Buying an Existing Website :: Sell Website

Purchasing an Existing Website Have you considered working for yourself, making your own money related freedom and making your own fantasies a reality? You're not the only one, possessing your own business is the American dream. In any case, actually purchasing a business is a genuine money related and individual duty that requires a comprehension of what makes a business effective. Very regularly, new proprietors bounce aimlessly into an undertaking, overpowered by the gigantic outstanding task at hand of firing a business starting from the earliest stage. An administration study shows that 60% of new organizations flop inside the initial three years. A current, set up business that is bought by another proprietor shows an insignificant disappointment rate. In the event that you have thought about the idea of claiming your own business, purchasing a current business has numerous points of interest over structure a business without any preparation: You can audit genuine working outcomes, instead of anticipated outcomes. You get quick income from the continuous business exercises. You will have prepared representatives set up. You will have set up providers. You will have set up clients and referral business. You will have existing licenses and allows. The merchant will prepare you in working the business. As a rule, the merchant will give the financing you have to purchase the business. SUNBELT Business representatives know the reasons a decent business succeeds. SUNBELT itself is an establishment that positions number one in the business financier industry. SUNBELT has more than twenty years of coordinating the correct business opportunity with the correct purchaser. It's that basic. From understanding the reasons an on-going business can give a positive income, to the estimation of a set up name, area and client base to the inward operations of new proprietor financing and doing what needs to be done - SUNBELT can make your fantasies reality. With the correct arrangements, a business can really pay for itself - let SUNBELT give you how. Privacy In contrast to the offer of land or establishments, the offer of an on-going business is extremely secret for both the merchant and the planned purchaser. All requests are held in exacting certainty. Gatherings and data shared or watched are to be held in exacting certainty. To guarantee classification for all gatherings, SUNBELT representatives require a privacy consent to be agreed upon. As an end-result of allowing you, the planned purchaser, access to explore the tasks of the dealer's business and in any case private data, the forthcoming purchaser vows to utilize the data for the sole reason for assessing the advantages and dangers of buying the vender's business in severe certainty.

Insight into Linear Programming - Understand It with Different Scenari

Direct the mirror for Rational A direct programming procedure shares a lot of practically speaking with the reasonable dynamic model and thus, it very well may be seen that it is really a bit by bit reproduction of it. The reasonable dynamic model had its establishment laid over a structure of multi-step process model which recognizes, breaks down and chooses. Also, straight programming characterizes, assesses and gives a choice from that point. The options are weighed up, and arranged for most ideal fit. The choice is based over enhancement by either amplifying the benefits or limiting the expenses. Normal dynamic sets up the difficult area also to direct programming into which certifiable issues are mapped scientifically. At that point options are recognized, picked and actualized like straight programming in which the most ideal option is executed and chosen for assessment of the worth. Genuine wold situation In actuality, ventures direct writing computer programs is incorporated for improvement issues which have imperatives or conditions which are not dependent upon dynamism and have a steady pattern. For expanding the creation benefits and limiting the crude material cost, these procedures are effectively tried. Beginning from its improvement for military purposes, it is far reaching into the business now for use in assembling, exchanging, wellbeing administrations, horticulture, arranging and booking, innovative work and so forth. They are utilized for asset allotment issues for most ideal improvement of constrained assets, for example, cash, manforce, vitality, innovation, employments, benefits and so on. It tends to be utilized for item blend problems,investment arranging, advertising planning, and mixing of methodology details. The intrinsic methodology Straight writing computer programs is one of the began with numerical fields have its reality and practices into ventures and exchange these days. This is a dynamic technique or a confirmation instrument to determine dependability and exactness of choices adopted with different models or strategies. It upgrades and refines the nature of dynamic by bringing together the outcomes from different spaces of working and structure. It is a lot of adaptable in its methodology and is fruitful in breaking down multi-dimensional issues. By constant assessment and investigation, straight programming rehearses gives a database to wise assignment of rare assets. It is a clear edge over customary and regular illuminating strategies. Straight programming can give a point by point record of constraints of the activities to give improvement to the objectives. For a quality dynamic utilizing direct programming process, it centers over the halfway regions or the potential bottlenecks happening in limita tion or issue acknowledgment or detailing. The cons of direct programming The genuine issues which may incorporate various factors of concern and numerous components of imperatives and conditions can't be all around dealt with in the space of direct programming. Each issue can't be mapped into scientific terms and with regards to genuine with assorted circumstances it is close to inconceivable or just truly tedious. There might be a few territories of limitation execution and every one of them can't be all around concealed like social, monetary, or institutional changes. The best test supposition of straight nature of issues. In the hour of changes direct practices can just comprehend a specific kind of streamlining issues and thus can't be placed without hesitation in genuine area. Straight programming for the most part takes partial qualities in account yet items regularly take up whole number qualities. At last, mapping the issues of this present reality to set of some direct conditions is troublesome.

Room E51-151, Please

Room E51-151, Please I was already pumped about MIT going into CPW, so I mainly went to absorb as much as I could, with a goal (just for fun) of finding another prefrosh from Kansas. Im one of those people who function best when I have an idea of what my days schedule looks likeand if youve seen the encyclopedia of an events list that we all got for CPW, you know that didnt work out. The Icebreaker and CPW Festival were some of the few things that I actually attended after finding it in the book, noting its location, and successfully finding said location. MIT Logarythms Nitrogen Icecream!!! Afterwards I just wandered around and did everything spur-of-the-moment. Thursday night, rather than walk to a building across the river in search of a Boston frat, in the dark nd in miserable weather, I did homework. Yep. My host Jennifer (a Kansan!), left, Melis the blogger, right, Rachel, middle, Jennifers roommate Karlen, not pictured, and many others were poring over their psets in a Baker House lounge. I thought, hey, might as well get that AP Lit Comp homework out of the way before I get too tired to function. So, these Course 2 (MechE) majors made a spot for me and my disdainful poetry homework (How are broken walls and burning towers in line x related to the myth at hand, and in which line did Agamemnons significance come into play?) and for the next five hours or so we talked about MIT professors, TAs, dorms, dining, and random stuff. We also did work. Drained by the calculations, which to me just looked like hieroglyphics + lots of arrows, Mario decided to order pizza. He used no phonejust logged onto his computer, went to a handy-dandy website, ordered, paid online, and voila, pizza at your door half an hour later. The other prefrosh in our room, Lyla, came back after a mighty good time in 3 or 4 different (how did she DO that??? It was soooo cold, and imagine reading a campus map in the dark.) places. When Lyla and I went to bed, the MIT students we re still working on their psets. This same spontaneous schedule filled my next two days, with a few exceptions. Id see something interesting in the schedule book, try to find it, and get distracted by something along the way. Its fine by me, because I heard an amaaazing Emerson Fellows senior recital for flute, bumped into a steel drum performance in front of the student center, found out about a sale at the MIT Press near Kendall Square, met a bunch of wonderful and accepting students of the Korean Students Association, followed Alan Touring the Tourbot, and popped into random peoples dorms all for being at an unintended place at the right time. I did successfully navigate myself to a Parliamentary debate demo round, Beaver and the Geek (modeled after Beauty and the Geek. Dont pretend you didnt at least watch a few minutes out of curiosity!), fashion (?) show Meet-the-Bloggers (they really like comments, as I found out. Not the first post! kind, but real ones. Gasp! Substantive comments exist?), and Senator Ted Kennedys lecture. I even spoke to a real live Caltech student. I didnt realize that the bizarre Tech issue was Caltechs work since even the CPW schedule book had promised a special issue. If I had known at the time that this guy was from Caltech and they had hacked the MIT Tech well, humph Sunday rolled around and it was time to leave. My good friend Kyle 10 came down from that red-bricked school up in Cambridge to take me to see Boston. Except that the rain was so bad even the Red Sox game was cancelled. Logically, we ran around Boston Commons and had lunch before getting back to catch the shuttle service to the airport. CPW has passed in a flurry of running around, splashing in puddles, meeting students prefrosh, sharing name, home state, and interested courses/majors every time you met someone, AND!!! I found a fellow prefrosh Kansan on the flight back to Kansas of all places! I had an awesome time at CPW because MIT just plain rocks. I leave you with a few items to consider: If anyone asks, someone wearing black named Jack is taking you to Baker House. Midwest Airlines really is the Best Care in the Air because they give you chocolate-chip cookies baked in-flight. Come to MIT! Senior Haus bouncy ball drop6000 of them pelting us poor prefrosh below. I snapped this photo before they actually got to where I was standing.

Room E51-151, Please

Room E51-151, Please I was already pumped about MIT going into CPW, so I mainly went to absorb as much as I could, with a goal (just for fun) of finding another prefrosh from Kansas. Im one of those people who function best when I have an idea of what my days schedule looks likeand if youve seen the encyclopedia of an events list that we all got for CPW, you know that didnt work out. The Icebreaker and CPW Festival were some of the few things that I actually attended after finding it in the book, noting its location, and successfully finding said location. MIT Logarythms Nitrogen Icecream!!! Afterwards I just wandered around and did everything spur-of-the-moment. Thursday night, rather than walk to a building across the river in search of a Boston frat, in the dark nd in miserable weather, I did homework. Yep. My host Jennifer (a Kansan!), left, Melis the blogger, right, Rachel, middle, Jennifers roommate Karlen, not pictured, and many others were poring over their psets in a Baker House lounge. I thought, hey, might as well get that AP Lit Comp homework out of the way before I get too tired to function. So, these Course 2 (MechE) majors made a spot for me and my disdainful poetry homework (How are broken walls and burning towers in line x related to the myth at hand, and in which line did Agamemnons significance come into play?) and for the next five hours or so we talked about MIT professors, TAs, dorms, dining, and random stuff. We also did work. Drained by the calculations, which to me just looked like hieroglyphics + lots of arrows, Mario decided to order pizza. He used no phonejust logged onto his computer, went to a handy-dandy website, ordered, paid online, and voila, pizza at your door half an hour later. The other prefrosh in our room, Lyla, came back after a mighty good time in 3 or 4 different (how did she DO that??? It was soooo cold, and imagine reading a campus map in the dark.) places. When Lyla and I went to bed, the MIT students we re still working on their psets. This same spontaneous schedule filled my next two days, with a few exceptions. Id see something interesting in the schedule book, try to find it, and get distracted by something along the way. Its fine by me, because I heard an amaaazing Emerson Fellows senior recital for flute, bumped into a steel drum performance in front of the student center, found out about a sale at the MIT Press near Kendall Square, met a bunch of wonderful and accepting students of the Korean Students Association, followed Alan Touring the Tourbot, and popped into random peoples dorms all for being at an unintended place at the right time. I did successfully navigate myself to a Parliamentary debate demo round, Beaver and the Geek (modeled after Beauty and the Geek. Dont pretend you didnt at least watch a few minutes out of curiosity!), fashion (?) show Meet-the-Bloggers (they really like comments, as I found out. Not the first post! kind, but real ones. Gasp! Substantive comments exist?), and Senator Ted Kennedys lecture. I even spoke to a real live Caltech student. I didnt realize that the bizarre Tech issue was Caltechs work since even the CPW schedule book had promised a special issue. If I had known at the time that this guy was from Caltech and they had hacked the MIT Tech well, humph Sunday rolled around and it was time to leave. My good friend Kyle 10 came down from that red-bricked school up in Cambridge to take me to see Boston. Except that the rain was so bad even the Red Sox game was cancelled. Logically, we ran around Boston Commons and had lunch before getting back to catch the shuttle service to the airport. CPW has passed in a flurry of running around, splashing in puddles, meeting students prefrosh, sharing name, home state, and interested courses/majors every time you met someone, AND!!! I found a fellow prefrosh Kansan on the flight back to Kansas of all places! I had an awesome time at CPW because MIT just plain rocks. I leave you with a few items to consider: If anyone asks, someone wearing black named Jack is taking you to Baker House. Midwest Airlines really is the Best Care in the Air because they give you chocolate-chip cookies baked in-flight. Come to MIT! Senior Haus bouncy ball drop6000 of them pelting us poor prefrosh below. I snapped this photo before they actually got to where I was standing.

