had to conform or lose business. News can be argued to be losing its value and no longer having hard news stories that once a public loved to read. Sadly however news like everything else in this world is a profitable business where the main concern is financial gain. The news is only giving you what you want. Commercial pressures such as technology, popular celebrity culture and a new dumbed down market created a new outlook for news production. News can be looked at as less informative, tasteless and more focussed on entertainment than political concerns. However were we the public and the readership not to blame for this? Bibliography: 1. Baldasty, j. G. (1992), The commercialization of news in the nineteenth century. London: The university of Wisconsin Press. 2. Dahlgren, P and Sparks, C. (1992) Journalism and the popular culture. London: SAGE publications. 3. Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, T. (2009), The handbook of journalism studies. Oxon: Routledge. 4. Sparks, C and Tulloch, J. (2000) Tabloid Tales. Boston Way: Rowman Littlefield Publishers 5. Thussu, K, D. (2007) News as entertainment. London: SAGE publications. 6. Www.questia.com/googlescholar.qst?docld=5000599873 7. www.philiphodgett.com/2009/07/31/how-has-technology-changed-news-reporting. 8. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4654.shtml

Chimpanzee Versus Humans: Similarities & Differences Essay -- essays r

Chimpanzee versus Humans: Similarities & Differences   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the first days of human thought into their beginnings, chimpanzees have played a vital role in showing who we were. The chimpanzee, one of the great apes, makes it home in the forests of Central and West Africa. Their long arms and legs adapt them for living in such regions as lowland jungles and mountainous regions. Humans are classified in the order Primates, and family Hominade. Within this family, human beings, our nearest living relatives, the African apes, are also placed. Though in some classification standards, apes are placed in the family Pongidae.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The defining characteristic of Hominids is their ability to walk bipedally, using two feet and walking upright. This form of movement lead to many adaptations within the Hominids skeleton. There are notable changes in the spinal cord, pelvis bone and legs. The chimpanzee does have the ability to walk upright and does, but it spends most of the time walking on four limbs. It uses it’s arms as it’s front legs and walks on it’s knuckles. Our brain capacity is about twice as large as that of the chimp. Humans have a brain capacity of 1300 to 1500 cc, while the chimps are about 600 - 800 cc. It is though by scientists that our brain size grew over time as were evolved into making complex tools and we became increasingly sophisticated. The human skull is slightly different from that of our primate ancest...

A comprehensive protection plan

The primary objective of drawing a comprehensive protection plan is to enable an individual or an organization to survive or avoid a disaster (security threat) and therefore continue with his/her normal daily activities smoothly. To be able to achieve the above, one has to fully access the existing vulnerabilities in relations to the present, and predict future trends. As such therefore, comprehensive protection planning is tedious, complex, and requires careful and proper strategizing. In order for the plan to be relevant, both the security agent and the client have to make sure that, the plan is adhered to, up to the dot.Protection plans are not a two-month project neither is it a plan that once completed one can forget about it. The plan must be maintained, and tested regularly to gauge its efficient.Any security protection plan has to be systematic so that in the end, security threats can be avoided. The following steps need to be followed in order to come up with a comprehensive protection plan. 1) Plan description; this involves things like; (I) Pre-planning, which deals with the understanding of the immediate environment of an individual or an organization. (ii)Vulnerability assessment:- This concentrates on activities which can reduce the possibility of   a disaster occurrence.(iii) Disaster impact:- A detailed study should be carried out to determine the outcome, should a disaster occur.(iv) Definition of tasks:-this deals with the real course of action should a disaster occur(v)Plan development:-during this phase, recovery plans are tackled and clearly documented.(vi) Testing phase:-the above plan is now   put into real test so as to gauge its feasibility and if possible alternatives are evaluated.(vii)Maintenance of the plan is a very critical phase as   it determines the success of the whole plan should a security threat take place.