Themes Presented in Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti...

Themes Presented in Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti Christina Rossettis used her poetry to express herself; her work exhibits many autobiographical elements and from it the reader can discern Rossettis emotions, beliefs and her comments on the society she lived in. As a female poet it would have been improper for Rossetti to deal directly with these issues though and so her ideas are masked through appearing to be childrens poetry and having simple meanings. Goblin Market superficially appears to a moral story about two sisters one of whom gives way to the temptation of the goblins forbidden fruits but through her poetic techniques Rossetti manages to embody her fears and desires. One of the desires Rossetti appears†¦show more content†¦Like two pigeons in one nest Folded in each others wings, They lay down in their curtained bed: Like two blossoms on one stem, Like two flakes of new-falln snow This theme of love can also be seen in relation to religion through the Songs of Solomon. There are many parallels and sometimes direct quotations from the Songs of Solomon in the Old Testament of the Bible. This book is a collection of love poems telling of how a village girl is taken to Solomons court and wooed by him but remains faithful to the shepherd she loves. The image created by the line Laura reared her glossy head is almost parallel to Chapter 1 verse 9 of the Songs of Solomon where the line I have compared thee to a company of horses appears. The Bible mentions vines and the fig tree which could be representing fertility. The goblins could be a metaphor for the village girl being tempted by Solomon but Laura who is led astray remains true to and returns to her sisters love. Love is described in the Songs of Solomon as being like coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame (Ch8.V9) and Lizzie revives Laura with juice that is like wormwood to her tongue. Another interpretation of Goblin Market is that it could be expressing Rossettis fear of sexuality. The Goblin men possibly represent men using women for their sexual desires and then discarding them, and it is easy to read sexual connotations into many of the lines inShow MoreRelated Comparing Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and William Wordsworth’s The Thorn1713 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and William Wordsworth’s The Thorn On the surface, the poems â€Å"Goblin Market† by Christina Rossetti and â€Å"The Thorn† by William Wordsworth appear to be very different literary works. â€Å"Goblin Market† was written by a young woman in the Victorian period about two sisters who develop a special bond through the rescue of one sister by the other. â€Å"The Thorn† was written by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth about a middle-aged man and hisRead MoreA View of Christ Through â€Å"Goblin Market† Essay example2341 Words   |  10 PagesMany authors add personal beliefs and feelings to their literature in order to add depth and allow the reader to understand them in a more intimate way. Christina Rossetti was no different. She added her religious beliefs. Her beliefs were an important piece of her life. Christina Rossetti’s poem â€Å"Goblin Market† is an autobiographical view that represents her religious beliefs. She added her religious views to her work in order to strengthen her poem and to allow her reader to understand her. HerRead MoreThe Goblin Market By Christina Rossetti1280 Words   |  6 Pagesshall see the image of a ruined woman presented by Christina Rossetti in â€Å"The Goblin Market,† and find the conflicting images of a prostitute in D. G. Rossetti’s â€Å"Jenny† and Thomas Hardy’s â€Å"The Ruined Maid.† Christina Rossetti’s â€Å"The Goblin Market† is a poem that explores through heavy metaphors a woman’s place and action in society, whether she is fallen or not. â€Å"The Goblin Market† focuses on two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and their experience with the goblins that attempt to sell the girls theirRead MoreChristina Rossetti’s Goblin Market Essay887 Words   |  4 Pages There are several meanings and interpretations of Christina Rossetti’s, â€Å"Goblin Market†. â€Å"Goblin Market† is the story of two sisters, which one of them, Laura, is tempted to visit the new goblin market in town. Laura buys the fruit from the goblin men in exchange for a lock of her hair, despite the several warnings from her sister Lizzie not to consume the fruit. Laura gets sick and Lizzie saves her by going to the market. After the goblins taunt, tease and torment her with the tempting fruitRead More Fairy Tale or Epic Allegory2749 Words   |  11 PagesGoblin Market is one of the masterpieces of Christina Georgina Rossetti; composed in 1859 and was published in 1862 in Goblin Market and Other Poems. She was an English poet in Victorian era, a period when the Bible was chiefly and frequently read and people were too religious. Also, it was the time of sexual repression; to enjoy or to talk about sexual passion was considered a sin. Moreover, women w ere confined to their home and education was denied; it was an era of male dominance (Mitchell 150)Read MoreThe Value Of Sisterhood In Little Women, By Louisa May Alcott1325 Words   |  6 Pagesrelationships that can lead to the formation of unbreakable bonds, with each sister making the protection of the other her number one priority. Even though the novel Little Women and the poem Goblin Market are different in regards to their primary storyline, genre and writers, they do discuss a similar theme, the value of sisterhood, in a way that helps in the understanding the achievements that sisterhood can orchestrate. Little Women is an 1869 novel written by Louisa May Alcott that majors aroundRead MoreThe Sexual Exploitation Of Women Is Made Clear From The Work Of Atwood, Rossetti And Chaucer3015 Words   |  13 PagesThe theme of the sexual exploitation towards women is made clear from the work of Atwood, Rossetti and Chaucer. It mostly entails men taking advantage of women for their own personal gains. For example for pleasure, or to affirm the dominance they have upon the woman. At the time in which Rossetti and Chaucer were writing, women had their role, and the male would become the dominant figure. In The Handmaids Tale,the male figure overpowers the woman and becomes obsessed with the idea that women areRead MoreThe Importance Of Humiliation In Tartuffe1494 Words   |  6 Pagesbecause I couldn’t make out their face or wrote with my face inches from the paper, unable to see the words. But as soon as I put my glasses on, and looked through the lenses, I was able to see again, and my humiliation ended. Humiliation is a common theme in literature. Much like I could finally see clearly by looking through the lens of my glasses, humiliation in literature can be understood by looking at each piece through the lens of an allegory. Stories that are allegories have two levels of meaning

Importance of Understanding Cultural, Ethnic, and Gender...

The majority of hospitals have come to realize that staffs from various ethnic and cultural back-grounds, as well as those of different gender bring a great deal of value perspective. With more and more patients being of different cultural backgrounds, and ethnicities, it is due to this reason why hav-ing a clear understanding of cultural , ethnic and gender differences among hospital professionals is given the backup it deserves. (Dennis Small, 2003). Managers in particular within the hospital setting must make certain that the nursing unit is running smoothly and that patient care is of the highest concentration. Cultural, ethnic or gender mis-understandings can impede associate satisfaction trickling down to patient care. It is†¦show more content†¦When trying to open jars to feed myself I didn’t have as much strength in my left hand as in my right. Many of the devices in my home where made for a right-handed person so I had to adapt myself which lead to me feeling out of control at times. Some instruments I just couldn’t use as a left-handed person, for example driving my car, using the hair dryer, using the scissors, etc. I found it difficult to keep materials steady. As the day progressed I found myself less discombobulated and able to adapt better. This experience proved to me that although difficult at first I still could be diverse if need be. Of equal importance is managing associates of different genders who may be of the same or different cultures. Nursing may have been primarily a career for females at one time, but today nursing is an intriguing and profitable career option for both genders. With an increased demand for nurses and qualified health care professionals, there is opportunity for men in nursing. Attitudes and behaviors between men and women vary and this can help in the patterning of social interaction and patient satisfaction. Men in nursing, has becoming more and more popular. According to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, approximately 5.4 percent of American RNs are men—and that number is on the rise. (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2009) Managers must understandShow MoreRelatedUnderstanding Cultural Differences in the Workplace Essay1030 Words   |  5 PagesUnderstanding Cultural Differences in the Work Place Spring Session B Professor Davis 5/6/2012 Chamberlain College Of Nursing The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professionals in a business setting is essential to make the work environment comfortable. In every culture there are basic standards of thinking, and acting and these cultural differences strongly influence workplace values and communication. What mayRead MoreLet’s Be Lefties for a Day! Essay examples1036 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction More and more todays professionals and managers are becoming diverse in ethnicity, cultural and gender. â€Å"Diversity benefits everyone† (Bell 5) and can bring great benefits to a business.   The first thing I will mention is two men by the names of Cox and Blake that proposed several reasons how diversity could benefit organizations. Some, such as areas of cost, marketing, creativity, and problem solving (Bell 9). Second some components needed to change a business into becoming more diverseRead MoreThe Effects Of Tactile Communication On The Human Resource Manager ( Hrm )1250 Words   |  5 Pagesthreatening, or persuasive.† The meaning of a simple touch differs between individuals, genders, and cultures. It is important for the Human Resource Manager (HRM) to recognize these differences in order to improve communication and be effective in the workplace. Tactile communication can help or hinder business and employee interactions. A firm handshake might be inter preted as confidence or credibility while other physical touches such as lingering touch on the shoulder, might be seen as being intimateRead MoreA Research on Team and Group Communication Processes1168 Words   |  5 Pagesinformation from one medium to the other. As people across the globe have been working with several communication theories, these theories provide an abstract understanding of the process of communication. A theoretical explanation of communication processes is usually provided when professionals across various fields talk about their communication strategies, types, and effectiveness (Dainton, 2004). In the healthcare sector, primary health care team members and other caregivers or service providersRead MoreThe United States, India, Pakistan And The Soviet Union1157 Words   |  5 Pagesparts of the world, to include the Middle East, Europe, India, Pakistan and the Soviet Union (Haque, 2004), to the United States. This very diverse migrant demographic created a unique American Muslim population that is composed of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Such diversity within a population can be problematic, especially in the scope of providing relevant and culturally sensitive assistance in the field of Human Services, but because a Muslim’s core values typically center on religion/spiritualityRead MoreOrganizational Structure Of An Organization1130 Words   |  5 Pag esdetermines how roles, power, and responsibilities are assigned, controlled, coordinated and how information flows between the different levels of management. In an organizational workforce environment, there are several levels of management, such as managers, supervisors, team leads and coordinators. Their responsibilities are to know why organizational changes are necessary and they must effectively communicate that to the workforce to implement and sustain change. Upper management has the majorityRead MoreGlobalization Has Become The Root Of Changing The Demographic Diversity Of The Workforce857 Words   |  4 PagesDiversity does not only imply race and gender, but it shows that every person is different and that their culture is characterized as individual. Individuals in an organization have their own different customs, values, and perspectives; employers must be mindful of all of these differences. Successfully managing cultural differences would allow organizations to be m ore competitive in recruiting individuals from diverse ethnic individuals, which will generate a cultural and friendly working environmentRead MoreWorkforce Diversity1507 Words   |  7 PagesI. INTRODUCTION Workforce diversity addresses differences among people within an organization. Workforce diversity means that organizations are becoming a more heterogeneous mix of people from different categories. Diversity refers to the co-existence of employees from various socio-cultural backgrounds within the company. Diversity includes cultural factors such as race, gender, age, colour, physical ability, ethnicity, education, language, lifestyle, beliefs, economic status, etc. Diversity requiresRead MoreManagement Behavior Memo992 Words   |  4 Pages25, 2009 Memorandum TO: All First Level Managers FROM: SDS, Manager RE: Management Behavior The CEO has announced InterClean, Inc. has officially acquired EnviroTech, placing 60 employees into our current sales team within the next few months. This merger will place the company in the lead of the global market. The equilibrium of the merger will require commitment on the behalf of the management team. This memorandum is for you, as managers, to understand how to be prepared to adaptRead MoreFactors Affecting Human Resource Management1521 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION The aim of this study is to establish the demographic factors affecting Human Resource Management. Demographic changes relates to gender, ethnicity, age, occupation, religion and workforce. Pfeffer (1985, p. 303) defined employee demography as â€Å"the study of the composition of a social entity in terms of its members attributes†. The demographic factors have reflective influence and a major impact on operations of human resource management.Employees have become progressively more diverse

Becoming The Manager Of A Business - 929 Words

Becoming the manager of a business is, for some people, is an amazing opportunity. No matter how big or how small the respected business is, there is always a huge amount of responsibility that falls on to your shoulders at the end of everyday, no matter the outcome. In this case, not only are you a manager, you are a city manager in Tennessee. Despite the lucrative opportunity that has presented itself, the mayor has asked you to complete an unethical task. He has given you an envelope full of receipts from a trip that he recently took to attend an economic development conference. Included in the receipts are receipts from a four-day vacation that the mayo and his wife took at a resort near the conference city. It was clear that the mayor wanted the city to reimburse him for everything that was in that envelope. Now, as the newly appointed city manager, what do you do? â€Å"a systematic attempt through the use of reason to make sense of our individual and social moral experience in such a way as to determine the rules which ought to govern human conduct’† (DeGeorge, 1982, p. 12) That is what defines what we know as ethics and the way I will go about trying to figure out how exactly to handle the situation that the mayor has presented me. One way to handle this given scenario is to use the utilitarian philosophy. Utilitarianism: â€Å"holds that an action is right, compared to other courses of action, if it results in the greatest good (or at least the minimum harm) for the greatestShow MoreRelatedBecoming A Business Manager : The Founder Of A Small Cosmetic Company998 Words   |  4 Pageswas a little girl, I have always wanted to become a business owner to manage my own career and to develop my skills. As I grew older, I became passionate about beauty and wanted to create a transformation for people bringing happiness and confidence in being feminine. Therefore, I am secretly holding my passion as for this moment to be the founder of a small cosmetic company. Because I want to focus and rise up this company from a small business into a beauty world, I invite you to come along withRead MoreCritically analyse why self-awareness is important in becoming an effective sport business manager1269 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Effective sport business manager Human beings are complex and diverse and therefore self-awareness is an important aspect for personal development and effectiveness (Moore 2009). When we understand ourselves in many areas, we become more self-aware (Kravitz Schubert 2009). According to Goleman (2003), there are key areas that form the basis of self-awareness including personality traits, habits, emotions, the psychological needs driving our behaviors and personal values. First, when we understandRead MoreWhy I Want For A Financial Manager1721 Words   |  7 PagesPart One: Why I Want to Be a Financial Manager It all started a few years back when I realized that I wanted to enter a career in the world of business and finance. However, it came to me after seeing movies about people in the finance world, and after hearing information from my cousins and dad who went to school to study economics and business. Everything about this career path was enormously intriguing to me, and it was something that I knew right away, would be for me. One example of a movieRead MoreHow I Will Become A Manager Essay1093 Words   |  5 PagesPurpose: By the end of my speech, the audience will know my plan on how I will become a manager in the Osseo school district. Introduction: Do any of you know what you are going to do with your life yet? I do, my goal is to become a manager is the Osseo Area school district. This is my goal because when I was employed in the district back in September 2015, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. That changed from that point in time to now. My first job was at Saint Therese at Oxbow LakeRead MoreHealth Care Information Management Essay742 Words   |  3 Pagesdominate in today’s job market. Management information systems, also known as MIS, are computer systems that direct business and organize operations or files. Many people wonder why someone would want to major in Management information systems. They are becoming extremely popular in today’s businesses and offices. Management information systems are a combination of both business and computing. It takes on the role that a human does by replacing a human with a computer. Jobs that need to be doneRead MoreOrganizational Leadership, Managing People And Strategic Planning1060 Words   |  5 Pagesto manage a business. Having a higher degree in this major makes your possibilities to move, up higher in a position. You can get an associates degree in business, but if you can get a; bachelor’s degree in business. It will advance your knowledge with skills of organizational leadership, managing people and strategic planning. (study.com) As well as it looks better for applying to jobs to have a bachelor’s degree. Most people will continue their education by earning a master in Business AdministrationRead MoreBusiness Management : Corporate Management947 Words   |  4 PagesThe owners of business untimely intend on making profits by conducting business. They usually hire managers with the responsibility of controlling the daily operations of that business. One of the most important organizational managers is the financial manager who is responsible for the finances that are essential. 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Many people wonder why someone would want to major in Management information systems. Management information systems are a combination of both business and computing. It takes on the role that a human d oes by replacing a human with a computer. This means jobs that need to be done can be done in an extremely faster rate and in a more organized matter. They are becoming extremely popular in today’s businesses andRead MoreDynamic Globalized Business Has Changed Managers Job1160 Words   |  5 PagesDynamic globalized business has changed managers’ job. In past managers’ job is more easily and simple, compared to contemporary managers. Before business globalized, managers may just need to command and control workers to do their job. However, due to the changes of business world, supervisors may need to deal with complicated international management issues, such as managing change, managing multi-cultural workers and managing subsidiary. Managers’ job can be described into three categories

The Major Minority free essay sample

Why do you believe in God? This may seem like a silly question, but it was one that I was very used to hearing from my conglomerate of friends in high school. Most of the people I knew in school were atheistic or agnostic, and I was quite comfortable with the fact by then. They may not represent the â€Å"All-American† group of friends, but they were what I dealt with while growing up. To me, it seemed trivial that they didn’t believe in God. What, were the God police going to get them? I was raised a Catholic. I would say I was born and raised a Catholic, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to be submersed in holy water the moment I came out of the womb. If only my mom had given birth in a church That being said, the only religion I ever really knew for most of my childhood was Catholicism. We will write a custom essay sample on The Major Minority or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My family went to mass every week and I received the proper spiritual rites (like Reconciliation and First Communion). I even got to go to Religious Education classes weekly where they would tell us the dark, grotesque stories from the Bible in adorable kid-friendly form. I never imagined a story about a boy killing a man with a stone and a sling being cute, but there was something about vegetables in tunics that had me hooked. I was never taught of other religions and how they were wrong, but only that Catholicism is the one and only â€Å"right† religion. It was all I knew. Given that my elementary school was literally across the street from the local Intel pre-fabrication facility, the kids I came to know at my school were from a myriad of social and cultural backgrounds. My exposure was focused even more once I was placed in the gifted math and logic programs at my school. While the school may have been predominately caucasian, I spent a lot of my day in the one classroom where I was a minority. It’s like my school used the gifted program to cram all the other cultures in one class and keep them away, except they misread my British heritage and threw me in with them too. My point being that the people I came to befriend and spend my time with were either from completely different religions (like Hinduism and Buddhism) or neglected to believe in God or religions at all. This was an eye opening and somewhat unusual experience for me, as everyone I had ever really known was Catholic, and now here I was being questioned by a miniature Model UN. At first I was defensive, trying to protect the school of thought that my parents built, but eventually I had to consider: why was my way so right and their ways so wrong? Why do each of these belief systems have to be the exclusive religion of all of humankind? Maybe it has to do with the world not being big enough for more than one god, or at least 5000 (I’m looking at you, Hinduism). It brought me to think of the other religions, to consider what it was like to be like them. I would often go to my friend Rishi’s house to hang out and play video games. His family was Hindi and I got to see this first hand when I came over. There were all sorts of carefully poised elephants, men with far too many arms to be practical, and other idols strewn around the house. At first they seemed odd to me, but then I realized the number of random crosses and other Christian paraphernalia that just sat around my house. They even spoke Hindu around the house, but it didn’t seem that odd to me. My dad speaks British to us in our household, it’s practically the same thing. To me, we both had nearly identical household situations, just a different religious base. As I grew up, I heard more and more about the religious and cultural stubbornness that went on in America. I couldn’t relate to it at all as I had grown up with my mixture of cultures, and as a result I was baffled. How could people refuse to interact with certain people just for what they believed in? I didn’t get it. In fact, I still don’t. That’s why I feel like Christian America should put on their big kid underpants and get over this state of intolerance. They should learn to accept the vast diversity of religion that exists here, because it certainly isn’t going anywhere and discriminating against people for it won’t help anyone.