(viii) Implementation of the plan:– this is   the most important phase of a comprehensive protection pla n since the plan will be of no use if it will not be fully implemented. As such implementation includes the following; defining the plan approach, identifying plan implementers, and modifying the plan when need be.The next step, number (2) plan objectives, which as said earlier the main objective of security protection plan is to enable an individual to survive a disaster and therefore carry on with their duties. As such, it requires critical operations trough out the course of plan. These critical operations can only be achieved by establishing of clear objectives.The objectives to any protection plan includes the following; (I) provision of safety to people incase of a disaster. (ii) Continuation with normal activities after a disaster. (iii) Minimize immediate damage and losses. (iv) Minimizing of disruption time. (V) Identify critical support incase the situations are out of control. These objectives help both the security agent and the client to be fully acquainted with the sco pe of the plan and the general security and safety procedures.Number three in this order is the plan organization and staffing. For the plan to be efficient, it needs to be effected by a number of people. Every level of the plan needs to be taken care of by professionals e.g. guards, drivers etc. initially we had said that protection planning is a tedious, complex, and labor-intensive program.This is so because it will be of no use to draw a detailed plan of action and fail to assign duties to specific people. Professionals as said earlier need to be in full time contact to execute the plan incase of a disaster happening.Lastly in this order are recourse requirements; people or organizations who have tried to develop or implement protection plans without providing the necessary recourses have been largely unsuccessful.Therefore, it is imperative that in order to successfully carry out a protection plan, the essential recourses must be employed to the maximum. Of importance also is t he regular testing of plans due to changes of time, and environment. These recourses can be divided into three categories; personnel costs, capitals costs, and on-going costs.( http://www.utoronto.ca/security/documentation/business_continuity/dis_rec_plan.htm)The above steps when followed keenly, then a comprehensive security protection plan can be drawn and successfully executed when need arises. In our contemporary society, security threats have become the order of the day and therefore there is a need to come up with protection plans to combat these threats.Some of the most areas, which are frequently affected when disaster strikes are communication networks, personal security, and transport systems. The following is a detailed plan of action to undertake in relation to communication, personal security, and transportation of a client.

Critically evaluate McGregor’s Theroy X and Theory Y Essay

Critically evaluate McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. How far is it applicable to management and employee motivation in contemporary Chinese organizations? In the modern corporation environment, employees’ motivation plays a pivotal role, thus they should be recognised as a significant part of corporations’ financial assets. There are several distinct viewpoints of approaches to managerial strategies about motivating employees, one of which is McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. It proposes that providing an autonomous environment satisfying employees’ higher needs is more preferable than simply controlling them by rewards and punishment. This essay will firstly evaluate McGregor’s theory. Although influential value of this theory in organization history might be approved, there are two primary issues, invalidity and superficial recognition, which criticisms revolve around. Subsequently, this essay will discuss the extent of this theory’s application in Chinese organizations. Although McGregor’s theory may be employed in few corporations, this theory is generally not applicable in most contemporary Chinese organizations. Many theorists support that McGregor’s theory considers the field of management from a new angle, indicating a strong influential value. In contrast to the principles of conventional management mentioned as Theory X, the advocated Theory Y illuminated a cluster of new or redefined concepts such as self-fulfilling prophecy and responsibility. According to Carson (2005), some of those concepts had been interpreted before; however, McGregor’s theory combined those concepts emerging from separate theories. Based on these compiled conceptions, this theory takes higher-order needs into consideration, which innovatively introduces a profound work value that management should not only involve controlling and monitoring. Moreover, the inclination to responsibility of employees contributes to participative atmospheres in working environment. Lerner (2011) claims that McGregor’s theory can prepare employees’ skills to tackle complicated tasks due to their sense of responsibility, in parallel with improving the potential of an individual. Therefore, this theory, revealing an initial pattern of management strategy, dramatically influences the applied field of organization development. In spite of the influence and originality of McGregor’s theory, there is a primary drawback of the validity, which is regarding the assumption of human nature in this theory. This theory is primarily based on an analysis of  human nature. McGregor (2000) has pointed out that theory X