The Personal Development of the Narrator in The Color Purple Essay Example

The Personal Development of the Narrator in The Color Purple Essay The narrator tries to persuade God she has done nothing wrong and she asks him for a sign or answer to the events of her life, I have always been a good girl maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me. She begins to find out what her stepfather is really like to live with and the demands of his sexual needs, which she also as to meet, he never had a kine word to say to me Your gonna do what your mammy wouldnt. The narrator only has a very vivid knowledge of sex, and therefore does not understand her stepfather raping her, first he put is thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around, Then he grad hold my titties. However she does know it is wrong and that she hates every moment of it:Stepfather: You better shut up and git used to itThe Narrator: But I never git used to it.As a result of these rapes the narrator becomes pregnant. On page 3 there is a subheadingwhich reads, You better never tell nobody but God. Itd kill your mother. And at the start o f the second diary entry (page 4) it begins My mammy dead, this seems to suggest the narrators stepfather has told her mother about the rapings and the baby? Her mother begins screaming and cussing at her. This give the impression that the story told could have been in the stepfathers favor and made to look like the narrators doing? Referring to the bottom of page 3 it says She happy (the narrators mother) this indicates she doesnt know anything about any sex and/or raping thats has occurred.After the death of the narrators mother the narrator is made to become the next motherly figure. She portrays this through the novel by explaining how big (pregnant) she is in terms of work and tasks within her daily life, By time I git all the tray ready the food be cold, By the time I git all the children ready for school it be dinner time. Both of these quotes refer to a typical mothers life. It is evident form the novel the narrator is quite religious as she refers to God at the beginning of every entry, Dear God. She talks about God doing good things and evil for example when she tells her mother the baby is Gods an when the baby is taken away she says God took it.The narrators linguistic skills are displayed on page 4 were she begins set the text out like speech, e.g.Dont nobody come see usShe got sicker and sickerFinally she ast where it is?I say God took itWith this she shows her level of intelligence and degree of education, even though she hasnt had much, what she has been tough she has retained. The narrator notices a change in her stepfather, He act like he cant stand me no more. This indicates he only likes her when she is looking nice, this seems not to be love, but lust Why dont you look decent. At this stage in the novel the narrator is feeling strongly emotional because she as just given birth, her body is flowing with nature, I of breasts full of milk running down myself, ready to feed the new born.The narrator hates her stepfather because all her troubl es relate to him and all she wants is for him to find somebody else, so she and her sister, Nettie are safe I keep hoping he find somebody else to marry. Throughout her letters she keeps her faith in God and she turns to him for help when ever she need to, Ill take care of you with God help. During the first three letters the narrator has been pregnant twice, this shows how frequently she writes the letters. This means when one is reading the novel things happen very quickly and each letter is full of significant events in the narrators life, he came home with a girl around Gray. She be my age but they be married.The narrator seems to have some kind of feelings for her stepfather even though he as abused her from such a young age, I think she though she loved him. But he got so many of us. All needing something this sounds like she has feelings for him. (not quite sure why?) The narrator is concerned for Nettie because she as a boyfriend and he has three children. With her witnes sing her mothers death coursed by a mixture of difficult children and her Stepfather she fears for Nettie, It be more than a notion taking care of children aint even yourn. And look what happened to Ma.Then narrator has been raped and beaten by her stepfather, he beat me today. She develops great abhorrence and hate towards him and men in general; I dont even look at mens. She begins to make the connection between her suffering and male-stream domination. (Stepfather) With this she starts looking to the female gender for comforting thoughts, I look at women. Im not scared of them.The narrator is thinking about her mothers death and she blames her stepfather, Trying to believe his story kilt her. This quote can also be used to link the first part of the essay, when I connected the first comment on page 3 (letter1) with the beginning of the 4th page (ltter2). I suggested that the narrators stepfathers had twisted the facts about the rapes and pregnancy and the above quote seems to rei nforce that analogy. If so, this would explain why the narrators mother was screaming and cussing her. In letter five the reader learns that the narrator is unable to have another pregnancy,Girl at church: You get big if you bleed every monthThe narrator: I dont bleed no moreThis makes the narrator in some way relieved because after her mother died with stress from children and her husband I believe she feels more secure.When Shug Avery is mentioned in letter six and the narrator expresses immediate interest, I ast out new mammy bout Shug Avery. With this her stepmother gets picture of her and the narrator stair at it all night. It is obvious from the novel she likes Shug Avery, also she said she doesnt look at man any more, but women. She seems to be going through a significant change in her life and quite easily the reader can work out that the narrator my be a lesbian. The narrator says Shug is the most beautiful woman she ever saw, she gives the impression Shug Avery is really s pecial and almost sacred to her, she be dressed to kill, whirling an laughing.Letter nine the reader finally learns the narrator name is Celie! Which is a relief from referring to her as the narrator constantly. She tries to protect her sister from the stepfather by offering herself to him, instead of Nettie, I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy sick I can fix myself up, but he beats her and calls her trampy and rapes her anyway. This makes me think Celie feels she has nothing to lose because she has already been abused so much, but her sister is pure and Celie seems to be prepared keep it that way.Celies self-confidence is under attack when she over hears a conversation between her stepfather and Netties boyfriend. She feels second best, useless and used when her stepfather describes her as Ugly and Spoiled, it took him the whole spring from March to June, to make his mind up to take me. I think Celies love for Nettie is out standing because all through the n ovel Celie tried her best to protect her, she could come to me if I marry him. Nettie is an intelligent girl and we have evidence of this in letter 7 were she makes the link between Cucumbers and Columbus. This is a significant indication to Netties intellect and should be noted. In the novel there are many small phrases which have great significance.The men in the novel usually treat Celie with no respect and she gets used to being told what to do, Mr. _________ want another look at you. She is normally nervous when she is around men because she doesnt quite know what their response will be. Celie goes in to town and she sees a woman holing a baby Celie believes this is her baby. She begins to show great interest in the baby and she even notes the baby emotions, She fretting over something. She got my eyes just like they is today. Like everything I seen, she seen, and she pondering it. The babys mum tells Celie the baby is called Pauline, but she calls her Olivia. Then Celie tells the reader about the embroidery she did on the babys clothes Olivia, The mum says she calls her Olivia because she looks holy. This seems a feeble reason for calling her Olivia and the reader begins starts to think the baby probably is Celies. Celie and the babys mother are having a conversation, Celie is really enjoying herself, however when the babys dad comes he stops the fun immediately and Celie is yet again left with another male negative encounter.In letter 11 we learn that Nettie comes to stay with Celie and her husband because she has run away from Alphonso. Nettie presence makes Celie feel more comfortable. Celie shows evidence that she still cares more about her sister than herself, It nearly kill me to think she marry somebody likeMr.________. Even though Celie, much of the time, is by herself she says long as I can spell G-O-D is got somebody along. Eventually Mr.________ realises he has failed to seduce Nettie and thrown her out, there is a dramatic plead to let Nett ie stay but Mr. ________ ignores them and regardlessly splits the sisters up. This makes Celie feel lost unwanted and alone, because Nettie was the one who always passed on compliments to her and made her feel better about herself and intelligence.

Legitimacy of the US actions in the Gulf War essays

Legitimacy of the US actions in the Gulf War essays  @Were the actions taken by the UN legitimate? Legitimacy is defined by Franck as a property of a rule or rule making institution which itself exerts a pull toward compliance on those addressed normatively because those addressed believe that the rule or institution has come into being and operates in accordance with generally accepted principles of right process. The UN Security is supposed to be, in practice, the final arbitrator of its final authority for the new world order that is claimed for tomorrow. However, in actuality there is a lack of legitimacy, and the author shows this by diving into four aspects; the indeterminacy of the legal authority of Res 678, the great power pressure diplomacy, its unrestricted character, and in the Council fs hasty retreat from nonviolent sanctioning alternatives permissible under it. These are all interconnected in some way, and they all show that the UN S.C did not act in accordance to the core principles and purposes of the UN in settling international disputes. The indeterminate legal authority for Resolution 678 In resolution 660, the UN explicitly stated that they were acting under Art. 39 and 40 of the charter. However, in res 678 that precision was not used, at least in the use of force. This ambiguity is dangerous. Therfore the author talks about several articles that this enforcement could have been under. Article 42(the authorization of the SC to take military actions)-was not the legal basis for the use of military force. Why? Because of the articles dependant relationship with article 43, pursuant to which the UN membership consents to provide the SC on its call and in accordance with special agreements with armed forces, assistance and facilities to effectuate article 42. Since this makes it so whatever military action the SC might take to ensure int fl peace and security have to be premised otherwise, this article is considered a dead letter. Article 51 (coll...