management assumes that people generally are not responsible for work in contrast to theory Y assuming that people are invariably self-controlled. However, the theory X assumption is exaggeratedly negative while the theory Y assumption is overly optimistic. According to Bobic and Davis (2003), there is no evidence that systematically certifies the existence of individuals’ extreme attitudes towards work. Similarly, Francesco and Gold (2005) argued that human nature is not viewed purely positive or negative in all the cultures, drawing on Hofstede’s theory. Furthermore, different employees may have somewhat different characteristics; however, McGregor blended those sophisticated human natures into two simplistic models to introduce a quite deficient theory. Therefore, the theory seems to be invalid due to this relatively unrealistic and inadequate analysis. In addition to the invalid assumption of McGregor’s theory, there is another drawback concerning superficial recognition of autonomous environment and authority which are primary principles of Theory Y and Theory X respectively. McGregor (2000) state that autonomous environment can be acquired by opportunities for self-actualization. Nonetheless, Head (2011) has argued that incentives involving self-actualization are barely effective. Likewise, Bobic and Davis (2003) state that self-actualization is not a pragmatic motivational factor due to the rare opportunity provided by corporations in reality. Although some approaches such as job enrichment can be implemented, managers may not be totally competent to direct this management, which reveals that McGregor’s theory may overestimate the effectiveness of autonomous environment. Conversely, the model of authority representing Theory X may be a more frequently adopted management tool, which is the contrary to what is portrayed in the theory. Head (2011) pointed out authority rather than bureaucracy may offer legitimate power and guarantee development of corporations towards certain direction. In fact, offering appropriate guidance to subordinates and essentially avoiding overly vigorous control stand a significant position in most companies. Consequently, McGregor’s proposal that autonomous environment should be concentrated on while authority is obsolete may require reconsideration because of the superficial recognition. Motivational strategies have been considered as an essential concentration for corporations. With respect to the application of  McGregor’s theory in China, minimal successful instances may be seen in some extremely large conglomerates. Those conglomerates such as Shanghai’s corporations hire numerous workers, contributing to competition and pressure; therefore, employees in these organizations may emphasize higher-order needs because of this particular work circumstance, in accordance with the assumption of McGregor’s theory. Chan and Wyatt (2007) demonstrate that employees in Shanghai’s corporations can be significantly motivated by the satisfaction of self-esteem that is also emphasized in McGregor’s theory. Hence, it seems that this theory can reflect its feasibility in few large Chinese organizations. However, generally, McGregor’s theory reflects low practicability in most contemporary Chinese corporations. According to Alas (2005), most Chinese respondents are more likely to be encouraged by lower needs satisfaction such as incomes, whereas the dominant principle of McGregor’s theory is strategies satisfying higher needs. Therefore, Chinese employees’ concentration on lower needs makes it difficult for them to be motivated by McGregor’s theory. Moreover, Dessler (2006) argued that employee empowerment, one of the principles of McGregor’s theory, is excluded from Chinese corporations. Furthermore, McGregor’s theory is incompatible with the comparatively ingrained Confucian value system in Chinese culture. According to Geren (2011), an abandoned principle in the theory is obedience for authority which is the essence of Confucian value system. Chinese employees largely cultivated in the atmosphere of Confucian value may be uncomfortable with the management of McGregor’s theory. Emphasis on lower needs and the cultural of Confucian value system are both opposite to McGregor’s theory. Therefore, this theory is not applicable in most contemporary Chinese organizations. As a whole, McGregor’s theory may animate original spirit of motivation management; nevertheless, its invalidity is directly resulted from inadequate and unrealistic assumption of human nature. Additionally, excessively focusing on autonomous environment and ignoring efficiency of authority may indicate the superficial recognition in this theory. These two drawbacks can account for ineffective arrangement. As motivation management develops globally, in China, in spite of efficient application in few conglomerates, McGregor’s theory is not compatible with most Chinese organizations because general Chinese condition is the obstacle to successfully adopting this theory. There is no universal theory; hence, in order to improve the effectiveness of management, organizations should utilize distinct management principles flexibly in specific working circumstance. Word account: 1079 Reference List Alas, R. (2008) Attitudes and values in Chinese manufacturing companies: a comparison with Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong companies. Chinese Management Studies. Vol. 2(1), pp.32-51 (PDF available) Bobic, M.P. & Davis, W.E. (2003) A Kind Word for Theory X: Or Why So Many Newfangled Management Techniques Quickly Fail. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Vol. 13(3), pp.239-264 (PDF available) Carson, C.M. (2005) A historical view of Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y. Management Decision. Vol. 43(3), pp.450-460 (PDF available) Chan, K.W. & Wyatt, T.A. (2007) Quality of Work Life: A Study of Employees in Shanghai, China. Asia Pacific Business Review. Vol. 13(4), pp.501-517 (PDF available) Dessler, G. (2006) Expanding into China? What foreign employers should know about human resource management in China today. SAM Advanced Management Journal. Vol.71(4), pp.11-24 (PDF available) Francesco, A.M. & Gold, B.A. (2005) International Organizational Behavior. 2nd ed. NJ, USA: Pearson Education (PDF available of relevant chapter) Geren, B. (2011) Motivation: Chinese theoretical Perspectives. Journal of Behavioural Studies in Business. Vol.3, pp.1-10 (PDF available) Head, T.C. (2011) Douglas McGregor’s legacy: lessons learned, lessons lost. Journal of Management History. Vol. 17(2), pp.202-216 (PDF available) Lerner, A. (2011) McGregor’s legacy: thoughts on what he left, what transpired, and what remains to pursue. Journal of Management History. Vol. 17(2), pp.217 – 237 (PDF available) McGregor, D. (2000) The Human Side of Enterprise. Reflections: The Society for Organizational Learning Journal. Vol. 2(1), pp.6-15. (PDF available)

Most Common Answer on the ACT Guess C

Most Common Answer on the ACT Guess C SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Everyone knows that, when guessing on a multiple-choice test, the best answer to choose is C...right? A friend of a friend swears by it, it’s served you well in the past (maybe?), and it’s become such a commonly known â€Å"fact,† such an undisputed strategy, that you may feel as if you were born knowing it- †when in doubt, pick C and move on.† But does this time-honored tradition of picking C when in doubt actually work on the ACT? And if not, what can you do to improve your odds when guessing? Let’s look at the facts. Why You Should Answer Every Question on the ACT First of all, there is no penalty for choosing a wrong answer on the ACT, so make sure tonever leave a question blank. You'll earn one point for every correct answer you choose and zero points for any blank or wrong answers, so it doesn'thurt you to make a guess. If you don't knowan answer and guessit wrong, you'll earn the same number of points that you would have had you left it blank (zero). And if you guessthe question right, you'll earn yourself one point! Now when you're forced to guess on a question for whatever reason, you'll have to decide between thetwo main types of guessing: educated guessing and blindguessing. So let's break down how and when to go about making each type of guess. Educated Guessing You can make an educated guess when you: understand the gist of a question, butdon't have the timeto workthrough it completely, don't quite know how to work through a question completely, or you're torn between a few answer options. But if you've got some idea of what the answer can (and- just as important- what it can't) be, it's time to eliminate some answer choices and make an educated guess. For example, let's look at an ACT math problem: Even if you don't have enough time to completely work through the problem or don't know all the steps, just a little knowledge of lines and slopes will tell usthat the answer will be B, C, or D. Why? Because our given slope is $-{2/3}$and a negative slope will fall down towards the right when drawn through our given point (2, 5). This means we can eliminate answer choices A and E immediately. (Spoiler alert: D is the right answer.) BlindGuessing But let's say you've come up against a question and you have absolutely no clue where to begin. Or maybeyou've got ten seconds left on the clock and fifteen questions still left unanswered. You know that leaving a question blank is tantamount to throwing your points out the window, so now it's time to make a blindguess. There's no time for educated guessing or eliminating answer choices- you just have to fill in a bubble. Butwhen you have to make a blindguess like this (or multiple blind guesses), are you better off choosing C than any other answer choice? Let's see. Don't let their cheerful smiles fool you- three of them are hiding the wrong answer, dun dun DUN. Fact or Fiction: Is C the Most Common Answer on the ACT? The idea that C is the best answer to choose when guess-answering a question on a multiple choice test rests on the premise that ACT answer choices are not truly randomized.In other words, the implication is that answer choice C is correct more often than any other answer choice.After all, if the answer key were truly randomized, then why should C be any more likely to be the right answer than any other option? [Note: the ACT switches between using A, B, C, D (andE on the math section) and F, G, H, J (and K on the math). H is the equivalentto C.] Some (or even many) of your high school teachers likely still design their tests by hand, which means that their answer keys will not be statistically random.No matter how much your teachers try to randomize their choices, human beings are NOT random and cannot properly randomize a series.For instance, a truly random sampling will actually produce bizarre strings of patterns- e.g., five AB’s in a row, or twenty questions without a D- and most people do not (or cannot) create these patterns when they try their best to be â€Å"random.