The general implications of launching a new product internationally IN Research Paper

The general implications of launching a new product internationally IN TERMS OF THE COMMERCIALIZATION PLAN - Research Paper Example Once a product is ready for production and has managed to successfully survive the development process, it immediately becomes possible for a business enterprise to attempt to turn the new product into a commercial success. Commercialization is generally described as being the cycle or process that is found to be involved in the introduction of a new method of production or end product into a given market with the aim of making a profit (National Research Council (U.S.) & National Materials Advisory Board, 1993, p. 13; Fortenberry, 2013, p. 266). During the commercialization process, a number of activities designed to aid in the sale and promotion of a product in both local and international markets are undertaken. Some of these include, the launching of the product and the subsequent heavy increase in the promotional and advertising activity of this given product in the market (Fortenberry, 2010, p. 284). It is also at this stage that the product’s distribution pipeline is se en to be filled with the product (Fortuin, 2007, p. 36). With respect to the commercialization plan, although there are a large number of key issues to be considered, there are in essence some key implications that can be seen to greatly affect the launching of a new product into the international market. These include; Companies can at times be forced to delay the actual launching of a given product in the market in the event that it anticipates that the product can be further improved before its launching, another key factor that can also cause product launch delays is in launching of a new product, the company risks critically cannibalizing the sales of some of its other products (Loch & Kavadias, 200, p. 392). Perhaps one of the most crucial determinants of the product launch of a given product in the international market is the situation in the global economy. The global economy is seen to be particularly sensitive to the influence of a large number of factors and while

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY - Essay Example Technology has a very wide range ranging from the simple tools such as the wooden spoon to the very complicated gadgets such as a particle accelerator and technological changes involved the evolution from using the simple tools to the application of the very complicated and detailed machines used today. The changes in technology has not only affected the education sector but the community as a whole as it has enhanced development in advanced technologies, led to the rise of leisure class among other effects. Technology started way back in the early stone age periods when man used his little knowledge and experience to make simple tools for various purposes and such tools greatly changed his way of ;living and from them there has emerged new knowledge enhanced the creation of newer and better tools and machines. The Stone Age revolutionized into the copper and bronze ages which was basically smelting of the two metals though such an invention had very limited impact to the society as the metals were rare and as such Iron Age emerged with the smelting of iron technology. Thin saw the production of more strong, lighter and less expensive tools. With its associated advantages, iron technology was quickly advanced and gave rise to ancient technology which produced the greatest advancements in engineering and technology. Inventions in this technology included ramps for use during construction, invention of the wheel, cuneiform form of writing, seismological detectors, multi-tube seed drill, myriad inventions, invention of the natural gas as a source of fuel among other sophisticated inventions. Ancient technology marked the gate through into the industrial revolution that was basically characterized by the development of the steam engine that had massive effects in the textile, mining and transport sector. Inventions of telegraphy, incandescent lamps and steam ships were made during this period. After the

A Marketing Analysis of 5* Hotels in London

A Marketing Analysis of 5* Hotels in London Marketing Assignment Assessment 1.B Akshay Rai Positioning Maps The first positioning map is a comparison between my hotel ‘The Rai Hotel’ and the top three main competitors in the area which are The Hilton Hotel, Sky City Grand and The Langham. Sky City Grand sits on the top as it is the highest price because of the facilities they offer such as the Sky Tower and Casino. Just under is The Rai Hotel as the price and quality is more balanced than Sky City Grand because although there is less facilities than Sky City. Just under is The Hilton and The Langham, the Hilton is more expensive but the Langham is of higher quality. The second positioning map is of accommodation types in general around Auckland. 5 Star hotels are the highest price and best quality then slightly under is serviced apartments, the price is more expensive for the location because living in central Auckland is very expensive. Just under are the 4 star hotels with the price still slightly high because the quality is high and 3 stars the price is average and the quality is average. Description of market research method with advantages and disadvantages I choose the Quantitative research methodology to conduct primary research to find out if the Wi-Fi in The Rai Hotel is up to our guest’s satisfaction and standards. I know this information is not already out there. I have organised a survey to research the chosen area I have decided to study. There are survey sheets in 400 out of the 500 rooms there is in the hotel. The guests will fill out the surveys before they depart from their stay from the hotel and housekeeping will collect them once finished. The 100 remaining rooms in the hotel there are instructions left for the guests to do the survey online and also left the survey sheet. We have done this because we also wanted to research what is the ratio of our customers would prefer to do things electronically rather than on paper. Once I have collected the results I analyse the finding I have received and found out that 219 rooms of the 400 have been completed and 37 rooms did the survey electronically and 12 did the survey on the paper. (Wright, 2014) Advantages of Quantitative Research: Less expensive than some other methods such as doing a phone or interview survey. It is fast and efficient, since the questions are simple and easy to answer. The results can be administered online from the online survey we provided. The answers from the survey as usually just yes and no, so the answers are easier to coordinate for researchers. The survey is anonymous so it is more likely for people to participate. (Wyse, 2012) Disadvantages of Quantitative Research: You need large numbers of participates involved to fill out the survey. There also can be sampling problems and answers cannot be followed up due to the anonymity. There is limited flexibility of the questions and there can be misinterpretation of questions by the participates, i.e. non English speaking guests. (Wyse, 2012) Questionnaire Is the speed of the Wi-Fi up to you’re satisfaction? Was the Wi-Fi easy to set up on you’re electronic device? Do you think the coverage of the Wi-Fi is good around the hotel? Was free Wi-Fi a factor of you choosing to book with us? Are you interested in unlimited internet or are you happy with 1GB a day? Explanation of MIS and examples MKIS stands for â€Å"Marketing Information System† is a system that allows the effective storage of data in a system on a computer, for example excel. The data can be used at any time, also anywhere for the managers to use. Computers are the core aspect of MKIS because all the data is stored on there. Having all the data about various information around the hotel, managers can make effective factual decisions. (Hatlett, 2010) Four Components of MKIS are Internal data, Marketing intelligence (External environment information), and Marketing research that all go towards the Storage and analytical processing system (Computer Software, Hardware, Filing System) (McCallum, 2014) Our hotel will store the results from our survey we have done on Wi-Fi in our MIS system called Neo Life Technology. The purpose storing this in our MKIS is to find out if we need to improve our Wi-Fi and internet in our hotel and so our managers have easy access to this information. Advantages of MKIS are the data stored in the MIS is kept for a long period of time. The information of the MIS is relevant and up to date. Our managers can access large amounts of data because of the ease of access to it. Also the speed in obtaining relevant information to make decisions is much quicker than any other way. There is an easy follow up and maintaining customer relations. (Boaz, 2006) Some Disadvantages of MKIS are it costs a lot of initial time and there is a high labour cost involved. It is very complex to set up a system and involves specialised I.T. people. There also can be a limited amount of the right kind of information if there is not the right amount of sufficient research done and data stored. List of businesses in a partnership with: Samsung Electronics We are partners with Samsung, they supply our TV’s in the rooms, phones all throughout the hotel and our computers that we use in reception. We are in a 5 year contract with Samsung and they are required to supply all of these electronics. Aotearoa Fisheries Limited We are in a 2 year contract with a local food company called Aotearoa Fisheries Limited, they supply all of our seafood in the restaurants. They are our preferred supplier for seafood and we have a good relationship with them. Altura Coffee We are in a 1 year contract with Altura Coffee that is located in Auckland and supplies our restaurants with coffee powder and coffee machinery. We buy in bulk from them every month but our barista’s are not happy with the quality of the coffee so we are looking at finding a new supplier next year. Air New Zealand Our hotel is working with Air New Zealand in a long term relationship on a 5 year contract. We are part of Air New Zealand’s air point programme where Air New Zealand customers can book with our hotel by paying with Air Points, this brings us more customers domestically and Air New Zealand pays the hotel an amount of money to pay for the customers who have booked with us. (Hotel Partners, n.d.) Hospitality Textiles NZ HTNZ is our preferred linen and towel supplier. We have a long term contract with them for 5 years because we have a close relationship with them. Every 6 months we buy in bulk from them and they supply all the linen in the hotel. References Boaz, A. (2006). Marketing in New Zealand (Third Edition). Auckland: Pearson Longman. Grover, S. (2014). Hotel Management Magazine, 50-62. Hatlett, M. (2010, 04 16). Marketing Information System. Retrieved from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing-information-system.html Hotel Partners. (n.d.). Retrieved from Air NZ: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/spending-airpoints-hotel-partners McCallum, D. (2014, 03 23). Lecture Notes in Marketing. Pacfic International Hotel Management School. Wright, K. (2014, 03 16). Lecture Notes in Research. Pacific International Management School. Wyse, S. E. (2012, 10 16). Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys. Retrieved from Snap Surveys: http://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/advantages-disadvantages-surveys/

President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Essay example -- Biography Biographi

President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) "A Great Society" for the American people and their fellow men elsewhere was the vision of Lyndon B. Johnson. In his first years of office he obtained passage of one of the most extensive legislative programs in the Nation's history. Maintaining collective security, he carried on the rapidly growing struggle to restrain Communist encroachment in Vietnam. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in central Texas, not far from Johnson City, which his family had helped settle. He felt the pinch of rural poverty as he grew up, working his way through Southwest Texas State Teachers College; he learned compassion for the poverty of others when he taught students of Mexican descent. In 1937 he campaigned successfully for the House of Representatives on a New Deal platform, effectively aided by his wife, the former Claudia "Lady Bird" Taylor, whom he had married in 1934. During World War II he served briefly in the Navy as a lieutenant commander, winning a Silver Star in the South Pacific. After six terms in the House, Johnson was elected to the ...

Knowledge For Social Work Essay

Social work education in Britain has undergone repeated and fundamental restructuring in the past decade. In the early 1990s the professional qualification, the Certificate in Qualifying Social Work (CQSW), was replaced by the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW), a shift which required significant curriculum changes. Now social work education is undergoing another major change, with the DipSW being replaced by an undergraduate degree. However, despite changes to practice and academic training requirements, there are some constants, some requirements which do not alter. One of these is the demand for social work students to demonstrate that they can ‘apply theory to practice’ as part of qualifying requirements. This requirement, presented casually alongside a long list of further requirements, characteristically fails to grasp that understanding the relationship between theory and practice has long been a source of debate within social science. In many respects, the recent debate in Britain (see Trevillion, 2000) continues, and draws upon, consistent themes in social theory over the relative merits or otherwise of positivist paradigms, with their underlying assumptions of a social world that can be revealed through the application of correct techniques. The early debates in social theory were structured by a widespread belief in the power of scientific and secular-philosophical knowledge to provide for the direction and improvement of natural and social life. The ‘age of reason’ provided a context of optimism in the possibilities for a collective life informed by justice and representing the march of progress. Though the optimism generally attributed to the Enlightenment was tempered by ambivalence on the part of some theorists, or rejected by others, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were dominated by philosophical and theoretical interventions which, in general, supposed that knowledge could provide a foundation for political and social progress. This supposition could only be held by assuming that the world could be conceived of as an object, containing an underlying unity, progressing in a logical way, and peopled by subjects whose access to rational thought would liberate them collectively from the superstitions of pre-modern life. The underlying mechanisms of historical progress, the necessary regularities in social life, were held to be available to discovery by the sciences and philosophies, so that such knowledge attained a key role in the achievement of social progress (Penna, et al, 1999). Although the ‘age of reason’ was also characterized by profound ambivalence concerning the possibilities for rational progress, the social sciences displayed a deep belief in the possibilities of knowledge to understand the social world and therefore guide the development of rationally organized structures, institutions and interventions. Thus the objective of knowledge-generation has been the establishment of a foundational knowledge, derived from the exclusive truth-producing capacity of science, that can inform social action. Foundational principles have been based upon two important assumptions: that theory involved a distinction between mind and world, between the subject and object of knowledge, and that language functioned as a neutral medium for the mind to mirror or represent the world (Seidman 1994: 3). This historical intellectual legacy, together with a need for professional status dependent on a proper ‘knowledge-base’, drives demands that professional practice demonstrate the application of theory to practice. I want to suggest here that this demand betrays a lack of understanding of what theory is and what it can do and, at best, leaves students confused, whilst at worst it leads to cruel or ineffective practices in agencies. Here I outline the historical context that has led to a particular understanding of theory as a guide to action, point to some perils of its application in practice, and suggest a different method of dealing with theory on social work degree schemes. What is Theory? What we call ‘theory’ can be understood as a form of social action that gives direction and meaning to what we do. To be human is to search for meaning, and all of us hold theories about how and why particular things happen or do not happen. Some of these theories are little more than vague hypotheses about what will happen if we act in a certain way in a certain situation and what we might expect from others. But many of the theories we hold are more complex and express our understandings of, for example, how organizations work, of how people become offenders, or why the distribution of resources is as it is. In this sense theories are generalizations about what exists in the world and how the components of that world fit together into patterns. In this sense also theories are ‘abstractions’ in as much as they generalize across actual situations our expectations and suppositions about the reasons why certain patterns exist (O’Brien and Penna, 1998). In the same way that we use theory in our everyday lives, we also draw upon various theories as part of the ways we act in the world, so understandings of the ‘social’ dimension of social work are also built upon different theoretical foundations. As O’Brien and Penna (1998) point out, theories about the validity of data and research procedures, theories about what motivates individual behaviour, theories about what will happen if we intervene in particular situations in x way rather than y way, become embedded in social, economic and criminal justice policies developed, implemented and managed by different social groups. Theories about the proper relationship between the individual and the state, men and women, homosexual and heterosexual, inform policy and practice frameworks so that the frameworks that legally bound social work, as well as practice priorities and interventions, differ substantially from country to country. Theory about social life is either used or promoted in particular policy and welfare frameworks in order to make them more ‘effective’ or ‘appropriate’, and is invariably embedded in the social programs that ensue from them. In this way theories make up the premises and assumptions that guide the formulation of particular policies and practices in the first place, as well as their later implementation. Such premises are essentially theoretical: they are ‘imaginary’ in the sense that the conditions they describe, the logics of action and the structures of provision on which they focus are not proven, definite realities. This use of theory in the ways described above developed from the intellectual sea-change of the eighteenth century European Enlightenment. Prior to the Enlightenment, social organization was understood through theological worldviews, and government of the population justified largely according to divine right and religious edict: the Sovereign ruled over a subject population because he or she was divinely ordained to so. However, from the middle of the seventeenth century onwards a shift in intellectual thinking occurred which was to have major implications for the development of European societies. This historical period – The Enlightenment – marks a time when people start to be understood as self-creating, rather than as products of divine creation. A philosophical shift, questioning theological understandings of the human world and establishing the legitimacy of scientific explanations of the natural world, results eventually in a humanist understanding of social or ganization. The Enlightenment sees the establishment of new philosophical systems for understanding both the natural and human worlds and the development of rational responses to social problems. The Enlightenment promises progress and represents a faith in science as a progressive force which can understand, and hence solve, problems in the natural and social worlds. In this intellectual movement, new ways of thinking overlay those they were in the process of replacing, so that the cosmic transcendence of religious thought was replaced by the universalism of philosophy, and the methods and principles of the natural sciences. It was assumed that a theory could be developed that would substitute for the truth of religion. Eighteenth and nineteenth century social thought was focused, in the social sciences, on the search for one theory that could explain the social world and hence provide a guide to action – a theory that could be used in practice – famously captured by the term praxis. However, as the twentieth century developed, this conception of theory came under increasing attack, and this attack is one which has many implications for the use of theory in social work education and practice. Part 2 Some Problems With Theory Several events in Europe contributed to a questioning of the application of theory to practice. The establishment of a communist society based upon the premises of Marxist theory was one such event. As the mass exterminations, abuses of power and repressions of the communist state came to widespread notice, so did the rationales underlying them. The communist leadership, following particular strands of Marxist theory, imposed upon populations conditions which, in theory, were necessary for the development of a communist society. Those individuals who did not fit the predictions of theory, or questioned the premises upon which action was based, were considered ‘deviant’ and sent for ‘retraining’ in labour camps when they were not killed. The endless compulsory ‘self-criticism’ that members of various Marxist groups carried out was aimed at making individual behaviour conform to the tenets of theory. Yet when many thousands of individuals failed to conform, it was their behaviour that came under scrutiny, rather than the premises and assumptions of the theory, resulting in tragedy for thousands. The second tragedy was the application of theory to practice by Germany’s Nazi leadership. These two examples provide perhaps the most extreme illustrations of the application of theory to practice, but the history of social welfare is littered with more mundane examples that nevertheless cause great misery to those subject to theory application. We have seen the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century whose influence contributed to the institutionalisation (and worse) of people with learning difficulties, the widespread use in the mid-twentieth century of lobotomies in treating people with mental health problems and, to take two examples from this author’s practice career, the use of psychodynamic and behaviour modification theory in practice. I observed the use of psychodynamic theory in practice in the social work department of an acute unit in a psychiatric hospital. A senior social worker specialized in dealing with depressed female lone-parents. Reading through dozens of case-notes (meant to aid my practice) I was struck by the way that these women’s depression was attributed to various failures in their early psycho-sexual development, whilst their practical circumstances – victims of domestic violence, poor housing, lack of money – were completely ignored. Needless to say, these women failed to improve, but the point to note here is that this failure was not attributed to the faulty premises of the theory and the way in which it was being applied, but to the women’s innate psychopathology. My second example is taken from two years in a residential home for children with learning disabilities. Here a behaviour modification regime was implemented by management with no critical appreciation of debates in psychology about what it means to be human, what motivates behaviour and how behaviour should be understood. Those children who did not respond to ‘positive reinforcement’ (the majority) were labelled and punished, whilst the underlying problems of the theory itself left unexamined. In short, in both these cases, where service-users failed to fulfil predicted outcomes derived from particular theoretical paradigms, the response displayed a notably similar characteristic as in the examples from totalitarian societies – the users were pathologised, rather than theoretical premises examined.An objection could be made here that these examples merely demonstrate a-typical historical circumstances or incompetent practitioners. However, whether at the level of whole societies, whole social groups, or numerous disparate individuals, a backlash against the conjoining of knowledge and power has been manifest in many locations, including: the overthrow of communism in the Soviet Union, the critical interrogation of ‘totalising’ discourses, the decline in membership of organised, hierarchical political movements, the widespread development of ‘rights-based ’ and user movements, and a suspicion of ‘expert’ practice and bureaucraci es. In social theory, the last three decades or so has seen a particularly sustained interrogation of the status of Enlightenment theory. Under the impact of post-structuralism, particularly that associated with Foucault and Derrida , an unpackaging of the assumptions and premises of theory construction has severely undermined the ‘theory as truth and guide to practice’ position. This is not to say such challenges to Enlightenment theory did not exist before, for a long tradition of hermeneutic and phenomenological thought had posed alternative understandings of human and social action. Post-structuralism, however, has mounted a comprehensive and thorough critique of the epistemological basis of structuralism and realism. In the current examination of Enlightenment thought, Derrida ‘deconstructed’ major traditions in western social thought, showing how accounts of human knowledge depended on the use of key textual devices for obscuring problematic philosophical categories, or for revealing and endorsing particular interpretations and meanings of social and political progress. The construction of any text lends itself to several meanings and interpretations, such that it is impossible to arrive at any one fixed, ‘true’ account. Foucault, on the other hand, examined the epistemology underpinning the Enlightenment belief in the replacement of an institutionalised theological belief system with one which emphasised Reason and the limitless capacity of human knowledge. Enlightenment philosophy suggests that what occurs in the world is subject to entirely knowable and explainable laws that can be discovered and used in the progress of human society and human mastery over the natural and social world. Foucault’s contribution to the unpicking of this position was to show, through examinations of historical understandings of punishment and sexuality, that there are other ways of understanding this history which suggest a very different interpretation of the Enlightenment and its effects on social life, and demonstrate that many truths and experiences of social life co-exist that make it impossible to provide an overarching account that explains everything. At the same time, science constantly shifts its parameters, so that what may be ‘true’ at one historical moment is rendered false later. This brief outline cannot do justice to the sophistication and breadth of the critique of Enlightenment theory, critiques which have resulted in major debates over how we can know our world and what valid knowledge claims can be made (c.f., Lemert, 1999). Even where the foundations of poststructuralist epistemology are rejected there is a much greater appreciation of the problems associated with universalism and linear structures, two of the major props of Enlightenment theory. The permeation of these critiques is perhaps most evident in mainstream emphases on ‘difference’ and social constructivism, ‘difference’ and postmodernism, (c.f.,Briskman, 2001), and a general rejection in many disciplines of overarching, grand theory (Leonard, 1997). Here attention shifts to the assumptions embedded in theory and the way in which these assumptions become embedded in projects of nation-building, in legal and organisational structures, and in policy initiatives. Goldberg’s (1993, 2002) work on ‘race’ and racialization traces this process of embedding through an examination of the ways in which Enlightenment thought depended upon a racialized subject of social action and object of social theory. The pervasiveness of this discourse entrenches and normalizes symbolic representations and values both culturally and materially within the institutions of modern life (c.f., Goldberg, 1993: 8). The social sciences are ‘deeply implicated’ in the building of a racist culture and in the ‘hegemony of symbolic violence’ underpinning social systems (Goldberg, 1993: 12, 9). Roediger (1994) examines a similar process in American history and nation-building, pointing to a normalization of ‘Whiteness’ in the construction of conceptual and political subjects. This legacy enters social work in various ways (see Taylor, 1993), but appreciating the role of theory as cultural artefact, as a cultural product, produced in, and reproducing, social assumptions of normativity and relations of domination and subordination, can be similarly achieved in relation to gendered and sexualized categories, for example. This leads us to a situation in which theory itself can be understood as a key resource in forging a ‘modern’ consciousness, and socio-political spheres shot through with asymmetries of power (Penna and O’Brien, 1996/7), where exploitation and oppression operate through complex and unstable socio-economic mechanisms (O’Brien and Penna, 1996). Not only can the ‘social’ upon which we work not be known in its entirety, not be predicted, not be subject to fool-proof risk assessment, evaluation and so on, but theory production has arguably been a contributory mechanism in the creation of precisely many of those socially problematic circumstances that social work sets out to address. In short, Parton (2000:452) hits the nail on the head in claiming that we need to learn to live with ‘uncertainty, confusion and doubt’. Where then, does that leave theory in social work, if we accept this position? I want to turn briefly, and finally, to some suggestions of the use of theory in social work education. Using Theory At the beginning of this piece I suggested that we all use theory in our everyday lives. Given that this is so, and that theory permeates every aspect of academic work, policy implementation and practice initiatives, even when it is tacit and unacknowledged, I would propose that social work students and, ultimately, service-users, would be better served if students were taught how theory-construction takes place and how to unpackage and critically examine theoretical edifices, accounts and the components through which they are constructed. The task for social work students would be not the mechanistic injunction to ‘apply theory to practice’ but rather to consider how adequate the application of theory to practice might be in X or Y case. To do this, they would have to be taught not so much along ‘who-says-what’ lines, but rather in terms of how theorising as an activity works and how different theories are constructed. Theory building is an exercise in logic, moving from initial assumptions and premises to conclusions, through an argument linked by one or more claims. Taking these components apart can be taught as a skill (see, for example, Phelan and Reynolds, 1996; Thompson, 1996) rather than through the more philosophically based, social theory courses provided in many other disciplines. Tackling theory in a skills-based way has several advantages: it demystifies theory and enables students to see that, with practice, they can take a theory apart and reconstruct it in much the same way as a plumber or mechanic might tackle a job; it leads to a critical scrutiny of practice proposals derived from (often unstated) theoretical premises and to confidence in rejecting the inappropriate; and, when the theory fails to deliver, it leads to critical scrutiny of the theory rather than the person on the receiving end of it. This is not a plea for eclecticism, but for much more modest expectations of the theory-practice relationship than are currently formally embedded in many social work training programmes. I say ‘formally’ because many people have a suspicion of theory but, in my view, for the wrong reasons. Most theories offer insights into the ‘social’ sphere that is the ‘work’ of social workers but, ultimately, a theory is only as good as its critics. This paper considers the demand for social work students in Britain to demonstrate that they can ‘apply theory to practice’ as part of qualifying requirements. It suggests that this demand betrays a lack of understanding of what theory is and what it can do and, at best, leaves students confused, whilst at worst it leads to cruel or ineffective practices in agencies. Understanding the relationship between theory and practice has long been a source of debate and, in many respects, the recent debate continues, and draws upon, consistent themes in social theory over the relative merits or otherwise of positivist paradigms with their underlying assumptions of a social world that can be revealed through the application of correct techniques. The early debates in social theory were structured by a widespread belief in the power of scientific and secular-philosophical knowledge to provide for the direction and improvement of natural and social life. The ‘age of reason’ provided a context of optimism in the possibilities for a collective life informed by justice and representing the march of progress. This paper outlines the historical context that has led to a particular understanding of theory as a guide to action, points to some perils of its application in practice, and suggests a different method of dealing with theory on social work degree schemes. Evidence-based practice in teaching and teacher education What is it? What is the rationale? What is the criticism? Where to go now? Christer Brusling, Oslo University College, Centre for Study of the Professions. Invited paper to a workshop at the conference Professional Development of Teachers in a Lifelong Perspective: Teacher Education, Knowledge Production and Institutional Reform. Centre for Higher Education Greater Copenhagen in collaboration with OECD, Copenhagen, November, 17-18. 2005. What is it? Where does it come from? What is the rationale? This movement, if I may call it that, seems to have originated in the British educational context, and with a lecture given by David Hargreaves to the Teacher Training Agency in 1996. Unfortunately I have been unable to get a copy of it in Norway – there is none in Norwegian libraries1. Lacking this original source I will rely on what comes forward in second-hand sources, in published criticisms in mainly British journals, and in later articles by Hargreaves, where he answers his critics. Philip Davies (1999) from University of Oxford, â€Å"the other place† from Hargreaves’ That doesn’t mean that the movement hasn’t reached Norway. A recent NOK 100 million proposal for educational research in partnership with schools show that at least the former conservative government knew about it, mainly through Demos, a British â€Å"independent think tank† (demos.co.uk) Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 88 perspective, writes favourably about evidence-based education in an article named â€Å"What is evidence-based education?†. He says that it operates on two levels, the first being â€Å"to utilize existing evidence from worldwide research and literature on education and related subjects†, the second â€Å"to establish sound evidence where existing evidence is lacking or of a questionable, uncertain, or weak nature† (p.109). The first level is described thus: Educationalists at all levels need to be able to: †¢ pose an answerable question about education; †¢ know where and how to find evidence systematically and comprehensively using the electronic (computer-based) and non-electronic (print) media; †¢ retrieve and read such evidence competently and undertake critical appraisal and analysis of that evidence according to agreed professional and scientific standards; †¢ organise and grade the power of this evidence; and †¢ determine its relevance to their educational needs and environments2. (Davies 1999, p.109). Davies acknowledges the debt of the education sector to medicine and other health professions, which predated education with fi ve to ten years in the implementation of the idea of evidence-based practices. According to Davies, it is derived from the University of Oxford Master’s programme in Evidence Based Health Care. argreaves explicitly argues for evidence-based teaching by pointing to the success of the idea in medicine, and by the similarity of the work of doctors and teachers: Practicing doctors and teachers are applied professionals, practical people making interventions in the lives of their clients in order to promote worthwhile ends – health or learning. Doctors and teachers are similar in that they make 2 Note that evidence-based education in this defi nition curiously enough comes out as a pure intellectual exercise, lacking the fi nal application to practice. Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 89 decisions involving complex judgements. Many doctors draw upon research about the effects of their practice to inform and improve their decisions; most teachers do not, and this is a difference. (Hargreaves 1997, p. ) One reason to turn to evidence-based education is that doing so would make education less vulnerable to â€Å"political ideology, conventional wisdom, folklore, and wishful thinking†, not to mention â€Å"trendy teaching methods based on activity-based, student-centred, self-directed learning and problem solving† (Davies 1999, p. 109). But what constitutes evidence? For Hargreaves (1997) evidence is evidence about â€Å"what works†. The dictionary says that evidence is â€Å"something that furnishes proof† (m-w.com). To be able to provide proof of the â€Å"working† you need to measure the outcome of the teaching activity in question, and you need a procedure of relating the measured outcomes to the activity to make the relation an evidence3. Hargreaves doesn’t see much of a problem with how outcomes are constructed, but is adamant about what ought to be the preferred procedure, the RCT, the randomized control trial, often called â€Å"the golden standard†4. Davies (1999), on the other hand, is more permissive of a variety of procedures, thus voicing a broader conception of educational outcomes. In addition to RCT, he mentions survey and correlational methods, regression analysis and analysis of variance. He allows for inquiries that seek to describe the meanings different people attach to different teaching activities, and the broader and long-term consequences of them, e.g. on â€Å"students’ and parents’ sense of self and their sense of social worth and identity† (p. 115). Analyses of naturally occurring teaching interactions, conversation and discourse are In keeping with the parallel with medicine, I would say that not only expected and beneficial outcomes should be measured but also non-expected and possibly harmful ones. Hargreaves here echoes the standard text of research methodology from 1963, Campbell & Stanley, Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research: â€Å"[We are] committed to the experiment: as the only means for settling disputes regarding educational practice, as the only way of verifying educational improvements, and as the only way of establishing a cumulative tradition†. Cited by Howe (2005), p.308. Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 90 also mentioned as worth-while in this context. He further wants to ask normative questions within the evidence-based teaching paradigm: â€Å"whether or not it is right or warrantable to undertake a particular educational activity or health care intervention† (p.115). Davies’ (1999) omission of the necessary last element in evidence-based practice, i.e. how the purported evidence is to be put to use in practice, avoids a difficult and much discussed problem. Hargreaves (1999b) is of course right in pointing out that this problem is different if practice refers to policy making, as in the phrase evidence-based policy, or to teaching in classrooms, as in the phrase evidence-based teaching. The use of evidence in policy making is about deciding on â€Å"large issues concerned with levels and types of resource allocation – decisions which are difficult to undo† while the use of evidence in teaching â€Å"refer to the relatively small-scale professional practices of teachers in schools and classrooms, which can usually be easily revised† (Hargreaves 1999b, p. 245). In both circumstances enter a lot of considerations apart from â€Å"evidence†. Answering critique from Hammersley (1997) Hargreaves (1999b) admits that context sensitive â€Å"’practical wisdom’ pervades (both) expert medical and educational practice. There is some hard science deep in the knowledge-base of doctors, but the closer a doctor gets to an individual patient, the stronger the elements of judgement or of practical wisdom that also enters into the decision. Teachers acquire ‘practical wisdom’ too; but, in comparison with doctors, they have little accepted scientifi c knowledge to insert into their decision-making.† He claims that the infra structure of knowledge available to teachers is far less developed than that available to doctors, and that teachers seem to be less effi cient than doctors in fi nding the scientifi c knowledge there is. He argues that one reason for this is that the knowledge base in medicine is cumulative while that in education is not, but ought to become. This leads to Davies (1999) second level of concerns about evidence-based teaching: â€Å"to establish sound evidence where existing evidence is lacking or of a questionable, uncertain, or weak nature†. Hargreaves’ lecture in 1996 to the Teacher Training Agency stated that teachers only to a small extent base their practice on (hard) scientific evidence, but he didn’t blame teachers but researchers for failing to produce such evidence, especially produced by RCT procedures. With the  £12,000,000 funding for developing evidence-based policy and practice by research he hoped researchers would be encouraged to respond appropriately (Hargreaves 1999a). In another journal article the same year, titled â€Å"The Knowledge Creating School†, he urges teachers themselves to produce the knowledge they need. To sum up: Evidence-based teaching is a concept borrowed from the health sciences and recommended for teachers (you might add: by new-public-management-governments and elite researchers). You may get the impression that it’s use implies a critique of teachers for not including research-based evidence in deliberations on how to teach, but mainly it is a critique of educational researchers for not providing the needed cumulative research-base, built on research of the randomized control trial (RCT) kind. The rationale is that once such research has taken off and its results have been efficiently disseminated, evidence-based, or evidence informed, teaching will become more frequent. Critique of the notion of evidence-based practice Hammersley (1999) challenges Hargreaves’ on three accounts: his description of educational research as non-cumulative, his prescription on how research could contribute to practice, and his argument that education should learn from medicine, which he considers a parallel to education. Hammersley shares the view that educational research could become more cumulative, but researching ‘what works’ has not proved successful in this respect, despite sustained attempts: â€Å"much educational research in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century was devoted to investigation of effective teaching; and one of the reasons for the changes in educational research over the past 20 years is precisely the failure of this work to produce conclusive, cumulative fi ndings† (p.144). But he also reminds us that there are different meanings of the concept â€Å"cumulative†. There are obvious â€Å"problems involved in identifying distinct and standardised ‘treatments’ in education†, Hammersley exemplifi es by the â€Å"problems faced by researchers seeking to distinguish teaching styles†. What about the problems in operationalising the concept of learning? What should be done about the disagreements about what students should learn? What about the problems of how to measure â€Å"the most important kinds of learning†? Hammersley asks if it is possible even in principle to do so. A preoccupation with what is easily measured may very well have profound effect on teaching, narrowing objectives accordingly. To establish fixed, universal causal patterns in teaching seems equally difficult, if not impossible. What might be aspired to is â€Å"local, context-sensitive patterns in which interpretation and decision on the part of teachers and students play an important role. Unlike in most areas of medicine, in education the ‘treatments’ consist of symbolic interaction, with all the scope for multiple interpretations and responses which that implies†. Hammersley thinks that â€Å"the production of information of high practical relevance usually depends on a great deal of knowledge that does not have such relevance†¦for science to be able to contribute knowledge that is relevant to practice, a division of labour is required: a great deal of coordinated work is necessary tackling smaller, more manageable problems that do not have immediate pay-off†. Hargreaves is described as having a â€Å"narrowly instrumental view of practical relevance†, promoting an ‘engineering model’ of the relationship between research and practice. An engineering model assumes that most teaching problems are technical, which is not likely. On the contrary they seem in most cases to be ‘practical’, that is involving making judgements in complex situations, exercising discretion, not following rules. The analogy with medicine is criticised for not taking into account that the practice of medicine is more towards the engineering side of a continuum which at the other side has the practical. Even within medicine the notion of evidence-based practice has been criticised for downplaying practical judgement in clinical situations, that â€Å"the focus of clinical practice is subtly shifted away from the care of individuals toward the care of populations, and the complex nature of sound clinical judgement is not fully appreciated† (Tonelli 2000). Hammersley cites a medical researcher who raises the same critique towards medical research as Hargreaves does to educational research: it is methodological weak, use inappropriate designs, unrepresentative and small samples, incorrect methods of analysis, and faulty interpretations. The blame is put on practitioners doing research without adequate research training, a fact that doesn’t actually support Hargreaves’ recommendation that more teacher research should lead to a stronger body of knowledge with practical relevance. Hammersley concludes his critique: â€Å"The diagnosis (of the current state of educational research) is mistaken and, taken as a whole: the prescription is likely to be lethal†. In the North American context an equally forceful critique of the arguments for research for evidence-based practice has been voiced by Howe (2005). His critique is organised under the headings â€Å"experimentism5 and scientifi c method†, and â€Å"experimentism and values†. The object of his analysis is a National Research Council report, Scientifi c Research in Education (2002), which he means represent a more moderate form of experimentism than other infl uential publications advocating research for evidence-based practice. In short he states that this report: †¢ unconvincingly characterizes the conduct of research as hierarchical, both temporally and logically (p. 309); †¢ offers little defense of its call for a renewed emphasis on randomised experiments against well-known criticisms regarding the issue of external validity (generalisability from research contexts to other contexts) (p.309); †¢ does not take into account Cronbach’s observation that generalizations decay, The word †experimentism† is used by Howe to refer to scientifi c research advocating the randomised control trial as the â€Å"best† research method. thus making the goal of a cumulative education science fundamentally unattainable; †¢ does not take into account that human intentionality signifi cantly complicates how to understand causal explanation in social research; †¢ places outcomes outside educational research, by focusing on means; †¢ places not-manipulable variables, like socio-economic stratifi cation, outside the limits of educational research by insisting on RCT as the method of choice, thus making educational research â€Å"a political innocent exercise†. Howe (2005) turns to Toulmin (2001) to fi nd an alternative to experimentism – an alternative that is without the short-comings described above: Activities for which social research is often seen as a tool for improvement – medicine and education, for instance – call for intentional behaviour on the part of practitioners in the form of craft-based practical judgement. Stephen Toulmin observes that when performed well, these judgements must respond in a â€Å"timely† manner to the unique and unanticipated actions of other persons, as well as to their different ways of seeing things. According to Toulmin, research informing such practices should exemplify a model that is â€Å"clinical† and â€Å"democratic† rather than â€Å"applied† and â€Å"elite† (Howe 2005, p. 317). Teachers’ relationship to research Do teachers experience a lack of research results when planning to teach? How do teachers relate to educational research? Do teachers fi nd some research genres more relevant and practically useful than others? Does teachers’ practice-based research contribute to a knowledge base of teaching? None of these questions are raised in the early discussions on evidence-based teaching, but specific answers to them seem to enter as premises to prescriptions. I would think that the answer to the first question is no. A common place view of teachers’ planning is that it is based on textbooks and concerned with amounts of â€Å"covering†, using standard methods of classroom instruction: a short introduction by the teacher, independent pupil work with textbook exercises, question-and-answer-patterns, summing up by the teacher in class. Twenty years ago research on teachers’ planning was frequent, today it seems to be an almost closed field of study. Perhaps the expectations of the paradigm of evidence-based teaching on teachers to include research results in their deliberations on how to teach may lead to its re-opening. Do teachers find some research genres more relevant and practically useful than others? Kennedy (1999) observes that: Many genre advocates refer to teachers to justify their arguments, claiming that teachers need more authoritative knowledge (so we should conduct experiments), more dynamic portraits that reveal multiple truths (so we should write narratives), or more richly detailed accounts (so we should do ethnographies). (Kennedy 1999, p.511) Case studies and ethnographies, she continues, have long been justified by: †¦contentions that educational events are governed not by universal laws of cause and effect but, instead, by human interactions and by multiple concurrent and interacting influences; that the meanings of these events can be understood only within their context; that detailed descriptions of the full range of these interactions and dynamics are the only way to accurately represent these events and their meanings; that the kind of complex dynamic knowledge represented in case studies and ethnographies is more like the kind of knowledge ordinary people use to store their experiences; and that such detailed and multifaceted descriptions enable audiences to see similarities and differences between the research setting and their own situations, thus enabling generalizations by analogy rather than by statistical extrapolation. (Kennedy 1999, p.54) She sets out to investigate if teachers find some research genres more persuasive, more relevant, and more influential on own practice, than others, and if so, what features of each genre contribute to these evaluations. 100 teachers were interviewed after having read five articles describing research of different genres. Results show that the three evaluative criteria were highly correlated, but also that reasons for valuing them varied across genres. Experiments appeared to be highly valued, but so were non-experimental comparisons and narratives. Case studies appeared more influential than surveys. Independent of genre research studies proved to be particularly useful if they â€Å"helped teachers understand the relationship between teaching and learning† (Kennedy 1999, p.528). Kennedy concludes that a majority of teachers found most of the articles persuasive and relevant, but for different reasons. The genre contentions with which she started were not empirically verified. The TTA itself designed a questionnaire on teachers’ perspectives on educational research, and distributed it as attachments to journals of two teacher organisations, one for primary teachers, the other for secondary teachers. Everton, Galton & Pell (2000) report on the findings. As an unknown number of subscribers were â€Å"corporate members for local education authorities and industrial companies† they were unable to specify teachers’ response percentages. It was however estimated that the first group only returned 15% of the questionnaires, the second possibly a little more. In the second group most, i.e. 84%, were filled out by school leaders. All in all: the manner this investigation was carried out does not justify its analysis in terms of â€Å"teachers’ perspectives†. Does teachers’ practice-based research contribute to a knowledge base of teaching? As a result of Hargreaves 1996 lecture to the Teacher Training Agency the British government allocated  £54000 to the funding of teacher research projects. In an evaluation of the resulting reports Foster (1999) found that â€Å"a significant minority of the projects appeared to be practical: concerned with the improvement of teaching, learning or educational achievement, rather than the production of knowledge† (p. 383). He found â€Å"that only in a minority of the reports are factual claims well established†¦ as a result, it is difficult to see these as much more than opinion based on pre-existing views of good practice† (p. 393). Foster concludes that critical scrutiny of findings from teacher research before dissemination is crucial, but is afraid that â€Å"the view of knowledge production and dissemination which underpins this TTA scheme sees little role for such scrutiny. The priorities are rapid production and immediate dissemination to practitioners† (p. 395). To sum up: There is research evidence that teachers see the RCT research genre as relevant and useful to practice, but no more so than many other research genres. There is research evidence that teachers’ practice-based research does not contribute substantially to a body of knowledge on teaching, not to mention a cumulative one. Concluding remarks In line with the observation that there is more to teachers’ decision making than following authoritative evidence-based rules for practice, the discourse have changed from talking dichotomously about evidence-based/not evidence-based teaching to talking about evidence-informed teaching (Hargreaves 1999b) or the extent to which teaching is evidence-based (Davies 1999). It is interesting to note that while waiting (?) for research-produced evidence on â€Å"what works†, in teaching and in teacher education, British teacher education has become teacher training, managed by the Training & Development Agency for Schools. Its publication â€Å"Qualifying to teach. Professional standards for qualified teacher status and requirements for initial teacher training† lists skills, competencies and understandings would-be teachers must acquire (TDA 2005). Hagger & McIntyre (2000) complains that â€Å"these lists have been accompanied neither by any rationale for the items listed nor by any explanation of the conception of teaching expertise which underlies the lists† (p. 485). Not surprisingly, I found that in this publication the word ‘training’ appears 51 times, the word ‘education’ 15 times (most of these in naming school subjects or institutions), the words ‘research’, and ‘theory’ did not appear at all. My conclusion is that there are serious problems, philosophical, historical, and political problems, with the notion of evidence-based practice transferred to teaching and teacher education, at least in its original interpretation. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (1999). Omnibus Survey. 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