† Fortunately or unfortunately, this is NOT the case on the ACT. Unlike many of the tests you take in high school, ACT answer keys are completely computer generated. And computers are very good at being random. This means that the answer choices will have a statistically even distribution of 1 in 4 for each answer choice letter (or1 in 5 on the math section): there is no most common answer on the ACT. So, ultimately, guessing C (or any letter!) will give you the correct answer only a statistical 25% of the time(20% on the math section). Which meansit's NOT true that choosing C will give you a better rate of success than choosing any other letter for your blind guessing. What to do, then? So How Should You Guess? If C isn't the most common answer on the ACT, then which letter should you guess? The truth is that it doesn't matter which letter you pick, only that you stick to the one you choose. The best strategy,and the one that will maximize your overall point gain,is to pick your favorite letter and fill it infor every blind guess. Maybe that letter is A/F or B/G - it doesn't matter. Just be sure to stick with it every single time. So definitelygo ahead and choose C/H to be your designated letter if you like it best! (Just don't expect C to be any betteran answer choice than A, B, or D.) But maybe you're thinking that sounds completely illogical. Why should you fill in the same letter over and over? Why Does Sticking to One Letter Increase Your Odds of Guessing the Right Answer? Your overall score will improve if you stick to choosing the same letter again and again when making blind guesses. This isbecause people are never truly random. If you’re making "random" blind guesses in a spread, you will almost certainly reduce your overall guesses odds, because your best attempt at random guessing cannot replicate computer-generated randomness. But by sticking to your designated letter when making blind guesses, you are re-introducing an element of randomness. Let’s see this in action to better demonstrate why this works. Scenario: It’s crunch time and you’ve run out of minuteson the clock. You have 15 questions left to goand only a few seconds to bubble in your answers. This means you don’t have time to even look at the questions, so you must try to make the best blind guesses you can and maximize your point-gain. You are left with two options: make a random guess spread, or fill in every letter with the same answer choice. Let’s see how each option does when compared to a real ACT answer guide (in this case, we are using the first 15 answers of the 2015/2016 ACT reading section answers, with all F, G, H, J's converted to A, B, C, D's.) (Note: for our random spread, we tried to guess as randomly as we could without looking at the answer key, and for our consistent letter, we simply went with C.) â€Å"Random† Spread Consistent Guess (C) Correct Answers A C A C C D B C C A C C A C B B C D D C A B C C D C B B C D C C A A C D C C C C C D D C B By choosing a random spread, we earned 2 points out of a possible 15.But by sticking with one answer choice, we earned 4 points. Ultimately, sticking to the sameletter won't work better for each individual question, but on average and over a spread, the strategywill let you maximize your overall point-gain. Oh, statistics, you strange creature. The Take-Aways So is C the most common answer on the ACT? No! But is it the best letter to choose when you're in a bind and don't know what the right answer choice is? Well, that's more complicated. Always remember that it'sin your best bet to eliminate answer choiceswhenever possible. But if you can't, and you must make a blind guess, then stick to one letter and run with it every time. If you want this letter to be C (and it's equivalent, H), then go right ahead! Just make sure you stick with it every single time. C isn't any better or worse than any other letter, or any more likely to be the correct answer, but if you decide to stick with it for every blind guess you make, you'll be better off than trying to be "random." What's Next? Blind guessing strategy is great in a pinch, but elimination is always better! Check out our guides on how to make your best guesses on the ACT, how to eliminate answer choices on the ACT math section, and how to avoid the top elimination pitfalls that many students make. Want to get more ACT practice? Check out all the free ACT tests available online and gauge how you're scoring by checking out what falls into a "good" and "bad" ACT score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points or more? Check out PrepScholar's test-prep programour five day free trial. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today: